Teaser Tuesday #36- Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme where you post a quote from a book you are currently reading. It is hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”

                                - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

The concept of this book is so great, I love the angels, the magic, the Chimaera, and the humans. Each group has so much to add the the story. Plus the writing is absolutely spectacular. I'm definitely planning on marathoning this trilogy this month.

Find the book here: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository 

Let me know in the comments what book you are currently reading!

Review: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Title: Steelheart
Author: Brandon Sanders
Publication Date:  September 24th, 2013
Publisher: Delecorte Press
Source: Bought it
Where to find: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository

Summary: Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning - and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

“Sometimes, son," my father said, prying my fingers free, "you have to help the heroes along.”

So this was my second Brandon Sanderson book, and I would love to compare it to The Final Empire, but I find that I cannot. The Final Empire is a completely different beast. Truly the only similarities are the author and the nonstop action. It does not take long at all to get into this book, right from the start you are thrown into the battle against the Epics and the story of David and the Reckoners.

The cast of characters in this book is great. Each one had their own quirks and abilities that added to the team. Together, their created this epic group that I loved reading about. To me the characters are what really made this book so great to me. While I loved the plot and the premise, I really enjoyed the characters and their stories. David is a great main character. He is nerdy (but not really), impulsive, dedicated, and inventive. It really was the heart of the team and kept everyone hopeful that they would succeed.

This book had a lot of twists and turns that I was not expecting and that kept me glued to the pages. This book also was had a very nice conclusion to it. It still left me wanting to know what happens after, but there was a sense of resolution following the book's events.

Overall, this is a fantastic fantasy book about your anti-heroes and it was written extremely well. Brandon Sanderson has a way with words and crafting stories and characters that leaves you satisfied but still wanting more. I cannot wait to pick up Firefight and see what David and crew are up to next. Especially with that title and knowing what we know at the end of the book. 

Review: Dreamstrider by Linsday Smith

Title: Dreamstrider
Author: Lindsay Smith
Publication Date: October 6th, 2015
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Source: Bought It
Where to find: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository

Summary: A high-concept, fantastical espionage novel set in a world where dreams are the ultimate form of political intelligence.

Livia is a dreamstrider. She can inhabit a subject's body while they are sleeping and, for a short time, move around in their skin. She uses her talent to work as a spy for the Barstadt Empire. But her partner, Brandt, has lately become distant, and when Marez comes to join their team from a neighborhing kingdom, he offers Livia the option of a life she had never dared to imagine. Livia knows of no other dreamstriders who have survived the pull of Nightmare. So only she understands the stakes when a plot against the Empire emerges that threatens to consume both the dreaming world and the waking one with misery and rage.

A richly conceived world full of political intrigue and fantastical dream sequences, at its heart Dreamstrider is about a girl who is struggling to live up to the potential before her.

I really enjoy Lindsay Smith's writing style and her vision when it comes to stories. This book had many parallels to Sekret in terms of spies and espionage, but this book was a political fantasy espionage book whereas Sekret was more paranormal/magical realism espionage. Dreamstrider was full of amazing imagery and fantastic characters. There was a slight lack of world-building, but for a standalone fantasy book, this is almost expected.

Our main character Livia was so refreshing compared to many other YA heroines. She was flawed in so many ways and not the best or brightest, but still did things herself and attempted to be independent. I also really enjoyed the other characters around Livia, including Vera, Brandt, and even Professor Hesse. They each added to the story and helped explained both what was currently happening and past events. I also appreciated that while there is romance in this book, that is not the focal point (and bonus points for no insta-love). This was more about Livia learning about herself and about protecting her home country.

Other than the deficits in world-building, I did not have any major issues with this book as a whole. The ending seemed a little rushed, but again that is somewhat expected in a standalone. And I know that is not a good excuse but there are so few standalones, especially in fantasy and paranormal genres, that I really do appreciate the books that are.

That being said, I would love another book in this world. It doesn't even have to follow the same characters. I'm just fascinated both by the idea of dreamstriding and the different cultures we are exposed to in this world. You have the Tunnelers and the Barstadt Empire, along with the two neighboring kingdoms.

Teaser Tuesday #35- Career of Evil

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme where you post a quote from a book you are currently reading. It is hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

“You could find beauty nearly anywhere if you stopped to look for it, but the battle to get through the days made it easy to forget that this totally cost-free luxury existed.”

                                                        - Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

So far I'm enjoying this third installment as much as I enjoyed the second (I found the first to be quite slow at times). I also love being back in Robin and Cormoran's world!

Find the book here: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository 

Let me know in the comments what book you are currently reading!