Back at it again with them hot reads!
OH MY GOSH GUYS! HI! DID YOU MISS ME?!
So, I haven't been as up-and-up on this book review blog as I should have been. I apologize. Life is hectic and strange, but I am here now with a vow to do better. I promise, I won't disappear on you again!
Today I'm here to talk to you about a great author I recently came across: Lorna Reid. I came across Reid through one of my favorite websites, NetGalley (um, if you don't have a netgalley account - you should) where I stumbled across her book Rise of the Reaper, which is the first book in The Broken Lands series.
Guys: This series is epic. Think Harry Potter meets The Mortal Instruments but with more cursing and adults who actually contribute to the story.
The series so far in one sentence: Kids find out their parents are magic-wielding bad-asses and have to find a way to save the universe from Darklander jerks.
You can find my Goodreads review of the first book here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2335708238?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
I recently finished the second book, Darkwalkers, and have to say that I am still utterly and completely in love.
While Rise of the Reaper gave us a good foundation, I found that Darkwalkers gave me what I was craving: Up close and personal time with the characters. Throughout Rise of the Reaper all of the main characters are together, which made a few scenes crowded and prevented me from getting too close to any one of them. This is not a bad thing for a first book to do. It was good to get a full view of the landscape. Darkwalkers, however, shines on its intense character development while proceeding with the story at a good pace. The group of characters is split evenly in two, with pretty equal time given to each group. Reid also introduces characters who were only hinted at or mentioned in the first book, and allows their backstories to wind beautifully into the present.
The feelings invoked by Darkwalkers are adequately described by Lights' song "Lions!":
I've only got two constructive criticisms:
(1) While I do enjoy action scenes, it was a bit distracting to me that the adult characters seem a bit overly powerful. I'm not saying these scenes were badly written, and man-oh-man do I love these characters (in a word: Blake. Oh be still my heart), but by the end of the last epic fight I was starting to get a little fatigued by their awesome-ness. Now, I will admit fully here that I might be a little picky when it comes to fight scenes because I've read too much violent epic fantasy (The Lies of Locke Lamora, anyone?) and since this is a YA novel please take this criticism with a large grain of salt.
(2) Like Rise of the Reaper, this is a long book. It is very fast paced and you definitely won't get bored, but it did take me longer to read than I thought it would because there's a lot of stuff going on. This isn't so much a criticism as a disclaimer for readers this is a fantastic YA fantasy with an adult epic fantasy length. Do not let this dissuade you from reading because this book is totally worth it.
CONCLUSION
If you're not reading these books, DO IT NOW! You can tell that these books are a labor of love, and Reid has a passion for these characters and the amazing world she's created. Plus, you've got some beautiful characters (*cough* Blake *cough*) that deserve every word written about them. I am extremely excited for the third book, and hope that after reading Rise of the Reaper and Darkwalkers you will be too!