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The Conclusion to the Folk of the Air Trilogy: Queen of Nothing

1 Jun

The Queen of Nothing
The third book in the Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black, Queen of Nothing picks up where Wicked King left off. Returning to the world of Elfhame, we see the tying up of multiple plot threads and the finale for Jude and Cardan’s tale. While filled with it’s share of interesting fights and story twists, one of the big sub plots built up in the previous two books falls flat due to main plot convenience. A lead character also gets relegated to the background due to plot reasons that, while interesting, deny him the spotlight and character growth he so desperately deserved.

It is the ending of the novel by far that is the most conflicting. While satisfying in some ways, it also suffers from having too clean of an ending. Only one character seems to face the consequences for their actions while others, despite their many crimes committed throughout the trilogy, get the equivalent of a slap on the wrist and a shake of the finger.

There seems to be hints that there will be a continuation to the series outside the main trilogy, so perhaps this issues maybe addressed in the future. It is a good, but flawed read.  You can borrow the series as ebooks and digital audiobooks from eLibraryNJ and eBCCLS.  You can see all of the Hoboken Public Library’s ebook and streaming resources on our website.

Written by:
Lauren Lapinksi
Circulation Assistant

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Destroy Your Misconceptions of YA Novels: Illuminae

27 May

illuminae

Illuminae is a rather unusual book, especially for YA. On the surface, with its bright orange cover and lettering, you might think you’re picking up a book with your typical YA story tropes and cliche characters that give it that reputation YA is known for. A glimpse at the summary might spark your interest, but even still, you might be going in thinking you’ll get something slightly edgy at best.

You would be wrong.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is one of the those books that will take all of the misconceptions you have about YA and destroy them.

Our protagonists, Kady Grant and Ezra Mason only just broke up when their home planet, Kerenza IV, was attacked. The pair are then boarded onto two different rescue ships and a series of terrifying and chaotic events begin to unfold while they try to escape the enemy ship hunting them down.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The intensity of the plot and blend of scifi-horror elements really make this book shine. The writing is flawless and the character work in this is something to behold. As the first of a trilogy, Illuminae makes a spectacular entrance.  You can read a previous review of the novel here.

Enjoy writing?  Check out this Friday’s Writing Prompt for Fresh YA Fiction!

Written by:
Lauren Lapinski
Circulation Assistant

 

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