The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

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Mercedes Lackey seems to be one of those authors who have a few gems in her vast number of published books, but it’s a case of unearthing which ones work for you as a reader. Considering how much she churns out, this comes as no real surprise. I’ve only read one of her books before, Gwenhwyfar, which I didn’t really like. If I’m honest, the only reason I picked up this book is because it’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling and I can’t resist such a book.

Information:

Title: The Fire Rose

Author: Mercedes Lackey

Series: Elemental Masters #1

Publisher: Baen

Target Audience: Adult

Genre: Fantasy

Length: 433 pages

Story: In 1905, Medieval scholar Rosalind Hawkins is left destitute when her father dies, forcing her to accept the offer that has mysteriously come her way of becoming a governess in San Francisco. But she arrives to find a house without children, a wife, or even an employer--only a terrible secret.

Thoughts and impressions: Unfortunately, I soon found myself frustrated and uninspired by the characters in this book. Paul du Mond (Beast’s right-hand man) in particular was just too much! He’s one of those seedy guys who feed off the work of others rather than doing any work himself; he likes to “break in” the new prostitutes – quelling their spirits so they’ll be pliable for other clients – and even learnt Spanish so he could give the Mexican girls a verbal thrashing as well as a physical one. I think that the author was just trying to use this as a means of introducing the world of San Francisco’s world of prostitution at the turn of the 20^th century. I certainly picked up a lot of information that I’d been unaware / half aware of, but I didn’t feel that du Mond’s character was balanced enough for this to go down well. He had no positive attributes whatsoever and that made him very unbelievable for me.

In fact, none of the characters were particularly balanced. The good were sugary good and the bad had no redeeming qualities. Moreover, the Beast doesn’t even grow as a person. The whole idea behind Beauty and the Beast is that Beauty’s love allows Beast to grow and improve as a person. It doesn’t matter whether or not he transforms into the perfect, able-bodied man, there still has to be that character growth!  This particular Beast ends up as the exact same person that he was at the start of the novel.  Don’t even get me started on Rose. She was just so… I don’t even know but I could not like her at all. On top of that she’s too much on the side of perfection for my tastes.

If you know me, you’ll know that I adore Beauty and the Beast and that I’ll eat up anything with a passing resemblance to that fairy tale. I’m very sad to say that this is the first time ever that I’ve not liked a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I was bored, put off and uninspired by the characters and on top of this Beast is called Jason Cameron. It’s often written out in full like that and I’d find myself reading it as James Cameron all the time. I had to keep stopping and rereading the name!

The book’s redeeming feature is its magic system. I rather liked the mastery of the elements and how familiars would work for their master, helping them in their spell casting. I quite liked the ritual system as well and how Magick was not just at the practitioner’s fingertips. I even liked how the Eastern magical ways differ from those practised in the West, but how they could both learn from each other.

Now, if only the rest of the book had been as good as the magic system. This is the second time that I’ve been stung by a Mercedes Lackey book. I’ll think long and hard before picking up another.

Style: I can’t put my finger on what exactly it was about the style that didn’t appeal to me but I found it pretty tough going. I even put the book down at one point for a week or so while I read some other books instead.

Final verdict: Really just not my cup of tea I’m afraid. 2 stars

Extra notes: I don't think there was any bad language. No explicit sex though prostitution and what is essentially the rape of kidnapped girls are mentioned in passing.

The Swan Kingdom by Zoë Marriott

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When I went to England recently I had this great idea that I’d take my Kindle with me and have lots of books at my fingertips to fit whatever mood hit me! Of course, I forgot to take into account that the Kindle is an electronic device and as such must be turned off for more than half the 50 minute flight time – argh! This book was my emergency purchase to give me something to read. Luckily it was one that I’d been interested in for a while!

Information:

Title: The Swan Kingdom

Author: Zoë Marriott

Publisher: Walker

Target Audience: YA

Genre: Fantasy / fairy tale retelling

Length: 263 pages

Story: When Alexandra’s mother is slain by an unnatural beast, shadows fall on the once-lush kingdom. Too soon the widowed king is entranced by a cunning stranger — and in one chilling moment Alexandra’s beloved brothers disappear, and she is banished to a barren land. Rich in visual detail, sparked by a formidable evil, and sweetened with familial and romantic love, here is the tale of a girl who discovers powerful healing gifts — and the courage to use them to save her ailing kingdom.

Thoughts and impressions: Fairy tale retellings are one of my more prominent reading interests. This particular fairy tale is one that I’m not as familiar with as perhaps I should be. I did read Grimm’s once upon a time, but it was a long, long time ago and this is the first retelling of this one that I’ve picked up. As with all typical fairy tales there’s the princess in distress, an evil queen, a handsome price, a curse, and an absent father who allows all these atrocities to take place (unless he’s dead, but in this case he’s alive and kicking).

In The Swan Kingdom a fearsome, unnatural beast kills the loving queen then takes her place in human form. The royal children, three sons and a daughter, are protected from her mass mind control spell by their mother’s blood and set themselves the task of trying to uncover the talisman the evil queen is using to keep her human form. In doing so, they inadvertently set off an alarm and she unleashes her magic on them. The three brothers are all transformed into swans and the princess is bundled off to live in exile with her aunt in the neighbouring kingdom.

There Alexandra meets a young man, Gabriel, who shares an affinity with nature and the enaid (Alexandra herself has a powerful connection with the enaid). They sneak off together every evening to share stories and soon attraction forms between them. Unfortunately, we’re mostly just told about their evening exploits rather than seeing them, so we don’t get to observe enough of their interactions to form an interest in their budding romance. Or at least I didn’t.  I wanted to like Gabriel as well, but his character just wasn’t developed enough in those original scenes together for me to feel at all invested in it.

When Gabriel has to return home with his family, he makes Alexandra promise to meet him one year later, but the day before she was meant to meet him again she is called back to the land of her birth only to discover that is has been drained of life. This is the kick she needs to break her from the lethargy that she’s been wallowing in for the past year as she waits for her brothers to return to her (she has no memory of them turning into swans).  She realises that she needs to be proactive in order to get her brothers back from their magical imprisonment so that they can reclaim their kingdom together. The only way that she knows of doing this is to weave a vest of a particularly nasty species of nettle while keeping a vow of silence.

This was an interesting and intriguing fantasy tale but possibly a little too short to do the author’s ideas justice. I would have liked to have seen more of the interactions between the characters that would have allowed them more development. As it was, I didn’t really feel like I got to know any of the characters very well other than Alexandra herself.

The magic system was particularly interesting and refreshing. It was all based on the natural energies that flow through the lands. Because Alexandra’s mother never properly explained her role in this magic system, as well as that of her ancestors, Alexandra doesn’t realise how central she is to everything, how tied to the land she really is. I’m not entirely sure that it can be called original but I did like the person twists that the author put on it.

Style: Good. It flowed well and didn’t have a clunky feel to it, though this is the author’s debut novel so it should get even better as she improves with each book! (I hope).

Final verdict: Lacking in some places but overall a good read that kept me interested from start to finish! I’m now feeling particularly inspired to pick up Juliet Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest, which is a retelling of the same fairy tale. 3.5 stars

Extra notes: No bad language. No sex.

The Wysard by Deborah J. Lightfoot

Buy the book: Amazon US

I wasn’t actually intending on reading this second book of the trilogy so soon after having finished the first, The Warlock. I found, however, the tantalising pull of Carin’s unsure fate to be too strong to resist and I put off my reading schedule for two days to allow myself to get caught up again in the world of Ladrahdin (I hope I spelt that right).

Information:

Title: The Wysard

Author: Deborah J. Lightfoot

Series: Waterspell #2

Publisher: Seven Rivers Publishing

Target Audience: YA?

Genre: Fantasy

Length: 444 pages

Story: After blundering into the last stronghold of magic, Carin discovers that she is right to fear the wizard Verek. He is using her to seal the ruptures in the void, and she may be nothing more to him than an expendable weapon. What will he do with her—or to her—when his world is again secure? Or has he erred in believing that the last bridge has been broken? The quest may not, in fact, be over … and Lord Verek may find himself not quite as willing to dispose of his fiery water-sylph, Carin, as he once believed himself to be.

Thoughts and impressions: In the prologue things pick up exactly where they left off at the end of the first book and the reader is afforded some answers to their questions. As of the first chapter, though, events jump forward a few weeks and the reader is fed any necessary information to paint a clear picture of what happened in that lost time mostly through dialogue.

In contrast to the first book, which was almost entirely in the stationary setting of the manor house, this second book sees the four characters (Verek, Lanse – his stable boy, Carin and the woodsprite) on a long journey through the dead of winter.  I enjoyed this new setting and the different dimensions that it gave t the characters. Myra, one of my favourite characters from the first book, was of course absent, but if I’m honest I think that this book probably profited as much from her absence as there was no temptation to allow things to get caught up in her endless inane prattlings. Besides, the woodsprite prattles as well and I’m not sure that more than one such character is really a good thing.

The Wysard felt more concise than The Warlock. The author certainly grew and it seemed to me that she had better control over what is necessary to weave a really intriguing fantasy tale in this one. I found myself more interested in events, though Carin’s inability to see past the end of her own nose when it came to the riddles she was trying to unravel was just infuriating. She latched onto all the wrong verses and completely ignored those that really drew parallels between the texts she was trying to understand.

The characters all grew in this book, each becoming more aware of certain shortcomings and repenting them. Both main characters had difficult choices to make that are like as not to come back to haunt them in the final book of the trilogy.

The promised romance does come to a head in this book but in such a way that the exploration of it has been left for the last book. I have to admit that I’m not entirely comfortable with the age difference between the two characters: Carin is in her mid-teens while Verek is in his mid-forties. It explained away by the fact that Verek is a wizard, wizards are long-lived and so it’s like Verek is only in his twenties… but he’s still lived for forty-odd years and Carin is still only little more than a child. Having Carin just a few years older at, say, 20 would have dispelled this discomfort, but at just 15 I couldn’t get over the feeling that she was just too young. Beyond this, I didn’t actually feel her feelings growing for Verek. She was still afraid of him fairly close to the end of the book, but then when she goes to save him she’s accepting of him kissing her without even questioning his actions. Verek I could sense, though, and I liked the slow evolution of him coming to terms with his feelings.

I’m not entirely sure where things are going to go in the next book, but I’m definitely interested in finding out!

Style: There are not as many lengthy, unnatural spiels of dialogue in this book, which I felt improved the style vastly. However, the author picked up a habit of opening sentences with the indirect object, though, which is something that I dislike in English.

Final verdict: A very interesting sequel that I felt improved on the first book. 4.5 stars

Extra notes: Some invented bad language. No sex.

The Warlock by Deborah J. Lightfoot

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I’ve mentioned this before, I’ll mention it again: when it comes to genres, fantasy is my true love. I was very young when I first discovered fantasy and my love of it never really left me. This is the only genre I can really say that about as I tend to go through phases with most others. I also love a bit of romance mixed in with my fantasy, so when this book was billed as a fantasy romance, I jumped at the chance to read it!

Information:

Title: The Warlock

Author: Deborah J. Lightfoot

Series: Waterspell #1

Publisher: Seven Rivers Publishing

Target Audience: Not sure, possibly YA+

Genre: Fantasy

Length: 375 pages

Story: Drawn into the schemes of an angry wizard, Carin glimpses the place she once called home. It lies upon a shore that seems unreachable. To learn where she belongs and how to get there, the teenage traveler must decipher the words of an alien book, follow the clues in a bewitched poem, conjure a dragon from a pool of magic -- and tread carefully around a seductive but volatile, emotionally scarred sorcerer who can't seem to decide whether to love her or kill her.

Thoughts and impressions: Well, really this first book in the trilogy is more of a fantasy than a fantasy romance, but the seeds are in place to germinate into something more. The relationship between the characters, Carin and Verek, doesn’t really grow all that much between the start of the story and the end. I would have liked to have seen a bit more evolution between them, but I will accept that that is still to come.

All throughout the book my mind was going mad with comparisons. First of all, I had Beauty and the Beast going through my head as Verek is portrayed as having a beastly personality and there is some emphasis placed on his “ruined hand” where he is missing a finger, and Carin is described as being a very bonny lass. Then we have an isolated mansion that’s fallen into decay, a small number (three) of servants, a huge library and Carin’s love of books – I think we have most of the ingredients there for Beauty and the Beast.

Some way into the book I started coming up with comparisons to Trudi Canvan’s Black Magician trilogy too. In those books Sonea is scarred of Akkarin to begin with but slowly comes to know and accept him and even to love him.

After this, Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll is introduced. The first time the title was given and the opening read out, I didn’t make the connection as it has been probably more than 15 years since I read either Alice book. To be honest, I was very surprised that the author brought our world into the mix, as for me that puts this book precariously on that precipice between what makes a fantasy novel and what’s sci-fi. I was nevertheless interested in finding out where she would take things with the relationships between worlds.

The one thing that I was not particularly keen on was the long spiels of dialogue. I’m an adherent to the saying “less is more” when it comes to dialogue as I find that whenever characters start on what are pretty much monologues, it doesn’t sound natural unless the character is presented in that way, such as Myra, Lord Verek’s housekeeper. I enjoyed her character!

This being the first book in the trilogy, I find that I’m interested in seeing this through to the end and I will be reading the other two books as my reading schedule allows.

Style: At the beginning, I found the style to be pretty rocky. I don’t know whether I just got used to it or whether the author found her writing element, but further into the book this stopped bothering me.

Final verdict: Good! It does have a lot to live up to and it didn’t reach the ranks of those fantasy greats (though to be fair, it’s hard to live up to anything if I’m comparing you with Tolkien). A very enjoyable read. 4 stars

Thief With No Shadow by Emily Gee

Emily Gee is one of those authors out turned out to be a lucky discovery for me one day while browsing the shelves in a local bookstore. Her books caught my attention for whatever reason but in the end it was another book, The Laurentine Spy - her current new release at that time, which I chose to take home with me. I started it one night, meaning to read a page or two before bed… the light didn’t get turned out until almost 5am and even then that was only because I was so tired by that point that I couldn’t see to read anymore. I finished the book the next day and immediately ordered her other book, this book, reading it as soon as it was delivered.

Though I enjoyed this book, it didn’t consume me in quite the same way that The Laurentine Spy did.

When I went to look for another book in my read boxes recently, I found this book at the same time and was overcome by a desire to revisit it! This is how the book found itself back on my bookshelf for a week or two before I picked it up again.

Information:

Title: Thief with No Shadow

Author: Emily Gee

Publisher: Solaris

Genre: Fantasy

Target Audience: Adult

Length: 463 pages

Story: Melke is a wraith, which means she has the abilty to walk unseen. After being forced to steal a necklace, she is hunted down by the victim of the crime, Bastian sal Vere. He explains that the necklace was strung with tears, and that without it, Bastian cannot break the curse that is destroying his family. He orders Melke to regain the necklace, in exchange for her brother to be healed. But she had given the necklace to the salamanders, the fire breathing creatures that live underground. She must risk her own life. Meanwhile, Bastian becomes involved in solving a brutal murder of a young pregnant girl in the town of Theirry. This is a strong character-based fantasy, full of romantic tension and gritty storylines.

Thoughts and impressions: The world that Emily Gee has created in this book is vast and barely explored. It’s like if you read a book where all the events take place in the Scottish Highlands but the narration keeps hinting at the wonders of the rest of the world – the deserts of Africa, the fjords of Norway, the rainforests of the South Americas. Of course, it leaves you in a position where you’d really like to explore these distant destinations as well as the Scottish Highlands.

There are four mythical beasts that exist in this particular fantasy world: one for each element. Only two of the four creatures are really explored in any depth. Had she wanted to, I’m sure that the author could have returned to this world – another area of it with new characters to be sure – and woven a story that involved the other two creatures. In fact, the world is so vast that she could have set any number of books here.

As it is, I liked the psaaron of this story. For some reason when I read this story the first time, I pictured the psaaron as a genie-like creature – sort of insubstantial and distanced from anything I could have really pictured. This time around, I think I followed the descriptions more closely. The psaaron is, of course, described as being a sort of cross between human and fish with a general human build but the scales of a fish. The species is described as being very attached to their ancestors who remain with them in the form of a pearl formed by their last tear. It was the theft of a necklace of such ancestor-pearls that brought down the curse upon the sal Veres generations ago.

From my first read of this book, I remember being really frustrated with Melke for constantly going on about how she’d done the one thing that she’d always promised herself she wouldn’t do. She was constantly berating herself for having lowered herself to the base nature of a wraith (a person able to turn invisible) and stolen from the sal Veres. The fact that she’d done it in order to save her brother and then offers to follow in her brother’s failed footsteps and steal it back from the salamanders – essentially risking her life to do something her brother had already proven to be impossible – seems to get overlooked.

This time around, Melke didn’t frustrate me as much but Bastian did. His constant abuse of her and lengthy inner monologues on how horrible a creature she is got old fast but still they came. I understand where the character is coming from, of course. He needed this necklace to save his family’s legacy and have rain return to their lands, but more importantly to save his sister from being raped by the psaaron (one member of each generation being raped by the creature is part of the curse). This understanding did not allow me to be more accepting of his endless ranting. I got tired of him and wanted him to just get over himself and realise what it was that she was offering to do in order to right her wrong.

Thankfully the dog made up for everything! He was lovely. I seem to have a thing for canine companions in books. I’ve read a few books so far this year where the dog’s ended up being one of my favourite characters! The fact that this one could communicate with Bastian in the simplified way that animals are generally portrayed as having just made him all the more endearing.

To say this ended up as a two-fold romance, I was surprised at how little I observed Melke’s feelings for Bastian evolving. Right up until close to the end she felt detached from him, even scared of him. The growing relationship between the siblings – her younger brother and his younger sister – while only observed from a distance were fairly obvious. Even Bastian’s slowly changing view of Melke was clear. But I never really felt her coming to love him until right at the very end of it all. I’m surprised as this was one of the stronger impressions that I took from my first read so maybe it depends on my state of mind at the time of reading.

All in all, for a debut low fantasy, this book is very good! It has a fair few problems but I suspect a number of them are personal taste more than anything else. The story can be on the slow side at times but this allows the evolution of the characters themselves in a satisfactory manner. Emily Gee is one of my favourite low fantasy authors for a female audience.

Style: I really enjoy Emily Gee’s style. I suspect that it will appeal to female readers more than male, but on the whole I personally like it!

Final verdict: If I’m honest, my enjoyment of this book and the rating I’ve given it are likely tampered by my love of the fantasy genre as a whole. It’s probably really a 3 star book but the world building and the author’s style brought it up to 4 stars for me.

Extra notes: I didn’t remember there being any sex in this book, but that’s probably to do with the fact that the relationship between the main characters never gets physical. That doesn’t mean that the hero doesn’t get physical with others throughout the story! Sex is present. Bad language didn’t stand out.

The Seer and the Sword by Victoria Hanley

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This book discovered me one day some months ago. I say it discovered me because the book was hidden behind several others but somehow I unearthed it. Happy coincidence? Or did the book call out to me? From the synopsis, it all sounded very reminiscent of the books I read as a teen. Whatever actually pushed me to make the purchase, the book found itself part of my collection.

When I came to this book I’d just finished a few ebooks in a row and I really fancied a hard copy read before returning to ereads.

Information:

Title: The Seer and the Sword

Author: Victoria Hanley

Series: Healer and Seer #1

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Target Audience: Teen / YA

Genre: Fantasy

Length: 352 pages

Story: Legend states that there exists a mighty sword that makes its possessor invincible to his enemies. But there is a curse on anyone who lifts the sword for conquest. King Kareed of Archeld goes after this sword anyway, winning it from the King of Bellandra. When he returns home from battle, he brings his daughter, Princess Torina, two special gifts. One is a unique crystal, in which she can view visions of the future. The other gift is the defeated king’s son Landen, who is to be her slave. Torina immediately releases Landen, who becomes a member of the King’s army and her close friend. 

But trouble is lurking in the kingdom of Archeld and people are accusing Landen of plotting against the King. Torina refuses to believe he would hurt her family. Then Torina begins seeing deadly visions in her crystal. Can she save her father’s life and the future of her kingdom?

Thoughts and impressions: When I started the book, I wasn’t entirely sure what age audience the author was targeting. Once I’d finished the book, I still wasn’t entirely sure! The writing suggests that it’s aimed at teens but the main characters start out as children and end up young adults. Moreover, the majority of the story takes place when the heroine is in her late teens, and the hero is in his early twenties.

The story spans about ten years of the characters’ lives. From the quote on the cover – “Lift the sword of adventure in the name of love!” – I expected a much stronger romance plot but really the two main characters spend relatively little time together. Despite their separation and the fact that one of them believes the other to be dead, they manage to fall in love with each other. So the romance definitely did not live up to my expectations. I would at least have liked to have seen more of the growth of their friendship to justify stronger feelings evolving. As it was, I felt that I was asked to take a lot on faith.

Speaking of faith, that’s another area where I felt that the story was let down. The author did an amazing job of bringing this fantasy world to life and then she just superimposed our world’s religious (Christian) beliefs on her invented world. Had she not wanted to invent her own religious customs for her world then she should have left religion out of it entirely. It was very jarring to read about God in a world that is not our own.

Apart from these two things, though, I really enjoyed the story. Princess Torina, the heroine, witnesses her father’s betrayal and murder by one of his most trusted but power hungry generals, Vesputo. Vesputo pins the blame on the orphaned son of one of the King’s previous conquests. Landon, aware that his life is in danger, leaves for a neighbouring kingdom while Torina wrestles with the truth of Vesputo’s character. Eventually she escapes her homeland as this evil man steals her kingdom.

The rest of the story focuses on how both Landon and Torina aid the king who is trying to unite all the lands in peace; in the meantime, Vesputo schemes to undermine this king’s plans while still trying to tie up the loose ends (Landon and Torina) of his own plans.

It was certainly a very interesting and enjoyable yarn. I think that it would probably appeal a lot to the younger side of the YA spectrum. I’d consider it 12+ maybe. It will, of course, also appeal to adults like me who enjoy a lighter fantasy tale. It’s one that I’ll be keeping to recommend to any children looking for a good second world fantasy. It’s one that I can quite imagine myself reading to my own children one day as my parents would read to us in the past.

I liked Torina. For a sheltered princess she was resourceful and determined to survive even if she did end up more or less retreating from life in order to do so. Landon, on the other hand, makes a difference with his actions, determined to remember the peaceful teachings of his youth no matter what is thrown his way. By pure chance both of them end up working for High King Dahmis. I kept hoping that they would come together sooner but the author kept me waiting. I think that it could have been better had they not been kept separated for so long though I understand why they were. It allowed both characters to explore important plot lines and to grow a lot.

Style: Fairly simple which was part of why I was so confused about the target audience. Despite this, it was good and definitely one that I would have enjoyed when I was younger.

Final verdict: A couple of problems but for the most part it was a highly enjoyable and well-plotted story. 4 stars

Extra notes: No swearing. No sex.

Gate to Kandrith by Nicole Luiken

Though I always claim fantasy to be my true love when it comes to genres, it’s been a while now since I last read a pure fantasy set in a secondary world. Because of this and the promised romance aspect of this novel, I found myself highly anticipating my foray into Kandrith!

Information:

Title: Gate to Kandrith

Author: Nicole Luiken

Series: Kandrith #1

Publisher: Carina Press

Target Audience: Adult

Genre: Fantasy / romance

Length: 364 pages

Story: Sarathena Remillus, daughter of the newly elected Primus of the Republic of Temboria, has been given a mission: discover the secret of slave magic. Anxious to escape the corruption and treachery of the capital, Sara welcomes the chance to finally prove herself far away in Kandrith, the tiny nation of former slaves.

Accompanying her on the journey is Lance, a Kandrithan to whom Sara owes her life. Lance despises the nobility, and is determined to resist his desire for Sara, despite her attempts to entice him into divulging the secret of his magic.

Soon their travels become fraught with peril, and Sara discovers she's fallen victim to the ultimate betrayal. To end a war between two nations, she will have to make the ultimate sacrifice...

Thoughts and impressions: I have to admit that the first few pages didn’t really capture my attention very well. Some time passed between me experimenting with getting a taste of the first pages and settling down to read the rest of the book. I’m not sure why it failed to really draw me in as it was a fairly strong opening passage. It could have been to do with all the fantasy-world name dropping. I much prefer when authors go to the lengths of inventing some form of religious system for their world that bears little-to-no resemblance to any religious system in our world. This is the case here but I found that being introduced to all the names and roles of the political system as well as all of the names and roles of the religious systems right off the bat served more as a wedge between me and the book than anything else. I liked and appreciated both of them, don’t get me wrong, but I think I was just inundated with too much societal information in one go rather than being introduced to it in easy steps.

Sara is the daughter of the political leader of her land. She is to be the Child of Peace, destined to live in the neighbouring land of Kandrith, meant to keep her father from breaking the tenuous political pact that exists between the two countries. But Sara has been sent as a spy, meant to uncover the truth behind slave magic and hand its secrets over to her father. She’s travelling with the son of the current King of Kandrith – a man she’d met previously while in the throes of a drug-induced lustful stupor… and the first man she’s found herself attracted to in a long time. Of course, the attraction is mutual despite Lance’s dislike of Sara’s basic culture: one that permits her to be the owner of others’ lives – to have slaves. They call Kandrith Slaveland for a reason and, as a former slave to a particularly vicious owner, Lance has every right to shun Sara’s culture.

This book raises a number of interesting questions about slavers and slave-keeping. Can someone own slaves and also have a good moral code? Is a slave-owner inherently evil even if they treat their slaves well? How much in our lives do we take for granted – so much so that we’re blinded to what stares us in the face?

Once I’d actually got into the swing of things, I was enthralled by the book – though there were occasionally certain events that left me pondering just how believable they really were. I was easily able to overlook them as they added whole dimensions to the story and the relationships between the characters, but they did niggle at me from time to time.

I actually really enjoyed all of the various characters in the book. Other than Sara and Lance, my particular favourite was Juren. He was conniving and not very nice but he had his good sides as well. Right as of his initial introduction, he made me think of Ashur from the Spartacus series.

They’re both fairly similar characters: driven with a barbed tongue; full of sugar-coated insults and ready to slide a knife into anyone’s back! Granted, I think Juren eventually proved himself to be the bigger man than Ashur, but once the image was there, it stuck.

A lot of the story takes place journeying from one place to the next but it’s not just a physical journey over land, it’s also an emotional journey of self-discovery. Sara has to learn a lot before she can really, truly be worthy of Lance’s love. There’s give and take in everything, especially Lance’s healing magic, and really Sara has to get to the point where she’s willing to sacrifice something important to her in order to help others around her, just as Lance did. She does eventually commit a sacrifice of such magnitude that I really can’t wait for the sequel next year to see where she and Lance will go from here.

Sara’s realistions – her happiness, her distress, the way she came to terms with certain truths in such a way that allowed her to become a better person – all endeared her to me so that she became a character I could feel close to despite the yawning chasms between us. I hope they find some way of getting back what she sacrificed in the interests of others.

Style: Good but there was a tendency to use names more often than was strictly necessary, which I found distracting.

Final verdict: A very good fantasy romance! It was missing that je ne sais quoi which would have pushed it into a top rating, but it was still one that I really enjoyed. 4 stars

Extra notes: If there was any bad language in the story, it didn’t stick out to me at all. Sex is present.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I bought this book a long time ago – well, it can only have been four years ago at most but it feels like I made the purchase a long time ago. A friend recommended Gaiman to me, this book in particular. I listened to them in so much as I bought the book but whenever I sat in front of my bookcase looking for my next read it just never caught my eye until now.

Well, as they say, better late than never!

Information:

Title: The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: HarperCollins

Target Audience: Children’s / YA / Adult???

Pages: 307

Chapters: 8

PoV: 3^rd person

Tense : Past tense

Story: After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own. 

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family . . . 

Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, The Graveyard Book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.

(from Goodreads)

Thoughts and impressions: My first thought upon starting this book was that the style was very singular. The opening scene is of a man wiping blood from the knife he’s just used to kill three people but the language used almost makes it sound as though the story is aimed at a younger readership.

The style continues in this same manner but the events described are sometimes quite complex. The reader is only given part of the information and left to draw their own conclusions. I’m not sure that some of what’s going on wouldn’t just go over the heads of much younger readers. That said, the content is not particularly scary – I’ve read scarier books aimed at ten-year-olds – as you might imagine from the title, the synopsis, the knowledge that a man wants to kill the main character and the fact that it all takes place in a graveyard. I found it difficult to place the target audience with this one. Whenever I see the book in the shops, it’s always in the adult section but I think the story would appeal to younger readers too.

Each chapter follows a certain even in Bod’s life and each time these events take place two years apart. For the most part, the stories aren’t particularly interconnected but they show Bod’s evolution from a toddler to a young man. In each the reader is invited to explore an area of a reality that exists alongside ours – whether this be a trip along a plane where the “ghouls” live or an encounter with a millennia-old power.

I enjoyed each and every one of the short stories from Bod’s life, though at 80+ pages the 7^th was a bit of a push (I like to read chapter by chapter and not stop in the middle of one if at all possible). My favourite story was when Bod meets the ghost of a young woman who was burnt as a witch and buried on unconsecrated ground. She, Liza, has no headstones and this makes her sad so a young Bod decides to go out into the big wide world and buy one for her. I found this really sweet, especially as he’s only eight at the time.

Of course, the recurring theme across the novel is Bod’s existence in the graveyard living with the dead in a world apart from the living. Sometimes this is hard for him as he fights the urge to socialise with others like him – especially as he gets older. His struggles were always worthy of a child at whatever age he is in the chapter, though his speech did seem a bit formal. This could be put down to his having effectively been brought up by people who died anything between a hundred and just under two thousand years ago.

At one point, I thought it might turn out that “the man Jack” was some form of Jack the Ripper, what with his blade and all that. I’ve read a few novels over the past few months that incorporated Jack the Ripper in some way and I have to say that I’m glad that this book did not go down that same road. The idea of the Jacks of all trades really intrigued me; it was certainly something very different though I would have liked to have learnt more about them.

In all, this is a fairly short book. I read it in an afternoon. Dave McKean’s illustrations really serve to set it apart from the norm and I’m sure that they will make the book appeal all the more to certain readers. I have to admit that once or twice I couldn’t work out just what was being illustrated, though!

Style: The style was fairly simple, which was what led me to speculate about just what age of reader this book is aimed at. It’s one that a ten-year-old could likely tackle on their own, but it also hides more advanced hidden ideas.

Final verdict: As mentioned, this was my first Gaiman read. While I enjoyed it, I’m not chomping at the bit to go and read more by him. At times I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue reading or take a short break from the book. I might have enjoyed it more had I taken my time with it but instead I pushed through it all. This meant that I did occasionally feel worn down by the book. I’d advise other readers to not do as I did and to go at the pace their minds dictate. Maybe the book will earn a full 5 stars from these people but it gets a still good 4 stars from me.

Extra notes: I don’t think there was any bad language. No sex.

Wraith's Forest by L.J. Leger

Beauty and the Beast retelling… is there any wonder that I requested a copy of this book for review? Considering my addiction to all things B&B, I think not. Time kind of got away from me with this book and I missed the deadline review date, but I guess better late than never, right?

Information:

Title: Wraith’s Forest

Author: Judith Leger

Publisher: Pinewood Press

Target Audience: 15+

Genre: Fantasy

Length: 44 pages

Story: Fairy tales and haunted woods lead us through L.J. Leger's Beauty and the Beast story of one girl with the weight of a village on her shoulders and the attention of a very unlikely soul.

Jenna is chosen for the coveted task of gathering the magical fruit to preserve the peaceful balance of the secret valley where she and many others live. During the harvest, one fruit is damaged and the task of healing the bruise falls on Jenna’s shoulders. She must enter the Wraith’s Forest, retrieve a magical blade from the specter who lives there so the valley will remain a utopia. But once she makes contact with the Wraith, her fear slowly disappears and her curiosity is aroused with more questions of why the Wraith is in the Forest and the true purpose for the harvest. If you love Beauty and Beast type fairy tales, Wraith’s Forest is the book to read. 

Thoughts and impressions: The problem with novellas is that often enough it’s hard for the reader to form a substantial opinion of the characters. I found that to be the case here. I had my opinion of Jenna but that was because the story followed her and so she was in every scene. I actually liked her and how she came across as a very rounded, normal person: doing her duty because she knows this is what is expected of her and not because this is what she wants to do. I find that’s the case with most people. If my mother was heavily pregnant and needed my help around the house, I suspect I’d feel frustrated and put out at having to walk to a tree and collect its fruit for three days straight, even being aware that it was for the greater good of the valley as a whole.

Jenna, however, was the only one I really had an opinion of. Nole, the wizard, was obviously going to be playing the role of the bad guy but he wasn’t fleshed out enough for me to really understand why he was playing this role (something about a woman and jealousy of his rival, but it was passed over too quickly that it didn’t stick). The Wraith, playing the role of the Beast, in his broken castle that is a mere shadow of its former glory, trapped in a spell he never wanted to be part of – yes, he inspired empathy in me as he did in Jenna and he was actually a very good basis for a Beast character. Perhaps the most important thing was that the growing attraction between Jenna and the Wraith just wasn’t really there for me. I mean, first off, they were only together for a day or two and secondly while their interactions were poignant, I didn’t feel they contained the seeds of future love.

At the length it was, the story was good and Jenna in particular made for a good character, the idea of a spell for balance in the valley was interesting and well-used. I actually feel that the author had all the necessary ingredients there to have made this novella longer, to have built up more – especially the interactions between Jenna and the Wraith – and to have had an absolute stunner on her hands. As it was, things did feel rather rushed. As a rule of thumb, romances in novellas are rushed simply because there isn’t the length of book to have them slow-burning, but this one just didn’t have the basis for me to readily accept Jenna’s actions at the end (though I could accept the Wraith’s as she was the one who freed him).

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the idea behind the story was one that had me completely sold and my interest piqued, but the length of the story didn’t allow for the evolution necessary to really tickle my fancy.

Style: I went through phases with the style of the book. I read it in two goes: once waiting for the pharmacy to open and then I finished it on my way to work (because I was caught up in the story and wanted to finish it as soon as possible but then I suffered the headache I get from reading in that particular bus so that may have tampered with my view of the style). Up until the point where Jenna goes to the Wraith’s castle, I was enjoying the style. Once she got there, though, I noticed that the sentences tended to be very short, which lent a rather choppy feel to the style, and sometimes bordered on telling too much rather than showing. From time to time there would be two or three sentences in a row that would follow the formula: “she *action verb* *object* (full stop).” I’m not really a fan of such short sentences that start with personal pronouns, but I readily admit that this is personal taste.

Final verdict: If I’m honest, I think that the length of this story did let it down in certain areas. If the author ever decides to expand on this novella and make a full-fledged novel out of it, I think it could easily be one of my favourite YA Beauty and the Beast retellings! 3 stars

Extra notes: No bad language, no sex.

When the Sea Is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen

As soon as I read this book’s blurb, I knew that it would be a 2012 purchase. It turns out that it was given to me as a gift by the boyfriend, but had he not bought it for me, I would have parted with the cash myself. From the blurb’s promise of its contents, I was really excited to read When the Sea Is Rising Red. My copy arrived when I was part way through another read but as soon as I’d finished it I curled up with this one, ready for a magical adventure.

Information:

Title: When the Sea Is Rising Red

Author: Cat Hellisen

Publisher: Farrar Straus Girroux

Target Audience: YA

Pages: 296

PoV : 1st person

Tense : Present tense

Story: After seventeen-year-old Felicita’s dearest friend, Ilven, kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own death and leaves her sheltered life as one of Pelimburg’s magical elite behind. Living in the slums, scrubbing dishes for a living, she falls for charismatic Dash while also becoming fascinated with vampire Jannik.

Then something shocking washes up on the beach: Ilven's death has called out of the sea a dangerous, wild magic. Felicita must decide whether her loyalties lie with the family she abandoned . . . or with those who would twist this dark power to destroy Pelimburg's caste system, and the whole city along with it. 

Thoughts and impressions: Trudi Canavan’s The Black Magician trilogy is one of my favourite series. There are some similarities that I personally drew between Canavan’s books and Hellisen’s début. To be clear, these similarities were only in my own head as both authors have created very different and distinct worlds for their characters to inhabit. But this did mean that When the Sea Is Rising Red had to live up to the very high standards set for it in my own head. I have to say, it did a very good job but it did fall short in one specific area: the magic.

Now, the magic system introduced was truly fascinating. The main character, Felicita, is the daughter of one of the ruling Houses, which in turn means that she has magic at her disposal when she ingests a very specific drug. There are three types of magic: the ability to read people’s emotions, the ability to see the future, and the ability to manipulate air molecules. Felicita and her family all have this last ability.

When Felicita fakes her own death, she goes to the city’s slums and the people that she takes up with mention that the Houses waste their daughters’ magical abilities (as they’re treated more like breeding stock and don’t get to train properly) and their leader, Dash, would be able to achieve a lot if he could get one to his side. I read this as hinting that maybe use of the drug isn’t actually necessary for Felicita to tap into her magic, but unfortunately this never happened. While it’s true that Felicita does play a role in Dash’s plans at the end of the day, I don’t see how he could have used a daughter with one of the other two abilities as Felicita’s specific power played a big role in his plan. Maybe I attached too much importance to that hint, but I felt disappointed that it didn’t live up to the promise that it delivered and was essentially rendered moot.

Then there was Jannik’s vampiric magic. Felicita describes it as a sort of tantalising presence that calls to her but, as Jannik himself explains, he is unable to do anything with his own magic. When it became clear that Felicita wasn’t going to be able to access her magic on her own, I switched to hoping that she would somehow find a way of dipping into Jannik’s magic in order to fuel her own powers. Again, it didn’t happen. In fact, other than being a siren call for Felicita, Jannik’s magic didn’t seem to have any particular role at all.

All things considered, though, the magic turned out to only be a fairly small part of the plot. The story is very slow moving, which won’t appeal to all readers, and focuses mostly on how Felicita’s adaptats from the life of the privileged to the life of the poorest city dwellers. This forces her to face some of the atrocities committed in her family’s name that she hadn’t been aware of and it gives her a completely different outlook on life. There is a lot of animosity among the city dwellers towards all of the ruling Houses, but especially towards her House, House Pelim, from which the city of Pelimburg takes its name.

At this point, the story focuses on exploring the city life for its poorest citizens and on developing the relationships between the members of Dash’s gang, especially the one between Dash and Felicita, which quickly becomes physical. Another thing that’s explored is the attraction between Felicita and the vampire, Jannik, and what being a male vampire entails.

Eventually the threat of a sea witch summoned by the suicide of Felicita’s friend, Ilven, is introduced and becomes the focus of the story. It quickly becomes obvious that Dash has his own personal vendetta against Felicita’s brother, which clouds his judgement to the point where he could, arguably, be considered mad. This part of the story and especially the choices that Felicita is faced with are what made the book shine. These events defined Felicita as a character that demands respect. She had a lot of growing up to do very fast and she managed admirably.

I’m not sure whether or not this book is a standalone or the first part of a series. Events are neatly wrapped up and it could easily be the end of Felicita’s story but at the same time there are many things that could still be explored.

Overall, this book took me on quite the trip. I enjoyed the world and mythology presented and I came to like Felicita. I just wish that the magic had been expanded on more as I felt that its limited role let the book down.

Style: I have nothing in particular to say about the style.

Final verdict: Had the magic been expanded on, this could truly have been an excellent teen read. As it is, it’s caught somewhere between good and great. I have to admit that maybe my expectations were a bit high once I’d drawn the parallels with The Black Magician trilogy, so I’m willing to give this book the benefit of the doubt. 4 stars

Extra notes: Bad language is present. Sex behind closed doors. Also note that this book deals with both homo- and bisexuality as well as drug abuse.

Grave Mercy by R.L. LaFevers

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher from NetGalley.

I first heard of this book a couple of months ago. The idea behind it intrigued me from the get go. Those ninja nuns sound like the coolest nuns to ever walk the earth! When I got the mail about this being an open galley for two days, I immediately got a copy of it. It sounded like just my cup of tea!

Information:

Title: Grave Mercy

Series: His Fair Assassin #1

Author: R.L. LaFevers

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Pages: 560

PoV: 1^st person

Tense: Present tense

Story: Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf? 

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others. 

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

Thoughts and impressions: Grave Mercy is the story of Ismae, a daughter of saint Mortain, the old Breton god of Death. Rescued from what would have been certain death, she enters the convent of saint Mortain where she is trained in the arts of death, awaiting orders and assignments from her father Himself. Three years later, she finds herself being sent to court with the dubious Lord Duval where she is to act as the eyes and ears of the convent as they try to discover who is betraying the nation of Brittany to the French.

Before I get into this review, let me explain something about the history of language in France. It is only in the second half of the 19^th century that the French language became widely spoken in France. Indeed, it wasn’t until the Revolution in 1789 that they started to consider the concept of “one language for one people”. In the 15^th century, only people who interacted with the French court and politics spoke the king’s French. Everyone else spoke regional languages / dialects that were not always mutually understandable. I would imagine that the Breton court would have spoken French in order to interact with their French neighbours (as Brittany was not under French rule at this time). The daughter of a lowly turnip farmer, however, would not. As they are in Brittany, I would assume she’d have spoken some form of Breton, which is a Celtic language. Upon entering the convent, Ismae would not only have had to learn to read and write but she would also have had to learn French.

The book itself balances precariously on that precipice that is the boundary between YA and adult books. At times I felt like I was reading something aimed at adults and others it was definitely aimed at YA readers. Despite this, it does work well for both markets and I suspect the book will appeal to many 16+ readers (well, maybe 15+).  It is certainly geared towards female readers, though, and the romance aspect is fairly heavy. I personally really enjoyed the slow unfurling of attraction between Duval and Ismae. It’s just the sort of romance that I really like: no instant love at first sight but rather a slow-building emotional connection as the characters get to know one another.

There’s also the fantasy of one of the old gods (now just called a saint by the Church) interacting with the living in order to sire progeny and then granting these children certain abilities so that they may enact his will upon the living. I particularly liked the idea of the shadow of death guiding Ismae’s hand: showing her who to kill, when and even how.

And then there’s the political threat. Anne is only 12-years-old but she is to be crowned Duchess of Brittany (if the French will stop opposing her) and she is also having to juggle several suitors from when her father had promised her hand to a number of men for political reasons. Now it would seem that on top of all of this, one of her five most trusted advisors is betraying her to the French, who are trying to annex Brittany. But which one? They could all be playing their own political games – some are even doing so openly – and as Ismae soon discovers, there are layer upon layer of plots threatening Anne from all directions.

Anne herself is a real historical figure. I always consider it to be a difficult task to portray someone who one day long ago really lived, breathed and felt emotions just as we do today. I felt that the author really stepped up to the task and did an incredibly good job with Anne: she is both the adult leader of a nation and the young and vulnerable child who is at a loss in this world she’s been thrown into. On more than one occasion my heart was breaking for this poor child who was forced to grow up so fast.

As for Ismae, she also had a lot of growing up to do despite her older age. She was only 14 when she entered the convent and although she is knowledgeable about certain things, she is also naïve about others. She was taught to regard the convent’s instructions as being infallible. When she meets Duval all of this is turned on its head and she finds herself forced to regard her teachings with a new eye. I really enjoyed observing her evolve beyond what she’d been moulded into as she realises that Mortain does not systematically take out the bad guys as he leads the good guys to victory. No, He is much more complicated than that. Ismae was a wonderful character who found her own two feet in a world where others would rather keep her under their thumb.

In the convent, Ismae has two close friends: Sybella and Annith. Both play a fairly small role in Ismae’s story. The synopsis of the second book shows that it is to be Sybella’s story, which leads me to believe that the third book will be about Annith. I’m looking forward to Sybella’s story in particular as she’s already such a wonderfully complex character in this book.

The only thing that I didn’t like about the book was the style it’s written in and unfortunately that’s a pretty big thing to not like about a book. This is all personal taste, of course, but the style was far too simple for my taste and tended to tell rather than show. It was such an amazing story but I felt that it was really let down by the style. It could be that the author is still finding her footing in the murky waters of narration. This most definitely will not keep me from reading other books in this series, but it just wasn’t the style for me.

Style: See above.

Final verdict: I love, love, loved the story. The only thing keeping me from rating it 5 stars and slapping it on my favourites shelf is the style. 4 stars

Extra notes: Some swearing (in French). Possible sex scene but it was so expertly handled that I’m not even sure whether sex took place (though I think it did).