Katherine Bogle

My mind is still stuttering in shock! What an amazing thrill ride. Just when you *think* you have things figured out.... SURPRISE... another twist. Set in another time when to save humanity, aliens teach them to transfer their minds into clones to become immortal. The world is filled with three types of beings: nats or naturals (natural born humans), clones and aliens. Selene has no memory of her life from before five years ago when she stowed aboard Rikkarts smuggling ship. The gruff leader of a band of smugglers gave her a life and ragtag group of friends. In a time where people are modified with tech and other things there is a lawlessness everywhere. After taking a hit to her head while trying to save tortured animals, she suddenly has bits and pieces of memories. Starting as horrific nightmares that made no sense, she gets glimpses of her past. Until one fateful mission when she's chased and shot at by Dominion guards (those that serve the government). Upon coming too she believes she's once again trapped in a nightmare. Only to learn the nightmare is actually her reality. Selene learns what caused those nightmares and the beginning of everytjing.... How can she escape? Why is she a captive? What caused all this, and where oh where are Rikkart and her friends? Take the ride and try to solve the mysteries. Cheer on the plucky Selene as she fights for her life.... I hope the next chapter in this amazing tale comes soon! Space pirates, modified gorillas that sign, treachery, intrigue, conspiracies and oh so more. Check out this amazing book! You won't regret it.… (mais)

[Disclaimer: I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review]

"I'm a fool. An utter fool."

Oh yes, my dear queen Haven, you are a fool indeed. I suppose I'll never understand how that mind of yours works. Do you want some examples to explain why I'm so perplexed about her?
1) She's a princess (now a queen) but she doesn't know totally nothing about her reign. I understand that she wasn't supposed to become queen that soon, but has she lived in a bubble for 19 years of what? She is not even able to tell what the main resources of her reign are!
2) She treats some of her guards as bestfriends and when one of them almost chokes to death another guard after stopping her she just says "It's ok! I know you didn't mean it!"
3) She refuses to send her soldiers in aid of other reigns under attack, but one the one in danger is her friend's one she goes (leaving her kingdom alone obviously) with just 100 soldiers (when armies of thousands were defeated) and even expects to take the city back. I mean... really?

Other two aspects that made this reading so hard are:
1) all dialogues and no descriptions. I'm the first who's not that fan of long, endless descriptions, but at least a minimum of characterization (just eyes and hair don't count) and setting should be present. Instead I was lucky if it was described at least features of the places where the action took place.
2) the absent context. Ok, so there's an "evil queen" with dark magic trying to conquer all reigns. But how did she obtained the throne? How were the different reigns born? Many, too many questions without an answer.

Though the synopsis had caught my attention, at the end I was more than disappointed. Result: another series I will never finish added to the list.… (mais)

This novella served as a sneak preview for the story that comes ahead in Haven. I found the premise intriguing, but the short stories here were a bit too abrupt in the way they end. I liked reading the first story about Haven, but her other siblings weren't all that interesting to read about. Hopefully, that isn't the case in the first book! Either way, this novella has me interested in reading this series!

I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.… (mais)

I was provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fyre is a companion book of short stories to complement the novel Haven by Katherine Bogle. This novella is broken up into four short stories, one for each of the Fyre siblings, Haven, Lucian, Marcel, and Astrid. The first story tells the story of a young Haven as the victim of a terrible riding accident which should have killed her (did actually kill her?) after which she learns the shocking truth of her immortality. The second focus' on Lucian, oldest of the Fyre siblings who is sent to guard Helms Keep while the battle rages against Queen Kadia and her troops along the war front, supposedly far from where Lucian has been posted. When the enemy troops unexpectedly breach the front and swarm the Keep, Lucian is put to the test fighting a dangerous foe, one never before seen by the trained fighter. The third story focus' on Marcel as he too rallies against Kadias army at the Keep. A head injury leaves him with a short term case of amnesia in a town not far from the Keep, can Marcel regain his memories in time to prepare for another assault from the Mad Queen? Lastly, Astrid. For her safety, Astrid is sent to an isolated mountain cabin by her sister, soon to be Queen Haven after the bloody battles have killed her brothers and parents. Living a cold life of seclusion is a hard pill to swallow for the pampered princess. After a jaunt in the woods surrounding her cabin goes terribly awry, Astrid must use her wits and bravery to stay alive, and find her way back to safety.
When Katherine contacted me about this book of short stories I was pumped to jump back into her world, being that I was a big fan of her first novel (thanks Katherine!) These short stories where just what I needed to hold me over until the next novel is released later this year. Being that her first book really mainly dealt with Haven (not that it's any big surprise being that the title is....Haven), it was really neat to be given a more in depth look at some of the other characters only mentioned in passing or referenced. Seeing these people from Havens life come alive actually make Haven herself even more of a real character in my eyes. We see the relationships she cherished and the bond between herself and her siblings, which really cemented that loss for her even more in retrospect. I have to say, I was really taken with her brother, Marcel from the beginning. I was drawn to his carefree personality and the love he had (has) for Haven was very apparent. I was shocked to learn of his fate (way throw me for a loop!) and am excited to see how that will play out in future books. I was also very intrigued by the mysterious Julian character and am wondering what role she will play in the upcoming book as well. Overall, the writing was well done (I would even venture to say better than the first book, which is saying alot!) There is plenty of action which keeps the book exciting and fun to read while also exploring lots of back story which adds a new layer to the series as a whole.… (mais)