Switched, Torn and Ascend

by Amanda Hocking

4/5 stars on Goodreads.com

So I did that thing again where I read three books in 24 hours.  And before you think, What the heck does this chick do for money? How can she waste an entire 24 hours? I had a little hiking mishap and a badly sprained ankle has had me practically chained to my bed for the past week, so there isn’t much else to do besides read and edit my book. I’ve learned you can only edit your own work for so long before you hate every word of it and want to kill off the majority of your characters. (That last part may have had more to do with the throbbing pain in my leg than anything.)

I hadn’t heard of the Trylle trilogy before. It wasn’t recommended by anyone. I had not read a single review. I was browsing bn.com and there featured in the “Teen” section (I really wonder why they don’t have a single reference to “Young Adult” literature on that entire site — eh, I digress) was Switched.  I read the “sample” they give you and when it was done my first though was Ohhhh heck no it’s not over! Which is Amanda for: SOLD!

Trolls? Dude, yes. Vampires and Werewolves are SO freaking last week.  Not only trolls, but beautiful, telekenetic, shoe-hating trolls.

I immediately was interested in the main character, Wendy.  Her tone of voice resonated extremely loudly…I haven’t felt like I’ve really “gotten” a character through her voice since Katniss (The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins).  She talks like a legit 21st century teenager, unlike so many books out there, and I just wanted to be pissed off with her.  I loved Finn from the very beginning…he makes my Top Fictional Boyfriends list (Jem, Four, and Tucker Avery are the top three).  I also LOVE Rhys, but in that little brother kind of way. The plot isn’t action packed like THG or most of TMI series (though it has it’s moments).  I compare it more to Legend where you’re constantly figuring stuff out and therefore you’re dying to turn the page.

Spoiler stuff this way —>

It annoyed me a bit that no one bothered to explain anything to Wendy when she is shoved into the palace and is told, “You’re a princess!”  Her “learning” to be one felt very Princess Diaries to me.  Her scenes with Finn made me all jittering inside, I loved it.  As for her and Loki — I never…got it.  I didn’t see anything form the way I did between her and Finn.  In the third book I was so preparing myself to be ticked off that she doesn’t end up with Finn, but honestly, their “talk” at the end puts me at ease.  It really wouldn’t work out with their personalities.  Still, I have no Loki love.

Ascend was probably my least favorite of the three.  I thought she went from hot-headed teenager to Princess Watch-Me-Rule-A-Kingdom-with-a-GED much too quickly. It was as though the character from the first book was completely re-written.  I saw no underlying “Wendy” anymore.

Still, as a whole, I enjoyed the books.  Obviously. I read them in 24 hours.

-AB