Review: Solitary (Escape from Furnace, #2) by Alexander Gordon Smith

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Kristilyn

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Title: Solitary
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Series: Escape From Furnace, #2
Date(s) read: January 27 – February 5, 2013
Genre: YA thriller
Source: Library (Paperback)

Furnace Prison …
Where death is the least of your worries.
Escape is just the beginning …

We thought we’d made it, we thought we were free. But we should have known there was no way out of Furnace.

All we did was slip deeper into the guts of the prison: into solitary confinement, where the real nightmares live – the warden, the Wheezers, and something much, much worse.

The clock’s ticking. Because if we don’t escape soon they will turn us into freaks – like them. For ever.

In the darkness of the hole your worst nightmares come to life.

When I finished reading this book, I really had to sit down and think about it. I loved the first book in this series, Lockdown, and flew through the pages and ended with my heart pounding and that feeling that I HAD to pick up the second book and continue with the series right away. But then I finished the book and felt like it could’ve been better — that maybe it should’ve been a bit different.

Solitary starts up where Lockdown left off. The boys have been caught, with Alex and Zee thrown into solitary, which is basically a dark hole where they’re cut off from the world. Solitary is the place where prisoners slowly descend into madness, so the theme for this book seemed to be NOT going mad. Of course, we’re pretty much just stuck with Alex, in his head, for a lot of the book. Him and Zee have “conversations,” but those are basically them talking via a toilet grate banged against a wall. Continue reading →

Review: At Grave’s End (Night Huntress, #3) by Jeaniene Frost

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Kristilyn

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Title: At Grave’s End
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Series: Night Huntress, #3
Date(s) read: January 19 – 24, 2013
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: Purchased (Paperback)

It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield’s life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she’s successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat’s worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover’s finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.

As if that wasn’t enough, a woman from Bones’s past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat’s about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she’s learned as a special agent won’t help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself—and Bones—from a fate worse than the grave.

One thing I love about certain series books is how I can go so long in between reading the books, but still get totally immersed in the next one I pick up. It’s like the story just comes back to me the second I start reading and I fall in love with the characters once again. And really, with Bones and Cat, how can you not fall back in love with them?

First things first, we meet Vlad in this book! I had heard so many things about Vlad and how awesome he was and I am happy to say that, yes, he is indeed AWESOME. I can’t wait to start reading the spin-off series with his character because he’s just so handsome and quite the memorable character. Continue reading →

Review: Sever (The Chemical Garden Trilogy, #3) by Lauren DeStefano

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Kristilyn

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Title: Sever
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Series: The Chemical Garden Trilogy, #3
Date(s) read: February 18, 2013
Genre: YA dystopian
Source: Purchased (Hardcover)

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this series. I absolutely adored Wither, the first book in the series, but felt oddly indifferent about the second book, Fever. Of course, once I’ve gotten 2/3 of the way through a series, I kind of have to finish it just to see if the final book will redeem things.

I’m still really not sure what to think about this one. I was eager to get back to Rhine’s story and see how it all panned out, but it almost fell flat like Fever did for me. I felt like there was a lot of the same things going on in Sever as there were in Fever — lots of nothing. I wanted lots of something, but didn’t get anything. Continue reading →