Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Review: Salem's Fury

Title: Salem's Fury (Vengeance Trilogy #2)

Author: Aaron Galvin
Website/Blog: www.aarongalvin.com
http://www.aarongalvin.com/uploads/2/4/6/8/24683312/4585466_orig.jpgAaron Galvin cut his chops writing stand-up comedy routines at age thirteen. His early works paid off years later when he co-wrote and executive produced the award-winning indie feature film, Wedding Bells & Shotgun Shells.
He is also an accomplished actor. Aaron has worked in everything from Hollywood blockbusters, (Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, and Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers), to starring in dozens of indie films and commercials.
Aaron is a native Hoosier, graduate of Ball State University, and a proud member of SCBWI. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife and two daughters.
 


Publisher: Aames & Abernathy
Genres: YA, Historical Fiction, Horror, Fantasy
Release Date: April 13th 2015

Pages: 260

Where Acquired: Amazon

Buy On Amazon Here 
- Kindle Price: £3.36 (as of when posted) 
You can also buy the book in paperback and even a signed copy from his website.

Cover: 
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Goodreads Description: 
Sarah Kelly fears a father’s sins are revisited upon the children.
Her sister believes different. Adopted by the Miamiak and raised in the wilderness, Rebbecca shares no such concerns. For her, memories of their early life and of Hecate’s attack remain dim.
But history condemns those who neglect the past.
When a war party brings news of a neighbouring tribe attacked for harbouring white folk, they demand the Miamiak aid in avenging their fallen brothers. With rumours the culprits were held in sway to a fearless witch on the rampage, Rebbecca must decide whether to guard those she holds dear or seek vengeance upon a forgotten shade of Salem.


My Review: 
[ Beware Of Spoilers in this review ]
Where the last book in this series only received four stars from me, this one gets five! The only fault I could find in the book is how weak Sarah was made out to be. It was so strange after having such a strong, brave and courageous protagonist in Salem's Vengeance to see her as a weak and quivering wreck. But that is the only problem I had with this book.

I absolutely loved the change of protagonist to Sarah's younger sister Rebbecca. It kept the story fresh and exciting and her voice was so different from Sarah's that you wouldn't even think they were written by the same person. There will be more on Rebbecca later as I feel like completely fan-girling over her.

This book had so many twists and turns I think I went through a whole box of tissues reading this. Once again as always with Aaron Galvin the book is different. Different in a good way. Where most YA books are full of romance, Aaron's books put romance on hold or let it burn slowly. He lets the story take over the book and become the main talking point. And what a talking point it is! 

The last book finished with a battle against the witches with a lot of the characters dying in the process. This one ended with a battle with the witches against some rogue braves. So that in it's own was a change of pace. But as always, the witches are the main villains of the story so we were not left wanting for a battle against them.

Talking about characters dying though... Oh My God... *MAJOR SPOILER ALERT* Galvin has killed off so many characters in this book I was near enough left blabbering like a baby! Galvin killed off two major characters and if he isn't careful he will start getting a reputation like George R.R Martin! He killed off two of the main characters like it was nothing and in the case of one of the characters in one of the most cruel ways! I still can't get over those deaths and now I am going to have to read a soppy romance just to recover.

On a more happy and positive note, I loved the Native American culture that was woven into this book. Where the last one was more about the American settlers, this was about the natives. I have always been fascinated by their culture anyway so that is one of the reasons that I have given this book five stars. Reading this book felt like actually living in that era as did the last book. The language Galvin uses in the novel only makes it more realistic.

One new character I really enjoyed reading about was Native American Brave in training Ciquenackqua (Don't ask me to try and spell that again). I really shipped him with Rebbecca but as I said earlier, romance takes a back seat in Galvin's novels so we will have to see in the future. He was such a good character because he was the one who held the native American culture to the plot. We learnt about the culture through his eyes and along with Rebbecca they tied the culture to the plot lines of the previous book in the absence of Priest (more on that later).


Priest was very absent from this book, and as my favourite character from the previous novel, I missed him and worried for him at nearly every moment. So I guess that is another negative point. I need more priest in my life!


Rebbecca more than made up for his absence though and is also a stunning character in her own right. I am totally allowed to fan-girl over her now, right?
She is brave, strong and the kind of warrior that every girl wants to be at heart. She started in the last book as a cute child who hides her toys all over the barn as her important task in the battle.

In this book she is strong and courageous and takes the place of Priest in ranging the Forrest instead.
I loved how she was a brave at heart, more so than most of the male braves, even though she was born as a settler. throughout the book she always struggled with her identity slightly when other tribes didn't accept her as a brave and when her past returned to haunt her. But through it all you could just tell that it was the wild that settled in her heart and that was proved at the end when she was finally made a true brave with a name and a manitous and when she went on to lead her tribe to form alliances with others. She is now one of my favourite 'bad ass' female leads.

In conclusion I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read the final book in the series (Salem's Legacy) which is released in September, and I have no clue what is in store for that book as each one of this series is so excitingly different and I can't wait to find out. 

Click the image below to find out more about the next and final book in the series.

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Rating: 





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-The Reading Rose

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