Book review: Gallant

My copy of Gallant was gifted to me by the publisher, Titan Books, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Sixteen-year-old Olivia Prior is missing three things: a mother, a father, and a voice. Her mother vanished all at once, and her father by degrees, and her voice was a thing she never had to start with.

She grew up at Merilance School for Girls. Now, nearing the end of her time there, Olivia receives a letter from an uncle she’s never met, her father’s older brother, summoning her to his estate, a place called Gallant. But when she arrives, she discovers that the letter she received was several years old. Her uncle is dead. The estate is empty, save for the servants. Olivia is permitted to remain, but must follow two rules: don’t go out after dusk, and always stay on the right side of a wall that runs along the estate’s western edge.

Beyond it is another realm, ancient and magical, which calls to Olivia through her blood…

I was so excited when I was approved for an e-arc of Gallant on Netgalley. Anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while will know that I adore V E Schwab’s writing, but I’d missed out on a physical arc and thought I wouldn’t get to read it until it released. I have to say, it’s not my favourite Schwab book, but it’s wonderfully creepy and beautifully written.

Olivia is a great main character. At Merilance, she keeps herself to herself, partly through choice, partly because the other children don’t want to know her. She’s quick and clever and knows that her lack of voice means other people underestimate her, which she uses to her advantage. Once she arrives at Gallant, she’s not daunted by the things she finds there, even when her only known relative screams at her to leave. I really liked that Gallant was important to her, despite her mother’s warnings, because it was somewhere she belonged. And her joy when she realised that Edgar could understand her sign language was beautiful. I also really liked that, although her lack of a voice did other her in many situations, she knew her own worth and never wished to be able to speak.

The other characters are great too. Hannah and Edgar, the two servants in the house, are parental substitutes to both Olivia and her cousin, Matthew, and I loved seeing Olivia get used to having people who cared about her. It was also interesting to see the toll living in the house had on Matthew and wonder if that was Olivia’s future too.

However, as good as the characters are, Gallant’s real strength is the setting and world-building. In fact, it’s so good, it’s almost another character. Both versions of Gallant are described so vividly I can still picture them, and the whole concept of the two houses mirroring each other and the backstory we eventually get are so good. Schwab builds up the creep factor throughout the book, until we finally see the master of the other house and realise why everyone’s so scared of him. I loved this. I was almost holding my breath as I was reading so he didn’t discover me! And the ghouls! I loved the ghouls and the part they had to play in the story. I also loved the way we slowly realise why Olivia can see them.

There isn’t really much of a plot as such. There’s a throughline of Olivia discovering who she is and who her family are, but it’s very much a character piece. I can’t say nothing much happens, because that’s not true, and there is a big reveal of why there are two Gallants the connection of the Prior family to the house, but it’s much more about getting Olivia from point a to point b. I liked it for that, but the main reason this was a four star read and not a five star one for me was that there really wasn’t much of an ending, except in terms of Olivia’s journey, and it just felt a bit anti-climactic. I can’t really explain this very well without spoiling it, which I’m obviously not going to do, but I was disappointed. It was probably a good place to leave Olivia, but not a good place to leave the book if that makes sense.

I would still recommend Gallant. As I said above, the writing is gorgeous and it really pulled me into the world. I happily gave the book four stars. I just would have liked that ending to be a bit…more.

4/5

Gallant is out today from Titan Books

Book review: The Five Queendoms: Scorpica

My copy of Scorpica was gifted to me by the publishers, Titan Books, in exchange for an honest review.

A centuries-long peace is shattered in a matriarchal society when a decade passes without a single girl being born in this sweeping epic fantasy that’s perfect for fans of Robin Hobb and Circe.

Five hundred years of peace between queendoms shatters when girls inexplicably stop being born. As the Drought of Girls stretches across a generation, it sets off a cascade of political and personal consequences across all five queendoms of the known world, throwing long-standing alliances into disarray as each queendom begins to turn on each other—and new threats to each nation rise from within.

Uniting the stories of women from across the queendoms, this propulsive, gripping epic fantasy follows a warrior queen who must rise from childbirth bed to fight for her life and her throne, a healer in hiding desperate to protect the secret of her daughter’s explosive power, a queen whose desperation to retain control leads her to risk using the darkest magic, a near-immortal sorcerer demigod powerful enough to remake the world for her own ends—and the generation of lastborn girls, the ones born just before the Drought, who must bear the hopes and traditions of their nations if the queendoms are to survive.

I enjoyed Scorpica a lot. I loved the matriarchal society that G R Macallister created and the way each queendom had a different area of specialism – Scorpica is a queendom of warriors, where baby boys are sold to the other queendoms shortly after birth and the baby girls grow up to fight and protect the world, whereas Arca is a queendom of magicians, Bastian is full of scribes, Paxim full of traders and Sestia full of farmers. We spend most of our time between Scorpica and Arca, but we see bits of the other queendoms and have a variety of point of view characters. I also liked the breadth of time covered – we start in 501 and finish in 516, and get to see how this matriarchal society copes when there are suddenly no girls being born and no-one knows why. The world-building was great, and I’m still thinking about some of the things that happened in this book.

But my god, it is dense. Now I would normally read a book like this in about a week, especially one I was enjoying. Scorpica took me an entire month. A month! It destroyed my reading target for both January and February, and I have no idea why it took me so long to finish it. It wasn’t the writing style, because I enjoyed that. The point of view characters and their companions were great, especially the group that Jehenit, Eminel and Vish were part of, so it wasn’t the characterisation. It could have been because I got attached to a character who didn’t survive for very long, which both surprised and jolted me a bit, or maybe just because the proof was printed in tiny text. Whatever the reason, it was a much longer read than I had anticipated, so it’s a good job I did enjoy it!

I can’t say that the plot whips along, because it doesn’t, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Instead, we get a book that is focused on exploring the political and societal worlds of the Five Queendoms in a way that makes each character’s actions make sense. If there’s a weak point, I think it’s probably the primary antagonist, whose main motivation appears to be power and for me, personally, it wasn’t really compelling enough, although I enjoyed the latter part of her plotline. There’s also a character I didn’t particularly get on with, but I think that’s mostly because they were responsible for that death I mentioned above (I hold grudges over fictional character’s deaths. I still haven’t forgiven Melanie Rawn for a character she killed off in a book more than 25 years ago!). My favourite character was probably Vish, who can never quite forgive herself for abandoning her homeland and her queen, even though she also knows she had no choice.

I’m very interested in seeing what happens next. Obviously I’m not going to say what happens at the end, but the events of the last few chapters do change the direction of the story quite dramatically and I very much want to see where Macallister is planning to take it. I’m also hoping to see more of the other queendoms we only passed through in this book – Bastian in particular is somewhere I’d like to explore further.

If you’re a fan of epic fantasy, Scorpica could easily be your next favourite book. I’m glad Titan offered me the chance to read it, as I’m not sure I would have picked it up in a shop, but I’ll definitely be looking out for the next book!

4/5

The Five Queendoms: Scorpica is out today from Titan Books.

Blog Tour: The Wood Bee Queen

I’m very excited that today is my stop on the blog tour for The Wood Bee Queen by Edward Cox. If you’ve been here for a while you might remember that I loved Ed’s debut series, The Relic Guild, so I was very much looking forward to reading his latest book. Many thanks to Gollancz for my gifted copy!

Somewhere in England, in a small town called Strange Ground by the Skea, Ebbie Wren is the last librarian and he’s about to lose his job. Estranged from his parents, unable to make connections with anyone except the old homeless lady who lives near the library, Ebbie isn’t quite sure what he’s supposed to do next. His only escape from reality is his deep interest in local folklore, but reality is far stranger than Ebbie can dream.

On the other side of the sky and the sea, the Queen of House Wood Bee has been murdered. Her sister has made the first move in a long game, one which will lead her to greatness, yet risk destruction for the entire Realm. She needs the two magical stones Foresight and Hindsight for her power to be complete, but no one knows where they are. Although the sword recently stolen by Bek Rana, small time thief and not very good at it, might hold a clue to their location . . . and to stopping the chaos. But all Bek wants is to sell the sword and buy herself a better life. She’s not interested in being a hero, and neither is Ebbie.

But someone is forcing their hand and playing for the heart of the Realm. Ebbie and Bek are destined to unite. They must find a way to stop the destruction of House Wood Bee, save the Realm, and just maybe save themselves in the process. All victories come at a price. The Oldungods are rising. And they are watching… 

The first thing I want to say is congratulations to Ed on that glorious pun of a title. I’m ashamed to say it took me a very long time to realise the double meaning, but once I did, it made me smile every time.

Anyway, you’ll be pleased to hear I really enjoyed The Wood Bee Queen. It’s the story of Ebbie Wren, a librarian in a tiny town near the sea, who, on the day he loses his job, finds out that the Realm is a real place and not just a story. Not only that, it turns out the future of both the Realm and Earth might actually rest on the shoulders of Ebbie and his very reluctant companion, Bek Rana. I loved both Ebbie and Bek as lead characters. They’re both very closed off in their own way – Ebbie has just lost his only friend, and Bek had a tragic childhood which means she doesn’t trust very easily – but we see them open up to each other over the course of the book, and there’s some good character development for them both. Is it a little bit tropey? Well, yes, but tropes are tropes for a reason, and the story carried me along anyway.

Speaking of story, the plot is mostly a portal fantasy quest/epic adventure, but it spends more time in (the slightly alternative version of) our world than you might expect, and I really liked that. I also liked the way Ed mixed in the old Greek gods, and used the idea of the gods using mortals as pawns in a game. There’s also a great cast of villains and side characters that I quickly cared about – Karin, Charlie and, of course, Mai were particular standouts. The worldbuilding was great – I could easily picture both versions of Strange Ground- and was made richer by the inclusion of some of the stories Ebbie had heard from Mai. I know some people hated the letter that Mai sent Ebbie, but I loved both the idea and content of it. I also enjoyed reading from Yandira (the villain)’s point of view, and she is a delicious villain indeed!

The Wood Bee Queen isn’t a complicated book, and I did feel the pace suffered in the middle a bit, mostly the parts featuring the army on the move. However, that doesn’t mean it’s bad, and apart from that small gripe about the pacing, I thought it was great. There were times I didn’t want to put it down, and if that’s not a sign of a good book, I don’t know what is! I would definitely recommend it to other fantasy fans – it’s fun and filled with a cast of characters that will stay with you.

4/5

The Wood Bee Queen is out now from Gollancz

Blog Tour: The Blacktongue Thief

Today is my spot on the blog tour for The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman! As such, I received a copy of the book for free from Gollancz, in exchange for an honest review.

Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path.

But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.

Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva’s. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford. 

I’ll be honest. I thought for a long time before I requested a spot on the tour, because I really wasn’t sure if The Blacktongue Thief was going to be my sort of book. It appeared to be traditional epic fantasy, and therefore, I assumed, full of the misogyny often found in those books. Fortunately that was not the case. Kinch, our main character, isn’t the most enlightened person, but he is a 23 year old, brought up in a thieves’ school and living in a world that has been ravaged by war, so I can forgive him some rough edges. It helps that Kinch is a great first person POV – he’s telling the story from some point in the future, and is happy to pass comment on the actions of himself and his companions, often in a very funny way. Because Kinch is telling his own story, we get to see his thought processes too, and I particularly liked that we got a lot of his backstory in a very organic way. There were two occasions when I thought this worked very well: his reaction to meeting Malk, and the guilt and shame it provoked; and when he meets a man who could possibly-maybe be his biological father. I also loved KInch’s relationship with his god, Fothannon, and the mischievous ways Fothannon would grant prayers.

KInch isn’t our only well-written character though. The rest of this band of adventurers have enough depth that I cared about what happened to them – even Galva, who barely speaks – and even the minor characters are memorable. The plot moves at pace, and it’s a credit to Buehlman’s writing that he builds the character development into the fast moving story. Also, the world building is phenomenal and again, is fed into the story in a really organic way. One of my favourite world building ideas was the Taker’s Guild and the way they’d spread around the world, as well as their policy of charging their members for the education they’d had no choice in receiving. Because Kinch is in debt to the guild, he has a tattoo on his cheek that allows anyone to slap him and claim a drink on the guild, and I loved this idea. It’s such a tiny thing on the face of it, but really illustrates what sort of world this is and where the power lies.

I will say that it took me a little while to get into the book. I’m not sure why that was, as the first scene is great, but it just didn’t immediately grip me, and I was worried that I was going to struggle to read it. However, it soon picked up for me, and I found myself cursing every time I had to put the book down! If you’re struggling too, just stick with it, because it’s worth it!

Overall then, I greatly enjoyed The Blacktongue Thief. It’s funny and fast moving, with a great set of characters and a well thought out, vivid setting. It’s definitely worth your time!

4/5

The Blacktongue Thief is out now

The Geeky Stitching Co’s Little Book of Cross Stitch

Today I’m reviewing an unusual type of book for this blog – it’s non-fiction and practical! I used to love cross stitching when I was younger, but somehow I can never find the time anymore, although I’ll often grab a small kit if I see one I like. When I was offered the chance to review The Geeky Stitching Co’s Little Book of Cross Stitch as part of the blog tour, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to jump back in! This book was gifted to me by Authoright.

You will find over thirty of our bestselling designs in this book as well as seven new patterns to stitch up, we have everything from rainbows to fluffy animals and not a country cottage in sight!

A great book for beginners as well as experienced stitchers who are fans of stitching cute stuff and fun puns.

The Geeky Stitching Co’s Little Book of Cross Stitch is full of great designs. Living up to the company’s name, there’s more than a smidge of geek about them, and I’m looking forward to having a go. I had hoped that by the time I was finishing this blog post off, I would have made one of the designs, but alas, time was not on my side. However, I got far enough that I can say the designs are easy to follow, the key for each thread is clear, and it’s full of useful information if you’re a beginner, such as how to actually stitch, what fabric you need etc. I really liked that the front page of each design was very specific on the hoop and fabric size.

I maybe would have liked some information on the colour of aida they’d used – I ordered the threads and fabric I needed from an online store, and ended up picking a fabric wasn’t purple enough. I’m sure it won’t matter once I’ve finished, but it would have been a nice addition. I will also point out (because I’m a pedant – sorry, I can’t help myself) that there are a couple of spelling/grammatical mistakes, but they don’t really detract from the book.

The important thing is the designs are cute, easy to interpret/read and the instructions are clear enough that you could pick this book as a complete beginner and still produce a cute cross stitch design. What more could you want from a cross stitch book?

Don’t forget to check out the other stops on the blog tour!

4/5

The Geeky Stitching Co’s Little Book of Cross Stitch is out now from Clink Street Publishing. Many thanks to Blue and Authoright for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Tour: The White Phoenix

Today I’m on the blog tour for The White Phoenix by Catherine Randall, thanks to Kaleidoscopic Tours who gifted me a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The White Phoenix is a historical MG book, set in London in 1666, so I was sold immediately, and I really enjoyed it. Lizzie is a character you can really root for, and I shared her frustrations at the people and world around her.

London, 1666. After the sudden death of her father, thirteen-year-old Lizzie Hopper and her mother must take over THE WHITE PHOENIX – the family bookshop in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral. But England is at war with France and dire prophecies abound. As rumours of invasion and plague spread, Lizzie battles prejudice, blackmail and mob violence to protect the bookshop she loves. When the Great Fire of London breaks out, Lizzie must rescue more than just the bookshop. Can she now save the friend she wasn’t supposed to have? CAN THE WHITE PHOENIX RISE FROM THE ASHES?

Bookshops, London and the Great Fire – what more could you want in your book?! I did genuinely find the subject matter very interesting – I’ve always been fascinated by the Great Fire of London, and it was good to see it from the point of view of someone deeply affected by it. I hadn’t particularly been aware of the situation in which it occurred, with England at war with France and a general wave of suspicion being directed at anyone foreign (although I knew the fire was believed by many to have been started as a Catholic plot), so I enjoyed learning something new too!

As I said above, Lizzie was a great lead character. Only thirteen, she finds herself trying to keep the family bookshop going after her father’s death, against a number of difficulties, not least Master Pedley, the bookbinder next door. Pedley is creepy from the get go, and I was praying that Lizzie’s mother would not be taken in by him!

I really liked the way Randall was able to make the story very relatable, despite being set nearly 400 years ago. The attitudes towards foreigners displayed by many people in the book are, sadly, still prevalent today, as are some of the attitudes towards women. For many of the people around the Hoppers in the book, it’s unthinkable that a woman should attempt to carry on her husband’s business. And to be caught binding a Catholic prayer book?! It’s made clear that Lizzie’s parents do not share these attitudes – as long as a person likes books, they are welcome in the bookshop – but the fact that they are willing to entertain Catholics is something that can be (and is) used against Lizzie and the shop. And while Catholics might not suffer in England in the 21st century, it’s easy to see the same prejudices aimed at other groups. I think The White Phoenix would make a great starting point for a discussion with children in the target age group.

I very much enjoyed the actual story too. Knowing that it was leading up to the Great Fire lent the book a great deal of tension, which was only made greater by Lizzie’s friendships with both a French customer and the apprentice next door, who got a bit too caught up in conspiracy theories. There’s genuine danger too, and not just from the fire, and I raced through the book very quickly as a result.

I definitely recommend The White Phoenix to anyone with an interest in history but also anyone who enjoys a good story, well told!

4/5

The White Phoenix is out today from The Book Guild

Book Review: Bookish and the Beast

I was gifted a free copy of this book by the publisher, Quirk Books, in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to be given the opportunity to review Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston. Although Geekerella didn’t really spark joy for me, I loved the second book in the series, The Princess and the Fangirl and I was really looking forward to seeing what Ashley did with a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I wasn’t disappointed!

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.

When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual.

But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

I think it’s important to be clear from the start that Bookish and the Beast is very predictable. I knew what was going to happen right from the start, and I’m not just talking about the romance. But I didn’t care, because the way it was written was so good I just wanted to lose myself in the story. I think this might be my favourite of the Once Upon A Con series, and whether that’s because it’s based on Beauty and the Beast, or it’s just my level of sweet romance I don’t know, but it is. Put it like this: it arrived at 10am, I started reading it at 3pm and had finished it by 5.30pm! It also arrived at the point where it was exactly what I was looking for in terms of mood reading, which probably helped.

I loved the two households we spent our time with – Rosie and her dad, and Vance and Elias – which both had a adorable family vibe (even if Vance and Elias aren’t a traditional family unit), and the moments when they interacted were some of my favourites in the book. But I also enjoyed the tension between Rosie and Vance and was rooting for them from the start, even while Vance was being a jerk and I loved that Rosie was a bookworm as well as a fandom nerd.

Speaking of being a fandom nerd, I have seen people saying that there were too many pop culture references in the book, and no one actually speaks to each other that way. Clearly those people are not members of SFF fandoms! I personally loved all the references, even the ones I didn’t get, because to me they showed a real love of fandom and what it means to people. This book was written by someone who gets it, and people absolutely do speak in quotes and references when they know the person they’re talking will appreciate it (and sometimes even when they don’t!).

There were a few things that stopped this being a five star read for me. There was a potential background queer romance that just seemed to get dropped, and I would have loved a bit more development on that. Also, while I liked Rosie’s friends, I don’t think we really got to know them well enough, which was a real shame, although I did enjoy their mission to take down the jerk who thought he was entitled to Rosie’s attention.

I should probably also mention the library, which sounded amazing. In fact, the entire house sounded amazing, and I am so jealous of anyone who gets to live in anything similar! I would maybe have liked slightly more at a con given that is the usual premise of this series, but the library definitely made up for it! And I thought the story fitted really well into the original Beauty and the Beast. Yes, it was obvious, but there’s nothing wrong with that!

Overall then, I really enjoyed Bookish and the Beast. I wouldn’t go into it expecting surprises, but if you want a lovely, bookish, nerdy YA romance then I definitely recommend it!

4/5

Bookish and the Beast is out in the UK today, 4th August 2020

Book Review: The Rules

A copy of this book was gifted to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I’ve been promising this review since April, and as The Rules by Tracy Darnton finally came out last week, I thought it was about time I actually wrote the post! I really loved this book, so many thanks to Charlie at Stripes for sending it to me.

Amber’s an expert when it comes to staying hidden – she’s been trained her whole life for it. But what happens when the person you’re hiding from taught you everything you know?

When a letter from her dad arrives, Amber knows she’s got to move – and fast. He’s managed to find her and she knows he’ll stop at nothing to draw her back into the extreme survivalist way of life he believes in.

All of a sudden the Rules she’s spent so long trying to escape are the ones keeping her safe. But for how long?

If you’ve read Stripes’ short story collection, I’ll Be Home For Christmas (and if you haven’t, you should), you’ve already met Amber, the lead character in The Rules. Tracy Darnton won a competition to have her story featured in the anthology, and that story was Amber receiving a letter from her dad via her social worker. I loved the story, so I was excited to read The Rules and see what happened next.

It’s not an exaggeration to say what happened next was nailbiting and I was genuinely surprised at how much I loved it. Amber is terrified of her dad catching up with her. It took a long time for her and her mum to escape him in the first place, and now she’s on her own and she knows he’s getting closer. Darnton dripfeeds us the background in flashbacks throughout the book so we don’t learn everything at once, but we can feel Amber’s fear and desperation and the suspense is sky high. There is a sense throughout that Amber is hiding something, and I really liked this aspect, which really paid off at the end. Amber is not a particularly likeable character, but as the extent of the abuse she suffered becomes clear, you understand her. At the same time, she’s not defined by that abuse, which I think is important.

I also really liked her relatonship with Josh, even if she did make some obvious mistakes which wound the tension even more because of it. Having someone there who knew and liked her, and occasionally reined her in helped Amber grow as a character too, and it was nice that it was more of a friendship than anything else.

I highly recommend The Rules. I can’t remember the last book I read that left me actually breathless with the tension when reading, and if that’s your sort of book, it’s definitely worth picking up. Just be aware that there are a number of content warnings listed in the book (well done to Stripes and Tracy for including them – there are so many publishers and authors that don’t) and take care of yourself.

4.5/5

Blog Tour: Midnight’s Twins

I’m thrilled to be on the blog tour for Midnight’s Twins by Holly Race today. Many thanks to Faye Rogers and Hot Key Books for my gifted copy of the book!

Fern King is about to uncover a place that she could not have imagined in all her wildest dreams. Annwn is the dream mirror of our world, a place where Dreamers walk in their slumber, their dreams playing out all around them. An enchanted, mysterious place that feeds our own world – as without dreams, without a place where our imaginations and minds can be nourished, what kind of humans would we be?

But Annwn is a place as full of dangers as it is wonders: it is a place where dreams can kill you. Annwn and its Dreamers are protected by an ancient order known as the Knights – and when Fern’s hated twin Ollie is chosen to join their ranks, Fern will have to do whatever she can to prove she is one of them too.

But the world Fern discovers in Annwn, in this dream mirror of her London, is a fragile one, threatened by vicious nightmares. Nightmares that are harder and harder for the Knights to defeat. Something dark is jeopardising the peace and stability of Annwn, something that must be rooted out at all costs. And gradually, Fern realises that the danger lurking inside our sleep is more insidious and terrifying than any nightmare. Because if you can influence someone’s dreams, you can control their thoughts …

I really enjoyed Midnight’s Twins. It gripped me from the very start and I was desperate to see what happened, and to find out what had happened to Fern previously.

Even though Fern and Ollie had their flaws and problems, I found them both really relatable and could understand where they were both coming from. I also loved their character development. I think they read as a little bit older than they were supposed to be – the book starts when they’re 15, but I found it difficult to remember that’s how old they are. That’s true of the other characters who become their friends too, especially Ramesh. However, given the circumstances they find themselves in, I guess you could expect them to grow up quite quickly.

I enjoyed the magical dream world of Annwn a lot. Alternative London and urban fantasy is very much my thing, so a London where fantastic dreams and nightmares stalk the streets is definitely up my alley. I loved St Paul’s as Tintagel too and I hope future books in this series allow us to see the other thanedoms around the country and what they use as their castles!

I would have liked to see more of how a life in Annwn affects your life in Ithr (our reality). We know that all the knights have real world lives, but does spending your nights in Annwn mean you don’t get a proper rest? Are people tempted to live in Annwn permanently? I think there’s a lot more to be explored there and I would love to see it in a future book.

As for the plot, I don’t want to go into detail because I don’t want to spoil anyone, but it absolutely raced along and easily took me with it. I found it very hard to put the book down, which was unfortunate as I had a lot of other things to be doing! Some of the plot was pretty predictable but it was told so well I didn’t really care, and there were still a couple of turns that took my breath away. I should probably warn you that there is a body count and it is quite high, but i actually liked that. These characters are fighting a war, and there would be casualties. I was impressed at how much I cared about those who died though.

Overall then, Midnight’s Twins is a fast-moving, young adult, urban fantasy, with two main characters who grow and develop over the course of the book. I really enjoyed it, and I’m already looking forward to the sequel!

4/5

Midnight’s Twins is released today, 11th June, by Hot Key Books.

 

 

April Wrap Up

Well. It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these, isn’t it? As much as lockdown in the UK is for a terrible reason, I appreciate actually having time to do everything I want to! My blog has been terribly neglected for, well, most of its existence if I’m being honest, for various reasons, but hopefully this enforced period of staying at home will get me into better habits!

So, April. I know a lot of people have been finding it difficult to read at the moment, but I don’t appear to have the same problem. In fact, if anything, I’ve had the opposite problem – I read instead of doing the many, many other things I should be doing! As a result, I have read twenty-five books in April. Twenty-five! I usually manage somewhere between ten and sixteen, so twenty-five is a bit ridiculous. I’ve also found myself reading a lot of adult romance, which is not something I pick up very often, but has very definitely suited my mood in the latter half of this month.

Five Star Reads

• The Pieces of Ourselves by Maggie Harcourt. I love Maggie’s books, and this was no exception. In some ways it’s quite different to her previous two books, but it has a wonderful romance at its heart and I absolutely loved learning the history that Hal had come to uncover. Flora, the main character, has also been diagnosed with bipolar ii, and I thought the impact of that on her was explored really well.
• Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger. So, confession time – I was sent this a really long time ago by Gollancz and had just never got round to reading it. I’d heard lots of good things about it, but it had been buried in the TBR pile, and having excavated it at the end of March, I decided it was time to finally read it. And it blew me away. I loved the way the four main characters’ stories interweaved, and the character development was fantastic, as was the world building. It did actually feel like a saga in the way it was written too.
• Hold Back The Tide by Melinda Salisbury. I’m a huge fan of Mel, and so I can say with confidence that this is by far her best book yet. The setting, the characters, the plot, all of it was amazing and I was genuinely creeped out, even reading it on a bright sunny day. Also, can we talk about that ending?! Brilliant.
• Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans. I talked about this in my Easter readathon wrap up. Weird but brilliant is a good summary though.
• Before Mars by Emma Newman. Also in my Easter readathon wrap up.
• The Deck of Omens by Christine Lynn Herman. Reviewed here.
• Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert. This was the start of my adult romance kick. I’d seen a few people talking about this, and it was only £2.99 on kindle so I thought I’d give it a try. And it was brilliant. Chloe Brown is a plus-sized, chronically ill person of colour, and a complete disaster. I laughed out loud many times at the situations she found herself in, but the romance was also wonderful. I’m so glad I picked it up!
• Wonderland by Juno Dawson. I received an early copy of this via Netgalley, and it was actually the last book I read in April. I thought it was fantastic, and is possibly Juno’s best. It’s an Alice in Wonderland retelling, and the way Juno weaved in the original plot and characters while staying true to the story she was telling, was amazing. I loved Alice, with all her secrets and self-doubt, and I really liked the way it tied in with Clean (and, to a lesser extent, Meat Market). It’s out at the end of May, and I definitely recommend you pick it up, although be aware that there are a number of content warnings listed at the front of the book.

Four Star Reads

• Boy Queen by George Lester. Easter readathon again!
• The Rules by Tracey Darnton. And again!
• Harley In The Sky by Akemi Dawn Bowman. Another one from the Easter readathon!
• Atlas Alone by Emma Newman. I love Emma Newman (pretty certain I’ve mentioned this before) and her Planetfall books have all been brilliant, covering a wide range of mental health issues, just in a sci-fi setting. I’ve rated all the previous books 5 stars, but I’m not sure what it was about this one that just didn’t click as well. Maybe because it’s the first one that’s a direct sequel? It can still be read as a standalone, but we’re with characters we met in After Atlas (which is my favourite of the series) and I just found it a bit more difficult to read. I enjoyed the spaceship and gaming setting though, and it was still good, just not as good as the prevous three books. I was sent this as a review copy by Gollancz (although I also bought a copy because I’m an idiot).
• The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman. This was a reread after I finished The Deck of Omens, because I wanted to spend more time in Four Paths, and I greatly enjoyed going back to the beginning of the story.
• Hex Life, edited by Christopher Golden and Rachel Autumn Deering. This was a review copy from Titan Books, and I started reading it in October. And then my dad died and I really didn’t feel like reading about witches anymore. I finally picked it back up a week ago and finished it, and I enjoyed it a lot. There were some stories in there that I hated, but there were a lot more that I liked, and a couple that I loved (but most of them I read in October and I have no chance of remembering which ones now!). It’s a really well put together anthology, and even though not all the stories were for me, there was enough good stuff for me to rate it 4 stars.
• 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne. I got this out of the library after a friend had been raving about The Hating Game by the same author (which the library didn’t have). It’s another adult romance, and although the main character is rather abrasive, I liked her, and the story,  a lot. I notice from goodreads that a lot of people who read this after The Hating Game were disappointed, but without having read that first, I thought 99 Percent Mine was great.
• The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. So many people have been raving about this, and as it was only 99p on kindle and I’d loved Autoboyography by the same authors, I thought I’d give it a go. And it was good! But I didn’t love it, and I downright hated the way Olive is treated for good portions of the book. Still, it was good enough overall to merit four stars.
• That Kind Of Guy by Talia Hibbert. This was the fifth Talia Hibbert book I read in April, and my second favourite. It’s part of the Ravenswood series, set in a small English town where everyone knows everyone else’s business. By the time I got to this book, I knew almost all of the characters already and I don’t know if that made me more invested in the relationship than in the prevous three books, or if it was the fact that Rae, the main character, was my age and therefore more relatable than another 20-something. Whatever it was, I really enjoyed this book and would love to see more of the central relationship.

Three Star Reads

• Word Nerd by Susan Nielsen. I read this right at the beginning of the month in an attempt to clear some of my TBR. The idea was to read a chapter and decide if I wanted to carry on with, except I couldn’t bring myself to stop. This was a nice enough read, nothing special, but I did like Ambrose as the main character.
• Sky Thieves by Dan Walker. Read for the same reason as above. This was so nearly a four star book, but it didn’t quite make it. Very enjoyable though, and I’d be interested in reading the sequel.
• The Girls’ Guide To Summer by Sarah Mlynowski. Again read for the same reason as the above two, again it came close to getting four stars. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, because I’d heard not great things about it, but it was a fun, summery YA read. I’m not someone who has a huge problem with instalove though, so that might be why!
• The Other Half of Happiness by Ayisha Malik. I talked about this in my Easter readathon wrap up.
• All Out edited by Saundra Mitchell. This is an anthology of LGBTQ+ historical stories, and I so wanted to love it. Sadly, for me, the quality of the stories just wasn’t consistent enough and I was quite disappointed. Some of the stories were great, but it really was a minority.
• A Girl Like Her, Damaged Goods and Untouchable by Talia Hibbert. Grouping these together because my thoughts are pretty much the same on all of them. They were fun stories, I like that Hibbert’s characters have a lot of things going on with them, and the romances in all of them were incredibly hot. There just wasn’t the same depth in these stories as there was in That Kind of Guy or Get A Life, Chloe Brown, hence the three stars.

DNF

• I didn’t finish The Sacrifice Box by Martin Stewart. It wasn’t bad, I just got 100 pages in and realised it really wasn’t my thing and I didn’t want to waste time reading it. It’s a shame, because I’ve met Martin and he was lovely, but this type of book just isn’t for me.

And that’s it for April! I can’t tell you how many books I’ve acquired in April because I completely failed to keep track, but there’s at least seven in the above list, plus I pre-ordered a copy of The Strangeworlds Travel Agency by L D Lapinski, which arrived on the 30th.

I suspect May will be a quieter reading month, not least because I’m back in the office two days a week instead of sitting at home constantly. However, I did finish a book this morning and I’ve bought four which are all due this month, so maybe it won’t be as quiet as I expect!

Let me know in the comments if you a) managed to make it through that screed, b) if you’ve read any of the above books, or c) what you’ve been reading!