Tag Archives: fantasy romance

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Book Review: Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros

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I borrowed a copy of Rebecca Yarros‘ Fourth Wing from the library.

fourth wing coverEnter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders…

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

my review

I don’t really understand all the hype about this book. I mean, it’s a fine book. I enjoyed it and will be looking for book two. But other than some disability representation (which I appreciate), there’s not really anything special about it. I actually think it’s a bit tropey. I’ve read many, many books with very similar plotlines, worlds, characters, etc. So, while it’s fine, I don’t understand why people are so very, very ga-ga over it. To each their own, I suppose.

More specifically, I enjoyed the banter between the characters, especially with the dragons. I like the characters themselves. And the world is interesting, if a little ham-fisted. I did struggle to believe that even a school designed to weed out the weak wouldn’t nip a psychopath in the bud. That’s a weakness of a different sort, all by itself. So, that aspect felt contrived. And let’s be honest, it really does stretch credulity that the secret revealed at the end would actually stay a secret. All in all, however, I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

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Other Reviews:

Julia DiGeronimo: Was Fourth Wing worth the hype?

Haley’s Book Haven: So, I finally read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.

 

 

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Book Review: Blood Feud, by Moira Kane

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I picked up a copy of Moira Kane‘s Blood Feud as an Amazon freebie.
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Sophia is a bored and lonely princess, more content to live out her days locked away in her chambers than facing the increasingly grotesque suitors her father forces on her. With her younger brother destined for the throne, there isn’t much value to her but in a marriage alliance. And so, she is destined to live out her days as the trophy wife of some fat merchant or lecherous lord, occasionally bearing children to bolster the ranks of the wealthy and powerful.

But trouble is brewing in the crumbling streets of Calos. While the future king sits pretty on his throne and dines on fancy foods, there are whispers of rebellion among the poor and downtrodden people. At the same time a dragon has taken up residence in Calos Valley—the first in fifty years.

With no valiant hero like her famous grandfather, Saint George the dragon slayer, Sophia’s father turns to the old way to ward off the beast—a maiden sacrifice. What better choice than the daughter that threatens her brother’s reign?

Sophia is no trembling damsel, however, and the dragon is not at all who—or what—he appears to be.

my review

This was a book I kept seeing on TikTok until I finally gave in to the temptation to read it. But I have learned over time to approach such books with, at most, cautious optimism. The vast majority of books I come across through TikTok disappoint me in one manner or another. This, however, was a pleasant surprise.

It has a simple plot, a very straightforward romance, run-of-the-mill characters, a generic fantasy world, and pedestrian writing. But it was fun. I enjoyed the time I spent with it. And at the end of the day, that is more important to me (in the books I read for fun) than just about anything else. If you’re looking for excellence, this is not it. But if you just want a fluffy bit of fun, this is a good place to settle.

Other Reviews:

Reckless Reading: Blood Feus, by Moira Kane

 

 

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Book Review: Whispers of the Deep & Song of the Abyss, by Emma Hamm

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Emma Hamm was having a scratch-and-dent sale on her TikTok shop, and Whispers of the Deep and Song of Abyss had been on my TBR for a while. So, I grabbed copies.

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 About the book:
One of the many engineers that keeps Beta, the city under the sea, running, Mira only wants to make her family proud and to prove herself worthy. She knows the mysterious city better than anyone and it’s her dream to help it flourish.

But then, on a solo job in an abandoned section of the city, she encounters a monster of legend. An undine. A dangerous merman from an ancient civilization, long forgotten.

Arges has fought his entire life for his people. With deadly creatures under his control, he plans to eradicate Beta once and for all to protect his kind and their peaceful way of life. But when a human woman saves him, she unknowingly creates a bond between them, one he can’t ignore. Even though her flaming red hair haunts his dreams, he needs her for information on the undine’s enemies.

So he steals her. Keeps her. Feeds her. Only to realize their bond is far deeper than captor and captive. He cannot let her go—but he cannot keep her under the sea. In a battle to determine if love can survive a war beneath the waves, it will be their decision that changes the tides.

Review:

I found this a little sloppy. Plotholes abound. The story trajectory is wobbly. There was a noticeable tendency not to capitalize the T in ‘the’ if it fell at the beginning of a sentence. (Odd, I know, but it happened SO OFTEN.) It’s not particularly spicy, with only 2 sex scenes, and leaping from 0 to DP between the two was a choice. There was some unneeded repetition, and the shift in social attitude that made the HFN/HEA possible had no real explanation.

All the same, I enjoyed the heck out of this. I liked the characters a lot and enjoyed watching them come to trust one another. Plus, the mermen species was interesting. I like a monstrous love interest. I’m happily leaping into book two.

song of the abyss About the book:
Like a songbird in a cage, Anya has spent her entire life as the General’s perfect daughter. He snaps his fingers, she jumps. He tells her to smile, she beams like she is made of the sun itself. But underneath all those games and glitter, she’s working to destroy her father and save the city she loves.

When an undine sneaks his way into her city, intent on kidnapping her, she lets him take her.

Daios is plagued by the decisions of his past. Souls haunt him, memories follow his every move, and all he knows is that perhaps stealing this woman will absolve him of his sins. If he can bring her back to his people, then they can destroy the city where his hatred was born. He’s certain this will be easy. But then he sees the General’s daughter, and he knows nothing will ever be the same again.

Broken and damaged, he’s certain no woman will ever love him. He shouldn’t even try to encourage the mating instincts that ride him hard the moment he sees her.

But when he realizes that she’s the same as he is, different from her people and on the outskirts of what others deem “normal”, he knows he’s a goner. Even if it means he has to risk everything to keep her.

Review:

I enjoyed this, maybe not quite as much as I did book one (it felt derivative and less creative the second time around), but I still thought it was a fun read. My one big complaint was that Daios had a very drastic and abrupt change of attitude toward humans that wasn’t really supported by the events of the book. In fact, it felt like it happened before he even met Anya. I liked him a lot despite that, and Anya, too. I appreciated the disability rep, the lack of magic fixes, and that despite being all alpha-like, Anya was allowed agency and to make and enact her own decisions, even when he didn’t like it.

I am kind of starting to wonder if Hamm isn’t falling into the age-old fantasy trap of writing creative, imaginative worlds that somehow do not contain women, though. The 1st book had one or two minor female characters. This one has none besides the heroines, who are not being set up for future love interests. So, basically, there appear to be no women in the sea. I’ll grant that there are not a lot of side characters in general, but still, it’s becoming noticeable.

All in all, I’m still looking forward to book three in November.

Other Reviews:

Bookish Delights: Whispers of the Deep and Song of the Abyss