I have a new favourite book. I absolutely adored The Court of Miracles*. It's no secret I'm a huge musical fan so upon hearing that this was a retelling of Les Mis I was very excited to read it. Whilst there are clear influences of the musical (and Victor Hugo's book) in the story it definitely took on a life of its own. The characters were recognisable, as…
Firstly, a huge thank you to Tracy and the Compulsive Readers team for having me on this blog tour. The Once and Future Witches* is Alix E. Harrow's second novel, following a trio of sisters with different personalities, different interests but the same burning desire to become more. Set during the suffrage movement in the late 1800's the Eastwood Sister's are fed up of either being told that…
The Dragon Republic is as brutal, dark and brilliantly crafted as The Poppy War. There is no whiff of that 'second book slump'. Instead, we see how one book later Kuang has honed her craft and created an even more complex military grimdark fantasy novel with some of the best magical battle scenes I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Once again all of the possible trigger…
The Poppy War, and RF Kuang's writing, in general, is utterly outstanding. I was gripped from the beginning, couldn't put the book down and was desperate for the second as soon as I finished this one. I'll say it to begin with, the hugest of trigger warnings for this book - primarily rape/sexual assault, self harm, death. This is not a happy story, at times it feels like…
Firstly, a big thank you to N.J. Simmonds for having me on the blog tour of the second book in the Indigo Chronicles. I reviewed the previous book, The Path Keeper here and N.J. gave us some writing tips here. This series I can only describe as a tube of Pringles. It's addictive, you can't have just one Pringle, before you know it you're halfway down the tube with no regrets.…