The Blood Of Olympus

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

This is the fifth book in The Heroes of Olympus series, which is a sequel series to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

If you don't want anything spoiled about Percy Jackson stuff, just don't even look at this. DON'T LOOK AT IT.

I have reviewed all the previous books by Rick Riordan concerning Percy Jackson. Links below.

The Heroes of Olympus:

Book #1: THE LOST HERO
Book #2: THE SON OF NEPTUNE
Book #3: THE MARK OF ATHENA
Book #4: THE HOUSE OF HADES

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series:

Book #1: THE LIGHTNING THIEF
Book #2: THE SEA OF MONSTERS
Book #3: THE TITAN'S CURSE
Book #4: THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH
Book #5: THE LAST OLYMPIAN

Further disclaimer: If you have not read this book yet and would like it remain unspoiled, DO NOT READ THIS BLOG POST. I'm just going to lay it all out on the table and leave it there. Proceed at your own risk.

MORE DISCLAIMER: I'm not going to spend time going over stuff from previous books unless they are excessively relevant to this book. If you want to know more about the series, I've read and reviewed all the books. Just go click some links. Go to Amazon. I'm not messing around with grand scheme summary....kind of...

An amazon summary to get things moving, "Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo IIhave made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen-all of them-and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood-the blood of Olympus-in order to wake. 

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it might be able to stop a war between the two camps.


The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

In the last book, The House of Hades, Percy and Annabeth escaped from the Underworld, met up with the group, and are puzzling over the best way to be fully prepared for the battle to stop Gaea from waking. Nico, Reyna, and Coach are dragging the giant statue back to Camp Halfblood to hopefully heal the rift between the Roman and Greek demigods. 

I'm not going to skirt around this at all; I was pretty disappointed in The Blood of Olympus. It delved into a lot of useless backstory, every character seemed to be the same narrator voice from time to time, and when there was action, it was so brief it was barely worth noting.

Even sitting here and typing up this book review, I'm having trouble remembering the finer details of the book because it's forgettable. The narrators spaz skipped around, some characters got their traditional, funny, one line quips; but there was something really lost in this book.

I just didn't care anymore. There was nothing holding my attention because it was so flat.

Don't get me wrong, there were neat moments of the book, but a lot of the narration shifted to the Nico/Reyna/Coach direction, which just seemed as centrally important as what was happening with the other crew. Again, don't get me wrong, I like Reyna, and Nico was just 100% badass terrifying everywhere. BUT THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SUCH A FOCUS OF THE BOOK.

So, at the end, there's of course the giant battle with Gaea and everybody and their mother, but it was still so short, and the same run of the mill stuff as before.

It feels like it was over in three pages. SUPER SPOILER - none of the main characters even died which seems to be half the point of having a book with multiple narrators! HUGE what the heck at that.

There was such a massive build up from all the other books, and yeah there was the whole Annabeth and Piper being awesome friends (SUPER COOL YEAH) but, all the other characters were just left out to the dust. Like seriously, I question if Hazel or Frank were important, like ever.

I just can't even muster enough to care about writing out a full blog post for this book, which is a SUPER tragedy because I enjoyed so many of the prior books!

I watched another person be angry about this on youtube, and I related so well. It's definitely You can find that HERE. She said everything I want to say better than I am able to at the moment.

Because I just can't even.

I'm out.

Happy reading.

National Novel Writing Month 2014

This will be my third year blogging during National Novel Writing Month and my ninth year of participating.

For a cool breakdown or a place to get some questions answered, please refer to this website:  NANOWRIMO LOOK AT IT

From last years blog post (which I think is a good explanation): National Novel Writing Month is November, which means that the writers of the world sometimes attempt to write a whole novel within a month. On the link I posted above, there is a website that helps to keep track of a word count, and the word count goal is to hit 50,000 words by the end of November. When it hits 11:59PM on November 30th; 50,000 words.

It's also awesome to get involved with the NaNoWriMo website as there are a lot of great community aspects to the NaNoWriMo website. People can join a region to post on forum boards, attend write-ins, and go to NaNo happenings in their area. A great way to connect to the writing world. I typically only use the website to keep track of my word counts because they have a lot of neat graphs. Personally, I'm not a social writer, so while I am a part of a region, I usually don't participate in events because I am hermit. Yesssss.

I've been participating in NaNoWriMo every year since 2005 and have completed the challenge every year. I still haven't tried to get anything published because I'm a terrible procrastinator and look at a lot of stuff I've written with a dreadful, why sense. But, something might happen.

During November, I will be posting my word count and whatever I feel like.

WHATEVER I FEEL LIKE.

It's wild card posts in November (again).

I do not guarantee any frequency of posts.
I do not guarantee any book reviews.
I do not guarantee any recipes.

I do guarantee that anything I post will most likely have an element of rambling in it.
I do guarantee I'll post something because I'm alive, kicking, and being awesome in general.
I do guarantee that I have no idea what I'm doing in November for blog posts myself.

...

I encourage you to join me in writing for National Novel Writing Month; even if you don't think you can hit the 50,000 words, it's good to try. It's good to create. It's good to do something that has an element of insanity to it every once in a while.

IT'S GOING TO ROCK.

...

I have had a request for any advice that I may have from the many years of NaNo writing I've done.

In my experience, that giant 50,000 word count always looms over me for the month of November. I personally like to schedule writing time for myself so it's much easier for me to go places or do things in my life while not stressing about how much time I'm wasting not writing. I also get out as much story as I can in the first week because that's when I'm most enthusiastic about writing and have tons of creative ideas. I usually keep a notebook handy to carry around to jot down ideas as I have them when I'm away from my computer.

If I'm having a hard time writing out an action scene, I'll demand the nearest person (usually a hapless friend) to act it out with me. If I'm struggling with a particular setting, I'll google image search keywords of things I'm looking for. Sometimes I'll create a doodle of places just so I have that as reference. As far as coming up with names, I usually find databanks of names for things. My favorite is using street names from multiple cities because there are so many weird ones out there.

That's all the NaNo advice I have for now.

Happy writing!

Crock Pot Pizza Cake

Delicious decisions were made.

Crock Pot Pizza Cake

You heard me!

I made pizza cake in the crock pot.

If you don't know what pizza cake is, here's a short description.

It is three or more pizzas stacked on top of each other with the dough built up on the sides to give it the cake effect. Typically, they're made in a spring form pan, or a metal bowl that has a good size/oven worthy.

....or you could be crazy like me, wing it, and put it in a crock pot.

Aww yeahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Anywho.

I strongly recommend using a crock pot liner for this recipe. The liner enables you to lift the pizza cake out of the crock pot without too much difficulty. Plus, you can cut it up a heck of a lot easier when it's out of the crock pot.

Ingredients:

• (2) 13.8 oz cans of refrigerated pizza crust (like the tubes you can get cinnamon rolls in)
  Note: This is for a three layer pizza cake, if you want more layers, get more crust!
• Pizza sauce - however much you prefer on your pizza regularly
• Mozzarella cheese - same deal as pizza sauce. Whatever your preference is
• TOPPINGS. What toppings do you like on your pizza? Pepperoni? Ham? Mushrooms? Peppers? Your imagination and potentially the grocery store is your limit!

Directions:

1. Insert crock pot liner into the crock pot per package directions and common sense.
2. As this is going in the crock pot, I would cook the pizza crust according to the package directions. The eventual plan for the pizza crust is to cut it in the shape of the crock pot.
3. When the pizza crust is done, cut it in the shape of the crock pot, place one layer of crust on the bottom. As there will be three crusts, I'd recommend not cutting it in the middle, cut it on one side. The extra crust bits will be used to stack along the edges.
4. Spread sauce on the crust evenly.
5. Put toppings/cheese on the crust evenly.
6. On the edges of the crust, stack about a half inch of crust all around the edges.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 until you're out of crust/want to be done, whichever comes first.
8. Turn the crock pot on low and cook for 5 hours.
9. Remove from crock pot with that SUPER HANDY LINER! :D
10. Put it on a cutting board, slice it, and PREPARE YOUR FACE FOR DELICIOUSNESS.

That's it. I personally put mushrooms/ham on my version for a potluck I went to. It turned out gloriously well. A little weird to cut into at first, but definitely worth the struggle.

Happy cooking!

Hellhole

Hellhole by Gina Damico

Disclaimer: I read the advance reading copy of Hellhole. Undoubtedly there will be minor differences between the version I read and the published version. The published version will be released on January 6, 2015.

Warning: If you're uncomfortable with the devil/Satan being portrayed in a book, I would suggest not reading this book. One of the main characters is a Satan So, there's that. Yes, a singular Satan as apparently there's a lot of them.

I've previously read CROAK, SCORCH, and ROGUE by Gina Damico. I think she's slowly becoming an author I've started to watch for new books. Excellent. 

An amazon summary, "A devil is a bad influence . . .

There was a time when geeky, squeaky-clean Max Kilgore would never lie or steal or even think about murder.

Then he accidentally unearths a devil, and Max’s choices are no longer his own. The big red guy has a penchant for couch surfing and junk food—and you should never underestimate evil on a sugar high. With the help of Lore, a former goth girl who knows a thing or two about the dark side, Max is racing against the clock to get rid of the houseguest from hell before time, and all the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos this side of the fiery abyss, run out.

Gina Damico, author of the Croak series, once again delivers all the horror, hilarity, and high-stakes drama that any kid in high school or hell could ever handle." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Well done amazon summary, well done. We'll call that good for a summary.

As with all of Gina Damico's books, the humor in this was stellar.

The action carried the plot along while having good moments where characters were really developed.

There were a lot of one liners I'd like to try to memorize from this book in case the instance would ever come up where I could chirp it out.

This was also a book that I couldn't put down very easily and go accomplish life maintenance tasks.

....have you sensed the big hesitation?

The big BUT that's been lingering?

With the way this book ends, I find it very, very messed up. There isn't really a clear message rhyme/reason or even clean up to the entire disastrous situation that has unfolded.

A lot of laws were broken, friendships tried (and potentially broken), and there are so many questions I have now that I've properly 'sat back' and thought about the book in its entirety.

I imagine if there's a sequel, some of these questions would be answered, but with the way the book leaves off, I imagine there will not be a sequel.

So here's a very boiled down version of the main issue I have with the book.

Law X is broken, hurts person Y in the process, main plot point comes back to haunt narrator (Max), and next Law is broken in an attempt to solve plot point. The consequences/ramifications of breaking the law is never really brought up, and Max doesn't really do anything to make amends with person Y that has been hurt in the process. He does try to make amends with some of the authority figures in his life to continue uninhibited with his life as best as he can, but he doesn't really address some huge issues.

Some of the quirks about the characters/town seemed natural, where others seemed to be dropped into the book because they were a neat idea, but never really played into the story that well.

So, on one hand, I adored the humor and where the book was going.

On the other hand, I don't think Max's overall reaction to the series of events was entirely plausible/likely in the world setting it was presented.

Eh?

Happy reading!

Dangerous Deceptions

Dangerous Deceptions by Sarah Zettel

Disclaimer one: I read the advanced reader's copy of this book. Undoubtedly there will be some minor differences between the version I read and the published copy. This book will be published on November 4, 2014.

Disclaimer two: This is the second book in the series. I review the first book, Palace of Spies, HERE. If you wish for the first book to remain unspoiled, I recommend not reading this review.

So many disclaimers, I'm just going to leap to the amazon summary, "“A rollicking spy caper in corsets. . . . This witty romp will delight fans of historical fiction as well as mystery lovers.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review of Palace of Spies

As a lady in waiting in King George’s London court, Peggy has survived a forced betrothal, royal scandals, and an attempt or two on her life. And now she has a new problem: her horrible fiancé has returned to claim her! To save her neck, or at least her hand in marriage, Peggy joins forces with her cousin Olivia and her sweetheart, Matthew. But if she doesn’t play her cards right, her career as courtier and spy might come to an end at the bottom of the river Thames . . ." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE AND SURPRISING QUALITY

Again, I am impressed with the amazon summary for this book. Whoever is in charge of this book series and giving summaries, they're doing a splendid job.

Peggy returns with a different climate to court this time; half of the ladies in waiting have it out for her after the events of Palace of Spies, her terrible fiance from the last book means to make good on their betrothal, and Matthew is a darling sweetheart. Plus Peggy has a maid that has quite a bit of her own sparkling personality to match Peggy's whirlwind lifestyle.

There's also more intrigue into the political climate of court as Peggy starts using her resources and seems to begin to come into her own as a spy. She's still learning, but she's on her proper way to being of good service to the queen.

There is also a seemingly half-hearted attempted at making Peggy a little more independent and lethal as she starts taking on lessons from a mysterious gentleman and has weapons hidden in certain garments of clothing.

This is a Peggy that I like as she stops letting herself be at the mercy of those who would control her and musters the courage to take control of the situation.

Now, the romantic heart that dwells within me demanded to see more of Matthew in this story because romance is awesome, yadda yadda, but the part of me that appreciates a good story really loved the balance between love, political intrigue, character history, and action that cropped up from time to time. This was a fantastically even keeled book that drives me to get my hands on the third book.

The side characters were all acutely established, and enhanced much of the story rather than ever detract from the main plotline. There wasn't much about this book that was haphazard, but there were a few mentions in it that will seem to come back to play a larger role in later books which I can appreciate it even though I am mildly annoyed that I don't know how the mystery resolves now.

The only reason this is being held back from being a recommended book, is that it didn't grip my attention as thoroughly as it could have. There were a lot of times I could be content with stopping where I was and going off to do something else, so I did. It took me a bit longer to get through the books because I think there were too many pauses where the critical story is being set up for future books, but it seemed to be watered down content. It could have been a lot more potent.

So while it was even keeled, it seemed to have a child's grasp on my curiosity and desire to know what happens next, rather than having it in a steel grip.

Happy reading!

Cured

Cured by Bethany Wiggins

I read the first book in the series, Stung, HERE.

Disclaimer: This blog post will undoubtedly contain spoilers about the first book, Stung, so read no further if you would like to read the books unspoiled.

Apparently this book was released back in March and I completely missed it. For that, I have a bit of shame. However, I read a ridiculous amount of books, so I feel that it's acceptable to slip and eventually get to them.

Ahem.

Anyways, an amazon summary, "Now that Fiona Tarsis and her twin brother, Jonah, are no longer beasts, they set out to find their mother, with the help of Bowen and a former neighbor, Jacqui. Heading for a safe settlement rumored to be in Wyoming, they plan to spread the cure along the way--until they are attacked by raiders. Luckily, they find a new ally in Kevin, who saves them and leads them to safety in his underground shelter. But the more they get to know Kevin, the more they suspect he has ties to the raiders. He also seems to know too many details about Jacqui and her family—details that could endanger them all. For the raiders will do anything they can to destroy the cure that would bring an end to their way of life. Bethany Wiggins’s reimagining of our world after an environmental catastrophe won’t fail to stun readers." MILDLY MISLEADING AMAZON SUMMARY LINK OF JUSTICE

At the end of Stung, Fiona and Jonah have discovered there is a cure for the terrible vaccine that turned a lot of people into beasts. There was a lot of elements to Stung which made the book fantastic from the world building, characters, and tone; Cured follows neatly in it's place.

At the beginning of Cured, we meet Jacqui. We had actually met Jacqui in Stung, she was the girl right at the beginning who gave Fiona some crackers when she first emerges from her house.

Jacqui's family has been one of the few who have stayed in their home and fight for survival. They have a good system set up of people taking guard at different points, dogs who are ever alert, and even grow their own food in the backyard.

Jacqui and her mother are disguised as men though. Females are too sought after by the raiders for pleasure and entertainment that it's insanely safer for Jacqui and her mother to be disguised as men.

In the beginning, there's a lot of interesting family history, dynamics, and how Jacqui came to be Jack. It leads to a boiling point where Jacqui packs some gear before running off to the walled city. She's looking for her brother who disappeared after escorting a woman to a colony in the mountains where it's rumored to be safe.

Jacqui calls upon Fiona, Jonah, and Bowen (Fiona's romantic interest from the last book) for help. It's revealed that Dean left escorting Fiona's mother to the Rockies (where the allegedly safe colony exists). Jacqui calls on their aid because it's not only safer to travel in numbers, but they also have a vested interest in the adventure.

The world is still a grim, bleek place that puts the adventurers through gruesome terrors.

Cured holds just as much punch as Stung with a few delightful twists that had me a bit slack-jawed.

There were still a lot of 'gross' elements to the story that were fitting based on the tone of the book and what we knew from Stung.

There were only a few moments where I wanted to smack Jacqui for being dense, but it made sense based on how she grew up/the world she had experienced thus far. So really I can't fault the book for writing a realistic narrator based on the story's world. It was good that Jacqui didn't stray from her characteristics, but it was only mildly maddening as the reader, and this is a silly long statement. [/fin]

So many things (like the Raiders) were explained just a little better and articulated more horrifically, but the pacing of the book never dwelled for too long on anything. With everything moving at a good clip, histories entwined with present events, and enough action for a movie; Cured was just fantastic.

Another good show.

Happy reading!

The Young World

The Young World by Chris Weitz

Disclaimer: I read the advanced reader's copy (ARC) of this book; this book was released on July 29, 2014. Undoubtedly, there will be minor changes between the version I read and the published version. I picked up the ARC at the 2014 ALA Conference.

To get back into reading after my horrendous encounter with Mortal Heart (which I won't even link to because NO), I had to take on something that was pretty straight forward.

Pleasantly, this book was pretty straight forward. It's the post-apocalyptic world where many of the kids (roughly ages 0-9) and everyone over 18 has died.

It's like Lord of the Flies with an adrenaline rush.

I don't know. Have an amazon summary! ""Chris Weitz has made a beautiful transition from writing and directing films to novels. The Young World is populated with characters you won't forget and a story as fresh and urgent asDivergent."--James Patterson, #1 NY Times bestselling author of Maximum Ride.

Welcome to New York, a city ruled by teens.

After a mysterious Sickness wipes out the rest of the population, the young survivors assemble into tightly run tribes. Jefferson, the reluctant leader of the Washington Square tribe, and Donna, the girl he's secretly in love with, have carved out a precarious existence among the chaos.

But when a fellow tribe member discovers a clue that may hold the cure for the Sickness, five teens set out on a life-altering road trip, exchanging gunfire with enemy gangs, escaping cults and militias, braving the wilds of the subway--all in order to save humankind.

This first novel from acclaimed film writer/director Chris Weitz is the heart-stopping debut of an action-packed trilogy." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Fair warning, the book has two narrators; Jefferson and Donna. If you've read past blog posts of mine, you know how I feel about this setup. (This is not a spoiler.)

Anyways.

Much of the beginning of the book is describing the sickness, how the world once was, how it sank into the decrepit despair that it is today, and how much kids didn't realize how good they once had it. Pretty run of the mill, show the reader how demented the world has become. There isn't anything particularly shocking or new in this mix if you've read a post apocalyptic, young adult book before.

Moving on to the unique plot.

So Jefferson and Donna live in Washington Square with a band of other kids as they squeak out a semblance of life in the decaying ruins of what the world once was. Jefferson's older brother is just about to turn 18 and is passing the reigns of leadership over to his kid brother. There's an odd encounter with some hostiles who want to trade a pig for women, but Jefferson's older brother shoots the pig and the hostiles walk away with a promise of revenge. Everybody has pig, it's amazing, yay pig. Party with terse looks and wondering at the future for everybody.

Once Jefferson's older brother turns 18, he comes down with the sickness. He goes from healthy to dying in about a day or two before he's dead. As he's dying, Jefferson and Donna keep him company. There narrations are interesting in that they kind of show the same sides of Jefferson with different memories. Once he's dead, Jefferson is elected leader of their tribe.

Jefferson has come to realize that they're foraging and food is starting to yield lower and lower results; soon they'll have to move the tribe or hope a cure is found.

Jefferson's friend "brainy" who is a wicked smart genius (as the book repeatedly tells you and shows you at every opportunity) thinks he can find a lead on the cure if they can get to the library downtown. Jefferson agrees, Donna insists on coming along, Donna's friend also comes along, and soon the truck is underway. Little did they know they had a stowaway (a girl who has a crush on Brainy), and they start running into all sorts of trouble as they make their way through the city.

Now, there were some interesting and different things that have developed in this post apocalyptic world, but it wasn't enough for this to feel like a unique novel. PLUS, I find it terrible that the author tempered Jefferson's narration with the hardships of everything he's gone through, while Donna's was left as a brooding, angst ridden, but will try to get the job done sort of character. There wasn't a lot within the narrators that felt like an authentic reflection of how they would have changed due to most of Earth's population being dead.

Other than that, it seemed like an action movie in a book form, but still lacking a lot of plot elements that would make sense to drive the book onward. The narrators were reacting to everything in their environment without having a really clear destination in mind for most of the book.

[SPOILER] Plus the romance between Donna and Jefferson felt really forced on both of their parts. Like, "It's the end of the world, I've like known you forever, so we should be like, in love right?" And that was mostly from Jefferson. [/sigh, SPOILER FIN]

So, I might pick up the second book depending on how many books I have stacked up when it comes out, but it's looking a bit unlikely at this point.

Happy reading!

Burrito Bowl

Burrito Bowl

...I might be mildly obsessed with burritos.

...

I think that's the only introduction this recipe really needs.

Burritos. They're delicious. Sometimes they need to be made in 'bowl' form. Excellent.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Long Grain Rice (prepared according to package directions)
• 12 ounces of Steamed Broccoli
• 15 ounces of Pinto Beans
• 8 ounces of Salsa (whichever variety is your favorite)
• 3 chicken breasts cooked and diced up

Directions:

1. Add the pinto beans and salsa to a large pot. Simmer on a medium heat for 7 minutes.
2. Stir in the chicken to the pot, turn the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes.
3. Add broccoli and rice to the pot, stir very well. Remove from heat.
4. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Super simple. Super tasty. Burrito goodness.

Happy cooking!

Mortal Heart

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers

I read the first book, Grave Mercy, HERE.
I read the second book, Dark Triumph, HERE.

Disclaimer one: (I'm too lazy to change this now that I've finally gotten to the third book blog post.) At the ALA conference, I managed to snag an advance reading copy of Mortal Heart, the third one in this series. At the time I didn't know it was the third one. When I got home and started receiving/sorting through all my books. I was compelled to get the first two in the series. I have no regrets.

Disclaimer two: This will undoubtedly contain spoilers for the first two books, Grave Mercy & Dark Triumph. If you don't want anything spoiled and plan on reading this series, I strongly recommended skipping this review.

Disclaimer three: This book will not be released until November 4, 2014. I read the advanced reader's copy that I received from the ALA conference; undoubtedly there will be minor differences between the copy I read and the published version.

SO MANY DISCLAIMERS. MOVING ON.

An amazon summary, "In the powerful conclusion to Robin LaFever's New York Timesbestselling His Fair Assassins trilogy, Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own.

 She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind, doesn’t mean she has." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

So Ismae and Sybella went to the convent when they were in their early teens, while Annith has been there her entire life. Annith was raised at the convent by the sisters and a previous abbess (head nun) who was a terrible person and abused her frequently in the guise of lessons.

So Annith is chocked full of concentrated tragedy that the sisters of the convent kind of knew about.

Annith is also being trained to be the seer for the convent at the insistence of the absess which horrifies Annith as she'll be trapped in the convent which she is desperately trying to escape.

Annith hears about Ismae & Sybella's adventures, a younger assassin who is barely trained is sent off on a mission before Annith, Annith has a questioning of faith moment, and ultimately decides to leave the convent.

Annith meets up with Death's hellequins; their leader, Baltazaar, takes her in and protects her from the rest of the hellequins. The hellequins are people who, in their first moments of death, try to atone for their sin-filled lives they lived. Annith rides with the helleguins in fear that the convent or death himself has sent them after her. Kind of it's better to know where the enemy is than to be panicked & scared about it all the time. Annith tries to make her way towards the city in aid of the duchess, but is delayed by the hellequin taking their sweet time to get there.

I'm just going to stop there.

There was so much of this book that I morally grappled with in the 'ANNITH, WHY ARE YOU BEING SO DUMB, THIS DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE' way that while I was reading the book, I threw it across the room quite a few times.

But I still finished it.

In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure why, but it's to the point where I hate writing this blog post, I didn't post it for SO LONG because I didn't know what to say, and I'd rather just move on with my book life so I can post about other books instead.

In summary, this book can suck it. I don't want to talk about it or deal with it anymore. Just a lot of NOOOO being yelled in it's general direction.

That is all.

Happy reading!