**There maybe a few minor spoilers in this review**
First of all, our Cousin Sarah has good taste in books because I really enjoyed this series. So thank you Sarah for the suggestion. I’m sorry that I waited so long to read it.
One of the themes I got from this series is how past shapes our present and our future. As someone who has a degree in history I really appreciate that. The saying of “those who don’t learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them” maybe cliche but it’s also true. History is littered with examples of forgetting or ignoring the past and then surprised when the results are the same. Look about what is going on today. Many of the same rhetoric that is being said on both side of the aisle have all been said before. There have been so many correlation between what is currently going in the United States with what lead to other Countries descent into authoritarian regimes. Agree or disagree that is the direction the US is going, one must be a little nervous with what they are seeing happening around our country. Right now is the perfect time to look back at our past and see what we can learn.
The Tearling was founded by William Tear and his followers by leaving the United States that had fallen into Martial Law and extreme poverty. They crossed the Atlantic and through a mysterious portal to land in the “New World” to start an utopian society where everyone was equal. No one was more important then another but this was never truly the truth in practice, even from the beginning of their new colony. William Tear always stood higher then everyone else even though he tried not too. His opinion was enough to sway an issue to right or the left. He was the King without the title. You add the people’s unwillingness to talk about their pre-crossing life led to the downfall of the society after only one generation. They failed to learn from their own past. They felt that had moved beyond the troubles of their past but when things fell apart they resorted back into the old habits and fear that lead the downfall of the past and again fell part again. Three hundred years later, Kelsea inherits a country with very little assets and has the traffic it’s own people to a neighboring country to survive. The people are mostly illiterate and live in poverty. The ideals of William Tear have long been forgotten. Kelsea with the help of the Mace, try their best to right the wrongs of their past but with little army and even less of a treasury she is fighting an uphill battle. Kelsea is not perfect herself. She is young and inexperienced. She has a temper on her that makes to make rash decisions. She was also left in the dark about her own countries history, particularly the resent history that she has to learn about her people as she rules them. She makes some great decisions but she also makes some terrible mistakes. Which is important because it is sometimes to easy to make the protagonist to perfect. It would be very easy to make Kelsea a saint, bringing her country back to it’s former glory but Erika Johansen doesn’t do that. Nor does she give us the perfect happy ending either but I’ll get to that later.
The Tearling is a curious place. It takes place in the future but is clearly a Medieval society. They lost most of their medical supplies and doctors in the crossing and 300 later they still haven’t developed any technology. They don’t even have a working printing press. The Horror! They do have a little bit of magic. Kelsea also inherits two sapphires that give her abilities to see into the past and powers. The ability to see into the past and the future help her but also make things a bit tense. She starts to have visions of the past through two women who helped shape the early Tearling. She sees how life was before the crossing and how the Tearling fell. She struggles to figure out how the past is supposed to help her but she knows it’s important. As her kingdom starts to fall apart and those who are most loyal are starting to question. When she finally figures out what to do it’s ruthless and brave that runs head on into doing not knowing what the outcome will be. In the end *spoiler* she does bring back William Tear’s vision for the New World even though it’s not how she imagined it. It’s very bittersweet that accomplished what she set out to do, she righted all the inequality the country had suffered through but it left her a little alone in her victory. Then again, who knows what the future will bring for Kelsea. Maybe all we have to do is gleam into her past to see where Kelsea will go next.
To say this book was delightful would be an understatement. Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows blends the perfect mixture of fantasy and fiction with history. History will tell you that Lady Jane Grey was the Queen of England for nine days before Queen Mary took the throne and beheaded her. Well, not in this book. Lady Jane Grey was the cousin to King Edward, the son of King Henry VIII. She was named the successor to King Edward because Mary was too Catholic and Elizabeth was a wild card. Edward’s advisors were afraid that either one of his sisters would take England back to the Catholic church and away for the recently established Church in England. Well, in this account the fight is over religion but over magic. King Henry was an Edians, or a person who can turn into animals. Before his rule, those who had this ability were hunted down and burned at the stack by the Verities or those who couldn’t change into animals. Mary is very much in the Verities, who blamed Edians for the death of her mother. Jane at first just a pawn in game of thrones but she soon turns the tables on those who try to control her. This book is very funny, charming and just plain clever. I often find myself laughing while riding on the train to the annoyance of my fellow riders. And it’s a real hoot when you find out what animal Jane turns into. You will not find a more clever book with horse puns anywhere. So do yourself a favor and go read it.
A Study in Charlotte was a very fun read. It’s new take on the Sherlock Holmes stories. This time it’s the descendants of Holmes and John Watson. In this world, the famed detective and his assistant were real. Watson chronicled Holmes’ cases and well fictionalized them. The Holmes family continue to solve crimes and being eccentric, while the Watsons continue to be normal. Here we catch up with the latest generation of Holmes’ and Watson’s when Jaime Watson starts at a new boarding school. Jaime meets Charlotte Holmes, the girl who is full of mystery as anything else. (For some reason I thought Jaime was a girl and I was a little disappointed to find out that he isn’t but I got over it.) There are little sprinklings of the originally stories throughout the novels and the nastiest parts of the stories like Holmes’ drug use. Charlotte is just as impossible as the original Holmes or Benedict Cumberbatch’s. Shortly after Holmes and Watson meet a fellow student is murder in a way that is reminiscent of Holmes’ stories. Of course, they are the prime suspects. They have to work together to clear their names. They story goes through many twists and turns that will keep you guessing all through the story. You don’t have to be a fan of Sherlock Holmes to love this book. You just have to enjoy a good mystery with interesting characters and you’ll be set.
After I finished reading Empire of Storms, I decided to go back and read the prequel novellas as many of the characters we meet in these stories make appearance and play a role in the final book to come out next year. It’s very common for authors to publish novellas or short stories in connection with successful series. Most of the time they have little consequence to the actual narrative of the series themselves. They are just a fun story about the time before, or another character’s perspective. The further I got into Empire of Storms and the big reveals starting to come out, I realized that I these novellas were more important then I originally thought. The end was blending of Aelin’s present with Celaena’s past. If Aelin is going to defeat Erawan and reclaim her crown in Terrasan she is going to have call in all of Celaena’s favors. And so I went back and bought all the novellas. The five novella’s The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, The Assassin and the Healer, The Assassin and the Desert, The Assassin and the Underworld and The Assassin and the Empire tell the story of the months that lead her to be arrested and sent to Endovier where we meet her in the Throne of Glass that starts everything in motion. All five novellas were collected together and later published under the named The Assassin’s Blade.
**Spoilers**
It’s been awhile since I did one of these. In fact it’s been 5 months. Oops. I think it’s about time I did another one, don’t you think? I can’t think of a better series to welcome back this column then Necromancer and Firebug series’ by Lish McBride. Really, I can’t believe I have waited this long to write about them. It’s actually two different series but they take place in the same world, just on opposite coasts. Necromancer consists of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer and Necromancing the Stone. Two of the best book titles in history of literature. I decided to read the first book based on the title alone. With a title like Hold Me Closer, Necromancer it had to be good right? Firebug at the moment is the only book in it’s series but the sequel, Pyromantic, another great title, comes out in March of next year. (I hope, I’m pretty sure. It’s released date has been pushed back more then once to my chagrin) They both take place in the underground world of the supernaturals. Sam, our hero in Necromancer is a necromancer. When he is discovered by another Necromancer he brought into a world of werewolves and other supernaturals creatures that he didn’t even know exist but now is in the thick of it. You’ll think about Seattle in a different way after reading this book. Ava, our little firebug from Firebug, is forced to work for the Coterie, a magical mafia. She along with her friends, Lock and Ezra, she must track down creatures of all kinds who are behind in their payments or doing something they are not supposed to.
So why do I like these books so much? For one thing they are hilarious! Like laugh out loud funny you just can’t help yourself. The situations the characters get in are at times so ridiculous and absurd it’s just too funny. They are also very original. Sure, there are a lot of other books that feature werewolves, ghosts, nymphs and other supernatural beings but nothing is like this. I’m not sure how to describe the weirdness of these books but they just work. There is also a realness to them as well. Sam and Ava are both great protagonists. They both find themselves in situations that are out of their control but with the help of their friends and their own gumption they find ways out of them. They both have a little sassiness to them that I love in my characters. The supporting characters are more then just comic relief or filler but true characters in their own right.
Firebug came out two years ago and I have been waiting (mostly) patiently for Pyromantic to come out. Like I said earlier, publication has been pushed back a few times because well life I guess. Lish Mcbride is not just an author but also a bookseller as well. The biggest secret of the publication world is that just because you have a book published doesn’t mean you are set for life. Most authors don’t live off of their writing. They have to have day jobs to make ends meet. Recently Lish started 
So how would World War Two be different if women could have been drafted or enlist in the military? From what I can tell, not that much? Obviously I don’t know what it was like from personal experience but basing on other books and movies I have read, the experiences of Rio, Frangie, Jenou and Rainey didn’t seem all that different. To say, war is awful. Though maybe it was a little harder for the ladies, as they had to endure sexiest comments about how woman do not belong in the military. Even worse for Frangie, who had deal with the racist along with the sexist. I would think what our heroines deal with was pretty much the same things as women in the military still face. I’m thinking about the all the comments and criticism I read about the first women to train to be Army Rangers, recently. “Women can’t handle the pressure.” ” They are not physically strong enough”.”How will they handle combat?” “The Military is just not the place for women.” Front Lines may be a work of fiction that takes place 70 years ago but it could easily be written about today. I studied history in school and it’s what my B.A. is in. The one thing that I always found fascinating about history is that you can study something in the past and can make direct correlation with what is going on in today’s world. Basically, Human Being’s don’t learn from the mistakes. We do the same things over and over again. Just look at our election and how we are fighting over issues of Civil Rights.
2 Women, So Many Books 