370 and 358 pages – Mystery/thriller – duology
3 minute review read (+ 2 min Bonus)
Why I picked up these books
(I would like to take this moment to apologise for the fact that my website is a bit of a glitch at the moment. I’m currently working on a redesign, so I will also be going offline for a time soon – I’ll update when and how long once I know)
I am a massive Jennifer Lynn Barnes fan – it started with The Inheritance Games and now I own a lot of her books that have been published in the UK. I’m really looking forward to the fact that The Naturals is getting another novel! (And according to Amazon Dangerous Impulses will be 5 of 6!) Back on topic – when I spotted The Ruling Class in my local Waterstones, and read the blurb, which promises political style dramatics and scandals all round, I had to get it! Then the first one ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, and still unsolved parts of mystery, (of course) so I read Lessons in Power while on holiday in Wigtown (more on that at the end!).
The Book(s)
There are so many amazing things about these books. Jennifer Lynn Barnes created a standard for me with Inheritance Games – if a book has an intricate and twisty, ridiculously well-planned and complex plot, I say ‘Inheritance Games level plot’, and she lives up to her own standard with these two books. And with the added fact that the plots are involving the President of America, and all the most powerful people in the country, the stakes are even higher.
In these books, and all the Jennifer Lynn Barnes I’ve read, the characterisation and attention to detail is astonishing. The characters feel like real people, and we feel everything along with them – I certainly had no problems whatsoever with connecting with the characters, and getting invested in their stories. Like I said, they just feel very real, and you want to celebrate and commiserate alongside them as you read.
I was on holiday while reading Lessons in Power, and despite this I still managed to read it all in 3 days, after finishing the other book I brought, City of Bones (but that’s a story for another day…). During the climax at the end I was trying not to cry in a random café on the coast while waiting for my lunch. I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting the climax of Lessons in Power to get so dark – it was very reminiscent of The Naturals and quite different to the end of the first book… There was something about it that I found deeply unsettling, in the way only few books manage to do.
Another thing I really enjoyed about this series is the character relationships – the friendships and familial ties are profound and beautiful, as well as being the basis for a lot of the humour. Guess I’m giving a special shoutout to Asher for being the comic relief and somehow breaking everyone’s hearts with his jokes in the second book.
Overall, these books are insanely good and I feel that, like with The Inheritance Games, I will find something new and see other things every time I read them – I can’t wait to!
5 stars – will reread – 100% recommend
Bonus – Scotland’s National Book Town and an Amazing Vinyl Shop
Now about Wigtown! I mentioned above that I’d been there on holiday, and I got in excess of 15 books when in that area. Wigtown is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway that is Scotland’s national book town. The amazing range of wonderful bookshops there is incredible – Reading Glasses who specialise in books by female authors, and predominantly about women, which has a truly inspiring range of stock as well as amazing soups and cakes.
The Book Shop, which has the largest stock of mostly second hand books in Scotland – in excess of 100,000, and the owner has written several books about owning the shop which I am currently reading and greatly enjoying.
Faodail, where I also got two Billy Idol vinyls and is brimful of beautiful antiques.
And so many others that easily filled an entire day of browsing and exploration, as well as very sore arms from carrying around bags of books!
(My highlights of the books I bought are Run, Rebel by Manjeet Mann – a verse book that has utterly captivated me, The Diary of a Bookseller, which was written by the owner of The Book Shop, Shaun Bythell, and is very witty and generally hilarious, and Better in Black by Cassandra Clare, because the short stories in it concern many of my favourite characters from her books, and its more Shadowhunter stuff, how could I not?)
On our way back up the road we stopped in the small town of Castle Douglas for breakfast. Since there were plenty of charity shops along the main street we took a wander. Mum went into an arty shop, and we were told that in the backroom there’s a vinyl and CD shop, called Magpie Records – I immediately went back there and was amazed at the range and quality of the contents. We had a great conversation with the owner about the music we were looking at and we left with AM by Arctic Monkeys and Unplugged in New York by Nirvana on vinyl and a small pile of Annie Lennox and Sheryl Crow CDs. There was lots of other Nirvana and Arctic Monkeys, as well as The Clash, Sex Pistols, Blondie, The Ramones, Queen, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Metallica… the list goes on, and includes some more modern artists as well, though I think they get snapped up quite quickly! I also think he posts what new stock he has on Facebook sometimes, so I recommend checking that out!
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