Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

The avian shape shifters and the serpent people have been at war for as long as anyone can remember. Nobody even remembers why it started in the first place; they simply fight to avenge their lost comrades and because they are raised to hate each other. With numbers dwindling on both sides, everyone is nonetheless skeptical of and surprised by the news that Zane, the leader of the serpent people, wishes to negotiate a peace treaty and end the war. Danica, the soon to be queen of the avians is equally desperate for peace and, like Zane, agrees to do anything for peace. But are they really prepared to do anything? Are they desperate enough for peace that they will do anything, even marry each other, for the sake of their people?
The story is told from the point of view of Danica, and, aside from a brief introduction, is entirely focused on the during and after of the peace talks rather than the fighting and then the peace. It's quite an interesting approach, one I wasn't sure would work out to be interesting enough due to the relative lack of plot. Somehow, though, Hawksong turned out to be a surprisingly sweet, if a little short, and worthwhile read. I honestly found it charming. I'm going to look a little more into this author's books and will hopefully find some other good reading material.

Fearless and Elemental by Brigid Kemmerer

So! In addition to the main series, of which only two books are out, Kemmerer also wrote a couple of short background stories: Fearless and Elemental. Elemental is told from both Michael's (the older Merrick brother) and Emily Morgan's (the name probably won't ring a bell but if you read Storm, it will suffice to say that she's Tyler's sister) perspectives. It takes place several years before Storm, meaning that their parents are still alive. Fearless is about Hunter, taking place before he moves to the Merricks's area. Both give some nice background information on the two characters and are definitely worth a read. They are particularly interesting in where they both end. I won't spoil why but as long as you've read Storm, you should be able to make the connection. Anyway, they're both extremely short and shouldn't take longer to read than half an hour a piece. They're not essential to the story line but these little side stories are always pretty interesting.

Spark by Brigid Kemmerer

This is the sequel to Storm, following Chris' brother Gabriel (the fire twin. I personally think their names should be switched. The name Nick just seems a lot more fitted to Gabriel's personality) and the continuing struggles with the family's abilities. If you liked Storm, I guarantee that you'll like Spark as well. I appreciate that this book was about Gabriel because honestly, after the first book I was feeling like he was a total jerk. This helped explained some of that--taking the usual personality approach to characters associated with fire. Namely, short-tempered, frustrated, trouble-causing individuals. I feel sure that the author consulted some twins for this book (though she is kind of a character genius anyway compared to many authors) because, as a twin, I can say that their relationship was pretty spot on. I was extremely happy to discover that the quality of the book was no less than the first and was different enough from the first book that the romance didn't seem like a total copy. I don't really have anything else to add except my frustration that I have to wait until June for the next book to come out. This time from Hunter's perspective (which is totally necessary at this point).

Storm by Brigid Kemmerer

Let's see. How to describe this book... I suppose you might classify it as a paranormal romance. Or maybe just straight up fantasy. Though it is in our modern world so I'm leaning towards paranormal romance. Anyway, despite all the terrible creations that genre has been producing in the last, oh, 5 years or so, this is most wonderfully not one of those. The story is about Becca, a senior in high school who has suffered from bullying and, as such, is widely considered an absolute tramp around school. But the story begins (well, after the obligatory intro of course) when she saves Chris Merrick from two attackers who are beating him to a pulp in the high school parking lot. Fun! She drags him home to a not-so-nice welcome from his 3 brothers. Thus begins her involvement with the Merricks. Being vital to the story, of course the Merricks possess some... unusual talents. And Becca, as the main character, of course winds up getting involved in their problems. Onto the review!
Well, what can I say? I absolutely adored this book. Yes, I know these paranormal romances are usually really lame and cheesy, but in this case the characters were well developed, the plot was interesting, and the romance was not totally unrealistic and stupid. So, hey. Right there you've already got a way-above-average paranormal romance. While, yes, it did have the whole love triangle going for it, it just somehow wasn't really all that bothersome: surprising, since a lot of the time it irritates the heck outta me. I think I'm addicted to this author's books. Thank goodness this is a series! I don't know what I'd do if it weren't! Hopefully the rest will be just as good. I think they're from different perspectives so that in itself seems promising.

The Park Service by Ryan Winfield

I don't much feel like thinking up my own summary so here's the one from the back of the book: "In the distant, post-apocalyptic future, a fifteen-year-old boy stumbles on a world where humans are hunted by a mysterious Park Service and sets out to uncover who's behind the gruesome killings."

Let me start out by saying that this is not a bad book. Dystopian novels are really hit-and-miss for me. I either really love them, or absolutely hate them. This falls under the latter category.

So. You might be wondering why I even picked up this book if I was going to dislike it so much. The answer is that I just happened to see an ad for it that said something along the lines of, "similar to The Hunger Games." When I proceeded to read the synopsis that Amazon provides for items of the book-ish nature, it sounded pretty interesting. I mean, the Park Service. Doesn't that sound like some super interesting cult-ish group of ruthless killers? Alas, they were not (not that I'll spoil who they are for you). Besides, with the whole Hunger Games comparison and the mention of killings it sounded super action-packed and adventure-y! It was not that either. Instead it consisted pretty much of a lot of walking and meaningless talking. Not to mention an utter failing of romance with a supposedly-super-intelligent girl who turns out to be a total flake. Along with the main character of course. This seems to be another classic case of make-the-summary-more-interesting-than-the-actual-book. The beginning actually got my hopes up (the reason I bought it--I do read the beginnings before I purchase books). It just went downhill from there. The characters were also extremely lacking in depth. Even the main character! All in all I just really did not like the book. I most definitely will not be reading the rest of the trilogy.

Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman

Eon and Eona follow the story of (you guessed it!) Eon. Or Eona if you want to be technical. Eona is a girl who has been raised as a boy (Eon) since the age of six. In this Chinese/Japanese-esque world there are twelve energy dragons, following the twelve animals of the zodiac (I believe the so-called mirror dragon goes together with the dragon zodiac: it is sometimes referred to as the dragon dragon). There are eleven dragoneyes (people who possess the ability to use one of the dragon's power and in return, give that dragon some of their life force) at the moment, all but one for the mirror dragon who has been gone for over 500 years. Eona has the ability to see all eleven of the dragons (the mirror dragon not being present to be seen anyways). The only problem is that to be considered a possible candidate for a dragoneye apprentice (and the a dragoneye after 12 years have passed), you must be male. Thus the disguise. The story begins a little while before the Rat-dragoneye-apprentice-picking ceremony.

I feel sure that there was a shorter, much less complicated way to explain the plot but that will have to suffice because I'm not changing it. Anyway, these books are totally worth a read. What most stuck out to me was the impressive range and development of characters. Every even somewhat important character was developed beautifully. Each character had depth and was totally believable. My only criticism of them is that sometimes I didn't feel like they reacted as much as or how they should have. I think that mostly just came up in the second book though, the first book is pretty solid. The first book was definitely better than the second. Not because the second was just made to get more money (it was totally necessary to the story), but because the relationships started to seem unrealistic and it began to recede slightly into the realm of cliche. Several of the characters changed so much that they grew apart, and at the end of the book they seemed to suddenly jump back to their first-book relationships. The character change was perfectly fine, but it should have been followed through or at least a reason should have been given for the sudden change back. Despite those few problems though, the story was extremely enjoyable and engaging. It also held its own in terms of originality (at least based on what I've seen so far). Overall, these books would definitely be worth a read.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Hoorah for another story featuring an assassin! I think it's a very interesting topic with a lot of psychological depth to it. Anyways, this book features Celaena Sardothien,  a famous assassin who was captured and left to rot in the horrible soul-crushing-people-killing labor prison of Endovier. She gets dragged out by the Prince who offers her a once in a lifetime chance: become the King's Champion, serve for four year, and gain her freedom. All she has to do is is defeat the rest of the competitors through various tests of skill. But hey, she's the all-time famous assassin! It'll be easy, right?

Well, we all know the answer to that question. Onto the review!

Throne of Glass is very well written, interesting, and engaging. However, I still found it a bit lacking in some areas. For one thing, her character is a little confusing and flawed. She's played up as this extremely arrogant assassin who takes pride in her abilities and has a fondness for clothing. Then she turns out to be this soft-hearted soul who protests death and suffering and who certainly does not want to be an assassin. I suppose she could have changed while in prison, seeing the suffering that goes on there, but it's still just a little bit too contradictory for it to make sense. If she's changed into this angelic person she should at least feel a little guilty about her greediness and, as an assassin, she is much too squeamish about some of the death that happen. Yes, some of them are fairly gruesome, but she's an assassin for goodness's sakes! The romance bit also left much to be desired. It just seems so shallow and plain lame in so many aspects! I won't specifically say how it's flawed because I'd spoil it that way, but if you read it you should be able to see what I mean. Perhaps I'm just too used to those looming difficulties and trials of destiny occurring later on in book series, but I feel like Celaena's particular challenge came much too early and was a bit anti-climactic. I mean, it's hyped up to seem like it's going to be this supremely difficult and dangerous event, but it went by much to quickly. I was left thinking, "Wait. That's it?" I was very dissatisfied. But, despite all of the things I found lacking, Throne of Glass still turned out to be an enjoyable read and an impressive debut novel.

Robin: Lady of Legend by R. M. ArceJaeger

I've read and seen several spin-offs of the classic tale of Robin Hood so this particular book didn't strike me as particularly unique. Plenty of the Robin Hood spin-offs take one of the main characters (be it Will, John, or Robin) and change them a bit, commonly by making one of them a girl. This book is no different, making Robin a girl disguised as a boy for safety reasons. I found the characters to be pretty charming though somehow I doubt that Robin could have randomly had the skills needed to survive alone in the wild (namely her house-building skills. ArceJaeger pretty much just skipped over the difficulty of that which I think is kind of a glaring error). I appreciated that there wasn't really a love triangle, something that is all too often present in these stories. I really can't think of much else to say other than that I enjoyed the book but it wasn't particularly spectacular.

East by Edith Pattou

Basically, this is a re-telling of an old fairy tale--East of the Moon and West of the Sun I do believe (I may have mixed up the order there). The story mostly focuses on a girl named Rose and a mysterious white bear. A mysterious white bear that can talk, and looks somewhat intelligent. Not to mention acts very un-white-bear-like. Rose ends up going with him to save her sister (he offers to bring good fortune to her family if she goes with him) and ends up at a castle-y place where she has no idea what she's supposed to do. The story is told from several different perspectives (way too many in my opinion. I think it is a tad bit repetitive--in the beginning at least--and seems like a way to avoid having to give insight into each person's--or bear's, as the case may be--character and thoughts.) Anyways, I will say however, that it is quite interesting, if somewhat unconventional, in several respects.
First of all, the bear's thoughts are done in short, poetic chapters. It creates a very nice effect and reflects his struggle quite well (you'll have to read it to figure out which struggle I mean). I also thought the birth-direction-reflects-personality bit was interesting though I didn't totally love it. It adds an element of pre-determined fate and seems to me like a way to avoid having to portray characters' personality through description. Nonetheless, it's something I'd never seen before and it's possible that it was also a part of the original story. I felt like it should have been much longer. It was lacking a lot of the detail needed to make it seem that time passes and what makes these sorts of adventure books so interesting to me. I feel like it falls somewhere between a summary and a story due to the lack of details and it felt like it covered a few weeks rather than several years. The very beginning is also never tied up (it starts with a random girl finding a box containing the story). I found that in particular to be quite unnecessary and it could have been away around some sort of difficulty thinking of how to start the book (the characters' accounts began with things like 'I'm not quite sure where to start' and other similar things, making the beginning only a means to get to the story rather than having any real significance, especially without a return to it in the end). It also left me with lots of question that I feel would have been explained if the story were more detailed.
While I did enjoy reading it, I think East is best read by those who want a quick read and don't care for too many details.
Next I'll be writing about a spin off of Robin Hood.