Bibliophile Support Group

Another throwback review this week! This one was posted originally in July 2009 and is still one of my favorites! Here ya go: Eyes Like Stars in the first book by Lisa Mantchev in the Theatre Illuminata trilogy. Bertie lives on a stage. Her friends are fairies from A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Her crush is Nate, a pirate from The Little Mermaid . And her childhood friend and now frenemie is Ariel, a hunky spirit from The Tempest . That’s right. On the stage Bertie lives on, all those characters from all those plays? They’re alive and bursting with drama. And not just the characters from Shakespeare. Every single play that has ever been written is represented in The Book. The Book that makes all of this possible. The Book that creates the magic. But Bertie isn’t one of these characters; the theatre has taken her in, with a rather murky explanation as to why. It is her home. The only place she knows. However, Bertie isn’t the most gracious of guests. She can’t seem...

Cruel Beauty is a YA retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Rosamund Hodge. Nyx’s birth was the result of a bargain between her father and the evil ruler of their kingdom, the Gentle Lord Ignifex. In order to provide Nyx’s mother with children, the Gentle Lord secured the promise that one of the daughter’s would become his bride. Her father never thought to confirm that his wife would be able to survive the birthing. No one ever does think through their bargain entirely… Since her childhood, Nyx has been being prepared to marry the Gentle Lord – this demon king who caused the death of her own mother. Her family preps her to kill him, to enact the ultimate revenge and save their people from his ongoing bargains and tyranny of curses. So it is that on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx weds the immortal Gentle Lord via a stone proxy in the town church and proceeds to the mysterious castle that no one but the desperate – looking for a deal – ever comes near. Yet Igni...

The Girl at Midnight is a YA urban fantasy by Melissa Grey. When young Echo is discovered living in the library by a feathered being who calls herself the Ala, her life changes forever. Becoming an adopted member of an ancient race called the Avicen living beneath the streets of New York City, she grows up among them and her best friend and boyfriend are both Avicen. Surviving through utilizing her pickpocket skills to sell stolen treasures to the black market, Echo knows that despite the Avicen being the only family she’s ever known – not all of them accept her as one of their own. She is human. However, an opportunity arises to help the Avicen pursue a legend that may end a centuries-old war between the Avicen and a draconic race – finding the firebird. It’s dangerous and quite possibly nothing but a myth. But it’s a chance to prove herself… The Girl at Midnight has a lovely cover. It also presents a vivid race with the feathered, non-human Avicen tha...

The Game of Love and Death is a YA historical novel with a mythological twist by Martha Brockenbrough. Throughout the centuries Love and Death have selected their players for the great Game. And always, always, Death wins… This time new players have been carefully chosen as they lay as infants in 1920. One a white baby boy, Henry Bishop, adopted by a wealthy family with a secured future within their expectations. The other a black baby girl, Flora Saudade, orphaned almost as suddenly as she was born and to be raised by her grandmother. Neither knows of the Game they are now a part of. In 1937, Henry is looking to get a college scholarship during the Great Depression and Flora dreams of soaring the skies like Amelia Earhart while singing in her family’s jazz club at night. Their fateful meeting is the catalyst to a Game like no other. A Game that may take turns that even Love and Death do not foresee… The Game of Love and Death was an elegant, ambitious story told from ...

Shadow Scale is a YA fantasy novel, and the long awaited follow-up to Seraphina , by Rachel Hartman. Though it is said you could read Shadow Scale without having read Seraphina , I strongly believe you will get far more impact from the sequel if you read the books in order. For my part, I actually re-read Seraphina before reading Shadow Scale – and I’m glad I did! To read my review of Seraphina , click here . Consider avoiding the below review for inevitable spoilers of the first book. Final warning! Seraphina’s secret – that she is half-dragon, half-human – is now known to the kingdom of Goredd at large. It’s something she never expected – but has become an advantage now, as the potential victory in the brewing war may lie in her kind. And she can find them. Locating all of the grotesques from her mind garden appeals to Seraphina – she thinks of them as a family, wants to gather everyone together to be happy and free from the shame that has dogged them since birth. Y...

The Hero of Ages is the third novel in the high fantasy Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. This is a highly, highly serialized trilogy – so I strongly recommend you read Mistborn and The Well of Ascension before The Hero of Ages , or even this review of The Hero of Ages . It has been a year since Vin located the legendary Well of Ascension. A year since she made the fateful, selfless decision to free the power that was imprisoned there. A year since she found out that was the wrong choice. Now, earthquakes shake the land, ash pours from the sky heavier than ever and the mists have grown larger, stay longer and are killing people. Vin, Elend and the rest of Kelsier’s crew have overcome the thousand year reign of the Lord Ruler, fought impossible battles and sought freedom for Skaa and Noble alike – but how can they fight this? Shaken and frustrated that the answer they had been seeking at the Well ended up being trickery that only worsened everything – all they can...

The Lightning Thief is the first book in the middlegrade contemporary twist on Greek mythology series Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. Considered a troublemaker, twelve-year-old Percy has been thrown out of more schools than he can count – with his dyslexia and penchant for a temper he finds it difficult to fit in. Even at a school for misfits. Before being kicked out of his latest school, though, he notices some rather odd occurrences. He knows weird things have happened around him before – but having a teacher turn evil, attempt to kill him, dissolve into tiny bits when defeated and then no one remember her being a teacher at his school in the first place is only the latest. And, admittedly, the strangest. Before long, Percy realizes that the mythological monsters and gods of Mount Olympus are not just something to be studied in his textbook – but are real and walking around. Or trying to kill him. Pulled into this stunning revelation, Percy is brought t...

Beautiful Redemption is the fourth and final book in the YA contemporary supernatural Beautiful Creatures / Caster Chronicles series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Of course if you are behind on the series and haven’t read books one through three – you really should not read this review and spoil some huge plot points for yourself! I trust you to make the right decision on moving forward with this perusal of my review of Beautiful Redemption … Ethan Wate spent almost his entire life in the small, sleepy Southern town of Gatlin wishing something would happen – or that he could get out of there. He had a map marking all the different places he wanted to go. Then Lena Duchannes moved to Gatlin – different in more than one way from the ordinary Gatlin resident – and revealed to him that there was a lot more going on his little town than he ever could have imagined – let alone in the world. Knowing about the enigmatic, magic, cursed underside of Gatlin caused a lot more exci...

Dreams of Gods & Monsters is the third and final novel in the YA contemporary fantasy Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor. This is definitely a trilogy that you HAVE to read in order. If you haven’t yet read the acclaimed first novel Daughter of Smoke & Bone or the blockbusting second book Days of Blood & Starlight , click on the titles to read my reviews – and go forth and read both books!!! Then you can read this review of Dreams of Gods & Monsters . Got it? Karou made a choice – after a violent attack – that is both a staggering deception to her people, the chimaera, and also their only hope to end the never-ending revenge that plagues their world. Knowing the truth is not easy – nor is following through with a complicated, layered plot to ally with those long considered enemies in order to stop Jael’s machinations that are turning the human world upside down and putting them in terrible danger. This throws Karou together with Akiva – ...