Mark These Books Monday: ARC Review of Night Study & The Abyss Surrounds Us!!

Hello there guys!

Monday for me this week also means back to work since I had the weekend off (as most people tend to, but a once a month occasion for a nurse like me). I spent it reading & catching up on shows and sorting the library room!

For this week's Mark These Books Monday I have two books that I read in 2016 and that also count towards my challenges of the year (YAY me!). One of them even counts for three challenges: 2016 Debut Author, Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge (since both are eARCs, both count for this one) and the Diverse Books 2016 Reading Challenge!

Night Study by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Action filled, with many twists and surprises, very many unexpected surprises that are changing the game as we knew it and that are keeping the series fresh and me turning pages like there's no tomorrow!

Shadow Study left us with quite a bomb and thankfully Night Study picks up right there where we were left, with Yelena and Valek as a team, trying to figure out things together. I so love that as the series progresses these two continue to make a fantastic team, facing threats together and without pointless drama.

Things are more dire than ever, Yelena without her magic and no idea how to get it back, Valek with his torn loyalties and his fierce need to protect Yelena but trying not to be a traitor to the Commander... and twisting and complex net where their enemies are getting the upper hand and refuse to stay dead.

The pacing in this one was neck-breaking and I could barely turn the pages fast enough to see how they'd get themselves out of the very dire situations and dangers they kept finding themselves. Working together or apart Yelena and Valek and their allies/friends/family are always a great team, even if this team all their efforts are barely enough to keep their heads above the water!

There were even more surprises and shocks and twists in this one, that I wasn't expecting, that made a lot of sense but that were real game changers once again! The death toll is also starting to raise and I'm beginning to get worried for my fave secondary characters, because the prospects are are dire and things are looking more and more grim by the moment!

Another fantastic installment in the newly extended series, and frankly with the way the author is keeping things spinning, I'm looking forward to many more books, although I don't know if this was planned as an extra trilogy?? Either way, I'll be bitting my nails here waiting for the next book! Very much deserved 4 stars for this one!

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Tough as nails lady pirates, monsters from the deep, and a slow burn romance with a cruel twist at the end, this was a wild ride that had me glued to my Kindle! Proper review to come, but I need a sequel like NOW!!

We meet Cassandra on her regular life, and we learn as the pages pass about the world we are in, with a few conversations here and there to add to the knowledge of the set up and the way it's changed from ours. Not a full info dump, and we don't know all the details of how or why, but enough to figure out the differences and get a clear idea of where we stand.

But soon enough the real action starts and Cassandra has her world turned upside down. Her first solo mission as a Reckoner trainer ends in failure and death and she finds herself among the same pirates she's always fought against, and what's more, finds herself with torn loyalties and scrambling around for a way to survive and keep doing what she thinks is right.

Once the pirates enter the book, we have this cast of grey and extremely interesting characters that shake Cas' world in ways that she really didn't expect. Cas always grows as a character tremendously, doing her best to survive and trying to hold onto the sense of right and wrong that was her moral compass before, but also discovering that not everything is so black and white and that people aren't always so black & white either.

I loved how gender stereotypes are subverted in many small ways and how in the narrative and the world, they are what they are, not challeged and not taken as exceptions. Santa Elena is a ruthless, tough as nails pirate that can chop off fingers and care for her son and conquer a boat with him strapped to her back or celebrate a victory wearing a ball gown. A father can be the one to stay home to care for the kids while the mothers come and go to the sea and might never come back. No one doubts what a girl can or cannot do because of their gender.

The relationship between Cas & Bao, her new Reckoner charge is quite complex, because she doesn't want to train him as Santa Elena wants him trained, she resents him for his own nature and how it traps her because of her knowlegde, but still, it's always a close bond between trainer & Reckoner.

And there's a fantastic romance, with a great slow burn and a girl that recognizes her feelings but also see how messed up the situation is and doesn't exactly throw herself into the mess anyways. It's still used against her, it's still full of chemistry and heartache and fantastic, and it's a lesbian romance (YAY diversity!). I was rooting for them both all through the book and was quite shocked and shaken at the end because holy spoilers Batman!

I'm so very glad we do have a sequel coming next year (it's written and all!!) because although this ends in a open but bearable way plot wise... emotionally... nope, unresolved as hell! Very much deserved 4 stars for this fantastic debut!

View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: ARC Review of Shadow Study by Maria V Snyder!!

Aaand as my next and last Saturday Pages entry a review of a book that I got approved for via NetGalley, thank you so much Harlequin Mira for the chance to read this one!

As a book I got for review it will count towards that category for my 105 Challenge!

Shadow Study by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had been wanting to read the Study trilogy for quite a while, even before I read the Healer trilogy about Avery, the healer from Kazan. But seems that they kept being pushed back for other books till I got approved for this one, which I'm not sure if I should call a continuation of the trilogy or a spin-off but with the same characters?

Anyhow, I finally read and loved the three Study novels, loved Yelena and Valek and their relationship and came to be really intrigued about the world, the two rival countries Ixia and Sitia and adored so many of the secondary characters (Arin and Janco, I'm looking at you!).

I loved revisiting the world and the characters, even if I was lucky and didn't have to wait for this book as long as most fans did. Time has passed for Yelena and Valek and they continue their relationship as they can when their respective duties allow them, and make the most out of it.

I was quite surprised but very glad when I saw that we were getting more than Yelena's POV in this one! I loved that we had Valek's POV in this one and also Janco's. Valek's was my favourite because we finally find something more about Ghost man through flashbacks to his past. It might have taken us a bit off from the current action, but I loved those glimpses so much, that I really didn't mind at all!

Now that Yelena has grown into her powers and she is sure of them, what twist could be thrown in to add a proper sense of threat? Clearly the only way to do that effectively was having Yelena lose her powers! And oh boy, now that was an absolute game changer! Yelena was so worried and so completely lost without her magic! But I simply loved (and it broke my heart) that the thing she missed the most was her connection with Kiki, her utterly wonderful and adorable horse!

We have Yelena and Valek separated and working on different leads during most of the book and we get introduced to some new characters too. Little Miss Assassin (nicknamed lovingly so by Janco) wants Valek's position with the Commander and he's quite tempted to let her have it, once he gathers if she really can be trusted. And other characters that I would have known if I had read Opal's spin-off before reading this one! Oh well, I'll get to the eventually!

Yelena trying to discover who wants her magic-less and dead and Valek trying to see why security acount the Palace is so lax and trying to crack a smuggler's operation end up leading to an old enemy that they thought was dead but wasn't, and that makes them wonder a lot about loyalties and who can they really trust.

The book ending with quite a bomb being thrown but not with a painful cliffhanger which is something to be thankful for! Still, I really cannot wait to get my hands on the next book of the series! Very much deserving of 4 stars!



View all my reviews

Friday Reads: Fire Study by Maria V Snyder!!

Hello there! Happy Friday!

Friday is my day off this week since I work the weekend and yesterday was my day after night shift and I was fuzzy-brained all day!

Today's Friday Reads will be a bit uphazardly done, but I do plan to have two reviews up, and the first one is the final book in the Study series!



Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have thouroughly enjoyed reading this series! Since this is the final book in what originally was a trilogy you can expect some spoilers for events that happened in book 1 and 2, so keep that in mind!

It's a wonderful fantasy series that also has a good look at political differences between two countries and how things are seen differently from inside each one of the sides!

Yelena is still trying to accept her magic and to what point it might determine who she is. It already determines how the people around her react to her, judging her based on the acts of another. And despite how big the mistrust from others is, the worst rejection comes from Yelena herself, since she is scared of her powers and her magic.

Being the Soulfinder is a scary and largely unknown power and Yelena is not sure how to get herself train and get her abilities under control. The First Magician is the biggest advocate for Yelena to be eliminated for being too dangerous and once that possibility is ruled out, she decides she'll be the one to train Yelena, and that doesn't sit well with Yelena at all, as is to be expected. And driven by her fear of her own abilities, her mistrust of her own control and her unwillingness to face it all, Yelena ends up running head first into trouble without much planning or thinking.

The plot was continuining from what started in the two previous books and expands in worrisome ways. I didn't really guess who the bad guy behind it all, because it was such a verbal and in your face character, you wouldn't have expected such deception too, even if it was also the most obvious at the same time.

We get a lot of our beloved characters all working together and it's good that they come become because Yelena is gonna need all the help she can get trying to figure out her abilities, finding the Warpers, fighting the Fire Warper and trying to prevent an all out war between Ixia and Sitia.

Valek and Yelena undergo their first and biggest bump in their relationship because of Yelena's fears and denial and her trying to make sure no one gets hurt because of her makes her push the ones she love away, and takes their right to choose what to do, if they want to help or even how to help. But I still really enjoy how they make a fantastic team and Valek always seems to know when to get to her aid no matter what.

The ending wrapped up things rather well, leaving enough threads here and there for possible new stories with the either the main or the secondary characters and I'm glad that they are a reality, because I am in love with the world of Ixia and Sitia and I want to spend more time here! Very well deserved 4 stars for this end of a trilogy (that is not as final now any more!).



View all my reviews

Mark This Book Monday: Magic Study by Maria V Snyder!!

Hello guys!!

A new week starts, I'm working night shift today and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a quiet shift so I can read a new release tonight (spoilers: it's The Orphan Queen!!).

I've been in a serious fantasy binge reading as of late, and so continuining the Study series was a given, so today for our first Mark This Book Monday entry of the week, I have the review for the sequel!



Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Magic Study is the second book in the Study trilogy and unlike other books, this one doesn't suffer from sequel slump or second book syndrome at all! As a sequel, you can expect some spoilers for book one, so either tread with caution or go read book 1 and return later!

The book starts once a lil time has passed from the end of Poison Study, but not much. Yelena had to leave Sitia to avoid her fate as a magic user, she had to leave Valek behind and she is on her way to meet her family and then learn magic with Irys, and to say that she is rather unprepared to deal with any of that is a bit of an understatement.

Yelena doesn't remember anything about her past or her family and when she is taken to their homestead and her brother is clearly hostile and accuses her of being a spy, things don't start on a very good note. I loved Yelena's parents and their different personalities, but it took me as long as it took Yelena's to warm to her brother Lief. What an arse!

There's political intrigue, there's magic lessons and Yelena discovers that she has more magic that she or Irys even imagined and learning how to control it is going to be a tough journey, even more since there's big danger afoot, and Yelena has that tendency to action without much of a second thought. She feels like if she can do something, she must do it, but with little to no consideration on what can happen once she actually DOES.

We meet some new characters aside from Yelena's family and two of them will be present in the next book as foes, I'm quite certain of it, and I do hope Yelena will be wise enough to not underestimate either of them! But we not only get new bad guys, we also meet more Magicians, other students and Kiki. Kiki might very well be my favourite character and she is Yelena's horse! You might be raising an eyebrow here, but you'll understand once you read the book!

We discover much more about magic and the different ways to yield it and manipulate it, and aside from the Sitian magicians, we also meet the Moon Man and his tribe which I feel will play an even bigger role in the next book. And we discover that Yelena's powers are not unheard of but they have a rather bad reputation.

There's also a lot of back and forth when it comes to discussing the political differences between Sitia's goverment and social situation and Ixia's and how it is better now after the Commander took charge or how it was better when the royal family was in charge. Yelena seems to find herself a bit torn on occasion, but she seems to able to appreciate both types of government and see both the good and the bad.

Valek is absent for most of the book, but he's never far away from Yelena's mind, but not in a way to keep her from her life and her lessons and her mission, and once he arrives, they go back to making a great team and working great together! I would have loved some more quiet moments for them together so their relationship wouldn't always develop in the battlefield but it seems to be the way it is for them!

All in all, a great sequel for a very interesting fantasy series! I cannot wait to read the next book! Well deserved 4 stars for this one!





View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Poison Study by Maria V Snyder!!!

I'm working this weekend, but at least I'm doing so with very awesome co-workers, and today we've decided to have lunch together before work!

As the first Saturday Pages entry of the week, I have the first book of a series that has been sitting in my Kindle library for probably over 2 years and that I wish I had read before! But better later than never, I guess! And it is exactly what I needed with my fantasy reading binge!



Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Another series I had postponed reading and that I should have started long ago! Truth be told I am now in a fantasy reading binge since the end of last year, so it really was the right time for me to start this series.

In Poison Study we meet Yelena in prison, awaiting the day her death sentence will be executed, but she gets a rather unusual offer made to her instead. She'll learn to be the food taster of the Commander and if she wants to stay alive she'll have to stay put to get the antidote to the first venom she was given to identify. Valek will be her teacher, the one that will have her life on his hands and he's the Commander Advisor (and occasionally assassin).

Yelena is a very interesting character. She is not an innocent wrongly jailed, because she did kill a man, but the more we get to know her, the more we agree with her reasons for it. Ixia's law doesn't have any room for self defence, and killing someone is pusnished by death. She finds a way to save her life and grabs it with both hands, and she needs to be extremely strong to get through her training, the palace gossip and intrigues, the family of the man she killed since his father is a General of Ixia and dealing with Valek and his power over her life and death.

The world building in this book is phenomenal! We are given so much detail here and there about the society of Ixia, its goverment, leader and the most recent history. The Commander is a most interesting character, that seems both a reformer and a dictator and that you end up feeling a bit torn about whether to support him or dislike him. And we even get some really interesting revelations about it that truly surprised me. Unexpected & really well done diversity right there!

As fantasy it does have the middle ages/medieval feel to it, but Ixia is actually rather modernized after the take over by the Commander. There was a revolution and now there's a strong point on equality, from opportunities, to uniforms, to the equal application of the law to everyone. But there's also the choking control of movement for the citizens and probably a growing bureocracy to take care of it. I'm sure I'm not the only one reminded of a communist dictatorship.

The main characters were fantastic and I loved every interaction between Valek and Yelena! From rebelling against the man that has her life in his hands, to becoming teacher and apprentice, to becoming friends and allies and eventually... well, more! There's so much to them both and their pasts that what we see at first and we discover very much about them both together and apart.

Yelena is a great character, there's so much about her we don't know, that she even doesn't know! Raised as an orphan for charity and then suffering horribly, she has plenty of scars to heal. And she does that not only by making friends, trying to stay alive, but also trying to learn how to defend herself. She starts training with two soldiers and they become the brothers she never had. Ari and Janco added a support line for Yelena completely platonic and helped her get stronger and better, and they do have some wonderful humour added to the story, the banter between them and with Yelena was simply fantastic!

You might be wondering is there's any magic in this book, and yes there is, but magic is forbidden in Ixia, so that's an added complication! The plot is weaved between Yelena's survival and a threat to the government and the Commander himself and it's done in a very intricate way, one that we wouldn't have imagined at first!

The romance was quite unusual but I don't want to talk about why much, in case I end up spoiling something, but let's say I'm very happy to see how both of them can still attend to their duty and what they feel like they need to do, even if that means putting their relationship second for some time and not mean that they love each other any less!

Very much deserving of 4 to 4.5 stars and fantastic first book in a fantasy series that I'd recommend to any fantasy lover!





View all my reviews

Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Taste of Darkness by Maria V Snyder!!

As the final entry for this week's Mark This Book Monday I have one of those ARCs that have been pending a while in my NetGalley account, but I finally got around to read it! Thanks a lot to Harlequin Mira for the approval!

This one is not only part of my 2014 Series Challenge as the final book of the Healer series, but also part of my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge and as such, also part of ARC April!

Taste of Darkness by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was the reason I read the entire trilogy, since I requested it on NetGalley and got approved for it, but unfortunately I couldn't read the previous books or this one in time for release date. I'm so thankful for Harlequin Mira for approving me, and better late than never, I guess?

This ARC had a few minor issues that annoyed me a bit while reading it, the biggest one being the fact that the different POV chapters where not separated, even to the point of a line on a page being one POV and then the next line after the stop being a different POV! Thankfully Kerrick's and Avry's voices were different enough, to recognize them instantly but it was a bit confusing. The formating affected also the ending a bit, cause I had to read the final pages twice to make sure I hadn't missed anything!

Taste of Darkness starts right where Scent of Magic left us, all unhappy and in shock & denial! I will try my best to keep this review spoiler free, but you can expect spoilers for the previous two books. This was quite a fantastic final book for a trilogy, even if I felt like some threats where included just to throw something more to keep us entertained till the final showdown happened.

I am a huge fan of Avry, she's one of my fave female leads with her healing selflessness, her streak of stubborness and her loyalty. I really felt for her through all the pain and losses she went through in this book! She still managed to overcome some difficulties and kick arse.

One thing that seemed to be a recurring theme in this book and series is how you keep on assuming the worst about friends missing and how you should not give up hope too easily. And how it seemed that death was not always permanent but can't be cheated all the time and not without consequences.

I loved how we get more and more information about what really happened and how the plague was started, but not everything is explained, we still have some things here and there left to be figured out or imagined on our own. I loved the Peace & Death Lilies, a different kind of magic from the usual one.

This was quite a fitting ending for a great trilogy, with plenty of action, intrigue and an ending that kept us worried till the very end! Well deserved 4 stars for this one!



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder!!

As the final entry on this week's Saturday Pages I have the sequel for the previous entry and one that doesn't suffer from the dreaded middle book syndrome! It is also part of my 2014 Series Challenge!

Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Scent of Magic is another one of those strong sequels that don't disappoint, and after a great book like A Touch Power, it's not an easy feat. As usual, I will do my best to avoid spoilers for the book, but you can expect spoilers for book 1 since the plot of this book is built on the ending of book 1.

These series has become a quick favourite of mine cause I love the main character, Avry. She's strong, resourceful and even if she's headstrong and stubborn as a rule, she doesn't usually charge head on onto disaster. She just doesn't take orders just because well, but she is more than ready to work together when informed of the plans. I feel a special kinship with her since she's a healer and I'm a nurse, though I always wonder if I'd be able to take other people's injuries as my own to cure them.

Scent of Magic is told in dual POVs, from Kerrick's and Avry's, which make sense since they spend most of the book apart, wondering what's going on with each other, wondering about each others' safety but never failing to do their duty. Each one of them has a different mission but both are working to make sure Tohon or the northen tribes won't overrun the Realms.

Avry takes advantage of the fact that most people think her dead, so she takes on another identity to infiltrate the army of the High Priestess of the Creator. It's very interesting to see Avry prove her own worth to others and herself by doing something other than being a healer. I loved how she tried to make amendments with her sister and how she kept on worrying about keeping her friends believing she was dead.

We've got quite a bit of world building in this one, since Kerrick's travels take him beyond the Realms, and we learn a lot by comparing the tribes customs and traditions with the ones from the Realms.

There's plenty of military tactics, political intrigue and magical mysteries to keep our attention page after page. We also keep on wondering about the fate of some of characters here and there.

The ending was quite evil, with an awful emotional cliffhanger that made me extremely happy to have the final book to read right after this one. Well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars!



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: A Touch of Power by Maria V. Snider!!

For this week's Saturday Pages I have the first book on a series that I had wanted to read for a while and even more once I got approved for the ARC of the final book of the series on NetGalley.

This one is also part of the Series Challenge 2014, even if it wasn't in my original list!

Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had this series in my TBR list for quite a while since the moment that I read in the synopsis that it was about a healer. It really appealed to me since I'm a nurse and I'm always drawn to stories with healers in them, even if I usually don't like medical fiction.

As usual, I will try my best to keep this review spoiler free.

Avry is a Healer in a world where they are reviled and have been hunted down and killed for failing to cure a plague that decimated the population and completely changed the political face of the different kingdoms or realms.

She's been running and hiding for 3 years, but she risks discovery to save a lil girl. That lands her in prison and she's rescued by a band of guys that want her to use her powers to save one of the leaders of the realms, and one that she doesn't think worthy of risking her life to save.

She is half kidnapped half rescued, but after trying to escape unsuccessfully and finding that the alternative of being taken prisoner to be delivered to another powerful leader are worse, she sticks with the band, even if she makes it very clear she won't be healing their leader.

I loved Avry, how caring she is, how deeply she loves being a healer and how much a part of herself it is. She's also strong, a bit stubborn and very much able to adapt and learn in every situation. I loved how her interactions with her band of captors/recuers went from mistrust and resent to respect & friendship. And how her relationship with Kerrick changed from strong dislike and mistrust to other quite different strong emotions.

The characters were great and I got quite emotionally attached to the whole band, not just Avry and Kerrick. Some of the misunderstandings between Avry & Kerrick would frustrate me a bit, but nothing that would take me out of the story.

I loved the world building of the story and how we keep on discovering things about the healers, the realms, the plague and all the political maneouvers that are taking place. But the characters are what totally make this book, so human and so flawed and so trying to make their way in a broken world to do what they think is right, even if they don't always agree on how or what that is.

Very much deserved 4 to 4.5 stars!



View all my reviews