Origin (Lux #4) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

After two hours of fangirling, and screaming over the fact that I got this book on it’s release day, I started it with fear, trepidation, and a whole lot of excitement. The cliff-hanger at the end of the last book was excruciating and I had no idea how bad things would get for Katy.

In the name of all things alien, this book was amaaaazing! I ignored three courses worth of homework to finish this up (who cares about college when you can read about Daemon?)

Daemon is awesome, better than in all the previous books. Most of his dialogues actually had me clutching my Kindle for dear life.

“Did you think you could stop me? I’ll burn the world down to save her.” 

“I have no idea how I’m going to fix all of that, but I will. I will keep you safe. I will make sure that we have a future to hold on to and look forward to … I promise you.”

Daemon is so my book-boyfriend. *major swoons*

Okay, so the proverbial shit has hit the fan in Origin, Katy is in Daedalus, Daemon is no lock-down and his family and friends are trying to keep him from going to save Katy. Futile attempts? Of course. You can’t keep a Luxen like Daemon in chains. And he does what he wants to do, he goes to find Katy.

What the Daedalus plans on doing to the two of them will have you biting your nails and sometimes closing your eyes shut at the horror. In complete JLA style, the ending will have you on edge. This installment is as good as it gets.

If you’ve read Sweet Evil, or if you follow Wendy Higgins on Goodreads, you know that there’s a neat little surprise in the book.

A Sweet Evil reference that literally made me jump out of my beanbag for joy! For that alone, I’d give JLA a standing ovation. You, Madame, are amazing.

The Final Word:

I was a bit disappointed with a cover, it isn’t in-sync with the rest of the series, but the book is worth the read. Lux or JLA fans, go grab it!

Maryam M.

What Isn’t Dead Is Dying – The Messenger by Stephanie Pippins

This morning, I woke up to find a number of approved galley requests in my inbox. And one of those was this one. I had been anxiously hoping that I would approved to get this galley.

1) Because it’s poetry. Duh.

2) Because the main theme is death and desolation.

3) Iowa Poetry Prize. (Guaranteed good stuff)

Needless to say, I started it right away and finished it within the hour. Then read it two more times to absorb it properly.

Oh boy oh boy. This poetry collection was so my kind of thing. It is something that I would write if I possessed as much talent as Stephanie Pippins. The death and metamorphosis is in your face. There’s not much blood, but I’m willing to excuse that because the poems are so damn good.

The ARC has 35+ poems, all having to do with change, dying, rebirth and bad, bad, things. It must have been a trick of the mind, but I kept thinking black sludge was devouring the words as I swept my eyes over them. There is horror in these poems, not the kind with ghouls and ghosts, but a more natural horror, the kind that you could see happening everyday, if only you observed.

The poems are heavy on nature. Bird references, animal behaviour, and the likes create the perfectly dark setting for what Pippins is trying to say. This book is beautiful in a weird way. It is something that you would want to read over and over and over, only to feel this aching and dread which in turn makes you feel more aware and alive.

Like Pippins says.

“What isn’t dead

is dying.”

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed In Blood

Kendare Blake

Rating: 5 stars

Anyone who really knows me, would know about my obsession with blood and dead girls. So it was no surprise that I would want to read this book as soon as I saw it. (And the cover, oh, the cover!) Whether I’d like it or not was an entirely different story. I’ll have you know, that I absolutely love Lenore. Poe’s Lenore and Dirge’s Lenore. But there are countless other books with dead girls that I can’t even care to remember them, they were that bad.

The thing with horror books is that they can be as scary as you want them to be. When watching a movie, you get a package deal of horrific images that may scare or be just meh, depending on your own spook-o-meter. But books give you the liberty of imagining those scary ghosts and creatures in any way you want to, providing just the base. My imagination is crazy. Parts of this book had me freaking out and seeing shadows around my room. The fact that I read in absolute darkness (on my Kindle) may have contributed to my fears.

To be honest, in hindsight, this book isn’t all that scary. It’s about a young guy who kills ghost who are out wreaking havoc and murdering people. And then he comes across Anna, who is the most vindictive, bloodiest ghost he has ever faced. Saying more would be giving out spoilers.

But I have to say, after Lish McBride’s Necromancer books, this is the only one that kept me up all night to finish it. I’ll be reading the sequel soon.

Maryam M.