Hello there guys!!
Happy Friday!! This is the first review that I'm writing at my new apartment, since I've finally moved!
I still have a lot of work to do, sorting things and moving all the book boxes, and getting more furniture... but I'm now living in my apartment!
For this week's Friday Reads I have up for review one of the ARCs that I got from BEA and one that made me really want to read more westerns!!
Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I liked Erin's dystopian trilogy and was extremely intrigued by this YA Western, even if I'm not a big westerns reader, and it was in my priorities list for BEA, thank you so much HMH Books!
Vengeance Road is written in dialect from Kate's POV first person and I was a lil worried at first wondering if it'd might keep me from getting fully into the book, but I worried in vain, after chapter 4 I was used to the dialect and Kate's voice and it actually made the book feel more authentic, more real.
Kate is a very complex character, dealing in the grey area of the ethical spectrum. She is driven by vengeance first and foremost and she seems to be remorseless in her pursue of the killers of her father, even some innocents might suffer in the process. But as the story unfolds, there is so much more to Kate and how she decides to face the world, she grows so much! And she really is a cactus type of character, prickly but with a treasure inside!
Vengeance Road could be called a roadtrip book, if going after a band of bandits on horseback disguised/dressed as a boy can count as a roadtrip! The plot seems quite straight forward at first, Kate goes after her father's assassins, but soon things get more complicated when she is joined (quite against her wishes) by a pair of brothers that want to protect & help the "son" of a friend of their father. And then with the killing and the hiding and running and being hunter and hunted... With a few quite unexpected twists, well, is very hard to put this one down, you just want to keep turning pages to see who will survive!
But where I feel like I must give the biggest props to Erin Bowman, at least for me, is in the descriptions and ambiance she manages to write for this book. You simply feel like you are there, with the sun hitting your back, sweating and almost feeling the gritty sand in your mouth! The atmosphere is fantastic and full of tension and you can tell that the author has done her research, because you really feel like you are THERE!
The secondary characters were also very well fleshed out and even the bad guys were not just cartoony bad guys. And with Liluye we have a completely different culture, outlook and experience that Kate learns to respect and even try and understand.
I loved how the romance played, for the most part it was rather slow burn and muted, because it was never part of Kate's plan and it was at first a very unwanted distraction, but I was very happy to see how it all played out, how in the end Kate made sure her life was not defined by anyone or anything else but herself and at the same time didn't close herself to love and hope!
This is my absolute favourite Erin Bowman book to date and I highly would recommend it to anyone that wants something different, wants to give westerns a try and anyone that appreciates great characters! Very well deserved 4.5 to 5 stars to this one!
View all my reviews
Happy Friday!! This is the first review that I'm writing at my new apartment, since I've finally moved!
I still have a lot of work to do, sorting things and moving all the book boxes, and getting more furniture... but I'm now living in my apartment!
For this week's Friday Reads I have up for review one of the ARCs that I got from BEA and one that made me really want to read more westerns!!
Vengeance Road by Erin BowmanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I liked Erin's dystopian trilogy and was extremely intrigued by this YA Western, even if I'm not a big westerns reader, and it was in my priorities list for BEA, thank you so much HMH Books!
Vengeance Road is written in dialect from Kate's POV first person and I was a lil worried at first wondering if it'd might keep me from getting fully into the book, but I worried in vain, after chapter 4 I was used to the dialect and Kate's voice and it actually made the book feel more authentic, more real.
Kate is a very complex character, dealing in the grey area of the ethical spectrum. She is driven by vengeance first and foremost and she seems to be remorseless in her pursue of the killers of her father, even some innocents might suffer in the process. But as the story unfolds, there is so much more to Kate and how she decides to face the world, she grows so much! And she really is a cactus type of character, prickly but with a treasure inside!
Vengeance Road could be called a roadtrip book, if going after a band of bandits on horseback disguised/dressed as a boy can count as a roadtrip! The plot seems quite straight forward at first, Kate goes after her father's assassins, but soon things get more complicated when she is joined (quite against her wishes) by a pair of brothers that want to protect & help the "son" of a friend of their father. And then with the killing and the hiding and running and being hunter and hunted... With a few quite unexpected twists, well, is very hard to put this one down, you just want to keep turning pages to see who will survive!
But where I feel like I must give the biggest props to Erin Bowman, at least for me, is in the descriptions and ambiance she manages to write for this book. You simply feel like you are there, with the sun hitting your back, sweating and almost feeling the gritty sand in your mouth! The atmosphere is fantastic and full of tension and you can tell that the author has done her research, because you really feel like you are THERE!
The secondary characters were also very well fleshed out and even the bad guys were not just cartoony bad guys. And with Liluye we have a completely different culture, outlook and experience that Kate learns to respect and even try and understand.
I loved how the romance played, for the most part it was rather slow burn and muted, because it was never part of Kate's plan and it was at first a very unwanted distraction, but I was very happy to see how it all played out, how in the end Kate made sure her life was not defined by anyone or anything else but herself and at the same time didn't close herself to love and hope!
This is my absolute favourite Erin Bowman book to date and I highly would recommend it to anyone that wants something different, wants to give westerns a try and anyone that appreciates great characters! Very well deserved 4.5 to 5 stars to this one!
View all my reviews
Okay, that's it Pili! I'm rearranging my review schedule and moving this to the top of the list! I've read nothing but outstanding reviews of this one and I want to meet Kate asap. I love a character that exists more in the darker shades of gray ;-) So excited to read!
ReplyDeleteYES, DO IT JENNY!! This one is fantastic!!
DeleteHaha, the cactus comparison is accurate. :D I agree that this book was tough to put down. The fast pace was exciting!
ReplyDeletePardon the bad pun, but it was a galloping paced plot! ;) And our Kate IS a cactus, isn't she??
DeleteYou make me really want to get this one! I haven't read anything by Erin Bowman but I love a good fast pace adventure book. The bandits and the slow burn romance are just calling out to me lol!
ReplyDeleteThis is Erin's best book to date so I highly recommend it Eileen! *pushes book*
DeleteOh Pili, how EXCITING. Seriously stoked to learn that this is your first review from your new place! Wooooo! I started reading this one a month ago and liked it a lot but had to put it down to read other stuff to review. Your review is so positive, though, that I'll try to make a return to it ASAP. I feel like there aren't enough YA Westerns, so I want to read and support the ones that do show up (we've had what, three this year? which is pretty great and more than I remember previously reading.)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the move! Good luck unpacking and getting everything sorted. :)
Thank you Layla! My guest room is so full of boxes and still more book boxes to me packed in there until I get all my shelves sorted, but at least I'm here now!
DeleteAnd yes, I've never been a big westerns reader, but I want to give them a try, I just need to read the third one (Under A Painted Sky) and I hope I'll like it as much as I liked this one!
Your review almost convinced me that I want to read this, and that is a gigantic feat because I loathe Westerns, I won't even watch western movies. Ha!
ReplyDeleteWell, now I cannot think of a higher compliment LaLa!! Thank you!!
DeleteLoooove! This is definitely one of the best I've read this year so far. Which surprises me so much, because I'm not a Westerns reader, and I didn't love Bowman's debut trilogy! So glad this book turned out to be AWESOME! :D
ReplyDeleteLovely review, Pili!
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
AGREED! This is Erin's best book to date for sure, and makes me so excited about what might have in store next!
DeleteYAY for moving into your apartment, finally :D Hope that is going great. <3 Anyway. Stunning review Pili :D So glad you loved this book so much. <3 I liked it a bit less, and loved Walk on Earth a Stranger much more, lol, but I also really liked this one :D YAY for loving it so much. <3 Thank you for sharing your thoughts about it sweetie :)
ReplyDeleteThank you dear! I still have a lot of work to do, but I am living here finally and that is awesome enough!
DeleteGlad to hear you liked this one even if you didn't love it as much as I did sweetie!
I've been loving the things I've heard about this book. Though I can't stand Western, this book sounds like it packs a punch action wise. The MC also sounds like a refreshing change from the usually characters in YA, I love a bit of moral ambiguity in my fiction. Brilliant review, you have me really pumped for the book.
ReplyDeleteAentee at The Social Potato
YAY! There's nothing I like to hear better than my review got someone NOT into westerns excited about this book! Thank you Aentee!
Delete