Across a Star-Swept sea book review

Title: Across a Star-Swept sea

Series: For Darkness Shows the Stars series

Number in series: 2

Author: Diana Peterfreund

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction

Plot: Everyone in Albion thinks Lady Persis Blake is a stupid girl only concerned with court life and the latest fashion. What most people don't know is that she's The Wild Poppy, a mysterious person rescuing people from the revolution taking place in Galatea.
 While on a rescue mission Persis is saved by Justen Helo, a young and promising medic from Galatea. Persis and her friends decide to enlist Justen to help prevent Albion from a revolution similar to the one happening in Galatea.
 When Persis discovers that Justen is hiding a dark part of his past she isn't sure if she can trust him.
 Will The Wild Poppy find the answer to the problems facing her country?


My thoughts:
 This companion novel to For Darkness Shows the Stars is inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.
Once again Diana Peterfreund did an excellent job of turning a classic story into a imaginative dystopian.
 
  When I first found out The Scarlet Pimpernel(called The Wild Poppy in this book) was going to be a female instead of  a male I was a little skeptical. It, however, worked out really well. Lady Persis is just as brilliant and clever as her original namesake.
  Justen Helo, the male equivalent to Marguerite, was  also portrayed well . He's sarcastic, intelligent, and perfectly fooled by Persis, just as Marguerite was fooled by Sir Percy.

One of my favorite things about this book is that Elliot, Kai, Andromeda, and Ro (characters from For Darkness Shows the Stars) make appearances close to the end of the book. I'm so glad that their story isn't over yet.

The only thing I didn't enjoy is the innuendo throughout the book. Characters makeout a couple of times. It's implied that a few couples are in physical relationships, but it's never confirmed.





My rating: 3.5

My top 5 underrated book characters

 

 

 From Elizabeth Bennett to Lord Percy Blake, there are many well- known and well-loved literary characters. I feel, however, that there are some fantastic characters out there that not many people talk about.
 So here , in no particular order, are my Top 5 Underrated book characters.



Meriadoc ( Merry) Brandybuck from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I know what some of you might be thinking : How can a character from LoTR be an underrated character?
I've meet people who are huge fans of Frodo, Sam, and Pippin. I don't think I know anyone who's favorite hobbit is Merry ( except for me, of cource). Merry is brave, strong, and yet he knows how to have a good time despite the growing darkness surrounding him and his friends.






Jane Fairfax from Emma by Jane Austen.

I think Jane Fairfax can be misunderstood.   I however sympathize with her. Jane's Aunt and Grandmother are her only living relatives, so Jane has few options for her life.Thankfully Jane  has a happy ending with Frank Churchhill.
I always wished someone wrote a book about Jane's life and I recently found out there is ( the cover of the book is below).

 Sir Eanrin from Tales of GoldstoneWoods series by Anne Elisabeth Stengl.

Eanrin is one of my top favorite fictional characters of all time. Earnin is extremely witty and charming, yet frankly honest.





Gale Hawthorne from The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

I honestly don't know why Gale gets so much hate from Peeta fans.
I don't think Gale and Katniss should have ended up a couple, but I like Gale as a character. From what I have seen ( I've only read the first half of the first Hunger Games book, but I've seen the movies)  Gale is a reliable, strong, and caring guy.





Elnora Comstock from A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter.

I believe Elnora should be admired as much as Anne Shirley, Elizabeth Bennett, and Jo March are.
Elnora is hopeful, hardworking, and caring despite a hard upbringing.




What about you?
 Who are some of your favorite underrated characters?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A.D. 30 book review

Title: A.D. 30: a novel

Author: Ted Dekker

Genre: Historical Biblical Fiction

Plot: Maviah, the illegitimate child of Bedouin sheikh, is sent to Jerusalem. Her traveling companions Saba, a quiet and steadfast warrior, and Judah, a passionate and courageous Jew, believe  Maviah can help save their people from massacre .Can Maviah convince King Herod to aid her, before it's too late?
  


My thoughts:
 This book is set during the time when Jesus had begun His earthly ministry. Maviah, Judah, and Saba meet Jesus half-way through the book. It was interesting to see what a gentile thought of Jesus words and miracles.
This book has great descriptions, so it was easy to imagine how life was during that time. I also liked learning about the culture of the Bedouin and how Jesus' life affected them.

This book ended on a big cliff hanger so I'm looking forward to reading A.D. 33 soon.


My rating: 3

Golden Daughter book review

Title: Golden Daughter

Series: Tales of GoldstoneWood

Number in series: 7

Author: Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Genre: Young Adult Christian Fantasy

Plot: Masayi Sairu is a Golden Daughter, a trained warrior sworn to protect her master until her death. Sairu is assigned to a dreamwalker who is being sent to another temple because of a dark secret.
Can Sairu protect her mistress despite the growing darkness in the kingdom?


My thoughts: This book is a little different than the other books in the Tales of GoldstoneWood series. Most of the characters are new, except for Eanrin and the songbird.  This book is also much longer than the other books in the series ( It's 570 pages, to be exact).
Even though it's long it didn't drag on. It was very action packed, so I'm glad the author took time to explain what was happening.
 
  The story took place in Noorhitam Empire, a country briefly described in Goddess Tithe. Noorhitam's culture is similar to that of China's.Because of that I found this book really interesting.
 
  As always with Anne Elisabeth Stengl's books, the characters are fantastic. Sairu and Jonan were unique characters. I can't think of any YA characters similar to them.

All in all another wonderful book by Anne Elisabeth Stengl.


My rating: 3.5

Well, hello there...

                                 

It's hard to believe that this is my first post for the month of June. I was out of town a lot this month and I didn't make time to write any posts.                                                                 
I've really missed the blogging world. I have several different things I want to do on my blog in the month of July, so stayed tuned for that. Until then, I hope you all have a fantastic week.