The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

The Burning Sky is about a young mage named Iolanthe Seabourne who discovers she has monumental powers and a terrifying destiny that awaits her. She, along with Prince Titus, who is nothing more than a figurehead for the Domain, his realm, must defeat the Bane in order to free the Domain from his crushing command, and win back Titus's power to rule.

What drew me to this book in the first place was its stunning cover art that graces it. You're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but the cover is the very thing that drew me to this particular book. After seeing it, I knew it was a book that I just had to read.

I'm glad that I did. The writing style and story sucked me in so hard that I felt as though I was part of the story, toiling along right beside Iolanthe and Titus as they went about their suicidal task of defeating the Bane. It's a book that will keep you up all night to finish it if you're not careful.

The ending is a non cliff hanger, but because the book is part of a trilogy, there are many unanswered questions left - enough that I dove right into the second book.

If you're a fan of fantasy and magic, I highly recommend this book. But, I warn you to be prepared to lose great chunks of time as you try to get to the end! 

-Amber

Check it out in the catalog here.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Amie Kaufman is at the top of her game right now.  I loved These Broken Stars, but what makes Illuminae so different is this book is dark. It's gritty, bloody and terrible.

It's not often you get a book that makes you seriously question whether or not there will be a good ending.  The format of the book is a dossier of interviews, surveillance footage, etc. Reading in this format didn't take me to long to adjust to and after a while, it all flowed seamlessly.

There is a lot of moral dilemma in this novel.  Whether is AIDAN trying to figure out how best to protect humans on the ship and deciding just who and what he is, to the Captain of the ship trying to do what's best for everyone.  And for being a dossier, it made me feel things.  I almost cried about 2/3 of the way in.

Why does this matter?  Because honestly, a book hasn't made me cry in quite a long time.  I don't know what that says about me... I do know this book also terrified me.  I don't like zombies, but this plague was so much more terrifying.  (DON'T read with your back to the door in a relatively dark room, when you're home alone.  Just a WARNING!)

The visuals were amazing.  There where coffee stains, fingerprints, blood even.  I felt like I was in that place, running alongside Kady or in the mind of AIDAN.

Check it out in our catalog here.

~ Kilie