Friday #Review - These Vengeful Souls by Tarun Shanker, Kelly Zekas #YALit #Historical

Series: These Vicious Masks (#3)
Format: Paperback, 304 pages
Release Date: February 20, 2018
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Historical

Evelyn and her friends navigate tense battles, stunning revelations, and the limits of their own powers in this thrilling conclusion to the These Vicious Masks trilogy.

England, 1883. On the run with the grieving Sebastian Braddock, Evelyn wants two things: to be reunited with her friends, and to get revenge on the evil Captain Goode. Not only has he misused his and Sebastian’s powers to rack up a terrible death toll, but he's also completely destroyed any hope of Evelyn or her friends regaining the life they once knew. Evelyn is determined to make Captain Goode pay for what he's done, but is her revenge worth risking the lives of Sebastian and her friends? Or is it better to flee the city and focus on staying alive? And with the Captain spreading lies about Sebastian in an attempt to flush them out of hiding and turn the populace against them, does she even have a choice at all?

These Vengeful Souls is the third and final installment in co-authors Tarun Shanker & Kelly Zekas These Vicious Masks trilogy. Picking up 3 days after the horrific ending to These Ruthless Deeds, things are looking pretty bleak for Evelyn, & her friends (Sebastian Braddock, Nicholas Kent, Rose Wyndham, Catherine Harding, Miss Chen, Laura Kent, Emily Kane, & Radhika Rao). Evelyn, who made a life or death choice in the previous novel, is now in the fight of her life against Captain Goode & his Society of Aberrations allies. 

Goode's message has been sent in a most horrific manner: Disobey the Society and there will be consequences. What will he do next to make Evelyn pay for her treachery? Will Evelyn flee to other parts of the continent, or will she stand and fight? This then becomes a fight for life, and a desire for vengeance against Goode after a series of events forces Evelyn's hands. One can only be pushed so far before they break. It may take Evelyn a bit of time to come to her senses on how to get things done, but don't ever count Evelyn's desire to save her friends. Especially Sebastian who she has fallen deeply for and doesn't want anything especially heinous to happen to him. 

In this world, people have superhuman abilities like healing, the power to charm people to love them, control over the weather, teleportation, changing a person's appearance, getting people to truthfully answer any question, the power to dream of other powered people anywhere in the world, and the ability to see the future. The downside to this comes in the form of Captain Goode who can raise a person's powers or shut them down. Evelyn and Sebastian's powers are polar opposites. When they are together, they cancel each other out. Apart, Braddock can slowly make someone sick or kill them. 

One of the downsides to this story is shockingly Evelyn herself. She is too rash, she makes silly choices, becomes too consumed with hatred and revenge that she nearly loses who she is as well as the people she is trying to protect.

Thankfully, the ending makes up for the misguided choices she had made up to that point. That could also describe Sebastian's desire to sacrifice himself for the good of the world, or something silly. The cast of characters grows in this book. This is sort of like the X-Men under Wolverine meets the X-Men under Magneto. Kent deserves a medal for everything he has had to put up from both Evelyn, Sebastian, and Goode. There is a particularly curious romance that appears in this story. Yet, I don't find myself jumping up and down over it. I find that adding the romance to the story took away from the story itself. 

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Tuesday #Review - These Ruthless Deeds by @tkshanker & @KellyZekas @FeiwelFriends #YALit #Fantasy

Series: These Vicious Masks # 2
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
Release Date: March 14, 2017
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Source: Publisher/Library
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

England, 1883. Still recovering from a devastating loss, Evelyn is determined to use her powers to save other gifted people from those who would harm them. But when her rescue of a young telekinetic girl goes terribly wrong, Evelyn finds herself indebted to a secret society devoted to recruiting and protecting people like Evelyn and her friends.

As she follows the Society’s orders, healing the sick and embarking on perilous recruitment missions, Evelyn sees her problems disappear. Her reputation is repaired, her friends are provided for, and her parents are newly wealthy. She reunites with the dashing Mr. Kent and recovers the reclusive Mr. Braddock (who has much less to brood over now that the Society can help him to control his dangerous power). But Evelyn can’t help fearing the Society is more sinister than it appears.

These Ruthless Deeds is the second installment in the These Vicious Masks series by the dynamic duo Tarun Shanker & Kelly Zekas. The story picks up shortly after the end of These Vicious Masks. Protagonist Evelyn Wyndham has thrown herself into trying to help others after a heart breaking loss. Others who have the power of telekinesis, and a variety of other powers that would make the X-Men sit up and take notice. 

As Evelyn (the girl who can heal others), Miss Alice Gray (a woman who dream of powerful people), and Oliver Myles (a boy who can slip through objects), are trying to rescue another hapless soul by the name of Emily Kane (a telekinesis girl who Miss Gray met in an asylum), they quickly find themselves in danger. Saved by Mr. Kent (the man who has the ability to force a person to tell the truth) and his new friends. That would be Captain Goode & his brother who claim to work for the Society of Aberrations. The same society who funded Dr. Beck's research.

As Evelyn learns more about her own abilities, she finds herself wrapped up in the spiderweb of intrigue that is the Society of Aberrations. This Society is apparently looking to recruit other gifted people, but for what reason? Who are they really? What do they really want from Evelyn and the others? And, who is the mysterious person who sits at the head of the Society, and what does this person ultimately want? 

Evelyn doesn't trust this organization, but after finding herself between a rock and a hard place, she really has no other choice but to heal who they ask her to heal. After promising to help reduce Sebastian Braddock's powers, how can Evelyn turn their back on them fully, and entirely? These Ruthless Deeds once again tosses in an unnecessary romantic triangle which I have decided is a brutal form of torture that should be outlawed by the Geneva Convention. Seriously. How can you have someone like Mr. Kent who is obviously in love with Evelyn, and then twist it so that Sebastian needs the comforting, which sends Evelyn off in another direction? Blah. 

There is a huge twist in this book, and no, if you really want to know more, I am sure there are others who will spoil it for you. There is also a diabolically heart pulsing ending to this book which once again leaves readers wanting to find out what happens next. One could say that this was one of the cruelest endings to a book that I've read in a very long time. I am not sure that the authors will find a way to fix what they left behind in the bloody ruins of my emotions, and will find a way to somehow turn the events that has seen untold darkness to set into Evelyn's heart. But, one can hope, can't they?

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#Thursday Review - These Vicious Masks by @tkshanker, @KellyZekas #YALit #Fantasy @SwoonReads

Series: These Vicious Masks # 1 
Format: Kindle E-Book, 320 pages 
Release Date: February 9, 2016
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Source: Amazon
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Jane Austen meets X-Men in this thrilling Victorian adventure full of magic and mysticism, perfect for anyone who loves a confident, rebellious heroine, snappy dialogue, and a hint of romance.

England, 1882. Evelyn is bored with society and its expectations. So when her beloved sister, Rose, mysteriously vanishes, she ignores her parents and travels to London to find her, accompanied by the dashing Mr. Kent. But they're not the only ones looking for Rose. The reclusive, young gentleman Sebastian Braddock is also searching for her, claiming that both sisters have special healing powers. Evelyn is convinced that Sebastian must be mad, until she discovers that his strange tales of extraordinary people are true―and that her sister is in graver danger than she feared.

Chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, These Vicious Masks is an action-packed, genre-bending novel by debut authors Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas.

These Vicious Masks is the first installment in co-authors Tarun Shanker, & Kelly Zekas These Vicious Masks series. The story is set in 1882 Victorian Era England where 17-year old protagonist Evelyn Wyndham has had enough of parties, and doing what her mother wants her to do. She wants to be like her friend and travel the continent, and live the life that she wants. But, when her sister Rose disappears after a night of strange happenings with only a bizarre note left behind, Evelyn travels to London against her parents wishes in an attempt to find her. 

Evelyn doesn't travel alone. She instead finds herself in the company of Nicholas Kent who truly believes that he is the greatest detective in the world. Then, there is Sebastian Braddock who claims that both Evelyn and her sister Rose are of extraordinary talents thanks to something called saltation. It is also what brought Rose to the attention of the sinister villain in this story. Kent and Braddock couldn't be more unlike. Kent is more socially liked, even though his family is a royal pain, while Braddock is dark, and troubled, and has a hard time not pushing people too far.

One of the things that really stands out to me is Evelyn herself. She's feisty, she hates being put in one category or another, and she could give a good pox if anyone calls her names while searching for Rose in rather unpleasant environments for a so called Lady. Evelyn apparently has the talent of healing which makes things interesting when in search of her sister. As things start to piece themselves together, Evelyn finds that Sebastian has been right all along. It will be up to the combined efforts of Evelyn, Braddock, Kent, and Alice Gray to try and rescue Rose from the sinister villain.

I hesitate in comparing this book to the X-Men. There are those with extraordinary abilities, yes, but nothing like Wolverine, or Storm, or Cyclops, or even Professor Xavier. Characters in this story can not only heal themselves and others, but they bring about death by touch, can make people tell the truth, are able to create portals, and one can even mimic the appearance of anyone she encounters. A positive for me was the lack of a cliffhanger ending. Even though I was definitely prepared to deal with one after all that happens, it never came. Instead, the authors use the final chapter to bridge to the next installment in the series. A book that I will be reading shortly. 

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