Hunted, Killed—Survived?

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet; an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.

War is coming and Avry is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible…again.

At the end of Touch of Power, Avry and Kerrick were forced to separate. In Scent of Magic, we pick up with Avry infiltrating Estrid’s army and Kerrick returning to Alga to finally deal with his own country. The separation is brutal. The two were finally together, only to be immediately torn apart. While Kerrick readies his troops and seeks allies for battle against Tohon’s army, Avry prepares Estrid’s troops by teaching them how to move silently through the forest and how to kill Tohon’s dead soldiers. Keeping her identity a secret becomes impossible when she’s reunited with Prince Ryne, Quain, Loren, and Belen. When Tohon finally mounts his attack, he once again comes for Avry and, again, she finds herself alone.

Let me start off by saying I thoroughly loved and enjoyed Scent of Magic; it’s an excellent sequel. With that in mind, I had difficulty with the first third of the book. I think the difficulty stemmed from Avry’s separation from Kerrick. I just wanted the two to be together and my frustration mirrored Avry’s on every page. This only proves how excellent Maria Snyder is at creating characters we care about and relationships that jump off the page. But the frustration was very tough to deal with and often led me to put down the book after a few chapters, just to pick it up again in an hour.

After I got used to the separation, I was impressed by a lot of the elements Snyder incorporated into this book. The plot is continuously fast-paced; each chapter advances the conflict. The plot is intricate and completely unpredictable, with multiple cliff-hangers that forced me to speed through the pages. I especially appreciated the inside look at war strategies and tactics. Watching Avry become a part of Estrid’s group was one of my favorite aspects of this book; she’s so tough and willing to put herself in the line of danger over and over again. In my opinion, she’s one of the most admirable female heroines in YA right now.

I also enjoyed seeing Kerrick take on more of a role as King of Alga. It’s interesting to watch his relationship grow with Danny, as we get to see more of the kind, caring Kerrick that previously only existed with Avry. Speaking of developments, we also see new sides of Quain and Loren, which just further characterizes them as realistic, believable people. All of Snyder’s characters feel like people you could potentially or already have met. They’re just so vibrant.

Of course, Snyder once again delivers a fair share of heartbreak, but she doesn’t wait until the very end to do it. This book is full of a lot of hard moments and Snyder doesn’t sugarcoat the consequences of war. Tohon is as frightening and despicable as ever-a true villain. Snyder further explores the mystery of the Death and Peace Lilies with surprising results-this aspect of the plot never fails to completely capture my attention; I’m completely enthralled by the Death Lilies and, like Avry, I really want to figure them out. As with her previous novels, Snyder’s writing is poetic, concise, and utterly enrapturing. The Healer series is just as compelling as her Study series and worth every minute spent reading. Fans of Snyder will not be disappointed.

Pages: 414
Publication Date: December 2012
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Source: NetGalley
Rating :

Teaser Quote:
“We don’t take orders from you, Sergeant,” Quain said. “Your man tried to assassinate-”

“He isn’t mine. My man has eyes that change color with the seasons.”

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well… There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different… And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger… and they know it.

After two books of Daemon and Katy fighting their relationship, they are finally together. But with Dawson back, fighting tooth and nail to bring back Beth, their relationship is feeling all sorts of twists and turns, as it is essential that they do everything in their power to help Dawson save her…as well as stay alive. Now they must unwillingly work with the person they trust the least to prepare them to break into the place that Beth is being stored.

The Lux series has been such a fascinating treat for me. I fell in love with Obsidian, became a fan girl with Onyx, and melted a tiny bit more in Opal. When I first learned that the books were about aliens, I’ll admit that I was skeptical. But the books are so much more than that. They are about love, betrayal, romance, and twist and turns that I never saw coming. The Lux series is definitely one of my new addictions.

While I loved the first two books more than I can say, I was a little let down with Opal. It was still a good book, but the romance was wayyyy over the top. I had gotten used to Daemon’s snarky personality, and that was gone in Opal. Now he is completely smitten with Katy, and he watches every word and move that he does so as to not upset her. I love Daemon and Katy as a couple, but I started to get a little tired of them. I love romance as much as the next person, but I just wanted a little more action.

Katy’s character got on my nerves a little bit more than usual in this third book. While I’ve never been overly fond of her before, she never actually bugged me. In Opal, Katy seemed whiney and determined to put herself in danger at every available opportunity. I got that she was trying to prove something to the rest of the aliens, but there comes a point in time where enough is enough. I just wanted her to stop acting like a little girl and grow up.

As I said with the rest of the books, The Lux series is a lot like Twilight. The writing style and storyline are very identical. That’s a compliment, but it also lays kind of flat for me. I want something that I can call original. While I love that I can compare the two stories, I also dislike the fact that I could place pretty much any character from The Lux series with a character from the Twilight series. Love the books. Love the characters. Want to see more originality.

There’s not much action in Opal, but the ending was really good and REALLY shocking! I wasn’t blindsided by what happened, because I knew that something major happened and I peeked, but woahhh! I don’t know where Armentrout is going to take it next, and I can’t wait to find out! Super cool and intense ending to an amazing series!

I am really excited for the next book because it will feature both Katy and Daemon’s POV’s. Since Daemon is my favorite character, I’m really excited to hear more from his side. But it does make me a little nervous that it’s a dual POV, because I tend not to like those very much.

Overall, Opal was an ok third installment to an amazing series. But what I recommend people to read the series anyways? Heck yes! The series is awesome! But be prepared to be a little let down with this book, as it is not nearly as good as the first two.

Pages: 382

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Publication Date: December 11th, 2012

Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “Daemon snatched the yellow packages from my hands. “Oh! Books! You have books!”
I laughed as several people waiting in line looked over their shoulders. “Hand them over.”
He clutched them to his chest, making moony eyes. “My life is now complete.”
“My life would be complete if I could actually post a review on something other than the school library computers.”
I did that about twice a week since my latest laptop went to the big computer heaven in the sky.”

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we’re linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there’s this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that’s possible. Against all common sense, I’m falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

I’m writing this review a couple weeks after I actually finished the book, because I was on vacation in Florida right after I finished it. So this is going to be a bit shorter of a review because my head is lumping all three books together. What I can tell you all, though, is that Onyx was my very favorite book in the series and I gave it a whole 5 stars.

I really enjoyed watching Katy and Daemon’s relationship progress in Onyx. Book 1 was about them meeting and hating eachother, and finally growing to acknowledge a chemistry between them. Book 2 brings in another love interest, confusion between the two, and some definite jealousy. I wish that I would have seen Kate and Daemon get a little closer sooner than they actually did, but there was nothing better than watching Daemon always mess up Blake’s name. It was fun to witness him become jealous and basically throw tantrums because he didn’t know how to speak up about his emotions and feelings. Katy did bug my a little bit, though. It was obvious that Daemon was trying really hard to gain her affections, and she was set on blowing him off and making him feel miserable. Didn’t like that very much.

Blake’s (God, I hope I’m not turning into Daemon and am actually getting his name right) character got on my nerves so much. I couldn’t stand him! It wasn’t just because he was trying to get in the middle of Katy and Daemon, but I found him creepy. I found him to be a rude, inconsiderate jerk in Onyx, and I found him to be even worse in Opal. Daemon should have kicked his ass long before he did. That’s my opinion on Blake [=

There is a lot of cool action and suspense in Onyx. It was a little predictable, but there were some things thrown at me that I didn't see coming. I can't stress enough how much I loved this book. I think I spent a good two days on my couch, mouth hanging open, eyes wide as saucers, with the book shoved in my face. I had a massive fan girl moment with this book, and I am now forever a fan of Jennifer L. Armentrout. Everyone needs to read this book!

Pages: 366

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Publication Date: August 14th, 2012

Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “Kitten,” he growled roughly.
I kissed him softly, sliding my hands into his silky locks, letting the pieces slide through my fingers. I tasted in him my own rising desire, my own need and heartache. Thrilling. Frightening. I pulled back.
“Kitten,” he said again, voice strained. “You don’t get to do that and then stop. That’s not how it works.”
I stared at him, my breath stalling in my lungs.
“Not when you’re mine.” Daemon backed us up and slid down the wall, pulling me on his lap so I was straddling him. “And you’re mine.”