Saturday, December 17, 2011

The Mephisto Covenant

The Mephisto Covenant By: Trinity Faegen
Rating:  Really Good
Age Group: 15+
Summary (from Amazon.com):  Sasha is desperate to find out who murdered her father. When getting the answer means pledging her soul to Eryx, she unlocks a secret that puts her in grave danger—she is an Anabo, a daughter of Eve, and Eryx’s biggest threat.

A son of Hell, immortal, and bound to Earth forever, Jax looks for redemption in the Mephisto Covenant—God’s promise he will find peace in the love of an Anabo. After a thousand years, he’s finally found the girl he’s been searching for: Sasha.

With the threat of Eryx always looming, Jax knows he has to keep Sasha safe and win her over.  But can he? Will Sasha love him and give up her mortal life?
My Thoughts:  The plot of this book was really unique.   I loved the way Jax and Sasha’s relationship advanced, and I also enjoyed learning about the Mephisto and the Anabo.  I was on the edge of my seat right from the get go, and the pace was just so to keep me there!  I also liked the characters.  Jax and his brothers struck me as well developed, especially considering that there were so many of them.  I already know which one I want the next in this series to be about.  And Sasha was a fun main character.  Anyway, I also liked that even though this book was very sweet it was also very dark.  Really, a great deal of the story is around people losing their souls and how such lost people are dealt with.  There were parts were I was seriously freaked out!   And the twist at the end got to me.  I don’t want to give it away, but let’s just say that two of my favorite side characters were lost.  But this brings up something that bothered me about this book.  Some details seemed sort of vague.  At some parts I’d be reading and there weren’t many details, then suddenly something was happening and I didn’t understand what was going on.  It only happened a few times, but it took away a bit from the experience.  Also, there were a few parts were Sasha’s reaction just didn’t seem believable.  Again, I can’t really give a good example without giving away the end.  Which is bothersome.  But all in all, I found the main characters pretty well developed and I LOVED the plot (though there were a few slow parts, the story was still very good).  There were just a few things that bothered me, but not enough to keep me from enjoying the story.  I’d certainly recommend this book. 

Friday, December 16, 2011

The Princess Curse

The Princess Curse By:   Merrie Haskell
Rating: Incredibly AWESOME
Age Group: 12+
Summary (from Amazon.com):  Twelve princesses suffer from a puzzling (if silly) curse, and anyone who ends it will win a reward. Reveka, a sharp-witted and irreverent apprentice herbalist, wants that reward. But her investigations lead to deeper mysteries and a daunting choice—will she break the curse at the peril of her own soul?
My Thoughts:  Oh my goodness, this book was so good!  This was a very well written and interesting retelling of the fairytale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”.  I loved the other cultural elements Mrs. Haskell put into this book, including the Romanian and Greek histories.  I’m no expert on history, mind, but I still liked the complexity of the environment.  And the characters!  They were very well rounded, and I particularly liked Reveka.  She was a strong and interesting character, and I like that she wasn’t perfect.  She does kind things very often but it’s not ALWAYS for kindnesses sake.  While it’s nice to have main characters that aren’t tempted to do the bad thing, it’s also nice to see a character seriously consider doing to wrong thing.  There is a part in this book were Reveka knows that she should stay to help solve the curse, but she had been given a lot of money to leave and so she seriously considers the option.  She was a very down to earth and intelligent character, too.  I don’t know, they’re small details that make her character all the more complex and real.  And I very much liked Frumos, and the bits of his story we get to learn.  I also really liked Mihas, for all he was annoying, because he was an interesting character even with his flaws.  And the Princesses.  There are, well, twelve of them so we don’t get to know them all, but we did get a good range of characteristics for most of them.  I really liked that the way they had such different personalities, and I like that not all of them were awful.  Though the one that was awful?  I wanted to smack her, stinking brat. Ehem. And the plot!  I love the way this book is written, and I love the twist the story took.  I particularly like that we don’t hear this story form the Princess’s or the Soldier’s view point as is so often with retellings of this fairytale.  This is a book I would DEFINITLY recommend.  I am so excited for the next book in this series!     
Book Recommendations:  A Tale of Two Castles By: Gail Carson Levine