The #1 New York Times bestseller and sequel to Steelheart—a novel that James Dashner called “fantastic.” Brandon Sanderson, the author of Words of Radiance,
coauthor of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, and creator of
the internationally bestselling Mistborn trilogy, presents the second
book in the Reckoners series: Firefight. And don’t miss Calamity, the exciting conclusion to the Reckoners series available now!
David Charleston has lived for one purpose: to kill Steelheart, the
supremely powerful, seemingly invincible Epic who murdered his father.
Now Steelheart is dead and David is beginning to question everything
that he—and the world—understands about the superhumans they call Epics.
David’s suspicions are the reason he follows Prof to the flooded city
once known as New York. But what he finds there could be what ultimately
ends him. The truth might just burn deepest of all. . . . @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
4 STARS
BRANDON SANDERSON 
David and the crew is back, although some of them take a back seat in this book because a few go to Babylon Restored.
David, Tia, Prof are the ones that go and leave Abraham and Cody behind with Edmund. I love Abraham and Cody so much.
Anyhoo,
the crew are going to meet with some other Reckoners to try to take out
Regalia. She's another epic that wants to cause trouble since the death
of you know who. She has an epic named Obliteration who is super bad
and there are some other randoms.
I forgot to say our crew meets
up with Val, Mizzy and Exel (the other reckoners) and there is an
underwater bunker thing and it's awesome.
Regalia herself deals
in water so this is a great water epic. What fun it was! Although,
Obliteration is blowing everything up for her so it's like water meets
fire!
And Megan (Firefight) is in the city as well and things are looking up. Yassssssssssssssss!
There
are some revelations! Are there not always revelations? There are some
deaths. Aren't there noalways some deaths? There were some good times
and bad times. I'm not going to ask again =)
I loved this book
and I was so happy to have Megan back - BUT - I really hope one of the
bad things doesn't stay a bad thing in the next book. <--- I'm always
sooooooo cryptic, or stupid, however you want to look at it =D
Anyway, I love Sanderson, I'm loving this trilogy and I hope all goes well in Calamity!
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1931560107
In the spirit of
fantasy epics like George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones and Brandon
Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, The Fatemarked Epic promises immaculate
world building, an ancient prophecy, a mysterious source of magic,
interesting characters, war, political intrigue, and romance.
The
Hundred Years War has ravaged more than three generations of kings,
queens, and citizens across the Four Kingdoms. Corrupt rulers dominate.
Religious intolerance runs rampant. The cycle of vengeance continues to
turn with the seasons.
An ancient prophecy by a legendary oracle
has been long forgotten. The prophecy promises the return of peace to
the Four Kingdoms on the backs of a chosen few, the fatemarked,
individuals marked at birth and blessed with specific magical powers.
One shall be the Kings’ Bane, and will bring death to the warmongering
rulers, using fear to force peace; another shall be the Peacemaker,
bestowed with the rare ability to heal. Opposite sides of the same coin,
dark and light, death and life, the Kings’ Bane and the Peacemaker are
responsible for the fate of an entire continent.
As they fight
to achieve their destinies, adversity will hinder them in every realm:
in the frozen north, assassination attempts and a brutal power struggle;
in the holy west, a vicious queen and her self-righteous army of
warriors; in the mysterious iron-clad forest of the east, revenge and
glory rule the day; and in the southern empires of Calyp and Phanes,
maturing dragons, slaves, and a civil war.
To truly fulfill the
oracle’s prophecy of peace, both the Kings’ Bane and the Peacemaker, as
well as the other fatemarked, will need to overcome those who seek to
destroy everything in their pursuit for power. @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
5 STARS
What is it that comes rolling across the plains to kill
Okay,
there are so many characters in the book. It's not really confusing
because we go back in forth through each little groups journey which
eventually connects them all in one shape or form.
We have:
1) Bane
2) Roan
3) Gwen
4) Grease
5) Annise
6) Arch
7) The Armored Knight / Arme/Tarin
8) Sir Dietrich
9) Zelda
10) Sir Drunk Craig
11) Rhea
12) Bear Blackboots
Okay, so there are a lot more but these are the ones I like the most.
Actually,
I absolutely loved, Annise and The Armored Knight (Tarin). Annise is
bad to the bone and I loved that the author added a plus sized hero to
the book. I mean she's always talking down about herself looking like a
pear, etc. But she can kick major butt! And The Armored Knight gets on
to her about this, he is sent to protect her. The Armored Knight is bad
to the bone himself and um, (I have a little crush on him) There is a
mystery about him but I won't even let that slip, it's something you
need to read for yourself.
Annise and Arch are brother and
sister and when something happens, they need to take over as King and
Queen. <--- another bunch of stuff you will have to read.
There
are people in this world that are marked with different abilities and
they are called "Fatemarked." Most of these people are put to death or
used in other ways.
The book goes back and for talking about war
with the other people since something out there is killing off all of
the important people. So the other important people are trying to get a
foot in the door until they are killed off. lol <--- I'm great at
explaining things :-D This is how I go about not giving out spoilers, I
make it so confusing you have to read the book to see what I'm talking
about.
Anyway, there is a revelation later on about the thing
that is killing people and I knew it!!!! I knew where that was going,
but it took me a little bit. It is sooooooooo good, but nobody better
not kill off Tarin or Annise or I will crack some heads!
I
really do enjoy the other groups of people too but the group with Annise
in it is so much better. Her and Tarin make the whole book for me. Oh,
and the fatemarked people and all they can do is really cool, well maybe
not so much all of the gifts.
I look forward to what else we have in store and I hope Annise and Tarin kick major butt!
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1933035664
Introducing one of the
most famous characters in literature, Jean Valjean—the noble peasant
imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread—Les Misérables ranks among the
greatest novels of all time. In it, Victor Hugo takes readers deep into
the Parisian underworld, immerses them in a battle between good and
evil, and carries them to the barricades during the uprising of 1832
with a breathtaking realism that is unsurpassed in modern prose. Within
his dramatic story are themes that capture the intellect and the
emotions: crime and punishment, the relentless persecution of Valjean by
Inspector Javert, the desperation of the prostitute Fantine, the
amorality of the rogue Thénardier, and the universal desire to escape
the prisons of our own minds. Les Misérables gave Victor Hugo a canvas
upon which he portrayed his criticism of the French political and
judicial systems, but the portrait that resulted is larger than life,
epic in scope—an extravagant spectacle that dazzles the senses even as
it touches the heart. @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
3 STARS
I'm in the minority unfortunately. I thought the book was okay. I was
hoping it would blow my mind and be a favorite like The Count Of Monte
Cristo, as I was afraid of that book too, but alas, it was not =(
I
might as well put the ole spoilers tag up on here! Oh and even though
Jean's name will be changed in the book, I'm sticking with Jean so I
won't get all messed up! 
FANTINE
1)An Upright Man
2) The Fall
3) In The Year 1817
4) To Trust Is Sometimes To Surrender
5) The Descent
6) Javert
7) The Champmathieu Affair
8) Counter-Stroke
I worry at times when reading classic books because I feel I
won't understand a lot of them. And some I haven't. Come to think of
it, I have read books that aren't classic and never understood them and
still loved them. I'm strange, I know.
I felt the same way when I
went into The Count of Monte Cristo. I was so worried I wouldn't get it
enough to like it and uh, it's one of my favorite books to date!
Les
Mis has given me some trouble during the first of the book. I have felt
like I'm not going to like it too much and then there would be parts
that I just loved. So we shall see when I finish it awhile from now.
I
really liked M. Myriel, he was a very nice man. I mean just because
he's a man of the cloth doesn't mean he will be nice but he was and I
loved him. It was sad when he died.
Jean Valjean was a prisoner
of 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread to try to feed his sister and
her seven children. They don't care if people or kids starve to death
and going to jail for 19 years. Wow! Jean only heard of news one time of
his sister and the youngest child working and going to school. No one
knows what became of the rest of the children. 
After
the 19 years Jean was let out on parole. He couldn't find a place to
take him in for the night and feed him. He had money but they didn't
want a criminal in their inns. But he came upon M. Myriel who was a
Bishop at the church. (if I have it all correctly) He let Jean have a
bed for the first time in years, gave him food and was very kind to him.
In turn, Jean stole away in the night with the silverware. But being
the kind man M. Myriel was he didn't press charges when the coppers
dragged Jean back. He did tell something to Jean that made him change
his ways.
The bishop approached him and said, in a low voice. "Do
not forget, ever, that you have promised me to use this silver to become
an honest man.
Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of any
such promise, stood dumbfounded. The bishop had stressed these words as
he spoke them. He continued, solemnly, "Jean Valjean, my brother, you no
longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul I am buying from
you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition,
and I give it to God!"
Jean was a changed man after this and it was good.
Next
is the story of Fantine. This broke my heart! Fantine and some of her
so called friends had suitors and they all thought they were going to be
together and get married, all of the wonderful things. But it was not
so. The men left the woman with nothing. Fantine was left with child and
her so called friends all went separate ways.
Fantine had to
leave little Cosette at a home until she got enough money to get her.
The home was a fake and they were rude and horrible people. Fantine sent
them money to keep Cosette. Year after year she sent money. She worked
for Jean who had a different name and owned a business. Sadly for
Fantine she was fired because of some jerk workers and Jean never knew
about it.
Fantine was forced to sale her hair, some of her teeth and become a whore so Cosette would be okay. 
One
day Fantine was taken to jail for scratching a jerk man. Jean found her
there and took her to the hospital. He saved her from being put in
prison, but unfortunately she had a disease and would not live. He made a
promise to find Cosette. It was so very sad that she had to live the
life she did and never see her daughter ever again. She was thrown
away........ COSETTE
1) Waterloo
2) The Ship Orion
3) Fulfillment Of The Promise Made To The Departed
4) The Old Gorbeau House
5) A Dark Chase Requires A Silent Hound
6) Petit-Picpus
7) Cemeteries Take What Is Given Them
Soooooooooooooooo, I wasn't feeling this one as much until it got to Jean & Cosette.
Jean
found Cosette carrying a heavy water bucket and asked her many
questions. He found out she was the girl she promised Fantine he would
take care of, her daughter. 
Jean
watched how the couple were treating Cosette because he was staying at
their Inn. He as livid and so was I at the way Cosette was treated. Jean
told them he was taking her away with him, paid them money
(overcharged) for his stay there. Oh, and I loved when he went out and
bought her a most expensive doll for her alone because only the owners
two daughters got toys to play with, it was so bitter sweet.
They
stayed on the run for a time. Jean was always on the run on and off as
he's always wanted. He can never shake that freaking, Javert.
Jean and Cosette ending up staying with a man Jean had saved awhile back. Jean worked in the little garden.
Jean,
who had lost all thoughts of loving anything when he was in prison. He
was a hard man with no love, no anything. But then he felt a spark that
grew and grew for Cosette, his daughter, for that's what she became. So
sweet.
His whole heart melted in gratitude and he loved more and more.
Several years went by like this. Cosette was growing up.
Unfortunately,
I'm not liking this book as much as I would have hoped. I love the
parts with Jean and Cosette and hope that there will be more and I will
at least love it just enough.
*The rest of the sections and books in the book I was reading.*Marius
1) Paris Atomized
2) The Grand Bourgeois
3) The Grandfather And The Grandson
4) The Friends Of The ABC
5) The Excellence Of Misfortune
6) The Conjunction of Two Stars
7) Patron-Minette
8) The Noxious Poor
Saint-Denis And Idyll Of The Rue Plumet
1) A Few Pages Of History
2) Eponine
3) The House On The Rue Plumet
4) Aid From Below Or From Above
5) An End Unlike The Beginning
6) Little Gavroche
7) Argot
8) Enchantments And Desolations
9) Where Are They Going?
10) June 5, 1832
11) The Atom Fraternizes With The Hurricane
12) Corinth
13) Marius Enters The Shadow
14) The Grandeur Of Despair
15) The Rue De L'Homme-Arme
Jean Valjean
1) War Between Four Walls
2) The Intestine Of Leviathan
3) Much, But Soul
4) Javert Off The Track
5) Grandson And Grandfather
6) The White Night
7) The Last Drop In The Chalice
8) The Twilight Waning
9) Supreme Shadow, Supreme Dawn
Afterword
Selected Bibliography
The story
continues on with Cosette growing up, finding Marius and love. A
revolution. Javert still on Jean's trail. The marriage of Cosette and
Marius. And the deaths of Javert and Jean.
The book did bring some tears to my eyes.
It
was really sweet with Cosette and Marius. They were made for each
other. Even though Jean wasn't too happy about it, he did save Marius in
the end so he would live for Cosette. 
Javert
finally gave up. Jean had saved him from death and Javert threatened
once again to kill him, but alas it was his own life he took. He was
just tired.....
Jean
was on his deathbed when Cosette and Marius found him. He was so happy
to see his daughter and Marius. Jean had an angel watching over him and
he went peacefully. 
Jean, you were a most wonderful man! 
The night was starless and very dark. Without any doubt,
in the gloom, some mighty angel was standing, with outstretched wings,
waiting for the soul.
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1621590558
Witness the fate of beloved heroes - and enemies.
THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED...
The
precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking
point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a
shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to
rise.
WHO WILL CRUMBLE?
Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari - begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?
WHO WILL RISE?
Lila
Bard, once a commonplace - but never common - thief, has survived and
flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to
control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced
Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.
WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL?
And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay. @goodreads
MY REVIEW
5 STARS
LORD HAVE MERCY! THIS BOOK!
I
was so afraid to go into it because I just knew everyone was going to
die and that would be it, THEN END! Yes, people died. Yes, I let out
some tears at parts. Yes, it was amaze balls. Yes, there was a lot of
blood and violence. Yes, there was evil and magic and good. YES! YES!
YES!
I love Rhy, Kell, Lila and Alucard so much. I even started to love ole Holland. There are other side people too.
There
is so much stuff going on. It starts right out of the gate and just
doesn't really stop. Maybe a break here and there but not too much. I
think this was a perfect ending to this trilogy.
And I love that Lila is a bad@ssed woman in the book! I love when author's add a woman that can kick arse and take names.
"Tell you what, " said the first attacker. "If you beg, we'll make it quick."
Lila's
blood sang the way it always did before a fight, clear and bright and
hungry. "And why," she said, "would I want to rush your deaths?"
"Cocky bitch," growled the second. "I'm gonna fu--"
Her
knife hissed through the air and embedded itself in his throat. Blood
spilled down his front as he clawed at his neck and toppled forward, and
she made it under the next man's guard before the body hit the ground,
driving her serrated blade up through his chin before the first blow
caught her, a fist to the jaw.
She went down hard, spitting blood into the street.
Heat coursed through her limbs as a hand grabbed her by the hair and hauled her to her feed, a knife under her chin.
"Any last words?" asked the man with the rotting teeth.
Lila held up her hands, as if in surrender, before flashing a vicious smile.
"Tyger, Tyger," she said, and the fire roared to life.
If you haven't read this trilogy and have been wanting to, I suggest you get on it because it's freaking awesome! 
Anoshe.
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1918024587
Paraffin, Vermont, is
known the world over as home to the Grosholtz Candle Factory. But behind
the sunny retail space bursting with overwhelming scents and homemade
fudge, seventeen-year-old Poppy Palladino discovers something dark and
unsettling: a back room filled with dozens of startlingly life-like wax
sculptures, crafted by one very strange old lady. Poppy hightails it
home, only to be shocked when one of the figures—a teenage boy who
doesn’t seem to know what he is—jumps naked and screaming out of the
trunk of her car. She tries to return him to the candle factory, but
before she can, a fire destroys the mysterious workshop—and the old
woman is nowhere to be seen.
With the help of the wax boy, who
answers to the name Dud, Poppy resolves to find out who was behind the
fire. But in the course of her investigation, she discovers that things
in Paraffin aren’t always as they seem, that the Grosholtz Candle
Factory isn’t as pure as its reputation—and that some of the townspeople
she’s known her entire life may not be as human as they once were. In
fact, they’re starting to look a little . . . waxy. Can Poppy and Dud
extinguish the evil that's taking hold of their town before it’s too
late? @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
3 STARS
I was hoping to really love this book but it was okay. I was thinking it
was going to be more scary than it was, it wasn't really scary. The
thought was more scary. **A Mild Spoiler Or Two**
Anyhoo, Poppy
is a teenager living in Paraffin, Vermont. <--- heh! funny since the
town is known for making candles. Poppy is known for some little
incident that happened when she put on a play but I really don't see why
these people had to be so rude about it and laugh at her. She was on tv
and in papers across the globe. But she is keeping her head up and
dealing with it.
The Grosholtz Candle Factory has been around
for years. They modernized the front of the factory but in the back you
can still see the old castle looking building.
Poppy's best
friend is Jill and they are your typical teens. They were funny and got
on your nerves. Poppy runs the drama club at school (if you can call it
that) and doesn't get picked on that much any more. Well, with the
exception of some stupid boy.
Moving on . . . .
One day
Poppy and Jill go to the candle factory and go on the tour. Poppy sneaks
into the older sections where she's not supposed to be. She ends up
finding a scary room and an old lady. 
There
are all kinds of wax figures in the room and she talks to the lady for a
little while. Seems that the lady has been around forever, but there is
more to the story than that . . .
When Poppy leaves the old
lady gives her a candle to take with her. And when Poppy gets home she
finds that she has a wax boy in her trunk. Guess that was another
surprise. Oh, and he's naked. She names him Dud and they end up going on
a mystery together to find out what is happening to the town and what
the real story is.... and I'm not going to tell you.
Overall the
book was okay. I would recommend it to people that like a little cheese
in their young adult books, people that like candles, wax figures and a
little bit of cray!
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1909307386
THE CREEPIEST ISLAND ON EARTH
Deep
within an ancient Aztec canal system on the outskirts of Mexico City
lies Isla de las Munecas...a reportedly haunted island infested with
thousands of decrepit dolls.
While there to film a television
documentary, several friends discover a brutal murder. Soon fear and
paranoia turn them against one another - even as the unknown killer
stalks them throughout the longest night of their lives. @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
4 STARS
I remember watching Josh Gates and his crew on Destination Truth go out
to the island and it was freaky! At night, yeah. Some other groups when
out there but Josh =) 
I'm
going to add part of the author's note so you can get a little bit of
history but you can google and find the main web page for the island.
You can find videos and pictures and just creepiness.
A two-hour canal ride from Mexico City lies Isla de las
Munecas, or Island of the Dolls. It is best-known chinampa, or floating
garden, in Xochimilco. It belonged to a man named Julian Santana
Barrera, a native of the La Asuncion neighborhood. Santana Barrera was a
loner, who was rarely seen in most of Xochimilco. According to the
legend, Barrera discovered a little girl drowned in mysterious
circumstances in the canals. He also found a doll floating nearby and,
assuming it belonged to the deceased girl, hung it from a tree as a sign
of respect. After this, he began hearing whispers, footsteps, and
anguished wails in the darkness even though his hut-hidden deep inside
the woods of Xochimilco-was miles away from civilization. Drive by fear,
he spent the next fifty years hanging more and more dolls, some missing
body parts, all over the island in an attempt to appease what he
believed to be the drowned girl's spirit.
After Barrera's death
in 2001-his body reportedly found in the exact spot where he found the
girl's body fifty years before-the area became a popular tourist
attraction where visitors bring more dolls.
Here is Barrera ↓
There is more to this but you can read it in the book or google it.
The
author wrote a pretty good book about this island and I loved the
different take he took on the legend. Zipping the lip on that one, no
spoilers!
A bunch of (mostly idiots) go to the island to help
one of their friends do a documentary. All of the involved in one way or
another listed below, mostly =)
1. Pepper
2. Pita
3. Jesus
4. Elizaveta
5. Jack
6. Nitro
7. Maria
8. Lucinda
9. Rosa
10. Miguel
Some of these people are complete idiots that needed to be smacked upside the head. But I digress! 
Jack
used to be a Nascar driver until he had some medical issues. His girl
friend is Pita and she's an idiot. Pita's brother is Jesus (not the real
one of course) and he's a real jerk. Elizaveta is from Russia and I
loved her and she's also Jesus' girlfriend. Nitro is just some jerk that
was invited along. Pepper is the one doing the documentary. Miguel and
Lucinda are just in a place they shouldn't have been. Rosa is a little
girl that ended up in the middle of things. I loved her.
My favorites were Jack (even though he was stupid at times), Elizaveta, Rosa and Pepper.
So
these morons are wandering around the island doing some video and
pictures of the dolls. Some are drinking and every time you turn around,
Jack and Nitro are picking fights and acting stupid. Jesus is making
wise cracks and it's just ignorant. How about some more creepy dolls? 
They
find some old huts on the island but when Jack was off on his own he
found a good sized hut with two bedrooms and he found little Rosa hidden
underneath one of the beds. Like that wasn't creepy. Oh and all of the
huts were filled with creepy dolls too!
They also find a dead
body on the island and another one on the brink of death but since the
weather turned bad, the boat guy said he wouldn't come back for them
until the next day. I would have said oh hell no, lets go. I'm not
staying here! 
Then
people start to get picked off and they get into fights and almost kill
each other AND THEN, there is a knock at the door. For real! Can't even
tell you about that because it goes off into freaking cray land then,
but I figured it was coming.
Oh and I forgot to say that the
book is told in the present and back in the 1950's when Maria was a
little girl. You know, the little girl that was found dead. I wanted to
kill some people in this book reading about her life. I know this is the
author's fiction but I know things like this have happened in real
life, don't get me started. This poor girl was labeled a moron at her
school because they have some kind of a scale they rate the kids with
<--really. She wasn't a moron she just had some mental issues and
some medical issues, OMG people. The school told her parents that she
should go into a special school because there is no hope for her. So her
parents put her in some school where the nuns and priest were bad
people, reminded me of the Native American schools and those evil bas...
you know what, let's move on!
They did horrific things to Maria
in that school until she escaped. Now I'm not going to tell you what
all happened to her or what happened to her afterward. Read the book!
As to what happened with the nuts on the island and all of the cray going on, well you have to read that for yourself.
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1522564707
When Fig Coxbury buys a
house on West Barrett Street, it's not because she likes the
neighborhood, or even because she likes the house. It's because
everything she desires is next door: The husband, the child, and the
life that belongs to someone else. @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
5 STARS
Holy Mother of Pearl! This book is off the rails!
I don't even know what to say about this book people!
Okay, lets just go for it.
So
this crazy chic named, Fig (yes, Fig) moves in next door to Jolene,
Darius and little girl, Mercy. Gah, I don't even. Okay so the book is
written in three different POV's, which threw me for a loop. You have
Fig telling her story in the beginning, then Darius and finally Jolene.
There are some other characters involved and some that I didn't even
think were involved until reading other pov's because I was stuck inside
of crazy trains head for a bit and didn't know what was what.
Not everyone is what they seem in the book and than are more than one crazy minds going on up in here!
Fig
wants what Jolene has, the child and the husband. And she does a damn
good job and trying to insert herself into that picture. But let me tell
you, this author put those other POV's in the book and I had no
freaking clue how much more cray it was going to get! It was bloody
brilliant. And I wanted to punch a few people. Actually someone did get
punched and I freaking loved it. Heh!
I recommend this book to anyone that likes crazy psychological nut case books!
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1915108015
