Bookworm Blogger #YA: Andrea Cremer

Calla has always welcomed war.
But now that the final battle is upon her, there's more at stake than fighting. There's saving Ren, even if it incurs Shay's wrath. There's keeping Ansel safe, even if he's been branded a traitor. There's proving herself as the pack's alpha, facing unnamable horrors, and ridding the world of the Keepers' magic once and for all.
And then there's deciding what to do when the war ends. If Calla makes it out alive, that is.

My Review:

At last, the Saga draws to a conclusion, and will they all make it out alive? Hmm, maybe not.
Some of you who've read the first two will no doubt have read reviews giving most of the plot away. Key characters kick the proverbial bucket, and the adventure closes on a suitable ending. This, for me, was much better that the Shiver series which I found a little too bland. The Nightshade series offers nastier characters, lots of history and enough paranormal oddities to shake a stick at. But lets start at the beginning...

In Wolfsbane, Book 2, we learned that Shay is the Scion. The only person who can wield the Elemental Sword and defeat the bad guy, Bosque Mar. But Shay needs the help of the Searchers, the Guardians and a rogue Keeper who may or may not be playing both sides of the field.
In this book the search for the missing parts of the cross lead the characters on an adventure around the globe, fighting the defenders of the hidden pieces. There's loss all the way through, and not necessarily in a deadly way.

I liked this book but I didn't love it. So far, all the 'series' books I've read have drawn to a thrilling conclusion but this one just seemed to lack, for want of a better word, atmosphere.

Calla as a lead role continued to flit between Ren and Shay, at an alarming rate. She's consumated her new Alpha but still leads the other on. Even at the beginning when she finds Ren to bring him over to the other side I found her motives lacked honesty. Ren was promised more than he got and I didn't like Calla for deceiving him all the way through. She constantly implied that she loved Shay, he was The one, but then flipped her decision whenever Ren was in the same room. As role models go I didn't think her Alpha moniker held up to much. She didn't seem to be able to lead any of her pack very well. Mostly they made decisions without her say so and she just went with it.

Shay, who I loved in the first book, was a little disorientating. His quirky demeanour didn't shine like I expected. As a character he was flawed and only seemed to find himself when he was in wolf mode. As a human I didn't think he held the charisma for being the chosen one, the Scion, he just came across as a very arrogant boy.

I had a lot more respect for Ren. His own flaws were redeemed countless times and his superiority was deserved as he began to be accepted into the world of the Searchers. He held more power and deserved to be Alpha once again but Calla dealt with him wrongly time and time again.

Again, the Searchers were all over this book and again they would have come across as nicer people if the characters had a little more flare rather than the bickering that we saw in Wolfsbane. Yes, they all live together and take each day as it comes and as warriors they rock, but as people I just wouldn't want to be in the same room as them for very long.

It was nice to have the pack back together, even if it was a little disjointed. Each pack member had their own role. I would have liked more of their wolf sides to come into the story more than they did.

And in the end, I couldn't get to grips with the final battle scenes. It wasn't an epic ending by any means. If I wrote down what I thought would happen before the ending, it would have appeared exactly as I'd written. There weren't that many twists and turns as promised. It all just fell away towards the end to tie up all the loose ends and let the story filter out. The epilogue was horrible. Once again, several pages of random chit-chat that could have been so much more.

Final conclusions: As a trilogy I have to say that my favourite book was Nightshade. It had spark and fire that the next two seemed to lack. The characters were all gutsy and had attitude. All was a little lost when the human side of the Paranormal world took over. I'm glad I read the trilogy to the end and didn't give up. As wolf books go it is a much better series than I'd hoped.
But in the end I can't help feeling that the it was too safe and Calla got her perfect ending without too much of a battle.
If you like love triangles and wolf-shifter stories then you'll love this series.

CBx

Book1, Nightshade Review

Book2, Wolfsbane Review

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Review: Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

3 out of 5

This thrilling sequel to the much-talked-about Nightshade begins just where it ended. Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemy, and she's certain her days are numbered.

But then the Searchers make her an offer,one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack and the man she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive.

My Review:

I must admit, at the end of Nightshade I really didn't like Ren. I knew Calla wanted to be with Shay so it all seemed like alls fair in love and war. I'm not sure whether I liked Wolfsbane as much. For one thing there was an awful lot of info-dump. Every other page felt like someone was churning out some more history of this and that and why and when. I know most of this will be because Bloodrose is the last in the series so I stuck with it nonetheless!

At the end of Nightshade Calla made the choice to rescue Shay leaving Ren to create a diversion, giving them time to escape. However since then things have changed. The Searchers found Calla and Shay and have now promised to rescue the rest of the pack.

In Wolfsbane both these lead characters annoyed me immensely. Shay, who I wanted to like, came over as caveman Alpha whenever Calla was concerned. Whenever a discussion was being had, Shay would jump in unnecessarily to protect her. Lets remember that Calla is a seasoned wolf, a warrior and an Alpha herself. I understand that Shay is new to the idea of a wolf pack, he's known as a lone wolf, but I just wanted him to cool it a little and stop trying to defend her the whole time.

So to Calla. First she likes Shay, then she's wants Ren, then she's back to Shay, then she's thinking about Ren...the whole mental picture got exhausting. Calla is an extremely brilliant character, I loved her in Nightshade, I understand that love triangles are all the rage, and that she's a wolf underneath her own skin, but did the author have to give the impression that she was constantly on heat! For both boys! Ren features very little in this book, something I was glad for, but this isn't going to bode well for the next installment, Bloodrose.

The Searchers were an interesting concept and gave something different to the story.. They're the good guys who know their weapons and history, more than the Guardians do. I liked that they wanted to help the Guardians and was cheering as they retrieved them from the holding cells. Monroe was a true hero and a great character. The other Searchers? I liked Adne but the rest blended into the pages. The constant bickering and chit-chat got boring and annoying too. I skipped a few pages just to get to the action.

Overall, I still liked the story and must admit that this is one of the best wolf series I've read in a while. I hope Bloodrose meets my expectations now that I know the full history. All in all, its the middle book and met my middle book standards of great but not as good as the first.

Book1, Nightshade Review

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Here's Andrea Cremer talking about Wolfsbane! Enjoy!

Dusty Reads #3 - Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Dusty Reads is a weekly meme hosted by Giselle at Xpresso Reads where we spotlight a book sitting in our TBR pile.

This week:

This has been in my Dusty Reads pile forever! Mainly because of the subject of wolves. I went through a phase of reading so many werewolf books I just didn't want to pick another one up!

But I finally read it and finished it today, and I'm so pleased I did. I loved the simplified unit of wolf packs in this story. It isn't all about packs reading each others minds or snarling and growling between pack members. There is a sense of unity as the two main packs merge to become the new unique pack. The Banes and the Nightshades become the Haldis pack.

I felt a little bit sorry for Ren at times, other times I think he deserved it. Calla was a great female lead although again at times I just wanted to scream at her about the way Ren treated her. He was all over the women at the first few chapters in this book, and Calla let it go. But then he got the hump when Calla paid any attention to Shay.

Shay was an intriging character who showed a lot of courage right up until the end. I'm still amazed that in about a ten minute timeframe he turned into a wolf for the first time and was completely unphased by it. Even changed back and forth into human fom with no trouble at all. I thought the process was supposed to hurt considering bones get longer and shorter etc.

All in all the story is amazing and well thought out. I can't wait to read Wolfsbane and Bloodrose now!

You can reach Andrea Cremer here:

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Here's the Book Trailer! Enjoy!