Queen of the Tearling -- Erika Johansen

I read this book in less than 24 hours. In fact I did not leave the couch, let alone the house while I was reading Queen of the Tearling. The book is set in a future where several shiploads of people, presumably from our nearish future, have made a 'crossing' to a land that maybe exists in our world, or is maybe in another one. There is tantalizingly little information about The Crossing in book one of Erika Johansen's series and I imagine that more will be revealed to us in upcoming books! The main focus of Queen of the Tearling is Kelsea, a 19 year old  girl who has been living in secret with her foster parents for most of her life. She is also the Queen of the country of Tear and now that she is of age she must leave her home in the forest and venture into a corrupt and venal court led by her uncle the Regent.

Kelsea knows very little about current events in her kingdom and to tell you any details about what's going on in her capital would ruin, what for me was a pretty epic moment or two, so I won't. But there are some fun details I will share! For one, because this book takes place in our distant future there are some throwbacks, Kelsea has copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series on her bookshelf, along with The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. We learn pretty early on that the main reason for The Crossing was to cut away the modern day trappings of life that we are so accustomed to, so the people of Tear live a pretty medieval lifestyle, complete with swords and armour. And I can always get behind some sword fighting! The book contains plenty of parallels with some of my favourite series. There's a nod to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the Red Queen, who is Kelsea's nemesis, and some very strong similarities to The Hunger Games in a lottery system whose purpose I won't divulge!

A really great combination of new ideas and themes, mixed with the more conventional aspects of Young Adult fiction that we have all come to know and love! Another thing I will add is there is some profanity in the book (the f word pops up more than once) and some adult themes (think prostitution) so this book is not meant for the young end of the YA spectrum. But really a great read!

Enjoy!

Sea of Shadows -- Kelley Armstrong

I liked this book. Kelley Armstrong is a Canadian author, which is always exciting for me, and several of her books take place in Canadian settings! This one however, is not set in our world at all, but in another one where creatures of myth become real and the spirit world overflows into the realms of the living. Moria and Ashyn are twin sisters chosen for the roles of Keeper and Seeker. Every year they are sent to quiet the spirits of criminals who have been exiled into Forest of the Dead. Obviously given the name "Forest of the Dead" we can surmise that many of our exiled friends do not survive and their angry spirits are prowling around the forest waiting for the unwary. This time when Ashyn enters the forest to quiet the spirits, nothing goes as planned and events are put into motion that will change the girls lives forever! This book is another in a long string of easy- to- read, relatively exciting Young Adult novels that have sprung up recently. Armstrong perhaps takes things a little far with the types of monsters we encounter, zombies, ghosts, spirits and Thunder birds to name but four and we of course have love interests for both girls whose course runs anything but smoothly. And because we have two female protagonists, we get both a charming thief as well as a strong, silent nobleman. 

I have to say that this book has gotten some pretty stinky reviews on Goodreads, but I really didn't think it was bad at all. The plot moved quickly, there was lots of action and I quite liked the character development for both Moria and Ashyn. It will be interesting to see what happens in book two!

Enjoy!

Finnikin of the Rock - Melina Marchetta

I liked Finnikin of the Rock I really did, but I have to say there were some issues with the book. The premise was really interesting a country locked in a curse, with half it's people trapped inside with a mad king and the other half in exile, reviled by the people they now rely on to survive.

 Finnikin our main character is the son of the former Captain of the Lumateran Guard and he's living in exile, travelling from kingdom to kingdom hoping to convince one of the kingdoms of Skuldenore to take in the people of Lumatere. In the course of his journeys he picks up Evanjalin, a fellow exile who, like Finnikin, wants nothing more than to break the curse on Lumatere and end the reign of the false king inside. The story of how the curse came to be is a good one, and I won't spoil it here, it's very dark and scary, but as I was reading the book it felt like I had missed this huge important event. The way Marchetta wove the back story into Finnikin made it seem as though there was another book with other characters that came first. Considering the importance that Finnikin's father and Stepmother have in the story I felt like she should have at least perhaps written a prologue from one of their points of view. It just seemed a bit strange to be reading about a parent's love story from the child's point of view, especially since he was so young when it all took place and likely wouldn't remember it in any significant detail. 

Overall it was a good read, well worth picking up, though I have to say I liked the sequel Froi of the Exiles much much better! I would read Finnikin just to read Froi  and I have high expectations for the conclusion to the series Quintana of Charyn which frustratingly has been released in Australia but not yet in North America. 

Enjoy!

The Brides of Rollrock Island - Margo Lanagan

This was another book where the premise had me hooked and itching to read! Throughout the book I found myself enjoying the book but not as engaged as I had thought I would be until the climax. For probably fifty pages I was so tense that I almost forgot to breath and at the end of the action I had to physically pull myself away for a little while to regroup and finish the book. Because it was just so intense. 

The books setting is a little reminiscent of The Scorpio Races` as in it`s set on a small isolated island where magic is a seamless part of the culture and the Selkies of legend come to life (Selkies are seals who are turned into women for those of you unfamiliar with the term). In this book however the character we begin with is not a plucky young woman determined to earn her place in the world, but is instead a young woman who is constantly on the outskirts of society, mocked by her peers for both her appearance as well as her unusual abilities. Her home life is no better with her mother a horrible harpy and her sisters little better. She spends her childhood and adolescence completely miserable, until she decides to finally use her powers. But young Misskaella doesn`t use her power to improve her life, she uses it to ruin the lives of the women of the island. She brings beautiful, obedient seal women out of the ocean to become brides to the men of Rollrock Island, effectively driving the indigenous women off. 

This book was a roller coaster! At first you are so angry with the townsfolk for the way they treat Misskaella, then you`re so angry with her for being such a horrible witch and living up to their expectations of her, and then your feelings and emotions continue to swing this way and that as you see the story from the perspective of different islanders over a period of several decades. 

Well worth a read! And if you are struggling in the beginning please push through! It is worth it!!

Enjoy!

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!

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!

Origin - Jessica Khoury

This book was really refreshing. Mostly because of the choices that the main character Pia made throughout the book, but also because it stands alone. I could be wrong Jessica Khoury could be planning on writing 100 more books about Pia, but the ending really suggested to me that Origin was it, and I love that. Sometimes it is so great to read a really good book and to have closure at the end rather than feel like you have to wait another year to find out what happens. Don't get me wrong I love a good series, but Origin was just so satisfying in itself and it's really impressive that Khoury was able to write such a stunning book as her debut at 22 no less. 

I loved Pia. I thought she was a really interesting character. She is immortal, and she lives in the facility where she was created by scientists who have spent their entire lives trying to create her. One day Pia finally breaks free from the fence by which she is surrounded to go into the jungle and explore. There she meets Eio a boy who has grown up in the jungle and her life changes direction quite rapidly from there. When we first meet her Pia's main goal  is to become a part of the team that is working on creating other being like her. Other immortals so that she won't have to be alone anymore. Once she meets Eio and the other denizens of the jungle she slowly begins to realize that being a scientist and behaving 'rationally' are not all that they seem to be. Something is not right. 

A wonderful story with a great cast of characters, which creates some worrying thoughts about the world we live in and the lengths that people might go to in order to become immortal.

Enjoy!

Graceling - Kristin Cashore

I loved this book. It was highly recommended by a fellow book lover and she couldn't have been more right. Graceling has so much going for it. The main character is reminiscent of Katniss from The Hunger Games (and not just because of her name) she kicks some serious butt as one of her world's people who are "graced" with a range of talents. Her's it seems is fighting. In the kingdom where Katsa lives those who are "graced" with talents automatically become the property of the King, Randa, who uses his niece Katsa as his own personal torturer and assassin. Katsa, however, has other ideas about how to use her talents. She and her compatriots have begun an underground movement to help the oppressed people of her kingdom and the other six kingdoms as well. 

Unlike Katniss, Katsa has a considerable amount of agency when it comes to decision making. I mean who is going to argue with a woman who has been 'graced' with a talent for killing people? Not me. 

I really liked Katsa as well as the other main characters in the book. I felt that the plot moved quickly enough  to keep me interested, but slowly enough to not feel rushed or like Cashore was trying to pour too many plot points into the story. Every aspect of the plot flowed together nicely and the love story was another aspect of the story that was really interesting. Katsa's love interest Po is well written and well rounded. It is easy to see how the two fit together and nothing feels forced.

I also loved the sequels Fire and Bitterblue which give background and depth to Katsa's story as one of the sequels takes place before Graceling and the other takes place years after. 

A must read!

Enjoy!

The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater

In The Scorpio Races Maggie Steifvater blends myth and magic with the modern world to create a really wonderful read. The story in  really interesting with the water horses of Irish legend coming to life on the tiny island of Thisby which is located, I would imagine, somewhere in the Atlantic. Stiefvater mixes magical elements with real life facts to make a believable story about flesh eating horses who emerge from the ocean each November to both terrify and enchant the locals. As the water horses (called Capaill Uisce by the natives of Thisby) surface each November brave and foolish riders try to capture them to use as mounts in the annual Scorpio Races.

The story is told from the perspective of two prospective competitors in the races. Kate who goes by Puck and Sean Kendrick. Sean is a returning participant who has won the races for a number of years running, Puck is racing out of desperation. Both desperately need to win the race, Sean to finally own his beloved water horse and Puck to save her family's home. If she races Puck will be the first girl ever to do so and she faces not just the challenge of finding and taming one of the incredibly dangerous Capaill Uisce (who happened to have killed and eaten her parents), but also the challenge of overcoming the discrimination of her neighbours.

There is of course a love story woven into The Scorpio Races, but refreshingly there is no love triangle and Puck's feelings for her love interest are clear and simple. It is a small part of the story, but does create a lovely side plot and make for an interesting end to the story.

All in all a very original read!
Enjoy!