All posts in Fantasy

Queen of Air and Darkness Changes Everything

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Queen of Air and Darkness cover

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare is the last book of The Dark Artifices series. At 880 pages, this is a monster book. To be honest, it could have probably been two books instead of one. Other than the fact that it was really long and a little exhausting to read (of course, it didn’t help that I read three very long Shadowhunters books in the 9 days prior to starting this book), I loved it.

Thar be spoilers in this book review! Don’t proceed any farther if you don’t want some major spoilers for The Dark Artifices, and perhaps some spoilers for The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices.

When we last left the Shadowhunters, they were in the Clave meeting where Livvy was stabbed. This probably was really frustrating to people reading Lord of Shadows right after it came out, but for those of us who don’t have to wait, we can find out what happens right away. At any rate, Ty is devastated. He doesn’t want to accept her death, and tries to raise her back from the dead. Kit, his best friend, doesn’t want him to do this, but he goes along with his plans, hoping that Ty is going to come to his senses.

The corrupted Nazi-esque Clave is on a rampage, trying to silence anybody that disagrees with them. The people that know the truth are trying to stop them, but for a lot of Queen of Air and Darkness, I had to wonder how they were going to be stopped.

I love the ships in this book. Emma and Julian know that being in love as parabatai is dangerous, but there really isn’t anything they can do about it. They try to stay away from each other, but good luck with that. Christina realizes that she has a thing for both Mark and Kieran, in probably the most interesting love triangle I’ve seen. Both of these storylines will resolve in this book, and we have to wait until The Wicked Powers books come out to see more of them together.

You would think that you’ve seen everything in the world, but you haven’t. Clare continues to add to her world, and we are introduced to the land of Thule in this story: an alternate world where Clary died during the Dark War and the land turns very… dark. Here we are introduced to some alternate versions of characters we already know, like Thule Jace and Thule Sebastian, and another character I won’t mention because spoilers.

There’s a lot to Queen of Air and Darkness and the end of this book changes everything. It doesn’t leave you with a completely massive cliffhanger where you’re going to be upset for the next three years until you can read The Wicked Powers, but after reading this, you’ll know that nothing in the Shadowhunter world you’ve known about so far is going to stay the same.

There’s a lot more to look forward to in The Wicked Powers, whenever it comes out, but until then, there will be plenty of new titles coming out first. These books are so densely packed that I might want to do a reread between now and then. With the size of these massive books, that could take a while.

Lord of Shadows Rules

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Lord of Shadows cover

Right before Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness came out, I had a marathon read of her last books, including Lord of Shadows. It’s the second book in The Dark Artifices series, and I highly recommend it.

Because this book is the second book in the series, there may be spoilers. Also, since the Shadowhunters books tend to build on one another, I also recommend that you start these books with City of Bones (although not my favorite).

There’s a lot going on in this book (which is probably why it’s a whopping 699 pages). But there are certain things that stand out.

The Clave has gone rogue again. Is that any surprise? Some of the people in charge truly remind me of Nazis. They are also quite crafty. If you oppose them, it can’t be good for you. Although a huge plot involves finding The Black Volume of the Dead, because it would be dangerous if it gets in the wrong hands, the Clave’s action keeps the plot driving in the background for the whole story.

The ships in this story are twisty and complicated. Emma and Julian are parabatai and aren’t supposed to be in love, of course, but you can’t really deny your feelings. They certainly try though. Emma decides to conjure a fake relationship with Mark that backfires, because he starts to fall for someone else. Emma and Julian know that something drastic has to be done, but there seem to be no good choices.

The platonic relationships in this story are fantastic as well. I love Kit and Ty together, and I’d love to see them become parabatai in The Wicked Powers series. Then of course Ty and Livvy are close. Dru is going through her own difficulties as being too old to feel like a child, yet not old enough to be thought of as an adult.

The characters spend a lot of time in Faerie in Lord of Shadows. The plot revolves heavily in this area. I love how, even after 10 books, there are always new places to explore in the Shadowhunter’s world.

And the ending! I don’t want to spoil it, but it ends in quite a cliffhanger. Fortunately, I finished this book the day Queen of Air and Darkness arrived, so I didn’t have to wait. After finishing Lord of Shadows, you’ll probably want to dive right into QOAAD, so get them both at the same time if you can.

Overall, this was a great book that I highly recommend. Just get QOAAD at the same time!

Lady Midnight Begins a New Day

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Lady Midnight cover

I went on a Cassandra Clare marathon read right before Queen of Air and Darkness came out. Lady Midnight, of course, is the first book in the most recent of her series, The Dark Artifices.

It’s interesting to see how Young Adult books have changed over the last 18 years or so. You can do that over the course of the Shadowhunter’s Chronicles. Lady Midnight originally came out in 2016. Compare that with City of Bones and you’ll see a huge difference in how YA literature has changed. Not only has Cassandra Clare improved as an author, but what is permitted in a YA book has changed as well.

I could tell when I read the final books of The Mortal Instruments that Emma and Julian should not become parabatai. They did, however, because they didn’t want to be apart from each other. I love them as a couple. Maybe not as much as Clary and Jace or Will and Tessa, but they’re great together anyway. But they’re not supposed to be.

In this story, people are starting to show up dead, and Emma thinks that these deaths might have to do with her parents. The Shadowhunters have to figure out what’s going on — before it’s too late. Complications arise in this story (of course). The Cold Peace is still going on with the fairies, and they send Julian’s brother Mark back — temporarily. If they figure out who’s behind the murders, Mark will be able to choose whether he want’s to stay with his family, or return to the Wild Hunt.

There are so many things I loved about this book. One of the things I thought was well done was the setting, which was Los Angeles. I went to USC, so I know the place well. I loved how well the setting was done.

We have new characters in this book! Cristina is Emma’s new friend from Mexico, Kit is a boy with the sight that finds out he’s actually a shadowhunter, and Mark (although not new) returns from fairie a changed person. We’ve met the Blackthorns before, but it’s been a few years, and they’ve grown up since then.

Lady Midnight was an excellent start to The Dark Artifices and I highly recommend it.

Dragons!

By Brookelorren on 12 Comments
Fangirling on Friday

For today’s edition of Fangirling on Friday, we’re discussing Dragons! Fangirling on Friday is hosted by Books in the Skye!

There haven’t been a lot of books with dragons lately that I’ve seen lately, but if I was to predict the future, I’d say that dragons will be making a comeback soon. Whenever people mention The Priory of the Orange Tree, one of the first things I hear people get excited about is the dragon on the cover. I think people want to read about dragons.

I hope that’s the case, because there is a dragon in my book. And I expect there to be lots of dragons in the second book. I’m still finishing up the first draft of the first book, so we’ll see what goes on with those dragons. A lot can change between the first draft and the finished product.

Anyway, I’ve been fangirling over books with dragons for a long time. For me, when I think about books with dragons in them, I think of Dragonlance. There’s about 100 books in this series (and spinoffs), and I’ve read the majority of them.

Dragonlance has a special place in my heart. When I had known my then-boyfriend for about two months, he gave me Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Guys, the way to a girl’s heart is books. Or at least it should be. I had to marry him a couple of years later, of course. We named our kids after Dragonlance characters. My daughter is lucky she was born in Italy, because otherwise we would have named her Lauralanthalasa. We were afraid they’d mess up the birth certificate though, so she got the nickname of Laurana instead.

Hopefully we’ll see more dragon books soon, but until then, there’s Dragonlance, Priory (coming out February 26th) and The Song of Ice and Fire (which I don’t recommend to younger readers).

Do you like books with dragons?

Next week: Favorite Nicknames of characters. I’m not sure what I’ll do with that one, but I’ll probably think of something.

Clockwork Angel was Heavenly

By Brookelorren on 4 Comments
Clockwork Angel cover

In 2018, I read the main books (so far) in the Shadowhunter’s Chronicles. All of them. After finishing City of Heavenly Fire, I didn’t think that I would be interested in another ship as much as I was in Clary and Jace’s. I was so disappointed to finish that series, but I wanted to find out what happened next. I was wonderfully surprised when I read Clockwork Angel and discovered how lovely that was.

When Tessa Gray arrives in England from America, she is in for a surprise. Instead of her brother waiting for her, there is a coachman. The dreams she may have had of the city are replaced with nightmares. She is kidnapped, forced to learn how to shapeshift (she didn’t know she could do that before) and then is told that she is supposed to marry someone called The Magister. Huh? But then, lucky for her, the Shadowhunters show up and save her. But that’s not the end of her adventures.

I think it’s at this point in the story where I begin to fall in love with the whole Shadowhunter’s series, because I start to fall in love with these new characters and with the Shadowhunters of London. There are characters here that we already know, like Magnus Bane, and I begin to be amazed at how the London Institute and what happens here has a history that is seamless with The Mortal Instruments, which I just read.

I love the characters here, and the relationships. Will Herondale has a love for books and reminds me a lot of his descendant Jace. Tessa seems to see through his self-disparaging attitude. Jem is kind and has a love for violin playing. Then there’s Charlotte and her absentminded genius of a husband, Henry, who invents things that don’t always seem to work as planned.

Even though Tessa has been rescued by Will and Jem, the Magister is a threat. Plus, he has her brother. Will they be able to take down the Magister and rescue her brother? You’ll have to read this book to find out what happens. As you do, you’ll see Tessa become the brave person she was meant to be, discover that some villains you didn’t expect, and become immersed in London of the late 1870s.

Clockwork Angel convinced me that I needed to read all the core Shadowhunters books. While reading this series, I went ahead and bought Lady Midnight (which was on sale at the time) and pre-ordered Queen of Air and Darkness. Because I wanted to read all of them at that point. When I finished this book, I was impatient to read the next book in the series, Clockwork Prince.

The Wicked King was Diabolically Good

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
The Wicked King cover

The Wicked King, by Holly Black, was sitting in my mailbox yesterday, and after reading The Cruel Prince, I had to read it right away. It was an un-putdownable book. After finishing it, my first question was “How long until the next Folk of the Air book again?” The next book, The Queen of Nothing, can’t come soon enough, if you ask me.

Because The Wicked King is the second book in a trilogy, there may be spoilers for The Cruel Prince in this review.

When we last left Jude and Cardan, Jude had managed to place Cardan on the throne as High King of Faerie. It was a scheme to eventually put her brother Oak on the throne while keeping her foster father, Madoc, from having control of the realm. Instead, she was actually the one in control, with Cardan as her puppet king. When we join them at the beginning of this book, Jude is acting as Cardan’s seneschal, and he has to do anything that she commands.

The two are no longer enemies in school. They spend their days running a kingdom where its inhabitants have to be truthful, even if they are scheming and deceptive. They still see themselves as enemies, but they have to work together nonetheless.

And they still just happen to have this weird attraction to each other. Which I love from a reader’s perspective.

It’s been five months since Cardan pledged to be obedient to Jude, and she can feel the months trickling away. Sooner than she’d like, he will be released from his promise, and he can do what he’d like again. Oak still won’t be old enough to rule. What then? Jude is concerned about all of this, when threats come to her, Cardan, and Oak from the Queen of the Undersea. She wants him to marry her daughter, Nicasia. And that’s all I’m going to say, because you’ll want to find out what happens for yourself.

The book was well-written. The prose slides through your mind like you’re watching a movie, and you forget it’s even there. Ms. Black brings the characters and the setting to life, and even though it was getting late as I read this, I just could not put it down. It’s almost as if I was in Faerie dancing: once you start, you can’t stop until it’s over.

At the same time, the ending! It was a little unexpected, but I absolutely loved it. It didn’t exactly end in a cliffhanger, but I wanted more. Immediately. I must have the next book!

Needless to say, I highly recommend The Wicked King. It’s the best book that I’ve finished all year (so far). Never mind that it’s January 9th and I’ve only finished three books. I have a good feeling that The Wicked King will end up on the list of my favorite books of 2019 anyway.

So when does The Queen of Nothing come out?  Because we needs it!  I will definitely try to get an ARC of the next book, because I need to find out what happens as soon as I can!

The Cruel Prince Is Magical

By Brookelorren on 8 Comments
Cruel Prince Cover

One of the most popular books of 2018 (according to Goodreads readers) was Holly Black’s book, The Cruel Prince.  I had to wait forever for it to become available on my library’s waiting list, and it was so good, I ended up buying the hardcover during Amazon’s Black Friday sale anyway.

The book drew me in right from the beginning.  The text was inviting, and the book starts with… a murder.  From there, the story continues to stay interesting.

The story revolves around a set of sisters.  The oldest, Vivi, was half faerie.  The two younger twins, Jude and Taryn, are human.  After their parents are murdered by Vivi’s biological father, they are taken to live in faerie.

Jude and Taryn don’t exactly fit in.  The prince, Cardan, along with his friends, treat them cruelly.  Despite this, Jude wants to be a warrior among the faerie.  She has the temperament for it.

The king is expected to pass on his throne, and several of his children are conspiring to get it.  As with a lot of transitions of power, this one might come with some surprises.  Jude becomes involved in one conspiracy, only to find that her father is involved in some shady dealings of his own.  You won’t want to put down this book as you find out what happens.

There were a lot of things that I loved about this book.  First, the writing is great.  It’s hard to explain why, I just could feel how it drew me in.  Second, the setting and characters were great.  I haven’t read too many books set in faerie, but that didn’t matter, reading this book.  The characters weren’t flat good-guy or bad-guy types; they all had a little of both to them, just like real life.  The plot was also great.

The Cruel Prince was one of my favorite books from 2018 for a reason.  I’m looking forward to reading The Wicked King when it comes out as well.

The Gilded Wolves

By Brookelorren on 6 Comments
The Gilded Wolves cover

I recently finished reading The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. There were things about this book that I absolutely loved, and I do plan on reading the second book, but overall, it was not my favorite book. I was fortunate that I was able to get an advanced review copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Gilded Wolves is set in Paris in 1889. Séverin is trying to reclaim his lost inheritance. He has a set of friends that are helping him get it, but as they steal (or “acquire”) the objects necessary to prove who he is, they end up running into trouble and get in way over their heads. They also run into enemies that are trying to destroy the order of things (and not in a good way).

First, what I loved about this book:

  • I love the setting. It is set in Paris in the late 1800s, about 100 years after the French revolution. Ms. Chokshi makes you feel like you’re there. I love history, so I love the details included here.
  • I love the characters. This book features several characters that have gotten together, and they all have their different quirks and motivation. Zofia is mathematically inclined and would probably be seen as having Asperger’s in a contemporary book, Séverin and Laila pine for each other but mutually agree to stay away from each other, Tristan is Séverin’s loyal friend… these guys are all great and likable in their own ways, even though they’re thieves.
  • The magic system is wonderful and well thought out. Behind the history that we know of, there is a group of powerful people that control these magical artifacts that all have different properties. They’re great, and I love how they’re integrated into the world that we do know.

Even though I can say all these wonderful things about this book, and I can say that I enjoyed it, it took me a while to read. I’m not sure why. I think maybe it was a little bit too long and detailed.  There may have been a little too many twists and turns for my taste.  I will probably read the second book, because I do want to find out what happens to these characters (and there’s a relationship that I’d like to see lead somewhere), but it’s not going to be a book that I pre-order months in advance, like I will with Chain of Gold and Legend 4.

All Hail The Girl King!

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments
The Girl King cover

January is going to be a great month for new book releases. One of the books that you might be excited to read is The Girl King by Mimi Yu. I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lu is the oldest of two siblings. She was raised from birth to be a warrior. Her younger sister, Min, has always been shy and mousy. When her ailing father decides to name Lu’s cousin, Set, as the next emperor, and decides that Lu and her cousin should be betrothed, the whole kingdom goes into an uproar.

A short distance away, Nok is growing up as an apprentice to a grandfather-like figure. When he runs into Lu and discovers that he has a gift that he didn’t know about before, his world suddenly changes.

I loved this book. For one thing, the setting was great. It was in this Asian setting that was a lot like China, but magical. You could imagine the layout of the capital city, as well as the larger layout of the entire country. There were lakes and magical places that weren’t hard to visualize at all.

Another component I liked about the book was the characters. For a time, I wasn’t sure which characters I was supposed to like. They all had some sort of charm about them, as well as their weaknesses. I could see the character growth in Lu, Nok, and Min, even though some of them didn’t develop in the most wholesome of ways. You’ll have to read the book to find out who you don’t want to root for, because I’m not giving away spoilers.

The writing was great as well. While this wasn’t a book that I absolutely couldn’t put down and kept me awake when I should have been sleeping, the writing sucked me in.

The Girl King is part of a series, and I have already added the second book to my Goodreads to-read shelf. This book won’t be released until January 8th, but you can pre-order it now. I’m glad I was able to read the ARC, because The Wicked King comes out that day too. Which do you read first? Tough choice.

Crow Flight Soared

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

Crow Flight CoverRecently, I read Crow Flight by Susan Cunningham.  The description looked interesting.  “The curious flight patterns of crows lead a teen computer programmer down a path of mystery and romance.”  Just like earlier this year, when The Kiss Quotient had me at math (LOL), Crow Flight had me at computers.  I majored in computer science in college, and have been programming computers since fifth grade, so I immediately had something in common with the protagonist of this book.

I was fortunate enough to have been given an advanced reader copy of Crow Flight in exchange for an honest review.

Gin is a computer genius who’s starting her senior year of high school.  She loves computers, especially computer modeling.  She’s taking a computer modeling class with a world-class teacher this year, and hopes that excelling in the class will help her get into Harvard.  When she is paired up in her computer modeling class with Felix, the cute new boy, their model on the flights of crows uncovers something unexpected and potentially dangerous.

I loved this story.  Not only could I identify with Gin on the whole computer thing, I could also identify with her and her feelings for Felix.  She likes him, but there couldn’t possibly be any way that he’d like her, right?  He’s rich, popular, and other girls like him.
The does he like me or doesn’t he is only part of this wonderful storyline.  Gin has a friend that she’s always hanging out with, and their friendship is strained when boys get in the way.  There’s also the mystery about the crow model itself.  While a computer model on crow flight patterns might not sound interesting, it is when there’s potentially a crime involved.  While I did guess some of what was going on, it didn’t ruin the story for me.

You’ll just have to read this book if you want to find out what happens between Gin and Felix, or what kind of trouble the crow model gets out heroine into, but you won’t be disappointed if you do.

I can’t really think of anything I didn’t like about this book.  Maybe the only downside about Crow Flight is that it’s not getting the hype that it deserves.  I highly recommend this book, and hope that more people find out about it.