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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
5 HUGE stars for one of the best books in the entire world.
I am in love with this world and characters. Especially Mr. Kent. I absolutely adore him. He made me laugh out loud even when I was reading it in public. I loved this entire book, every chapter, every page, every word. AND THAT ENDING!!! DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT ENDING!!! WHAT??? HOW??? WHY???
I can't wait to get my hands on the next one. I want to know how everything ends.
I am in love with this world and characters. Especially Mr. Kent. I absolutely adore him. He made me laugh out loud even when I was reading it in public. I loved this entire book, every chapter, every page, every word. AND THAT ENDING!!! DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT ENDING!!! WHAT??? HOW??? WHY???
I can't wait to get my hands on the next one. I want to know how everything ends.
Originally posted at Vampire Book Club
Still recovering from the loss of her sister, Evelyn Wyndham has thrown herself even more into the task of finding and helping other people with power. On one such mission Evelyn and her collaborators are hijacked by The Society of Aberrations, who tout the recruitment and protection for those with power. Having the same mission statement as Evelyn and her friends, they quickly throw themselves in with the Society. At first, Evelyn’s orders of healing the sick and wounded are just what she’s wanted to do with her powers. However, as she’s sent on recruitment missions that quickly turn dangerous, Evelyn can’t help but feel there’s something more sinister going on beneath the surface of the Society. She, along with her stalwart suitors Mr. Kent and Mr. Braddock, will risk everything to uncover the truth.
Where These Vicious Masks deals with the discovery of new powers and the awesomeness thereof, These Ruthless Deeds kind of looks at the drawbacks of what some of these powers can actually do. The possible danger, as with Sebastian Braddock’s power that pretty much sucks the life out of those too near to him, which he’s unable to control. The sometimes burden of what it means to have powers gives this book a more somber view than its predecessor.
That’s not to say that These Ruthless Deeds did not showcase some great wit and wile, it certainly did, but I found it to be more veiled and unexpected. Which, honestly, made the moments of levity all the more humorous and endearing.
The love triangle is still ever-present, but like the first book, it didn’t particularly annoy me. I think it’s because Evelyn has so many other things to put her focus on that, despite what Evelyn’s mother might have to say about it, her looking for a love interest is secondary. For those of you out there who despise the love triangle, worry not. We do get more closure on that aspect of the story by the end.
The pacing was a bit slower to start. I mean, we know from just reading the book blurb that there’s shenanigans going on—or at least they’re suspected by Evelyn—with the Society, it just takes a bit too long to actually unravel the main mystery of the book, which turns out to be finding the anonymous leader of the Society.
The slower pacing does do the great service of allowing the showcasing of more powers, which made me extremely happy. From the more widely known telekinesis to a girl that can demolish anything just by looking at the object for too long, and much more in between. I mean really, what is a superhero book without the superpowers? I liked, beyond seeing their powers, meeting the characters behind the powers and learning a little about their lives.
What the slower start also accomplishes is somewhat lulling the reader into a sense of complacency. That’s why I was completely unprepared for the final climatic moments. Moments that will be the basis for driving the story and the characters in the conclusion of the trilogy.
Still recovering from the loss of her sister, Evelyn Wyndham has thrown herself even more into the task of finding and helping other people with power. On one such mission Evelyn and her collaborators are hijacked by The Society of Aberrations, who tout the recruitment and protection for those with power. Having the same mission statement as Evelyn and her friends, they quickly throw themselves in with the Society. At first, Evelyn’s orders of healing the sick and wounded are just what she’s wanted to do with her powers. However, as she’s sent on recruitment missions that quickly turn dangerous, Evelyn can’t help but feel there’s something more sinister going on beneath the surface of the Society. She, along with her stalwart suitors Mr. Kent and Mr. Braddock, will risk everything to uncover the truth.
Where These Vicious Masks deals with the discovery of new powers and the awesomeness thereof, These Ruthless Deeds kind of looks at the drawbacks of what some of these powers can actually do. The possible danger, as with Sebastian Braddock’s power that pretty much sucks the life out of those too near to him, which he’s unable to control. The sometimes burden of what it means to have powers gives this book a more somber view than its predecessor.
That’s not to say that These Ruthless Deeds did not showcase some great wit and wile, it certainly did, but I found it to be more veiled and unexpected. Which, honestly, made the moments of levity all the more humorous and endearing.
The love triangle is still ever-present, but like the first book, it didn’t particularly annoy me. I think it’s because Evelyn has so many other things to put her focus on that, despite what Evelyn’s mother might have to say about it, her looking for a love interest is secondary. For those of you out there who despise the love triangle, worry not. We do get more closure on that aspect of the story by the end.
The pacing was a bit slower to start. I mean, we know from just reading the book blurb that there’s shenanigans going on—or at least they’re suspected by Evelyn—with the Society, it just takes a bit too long to actually unravel the main mystery of the book, which turns out to be finding the anonymous leader of the Society.
The slower pacing does do the great service of allowing the showcasing of more powers, which made me extremely happy. From the more widely known telekinesis to a girl that can demolish anything just by looking at the object for too long, and much more in between. I mean really, what is a superhero book without the superpowers? I liked, beyond seeing their powers, meeting the characters behind the powers and learning a little about their lives.
What the slower start also accomplishes is somewhat lulling the reader into a sense of complacency. That’s why I was completely unprepared for the final climatic moments. Moments that will be the basis for driving the story and the characters in the conclusion of the trilogy.
After suffering from a devastating loss, Evelyn has now devoted her life to use her powers to save other gifted people. But when things go horribly wrong with a telekinetic girl, she finds herself involved with a secret society who recruit and protect people who are gifted, but she can’t help feeling there is something else going on. This novel was easy to read; the plots weaved in and out of each other with ease and the reader found it effortless to follow along. The characters were well written and developed nicely throughout the novel; maybe a little slowly, but it matched the pace of the story. Characters are definitely tested and it was exciting and a little thrilling to read. For the most part this novel kept the reader invested and engaged; there were moments throughout that wavered a little, but overall things moved well. The world building is growing, and it’s continuing to take shape, which is leaving the reader more invested in the trilogy. That ending left things on a bit of a cliff hanger; now the reader is left waiting for the next book to find out how the story concludes.
3.5*
Fun and another breath of fresh hair!
The bad part? I need the next one asap!
Fun and another breath of fresh hair!
The bad part? I need the next one asap!
I really liked the first book in this series (see my review for it here) but in this book I had a really hard time remembering characters from the previous book. I think that may be a sign of having a few too many characters and those characters not being very important. The main characters themselves are fine and pretty well-developed. At the very least, they seem like they probably have depth even if that depth is not explored to the fullest (*ahem* Mr. Kent *ahem*). In the last book I was pretty torn between our main character’s two love interests, but in this book I found myself firmly rooting for one in particular. I won’t name names or spoil whether or not Evelyn ends up with him though. As I said in my previous review, I hate love triangles, but this one was okay. Not GREAT, but okay.
The plot fit together really nicely. I remember from the last book I enjoyed that Evelyn had to stop her investigation every once in a while to participate in society. For some reason that just seemed humorous and realistic to me. In this book, there are still some obligations that Evelyn has to meet, but for the most part the book is focused on the other part of her life. This just means that the book is a little more action-packed and mostly occurs at night. Evelyn as a character was pretty much the same as she was in the first book, but I did feel that she made some really annoying decisions at times. Mostly what I wanted from her was just some transparency. It felt like that was really lacking between characters and that always frustrates me to no end.
The last part of the plot was…interesting. It was unpredicted, I’ll say that. I felt that the first book had this really powerful conclusion that I didn’t necessarily agree with, but appreciated nonetheless. But then this book comes in and basically reverses that really powerful conclusion but then it also has its own huge ending. All of that serves to almost cheapen the ending for me. I feel like the third book is going to come along and be like, “JK we’ve actually found out a way for none of that to have happened.” In the end, I guess we’ll just have to see what the next book has in store.
Overall, I really did like this book. I appreciate that the authors aren’t afraid to make big moves. I like the main cast of characters that we have and as I get to know secondary characters, I start to appreciate them more as well. I would definitely recommend this book for people who are fans of both Jane Austen and X-Men.
Overall Rating: 4
Language: Mild
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The plot fit together really nicely. I remember from the last book I enjoyed that Evelyn had to stop her investigation every once in a while to participate in society. For some reason that just seemed humorous and realistic to me. In this book, there are still some obligations that Evelyn has to meet, but for the most part the book is focused on the other part of her life. This just means that the book is a little more action-packed and mostly occurs at night. Evelyn as a character was pretty much the same as she was in the first book, but I did feel that she made some really annoying decisions at times. Mostly what I wanted from her was just some transparency. It felt like that was really lacking between characters and that always frustrates me to no end.
The last part of the plot was…interesting. It was unpredicted, I’ll say that. I felt that the first book had this really powerful conclusion that I didn’t necessarily agree with, but appreciated nonetheless. But then this book comes in and basically reverses that really powerful conclusion but then it also has its own huge ending. All of that serves to almost cheapen the ending for me. I feel like the third book is going to come along and be like, “JK we’ve actually found out a way for none of that to have happened.” In the end, I guess we’ll just have to see what the next book has in store.
Overall, I really did like this book. I appreciate that the authors aren’t afraid to make big moves. I like the main cast of characters that we have and as I get to know secondary characters, I start to appreciate them more as well. I would definitely recommend this book for people who are fans of both Jane Austen and X-Men.
Overall Rating: 4
Language: Mild
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Review posted on Fafa's Book Corner!
Beware spoilers ahead!
This book was such a disappointment. I really enjoyed the first book in this series. It was fun, exciting, and entertaining. I was looking forward to finding out more about this world and the characters. Unfortunately this book surfers middle book syndrome.
Evelyn and crew end up joining the society of aberrations. They discover more secrets and such. First of I honestly don't understand why Evelyn joined the society in the first place?! I understood everybody else's reasoning but not Evelyn. It didn't even feel believable when she did end up joining them.
Evelyn felt completely different from the first book. She was extremely selfish throughout the entire book. She didn't stand up for herself around her parents. And she bossed everyone around like she actually knew what she was doing. I also did not like how she kept so many secrets under the guise of protecting everyone.
To a certain degree I understand why she acted the way she did. The authors just didn't make it believable or foreshadow it in the previous book. Yes she went through a lot in the previous book, but nobody becomes a whole other person just like that.
Just like the previous book this was very fast paced. But not a whole lot happened. You are introduced to new characters and some of the things we learned were quite interesting. There was a lot of finding out running around and getting caught.
The romance was very annoying in this book. Evelyn's parents are even more awful in this book then they were in the previous book. And it's just to move the plot along. The first thing Evelyn's parents do after not seeing her in months is get her into society and hopefully engaged. Like seriously?! How about a 'How have you been?' or a heart-to-heart! But no they care far too much about their reputation then their own children.
I skimmed most of this book. I just couldn't bring myself to read it and I also wanted to figure out when things would start actually happening. It wasn't until towards the end of this book that there was a plot. By that point I stopped caring.
The only thing I liked in this book was the banter. At least that didn't change. I did laugh out loud a few times as well. Unfortunately that was not enough to save the book.
Overall I did not enjoy this book. I will not be continuing the series. I don't recommend this series.
Beware spoilers ahead!
This book was such a disappointment. I really enjoyed the first book in this series. It was fun, exciting, and entertaining. I was looking forward to finding out more about this world and the characters. Unfortunately this book surfers middle book syndrome.
Evelyn and crew end up joining the society of aberrations. They discover more secrets and such. First of I honestly don't understand why Evelyn joined the society in the first place?! I understood everybody else's reasoning but not Evelyn. It didn't even feel believable when she did end up joining them.
Evelyn felt completely different from the first book. She was extremely selfish throughout the entire book. She didn't stand up for herself around her parents. And she bossed everyone around like she actually knew what she was doing. I also did not like how she kept so many secrets under the guise of protecting everyone.
To a certain degree I understand why she acted the way she did. The authors just didn't make it believable or foreshadow it in the previous book. Yes she went through a lot in the previous book, but nobody becomes a whole other person just like that.
Just like the previous book this was very fast paced. But not a whole lot happened. You are introduced to new characters and some of the things we learned were quite interesting. There was a lot of finding out running around and getting caught.
The romance was very annoying in this book. Evelyn's parents are even more awful in this book then they were in the previous book. And it's just to move the plot along. The first thing Evelyn's parents do after not seeing her in months is get her into society and hopefully engaged. Like seriously?! How about a 'How have you been?' or a heart-to-heart! But no they care far too much about their reputation then their own children.
I skimmed most of this book. I just couldn't bring myself to read it and I also wanted to figure out when things would start actually happening. It wasn't until towards the end of this book that there was a plot. By that point I stopped caring.
The only thing I liked in this book was the banter. At least that didn't change. I did laugh out loud a few times as well. Unfortunately that was not enough to save the book.
Overall I did not enjoy this book. I will not be continuing the series. I don't recommend this series.
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
These Vicious Masks was one of my favourite debuts from 2016, and I was overjoyed when I both won a copy of the sequel, and was approved for an advance copy via NetGalley. In These Ruthless Deeds, Evelyn is coming to terms with the death of her sister Rose, and also her new tangled powers of healing people. She has joined forces with The Society, a group of other gifted people, and she now has people to turn to when she is struggling with her abilities. Her old friends Mr Kent and Mr Braddock are still around, and she's instrumental in finding, and helping, other people just like her. However, she's also struggling to balance her life in The Society, and life in Society, for the Season, when she starts to consider that just what she's doing, might not be the best thing for everyone, and she might be being used to helps others gain.
I love anything to do with the Regency era, and adding fantasy elements to that time is always a good thing. This book was so well researched, and well written, that it felt as if it was reality, and I was more watching a film, than reading a book. Evelyn is such a good narrator, and her growth as a person, growing into her abilities, is awe inspiring. Understandable, she's apprehensive around The Society, but she does warm to them, and begins to develop friendships, and a kind of new family, with them. Her own family isn't the best, especially as her mother is pushing her into an engagement and marriage with the most boring person ever, just because he's titled, and his mother is influential in the Ton, and her father has nothing about him, other than gambling away their fortune and reputation.
The plot is ridiculously good. It's fast paced, and exciting, and there was never a moment that I felt like something was unnecessary or boring. Everything was just right, and I'm beside myself with excitement for the next book in the series, because with each one, the story is getting better and better.
There's romance in this book - obviously, when it's published by Swoon Reads - and I much prefer Mr Kent to Mr Braddock, but that's not to say that I don't like Braddock, just that Kent has something more about him. These two characters, and the other characters were all interesting, even the ones that you hate, or grow to dislike throughout the course of the book. I think all lovers of historical YA or fantasy need to have this series on their radar, and I look forward to the next instalment because I love Evelyn and this series so much!
These Vicious Masks was one of my favourite debuts from 2016, and I was overjoyed when I both won a copy of the sequel, and was approved for an advance copy via NetGalley. In These Ruthless Deeds, Evelyn is coming to terms with the death of her sister Rose, and also her new tangled powers of healing people. She has joined forces with The Society, a group of other gifted people, and she now has people to turn to when she is struggling with her abilities. Her old friends Mr Kent and Mr Braddock are still around, and she's instrumental in finding, and helping, other people just like her. However, she's also struggling to balance her life in The Society, and life in Society, for the Season, when she starts to consider that just what she's doing, might not be the best thing for everyone, and she might be being used to helps others gain.
I love anything to do with the Regency era, and adding fantasy elements to that time is always a good thing. This book was so well researched, and well written, that it felt as if it was reality, and I was more watching a film, than reading a book. Evelyn is such a good narrator, and her growth as a person, growing into her abilities, is awe inspiring. Understandable, she's apprehensive around The Society, but she does warm to them, and begins to develop friendships, and a kind of new family, with them. Her own family isn't the best, especially as her mother is pushing her into an engagement and marriage with the most boring person ever, just because he's titled, and his mother is influential in the Ton, and her father has nothing about him, other than gambling away their fortune and reputation.
The plot is ridiculously good. It's fast paced, and exciting, and there was never a moment that I felt like something was unnecessary or boring. Everything was just right, and I'm beside myself with excitement for the next book in the series, because with each one, the story is getting better and better.
There's romance in this book - obviously, when it's published by Swoon Reads - and I much prefer Mr Kent to Mr Braddock, but that's not to say that I don't like Braddock, just that Kent has something more about him. These two characters, and the other characters were all interesting, even the ones that you hate, or grow to dislike throughout the course of the book. I think all lovers of historical YA or fantasy need to have this series on their radar, and I look forward to the next instalment because I love Evelyn and this series so much!
So, upon reading book 2, I was initially disappointed, my hope had been for the second book to make up for the firsts in lack of ability to make me feel with the characters. About 3/4 of the way through, I took a break for about an hour, and in that hour my thoughts were essentially that this was going to be one of those series where I was going to be frustrated but invested just enough to want to know what happened, so I would keep reading.
Now you're probably wondering, based on that first part, why I've given this book 3 stars. Because you see, the last 1/4 of the book finally got me. I very nearly cried if I'm being honest. For the first time, I finally started to feel what Evelyn was feeling, what Sebastian was feeling, rather than just being told how they were feeling and what they were doing. The last bit made me actively excited to read book three, it was what I had been waiting for the entire series I suppose. I can't say much, spoilers and all, but I'm optimistic about book 3.
As for the showing not telling problem that book 1 had, These Ruthless Deeds still felt quick, and in many ways continued the same problem from These Vicious Masks, but the last bit of Ruthless Deeds made me feel like it was something the authors could grow out of (I have now realized there are two authors, possibly part of the problem but alas).
The one thing I am still concerned with, and this will be a slight spoiler, is the lack of consistency with the villain. The antagonist has been different in each book and is set up to be a different one in the third book as well, and this leads to them almost feeling disconnected in a way, its a strange way, because of course the characters are the same and so ultimately are their goals, but who is in the way of them has changed each time, which I worry will lead to the third book ending and it not truly feeling like an ending, but rather like, you know how in TV series, most of the time, each season has an overarching villain, while each episode has one of its own? It's possible it will end a bit like that, except that there is not longstanding constant villain. We will see with book 3 I guess.
Now you're probably wondering, based on that first part, why I've given this book 3 stars. Because you see, the last 1/4 of the book finally got me. I very nearly cried if I'm being honest. For the first time, I finally started to feel what Evelyn was feeling, what Sebastian was feeling, rather than just being told how they were feeling and what they were doing. The last bit made me actively excited to read book three, it was what I had been waiting for the entire series I suppose. I can't say much, spoilers and all, but I'm optimistic about book 3.
As for the showing not telling problem that book 1 had, These Ruthless Deeds still felt quick, and in many ways continued the same problem from These Vicious Masks, but the last bit of Ruthless Deeds made me feel like it was something the authors could grow out of (I have now realized there are two authors, possibly part of the problem but alas).
The one thing I am still concerned with, and this will be a slight spoiler, is the lack of consistency with the villain. The antagonist has been different in each book and is set up to be a different one in the third book as well, and this leads to them almost feeling disconnected in a way, its a strange way, because of course the characters are the same and so ultimately are their goals, but who is in the way of them has changed each time, which I worry will lead to the third book ending and it not truly feeling like an ending, but rather like, you know how in TV series, most of the time, each season has an overarching villain, while each episode has one of its own? It's possible it will end a bit like that, except that there is not longstanding constant villain. We will see with book 3 I guess.