Firelight by Sophie Jordan (Audio Review)

Firelight
Sophie Jordan
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Release Date: November 29, 2011
Narrator: Therese Plummer

Rating: 4.5 stars

A hidden truth.
Mortal enemies.
Doomed love. 

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.
Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy. 

Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

I waited so long to read this one, and I'm a little sad that I did. I found a book that was absolutely brilliant. I loved Firelight, with it's unique twist on mythology and epic plot.

The world of Firelight was a lot of fun, which made the plot that much more fun. The plot was super intense, especially in the final chapters of the book. There were so many moments when I would be sitting there just holding my breath, thinking oh my gosh, what is going to happen!? I found certain elements to be a bit predictable, but overall it was so much fun to see where the story would go.

The characters were a big split for me. I really liked Katherine and Jacinda. They were both super great characters! I love Will - he really helped bring the story to life. Even though I feel like I shouldn't have liked Xander and Angus, something about them was just hilarious to me. I loved the scenes with them, as the just brought this element to the story.

Tamra and Jacinda's mom both drove me nuts. Tamra was way too immature for me, the way she had to tattle every chance she got, and was like ultra witch number 1. For someone who claimed it was all about Jacinda all the time, it was definitely ALL about her and she made sure of it. Anything that happened, no matter what is was, she would have a fit and say something "You did this. You don't want me to be happy. It's all about you".  Jacinda's mom just making horrible decisions for others saying she has their best interest at heart. I couldn't stand either of them.

I would have liked to know more of the mythology behind the whole story and more about the hunters and the encrose. I'm hoping that's something that will be revealed in book 2. There were so many mentions of Will's eyes and how they kept changing color. After awhile, it almost became a bit comical.

Therese Plummer is a brilliant narrator. I super loved her narration. I definitely would love to pick up another book narrated by her. Something about the way she read Firelight made it feel like the pages flew by at a crazy pace. Sometimes with audios at a really intense part I'll sit there wishing I could make the voice talk faster or something, but that was not the case at all here.

The end of Firelight is a killer! I am so happy I have Vanish already, so I wouldn't have to wait an entire year to continue their story. I am curious to see how some of the predictions I made throughout the book will play out, if I was right or not. I was not too crazy about some of the decisions made at the end of Firelight, so seeing how they play out will be interesting.

This is definitely one I would recommend While I wish some things were fleshed out a bit more and I wasn't too crazy about some of the characters, I still just fell in love with the story and I am very excited to hear more from Jacinda's brilliant world in Vanish.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by AS King (Audio Review)

Please Ignore Vera Dietz
AS King
Publisher: Listening Library
Release Date: April 26, 2011
Narrator: Lynde Houck
Source: Won from Heidi

Rating: 5 stars

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything. 

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?

Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.

I have a confession to make. This is my first A.S. King book. I had always heard her books were good, but something about them always made me think they were not for me. I absolutely and completely LOVED Please Ignore Vera Dietz.

The set up of this book is just brilliant. You have the present, told from Vera's point of view, but also history of Vera's life, words from Ken Dietz (Vera's dad), and also from Charlie (who is dead). I loved it. It wasn't consistently one person or the other, and I never knew what would come up next.

This is by far the best audio I have ever listened to. Lynde Houck and the other people who narrated Ken and Charlie were just brilliant. All the voices were very unique, and it was so easy to differentiate between all the characters. I definitely want to seek out more audios where Lynde Houck is the narrator now!

I loved the story - it was witty and just plain different. It has a serious nature at heart but AS King manages to input all these different types of stories around that. There were absolutely hilarious parts, the heart-wrenching parts, to plain sad moments, and the moments where it is just interesting. I loved hearing the past and understanding why the present is happening from that.

The characters were all really great. I loved how strong of a character Vera was. I did have a bit of a waver in my judgement of her character towards the end, but that quickly resolved itself. James played a more minor role, but I really adored him. The other characters I found to be quite interesting. Ken Dietz was a character I found a hard time connecting with him during the present times, but once I would heard his words from Ken Dietz it made me understand him so much more as a character.

This is a book I will now be shoving in the hands of all. It was brilliant and I loved it. I now need to go pick up AS King's other books, and read them ASAP. If Please Ignore Vera Dietz was any measure as to how great her books are, I will be sure to love the others.

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman (Audio Review)

Eon
Alison Goodman
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Release Date: December 26, 2008
Discs: 12
Source: Borrowed
Narrator: Nancy Wu

Rating: 1.5 stars

Eon has been studying the ancient art of Dragon Magic for four years, hoping he'll be able to apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But he also has a dark secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been living a dangerous lie for the chance to become a Dragon-eye, the human link to an energy dragon's power. It is forbidden for females to practice the Dragon Magic and, if discovered, Eon faces a terrible death. After a dazzling sword ceremony, Eon's affinity with the twelve dragons catapults him into the treacherous world of the Imperial court, where he makes a powerful enemy, Lord Ido. As tension builds and Eon's desperate lie comes to light, readers won't be able to stop turning the pages...

Eon turned out to be a disappointing read for me. I heard high praises for it and it was fantasy, but I just couldn't get past certain aspects of the book. I kept listening, hoping it would get better, as everyone I had heard speak of it had just loved it, but sadly, I was let down.

I really liked the idea of Eon. It was super unique! All the aspects around the dragon lords were super fascinating and I loved learning more about it. The whole idea with the mythology of Eon was really creative, and I just love how many aspects of that panned out.

I do not think I have ever hated a character more than I hated the character of Eon. She was so bothersome. She treated everyone like absolute garbage over and over again. I really wanted to slap her across the face. She used to be nothing and as soon as she gets some power, no one is good enough for her. She was also very dense when it came to a lot of issues and I felt like she just avoided what was right in front of her. I really was just not ok with that, and I couldn't get past her character flaws.

I really liked some of the other characters in the book like Lady Dela and Ryko. They both were awesome. Lord Tyron was another favorite character of mine. Rilla was another really great character. She was the only one who had any compassion, and was just wonderful. Some of the other characters had many similar characteristics to Eon, such as treating others like garbage so I had a really hard time liking them.

Nothing really happened in the book up until like disc 11.5 of 12. The action that happened there was super interesting, but there were some major issues I had with the plot at the ending on the part of Eon herself. It was another prime example of Eon acting like an idiot. The way Alison Goodman tied up the book, as in the final sentences, were interesting and had I not despised Eon and several other characters so much, I definitely would want to read on! It really is quite the cliffhanger.

I really did like the narration. Nancy Wu did a great job. I found myself really brought into the story, and I think that her narration was a big contributor to that!

Overall, this definitely was not the book for me. I am a character person, and I think Eon made number one on my list of characters I really don't like. This being said, I think it's pretty obvious why I didn't like the book. I thought it was a really neat premise, but it was too slow without enough action and had a main character I really didn’t like. While it wasn’t the book for me, here are some people that loved it:

Beyond Books
Good Books and Wine
The Story Siren

Audio Review: The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

The Unwanteds
Lisa McMann
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio
Release Date: September 20, 2011
Unabridged Compact Disk, 7 disks
Narrator: Simon Jones

Rating: 4 stars

Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their deaths

Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be stoic when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. Upon arrival at the destination where he expected to be eliminated, however, Alex discovers a stunning secret--behind the mirage of the "death farm" there is instead a place called Artime.

In Artime, each child is taught to cultivate their creative abilities and learn how to use them magically, weaving spells through paintbrushes and musical instruments. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it's a wondrous transformation.

But it's a rare, unique occurence for twins to be separated between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron's bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artime that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate, magical battle.

The Unwanteds was a really fun book - I quite enjoyed it. I listen to audio books as I walk around campus, to and from class, and whenever I had to stop listening, I just wanted to pick it back up again. I had only read Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann, but after this one, I am quite certain I need to read her Wake series soon!

I really enjoyed the narration of The Unwanteds. Simon Jones had so many different voices for the different characters. My particular favorite was Ms Octavia, I loved that she was southern. I thought the narration just made the book so much more interesting, I felt like I was simply in Artime.

I really liked a lot of the characters, but to me, it felt like there was at least one character driving me a bit crazy for a lot of the book. Lani really bothered me for the first half of the book, I thought she was annoying and simply a nusance. She got much better as the book went on. Ms. Octavia was one of my favorite characters of the book, I just loved her. Megan was another really great character.

The plot was a lot of fun - I loved the whole idea. Artsy, creative kids get the short end of the stick way too often, but taking that short end of the stick to the extremes was just super cool. The world was neat, I loved finding out all the details about Artime. I was always finding out something new about the world or some quirky thing that was allowed there.

The Unwanteds was a great read, it was simply just a ton of fun! With its great world and intriguing premise, The Unwanteds is definitely a book you do not want to miss. I love fantasy, and whenever I find more, it is just lovely.