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I actually found this review of Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass quite difficult to write.  It tells the story of assassin turned prisoner Celaena and her participation in the competition to become the King’s Champion.  I LOVED the book and got caught up in the story and characters.  However this made it rather tricky to analyse why I liked it so much and what made it work.  Nevertheless I’ll give it a go. What I liked The characters.  I found our protagonist Celaena Sardothien very engaging and fun to follow.  She is strong-willed, smart, resourceful – and very funny.  It’s clear her experiences in the prison of Endovier have left their mark on her, both physically and emotionally.  Maas did however add in a few quirks to keep her real.  I liked that she wasn’t immediately up to full physical strength after her imprisonment and had to balance physical weakness with smarts.  The fact that she was terrified to stand on the glass in the glass castle was interesting. The setting.  Now, I am a person who has a stronger affinity with words than with pictures, but I loved the mental picture that Maas conjured of the glass castle…

Hello, now that summer is drawing to a close, we’re coming into prime book release time.  As usual, I have a metric tonne of books about whose release I am super excited.  Some of these are continuations of series in which I am already invested, some are new series from authors I love and some are reissues of old favourites.  So, let’s get into it, shall we? To kick off, I was really excited by the recent news that Raymond E.Feist has managed to resolve the ebook rights issue for North America.  While most of his newer works have been released in ebook, his earlier novels have so far been unavailable in my preferred format.  This will all change on August 22nd when his Riftwar saga as well as his Empire trilogy with Janny Wurts will be released as ebooks.  I understand audiobook format will follow later this year.  Although I have read all of these, I am very happy to add them to my collection.  I consider Feist a true master storyteller and if you are not familiar with his work, this is a great opportunity to get started.  Be aware, though,that the series does have a somewhat slow…

Hello, I’m back again with a roundup of all the new releases in May about which I’m most excited.  May is often a busy month in terms of new releases and this one is no exception, so let’s get on with it, shall we? One of my favourite middle grade authors, Rick Riordan, has two books coming out next month.  The first of these is The Dark Prophecy, the second book in his Trials of Apollo series.  This set of books follows the god Apollo, who has been stripped of his powers and sent to Earth in the form of a gawky teenage boy.  As with all Rick Riordan books, I fully expect this one to combine Greek mythology, adventure and humour in a wonderful blend.  The Dark Prophecy is released on May 2nd. Tying in with this release is Riordan’s second book of the month, Percy Jackson: Camp Half-Blood Confidential.  This is a pamphlet written as if by Percy Jackson explaining how things work at Camp Half Blood for new demigods.  I expect it to be a fun, quick read.  It is also released on May 2nd. Also on May 2nd we have the next in Sarah J. Maas’s fantasy…

Thank you so much to Jamie of the Perpetual Page Turner for coming up with this end of year survey.  I had planned to write a Best Books of 2016 post – and I probably will still write one to highlight my favourites – but there are some great questions here to review my reading year. Reading Stats Number Of Books You Read: 87 booksNumber of Re-Reads:   Mmmm not sure.  Four or five maybe?Genre You Read The Most From: YA fantasy Best in Books 1. Best Book You Read In 2016? This honour will go to Caraval by Stephanie Garber.  This hasn’t actually been released yet, but I was lucky enough to get a copy at Book Expo of America.  The world of Caraval is just so fantastic and beautifully described and the plot has so many twists and turns.  I can’t wait for you guys to read it in January. 2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? Gemina.  I absolutely adored Illuminae, especially in audiobook format, but two months after picking up the audiobook (I got an ARC at Book Expo of America) I’m still struggling to finish it.  I…

Empire of Storms is the fifth and penultimate book in Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass in which a former assassin uses her skills and her magic to save her kingdom.  Being the second to last book in the series, it focusses very much on getting our protagonists into the right place for the finale. What I liked The pacing.  Despite the fact that Empire of Storms is primarily focussed on getting the team into place for the final confrontation, Maas managed to keep the pacing brisk and the tension high.  There were several points where I feared for our characters’ lives.  There are several confrontations adding to the tension, even if the end result is moving the pieces across the chessboard. The characters and their group dynamics.  This is clearly one of Maas’s real strengths as a writer.  I loved the relationships between the characters and their journeys.  It was wonderful that each of our characters has a unique skill set, developed over the course of the series, which will be vital in the cause to defeat Erawan.  If even one person fails to play his or her part, the world is doomed.  I personally have not read the…

Good morning.  This is going to be a fairly brief roundup this week – I don’t have a great deal to talk about! One book I finished this week was The Bronze Key, the third in Holly Black and Cassandra Clare’s Magisterium series.   The Magisterium series owes a lot to Harry Potter, set as it is in a magic school, following a protagonist linked to the Enemy of Death.  This third outing sees our heroes trying to identify a spy in their midst all while keeping secret Cal’s connection to Constantine Madden.  The Bronze Key is another solid outing in the series and I enjoyed it very much.  While it doesn’t have Rowling’s wit, charm or gorgeous worldbuilding, I do like the depth that Black and Clare have given to their characters.  It’s  series I will certainly follow to the end. I gave The Bronze Key four stars out of five. I’m currently reading Sarah J. Maas’ Empire of Storms, the fifth book in the Throne of Glass series and am loving it so far.  It’s funny to see on my GoodReads news feed how many of my GoodReads friends are currently reading this book!  Expect more thoughts when…

Good morning!  I’ve a lot to cover in this post vacation/hospitalisation reading roundup, so let’s get on with it, shall we? [book-info]The first book I read was Kate Elliott’s Cold Fire, the second in her Spiritwalker trilogy, a young adult fantasy series.  I admit I really struggled with this book.  It is the middle book in the trilogy and I really felt that.  I liked the characters and the world and the dilemmas our protagonist had to navigate were interesting.  The whole answer a question with a question scenario was wonderfully done.  However, with no resolutions I still really had to force myself to complete this book, and I think it will be a while before I attempt book three.  I gave Cold Fire three stars out of five. [book-info number=1]Hotel Valhalla Guide to the Norse Worlds by Rick Riordan pretty much does what it says on the tin.  It is a slim companion volume to Riordan’s Magnus Chase series based on Norse mythology and provides a succinct and witty guide to the Norse pantheon.  If you’re familiar with Riordan’s style, this is more of the same.  Personally I’m not as familiar with Norse mythology as say Greco-Roman so this…

Good morning!  I saw the 10 bookish questions tags around the blogosphere and thought it might be fun to share my answers.  OK here we go. 1) What book is on your nightstand now? A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.  This is the second in the Court of Thorns and Roses series.  I’m only a few pages in, but to be honest, so far it’s not really grabbing my attention.  I know that’s probably an unpopular opinion right now, but personally I’m far more engaged in Maas’ Throne of Glass series.  I’ll probably continue to give it a go, though. 2) What was the last truly great book that you read? I’m currently also leafing through George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, inspired to do so mainly by the TV show.  I’m reminded just how deep and complex Martin’s characters are, and how beautiful his writing is, a trait that is, sadly, not always shared by the show.  The show is wonderful in its own way, but Martin’s books are a whole different ball game.  Incidentally, I have been swapping chapter by chapter from Feast and Dance, which works remarkably well.  …

Hello and welcome to another reading roundup.  I’ve clearly been on a bit of a social history kick lately – all of the books I’ve read and/or listened to in the last couple of weeks have had social change as a strong theme.  Let me tell you about them. [book-info]The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson is a slice-of-life look at an English town in the summer of 1914, just before the First World War.  This conflict had a profound impact on British life, especially in terms of the class system and women’s role in society and so this particular period of time about which Simonson writes is a real turning point.  The author clearly has a strong knowledge of and interest in social history and it comes across very well in the book. Add to this wonderful, engaging characters (I’m heavily invested in our protagonist Beatrice Nash and young Snout) and this is a great read.  I’m about two thirds of the way through the audiobook and enjoying it very much.  Fiona Hardingham is undertaking narration duties and does an excellent job of distinguishing all the characters. [book-info number=1]The second social historical audiobook I’m enjoying is Julian Fellowes’…

OK confession time;  I couldn’t wait to start reading Queen of Shadows before writing my Heir of Fire review, so this is going to be a joint review of both books. For those of you unaware, Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows are the third and fourth books respectively in Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass series. It is  YA fantasy series with a kickass heroine and great worldbuilding.  If you’ve not yet started it, I highly recommend checking it out. I listened to both books within a fairly short space of time and loved both of them.  Because Queen of Shadows builds upon and develops characters and plot points raised in Heir of Fire, they are excellent to read together.  Many of the cliffhangers in Heir of Fire are also resolved, which is very satisfying. What I liked Character development.  We see lots of wonderful character development in our main character, Celaena. When we rejoin Celaena at the beginning of Heir of Fire, she is in a pretty dark place emotionally, reeling from the events of previous book Crown of Midnight.  Throughout Heir she along with new character Rowan works to get her mojo back.  This is a…