Publication date: 12 Feb 2013 by Simon & Schuster
Category: Young Adult DystopiaKeywords: Dystopia, End of series, RevolutionFormat: Hardcover, ebook, audiobookSource: PurchasedSynopsis:With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.
Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.
In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s
Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.
Kimberly's Review:This is a hard book for me to review because I loved Wither, the first book in The Chemical Garden trilogy, so much.
Without giving too much away, Rhine has escaped the mansion only to find herself at Reed's house, Vaughn's long estranged brother.
Searching for her twin brother, and trying to come to terms with her feelings for both Linden and Gabriel, Rhine embarks on a quest that will answer her questions once and for all. But not all the answers are what she wants them to be. And some of them she wishes she never knew.
I had a lot of problems with Rhine in this book. I loved her in the first two books- independent, strong willed and wanting nothing more than to survive and go home. And while this Rhine isn't that far from the old, she is slightly different. She's been through so much and she's very damaged by the events of the previous two books. But instead of making her more sympathetic, I felt more distant to her character. Her urgent need to find her brother, and then once she does eventually find him, she doesn't scream at him all of the evil she's encountered. (This will make sense once you read the book) I was so frustrated with her! She's also super confused about her feelings for Gabriel and Linden, which just became grating on me. I'll explain.
I am probably in the minority, but I have to say that I am probably on team Linden. Yes, he's pretty dense and should have been paying more attention to the evil that was his own father. But Linden's character grows exponentially during this final book and so by the end, I was hoping that she would end up with him. He was always my favorite of the two, between him and Gabriel and though the sister wife thing does creep me out, I still think Linden is the better choice. However, this of course proves problematic because he also has Cecily, his youngest wife still on his arm.
Cecily has also grown. In Fever, book two, the story took Rhine away from both of them and when she returns, they've both matured. While I can't say I like Cecily, I don't mind her and in fact, I may actually have respected her by the end.
What is strange is that Gabriel is mostly absent in book three. This is supposed to be her big love interest! It really hurt my feelings towards Gabriel because he was MIA for so long. I re-attached myself onto Linden. Sorry Gabriel, but even when you were the main character in Fever, I still wasn't a fan. I don't think you had a strong enough personality, and I never really understood what Rhine saw in you.
Now let's talk about Rowan. Rowan, the brother who Rhine is after. Rowan, who is barely a character at all in book three. I'm really sorry but I don't get it. There is nothing special about Rowan and as for their deep, twin relationship, I didn't feel it. He seemed like a secondary character that just appeared for plot sake. I wasn't emotionally invested in Rowan. She searched the country, confronted dangers and evil, for this guy?
I read books two and three right after the other and they move very fast. I love how the story flows so quickly you can get lost for hours in the world. Their world is scary, mean and unforgiving. There's a lot to like about The Chemical Garden trilogy. I love the freshness of the story and felt like the characters were always in real danger, just escaping by their skin. I love the big reveals during the end, including Rhine's revelation and Madame's secrets.
Overall, I enjoyed Sever and the entire series. While I didn't have a great sense of the characters or motivation behind them, the plot was fast and I wanted to know what happened next. I would recommend it for older YAs as well as adults looking for a dark dystopian.
Category: Young Adult FantasyKeywords: Fantasy, Dragons, Souls, ReincarnationFormat: ebook, HardcoverSource: PurchasedSynopsis:DESTRUCTION
The Year of Souls begins with an earthquake—an alarming rumble from deep within the earth—and it’s only the first of greater dangers to come. The Range caldera is preparing to erupt. Ana knows that as Soul Night approaches, everything near Heart will be at risk.
FLIGHT
Ana’s exile is frightening, but it may also be fortuitous, especially if she can convince her friends to flee Heart and Range with her. They’ll go north, seeking answers and allies to stop Janan’s ascension. And with any luck, the newsouls will be safe from harm’s reach.
CHOICE
The oldsouls might have forgotten the choice they made to give themselves limitless lifetimes, but Ana knows the true cost of reincarnation. What she doesn’t know is whether she’ll have the chance to finish this one sweet life with Sam, especially if she returns to Heart to stop Janan once and for all.Kimberly's Review:It’s a really hard review for me to write. I had such hope for this series, especially because I enjoyed the first book so much.
While the first book in the series,
Incarnate, is catching and fresh, I felt more and more distance from the characters as the series wore on. So by the time book three, the last book, came out, I was not heavily invested in the story or the main characters. Mostly, I wanted to see how it ended.
I think there was a lot of potential in the first book. The series is easy to read. The premise is intriguing. Souls reincarnated over and over again? 5,000 years of it? Imagine the baggage! The emotional turmoil! There was so much I wanted from this series! But sadly for me, it didn’t deliver.
There’s a lot of action, but not a whole lot of descriptions. A lot of the time I felt like I was mostly reading actions and dialogue, but I didn’t have a good sense of the motivation behind each character. Nor did I feel particularly drawn to any of them. I know I’m supposed to like Ana, and her devotion to New Souls is admired, but character wise, I felt like she was hollow. I still wasn’t sold on Sam either. Even in the first book, I didn’t totally buy him as the big love interest. He is sweet and kind but totally, utterly boring. Someone told me that they sometimes find some YA books hard to read because they play into male fantasy characters for teenage girls. And for this one, I would have to agree with them.
Sam is dull. Yes, he’s a musician, he’s been alive for 5,000 years. He has a little bit of baggage, as he is eaten by a dragon like 30 times, but overall, Sam mopes about playing music and telling Ana of his undying love to her. Really, Sam? Where’s the passion, the hurt, the strength? Where’s the madness and motivation and challenge? No, Sam is more like a wet noodle from a very old bowl of soup.
The secondary characters are not solid for me either such as Stef. Stef, who is reincarnated over and over again as Sam’s best friend and sometimes love interest, fades into the background by book three and nothing is really resolved. Even the big bad guy, the big evil, the man with the plan who wants to enslave everyone, is an annoying gnat you want to swat away. He's not the immediate danger, no matter how far into the series I got. I was more concerned with the townspeople wanting to kill Ana and her friends and the pregnant mothers who may have No Soul babies.
Imagine you have a town of people who have lived and loved over and over again for 5,000 years. It’s like an never-ending high school filled with love, hope, emotional angst and incestuous relationships. (I mean that as in my boyfriend is now your boyfriend, and now he’s my boyfriend again, etc.) But instead, we barely brush the surface of the last 5,000 years and what this means to each of the characters.
I’m sorry I didn’t enjoy
Infinite. While I love the idea of the story and the possibilities of what it could have brought, I was left disappointed in the series and ending.
Category: Adult Paranormal Romance
Keywords: Paranormal, romance, apocalypse, pregnancy, siblings, horsemen
Format: Mass market paperback, eBook
Source: Bought
*This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.*
Being connected to D
aemon Black sucks…Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.
Something worse than the Arum has come to town…
The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.
But then everything changes…
I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?
No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…
Thuy's Review:
I was going through a reading slump a little while ago. Everything was unexciting and just meh. What’s a girl to do when faced with reading ennui? Call Daemon Black, of course. Like a lot of people, I fell hard for Daemon, the cocky, infuriating alien next door from Jennifer Armentrout’s Lux series. While I don’t necessarily condone Daemon’s behavior in real life, he does have his own special brand of charm that comes out even when you want to kick him.
Onyx begins right where Obsidian left off. After a harrowing night fighting off the evil Arum, Katie and Daemon are connected more than ever. This means that Daemon needs to keep a close eye (and body) on Katie while she tries not to kill him. There’s also a cute new boy in town that starts spending a lot of time with Katy, much to Daemon’s displeasure. Throw in some evil aliens, a possible conspiracy by the Department of Defense, and you have a book that I didn’t want to put down.
I loved jumping back into this world. Katy and Daemon still have the same sizzling chemistry. I really enjoyed their banter and how they seem to drive each other crazy. I have to say though that I found Katy to be very annoying in this book. Daemon has finally admitted his feelings for Katie and wants to be with her. But Katie keeps pushing him away, insisting that his attraction to her is only due to their alien connection. While I understand her reticence at first (Daemon was a total douchebag to her in the last book), I don’t know why she can’t believe that he really likes her now, after all they’ve been through. They were clearly attracted to each other in Obsidian before the alien connection was established, and I am not sure she is so doubtful of the attraction now.
Katy also makes some really bad decisions in Onyx. I am not sure where the smart, sarcastic Katy went but she seemed to be absent for a good portion of this book. In her place was someone who was very wishy-washy and insecure. She later admits that she made terrible choices, so I’ll give her that. I am hoping that the old Katy I love comes back for the next book.
Daemon is, well, Daemon. He’s still arrogant and ready with a quick comeback for everything. He knows exactly how to push all of Katy’s buttons. Attitude aside, we get to see a different side of Daemon in Onyx. In his quest to win Katy, Daemon shows his sweeter, more sensitive side. He’s still cocky and a jerk at times, but I felt like he was much more sincere than he was in the past. And when Daemon Black wants to turn on the charm, he really turns it on. Katy must be made of some tough stuff because most women would melt under his romantic assault.
Though I had a few issues with Onyx, I am still big fan of this highly addictive series. With plenty of intrigue, action, and crackling chemistry, the Lux series is a must read!
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Visit the author online at www.laurendestefano.com, Facebook and follow her on Twitter @LaurenDeStefano
First? I love you for using ennui in a review. Ten gold stars to you!
Also, YES to everything you said. I love Daemon. And Katy. And all the characters. This series is fantastic. I can't wait for Opal.
i love gold stars. thanks, hannah! yes, i have so much fun reading this series. onyx is coming soon!
I really need to make time for this series! I have book one on my shelf, just waiting! I love JA's covenant series, so I'm eager to try out this one, too! I don't think I've seen a negative review of it anywhere!