Review: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

Publication Date: October 26^th 2004 (this edition)
Publisher: Dell
Length: 1072 pages

Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her... and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.
Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her...the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland... and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite or forever doom her timeless love.

The ending of ‘Dragonfly in Amber’ left me with no other possibility than to storm straight into the third book of the series, and it was wonderful to re-immerse myself back into Claire and Jamie’s lives with no delay.
However as each book in the series continues to get larger so does the possibility for frustrations and gripes, so whilst I did really enjoy the third instalment in the series, there were a lot more problems for me than I’ve found with the first two books.

The beginning of the story (as with the previous two books) has a tendency to lag in places. Having discovered that Jamie didn’t die at Culloden, the race is on for Claire, Brianna and Roger to try and find out what did happen to Jamie. Their efforts are interspersed with chapters following Jamie in his own lifetime so we can witness some of the key events first hand, as well as insights from a new character, Lord John Grey, who was briefly introduced as a very young man in the previous book. All of the information is interesting and I really enjoyed seeing the two timelines juxtaposed against each other, as well as trips into the past as we see more of Claire’s relationship with Frank and what life was like when she came back through the stones. However it did all have a tendency to feel like it was dragging, probably in part because I was so eager to see Claire and Jamie reunited.

Once the timelines all converge into one narrative from Claire again I found myself on more familiar ground and I settled into the novel quickly, enjoying the familiar rhythms and patterns of Claire’s thoughts and adventures. There is never a dull moment, never a peaceful moment either really. I loved the reunion and the small pieces of intimacy between Claire and Jamie as they re-learn each other and re-kindle their love. It’s by no means an easy road, and there are a lot of setbacks along the way, but that simply made their moments of joy and peace that much more rewarding when they appear.

However there were some sections, particularly towards the end where my belief was stretched a little too far. Where I found myself almost rolling my eyes because really?! I know that disbelief must be suspended because this is a story about a woman who time travels, but at the same time I felt like there were one too many adventures and mishaps that made me feel like any credibility was being stretched a little too far. There are also quite a few sections when Claire begins to explore new places and lands where the narrative becomes horribly bogged down in over detail. Whole pages of nothing but detail on vegetation and climate and I found myself growing a little bored and skim reading some sections because nothing was happening for so long. The action is also vastly confined in this book, unlike the previous two books, and so much of the narrative takes place on board ships. Full marks to Gabaldon for finding quite that many subplots to keep things busy on the long voyage, but it did put a strain on the action being confined to a ship for so long.

These gripes aside this was still a very good, engrossing and brilliant book. It’s not my favourite in the series, but it’s still a wonderful instalment and one that moves the story into whole new exciting territories. I adore this series and I cannot wait to continue onwards to see where Jamie and Claire end up next. I don’t think anything will ever re-create the magic I found in Scotland and Paris in the first two books, but this comes a close second and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Review: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Be warned for spoilers for the first book and very mild spoilers for the second (although it’s nothing you won’t see in the blurb)

Publication Date: September 2002 (this edition. First published 1992)
Publisher: DellLength: 947 pages

For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland’s majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones… about a love that transcends the boundaries of time ... and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his....
Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire’s spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart ... in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising ... and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves....

After starting the TV series for Outlander at the start of the year, I bought and devoured the first book in a matter of days. I then went on to buy the rest of the series, anticipating that I’d spend the next few weeks working my way through all of them.

However real life and other books intervened, so whilst I did start this book shortly after completing the first book, I then put it down again until last week when, on holiday to Scotland for a week, I decided that then was the time to get on and read it.

This delay was due to two things, the first being that it’s a large book and my blogging schedule makes it hard to sit down and work through a tome of this size with so many other books on my urgent to read pile. But it was also due to the start of the novel itself.

We finish Outlander with Claire pregnant and with Jamie in France, preparing to see if they can change the course of history. I expected this book to pick up where the first left off, so I was surprised and a little devastated to find that instead we open the book in Inverness in 1965. Claire is back in her own time, with a twenty year old daughter.

This time jump frustrated me for two reasons. One because it’s incredibly jarring to suddenly go forward and fill in the blanks of what happened before after quite a bit of exposition, and secondly because it destroys a lot of the tension. You know that Claire is going to leave Jamie and come back to her own time and you also know through simply looking at the timelines that Claire’s pregnancy at the end of the first book is going to end in tragedy. It does add a certain sense of foreboding to the novel, but it also leaves you waiting for the inevitable which removes the shock.

As a result the first half of the novel feels more like a waiting game than a thrilling second book in a series. If you aren’t interested in a slower moving historical novel then this will seem incredibly frustrating, but if like me you really enjoy the day to day bits of historical novels then you’ll love it. However I know that for a lot of people that jarring opening section, the slow paced meandering part set in Paris and the sudden introduction of a new perspective in the form of Roger Wakefield may be a little too frustrating and make you want to abandon the novel before you’re half way through.

However at the half way point things pick up. We return to Scotland, the plot kicks up several notches and history starts snowballing in a most alarming fashion until you’re left gasping and reeling in the final act. Dragonfly in Amber suddenly finds its footing and returns to the roots that Outlander fans fell in love with and as a result it shines.

Upon the conclusion of her story of the past, we then return to the present of 1965 where things continue apace as some events come full circle and new surprises will leave you gasping. The second half of the novel is beautifully constructed and more than made up for the sometimes slower sections in the first half.

I loved this novel for a lot of the same reasons as I loved the first, but also whole new ones. We see a whole raft of familiar faces in one way or another, something I hadn’t been expecting with the shift to France, but something I absolutely adored. We also get to see a lot more of the world with the shift to France, particularly Paris, as well as Edinburgh and more of the Highlands. Since I was reading this book whilst in Edinburgh those sections were particularly wonderful because Diana Gabaldon excels at research and bringing her stories to life in the most realistic and wonderful ways.

Whilst the Paris sections may frustrate some, I loved them. I loved the detail, the glimpses not only of life at court but also in the city. The gossip, the scandal, the fashion. There’s less of the uncertainty of the first novel and more of Claire embracing this life she’s been thrown into, and that is a wonderful sight to behold. There is less of the uncertainty and determination to escape and so Claire feels more grounded and settled than she did in the first book, allowing the reader to take their time exploring the new surroundings rather than be in a constant state of will she/won’t she escape back to her own time.

It also explores new depths to the relationship between Claire and Jamie. I loved watching the two of them discover their feelings for the other and build their relationship in the first book, so to watch those feelings deepen and evolve over the course of this book is truly wonderful, and really cements their status as one of my favourite fictional relationships.

So if you read and loved Outlander, this book is a must read. Be warned about the slightly jarring opening section and slow first half, but know that the second half more than makes up for any frustrations you may find in the first. It has everything readers loved about the first book and builds it into a truly gripping tale, one that cements the series as a classic of fantastic storytelling.

Review: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

Publication Date: September 1^st 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Length: 656 pages

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…
She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.
Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world. 

I am CONFLICTED right now, because I genuinely don’t know how to rate this one. On the one hand, I barely slept for the three days I was reading it, I couldn’t physically put the book down. It was tense and incredible and SO STRESSFUL TO READ, but IMENSELY AWESOME. (And yes, all of these caps locks are warranted.)

But then there were parts that didn’t work as well for me that make me feel like it can’t be a full spectacular five star read. So I’m gonna try and reason it all out and see if I have a clearer idea at the end of the review. Ready?

I loved this book. I was caught from the first page and I really couldn’t put it down. There were a couple of (ill-timed) moments where real life intruded and I was forced to leave the book to go out, but whenever I had a spare moment, it was back in my hands. I was in a near constant state of stress and tense panic (seriously, just go look at my Goodreads status updates) and it was GLORIOUS. 

I was so invested, so immersed in the story and it was so wonderful to just fall into it and escape real life for a while. It doesn’t happen with every book where I actually just forget everything else, and the books it does are my favourites, because I love getting lost in a book. I love being so desperate to return that I shove aside all other life and responsibilities and just burrow down with the story in my armchair.

I have loved seeing how Aelin has matured and grown over the course of the series, it’s been such a transformation and so good to watch, and see both her and those around her develop. Nowhere was that more apparent in this book than with her relationship with Lysandra which was pure gold. Their interactions, the friendship, and Lysandra herself. I have a new favourite, and boy is she sassy.

Lysandra heaved a sigh. "Oh, thank the gods. Now I can talk to someone about clothes without being asked how so-and-so would approve of it, or gobble down a box of chocolates without someone telling me I'd better watch my figure -- tell me you like chocolates. You do, right? I remember stealing a box from your room once when you were out killing someone. They were delicious."
Aelin waved a hand toward the boxes of goodies on the table. "You brought chocolate -- as far as I'm concerned, you're my new favourite person."

I also really love Manon. I know her sections have divided people – some love her, some really don’t and begrudge her the time she takes away from Aelin and co. But I happen to fall into the former camp. She’s fascinated me right from the start, so the additional time spent with her in this book made me extremely happy. Admittedly her sections were a lot slower and did drag the pacing down a bit, which was a shame, but I still really enjoyed this fresh perspective from such a different corner of the war and world.

Sure ok there were a few issues with pacing, which I will be addressing more in a moment when I talk about the issues, but on the whole OH WOW. Like I said, this book was tense, I could not put it down. Particularly in several of the really big everything is kicking off and how on earth can anyone survive any of this?! scenes. The writing was like a well oiled machine, flipping from character to character together to create one breath taking whole. I was manically tearing through pages to find out what would happen, and that is a sign of a truly incredible book.

Now let’s talk issues. First off, the one that is making an appearance in a lot of reviews at the moment, Chaol. What even happened?! Did he have a personality transplant between ‘Heir of Fire’ and this book?! The Chaol that appeared within these pages was not the Chaol of the last three books that I fell in love with, and I spent most of the book wanting to either smack him or shake him. He was an absolute arse, awful and horrible and mean and yeah sure he went through some bad things at the end of the last book, but REALLY, could he have been any different and worse?! So anytime he showed up and started snarking at Aelin, the book dropped down to a four star read.

It was also such a shame to see Chaol and Dorian reduced to such bit parts. I could understand it to a certain extent with Dorian, but they were both characters I really love in this series, so to see them reduced and butchered like that was really upsetting. And for what? To try and persuade people that this new shiny romance is the way to go? I was on board with this romance already, I didn’t need this character assassination to persuade me, and in fact I’m grumpier now as a result of that than I was before.

And the boys territorial, over protective attitude towards Aelin?! WHAT EVEN? Boys, she’s done just fine without you before now, and yes ok you’ll be very useful now but stop trying to restrict her and being complete and utter poops in the process. Sit in the corner and think about your attitudes!

My final issue was Elide. She was interesting, yes, but not interesting enough to warrant that much time being spent on her. It really dragged some of the story down and reduced the pace to a snails crawl, which considering how well paced I found the rest of the book was a shame. I think she has potential to be a really interesting player in the next instalment, but her introduction here was handled badly and proved to be a bit of a dead weight on the rest of the story.

So lots of truly brilliant awesome things, but then a handful of giant grumposaurus problems that really threw a spanner in my joy, adoration, and feverish reading. On the one hand, this book was amazing, on the other hand WHAT EVEN HAPPENED IN SOME OF THAT.

You see my problem and conflict?

I think I’m just going to have to put this as a four star read and consider it to be four and a half really.

This is a truly incredible instalment in the series. It won’t be for everyone, and the problems I’ve talked about, whilst grumps for me, will probably be enough to put some people off this series for good. However I still loved the book, it was a fantastic read, brilliantly written on the whole and more than satisfying. My love for this series is alive and well and I cannot wait for the next book – it’s going to be a long year. Now I just need to not spoil anything whilst Husband finishes reading it…

Top Ten Finished Series I Have Yet To Catch Up With

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by 'The Broke & The Bookish' - to join in just follow the link.

I'm usually pretty good about finishing series. If a book series is good then I cannot physically wait to get stuck into the next book in and find out what happens. But unfortunately real life often gets in the way and so there are a few series littered in my past that I have yet to finish. There are also a few that I'm currently working on, but because there are yet more books due out in the series I didn't feel that they could really count. But I am working through the Outlander series and A Song of Ice and Fire in the hopes that I'll be caught up by the time a new book for each series graces our shelves.
But now, onto the series that are out (or very nearly almost all out) that I have been lax and not managed to finish reading...

The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
I think I must be the last person on the planet who has not read these books, but don't worry they're very high up on my to read pile now and I am so close I can almost smell the pages. I noticed them at a similar sort of time as 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' and the two for some reason got tied up together in my head, so it wasn't until quite some time later that I realized it was a separate series altogether and I should possibly get them onto my to read pile asap...

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
I read the first book 'Cinder' when it first came out and wasn't blown away by it. Yes it was good but it just didn't capture me in the way I was hoping it would, so when the next book came out I just didn't bother picking it up. But now with the final book about to hit our shelves and everyone squeeing about how good the series is, I think that maybe I might have been in the wrong mood for the book when I first tried it and I should really go back and give it another try.

His Fair Assassin Trilogy by Robin LaFevers
I absolutely loved the first two books in the trilogy, but when the third book came out I wanted to re-read the first two before I settled in to the final one. Trying to find time for one book isn't too hard, trying to find time for a re-read of a whole series takes a bit more planning. So the final book is sat on my shelves making me feel terribly guilty for not having made time for it yet, because I know I'm going to love it. Soon my precious, soon.

The Finishing School Series by Gail Carriger
I have loved all of Gail's books so far, including the first book in the Finishing School series, but I haven't managed to stay caught up. The first book was fantastic and I cannot wait to get my teeth stuck into the rest of the series, but by the time I'd missed the second book and the third book was looming I decided I would wait until the whole series was out and then binge read my way through all of them.

The Beka Cooper Trilogy by Tamora Pierce
The first book in the series left me on a really intriguing note, and I couldn't wait to get straight into the second book, but this was back before Book Depository, and the cost of getting hold of a hardback of the second from the states (it wasn't out in paperback or in the UK) was too much for my little purse. So I waited, and waited, and then got sidetracked by other books. But it's a series I would love to come back to one day and finish off properly now all three books have been released.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor
I love this series and was so insanely excited for the third book. It arrived, I started reading it, I was loving it. And then my Husband finished reading the second book and desperately wanted to find out what happened next. So being the lovely person that I am, I relinquished the third book in the trilogy into his grasp and said he could read it first. He loved it, he ended up dropping spoilers. He's learnt his lesson. At some point I'll get back to it, but I got caught up with so many other books whilst he was reading it that I lost the impetus. 

The Cup of the World Trilogy by John Dickinson
I read the first book in this trilogy when I was studying for my ALevels - many years ago. And I loved it, I remember that much. It made a huge impression on me and whilst I cannot remember the intricacies of the story, I know that I really fell in love. By the time the second book came out I was embroiled in uni and I didn't find the time to go back to it, or then to the third book, but it's a series that has always been in the back of my mind and I really want to re-visit and find out how the story ends.

The Icemark Chronicles by Stuart Hill
Another ALevel book that I read when I should have been doing coursework. It was a precursor to a lot of the books I love reading today, building on the fantasy book love that Tamora Pierce's books had ignited in me. Again, one that I cannot remember a huge amount about, but I remember reading it. I remember the feel of the hardback in my hands and the slightly shimmery lettering on the dust jacket and I remember being thoroughly swept away. One day when I unpack my many boxes of books back in the UK I will re-find this one and sit down to read it and then get onto the second and third books.

The Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon
This is another book series that shaped my love of books today. Big epic quest, magic, epic female characters, fantasy lands. This book checked all the boxes and I made my way through the first few books in the series. But then I kept hearing that it was going to be a seven or eight book series and I was becoming frustrated with the waiting times (ah younger me, just you wait until you start reading A Song of Ice and Fire, you don't even know the meaning of frustration with book waiting times...) so I put it to one side. Apparently in the interim period it got cut down to a quartet, so now that it's complete I'm really curious to see how this one ends. It's another one that I have to wait to dig out from the UK boxes of books, so it may be some time before my curiosity is satisfied...

The Fire and Thorns Trilogy by Rae Carson
I adored the first book in this series and meant to go straight into the second when it was released. But real life got in the way and before I knew it the third book was out and I really couldn't remember what had happened and I needed to go back and find out what had happened in the first book again before continuing. Another one that I am carving out time to go back to the first book so I can finish this series.

There you have my ten series that I really need to catch up on. Some of them from the dim and distant past of my childhood, others from the last few years, but all of them ones that I have definitely dropped the ball on and left one or more books languishing on my shelves. Maybe next year I should have a concerted finishing the series effort?...
But onto you guys! Are there any unfinished series we share? Any that you've not heard of and are curious to try? Any that you're going to berate me for or tell me to move up my to read pile asap?
And what series have you left unfinished? Let me know and link me in the comments below!

Review: As White As Snow by Salla Simukka

Publication Date: 3rd March 2015
Publisher: Skyscape
Length: 224 pages

Huge thanks to Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

The heat of the summer sun bakes the streets of Prague, but Lumikki’s heart is frozen solid.
Looking to escape the notoriety caused by the part she played in taking down Polar Bear’s crime ring, seventeen-year-old Lumikki Andersson escapes to Prague, where she hopes to find a few weeks of peace among the hordes of tourists. But not long after arriving, she’s cornered by a skittish and strange young woman who claims to be her long-lost sister. The woman, Lenka, is obviously terrified, and even though Lumikki doesn’t believe her story—although parts of it ring true—she can’t just walk away.
Lumikki quickly gets caught up in Lenka’s sad and mysterious world, uncovering pieces of a mystery that take her from the belly of a poisonous cult to the highest echelons of corporate power. On the run for her life again, Lumikki must use all her wits to survive, but in the end, she just may discover she can’t do it all alone.

After the tense and fast paced ride of the first book in the trilogy ‘As Red As Blood’ I was very eager to get straight back into Lumikki’s world and this time to explore Prague with her. Unfortunately this book didn’t grab me in the same way as the first.

The story wasn’t as engaging this time, it took much longer to really get into the story and by that point we were reaching the climax and there wasn’t enough time to properly invest. I’m not really sure what it was about it that didn’t work. A combination of pacing, slow plot and characters. It followed the same formula as the first, with characters being introduced slowly, first with no names, and then later with names and motives. But instead of building the suspense like it did in the first book it dragged it out and left the plot barely moving for most of the book.

This instalment also suffered from problems in translation. The writing is very clunky and awkward, much more so than in the first book, which was frustrating as it felt as though that was not how it would have read originally. It’s almost enough to make me want to learn Finnish so I can read it as it was intended!

However, these frustrations aside this was still a very good book. I loved Lumikki, I loved finding out tiny pieces about her life and her history and I loved that we learnt more about the relationship she had the previous year. Also a huge amount of love for the person she was in love with being transgender and going through gender reassignment. It was an unexpected yet wonderful twist, and I loved seeing pieces of their relationship. I’m hoping that we will actually meet him in the final instalment in the trilogy now that the build-up has reached this this point.

So whilst this book didn’t appeal to me in the same way as the first one, and suffered from several issues with pacing that left me feeling frustrated for the first part as I waited for the story to start pulling together and to draw me in, this is still a very good book. Not quite up to the standard of the first book but still a good bridge before the third one, which I am very anxious to read.

Review: The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Publication Date: 12^th March 2015

Huge thanks to Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.
The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement…if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.
As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

So a few days ago I read ‘The Winner’s Crime’ and loved it. So much love. So hard. And so as soon as I finished it I leaped straight into the second book in the trilogy and re-immersed myself in Kestrel and Arin’s world once more.
The worry with the second book in a trilogy when the first book was just so good that you wanted to throw it at anyone and everyone and demand that they read it, is that it just won’t live up to your expectations. Luckily Rutkoski is an incredibly gifted writer and this instalment more than held its own against the first book.

The sequel is much darker than the first book, with Kestrel now hidden in the heart of the Empire and engaged to the Emperor’s son. No conversation can be guaranteed to be unheard, no secret uncovered and it gives the entire book a very tense and on edge feeling as you wait, breathlessly, for it all to fall apart. Because this is the point where everything inevitably falls apart. It’s tense and terrifying and I stormed through this book even faster than the first one, desperately trying to find out what happens. That said the pacing is quite slow, almost torturously slow at points, so that the tension has really hit breaking point by the end of the book.

I missed Herran terribly, just as Kestrel does, but at the same time it was wonderful to have the world expanded. To discover new territories and people and to find out more about the Valorians. As well as new places a whole host of new characters were also on offer, as well as some familiar faces from the first book. The Emperor is a truly terrifying man, and he seeps through the book even in the sections where he isn’t present. I was never quite sure how he might react or lash out next, and I cannot wait to see even more of him in the final instalment.

Kestrel is brilliantly expanded in this book and I loved watching her try and come to terms with herself, her choices and her culture. She is turning into a truly formidable woman and an incredible heroine. She isn’t strong in the physical sense, but she is sharp and quick and incredibly devious. She calculates, schemes, spies and above all, tries desperately to do the right thing in an increasingly difficult and shifting landscape, and I love her for that.
Arin takes a slight backseat in this novel – that isn’t to say that he isn’t present, he is and fighting his own battles and to become his own man and lead his people to a better future. His journey is simply quieter than Kestrel’s, and it takes him far longer to put the pieces together. With all the discoveries and revelations lining up by the end of the novel I am eagerly anticipating watching them all come together in what is sure to be a climactic finale.

Everything that I loved about the first book was abundant – the beautiful prose, the gut wrenching heartbreak, the intrigue, lies and spying. It was a fantastic continuation of the story and like a game of Bite & Sting sets up the final book to be even better than its predecessors. If you haven’t yet read ‘The Winner’s Crime’ I cannot recommend it enough. Go, read it and then launch straight into this book to delay the book hangover you will experience when you’re forced to leave this book and wait for the final novel.

Books I'm Squeeing About in March

It's been a long time since I've posted about books I'm squeeing about, but with some of my favourite authors giving us new and exciting books this month I couldn't resist. So without further ado, here are the three books I am particularly excited to get my mitts on this month! There are so many that it is incredibly hard to choose, but these three have really snagged my attention!

(All release dates are for the UK editions)

12th - Burning Kingdoms by Lauren DeStefano (Internment Chronicles Book 2)

After escaping the city of Internment, Morgan and her fellow fugitives land on the ground to finally learn about the world beneath their floating island home.
The ground is a strange place where water falls from the sky as snow, and people watch moving pictures and visit speakeasies. A place where families can have as many children as they want, bury their dead in vast gardens of bodies, and where Internment is the feature of an amusement park.It is also a land at war.Everyone who fled Internment had their own reasons to escape their corrupt haven, but now they’re caught under the watchful eye of another ruler who wants to dominate his world. They may have made it to the ground, but have they dragged Internment with them?

Lauren DeStefano can do no wrong. Her debut series ' The Chemical Garden Trilogy' was incredible. Beautifully written, heartbreaking yet full of hope and with such fresh and exciting ideas, I adored the series, and 'Perfect Ruin' the first book in the Internment Chronicles showed that she was a writer to be reckoned with. It was a fantastic book and left me desperate for more, and I cannot wait to see what happens in book two!

You can pre-order this book on Amazon here

12th - The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski (The Winner's Trilogy Book 2)

Lady Kestrel's engagement to Valoria's crown prince calls for great celebration: balls and performances, fireworks and revelry. But to Kestrel it means a cage of her own making. Embedded in the imperial court as a spy, she lives and breathes deceit and cannot confide in the one person she really longs to trust ...
While Arin fights to keep his country's freedom from the hands of his enemy, he suspects that Kestrel knows more than she shows. As Kestrel comes closer to uncovering a shocking secret, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth.Lies will come undone, and Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them in this second book in the breathtaking Winner's trilogy.

I came late to this series and only caught up last week when I stormed through both book 1 and 2 in a couple of days. I love this series, it is fantastic. Full of beautiful prose and evocative imagery and brutal moves in this cut throat world of spying and politics. This book more than lives up to the high bar set by the first and I cannot wait to be able to talk about this book more! Keep an eye out for my review in a couple of days!

You can pre-order this book on Amazon here

19th - Prudence by Gail Carriger (Book 1 in the Custard Protocol Series)

When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar circumstances - names it the Spotted Crumpetand floats to India in pursuit of the perfect cup of tea.
But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier's wife and some awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis and an embarrassing lack of bloomers, what else is a young lady of good breeding to do but turn metanatural and find out everyone's secrets, even thousand-year-old fuzzy ones?

I adore Gail Carriger's books. They are witty, biting and so incredibly inventive. She is my favourite steampunk author and I am so excited to go back to the world of her debut series with an all grown up Prudence. Ever since the very first announcement I have been desperate to read this, and I am counting down the days this month until I can sink into it!

You can pre-order this book on Amazon here

So those are the top three books that I can't wait for this month, what books are you desperate to get your hands on?

Review: The Iron Trial by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

Huge thanks to Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.
Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.
All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.
So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing.
Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.
The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come…

I was very curious to see how the book would turn out, coming from two such well known and prolific authors as Clare and Black, but also because of the comparisons being made to Harry Potter.

Yes there are a lot of comparisons, but there are also a lot of differences too which helps once you get into it. There’s the school for magic, the trio of friends who band together, the sneaking around and general hijinks happening behind people’s backs, the prophecy, the Dumbledore and Snape like teacher figures, but there’s an awful lot in there that sets it apart from the Potter series. The series is always going to divide opinion, and there will always be people who can’t get into it or don’t want to read it because of the comparisons. For me personally it was like looking into a slightly skewed mirror until I got far enough into the story that it stopped being quite so obvious.

It was a bit unsettling though because I did always have Potter in the back of my head. And whilst every effort was being made to make magic school cool and exciting, I couldn’t get beyond some aspects of it. It was underground and cold and dark and no one ever really saw the outside world and the food, no matter how delicious it was described to be, sounded weird… I missed Hogwarts.
And if it hadn’t been so similar in so many ways, that comparison wouldn’t have been there.

Comparisons aside, it is still a very good book. Black and Clare make a great writing team and I really enjoyed the story. There were some great twists, some wonderful characters, and some really intriguing elements. I would have liked to get to know some more of the secondary characters better, and to see more of the magic lessons. I loved the main trio and I loved how the immediate comparisons were squashed and turned upside down by the end of the book.

I’m really looking forward to the second book because it feels like the set up has been dealt with and we can now move in to broadening the world and getting to know the characters better. There’s a lot that I want to know about this world. I think that a lot of the Potter comparisons will have been dealt with and the second book will begin to peel away and show a more individual and unique world to the one we were seeing here.

It is a much younger book, aimed at middle grade readers rather than young adult, and I know that the comparisons will put off a lot of people. However I definitely recommend giving it a go. The writing is good and the lead characters are wonderful. There’s more to it once you get into the story and I think that the series has some really fantastic potential. Let’s hope it lives up to it!

Review: The Study Trilogy by Maria V. Snyder

Minor spoilers for the trilogy as I’m reviewing all three books at once, I have tried to keep them to an absolute minimum.

Book 1: Poison Study
Choose: A quick death…Or slow poison…
About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.
And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.
As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear…

Book 2: Magic Study

With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she'd been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can't help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways—and her newfound friends and relatives don't think it's for the better....

Despite the turmoil, she's eager to start her magic training—especially as she's been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia's throne for a lost prince—and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.

If that wasn't bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies...

Book 3: Fire Study
When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder—able to capture and release souls—spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy. Already Yelena's unusual abilities and past have set her apart. As the Council debates Yelena's fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before....
Honour sets Yelena on a path that will test the limits of her skills, and the hope of reuniting with her beloved spurs her onward. Her journey is fraught with allies, enemies, lovers and would-be assassins, each of questionable loyalty. Yelena will have but one chance to prove herself—and save the land she holds dear.

I love the Study series by Maria V Snyder, they were my first foray into her writing and they hold a special place in the fantasy corner of my heart (right between Tamora Pierce and Kristin Cashore.) They are one of my favourites to come back to again and again, particularly when I’m feeling rough and need a break from the real world. So a few days ago I went back into Yelena’s world for another trip round.

The first book will always remain my favourite of the series. There’s something about it that just sparks my imagination in a way that the second two books never quite recapture. It could be the fresh new concept and world that we’re being introduced to, or the (relatively) stable environment of the castle complex where the majority of the action takes place, or it could be that this book features the most of Valek that we ever see, and yes ok, I may have a bit of a soft spot for Valek. How did you guess?

Poison brilliantly sets up Yelena as a character, throwing us and her straight in at the deep end with a death or slow death option, and the action never really lets up from there. There are no pre-formed relationships, the reader finds out about the characters at the same time as Yelena, and it’s so much fun trying to work out who is trustworthy and who might be selling information. The world that Snyder sets up is both brutal but complex and a fascinating study. I loved seeing how Ixia worked and the different roles everyone plays within the construct.

Yelena herself is a fascinating character, she’s just that bit older than most YA heroines, so the book can appeal to either end of the spectrum, both adults and older teens. She’s strong and fiery and incredibly determined, but there is also something fundamentally broken about her, and Snyder doesn’t shy away from portraying that and giving Yelena the arc and space to try to come to terms with herself, her situation, and her past.

She’s supported by a fascinating cast of characters, Valek of course being my favourite. He’s a darkly brilliant character, who you never know what he might do or how he might react, with a life and character outside of the bounds of Yelena’s interactions, and I desperately want a study on Valek please. There are so many layers to him, he remains one of my favourite heroes, even though he may not come across as a hero to start with.We also get to meet Ari and Janco who are one of the best double acts ever and remind me in some ways of the Weasley twins, only a little bit more deadly.

It’s a fantastic combination of fantasy and magic with some of the darker elements of humanity mixed in. It never gets to heavy, and never lets up on the rollercoaster ride from start to finish, and leaves the reader desperate to head straight into the next book in the series ‘Magic Study.’ Which is where it then went a bit downhill for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the series, but books two and three never quite live up to the magic that I found in book one.

Yelena is out in the big wide world, freed from her position as poison taster and off to seek her family and her magical heritage in Sitia I really loved seeing a whole new side to the world and the different mis match of cultures that all coalesce in Sitia in comparison to the straight rigidity of Ixia. They are a contrast in studies and I love seeing more of the two nations over the following two books.

My three biggest problems with Magic Study and Fire Study are firstly, that the character development never seems to be tackled as well as it is in the first book. I never really warmed to Yelen’a parents and her brother Lief and her have so many issues and then suddenly they don’t. There is a passage where they look at the events that shaped their hostility towards each other, but it then felt as though those issues were dropped and never touched on again, which was really disappointing. I felt that their relationship was one of the most fascinating ones, and there were some really solid reasons for dislike between them and I wanted to see them work through those and come out the other side, not to just get a magic fix.

All the other secondary characters it felt like we got a lot of them up to a point and then they would close off and we couldn’t go any deeper. Irys for example would swing from trusting Yelena to cutting her off so quickly it practically gave me whiplash.

Secondly, Yelena adopts a ‘let’s rush headlong into everything and hang the consequences’ attitude. Which yes, works in some situations and really really doesn’t in others. Sometimes I just wanted to shake her for not trusting people or even attempting to reach out to them, because it left her isolated and making increasingly bad decisions. I understood the justification for not trusting others, but it felt like it was taken a little too far on some occasions.

And finally, there really wasn’t enough Valek, and when we did get him, it was usually in situations where there was no hope and then suddenly Valek appears in her mind and helps her out. Now if there had been some sort of bond or magical tether between the two of them or even a vague attempt to make some sense of why this kept happening then I probably wouldn’t have questioned it. However as it was it felt like it was just an easy way out, which was tragic because I wanted more of Valek yes, but not just as a save the day kind of guy. It also felt like he had lost some of his hard battle mentality in the second two books, which again was a bit sad after the pure awesomeness of the first book.

However, yes ok I have a few gripes but they are actually not big ones, it’s just because I’m looking at the three books in one go. I really do love this series, hugely, and it is one of those series I am forever telling people to read. Snyder is a genius at world building, she creates compelling and believable worlds filled with history and backstory and myths and they feel so real as you read. It’s an incredible talent and one that has only grown with each book she’s written.

She creates a host of fantastic characters, from Yelena right the way through to the smallest bit parts. Everyone adds to the story, they all fit seamlessly into the whole, and they all help to create this incredible tale. Because regardless of any gripes I may have, this trilogy really is an incredible feat of storytelling. It remains one of my favourites to come back to time and time again, and Valek and Yelena remain one of my top favourite pairings.

If you’re looking for a new fantasy series to sink your teeth into this comes very highly recommended. If you’re after fantastic world building a compelling plot and engaging characters then again, you’ll strike gold with these. The whole series is fantastic, but Poison study remains my favourite.