audio

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E Schwab (Shades of Magic #2)

August 29, 2018 Leave a Comment

512 pages | 2/23/16 | Shades of Magic #2 | Tor Books | Fantasy

A Gathering of Shadow picks up a few months after ADSOM and our characters are reunited just in time for an international contest that pits magician against magician— and it’s a lot like Goblet of Fire. I legit kept thinking that for the first few chapters of the books. I mean Lilah even “Harry Potters” herself into the competition. You know that thing where an underqualified competitor gets themselves into the competition and The Powers That Be let it slide because. . . Chosen One? (yes, I know Harry doesn’t put his own name in, but still.)

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Smoke Thieves by Sally Green

August 14, 2018 Leave a Comment

400 pages | Viking | YA Fantasy | 05/01/2018

YA fantasy isn’t for me

This is something I’ve thought and said for so long now because when it coms to the big YA fantasies e.g. The Belles, Throne of Glass, The Wrath and The Dawn … they just didn’t 100% work for me.

I guess I felt like a YA Fantasy can easily become predictable; there are always love triangles, secret crushes, rebellions, secret gays, captains of the guard . . . FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY IS THERE ALWAYS A CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD ???

So, Smoke Thieves.

This YA Fantasy totally worked for me and I shocked. I think one of the major reasons is because it has an unconventional structure. The book is told from the POV of five different characters in different parts of the world, which I think bolstered the word building and gave depth to the story. There is a fierce princess oppressed by her patriarchal kingdom, a soldier who turns against his crown (okay, so he is a captain of the guard with a secret crush but like…it’s different okay) a young thief who ventures into demon territories to steal demon smoke, a pompous secret heir on a journey home and a young servant taking revenge on the king who sacrificed his people.

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Tiffany Sly Lives Here by Dana L Davis

August 11, 2018 3 Comments

Rating: unrated | 334 pages | Harlequin Teen Inknyard Press ? | Contemporary | 05/01/2018

I was really excited to read this book after hearing about it on the Hey, YA podcast. I firmly remember actress Dana L. Davis in the 2000s for being “that black lady” who showed up on TV shows in the early 2000s. I was also interested in a book that deals with respectability politics and all the shades of the black experience.

Tiffany Sly has had it rough. After losing her mother to cancer this music-loving rocker girl is headed from Chicago to the mansions and private school of Simi Valley, California; to live with the wealthy and successful father she’s never met. Anthony Stone (get it ? Sly…Stone ? Get it ?)

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Non-Fiction Review: Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

June 9, 2018 Leave a Comment

Rating: ★★★ +.5 | Non-fiction | 6 hours 29 minutes | Gallery Books | 12/05/17

Tiffany Haddish was the breakout star of 2017 following the success of the film Girl’s Trip. The Lasst Black Unicorn delves into how she went from a broke stand-up comedienne living in her car to having a first look deal with HBO.

This memoir is an absolute must listen on audiobook. Haddish writes like she talks and it flows so much better when listening to it. Also, all of the dialogue is written in script format and sounds much better when Haddish is “acting it out.” She’ll say things that aren’t in the book like “and then I was like” or “he was like” before launching into the words that are on the page. Also, there are some updates and asides that aren’t in the printed book so trust me, you want this on audio.

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Audiobook Review : Scythe by Neal Schusterman

April 14, 2018 Leave a Comment

10 hours 32 mins | Simon & Schuster | Sci-Fi/Dystopian | 11/22/2016

I picked up Scythe when it was a daily deal on Audible. I didn’t know too much about it, I didn’t even know it was a YA book, I thought it was a middle-grade book or a graphic novel.When I dived in I found another one of Shusterman’s expansive worlds dealing with ethical and moral issues in an unconventional way.

Scythe takes place in a world much like our own…except everyone is immortal. With natural death a thing of the past, death now must be dealt out by the hands of a select few highly-trained individuals known as Scythes. It’s a daunting task because even though death comes in human form, fundamentals of death are still intact. When a Scythe comes for you it is swift, resolute and inescapable.

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Audiobook Reivew : Pure By Julianna Baggott

August 18, 2012 5 Comments

Publication Date : Feburary 8th 2012
Genre : Post-Apocalyptic
Pages : 431
Audiobook Length : 14 hours 9 minutes
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing (Imprint Hachette Book Group)

. . . Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. . .There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge [feels] . . . Different. He thinks about loss . . . that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. . . When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

Pure is the ultimate survivalist story

I started reading the galley of this book a few months ago and found its vivid descriptions and imagery a little dark; or as Kat said on Twitter “It makes The Hunger Games look like a Disney film.” However, I’m glad I gave this book a second change.

Pure is one of the best post-apocalyptic novels I’ve read all year. It mixes what YA survivalist novels like Eve by Anna Carey and Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi have done, but in such a uniquely dark and unbound way. It takes the story of the protected “insider” meets the savage “outside world” and turns it completely on its head.

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