Book Review: Darkness by Ciye Cho

Title: Darkness

Author: Ciye Cho

Series: Florence Waverly Series (Book #3)

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Pages: 245

Publisher: Studio Amazepop

Year Published: 2015

First Line: “In a dark cavern, I found myself standing in a cage.”

“A dire prophecy has emerged and the mer believe that humans and merfolk are in grave danger. Terror is closing in, but only one person hold the key to stop it: Florence Waverly. However, her mission to save two worlds will lead her far, far out into the darkness0 a shadow realm full of monsters, magic and wicked tides that could tear apart bodies.

With the help of her friend, Florry must uncover a secret about humans and mer. A long-lost secret that could change her life. And above al else she must fight hard to light the darkness. Everything depends on her mission: her friends, her world and the one she loves.

The past, present and future are about to collide- but can she stay afloat? One way or another nothing will be the same when she enters the Darkness.”

My Rating: 3.5/5

This is the most recent instalment of the Florence Waverly Series just released previously this year. I found this story to be interesting, and when thinking back to the other Florence Waverly volumes I realize how much the main character in this series has grown. Florence has gone from a timid mouse of a human to someone who is willing to do anything for those she cares about. This is proven time and time again throughout this novel.

 Although, I must say that the details in this book seemed to slip slightly and I found it difficult to picture some of the things that were going on in this fantasy world.

Overall this series has been a thrilling adventure filled with romance, emotion and imagination.

To create such a world in such a short amount of time is impressive, and Ciye Cho should certainly have a following of YA readers that enjoy a taste for adventure.

THANK YOU CIYE CHO FOR TAKING US ON A GREAT ADVENTUE AND TESTING THE LIMITS!

Thank you for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Spoiler: Darkness by Ciye Cho

As mentioned above this is the third instalment in the Florence Waverly Series that has just come out this year. I was impressed by the self-published author Ciye Cho, as it must take a lot to go solo on a series such as these. I was even more impressed with how he created a world and a way of life through his words. His characters have grown and changed and I couldn’t be happier with it. I do have a few questions, as always, but all in all this was a good book.

♥Characters♥

♥Florence Waverly: The main character of these stories has truly changed. She is no longer timid and afraid to show who she is, in fact she shows who she is proudly and steps into the role of hero in this third book. I was impressed by the fact she walked into the Shadow Fyre. She did what had to be done to save those she loved, although she knows it could change her forever. Although I never found Florence very relatable, although this could be because she is so wishie washie about every decision she makes and I’m more the type of person who leaps in. All or nothing.

  

♥Rolan: He has also changed. He is more willing to show himself for who he is as well as able to confess his love for Florence without thinking he is “stealing” her soul. In fact, it takes two to tango, and Florence and Rolan dance this dance quite well. I wish them all the best in the future although I don’t think that all in Nimelia will be impressed with this changed Florry.

  

♥Mara: Mara has also changed. Although she gives it her all, she isn’t afraid to care for people around her (Wynn, Florence, Rolan). She fights truly till the end. Even though she finds out her father is a traitor she carries on like a true warrior.

♥Wynn: At the beginning I was questioning Wynn’s loyalties, but I believe once again her remains loyal to Florence and Rolan.

  

♥Kiren: Where did you go again????

♥Malor: I don’t know if he’s crazy, or if his madness stems from the beginning of his kind. Could it be possible that this is the colony Cornelius found? Did the darkness that affected Cornelius’s body also affect his mind and affect the leadership found here?

♥Moments to Remember♥

♥Pg. 114

“‘You’re holding me to tight,’ I whispered.

‘Maybe I’m trying to make sure you don’t slip away.

‘I’m not going anywhere.’”

♥Final Line: “It’s not over…”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Book Reivew: Luminaire by Ciye Cho

 

Title: Luminaire

Author: Ciye Cho

Series/Novel: Florence Waverly Series (Book #2)

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Form Read: eBook

Pages: 200

Publisher: Studio Amazepop

Year Published: 2012

First Line: “Everything had to be perfect.”

“Being the only human in the world of merfolk… isn’t easy. Florence Waverly chose to stay in Nimela, but things have gone awry. Secrets have risen and the prince she cares about has pulled away. All the while, dark dreams warn her of a tragedy that only she can stop. But in order to save the merman she loves, Florence will have to enter the Life Path tournament: a brutal test of fear and madness.

The tournament is a rite of passage—a maze where young mermaids and mermen battle to find their purpose. It is also a place where Florence will face grave danger: mermaids with evil magic, tunnels filled with sea fire and guardians who wish to use her as a pawn for their secret plans. But will Florence be strong enough to survive the tournament… or will she perish inside it?

Everything hangs in the balance: her life, her world, her love.”

My Rating: 4.5/5

Hi there. Hope that you are all having a great weekend and enjoying this brand new month of March. I hope that I’m not the only one that is having the busiest times in school EVER! So forth the delay in review.

Today I will be reviewing Luminaire by Ciye Cho. This is the second book the Florence Waverly series. It continues following Florence as she discovers new things about the mers and works her way through Nimela’s societal pressures.

This book was surprisingly better than the last one. I don’t mean that to sound as though the first one was a bad story, rather I mean that sequels usually don’t do the first book justice. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was interesting, exciting and suspenseful (also including just the right amount of romance). I loved seeing more of Nimela and learning more about how their society functions. The idea that all Nimelans work together and choose a life path was already of interest, but to add a tournament was genius.

We also get to meet many more characters and learn more about the characters we already know. It was interesting to find out more about the life paths first hand from characters studying them.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fantasy along with a little bit of romance. It is not frightening or including dystopia with is hard to come by for people who like fantasy right now.

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Spoiler: Luminaire by Ciye Cho

Welcome! (That sounded really cool in my head). Today I will be writing about the second instalment in the Florence Waverly Series, Luminaire by Ciye Cho. This book follows Florence Waverly through the steps she takes to become one of the Nimelans. All Nimelans must have a life path, and Florence doesn’t believe she is an exception; the only catch is that she is human. That’s rough.

I was impressed with this book. It was a thrilling read, although it took me a long time to read, it was entertaining which is something that is important in books for me. The setting was improved and I was able to understand the inner workings of Nimela far better. Especially the idea that Nimela has a heart was a thoroughly interesting aspect of this book. It is interesting to think about.

♥Characters♥

♥ Florence: She has really grown into who she is. She seems less afraid to stand for what she believes in. She is wiling to fight Rolan not just sit back while he orders her around. Although entering a maze filled with deadly creatures to defy him is going a bit far, but I think we’ve all done that at some point in our lives. “I’ll prove you wrong HA!” I think she deserved to be accepted by the animal trainers, but unfortunately that wasn’t possible although the way she crossed Provonox can’t help her any. Hopefully she is still able to find a place in the kingdom.

♥ Rolan: He was kind of a jerk. Let’s be honest here, he was sending her the message they were done to protect himself from what he might become. I hope that he realizes his mistake and doesn’t do this again because that would just get old very quickly, especially after how sweet and nice he was at the end of this book. I think that I grew attached to him at the end of this book and if he’s a jerk again, I’m gonna go through an emotionally confused state. I also hope that he is more wary of his councillors.

♥ Yolee: It’s sad that she wasn’t able to end the tournament at the same time as the other builder novices, but she seems young and too nervous to be able to survive the whole maze by herself. I couldn’t have seen that ending well. I’m happy she went straight to builder, because seeing her die would be heartbreaking.

♥ Wynn: I can see him getting corrupted by the Guardians, it’s a bad thing to say, but it’s quite possible. Also can we mention he’s adorable and he should definitely be with Marilenna. It would counteract her attitude.

♥ Marilenna: She seemed like a real arse at the beginning. And no I didn’t originally type arse. But throughout the story she changed. I wouldn’t be surprise that she is working against them, I’m suspicious though sooo. But other than that she seems to be living under her father’s ideas and to take her life into her own hands was a hard thing for her to do, but she did it!

♥ Provonox: He’s a sly son of a gun. And don’t you forget it. Just because he let Wynn join his life path doesn’t mean he’s any better. I think he’s just trying to seem like a better person, that won’t last long.

♥ Kieran: WHAT THE HELL?!?! What is going on here???

♥Moments to Remember♥

♥Pg. 129

“‘I seek out the human… because she means more to me than anything else.’”

♥Final Line: “‘At last you awaken. Good… It is time for our work to begin.’”

  

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Book Review: Florence by Ciye Cho

Title: Florence

Author: Ciye Cho

Series/Novel:  Florence Waverly Series (Book #1)

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 240

Publisher: Studio Amazepop

Year Published: 2012

First Line: “I positioned the rifle against my left shoulder.”

“Seventeen-year-old Florence Waverly is out of her depth. Literally. Kidnapped and taken below the waves to the mer world of Niemela, she is the ultimate gift for merman Prince Kiren: a human familiar tied to his side. But nothing is what it seems amid the beauty and danger of a dark ocean.

Every Niemelan has a role to play, from the mermaids who weave towers out of kelp to the warriors who fight the sea monsters. But in trying to survive, Florence will end up in the middle of a war between the mer and the Darkness. A conflict that will push her between two brothers: Kiren, the charmer inexplicably drawn to both her and the monsters; and Rolan, the loner who has been pushing her away since the day they met. But in order to take a stand and find out where she belongs—Florence will have to risk it all: her life, her heart and her very soul.”

My Rating: 4.5/5

I would like to start with this book was requested by the author for a review. That being said it doesn’t change the fact that this is still an honest and opinion based review. Those who have read frequently know that all my reviews are based on opinion.

Now onto the serious stuff. This book surprised me in many ways. First off the way the setting was described as well as the passing of time. The way that the characters look and were portrayed throughout the book. These two things along with how the plot itself played out.

To start with, the setting in this story is really untouched territory for me. I think I have read one other mermaid based book but that was probably about 7 years ago. It is completely up to the author how the city of Niemela looked and how it was described. It’s up to the reader to envision the authors words. Ciye Cho did a lot of describing in this book and that helped me as a reader to understand the world he was creating. This was a very interesting idea and the idea of how the city was versus the darkness outside of it was both interesting and terrifying. The only thing that made me upset about the setting and timing was the timing itself. The days seemed to long in the book. I realize that this is something that is difficult for authors to use as the characters are made to pass through the days. This reason alone is why the book lost .5 points for me.

The characters were another untouched area. What a mermaid looks like is really up to your imagination. And once I got used to how the author described the mermaids and mermen, I enjoyed the creativity. The colours themselves were at first hard to comprehend but after given time a delight to imagine.

Lastly, the plot. This book had many unexpected twists and turns which I did not anticipate. That’s what I love to read about. At the beginning I was sceptical as I thought this book was on a sure path but as I read I became increasingly intrigued.

THANK YOU CIYE CHO FOR BUILDING A WHOLE NEW WORLD IN SUCH VIVID COLOUR!

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Spoiler: Florence by Ciye Cho

This book is once that was requested by the author and I’ve finally had a chance to read it. As mentioned above although it was a request all things stated are honest opinions of my feelings towards the book.

This book was unmarked territory for me. I have read one other mermaid series, around when I was 12 so that’s while ago….. And it definitely captured my attention. At the beginning I thought that this book had a set path, but by the end I was intrigued and left wanting more. My favourite part of this novel was the way things were in such vivid colour in contrast to the darkness. It was both interesting and hard to comprehend. After I was able to imagine the characters, their personalities helped to keep my interested ignited.

♥Characters♥

♥Florence: As usual, the main character grows and changes throughout the book. I’m happy she didn’t change to much though. She was able to stand up for herself by the end and what she believed in but she still had an interest in photography and reading as far as I could tell. I was also happy to see that she made her wait out of the love triangle, at least I hope she did. Who knows… there is a book 2!!!!!!

♥Kiren: Ok so I thought she was going to end up with him for sure. He seemed the obvious choice for her to be with. Sociable, charming and easy to look at. I was pretty surprised when we see him talking to the Wise Ones, ok surprised isn’t quite the right word, I was angry. Anger and shock are emotions so good, but also made me put the book down and go for a walk. Hopefully even though he survived the Darkness he doesn’t give over to the Wise Ones.  I believe he thought he was doing the best for his people.

♥Rolan: I thought he would be such a tool. I’ll be honest, I judged immediately. But then he turned out to be guarded, but sweet generally. His anger came from trying to protect his own. And who can blame him with the past he had. I do hope that he can protect the kingdom, but the odds aren’t really in his favour, are they?

♥Yolee: I wonder how old she would be and whether or not she had ever considered the thrown? I don’t believe she had, but I believe she will stand behind Rolan through the war that has erupted.

♥Serillico: She is a heartless piece of work. I can’t say I wasn’t happy when she died. In fact it didn’t bother me in the least. If anything I may have celebrated with a tiny bit, like a small dance around my dorm room.

♥Iriego: He seemed like a heartless man at first, but I warmed up to him. He does what he believes best for his people. Even though that almost meant putting Florence down like an animal.

♥Dorsimer: I guess not everyone can live during a war, but it would be nice if he could have.

♥Moments to Remember♥

♥Pg. 46

“I recognized Malachiro and Pahlo. Yolee pointed out the others: Haralo, Juren, Piriko… it sounded like she was reading from an Ikea catalogue.”

♥Pg. 63

“‘They’re beautiful,’ I whispered. Maybe a little dangerous too, I thought. But then again, the words beauty and danger seemed like synonyms in Niemela.”

♥Pg. 82

“I was the only girl from a faraway world. Unique. Maybe even interesting.

 I could be exotic, ethereal, graceful…

Alas, that was when my toe bumped into a barnacle on the whale’s tail. I lost my balance and yelped.”

♥Final Line: “That… and the distant roar of Rolanama.”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo