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Review: Traitor’s Blade (Greatcoats #1) by Sebastien De Castell

September 6, 2019September 6, 2019David S 2 Comments

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Papa Horror chilling out with his collection of 1st editions. If only there was a Molly aka The Thing of Evil sidekick, then my life would be complete. 🎈🤡 #stephenking #stephenkingbooks #horror #it #funko #funkopop #pennywise #bookstagram #bookish #bookaddict #bookstagrammer #bookshelves #bookshelf #bookobsessed #book #books

Whelp, there’s my morning sorted. Oh, and also chatting with @timlebbon on the podcast at 11:00am. Can’t wait! #bookstagram #books #bookworm #booklover #booksarelove #booknerd #bookstagrammer #bookalicious #booksaremylife #booksbooksandmorebooks #bookstagramcommunity #bookstagrammademedoit #booknerdigan

ARCs on ARCs on ARCs on ARCs Huge thanks to @acerocbooks, @tordotcompub, @harpervoyagerus, and @sagasff for these beauts! 2020 has some MASSIVE releases coming up, so go ahead and start setting some monies aside for these puppies.

One of my upcoming reads and the newest addition to the ever-growing fantasy HC shelf. Thanks to @torbooks for this GORGEOUS book and opportunity. 📚 A. K. Larkwood's The Unspoken Name is a stunning debut fantasy about an orc priestess turned wizard's assassin. What if you knew how and when you will die? Csorwe does―she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice. But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin―the wizard's loyal sword. Topple an empire, and help him reclaim his seat of power. But Csorwe will soon learn―gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due. . “In the vein of Le Guin's magnificent Tombs of Atuan―if Arha the Eaten One got to grow up to be a swordswoman mercenary in thrall to her dubious wizard mentor. I love this book so much."―Arkady Martine, author of A Memory Called Empire . “Hooked me in from the first page and never let go. Fabulous, in every meaning of the word."―Jenn Lyons, author of Ruin of Kings

100% of mornings, it is near impossible to leave this space.

A Beginning at the End by @mikechenwriter. FanFiAddict & Mille approved. Thanks to @harpercollins for the ARC & thanks to Mike for joining me on the podcast. You guys can check out my thoughts below, & the podcast episode dropped this morning (link in bio). 📚 7.0/10 Not your typical post-apoc story, ABatE is about love and hope after a sweeping epidemic. There are no mutants or zombies, only people. It’s about rebuilding the world and attempting to find some semblance of normalcy again, even when the past is so full of memories, good and bad. It’s about helping one another when the going gets tough, even if it means withholding your true self. It’s about family and sticking together. This was my first introduction to Chen’s writing, though I’d heard some really good things about his first novel, Here and Now and Then. Color me impressed and now a fan. This book is so emotionally charged, it’s hard to not become involved. It all comes down to the characters. 📚 How do you start over after the end of the world? Six years after a global pandemic wiped out most of the planet’s population, the survivors are rebuilding the country, split between self-governing cities, hippie communes and wasteland gangs.In postapocalyptic San Francisco, former pop star Moira has created a new identity to finally escape her past―until her domineering father launches a sweeping public search to track her down. Desperate for a fresh start herself, jaded event planner Krista navigates the world on behalf of those too traumatized to go outside, determined to help everyone move on―even if they don’t want to. Rob survived the catastrophe with his daughter, Sunny, but lost his wife. When strict government rules threaten to separate parent and child, Rob needs to prove himself worthy in the city’s eyes by connecting with people again.Krista, Moira, Rob and Sunny are brought together by circumstance, and their lives begin to twine together. But when reports of another outbreak throw the fragile society into panic, the friends are forced to finally face everything that came before―and everything they still stand to lose. Because sometimes having one person is enough to keep the world going

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Re-read The Blood Mirror via @librofm (thanks to @librofm and @hachetteaudio for the audio listening copy) and I still stand by my previous review . This is still the least favorite installment to me in the Lightbringer series. I just can't stand Kip's relationship with Tisis and all the sexual innuendos in this book. Their relationship to me is basically like a newly-wed couple trying very hard to have sex, that's all. The author apparently intends to introduce us to a sexual dysfunction condition called vaginismus via Tisis characterization (as reflected in the Author's Note for this book). But I think spending almost half of the plot-lines of the book to introduce this condition is way too much. Nevertheless, we were also introduced to a whole lot of new developments/concepts in this book: will-casting, soul-casting, the Pygmies, drafting black, the truth behind the events of Sundered Rock and the major revelation on Kip's real father. Teia is still hands down my favorite character in this series. Her struggle as a double agent (working for the new White, Karris White Oak as well as the Order of the Broken Eye) is so well done in this installment. Another character that I enjoyed reading is Andross Guile. He is such a morally grey character and at times I wonder whether his scheming is for the benefit of the Satrapy or for his own personal gain. Overall, it's a 4/5 star read to me and I really can't connect with some parts of the book. Now, I'm going to pick up Book 5 ASAP! #bookreview #orbitbooks #hachettebooks #librofm #igread #bookgeek #booksofinstagram #bookoholic #beautifulbooks #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #bookaddict #bookoholic #bookish #reading #bookreviews #bookrecommendations #brentweeks #lightbringerseries #bloodmirror #lightbringer

Heard a lot about this book and wow what a great read! While this is a coming-of-age story of Kya (who is abandoned by her family and lives alone in the marsh) which begins in 1952, it started off with a murder mystery of Chase Andrews which happened in 1969 (an ex-star quarterback of the town). The story was told in two different timeframes and Delia Owens managed to link the events of both timeframes together at the end of the story. Essentially, Delia Ownes introduced the atmosphere and life in the marsh to us via this story. I can see how this relates to her background as a wildlife scientist in Africa. At times there are some scientific terms on the wildlife being thrown at us, it does not feel dry at all as the introduction of the wildlife in the marsh was told through the perspective of Kya. Delia Ownes further successfully crafted a perfect characterization of Kya. We can feel a sense of abandonment, isolation, the crave of love and acceptance, disappointment towards society and prejudice through the character of Kya. It's so heartbreaking. It's safe to say that this is one of the best character work that I have read to date. Delia Owens writes so beautifully and I love the poems that were included in this story. It enhances the emotion of readers when we follow the story of Kya in this book. As stated in the book: “I wasn't aware that words could hold so much. I didn't know a sentence could be so full”. Delia Owens' debut novel definitely deserves a strong 4.5/5 star read from me! #bookstagram #bookreview #bookstagrammer #igread #bookgeek #booksofinstagram #bookoholic #beautifulbooks #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #bookish #reading #bookreviews #bookrecommendations #deliaowens #wherethecrawdadssing #putnambooks #penguinrandomhouse #bookshelf #bookworm #bookcovers

To be honest, I can't really connect with this book. At times I feel like giving up and DNF it. Luckily its only a short book and I just forced myself to finish it. Only a 2.5/5 star rating from me. Maybe I am not smart enough to appreciate this book. Celestial Bodies won the Man Booker International Prize 2019. I think this is mainly because the author managed to bring out the culture, history and society of the people via the story of 3 women in Oman (an Arab country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia). Flowing therefrom, we can see the impact of a strong patriarchal system towards the women in Oman. We also see the conflict between tradition and modernity as well as the conflict between the perspective of those in the lower social class and those in the higher social class. All these issues were embedded strongly in the plot of the story. Coming to the plot of the story, it is rather confusing as the story was told in a "past-present" style. The relationship between the characters confuses me as well and I had to resort to the family tree provided in the first 2 pages of the book (which is also not helpful at all). The only character that is engaging to me is Abdallah (who was haunted by a childhood incident whereby his father punished him very severely). That's all. While this book introduced me to the history and culture of Oman, it is not a pleasant reading experience. But this book may be your cup of tea if you can appreciate the literary elements of it. #sandstonepress #celestialbodies #manbookerprize #literaryfiction #literature #bookstagrammer #igread #bookgeek #booksofinstagram #bookoholic #beautifulbooks #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #bookaddict #bookoholic #bookish #reading #bookreviews #bookrecommendations

I loved Scythe and adored Thunderhead. But The Toll is just okay for me. Its not too bad but not great. Its only a 4.5/5 star rating for me. In this book, we follow the aftermath of the sinking of Endura (the home to the World Scythe Council of Grandslayers and the Supreme Blade) which causes the silence of Thunderhead. Essentially, Thunderhead marks everyone as "unsavory" (people who have broken the law) and refuses to communicate with everyone in the world except for Greyson Tolliver. Everyone is so lost without Thunderhead as they over-relied on this super AI previously. Things get chaotic when Goddard took control of the scythedom and started imposing his own rules of gleaning (or killing) people by breaking the 10 Commandments of Scythes. This causes an uproar among the honorable Scythes from other jurisdictions as well as the Tonists (a cult who believes in a particular religion), who inherently hated Scythes. The Toll focuses a lot on non Scythe characters, especially Greyson Tolliver who is elevated to the god-like status of The Toll by the Tonists. A lot of side characters were introduced in this book which I think may be the cause of losing focus on the dynamics and interaction between the main characters (especially Rowan and Citra). There's also a lack of emotional connection between the characters in this book. Its more plot driven as compared to the other 2 books. The pros in this book is that Neal Shusterman is able to link all separate events together and ultimately lead them to the final ending of this story. All in all, Neal Shusterman explored so many values and issues in this series: humanity, the value of death and life, power, compassion, conscience, religion, and artificial intelligence. This series deserves an adaptation. With a great cast, I think has the potential to be better than the adaptation of The Hunger Games! #bookstagram #bookreview #sunrise #nealshusterman #scythe #thetoll #bookoholic #beautifulbooks #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #bookaddict #bookgeek #booksofinstagram #igread #bookworm #bookish #reading #bookrecommendations #dystopian #postapocalyptic #simonandshuster

I generally dislike the second books in those popular YA series (i.e. Insurgent, The Scorch Trials and etc.). They do not live up the hype that was created by the first book. Thunderhead however is an exception. And I would say that it may be better than the first installment (Scythe)! The lives and social structure of a Scythe is the main focus of the first book. In this book, the concept of separation between Thunderhead and the Scythedom is highlighted. Essentially, Thunderhead is a super advanced AI (as it has emotions and a conscience) which controls everything in the world, except death. Death falls under the purview of the Scythedom. There is a clear separation between the state and scythes whereby it will be a violation if Thunderhead interferes with matters which fall within the jurisdiction of scythes. In other words, while Thunderhead is super powerful and is aware of the evil acts of the new order of Scythes (who enjoy killing without conscience and act beyond their 10 commandments), it cant do anything to stop them as it is a violation of the law. We follow a lot of Thunderhead's POV in this book. It is interesting as it is not a typical story of AI suddenly turn evil and humans are trying to stop it. In fact its the other way round. We see how humans can be super reliant on technology, not only in the petty matters in their daily life but to the extent of authorizing Thunderhead to take care of their own child. It is clear from this book that sometimes, human nature can be scarier than AI. We also follow the journey of our 2 main characters, Citra (who became a Scythe) and Rowan (who went rogue and became a vigilante who kills corrupt Scythes). Some new social classes were also introduced/explained further in this book: the Unsavories (people who have broken the law) as well as the Tonists (a cult who believes in a particular religion). Again there are so many plot twists and the huge cliffhanger at the end of this book just breaks my heart. All I can say is: @nealshusterman , you have changed my perspective towards YA series! A clear 5/5 star read for Thunderhead! #bookstagram #bookreview #sunset #thunderhead #nealshusterman #scythe

"My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There's no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that. They say Scythe is "a true successor to The Hunger Games". To me, Scythe outshines The Hunger Games. Another 5/5 star read before 2019 ends! Like Hunger Games, Scythe is considered as a dystopian YA novel. In this world, technology is so advance whereby death is no longer possible. Anyone can be revived at a revival center or "turn a corner" (which means to be younger). However, this causes the world to be overpopulated and a social class called Scythe was created to solve this problem. Scythes' duty is to "glean" (or kill) people and they are bound by the 10 Commandments. In other words, you can't die of illness or accidents in this world. You can only die if you are "gleaned" by a Scythe. With such a social setting, we follow 2 young main characters, Citra and Rowan, in their journey of becoming a Scythe as they were both chosen to be apprentices to a Scythe. Throughout this journey, we see the flaws in Scythes i.e. while Scythes must glean with compassion, conscience and without bias, there is a group of Scythes which enjoy the urge of killing and they are considered as sadists. With this main plot line, Neal Shusterman explored the meaning of death, life and conscience. While we may live in a utopia where the word "death" is considered as archaic, life may become stagnant and eventually we require "death" to move on. This story also explored how we should handle death and the manner of taking one's life if we are given the power to do so. Not only that the world building of this story is strong, the pacing of this story is also great. There are so many plot twists and revelations. The dynamics and relationship between Citra and Rowan, between these young characters and their respective mentors i.e. Scythe Farraday, Scythe Curie and Scythe Goddard, are engaging and easy to follow. In a nutshell, to all the fans of Hunger Games out there, you will find more satisfaction in Scythe!

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*****BOOK REVIEW***** Title: Sword of Fire Series: The Justice War #1, Deverry #16 Author: Katharine Kerr Publisher: Daw @dawbooks; Penguin Random House @penguinrandomhouse Publication Date: February 18, 2020 Synopsis: In the Kingdom of Deverry, bards are highly regarded as the voice of the commoner. When one of the most well-regarded bards is allowed to starve himself in an attempt to force change, the people are on the verge of revolt. Alyssa and Dovina are two ladies of the court who side with the commoners. They have come up with a plan to retrieve an ancient text that highlights traditional law that would turn current political theory on its head. As each traverses the Kindgom to fulfill their end of the pact in hopes of enacting new (old) laws that favor a more just judicial system, they find the journey is more than they bargained for. The road is dangerous, and the courts are fraught with corruption. Despite the perilous nature of the voyage, Alyssa and Dovina will do whatever it takes to bring a sense of fairness to Deverry. REVIEW: Sword of Fire is my first Deverry novel, and I find this world really intriguing. This book in particular did not hit the mark completely for me, but I can see value in reading more if the series. The setting is interesting and there is a lot of scheming and politics, the characters are very unique, and based in some of the plot points in this book I am interesting in more Deverry stories. Sword of Fire itself, though, felt more like a prologue to a longer story than anything else. I felt myself waiting for the story to climax, but it never did; basically, it was the same note the whole time without any ebbs or flows. In the end, the story was good, not great, but definitely left me wanting to read more of this series. I recommend Sword of Fire for those who we just political or military fantasy. Full review can be found at FanFiAddict.com.

Happy Sunday, Book Friends! I hope you are all having a relaxing weekend. I am reading a lot, which is about as good as it gets. Wanted to keep you all in the loop, so here are my next five reads (swipe for full frontals). *No Bad Deed by Heather Chavez: I am excited to start and hopefully finish this book tomorrow. *The Goblets Immortal by Beth Overmyer. This is another Flame Tree Product, as I am participating in the Random Things Tours. My stop is on February 24th, so keep an eye out for it. Black Leviathan by Bernd Perplies. Tor sent this book to me a couple months ago. I have been dying to read it, but my schedule had not allowed it until now. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. After squee’ing about Gideon so much, I have been enamored with the thought of reading the sequel. Not sure how I waited until now to get to it, but IT IS TIME. A Hero Born by Jin Yong. Michelle (@nurse_bookie) sent this book to me, oh, I don’t know, six months ago now, maybe 😬. I have been staring at it, drooling for the day I fit it into my review schedule. Very happy to be finally getting there. That is my next 5, Book Friends. What do you think? Have you read or will you be reading any of these? Drop me a line!

*****BOOK REVIEW***** Title: The Wolf of Oren-Yaro Series: Chronicles of the Bitch Queen, Book 1 Author. K.S. Villoso Publisher: Orbit Publication Date: February 18, 2020 Rating: 5/10 😕 Synopsis: Queen Talyien has been ruling alone for years. Her estranged husband, Rayyal, left 5 years ago under mysterious circumstances, leaving Queen Tal and her son to fend for themselves. Just as greedy warlords are threatening her rule, Tal receives a letter from her husband stating that he wants to see her. Even though the place Rai proposes to meet is in a strange land, Tal jumps at the chance to reconcile. Their marriage was meant to unite the Kingdom, and it has been falling apart ever since. Tal takes a small retinue with her to the meeting, and it does not take long before assassins descend on the gathering. Tal narrowly escapes, but now she is alone in a strange land where she has no friends or allies and no one knows she is a queen. Tal must do whatever it takes to find her husband and bring him home. But, first she must navigate dangerous waters. Alone. Review: I am sorry to say this is the first book in a long time that I have not really enjoyed. I had trouble connecting with the MC, TAL, mostly because it seems every decision made in the book was the wrong one. And he internal monologue would say so, but she would do it, anyway. This kept taking me out of the story because I was frustrated. It was also a really dark adventure-type fantasy. I live dark, and I love adventure, but the two did not mesh well with me in this book. Have you read it? Please leave a comment and let me know, as I am looking for other perspectives. If you read it and liked it, please let me know why. My full review can be found at FanFiAddict.com. #TheWolfOfOrenYaro #ChroniclesOfTheBitchQueen #Book #Books #BookReview #BookReviews #BookReviewer #BookReviewers #BookReviewersOfInstagram #BookReviewersOfInsta #BookBlog #BookBlogger #BookBloggers #Bookstagram #IWouldRatherBeReading

*****BOOK REVIEW***** Title: The Queen of Raiders Author: Sarah Kozloff @sarah.kozloff Series: Nine Realms Book 2 Publisher: Tor @torbooks Publication Date: February 18, 2020 Rating: 10/10 😍 Synopsis: The Nine Realms epic continues in Book 2 of the Series, The Queen of Raiders, as the Oromondo continue to occupy the Free States. Cerulia persists in her search for a path back to Weriandale (and its throne) after fleeing her enemies and landing on the island of Slagos. The would-be Queen must learn how to master her Talent as she learns more about herself and her ability to lead. Meanwhile, supported by an underground resistance group, Thalen and his raiders continue to pester the Oros and have come up with a grand plan - one they hope will force the occupiers to leave their home forever. In the background, the political games continue. Regent Matwyck, ruling as Lord Regent of Weirandale, works to keep a grip on Weirandale. And the Oros have mobilized their powerful Magi to deal with the raider problem. As the story of the Nine Realms develops further, some characters will find that their goals align, while others will clash. The Series continues to evolve as The Queen of Raiders brings many of these storylines together in an epic fashion. Review: Sarah Kozloff has done it, again, as this series continues to be ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. As with the first book, I was enamored from beginning to end. The writing is wonderfully immersive, the story is intriguing, and the characters keep me on my toes. I love this series, and if you are a fan of high fantasy, I recommend it to you. And for anyone else looking for a book they cannot put down, as well. I am so happy Book 3 is only a month away. This is my favorite series of the year, so far, and it is going to be hard to beat. My full review is up on a FanFiAddict.com.

*****BOOK REVIEW***** Title: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line Author: Deepa Anaparra @deepa.anappara Publisher: Penguin Random House @penguinrandomhouse Publication Date: February 4, 2020 Rating: 4/5 Synopsis: Nine year-old Jai lives with his family in a small village in India. He attends school, hangs out with his friends, and dreams of a better life – one where his family does not need to scrap for every rupee and the government cares just as much about the poor as they do the rich. One day, a boy from Jai’s village goes missing. Jai and his friends search everywhere, even going so far as to searching all the way to the last station on the Purple Line train. Jai knows from watching police shows on TV that the first 48 hours are the most crucial for finding a missing person, and as that deadline comes without resolution, Jai and his friends become even more concerned. Then, another kid goes missing. And another. Now the whole village is in an uproar, as they hold their loved ones close and blame the police for their inaction. There is political upheaval and fingers begin to point in every direction as the search for this missing children continues. Is someone from the village snatching kids? Is it one of the rich people living in the high-rise buildings taking kids and selling them as slaves? Or could the myth about evil Djinns be true – the spirits are kidnapping them because the souls of children are the “most delicious”? Jai and his friends are set on finding out. Review: I was not sure going in if I was going to be able to connect with this book. From my home in Suburban Chicago to a small rural village in India. I found once I got into the story, though, the connection was there, and I could not put it down. The writing was enthralling, and I needed to know what happened next. The story is told through the eyes of nine year-old Jai, which is very evocative considering it is is about kids going missing. I came to care for Jai and all of his friends and family. It was a heart-wrenching story, and I am happy I picked it up. I recommend Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line to fans of mysteries and anyone who wants to be taken out of their comfort zone.

*****BOOK REVIEW***** Title: A Good Neighborhood Author: Therese Anne Fowler Publisher: St. Martin’s Press @stmartinspress Publication Date: March 10, 2020 Rating: 7.5/10 Synopsis: Bob Whitman is famous – at least locally. He runs a successful HVAC business, and he has recently come into new money by selling an invention. Yes, life is good for the Whitman Family, who has used some of that newfound money to build a nice big house with a pool… right next to Valeria Alston-Holt. The Whitmans are white. Valeria and her teenage son, Xavier, live a quiet life. She is a professor of forestry and spends her free time nursing tending to the plants in her lot; meanwhile, Xavier (a senior in high school) plays guitar, hangs out with his friends, works at a local grocery store, and is preparing to go to college. The Alston-Holts are black. The two families start off cordial, but things go south quickly when a feud begins over an old oak tree in Valerie’s yard. To complicate matters even further, Xavier and the Whitman’s daughter, Juniper, start dating and quickly fall hard for each other. The two families cannot seem to reconcile what is happening with the other. As the situation spirals out of control, each family digs in to protect what is theirs – but at what cost? Review: I applaud the author taking on such a difficult topic. In today’s super-charged, divisive society it is not an easy thing to do. The book is as thought-provoking as it is billed, and I think it is stories like this that can help us gain some perspective. The author made a few writing choices that did not work for me. Some of the story is told from a “we” and “is” perspective, which sounds a little too much like a fairytale; and I thought the issues addressed in the story were brought up in a very obtuse way, limiting its effectiveness. Overall, this is a good, provocative story that had me VERY emotional in the end. That is hard to do; kudos to the author for writing something that made me care about the fate of the characters so much.

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