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…
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…
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…
There are three books being released in May about which I am very excited. Some good books to have ready for my vacation in a couple of weeks! The one about which I am most excited is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas of Throne of Glass fame. This is a retelling of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast and tells the story of Feyre, a young woman who becomes entangled with the mysterious fey in order to save her loved ones. I understand this will be the start of a series of books as well. I’ve loved the Throne of Glass series and the five chapter sample which has been released has only served to whet my appetite. A Court of Thorns and Roses is released on May 5th 2015. I can’t wait! The next upcoming release I’m looking forward to is Keira Cass’s The Heir. This is a new story set 20 years after the events of The Selection and deals with the attempts of America and Maxon’s daughter to find her partner in a Selection of her own. I’m also really looking forward to this one. The One, the final book in…