Les Petites Revues [#15]


This week I bring you nothing but YA! We've got a conclusion(?) to a YA fantasy about beauty, a sci-fi retelling of Anastasia, and a book that's marketed as fantasy but is more of a sci-fi murder mystery. 
Title: The Everlasting Rose (The Belles #2)
Author: Dhonielle Clayton
Source: Publisher
Rating: 3 Stars

Hm, where do I begin with this review. Overall, I enjoyed The Belles but thought that there could have been more time committed to the worldbuilding. The same could be said about The Everlasting Rose. This book opened up right on the heels of the drama in book one and it took me a bit of time to orient myself. The Everlasting Rose was an interesting conclusion but it's probably not one I would remember. A lot of the action happened off scene with barely any time dedicated to the villain who made such an impression on me in The Belles. There were some interesting analogies about slavery and the treatment of your fellow human being, but as a series it needed a bit more. 


Title: Last of Her Name
Author: Jessica Khoury
Source: Work
Rating: 3 Stars

Last of Her Name might have resonated more with me if it were a series. As a standalone, there was a lot of pack into this book and as a result some important details were left out. I felt indifferent to the characters and romance and wanted more from the story overall. I liked the struggle for power and how our main character, Stacia, couldn't trust who had her best interest at heart. In the end, this just left me saying "okay, next." 


Title: Four Dead Queens
Author: Astrid Scholte
Source: Work
Rating: 3.5 Stars

The cover and the summary are a bit misleading. At first look, this looks like your standard YA fantasy, but it's got some sci-fi elements to it. As a nation divided into quadrant, some quadrants had more technology and were more advanced than others. It was a surprise to see that electricity and complex recording systems existed in this world. Outside of the world, the story moved more like a YA contemporary murder mystery  - think Karen McManus. The mystery behind the murders kept my attention and I was surprised by how quickly I was able to fly through it. The ending didn't end with the bang I anticipated but I enjoyed the journey. 


Have you read any of the above? 
What do you prefer: sci-fi or fantasy? 

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