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A stand-alone story.

Pro's
Miranda grew on me. Initially I didn't take to her. Mostly I felt sorry for her, especially for the suffering she went through because of her father and his drinking habits.

She grew on me after his death although after investigating his hidden box and finding the weird weapon I would have taken the time to do more searching. Especially as she had so many questions regarding her mother.

She also gave Phillips the benefit of the doubt. This wasn't a romance with a bit of story involved, this was a story that would lead to romance once it was done. So many books these days put too much emphasis on getting the smoochies in instead of getting on with the story.

She did grow as a character but I didn't get any outward, as in looking outside her state, country, world. Because she'd never left her hometown I thought this was strange. We get the scene where she tries to go over the border but if she's spent so long on her own without friends I wouldn't expect her state of mind to be so positive.

Phillips, the second main character, had an interesting side to him. Between him and Miranda solving the mystery I thought they'd make a great team.

Con's
I didn't like they way the story went. A little too odd, and really contrived. I don't mind bending history but the way all the characters came back after disappearing and they aren't who they were before, well, it didn't gel with me.

The snake on her cheek. This wasn't really needed in the story. Great pains were taken to help us be intrigued by this but we could have solved it a different way.

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All is not well in the Court of Thorns and Roses.

New to the party is Ianthe, a High Priestess who appears to have a hold over Tamlin, though Feyre can't tell him what she see's for fear he'll ignore her. Just like he's ignoring her other problems. Namely, nightly visions of her time Under the Mountain and her frequent use of the bathroom to vomit her guts up.

Slowly but surely, our couple begin to implode. On the day of her wedding to Tamlin, it dawns on Feyre that life with Tamlin cannot possibly continue the way it used to. Things have got to change. He has got to change. She begs, in her head, for an escape. Lo and behold Rhysand hears her plea across their bond and whisks her away to the nightmares of the Night Court.

She's heard the rumours of torture, chaos and the bloodied high hand of the High Lord who likes nothing more than to shatter minds. She's surprised when she arrives for her week-long stint to find nothing could be further from the truth. The Night Court as she sees is lovely, peacefully and Rhysand is kind.

Although she fights it in the beginning, Feyre begins to have an understanding with Rhys. He neither mocks her, nor threatens her. Instead he promises her that he'll teach her how to write. Something she's never had a chance at doing because she was too busy looking after her family. Not being able to read nearly cost her one of the tasks Under the Mountain and reluctantly Feyre knows she will not be defeated in this way again.

Finally Feyre stays at the Night Court. Tamlin locked her up and refused to see that she needed help as much as he did. The Feyre he knew died at Amarantha's hand. The Feyre who return, with the kernels of all seven courts, is not that girl. This Feyre is something else entirely.

This is a story of building. Of understanding that you can change. You can grow from whatever horrible things you've done in your past. You can reach new heights. You can become better. Better than you've ever been before. And soon the people you were trying to please become smaller. You surpass them to a higher level.

The whole book is a story of growth. Feyre and Rhys start on unsteady sand and at the end the stand together on solid ground. They are a partnership, an alliance. Neither better nor worse than the other.

When they try to invade the Hybern territory, a foolish quest to me but hey, I'm just the reader, you can just tell the action hasn't finished yet. The bite of the story is still to come.

And it does. In epic fashion. That was one I didn't see coming.

The book leads us with a cliff-hanger as Feyre goes back to Tamlin's court. But she's a different person altogether than she once was. How long she can keep up the ruse if anyone's guess...

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In the beginning Feyre, (unusual name I had to come to grips with) is the sole provider for her family of two older sisters and a decrepit father. Feyre risks her life every day when she goes out to hunt so the others have food in the bellies. Feyre is a cold character. There is little joy in her life. She wishes her sisters could go off and marry so she can ignore the rest of the world, as the world ignores her. Despite all she does, only one of her sisters, Elain, is remotely grateful. Feyre doesn't have any choices either. She can't leave, there's nowhere to go. About two days north is a wall which keeps all humans separated from the world of Prythian beyond it. A world of the Fae.

In this beginning you feel a lot of hatred. Whether it's for the faeries who live a life of luxury over the wall, or whether its for Feyre's sisters who come across as altogether useless. Her older sister Nesta is a churning mass of misery and gloom. Feyre's father is useless in the way that he's resorted to being a cowering, insipid dog. There's little love here. The only delight for Feyre is either a few lost hours in the arms of her non-boyfriend Isaac or her painting. This is a world where rumours and appearance are prevalent in all manners of life yet while Feyre's sisters enjoy it, Feyre's heart is one of ice.
To be honest, this is why I nearly gave up the book. While the writing is clever in its depiction, bringing us into Feyre's world, the dark, hard life portrayed is miserable.

Feyre thinks her luck has doubled when she comes across a doe deer and a wolf. The wolf either wants to eat the doe or her. She kills them, skins the wolf (although it had crossed her mind it could be a shape-shifting faerie of legend) and carries the doe and wolf-skin home.

The next evening, for her crime against some mystical treaty between humans and Fae, she whisked through the wall to serve out her penance. To live among the faeries for the rest of her life.

Her saviour is Tamlin another shape-shifting wolf who has captured her because she killed his friend. Although she misses her family a great deal, she doubts whether they miss her at all, she finally accepts her fate, after a bit of toing-and-froing. Feyre begins to become a normal person, she doesn't have to fend for herself as food is widely available. She can keep clean, proving her dignity is intact. And she learns to laugh and not hide who she is. She develops a personality which was missing in her previous life.

But all is not what it seems as she begins to know that her many months of freedom comes with a price.

Tamlin's life is forfeit to an evil self-styled Queen--Amarantha--who wants nothing more than to rule the kingdom of Prythian. To keep her out of dangers way Tamlin sends her back to her family. But Feyre can't let her memory of Tamlin fade. He told her he loved her and she wants to help him be cured of the curse. She returns only to find Tamlin has been taken against his will to Under the Mountain.

It takes almost two thirds of the book to get to this point. From the beginning to here we've seen a whole character change to Feyre. Her icy, cold heart is gone. She becomes courageous and ever hopeful that although her human form is distinctly inferior she can help in someway erase the blight and get Tamlin back.

When Feyre enters Under the Mountain she becomes prey to Amarantha's predatory ways. Feyre knows from the outset her life may very well be forfeit but she has the fortitude to try. What upsets her the most is Tamlin's stony silence as she's paraded in front of this 'Queen', beaten to an inch of her life and thrown into an chilly cell. Later she must complete three tasks or solve a riddle and the curse will be lifted.

What started out as a fantasy of Fae becomes a fight to the death. While when Feyre lived at the Manor we were told of a life of colour, beauty and flamboyance it all disappears again and becomes reminiscent of the start of the book. The diversity of the story leaps off the page as much as the characters you begin to love and hate. I must admit I hated Feyre in the beginning. I wanted to scream at her for letting her family treat her so badly when she was doing what she could to keep them all alive. In the middle I liked Lucien, Tamlin's emissary, and he may have been forthright in demeaning Feyre but they soon reached a healthy alliance. But Under the Mountain the stand out character was Rhysand. He alone opened his heart to Feyre, although she didn't understand him initially. Rhysand was the only one who was able to keep her alive, no matter his faults or reputation.

Altogether, this could well have been a stand-alone book but that isn't Sarah Maas's style so the next book will no doubt lead us along another garden path. After all, the King of Hybern has yet to make an appearance and proclaim war. Feyre returns to the Court of Thorns and Roses and must overcome the devastation of her actions Under that Mountain. Somehow, I don't think Feyre will go down without a fight.

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Maya is cursed with an unfortunate horoscope which tells of death and destruction. All revere the horoscope and Maya is shunned because of hers. But the king must end the war and bring together an alliance. Maya is the Princess who must marry for her country to find peace.

Unfortunately for Maya the king has other plans. The king pronounces to her that an alliance will never be reached and so he gives her a vial of poison to kill herself. The king expects the other nations to war among themselves because of this slight. However, when Maya is about to drink a strange man catapults her from the palace and to freedom. Or so Maya thinks.

She pronounces her saviour as her rightful marriage partner and trusts his words and wisdom as he takes her on a journey which only fairy tales are made from.

Who is this handsome stranger to which she is indebted? Why is he not troubled by her horoscope of death? And what is in the lands of Akaran that will satisfy her educated mind to keep her?

This is most certainly a book of two halves. The first half will lead you to understand Maya and her stranger, Amar, while the second half will show how easily we must get up and fight for what we believe in.

I'm not saying this book was an easy read by any means. Sometimes I did wish the author would lay back a little and tell the straightforward story without so much purple prose. But it is beautifully written, with upsets and passion along the way.

This will certainly tickle your taste buds if you prefer your books romantically based, and with the passion of a great heroine I can safely say I did love this book.

-CBx

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And I read it in about 4 hours straight. It comes right into the story, at a crunch time and then just as you think you know how it's going to pan out, everything changes! The ending is one of the saddest I've read in a long time, and I'm very glad this is only number 1 of the Lost dacomé files because I'm dying to find out what happens next.

So, without giving away too many spoiler, Halika Dacome is threatened with a union with the opposing war lord. But they have other plans. Just as an agreement is met, lots of important people are murdered in front of her eyes and her father is spared on the assumption that all the Elementals are going to die anyway. But Halika doesn't believe that, she thinks they stand a chance of winning the war against the enemy. When her childhood friends arrive they bring war ships that enable her to stand a fighting chance. She also begins her bittersweet romance with Nerido Xipile (who I thought she hated from the first book Elemental: The First).

Anyway just as everything seems to be going to plan, it all falls apart. And not in a good way. There's an interesting chapter right at the end called Double Cross and that's exactly what happens. Except its not from all the people you expect, well it is and it isn't. You'll find out if you read it.

The world building and royal/political systems, the way of life, and the sheer characterisations in this book are mesmerising. I felt every high of happiness, and every low when it all went wrong. I even had a wobbly chin at the end when the Scribe finishes the story.

Absolutely this is a book to read. It doesn't matter if you enjoy Sci-fi or not, the story is of the characters and not of the world they live in.

5 out of 5 - I loved it!

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While the emphasis of this story is historical, it isn't the story itself.
Ethandun takes you on a human approach through the last 36 hours before the major battle between King Alfred and the Danes, led by a warlord called Guthrum.
The main character is Lord Tristan Dracanburh. Right from the beginning you know something is different about him. He's 17 and admits he's druid born but as you get into the story you realise he's not just a druid. He's something else too.

He, with Halika Dacomés human avatar called Dee, catch a danish boy who claims the Danes have enlisted Nerído Xipile and some horrible sounding elves, who call themselves the Nine Hundred. Their mission is to kill Halika Dacomé before the main battle because they think if she's dead the Danes will claim victory more easily. Wessex will be lost and King Alfred will fall.
The next hours, Lord Tristan uncovers the plot piece by piece and finds unlikely allies who help him and his close friends thwart (I love that word!) the threat.

What kept me fixated was the unravelling of Lord Tristan in the story. He's a good guy. A really good guy. Possibly swoonworthy. In some ways he's innocent, in others he's not innocent at all. He's killed people, he's a spycatcher, he's loyal to his father who is the King. He held his twin brother in his arms as he died. But he's got secrets too. Lots of them and slowly they come out and you realise that his burden is to carry all those secrets and to keep on going. Keep a brave face. Keep his men's confidence high. Make everyone on his side believe they will win the war. But it all has a price. Personally, I'm surprised he's still sane after all of it.

Any readers of YA fantasy will love this. If you like thrilling suspense, romance, fun and twists, then you'll love this. If you haven't read any of Ms May's previous books it doesn't matter (you can catch up later.) This book is a complete story and ends with a thread which will lead us to Elemental: The Circle of Fire (which I can't wait to read!)

A wonderfully written book!

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Until now. She evades detection and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing finds herself back with Carrick and on the run again. Her grandad is now in custody and Celestine realises this is her life now. Always being on the run. She visits a few people along the way but they always turn out to be bad guys. Even Carrick had a angle on her.

When I read Flawed I mentioned the believe-ability of the dystopian society in the story. It didn't resonate as true. The rest of the world carries on as normal but this 'place' has this 'flawed' system. Early on in Perfect there is even a mention of Michael Jackson and body-popping. Suddenly this dystopian world Ms Ahern is trying to create fell flat to the floor. Why didn't she make the entire world a dystopian empire? The story would have become so much bigger.

The story does involve the characters much more and in depth. You can definitely see where the padding was filled with reminiscences between Celestine and her mother, and with Art. His character becomes a bit more wholesome than the wimpy version from Flawed. Celestine is much more contemplative.

The writing also follows all the right rules. She starts and ends at the same place. There are now characters you want to win and want to lose, whereas Flawed I pretty much hated everyone except Carrick. The gentleness of Celestine becomes more apparent but she is definitely more vocal and confident enough to air her view now. Again, what didn't seem as believable to me was that it was only Celestine who would speak common sense and while what she spoke of was relevant I'm sure others, in our day and age, would have pushed her off the podium to have their say.

Altogether it's a decent enough dystopian story but it flounders with its world-building. Enough to make the society not quite as real as I'd like.

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The society is based on being perfect. Celestine has a sister, Juniper (an almost identical version of herself but a little older) and a younger brother Ewan. They come from a mixed race family. Cutter, their father is black, and Summer is white. A good premise to start. Slowly we learn how Celestine's mother is a model and regularly goes for nip/tucks or pick-me-ups if she's having a bad day. Early on in the story we learn that her mother dislocates her shoulders to do her own hair (what?) When I read this I thought of a far-out other dystopian called Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

Celestine is a hard character to read because there doesn't seem to be much personality there. She loves maths at school, and has a boyfriend called Art, who she spends most of her time with. Now we get to the tricky part. Art's father is called Bosco Crevan who is head of The Guild. The Guild is a government run program (not THE government) which deems certain citizens as 'flawed'. If they do wrong or lie or steal or anything bad they get punished, by way of an 'F' branding, and have to live under a whole new set of rules, which apparently is better than going to prison (although we do learn there is still a prison system.) From what I could gather I'm thinking this book is based in Ireland, as that is where Ms Ahern comes from, but it isn't specific in that regard.

The Guild are only based in this country although we do learn that other countries are looking at adopting this system of branding and penalising wrong-doers.

Things all start going bad for Celestine when 'Miss Perfect - she dubbed herself that' sticks up for a sick man on a bus. The man had a coughing fit and everyone ignored him. Celestine decides to step in and at least try and get him a seat on the bus. Unfortunately what she should have done in this society system is ignore him like everyone else. So, this is a society based on perfect people or trying to bring up people who do no wrong yet they lack compassion to help someone in need of medical assistance.

This is where the book loses me. I mean, we live in a world where everything is recorded on media. If a man was suffering in the street and everyone ignored him there would be a public outcry. Getting my head around this type of dystopian society took me a while but once I ignored the real world version of life I did get why the author chose this topic, even one as far-fetched as Flawed.

There is a touch of romance. Beginning with Art the boyfriend who for the most part disappears from the story once his perfect girlfriend is deemed flawed and branded. The character that has me intrigued is the infamous Carrick who, again, barely features in the story except for the part when she's held in the cells before her trial. However there is still clearly more story to write with this new relationship.

For the most part there is just enough story to keep me wondering what is going to happen next. This isn't original by any means, there are tropes thrown in and really long scenes that take up pages and pages however you do really want Celestine to get a break. Now, at the end, she's on the run from The Guild, who really have treated her badly, so much so that I think revolution is on the horizon.

I'm quietly confident that book two will heal all my gripes from Flawed.

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This is a fitting end to the series, if indeed that's how it is. The group have one last battle before proper freedom can be felt. I don't know. In this whole book there was almost a feeling of writing off and ending this without the normal care.

For a start, Wells and Glass are taken by the Protectors. They give us the glimpse of inside the fortress--the rugged ruin of the Pentagon, no less--and the 'mother' Soren. There are some initiation ceremonies to take place and when they all learn about it, needless to say, they want to get the hell out.

Bellamy and Clarke with a few others lead a group to said fortress to rescue the taken.

That's pretty much the story. There are very few, if any, back and forth's as previous books. Lots of wishing and reminiscing. A small bicker between Bellamy and Clarke. But that is the sum of Rebellion. As I read, I almost felt like the author had given up on the story because of the TV series, and didn't have the heart to spread the plot any further.

I've seen a new series that Kass Morgan is beginning called 'Light Years.' I think she's concentrating all her energy on that now. My understanding is that The 100 was supposed to be a trilogy but a fourth book was commissioned to ride alongside the TV series. Which makes no sense whatsoever because the story arcs are not similar.

All in all, I did enjoy The 100 series. There were parts that were interesting. The characters all travelled to their destination. Now everyone's happy. There wasn't really anything new or earth shattering about the series except for the initial concept but..I enjoyed it all anyway :)

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Everything starts with Glass in the dropship. Her mother was shot and killed by a deranged guard at the end of Day 21. Now she's landing on Earth but the feeling is bittersweet. Luckily she has Luke at her side.

The 100 including Clarke, Bellamy and Wells are all at the site enjoying an evening when they first see what they think are shooting stars. Only when the ships start crashing do they realise what's happened. The Colonists are finally joining them from the space-station. They head out to the dropships site to discover carnage and mayhem. The ships have landed badly. Bodies are everywhere. The lake has turned pink with blood. The 100 start gathering up survivors and help the wounded. Amongst them is the generally disliked Vice-Chancellor Rhodes.

Sasha, the Earthborn girl, wants to help and does what she can but she disappears before she causes any trouble or upset. She keeps tabs with her father, Max, who is in charge of the Earthborns camp.

Bellamy is in deep trouble because he knows that now Rhodes has landed, and is being guarded heavily, they will start looking for him soon. He doesn't have to wait long before he tries to evade capture and is eventually caught. His sentence is death.

I was so glad that the series headed in this direction. So far, I think the 100 landing on Earth has been a breeze and I can't imagine in real world circumstances that ever happening. People would be after your head as soon as you landed. Plus, with only a few tepid warnings they've still managed to keep their numbers and build a camp. Now with more adults in the mix and Rhodes to stir things up the story got exciting for the first time.

If you love the series so far then hold on till book 3 when everything turns on its head. I'm heading into book 4 right now!

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Bellamy's sister Octavia is still missing and he spends most of this novel trying to find her. Clarke is dealing with a new outbreak of some debilitating sickness. Glass and Luke deal with the terrifying fact that Walden and Arcadia are being deprived of oxygen. And Wells spends much of his time talking to an Earthborn girl they capture called Sasha.

The story develops when Sasha explains that Asher, who was killed at the end of the last book, was attacked by a broken off faction of Earthborns. She also breaks the news that the 100 aren't the first to fall from the sky. A ship landed about a year ago but Sasha is vague about what happened to the survivors. Clarke and Bellamy hook up but have a break up when Bellamy finds out that Clarke not only knew his ex, Lilly, but that Lilly was the one who Clarke agreed to put to sleep to escape the radiation experiments her parents were performing. Glass, with Luke's help, does a spacewalk so she can save Walden and Arcadia by opening up the closed Skywalk, freeing the people from their impending death only to find everyone is now trying to get a place on the last dropships before the spacestation runs out of air.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the last mainly because of some terrible plot hole/twists that didn't work or felt flat. Firstly, at no time did I get the impression there were indeed 100 kids sitting around a fire or feeding themselves. I mean, if you remember your old school assembly, or anywhere where you see a huge group of people, you know they make noise. They break off into groups and do their own thing. An organised group would have proper leadership and elders but instead they still seem to be roaming around oblivious to the dangers. Even after Asher died, and even when Priya is found hanging from a tree.

Bellamy is adamant from the start he has to find his sister. You get his urgency in the beginning but when Clarke helps him they spend so much time kissing and making out that sometimes I think he's forgotten that his sister may be held by rabid animals who could be torturing her. I admit that he did have to take Clarke back to the village after the snake bite but hell, if that was my own sister I'd be back out there.

Sasha also comes across as too nicey-nicey and when she takes Bellamy and Clarke to see her father it is all a picture postcard setting of neat little houses the Earthborn live in. And the twist that the Earthborns had already rescued Octavia, that she was safe, kind of deflated the whole tension.

Right at the end when Wells is ready to leave, Bellamy, Clarke and Octavia are laughing and joking as they come into view. Surely Octavia, who has been held hostage by a faction we don't know about, shouldn't be laughing with the joys of summer.

My gripe through all of this book is the tension or lack of it. Everything was dealt with and tied up neatly without any other sense of danger. So far the 100 appear to have landed in paradise and everything is cosy. To be honest Day 21 fell flat.

I'm ready to try the next book, now that the remaining dropships are coming to Earth. Let's see if this one can rev up a bit of drama.

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Because of a Cataclysm that happened 300 years past, the human race live onboard a spaceship. It's separated into three sections Phoenix, Walden and Arcadia. Phoenix is where the more well off people live. The chancellor and his son live there as do Clarke and her doctor parents.
Rules on the ship are strict. You lie, you steal - you die. You have a child without former consent of the council - your child is taken away and you die. You do wrong to anyone you die. If you're under eighteen you get thrown into confinement and on your eighteenth birthday you're given a retrial. But most people are found guilty and so they die.

Why so many deaths? That's what Bellamy, Clarke, Wells and Glass discover as the book carries on.
The under eighteens that are in confinement or solitary prison are extracted and put onto a dropship. The ship will head to earth to see if living conditions have stablised after the Cataclysm. Nobody knows whether the earth is fit for habitation, so they send the young convicts with tracking bracelets so they can monitor their health.

The 100 learn to live on earth without the normal rules. But with a hundred criminals roaming at large around an uncharted planet what is the worst that could happen?

This book has four different POV's. Bellamy, Clarke, Wells and Glass. Bellamy tells us about his life as a two sibling family with his younger sister having to hide and the desperation they feel when the guards come to do inspection on their room. Clarke tells us about how her parents were both killed and she was put into solitary because they were doing radiation experiments on orphaned children without the chancellors knowledge. From Wells we learn about how he is the son of the chancellor but reluctantly does his job as a guard officer, and his love for Clarke. Lastly, Glass shows us more of life on board the three spaceships, Phoenix, Arcadia and Walden.

This book basically takes place in about twenty days. There are lots of back and forths in the text to show us life before the captives were put into the dropship. And until the very ending of the book, we know the 100 do believe they're alone on earth. Bellamy spends all his time running after and looking for Octavia. Clarke spends most of her time being doctor and taking care of the injured from the drop. Wells takes a more leadership role and with a reluctant crowd gets them to build a proper barricade around the dropsite. And Glass tells us her story of falling in love with a guard from a different part of the ship and how she escaped from the dropship and earned her release.

All in all, compared to the series, there is a lot of prose to read through but only a little action. Nothing like the non stop energy from the series.

It is good to see a comparison, and I'm ready to read the next book as we've only just found out that others are living on the planet. Kass Morgan's writing is exceptional for creating atmosphere and hyping up the drama.

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Helen is a tall blond girl with immense strength and speed. She wears a necklace, a gift from her mother, which she never takes off regardless of the fact her mother left home when she was small and never returned. Helen was brought up by her wonderful father and works part time at his newspaper and cake store. She has a best friend called Claire and has lived in Nantucket all her life.

However, when a new family come to the island the school and town people all come alive with gossip about the large family. Helen doesn't really want to know and thinks everyone is sticking their noses in but Claire fills in all the details about the gorgeous sons who are all their age and will be in their classes.

From the moment Helen spotted Lucas she had this urge to kill him. She can't look at him without also seeing 3 small women tearing at their hair until blood seeps. Something is going on and Helen gets really ill in the first few days they attend school.

Helen's always suffered from stomach cramps too whenever anyone takes too much of an interest in her. But when she has a creepy man follow her, it's the new boys from the family that take care of her.

The story unravels slowly with careful attention spent on Helen and Lucas and their relationship. There's almost half the book spent on their time at school with the other cousins and how they become friendly with Helen's small group. After Helen's attack she spends every afternoon learning how to fight so she be ready the next time. Again, much of the book is spent going over how they practice and with whom.

There were a few little cute things in the story to keep it traveling. It's only around the halfway mark that people start noticing Helen's necklace, and a reason for that popped up. Her father and Kate's relationship has a feel good factor to it.

It's only near the end when Helen's mum comes back into the story that the pace starts to quicken. There is also Creon, who is one of the Hundred Cousins, and his point of view.

Much of the end plot twist with Creon, Hector and Daphne felt rushed with a lot of info dump. Almost as if the author needed to speed things up a bit to write the ending. I'm not going to say I loved it. The writing is good but heavy. The plot twists and turns quickly which I did like. I'll get started on Dreamless (Starcrossed #2) as soon as my eyes become uncrossed!

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The problem is she has to Descend to the U/World every night and endure torment and torture to get to her goal. She isn't making any progress on her own and it's making her really sick.

Of course, one of the other reasons she's going to the Underworld is so that she can avoid seeing so much of Lucas. Even though she knows they're cousins it doesn't help her heart in any way being near him. He seems to also have the same response. Until his father tells Lucas he must end his relationship once and for all. Cousins can't be together and their offspring are usually born insane. Lucas makes a grand gesture that pushes Helen even further away from him and his family. So, for Helen, going into the underworld is certainly an escape.

On one journey she meets another person being attacked by a harpy. He introduces himself as Orion. Helen isn't sure whether she can trust him but then she learns her mother equipped Orion with a nifty gift that means he can descend also. Helen's mother, for all her meanness may have saved Helen with this one gesture. Orion is from the other of the four houses which means although they can work together in the underworld, once they get back to the surface the Furies will be at them to attack and kill each other. This happens once and its an experience both of them want to remember and forget at the same time.

Helen grows closer to Orion but she can see conflict still every time she notices Lucas nearby. Little does she know that Lucas has been keeping his own secrets and he is fully aware of Orion and Helen's descending and what takes place in the underworld.

Things start to get messy. Orion, Lucas and Helen are from the Four Houses. If the blood of all the houses is joined, as in blood brothers, then it will free all the Gods. They will arrive on Earth and start another war for domination. It could annihilate the human race.

The future doesn't look good for our heroine, and her two suitors are nothing short of valiant in this sequel. While Starcrossed came across as gushy in places, telling too much story rather than showing -- and a lot of story there was too -- Dreamless has found more of a centre and has stuck to the main thread of the story arc. There are a few diversions with Helen's friend Zach, and Helen's mother seeking out the frightening sounding Tantalus. Rather than a story of young love (which primarily this is) the tale shows the characters in a less glamourous light.

I'm not a fan of love triangles, although I'm one of the few that believe they do exist in real life. Angelini covered this delicately and with the sensitivity it deserved without making it too unreal. I loved Orion and although I didn't take to Lucas in the first book I do think he's grown more in Dreamless.

Most of all Helen has proved that although she may only be an island girl and have a horrid disowning mother, she can overcome all the Fates going against her and fight for the greater good. She has proved to me she is selfless. Her character is still growing and I don't think we've seen the last of her talents.

I loved Dreamless, so much more than Starcrossed. I'm looking forward to Goddess now the danger of Earth being destroyed is very real. I also hope we see more of the gorgeous Morpheus. Phew, what a guy!

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Let's start with the flashbacks. Usually I don't mind these as long as they're in context to the story. There are lots of times Helen sees herself as different women from the past, mostly as Helen of Troy. The most relevant ones showed her about her relationship with Lucas (or Paris, should I say) but what annoyed me most was the Arthur and Guinevere flashbacks. Nearly all the backstory of this series so far has been credible. Okay, there might be a little artistic licence with the Gods and the Tale of Troy but Angelini really gave all this some character to enjoy and believe in. My main gripe with the Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere stuff was it just sounded and came across as a giant rip off from the film King Arthur (the one with Clive Owen and Keira Knightley.) While the Greek Gods myths are really well known, little was given regarding Arthur i.e. who he was, where he came from. The roles of Guinevere and Lancelot came over as forced.

The story takes us from the beginning to the rescue of Andy, a girl with an unusual background. The crowd from the Delos compound put 2 and 2 together and realise the Gods are returning and doing horrible things to women, then killing them. Andy is one that gets away. When she's rescued they come to terms with her being a siren. Unfortunately for Hector he has the face of her attacker, Apollo who is still chasing Andy. She hates Hector in the beginning, not willing to trust him until he defends her when Apollo comes a-visiting. Hector and Andy find a companionship. Matt is beginning to change also. He's grown stronger and develops scion gifts like better hearing. Although he stays with the crowd as much as he can he has another destiny thanks to an unlikely dagger. Helen and Lucas spend time away from the compound in another world. Helen's newest talent is a Worldbuilder. She creates a place for her and Lucas to go. They know they still can't be together but they enjoy the company. Orion and Cassandra also pair up.

With everyone finding a partner, and the flashbacks, Goddess was, for me, losing it's way. Although this series was written in 3rd person to give the story the depth it needed I can't help thinking I'd have preferred the 1st person point of views instead. While Dreamless was excellent at describing the flow of the story and keeping its pace, Goddess reading was clunky and half the time I kept thinking 'Filler!' for the sake of making a book a certain number of pages.

Altogether the series was enjoyable, the ending of Goddess tied up loose ends to a certain degree but not all. I think Helen and Daphne's relationship needed a bit of work on paper and nothing was said about the Delos father's, Castor and Pallas and how that all ended.

I liked Helen. I liked that she was so down to earth after everything that happened. It would be interesting to go back to the character in, say, five years to see how it all turned out for them!

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The book picks up after the big fight at the end of Firewalker. Lily's Tristan is dead. The group are outside a city on the west coast that none of them knew existed called Bower City. The first thing they notice is the Warrior Sisters are guarding the city and there are worker bees everywhere. A clue? Yes, this city works in so-called 'harmony' with the Hive but for all its opulence Lily and her group don't buy it. New characters are introduced called Toshi, Ivan and Grace, who is similar to Alaric, the sachem. Toshi shows the group the city and all it has to offer. Caleb disapproves, knowing these people could have helped the East with their live-longer creams and serums to protect the affluent. After a while they reunite with Rowan, who was also brought to Bower City. Lily refuses to be near him and their relationship has hit a dead end. While Rowan begins to mend fences with the other members, Lily is still too broken over the death of her Tristan to let him in.

The group start unraveling how Bower City works and start to get some idea of its sinister side. At another moment when one of the main group dies Lily takes everyone back to her real world, our world, to get away and regroup. Lily also learns to spirit walk them across the country to her own house. When they all decide to return for the final fight they take Lily's Juliet and Samantha with them. Lily starts communicating with Lillian again and learns that Lillian has her own nuke bomb she is going to use on the west coast to kill the queen of the hive.

From here on in it's Lily working with Lillian. Lily develops much in this book and becomes everyone's ambassador. She brings all the tribe and factions heads together and they start working as one. What they all want is for Lillian to NOT use that nuke.

What I didn't like about this book is probably what everyone else has been writing. While the world building is complete and we understand more of everyone's reasons for doing what they did, the writing came across as too linear. In that I mean it turned into the 'Lily Show.' After halfway in the book there was very little from Juliet, Una or Breakfast. They were just pawns to place here and there. When Lily starts to act and bring in the Woven everything turned mechanic with very little emotion or character rapport. I actually hated the whole chapters where Lily spent time with the insects. My skin almost crawled as I had to skim through pages.

The second thing I didn't like was the lack of Rowan. Only at the end did he come into his own. And the ending of the book was so cut off and unemotional I thought I must be missing some pages. The epilogue was alright but not what I expected. I mean, we've spent three books, countless hours going from one world to the other, so what the heck happened to everyone? Where did they all go? Did Uno and Breakfast stay in Lillian's Salem or go back to their own world. What happened with Caleb? Did Toshi and Mala survive and what happened to them?

At the end of the Worldwalker series I can honestly say I really enjoyed it. Although there were parts I didn't enjoy, and probably too many sidekicks that spoiled the balance, I liked the originality of the witches and how they progressed. However, I didn't have that feel-good factor at it's completion.

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While Lily recovers from her total body burns, Rowan becomes quite at home in her house with her mum and sister. He takes care of Lily and gets her to full health. The FBI have been harassing Tristan and Lily's mum about her disappearance so Lily knows she has to go back to a semi-normal life albeit...school, where she learns some surprising things. Tristan is no longer the centre of attention thanks to his misdemeanours after the party, he only has a couple of friends. Lily already knows Breakfast (real name Stuart) but gets to know Una. Together the four, plus Rowan form a friendship and soon after Rowan tells Lily they could all be mechanics (carers of a witch.) Rowan starts to train them but thanks to a surprising appearance by Carrick, Rowan's half brother and Lillian's head mechanic, they all realise their time on our world is sure to end. When Scot dies they all make the decision to go back to Rowan's world to fight the other Lillian.

The reunion when they get to the other version of our world is short lived. Lily has been communing with Lillian who has been showing her why she's made the decisions she has. The hangings, the constant killing, and the death of Rowan's father. Lily hasn't got the heart or the guts to show any of this to Rowan. While he admits he loves her he also knows Lily is keeping something from him. When it all comes out sides are chosen. And Rowan isn't on Lily's side. In fact, he rips off her will-stones and lets her starve. The others can't put up with it any longer. They plot an escape to the Woven land out west. Lily told them she has a weird feeling that the woven are at the heart of all their problems. The instinct for these other-worlders is to kill Woven but Lily wants to study them. Find out why they're the way they are.

The whole story is cinched with a heartbreaking amount of romance and dedication. I was willing Rowan and Lily to stay together and trust each other more. Rowan is by far the best character in the story but I really love how Lily has become the leader she is now. Only a few months ago she was the girl with allergies who couldn't even look out of a window without catching something awful. Breakfast and Una make an exciting blend and they show no deviation from everything Rowan taught them. They show their loyalty to Lily is absolute. The two Tristan's were cute too but I wonder what will happen now that Lily has lost her Tristan.

I'm also pleased with the amount of modern day science that's being used too. The heart of the story is about nuclear verses natural and it balances on both sides to the good and bad. Definitely a lot to get you thinking about in our real world.

The pace was good in Firewalker but at times I was worried the story was rushing a little too much, especially towards the end. There are a decent amount of flashbacks for you to grasp why the other Lillian went all bad. But at the end you know every character is now broken in some way. They all have to heave themselves up for the last book. I'm excited to see how the next one pans. I have a feeling something really big is going to happen to one of the sidekicks and it isn't going to be good.

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Lily Proctor lives in our world with a lovely sister, Juliet and a schizophrenic mother, Samantha. Lily can't handle our world. Everything from the food, the pollen and especially smoke makes her sick. She knows she's going to have to live in a plastic bubble soon because there's no other way she can survive without coming down with a fever or throwing up.

Her one true friend is Tristan. They've been best friends since they were small and he's always taken care of her. Now, they're in the last years of high school. Tristan is the hot boy around and girls flock to him. But he always keeps Lily for himself as a friend. Lily wants more, and when he invites her to a party she knows its her one real chance to prove to him she is girlfriend material. However, at the party she's secretly fed a small amount of vodka which makes her sick. She and the culprit, Scot, search for Tristan who did a vanishing act once they arrived. Lily finds him in a bathroom with his previous girlfriend. They're both topless and Lily instantly hates him for his deceit. Before the party her mother had an episode and that compounded with Lily's loneliness at losing Tristan leaves her on a beach summing up her miserable life. A voice in her head promises a better life. A harder life but one she'll be strong in. Lily is so overcome with her grief she doesn't rationalise. She follows the voice and ends up in another version of Salem.

This version is in a kind of future. Lily soon learns that her other self is the Lady of Salem and head witch. This worlds Lillian is a Queen. Our Lily gets away, she's so freaked out by the differences, instantly regretting her moment of weakness on the beach. She runs down the main street and leans against the window of a cafe. The man inside sees her, recognises her and she runs from him. He thinks she's Lillian (the Queen) who he looked after as Head Mechanic (like a doctor, personal servant, healer, rolled into one.) Once he captures Lily he makes her unconscious. She's the enemy and he wants nothing more than to kill her. Together with his friend Tristan (this worlds version) and their friend Caleb, they take our Lily to meet a Sachem who is head of the Outlanders, a tribe that live outside the main Queens Citadel. Lily convinces them she isn't the Lillian they all want dead. They also realise that our Lily has the same strong witch gifts the Queen has, but she's never used them. Rowan (the man from the cafe) is given the task of keeping her safe and training her.

Little does our Lily know she's now a pawn in a greater battle. A battle against the ruling Witches but with some unlikely allies and some hot men at her side Lily can not only live in this world without her allergies, she can actually be useful and help more people with her new witch gifts. This is a world of oppression and our Lily is the key to giving them their freedom.

What I loved most about this book is the world-building and simplicity of the story. Yes, there are variations of words. Mechanics, Scientists etc but it's really a story about keeping the modernity of our civilisation. The Queen wants to keep the world from destroying itself yet she goes about it the wrong way. The Outlanders have the 'Woven,' a genetically modified race to fight outside the Citadel, yet if they go into the Citadel they could by hung for any crimes. Lily and Lillian also have a surprising bond and we've yet to learn why exactly Lillian brought Lily to her world when she knows Lily does everything she can to help the oppressed and fight her.

There are still many unanswered question that will surely come out as the series progresses but from the first page this book had me gripped and I couldn't put it down. I've always loved a good witch story!

Also, don't miss the novella, Rowan, who describes his first confusing meeting with Lily and how he unravels that fact that she looks like his lover Lillian but she most definitely isn't her.