(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I was quite intrigued by the blurb of this book and the front cover was quite appealing. I did find this book to be a really intriguing read and I liked the mix of history and modern in the book.

I did find parts of the book to be a bit contradictory in parts. I did quite like John Rose as a character, but I was a bit unsure about Tom and Jean. I did like them for most of the book, but there were some scenes where I really didn’t like them. They did things that I don’t associate with the ‘good guys’.

The characters from the past were, I felt, much more real than the characters from the present day. In many ways, I felt like the past was more real than the present. Also, although the danger felt real in the town of South Heart, it seemed less like a world-wide thing. The animals helped to indicate that the war was on a much larger scale, but the amount of people on the ‘good’ side seemed really outnumbered.

I really liked the cat and dog in this book, as well as the horse Animus. It was interesting to see how Tom had to deal with working on the ranch, since he was very much a city boy. I was quite confused about the whole thing with Gabby. I have a theory about him, but there are parts of the book that don’t back up that theory, which was one of the confusing parts.

I did like Tom’s relationship with his students and I would have liked to see more of their interaction. The rings were quite an interesting idea, too, but I would have liked to see them utilised a bit more. There were some things that I would have liked to see explored more than they were.

I did notice quite a few errors in the writing. I would have found it easier to read if some of the plotlines had been a bit more expanded.

I did care about the characters, though there were times I thought that Tom and Jean were more skilled than they should have been in fighting. I also did like the religious aspects to this book, probably unsurprisingly.

I’d likely read a sequel to this book, but I’d like to see some more things expanded upon.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

As zombie stories go, this one was actually quite an intriguing storyline. It was interesting to see the scientists working towards the cure and how people all worked together to try and have as normal a society as possible.

It was good to see the relationships that the characters formed together. I particularly liked Evie and Nathan’s relationship and I found myself growing particularly fond of Tom and Holly. I thought that Tom seemed as emotionally developed as my niece, who’s the same age as him.

There were parts of the book I found more difficult to read, I have to say. I did notice quite a few errors; one in particular was the use of the word Leftenant. Although the British do use that pronunciation, in writing, it is still ‘Lieutenant’. I also found the formatting a bit difficult. There were scene changes indicated where there shouldn’t be and paragraphs not where they should be.

I did like a lot of the characters in this book, though I did get confused with some of the names every now and then. I also found learning about how the virus worked quite interesting, though there were a few parts that were repeated, such as an explanation about how the virus worked that was then repeated almost word-for-word by one of the characters later on.

I didn’t feel that the urgency in finding a cure was really felt until later on in the book. Also, although the person who had created the virus originally was meant to be one of the ‘good guys’, I didn’t see a whole lot of remorse for what had happened. I also felt there was very little to no foreshadowing a lot of the time.

The idea about the ‘red room’ was a pretty interesting one and I felt that was fairly intriguing, especially seeing how it worked with the virus taking over a particular person. It was nice to see a couple of the other characters pairing off, too, like Brian and Meriam, a relationship I particularly enjoyed reading about. I also felt that the book was set up well for a follow-on. I would probably read a sequel to this book, but I did feel this book would have benefited from a proof-reader.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

It’s always good to read a young adult book that isn’t the cardboard cut out of, ‘Mary Sue meets two hot guys and has to decide between them who she’s going to end up with’. Yes, there was a love triangle here… but it was handled in a slightly different way, so although it was a bit irritating to see again, I felt it wasn’t as annoying as some of them.

I did think of Daughter of Smoke and Bone a lot while I was reading this, but although there were some similar elements, I did feel that the storyline was unique enough to keep and hold my attention. And to be honest, pretty much every plot has elements that can be traced to others.

I also really liked a lot of the characters in this book. Echo was particularly interesting and it was also good to see the two different species. I would have liked to see a bit more detail about how they co-existed with humans. There was a bit, but when the action picked up more, I was left wondering how humans kept missing everything going on.

I did like how the author acknowledged that there was a cost to magic. I find that more realistic than the whole myriad of Mary Sues who use power without even a single consequence, even though other characters have spent whole years training. (Am I bitter? Yes. A whole lot of reading time wasted spent on cliched young adult paranormal romances).

I was particularly fond of Dorian and Jasper. I would have loved to see more of them interacting. I’m also curious to see how Ivy will fit in with these relationships.

I REALLY like how the romance wasn’t some perfect, insta!love. I felt that the characters still had lives outside of each other and that’s always a good thing. I also really liked that the author wasn’t afraid to let the characters suffer consequences. And that most of them couldn’t just fight their way out of trouble without some kind of help.

Although this book did end with some kind of resolution, I would like to see more of the world and the characters. It would also be nice to see other members of both of the races, but I’d particularly like to see how certain situations are resolved.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have some very mixed feelings about this book. It was surprisingly easy and quick to read and the plotline was really interesting. And there were engaging parts to the book.

If the world in this book had been revealed to be a form of purgatory, I think it would have made a bit more sense. There were very few ‘different’ characters – with very few exceptions, every member of a particular class or group was portrayed as being exactly the same.

I did find Jasel and Pain to be interesting characters, even if they weren’t all that heroic. There were a lot of really disturbing scenes in this book as well… very graphic ones, many of which I felt were gratuitous.

Seeing Mars and Venus was interesting, but I wasn’t really sure exactly what had happened with them and the rest of the pantheon. I was disappointed to see that Mars was made the villain in this, again. Mars/Ares and Hades are often portrayed as evil in fiction. Solexer was an interesting character, but there wasn’t enough detail given about him through the book.

I felt that Venus stayed more true to her mythical personality than Ares did, although it was good to see that there were some pretty obvious elements even in Ares’ case.

I spent a lot of this book wondering exactly which characters were ‘real’. There was a lot of unnecessary, graphic sex and violence that I felt wasn’t necessary. Because of all that, I found my attention wandering, particularly through the whole films sequence.

If the book had been less disjointed and some of the characters more likable, I probably would have found it readable. As it is, I don’t think I’d read a sequel to this book.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although I’m still not sure I really understood everything by the end of the book, I did find this quite an intriguing read. The spiral pattern could probably mean a lot of things, but it was interesting to see the way it’s dealt with in these four parts of the story.

I liked the fact that each of the stories were written in different styles. The first one was pretty intriguing and I felt myself drawn into the ancient world that was portrayed in the first story.

The second story was one that struck a particular chord. The witch trials is, I personally feel, one of the low points in human history. And although the fate of the girl wasn’t the main focus of the story, it still stuck with me. The trial was terrible… and the mob mentality is an extremely scary one. (I saw an example of that mentality on a television show… It was quite scary to watch. And, of course, standing against a mob is a really frightening prospect).

I quite liked the third segment, too. I found the relationship between the POV character and his daughter really intriguing. There weren’t many likable characters in that one, though. And I was still left somewhat unsure about what had actually happened by the end. Though the explanation about the madness came across really well.

The fourth story had a bit more tension in the storyline, I felt. I think I understood what was going on better there, although I’m not sure that my assumptions were completely accurate.

It was really good to see the link-ins through all of the segments, not just through the symbol of the spiral. I did read the segments in the order they were in the book, but I can see how they could be read in any interconnecting order.

I saw other blurbs for more books by this author and I found quite a lot of them really intriguing, with plots I’d be interested in. This book was well-written and interesting. It would be good to read more stories connecting with these.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I think this trilogy, so far, is a good example of young adult books that I actually enjoy and find well-written, with romances that make sense and are given the time to develop.

The idea of the Norse gods residing inside humans’ souls is quite an interesting one, though I would really like to know why it’s those people in particular. I also really liked seeing the appearance of one of the Valkyries, though Mist’s presence raised some more questions I would have liked to have answered.

I liked Coral as a character. She came across as really different to Raven and it was nice to see the link-ins with the previous book. I also particularly liked seeing Tanar’s relationship with his father. I’ve become quite a fan of father-son relationships and brother relationships.

Speaking of brothers… I was particularly fond of Josh and Grim. When they first appeared in the book, I wasn’t really sure what to make of them, but they really grew on me as the storyline went on.

I do find the relationship between Coral and her sisters and the Norns a really interesting one. And it was quite good to learn more about the triplets and their history.

It was also good to see more of the general magic, since Coral was the magic-user of the three of them. I also liked that the skills/abilities of the characters came across as quite realistic… at least in the world of the book.

There are still some more questions I had by the end of the book, but some of the ones I had after the previous book were answered in this one.

I do have the third book saved on my Kindle, ready to read. Having read the second book, I’m eager to find out how everything all ties together and what will eventually happen with Ragnorak.

I’m really enjoying the world in this book and learning about the characters. I like books with Norse mythology in anyway (and the references to the Thor movies were cool), but I do think these are pretty entertaining.