synopsis

A long time ago Ancients had given chosen humans the ability to do magic, known as Nine Energies of Magic. After the battle of Venom, the kingdom of Thurnadan returned to the peaceful times. Or so it was thought. Suddenly, people had started dying because of an illness called the Jinx. The Jinx started killing the population of Thurnadan on a massive scale. The group of people is chosen to lead the mission in order to find the cure to the horrible disease. But does the cure even exist? And if it does, will they manage to find it in time to stop the Jinx from killing everyone?

review

First of all, I want to thank Ruby Fitzgerald and Solider Bear Entertainment for the free e-book copy.

I am a bit surprised that I have not heard about Ruby Fitzgerald before I got this book – her world seems to me like the kind of magical realm that should be wildly popular. When I have started reading this book and I have read the prologue, my first thought was literally ‘That’s going to be confusing as hell’. The prologue confused me and, quite frankly, it discouraged me from reading this book. But the story got better as I read on, and the last hundred pages I could not wait to read. My problem with the plot is that fact that I have not read the first book so I had some plot gaps. The topic of this book reminded me of ‘The Plauge’ by Albert Camus – it also involved a deadly disease that indicated the end of the world and the behaviour of the people that were faced with death. The style of writing seemed kind of off to me, but I guess that is the mater of one’s taste.

What I really liked, was the magic element of the book – Shifters, Grounders, Whisperers – it was a well-written and thought-out magical realm. The book felt like a continuation, but I have liked that about it. I have liked the mystery and slowly getting to know what happened to each of the characters. I have to admit that the book was pretty feministic to me. There is a queendom (a kingdom ruled by a queen), and the main protagonists are mainly women.

There were too many characters for my taste. I think the idea was to do it like George Martin in ‘Game of Thrones’, but the amount of characters was not good for only 242 pages. If the book was longer, I would have time to bond with characters, learn their history, traits. In this book. I have found out bits of their personalities, but not enough to feel emotional towards them. Obviously, my favourite character was one of questionable morals – Xenos. The queen, Eleanor, was a terrible women in my opinion, and a moody one. She acted royally, yet she did not care for her subject the way the queen should. Ryder was too absorbed with Aurora and his hatred for Xenos to be likeable to me. Characters had potential for being great, however the book was just too short for that.

In conclusion, the main problem I had with this book that it was too short for this number of characters and storylines. I’m still torn whether this book should get three or four stars, so if I could, I would give it 3,5 stars.

It was a terrible reading month for me, really. I wasn’t home for the most time and I didn’t take any books with me. Then, I was on my holidays where I was too busy sightseeing, resting and bonding with my family. But I still wanted to share the books I have read this month with the world. I managed to find two interesting books when I was staying over at my aunt’s. Also, I bought ten books on my holidays and so far I have read two of them. So here is my September wrap-up and hopefully October will a better reading month for me.

‘The Girl on the Train’ Paula Hawkins
★★★

I am not a big fan of thrillers or criminals, but I was really bored and needed something to read. That was the only interesting book on my aunt’s bookshelf. The beginning was too dull for me and I felt I had been waiting forever for something to finally happen. The whole plot had unsolved in the last forty pages which was irritating and felt a bit forced – like the book was supposed to be longer. The only thing I liked was the turnout – the denouement of the plot was thought out and the clues left throughout the whole book all match up. I liked this book, but it was nothing special. Shame since I heard so much buzz around this book and I expected great things from it.

‘Fablehaven’ Brandon Mull
★★★★

I know, I know – ‘Fablehaven’ is a children book, but theoretically also Rick Riordan’s books are and they are freakin’ awesome. And so was ‘Fablehaven’. It was a perfect read for a rainy day with a perfectly thought-out and planned secret world. Kendra and Seth are exact oppositions of each other and with a traditional sibling bond. Seth was a bit irritating for my taste – his every mistake had terrible consequences for him and his sister, and for Fablehaven.

‘Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook’ Christina Henry
★★★★★

It was my favourite read out of all four books I have read this month. It was incredible and it stayed in my thoughts for days after I have finished it. ‘Peter Pan’ is my favourite fairy tale and even though it’s a untraditional look at the story. It shows Peter Pan as a childish and narcissistic villain and James Hook as one of Peter’s victims. The only drawback of this book is how bloody it is – it was a little bit like a ‘Game of Thrones’ meets ‘Peter Pan’ without the sex parts. I quite liked how brutal it was – that made it more real – but considering that the cover suggests it’s a children’s book it might be an unpleasant surprise for a reader.

‘The Belles’ Dhonielle Clayton 
★★★★★

What an interesting idea for a book and, at the same time, what an important topic. I completely fell in love with the main character, Camellia. She wasn’t perfect, she had her own ambitions and she was driven. With all of her traits she was more appealing to me. Camellia was beautiful, but she was also imperfect, confused and had a lot of different dilemmas that she didn’t always handle right.

It was so difficult to choose whether I liked ‘Lost Boy’ or ‘The Belles’ more. In the end, I chose ‘Lost Boy’, because it stayed with me days after I have finished it. Seriously, I was walking around the beach and I just thinking about this book. I’m definitely going to read more books by Christina Henry – I saw that she has a book about ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Hopefully October would be a better reading month for me and I hope I will find the book I love as much as I have loved ‘Lost Boy.’

Synopsis

Alosa, a daughter of the pirate king and a pirate herself, is send on a mission. She allows herself to be kidnapped by a hostile pirate crew in order to retreat an ancient map. But that task seems to be more difficult than she expected it to be. Especially when the first mate, Riden, seems to be as witty as Alosa. But can anyone stop the daughter of the pirate king?

Intro

This book is amazing. Honestly. I was not expecting it to be so good and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I was expecting a book for children, but it turned out to be a proper young-adult book. It had an amazing plot – at first it sounded a bit cheesy, but it turned out to be well-planned and it was clear that an author had a good idea for a story. The daughter of a pirate king on a mission to steal a map? Sounds so cliché and, to be honest, so simple. But it was anything but simple. The story kept getting more and more complicated and I was getting more and more intrigued.

Characters

Tricia Levenseller created a badass female character, Alosa, who stole my heart within a first chapter. She is one of the wittiest characters I have ever encountered in a book. Even when she doesn’t seem to have a plan, she actually does which is incredible even for a book character. I love an intelligent character who can also fight well and has a smart mouth. To be honest, I’m not sure what are the intentions of any of characters which keeps me on my toes. Riden is such a complicated character which instantly made him one of my favourite ones (I have a thing for troubled guys in books). My least favourite part of this book was the villain, Draxen, who in my opinion was a bit blunt and, let’s be honest, stupid. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he is unable to do anything without his first mate and brother, Riden. As any booklover I love a good villain (especially one with a good history and a witty character), and sadly Draxen wasn’t one. If I had to say I think Riden makes a better villain than his brother does, which makes a story a bit complicated. But I loved it because of its complex plot and constant plot twists. I just wish that the villain could be better built.

Narration

At first, I was wary about the first-person narration – I’m not usually a fan of it. But in this case it turned out to fit just right into the story, especially with Alosa’s sassy character. First-person narration is what helps to keep the reader on their toes – the reader has only the access to Alosa’s scheming which allows them to think that everyone is just following her plan.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I really loved this book and I read in one sitting. Ordering a sequel was the first thing I did after finishing ‘Daughter of the Pirate King’ and I cannot wait to read the continuation of Alosa’s history. I think this book is going to be one of my favourite books I’ve read in 2018 and I honestly would love to read more books from Tricia Levenseller.

August was not a good month for my reading since I’ve started working and it was all new to me. Honestly, I mostly came home, ate and went right to sleep. But I managed to read a few books I’ve liked. I’ve wanted to read ‘Grishaverse’ for a while now and, while I ordered it in July, it only arrived at the beginning of August. The covers are incredible – they are so shiny and the map that came with them was just so cute. ‘Throne of Glass” has been on my “to be read” list since I first read ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ and I finally gave it a try.

‘Shadow and Bone’ Leigh Bardugo
★★★★★

Honestly I wasn’t expecting it to be so good. I’ve read “Six of Crows” before and I’ve loved it – I never thought that Grishaverse can even compete with it. Well, it can compete with “Six of Crows”, but it can’t win. Nevertheless, “Shadow and Bone” was amazing – it had amazing characters, a perfect villain and a good plot.

‘Siege and Storm’ Leigh Bardugo
★★★★★

I might had given it four stars had it not been for Nikolai’s character which is incredible. I will never know how Leigh Bardugo manages to write such amazing and complicated characters that make me fall in love with them. Also, I liked that Alina got to return to the Little Palace.

‘Ruin and Rising’ Leigh Bardugo
★★★★☆

It wasn’t as good as the first two parts, but it was still fun to read (expect the part when I cried and the other part when I cried). I think the story with the third amplifier was a bit too confusing, but I have to admit that I loved the ending – it was just perfect.

‘Throne of Glass’ Sarah J. Maas
★★★★☆

The thing about reading a book by one of your favourite authors is that you have high expectations. And, after reading “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series I definitely had high expectations when I bought “Throne of Glass”. I really liked it – Celaena’s character was just perfect (an assassin who loves both clothes and reading? Can you have a better combo?), but something just didn’t click for me.

‘Hannibal: Enemy of Rome’ Ben Kane
★★★☆☆

I love Ben Kane’s books, mostly because he writes historical fiction about ancient Rome. His books always have a great plot and are historically adequate. ‘Hannibal: Enemy of Rome’ was good, but something just didn’t click for me. I didn’t love it as much as I loved ‘The Forgotten Legion’. Overall, Hanno’s history didn’t convince me and I’ve found Quintus annoying.

‘The Daughter of the Pirate King’ Tricia Levenseller
★★★★★

I honestly wasn’t expected it to be so good. I was pleasantly surprised by it and it took me about ten pages to absolutely fall in love with Alosa who is another badass female character. Before I started reading this book I’ve thought that the plot sounds a bit cheesy, but it ended up being well-written and perfectly thought-out. Basically, I love it and I immediately ordered the sequel, ‘The Daughter of the Siren Queen’.

Hello, lovely people!

This is my first post ever! Unless you count that one blog I had when I was twelve, but we don’t talk about it. Anyway, as you probably figured out from my blog title, I love books. But I also love writing so I thought that maybe writing about books would be a great idea and here we are!

Let’s start with introduction, shall we?
I’m a 20 year old student living in Poland. I’m currently studying English Studies, but I’m switching into International Economic Relations in October.
I don’t remember what book got me into reading (it was probably Winnie the Pooh), but I like to think that it was ‘Harry Potter’. Probably most of the world loves Harry Potter, I mean, how could someone not?

My favourite book genres include Young-Adult, fantasy and historical fiction. Currently my favourite author is Leigh Bardugo (I’m sorry, but ‘Six of Crows’ is a masterpiece) and my favourite book of 2018 so far has been Alexandra Christo’s ‘To Kill a Kingdom’.

I intend on posting book reviews, recommendations in addition to my photos which probably appeared on my Instagram at one point. But most of all, I cannot wait to interact with other booklovers!