“Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.”
REVIEW
I was SERIOUSLY HESITANT to read this one for no real reason other than the length, which felt like a herculean task. I finally had a friend really lean into it and tell me to just give it a try. Well, you see the stars. Sometimes Violet annoyed me, but I loved the life or death feel and the danger around every corner. I devoured this book and Iron Flame in less than a week–don’t ask me how I crushed almost 1500 pages in a week, I honestly do not know.
The plot is fast paced and there is a stack of secrets that you absolutely race to reveal. The tension between the main characters is palpable and the stakes are sky high–any wrong move could be a death sentence. I was hooked on this in the same way I was hooked on Hunger Games and ACOTAR when they first hit shelves.
If you’re into high tension, some spice, and fantasy, get on the frigging band wagon, dude.
4.5*s. Best enjoyed when you need a quick visual cozy fantasy.
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“Juniper and Hadley have a good thing going in Larkspur, spending their respective days apprenticing at a little bakery and performing at the local inn. But when a stranger makes an unusual order at the bakery, the two friends (and Hadley’s pet snake, Fern) set out on a journey to forage the magical mushrooms needed to make the requested galette pastries.
Along the way, Juniper and Hadley stumble across a mystery too compelling to ignore: Something has been coming out of the woods at night and eating the local farmers’ crops, leaving only a trail of glowy goo behind. Intent on finally going on an adventure that could fuel their bardic craft, Hadley tows Juniper into the woods to investigate.
What started as a simple errand to pick mushrooms soon turns into a thrilling quest to save some furry new friends—and their caretaker, a softspoken little fey named Thistle—who are in danger of losing their home.”
REVIEW:
This story was super cute. Fairies, bakeries, a little bit of love? This seems to be the time for cozy fantasy, and this graphic novel totally fits the bill.
The soft pink and green illustrations and characters learning to be happy with who they are that are also willing to accept love and help those who are unlike them in small but profound ways. The friendships and self-acceptance were depicted in such easy and wonderful ways that I almost didn’t want it to end.
This graphic novel is so beautiful and happy and I plan to revisit it when I need a pick me up. It is definitely a book to pick up when you want someone soft and light and still full of magic and low stakes adventure.
Thank you to Netgalley and publisher, MacMillan Children’s, for the advanced copy in exchange for this fair and honest review.
FIVE. GLOWING. STARS. Best enjoyed when you want high adventure and a broken heart.
Publisher’s Synopsis
“Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.
Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.
Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.”
REVIEW:
One chapter into this book and I knew it was going to break my heart. The writing was absolutely fantastic, the settings incredible, and the emotion seeped into every word. I can’t tell you how much it pains me that I have to wait more than a year for the next one and I can only pray I get a Galley for it, because there is a distinct broken feeling in my chest when I think about it, and I think about it often. It both broke my reading slump and caused another one that could only be served by lighthearted romance, which feels like the exact opposite of this.
This book has mystery, adventure, romance, angst, war. I’m a sucker for a good Viking fantasy, and this was top tier. From the mundane to the magical, it was all described in such great ways. I fell into it so easily and coming up for air was like entering into a completely different world, familiar yet altered in some way. That’s the best part about a really good book.
Freya’s feelings of being trapped and finding her powers, exploring her honor and duty while in fear of assassination and always being a prisoner of her own making were palpable. The relationships she develops feel so very real as does the moments of love and betrayal both in turn. Of course, with as deeply expressed as the other emotions are, the romance and spice was also top tier. The spicy scenes throughout were incredibly hot.
Bjorn is also an awesome character and the will they won’t they continually reached a frantic pitch throughout the book, amping up the tension and the stakes continuously. Honestly, the way he’s described? I don’t know how anyone could resist a warrior Viking with a touch-her-and-die vibe. It was pretty hot—and I’m not just talking about his fire magic.
The end of this story left a bit of a cliffhanger, but one that had a ton of promise for the next book. So excited to see what happens!
Thank you to Netgalley, Danielle L Jensen, and Random House for the advanced copy in exchange for this review.
Illustrated by Veronica & Andy Fish, Pub date 9/12/23
4*s. Best enjoyed when you need a technicolor nightmare scape.
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“What would you do for $50,000? For Mack, the prize money would be life changing. She knows her time at the women’s shelter is already up. And she’s good at hiding. At least this time, her life doesn’t depend on it–or so she thinks.
The challenge is simple. All fourteen competitors must spend seven days hiding in an abandoned amusement park from dawn to dusk. There’s only one rule: Don’t get caught.
But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more dangerous than she’d imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.”
Review:
This graphic novel was adapted from White’s book Hide. Although I had heard pretty good things and had it on my TBR, when I saw this graphic novel of the book I jumped at the chance to read it.
The illustrations in the book are delightful with a classic gritty comic book vibe and some seriously vivd colors that render the story in a neon colored hell scape.
The story itself is very good. It’s obviously not a regular game of hide and seek, but when people end up murdered by something and strange occult-y books and renderings are found throughout the abandoned amusement park that makes up the setting, it’s very clear that something more than just a weird child’s game with a huge prize at the end.
The overall lore was well thought out, the plot and pace was great for a graphic novel, and there was very little left to question at the end. Often with books turned graphic, there’s something lost in translation in the story. Although I didn’t read the original, I felt very satisfied with where this book went and the loose ends were minimal if not nil by the end.
Thanks to Netgalley, White, and Ten Speed Press for the advanced copy in exchange for this honest review!
4.5*s. Best enjoyed when you want a dark fantasy with a slightly flawed heroine and a very mysterious narrative.
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“”Tell me again, Grandmère, the story of how I die.”
The Midnight Forest. The Fanged Creature. Two fortune-telling cards that spell an untimely death for 17-year-old Clara. Despite the ever-present warning from her fortune-teller grandmother, Clara embarks on a dangerous journey into the deadly Forest Grimm to procure a magical book—Sortes Fortunae, the Book of Fortunes—with the power to reverse the curse on her village and save her mother.
Years ago, when the villagers whispered their deepest desires to the book, its pages revealed how to obtain them. All was well until someone used the book for an evil purpose—to kill another person. Afterward, the branches of the Forest Grimm snatched the book away, the well water in Grimm’s Hollow turned rancid, and the crops died from disease. The villagers tried to make amends with the forest, but every time someone crossed its border, they never returned.
Now, left with no alternative, Clara and her close friend, Axel—who is fated never to be with her—have set their minds to defying fate and daring to accomplish what no one else has been able to before. But the forest—alive with dark, deadly twists on some of our most well-known fairy tales—has a mind of its own.“
Review:
First of all, super excited that this will be a duology. The epilogue left me wanting more, and I’m glad that Purdie is planning to give that to us.
I wouldn’t say that The Forest Grimm is necessarily a fairytale retelling, it’s more of a dark original version mash up. It has all of the same ingredients that a normal fairytale would have. It has magic, conflict, an evil force that is wreaking havoc, a rescue of sorts, and love (chivalric, familial, or romantic—this has all three). If mainstream fairytales were a birthday cake, this one is far more of a black forest. A deep decadent chocolate with tart bursts of cherry. If you find that mouth watering, sink your teeth into this one.
Fate and magic are woven deeply into the village of Grimm’s Hallow, a cursed place that was once full of light and magic…until someone took advantage of that magic to kill. Now, the forest surrounding Grimm’s Hallow has pulled back the roots of its magic that once nourished it, sometimes stealing villagers in the night and killing or maiming those who try to enter it to find the Lost. Every few months, there is a lottery that determines the next person who may try to enter the forest to save the lost villagers and find the magic book that was once used as a weapon, and reverse the curse.
Clara’s mother was the first to be Lost three years before. Her grandmother, a seer, has already foreseen Clara’s early death in her cards. She’s prepared to die if it means she can get into the forest and trade her life for her mother’s. When she tries to cheat at the next lottery and her friend, Axel, is chosen instead, Clara is determined to go with him into the forest. But the forest is forbidding and foreboding, and Clara only finds a way into it through happenstance. Axel and Clara steal into the forest to find both Clara’s mother and Axel’s Lost fiancée, Ella. When they are joined by Clara’s best friend and Ella’s sister, Henni, the three travel deeper into the vicious woods protected only thinly by a loophole in the forest’s magic in the shape of a red rampion flower.
As they travel through, they find that the very forest moves in the night when they are asleep, and the Lost have become much more than just Lost—the magic has had a very profound affect over their bodies and minds, dangerous shadows of who they once were. They have been twisted into dark versions of the fairytales that we as the audience know well (Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Hansel & Gretel, a bit of Little Red Riding Hood), becoming people and creatures that make you look sideways at some of the Disney movies or fairytale books we grew up with.
What’s more, there are secrets amongst the group that will have a profound effect on the outcome of their journey. The heavy hint here is romance, but whether that romance will manifest or is doomed from the beginning is yet to seen—to you, because you haven’t read it. But also to me, because I can see this story completely changing with a second book on the way.
Overall, I thought this book was a fantastic dark survival fantasy, which I’m all about. Have you even READ my reviews before? If not, hint: survival thrillers/fantasy are my jam. I can’t wait to see what Purdie has in store for us in the second book. I’ll need a special edition of this one on my shelf.
Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Kathryn Purdie for the advanced copy in exchange for this early and honest review.
3.5*s. Best Enjoyed when you need a break from reality.
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“After the murder of her father – which no one but her believes happened – Verve just wants to hold her family together and take on the role of provider. Unfortunately, a cruel fae lord believes she knows the location of an ancient magical weapon and steals her away to Letorheas, realm of the fairies. The fae lord seems to want something from Verve that goes beyond the weapon, something that many doubt she can provide. Verve must find a way to navigate the strangeness of Letorheas and embrace a destiny more intertwined with the fae than she would like to believe.”
Review:
Brittle was a surprising novel. I’m not sure if there will be another installment, but I enjoyed reading it and finished it in a few short days.
Verve has always tried to be the responsible middle child, and has also always been close to her father, who is away at war. However, when he returns in the middle of the night to talk to her and tells her that there is a secret hidden war being fought and not to trust anyone, not even those she knows without verifying who they are, she’s a little stunned. He tells her he will explain and to meet her at a neighboring farm. When she follows his instructions, she finds herself face to face with her father’s dead body in the barn, which disappears before she can bring anyone else to the spot.
Soon, strange events begin to happen, and neighbors and family become…something else. And when Verve is taken far from home and into another realm entirely, it appears that the secrets that her father imparted upon her may reveal a dangerous, fae-killing weapon at the center of a tremendous power struggle.
As she works out a way to escape this strange land and strange, ever changing mansion she finds herself in, she realizes that her captor may be interesting in more than just the secrets that Verve is hiding. Fae fall in love quickly, and it seems he is no exception. But he’s not the only one interested in her and what she’s hiding, and she soon finds herself stuck between warring factions.
Cally Temple
She may be the key to victory for either side, but her survival and family mean far more to her. She must keep her head in the game and her heart far away if she’s going to come out on top…but that may be harder than she thought.
This was a totally different fae romantasy than I am used to. The romance was not the prominent theme, and it was far more on the lore and the fight than it was on matters of the heart. There’s actually a bit of a coerced marriage scenario stuffed in here that is thankfully mutually beneficial. For that reason, this one’s not super high on my romance scale, but for a dark fantasy story, it’s very well done!
Thank you to Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for the advanced copy of Brittle in exchange for this fair and honest review.
5*s. Best enjoyed when you need an adventure with some enemies to lovers slow burn.
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“A doomed love, a dangerous mission, and a kingdom on the brink of war… A cast-off princess…
Born into a life of duty and sacrifice, Morgan Pendragon’s destiny has never been her own. Rumored to carry the tainted blood of the fae in her veins, her birthright is stolen from her when she is a mere child. Growing up in the shadow of her brother the king, she has been promised to the goddesses when she comes of age. So, when her brother commands that she seek out a fae weapon of legendary power, Morgan seizes the chance to break free from the chains of her fate.
A dangerous temptation…
As she travels, Morgan finds herself drawn into a strange group of outcasts, led by a dark and enigmatic warrior whose sharp wit and fierce beauty set her heart ablaze. But while Morgan struggles to reconcile her desires with her duty, she and her new comrades discover dangers that await them beyond anything in their wildest nightmares.
A slumbering kingdom awoken by blood…
Believed to have vanished generations ago, a fae kingdom dreaded by mortals is ascending once more, bound to reclaim what was lost by violence and bloodshed. As the fae world, with its intricate web of lies and mysteries, is slowly revealed to Morgan, she is led to the terrible realization that the secrets she carries in her blood make her a greater threat than she could ever have imagined.”
Review:
I need to preface this review by revealing that this is a darker take on Arthurian legends, and I am NOT usually a fan of the tales that spring from the mythical Camelot. I usually find them excessively boring and unoriginal. I really struggle with them. However, Queen of Roses was an absolute DELIGHT. There are quite a few trigger warnings for it and some dark material here, so you need to be prepared for that, but it really sets the tone of this darker version of Arthur and his kingdom.
Often, Morgan (Morganna in some instances), Arthur’s half sister, is painted in a negative light by authors or put in a position where she is the villain. This story flips that on its head.
Morgan watched her father kill her fae-blooded mother. And then had to live with that fact. Now, Morgan lives in a very human kingdom where anyone with fae blood is heavily persecuted and sometimes killed. The only thing that really saves Morgan is that she is King Arthur’s sister. As a child and because she is part fae, she was passed up for the throne. She is to be sent to the temple when she turns 21 to study under the High Priestess Merlin, a fate she’s not exactly thrilled with, but one she must accept. After all, it would get her away from Lord Florian, the son of Arthur’s most trusted advisor, who terrorizes her at every turn.
However, it also becomes a matter of survival. Any resistance on her part could mean trouble for those she cares about most like her friends Galahad and Lancelet, and Kaye, her youngest brother, who means everything to her and is the one person in her life that loves her for exactly who she is.
What she’s not expecting is for Arthur to come to her with an important task, one that could save the kingdom. She is threatened with dire consequences should she resist or fail, and is sent with the bare minimum in the way of supplies and protection. One of her protectors is the handsome but infuriating and always grumpy new head of the Royal Guard, Kairos Draven, whose rumored past is one of terror and violence.
As their journey progresses, Draven and Morgan find themselves relying on one another more and more, and Morgan begins to suspect that there is more to Draven then what she was told. But before she can find her way into the cracks she finds in his armor and into the spaces that reveal a far kinder heart, the two are joined by a third party, one that makes Morgan question if her heart and body really belong locked away in a temple, and one that Draven is suspect of, not because he’s competition, but because his motives are suspect, and he may be posing more of a danger to Morgan than just heartbreak.
The major vibes throughout this one were: enemies to lovers, a little love triangle, duty bound, deep secrets revealed, betrayal, interesting magic, and surviving/escaping abuse.
I truly loved this story and I’ve already preordered the next installment!
Thank you to Netgalley and Starwater Press for an advanced copy in exchange for this honest review. Opinions herein are my own.
4*. Best enjoyed when you need to dive into some beautiful art!
Brindille is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel about a girl who suddenly finds herself in a small forest village with strange creatures and no idea how she got there or anything about her past. However, it seems that some very dangerous beings are after her for some reason and they are quickly eating away at the magical wood in their pursuit of her.
With the help of her wolf companion, can Brindille figure out a way to save the world around her and also figure out how she came to be there?
As with most graphic novels, the story is important, but the illustrations are what move it along. The premise of the story is very interesting and the end was entirely surprising, and it makes you want to reread the entire thing to see what you missed.
Thank you to Netgalley and Diamond Book Distributors for the early copy in exchange for this review.
3.5* Best Enjoyed when you’re in the need for a story about a city girl surviving the wilderness
Allysa Baylor, the daughter of a world-famous director, wants to go as far away from her family as possible this summer, hopefully to France with her boyfriend. Ever since her mother died in a car accident, she has blamed her troublesome younger sister, Grace, for the accident and has done everything she could to not be around her for longer than necessary. Unfortunately, her famous dad has planned a one week middle of nowhere Canada trip with her, her sister, her brother, and her grandfather. The only thing keeping her on that trip outside of buttering up her dad in order to go across the Atlantic, is her little brother Nick, who she adores. She knows she would be letting him down in a major way if she didn’t go with.
However, when her dad and stepmom aren’t able to make it on the trip, the three siblings are sent with their grandfather to a very remote cabin by float plane, which the siblings are not at all prepared for. When their check-up flight fails to show up halfway through the week, and Alyssa spots a massive almost prehistoric-sized bear on the other side of the lake, they all begin to get concerned. It’s not until their flight back to civilization is a no-show that the family realizes that they may be in far deeper trouble then they ever could have imagined, and when their supplies begin to dwindle, Alyssa realizes that she may be the only one capable of trekking the hundreds of miles of woods in order to find help.
I always enjoy a good survival story. At first, I had no idea where the author was going with this. Alyssa is a mostly cold rich girl with very little in the way of actual character at the beginning—and what character is there is vastly unappealing to me. However, her journey into the wilderness begins to change her and we get a more in-depth view of her past that explains a lot of her aloofness. The survival itself is pretty interesting and intense. There is also the dark, overarching enmity she has with the prehistoric-sized bear tracking her every move that keeps the pace of this one at a good clip.
The ending is very abrupt and super unsatisfying which is why I didn’t give full stars, but the book is still worth it to see the character build-up that Alyssa and her siblings experience during their months of survival in the woods.
Thank you to ARS Fabula and Netgalley for this advanced copy in exchange for a fair review.
3 Stars. Best enjoyed when craving a somewhat predictable but enjoyable underdog story.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
In The Names Queen, the magic of the land is bound to the person who rules it. When the sovereign dies, they must name their heir. In doing so, they pass on the magical tattoo that marks the ruler along with all the magic it entails to the person chosen next to carry the crown. The King of Seriden has passed, and there is a mad hunt to find the next king or queen so they can take their rightful place. No one could have predicted who would be named…or how.
Coin is Nameless, a member of the lowest class in a city called Seriden, a class despised by both the Royal and Legal classes that run the city. They are called Nameless because they are just that, nameless, and because they have no legal name, they are not deemed as a part of the fabric of the city itself. They have no legal standing. They have no rights. They live on the edges of society in Seriden off its scraps and what they can scrounge and steal. So when she finds the tattoo on her arm marking her as the next heir to the throne, she fears that she has been marked for death. She doesn’t have a name, how could the King have named her as the next heir?
After the only person she cares for in the city, Hat, is taken to prison, Coin has no choice but to reveal herself as the next ruler of Seriden, much to the disbelief of the citizens of the city, Legal and Royal alike. She doesn’t even want the responsibility…but she’s not the only one who doesn’t want her to have it. However, until she can save Hat, she has no choice but to play their game. Maybe in doing so, she can try to make life slightly better for the Nameless as well, but it won’t be easy.
Between dodging assassination plots, stuffy etiquette lessons, and side eyed looks from the heir apparent, who may have secrets of her own, she certainly has her work cut out for her.
I liked the idea of the Nameless Queen, and it was honestly pretty good. I tend to be fascinated by worlds that are built on caste systems; it makes me root all the harder for the underdog to triumph! Coin was all rough edges, a fact that is unsurprising given where and how she grew up, which was easy to follow. Although not a character I can sympathize with, I could still empathize with what she was experiencing and it helped me keep up my pace. I found the plot twists to be somewhat unexpected, which is a rare occurrence in most YA books. However, there were other things that kind of fell flat.
Also, if you’re looking for romance, you won’t find it here. It’s nonetheless a great book featuring a strong female lead who has been thrust into a situation that she has to fight her way out of using her wits, strength, and street smarts. Sometimes you have to pick up a book where the only romantic piece is between the main character and them self.
Always Lost in Words 