ARC August Update - The Six, The Fall and Legacy of Kings

Here is an update for ARC August hosted by Octavia and Shelly from Read, Sleep, Repeat. My goal was to read twelve ARCs this month. I managed to read three of them this week so I am right on track to make my goals. Woo-hoo! 

Here are mini-reviews of the ones I read.

Title and Author: The Six by Mark Alpert
Source: NetGalley
Scheduled Publication Date: July 7, 2015
Goodreads Synopsis: Adam's muscular dystrophy has stolen his mobility, his friends, and in a few short years, it will take his life. Then an artificial intelligence program, Sigma, hacks into Adam's video game. Created by Adam's computer-genius father, Sigma has gone rogue, threatening Adam's life-and world domination. Their one chance to stop Sigma is using technology Adam's dad developed to digitally preserve the mind of his dying son. Along with a select group of other terminally ill teens, Adam becomes one of the Six who have forfeited their bodies to inhabit weaponized robots. But with time running short, the Six must learn to manipulate their new mechanical forms and work together to train for epic combat...before Sigma destroys humanity.

Review: First of all, the main reason I wanted this book was because it had a character suffering from muscular dystrophy. How often do you see that? Also, I actually suffer from a form of muscular dystrophy. Luckily, my type is not fatal. Reading this book terrified me, mainly because it is something that could really happen. Technology is advancing so much and there is a very real possibility that its intelligence could surpass that of humans. In this book, technology also makes it possible for Adam's dad to transfer his brain into that of a machine. This brings up an ethical question: if it is his brain and memories, but not his body, is it really him? This book did have a few parts that were too scientific for me, but other than that, I loved it! So much action and drama and emotion. And there was even some romance, yes romance, between robots. It was kind of cool. I didn't even really mind the love triangle thing, for once. I freaking loved the action scenes where they are trying to save the human race AS ROBOTS! So weird. It did end on a bit of a cliffhanger, but no word on a sequel yet. I am hoping for one! Buy/Borrow/Skip: Now, if science fiction and robot stuff doesn't interest you, you may want to skip this one. But otherwise, this one is a definite buy!

Title and Author: The Fall by James Preller
Source: NetGalley
Scheduled Publication Date: September 22, 2015
Goodreads Synopsis: Through his journal a boy deals with the death of a classmate, who committed suicide as a result of bullying. The summer before school starts, Sam's friend and classmate Morgan Mallen kills herself. Morgan had been bullied. Maybe she kissed the wrong boy. Or said the wrong thing. What about that selfie that made the rounds? Morgan was this, and Morgan was that. But who really knows what happened? As Sam explores the events leading up to the tragedy, he must face a difficult and life-changing question: Why did he keep his friendship with Morgan a secret? And could he have done something—anything—to prevent her final actions?

Review: With a book about suicide and bullying, you would think there would be more emotion. But I had a hard time connecting with Sam. The chapters are just excerpts from his journal and they start after Morgan has killed himself, but he flashed back to the relationship he had with Morgan prior to her death. Maybe the reason I couldn't connect with him is because he seemed like such a jerk. I get that high school involves all this peer pressure, but the lead "mean girl" basically recruited everyone in school to bully this girl, both in school and on social media. Sam was leaving anonymous messages before he even knew her. Then when he did know her, he was embarrassed to be seen with her and made sure no one saw them hanging out. His entire journal was rationalizing that he did nothing wrong. The positive thing about the book is that there was some character development by the end and I think he finally understood what was wrong. I do like the underlying message that sometimes people can never know what drove someone to suicide. Buy/Borrow/Skip: Eh, just skip this one.

Title and Author: Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals #1) by Eleanor Herman
Source: NetGalley
Scheduled Publication Date: August 25, 2015
Goodreads Synopsis: Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise. Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to newcomer Katerina, who must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But Kat’s first love, Jacob, will go to unthinkable lengths to win her, even if it means competing for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Review: This was such a superb mix of fantasy and historical fiction. The book tells the story of Alexander the Great, while weaving in a mixture of magic and folklore and Greek mythology. I am a sucker for Greek mythology so I loved all the references to Zeus and the other Greek Gods. And I also kind of like the romance of the medieval period, despite all the rampant sexism. It kind of resembled a Shakespeare tragedy, and not just because parts of the book were actually separated by acts. Don't worry, everyone doesn't die, but there is so much going on. There is war, betrayal, romance, friendships, attempted assassinations and so much more. The only real issue I had was that there were so many POV's, seven to be exact. It actually took a few chapters to figure out who was who and everyone's relationship. One POV I felt we didn't really need was that of Zofia, Princess of Persia. She didn't really add much and I was a bit bored with some of her chapters. I loved Kat and Alex and Heph. And I had no idea who was supposed to be in love with who, but I loved all the chemistry between everyone. There was a pretty big twist with Kat. I saw part of it coming, but not the whole thing. The last part of the book with all the battles was EPIC. I freaking loved the action and I can't wait to read the sequel. September 16 baby!! Buy/Borrow/Skip: Buy this book!!!