Avalon by Mindee Arnett

Avalon by Mindee Arnett

eARC received from Harper Teen

Release Date:  January 21, 2014

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say:  Great setting, but disappointing plot and characters

A ragtag group of teenage mercenaries who crew the spaceship Avalon stumble upon a conspiracy that could threaten the entire galaxy in this fascinating and fast-paced sci-fi adventure from author Mindee Arnett.

Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they're damn good at it. Jeth doesn't care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents' ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he'll go to get the freedom he's wanted for so long.

Avalon is the perfect fit for teens new to sci-fi as well as seasoned sci-fi readers looking for more books in the YA space-and a great match for fans of Joss Whedon's cult hit show Firefly.

I started out excited to read this one because the reviews had been great.  Plus, I loved MIndee's debut, The Nightmare Affair.  Unfortunately, I just didn’t see what everyone else saw in this book.  While I enjoyed the space setting and the macabre events that started the book, the characters and slow plot ruined it for me.

I’ll start out with what I enjoyed—the setting.  Mindee did an amazing job describing the creepy hollowness of space.  When they enter the dead zone (the part of space that seems creepily supernatural—she calls it something else, but I can’t remember what at this point), the eeriness really starts to go into overdrive.  I loved the murderous and mysterious scenes that we see in the lost spaceship, and the strange anomalies that keep occurring were fantastic.  If you are a big sci-fi fan, you might enjoy this book just because of the great details in the setting.

Still, even though I loved that part of it, I couldn’t get past the flat characters.  I tried and tried to relate to one of them, but I just couldn’t.  The dialogue seemed very young (middle grade, really), and the little romance that I did see (I stopped at 67%) was dull and really seemed to detract from the rest of the story.

I also couldn’t make it past the slow plot.  I’ve heard that it picks up in the second half, but after a month of trying to read some every day, I got to the point where I just didn’t think anything could bring me back into the story.

Overall, this wasn’t a book for me, although it might be one that big fans of sci-fi love.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the blurb says it's for fans of Firefly, which I hated.  If you plan to read it, I hope you are able to enjoy it more than I did.

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

eARC received from Tor Teen via Netgalley

Release Date: 3-5-2013

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say:  Ethereal, Gripping, and Dazzling

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli's dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

I have been looking forward to reading The Nightmare Affair ever since I read the blurb (months and months ago).  It was one of the coolest ideas I have ever heard—Dusty’s a nightmare!  A nightmare!  How cool is that?  I love the idea of taking something so abstract and turning it into embodiment of a person!  Mindee’s world is utterly hypnotic—filled with duplicitous magickind and twisted into the stuff of…forgive me, nightmares.  So, fantasy and magic fans, dive straight into this world!  But be careful, here there be monsters.

Mindee’s story jumps straight into the action from Chapter 1, which, if you know me, is exactly how I like them.  I understand that first books in a series need the world building, but at times it can get dense and boring.  But not with this one.  Each chapter brings a new mystery or a new revelation, and I couldn’t make my eyes read fast enough.  The action kept me intrigued while the characters captured my imagination.  I loved that Mindee was able to weave her world building into the action—and what a world it is.  There are all sorts of magical creatures living in one place, and I just love how this book portrays them.  You have sirens, vampires, demons, witches, mermaids—you name the paranormal creature, and it’s probably in this book.  It was neat seeing a book where you get to see multiple creatures, instead of just focusing on a few.

Dusty was such a great main character—feisty and fun, but at times, immature in her thinking and actions.  Normally, this would but me, but it just seems natural with Dusty.  I didn’t get annoyed with her rash decisions, and believe me, she did make quite a few.  It felt more like a rite of passage than just dumb mistakes.  I think some people might get annoyed with her jump-straight-in attitude, but it didn’t really bug me.  Now, I did think she was a little dense in the romance department, but that’s just me being biased because I like Eli.  Paul is sweet and he seems like a great guy for her, but I just didn’t like him.  Add that to the fact that the dream sessions with Eli are something that could definitely end in some great romancy scenes, and I just have high hopes that she’ll choose him.

So, obviously you know I’m a fan of Eli.  Now, don’t get me wrong, he is definitely not perfect.  He can be a big jerk at times, and like Dusty, he’s also dense at times when it comes to romance.   But he just seems so sincere, and again, I like the connection that Dusty has with him.  I would have liked to see a bit more alpha male in him, especially because he’s this big athlete and Mr. Popular from his last school.  But, I really didn’t see that.  We saw brief glimpses of jealousy and antagonism, but it wasn’t full blown.  I would like to see some possessiveness show out in him in the next book.

I really liked the minor characters, too.  You have Lance, who is this big jack***, but there is something about him that seems friendly, like if you manage to get past the goofy and jerky barrier, he could be an amazing friend.  I might be wrong about him, but I still like his character, and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future.  Then you have Selene, Dusty’s best friend.  She’s the “give me no excuses and I won’t kick you in the butt” type of girl, and I really like her sincerity and her protective side. 

The only complaint I really have is that some parts were predictable.  Not all of them were, there was a big twist at the end that I didn’t see coming; however, I did see a few of the other big twists.  This predictability didn’t keep me from enjoying the book, though.  I still enjoyed every aspect of it, and I can’t wait until the sequel.

Horned Demons

Contraband Magic

Smexy Dream Scenes

Duplicitous People

Dark Secrets

Add those all together and what do you have?  A nightmare worth dreaming.