The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen is a new YA epic fantasy novel which tells the story of Kelsea Raleigh Glynn who must reclaim her birthright of the Tear throne. To do this she must survive plots against her by her uncle, the Regent, and take a stand against the Mort Queen to protect her people. The fantasy is quite subtle in this book, unlike HarperCollins’ publicity machine which has been seriously promoting this book. This has been helped by the fact that Emma Watson has bought the film rights to the book and intends to play Kelsea in an upcoming movie adaptation. In all honesty, I cannot say that the hype was justified – I had a few significant issues with the book. But first of all let’s say what I liked. What I liked The protagonist. From various interviews by Erika Johansen I have read it appears she has set out to create a YA protagonist who was more of an Everygirl rather than your typical YA heroine; stunningly beautiful with attractive young men fighting over her attentions while she runs a marathon and slays a few baddies before breakfast. In that respect I believe Johansen…
First of all, I’d like to share my thoughts on the Emmy nominations which were announced earlier today – congratulations to all nominees. No Tatiana Maslany for Orphan Black? That is very disappointing. She has done incredible work portraying all these different clones and it would have been great to see her gain some recognition for that. Another name I would very much liked to have seen was Pedro Pascal’s for his work as Red Viper Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones. His performance was wonderfully nuanced and consistently excellent. Representing Game of Thrones we have Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage and supporting actress/actor roles. Dinklage has been nominated several times and won once, this is Headey’s first I believe. My gut feeling is that Headey will have to wait a year for her win – knowing the books, Cersei has some wonderful material coming up next season, which I think will clinch it for her then. She faces competition from fellow Brits Dame Maggie Smith as Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess of Grantham and Joanne Froggatt who plays Anna Bates – Anna had some very strong storylines this year, sensitively portrayed by Froggatt, but I’m not certain if that will be…
Here in Canada Tuesday was the national holiday, Canada Day, so I had a day off work. I was particularly pleased it fell on a Tuesday as that’s the day new books are released. I was therefore able to spend a pleasant afternoon listening/reading The Jedi Doth Return, the third and final part in Ian Doescher’s William Shakespeare’s Star Wars. [book-info] As with the other two in the series, Verily a New Hope and The Empire Striketh Back, Random House Audio has done a fantastic job with the audiobook – it is a full cast audio with a talented cast and enhanced with sound effects and John Williams’ iconic music. (Doetscher had the backing of George Lucas for this undertaking). Like the two earlier books, this is one I would recommend in audio format. The cast is superb. Audiobook listeners should remain right to the end for a cameo appearance by the Bard himself! While I really enjoyed The Jedi Doth Return, I wasn’t quite a head over heels in love with it as I was with the previous two books. Perhaps it’s because the novelty had worn off somewhat. I still wish these had been available when I was…
Next week sees the release of City of Heavenly Fire – the last in Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series and the marketing is in full swing. The book trailer was released recently – check it out. For me the most interesting thing about it was Sophie Turner’s voiceover – I had been intrigued to see how she handles the audiobook narration. From what I see she will do well. I’m really excited to listen to the audiobook, now. Simon and Schuster has released a snippet of the audiobook which you can listen to below. Again this has whetted my appetite for the book. I’m not familiar with Jason Dohring, so I can’t say what his narration will be like, but I’m looking forward to it anyway. Kat of Katytastic and Christine of PolandBananasBOOKS have come up with some theories. I’m not entirely sold on their Izzy theory, but their enthusiasm for the book is so infectious. Go check it out if you want some ideas. On Tor.com this week you can find an excerpt of upcoming YA fantasy Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen. It tells the story of Kelsea, a princess in hiding who must now take…