Rating: 5/5 Penguins
Quick Reasons: frighteningly realistic glimpse into human trafficking....with a dystopian twist; this book HURT to read, and I can't wait to pick up the next one!; these characters will crawl under your skin and stay forever; gorgeous purple, poetic prose

Melancholia etched in her gray eyes, with their fog of secrets. She doesn’t have the same fierceness as I do, but every once in a while, I catch warships passing through her irises. Like she’s still fighting some unknown demon.

I cannot, cannot, CANNOT believe that I own the second book in this series, and have yet to actually read it. Emily Shore, I AM SO SO SORRY about that! This book....this SERIES....promises to be the absolute death of my poor Penguin heart, and I am looooooooving it for that so hard!

These characters will crawl between the spaces of your ribs and live there for the rest of eternity. They are vibrant, they are haunting, they will cling and claw and keep themselves with you. I guarantee, if you pick this gorgeous book up, you will walk away a changed reader--it is THAT stunning. It is THAT powerful. It is THAT poignant. There are, absolutely, some difficult topics handled in these pages--so please, PLEASE, if you are easily triggered, take care while reading.

His hands crowd my cheeks, fingers leaving blood smears on my neck, and when his mouth bears down on mine, I kiss him back for the first time. Not to win his trust, not holding anything back, but because I truly want to. He tastes like dark water, feels like frosted glass, smells like salt and iron, and he plunges his ice deep into my heart while his hands reach up to capture the back of my head, pulling me closer.

The prose is absolutely stunning. Emily Shore knows how to pen a lyrical, poetic story--and make it reverberate with her readers. There is a magic to these pages, that keep you enthralled, that keep you guessing, that keep you HURTING until the very end. If you don't believe me....reread those quotes, and tell me those don't strike a haunting note with something in your soul! This entire read is just breathtaking, and I am more than positive book two will be equally as beautiful.

I was thoroughly enthralled with Emily Shore's dystopian nightmare, and cannot wait to dive back into this world to see where our characters lead us. There is a magical, ethereal poignancy to the pages--I raced through this just to see how it ended, and was not disappointed. Flip the first page of The Aviary, Penguins...and stick around. You're bound to be just as stuck with the phantoms of this world and these characters as I am.