Category: Adventure

Categories
Adventure Fantasy

Sorcery of Thorns

By Margaret Rogerson

4 Stars. Best enjoyed surrounded by books.

Sorcery of Thorns is a fantastic and surprising adventure from start to finish. So surprising and delightful, in fact, that I have struggled to come up with a synopsis that wouldn’t give away half the book! The world that Rogerson has built around this story is a beautiful and dangerous one, from the grimoires that quite literally live on the shelves to the wizards that roam the streets of the upper class neighborhoods. Magic is the lifeblood that pumps through every chapter and carries the reader on an intriguing journey between the stacks of the Great Libraries, the hearths of upper class homes, and even the doorstep of an asylum that holds more danger than the vaults of the libraries ever could.

Elisabeth has lived in the Great Library of Summershall for as long as she can remember–much longer than the rest of the orphans who find their way into an apprenticeship position within the dangerous and magical stacks of the Great Libraries. She has dreamt of attending the Collegium after her apprenticeship and becoming a warden, a caretaker of the dangerous magical grimoires that fill the library. 

It seems as if nothing can get in the way of her achieving her goals, until one faithful night when she is mysteriously woken from her sleep by…something she can’t recall. 

Upon investigation, Elisabeth finds the person she looks up to most dead by the hands of a Malefict, a monster which created from a dangerous magical grimoire that has set free from the vaults, which Elisabeth is then forced to defeat before it takes the lives of the inhabitants of the town nearby.

Elisabeth has a feeling that a sorcerer is involved in the attack on her home, and she has always been taught that sorcery is an evil practice and those who do such magic are dangerous to anyone they come across. However, because of a lack of evidence, Elisabeth herself is suspected of the slaying and is sent to the capital to stand trial. 

Terrified and unsure of who to trust, Elisabeth is escorted by Nathaniel Thorn, a sorcerer whose family is famous for their abilities with regards to necromancy, and his strange servant Silas, and soon after they arrive in the city, they find themselves thrust into a series of thickening plots that could spell disaster for their world. 

I was absolutely riveted. The characters were well rounded and believable and the world was well built. I found the entire story to be very intriguing, with the perfect balance of darkness and light. I also found the romance to be believable, it wasn’t insta-love by any means. 

This was a difficult review to write. Not because I didn’t enjoy the book—on the contrary, Sorcery of Thorns further solidifies Margaret Rogerson as a force to be reckoned with in YA Fantasy—but because there is so much going on throughout the book that it’s hard to tell the story without writing a Novella that would surely just confuse a person whose most basic reason for reading the review in the first place is to know if it’s good. Let me assure you, it’s good! Go read it!

Categories
Adventure Mystery

The Gilded Wolves

By Roshani Chokshi.

3 Stars. Best Enjoyed in a room of luxurious appointment.

The Gilded Wolves is set in the late nineteenth century in the lush and luxurious streets of Paris beating with an undercurrent of ancient magic harnessed by some of the people who walk amongst its denizens. Severin Montagnet-Alarie is one of them. Hailing from one of the first forging families, he should be a part of the Order of Babel, which is the secretive body that governs the magical underground made up of the elite first families who received the gift of forging from God. Unfortunately, his seat in this glittering group has been taken from him. However, he has every intention of regaining his seat amongst the magical elite—even if he and his rag-tag team of talented misfits have to steal back his rightful inheritance.

The characters in this one are hard not to love although the story is missing some depth because of the jumping POVs, but with the mysteries that each character is clearly holding, it’s not hard to latch onto each story in anticipation of the inevitable reveal of each. Plus, there are a few romances at play that flash their bits at you from time to time to keep the reader longing for more. 

The rich setting and adventure are enticing. Chokshi is a literary artist when it comes to setting the scene. The descriptions provided are able to paint not only descriptions but also the very air of the places that Severin and his team travel through, bringing the reader along for the ride. 

Overall, the story is a fun adventure with magical settings, an interesting cast of characters, and an intriguing and fast-paced storyline that will keep readers rooting until the end.

Categories
Adventure Fantasy Romance

Song of the Abyss

By Makiia Lucier, Pub Date August 27, 2019.

3.5 Stars. Best enjoyed on a beach or on a boat and with a sense of adventure.

I’d like to preface this review by stating that although this book is a sequel t0 the Tower of Winds, it is not necessary to read the first book prior to this one. Although the del Marians often elude to events that happened in the first book, the storytelling in this one is not dependent on that and the story does truly stand on its own. Reyna is a mapmaker for the kingdom of St. John del Mar. During one of her adventures, her ship is overtaken by a mysterious group led by a distinctive leader with an interesting sword topped by a chrysanthemum. The men aboard her ship, seemingly in a trance, transfer themselves to the ships of the ruffians that had overtaken them and Reyna escapes into the unforgiving sea. She finds her way to the kingdom of Lunes where she meets a handsome stranger, Levi. This young man invariably turns out to be a Lunesian prince, and he at first distrusts this strange girl who washed up in his harbor and tries to hold her for questioning. After a small coup, she escapes her hospitable captors and returns to St. John del Mar where she puzzles out who could have possibly taken her crew. While home, Lord Elias and her childhood friend, Jaime–two very important people in Reyna’s life–take a ship of their own to investigate the maritime kidnappers…and fail to return. It is up to Reyna to band together with Prince Levi, whose own brother, Asher, also disappears while on his way back to Lunes. They must search for their lost loved ones in the distant, isolated, and lush kingdom that was once thought to be legend, and figure out what this leader did with the people they care about before they are lost forever.

Overall, Song of the Abyss was pretty good. The first half of it is where most of my issues stem from, and it’s mostly just because it’s super slow up until Levi and Reyna travel. I admittedly struggled to get into it because it seemed like there was a lot of people judging Reyna as only being ‘pretty’ and not recognizing her value as a scholar. Although this is kind of how the world worked in any other time setting, it was nonetheless a bit of a distraction from the adventure itself. There was also a little bit of insta-love, will they/won’t they, which I can take or leave that could have been written better. Maybe that’s a little nitpick-y, but I just wasn’t into it.

However, the last half of the book really started to amp up and the totality of the story was completely redeemed for me, starting with the maelstrom, which caught my attention and made me snap to attention and took my imagination for a ride. The remainder of the book took place in a once-mythical kingdom and their culture, which seemed to be a mix of Egyptian, Ancient Chinese, and Ancient Central American cultures. This is where palace intrigue, and world building sunk its teeth into me and I couldn’t put the book down until I was done.

The world, the characters, and the various locations are all described in detail and the main characters are fleshed out nicely. If you need to top off your summer reading list, I recommend this satisfying fantasy that will take you on an interesting adventure.

Thank you to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Categories
Adventure

Warrior of the Wild Won My Heart

Review of Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller

4 Stars. Best enjoyed with a Blackberry Smoothie and a Pine Scented Candle

After reading Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young, I was looking everywhere for another Viking-esque YA fantasy adventure that was similar. I saw WotW was on its way to us and patiently waited with baited breathe. Admittedly I was a little busy around the release date, and read some reviews. A few were a tad discouraging, but as with anything, I had a craving that needed to be fulfilled the best thing in that situation is to have a taste for yourself and see if it satisfies your palette. Fortunately, one taste of this led to a full on feast and I was left fully satisfied. 

WotW takes place in an alternative timeline where the trees hide dangerous things and legendary beasts are very real. Rasmira, the youngest daughter of the chieftain of her village, is the next in line for leadership, which obviously doesn’t sit well with her peers. She experiences a deep betrayal that leads to her exile, and the only way to lift it and return home to her sisters–the only people in the world that truly love her–is to kill Peruxolo, the god that has been terrorizing their villages. A seemingly impossible task, yes, but one that she is absolutely determined to take on–or die trying. 

One of the things I loved about Rasmira is that these events really did have an impact on the characterization we see throughout the remainder of the book. When she meets up with two other exiles, the mistrust and hesitation she has is palpable and completely understandable given the events that lead her to be stuck in the Wild. The character build is dynamic and realistic–we see her grow throughout not only as a person, but as a leader. Even though she is hurt and betrayed, she also is made to feel human and admits to some of her personal downfalls and grows from those as well, learning to forgive herself. She never seems to wallow in self-pity, despite her circumstances.Some of the auxiliary characters don’t experience as much growth and admittedly they remain somewhat shallow in their characterization. To be fair, I don’t believe they are the main focus.

If you’re looking for a fiery romance, look elsewhere. Although there is a romance, and said romance is sweet and definitely helps the character development, it’s not the center focus of this story. I love a good romance as much as the next person, but to be honest, the more important romance in this book is the one that Rasmira has WITH RASMIRA–having a character that learns to love herself after being treated like she is unloveable is worth its proverbial weight in gold. 

This is a tale of personal growth, strength, forgiveness, and determination in the face of great adversity. I think it’s an important story for younger girls and boys who love a good adventure but also need to know that if they put their mind to something, they can be unstoppable–and also for adults who need that reminder.