Waiting on Wednesday #79 + WWW Wednesday #49

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.
It's a weekly meme about upcoming books we're excited about!

Crystal Keepers

by Brandon Mull

(Five Kingdoms #3)

Publication Date: March 1, 2015

From Goodreads:

Trapped in a world where magic is powerful and dreams are real, Cole continues his quest in book three of a "fanciful, action-packed adventure" series (Publishers Weekly, starred review), from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fablehaven and Beyonders series.

Cole Randolph ventures to a new kingdom as he continues his search for his friends - and also pursues his quest to mend what has gone awry with the magic in The Outskirts. Can he overcome the challenges ahead, or will he be stranded forever in a world between reality and imagination?

Why I'm Excited

- It's the third book in the Five Kingdoms series.

- Brandon Mull writes weird stuff, but it's really growing on me.

The Forgotten Sisters

by Shannon Hale

(Princess Academy #3)

Publication Date: March 3, 2015

From Goodreads:

After a year a the king's palace, Miri has learned all about being a proper princess. But the tables turn when the student must become the teacher!

Instead of returning to her beloved Mount Eskel, Miri is ordered to journey to a distant swamp and start a princess academy for three sisters, cousins of the royal family. Unfortunately, Astrid, Felissa, and Sus are more interested in hunting and fishing than becoming princesses.

As Miri spends more time with the sisters, she realizes the king and queen's interest in them hides a long-buried secret. She must rely on her own strength and intelligence to unravel the mystery, protect the girls, complete her assignment, and finally make her way home.

Why I'm Excited

- It's a new Shannon Hale book.

- It's a third book in the Princess Academy series.

- After Book #2 proved to be good, I have every confidence in this one as well.

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Should Be Reading

What are you currently reading?

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe.

I wonder whether the procedure will hurt.

I want to get it over with.

It's hard to be patient.

It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet.

Still, I worry.

They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness.

The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.

I'm not super far into this book, but what I've read so far I have enjoyed. Lauren Oliver's writing is wonderful; I now know what everyone was raving about. I'm liking the world, the premise, and the characters pretty well, too.

What have you recently read?

Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.

Not Callum Hunter. He wants to fail.

All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.

So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing.

Now that Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.

The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come. . . .

Book #1 in The Magisterium series, I gave this 3 out of 5 strawberries. I enjoyed it and didn't entirely see the twist coming in the end. However, it did at times feel like it was trying to keep pace with Harry Potter, and it just couldn't.

What do you plan on reading next?

This second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine's island but the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises.

I want to read this before I forget everything in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children again!