Warcross

   OH MY GOD WHAT A FANTASTIC BOOK

I've loved everything Marie Lu has written so I had pretty high expectations going into this book, and it very much exceeded them. This book is action packed, full of awesome characters and cute romances. And seriously one of the best endings I've ever read.

As a programmer, I always have trouble reading books about programmers/hackers and this book wasn't any different. There were weird programming metaphors (Just find the break in the pattern) and the virtual IDEs were just silly (just peel back the world to see the code). But besides the awkward programming scenes, the technology in the book is actually really cool. Warcross isn't just a game. It's brain interfaced VR + AR system that many people wear all the time. The implications of such an AR system were really cool from augmented wallpaper to virtual models advertising clothing shops. This is my literal dream world.

If you like insane tech worlds, bounty hunters with cool hair, and emotional backstories, read this right now (or more accurately, read this on September 12).

Preorder Warcross on Amazon.

The Last Magician

I had many problems with this book.

First, the author really really really hates New York. She says nothing nice about New York the entire book. Quotation are taken from an uncorrected proof:

• "the rank stink of the streets and the sweltering, airless buildings"
• "that combination of piss, garbage, and exhaust that only New York can smell like"
• "Crawling through the muck of the city"
• "Carve out their own piece of the rotten fruit that was the city"

I live in New York and it’s really hard to read a book that is just constantly insulting your home. If you have nothing nice to say about New York, please set your book somewhere else.

Also, the romance. Harte assaults Esta multiple times throughout the book. He forces her into kisses. He physically prevents her from leaving a room. He lies to get her to dance with him when she’s indicated she doesn’t want to. He grabs her arm so hard he hurts her. He traps her in an airtight box for longer than necessary to get back at her for improvising. And some of these events did have extenuating circumstances (see kiss #1). But how his actions affect Esta isn’t something Harte ever thinks about. He never considers how she might feel violated after he kisses her. He never gives a thought to how wrong it is to hold someone in a room against their will. Harte is just the kind of guy who assaults women and then never thinks about it again. And it’s so one-sided. When Esta improvises without warning Harte, it’s a big deal and she has to apologize profusely. When Harte doesn’t warn Esta, we just move past it. Harte treats Esta terribly the entire book. But he’s cute so *romance*. The whole thing just left me feeling gross.

I wanted so much to like this book. It has time travel, magic, grand heists, and betrayals. And the time travel, magic, grand heists, and betrayals were SO GREAT. But with the constantly insulting my home and the actively harmful romance, I can't give this more than 3 stars.

Tense	3rd person past
POV	Mostly Esta. Some chapters from Harte and Dolph
Love Triangle	No
Magic	Yes!

The Last Magician comes out July 18.

Kindle Books on Sale 5/2/2017

$0.99 - Alchemists of Loom
$0.99 - The Falconer (and the sequel The Vanishing Throne is $1.99)
$1.88 - Labyrinth Lost
$1.88 - The Bone Witch
$1.99 - A Court of Thorns and Roses
$1.99 - The Crown's Game

$1.99 - The Novice

$1.99 - The Wish Granter

$1.99 - Talon

$2.99 - Passenger

Follow Me Back

 
I received an advanced copy of The Fallen Kingdom from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was only okay. The story was pretty simplistic with it mostly focusing around Twitter conversations between the two main characters. Until pretty late in the book, there wasn't all that much going on and I found it hard to stay interested. Plus the background characters were all two dimensional, which is something I just can't stand in a book. We have Tessa's boyfriend Scott who makes no effort to accommodate Tessa's agoraphobia. There's Tessa's mother who is also frustrated by Tessa's agoraphobia. And Eric's manager who makes him work too much and gives him no privacy. And those traits are really all there is to those characters.

Romance-wise, the story idea was pretty cute. But I would have liked it more though if Eric was a bit less of a douche. I can get past him lying about who he is. But he's very determined to date Tessa and cares much more about progressing their relationship than about how what he's doing will affect her. He begs her for selfies knowing that she's scared to show her face to people. He pressures her into signing up for a contest that will require her to go to a concert, knowing she hasn't left her house in months. I'll avoid spoilers but it only gets considerably worse as the book goes on. He cares more about making Tessa his girlfriend than he cares about Tessa's wellbeing. And that's really messed up.

Follow Me Back comes out June 6.