Review - "The Inquisition"

The Inquisition, Summoner #2
by Taran Matharu
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 10th May 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

He felt the faintest glimmer of hope, for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.

Galley provided by publisher.

The Inquisition picks up a year after the end of the last book, with Fletcher stuck in jail, and everyone else who knows where. Fletcher is on the verge of going on trial for the crimes of which he is accused at the end of the first book. There seems to be no way out for him, which Didric (who is now a lord) informs him delightedly.

From the beginning, the pace of the book is relentless. No sooner is Fletcher indicted for his first alleged crime, is he put on trial after a second, more serious accusation. At which point, again there appears to be no way out. Then there's another twist, and another turn, and each of them comes out of the blue and you're left thinking what could possibly happen next.

Then there's a bit in the middle, where everything slows down for a moment, lulling you into a false sense of security because surely we're done with the twists and turns now? Right?

No, there is no such mercy. Once they get into orc territory the pace ratchets back up a gear, with everyone apparently wanting to kill Fletcher (what did the poor guy ever do to you?), while also trying to complete the mission. Wild.

And then you get to the cliffhanger. Because what second-book-in-a-trilogy would be complete without one? And if you thought that the book 1 cliffhanger was bad, just wait til you see this one. Not cool.

As in The Novice, the characters are well-rounded and interesting. Fletcher is my favourite, even if he is kind of naive and it occasionally feels like he is the Good Guy to Didric &c's Bad Guys and not much else. The bad guys though, were excellently written. You know a bad guy is a good one when you get annoyed while reading about them, and that's definitely what I found here.

Honestly, I wish I hadn't read this book so fast, because now there's an indeterminable wait for book 3. Well done me.

Review - "Orangeboy"

Orangeboy
by Patrice Lawrence
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 2nd June 2016
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Tell Mr. Orange, the time has come.

Galley provided by publisher.

To be honest, I don't read a lot of contemporary young adult lit that isn't romance stuff. I don't know why, I just generally find it harder to get through and often end up giving up on it, but this one was completely different. The characters were engaging, the author kept me interested throughout and didn't hold back on the darker topics, even though this is a young adult book.

Orangeboy follows the story of Marlon after a date with a girl named Sonya ends in tragedy, and Marlon starts being hunted by people, and for reasons, unknown. As he starts to investigate further, he becomes embroiled in a world of drugs and gangs that his older brother, Andre, had once been a part of, and that Marlon had promised his mother that he himself would never join.

I think one of the reasons I enjoyed this book much more than others of a similar genre that I've tried, is because I liked the characters from the off. They were easy to sympathise with and understand, and that's probably the most important thing in a book for me. If I don't like the characters, I find it really hard to get to the end of a book. It also helped that they felt realistic too. They went to school and to work, and they got scared by what they had to deal with (sometimes, reactions to what is going on in books don't feel all that real to me, because there can be life-threatening situations, but characters aren't running away when you might expect them to be. Anyway, that's beside the point).

The one issue I had with the plot is that it seemed to end pretty quickly. I mean, there was a whole book-long build up and then it was over within what seemed like only a few pages. I guess that's just a reflection of real life too, and it makes sense, but it preceded a somewhat abrupt ending overall, that left one or two questions unanswered, but I suppose, again, that's life.

Overall, this book was great. I read most of it (I think around 80% of it) in one sitting, while trying not to get too emotional over it in front of my family. That, for me, makes it pretty damn good.