Review: Nameless by Lili St. Crow + Giveaway

10 May, 2013 Giveaways, Reviews 52 comments

Review: Nameless by Lili St. Crow + GiveawayNameless by Lili St Crow
Series: Tales of Beauty & Madness #1
Published by Razorbill Australia on April 4th 2013
Pages: 304
Genres: Paranormal Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Amazon Good BooksBook Depository
Goodreads
three-stars

When Camille was six years old, she was discovered alone in the snow by Enrico Vultusino, godfather of the Seven—the powerful Families that rule magic-ridden New Haven. Papa Vultusino adopted the mute, scarred child, naming her after his dead wife and raising her in luxury on Haven Hill alongside his own son, Nico.

Now Cami is turning sixteen. She’s no longer mute, though she keeps her faded scars hidden under her school uniform, and though she opens up only to her two best friends, Ruby and Ellie, and to Nico, who has become more than a brother to her. But even though Cami is a pampered Vultusino heiress, she knows that she is not really Family. Unlike them, she is a mortal with a past that lies buried in trauma. And it’s not until she meets the mysterious Tor, who reveals scars of his own, that Cami begins to uncover the secrets of her birth…to find out where she comes from and why her past is threatening her now.

New York Times bestselling author Lili St. Crow thrilled legions of fans with her dark paranormal series Strange Angels. Now she has crafted an evocative update of Snow White, set in a vividly imagined world and populated by unforgettable new characters.

Nameless is a bit like billowing, amazing clouds on a warm sunny day.  It’s nice.  Just really nice, you know?  Sure, it doesn’t move fast and clouds aren’t the most gripping things to look at, but it was just really nice.   God I really liked Nameless and I really like clouds.  They’re so magical.

goatse-cloud-fixed

Unless they’re giving you goatse.  Don’t look that up if you don’t know what it is btw.

Nameless wasn’t a perfect novel, but it was an enjoyable novel. I feel like most of the things it set out to do, it accomplished.

Things like creating, nurturing and building the relationship between Nico and Cami.  Book, candle, Nico *cue heart melt* (you’d get it if you read the book).  There felt like a depth of years to their relationship and that’s a hard thing to manufacture in a few hundred pages.

Nameless was a pretty ambitious story, which worked out for me because I’m a pretty ambitious reader, but it’s not going to float everyone’s boats.  And that’s because it’s ODD.  It’s just a really odd book.

Harley Quinn

Like Harley Quinn – twisted but in a really, really good way

Firstly, nameless is an alternate reality world with a whole slew of different rules and supernatural… things happening.  And St Crow doesn’t hold no hands when she tells this story.  She doesn’t sit you down and say, “Now children, this is a twist.  It’s a person who has twisted in bad way due to emotions…” Nuh-uh.  She just starts throwing this lore at you and expects you to catch up.  You have to pay attention or you’re not going to know what’s happening.

And her lore isn’t simplistic.  It’s a complicated world.  Add to that, the fact that there’s so much going on.  Camille isn’t just dealing with figuring out who she is and avoiding being turned into a heartless shish-ka-bob.  She’s dealing with Nico learning to take responsibility for his temper and his life, helping her friends, developing a friendship with the mysterious gardener, finding a home and identity for herself and, most of all, trying to get people to damn well shut their mouths and let her express herself.

Which is hard, because she has a significant stutter all throughout the book.  This had the potential to be frustrating for the reader.  But I think St Crow really pulled it off.  Instead of feeling frustrated, I felt HER frustration.  That people wouldn’t wait to hear what she had to say, would assume what she was thinking because they were too lazy to wait for her to say what she really wanted, etc.

But, the thing with Nameless is that it’s a really slow burn.  Just so slow.  And since so much of it is internal, emotional issues being worked through, it sometimes felt like it was dragging.

There were some elements to the story telling that I wanted to be tighter.  Stronger.  The Snow White myth felt really lost in the story.  Rather like it was grossly outweighed by all the other elements until, sometimes, it became easy to forget that this was a Snow White retelling.  This is an issue because Nameless could easily have been a standalone novel with no ties to Snow White.  I would have liked it still and wouldn’t have felt a little cheated on the fairy tale retelling aspects that felt largely shoe-horned in at the end to justify the label.

Mostly though, if you’re a fan of Lili St Crow, or YA Paranormal romances with a touch of thriller to them, then you’re really going to like this one.

Giveaway

To share the love, Kat has decided to giveaway her copy of Nameless to loyal Cuddlebuggery fans!

Contest Rules:

  • To enter, please fill out the Raffelcopter form below.
  • We ask that all entrants be at least 13 years or older to enter.
  • The giveaway is open for International use.
  • When the winners are chosen, it will be announced here and the winners will be emailed. Please check your email because we are only giving the winner 48 hours to respond! Otherwise another winner will have to be selected.
  • Please enter your email address in the Rafflecopter form and not the comments!
  • Also, please understand that we reserve the right to disqualify any entries we find gaming the system. Cheaters never prosper!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kat Kennedy

Kat Kennedy

Co-blogger at Cuddlebuggery
Kat Kennedy is a book reviewer and aspiring author in the Young Adult genre. She reviews critically but humorously and get super excited about great books. Find her on GoodReads.
Kat Kennedy

52 Responses to “Review: Nameless by Lili St. Crow + Giveaway”

  1. Ina M

    That blurb seems quite familiar! I think I might even have marked Nameless as to-read at some point in the past ^_^ In any case, many thanks for the giveaway – it sounds like a damn good read, and exactly the kind I feel like reading right now!

  2. zarah

    That seems like a really good book – and it is definitely on my to-read-list on Goodreads. Thanks a bunch for the chance(s) to win! 😀

  3. zarah

    That seems like a really good book – and it is definitely on my to-read-list on Goodreads. Thanks a bunch for the chance(s) to win! 😀

  4. mego

    This is going on my to read list for sure. I love fairy tale retellings (vague relation or otherwise…maybe it’s just the word fairytale that’s attractive to me) and I love Lilith St. Crow. Also, anything that makes someone reference Harley Quinn is at least worth a shot.

  5. Kamira

    I’m so glad you liked it! My favourite Nico and Cami scene was the very last book-candle-Nico-(Cami) game. It was really heartwarming and showed how much they depended and loved each other. (Even hot gardener boy couldn’t ruin that relationship.) Also, Cami’s father giving up his heart in exchange was a nice touch.

  6. Ashleigh Paige

    This is kinda weird. My really religious grandmother just forwarded me the same cloud photo yesterday and said something about the hands of God in Alabama. My first thought upon seeing that is “Why is God doing goatse?” I’ll never see that photo the same way again. D:
    Oh well! I read the first book of St. Crow’s other YA series and found it really blandly written. This sounds like a lot of fun, but once an author’s style burns me once… Eh, who cares? I’m a glutton for punishment.

  7. Princess__Ash

    Okay, I was totes going to bypass this book because even though I LOVED the cover, the synopsis sounded just a little too… typical, I guess would be the word for it. Like every other paranormal romance with emotional problems. Ya know? but I’m happy to find out that this is less like what I expected and way cooler and I’m now intrigued where before I wasn’t.

    So, idk if I should thank you or bean you for interesting me in another book when I have way, way too many for my own good.

  8. lorih824

    This actually sounds like it could be a good read. I wasn’t so sure about it at first because I haven’t heard much about this author or her book. However I will give it a try and add it to my ever growing TBR stacks 🙂

  9. aadnama

    I’m glad to finally see a review on this book from a reviewer that I trust. It’s been on my TBR shelf on GoodReads, but I haven’t really seen any reviews on it.
    I’m excited about what you said about the world in this book, because it seems SO interesting and different than most books out there right now.

  10. Shelver506

    You had me at stutter. I don’t know why, but that aspect completely intrigues me. Also, complicated lore is always fun.

  11. deadtossedwaves

    I really really want to like this book. It’s my favorite fairy tale and I loved the beginning of the Strange Angels series. It left a bad taste in my mouth but I do want to give this author one more chance.

  12. Amanda87

    This book sounds perfect for me at the moment. Writing a rather action-centric story at the moment and need to develop my skills on the emotional/internal aspects of the story. I often feel like the story slows down too much or there isn’t enough conflict if I pull the story into internal matter. Hopefully Nameless will show me how it’s done!

  13. Amanda87

    This book sounds perfect for me at the moment. Writing a rather action-centric story at the moment and need to develop my skills on the emotional/internal aspects of the story. I often feel like the story slows down too much or there isn’t enough conflict if I pull the story into internal matter. Hopefully Nameless will show me how it’s done!

  14. Amanda87

    This book sounds perfect for me at the moment. Writing a rather action-centric story at the moment and need to develop my skills on the emotional/internal aspects of the story. I often feel like the story slows down too much or there isn’t enough conflict if I pull the story into internal matter. Hopefully Nameless will show me how it’s done!

  15. echen07

    Thanks for the giveaway! This sounds really intresting, and I am hoping to read something fast paced.

  16. chiko_jubilee

    definetely must read http://cuddlebuggery.com/blog/reviews/authors/lili-st-crow new book….
    thx u for the chance 🙂

  17. chiko_jubilee

    definetely must read http://cuddlebuggery.com/blog/reviews/authors/lili-st-crow new book….
    thx u for the chance 🙂

  18. erinf1

    I love Lili St. Crow! I’ve only read her adult books, but they usually blow it out of the water 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

  19. Christine

    I wanted to read this book for a long time. Thank you so much for the giveaway!

  20. Alice M Aj

    This book sounds really good! I love supernatural and books that you just can’t skim through, you have to read them – think that is the reason why some books I read, I take my time so not to miss anything, while others of just inbetweens to get my mind off one story to get ready for another~ why a read short stories as well.
    Thanks for the chance to win it!  Plus will be a new author for me!
    Alice (Aj)

  21. joanna9273

    I love the sound of this book. Snow White is one of my favorite Disney fairy tales, and the fact that Nameless has a hauntingly stunning cover doesn’t hurt either. I’m all for dark and twisted retellings. 🙂

  22. joanna9273

    I love the sound of this book. Snow White is one of my favorite Disney fairy tales, and the fact that Nameless has a hauntingly stunning cover doesn’t hurt either. I’m all for dark and twisted retellings. 🙂

  23. hellloitslate

    Love the cover, and it sounds interesting. Thanks for another great giveaway gang!

  24. haley61

    Sounds like a deal!  I like her books and I like YA Paranormal!!!! Can’t wait…hope I win, but I’m sure everyone is thinking that. 🙂

  25. haley61

    Sounds like a deal!  I like her books and I like YA Paranormal!!!! Can’t wait…hope I win, but I’m sure everyone is thinking that. 🙂

  26. Grace

    Great review, as always! This book looks really interesting.  Thanks for the giveaway 🙂

  27. Kamla L,

    I love fairy tales retellings and Nameless sounds very unique one.  Being only vaguely tied to the Snow White story is okay and describing it as odd only intrigues me more.  I might be a little odd myself 😉

  28. Kamla L,

    I love fairy tales retellings and Nameless sounds very unique one.  Being only vaguely tied to the Snow White story is okay and describing it as odd only intrigues me more.  I might be a little odd myself 😉

  29. JeepinJaime

    When they are done right, I love fairy tales retold. And this one sounds like it could be a perfect example of the stories that I love. And I love the cover so much! It gives off a dark and slightly sinister and creepy vibe. I like it! Thanks so much for the giveaway. As always, love ya Cuddlebuggery!

  30. Kamla L,

    EEEEKS!  The rafflecopter isn’t retaining my entry for my comment point.

  31. Kamla L,

    EEEEKS!  The rafflecopter isn’t retaining my entry for my comment point.

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  36. Jessica

    If you loved the book, please visit http://www.iflist.com/stories/nameless1445183983# and propose an actors who you think look or fit the characters. I love to look at who people choose and it helps me visualize the characters better.

    I really enjoyed reading this book – it only took me a day. I have to admit that familiarizing yourself with this fictional world is rather difficult. There is a lot of unfamiliar terms and some I found out what they meant HALFWAY THROUGH THE BOOK! However, the story was strangely addicting. I wish there had been more going on with Nico and Cami. I found it refreshing that their relationship was not at all physical (they never even kissed!) but it took me awhile to figure out that they were definitely NOT like brother and sister. The plotline is a bit hard to follow and now that I look back on it, I wish there was more events that had to do with the main character herself! While reading, I didn’t even notice any of this — I just wanted to find out what was happening to her.
    Overall, it’s an interesting story. However, while there was a lot (sometimes too much) going on in some areas, I wish there were more in others. One thing’s for certain — I could not put it down!

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