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.

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper

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This book caught my attention during my most recent visit to the bookstore. I’ve seen the author’s books stocked before but hadn’t paid them much attention before now – there is, after all, always far too many titles to browse to actually take in all of them. The idea behind it – a poor Victorian girl having given birth and lost the baby – caught my interest and I decided to give it a shot.

Information:

Title: Fallen Grace

Author: Mary Hoffman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Target Audience: Teen / YA

Genre: Historical

Length: 320

Story: Grace Parkes has just had to do a terrible thing. Having given birth to an illegitimate child, she has travelled to the famed Brookwood Cemetery to place her small infant's body in a rich lady's coffin. Following the advice of a kindly midwife, this is the only way that Grace can think of to give something at least to the little baby who died at birth, and to avoid the ignominy of a pauper's grave. Distraught and weeping, Grace meets two people at the cemetery: Mrs Emmeline Unwin and Mr James Solent. These two characters will have a profound affect upon Grace's life. But Grace doesn't know that yet. For now, she has to suppress her grief and get on with the business of living: scraping together enough pennies selling watercress for rent and food; looking after her older sister, who is incapable of caring for herself; thwarting the manipulative and conscience-free Unwin family, who are as capable of running a lucrative funeral business as they are of defrauding a young woman of her fortune. A stunning evocation of life in Victorian London, with vivid and accurate depictions, ranging from the deprivation that the truly poor suffered to the unthinking luxuries enjoyed by the rich: all bound up with a pacy and thrilling plot, as Grace races to unravel the fraud about to be perpetrated against her and her sister.

Thoughts and impressions: Though this was shelved in the A section, I think it would have been better in the younger readers’ area. It’s true that the book deals with themes of rape, childbirth, death and the evil that swarmed the Victorian London streets, but I don’t feel that any part of it would have been inappropriate for 12+ readers if parents are willing to sit with them and answer any questions they have. In fact, had I read the book when I was 12-16 I think that I would have appreciated it a lot more than I did now.

The author goes to considerable lengths to bring the lives of the poor – and how hardened they are towards anyone that they can swindle, even their fellow poor – to life for the reader in a simple but powerful way and she does a very good job of it. The presentation of the “death trade” is also very intricate and obviously well-researched. I did learn a few new things about death in the Victorian period that I hadn’t been fully aware of.

The story itself follows two sisters – Grace and Lily – and the money-grubbing family who want to claim the sisters’ inherited fortune for themselves. Of course, Grace and Lily are unaware that they stand to gain a fortune if they can prove themselves to be their father’s daughters as they are too poor to be able to afford copies of the newspapers where advertisements asking for news of their whereabouts are placed. For a long time they’ve been living the life of the poor, trying to scrounge a living from what they have at their disposal but coming ever-closer to having to go to one of the workhouses.

Grace, the younger of the two, has to look after her older sister as Lily is on the simple side. She means well with her actions but her mental state makes her an easy target for anyone who does not have her best interests at heart and she often makes their situation worse rather than better. I enjoyed observing Grace’s interactions with her sister and how she’d get Lily to admit to the truth in degrees whenever she lied, but also how fiercely protective of her she was. There was a very pure and dynamic sisterly bond between the two of them that made them something special to read about.

The Unwins were the archetypical villains and were a tad too much on the stereotypical side for me to really buy their characters. Of course, there are people out there motivated by greed just as much as these characters are. I think I wanted more layering to their characters rather than greed being their sole motivator for every single action.

As for James, I would have liked to have been given the chance to get to know him better. He had the potential to be an interesting character that could have opened the doors to another side of Victorian life but in the end he wasn’t really developed enough.

I would consider this a very good historical read for younger teen readers but it didn’t really have the power to completely captivate me as an adult reader.

Style: On the simpler side, which is part of why I feel this book would appeal to younger readers more.

Final verdict: A very good tale, but a tad too black and white for me as an adult reader. 3.5 stars.

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

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

Much to my frustration, I discovered that reading ebooks while on the train does not work for my head. However, I’m perfectly fine with physical books in the same situation. I don’t know what it is about ebooks that give me a headache in such situations, but as I had six hours on the train ahead of me, I invested in this book to help pass the time.

Information:

Title: The Lifeboat

Author: Charlotte Rogan

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Target Audience: Adult

Genre: Historical fiction

Length: 275 pages

Story: Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life.

In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying her and her husband Henry across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize is over capacity. For any to live, some must die.

As the castaways battle the elements, and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she'd found. Will she pay any price to keep it?

The Lifeboat is a page-turning novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes.

Thoughts and impressions: This book is a far cry from what I usually read. I knew this at the time of purchase and yet I still found myself inexplicably drawn to the book. Even more confusing is that the synopsis didn’t really sell me but I still wanted to read the book… and I’m so glad that I did!

Obviously, earlier this month (I finished this book April 30^th) I read a couple of books about the Titanic’s sinking. The Lifeboat seemed to be in something close to the same vein when I read the back of the book. This book, however, does not bother itself with the petty mentalities of events on the ship the Empress Alexandra before disaster strikes, except the occasional reference to them throughout the narrative. In fact, we never actually find out what the disaster was, what precipitated the Empress Alexandra’s sinking. This book deals with the aftermath of the disaster – with being stuck on an overcrowded lifeboat riding love in the water, and the drive to survive.

There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end of the book but they are dealt with so skilfully that as the reader I accepted the limits of Grace’s knowledge and it didn’t matter to me that I didn’t get all of the answers I would normally have desired.

The way that the differences between basic human nature from one person to the next were portrayed was simply masterful. From Hardie the seasoned seadog with too many secrets he couldn’t share, to Mary Ann the sheep willing to follow wherever the shepherd leads, to the pastor whose staunch belief in God hides a weakness of character, to Mrs Grant and Hannah whose motivations are never really revealed.

As of the start of the book – when the lifeboat is desperately trying to make its way clear of the sinking wreck of the Empress Alexandra, when the occupants of the already overloaded lifeboat have to turn away other survivors in favour of better assuring their own survival – it is clear that there will eventually be a standoff between Mrs Grant, who appeals to others’ sensibilities, and Hardie, who offends them but ensures their survival where Mrs Grant could not. It is not, however, clear why Mrs Grant desires complete control over the lifeboat and that is one of those bits of knowledge that the reader will never be privy to.

I was completely caught up in this intense struggle for survival against the forces of nature. It reminded me of that line from Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner: “water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink”. The occupants of the lifeboat are slowly dehydrating, slowly starving to death, and yet there is still a pronounced will to survive.

The author did an absolutely amazing job of bringing these events, these weeks in the lifeboat, completely to life for me. My jaw is dropping in awe of this book – it really is that good!

There are of course also the events of the present – of when Grace has survived her ordeal in the lifeboat only to be implicated in a murder and to find herself on trial. This part was just as introspective and just as good. I would have liked to have got to know Mr Reichmann better so as to understand things hinted at in the epilogue better, but that’s only a minor thing.

My only complaint is that some of the more important side characters were not always distinguished enough for me to really realise what was happening to whom, but with an original cast of 39 people in the lifeboat, I suppose that is to be expected. There’s no way the author could possibly have made all 39 of the characters stand out from the others.

The Lifeboat may not be something that I would ordinarily read but I am incredibly glad that I did. It completely transported me.

Style: The story is narrated by the ‘present day’ Grace, so she often interrupts her own narration with little side stories about this, that or the other or hints at events to come. It’s also a fairly formal style, but considering Grace is from the upper classes at the turn of the 20^th century, this is not out of the ordinary and keeps a good feel to the narration.

Final verdict: I am so very, very glad that I gave in to the temptation to read this book. It’s one of the best books I’ve read so far this year! 5 stars

Extra notes: I think there was some more mild language. No sex.

Voyage on the Great Titanic - The Diary of Margaret Anne Brady, 1912 by Ellen Emerson White

As with the review of Destined by Allison Kraft earlier this week, this review is in order to commemorate the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic. Originally I had planned to review three books about the Titanic this week, but unfortunately circumstances meant that I only had time to read two of the three.

This particular book is one that I’ve owned since I was only ten or so. I read it a few times before we moved to France but I never touched it again after that. This means that it’s been at least 11 years since I last read it. As my mother brought it over with a batch of other books that had been stored in my room there, I figured now was as good a time as any to revisit it.

I had no strong memories either way of this book so I went into it with a clean slate.

Information:

Title: Voyage on the Great Titanic, The Diary of Margaret Anne Brady, R.M.S. Titanic, 1912

Author: Ellen Emerson White

Series: My Story, Dear America

Publisher: Scholtastic

Target Audience: Children (8+)

Genre: Historical, diary

Length: 189 pages (story stops at p159)

Story: Monday, 15 April 1912
It was after midnight, I could still hear people moving about in the passageway. Before I had time to go out and join them, there was a sharp knock on my door. I opened it to see Robert. He was smiling, but his eyes looked urgent.

"Good evening, Miss Brady," he said "Need to put on something warm, and report to the Boat Deck with your life belt."

Miss Brady? When I heard that, I felt alarmed for the first time, but I was also startled....

"A routine drill," he said. "No need to fret."

I knew he needed to get on with his duties, so I found a smile for him and nodded.... Robert started for the next stateroom, but then stopped. "You'll not want to take your time," he said in a very quiet voice.

It did not seem possible--but maybe this was not a drill.

Thoughts and impressions: I have to be honest, the first third or so of the book is not particularly interesting or inspiring. The story starts several days prior to the ship sailing and a lot of scene setting takes place. The reader learns that Margaret is an orphan who was left at a convent by her brother when living on the streets meant that her health had taken a turn for the worse. He left to make a living in America, the plan being for her to join him there as soon as he’d saved up enough for her crossing. Fortunately for her, an American woman in need of a companion chooses to take Margaret with her on the Titanic.

The first third is mostly talking about the orphanage, the hotel where Mrs Carstairs is staying, Margaret’s own past, etc. Eventually they get to Southampton and they’re on the ship. Margaret’s from a family that always struggled to get by even before she lost both of her parents so travelling first class on such a ship as the Titanic is something that she would never even have dreamt of under normal circumstances. It also means that the reader gets the unique perspective of a young girl (she’s 13) discovering such opulence for the first time in her life. It also means that she’s able to give a specific commentary of those on board with her.

Unfortunately, it also means that she’s in the dark about certain things. When the ship hits the iceberg she naïvely believes there to be enough lifeboats for everyone on board and spends most of her time just observing the other people on deck. The very simplistic voice of a younger narrator also lends a very poignant side to this story. The way the final, devastating events are shown in such terms reduced me to tears (though I have to admit that this could be due to fatigue and emotional levels). This commentary of events was far more effective than any flowery prose ever could be.

Taking into consideration that this book is aimed at children, it is a wonderful exploration of how circumstances were that night for the first class passengers for such an audience. Moreover, there are a historical note, a timeline of events and a number of photographs after the final page of the story that will ensure that the reader has a good grasp of the actual history. It’s a sad, sad day when people believe in ignorance that the 1997 Titanic film was entirely fictional (I have to wonder whether these people slept through school or even paid attention to the start of the film with all the footage of the real Titanic at the bottom of the ocean).

Anyway, this story is a wonderful introduction to the story of the Titanic. It is one that I will be keeping for the day when I have children of my own and they are old enough to appreciate the book.

Style: As mentioned, simplistic but all the more poignant for it.

Final verdict: In spite of the fact that the start of the story was slow and not all that interesting, I’m giving this book the full 5 stars.

Extra notes: No swearing. No sex.

Destined by Allison Kraft

So many people out there are fascinated by the disaster of the Titanic – I am no exception. With the centennial of the ship’s sinking only a few days away, I decided to also set sail on this most famous of ships. 

April 10^th 1912: the Titanic leaves Southampton dock on its maiden voyage. April 10^th 2012: I bring you the review of Destined by Allison Kraft – a time travel story with romance, vampires and the knowledge of the looming danger of what is coming.

Information:

Title: Destined

Author: Allison Kraft

Publisher: Self-published

Target Audience: Adult

Length: 290 pages

Story: While flying across the Atlantic on the centennial anniversary of the Titanic's tragic maiden voyage, Apolline Greer, last in a long line of vampire hunters, finds herself suddenly transported from her airliner cabin to an eerily familiar ocean liner cabin—as well as the entirely unfamiliar body of her ancestor, Noelle Greer. Upon learning that she is, in fact, on board the very ship she’s been fascinated with all her life, she knows there's only one thing to do: get off as soon as possible. 

But whether by destiny, freak coincidence or a really vivid dream, Apolline finds that her trip back in time comes with three very good reasons to stay on board: Alexander Walker, a handsome and charming fellow vampire hunter; Cristof, the vampire that has tormented her family for generations and very likely killed her own mother; and Sasha, the vampire Noelle was sent to kill. 

Time, however, is not on Apolline's side. The Titanic is on a collision course with destiny, and she only has four days to complete her quest. What seemed like more than enough time at the start quickly becomes too short as she finds that hunting vampires on a luxury ocean liner is much more difficult than she expected. Sasha and Cristof become more elusive as each day passes, while her feelings for Alexander become increasingly complicated. As that fateful night approaches, will she regret her decision to stay and witness history first-hand?

Thoughts and impressions: The story opens in Ireland in 2012 with a bit of scene setting. Apolline is there on an assignment to take out a vampire, but with the impending centennial of the disaster, things are pretty Titanic-centric in Belfast, the city where the Titanic was built. At this point the book is rather apologetic about Apolline’s vast knowledge of the Titanic and it got old fast. There’s even this quote: “After all, it was the Titanic disaster that prompted all the maritime safety laws to be amended so that all ships had to have enough lifeboats for everyone on board, and all wireless rooms had to stay active 24 hours a day, not to mention the establishment of the International Ice Patrol. (I didn’t normally know that much detail about the disaster, but with it being the 100^th anniversary, there had been a lot of documentaries on TV lately, especially during my short stay in Belfast where it was even bigger news.)”  This, however, does not make sense. Especially when you take into consideration that later in the book Apolline is shown to have a vast library of both books and DVDs about the Titanic – the 1997 James Cameron movie being her all-time favourite – and her knowledge of the disaster supposedly rivals that of the tour givers at the Titanic exhibition. Why, then, are there so many passing remarks about her Titanic-trivia being due to the anniversary rather than just her interest in the events of the disaster? This did get a bit frustrating at times because it felt like the author was trying to excuse her character having so much knowledge about something she’s obviously interested in.

Things soon move to the Titanic in 1912. Rather than being transported there in body, Apolline is, instead, inhabiting the body of an ancestor, Noelle, who was actually on the Titanic. Being of a long line of vampire hunters who do not tend to reach old age, she figures that she has been sent there to complete and assignment that her ancestor was unable to complete before disaster struck and the ship went down.

Apolline has a “watcher” who informs her of her assignments. She’s never met him and he only communicates by mail. She calls him Giles in reference to the Buffy show. When she arrives in 1912, she discovers that the same Giles was communicating with her ancestor. Unfortunately, after this point Giles is pretty much dropped from the story and his role in everything, exactly what he is, etc. – none of it is ever brought up and explored again.

In fact, the whole vampire plot itself seemed rather contrived at times and a mere device to get a present-day character in this specific historical setting. The idea that Apolline is a vampire hunter is used as the explanation for why time travel is also possible, both being outside of the realm of the ordinary. The vampires themselves don’t actually play much of a role in the story and don’t tend to show up very often. Even the final climax on the Titanic between vampire and hunter was over so quickly that if you blinked you’d have missed it. I would have preferred more of an impact from that particular scene.

But as I said, that wasn’t the crux of the story. The crux was the exploration of the ship itself as well as the social mores at that time from the eyes of a modern character. There was a bit too much attention paid to the clothing. After all, they did get changed at least three times per day in that day and age and Apolline describes her outfits each time she puts on a new one. I know some readers do like to have clothes described in detail as that sort of thing helps them to build a better picture in their own heads, but I’m not one of them. I consider clothes to be an unnecessary distraction detail that detracts from the story itself. Other than that, I was completely fascinated by the picture painted here. It’s true that a lot of the time stories about the Titanic tend to concentrate on either the opulence of first class or the conditions in third class. Very few books explore how it was for a second class character. This book is one of those few that choose to take a look at second class and the people who were travelling there.

The author incorporated a lot of people who really were on the Titanic. I think only the two main characters – Apolline and her fellow vampire hunter / romantic interest Alex – are fictional. She treated each of these characters with the respect that the memory of a real individual deserves.

Alex himself made for a wonderful hero. He’s the first other vampire hunter that Apolline has ever met and he was a worthy romantic interest. He was obviously smitten with Apolline, even when it gets to the point where she feels that she has to share her unbelievable truths – that the ship will soon sink and most of those on the liner will not survive. He didn’t know what to make of it all, but he still felt drawn to this unusual woman.

It was obvious that it was going to be a bittersweet ending. At one point, Alex says “I’d follow you anywhere, even to the future.” I think I latched on to that line more than I should have. After all, the characters have no knowledge of how this time travel thing works, so how would he go about following the woman he’s fallen in love with from his own time to her time? The author works this in a very unexpected way. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it as when I latch onto a romantic interest, I very rarely budge enough to accept another one, even in spite of the links between the two that are present in this case. I recognise the sweetness behind how things are wrapped up, but at the same time I’m not sold about it.

The Titanic sinks around the 70% mark of the story and the final 30% is about Apolline getting to grips with how her life has changed with this experience. She accompanies her neighbour and original crush (before she went back in time) to a Titanic exhibition about the disaster. At the end of the tour, the passengers are listed with each one marked as having survived or lost their life on the 15^th April 1912. This section of the story is extremely poignant. I felt completely torn apart by it as it made me stop and think about some of the points that are brought up. What is said there is true, very true, and it makes me sad that sometimes we overlook the human tragedy to focus on the mystery of the disaster instead. All those who died were real humans who lived real lives and who lost them. They deserve to be remembered but they also deserve to be allowed to rest in peace.

I’ve got to the point where I’m feeling emotional now so I’m going to wrap up here.

Style: Very well-written that drew me in very quickly.

Final verdict: Although perhaps not the best novel out there about the Titanic, it was well-researched and really made me stop and think about some of things. I left me feeling very melancholy and with a novel like this I consider that a sign of success. 4 stars

Extra notes: Some bad language. No sex.

The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats

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

I have to admit that at first glance, The Wicked and the Just did not catch my eye. It was when I came across a review by another reviewer whose opinion I respect that I realised that this was actually the sort of book that really should have caught my attention. Boy, am I glad that I got the chance to go back on my original overlooking of the book because it really is that good!

Information:

Title: The Wicked and the Just

Author: J. Anderson Coats

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Target audience: YA

Length: 352 pages

PoV: 1^st person

Tense: Present tense

Story: Cecily’s father has ruined her life. He’s moving them to occupied Wales, where the king needs good strong Englishmen to keep down the vicious Welshmen. At least Cecily will finally be the lady of the house. 

Gwenhwyfar knows all about that house. Once she dreamed of being the lady there herself, until the English destroyed the lives of everyone she knows. Now she must wait hand and foot on this bratty English girl. 

While Cecily struggles to find her place amongst the snobby English landowners, Gwenhwyfar struggles just to survive. And outside the city walls, tensions are rising ever higher—until finally they must reach the breaking point.

Thoughts and impressions: Something that I think will be very important to take into account with this book is that it will not be for everyone: neither character is particularly likeable; there’s not very much action and everything is very slow-burning; sometimes the narrative is on the jumpy side as it passes from one scene to another with no warning; etc.

It was perfect for me.

One of my favourite books is Warrior Daughter by Janet Paisley. It chronicles the life of a Celtic warrior queen as she and the rest of Alba (now Scotland) face the threat of the encroaching Roman Empire. The Wicked and the Just tackles things from a different angle. Set over a millennium later, this story chronicles the tensions that ensued as Wales became annexed to England and the English who have moved to the various English settlements there treat the Welsh badly.

You can practically feel the tension oozing from the book in places. A lot of it is what the reader can deduce from the observations of the locals by the English girl, Cecily, who has been brought to Wales by her father. Or rather, the English as a group have managed to blind themselves to just what they’re doing to the Welsh and Cecily does not take the initiative to open her eyes. It doesn’t surprise me that they turned a blind eye to the suffering of the locals – it felt as though they’d got a taste of freedom where they could do what they liked without the king watching over their shoulders and they’d got to the point where they didn’t think twice about abusing the privilege.

The two narrators are Cecily – whose father took her to Wales after her uncle returned from the Crusades in the Holy land and reclaimed his lands from his younger brother, thus pushing him to accept a position in Wales; and Gwenhwyfar – a young Welsh woman who appears to have been the daughter of a local chieftain until the English came and hung him from their new walls when he refused to submit to their rule.

Cecily is, to put it bluntly, a spoilt brat. She likes to throw her weight around whenever she possibly can. She’s conceited and rude and places far too much belief in her own importance. To make up for this her narrative voice often takes on the sarcastic tone of one long-suffering with gems such as: “It’s raining. Again. Little wonder naught grows here. We ought to sow the fields with fish.”

Gwenhwyfar’s voice is very different. There’s a lot of cloaked anger in her as she witnesses the degrading of her people as that English brat waltzes around with the other English like they own the place, as they take everything from the Welsh while she and her people have to worry about starvation, as crimes against the Welsh go unpunished by the English councils.

What I found really interesting is that when the tensions finally mount to breaking point and Cecily and Gwenhwyfar’s roles are reversed their narrative voices were also reversed. This was a very interesting technique to use and I feel that it came across really well.

This is in no way the sort of story where everything is strung together by a sequence of action scenes. It’s more a look at how life was in this area during this era and while this may not appeal to everyone, it does appeal to me. I’m fascinated by history and as a Brit I was of course aware of how Wales became annexed to England as well was the fact that there was an uprising some years later against the English rule. I was not, however, aware of the subtleties or the treatment of the local population by those English who chose to cross the border, though I suppose that I could have hazarded a good guess. This is not to say that I would have been able to guess the details, mind, and as such I feel as though I have learnt a lot from reading this book!

In fact, there’s almost no action at all until the very end of the book. Despite this, both characters do manage to grow and when it’s required of them both will break from their respective moulds in order to step up to the mark. Gwenhwyfar is limited in what action she can take but she does teach Cecily a few very important lessons about life. Cecily, with more freedom afforded to her, can occasionally stick her neck out for what is right rather than what is the norm.

The novel covers a couple of years of life in this English community in Wales, broken down into periods of time. Occasionally the narrative will be following a certain event for a while and then all at once the new paragraph break leads to a new, completely different and unrelated event. These could at times be a bit sudden and jarring but I had no major issues with them as it was fairly easy to wrap your head around the subject change each time.

The author has a wonderful, lyrical style that really drew me in and managed to give the feeling of a historic setting. She does go down that road of using very modern vocabulary (“upside the head”) or more recent American vocabulary (“stoop”) a couple of times, which was frustrating for me as I felt that it ruined the effect she strove so hard to create in the first place.

At the end of the day, this was a novel that didn’t catch my attention upon first glance, but it’s one that took me on a real ride and educated me as well as entertained me. It won’t appeal to all readers, but it was just my cup of tea. I loved it.

Style: See above. Also, Cecily’s voice is perhaps a tad too modern but it entertained me to the point where I didn’t mind.

Final verdict: A fabulous book that paints a fascinating portrait of tension in Wales during one of the most important points in the country’s history. 5 stars

Extra notes: I think there was a very small amount of bad language. No sex. The book is appropriate for young adults but may appeal to an older audience more.

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).

Blog Tour: Until Next Time by Amy Lingor

I am delighted to be participating in Tribute Books' blog tour for Amy Lingor's novel, Until Next Time. I chose to review the book, so without further ado...

Information:

Title: Until Next Time

Series: The Angel Chronicles #1

Author: Amy Lingor

Publisher: Tribute Books

Target Audience: YA

Pages: 295

PoV: 3rd person

Tense: Past tense

Story: How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?

Matt and Emily were created for a specific job. Raised and trained as the ultimate angel/warrior team, they are sent down to save, defend, judge and forgive, depending on the 'life' they've been assigned. What they don't realize is that the power of human emotions, such as love, anger, passion and fear can take over even the best of souls, causing them to make mistakes and follow paths that lead to confusion and heartache.

When the reason for their training is finally revealed, the angel/warrior team find themselves thrust into a world they know nothing about. Matt takes over the life of Daniel, a young man with a great deal of baggage. Emily becomes Liz, a girl living in a remote village who relies on nothing more than her own strength to survive. A violent storm erupts one night, and framed in the window of Liz's establishment is a frightening face. Let in by the soul of a Good Samaritan, the two visitors bring with them a past full of secrets that could literally change an angel's path and a warrior's plans.

From murder to redemption, this angel/warrior team must find a way to keep the faith they have in each other in a world that's ripping them apart.

Thoughts and impressions: The first thing that struck me about this book upon completion of it is that the prologue and the epilogue are separate from the story itself. For one, they’re narrated in the first person by Emily herself at some unknown time in her life and they’re in the present tense. Well, most of the prologue is anyway. Part way through it slips into the past tense for a while for no discernible reason before going back to the present tense. They also don’t really make sense with what information we glean from the story. In both, Amy is disillusioned with her life as an angel but we encounter nothing in the book that would explain why she has become so disillusioned. As such, I felt that they stuck out: they didn’t make sense in the context of this story and though there are hints that we may come to understand her feelings better after the next book, there could potentially be an infinite number of books, or ‘lives’, before Emily gets to this present.

The main body of the story is presented as Emily reading about herself – one of her human lives. As an angel, she gets sent to live out a human life that ended before its time but there’s a catch: once she’s sent to live a new life, she doesn’t remember the old one. So the stories of the angels' human lives are recorded in books for them to read. Until Next Time is about Emily’s first mission to live among the humans.

On Earth, she is forced to come to terms with human emotions and she has no memories of her angelic self. For all intents and purposes, she is Liz – a young Irish woman at the turn of the 19^th century. The other half of her angelic team, Matt the warrior, is also there but because their memories have been wipes, they don’t remember each other.

Liz runs the local pub with her friend, Faith. When two strangers beg for shelter during a storm, both of their lives are turned upside down. The strangers turn out to be two young men, Charles and Jason, who very conveniently turn out to be romantic interests for Faith and Liz. This is where the book doesn’t just touch on one of my personal pet peeves but really chucks it in the reader’s face. I’m not fond of love at first sight at the best of times but in this case it happens to four characters at once and I just didn’t buy it at all.

What’s more, Matt was also presented as a romantic interest. Of course, he’d grown up with Emily and they’d spent all their time together in training. I can understand where feelings came from in this case even if I’m not shown the evolution of them – not that I’m shown the evolution of them with Jason either; they just suddenly sprouted there.

I never really knew which of the two men in Emily/Liz’s life I was supposed to be rooting for. I still don’t. Honestly, I didn’t really like either of them all that much. I found Matt to be hypocritical when he gets high and mighty because Emily went and fell in love with a human but he did exactly the same thing. And Jason never grew as a character beyond his love for Liz and his willingness to take things at her pace even though he wants more from her (because he fell in love with her the moment her met her and wanted to marry her, as Charles and Faith did, but she held back).

Another thing that left me unable to appreciate Jason as a romantic interest was the whole thing with Angela. N.B.: This touches on events shown in the last couple of chapters so be warned and skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want potential spoilers. It was far from romantic. Especially as Jason admits that he never stopped loving his angel. It’s… I don’t know, I feel like Angela deserved more. Every woman deserves to be loved completely by her partner and Jason couldn’t possibly love Angela completely because he still loved Liz.

All in all, neither of the males really appealed to me and I didn’t buy the relationship between Liz and Jason, so the romance aspect of the book didn’t work for me.

I liked the ideas behind the angels, though, and how they worked by taking on a life that was destined for more but the human soul left the shell too soon. It seemed a little weird to me that they didn’t really meet any other angels while they were rushing around Heaven. Other than the well-known saints, that is. Maybe in future books, hey? The saints and archangels that were around were all fun characters very different from how I tend to picture them myself. I thought it was a great twist to give them a sense of humour!

The portrayal of Heaven was original as well, if a little confusing at times. Ok, so it was the wands in the lightning room that confused me. I don’t know what happened, whether I zoned out as their explanation was given (very possible) or what. Despite this, I did like how Heaven worked and the scenes where the angels were brought back to Heaven were a good breather from the scenes down on Earth.

Obviously, this being a book about angels, it has a significant religious aspect. My only problem with this is that it sometimes becomes so Christian that it ostracises readers of other religious beliefs. There are some parts that are particularly preachy and I’d find myself zoning out each time. It could just be the Christian fiction I’ve read but I’ve found that each time there’s a passage that could be construed as insinuating that I, as a non-Christian, should be pitied because I don’t happen to believe in the Christian God. I realise that the author is American and that society’s view of religion is very different there, but I find it insulting when it is implied that I should need to turn to someone else’s deity to live my life right.

Other than this, I enjoyed the book well enough and the epilogue has piqued my interest enough for me to want to read the next book. Maybe then I’ll figure out whether I’m supposed to be rooting for the angel or the human!

Style: I enjoyed the style but the language was far too modern for 19^th century Ireland.

Final verdict: The book never managed to completely suck me in: I chose to come back to it each time rather than feeling the compulsion to delve back into it each time I had to put it down. When I experience this with a book it gets 3 stars from me.

The book around the net:

The Angel Chronicles website

The Angel Chronicles on Facebook

Until Next Time on GoodReads

Buy the book:

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The author :

Amy Lignor began her career at Grey House Publishing in northwest Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of numerous educational and business directories.

Now she is a published author of several works of fiction. The Billy the Kid historical The Heart of a Legend; the thriller, Mind Made; and the adventure novel, Tallent & Lowery 13.

She is also the owner of The Write Companion, a company that offers help and support to writers through a full range of editorial services from proofreading and copyediting to ghostwriting and research. As the daughter of a research librarian, she is also an active book reviewer.

Currently, she lives with her daughter, mother and a rambunctious German Shepherd named Reuben, in the beautiful state of New Mexico. 

Amy Lingor's website

Amy Lingor's blog

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The Publisher:

Tribute Books' website

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