jeff giles – Zakiya N. Jamal

ARC Book Review: The Brink of Darkness

Posted on July 10, 2018July 14, 2018 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Books to Borrow

Synopsis:

In this sequel to the cinematic, romantic fantasy The Edge of Everything, star-crossed X and Zoe must overcome the boundaries of their two worlds in order to find their way back to each other.

Things have changed for seventeen-year-old Zoe ever since the otherworldly events that brought her together with the mysterious bounty hunter she calls X. In order to save Zoe and her family, X has done the unthinkable–he’s given up his freedom and returned to captivity in the Lowlands.

X is determined to break the lords’ hold on him once and for all, but being stripped of his power pushes him toward a darkness he’s never experienced and a past he’s never known. The secrets that surface could be the key to reuniting X and Zoe . . . or they could mean the destruction of everything they have been fighting for.

Gripping and full of heart, this epic continuation of Jeff Giles’ series will bring readers right to the edge of everything.

Purchase:

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Review

*I received a free digital advanced reader’s copy of this book from Bloomsbury YA. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel was released on July 10, 2018.*

I didn’t love The Edge of Everything, but I enjoyed it enough to want to read the sequel and find out how Zoe and X’s story would end. Unfortunately, I felt about the same about The Brink of Darkness as I did about The Edge of Everything, which is to say I thought it was so-so.

This sequel picks up a little after where the first book ended. Zoe and X have been separated because X had to return to the Lowlands and be punished for breaking the rules to be with Zoe. However, because of his time with Zoe and her family, X was more determined than ever to find his mother and find a way out of the Lowlands. Thus, began an epic adventure of self-discovery for X.

Meanwhile, Zoe was coming to terms with the fact that the love of her (teenage) life was living in literal hell, and there was pretty much nothing she could do about it. That was until Zoe was given a task to help X, one he couldn’t complete himself while in the Lowlands. Thus, both X and Zoe began to learn more about X and how he came to be born in hell.

As with the first book, I really loved the humor in this story. All the characters had their own quirks, which really added to the story. I loved seeing Dallas and Val learn more about what Zoe went through in The Edge of Everything. It was also nice that though Zoe and X still had trials to face in this novel, to me the stakes were actually lower in The Brink of Darkness. In The Edge of Everything, I felt so bad for Zoe and her family, whereas here, I was so happy to see them living a relatively normal life in Montana.

I think the biggest issue for me was I did get bored at times with this story. There were definitely times I started skim, and just wanted the story to just get to the point. I wanted to see action or romance or something exciting, and there was just a lot of walking around the Lowlands or backstories I personally didn’t need. Thus, this was just an okay read for me. I wish I enjoyed it more, but I didn’t.

Borrow or Buy: Borrow

Stars:

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Jeff Giles, Adam Gidwitz, & More In The City This Week (YA Book Events NYC 7/9-15)

Posted on July 9, 2018July 9, 2018 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

Welcome back book nerds! Now that the Fourth of July is over, it’s time to get back to regularly scheduled bookish events, and this week there are plenty of good ones. Check out the full schedule below and make sure to follow YA Book Events NYC on Twitter to get updates on all the bookish events happening around the city.

Monday, July 9

Launching Jeff Giles’ The Brink of Darkness at McNally Jackson Books (7 p.m.)

Join Jeff Giles as he celebrates the release of his latest novel, The Brink of Darkness. Free event.

Saturday, July 14

Launch Event for The Basque Dragon with Adam Gidwitz at Books of Wonder (1-3 p.m.)

Join Adam Gidwitz as he shares the second installment in the Unicorn Society series, The Basque Dragon. Free event.

Sunday, July 15

Amy Ephron in Conversation With Her Editor, Jill Santopolo at Books of Wonder Uptown (2-4 p.m.)

Join author Amy Ephron as she shares her latest novel, Carnival Magic. She’ll be joined by her editor and fellow author, Jill Santopolo (The Light We Lost). Free event.

Launch Party for Mightier Than the Sword by Drew Callander and Alana Harrison at Books of Wonder (3-5 p.m.)

Join authors Drew Callander and Alana Harrison as they share their new illustrated middle-grade novel, Mightier Than the Sword. Free event.

Book Review: The Edge of Everything

Posted on June 13, 2017June 12, 2017 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books to Buy

Synopsis:

For the perfect love, what would you be willing to lose?

It’s been a shattering year for seventeen-year-old Zoe, who’s still reeling from her father’s shocking death in a caving accident and her neighbors’ mysterious disappearance from their own home. Then on a terrifying subzero, blizzardy night in Montana, she and her brother are brutally attacked in the woods–only to be rescued by a mysterious bounty hunter they call X.

X is no ordinary bounty hunter. He is from a hell called the Lowlands, sent to claim the soul of Zoe’s evil attacker and others like him. X is forbidden from revealing himself to anyone other than his prey, but he casts aside the Lowlands’ rules for Zoe. As they learn more about their colliding worlds, they begin to question the past, their fate, and their future. But escaping the Lowlands and the ties that bind X might mean the ultimate sacrifice for them both.

Gripping and full of heart, this epic start to a new series will bring readers right to the edge of everything.

Purchase From:

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Review

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began reading The Edge of Everything. I don’t think I read the synopsis beforehand, or if I did I didn’t remember it once I started the novel. I didn’t even realize this was a series until very near the end, which shifted my perspective quite a bit. While I would’ve liked to have known that beforehand, I think it was good that I didn’t know what to expect going into this novel.

The book is told in close third person point of view alternating between protagonists and love interests Zoe and X. It starts with a prologue that immediately drew me in because I loved the characters almost instantly. Zoe is snarky, whereas X is quiet and timid, even though he could totally kill you with his bare hands. He also speaks like he’s from the 19th century, which I found hilarious and cute. Add in the fact that he adorably has no understanding of the world because he’s grown up in the Lowlands, which is basically hell, and X is now on my book boyfriends list.

Besides Zoe and X, I enjoyed pretty much every character in this novel. I loved Zoe’s little family. Her mom is such a badass and her brother Jonah is so cute and super excitable. Then there’s Zoe’s ex Dallas who is such a dork and I love him. Zoe’s best friend Val was also great and funny. Down in the Lowlands, I really liked X’s friends Banger and Ripper, which is interesting because on the one hand they’ve done terrible things to end up in the Lowlands and yet I ended up loving them anyway. I also really liked the one of the Lowlands lord Regent and how he treated X. There’s some other lords that I could’ve lived without.

Essentially, the best part about this novel was the characters. They’re who really drew me in and I loved Zoe and X’s relationship, however, if you’re not a fan of insta-love you will not like this. I am a fan (in most cases) so I was immediately on the Zoe/X love train. The plot itself, however, didn’t draw me in as much as I would’ve hoped. My main issue was that it definitely felt predictable to me. I had a suspicion from early on that ended up proving to be right and I didn’t want to be.

Also, there’s a long part of the novel where Zoe and X are apart and while I understood why, that part of the novel dragged for me. I started skimming, thinking to myself, “Give me the good stuff. Where is the action?” It was just a bit too slow for me. However, once I got past that hump things got really interesting and I was sucked back in.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed The Edge of Everything and I will be reading the sequel, mainly because I need to know how this all ends. I’m kind of hoping this is just a duology, though I have no idea if that’s actually the case. I feel like I only need one more book to tie everything up but who knows what Jeff Giles has up his sleeves?

In any case, The Edge of Everything was worth the read and if you haven’t read it yet you should give it a chance.

Borrow or Buy: Buy

Stars:

Favorite Line:

“If I do not return it is only because not one but two worlds conspired to stop me.”

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The Pros & Cons of BookCon 2017

Posted on June 12, 2017June 9, 2017 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

When it was announced BookCon was returning to NYC this year, I knew, without a doubt, I was going. Last year was my first time attending the event and I absolutely loved it so I knew I had to return. This year was a bit more stressful but I left knowing I’d be back next year.

One of the best things about BookCon this year was that it was two days, not just one. Naturally, I had to attend both days. The first day was difficult because I truly was not prepared for just how crazy it would be. The show floor opened at 10 a.m. and I think my friend and I arrived around 9:45 a.m. and, of course, there was a line just to get to the show floor.

There was an ARC signing that I wanted to go to at 10:30 a.m. and by the time I made it to the show floor the line was already capped. That was pretty much the mood for the whole day. The majority of the signings and ARC giveaways I wanted to get into the lines would cap before I even had a chance.

Still, day one was a blast. I attended Rainbow Rowell’s panel, which was hilarious, and then I went to her signing and actually met her, which was great. The line for Rowell’s signing was incredibly long and my feet were killing me, but again totally worth it. Also, what was great about this year was you signed up for signings beforehand online so even though the lines were long you knew, without a doubt, you were getting in because you already had a ticket. However, this was only the case for signings in the autographing area, not in booth signings.

Anyway, after waiting so long for Rowell’s signing I’d learned my lesson and just waited around the autographing area for Victoria Aveyard’s signing and was in the front of the line so it was a much shorter wait and my feet thanked me.

This was actually the second time I’ve met Aveyard and she was just as awesome as I remember. She looked through my tabs in King’s Cage and approved of where I had them placed. Overall, I’d say the signings were my favorite part of the whole day.

I also randomly met Jenny Han and Morgan Matson during the day. I’d met them both before (Han at BookCon last year; Matson at a signing in NYC) and they were both just as sweet as I remember. I also love that they’re friends and they always seem to be together. It’s super cute.

For day two, I was way more prepared. First, I got there earlier so while I was still stuck in the queue line to get to the show floor I was much closer to the front of line and actually made it to the show floor by 10:10 a.m. Because I was so early, I was able to just stumble upon a signing with Sarah Mlynowski who was signing an ARC of the latest book in her Whatever After series. While I haven’t read the series, I’ve loved so many of Mlynowski’s other books that I couldn’t pass up the chance at meeting her, and since I was so early there were only three people in line when I got there so it was super easy.

After the struggles I went through on the first day I was also more prepared for the ARC signings on day two, particularly at the Penguin Random House booth. For the Penguin ARC signings you had to have a ticket and it was one book per ticket so things were super cut throat over there and filled up very fast.

For instance, I knew for the E. Lockhart signing, which was happening at 11 a.m. that I’d need to be hovering around the booth at around 10 a.m. Therefore I jetted over pretty quickly and was able to somehow get to the front of line and not only meet Lockhart and get the ARC but I also got a cute little makeup bag too.

From there I met up with some bookstagrammers, Mags and Len, who were super cool and really helped me out a lot. I accredit a lot of my day two success to them. I stuck with them for a little bit and then met up with my friend for lunch, because I unfortunately was too late to get into the Cassandra Clare panel (it filled out so fast!) so I had time to kill.

For the record, finding time to eat at BookCon is difficult. It’s basically either you have to be willing to sacrifice missing something in order to find time to eat or you better have a bunch of snacks in your bag that you can eat while standing in line. There’s really no in between. I think that’s partly why I was also so miserable on day 1. I didn’t take a break to eat at all and just snacked on honey nut Cheerios all day. Having lunch on day 2 truly saved me.

After that I once again successfully hovered around the Penguin booth and was able to get into the Leigh Bardugo signing, which included an ARC of her Wonder Woman book. I’m super excited to read it and was glad I was able to snag a ticket because that line was insane and my friends, Mags and Len, were unable to get one.

Also, shoutout to Mags who snagged me an ARC of Krysten Ritter’s novel Bonfire after her panel. I also caught a glimpse of Ritter who was doing a signing at Penguin but I was too tired to try and fight for a spot in yet another line.

Instead, Mags, Len, and I got in a much more chill line for a partial ARC of Stephanie Perkins’ new novel There’s Someone Inside Your House, and let me just say, standing in line with friends is way more fun than standing in line by yourself. Get yourself a line buddy if you can. They’re fantastic. Then, we saw there was another ARC signing at the SOHO teen booth and it was just one of those things where we were like, “We don’t know what this is but it looks free so let’s do it.”

We ended up getting signed ARCs of Love, Hate, and Other Filters, which I’d actually heard about before and was excited to read, so that was a nice surprise. Also the author, Samira Ahmed, was incredibly sweet and funny, and my only regret was not snapping a pic with her.

Sometime during the day I also found time to meet Jeff Giles and get my copy of The Edge of Everything signed. I’ve actually spoken to Giles on the phone before and he gave me writing advice and I wasn’t sure he was going to remember that but he did, which was super nice. I told him I got into grad school and I’d be getting my MFA in Creative Writing and he congratulated me and it was great.

To close out the day I went to a panel with Kevin Hart and Charlamagne tha God it was honestly one of the funniest events I’ve ever been to. I’ve only seen Hart live once and it was at one of his Move With Hart events so he didn’t really talk much. However, this panel was almost like getting a little stand up from him. He was so funny and honest and he said a lot of motivating things that made me feel like I could do anything.

It was quite possibly the best part of my day, to be honest. I loved it so much I ended up buying his book, I Can’t Make This Up, right after the panel. My mom’s reading it now, and I hope to get to it soon.

Overall, I was definitely exhausted by the time BookCon was over. My feet were killing me and my back and shoulders ached and I still think I need to a get massage. Still, it was totally worth it. In totally, I got 13 books, only two of which I actually purchased, and I got nine books signed. I can’t wait to go back next year.

Did you go to BookCon? Do you hope to go next year? Let me know in the comments below!