Warning: Possible spoilers for The Vicious Deep.
Tristan now holds one of three pieces of the trident that once united will allow him to save the sea and its people from the terrifying sea witch Nieve. Can Tristan find the other pieces and protect those he cares about?
The Savage Blue picks up right were The Vicious Deep ends…I think. It definitely picks up right in the middle of some action, and this led to some big problems in my personal reading experience. It had been awhile since I read the first book in the series, and unfortunately most of the details had left me. This left me feeling very much like a fish out of water. (Get it…because the book’s about mermaids… it’s funny.) I would definitely recommend rereading The Vicious Deep prior to reading The Savage Blue, unless you have a good head for details.
The book itself felt more like a side trip. For some reason I went in thinking the competition was going to be a… competition. But interactions between the challengers seemed almost friendly? And none of them really seemed to have a clue as to what was happening, which definitely made the story more realistic, but also made it kind of frustrating because as the reader it’s hard to pick out the end game. It’s a fine balance, and I still can’t decide if Córdova managed to keep it.
From a character perspective, I didn’t find myself as invested. My favourite character, Kurt, has his own storyline, but it only plays a role the last hundred or so pages of the book, and I felt like he wasn’t around as much. Tristan and Layla’s romance really didn’t do much for me. Tristan frequently thinks about how much he loves Layla and how she’s the only girl for him, but he doesn’t do much to show it in this book. I think Nieve, the antagonist of the book, could potentially be a really interesting character. I’m hoping to get even more of her back story in the third book because as of right now it feels like she’s mostly just evil incarnate.
On the plus side, the book didn’t have anything in it that made me want to angry rant, but on the other hand it really didn’t have anything that makes me want to happy rant either. It’s kind of an in-between book: Easy enough to get lost in and easier to let go of when you’re done.
Don’t just take my word for it!
“The plot raced along at a speed that was intense and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” – The Book Cellar
“There was a lot of action in this one!” – The Story Siren
“dark and funny and romantic and just the absolute best.” – In Bed With Books
I’m a big fan of Greek mythology, so when I heard about The Goddess Test trilogy I knew I’d have to read it. I wish that I hadn’t. The idea was great, but the execution of that idea was not so great. Pair that with a large cast of characters that individually don’t get enough page time to push themselves beyond their two-dimensions, and I just couldn’t find any enjoyment in the story.
Many of the aspects of the story include a flip-flop nature that made me feel like I was being led around in circles. This was especially rough in The Goddess Inheritance which was a couple hundred pages too long due to this phenomena. I kept hoping that something would push this series up, that something would surprise me, but as the clichés were piled on, important character development moments skipped over in the time between books, and traumatising events more or less ignored post-happening, I had to seriously question why I chose to read this at all.
The Goddess Test
Let me get straight to the point: you need to add this series to your must-read-immediately pile. There are two big reasons why: 1. fantastic world building and history and 2. female characters and relationships that are real and raw and wonderful. I could also add realistic and heartbreaking romances as a secondary reason, though as that’s something you can find in most YA books, I don’t feel a great need to focus on it.
Equally important, the Cahill sisters have one of my favourite relationships in literature. Each character is strong in her own right, and the way they interact with each other will be familiar to anyone with siblings. The story is told from Cate’s perspective. As eldest sister, she has put aside her own wants and needs to take care of her sisters. She is self-conscious, but adventurous. A budding romance helps her to come into her own, while her self-sacrificing nature is a combination of admirable and frustrating. Maura is the middle-child and definitely suffers from middle-child syndrome. Considered the beauty of the family, she is not afraid to use it to her benefit. In Harry Potter terminology, Maura is a Slytherin, while Cate is probably a Hufflepuff, so I think you can see where that’s going. Tessa, the youngest, is definitely a Ravenclaw. She plays a much more background role in Born Wicked, but she is not a character to be underestimated. Tessa has an innocence and strong-will that would make any older sister proud, and after reading you will be just as protective of her as Cate.
This series. This series has bumped Rae Carson onto my must-read authors list. It takes a lot to impress me in a book these days. I don’t just want an interesting plot or a swoony romance, though those things are both great and are both found in these novels. I need to see character growth. And to be blunt, I need to see an active feminist edge. When I read a book with one or two female characters who both might as well be made of cardboard, I want to punch something. Hard. Carson’s trilogy instead made me want to hug everything. Hard.
I was also very impressed by the connections between women in this story. The relationships between the many different women in this story are rarely 100% positive, but there is always an underlying message of respect. Ximena, Alodia, Waterfall, Mula, Mara, and so many more… there are so many wonderful female characters in this story and they have such an impact on Elisa. I could easily read novellas about all of them.
Compared to The Davinci Code and Angels & Demons, The Lost Symbol falls short. Neither the pacing nor the sense of impending doom is quite as intense. While mystery fans should still enjoy puzzling out the answer and history buffs might enjoy information on their favourite topics, I personally did not take anything from the book except for a sense of American entitlement.
I think I figured out what bugs me so much about this series: it reads like one book. The first book and the second book are all build up to the third book. Unfortunately either I wasn’t pay close enough attention while reading (a strong possibility because I wasn’t exactly engaged) or Westerfeld forgot to leave any bread crumbs because the ending came so far out of left field that what should have been a heart-wrenching, fantastic punchline became an annoying deus ex machina.
Do you know that feel classic books have? That kind of timelessness and universal truth-ness that makes it so easy to settle in, to relate, to enjoy? Gathering Blue is that kind of book. A gentler precursor to the female-led dystopian novels that have currently saturated the YA field, Lowry’s novel will sweep you into a world cloaked with secrets and barely veiled violence.
The increase in action is much appreciated, but much like in 
I haven’t read a detective novel since my first year of university when I took a class on detective novels, so when I heard that J. K. Rowling had written The Cuckoo’s Calling the first thing I did was purchase my copy. Okay, my review may have a slight bias to it considering my life has been irrecoverably changed by Ms Rowling and her words, but even so I would like to offer my recommendation of this book despite it being my least favourite of all of her novels.
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