MulticulturalJunkie

I was invited to read this interesting book by the author a few months back, but due to my little financial mishap in December-January, I just put it past my mind. I definitely regret taking so long to pick it up, as there are many interesting things this book brings up, and infuses culture, what I took as particularly Western African culture in it's fantastical setting.

There were things I both licked and disliked about this book. I find that the initial idea of this book is what would draw you in the most. But where it struggles is it's editing. I will break down the things I liked and didn't connect with, but first I will give a quick synopsis of the book.

The Waters of Iwingee follows the adventure of two siblings, which I take to be African-American, named Kail and Mani, in a race to find a way to help their grandmother when she falls ill. One would think this would sound easy, but take in mind, the siblings are taken to a different world that disturbs everything they know about their normal.

What I liked:

That this book is heavily rooted in lore and culture from Africa. I would suggest mainly Western African, but there are other smaller elements that come from other places in the African continent. I probably havent mentioned this, because I havent had a strong reason to(mainly because she's never made an appearance in any books I've read) but my favorite mythological god/goddess is Yemayah(or Yemaya). 

Much of the spirituality from Africa was lost due to colonization, and the culture became distorted and demonized over the years. For the most part European gods do the same things, if not more, questionable things, but are often celebrated for this power. Maybe because Im a Black Cuban, I feel so connected in Yoruban culture, but I found that the ideas and the choice of creatures, as well as characters were good fits for the story.

I believe the presence of two black children in a fantasy novel, would most likely instill confidence, at an age it's needed most. Especially because one is a boy and one is a girl. Black children dont get their stories told enough, but for geeks like me, I never saw myself in fantasy growing up as a child.

The diversity in the book is a strong point for the book, at empowering the image of black child, with an unforced effort, if any. While they are never really explicitly referred to as African American, well...You can kind of just tell. Their names are slight giveaways, especially Mani, who's full-name is Imani. Not a ton of white children walking around with that name XD

Which rings me to names. The names were difficult, but provoking, strong, and demanding. My name isn't any type of African culture, but it's always been mispronounced. There is so much pressure to name children or characters racially ambiguous names, which really mean "white" names. Im glad the story doesn't shy away from difficult to pronounce names, because why can people pronounce the names of Greek and Roman Gods, but deem African Gods or names too hard to try? The author even makes it easier for you. There's a freakin glossary in the back of the book(which I dangerously needed XD ) so it's not fair to say the names are too hard to say,

I found that both Mani and Kail were relatable. Particularly Kail. He faces many challenges many of us face as children. Bullying, insecurity, never have meeting his parents. Both children were without parents, but Mani was older, so she'd at least known them before they died. Kail had to miss something he never really knew, and that is frustrating and heart breaking as a child to experience. I liked their relationship as siblings, in ways it reminded me of the pettiness between my sister and I, because were too childish to grow up when it comes to each other XD

The title is also attention grabbing, and makes me wonder what it's about, and suggests I will get to experience culture outside of this "default" we've been forced to almost always pick up upon looking for a decent fantasy book.

The book has good world building, and brings many mythological creatures to life that I dont get the pleasure of seeing much.

Things I didnt connect with:

The writing style. I wanted to rate this book higher, because the premise alone is what I typically look for. But I think it would have been a stronger book with a harder edit. Details at time werent as clear as I wanted them to be. And sometimes events I had to read several times, because I wasnt sure how it had gotten to that point. I think an example would be best to showcase this. Kail's bully Kendall, was picking on him in his favorite class. Kendall threw something at Kail, but the next moment, Kendall was provoked to chase him outside of the classroom. 

There wasnt any signs that suggested Kail had hit Kendall to provoke him to react this way. I wasnt sure what had gotten Kendall so angry. This has nothing to do with editing, but I wondered why very little was done about the bullying, when it was painfully obvious, as it didnt seem as though Kendall cared about having witnesses.

The Point of view isnt clear enough at times. Many times, I would get so frustrated, put down the book, and take some time off, because between the writing style, the POV, the editing, I had several brain farts, but I wanted to finish it until the end. The editing affected it's pacing for me.

I didnt give it any points for editing, but had the editing been stronger, it would have been that much better. It would've been a full point higher, as I find that my biggest issue is mainly with the editing.

The character descriptions are just ok. I found that a few white or fair skinned(and minor) characters were described, but I didnt get a strong sense of Kail and Mani's appearances. Kail supposedly had dark skin. But I knew more about Mary/Yemayah's appearance and Kail's teacher, than I knew about Kail and Mani's. Perhaps this was to keep racial ambiguity? I believe knowing the races of characters is not a bad thing. While people of color need to see themselves as heroes, white children need to as well, so it becomes as normal for them as seeing themselves. So that was my only complain with that.

The cover is just ok. I dont dislike it, but I dont connect strongly to it either.

I believe I would have a better appreciation for this book if the editing were much stronger. I would even read it again, and probably get something more from it if it were reedited.  It was difficult to rate, considering I liked what it was about, but not as much as how it's written. It leans back and forth between two numbers for me. But I think the ending has me curious to know if a sequel is in the works.

This book is a bit hard to rate. Im a bit torn, because I love the author, but I just didn't connect with the book the way I wanted to. 

I definitely think the story shows promise to get more interesting, but for me, lack of strong character development was a concern for me.

I'll start off first by giving you a run down of the book's content. "The Vicious Deep" follows the exploits of Tristan Hart, a young man, whom with time discovers he is a merman, and must embark on an adventure to gain not only the favor of the people, or fey-folk(really anything type of creature really), but also to find pieces of the Triton, a powerful weapon he would've inherited, had he been born to the sea, but must prove he is worthy to hold.

There were more things I didn't connect with than I did. Im not sure if this is the writing style signature to the author, or the way the story is edited, but there are many times where the story drifts and leaves me either bored, or confused. Or perhaps it could be the many characters that were often introduced, with either little warning, and not enough for me to have any type of relationship with.

In my opinion, the book is it's strongest during it's first 50-60 pages. Im not sure why I wasn't in love with the way the story was told, but I did like the story itself. The pacing was often at times slowed down because of the main character. Perhaps Tristan is not a clear enough narrator. At times he focuses on many things that lack importance, and while I get why(he is after all a teenage boy)his narrative wasnt as intelligent as I wouldve liked him to be.

This is not to say he's not likable. In fact he is. But perhaps I only feel this way because he is extremely good looking. While Tristan is likable, I dont find him very relatable. I wanted to relate to him, but his experiences just weren't universal. Im not talking about his adventures as a merman, Im actually referring more to his life style, how he handles situations, heck, if im being honest, i'll just throw this out there. Because he's a white guy. I've related to white characters in the past. While I will say that they've mainly been women, I have on occasion related well to a white guy. But for Tristan to be from Brooklyn, I dont know. I guess I kept expecting for him to be a little more well rounded. But I did like that this story is told from a guy's point of view, because it's extremely rare to find a story about merfolk from the perspective of a man's.

I think that the back story is absolutely awesome. I love the villain, even though for now she works indirectly. She reminds me a bit of a vicious Ursula, and I do look forward to seeing and hearing more from her, and I liked how she created much of the conflict our hero needed to discover things about his identity.

The world-building is cool. I don't know if I picture absolutely everything as well as it's written, but I tried my best not to get lost in description. 

This is where I get a little anal. The diversity isn't as strong as I would've thought, or liked it to be. I do give credit where it is due, because Tristan's love interest, Layla, is Latina.

But Im on the fence on how I feel about Layla. I think Im a bit biased, because the only real reason Im trying to like her is because she's the only woman of color in the book. She's half Greek and half Ecuadorian, and seems to be in tune with both sides, but I kinda wonder what she would've been like if she'd just been written Ecuadorian. I definitely don't find anything wrong with having a multi-ethnic person be represented, but I just wonder. Maybe because growing up, my neighborhood was about 55% Ecuadorian, 20% African-American,15% Puerto Rican, and 10% whatever else. Granted it wasn't a big neighborhood, but my exposure to American or South American born Ecuadorians kinda has me thinking this way because of that.

Layla was gorgeous too. She was athletic, and I love the girls who work out. She wasn't intentionally stereotypical, but what I will say, is that her being the only woman of color, made everyone who pretty much drooled over her, make her appear fetish-ized. Maybe if there'd been more non white female characters to balance it out, it would've have come of as guys wanting to bang the "fiery Latina."

I also wasn't sold 100% on their love story. She and Tristan are best friends, which I am sold on. But Tristan was very comfortable sexually, to spread his comfort for whomever would take it. He just expected Layla to know his feelings were genuine, even when he didn't show it. And him forcing a kiss on her in the beginning isn't as harmless as it comes off as. It was unwanted and if a stranger did the same thing, you'd be able to press charges. Maybe as the story grows I'll change my mind about them, but for now, they just don't do it as lovers for me.

I want to also talk about diversity. Outside of Layla, there are two minor characters whom are men of color. One Puerto Rican, the other American of Jamaican descent. They weren't mentioned enough for me to care about them as much as I would've liked to. I kept thinking what part of Brooklyn are they from? Im not a New Yorker, so I know I don't have the right, but I've been back and forth there for college. The Brooklyn I knew had Asians, Latinos, Caribbean, African American,pretty much whatever you can think of. 

I wondered why out of all Tristan's friends, only the white ones Ryan and Angelo(whom was Italian)were described in great detail, and/or joined in action sequences, and had more than one or two lines at a time. I had no idea what his friends of color looked like, but Ryan and Angelo were pictured clearly.

The diversity I think just could have been stronger. This isn't to come down on the book, but they head to florida the next book. Being Afro-Cuban American, I hope to see some Cubans, or at least a Haitian XD

The cover is amazing, and one of the reasons I bought the book in the first place. It speaks to the mission of the story, so I have no complaints there. The book's titles is also eye catching. I couldn't think of a more catching title for a story about merfolk. And I loved the character names. I love the name Tristan, and I love the name Layla. There are many other characters with unique names, that are a bit hard to remember the exact spelling, but the character Gwen's name caught my attention, seeing as how Im a Gwen(Though mine is spelled Guin).

Im definitely going to continue the series in hopes it connects with me better than the first book has. I hope the diversity is allowed to grow as well. It's a bit difficult to rate, because Im on the fence with a point, but Ill say it's between a 1.75-2.00

I recently read the first book in this series, and while there were many things I found problematic, I did enjoy it very much.

So I read this book about...4 weeks ago? And Im not going to give an excuse, but the turnout of the book didn't motivate me to write this review. I think as a Pendragon fan, I enjoyed it, but there were some things I didn't connect with that I connected with better with the original. Why dont I just highlight the pros and the cons.

What I liked:

I love the new character Vo Spader. Booby wasn't vague in describing that he looked Asian(or rather I think it'd be better to state East Asian)looking up the fan art confirmed how I saw him. Very handsome, East Asian, with a big, infectious smile. Im not sure if the author does this intentionally, but I like how Bobby meets characters of color, and it's not an issue, or a racial thing, or even a thing in general. So far, of the travelers he's met so far, one has been one, one black(and a girl) and one asian.

I like that this heritage isn't just shared amongst only the white folk, where we have to just sit back and be amazed by them. Im being completely sarcastic, but a part of that is true.

Vo was very gregarious, and he wasn't written to be or prove anything to the story, he just was.

I think I kind of liked the world, but I'll go into the issues with the world building in the cons section. I think I still like the idea that there isn't just one world out there, I connect with that aspect of it the most.

What I didn't connect with:

Oh the grammar. Still horrible as ever. I keep wondering why Bobby does all that telling. He's not 3, I think he's capable of structuring his sentences a lot better than the author allows him to. He goes through such adult situations(I cant think of many 14 year olds who saw over 200 bodies sitting dead in their own waste) so he should be written with a stronger narrative. I have a feeling all the books in the series will have this issue, but the lovable characters do make up for it.

The world building. I couldn't really picture the world. I kept trying to picture it underwater, because a few things they could use from the world functioned, or was exclusively built to function under the water, because there was no dry land in Cloral, aside from a mystery lost island named "Faar." But then some things were contradicted with the "habitats" people lived on suggesting they lived on boats. Sometimes I pictured them to be islands that could float and be steered, other times I pictured them as boats, but I was extremely lost and it didn't slow down to explain it to me.  

No Loor! While I will agree that this wasn't her world, and it wasn't about her, she's the whole reason I signed up! She made an appearance, and I savored every minute I got to see her, but I want more Loor!

The Villian. Saint Dane has the look of a villain , but he just comes off as rather silly to me at times. His ability to shape-shift is awesome. It makes it much easier to do things indirectly that way, his typical way of creating mischief. But he just doesnt strike fear in me the way a villain should. He always just seems like the type of villain who's goal is way too big. Destroying the universe? Does he have no other goal? One that might suit his own personal need, that just happens to affect people?

Overall, as a fan of the series, Im dedicated so Im still tuning in.

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This book was a fun read. While I couldnt put it down, it...had it's faults. "The Merchant of Death" focused on a 14 year old boy named Bobby Pendragon. The novel follows his journey upon finding out he is a "Traveler" or a person who can travel to different territories, aka alternative dimensions. The aspect of the traveler concept was really interesting. I wiki'ed it before I read it and it was dangerously confusing. But once you read everything it's slowed down much simpler to understand. There were things I loved about this book. But there were many things I thought could have been left out entirely to make the story's prose much smoother. I'd rather highlight the strengths and weaknesses separately, so you can make you own decision about whether this may or may not interest you.

What I liked: 

I liked Bobby. Hell, I liked many of the major and supporting characters. Uncle Press, Loor and Osa were my standout favorites, but Bobby's best friend and crush Courtney were cool to. There was a certain level of diversity to the characters that made them all different and mesh well together.

Bobby was an athlete, but he was more clever than anything. He didnt have much knowledge to what a traveler was, but he made his own talents work for him. He was relatable. He's not good at much, but he used what he was good at to make situations work for him, and he knew when to ask for help. Those were his more relatable traits. I really liked the two main female characters Loor and Courtney. At times I though they were a little too tough for their own good, but it was nice to see the girls werent the damsels in distress. Loor, who was from Zadaa, got a majority of all action scenes. Not a big deal? Uh I think so. She was a dark skinned, gorgeous, in shape black girl. She was Zadaa-n but in Bobby's territory(Which is known as Second Earth) she would have been considered Black.

She was a little mean, but her upbringing probably didnt have time to feel sorry for the weak. She had her reason to dislike Bobby, and he recognized them. I liked their tension, and I hope to see more in the future for the duo!

What I really liked was that she was treated like a human being. She had a lot of "strong black woman" traits, but she was still worthy of protection and defending when needed be. We need to see more of this with our women of color in books.

The world building is cool. I loved it, but the narration is a little off. Being a traveler is a really interesting thing to be. To be able to travel to different worlds reminds me a little of Kingdom Hearts. This is a compliment, as Kingdom Hearts is my favorite video game series of all times. Travelers have a certain obligation to the territories to help the worlds at their peak of suffering to get a better idea of what they do.

The pacing works for the story, but again, while i'll go into better detail on the cons of this review, the narration is off. The backstory is well formatting into the story so not to get lost. The traveler aspect is unique :) And there's a lot of conflict, in and out of worlds.

At first I wasnt sure about the title, but about 300 pages in, the title wholeheartedly matched the plot of the book. I loved the unique names going around though Loor was my favorite!

What I didnt connect with:

THE PROSE!  Bobby's entire narration were journal entries as he told the events of his journey to his friends. It was absolutely terrible!Even though his point of view is clear and he spoke how I imagine most 14 year olds to talk, it came off as juvenile. Narration is supposed to, at best, give a level of maturity to the protagonist. Bobby always came off as too excited. There were too many exclamation points here, to many there, that it made him come off as happy, when he may not have been.

There is a 3rd person narrative when it is not being told from him narrative, which was a bit more polished, but the writing style was horrendous. This not an insult to to author. In fact, upon researching him, he created and penned for many of the tv shows that shaped my childhood. But I cant believe an editor came to the conclusion this was an acceptable way to tell the story. I didnt slow down at all, as it isnt confusing, it just comes off as "telling" versus "showing."

The fat shaming. That has to go. There was a female monarch named Kagan who had her own faulty reputation. But the way Bobby fat shamed her was unacceptable. I cant imagine being an overweight kid and reading this. I would have no self confidence. There were times when the author empowered Black girls, but shamed girls who werent exactly size 2's. So Im not sure how to feel about that.

While I did mention I got a decent description of many of the main characters, the only character I didnt get was the one telling them story. What the hell did Bobby look like? If I have to guess from the cover, maybe strawberry blond hair and blue-green eyes? This is confusing because on future covers his hair is very dark. Huh? The only sense of his appearance I got was his height. He was significantly shorter than his party. But that was about it.

I dont know what research was necessary because it seems rather low to mid-level fantasy. So Im not sure what to say about that.

I loved this book. My score may or may not reflect that, but I just bought the sequel! 

I received this book for review from the author after showing admiration for her ability to infuse diversity in an otherwise closed minded sub genre of science fiction: Steam Punk.

I love steampunk. I absolutely love the world-building behind it. But unfortunately I typically avoid it. Why? Because it typically excluded anything outside of Victorian/White-British/European culture. I still adore it, but I don't have to stand for the exclusion when there are books like this out there to counter this idea that SteamPunk has become synonymous with Europe. 

It's based in a fictional world that I take as a steampunk India, and there were many cultural aspects I found showed a great respect to Indian culture.

There was very little that I disliked about this book. If Im being honest, I thought at best I thought it would be just alright. I'll just break down my likes and dislikes of the book in the next few paragraphs.

What I loved:

At first I wasn't sure about the book's pacing, but fear not. If you judge a book by it's first 50 pages, it definitely peaked my interest by page 50. I found the pacing exceptional for the story that was being told. It focused on a princess named Aniri, whom due to her being the third born daughter, has the choice to marry the man of her choice.

Due to certain events, Aniri is asked by her mother to consider an arranged marriage with a feuding country. Aniri isn't sure whether her mother is testing her loyalty to her country, when her mother reveals that is it to spy, as there are rumors that they have a weapon of mass destruction.

All the twists and turns allowed me to never be bored with the story. In fact, there were a bunch of shockers, and only one was slightly predictable.

As far as character development, I loved Aniri. She reminded me of myself so much. Independent, but not always wise enough to make the right decision, but owning up to each bad decision made only made me like her more. She was in great shape and described as muscular! I love girls that work out, especially ones who can hold their own. I love promoting more images that highlight fitness. Girls are either model thin, or curvy(which is typically just busty) in books, and I always favor the fit-ties.

There were good balances of distributing backstory, as well as conflict for the story. It's not easy to spy on a man you plan to marry who you are secretly falling for, and that's a challenge within itself. There were also a lot of politics to the union of Aniri marrying Ashoka Milak, or her future fiancé, that provided plenty of conflict. This is my first dabble into a "Bolly-Punk" novel, so it gets the point for unique-ness.

I didn't have any huge issues with the grammar and writing style. I did see a few mistakes here and there, but it was never enough to remember them for long. I would say it fits an industry standard, as even those books aren't 100% goof-proof. There were a decent amount of beats between dialogue and storyline. I wont say it was perfect, but it wasn't bad enough to warrant a point off. To be honest, I cant believe this author is self published. She's avoided so many mistakes many self published authors fail. This book would rekindle anyone's faith in self published books, and it's why I cant give up on them.

The highlight? DIVERSITY!

Everybody was brown! Since it is a fictional India, I assuming, or at least I interpret everyone as such. All of the main characters were people of color. Aniri, her fiancé Prince Malik, her lover Devesh, her attendant Priya, her bodyguard ,EVERYONE.

And their beauty is not shunned, but highlighted. When I think of Bollywood, I typically think light eyes, fair skin. I mean there one way to look "Indian" but their caste system would definitely have one thinking otherwise. Indian women face many of the same issues Black women face. Colorism. It is very strong in both cultures, and I am so glad someone is highlighting the beauty in dark brown skin.

I'll be completely unprofessional and say every guy in this book was smoking hot. But Prince Malik, Aniri's fiancé was not just gorgeous, he was the sweetest character in the book, and what I typically see Indian men as. VERY ROMANTIC.

I think this book highlighted the best of East-Indian culture. It earned every diversity book I can possibly give.

Miscellaneous points? I think the title suits the books, it is indeed about the story's "Third Daughter", and while the cover to me is just ok, I think it fits the book, and at least it highlights Asian people, as opposed to whitewashing them. I loved the character descriptions, and could picture them well, and while the names are a little confusing, I did like them. I always favor the ethnic names, so I guess I cant complain.

What I didn't connect with:

Very little. My only complaints are actually rather minor. With any steampunk book, the descriptions of machina are always where I get lost. The machines and automatons were very hard to picture, and I always got lost in the descriptions. Nearly every one of them. Im sure this would confuse any reader who is very new to the steampunk genre. Im not sure how to fix this, as it is in nearly every steampunk book,and I will most likely always feel this way about the machina aspect.

Which comes to another point I didn't give out. The descriptions were at times a little too many. I understand that this is necessary, because these worlds don't actually exist, but it frustrated me to be so lost in description. Had a lot of brain farts because of it.

Overall this was a well written, diversely written book. I was stuck in a rut from the last few books I read,so Im glad between them I had this diamond in the rough. Loved it so much, I bought my own paperback copy.

I had trouble reading this book. This is not to say this book is bad, I just didnt connect well with it. I got lost in a lot of terms, and while I didn't connect well, I highly suggest this book to any die hard Sci-Fi fan, especially one of color, who is tired of only seeing what's become our default "white" main character.

REEL followed the exploits of a world that has suffered from human beings not taking care of it. 

Things i loved:

It's strong in diversity. The main character Tremain "Tree" Mays is Black, and his boos is Indigenous American. One of his colleagues was a Hispanic male, and the other was a French-Canadian female.

I liked that all their positions were super fancy and required years of training and education. I can imagine any boy of color picking up this and loving what they see on the page.

The girl even got to save the day, which was cool, considering even when female characters are strong,  a man will still be written to save the day.

Things I didn't connect with:

I didn't like the prologue. It had a lot of info dumping and I just didnt think a book that's 40 pages needed one. It also has an epilogue. I honestly would have loved to see where those characters would have gone.

I do say that while it was strong in diversity, I would've loved if Sophie would've been a woman of color. Women and being a person of color always tend to be separate, with no intersecting. Now Chen? I would've loved to see a girl like her take charge. Women of color never get these opportunities, and while I connected with Sophie, I kept asking, would she have been any different had she been from Argentina or Brazil(I say those places because they have high populations with features like hers, just saying).

The beginning had some formatting issues. While there are few grammatical errors, there were times, especially in the prologue, when the paragraphs weren't broken up. That's not a huge deal, but it made reading it seem like a brain fart with no break.

The pacing and world building were harder for me to grasp, as I had a much harder time picturing the world.

Overall, I would read from this author again. I think the book could have stood to be longer. Maybe that would have given more room to have more descriptions.

It's been awhile since I've read anything dystopian. Libby read this a few years back, a bit before our blog started up, so my review will be the one to go up. I will say Im glad I read this book. I wasnt expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is enjoyable if you like the YA dystopian sub genre type book.

What I liked:

I thought the pace matched the book well enough that I wasn't bored for more than a chapter or two. Divergent follows the exploits of a girl named Beatrice, whom lives in an dystopian Chicago, where humanity has separated themselves in "factions" or personality based segregation. When a person turns 16, they go through a rite of passage, where their minds and choices determine whether they stay in their born faction, or choose a different one. The only thing is, once they choose one, they're not allowed to have strong contact with a past faction.

Beatrice or "Tris" is "divergent", a person whom is stuck between several, which is dangerous and can get one killed. I liked Beatrice. I think she had her faults, but she was much better and much stronger than many teenage girl MC. I think girls should be allowed to be sappy, and Mary sue's but there should be diverse strong ones too to even things out.

Being "divergent" isn't a super power or anything. It's just someone who cant be controlled. I liked how Tris wasn't anything overtly special,but she worked hard to overcome a lot of her physical faults. I liked that due to her choice of picking "dauntless", she was exercising and filling out her frame in a healthy way. Girls are either skinny or heavy, and it seems novels don't allow the athletic build to shine. I like that Tris promoted a body in motion, one who took fitness seriously.

The story had good back story, and it distributed it well, and in the places that best fit it. I liked the world building. Im in love with Chicago, and it seemed like a cool place to set a world like this. The world building was pretty good, I wont say that is was excellent or life changing, but it earned the point from me. 

it's well edited and an industry standard, and the character descriptions are on point. 

No insta-love. It seemed like it at first, but I wasn't aware until about 3/4 into the book, that'd they'd been training for about 6 months. I think that's enough time to fall for a guy.

What didn't do it for me:

There's not a ton of diversity. Any diversity is left for the reader to guess. Two characters close to Tris seem like People of Color, but she never explicitly says so. And even so, they were the only ones, and that's strange considering Chicago has some of the largest numbers of people of color in the United States. As of now it's only 45% White, and only 31% of that is non-Latino. Seriously? I know all the marginalized groups didn't die out. And where are all the disabled people and queer people?

Another gear that grinded for me? I can tell the author is Christian. This is not an insult to the author, and it is not anything against Christianity. But there is a large history of Christianity "conquering" for power, and it just so happens? Yea, Abnegation, the faction of "self-less" people are the only people in power, and decide all the other factions fates. Hmmm...that doesn't sound like history repeating itself at all. And yea, they're the only ones that believe in God too. Don't know how I feel about that.

The cover is just ok to me. And the concept isnt out of the realm of other dystopian books. 

But I loved it. Tris is more like me than let's say a Bella Swan. I have the sequel, and I will read it once I get some other books out my queue.

Guinevere's Actual Rating: 3.75

I mean wow, she had to do it to me.

Actual rating 4.5, Review can also be seen here:

http://twinjabookreviews.blogspot.com/p/our-reviews.html

Warrior is the long awaited sequel to Prophecy, a story based in a mythological-fantastical Korea, with a heroine with bite.

Kira has accepted she is the Dragon Musado, a role that has earned her both praise and anguish. In her patriarchic world, it is both a blessing and a curse. She, her cousin Taejo, the rightful heir and her future king, her brother Kwan and friends are on a journey to find the second Dragon King treasure, a dagger that can control the earth.

I found that I enjoyed the pacing and overall flow in this book much better than the first. Prophecy's pacing was acceptable, but Warrior didn't have to rely on giving a ton of back story, so it made the story move faster for me. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the love triangle. That lacked consistency for me, and I expected better from Kira. I don't want her to be alone, but like in K-Dramas, why does the lead female never want the nice guy?

The world-building is topnotch. To be honest, I didn't always enjoy surrealism Eastern stories told in comparison to Western ones, but since I'm getting a bit bored with the average story, I really like learning different types of myth, even if it is just fantasy. I predicted the love triangle a bit, and a few battle scenes were...they had a ton of action, but with men with so little experience fighting demons, you kind of always knew what the outcome would be.

Kira I find more relate-able than most characters I've read in the last decade. No offense to the "Mary Sue's" of the world, but I'm a girl who is confident in what she is good at, and not afraid to admit it. I like her brass attitude, and her ability to be one of the boys. I mean she kind of doesn't have a choice, as her tiger spirit gives her abnormal abilities for a woman, but Kira I highly related to. And like a G, she always found a way.

I had absolutely no issue with the language or overall writing style. I only noticed one error that's all the way at the end of the book editing wise, but that's definitely not enough to deduct a quarter of a point. The POV at times was a bit...confusing, but only during certain points. Mainly if Kira dreamed or had a nightmare, which was not very often. The space between dialogue and beats I also didn't have an issue with.

Warrior kind of won many points on the board, but obviously I look the most for diversity, so it definitely makes the cut. Let me say first that I assume that everyone is Korean. It wouldn't make much sense if there were non-Asian folks in this book, but I liked that. I think Kira being Korean should allow her to be around people she can relate to. Not to say I wouldn't have hated seeing non-Asians in the book, but if it opens the door to "appropriation" of Korean culture, I'd pass.

It's just nice to see strong Asian male leads in books. Warrior's highlight for me was in fact it's strong male, hot Asian male leads! I loved Kwan, her feisty middle sibling. He was hilariously protective of his sister, and I really liked that he was in this book more than the first. I hope the last book opens up to incorporate Kyoung more. I would've liked to see more of him. Taejo is slowly growing into a young man. He's starting to question his way of thinking because of the events laid upon them, and I think that type of growth is amazing.

It's interesting that there are many types of mythological ties to South AND North Korea in this book. There were all of these interesting creatures I'd never heard of, but the standout was the arrogant dragon of the Shadow World Fulang. I was a bit afraid of him, but he was to learn more, you'll have to read the book.

Jaewon. Oh Ji-hoon Jeong, I mean Jaewon. Oh when I imagine you looking like my favorite K-Pop star Bi(Rain), the things you said and did with Kira made me want to be Kira. I'm in love with men of color love interests, so that was definitely a highlight for me.

I find that although the book title is plain, it suits the story. Prophecy was plain too, and to steer too far from that simplicity may confuse people. The cover is cool. I would PREFER to see Kira or a part of her, but it's also appropriate considering it is the second Dragon King treasure. The character names are lovely, Im just a bit ashamed to admit they confused me at times, due to many going by their surnames. Not a deal breaker though. There were vague descriptions of a few of the main characters, but I suppose the minor characters got detailed descriptions, especially creatures.

Overall, after that cliffhanger ending, I look forward to the next book!

Actual Rating 2.25

Review can also be seen here:

http://twinjabookreviews.blogspot.com/p/our-reviews.html

Actual Rating: 3.75

It's taken me much longer than usual to write this review. My book blog had a great month featuring diversity, and Kelan O'Connell was a featured author. I take pride in writing a review for a book featuring a black male protagonist.

Things I liked:

I found that the character development for many of the main characters was good, especially Calvin Pierce, the main character. He was a black teen from an urban area, who made some bad choices. If only our black male youth could sit down,read this, and see they have options.

Calvin was a funny, bright, young and resourceful. He is a really good example that your neighborhood doesn't always have to define who you are. Let's not put sugar on *^&. Even in a "post-racial" country, many still find issue with making black men, even teenagers, great heroes. I like that Calvin is the center of all important events in this book. I also liked that he's not written to be a carbon copy of a white hero.

I loved Mei-Li. I liked that she was feisty, and ambitious, and the object of affection, WITHOUT being exoticized. This happens too much with Asian female protagonists or love interests. In fact many of the main characters have a certain relatability factor.

The back story is awesome, and makes the world building of the current town a wonder to imagine. Many books don't choose to focus a town built by Chinese immigrants. That tends to be "forgotten" history, mainly because white men didn't do it. That within itself made it very unique to me. =)

Delta Legend also kills in diversity. Mind you there aren't a ton of main characters. But the characters whom are central characters make up an extremely rare, and diverse group of people. Women, men, children, people of many races mingling and coming together. Plenty of conflict. This is really who the world should be. If a small town can come together and solve a problem this big, Im trying to figure out why an entire country cant figure out why many don't have health insurance.

I liked that the diversity in the book gave it that "community" based feel. Small towns like the Delta don't often showcase diversity in any way, and I think that made me relate that much more to the multiculturalism in the book. Calvin himself also gives a type of empowering image for young boys to aspire to. He reminded me a little of Moses in "Attack the Block." He was a kid everyone rode off as this delinquent, and in the end, he was the reason everything in the end worked out. I swear I want to cry at moments like that. Because Black men don't get chances too often to be more than the "thug" or the "gangster."

The POV is also written clear enough to see that it's in 3rd person, but the voices are clear whenever the pov changes.

The cover suits the book, as well as the title. It also did take a bit of research to figure out which town this type of story would be appropriate in. I don't think one could've written this in one day. And with that, the editing proves it couldn't possibly be written in one day. It definitely meets the industry standard.

Things I struggled with:

Delta Legend had SO many characters.

There is good reason for this, but it often distracted me. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I was supposed to hold out before I started catching any type of attachment to a new character being introduced. The pacing was great outside of that small factor.

This is just MY opinion. Pacing setbacks are typically based on the individual, so having many characters may not set another person back. It just set ME back.

Sometimes I found a bit of issue with the language. Calvin himself didn't seem to particularly talk a certain way, so Im just wondering why everyone assumed he did. He did use slang, and maybe the slang he used I did feel was bit eh, but I suppose I only found issue with it due to him being the only black kid.

Some character descriptions werent very clear, but Im going to credit that to there being a bunch of characters who dont exactly make it to page 344.

Overall it's a really good read, especially if you like Chinese lore, a multicultural cast, a protagonist with COMMON SENSE, and an empowering person of color as the lead!

Actual Rating: 4.75

Not sure why, but my review disappeared! Seeing as how I have to rewrite it, it may not be as extensive...

Gee, what can I say, that hasn't already been said about "I Hunt Killers?" "I hunt Killers" is a painfully entertaining, yet disturbing look at humanity at it's deepest, ugliest form of evil. I Hunt Killers follows the exploits of Jasper"Jazz" Dent. But he's not a conventional teenage boy. Jazz was raised and groomed by the one of the most notorious serial killers the United States has ever seen. Because of this, to prove that he's nothing like his father, he hunts and analyzes serial killers to hopefully bring them to justice. But secretly, is he just like his father? Waiting for the right moment to pop?

As far as I could see, there weren't any plot holes. The pacing was excellent. The writing never let you be one step ahead, but follow through the way anyone below the genius of a mastermind might process. It never revealed any more or any less of what you needed to see, which painfully left me to often turn the page until about 2 am in the morning! Consistency was also a plus. Jazz's thoughts and ideas and intelligence was so intricate and well thought out. He caught on to things many of us could never catch onto. Following the plot through his head, I always wanted more, but was at times afraid to see what I would find.

The world building was amazing. Im not just referring to the "setting." But the idea of what it's like to be in the head of a serial killer...has me a bit on the edge of what this author is really like. He cant be who he says he is, and he must be "blending in." I fear for his wife, his children, any stranger that may cross his path. Hell, if I even think I see his ass, Im hauling in the other direction. I couldn't predict a thing. My mind just doesn't work that fast.

Jasper himself? He's relatable and unreliable at the same time. He is dealing with such difficult things, and that we can all relate to. He had his own demons, and own fires to extinguish within him, and that definitely makes me "want" to understand and relate. But he's very dark, and he's not afraid to admit it. He's also manipulative, cynical, at times has a type of apathy he cant exactly change. He's an anti-hero you root for, but fear at the same time.

Details about the past worked well with the present. Jazz often heard his father's voice, as he was often dealing with the fear it would one day be his own. Details about Jazz's past are yet to be revealed, but with that, things you learn about his past coincide with the present. I just wanted to figure him out, but I don't think that 100% possible. There was a lot of inner conflict that Jazz himself dealt with. He tried not to let it rule him ,which he was good at, since he'd been taught well. But he needed friends. He needed people to make him see that he needed to be human. And that was often a struggle.

The outer conflict was always well done. Dealing with a serial killer is not easy. Im so glad this is not my life XD I haven't read many other books like this, but Im sure there are many. But there are many other things that make this book so unique.

There aren't many complaints about editing. It meets an industry standard, which is good, otherwise it would've been much more difficult to follow. The language isn't too choppy, but Howie at times used specific slang, and I wasn't sure why. It's told third person, which probably makes sense, considering it wasn't always from Jazz's perspective. I usually prefer first person, but I don't think I want to be that much in a person's head. The dialogue was blended well with the action, so no complaints there.

Diversity was a win. There weren't a ton of diverse characters, but the book choose to make a black girl one of the main ones. For individuals who say it shouldn't matter, to you it probably wouldn't. Most likely it doesn't matter because you see your image. Probably often. The author must have a black girlfriend or dated interracially. This couldn't have merely been research! Being in an interracial relationship, I kind of deal with the things Jazz and Connie did. Im funny about my hair, a bit headstrong in comparison to girls of his own race. So it was just weird to see me on the page. I don't get to very often. She was believable. But mind you, there is no universal "black" experience. Many girls can relate to her, and many girls may not. Race would probably have little to do with either route.

And I loved how Jazz really...just adored her. Im sorry to any reader who is an Olivia Pope fan, but at the end of the day, she is still a mistress. I want to see more interracial couples who aren't doing anything explicit to be with someone outside of their race. Relationships have enough problems. So it's nice to just see a IR couple just be. And not be some taboo thing that's still so forbidden. I loved Howie as well, but he's not explicitly written a certain race. Yet...but being hemophiliac does make him a minority. And he wasn't some wimp. He dove into action, even though he really wasn't ready or stable enough for it.He was extremely brave, and being disabled, we need to see more disabled characters written this way.

The title suits the book. I may not have picked it up based on the title alone though. When I saw a girl on twitter tweet about grinning ear to ear that Jazz's girlfriend was black(who was not black btw)I bought it off of that. But I like the title. And the cover. It's plain, but I don't think it should be too extravagant, because the story tells itself without a crazy cover. The colors are a great choice though! Character names suit the characters well. I wont say they're uncommon, but I cant say I've ever met a Howie, a Jasper or a Connie. Maybe it's a small world, but the names suit the characters, and they were unique enough to stand out from conventional names. My only REAL complaint were the character descriptions. Jasper didn't describe himself, but his fear to look in the mirror made me assume he looked just like DEAR OLD DAD. Connie wasn't described by color, which I suppose is good because it shouldn't matter. But when it's not explicit, most assume that the only attractive black women are fair skinned. So to soothe my insecurities I would've liked to see a color. Howie? His height is well known, but his slang leads one to believe he <i>could<i> be African American. My sister has since read the sequel before I even opened this book, and he is in deed white. So that was kind of a fail for me. But i loved Howie :)

Overall, Im glad I finished it, but apart of me may just pick up its sequel. Guess there goes sleep for the week.

Review can also be seen here:

http://twinjabookreviews.blogspot.com/p/our-reviews.html

Where do I start with a book I know will confuse me? I must admit, the main reason I bought this book was due to the fact the protagonist was a person of color. I didn't know what it was about, set from the idea that she was a pathological liar. And that indeed she was.

Liar focused on a multiracial(while she and other considered her biracial, I considered her more multiracial. Her black features were dominant and she, and others referred to her as black, but she was actually less black than she was white)teenager named Micah. Micah was a pathological liar. There was little to nothing she did not lie about. But lying tends to get you in trouble when a boy you were seeing ends up dead.

I loved the idea of the story. I invested in so much with the story, but I tried to tread lightly, because I wasn't sure what Micah would reveal was true and what wasn't. Her compulsive need to lie(which was something she thought she inherited) made the pacing, consistency and reliability difficult to process. I wont lie(;p) and say I didn't love every minute of it, but the only thing consistent about her was how inconsistent she was. She was a liar, what did I really expect? The world building was something Im on the fence about. Whenever I got a deep sense of Micah's normal, she'd take it away, leaving egg on my face, as I'd let myself be swept up into her web of lies. And because you cant predict a liar, I found it very difficult to predict her actions.

Micah herself...was difficult to relate to. Her thoughts and feelings were just so dark. I knew she was fighting the darkness inside of her, and trust me, it was...pretty damn dark. But Im not sure how relatable that made her. This is definitely not a bad thing. But I don't want to write any spoilers, so you would just have to read it to know what I mean by how dark her thoughts were.

While the development and backstory did make sense when it was told, again, Micah would pull out the rug from under me. She'd tell a lie about the past, take it back, then retell the lie as if it were the honest to god truth. I still honestly don't feel as though she was 100% honest with me by the end of the story. Micah created her own conflict because she was such a liar. I honestly don't know how anyone could believe ANYTHING she would say. I wont give away her family secret, but after reading other people's takes on the book, some felt as though her family illness was a metaphor for insanity. I would not doubt this. For one minute. She was strange, dark, scary, dangerous, and completely deceptive. I have to say I found that unique. I've never had the pleasure of reading a book where a character was this demented, and a black female at the same time. Unique all the way.

I didn't find anything particularly wrong with the grammar. The editing appears to be an industry standard, but I did notice a few mistakes. I wasn't sure if it were just the way character's worded things or just typos, but it wasn't 100% perfect.The point of view was not clear, but I just don't think it was written to be. She told the story at random, to intentionally deceive the reader. There were no traditional chapters. Just "AFTER"(Meaning after the murder of her boyfriend), "BEFORE"(The past before the events that started the book), "HISTORY OF FAMILY, SCHOOL OR ME"(Which gave small details of the history of each subject) and then her confessions of "LIES 1-10." The language is acceptable, I suppose. Didn't have too many issues with it, and the beat and dialogue seemed to have an acceptable medium between them.

Liar definitely wins on diversity. Micah herself was Black(even though she was a multiracial black woman)and her boyfriend Zach(who'd died) was Latino. Into the story she'd mentioned he was an average looking white boy, but when she was having a conversation about him later in the book, all I was thinking when she used the term "White Hispanic" was THANK YOU! Thank you for acknowledging that Latino itself is not a race. Being from the US, everyone gets wrapped up in the idea, that if you're Latino, you cant possibly be Black, White, Asian or the other colors of the rainbow. I wish more books acknowledged this fact, instead of making Latinos this generic, one size fit all mulatto brand-name that only the majority fits into.

Zach's "real girlfriend" was a dark skinned sista by the name of Sarah(Apparently Zach liked the dark girls ;p) and Zach's Tayshawn best friend was African American as well. Micah's family was mostly white. Her mother was from France, and her father was biracial in the literal sense. Her family whom she referred to as "The Greats" were all white. And an antagonist Micah kept referring to as "The white boy" who after about the last 90 pages was revealed to be named Pete, was white. And her teacher, the person who had the most faith in her Yayeko Shoji was obviously of Asian descent.

Not only that, but Micah...I don't know about her. She had some sexually ambiguous tendencies. I wont say she was bisexual, but she was definitely open minded to say the least.I didn't once find any character particularly forced, and I didn't find anything too stereotypical. They just seemed like characters, who just happened to be who they were. The author also got a thumbs up on the hair subject. While I find the word "nappy" often doesn't come from a good place in black community, to ignore it would have been just...not have made sense. She let Micah acknowledge all the features that made her black. While Micah had been called ugly a few times in the book, mind you, she'd lied about her identity in the beginning. So those few times, being referred to that way seemed to be out of spite from other characters who resented her.

The small details? The title fits. Micah was nothing else but a liar. To complicate it more than that would just be...well a lie! I think the cover is pretty, but it is also misleading. The girl does look like a mixed race Black girl. But Micah's hair was as close to the scalp as she could get it. She didn't have this long flowy hair, that the cover insinuates. I honestly pictured an androgynous person the entire time. The names were pretty common.I think they suit the characters but they weren't really all that unique. And I did find that the characters were described clearly enough for me to get a great picture of them. But who knows? Maybe all that was a lie.

Overall, I still find that I didn't believe Micah by the book's end. For all I know, she could have been a serial killer telling me her story from a mental hospital(which was something she actually insinuated, not me)and using her family's history, and her life as a metaphor for her own darkness she had no experience in dealing with. The ending was ok. I was always at the edge of my seat though. So I think my scoring is appropriate. Unreliable narrators will most likely always score low on consistency.

Actual Rating 2.75

Review can also be seen here:

http://twinjabookreviews.blogspot.com/p/our-reviews.html

I'd heard about this book through the author from a blog we mutually follow. I was nervous and excited to know the main characters were two Black/AA twins, as growing up, being a black twin, the only thing "creative" thing people would call my sister and I were "Tia and Tamera" or "Sister, Sister" growing up. And obviously being using "creative", Im being sarcastic. There is a lot of room to ruin the twin name, and while this book had strong and weak points, if anything it was true to "my" relationship with my sister.

I definitely think the pacing and consistency/reliability could use work. Certain details that I'll explain later made the story harder to follow than it needed to be. The world-building aspect could also use work, but i'll award the point because it definitely is a different take on vampires and the lore behind them. Humans offer a part of their souls for immortality. In return, that part of their soul becomes a living life size vampire version of themselves. I saw reviews that argued that doesn't really make them "twins", but considering they're "soul sisters"(soul brothers for men)they're related by soul if anything. So if you cant use your imagination, you're probably more than likely to prefer reading the same way of telling a story over and over. I'll award predictability but only because at times it's inconsistencies made it difficult to predict.

Im a twin, so I could relate to Dana the human main character. Ani the vampire reminded me of my sister Libertad, because she is naturally more aggressive, so while this may not relate to all twins, growing up Black and a twin, I could definitely relate. Their behavior around each other was very twin like. It actually wouldn't surprise me if the writer was a twin, or related closely to a pair in some way. I did like one more than the other, but I wont say which. It always hurt me growing up when I was the toss away twin XD so I'll leave that unknown.

I do however feel as though the backstory could have been stronger. At times, the timeline was off, so it made it a bit inconsistent for me as a reader. The conflict is definitely there. Most of the time because they themselves caused it XD I'll also award the story for the unique take on vampire origins.

The language was ok. It came off as a bit campy at times. There are two European characters, one English, and the other a Spaniard. They often spoke in colloquials most suited to North Americans. The English one I would give a pass to, but I have a Spanish friend. I met him recently, and since English isn't his first language, he speaks very structured. I realize that he is only one guy, but their slang seemed more suited to Americans or Canadians. The Point of view had a few issues. Nothing that cant be easily fixed, but it didn't appear organized to me. But there is a balance between dialogue and beats, so all is not lost. However, I still think it could use a harder edit.

There is a bunch of diversity. The girls themselves are Black(Dana I felt was more African American than her soul sister Ani. Ani seemed as though she spent a lot more time in Europe before joining back up with her). They encountered many men in and outside their race, including Ani's Spanish boyfriend Diego. Im not sure how much of this is research or imagination though. Since Im not sure, Im not sure it's fair to judge it on lack or presence of research involved. The efforts to empower the girls didn't seem forced, as they were attractive and spoke highly of themselves, and hardly spoke ill will of other women, even if they had ugly personalities.

The title is cute. It's suits the story. The cover is just ok. It's not bad, I just find it to be just ok. The character names were plain, but I felt as though they suited the characters. Most of them were way past 100+ years, so names like theirs were much more common to use in those times, than to name a girl "Apple" or "Blue Ivy." I didn't however find that the descriptions of the girls were clear. When Ani is introduced in the first chapter, she's described as "cocoa" color. But later in the book, it claims them to be a caramel color. Hmmm... Cocoa is a lot darker than caramel, so I wasn't sure if they were more biracial looking or not. Dana claimed Ani green eyes and that was the only difference between the two of them, but on several occasions, it mentioned Dana's eyes being green as well. So that was a bit confusing for me.

The book itself is ok. It had it's strong and weak points, and even books that have both can be enjoyable. I would buy the sequel just to see where the story goes.

Actual Rating 3.50

Review can also be seen here:

http://twinjabookreviews.blogspot.com/p/our-reviews.html

I bought this book mainly because I saw it featured a Latina protagonist. I was weary of Ms.Noel after all I'd heard from the "Immortals" series, but I saw reviewers who claimed they hated that, but thought this serious was better, so I took a chance. "Fated" centered around Daire Santos, a girl who finds out she is a "Seeker", a mortal being who's role in life was a type of bridge between the life and death. But upon learning this about her heritage, she soon finds out there are those who work for the side of evil, and her goal is to prevent evil from gaining more power.

I won't lie, I liked the story, but most of the time it was rather boring. As far as plot and storyline, it was lacking. The pacing at points didn't have enough action to keep a reader interested at times. The consistency and reliability just didn't click for me either. I also look for world building, when a book is this culture oriented. The details were cool, but they just didn't paint a good enough story for me.

Daire is half Latina, which I assume is Mexican, or someplace close to Mexico, though it's never stated. The reason why I have an issue with this detail not being consistent, is because most of the lore is Native American. Before you jump on my back, I realize that there are a ton of indigenous tribes in Mexico. But their culture is much different than the colonized "Spanish" speaking part of Central American culture. Yes, both are both Latino by definition, but since her heritage isn't specific, I, at times wondered if the book wanted her Latino, or Native American. Which you can very well be both. But again, it never states if she is more an indigenous tribe Latina. Every attempt to classify her culture was shoved into the term "Hispanic."

The predictability was "eh". Nothing too exciting happened, so it was hard to have something to predict.

The characters and their development, well, I'll just say there is better development than others. I read a few reviews and people found Daire un-relatable because she was so candid with her mother. I have to disagree. Daire was the most relatable I've seen in a character as far as upbringing. I too have a young mother, whom I refer to by first name. I don't think it's fair to say that makes her un-relatable, as not everyone's parents have figured things out before adulthood.

The backstory had a few plot holes for me, and the villain just didn't live up to the word "villain". He didn't seem well thought out, and I just didn't fear him or understand him, or feel anything for him. Her love interest is his twin brother. I didn't dislike either of them, but neither have chemistry with Daire. But one plus are great secondary characters. Xochitl, a blind girl Daire befriends whom can see energy was wise and a great sidekick. Lita, who was the school's mean girl was also a great addition. So many times in books, when a new girl arrives, the prettiest girl in school just has to torment or just be plain mean to combat her ability to be unable to accept change. Lita was that mean girl at first, but she realized she was being silly, and with time, she began to see Daire as cool.

There is conflict, but most of the time the conflict just doesn't involve enough action, characters interacting to make the story interesting. The story itself is VERY unique, however. It incorporates several cultural aspects( Latino, Native American, and even the state of New Mexico. States to me are like little countries, so they themselves have their own culture).

The grammar I have no issue with. It's traditionally published and it shows. The language is satisfactory, the POV is clear and the balance between dialogue and beats didn't bother me. I also had no issue with the editing.

This book does much better at diversity than anything. The main character, love interest, villain and sidekicks and mentors are almost all people of color. They're written with little stereotypes so I didn't feel as though I was reading a "race" specific book. Although I cant let a small detail slip through my fingers. Daire on three occasions mentioned that being pale or white meant you couldn't look like "Latina." By that definition, I don't either, so I wasn't happy with that. People are quick to say latinos can be black, but are hesitant to mention that can be white, asian, arabic, all the colors of the rainbow as well. So that seems pretty misinformed.

This book definitely required a ton of research, it had so much folklore and cultural references, I wont ignore that it probably required tons of research. It also didn't seem like a forced effort. I mean, it's New Mexico. There are probably more POC than anything else, but I'd have to research that ;p

I do feel as if it empowered POC in lead and minor roles, but everyone seemed to have "aquamarine" , green or blue eyes. What are brown eyes out of style or something? Brownies make up most the population. So it just seemed weird for all these unique eye colors to be floating around, when many of them were races associated with brown eyes.

The title is fitting, though it's plain. I wont take away for that. The cover is alluring but it is a bit misleading. Daire is pale with green eyes, and the girl looks as if her eyes are brown, and she has a little color. So we whitewash covers that feature darker shades, and brown-wash the ones that don't? Seems rather odd. The character names were cool outside of Dace and Cade. Their names were just too similar to distinguish them at times. Im a twin, and I cant stand "twin" names, lol. The descriptions of characters were the most clear I've read in a while so no complaints there.

This book was just ok. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Im curious to what an "Echo" is, so I will read the sequel if nothing else.