Andraste

by Marisa Mills

Andraste, the daughter of an elfin prince and fairy queen is Fate's Beloved, blessed with an incredible prophecy naming her as the one who can vanquish the Abatu Empire. She has spent her life preparing for the day when she would leave her homeland and fulfill her destiny. That day has come, but there are a few things Andraste doesn't know. Her prophecy is a carefully-constructed lie, and beneath the beauty and civilization of her mother's fairy country, there lie ancient prejudices and secrets. Traitors live within the castle walls, but Andraste can't help but wonder who's the vampire empress conquering the world, or the deceitful fairies she's fighting to save.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Vampires, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Fiction, Fairies

360 pages, Paperback

First published May 20, 2011

About the author

Born in East Tennessee, Marisa has spent her whole life writing. Her first novel "Andraste" was published by Hydra Publications when she was eighteen. She has also published numerous short stories. A lover of the English language, she is presently a doctoral candidate in English literature.

When not writing or reading, she is busy playing video games, crocheting, and occupying her four cats: Shady, Meta, Botas, and Tigger.

Reviews

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

--Full, non-spoiler review courtesy at Book & Movie Dimension a Blog--

The daughter of a fairy queen and elfin prince who's charged with an amazing prophecy, Andraste, is a serious young warrior princess. In the first opening chapters we see Andraste and her upbeat cousin, Radiance, readying to attend a court party. Obviously its a social event to present everyone with the warrior princess.
Andraste remains dispirited for the evening though being aware of the prophecy that mentions she will be the downfall of the Abutu empire run by evil vampire Empress Sarai and bring peace to the land of Nymphia, Latlan, and other mystical lands in Magick. Towards the middle of the party we see that some type of of serpent shapeshifters have been sent from the Abatu Empire by the command of Empress Sarai who is actually Andraste's aunt but its mentioned she has embraced dark magic guarded by some dieties trusted by the Magick inhabitants in the world of Andraste. Andraste with Radiance know that the time has come to fulfill the prophecy that was created by her mother, Queen Rhiannon of Lumounisia. The serpent shapeshifters are soon fended off with the help off a new friend of the court and the late queen's ambassador. Elvin who is known as the son of a ambitious conquering general who Andraste's mother died almost at the hands while she waged war as he tried to take Lumounisia.

Andraste, comes to know Elvin who for the most part is helping her with politics at court and to also help her fulfill the prophecy to bring down the Abutu Empire. Andraste doesn't believe him at all and we really see her struggle throughout the novel by being in his presence. Nonetheless, she has to fulfill her destiny and journey with Elvin as well as others to gain allies in the war against the Empress Sarai. Even with allies Andraste's fight almost proves impossible and the journey to triumph along the way will bring some rather shocking revelations about the prophecy of Fate's beloved.

Having never read a novel from the line of Hydra Publications wasn't sure what to expect in terms of a quality novel. Once got into Andraste found that the book had a beautiful cover and story that is entirely worthy of attention. Marissa Mills has a really diverse voice. Noticed that for Andraste she has a strong sense of duty but she's not always formal since she does have her own personalities. Oh and Radiance, she was an amazingly talkative duchess and cousin of Andraste. Her upbeat and really talkative personality you can find amusing or irritating at times. While Elvin is such a straitlaced half-siren who can ocassionaly be truly naive. You know the type that is overly caring of others and is too trusting. General Adair of Naeda who's a huge supporter of Elvin is rather interesting and Lady Clara who Elvin holds dear. We get to see a lot of struggles the characters go through but Andraste's perspective dominates the story most of all with fear but a strong look toward the prophecy about her. Mill's writing is something you can relate to well in fantasy really building a amazing magical world where evil comes in the the form of war that contains an intricate world of creatures and their cultures. Her voice as a writer is multi-faceted meaning that she can take up different character point of views within the story and they all seem different. While her writing as a whole is very addicting there's more that's admirable like the fighting scenes. They come alive in quality building.

Andraste in regard to its fantasy take is unique since there are fairies, elves, and ,yes, even unicorns present. There are mentions of the unicorn nation of Firelapsia and titles of unicorns such as Lead Stallion Sunfire and Chestnut. There's more still. Andraste leaves off with Elvin fighting some dark magic connected to a gem known as the Dark Elegem guarded by Oishea, Guardian of Dark Magic. A lot is at work in Andraste that Mills really did a fine job at.
Hope to see more of Andraste, Elvin, Radiance, General Valiant, Chestnut, Sunfire, and Wildfire in hopefully future novels sonce there seemed to be a possibility for continuation.
There is no doubt abou it, Andraste, is a very different fantasy novel that deserves a chance from any fantasy lover. The dialogue in Andraste will pull you in.

Overall: Amazing read!
Genre: Fantasy

[Lucie Paris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpected.

After reading the summary, I expected to dive into a fairy world close to the one invented by Julie Kagawa in "The Iron King". Namely, a tender and creative universe full of fairies and fantasy characters with a beautiful love story as a bonus. But from the very first pages, this is a road close to the Tolkien's tales that I borrowed.

Marisa Mills has imagined a world with many tribes, many breeds with different customs and languages​​. A world quite dark, cruel where conspiracies, betrayals, and wars of power are everywhere.

So, I let myself fully embark in this universe more complex than expected with a wealth of individuals and stories, also, complicated. During the story, the reader encounter humans, unicorns as well as vampires, mages or warriors. Many imaginary characters are revealed or described with great beauty or darkness. Sometimes I was perplexed by the reactions of certain characters or situations... It's for getting answers that I kept turning the pages of this novel, even though I finished it and I still have many questions ...
I loved also the General Adair of Naed. I will miss his humor and openness.

In her first volume, the author also discusses racism issues by integrating all these different tribes that often settle their differences with swords. But it also brings the subject of tolerance and forgiveness. Suffering, death and trouble are also mixed with love/friendship intrigues.

Throughout my reading, as usally, I've been waiting and anticipating a romance between Andraste and Elvin. If I was frustrated by my own suppositions, I was also a bit surprised with the outcome of their relationship. Strangely, the way the relationship subtily evolves, it is beautiful and charming. They come from such a long way since their first meeting. They changed a lot after have been in contact with each other. They have achieved self-respect and trust...quite a progress! Of course, I expect to continue to be touched, surprised and more by this duo in the next volume.

I also expect more magic and fantasy to come to soften the struggles, delicate situations and difficult decisions that Andraste will face. Nothing is easy in this story. Everything is complex and subtle but still very addictive. An intriguing epic that makes you want to know more.

A nice surprise and great encounters.

Lucie
http://newbooksonmyselves.blogspot.fr...

[L.E.Olteano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally posted at Butterfly-o-Meter Books on Nov 1 2011:

I’ve had this on my reading list for a while now, and I’m happy I finally managed to get to read it.

To begin with, the world is just lovely, imaginative, fantastic. I felt it was well built, and it was a pleasure to find myself immersed in such a delightful place. The characters were nice, perhaps a bit too nice for my own tastes, but very inspiring, with that note of righteous that you’d love your kids to come in contact with, you know?
I will however add that they felt a bit too good to me, a bit too proper, a bit too polite, a bit too well-meaning. I didn’t connect with either of them, though Andraste was funny and witty and I usually do connect with characters like that.

The dialog has a bit of a stiff note, I find, and it made me wonder if the characters really did know one another and had a common past, it felt more like they were constantly on their first discussion, when you’re a bit too cautious, a bit too proper, a bit too formal. I kept waiting for the ice to be broken, so to speak, but I didn’t really feel like it happened.
I will remind you guys I’m the sort of reader that likes villains most of the time, the bada$$ sort of characters, the witty, the boisterous, the wisea$$, in other words, spicy characters that have a fairly strong charismatic personality. I didn’t really feel like there was one of those in here, so by large, though there were tense moments, and action scenes and all in the mids of all the adventure, the read felt somewhat monotonous to me.

But it is a very safe ya read, middle grade I’d say in fact, it’s got that fairytale note, with nice, inspiring characters with good intentions and a magical, beautiful world. It’s sweet, the kind of read that makes you go “Awww!!” more then “Whoa!!”. If you’re into that sort of thing, I think you’ll like this book.

[Fictional Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s rare I read a book where the fantasy world created for the story seems so believable I forget that I live on earth. With Andraste, the world that the author created was believable and very exciting. It was a treat to learn about the different lands, customs, traditions, types of people, their powers and etcetera. It was as if I walked side by side the main character while she traveled throughout the pages of the book.

The fate of the fairies rest on the shoulders of a young fairy named Andraste whose world is not as it seems. This book has several twists and turns that leads Andraste through a life she never dreamed of or expected especially when it comes to fighting the vampire empress who is determined to conquer the world.

I would highly recommend this book for so many reasons but this is just of the few reasons why.

1) The world that Marisa, the author, crafted was fantastic and clever.
2) The book is very fast-paced and sucks you in from the start.
3) The whole cast of characters (good and bad) strengthen the story’s plot. I loved learning about each and everyone of them.
4) Who doesn’t love a good fantasy when there’s a mystery to be solved?
5) Did I mention it’s about fairies? I love fairies.

Now there is one tiny thing I had an issue with and it’s so minor it didn’t have too much of an effect on my overall rating.

In the beginning I found it slightly difficult to follow along because I was trying to remember who was who, where they came from and were they good or bad. But after a very short while I caught on and loved the book. Other people may not find this an issue.

I’m actually going to enjoy reading more from this author.

[Erin Danzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book immensely. Andraste is a fantasy novel like I've never seen before. Whenever I told someone about it, I called it a elf/fairy coming-of-age fantasy novel because that is what I think it is. Andraste has to come into her own after her mother, Rhiannon, is killed and Andraste must take her place as the Warrior Queen of Luminous. Even Elvin, the Latlan who is now Andraste's ambassador, has some growing up to do. As the two main characters, I enjoyed them the most; their stories resonated with me the most.

The names and places found within this novel are unique to the world Ms. Mills created. Luminous, Nymphia, Latla, etc. I loved them all, the descriptions of the places, people and differing cultures found within. Each was very distinctive.

Overall, I rounded up to 5 Stars for this novel. There were a few misspelled words and some formatting issues that I noticed throughout (the most prominent being that one person would speak but another would have an action on the same line). All of this, though, was not enough to deter me from the story. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a great fantasy read! You won't be disappointed!

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book for my August challenge but didn't end up finishing it in time. I found that the book was good but it wasn't for me. I found it slow and not very exciting. One of the main reasons that this book wasn't for me was because I found the characters names silly. Radiance, Brilliance, Determination and so on and so forth. And if they weren't silly like that then they were very had to pronounce or even remember. I actually thought about quitting this book only because it wasn't my style, but I kept reading because all the reviews that I saw had been good. I thought maybe it would get better, I was wrong. I found the ending dull. The whole book was this hype about a big giant war, it never really happened.

I did enjoy how the author switched the POV through the story. I when it was about Clare the best. I found her to be the most interesting character. 

Also I liked how it contained so many different creatures from vamps to elves to sirens.

[James Peercy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine a world sucked into war and now the young adults have to save it. At the same time, they are forced to learn that their childhood days are gone. They are slow to accept this, as anyone this age would. For most of them, it is an adventure, some a shadow to what they have already faced, and others a grim expectation. It is then reality hits.

The story is full of magic, fae, elves, and creatures of the night in a showdown that brings good and evil face to face. The only question is "Who is really good?"

Marisa weaves a tale that grabs you from the very first sentence. Before you realize it, you have been pulled into an epic story, and then caught by the characters whose lives you are now intertwined with.

You see the growth of young and old alike, the changing of minds, and the realization of secrets. It will be interesting to see what else this author has planned.

[Chi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but overall I can't say I did.

I really enjoyed the universe though!

The author goes on with many interesting plots, but never seems to finish them. It's also really difficult to follow conversations, and I often had to re-read pages to understand who were talking. It also seems like the author have developed a lot during writing this book, but unfortunately it don't seems like she has gone back and edited earlier parts of the book before it was published.

So in short: A great universe, but the book seems unfinished, and unfortunately that ruined the reading experience for me.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book! It was hard of hard keeping up with who said what at some points, but it didn't take away from the story at all! Elves, fairies, unicorns, giant owls, vampires,....everything set up for a grand fantasy book. It's open-ended so I'm really hoping she continues the series and writes more.

[Alexandria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book just wasn't for me. Sometimes I couldn't tell what characters were talking right away and I just couldn't follow the story very well. For people who like high fantasy, this would be a story for you!

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[Kristina Franken · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for anyone

FTC: I received a free copy of this book and was not reimbursed in any other way.

[Terri Pray · Rating 1 out of 5]

By the tenth page I wanted to shake whoever edited the book. Had the potential to be very good, but it - to me - truly needs better editing.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read!