I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed reading this. An interesting story with fun characters. Well written.

You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com

Actual rating of 3.5

Grape finds herself trapped in a cell, with no windows, no cell mate, no idea what's happening to those she loves, and no hope of escape. She can hear the sounds of torture coming from below and can only sit in her dank, dark cell and think of the most horrible situations and what her friends are going through. With her little android, Buddy, she gets glimpses of what is going on around her, but it doesn't lend much hope. Grape and her friends have found themselves in a hopeless predicament after zapping into Nukpana's castle. What follows is a story of war, hard times, and dare I say, a glimmer of hope? Once free of the castle it's up to Grape and friends to try and band the supernatural races together in order to save Starth from the tyrannical rule of Nukpana and his pet wizards, but can they do it without losing those they care for?

This is book three in the Grape Merriweather series, I didn't realise this when I requested it, so I have no knowledge of what happened previously to this book. That didn't hinder me too much though. Heily does a fantastic job of rehashing certain events, which gave me a brief idea of what had happened before, while at the same time not going into great detail of these events enough to bore those who have read the previous two books.

I did find that because I hadn't gone through this whole journey with the characters, I didn't feel a whole lot of connection to them or sympathise with them as much as I would have otherwise. So I feel that this probably did impact on how much I felt drawn into the story, I feel that I would have been a lot more emotionally invested than I was on the plight of the characters and their battle to free Starth.

That's not to say that this was not an enjoyable story, it definitely was. It is fast paced, and I would definitely put it down as a page turner for sure. It kept me wanting to know what was going to become of these characters I had just met who have been going on this journey for quite some time now.

When I first met Grape, I really liked her character, she was strong, emotional, defiant and trying to do what she thought best to protect her friends and those that she loves. However, as the story progressed, I found that she started to really annoy me. Once her mother, Dr. Merriweather/Letha of the Valley/Lisa, came onto the scene and Grape was reunited with her after their ordeal in Nukpana's dungeons, Grape seemed to turn into a petulant child. She was incredibly whiny, and it came across as "this is too hard I want to go home." Which I totally get, war is not easy, especially when there's so much to consider as well as worry about, but it's as though reuniting with her mother brought out the child in her. I'm not sure if this was Heily's intention or not, it just really irked me that such a strong character turned into such a whiny brat so quickly. Maybe I would have had a better understanding of this and a better view on Grape if I'd started from the beginning. Another thing that began to really irk me was her name, Grape, Grape? We meet someone else imperative to the story which made me question this name choice even more than when I first started. Once again, I'm not sure if the name choice is a nickname, a pet name or what, and I'm not sure whether it was explained in the earlier books as to why her name is Grape, so maybe I have no real reason to be annoyed at this name choice? Normally character names don't get to me, but for some reason, I found this one really jarring each time I read it.

I loved all the other characters we met, especially Orzael. I really loved his character. I hated Nukpana but could understand why he had done what he did and why Starth had become the place that it was. I found I became rather attached to the Gnomes in the short time I'd met them too.

The world that Heily has created is wonderful, and it really is a breathe of fresh air in a sometimes stagnant genre. There was no love triangle in this book which I find is generally a staple of YA books of any genre, they don't really bother me, but it was kinda nice not having the whole teenage romance be the main focus in this story. The focus was on the battle for Starth and it worked out fantastically for this story.

The story itself was engaging and the cast of creatures and characters fitted flawlessly into it, I really enjoyed the witch sisters we meet. As well as Waru, I kinda wished we had have seen more of her.

All in all, an enjoyable story, I feel like it missed the mark a little because I wasn't there for the start of the journey, but seeing how it ends has sparked me to pick up the previous two books so I can see where it began. I will definitely be going back to read the rest of this series. So even though you CAN read this book without reading the others, I'd probably recommend against that because you may find yourself in the same boat as me when it comes to sympathising with the characters and the plight of the world.

This novel, is a creative construction, its not anything like the typical YA Fantasy around, but, in a good way.

The characters in this grow, their depth adapting throughout the entire time, and even the characters you DISLIKE, have interesting history, and character arcs. The world-building of Starth, is original, and well-conceived, and while the species included are recognisable they're touched by the authors ability, and personality.

The twists are unique, and well-thought out, leaving you with predictable but also non-predictable twists and turns. The writing unique, and refreshingly different.

I eagerly await when I get to read the next instalments in this series.

This book is well written and entertaining.
Even if it's the third in a series I had no problems in understanding the plot and the characters.
The cast of characters is lovely and well written. The world building is interesting, not too complex and easy to understand.
This book kept hooked till the last page and it's a page turner!
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC