This was not quite what I was expecting. I think I was expecting something more along the lines of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, because people have compared them endlessly, but aside from taking inspiration from Russian folklore, the two books don’t have very much in common. Uprooted is a fairytale, albeit one that is lengthened and deepened. The Bear and the Nightingale is a historical fantasy that is historical fiction first, fantasy second. This book takes place in medieval Russia, then called Rus’. The daughter of […]
I was astonish’d at how greatly I admired the writing of this book
The title of this post will be my one attempt at a pseudo-19th century style–I won’t inflict such an atrocity upon you any more, dear readers. I’m rather late to the game when it comes to reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell–after all, there’s already a miniseries adaptation (which I have not yet seen)! But so deeply was I affected by… ahem! I’ll just say that the writing style blew me away. I’m certainly not the first to describe this book as ‘If Charles Dickens […]
The value of a memory
It took me 20 years to finally read Tigana. Israel in the 90’s (and especially) Jerusalem did not have a wealth of geeky things for a nerdy teen to enjoy. There was some book, mostly SciFi classics, Tolkien and Dragonlance. There was Dungeons & Dragons, but good luck finding dices. There was also the early internet, and I was lucky enough to have some family friends who lived in America and could help my needs by occasionally sending me reading materials (mostly books) that I […]
Slight second album syndrome
When I first signed up for the Cannonball Read, I had no inkling of the toll that cancer would shortly be taking on my family. On Monday morning, we lost my beloved nan after a short but vicious fight with lung cancer. 4 foot nothing and still able and very willing to eviscerate anyone who so much as looked at you wrong, my nan loved to read. Not quite the same stuff as me – reading exclusively in the genres of tragic lives and smut, […]
The fire’s starting to die out a bit now
3.5 stars Spoiler warning! This is the third and final book in the trilogy, and will without a doubt contain spoilers for the earlier books in the series. Don’t read this review if you want to remain unspoiled and aren’t caught up with the previous two books. If you want to start at the beginning, book 1 (by far the best book in the series) is A Promise of Fire. Cat and her warlord husband Griffin have defeated the rulers of tyrannical Tarva and united two thirds […]
Another YA series where the protagonists will fight an evil Empire
3.5 stars Spoiler warning! Some spoilers for the early parts of the book in this review (although some of it is already spoiled in the book’s blurb). We’re back to me reviewing books I read a month ago, so Goodreads will have to help me out here: Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free. Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those that do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved […]
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