Grave Mercy - Robin LaFevers

This book was an interesting read. I was really taken by the premise, but kind of disappointed overall. It wasn't the best thing I've ever read but the plot was fairly interesting and quick paced. The story takes place in medieval Brittany (a region of France) where our heroine Ismae is born marked by the poison her mother took in order to abort her. She is a daughter of death, feared by her step father and sold to the pig farmer down the road when she reaches marriageable age. Before she can be ruined by a life of physical labour and hardship she is rescued by a group of nuns at the convent of St. Mortain who are assassins, fulfilling Death's wishes by killing those who are a threat to Brittany's independence. Ismae joins the nuns and becomes an expert assassin, particularly well trained in poison. However, things go slightly awry on her first mission and she ends up in the company of a nobleman bound for Brittany's royal court and the intrigue and deceit that comes along with it.

I have to be honest I wasn't really to fond of Ismae. She was a bit whiny. I was also a bit confused as to why the Abbess of the convent would send a woefully unprepared novice to the royal court when there were surely people more adequately prepared for the mission. Ismae spends quite a lot of time questioning her placement there, and while her loyalty to the besieged duchess is admirable, she was quite clearly not the woman for the job. I was also considerably more interested in another one of the novices who arrived at the same time as Ismae. Sybella was a much more engaging character and I was quite pleased to learn that she is the star of the second book in the series! another thing that really bothered me about this book was the fact that as a trained assassin Ismae should really be able to take on any and all opponents, and often she does, but occasionally her skills seem to abandon her and if there's one thing I dislike it's inconsistency. Finally and I'll say *SPOILER ALERT* Sex as a cure for poison? Not so sure about that...

All and all a decent read but not the top of my list!

Enjoy 

Morgan

The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater

I just have to say first that I really love Maggie Stiefvater. Everything I read by her I really enjoy and The Raven Boys was no exception. Like The Scorpio Races I really loved how she blended mythical and magical elements into everyday life so that magic somehow blends perfectly into contemporary society. There's not really any sense of unbelieveability at all; the insertion of magic is done so masterfully that you just accept that things are the way she's written them. I read a lot of fantasy fiction and Stiefvater is up there with the best of them for sure!

 The Raven Boys takes place in a small town in the United States. The town's population is divided between the local townsfolk who live there year round and the Raven Boys who attend the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The locals tolerate the presence of spoiled rich boys, but there is no love lost between the two groups, so when Blue the daughter of the local psychic gets caught up with four of the most infamous Raven Boys adventure is sure to follow.

Blue is a really interesting character and I have to say that I really fell for her. She's the black sheep of her family, able to augment the psychic powers of her mother and female relatives, but unable to see the future or into the spirit realms. With her powers she is an important tool to the psychic's trade but she's always on the outside looking in, until one fateful night with her aunt in a graveyard. The relationships between the four Raven Boys we meet are also incredibly intricate and are such a wonderful aspect of the story. So often in YA fiction we are only privy to the relationships between the female protagonist and any of the men/ boys she comes in contact with. The relationships that those boys have with other boys is so rarely explored.

This book contains all the elements of a great story. A mystery, a quest, a coming of age, and even a romance or two.

Definitely worth a read!

Enjoy!

Leviathan - Scott Westerfield

There is nothing better than reading a good book and then realizing that both sequels have already been released so you won't have to wait at all before reading the next two books. This is exactly what happened to me with Leviathan. Leviathan is the story of Deryn Sharpe a young girl posing as a boy in order to serve in the British Air Force at the beginning of WWI and Prince Aleksander son of the murdered Arch Duke and Duchess of Austria- Hungary. Alek is on the run from German forces who he has discovered have murdered his parents, and Deryn is hiding her sex, pretending to be a boy, on board the airship Leviathan. They meet after an air battle between German forces and the Leviathan in the mountains of Switzerland.

Leviathan is not just a run of the mill historical fiction story. Westerfield has created a whole new conflict for his readers. In this war the British are using DNA technology in order to fabricate animals and weapons for military purposes. In fact the Leviathan is a hydrogen filled whale that contains entire ecosystems of other animals or 'beasties' as Deryn calls them. The Germans and their allies on the other hand use incredible machines and technology to fight their wars. His descriptions of these fantastical animals and machines are wonderful and the illustrations certainly added to my enjoyment of the book.

If you like historical fiction or alternate history this is the book for you!

Enjoy!

The Diviners -- Libba Bray

Set in 1920's New York city The Diviners by Libba Bray walks a delightfully fine line between an action packed adventure and a creepy horror story. Much to her delight our protagonist Evie O' Neill has been banished from her small town home and sent to live with her uncle in New York. At home Evie was always one step across the line pushing the limits of acceptable behaviour, but in New York she's right at home frequenting speakeasies with her friends and living the high life of the young and wealthy in the 1920's. But Evie has a secret. She can read people's pasts from objects they have carried with them, and when her uncle is called upon to help investigators solve a string of occult related murders Evie begins to realize that her talent may have more importance and farther reaching consequences than she ever imagined.

I quite enjoyed this book! It was fast paced and in spite of its large size (over 500 pages) it never felt like I had to push through the "boring parts" to get to the end. Evie was a fun and lovely yet flawed main character and I enjoyed how seemingly disconnected story lines came together throughout the book. The ending especially left me wanting more, and I was surprised to find that characters that at first seemed harmless and secondary become such dastardly villains. Bray really knows how to create fantasy fiction that blends seamlessly into the real world, with myth and magic becoming an underground culture that we all secretly hope exists somewhere.

I'm not normally someone who can read an even slightly scary book and recover quickly so I have to say that they gruesome murders and evil spirits made me stay up late finishing chapters so I knew our heroine and her friends were safe and I dashing up stair cases at night time with shivers going down my spine.

Well worth a read!
Enjoy!

Looking for Alaska - John Green

Another hit by John Green. The first book I read by him was The Fault in Our Stars which was recommended to me by a friend and was so heart breakingly lovely that I couldn't help but try and find every other book he's written and read them all. Looking for Alaska was just as well written, and the twist at the end had me sobbing.

Looking for Alaska is written from the perspective of Miles Halter, or "Pudge" a teenager looking for "the great perhaps". Pudge convinces his parents to send him to Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama where he meets the two people who will be the most important additions to his new life. There's his roommate Chip or "the Colonel" and the beautiful, outgoing Alaska Young. At Culver Creek pranks are the life blood of the student body. They play them regularly and on an escalating scale. Pudge's introduction to this particular aspect of life at Culver is to be wrapped in tape and thrown into the lake on campus.

The book is filled with typical teenage angst and tension, but it is really beautifully written and John Green has quickly become one of my favorite Young Adult authors.

Enjoy!

Enchanted - Alethea Kontis

A lovely twisted fairy tale based largely on the tale of the frog prince, Sunday is the seventh daughter of Seven who is also the seventh daughter of a fairly unimaginative mother. Sunday is a writer, however since everything she writes about comes true she only writes about the past. She writes stories about her many brothers and sisters who are the characters from many familiar fairy tales. Sunday meets the frog grumble at a small pond in the forest near her house. Several times she kisses him without effect but one day after discovering how she really feels about him she kisses him after she has left to go home he changes and becomes a prince once more, however Sunday has no knowledge of the transformation and is heartbroken thinking that he has become fully frog and is gone forever. 

I really enjoyed how Kontis wove the different fairy tales around each other each one fitting perfectly with the one before it to create a really delightful storyline. Sunday and her sisters are each so different from each other a fit perfectly into the old adage of Monday's child is fair of face Tuesday's child is full of grace etc. Her mother's words always come true and her aunt's are fairy godmother's. For those who loved fairy tales as children this book will fit perfectly into your more adult reading list!

Enjoy!

Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo

This was a pretty different read from some of the other fantasy fictions I've read. Set in a late 19th or early 20th century mythical Russia Shadow and Bone blends the opulence of the Russian aristocracy of that era  with some dark and frankly creepy magical elements. Alina is a cartographer for the army of Ravka sent on a large expeditionary mission into the fold. A place of darkness created by a sorcerer thousands of years ago. Within the fold are creatures who feed on the flesh of the living and the only thing that frightens them is light. In Ravka those who have any kind of magic are identified as children and sent away to the palace to learn how to  properly use their magic. As a child Alina and her best friend (and secret love) Mal were tested for magic at the home for orphans where they grow up together neither is discovered to have magic and together they make their way through the world.

When Alina and Mal and the rest of their party make their way into the darkness of the fold they are set upon by thousands of monsters and when Mal is potentially fatally wounded Alina lights up the night with her previously undiscovered power coming to the notice of the Darkling the most powerful sorcerer in Ravka.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read the contrast between the glittering wealth of the Ravkan court and the darkness of the magic that they use strikes just the right cord. Alina is an interesting character with believable flaws and failings, not simply a selfless hero and so many protagonists in fantasy fiction before her. She faces some very difficult choices leaving the life she has known for one that is completely outside her realm of experience. She is suddenly bestowed with not only magic but also wealth and influence, but not all is what it seems and Alina struggles and makes mistakes like any real person would.

Well worth a read!
Enjoy!