#Tuesday Review - Chaos by Sarah Fine (Young Adult, Fantasy)

Series: Guards of the Shadowlands # 3
Format: Kindle, 385 pages
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Publisher: Skyscape
Source: Amazon
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

With Juri in control and everything in absolute chaos, Lela plunges into the depths of hell to free Malachi from creatures that have waited decades to exact their revenge. But the Judge has her own way of doing things, and Lela must work with Ana, the new Captain, who has a very personal mission of her own. Together, they infiltrate the most horrifying realm either has yet encountered in the Shadowlands—the bitter landscape ruled by the Mazikin.

The stakes could not be higher, and Lela must accept the help—and love—of people she barely knows or trusts. As alliances and loyalties shift and she realizes the soul she came to save isn’t the only one in need of rescue, can Lela summon the strength to see the fight through to the very end?

Chaos is the final installment in the Guards of the Shadowlands trilogy by Sarah Fine. Chaos picks up right where Fractured left off, so if you haven't yet read Fractured, do so now. Lela Santos world has literally been turned on its side ever since her best friend Nadia committed suicide in Sanctum. She dove in without any hesitation to save her from the Shadowlands and found love and a second chance in the process with Malachi a Captain of the Guard who has spent 70 years hunting and killing Mazikin. Things were left in a major pickle at the end of Fractured, and now, Lela must put her own life on the line once again in order to bring Malachi back from the darkest place in the afterlife; Mazikin City. 

As if saving and bring back Malachi wasn't hard enough, Lela is given other tasks to complete as well. (1) Find the portal which is allowing the Mazikin to escape to Earth and destroy it. (2) Destroy the Queen of the Mazikin. Thankfully, the Judge doesn't send Lela to the Dome where Mazikin City is located alone. Ana returns and is sent along with Lela to complete these tasks and find the love of her life (Takeshi) who has been missing for years now. Lela and Ana realize that the Judge is playing a very dangerous game, and they, along with Malachi, and others, are just pawns in a much larger game. 

The Judge wants the Mazikin situation handled, and handled now. Lela's worries are validated when she and Ana arrive. Malachi's soul is in the Dome, and the Queen is keeping him all to herself. If you are squeamish in any way, I would advise you that things do get a bit brutal in this book. Ana and Lela are forced into alliances with brutal human leaders who have come to accept that the Mazikin are their masters. They see familiar faces, and know that one wrong move will be their last. 

I was a bit puzzled when the first two items on Ana and Lela's list were finally resolved and the reunions happened. Yet, I knew that there was more to come in this story. There was more to come because Lela hasn't completed her final mission in destroying any remaining Mazikin on Earth. One of the most heart breaking scenes is Lela's reunion with Malachi not once, but twice. I dare say that I reached for a Kleenex once or twice.

Chaos is a step up from Fractured in darkness and action. While the normal world was dangerous, and the Mazikin made things hard for Lela and her crew, Mazikin City is no joking matter. I love the fact that Fine writes about dark worlds, and broken characters, and doesn't hold anything back. I love that she has made Lela a hero, but doesn't leave her alone without any support system. I loved that Ana makes a return, and I love that we finally, finally get to meet the love of Ana's life Takeshi. I loved the reunion with Lela's own mother who I honestly felt heart broken for and the Mazikin who saved Lela in Fracture.  

Malachi is the real deal folks. He laid down his own life for Lela. He made Lela feel things she hasn't felt before while also making her realize that she was absolutely worth something and not just someone who was tossed away and spent years in and out of foster homes. Fine walks away from any dick measuring contests in this book. There is Lela's destined love for Malachi, and nobody else was going to measure up to what he has in his heart. I'm sad that this trilogy is over, but I am not sad that I had the pleasure of reading this entire trilogy back to back. 

Previous Installments:

     

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#Monday Review - Fractured by Sarah Fine (Young Adult, Fantasy)

Series: Guards of the Shadowlands # 2
Format: Paperback, 448 pages
Release Date: October 29, 2013
Publisher: Skyscape
Source: ARC Trade
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

In the week since Lela returned to Rhode Island, local news has been dominated by chilling sightings of human-like creatures running on all fours. Lela knows there’s only one explanation: the Mazikin have arrived in the land of the living.

Needing to maintain the appearance of a normal life, Lela returns to Warwick High along with Malachi. At night they hunt for the Mazikin nest along with two new Guards. Jim, one rogue recruit, repeatedly challenges Lela’s authority. Lela struggles to keep all her Guards on the right side of the law, but their mistakes come at a terrible cost.

As one painful revelation follows another and the Mazikin start targeting those closest to her, Lela finds herself more vulnerable than ever. With an enemy determined to separate soul from body, Lela must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice to protect those she loves. 

Fractured is the second installment in the Guards of the Shadowlands series by author Sarah Fine. Fine has moved her story from the darkness of the Shadowlands, to the human world where things are about ready to get pretty damn interesting. One thing remains the same; Fine's world is dark, dangerous, gritty, action-packed, and at times, heartbreaking. I'll keep this as spoiler free as I can, but I will say that I would recommend that you pick up this book knowing that anything can happen to anyone and nobody is immune from being brutalized by Ms. Fine.

It has been one week since Lela Santos agreed to become a Guard of the Shadowlands and returned home to Rhode Island. Lela is now a Captain whose job it is to hunt down the escaped Mazikin and dispose of them quickly and quietly. Lela's team now includes Malachi Sokol, who is her Lieutenant; Jim, a Guard from the Realm of The Blinding City (Home of the Insatiably Greedy) and Henry, who is a Guard from The Wasteland (Better known as the home of the Mazikin). 

Lela not only has to worry about the ever increasing sightings of weird looking animals that hunt the homeless, but she also has to deal with her school work, her foster mother Diane, her parole officer, her reputation as a stone cold killer, and a budding friendship with Tegan and her friends. Lela grows as a character. I know reviewers love to say that, but it's factual evidence in this book. Sure there are some bumpy roads with the romance angle. Sure there are some growing pains as Lela moves into a leadership position that life or death consequences that affects everyone she knows. 

Bloody Hell, I was not prepared for THAT ending! Fine took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions, and puts Lela to the test. Not only does Fine test Lela with the Mazikin and an suddenly there character who shows up out of the blue, but she also has to deal with the fact that the Mazikin are really smart, and cunning, and hungry for revenge against those who have wronged them. They use every method possible to lure Lela and her team into trap after trap. I dare say their machinations were brilliantly written and drawn out.

One of the things that fellow readers have complained about is Fine's determination to test Lela and Malachi's romance. There are issues. I won't argue about that point. Lela is in over her head at times, and really wants to keep her enemies from taking her new friends away from her, and her emotions are all over the place. So, yes, Lela and Malachi find themselves with other characters for a short period of time. Here's what I need to say. Malachi has been working as a Guard for 70 years. While he loves Lela, he also needs to rediscover this new world that he left behind 70 years ago. Thankfully, the separation is only temporary.............CLIFFHANGER!!!

This really is an addictive trilogy as you can probably tell by the fact that I read these books back to back. The third installment, Chaos, will be reviewed NEXT week on the blog to keep things interesting.  

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#Thursday Review - Sanctum by Sarah Fine (Young Adult, Fantasy)

Series: Guards of the Shadowlands #1
Format: Kindle, 450 pages
Release Date: October 16, 2012
Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing
Source: Amazon
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

“My plan: Get into the city. Get Nadia. Find a way out. Simple.”

A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos’s best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance—hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures. But Lela isn’t just anyone—she’s determined to save her best friend’s soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife. 

As Lela struggles to find Nadia, she’s captured by the Guards, enormous, not-quite-human creatures that patrol the dark city’s endless streets. Their all-too-human leader, Malachi, is unlike them in every way except one: his deadly efficiency. When he meets Lela, Malachi forms his own plan: get her out of the city, even if it means she must leave Nadia behind. Malachi knows something Lela doesn’t—the dark city isn’t the worst place Lela could end up, and he will stop at nothing to keep her from that fate.

Sanctum is the opening salvo in the Guards of the Shadowlands trilogy. Meet 17-year old Lela Santos. Lela is a character that has literally faced her limits and is still going with some grit and determination. Abandoned at 4 by her neglectful mother, Lela was sent to live in various foster homes. She was later sent to prison after beating the crap out of her rapist foster father. Lela has one last chance to prove herself. She has a new foster mother, Diane, a new school, Warwick HS, and a best friend in Nadia Vetter whom she saved from a drug dealer. Nadia and Diane both make Lela feel something she hasn't in a very long time. Loved. 

Lela feels as though she finally has a future, especially after getting a scholarship to college. Then, everything goes to hell, literally. Nadia, suffering from her own personal demons, kills herself. Lela finds that she has a connection to Nadia, and can tell exactly where she ended up. After mysteriously falling off a cliff to her death, Lela wakes up in a place called Countryside. Let's just call Countryside heaven and move on. Lela knows this isn't the place that she needs to be. She needs to find and rescue Nadia before Nadia becomes one of the hunted. But, Lela isn't exactly a coward. She sneaks her way into Shadowlands, and tries to find Nadia which she eventually does. 

“Some people can’t keep fighting. Some people want to escape. Some people are not ready—are not able—to find a way to deal with what’s in front of them. Sometimes there’s no one to help them. Sometimes they don’t know how to ask for help. Sometimes it feels like there’s no choice but to end it. No other way out. And sometimes it’s impossible to see past that.” 

Welcome to Shadowlands: Shadowlands is the place where suicides are sent until they are ready to be JUDGED by HER for their readiness to move on to their next destination. It is a dark place (no sunlight ever). It is a place where demons called the Mazikan take over the bodies of humans sending their souls straight to demon hell. It is a place where the food is rotten, and disgusting, and only those who have no place to go, gobble it up like chocolate. It is also the place where Lela meets Guards like Captain Malachi Sokol, and Ana, humans who are responsible for putting the Mazikan down. 

Malachi is an interesting fellow. He's a true believer in what he does. He firmly believes that killing as many Mazikan as possible is what he is called to do and has been doing it for almost a century. One needs to respect the Mazikan or face their venomous bites that will kill quickly unless Raphael is around to help heal them. Like Lela, Malachi has had a painful past but has built his reputation as someone who the Mazikan are afraid of. I wasn't patient about the romance angle. I saw it coming, but didn't mind because it made both characters stronger and better. 

I have noticed during my Sarah Fine reading week, that she has a vivid imagination that can't be denied. Sanctum isn't a story that is all happy and delightful. It can't be when suicide and rape are mentioned. I am recommending this book to everyone who follows my reviews. I will be reviewing the sequel Fractured, shortly.

Best Scene:

“...Were you in the military?"

"Are you kidding me? I was in high school."

"High school," he said quietly. "You’re American. And a civilian?"

"Uh, yes. An American civilian."

"Lovely. A straight answer. Keep it up. Did somebody train you?"

"No, nobody trained me. Unless you count the Rhode Island child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Why?"

Malachi held up his hand and ticked off the reasons with his fingers. "You stole a Guard's weapon. If I'm not mistaken, it belonged to a Gate Guard. Which means you managed to do it on your way into the city. You escaped Amid even after he had you in hand. You slashed his leg in just the right place, preventing him from chasing you. Under extreme duress, injured and cornered, you threw a knife and hit a target-"

"It's not like I hit something vital.”

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