Book Review- The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

Title: The Gathering Storm

 Author: Robin Bridges

Series:  The Katerina Trilogy #1

To be published:  January 10 2012 by Delacorte Press

Length: 400 pages

Warnings: a little violence, romance

Source: Netgalley

Other info: This is Robin Bridge’s debut novel.

Summary : Debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.
 An evil presence is growing within Europe's royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina's strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar's standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina's help to safeguard Russia, even if he's repelled by her secret, and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.
 The time has come for Katerina to embrace her power, but which side will she choose—and to whom will she give her heart?

Review: This is set in 1880s Russia, and centres around Katerina, a young necromancer. As well as the dead being brought back to life, this Russia also contains many different types of vampires, faeries, witches and many paranormal creatures connected somehow to Russian folkore. And with all the mystery going on at court, various things happen and Katerina is the only one who can really do anything about it.

I don’t normally read things involving Russia, mainly because there’s not that many YA books set in Russia. Or maybe they are, and I’ve not heard of them. But anyway, this was a new culture for me. The way the faerie and vampire and other paranormal races were woven into the Nobility was very interesting, and done in a way that I love.d. Really, the actual nobility were the creatures. Fun. 

Katerina is a great lead character, she’s strong, not afraid to voice her opinions and dreams of being a doctor, something almost unheard of for women in those days. I don’t think the other characters were quite as well done, possibly excepting her mother, who was strong and interesting in her own way. The romance, while not being particularly amazing, didn’t detract from enjoying the book either, and was just there.  The biggest drawback in this is the names. All very similar, as per Russian tradition, but hard to remember and distinguish.

The mystery and the part of the plot that was interesting didn’t really pick up until later on in the novel. Until then, it was fairly repetitive. And then when it did all pick up, I was hooked until the end.

I loved the rich mythology and the whole variety of things used. It was very interesting to read about the set up of the nobility, and also the set up of the Faerie and Vampire courts and so and so.

We're kept guessing throughout the second half, partly due to the stuff that's happening and the ways it could go, and partly because of the way things are easily mixed up (at least for me).

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a very original book with a strong heroine that I want to see more of.

Links: Goodreads |

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Book Review- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Title: Between Shades of Gray

 Author: Ruta Sepetys

Series:  N/A

Published:  22 March 2011 by Philomel

Length: 344

Warnings: violence, war, 

Source: Library

Other info: Between Shades of Grey has been longlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2012.

Summary :Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.
Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously - and at great risk - documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives.

Review: Lina is a Lithuanian girl living happily. And then Soviet guards force Lina and her family out, onto a cattle car, and north to a labour camp in Siberia. She’s separated from her father, and the only thing she can do to keep herself from going mad is to draw. Even though it carries a great risk, she draws, hoping her father can come, find her, and piece together a trail from recognising a scribble signature. Until then, all Lina has to do is stay alive.

I don’t normally read books like this. Depressing and true to life. But it’s on the Carnegie Longlist and my school librarian and her daughter loved it and so I thought I should read it too.

I’m really glad I did pick it up. From the first page I got right inside Lina’s head, feeling her pain, misery and joy at various parts in the novel.

The characters are all very well fleshed out, and we’re given backstory and context to all of them. We don’t learn their stories all in one block, but we learn little parts every so often at relevant parts of the story. Almost all of them are likeable, and we get a good sense of all of them, understanding their circumstances and the way they reacted to everything very well. Lina is  a strong, yet believably breakable, girl despite everything that is thrown at her, and it’s lovely seeing her develop in the face of everything that’s thrown at her.

I was shocked at the way they were treated, in the same way I’d be shocked if I read about this stuff in the news. I think it’s because this is dealing the side of World War II that we don’t normally hear about. Most books you pick up that  focus on WWII are on Hitler, and the Holocaust. This is the only one that I’ve noticed that deal with Stalin and the Baltic nations. You learn a lot reading this book.

I liked the little bit of romance woven into it. I don’t normally like falling  hardly in love with someone you’ve only known  for a little while, but I just felt so bad for Lina that it was the only thing that was going somewhat ok in her life.

Something’s always happening to Lina and her family. The story moves on fairly quickly, and I just kept turning the pages.

Overall:  strength 5 tea to a really powerful look at the side of World War Two that we don’t ever see

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Book Review- Pyxis, The Discovery by K C Neal

Title: Pyxis-The Discovery

 Author: K. C. Neal

Series:  Pyxis #1

Published: Ebook Oct/Nov 2011, Print Dec 2012  

Length: 216 pages

Warnings: Sex references, suggestive situations, 14+

Source: Author in exchange for review

Other info: This is the first book in the series. Book two, The Peril, will come in Spring 2012.

Summary : Corinne lives an average teenage life working at her dad’s cafe, hanging out with her best friend, and trying to forget a falling-out with her almost-boyfriend Mason. Things take a strange turn when she uses her late grandmother’s food dyes for a bake sale, and her customers suddenly find her irresistibly alluring. Then she discovers she and Mason are haunted by the same dreams of a dark force that consumes everything in its path. Pursued by shadowy figures and a crazy woman with secrets from the past, Corinne must find out who her grandmother really was. In her quest to unravel her family’s history, she learns she is destined to protect this world--and the dark world of her dreams. She races to find the answers she seeks before her nightmares break free. 

Review: some time ago, there was a thing on K.C.Neal’s website saying book bloggers could reserve an e-ARC. I read the vague summary, and requested one not knowing at all what I’d actually get. It could have been anything. It was  an original concept with the cakes being the thing that starts a discovery, which then quickly escalates into something  really awesome.

After realising tipping liquid from strange bottles into cakes that will be given to strangers is not the best thing to do, as the customers start acting really weirdly, Corinne and her friend Ang and nearly-boyfriend Mason investigating. They come across a list with their names on it, with mysterious initials and many more unexplained things. Corinne and her friends must learn about their new status quickly...

The characters were all well developed. Corinne was very relatable, as were her problems of being a teen girl in general, with the added fact that she’s received a letter pre-written (if that makes sense) by her grandmother telling her what to do. How much I love Grandma Doris and her opening to the explain all letter... “if you’re reading it [the letter], I must be dead. What a pity!” The other characters were all fleshed out just as well, and I can see some of them coming into play majorly as we go through the series (I’m looking here at Harriet and Sophie...)

The romantic side actually added quite a lot to the book, something that doesn’t always happen with books. Mason and Corinne’s   relationship was open for exploration, and towards the end when they are bound together magically in a way, you could tell there was another slight layer to this.

The pacing was a little slower at the start, but it quickly picked up. Some bits were a little predictable, but  there are some bits that really kept me thinking about what happened/what will happen.  The book ends at an annoyingly convenient part- convenient because here was a logical place to end it, but annoying because it had just turned a huge corner in terms of plot development and I wanted to read on!

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to an amazing book that I can’t wait for the sequels to. I want to carry on with Corinne’s story and I also want to see if my suspicions are correct...

Links: | Goodreads | Author website | 

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