ARC Review: Beyond the Red + Giveaway!

Title: Beyond the Red
Author: Ava Jae
Rating: 
Genre: Sci-Fi, (Young Adult)
Pages: 360
Published: March 1st, 2016
House: Sky Pony Press
Format: E-book
Source: Edelweiss

Goodreads Synopsis:

Alien queen Kora has a problem as vast as the endless crimson deserts. She’s the first female ruler of her territory in generations, but her people are rioting and call for her violent younger twin brother to take the throne. Despite assassination attempts, a mounting uprising of nomadic human rebels, and pressure to find a mate to help her rule, she’s determined to protect her people from her brother’s would-be tyrannical rule.

Eros is a rebel soldier hated by aliens and human alike for being a half-blood. Yet that doesn’t stop him from defending his people, at least until Kora’s soldiers raze his camp and take him captive. He’s given an ultimatum: be an enslaved bodyguard to Kora, or be executed for his true identity—a secret kept even from him.

When Kora and Eros are framed for the attempted assassination of her betrothed, they flee. Their only chance of survival is to turn themselves into the high court, where revealing Eros’s secret could mean a swift public execution. But when they uncover a violent plot to end the human insurgency, they must find a way to work together to prevent genocide

Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Title: Ocean at the End of the Lane
Author: Neil Gaiman
Rating: 
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, YA/Adult Fiction
Pages: 181
Published by: Harper Collins
First Published: June 18, 2013
Format: Paperback
Source: Personal Perchase

Goodreads Synopsis:

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly’s wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark

My Thoughts:

Neil Gaiman accomplished so much in this 181 stand alone fantasy. A good fantasy standalone is impressive, a good fantasy standalone thats under 200 pages is even more impressive. This isn’t a kingdoms-and-swords kind of fantasy, it falls on the paranormal side of things. It’s hard to determine what age group this was written for; while the story does follow a 7 year old boy, it’s told as a memory of his adult self and there are a couple of scenes thrown in that makes one thing certain: it isn’t one of Gaiman’s middle grade books.

Book Review: Injustice: Gods Among Us (Volume 1)

Title: Injustice: Gods Among Us
Author: Tom Taylor
Illustrations: Jheremy Raapack, Various
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel, Comic
Pages: 192
Published by: DC Comics
First Published: January 15th, 2013
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

Goodreads Synopsis:
A New York Times Bestseller!

From the makers of Mortal Kombat comes the critically acclaimed prequel comic to the smash hit fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us!

Things in the DC Universe have changed after Superman is tricked into destroying the one thing he loves the most. Now unwilling to let crime go unpunished, the heroes of our world must choose if they are with Superman or against him. But not every country will submit to his new world order and neither will Superman’s greatest threat—Batman!

 

Book Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Title: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Rating:  
Genre: Young-Adult, Paranormal,Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 352
Published: 7th June, 2011
Published by: Quirk Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Personal Purchase

Goodreads Synopsis: A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.