Flash Reviews: Demonglass & Spell Bound

Hi-ho and away we go....to more shopping... >.< (Actually, I haven't had to do any for a few days. Thank the stars.) On the bright side, I did a review for Kate @The Magic Violinist on. You can visit her blog and check it out if you love books that are dark, twisted, and feature zombies. WEIRD zombies. Not that any kind of zombie isn't weird but--nevermind, you'll find out if you go read the review. ;) I'll be doing reviews on her blog on a regular basis, so take a moment and check it out. :) She's one awesome girl.

Also, writing update: I was so encouraged by all of your comments on the post where I talked about writing being hard for me. Thank you so much! I love you guys :) So, along that line, I've been writing almost every day. Not necessarily on my WIPs but also blogging and journaling. They're not huge amounts either. I know most of you are fantabulous, superhero writers ;) but 1,000 words a day is good for me. So a few days ago when I typed out a little over 800 without any straining of my imaginative/writing powers I was really happy. Again, you're the best and your comments really made my day!!

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A Flash Review is something I do on my blog once in a while when I'm not in the mood or don't have the time to do a full review of a book. I got the name from the term flash fiction--REALLY short-length fiction. Wallah! (I'm so proud.) Hope you like!

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I liked the Hex Hall trilogy so much that I decided to go ahead and do small reviews for both the second and third books because I love them SO. DARN. MUCH. 

Also, spoiler alert. If you haven't read Hex Hall or whichever book came before the one I'm reviewing, then I wouldn't recommend reading these reviews. If you don't care about getting spoiled then, of course, read your heart out. ;)

Publication Date: March 22, 2011
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 359
Source: Library
Format: Hardcover
Cover Rating: Awesomely cool. I love the contrast of the black and orange! Also, don't know if it's the outfits or what, but I like this cover waaay better than Hex Hall's cover.

Demonglass was definitely slower paced than Hex Hall. There was less action, fewer shocking villain reveals (or...yeah, now that I think about it, the villains were still there), and more dedication to learning things. Things like the extent of Sophie's powers, her family history, the COUNCIL, and the enemies of the Prodigium.

I really enjoyed it. I'm glad Hawkins took the time to explore these important factors while also keeping the same adventuresome and humorous feel that the first book had. Of course, I can't go without mentioning that, again, I loved Sophie's voice (especially the jokes and sarcasm). I really liked seeing her and her dad get to know each other too.

Here we meet more demons besides Sophie and her dad (Who is also the head of the COUNCIL. Surpriiiise.). These demons, a guy and a girl around Sophie's age, have a way more dark and edgy feel about them. More dangerous.

I said there were villains. These villains are so unexpected but kind of in the way that there are suspicious signs and hints of something going on but you tell yourself it's not them because there is NO way--oh wait. It was them. I saw some of it coming in that I didn't trust one person at all when I met them. No one that preppy and cheerful is real. Not to be a pessimist or anything. ;)

We learn more about Cal. We learn that he is awesome and hugely sweet and kinda kick butt with healing powers. (*whispers* We also learn that he likes Sophie and Sophie kind of likes him back. Which I totally saw coming, but I'll pretend I didn't.) We learn that, in fact, Jenna is the best friend in all the friends in the universe because she has Sophie's back even when she's mad at her. And she never doesn't care about her.

I learn that *cough...cough* I actually do ship Archer and Sophie somewhat, slightly hard. I CAN'T HELP IT. And I'm kind of annoyed that I can't because of what I said before about...um...Noah clone? Welllll, turns out he's less clone more uniquely (annoyingly) him. And he and Sophie are adorable together. Oh my gosh, it cost me a lot to say that. But he won me over. Darn it. Go on preciouses *shoves them together* be a couple.

My Rating:

 

Publication Date: March 13, 2012
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 327
Source: Library
Format: Hardcover
Cover Rating: Bling-tastic. The sword is awesome and so is her (top) outfit. I also really like the look that the old barn/shed wall gives the cover. 















And now we come to Spellbound.

No words. End of review.

Haha just kidding (sort of). I just finished this book today so I still have feels roiling around in my soul. Beware the emotions.

I wasn't sure whether Spell Bound was going to be slow or fast or somewhere in the middle but it definitely brought back the heat in a plot filled with action and explosiveness (whether that explosiveness was literal or not I'll let you find out for yourself). There were mysteries and twists and all manner of awesomeness. I have no idea how Hawkins fit it all together so nicely.

As for the romantical parts, there's a lot of confusion. Sophie is confused about her feelings relating to Archer and Cal. She knows she really likes Archer (maybe even loves) but she also really likes Cal and it takes her a little while to get it all figured out. I mean, both dudes are awesome. This isn't the kind of situation where you resent the girl for having two love interests. Nope. Sophie is awesome...it's no wonder two guys like her if you think about it. And she didn't try to lead anyone on. My respect for her SOARED at that.

Sophie lost her powers in Demonglass under some really tough, infuriating circumstances. Because of this, she spends around half or more of this book without them. It was weird. Both for her and for me. So when she gets them back, she's all bad-a, I-can-take-care-of-these-baddos-no-problem (yes, baddos is a word). I feel like she got more control over them too after all she'd gone through. More precision, more accuracy, and more smoothness. We already knew she was almighty powerful. :D

There's also meeting new family members, her dad getting used to being without powers (which was really sad), and a weird warlock that got himself stuck in a mirror hundreds of years ago and apparently can prophesy. He has lace cuffs.

Throughout all this, I admit that my shipping of Archer and Sophie rose higher...and higher. *grins* No shame, baby (well, maybe a little).

THE ENDING. Or maybe I should say THAT PART JUST BEFORE THE ENDING THAT IS SO HEARTRENDINGLY SAD AND OH MY GOSH MY HEART IS LITERALLY IN PIECES ALL OVER THE FLOOR LIKE MY BROTHER'S PLAY DOUGH. I told you there would be emotions.

All I'm going to say is that somebody important dies.

Oh, and there is lots and lots of demons and demon-y stuff in this book.

My Rating:

Oh my gosh. I can't handle this. There will be a blacked out part beneath this where I will lament more for those of you who have read this book.

But for now, quotes from the book that made me happy:

My heart was still hammering. "Then what the heck are you?"

Archer almost looked sheepish as he reached inside his shirt and pulled out some kind of amulet on a thin silver chain. "It's a speaking stone. Lets you appear to people kind of like a hologram. You know. 'Help me, Sophie-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.'"

"Did you steal it from the cellar at Hecate, too?"

"No," he said, offended. "I found it at a...store. For magical stuff. Okay, yes, I stole it from the cellar."

Now I don't know what you call that but I call that seriously bonding. Hehe. Also, when you read the book there's a bit more after that that made me snort with amusement.

"We could go to Lough Bealach," Aislinn answered.

"Is that a place, or are you choking?" I asked, earning me a glare in return. 

Golden, just golden.

"I'm okay," he said at last. "I know that's hard to believe, but nothing hurts. I mean, except for my mind and soul, but those were always a little broken."

No explanation needed here.

Cal, Archer, Jenna, and I managed to achieve something truly impressive: the four-way glance. "It's really complicated," Jenna said at last. 

I chose this one because I felt like it summed up what a great team they are. How they had each other's backs. Worked on the same side. 

And now for the super spoiler-y part (Those who have not read, DO NOT READ THIS): I can't believe Cal died! My eyes are literally tearing up right now. And that scene where he saw something in the Underworld but didn't want to tell Sophie? Where she heard herself screaming? After he said that maybe the Underworld showed the future too and all that, he glanced at Archer really quickly. At the time, I thought it was because he saw that something was going to happen to Archer. But he was actually realizing that Archer would be the one to live and have Sophie and be around her and protect her, and he would die. *wails* HE KNEW. HE KNEW AND ACKNOWLEDGED AND STILL WENT AND SAVED SOPHIE. And he actually died. And he was so accepting when it happened. *buries head in hands and sobs* And then afterwards when he waved at Sophie at Hex Hall and then it showed him healing the grass around the pond and talked about how he loved that island, gosh, I couldn't handle it. TEARS, PEOPLE. I'm sitting here mourning. 

  
Disclaimer: I was not reimbursed for this review in any way. I have written it solely for the entertainment of the readers of this blog and myself.