Stay to the Lights

I think at first Linden may have seen Rhine as a replacement for Rose, but I felt toward the end of Fever when she returned, things were different. I don't know how it is in Sever, but I'll see soon enough.


Oh yes.. I tend to just ignore Tess and hope she goes away

Good luck with the book.


Well I'm reading Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan, but next.. I'll be reading this:



Sixteen-year-old Lark Ainsley has never seen the sky.

Her world ends at the edge of the vast domed barrier of energy enclosing all that’s left of humanity. For two hundred years the city has sustained this barrier by harvesting its children's innate magical energy when they reach adolescence. When it’s Lark’s turn to be harvested, she finds herself trapped in a nightmarish web of experiments and learns she is something out of legend itself: a Renewable, able to regenerate her own power after it’s been stripped.

Forced to flee the only home she knows to avoid life as a human battery, Lark must fight her way through the terrible wilderness beyond the edge of the world. With the city’s clockwork creations close on her heels and a strange wild boy stalking her in the countryside, she must move quickly if she is to have any hope of survival. She’s heard the stories that somewhere to the west are others like her, hidden in secret—but can she stay alive long enough to find them?

Nikki K

Finished Prodigy and yeah, the whole Tess and Anden thing is annoying. Obviously I understand why material things are so important to Day and that's why the jealousy always sneaks in because he thinks he's not worthy without the money and the upbringing. So while I get it, it's still frustrating that stuff like this always has to come into play, that people can't just decide to trust each other when they say they do. Those are plot elements like what was revealed at the end – where you think, gosh, just tell her why and don't be a bloody martyr that's so annoying. So it's not that it doesn't make sense but on the other hand it's kind of repetative throughout any kind of entertainment media. Over all I liked it fine. One thing that I was disappointed that it didn't come up again was the fact that Day did not fail his Trials but in fact had a perfect score... I think that still should be addressed somehow.

So the next book is coming out in November?

I have Enclave here but I'm a bit worried because one reviewer on amazon said it was about zombies (which I do not care for... all these things vampires, ghosts, werewolves, zombies, witches, demons, angels... you can chase me to the end of the earth with and my toe nails would still curl) and another said it was a lot like 1984 which personally I found very distressing. I had nightmares for months after.

Stay to the Lights

Yeah. I know a friend of mine wished the whole test thing had been brought up. Maybe in the last book.

So, I'm reading Sever. Half way through it to be exact. It's pretty good, although Gabriel being mentioned and the author trying to force his presence back into the story seems a bit out of place.

Enclave.. hm.. no, not Zombies, I don't think. At least in the usual term. Give it a got and see what you think.

Nikki K

Yeah I know, I wished they could have just left him in Manhattan and be done with him. if it's any consolation, there is no romantic angle anymore with regards to him. – How do you like the crazy uncle? I thought him hilarious. I'll admit that a lot of people said the last book endeared them towards Cecily but... not me if I'm honest.

So you went through Skylark pretty fast then? Was it any good? I thought the synopsis sounded interesting until magic was mentioned...

I'm a quarter through Enclave... so far so good. I guess so far I wouldn't have really called them Zombies either, I'm guessing more an experiment gone wrong in the time before this sort of society was established... perhaps a vaccine that caused mutations? I don't know... I bet this is going to be a triology again and we'll get answers in the last book which will be out three years from now. I'll be back when I've finished.

Stay to the Lights

I like the Uncle. He is crazy, but a nice change from Vaughn.
I've just got to the part where the woman from Fever.. and it was revealed that Rose was her daughter, which was an interesting development.

There isn't a romantic angle with Gabriel? I did skip to the end when the first got the book and saw there was something with them. So it's not that they end up together? I always saw Gabriel as the means of freedom, and nothing about hm in particular.


Yeah, Enclave is gonna be a trilogy. The 2nd book is out. The 3rd will be out soon.

ETA: Okay. I finished Sever, and goodness.. it was SO much better than Fever. I actually liked it.. even though toward the end it was kinda sad. Poor Linden.

I just find it ironic, that Rhine left Linden and the mansion to have freedom, and to go home, but in the end... she ended up back there.
And you were right.. the romance angle between her and Gabriel seemed to have gone. I don't think she is in love with him like he is with her. Like I said.. I feel he was just freedom for her, and a friend mostly.

Nikki K

No they don't end up together. Ah... just saw your edited to add - yeah I always thought despite that kiss in Wither that Gabriel was more like this trapped pet in her eyes and she wanted to set him free. I think she even said something of the sort to Linden when she gave him the ring back in Sever. Even in Fever, when they were sharing a bed in that safehouse, I thought she was mostly concerned about him as a friend or rather - she had set him free but she realised that she would still have to teach him things about survival. He might have some strength but not the instincts. So - I never really came to see it as anything romantic despite the kiss in Wither.

Two things that I found somewhat annoying: That Rhine's brother would brush off anything Vaughn did to his sister so easily and wouldn't feel more angry about it and about having been used. And then honestly, I know I shouldn't because Cecily had a child with him and all but during Rhine's stay with his uncle, for the first time I really really wanted something to happen between her and Linden.

I finished Enclave. And as always I'm like... bwah... no love triangle/quadrangle pleeeeeaaase. However, I did like the characterization of Deuce and particularly her reaction to the possibility that there was something between Tegan and Fade. I guess because I can understand sadness better than jealousy. Obviously, for me the sadness always comes from insecurity, so that was another really nice thing that in her case it didn't. She seemed to be sad that he prefered her character traits at that point in time but she didn't beat herself up over it because she accepted who she was and didn't feel the need to change. Still if there is any romance in the future, I'd rather see her with Fade than anyone else. In the Acknowledgement the author says she did mean for the Eaters to be Zombies. So I don't know Mutants seems still to be a better description.

Here's the thing that I found curious though: Why were there no Eaters in the city aboveground until Fade and Deuce went aboveground? With the gangs there, there'd still be prey. So why did they confine themselves to belowground in the city when upstate they live out in the open?

Something I just remembered I found odd in Prodigy about Tess' backstory:

Here's the thing, if she was the youngest, then her four older siblings had gone through the Trials already, which meant that – if they hadn't failed and were shipped off – assuming her family was poor, they did probably come through and already got their work assignments which at least must have brought some additional money in for the family. And Tess was almost ten - so that would have meant, additional income if she got through the Trials or a compensation for her parents if she didn't pass - so the story doesn't really sound logical to me. Why would they cast her out now if they had managed all that time earlier. I doubt the author meant anything by it and we'll find out that she lied but still... I thought it was an oversight.

Okay, so I guess I go and hunt down the sequel to Enclave if it's out...

ETA: I'm usually not particularly rooting for couples in these kinds of books although I always know that I'd prefer one choice over another when it comes to the love triangles. But reading that in the synposis for Outpost that Fade distances himself from Deuce already breaks my heart. I don't know what's wrong with me.

Stay to the Lights

Yeah. Apart from their kiss in With.. it was like she felt she should free him. It didn't feel that she was interested in romance at all. All in all, that's not what this story was about.
I was glad nothing came out of them, because if I couldn't have Linden/Rhine, then I really did not want to have Gabriel/Rhine.

I was surprised that Rowan believed everything Vaughn was telling him and how he wasn't angry about everything he did to Rhine. It was as if he thinks it was all of a sacrifice in the long run, to look further into the picture.


Enclave.. ah, yeah, In Outpost there is a third party involved, Stalker. He likes her, but she and Fade have something going on. I definitely ship Fade and Deuce no doubt. I feel they fit just right together.



Oh, I'm gonna begin this one.. I've had it for a while.



Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he's trapped in a school that's surrounded by a razor-wire fence, where video cameras monitor his every move—and where breaking the rules equals death.

All Benson wants is to find a way out. But when he stumbles upon the real secret the school has been hiding, he realizes that escape may be impossible.

Nikki K

Couldn't agree more. As for Rowan – it certainly sounded like it but I had trouble reconciling it with the way Rhine thought/talked about him in the book describing him as very protective of her and also they were twins - not that I know from experience but it would seem that that would make them even closer, not if you needed yet another reason if you count their parents' death and them surviving together in that house the way Rhine described it. So his behaviour was really hard for me to understand unless we are meant to dismiss Rhine as a credible witness to her own past.

I'm done with Outpost - yeah the whole Stalker thing wasn't really necessary in my personal opinion. Also because much like Deuce I'm a bit annoyed that it hardly ever seems to be possible for people to write about a friendship between a man and a woman - sooner or later everything seems to get a romantic twist even if it's unrequited. Having good male friends where the mutal interest was never at any point romantic, this continually annoys me in all sorts of media. Admittedly, the author here wasn't all bad about it, at least in Enclave, Deuce had Stone as a friend and there was nothing on either side. Still. All in all, I liked Outpost. Admittedly the Amish angle is a bit... I don't know... on the one hand I want to say it's predictable and moan about the fact that the apocalypse is hardly the time to turn your back on science (spoken as a scientist... although then I have to say the time to turn on science is never... of course the ethics behind it have to be under constant observation/deliberation)... but then knowing Upstate NY as I do, I somehow have no doubt that the fundamentalists would survive. I was frankly a bit surprised when the author revealed that this was not set in Upstate NY but apparently up somewhere in Maine at the Canadian boarder. It didn't read in Enclave as if they had really hiked that far, especially with their winter break spent in that abandoned house. But suddenly it seems like they had half the Appalachian Trail experience (and everyone who read "A Walk In The Woods" by Bill Bryson -- hilarious book btw, very entertaining -- knows how long that takes).

They do, don't they? I hope the author understands that too. After everything she has set up, it'd be brutal to pull this in another direction in the final book.

I'm a bit nervous because I'm not really one for the supernatural/fantasy genre, but since you endorsed Magic City, I might give that a go next. I looked at Birthmarked and I'm not sure I can stand the thought of midwives as baby-snatchers.

Variant sounds suspenseful. Let me know if it's worth reading!

Stay to the Lights

Oh, you should check out Birthmarked. I actually finished my re-read of the first two books recently and read the third.
It's a very good series. The world is quite fascinating. You could at least check out the first book.

After reading Outpost, I don't believe there is anything but friendship regarding Stalker on Deuce's side of things. She felt isolated from Fade and found herself spending time with Stalker. But IMO, in my mind, there is no doubt where her feelings lie.

Yeah. Rhine made it out to sound like they were so close, as twins usually are. But when they first saw each other.. on Rowan's side of things, he didn't seem as emotional about seeing her alive, as he should have been,.

Let me see what else you should check out..

Have you read The Glimpse, Shatter Me, Under the Never Sky, The Darkest Minds, The 5th Wave? Inside Out by Maria Snyder was a good duology. I'm not sure if you want other reccs and not just Dystopian stuff. Like Throne of Glass, or sci fi / paranormal stuff / greek mythology?

Nikki K

Alright, I might give it a go then eventually.

I agree that it appears clear where her feelings lie but introducing Fade's PTSD and re-iterating Stalker's intentions of winning her over has me a bit worried. I hope Tegan's presence on the journey in the last book will help to not make this about the love triangle.

Rowan appeared very aloof and from what I remember not particularly surprised or excited to see Rhine alive and well. I think you could sense some disappointment from Rhine over this, also over him working with Vaughn but in the end it just wasn't obvious enough or maybe I don't remember it right...

Thanks for recommending more stuff to me, I made a note of those and will report back to you.

Oh, I stumbled over a book called The Archived by Victoria Schwab. Have you read that one? I haven't yet but it's on my desk...

Stay to the Lights

Let me know if you do

Yeah. After all Rhine went through just to find him, you would think he would be more excited. It's like he automatically she be dead. Couldn't he feel it in their bond.. the one twins are meant to have one on whether or not she was dead?

No, I haven't read that one, but I've heard about it

paper rings

I might be able to get some reading in today.

Nikki K

^^I know the feeling. For me it's always either I read until the book is done and don't get anything else done or I won't read at all, not for pleasure anyway. One of my many horrible attitudes.

I know. I mean even without a special twin bond (which admittedly, Rhine also said in Wither a few times that she thought she'd feel something) - if my sister was taken and I didn't know what became of her, I'd never give up hoping and searching.

I started Magic City... I don't know what to say/think yet. I'll be back.

Stay to the Lights

You mean Mystic City?

I've started Variant. It's interested. A school where you have no contact with the outside world. No adults. Teachers. No internet or phones. You can't get out. There are cameras everywhere.

Nikki K

Obviously. *headdesk* I'm really bad with names, titles... well everything really. Did I mention I'm dyslexic?

The school has no teachers? How are you learning anything?