TTT: All Time Favourite Fantasy Books

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

For this week's TTT we were able to choose our own book genre. Fantasy it is! Here are my all time favourite books that are fantasy related:

1. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

2. Graceling Realm by Kristin Cashore

3. Slumber by Samantha Young

4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

5. Fire Spirits by Samantha Young

6. The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra R. Clarke

7. Sora's Quest by T.L. Shreffler

8. Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas

9. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

10. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

World After by Susan Ee

I loved Angelfall and I was über excited to get my hands on the sequel World After. Needless to say that I read it in two days, I just couldn't stop!  I got lost in Susan Ee's world, witty dialogues and Penryn's bad ass attitude.

World After is even more terrifying than Angelfall. There is some kind of darkness that clings to the pages and that will get your adrenaline going. I loved the suspense and the terrifying moments. (Although I'm not the biggest fan of horror but I guess Susan Ee proved me wrong!)

Penryn and Raffe...omg I love those two together. First I was a little bit dissappointed because for the first half there WAS NO FRICKING RAFFE. But it only shows that Penryn can take care of herself, she is a survivor in the true sense of the word and tries everything to keep her loved ones safe. Susan Ee portraits an absolutely believable character. I love that Penryn will do anything to save her family and Raffe.

I highly recommend World After to everyone who loved Angelfall, this book is full of non-stop action, witty and funny dialogues (I loved the scences with Pooky Bear!), great characters and dark, gritty and suspensefull storytelling, all packed up in a post-apocalyptic world.

"Everyone thinks I'm dead. I lie with my head on my mother's lap in the open bed of a large truck. The dawn light etches the grief lines on my mom's face while the rumble of the engines vibrates through my limp body."

"I look up to say something but he puts his fingers to my lips and whispers, 'Don't talk. You'll just spoil my fantasy of rescuing an innocent damsel in distress as soon as you open your mouth.'" p. 337

"'You're not Fallen, are you?' The question pops out of my mouth before my head can censor it. 'From everything I've heard, that would just make me more sexy to you Daughters of Men.' He finishes taping the last bit of the blanket. 'What is it that you all see in bad Boys?'" p. 371

5 of 5 stars

Fractured by Sarah Fine

I received this e-ARC for free on netgalley.com (Thank you!) and in exchange I will do an honest review.

To be honest, I had a really hard time reading this book. I loved the first book Sanctum and I was beyond excited to get an ARC of Fractured. So I came up with 4 stars, mainly because of the great and unexptected ending and cliffhanger. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading this book but it somehow suffered from the "2nd book syndrome", e.g. the introduction of a love triangle (whyyyy?). The romance between Malachi and Lela was perfect in the first book, why distroying it with a meaningless lovetriangle. The plot was quite slow especially after the beginning, it was all about hunting the Mazikin, nothing really happens despite patroling the area. The new characters were nicely introduced, though.

 

So overall it was a nice read with some unenjoyable elements BUT Fractured did end on such an interesting/crazy/intense/... note that I'm really eager for the third book!

 

4/5 stars

Review: Ember by Jessica Sorensen

I got this e-book for free on Amazon!

Woah, I really liked this book! First, I wasn't too sure if it's my cup of tea, because: instalove, love triangle, no connection to the female protagonist (ugh, in the beginning I hated Ember...her only thoughts envolved around sex and her virginity!), bla bla bla, BUT after 25% I got hooked! The story around Ember's death visions, angels, grim reapers, her imaginary childhood friend, etc. was so unique, and there were some awesome plot-twists!! 

4/5 stars

Review: A Shimmer of Angels by Lissa M. Basso

I received this e-ARC for free on netgalley.com (Thank you!) and in exchange I will do an honest review.

I love a good angel story, I really do. And this book was really unique because the plot is not unlike other angel stories. Of course it has good and bad (fallen) angels, but the most intriguing part is that our main character, Ray, is being considered schizophrenic (because she has the ability to see angels) and she actually spent many years institutionalized. I liked reading about Ray's struggle, her fears and hopes.  

The beginning was a little bit slow, but after every character is introduced (especially after Ray meets Kade) the story is quite fast-pacing. Although the ending felt way too rushed!

I also didn't like Cam. He is supposed to be the good one, but he abandons Ray twice and the romance between Ray and Cam felt off. There was no connection at all.  {SPOILER} After Ray got institutionalized again, Cam doesn't show up until the very end. So that was kind of strange.

Kade on the other hand is a Fallen and supposed to be the evil one. I wasn't really expecting this character, but I'm so glad he got introduced (after reading 40% of Ray's struggles and Cam's boring and stoic attitude it was quite refreshing to meet the bad-boy of the story)! After Kade's appearance the story picked up nicely and kept me on my toes. The ONLY disturbing thing is {SPOILER} that Kade had a romantic relationship with Ray's mother...WTF? I ignored that little shocking statement throughout the book...because if I had taken it serious I would have stopped reading...it felt really awkward and wrong on so many levels.  

I didn't mind the love triangle between Cam, Kade and Ray, but I think the story would have been waaay better if Cam was never introduced. Kade and Ray had way more chemistry, they cared about each other and Kade never let her down. Cam on the other hand was like a sleeping pill: stoic, boring and calm. The way Ray fell for Cam in the beginning was rather quick and out of nowhere. I think their relationship should have been build up a bit better (or left out completely :D ).

One thing I also loved about the book is the whole concept about the Fallen. I don't want to give too much away, but it's really unique and creative!

Overall, I liked reading A Shimmer of Angels, although it didn't really stand out. For me, it's a good solid story, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading angel-themed books.

3/5 stars

Pretty Dark Nothing by Heather L. Reid

I received this e-ARC for free on netgalley.com and in exchange I will do an honest review.

 

Initially the beautiful cover drew me to Pretty Dark Nothing. The plot doesn't reveal much, so I started reading it with an open mind and I had no expectations at all. I liked the idea of demons haunting Quinn's dreams and the book started off great. The demons and nightmares were depicted really scary and realistic.

Unfortunately I couldn't connect with Quinn at all...in fact I absolutely loathed her. She is self-centered, annoying and boring. Her ex-boyfriend dumps her with no explanation or what so ever, cheats on her, etc. and she is actually considering taking him back?! WTH? Who in their right mind would take back a cheating bastard? Right, no one! There were so many scenes where Quinn's thoughts bounce back and forth between her taking Jeff (the ex-boyfriend) back or being with Aaron. It became really annoying!

The only characters I somehow liked were Aaron, Marcus and Jenna.

While reading Pretty Dark Nothing, I was thinking that there were waaaaay too many ideas into one story. Some things were hastily introduced and never mentioned again. If a few were dropped, maybe the story would make more sense and the ending wouldn't be so...weird.

To sum it up, this book wasn't really my cup of tea. But don't understand me wrong, the book has some great elements, so I would encourage everyone to give it a try!

 

2/5 stars