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The Kingdom of Back

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments
The Kingdom of Back cover

I was SUPER excited when Marie Lu’s The Kingdom of Back showed up on Bookish First! Thank you thank you thank you Bookish First and Penguin Teen for this ARC! I have a lot of things to say about this book. But first, if you want the chance to get amazing ARCs like this one, you can sign up with Bookish First too (my referral code is 56cf541090ca608b4 if you want to help me out). I bought this one with points that you can earn on the web site, but you can also win books too (I have good luck with their drawings).

The Story

Nannerl was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s older sister. She was a gifted composer and clavier player in her own right, but because she was female, once she grew up and married, it was no longer appropriate for her to pursue her musical gifts. She invented an imaginary land called The Kingdom of Back which she shared with her brother.

The above paragraph is true and if it stopped there, would be a nonfiction book. A boy in The Kingdom of Back, Hyacinth, started visiting them through dreams… or were they real? Nannerl doesn’t want to be forgotten, and Hyacinth promises her that she’ll be remembered forever–if she completes a few tasks for him. The tasks test her bravery, and ultimately, what she truly thinks is important in life.

What I Loved

I love history, and The Kingdom of Back is full of it. I knew prior to reading this book that Nannerl and Wolfgang had an imaginary place called The Kingdom of Back, because in my NaNoWriMo19 book, my main character plays one of Nannerl’s compositions, and I had to research them. In real life, her works supposedly don’t survive, but my book is set in the future and they discovered them. I looked up some of the history to see if it was true, and almost all of it was (the only discrepancy I saw was when the Empress Maria Theresa died of smallpox, and who cares). Something I found interesting was that the Queen of the Night and Hyacinth are both characters in Mozart’s works.

The characters in this book were great too. Nannerl was a complex character who is torn between various desires: the desire to please her parents, the desire to be remembered, her love for her brother. This story has a great sibling relationship. I had feelings about the father and the brother and the mother. Hyacinth himself had an interesting transition.

This book had some beautiful prose, almost in the vein of Laini Taylor at points. There were places where the story had this dreamlike feel to it that was absolutely gorgeous. Oh, and the maps and the cover! The photo of the cover doesn’t do the actual cover justice. The maps are going to be part of the front and back papers of the finished copies, and they are gorgeous. I hope they’re printed on blue paper.

Finally, The Kingdom of Back had a beautiful message. The message is especially applicable for artists: most of us want to be remembered, for our work to live on. It also has a message for girls, who have historically been invisible and in some places, still are.

What I Liked Less

I have a what I liked less section for a Marie Lu book? I know, that’s shocking. Although the beginning is beautiful, it does have a slow start. For a while, I considered giving it four stars. The final 1/3 of the book was exciting and I didn’t want to put it down though. The last couple of chapters made me weep. And oh! The final line took this book full circle and it was so lovely.

This book is unlike every other Marie Lu book I’ve read. There were a few similarities to her short story “The Journey” (from A Tyranny of Petticoats) and some fantasy elements from The Young Elites (including some similar phrasing), but for the most part, this is a completely new genre for Ms. Lu and although you might like some of her other books because you love dystopians or fast-paced fantasies with morally gray villains, this is different. This is like a historical fantasy with a little Brothers Grimm mixed in.

There really wasn’t much shipping going on in this story. One of the things I like about most Marie Lu books is that she usually has a couple I can root for. It’s not in this book.

Conclusion

I liked this book. Will it be my favorite Marie Lu book this year? My guess is that I’ll like Skyhunter later this year more, mainly because it’s going to be in a different genre with (I’m guessing) a little bit older characters and probably a little more kissing. Am I happy that I’ve pre-ordered both a Kindle copy and a hardback of this book? Yes. The finished copy is going to be gorgeous and I’ll definitely reread this book at some point.

So the question is, will you like The Kingdom of Back? If you like historical fiction, beautiful, dreamlike descriptions, and don’t mind slower pacing at the beginning, probably. The book shares its beautiful insight and compassion into people and their emotions that other Marie Lu books have. Don’t expect a lot of fighting, political intrigue, or couples you love to ship; if you need that, we’ll probably see that with Skyhunter later this year.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Blue Lily Lily Blue cover

Blue Lily, Lily Blue is the third book in the fantastic Raven Cycle. I could just save you the time and tell you to read the entire series, but then this review would be really short, right?

Instead, I’m first going to warn you that this post contains spoilers for The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves. If you haven’t read them yet, then don’t read on unless you want spoilers.

Okay, so now that I’ve got all the people who don’t mind spoilers, let’s move on. Blue’s mother is missing! This series is getting a little dangerous. So now the search is getting a little more desperate. In addition to looking for the Welsh king, they now have to find Blue’s mom. Fortunately, they’re probably both located in a magical cave.

In this book, we get to meet Gansey’s older friend Malory, along with a few other characters. Like the rest of the books in this series, the characters are great. I absolutely love how Stiefvater deals with the friend dynamics in this story. Blue and Adam were once an item, but over time, she and Gansey start having feelings for each other. That whole transition phase takes a bit of an adjustment, but I think in real life you’d see that too. We have another couple with a developing relationship in this book, but I’m not giving away spoilers… and this series is a very slow burn in the romance department. But if you’re Blue, do you blame her? If she kisses her true love, he’s going to die!

They’re getting closer to graduation, and some of them have to start worrying about their futures. Blue and Adam have to start worrying, in particular. Blue realizes that her family just doesn’t have the finances for her to go to any school that she’s interested in, and Adam has to worry about finances now. That’s going to cause problems. Adam’s father is a jerk too… more problems.

And then we have another villain, of course.

I don’t want to give out any spoilers, but I will say that, even though I borrowed most of the books from this series from the library, I bought The Raven King. I think it was because the library didn’t have it immediately available and I didn’t want to wait. And you’re going to want to finish this series too, because the book ends in a semi-significant cliffhanger. Blue Lily, Lily Blue does wrap up a lot of its issues, but more are coming. You’ll want to have the next book available if at all possible. At any rate, this is a great series and I wanted to continue reading straight through this one.

I have reviewed the earlier books in this series:

The Dream Thieves

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The Dream Thieves cover

2019 has been a pretty good reading year. One of the books I got to read this year was The Dream Thieves, the second book in The Raven Cycle. This book centers around Ronan. Before we continue, this book contains spoilers for The Raven Boys (link is to that review). So don’t read on if you haven’t read the first book and don’t want spoilers for it.

Okay, so now that we only have people that have read book 1 or are okay with spoilers, let’s continue. The Dream Thieves focuses on Ronan, whom we discovered can take things out of dreams. Being a dreamer can be dangerous, we find out in this book. A treacherous man is searching for him. Although they’re sometimes wild and uncontrollable, Ronan learns how to better harness his dream power in this book.

In addition to Ronan’s dreams, The Dream Thieves further unfolds the drama surrounding Blue and the true love she’ll kill when she kisses him. From the first book, we know who is destined to be Blue’s true love, although she’s with Adam. She won’t kiss him because she doesn’t want to kill him, but she doesn’t want to tell him about her curse either. There is a little bit of kissing in this book (not Blue and Adam though). Nobody dies from kissing yet. You’ll have to read on in this series.

Aaaah! How will this end? Fortunately, since the entire series is out, you don’t have to wait to find out. I loved this book and this series. These characters are great. The book is humorous. I wrote down more than two pages of quotes and reactions from this book in my book journal, including passages like:

Matthew Lynch was a golden, indiscriminate pit into which the world threw food.

The Dream Thieves, p. 170

This book makes you want to keep reading more. Will Blue realize who her true love is? How will that work out? Will Ronan be safe? And they’re still looking for the Welsh king… will Gansey find him and get his wish?

Oh, and you’ll be glad you don’t have to wait another year to read the next book. You might want to be prepared to read that right after this one.

If you liked The Raven Boys, then I highly recommend you continue on with The Dream Thieves. Especially if you like Ronan (but who doesn’t like them all?). It has magic, romantic drama, family drama, killers with a soft side to them, rich private school drama, and more.

My review of the first book in the series, The Raven Boys, is available here.

Call Down the Hawk

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Call Down the Hawk cover

Happy Thanksgiving! One of the books I’m thankful I had the chance to read this month was Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater. It is a new series that takes place after The Raven Boys tetralogy. You don’t need to read that series first, but you’ll probably enjoy this new series more if you read that one first.

Ronan Lynch, as you might recall, has the ability to take things from his dreams. They’re not always things that make sense in real life: as an example, electronics that don’t need to be plugged in. When he was a little boy, he dreamed up a baby brother for himself. His own mother was dreamed up, by his father, who was also a dreamer.

It turns out, there are several dreamers out there. There’s also a group of people that are out there killing dreamers. The hunters think they are saving the world by killing these dreamers.

We meet more of these characters that can dream in this book. We also meet the people that are hunting down the dreamers. At first, the book is disjointed in a way, with the dreamers and the hunted living separate lives, but at the end of the book, they find their way to each other. And Ronan has to save himself — and his family — from these killers.

While in the same universe, Call Down the Hawk is different from The Raven Boys. Adam, Gansey, and Blue play very small roles in this book (even though Adam and Ronan are still together). The book seems to be slightly less YA. It’s still good, but it’s different. There’s more pieces to puzzle together in this series. At the end of this book, there are still unanswered questions (which you’ll need to read the second book in the series to find the answers to).

Overall, I recommend Call Down the Hawk, especially if you liked The Raven Boys. There were parts of this book where I was rolling with laughter. Plus the Lynch Brothers are great. I’m thankful that I finally got around to reading Maggie Stiefvater’s books, including this one, this year.

The Queen of Nothing

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments
Queen of Nothing cover

The Queen of Nothing came out last week and… it was so good! If you’ve read The Wicked King, then you know that the ending of that story left you needing this book. If you haven’t read The Wicked King, I recommend you go read it before you read this review, because it will contain spoilers.

Jude is living with her sister in the mortal world now. She might be used to living in the fairy world, but now she has the same problems as the rest of us mundanes. She has no skills and no status with the government either. So to earn money, she’s been taking odd jobs from a fairy.

All of this changes when Taryn shows up at her doorstep. Jude has to return to fairy to protect her identical twin–and then becomes embroiled in fairy politics once again. I don’t want to give away much more than that, but I will say that the cover of this book is perfect for the story.

What I Liked:

What I like most about the Folk of the Air trilogy, including this book, is Holly Black’s voice. She has a style of writing that draws you in. I love the world she paints and the characters she creates. Plus, I love Jude and Cardan. These books have been criticized in the past as portraying their relationship as toxic, but both characters were toxic. In The Queen of Nothing, both the characters grow and so does their relationship.

I can’t think of anything I disliked. The Folk of the Air books tend to run on the shorter side of fantasy books, but they can easily be read in a day or two. Ms. Black doesn’t pad the books to make the book longer.

Conclusion:

Should you read The Queen of Nothing? If you read the first two books, then yes, probably. There’s a lot less toxicity between Jude and Cardan in this book. If you live for that in this series, then you might not want to rush this to the top of your TBR. I loved this book, however, and will definitely want to give this series a reread at some point.

Other books in the Folk of the Air Series:

Reverie

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Reverie cover

I recently had the opportunity to read Ryan La Sala’s Reverie. I have to thank Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an advanced reader copy.

This book has a strong beginning. Kane is trying to piece his life back together after he was found, nearly drowned, near a river. In addition, he may be in trouble with the police. What can be more exciting than that?

As Kane is trying to put his life back together, he discovers that there were people he was close to prior to his memory loss. Or at least, that’s what they tell him. He’s having difficulty figuring out who to trust and he’s a big ball of confusion. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, for me, this book then tries to do too much. Kane finds himself in a “reverie”, which is like a dream that’s been turned into reality. Everybody around the dreamer gets sucked into these reveries. Most people don’t realize what’s going on, but Kane (and a few other people) are lucid during these reveries, and have to make sure that they go smoothly. If they don’t, people can get hurt in real life (I think).

The book is very imaginative. It is pretty cool, seeing what sort of dreams people come up with, and how Kane and his friends move them along. However, these reveries start coming while Kane is still trying to figure out what happened, has the police breathing down his neck, and… for me it was a little overwhelming.

The characters in Reverie were well done. Kane isn’t always the nicest guy in the world, but he’s a consistent character. His sister, Sophia, seems like the nosy (realistic) little sister type. Plus there are friends and a main antagonist. One of the characters, Poesy, is quite the interesting addition to the small town where this book takes place.

There were a few loose ends in this book for me. What happened with the police? It didn’t really explain how they stopped pursuing his case. Also, the characters at the end of the book seem to still be in some danger, and I was still a little worried about them.

While this wasn’t the book for me, I do think there will be a lot of people that will like it. It was imaginative and different. Being La Sala’s debut, I think as an author he has a lot of potential. Reverie doesn’t come out until December 3rd, but you can pre-order it now.

The Shadowhunter’s Codex

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments
The Shadowhunter's Codex

I read The Shadowhunter’s Codex all the way back in August (which really wasn’t that long ago but feels that way when the world has been shut down due to snow). It originally didn’t seem that exciting, but I saw some pictures of the inside and decided to read it after all. It was not like I expected. If you’re looking for something Shadowhunter to read while you’re waiting for Chain of Gold to come out in a little more than four months, you might want to check this one out.

The Shadowhunter’s Codex reads like a D&D Manual. It’s supposed to be the book that’s given to all new Shadowhunters. I know, that really doesn’t sound all that exciting. However, this book has been read (and commented in) by Clary, Simon, and Jace. That is what makes this book fun to read.

If you love the Shadowhunters books, then you’ll probably find the information on demons, Shadowhunter history, and the like to be interesting, but some of that might be review. Clary’s drawings and the three teenagers’ comments back and forth to each other throughout the book make this book worth reading though. They all have different handwriting, so it’s easy to tell who’s writing what.

Would I read The Shadowhunter’s Codex before I read any other books in the Shadowhunter’s universe? Absolutely not. The book assumes you know who Clary, Jace, and Simon are, and care about what they think. You could probably read and enjoy this book if you’ve read The Mortal Instruments. I’d probably read all of the main series before you read this one though. While it’s an enjoyable book, it doesn’t contribute to the overall Shadowhunter’s story arc and should probably be read after you’ve read all the main books in this universe.

Song of the Crimson Flower

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Song of the Crimson Flower cover

I recently had the privilege of reading Song of the Crimson Flower by Julie C. Dao. I have to thank Bookish First and Philomel Books for the Advanced Reader Copy. If you’d like to get physical ARCs for review, it’s a great place. If you use referal code 56cf541090ca608b4 you can start earning free books and help me at the same time!

Song of the Crimson Flower was a beautiful book. Lan is in love with a boy, Tam, who seems reluctant to marry her (but he’s very romantic). Bao is an orphan boy who works for Tam’s father as a physician’s assistant. He’s been in love with Lan for years, but his lack of social status and shyness have made him reluctant to tell her.

After a brush with death reminds Bao of how short life is, he decides to tell Lan the truth. She harshly rejects him. After he runs away, Lan feels bad for how she treated him, but by that point, he’s been magicked into his flute. He has a body only if someone he loves touches him periodically. The only way for Bao to break the spell is for him to find someone to love him in return within two weeks.

I loved these characters. Bao is such a soft, squishy, cinnamon roll boy and I can’t help but want good things for him. Lan is a sweet girl too, although like everyone, she can sometimes make mistakes. There’s also an evil antagonist who’s the hero of her own story, along with other people that they meet along the way who have their own wants and desires. Ms. Dao does a wonderful job creating complex characters that you can’t help but love.

The setting was unique and complex. Song of the Crimson Flower is a companion to the Rise of the Empress series, which I have not read. My guess is that I would enjoy this book more had I read the other two books in the series, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and Kingdom of a Blazing Phoenix, first, but I didn’t. You don’t have to read the other two books to enjoy this one though. I suspect that the two other books in this series contributes to the lifelikeness of this setting.

The book has a good message to it. Don’t let society’s expectations cause you to be pushed into a lifetime of unhappiness. While you may think that you can figure out the ending just by reading the synopsis, there is a twist to it that I particularly enjoyed (but won’t give away here).

If you’re looking for a sweet love story in a beautiful fantasy setting, I highly recommend Song of the Crimson Flower. Although it was the first book I read by Julie C. Dao, it certainly won’t be the last. I will probably go read the other books in the series and read other books she writes in the future. The book hasn’t been released yet, but will be available on November 5th.

The Bear and the Nightingale

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The Bear and the Nightingale cover

Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale is a story that reminds me of cold winter nights in front of a fire — which is why, after reading this book in April (when we were still receiving snowstorms in Colorado) that I thought it probably wouldn’t be a great idea to publish this review in July. This is a cold-weather tale.

The Bear and the Nightingale is set in early Russia, which is what drew me to the story in the first place. Some of the characters and places in the story were real, and the folklore is distinctly Russian as well, allowing you to immerse yourself into the life of an early Russian boyar family (boyars were wealthy landowners). Despite the characters being wealthy for their day, compared to the modern day, it feels very rural and peasant-like.

Vasilisa is the youngest daughter of one of these boyars, but she’s not like the other girls. She has the ability to see and communicate with the spirit world. She’s not interested in the two main career options available for young ladies at the time: marriage or life as a nun.

Her stepmother rejects the old folk religion in favor of Russian Orthodox Christianity. When a new priest comes to the village, he convinces the villagers to give up their old ways and to stop paying homage to the old spirits. This ends up having disastrous affects on the village. People end up blaming Vasilisa. She has to decide exactly what she wants, even if it means she has to risk even her life to get it.

The Bear and the Nightingale has this beautiful fairy-tale quality to it. It has the slow pacing of a medieval villager’s life, with gorgeous prose that evokes a life vastly different than our own. Yet, amongst the superstition and the harsh realities of village life, there’s the shining Vasilisa, who has the kind of determination and strength that was probably rare to see in that era.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for a book that will evoke a long ago era, with a strong female character fighting a system built by overbearing men, you might like this book. It’s the kind of book that you want to read while sitting next to a fire while the snow softly falls outside the window.

While I thought the book was beautiful and I loved the main protagonist, it’s not a book I’m likely to gush about for the next several years. Still, I enjoyed it enough that I’d like to read the second book — probably sometime after the snows start falling again this winter.

Shadow Frost

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Shadow Frost cover

I recently finished reading Shadow Frost by Coco Ma. Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an Advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. It was really good… for a book that was written when the author was fifteen years old. While I enjoyed it overall, it wasn’t on the same level as a lot of my favorite books are.

The concept of this book is great. Asterin is a princess with a bit of fiestiness to her. When it’s discovered that a demon is running rampant through the kingdom, she volunteers to go, along with her best friend and four other guards. While out there, they discover that someone is trying to kill them. Asterin is a fairly powerful magic user and excellent swordswoman.

The biggest problem I had with this book was believability. Yes, I realize this is a fantasy book, so obviously you have to suspend reality on a bunch of things, but there are still universal elements we share in the human condition.

When Asterin’s mother, the queen, provides her with guards from another country, Asterin doesn’t seem to be suspicious. At all. I certainly would be. I did a foreign exchange with the Australian Navy once, but I certainly wasn’t guarding the Prime Minister’s daughter. Who lets new guards from a far-away country guard the princess? Furthermore, one of the guards decided to call the princess “brat” almost from the beginning. I think it’s meant to be witty banter, but could you imagine a foreign guard coming to protect Prince William when he was 17 or so and having the guard call him “brat” to his face? I can’t.

The love relationships didn’t seem believable either. The characters seemed to be sending mixed signals to each other. Is there a love triangle developing? Are they jealous of each other? Does she like him? Wait, what, he likes him? The characters that were supposed to be into each other didn’t seem to have a lot of chemistry between each other at the start. I couldn’t believe the depth of love that the characters were supposed to have for each other so quickly either. I’m not an opponent of instalove or insta-infatuation, but I just didn’t feel it here.

In Shadow Frost, a group of adventurers travel to attack the bad guy. It reminded me a bit of the Dragonlance books in that respect (which I loved). The plot had a bit of mystery to it, although I felt the author revealed some things a bit too early. The book had some plot twists, and I wasn’t sure who was who until we were almost at the end.

Overall, Shadow Frost was a solid debut for a teenage author. I didn’t dislike the book, but I’m not going to include it among my favorites either. I’m not sure if I will continue reading this series (so many books, so little time), but I would consider reading more books by Coco Ma in the future.