Wildwood series

It seems it’s been along time since I wrote a Suggestive Reads Post. Sooo I’ve decided to write one about YA series/trilogies which I think are worth reading. I mean there are a lot of hype out there about where this is good or that is good. Or wow! this is awesome, it’s a must read. You read it, and it sucks. There are some which you read, with all the hype around it, and you’re like, omg, this was awesome. Well, having read quite a lot myself, I’d like to suggest some worth reading, though I might miss some, I’ll try and get a decent list up! 🙂

1) The Study Series. This is my all time favourite. I really loved this series by Maria V. Snyder, though I didn’t like the spin off as much (it was good, but this was better) and though her other series are on my to read list, I’ve yet to read them. But I’m sure they’re good.

Book blurb for Poison Study:

Choose: A quick death…Or slow poison…

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear…

This will not disappoint, I think, depending on the type of reader you are. I liked this a few years back when I first read it, and I still love it now. Yelena is just too awesome. And I think if you like the first, then you’ll like the rest, it’s one of the good ones, where the second doesn’t disappoint.

2) The Gemma Doyle Trilogy. One of the first few novels/trilogies that got me into YA. It’s dark and suspenseful, with a gothic feel. I really liked Libba Bray‘s story. It’s historical fiction cross something akin to a dark equivalent alice in wonderland cross stories above traversing realities cross something like fairies. I was seriously seduced by this when I first read it. Plus I really love these covers, don’t really like the Australian ones though, since the very first time I read this I had these covers and not the Australian ones.

Book Blurb for A Great and Terrible Beauty:

A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy–jumble them all together and you have this complicated and unusual first novel.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother’s death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls’ academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions “for a bit of fun” and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left with the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the “others” and rebuild the Order. A Great and Terrible Beauty is an impressive first book in what should prove to be a fascinating trilogy.

3) The Dream Catcher trilogy. By Lisa McMann, this is one seriously dark yet hot psychic trilogy. The writing is choppy and brief, yet it captures the emotions and characters with little efforts. I felt like I was in a dream watching the events take place. Although a lot of people complain about aspects of the novel itself, I still think it’s a worthy read. Though mind you if you like classics and long winded descriptions then you will probably have a very hard time adjusting to this, because this is the exact opposite. But I don’t think the style downgrades the story at all. I think it’s style makes the story unique.

Book Blurb for Wake:

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people’s dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie’s seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.
She can’t tell anybody about what she does they’d never believe her, or worse, they’d think she’s a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn’t want and can’t control.
Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else’s twisted psyche. She is a participant.

4) The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy. By Carrie Ryan. Now there is a lot of apocalyptic and dystopia out there at the moment in YA. I don’t know about zombie reads, maybe there are a few? Anyway, since I began reading everything YA, I picked this series up on a whim. And I was blown away. So it’s a little cliched and sometimes overly sweet, but most of the time, it’s about the undead. Flaking, old style zombies, that walk around slowly, ready to bite human flesh. I’m putting this one here because despite it’s lack of plot (every novel involves running away from the undead, a love triangle and a relatively open ending), it’s seductive. Carrie Ryan’s evocative world is brought alive by the language and emotions and characters and everything. I was really drawn in and therefore, I suggest people to read this, if they want a good read (of course, this is my opinion :P)

Book Blurb for The Forest of Hands and Teeth:

In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

5) The Iron Fey series. Why am I always suggesting this? Well it’s because Julie Kagawa is such a damn awesome writer. Given, that I only considered her best novel of the series to be the first book: the Iron Knight, the first three are all worthy reads as well, even if the protag was so damn annoying. Why do I say this? That’ s because I just love Kagawa’s flair for writing and creating this amazing fairy world. It really has this ‘alice in wonderland feel’ too. So definitely worth reading! Oh and she’s got a spin-off planned. Most of the time i wouldn’t consider reading it, but she did so well when she wrote the Iron Knight, I think I might!

Book Blurb for The Iron King:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth – that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

(Oh but pre-warning, yes, a pre-warning, the first chapter sucks! I thought it was over the top and unrealistic. But the rest is pretty good. Albeit regarding the realistic feelings of a sixteen year old whose left home, it’s a bit mature? slash immature? But the world, it’s amazing!)

6) Vampire Academy series. Richelle Mead is a mastermind. Seriously I want to steal it. When I first thought about VA, it was way before the Twilight hype, and it sounded interesting enough. But then of course, along came the Twilight hype and I decided to just leaves vampires alone for a bit. But when I did read it, I thought it was amazing. Though, to be honest, so far, I’m liking the spin off way better. VA was amazing, it’s like the vampire version of harry potter with a kickass heroine and lots of hot action. So eventually it loses its harry potter comparison. But still it’s great when you look at the world building and character building. Honestly it wasn’t until I read the spin-off did I realise just how great she was at switching between characters. She just made me want to improve my own writing.

Book Blurb for Vampire Academy:

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger…

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

7) Night Creatures trilogy. I have yet to read the third book by Marianne de Pierres, but I was completely blown away by the first. Unfortunately the second could hardly compare. I am hoping that the third will be brilliant. But this is here, because, even if you don’t read the second or the third, the first is a must read. It’s a fantasy, and it’s amazing. Yes, Marianne de Pierres does not use much description at all, though not as little as Lisa McMann’s trilogy. But this doesn’t need it. It just pulls you along in a tide of pleasure, and you cannot be helped but be sucked in. I had to hand it to her. Burn Bright was amazing. (I really like the covers. They’re pretty cool, I think so anyway)

Book Blurb for Burn Bright:

Into a world of wild secrets and deadly pleasures comes a girl whose innocence may be her greatest strength.

In Ixion music and party are our only beliefs. Darkness is our comfort. We have few rules but they are absolute . . .

Retra doesn’t want to go to Ixion, the island of ever-night, ever-youth and never-sleep. Retra is a Seal – sealed minds, sealed community. She doesn’t crave parties and pleasure, experience and freedom.

But her brother Joel left for Ixion two years ago, and Retra is determined to find him. Braving the intense pain of her obedience strip to escape the only home she’s ever known, Retra stows away on the barge that will take her to her brother.

When she can’t find Joel, Retra finds herself drawn deeper into the intoxicating world of Ixion. Come to me, whispers a voice in her head. Who are the Ripers, the mysterious guardians of Ixion? What are the Night Creatures Retra can see in the shadows? And what happens to those who grow too old for Ixion?

Retra will find that Ixion has its pleasures, but its secrets are deadly. Will friendship, and the creation of an eternal bond with a Riper, be enough to save her from the darkness?

Listen well, baby bats. Burn bright, but do not stray from the paths. Remember, when you live in a place of darkness you also live with creatures of the dark.

8) Unearthly trilogy. One of the best angel series I’ve read so far. It’s one I can actually seem to stomach. Cynthia Hand never wastes a word. I’ve yet to read the last one, but I can tell it’s going to be really epic! Another, sigh, love triangle, but it’s not so bad. I think for this one, the emotions are different to other love triangles. Though, Tucker is my favourite! And Christian is just a pain that I wish would go away, lol. Jks, can’t wait for the epic finale!

Book Blurb for Unearthly:

In the beginning, there’s a boy standing in the trees . . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she’s part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn’t easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place and out of place at the same time. Because there’s another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara’s less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she’d have to make between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

9) The Chemical Garden trilogy. I cannot believe why I’m putting this here. But I get it. It took me a long time to read the first one. It was long for an average sized YA paperback. It was tedious, yet, there was something in the story, something fresh, nearly hopeless, almost classic-like. Lauren DeStefano writes her protag’s feelings pretty clearly, even if I didn’t like her much. I still have to read Fever and Sever, but I think, amongst the YA dystopia out there focussed on ‘love’, I think this is pretty good. I dunno, maybe my opinion will change when I read the second. I did like the world in Wither.

Book Blurb for Wither:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape–before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden’s servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

10) Firelight trilogy. I really loved this. There was something really sweet, really magical about Sophie Jordan’s first and second. I know this because I hesitated for so damn long about reading this, I am absolutely sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Hehe this one’s got dragon lore!

Book Blurb for Firelight:

A hidden truth.
Mortal enemies.
Doomed love.

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki, a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.

Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will’s dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping awayif it dies she will be left as a human forever. She’ll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

11) Chanters of Tremaris trilogy. Kate Constable’s fantasy trilogy that rocked my world when I was young. Love, love, love this trilogy. The magic system is based around singing and it’s amazing. Can’t help, love it too much! And when I think about it now, it’s written in a style where though the protag is young, every other element is developed almost to an adult level of fantasy, if that makes any sense? Anyway, great fantasy read for YA, shouldn’t be missed at all!

Book Blurb for The Singer of All Songs:

Kate Constable’s lyrical, acclaimed fantasy debut–now in paperback Calwyn has never been beyond the high ice-wall that guards the sisters of Antaris from the world of Tremaris. She knows only the rounds of her life as a novice ice priestess, tending her bees, singing her ice chantments, and dreaming.

But then Calwyn befriends Darrow, a mysterious Outlander who appears inside the Wall and warns of an approaching danger. To help Darrow, to see the world, and perhaps to save it, Calwyn will leave the safety of the Wall for a journey with a man she barely knows–and an adventure as beautiful and dangerous as the music of chantment itself.

12) Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. Laini Taylor’s debut was sexily amazing. It’s urban fantasy but I find I don’t have any words to describe. It’s got angels, but the mythology is completely different and surprising. There’s something enticing about Taylor’s words. Her is completely believable, as are her characters. I loved the first one and dying to read the second.

Book Blurb for Daughter of Smoke and Bone:

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

13) Nevermore trilogy. Hence the nevermore in the title of the trilogy, I think it’s easy to guess that there is a relation to Edgar Allen Poe for this series. Kelly Creagh I think has done an excellent job intertwining her story with aspects of Poe. I love it, it’s amazing, a little creepy, and like Lenore in Poe’s famous poem – The Raven, I get a very heavy, looming presence of Varen, the love interest, in the first book. It’s scary how well it was all combined together.

Book Blurb for Nevermore:

Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with the piercing eyes another look.

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares.

His life depends on it.

(Actually writing about this one makes me really wish that I had Enshadowed in my hands right now. Sigh. I really liked the first one)

14) Wildwood series. I can’t really say its a series since it’s one book and its companion/sequel. But Juliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret are two of my favourite fantasy novels. They are really well writeen, well developed, and though the protag’s are somewhat similar, each is kickass in their own way. This is a cannot be missed type of book, so I’m definitely suggesting it for YA fantasy lovers! They are retellings of familiar fairytales and at the same time with love and just greatness (haha, can’t help gushing!).

Book Blurb for Wildwood Dancing:

High in the Transylvanian woods, at the castle Piscul Draculi, live five daughters and their doting father. It’s an idyllic life for Jena, the second eldest, who spends her time exploring the mysterious forest with her constant companion, a most unusual frog. But best by far is the castle’s hidden portal, known only to the sisters. Every Full Moon, they alone can pass through it into the enchanted world of the Other Kingdom. There they dance through the night with the fey creatures of this magical realm.

But their peace is shattered when Father falls ill and must go to the southern parts to recover, for that is when cousin Cezar arrives. Though he’s there to help the girls survive the brutal winter, Jena suspects he has darker motives in store. Meanwhile, Jena’s sister has fallen in love with a dangerous creature of the Other Kingdom–an impossible union it’s up to Jena to stop.

When Cezar’s grip of power begins to tighten, at stake is everything Jena loves: her home, her family, and the Other Kingdom she has come to cherish. To save her world, Jena will be tested in ways she can’t imagine–tests of trust, strength, and true love.

And there are heaps more! Of course, as a blogger I shouldn’t be lazy and leave it here, but right now, I think I’ve exhausted my brain. Hahaha Lol, I know there are the popular series such as The Hunger Games, Delirium, Matched, Legend, the Mortal Instruments and the Infernal Devices, and others which I didn’t put up, that’s because well, I really don’t have much to say about them, they’re so popular, and they’re good reads, I have nothing against them, but well, anyway, they’re all worth reading as well! Of course for the series – Delirium and Matched – I find they are both equal and worthy reads like the Chemical Garden trilogy, both also taking on the ‘love’ angle, and approaching it a little differently. So they’re worth reading. Lauren Oliver (Delirium) has the most beautiful and emotional prose, while Ally Condie (Matched) really values art and literature in her series, if a bit tedious, it’s worth reading, particularly about a society that has a set amount of texts and so on…
The Hunger Games is special so I don’t want to say too much about it. I really liked the dystopian angle, though not really the love triangle plots…so meh, still a suggestive read though 🙂

Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices are up to the readers I think. Personally I thought the adventure of the first three novels were great. A little overdramatic, but okay. Though right about now I’m finding it hard to stomach the second trilogy (of the Mortal Instruments). I like Infernal Devices, though…

Overall, there are probably way more interesting and fun series that I have yet to include…and I have no doubt about it. I’ve just put what I could think of at the top…and well unfortunately I got lazy. Hehe, maybe I’ll make a proper list and post that! 🙂 My apologies for being lazy.