Review: Envy by Elizabeth Miles (Fury 2)

THE DETAILS:
Pages: 320
Genre: Teenage Fiction, Fantasy
Australian Release Date: September 2012
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
RRP: $19.99

Received from publisher.

THE BLURB:
The Furies are back, and Emily Winters is about to discover that their roots in Ascension are deeper than she ever imagined. With the help of her new friend Drea, she vows to take them down. But it's hard to focus when she's desperate to make up with JD, and to figure out why Crow, a mysterious Ascension High dropout, seems to be shadowing her.

Meanwhile, new girl Skylar McVoy is determined to leave her own dark past behind. So she's thrilled when popular Gabby takes her under her wing and the stunning and sophisticated Meg offers to give her a major makeover. But everyone knows what happens to the vainest girl of all…

It's tempting to be naughty. But beware: The Furies are always watching, and their power grows stronger by the day.

MY REVIEW:
While I was a little unsure about 'Fury' it was good enough to keep me interested. I wanted to know; had to know, what would happen next. While I didn't think it was fantastic, I thought that this book was definitely an improvement on the last. The story just didn't quite go in the direction I was hoping...

In 'Envy' we are introduced to a new character Skylar. While I thought that Skylar's presence in the book (her story, her encounters with the furies) added depth to the story and really (really really) showed the length the furies will go to, I thought that it steered the story a little too far away from where the story was originally going in the first book.

Ascension can be seen in a new light in 'Envy'. Through the eyes of Skylar it's an unfamiliar town where she feels the need to win the people over. She has the chance to make a fresh start, And, she thinks it's her duty to make the best of it. I thought this was interesting in comparison to the perspectives of Em and Chase.

I thought this book was really gripping? If that's the right word. It was the kind of book where you wanted to see what the character would do, but you'd also be mentally yelling "No, don't do that!". I was starting to see that the furies not only wanted "justice" and "revenge" for the wrongs that people had done, but that they were starting to inspire the wrong-doings. And, that while the furies were mythological beings, they probably had a bit of personal revenge in mind too.

I was really just amazed at the length that the furies were going to. They were really pressuring some of the characters, And, they were being even more outrageous with their punishments. Did that girl really deserve that? And, like the first book it had me thinking a lot about "an eye for an eye" and all that. When exactly does a state of justice set in? And, it also made me think a lot about peer-pressure theres' definitely something to be read into it.

Another new character in the book is one of Drea's friends Crow. He's got this tough-rocker-school-drop-out thing going on and I think its very cool. He's nice and he's understanding and now he's part of a love triangle. And, it is one of those legitimate "Who do you choose?" kind of love triangles. Like seriously, who is she going to choose?!

Like I said earlier, the only thing I really didn't like was the lack of development in the original part of the story; Em's story. At first I did think there was a bit of development, but Em and Drea didn't realise what was going on, what I knew was going to happen at the end of the last book. Like really? Really? Did you suffer from some kind of amnesia Em? Because, I was sure she knew this in the last book.

Overall I think this book is worth 4.5/5 stars. While some parts did annoy me, the interesting story-line and the few shocking occurrences (Some crazy stuff happened) definitely meant that this book was better than the last one. I'd recommend this series to people who are into Greek mythology and/or people who don't read for the sake of a fictional romance. I'm also really keen for book number three!

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