Review | Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez

Riddle of the Runes

by Janina Ramirez

My Rating: 

Alva rushes through the trees in the dead of night with her sniffer wolf, Fen. Being out alone when there's a kidnapper on the loose is reckless, but if she ever wants to be an investigator like her Uncle Magnus, she'll need to be first to the crime scene. But what Alva discovers raises more questions than it answers, drawing her into a dangerous search for truth, and for treasure.

Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery | Oxford University Press

I received a copy of Riddle of the Runes from Oxford University Press in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big fan of Janina Ramirez, she's such an enthusiastic historian and her documentaries are always excellent, so when I heard she'd turned her hand to fiction to take the fun and fascination of history to a younger audience I knew I had to see for myself what it was like. I got in touch with Oxford University Press and they very kindly sent a copy out to me to review.

Riddle of the Runes is set in the 8th century, I believe in Denmark, and follows twelve year old Alva who longs to solve mysteries like her Uncle Magnus. In her Viking community justice can be brutal, but Alva's uncle preaches a justice system that involves seeking clues and proof, even if it goes against what appears to be a sign from one of the Norse gods, and Alva is eager to learn from her uncle in her beloved father's absence. When some mysterious Englishmen appear, claiming to have lost precious treasure that seems to have ties to Alva's missing father, only to then go missing themselves, it's up to Alva and her uncle to solve the mystery.

More than anything this book is a fantastic introduction to the Viking era, particularly for children (though I imagine a lot of adults could learn a thing or two, too) and I appreciated that while Ramirez didn't shy away from how brutal these communities could be, she didn't look at them through the eyes of someone from the 21st century who would consider them brutal. We see this community and culture through Alva's eyes, it's her community and her culture, so while it's very different to how we live now it's never treated as wrong or degraded in any way. I could see this book sparking a real interest in this era of history for a lot of children, and I hope schools up and down the country put it in their libraries.

Having said that I do think Ramirez is still finding her feet as a novelist, which is to be expected when this is her debut. Teaching children a lesson or encouraging their interest in history is brilliant, but I think there were times when the writing and the story suffered so Ramirez could fit in a fact; she's still learning how to balance the fact with the fiction.

My only real complaint would be that I would have liked more of Alva's mother, Brianna. I thought it was strange that she was referred to as Brianna throughout the novel when, though it is in third person, the story is from Alva's point of view. She referred to her as 'mother' when she spoke, so why not refer to her as 'mother' in the description, too? Children aren't idiots, they'd be able to figure out who she was - especially as there's a character list with accompanying illustrations at the beginning of the book, so they wouldn't be confused if Alva referred to her as 'mother' while Magnus called her by her name.

I was also surprised to discover that Alva's mother was Irish, thus Alva's red hair, and that she was once an Irish princess who left Ireland to be with Alva's father. I understand this is a children's book and I'm probably just being a history snob, but I guess we're just going to gloss over the fact that many Irish princesses were taken as slaves against their will during this era? Alva's mother and father clearly love each other so there doesn't seem to be anything sinister going on, but I'm surprised this was a choice Ramirez chose to make to perhaps bring up the Vikings' ties to Ireland.

All that aside, this is a very sweet debut with a lot of heart. Ramirez is clearly passionate about her subject and I look forward to seeing what Alva does next.

Review | Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton

Heart of Thorns

by Bree Barton

My Rating: 

Mia Rose wants only one thing: revenge against the Gwyrach—feared, reviled, and magical women—who killed her mother. After years training under her father’s infamous Hunters, Mia is ready. She will scour the four kingdoms, find her mother’s murderer, and enact the Hunters’ Creed: heart for a heart, life for a life.

But when Mia is thrust into the last role she ever wanted—promised wife to the future king—she plots a daring escape. On her wedding night, Mia discovers something she never imagined: She may be a Huntress, but she’s also a Gwyrach. As the truth comes to light, Mia must untangle the secrets of her own past. Now if she wants to survive, Mia must learn to trust her heart . . . even if it kills her.

Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery | Katherine Tegen Books

WARNING: This review will contain some mild spoilers, so if you haven't read this yet and you want to read it knowing absolutely nothing, it's best to come back to this review later.

I'll be honest and say Heart of Thorns isn't usually the kind of book I'd go for. This might sound strange; fair enough it's only just this year in particular that I've been rediscovering my love for high fantasy and, let's be honest, who am I to say no to a book that's basically about witches and empowering women? And yet, for the most part, I can usually tell from a book's blurb whether I'm going to like it or not, and if I'd read this book's blurb in a shop I probably wouldn't have picked it up.

This is a very long-winded way of me saying that I received this in a Fairyloot box (guiltily, I'm usually way more interested in the stuff in those boxes rather than the book), and I took it as a sign to step out of my comfort zone and read the kind of YA I've been avoiding for a while because I usually don't like it. And, as you can probably tell from my rating, I didn't love this one.

The thing is I didn't hate it by any means either, and I think with a bit more editing and a few changes here and there I would have liked it, but as it wore on there were things that just grated on me.

Glas Ddir is one of four kingdoms in this world, a kingdom that has shut itself off from the other three and is ruled by an evil king who loves the power he has over women in particular. That's pretty much all we know about him, he's your generic evil king and he's there to do his job. Mia Rose is the daughter of the leader of the king's Hunters, a group of men (and one woman) who hunt Gwyrach. Essentially, Gwyrach are witches and in this kingdom all women could potentially be one, so they're forced to wear gloves at all times so they can't use their power.

Three years previously Mia's beloved mother was killed by a Gwyrach and she dreams of finding the woman who killed her and seeking her revenge; she longs to be a Huntress more than anything else. Her father has other plans, and the story opens with Mia preparing to marry the heir to Glas Ddir, Prince Quin. Soon enough, though, Mia discovers that she's a Gwyrach herself and she and Quin are forced to flee Glas Ddir. From then on Mia struggles with her feelings of being the kind of person she hates, and also discovers her mother wasn't exactly who she thought she was either.

Now there are some great things in this book. Firstly, the king is very proud of his 'Hall of Hands', a room in the palace full of the left hands of women he has captured accused of being a Gwyrach. Before he kills them he saws off their left hand, and there are some genuinely gut-wrenching moments of Mia realising just how small some of those hands are, and that a lot of the people her father and the king have killed were just children.

I also loved that Mia's mother was a complex woman, and I loved that Mia had to come to terms with the fact that her mother was her own person - she wasn't just 'mother' - and as such there were many parts of her that Mia knew nothing about. I think at some point growing up we all have that moment of 'oh, you're also a flawed human being' when we look at our parents.

There's also a feminist streak to this book; women being persecuted for using magic (something that has actually happened in our history) is always going to have something of a feminist vibe and I did like some of the discussions of how a partiarchy had made Mia believe that women with power were evil. That being said, sometimes I felt like I was getting beaten about the head a bit with the whole 'women have it rough' thing. 

I mean, I feel you, I'm also a woman and I know firsthand just how important feminism is, but I just wasn't always a fan of how it was handled here. Particularly as one character claims women were first able to do magic because of some trauma they experienced, such as sexual assault, but I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of a woman having to go through such a horrific ordeal to become powerful. I dunno, I'm sure that's not what the book or the author was saying but I think there was some clumsy wording throughout the novel that would have been so much better with a bit of editing.

(Also, fantasy worlds are whole new worlds - why do they all have to be run by a partiarchy?)

I found Mia herself pretty annoying throughout the novel, and while I really appreciate that Barton wrote this flawed heroine who has to unlearn what she's been told, she still just got on my nerves. Beyond her I didn't find any of the characters particularly memorable - in fact I had to look up Quin's name earlier because I realised I remembered him best as 'the prince' in my head, and even now that I've reminded myself that he was called Quin it somehow doesn't seem right.

Quin himself was fairly interesting. Yet again, he's the generic 'prince who disagrees with his evil father but is powerless to stop him', but he's also bisexual, and it's always nice to see more bisexuals in YA, but there were a few times I couldn't help rolling my eyes whenever Mia described his 'sculpted muscles' or 'golden curls' or the various ways she described his eyes. I can always tell I'm reading YA by how many descriptions of eyes I've been given. It was especially strange to have this much description when there was zero chemistry between him and Mia.

The big problem I had with him, and this is where that spoiler comes in, is we're told Quin's father discovered he was bisexual when he discovered him secretly meeting his music teacher after dark. As punishment, the king mutilated this poor boy and made Quin watch and then kicked him out of the palace to beg on the streets. Mia later discovers that a beggar the two of them meet when they escape the castle, who Quin pauses to take food from (which he later criticises for being mouldy - how ungrateful) was Quin's music teacher and Quin knew this. Now I understand that seeing him being hurt like that would make Quin terrified of his father and make him not want to meet with his lover anymore for fear of being the reason he was hurt even more, but something in me was really annoyed that while Quin got to move on with Mia this poor boy was left with nothing, living on mouldy bread.

In fact this is one of two LGBT+ romances in this book that have a tragic ending, and I'm really bored of LGBT+ romances with tragic endings. Trust me. There are plenty of them out there already.

There was also an infuriating scene in which Mia and Quin walked into a trap that was CLEARLY A TRAP. Mia even thought it herself and then still did nothing about it. I understand they were exhausted and starving at this point, but it was so obviously a trap and the way they ended up escaping it felt like a scene from an episode of Looney Tunes.

All in all Heart of Thorns just wasn't for me. I hoped to like it a lot more, and there were aspects of it that I really did like, but it didn't float my boat and I think it could have with a few tweaks here or there. If you love your YA fantasy then give this one a try, but I can't say I'd personally recommend it and I won't be continuing with this series, but as this is Barton's debut I may check out some of her other work separate from this series in the future as and when it appears.

Review | The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Beautiful Ones

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

My Rating: 

Antonina Beaulieu is in the glittering city of Loisail for her first Grand Season, where she will attend balls and mingle among high society in hopes of landing a suitable husband. But Antonina is telekinetic, and strange events in her past have made her the subject of malicious gossip and hardly a sought-after bride. Now, under the tutelage of her cousin’s wife, she is finally ready to shed the past and learn the proper ways of society.

Antonina, who prefers her family's country home to the glamorous ballrooms of the wealthy, finds it increasingly difficult to conform to society’s ideals for women, especially when she falls under the spell of the dazzling telekinetic performer Hector Auvray. As their romance blossoms, and he teaches her how to hone and control her telekinetic gift, she can't help but feel a marriage proposal is imminent.

Little does Antonina know that Hector and those closest to her are hiding a devastating secret that will crush her world and force her to confront who she really is and what she's willing to sacrifice.

Amazon | The Book Depository | Wordery | Thomas Dunne Books

I received an eARC of The Beautiful Ones from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Check out my reviews of Signal to Noise and Certain Dark Things here and here!

Those of you who've been following my blog for a while know by now that I will read anything Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes after her debut novel, Signal to Noise, became one of my favourite novels of all time. The big lover of historical fiction that I am, you can imagine my excitement when I realised Moreno-Garcia's latest novel would be returning to a time of calling cards and ballgowns.

I'll admit that it took me a while to get into this one, and I think that's because this isn't quite the book I was expecting it to be. With the mention of our heroine's telekinetic powers and her being taught to hone them by a man who also has this skill, I thought more of the novel was going to be taken up by lessons and that Nina was going to end up assisting Hector with his performances. Instead this Fantasy of Manners has more to do with the manners than the fantasy, like a Georgette Heyer or Jane Austen novel with a splash of telekinesis thrown in, which isn't a bad thing at all, it just wasn't what I expected when I read the blurb.

I was also a little unsure of the setting. I couldn't work out if this was France with a dash of magic thrown in, or if this was an alternate France in an alternate world a little different from ours. It didn't throw me too much, and in all honesty this isn't the kind of book that needed a lore dump, but I would have liked to know a little more about the world and more about how society functioned outside of these wealthy families.

Ultimately this was more of a character-driven novel than anything else, and while I always choose character over plot I would have liked a wider plot outside of these characters that I could sink my teeth into. Having said that, the characters and the character development were fantastic. Perhaps it says something about me that my favourite character in this book was the villainous Valérie, who was so deliciously messed up. I'm not the biggest fan of villain stories because I don't like it when authors try to excuse villainy with a tragic past, but what I loved about Valérie is that while Moreno-Garcia tells us why she is the way she is, she never uses it to excuse her actions which, by the end of the book, are downright evil.

It's also a testament to Moreno-Garcia's skill as an author that I initially disliked Hector and the way he used Nina, only to later root for him once we'd learned more about him. He's a character that grew on me, much like Nina grew on him.

If you're in the mood for a Fantasy of Manners/Romance novel, then this is the novel you should pick up. It's a story written with such affection and while it isn't my favourite of Moreno-Garcia's, I still think it's worth checking out.

Review | Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Leah on the Offbeat

by Becky Albertalli

My Rating: 

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat - but real life isn't always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she's the only child of a young, single mum, and her life is decidedly less privileged. And even though her mom knows she's bisexual, she hasn't mustered the courage to tell her friends - not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn't know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It's hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting-especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

Amazon | Book Despository | Waterstones | Wordery | Penguin Books

Check out my reviews of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Upside of Unrequited here and here!

I don't read much Contemporary at all, but I always make an exception for Becky Albertalli since I read and loved her debut back in 2015. Then her second novel was released and I managed to love that one even more, so it was only natural that I was excited to pick up her third novel - especially as it was returning to a character from her debut who I wanted to know more about.

High school is coming to an end and college is approaching, and Leah Burke is starting to think that maybe it's time she lets someone other than her mother know that she's bisexual, something she's known about herself since she was eleven years old. After Simon came out as gay it seems like now is the best time to do it, but she can't shake the feeling that things will change, and not for the better, if she's honest with her friends, and when she starts to realise she has feelings for her friend's girlfriend life gets even more complicated.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Leah in Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, there were times when she seemed quite nasty and I have a hard time warming to nasty characters, but reading from her point of view was such a breath of fresh air and I began to realise that perhaps part of the reason I didn't like her was because I saw some of my own weaknesses in her. She doesn't try to be likeable and yet those who know her know that she's a good friend, particularly Simon, and I loved her unlikeability - particularly because she becomes more and more aware of it as the novel wares on, and when she does anything or says anything particularly unkind she does try to atone for it in her own way.

My sexuality isn't something I've discussed much but it was so refreshing to read a book from the point of view of a bisexual girl who acknowledged feelings for other girls and for boys. Leah isn't defined by her bisexuality but it's still a big part of who she is, mainly because she feels like she can't tell anyone about it, and that's something that really resonated with me.

My favourite aspect of the novel, though, had to be Leah's relationship with her mom. Leah is from a single parent family and her mom was pregnant with Leah when she attended her own high school prom, but there's none of the prejudices about teenage mothers in the book and their relationship is just lovely. I'd love to read a story about Leah's mom and her boyfriend to be honest, they were adorable.

This is the first novel of Albertalli's I haven't given five stars to and that does make me a little sad considering the bisexual and women-loving-women rep, but as much as I enjoyed the relationship that developed between Leah and Abby in the book I couldn't help thinking that Nick and Abby both became kind of shitty people in this novel. There is an instance where Leah judges Abby for not understanding her own sexuality, which is not okay considering everyone discovers these things differently and this is a big change for Abby when she's always identified as straight, and to be fair to Abby she always apologises when she does something wrong. However, I couldn't help feeling that Leah deserved better throughout the novel. Whether she meant to or not Abby does play with her feelings a little and Nick became such a different character that I was struggling to understand why Simon and Leah were friends with him in the first place - I couldn't remember any of his good qualities from the first book.

Not only that, but I'm still not sure how I feel about Leah and Abby pursuing a relationship so soon after Abby ended a relationship with one of Leah's best friends - as annoying as Nick was in this book, this still felt strange - and there was a lot of convenient pairing off at the end that I didn't quite believe, which is a shame when one of the reasons I love Albertalli's books so much is that she portrays teenagers as actual teenagers and she paints a picture of high school the way I remember it. It's something I've noticed in YA Contemporary in general, which I think is another reason I don't read much of it - why can't people just be single? It's okay not to go to the same college as your high school girlfriend/boyfriend, something, to be fair, Albertalli does explore with Simon and Bram's relationship.

All that aside, I loved the humour, I loved Albertalli's writing, I loved Leah and I'm glad this novel exists and I'll read whatever Albertalli does next. She's still a firm favourite author and I'm so glad that, with this book, Leah finally got her own happy ending.

Review | The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

The Abyss Surrounds Us

by Emily Skrutskie

My Rating: 

For Cassandra Leung, bossing around sea monsters is just the family business. She’s been a Reckoner trainer-in-training ever since she could walk, raising the giant, genetically engineered beasts to defend ships as they cross the pirate-infested NeoPacific. But when the pirate queen Santa Elena swoops in on Cas’s first solo mission and snatches her from the bloodstained decks, Cas’s dream of being a full-time trainer seems dead in the water. Waiting for her on the pirate ship is an unhatched Reckoner pup. Santa Elena wants to take back the seas with a monster of her own, and she needs a proper trainer to do it. She orders Cas to raise the pup and teach him to fight for the pirates. If Cas fails, her blood will be the next to paint the sea.

Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery | North Star Editions

Lesbians, pirates and sea monsters - how could I say no to this novel?

Set in a future where the United States are no longer united and so much of what happens in the world is ruled by what happens on the sea, The Abyss Surrounds Us follows reckoner trainer Cassandra Leung on her first job as a fully-fledged trainer. In this future piracy has become a real problem again, so families like Cassandra's breed and train reckoners: sea monsters.

The reckoners come in various breeds and imprint on ships, such as cruiser ships, and accompany them on voyages to protect them from pirates should any kind of attack occur. Reckoner training is all Cassandra has ever wanted to do, it's what she's been raised to do, and at the beginning of the novel she's finally ready to go on her first solo mission. And it's a disaster. Her reckoner is killed and Cas is taken hostage by the vicious pirate queen Santa Elena, who has somehow got her hands on a reckoner pup of her own, to even the playing field on the seven seas, and she wants Cas to train it to attack the very people Cas has spent her entire life training to protect.

This is one of those books that got better as I was reading it. This is something we hope happens with most books, but with this book in particular I started it a little unsure that I would like it while desperately hoping that I would because we need more leading f/f romances in SFF. Initially Cas seemed to get over being kidnapped a lot quicker than I thought she would - we don't learn that much about her individual family members, or even much about her family as a whole - and Santa Elena wasn't quite the fearsome villain I was expecting her to be at the beginning of the novel.

Soon enough, though, the novel evened out into a fun, fast-paced and at times a rather sinister read. Cas adapts to life aboard Santa Elena's ship rather quickly because she needs to adapt to survive, and her relationship with the pirate queen was an interesting one; there's a begrudging respect there between the two of them that makes the scenes they share tense but intriguing. Even Santa Elena herself went from the one-dimensional villain I was initially afraid she would be to a fleshed out and incredibly compelling character. In a way she evolved as a villain the more Cas got to know her, helping Cas to realise that while she's been raised to believe her family are doing the right thing they still train their sea monsters to mount vicious attacks on many people who've turned to piracy because it's their only option - and if this society has forced them into piracy, is it really moral at all to punish them for it?

By far my favourite character, though, was Cas's love interest Swift. Again she was another character I wasn't sure I was going to get along with at first, but I adored that Skrutskie played around with the typical YA male love interest - the brooding bad boy with a secret heart of gold - and translated it into a woman. Swift and Cas both misunderstand one another, they both have pre-conceived prejudices about each other because of their upbringings, but there's genuine growth in their relationship. What I loved most, though, was how healthy their relationship was considering Cas is a captive and Swift is one of her captors. Cas is adamant (and rightly so) that however she might feel about Swift, while she's a captive on Santa Elena's ship the two of them can never be on equal footing, and they can't pursue a romantic relationship when they're not on equal footing. I loved Cas's insistence on this matter as well Swift's complete understanding.

It was also refreshing to read a story about two LGBT+ girls whose story didn't revolve around them being LGBT+. Those stories are still relevant and they're still stories I love to read, but it was a real joy to read a book about two girls who like girls and nobody thinks anything of it - it's treated just like any other relationship, because it is. Minus the kidnapping and the piracy the sea monsters...

The future Skrutskie has imagined is a brutal but undoubtedly fun one. It's impossible not to feel like you're off on an adventure when you're reading a story about pirates, and her worldbuilding is excellent. So much of the book focuses on Cas training Santa Elena's reckoner pup - another favourite character, he's adorable and Skrutskie writes animals so well - and what goes into training a creature like that for these pirate-infested waters, and I enjoyed learning about what Cas's job entailed.

So if you're in the mood for a pirate book, and even if you're not, I recommend picking this one up! I had a great time reading it, and I'd love to see it being widely read by YA and sci-fi fans alike - especially as f/f SFF simply isn't talked about enough.

Review | West by Carys Davies

West

by Carys Davies

My Rating: 

When Cy Bellman, American settler and widowed father of Bess, reads in the newspaper that huge ancient bones have been discovered in a Kentucky swamp, he leaves his small Pennsylvania farm and young daughter to find out if the rumours are true: that the giant monsters are still alive, and roam the uncharted wilderness beyond the Mississippi River.

West is the story of Bellman's journey and of Bess, waiting at home for her father to return. Written with compassionate tenderness and magical thinking, it explores the courage of conviction, the transformative power of grief, the desire for knowledge and the pull of home, from an exceptionally talented and original British writer. It is a radiant and timeless epic-in-miniature, an eerie, electric monument to possibility.

Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery | Granta Books

I received an eARC of West from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

West is the debut novella from an established short story writer, and it feels like a debut novella from an established short story writer. Carys Davies' writing is stunning, and I love how sparse her writing is; each word she chooses is there to serve a purpose but she chooses each one with such skill that, although her style isn't flowery it is lyrical in its simplicity.

That being said, I finished this story wishing I'd gotten a little more from it. West is set in 19th century Pennsylvania, where widower Cy Bellman reads an article describing the large bones that have been found out west. Though there are no pictures in the article, Cy is so taken with the idea of creatures so big that he simply has to see them, so he leaves his ten year old daughter, Bess, with his sister and sets out on his quest, and while he deals with the dangers of his journey it appears that Bess isn't entirely safe without her father's protection, either.

There's a lot about this novella that I really liked. Cy's obsession with these bones and the descriptions of his fascination with them set West up to feel like a kind of 'fool's journey' story, in fact when Cy eventually finds himself being assisted on his quest by a First Nations boy West started giving me Don Quixote vibes. There's something about these bones, about these creatures no one's seen, that fills Cy with the most feeling he's had since the passing of his wife years before, and I loved how his behaviour could be read also as a man still dealing with grief and loss and perhaps even mental illness. There are mentions of him keeping everyone, including his daughter, at a distance for days at a time following his wife's death, which read to me like a man struggling through clinical depression in a time when no one understood what that was.

Having said that, I loved Bess and the sections of the novella about her a lot more. Cy and Bess were both well realised characters, but there was something about Bess that made her feel more substantial to me as a character. As her story went on she started to grow into a little human while Cy seemed to become less of a person and more of a parable of foolishness. That being said, Davies never mocks Cy or his desperation to see these creatures and know what they are. Other people he meets along the way might think he's crazy but Davies never does, and I appreciated that while his journey does become rather foolish Cy himself can never be completely described as a fool because so much of what he's doing is wrapped up in grief and a longing for something beyond himself.

While I loved Bess, though, there were aspects of her story that frustated me a little. I really liked the juxtaposition of her father facing the wilderness and Bess growing into womanhood in a world where men might try and take advantage of her with no father to keep her safe, but it feels like a story I've seen before and I didn't think Davies was really saying anything new. I don't want every story I read to be a lesson - stories can just be stories and be enjoyed as such - but this story is so short already that I thought it was a shame that so many of Bess's sections were taken up with scenarios I've seen before, particularly in historical fiction. There are two men in particular who have horrid intentions and, to Davies' credit, she never writes gratuitously about their desires, but she does write in a way that's unnerving and makes us genuinely worry for Bess's safety. Even so, the young girl without parents being pursued by bad men is something I've seen too many times before, and I thought it was frustrating that the aunt she's been left with is useless in this regard. I would have thought that Bess's aunt, more than anyone, would have been aware of the kind of things that might happen to Bess without her father there to protect her.

All that aside, this is a beautifully written piece of literary fiction and a melancholic exploration of the fool's journey and the consequences of that journey for 'the fool' himself and those around him. I look forward to seeing how Davies continues to develop as a writer, and if you're in the mood for something short and sweet with a Western Frontier vibe, I'd recommend giving West a go!

Review | Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows

by Leigh Bardugo

My Rating: 

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:

Break into the notorious Ice Court

(a military stronghold that has never been breached)

Retrieve a hostage

(who could unleash magical havoc on the world)

Survive long enough to collect his reward

(and spend it)

Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don't kill each other first.

Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery | Macmillan Publishers

I can't remember the last time I read a book and fell so head-over-heels in love with an entire group of characters.

People have been recommending Six of Crows to me for a long time now. Not only have I seen so many other readers bursting with love about this book, and its sequel Crooked Kingdom, but friends of mine such as the lovely Natalie @ A Sea Change have been singing its praises for what must be an age. It's a book I've always meant to get to - who doesn't love a heist story? - but this year I finally sat back, opened it up and was sucked into the seedy underbelly of Leigh Bardugo's fantasy world.

As someone who hasn't read Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy this world was entirely new to me, and I loved it. 2018 feels like the year in which I'm rediscovering my first love, fantasy, after several years of being intimidated by it for a reason I still can't quite put my finger on, and Ketterdam has to be one of my favourite fantastical places now purely because Bardugo brings it to life so vividly.

While Ravka, which we hear of but don't go to in this book, seems to be a Russian-inspired country, there's no doubt in my mind that Ketterdam is a fantastical version of Amsterdam, with its waterways, merchant-run economy, and the entire districts whose cogs are kept whirring by a constant stream of gambling and prostitution. The Barrel, not at all dissimilar from Amsterdam's Red Light District, is ruled by gangs, and one gangster in particular has Ketterdam in his pocket.

Kaz Brekker is one of the most compelling protagonists I have come across in a fantasy novel in a long time. From the blurb I thought he would be very different to the kind of boy he is, but I love how Bardugo has imagined him; she straddles the line between 'criminal prodigy' and 'only a 17 year old' beautifully, creating a character who's had to grow up far too fast and has the dirt of the worst and best of humanity wedged under his fingernails. He's like that first sip of a bitter coffee in human form. It was also so refreshing to read about a protagonist who needs the assistance of a cane to walk and I'd like more protagonists like this please!

What makes Six of Crows really sing is its characters. The setting is brilliant and the plot is wonderful, but the characters are what make this book - dare I say it - perfect. Alongside Kaz we have his right-hand woman Inej Ghafa, who was stolen from her home and her family as a child and sold into human trafficking before she began working for the Dregs. Known as the Wraith, she's an expert at going undetected and is yet another example of Bardugo's wonderfully complex characters. Inej's faith is important to her and her morality is something she struggles with when she has essentially become Kaz's personal assassin, but how else is she supposed to survive in a land that sees her as a commodity that can be sold for profit?

I loved Bardugo's exploration of religion through Inej and through Matthias, another protagonist from Fjerda, the country next to Ravka, who has essentially been raised in a cult of witch hunters whose own religion teaches that Grisha aren't human. Like all six of the protagonists in Six of Crows, Matthias has found himself washed up in Ketterdam by accident, beginning the novel in prison thanks to a Grisha, Nina, who serves as another protagonist. I'll be saying this for all of them, but I loved Nina, too. A child soldier from Ravka, she was forced to work with Matthias, a boy trained to kill her, after the ship they were on sank and they found their way to Ketterdam. Nina is bubbly and vivacious and loves food - who doesn't? - and I particularly loved her friendship with Inej. There's no competition between them, just the utmost affection and respect and when I say I want more female friendships this is what I mean.

Then we have Jesper Fahey, another member of the Dregs who loves gambling and guns a little too much, but another character who is complex and, though flawed, incredibly loyal to Kaz. I adored his sense of humour and his shameless bisexuality. Finally there's Wylan, a boy with a knack for explosives and keeping secrets. He's the kind of character that grows on you as the story progresses, and once you get to know him you can't help but love him.

Six of Crows works because each of its protagonists are fleshed out and such fun to follow separately, but they also have brilliant chemistry as a group, too, which is for the best considering they have to rely on each other to pull off a heist that's believed to be impossible. Kaz makes a deal with one of Ketterdam's merchants to break into the Fjerdan Ice Court - a place that has never been breached - and smuggle out a prisoner associated with a drug that, when used on Grisha, turns them into unstoppable weapons who crave the drug more and more and eventually die as nothing more than husks of their previous selves.

Kaz doesn't take on this mission out of the goodness of his heart to liberate the Grisha who are being mistreated or to bring order back to the world of the merchants, he takes on the mission because each of them will be rewarded with an inordinate amount of money that will pay off their individual debts and set them up comfortably for life. What ensues is a twisty, turny heist story that keeps you guessing at every turn and makes you genuinely worry for the characters' safety. I love that Bardugo doesn't make this story safe. Kaz has a plan and his plan has a plan, but when things go wrong - and they really do - these kids are forced to improvise if they're going to live to claim their reward.

It's been a few months now since I finished this book and I'm still thinking about it. The plotting and character development is exquisite. I fell for this book and these characters and this world so hard, and it's safe to say that this duology is now one of my all-time favourite series and this book has definitely earned a spot on my favourite books of all-time list. It was such fun to read, and it reignited not only my love for fantasy but also my love for YA done well. I escaped into a different world where all the threats and the tears and the love and the smiles felt real, and I will be gushing about it for a long time. And I'm not sorry.

Review | The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

The Two Princesses of Bamarre

by Gail Carson Levine

My Rating: 

When plague strikes Bamarre, Princess Addie must fulfill an ancient prophecy.

Brave and adventurous, Princess Meryl dreams of fighting dragons and protecting the kingdom of Bamarre. Shy and fearful, Princess Addie is content to stay within the safety of the castle walls. The one thing that the sisters share is their unwavering love for each other.

The tables are turned, however, when the Gray Death leaves Meryl fatally ill. To save her sister, meek Princess Addie must find the courage to set out on a dangerous quest filled with dragons, unknown magic, and death itself. Time is running out, and the sisters' lives—and the future of the kingdom of Bamarre—hang in the balance.

Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery | HarperCollins

The Two Princesses of Bamarre is one of those books I've seen so many people rave about as a childhood favourite, but it's one I never came across as a child. My earliest taste of Gail Carson Levine's work was in my last year of primary school when I came across a copy of Ella Enchanted in the library, but even though I liked it I never sought out any of her other books. Recently I was in the mood to dive back into Middle Grade, so I figured it was about time I picked up a copy of this one.

Had I read this when I was little I would have absolutely loved it and I'm pretty sure I'd still be looking back on it fondly now as a must-read fantasy novel for younger readers. As an adult reader, though, I didn't love this one as much as I was hoping. Obviously I'm not the target audience for this book but I do believe that a good Middle Grade novel should be able to be enjoyed by children and adults because children deserve books that don't talk down to them.

That's not to say I didn't like this book, because I did, but so I can end this review on a high I'm going to talk about what I didn't like first. One of my biggest issues with the novel was that it seemed to drag on for a long time for a novel that's really quite short, and I think this is a case where the blurb contributed to that feeling for me. We know from the blurb that Meryl is brave and Addie is not, but that ultimately it's Addie who's going to have to go on an adventure to save Meryl and all of Bamarre when Meryl falls sick, and I felt like quite a large amount of the book had passed before Addie had even come to the realisation that this task was going to be hers. I appreciated that we weren't thrown immediately into the action and we had a chance to learn about the sisters and their kingdom, but when Meryl fell sick the plot seemed to stagnate for me before Addie finally set off on her quest.

A lot of that probably also has to do with the part of the novel that most surprised me, and that's that Meryl and Addie don't remain children. We're introduced to them as children, but if I remember correctly it's not until Addie turns 16 and the Gray Death has already killed a lot of people in Bamarre that she leaves home. I love well-written child narrators, either in MG or adult fiction, and because this is a novel aimed at younger readers all about being brave and how being brave isn't the same as not being scared, I thought it was a shame they were given a 16 year old heroine rather than a heroine closer to their own age. Particularly because Addie and Meryl continued to sound a lot younger than 16 to me.

I can understand the logic behind Addie being a little older so that it's feasible that she would be allowed to go on her quest alone, except it makes no sense to me that a kingdom with one heir to the kingdom on her deathbed would allow their only other heir, who has no experience outside of the castle walls, to go on such a dangerous quest alone. I know it's a fantasy novel and we have to suspend our disbelief, but for me there's a difference between suspending disbelief and disregarding belief altogether. What baffles me is that Addie gets permission from her father to leave - I honestly don't understand how that man is still king, he's useless - when I would have found the whole scenario far more believable if she'd just snuck out instead.

All that aside, there's so much more I liked about this book. Firstly, any book that focuses on the love between sisters is a winner in my eyes, and I loved that even though she's a princess and heir to Bamarre Meryl starts out as more of a 'Prince Charming' in training with her love for knights, heroism and violence, but she's ultimately the princess confined to her bed while her cowardly sister is forced into that 'Prince Charming' role to save her.

Coward seems like such a cruel word, but it's the best way to describe Addie and that's no bad thing. Addie is terrified of everything, especially of not having Meryl around anymore to help her feel safe, so it's far more satisfying to see her face her fears as it would have been to watch Meryl. Addie has to learn to be Addie, and not just Meryl's sister. I personally loved that Addie was genuinely cowardly so, when she was brave, it was a very different kind of bravery to what Meryl's would be. Her friends give her various magical objects before she leaves so that she has some kind of assistance when facing all of the dangerous creatures that roam the wilds of Bamarre, all of which were so fun and imaginative, and I loved how Addie used them to both help herself and to fight and outwit her enemies.

Her greatest enemy in the book is a dragon who takes her captive, and while Meryl probably would have slain it at first sight (or tried to) Addie learns its weaknesses and eventually escapes the creature with her brains rather than her fists. There's a whole pantheon of dragons in fantasy literature, but this one is probably one of the most sinister ones I've come across and definitely one I'll remember!

I think what I enjoyed most about this book, though, was the ending. There's very little I can say without spoiling it completely but I think it would have been easy for Levine to give us a perfect, sunshine and daisies ending even though this is a story about a kingdom that has been suffering at the hands of a dreadful disease for years. Instead I thought she made some very brave choices and I really admire her for making them, and it's because of the ending that I understand why this MG novel is a favourite of so many people, particularly people who read it during their childhood.

Did I love it? No. Would I recommend it? Definitely.