Friday 56 and Book Beginnings: Give the Dark My Love (Give the Dark My Love #1) by Beth Revis || Friday 50/50: Freebie! Best/Worst Character Arc

Please join us over at RoseCityReader every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice
These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

Synopsis:

  When seventeen-year-old Nedra Brysstain leaves her home in the rural, northern territories of Lunar Island to attend the prestigious Yugen Academy, she has only one goal in mind: learn the trade of medicinal alchemy. A scholarship student matriculating with the children of Lunar Island's wealthiest and most powerful families, Nedra doesn't quite fit in with the other kids at Yugen, who all look down on her. 

  All, except for Greggori "Grey" Astor. Grey is immediately taken by the brilliant and stubborn Nedra, who he notices is especially invested in her studies. And that's for a good reason: a deadly plague has been sweeping through the North, and it's making its way toward the cities. With her family's life--and the lives of all of Lunar Island's citizens--on the line, Nedra is determined to find a cure for the plague. 

  Grey and Nedra continue to grow closer, but as the sickness spreads and the body count rises, Nedra becomes desperate to find a cure. Soon, she finds herself diving into alchemy's most dangerous corners--and when she turns to the most forbidden practice of all, necromancy, even Grey might not be able to pull her from the darkness.

Book Beginning:

The Warship carried twenty good men and two cannons.
"Bit of an overkill, isn't it?" Captain Pasker said. The sun was to his back, casting a long, imposing shadow over the deck.

56%:

"My papa says..." She paused. "A good book will give you answers to questions you didn't know you had." She opened the book, the thin pages brown and dull under the bright light of the lab. "A great book will give questions to answers you thought you knew."

*    *     *     *     *

50/50 Friday is a new weekly link-up hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader and Laura @ Blue Eye Books.  Every week they have a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - you share a book that suits each category and link up on the hosts' blogs.

Freebies are both fun and a little hard (sometimes) choosing my own topic is hard sometimes.

Best
Magnus Damora, Falling Kingdoms
I haven't finished the series yet, but the growth he has in the four books I have read has been fantastic.


Worst
America Singer, The Selection
It might be cheating, but honestly, she is the worst character ever. She has zero growth. She is the same person at the start of the series that she is at the end. Selfish, immature, and just insufferable.