REVIEW || ICE MASSACRE

Title: Ice Massacre (#1)
Author: Tiana Warner
Genre: fantasy
Summary:
A mermaid’s supernatural beauty serves one purpose: to lure a sailor to his death.
The Massacre is supposed to bring peace to Eriana Kwai. Every year, the island sends its warriors to battle these hostile sea demons. Every year, the warriors fail to return. Desperate for survival, the island must decide on a new strategy. Now, the fate of Eriana Kwai lies in the hands of twenty battle-trained girls and their resistance to a mermaid’s allure.
Eighteen-year-old Meela has already lost her brother to the Massacre, and she has lived with a secret that’s haunted her since childhood. For any hope of survival, she must overcome the demons of her past and become a ruthless mermaid killer.
For the first time, Eriana Kwai’s Massacre warriors are female, and Meela must fight for her people’s freedom on the Pacific Ocean’s deadliest battleground.

Plot:
The plot of Ice Massacre seems a straightforward one to understand. In this world that appears based off on our own, set in a place that has many similarities to Hawaii, mermaids are a known creature to exist. Not only that, but mermaids are also infamous murdering people that attack ships and drag men down to eat them. Every year, the island of Eriana Kwai sends a ship to go to the Massacre where the soldiers on the ship try to kill as many mermaids as they can.
This time, they send a ship of young women as every time men are sent out they are pulled into the mermaid's lure and killed. One of those women is Meela, our main character, who has her own history with the mermaids.
Though it is a simple story to follow and understand, it took certain turns that I didn't expect to happen. It was thrilling to read, pacing action with more quiet moments quite well. It's a premise that isn't too overcomplicated, and it works for Ice Massacre very well.

Characters:
Meela is our main character, a young woman who has - as we find out in the book - history with the mermaids. She has never been one for killing and hurting, yet she becomes one of the warriors to go along on the Massacre. Meela is quite the opposite of most of her kin, who are all more than willing to kill mermaids, and though we are given a reason for it, I feel like it was underplayed in the community. Personally, I think the reaction of the people around her should've been stronger, as it seemed to be somewhat common knowledge Meela wasn't much of a killer.

Of course, there were other characters, most importantly Lysi. Lysi is a mermaid and has been Meela's friend for a long time despite the existing hatred between their two species. She plays a vital role in the story, but I can't say much about her for fear of giving away too much.

Besides that, there are Meela's crew members, but honestly, a lot of them were generic and given a few traits but not really fleshed out much. It's an issue I get, a writer has to choose who to focus on as a character and who to leave a little less developed, but there was one girl Dani who just felt like the generic bully. So though I understand the choices that were made, I wish there would've been a little more in them.

Things I liked:

• its pacing
• strong women being sent to fight because the men can't (it was just really well thought out and made a lot of sense)
• its diversity in people of colour but also other things as well
• the story itself
• Meela and Lysi's characters

Things I didn’t like:

• the side characters
• the ending felt a little too weak and deus-ex-machina (which means that suddenly there is a solution for the conflict that wipes all else away and leaves you feeling a little anti-climatic)

Who I’d recommend it to:
anyone who loves stories with mermaids or fantasy stories or is looking for more stories with diversity and strong female characters.

Rating:

REVIEW | ALEX IN WONDERLAND

Title: Alex in Wonderland
Author: Simon James Green
Genre: Contemporary, young adult
Summary:
In the town of Newsands, painfully shy Alex is abandoned by his two best friends for the summer. But he unexpectedly lands a part-time job at Wonderland, a run-down amusement arcade on the seafront, where he gets to know the other teen misfits who work there. Alex starts to come out of his shell, and even starts to develop feelings for co-worker Ben... who, as Alex's bad luck would have it, has a girlfriend.
Then as debtors close in on Wonderland and mysterious, threatening notes start to appear, Alex and his new friends take it on themselves to save their declining employer. But, like everything in Wonderland, nothing is quite what it seems...

Plot:

The story of Alex in Wonderland is quite a simple one, which works for a book that's mostly meant as a quick and sweet summer read. Alex is a shy kid who lives with his father and his father's not-so-nice girlfriend, Kendra. During the summer, after a small altercation in the amusement arcade Wonderland, Alex scores a job there.

As he navigates his feelings towards Ben and gains friends in Efia and Maggie, someone starts to threaten the Wonderland and the new home that Alex has found.

Despite the simplicity of the plot, I hadn't guessed the culprit until the very end of the book when it's finally semi-revealed and it makes a lot of sense and it was definitely a moment where I ended up smiling at the revelation of it.

Other than that, there isn't much to say about the plot of this book.

Characters:

Alex, as our main character, works very well. He's an awkward and shy boy who will tug on readers' heartstrings. However, I couldn't help but feel that at points he was just like Simon Spier or other "awkward, shy gay narrators" that we see in LGBT books. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, it's relatable for many readers, but it also doesn't bring much new to the table. He was a sweet person, you laughed with him and felt for him as you read along. And for a cute summer read, that's fine. It also shows that boys are allowed to be awkward, are allowed to be shy. I just wish he felt a little more like his own character.

Now, there was one character-point that I had a frustration with. I won't go into major details as it's a "spoiler" for the story, but it's an issue I had with Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda as well.

I dislike the miscommunication or misunderstanding leads to a falling out with friends plot-thread. I understand that this can be realistic, but in Alex in Wonderland it was resolved so quickly it felt more like it was a plot-line that needed to be checked off on the To-Do list rather than it serving the story.

The same, partially, went for Kendra's character. There's nothing wrong with using tropes or clichés and I love myself an evil stepmother/girlfriend, but I never felt like there was a warranted or explained reason for Kendra to be the way she is. In the end, I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by the turn she took. And sometimes we don't get an answer to why people are the way they are. However, it felt like it was serving that idea of evil girlfriend too much at times.

Things I like:

• The ending aka the twist of who-done-it
• The characters, despite my issues, were funny and relatable and well written
• The romance was well done and wasn't always the center of the story

Things I don't like:

• The falling out moment between friends
• Kendra's character
• I wish the ending had more of a resolution

Who I'd recommend it to:

If you like Becky Albertalli's books, you will like Alex in Wonderland. If you're looking for a cute, LGBT summer read, you'll like this book as well.


Rating:

REVIEW || RUNEBINDER

Title: Runebinder (#1)
Author: Alex R. Kahler
Genre: young adult, high fantasy
Summary:
Magic is risen.When magic returned to the world, it could have saved humanity, but greed and thirst for power caused mankind's downfall instead. Now once-human monsters called Howls prowl abandoned streets, their hunger guided by corrupt necromancers and the all-powerful Kin. Only Hunters have the power to fight back in the unending war, using the same magic that ended civilization in the first place.
But they are losing.
Tenn is a Hunter, resigned to fight even though hope is nearly lost. When he is singled out by a seductive Kin named Tomás and the enigmatic Hunter Jarrett, Tenn realizes he's become a pawn in a bigger game. One that could turn the tides of war. But if his mutinous magic and wayward heart get in the way, his power might not be used in favor of mankind.
If Tenn fails to play his part, it could cost him his friends, his life…and the entire world.

Plot:
The story for Runebinder had me a bit confused because there are so many questions that are left unanswered even at the end of the book. These, I hope, will be answered in a sequel but as it is; it was a bit weird to have some of these questions left entirely or somewhat open.
The rest of it is, in a way, a Chosen One story. Tenn is a magic-user who opens to Water and Earth. Magic users control their powers, their powers don't control them, but Water has been controlling Tenn at points which shouldn't be possible. Helped out by three people (Dreya, Devon & Jarrett) he has to get to safety. On the other side, there is Tomás; an incubus, who wants something from Tenn and will try to get it.

Characters:
Something about Runebinder's characters struck me. Tomás, immediately, became my favourite along with Devon and Dreya. The moment Tomás showed up, I leaned back in my seat thinking come and bring it. Every interaction he had with Tenn was so well-written, full of tension (if you catch my drift) and I felt as if the author really enjoyed writing this character.

Tenn sometimes came across as a little annoying. I can't quite put my finger on it, because I get that he has no control of his Sphere and that everything is just coming over him, but he came across as whiny at times.

The other character that I didn't entirely like was Jarrett, and I can't really say much about Jarrett because of spoilers, but there was too much left open about Jarrett that I hope the sequel will answer.
The best thing, however, about Runebinder is the diversity in the characters. In an interview, Alex Kahler said:

When I wrote Runebinder, I wanted to code queer—to write a world where the reader is brought to assume everyone is queer unless told differently. The protagonist Tenn never comes out. He never says “I identify as X” in order to make the friends or save the world or get the guy.

Though I felt like it could've been explored even better, there was so much in this book that is taking steps towards more diversity in fantasy novels.

Things I like:

• the diversity
• the magic and how it worked
• Tomás was absolutely amazing, I loved him as a character

Things I don't like:

• the world-building was a bit confusing (It took me a long time to realise it was set in a version of our world)
• the romance between Tenn and one of the other characters felt a bit too soon
• at times I didn't really like Tenn's character

Who I'd recommend it to:
Anyone who is looking for diverse books, especially in the fantasy genre, you should try this book out.

Rating: