Bee Reviews: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha#1)

Format: Kindle edition

Published: 5 June 2021

Genres: Fantasy, young adult

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Goodreads | Wordery

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book a few years back having obtained a copy from the publishers, but it’s only recently I realised I never reviewed it. (Sorry, publishers!)

So, here’s my review…

I decided to pick up this book because my friends always rave about Leigh Bardugo; I’ve heard many great things about her novels, from the Six of Crows series to the Shadow and Bone series. I don’t delve into YA or Fantasy as much as I used to back in the day, but I found this book a refreshing welcome back. I enjoyed everything from the way the story was told, to the characters, to the world that was built. I found it quite a simple book, easy to follow. For someone with the attention span of a nat, this is fabulous. For others with a much larger attention span who may be used to following complicated plotlines, this book might be somewhat lacking.

I told myself I would read the rest of the series but I haven’t accomplished this yet — watch this space for when I do though! The reviews will be posted here, much more timely.

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Looking for a mystery novel with a side of epic romance? The Songbird’s Secrets is out now on Amazon.

Beatrice is attempting to set up her career as a singer-songwriter, but with juggling university, friendships, fame, and a blossoming love, life turns out harder than she expected it to be. Grappling with adoring fans and the trials of a new love will be the least of Beatrice’s worries when one day she suddenly disappears, and it’s up to her husband to put together the pieces of where she may be, only to discover that perhaps he didn’t know his wife as well as he thought he did…

Flitting between past and present, The Songbird’s Secrets is a story about how we may not necessarily know those closest to us, told through a tale woven with love, laughter, mystery and drama.

Bee Reviews: The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #1)

Format: Kindle edition, 521 pages

Published: 14 November 2017 by HarperVoyager

Genres: Fantasy, historical fiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Goodreads | Wordery

Among the bustling markets of eighteenth century Cairo, the city’s outcasts eke out a living swindling rich Ottoman nobles and foreign invaders alike.

But alongside this new world the old stories linger. Tales of djinn and spirits. Of cities hidden among the swirling sands of the desert, full of enchantment, desire and riches. Where magic pours down every street, hanging in the air like dust.

Many wish their lives could be filled with such wonder, but not Nahri. She knows the trades she uses to get by are just tricks and sleights of hand: there’s nothing magical about them. She only wishes to one day leave Cairo, but as the saying goes…

Be careful what you wish for.

A copy of this novel was given in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my god. I obtained this ARC in 2018 and I regret not reading it sooner. This book is everything! Based on Middle-Eastern myths and beliefs, Chakraborty has without a doubt given the world a showstopping fantasy novel.

So this book follows Nahri, an orphan, as she basically tries to look out for her own in the world. She’s never had anyone show her how to be or tell her who she is, so she’s a mystery unto herself. She’s not the most common protagonist, but she is still highly lovable, in part I think because it’s easy to be sympathetic towards her cause.

Nahri ends up meeting people who, for better or for worse, give her some insight into her past and change the world she lives in. Very exciting for Nahri. Not so fortunate for the rest of Daevabad who have happened across her path.

I loved this book for the fantasy and magical elements – it is so nice and different from the bogstandard fantasy novel about vampires and werewolves. I also loved this book because of the diverse range or characters, and the drama. It’s hard knowing who to trust, and there are twists and turns around every corners. And I both loved and hated that what I wanted to happen wouldn’t happen, so in that sense Chakraborty has done some A+ novel writing.

When I opened this book, I was almost set on not liking it. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because it’s been on my TBR for so long. But now I can’t wait until I read the rest of the series to find out what’s happened next. I absolutely LOVED this novel, and would highly recommend it to lovers of fantasy and/or historical fiction.

Have you read The City of Brass? Do you have any thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments!

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Looking for a mystery novel with a side of epic romance? The Songbird’s Secrets is out now on Amazon.

Beatrice is attempting to set up her career as a singer-songwriter, but with juggling university, friendships, fame, and a blossoming love, life turns out harder than she expected it to be. Grappling with adoring fans and the trials of a new love will be the least of Beatrice’s worries when one day she suddenly disappears, and it’s up to her husband to put together the pieces of where she may be, only to discover that perhaps he didn’t know his wife as well as he thought he did…

Flitting between past and present, The Songbird’s Secrets is a story about how we may not necessarily know those closest to us, told through a tale woven with love, laughter, mystery and drama.

Bee Reviews: Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke

Format: Kindle edition, 272 pages

Published: 2 July 2019 by Katherine Tegen Books

Genres: Fantasy, horror

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads | Waterstones | Wordery

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Synopsis

Fans of dark fairy-tales like The Hazel Wood and The Cruel Prince will relish this atmospheric and absorbing book based on Guillermo del Toro’s critically acclaimed movie.

Oscar winning writer-director Guillermo del Toro and New York Times bestselling author Cornelia Funke have come together to transform del Toro’s hit movie Pan’s Labyrinth into an epic and dark fantasy novel for readers of all ages, complete with haunting illustrations and enchanting short stories that flesh out the folklore of this fascinating world.

This spellbinding tale takes readers to a sinister, magical, and war-torn world filled with richly drawn characters like trickster fauns, murderous soldiers, child-eating monsters, courageous rebels, and a long-lost princess hoping to be reunited with her family.

A brilliant collaboration between masterful storytellers that’s not to be missed.

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Review

A copy of this novel was given in exchange for an honest review.

I’m slightly biased as I loved the film. But this book is wonderful. It captures all the suspense of the film, and weaves a wonderful tale with magic and wonder. I fell in love with the storytelling, although in some places it did feel a bit too simple for the situation.

Sometimes the objects we hold dear give away who we are even more than the people we love.

As I said before, it really captured the magic of the film. You will really, really loathe the Wolf, and be terribly afraid of him. The big bad antagonist with more vitriol in him that is humanly possible. He is every bit sickening and Ofelia is sweet, and wonderful, and innocent, and everything we were as children.

Her mother wouldn’t understand. She didn’t make books her shelter or allow them to take her to another world. She could only see this world and then, Ofelia thought, only sometimes. It was part of hermother’s sadness to be earthbound. Books could have told her so much about this world and about places far away, about animals and plants, about the stars! They could be windows and doors, paper wings to help her fly away. Maybe her mother had just forgotten how to fly. Or may she’d never learned.

The dual storytelling is fantastic. A fairytale retelling runs concurrently with the main plot, which is enchanting and makes things fall into place. It really is spellbinding; there’s no other way of putting it.

There was always something unfinished, something undone, unlived. Mortals don’t understand life is not a book you close only after you read the last page. There is no last page in the Book of Life, for the last one is always the first page of another story.

If you haven’t watched the film or read the book, just be aware as it can get quite gory.

Bee Reviews: The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale

Format: Kindle edition, 480 pages

Published: 8 February 2018 by Ebury Digital

Genres: Fantasy, historical fiction

Rating: ★ ★ ★

Goodreads | Waterstones | Wordery

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Synopsis

Do you remember when you believed in magic?

It is 1917, and while war wages across Europe, in the heart of London, there is a place of hope and enchantment.

The Emporium sells toys that capture the imagination of children and adults alike: patchwork dogs that seem alive, toy boxes that are bigger on the inside, soldiers that can fight battles of their own. Into this family business comes young Cathy Wray, running away from a shameful past. The Emporium takes her in, makes her one of its own.

But Cathy is about to discover that the Emporium has secrets of its own…

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Review

I want to preface this review by saying it would have easily been four stars if it hadn’t been so long. It seemed to take me forever to finish this book. I loved it, it was magical, it was engaging. I get why it was so long, because it spans across a whole lifetime. But boy was it long.

Everyone was once a child, no matter what they’ve done or whom they’ve grown up to be.

This book follows the delightful Cathy Wray who I found to be a pleasant protagonist and narrator. My favourite things about Cathy were how perceptive and imperfect she was, I enjoyed following her along in her story as she discovers the magical Emporium where toys become real and dreams come true.

The thing that people didn’t understand was that you had to decide what you were running away from. Most of the time it wasn’t mothers or fathers or monsters or villains; most of the time you were running away from that little voice inside your head, the one telling you to stay where you are, that everything will turn out all right.

The Emporium really is magical. I loved meeting Papa John, and Kaspar. I loved reading about the romance, and when little Martha comes along. I loved reading about the thousands of toys in the Emporium that come to life – the Wendy house that is endless, the patchwork dogs that come to life. The author’s imagination is to be marvelled at – everything that could possibly come to life, does.

You can do the most extraordinary things if you keep the perspective of a child.

This book is certainly recommended for those who are nostalgic about their childhoods. This novel is brimming with references to toys that you probably couldn’t find now in an age where iPads have replaced toy soldiers.

Running was easy, she decided; but every runaway had to arrive, and arriving seemed the most difficult thing of all.

I think something else that put me off the novel beside the length of it was just how sad it got. It felt a bit too reminiscent of real life which is perhaps why things turned out the way they did – we lose people along the way, the characters in the novel endlessly try going back to a past that is lost to them. It gets very sad and very dark, and the ending, which felt too sudden as endings sometimes do, was quite bittersweet.

Bee Reviews: The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy #2)

Format: Paperback, 346 pages

Published: 26th June 2018 by Del Rey Books (first published 5th December 2017)

Genres: Historical fiction, fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads | Amazon | Wordery

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Synopsis

For a young woman in medieval Russia, the choices are stark: marriage or a life in a convent. Vasya will choose a third way: magic…

The court of the Grand Prince of Moscow is plagued by power struggles and rumours of unrest. Meanwhile bandits roam the countryside, burning the villages and kidnapping its daughters. Setting out to defeat the raiders, the Prince and his trusted companion come across a young man riding a magnificent horse.

Only Sasha, a priest with a warrior’s training, recognises this ‘boy’ as his younger sister, thought to be dead or a witch by her village. But when Vasya proves herself in battle, riding with remarkable skill and inexplicable power, Sasha realises he must keep her secret as she may be the only way to save the city from threats both human and fantastical…

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Review

Fans of The Bear and the Nightingale won’t be disappointed by this second installment of the Winternight Trilogy.

This novel follows our beloved Vasilisa Petrovna after the adventures of the first novel where, no longer under her father’s protection, Vasya is run out of her village and takes to the cold, bitter road, with only the fickle frost demon and her temperamental horse, Solovey, for company.

Many people say ‘Better to die’ until the time comes to do it.

Vasya overcomes the deathly cold, bandits, and other forms of trouble on her travels to Moscow to find her sister, Princess of Serpukhov, who she hasn’t seen in a decade since she was wed. But life outside Lesnaya Zemlya isn’t a walk in the park, as Vasya discovers.

Things are or they are not. If you want something, it means you do not have it, it means that you do not have it, it means that you do not believe it is there, which means it will never be there. The fire is or it is not.

There’s little I’ve enjoyed more in the world of fiction than following Vasya’s antics in this novel. There were so many times I had to put the book down to facepalm at Vasya’s terrible decision making skills, although sometimes I could manage a laugh at the curious predicaments she found herself in. I wept for her losses and whooped for her victories, short-lived though they were.

That which you call magic is simply not allowing the world to be other than as you will it.

Somehow, this novel set in fourteenth century Russia still manages to draw parallels in our world today, where people are still bound by the expectations of society, and none suffers more than women. Maybe not trapped in towers as they are in this novel, but by glass ceilings that women like Vasya are determined to smash.

Every time you take one path, you must live with the memory of the other: of a life left unchosen. Decide as seems best, one course or the other; each way will have its bitter with its sweet.

Feminism aside, the characters are still as lovable and unique and complex as ever. We find ourselves introduced to new demons in this book, and fascinating new relatives of Vasya’s. The third book, The Winter of the Witch is already out, and I can scarcely wait to dive into it.

Have you read The Girl in the Tower? What were your thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments!