Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Published: 24th March 2020 | Publisher: Hot Key Books | Source: NetGalley
Intisar Khanani's Website

A princess with two futures. A destiny all her own.

Between her cruel family and the contempt she faces at court, Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life. But when she’s betrothed to the powerful prince Kestrin, Alyrra embarks on a journey to his land with little hope for a better future.

When a mysterious and terrifying sorceress robs Alyrra of both her identity and her role as princess, Alyrra seizes the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.

But Alyrra soon finds that Kestrin is not what she expected. The more Alyrra learns of this new kingdom, the pain and suffering its people endure, as well as the danger facing Kestrin from the sorceress herself, the more she knows she can’t remain the goose girl forever.

With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds and ultimately must decide who she is, and what she stands for. The StoryGraph

I received this eProof for free from Hot Key Books via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features blood, minor descriptions of wounds, animal cruelty/animal death, abduction, discussion of slavery, violence against women, domestic violence, attempted sexual assault, rape, hangings, and murder.

Continue reading Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

The Ramadan Readathon 2021: My TBR

Titles marked with an asterisk (*) were gifted to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Ramadan Readathon, hosted by Nadia of Headscarves and Hardbacks, is back again in 2021 for it's fourth year! It's a reading challenge focused on reading books by Muslim authors held each year during the month of Ramadan, to celebrate and support those authors, and to help diversify our reading. This year's Ramadan Readathon will be held Monday 12th April - Wednesday 12th May.

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Review: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Published: 12th September 2019 | Publisher: Orbit | Source: NetGalley
Alix E. Harrow's Website

In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.

Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.

Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow's spellbinding debut--step inside and discover its magic. The StoryGraph

I received sent this eProof for free from Orbit via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features racism, an animal attack, animal cruelty, forced instituionalisation, self-harm, abduction, and torture.

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Review: A Kingdom for a Stage by Heidi Heilig

A Kingdom for a Stage by Heidi Heilig

Published: 8th October 2019 | Publisher: Greenwillow Books | Source: Bought
Heidi Heilig's Website

Jetta is a prisoner. A prisoner of the armee, a prisoner of fate, and a prisoner of her own madness. Held captive in Hell’s Court—now the workshop of Theodora, the armee engineer and future queen of Chakrana—Jetta knows she needs to escape. But Theodora has the most tempting bait—a daily dose of a medication that treats Jetta’s madness.

But the cost is high. In exchange, Jetta must use her power over dead spirits to trap their souls into flying machines—ones armed with enough firepower to destroy every village in Chakrana. And Theodora and her armee also control Le Trépas—a terrifying necromancer who once had all of Chakrana under his thumb, and Jetta’s biological father. Jetta fears the more she uses her powers, the more she will be like Le Trépas—especially now that she has brought her brother, Akra, back from the dead.

Jetta knows Le Trépas can’t be trusted. But when Akra teams up with Leo, the handsome smuggler who abandoned her, to pull off an incredible escape, they insist on bringing the necromancer along. The rebels are eager to use Le Trépas’s and Jetta’s combined magic against the invading colonists. Soon Jetta will face the choice between saving all of Chakrana or becoming like her father, and she isn’t sure which she’ll choose. The StoryGraph

My other reviews of The Shadow Players Trilogy:
For a Muse of Fire

WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features abduction, imprisonment, torture, a person being burned alive, a massacre, and murder.

Continue reading Review: A Kingdom for a Stage by Heidi Heilig

Review: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Published: 30th June 2020 | Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books | Source: Gift
Margaret Rogerson's Website

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer's Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery--magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library's most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she's been taught--about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined. From The StoryGraph

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features vomit, blood, sexism and misogyny, a panic attack, confinement, forced institutionalisation, violence, and description of wounds.

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Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Published: 5th September 2019 | Publisher: Orion | Source: Bought
Diane Setterfield's Website

Everybody has a story...

Angelfield was once home to the March family: fascinating, manipulative Isabelle; brutal, dangerous Charlie; and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But the house hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart...

Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past, and its mysterious connection to the enigmatic writer Vida Winter. Vida's history is mesmering - a tale of ghosts, governesses, and gothic strangeness. But as Margaret succumbs to the power of her storytelling, two parallel stories begin to unfold...

What has Angelfield been hiding? What is the secret that strikes at the heart of Margaret's own, troubled life? And can both women ever confront the ghosts that haunt them...?

The Thirteenth Tale is a spellbinding mystery, a love letter to storytelling, and a modern classic. From The StoryGraph

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features dementia, self-harm, abandoned children, child neglect, violence against women, rape, incest, violence, murder, and arson.

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Review: Hall of Smoke by H. M. Long

Hall of Smoke by H. M. Long

Published: 19 January 2021 | Publisher: Titan Books | Source: NetGalley
H. M. Long's Website

Epic fantasy featuring warrior priestesses and fickle gods at war, for readers of Brian Staveley's Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne.

Hessa is an Eangi: a warrior priestess of the Goddess of War, with the power to turn an enemy's bones to dust with a scream. Banished for disobeying her goddess's command to murder a traveller, she prays for forgiveness alone on a mountainside.

While she is gone, raiders raze her village and obliterate the Eangi priesthood. Grieving and alone, Hessa - the last Eangi - must find the traveller, atone for her weakness and secure her place with her loved ones in the High Halls. As clans from the north and legionaries from the south tear through her homeland, slaughtering everyone in their path, Hessa strives to win back her goddess' favour.

Beset by zealot soldiers, deceitful gods, and newly-awakened demons at every turn, Hessa burns her path towards redemption and revenge. But her journey reveals a harrowing truth: the gods are dying and the High Halls of the afterlife are fading. Soon Hessa's trust in her goddess weakens with every unheeded prayer.

Thrust into a battle between the gods of the Old World and the New, Hessa realizes there is far more on the line than securing a life beyond her own death. Bigger, older powers slumber beneath the surface of her world. And they're about to wake up. The StoryGraph

I received this eProof for free from Titan Books via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features blood, self-harm, description of wounds, animal cruelty, animal sacrifice, person attacked by a dog, abduction, slavery, discussion of trading sex for survival, murder, a massacre, and description of corpses.

Continue reading Review: Hall of Smoke by H. M. Long