Loving the series.

I originally picked this book up based on the cover and the idea of two juxtaposed characters. They are sisters? One is a redhead, one is a pale blonde? One sister is a queen and one has powers? Sounds kind of like Frozen! I loved the idea of this book but the characters made it hard to love. They were very flawed and constantly questioned themselves and their “power.” I typically enjoy the theme of “coming into ones powers” but these characters struggled to ever do that. They also were consistently thwarted by older people and listened to their elders for most of the novel instead of standing by their own decision making. In the end it was a good story and I will most likely read a sequel if they have it but I wish the characters were a little better. Maybe in the next book!

V.E. Schwab has been on my TBR list ever since This Savage Song was released, but I hadn't gotten around to reading anything by her yet (so many books, so little time). I picked up the Extraordinary graphic novel, and really liked the storyline. It reminded me a little of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman mixed with the Harper Connolly series by Charlaine Harris. I love fantasy/dystopian, and this story made me want to move Schwab's novels up on my reading list.

This book was different than what I usually read. The book starts off with a main character that has little to no idea what is happening to her or the people around her. The book doesn't start to reveal what is happening until almost the end. This leaves the plot confusing and ultimately somewhat hard to understand what is happening at times. The narrator was very unreliable and the other characters were kind of shallow. I wished that there were multiple POVs that way the reader had a better understanding of the plot. That said, I will say the book had me on the edge of my seat most of the time and it was a quick read. I'd say it read like a suspense/mystery/thriller novel for 75% of the book and the other 25% is dystopian and Sci-Fi. It wasn't a book I would read again but I enjoyed it for the short book it was.

Definite unexpected twist at the end! Truly never saw it coming!!!

What a great look into the war between Isis and the countries they try to take over from the perspective of regular people. The addition of the true story of the Mosul Zoo adds dimension. Definitely a perspective I never thought of.

I loved this book. The best part was the giant spider. I love spiders.

Just when I thought the first book couldn’t possibly have gotten any better… yes it can.

I really liked this book for a few reasons. It was great seeing a good range of characters. We had some in their 40s, some in their 20s and some ancient. I liked it better than some YA where there are only people in their late teens or early 20s. I didn’t like how many POVs there were. I do like how they left the POV of the “evil” character and we got to kind of see her “descent into evil.” I don’t like the premise of “what waits” or basically the devil. It seems kind of weird and like it doesn’t fit. Aveyard could have just made the main character the one who is “evil” for the sake of being evil. I also love Dom but wish he had more depth. I will probably read the next book in the series.

I found this hard to get into and a bit confusing as I read it.