Review: Champion by Marie Lu

Champion (Legend #3) by Marie Lu
Publication Date: November 5, 2013
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Number of Pages: 369
Format: Hardback
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He is a Legend.

She is a Prodigy.

Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position.

But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything.

With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.

I will have to say after the last book, Prodigy, I was a little bit worried about how this one would end. Especially considering the majority of books in the genre doesn't always have the best endings.  But Marie Lu nailed it.

The book picks up sometimes after the end of Prodigy. June has accepted one of the Princeps-Elect positions and is working for Anden, while Day is on the other side of the country with his brother, also working for the government, but still getting treated for his illness, which June nor the country knows about. But the country is on a brink of a war, and could face a terrible fate. Which is why June has asked Day to come to the capitol.

Revelations and secrets unfold in this fast paced book. Day and June will just break your heart. They've fought so hard to be with each other. There were scenes that brought me close to tears. The love triangles...well more of square was resolved in a very believable way. I was more than pleased with the way Tess was handled. June and Anden...well I wished we got to see more of that. Don't get me wrong, I like Day and June, but I felt a huge spark between June and Anden.

It's interesting seeing the different countries in the book. The US not being a powerhouse country, and Antarctica actually having inhabits, and even Africa being one of the most powerful countries. I did wished we learned more about what exactly happened to the US or even see it become whole again.

The ending...well it was one of the better ones for this genre. Even more of a happy ending. I really enjoyed this series.

Rating: 4/5

 

Review: Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1) by Richelle Mead

Gameboard of the Gods  (Age of X #1) by Richelle Mead
Publisher: Dutton
Publication date: June 4th
Number of pages: 464
Format: E-format via Netgalley
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In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

I originally reviewed this when I receieved an arc for it, but a few months ago, I decided to buy the book and give it another shot thinking that maybe I was a little hasty with when I first read it.
I'm glad I did because I ended up liking it a lot more than I first did. Funny how those things can happen, right?

We're quickly introduced to Mae, who after the death of a friend (and maybe more than that?), one of the members of the miltary's most elite, gets sent to pick up someone who has been exiled because they need the experience and his talents for a case that only he can solve.  Mae doesn't know who he is or what it's concerning, doesn't know what he looks like either, so when she meets Justin at a party who saves her from a group of thugs, the two of them hit it off instantly...

Justin... I loved him. He isn't your normal hero, but then again, Richelle never does things the easy way, and so he has a complicated past, invisible friends and a prophecy if it ever comes to pass, it would spell no good things for him, and he would do anything he can to stop that from coming true.
But sometimes... not everything will go the way you wish or want it to... Justin knows this first hand.

Mae, I came to like her. She was strong with also a complicated past with a complicated family life she doesn't like to speak of. I felt she and Justin connected because of their common interests, their lonliness and their sad souls. I bet they never expected to meet again after their first encounter, but sometimes things are meant to be whether or not you want them to be.  I really adored the relationship between them.  It's not an easy one, and I have a feeling it's gonna be one that is a work-in-progress for the series.  They may have had some moments, but I wouldn't say they have a romance in this book. It's more like a beginning, but it can only envolve and progress from here on out.

The world-building was fascinating. The first time Richelle has done dystopia/sci fi, and I think I like it. It's certainly different, but I can't wait to see how the series folds and pans out in the next book, because the end certain sets things up nicely, especially where it comes Justin+Mae, plus Justin's little prophecy  he needs to be concerned with.

If you haven't given this a shot, then go ahead, you may end up being surprised.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Veronica Rossi
Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Publisher: Harper Collins
Number of Pages: 376
Format: Paperback
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Since she'd been on the outside, she'd survived an Aether storm, she'd had a knife held to her throat, and she'd seen men murdered.

This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland — known as The Death Shop — are slim. If the cannibals don't get her, the violent energy storms will. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He's wild — a savage — and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria's help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must come together to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

 Meet Aria. She lives in a pod protected from the outside world. Inside the pod she has everything she has ever wanted. She can go into any realm/world she wants and no harm done to her. Plus they don't ever get sick or even get periods (lucky girl). But her mother is away on business and the communication line with the pod she is on has gone done. She just knows something is wrong. To try to get information she convinces the son of one of the consuls to break in one of the sectors that is damage. From there things go wrong. But there's an outsider, Perry, who had broke in at the same time and saved Aria.

But Aria pays the sacrifices and gets thrown into the outside. And Perry just happens to stumble across her and saves her from eventually dying. But Perry needs Aria. To the outsiders or savages as they are often referred to, Aria is a Dweller. Perry's nephew has been kidnapped by them, and he has to get them back and Aria seems to be his only hope.

The book and the world building is interesting. And very different. But I just couldn't really connect to the characters. I liked them as individuals, but Aria and Perry as a couple I couldn't get into. I felt like them falling in love came out of nowhere. They initially hate each other, but one day they started being friends and then bam they are in love. *rolleyes* I did love Roar.

I felt like all the reveals in the book was very predictable. I could see them coming all along.  The book was ok. But it didn't interest me enough to continue with the series.

Rating: 3/5