Review: Savage Fortress

The Savage Fortress 
by Sarwat Chadda

Book Description:
After three weeks of vacation, Ash Mistry is ready to leave the heat and dust of India behind him. Then he discovers a gleaming gold arrowhead hidden in the sands---a weapon used to defeat evil King Ravana in legend.

At least, Ash is pretty sure it's only a legend . . .

But when Lord Alexander Savage comes after Ash, the legends are suddenly way too real. Savage commands an army of monstrous shapechangers called rakshasas, who want only to seize the arrowhead and restore Ravana to power. As they hunt Ash through magnificent fortresses and brutal deserts, he must learn to work with a powerful rakshasa girl named Parvati, and find the strength within himself to fight on no matter what. Because this isn't just a battle to stop the end of the world. It's a battle to stop the end of reality as we know it.

No pressure.

Review: 

I thought that the Indian Mythology that was the background for the story was really interesting.  I had a hard time, though, because I didn't really like Ash and I couldn't connect with him as the story went on.  I felt like he made bad choices a lot.  

I think some readers will really love the action in this book. It just wasn't the book for me. 

Review: The Essence

The Essence
by Kimberly Derting
Pledge, book two

Book Description: (contains slight spoilers for book one)
At the luminous conclusion of The Pledge, Charlaina defeated the tyrant Sabara and took her place as Queen of Ludania. But Charlie knows that Sabara has not disappeared: The evil queen’s Essence is fused to Charlie’s psyche, ready to arise at the first sign of weakness.

Charlie is not weak, but she’s being pushed to the brink. In addition to suppressing the ever-present influence of Sabara, she’s busy being queen—and battling a growing resistance determined to return Ludania to its discriminatory caste system. Charlie wants to be the same girl Max loves, who Brook trusts, but she’s Your Majesty now, and she feels torn in two.

As Charlie journeys to an annual summit to meet with leaders of nearby Queendoms—an event where her ability to understand all languages will be the utmost asset—she is faced with the ultimate betrayal. And the only person she can turn to for help is the evil soul residing within.

Review:
Book one of this series, The Pledge, was the first book that I gave a GOLD STAR review to in 2012. Now since it had been almost a year and a half since I'd read that first book, I was a little worried that I would not remember exactly what happened, and while to an extent that was true... (I'd forgotten the names of a lot of the characters, but Derting managed to reintroduce everyone extremely well) there were events and pieces of the world that were still etched so deeply into my brain that I sort of fell right back into Charlie's story without a hitch.

I was immediately creeped out again by the idea of Queen Sabara being in Charlie's head. I was fascinated by the language barriers amongst the social classes, and how some reveled in their new equality while others passionately rebelled. I was immediately drawn back into Charlie's love for Max, her best friend Brooklyn, and her baby sister.

Then Derting took it another step further and I just loved the world even more. To find someone else who has an ability that is going to throw Charlie's world into complete chaos. To have her begin to be emotionally torn as she begins to feel for Sabara. To have rival Queens...both as allies, and as women who might want to see Charlie dead...

Everything was more emotional, more dangerous, more intriguing.  I was both extremely satisfied and frustrated when the book finished.  Why? Because it was SO good and now I have to wait until sometime NEXT YEAR for book three... AHHHHHHH....so long to wait! 

For making me itch to be back in Charlie's world IMMEDIATELY. For making me hate Derting *just a little bit* for not having book three already on the bookshelves... I give this book a GOLD STAR.



*Sigh* And now, I have to sit back and wait for more... *taps foot impatiently...*

Review: Everneath

Everneath

by Brodi Ashton

Book Description:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

 

 

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

Review:

I really liked this new mythology about the Underworld.  Here there are immortals who feed off of regular humans to stay alive for centuries...but at what cost?! I thought that Nikki was a great main character and that her emotional state was really believable. 

This book has love, betrayal, danger, imminent death, ethical choices...it has it all. A fun read for anyone who likes mythology.