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chrissie_whitley's reviews
1549 reviews
Death Sworn by Leah Cypess
4.0
Death Sworn was a unique and interesting beginning for a YA series. I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued. I'm enjoying this direction of YA books lately that do not succumb to the instal-love phenomenon. There's a hint of a romance, and I assume more will develop with that farther into the second book.
Here's a female main character I liked, she was troubled and multi-layered but not fully revealed in one big character info-dump. Speaking of, the world development in this book is light, to say the least. I find myself thoroughly enjoying that. I know a lot of people complain about it with other novels, and it's been said it's forgivable in this instance because the whole of this story takes place in a labyrinthine cave system, but I rather like learning about the world as it's necessary to be told over the course of the book/series. Not every story needs a Hermione or a Dumbledore to tell the unenlightened main character about the world, especially one where the main character is not new to this world. For instance, [b:Doomsday Book|18413376|Doomsday Book|Connie Willis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410771006s/18413376.jpg|2439628] is one that comes to mind where the mystery of the world in which we find the characters is slowly revealed through the story-telling. Good. To me, it would be like meeting someone from another country and immediately providing them with a history lesson of the United States. It could be a rather brief lesson, if I wanted, considering the country is young, but there's not reason to delve into every country-building aspect until the topic arises.
Not only were the characters enjoyable to read and learn about, but the action was well-written. I find some authors focus too much on making the action *descriptive and interesting* which can lead to a loss of understanding of the action - where you might say: Wait, when did she jump behind him? Not the case here - even for a fast reader like myself. I found this book, overall to be well-written and having well-formed characters and a richly layered world, which I look forward to finding more about in the sequel, [b:Death Marked|18803194|Death Marked (Death Sworn, #2)|Leah Cypess|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1404496159s/18803194.jpg|26731281].
Here's a female main character I liked, she was troubled and multi-layered but not fully revealed in one big character info-dump. Speaking of, the world development in this book is light, to say the least. I find myself thoroughly enjoying that. I know a lot of people complain about it with other novels, and it's been said it's forgivable in this instance because the whole of this story takes place in a labyrinthine cave system, but I rather like learning about the world as it's necessary to be told over the course of the book/series. Not every story needs a Hermione or a Dumbledore to tell the unenlightened main character about the world, especially one where the main character is not new to this world. For instance, [b:Doomsday Book|18413376|Doomsday Book|Connie Willis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410771006s/18413376.jpg|2439628] is one that comes to mind where the mystery of the world in which we find the characters is slowly revealed through the story-telling. Good. To me, it would be like meeting someone from another country and immediately providing them with a history lesson of the United States. It could be a rather brief lesson, if I wanted, considering the country is young, but there's not reason to delve into every country-building aspect until the topic arises.
Not only were the characters enjoyable to read and learn about, but the action was well-written. I find some authors focus too much on making the action *descriptive and interesting* which can lead to a loss of understanding of the action - where you might say: Wait, when did she jump behind him? Not the case here - even for a fast reader like myself. I found this book, overall to be well-written and having well-formed characters and a richly layered world, which I look forward to finding more about in the sequel, [b:Death Marked|18803194|Death Marked (Death Sworn, #2)|Leah Cypess|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1404496159s/18803194.jpg|26731281].
Angelfall by Susan Ee
4.0
Angelfall is a quick, but really enjoyable read. Penryn and Raffe are two thoroughly engaging characters, and without the dreaded insta-love, I found myself wanting these two to get together faster than the story would warrant. While the style of writing makes for a light YA Fantasy/Dystopian story, the added weight of the schizophrenic mom and physically disabled sister, coupled with the onslaught of angels tearing through humankind, prevents this from being just another dystopian teen book.