Mortal Danger: Review

Synopsis:

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind...

***

It's a very complicated story. It stretches as far as the universe goes (okay maybe not). If one is not attentive enough or distracted just for a little while, it's pretty much impossible to understand the story. At least there is no information dumping. It unfurls bit by bit, so I'm curious along the way. However there are really parts that complicates the story. Mostly in a good way, but some... not.

Like the fact that there are other companies out there playing this game, and they are mentioned a lot and never once show their face. I can't stop thinking about those companies but they don't even play a small part of the first book. I know it is a set-up, but it is so distracting that I need to re-read some of the parts again and again just to understand those particular bits. 

But despite all the distraction, the story is still fascinating. It points out a very important fact that people probably won't want to admit: all the gods, no matter where the originates, are still figments that people make up. Do those stories just pop out of nowhere without people making up stories? And stories getting out of control - it's like a more messed-up (but in a good way) version of The Iron Fey. I am so in love with this concept. It's pretty original (well, they are not fey, so...).

Edie - I have to talk about Edie, because that girl is just super. I'm only half as wary and calculating as she is ,and I'm considered smart by people around me  yeah not arrogant at all. She notices things that normal people don't even recognize. I'm so envious of her because of her cleverness and just plain nerdishness. Sometimes her calculating personality goes a little far though. I know it's for the bullies in her school and she wants a payback. But she gets a little too cold and cruel some of the times, which makes her like those bullies. Good thing those moments don't last long, because it can be a serious damage to her character.

I am kinda curious about how the next book will turn out with that ending. I hope it's as good as this one, or even better.

Rating: 7.5/10

TBR #16: August 2014

I kinda hate August, mainly because it's summer holiday and homework is the equivalent of summer holiday (yes, my holiday isn't as exciting as others). But then BOOKS!

1. Opposition (Lux #5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Synopsis:

Katy knows the world changed the night the Luxen came.

She can't believe Daemon welcomed his race or stood by as his kind threatened to obliterate every last human and hybrid on Earth. But the lines between good and bad have blurred, and love has become an emotion that could destroy her—could destroy them all.

Daemon will do anything to save those he loves, even if it means betrayal.

They must team with an unlikely enemy if there is any chance of surviving the invasion. But when it quickly becomes impossible to tell friend from foe, and the world is crumbling around them, they may lose everything— even what they cherish most—to ensure the survival of their friends…and mankind.

War has come to Earth. And no matter the outcome, the future will never be the same for those left standing.

Expected Publication Date: August 5, 2014

I'm so scared of reading this but I'm still freaking excited

2. Mortal Danger (Immortal Game #1) by Ann Aguirre

Synopsis:

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind...

Expected Publication: August 5, 2014

3. Gates of Thread and Stone (Gates of Thread and Stone #1) by Lori M. Lee

Synopsis:

In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe.

In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret—she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from—or where she came from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her.

Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power.

Expected Publication: August 5, 2014

4. Wordless (Words Made Flesh #1) by AdriAnne Strickland

Synopsis:

“The Gods made their Words into flesh, giving privileged individuals the powers of creation...”

In Eden City, a member of the illiterate wordless class would never dream of meeting the all-powerful Words ... much less of running away with one. So when a gorgeous girl literally falls into his lap during a routine trash run, seventeen-year-old Tavin Barnes isn’t sure if it’s the luckiest or worst day of his life. That girl is Khaya, the Word of Life, who can heal a wound or command an ivy bush to devour a city block with ease. And yet she needs Tavin’s help.

By aiding Khaya’s escape from the seemingly idyllic confines of Eden City, Tavin unwittingly throws himself into the heart of a conflict that is threatening to tear the world apart. Eden City’s elite will stop at nothing to protect the shocking secret Khaya hides, and they enlist the other Words, each with their own frightening powers, to bring her back.

Expected Publication: August 8, 2014

5. Between The Spark and The Burn (Between #2) by April Genevieve Tucholke

Synopsis:

The conclusion to Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea, this gothic thriller romance with shades of Stephen King and Daphne du Maurier is a must-read for fans of Beautiful Creatures andAnna Dressed in Blood.
Freddie once told me that the Devil created all the fear in the world.
But then, the Devil once told me that it's easier to forgive someone for scaring you than for making you cry.
The problem with River West Redding was that he'd done both to me.

The crooked-smiling liar River West Redding, who drove into Violet's life one summer day and shook her world to pieces, is gone. Violet and Neely, River's other brother, are left to worry—until they catch a two a.m. radio program about strange events in a distant mountain town. They take off in search of River but are always a step behind, finding instead frenzied towns, witch hunts, and a wind-whipped island with the thrum of something strange and dangerous just under the surface. It isn't long before Violet begins to wonder if Neely, the one Redding brother she thought trustworthy, has been hiding a secret of his own . . .

Expected Publication: August 14, 2014

6. The Aftermath by Jen Alexander

Synopsis:

Sometimes, I dream that I'm someone else.

A girl with dark hair who doesn't worry about hunger

or thirst or running from flesh-eaters.

In her world, those sorts of things don't exist.

Since the spring of 2036, when the world changed forever, Claudia and a small clan of survivors have roamed the streets of a very altered Nashville: polluted and desolate, except for the ever-present threat of cannibal Hoarders. Together they must undergo punishing tests of endurance and psychological challenge sometimes with devastating consequences all just to live another day.

With food and water in dwindling supply, and with danger lurking around every corner, no one can be trusted. And as her world starts to make less and less sense, Claudia begins to realize something terrifying: she is just a pawn in some sort of game, and all of her actions are being controlled from afar by a mysterious gamer. So when she meets a maddening and fascinating outsider named Declan, who claims to be a game moderator, she must decide whether to join him in exchange for protection and access to the border.

If they play the game right, they are each other's best hope for survival and a life beyond the only world Claudia's ever known: the terrifying live-action game known as The Aftermath.

Expected Publication: August 26, 2014