{Book Review} Lorien Legacies Reborn

overhead view of the books in the Lorien Legacies: Reborn and The Legacy Chronicles series{Book Review}

Lorien Legacies: Reborn and
The Legacy Chronicles

By Pittacus Lore

Disclaimer: This posts contains affiliate links. (That means that I earn a tiny percentage from your purchase – at no extra cost to you! – for the maintenance of this blog.)

These two series takes place after The Lorien Legacies and The Lorien Legacies: The Legacies. I review those two series here. Although the series I review today can be read standalone, I’d strongly encourage you to read my review of its predecessors and consider reading them first. There’s so much story and history there that I think it would make for a very different reading experience if you were to read these without that background. This review will contain spoilers for those that haven’t read The Lorien Legacies and The Lorien Legacies: The Legacies.

The Mogadore are defeated and Earth is safe from invasion. However, life on Earth has changed forever. The Loric Garde – children with special powers who fled the planet Lorien – awoke the energy source on Earth, creating a new race of Human Garde. But post-war Earth is faced with challenges they never imagined. How will the Garde learn to use their new powers? Is there anything to fear of the new Garde? Are the people of Earth safe? And some will ask, are the Garde safe from others on Earth? 

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{Book Review} The Lorien Legacies

{Book Review}

The Lorien Legacies &
The Lorien Legacies: The Legacies

By Pittacus Lore

Disclaimer: This posts contains affiliate links. (That means that I earn a tiny percentage from your purchase – at no extra cost to you! – to go towards the maintenance of this blog.)

 

Today’s book review is a lengthy one. Today, I’m reviewing a series of 7 books (The Lorien Legacies) and the 15 accompanying novellas (The Lorien Legacies: The Legacies). These two series are young adult books in the science fiction genre.

picture of the spines of the 7 books in the Lorien Legacies series by Pittacus Lore

The two series are centered around a group of teenagers  who, as children, escaped from the planet Lorien while the planet was under attack by the Mogadorian people, those of the planet Mogadore. Ultimately, Lorien was lost to the Mogadorians and every living thing on the planet was annihilated. The survival of the Loric race became dependent on those escapees, their guardians, and a charm placed upon them for protection. That charm assigned each child a number – the nine children would be protected from those trying to harm them until their number is up. Literally. 

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{Book Review} Sword and Pen

Book Review: Sword and Pen, the 5th and final book in The Great Library series by Rachel CaineNote: This is a review for the fifth and final book in The Great Library series. If you haven’t been following along, here are my book reviews for book 1 and 2book 3, and book 4. If you haven’t read those books, I’d recommend starting with those book reviews so that I don’t spoil anything for you! 

{Book Review}

Sword and Pen
The Great Library Series, Book 5

By Rachel Caine 

When we left Jess Brightwell in Smoke and Iron, Brightwell and his friends had just taken down the leadership – the Archivist and his Curia – of the Great Library. In Sword and Pen, Brightwell and his friends must rebuild and stabilize Great Library – under new leadership – while simultaneously defending it from the bitter old Archivist AND ambitious empires and kingdoms that see an opportunity to take over. If the group isn’t successful, the Great Library will cease to exist.

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{Book Review} The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Book Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes{Book Review}

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

By Suzanne Collins

It’s the 10th anniversary of The Hunger Games – the annual games held in the Capitol in which children (tributes) from the 12 districts of Panem (formerly known as North America) fight to the death, until only one remains. This year, things will go a little differently. In an attempt to spice things up, students from the prestigious Academy will mentor the tributes. 

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{Book Review} Now, Then, and Everywhen

Book Review: Now, Then and Everywhen by Rysa Walker - the first in the Chronos Origins series{Book Review}

Now, Then, and Everywhen
Chronos Origins Book 1

By Rysa Walker

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from Wunderkind PR for my enjoyment. All opinions are mine alone.

A few years ago, I blogged about a series of writings by Rysa Walker, called the Chronos Files. The Chronos Files were a set of novels, novellas, and short stories about a girl named Kate who is told that she must travel through time – like several of her ancestors have done – and prevent history from being changed. 

Now, Then, and Everywhen is the first in a new series – Chronos Origins – that will eventually reveal the origins of the time travel organization from Kate’s era, Chronos. 

In this first book, two characters from different points in time meet up in America’s South in 1965, in the middle of the American Civil Rights Movement. Madison Grace (Madi) is from 2136. She stumbled upon her Chronos key and time travel quite by accident, and is trying to figure out not only how it works but how her ancestors may have been involved in time travel. Then there’s Tyson Reyes, a Chronos historian from 2304, trained in the art of time travel, observation and research. 

The two are in the middle of a jump back in time when they feel time shift, changing life as they know it. History is different; some people cease to exist while others are born. Both think that they accidentally changed history during their jump, and both go back to try to fix it – that’s when they meet up. Did either of them cause the time shift? Or is something else going on? Can they reverse the change? 

Review: When I was a kid, I was an avid reader. I had a whole list of authors who I loved, and would immediately read their new books as they were released. Sometimes I’d reread a previous one, but more often than not, I’d jump right into the new one. The older I get though, the more this has changed. I still have my list of authors that I love and watch for, but I’ve realized that I much prefer to read a series in its entirety, once it’s finished. I don’t have the time anymore to reread books, and I just don’t want to wait to find out what happens next. 

I tell you that little story because in this case, I do wish I had reread the Chronos Files before jumping into this one. There were just so many references back to characters from the Chronos Files that I do think you have to read it – at least once – to really appreciate Now, Then, and Everywhen. It’s been a couple of years for me, so I remembered a lot, but there were definitely some moments of deja vu, where I couldn’t grasp what I was missing. The further in the book that I got,the easier it got to put those pieces together, but if you haven’t read the Chronos Files, please read them before picking this one up. You’ll have a greater appreciation for the characters and stories within the novel, and better understand their significance to this story line. 

As for Now, Then, and Everywhen itself, I enjoyed it. I did find it to be less of a young adult book than the previous series. The main characters were all adults, and seemed very real. They were all likable and relatable (their personalities, not their time travel experience!). The dialog had an ease to it that I appreciated – no teenage angst, no over-the-top romance. All of the characters and their interactions felt very natural. 

Another reason this book seemed less young-adult than the previous series is that a good bit of time was spent on the science of time travel throughout the book – which was fairly complicated, addressed from the point of view of a physicist and geneticists. It was peppered throughout the book, so don’t think that science dragged down the pace, but from this perspective (verse the teenagers in the Chronos Files), it was just more complex.

I will say that the constant flipping back and forth, the references to things from the Chronos Files that I only vaguely remembered, meant that this book required a bit more focus than the previous series. Definitely not a mindless read. But that being said, I continued to enjoy the unique story.

In short, if you have read (and enjoyed) or plan to read the Chronos Files, this would be a good book to come next. But if you haven’t, then I’d probably skip this one. 

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from Wunderkind PR for my enjoyment. All opinions are mine alone.