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The Ruin of Kings

The Ruin of Kings

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Ruin of Kings is the first novel in a planned five-book series that Tor has been heavily advertising for months, and compared to every bestselling fantasy author alive. As an added bonus, you can read the first 17 chapters for free here.

Kihrin is a bastard orphan who grew up on storybook tales of long-lost princes and grand quests. When he is claimed…

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Unholy Land

Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love books that take things that nearly happened in history and play about with the idea of ‘What if that really happened?’ Like Sarah Gailey in River of Teeth – “What if the USA really did import hippos into Louisiana?”

This is what Lavie Tidhar has done in Unholy Land. A little-known point of history was that someone thought of creating a country in…

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The Shadow Kingdom

Elliot West stands vigil as Watchman, on the lookout for signs the Shadow Curse may be spreading across the Barrier Strait to her small northern isle. But in all the centuries since the curse was cast, no one, including Eli, has seen a thing, and even she is beginning to wonder if it’s all some grand hoax. That is, until she’s ambushed by the Lojkin, a warrior clan from the Shadow Kingdom who…

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The Psychology of Time Travel

The Psychology of Time Travel

Hello everyone, and happy new year to you all!

I finished up 2018 by reading one of the best books of the year (way to sneak it in at the end of December) – The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas.

This is an amazing novel. The premise is simple, and one we’ve seen before. Time travel is possible and is run by a shadowy agency outside the rules of the government. However, what makes…

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Changing Planes vs Gulliver's Travels

Changing Planes vs Gulliver’s Travels

So recently I read Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift and almost immediately followed it up with Changing Planes by the late, great Ursula le Guin. I was surprised to find how similar they were. They’re both a collection of short stories about travelling to distant lands, but there are a lot more similarities than that.

If you haven’t heard of Gulliver’s Travels, you must be living in a box. In…

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Sherlock Holmes vs. A. J. Raffles

Sherlock Holmes vs. A. J. Raffles

This is a comparison of two books! The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle and Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E W Hornung.

Both of the above books are collections of short stories. Both were written at a similar time (Conan Doyle was Hornung’s brother-in-law). Both feature upper-class criminals… from different viewpoints.

Now you’ve probably heard of Sherlock Holmes, the…

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I Capture the Castle

I Capture the Castle

This one’s an oldie – first published in 1948 – but oh-so-good!

Through six turbulent months of 1934, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain keeps a journal, filling three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries about her home, a ruined Suffolk castle, and her eccentric and penniless family. By the time the last diary shuts, there have been great changes in the Mortmain household, not the least…

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How to Stop Time

How to Stop Time

This is a coming-of-age novel. The man coming of age is 439 years old.

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old history teacher, but he’s been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen it all. As long as he keeps changing his identity he can stay one step ahead of his past – and stay alive.

The…

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Booker Prize Winner 1982: Schindler’s Ark

Booker Prize Winner 1982: Schindler’s Ark

You’ll have heard of this one – it’s the book that inspired the film, Schindler’s List. Also a Booker Prize Winner back in 1982!

In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German industrialist grew into a living legend to the Jews of Cracow. He was a womaniser, a heavy drinker, and a bon viveur, but to them he became a saviour. This is the extraordinary story of Oskar Schindler, who risked his life…

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The Music Box Girl

The Music Box Girl

I’m not going to spend long on this one. Suffice to say, I struggled with it.

A young man with the voice of an angel and dreams of stardom.

A globe-trotting heiress with a passion for adventure and memories of a lost childhood love.

A mysterious woman with a soul made of pure music and a secret worth killing for.

Beneath the glitter and sparkle, something sinister lurks at the opera, and three…

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Tempests and Slaughter

I love Tamora Pierce. She got me through my teenage years and I still go back to her books when I need a bit of home comfort. So when I got a copy of her newest book, Tempests and Slaughter, I was SO EXCITED.

Arram Draper is a boy on the path to becoming one of the realm’s most powerful mages. The youngest student in his class at the Imperial University of Carthak, he has a Gift with unlimited…

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Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

One of my favourite books I’ve read in recent years is Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I always get frustrated by reviews that talk about the ‘Feel’ of a book (what does that even mean), but that book has a distinct Feel that was very warm, and dark and mysterious and lovely.  Uprooted contains lovely female friendships, an exciting and different plot and setting, and all within one standalone novel.

Bu…

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October Wrap-up

It’s that time of the month again! We read a lot this October.

The Gray House – Mariam Petrosyan ⭐️ 700 pages of magical realism with disabled teenage boys at boarding school. I kept getting the characters mixed up. Story-telling very muddled. Finished feeling frustrated and confused for not “getting” it. Very marmite. – J

The Wild Ways – Tanya Huff ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Urban fantasy in Canada, with dragons and…

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The Gospel of Loki

The Gospel of Loki

H reviewed this waaaaay back when we first started this blog but it took J over a year to get round to reading it!

This was my first Joanne Harris book (closely followed by Chocolat) and it was great. It’s the story of the Horse Gods (and, inevitably, Ragnarok) told by Loki.

Her writing is lovely- so poetic! The pacing is pretty good, the characters are really vivid, there’s cake… it’s just…

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Chocolat

In tiny Lasquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne’s uncanny perception of its buyer’s private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as…

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Guardian of the Dead

Guardian of the Dead

Seventeen-year-old Ellie Spencer is just like any other teenager at her boarding school. She hangs out with her best friend, Kevin; she obsesses over Mark, a cute and mysterious bad boy; and her biggest worry is her paper deadline.

But then everything changes. The news headlines are all abuzz about a local string of killings that share the same morbid trademark: the victims were discovered with…

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September Wrap-up

Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Refreshing teen romance set in the 80s with flawed feisty characters at its heart. – H

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

British journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge delivers a nuanced commentary, sometimes personal, always poignant, on British black history, racism, and what it means to be a person of colour in…