The Fell of Dark / Caleb Roehrig

3.5/5

The Fell of Dark is one of those vampire novels that doesn't take itself too seriously. I've always found the humorous undead novels that treat everything like a joke to be fun, which is why I picked this novel up. 

Delightfully gay, the book is led by August Pfeiffer, whose sarcastic and exasperated voice I enjoyed very much. Unfortunately there is a bit of love triangle, but the triangle takes on more of a threesome vibe than a one-or-the-other vibe. Although pleasantly progressive, I must admit this was a little disappointing for me because the blurb had led me to believe we were gonna get some hot action between poor, semi-closeted August and hot, brooding vampire. August is literally always thinking about how horny he is-- and that never built up to anything. Unfortunate indeed.

The next defining trait of this novel would be the sheer amount of players introduced. You've got the vampire syndicate (basically their government), the league of the dark star (small vampire group led by a witch vamp?), vampire Rasputin and his psychos (literally), and some old cronies (the witches you read about in hamlet?). It's a lot, and they're all after August. At first it's exciting to learn about each group's role, but towards the end it gets hard to keep track of. It felt like August was just being pushed around between these groups for the entire novel. I also didn't like how August didn't have a single "normal" friend; every character eventually revealed him/herself to be related to one of the groups somehow.

Caleb Roehrig did a good job of giving his vampires emotionally-complex backgrounds. I could see how a character's past experiences and emotions drove their actions, especially in Gunnar, August, and Viviane. The best character by far is August's math tutor. I might recommend The Fell of Dark for her alone. Jk. I'll recommend The Fell of Dark for those who like light vampire reads and funny narrators.

Sisters of Sword and Song / Rebecca Ross

 

4/5

I read Rebecca Ross's The Queen's Rising and enjoyed it immensely due to the beautiful way Ross captured the admiring relationship between the two love interests. I'd hoped Sisters of Sword and Song would contain the same beauty, and it surpassed my expectations. When Evadne's sister Halcyon is given a fifteen-year sentence for manslaughter, Evadne volunteers to serve part of Halcyon's sentence. Sisters follow the two women as they serve out their punishment and unravel the mystery behind Halcyon's crime.

There are many novels about jealous siblings, and I worried Sisters would repeat that trope and heavily favor one sister over the other. Instead, both Evadne and Halcyon were well-developed, complex characters, and I adored both. Rebecca Ross doesn't forget to create distinct side characters either. But the true stars of the show are Ross's complex relationships. Most YA relationships are simple hero-villain and hero-friend relationships, but in Sisters Ross builds multi-faceted relationships full of complicated history that create a more complex read. This is especially visible between Halcyon and Stratton, and Evadne and Damon. 

Ross ties together a cast of well-written characters in a setting full of spies, quests, magic, and intrigue. I'd recommend this fast-paced novel to fans of Shadow and Bone and The Queen's Rising.