This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

This book though. It is so deliciously intense and I cannot help but want to jump up and down with equal parts excitement and fear. There is so much I want to say about this book but so much I cannot say without spoiling certain things.

For starters though, I would like to commend Melinda on her geniusness. Seriously. She is super clever and I just want to, I don’t know, do something to let her know how much I appreciate her cleverness. The sad thing is that after everything I have been put through in this book, and believe me, this book will DRAIN you, I am kind of scared of the sequel.

Let’s not talk about the sequel though, let’s talk about this book and why I think it’s the best thing ever and why I kind of want to shove it in everyone’s faces and tell them to READ THE DAMN BOOK!

Twylla is an interesting main character but I am not going to tell you she is badass because she isn’t. What she is is real and sometimes pathetically so. She came to the castle because it was her dream and she didn’t want the life she had. She left her siblings behind to live in comfort and didn't contact them. It isn’t that they ever left her thoughts, they didn’t, but on the queen’s insistence, she didn't contact her own family. Sometimes I really did question why she didn’t question things, but seeing the way she grew up, it was easy to see why. I am not making Twylla sound particularly admirable and in the beginning, she isn’t. There isn’t much to her that makes her stand out, but by the end of the book, she is absolutely amazing! She undergoes SO MUCH DEVELOPMENT. She starts to stand up for herself and she grows into her own. She isn’t drowning in self-pity; she is starting to take action and right at the end of the novel; she does me proud. That’s the kind of development you want in a book. Perfect characters are not fun to read about. Non-perfect characters are!

Lief is our love interest and sometimes he was annoying, but goddamn, in spite of it, I cannot help but love him. There are things I want to say about him but I will not. Lief is beautiful and mine and no one can have him *takes him and runs away*. You must read the book to find out more and if there are things you need to talk to someone about with, I am here. We can have an entire conversation in exclamation marks!!!!!!! if need be.

This brings us to the romance and while some of you might be wondering if there is a love triangle, I never thought there was one. Twylla seemed to have wanted the prince’s attention in the beginning, but half way through the book, she knows who she wants. She never goes back and forth. It’s plain old romance that takes its time to develop and is SO MUCH FUN to read about.

One thing I always look forward to in a fantasy novel is the world building and the world building in this novel is gorgeous. There were aspects of it that shocked me, but at the same time, this is a world that has been finely crafted. The author doesn’t just tell us about the superstitious nature of the people but she shows it and she does so well. It’s scary but it adds a whole new interesting layer to the book and I appreciated it. I can already imagine this small kingdom that is secluded from all other kingdoms and so unlike them as well. It makes me wonder what is in store for us in the next book world building wise, when we’ll finally get to see the ‘rest of the world’.

The plot is definitely the highlight of this book. There were certain twists I saw coming but the final one shocked me. It was the middle of the night and my roommate was sleeping so I didn’t get the pleasure of screaming in agony as things turned the way they did and I cannot even begin to tell you how shocked I was. Rarely have I ever been so caught off guard and in the best way possible (or the worst way depending on how you look at it).

In spite of how traumatized I was by the twist I adored how Melinda didn’t just end the book there. The epilogue was gorgeously written and the way it ended, instead of making me crave the sequel in the worst way possible, makes me want it even more because it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger. It ends on a certain hopeful note that will have your heart beating faster than normal and will leave you with a smile on your face even though you just endured traumatizing events.

The ending leaves the book complete and makes it so that it could be a stand alone  (I am glad it isn’t one though). I want the sequel and while I am terrified of what Melinda might do and what else she might put us through, I want to see more of this world she has created and I want to spend more time with the characters I have come to love.

If you haven’t gotten the memo, what I need y’all to do when this book comes out is to stop, drop and roll. I mean read the book. I recommend this to lovers of fantasy and anyone who just wants to read a book that has high stakes.

This book has had it's fair share of hype even though there are still a couple of months before it comes out but the question that arises now is whether it lived up to the hype or not. As someone who doesn’t pay as much attention to the hype, I cannot answer that question with certainty but I can say that I wholeheartedly adored it. It’s one of those books I would have finished in a day had I not needed a desperate break from the brutality.

Sabaa Tahir has written a book that is bound to blow your mind or have you getting excited because it is so wonderfully crafted. It may not be the most original book; some aspects of it reminded me of other books I had read, but what is important is that Tahir adopts those aspects and makes them her own. Which is why I ended this book on a very high note.

I don’t know where to start breaking down this book because practically everything about it screams amah-zing.

But I figure the characters would be the best place to start. Laia and Elias are worthy characters. For starters, I was just happy to come across a character named Elias, but that small fact aside. I absolutely adored the characters and their strengths.

Laia has grown up believing she could never be a strong or brave as her brother or mother who everyone referred to as the lioness.  And really, I am not going to tell you she is a typically strong  female lead. She isn’t. But she is strong, in a whole other way. She doesn’t start off as brave in the classic definition. She is not ready to do what she is going to have to to gain her brother’s freedom yet she does it anyway because she loves her brother and because he is her only family left. She does what she has to and while she is not happy about it, while it scares the heck out of her, while she isn’t even sure about her ability to make it through this alive, she pushes through and that is where her strength lies. That is why I adore her so. She isn’t classically strong, she is strong because she has no other choice which turns her into a character that becomes strong in a way that you cannot help but admire and relate to.

Elias is just as fantastic in his own way. He never wanted any of this. He hates the empire and he doesn’t want to be a martial. He isn’t out to save the world. He just wants out. He wants to be free. He doesn’t want to constantly hide who he is and he doesn’t want to have to kill people. At the last moment, when he is about to desert, something happens (I will not reveal this something so as to avoid spoilers). What makes me admire Elias is that even though he has a somewhat low opinion of himself (as a result of his fear of turning into a stone cold murderer like his mother), he somehow manages to retain his beliefs and almost always do what he believes is the right thing. That is his way of saving himself. His ability to do the right thing makes me adore him, especially considering that even his best friend doesn’t share all his ideals and thinks that he is out of line for believing certain things.

Is there a romance between the two characters? I am sure plenty of you are curious and I have to answer that question with a sad no. I personally think the two would make a great couple but that just isn’t happening now. We can only hope it happens down the road. I would like to mention that there is a bit of a love square situation but, it’s a lot more complicated than just that. If you’ve read the Seven Realms series, think the first two books (those are the only ones I’ve read so I don’t know what happens in the other two and cannot take those into consideration).

The world building on the other hand is a lot more straight forward. The blurb said something about a Roman-like world and I actually kept on seeing it as more of a middle-eastern-like world. There are so many mythological aspects weaved into this book too, like Jinns!!!!! That definitely got me excited and I cannot wait to learn even more about this world in the future instalments of the series.

In terms of plot, this book is brutal and I don’t say that easily. Tahir doesn’t hold back on us. Laia for example, goes through a lot not just emotionally, but physically as a result of her ‘owner’. The author doesn’t dance around this but instead shows us and inadvertently makes us feel the misery of the slaves. It’s one of the reasons why I had to put down the book instead of finishing it that very day. Elias faces his own internal conflict with his beliefs and the beliefs of everyone he is surrounded by and he needs to find a way to be himself.

This book is also paced beautifully and is neither too fast or too slow. The tension is just right in this instalment although I imagine things are definitely going to get more intense in the future instalments. 

This book is definitely a must read and I'd recommend it to not just all lovers for fantasy but anyone looking for a book that is bound to blow your mind and leave you with a massive book hangover!

I, like many fans, awaited the release of Shimmer eagerly after the cliffhanger at the end of Haze but when Shimmer came out, I was hesitant to pick it up. It’s not that I hadn’t loved the previous two books but the problem was that I couldn't go through a whole other book without getting answers. So many questions have been raised and I felt like there just weren't enough answers to satisfy me. I was all set to wait until Burn came out to read this one but then Jasprit gifted me a copy and given her excitement, I couldn’t NOT read this (although I took my sweet time getting around to the book). This book was worth it. It doesn’t necessarily give me the answers I sought but… it gives me something. Something that had me flailing and jumping out of my seat and freaking out.

Where Shadows was full of action and excitement, Haze was full of amazing character development and Shimmer, Shimmer explored the dynamics between the two different groups of Rephaim. For the first time in a decade, the two groups are forced to cooperate when two of their own are kidnapped, the question arises as to whether they can do it peacefully or whether things will go to hell again.

What I love most about this world is that Weston doesn’t try to tell is that one group is better than the other. Both groups have their positive and negative points. One group doesn’t entirely consist of good rephaim and one of bad rephaim. Both sides have a mix of characters. Some might be head strong and unwilling to change their ways and others might see the other side’s point but still continue to believe what they believe. Reading about the dynamics within the group and their interactions with one another was SO interesting.

Throw in the fact that Gabe and Jude hadn't been on the same side before they lost their memory. It’s interesting to see how the fact that neither remember anything influences their interactions with the group and I have to say, I quite like that they aren’t picking sides anymore.

What did bother me was the fact that everyone paid attention to what Jude had to say but Gaby’s opinion wasn’t held in the same light. Jude also didn’t face the same difficulties Gaby had when she first found out about what she was and I was annoyed by what a speshul snowflake Jude was. But then Jude would be so supportive and cared so much for Gaby that it was hard to hold it against him. He hadn’t asked for any of this and he didn’t want to go back to the way things were, where he stopped talking to his sister for a decade. Those moments when they promised each other they would never go back to that touched me.

Gaby continues to develop in this book and she’s come so far from book 1. It shocked me every time I realized that the events of book 1 only happened over a week ago in the timeline of this series. The thing about Gaby is that she isn’t just developing mentally and physically, she has also grown emotionally over the course of the books and it's a joy to see her come into her own.

Other characters also develop in this book and I liked getting to know more about Mya. I liked that we finally got her side of the story. For the first time, she wasn't necessarily cast in a bad light (in spite of her actions). It was a pity that there wasn't more Jason in this book though. He has become one of my favorite characters and I missed him (as well as Rafa).

As one might imagine, things are definitely tense in this book what with Rafa and Taya having been kidnapped. The outcasts have asked for help and it’s up to Nathaniel to decide whether he will send his rephaim to help them. So, there isn’t much action in the first half of the book but after that things definitely get rolling. That isn’t to say that the book was dull at any point, it definitely wasn’t.

A lot of you shippers will also be happy to know there is definitely some interesting development in Gaby and Rafa's relationship!

I definitely think this was a worthy addition to the series and if you, like me, are worried about giving this one a shot, don’t be. It’s definitely worth it. I will admit that this book ends on a cliffhanger but the cliffhanger is one I whole heartedly appreciate.. unlike the one in Haze. I can only imagine the kind of things that will happen in Burn with the way this book ended. The wait may kill me but I trust Paula Weston to not disappoint.

[This review was originally posted on Nick's Book Blog ]