Fantasy | Thoughts By J

Book Review: The Winner’s Kiss (The Winner’s Trilogy #3) by Marie Rutkoski

2016 Releases, Book Reviews, Fantasy, Young Adult

The Winner's Kiss (The Winner's Trilogy, #3) by Marie Rutkoski
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Format Read: Paperback
Pages: 484
Published by Bloomsbury Children's on March 24th 2016
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War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.

At least, that’s what he thinks.

In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.

But no one gets what they want just by wishing.

As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?

Audiobook review: Cruel Crown (Red Queen #0.1-0.2) by Victoria Aveyard

2016 Releases, Book Reviews, Dystopia, Fantasy

Cruel Crown (Red Queen, #0.1-0.2) by Victoria Aveyard
Narrator: Andi Arndt, Jayne Entwistle, Amanda Dolan
Genres: Fantasy, Dystopian
Format Read: Audiobook
Length: 6 hours 26 minutes
Published by HarperCollins on January 5th 2016
Book Depository

Two women on either side of the Silver-Red divide tell the stories no one else knows.

Discover the truth of Norta's bloody past in these two revealing prequels to #1 New York Times bestseller Red Queen. Plus, a Glass Sword sneak peek! An exclusive excerpt from the hotly anticipated second book in the Red Queen series, Glass Sword, transports readers to the world of Silver tyranny, a Red dawn rising, and one girl's resolve to break down the system that will hold her back no longer.

Book review: A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2) by Sarah. J. Maas

2016 Releases, Book Reviews, Fantasy, New Adult

A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2) by Sarah J. Maas
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult
Format Read: Paperback
Pages: 624
Published by Bloomsbury Australia on May 3rd 2016
Book Depository

Feyre is immortal.

After rescuing her lover Tamlin from a wicked Faerie Queen, she returns to the Spring Court possessing the powers of the High Fae. But Feyre cannot forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people - nor the bargain she made with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court.

As Feyre is drawn ever deeper into Rhysand's dark web of politics and passion, war is looming and an evil far greater than any queen threatens to destroy everything Feyre has fought for. She must confront her past, embrace her gifts and decide her fate.

She must surrender her heart to heal a world torn in two.

Book review: Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton

2016 Releases, Book Reviews, Fantasy, Young Adult

Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands, #1) by Alwyn Hamilton
Genres: Fantasy
Format Read: Paperback
Pages: 358
Published by Faber & Faber on February 4th 2016
Book Depository

"Tell me that and we'll go. Right now. Save ourselves and leave this place to burn. Tell me that's how you want your story to go and we'll write it straight across the sand."

Dustwalk is an unforgiving, dead-end town. It's not the place to be poor or orphaned or female. And yet Amani Al'Hiza must call it 'home'.

Amani wants to escape and see the world she's heard about in campfire stories.

Then a foreigner with no name turns up, and with him she has the chance to run.

But the desert plains are full of dangerous magic. The Sultan's army is on the rise and Amani is soon caught at the heart of a fearless rebellion...
An epic story of swirling desert sands, love, magic and revolution.

Book Review: Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard

2016 Releases, Book Reviews, Dystopia, Fantasy

Glass Sword (Red Queen, #2) by Victoria Aveyard
Genres: Fantasy, Dystopian
Format Read: Paperback
Pages: 464
Published by Orion on February 11th 2016
Book Depository

If there's one thing Mare Barrow knows, it's that she's different.

Mare's blood is red - the colour of common folk - but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from the prince and friend who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by the Silver king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red and Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat. Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

Book Review: Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals #1) by Eleanor Herman

2015 Releases, Book Reviews, Fantasy

Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals #1) by Eleanor Herman
Genres: Fantasy
Format Read: Paperback
Pages: 428
Published by Harlequin Teen on August 18th 2015
Book Depository

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to a newcomer…

Katerina must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But she doesn’t account for her first love…

Jacob will go to unthinkable lengths to win Katerina, even if it means having to compete for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince.

And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet betrothed, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the shocking details of real history, New York Times bestselling author of Sex with Kings Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known, Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.

Book Review: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

2015 Releases, Book Reviews, Fantasy, Graphic Novel

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Genres: Fantasy
Format Read: Paperback
Pages: 272
Published by Harper Collins on May 12th 2015

Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win Noelle many new ones.

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.

Book Review: An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1) by Sabaa Tahir

2015 Releases, Book Reviews, Fantasy, Young Adult

An Ember in the Ashes Series: An Ember in the Ashes #1
by Sabaa Tahir
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Format Read: Audiobook
Published by Listening Library on April 28th 2015
Book Depository

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, "An Ember in the Ashes "is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It s a story that s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy s finest soldier and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor. When Laia and Elias s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself."

Book Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

2015 Releases, Book Reviews, Fairytale Retelling, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Winter Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
by Marissa Meyer
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Format Read: Paperback
Pages: 823
Published by Penguin Australia on November 12th 2015
Book Depository

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

ARC Review: The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

2015 Releases, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Fantasy

Title: The Rest of Us Just Live Here

Author: Patrick Ness

Rating: ★ ★ ★ 1/2

Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary

Format Read: ARC, 352 pages

Publication Date: 27th August 2015 by Walker Books Australia

Synopsis: “What if you aren’t the Chosen One?

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable. ”