December Wrap Up
A successful month, I think! Very proud I stuck to my planned TBR for December :D
Along with the novels below, I also finished up some books on Buddhism and Stoicism containing daily meditations that I've been reading throughout the whole of 2017. Throw in the children's books Everything Is Mama, Your Baby's First Word Will Be Dada, and Llama Llama Red Pajama, and that's a December full of completed reads!
What I Read
A Court of Broken Knives | Anna Smith Spark
Published: (Print) August 15, 2017
Genre: Adult Fantasy
My Rating: 2.5 Stars
Listened to this one as an audiobook, and loved the narrators. But I never really cared about the characters, and it didn't really have any real plot. By the end I saw clearly what the point was, though the journey was more a bunch of thrown-together action scenes on which we got to go along for the ride. I do have the hard copy of this as well, and read some of the chapters. The writing is different, not a technicality-focused editor's cup of tea. I see what the author did, recognize it as taking creative license and firmly grasping her unique style. But it won't be to everyone's liking.
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns | Julie C. Dao
Published:
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 1.5 Stars
I had to hate-finish this book. I appreciated the setting, but was not interested in the story in the slightest. It is supposed to be a tale of how a wicked queen rises, the events in her young life that shaped her from good to evil. Xeifang starts out as a good, kind, doesn't-want-to-hurt-a-soul person, and the change from this person to the magic-lusting heart eater at the end was completely unconvincing. She didn't change slowly, or believably, it was just one moment she couldn't imagine taking the life of an innocent creature and the next she's eating the heart of her rivals. The one aspect that was present the entire novel was her obsession with beauty, instilled in her by her aunt her whole life as the only thing making her special. So I could believe this obsession with being beautiful driving her to justify the magic she uses, but everything else about this story was lack-luster.
Furyborn | Claire Legrand
To Be Published: May 22, 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 5 Stars
Some books you just vibe with, and this one was 100% my cup of tea. Flawed characters you kind of hate/love, a story that connects across centuries, just the right amount of grim, and plenty of action. Also, this is a YA that read more on the adult side of the genre, which I tend to enjoy more (though I still have the pet peeve of certain content belonging in Adult fantasy).
Read the my full review here.
ARC provided by Sourcebooks and Fairyloot - many thanks!
January New Releases
There are four coming in January that I have on my radar, but it remains to be seen if they will make it to the TBR.
The Cruel Prince | Holly Black
Published: January 2, 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
Synopsis:
"Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.
In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself."
Everless | Sara Holland
Published: January 2, 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
Synopsis:
"In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.
No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.
But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself."
Reign of the Fallen | Sarah Glenn Marsh
Published: January 23, 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
Synopsis:
"Odessa is one of Karthia's master necromancers, catering to the kingdom's ruling Dead. Whenever a noble dies, it's Odessa's job to raise them by retrieving their souls from a dreamy and dangerous shadow world called the Deadlands. But there is a cost to being raised--the Dead must remain shrouded, or risk transforming into zombie-like monsters known as Shades. If even a hint of flesh is exposed, the grotesque transformation will begin.
A dramatic uptick in Shade attacks raises suspicions and fears among Odessa's necromancer community. Soon a crushing loss of one of their own reveals a disturbing conspiracy: someone is intentionally creating Shades by tearing shrouds from the Dead--and training them to attack. Odessa is faced with a terrifying question: What if her necromancer's magic is the weapon that brings Karthia to its knees?"
The Hazel Wood | Melissa Albert
Published: January 30, 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
Synopsis:
"Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”
Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong."
January TBR*
*As usual, subject to change on a daily basis. I seem to take issue with being told what to read, including by myself.
A reading goal for me in 2018 will be to read less. Sounds odd, but I've been trying to focus on quality over quantity, and that means being a hell of a lot more selective on the books I buy. That also means STAYING AWAY from the hype train. Also, there's the not-so-little change in lifestyle that'll occur mid-April, and I'm anticipating even less reading time. Another 2018 goal is to only buy one new book a month, and read at least one of the books I currently own a month. That said, of course 4 of the 9 books I have on my 2018 wait-list happen to be publishing in January, so we'll see how well I stick to that one-book-buy-a-month thing.
The Girl In The Tower | Katherine Arden
Published: December 5, 2017
Genre: Adult Fantasy
*Currently Reading* I didn't get to this one in December, though it was the one I was most looking forward to! I wanted to make sure I finished all the other books I had pending in 2017 (like a dutiful, responsible book reader) before I let myself get sucked in.
Synopsis:
"The magical adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingalecontinues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege.
Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop."
The Cruel Prince | Holly Black
(Info above)
After reading some trusted reviewers opinions on how much they enjoyed this one, I've allowed that hype-train to pick me up and pre-ordered. That's technically my one new book limit for January...
Traitor's Blade | Sebastien de Castell
This will be my audiobook for January. This series/author has been on my TBR for a while so I'm glad to finally be starting.
Published: March 6, 2014
Genre: Adult Epic Fantasy
Synopsis:
"Falcio is the first Cantor of the Greatcoats. Trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia, the Greatcoats are travelling Magisters upholding King’s Law. They are heroes. Or at least they were, until they stood aside while the Dukes took the kingdom, and impaled their King’s head on a spike.
Now Tristia is on the verge of collapse and the barbarians are sniffing at the borders. The Dukes bring chaos to the land, while the Greatcoats are scattered far and wide, reviled as traitors, their legendary coats in tatters.
All they have left are the promises they made to King Paelis, to carry out one final mission. But if they have any hope of fulfilling the King’s dream, the divided Greatcoats must reunite, or they will also have to stand aside as they watch their world burn…"
A Gathering Of Shadows | Victoria Schwab
Published: February 23, 2016
Genre: Adult Fantasy
This will be my "currently-own" read for January...I'm ready for more Kell and Lila!
Synopsis:
"It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Prince Rhy was wounded, and since the nefarious Dane twins of White London fell, and four months since the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift--back into Black London.
Now, restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games--an extravagant international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries--a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
And while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night will reappear in the morning. But the balance of magic is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another London must fall."