Zenith - Sasha Alsberg & Lindsay Cummings

Title - Zenith
Author's - Sasha Alsberg & Lindsay Cummings
Series - The Androma Saga #1
ISBN - 9781311167606
Genre - YA > Sience Fiction > Fantasy
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Kindle
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Barnes & Noble - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Most know her as the Bloody Baroness, the captain of a fearsome glass starship called The Marauder. Androma and her crew strike terror in the hearts of those who cross them amongst the many corners of the Mirabel Galaxy.
When a routine mission goes rogue, the all-female crew is captured by a bounty hunter from Andi’s past and forced into a job that could, quite literally, start a war that will devour worlds.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the galaxy, the ruthless ruler Nor waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time. The final pieces are about to fall into place, liberating a plan that will tear Mirabel in two.
As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, there is one lesson that proves to be true: No one can be trusted in a galaxy that runs on lies and illusion.

I picked this book up purely because of the authors, i have never read a Lindsay Cummings book but have many good things about them, and Sasha is from Booktube so i was intrigued about this book, i pre ordered it and read it with in an hour and going into it i didn't know much about it, so i went in completely blind and i actually enjoyed it and that has shocked me quite a bit because after the first chapter i was so confused and thought this was just going to be an OK book but as it went on it got better and better.

Character wise, i thought we were going to see more of Valen since he was the first person we met but then we will probably see more of him in the books to come. Dex now there is a story there, he is a character i feel is going to cause a lot of trouble in the books to come. The girls in Andi's crew we don't know much about them but what we do know i love, they are all kick butt, and all awesome in their own way. Androma is such a brilliant heroine, for such a shot book she really made an impact ad i cannot wait to read more from her.

The story was good not one that read often and also it wasn't too much because it wasn't very long. But the story that we did get really set up the rest of the series and you can see where this series is going to go. 

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

Queen of Shadows - Sarah J Maas Review

Title - Queen of Shadows
Series - Throne of Glass # 4
Author - Sarah J Maas
ISBN - 978-1-4088-5861-5
My Copy - Purchased
Rating - 5 / 5
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads   -  Amazon UK    -  Amazon US
Genre - Ya > Fantasy



So i really cannot say much without spoiling the other books so this whole review will have spoilers everywhere

I am not really a Fantasy kind of person but this series is an exception each book is better than the last and this book was phenomenal every single ship from the first book has been flipped up and SUNK :'( and so much happened in this mammoth of a book (this will probably be a long on)

So lets start at the beginning

Dorian is describing what it is like having a Valg inside him and the darkness that takes control. Oh My Giddy Aunt, i have never really been a fan of Dorian but this book broke my heart for him he struggled and fought so much and i really admired him for that.

On to Celaena or Aelin as she is now going by we first see her in a bar and and she is wondering if Chaol is safe and then when she finds Chaol and he is with Arobrynn she doesn't talk to him just watches and then she meets with Arobrynn herself and he calls her by the new nickname people are calling her "Fire Breathing Bitch Queen". I felt like something had to break in this book this had to end if she was ever going to get back to Terrasen she had to either kill him or immobilise him.

When we get out first glimpse of Aedion he is in the castle dungeons and is ill with a fever that was caused by and infection but he pretends he isn't so the king doesn't decide to kill him before the fever can and and then his Queen will not be able to save him.

by around 34 pages in i really got the sense that we wasn't going to be using Celaena anymore and i had to get used to the idea of calling her Aelin. When Chaol and Aelin are in the same meeting i was kind of jumping in my seat (I still want them to be endgame Please) and then they talked after and they talk about how saving Aedion will be a trap and how its not safe and you can tell that he still cares for her. We meet Neseryn Faliq in this scene and i wasn't too sure of her in the beginning but by the end she really grew on me.

When Arobrynn offers Aelin a deal to bring him a Valg i knew in the end she would accept and when she did it was in return for the rescue of Aedion.

We finally get another Dorian scene and it is not giving you much hope the collar has made him cold and heartless and he is still trying to fight for control, But the deamon wins and starts controlling him fully.

It was nice to see some of the palace guards we have met along the way and when they are planning and Aelin tells them that everyone on their side should were a flower on their uniform was a testament to how good of a Queen she will be. Sparing the guards that are innocent even if they have just stood around and done nothing while innocent people are suffering in the dungeons.

We see the Duke again and i really didn't want to read about him i was like c'mon just get back to Celaena and the others who gives a S**t about him.  Then he goes and says he wants to breed Valgs with Witches and I'm like oh god what is this little bitch doing now from the beginning he has been sabotaging Celaena and he just needs to F the hell off.

When Aelin and Arobrynn meet and he has to go and tell her about Chaol and Nesseryn being Ex Friends With Benefits i was like WTF i mean did you really have to tell her then he goes and rubs it in her face that shares his plans with Neseryn and trusts her and he doesn't with Aelin.I wanted to kill him myself.

When the topic of saving Dorian came up i was like a See-Saw one minute i was on Aelin's side the next i was on Chaol's side they both had good points Aelin he isn't in there anymore its not Dorian and Chaol says that they can save him and that he will be in there somewhere they just have to get the collar off somehow.

Finally 130 pages in she goes off to save her cousin, and Dorian is still fighting for control against the valg but its waining he is losing. She finally makes it to the Glass castle. and you felt like this was a pinnacle moment in the series she is getting one of her family members back and is still in disguise but she is Aelin and there were so many Quotable Moments like "She was Fire, and Light, and ash, And Embers. She was Aelin Fire heart". Then she gets to Aedion who is chained up on a platform and another amazing quote that stuck in my mind took place in this scene " Aedion grinned at his queen, and the entire world went to hell" when she gets him free you really do feel for Aelin she finally has one of her family members back in her life but when they are escaping and Valg Dorian stops them i really thought she was going to kill him but then she hesitated and Neseryn finds them and points her arrow at Aedion because Arobrynn told her and Chaol that Aelin will betray them and kill Dorian if she has the chance. BASTARD

Lysandra is a complex character you never really know where you are with her and if she is betraying you or she is your ally. But we find out she is to be trusted she gave up her freedom to stop a little girl going through everything she did and when she finds out Celaena is Aelin she doesn't bat an eyelid.

Back to the Witches they will not give the Duke BlackBeaks but he can have some yellow legs instead. I have to admit all of the Witches scenes kind of confused me a little bit.

When Valg Dorian stopped Aelin from leaving he was trying to fight the Valg inside him when he recognised Aelin he wished she had killed him he doesn't want to live on like a monster :'(

When Aelin fights Valgs in the slums of Rithold to make sure Arobrynn has a lot of money in his back pocket you know she is planning something big.

We start talking about Rowan again ad Aedion tells Aelin that he is the greatest Fey warrior alive and Aelin is shocked because she never knew that she was bonded to the greatest fey warrior alive.

The stone Gargoyles from the tower is alive and they are in league with the Valgs. Even Aelin is shocked, i was a little surprised by her being shocked because if there is fey and valgs why couldn't other species be alive as well.

Page 233 was the return of Rowan i thought we left him back in Terrasen and wouldn't see him till we went back there, but her he is (sarcastic YAY). Even i have to admit Rowan is kind of hot and when they have a conversation while he is in the bath and it gets really intimate and she starts washing his hair it was strange to see such warrior act all soft.

We go back to Dorian and find out the Deamon and full control over him and he is no longer fighting for control he has given up. he is overseeing the prisoners interrogation and his Valg is very cold and is making Dorian watch and is taunting him in his mind.

WE have always known something was up with Lysandra and then one Bloody sniff from Rowan to find out shes a Shape shifter.

Aelin finds a Valg for her end of the Bargain with Arobrynn but she find one who wants to die his human side would rather die than live as a human with the memories from killing people while being a Valg. So off they go to Arobrynns dinner party. She decides that tonight is the night Arobrynn dies.

Even tough i do not Ship Aelin and Rowan together they do have that hilarious bond that lets them chat and the conversation during dinner was hilarious 
"Seventeen-year-old Rowan wouldn't have known what to do with you. He could barely speak to females outside of him family"
" Liar i don't believe that for a second."
"Its true. You would have scandalised him with your night clothes - even with that dress you have on" 
"He would probably have been even more scandalised to learn I'm not wearing any undergarments beneath this dress".

Then Arobrynn goes and ruins it i ended up being really emotional after this scene When Arobrynn goes and put that fricken ring on her finger and cuts her and sucks her blood so he can control her i literally had to put the book down for about 30 minutes but then i carried on and and got to the part where he tells her to blink and she does and my reaction was holy shit and a heck of a lot of No's then the next page you get clued in on the plan it was a fake Wyrdstone ring and it was the plan all along to make him think he has won and he has control over a Queen.

#awkward Rowan stops Aelin from flirting with him and while that's happening Lysandra kills Arobrynn YAY the ass hole is dead.  Celaena is called in to see if she can do anything to find out who did it Chaol broke in and put bloody footprints in a size that matches no one so none of them would be under suspicion. Meanwhile Valg Dorian is tourchering prisoner's.

Its time to read Arobrynns Will and Aelin is going to be Celaena for the very last time, Clarice is there along with Lysandra because Arobrynn told her he is going to leave her some thing in his Will but when it is read out he has left everything to Celaena. Then come to find out she switched the Wills and did it so she would have enough money for an army. Then she gets to see Arobrynns body she sees Lysandra's work and how brutal it is she still beheads him just to be sure.

Aelin, Chaol, Aedion and the gang try to find Arobrynns Hell Fire and when they are looking they find skeletons that have sins carved into them. They find Elena's Husband and his sin is he never killed the original Valg King and only inprisoned him with Aelins Necklace The Eye of Elena and they realise that the king probably want to free him.

Dorian is learning to like hearing the prisoners screams and tasting their fear and pain.

Even from the grave that annoying little B***H causes trouble by somehow letting the king know Lysandra is a Shape Shifter and the king finds and arrests her. During her rescue we get a lot of weird stuff happening Dorian and Manon i actually cannot wait to see where that goes and then Dorian for just one minute wins over the valg and tells is Dorian while talking to Manon. But Chaol doesn't realise that he only sees him when he is a Valg and he thinks he is no longer in there.

Kick Ass Aelin rescues Lysandra epically and gets out of there quietly then she realises Chaol is missing and he has gone to kill Dorian but takes an wrong turning and ends up with the witches

They easily could have gotten out of there without any trouble until Aelin goes and opens her big mouth and tells them she killed one of them and then a huge fight ensues. When Rowan took the Arrow for Aelin i was happy if he dies protection her hes done his job.

Then you have two amazing fighters in Aelin and Manon who fight head to head and i really didn't know who was going to win then Aelin saves Manon and she now owes Aelin a Life Debt.

The conversation where Chaol realises he was wrong to call Aelin a monster, then the talk turns into a goodbye and i was almost crying i have shipped Aelin and Chaol from the very beginning and my ship has finally sunk :'(.

Then Manon repays the life debt in a enormous way she tells Aelin that Dorian is still in there and fighting. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.

Contrary to what was said earlier about her never being Celaena again she pretends to be Celaena to get into the glass castle with Chaol as her prisoner on their way in they encounter the guards who are strung up and have been tourchered Chaol changes the plan and again you don't know what that plan is until its too late.

When they get into the room and Aelin and the King face off he knows that Celaena is Aelin because he went through Dorian's memories. He goes on to make an example of Dorian by making him kneel and a trendel of night whipped him and tourchered him. Chaols tries to save him but the king tells him the only way he can save him is if she gives over his former lover Aelin. Then Aelin releases Magic with the Eye of Elena.. Dorian runs after Aelin when she runs out of the castle with the Eye of Elena, Chaol stays behind to fight for justice for his men and Sorscha. Chaol is Dead and sacrificed himself for Aelin and Dorian. this time i actually threw my book across the room and into my bookshelf and there where lots of No's coming out of my mouth.

Dorian finally sees Celaena and fights the Valg inside him for control again and he wins. OMG that was intense an amazing quote from this scene that stuck in my head long after i finished it was "They joined hands, so the world ended, and the next one began"

 We now have to deal with the King but hes acting normal and that's strange he has been controlled by a Valg minion since his childhood when he and his friend the Duke freed Errawan. The minion went into the King and Errawan went into Duke Perrington. Then the king tells them that Chaol is alive he didn't kill him but he is very badly injured i did a little happy dance at this.

Then Dorian kills his father the King and Chaol is at Dorian's Feet. Aelin addresses the crowd and tells them that The king is dead and Dorian is the new King and if any of them have a problem with it they can take it up with her and her court.

After the battle everyone is resting in their own rooms Aelin is back in Celaenas room and when she wakes up she is as sassy as ever with Rowan "I save the world and yet i wake up to you being pissy" that made me laugh after all the seriousness of the last couple of pages.

When Chaol wakes up we find out he is paralysed and is in a wheelchair. Chaol and Neseryn are going to the south to see if they can find a world renowned healer who can help him. Dorian is staying in the castle to run his city and Aelin and her court along with Lysandra and Evangeline who Aelin has made Ladies of her court are going to Terrasen.

AELIN IS HOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot wait for the next book and to see where all the characters end up and we are going into the south a place we have never been before.

I still want Aelin and Chaol to be endgame cmon Sarah J Maas.

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

Top 5 Wednesday - Debut Novels - 20th May 2015

So this week I actually had to do some research because i don't know what books are debut novels I don't really pay attention to it so let's get started ...


5. The Queen of the Tearling - Erika Johanson 

This is a YA fantasy novel that was released in 2014 I only read it this month but it was amazing and a great set up for the rest of the trilogy it follows Kelsea who was exiled and in hiding all of her life because she couldn't take the throne till she was 19 and this book follows her journey as she undertakes the task of taking back her country.

4. Divergent - Veronica Roth 

This book was amazing and especially as a debut novel it was full of world building and there was no doubt in my mind that Veronica Roth is an amazing writer even if I didn't really like the rest of the series diverge.t was the first ever book I read in one sitting.

3.  City of bones - Cassandra Clare 

I didn't think when I first read this book that it was all that good in fact I really didn't like it but 're reading it last year I absolutely fell in love and realised how well written it was for a debut novel and her writing style I was amazing at how good it was.

2. Succubus Blues - Richelle Mead 

Succubus blues is a adult urban fantasy novel about a female sex demon living in Seattle its an amazing book and it was the first adult novel I ever read and you should read it because it is really really good 

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher stone - J K Rowling

I don't think this could have been left out if I tried because this is the epitome of debut novels and what they can do to an author's career this book got a generation reading and started a phenomenon that is still alive and kicked today. I think everybody should read this book at least once just to say you have. 

Top 5 Wednesday was created by GingerReadsLainey

Here is the goodreads page 

Here is the full list of participants - Wednesday-Ers

           

Until next time

Happy reading 

Peyton

The Novice - Taran Matharu Spoiler free review

Name - The Novice
Series - The Summoner
Author - Taran Matharu
My rating - 4.5 / 5
Goodreads - The Novice
ISBN -125006712X (ISBN13: 9781250067128)
My Copy - E-Arc form NetGalley
Release date - 5th May 2015

Synopsis -
When blacksmith apprentice Fletcher discovers that he has the ability to summon demons from another world, he travels to Adept Military Academy. There the gifted are trained in the art of summoning. Fletcher is put through gruelling training as a battlemage to fight in the Hominum Empire’s war against orcs. He must tread carefully while training alongside children of powerful nobles. The power hungry, those seeking alliances, and the fear of betrayal surround him. Fletcher finds himself caught in the middle of powerful forces, with only his demon Ignatius for help.

As the pieces on the board manoeuvre for supremacy, Fletcher must decide where his loyalties lie. The fate of an empire is in his hands. The Novice is the first in a trilogy about Fletcher, his demon Ignatius, and the war against the Orcs.

So I'm not a huge fan of fantasy but I decided to give this book a go a d I'm so glad I did because it was fantastic one of the best first books in a series I have read in a long time.

 The main protagonist is Fletcher who is an orphan who live with a blacksmith then comes across a summoners book and decides to give it a try, and that starts him on a journey that takes him far from home and he meets some brilliant characters along the way. There are so many antagonists in this book it would take me forever to name them all but what I can say is if you love fantasy or are just getting into it like me then this is a book you should try because it has the fantasy elements but not overwhelmingly so.

Also if that wasn't incentive enough you also have an academy (which i love), and Orcs , Elves, Gremlins and demons. 

This book will definitely be in my top books of 2015

So give this book a try because It will leave you wanting more. 

Until next time

Happy Reading 

Peyton