(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve seen vampires used a lot in fiction to date and it’s always interesting to see the different kind of spins people put on the popular vampire myth… even though I do think vampires have been over-used to date.

I know the historical account of the Countess Bathory and I felt this book was not only an interesting twist on the vampire story, but also on the story of the Countess… despite the amount of poetic license that was taken throughout the book.

The start of the book was intriguing and enough to draw me into the plot. The character of Kati was quite an interesting one and I liked seeing her interacting with the other characters in the book. It was pretty creepy to see the Countess’ home and what went on there through Kati’s eyes. I was surprised that the whole book wasn’t written in first person – although the first chapter was intriguing, I felt it wasn’t entirely clear who the POV character was or how they knew all of this information.

The journals that Kati had to bind were quite intriguing to read, but I couldn’t quite see the evolution from the the character of Theodora to the way she was in Kati’s time.

The goals of the Countess, once revealed, made her more of an interesting character, I felt… if still clearly a villain. I would have liked to see some more of the servants in the castle and also have a few more details of the other girls attending the school.

For the most part, I felt the author did a good job of setting the scene historically… but I did feel there were a number of occasions where the language was a bit too modern. There were also a couple of times where the journal entries weren’t clearly indicated and I had some confusion before realising Kati was reading them again.

There were a lot of disturbing scenes in this book and I found myself cringing at times. The descriptions came across really well. I thought good use was made of the other historical figures, too.

I probably would read the sequel to this book at some point in the future. It would be interesting to see where the author goes with the storyline next.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I would, ideally, give this book 4.5 stars. I did find it a bit difficult to get into at the start, but as the book progressed, I found it easier to become absorbed into the storyline and began caring about the characters.

The idea of the Tournament of Hearts is a frightening one, but I felt it was quite realistic that a society would develop that kind of ritual in a belief to keep themselves protected. What I would have liked to see was how that all came about – one of the characters thinks about how he lived through a time the sacrifice wasn’t gone through with.

Although certainly not a conventional warrior, I felt Neven worked really well as a hero and central character in this book. Although he did have certain otherworldly abilities, I felt the author did a good job of showing how those developed… as well as letting him experience the consequences of certain actions; and having to rely on other people for help. I strongly dislike books where one character is ridiculously overpowered, to the point that other characters become obsolete… and I felt this book did a good job of going the other way.

All four of the characters who were meant to fight in the tournament were intriguing and it was interesting to see that Neven would potentially have to face his friend. Although the blurb of the book suggested that much of the main focus would be on the tournament, I liked that I got to see some of the ordinary, everyday lives of the people of Hamelin.

I have to be honest and say that my favourite character in this book was Smoke. Right from his first appearance, I was drawn to him and found him a really interesting being. There were certain scenes that made me really cringe where he was involved… but there were other scenes, particularly towards the end, that made me feel quite emotional.

As for other favourite characters… I think Neven and his two friends are tied for that. As the book progressed on, I enjoyed reading about the true camaraderie and brotherhood that existed between them. I also appreciated the fact that the author created ‘bad’ characters who had some potentially redeeming qualities.

I’m definitely interested in reading the next book in this series. I’m really looking forward to seeing where the characters will go now.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

This might be the only cloning story I’ve read (or seen) that has only one gender involved. I felt that was one of the more interesting things about the world within this book.

I liked the fact that I followed 62’s progress and got to know the world around him as he grew and learned. It was really cool to see how his dreams worked, but I did feel there was less imagination involved than there could have been. In some ways, it seemed that a lot of 62’s development was triggered by 71 continually through the course of the book, apart from right at the end.

It was really interesting to see 62’s interactions with the other Boys around him. I would have liked to see more of the Men and how different in personality they were. I really only got to see three of them properly.

The Machines controlling/looking after the Boys and Men were interesting, but I would have liked to know a bit more about Adaline and its history. The details I did learn seemed to be more of a mythos, rather than a true history.

I felt the society and culture of the clones were shown really well and it was good to see that 62 was eventually able to learn and develop, even if it did seem to happen a huge amount at the end. I was, however, quite confused by the doctor. In his first appearance, he seemed to know more than his later appearances suggested.

I would have liked to see more of 99. I liked his and 62’s friendship outside of them being technically brothers.

The book was mostly well-written, though I did spot a few errors while reading. There were some humorous moments that did make me smile.

It would be good to read a sequel to this book in the future, because although it did have a proper ending, I felt there was a lot more of the story that could have been told.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

READER
I’m not sure what I can say about this first book in the trilogy. The book itself and the storyline was actually quite intriguing. Ambra’s character was an interesting one and I felt myself empathising with her through the course of the book, despite not always being entirely sure of what was going to happen.

Although I have read many books that address the reader directly, it’s always a good thing to feel that drawn into the book that I feel as if I’m a true part of the story. By the end of this, that was a fairly strong feeling I had. But even from the beginning, I felt pulled into the storyline in a way that doesn’t often happen to me.

There were many parts of this book that did feel like it was an autobiography. There was quite a lot that was glossed over, but there was also quite a lot that did have enough time spent on it. I think the book would have been much longer than it was if everything I wanted to see expanded was, though.

There were quite a few things in the book that did make me cringe, especially with the green stuff Ambra and her fellow humans had to consume. But there was a lot that did make me really feel a lot of empathy towards Ambra, especially when she was clinging so desperately to the hat that seemed to be her only precious possession.

It was really interesting to see the different alien races in this book, though I was a little bit unclear about the relationships they had with each other and to humanity. There were a couple of things that seemed to contradict each other in regards to my understanding of the ‘good’ alien race.

The concept of Readers was a really intriguing one, as was the explanation about where the different abilities came from. Ambra was an odd mix of maturity and naivety, which I felt came across really well. I also liked how clear it was the two main alien races were so different to humans.

 
WRITER
When I first started reading the second book in the trilogy, I was a bit concerned that I was going to be subjected to multiple first person POVs when I realised I was looking at the perspective of a different character to Ambra. I was relieved to see I was wrong.

This book started off with a really intense scene. Even though I didn’t know the character whose head I was inhabiting, I had grown to know Ambra through the previous book and the danger she was in felt really real.

It was really intriguing to see Ambra through the eyes of someone else. Although I’d got to know her fairly well personality-wise in the first book, I found it really hard to picture what she looked like until I was seeing her through someone else’s eyes.

I was somewhat confused by how drastically Earth had changed from its original incarnation. I didn’t feel enough explanation was given as to how the culture had been modified so much, an entirely new religion had sprung up. I would have liked to see a bit more background of that.

The clones of Ambra Dawn were especially creepy, I felt. Towards the end of the book, I couldn’t help but feel empathy towards them, despite knowing they were more than likely beyond help.

I had some very mixed feelings about the romance in this book. On the one hand, I thought there were some really sweet aspects to it. On the other… I felt Ambra’s character underwent a massive change when she was with Nitin.

Of the secondary characters, I probably liked Moore the best. He was a much more well-rounded character and although he acted suspiciously at times, he did come through for the rest of the team. I did enjoy reading about their interactions together as a whole.

I liked that this book also had comments addressed directly to the reader and I felt the whole book was intriguing and well-written. Onto book three!

 
MAKER
Each of the previous books in this trilogy seemed to have reached a conclusion. Maybe not an entirely satisfactory one, but I think they each had a proper ending. So I wondered what more this book could reveal about the characters and the storyline played out between them.

It was interesting to see the third book told entirely from the perspective of an alien. Waythrel was an interesting character and I found myself enjoying learning about its past and personality. I liked seeing its interactions with the other characters, too, and also seeing how it viewed Ambra.

I found Kloan a really intriguing character. With her first appearance in the previous book, I wasn’t sure what to make of her. But in this book, I felt she was a much more developed character and although she seemed to act much older than she appeared, I found myself able to empathise with her a lot.

Although the repeated entries through the gate were quite interesting, I did find they got a bit repetitive at times. I could understand why, but I kept reading variations of the same conversations over and over again, which was giving me something of a headache. At the same time, it was good to learn more of Kloan’s origins and see what prompted her actions in the present.

I would have liked to learn a bit more about Waythrel’s race. It was good to see it with one of its mating grouping, but I still don’t think I really understood how that all worked. Apart from two of the genders, my understanding seemed to be that for a lot of them, it was just about needing to reproduce and not about any emotions involved. Since Waythrel and others of its kind were clearly capable of strong emotions, such as love, I found it strange that there was no reference to the individual other four of the mating grouping.

It was good to see more of Ambra in this book, even though I’m not sure I completely understood what the whole thing going on with her was. I think I might have lost track of exactly what was going on… or how Ambra could grow to the level that she did.

I found the ending intriguing, but I was a little bit disappointed by one of the aspects. Although this was the last book in the trilogy, I would very much like to see more of the characters and their world.