Tag Archives: dystopian

Book Review: Soul Eater, by Lily Mayne

I received a copy of Lily Mayne‘s Soul Eater a Renegade Romance box.

Twenty years ago, monsters rose on earth and began a new age of civilization.

One where humans live in military-controlled, cramped and dirty cities along the coasts, and the majority of the United States is known as the Wastes. A lawless, desolate and dangerous place, teeming with monsters that have claimed the land for their own.

Including Wyn the Soul Eater.

He appears every three years, making his way across the country and slaughtering humans randomly, sucking them dry until they’re nothing but husks.

I’ve only been in the military for six months, but now I’m part of a unit tasked with trying to stop and capture him. And when I’m the only soldier out of hundreds that the Soul Eater leaves alive, I realise that… something about me has intrigued him.

But what is it? What could a twenty-three year old guy from the south, with no one and nothing in the world, have possibly done to capture the attention of a death monster with horns, blackened fingertips and a face hidden in the dark depths of his hood?

This was really sweet, and I enjoyed it. I liked all of the characters, even the side one. But there really isn’t anything to it except the romance, and that left me a tad bored. There is no particular mystery or challenge to the plot (other than survival). There isn’t a lot of world-building. There are no significant characters outside of the main heroes and a side character who stars in the next book in the series. So, ultimately, though I liked the book, I wasn’t lit on fire by it. I have the next one, and I plan to read it though.

Other Review:

Niblioholic: Review Soul Eater

Book review: Red, by S.J. Sanders

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I saw S.J. Sanders‘ Red recommended on Tiktok and purchased a copy for myself.

There were certain truths everyone knew. Never wear red or any other bright color. Make as little sound as possible if one had to be outside the protection of the sanctuary settlements. And never, ever, go out in the wild places alone. The Ragoru, an alien species set down to live among them, dwell within the forests and everyone knows that they crave all things red.

Arie’s life has always been one of playing by the rules. She doesn’t draw attention to herself. She doesn’t leave her home without her hood that conceals her bright red hair. It is a secret from everyone, and her hood protects her secret so that she may continue to live safely within the village until one day that secret comes to light. Absconding into the woods soon becomes her only safety, and she will risk her very life into the care of the very dreaded beings that all people fear, the Ragoru, in hope of making it to her grandmother’s house in the citadel at the other side of the great forest.

When circumstances reveal them to not be the monsters of human imagination, but that they stir the ravenous beast within her, Arie finds that she is willing to risk far more to find a way to be with them forever. Even if that means severing ties with her grandmother, rejecting the human comforts of the citadel, and facing the horror of the Order of the Huntsmen.

Meh. I actually really enjoyed the first half of this book. It is super formulaic and predictable. (I mean if, before reading the book, someone had asked me to write a generic outline based on this book’s blurb, I would have succeeded with 100% success.) There are NO surprises and NOTHING that you’re used to seeing in the genre is left out. Even the seemingly random events are just section 2, part b, subsection iii of the most commonly utilized industry outline (or so it seems). It’s your basic bitch, Why Choose fairy-tale retelling book. But hey, we read them because we enjoy them. So, predictable in the extreme, but also super cute. I really did enjoy watching the males come around. They’re all adorable in their own way.

I can’t really say the same for Arie though. She just kind of existed. And I honestly never got over my page-one question about why, if you could be exiled or killed for having red hair, you’d grow it out instead of cutting it off. I was really bothered by the idea that she walked around with a whole Merida-like head of hair hidden under a hood her whole life. Why would you endanger yourself like that? It was ridiculous in the extreme, but I decided to look over it. Despite that, I still found her a fairly bland heroine.

I’m wandering. My point was that despite being noting new to the genre I enjoyed it…up until the halfway mark. I even overlooked the editing mishaps. But after the halfway mark, when Sanders took the characters outside of their small story-line, the whole thing fell apart. Most notably the plotting fell apart and suddenly everything was too easy.

Three non-humans walked into a hostile human city for the first time and instantly found what might have been the only human who both wasn’t afraid of them and was willing/able to help them. Arie similarly was introduced to one person. She asked them for help and they said yes, etc. It didn’t even really feel like a story anymore, just a list of events with no emotional significance. By the time the final fight scene rolled around—which was won with ridiculous ease—I was done.

The book is also just too long. Whole sections could be cut easily. I’m thinking of the entire episode with the mutated humans and subsequent events, for example. All of it could have been cut wholesale for a tighter read, it contributes so little to the overall story.

So, to recap, fun if formulaic first half, lazy (and still formulaic) second half. I love the cover though!

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Book Review: Civil War, by TC Marti

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I accepted a review copy of TC Marti‘s Civil War, as part of it’s book tour with Love Book Tours.

I was Culled at age five into the Bastille Military, the World of Rondure’s superpower…

…Having lived on-base for thirteen years, military life taught me two things: Mastery of the Smoke Element and to never apologize about using it on enemies

Now that I’m awaiting a sure death sentence for the crime of exposing Bastille’s true crimes, they’ve left me with no choice. When they try to extradite me, I will call upon my Sword of Smoke and escape this predicament, using every combat technique they taught me against them.

Then, I’ll take it upon myself to finish a mission I started years ago; to unplug the People of Bastille and let them know who the real enemy is: their home nation and its Capital City of Paramount.

As I go rogue, every authority figure with money, power, and influence in the Bastille Empire will want me dead. Thanks to them, I’m one of the most powerful Smoke Masters in the World of Rondure. And I’m ready to break the spell the people of my nation have lived under for over a century.

*Sigh* If you’ve read very many of my reviews then you know that one of the things I complain about most frequently is picking up a book labeled as ‘Book 1’ and discovering that it’s actually a spin-off of another series and not really a first book. Civil War is just one more such book (the third series in its universe, as far as I can tell) and I was completely lost for darned near the whole book.

This makes reviewing it difficult. Because I’m not sure how much more of the plot, characters, world, etc I would have understood and been invested in (or not) if I had read the previous books. I can’t know, for example, if this book honestly just has really weak world-building (and erratic plotting)—it does—or if the author simply deemed it unnecessary because I’m just supposed to already know the world(s), factions, religions, even some of the characters, etc—I don’t. But as it stands I didn’t enjoy my time with Civil War.

The writing is pedestrian, but perfectly readable. The editing seems pretty clean. I like the cover. But beyond that, too much really hinges on the fact that I don’t think it stands alone and I read it as a stand-alone.

I suppose this is an unconventional ‘review.’ But it’s the best I can do and stay remotely positive….neutral-ish.