Review: The Glory

The Glory
Author: Lauren St. John
Publication Date: March 5th 2015        
Publisher: Orion Children's Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

From the bestselling author of The One Dollar Horse trilogy, a sensational, stand-alone equestrian thriller about a gruelling 1,200 mile race, a girl on the run from the law and a boy on a mission to save a life.

A Girl on the Run from the Law

Alexandra Blakewood has everything any teenager could wish for, apart from the horse she'd love, but she won't stop getting into trouble. Sent to a US boot camp, she dreams of escaping. It seems impossible until she's told about a gruelling 1,200 mile horse race across the American West...

A Boy on a Mission to Save a Life

Will Greyton was the star student at his Tennessee high school until his father was laid off. Now Will works at a burger joint. When his dad falls ill, it seems things can't get any worse. An operation will save him, but there's no way to pay for it. Then Will hears about The Glory, a deadly endurance race with a $250,000 purse, open to any rider daring enough to attempt it...

If The Glory would have stuck more to the Race and the Equestrian side of the story, I would've liked it a lot more than I did. Unfortunately, that's probably the only side of the book I did like. From the sub-plots, third person narrative, no connection and somewhat unlikeable characters and a insta-lust and insta-love romance, you could say I have a few issues with the book.

Review: The Mime Order

The Mime Order
Author: Samantha Shannon
Publication Date: January 27th 2015        
Publisher: Bloomsbury
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London...

As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city's gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner. Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.

I didn't really get on that well with The Mime Order, I don't know what it was but something just felt disconnected and missing. I wasn't all that raving about The Bone Season either. I liked it well enough, but it wasn't one I'd rave about, it didn't stand out to me, probably because it's confusing and hard to get into, which I hoped wouldn't be the case with The Mime Order, and unfortunately was, for me at least. I wanted to love it, considering the characters had escaped and The Mime Order literally starts right where The Bone Season left off, I thought it would be intense, but even that felt bogged down by overcomplicating things. I get it, things weren't exactly going to go as planned or easy, but it just dragged.