book reviews r us

just a silly little reviews of books that ive read

[nat-reads-books]

book: Parapluie: A Fable by WB Arnaud

Rating: 5/5

Parapluie: A Fable is the first novella by author WB Arnaud, and what an explosive way to join the writing scene. Parapluie focuses on a strange umbrella, crafted with a beautiful parrot head handle and midnight black silk,which is featured on the cover (and would probably not look out of place hooked over Mary Poppin’s arm!). The umbrella’s presence changes the lives of those around it, for better or for worse depending on the owner's intentions, using a strange and unexplained power. The only rules being: Pas à vendre, Pas à garder, Pour un cœur vrai. Not to be sold, Not to be kept, For a true heart. The book follows the lives of six of these owners, starting with the man who created the piece in the first place, then following on to a desk clerk, a widow, a market seller, a policeman, and lastly, an orphan.

The story starts with a narrator, welcoming the reader in and asking them to come close to listen to a tale, and the writing really lends itself to the idea that the story is being told to the reader around a fire and huddled away from a storm. Parapluie, as the name might suggest, is based in Paris, France. There are some nice additions of French throughout and lovely descriptions of cobbled streets that really brings the imagery to life! The subtle addition of an artifact that holds its own magic was fun to read, and this book would not look out of place in Felicia Davin’s French Letters series. Although the book is only 200 pages long, it is gripping, and makes the reader want to draw the time out so they can spend longer in the world Arnaud created, his story portraying a wonderful interconnectedness that makes the reader want to read again– just to see the background subtleties that they missed first time round.

The only criticism would be that the cover and illustrations were generated with AI. I appreciate that this isn’t a criticism for some readers/reviewers, but I do believe that the book would be elevated slightly more with a professional artist employed to create these pieces instead.

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Book: Echoes in Everly Manor by Justin R Pilar

Rating: 2/5

Echoes in Everly Manor is the first book in Justin R Pilar’s nine book epic, that follows four friends (Ava, Nick, Luke, and Emily) on their quest to understand their friend Jason’s last days and try to rewrite history so that Jason survives the fateful night that changed everyone’s lives forever. Five years after Jason’s death, mysterious circumstances bring the group back to Everly Manor, a strange building that has gripped the town for decades. Whilst looking around, Ava finds a small globe that holds sand that seems to swirl to a rhythm of its own. This globe (or Anchor, as they later find out that it is called) transports them back in time, three days before Jason’s crash, and it is left to them to follow the days leading up to the accident and try to stop it from ever happening.

From the very beginning it is clear that there is no lead perspective in the writing, the reader jumps between the main characters from sentence to sentence, and doesn’t stick with one for long. This gives the writing a fast pace, almost as if it has been written as a film script rather than a novel. The reader doesn’t get anything more than surface level thoughts from the characters which keeps the reader at a distance, not allowing them to really grip onto a favourite, and even less world building descriptions. Even though the sentences are shallow, each word seems to have been run through a metaphor generator creating a confusing, often frustrating read. The phrase “everything is good in moderation” comes to mind when thinking of the writing style in this book.

The book is advertised as a story that fractures time and rewrites history, and that is definitely felt early on in the book. There are lots of continuity errors in Echoes in Everly Manor, but because of the genre of the book it is not clear whether or not this is part of the story or an oversight on the author's part. Having a certain amount of suspended disbelief because of the genre definitely helps the reader get past this, just enough to get through the story and find out what happens in the end. A positive of this book is that the identity of Goldfinch was truly a mystery for me until close to the end.

Overall, there is definitely a lot to be considered with Echoes in Everly Manor, but the story has great potential and fans will have a lot of content for this series to look forward to.

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book: Ghost: A Love Story by Max Vos

Rating: 1/5

Ghost: A Love Story is the sixteenth book by Max Vos and follows Mason Montgomery, a recently single carpenter that is trying to escape Atlanta due to the 1996 Olympics taking over the state. In Savannah, he finds a new home and new friends. Due to a freak accident during his first day there, Mason suddenly finds that he has the new found ability to see ghosts. More importantly, he has the ability to see the ghosts haunting his new home. With some luck (and a bit of brute force) Mason manages to rid the house of its aggressive ghost, leaving him with the calmer, more attractive ghost of Francis Watson. The two men bond, and quickly fall in love. With the help of Mason’s elderly neighbour Ellen (who is Francis’ last living relative, and can also see ghosts) they manage to help Francis move onto the afterlife.

The book started out well, a bit repetitive in places and with the odd grammatical error, but compelling. I was interested to know how the logistics of the ghosts would work in Vos’ universe and especially how the author would explore the relationship between someone who was living and someone who was dead. About half way through the book, however, things took a real nose dive. Spelling errors were everywhere, grammar was missing from the end of the characters speeches, and the formatting (at least with the EPub that I was gifted) was thrown off center completely after a list that Ellen made in the story. Scene breaks flip-flopped from starting normally, to having a large letter at the beginning. All of this added together just reads as a very unloved manuscript with minimal editing. Mason (in my opinion) was a very frustrating main character, there were constant repetitions of things that had already been discussed or agreed upon where he suddenly had no idea what was being talked about.

Even with heavy editing, the story would still feel drawn out and convoluted. There seemed to be far too much going on all the time. The book didn’t really give the reader enough depth or clarity to really get invested in the characters or the story. I also struggled to see the relevance of the ‘slavery’ sub-plot. Writing about slavery and the struggles of many Black Americans back in that era is something that absolutely should be explored and talked about in modern literature, but it shouldn’t be a sub-plot or trivialised in such a manner. Having talked to a few sensitivity readers on this subject, it was agreed that although it could have been like a very real situation (having slaves be grateful to their ‘masters’ for giving them a wage after slavery was banned), not exploring the families anger at being delegated the bottom of the proverbial ladder seems uninformed and as a story, the sub-plot didn’t seem necessary, nor did it feel like it was dealt with with the correct amount of weight for what it was discussing. It didn’t move the story along anywhere, and in my opinion, if the writer wanted to write that story, he should have done it separately and given it the time that it deserves.

[nat-reads-books]

book: Our Shared Apocalypse by Niki Ghostlaw

rating: 5/5

review:

Our Shared Apocalypse is the first book by author Niki Ghostlaw and an absolutely incredible way to burst onto the scene as a writer! Ghostlaw's writing really grabs a hold of the reader, absorbing them into post-apocalyptic America with her descriptive prose and intricate magic system. Both the main and side characters feel fully developed giving the reader ample choice for favourites from both heroes and villains alike. Our Shared Apocalypse is not only a post-apocalypse story but also an LGBT story, and like the good LGBT-centric books, the main struggle isn't anything to do with the characters being a part of the Queer community. Demitri is a transgender male, but the way Ghostlaw describes his transition, and continued efforts to ease gender dysphoria, is really tastefully written and it is genuinely heart warming to see that it was not a point of contention for the characters.

The book flicks back and forth between point of views but for the majority follows Demitri, whose daughter was stolen away from him a few years back by her other father and his family. During his travels across the barren wasteland of an America that has been ravaged by ghouls, zombies, bloodmagi, and enforcers, Demitri overhears a missive on the radio about a missing girl that sounds suspiciously like his daughter Zelina. Demitri and his friends travel to the Chernykrov estate in the hopes of settling past feuds and finding the girl, only to accidentally start a war between two factions of bloodmagi that has even the most powerful of the Chernykrov's questioning whether they will see the next day.

The bloodmagi in Our Shared Apocalypse were really interesting. The idea of a superhuman subspecies created in a laboratory isn't a particularly new idea in sci-fi and fantasy novels, but the execution of Ghostlaw's writing gave it a fresh, new feel that keeps the reader engaged throughout. There are a few different factions (or families) of bloodmagi in the world, but the story does a really good job of explaining the connections without making it seem unnatural or blocky.

Overall, Our Shared Apocalypse is an enchanting read that gets the reader completely obsessed with the well developed characters and their struggles. I'm extremely excited for any forthcoming books in this series.

[nat-reads-books]

Book: Her and Her, Lesbian Short Stories by Jane McKears

Rating: 3/5

Her and Her, Lesbian Short Stories is a book written by Jane McKears which, as the title suggests, is a collection of short stories of various lesbian couples navigating life throughout the years. This is McKears’ first book, and although the story focuses on several different couples, they are all based in the same area of Birmingham. The cover of the book is full of positive LGBTQ+ imagery, almost like having a pride parade in the hand every time the reader picks up this book. With its soft colours and diverse cast, the cover really draws the reader in. Through each story there is a little line of interconnected-ness which is really interesting, especially when you can see how these characters may have affected the others lives without even knowing, just like in real life.

That being said, the book could benefit from further editing. Each of the stories is written with predominantly short sentences, of which some of them could be combined to give the story more flow. Currently, its borderline bullet point narration makes the story feel more like the author is telling you what happens, rather than the reader experiencing the story with the characters as it develops. Whilst I am aware that it is only a short story, the compact nature of the sentences creates a fast pace which is not really needed for ‘slice of life’-esque stories such as these. Additionally, there are some grammatical errors and the author tends to flip the narration from one character’s perspective to another without any signal to the reader, which creates a little confusion. These things would be picked up and flagged by a professional editing team. Fixing these bits would elevate the book to its full potential, but did not take away the enjoyment for me of reading LGBTQ+ folks just living their lives.

[nat-reads-books]

Book: The Stars of Ember by G.B. Knight

Rating: 1/5

Review:

The Stars of Ember is the second book in the Night Lore series, and the fifth book in G.B's catalogue. The book follows Ronan, an 800 year old vampire, and Atreya, a Fae woman and the Queen of Ember. The unlikely pair are tasked with travelling the continent in an attempt to escape Atreya's abusive husband, King Ramses, and get to the safety of Solaris and the Rebel King, Eldra.

The cover of The Stars of Ember is gorgeous, and having a warning page at the beginning is a really nice touch to help make sure the reader knows what they're getting into.

It does, however, seem to go downhill from there. There are formatting errors, grammatical errors, continuity errors… and that's just the bare bones of it. The premise of the book seemed like it would be right up my street and everything I like in a novel, but it was poorly executed and genuinely a really difficult read. The action scenes didn't seem to have any pacing, and by action I mean both adventure and spice, but particularly with the fights– there always seemed to be a flashback or a side conversation that ruined the tension that the author was trying to build.

At one point, towards the end of the book, characters were being called the wrong names, paragraphs were being repeated mere pages apart and words were missing from sentences. Throughout, the author seemed to forget what the characters are like, constantly flipping Ronans body temperature from burning hot to ice cold. His heartbeat was also up for constant debate. Sometimes it was silent, dead, and other times it beat slowly, unlike the other humanoids of this world. The book seemed to take twice as long to read as I kept having to flick back and forth to check that it wasn't something that I was confusing, rather than actually being in the text (spoiler alert: it was almost always in the text).

Overall, it was a disappointing read in both the way it was written, and the fact that it wasn't as good as the blurb led me to believe. The author needs to take a good look at her characters and the lore that she's built around them and their races, to make sure they're consistent throughout the book. A good editor to look through and help with grammar and continuity would also not go amiss.

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The Anonymous letters of C.Forestier by Felicia Davin is the latest in a library of books written by this author and the third book of the ‘French Letters’ series. It focuses on two characters: Isabelle de Tourzin, a fierce, centuries old woman with healing blood and a score to settle, and C. Forestier, a bigender ex-con who has had his only source of magic stolen from him and would do anything to get it back. The two begrudgingly team up and travel across a magic riddled France to murder a dangerous and abusive man called Malbosc, who just so happens to be both of the pairs ex-boyfriend and the source of everything that has gone wrong in their lives and the lives of their friends too.  

The book follows Isabelle and Forestier through journal entries and letters sent between the pair, with a few letters written by other characters thrown in to provide more details and information. Additionally, we get some cameos of the protagonists from the previous two books in this latest edition (it's especially nice to see how Victor has flourished from back in The Scandalous Letters of V and J!). A really nice touch for this book (and something that I've not seen much of elsewhere) is the trigger warnings that Davin has listed at the beginning so that readers are aware of what they are getting into and can avoid the story if they would struggle with any of the topics that are written about. 

It is a real triumph of writing that Davins characters can be morally grey but still highly lovable, and the way she writes gender is especially refreshing. There are plenty of beautiful quotes in The Anonymous Letters of C. Forestier and each character has a clearly defined written ‘voice’. The prose in this book is almost poetic and so full of yearning it's practically tangible. Davins writing style just draws you in in every book you read. She hooked me with Thornfruit and I've been obsessed ever since! What an absolute pleasure to be able to read an ARC of this latest addition to her publishings and be immersed once again in the magic of this world. 

[nat-reads-books]

Book: Silent Dawn: First Half by Pono Freedom

Rating: 2.5/5

Silent Dawn: First Half, is the first book in the Beyond Chronicles by Pono Freedom. The book follows a young man, cursed with the name Paun Traitorson because of the sins of his father. Paun is desperate to get his true name back and believes that finding the elusive Prism Shards and destroying them is the way to do it. Along the way he meets new friends, and new enemies, that make his quest even more personal. The whole book is dictated by an Oather, who is a narrator of sorts, and wants to record Paun's journey as accurate as possible but finds this increasingly more difficult as they grow attached to the characters as each chapter goes by.

The writing style of Silent Dawn: First Half similar in nature to Lemony Snickets Series of Unfortunate Events books or Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimans Good Omens. By having a narrator and footnotes it gives the reader a surprising experience of observing an observer. There is a really nice map drawn of the world at the beginning of the book, which is copied (with slight edits) between chunks of the story to help the reader visualise where they are and points of interest for the story so far. A fun theme in this book is the characters' self awareness of various media tropes and how their own lives fit into them. They almost break the fourth wall to say to the Oather, “really? You want us to fall into THAT cheesy trope?”. The author also uses spelling to emphasise each character’s accents which is a really nice touch.

You can tell that there has been a lot of thought put into the world building of this book, including creating several new languages and detailed descriptions on how the world works at the end of the ‘story’. An interesting point is that even though this world is more fantastical, it started as some believe ours did. With the Christian God creating man and The Garden of Eden. This world however, seemed to have benefited from Eve not being banished from the Garden.

That being said, there are alot of spelling/grammatical errors (not including the accents mentioned above) and instances where the author squishes far too many words into one sentence and half the time these extra words have contradictory meanings. I also had a problem with the footnotes being at the end of each chapter instead of the bottom of the page they are indicated. I found myself either flicking back and forth to find what the extra information was (which isn't easy to do on an e-reader) or waiting to read them until the end of the chapter and completely forgetting where it was referenced in the first place. Additional editing would bump this story up to the next level and I am interested to see where the Second Half takes us!

[nat-reads-books]

Book: Blood and Water by MJE Clubb

Rating: 4/5

Callie and Ava, Seelie and Unseelie, Life and Death. A world where opposites entwine and link together in more ways than one!

Blood and Water is a classic fairytale fantasy. Based both in our world and the world of the Fae, the chapters jump between our main characters: Callie and Ava. Callie, battling with grief over the loss of her parents, is forced to move across the world to a little town in Scotland by the name of Peebles. Her chapters follow her battles with depression whilst trying to settle into a new place entirely out of her comfort zone.

Ava on the other hand, can't remember anything about her life, not even her name. ‘Ava’ was given to her by a river spirit by the name of Bodach, who pulled her from the watery depths and saved her from certain death. Both Bodach and his companion, an anthropomorphic fox called Reynard, promise to help Ava traverse the Otherworld, navigate dealings with the seelie and unseelie fae alike, find her memories, and return home. Wherever that may be.

There are some really nice elements that have been added to the book that just elevate Blood and Water as a story. Clubb has created two mixtapes that were mentioned by Callie in the story, that can be listened to by the reader, making the reader feel closer to Callie as a character. The author has also included a warning page at the beginning for readers so they can know what sort of themes they are going to read about, and so they can avoid it if there's something that is particularly triggering for them. In addition to this list, there is also a list of hotline phone numbers for readers if they are struggling which is another lovely touch.

When reading this book, Bodach's life story particularly reminded me of Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away. He is also a river spirit who has had his name stolen from him and needs it back for his freedom. Not to worry though, Blood and Water is still its own story with its own outcome, it's just a fun parallel.

There are a few spelling and grammatical errors in this book, but overall it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the story. Full of drama, action, and a sweet love story, this is a book I would definitely recommend to fantasy loving friends!

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Book: Regna Born by Erick Holmberg

Rating: 4.5/5

Adepts and Humans and Witches, oh my! Action packed story set in modern day Boston for fans of magical realism!

Regna Born is the first book in the Regna series and first book by author Eric Holmberg. Set in Boston, Massachusetts, the book is centred around Gabriel Kelly, who is (what the community call) an adept. The adepts are a subspecies of human who are stronger, faster, and have telepathic powers to boot. They're only rivalled in power by their mortal enemies: the witches and their High Priestess. Gabriel's heightened abilities help him in his job of searching for ley-rich gems for the adept to draw power from, but when his ex-boyfriend Joe is murdered for his scientific research, Gabriel drops everything to find the murderer and prove his innocence.

Regna Born is action packed from beginning to end, providing ample drama for the seasoned magical realism reader! Each chapter jumps point of view between Gabriel and a whole plethora of characters which may feel jarring at times but does also give the reader a deeper understanding of the plot and characters.

It's always a joy to read a book with lgbtq+ characters where the main trial isn't about them being gay, coming to terms with their sexuality, or coming out to their friends/family and Regna Born tackles this beautifully! The love story, although not a main plot, is almost Romeo and Juliet in the warring factions and opposing houses sense, but I hold out all hope that it doesn't end as tragically!

The little snippets of Joe's scientific paper at the beginning of each chapter is a really nice touch, bringing more depth to an already deeply thought out universe. Holmberg's magic systems and the politics of the adepts and witches for this universe is a brilliant example of this.

Overall this book was really enjoyable (any book that uses the phrase “throw a wobbly” is a favourite of mine) and I can't wait to see where Holmberg takes this story next.

[nat-reads-books]

Book: Alchemist for Hire by Devon Van De Zant

Rating: 4/5

Dungeons and Dragons meets Terry Pratchett in this magical comedy set in the universe of Eldhjarta!

Alchemist for Hire is the third book in the Eldhjarta universe, and a prequel (or pre-quest) to the two books previously published in this series by Devon Van De Zant. The book follows Tosh S. Stitten who is a roguish alchemist with a flare for the dramatic and an unparalleled skill in thievery. In the midst of a heist he is cornered by King Sigread himself, who (instead of punishing him) hires Tosh to complete a job for him on the deadly island of Z'ahatum. Tosh is thrown into an adventuring party with; Cavil, a naturist Elf, Timo-Pek, an absorber and an assassin, and Eire, King Sigreads daughter and a Chaos witch to boot. In conjunction with this storyline, we also follow King Sigread in his scheming, which gives a nice perspective to the king's thought process and reasoning.

This book is full of funny moments, quirky characters, fourth-wall breaking, and dirty humour. The authors love of Terry Pratchett really shines through in the writing style especially with aspects like Mr. Right and Mrs. Left, who are Tosh's talking socks, and King Sigread only talking about himself in third person, which are some of my favourites. The pacing is fast in this book, setting up the dynamic between the main cast, the adventure and the return to homeland happening at almost breakneck speed. This book gives new and seasoned readers an understanding into the universe of Eldhjarta, and a look at the events that kicked off the "main quest".

The ARC that I received had a subtle shift between pages, the page of text being slightly more to the left on even pages and to the right on odds which would not be something you notice in a physical print, but with the endless scroll of a digital copy, I had to keep moving the pages back and forth to read. That being said, it really doesn't take away from the story and this was still a very enjoyable read.

[nat-reads-books]

Book: New Trails by Jody Norman

Rating: 5/5

An action packed book that explores the relationships between people and the world around us. This is a must read for fantasy enthusiasts!

New Trails has all the trappings of classic fantasy: magic, crystals and monsters galore! Troy is a 26 year old from modern day America, who finds himself thrust into a fantasy world that seems completely different from his own. He has to learn how to live again in this new world where even the plants seem eager to attack him. Luckily for Troy, he has help in the way of a rugged woodsman who found him in the darkness. Kieran was crossing the wilderness when a pulse went out across the Balance nearby and when he investigated the disturbance, he found an attractive blond man who didn't fit with how his world worked and felt compelled to help him settle himself in this new world. These two strangers have to learn how to trust each other whilst challenge after challenge tries to break them apart.

The world that New Trails has been set in is so thoroughly thought out. The magic system is intricate, the way spells are crafted is clever and being able to use crystals as a technology substitute was inspired. Having the world of Abhaile focus on the relationships between man and nature, the Balance as they call it, was beautiful and can definitely teach our world a thing or two about not taking things for granted, or taking too much from the world around us without thinking about the consequences.

Norman has a real way with words, drawing the reader in from the very beginning. There is action from the very start and the momentum keeps going till the very end. The point of view throughout the book mainly sticks to Troy and Kieran, sharing both of their thoughts and feelings with the reader, setting them both up as equal main characters. There are also a few chapters written from the villain's point of view (clearly separated from the rest of the writing. Unlike our protagonists, whose perspectives overlap in chapter) which helps the reader get a deeper understanding of the plot and what forces are working against Troy and Kieran. Some fairly dark themes are written about in New Trails but Norman has done a great job at tackling them in her narrative and having her characters work through their issues in a really natural way.

Overall, this was an extremely entertaining read and I eagerly await the next book in the series to see what will happen with the boys next!

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Book: The Princess of Perizidon by Matthew Moore

Rating: 2.5/5

Follow a wide cast of characters in their adventures in a novel by new author Matthew Moore!

The Princess of Perizidon is the first novel by author Matthew Moore and follows several characters in Perizidon (which seems to be the world name and the capital city, as far as I can see) and not just the princess, Lianne, as the blurb and title lead the reader to believe. These characters all have their own chapters in the book, constantly skipping points of view and almost giving the effect of a compendium of short stories than one novel. The writing style is reminiscent of a tale being told around the fire at camp, or around the table at a Dungeons and Dragons game with its vaguely informal nature, compared to other high fantasy novels which can feel a bit ‘stuffy’. The fact that Moore omits some letters in some of the characters speech to denote accent's is a nice touch too.

There is a clear timeline to this novel, along with well developed characters and a detailed map at the beginning which helps the reader picture where each of the main characters are in relation to each other in the story. An interesting aspect of this novel is that Christianity, or something very similar, seems to be the main religion of this world. This, along with the mention of the Roman Empire and Latin leads me to think that there is some overlap between our world and theirs, and I hope that this is explored in any new material for this series.

Matthew Moore has put a lot of effort into this book, he himself calling this a ‘passion project’ and it is always nice to find new authors in the fantasy genre. That being said, I personally feel like the book lacked action. The whole time I was reading I was waiting for these characters to join forces, or meet up in some way to fight some battle, or defeat some enemy. Instead, the constant jumping between characters felt disjointed, almost like I was reading several books at once on the off chance that they may be related. Moore also included a sneak peak for the next book which I thought may have hinted at something exciting to come, however the four paragraph excerpt was not only short, but disappointing, as it included a character that we hadn't met or have any emotional connection to, interacting with the inquisitor, who we have met for the briefest of moments. The Princess of Perizidon has a lot of potential and it will be interesting to see where Moore will take this story in future novels.

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Book: At The Heart of War by Danielle M. Orsino

Rating: 3/5

Birth of the Fae readers- rejoice! The eighth book of the series is here to tie up loose ends and explore Danaus' grief over Jayden's death

At The Heart of War: Danaus and Jayden is the second novella in the Birth of the Fae series and eighth book written by Orsino for this universe. The novella follows Danaus as she grapples with the idea that Jayden, her mate, is gone forever. All that was left of Jayden after the ambush was her quiver, her troops faithfully bringing the item back to her mate as proof she had perished. Danaus, inspecting the quiver in private, is surprised to find a false bottom in the item and inside, all the letters they used to send to each other whilst Jayden was away. The letters are sorted into order, then read, as a way of helping Danaus with her grief and with the added bonus of filling in some gaps for seasoned readers.

The timeline of the book starts off just after Locked Out of Heaven, with most of the chapters following this timeline and a couple of chapters at the end that skip a few years (or a few decades) but still remains in the timeline of the previous books released in the series.

At the Heart of War has some gorgeous cover art that continues through to the inner pages including a lovely scrapbook image of Danaus and Jayden, a map of The Veil, and some really nice formatting of the text itself. A minor setback is that the formatting seems to be solely for printed issues as the ARC that I received had a couple of blank pages at the end of chapters, but this doesn't take away from the reading experience as a whole.

Overall, this novella is a nice and easy read. The idea of a butterfly warden (a fae whose speciality within the air element is guarding and commanding butterflies) is so unique and the love shared between Danaus and Jayden is beautifully written.

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Book: Sora by E. Solofoni

Rating: 3/5

For lovers of Dungeons and Dragons and Final Fantasy- Sora is the perfect book to dive right into!

We join five heros in the world of Tempus which is full of magic runes and dragons- as well as some interesting machines called magictech. This is the second novel set in the Tempus universe and follows the effects of the first book, Terra, but with a new focus for the main characters. Matthew, the young leader. His adoptive sister Wairua, the muscle. Luke, the blind monk. Esther, the runologist. And Riku, the fighter. These five form a tight-knit family on a quest to help the holy Sora on behalf of Agnus Dayton, who was said to have died two spells ago but will return to help those in need if Matt and his friends help make it happen.

The cover of Sora draws in the reader instantly, and the writing style hooks them in for the ride, really showcasing the author's love for anime and video games. The easy banter between the main five is really charming. They are a diverse group, in both ability and race, but find comfort in one another in a way only a family can. Each one of these characters are fully fleshed out, they have clear goals for their future that aren't necessarily plot related which really helps build them as people. Solofoni helps the reader understand these characters' motivations by constantly dipping back and forth through time, giving contexts to why a character reacts the way they do or what has brought them to their current situation.

A really lovely aspect of this book is the map at the beginning, which helps the reader build a clearer image of where the characters are! Also the fact that the world of Tempus has its own way of counting the years (e.g. spells) as a lot of fantasy authors fall into the habit of using our world's days or months or years to describe the passing of time. Solofoni also includes an appendices and glossary/pronunciation guide which really shows how much work she has put into building this world!

Whilst the writing of this book does draw the reader in, it is sometimes a bit jarring with the switches in points of view. There is no indication of when it is switching and although it doesn't take too much away from the enjoyment of the story, it is something that really stuck out for me. But truthfully, any book that can induce tears by the end is definitely worth the read!

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Book: Over the Hills of Green by E. V. Svetova

Rating: 3/5

Over the Hills of Green really fits the bill for Magical realism! Our world collides with one of magical creatures through an unlikely romance between Anna - a student psychologist from modern day New York- and Lord Yerat Fairfax - an elf-like alien from seventh century Britain who calls himself an Alva.

The book opens straight off the bat with lots of Psychological terms. Anna is a psychological researcher, but its almost too much intense psychobabble at the beginning that may put off some readers who are more interested in the fantastical elements of the story. Speaking of the fantastical, I loved the character building of the Alva! Having a race of humanoids that are powered by love, like an energy source, was so different to any book I've read!

I found lots of poetic, quotable lines within the story but some spelling/gramatical errors that could have been sorted with additional editing. On this same vein, the book needs some sort of formating to distinguish between whats happening in the awake/real world compared to the dream world/memories as I found it hard to distinguish.

In the blurb for Over the Hills of Green, it says that meeting John/Yaret causes Anna to question her sexuality (aswell as reality, etc) but I didn't really see that whilst reading! In fact, she seems settled in her sexuality, it seems the only thing shes sure of.

Lastly, I liked the fact that there is discussion questions at the end of the book! It's a good incentive for fans that want to start a dialogue but unsure on where to begin!

[nat-reads-books]

Book: The Wickwire Watch by Jacquelyn Hagen

Rating: 4/5

For fans of Terry Prachett and Studio Ghibli this immersive fantasy constantly keeps you on the edge with twists and turns for all ages.

It's a really nice touch when fantasy books have a map in the beginning! For me, it shows a well thought out universe for the characters and fans to enjoy.

The Wickwire Watch has a wonderful narrative style invoking strong images of a victorian-esq world with a colourful cast of characters. The book follows young Inkwell Featherfield who is a very "Artful Dodger" type character, he's an orphan who steals to survive until he gets wrapped up in magic fulled man hunt.

Hagen flips the point of view through the book to the most relevant character to guide the storyline along. Most of the time, that character is Ink, but we get to see the world through the perspective of a few others too. Personally, I think that a subtitle on each chapter would help the reader understand which point of view the writing is from as sometimes it can take a while to figure out. But in no means does this take away from the book as a whole.

Overall, the storyline is gripping with more twists and turns than an M. Night Shyamalan movie! It has ghosts and magic and floating cities, what more could a person want in a book? I'm looking forward to reading more in this series!