Book Review: Sea Glass by Maria V Snyder

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mira Ink; New edition edition (2 Aug 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1848452470
• ISBN-13: 978-1848452473
• 
  

A Game of Magic Student magician Opal Cowan's newfound ability to steal others' powers makes her too powerful. Trapped under house arrest, Opal dares to defy her imprisonment, searching for Ulrick, the man she thinks she loves. Thinks because she is sure another man - now her prisoner - has switched souls with Ulrick. In hostile territory, without proof or allies, Opal isn't sure whom to trust. She doesn't know the real Ulrick's whereabouts and can't forget Kade, the handsome Stormdancer who doesn't want to let her get too close. And now everyone is after Opal's special powers for their own deadly gain...

Times aren’t getting any easier for Opal. Her unique glass messengers have become a vital part of society. But now dangerous factions are trying to gain control of them for themselves which would mean control of Sitia and Opal herself.

Opal is still meeting resistance when she tries to prove the existence of blood magic. At every turn she is faced with doubt and even begins to doubt herself. Family, friends and mentor deny its existence and Opal fears no one will ever believe her until it is too late. She has no idea who to trust and but in the end Opal must take a leap of faith. 

Whilst I haven’t fallen into this series with loving abandon like I have with other works by this author, I do really enjoy Opal’s series. It is more of a slow burner than a roaring inferno and I find myself thinking a lot more about these books. I am constantly wondering what will happen next as the plot twists and turns. 

Opal is a wonderful character. She is passionate and driven and sympathetic. I really felt for her when no one believed her about Ulrick and Devlen and rooted for her throughout the book. I cannot wait to read the third and final instalment of this series.

Many thanks to Mira Ink for the review copy.

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Book Review: Iron Prince by Julie Kagawa

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mira Ink (1 Nov 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184845189X
• ISBN-13: 978-1848451896

After the events of Iron Prince, Ethan Chase is dealing with the fallout of going missing for a week. His parents worried sick, he is banned from ever seeing his girlfriend, Kenzie, ever again, and Kenzie herself is dealing with poor health after the adventures. All Ethan wants is to get back to normal. To date Kenzie and forget all about the fey.

But unfortunately for Ethan, his sister is queen of the Iron fey, and desperately needs his help. His nephew, Keirran, has gone missing and no one has any idea where he is. Except Ethan. He knows his nephew would do anything to save the fate of the summer faery he loves with all his heart...even potentially fracture the gap between the human and faery worlds.

Once again Kenzie and Ethan are thrown into the tumultuous world of faeries - of bargains and betrayals, hidden agendas and life-threatening decisions. When Keirran and Ethan’s fates are entwined, it is up to Ethan to pull Keirran from the darkness he is falling into...and hopefully save them all in the process.

Iron Traitor felt a lot darker than its predecessor. I’m really enjoying Ethan’s spinoff series, and he is a fascinating character. And while Megan’s books are wildly different from Ethan’s, they are very similar in the natures. Both would do anything to save the people they care about, both feel the weight of duty and expectation on their shoulders. Ethan is way more upfront in his feelings and has no issue in telling it like it is. He’s a tortured yet refreshing character and though he probably wouldn’t say the same about himself, is about as loyal and dependent as they come.

The story was a roller-coaster ride of adventure and danger and intrigue. I quite simply couldn’t put it down, and happily let myself be pulled into the Nevernever to catch up with friends - old and new. I do really like that we see glimpses of past characters (though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see more of Ash...) but am very much liking the new set of characters. Keirran and Ethan are the two alpha males and together create a storm of testosterone. 

There was never a spot I felt like I wanted to put the book down. After each chapter I had to know what happened next and gobbled up this book like a giant fat-free chocolate cake. The way Ethan struggles with trying to keep a normal life when the fey keep throwing themselves into it really made me feel for him. In a way, Megan threw herself whole-heartedly into her heritage but Ethan still craves to be ‘normal’. 

I simply cannot wait for the next part of Ethan’s story, and the wait is sure to be excruciating. 

Many thanks to Mira Ink for the review copy.

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Book Review: A Little Night Magic by Lucy March

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (31 Jan 2012)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1250002672
• ISBN-13: 978-1250002679
• Olivia Kiskey needs a change. She’s been working at the same Nodaway Falls, New York, waffle house since she was a teenager; not a lot of upward mobility there. She’s been in love with Tobias, the cook, for the last four years; he’s never made a move. Every Saturday night, she gathers with her three best friends—Peach, Millie, and Stacy—and drinks the same margaritas while listening to the same old stories. Intent on shaking things up, she puts her house on the market, buys a one-way ticket to Europe, and announces her plans to her friends . . . but then she meets Davina Granville, a strange and mystical Southern woman who shows Olivia that there is more to her life than she ever dreamed. As Liv’s latent magical powers come to the surface, she discovers that having an interesting life is maybe not all it’s cracked up to be. The dark side of someone else’s magic is taking over good people in town, and changing them into vessels of malevolence. Unwilling to cede her home to darkness, she battles the demons of her familial past and her magical present, with those she loves at her side . . . and in the cross fire. Can the most important things in life—friendship, love, magic, and waffles—get her through the worst that the universe can throw at her?

A Little Night Magic is a great rainey day read. Perfect to shut the curtains, forget about the world and curl up on the couch with a good book.

Our protagonist, Olivia, is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. After a failed seduction of best friend and all around hunk, Tobias, she realises something has to change. Sick of small town life, she make a break for freedom and books a ticket to Europe and plans to sell her house. But just as she writes off her small home town, things start getting a little more interesting…

A Little Night Magic really lives up to its title. This book didn’t feel like a full-on paranormal romance or urban fantasy. It was a book about self discovery with a hint of other-worldlyness.

While this book was well written and had interesting characters, I found my attention wandering very regularly. It couldn’t hold me and to be perfectly blunt, I didn’t care about the characters: who ended up with who, what happened to who etc. But even though I didn’t love it, I’m sure other people will.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Griffin for providing me with this book. 

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Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harvill Secker; First Edition edition (15 Sep 2011)
• ISBN-10: 184655523X
• ISBN-13: 978-1846555237

In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Rêves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire.

Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the rêveurs - the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter's daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer's apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love...

A fabulous, fin-de-siècle feast for the senses and a life-affirming love story, The Night Circus is a captivating novel that will make the real world seem fantastical and a fantasy world real.

 The Night Circus was a beautiful work of fantasy, impossible love and best of all…magic.

The circus arrives with no warning. No announcements precede its arrival. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Patrons of the circus grow entranced by the acrobats, amazed by the illusionist, intrigued by the fortune teller. The Night Circus is not like others – the only colours are black and white, it only opens at night and it has countless number of tents that amaze and astound.

But there is more to the circus than meets the eye. It is also the place of a fierce competition – a duel of magics and the entire circus is their game board. Celia and Marco were selected when they were only children to compete against each other by two old masters. Both are educated differently, one by books, one by pain, but both are talented in their own ways. Around each other, Celia and Marco are free to be entirely themselves. Intoxicated by this freedom, they tumble headfirst into love.

The Night Circus is by far the best book I have read this year, by a very long shot. Its mix of fantasy and reality and dizzying love and heartache swirls around the reader until it feels as though they could be sitting in the circus itself, perhaps at the Wishing Tree or warming by the bonfire eating chocolate mice.

Anyone who reads this book is guaranteed to become entranced and hypnotised by the charm of the poetic prose. I for one cannot to re-read this amazing book. 

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Book Review: A Dragon Foresaken

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 209 KB
• Publisher: Krystal McLaughlin (17 Mar 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• Language English
• ASIN: B004SP14H6

In a world of mystery and magic, Daphne is unique.

Unlike her friends, who have awakened to the magic inside of them, Daphne was born with it. Daphne was born a Dragon.

When her past begins to resurface, forcing her into a web of lies and deception, she is forced to accept unexpected alliances and risk everything for the sake of love. Something that she swore she would never let into her life.

As the newest installment of The Enchanted Island Series unfolds, she'll learn that nothing is ever what it seems, and when webs get this tangled, everyone's fate hangs in the balance, and nothing is coincidence.

In A Dragon Foresaken, the second instalment in The Enchanted Island series, the story this times follows Daphne on her mission to find adopted sister, Anna.

Daphne is an orphan – hazards of being a dragon. As a child she bounced around foster homes, never settling long enough to make friends or any kind of connection. But then she met the Hensley’s and she thought she’d found a home. Until tragedy tore them apart.

On her travels to find Anna, Daphne makes a few odd alliances. A few beloved characters from the first book of the story crop up, much to my delight. A Dragon Foresaken was more intense than The Witches Lottery. For one thing, there was way more action. Daphne was a kick-ass character with incredible strength and power – very reminiscent of Buffy.

But like Buffy, Daphne has her flaws. Like insisting she can handle everything alone. But like the Scoobies, Daphne’s friends are just as stubborn.

There is great suspense in the book that keeps the reader glued to the page, not wanting to miss a single thing. The twists and turns were well placed – catching the reader unawares just when they thought they had things figured out.

And a tender romance was the perfect breather for all the action. Like the first book, A Dragon Foresaken was enjoyable and a pleasure to read.

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Book Review: The Witches Lottery

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 204 KB
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• Language English
• ASIN: B004IZLJSA

When Sophia and Drew McKibben's parents are killed in a tragic car accident, they are shipped off to live with an aunt they never even knew existed. Believing that they are moving to a privately owned island just off of the coast of Mystic, CT to live alone with her, they are surprised to find a sort of under-aged bed and breakfast.

Sophia draws the attention of one of the locals, Falen, immediately. He always seems to know exactly what she is thinking, and to her frustration, everything she does seems to amuse him. When a newcomer to the island brings with him a sense of deja vu, she begins to ask herself the ultimate question: Am I going crazy?

Sophia's world starts to unravel when she notices her own brother acting just as abnormal as the rest of them. When she begins to realize that the life she left behind looks even more bizarre then the one she was forced to leave it for, she's faced with a decision to make: embrace the new life that has been given to her, or drown in the past. Either choice brings with it more secrets and deceptions to unearth. The problem now is that the two worlds may actually be more intertwined than she thought.

In The Witches Lottery, our protagonist is Sophia. While still coming to terms with the loss of her parents, Sophia and her brother Drew, are shipped off to live with an aunt they never even knew existed…on a remote island with exactly one house.

Sophia knows there is something different about her aunt Celeste who looks so much like herself, and also the people staying with her. A few other teens Sophia’s age live with Celeste who all seem to know more than Sophia.

In the midst of her grief, Sophia’s worry for her brother Drew mounts day by day, as occurrences that she cannot explain increase. Bizarre dreams and even more bizarre behaviour leaves Sophia feeling like she’s losing her mind. And the constant teasing from gorgeous Falen doesn’t help any.

On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Sophia finds out what everyone has been keeping from her. She is a witch. Along with this self discovery, Sophia finds out that her mother knew what she would become…and she would have powers unrivalled by any other. But someone would do anything to have for themselves.

I thought Sophia was an extremely enjoyable and charming character. She was well written and it was a pleasure to watch her grow as the novel progressed. Her interactions with both Falen and Nick were full of delicious tension and anticipation and perfect interludes to Sophia trying to figure out what her new found powers mean.

The first in a new series, the Enchanted Island series is sure to be popular with any YA lover. And without sounding clichéd, The Witches Lottery was simply…magical. 

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Book Review: Fezariu's Epiphany

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 522 KB
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1456500597

Suffering a betrayal as a young boy, Fezariu turns his back on his family. Convinced their way of life will help him leave his past behind, he joins the Merelax Mercenaries. In a quest to prove himself and survive his dangerous assignments in the Colonies, he's forced to forge new alliances but works hard to distance himself emotionally. Despite his determined focus to move on his thoughts are drawn back to Clarendon where the White Oak, an infamous brothel, holds the secret to his past and the childhood friend he abandoned still remains.

The author weaves an amazing world, bringing to life both characters and locations. Many fantasy novels get lost in the fantasy, too concerned with the worlds than the actions of the characters. Considering it is the characters who lead the reader through the story, this is a major faux pas.

Fortunately for Fezariu’s Epiphany, this is not the case. The surroundings for the author’s cast of character practically becomes a character in itself. The smell of baking bread and delicious cream pastries added to the charm of Alycea. The stench of the White Oak to the struggles of Jessamine. The smell of the burning city before Fezariu’s first campaign with the Merelax Mercenaries.

I lost myself in the story, of the plight of Jessamine and the struggles of Fezariu, the ache of loss within Alycea. The characters remained with me between my bouts of reading, playing on my mind and tempting me back.

Fezariu’s Epiphany has something for everyone – a tale of sweet, uncomplicated love, fierce action, incredible battles, trials of faith and conscience, sacrifices and heroic bravery. Fezariu’s Epiphany is more than a fantasy novel, and it is not to be missed.

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