The Gathering Storm (The Katerina Trilogy, Vol.I)
Blame it on cutting my teeth on LKH, but I love a good necromancer story. The Gathering Storm was a brilliant story about Russian royalty in 1888 with a paranormal flare added in. The protagonist, Katerina, is a Russian princess that suffers from the dark curse of being a necromancer in a society riddled with various paranormal factions mixed into the royal lines. Throughout the story we get to experience the shame Katerina feels concerning her abilities, the desire to keep them hidden, and then the choice to use them for the good of her family and country. There were a few confusing parts in the book with different background characters, but overall the writing was well done and had a decidedly Jane Austen flare to it that I adored. A 4 out 5 star read that has continued to stick with me days after finishing it.
A FIVE STAR READ! One of the best dystopian YA's I have the pleasure of reading. Beautiful in its simplicity, enthralling in its intimacy, and heart wrenching in its honesty. I devoured this book from cover to cover in one sitting. An absolutely fantastic book.
On a funny side note, I read this while I currently have the flu. Wrong time to read a book about a whole community being wiped out by a contagion.
Last year I read a book called Isle of Night by Veronica Wolff, it completely took me by surprise. The synopsis sounded like a lame mix of Survivor: Vampire Island Edition meets Hunger Games. It turns out that it's not a lame mix at all, and in fact it was rather freaking amazing. Total 5 star read.
Recently the sequel came out and to be honest I was worried it wouldn't be able to hold up to such a strong series starter. Those worries were completely misguided. Vampire's Kiss is delightfully delicious mix of everything I love in a YA book. The vampires are more scary then sexy (most times), the classmates are cut throat to the point of torturing and murdering each other for sport, and the friendships are so few and far between that you feel genuine in their appearance but apprehensive towards their futures. Add a dash of romance and teenage hormones, thrown in with a protagonist that is strong, incredibly smart, and slightly damaged with believable flaws and you have a winning YA combo. Another 5 star read for this series.
One of the few YA series that I would actually recommend buying to fans of the genre. Book 3, Blood Fever, is scheduled for release August 7th.
