A Confusion of Princes - Garth Nix

In A Nutshell:

•  3 out of 5 stars
• Recommended for: 
• fans of Ender's Game
• -any- fan of sci-fi YA

So I've actually had this book on my shelf for a while now, and I've been reading it in chunks over the past few months. Yesterday I got around to just sitting down and finishing it while waiting for publisher responses on NetGalley.

A Confusion of Princes is the story of Khemri, one of countless "princes" of an intergalactic empire. Princes are taken as children from their parents from any planet in the empire, and made into princes over years of changes including biological alteration, memory implantation, and so much more. A prince is ridiculously enhanced in every possible way, and meant to dedicate themselves to the empire. Khemri has just finished being enhanced and was just released into the world. He wants to be the emperor more than anything--and the call for the next prince to be promoted is soon. But Khemri is learning that all the things he's been taught and forced to learn aren't as solid as he thought--and the world is much more dangerous for a prince than he ever could have imagined.

Let's start off with the good. I did enjoy reading A Confusion of Princes. To start off, Garth Nix creates a pretty amazing universe in this novel. I'm not usually a sci-fi fan to begin with, but I loved reading about the different creations that Nix came up with, from the automated troopers and biological ship repair bugs to the masterpiece that was the princes themselves. To be honest, if this book had been a bit more expanded in terms of exactly what sort of things the princes could do, and expanded more on the tech and that sort of thing, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Character development is a big thing in this book, since the development of Khemri is basically the entire point of the story. That said, though, there isn't really all that much depth in other characters. That's not necessarily a bad thing, however, because a big part of the book is the fact that Khemri is as selfish and self obsessed as most children--which is basically what he starts out as. Since it's his point of view, it's not surprising that most of the people he meets don't matter enough to him to really register, with a few notable exceptions.

The plot itself, without going too much into detail, is interesting. Some of it is relatively predictable, but other parts completely threw me for a loop. It does flow well, and is definitely worth reading. That said, it's also a bit rushed--and the lack of explanation for a lot of the tech that is thrown at the reader makes the story sometimes confusing.

Overall, A Confusion of Princes isn't perfect, but it is definitely worth checking into, especially if you're a sci fi fan--and especially if you're looking for a YA hint! I'd even go so far as to say that it even felt a little bit like Ender's Game, which is one of my favorite books, so if you liked EG as much as I did, you should definitely give Confusion a chance.

Golden Lily - Richelle Mead

In A Nutshell:

•  4.75 out of 5 stars
• Recommended for: 
• fans of YA vampire lit looking for something different than the last twelve they read
• fans of any of Mead's other YA books
• anyone with an interest in urban paranormal YA

Knowing that I'd read Bloodlines and enjoyed Mead's work, a friend of mine threw this my way last Christmas. Sadly, I never seemed to have the time to get to it, until Zenita invited us to New York shortly after graduation for a book signing that Mead was going to be at. I reread Bloodlines the night before, and read Golden Lily on the ride up.

Golden Lily is a great sequel to Bloodlines, and continues the story of Sydney working to protect Jill in sunny Palm Springs while also balancing potential romance on all fronts, new secrets, and her own experiences with the belief system that she's been raised with.

I liked Golden Lily. Like most of Mead's books, the Bloodline series makes you want to keep reading, and there are so many plots that are subtly twisted into the books that I found myself wanting to reread bloodlines -again- just so I could look back and find all the hints for future plots that I didn't even think twice about the first time I read it!

Character development is one that that Golden Lily does -not- lack! I don't think there's a single decent character in this book who didn't change and progress over the course of this novel, and it's amazing how well Mead manages to juggle so many characters! Sydney especially is great to read about, because the belief system she's been raised into and places so much trust in is challenged almost constantly by the things she sees and does every day as she works with the Moroi, and Mead's portrayal of Sydney and her slowly morphing belief system is spectacularly believable!

One thing that I find myself hating in modern YA is the constant presence of a love triangle in almost every book I seem to put my hands on. Mead does not hesitate to place hints of this trope in her book--yet I still found myself wanting to read despite my minor annoyance as I noticed the slow formation of what seemed like one, which is very notable considering that I have been known to throw a book down if the romance becomes too excessive. I consider the fact that the romance in this book barely phased me to be a star for Mead. She is capable of doing what many other authors are not: including romance in a story without deriding the plot. I love her for it.

Overall, I enjoyed The Golden Lily a lot. I loved it so much, in fact, that I stole Zenita's copy of The Indigo Spell from her while we were waiting in line to see Mead at the signing, and managed to finish it before we got home that night! I'd definitely recommend The Golden Lily, and in fact, the entire Bloodlines series to anyone with an interest in urban paranormal YA, anyone who enjoyed Mead's other YA, and anyone who is interested in a book series about vampires that doesn't read like the hundred other vampire books flooding the market!

If any of those describe you, you should definitely look into picking up a copy the next time you're looking for something new to read!