Mai Series Review
Stella Kreuter
All that said, the Highway, with its specially designed Fishman Fluence pickup, is clearly designed to be amplified. I tested the guitar through a Phil Jones Nano Bass X4 amp, direct into my Universal Audio Apollo interface, and unplugged, and was uniformly impressed by its excellent tone and flexibility.
But a lot of what makes the guitar interesting is invisible. The body is chambered and boasts a tapered floating X-bracing pattern. This design produces a full sound with a round, rather than cutting, top end and a full, rather than scooped, midrange.
Plugging directly into the Apollo and listening with headphones, I was better able to isolate the electronics from the acoustic sound and get a sense of how the contour control works. The best way I can describe it is that the top end is mostly untouched, while the mids and low mids shift with the control. As with the amp, the full-on position makes the low end punchy, and the rolled-off end offers a tighter bass sound. Being able to tailor the midrange and get just enough emphasis on the lower mids would be especially handy for feeding a house PA system.
Thank you for the insightful review. I got ahold of a highway parlor and loving it. I do concur with the action that is a bit high. Would you mind explaining how you adjusted the neck angle? I rarely set up guitars and I want to avoid damaging the guitar. Many thanks!
In this sequel, Juliette deals with the idea of who she is. Not only that, but two love interests: Adam and Warner, keep still inside her mind. As she trains to control her powers, a love triangle forms, with more political tensions arising. With all that is happening, the book provides a vivid story that never seems to stop. The tense and emotional theme of the book makes this an amazing rollercoaster of various emotions.
This book shows the aftermath of Ignite Me, and it is filled with leadership and betrayal. With surprising revelations and plot twists, the layers of complexity, and the noticeable energy keep readers on their toes. Juliette is unsure of how to manage a raging world and is unsure of who to trust. The new narratives and characters leave you hungry for more. Unfortunately, Ignite Me felt like a sequel to a trilogy. This book seemed to drag on the rest of the series, with nothing much more to tell.
The final book ties up loose ends as Juliette and her allies confront the ultimate threat to their freedom. With high stakes and high action, you will find the ending satisfying, yet you will still be wanting more. Characters endure much and come out different than they were before- achieved. Mafi manages to strike a balance between closure and leaving room for imagination, giving the series a fitting end.
Overall, I feel as if I enjoyed reading the series. Shatter Me gave me a rollercoaster of emotions, all of which I cannot disagree with. I have always had a liking for dystopian books, and I think this would have made it around the higher areas (tops to Divergent and Maze Runner). The narrative was exciting, and it provided an interesting read. I thoroughly recommend this book, for it can immerse the reader completely, leaving you satisfied and not at the same time.
Sarah J. Maas has become one of the most well-known fantasy writers in the past couple of years. She has written three fantasy series, for a total of fifteen books so far. Two of these series, A Court of Thorns and Roses and Crescent City still remain unfinished. However, she has finished her eight book series Throne of Glass. While eight books may sound intimidating, this series is perfect for fantasy lovers. The first book, titled Throne of Glass, follows the main character Celaena Sardothien, a trained assassin, as she wins her freedom from slavery. The book details how Celaena develops relationships with members of the court in her kingdom and delves into some of her past.The series progresses from there, with many twists and turns throughout the rest of the books. Although it may not necessarily be as prevalent from the first book, magic and romance play a large role in the series. The later books also include the politics of the world and more information on other kingdoms throughout the world.
Another common discrepancy in reading order is the sixth and seventh books of the series titled Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn. These books take place during the same time period but follow different characters. I thoroughly enjoyed both books and read them in the traditional order with Empire of Storms first and then Tower of Dawn. However, some recommend that you tandem read them so that you can get right into the action of the final novel. After my reading experience, I recommend this as well as it was annoying to go back and read Tower of Dawn after the cliffhanger at the end of Empire of Storms.
As a fantasy connoisseur and Sarah J. Maas fan, I am super excited to review the first two books in her Crescent City series, House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath. These two books are big, both over 800 pages.
In case you are unfamiliar with this YA fantasy, the series follows Percy Jackson, a typical 12-year-old boy who has just learned he is a demi-god (half god, half human). He is forced to move to a camp filled with other demigods where he must complete the most dangerous quest of his life. Along with two friends, Annabeth and Grover, Percy is tasked to journey throughout the United States to retrieve a stolen lightning bolt and give it back to Zeus. As he embarks on the quest of a lifetime, Percy must navigate a world of danger and deception, facing off against powerful enemies and uncovering secrets about his past.
The only complaint I would give is the pacing of the series. It is extremely difficult to match the pacing of a book to a TV series because they are such different mediums. Sometimes, I felt like the show was rushing and breezing over certain events. There were certain moments that I remembered from the books that either got cut out of the series or became frivolous.
The Of Blood and Bone series takes place in the same world as The Faithful and the Fallen, but about 130 years later. You do not need to have read the first series in order to read this series.
A Time of Dread is an epic, gory book about discovering who you are, in a world where the Ben-Elim rule, the Kadoshim threaten, and the humans and giants are caught in a no-win situation between the two.
A race of warrior angels, the Ben-Elim, once vanquished a mighty demon horde. Now they rule the Banished lands, but their peace is brutally enforced.In the south, hotheaded Riv is desperate to join the Ben-Elim's peacekeeping force, until she unearths a deadly secret.In the west, the giantess Sig investigates demon sightings and discovers signs of an uprising and black magic.And in the snowbound north, Drem, a trapper, finds mutilated corpses in the forests. The work of a predator, or something far darker?It's a time of shifting loyalties and world-changing dangers. Difficult choices need to be made. Because in the shadows, demons are gathering, waiting for their time to rise...
I think this is sort of par for the course for epic fantasy, though, and tends to be one reason why I avoid it. I have a hard time following multiple points of view when they all feel so random and each have their own individual, separate plots.
Or, more aptly, figuring out who the heck you want to be. The name of the game is self-discovery, but as it relates to your future and not your past, like in the previous book. Again, this led to some delightful character arcs, and I particularly enjoyed how the characters grow into the new roles and circumstances they find themselves in.
Bleda strikes me as a forerunner in this. While I enjoyed him in the first book, he was still trying to decide where his future would lead. Here, he decides who he wants to be, and the rest just sort of follows from there.
I highly recommend reading them back to back, since this sort of series basically picks up exactly where the last one leaves off. Gwynne does a great job of summarizing the previous book, but still. It was so much better reading them closely.
BLURB: Visit Rose Hill in 2024! From USA Today Bestselling Author Elsie Silver comes an all new small town romance series set in the same beloved universe as Chestnut Springs. New town, new characters, same addictive love stories.
Elsie Silver is a Canadian author of sassy, sexy, small town romance who loves a good book boyfriend and the strong heroines who bring them to their knees. She lives just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband, son, and three dogs and has been voraciously reading romance books since before she was probably supposed to.
I have already reviewed the excellent Boston Sax Shop S-Series tenor sax mouthpiece and the Boston Sax Shop R-Series tenor sax mouthpiece. Both of which I was very impressed with. When I heard of the new BSS E -Series tenor saxophone mouthpieces Jack was developing, I had to try one!
The other quality I have always loved about Jack is that he is a straight shooter. You ask him a question and he tells you exactly what he thinks whether it helps him get a sale or not. I love this about him!
Each of the Boston Sax Shop tenor saxophone mouthpieces (there are three models at the time of this review: the S, R and E Series) have different stylish designs around the shank of each mouthpiece. I like how each model has a different design. The BSS E-Series tenor sax mouthpiece has two white lines with a row of circles between the lines encircling the shank of the saxophone mouthpiece.
The BSS E-Series mouthpiece chamber looks to be what I would consider a large sized chamber similar to a typical hard rubber Otto Link sized chamber. The roof of the mouthpiece chamber under the table is thin at the start but then the roof angles down slightly as it travels through the chamber area to the bore.
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