ARC Reviews: Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge & Illusionarium by Heather Dixon

Title: Crimson Bound
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Genre: Fantasy 
Source: Edelweiss 
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: May 5th 2015
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Summary: 

When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless— straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat. Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her find the legendary sword that might save their world. As the two become unexpected allies, they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night? Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Crimson Bound is an exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption.

Review: 

I won't lie Hodge is a beautiful writer, her words are gripping and descriptive and all around wonderful to read. With that alone I will read Cruel Beauty. But sadly Crimson Bound wasn't something I liked. I am not all to familiar with Little Red Riding Hood so I can't complain whether it matched up or not.

The characters in this novel weren't black and white. They were complex and developed. Which overall added to the enjoyment I did manage to have with this book. But I still managed to have issued with Rachelle, She was snarky which I liked but then she was whiny. She went on and on about horrible Bloodbounds are, how much she resents herself, how she hates the court, and how she can't find the sword. I found it incredibly annoying and just made me dislike her. 

Crimson Bound didn't hold my attention well. I could only manage to to read for about a half hour before I would put it to the side. Mostly the reason for that is was how there were quite a few words that I had no clue about (actually, there were A LOT of words) and that pisses me off, especially when the plot line is majorly confusing to begin with. Plus, as beautiful as Hodge's writing was the whole Forest aspect was very cloudy for me. Overall I was dissapointed in Crimson Blood.

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Title: Illusionarium  
Author: Heather Dixon
Genre: Steam Punk
Source: Edelweiss 
Publisher: Greenwillow
Publication Date: May 19th, 2015
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Summary:

Jonathan is perfectly ordinary. But then—those magic words at the beginning of every good adventure—the king swoops into port, and Jonathan and his father are enlisted to find the cure to a deadly plague. Jonathan discovers that he’s a prodigy at working with a new chemical called fantillium, which creates shared hallucinations—or illusions. And just like that, he’s knocked off his path. Through richly developed parallel worlds, vivid action, a healthy dose of humor, and gorgeous writing, Heather Dixon spins a story that is breathtaking and wholly original.

Review:

The blurb on Goodreads gave nothing away about this book, I literally walked into it blind except for the fact that Jonathan is suppose to be curing a plague. So between the blurb and cover lust I impulsively downloaded Illusionarium. I did enjoy this book. The footnotes gave it a fun fill, and I really enjoyed coming up upon them. Illusionarium was an original and complex story about a boy who is running out of time to save his family. 

I enjoyed this story for the most part. The biggest problem was when Jonathan went into another dimension. I found the story got really confusing, it was easier to get lost if you didn't pay close attention to what was really going on. Some of it didn't make any sense to me. The characters were well developed and interesting. Lockwood was my favorite. He has assholish ways and is a knight! I did like Jonathan though. He was so dorky and cute. Dixon's characters were written extremely well, they are developed and complex. 

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