Feb/March Reads

While the title says Feb/March Reads I read the majority of the books in February and spilled a little into March according to Goodreads. I love Goodreads so much. I can keep account of all the books I've read as well as the dates I started and finished them. Anyway I realised it's been a over a month since I've done a book post, I need to start reading faster, so I'm doing another double up.

These have been the quickest books I've read in a long while. I think it has to do with the genre; they both kind of have a fantasy element to them which is something that I love.

 

Glass Sword - Victoria Aveyard*

 

Mare's blood is red - the colour of common folk - but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court wants to control. As she makes her escape from the prince and friend who betrayed her, Mare uncovers that she is not the only one of her kind. Pursued by the Silver king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.

 

This book has a combination of elements that remind of a number of other book series. There is an element of the Hunger Games, Mare is Katniss bringing about an uprising to topple the Silver rulers. There's also a bit of love triangle going on which is very reminiscent of Katniss, Peeta and Gale. The book also reminded me of a series I read while in primary school, Noughts & Crosses. In the series Crosses, who are darker skinned, are more privileged and powerful than that of the lowly Noughts who are lighter skinned. I kind of saw this a bit with Reds being more lowly than the Silvers.

 

What I really loved about this book, a part from the fantasy element of Silvers having abilities, was that I was constantly surprised where the story was heading. I have not read the previous book so had no preconception of how it was going to go, like Mare I was surprised by the blindsides which came her way. I enjoyed the character of Mare, she's only 17 but you don't really get that sense with all the responsibly and determination she has to topple a powerful monarchy. She's not perfect, she has her own issues as result of what happened to her but she tries her best to help those who are in danger.

 

I haven't read the first book but I now really want to especially since on Goodreads I've seen comments from people saying they still love the character of Maven who is noooot a good person. It'll be interesting to see a different side to him.

 

 

Archangel's Enigma - Nalini Singh*

 

Naasir is the most feral of the powerful group of vampires and angels known as the Seven, his loyalty pledged to the Archangel Raphael. When rumors surface of a plot to murder the former Archangel of Persia Naasir is dispatched to find him. He is accompanied by Andromeda, a young angelic scholar with dangerous secrets.

 

As someone who studied Art and Ancient History I really loved the names of some of the characters; Raphael, Andromeda, Cato, Alexander. The story kinds of mirrors the myth of Andromeda who is chained to a rock to be savaged by a sea monster but is saved by Perseus, Naasir kind of saves Andromeda in the end.

 

Like with Glass Sword I had not preconceived notion of how the story was going to go so was surprised along the way. It's the eighth book in the Guild Hunter series so I was kind of lost with some of the terminology so had to do some googling. I enjoyed stepping inside a world with angels and vampires. I really loved the character of Andromeda, I kind of relate to her being a scholar and wanting to study history. While she is a scholar is more than capable of defending herself and proves herself a match for the wild Naasir. Nassir is a very interesting character given that he's not really a regular vampire, he thinks and acts differently so everything he did was unexpected and left me wanting to see what he'd do next.

 

This was probably the quickest book I've read in while, the story was compelling and just made me want to keep reading.

 

*These books were sent to me by Hachette NZ, the reviews are all my own opinion

 

Ashley xx