Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time. In 48 AD, a fire set by the troops of Julius Caesar destroyed much of the Great Library of Alexandria. It was the first of several disasters that resulted in the destruction of the accumulated knowledge of the ancient world. But what if the fire had been stopped? What would the Library have become? Fast forward: the Great Library is now a separate country, protected by its own standing army. It has grown into a vast power, with unquestioned and unrivalled supremacy. Jess Brightwell, seventeen and very smart, with a gift for mechanical engineering, has been sent into the Great Library as a spy for his criminal family. Magical spells and riots abound in this epic new YA series.
How could my interest not be piqued after reading this blurb? Caine presents such a fascinating retold history wherein The Great Library of Alexandria is the most powerful entity in the world and knowledge is highly regulated. I admit to having a difficult time getting into the story initially. The pacing was slow and I found myself getting lost in the details of this alternate world, but I kept on reading because I was hoping that it would pick up and I wasn’t disappointed!
“There are three parts to learning: information, knowledge and wisdom, A mere accumulation of information is not knowledge, and a treasure of knowledge is not in itself, wisdom.”
Goodreads: The Queen of Nothing Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Romance Panda Rating:
He will be destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.
Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.
Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.
Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.
And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…
WELL. I closed this book with a lot of new, mixed and surprising feelings for many characters that I honestly didn’t care all that much about to start with. This was a pretty good conclusion although it was really nothing mind-blowing. Honestly, if I had been more invested in the characters from book one, I might even go so far as to say that I might’ve been disappointed with this ending. But if you like clean happy endings (and I mean who doesn’t?), then I think that The Queen of Nothing will tick all your boxes and leave you feeling satisfied.
Goodreads: The Bone Houses Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror Panda Rating:
Seventeen-year-old Aderyn (“Ryn”) only cares about two things: her family, and her family’s graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don’t always stay dead.
The risen corpses are known as “bone houses,” and legend says that they’re the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with new ferocity. What is it that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they be stopped for good?
Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a journey that will take them deep into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and the long-hidden truths about themselves.
I was expecting to be terrified reading this ‘historical fantasy horror’, especially considering the title and it’s basically about zombies, but it had just the right amount of spook that even a chicken like me could read it alone at night! What a treat of a read this was 😍 Even before picking it up, I knew I’d enjoy it but I didn’t expect to not want to leave it for even a second!
“The anticipation of the loss hurts nearly as much as the loss itself. You find yourself trying to hold on to every detail, because you’ll never have them again.”
The writing was simple, atmospheric and the story read a little bit like a fairytale. I liked how things were so simply but vividly described but mostly I loved the magic in the story. It’s woven through so naturally it was almost difficult to picture the world differently. Although this is a fantasy, I was wondering what country inspired the story, and it’s Welsh folklore/mythology! I haven’t read anything Welsh inspired before (at least not to my knowledge) so that was pretty cool. The plot was fast paced and well paced. There were some ‘quieter’ moments towards the end of the book, but it didn’t slow the story down. There wasn’t much surprising in the plot though–it was quite linear which made it easy to predict what would happen in the end, but that’s OK. There were still some unique elements to the story that made it enjoyable!
What really made the story for me were the characters. Rynis incredibly fierce, loyal and stubborn. She has a temper that gets the best of her at times, and while she does make some stupid decisions without thinking of the consequences, you can’t help but love her anyway. She’s hanging on to the past in the hopes that one day her father will return and it broke my heart a little bit. She’s the character that makes you feel safe and like everything’s going to be okay because they’re around. We don’t learn or spend a lot of time with her siblings but I loved Ceri! She’s a bright light in a dark story and her bubbly personality and love for baking and animals had me smiling from ear-to-ear.
“She was half a wild creature that loved a graveyard, the first taste of misty night air, and the heft of a shovel. She knew how things died. And in her darkest moments, she feared she did not know how to live.”
Then we have Ellis, the mapmaker who comes into town. Little is known about him at first, but it was pretty easy to figure out his story as we learn more about the curse. I loved Ellis’ character a lot! He had a certain innocence about him that stemmed from his questions about his pastbut he also had some great dry/sarcastic humor! I even liked the romance that bloomed! It’s progression felt natural and I liked the easy banter that flowed between them. Although they’re opposites in so many respects, they share a keen understanding in their loneliness, losses and grief, and as such complemented each other quite well. Opposites definitely attracted here!
Also, did I mention the amazing goat yet?! Because it definitely might have stolen the show! I loved it as much as everyone told me I would and I know that sounds weird AF but trust me, when you read this, you’ll love the goat too! I pre-ordered the book just so I could get that extra story about the goat! Overall, I’m so glad that I finally read this book. I enjoyed so much about it and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a fantastical zombie fairytale-esque story that’s just a little on the spooky side!
Have you read The Wicked King or is it on your TBR?
It’s the last Goodreads Monday in 2019! This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and it invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.
This week’s book is I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi. This was added to my Goodreads TBR in April this year. I admit the cover is what drew me in at first but the synopsis also caught my attention. This book is a young adult science fiction that was released this past October and has 3.67 stars with 881 ratings and 246 reviews.
We’re back with another Goodreads Monday, a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. This meme invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.
This week’s book is Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind. I surprisingly only added this book to my Goodreads TBR in 2018 but I first heard about it back in 2006/7! So while it hasn’t been on my GR TBR for long, it’s been a known entity for a while! It’s a historical fiction, horror and thriller that has 4.02 stars with 286k+ ratings and 12.9k+ reviews. Pretty good ratings, I think!
We’re back with another Goodreads Monday, a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. This meme invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.
This week’s book is The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. I remember seeing this book mentioned on bookstagram once or twice, but I don’t remember adding it to my shelf in March 2019. The Sympathizer is Nguyen’s debut novel and it was also the winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It has an incredible 4.00 rating with 59,400+ ratings and 6,808 reviews! Impressive 😲
It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be given passage aboard the last flights out of the country. The general and his compatriots start a new life in Los Angeles, unaware that one among their number, the captain, is secretly observing and reporting on the group to a higher-up in the Viet Cong. The Sympathizer is the story of this captain: a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, a man who went to university in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause. A gripping spy novel, an astute exploration of extreme politics, and a moving love story, The Sympathizer explores a life between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today.
Why do I want to read it?
I’m slightly embarrassed to admit it but I actually don’t read a wide variety of diverse books, especially those written about and by Asian authors. This isn’t for any particular reason other than I don’t always make a conscious decision to broaden my reading scope and not because I don’t enjoy diverse books/stories. I lived in Vietnam for around three months several years ago and I’ve visited the country often, so it’s not as if I’m ignorant of the country’s history. That said, sometimes I feel like I take that experience for granted by not pushing myself to learn more and it also applies to my own knowledge and experience relating to other countries in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. I’m determined to making a more conscious effort to diversify my reads and this book sounds like a gripping and fascinating story that I look forward to trying!
Have you read The Sympathizer or is it on your TBR too?Let’s chat!
Goodreads:The Black Mage Publish date: 29 October 2019 Genre: Graphic Novel, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult Rating: ★★★.5☆☆
When St. Ivory Academy, a historically white wizarding school, opens its doors to its first-ever black student, everyone believes that the wizarding community is finally taking its first crucial steps toward inclusivity. Or is it? When Tom Token, the beneficiary of the school’s “Magical Minority Initiative,” begins uncovering weird clues and receiving creepy texts on his phone, he and his friend, Lindsay, stumble into a conspiracy that dates all the way back to the American Civil War, and could cost Tom his very soul.
Wow, this was a cool concept for a story: Harry Potter meets American Civil War history and the KKK. I don’t think I’ve ever read a fantasy novel that incorporates deep elements of racism in it! This artwork isn’t the type that I usually like, but I think it suited the story and I especially liked the use of all the colors. I really enjoyed the HP setting of the school! Honestly, it was a little terrifying to see all the KKK outfits being worn by children in school (even if it’s just fiction) and the thought of them having ‘magical powers’ in a fantasy world where they are still the oppressors, was also a terrifying thought.
One aspect that I didn’t enjoy so much at the start was that there’s a lot of text in the speech bubbles and I felt like I had to really zoom in to be able to read it all properly (so that broke up the panels a bit weirdly). As the story progressed there was still a lot of text in certain speech bubbles but for the most part it lessened. Since this is a standalone(?) the story progressed very quickly and it also wrapped up very quickly and neatly, which was kind of “eh”. I honestly would’ve liked to have the story be longer so that we get to learn more about the characters, and to get some character development in the story as well. The ending while “happy” not only felt too abrupt but also a little unresolved — I mean, how does the school still exist? I want to know more. Overall though, I’m glad that I decided to pick this up. It was an interesting read!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy in exchange for an honest review! This graphic novel is out 29 October 2019.
It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books that cast a spell on me. I think this topic is pretty open to interpretation; it can be about a book that wrapped you up completely in its story, it can be a book whose cover enchanted you, it can be a magical/witchy story. For this one I think I’m going to look at five books that cast a spell on me by completely wrapping me up in its story, only to spit me out at the end in a daze (almost always very satisfied with the ending and most of the time also emotionally destroyed).
After hearing so much hype about this book, I read it together with a group of bookstagram buddies in June and it completely shattered me. I a crying hot mess by the end of this story–and I’m not just talking about silent tears, it was the ugly kind of crying where I couldn’t catch my breath. This book honestly sucked me in so much that I felt like I’d never been SO INVESTED in the lives of book characters before I read it. Obviously, that’s not true, but the story swept me up completely and I was lost in both Isabelle and Vianne’s lives. If you love historical fiction set during WWII/the Holocaust, strong/bad ass female characters, sister relationships, and a touch of romance, then read this book!
I literally just finished this book yesterday and every time I picked this book up, I felt completely immersed in this terrifying gothic tale. It’s like a shroud of creeping horror would be pulled over my head each time I started reading it again (you can get I made sure to only read it during the day)! It was really unique and I don’t think I’ve read anything like this before. It was definitely refreshing to read a retelling based one of the more obscure fairytales by the Brothers Grimm.
I honestly don’t know what to say about this book other than it gave me the biggest book hangover of my life. I wasn’t able to focus on another book for almost a month after finishing ALL! I also spent a full day in bed after finishing it bawling my eyes out and basically scaring everyone at home who came to check on me to make sure I was well (I WASN’T). This is probably one of the most difficult books I’ve read emotionally and mentally. There’s a lot of criticism against it but also a lot of praise for it–I kind of feel like there’s no middle ground when it comes to ALL. But I was completely in it all the way to the heartbreaking end. THIS BOOK.
This book has been shared a lot every where by everyone and I think by now a lot of people are sick of hearing it always be recommended (same might go for The Nightingale actually lol). But the way Owens wrote about the marsh teeming full of all kinds of life, and about Kya, the Marsh Girl, who absolutely stole my heart, definitely cast a spell on me. This was a very slow paced novel, but it was so atmospheric, I felt I could smell the tang of the salt from the sea, the dragging humidity of the marsh, and the call of the wildlife all around me. It was beautifully written and one of my favorites this year!
I’ve mentioned this book frequently on this blog. This was my first Gaiman and it was what made me want to catapult myself into the wildly bizarre and captivating worlds in his stories. I was enchanted by the dark and magical elements of London Below. I love stories that write an alternate reality of places I’ve been and am somewhat familiar with. My imagination would love to believe much of it is true, although it would also be terrifying.
What are the books that cast a spell on you? Any of these get you like they did me? I’d love to know in the comments below! Let’s chat! 😂
Yayaya, HAPPY FRIYAY, book lovers and friends 😍We’re back with another First Lines Friday! This is a weekly featurefor book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?Here areTHE RULES:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
First lines:
“New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. I remember the moment I first heard someone say this. The old man meant to frighten me. He said there was a time when coffins sprang from the ground following a heavy rain, the dead flooding the city streets. He claimed to know of a Créole woman on rue Dauphine who could commune with spirits in the afterlife.”
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.
At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful.
Have you read The Beautiful or is it on your TBR? Leave me a comment and let’s chat 🙂
It’s the first Monday of September and we’re back with another Goodreads Monday, a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. This meme invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.
This week’s book is Enchantée (Enchantée #1) by Gita Trelease. I added this to my list in January 2019. I remember seeing the cover for the first time and thinking WOW, must have! This book has a rating of 3.74 stars with almost 4k ratings and 1,183 reviews.
Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries—and magicians…
When smallpox kills her parents, Camille Durbonne must find a way to provide for her frail, naive sister while managing her volatile brother. Relying on petty magic—la magie ordinaire—Camille painstakingly transforms scraps of metal into money to buy the food and medicine they need. But when the coins won’t hold their shape and her brother disappears with the family’s savings, Camille must pursue a richer, more dangerous mark: the glittering court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
With dark magic forbidden by her mother, Camille transforms herself into the ‘Baroness de la Fontaine’ and is swept up into life at the Palace of Versailles, where aristocrats both fear and hunger for la magie. There, she gambles at cards, desperate to have enough to keep herself and her sister safe. Yet the longer she stays at court, the more difficult it becomes to reconcile her resentment of the nobles with the enchantments of Versailles. And when she returns to Paris, Camille meets a handsome young balloonist—who dares her to hope that love and liberty may both be possible.
But la magie has its costs. And when Camille loses control of her secrets, the game she’s playing turns deadly. Then revolution erupts, and she must choose—love or loyalty, democracy or aristocracy, freedom or magic—before Paris burns…
Why do I want to read it?
I’ve already mentioned it but honestly, this was 80% a cover buy for me 😂I have no shame! Not surprising that I didn’t know it was a series beforehand haha But I love historical fiction and I don’t often read ones that are also a mix of fantasy, so this combination already has me even more intrigued! The whole thing sounds like a proper magical adventure, with a little bit of mystery and I’m always on board for those kinds of stories. I’ve heard some pretty mixed reviews about it though and I have a feeling that it’s either love or hate, but I’m still looking forward to reading it.
Have you read Enchantée? Is it on your TBR too? Leave me a comment and let’s chat!
dinipandareads 