Mini-Reviews: The Lost Sisters, Archenemies, & Every Heart a Doorway

The Lost Sisters by Holly Black
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: October 2, 2018
Source: Borrowed

Sometimes the difference between a love story and a horror story is where the ending comes . . .

While Jude fought for power in the Court of Elfhame against the cruel Prince Cardan, her sister Taryn began to fall in love with the trickster, Locke.

Half-apology and half-explanation, it turns out that Taryn has some secrets of her own to reveal.

The Lost Sisters is a companion e-novella to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince by master writer Holly Black.

The Lost Sisters is a 50-page novella, so this will be a very mini mini-review. This novella is set between The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King and tells us what happened from Taryn’s perspective. I was a little apprehensive about that, because I didn’t think that anything could make me like or sympathize with her… and I was right.

While well-written, this novella did nothing for my dislike of Taryn. I’m also not sure that it was entirely necessary since it didn’t add much to the story. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m still most likely going to be reading Cardan’s novella when it comes out.

Archenemies by Marissa Meyer
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: November 6, 2018
Source: Borrowed

Time is running out.
Together, they can save the world.
But are they each other’s worst nightmare?

In Renegades, Nova and Adrian (aka Insomnia and Sketch) fought the battle of their lives against the Anarchist known as the Detonator. It was a short-lived victory.

The Anarchists still have a secret weapon, one that Nova believes will protect her. The Renegades also have a strategy for overpowering the Anarchists, but both Nova and Adrian understand that it could mean the end of Gatlon City – and the world – as they know it.

While I really enjoyed Renegades, I never felt too much of a burning desire to read the rest of the books in the series. Then, as I started to think that maybe I finally wanted to read it, I was worried that it had been too long and I wouldn’t remember all the characters and their aliases and their allegiances. But then I jumped in anyway, because why not, and it all turned out okay.

I’m not sure what’s a spoiler and what isn’t right now, so I’m going to be pretty brief in what I liked and disliked. I liked the relationship between Nova and Adrian and I liked the tension between good and evil and the morally grey quality that a lot of the characters have. I did think the book had a bit of a slow start, and I’m not sure that the amount of action we got warranted 560 pages, but overall, this was really good.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: April 5, 2016
Source: Borrowed

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

I have seen Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series seemingly everywhere over the last few years, and I finally decided it was time to pick it up. In case you, like me, weren’t really sure what this series is all about, it’s set at a boarding school for children who’ve visited other worlds and have returned to parents who aren’t quite sure what to do with them. Their parents don’t support them, they think they’re crazy, or they’re just fed up. Whatever the reason, all the characters have ended up in this school where they’re finally accepted for who they are.

I enjoyed this little novella a lot, but I wish that it was longer. McGuire introduces us to a bunch of characters, all very intriguing, all very different, a couple things happen plot-wise, and then it’s over. This is a series of many novellas about the different characters and the different fantastical worlds they’ve visited, and I can only hope that by the time it’s done, I’ll feel like I’ve been told a complete, cohesive story.