Category Archives: Fantasy

Review: Pirouette by Kenley Davidson

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pirouettePirouette
Kenley Davidson
Page Nine Press

Amazon | Goodreads

When twelve princesses of Caelan refuse to dance as commanded by their father, he imprisons them in their pavilion and offers a challenge. Anyone who discovers the princesses’ secret will marry his pick among them and choose the fate of the others. Anyone who tries and fails will be stripped of land and title or life. But it’s the forgotten thirteenth princess who holds the key to the princesses’ rebellion. Ilani may be crippled, but she is by no means powerless.

Into this standoff comes Lord Kyril Seagrave and his companions from Andar. They hunt an exiled, dangerous prince and the truth about whether Caelan means to invade their home. Kyril is supposed to lead the expedition, but near as he can tell, everyone else is more qualified for the job, and he begins to wonder if Prince Ramsey sent him simply to get him out of the way for a while. When Kyril meets Ilani, he feels a pull toward the girl he can’t explain, and he vows to right the grave injustice done when she was crippled at seven years old. But to right the wrongs of the past, the princesses’ secret must be revealed, and before exiled Prince Rowan can turn the situation to Andar’s ruin.

Political intrigue and fairytales might seem like an odd pairing, but in the Andari Chronicles, it really works. I love the way Davidson takes familiar stories and jazzes them up with new elements. I’m less familiar with the story of the “Twelve Dancing Princesses” by the Brothers Grimm than I am with the other two stories in the Andari Chronicles. This version still centers around a contest established by a king to learn the secret of his daughters, but this time instead of learning why the girls’ dance slippers are worn through each morning, the contestant must learn why the girls have refused to dance for their father. And, instead of three days and nights, each hopeful contestant has only one night to learn the secret.

Kyril plays a role in the first book in the series, Traitor’s Masque, as Prince Ramsey’s best friend and confidante. Since Ramsey’s marriage to Trystan, Kyril feels displaced and useless. The trip to Caelan at first seems like an opportunity to prove his true worth to the court. I liked Kyril a lot in Traitor’s Masque, and his motives made perfect sense to me throughout Pirouette. He and another team member, Brenna, spar frequently over an old grudge Brenna carries but refuses to name openly. The friction between those two definitely kept tension in the tale. Brenna herself is a pretty significant character, too.

Overall I enjoyed this story. I think I liked the first two books in the series a little bit better than this one. I love the characters, but there’s one moment in the climax where I felt like Kyril gets kind of sidelined and doesn’t really contribute. After all of his struggles over feeling useless and valueless, I felt a little sad for him that he kind of had to sit back and wait while others did some key things. I would have liked to see him in a more active role during that big moment.

At the same time, I liked that the climax had a less traditional resolution. I won’t spoil what happened, but it was cleverly done, and definitely gave a nod to girl power and solidarity, which I have to appreciate.

I’d still recommend the whole series to readers who like fairytale retellings. You can read my reviews of the first book, Traiter’s Masque, and the second book, Goldheart, too.

Cultural Elements
While Andar feels more like Western Europe to me, Caelan feels more Middle Eastern with the descriptions of clothing, culture, and architecture.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Kyril spends the sea voyage sick and miserable. There are several descriptions saying he smells horrible and has vomit-stained clothes, etc.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brenna hassles Kyril about his reputation as a shameless flirt. Kyril later explains the reasons for his behavior. Brief kissing between a man and woman.

Spiritual Content
Some Caelani bear an ability to perform magic. Their gifts are usually limited to one thing, like the ability to control water or fire. Anyone who can perform magic is made a slave and forced to wear silver.

Violent Content
Ilani bears multiple scars and damage to her leg after a man ordered her brutally maimed as a child. She does not recount her torture vividly, but her leg still pains her and she must walk with a cane. Her mother and brother were ordered to be executed after she was discovered to have magical abilities.

Some Caelani want to see the slaves freed and magic embraced by the people. Others fear the outcome of magic users without restraint. A girl uses her magic to kill a man.

A wild animal attacks and severely mauls a man. The attack isn’t described, but his injuries are briefly related later.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: Lightning by Bonnie Calhoun

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , ,

Lightning
Bonnie Calhoun
Revell

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Selah has finally found her father only to lose the rest of her family. And with her transformation to novarium in process, the clock is ticking down to her destruction if she doesn’t complete the final phase in time. Answers will only be found by returning to the one place Selah least wants to go: the Mountain. She must gather the answers she needs, rescue her family, and bring her friends to safety before time runs out.

I think my first mistake was probably in reading this book without having read Thunder, the first book in the series. I never felt like I could fully grasp the storyworld elements critical to the tale. I’m still not totally sure what Landers are and I definitely didn’t follow the First, Second, and Third protocol explanations or understand why they were relevant. A lot of the information comes out in the form of dialogue, but I kept feeling like I was missing the pieces of information that would make everything suddenly make sense.

The side characters were my favorite. Mari and Cleon and Treva, in particular. Selah felt uneven to me, sometimes acting like a grown adult and other times reading much more like a younger teen. Some of her conversations with Bodhi (I LOVED the character names in the story) felt like they were arguing because this is the scene in which they’re supposed to argue. Some of the dialogue felt like it was jumping around and responses didn’t seem to follow any linear ideas.

I liked that there were all these groups vying to use Selah for their own means. Even her father had his own agenda. That kept me guessing and wondering what would be around the next bend in the story.

Bottom line for me: if you’re going to read this series, start with Thunder. I haven’t read it, but I think I would have enjoyed Lightning a lot more if I wasn’t struggling to understand the mechanics of the storyworld in the midst of the tale itself.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
There are some brief battles, but very little gory detail. One of Selah’s companions is fatally injured and asks to be left behind.

Drug Content
None.

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Review: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

The Raven King
Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic, Inc

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

The Raven King has been on the To Read list of practically every blogger that I follow. I’ve been a pretty big fan of the series so far, so I was really eager to get into this last chapter of the tale.

If you’re new to the Raven Cycle, here’s what you need to know:

Growing up in the company of psychics, means getting used to people knowing your future. Blue has always been told two things about her future: she will fall in love, and, if she kisses her true love, he will die. She meets Gansey and his friends and realizes she’s seen him before. On the Corpse Road, walking among the other souls of those who will die in the coming year.

Gansey died once already. And because of Glendower, he knew life again. Now, Gansey believes his purpose is to find the Welsh king of legend and wake him. He brings three remarkable friends with him on the quest. Adam, who has made a bargain with a magical forest, to serve as its hands and eyes, Ronan, who can bring items back from his dreams, and Noah, a boy who died on the ley line years ago, and joins the friends now as a ghost.

So now it’s the fourth book, and Gansey et al are closing in on Glendower’s location. But a powerful demon has been set loose, and the team needs to find Glendower before the demon destroys Cabeswater and Ronan with it. If they can wake the legendary king, they can use the favor he’s promised to put an end to the demon.

One of the most difficult things about a highly anticipated book like this is it has so many expectations to live up to. We’ve followed this big stories all the way to this point and we’re braced for the big satisfying moments where dreams are realized and plots come full circle and everyone lives gloriously if not happily ever after.

Here comes a little diversity. In the first three books, the central characters are a pretty narrow bunch: four white boys and a white girl. The Raven King introduces Henry, a Korean boy, and reveals two of our boys as having feelings for each other. While I liked that the story broadened in terms of diversity, and I liked Henry a lot, I didn’t really feel like those elements were as well-integrated into the story. I kept waiting for Henry to emerge as having some critical role, and apart from having a really cool artifact and some comic relief, he really doesn’t add much in his own right.

The boy/boy romance. I really couldn’t decide how I felt about it. Totally did not see it coming, which I kind of liked. On the other hand, I felt like after three books, I should have suspected something. Also, one of the boys had a girlfriend earlier in the series, and I wondered why the other hadn’t responded to this girl as more of a rival in a romantic sense? Then again, maybe I’d see some of those queues if I went back and reread the first three books?

The climax really threw me. Pretty much from the point where the cloud of ravens come up through the end of the book kind of went downhill for me. Things happened too easily. Oh, here’s a car. Oh, here’s a cave. Oh, here’s a sacrifice. I kept thinking, that’s it? That’s all we get? ALL this buildup for THIS?!

Also – okay. I spent the whole book anticipating this big boss fight with this waspy demon (perfect villain considering Gansey’s life-threatening allergy to bees.) What we got was the literary equivalent of the boss fight in Halo 4. (Go with me, here. You pretty much fight your way through aliens level after level and finally make it to the big scary bad guy and it’s like, ‘press right-trigger to defeat boss.’ Kind of a letdown.)

So, the wasp-demon fight went down a whole different way, leaving some pretty big loose ends: The Green Man? Henry’s mom? Piper’s dad and his brother?

I was relieved when I discovered there was an epilogue. But honestly, it didn’t answer any of the questions the story left me with. In fact, I really didn’t know what to make of it. Sure, we get to see the characters moving on after completing this quest which has dominated their lives for four whole books, but it was like suddenly they’re ordinary people. (And ordinary people who make weird choices. Really, Adam??) I had a rush of the same feeling I get when watching The Return of the King in the scene where Aragorn is finally crowned king and suddenly he’s soft and sweet and awkward and I’m like where is the warrior who didn’t even blink at taking on nine freaking Nazgûl?! But I digress.

Bottom line: am I glad I read it? Yes. Totally. Even if every review said exactly all these things, I would still have said, yes, but I need to read it. I need to follow Blue and Gansey to the bitter end. So I’m not sorry. The first three-quarters of the book was great. Lots of tension. So many moments where I was biting my nails and holding my breath. I loved the stuff about Blue and her dad. I loved that we got to see Ronan at home and kind of unguarded. All the stuff revealed about Ronan’s dad and his brother Declan? Awesome.

So there are good things to be had in the story, too. For me, like I said, I’m glad I read it. Now I want to go read Dream Thieves or The Raven Boys and let those earlier, grander parts of the story live on in my mind instead of the true final moments of the series.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used moderately throughout the book.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing – girl/boy and boy/boy.

Spiritual Content
Blue’s mom and their other housemates are psychics. They perform a tarot card reading early on in the book. Gansey and his friends are looking for a Welsh king who, according to myth, sleeps somewhere along the Ley Line that runs through their town. If Gansey and his entourage can find the king and wake him, legend says he’ll grant them a favor. Along the course of the hunt, one of their rivals woke a demon. The demon will destroy Cabeswater (a magical forest), Ronan’s home and family, and even Ronan himself unless they can kill it first.

Blue learns of a people who can transform into or disappear into trees.

A ghost attacks and physically harms Blue.

Violent Content
The demon kills a woman in a pretty gruesome way. Later, a man shoots his daughter. A ghost attacks Blue, tearing at her face. The demon takes control of a boy and uses him to attack his friends.

Drug Content
Blue and Gansey attend a party where some boys are drinking alcohol.

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Review: Dreadlands by Jaimie Engle

Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Dreadlands: Wolf Moon
Jaimie Engle
JME Books
Available April 22, 2016

Amazon |  Goodreads | Author Web Site

On a hunt, Arud faces one of the ferine, a terrifying wolf with serrated teeth and murderous heart. He escapes home, but the wolf follows, and his mother begs him to go, taking his sister with him, to a village weeks away. Confused and frustrated at the secrets he knows his mother keeps, Arud takes Lykke and together they travel as quickly as possible. They must reach the village before the next moon frees all the ferine from the Dreadlands and allows them to hunt freely. A beautiful girl joins Arud and Lykke on their way. She tells him of a prophecy and a ritual which could alter the course of humanity. If Lykke is captured by the ferine, a powerful sorceress will perform the ritual and the ferine will be free to hunt and kill at will.

Right from the opening pages, this story takes off. I was immediately hooked. Arud’s family practically bursts with secrets, from his grandmother’s strange ways to his sister’s mysterious illness, to his father’s disappearance. Add to that deadly wolves already on the hunt for Arud, and I could not stop reading.

I liked the characters. There are a lot of named characters, but it didn’t feel like a lot to me as I read the story because they’re introduced at a nice pace, and for the most part, each contributes something to the story that makes that person memorable. Scalvia, the girl who accompanies Arud and Lykke, was definitely my favorite. She’s every bit the warrior, but still kind and sweet, especially to Lykke. Sometimes when story features a small child character, they end up unrealistically good. I felt like Lykke’s character had a great balance of being a good kid, but also still acting like a kid and wanting her own way sometimes.

Werewolf stories aren’t my usual go-to, but I really liked the unusual way those elements were worked into the story. The Viking mythology added some interesting elements, definitely something I don’t see often enough. This is sort of How to Train Your Dragon meets Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls series).

Fans of teen paranormal should definitely check out this book. I liked the fresh take on the werewolf lore and the complex, suspenseful plot definitely entertained.

Cultural Elements
The story contains a lot of references to Viking culture and lore.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A few kisses between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some characters pray to Odin and Freya. Arud talks to Scalvia about his own belief that another god, a Creator exists. He often talks about the importance of faith. Some of the lines about faith are paraphrased from the Bible.

A powerful sorceress leads the ferine. She seeks to perform a ritual that will free the ferine from captivity in the Dreadlands and let them roam freely.

Violent Content
Arud hunts and cleans the animals he catches. Some of the descriptions are a bit vivid. The wolf-like animals who hunt Arud and his sister attack animals and humans. Arud and his allies fight back in several battles. Descriptions range from brief to moderately detailed. I’m a bit sensitive to violence, and it was definitely at the upper edges of what I’m comfortable with, but other readers may not have issue with it.

Drug Content
Brief mention of elderberry mead included in table fare.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: Goldheart by Kenley Davidson

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Goldheart
Kenley Davidson
Page Nine Media
Available May 2016

Amazon | Goodreads | Author Web Site

After recovering from a kidnapping, Elaine Westover wants nothing more than to live a quiet secluded life with her paints. But as her father’s home falls into disrepair and his business fails, she has little choice but to offer her services painting portraits. When a wealthy man hires her to paint an impossible portrait for a year’s income, Elaine considers accepting the job. At the interview, he makes it clear she has no choice but to accept, and he bundles her off to the attic against her will, promising to release and reward her when she completes his task. Her only friend and protector is Will, a young man she takes to be a servant. He vows to help her in any way he can, and soon she realizes she’s falling in love with him. Will feels drawn to Elaine as well, but when he discovers the connection between his family and hers, he knows he can never let her discover his name without ruining every moment they’ve shared together.

The first book in the Andari Chronicles was one of the best surprises I’ve had this year. I loved Davidson’s retelling of the story of Cinderella with its added political intrigue, and ever since I read it, I’ve been excited to read more. I like that this story features characters who appear very briefly in Traitor’s Masque, most importantly, Elaine Westover. While she didn’t strike me as a particularly dynamic character in the first book (she’s really just mentioned and off-stage the entire story), I liked the way her character unfolded in Goldheart.

Rumplestiltskin isn’t one of my favorite fairytales, and I wasn’t sure how a painter would factor into a retelling, but I have to say, I loved how it all played out. The themes about value and gold made the story even richer (see what I did there? Ha ha.) than the original tale. One thing that Davidson does really well is to craft believable fairytale men with believable friendships. Will and Blaise were a great pair, and the scenes featuring the banter between the two of them rank among my favorites.

So far I have to recommend this whole series. I’ll be reading the third book soon, though I’m honestly tempted to start it today. The next book is a retelling of Twelve Dancing Princesses and features another character I enjoyed from Traitor’s Masque: the prince’s friend, Kyril. Can’t wait!

Fans of fairytales definitely need to give these stories a read. They’re a bit grittier than Melanie Dickerson’s novels and a bit more traditional than Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles. It definitely reminds me of Robin McKinley’s Beauty and Spindle’s End, but without the magical elements.

Cultural Elements
The landscape of the story and the characters feel very Western European.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
A man makes veiled threats that he could and might harm Elaine. She fears for her physical safety and it’s clear he could rape her if he chose, though it’s not explicitly stated. A man hints that his friend needs a few minutes alone in a carriage with a certain woman, but he means for privacy, not sexual reasons.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Elaine has nightmares and remains tormented by memories of her earlier kidnapping. (From the first book in the series.) A man is bound and left in a cellar after being smacked around a bit. A madman lights his home on fire and himself as well.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, , , ,

Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet
Charlie N. Holmberg
47 North

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Maire arrives in Carmine without any memory of how she got there. A kind couple take her in and she spends her days baking sweets infused with love, hope, or strength. That is Maire’s gift: she can impart these things through her cakes. She has a good life, one which she may yet share with Cleric Tuck. But before she can find out what an ordinary life in Carmine might hold for her, she meets a ghostly form from her past, a winged man named Fyel, who desperately wants her to remember who she is.

Before she can pursue her lost memories, marauders tear through her home, capturing her. Maire finds herself enslaved by the cruel Allemas, who demands that she make magical cakes for him. Fyel promises to help Maire, but she must recover her memories before Allemas destroys her.

This story has a really fresh, unique feel to it. I think one of my favorite elements was that when Allemas asks Maire to make cakes for him, the orders and customers come from familiar fairytale stories. For example, she’s asked to make a gingerbread house covered with candy. A lonely woman begs her to make a living gingerbread boy. It definitely added this feeling that the author and readers were sharing an inside joke that the characters were unaware of. I liked that a lot and thought it was pretty clever.

I loved Fyel. At first, I wasn’t sure I’d like him. But as the story progresses he shows such devotion to Maire, yet he allows her a lot of independence and respect. I liked that he didn’t just bulldoze over her and push her around, but he’s no weakling either.

Fans of Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone or Melissa Grey’s The Girl at Midnight should definitely give this book a read. This is the first novel by Charlie N. Holmberg that I’ve read, but I now I’m eager to read others. I’ve heard great things about The Paper Magician, so I hope to give that one a read soon.

Also, special thanks to author Jeff Wheeler, Jolien at The Fictional Reader and Carrie at Reading is My Super Power for recommending Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet to me!

Cultural Elements
The fantasy landscape is vast and drives by the identities of various cultures as Maire wonders where she’s from. As she recovers her memory, her skin turns a deep red. She learns that others from her home come in different colors.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Maire remembers making love to her husband in a brief scene. She shares kisses with him and with another man.

Spiritual Content
The characters believe in many gods and in the existence of assistants who craft the landscapes of worlds. The gods breathe life into creation but crafters create the world before they arrive. At one point, Maire interacts with a silvery substance like a soul.

Violent Content
Raiders capture Maire and others and sell them as slaves. Maire’s new master treats her with some cruelty, locking her in a cellar and forgetting to feed her. He’s a bit creepy.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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