Novel Review: And I Darken (The Conqueror's Saga, #1) by Kiersten White

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Historical, Romance

Publisher: Delacorte Press (Penguin Random House)

Release Date: 2016

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday. Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

The Cover:

I love these covers. I will admit that it gives me a somewhat different impression of the book than the contents felt--Lada does not feel nearly as fierce as this cover makes me feel; it also wasn't as intense and focused more on the potential romance than the cover makes me think it will. But it's still a gorgeous cover.

Review:

I have loved all of Kiersten White's books, and I've always admired how she can change her style of writing so perfectly. I'm a little disappointed to say that I didn't really enjoy this book, at times.

I will admit that I'm not typically a historical fan. I didn't think it would matter much here, but it's still true. Long stories of history are not of my interest, and stories that combine that with political dealings are apparently especially so.

We meet Lada and Bogdan and her brother Radu as the book starts. They start as children, and slowly grow older until they're teens during this book. Lada is the daughter of Vlad, and at first she tries hard to impress him and prove herself. Radu is her weaker brother. Bogdan is her bodyguard/servant boy who she actually orders around.

This book was very slow going. It took a long time for them to grow older, and at several points in this book I wondered where it was going, and when it was going to get there.

I liked Lada at first, and I thought she was going to be fierce from the beginning. She is fierce, but then I think she loses herself about halfway through the book. Romance shows up, and she seems to lose herself and her ambitions with it. I realized at some point in the book that I didn't particularly care for Lada all that much.

Radu, on the other hand. Radu is at first her weak little brother. But while he doesn't have physical strength or much of a mean streak at all in him, he has smarts instead. He learns how to listen, and how to play nice and make conversation and get a person on his side very easily. It's a struggle when Lada realizes he has this and she does not, and really it's more of a point on his side than hers.

I really liked Radu, quite a lot. I think my least favorite character turned out to be Mehmed. When we first meet him, I thought I liked him. But after a while, I realized that I really didn't like the effect he had on Radu or Lada. He kind of ends up ruining them, I think.

Radu becomes so focused on his love for Mehmed, that I think it brings him down. He could be doing a lot more, and he could be seeing the other people around him better, if Mehmed weren't there. It's the same with Lada. She loses sight of what's most important to herself, because of her affection for Mehmed. And it frustrates me so much because it's not requited to the extent that either of them need. It's helping Mehmed, when he doesn't deserve it, and it's bad for both Radu and Lada.

I really hope that this book was setting up for something bigger. It definitely seems like Lada is off to start something big, and I hope that it gets more intense from here. This book was very long and tedious, and usually I like character development like that, but it didn't hold my interest enough in this context. It was frustrating at times.

But the concept is still so interesting to me, and Kiersten White is one of my favorite authors, so I'll be reading at least one more book.

Teaser Tuesday[259]: There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Genre: YA Thriller

Publisher: Dutton (Penguin)

Release Date: September 26, 2017

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Scream meets YA in this hotly-anticipated new novel from the bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss.

One-by-one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.

International bestselling author Stephanie Perkins returns with a fresh take on the classic teen slasher story that’s fun, quick-witted, and completely impossible to put down.

Excerpt:

“She felt her friends staring at them with wide, soap-opera eyes as she emerged from the stupor of confusion. For the first time, Makani realized that Ollie's appearance and demeanor weren't merely acts of rebellion.” (Hardback, pg. 47)

What are you reading?

Novel Review: The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: YA Fantasy Romance; Aladdin Inspired

Publisher: RazorBill (Penguin Random House)

Release Date: February 23, 2016

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday. Wishlist Thursday. 

Goodreads Synopsis:

She is the most powerful Jinni of all. He is a boy from the streets. Their love will shake the world...

When Aladdin discovers Zahra's jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn't seen in hundreds of years -- a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra's very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.

But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of Aladdin from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.

The Cover:

I absolutely love this cover. I think it's gorgeous, and represents the story perfectly.

Review:

I really wanted to love this book, but it was just okay.

This is inspired by Aladdin, with the main character being Zahra, a genie stuck inside a lamp that thief Aladdin finds. Aladdin wants revenge on the vizier who killed his parents, and he also wants to be in love with the princess Caspida, so he can be prince. Zahra just wants her freedom, and she wants to not fall in love with a human after what happened last time.

I did appreciate all of the backstories. There’s a reason for Aladdin wanting revenge, there’s a reason for why Zahra is inside the cave, we get to see the people living in the city and the poverty and who they really want ruling. There’s real cruelty, to the people, to Aladdin, to the vizier. There’s war, and there’s consequences for action, including magic ones to Zahra.

While the story is quite different from Aladdin, there are a surprising amount of similarities and plot points made in reference, and I appreciated that.

One problem I had with the book was the pace. Zahra has a time limit on what she has to do to get her freedom. She has about a month. And yet for almost that entire month but the last two days, she wastes it, and there’s very little mention at all of her working toward it. It drove me crazy. So little even happened for the first half of the book.

My other problem was the romance. I so badly wanted to love Zahra and Aladdin. But I just wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t feel their chemistry, and I barely even felt anything for Aladdin’s character at all. He just seemed too under-developed. It wasn’t until the last quarter of the book that I started feeling any intense emotion from Zahra at all, let alone real romantic feelings for Aladdin. I wish all of the book had been that intense, if not more so. 

It was just okay. I wanted so badly to love this book, but it was just okay in the end, sadly.