Weekly Wrap Up : 28th April 2019
I hope everyone has had a good week. I’ve been rewatching Game of Thrones and reading of course. Yes, I know that everyone has been watching the new series but I’m waiting – well, I decided to rewatch the entire series and I’m nearly there – then to the latest. I’ve read three books this week. Here’s my week in review:
My books:
- Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
- Ruthless Magic by Megan Crewe
- Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young
Next week’s reads:
- Nocturna by Maya Motayne
- Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen
- The Gods of Men by Barbara Kloss
Upcoming reviews:
- A Boy and His dog at the End of the World by CA Fletcher
- Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
- Ruthless Magic by Megan Crewe
- Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young
I’d love to know what you’re reading this week.
Friday Face Off : “The sunrise was the colour of bad blood”
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout. This week’s theme:
“The sunrise was the colour of bad blood” – A cover featuring a sunrise/sunset
Sunsets/sunrise – I did have a few that I think I could have used for this week’s theme so hopefully everyone has found this week’s covers a bit easier. My book this week is : The Ship (The Ship #1) by Antonia Honeywell.
My covers this week:
My favourite:
Which one is your favourite?
Like last week I’ve added a Mr Linky here so that you can leave a link if you wish or please leave me a link in the comments so we can all visit and check out each others covers. Thanks
I’ve updated the list and included themes through to the end of 2019 – I’ve also included events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share that let me know in the comments). I also have a list prepared for 2020 and so will set up a separate page soon for forthcoming themes. As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment.
Next week – A cover that is predominantly blue
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ of one of your favourite covers)
2019
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
3rd May – “How sweet to be a cloud, floating in the blue” – A cover that is predominantly blue
10th May – “As full of spirit as the month of May” – A cover featuring a festival/party/celebration
17th May – “The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow!” – A cover featuring a fantasy beast
24th May – “bibbity, bobbity, boo” – A cover that features ‘magical things’
31st May – “simples” – A favourite fantasy cover
7th June – “One swallow does not make a summer” – A cover that makes you think of Summer
14th June – “Coraline opened the box of chocolates. The dog looked at them longingly.” – A cover featuring something sweet
21st June – Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year – Pagan rituals/standing stones/blazing suns – a cover with your own interpretation
28th June – “And who decided which people wore the striped pyjamas” – A cover that is striped
5th July – “The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe… has been answered” – a cover featuring something/somebody historic
12th July – A wrap around cover
19th July – “You can’t choose between life and death when we’re dealing with what is in between.” – A cover that is grainy or looks like ‘white noise’
26th July – “Ludo ….. down” – A cover that is Upside Down
2nd August – “There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.” A cover featuring children
9th August – “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request.” – A cover featuring Pirates
16th August – “The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagles own plumes” – a cover featuring feathers
23rd August – A cover that is a movie tie in
30th August – “I wandered lonely as a cloud” – a cover that is predominantly yellow
6th September “Warm September brings the fruit” – a cover that is seasonal for Autumn/Fall
13th September – Friday the 13th – unlucky for some! A cover with ‘curse’ in the title
20th September – “Your hair is winter fire,January embers.” – A cover featuring hair
27th September – Freebie
4th October – “Feed me Seymour” – A cover that is 60s horror
11th October – ““And, though there should be a world of difference between the smile of a man and the bared fangs of a wolf, with Joss Merlyn they were one and the same.” – a cover featuring an Inn
18th October – “It’s your favorite scary movie, remember? He had on the white mask, he stalked the babysitters.” – A cover featuring a scream
25th October – for Halloween – pick any scary cover you like
(I’m hoping that November will once again bring to us SciFiMonth – Twitter @SciFiMonth)
1st November – A cover that is predominantly grey
8th November – “big badda boom” – a cover that features an explosion
15th November – “No thinking thing should be another thing’s property, to be turned on and off when it is convenient.” – a cover featuring a robot
22nd November – A cover that is Futuristic
29th November – “When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.” – a cover that is 60s sci fi
6th December – Now is the winter of our discontent, Made glorious summer by this sun of York” – a cover that puts you in mind of winter
13th December – A cover that features a temple/or religious icon
20th December – Longest Night – a dark and foreboding cover
27th December – the festive season – a cover that is glittery or sparkling
(2020 – January is Vintage SciFi month so I’ll be including possible themes to take that on board.)
Throwback Thursday : Kushiel’s Dart (Phèdre’s Trilogy #1) by Jacqueline Carey
25 April 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Dart, Phedre's Trilogy #1, The Tenacious Reader, Throwback Thursday
Throwback Thursday, is a new feature created by Tenacious Reader with the aim of highlighting books from your reading past. This can be virtually anything, a book that you previously read and loved, a book that you want to highlight again, maybe it’s a book in a series and the next book is due out shortly so you want to focus some attention on the series. Anything goes – so long as your book isn’t a current release as there are already plenty of ways to highlight the latest books.
The book I’d like to shine the spotlight on this week is : Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey. This is the first in Phedre’s trilogy, a series I loved. I thought I’d highlight this today because if you haven’t read this – you should by the way – there’s a new book planned, no firm dates yet, possibly to be released in 2020. I was so excited when I saw tweets about this last year – basically this is going to be a retelling of Kushiel’s Dart from Joscelin’s point of view. Okay, breathe everyone. Anyway, the idea of Throwback Thursday is to highlight books for one reason or another – so, if you’ve not yet read Kushiel’s Dart – you could give it a try now, there’s still time to read the series before this new release so this is a very timely post. Joscelin has to be one of my favourite characters and so the idea of reading from his POV has me doing somersaults. Here’s the announcement from Tor.
So, here’s a little more about Kushiel’s Dart to get you started:
The land of Terre d’Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good… and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.
Phèdre nó Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye. Sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond is purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, a nobleman with very a special mission… and the first one to recognize who and what she is: one pricked by Kushiel’s Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one.
Phèdre is trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber, but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair… and beyond. Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phèdre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear.
Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel’s Dart-a massive tale about the violent death of an old age, and the birth of a new.
Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World #2) by Rebecca Roanhorse
24 April 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Rebecca Roanhorse, Storm of Locusts, The Sixth World #2
Well, if there is a God of Good Books I need to make a prayer of thanks right now. ‘Thank you for Storm of Locusts’. I thought I loved Trail of Lightning, in fact I did love it, but Storm of Locusts blew my mind. I am mush. This continues with the fantastic world building, it explores further afield, it’s packed with imagination, the plot is intriguing, fast paced and absolutely compelling, the tension had me wringing my hands and the characterisation and friendships developed are just excellent. I don’t even know how this could be improved upon to be honest – other than a third instalment that is. And can I just say – check out that cover.
If you haven’t read the first book, I understand, I sympathise, we all have a lot of books to catch up with – however, I would strongly suggest you bump this series up to the top of mount tbr – you need this in your life – also beware of spoilers for Trail of Lightning.
We pick up a few weeks following the conclusion of the first book where we find Maggie being called onto a bounty hunt. Unfortunately things don’t go according to plan. There is death. There is an unexpected commitment and there is the uncovering of a strange new ‘monster’ known as the White Locust. As if the day hadn’t been bad enough the Goodacre twins show up, their young brother has gone missing and Kai seems to be implicated – at least he’s gone missing too. Pear shaped! Ha!! This day has rapidly gone to hell in a handcart and Maggie, not believing Kai”s complicity in recent events, undertakes to uncover the truth.
The story here is fast paced, there’s no shortage of action and for those of you who like high octane drama there’s a little bit of everything. I love the originality displayed, We are once more treated to a story soaked in Native American culture that is absolutely fascinating and breathtakingly original to read about but much more than that, not only does this take the strong foundation from the first book but it builds a whole new level on top by the attention to the characters and the connections they build. I’m sorry, I’m gushing, but I’m just happy and so it flows naturally, and haphazardly onto the page.
So, how can I convince you to pick this up – beg? I will do it. I have no shame. Please read this series. Pretty please. There will be cakes.
Seriously, the characters here are just excellent. I love Maggie. Of course she’s not always the easiest person to get along with, she has a bad track record when it comes to killing people (although she is trying to control that impulse) and to be honest she can be a little bit scary. Her reputation has grown somewhat and people expect ‘badass’ from her.
What I found really refreshing, at the same time as a little gut wrenching, was the almost complete lack of Kai in this story. I loved him in the first book – who didn’t? Right? But, I think Roanhorse made an excellent decision here to distance him a little from events for a large part of the story. It created not only a feeling of loss and a desire for Maggie to succeed but also a slight hesitation and a question of doubt. Maggie felt it and so did I when reading this.
On top of this, we have a new character, Ben, who has her own clan powers that are quite unique. Maggie has found herself in the unusual position of ‘caring’ about Ben – not easy as she’s also a rather feisty teenager – but great in developing Maggie’s own personality and giving her something else to think about that she’d not previously had to consider – the welfare of another person.
And, Rissa. I loved Rissa in this instalment. She plays a great role, she really steps up and it was great to see the development of what could be a great friendship between these two characters. Now I’m totally scared that something bad will happen to her. *I’m making puppy eyes at Rebecca Roanhorse right now.*
Additionally there are locusts, cats and tricksters too.
I’m not going to mention too much more – particularly about the ‘baddie’ of the piece. The White Locust is an enigma and one that ‘fit’s the world here. On the face of it he doesn’t feel completely evil – but, nobody wants a storm of locusts on their tail and there is an element of crazy here – real ‘lost the plot’ crazy.
Basically, there’s a lot of love from me for this book. It has this wonderful Mad Max, X-Men, end of the world strangeness going on and it’s an absolute blast to read. Entertaining, fast paced, original, great writing, conflicted characters. Shut up and take my money.
I highly recommend you give this series a try.
No criticisms.
I received a copy courtesy of the publisher, through Edelweiss, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
Can’t Wait Wednesday : The Night Country (The Hazel Wood #2) by Melissa Albert
24 April 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Can't wait Wednesday, Melissa Albert, The Hazel Wood #2, The Night Country, Wishful Endings
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was originally created by Breaking the Spine. Unfortunately Breaking the Spine are no longer hosting so I’m now linking my posts up to Wishful Endings Can’t Wait Wednesday. Don’t forget to stop over, link up and check out what books everyone else is waiting for. If you want to take part, basically, every Wednesday, we highlight a book that we’re really looking forward to. This week my book is : The Night Country (The Hazel Wood #2) by Melissa Albert.
Can you ever truly escape the Hazel Wood?
In the sequel to her New York Times bestselling, literary/commercial breakout, The Hazel Wood, Melissa Albert dives back into the menacing, mesmerizing world that captivated readers of the first book. Follow Alice Proserpine and Ellery Finch as they come to learn that The Hazel Wood was just the beginning of worlds beyond, “a place where stories and real life convene, where magic contains truth, and the world as it appears false, and where just about anything can happen, particularly in the pages of a good book”
Due for publication : September 2019
Books and travelling with Lynn 