Showing posts with label series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label series. Show all posts

18 Aug 2023

Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays: THE ENDLESS WAR by Danielle L. Jensen (The Bridge Kingdom #4) (Review)

18 August 1 Comments

Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays introduces readers who are unfamiliar with the Adult SF/F genre to books, authors, and discussions all about the vast expanse of the world of Adult SF/F!

THE ENDLESS WAR

Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Series: The Bridge Kingdom #4
Source: Audible Plus
Publisher: Audible Originals
Publication Date: May 25, 2023
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Representation: N/A

Summary:
The electrifying fourth installment in the Bridge Kingdom series.

Newly crowned as king, Keris has watched, powerless, as his forbidden relationship with Zarrah is revealed. But when Zarrah is imprisoned by the empress, Keris knows there is only one way to save her: to ally with the kingdom he nearly destroyed.

Imprisoned on the dreaded Devil’s Island, Zarrah faces two choices: prove her loyalty to the empress who condemned her or die a traitor. Yet as she struggles to survive among violent prisoners, Zarrah uncovers a third path: a rebellion to overthrow tyranny entwined with a destiny she must fight to claim.

While the empress plots a war with devastating consequences, Keris and Zarrah must find their way back to each other. Yet their greatest adversary is the fiery passion between them. Unless they overcome the bitterness of betrayal, their love will not be the bringer of peace but rather the fuel that turns the Endless War into an inferno.

Purchase:
Content Warnings: Profanity, violence, torture, cannibalism, explicit (consensual) sexual content, alcohol and drug consumption, character death, death of loved one, and references to past child abuse.


This was exactly what I wanted out of the end of Zarrah and Keris' story. A perfect ending for these two who are so in love with one another that nothing can stop them.

This book picks up right where The Inadequate Heir ended, with Zarrah being condemned by her aunt to remain on Devil’s Island until she can see reason, and Keris being torn between saving her and being the king his country needs.

The book's first part focuses on Keris’ plan to save Zarrah, and Zarrah’s effort to remain alive on Devil’s Island, among all the criminals sent there. The book's second part focuses more on politics as Zarrah and Keris must find a way to beat Petra before she catches them and kills them.

I loved Keris and Zarrah's story, the way that Zarrah learned to love herself and see herself as more than just the shadow of what her aunt wanted and tried to shape her into. Zarrah remains strong and determined to do what’s right for her people, but while I enjoyed her conflicted feelings and self-doubt at first because it made her appear more human and relatable, it became a teeny tiny bit annoying near the end.

There are times when I just wanted to shake her and tell her to get a grip because the lives of thousands of people depended on her and her decisions. Still, I liked her very much in this book too, and she is an inspiring leader, as are all female characters in this series.

This duology overall was spicier than Lara and Aren’s duology, but this book was more focused on the politics and the feelings of the main characters than on smut. There are a few smutty moments, but not as many as in The Inadequate Heir.

(Danielle, please give me a 4.5 story for Keris and Zarrah like the one we got for Aren and Lara!)

I don't even know what to say, I'm just so in love with this world and these characters. Please read this!!

Have you read this book? What was your favourite part?
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14 Aug 2023

Review: A RIVER ENCHANTED by Rebecca Ross (Elements of Cadence #1)

14 August 2 Comments

A RIVER ENCHANTED

Author: Rebecca Ross
Series: Elements of Cadence #1
Source: Audible
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: February 15, 2022

Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Representation: N/A

Summary:
Jack Tamerlaine hasn’t set foot on Cadence in ten long years, content to study music at the mainland university. But when young girls start disappearing from the isle, Jack is summoned home to help find them. Enchantments run deep on Cadence: gossip is carried by the wind; plaid shawls can be as strong as armor, and the smallest cut of a knife can instil fathomless fear. The capricious spirits that rule the isle by fire, water, earth, and wind find mirth in the lives of the humans who call the land home. Adaira, heiress of the east and Jack’s childhood enemy, knows the spirits only answer to a bard’s music, and she hopes Jack can draw them forth by song, enticing them to return the missing girls.

As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters
Content Warning: physical assault, kidnapping, raids, armed conflicts, loss of a parent.

A River Enchanted had some elements I really liked, and some that didn’t work for me at all, leaving me distinctly whelmed.

This was really slow to start and then picked up but it still felt off with the pacing. I think part of my lack of enjoyment stemmed from only one audiobook narrator for what felt like 100 different perspectives. It may have been more clear in the written text who we were following but it wasn't super clear in the audio which made me enjoy it less.

On the positive side, the setting is excellent, and Ross writes really nicely. Her prose is relatively straightforward but there’s a really strong sense of place, inspired by Scotland, with plenty of quaint cottages and a wild, rugged coastline. I also really liked the spirit-based magic system and the way that enchanted songs, clothing and weapons were incorporated into the storyline; magic, in Cadence, has a very clear price that must be weighed up. Some of the most compelling scenes involve Jack making choices about using his bardic talents to control the spirits, even as it begins to physically weaken him.

Additionally, the mystery of the missing children is well done. Some elements are rather predictable, but Ross slowly unravels the true extent of Jack and Adaira’s (the laird’s daughter) complicated family histories throughout the novel, and there is one twist I didn’t see coming that changes the whole dynamic in terms of the characters’ relationships. I’m on the fence about whether I’ll read the sequel, but the ending of this book does set up some rather interesting possibilities for what choices Jack and Adaira might make next in light of their newfound knowledge.

Where this book really fell down for me, however, is the key relationships and the pacing. Somehow, A River Enchanted managed to be both too short and too long. The first chapter tells us that Jack has a complicated relationship with the island of Cadence and with his mother, having been away at university on the mainland for ten years until he is summoned back. Within a chapter or two more, he’s already reconciled his feelings about all of these issues… and we still have 400 pages to go.

Similarly, this book has been pitched as an ‘enemies to lovers romance’, but… it’s not that. Based on how their relationship is laid out in the book, Jack and Adaira used to lightly tease each other as kids before being separated for ten years; any bickering now they have reunited could be described as friendly banter at best, which very quickly gives way to romance.

There is another romance between the older adults, Sidra (the local healer) and Torin (the chief warrior of the East), but it’s all very one-note. Sidra is the dutiful mother and healer, and Torin is a stock-standard emotionally stunted hero, and while they make efforts to overcome these tropes during the book, it wasn’t very compelling to me. The most interesting element that has the potential to change their relationship (a particular secret Sidra is hiding) isn’t even brought into play in the first half of this duology.

There’s plenty to like here, and those who like vibes over plot may well find some of the book’s weaknesses to be strengths instead. Unfortunately this one just didn’t quite live up to my hopes. But I look forward to the next book to see how things come together to conclude!

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1 Aug 2023

Review: GUARDIANS OF DAWN: ZHARA by S. Jae-Jones

01 August 0 Comments

GUARDIANS OF DAWN: ZHARA

Author: S. Jae-Jones
Series: Guardians of the Dawn #1
Source: Indigo
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: August 1, 2023

Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Representation: genderfluid, lesbian side characters, lesbian romance (hinted at), Korean main character

Summary:
Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.

Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.

Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.

Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about—appease her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control—without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter with an easily flustered young man named Han brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible.

In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters
Content Warning: animal death, animal cruelty, parental death (off screen), parental neglect, parental abuse, body horror, gore, disability, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, discussions of war, mistreatment of refugees, colourism

If I could give this 10/5 stars, I would. If I could give this 100 stars, I would. I am so gloriously happy about this book!! A mixture of Cinder and Sailor Moon was a book I couldn't pass up. I thought this had an accurate portrayal of teenagers, a lot of good exploration of how neglect affects you, and inclusion that felt natural rather than forced.

I thought there were a lot of good threads between the storyline, the characters, and the magical girl transformations. This had every element that I wanted from a Sailor Moon/magical transformation girl-esque story. It also had a prince in disguise, funny quips, and the ability to showcase how people work together in a time of crisis.

I don't think this book will be for everyone. I don't think Sailor Moon is for everyone. There is a lot of lore and overlap in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara and the main protagonists (both Zhara and Han) can be frustrating at times. (At least Han is a bit better than Tuxedo Mask).

I liked the way that things were explained, that inclusion was incorporated, and that everyone was able to incorporate the language they needed to make people feel comfortable. While there was obviously some pushback in society around different sexualities and gender identities, that wasn't the crux of the issue at hand.

I loved the found family aspect, the mentorship, and the transforming animals that the Guardians had relationships with. I thought the romance was believable and sweet. I appreciated the struggles that Zhara had with accepting that her stepmother didn't love her and that she had been abused. I was shocked at some of the twists in the story and how everything connected.

I did have a bit of an issue with the magical sweeping of everything being great after the last battle (new people in power, changes in legislation basically overnight, etc.). But by that point I was so into the story and sad it was coming to a close that it was fine.

I can't wait to see where this story goes and meeting the other Guardians!!

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16 Jan 2023

Review: ONCE UPON A CON Series by Ashley Poston

16 January 1 Comments

GEEKERELLA

Author: Ashley Poston
Series: Once Upon A Con #1
Source: Audio from Audible
Publisher: Quirk Books
Publication Date: April 4, 2017

Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Representation (Whole Series): F/F romance, demisexual main character (implied) Japanese side character, M/M romance (side characters), bisexual main character, latinx side character, nonbinary side character

Summary:
Cinderella goes to the con in this fandom-fueled twist on the classic fairy tale.

Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.

Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
Content Warning: Moderately strong language, emotional abuse, fatphobia, groping, Harry Potter references, misogyny

Geekerella

I thought this was really cute and I liked a lot of the retelling portions of this. It hit all the right beats and had a pretty compelling storyline. But I thought some of it was just too convenient and could have been better fleshed out. I just felt like it was too fanfic-y for me, especially since the romance felt almost insta-love. I know, I know, they talked for a while. But only via text and never once called each other. And the explanation for not doing that wasn't compelling enough in my opinion.

But it was cute! And I enjoyed it so I'll probably continue on with this series.

The Princess and the Fangirl

I didn't realize I skipped this one when I was reading, so I came back to it before continuing with another book. This was ... okay. I like the setting of this series and how it could be our world and life. But it was also kinda boring.

There wasn't a lot of things happening because we learned the plot right from the beginning and then there was just too much fluff in between for me to really enjoy it. I was hoping for a bit more action than what we were getting. It also didn't quite make sense that they switched places when Jess could have just asked Imogen to go find the script for her.

But it was cute! And I'm glad I read this series. It's free on Audible Plus so if you have the chance, give it a read.

Bookish and the Beast

This was really cute and I enjoyed it a lot! It doesn't have the same level of "fandom" as Geekerella, but it was definitely a cute rom-com novel. I did think the characters fell a little short and everyone had the convenience of "being rich" which made a lot of the problems easily solvable.

I thought this could have been a better retelling of Beauty and the Beast - it focused so much on how Vance doesn't see the magic of books rather than the other aspects of B&tB. I like books about books, but this just didn't have the right magic for me.

I do recommend this series, though!

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9 Jan 2023

Review: MONSTERS OF VERITY DUOLOGY by Victoria Schwab

09 January 1 Comments

THIS SAVAGE SONG

Author: Victoria Schwab
Series: Monsters of Verity #1
Source: Audio from Kobo
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Publication Date: July 5, 2016

Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Representation: main character with a disability, genderfluid side character, gay side character

Summary:
There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
Content Warning: murder, attempted murder, suicide, death via car crash, torture, physical assault, and domestic violence

This Savage Song

I need the next book now. What a great start to this series! I am usually not a huge fan of urban fantasy, but I guess Victoria Schwab can get me to read and enjoy just about anything. I loved the build up and slower pace of the first bit of this only to have some explosive action in the second half - and at the end!

I thought Kate and August were both fantastic characters, strong and independent in their own way. I loved seeing how they came together, learned to rely on one another, and the ways that they had to learn to trust one another given their own histories.

I thought this had a lot of really great conversations around what it means to be human and a monster. Schwab does a fantastic job of writing the anti-hero and making you root for the people who become monsters by trying to save their humanity.

I highly recommend picking this one up!

Our Dark Duet

This takes place 184 days (or 6 months) after the end of THIS SAVAGE SONG. I basically read it that many months after too so it felt like a good representation of time for me.

The relationship between Kate and August remains one of my favourite aspects of this series because their experiences in This Savage Song forged into an incorrigible bond, which grows in intensity and depth in Our Dark Duet. Their friendship is a wonderful exploration of how two people can be so different and yet see straight through to each other's hearts. 

The story itself is good and has a lot of nuance to it - what is really good and what is really evil is a common theme among these two novels. But I thought it was a bit slow in the first half and took too long to get up to a good pace considering this was a sequel.

While I really enjoyed this book, I think it would have almost been better as just the first novel with an ambiguous ending and being able to choose your own adventure for our main characters. But it is such a unique story and series that I still absolutely loved it.

This is definitely a series I recommend!

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11 Nov 2022

Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays: RAVEN UNVEILED by Grace Draven

11 November 0 Comments

Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays introduces readers who are unfamiliar with the Adult SF/F genre to books, authors, and discussions all about the vast expanse of the world of Adult SF/F!

RAVEN UNVEILED

Author: Grace Draven
Series: Fallen Empire #3
Source: ARC from Publisher
Publisher: Ace
Publication Date: November 8, 2022

Summary:
A woman with the gift to speak to the dead—and the assassin pursuing her—may be the only chance a crumbling empire has of holding back true evil, in this electrifying fantasy romance from the USA Today bestselling author of Radiance.

Siora has been on the run for longer than she cares to remember, from her past and her gift. Born with the ability to see and speak to ghosts, she has heard their desperate pleas as an otherworldly predator stalks the dead amid the fertile killing fields of the collapsing Krael Empire. The creature’s power and reach are growing with every soul it consumes, but Siora is preoccupied with her own troubles: namely an assassin who has sworn an oath of vengeance against her.

Gharek of Cabast was once the right-hand man of the reviled empress but is now a wanted fugitive. Although his reasons for hunting Siora are viscerally personal, what Gharek can’t anticipate is that when he finally does find her, she will hold the key to saving his world, or what’s left of it. To make good on old debts and protect the vulnerable dead from a malevolent force, Gharek and Siora will both need to make an ally out of an enemy—and trust that will be enough to save each other. 

Purchase:

Describe RAVEN UNVEILED in 240 characters or less.

Grace Draven: RAVEN UNVEILED is a story about a woman possessing necromantic magic and an assassin with a bounty on his head who must team up together to conquer the dangers of a collapsing empire and stop an otherworldly menace from consume the living and the dead.

What have you learned while writing THE FALLEN EMPIRE series? If you could go back and rewrite pieces of PHOENIX UNBOUND, what would you change?

Grace Draven: I've learned about the strength and fallibility of the human spirit while writing this series. While we refer to our main characters as heroes and heroines, I still try to write them as people who deal with the consequences of their successes and their failures. I've learned I can write a character whose actions I may not personally agree with but who makes me think and wonder what I might do if I were in their shoes.

As for PHOENIX UNBOUND, I don't think I'd rewrite any of it at this point. At the time I wrote it, I was in a different head-space than I am now. That can be said for any book I've written. I think it's better to move on and write something new, employing what you learned from the previous books to make the current and future ones better.

Which of your characters did you find easiest to write?

Grace Draven: For PHOENIX UNBOUND, I found Azarion easier to write than Gilene. His focus and goals were more straightforward than hers. For DRAGON UNLEASHED, it was easier to write Malachus but more fun to write Halani. Again, his motivations were more straightforward. I felt Halani was a more complex character. For RAVEN UNVEILED, that's a 505/50 toss-up between Gharek and Siora. They were both complicated to write, and I enjoyed unpacking their enormous respective baggage.

What is your favourite romantic moment between Gilene and Azarion throughout the series?

Grace Draven: Favorite romantic moment between Gilene and Azarion – at one point in the story, they part ways. She reaches out to him and he stops her, telling her if she does, he won't let her go.

What is the most interesting part of writing fantasy novels?

Grace Draven: I love world-building, so that is always the most interesting part of writing any novel in any genre (but especially fantasy) in my opinion.

What has been the best book you've read in the past six months?

Grace Draven: Best book I've read in the past six months – that's a difficult question. That all depends on the mood I'm in at the time I'm reading. Right now I'm reading a horror/psychological thriller called HIDDEN COMPANY by Sarah England. It has time loop elements, a Victorian woman trapped in an asylum, a 21st century woman who's a psych nurse and reluctant medium, and some very nightmarish and sinister fae creatures. It takes place in the Welsh countryside. Atmospheric and perfect for Halloween.

What can we expect from you next?

Grace Draven: I have a heavy schedule for the remainder of this year and throughout 2023. I'm finishing a Wraith Kings novella called BLACK HELLEBORE, working on another novella called THE HANDMAIDEN, submitting two proposals to my agent, and working on the 4th novel in the Wraith Kings series titled THE NOMAS KING with the goal of releasing that one sometime next year. So very, very busy.
Gharek held a small lamp aloft to illuminate the path ahead. He didn't worry that the fragile light might be seen in the distance and alert someone. His mount's hooves crushing sticks and brittle deadfall would accomplish the task long before the light did.

The music of insects and bird calls had been loud just before he crossed the tree line, a cacophony of whistles, rustles, and chirps. Those sounds died away the closer he rode to the ruins of the dead city until the silence itself held its breath and only the gloom shrouding the trees breathed. His amiable mare stopped suddenly then pranced backward, tossing her head and snorting. Gharek tapped his heels against her sides to coax her forward. She'd have none of it, fighting the bit in her mouth as she pivoted on her hooves to trot back the way they'd come.

Gharek reined her to a halt, considering whether it was wise to continue his scouting in another direction or make camp nearby and wait until morning to resume his hunt. He'd lose time with camping but trying to find anyone in this darkness while riding a spooked horse was an exercise in futility. Besides, he could make up the time in daylight. Siora was on foot, he on horseback. He'd cover far more ground in less time than she would, and the chance she'd outrun him if he spotted her was nonexistent.

He guided the mare to retrace her steps, and this time she readily obeyed the command, eager to put distance between them and the city that squatted like a pustule on the landscape. But she'd taken no more than a pair of steps when something wrapped icy fingers around Gharek's spine and wrenched him backward. He flew off the saddle as if lassoed from behind and landed on his back. The ground beneath him vibrated from the beat of his mare's hooves as she bolted past him into the labyrinth of trees.

He lay there for a moment, stunned and winded. The ice shard wedged against his backbone remained, though whatever had ripped him from horseback didn't press him into the dirt. A few more breaths and he lurched to his feet, unsettled by his unusual clumsiness, alarmed by the violence of an invisible force that had so thoroughly unhorsed him. There'd been no trip rope to clothesline him, nor had he been riding fast when he fell. The lamp he held had fallen when he did, lost somewhere in the underbrush when its flickering light had guttered. Darkness hung thick enough to scoop with a spoon.

His muttered curses sounded loud to his ears as he peered into the sepulchral black, hoping he might spot the mare standing nearby or at least find a partially cleared path that led back to open pasture. He took a step only to suffer a hard clamp on his backbone, as if the icicle there had suddenly transformed into a shackle locked around his middle. Invisible tethers seized his arms and legs and he was jerked to one side and then the other as if by a drunken puppeteer with their hands on the strings.

Gharek staggered, struggling to keep his feet, struggling to free himself from the bonds that held him in an unbreakable grip that both dragged and yanked him in the direction of Midrigar's walls. He careened through the dark, along a jagged path that propelled him into tree trunks before spinning him away to tear through the underbrush. He tried planting his feet in the dirt to no avail, his boots carving skid marks as he was pulled along like a cur on a leash. His palms left bloody smears on the bark of those trees he tried to grip for purchase and was wrenched away with little effort.

The iciness slithering down his spine spread in creeper tendrils throughout his body, wrapping around his lungs and heart, his liver, even his tongue so that his curses and snarls slowly ebbed away and his struggles waned. Speaking was an impossibility, breathing a challenge, and he was reduced to nothing more than a grunting, shambling mute driven inexorably toward an ancient city of the damned and a fate he could not know but feared with every part of his soul.

Excerpted from Raven Unveiled by Grace Draven Copyright © 2022 by Grace Draven. Excerpted by permission of Ace. All rights reserved.

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