The Assassin's Blade

Title: The Assassin's Blade

Series: Throne of Glass - prequel novellas

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 4.5 stars

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Number of Pages: 430

Publication Date: 2014

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Summary: Celaena Sardothien owes her reputation to Arobynn Hamel. He gave her a home at the Assassin's Guild and taught her the skills she needed to survive.

Arobynn's enemies stretch far and wide - from Adarlan's rooftops and its filthy dens, to remote islands and hostile deserts. Celaena is duty-bound to hunt them down. But behind her assignments lies a dark truth that will seal her fate - and cut her heart in two forever...

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas is a collection of novellas from the Throne of Glass series. These novellas give a back story to how Celaena Sardothien become a prisoner of the Endovier Salt Mines.

Novellas Included:

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

The Assassin and the Healer

The Assassin and the Desert

The Assassin and the Underworld

The Assassin and the Empire

Sarah has a way of intertwining her stories lines seamlessly; she flawlessly adds scenes throughout this series which later connect to further tell another major plot point, and she even does it all without ruining the surprise. Her writing style is beautiful and unique and she creates a vivid and enthralling world you can't help but love.

If you haven't read the Throne of Glass series, you are missing out. This series which follows the badass assassin Celaena, or Adarlan's Assassin is unique and creative and Celaena as a character makes you feel a wide range of emotions. She suffers through betrayal's, love, friendship and loss. This assassin is no ordinary assassin, she operates in a sphere that is totally her own.

I wasn't as impressed with The Assassin's Blade as I was with the main series but I still was absolutely thrilled to learn more about Celaena. She is a character with a dark and slightly mysterious background and it was nice to get to know who Celaena was before she was sent away to the salt mines.

Because I loved being back in the world of Celaena but wasn't quite as impressed as I was with the actual books of the series, I give The Assassin's Blade 4.5 stars.

Furies of Calderon

Title: Furies of Calderon

Series: Codex of Alera - book 1

Author: Jim Butcher

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: High fantasy

Number of Pages: 650

Publication Date: 2005

Publisher: Ace

Summary: For thousands of years, the people of Alera have united against the aggressive and threatening races that inhabit the world, using their unique bond with furies - elements of earth, air, fire, water, and metal. But now Gaius Sextus, First Lord of Alera, grows old and lacks an heir. Ambitious High Lords plot and maneuver to place their Houses in positions of power, and a war of succession looms on the horizon.

Far from the city politics in the Calderon Valley, the boy Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. At fifteen, he has no wind fury to help him fly, no fire fury to light his lamps. Yet as the Alerans' most savage enemy - the Marat - return to the Valley, he will discover that his destiny is much greater than he could ever imagine.

When I was first recommended the Furies of Calderon, the first book from the Codex Alera series, I was expecting a kind of average plot line and characters. Instead I got the opposite.

The thing I'm most fussy about when it comes to fantasy books, is the world building. If a book fails to create a world I love within a couple of chapters I usually spend the rest of the book kind of wishing it would hurry up and end. And to be honest I did start off feeling this way. However, a few more chapters than what I would usually consider an acceptable amount of time to wow me, I was wowed. The more of this book I read, the more complex and impressive the world became. The thought and imagination that has gone into creating a world of such depth and detail is amazing.

Furies of Calderon follows the story of the people of Alera, were here people share bonds with furies, elemental forces which allow people to control fire, earth, wood, metal, air or water. Then there is Tavi a fifteen year old boy who doesn't share a bond with a fury, something which is unheard of. While trapped out in a storm, Tavi comes across Amara, a servent of the crown. Amara is on a special quest, to prevent the First Lord from being pushed off his throne and discover who the traitor is that sides with Alera's greatest enemy, the Marat.

The characters in this story full into the same category of incredibleness (if that's not a word, it is now) as the world building. While I felt that some of the character's lacked a few points on the physical descriptions, as in what they actually are meant to look like, Butcher more than made up for this with the personalities that he created within each of the characters. What's even better is that I am about 100% sure that this first book hasn't even begun to scratch the surface of who these characters really are.

While this book isn't the biggest book I have read, it is beginning to get up there in length (650 pages) and does require a bit of commitment. Not to mention that this book does belong to a six book series of books roughly the same length.

I give this book a solid 4 stars and one day I hope to find the time to pick up the rest of the series. I just have to make it through a few other books on my mammoth tbr pile first.

Black Beauty

Title: Black Beauty

Author: Anna Sewell

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Classic

Number of Pages: 245

Publication Date: 1877

Publisher: Scholastic

Summary: As a young horse, Black Beauty is well-loved and happy. But when his owner is forced to sell him, his life changes drastically. He has many new owners - some of them cruel and some of them kind. All he needs is someone to love him again...

Whether pulling an elegant carriage or a ramshackle cab, Black Beauty tries to live as best he can.

For the month of July my TBR Challenge was to read a book that I have never finished. I found this challenge really hard, I don't stop reading books unless they are really bad but as I was looking over my bookshelves I saw it...Black Beauty. I'm not really sure why I have never finished this book (considering my never ending obsession with horses and books), I have picked it up to read so many times before but I just seem to never quite reach the end. However, those days are behind me.

Black Beauty was originally published in 1877 and most people have heard something about this incredible story. This classic children's book will break your heart while at the same time being heart warming. This book is told from the perspective of Black Beauty from his time as a foal at his mother's side up until he is approximately 14 years old. The story follows Black Beauty as he goes through many owners, some good and some bad. This story is inspirational in the way that Sewell gets inside the head of the horse. Somehow she manages to capture the essence of how a horse would feel and think going through life.

This book is a quick read and while I did struggle with the younger audience language it was also part of its charm. The story is very direct in what is happening to Black Beauty even if the reasons for why some of the horrible things are happening aren't. After all the story is being told from the perspective of a horse. Sewell's story is inspirational in how people treat not just horses but people and other animals too. Sewell is especially clear in her contempt for the bearing rein (which causes a horse to hold its head back and it's neck in an arch) a cruel yet fashionable way of having horses pull a carriage during the Victorian era.

I would recommend this story to anyone of any age who loves animals or even just to someone who wants to read something that inspires you a little. So I give this book a solid 4 stars.

Beautiful Creatures

Title: Beautiful Creatures

Series: Caster Chronicles - book 1

Authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Rating: 4.5 stars

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal

Number of Pages: 563

Publication Date: 2009

Publisher: Little Brown Books

I have been wanting to read this book since the movie came out in 2013. I saw the trailer for the movie and was hooked, then I found out it was a book and wanted to read the story first. So I FINALLY got round to reading it; it's been a slow at uni, so I also watched the movie.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl is the story of boy meets girl. Ethan Wate lives in small town Gatlin where the same boring things happen day in and day out. That is until Lena Duchannes moves to town. Lena is the niece of the town recluse, Macon Ravenwood, and as an outsider to this small community Lena quickly becomes the target of small mindness and is accused of being a devil worshiping witch. But Ethan isn't concerned with what anyone in town has to say about Lena, all he wants to know is why he has been dreaming about her months...when he has never meet her before...

I loved the plot of this book, I found it unique and different. While the story is a little slow to begin with, the writing itself is fluent and easy to get dragged into. Once the story really got going I found this book impossible to put down and the last 100 pages completely flew by. The magic in this book was done in a fantastic way, it was different but not to the point that you got an information dump.

The characters in this book were well done as well and I loved the comparison that were made between the characters in the story and those of To Kill a Mockingbird because some of these characters definitely shared the small mindedness of this classic. The character development of Ethan was well done, he grew and learnt gradually and stumbled along a bit to, which was nice. It's no fun when the character just suddenly knows who they need to be. Ethan and Lena are characters that have definitely been given a lot of thought and filled with the right amount of background depth that all great characters share.

As for the movie adaptation, while parts of the story were different or outright changed, I still thoroughly enjoyed the movie and would recommend it if you liked the book.

I really loved this book so I am giving it 4.5 stars and I can't wait to read the rest of the Caster Chronicles.

Ugly Love

Title: Ugly Love
Author: Colleen Hoover
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: New Adult, Romance
Number of Pages: 337
Publication Date: 2014
Publisher: Simon and Schuster


I have only ever heard praise for Colleen Hoover and after reading Ugly Love I can understand why...Hoover is a truly incredible writer.

Ugly Love follows the heartbreaking beautiful tale of Tate and Miles. I loved how the chapters alternated between narration of the two characters. Tate tells the ugly love story that herself and Miles share, while Miles' chapters are from his teenage years and meeting his first love. I loved the story line for this book and how it showed just how ugly love can be. I especially loved how it showed that love doesn't have to stay ugly but can become beautiful and that people can be saved.

The characters in this book are phenomenal, you truly feel for them and want nothing more than for them to find their happily ever after; but ugly love isn't the only thing holding them back. Hoover has created an amazing ugly past to contest with their future and weaves it stunningly into the development of the characters. Tate and Miles are forced to confront and face the ugly demons of their relationship and decide just what it is that they both want. To move forward or stay locked in an ugly past. And I have said ugly way too many times...ugly...ugly...ugly!!

I also enjoyed how this book didn't revolve entirely around the characters falling in love. While Hoover managed to create a believable love tale she also created a believable story line. The past is not something that can be forgotten, and never should be, as this book shows, instead it is something we must come to live with.

This book gives a whole new meaning to the good, the bad and the ugly and I give it a solid 4 stars. I cannot wait to read another one of her books.

Angel Evolution

Title: Angel Evolution

Series: The Evolution Trilogy

Author: David Estes

Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Number of Pages: 263

Publication Date: 2011

Publisher: Smashwords

Summary: When Taylor meets Gabriel at college, she is in awe of the subtle glow that surrounds him. No one else, not even her best friend seems to notice. Something about him scares her. Is all as it appears? While Taylor struggles for answers, she finds herself in the middle of a century old war centered on one miraculous revelation: evolution.

Angel Evolution by David Estes was a bit of a disappointment for me.

This book follows the story of Taylor who has just begun her first semester at university. Just before her classes begins, Taylor meets Gabriel and discovers he is no ordinary student, he is an angel. But more importantly Gabriel has been sent for Taylor. Taylor has a unique aura that can be harnessed by angels as a weapon. This book takes a new twist on the roles of angels and demons.

First of all let me start off with saying that I loved the first half of the book. The story line is unique and original and draws you into a new and exciting world of angels and demons. Unfortunately the last half let me down.

This book tells the story of Taylor role in the war of angels vs demons but a large portion of this book does not seem to focus on this. At first this is fine as it fits well with where the characters are but eventually it did begin to drag.

For all this I would I have given the book 4 out 5 stars. But then I came across a part of the book that I couldn't overlook: the narration told from Sam and Chris' perspectives. Now I wouldn't be surprised if someone else who has read this book totally disagrees with me, because maybe I am just being fussy...but I found that Sam (Taylor's best friend) and Chris' (a demon) perspectives could easily be mistaken for those of Taylor and Gabriel.

I felt that Estes failed to create four distinguishable and different characters. While Sam and Taylor could be expected to have similar views, they are after all best friends, the similarities in perspective for Gabriel and Chris should have been completely different. I mean, one's an angel and one's a demon. As the story progressed I did begin to see some differences in the characters, but they were still too similar for me.

But I really loved the story line of the book, so I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Red Queen

Title: Red Queen

Series: Red Queen - book 1

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Fantasy

Number of Pages: 383

Publication Date: 2015

Publisher: Orion Books

Summary: This is a world divided by blood - red or silver. Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like super powers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change. That is, until a twist of fate brings her before the Silver court. Here surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly ability of her own. Fearful of Mare's potential, the king hides her plain view: betrothed to his youngest son. Trapped, Mare decides to use her new position to bring down the regime - from the inside.

The first thing I want to say about Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is look at that cover! Isn't it stunning! For me a great book cover is usually what draws me in initially but it's a good summary that ensures I read it. And this cover, well it called to me. Even better, this great cover contains an incredible story inside. This book did not let me down.

I read this book in one sitting; granted I was in bed sick and couldn't do anything else, but still, one sitting is one sitting. In fact I possibly would have faked being sick just to continue reading this book.

This book took a couple of chapters to get into the main story but because it is a fantasy book, it did need a few chapters to do some world building. And what an amazing world it was! The silver's and red's are clearly defined and are so well done and thought out.

The writing style of this book is easy to get lost and drawn into and each character is believable and unique. The writing style is neither to complicated or simply, it's the kind that's...what are the words I'm looking for...oh yeah...right on point!

The main point that stuck with me through this book was the deceit and betrayal! Which can be summed up to: WOW!!!! With every new development in this book you are waiting for that moment of betrayal, because you know as much as you wish it will work out something will go wrong! But when the ultimate betrayal comes you aren't surprised, yet at the same time it knocks you flat on your back and laughs at you. The betrayal in this book is done so incredibly well, both in the sense of when it happens and how it happens.

This book is a stunning read and I am giving it a solid 5 out of 5 stars. I cannot wait for the second book to come out in 2016.

The Queen of the Tearling

Title: The Queen of the Tearling

Series: The Queen of the Tearling - book 1

Author: Erika Johansen

Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Paranormal, Dystopia

Number of Pages: 434

Publication Date: 2014

Publisher: Bantam Press

Summary: It was on her nineteenth birthday that the soldiers came for Kelsea Glynn. They came to escort her back to the place of her birth - to ensure she takes possession of what is rightfully hers. But like many nineteen-year-olds, Kelsea is unruly, has high principals and believes she knows better than her elders. Unlike many nineteen year olds, she is about to inherit a kingdom that is on its knees - corrupt, debauched and dangerous. Kelsea will either become the most fearsome ruler the kingdom has ever known...or be dead within the week.

For the month of June by TBR Challenge was to read a book by a new to me author. So I went looking for an author I had never heard of and I didn't read any reviews, I simply picked the book up based entirely on its summary.

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen was a new and refreshing read and is filled with a good dose of realism. The story follows the journey of Kelsea as she becomes the Queen of the Tearling, a dangerous and difficult role as Kelsea is forced to fight for the lives of her people as well as herself.

When and where this book is set I'm not really sure. It is a dystopian world but whether it is set in our world or another I'm not 100% on. But this is one of the reasons I loved it. There is a small amount of paranormal to this book, and I suspect the second book will contain more, but is otherwise set in a medieval type setting.

Another thing I loved about this book was the lack of romance. Yes, that's right, lack of romance! While there is a handsome guy Kelsea likes, her thoughts and feelings and their interactions are only seen in a mere 20-30 pages throughout the entire book.

The main thing I loved about this book was that we got to see the political side of being a Queen, politics being a subject most authors seem to gloss over if possible, because lets face it, politics can go very wrong. But Johansen found a balancing point and managed to write a good deal of detail without causing anyone to drown.

I did have a few small issues with the book though. I felt there were a few incidents and details of the story that didn't seem to match as seemlessly as they could have. However, thankfully these details were usually a part of the back story and easy to overlook.

I look forward to picking up the next book in the series, The Invasion of the Tearling and I hope I can give the second book a 5 star rating as well.