Books: Siege & Storm ~ Shadow and Bone #2 ~ Leigh Bardugo

Title:Siege and Storm
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt
Publishing date: June 2020
Number of pages: 435 p.
Series: Shadow and Bone #2
Age Category: Young Adult
Genre: Epic/High Fantasy
Other Books In This Series:
Shadow and Bone, book #1
Ruin and Rising, book #3

Books: Shadow and Bone ~ Shadow and Bone #1 - Leigh Bardugo

 

Title:Shadow and Bone
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Orion Children's Books
Publishing date: October 2020
Number of pages: 307 p.
Series: Shadow and Bone #1
Age Category: Young Adult
Genre: Epic/High Fantasy
Other Books In This Series:
Siege and Storm, book #2
Ruin and Rising, book #3

Books: House of Hollow ~ Krystal Sutherland

 

 

Title: House of Hollow
Author: Krystal Sutherland
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Publishing date: 06th of April, 2021
Number of pages: 292 p.
Languages: English
Age Category: Young adult
Genre: Horror, mystery

Books: Mexican Gothic ~ Silvia Moreno - Garcia

 

Title:Mexican Gothic
Author: Silvia Moreno - Garcia
Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books
Publishing date: 30th of June 2020
Number of pages: 301 p.
Sort of story: Standalone
Age Category: Adult
Genre: Horror, Gothic

Books: Scythe ~ Arc of Scythe #1 ~ Neal Shusterman

Title:Scythe
Author: Neal Shusterman
Publisher: Walker Bookss
Publishing date: November, 0216
Number of pages: 443 p.
Series: Arc of Scythe #1
Age Category: Young Adult
Genre: Utopia, Science Fiction
Other Books In This Series:
Thunderhead, book #2
The Toll, book #3

About Scythe

What if Death was the only thing left to control?
Maybe just read this sentence and get into the book, I really encourage you to go in bind. No still want to know more? alright then here is the rest of the synopsis:
In a perfect world, the only way to die is to be gleanded by a professional scythe. When Citra and Rowan are chosen to be apprentice scythes, they know they have no option but to learn the art of killing. However, the terrifying responsibility of choosing their victims is just the start.
Corruption is the order of the day and Citra and Rowan need to stick together to fight it.

Then they are told that one of them will have to glean the other..

My opinion about Scythe

Oh how I struggled ath the first half of the book. I was having a hard time getting into the writing style of this book, it took me about half the book to get over that. As you might be aware English is not my native language, and what I found with Scythe was that there were a lot of words that are not so commonly used throughout the YA genre, and so I sometimes had to look up some of the words mentioned. It has been a while since I have had to do that. I think that made it a bit challenging for me at times to get in to. In general it was not a difficult read, it is still very much a young adult novel, but if you are starting to read English I would not pick this as a starting point.

On the front of the edition I have of Scythe it says on the front: "A true successor to The Hunger Games". I don't really agree with this, I don't think this is a proper comparison as Scythe is so different in tone and world form the Hunger Games. Yes it is still science fiction, but not in the same category of the Hunger Games, which is a game based dystopian, where this is more a utopia instead. I would have like it to be compared to Matched if you want to compare it to something similar. Matched also is very much a utopia, and has some other similarities to Scythe as well. I think that if you are going into this book with the expectations of "another Hunger Games" that you would be very dissapointed. Scythe is a very different story, intellegent, political and at times a bit disturbing.

The first half of the book is a bit slow, it is mainly based on the training of Citra and Rowan our main characters. We get to see both Citra and Rowan point of view of their apprenticeship. The internal struggles of becoming a scythe and the dread of having to glean a person. To take a persons live, they both have very distinct voices and very different point of view on things. In the beginning I did not really like Citra, I found her to be a bit shallow and a bit of a know-it-all. But the farther we got in the book the more I came to appreciate her character. Rowan is a very likable character from the beginning, allthough during the book especially SPOILER ALLERT, when under the care of Scythe Goddard I actually started doubting is choices a bit.

I think the author made a very bold move at the end of the book, something I had not expected to happen. I do applaud the events and it definitely made me change my mind about this book. Now that I have had some time to process this book I think this book is a good set up for the rest of the series. There is a lot of world building, which is also the reason for the slow start, but I think the worldbuilding is necassary to explain to us the world we are in, to set up for the other two books in the series. And it is the set up for the events unfolding at the end of the book.

The ending of this book is action packed, full of surprises, and the beginning of a very interesting journey for both of our main characters. I feel the ending is perfect and this makes up so much for the slower parts of this book.

Conclusions

This is the kind of book that makes you think about our own world, our future and our incompetences. It makes you think that maybe we could all use a Thunderhead, a disease free world. Or would live then be come a dull experience? This book is a masterpiece, eventhought, at the beginning I felt like quitting a couple of times. It is such an interesting take on humanity and I am definitely going to continue the series. As I am writing this review I am already half through the second book, and I can already say, I am loving it! Utopia at it's best. As I was not all that fond of the beginning of the book, this influenced my final rating a bit, it is still a solid work of art. Therefore I am giving this book 4 stars.

It occurred to her that being a scythe was like being the living dead. In the world, but apart from it. Just a witness to the comings and goings of others. - Citra

Books: Crown of Midnight ~ Sarah J. Maas

Title: Crown of Midnight
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
Publishing date: August 2013
Number of pages: 418 p.
Series:  Throne of Glass, book #2
Age Category:  Young Adult
Genre: Epic fantasy
Other Books In This Series: 
Throne of Glass, book #1
Heir Of Fire, book #3
Queen Of Shadows, book #4
Empire Of Storms, book #5
Kingdom of Ash, Book #6
The Assassin's Blade, Throne of Glass Novellas
Tower of Dawn

About Crown of Midnight

She is the greatest assassin her world has ever known. But does she have the heart of a killer?

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. But Calaena is far from loyal to the crown. Keeping up the charade - while pretending to do the king's bidding - will test her skills in an entirely new way. And it certainly isn't the only point of confusion for the young girl. Because though she's made her choice between Dorian and Chaol, the ways of the heart are never simple...

My thoughts on Crown Of Midnight

Lest dive into the depth right away. The first half of the book, is rather slow, it is building up to the second half of the book which is very fast paced, and full of action. I think it is a bit of a contrast with the first book, where we got used to all the action, around every corner there was something happening. This was more strategic games, politics and a bit of mystery. I think that if you were to continue straight from the first book into the second one, you will need to adjust abit to the new approach. It slowed down considerably, but I really enjoyed this book, eventhough the pacing was very different I love the political intrigues, the multiple perspectives we see throughout the story. And that ending! Amazing! And I kind of went in a reading slump from there.

There is one part of the book that I really hated and it is sort of the best part of the book as well. One of my favorite side characters dies. It made me cry a bit, I just couldn't help myself. And since this book was a re-read for me I was dreading these pages, as I actually don't like how Celeana's responds to the death of her friend. She get's very unreasonable, and in honesty a bit annoying. She goes to the extremes and it at the end of a the book being a pain in the ass and becomes the reluctant heroine. Don't get me wrong, I get were she is coming from but the way she responds to this death, and again pushes everybody who cares about her away, is just a bit of an overreaction in my opinion.

At the end of the book Celeana is leaving for Wendell, I hope that in the third book she stops running away from her fate, and starts picking up the battle axe, once more. I am very curious to learn more about the fae, this will only be my second series I have read with fae in it. The other series being of course the Mercy Thompson series of which I posted my review of Iron Kissed at the beginning of the year, which is ofcourse an urban fantasy, so in that sense very different. I don't know much about fae in young adult, so I am curious to find out.

Conclusions

I needed some time to adjust to the slower pacing, but that ending, that made up for the entirety of the book. It was so well done. I loved the minor character Mort who is an enchanted doorknob he was so funny. I think story wise we see a lot of character growth, interesting politics and a bit of a mystery to figure out. The outstanding ending of a book, made this into a 5 star read for me.

Books: The Gilded Ones ~ Namina Forna

 

 

Title:The Gilded Ones
Author: Namina Forna
Publisher: Usborne Exclusive Fairyloot Edition
Publishing date: June 2020
Number of pages: 412 p.
Series: Deathless #1
Age Category: Young Adult 
Other Books In This Series (currently):
Not yet announced

About The Gilded Ones

Are we girls or are we demons?
Are we going to die or are we going to survive?
Deka fears the blood ceremony that will determine whether she can become a member of her village.
If she bleeds red, she will belong. But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold - the colour of impurity, of a demon.
She has become what she has feared all her live. A mysterious woman can take her away, to join the an army. An purpose after becoming the unthinkable.

My thoughts on The Gilded Ones

After the first chapter, I didn't know what I was suppose to think, I wasn't sure where the story was going and here is an unpopular opinion I thought it was a little too obvious black girl in a white town being shunned. I wasn't sure that if the book turned out to be solely focused on this if I would have continued. I promise you the story takes on a whole different turn and I love that the author has chosen to pick a divers cast of chacters representing people from all corners of Otera.

After the first chapter, the story got really really dark, I was surprised at how dark it was. And I loved the book for it, I think it gave the reader perspective and explains a lot of the choice Deka will make during this story. Through out the story we she how Deka is process the trauma she has been through and she here grow as a character. There is a lot of character development, which makes this a character driven story. Seeing the world through Deka's eyes, whe get to see a lot of world building, we also she the hatred towards the Alakai, the religion printed on everybodies brain. I really hate the world Deka lives in, the religion in this world is brainwashing the people.

The elders bring out buckets, gold lust in their eyes.

I love the character White Hands, the mystery about her, the small hints she drops, which Deka can't seem to figure out. What is her end game, I have wondered this from the beginning and I tell you, I was really suprised about how the story unfolded. I think that from the large cast of side characters White Hands is one of my favorites, very unique, very strategic, and full of secrets.

Then we have not yet talked about Britta, she is descriped as someone from Scandinavia but in my head she has an Scottish accent. Britta is a likeable character from the beginning, even a little bubbly, which might seem odd in this cruel world. She is so much fun, but she has depth to her as well, she also has scars..

Going back to Deka, I really enjoyed her character, I understand the decicions she makes, all but one. When they are on a raid they enter an old underground temple, with a lake in it. From the waters comes a creature, which bites Deka. Instead of getting rid of the creature she decides to keep it. I don't understand why, and I thought is was a very naive choice. In the end the creature does proof it's loyaly.

In this world there are a lot of creatures that are unique, I haven't heard of any of them, the creature that Deka found in that temple is called Ixa, and it is some kind of shapeshifting being. Very interesting, it enjoys the form of a cat but can also turn in to some big ass lizzard/dragon? like creature. Very cool!

The final battle was really something, oh by the way you will get a proper battle, I promise, we are right there on the battle field slaying deathshrieks. It all is very well written. I think this book is a great introduction to the world Otera and I want more of it! Like right now! I know this is suppose to be a series, but a title for the second book is yet to be announced, I will be keeping an eye out for it!

Conlcusions

This book is an action packed, character driven story, set into a new world, we explore to the eyes of Deka. I love our main character, the worldbuilding, and the wide cast of side characters. This book is very well written and therefore I am giving it 5 stars!

Books: All Our Yesterdays ~ Cristin Terrill

Title: All Our Yesterdays
Author: Cristin Terrill
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publishing date: September 2013
Number of pages: 360 p.
Languages: English
Age Category: Young adult
Genre: Science Fiction, Time Travel 

About All Our Yesterdays

Yesterday - Marina was safe, privileged, wealthy. She was falling for James - the super-brainy youngest son of a very powerful family. Yesterday ended badly.

Today - Em is in a cell she may never get out of alive. There's a flicker of hope when she talks to the boy in the cell next to hers - and when she remembers who she used to be... Yesterday.

Tomorrow - Em has a mission. She must escape and travel back in time. She must kill the boy Marina loved - to save her future.

My thoughts on All Our Yesterdays

Let me start of with a bit of a content warning: THIS REVIEW IS NOT SPOILER FREE, so if you don't want any spoilers please skip to my conclusions.

Oh this book, this book really tore me apart, what an amazing read this was.

All Our Yesterdays has been on my wishlist for many years, finally I found a copy I think it was at one of the Boekenfestijn events. They always had a very large English languages section on these events, which was the reason I went to these events. I always found very nicely priced books there. If you have any online suggestions of good webshops for English Fantasy and Science fiction that ship to the Netherlands, and are cheaper than the regular bookstores/online players, please let me know. I am a little stuck with Bookdepitory and Bol.com and I have recently noticed that the book prices are going up. I was so happy to have found this book, however it remained on my shelf for years and years. So I could not remember what it was about, I decided to go in blind.

I dove right into the story, our main character is lock up, we don't know where, we don't know why and we don't know what the prisoners are to each other. I was very intrigued that we did not get much information, but the author managed to keep me on my toes the entire time. The POV starts of with Em, who is the person that is locked up, after a couple of chapters the POV switches to Marina. Marina is a brat, spoiled, rich kid that is very very naive. You might have gathered from this that Marina was far from a favorite. We also find out that Finn is in both story lines so it must be Finn in different times.

It took me a much longer while to figure out that Em and Marina are actually the same person. You would not have guessed if it wasn't explained at some point, it was so interesting to see that one person can change so much that you would not even recgonize them, this was really smart writing, and it is one of the things that I really appreciate about this book. This not only goes for our main character but the same is true for the side characters. We see a lot of development between the future selves and past selves of our characters. Allthough I must say Finn remains relatively the same in any time line.

When Em & Finn manage to escape from the Doctor, they travel back in time to kill James. We see how they track James, prepare for attack, but also the hesitation on Em's part, as James was her friend, the friend she was so desparetly in love with. We see the contraversy this gives Em, the hesitation to kill him, as past James was relatively innocent. It is not easy for the old friends to try to kill someone they loved, that they trusted. This is what makes this book so realistic, it shows the struggles of the characters, and we get a well rounded story since the POV's switch between Em and Marina.

The end was really suprising, it took a turn that I did not see coming, a very daring thing to do. The ending was great, and I think what made this book so great is that it was not your straight forward, predictable YA book you would expect, it twists and turns, and you have to figure out all the details as you go along.

Conclusions

If you like time travel, then this is for you. If you are looking for a well-written suprising, not so predictable YA story, then go right ahead an pick this up. This book threw me out of my 5 year long reading slump, it was addictive, action packed, with amazing character development in a well rounded story. I can only say please read this, it is amazing, it is an older young adult book, and maybe even a bit underrated as I never really saw a lot of people talking about it, but damn, what a ride. 5 stars for this one!

 

Time travel isn't a wonder, it's an abomination. - Cristin Terrill

Books: Eragon ~ Christopher Paolini

Title: Eragon
Author: Christopher Paolini
Series: Inheritance Cycle #1
Publisher: 
Publishing date: 
Number of pages: P.
Languages: English, Dutch, German, Spanish and more
Age Category: Young Adult, epic fantasy
Other Books In This Series:
Eldest, book #2

Brisngr, book #3

Inheritance, book #4

The Fork, The Witch and the Worm (Tales from Alagaësia)

About Eragon

One boy... 

One dragon... 

A world of adventure. 

When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. 

Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. 

Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands. 

(from: Goodreads)

My thoughts on Eragon

I received Eragon I think as a birthday present, I remember starting to read it and immediately falling in love with the story. After many many years I thought it would be a good time to do a re-read it, why did I love the story so much when I firsts read it? 

So last year I have re-read Eragon and let me tell you, I still love it as much as I did before. This may be due to the fact that I forgot about half of the things that had happend like for example when did Brom lose his live? Did they save Arya before or after that? Did they managed to kill the Ra'zac or not? 

These were all things I forgot about which is not really strange because I think it has been at least 6 years since I first read it. In Eragon the author takes the time to set the tone for the rest of the books, there is a lot of world building and character development in this book, which not at all takes away from the story.

What a really appreciate in this book is that the author took the time for the characters to grow, take for example Saphira, she didn't turn into a big ass dragon overnight (like they made it look like in the very badly done movie), but she grew over several months and in the beginning was not able to touch upon Eragon's mind, nor was she able to fly. This whole process took about half a year I think in the book. I really appreciate the realistic approach. 

Also we get to see the town's dimensions of Carvahall, the role Eragon plays in the town, we meet many side characters that will be important for the plot in the later books. I really liked Horst and his family. And of course Brom, I think he is my favorite side character in Eragon. He is mysterious and a great teacher to Eragon. 

This book can be slow at times but there is enough happening in these pages that will blow your mind, I think it is not the best book in the series, but it is a great introduction to Alagaësia, I hope to read the other three books somewhere during 2021. I really want to finish this series, as I remember that the third book leaves us on a major cliffhanger. The reason I never finished it was that I think the last book was not out yet, and when it came out, I was not in a great reading place. I might not have been reading at all. 

Hopefully 2021 is the year were I finish series, any serie will do, I have a couple more I would like to finish this year, for example The Curse Workers by Holly Black. Anyways back to Eragon. 

Conclusion

Great start of a series, love the world, the creatures and the characters. How could I not, it has dragons! I love me some dragons, and Saphira is witty, caring and beautiful! This is for fantasy lovers, I don't think it will appeal to people who are not familiar with epic fantasy. If you don't like original world building, elves, dragon's and other creatures, this will not be for you, but in case you do, this is a great place to start when you are new to epic fantasy. It is written for a young adult adience but can easily be read by adults as well. All in all this book is really close to my heart, it will forever be a favorite and I really am hoping the ending of the series will be satisfying.

 

The real courage is in living and suffering for what you believe.
- Eragon ~ Christopher Paolini, p. 197

Books: 2020 in Books

Books: Christmas Magic ~ Alexandra Moody

Title: Christmas Magic 

Author: Alexandra Moody

Publishing date: 15th of November 2018

Publisher: Self published

Sort of story: Full length book, trilogy
Source: Kindle Ebook, freebie
Language: English

Number of Pages: 230 p.

Age Category: Adult

Other books in this series:

Christmas Chaos #2

Christmas Curse #3

Books: The Bake Off ~ Susan Willis

 

 

Title: The Bake Off
Author: Susan Willis
Number of Pages: 91 p.
Sort Story: Novella
Publishing Date: 29th of July 2013
Publisher: Endeavour Press Ltd.
Language: English
Age category: Adult

Books: Blood Bound ~ Patricia Briggs

 

Title: Blood Bound
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: Mercy Thompson Series book #2
Publisher: ACE Books
Publishing date: January 2007
Number of pages: 292 p.
Language: English, Dutch a.o.
Age Category: Adult
Other Books In This Series (currently):
Moon Called #1
Iron Kissed #3
Bone Crossed #4
Silver Borne #5
Rivermarked #6
Frost Burned #7
Night Broken #8
Fire Touched #9
Silence Fallen #10
Storm Cursed #11
Smoke Bitten #12

Books: Moon Called ~ Patricia Briggs

Title: Moon Called
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: Mercy Thompson Series book #1
Publisher: ACE Books
Publishing date: February 2006
Number of pages: 288p.
Language: English, Dutch
Age Category: Adult
Other Books In This Series (currently):
Blood Bound #2
Iron Kissed #3
Bone Crossed #4
Silver Borne #5
Rivermarked #6
Frost Burned #7
Night Broken #8
Fire Touched #9
Silence Fallen #10
Storm Cursed #11
Smoke Bitten #12

Books: Girl of Nightmares - Kendare Blake

Title: The Girl of Nightmares

Author: Kendare Blake
Series: Anna #2
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publishing date: 27 Augustus 2013
Number of pages: 420 p.
Languages: English, Dutch, German, Spanish and more
Age Category: Young Adult, Horror
Other Books In This Series:
Anna Dressed In Blood

Books: Anna Dressed In Blood ~ Kendare Blake

Title: Anna Dressed In Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Series: Anna #1
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publishing date: 27 Augustus 2013
Number of pages: 420 P.
Languages: English, Dutch, German, Spanish and more
Age Category: Young Adult, Horror
Other Books In This Series:
The Girl of Nightmares

Books: Bitten ~ Kelley Armstrong

Title: Bitten
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld, book #1
Publisher: Plume, imprint of Penguin
Publishing date: 29th of June 2010
Number of pages: 518 p.
Language: English, Dutch, Spanish, German, a.o.
Age Category: Adult
Other Books In This Series: Click here 

Books: Throne Of Glass ~ Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne Of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass, book #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
Publishing date: 3rd of May 2013
Number of pages: 404 p.
Language: English, Dutch, Spanish, German, a.o.
Age Category: Young Adult
Other Books In This Series: 
Crown Of Midnight, book #2
Heir Of Fire, book #3
Queen Of Shadows, book #4
Empire Of Storms, book #5
Kingdom of Ash, Book #6

Books: City Of Bones ~ Cassandra Clare

Title: City Of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: Mortal Instruments, book #1
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publishing date: 27th March 2007
Number of pages: 485 p.
Language: English, Dutch, Spanish, German, a.o.
Age Category: Young Adult
Other Books In This Series: 
City Of Ashes, book #2
City Of Glass, book #3
City Of Fallen Anges, book #4
City Of Lost Soul, book #5
City Of Heavenly Fire, book #6

Books: Leopard Moon ~ Jeanette Battista

Title: Leopard Moon
Author: Jeanette Battista
Series: Moon series, book #1
Publisher: Self published
Publishing date: 4th March 2012
Number of pages: 206 p.
Language: English  only
Age Category: New Adult
Other Books In This Series: 
Jackal Moon, book #2
Hyena Moon, book #3
Hunter Moon, book #4