The program is still devolved/restricted to just Amazon published titles apparently.  But, a review of one of last month's selections by Obisidan Blue reminded me I hadn't looked at May's offerings.

(Kindle Firsts is for Prime members and let's them get one of the selections free one month ahead of their release date.  Current month's selections will be at https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/kindlefirst )

Because it's labeled "Fantasy," I chose to get this first in series:

   The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King 

This "sleuth in the early 20th century with a lot of gay sex" story line was highly entertaining.

I chuckled a lot about Mitchell's antics and his irrepressible sense of - ahem - justice...

An enjoyable if a bit pornesque read.

I remember reading The Passage years ago and really enjoying it. So when I read The Twelve, admittedly only last year, I was not feeling it and was disappointed. It took me hundreds of pages to get back into the story and even then it did not really succeeded. With this information, I was a bit afraid to start with The City of Mirrors, but I wanted to finish the series, and also prevent another huge gap between books.

It was okay. There were parts that I enjoyed, and others that just seemed to be so much filler without actually adding something. Strangely enough though, the part I liked best was Zero's back story. He really fleshed out the characters, and I think this is why I've heard so much great things about his non-fantasy novels. I would certainly pick up one of those books.

However, the survivalist story I liked less. They all feel very safe with the Twelve defeated, but of course, now that there is a new novel, you already know it can't last. It didn't feel very surprising at all, and also to me it was not the last stand that so epic a series (in number of pages at least) should be deserving.

Like I said, I was slightly disappointed with The City of Mirrors, but as Justin Cronin really knows how to portray his characters, I will certainly read more from him in the future!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

@YAInsiders, #Paranormal, #Young_Adult, 4 out of 5 (very good)

This was my third time reading 'The Passage' and I still enjoyed it as much as the first time. I'm not quite sure why that is.I'm a sucker for survival stories, anyway (if you'll excuse the pun), so that is already a huge plus.

Blood-sucking vampire super-soldiers - virals - created by man, have made the human race all but extinct. There are just a few pockets of humanity trying to survive. After almost one hundred years of terror the virals' behaviour starts to change. They realise they have nearly exhausted their food supply and they have to reduce the attacks on the survivors giving them time to multiply but also giving them time to fight back.

On the surface this is a horror story about survival but it is more than that. It is a tale of love in all its forms: husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister. Each time I read it I see more and that for me makes a cracking good story.