Devoured Books (3): When The Sea is Rising Red and Eon

I like to joke that I read too fast to review. Sadly, it's true. There are books that I would love to review, but I either don't feel like I can review them or too much time has passed that I just can't review them without rereading the book. So... devoured books was started! These are not book reviews, rather gushings about the book. For the most part, these books will be ones I bought, not received for review. Because if they were, well, I'm not doing my blogger job, now am I? 

Previous Devoured Books posts. These two following books are both fantasy and highly recommend you checking them out! Loved them so hard.

When The Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen is a young adult fantasy published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan, on February 28, 2012.

If I were to actually review this book and rate it, it'd be five stars. I absolutely adored this one. It's a quiet book and I love those ones. It's like having a secret that only a few handful of friends know. When The Sea is Rising Red reminds me of Cold Kiss, because they're both quiet and written gorgeously. And they both deal with death. 

The characters in this book came to life, just like the world. I want to live in Pelimburg, it's that amazing. The entire Hobverse, as Cat Hellisen calls it, is... just amazing. I don't even know how to adequately say how wonderful the world-building is, it's left me so speechless. I want more books in the Hobverse! It's gritty and so, so real. Everything in this book feels real. 

I'd love to have a bit of tea and cake with Jannik; although I loved Dash (oh, Dash!) it was Jannik who stole my heart. The poor vampire. He's so cute. I just want to hug him. 

This book is gorgeous; I love the way it's written, and the cover matches the words. Everybody should read this book (and love it!) 

Eon by Alison Goodman is a young adult fantasy published by Viking (Firebird), an imprint of Penguin, on August 31, 2010. 

I've heard a lot of things about Eon, and I did come close to buying it quite a few times, but I always hesitated, wondering if I really would enjoy this book. It wasn't until I won a giveaway for my choice of a book that I picked this one--and read it the same day it came in the mail. 

Guys, I love this book. I really love how real this world feels like to ours, like it could be its own country tucked into our world. It's inspired by the history and culture of Japan and China, which you can tell, but it has its own culture and history and god, I loved it. I liked the ways the moon and sun played into the story; the magic; the politics; even the gender bending. Eon is the story of a girl pretending to be a boy because she has the ability to see the dragons and her Master is betting on her to be the Dragoneye. I especially loved Lady Dela, a transexual (which Goodman has another name for in Eon, but alas, I can't find/remember it.) Lady Dela plays such a large role in this story and I instantly fell in love with her when she appeared on the page.

I could go on and on about this book, especially the world building, but I'm going to end here with this: read Eon. Read Eon to discover the magic and great storytelling. And yeah, it's 531 pages, but guys, it's fast paced. You'll love it.