Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Review

As many geeks out there I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the newest adventure in the Harry Potter Universe. Yes its in play format which takes a little while to get used to. Even though there were plenty of articles and announcements that this book would not be written in the same way the rest of the books were written but people have still be shocked at the format.
Let's make this clear. This story is in PLAY FORMAT. It still gives you the story it just doesn't have the big descriptions and internal dialogue you'd get from the original books. Trying to imagine the story being done on stage makes me really wonder how they pulled some of it off.
The whole story revolves around Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy and their relationships with their fathers. Its hard to be a son to Harry Potter, especially when you aren't a perfect kid and wizard like your older brother. And its hard to be the son of a former Death Eater especially when your parentage is in question.
The children as usual are the stars of the story but it wouldn't be a Harry Potter story without the original crew who are a prominent part of the story.
I highly recommend this for anyone who loves this universe. It may take you a little to get used to the format but once you get through a few scenes it starts to draw you in just like every other book of the series.

Below

Below is the story of Hokk and Elia. Hokk is an outcast from Below, a dark stormy plain, and Elia is a laundress from Above, where its sunny and beautiful but the lower and upper class differences are great. Hokk and Elia get throw together when Elia falls from Above and must hide from the guards on their flying mounts with Hokk's help. Hokk hopes to use Elia to end his banishment. Nothing goes as planned for Hokk and Elia as they travel across the plains to Hokk's city and avoiding the guards from Above.
It took me a few chapters to really wrap my head around the Above and the Below places. Above floats in the air on a giant mountain of a rock and Below is shrouded in clouds that keep Above afloat. I really hope during the series we find out about how this situation happened. It seems to take place far in the future of Earth. Once I got ahold of how the world works, the story was quite enjoyable. A few times I got annoyed with the characters' choices, but both are young and a bit immature so their choices made sense. And I like that Above seems to be slowly dropping from the sky causing problems for everyone, and that catastrophe that seems to be coming is something I look forward to storywise.
I received this book for review at Edelweiss.

Girl of Myth and Legend

Leonie is a seventeen old girl who is stuck in her routine of life. That is until she falls to the ground and begins to glow, which is the beginning of a brand new life. She is of a race called the Chosen, which her father has been hiding from her her whole life. She apparently is a Pulsar, the first in two hundred years, and everyone wants to control her, and she doesn't even know if she wants to be part of that world.
I enjoyed the world that the Girl of Myth and Legend takes place in. I felt like the pacing of the book was a bit off. The beginning was rushed, I'd have liked to get to know Leonie a bit more before she changed. And the travel to her new land I really enjoyed the wonder Leonie felt and the complexity of Korren, her kytean companion. I look forward to the next book in the series, and recommend this book overall as a good modern fantasy read.
I received this book for review at NetGalley.

Dragon Round

Dragon Round is the story of Captain Jeryon, a naval captain who is on a mission to get needed medical supplies back to his plagued city. While the Comber is underway, it is attacked by a dragon. When dragons attack ships the ships rarely survive, but Jeryon manages to lead his crew in defeating the dragon but they sustain heavy losses. Jeryon wants to leave the dragon carcass behind so they can get back to the city with the medical supplies but his officers have other ideas and mutiny so they can render the dragon for its prized hide and bones. The Apothecary is the only one to stand against the mutiny, so the crew put both the Apothecary and Captain on a dingy with no supplies, oars, or weapons. They call it a "Captain's Chance", which to Jeryon it means his mates were too much of a coward to kill him outright.
I love Naomi Novik's books and The Dragon Round's description made it sound very similar. I really wanted to like it. However after the initial dragon training once they found his egg on the island, it started to lose me. It quickly became a story of vengeance which would have been fine but it seemed too easy. Also the characters who were the main characters throughout the first two-thirds of the book were barely present except in the background during the last third. Many new characters were introduced and took over the story as well. The concept was interesting but it lost me in the end by changing who the story was following. If it had briefly changed and returned to Jeryon or even the poth I could have stayed involved, but alas it did not. I wouldn't say it was a bad book, but when comparing to Naomi Novik's Temeraire series its comes up short.
I received this book for review at NetGalley.

Darkness Fair: Book Two in the Dark Cycle Series

Darkness Fair picks up shortly after Darkness Brutal left off. Aiden is trying to figure out his new powers, Ava is still stuck between the living and the dead, and Rebecca doesn't really know where she stands in the world.
The Dark Cycle Series definitely falls in the young adult fantasy category however the themes and dark themes and feel are much more adult than what I've normally read for young adult. Each character has been beaten down or broken for some reason in their life but they are still trying to save the world from the oncoming darkness.
The first time I started reading book one, Darkness Brutal, I didn't get pulled in right away. I had to put it aside for a month or two then I decided to give it another go. That's when I got sucked in and read the whole book in one day. I was pretty excited to see book two was available and I got sucked in quickly. So many dark fantasies dealing with angels and demons don't really show how good and evil people and the supernatural can be. In theory they are evil but they don't do anything too brutal or savage. The evil is usually more grand scheme. In this series there is the normal grand scheme evil but it also gets down and dirty with blood and gore and death. This is definitely not a normal young adult dark fantasy, but I really enjoyed the story and had trouble putting it down. It really shows that good doesn't always automatically win, and there are many young kids and adults who have really had it bad growing up and they are just doing the best they can do not only live but also survive.
I really recommend this series to anyone who enjoys dark contemporary fantasy. It feels like a rated R version of Supernatural at times.

I received this book for review at NetGalley.