Género: female
Nacionalidad: USA
Lugares de residencia: New England, USA
Agente: Ginger Clark
Biografía breve: Lyra Selene was born under a full moon and has never quite managed to wipe the moonlight out of her eyes.
Lyra grew up on a steady diet of Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper and Ursula K. LeGuin, scribbling in book margins and tapping on typewriters. When she isn’t dreaming up fantastical cities and brooding landscapes, Lyra enjoys hiking, rainstorms, autumn, and pretending she’s any good at music.

She lives in New England with her husband, in an antique farmhouse that’s probably not haunted. AMBER & DUSK is her debut novel.

Miembros

Reseñas

Amber & Dusk (Amber & Dusk, #1)

I wanted to love this book, I really did. I enjoyed the world, the magic and illusions, and the inclusion of LGBT characters who were portrayed well rather than being excessively flamboyant or bitchy. But unfortunately I hated everything else.

I couldn't stand the main character, she is annoying, entitled, demanding, and an absolute idiot. Almost everything bad that happens in the book could have been avoided if she had just done what people were telling her to do rather than her deciding that she knows best and doing things her own nonsensical way.

The author is far too descriptive and wordy, which seems like a strange complaint to have about a book but every single little thing is described in painful detail, and on top of that most of her descriptions sound pretty but they don't actually make sense. She also repeats phrases and descriptions constantly! By the time I finished the book I lost track of how many times Sylvie "clenched my jaw so tight I feared it would crack", felt "icy fingers gripped my spine" or "an icy hand ran down my back". Another problem I had with the writing was that rather than show events happening in the book, the author chooses for a lot of it to be explained by having a character, well, explain it. There are too many times when a character tells Sylvie something, she responds with "I don't understand, explain it to me" and they oblige. So a lot of the book is told to us through another character telling Sylvie rather than the events unfolding in front of us.

There is a lot more that I didn't like, but if I wrote about it all then this review would be as wordy as the book. I may read the second book at some point just so I finish the story as the ending of this one is..... Pointless. But I wouldn't recommend this at all.… (más)

Denunciada

egge | 6 reseñas más. | Jul 16, 2022 |

Amber & Dusk por Lyra Selene

I soooo badly wanted to give this four stars, and was right there until the last third, when the story veered into the cliché and expected "chosen one" trope.

Amber and Dusk is a fun read, a strange mishmash of French aristocratic culture, the malevolence of faeries, and the wonderful and wasteful opulence of a good courtly setting (seriously: a Blood Rain, on which the nutrition of the world depends on? Gates made out of gems and water? Gorgeous and eerie). Admittedly, some things were so strange and outlandish that I had trouble envisioning or grasping them and got a little lost in the world building, but that's not something I mind too much. I will cop to taking a long time to sort out the color of kembric in my mind's eye, and am still not exactly sure. I think it's just because gold is so precious here that to imagine a world where it's just another mineral is hard. The abundance of overly ornate and purple prose didn't necessarily help, either. A few times I had to check if the author was male or female, because the way Mirage described her body seemed very male-gaze-y to me.

I liked Sylvie's character, full of ambition and willingness to do literally whatever she had to in order to become what she desired. When she became Mirage, she didn't lose that fierce ambition at all; she just learned how to hone it. I actually wish Selene had really leaned into the darker aspects of Mirage's character- there were hints of Sylvie's cruelty and anger in the first part of the book, when she was traveling with Luca or thought she wasn't going to be accepted to court. A heroine who is incredibly ambitious, ruthless, and willing to do absolutely anything and ignore all other concerns in her quest for power is very rarely seen in YA, and by embracing that Selene would have really added to the uniqueness of the book. When she rejects Luca it's great, and her attempts to reject Sunder are as well, but then of course she has to surrender to his charms, which is where the book became overly predictable.

Actually, I want to talk about the boys for a bit. For one (and I acknowledge that this is completely subjective), I didn't think Sunder seemed attractive (which might have been, again, my confusion over the actual color of kembric, so I imagined his hair simultaneously pale gold and almost white). But mainly because he seems legitimately dangerous. He tells Mirage that he believes gifts are linked to the person they manifest in, and his is because he wants to cause pain, even to things he loves. That is not a normal way to feel! He's manipulative and casually cruel, and a few tender moments does not excuse that. And I HATE when people leave others out of the details of their important plans when those details concern that person - everything would be so much easier if Sunder had tried to actually warn Mirage instead of tricking her and forcing her to follow him everywhere.

I liked Luca originally, when he was with the convoy, as he seemed kind-hearted and caring. I understood completely why Sylvie rejected him, and while I knew he was going to turn up again, I wished he wouldn't. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mirage didn't like the drastic changes he had undergone, and was no longer interested.

The little hints that something isn't right in court are deliciously creepy, and Mirage willfully ignoring them is perfectly reasonable in terms of her character and development. I could have done with a little more explanation of a few of those things, but the rush of the climax didn't allow for it. What is the purpose of the Gauntlet? Merely entertainment for the Empress? How, exactly, do the legacies she chooses as "weapons" get used in battle? Are the powers she absorbs hers forever, or do they fade away?

I could see from a mile away that Mirage was going to join the rebellion, and that Sevrine's legacy was stealing other's legacies (though I did entertain the thought that she had none), which I was actually dreading. I enjoyed reading about the court intrigue (a weakness of mine) and Mirage's seemingly endless struggle for acceptance and power, and wanted to continue along that path. But, generally, I was entertained.… (más)

Denunciada

Elna_McIntosh | 6 reseñas más. | Sep 29, 2021 |

Diamond & Dawn (Amber & Dusk, Book Two) (2) por Lyra Selene

Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd, and final, book in the Amber & Dusk duology. I purchased this book.

Story (4/5): This was a decent conclusion to the Amber & Dusk series but feels a bit unfinished to me. When I got to the end I kept thinking that maybe there were going to be more books, but it sounds like this is it for the series. The story starts out a bit slow but picks up a lot when we get to the contest between Gavin and Mirage. The whole story is focused around Mirage keeping her throne and trying to build a better Amber Empire.

Characters (4/5): While the characters are well done, none of them are very likable. I understand Mirage’s drive but think she’s pretty awful to even her best allies. She does grow and change throughout the story but I never engaged all that well with her. Sunder is by far my favorite character, but I felt like he was in the background more often than not and spent way too much time just doing whatever Mirage wanted.

Setting (4/5): The setting is very typical fantasy in style. The kingdoms are decently built out and the magic and history are well thought out.

Writing Style (4/5): This book is easy to read and flows well. The story is told completely from Mirage’s POV. I struggled a bit to remember where the story left off in book 1, it would have been nice to have a quick synopsis or just better reminders throughout the story to help the reader a bit.

Summary (4/5): Overall I am glad I read this and it was a decent conclusion to the series. This is a lot of intrigue and the interesting parts of the story (the search for the Relic and the contest) take a long time to get started. I also didn’t find the characters all that likable or engaging which made me enjoy this a bit less. This is a solid fantasy series and I would recommend if you like intriguing magic with lots of intrigue and politics.… (más)

Denunciada

krau0098 | otra reseña | Jan 30, 2020 |

Diamond & Dawn (Amber & Dusk, Book Two) por Lyra Selene

Best read close to finishing book one as there is a lot of complexity in each of them. However, once this gets rolling, you just hang on and enjoy the ride. People die and there's violence, but how else do you get to your vision of a better and more just world when there are so many conspiring against you? I particularly like how the author wove the relics into the last part of the book, particularly how the last one came into appearance and was used. Very satisfying followup to book one.

Denunciada

sennebec | otra reseña | Jan 13, 2020 |

Ver Más Reseñas