Darkphoenix

NEED ORIGIN NOW!!!!!!!!Brand new Origin Teaser:“We can’t lose you,” she said after a few moments of awkward as hell silence. “You have to understand that we aren’t doing this because we don’t care about Kat. We’re doing this because we love you.”“But I love her,” I said without hesitation.Dee’s eyes widened, probably since it was the first time she’d heard me say it out loud, well, about anyone other than my family. I wished I had said it more often, especially to Kat. Funny how that kind of shit always turns out in the end. While you’re deep in something, you never say or do what you need to. It’s always after the fact, when it’s too late that you realize what you’ve should’ve said or done.It couldn’t be too late. I knew that. The fact that I was still alive was testament to that. Like Dee said, though, there were worse things than death. After reading the new release date of August 27th:After reading that blurb:here's the first chapter :http://www.scribd.com/doc/160695527/Origin-by-Jennifer-L-Armentroutbut be warned, it doesn't really help..UPDATE:I am finally done and it was a lukewarm experience at best.I had high hopes for Origin and sadly the book did not live up to them. Origin seemed a little disjointed to me, like the author wasn't sure how she wanted the story to progress. Be warned, there will be spoilers below.Origin begins where Opal left off, with Katy in the clutches of Daedalus while Daemon, Dawson and Beth managing to escape. As Daedalus' captive Katy is subjected to a bunch of physical, medical and psychological tests, she is basically their resident guinea pig. We are introduced to some new characters, though only one of them, Archer, is of any significance. Plus we also finally meet Nancy, who pretty much runs the facility along with General Dasher. While at Daedalus, Katy learns that perhaps all that she thought of the Luxens was not completely accurate, apparently evil Luxens do exist (surprise surprise!) On the other side, Daemon is busy rampaging in his search for Katy. He finally gets help from Luc who tells Daemon where Katy is being held and agrees to help them for a price. Daemon's big plan is to turn himself over to the DOD and then improvise (great plan genius.) On his capture, he demands that they let him see Katy. They eventually do take him to Katy and this is where the book pretty much fizzled out. The minute Daemon entered the facility, I felt there was a definite drop in tension (and no, growling and glowering at other characters is not the kind of tension I'm talking about) They finally escaped Daedalus with Archer's help (turns out he was working with Luc, no surprise there) and make a run for it. The other thing that really bothered me was that Katy went through some traumatic shit, but the minute Daemon showed up, it was almost as if she suddenly got over everything she had been through. Sure, there were moments of uncontrollable sobbing but very often they seemed as if they were an afterthought. If you read just last quarter of the book, you'd think her stay with Daedalus was more like a picnic than a painful, torturous experience.There was little to no character development here and if you really look at it, the story didn't progress much either. The events of this book could have easily been incorporated into the fifth and final book making for a much tighter and precise storytelling. I thought that in Origin, we would get to a kick-ass avatar of Katy and she would finally come into her powers and be awesome, even that did not happen. For all that talk of her being able to handle things on her own, she was woefully out of her league. There were some death, most notably Blake's, and I have never been happier about a character's death. Sadly Ash and Andrew also met their end and while I didn't particularly care much for Andrew, i will miss Ash. She was a fun character. But I also felt that their deaths were a little too convenient. Here were two characters who had never been fans of Katy and it would've been interesting to see their interaction. Now, on to more irritants in the book, Beth is pregnant. She's eighteen for crying out loud!! There is something so wrong with that.. Besides, they are running for their lives, how the hell are they gonna look after a baby when they can barely take care of themselves. Also, Daemon and Katy get married. Did we seriously need teen pregnancies and teen marriage to give this story more weight? I don't think so. So basically all my high hopes for this book have been smashed into smithereens.. I need to read something better NOW!!!

I had previously read Touched by Corrine Jackson and I liked it enough to want to read the next book in the series. I honestly wasn’t sure if I would like If I Lie and I wasn’t pleasantly surprised to find that I did like it, quite a bit. The main character in this book is Sophie Topper Quinn and she lives with her father in small town called Sweethaven. Things seem to going well for her, she was dating the local town recipient of most-likely-to-make-them-proud award, she was getting good grades and had great friends. So yeah, life was great, up until a certain event that changed everything. The town she lives in is mostly populated by either serving marines and their families or ex-marines so for marine wives (and girlfriends) the worst thing one can probably do, is cheat on their marine husbands (or boyfriends) The event that changed Quinn’s life is that there is a photograph that shows her in a compromising situation with someone who is not her boyfriend, Carey. To make matters worse, Carey soon deploys and gains a nearly demigod-like status. Quinn’s life takes a major u-turn where she suddenly finds herself being shunned by everybody.For the most part, I liked the way novel progressed. The narrative was well paced and moved along without trying to engineer a certain emotional reaction by lingering too long in certain parts while skimming over others. I also liked the parallel narrative between the present and what exactly happened six months ago that had everyone treating her like a social outcaste. I find it very tiresome when we go into a long drawn out flashback and then jump back into the present narrative. I also don’t like it when, throughout a book, people keep hinting at some horrible event and then its big reveal at the end. But then, I don’t think either of those methods were suited to this story. We needed to find out as we went along, what made Quinn make the choices she made to better understand her character and her motivations. And I think that Corrine Jackson succeeded in doing that.As far as main characters go, I liked Quinn. Yes, she was a martyr for most of the book but once you read the whole thing, you figure out why. Also, it was easy to fall into that mode when EVERYONE around was willing the believe the worst of you and no one took the time to find out what your part of the story was. Even her so-called closest friends were more than happy to ditch her at a time when she probably needed them most. But despite that, her character had fire in her. She didn’t let them turn her into a sobbing mess. She made me want to root for her. The only other likable character in this book was George, a Vietnam vet Quinn meets at the local hospital. Her father sends her there when news of the scandal breaks. She is assigned a project being run by the hospital to take down accounts from the other veterans there about what happened and what they experienced. This is where she meets George, he is in charge of the project and becomes her closest friend. George does not judge her and it is only with him that she finds a measure of peace and understanding without even asking for it. The hospital becomes her safe haven because of her relationship with George. He was funny in a grouchy way and I loved his no-nonsense style. If not for his friendship, I don’t think she would’ve been able to survive all that was hurled her way. All in all, George was absolutely lovable. Most of the other characters were complete asses. Her closest friends, Angel and Nikki, could not have dropped her any faster had they tried. Angel, who seemed to be closer to Quinn than anybody else, never asked her for her side of the story. What kind of a friend does that!!?? I personally don’t think its possible to go from loving someone one minute to hating them the next. Its gradual. Yet, in this instance, not even once did Angel bother. And I disliked her more because at least the others chose where they stood with Quinn and stuck to it. Angel couldn’t even stick to her decision. Either support me or don’t but don’t think that if you stood around, watching people treat me like crap and felt slightly bad about it, makes you a better person than the others. If anything, it made her seem even more spineless than her peers.SPOILERS AHEADCarey and Blake had been friends before he and Quinn started going out. And while Quinn and Blake did not really seem to like each other, they made an attempt for Carey’s sake. I didn’t like either of these two idiots. Carey let her think that he loved her when that wasn’t even close to the truth. And then he let her be the bearer of a monumental secret that was slowly but surely tearing her apart. But I still find it marginally easier to not hate Carey. He reveals to Quinn that he’s gay and that couldn’t have been easy but the part that I hated was he left her the huge responsibility of guarding that secret. She can’t even defend herself without giving him away. That was a shitty thing to do.Blake, on the other hand, claimed to ‘love’ Quinn but was also happy to let her face the humiliation and personal attacks all on her own. It wasn’t until she made him feel guilty that he made any attempt to stand up for her. And by then it was too little too late. He was even more of a jerk than Carey. And while I am sad to say that even after all that shit, Quinn still had feelings for him, at least she realised that she had to move on from her small town and all those in it and that included Blake. Next up, Quinn’s father. An ex-marine himself, when he finds that his wife ran away with his brother, he finds himself emotionally unable to look after his daughter. He was detached to begin with but after the scandal, he and Quinn merely lived in the same house. He ignored her completely and made sure she knew that. What I did not find very convincing was his supposed change of heart in the latter half of the novel. I wasn’ t convinced of his actions or what drove those changes. He wakes her up from a nightmare and after that, he decides to pay more attention. Really!!?? A nightmare!! You needed a nightmare to figure out that your daughter was having a tough time!!?? .What really struck me was the utter apathy of her father towards what his own daughter was going through. He was only too willing to believe what the others said about her and never once thought to ask her her side of the story. I found that very hard to stomach!Then there’s her mother who left Quinn with her grandmother and married her uncle. But, we find out later that she did try to visit Quinn, on multiple occasions and her father made sure that they wouldn’t see each other. It did not excuse her mother of her actions but if anything it made me dislike her father even more. Her mother comes back and makes an attempt to reconnect with Quinn and the best part? She doesn’t condemn her own daughter. She gives her love and support she needs at a very trying time and doesn’t even let her father interfere with that.Despite this slew of mostly awful characters, it was still an enjoyable book and very engaging.

Yaaay!! We have a cover, blurb and a release date!! Now all I need is the actual book... If only August wasn't so far away!!! :(UPDATE::I am finally reading the ARC!!! Sorry Insurgent, you'll have to wait a bit longer...UPDATE:It will be over tonight :'(UPDATE:Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! :DI seriously love this series. It is so unlike most other series out there and that is a very pleasant and a much-needed change. I finished the first 8 books back to back and this isn’t always a good thing. I tire of the series (even though I sometimes plan to read the next book in the series) I am so happy that not only did I love Cast in Sorrow, I also cannot wait for the next book to release. Although, this time the wait will be easier because it did not end with a cliff-hanger. Cast in Peril was about Kaylin being summoned by the green. She was supposed to serve as the Harmoniste with Nightshade serving as the Teller. They had to tell to tell a tale in the heart of the green, which is a very important Barrani ritual. Peril ended before their party could even reach the green. So essentially, one story was split into two: Cast in Peril and Cast in Sorrow. And I liked that Sagara did this. There was a lot to tell with a good number of new characters and stuffing all of this in just one book, wouldn’t have done it justice. It would’ve been rushed with half-baked characters. Cast in Sorrow was about the fate of the lost Barrani children as well as the Hallionne of the West March and the green. This doesn’t make sense unless you’ve read Peril and I’m going to try and keep this review spoiler free. The party of Barrani, travelling to the green have already had a very trying journey and in Sorrow, they finally reach the halls of the West March. But of course, things couldn’t possibly be simple from then on. All kinds of weird things happen, for instance, important people disappear, and there are strange birds with only wings and nothing else. And of course Kaylin is pretty much involved in everything. Sagara’s way of writing took time for me to get used to. She writes very differently from the other authors I tend to read. Her narrative is slow, heavy and takes time to build. So when you start her books, they take time to really get started but as you progress, it becomes more and more difficult to put them down. I tried so hard to read Sorrow as slowly as humanly possible but as I got closer to the climax, it was a losing battle, I found it almost impossible to stop reading because I couldn’t wait to find out how it was gonna end and to make sure that all the characters I cared about, were all safe and sound. Sagara’s characters are an absolute treat. They are so well written, multi-dimensional and layered. Even her villains have a good reason to be doing the dastardly things they do (or at least they seem to think so)As far as main characters go, I love Kaylin. She is reckless and has the tendency to throw caution to the wind when someone she is close to, is in trouble. Her knowledge (of those around her and herself) is limited and she is not afraid of admitting this but she also does not let it hold her back. With each new book, we, along with Kaylin, learn more about the marks that cover most of her body. This time, we also learn more about her ‘small dragon’, the familiar. Another one of my absolute favourites is Teela. A barrani lord, she genuinely cares about Kaylin. Sorrow was as much her book as it was Kaylin’s. We learn more about her childhood and what she was like when she was younger, her connection to the heart of the green as well as her connection with the lost children. She is also the closest thing to a real family that Kaylin has left. That part was beautifully expressed in Cast in Sorrow. I love her friendship with Kaylin.I also really like the Consort and the Lord of the West March. Sure the Consort was very mad at Kaylin for a while but I still like her character. She didn’t suddenly turn into a raging bitch for no apparent reason and she does care about Kaylin, in her own way. Lirienne (or Lord of the West March) is fun because; he is perhaps the most normal of the Barrani Lords. Plus it helped that he has a sense of humour. Nightshade was also present as was Severn, but they didn’t feature as prominently in this particular book.I am having a tough time deciding if getting an ARC is a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, it’s great because I get read the book before its release date and therefore don’t have to wait too long. On the other hand, it’s awful because now I have to wait that much longer for the next book to release. That part is really no fun.And another thing I don’t understand is why, on NetGalley, Cast in Sorrow was listed as a romance. There isn’t anything even remotely romantic in it. They need to fix that.

I was so glad to receive In Defense of the Queen ARC that I couldn’t wait to read it. And given how disappointing the books I’ve recently read have been, I could not have come up with a better book to read. I’ve read pretty much read all the books by Michelle Diener and I love her work. This series in particular is one I really enjoy so I was thrilled to see this one on Netgalley and even happier when my request was accepted. I won’t go into the plot because it is connected to the past 2 books and explaining all that would take too much time. The basic gist of In Defense of the Queen is that Susanna gets a message from her father asking her to take a message to the Queen. But delivering that message would also make her a traitor to the King. To make matters worse someone is trying to assassinate her and her brother. In addition, as always, there is more than one plot afoot and this time Susanna seems to be caught in the middle. The reason I love Diener’s books so much is because of the fast-paced narrative. She doesn’t waste time with unimportant details and characters that add nothing to the main story. And the plot in her books is always very tight well thought-out. But at the same time, her stories are also layered, so if you’re not reading carefully or thinking you can get away with skipping a few lines, think again. Once I started reading this book, I found it impossible to put it down and I read it in one go. And the climax doesn’t disappoint in the least. The other great thing about her books is that they are also historically very rich. She weaves in historical figures and events very seamlessly into the story and that just makes reading them more interesting. And since History was one of my favourite subjects when I was studying, its an additional treat.One of the things I love most about this series is the relationship between Parker and Susanna. I am so glad they are mature enough to not fall prey petty and silly misunderstandings. You have no idea what a pleasant change that is from the usual drama that stands for romance in most books these days. It is also refreshing to see them have complete trust in each other. Yet, the romance aspect doesn’t impede the narrative flow in the least. I don’t like books where the love story puts the main narrative on hold. I almost always end up skipping those bits because most times they add nothing of value to the story. And the most awesome thing: there was no blasted love triangle!!! Its disturbing how relieved I was about that. Susanna was likable from the very beginning when she refused to get intimated by Parker and I’m glad that she remains a strong character. She is intelligent and fiercely independent and we don’t see that in most period/historical heroines. Parker is also one of the few love interests that I actually like. He’s straightforward and can be ruthless and yet he’s not cold and inhuman. He genuinely loves Susanna. And he seems to have become somewhat gentler since he met her. And while he does want to protect her, he doesn’t suffocate her under that pretence nor does he manipulate her into doing what he wants. He treats her as his equal.Diener doesn’t assault us with too many characters, just enough to keep us attentive. We finally met Lucas (Susanna’s brother) this time and I can’t honestly say that I like him, He seemed too full of himself and self-entitled. Plus he got Susanna into shit loads of trouble. I hope he doesn’t take her job from her. Besides, something tells me Henry won’t like him much either (just a gut feeling I have)Henry was mercurial as always, one minute the most charming man you’ve met and threatening you the next. As for antagonists, Wolsey and Norfolk are as nauseating as always. And the fact that they don’t give up just makes them more annoying. But seeing that Parker and Susanna keep thwarting their schemes, I have a feeling; they will keep trying to stir up trouble for both of them. But I’m not too worried; Parker and Susanna always figure a way out. In Defense of the Queen was an absolute treat to read and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book by Diener and, then of course, the next Susanna and Parker book. I hope I don’t have to wait too long. If you like historicals and fast-paced stories, you will not be disappointed in the least.

I read this book quite some time ago, so I have no idea how coherent this review will be, but do bear with me.. Besides its close to impossible to review this book because I don't want to give any hints and don't even want to allude to what happens in it. These are just some of my thoughts regarding this novel. I put off reading The God of Small Things for the longest time because I thought it would be pretentious and very verbose. I thought this mostly because the only people who claimed to have read the book, were all pretentious and full of themselves. And I am, unfortunately, a little wary of contemporary Indian authors. I was introduced to Arundhati Roy through her essays (we had to read some for our Contemporary Issues class in college) and I loved her writing. Her essays are extremely divisive (as is her novel) and even if you disagree with her opinions, you can't really criticize her writing, which is absolutely spellbinding. She certainly has the gift of the gab.I finally gave in and read her novel and I have never been happier and more miserable about reading a book! I was happy because I absolutely loved her book and miserable because it left me devastated. There is no other word for it. At its core, it’s a story about siblings: Esthappen and Rahel, who live with their mother and their extended family. And the events that shape the rest of their lives. The God of Small Things is not for everyone. For one thing, it is very verbose. There are entire pages that are full of descriptions and little else. The other is that the narrative is non-linear. She's written the way most of us relate a story to someone about people they’ve never met. We start and as we speak, we are reminded of something else (that may or may not have been related to the main story) and start talking about that and then eventually come back to the story we started with. It reminds me of Mysteries of Lisbon. The style of narration is very similar, except that Mysteries of Lisbon is a film. But even if the events narrated are not directly connected to the main story, they don't bore you. They add more layers to the story and its characters. The narrative also unfolds slowly and with each chapter that you read, you peal away more layers till you unravel what really happened to this family, especially the siblings and their mother. This slow pace is a deal-killer for most people, but if you can continue reading, then the pay-off is completely worth it.Its principle characters are Rahel and Esthappen, fraternal twins and their mother Ammu. They live on their maternal grandmother's estate in Kerala (a state in southern India) You follow their lives from when they were children to when they are all grown up. So, it takes place over a fairly long time but it doesn't seem tedious when you're reading it. Their story sucks you in so completely that it’s almost like you're right there with these people. Rahel and Esthappen are so close that they’re pretty much joined at the hip and they do everything together. 2 peas in a pod. But they grow up to be such different people, shaped so differently by the same events. Then there is Ammu, she escapes an abusive marriage and comes with her 2 children to her mother's house in Kerala. Beautiful and lonely Ammu. I loved the way she portrayed the extended family, the way most actually are. In India, we are still somewhat sentimental about the extended family system. We either deify it or we demean it. She creates the perfect balance of both: they're human with human weaknesses, vices and prejudices. God of Small Things is a book that is very divisive when it comes to how readers feel about it. They either love or hate it. I have yet to meet someone who was simply okay with it. There is no middle ground. But this one of my favourite books of all time. Though it is an intense and a somewhat heavy read, it is immensely rewarding. And it is a book that will stay with you long after you finish reading it, I could not pick up another book for a while after I finished it because I knew that I would not satisfied by any book that was unfortunate enough to be chosen.

While the plot for Darkness Rising was interesting enough, it plodded along so slowly that I was sorely tempted to skip ahead to the end be done with it. Somehow, my willpower prevailed and i managed to read the whole damn thing but then I lost my patience towards the end and speed read the climax and what happened once things died down a little. There was very little development in the larger plot (that of the keys to hell)AS for the characters, I actually prefer the secondary characters to most of the primary ones. Risa is annoying and a VERY bad judge of character and Lucian is an epic slime ball!! His behavior in this book raised so many red flags and she ignored ALL of them. Sure, she took the time to register the strange behavior and then promptly made excuses for him. The sex must really be amazing! As for Azriel, he is so much better than that scum bag!! Here is a a guy who's saved your life on numerous occasions as well as your friends and he is the one you don't trust! Hmm, that makes a lot of sense. NOT!!! And then of course there's all that complaining: she whines about the fact that Azriel can read her mind and then complains when he withdraws his emotions into himself. Yikes!! Some people are never satisfied. AS for people being able to read Risa's mind, the list is rather long so i don't even know what the big deal is! At least so far Tao and Illiana are sensible and likeable.Am i gonna read the other books in this series? Yes, but its gonna be speed reading because anything more will be a waste of precious time and effort.

I read The Poison Princess with very low expectations having read some other scathing reviews. So, did the book disappoint me, not in the slightest because considering how low my expectations were, I don’t think it was possible. But knowing what to expect did enable me to enjoy the book more (Thank you Ferdy!)Now did Poison Princess have potential? Yes it did. I say this with even more emphasis after finishing it. Evie’s character had the potential to be badass, but alas she could never stop whining! Seriously! I am starting to wonder if there are writers capable of writing strong women without making them either indecisive wrecks or so damn unlikable that you’d much rather see them as shark bait? (To be honest I contemplated throwing Evie in front of a bus just to get rid of incessant whining) Evie: Patron Saint of Whiners and Endless Complaining! It’s pretty much all she did throughout the book. As for Jackson, what an ASSWIPE!!!! If ever I came across a Male Chauvinist Pig in books, he was it! Was I supposed to find him attractive, drool all over him after seeing him behave like a jerk? He was obsessed with sex all the time! And of course he didn’t get why the girl wouldn’t just jump at the chance of sleeping with the MCP! It was inconceivable to him, how was it possible that a girl did not want to!!! Sexist Asshole!!! Anyway, the less said about him the better.The other characters were also very blah.. Matthew was so annoying I wanted to hit him what with all the gibberish he kept spouting. We were never meant to like Selena and to that end, I think the author achieved her objective. What little I saw of Finn, I liked. He was possibly the most normal of the entire troop. The only person I liked was (strangely enough) Mel. At least she was up front and frank about the kind of person she was and she was unapologetic about it. Not to mention that she was a refreshing foil to all of Evie’s non-stop whining. It would’ve been nice to see her survive the apocalypse. At the very least she would’ve been entertaining. In all probability I will read the sequel when it releases later this year. And I so hope that Jackson is not Evie’s love interest. At this point, pretty much anyone else would be preferable to that jerk. And please let there not be some pissy-ass love triangle! I so hate those because they only lead to more whining and pining and honestly, there was more than enough of that in The Poison Princess. I realise that it’s a little too optimistic to expect Evie to suddenly turn into a badass, but can she please kick more ass next time instead of just cribbing about being a dead weight, its kinda pointless because that’s exactly what she was.

Negative stars!!!SPOILER AHEAD!! READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!!Why do i do this to myself!!?? I must really have a masochistic streak in me!!! Shadowlands started well with Rory getting attacked and a serial killer on the loose and then it all went downhill after that. First off, i couldn't believe how inept the FBI was, the guy got into Rory's room and nobody saw anything. He managed to do that when their house was swarming with federal agents!! Seriously!! Was he secretly a Super Ninja!!?? And then, when the family was being relocated there wasn't ONE federal agent with them, especially after what happened!!! These were possibly the dumbest agents in the country!This book had potential and all of that squandered with bad characters and especially that very shoddily done supernatural twist! An island of dead people, really? UGH!!!! What a load of crap!!!!!!!!!!!!p.s.- It sucks that i have to give a book atleast 1 star for the review to show up! Not fair!!!!!!

I really enjoyed the frist book in the series, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I liked Yeine and Nahadoth. Especially the Nightlord. He may be a god close to insanity but he was still someone i was rooted for. He was a sympathetic character. While the narrative wasn't the most coherent, what with the sometimes dual narrative, it was still interesting.As for The Broken Kingdom, i couldn't even finish the book. It was soooooo slow that i felt like pulling my hair out!! Oree was a dull character and that Itempas was so annoying that i didn't care what happened to him. Jemisim made him so vile in the first book that i didn't give a flying fuck what he did or didn't do. What an utter waste of time!!

Just a day after my birthday!!! :DUpdate:Loved it!! :DHopefully I'll post a review soon...

I read the Witch Song series by Amber Argyle and I loved and enjoyed her writing so much that I knew that I would also enjoy Winter Queen just as much. I was thrilled when I realised that Winter Queen released early, I couldn’t wait to read it. Having read it, I am a little sad because now I have to wait god knows how long till the second instalment of Fairy Queens comes out. In all probability, it’ll be sometime next year (that feels so far away) Anyway, on with the review.Since Winter Queen is the first instalment of the Fairy Queens series, a large part of the beginning could’ve been spent on establishing the time, circumstances and also the environment that the characters inhabited but Argyle handled that in a very deft manner, she interwove the world building with the narrative of the story so that the story never lagged or left the reader wondering what the characters were talking about. I really wanted to savour Winter Queen as the last 2 books I had picked up were not even close to satisfying. They were so dismal that I couldn’t even muster the will to write about how disappointing they were. Anyway, so I was thrilled that Winter Queen had snagged my interest from the very first word. I tried to go slow but that was simply not possible because of the pace of the book. It was very fast paced and also very very eventful. So often the first books in any series are slow because they have to lay the foundation the rest of the books will depend on but that’s not the case here. While we have wonderfully developed characters and world around them there is still a lot that we don’t know about. That’s not necessarily a problem because this book is very character driven and we see the world through Illeana’s eyes. I am sure we will find out more about this universe in the next book: Summer Queen.I thought of giving a brief summary of the book, but found that there are simply too many things that happen in Winter Queen. The publishers did a great job of giving just enough information to tantalize and yet not too little that would leave the potential reader uninterested. But here’s a very brief introduction. There are a number of clans that each has their own clan chief and clan mistress. These clans are in turn governed by the Council that settles disputes among the different clans. Illeana is the clan mistress of Shyle while her father is the clan chief. Her clan is attacked by the Tyrans and this where the story really takes off. Illeana is a strong and independent young woman and a leader among her clansmen. And that strength is apparent when she’s subjected to a lot of abuse at the hands of the Tyrans. But she didn’t lose her compassion even towards those who were far from kind towards her. This compassion stemmed from the fact that she was a healer. She also did not let the constant abuse break her spirit. Yet she was also someone that I truly rooted for. She had such grit that you couldn’t help but admire her and yet she also she was also headstrong, but then what good heroine worth her mettle isn’t? Rone was a great character. Though in the beginning, it was not immediately clear who he was, it soon became apparent. He was strong and noble and also a leader among his people and in a lot of ways, very similar to Illeana. What I loved most about their relationship was that it evolved naturally and though there were ups and downs and good amount of misunderstandings along the way, it made for a very engaging and believable love story. The other thing that I was happy about was that the back-and-forth between them did not dominate the narrative. Sure it lasted quite a while but then it was a new relationship for both and formed under very stressful circumstances so I decided to cut them some slack. That’s the other great thing about Argyle’s writing, she weaves in the romance very unobtrusively into the narrative, I love the subtlety. The same was true for Witch Song as well. But this doesn’t make the love between the characters any less intense, if anything; I think it enhances the intensity.We don’t really find out a lot about the other clans in Winter Queen but I’m sure they’ll get covered in Summer Queen. The only problem that I probably had was right at the end. In the last 2 or 3 chapters, I think pace of narrative went into major over drive. But that’s not a big deal. As far as the end is concerned, it was definitely not what I expected, yet it was very satisfying. I really enjoyed this book, now I have the amazing task of having to wait till next year for the release of Summer Queen (I checked, expected publication 2014) also I doubt that Illeana will be focus of that book, but should still be a fun read. If you’re looking for something that’s engaging and well written, then you’ll really enjoy Winter Queen!

2014!!!! Seriously!!???

So I read these back to back which is why I couldn’t write a review for Kiss Of Snow (which was what I had planned initially) I finished KOS and then I planned to wait a little before I started Tangle of Need but sadly that didn’t work. The two books are very closely related; in fact you might even regard TON as a platform to set up the coming Psy war.In KOS we finally got the pair we had all been dying to read about: Hawke and Sienna. And it lived up to my ridiculously high expectations and then some. I expected there to be a lot of sexual tension and a healthy amount of verbal back and forth. Plus there was also more than a healthy dose of nail biting suspense that carried over to TON. In KOS, the Pure Psy finally threw down the gauntlet and tried to take down SnowDancer and also hobble the city of San Fransico: which is now considered the stronghold of 2 Psy councillors: Nikita and Anthony. Both of whom reject the tenets of the Pure Psy. Henry targets them thinking to make an example of them and also gain their city. He targeted the changelings because he viewed them as an inferior species and therefore undeserving of the power they had accumulated. Its difficult to review one without the other because they are so close in terms of the events covered and the consequences of those events. In TON, we got Adria and Riaz’s love story. But unlike KOS, where the main driving force of the novel was their romance, TON focused on a lot of other events and also a host of other characters. Most of whom we met earlier in the series and it was nice to revisit those characters again. In TON, the Pure Psy seem to have shifted their gaze from the changelings to the PsyNet, but that’s not all. Someone seems to be spying on the SnowDancers and it is unclear who it might be. But not for long. What I like best about Nalini Singh, she is not sadistic, that is, she doesn’t draw out the story unnecessarily simply to make the suspense more intense. It’s a cheap tactic. Anyway, so through the course of these two books, a lot of questions are answered (along with the possible identity of the Ghost) and we learn more the characters we’ve come to love and care about.First off, Hawke and Sienna. I knew they were gonna end up together regardless of all those subtle hints thrown by Ms Singh that Sienna was seeing Kit and so on. It was obvious from the way Sienna got under Hawke’s cool exterior. And it was also a lot of fun. Hawke is so in control, it was sometimes maddening. I don’t think we ever saw him lose his cool in any of the previous books and that he so easily lost it with Sienna was both amusing and also a little sad because it wasn’t fair to her. But worry not, all that snarling aside, she was not deterred. She knew she wanted Hawke and she pursued him with a single-minded focus that would’ve made any changeling proud. Plus she had help from very unlikely people (a DarkRiver future alpha might’ve been one of them) Though only nineteen in the book, Sienna’s relationship Hawke, is never awkward or uncomfortable. I thought it would be since Hawke is about thirty-eight or thereabouts, but Sienna is written as an older character and it makes sense when you consider the horrors she’s seen and lived through. She is not your average nineteen year old, in fact, she has never truly been a child so while in terms of age she may have been very young for Hawke, that difference was inconsequential in all the ways it really mattered. They were good for each other because Hawke was so used to getting his way and what he wanted that he needed to be challenged by someone who was not impressed by him throwing around his dominance. While he had had a happy childhood before it was destroyed by bloodshed, she hadn’t had any. She could depend on no one, trust no one. And she still managed to make it out of the Net, perhaps not unscathed but definitely with an iron will not just to survive but to truly live. These circumstances made her a whole lot older, mentally and emotionally than others her own age. It also gave her a maturity lacking in her peers for the simple reason that they had not lived under the circumstances that she had. So who better than Sienna to challenge Hawke’s dominance and to make him see her for the strong person she is.There was another, sweet pairing that we’re treated to KOS. There were stirrings of it in Play of Passion and if you paid careful attention, you’d have figured out who I’m talking about. Next up, Adria and Riaz. We first met them in Play of Passion and are given a very brief insight into their lives. Riaz finally found his mate only to find that she’s someone else’s wife and very much in love with him (it reminded me of that Alanis Morrisette song, Ironic. It has that line: meeting the man of my dreams and meeting his beautiful wife. Similar but reversed gender ) Adria, for the longest time, was in a relationship with someone less dominant than her. And while, initially, they were very much in love, that relationship eventually very toxic and deeply hurt her. So when Adria and Riaz meet, there is a definite pull toward each other, but they are both so haunted by their own respective pasts, they can’t see beyond that. But soon that pull becomes so intense that they give in. What starts as simple and no-strings-attached ‘skin privileges’ soon turns into something more complicated. There is (again) quite a bit of back and forth resulting from their insecurities and demons that there was a chance that it could have become tedious, but thankfully it did not. This was, in a large part, due to all the other character threads present in Tangle of Need. We got to catch up on what had been going on with the other characters in the Psy-Changeling universe. To say this was a dedicated Adria-Riaz book would be a bit of stretch since it concentrated on a lot of other characters. And it also served in a large capacity as a precursor to the Psy conflict going all out crazy.They were both great books in an extremely amazing series. How Nalini Singh can keep this up, book after book is beyond me but she is definitely one of my favourite adult fiction authors. Well written, superbly developed characters are trade marks of her books. If you are wondering if you should read this series, then the answer is a resounding YES! If on the other hand you are wondering if you should continue reading the series, you definitely should because this series is only getting better and the stakes are rising steadily higher. Do you guys think there’s any chance there we might get an excerpt or teaser for Archangel’s Legion in Heart of Obsidian? I’m hoping we do. 

Review to come!!

Absolutely loved it! How does Nalini Singh create such awesome and lovable characters time and again!? Now its finally time for Hawke and Sienne's story!! :)

I am a huge fan of Nalini Singh. I’ve read both the Guild Hunter and most of the Psy-Changeling Series and I am completely addicted to both, to the extent where I ration the books, not wanting to finish them too soon. Archangel’s Storm released sometime late last year and I put it off as long as I did because I wanted to read it as close to the release of Archangel’s Legion as possible. Granted that release is still fairly a long way off but I just couldn’t hold back anymore.While the first 3 books focused on Elena and Raphael, they did introduce us to a host of other characters that were so well written that you did start rooting for them even though at that stage they were only secondary characters, But that’s how well Singh creates her characters that you come to love them. And yet they’re not perfect, they all have flaws and they are more human for those faults. There are no paragons of perfection (ok maybe there are but even they are easy to relate to)Archangel’s Storm is about Jason, one of Raphael’s Seven and his Spymaster and Mahiya, a princess from Neha’s territory. Jason must go to Neha’s territory to investigate the murder of her consort, Eris. And while he is investigating the murder, he must tie himself to Mahiya through a Blood Vow. Having sworn one, he cannot betray any information to Raphael that might harm Neha and her bloodline. (in case you’re wondering, Mahiya is Neha’s niece) While initially the murder seems like a solitary incident, soon others start winding up dead in the most brutal of ways. Both Jason and Mahiya realise that these are no ordinary killings; they are a personal assault on the Archangel of India. We still see Raphael, Elena and some of the other angels but their appearances are fleeting since this story is about Jason and Mahiya. There is a healthy amount of steamy sex and what I really like about her books is that the sex scenes never hamper the narrative. Her characters don’t start going at it like frustrated little bunnies at the most inconvenient of times. We met Jason earlier in the series. He was quiet and sharp and his most unique ability was to blend in with the shadows. I really liked his character (like most of Ms. Singh’s characters) he is very intense and brooding and as we progress through the story, it becomes clear why. I loved his character. He is a hardened warrior and yet he is also gentle and fiercely loyal to his friends. I loved Mahiya as well. I don’t know how Nalini Singh does it, but she manages to make the readers really care about almost all the characters in her books. And she makes the readers root for the main protagonists. Mahiya was no exception. She also had a very tough childhood. Though she grew up a princess in Neha’s territory, her childhood was even more traumatic and brutal than Jason’s. And yet these two were so well suited for each other. I really wanted Mahiya to have her happy ending. She was strong, loving, caring and loyal despite everything that she had gone through growing up. It’s not always easy to relate to character like her’s and yet she is extremely relatable. She was very different from Elena and Honor in that she was not a warrior like them, she seemed very soft in comparison, but that didn’t make her weak. It was a testament to her inner strength that she did not let her abusers turn her into a bitter and hateful person. She was kind and loving and one of the sweetest people in the Guild Hunter universe.We also learn more about Neha, the Archangel of India. It would’ve been very easy to make the readers hate her and yet as with most of Singh’s characters, at least I did not. She made mistakes and was most certainly cruel with those who earned her ire and yet she was very fair with her people and she genuinely cared about them. It was nice to see more of another Archangel other than Lijuan (who I most definitely do not like) If you like reading paranormal romances, then you’ll love Nalini Singh. Believe me, you will not be disappointed. If anything, there’s a good chance you’ll end up addicted like me. I am dying to get my hands on the Archangel’s Legion. I was desperately hoping that we see more of Elena and Raphael (in their own books and not as secondary characters) and I was thrilled to learn that we’re getting another book about them. I love the other characters in the series but these two are my favourites. Besides I also want to see more of Caliane and Eve. I also want Elena to have some sort of closure where her family is concerned. And it’s always fun to see Sara and Ransom and what’s a Guild Hunter novel without Illium in it (I hope he gets his own book soon)