Kristen
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro is narrated by Queen Talyien (Tali), a warlord's daughter who was betrothed shortly after her birth in order to end a civil war. But on the night she and her husband were to be officially crowned, he fled, leaving her and their young son behind. Five years after Tali was crowned queen and left to rule without him, Tali travels to a land across the sea to meet with him. Everything seems to go wrong before their meeting, and things just get worse when assassins attack during their reunion. Tali escapes but is separated from her people, all alone without money in a country with very different unspoken rules from her own.
I absolutely loved this book, largely because of Tali's amazing voice???hers is one of the best voices I've ever encountered in my reading. It hooked me from the very first line, and kept me invested in her and her endless cycle of disasters. The details of the world are vivid as seen through her eyes, and although it has tantalizing secrets, the most compelling parts were those that delved into what shaped her???and the way I wondered just how reliable a narrator she actually was, not because I thought she was intentionally being unreliable, but because I wondered how much she was trying to convince herself.
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The Tiger at Midnight, the first book in a YA fantasy trilogy inspired by Indian history and Hindu mythology, follows two characters who become entangled in a game of cat and mouse. Esha, who is secretly a vigilante known as the Viper, is trying to discover who framed her for an assassination, and Kunal, a soldier, is trying to capture the Viper, believing the rebel to be responsible for the murder of his general/uncle???but their lives and missions are made more difficult by their growing fondness for each other.
Although the characters do not have the kind of dimension that tends to make a book memorable to me, I had a great time reading this book and found it to be just the type of diverting read I've needed many times this year. It's especially fun because the author seems to really understand what makes the tropes she incorporates work and adds some suspense by letting the reader in on secrets the characters do not yet realize.
3 1/2 Stars
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This standalone epic fantasy novel has a fantastic premise and has some lovely descriptions, but I struggled to finish it. It's overlong with too much narrative, and though likable, the characters were not compelling.
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Realm of Ash is a standalone sequel to Tasha Suri's debut novel, Empire of Sand, and it is also a gorgeous novel with rich character relationships and storytelling, beautiful writing, and a fascinating world. This book is a story about Mehr's younger sister, Arwa, who is newly widowed after being the sole survivor of a massacre???saved by the same blood she has always feared.
Arwa's journey is poignant: it's largely about someone who had part of herself stolen from her discovering that piece of herself she never quite realized was missing and taking it back. It's also about truth and the cost of knowledge, how love can be cruel at times, and forging new paths. But love isn't always unkind, and there's a lovely slow burn romance between Arwa and a scholarly illegitimate prince that develops as they are made to work together to solve the curse upon their land.
I found it a little slow toward the beginning and I did prefer reading about the main characters in the previously published book, but I also thought this one was more mature and complex than the first. Everything comes together wonderfully, and I loved it.
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The House of Shattered Wings is a beautifully written book set in a fascinating world, but I was on the fence about reading the standalone sequel since it was also bogged down by so much narrative introspection that didn't add much to the story or characterization. However, I decided to continue after discovering The House of Binding Thorns had more Asmodeus–and I'm so glad I did because it's a far superior novel with more Asmodeus and more of the dragon kingdom!
Like its predecessor, the characters aren't quite as “alive” or in possession of distinct personalities/narrations as I would have liked, but I thought they were more compelling than in the previous novel. It's gorgeously written and atmospheric, and it's a standout novel with some unique qualities that I enjoyed very much.
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It took me forever to write, but I finally have a more detailed review on my website.
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RTC, but for now, that was phenomenal.
The characters are so rich and complex that I had complicated feelings about most of them and kept going back and forth on whether or not I despised or actually maybe kind of liked some of them. (But never Khine or Tali, both of whom I loved...even during the times I internally screamed “TALI, WHY?” but knew the answer is she's just, well, being Tali.)Which is to say she is very well characterized even when I find her most frustrating.
Review to come after I can string some thoughts together, but this is PHENOMENAL. It's devastating in the very best of ways, and it's one of two 2021 releases I absolutely LOVED (along with The Jasmine Throne).
Character driven and beautifully written, The Jasmine Throne is epic fantasy at its best. It's one of those rare books that seems perfect to me in every way, one that is technically wonderful and one I love with my whole heart.
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After reading about 100 pages (or about a quarter of the novel) and skimming the next few chapters, I've decided to leave The Bloodprint unfinished. The world seems compelling, there is some lovely writing, and the two heroines seem amazing in theory given their fight for justice, but unfortunately, I did not find it particularly engaging despite having some intriguing aspects. The dialogue is dry and full of exposition/dull discussion, and though Arian and Sinnia are supposed to have a close bond, their interactions don't show this closeness clearly or give either heroine much personality. This definitely has potential for an interesting setting and characters, but the interesting moments are spread out, making it rather tedious to read. There are just too many books waiting to be read to spend more time on this one–I'd be reading it just to finish it.
This is another fun fantasy adventure with great dialogue, although I didn't love The Quicksilver Court as much as the first book in the series (mostly because I find the members of the Rookery seem more like archetypes than characters so the focus on their history wasn't that compelling to me, even though everything with Ryx's grandmother, Whisper, and Severin was).
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Not rating this since I only tried the first few chapters and only read/skimmed the first 10% or so.
Great opening line and I loved the brief appearance of the giant raven, but the writing style and humor just was not for me. There was a lot of exposition, and although it wasn't the dry type with no personality, I found it difficult to get through since I didn't like the voice.
The more I got into it, the more I found myself skimming so I'm moving on to other books.
This is an amazing conclusion to the trilogy, which is now one of my favorite epic fantasy series of all time. The writing and character growth are excellent, and K. S. Villoso has created a gripping, thoughtful series with phenomenal complexity.
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This was a rare impulse buy for me since I'd never heard of this book until I came across it at the bookstore. I was very glad I read it. It's a translation of a Japanese fantasy book written in the tradition of the common British and American fantasies based on Celtic mythology, only using Japanese mythology from the Kojiki as the basis for the story. I loved the fantasy elements and am definitely planning to pick up the second book in the Tales of the Magatama, which has also been translated into English!
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Like Havemercy, Shadow Magic captured my attention from the very first page and held it throughout with its character narratives. In this novel, there are two narrators from Xi'an, the prince Mamoru and his servant Kouje, and two from Volstov, the delegates Caius and Alcibiades. After only seeing characters from Volstov in Havemercy, the inclusion of two of the Ke-Han with a broader, more sympathetic look at their culture and how they were affected by the war was very welcome. Mamoru and Kouje were perhaps the more easily likable of the four main protagonists with their good intentions and their story's focus on loyalty and a long-standing friendship.
However, Caius and Alicibiades were the more intriguing with their more humorous voices and propensity to get into trouble. Caius is a magician previously exiled for using his talent to wreak revenge. Alcibiades is a soldier who also has a talent but hates the fact that he has magical ability and does whatever he can to avoid using it. Their observations about each other were quite entertaining - Caius decided that he simply must be friends with Alcibiades, who thought Caius was a pest, and a crazy one at that.
Caius was easily my favorite to read about - he appeared so carefree and easygoing most of the time with his main concerns focusing on fashion, gossip and breaking down the barriers Alcibiades built outside the door between their rooms. Yet he also had this love of danger coupled with the ruthless streak that lead to his infamous exile from Volstov that almost made him eerie.
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3 1/2 stars
Even though the beginning of The Spirit Thief had me wondering whether or not I???d enjoy it, I found I had rather enjoyed it once I reached the end. It???s a fun story set in a fascinating world in which everything has a spirit, and wizardry is not spell-casting but the ability to hear these spirits. While some of the characters are rather shallowly depicted in this first installment, the charismatic Eli and dutiful Miranda are both engaging, likable characters. I???m looking forward to finding out what happens in The Spirit Rebellion.
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Full Review: http://www.fantasybookcafe.com/2015/01/review-of-radiant-by-karina-sumner-smith/
Some of my favorite tropes are switched identities and secret identities, and The Empress Game has both: a secret princess pretends to be another princess in order to win a fighting tournament. It sounded like a lot of fun, and it could be entertaining at times, but I found the writing bland, the worldbuilding generic, and the characterization thin. I just didn't care about the characters and the one relationship I was interested in reading about was underutilized.
Full Review: http://www.fantasybookcafe.com/2016/07/review-of-the-empress-game-by-rhonda-mason/
Although I didn't find the characters that well developed or compelling, I thought the speculative aspects were interesting and appreciated the love for science, knowledge, and discovery that came through the pages of this book.
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My main thought after finishing Empress of a Thousand Skies:
Twists and betrayals are boring when the characters aren't fleshed out enough to make them really mean something. (At least, they are to me.)
Red Sister and Grey Sister were both wonderful, especially the former, but I found Holy Sister to be a disappointing finale to the trilogy. Though shorter than the previous two novels, it felt like it had a lot of filler since it just wasn't as engaging. Characterization and interactions seemed to come after going through through the motions of wrapping up the main plot, and I didn't think it had the same heart as the previous books.
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