Red Queen By Victoria Aveyard

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win? -Goodreads

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THIS BOOK. 

THIS FREAKING BOOK.

I LOVED IT SO MUCH DAMMIT.

Okay so here's the story. I have basically not read a single fantasy novel since I did the whole Mortal Instruments series back in January 2014. I've been doing contemporary ever since and I finally decided that I wanted to sprinkle a bit of fantasy back into my reading lists. So I picked up Red Queen. It had good ratings and people generally seemed pretty obsessed with this book. So I plunged. AND OH MY THIS BOOK WAS GOOD.

From the very first chapter, I knew that this was going to be a good book. You know how sometimes you can just tell if a book is going to tank or if its going to soar? Well I knew this was going to be great. The writing was easy to read. It was smooth. The words and the style just flowed over my brain and tongue.  (Don't you dare tell me that you don't understand that. I know you do). It was very easy to follow along and to place myself in that castle and in that village. It was easy to merge myself into their world and to feel what they were feeling. 

I did read a number of reviews before reading the book though and everyone mentioned that there was a sort of twist at the end. So I kind of saw what was about to happen before it did and that softened the blow which I was a bit upset about. But it was still pretty cool. I mean it still affects you and you're still left with that 'what the hell' face after.

I was also really impressed with the way Victoria handled the conflict in this book. Usually when I read scenes with conflict in it, I tend to roll my eyes a lot because it's hard to control. Often it can end up sounding fake or overly dramatic. But in this book, Victoria did an excellent job. There was perfect control in her writing. I didn't find any parts to be too dramatic or anything like that.

A lot of people complain that this book bears many similarities to other fantasy novels but I don't read a lot of fantasy so to me, the whole idea of the story was shiny and new.

Overall this was an absolutely excellent book. I would recommend it to anyone especially people who are looking to read more fantasy novels. I literally can't wait for the second book in the series which will unfortunately only be out next year.

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My Rating: 5/5
Purchase the books at The Book Depositary using my special link Here. 

Capture (Cryptid Tales #2) By Brina Courtney

Shay is finally learning who she is, and who it is she will become. But for now escaping the clutches of the evil Malsumis will have to be enough. Or is it? In Capture, Shay embraces other cryptids in order to defeat their common enemy. She is willing to die trying to save her father and the love of her life, Hugh. But can Hugh, her cryptid mate, protect her from the evil Malsumis? Or will she fall victim to his horrible plans? -Goodreads

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I was given this book in exchange for a review. However when I requested the book, I didn't realise that it was a series and that I was being given the second book. So I started this book without reading anything of the first book except the reviews and blurbs. 

I expected to not enjoy it. Aside from the mainstream books like Divergent or The Mortal Instruments, I have pretty much stopped reading fantasy/supernatural series books. Mostly because I just don't enjoy them as much as I used to. Also, as I was starting from the second book, I expected to be lost. And I was. 

The book seems to continue right exactly where the last book dropped off and there isn't much explanations or anything to help a new reader through. I found that disappointing. I mean I had to find out who Jeremy and Chad were through reading reviews from the first book.

However, I could tell that the story was good. I liked the idea of Cryptids and I found the romance between Hugh and Shay to be cute. I thought it was unique in some ways and I enjoyed the writing style.

The books lost points for me mainly because I was lost with all the funny names and things and also because I felt that it was very under developed. This book is incredibly short. I felt like halfway through the books, when Lacey was telling Shay about all the different mystical creatures, she was lost. She barely knew that anything existed yet in a couple of pages, she somehow managed to save hundreds of Cryptids from the villain and she was made queen. So that part didn't sit well with me. 

However it was an excellent story and I would recommend checking it out (start with the first book though).

My Rating: 3/5
Purchase the books at The Book Depositary using my special link Here.