Today- mini reviews for paranormal YA- The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble, Devilish by Maureen Johnson and The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa.
Title: The Sweet Dead Life
Author: Joy Preble
Published: May 14 2013 by Soho Teen
Source: edelweiss
Review: This is the diary of Jenna Samuels. After feeling sick, Jenna goes to hospital. With her brother. Who crashes the car. He doesn’t survive, instead becoming an A-word (Jenna has issues with the word angel) Jenna finds out that she’s being poisoned and also starts uncovering information about her missing father.
Afterlife stories are really fun. Well, afterlife/mystery stories. You know what I mean. The whole “I was dying” thing in the blurb is a definite draw in.
The Sweet Dead Life is a very quick read. The language is light and simple and easy to get through. I didn’t really enjoy it though-it got on my nerves quite a bit, but it’s good for those not looking for something not too serious.
Jenna was a bit annoying at times, just her way of narrating and all. She is very cheery. I liked Amber a lot, because she’s very different to your stereotypical angel. Casey too. We get a good antagonist. Jenna’s mum added a bit of grim reality.
The plot kept developing throughout, with something happening all the time. you get frequent sumups of what’s happening so it’s easy to keep up with.
Overall: Strength 3 tea to a light, fun afterlife story.
Title: Devilish
Author: Maureen Johnson
Series: N/A
Published: June 2012 by Harpercollins
Source: won from Much Loved Books
Review: Jane and Allison have always been best friends. They’re practically all the other has. So they’re in their senior year, and they’re meant to pair up with a new girl. Jane doesn’t get anyone, but after a small fuss, Allison gets Lanalee. And then Allison really changes. No transformation should be this sudden. Jane does some investigation. And discovers that Allison has done a deal with a devil.
I was looking forwards to this- Maureen Johnson plus devils. It’s definitely an original and amusing take on such an old topic of selling your soul to the devil.
Jane is quite cool. She does so much for Allison, which is nice. She’s still getting over the breakup with Elton. She’s very funny, and a great narrator. Allison is a bit annoying in that she doesn’t do that much on her own. Lanalee is a really great version of a devil, tied up in bureaucracy and sassing her way through most conversations. Owen was really sweet and the teachers at Jane’s school, once we got to know them for real, were pretty awesome.
Devilish is a really quick read. It’s well paced, and things happen quickly. the friendly narration works well and speeds it up further.
I would have liked to know the characters and their relationships a bit more before Lanalee showed up.
It’s mainly for younger people, but there are some unexpectedly violent scenes.
Overall: Strength 3 to a relatively light take on Faustian contracts.
Title: The Eternity Cure
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: The Blood of Eden #2
Source: publisher
Review: After leaving Eden, Allison is looking for her maker, Kanin, after sensing he’s in in trouble. Along the way, she meets her blood brother, Jackal, and they go along together. They discover lots of things , like what’s been happening to Kanin, scientific research regarding cures, and that the plague is getting rather bad. Fun!
Character developments were happening really well. Allison is still fighting with herself about being a vampire, and trying to be good about who she drinks from. The first part of The Eternity Cure is mainly Allison travelling on her own, so we get to know her a bit more. Plot picks up when we meet more people. Jackal has changed a bit, and gets more intriguing as we go along. Sarren provides a constant antagonist. Zeke was eternally sweet.
Plot was rather predictable at times. what with the ending of The Immortal Rules, I was guessing that Zeke would show up again. The story developed well, with the whole family blood ties thing going on on one level and then there’s the sciency bit with the plague and they fit together well.
You can easily see the close bonds between Allie, Zeke, Kanin and Jackal, all of different types that change. On the flip side, there’s the breakdown of the bond between Allison and one of her friends from The Immortal Rules, which I found was a really good way of showing how changed they’ve all become since the beginning of the series.
The ending, when it happened, was a shock, but I guessed the twist cliffhanger as the playout of the event for it was happening. It seemed like a little bit of a repeat from somewhere else in the series, but it’ll definitely keep me reading.
On cover related note, thank *&*% that they sorted it out.
On cover related note, thank *&*% that they sorted it out.
Overall: Strength 4 tea to a vampire book with a completely different world and awesome characters.
The Sweet Dead Life definitely seems like a quick and fun read, even though it did grate on your nerves a bit. I'm loving the sound of this plot, though, I love something that flows really well.
ReplyDeleteDevilish sounds equally as fun! Jane sounds like a fabulous character. And what's not to love about Maureen Johnson? ;)
I'm loving the sound of character development in The Eternity Cure. But gah, another cliffhanger?! I seriously can not stand those. =P
Lovely mini-reviews, Nina!! <3
-Aneeqah @ My Not So Real Life
Think this has given me the kick I needed to finally read The Eternity Cure. I've had it on my Kindle for ages and really need to read it.
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