{Giveaway} WONDER WOMAN: WARBRINGER by Leigh Bardugo

Thanks to Random House Kids for sending a copy of Wonder Woman: Warbringer and for providing a finished copy to give away! Here's more about the book:

Title: Wonder Woman: Warbringer
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: DC Icons, book #1
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 29, 2017
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

She will become one of the world’s greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. . . .

Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.

Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she is being hunted. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.

Together, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

I just finished reading this last week, and I kind of love Leigh Bardugo's take on Diana's origin story. It's also got me very intrigued by the rest of the DC Icons' stories to come!

About the author:

Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bestselling author of the Six of Crows Duology and the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, as well as the upcoming Wonder Woman: Warbringer (Aug 2017) and The Language of Thorns (Sept 2017).

She was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University. These days, she lives and writes in Hollywood where she can occasionally be heard singing with her band.

Find Leigh:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram

I've partnered with Random House Kids to bring you this awesome giveaway!

One (1) winner receives:

• a finished copy of Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Giveaway open to US addresses only.

Prizing and samples provided by Random House Kids.

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Labels: dc icons, giveaways, leigh bardugo, mythology, random house, superheroes, superpowers, wonder woman

Her Destiny Just Might Be the Death of Her

Title: The Star-Touched Queen
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Narrator(s): Priya Ayyar
Series: stand-alone
Length: 9 hrs 22 mins
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Source: received from publisher via Netgalley, won audio from author
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Cursed with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, sixteen-year-old Maya has only earned the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her world is upheaved when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. But when her wedding takes a fatal turn, Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Yet neither roles are what she expected. As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds friendship and warmth.

But Akaran has its own secrets - thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Beneath Akaran's magic, Maya begins to suspect her life is in danger. When she ignores Amar's plea for patience, her discoveries put more than new love at risk - it threatens the balance of all realms, human and Otherworldly.

Now, Maya must confront a secret that spans reincarnated lives and fight her way through the dangerous underbelly of the Otherworld if she wants to protect the people she loves.

The Star-Touched Queen is a lush, beautifully written and vividly imagined fantasy inspired by Indian mythology.

The Star-Touched Queen is a story of many things: love, loss, redemption, revenge, learning and knowing oneself...and then some. The heart of the story finds its origin in the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, but I also found myself captivated by reminders of other favorite tales, like that of Bluebeard and Beauty and the Beast and even The Neverending Story. Basically, this novel combines so many aspects from my favorite stories and yet somehow manages to remain unique and compelling.

And it's a stand-alone!! That, like, never happens anymore: a fantasy novel that comprises the pages of a single book and yet manages to convey the magic of three. The magic was all over the pages of this story, and what a lovely story it was. I'm actually kind of impressed with myself that I was able to savor it, rather than devouring it in one sitting. The first time I read it, anyway. ;-) I won a copy of the audiobook from the author and that I did devour immediately upon receiving. And if possible, the story is even more majestic, nay hypnotic, on audio.

The narrative is simply gorgeous and poetic, no matter which way you experience it. I could lose myself for days in a story of this caliber. It felt like a story of before and after, and yet it spans so much more than that: a love that will not be denied, a betrayal that unbalanced the worlds, and a need for vengeance so deep that it threatened to destroy the worlds completely. I cannot fathom how Chokshi could fit so much into such a tiny book and have it turn out so lovely. She must have a bit of Otherworldly magic of her own.

She so seamlessly weaves the Indian culture and the mythology in this story. It's a true work of art. And gorgeous to behold, from the descriptions of life in the palace of Bharata to the incandescent beauty of Akaran. (I'm actually super glad I listened to the audiobook because I was saying practically every proper noun incorrectly. And it sounds so much lovelier in Priya Ayyar's velvety voice.)

The characters were all so full and bursting with vitality. Yet, I never imagined that a flesh-eating demon horse would become one of my favorite characters, maybe of ever. But somehow, Kamala wormed her vicious way into my heart. Honestly, this was the aspect of the story that reminded me most of The Neverending Story because I felt like Kamala was akin to Falkor, joking about eating the main character and becoming a source of companionship and encouragement throughout the story. I've always wanted my own luck dragon, but now I kind of want a demon horse, too.

Which is probably the best testament to how amazing and compelling this novel is. You're living and breathing the story right with the characters, and then you're wishing you were part of the story, too. Funny how that happens. I've read this book twice now and I still can't get enough of it...

GIF it to me straight:

First Falkor, now Kamala. 

I'm going to need a zoo for all of my favorite imaginary friends.

About the author:

Roshani Chokshi’s work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Shimmer and Book Smugglers Publishing. She was a finalist in the 2014 Daphne du Maurier contest hosted by Romance Writers of America, and a 2014 Katha fictions contest finalist hosted by India Currents and Khabar Magazine. Her writing draws on her Filipino and Indian heritage.

The Star-Touched Queen is her first novel.

Find Roshani:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest

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Labels: beautiful covers, beauty and the beast, bluebeard, fantasy, favorites, hades-persephone, macmillan, Middle East, mythology, retellings, reviews, roshani chokshi, the neverending story, the star-touched queen

{Mini Reviews} THE WINNER'S KISS and MARKED IN FLESH

Title: The Winner's Kiss
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Narrator(s): Justine Eyre
Series: The Winner's Curse, book #3
Length: 12 hrs 13 mins
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux BYR
Publication Date: March 29, 2016
Source: purchased audiobook
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.

At least, that’s what he thinks.

In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.

But no one gets what they want just by wishing.

As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?

This finale was brutal and sublime and just everything I could have wanted for these beloved characters. I don't feel like I can thoroughly review this final novel in The Winner's Curse trilogy without fear of spoilers, so I'm just gonna lay out my feelings in this mini review and call it a day.

Basically, what I loved most about The Winner's Kiss is the strides it makes in rebuilding the severed relationship between Kestrel and Arin. They are both so broken by what they've seen and done, by the horrors of war and the sacrifices it requires. While they work through all of that, the story becomes one of redemption, regret, and remembering.

And it is a thing of exquisite beauty, thanks to the lovely words of Marie Rutkoski. I bet she could take even a mundane thing like a grocery list and make it sound absolutely heartbreaking, so evocative are her words. But try as I might, I will just never love Justine Eyre as the narrator for this series. I can see why some do because she is able to convey such raw emotion in her narration. It's just not for me, though. Why, then, did I listen to The Winner's Kiss, you ask? Because I wanted to "read" the full book before someone spoiled me, of course! And she's not terrible.

Oh, oh! I can't forget the bromance because, my god, it is perfection. The book heavily featured Arin and Kestrel and the coming war, but the side characters were still brilliant. Most especially Roshar and his pet tiger Little Arin. For a boy whose last friend utterly betrayed him, Arin has made a strong ally in Roshar, despite owing his life to him...or maybe in spite of that. Roshar and Arin have this fantastic back-and-forth, give-and-take in their relationship, and I loved that for them because both desperately needed that in their lives.

As I said in my pre-review on Goodreads, it makes me feel all melty and warm when a series finale ends on just the right note. (Pun intended.) And The Winner's Kiss was the perfect ending to Kestrel and Arin's story. I'll be re-reading this series again...and again...and again.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Marie Rutkoski is the author of several novels for children and young adults, including The Winner’s Curse (March 2014). She grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois as the oldest of four children and decided early on that she was Someone Who Loved Books.

After attending the University of Iowa and living in Moscow and Prague, she studied Shakespeare at Harvard University, where she honed her skill in referring to herself in the third person.

Marie is now a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance drama, children’s literature, and fiction writing. New York City is her home, and she thinks there must be birds of prey living in Washington Square Park; she can see large, wheeling wings from the window where she sits and writes. Marie has two small sons who try very hard to make friends with the family cat, only to be snubbed for the dark quiet of a closet. Marie can tie a double figure-eight knot with her eyes closed. She’s learning how to play the violin. She’s a sucker for fancy tea, and her favorite dessert is crème brulée. Or maybe sticky toffee pudding. Tough call.

Find Marie:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest | Tumblr

Title: Marked in Flesh
Author: Anne Bishop
Narrator(s): Alexandra Harris
Series: The Others, book #4
Length: 15 hrs 21 mins
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publication Date: March 8, 2016
Source: purchased audiobook
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

For centuries, the Others and humans have lived side by side in uneasy peace. But when humankind oversteps its bounds, the Others will have to decide how much humanity they’re willing to tolerate—both within themselves and within their community...

Since the Others allied themselves with the cassandra sangue, the fragile yet powerful human blood prophets who were being exploited by their own kind, the delicate dynamic between humans and Others changed. Some, like Simon Wolfgard, wolf shifter and leader of the Lakeside Courtyard, and blood prophet Meg Corbyn, see the new, closer companionship as beneficial—both personally and practically.

But not everyone is convinced. A group of radical humans is seeking to usurp land through a series of violent attacks on the Others. What they don’t realize is that there are older and more dangerous forces than shifters and vampires protecting the land that belongs to the Others—and those forces are willing to do whatever is necessary to protect what is theirs…

This series is slowly killing me. The more entrenched I become in the world of the Others, the more I fear for them...and for the humans they've made allies of. And though the main characters are all supernatural, I still feel that this story echoes the discrimination and bigotry we see in the world to this day. A war is on the horizon and though I'm fairly certain the terra indigene would come out on top, it's still worrisome.

These books are fairly long but not a lot happens. But it never feels slow or bogged down in world-building. You can just tell that every bit of information is leading up to something big...something that will make all of this wait and anticipation worth it. Especially with certain events and individuals now seeming to be linked.

I mentioned in my review of the last book how slow-burning the romance is in this series, and that honestly still hasn't changed, though the characters have. Meg and Simon are more attuned to each other than ever, and it's made some of their encounters downright awkward. I want to see more of that. See them learning who they are to each other. Besides, you know, kissing. Even when they're not on the page, I'm still screaming internally to JUST KISS ALREADY DAMMIT. I'm not proud of it, but it is what it is.

If you haven't started this series yet, I highly recommend going the audio route. It took a bit to get used to Alexandra Harris' narration, but I can't imagine these characters without her voices in my head now.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Anne Bishop lives in upstate New York where she enjoys gardening, music, and writing dark, romantic stories. She is the author of fourteen novels, including the award-winning Black Jewels Trilogy. Her most recent novel, Twilight’s Dawn, made the New York Times bestsellers list. She is currently working on a new series, which is an urban dark fantasy with a bit of a twist.

Find Anne:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

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Labels: adult, anne bishop, audiobooks, fantasy, favorite authors, favorites, macmillan, marie rutkoski, mini reviews, mythology, paranormal, penguin, reviews, shifters, the winner's trilogy, vampires, werewolves

{Mini Reviews} RIDERS and THE KILLING JAR

Title: Riders
Author(s): Veronica Rossi
Narrator(s): Dan Bitner
Series: Riders, book #1
Length: 10 hrs 40 mins
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: February 16, 2016
Source: library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Nothing but death can keep eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.

While recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can’t remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen—Conquest, Famine, and Death—are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.

They fail.

Now—bound, bloodied, and drugged—Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he’s fallen for—not to mention all of humankind—he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.

But will anyone believe him?

I waffled something fierce on whether I wanted to give this series a try or not. I read some reviews - some good and some bad - and I still wasn't sure what to expect from this first book. I was going to buy the audio when it first released, but I hesitated. Then I read an excerpt and my curiosity was rekindled and as luck would have it, my library uploaded the audio to their collection soon after. Score one for patience.

I knew it wouldn't be like Rossi's other series - and it most definitely is not - but I knew what I wanted it to be: a story about four badass dudes taking on some evil as the four horsemen of the apocalypse, riding in on their awesome horses to save the day. And in that respect, I got my wish. I liked how the narrative was told interrogation-style, starting in the middle and backtracking until the present and then proceeding at a break-neck pace to the end. And I love that it's from one of the four horseman's perspectives instead of the girl who brings them together. Rossi is boss at writing the male point-of-view, and she should always include at least one male perspective in her novels, as far as I'm concerned.

If you're undecided, as I was, I definitely recommend the audiobook, narrated by Dan "Sex-on-a-stick" Bitner. If you're unfamiliar with this narrator, he voiced Cole in Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls series and his voice is gruff, sexy, tough-guy to the nth. Plus, he's got pretty great comedic timing and his audiobook performances are just fun.

Riders was not exactly what I was expecting but it was what I was hoping for, and the more I think about it, the more I liked it. And I can't help but wonder if subsequent books will feature the narratives of the other horsemen. I liked Gideon, but the other horsemen have such interesting stories to tell, as well, and I'm looking forward to finding out more about them.

About the author:

Veronica Rossi is a best selling author of fiction for young adults. Her debut novel, UNDER THE NEVER SKY, was the first in a post-apocalyptic trilogy. Released in January 2012, it was deemed one of the Best Books of Year by School Library Journal. The series appeared in the NY Times and USA Today best seller lists and was published in over 25 foreign markets.

Her second series for young adults will begin with RIDERS (publishing February 16, 2016), the story of four modern day teens who become incarnations of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and the prophetic girl who brings them together.

Find Veronica:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Tumblr

Title: The Killing Jar
Author(s): Jennifer Bosworth
Narrator(s): Saskia Maarleveld
Series: stand-alone
Length: 8 hrs 23 mins
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
Publication Date: January 13, 2016
Source: ARC from publisher, audiobook from library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

“I try not to think about it, what I did to that boy.”

Seventeen-year-old Kenna Marsden has a secret.

She’s haunted by a violent tragedy she can’t explain. Kenna’s past has kept people—even her own mother—at a distance for years. Just when she finds a friend who loves her and life begins to improve, she’s plunged into a new nightmare. Her mom and twin sister are attacked, and the dark powers Kenna has struggled to suppress awaken with a vengeance.

On the heels of the assault, Kenna is exiled to a nearby commune, known as Eclipse, to live with a relative she never knew she had. There, she discovers an extraordinary new way of life as she learns who she really is, and the wonders she’s capable of. For the first time, she starts to feel like she belongs somewhere. That her terrible secret makes her beautiful and strong, not dangerous. But the longer she stays at Eclipse, the more she senses there is something malignant lurking underneath it all. And she begins to suspect that her new family has sinister plans for her…

I've been such a mood reader these days, and it means I miss release dates on a lot of the review books I have in my possession. I either wait until I do feel like reading a story - to give it the fairest chance possible - or until it's released on audiobook. Such is the case with The Killing Jar, which drew me in with the promise of a cult-like situation and a stunning cover. I was cleaning my shelves the other day and found the ARC and read a few pages to see if it was worth keeping for a rainy day, and from the few pages I read, I was intrigued. And as I've mentioned, my library just did a mass upload and I grabbed the audiobook for this novel since my curiosity had been piqued by my little sneak peek.

That said, the story as a whole was a little disappointing. It started off strange and only got weirder. I like weird, but I like when I get answers, too, and those were far and few between for the majority of this novel. It's a commune, so obviously things are going to be a little hush-hush, but when I already know what's going on and the main character just keeps on mucking things up with bad decision after bad decision because no one will tell her anything, I tend to get frustrated.

* Spoiler Alert * Spoiler Alert * Spoiler Alert * Spoiler Alert * Spoiler Alert * Spoiler Alert * Spoiler Alert * Spoiler Alert *

Also, the romantic entanglements in this story were ick. The first love interest who's introduced is her best friend Blake, and I usually love those types of romances but it's the way this one progressed that got my goat. Basically, they finally make out for the first time, she goes to the commune after a violent incident that same night, boy breaks her out some undisclosed time later, her inner monologue has them as boyfriend and girlfriend, she barely resists having her way with him out in the woods the first night she's back, and then she tells him to stay away from her -- for his own good, obvi. The next day he's talking about how it was good that they didn't go any further, that he didn't have protection and it wasn't how he pictured their first time, blah, blah, blah. But this is only the second time they've been in each other's company since anything romantic had occurred between them!

Plus, she met an older guy at the commune that she's attracted to. And when I say older, I mean OLDER. Not that Cyrus looks it, but that's another secret the commune is harboring. When Kenna asks him how old he is or how long he's been at the commune, all he'll say is "a long time". But the truth will out. At any rate, while at the commune, Kenna thinks about Blake, the best friend/maybe boyfriend, a lot, but in a manipulative move, she makes out with Cyrus. And not just once, though there are other forces at play some of the time. But I don't want to spoil anything too much.

The weirdest thing, though, is that I actually kind of like how the romantic situations were each resolved. Kenna 'fesses up to Blake and there's pretty much no choice to make when all is said and done.

/ Spoiler Alert / Spoiler Alert / Spoiler Alert / Spoiler Alert / Spoiler Alert / Spoiler Alert / Spoiler Alert / Spoiler Alert /

So…yeah. Disappointing on a lot of levels, but especially where the romance is concerned. The narrator is one I'm not familiar with but she did a good job with the material she was given.

About the author:

Author and screenwriter, Jennifer Bosworth, grew up in a small town where there was nothing to do but read and get into trouble. She did plenty of both, which led her to a career writing about people who get into trouble. Jennifer and her husband recently escaped from Los Angeles and are now hiding out in Portland, Oregon with a couple of long-legged dogs. In her spare time she can be found watching horror movies and dreaming of starting her own hippie commune, where there will be many goats.

Find Jennifer:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Labels: audiobooks, disappointments, fantasy, jennifer bosworth, macmillan, mini reviews, mythology, reviews, riders, the killing jar, veronica rossi

{Audiobook} Review: Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop

Title: Vision in Silver
Author: Anne Bishop
Narrator(s): Alexandra Harris
Series: The Others, book #3
Length: 16 hrs 9 mins
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publication Date: March 3, 2015
Source: received from publisher via Edelweiss, purchased audiobook
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

The Others freed the cassandra sangue to protect the blood prophets from exploitation, not realizing their actions would have dire consequences. Now the fragile seers are in greater danger than ever before—both from their own weaknesses and from those who seek to control their divinations for wicked purposes. In desperate need of answers, Simon Wolfgard, a shape-shifter leader among the Others, has no choice but to enlist blood prophet Meg Corbyn’s help, regardless of the risks she faces by aiding him.

Meg is still deep in the throes of her addiction to the euphoria she feels when she cuts and speaks prophecy. She knows each slice of her blade tempts death. But Others and humans alike need answers, and her visions may be Simon’s only hope of ending the conflict.

For the shadows of war are deepening across the Atlantik, and the prejudice of a fanatic faction is threatening to bring the battle right to Meg and Simon’s doorstep…

I had a review copy of this novel, but I just love the narrator for this series so much, that I decided to wait until the audiobook was released. And it was worth the wait! I just love where Bishop is taking this story and how slow she is to introduce the swoons -- though I wouldn't mind those coming sooner rather than later as the series progresses -- but it feels genuine to the story and makes my reader heart happy.

I mean, seriously...this is probably the sloooowest burning romance I think I've ever read. And most of the time that doesn't bother me, except when I want to smoosh Meg and Simon together and make them kiss already. They are sooo close now, too...I can feel it. I think every other terra indigene -- and some of the humans, too -- can see it. Simon and Meg seem to be the only ones who haven't clued in yet. But even if they were aware of what's building between them, they'd still take their time because Simon would never push his Meg and Meg is still fragile and child-like right now.

Though, she is growing out of that a bit. Meg is more direct, and maybe a little more confrontational, when it comes to the terra indigene, and it's served her well. She's also more attuned to her gift as a cassandra sangue, though it scares her counterparts at the Courtyard because she's taken to handling the prophecies herself at times.

The large cast of characters in this series continues to impress, especially in the manner that they treat Meg and in their attempts to be civil -- and sometimes helpful -- when it comes to humans outside of the Courtyard. Some new faces are making an impact in this installment, too, when war seems imminent between humans and the Others.

If the narrator for this series weren't so fabulous, I might need a chart of characters to keep them all straight. As it is, Alexandra Harris performs each character deftly, lending an accent for Vlad, gruffness for Henry Beargard and Simon Wolfgard, and a gentle sweetness for Meg. The audio was sixteen hours long, but even at that length, I wasn't ready for the story or the audio to be over. It seems I never am, though, when it comes to this series.

I can't believe I was ever hesitant to start reading these books. I read very little in the way of adult novels these days, but with series like this, I see that changing in the future. I am utterly in love with these books and how the story has progressed over the first three installments, and I can't wait to see where Bishop takes the story next. (But please let there be a kiss in the very near future for Meg and Simon! Pretty please?!?)

GIF it to me straight:

A howling good read!

(Ha, see what I did there?!? :D)

About the author:

Anne Bishop lives in upstate New York where she enjoys gardening, music, and writing dark, romantic stories. She is the author of fourteen novels, including the award-winning Black Jewels Trilogy. Her most recent novel, Twilight’s Dawn, made the New York Times bestsellers list. She is currently working on a new series, which is an urban dark fantasy with a bit of a twist.

Find Anne:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

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Labels: adult, anne bishop, audiobooks, fantasy, mythology, paranormal, penguin, reviews, shifters, vampires, werewolves

Review: Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

Title: Gates of Thread and Stone
Author: Lori M. Lee
Series: Gates of Thread and Stone, book #1
Publisher: Skyscape
Publication Date: August 5, 2014
Source: from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe.

In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret—she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from—or where she came from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her.

Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power.

I'll admit that seeing some of my good friends and fellow bloggers not enjoying Gates of Thread and Stone as much as they had anticipated -- or at all, in some cases -- had me pretty worried about what to expect from this book. I'll also admit that there are definitely times where the world-building gets a tad confusing and more than a little complicated. But despite all of that, I still really enjoyed this novel.

When Kai's adoptive older brother goes missing, she becomes single-minded in her determination to get him back. Reev is all the family she has, all the family she has ever known because of memory loss she's sustained that keeps her from remembering anything prior to when she was eight years old. Neither of these plots is new -- I could probably list dozens examples of both the missing older brother and amnesia plots -- but it's in the way that they are implemented that made the story so strong for me. Nothing in this story is without reason, including how Reev came to be Kai's "brother" or what caused Kai's memory loss, both of which you'll get the answers to.

Half of my enjoyment of this novel came from not knowing what to expect...ever. Some of it is far-fetched...even ludicrous to consider. But this is a fantasy novel centered around the main character's ability to manipulate time. And I for one am not going to question the laws of this world until I know more about it, which will probably come in the next installment.

The other half of my enjoyment revolved around the enigmatic Avan. Kai's had a crush on this guy for ages but has never acted on it because of his reputation...as well as warnings from Reev. But suddenly Avan wants to help her on her quest to find and bring back her brother. It's pretty clear to everyone BUT Kai that Avan is harboring feelings of his own toward her, but even he makes mention of the fact that Kai has left no room for anyone else in her world besides Reev, such is her focus on finding her adoptive brother.

Things definitely take an unexpected turn toward the end of this book, both in terms of plot and world-building, but I'm on board. I want to see what's to come of these new developments and where the romance will go now that things have gotten immensely more complicated for our intrepid heroine. I'm getting excited just thinking about it. If you like your fantasy stories a bit on the fantastical side, especially with a diverse cast of characters like the ones that appear in this book, I wholly recommend you give Gates of Thread and Stone a read.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Lori is an avid writer, reader, artist, and lover of unicorns. She should probably spend less time on the internet (but she won't). She has a borderline obsessive fascination with unicorns, is fond of talking in capslock, and loves to write about magic, manipulation, and family. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, kids, and a friendly pitbull.

Find Lori:

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Labels: amazon children's publishing, beautiful covers, fantasy, gates of thread and stone, lori m. lee, mythology