Category: Fantasy
The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima
(Cover picture courtesy of Cinda Williams Chima’s site.)
A thousand years ago, two young lovers were betrayed-Alger Waterlow to his death, and Hanalea, Queen of the Fells, to a life without love.
Now, once again, the Queendom of the Fells seems likely to shatter apart. For young queen Raisa ana’Marianna, maintaining peace even within her own castle walls is nearly impossible; tension between wizards and Clan has reached a fevered pitch. With surrounding kingdoms seeking to prey on the Fells’ inner turmoil, Raisa’s best hope is to unite her people against a common enemy. But that enemy might be the person with whom she’s falling in love.
Through a complicated web of lies and unholy alliances, former streetlord Han Alister has become a member of the Wizard Council of the Fells. Navigating the cut-throat world of blue blood politics has never been more dangerous, and Han seems to inspire hostility among Clan and wizards alike. His only ally is the queen, and despite the perils involved, Han finds it impossible to ignore his feelings for Raisa. Before long, Han finds himself in possession of a secret believed to be lost to history, a discovery powerful enough to unite the people of the Fells. But will the secret die with him before he can use it?
A simple, devastating truth concealed by a thousand-year-old lie at last comes to light in this stunning conclusion to the Seven Realms series.
I’m far from a romantically inclined person but I really did love the twist about Hanalea and Alger Waterlow. Not only was it unexpected, I liked how it was resolved and how Cinda Williams Chima treated it in general. History is written by the victors, as the saying goes.
The main story of Han and Raisa is also pretty good. There’s lots of betrayal, intrigue and drama but it never really goes into soap opera territory. Politics and duty often get in the way of love but I liked how both characters handled it according it to their personalities: Raisa tried hiding behind duty and Han challenged her to follow her heart instead. It makes for a great subplot on top of all of the chaos in the Fells and elsewhere.
They’re on the brink of civil war as a foreign army invades and nothing is as it seems, of course. I loved how Raisa really rose to the challenge in this book. She was always a strong character but she really came into her own in this last installment. I can actually picture her as a successful queen now that she’s matured so much in The Crimson Crown. Not that she was immature in the first book but now she’s behaving like a grown woman despite the fact she’s still really a teenager. Han, of course, is great as usual. He really grows into his role as Raisa’s adviser and confidant and he is determined to do everything he can to protect her. Han is just awesome so there’s not really much to say.
The plot was pretty good as well. It felt sort of incomplete at the end what with the random twist but at the same time it was a generally satisfying end to a good series. The rest of the book, however, was excellent and I was so involved I really didn’t want to put The Crimson Crown down, even to eat or sleep. So I’d say that’s a sign of a good book.
If you loved the previous three books in the series, I think you’ll really enjoy the last installment. I may or may not read Cinda Williams Chima’s other series but at least I can say that I’m glad I picked up the Seven Realms series. It was definitely a worthwhile read, despite the rocky beginning.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
I, Morgana by Felicity Pulman
(Cover picture courtesy of Momentum Books.)
You know my name, but you don’t know my story …
After being schooled in magic by Merlin and promised a kingdom, Morgana is robbed of her birthright and betrayed by everyone she has ever trusted. Risking everything for revenge, Morgana uses her magical arts to trap Merlin, threaten her half-brother King Arthur, and turn away the only man she will ever love. In destroying King Arthur and Camelot, Morgana sets into motion a catastrophe that can only be reversed if she can learn from the past in time to protect our future … and so fulfill an ancient prophecy.
In the tradition of The Mists of Avalon comes a new story of Morgan le Fay, one of the most enigmatic and reviled characters in Arthurian legend.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I requested I, Morgana on a whim one day while browsing through NetGalley. The blurb sounded interesting enough but when I began the novel I was under the impression it would be all about Morgana railing against her wrongfully deserved evil reputation. Fortunately, it was nothing like that.
Morgana is an interesting narrator because she’s not very self-pitying. She accepts that she really did deserve a lot of her reputation and you can really feel her deep regret at all that she did in the name of trying to seize her kingdom back. Maybe her reputation as evil incarnate is not deserved but she was far from a good person in her younger years. Still, even though I didn’t like her as a person her introspective voice as she writes looking back on the events is enough to make me keep reading. Morgana is a complex person whose ultimate downfall was her pride so you really can’t help but empathize with her.
I liked how Felicity Pulman stuck to the traditional Arthurian legends most of us are familiar with but also put her own flair on them. Morgana can travel into the Otherworlds, which was never really mentioned in the traditional legends. She was also taught by Merlin himself and that makes for some very interesting confrontations later in the novel as both of them regret their shared past. Felicity Pulman decided to set her novel much, much later than most authors choose to set King Arthur’s time (she set it around the 1100s) but it works pretty well.
The only thing that disappointed me was that Felicity Pulman’s writing lacks description. Morgana is always telling us what is going on rather than describing the scene as she saw it at the time. It makes her a more sympathetic character in general but I would have loved a little more description of the various scenes throughout the novel. Telling is okay for some purposes but reading a whole novel of it isn’t necessarily the most exciting.
Still, I really did enjoy I, Morgana. It’s a very interesting take on a complicated woman who has become one of the great villains of legend.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
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*Not available yet but will be published on June 26.
The Gray Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima
(Cover picture courtesy of Cinda Williams Chima’s site.)
Han Alister thought he had already lost everyone he loved. But when he finds his friend Rebecca Morley near death in the Spirit Mountains, Han knows that nothing matters more than saving her. The costs of his efforts are steep, but nothing can prepare him for what he soon discovers: the beautiful, mysterious girl he knew as Rebecca is none other than Raisa ana’Marianna, heir to the Queendom of the Fells. Han is hurt and betrayed. He knows he has no future with a blueblood. And, as far as he’s concerned, the princess’s family as good as killed his own mother and sister. But if Han is to fulfill his end of an old bargain, he must do everything in his power to see Raisa crowned queen.
Meanwhile, some people will stop at nothing to prevent Raisa from ascending. With each attempt on her life, she wonders how long it will be before her enemies succeed. Her heart tells her that the thief-turned-wizard Han Alister can be trusted. She wants to believe it—he’s saved her life more than once. But with danger coming at her from every direction, Raisa can only rely on her wits and her iron-hard will to survive—and even that might not be enough.
The Gray Wolf Throne is an epic tale of fierce loyalty, unbearable sacrifice, and the heartless hand of fate.
Betrayal, war, intrigue and sacrifice all feature heavily in The Gray Wolf Throne but the thing that struck me most about it was how well Cinda Williams Chima writes about politics. She’s no George R. R. Martin in terms of complicated politics, but you can really appreciate that forces both inside and outside of the Fells influence all of the characters’ decisions. Particularly Raisa’s.
I like both Raisa and Han equally in this third installment of the Seven Realms series. Last book I favoured Han but now that Raisa is finally coming into her own I found myself connecting with her on a deeper level. Both characters are well-rounded and three dimensional and you can really feel their emotions. When Han discovers Rebecca is really Raisa, that betrayal cuts deeply. But for the sake of the realm both Han and Raisa have to move past their mutual feelings of betrayal and work together to save their kingdom.
Raisa isn’t one of these annoying heroines that does whatever the heck she wants without even considering the consequences of her actions. No, she knows that everything she does has tremendous repercussions not only for herself, but for the people she rules over. Her kingdom is in a very precarious position what with civil wars going on all around its borders but there are also factions tearing the country apart from within. Even if you’re not a big political junkie like I am I think most readers can appreciate just how well Cinda Williams Chima actually understands politics.
The plot was much faster paced than in the two previous novels but it definitely wasn’t at the price of character development or world-building. It’s not the pace of your typical action/thriller novel but the plot does move along quite quickly for epic fantasy. The main thing is that the plot of The Gray Wolf Throne is very interesting. It’s not the fastest one ever written but it is interesting enough to keep you reading into the early morning hours.
Basically, this third book was better than the previous two and I can’t wait for book four, The Crimson Crown.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Along the Watchtower by David Litwack
(Cover picture courtesy of Masquerade Tours via email.)
A Tragic Warrior Lost in Two Worlds…
The war in Iraq ended for Lieutenant Freddie Williams when an IED explosion left his mind and body shattered. Once he was a skilled gamer and expert in virtual warfare. Now he’s a broken warrior, emerging from a medically induced coma to discover he’s inhabiting two separate realities. The first is his waking world of pain, family trials, and remorse—and slow rehabilitation through the tender care of Becky, his physical therapist. The second is a dark fantasy realm of quests, demons, and magic that Freddie enters when he sleeps.
In his dreams he is Frederick, Prince of Stormwind, who must make sense of his horrific visions in order to save his embattled kingdom from the monstrous Horde. His only solace awaits him in the royal gardens, where the gentle words of the beautiful gardener, Rebecca, calm the storms in his soul. While in the conscious world, the severely wounded vet faces a strangely similar and equally perilous mission—a journey along a dark road haunted by demons of guilt and memory—and letting patient, loving Becky into his damaged and shuttered heart may be his only way back from Hell.
[Full disclosure: I received a free paperback from David Litwack so I could review this book in conjunction with the blog tour. As always, this is an honest review.]
Having previously read David Litwack’s work I was expecting a novel that was mostly high fantasy or maybe even a combination of science fiction and fantasy. What I didn’t expect was a high fantasy story running in conjunction with a very real heart-wrenching story.
Freddie has had a crappy life. Both of his parents and his older brother are dead and he was severely injured in Iraq by an IED. Most of his squad died but he lived so in addition to his physical injuries there’s some pretty huge survivor guilt mixed in with PTSD. Add to that the fact that his developmentally disabled brother went missing because of him years ago and you’ve got the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy. You’d think a book with a plot like this would stray into opera level dramatics but it never does. David Litwack’s writing has improved since There Comes a Prophet so he gets just the right amount of emotion without ever becoming too sappy or cheesy.
His characters are very much three dimensional. Both Freddie and his alter ego Frederick are three dimensional characters facing (obviously) similar challenges. In the dreamworld all of Frederick’s challenges are a metaphor for what’s going on with Freddie in real life, from his rehabilitation to his growing feelings for his physiotherapist. Now a book like this could very easily stray into the territory of sexism because it would be easy to portray both Becky and Rebecca merely as background characters who help the hero reach his goal. That’s very much not true. Becky is a complicated woman with her own demons to look out for and she’s a very determined and competent physio. You can’t ask for much more than that where a romantic relationship is concerned: two people with their own problems come together slowly and try to work those problems out while acknowledging that some scars may never fully heal.
The plot isn’t fast-paced by most people’s standards but this is definitely a character driven novel. You’ll cheer for Freddie to succeed after going through so much and you’ll feel his pain as your own. He’s a very vivid character and his world of rehabilitation is brought to life by David Litwack’s amazing writing. Most people have never had physiotherapy but I have so I can tell you that the scenes between Becky and Freddie are pretty darn accurate (especially the attitudes of the medical staff). And to top it all off, this book ends on a satisfying note. Not all loose ends are tied up but enough are so that you’re pretty sure what happens to Freddie after the story.
Basically, this is just a good book. I’m so glad I joined the blog tour for it!
I give this book 5/5 stars.
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Stork by Wendy Delsol
(Cover picture courtesy of Wendy Delsol’s site.)
Family secrets. Lost memories. And the arrival of an ancient magical ability that will reveal everything.
Sixteen-year-old Katla LeBlanc has just moved from Los Angeles to Minnesota. As if it weren’t enough that her trendy fashion sense draws stares, Katla soon finds out that she’s a Stork, a member of a mysterious order of women tasked with a very unique duty. But Katla’s biggest challenge may be finding her flock at a new school. Between being ignored by Wade, the arrogant jock she stupidly fooled around with, and constantly arguing with gorgeous farm boy and editor-in-chief Jack, Katla is relieved when her assignment as the school paper’s fashion columnist brings with it some much-needed friendship. But as Homecoming approaches, Katla uncovers a shocking secret about her past — a secret that binds her fate to Jack’s in a way neither could have ever anticipated. With a nod to Hans Christian Andersen and inspired by Norse lore, Wendy Delsol’s debut novel introduces a hip and witty heroine who finds herself tail-feathers deep in small-town life.
It actually took me a long time to warm up to Stork. I had read up until chapter three sometime in March but was so bored with it I put it down for a while. Lately I’ve had a little bit of time to read during the day so I sat down and got down to the business of reading a significant chunk of the book at once. It’s a good thing I did too. Stork is one of those books that isn’t very fast-paced at the start but it draws you in slowly and soon enough you’re hooked.
Normally I’d hate a main character like Katla. She’s a total fashionista and despises the small town ways (I myself live in a small town and feel the same way, but it gets tiring after a while). I would have given up on this book except I reminded myself of the way she was raised. Her father is very similar to her and raised her to be this perfect little fashionista that looks down her nose at almost everyone. Eventually Katla improves and starts to realize that maybe fashion is just her way of hiding her insecurities and that maybe she should lighten up a bit. Overall she is a well-rounded character, though.
This is loosely based off of a Hans Christian Andersen tale that I’ve never read so I can’t really comment on how true it stays to the story. I think Wendy Delsol added a lot of her own flair into the myth and that’s how we get the storks: women who help bring babies to ‘troubled souls’. They’re like the storks of myth in the cartoons that drop off babies on doorsteps, except they do it on a spiritual level. It’s much more interesting than I’m making it sound and you really have to read the book to appreciate the world-building.
Stork is not the best book I’ve ever read, I’ll admit that. It does drag on in some places and there are old tropes left, right and centre but overall I was actually quite impressed. By the end of the novel I felt connected to the main characters and honestly cared about what happened to them. That’s not bad considering my low expectations from the first three chapters.
Basically, if it sounds interesting to you give it a try. It’s not the greatest book out there but it was good enough that I’m glad I bought the second book in the series to continue Katla’s story.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.