Review: Prince of Conjurers

Prince of Conjurers

By Laurie L. Bolanos

book rate: ★★★★★ (5/5) 

Publisher: Nicobar Press

Date of Publication: April 2nd 2015

Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Page Count: 434

Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis provided (shortened):

What if the Phantom of the Opera changed his mind after releasing Christine and Raoul?

What if he staged his own death?

What if he intended to claim Christine as his own?

Review:

What a great great read!

Prince of Conjurers is a sequel to The Phantom of  the Opera imagined and written by Laurie L. Bolanos. I've always loved The Phantom very very much, it's one of those classics you keep close to your heart and therefore I went to The Prince of Connjurers with a few reservations... Which was completely unnecessary, as I concluded!

Laurie creates all sorts of different environments and intrigues that will keep you awake at night thinking about how this story will end. You go through so many worlds and prespectives in Prince of Conjurers that it can literally be said "This book is a journey"! A journey through the things you thought you bellieved and the things you thought you didn't. A journey of reflection but also a journey that will keep you on the edge until you reach the last page.

If you've been reading my reviews you know that a few things I really appreciate in a book (and need to be able to say "this was a good book") are:

• Realistic characters, characters you can connect with and that have a rational way of viewing the events they participate in
• A plot that makes sense, no loose strings and details that just don't connect with the story itself
• An unpredictable storyline, if I'm able to guess the whole story while I'm reading the first 3 chapters then I can already said it'll be a 3-star book at the best

Prince of Conjurers did amazingly in all my "requirements" mentioned above. This was the type of book that kept me thinking "This will happen", "Ok, maybe not... Then this will happen", "Ok it didn't either...", "WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?". All in all, it was amazing and gripping and Laurie just became an auto-buy author for me.

And as if the all the above wasn't enought, I also got to see Erik (the phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, for those who don't know or don't remember) in a different light and to be able to imagine him as more than just the phantom, which was amazing for me!

To sum it all up: 100% recommend. But do read it with an open mind as you'll be signing up for much more than just The Phantom of the Opera, you'll be signing up for a full tour to what you are imagining and what I bet you weren't.

Review: The Here and Now

The Here and Now
by Ann Bashares


Book Rate: ★★★★☆


Brief Introduction (shortened from goodreads):

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins. 

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth. 

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves. 


Review:

If you've just read the synopsis: I know it sounds amazing, and if you haven't: it sounds amazing!

But it isn't.

THE PLOT isn't. Please notice I didn't say it's bad, it is not bad, it's just not mind-blowinging fantastic. It's pretty simple and still very very gripping.

"The Here and Now" is a page-turner because of its characters and a reading-experience-changer because of its ending. Prenna is this smart teenage girl that lives in oppression but she's also a fighter. Any reader will be able to see her strenght and loyalty to her sense of justice become increasingly evident throughout the book. All the other character are insteresting in their own way but in my opinion Prenna is the most intriguing, and to be honest I think this only hit me when I finished the book because...

**BEGINING OF THE SPOILER SECTION**
Because she considered it was more important to her to lead her community than to be with the boy she had a crush on. And we never see this in most books, we never see the female protagonist walking away from a realtionship because the path they want to pursue is not compatible with having a romantic relationship. Either they always sacrifice their deepest wishes for being with their other half, or they simply don't have a biggest dream than falling in love.
And this is why I found Prenna so inspiring and refreshing, because she walked away when she thought she should.
**END OF THE SPOILER SECTION**

So all in all, 100% recommend, just don't go into it for the storyline.

One Sentence Wednesdays #1

Sooooo I had this idea for a meme a while ago and I was still deciding whether I should really start it or not and I concluded I should. Here it goes:

One Sentence Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Rebeca of "Liberamans". Anyone can join, you just have to do the following:

• Pick up the book you're currently reading (or read last)
• Think about what it made you feel so far
• Describe it in one sentence
• Share your sentence, book title and author with the book community :)

Note: Please refer the host of the meme (this blog/this post) in your own post and leave a comment down below with a link to your One Sentence Wednesdays so all the participant can have a look and share their thoughts too :)

My Sentence:

"A brilliant sequel to a brilliant classic."

- about Prince of Conjurers by Laurie L. Bolanos

Teaser Tuesdays #2

TEASER TUESDAYS is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.


My Teaser (spoiler free):

"It was the most unfortunate for Georges, my understudy. I did not choose him because he was special, but beacuse he wasn't. He was unremarkable. What he did possess was bone structure and height similar to my own. And for that, he paid with his life to play the role of the century."

-page 1, "Prince of Conjurers" by Laurie L. Bolanos

Musing Mondays #12

MUSING MONDAYS is a weekly meme created and hosted by Jess from A Daily Rhythm.

Thank you so much Jess!

My Musing:

I don't think I've ever introduced you guys to my fandom-related necklace collection... So let's do it!

Firstly the Deathly Hollows necklace which I acquired in 2013 in Oporto. An old man was selling them in the street and I had been looking for one for so long that I didn't even hesitated when I saw them all dangling from a rope.

As you can see I have it exposed in my J.K.Rowling shelf next to my Harry Potter series and first two books on the Cormoran Strike triology.


Next up comes my Mockingjay necklace wich I got in Madrid just a few months ago in February of 2015. I went to a street market called "El Rastro" with my friends and I saw this tent full with fandom necklaces and I literally screamed and runned straight to it. As soon as my friends caught up with me and saw what the yelling was all about they just said "Typical Rebeca..."! So that's where I got this beauty that's currently hanging by my Hunger Games triology.


And last but not least comes my Shadowhunter's necklace which is really just the Angelic Power or Enkeli rune but in necklace form. I got it in the same place I got the Mockingjay necklace and I have it near my Mortal Instruments series.

So here you have it! I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about me and if you have funny stories or just fandom related merch that you want to share do not hesitate to leave a comment down below!

Rebeca's June TBR

During the entirity of this month I have a group project to do for college so I know I won't get much reading done. But I've been sent quite a few books from publishers in exchange for a honest review those will be my top priority.

• Ninelands by K. E. Boyer
• Prince of Conjurers by Laurie L. Bolanos
• The Sacrifist by T. Mason Gilbert
• Musical Chairs by Sheila Levin
• Fresh Meat by B. Bentley Summer

Since I'm only posting this TBR on the 6th I've already read and reviewd the first book on this list, you can check my review here.

Feel free to tell us about the books you're planning to read this month in the comments' section down below!

Review: Ninelands by K. E. Boyer

Ninelands

By K. E. Boyer

book rate: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5) 

Published by: K. E. Boyer

Date of Publication: April 15th 2015

Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Page Count: 220

Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis provided (shortened):

One morning, twelve-year-old Jamie Collins hears strange sounds coming from the attic. Being the son of a wizard and capable of magic himself, this doesn’t seem too odd. But when he goes upstairs to explore, he discovers something totally unexpected: Minkel, a delightful, elfish creature, who intends to take him, his sister and his friends to Ninelands, a place Jamie never knew existed.

Meanwhile Zard—the future head of the Ketch clan of wizards, who are at odds with the Council of Elves—wants to get hold of Jamie for his own dark purposes. Suddenly Jamie finds himself caught in a dangerous web of magic and he must choose whether or not he will train to be a wizard and join his father in the fight against evil.

Review:

"Ninelands" is the first book in the Jamie Collins' Mystical Adventures series and I have quite a lot to say about it so keep reading!

Firstly there's something I really want to get out of the way so let me start with that. This is definetely one of my book pet peeves: characters that talk to themselves... a lot... and in an unrealistic way... It just never sounds right to me, like the character is slightly dumb... But I'm aware it may mean nothing to other readers so I want to make clear that this is just my opinion! Now, I took the liberty of picking an excerpt to better demonstrate my point of view:

"He scratched his head and glanced into the hall.

-Maybe Mom dropped something up in the attic.

But the attic door was closed.

He went to the top of the stairs to listen.

-Mom is down in the kitchen with Megan.

He went back to his room and looked up at the ceiling.

-So what made all of the noises?"

I'm hoping you got my point so lets move on to more important aspects of the book, the characters (apart from the talk-to-self thing) are adorable and I found it impossible not to love them instantly. Now take this super fun kids and put them in this amazing world called Ninelands and you have the potential  to tell a pretty fantastic story! But that's the main problem I found in this book... It just has a lot of potential and never really makes use of it. I felt lik 80% of "Ninelands" sounded more like an instruction manual about how a certain world is and how things happen there than actually about living in that world. I know this is the first book in a series and therefore I expected the rest of Jamie Collins' Mystical Adventures to be incredibly captivating and magical and mind-blowing. But "Ninelands" specifically felt more like the novela before the series than the actual first book to me.

On the other hand, I did really enjoy some ideas this book explores. And to be fair and not just quote an excerpt I dislike from "Ninelands", I will also quote my favourite:

"It all starts with a child's imagination. That is why humans are always coming up with new tools. Or new and better ways of doing things. In your world, children's imaginations grow and magically change to become creative. So that they can invent things as grownups. To imagine something and turn it into an invention for all humans to use is pure magic."

A slow-paced book introducing a possibly adictive and really fantastic series, that's how I would describe "Ninelands".