Book Tour: Invision by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Features & Giveaway)

So thrilled to be a part of the blog tour for Invision, the seventh installment of Chronicles of Nick by best selling author, Sherrilyn Kenyon. As part of the tour, I get to share with all of you a short excerpt from the book and the video trailer.

Also, there’s a fabulous giveaway hosted by the publisher where you got a chance to win signed copies of all the books from The Chronicles of Nick. Yes! that’s correct, 7 signed books of Sherrilyn Kenyon and the best part, there are seven sets that are up for grabs, which means more chance of winning!

But before all that here’s a little more info about INVISION

ABOUT THE BOOK

Book Details:

Title: Invision
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: May 02, 2016
Pages: 400
Format: Hardcover, eBooks

Think you have a lot of pressure on your shoulders? Nick Gautier was born to bring about the end of the world . . . it’s not easy being the heir of a demon overlord.

But Nick is determined to thwart his destiny and get into a good college. To be more than his genetics and prophecy foretell. No one is ever going to tell this stubborn Cajun who and what he really is. Or how to live his life.

Not even the Fates of the Universe. But now that he and his team of ancient gods and demons have claimed the Eye of Ananke and he sees the missteps of the future, he has to battle the demons within that are far deadlier and more treacherous than any he’s battled before. All the while his arch nemesis is back and determined to reclaim his place as the harbinger for Armageddon. Even if it means killing Nick and barbecuing everyone he loves to do so.

Book Links:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads | Publisher

EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK, INVISION

Hanging his head, he pushed his chair back to face her. “What do you want me to say, Kode? You saw what I did. It’s hopeless. I’m going to end this world. Whether it’s tomorrow or a thousand years from now. I’m going to lose it all. Break bad and tear humanity apart. . . . Don’t matter what we do. Whatever we try. We just delay the inevitable outcome. So I’m going to sit here with my eats. And just . . .” he let his voice trail off as the full horror of his future played through his mind for the five millionth time.

He was the end of everything.
Everyone.
All he loved.
The entire world would one day fall to Nick’s army of demons.

Yeah, there was something to put on his college applications. That ought to have schools lining up to accept him. Who wouldn’t want that as their alumnus? We have graduated senators, presidents, movers-and-shakers, and the Malachai demon who ate the world whole…

It was the one reality Nick wanted to deny and couldn’t. Everything eventually came back to that one inescapable fact he wanted to runaway from and couldn’t.
I’m only sixteen. Too young to deal with this crap.

He was supposed to be worried about his grades. About keeping his girl happy. Staying out of trouble. His mom finding his friend’s porn magazines stashed in his room. Getting to work on time. Making curfew.

Not hellgates and demons coming for the throats of his family and friends.
Definitely not about the fact that his birthright was to bring on the destruction of all humanity.

BOOK TRAILER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon is a regular in the #1 spot. This extraordinary bestseller continues to top every genre in which she writes. With more than 40 million copies of her books in print in more than one hundred countries, her current series include The Dark-Hunters, The League, and Chronicles of Nick. Her Chronicles of Nick and Dark-Hunter series are soon to be major motion pictures.

Find Sherrilyn

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Giveaway:

What’s up for Grab?

• Signed copies of THE CHRONICLES OF NICK!

To enter

Click the photo below to be redirected to the giveaway hosted by the publisher, St. Martin’s Griffin

 

Good Luck!!!

Angelfall by Susan Ee

“If I was good at marketing, I’d spin you an empty story that sounds profound. But the truth is that we’re all just stumbling around in the dark. Sometimes we hit something terrible.”

It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Personal Thoughts:

It’s been awhile since I last read angel stories not because I don’t like these celestial being but because most of fiction stories I have read about them are a let down. I haven’t found something that really stand out or at least leave a long lasting impression. That’s why it took me long while to finally dig in to this series even with so much positive raves from the book blogging community.

With that said, I go into Angelfall with less expectations.

Angelfall as the first installment is pretty entertaining and engaging read. Susan Ee waste no time introducing this dystopian world full of fallen angels battling each others and the human race. Right from the start you will feel the panic, the danger and urgency which basically makes the story engaging and moving.

Penryn Young and her family are on their way to find a safer place when they witness a fight among angels. While the fight is happening a group of fallen angels took her sister Paige. Without much idea how to get Paige back, she help saving one of the dying angel Raffe with the hope that he can lead her to where the other angels took her sister.

Susan Ee’s wordings are simple and a bit repetitive. Coming from a fantasy read wherein the author used lots of metaphors and offers deep philosophies, I can’t help but noticed that Susan Ee’s style is so pale in comparison. But with the simplicity of writing comes an easy flow of reading and well paced plotting. The imagery is quite vivid even with little world building. The world that Susan Ee created is dark and gritty which balance well to her characters and their snarky dialogues.

Penryn and Raffe are both pragmatic individual. They are practical and straight to the point which basically create fun dialogues between them. I enjoy their banter, verbal fights and their overall dynamic. The fact that their relationship is not concentrated in romance but more on survival makes the story more engaging for me. In a bleak world where the earth is almost at its end, it is more realistic to have characters that are busy trying to survive or fights against the enemy than to waste their time finding romance or love interest. I’m really glad that Susan Ee didn’t make this so much of a love story than story of survival.

I also like how gritty and dark this post apocalyptic world that Susan Ee created. Human eating cat food or even human flesh to survive, no shower for days or water to drink – it feels more appropriate and real for a world set in its near end. If only there’s more exposition about how the the world came to its end and more explanation how the angels become ‘harbingers of doom’ who are willing to destroy the entire world I think the world building will be more solid. But since this is only the first installment of a three books series Susan Ee has more room for development. The rebellions, war from different ends, angel politics, and human turned to demons are more than enough to keep this whole series engaging and entertaining.

Overall, Angelfall is a thrilling start to this angel post apocalyptic series. Though nothing really new in terms of the angel mythology and post apocalyptic world, the danger and characters are enough to keep readers on the edge of their seat.

* This review is based on an eBook I received courtesy of the publisher, Amazon Children’s Publishing via NetGalley.

Rogue (Talon #2) by Julie Kagawa

“A flame that burns twice as bright last half as long.”

Deserter

Traitor

ROGUE.

Ember Hill left the dragon organization Talon to take her chances with rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues. But Ember can’t forget the sacrifice made for her by the human boy who could have killed her—Garret Xavier Sebastian, a soldier of the dragonslaying Order of St. George, the boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, knowing that by doing so, he’d signed his own death warrant.

Determined to save Garret from execution, Ember must convince Cobalt to help her break into the Order’s headquarters. With assassins after them and Ember’s own brother helping Talon with the hunt, the rogues find an unexpected ally in Garret and a new perspective on the underground battle between Talon and St. George.

A reckoning is brewing and the secrets hidden by both sides are shocking and deadly. Soon Ember must decide: Should she retreat to fight another day…or start an all-out war?

Book Links: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters | Goodreads | National Book Store

Personal Thoughts:

Rogue is a thrilling, action-packed and un-putable-down read that waste no time in shoving readers to the danger as Ember and Riley make their move rescuing Garret from one of St. George chapter house where he is being held as a prisoner waiting for execution. From then on every steps is for survival as villains are coming from different sides.

Told in different points of view, we get to read not just Ember voice/thoughts but also Garret, Riley/Cobalt, and Dante which all provides more dynamics to the story as it opens more story-lines from these characters’ lives and backgrounds. These characters’ voices are all uniques which makes the narration easy to read. It never feel cluttered or confusing as it is easy for me to distinguish who’s talking even not checking the the narrator’s name on each chapters.

Julie Kagawa developed each of her characters very well. In this installment, she weaved each of her characters with intriguing background, purpose, and depth. Ember a dragonnell who can shift to human is still determined just like she is in the first book, Talon. But gone is the girl who is also stubbornly curious and hard-headed. Ember on the run is more cooperative, a team player who listen to orders but still questioning authority. She is a fierce fighter who take into action for what she believes is right, and care for others.

As a hatchling, Ember’s balancing her dragon and human side is more evident in this installment, though mostly concentrated in love affairs. Her dragon selves is drawn into Riley while her human selves is into Garret. She still clueless to both worlds but not as much as she is in the first book.

Garret triggered most of the feels for me. His struggles and confusions are very believable. After allowing Ember to escape in the first installment he is now a traitor to the Order of St. George.  He is on the run together with Ember, Riley, and Wes fighting for survival as they are hunted both by the Orders and Talon. As part of the Orders he is taught to hate dragons, trained to kill them without question but after knowing Ember he gradually realized that not all dragons are bad. They have emotions and feelings too not just mindless creatures who wants to dominate the human world. With those realizations, his beliefs shattered and his life changed which makes everything more questionable and confusing for him.

“My existance until now had been a habit and structure and routine – the life of a soldier—and I welcomed that order, knowing exactly who I was. Left to my own devices, I felt I was wandering aimlessly, waiting for something to happen.”

As for Riley, well honestly I didn’t like him much in Talon but in here he just stole the show from Ember, which is expected given the title of the book. Not only he has own chapters where his back story and previous life as Cobalt is told but he also took charge of the plot. He isn’t perfect but he is loyal, brave and devoted to cause, even sometime’s Ember is stealing him away from it. I like him in this installment, which is a big step from what I’ve read of him from the first book, Talon. Though liking him doesn’t mean I want him for Ember. He maybe the best and logical choice since they are both dragons but I still think they are not for each other.

I prefer Garret for Ember. That’s why I feel a little sad in the ending. But knowing that there are more books coming I still have hopes for him. This is just the second installment and I think Julie Kagawa is storing a lot more for the other books of this series. There are still lots of unanswered questions, so many plot lines need to delve into, more secrets to reveal, and characters to develop and justify. There so much promise in this installment which I believe if handle very well will make this dragon story soar high.

Overall, Rogue is a perfect follow up to Talon. Julie Kagawa push the story to soar by adding more intrigues in the story. The stakes are higher, tasks are more complicated, and villains are coming from different sides. Ember, Garret and Riley’s adventure and the political intrigue around them are worth all the hours of lost sleep. And even after reading I can’t help but stay awake because of so many questions left unanswered. I’m really excited to see where this series is heading. Looking forward for the next installment though my patience will be tested since I just found out that it will be released two years from now.

* Update:

The third installment of this series, Soldier will be out next year, 2016. Author Julie Kagawa just informed me via twitter. Apparently the 2017 released date from goodreads is a typo error. That means just one year of waiting for us readers. I’m excited as early as now. The title alone shouts Garret!!!

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* This review is based on a copy I received courtesy of the publisher, Mira Ink in exchange for an honest opinion.

A New Darkness (The Starblade Chronicles #1) by Joseph Delaney

 

“It’s been almost too quiet . . . it feels as if the dark is gathering its strength.”

A chilling new trilogy from the author of the internationally bestselling The Last Apprentice series! Tom Ward is an apprentice no longer—now he is a fully fledged spook battling boggarts, witches, and other creatures of the dark. This three-book arc will introduce brand-new readers to Joseph Delaney’s haunting world, and delight longtime fans.

Tom Ward is the spook, the one person who can defend the county from ghosts, ghasts, boggarts, witches, and other bloodthirsty creatures of the dark. But he’s only seventeen, and his apprenticeship was cut short when his master died in battle. No one trusts Tom’s skill, not till he’s proven himself. And a fifteen-year-old girl named Jenny knows more about the three mysterious deaths in the county than Tom does. She is a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and she wants to be Tom’s first apprentice—even though a female spook is unheard of. Together, Tom and Jenny will uncover the grave danger heading straight toward the county, and they’ll team up with a witch assassin to confront it.

A New Darkness begins a three-book series that will introduce new readers to Joseph Delaney’s deliciously scary imagination and delight his longtime fans. A New Darkness is perfect for every reader who loves thrills, chills, action, and adventure-no prior knowledge of the Last Apprentice series necessary!

The Last Apprentice series, the first internationally bestselling series about Tom Ward, is soon to be a major motion picture, Seventh Son, starring Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Olivia Williams, Antje Traue, Djimon Hounsou, and Julianne Moore as Mother Malkin.

Book Links: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads | National Book Store | Publisher

Personal Thoughts:

A New Darkness is the first book of the planned trilogy in The Starblade Chonicles by Joseph Delaney. As of I know, this new trilogy is set in the same world of his previous series, The Last Apprentice – a series consists of thirteen novels which I haven’t got the chance to read yet. But in-spite of not knowing anything about the said series, A New Darkness is still interesting enough to get me hooked in this world of spooks, monster, ghost, witches and other creatures.

Tom Ward is the Chippendale new spook after his apprenticeship was cut short when his master died. He is the seventh son of a seventh son which is a major requirement for being a spook, as they has the ability to see ghost. As a spook his job is to fight boggarts, ghosts, ghasts, witches and other troublesome creatures. As a new spook and as young as he is people don’t have much faith in his ability. They trust him with small problems but when young girls started dying mysteriously, Tom suddenly needs to prove himself as the new spook. Problem is, he has no clue of who is murdering the girls and why.

Then he meets Jenny, claiming to be the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. She also claim to know who is killing the girls and can show it to him for a condition to finally accept her as his apprentice. Tom is reluctant to have a girl as an apprentice but finally agree since he needs all the help he can get to save girls from dying. Together with the help of an assassin witch, they have to solve the mystery of the dead girls and fight against a powerful evil.

As a new reader of Joseph Delaney works, I find his writing simple yet flowing. At first I thought it is choppy but after few paragraphs I get to enjoy his style. The pacing is well-controlled and the world building though not fully detailed is still easy to grasp. Though of course, followers of The Last Apprentice series where this book is based will be more acquainted to the world of spooks than new comers like me.

Tom Ward is an interesting character. For a young boy he carry a mature personality, honed by his experience from being a spook’s apprentice to being the new spook. He is believable as a young spook and a responsible master to his apprentice, Jenny. The way he regards Jenny and her training is very considerate and mature. The fact that he take a girl as his apprentice is risky enough, but he still accept and train Jenny with his best of abilities.

As for Jenny, she actually started as a nice character but as the story progress I can’t help but get annoyed with her from time to time. I am not a fun of whiny character. And for someone who so eager to be a spook’s apprentice I don’t understand how she questioned his master like she doesn’t believe in his skills.

The ending is a major cliffhanger. As in gigantic cliffhanger, so if you don’t like those kinds of endings be warned picking this one as you may hate the author for leaving the story so abrupt. As for me, I’m looking forward reading the next installment. After the shocking twist I won’t settle not knowing what’s next to Tom Ward. I cannot accept that kind of ending for him.

With suspense, mystery, interesting and compelling characters, A New Darkness is a quick, well-paced enjoyable read. Followers of Joseph Delaney’s The Last Apprentice series will surely like this first installment of the spin-off tale of spooks. I will definitely check out The Last Apprentice series before the first movie comes out early next year.

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* This review is based on an advance readers copy I received courtesy of the publisher,  HarperCollins International in exchange of honest opinion.