This review also appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews.
This review may contain minor (unintentional) spoilers for the other ShadoThis review also appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews.
This review may contain minor (unintentional) spoilers for the other Shadowhunter books. Proceed with caution!
I swear Cassie Clare is trying to kill us all with anticipation! I thought the end of Chain of Gold was bad for my heart but that was nothing compared to the dread I feel when I think about the rest of 2021 and how far away the release of Chain of Thorns is.
Everything I loved about Chain of Gold was what I loved about Chain of Iron. I loved the Edwardian period London setting and seeing all of the characters I loved from The Infernal Devices. I loved the characters, particularly James and Cordelia as the main protagonists, along with most of the supporting characters (I’m sorry Matthew – you’re not one of them after this book). I loved being able to see more of the other Merry Thieves and seeing their romantic relationships grow and evolve. Most of all, I loved seeing the dynamic between James and Cordelia change. I loved seeing them navigate being a married couple, which is something that we’ve never seen before in the Shadowhunter Chronicles. I had expected that the romance would be full of angst and leave me in anticipation (because that’s what Cassie’s so good at!) but… why why WHY can’t we have Book 3 now?!
I actually really enjoyed the plot of this book. It was a refreshing change from The Dark Artifices trilogy, which had a large focus on the fae. Although slightly confusing at times, I thought it was a really well thought out plot and I enjoyed how things all connected together. I really appreciated how the plot tied together with the relationships in the novel and I’m keen to see how it all ends in Chain of Iron.
Now on to Matthew… I went into this trilogy thinking that I would love Matthew and that his parabatai bond with James would mirror the intensity and brotherly love that we saw in Will and Jem but it’s been quite lacklustre in comparison. And much of that is to do with things that have happened to them in the past that have sort of prevented them from having this intense and unbreakable bond. But I was honestly super fed up with Matthew in this book and everytime he was mentioned, I kind of wanted him off my page. And that’s all I’ll say about that for now.
All in all, I thought Chain of Iron was a fantastic book and a nice sequel to Chain of Gold. I’m insanely impatient about getting my hands on Chain of Thorns and I’m so sad that its release has been delayed....more
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Woven in Moonlight was a book that I knew I had to read as soon 3.5 stars.
This review also appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews.
Woven in Moonlight was a book that I knew I had to read as soon as I read the synopsis and saw the beautiful cover. And even though it took me almost 6 months to pick it up after purchasing it, it was on my TBR every single month in the last half of 2020. And I have to say that I simultaneously really enjoyed it and was disappointed by it.
Woven in Moonlight is set in a fantasy world, Inkasisa, which is a world inspired by Bolivian traditions. The Illustrian people ruled Inkasisa for centuries until they were overthrown by the Llacsans – the king of which now rules Inkasisa and has left the Illustrians in ruin and poverty. Our main character, Ximena, is the decoy for the Illustrian condesa and finds herself in enemy territory when the Llacsan king demands the condesa’s hand in marriage. Though Ximena’s main aim is to destroy the Llacsans from the inside, she soon finds that she isn’t the only one with such motives and that others may be fighting for a greater purpose – one that she may want to be part of.
First of all, I really loved the Bolivian traditions and food that were woven into this world – and I also really enjoyed the glossary at the end of the book explaining some of the different foods that were mentioned. However, I found the world building to be slightly lacking and didn’t really get a good grasp on the history of Inkasisa and the different groups that were part of the puzzle (aside from a pretty rudimentary explanation of why the Llacsans and Illustrians hated each other). I wished that we got to see a richer history of Inkasisa and how everything fit together, though I imagine this is teased out more in the companion, Written in Starlight. I enjoyed the magic in this book and seeing the abilities that each of the characters had, though the existence of such powers wasn’t really that well explained.
I quite enjoyed Ximena’s character but I struggled with the plot of the book. It was quite slow-paced and it felt like nothing was really happening throughout the entire book. It was particularly frustrating when she would have miraculously enlightening realisations halfway through the book of things that she had been iterating throughout (e.g. the whole premise of her going into enemy territory was to find some ancient relic but she seems to forget this until halfway through the novel when she suddenly realises “everything can be solved if I find the relic!”). On top of that, some aspects of the plot were quite predictable and didn’t really make for a riveting read.
Woven in Moonlight was a slightly disappointing read for me because of the slow-paced plot and the lack of rich world building. However, I did really enjoy the cast of characters and found it a joy to read about them. I just wish that there hadn’t been so many things that didn’t make sense. I’m probably unlikely to pick up the companion novel....more
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I received a review copy from Hachette Australia. All thoughts a3.5 stars.
This review also appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews.
I received a review copy from Hachette Australia. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’ve been looking forward to a new book from Marie Rutkoski for a long time and I have some mixed feelings about The Midnight Lie. It’s set in Herrath, an island that sits in the same world as The Winner’s Trilogy and, while I loved being back in the same world and hearing mentions of some of the characters who I’ve come to love, The Midnight Lie didn’t bring out the same excitement in me as The Winner’s Trilogy. There were many subtle similarities in the plot and characters of between the two and I just didn’t think that it was done as well this time around. However, there were still many things that I enjoyed about it, including the F/F romance.
It’s a midnight lie… a kind of lie told for someone else’s sake, a lie that sits between goodness and wrong, just as midnight is the moment between night and morning.
The Midnight Lie has a strict class system, made up of Half-Kith, Middlings and High Kith. Throughout the book, we follow Nirrim, a Half-Kith baker who works at a tavern in the Ward, where all of the Half-Kith live and are never allowed to leave. Half-Kith are forced to dress plainly in neutral colours and to eat plain foods that are never very sweet, tangy or bitter. They live extremely poorly and can be sent to prison by councilmen for the smallest of things. Once in prison, they are forced to tithe something that belongs to them: from blood, to hair and eyelashes, to body parts. Nirrim has always managed to avoid getting into trouble, despite what she gets up to in her spare time. But one day, she meets a strange traveler who tells her that the High Kith of Herrath have magic and Nirrim can’t help but be tempted to seek out the truth for herself.
I really enjoyed Nirrim’s character. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve just really gotten into bread making lately… She was simultaneously brave and timid, sassy and submissive, and I really loved watching her grow throughout the book. She’s definitely a character that I felt connected with from the very start of the book and she made it much easier for me to connect with the plot. I also absolutely loved Sid, who provided a great contrast to Nirrim. Sid was vivacious and it was so easy to fall in love with Sid. The two of them together made a great pair and I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens next.
I also liked the world, even though it’s definitely nothing new. There are many books with these sorts of caste systems (including The Winner’s Trilogy itself) and I’ve certainly read about many other worlds that were similar to the Ward. However, what made the Ward special were the characters that inhabited it – from Harver, the printer of books, to the girls who live with Nirrim at the tavern. Even Nirrim’s abusive guardian, Raven, was an interesting character that made the Ward stand out.
The plot was probably what let the book down a little for me. The pacing of the book was extremely slow for the first 75% of the book, where we were just getting to know the characters and the world. It was a very slow build up of the plot and it was difficult for me to see where it was going until things were revealed in the last little bit of the novel. I didn’t find the book to be as gripping as The Winner’s Trilogy and found my attention wavering a little bit. It lacked the political intrigue that made The Winner’s Trilogy exciting and, although the magical aspects of the book were captivating, it wasn’t really keeping me in the book until I got to the end of it. And what an ending it was! I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen next and will definitely be picking up the sequel because I really need to know!
What The Midnight Lie lacked in plot and pacing, it made up for in the characters. I loved Nirrim as a main character and enjoyed her relationships with the other characters in the book. I’m excited to see what happens next in the series and I can’t wait to see how the romance in the book develops....more
Chain of Gold is the book I have been waiting years for. The Infernal Devices was the first Shadowhunters trilThis review appears on Happy Indulgence.
Chain of Gold is the book I have been waiting years for. The Infernal Devices was the first Shadowhunters trilogy that I read and it remains my favourite to date. In fact, it absolutely still is one of my favourite series of all time. I was a bit disappointed a few years back when The Dark Artifices came out, not because I didn’t like it but because it wasn’t The Last Hours. There’s just something about the London Institute and the cast of characters that I enjoy much more than the New York and Los Angeles Institutes. And I’m a lover of historical fiction so the Victorian London setting of The Infernal Devices and now the Edwardian London setting of The Last Hours was always going to appeal to me more.
And I’m so happy to say that Chain of Gold definitely did not disappoint. We got really good glimpses of characters from The Infernal Devices but the new younger cast definitely captured my attention and my heart equally. Will Herondale will always be my ultimate book boyfriend, but dayum James Herondale! I loved James so, so, so, so, so much and I can’t believe I’m going to have to wait another year before I can get my hands on Chain of Iron to find out what happens next in his story. But it wasn’t only James who I loved – I loved absolutely every single character in this book. I’ve obviously had glimpses of some of them in the various short story collections that have been released, and that made me feel as though I already knew them. Finding out more about them only made me love them more and nothing about their characters or their interactions with each other ruined my impression of them. Besides Grace Blackthorn but I’ll need to give her a little bit more time before I make up my mind about her. I also really enjoyed that there isn’t really any secret as to which romances are going to come to fruition, given the countless family trees that have been released. I’m just really excited to see how these relationships actually form. James Herondale, I am rooting for your happiness!!
I also really enjoyed the plot of this book. While I enjoyed The Dark Artifices, I found that I didn’t really engage with the plot all that much and my enjoyment was really carried by the characters and their relationships. There was a little bit too much faerie politics going on for my liking. I liked that Chain of Gold had a big focus on demons (like The Infernal Devices) and I found it much easier to read and follow along. Even though the book is over 550 pages long, I felt so engrossed in everything that was happening that the pages just flew by. I just really cannot wait for the rest of the series. And I’ll definitely be rereading The Infernal Devices and all of the short stories in which The Last Hours cast appears.
I can’t speak more highly of this book, though I am definitely biased. It definitely lived up to my expectations and I’m more in love with the cast of characters and the plot of this book more than I ever imagined I would be....more
The Red Scrolls of Magic is the first book in a Shadowhunters spin-off trilogy featuring Magnus Bane and This review also appears on Happy Indulgence.
The Red Scrolls of Magic is the first book in a Shadowhunters spin-off trilogy featuring Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood. It takes place after the first three books of The Mortal Instruments and before City of Fallen Angels. However, I think the book can definitely be read without having read TMI or any of the other Shadowhunter books – though you will obviously get more out of it if you’ve read some of the other trilogies too.
The Red Scrolls of Magic begins with Magnus taking Alec on an expensive vacation around Europe. However, the relaxing vacation is quickly sidetracked when Magnus is needed to track down and put an end to a cult called the Crimson Hand. A cult that Magnus started himself centuries ago… as a joke, and then forgot about. Literally forgot about (he has no memories of that period of his life). Along the way to breaking up the cult, Magnus and Alec make friends and enemies, but it’s almost always a hilariously good time when Magnus is involved.
I enjoyed the novel quite a bit but didn’t feel like I was as engaged with it as the other Shadowhunter books I’ve read. As much as I love Malec, I missed reading about other characters so I felt a bit bored during the first half of the novel, which only featured Magnus and Alec. It wasn’t until the second half that I really got into the story and that was in part due to the presence of more characters like Aline Penhallow and Helen Blackthorn, as well as a quickening in the pace of the plot. I loved that we got to see more of Aline and Helen, especially seeing how they met and I thought they really contributed to the book. I just kind of wish more had happened early on in the book because it felt really slow and threatened to put me to sleep.
I obviously loved reading more about Magnus and Alec in this book, especially since the book is set in the early stages of their relationship. But knowing what happens later in TMI kind of threw me off a little bit while I was reading this one. Nevertheless, I would never turn down a good romance, especially Malec so it was an enjoyable reading experience regardless.
As much as I liked reading The Red Scrolls of Magic, I’m not quite sure what to make of this The Eldest Curses trilogy. It’s not really clear to me when the next book will be set or exactly what it’s going to explore. I think The Red Scrolls of Magic could have easily just been a standalone novella but I also appreciate that this can be a trilogy where readers might be able to pick and choose which book in TEC they want to pick up depending on which of the ‘main’ Shadowhunter books they’ve read. I also love that this trilogy explores in-depth aspects of the other books that were kind of glossed over (such as Aline and Helen’s relationship).
I really liked The Red Scrolls of Magic but I do think that it’s really only for people who either love Malec or are fans of the Shadowhunters books. It could be a nice introduction to the Shadowhunter Chronicles for those who haven’t read any of the books, but I would always recommend The Infernal Devices as a starting point over anything else....more
If I was to use one word to sum up all of my thoughts about Bloodwitch, it would be ‘confused’. I was so This review also appears on Happy Indulgence.
If I was to use one word to sum up all of my thoughts about Bloodwitch, it would be ‘confused’. I was so absolutely confused from beginning to end that I honestly can’t even comprehend reading another book in this series. Granted, I didn’t read Sightwitch, so it has been two years since I was last in this world, but I would’ve hoped for a little bit more guidance from Susan Dennard when it came to getting us back into the world. Instead, the book pretty much picks up where the series had left off and I had to do all of the hard work in trying to remember what happened in the previous books, the relationships between all of the tribes and who some of these characters even were. The biggest problem was that I had read some recaps of the previous books before commencing Bloodwitch, but could not recall most of the events that were recapped actually happening.
I had previously described Truthwitch and Windwitch as ‘escape and survival stories’ and that is the case again for Bloodwitch. Which was a little bit frustrating because, similar to the other books, there really wasn’t much that happened for the first 300 pages of this book besides pretty much all of the characters escaping from one thing or another. I felt like it was such a missed opportunity to include more political intrigue, given how the story pretty much revolves around war. We find out bits and pieces about the different tribes and who their enemies and allies are but these bits of information were so few and far in-between that it was difficult to get a good sense of what was going on. As someone who read Windwitch a whole two years ago, and needed a lot more help to get my bearings, the information I was given actually made things more confusing and I almost gave up on the book because I felt so frustrated from not understanding what was happening. I just needed more handholding and less descriptions of trees and rocks and nature. The pacing definitely left a lot to be desired. The first 300 pages was so extremely slow and things only started to pick up in the last quarter of the book. And while I definitely did enjoy those last 100 pages a lot more, I found that it was so fast-paced that it made things really confusing.
The magic system still confuses me. I remember feeling really overwhelmed by the magic system in Truthwitch because it wasn’t well-explained and there were also so many types of witches that it was difficult to keep track of what they all did. And I still don’t feel like I have a good sense of how the powers work. In fact, what happened in this book made me even more confused and I felt like the magic was kind of boundless and without any rules. The characters seemed to do things with their magic just because they could? In addition to that, the concept of the cahr awen still annoys me to no end. The whole Chosen Pair idea leaves me pretty confounded especially because they also seem to have limitless powers. Not to mention the portals and teleportation in this story… I was pretty confused by the whole idea of that and I felt that it was executed in a way that didn’t help the reader make sense of what was happening. And I’m not even going to address the massive plot hole.
Relatedly, I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of characters and perspectives that we followed in Bloodwitch. They were all in different parts of the world and we just kind of had to believe that they would all come together in some way later that made sense. It was difficult to follow what each individual character’s agenda was and what sort of role they were playing, which left me (you guessed it) confused. The plot was difficult for me to follow and I kind of only really continued reading the book for my Aeduan and Iseult ship… which was also disappointing in itself. I needed more of them together!
While Bloodwitch was probably a better book than Truthwitch and Windwitch, my reading experience was definitely impacted by how little I remembered of the world and the events that have happened so far. It took me the majority of the book to get back into the world because there was so little help from the author in this regard. The plot was confusing, the magic system was confusing, the multiple perspectives were overwhelming, and the pacing was underwhelming....more
Beautiful, atmospheric, and magical, but not without its faults. The novel had entrancing characters but needed stronger world building, a better explBeautiful, atmospheric, and magical, but not without its faults. The novel had entrancing characters but needed stronger world building, a better explanation of the magical elements, and a more substantial plot....more
I received a review copy from the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Trigger warning: animal cruelty
Spellslinger is the first book in a new YA series by Sebastien de Castell. This novel follows 15 year old, Kellen, who is a boy without magic, living in a world full of magic. Even though Kellen is the son of a powerful Lord Magus, he shows no sign of having any magical abilities and is at risk of becoming a Sha’Tep and serving the powerful and magical Jan’Teps for the rest of his life. When a strange lady, Ferius, arrives in town, Kellen begins to learn that there are alternative ways to be the hero that he’s always wanted to be.
That was kind of a vague synopsis of the novel but I’m having a really hard time recalling what actually happened or what the book was about. The plot was a little bit messy and confusing and seemed to jump around quite a bit. I just wanted a little bit more flow from it. I couldn’t really engage with the story and it took me a really long time to finish what was actually a really fast-paced book. I did like the magic system for the most part but I found bits of it to be confusing and underdeveloped. There were so many different aspects and I couldn’t really grasp the rules of the magic system because it seemed to be kind of limitless. I appreciate that the author wanted to put in a lot of plot and action but for a fantasy series… I wish he’d spent a little bit more time setting up the world and magic system at the start. The world building was kind of lacking and I didn’t really get a good sense of where they were or what the culture of the world was… besides the part where all the female characters were subservient and submissive.
Having said that, I did like Kellen’s character a lot and I think this redeemed the book for me. He was sassy and funny, and I found him to be strangely relatable. I most appreciated that he wasn’t the Chosen One (in fact, he’s kind of the opposite) and it was really easy to connect with him because he was kind of completely ordinary. I really enjoyed his character development throughout the book and the way that he found himself and who he wanted to be by the end of the novel. But I can’t say that I liked the rest of the characters as much. Ferius was an okay character for me. She was extremely enigmatic and I didn’t know what her motivations were by the end of the novel. I loved that she was there for Kellen and supported him but I don’t really know how I feel about her. I also liked Reichis, Kellen’s squirrel cat friend (or business partner, as he calls himself), and I can’t wait to see more of him in the upcoming books. I do have to mention though that there is some animal cruelty in this book and there was one particular scene that had me shuddering in horror.
The rest of the characters, I found extremely unmemorable and bland. And it also didn’t really help that it was difficult to remember their names. Some characters were from the same family and had really similar names that were easily confusable. And on top of that, a lot of the characters actually changed their names during the book, once they’d reached mage status. I also wasn’t a huge fan of any of the other characters and thought that they were either pure evil or just terrible, terrible friends. I didn’t care about any of them and wasn’t really that invested in their stories or what was happening to them.
All in all, I don’t think Spellslinger was for me. I liked the action in the novel and Kellen’s character a lot but I couldn’t latch on to anything else. I wasn’t able to get into the world or the magic system so the book ended up being a little bit of a drag for me....more
Crimson Bound is a very loose Little Red Riding Hood retelling. The Little Red Riding Hood eleThis review also appears on my blog, Reading with Jenna.
Crimson Bound is a very loose Little Red Riding Hood retelling. The Little Red Riding Hood elements are present in the novel but Rosamund Hodge takes it to a new level and makes the story original and her own. As far as taking someone else’s story and making it her own goes, Hodge gets top marks for her efforts. However, I was not really a fan of the plot or the story. As intriguing and intense as the synopsis sounds, I found the novel to be only a fraction as exciting as what was advertised. I couldn’t connect with what was happening and found the plot to be too slow in pacing. Much like Cruel Beauty, there wasn’t a lot that happened in the book and I felt that it dragged on and on. I couldn’t really get into the book until well past the halfway mark and even then, I was a bit apathetic about everything. There were some twists and turns in the book that I appreciated and I also thought that the novel had a much clearer story/plot progression than Cruel Beauty did. However, the pacing of it and some of the confusion that I felt made for a subpar reading experience.
I also was not a fan of the romance in the book. There is a strange love triangle that I was not a fan of, especially considering there was a weird love triangle in Cruel Beauty as well. But love triangle aside, I didn’t really feel any chemistry between the main character and her love interests. It all felt extremely clinical to me and came across as forced. I was looking forward to the enemies to lovers aspect of it because that’s one of my favourite romance tropes and the novel didn’t really deliver on that front. One of my biggest criticisms when it came to the romance was that the romance seemed to come out of nowhere. One minute the characters were trotting along like normal, and then the next they were realizing and proclaiming their love for each other? Not a fan.
However, Rachelle’s character saved the book for me. I loved the complexities of her character and that she wasn’t really like any other character that I had read before. I liked her good and her evil sides and her strength was really appealing to me. I loved learning about her backstory and it made me appreciate her even more.
Overall, while I did end up liking the book, I haven’t been too impressed with the two Rosamund Hodge books that I’ve read. Needless to say, I won’t be trying out any of her other releases....more
Cruel Beauty started off on a really high note but started going downhill pretty quickly for mThis review also appears on my blog, Reading with Jenna.
Cruel Beauty started off on a really high note but started going downhill pretty quickly for me, unfortunately. I found a lot of the book to be confusing and I wasn’t into the plot or some of the romance elements too much either.
I really loved the concept of the book but like some other reviewers, I thought the execution could have been better. I really liked the first 75 pages of the book and was really keen to see where the story was going to go but it quickly started to become kind of disappointing. There’s actually not a lot that happens in this book and I felt like I was just waiting and waiting for something to happen. There was a bit too much explanation about not much at all and I just wanted more plot. I also felt like there were some things that were kind of repetitive and I was just disappointed with how slow-moving the book was. I wasn’t a big fan of the ending and I was confused about some of the explanations, so I finished the book without really feeling like I fully understood everything. I did like that the story incorporated Greek mythology and magic into it and it was nice to be able to recognise and understand some of the references. However, I felt like there was a bit too much of it and it started to get confusing because of how much information was being thrown at me.
However, I did like the characters for the most part. I enjoyed Nyx as the main character and thought she was really interesting. I loved that she had a darker side to her and wasn’t the typical pure and kindhearted heroine, especially given that this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I liked her bitterness at her situation that her family have put her in and that she wasn’t afraid to show her feistiness. And I really enjoyed her relationship with Ignifex. I found myself shipping them for most of the book and I really liked the scenes that they had together. However, I can’t say that I was a big fan of how the romance played out. I didn’t like the weird love triangle situation and there was also insta-love that I didn’t really appreciate.
As a whole, the book wasn’t very enjoyable to read. It was very wordy and long-winded for what actually happened and I was disappointed with the lack of plot and the execution of what I thought was a great concept. There were too many elements that I didn’t really like and it ruined the reading experience for me even though I did power through the novel....more
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for providing a review copy of the book. All thoughts andThis review also appears on my blog, Reading with Jenna.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for providing a review copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Windwitch was a fantastic sequel to Truthwitch. There was a lot of character development and I really enjoyed how much more we got to learn about the characters and the world. In this second installment, we follow the four main characters on their separate journeys. We have Safi who is now travelling with the Empress of Marstok, Vaness. Their ship is attacked and during their escape, they are captured by the scary Hell-bards. Prince Merik has also found himself the victim of an attack and after losing his ship and most of his crew, he roams his lands searching for the one who’s responsible for his disfigured face. Along the way he discovers a dark secret that could change everything. Iseult is on a mission to find her Threadsister, Safi, but runs into Aeduan, who has been tasked with the job of capturing Iseult. The two strike up a deal and end up travelling together but they both find out more about themselves and each other during their journey.
I loved everything that went down in this book but I did feel that it was a bit of a filler book. I didn’t really have a good idea of where the book was going and how everything fit together until close to the end of the novel. There isn’t a lot that actually happens besides a lot of walking around, escape and survival. It was definitely more of a character-driven book than a plot-driven book, and because of this, it took me a while to get through it because I was unsure of what was happening and where the series was going. The last 100 pages of the book, however, makes things a lot more clear and by the end of the novel, I could see a clear direction of where the series was going. I also didn’t really mind that it was a character-driven book because the characters were extremely interesting to me.
I highly enjoyed how much the characters developed in this book, and I loved seeing the relationships between them deepen. The dynamic between Safi and Vaness was a really interesting one and I enjoyed seeing the respect that grew between them. I also really enjoyed Safi’s interactions with the Hell-bards and how the group dynamic changed throughout the book. I enjoyed seeing the complexities of Merik and his sister, Vivia’s relationship. I really appreciated being able to follow Vivia’s perspective throughout Windwitch too because I thought she was a fantastic character and I’m glad that we got to see so much of her. But most of all, I enjoyed Aeduan and Iseult’s budding relationship that evolved from animosity to respect to companionship. I just ship them so hard! I can’t wait to see how all these relationships unfold in Bloodwitch.
Overall, I thought this was a really strong sequel, despite not being able to latch on to the plot. I highly enjoyed all of the characters and I’m really excited to see how everything plays out in the next installment....more
Moon Chosen follows our heroine, Mari. She belongs to a clan of Earth Walkers, where her mother is a Moon Woman, who is the most important person of the clan because of her healing abilities. Mari has inherited these abilities but has spent most of her life hiding in secrecy because her father belonged to a rival group. Unsure of what her identity means for her existence in her Earth Walker clan, she has never shown her true self. However, when her clan is attacked by the rival group and things start getting out of control, Mari learns the extent of her powers and begin to embrace who she is.
It’s a little bit difficult explaining the plot of this book because the novel is quite slow-paced and there isn’t really a lot of action. Most of the book is spent setting up the world and getting the reader comfortable with all of the different clans and customs of each clan. I did find the world to be very confusing at the start of the book. It took me over 100 pages to have everything sorted in my mind. There were a lot of characters introduced and I had a hard time putting everything together and figuring out how they all fit into the story. However, I got used to it pretty quickly after that and had no trouble following the story. I found the world to be quite interesting and not like many other worlds that I’ve read before (though admittedly, I am no expert in fantasy worlds). The world felt like a early history kind of world, with clans and tribes and lots of nature and biology. But what I found most interesting was that this was a post-apocalyptic world where all things man-made and technological had been wiped out. Whether it’s post-apocalyptic or not doesn’t really factor into the story but I just thought that that was unexpected and interesting.
While the plot and the story was slow-paced and dragged out, it didn’t bother me too much because the characters were engaging and I couldn’t help but care about them. I was right with them throughout the book and I loved watching the friendships form and seeing how they interacted with each other. Mari was a character who I wasn’t a big fan of at the start but she grew on me throughout the book and I enjoyed her development into a slightly whiny girl into a caring and independent woman. I loved her kind personality and the lengths she goes to to help others who are not probably not so deserving of her help. I also loved her friendship with Sora, who also grew on me extremely quickly in the novel. I also really liked Nik, the male from Mari’s rival tribe. I wasn’t sure of his intentions at the start and was highly suspicious of him, but he proved to be a character who was also quite easy to love. But of course, one of my favourite characters was Jenna. Yes, simply because she shares my name.
Perhaps my favourite aspect of this novel was the concept of the Companions. Certain tribes in this book have animal allies that are bonded with tribe members. This bond is extremely strong and those who are bonded are tied together for life. If you love reading about animal companions, like Manchee in The Knife of Never Letting Go, you will love Moon Chosen because this series takes it to a whole new level.
Despite really enjoying most aspects of the book, there were a few things that I didn’t like so much. I was not a big fan of the dialogue in this book. At times, it felt very forced and I couldn’t really imagine people talking that way. There were also a lot of instances where characters spoke aloud to themselves and that just seemed a bit strange to me. I also had a bit of a problem with the pacing. While I didn’t mind that the book was very long, I did think that there wasn’t really a climax to this book, so it never really got intense and exciting for me. It just wasn’t as epic as I wanted it to be and I just wanted it to be paced a little bit better. But overall, I enjoyed the book and thought that it was a great read despite some of my problems with it....more
Crooked Kingdom is my favourite book of 2016. I’ve read close to 150 books so far this year soThis review also appears on my blog, Reading with Jenna.
Crooked Kingdom is my favourite book of 2016. I’ve read close to 150 books so far this year so it’s a big call but I can so confidently put this novel on my list of all-time favourites, right next to Six of Crows. I loved everything about this sequel and there’s absolutely nothing that I would change… except maybe that one tiny plot point at the end of the book that made me cry like a baby.
This book had everything that a great book should have. It had captivating characters whose stories draw you in and make you want to learn more. There’s thrilling action and intrigue that keeps you on your toes. And there’s fabulous writing that just sings and makes you never want to let go of the book. I honestly don’t even know where to start with this review. Let’s start with the plot. I absolutely loved how this book moved and flowed and how everything was planned to perfection by Leigh Bardugo. I thought the plot of this book was so perfectly constructed, with each character playing a crucial role in the ‘job’ and in the novel. There was nothing predictable about the plot at all and I was constantly worrying about my babies because I had no idea what was going to happen. There were also about a million plot twists in Crooked Kingdom and I loved every single one of them. Everything worked out so well and it all made sense together, which made the story a pleasure to read. Also, because the book has multiple perspectives, there was a lot of suspense and mystery in every chapter and this added to the sense of excitement that I felt as I was reading the book. The pacing of the story and the writing was so perfect that I raced through this 500+ page book in a few short sittings.
“This is the city that I bled for. And if Ketterdam has taught me anything, it’s that a guy can always bleed a little more.”
What I love most about this duology is that the characters are absolutely ruthless and it’s just so much fun to read. I will never tire of Kaz’s cruel but seamless plans and his hard exterior. He’s a perfect main character because of his complexity and his soft, gooey, marshmallowy centre. And that’s what I love about all of the characters in this novel. They’re all extremely complex and I’ll never stop discovering new sides to them no matter how many books Leigh Bardugo gives us (I’m devastated that this is only a duology!). I love that the book is peppered with little flashbacks so that we get to see the characters’ backstories and further understand where they came from. While a lot of Six of Crows was about the pasts of Kaz, Inej, Nina and Matthias, Crooked Kingdom places greater emphasis on Jesper and Wylan’s stories. I loved learning more about them because I didn’t really care for them as much as I did the other four characters in Six of Crows. I started to care more about them and see them as more than just side characters, which they were to me in the first book of the duology. And of course, I continued to love the rest of the characters and even developed a bit of a soft spot for Kuwei, who’s a bit of a troublemaker!
“I would come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together – knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”
The relationships and the dynamics between the characters were what made this book for me. I, of course, loved the three couples. I loved how Jesper and Wylan were there for each other and supported each other throughout their family issues and devastating pasts. I loved Nina and Matthias’s relationship and how he was so awkward at expressing his feelings. I love that Matthias is strong and tough but is secretly a romantic, and I love how Nina balances him out by being her shameless, indulgent self. And I love Kaz and Inej, and how they’re both broken but they fit so well together. I love all the things that Kaz does for Inej and how her happiness comes first. But I also really love how all these characters interact with the other characters who aren’t their romantic partners/love interests. I really enjoyed Jesper’s banter with everyone around him, especially Kaz and Kuwei. I loved how Inej brings out the protective older brother in Jesper and Matthias. And, of course, Kaz and Nina hold a special place in my heart that I reserve for great fictional friendships.
But they were his first friends, his only friends, and Wylan knew that even if he’d had his pick of a thousand companions, these would have been the people he chose.
I could go on for another ten days about all the things I love about Crooked Kingdom and the duology in general. There’s really nothing that I didn’t like about the book and I could go on reading about the mischief that these characters get up to for another 100 books (pleeeeasseeeee!). I absolutely love this series and this world and I’m so sad to be saying goodbye....more
The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favourite series of all time and I was extremely e3.5 stars. This review also appears on my blog, Reading with Jenna.
The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favourite series of all time and I was extremely excited to read another retelling by Marissa Meyer. Sadly, Heartless fell way short of my expectations and I hate to say this… but I’m glad that it’s a standalone and that we can move on to bigger and better things.
Heartless is a villain origin story. It’s an Alice in Wonderland reimagining and we follow the Queen of Hearts from my childhood (or young adulthood) into her descent into evilness. Prior to being the Queen of Hearts, Cath was a girl who was not interested in being a society girl and marrying into a wealthy family. All she wanted to do was to open a bakery with her maid and best friend. However, without the approval from her parents and the resources to do so, she’s left with no choice but to enter into a courtship with the King of Hearts. But when she meets the court jester, Jest, they fall in love and begin a secret relationship…
My biggest problem with Heartless was the romance. I didn’t think that Cath and Jest had any chemistry together. I didn’t feel any passion or love between the two of them, which was a really big surprise to me because of how much I love all of the ships in The Lunar Chronicles. It didn’t feel like Marissa Meyer had taken the time to develop the relationship between Cath and Jest, and it just felt extremely forced. In terms of the characters themselves, I didn’t feel like Cath or Jest were particularly interesting characters. Besides Cath being a talented baker, there was nothing about her that stood our and her characterisation just fell flat. I felt similarly about Jest. I was expecting him to be quirky and interesting because he was the court jester but he came across to me as another typical male love interest. There just wasn’t much to the characters in this novel.
I didn’t think that the world building was strong. The world just felt like every other Alice in Wonderland-inspired novel that I’ve ever read. It wasn’t particularly original and there wasn’t a lot of time dedicated to developing it. I was honestly a bit underwhelmed by it. However, I did enjoy the plot of the book and how it fit into the world. I was a bit disappointed with the first half of the book because there was absolutely nothing happening and I found it extremely hard to get into the novel. But I did start to enjoy it more towards the middle of the story when there was a little bit more action. I loved the story of the Jabberwock and the role that it played in the book. That was perhaps my favourite aspect of the novel. The last section of the novel was interesting but I wasn’t the biggest fan of it. Knowing that Heartless was a villain origin story ruined the ending for me a little. I knew that Cath would start becoming evil and when she did, I found it to be a bit underwhelming. I thought that it happened too abruptly because one moment she was not evil, and the next she was. I also found the catalyst of the whole thing to be kind of predictable.
Overall, Heartless was not the book that I wanted it to be. It wasn’t exciting enough for me and I thought the characters, the romance and part of the plot were boring and disappointing. However, Marissa Meyer’s writing never disappoints so I still managed to enjoy it....more
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