King of Ashes is the first in a new series by fantasy author Raymond E. Feist and is the first not to be set in his Midkemia setting. My thanks to HarperCollins Canada and Raymond E. Feist for the early eArc. King of Ashes is released on May 8th and as such I will keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. On a personal note, I credit Mr. Feist with reawakening my love of reading; after studying literature at university I couldn’t stand to read anything more involved than a Cosmo magazine. Then a friend put a copy of Shadow of a Dark Queen into my hands and I’ve not stopped reading since. He is a master storyteller. It’s always “have to read one more page, one more chapter.” then before you know it, it’s 6am and you have to get ready to go to work… For those of you unfamiliar with Feist’s earlier work, there are 30 novels in his Riftwar series starting with 1982’s Magician and ending with 2013’s Magician’s End. My personal recommendation is to start with Magician as a good introduction to the world – be aware it does drag in parts – or the four books…
I was lucky enough to receive an advanced Netgalley copy of Invictus by Ryan Graudin – thanks so much to Hachette for giving me a copy. I ADORED Graudin’s earlier series Wolf by Wolf so I was very excited to read Invictus.Invictus is described as young adult time-travel adventure with a dash of Doctor Who (guys, you already had me at “Ryan Graudin,” no need for overkill) and Firefly. So without further ado, here’s my review. What I liked Characters From my enjoyment of her previous books, character development is one of Graudin’s strengths as a writer and this is borne out by those we meet in Invictus. I really enjoyed them all and was very much invested in their journeys, romances and challenges. Each person was nicely developed with his or her quirks, wishes and weaknesses. The interrelationships between them all were very well done and I really enjoyed seeing how they developed. Certain characters start out as quasi antagonists, but by the end, I came to care for them as much as for our heroes. Plot Without saying too much – spoilers!- I did like where Graudin went with the storyline. There are some really nicely done twists….
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen Format: eBook Pages: 294 pages Genres: Self Help Buy from Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, Audible Evelynne’s rating: Self help is not a genre of books I read very often, but I made an exception for David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. One of my goals for 2017 was to become better organised and to be more productive. I first learned about the GTD methodology through Carl Pullein’s YouTube channel that I follow. I’ve been working on this for around six weeks now, so it’s too early to tell, but I’m happy with what I’ve learned so far. Getting Things Done, or GTD, is a productivity methodology based on a few deceptively simple concepts. Now, I’m still very new to GTD, but this is how I see it. One of the fundamental ideas behind GTD is that the human brain is excellent at processing ideas and being creative, but not a great storage facility. A key part of GTD is getting all ideas, projects and commitments out of your brain and into a trusted system or external brain. There are five activities to GDT: Capture, Clarify, Organise,…
Hachette was kind enough to send me an Advance Reader Copy of Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin, the sequel to Wolf by Wolf. Thank you so much, guys! I was super excited to receive it as it was one of my most anticipated reads of 2016 and it did not disappoint in the least. Blood for Blood is the second book in an alternate history young adult series set in a world in which the Hitler and the Nazis won World War II. Our protagonist is a young Jewish death camp survivor with the ability to shape shift. The series consists of the two main novels, Wolf by Wolf and Blood for Blood as well as the prequel novella Iron to Iron. The story starts immediately after the cliffhanger ending of Wolf by Wolf and expands the points of view to three. It continues the quest Yael was assigned in Wolf by Wolf and deals with the fallout of the events and discoveries of the book. What I liked The world. Once again I was completely drawn into the alternate history that Graudin has created. The world felt so real and fleshed out I could easily imagine our…
So, the script for J.K. Rowling’s play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, billed as the eighth Potter story, was released on July 31st. Naturally, I and the world and his dog rushed to pick up a copy. Here are my thoughts. I should point out that I have not seen the play, worse luck, and am going from the script alone. Note that there will be total and complete spoilers, which I will hide after the cut. First, the non spoilery section. There was a lot I loved about it, and some things that didn’t work nearly so well for me. I loved that the same themes that pervaded the book series – love, friendship, family, loyalty – still form the core of Cursed Child. It was wonderful seeing how Harry, Ron and Hermione coped with adult life and parenthood (being an adult myself, it was especially fascinating.). The new characters, Scorpius and Albus and their friendship are completely adorable – Scorpius really does get all the best lines. And, naturally, it is simply wonderful to revisit the Wizarding World in any shape or form. Rowling’s world is utterly breathtaking. I really wish I could see how certain scenes…
Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch is the first in a young adult fantasy series centering around Meira, a young refugee left orphaned when her country was overrun and conquered by a neighbouring power. It focusses on her struggle to locate the missing magical Conduit of Winter and to free her imprisoned countrymen. What I liked The world. I really enjoyed the world that Raasch has built for her story. There are eight kingdoms; four Season realms, each dominated by a single season (our protagonist is from Winter) and four Rhythm, whose climate cycles through each season. Each kingdom was wonderfully described and I loved their seasonal themes. The tensions between the kingdoms were interesting and well described and I appreciated the political machinations that were going on behind the scenes. The magic system. The magic system of the Conduits was fascinating, and I look forward to reading more about the chasm of magic and the Decay in future books. I always appreciate it when limitations are written into the magic system – often, they are as interesting as the magic itself. In this case I enjoyed the fact that certain artifacts are limited by gender and can only…
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater is a young adult supernatural novel entering around Blue Sargent, Gansy and their search for Welsh king Glendower. It is a quartet made up of The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily Lily Blue and The Raven King. it is told from multiple points of view. I will say that it took me some time to get into this series – at least two attempts of starting the book, and putting it down again. This is despite a kickass opening in which the whole conflict of the series is laid out; it is foretold that Blue will kill her one true love when she kisses him, and Gansy is fated to die within the year. That is the hook to lure you into this series – you can’t help but want to know if these foretellings come true. My initial struggle with this book is partly because, at first glance, the main protagonists are rather unappealing. Gansy comes across as rich, arrogant and entitled. Ronan is snarky and belligerent. Adam is stubborn and independent to a fault and Noah is insipid. It’s only when you get further into the books that the deeper…
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon is the fourth in the time travelling historical fiction series following our protagonists Claire and Jamie Fraser as they attempt to start a new life in the American Colonies. Weighing in at nearly 900 pages, or 44 hrs and 54 mins of audiobook, this is a real behemoth of a book. It’s also the book on my shelf that’s taken me the longest to read. GoodReads tells me that I finished the previous book in the series, Voyager, back in April 2015, and I started Drums of Autumn around that time. This means that Drums of Autumn has taken me almost a year to finish. I read it in chunks. I would read a large section – usually when the Outlander TV series piqued my interest again – and then struggle to continue and put it aside for other books. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it; I simply struggled to maintain my interest to read 800+ pages over a short period. What I liked The characters. I love the characters in the book, particularly Claire and Jamie and their unconventional romance. Gabaldon has said that she wanted to show a mature relationship…
Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson is the first in a young adult historical fantasy following the story of Leah Westfall, a young woman from Georgia with the gift of sensing gold. Circumstances lead her to seek her fortune in California as part of the 1849 gold rush. This first book deals with Leah’s departure from Georgia and the first part of her journey west. I really enjoyed this book. I was highly invested in Leah’s story and loved the depiction of the trek across the country. Upon finishing it I immediately preordered book two, entitled Like a River Glorious, due out in September 2016. And can I just say, isn’t that a gorgeous cover? What I liked The protagonist. I really enjoyed reading from Leah’s perspective. She is a young woman with a good heart, and a strong mind. It’s clear though the toll her secrets are taking on her. I liked that Leah does sometimes does make mistakes and errors in judgement – it keeps her real. The supporting characters are also very engaging and in many cases have significant character development. The historical detail. I admit that this is a period of American history about…
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare is the first in The Dark Artifices, a new Shadowhunters series set around the Shadowhunters Institute in LA. It focusses on Emma Carstairs and her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, characters introduced in City of Heavenly Fire, the final book in the Mortal Instruments series. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2016 and I LOVED it. The setup for Lady Midnight was one of the things I enjoyed most about City of Heavenly Fire and it more than lived up to its promise. I devoured this 700+ page book in less than a day. What I liked The characters. Although Emma is a smart, engaging kickass heroine, I found my sympathies being drawn more to Julian – his struggles and challenges spoke to me even more than Emma’s. I was also very interested that this time we meet some Shadowhunters who do not necessarily fit the mould of young teens, perfect in mind and body who embody the ideals of the Clave. Particularly interesting to me was Tiberius, who is clearly on the autism spectrum. I thought it was wonderful how he was shown to make a significant contribution to our protagonists’ quest even…