The Reading Rose

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

Author: Aaron Galvin

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarongalvin5

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saltseries

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8075676.Aaron_Galvin

http://www.aarongalvin.com/uploads/2/4/6/8/24683312/4585466_orig.jpg

Aaron 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:
25131312

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.

Rating:

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-The Reading Rose

Labels: Aames & Abernathy, Fantasy, Fury, Galvin, Historical Fiction, Horror, Salem, Vengeance Trilogy, YA

Review Special: Review Request

Title: Salem's Vengeance

Author: Aaron Galvin

Website/Blog: www.aarongalvin.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarongalvin5

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saltseries

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8075676.Aaron_Galvin

Aaron Galvin first cut his chops writing original stand-up comedy routines at age thirteen. His early works paid off years later when he co-wrote and executive produced the 2013 award-winning indie feature film, Wedding Bells & Shotgun Shells.

He is also an accomplished actor. Aaron has worked in Hollywood blockbusters, (Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, and Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers), and starred in dozens of indie films.

Aaron is a proud member of SCBWI. He lives in Southern California with his wife and daughter.

Publisher: Aames & Abernathy
Genres: YA, Historical Fiction, Horror, Fantasy
Release Date: July 25th 2014

Pages: 252

Where Acquired: I was given a copy of the book from Aaron in return for an honest review.

Buy On Amazon Here
- Kindle Price: £1.55 (as of when posted)
You can also buy the book in paperback and even a signed copy from his website.

Cover:
22821637

Goodreads Description:
Sixteen-year-old Sarah Kelly never expected to meet the Devil’s daughter. She only sought innocent dancing in the moonlight, not a coven entranced by their dark priestess. When her friends partake of a powder meant to conjure spirits - and the results go horribly awry - Sarah is forced to make a choice. To keep their secret risks her own damnation, but to condemn them may invoke the accusing remnants of Salem to rise again.

My Review:
At first the book took me a little while to get in to. This is mainly from my lack of experience with historical fiction and because of Aaron's uncanny ability to write like a girl who actualy lived in the 1600s. However it didn't take long for the book to pick up pace and I was thrown into the action; this is when I began to love the book. At first I didn't really enjoy the diary parts but when I realised why I was reading them I enjoyed it a lot more. The characters in the book were fantastic as was the concept. I really liked the complexity of Sarah's fmaily from her adorable but strange sister, her brother who wanted to grow up fast, her mother who was wimpy and cowardly and her father who was brave and loving with a very dark past. I also enjoyed the characters of Priest and Bishop who to me had the lovliest relationship.
[ Beware Of Spoilers in the rest of the review ]
The death of Sarah's father came to me as a bit of a shock, it was sudden, painful and heartbreaking all at once. This is when the book found it's feet for me as it was non stop action from this point onwards. I love how Galvin captured the true nature of the witch trails in Salem as an excuse to punish people they didn't like but he also managed to bring in a fantasy element even though that was still in a way grounded in science and reality. I think that is the reason why I found this book so haunting and creepy. It was the most realistic piece of fiction about witches that I have read based on corruption and strange drugs more than mystic and magic. Galvin captured the essence of that century perfectly with the battles between natives and americans centralising most of the book. Glavin gave us a glimpse into a real piece of history in his book with the struggles in the new colonies and the lies and deciet used to claim property off the natives. I really enjoyed reading the battle against the witches, but maybe it wasn't the best Idea to read it in the dark... I also loved the blossoming relationship between Priest and Sarah as it was beautiful but did not distract from the main essence of the book which was the battle with the witches. Galvin didn't hold back in the battle eaither. The fights were descriptive, bloody and gory making it seem even more realistic. Reading this book you really did feel like you were there with the characters and you felt every pain and heartbreak Sarah felt along the way. I would recomend my readers to give this book a go and to not give up over the first part as it does honestly become amazing in the end.

Rating: