C.A. Gray's Blog, page 49
May 29, 2020
The Forsaken Throne, Jeff Wheeler
Today’s podcast review comes from this blog review of “The Forsaken Throne”, book 6 in the Kingfountain Series.
The post The Forsaken Throne, Jeff Wheeler appeared first on C.A. Gray.
May 27, 2020
Review of Murder at Melrose Court
[image error]
The story was more or less what it was billed to be: a stereotypical murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie. I am not a huge Christie fan, but the description made me think it would be more tongue-in-cheek than it turned out to be. Instead, I got the formula: a countess is set up as being terribly unlikeable, and it’s clear everyone has a motive to kill her, so it’s no surprise when she turns up dead. The main character is the prime suspect, and thus, he’s forced to solve the crime himself or else hang for it. We get a series of interesting characters, clues that may or may not be important, and eventually at the end, the least likely character turns out to be the culprit. Interesting enough, though it would have been much better if it were slightly less formulaic and if I’d cared about any of the characters.
My rating: ***
Language: none
Violence: none to speak of; it was a “polite” murder
Sexual content: none
Political content: none
The post Review of Murder at Melrose Court appeared first on C.A. Gray.
May 22, 2020
Warcross by Marie Lu
Today’s podcast comes from this blog review, Warcross by Marie Lu.
The post Warcross by Marie Lu appeared first on C.A. Gray.
May 20, 2020
Review of The Forsaken Throne
[image error]
Finally!!! (Warning: major spoiler alerts ahead.) After an entire 6 book series, there’s finally what I’d call a TRUE happy ending. I’d almost say it’s happy to the point of being cheesy, and I might say that if I hadn’t just slogged through six books of some level of disappointment. As it is, I feel like we EARNED this.
The book opens right where we left off. Trynne has just married Gahalatine, though the marriage has not been consummated because she is underage and both her parents are still missing. Then he barges in to the Ring Table accusing her of treachery. She knows someone has impersonated her, but Gahalatine doesn’t know her and has been led to doubt her. Owen is still missing, his memories still gone. Fallon is heartbroken at having lost Trynne, but it seems he’s rebounding for Morwenna, which in turn breaks Trynne’s heart. Then Gahalatine loses his memories too, just as Owen lost his. They discover that the source of the lost memories belongs in another world. Trynne and Fallon end up journeying there together to try to restore what was lost… which raised my hopes. After all, yes, Trynne is married, but it hasn’t been consummated so there’s still a loophole maybe? And Fallon turns out to be less enamored of Morwenna than we’re led to believe.
In the last book, Trynne’s mother leaves her due to the Fountain calling her back to the Deep Fathoms, without explanation. She sails off into what sounds like a giant drain in the sea and that’s the last we’ve heard of her. Her little brother Gannon is murdered. She’s completely alone. Owen is not much part of the story anymore, off wandering in the other world, trying to remember who he is. Myrrdin left them at the Fountain’s bidding as well. Now, Morwenna is fully evil (she was teetering on the edge before) and impersonating Genevieve, trying to poison her and King Drew’s daughter and entice her half-brother Drew to go to war so that she can seize his throne. Drew, his mind muddled, turns against Trynne. Everything bad that can happen, seems to.
About two hours before the end of the book, after my hopes were raised that perhaps there was hope for Trynne and Fallon after all, they were dashed yet again. But I thought, that just seems cruel! I almost stopped reading and went to read reviews for the book to find out if it was redeemed in the end, but I’m glad I didn’t. Yes! Finally, a couple that should end up together, does, and without any treachery against Trynne’s “husband” Gahalatine or any fault of honor. Not only that, but we finally understand why Sinia had to sail away. She went to save Gannon, and returns with him from the Deep Fathoms! (I don’t really understand this part, but I’ll take it.) Owen gets his mind restored. Morwenna gets her just deserts. Myrrdin returns to help at the critical time. And the story ends on Trynne and Fallon’s wedding day. Satisfying at last!
My rating: *****
Language: none
Violence: fantasy only
Sexual content: none
Political content: none
The post Review of The Forsaken Throne appeared first on C.A. Gray.
May 15, 2020
Review of Warcross
[image error]
A fantastic premise, very engagingly written, with a let-down ending.
Warcross hooked me almost at once–Marie Lu is definitely skilled at this! Every book I’ve ever read of hers jumps straight into the action, in such a way that I also care what happens to the characters even though we’re barely introduced. (Hard to do – most YA books jump into life or death action, but I’ve seen it so many times that I still lose interest quickly.) The world immediately reminded me of a cross between Ready Player One and the Hunger Games: there’s a worldwide obsession with the VR game called Warcross, and Emika is a teenage orphan who makes her living as a bounty hunter of those who have racked up debts trading “power-ups” for the Warcross world on the black market. She’s chasing a perpetrator, catches him, but unfairly loses the bounty. Then we find that she’s about to be evicted from her miniscule studio apartment in NYC.
Then, the opening games of Warcross begin, and because she is also a brilliant hacker (generally this stretches imagination for teens, but somehow in her case it was rendered believable), she hacks herself into the game, hoping to steal a very valuable power-up from one of the players. Unfortunately this thrusts her squarely into the worldwide spotlight. She thinks she will be arrested for the stunt, but instead, Hadeo Tanaka, the creator of Warcross flies her to Tokyo in his private jet and offers to hire her as a bounty hunter for him–under cover as a “wildcard,” or previously unknown Warcross player. He tells her little about the person they’re hunting, only that he calls himself Zero. We also don’t know his plans for quite some time.
Emi, meanwhile, has spent most of her life obsessed with Hadeo, who is only two years her elder. This sets up the romance, which is fantastically done, with shades of Cinderella. (So far the story interweaves many of my favorite stories, but in such a unique way that I still don’t totally know what’s going to happen next!)
I was all in, excited to continue the series until the VERY end. Suddenly, the author reveals Zero’s true goal and true identity. Both reveals felt very forced to me, as they involve a big about-face for one of the major relationships in the story, with very little setup. The identity of Zero also felt just so convenient… they were like twists just for the sake of twists. While the reveal did make for interesting food for thought–namely, if people find out that they’ve given up their privacy and their freedom in exchange for technological advances and convenience, will they even care?–the sacrifice to the story was too significant to make me want to continue reading. A good guy has become a bad guy, and with that reveal, my emotional investment has evaporated. Too bad, because the rest of the story was so good!
My rating: ***1/2
Language: none that I can recall
Violence: none to speak of
Sexual content: minor; suggested only, in the main character’s mind
Political content: minor but present; easy to overlook
The post Review of Warcross appeared first on C.A. Gray.
May 8, 2020
Review of The Silent Shield
[image error]
I loved this book, and I’m just in awe of the complexity of this series! There are so many details that I just let a lot of them wash over me, but I have the impression that Wheeler must have outlined a TON to keep all the intrigues and courts and etc straight in his head. But again, the characterization is just so, so good. Lots of spoilers ahead if you haven’t read the rest of this series!
This one follows Trynne again, who now is the leader of the Oath Maidens, and she also secretly shows up in competitions and battles as the Painted Knight. She is the Lancelot character, which I kind of suspected, but I couldn’t figure out how the whole Guinevere/Lancelot story was going to go down if that was the case. Turns out, he just left that part of the legend out altogether. She plans to compete in the Kingfountain Gauntlet for the seat at the Round Table called the Siege Perilous, the one reserved for King Drew’s protector now that Owen is missing. The Fountain has whispered to Trynne that it will be hers, but several turns of events make it seem like this is impossible. The way it’s ultimately fulfilled is completely unexpected–so like God, whom the Fountain clearly represents.
One major complaint, though it isn’t really a critique, just a disappointment: Wheeler really likes to set us up to root for couples that then don’t end up together, and marry other people out of duty instead! I like the fact that this makes his books unpredictable, I suppose, and in the case of Trynne and Fallon, he really kept me guessing. I love the fact that on many occasions, Trynne has good reason to doubt his loyalty, as well as Morwenna’s (the Morgan la Fay character), and yet they redeem themselves in the end. Nobody’s a cardboard character; they’re all very complex. Yet the fact that Trynne so often doubts Fallon makes it pretty impossible for them to end up together, I suppose. I was just hoping for a redemption of the Owen/Evie story in their children. NOPE!
But, romance is a minor enough part of the plot that this didn’t ruin it for me. One more book left in this series–can’t wait to find out how it ends!
My rating: ****1/2
Language: none
Violence: fantasy only (there are battles but nothing gratuitous)
Sexual content: none
Political content: none
The post Review of The Silent Shield appeared first on C.A. Gray.
The Silent Shield by Jeff Wheeler
Today’s podcast review comes from this blog review, The Silent Shield by Jeff Wheeler.
The post The Silent Shield by Jeff Wheeler appeared first on C.A. Gray.
May 1, 2020
The Hollow Crown, by Jeff Wheeler
Today’s podcast review comes from this blog review of The Hollow Crown.
The post The Hollow Crown, by Jeff Wheeler appeared first on C.A. Gray.
April 28, 2020
Review of The Hollow Crown
[image error]
This one took a bit longer for me to get into than others in the series, mostly because it introduces and follows new characters, and I had an initial aversion to Trynne Kiskadden because the name Trynne sounds so much like Tris (from the Divergent series. One of my least favorite heroines ever!) Fortunately, they are nothing alike. Trynne is a far more likable and relatable teenager, and while she is trying to “find herself,” she has no angst whatsoever. 
April 24, 2020
Lovely War by Julie Berry
Today’s podcast comes from this blog post, “Lovely War.”
The post Lovely War by Julie Berry appeared first on C.A. Gray.
