Review #56 - Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess vol 4 - Jeremy Whitley

Details:

Title: Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess vol 4

Author: Jeremy Whitley

Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment

ISBN 13: 978-1632292643

Synopsis:

High adventures on the high sea is back! With her crew restored from their run-in with her treacherous brothers, Raven is ready to reclaim what was stolen from her. 

But when a night of revelry takes a turn and the crew is taken unawares, will they be able to fight off an invasion and keep their ship afloat? And after Raven came to terms with her feelings for one of her crew last adventure, will she be able to confess those feelings to the one person that matters? Or will another romantic mishap throw their relationship off track before it really even starts?

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Review #55 - Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess vol 3 by Jeremy Whitley

Details:

Title: Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess vol 3

Author: Jeremy Whitley

Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment

ISBN 13: 978-1632291400

Synopsis:

After the confrontation at The Island of the Free Woman, Raven's crew is worse for wear and one of their number is on the edge of death. But somewhere nearby is an island where a legendary woman can heal any ills. Can Raven and her crew get there in time and will this woman even help a crew of pirates?

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Review #54 - An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Details:

Title: An Ember in the Ashes

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Publisher: Razorbill

ISBN 13: 978-1595148032

Synopsis:

Laia is a slave.

Elias is a soldier.

Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

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Review #53 - Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Details:

Title: Six of Crows

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Orion's Childrens Books

ISBN 13: 978-1780622286

Synopsis:

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams - but he can't pull it off alone.

A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist.

Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction - if they don't kill each other first.

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Review #52- Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card vol 3 by CLAMP

Details:

Title: Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card vol 3

Author: CLAMP

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

ISBN 13: 978-1632365392

Synopsis:

Clear Card picks up right where Cardcaptor Sakura left off, with Sakura and Syaoran starting junior high school. With the Final Judgment passed, Sakura thinks school life will be quiet, but then all her cards suddenly turn blank! The mysterious new power she discovers will change how she thinks about her powers...

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Review #51 - I hate Fairyland vol 3 Good Girl - Skottie Young

Details:

Title: I hate Fairyland vol 3 - Good Girl

Author: Skottie Young

Publisher: Image Comics

ISBN 13: 978-1534303300

Synopsis:

Gert finally realizes that being such a murderous maniac might be the reason she's not been able to find her way out of the candy-coated world of Fairyland that has been her nightmare for over forty years. She sets off on a new quest to redeem herself and tries to earn her way back home with good deeds and kindness and love and whatever other mushy, touchy-feely things she can manage.

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Review #50 - The Company of Eight by Harriet Whitehorn

Details:

Title: The Company of Eight  (Advanced Copy for Review)

Author: Harriet Whitehorn

Publisher: Stripes Publishing

ISBN 13: 978-1847159229

Synopsis:

When Ravellous's Circus Ship comes to Minaris, Cass is determined to audition despite her guardian Mrs Potts's disapproval. But when her chance is snatched away from her, Cass refuses to give up. She sets out to follow the Circus Ship and the journey leads her into dangers that challenge even her adventurous spirit. Will she succeed in following her dream, or is her destiny something altogether different? 

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Review #49 - The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

Details:

Title: The Wicked Deep

Author: Shea Ernshaw

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

ISBN 13: 978-1471166136

Synopsis:

Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…

Two centuries ago, in the small, isolated town, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town. Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return from the depths, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them down to their watery deaths.

Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into or the fact that his arrival will change everything...

Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.

But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.

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Review #48 - Monstress by Marjorie Liu

Details:

Title: Monstress 

Author: Marjorie Liu

Publisher: Image Comics

ISBN 13: 978-1632157096

Synopsis:

Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900's Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steam punk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers.

Review:

Review #47 - Inkmistress by Audrey Coulthurst

Details:

Title: Inkmistress

Author: Audrey Coulthurst

Publisher: Harper Teen

ISBN 13: 978-0062433282

Synopsis:

Asra is a demigod with a dangerous gift: the ability to dictate the future by writing with her blood. To keep her power secret, she leads a quiet life as a healer on a remote mountain, content to help the people in her care and spend time with Ina, the mortal girl she loves.

But Asra's peaceful life is upended when bandits threaten Ina's village and the king does nothing to help. Desperate to protect her people, Ina begs Asra for assistance in finding her manifest--the animal she'll be able to change into as her rite of passage to adulthood. Asra uses her blood magic to help Ina, but her spell goes horribly wrong and the bandits destroy the village, killing Ina's family.

Unaware that Asra is at fault, Ina swears revenge on the king and takes a savage dragon as her manifest. To stop her, Asra must embark on a journey across the kingdom, becoming a player in lethal games of power among assassins, gods, and even the king himself.

Most frightening of all, she discovers the dark secrets of her own mysterious history--and the terrible, powerful legacy she carries in her blood.

Review:

Review #46 - Ice Wolves (Elementals #1) by Amie Kaufman

Details:

Title: Ice Wolves (Elementals #1)

Author: Amie Kaufman

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN 13: 978-0062457981

Synopsis:

Everyone in Vallen knows that ice wolves and scorch dragons are sworn enemies who live deeply separate lives.

So when twelve-year-old orphan Anders takes one elemental form and his twin sister, Rayna, takes another, he wonders whether they are even related. Still, whether or not they’re family, Rayna is Anders’s only true friend. She’s nothing like the brutal, cruel dragons who claimed her as one of their own and stole her away.

In order to rescue her, Anders must enlist at the foreboding Ulfar Academy, a school for young wolves that values loyalty to the pack above all else. But for Anders, loyalty is more complicated than obedience, and friendship is the most powerful shapeshifting force of all.

Review:

Review #45 - The Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

Details:

Title: The Girl in the Blue Coat

Author: Monica Hesse

Publisher: Little Brown Books

ISBN 13: 978-0316260633

Synopsis:

Amsterdam, 1943. 

Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion.

On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman's frantic plea to find a person-a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such dangerous work, but is ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations that lead her into the heart of the resistance, open her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi war machine, and compel her to take desperate action.

Review:

Review #44 - Charmcaster by Sebastien de Castell

Details:

Title: Charmcaster

Author: Sebastien de Castell

Publisher: Hot Key Books

ISBN 13: 978-1471406706

Synopsis:

Kellen, Reichis and Ferius are on their way to Gitabria, a city where amazing inventions are dreamed up and sold across the land of the Seven Sands.

But when the three of them stumble across a tiny mechanical bird, magically brought to life, they quickly realise all is not as it appears. 

Meanwhile two strange Argosi appear, carrying secrets from Ferius' past, together with an unlikely Jan'Tep ally.

And as time ticks on, all the cards in Ferius' deck point to the emerging tides of war . . .

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Magical Readathon - OWL's exams TBR

From the 2nd to 29th April the Magical Readathon will be taking place and I have decided to take part.

I will leave a link to a video explaining it all here.

The challenges are as follows:

1. Ancient Runes - Read a book with a symbol on the cover
2. Arithmacy - Read a book with a number on the cover or in the title
3. Astronomy - Read a science fiction novel
4. Care of Magical Creatures - Read a book that includes magical creatures or features a magical creature on the cover
5. Charms - Read a fantasy book
6. Defence Against the Dark Arts - Read a book about/featuring secret societies/clubs
7. Divination - Read a book featuring prophecies

8. Herbology - Read a book with a nature related word in the title

9. History of Magic - Read a historical fiction book

10. Muggle Studies - Read a non-fiction book

11. Potions - Read a book about/with Alchemy

12. Transfiguration - Read a book that deals with transfiguration/shapeshifting or a book with a cat on the cover

March Wrap Up and April TBR

So in March 2018 I managed to read a total of 15 books.

In order of reading I completed Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, Saga vol 1 by Brian K Vaughn, Nephilim by John and Carole Barrowman, Magisterium 4: The Silver Mask by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare, I hate Fairyland vol 2 by Skottie Young, Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess vol 2 by Jeremy Whitley, The Polar Bear Explorers Club by Alex Bell, The Sandcastle Empire by Kayla Olson, Outwalkers by Fiona Shaw, State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury, The Eye of the North by Sinead O'Hart, Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, Release by Patrick Ness, Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas and Legendary by Stephanie Garber.

  

 

 

 

  

 

Stats -  

Hardback = 2

Paperback = 5

Graphic Novel = 3

Audiobook = 2

Ebook = 3

3*'s = 3

3.5*'s = 3

4*'s= 6

4.5*'s= 1

5*'s= 2

15 books is the best reading month so far this year, I did not expect to beat my previous months.  My 5 star reads were Obsidio and State of Sorrow. Obsidio was a brilliant final instalment of a great sci-fi trilogy and State of Sorrow was a brilliant political fantasy which I loved. The most disappointing read for me this month was Magesterium 4: The Silver Mask, it just missed the mark for me and I really hope the final book in this series is much better than this was.

So in April I plan on taking part in the Magical Readathon. So the bulk of my TBR will be those books which I will put up in a separate post.

Review #43 - Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Details:

Title: Legendary (Arc)

Author: Stephanie Garber

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

ISBN 13: 978-1473629189

Synopsis:

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn't yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend's true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend's identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more - and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets . . . including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice. But now the game is asking for more. If Tella can't fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend's name, she'll lose everything she cares about - maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . the games have only just begun.

Review:

Review #42 - Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas

Details:

Title: Tower of Dawn

Author: Sarah J Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury

ISBN 13: 978-1408887974

Synopsis:

Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since Aelin shattered the glass castle, since Chaol's men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.

Now he and Nesryn sail for Antica - the stronghold of the southern continent's mighty empire and of the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme. It's Chaol's one shot at recovery, and with war looming back home, Dorian and Aelin's survival could depend on Chaol and Nesryn convincing Antica's rulers to ally with them.

But what they discover there will change them both - and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.

Review:

Review #41 - Release by Patrick Ness

Details:

Title: Release

Author: Patrick Ness

Publisher: Walker Books

ISBN 13: 978-1406331172

Synopsis:

It's Saturday, it's summer and, although he doesn't know it yet, everything in Adam Thorn's life is going to fall apart. But maybe, just maybe, he'll find freedom from the release. Time is running out though, because way across town, a ghost has risen from the lake...

Review:

Review #40 - Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Details:

Title: Obsidio

Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Publisher: Rock the Boat

ISBN 13: 978-1780749839

Synopsis:

Asha Grant came to Kerenza to escape her past. Too bad he just caught up with her.

  

Asha survived BeiTech’s initial assault and has been working undercover with the hopelessly outmatched resistance ever since. The last thing she expected to worry about was her ex-boyfriend, Rhys Lindstrom who just landed planetside. Is he her way out – or guarantee she never gets off this frozen rock alive?

But Asha’s not the only one with problems. Her cousin Kady’s ragtag band of survivors are headed for Kerenza – without enough oxygen to last the journey. Oh, and there might be an insurrection brewing.

With BeiTech hurrying to repair their damaged jump gate, and a mass extermination planned for the Kerenza civilians, only a miracle could save them now. And everyone knows that miracles are just statistical probabilities…right?

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