I didn’t know that there was a sequel to What the River Knows when I started it. So it’s a good thing that Where the Library Hides came out on Tuesday! Finally, something went right for me this week. IYKYK
I do enjoy Lish McBride’s work. She is so creative with her stories and is able to find humor even in a serious story. Faolan Kelly’s Pops has just died. He was her last living relative, and as a 17-year-old girl living as a boy, because the world is kinder to men than women, she doesn’t have a lot of choices. The Mayor of her town is shipping her off to a nearby religious settlement. Faolan knows it’s because he wants her Pops’ land. She has a plan. All she has to do is work hard, not draw attention to herself for a few months, and then when she turns 18 years old, come back and claim her land. The thing is Faolan is not someone who can keep herself out of trouble. From the moment she arrives in the settlement, she knows something is wrong. She is quickly wrapped up in the mystery of the settlement when she starts to notice weird things but also weird sounds. Not going to lie, she spends a fair amount of time injured in this book. She really cannot keep herself safe and it is kind of funny how hard her new friends have to work to do just that. I liked the atmosphere of this book The Western setting invokes a certain image of American life that lends itself to a spooky tale. It is not my favorite Lish McBride but it’s a solid work to her cannon. A good read for anyone looking for a Western mystery with a little bit of supernatural mixed in.
I couldn’t resist when the seller said it was like Mummy and Death on the Nile.
Last weekend I went to New York Comic Con and the Javits Center. Always a good time but damn, is it exhausting. I truly cannot express how big the Javits Center is. I went on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Attended a few panels. My favorite was a Talk with Tomi Adeyemi, writer of the Orisha Trilogy, and the Futurama panel. I also spent way too much and included books. Here are a few new titles I picked up.
First, I got this mystery bag at the Simon and Schuster booth. I believe I got the Romantasy mystery bag. I haven’t heard of any of the titles before but I’m excited to read more.
Simon and Schuster were also giving away books. I was able to snag this one. I have never read any R.A. Salvatore before but this looks pretty cool.
I have read great things about Heir and liked Sabaa Tahir’s work in the past so I had to buy it. What the River knows was described as the Mummy meets a Death on the Nile and I was like, “I’m in”. Not to mention I got a pin with it.
They were giving away the ARC to Amelie Wen Zhao’s next book when purchasing her latest. Why not get a book about dragons and get another for free.
So that’s all the books I got and NYCC this year. I can’t wait to read them.
Sophie Jordan first wrote about dragons years ago in her Firelight series. It was a kind of a Romeo and Juliet story of a Dragon who falls in a dragon hunter. When I started to read this, I didn’t realize that is a kind of prequel to the Firelight series The similarities are definitely there. Tasmyn is the whipping girl for the princesses of Penterra. She was raised along with the Princesses and treated as one but when they do something wrong, she gets punished. One day the warriors from the Borderlands will protect the kingdom. Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands demands to marry one of the Princesses in trade for continuing to keep them safe. The King tricks Fell into marrying Tasmyn instead, and things don’t start between them. Now Tasmyn is married to a stranger and is heading his home. She has a secret that she has to keep from him and everyone else. How do dragons factor into all of this? Dragons have been gone for over a century of them. Humans hunted them down and then started hunting witches and then turned against each other. Typical right? I like Tasmyn and I like Fell. They make a good couple if you ask me. They are both two young people who have lived hard lives. Tasmyn may have grown up in the palace along with the Royal family but she was always different. She suffered the punishments, actually the whippings when the real Princesses acted up. She didn’t complain because she knew this was her job. Her duty was to keep the princesses safe. Fell in a lot of ways is the same. He may not be the whipping boy but he takes the responsibility of protecting his people very seriously. They are obviously attracted to each other, often drawn to each other but there is so much distrust in each other and themselves for them to bridge that gap. However, I think they found some common ground in the end. Now, I really do need to start doing more research when starting books because I didn’t know this was a series and it while the ending didn’t surprise me, it was intriguing I do look forward to finding out where the story goes next and opening up the world more. I read this book in like days. It was that fast of a read. I hope that future books will be as entertaining.
Since Halloween is just around the corner. I thought a horror novel from one of my favorite authors was in order.
What would you do if you were offered a chance to be a character in your favorite book series? What would you do if you were one of the story’s villains? That’s what happened to Rae. Rae is in her early 20s and has been fighting cancer since she was in high school. She and her younger sister have a favorite series, The Time of Iron written by Anonymous. Her sister would come to her hospital room and re-read the books to Rae and they would discuss each scene in character. Rae is very sick and one night, she gets a visit by a stranger who gives Rae an offer. Play a role of one of the characters in the Time of Iron Retrieve a flower before it blooms and she will cured. Fail and she would be forever in a coma. Rae doesn’t believe her but then she finds herself playing Lady Rahela, who is about to be executed in the first book. Rae is not as devoted to the books as her sister but she knows the story and she knows what comes next for her character and the other characters and uses that to her advantage. Leaning into her character’s villainous nature, she sets plans in motion to find the flower. She recruits the other villains of the story and gets to work She convinces the King that she is a prophet, saves the heroine, and befriends the leaders of thieves. This is such a fun book. All the characters fly off the page and you can tell that the author had a blast writing it. It is full of all the fantasy romance tropes that we become accustomed to and use it to tell a compelling story. It definitely plays on the whole, who really is a villain and who is a hero? Who decides? I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy books and is looking for a fun and entertaining read.
Bring on the dragons
This was such a great trilogy. I am curious to see how it turns into a movie or TV series. I know the rights have been sold and Tomi is involved in the script. Zelie has been through so much and honestly wouldn’t have faulted her for giving up but of course she didn’t. Nor did her brother and friends. At the end of the last book, the Maji were successful in overthrowing the king but then overtaken by the Skulls from across the sea. King Baldyr has been hunting Maji’s because he needs the one to help him achieve Godhood. We all know this is Zelie. She escapes but not before he implants in her gold medallion that changes her powers. She has a vision that she must find the other magical person Baldyr needs. Another woman from a mysterious nation, New Gaia. Mae’e is a great addition to the books. I liked her stoicism and fire. I know that might not make sense but it’s true. It was nice to see an expansion of the world but we did sacrifice what was going on in Orisha since most of the action was happening elsewhere. The other criticism I have that the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I wanted it to be. I feel the epilogue could have given a little bit more. Other then that I found it to be a fun adventure like the other books. Baldyr is a much scarier villain then the previous king was. The stakes were much higher because the threat wasn’t just to the Maji or Orisha but to New Gaia as well. This was a good series and I am looking forward to what Tomi does next.
The Unspoken Trilogy is one of my favorite series so I am pretty stocked to see what Sarah Rees Brennan will do with her first adult novel.
2 Women, So Many Books 