Starr Z. Davies's Blog, page 5

Ordinary Blog Tour and Giveaway

I’m so excited about the launch of my debut novel. If you haven’t heard about it, keep reading. I’ll share some info in a bit. 

To celebrate, I’m participating in a MONTH LONG book blog tour. You will find excerpts, guest posts, reviews, and more. I have event details on my Events calendar (where I’m also posting local events for those who are interested in meeting me). You can also get the full tour schedule through my amazing organizer, Silver Dagger Tours.

About Ordinary

Divinic. Somatic. Psionic. Naturalist.  Who will you be?

Having a superpower is ordinary. Your power determines your job, social class, and future success.

But Ugene doesn’t have a Power. The only thing special about him is that he isn’t special at all. Ugene is Powerless.

Despite desperate self-inflicted research, he can find no traces of the Powers in him. Ugene’s prospects dwindle, and he learns that his father is suffering a degenerative disease that will soon kill him.

So when the most prominent biomedical research company in the city offers Ugene a solution, he jumps at the possibility to be ordinary. All he has to do is agree to allow them to use him in their research. But the longer he stays at the research facility, the more he realizes something isn’t right.

Friendships are forged. Trust is broken built and broken. And everything Ugene thought he understood and believed is called into question.

Who can Ugene trust in his search for answers? What is he willing to sacrifice for Powers?

 

Are you interested in hosting an event with me either online or in-person? I would love to hear from you! Visit my About Starr page for more details. You can also sign up to host me for the Unique tour. Signups are open now.

The post Ordinary Blog Tour and Giveaway appeared first on Starr Z. Davies.

Review: Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian

Despite my hangups about the love interests in Ash Princess, I was excited to see how our heroine handled her freedom. The sequel, Lady Smoke, had very different pacing and intensity.

After escaping her homeland and the Kaiser’s brutal rule, Theo hopes to find freedom she has never know before. What she doesn’t realize is that she has sailed from the hands of brutality into a world of political manipulation. All Theo wants is to return home, save her people, and take back the kingdom stolen from her ten years ago.

Instead, Theo has to learn how to play a dangerous game of politics with numerous rules from around the world. Many of those rules want to see Soren, her advisor and the son of the Kaiser, punished strictly because of his bloodlines. Can she get the help her kingdom needs while saving Soren’s life?

Ash Princess read slowly for me, which was perfectly fine, but the intrigue in Lady Smoke drew me from one chapter to the next, always wondering how Theo was going to get the upper hand — or if the Kaiser would finally get his hands on her again. She faces betrayals, which is hardly a surprise, and loses several of her allies to assassination.

The book deserves higher marks than the first book, but I still can’t quite find it in me to give it five stars. And there’s one major reason — the Kaiser.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that I was overwhelmingly disappointed with how the confrontation with him ended. It felt more like  Sebastian tried to simplify the storyline before starting the next book, instead of taking on the challenges she could have. It was almost too easy.

I did love how Theo approaches her new position at the end. It reminded me of Danerys Targaryen stepping out of the flames with her dragons. Not a clear rip-off, but more of a sensation of her taking on who she truly is.

I will say this — I was not disappointed by how her relationships with Blaise and Soren ended in this book, and I look forward to seeing how they develop in the last book.

The post Review: Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian appeared first on Starr Z. Davies.

Review: Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Ash Princess, by Laura Sebastian, is the first in a trilogy about a princess whose kingdom was conquered when she was a girl.

Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia’s family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess–a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner.

For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She’s endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside.

Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her hands and all hope of reclaiming her throne lost, she realizes that surviving is no longer enough. But she does have a weapon: her mind is sharper than any sword. And power isn’t always won on the battlefield.

For ten years, the Ash Princess has seen her land pillaged and her people enslaved. That all ends here.

The story was a slow burn, which worked just fine for me. I enjoyed the intrigue and plot twists. Mostly, I continued turning the pages to find out what new way the Kaiser would punish her, and how far it would be before she finally snapped. I also wanted to see how long it would take for her friend Cress to finally show her true colors.

The relationship between Theo and Cress reminded me of Tiana and Charlotte in The Princess and the Frog. So much so that I often saw those two characters in place of the actual characters in the story. And if that ruins it for you, I really am sorry.

There were a couple of small sticking points for me that bumped it down to a 4-star book. First is that Theo’s shift from timid and broken to determined to take back her kingdom didn’t feel strong enough. The motivation was there, but the emotional shift just didn’t happen for me.

The other sticking point for me was the relationships Theo developed with Blaise and Soren. Again, I just didn’t feel the emotional connection between them as strongly as I should have.

Now, let’s talk Blaise. His character is well-written. Don’t get me wrong. But I didn’t like him for Theo. He was pushing, rude, and too distant for me to want her to connect with him. Soren, on the other hand, was gentle, kind, and truly listened to her.

Overall, would I recommend this book? Yes, if you like reading a book with a slower pace. Don’t take my criticism as opposition. I still feel this is a solid 4-star book and worth the read.

The post Review: Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian appeared first on Starr Z. Davies.

Review: Supernova

This book holds nothing back and offers all the satisfying conclusions one would expect from a superhero novel. The conclusion to the Renegades trilogy is nothing short of pulse-pounding, epic, page-turning action. Supernova is probably one of the best conclusions to a trilogy that I have read.

In Supernova, our band of heroes and villains are back. This time, their struggle for domination takes on epic casualties. Buildings ripped from the ground. Deception lurks at every turn. Lines between right and wrong, good and evil are blurred. At the center of it all stand Nova and Adrian. Secrets are revealed and agonizing choices must be made.

As a writer, several plot elements from the previous books jumped out at me, removing some of the element of surprise. The truth about what happened to Nova’s family. The clarity with which Nova sees her infamous Uncle. So many threads left hanging in previous books tied up just as neatly as I expected they would.

As a reader, I loved those twists and turns — even if I saw them coming. I craved the action-packed scenes just as much as the more intimate, one-on-one scenes. I enjoyed the fantastic ride that pulled me from page to page without regard to the passage of actual time. And I especially loved that one detail that Meyer left hanging in the epilogue. I don’t expect she will do anything with it, though I sure would love to read a short story about Magpie and Nova.

Of all the books I’ve reviewed on this blog — of all the books I’ve recommended — the Renegades trilogy by far stands above the rest. If you haven’t read these books, you need to. It delivers everything you would come to expect from an outstanding superhero series.

The post Review: Supernova appeared first on Starr Z. Davies.

Review: Archenemies

Heroes, villains, vengeance, forbidden love… and endless chills! Archenemies is one of the rare “book 2” editions in a trilogy that doesn’t disappoint.

“In this second installment of the Renegades trilogy, Nova, Adrian, and the rest of their crew – Ruby, Oscar, and Danna — are faced with escalating crime in Gatlon City, while covert weapons and conflicting missions have Nova and Adrian questioning not only their beliefs about justice, but also the feelings they have for each other.”

The end of the first book revealed the truth about what happened to Nova’s infamous Uncle Ace Anarchy. In this novel, Nova’s driving desire to seek justice for her family and her growing affection for Adrian come to a head, forcing her to at last make a choice between love and family. But her enemy has another trick up their sleeve.

I just finished reading Archenemies and couldn’t wait to write a review. The ending left me stunned and — I will admit — there was a moment in those final chapters when I nearly threw the book down and gave up on it. When you read the book (and you definitely should), you will know exactly when that moment struck for me. It turned my blood cold and I literally couldn’t breathe.

Archenemies is a fast-paced page-turner packed with love, hate, and desperation. The characters are relatable, as are their motivations. They stick to their guns even when their own safety or happiness is on the line. If it’s possible, I think I loved this book more than Renegades!

A clear 5 stars. Hands down. This is the sort of epic writing I aspire to emulate!

The post Review: Archenemies appeared first on Starr Z. Davies.

Review: Renegades by Marissa Meyer

This book sat on my GoodReads bookshelf for a long time before I finally picked it up. Now I’m wondering what the heck took me so long! Renegades is the first book in a trilogy by Marissa Meyer, all about superheroes and the battle between good vs. evil.

Nova was raised by villains. Ten years ago, her uncle, the leader of the villains, was killed in a decisive victory for the Renegades — a band of heroes determined to restore balance to a breaking world. After their triumphant victory, the Renegades established themselves as leaders and set up an organization that quickly spread around the world — heroes with powers fighting for the common good to destroy evil and make the world a safe place to live again.

Today, Nova joins the Renegades to take them down from within, but her journey has her questioning what makes someone a hero or villain. Not all heroes are heroic. Not all villains are villainous. After spending time with Adrian, a Renegade, Nova realizes that it’s the choices we make that will decide who we are — not the powers we wield.

While the theme of the story itself isn’t terribly original — Do you have what it takes to be a hero? — the way Meyer spins this story into a complex web of good vs. evil and right vs. wrong is certainly unique. I fell in love with Nova’s character very quickly, related to her plight, and felt her inner turmoil as she struggles to come to grips with the reality of the world around her. The worldbuilding was swiftly established with a dramatic opening chapter. The relationships Nova has with the villains and the heroes make you quickly admire her no-nonsense attitude and her compassion.

I can honestly say this is one of the best books I’ve read in months. If you are a fan of the Powerless series or superheroes in general, you will love this twisting tale of mystery and betrayal. I can’t wait to open book two!

Literary Portals Review: Ordinary (reblog)

I am over the moon excited to have my first ever official book review for my debut novel, Ordinary!

“Ordinary” is the first book in the ‘Ordinary’ series, a young adult sci-fi novel set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world, told in the first person through the eyes of the main character, a powerless teenage boy in his last year of high school struggling to find his place in a society of powered people. The story is divided in 3 parts: part 1 introduces both the world – the sanctuary city of Elpis, and the main character – Ugene Powers; part 2 follows Dr. Cass’ research on Regression and its impact on each of the test subjects, as Ugene adapts to life at Paragon Tower; part 3 explores Ugene’s personal struggles as he is forced to take on a role he’s unprepared for, with dire consequences on a personal level and society as a whole.

Full Review: https://literaryportals.blogspot.com/2020/01/book-review-ordinary-ordinary-1-by.html

Ordinary Cover Reveal is Here!

Today is the day! The cover for Ordinary is officially revealed. I can't begin to express how excited I am to see this project really come to life.

Browse inside the book's first few pages.

Savor the beauty of this stunning cover.

Look Inside



$9.99

























Ordinary

Print Cover



Ordinary Ebook

ebook cover



Ordinary Full Cover








Divinic. Somatic. Psionic. Naturalist. Who will you be?

Having a superpower is ordinary. Your Power determines your job, social class, and future success.

But Ugene doesn’t have a Power. The only thing special about him is that he isn’t special at all. Ugene is Powerless.

Who can Ugene trust in his search for answers? What is he willing to sacrifice for Powers?

$2.99 Kindle





$9.99 Amazon Paperback





$9.99 B&N Paperback


 

Also, if you aren't following me on social media yet, now is the perfect time to do it. Over the next few weeks, prior to release, I will be sharing my favorite quotes from the book on Facebook and Twitter. Just click the buttons below to follow me!

Review: The Death Code (A Murder Complex Book 2)

A cure for death has been discovered and used. Now the world is overpopulated and a new government has risen from the ashes of what remains of society. The Initiative’s purpose: ensure that the Murder Complex continues to work to keep the population under control; find a loophole in the cure that will allow humans to once again die.

Meadow and Zypher want to stop the Initiative from using the population, but what they don’t know is just how deep the Initiative’s purpose goes.

The Death Code, by Lindsey Cummings, is the second book in a duology; something I didn’t know when I started reading the book. The first chapters were dark and didn’t do a lot to establish the world. I felt lost in a sea of desperation and torture without the ability to ground myself in the world. As I admitted, I didn’t read the first book, but I suppose it stands to reason that even a second book should give a few bits of the world to help ground new readers — such as myself — in the world before launching into such desperation.

It wasn’t until Meadow sat down with the Initiative leader that I get even a hint of what was really going on; even after that, I spent nearly 100 more pages in the world before I felt I had a good foundation. That’s nearly 150 of the 496 pages.

Now, with that stipulation aside, I loved the characters, the dangers of the world and the purpose of the Initiative were well-founded (once I had a chance to get those details). Meadow is troubled and a bit crazy because of the torture she endured. Zypher is the perfect killer who isn’t supposed to fall in love — but he does, and he follows Meadow to the ends of the world. Meadow is also a time bomb waiting to go off. Her mother made her the carrier of the Murder Complex code, so Meadow’s death would end the Complex for good. Except Zypher refuses to let that happen.

In the end, the two are forced to deal with the consequences of Meadow’s family’s choices if they have any hope of ending the Initiative. The end of the book showed how that choice between the two of them fell out, and the fall of the Initiative was tacked on to the end of the book — almost like an afterthought. I was very close to disappointed that Cummings didn’t even show us the fall of this terrible government — no, I was disappointed, but only because the fall of the Initiative didn’t get the attention it deserved.

I may have enjoyed the book more if I had read the first one, but now that I’ve read the second, I don’t really have a desire to go backward.

Ordinary Cover Reveal Set, Mark Your Calendars

It’s been a true trial of love, but Ordinary is coming in March 2020. The cover will be revealed on January 6, 2020.

Mark your calendars.

Watch my social media.

Sign up for my email list to see the cover before everyone else.

Meanwhile, as you wait, you can take a peek inside at the first three chapters.

 

Look Inside



$9.99