Category: Fantasy

Kingdom of the Wicked

By Kerri Maniscalco. Pub date: 10/27/2020

Five Stars! ***** Best enjoyed on a fall day when you’re not too hungry or thirsty–there are a lot of super delicious food references in this one, along with some seriously hot love interest moments.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria work in their family’s restaurant in a village located on the coast of Sicily. They are also witches, called strenghe, who live secretly amongst the superstitious populace of their home, carefully avoiding suspicion and the witch hunters that may follow it. Emilia is content in her place in the restaurant’s kitchens where her family creates some of the best loved dishes in the village. That is until she stumbles across her twin sister’s desecrated body in the basement of the local Catholic church, her heart viciously removed from her body. All contentment disappears as vengeance begins to take hold of her heart. In her search for her sister’s killer, she invokes some forbidden magic, accidentally summoning Wrath, one of the very Princes of Hell and part of the court of the Kingdom of the Wicked that she has been warned against since she was a child. However, Wrath, despite being pissed that she has entrapped him, is more than willing to help her. As they delve deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, it seems that Vittoria was not the first witch whose heart has been stolen, and Emilia may be the next target. That is, if Wrath doesn’t steal her heart first.

https://beyondwords.life/sicily-dreamy-adventure-along-coast/

I loved the setting of this book. It’s not often that a YA is written that sets itself in a Mediterranean country, and just hearing “seaside village in Sicily” invoked visions of weathered brick buildings and cool blue waters. It was the perfectly contrasting backdrop for a dark mystery with a tense, delicious romance. Maniscalco is truly an artist when it comes to building three-dimensional characters with truly deep emotions and motivation for revenge as well as grief, loss, betrayal, and love. I could practically feel the heat coming from my kindle in some scenes and found myself gripping the edges during others.

A mark of a truly good book is how lost you can get in what is happening. When I finally came up for air, I was shivering in my hammock and it was practically morning. That should alone should drill home how good I thought this was, and I am so excited for this October!

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown for the advanced copy in exchange for this review ❤

Fantasy Horror

Ruthless Gods

by Emily A Duncan. Release Date 4/7/2020

3 Stars. Best enjoyed slowly, like a square of deep, dark chocolate.

Picking up the pieces left behind from the events in Wicked Saints and working to end the war between Kalyazin and Tranavia (one way or another), Nadya and Serefin find themselves at the brink of something big, dark, and more dangerous than they have ever done.

Serefin’s very sight, although not good to begin with, is changed after his experience in the temple and is now hosting a fallen god within him, while Nadya has been cut completely away from her gods and has been imbued with a strange, dark power that has scarred her hand and left her off-balance. However, despite these struggles, there is work to be done.

Someone in the court is trying to usurp Serefin’s throne.

Nadya must reconnect with her gods so she can fulfill her divine purpose as a cleric.

And the Black Vulture must be confronted before he destroys the world.

Overall I liked the story and I want to know how it ends. There were some very enjoyable parts throughout, such as the descent into the Black Vulture’s layer as well as the later portions of the book when they reach the forest where all hell breaks loose. The plot slowed a little in the middle but otherwise was intriguing. However, I felt that this one suffered a little from the problem that sometimes happens with constantly switching POVs where one is taken out of the story and has a hard time reconnecting. Because of this, it took me longer than I would like to admit to finish it. There are also portions later in the book where it feels like huge swaths of certain character’s stories are missing and it’s very disjointing, although it is certainly plausible that that is the whole point. The last third of the book takes on an interesting, ethereal quality after all. Also, if you’re looking at this for the romance aspect, prepare for that to fall a little short and just enjoy the ride.

I would recommend this to anyone who has read Wicked Saints. I think the story is still a good continuation, and it sets readers up for an explosive third installment!

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

Contemporary Fiction Fantasy Mystery

Burn Our Bodies Down

By Rory Power. Release Date 7/7/2020

4 Stars. Best enjoyed during the daytime with the windows open.

Margot has been secretly searching for her past behind her emotionally distant mother’s back for as long as she can remember. That’s a hard task to accomplish when you have to walk on egg shells in a tiny, run-down apartment in a city you hate. However, when buying back some of her mother’s possessions from the local pawn shop with squirreled away money, she finds a clue tucked away in an old bible on the back of a photo.

Phalene.

Margot plots an escape to the small farming town. Seeking her family and the story of her past, everyone seems to know who she is, but no one can tell her much of anything. Things turn hostile when she finds a dead girl who shares her own face in a blazing field fire. A girl no one seems to have ever seen before. A girl her grandmother also ever knowing.

As Margo dives deeper and deeper into the mystery of her own origins and searches for answers to who this doppelgänger girl could be, she finds herself in the middle of a dark, deep mystery spanning generations. As she spirals into the horrors of her family’s history, she struggles with the choice between keeping the family and sense of belonging she has finally found or the rabbit hole that is the past.

Burn Our Bodies Down was an unexpected ride. It was a slow, aching build up of intertwined mysteries that overflowed in a rush of blood and horror. It was one of those horror stories that keeps you guessing until the bitter end. The ideas were original, the setting and plot were well fleshed out, and the larger themes were made clear in the end.

I highly recommend this to any YA horror fans out there who want a summer mystery to sink their teeth into.

Fantasy Historical Fiction Mystery Romance

The Guinevere Deception

By Kiersten White

3.5 Stars–best read if you’ve already enjoyed the Arthurian legends

Guinevere is on her way from the abbey where she has been living to the waiting arms of the kingdom of Camelot where she is to marry its beloved King Arthur. Guinevere has many secrets and very few confidants. For instance, Guinevere isn’t Guinevere, and Camelot is not safe from the magic it has only very recently beaten away from its borders during the war waged against the Dark Queen. However, the magic continues to be a threat to the kingdom and Arthur himself, shifting and terrorizing the land and forests beyond the King’s influence. Guinevere-not-Guinevere may be the only protection the king has from the dark forces that wish to work their way into the veins of Camelot. And she may have the answer to defeating it…if she could only remember who and what she really is.

The Guinevere Deception was a novel full of twists, turns, and deeply buried secrets. Curiosity is definitely a driving force throughout the book. There are some points where it gets a little tedious, and iif you have not read the tales of King Arthur and Camelot, you may not connect as well with the story itself.

I have not read the classic tales and I felt a little lost at some points, but I also learned quite a bit about the stories themselves. However, i believe i would have enjoyed it much more if I had known they were required reading. Nevertheless, there are so many loose ends yet to be tied that I will be picking up the sequel.

Fantasy Horror

Wicked Saints

Post author By Lady Nightwolf
Post date January 21, 2020

By Emily Duncan

4.5 Stars. Best enjoyed on a cold and blood-laced winter evening.

In a war between blood magic and the will of the gods, who will triumph?

A war has been fought for years between Tranavia and Kalyazin, a war that pits the divine against the profane and heretical. Two powerful people on opposing sides want nothing more than to end this war and stop the bloodshed.

Nadiya is a cleric of Kalyazin, chosen by the gods as their representative on the earthly plane, both as the wielder of their magic and their weapon in a war against divinity.

Seredin is the high prince, heir to the Tranavian throne, and one of the strongest blood mages in the army leading the charge against Kalyazin.

Then a mysterious boy emerges from the shadows with his own monsters and many secrets. He is about to upend everything they think they know about the world. Are their goals perhaps more in line then they think?

Okay. So that was intense. I’m not always the biggest fan of audiobooks with multiple narrators, they tend to take me out of the story a little. Actually, I don’t usually like multiple POV books for that reason. However, it didn’t even matter. I read a good chunk of the book and listened to the rest. I practically finished it the day I started. Not only did I listen at work, I listened at every opportunity I had. Driving? Wicked Saints. Working? Wicked Saints. Lunch? I’m skipping. I’ll just stay in my office and listen to Wicked Saints. I am so excited that I have the ARC for Ruthless Gods because you bet your butt I’m reading it this weekend. I was so invested in the character’s individual stories the entire time. I didn’t have to ride that usual “ugh, when is this POV going to be over—I honestly couldn’t care less what this person is doing” rollercoaster. When the next chapter came I was like “darn, but Oh yay! What’s Seredin up to?” Yeah, it was that good.

The world that has been built is relatively simple and feels medieval. It’s war-ravaged from the long standing holy war between Tranavia and Kalyazin, and the magic that courses through the world is an interesting character all its own, fighting between darkness and light. That’s the biggest mystery throughout the entire thing. Where does the magic come from, and where SHOULD it come from? Is it really a divine creation or is it something inherent to the people who wield it? We just don’t know…but we’re getting somewhere!

Duncan is an awesome author. She really has a talent for breathing life into her characters and exploring the dark war that happens within each of us. Are we good or evil? Is the divide even great enough to be measurable? What even defines the two?

Fantasy Mystery Romance

Diamond City

By Francesca Flores

3 Stars. Best enjoyed when you’re feeling cagey.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

In a post-civil war city where religion is dangerous, possessing raw diamonds can get you executed, and criminals roam the streets freely, who can you trust?

Aina is a blade, a hired assassin, who has worked for The Blood King since he found her passed out in a tavern from sniffing glue in her early teens. Orphaned at a young age after having watched her parents murdered for their religious beliefs, she never really hoped to make anything of herself before The Blood King, Kohl, found her and trained her to be one of his blades. Now, six years later, he has given her the biggest job of her life, one that may give her the chance to secure a future outside of the Dom where she can run her own trade house.

Aina has been given the opportunity of a lifetime, even if her target is a member of one of the richest families is the city. But Aina is undoubtedly one of the best blades in the city. However, when something goes dreadfully wrong and she finds herself outside of the protection of The Blood King, she is given only one chance to make it right before the city eats her alive. Who can she turn to in a city that now has a price on her head and enemies around every corner?

I enjoyed Diamond City. I pictured the city in tiers with a piratical edge. The world building was well done, the characters well rounded, and the cast was probably one of the most diverse I’ve ever experienced in a YA novel. There were twists, turns, and surprises all over the place. Was it a little predictable? For some people it might be, but for me, the various plotlines that were braided together left a lot of mystery and by the end I was kicking myself for not putting it all together.

The issues that the characters face are also very relatable. Loss, addiction, and being unable to know who to trust as well as cleansing yourself of toxic relationships are all very relatable concepts. I didn’t relate that well with Aina as she was very self-serving at times, but she grew as a person throughout the book and I would really like to see where the the author takes her character arc. I did love Teo, Kyuu and Raurie, and I loved the descriptions of Tannis and Jane, I felt like they were the best described. However, the relationships that Aina has with each character could probably be fleshed out a little more, and perhaps they will be. This is one of those books that doesn’t feel like a stand-alone. Matter of fact, the action picked up a lot in the last 40% of the book. The end felt a little too rushed for that and things were only as tied up as a first book in a series would allow.

Overall, I think it was worth a read. I feel like the world is alone is worth it. The author does an amazing job building the world itself and the structural/social hierarchy. I enjoyed it.

Adventure Fantasy

Nameless Queen

BY Rebecca McLaughlin. Pub Date 01/17/2020

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.

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!

Fantasy Romance

Queen of Nothing (Folk of Air #3)

Post author By Lady Nightwolf
Post date December 29, 2019
No Comments on Queen of Nothing (Folk of Air #3)

by Holly Black

5 stars. Best enjoyed when you have no plans–this one will hold onto you until you finish.

In the aftermath of the event of The Wicked King, Jude has been exiled from her place in Faerie. Not only has she lost her place as her clandestine husband King Cardan’s queen, but also her hard-won place at court as his seneschal and her position in the Court of Shadows spy network. She has also pissed off her adoptive father, General Maddox, a red cap fae you truly don’t want to mess with, by scheming her own schemes with regards to the throne in which her seemingly estranged husband sits. However, if we haven’t learned already, dear reader: Jude can’t be knocked down for long. After gaining some respect with a fellow faerie exile, she uncovers a plot against Cardan that causes her to find a way past her exile and back into the beautiful, dangerous, and deadly land she has called home for most of her life and into the arms of danger itself.

Folk of Air has been one of my most favorite series to dive into over the last two years. I have loved every second of the heartbreak and intrigue and adventure that Black has offered to her readers, and this was most assuredly no exception. The dysfunctional romance between Jude and Cardan would be completely problematic in the real world, but reflects the and of faerie itself, a setting which could be described as lush, gorgeous, and vicious—like a carnivorous tropical flower luring in unsuspecting prey. Unfortunately, we are that prey, falling victim to the gorgeous words that we gobble up from the pages, while entirely unaware that they are devouring us in return, piece by piece, its sticky poison left on our very bones to warm our souls.

A story that leaves the reader longing for more–such is the mark of the great book. However, one that leaves a reader yearning for more time in the world, yet entirely fulfilled by the end of the current story—that is the mark of an excellent series finale. I wish I could give you more about the book itself, but I would hate the spoil this one for you.

Fantasy Romance

House of Salt & Sorrows

By Erin A Craig

4 Stars. Best Enjoyed on the coast in the fall.

The family of Highmoor estate is cursed…or at least, that’s the case according to the whispers amongst the townsfolk. After the dramatic and untimely deaths of four of her eleven sisters, Annaleigh is almost ready to accept it. However, the most recent death of her sister Eulalie, who fell from the cliffs of their estate, has her questioning the veracity of this tall tale. Eulalie had so much to live for, why would she have put herself in that kind of danger?

Her investigations lead to mounting evidence that something far more sinister is taking place amongst the Highmoor clan. With the her youngest sister Verity seeing ghosts and the girls discovering a secret door that has the power to transport them to nightly revels throughout the kingdom, she is beginning to expect that the happenings at Highmoor may be tied to the very sea god that created them from the brine.

As the story progresses, things keep getting more and more strange. As Annaleigh falls deeper and deeper into the dark mystery surrounding her family, the twists and turns of this eerie Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling will keep you guessing until the end.

There is one character in particular that really latching on, and that’s the island. The very salt of the sea plays an important part in this story, as does the rich tapestry that Craig paints–a brooding and eerie atmosphere, almost as oppressive as the stays of a tightly laced corset.

The story itself is part psychological horror, part fairytale retelling, and all fantasy. Although at times the main character seems to be a little too immature and naive for the part she plays, you nonetheless sympathize with her losses and empathize with her skepticism. There are definitely parts of the story that cause your heart to break along with hers.

I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. I also was not expecting this to be as much of a psychological thriller as it turned out to be. Some reviewers have called the story predictable, but I honestly don’t know how they would have come to the ultimate conclusion provided–this story twisted more than a pretzel machine! If she can keep writing such unpredictable tales, then I am very much looking forward to seeing the next thing that Craig puts out.