Book Review: Drink, Slay, Love

TITLE: Drink, Slay, Love
AUTHOR: Sarah Beth Durst
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Vampires, unicorns, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Pearl is a young vampire who gets stabbed by a unicorn, giving her the ability to walk in the sun and for the first time, feels.
MY REVIEW: I got a kick out of this like I do all of Durst's books. She's very tongue in cheek. She knows she's dealing with campy material and runs with it. Sure I wasn't crazy about the convenient ending, and sometimes Pearl felt a bit Sueish but everything else was just so much fun.
While Pearl felt Sueish sometimes she's an enjoyable Sue and goes through growth so I can't complain too loudly. It was nice seeing the author show us the effects that being a vamp has on her and how suddenly growing feelings effects her ability to function as a vampire. The romance was sweet, I actually did like Evan even if I find his whole changing her life part a little questionable. I loved the hell out of Bethany and was happy that the populars weren't made into the stereotypical mean girls of the school.
If you've read Enchanted Ivy or Ice, you've got a good sense of who Durst is as a writer. She puts new spins on things, has a lot of fun with well known subjects, has plenty of imagination, and is just plain fun. I look forward to whatever she brings us next because with Durst it's always a surprise.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Ice and Enchanted Ivy, vampire fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five bottles of blood

Book Review: Warped

TITLE: Warped
AUTHOR: Maurissa Guibord
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: unicorns, mythology, fantasy, romance
PREMISE: Tessa's father purchases an unusual tapestry and case of books. After pulling a thread from the tapestry a young man appears in her bedroom...
MY REVIEW: I admit, so far the 2011 books have been kind of ho hum for me. The only ones I've been truly excited about are sequels to last years stuff (Red Glove, Overbite, The Gathering, Iron Queen, Clockwork Prince/City of Fallen Angels) or authors that I'm already fans of (super excited for Abandon by Meg Cabot). None of the new stuff has really thrilled me aside from maybe Unearthly but even Unearthly looks very similar to everything else that is out there. Lets face it, angel books are dime a dozen these days. So Warped was definitely a pleasant thrill for me that I wasn't expecting.
It's not a perfect book. The romance is a tad rushed (but still fun), and plot gets somewhat chaotic at times and writing is about average. But for a first book this is some good stuff. It helps that the author has imagination and is thinking outside the vampire/werewolf/angel/faerie love triangle box that most YA authors seem to be stuck in nowadays. It also really helps that this book has lots of things that make me giddy: unicorns, time travel, past lives, wyrd sisters (love those broads), snarky couple, a female who uses her brain and has personality, and an awesome sidekick (Opal was my favorite in this book, she had all the best lines). As an added bonus the plot was interesting, the characters interesting and fun, a great sense of humor too it (did I mention I love Opal?), and again: creativity.
Again, I admit, not totally perfect but definitely enjoyable and I look forward to more from this author. From the looks of the ending she's setting it up for a series and I really hope that happens because I want more. But I'd be up for just more of her books period and won't complain if she writes something else instead. This is definitely one of the better debuts this year.
WHO SHOULD READ: Team Unicorn folks, fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five tapestrys

Book Review: Zombies VS Unicorns

TITLE: Zombies VS Unicorns
AUTHOR: various authors
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy, short stories
PREMISE: This is an anthology of short stories that features either zombies or unicorns which is designed to help you decide: Team Unicorn or Team Zombie.
MY REVIEW: For the record, I'm neutral when it comes to the whole zombie vs unicorns thing. Mostly because I sort of find the arguement dumb. Both creatures are cool and have their merits, who cares which one is better? But I liked a majority of the authors in this collection (a rarity in short book collections where I usually only end up liking two or three and thus the book isn't worth my money) so I picked it up for fun quick reads. I wasn't disappointed either. One or two of the stories lacked and I wish some could have been longer but for the most part, this is a solid good short story collection.
My only major complaint about this collection was the Team Zombie head Justine Larbalestier. While some of her comments were funny and I understand snark, I do it myself sometimes. I sort of felt her arguements were a) poor. Mostly she was just: zombies are cool just because they're zombies! What more do you need? and b) I felt she was unneccessarily rude to Holly and some of the authors on Team Unicorn. Look, you can disagree with someone about unicorns but there's no need to dis a story simply because it involves unicorns or say it's bad when the author probably worked really hard on it. You could at least acknowledge a good author like Holly would do with some of the Team Zombie stories. For the record I've never read any of Larbalestier's books, hell have never even HEARD of her before this collection. Frankly her rudeness in this book leaves me with no desire to read any of her books, whereas the other authors in this book I haven't read before I am going to be checking out now. I'm sorry I just felt her slightly mean snark was unneccessary and brought down the fun of a otherwise enjoyable book.
So whether you're Team Unicorn or Team Zombie or like me don't give a damn, this is a fun collection to try out.
WHO SHOULD READ: unicorn fans, zombie fans, fans of any of the authors in the book
MY RATING: Four out of Five unicorn vs zombies battles

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Book Review: Ascendant

TITLE: Ascendant
Book 2 in the Killer Unicorns series
AUTHOR: Diana Peterfreund
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: young adult
GENRE: fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Astrid's world is changing. People know about unicorns now. Her friend is losing her powers, her boyfriend is off to college, and she is meanwhile struggling to find her place in the Cloisters...
MY REVIEW: So I read Rampant a few months ago and ended up loving it. It was such a cool concept and the book itself was refreshing in a YA world full of vampires and werewolf love triangles. The second book is equally as refreshing and also expands on the previous book. It went in a completely different direction then I expected and I must say, I loved that. I love when authors genuinely manage to surprise me.
I will say, sometimes the book drags and those who like romance may be disappointed because it doesn't focus on romance much. There is some (I guess one could call it romance...) but not a whole lot because that's not what the series is about. The series is about Astrid and her struggle with being a unicorn hunter. I love how the author deals with it. She doesn't mince either. Being a unicorn hunter is a dangerous job and she doesn't make it seem glamorous. People die from it, get serious injuries, and there are emotional consequences as well. I also love that the author keeps in mind that unicorns are essentially animals. So she brings up ethical questions in it such as, is what these girls doing right? Because really the unicorns are only following their natural instincts. Then there was the revelations at the last few hundred pages that sort of turned everything I thought upside down. I won't give it away but damn...
If you loved the first unicorn hunter book, I suspect you'll be pleased by this. It's a great continuation and I really hope there's another one because while it did sort of leave at a good spot, there were still quite a few questions left unanswered so I'm definitely looking forward to whatever comes next. I still rec this series to all fantasy fans.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that read the first book, unicorn fans, Tamora Pierce fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five unicorn horns

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Book Review: Rampant

TITLE: Rampant
PART IN SERIES: Book 1 of the Killer Unicorns series
AUTHOR: Diane Peterfreund
PUBLISHED: 2009
GENRE: Young adult, series, fantasy
PREMISE: Astrid has always scoffed at her mother's tales of killer unicorns. But then she and her boyfriend get attacked and discovers that they are in fact very real and she is a descendant of a long line of unicorn hunters.
MY REVIEW: I will be honest: I utterly adored this book so there is probably going to be heavy bias in this review. I will say, it's not perfect. Sometimes I was a bit confused about things. But the awesomeness far outwieghs the few flaws. For one: a unique idea! A author who wasn't afraid to take much loved childhood figures such as unicorns and turn them into scary monsters. That takes guts and I love it when authors aren't afraid to do an idea that may turn off readers.
Then there's the fact that she has strong heroines in this. Phil is my favorite for those wondering. Also, bravo to Peterfreund for having a guy in there who said no to sex. Yes, girls there are respectable guys out there like this. These are the ones you want to hang on to. But she also didn't try and make Giovanni perfect either because he has flaws. Plus, the romance was not the only thing driving the book! Finally, a current YA novel where the girl isn't torn between two guys and her main issue is who to choose! Yay!
So, in other words, I highly reccomend this, particularly to my fellow Tamora Pierce fans. You will love it, gaurenteed. Another favorite of 2009.
WHO SHOULD READ: Tamora Pierce fans, fans of Graceling, fantasy fans, you like strong willed heroines
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five unicorn horns

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Book Review: Unicorn Chronicles 2-Song of the Wanderer

TITLE: Unicorn Chronicles 2: Song of the Wanderer
AUTHOR: Bruce Coville
GENRE: childrens, fantasy, series, quest story
PREMISE: In the second unicorns book Cara searches for her grandmother in the land of Luster.
MY REVIEW: I've recently rediscovered this series and reread the first book last year then I found out that apparently Coville finely did do a sequel for it (two in fact) and no one told me! So I was kind of happy to see this book.
Now reading this series is quite different when you're an adult. When I was a girl reading this book, I was all about the unicorns and the fact that there was an actual strong female lead (in those days, strong female leads were rare, thankfully that's changed). As an adult, I still enjoyed it but I also noticed some of the writing flaws such as the fact that Cara...is kind of Mary Sueish...not a total one but really, we don't get much of her personality at all, other then the fact that she's brave.
But this series is aimed at kids and kids will probably eat up this second one as much as the first one (there is a mighty good cliffhanger, I'll admit). So for the target audience it's great, for adults...enjoyable but not exactly brilliant. But you won't kick yourself over the head if your kid wants to read it. So for that I give it a high rating.
WHO SHOULD READ: girls who are going through the horse/unicorn phase, children looking for adventure type stories with strong female leads
RATING: four out of five unicorns

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