Mila FerreraBesprekingen

An engaging read centered around a world filled with magic and war. Elli is raised to be a queen and to expect the former queen's magic to come to her upon that queen's death. Except that doesn't happen and Elli must flee the temple and wealthy city-state she has always known. As she finds refuge with fellow outcasts, she starts to learn more about the magic her city has relied on and who she might be. A quick, interesting read.

Very looking forward to start the next one :)

Very looking forward to start the next one :)

This one is as subtle as a two-by-four to the face and as deep as a puddle.
The insta-lust is completely out of control and doesn't seem healthy. It also develops into insta-love in the blink of an eye.
It's hot though and so is the smut. But the latter gets somewhat repetitive rather quickly.
But none of it is terribly original. Or rather, apart from the setting, it's entirely unoriginal.
Everything is dominated by the heart-bleeding and frankly terribly cheesy romance.
The pacing is fast and I never got bored.
The rough outline of the world is intriguing and the plot seems interesting from afar.
But don't look for intricate or even logical and consistent world-building or plot. It's fine on the surface but most of it falls apart quite quickly as soon as you take a closer look.

It's the typical fast food PNR/urban fantasy.

The start is a solid 4 stars, the middle is more like 3 stars, and the end isn't worth more than 2.
So I'll rate it an average of 3 stars. Do with that what you will.

This is the second book in the Servants of Faith series by Sarah Fine. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, Marked, and looked forward to reading this follow up book. The first book focused on Cacia Ferry and Eli Margolis, and did a great job introducing us to all the characters and their places in the Afterlife. This installment focused on Eli's sister, Galena, a brilliant scientist, and Declan Ferry, Cacia's brother. When the two are sort of forced together, their not so hidden attractions to each other get a chance to play out, amid lots of stress and betrayal.

Claimed was a well written book with likeable characters and action that just kept going and kept me turning the page and on the edge of my seat. The world building was, again, phenomenally done.

I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading the third book in the series, Fated.

5/5 stars.

In a dystopian future, Cacy is a member of the Ferry family, whose responsibility it is to escort newly deceased souls to the afterlife. The Kers are the ones who actually mark people for death.. Being a paramedic fulfills a need Cacy has to be useful, along with her brother Declan, which is where she meets newly transferred fellow paramedic Eli, who we get to know gradually, but who, like Cacy, has a very compelling backstory.

I really liked this book and found the characters likeable and the premise unique. The secondary characters were well fleshed out and added a lot to the story. Admittedly, for the first half of the book I wondered where exactly the story was going, but at the halfway point there was a big twist that drew me right in and sped the pacing up. The ending took me totally by surprise and set the story up nicely for the next book in the series, which I will definitely be reading!

5/5 stars.

Well I think I can adequately explain how much this book meant to be. I stayed up to midnight for the date to tick over and then proceeded to change my amazon store so I could get it that teensy tiny bit earlier.

And it delivered.

Reliquary was amazing. Splinter was ten times better.

The world building remains unique and complex and fascinating. The characters even more so. God I hate Ben. I wish there had of been a tiny bit more resolution between him and Mattie and Mattie and her parents, but I'm also sure the next book will address the loose ends. Asa was his usual snarky self. Mattie really grew up, god knows she did it kicking and screaming but she eventually pulled her out of the sand and owned her decisions. Splinter was epic.

I'm dying to read Mosaic. I don't think I can wait until November.

Sarah Fine first caught my eye a while ago, a bit after her Guardians of Sanctum was released. I hated that book. Not because it was bad, it wasn't. It was one of the most intricate and imaginative plots I've ever read. Not because I didn't finish it, because I flew through the pages. It was just straight up depressing. Kind of like If I Stay by Gayle Forman - great but just makes you feel too sad. But Sarah Fine is an amazing author.

When I saw Reliquary and read the blurb, I clicked preorder straight away. It was a no brainer. Gorgeous cover. Amazing author. And a plot and world building that sounded riveting. I only held off on reading it when it became available because I was caught up in a few other series and I wasn't quite ready for my heart to be ripped out. The upside to this is that when I finally did get around to it - the sequel was only two days away.

This book is pretty much perfect. The world building is unique. The characters are fascinating and the plot is just good. It stands out in a sea of indistinguishable paranormal and urban fantasy worlds. The romance is about the only thing that somewhat ruins this book - and not because it doesn't make absolute sense, just because Asa Ward people, Asa frigging Ward. It's hard to adore Mattie when you just want to belt her over the head for being so stupid. But I think that in itself says a lot about the book because any author that can create a world and characters that can inspire so much feeling within a reader is obviously talented.

Plus I literally finished and proceeded to preorder both sequels.

Look I hated this book. Not because it was bad, it wasn't. It was one of the most intricate and imaginative plots I've ever read. Not because I didn't finish it, because I flew through the pages. But - it was just straight up depressing. Kind of like If I Stay by Gayle Forman - great but just makes you feel too sad.

Sarah Fine is an amazing writer. The quality of writing is incredible. But I can't read anymore of this series. I'm easily depressed as it is - I try not to make it worse if I don't have to.

If you're not easily triggered give this a shot. And if you are - then read her other stuff. Start with Reliquary for instance. Just as incredible - but happy.

Really interesting premise, with a promising beginning. Unfortunately, the plot is overwhelmed by an unconvincing insta-love story. The writing is technically good and I only noticed one editing dealie (flare instead of flair, as in for the dramatic). Lela is a great main character who is neither too perfect nor annoyingly self-absorbed. Sometimes, her fighting ability struck me as a little too much, especially for a 17 year-old with zero formal training, but okay, I'll let it pass. I did like her character arc, especially towards the end, where her desire to help Nadia is shown in a different light. I wasn't in love with the ending though. It didn't seem to fit with the mechanics of the world the characters lived in and struck me as a bit deus ex machina.

As ever, I'm not really a fan of using rape as a character developer and while it wasn't used insultingly in this story, I don't know that it was a valuable addition. Lela's mistrust of people and dislike of being touched could have been explained by something else (like I don't know, growing up in less-than-stellar foster homes, and being naturally inclined to solitude) and later, felt like a way to show just how awesome Malachi is. Malachi is totally swoonable, though.

Overall, I liked it enough to want to read the next book.

An improvement upon the first book, [b: Sanctum |13482750|Sanctum (Guards of the Shadowlands, #1)|Sarah Fine|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353166271s/13482750.jpg|19016498], because now that Lela and Co. are out of the dark city, the pace moves much better. I really like how Ms. Fine subtly twists tropes and moves the story forward in a way that feels familiar but isn't quite predictable (I especially liked how Ms. Fine makes Lela behave like a jealous teenage girl without resorting to the all-girls-are-catty-bitches theme.) I think that Lela is a very nuanced character, one whose tragic history isn't all of her personality. Most of the supporting cast feels well thought-out too, even though Malachi does come off a bit two-dimensional in certain places. Overall, I'm glad I read this and I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

A good book, but not a great book. I kept calling it my airplane ride, sci fi, trashy type book. I got it free from Amazon last month and I was glad I got it, but wouldn't have picked it up for a cost. I felt the love interest was super rushed as in page 1 or 2, otherwise good story and quick read.

I love this series so much❤️❤️ That's all.

I feel like there's a lot going for this book, but the YA romantic trope was just too same-ol, same-ol, and I couldn't get through it. Possibly it's just me.

Rating: 4.5/5

The mother of all sweet tension... I loved it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book--it was very fast-paced from beginning to end, and the story caught and held my attention from the start. I listened to the audiobook, which is engagingly narrated by Luke Daniels. A nice mix of characters and intrigue--an alien plot to take over the world--and a story which is often surprisingly nuanced. YA reading of very high calibre, and I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

I loved the first book in this series. It's a spin on Phantom of the opera with a steampunk setting.

In this short story, we get a bit of background on Bo, and what has shaped his personality and obsession with Wen. I'm certainly buying the sequel for my library.

Of Metal and Wishes has the tropes from Phantom of the Opera: a scarred boy, a handsome boy, a beautiful girl, prejudice, creativity, and the desire to protect the ones we love. I have a little group of Phantom lovers, including my daughter, who will love this book. There is a lot of drama in this story,; it’s full of romance, carnage, political rebellion, prejudice, violence, illness and predators.

Wen works with her father, a doctor, at the slaughter house, ever since the death of her mother. He’s a compassionate man, who has debt because he is unwilling for his patients to go without the medicine they need. But he and Wen are more like strangers, both lonely. The workers pray and leave offerings to the Ghost, someone who was killed at the slaughter house years go. After Wen challenges Ghost to prove he exists, a rude new worker is badly injured in an accident, leaving Wen struggling with her feelings of guilt and responsibility. As she seeks to undo, or alleviate, the effects of her wish, she falls in love with another new worker, who is not of her own culture, risking her reputation along the way.

Loved the sex dungeon part.

Cute

*Spoilers*
I feel like she went too long dragging Ben on when she obviously loves Asa. Nice payoff at the end though.

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Marked had an interesting premise. Cacy and her family have some supernatural power and the job to ferry the recently deceased to the afterlife they deserve. Since they collect Charon's coin (from the Greek mythology) for each person, they have become unnaturally rich doing so. It also aids Cacy in her role as a paramedic, because she can also see when a person is marked for death and will die for sure so it allows her to prioritize her patients well. Eli and his brilliant sister Galena enter the scene as they move to Boston and Eli soon finds himself more than just the work partner of Cacy as he is rapidly pulled into warring supernatural families.

While it didn't always made a hell lot of sense, I quite enjoyed this part of the story. It was exciting enough to keep me going and considering I have copies of the entire series, it was for the best. Unfortunately was added to that a romance. *sigh* It was love on first sight, obviously because they are both so good looking. Personally, I couldn't care less about them. Hope this is not how the story continues, I would much rather see some more ferrying.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Nicely written retelling of The Phantom of the Opera. I found the use of the standard YA tropes irritating as this could've been such a lovely standalone novel. But of course, fantasy YA books are never standalone.

Love triangle was handled relatively deftly. Still gets the stupid love triangle shelf, because it is yet another love triangle. Even if the author is pulling the relationship directly from her source material.

"Stories from the Shadowlands" wirkt ein wenig wie ein Kehraus zur Reihe - alles, was noch an Ideen oder Konzepten zur Reihe vorhanden war, soll noch veröffentlicht werden.

Enthalten sind Tagebucheinträge von Malachi, die zu großen Teilen seine Geschichte vor dem ersten Band der Reihe abdecken (und sich auch nicht mit Captive überschneiden), ergänzt um drei weitere Szenen im Rahmen von Sanctum, zwei aus Malachis und eine aus Anas Perspektive.
Den größten Teil des Buches nimmt die (Vor-)Geschichte von Jim ein, der als Teil von Lelas Team Protagonist im zweiten Band der Reihe ist. Und schließlich erfährt man auch noch in drei Szenen etwas darüber, wie es mit Lela und Malachi nach dem dritten Band weitergeht.

Jims Geschichte und die letzten Szenen mit Lela und Malachi waren aus meiner Sicht dann nochmal eine gute Ergänzung zur Reihe.

"Vigilante" bildet die Brücke zum dritten Band - und man trifft auf Bekannte: Im Kern wird hier erzählt, wie Ana die "Countryside" verlässt, um Takeshi, ihren Geliebten zu finden. Man erfährt ein wenig Hintergrund zu Henry, der im zweiten Band neben Lela und Malachi eine große Rolle spielt, und diese Geschichte endet mit einem neuen Auftrag für Ana, die ja im Shadowland , wie Malachi, als Guard tätig war.

Als Kurzgeschichte für den großen Bogen der Reihe sicher nicht notwendig, aber eine interessante Ergänzung als Überleitung zum dritten Band.½

"Captive" ergänzt das Geschehen um die Festnahme von Lela durch die Guards im Shadowland um eine zweite Perspektive - der von Malachi.

Es wird hier im Kern das erste Aufeinandertreffen von Lela und Malachi aus Malachis Sicht erzählt, die drei Bände der Reihe werden ja aus Lelas Sicht erzählt.

Eine nette, kurze (23 Seiten) Ergänzung der Reihe.