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erinarkin20
Sooooo good! How am I going survive waiting for the next book???
Full review to come.
Full review to come.
You guys! The second I saw the cover for Nevernight by Jay Kristoff I knew I had to have this book in my hands. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to get a finished copy of this on my shelves. In the meantime, I will tell you…this book did not disappoint. There was so much I loved about it that I am sure my review will be a rambling mess but please bear with me. I promise no spoilers though.
Mia Corvere is the daughter of an accused traitor and when he is executed and her mother and brother are imprisoned, she barely escapes with her life. On her own for the first time in her life, Mia has no idea how to survive on the streets and lucky for her, she meets Mercurio and he becomes her mentor and her guide to get her the vengeance she is desperately seeking against those that destroyed her life. One other thing about Mia is she can control shadows which gives her an advantage in some cases, also causes her to wonder what she really is and what it means. Her cat, who she calls Mr. Kindly, is made of shadows and guides her through the dangers of the life she has chosen.
As the story picks up, Mia is on her way to join the Red Church so she can train to become a blade. She, along with a number of other acolytes, are headed to the fight for their place in the Church and holy cow do they have a fight ahead of them. There are no holds barred and if you don’t like violence or gory situations, I don’t know what to tell you. Admittedly that stuff doesn’t bother me at all and I thought it added to the grittiness of the story. The trials all of the acolytes face aren’t at all easy and in fact, a good number of the acolytes are expected to die along the way…and they do. This helps whittle down the group size and eventually the top acolyte in each hall will be crowned the victor and be inducted as a blade.
I thought Kristoff did a fantastic job of building out this story. First, the world building was ridiculously good. From the governmental structure to the description of the surroundings, to how they travel. Second, the characters and how they all interacted with each other had me rooting for some and cursing others. Of course, you will quickly find out who Mia allies herself with and then who becomes her nemesis but in this type of world there is always the question of who can you really trust…
As for characters, there are too many of them for me to talk about all of them but the ones she gets the closest to are Tric and Ashlinn. Their friendship is one of the things that helps Mia get through the trials she faces every single day. Mia gets especially close to Tric and I liked that the relationship (if you want to call it that) makes Mia appear less hardened than she normally comes off. Don’t get me wrong, she is tough, strategic, and has hardened herself against all the things that could hurt her but I loved that she let Tric in a little bit. One thing to note here…some of these scenes are explicit. Again, not something that bothers me but something that definitely the reader should be aware of.
Ashlinn and Mia hit it off almost immediately and I think it is because they are both motivated to be at the top of the list due to their situations. I won’t go into any detail here but Ashlinn is someone that Mia relies on and trusts.
It quickly becomes apparent that there is a killer living amongst the assassins….obviously, but not the kind of killer they want. This one is killing off the acolytes and while the group is in danger everyday due to the trials they are facing, this isn’t something anyone was expecting and creates some challenges for the acolytes.
As the book wraps up I admit I wanted to learn more about why Mia was marked by the Night and able to call the dark. I am hopeful that we will get more information on what Mr. Kindly really is. I will admit I found the footnotes a bit distracting and in most cases unnecessary to follow the story. After a while I just made the decision not to pay attention to them and then eventually went back to read them.
I don’t know what else I can tell you here as I don’t want to ruin this for you at all. Nevernight is one of my favorite fantasy books this year and while it started a bit slow for me, as the story built, I found it more and more difficult to put it down. If you love the fantasy genre and aren’t afraid of a little violence, definitely check this one out. It has a fantastic story and a main character I couldn’t help but like…despite her flaws.
Thank you to Thomas Dunne Books for the review copy!
Mia Corvere is the daughter of an accused traitor and when he is executed and her mother and brother are imprisoned, she barely escapes with her life. On her own for the first time in her life, Mia has no idea how to survive on the streets and lucky for her, she meets Mercurio and he becomes her mentor and her guide to get her the vengeance she is desperately seeking against those that destroyed her life. One other thing about Mia is she can control shadows which gives her an advantage in some cases, also causes her to wonder what she really is and what it means. Her cat, who she calls Mr. Kindly, is made of shadows and guides her through the dangers of the life she has chosen.
As the story picks up, Mia is on her way to join the Red Church so she can train to become a blade. She, along with a number of other acolytes, are headed to the fight for their place in the Church and holy cow do they have a fight ahead of them. There are no holds barred and if you don’t like violence or gory situations, I don’t know what to tell you. Admittedly that stuff doesn’t bother me at all and I thought it added to the grittiness of the story. The trials all of the acolytes face aren’t at all easy and in fact, a good number of the acolytes are expected to die along the way…and they do. This helps whittle down the group size and eventually the top acolyte in each hall will be crowned the victor and be inducted as a blade.
I thought Kristoff did a fantastic job of building out this story. First, the world building was ridiculously good. From the governmental structure to the description of the surroundings, to how they travel. Second, the characters and how they all interacted with each other had me rooting for some and cursing others. Of course, you will quickly find out who Mia allies herself with and then who becomes her nemesis but in this type of world there is always the question of who can you really trust…
As for characters, there are too many of them for me to talk about all of them but the ones she gets the closest to are Tric and Ashlinn. Their friendship is one of the things that helps Mia get through the trials she faces every single day. Mia gets especially close to Tric and I liked that the relationship (if you want to call it that) makes Mia appear less hardened than she normally comes off. Don’t get me wrong, she is tough, strategic, and has hardened herself against all the things that could hurt her but I loved that she let Tric in a little bit. One thing to note here…some of these scenes are explicit. Again, not something that bothers me but something that definitely the reader should be aware of.
Ashlinn and Mia hit it off almost immediately and I think it is because they are both motivated to be at the top of the list due to their situations. I won’t go into any detail here but Ashlinn is someone that Mia relies on and trusts.
It quickly becomes apparent that there is a killer living amongst the assassins….obviously, but not the kind of killer they want. This one is killing off the acolytes and while the group is in danger everyday due to the trials they are facing, this isn’t something anyone was expecting and creates some challenges for the acolytes.
As the book wraps up I admit I wanted to learn more about why Mia was marked by the Night and able to call the dark. I am hopeful that we will get more information on what Mr. Kindly really is. I will admit I found the footnotes a bit distracting and in most cases unnecessary to follow the story. After a while I just made the decision not to pay attention to them and then eventually went back to read them.
I don’t know what else I can tell you here as I don’t want to ruin this for you at all. Nevernight is one of my favorite fantasy books this year and while it started a bit slow for me, as the story built, I found it more and more difficult to put it down. If you love the fantasy genre and aren’t afraid of a little violence, definitely check this one out. It has a fantastic story and a main character I couldn’t help but like…despite her flaws.
Thank you to Thomas Dunne Books for the review copy!
Don’t judge me but Flamecaster is the first book I have read by Cinda Williams Chima. I have other books by her but for some reason have put off actually reading them. Regardless, Flamecaster has motivated me to pick all of them up in the near future and begin working through them. I do have to say, I do kind of wish I had read the Seven Realms series before starting this one but I have a feeling that it might have been a good thing that I didn’t. This book had everything I love about the fantasy genre in it. There are strong, well-developed characters, magic, some swoon, and a fantastic story.
The book dives right into the action and immediately we are introduced to the major players. There is Ash, a healer with a gift for magic who also happens to be the son of someone important to the overall story (there is more to say here but I’m trying to be a little vague). Ash is on a mission for most of the book because the king of Arden has created a lot of pain for the people he loves. I have to say I loved seeing how much Ash cared about his parents and sister and the catalyst that puts him in the situation he is in for most of the book just made me want to hug him.
The other main character is Jenna and she has not had an easy life. Working as a coal miner in a small village, Jenna experiences something that makes the decision to join the rebels standing up to the king super easy. Despite her role within the rebels, Jenna has flown under the radar but now the king is looking for someone who bears something called a magemark…just like she has and when one of the king’s best spies comes to town and locks everyone down, things become very dangerous for Jenna. I liked Jenna. She stands up for herself and is willing to do whatever she needs to in order to protect the people she loves.
When Ash and Jenna finally cross paths, the friendship/relationship that develops is one that I wanted more of. I love the swoony bits and loved seeing how these two went from being strangers to eventually trusting one another to help get them out of the situation they are currently in.
The secondary characters are also very well done and Chima mixes a variety into this story. Lila was fantastic and I hope we get to see more of her in the next book. As odd as it sounds, there are also some blood drinking priests that make things very difficult for Ash along the way and I found this piece of the story very interesting.
I have to say that Chima did a wonderful job of developing this world. Even though I haven’t read the other series, it didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I got just enough backstory to make the connection between the characters and worlds but this book definitely stands well on its own. Add to that, the dialog, the character development and the overall story of the war between the realms and this is a story that had me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next.
So, that’s about all I can say without completely giving the story away. You know me, I hate to spoil it for anyone so just trust me when I tell you that you should try to get your hands on this. If you enjoy fantasy stories at all - I have a feeling you will find that you are unable to put this book down once you begin and to be perfectly honest, once you hit the end, if you are anything like me you will want the next book immediately. If you are looking for a new fantasy series, definitely consider checking this one out. I enjoyed it a lot and can’t wait to see where Chima takes the story, and these characters, in the next book.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy.
The book dives right into the action and immediately we are introduced to the major players. There is Ash, a healer with a gift for magic who also happens to be the son of someone important to the overall story (there is more to say here but I’m trying to be a little vague). Ash is on a mission for most of the book because the king of Arden has created a lot of pain for the people he loves. I have to say I loved seeing how much Ash cared about his parents and sister and the catalyst that puts him in the situation he is in for most of the book just made me want to hug him.
The other main character is Jenna and she has not had an easy life. Working as a coal miner in a small village, Jenna experiences something that makes the decision to join the rebels standing up to the king super easy. Despite her role within the rebels, Jenna has flown under the radar but now the king is looking for someone who bears something called a magemark…just like she has and when one of the king’s best spies comes to town and locks everyone down, things become very dangerous for Jenna. I liked Jenna. She stands up for herself and is willing to do whatever she needs to in order to protect the people she loves.
When Ash and Jenna finally cross paths, the friendship/relationship that develops is one that I wanted more of. I love the swoony bits and loved seeing how these two went from being strangers to eventually trusting one another to help get them out of the situation they are currently in.
The secondary characters are also very well done and Chima mixes a variety into this story. Lila was fantastic and I hope we get to see more of her in the next book. As odd as it sounds, there are also some blood drinking priests that make things very difficult for Ash along the way and I found this piece of the story very interesting.
I have to say that Chima did a wonderful job of developing this world. Even though I haven’t read the other series, it didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I got just enough backstory to make the connection between the characters and worlds but this book definitely stands well on its own. Add to that, the dialog, the character development and the overall story of the war between the realms and this is a story that had me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next.
So, that’s about all I can say without completely giving the story away. You know me, I hate to spoil it for anyone so just trust me when I tell you that you should try to get your hands on this. If you enjoy fantasy stories at all - I have a feeling you will find that you are unable to put this book down once you begin and to be perfectly honest, once you hit the end, if you are anything like me you will want the next book immediately. If you are looking for a new fantasy series, definitely consider checking this one out. I enjoyed it a lot and can’t wait to see where Chima takes the story, and these characters, in the next book.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy.
The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins is one of those books I had my eye on the moment I read the summary and I have to tell you, Higgins did not disappoint and I am for sure looking forward to not only the next book in this series, but also future books from Higgins.
When a beast terrorizes the kingdom of Lochlanach, everyone is worried…even the king. It is because of this, that the king makes the decision to put the ultimate prize up for grabs; the hand of his daughter, Princess Aerity, in marriage. Aerity has always thought she would marry for love, like her parents but she knows what is at stake in their kingdom and she is willing to do whatever she needs to in order to protect those she loves. Enter Paxton Seabolt, a young man who has no patience for royals. All he wants is to kill the beast but the princess surprises him over and over.
I really enjoyed this story and not only does Higgins keep it interesting with the action and the mystery of the beast but there are secrets and danger everywhere. If you are looking for a fantasy with great characters and an interesting story, definitely check this one out.
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for the review copy!
When a beast terrorizes the kingdom of Lochlanach, everyone is worried…even the king. It is because of this, that the king makes the decision to put the ultimate prize up for grabs; the hand of his daughter, Princess Aerity, in marriage. Aerity has always thought she would marry for love, like her parents but she knows what is at stake in their kingdom and she is willing to do whatever she needs to in order to protect those she loves. Enter Paxton Seabolt, a young man who has no patience for royals. All he wants is to kill the beast but the princess surprises him over and over.
I really enjoyed this story and not only does Higgins keep it interesting with the action and the mystery of the beast but there are secrets and danger everywhere. If you are looking for a fantasy with great characters and an interesting story, definitely check this one out.
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for the review copy!
I love this series and am so glad I did my re-read via audio. I'm pretty sure I have said this already but if you love the books, check out the audio. The narrator does a great job and of course, the story is fantastic!
