The Morning Star (Katerina #3) by Robin Bridges

First I have to say thanks to Random House and Delacorte Press for allowing me to get an e-galley of this to review from Edelweiss.  I loved the first book in this series, The Gathering Storm,  that I got as an e-galley from Netgalley.  And then I never saw a chance to get the 2nd book, The Unfailing Light, so I just got behind on the series.  Then back in the spring I saw book 3, The Morning Star, available on Edelweiss, and so I had to request it.  And then in order to be ready to read it, I checked the 2nd book out from the library to read.  You'll see in my review of the 2nd one, that it wasn't hard to catch back up to remember what had happened.  It definitely reminded you without having to have a little summary at the beginning.  But I was very excited to be able to read on to the 3rd book right away.
In the 3rd and final book, Katerina, or Katiya as she is called by her family and friends, is working with Dr. Bamaev, as she is still not really being allowed to go to medical school because she is female.  Prince Danilo is in prison after what happened at the end of book 2.  Her mother had become the striga at the end of book 2, and Katiya found out that she did know of the fact that her daughter was a necromancer, and all about the Dark and Light Court supernatural things that she had seemed so oblivious to before.  There is a new ballerina who seems to bewitch all who come to watch, including the tsarevitch, who Katiya's friend Alix is in love with.  Fortunately she does not seem to be able to catch Katiya's love George's fancy.  And George has finally told his father that he wishes to marry Katiya.  When she goes to talk to his father, he tells her he would approve, IF she will give up her dream of going to medical school.  It is not proper for a woman, especially a royal wife to do that.  Katiya doesn't want to give up her dream, especially when she sees that George is still sick from the battle with Danilo in the last book.  And so, she decides to turn down her chance to marry George, in order to save his life.  George won't have that though, and when it gets so dangerous that they require her to leave and go to a safe place with the tsar, he takes her on a side trip so that they can get married, and then George promises he will let her study whatever she wants.  But while they are at the church, and George is saying his confession to the reverend, Katiya is kidnapped.  Turns out Danilo is no longer in prison, but he is also no longer Danilo, he has been possessed by Konstantin.  And they are after the Morning Star, which is the sword that Lucifer used when he tried to defeat God.  As it is a sword made in heaven, it will be impossible to destroy, and also comes with an army of Grigori, the fallen angels who now serve the sword. Konstantin knows he can defeat the tsar becoming the bogatyr as he did in the first book if he has the sword.  And they must go to Egypt to find it.  Along the way they discover other groups are also looking for it.  Danilo/Konstatin says that he will be marrying Katiya on the trip, but he needs her to be "innocent" for the ritual.  He tells her that she will be ruined now, everyone will know that she has been alone with him, even if they do have the bewitching ballerina as her chaperone.  There will be a war, no matter what happens.  Katiya knows she must get the Morning Star away from Konstantin in order to help the true tsar keep his throne.  And in the end, you know it must turn out the way you would think, but I won't give away just how.
Again, I loved this story.  And there was Egyptian mythology used in this story as well, which is really cool.  I like how not all the "bad" stuff was tied up with the final battle.  And how the story went on for a bit to solve this afterwards.  But not in a boring way, in a way that I always seem to want to know what happens next.  The final part of the book tells of the actual "true" history of these people, and shows just how well this author told and added to the story with her plot.  A great series, one I will continue to recommend!

The Katerina Trilogy, Vol. II: The Unfailing Light by Robin Bridges

So, it's been awhile since I read the first book in the series, The Gathering Storm, as an e-galley from Netgalley.  But when I began this sequel, I was able to pretty much remember what had happened, and the way that the story itself kind of "reviewed" past events was seamless and only enhanced the story.  I had to check this book out from the library, because I was able to get an e-galley of the third book from Edelweiss, and I had to read on!
In this story we begin with Katerina excited that she will not have to go back to Smolny Academy, because she will be getting to leave Russia to attend medical school in Switzerland.  So for the summer her family is traveling together, and she is with her cousin Dariya, who also will not have to return to school because she will be a lady-in-waiting for the Grand Duchess Miechen.  On their travels they go to visit a cave, inside the cave Katiya, as she is called by her friends and family, gets lost, and sucked in to the Graylands, where the evil Konstantin is waiting, and hoping to get loose.  When she finally gets back to the real world, she finds out that the Tsar has decided she can't leave to go to medical school because it is not safe for her, as well as he wants her close by in case he needs her necromancer skills as well.  So back she goes to school, and not happily.  She still feels for the Tsar's son George Alexandrovich, but knows that since she is of the dark court and he is of the light court they cannot be together.  Something his mother has made abundantly clear in her dealings with Katiya.  Plus she is still stuck with the connection with the evil Prince Danilo who she was tricked into being part of his blood ritual, and who wants to marry her.  There are times when the connection comes in handy.  While the Empress has put a spell on the school to protect those within, unfortunately there is a ghost loose in the school, and Katiya is unable to do much about it, because the spell also keeps dark magic from happening within the school.  All the time there, students get irritable and sick, partly because of the ghost.  Alix, one of her new roommates that we met in the last book, also seems to have a bit of secret.  Getting so ill at one point she is taken home from school.  While Katiya must miss fabulous balls because the Empress wants her to stay there, she is finally allowed to go home for Christmas break.  She has learned from her brother that George may be involved in some dark magic.  Danilo also says this is true.  But she is unable to learn more as much as she tries.  When everyone is back at school from the break, there is a new chef.  One that Katiya has heard great things about his food.  And everyone now seems to be in a great mood, almost unnaturally great.  Only Katiya seems to figure out that it has something to do with the food, and the cook is actually using his Fae powers to help everyone not feel the effects of the ghost.  Of course now Katiya must figure out the secrets, why is Alix so secretive, is the cook really there to help?  And finally, is her beloved George safe, or is he going to the dark court just to win her over in what he thinks she needs for them to be together?  In this book we still have the vampires or blood drinkers, the dead that Katiya has brought back, and now, werewolves.
Once again a great adventure of a story.  And I'm so glad that I'm getting to start the 3rd book right after the 2nd!

Teaser Tuesday - July 23rd, 2013

I am not really sure how to answer the question for the Top 10 Tuesday this week, and I'm  not quite finished with the book I'm reading in order to post a review today.  So, since my goal was to post every day this summer, I'm going to join into a new meme, Teaser Tuesday.  Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

"I wondered if Miechen kept Dariya close because of her relationship with me.  Was the grand duchess spying on me through my cousin?"

~ p. 119, "The Unfailing Light (Katerina Trilogy Vol. 2)" by Robin Bridges.

Stacking the Shelves - June 15, 2013

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  As I said last week, I'm going to try really hard to keep up with this during the summer.  And because the book I finished and reviewed today isn't published until September, I can't post the review till August.  I also already have a review scheduled for tomorrow, so I decided to go ahead and post my StS today.

From Edelweiss this week I got:

Unbreakable by Kami Garcia.  I was very excited to get this, as I also loved Margaret Stohl's new book Icons.  I'd hoped to maybe get an actual physical ARC, but I'm very happy with an e-galley.  I haven't actually downloaded it yet as I have so many others to read right now, and it will expire in 60 days, so I'm waiting till probably the end of July to download it.  But since I got approved, I figured I'd go ahead and include it!

From the library this week I checked out:

All of these are books I need to read before I can read e-galleys I've received from Edelweiss and Netgalley.  I still need the 3rd book in the Amanda Hocking series, so waiting on that from the library.

Oh yeah, and since Barnes and Noble was having such an awesome sale on the Nook HD this week.  My mom loaned me the money to get one until I get some things sold, and I now own my own shiny new Nook HD.  It is so much nicer to read the egalleys on this screen than on the Nook Simple Touch.

So what will you be stacking on your shelves this week?

The Katerina Trilogy, Vol. I: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

The Katerina Trilogy, Vol. I: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I got this as an e-book from Netgalley. I normally wouldn't enter the Goodreads contest to win a copy of a book I've already read, but I did really enjoy this, and since it is part one of a series, I'll want to have it to re-read before the next one comes out probably. I really liked the story to begin with. The characters really grabbed me, and it was fun to kind of read about "royalty" in a way. To read about girls who were supposed to only get married and be good wives. Yet our main character, Katerina, doesn't want that kind of life. She wants to be a doctor. Now in her country, women have been banned from going to medical school. Her father supports her, along with another doctor, and says he will help her to go to a school that does allow women. But this is not the main storyline, although it is a big part of her life. Katerina can see a light around people, a light that tells something about whether they are close to death or not. And she soon finds out, this may be because she is a necromancer. In this world there are vampires, and fairies, and zombies, and all kinds of magical things, ghosts, etc. And it is a world of it. The light and dark sides. Katerina is needed by both sides. One needs her for a ritual to help their son ascend, and then they want her powers for other things later on. The other side needs her to be able to raise a creature that can save them from the dark. The one side, the son says he's in love with her, but Katerina doesn't trust his family, or him. The other side has a soldier/royal son who irritates her, and he doesn't trust her because he can tell what her power is. But soon, a spark grows between them as they continue to be thrown together in all these dangerous situations. But Katerina may have to deny her true feelings, as the other side threatens her friends and family if she does not marry their son and do as they ask.

Now, as I've said, I really enjoyed this book. When I picked it up, I had trouble putting it down. The story was very thought out, all the background of the families and all the paranormal situations and entities. It ended at a point that I'm very eager to read on past and find out what happens, and that's the problem with reading advanced readers copies, since it isn't even published yet, now I have to wait until it's published, plus probably another year before I'll get to read on. I wish when I got an ARC of a series, I could just get all the rest early too. But I'm sure all readers feel that way. Anyway, my only complaint with this book has to do with some of how it was so involved. I feel like the book just started in with some of the paranormal stuff, but didn't really explain it well until later, which was a bit confusing. Also, Katerina didn't know she was a necromancer, or that vampires were real, but she did know there were fairies? Seems weird to know about that and not the rest. But all in all, a great book, and I totally got past that once I got into the story.



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