Fantasy Books
Anticipated 2026 Speculative Fiction Book Releases
Once again, I have scoured the internet for information on speculative fiction books coming out this year and compiled a list of works I wanted to highlight. After looking through book descriptions, early reviews, and any available excerpts, I’ve put together a list of 18 fantasy and science fiction books coming out in 2026 that sound particularly compelling to me. (Of course, some of these did not require research since I had already enjoyed previous books in the series or […]
The post Anticipated 2026 Speculative Fiction Book Releases first appeared on Fantasy Cafe.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Review – Murder on Hunter’s Eve (The Lamplight Murder Mysteries, Book 3) by Morgan Stang (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Steampunk
Length: 378 pages
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date:July 11, 2024
ASIN: B0D54FPW8Z
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in The Lamplight Murder Mysteries
Source: Borrowed ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 5/5 stars
“It’s the week of Hunter’s Eve, a yearly celebration of monsters, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night. But for Huntress Isabeau Agarwal, the event is a stark reminder that in her line of work, there is never a day’s rest.
Murders rock the city, and Isabeau is charged with solving them before the killer strikes again. One, a macabre accident during a dangerous magician’s trick gone awry. The other, a slain politician, his disfigured body displayed atop Lamplight’s most memorable landmark.
The deaths are seemingly unrelated, until Isabeau learns both magician and politician belong to the same mysterious social club filled with powerful paragons of the city, each with their own hidden agendas—each with a reason to kill.
And during it all, a werewolf stalks the streets, bounding from rooftop to rooftop and claiming the lives of innocent citizens. As Isabeau uncovers the city’s secrets, complications arise: the monster and the murders may be connected.
The magician. The police chief. The Ethereal Maiden. The professor. The criminal kingpin. The industrialist.
One may be a killer. One may be a werewolf. All are hiding something.”
Series Info/Source: This is third book in The Lamplight Murder Mysteries. I borrowed this on ebook from Kindle Unlimited.
Thoughts: I really enjoyed this third installment in The Lamplight Murder Mysteries. This book was a bit different than previous books in that we are let loose in the city of Lamplight rather than in an enclosed environment. I actually loved this format even more than the previous two books. I have been wanting to learn more about the mysterious city of Lamplight and this book didn’t disappoint.
There is a werewolf loose in Lamplight…and even worse a murderer loose. Isabeau and Evie are trying to enjoy a night at the theater, watching a magician, when his show goes very wrong and his assistant is killed. They quickly find out that this isn’t the only killing of the night, and Evie is called in on the case. Isabeau and Evie find out that both murders are linked to a mysterious social club, and the werewolf may somehow be linked into this all as well.
This book had a lot more action than the last couple books. I actually enjoyed this open format a lot more and really enjoyed exploring Lamplight. The things I like best about this series are the amazing world and the intriguing characters, and we get to see a lot more of both in this story. I actually am not a huge fan of murder mysteries or who-dun-it types of stories. However, I love this setting and these characters.
I also love that we learn a lot more about monsters and about Isabeau’s past in this book. Both Evie and Isabeau are growing and changing as characters which is fun to watch. There was a bit more about politics and we are exposed to more of the ghostly aspects of this world as well.
This was a very fun and easy read that I enjoyed immensely.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this book and thought that this was the best book in this series so far. I loved the more open format and venturing into the city of Lamplight. I loved how the murder mystery intertwined with other aspects like werewolves, ghostly apparitions, and politics. I really love the characters here and enjoyed learning more about their history and watching them grow. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a creative dark steampunk-esque fantasy world with intriguing characters and a well done murder mystery.
Categories: Fantasy Books
A Court of Sugar and Spice - Book Review by Voodoo Bride
A Court of Sugar and Spice (Wicked Darlings #1)by Rebecca F. KenneyWhat is it about:With their inheritance restricted until their marriage, sisters Clara and Louisa, both in their twenties, must live with their godfather Drosselmeyer. One night, an accident brings to life one of the strange wooden dolls in Drosselmeyer's mansion. The Nutcracker doll is a cursed Fae prince, and he pleads for the sisters' help. During the ensuing journey into the Fae realm, Clara encounters the handsome Sugarplum Faerie, and he promises her the chance to enact all her forbidden fantasies. Meanwhile Louisa and the Nutcracker Prince battle and bicker over everything, despite the growing attraction between them. And to make matters worse, the entire Seelie kingdom is under threat of conquest by the Rat King, ruler of the Dread Court.
This is a spicy, adult, fantasy romance retelling of "The Nutcracker" fairytale.
What did Voodoo Bride think of it:I will confess I've had a couple of ebooks of this author linger on my e-reader, but I tend to skip over my digital library in favor of print books, so it took me seeing this mass market paperback and buying it to actually read something by Kenney.
And I've been missing out!
This is such a delicious read.I connected with Clara from the start. Louisa and the Nutcracker/Fae prince were less interesting to me, but the story was enjoyable enough to keep reading and to see what would happen next.
And then the Sugarplum Faerie entered the stage!I absolutely adored him and Clara together. From there on out I was hooked and was cheering Clara and Sugarplum/Fin on and enjoying their super delicious romance.
For those more familiar with The Nutcracker there will probably be a lot of overlap with the original tale, but as someone who only knows the music and not the story I can tell you, you can read this without having seen The Nutcracker.
And you bet I grabbed my e-reader after finishing this book to see what books by Kenney I had lingering there.
Why should you read it:It's absolutely delicious!
Categories: Fantasy Books
Review: The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan
Buy The Red Winter
FORMAT/INFO: The Red Winter was published by Tor Books on February 24th, 2026. It is 544 pages long and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Twenty years ago, Professor Sebastian Grave killed the Beast. At least, that's what he hoped. But when word arrives that the Beast is stalking the French countryside once more, Sebastian resigns himself to returning to Gevaudan to finish the Beast once and for all. Returning to Gevaudan means facing the ghosts of his past, but also the chance to reconnect with an estranged lover Sebastian hasn't seen in two decades. But as Sebastian draws near to his destination, he realizes the situation is far more complicated than he realizes. As Frances teeters on the brink of revolution, can he slay the Beast without plunging the country into war?
The Red Winter is a fantastic reimagining of the story of the Beast of Gevaudan, one sure to appeal to fans of European-style monster-slaying adventures. It is fantastically atmospheric and does a great job of envisioning a supernatural layer to the world, creating a version of Europe closer to The Witcher in feel than standard history. There are ghosts and small monsters alongside powerful forest spirits who can grant boons - or curses. There are immortal beings who play power games from the shadows, using humans as pawns. And at the center of it all is Sebastian Grave, a man caught up in these power games by a quirk of fate.
And it is Sebastian Grave that I wrestle with the most as I wrap my head around how I feel about this book as a whole. On the one hand, Sebastian is your classic grizzled monster hunter character, one who is exceedingly good at his job and does it all with the wry weariness of someone who has seen humans be idiots far too many times in his life. But he is also morally gray, someone who proves that just because you hunt monsters, you aren't automatically a good person.
Sebastian is driven by a quest for power and by complicated feelings for a man he, despite everything, still loves. But as the book came to a close, I struggled with whether this was enough to make me interested in the character's fate. Sebastian wants power...and then what? Does anything else drive this man? There are moments in the book that raise this very question and suggest the purposelessness is part of the struggle of the character...but towards the end I found myself not quite caring.
I will also admit that I occasionally found it easy to get muddled over what events happened in which timeline. Large parts of the book take place in the same area with some of the same characters, just twenty years apart. Unlike a visual medium like film, I didn't have a constant reminder that a character has visibly aged and therefore we're in 1785, not 1765, or vice versa. It's a small note, one that is admittedly more of a personal problem, but it happened often enough I wanted to mention it.
The Red Winter is a well-crafted dark fantasy tale. Although I'm not sure how I feel about lead character Sebastian Grave, the fact that I'm still thinking about him weeks after finishing the book is a testament to how much this story got inside my head.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Book Review: Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Series: Anthology
Publisher: Tor Books (December 9, 2025)
Length: 448 pages
Author Information: Website
I’ve always found myself somewhat on the fence when it comes to Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the books themselves, but following the ever-expanding web of connections has never been a big part of my interest. I just care that the stories stand well on their own, which is why Tailored Realities, a collection of Sanderson’s non-Cosmere short fiction, felt especially appealing. As I’ve always said, he’s also one of the rare authors whose storytelling and world-building generally leave a lasting impression, whether he’s writing ten pages or a thousand.
There are a few exceptions to that, of course. The following are my thoughts on each story, though a couple have already been previously reviewed on their own, and you can search for these earlier reviews for more detail. In addition, Tailored Realities includes three brand-new stories appearing for the first time.
Snapshot (4.5 stars)
Reviewed previously, and even better the second time around.
Brain Dump (4 stars)
A very quick and clever sci-fi vignette that wastes no time getting to the point. Imagine a near future where prospective parents can literally shop for a designer child, browsing through genetic models in a showroom. While the concept isn’t especially groundbreaking, it’s the execution that makes this story work. For one thing, it embraces brevity, and though Brain Dump reads almost like a thought exercise, sometimes that’s exactly what sci-fi needs: a simple setup, a clear social question, and the restraint to step away before it becomes overly trite and pretentious. Sanderson’s trademark humor also helps make his point without bogging things down, and despite its short length, this was one of my favorites.
I Hate Dragons (3 stars)
Speaking of experimental, this story about a boy’s magical talent for smelling good to dragons as well as his ability to hear spelling and punctuation makes for a fun little tale, and not surprisingly, it was born out of a writing exercise. Not much else to say about this one, but I did find it useful as a way to show my middle schooler what effective dialogue looks like.
Dreamer (2.5 stars)
Dreamer is a horror story about body snatchers, but it’s handled in a subtle way that’s less about what’s happening on the page and more concerned with making readers uncomfortable through ideas. In a way, this conceptual approach is very typical Sanderson, messing with your mind instead of relying on shock value. That said, this story didn’t do much for me. It’s simply much too short to leave a lasting impression, and while the ideas are interesting in theory, they aren’t explored deeply enough to make them particularly memorable.
Perfect State (3.5 stars)
Perfect State explores perceived realities and asks, what if nothing is real and our brains are simply living in fully simulated worlds tailored to our wants and needs? This is the case with the protagonist of this tale, who rules a fantasy kingdom in a simulation created just for him. He can be the hero he wants to be, even if it’s only in his own virtual existence. But does it really matter? This story examines consciousness and ambition, as well as the ways one measures satisfaction and achievement. Compared to the previous entries, this one is thematically heavier and denser in its world-building, which made it a bit harder to get into. While the concept itself is fascinating, the execution didn’t quite hold my interest and ultimately felt a little too slow to fully engage me.
Probability Zero (1.5 of 5 stars)
Ugh, I hate flash fiction, so take my rating with a grain of salt, but this story exemplifies why. Again, this one is told entirely in dialogue but has none of the charm of I Hate Dragons. At under 500 words, I barely see a point in reviewing this one, but it follows a human selected by aliens to be uplifted, and aside from a clever little twist at the end, it passed by with barely a blip on my radar. I have to say, I got far more insight from Sanderson’s author’s note for this story, which ended up being more enjoyable than the story itself.
Defending Elysium (3 stars)
I love the Skyward series, so I was giddy with a fair bit of anticipation by the time I got to Defending Elysium which apparently lays the groundwork for the Cytoverse. That said, the age of it shows, and as this is early Sanderson still developing his craft, the writing can feel a bit rough around the edges, as in heavier on description and telling rather than showing. While I’m fascinated by what feels like the origin seeds for the Skyward books, the mystery plot itself was fairly underwhelming, and the storytelling occasionally drags under too much detail. Still a neat little read though, especially if you are a Cytoverse completionist.
Firstborn (2.5 stars)
This is one I wish I had enjoyed more, and maybe I would have had I been more of a short fiction fan. However, I tend to struggle with novelettes, especially when they try to cram so much into such a small space. Firstborn is about a young man who follows in the footsteps of his legendary older brother, a brilliant and admired military strategist he knows he will never live up to. With so much potential for human conflict alone, the story barely has room to explore the characters once the epic battles are factored in. Any messages about inherited talent versus personal circumstance are completely overshadowed along the way.
Mitosis (4 stars)
Previously reviewed, this mini-story takes place in the Reckoners universe after the events of Steelheart. A quick, fun read that stands alone from the rest of the novels but worth reading for the supervillain and his cool powers alone.
Moment Zero (4.5 stars)
Moment Zero is the longest story and likely the collection’s selling point as it is also a brand-new, never-published-elsewhere-before novella. Part detective story, part time travel adventure, and part zombie apocalypse, it follows two police investigators and former lovers as they try to stop the same catastrophic event from happening, but from opposite directions in time after one is transported a few days into the past while the other is thrown forwards into the future. The dual-timeline structure here is clever, but like all time travel stories, it’s probably best not to think too hard about the mechanics behind them. Still, what’s lovely about Moment Zero is its longer page length, which gives readers more time to know the two main characters. The relationship between them carries a surprising amount of emotional depth, hitting harder than I expected for a novella. This one is hands down the best story in Tailored Realities—not only the most memorable, but the most satisfying as well.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Delirium #1)
Book Description:
They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever.
And I’ve always believed them.
Until now.
Now everything has changed.
Now, I’d rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.
Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.
Rating: 4 Stars
Favorite Quotes:
But it does not tell you this: that love will turn the whole world into something greater than itself.
Love, the deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.
This is a dystopian book that’s a little different from The Hunger Games & Divergent and the like. The world isn’t ending, necessarily but the government has mandated that everyone over the age of 18 has a procedure that basically renders you incapable of love and most of the other strong emotions. They literally cut a piece out of the brain to achieve this! I cannot imagine a time when the majority of people would be pushing for this to happen, but here it does. I guess I can see some appeal to not suffering through a broken heart but to cut out a piece of my brain to achieve this? Uhhhh, no thank you!
The story follow Lena Haloway as she is preparing for her procedure. She got about 3 months until it is scheduled and there are interviews that have to be done so that the government can pick a husband suitable for her (because if you don’t care, how could you choose for yourself?) and what she will do for a living (will she go to college or just get a job until she is married?). They regulate the music that your allowed to listen to and the books that you can read. Something that Oliver did that is really different from most dystopian stories is the fact that everything we once had still exists. There are cell phones and cars and the internet. They are all strictly monitored and not everyone has them but they are still in use. So many times you read these types of books and its like living in the dark ages and I thought this was a nice touch.
One of my gripes about this book is that if you take away the portion of the brain that controls emotion, how does anything get done? If you don’t care, how do you take care of your children or get up everyday and go to work and cook and clean? Love guides almost all the things we do. We work because we love our families and want to take care of them. We love our children and so we play with them and discipline them and laugh with them. If you remove all those things are you really still alive? Aren’t other things in our lives determined by a type of love? If you were a police man breaking up an illegal party with a bunch of teenagers involved, would you care enough to just send them home or would you release the dogs against them and beat them with clubs and would it matter either way? Very confusing to me. I guess if love was that simple and it could be removed without interfering with everything else, then maybe, but it simply affects too many things.
Anyway, the story drags on a bit for me once the world is set up and you get a grasp on what’s happening. Lena and Hana (her best friend) start to break the rules and go to unauthorized parties after curfew. Up until this point, they’ve had almost no contact with the opposite sex besides adult males (parents and teachers who have all had the procedure) and these parties are full of uncured boy their own age. So in typical teenager fashion they are rebelling before they can’t anymore. Then Lena meets a boy, Alex, who shows her that there is so much to be missed by having the procedure done and how much the cureds have been lying to everyone (particularly Lena). As they get to know each other and fall in love Lena realizes that there’s no way she could ever willing have the procedure and she tries to come up with a way for them to escape.
Will they find a way or will Lena have to lose part of herself?
*SPOILERS BELOW*
First of all, I cannot believe that there wasn’t a love triangle in this book! It was kind of nice to not have to be vacillating between two love interests!
I was wondering throughout the whole beginning of the book if it wouldn’t turn out that Lena’s Mom was still alive. Considering how long ago she supposedly killed herself she was still very present in Lena’s mind and that usually means something is coming up. It’s too bad that she didn’t get to see her before she escaped though.
I cannot BELIEVE that Alex doesn’t make it with Lena to the Wilds! He sacrifices himself up to the regulators so that Lena can get away. He got shot and captured but I’m not sure if he’s alive or not! What will she do now in the Wilds all alone? Being with Alex was the main reason she decided to run away in the first place! Sheesh, I wonder what Oliver has planned for book 2?
Categories: Fantasy Books
Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #2)
Book Description:
tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it’s almost
time for war.
Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.
She’s finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.
Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.
In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam’s life.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Favorite Quotes:
My troubles have arrived fashionably late to this conversation, inconsiderate beasts that they are.
It’s the kind of kiss that makes you realize oxygen is overrated.
He’s standing right in front of me and I miss him like I haven’t seen him in years.
“I think there’s something about the impermanence of life these days that makes it necessary to etch ink into our skin,” he says. “It reminds us that we’ve been marked by the world, that we’re still alive. That we’ll never forget.”
Another heart wrenching book by Mafi. She really is a wonderful writer. I couldn’t put the book down. I devoured it in a day and now I’m dying to know what happens next. I’m not sure but I think this is a three book series so the next one should be the end. I love the way your heart is practically in your throat the whole book. There is so much emotion happening and Mafi writes in a way that you can’t help but experience everything along with the characters.
Book two picks up shortly after where book one ended. Juliette, Adam and James have been at Omega Point for about a week and things are starting settle down. Once the immediate danger is over Juliette has retreated back inside herself because she is now surrounded by people who know what she can do and some of them include children. She doesn’t want to scare anyone and so she decides to just keep to herself and only really talk to and associate with Adam. What a hard thing to have to experience at the age of 17, to try to make friends when you’ve never done something like that before. She’s always been immediately ostracized when she was around other people and so she doesn’t know how to start getting to know people. I thought this was a good road for Mafi to take with this story, it makes it more believable. Because of this, she comes off even scarier than she would have if she even made some small attempt to interact with people. The story about how she killed that little kid years ago gets out and now everyone is looking at her just like people always have. So much for being with people who would understand her because she wasn’t the only one with some bizarre powers. Castle thinks that there might be more to Adam being able to touch her than it just being some fluke and now he’s undergoing some test to see if there’s another reason he can touch her. The results are devastating and now Juliette has to decide how she’s going to back away from him to keep him safe. She learning more about her own abilities and now she’s not just worried about her touch being dangerous. Her whole body is a weapon and she has no control over it. On top of that monumental obstacle, she is still keeping secrets from Adam. She hasn’t told him that Warner can touch her too and that she kissed him right before she shot him. I don’t know why she doesn’t say anything. She should have told him as soon as he was healed. There was no real reason for her not to except for the part where she actually enjoyed it. She could leave that part out of it as far as I’m concerned but the rest of it she should have told him. You can’t keep secrets like that. The fact is that if they really loved each other there would be no reason to keep these kinds of secrets. Adam might be a little pissed but the fact is she did what she needed to do so that she could save him and I don’t think that he would be angry for long.
Kenji plays a much bigger role in this book and I’m so glad because I love him! He’s like the only bright spot in the book; his personality is so bright and carefree that you can’t help but smile when he’s around. This is not to say that he doesn’t have some serious moments and he does put Juliette in her place a few times but she really needed someone to kick her in the ass so she would quit moping around. The reality is that she is the primary reason that The Reestablishment is hunting so fiercely for Omega Point. Not that this wouldn’t have come to a head at some point in the future but the timetable’s been moved up and that is because of Juliette. Warner can’t let her go and now that his father is involved he hasn’t got a choice but to find her. After learning more about him in Destroy Me I was pretty sure he would be a big part of this book as well. We learned even more about him and his past as him and Juliette spend some time together.
Kenji has been working with Juliette to help her figure out and hone her skills and she starts to get a little more control of it. I was hoping this would naturally lend itself to help with her self-esteem but that doesn’t really happen. If she should would just accept who and what she is life would start to become more manageable for her but she can’t stop seeing herself as a monster. She’s come out of her shell a little bit and it starting to make some friends but everyone at Omega Point is preparing to battle Warner’s father and his men and they need Juliette to help them. With the strength of her power she could be the edge that they need to win.
Will she be able to put her personal feelings aside and focus on the more important objective? Will she be able to use her abilities against the “bad guys” to save the innocent citizens of sector 54? How will she reconcile her feelings for Adam and Warner?
*SPOILERS BELOW*
Oh man this book was torture for me! I’m still so unsure who I want Juliette to end up with! Her and Adam have such an intense relationship and it’s been growing since they were kids. Now that they have finally found each other and Adam can actually touch her things were looking up. This was not to last, of course, and now Adam has discovered that he has an ability as well. He’s a disruptor and that’s why he can touch her because he can cancel out her power. The problem with this is that he has to be constantly on guard in order for it to work and that can’t happen when they are getting physical with each other. She nearly kills him at one point! So she’s decided to stay away from him and it’s destroying both of them. Then there’s Warner. This is the first time that Juliette really gets to know him for who he is instead of the leader of sector 54. When she was listening to his father tear him down and then again later when he was being held captive at Omega Point and she had to interrogate him. He was so sweet to her and let her see a part of himself that I don’t think he’s ever shown anyone else. The scars on his back, the way he really sees himself, the way he sees her and how she makes him feel. It was breathtaking to witness. Now she’s so confused about what to do and she hasn’t told Adam about any of this and she hasn’t told Warner that Adam is his brother (which shocked the hell out of me, by the way) and she’s somehow in the middle and unable to decides what to do. She’s also hiding a lot of information about Warner. She doesn’t tell anyone that she knows why he can touch her and what his ability is and I’m not sure why. What could it harm? It just makes her look worse for keeping it to herself. I think she loves them both but who is the better choice? Adam is so loving and caring and wants to take care of her and he loves her with a desperation that is a little frightening. Warner can be gentle and caring and he doesn’t pull any punches. He is who he is and he accept Juliette for who she is and what she is capable of. He also loves her in an overwhelmingly obsessive way. I wonder if this is something about Juliette or if it’s something in their DNA that she attracts? Either way it’s a tough decision.
I wish that Kenji wouldn’t have stopped Juliette from killing Anderson. That guy is a monster and someone needs to take care of him. I understand why he did it but at the same time you don’t go to war with someone in his position if you don’t have his replacement ready to take over. Then in the end when he just shot her in the chest and leaves! This was the only real issue I had with the book. Why would he have gone through the trouble of shooting her in front of Warner only to leave before he could witness what it did to him? And, why would he have had “the girls” kidnapped to use to heal him only to leave them behind? If anything, he should have at least taken them with him back to the capital.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how it all ends.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1.5)
Book Description:
Perfect for the fans of Shatter Me who are desperately awaiting the release of Unravel Me, this novella-length digital original will bridge the gap between these two novels from the perspective of the villain we all love to hate, Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45.
In Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Juliette escaped from The Reestablishment by seducing Warner—and then putting a bullet in his shoulder. But as she’ll learn in Destroy Me, Warner is not that easy to get rid of. . .
Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow.
Set after Shatter Me and before its forthcoming sequel, Unravel Me, Destroy Me is a novella told from the perspective of Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45
Rating: 5 Stars
Favorite Quotes:
It’s a strange thing, to never know peace. To know that no matter where you go, there is no sanctuary. That the threat of pain is always a whisper away.
Love is a heartless bastard. I’m driving myself insane.
I’m at a loss for words with this novella. At the end of Shatter Me I had already firmly decided that I didn’t like Warner. I didn’t necessarily think he was a bad person, per se, but that he wasn’t a good person either. Now I find myself saddened by his story. Raised by a man who never had a nice thing to say to him and never receiving any kind of affection. It’s very similar to Juliette’s story, really, only that in Warners situation it wasn’t because people couldn’t touch him but because no one did. It makes a lot more sense now why he felt to connected to Juliette and now that he has her journal from when she was institutionalized he’s even more determined to find her and bring her back to be with him. I’m not sure if he’s going to have much success with this due to the way he tried to get her affections the last time but I at least have a better feel for who he is and why he is the way he is. I think that anyone can change, given the proper motivation. The question is, will Warner want to change and is love enough of a motivator for him? I think we’ll find out in book two which is next up on the list.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1)
Book Description:
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
Rating: 4.5
Favorite Quotes:
Truth is a jealous, vicious mistress that never ever sleeps, is what I don’t tell him. I’ll never be okay.
my cheek is pressed against his chest and he smells like strength and courage and the wold is drowning in rain.
I remember you every day forever in every single broken moment of my life.
His hands are shaking so slightly, his eyes brimming with feeling, his heart thrumming with pain and affection and I want to live here, in his arms, in his eyes for the rest of my life.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book when I first picked it up. It was a recommendation from a friend and I thought, what the hell, I’d give it a shot. It was surprisingly good! The writing style took a little getting used to as most of what Juliette thinks is in run on sentences. This makes a little more sense once you figure out that she has been locked up all alone for almost a year and hasn’t spoken to another living soul for that whole time. I think I’d be a little nutty too. Mafi is a very emotionally descriptive writer and because of this it doesn’t take very long for you to be attached to certain characters and to really despise others. I only used four of my favorite lines from this book above but I think I highlighted around 10 or so which is really high for me in any book. I think she’s an amazing writer and once I got used to her writing style, I really liked it.
I’m not sure what year the book is set in but basically we’ve destroyed the planet and there’s not enough food or clean water and The Reestablishment has taken over power of everyone. They’ve decided that in order to correct the problems that society has caused they need to make several changes. Only the strong get to survive, they are getting rid of all the books they can find and trying to create a whole new language. All the unhealthy, weak and old are gotten rid of. It doesn’t specifically say how this happens maybe they are all killed or maybe they are just segregated from the rest of society? Juliette has some sort of weird power where it is dangerous for her to touch anyone. She had an incident in a grocery store and after that she was locked up in what she assumes is an insane asylum. One day she gets a cell mate, Adam Kent, and then things start to change a little for her. Can you imagine not speaking to anyone for a year? Just as she’s starting to get used to the idea of him she’s taken out of her cell and introduced to the sector leader for The Reestablishment, Warner, who informs her that he’d like her to join their cause. He thinks that her “talent” could be really useful to them. Which means, of course, that he would like her to help him kill the rebels. Warner takes her to their base and sets her up with a nice room and nice clothes and good meals and thinks that this is the way to get her to agree to join him. He’s got more on his mind than just how she can help their cause too. Luckily for her, people can’t touch her (at least not most people) so she seems to be relatively safe for the time being.
Adam has been assigned to guard her and as time goes on we learn a little about their past and get to see their relationship develop into something very sweet and intense. Juliette’s got to escape from The Reestablishment, especially from Warner as he’s got some kind of weird obsession with her, and Adam is going to help her to this. When they finally get free, it’s a mad dash to find their allies and get somewhere safe. Then everything gets turned on its head when they do finally find safety. Will this new group be the good guys? Will they want to use Juliette for her “talents” as well? With her suddenly being in a situation of acceptance, how will she handle it and will her and Adam be able to stay together?
*SPOILERS BELOW*
I love the relationship between Adam and Juliette. I wasn’t sure how this would work out in the beginning, since she can’t be touched and was relieved that Adam was the exception to this rule. The fact that they knew each other when they were younger went a long way with me to support the intensity of their feelings for each other. You can’t just meet someone and all of a sudden be in love with them. I liked that they each had formed feelings for the other growing up even though they had never had a conversation before now. Adam is so sweet to her and the fact that he remembered all the small things she did growing up for the same people who treated her so terribly was a nice touch. I’m not sure how this will all play out as Juliette has no experience with relationships of any kind. How will she handle something so intense?
I was disappointed to learn that Adam wasn’t the only one immune to Juliette’s dangerous touch when Warner touched her right before they escaped. I’m not sure exactly how I feel about Warner. I think that he is a product of his upbringing. Even though he can be ruthlessly cold and calculated, I’m not sure that he is a bad person. I think this is all he knows. He seems to have real feelings for Juliette although they way he got to know her was a little stalkerish with reading all about her history and then watching her in the asylum for the past year. He’s obsessive though and he’s not going to just let her go without some sort of fight.
I actually really loved the ending to this book! I totally didn’t see it coming. A whole group of people who all have different abilities. How wonderful for Juliette to finally feel like she belongs somewhere. Adam made a little headway with her self-esteem over the course of the few months they got to spend together but think about how horrible her life would have been. Can you imagine not being touched by anyone for almost your entire life? It’s pretty incredible that she’s still such a good person. The kind of power that she has would have been so dangerous in the wrong hands. The way her parents made her feel like a monster especially pissed me off. As a parent you love your children NO MATTER WHAT and how could you let her feel so alone her whole life? They could have ruined her forever. I’m excited to see what book two brings. I’d like to know what other kind of gifts the people of Omega Point have and how they deal with Warner and the threat he represents.
Next up is Destroy Me, a novella before Unravel Me.
Categories: Fantasy Books
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