Book Review: Storyworld First by Jill Williamson

I was lucky enough to be on the street team for Jill Williamson's (author of the Blood of Kings trilogy which I adore) new book about worldbuilding.


Oh. My.

This book is amazing.

It's full of interesting worldbuilding information and tips and things to consider about creating things like:

• Maps
• Creatures
• Techology
• Languages
• Magic
• Government
• And a whole bunch of other cool stuff. 

I loved it. Jill talks about so many different topics and areas to play with, but without going into agonizing detail or touching too lightly. I'm definitely going to come back to it once I start worldbuilding again. (And her repeated messages of "only uses as much as you need" and "don't succumb to worldbuilder's disease" will probably come in handy when I do.)

A quick warning: This book is so full of information that it's easy to get overwhelmed. What I did was read the whole thing  and let myself get exposed to the ideas without worrying about remembering any of it. Sure, some of it stuck, but I wasn't worried about remembering every single detail or tip she mentioned. When I'm ready to worldbuild religions or to create a map, I'll go back and reread those sections. In the mean time, whatever stayed in my memory from the first read through is floating around in the back of my head subtly influencing how I think about things.

Five out of five stars for sure.

Other fun stuff:
Here's a link to Jill's page of free printables and extras from the book: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/storyworld-first-free-printable-worksheets
Here's the Storyworld First page on Jill's website: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/storyworld-first-creating-a-unique-fantasy-world-for-your-novel/
And hers' the Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22928249-storyworld-first

That's all for this post. I noticed that I haven't posted here in more than a month. Oops. I shall remedy this. I have half a dozen Fun with Notes posts in draft form as well as a new short story I want to post. So, you'll be seeing those.

And a lovely day/night/whatever to you.

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 http://www.jillwilliamson.com/storyworld-first-creating-a-unique-fantasy-world-for-your-novel/ - See more at: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/influencer-page-for-storyworld-first/#sthash.8QWzoaIg.dpuf

 http://www.jillwilliamson.com/storyworld-first-creating-a-unique-fantasy-world-for-your-novel/ - See more at: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/influencer-page-for-storyworld-first/#sthash.8QWzoaIg.dpuf

Some Thoughts on (Somewhat) Deceptive Back Cover Blurbs

This week I finished reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It was fun and funny with some cool alternate-reality worldbuilding and I enjoyed it. However, the story I read was not the one the back cover blurb led me to expect.  Here's the blurb:

"Welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem, militant Baconians heckle performances of Hamlet, and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is buisiness as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection, until someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature. When Jane Eyre is plucked from the pates of Bronte's novel, Thursday must track down the villain and enter a novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide."

Here's what I deduced about the story from this blurb:
- The worldbuilding is going to be lots of fun
- Jane's kidnapping is going to be the inciting incident
- We won't know who the villain is until the end
- Thursday is going to enter the novel fairly early in the story

Only one of my deductions was correct: The worldbuilding was really fun. Jane did not get kidnapped until around page 300, we knew who the villain was in the first five chapters, and Thursday didn't enter the novel until near the end (the novel is where the final battle took place.)


Now, everything the blurb talked about did happen. It wasn't that the information it presented was wrong, but the way in which it was presented led me to believe certain things about the story that weren't true. This took a little of the fun out of reading, because I was expecting things that weren't happening and weren't happening and weren't happening. As a result, the beginning felt a little slow. I kept waiting for the mystery to start, and it was taking it's sweet time. Who cares about Thursday's nutty inventing uncle? Why does it matter that she meets the werewolf-catching guy? Do I really need to hear more about that war she fought in? I thought I'd been promised Jane's kidnapping, so where was it?

As it turned out, the nutty uncle and the werewolf catcher and the war were all important pieces of groundwork that played huge parts in the climax (in fact, there wouldn't have been a story without one of the uncle's inventions,) but because I expected something different, they felt like they slowed the story down.

Here's what I think would have been a slightly better blurb (may contain mild spoilers, as it includes information not presented in the actual blurb, and I'm a not the best blurb writer):

"First the original manuscript of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit is stolen. All clues point to one man, Acheron Hades, a villain of the basest sort. Who is also invincible. After a showdown in which Hades supposedly died, Thursday's uncle and aunt are kidnapped, along with her uncle's Prose Portal, a device that softens the line between fiction and reality, allowing people from either side to cross to the other. Again, all evidence points to Hades. The official record may be that he died, but Thursday is sure he's alive, and that he has both the Chuzzlewit manuscript and her uncle's machine. If the Prose Portal is used on an original manuscript, the user could change the story forever. He could kill characters, and they would simply disappear, never to be read about ever again. Thursday and the other literature detectives must stop Hades before he does something to Chuzzlewit, or any other original manuscript he can get his hands on."

That isn't a great blurb by any means, but it is (in my opinion) truer to the story. We know who the villain is, so it looks like a "How're we gonna stop him?" as opposed to a "Whodunnit?", we know that Thursday's uncle's machine is involved in the story, and that the villain now has some serious power over what happens in Martin Chuzzlewit, or whatever other original manuscripts he can get his hands on.  And it doesn't mention Jane Eyre, who doesn't really make an appearance until the end anyway (though there is foreshadowing from the very beginning).

Now, that could be considered a good thing, in that it adds some surprise to the end of the story (Oh, no! Hades has Jane Eyre! What ever will Thursday do?!), however, from a marketing standpoint, it could be considered a weakness. Jane Eyre is far more loved that Martin Chuzzlewit. Readers, I should think, are more likely to pick up a book in which Jane Eyre is harmed than Martin Chuzzlewit. Chances are most people have never even heard of Martin Chuzzlewit, so who cares about him? Mentioning Jane instead of Martin raises the stakes by putting the more beloved book in danger.

From that standpoint, I can see why they'd mention Jane instead of Martin. But the cost of that is annoyed readers waiting and waiting for Jane's kidnapping. And possibly putting the book down when that doesn't happen soon enough. (At one point I read the first chapter of Brandon Sanderson's The Rithmatist because The Eyre Affair was too slow.) I'm no professional nor do I have any experience in marketing, but potentially annoying the reader seems like a kinda steep cost to me.

The Eyre Affair was still a really fun book, and I might pick up the sequel, but I do think there's a lesson to be learned from it in how readers interpret back cover blurbs: Don't make the book look like something it isn't, and by talking about the climax instead of the inciting incident, you risk annoying the reader. Readers are impatient and want to be thinking "What happens next?" not "When is XYZ going to happen?"

What do you think? Have you ever been annoyed by a deceptive back cover? What were your thoughts? 

Review: Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner

Yeah, not The World Above by Cameron Dokey that my side bar says I'm reading. But last weekend it became very apparent that I would not finish it in time, so I read the book my sister had just finished and loved (and which was much shorter and that I could read in a day) Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner.

Guys.

It. Is.

....

Well, strange.

And really, really fun. 

Allow me to present the Amazon description:

"13 things you will find in the first Emily the Strange novel:

1. Mystery
2. A beautiful golem
3. Souped-up slingshots
4. Four black cats
5. Amnesia
6. Calamity Poker
7. Angry ponies
8. A shady truant officer
9. Top-13 lists
10. A sandstorm generator
11. Doppelgängers
12. A secret mission
13. Earwigs"

Yeah, not very informative. Yet very fitting for the story, which is about a girl who wakes up with amnesia in a little town in the middle of the desert called Blackrock, and her quest to recover her memories. The novel is presented as her notebook (complete with illustrations), so you get to learn about her as she learns about herself. And you get to read all her hilarious, snarky comments about everything.

Emily herself is an awesome character. Come to think of it, she's the classic anti-social genius homeschooler. And she's like that because she's tried to fit in with the rest of the world, finds it boring, and
prefers to spend time in her lab experimenting with explosives and time travel and snuggling her cats.

She doesn't remember that 'til the end of this book, but my sister's been reading the rest of the series and I've been hearing about it all week. 

So, in short, Emily's awesomeness + the 13 things listed above = great read.  And it was really clean too, which gives it lots of bonus points.

I believe that is all I have to say, chaps. A good day/night/morning/afternoon/other to you.

Review: The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Amazon description:

"Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now that her little brother is gone too, Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall."

Of all the books I've read this year, The Archived has been one of my favorites. It's got interesting characters, mystery, and a page turning plot. 

There were, however, a few things that bothered me.  The swearing, for example. There wasn't a lot, and it was no worse than your average PG-13 movie, but it was there. And there were a couple of kissing scenes that I didn't like, and a "take off your shirt so I can look at your injuries" scene, but that was all that happened.  So, I'd recommend it to older teens, maybe 16+.  

There were also a few flashbacks that showed up right in the middle of chapters, and though they were important to the story, they were kind of annoying.

Also, it was in present tense, and it confused my past tense-using Inner Narrator. You know, that part of your brain that adds comments/metaphors/narration to your everyday life that sound like they're from a story? Suddenly it started saying things in different tense! Like, "I fail at trying to come up with a decent example" instead of "I failed at trying to come up with a decent example".  Totally bizarre. Though it was interesting to see how the different tenses acted. And they did act differently.

 Annoying things aside, it was really a good read.  And I did not see the ending coming. It was great.
I do love a good mystery.  Also, the almost-a-romantic-interest was great. Definitely my favorite character.

Before I sign off, I wanted to let you know that By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson and Me, Just Different by Stephanie Morill are free on Amazon today.  By Darkness Hid is great, and though I haven't read Me, Just Different, I do read the teen writer's blog run by Stephanie (Go Teen Writers), and she's awesome. 

Review: Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey

Amazon description:

"Etienne de Brabant is brokenhearted. His wife has died in childbirth, leaving him alone with an infant daughter he cannot bear to name. But before he abandons her for king and court, he brings a second child to be raised alongside her, a boy whose identity he does not reveal.
The girl, La Cendrillon, and the boy, Raoul, pass sixteen years in the servants' care until one day a very fine lady arrives with her two daughters. The lady has married La Cendrillon's father, and her arrival changes their lives.
When an invitation to a great ball reaches the family, La Cendrillon's new stepmother will make a decision with far-reaching effects. Her choice will lead La Cendrillon and Raoul toward their destiny -- a choice that will challenge their understanding of family, test their loyalty and courage, and, ultimately, teach them who they are."

Before Midnight (from the Once Upon a Time is Timeless series) was a delightful retelling of Cinderella. It changed several things about the story, including who the antagonist was (a bit), and added some really fun political intrigue.

It did not, however, remove all the love at first sight. There were six couples in the story, and four of them fell in love at first sight. The other two were arranged marriages and the parties hated each other.  That was a bit annoying. 

But, all in all, I enjoyed it. I give it four out of five stars. 

Fair warning, I'll be reading a lot of retold fairytales over the next few weeks.  I have a bookshelf full of books I bought at our library book sale that I haven't read yet, and several of them are in the Once Upon a Time is Timeless retold fairytales series. The shelf technically belongs to my sister, and she's informed me that she's going to start evicting books one by one, and the only way I'll be able to save them is to read them.  The next one she's chosen is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, in which Jack's sister has to save him. Should be fun. 

Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon

Amazon description:

"Come and mend your broken hearts here.

Just when Azalea should feel that everything is before her—beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing—it’s taken away. All of it. And Azalea is trapped. The Keeper understands. He’s trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. So he extends an invitation.
Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest, but there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late."

I finished this book sometime after midnight one morning last week..  I loved it.  It is a lovely retelling of the fairytale The Twelve Dancing Princesses, with magic and romance and secrets, a good plot and delightfully flawed characters.  It was charming with some deliciously dark and creepy places.

So, I give it 5 out of five stars.

If you're looking for a light, but fun read, I'd definitely recommend Entwined.

I think that's all.  Live long and prosper.  

Review: By These Ten Bones by Clare B. Dunkle

Amazon description: 
"There’s hidden places all over this land-old, old places. Places with a chain for them to chain up the wolf when it’s time.

A mysterious young man has come to a small Highland town. His talent for wood carving soon wins the admiration of the weaver’s daughter, Maddie. Fascinated by the silent carver, she sets out to gain his trust, only to find herself drawn into a terrifying secret that threatens everything she loves.
     There is an evil presence in the carver’s life that cannot be controlled, and Maddie watches her town fall under a shadow. One by one, people begin to die. Caught in the middle, Maddie must decide what matters most to her-and what price she is willing to pay to keep it."  

By These Ten Bones is a quietish little story about, as the description alludes to, a werewolf.  

 

I give it three and a half stars. 

 

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't my favorite.  I liked Maddie and the other characters, and the plot was pretty good.  There was some good conflict between and within the characters, and the end was good and suspenseful.

 

Also, the description says "One by one, people begin to die", but only one (at least that I can remember) person in the village gets killed by the beast. Another character dies, but he gets murdered by another one of the characters after the other character is killed by the beast.  There were some other characters that died, but they were dead before the story even began, and you heard about their deaths from other characters.

 

I think that's all I've got to say. See ya next time.  

TCWT! February Blog Chain: A Post in which I Review a Self-Published Story

So, I'm participating in the Teens Can Write, Too! February blog chain. This month's topic is:
“Choose one self-published book to read, then briefly review it or talk about your experiences reading it.”

I read Sew, it's a Quest by Kendra E. Ardnek, who is another teen writer, and homeschooled too! I'm pretty sure I downloaded Sew, it's a Quest because it was on sale for free for a day on Amazon. Anyway, I'd forgotten I'd downloaded it and then I found it when I was trying to download another ebook, so I decided to read it for this, since it was self-published.  I am very pleased I did, because I loved it. 

Sew, it's a Quest is a fairytale novella targeted at preteen girls and younger children.  So it's short, and isn't written with sparkling prose, but it's cute.  The main plot centers around Prince Robert and Princess Robin, twin royals whose gifts were switched at birth, and their quest to right their gifts before their 18th birthday, which is only 4 months away.  There are, however, some subplots that do in places take over.

The story itself was pretty good, not fabulous, but typical for a fairytale.  A good portion of the side characters are versions of characters from other fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty, which made for a fun read.

The best part overall was the humor.  There's one character who was gifted with excellent math skills, but whose tongue does not know the difference between "castle" and "tassel." It was hilarious.

....I can't really think of anything else to say.  I think there were a few typos, and the characters could be flat at times, but in case I hadn't made it obvious enough, I loved it anyway. I give it four point five out of five stars. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the blog chain!

February 5^th – http://the-writing-junkie.blogspot.com/

February 6^th – http://miriamjoywrites.wordpress.com/

February 7^th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/

February 8^th – http://fida-islaih.blogspot.com/

February 9th – http://sarahhudsonscribbles.blogspot.ca/

February 10^th http://avonsbabbles.wordpress.com/

February 11^th http://notebooksisters.blogspot.com/

February 12^th http://mirrormadeofwords.wordpress.com/

February 13^th http://www.lilyjenness.blogspot.com/ -- You are here.

February 14^th http://www.writerbewildered.blogspot.com/

February 15^th http://realteenreader.wordpress.com/

February 16^th http://epistolarygirl.wordpress.com/

February 17^th http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com/

February 18^th http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain)

Review: The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman

Back Cover Blurb:

"Twelve-year-old Alexa Daley is spending another summer in Bridewell with her father. She looks forward to exploring the old lodge where she stays each year, with its cozy library and maze of passages and rooms. She's also eager to finally solve the mystery of what lies beyond the immense walls that were built to keep out and unnamed evil that lurks in the forests and The Dark Hills -- and evil the townspeople are still afraid of.
As Alexa begins to unravel the truth about what lies outside the protective barrier she's lived behind all her life, she discovers a strange and ancient enchantment. Armed with an unexpected new power, Alexa exposes a danger that could destroy everything she holds dear -- and change The Land of Elyon forever." 

The thoughts that came to me whist and after reading:
This was pretty cute. Its target audience is tween girls, and you can tell.  It's by no means riveting or a page turner, but it isn't bad.   The first 100 or so pages are set up, which is kinda slow, but you need it for the end. 
Overall, I give it four stars.

My Auntie S. recommended the series to my sister a few years ago, but Sis didn't get very far,  Then we found the series used at a second-hand book shop for super cheap and bought it. I read this because Sis was in the middle of another book and wanted to know how these were. I told her, but now she is considering not reading them because of something unfortunate that happened to a cat in the story.  Sigh.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to read the rest of the series or not yet. I've got other books higher on my list.  Including the one I'm currently reading, Sew, It's a Quest by Kendra E. Ardnek.  I'm reading it for the Teens Can Write, Too! February blog chain, the topic of which is to pick a self-published book and review it. So, I'll have my post for that up on the thirteenth.  Be sure to check out the rest of the blog chain, too.

Review: Beautiful Creatures

Back cover blurb (well, actually it's the Amazon blurb):
 There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

.....

Beautiful Creatures was recommended to me by my aunt.  I give it four out of five stars.

The biggest issue I had was that it was a romance.  But it was a pretty clean romance, which is always a plus.   I just like "Let's save the world!" plots more than "I love you and our parents will never keep us apart!" plots.  That being said, this was pretty good. I liked the characters, and there's a chance that the story will develop into a "let's save the world!" story in later books. (Though I'm not sure I'll read the rest of the series soon. I have a really big pile of books on my dresser that give me dirty looks every time I bring something home from the library.)  The writing itself was good, and there are some great plot twist.

Currently I'm reading The Dark Hills Divide, book 1 in the Land of Elyon series, by Patrick Carmen.  I'm over 100 pages in, and I still don't know what the plot is, but other than that it's pretty good. And it's short, so the plot is bound to show it's face soon. 

Review: The New Recruit by Jill Williamson

The New Recruit is a Christian teen spy novel. Yes, you read that correctly.

The backcover blurb is:
Forced to choose between military school and a Christian spy organization, skeptic Spencer Garmond signs on with the Bible geeks. But before he even boards the plane for Moscow, Spencer realizes this is no Bible club. 
These guys mean business.
Stumbling into a case involving a gang of homeless boys a chilling tattoo, and the always beatuiful Anya Vseveloda, Spencer struggles to find the faith needed to save the Mission League from enemy infiltration.

On a scale of one to five, I give this one a five.

The plot was fun, the character development was good, and there's this really great cliffhanger at the end that leaves room for more books in the series. In fact, Mrs. Williamson has self-published a sequel novella called Chokepoint (click here to see it on Amazon), all the proceeds of which go to help a family adopt a little girl from Eastern Europe.

Anyway.

I had feared that, since this was a book about a skeptic being converted, it would be super preachy/gushy.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice to hear people talk about their faith, but one can only take so much.  I did not think there was too much of that in the book. And it balanced out with Spencer's snarky voice.  There is one "force the Bible down your throat until you believe" character, but the rest were very low-key, "you'll believe in your own time" folks. 

All in all, I really enjoyed it.  I won my copy in a giveaway at The Life of a Teenage Writer, run by the lovely Katelyn. Mrs. Williamson actually gave the book away herself, and she even signed the book to me! I meant to post a picture of it, but frankly I'm too lazy to do that. 

Currently I'm reading Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, which my Auntie S recommended.  So far it's pretty good. 

Review: Born to Rule: a Camp Princess novel by Kathryn Lasky

Born to Rule is a lower middle grade modernish fantasy about a summer camp for princesses. 

My sister found this one at our library's book sale, and she begged me to read it. She loved it.

I give it 3.5 out of five stars. 

The story centers around three princesses: Alicia, Kristen, and Gundersnap, all, I'd guess, around the age of 12.  The first half to two thirds of the book was about them doing princessy stuff, like catching song birds to train to sing, embroidery, having makeup lessons, etc., and a long set up for a mystery involving a ghost, a tragic romance, a missing tapestry, and some magic at the end.

My thoughts:
The characters were all really shallow, which, considering they were mostly pampered princesses, wasn't surprising. Most of them, however, had funny character quirks that made them (mostly) fun to read about.
For as short a book as it was, the mystery wasn't bad. The pacing at the beginning was a bit slow.

Up next on my reading list is The New Recruit by Jill Williamson (author of the Blood of Kings trilogy), which is about a Christian spy organization. I won my copy in a giveaway at The Life of a Teenage Writer.  And it's signed! To me! Squee!

Series Review for The Blood of Kings Trilogy by Jill Willamson. Also, I Make a Vow.

I, LILY J, ALSO KNOWN AS GWEN C, HEREBY VOW TO READ A NEW BOOK EVERY WEEK UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR, AND THEN TO REVIEW EACH BOOK ON THIS BLOG.  SHOULD I FAIL TO DO SO, I CHARGE THE READERS OF THIS TEXT TO SEE THAT I RECEIVE JUST PUNISHMENT, BE THAT BY DEPRIVATION OF CHOCOLATE, HAVING TO WRITE A SHORT STORY ABOUT ZOMBIES, OR ANOTHER SUCH PUNISHMENT, AS THE READER SEES FIT, WITHIN REASON.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

Okay, now that's over.

I just finished the last book in the Blood of Kings trilogy (or as I call them, the Preposition Darkness Verb books) by Jill Williamson. Oh. My. Gosh. I loved these books.  They get six out of five stars.

Back Cover Blurb for By Darkness Hid (book 1) from Ms. Williamson's website:

Half of Er’Rets is locked beneath an impenetrable shroud. On the side that still sees the sun, two young people struggle to understand the mind-communication abilities thrust upon them. It’s called bloodvoicing. Some say it’s a gift. One of the newly “gifted” wish it had never come.
Achan has been a slave all his life. He is consigned to the kitchens of a lord and forced to swallow a foul potion every day. When an enigmatic knight offers to train Achan for the Kingsguard, he readily accepts. But his new skills with the sword do not prepare him for the battle raging between the voices in his head.
Vrell Sparrow is not who she seems. She masquerades as a boy to avoid capture by the powerful forces that seek to exploit her. But Vrell feels called to help a young squire who recently discovered his bloodvoicing gift, even if doing so requires her to work with those who could destroy her.
While Achan learns to use his new ability, Vrell struggles to shut hers down. All the voices strive to learn Achan and Vrell’s true identities—and a different kind of voice is calling them both.

I won't go too far past that, 'cause there's a really big spoiler at the end of this book that I don't want to reveal.  The two things I will say are that Vrell and Achan wind up going on a quest together, all the while he thinking she's a boy, and that most of the key characters practiced a fantasy form of Christianity, which plays a huge part in the story, especially in Achan's character development. 

These books had it all. Okay, they didn't have dragons, but they had epic battles, deceit, great plot twists, complicated love polygons (yes, I like those), the characters were all delightfully flawed, and there was some good humor. Vrell and Achan's banter back and forth was hilarious.

 Cleanliness wise, these were pretty good. There was no swearing, though there were some insinuations made to "advanced snogging", as one blogger put it. Mentions of men having mistresses, and the like. 

After finishing the last book, instead of feeling that sadness that the story had ended, I felt giddy, 'cause the end was so good. I don't know what that says about the book, but I thought I'd mention it. 

Well, I think that's all I have to say, coherently and without giving out more spoilers anyway. Hopefully I'll be better at reviews by the end of the year.

Next on my reading list is Born To Rule: a Camp Princess novel by Kathryn Lasky.  It's one my sister bought at our library's book sale, and she begged me to read it. So, that's next.  I'll have a review next week.