Hello and welcome to another reading roundup. Since my last roundup I have read two pretty good books which I’d like to share with you. [book-info]I received an Advance Reader Copy of The Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott at BEA. It’s been on my TBR for a while, but it’s only recently I read it. The Poisoned Blade is the second book in a planned trilogy (I believe) and continues the story of Jessamy, a young woman caught between two cultures whose passion in life is playing the game of Fives. In this second book, Jes is drawn into court politics and has to deal with the fallout of her decisions in book one. I listened to The Poisoned Blade in audiobook format and very much enjoyed Georgia Dolenz’s narration. What I liked The characters. I really liked our protagonist, Jessamy. Her conflicts between her love for the Fives, her need to protect her family, the limitations placed on her by her heritage and her affection for Kal were expertly written. The pacing. The Poisoned Blade didn’t suffer from middle book syndrome at all. There were enough conficts and resolutions to keep me well satisfied. I will certainly be…
Court of Fives by Kate Elliott is a YA fantasy book and one that I found myself being sucked into even in the middle of a reading slump. I found the protagonists engaging and loved the world. I found it had a bit more substance than some YA fantasy novels. What I liked Cultural tensions. This is very much a tale of being caught between two cultures. Our protagonist, Jessamy, is the child of a Saroese father and Efean mother and struggles to fit in with either culture. Her father’s people, who are the conquerers of the Efeans, do not fully accept Jes as one of their own due to her mixed heritage yet her genteel upbringing closes her off from acceptance in her mother’s society. Jes herself also struggles to find her place in her world. The only time she can truly be herself is when she is training for the game the Court of Fives. Although we do not live in a magical society, this theme may still strike a chord with many readers. The Games. I really enjoyed how the game of Court of Fives permeated the story to a great extent. We see the games themselves…
As you will see from my picture, I got my hands on a copy of Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin! This is the sequel to Wolf by Wolf which I adored. You can read my review. Those of you who follow my blog will know that I missed out on this one at BEA in Chicago, and that it was one of my most anticipated reads for 2016. Hachette Canada was kind enough to send me an Advanced Reader Copy. Thank you soooooo much. Expect me to share my thoughts on it over the next week or two. Blood for Blood will be released on November 1st 2016. More exciting news, this time from the world of audiobooks. Brent Weeks announced this week that Simon Vance has recorded The Black Prism, the first book in Weeks’ Lightbringer series. It was originally recorded by Cristofer Jean, and Vance took over narration duties from book two, The Blinding Knife. Now, no disrespect to Mr. Jean, but this is Simon Vance we’re talking about. Winner of multiple Audies and other awards and a damn good narrator. I personally credit Brent Weeks and Simon Vance for my love of audiobooks. When listening to…
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott is the first in the Spiritwalker trilogy and tells the story of Cat Hassi Barahal as she comes to terms with the strange new path her life is taking her and the new powers she acquires. Cold Magic has been on my TBR list for some time. I’d picked it up several months back when it was on special offer on Kindle for $1.99, but never got round to reading it. It moved up the list a few weeks ago when I read an intriguing article on the magic system, yet it never quite made it to the top. Finally a couple of weeks ago, Audible released it as an audiobook. This is the first of the books to be released on Audible, so I picked it up to listen to during my nightshifts and it finally made it to the top of the list. I’m very glad it did! What I liked Interesting themes. Elliott explores some interesting themes in this novel. One of the major ones is magic vs technology. The society in which Cat lives is beginning to make progress with industrialisation and this engenders conflict with the powerful Mage Houses, the…
Once again, dear readers, here is my weekly update in what I’ve been reading. The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns is the second in Chris Colfer’s children’s book series. However, it’s not nearly as enjoyable as the first one. The setting and characters are still enchanting, but the plotline seems a little repetitious. Once again our hero twins set off on a quest to gather magical objects that will allow them to cast magic to defeat the evil Enchantress. Additionally, this book suffers from too much of a tendency to show rather than tell; too many stretches where characters explain about something that happened rather than being shown it. Perhaps the novelty of the setting and characters carried the first book much further, and papered over inadequacies in writing style, but in this second installment it is not enough to cover up the recycled plotlines and the somewhat clunky narration. I’m not saying it isn’t a fun read to pass a couple of hours – I do love the world Colfer has built – but I do feel that with better editing and perhaps a different emphasis on story lines it could have been so much better. I gave…