Young Adult

Review of The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

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Synopsis:
In Wisdom, Shelter. That’s the official motto of the Scholomance. I suppose you could even argue that it’s true—only the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelter’s rather scant. 
 
Our beloved school does its best to devour all its students—but now that I’ve reached my senior year and have actually won myself a handful of allies, it’s suddenly developed a very particular craving for me. And even if I somehow make it through the endless waves of maleficaria that it keeps throwing at me in between grueling homework assignments, I haven’t any idea how my allies and I are going to make it through the graduation hall alive. 
 
Unless, of course, I finally accept my foretold destiny of dark sorcery and destruction. That would certainly let me sail straight out of here. The course of wisdom, surely.
 
But I’m not giving in—not to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance. I’m going to get myself and my friends out of this hideous place for good—even if it’s the last thing I do.

With keen insight and mordant humor, Novik reminds us that sometimes it is not enough to rewrite the rules—sometimes, you need to toss out the entire rulebook.

The magic of the Scholomance trilogy continues in The Golden Enclaves

Review:
HOLY ENDING ON THE WORST POSSIBLE CLIFFHANGER EVER! If I were reading this before the series was finished, I would have immediately started bawling. These authors know how to draw you in and leave you NEEDING the next installment, which I will be starting as soon as I post this review.

This book featured so much more development of El as a person, and of the sorcerers and school. It’s interesting how the golden child and the prophesized bringer of doom have such different desires and needs, and again the question of nature versus nurture is brought up. Everything that happens is designed to draw in El and make her realize that there is more to life and people and magic and protecting the young than what the scholomance can provide. All in all, this book is a great continuation of the Scholomance legacy, and now I must immediately go and read beyond that haunting last line!

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯

Review of A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

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Synopsis:
I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life.

Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans.

I don’t need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts, I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, make myself the dark queen of the world.

At least, that’s what the world expects. Most of the other students in here would be delighted if Orion killed me like one more evil thing that’s crawled out of the drains. Sometimes I think they want me to turn into the evil witch they assume I am. The school certainly does.

But the Scholomance isn’t getting what it wants from me. And neither is Orion Lake. I may not be anyone’s idea of the shining hero, but I’m going to make it out of this place alive, and I’m not going to slaughter thousands to do it, either.

Although I’m giving serious consideration to just one.

Review:
This book has everything anyone who loves dark fantasy, YA, and magic schools would love. There are daring heroics, and the constant balance of good versus evil, and the paths/steps that must be taken to definitively choose one. From the beginning you’re left wondering if there’s anything redeeming about our protagonist but she immediately draws you in as the underdog. El is an exceedingly negative person, but she finds herself alone with no allies and insurmountable odds trying to do her best to not give in to people’s expectations of her and not get killed in the process. The problems she goes through, while severe, mirror what many feel and experience regularly when trying to fit in and find a place of their own where they can truly be seen, heard, and appreciated. There is a serious question of nature versus nurture, as she seems to inherently desire to do the wrong thing, but her mother has spent so much time teaching her a lighter path that she finds herself trying to stay on. That being said, while this book is from El’s perspective, Orion Lake, the first of which we hear of in the opening line of “I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life,” isn’t quite the glittering perfect hero he appears to be.

While the character depth and development are amazing, the scholomance, a special cylindric school, is quite unique and awesome as well. The school has rotating levels where freshman start at the top and every year you go down. In order to graduate you must go against a large selection of mals, evil magic creatures, and try to get out. A large part of the school’s job is to teach young sorcerers how to fight mal, but also how to actively do magic and whatever their affinity is. Some people, such as El, seem drawn to the dark and must make a choice about how they will continue. The power for magic can be drawn from two things: mana (energy you create) or malia (taking from others). This book could be compared to so many others, and yet, it stands completely on its own with a gothic brilliance that isn’t often seen or appreciated in YA.

All in all this book is amazing and I had to actually make myself come and write this before starting the next. The ending has stuck with me all day since I finished it this morning and I cannot wait to see what happens next!!!

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯

Review of Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

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Synopsis:
Andromeda is a debtera—an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. She would be hired, that is, if her mentor hadn’t thrown her out before she could earn her license. Now her only hope of steady work is to find a Patron—a rich, well-connected individual who will vouch for her abilities.

When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rorschach reaches out to hire her, she takes the job without question. Never mind that he’s rude and demanding and eccentric, that the contract comes with a number of outlandish rules… and that almost a dozen debtera had quit before her. If Andromeda wants to earn a living, she has no choice.

But she quickly realizes this is a job like no other, with horrifying manifestations at every turn, and that Magnus is hiding far more than she has been trained for. Death is the most likely outcome if she stays, the reason every debtera before her quit. But leaving Magnus to live out his curse alone isn’t an option because—heaven help her—she’s fallen for him.

Review:
This book was absolutely amazing! I was drawn in from the very beginning and couldn’t put it down and get enough. It was very much a gothic tale, and I loved the debtera angle. The layers within the story were awesome; I absolutely love Jember and Andromeda’s relationship because sometimes relationships aren’t always clean and pretty. I didn’t quite love Magnus. While he is quirky there was no real relationship development between Andromeda and Magnus, despite there being multiple times where shared trauma is eluded to, it is never spoken of at length/depth between them. I also quite enjoyed that this was about two different ethnicities and set in the desert- a unique setting and character/class set up.

While this is mentioned as a Jane Eyre retelling I very much liked that there are only very loose resemblances to the novel. While I did think this book was amazing and I couldn’t put it down, I did feel that the very ending was a bit flat and would have liked it to have more pomp and definition of what life looked like at the end, how things were settled between characters. That being said, this is great and you should definitely read it!

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯

Review of Castle of Dusk and Shadows by Rachel L. Schade

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Synopsis:
She’ll do anything to save her family—even marry a fae and face the dead.

Years ago, Elle Blackford’s parents made a desperate deal with the fae kingdom of Ashwood. While her mother and sisters reconciled themselves to a future among dangerous immortals, Elle and her father studied forbidden magic, hoping to find a loophole.

Until Elle’s father dies, forcing Elle’s sister to marry Prince Fitz, heir of Ashwood.

But Elle has a plan to change their fate. For she knows that ghosts wander Ashwood Forest until the royal family sends them into the afterlife. Ghosts that can be returned to life. And she’s determined to save her father from his premature death.

All she needs is powerful magic—magic Prince Fitz possesses.

Taking her sister’s place, Elle marries Prince Fitz to steal his power. But in a world of bloodthirsty fae and vengeful ghosts, being a mortal comes with constant risks. As Elle navigates a kingdom of monsters and tragic secrets, she realizes she might not survive to save her family.

And the key to her salvation might be her arrogant, cold husband—the one she’d planned to rob and abandon. If only she can trust him.


Pride and Prejudice meets Gothic fae fantasy in this loose retelling, full of plenty of romantic tension (not spice).

Review:
When you make bold claims that your novel is similar to Pride and Prejudice you better have the ability to back that up. Unfortunately, this book has a plot that loosely resembles some of Pride and Prejudice, but the order is wrong. While enemies to lovers is a great trope, Elle, despite being intelligent, spends so much time hating her husband, then learning about him, but is easily swayed to believe the worst despite knowing Fitz better than what she’s led to believe. In the counterpart, when Lizzy believes Darcy to be capable of horrible things via what she’s been told by Wickham, she didn’t know Darcy at all.

The storybuilding of fae magic is great, as is the idea of someone having to let ghosts pass on and having a glade of souls. The mystery was interesting, with enough hints given along the way for a reasonable person to have an inkling what is going on, just to have that idea dashed by clashing information, despite your heart KNOWING you weren’t wrong the first time. The characters were mostly well developed and had you rooting for their happily ever after. While there is some spice, it isn’t over the top; nothing above kissing.

Overall, a cute, quick read, but The House Witch was a tough act to follow.

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯

Review of A Bond of Broken Glass by T. A. Lawrence

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Synopsis:
The shoe fits, but she’s no Cinderella.

Ellie knows what she wants in life:

  1. Open a glassblowing shop in the art district.
  2. See her father retire.
  3. Marry for love. (If she can find someone who can keep up, that is).




Winning the fae prince’s heart doesn’t make the list.

So when Prince Evander throws a ball to find a human bride, Ellie respectfully declines. And when she reads the morning paper and discovers the prince danced the night away with a mysterious stranger, only for the woman to flee at the stroke of midnight, Ellie can’t help but laugh.

Until she learns the mystery girl left behind a glass slipper.

Ellie’s glass slipper. From the set that went missing from Ellie’s workshop.

So when the idiotic prince decides it’s a good idea to use the slipper to identify the love of his life (because, you know, no two women could possibly share the same shoe size), Ellie doesn’t hesitate to prove the slipper is hers.

Little does she know there’s been a modification to her work of art. The prince may or may not have attached a fae bargain to the shoe, and when Ellie places it on her foot, she finds herself both legally and magically betrothed to the very prince she detests.

Not that Prince Evander is thrilled about the situation, either. After all, he’d thought the shoe would only fit Cinderella.

Together, the unhappy couple must discover a way to break the fae bond, but there’s danger along the way.

And what’s more dangerous than falling in love with someone whose heart belongs to another?

Hilarious and filled with witty banter, this not-so-retelling of Cinderella takes a fresh spin on the classic tale, pairing the dangerous politics of Alondria with the swoon-worthy chemistry of a romantic comedy. A Bond of Broken Glass is the third in a series of interconnected standalones, but you just might recognize a few faces along the way.

Review:
Evander and Ellie are absolutely perfect! There’s danger, a mystery, and a very surprising reveal of who was behind all at the end. We see both Evander and Ellie mature during the story, from fairy tales and belief that hard work is all it takes to have all you want in life to realizing that determination may be able to do much, but you have to work with what fate puts in your path. I absolutely adored the characters in this; they were truly perfect. While the King is NOT my favourite person, Queen Evangeline more than makes up for how turbulent the King can be. The absolute end I had not suspected at all and found it was positively perfect. This book has been my favourite so far in the series; in part because I absolutely loved Ellie’s no nonsense attitude and that she wasn’t just going to give in to Evander because he was a prince, despite whatever complications might arise by trying to be contrary (here’s looking at you, fae bargain!) One of my favourite parts was when she thought, of course Evander just assumes everyone has a faerie godmother!! I am very much looking forward to reading the next two books in the series. Great job, T. A. Lawrence!

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯

Review of A Word so Fitly Spoken by T. A. Lawrence

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Synopsis:
One stunning bride.
One wedding.
One night with the king.
One execution come morning.
Rinse and repeat.

When the fae king of Naenden returns home to his palace only to find that his human queen has committed treason by conspiring to assassinate him, he has the queen executed and decrees that once every mooncycle, he’ll marry a human woman from the kingdom, only to execute her the following morning.

Unless…

Unless one woman offers herself as a sacrificial bride for the rest.

Asha isn’t worried about being chosen, of course. The decree was quite clear about beauty being among the top criteria for being selected as one of the king’s unfortunate brides. And Asha is no beauty, all thanks to the illegal magic that inhabits her body, leaving her scarred and missing an eye. The same magic that occasionally possesses her voice so it can amuse itself by telling a never-ending story with a string of horrible cliffhangers.

The problem is, Asha might not be a beauty, but her sister Dinah is. When Asha realizes Dinah is in danger of being selected as the king’s sacrificial bride, Asha decides she can’t live with that risk. So she offers herself instead.

Except on the night of their wedding, the king grants Asha a final request.

Naturally, she asks to tell her sister one last bedtime story.

Naturally, the king eavesdrops.

The question is…

Will the story save her life…or ruin it?

A tale of love and betrayal, vengeance and sacrifice, magic and romance, this imaginative retelling of 1,001 Nights will keep you guessing with each turn of the page.

Review:
I would start off by calling this a very different fairy tale retelling. You know that you’re caught up in a fairy tale given the description, but the place, characters, and story really suck you in. Most fairy tales are left open- there aren’t many details and set things, that way they can adapt and change while keeping the same lessons no matter when and where they are told. That being said, the reader is deeply immersed in the world Lawrence designed, quickly enraptured by the unique magic system, balance between fae and human, and between the rich and poor. While the fairy tale itself might have inspired the story, there are so many twists and turns that it truly has a life of its own. There are several beautiful examples of people not always being what they seem/appear to be, as well as cases showing actions prove more of a person’s character than words. Once started, especially toward the last third of the book, it becomes absolutely impossible to put down.

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯

Review of Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer

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Synopsis:
Delilah and Oliver shouldn’t be together. But they are together. And just as they’re getting used to the possibility that happily ever after may really, truly be theirs, the universe sends them a message they can’t ignore: they won’t be allowed to rewrite their story.
 
Delilah and Oliver must decide how much they’re willing to risk for love and what it takes to have a happy ending in a world where the greatest adventures happen off the page.

Review:
This was actually everything I needed to read at the time, and along with Vespertine and another book I’m still in the process of reading, it really helped me feel something when facing personal tragedy. Now, this book does pick up where Between the Lines left off, however, Delilah, in my opinion, becomes quite unlikeable. Oliver and Edgar face a lot of personal trials and tribulations and grow a lot, but Delilah seems to sink into her relationship in a way that seems quite unhealthy. She recognizes this and even begins to dislike herself for it, but she doesn’t change or advance or grow in any way. That’s alright, because this book is honestly more about Oliver and Edgar and what it means to be yourself and put those you love first.

One thing that I think this book does better than almost any other book I’ve read is actually talk about death and dying in a way that makes sense and doesn’t belittle how much it hurts to lose someone. Everyone will lose someone in life, and it can be hard to understand and even harder to know how to pick up your life and continue on when someone who was an integral part is just… gone. Thank you so much to Picoult and van Leer for realizing that this was something that not everyone may have experienced, and that it hits people differently; especially the feelings of guilt.

This book was awesome, and I think it’s a definitely must read if you loved the first; but warning, this one has no pretty pictures (unless you count the chapter headings).

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯

Review of Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

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Synopsis:
The spirits of the dead do not rest.

Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as ravenous, hungry spirits. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who whisper about her scarred hands and troubled past.

When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being whose extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.

As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, Artemisia discovers that facing this hidden evil might require her to betray everything she believes—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.

Review:
This book is amazing. From the beginning we are completely drawn in and immersed in a high stakes world. Artemisia is different from most of the Gray sisters who work with the dead; she finds it peaceful and feels as if she doesn’t bother anyone there. It’s interesting where Artemisia sees herself and where others want her, and how despite knowing what she doesn’t want, she knows she has to protect people, and the only way she can consider doing that is to go against what she was taught as a Gray sister. I love the strong female protagonists in this novel, and that most aren’t what you would expect. I love the real tribulations and fears that are shown and worked through because even though you’re in a fantasy world, there is always something that people fear or makes them uncomfortable. There were little dips and nods that reminded me a bit of Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (last book in The Shadow and Bone trilogy).

I finished this book two days ago and while I did start this review yesterday, I needed time to put the finishing thoughts in order. This book truly touched me. I love how death was considered a part of life, and how no matter whether you want or don’t want something, sometimes the best course of action, or what makes you the best candidate to do something, is because of what you DON’T want to get out of things; that sometimes what is necessary and what you want won’t align, but it still has to be done. I would highly recommend this book, as well as the other two Rogerson books I’ve read, An Enchantment of Ravens and Sorcery of Thorns. I feel as if I lost something great by finishing this book, and it will take something truly amazing to be able to pick up from here.


Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯

Review of A Cage of Crystal by Tessonja Odette

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Synopsis:
A mysterious crystal.
A legacy of shadows.
The prophecy unfolds…

Cora never dreamed of returning to her old life, but with her kingdom at stake and her brother’s life on the line, she has no choice but to reclaim her former title. Yet with new changes come new dangers, this time in the form of scheming royals with cruel politics. If she can play their games, she just might keep her crown. But can she say the same for her heart?

Prince Teryn has already betrayed Cora’s trust, first with a lie, then with a kiss. Now all he wants is her forgiveness. If he’s lucky, maybe he’ll win her affection too. But just when he manages to convey his deepest feelings, he makes a fatal mistake that unleashes an old threat in a terrifying new way.

Thrust into a web of lies, deadly magic, and hidden memories, Cora and Teryn must uncover secrets of the past to secure the future of their kingdoms. If they fail, darkness will return in a way no one will see coming.

And it will be wearing the face of the one Cora loves most.

A Cage of Crystal is the second book in the Prophecy of the Forgotten Fae trilogy. Perfect for fans of Throne of Glass and Shadow and Bone. If you like breathtaking magic, fierce heroines, and enemies-to-lovers romance, then you’ll love this epic fantasy tale.

A Cage of Crystal is an upper YA fantasy that contains moderate violence and gore, mildly steamy fade-to-black romance, and adult situations such as pregnancy and marriage.

NOTE: A Cage of Crystal is based on an older edition of the book, Veil of Mist. This updated edition has been fully rewritten and includes plot changes, name changes, and other modifications from the original. The original edition has been unpublished.

Review:
This book was amazing. There was tension, there were battles for love, and for power, and goodness versus evil. Watching Cora battle herself and what she knows as right especially regarding magic for the sake of her brother and the kingdom she was born into showed true growth from the 12 year old who had originally been run off into the forest for six years. Watching how Teryn and Cora are willing to twine their fates to try to have everything they desire while being able to be truly themselves, and allowing the others they love to do the same, is an exhilarating experience. I absolutely love the layers upon layers that Odette weaves between the different kingdoms and the thoughts, feelings, desires and faults of the different characters. Valorre still remains a valiant and trustworthy friend, and I cannot wait to see where he and the others end up as they continue to battle the darkness that accidentally swept between the worlds. Hope to see more of Lex in the next book!

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯