The Glass Spare by Lauren DeStefanoSeries: The Glass Spare #1
Published by: Balzer & Bray on October 24, 2017
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 416
Source: Edelweiss
Book Details
Rating: ★★★
A banished princess.
A deadly curse.
A kingdom at war.Wil is the youngest spare and the only daughter to the world's wealthiest king. Sharing a castle with the nation's heir and her alchemist prodigy of a brother, Wil has honed her invisibility as her strength. That is, until the day she discovers her deadly power: she can crystallize living things—even people—with a touch. After a tragedy changes the course of her life, she must help the kingdom that's turned its back on her, even as it descends into war.
The Glass Spare was such a cool idea and there were some interesting characters, but I was kind of bored. š It felt like a slow book and it just wasn’t grabbing me for some reason. It took me 6 days to get through it, which is a lot for me.
I also had some issues with the world building. Clearly a lot of thought went into everything, but I don’t feel like it was conveyed very well. I had a hard time grasping it and really understanding what the world was all about. It’s very unique but it felt like information was just thrown at me rather than neatly woven into the story. I saw it, but didn’t really understand it, maybe.
There’s also a pretty serious case of insta-love. I thought I was liking the romance, but then at the end View Spoiler »
The Dazzling Heights by Katharine McGeeSeries: The Thousandth Floor #2
Published by: HarperTeen on August 29, 2017
Genre: Drama
Pages: 432
Source: Edelweiss
Book Details
Rating: ★★★
LEDA is haunted by memories of what happened on the worst night of her life. Sheāll do anything to make sure the truth stays hiddenāeven if it means trusting her enemy.
WATT just wants to put everything behind himā¦until Leda forces him to start hacking again. Will he do what it takes to be free of her for good?
When RYLIN wins a scholarship to an upper-floor school, her life transforms overnight. But being there means seeing the boy whose heart she broke, and who broke hers in return.
AVERY is tormented by her love for the one person in the world she can never have. Sheās desperate to be with himā¦ no matter the cost.
And then thereās CALLIOPE, the mysterious, bohemian beauty who arrives in New York, determined to cause a stir. And she knows exactly where to begin.
But unbeknownst to them all, someone is watching their every move, someone with revenge in mind. And in a world of such dazzling heights, just one wrong step can mean a devastating fall.
We got a new character in The Dazzling Heights: Calliope. I thought she was an excellent addition to the story! I love the new craziness and drama she brought in. I also loved seeing a slightly different side to Leda.
For me this book wasn’t quite as strong as the first one. Maybe just because it was a lot of the same stuff. I also didn’t love the direction it took in the end.
But it was still a fun read all the same! It’s worth picking up if you loved the first book.
Dare Mighty Things by Heather KaczynskiPublished by: HarperTeen on October 10, 2017
Genre: Science Fiction, Space
Pages: 288
Source: Edelweiss
Book Details
Rating: ★★★★
THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: You must be gifted. You must be younger than twenty-five. You must be willing to accept the dangers that you will face if you win.
Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Guptaās entire life has been leading up to thisāthe opportunity to travel to space. But to secure a spot on this classified mission, she must first compete against the best and brightest people on the planet. People who are as determined as she to win a place on a journey to the farthest reaches of the universe.
Cassie is ready for the toll that the competition will take; the rigorous mental and physical tests designed to push her to the brink of her endurance. But nothing could have prepared her for the bonds she would form with the very people she hopes to beat. Or that with each passing day it would be more and more difficult to ignore the feeling that the true objective of the mission is being kept from her.
As the days until the launch tick down and the stakes rise higher than ever before, only one thing is clear to Cassie: sheāll never back down . . . even if it costs her everything.
Dare Mighty Things is kind of a tricky book to review. On the one hand it was a really interesting story:
- A classified space mission.
- Young adults in training/competition for said mission.
- Diverse characters that really stood out from each other. This was one of the big highlights of the book.
On the other hand, it wasn’t a perfect book. For starters, there was A LOT of the training/testing part—perhaps a tad too much. It’s pretty much the whole book. The whole story is building up to one thing that doesn’t happen until the last few pages. So it’s a lot of waiting.
Also, the ending was oddly a let-down for me. There was a big reveal/cliffhanger, but it was just pure words. There was no intense action if you know what I mean. I think it was just missing an X factor to bump it from “good” to “amazing”.
The Dazzling Heights was all about Ledda for me. I really liked what McGee did with her.
I love the premises of so many of DeStefano’s books, but I just never really get into her writing. I’m probably going to have to pass on this one, even though it sounds really cool.
I didn’t love The Thousandth Floor, so I wasn’t planning on continuing with the series. Again, good premise but iffy execution.
I remember reading Wither by Lauren DeStefano, and I thought her writing style was fairly easy to read but insta-love can really drag a romance down for me too. I still need to look into The Thousandth Floor a little more. but I’m happy to see that the sequel was generally a fun read. I really like to watch training periods in shows, but I don’t know how I’d feel about reading almost a whole book stuck in that stage. Thank you for the great reviews though!