Venom and Song

Book Details:
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 384
Publication Date: August 17, 2010
Why I read it: received for review
Grade: B

Cover thoughts:
I don't like this cover quite as well as the first book. It's the same style (hardcover with picture right on the cover) that I really like, but there's just something about it that I don't love. It could possibly be the red writing.

About the author:
Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper are joint authors of this one. Check out their websites!

The plot:
The seven elf lords have returned to their home world of Allyra. Here they begin training for the inevitable war with the spider king. As more prophecies are revealed, they realize that their training is not enough, so they set off in search of a mystical item from the prophecy. Not quite as good as the first one, for me, but still very enjoyable.

Characters:
There are still a lot of characters. The focus is still on the seven elf lords, and to be honest, even in this second book I had a hard time keeping track of who was who (especially with the secondary, non elf-lord characters), what their special powers were, etc. We do get to know and care about the characters more in this book, and I still think younger teens and tweens will really connect with these characters.

Setting:
We're in Allyra in this one, which is a made up world that isn't too different from Earth in some ways, but when you look deeper there are some scary differences. The world building in Venom and Song is great, and I'd love to read more set in this world, but I'm not sure if there will be more books in this series or not.

Notable quotes:
They would never meet her, and she would never meet them. But somehow, they would connect over the ages of time and share life together: one looking forward to hope, the other looking backward to love.

Read this if you're in the mood for: a fairly light young adult fantasy that is not focused on young love (although there is a few crushes here and there, they are very mild and in the background). This one is more heavy on the religion, I think, than the first one.

Continue or part ways? I'll keep reading more by these authors, and if there's more in the series I'll continue on.

Curse of the Spider King

Book Details:
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 384
Publication Date: Nov. 3, 2009
Why I read it: have 2nd one for review
Grade: A-

Cover thoughts:
I really like the cover for this one. The picture is pretty cool, the font is good--it's all good. Plus it's a hardcover, without an annoying dust jacket; the picture is right on the cover. I really like that.

About the author:
Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper are joint authors of this one. I've never read anything by either of them, but they've both got other books out that I will be looking for.

The plot:
Curse of the Spider King introduces us to seven young elven lords. The thing is, none of them know they are elves from another world, Allyra. They're all just living normal 13 (or nearly 13) year old lives when we are introduced to them. But, because they have reached the age of reckoning, they are all starting to display certain powers (they all have different powers), and will soon be hunted by the enemies of the elves. Luckily, there are sentinels that were sent there to look for, and protect them. But now they all must return to Allyra. There is a great website for the Berinfell Prophecies here.

Characters:
This would be a great book for a pre-teen/younger teen to read, because there is someone here for everyone to like. We get to know lots of different characters, and young people will connect with them. Some of the characters were much more present than others. But they're all interesting and varied.

Setting:
The flashbacks throughout the book to the world of Allyra were probably my favorite part. Otherwise, the world was pretty much just like ours today, except for the addition of these elves hiding out. I'm excited to read more of Allyra in the second book.

Read this if you're in the mood for: a young adult fantasy that isn't your typical paranormal love story. I'm really sick of those, so if you are too, this one is different. It does have the formula of a young person (in this case, people) finding out that they're not human, they're something more, but the rest of the book is pretty different from the standard formula. Also, as this is written by Christian authors, it's very clean.

Continue or part ways? I'll definitely continue on with the series, especially since I have the second one on my bookshelf waiting for me to read and review it.