Review + Giveaway: Dangerous Creatures - Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Dangerous Creatures
Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Series: Dangerous Creatures, #1
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: So much fun
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

When I found out that Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl were writing a new series in the Caster world about Link and Ridley, I literally ran around my dorm squealing. I kid you not. I ran up and down the hall trying to find someone who could share in the excitement with me. Of course, there was no one so I just had to share my epic fangirling with random people who had no idea what I was talking about. I absolutely loved Link and Ridley in the Caster Chronicles and knowing they'd be getting their own series filled me with so much joy.

After reading the prequel novella, Dangerous Dream (review here), I knew that Dangerous Creatures was going to be completely different from Beautiful Creatures but still completely awesome. After reading it, I can happily say it lived up to my high expectations.

Dangerous Creatures picks up at the end of the summer, when Lena and Ethan are heading off to college, Liv and John are headed to England, and Link and Ridley are off to start a new adventure in New York City. At the end of Beautiful Redemption, we're not left with much knowledge of what the future held for these characters, and it was really great to see what they were up to, if only for a little while in the beginning.

After the gang said goodbye, Link and Ridley jumped straight into their adventure - traveling to New York City and into the mess Ridley created over the summer. It was really interesting to get more of Ridley's voice in Dangerous Creatures. While she was present pretty often in the Caster Chronicles, those books were all from Ethan's perspective, and Ridley is certainly one character who presents herself differently from how she is on the inside. I always felt like Ridley had a lot more dimension to her than what she presented in the previous books but actually experiencing her inner thoughts and doubts gave her even more depth and interest in the story. In the Caster Chronicles, I'm not sure I ever thought Ridley could make me tear up, but she felt so much and it translated really well through her perspective.

Besides Ridley just being as awesome as always, she's got a great set of "friends" with her. There's Link, who I've always loved as a guy who's funny and kind of dim-witted sometimes. And let me just tell you something about Link - his lyrics are AMAZING. Seriously. If you didn't see my tweets about these lyrics, here's just one example:

"Butcher my heart, fillet my soul, and when I bleed, sop it up with your roll."

Absolutely brilliant.

One awesome new character is Nox. At first he is such a mystery but we gradually get to see more and more about him in the story. I really liked seeing the relationship with him and Ridley grow, although I think I'm still firmly planted as Team Link. All the other band members introduced in Dangerous Creatures were awesome as well, especially because they helped to show Ridley's growth as a person.

Some general complaints I've seen about Beautiful Creatures, although I'm inclined to disagree, are that the book is too slow and drags. What I can tell you about Dangerous Creatures, in comparison, is that it definitely does not drag. Ridley Duchannes is sassy and strong and sensitive and stubborn and she doesn't take anything slow. Besides Ridley's personality propelling the story, it just makes sense that a story set in the bustling metropolis of New York City would have a faster pace than one set in the sleepy town of Gatlin, South Carolina.

So, one question you might have right now is, "Do I need to read the Caster Chronicles series to understand Dangerous Creatures?" To answer this question, I will say no, you definitely don't need to read it but, as a huge fan of the series, I will recommend it. There's a lot of background about the Caster world that isn't necessary explained in full depth in Dangerous Creatures. While the lack of in depth background doesn't take away from the story, having the background makes it even more enjoyable.

While I think reading the Caster Chronicles is not necessary before reading Dangerous Creatures, I highly recommend reading Dangerous Dream, the prequel novella, beforehand. Dangerous Dream is basically the inciting incident to the events in Dangerous Creatures - it sets up a lot of what happens in Dangerous Creatures. What happens in the novella is touched on but not in the detail that I would have wanted if I hadn't read the novella.

All in all, Dangerous Creatures was awesome, and I have to say that I definitely liked it more than the Caster Chronicles. I just really love Ridley - she's awesome! I highly recommend Dangerous Creatures to people who like fantasy and magic because this book is definitely packed full of it. This was such a fast read and I had so much fun throughout the whole story.

Dangerous Creatures tour

A few weeks ago, Noor and I went to the New York event on the Dangerous Creatures tour. I was really excited about the event - like I've said before, I'm a big fan of the Caster Chronicles series and I think Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl are really awesome. I was so excited I even did my makeup to look like Ridley's makeup in the Beautiful Creatures movie.

I had initially thought that the event was simply a signing but I was pleasantly surprised that there was actually a Q&A with Kami and Margaret before the signing!

Can I just tell you that they are so funny? Because they are SO FUNNY. You cannot even imagine it. Kami and Margaret both have such fun personalities, even if I can't tweet anything they say ("DON'T TWEET THIS" was a mantra throughout the event), and they were absolute sweethearts when we talked to them during the signing portion. The really great thing about the event was that it was pretty small and intimate, especially in comparison to the City of Heavenly Fire launch event (post here) that we had attended a few days earlier. We even got some Siren approved heart shaped lollipops and pink hair extensions. AND we got to take this super cute picture with Kami and Margaret.

While we were there, we picked up an extra signed copy of Dangerous Creatures to giveaway!

This giveaway is open US only, unless you are willing to pay the shipping, and will run through July 18th. The winner will be selected shortly after and will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. All you have to do is enter through the Rafflecopter below and you're entered! May the odds be ever in your favor! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway