The Witch Hunter
Virginia Boecker
Pre-order: Amazon | Barnes & Nobles
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Source: e-ARC was sent free of charge via Edelweiss.Thoughts: I shall be doing mini reviews today of hyped books, mini reviews are getting pretty popular these days. I haven't done a mini review in a while though so here's to hoping we find some gems in stones. The Witch Hunter was one of my highly anticipated reads, and I had previously done a WOW on it. Here is a warning, there is no romance between The Witch Hunter .. (more like huntress) Elizabeth Grey and the most powerful wizard Nicholas Perevil. Normally, I wouldn't care but it is shocking because I expected one with the heroine and anti-hero. He is not even the male lead in this novel, the romance is between Elizabeth and another male lead. This enrages me. I went in this novel because I wanted to read about the wizard, he is barely even there in the book, what kind of nonsense is that? I find it quite unfair the premise hyped me up and mislead me, it allowed me to assume and in the end I am depressed. This novel was absolutely boring, the high ratings baffle me because it wasn't even an average read. I didn't like the heroine Elizabeth, she hates magic and witches yet she is rightfully accused of doing magic, she is using magical herbs herself. I still went on to read about this hypocritical character, the plot lost it for me. There was too much going on with very few witchcraft. The best part about this novel is the ending, but I won't be checking out the sequel and oh yes, a love triangle for you guys. What a disappointment.
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The Winner's Curse
Marie Rutkoski
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Nobles
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, YASource: Personal Purchase
Thoughts: The Winner's Curse is the beloved novel of many readers. Kestrel is the daughter of the general and she takes a slave name Arin, of course a romance booms. I did like this novel in the first half, the writing compelled me to the very end. I thought Kestrel and Arin were both great characters and I so ship their romance - the heroine is kind to her slaves but she is ultimately weak though, If I had slaves or servants, I wouldn't let them talk back to me though. I won't be cruel, discipline would be necessary though. Unfortunately, the second half didn't work for me. I didn't like Arin afterwards, I don't want him now, you guys can keep him.. It is disappointing I couldn't love this novel because it's more heavy on the romance, it's light fantasy and I usually don't prefer those. When I read fantasy, I need more elements of those - the romance is great but it's depressing when it takes away from the actual plot. There should be a balance or no romance. I'm not sure what to make of the ending, I don't have any interest to read the next books, but I know eventually some of you will demand I should read it and I probably will. It's a shame about those beautiful covers though.
An Ember in The AshesSabaa Tahir
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Nobles
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Source: Borrowed from the library
Rating: DNF/1 star
Thoughts: This review is dedicated for Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight who demanded to see a DNF review on blogs :) Well, I never got into the hype of An Ember In The Ashes like many people, so I'm not disappointed. Laia is a slave, she is forced to become a spy and go undercover in the military academy where she discovers Elias, the finest solider. I'm glad I just borrowed it from the library instead of actually purchasing it. Best decision that week. I love that the author shares my religion, unfortunately, I found this novel to be quite.. boring. I gave up by the fourth chapter. I didn't see anything special about it, what bothered me the most was the writing. I couldn't connect with any of the characters, the writing is shown in a lyrical way but it didn't intrigue me to keep reading. It just felt force fed. I have heard there is a love triangle in here as well, yep no thanks. I'm glad I never reached that part. This is another standalone left as off being a sequel to come. Standalones work just as good as series you know?
My Heart and Other Black Holes
Jasmine Warga
Genre: Romance, Young Adult - Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Nobles
- Thoughts: Two depressed people who are looking for a partner to commit suicide with. Right.. I think my feelings are pretty obvious about this book for those who know how I feel about suicide in books. I understand the author had a friend who committed suicide, but it does surprise what the actual content of the book actually is. On the bright side, it shows popular people can be depressed and suicidal as well which is accurate in reality though. I don't buy that romantic love makes suicidal thoughts away, if that was the case most people wouldn't commit suicide even if in a relationship. The actual content of this novel is enough to make me loathe it, suicide partners? Really it sounds interesting, but that is one the saddest concepts in young adult to ever exist. It gives an even more worse message, to find a suicidal partner, fall in love and save each other. I would believe that if instead of romantic love, companion love helped a person. This shouldn't have been a love story. It's a romance book ultimately which just makes me quite sad honestly.
Uprooted
Naomi Novik
- Publisher: Del Rey (May 19, 2015)
- Genre: Fantasy, mature YA
Source: Review copy was sent free of charge via Random house. Thank you Katharine and Jessica.
Thoughts: Agnieskza lives in a village where the dragon, a powerful wizard takes a seventeen year old girl every ten years. She fears it will be her best friend Kasie, but that is not who the dragon takes. Well, hello to this beautiful novel. How awesome is that cover though? I had recently made a WOW on it, and I was so lucky to receive a finished copy of it to review! and a couple of days later I got approved on netgalley! Of course, I would save the best for last, not all of these novels are disasters. Uprooted gives the vibe of grim fairytales, it's a bit similar to the Beauty & The Beast concept as well. I thought this novel had a perfect balance of romance and plot. It's more on the bold side with it's steamy scenes, I'm surprised I found this in young adult. I loved both the dragon and Agnieskza, they're both unique and brave characters; they're ordinary looking for the most part which I'm glad about. The dragon called the heroine "horse-faced" which makes me giggle. The dialogue between them is witty, snarky, and humorous. This is complex fantasy which for once I understood, although, I'm not sure about the actual two lines of the ending. The novel has a balance of romance and plot, although the plot is more greater in chapters. The novel also explores female friendship which I find fantastic, it's intriguing to not see girl on girl hate for once. There's nothing about Uprooted that I actually disliked. It's a unique and a refreshing tale that I would really recommend. It's a bit on the lengthy side though, a few lesser chapters would have worked better. Nevertheless, it's close to perfection, and it's still a fantastic novel. This high fantasy novel is being added to my favorites.
Shukran for reading this! Leave your blog links in the comments & I'll be sure to check them out & follow :) Stay in tuned pretty creatures..
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” —Nora Ephron
Oh no.I thought Witch Hunter would be great! I have the ARC and was excited to read it,but looks like I now have to lower my expectations:)
ReplyDeleteI am dying to read Uprooted! It sounds intriguing and you convinced me even more!:)
Lovely reviews Benish!
Yes, The Witch Hunter was just so boring, it is quite disappointing because I wanted to love the novel. On the bright side, Uprooted was fantastic :)
DeleteLooks like you haven't had much luck with any of these. Sorry, maybe your next reads will be better!
ReplyDeleteI hope so too ♥
DeleteOh, I'm sad so many of these books didn't work out for. I'm hesitant to pick up An Ember in the Ashes because it doesn't really sounds like my kind of book. At the same time I heard so many awesome things about it that I can't help wanting to know what the hype is about. I really loved The Winner's Curse and My Heart and Other Black Holes. Also, I won Uprooted on a Giveaway and am eagerly waiting for it to arrive. :))
ReplyDeleteLovely reviews. :)
I don't think it really does deserve the hype, I found the writing quite boring in An Ember in The Ashes. Uprooted was amazing though, it's complex fantasy :)
DeleteOh wow. I don't know which to tackle first. First: I'm looking forward to reading The Winner's Curse now since you mentioned it gets heavy on the romance. We're the opposites on this one. Currently reading: An Ember in the Ashes. I'm liking it so far though, I'm not too far in. I'm so sad you didn't enjoy it. I hope I'll have better luck.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts, Benish!
Winner's Curse was alright for me, I have heard the later books get better though.Thank you Joy ♥
DeleteUprooted sounds really good! That's such a bummer about The Witch Hunter. I thought there'd be romance between the witch hunter and the wizard. I'm not sure if I'll be reading it now. Great reviews! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Montana ♥ Uprooted was fantastic! ♥
DeleteOuch, you are just hurting my hope for books. The worst part is, lately people keep being dissatisfied with books that I am looking forward too and I am starting to think I might not like them as much as hoped. There really was no romance in The Witch Hunter? Darn, I really wanted there to be.
ReplyDeleteDreams @ Once Upon A Dream Books
There is a romance in the novel but it's not between the witch hunter and the wizard, the wizard isn't even the male lead in the novel. There is a bit of love triangle but it's not that bad.
DeleteYikes. I did not expect that kind of romance for The Witch Hunter. It's weird to see the book titled WITCH HUNTER only to have the WITCH HUNTER barely there... I mean what was the point?!
ReplyDeleteThe Winner's Curse was something in the middle for me. I loved it, hated it, and just feel lukewarm overall... not sure what to feel about Kestrel because she felt too much of a doormat for me in the first book. I still need to read hte second book, which people are saying is 10x times better. Hopefully I'll feel the same way!
An Ember in the Ashes gets worse actually... if you hate rape being used as a plot device, you would hate this big time. Later down the road, the love interest pretends to rape the MC to save her from the antagonist's wrath (who is evil for the heck of it... pretty one-dimensional). I'm in the black sheep's corner for this one!
And I suuuper agree with Uprooted. It's so beautifully written! I've yet to finish it, though, because it got exhausting with the walls of texts. Haha.
Faye at The Social Potato
The witchcraft part is barely there in The Witch Hunter, I found it quite boring plus there are so many secondary characters. I have heard The Winner's Crime is better, but I might not pick it up until later into summer & LOOOL yep you mentioned that, I'm going to find that part just to read it in An Ember in the Ashes. I understand what you mean about Uprooted, I had to be careful about reading Uprooted since it's complex fantasy. ♥
DeleteOhhhh, you didn't like The Winner's Curse? I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed it so much is because it WAS light fantasy, where you disliked it for the same reason. I'm still getting into fantasy really, so need ones that are softened and simplistic. I thought the writing was really lovely though. I'm about to start An Ember in the Ashes next week. I'm really hoping that I enjoy it far more than you have Benish, maybe it being too slow and a bit too tropey might work in my favour though. Fingers crossed. Wonderful reviews Benish and sorry you couldn't have enjoyed these more, fingers crossed your next few reads knock your socks off <3
ReplyDeleteI thought The Winner's Curse had potential, I liked the first half but as a whole I'm not a huge fan of it. Atleast, one of us liked it though :) I like it more when fantasy novels are equally balanced with romance and fantasy elements. I don't prefer complex fantasy that much, I usually like medium. Thank you though Kelly, An Ember in The Ashes does have a good concept overall, good luck :)
DeleteI'll just be in the corner, crying over the fact that I have to read Witch Hunter and have heard nothing but awful stuff about it. WHY do I not read reviews before I grab books!? You'd think I'd learn ;) While I am there, I am going to cry about your disdain for An Ember in the Ashes, because I kind of loved it. Ah well, different books for different people, I suppose! I do agree about The Winner's Curse- I also only gave it 3 stars, BUT The Winner's Crime was a lot better, I think. I am also a little scared to read My Heart and Other Black Holes, I am hoping I'll have better luck than you did! And thanks for the DNF review ;)
ReplyDeleteShannon @ It Starts At Midnight
LOLL your comment made me laugh, I don't find The Witch Hunter that special. I think if you liked All The Bright Places, then you might like My Heart and Other Black Holes as well, You welcome Shannon :)
DeleteWoah that's the first negative review I've seen for Ember in the Ashes! NOW I AM CAUTIOUS. I mean, I'm still definitely going to read it, but I was a bit worried anyway about the Roman influences, because soooo many books have that now. *le sigh* OMG BUT I AM TOTALLY WITH YOU ON THE WINNER'S CURSE. I was so meh about that book! I didn't like Arin either. I mean, I kinda liked him? But I didn't ship him and Kestrel at all. But OMG book 2 is amazing and incredible and has totally made me fall in love with the series. XD
ReplyDeleteI don't even want to try the Black Hole book. Just nope...
Great reviews! I enjoyed reading this! ^-^
Thanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!
Yes, I tried looking for other negative reviews as well but it seems like I'm the black sheep.. once again xD I heard the second book, The Winner's Crime was much better, I might give it a go over the summer :) Thank you for dropping by Cait ♥
DeleteI felt pretty much the same when I read The Winner's Curse. And I especially had a problem with Arin. So I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to read the sequel, but I did, and I loved, loved, loved it. So you might want to give it a chance someday, and I hope that you'll like it if you do. :)
ReplyDeleteI've heard The Winner's Crime is much better so I will give it a try next month :)
DeleteRight? Exactly, he was hardly in there. I found most of the things in The Witch Hunter contradictive and just so boring, and didn't even like the romance. Okay, I did for a bit, but then once he found out she was a you know what, and I know it's circumstances, but I expected a whole lot more tension than like the few pages we got.
ReplyDeleteNoooooooooo, I loved The Winner's Curs, get why you didn't though.
I'm reading An Ember in the Ashes soon, so I'm totally going into it with low expectations now.
Knew you wouldn't like My Heart and Other Black Holes, and I didn't like that either, especially because I didn't feel their connection.
On a positive note, Uprooted sounds awesome. :)
Yes, the wizard was barely even there in the book. It's a shame because the actual book could have been fantastic. I feel the premise is false and misleading, that's what's causing so much hype otherwise it's not even a good book. Good luck with Ember In the Ashed! Uprooted was fantastic though :)
DeleteWow hun! You really chugged through these books ;) Although I see a favorite or two of mine up there (Ember & Winner's Curse) I can see why you didn't like them. I'm hesitant to read My Heart and Other Black Holes because it sounds too depressing. Nooo, I was so looking forward to The Witch Hunter. Over-hype kills me. Lovely reviews <33
ReplyDeleteRachel @ A Perfection Called Books
There's so many books out there but I can't always review them individually :) & Lool at your comment, it made me laugh. The Witch Hunter was kind of terrible.. Thank you Rachel <3
DeleteSo many mini reviews! Let's run through them.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to The Witch Hunter, I also have a copy for review so I hope I can get to it soon and maybe like it more? The fact that it has no romance in it is quite unusual and not what I was expecting either :/
As for The Winner's Curse I have that one! I love the cover but didn't really understand the hype behind this book. I felt like the plot was sort of platonic and it didn't grip me with suspense at all. The best thing about the book was the dialogue... and that is pretty much it xD
As for An Ember in the Ashes and My Heart and other Black Holes - those are both books on my TBR so I am sad you couldn't enjoy them :(
Uprooted is one I wasn't interested in at all, but I have failed to see a negative review of those I have read. I will definitely have to read some more before I decide though!
Great mini reviews <3
The Witch Hunter does have romance but it's not with who you're expecting it to be with :( & Im glad you could agree about The Winner's Curse, I don't see the hype of that series although, I have heard it does get better. You have to check out Uprooted, it's very complex fantasy though so you have to be careful reading :)
Delete1. My Witch Hunter ARC is so poorly formatted its unreadable - parts of the words are missing. Le sigh. Also, BAH LOVE TRIANGLE. :/
ReplyDelete2. The Winner's Curse, IMO, was good, but not a 5 star read for me!
3. Haven't read an Ember in the Ashes - only a sample of the first chapter. I think it's probably suffered from a case of overhype.
Really, the words were missing? That's just sad now & lol I agree with you about An Ember In The Ashes, I don't find it that special at all. Interesting concept though.
DeleteMini Review:
ReplyDelete#1 It is such a big pet peeve of mine when the book summary is misleading!
#2 I love romance in my stories, but I agree with you that if it's suppose to be a fantasy, than you should have plenty elements of the fantasy genre, not exclusively romance.
#3 I don't write review of books I DNF :/ In fact, I have netgallies that I started and wasn't fond of so I stopped reading them and went on to something else. I hate wasting my time reading something I can't connect to, when I could be reading a good book...
#4 This book sounds really depressing :( I agree suicide partners and romance don't seem like two things that should be written together as one story.
#5 Uprooted sounds awesome! I love fairy tales, and Beauty and the Beast has been my favorite since I was a young girl.
Great Mini Reviews Benish :)
Lindy@ A Bookish Escape
Thank you Lindy<3 Uprooted is a great read overall, it's more complex fantasy though. I'm glad you could agree about the concept of suicide and romance together! I mainly make a note about a DNF review on Goodreads but this was my first time writing one on my blog.
DeleteI'm sorry to see you didn't like the Winner's Curse as much as I did. I have The Witch Hunter but I confess that I haven't read it yet... now I'm anxious, I hope it will be better for me...
ReplyDeleteI hope it works out better for you though :)
DeleteWitch Hunter sounds so disappointing, especially with the hype. Too bad, it actually reminds me of the Half Bad/Half Wild series because I was expecting more witchiness as well.
ReplyDeleteAwww, a shame you didn't love the Winnter's Curse! The winner's Crime is good, although there's still a heavy romance so I don't know if you would enjoy it.
Too bad about An Ember because I've heard so many amazing things about it but I agree, boring writing can definitely turn you off.
My Heart and Other Black Holes, well, this sounds incredibly depressing but so accurate. Gosh, I think only All the Bright Places did this suicidal partner thing well.
Uprooted sounds great, I do enjoy the mature YA fantasies. Glad to hear you liked it!
Love the mini reviews Benish!
I haven't read any of these but sorry you didn't like some of the books. I'm actually very intrigued to read them especially An Ember in the Ashes, Winner's Curse and My Heart and Other Black Holes. Though with your reasoning, I don't blame you. Some books aren't for everyone. I've also experienced reading a book with lots of 4-5 star ratings and ended up being so disappointed, I rated it 2 stars. :/ Anyways, appreciate the honest reviews, Benish!
ReplyDeleteBlessie @ Mischievous Reads
The Winner's Curse wasn't that bad though, I think you still might like that one :) Thank you for dropping by Blessie <3
DeleteGreat mini reviews! I am yet to start my copy of An Ember in the Ashes and I'm a little hesitant after reading a number of not so stellar reviews. I agree with you completely about The Winners Curse and you have me curious about Uprooted.
ReplyDeleteSharon - Obsession with Books
Uprooted was a really good book, I loved it honestly ♥ Maybe you might enjoy the other books more than me ? Thank you for dropping by :)
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the balance of romance. Winner's Curse has been sitting on my self because I was afraid of that. I just finished Witch Hunter. I didn't hate it, but there wasn't anything that was great about it either, so sad. I haven't read Ember in the Ashes yet either, Im just not in the mood for depressing. And yes I love everything Uprooted!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you loved Uprooted as well, it's seriously one of the best FairyTale retellings I have read! ♥ The Winner's Curse was an average read for me, I don't understand the hype of it all. Maybe you might enjoy it more than me ? ♥
DeleteI'm with you on the balance of romance. Winner's Curse has been sitting on my self because I was afraid of that. I just finished Witch Hunter. I didn't hate it, but there wasn't anything that was great about it either, so sad. I haven't read Ember in the Ashes yet either, Im just not in the mood for depressing. And yes I love everything Uprooted!
ReplyDelete