Book Review: Aru Shah and the End of Time

TITLE: Aru Shah and the End of Time
Book 1 in the Pandava Quartet series
AUTHOR: Rhoshani Chokshi
PUBLISHED: March 27th, 2018
CATEGORY: Middle-grade
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: A girl goes on a quest after she accidentally causes time to freeze after lighting a lamp....
MY REVIEW: I have been meaning to read this for awhile now. I adore Rick Riordan's books, and this new imprint he has going on with his publisher is frankly awesome. I want to read every book that he has previewed so far. Sadly, some of them don't come out until 2020 ;pouts;
If they are anything like this though, we're in for some good stuff, guys. This is very Percy Jackson like, so I understand why Riordan picked it for his imprint. But it does its own thing. I confess...I don't really know anything about the poem that this book is drawing inspiration from. So I can't tell you how well Chokshi is using the mythology or anything like that. I can tell you, she spins an entertaining story, with delightful protagonists.
This is a great start to a new series. The ending is very interesting and I can't wait to see what happens next.
WHO SHOULD READ: Percy Jackson fans, Rhoshani Chokshi fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five sassy birds

Book Review: The Ship of the Dead

TITLE: The Ship of the Dead
Book 3 in the Magnus Chase Trilogy
AUTHOR: Rick Riordan
PUBLISHED: October 2017
CATEGORY: Middle-Grade/YA
GENRE: Fantasy, Adventure
PREMISE: Magnus and his friends go on a quest to try and prevent Ragnorak from coming...
MY REVIEW: Do I even need to review these books anymore? Probably not. I'm sure you all know what I'm going to say and how I'm going to rate this.
In short: another fun one from Rick Riordan. It tied up the series nicely. I love the way it ended. There was some great character stuff here and there. It all comes with the humor I've come to expect from this series. I'm a little concerned about why Anna and Percy are sad. I am now really nervous for the last Apollo book, coming in May.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read Magnus Chase books 1 and 2, Rick Riordan fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five Lokis
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Four out of Five

Book Review: Winter of the Gods

TITLE: Winter of the Gods
Book 2 of The Immortals series
AUTHOR: Jordanna Max Brodsky
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: February 14th, 2017
GENRE: Urban Fantasy/Mystery
PREMISE: Selena aka the goddess Artemis and Theo look into a murder that may be the work of a cult trying to murder the gods...
MY REVIEW: The Immortals was a hidden gem from last year that I still feel should have been way more popular then it was. Think adult Percy Jackson series from the gods POV with murder mystery thrown in.
This series deftly continues from the last book. We get more of the gods, more character development for everyone involved last time and a great lead in for the next book. I love that the author doesn't make everything easy for Selena and Theo they actually have to work at their relationship. It doesn't ignore that this is a goddess and a mortal in a relationship.
There's just so much in this series that I love. It's part mythology, part mystery, and has an awesome female character at the center of its plot. I can't wait to read more.
WHO SHOULD READ: Adult Percy Jackson fans, mystery fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five awesome PIs

Book Review: The Dark Prophecy

TITLE: The Dark Prophecy
Book 2 in the Trials of Apollo series
AUTHOR: Rick Riordan
PUBLISHED: May 2nd, 2017
CATEGORY: YA/MG (it's sold as MG. I think the series is more YA)
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: Apollo continues his adventures as a demi-god.
MY REVIEW: This one will be short. My opinion on this series doesn't really change much: I adore these books. They are utterly silly at times. But Riordan writes them in such a charming way I kind of don't care.
If you've read the first book in this series, you know what to expect. This is very much the same. Apollo continues to be a delight. I can't wait to read the next one as well as the next Asgard book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Rick Riordan fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five favorite series continuing to be favorites

Book Review: Norse Mythology

TITLE: Norse Mythology
AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
PUBLISHED: February 7th, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction/Retellings....I think
GENRE: Mythology
PREMISE: Neil Gaiman retells the Norse Myths in his own way.
MY REVIEW: Full disclosure: I know nothing about Norse Mythology. My knowledge of it comes from Thor comics/movies and the Gods of Asgard series Riordan is doing. So yeah...I'm really not the best one to tell you if these are accurate retellings or not.
I can however tell you: they are delightful retellings. From what I've heard from people who know better, Gaiman basically did stick mostly to the original tales. He just added his blend of humor to them. Such as the one where he basically concluded everything is Loki's fault (this is totally true tbh, in the tales and in the Thor comics!).
I enjoyed these a lot. Again, I'm probably the last one to ask if these are good takes on the Norse Myths. But if you know a little about the myths and enjoy retellings, you might get a kick out of Gaiman's take on them.
WHO SHOULD READ: Neil Gaiman fans, Mythology fans, The Gods of Asgard series fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five Lokis causing mayhem

Book Review: The Immortals

TITLE: The Immortals
Book 1 in the Olympus Bound series
AUTHOR: Jordanna Max Brodsky
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: February 2016
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Mythology tie-in
PREMISE: A woman turns up dead and Selene DiSilva, formerly the goddess Artemis, goes on the hunt for her killer....
MY REVIEW: This was a book I went into totally blind. I had heard very little about it, found it randomly on a list somewhere and I picked it up at my library. Sometimes books like this backfire on me (there can sometimes be a good reason a book is not getting much buzz), but in this particular case, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise of a read.
Basically this book deals with gods being immortal and dealing with a world that has forgotten them as they live on but also are dying out. I love what the author has done with the mythology here. That combined with a actually rather good murder mystery...made for a really interesting read.
Brodsky did a great job on this. If this is her first book, we're in for some good stuff in the future from her. This is one of my favorite debuts this year.
WHO SHOULD READ: Adult Percy Jackson fans, mystery/thriller fans, urban fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five lady PIs getting things done

Book Review: The Hidden Oracle

TITLE: The Hidden Oracle
Book 1 in The Trials of Apollo
AUTHOR: Rick Riordan
PUBLISHED: May 2016
CATEGORY: Middle-Grade/YA
GENRE: Fantasy/Adventure, Mythology tie-in
PREMISE: The god Apollo gets turned mortal (again) by his father as punishment. He starts his quest for redemption at Camp Half-Blood...
MY REVIEW: Honestly by now, there's probably not much I can say about the Rick Riordan books I haven't said a million times before. They're just damn enjoyable. Are they the most brilliant thing, ever? No. But Riordan has a good formula going and his sticks with it and knows how to work it right.
Now, he does do twists. The main one here, is that the hero is now a former god. So we get a view on the gods that we don't get with Percy and the demi-gods. Honestly, half of the enjoyment of this is watching Apollo adjust to being mortal and whine about the injustice of it all. Riordan is not afraid to put Apollo here in all his whiny and arrogant glory and the result is a surprisingly charming. By all rights, I shouldn't like Apollo. But damn it, I do.
As with all Riordan books, we get a fast paced adventure, promises of a more complicated plot and some very awesome side characters (Meg is everything). Normally, I am not a fan of spin-offs upon spin-offs of series. But Riordan is one of the few who manages to make it work.
WHO SHOULD READ: Percy Jackson fans, mythology fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five whiny gods trapped as teens

Book Review: The Star-Touched Queen

TITLE: The Star-Touched Queen
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Roshani Chokshi
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: April 2016
GENRE: Fantasy, Retelling/Reimagining
PREMISE: In an reimagining of the tale of Hades and Persephone, Maya is cursed with a dark horoscope. This curse leads her to an even darker marriage...
MY REVIEW: Ah Hades and Persephone, you are a favorite to retell aren't you? To be fair, I get it. There's a lot you can do with the tale. But personally, I still wish we could get retellings of other Greek myths. There are so many others out there that would be perfect for YA. But for now, I guess we'll have to deal with Persephone and Hades. It's a good thing I don't mind the myth.
This particular incarnation does an Indian take on it. It draw from Indian mythology and I do love what the author did with it. The world she came up with is beautiful and I adore the author's prose. Maya is a fun and spunky character who has more agency then most Persephone's get. This is a very readable book.
But...it also had pacing issues. The middle dragged a LOT and...honestly at the end of the day, other then the fantastic world the author built and the fact that there's tons of diversity...there's not much to set this book apart from all the other fantasy books going around right now. Especially this year when you have things like Wrath and the Dawn, Rebel of the Sands, E.K. Johnston's A Thousand Nights. So...I liked it a lot. I'm definitely going to be picking up the sequel. But...it is a pretty average book. But it is a good solid debut, so...I don't know. I'm a little split on giving it three and a half or four stars.
WHO SHOULD READ: Hades and Persephone fans, Wrath and the Dawn fans,
MY RATING: I'm going with four out of five horoscopes for now.

Book Review: The Sword of Summer

TITLE: The Sword of Summer
Book 1 in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series
AUTHOR: Rick Riordan
PUBLISHED: October 2015
CATEGORY: YA/Middle-Grade
GENRE: Fantasy/Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: Magnus has been on the run for awhile now. Everything changes when he dies.
MY REVIEW: This is the kind of book where honestly whatever I say here, will probably make no difference. This series will still do well. Riordan has a loyal fanbase (I should know, I'm a part of it) and there's a good reason for that. The man knows how entertain. Better, he entertains in smart ways.
If you've read the Percy Jackson books or the Kane Chronicles this book will probably be familiar. Riordan has a formula, but it works for him. If it works, don't fix it, I say. This is basically like the rest of his books, except this deals with Norse mythology. As always how Riordan weaves in the myths into his own versions is clever and works well.
I admit, I sometimes have issues with series that do spin-offs upon spin-offs. Sometimes I do really  wish authors would move onto to something else (;cough;Cassandra Clare;cough;). But I can get behind it if the author still manages to make the universe fresh and engaging and not stale. Riordan manages that better then most. I can't wait for the rest of the books in this series and yes, I will be reading the Apollo books.
WHO SHOULD READ: Rick Riordan fans, mythology fans, Thor fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five dead heroes still getting stuff done

Book Series Review: The Heroes of Olympus

SERIES: The Heroes of Olympus
AUTHOR: Rick Riordan
PUBLISHED between 2010 and 2014
CATEGORY: Middle-Grade/YAish
GENRE: Fantasy/Adventure, Mythology Tie-in
PREMISE: The demi-gods of Greece and the demi-gods of Rome's worlds collide as a force threatens to tear the world apart.
MY REVIEW: So, once upon a time, back when I first started this blog actually. I read The Lost Hero. I had just devoured the Percy Jackson series and I honestly, really liked it. But then.,,I forgot to read the rest? It's not a reflection on Mr. Riordan at all. These books are great. I just got into the Kane Chronicles, and then I had so many other books to read, that keeping up on this series sort of fell by the wayside. Especially after he started publishing two books a year.
But Magnus Chase came out and that reminded me that I have not read the rest of these and I started to feel guilty. So I went on a two month binge of the books. I enjoyed every minute of it. Reading these reminded me of why I loved the Percy Jackson series, way back when. I love that Riordan paid attention to the criticisms of the lack of diversity and instead of throwing a temper tantrum or crying PC police conspiracy, he went "you know...good point" and actually put diversity in the next books. Whether or not the diversity was good representation, is probably debatable, but I appreciate that he did it.
If you are familiar with Percy Jackson or the Kane Chronicles, this series follows the same sort of pattern. It's still immensely enjoyable. I love the spins on mythology that Riordan puts in it. I now am super pumped for the Apollo series and I'm reading Magnus Chase as we speak.
WHO SHOULD READ: Percy Jackson fans, Greek mythology fans
RATING FOR SERIES: Four and a half out of Five demi-gods getting stuff done

Book Review: Ungodly

TITLE: Ungodly
Book 3 in the Goddess War Trilogy
AUTHOR: Kendare Blake
PUBLISHED: September 2015
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mythology-tie-in
PREMISE: Cassandra and her friends face a final battle...
MY REVIEW: This trilogy is very underrated. My only explanation for why people aren't gushing about is...that it's not a happily ever after everyone comes out okay type of YA trilogy. Good characters die in this series and they stay dead. The good characters are complicated, which means they aren't immediately likable. I can't help but notice for all that readers love to complain about wanting more complicated characters (specifically females ones) and less gooey romance, when those things actually happen....the books that do these plot elements don't get super popular. Which, I have to say, is probably a large part of why YA authors don't do them very often. Just pointing that out.
But enough about my frustrations with the YA crowd, this book is just as solid as the rest of the trilogy was. As mentioned above, this is not exactly a happy YA series. Dark stuff happens here. There is a tied up ending, but it's more bittersweet then anything. No characters miraculously live again. The war does end though. Just not in a totally happily ever after way. Which, is actually fine by me. This feels like a more realistic ending. If all that darkness happened and then everyone lived happily ever after and all dead characters came back to life...well, I personally would have felt cheated. I've read series that have done this before and it's always felt like a really forced happy ending. So while I'm sad for Cassandra and other characters...it's a much more realistic feeling ending in a way.
I am personally satisfied with how this ended. I'm sure not everyone will agree and hey, that's fine. But I really liked it. As always with Blake, I can't wait to see what she gives us next. She apparently has a new series in the works for later this year and it looks great.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fans of the first two books, mythology fans, Kendare Blake fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five troubled goddesses

Book Review: Mortal Gods

TITLE: Mortal Gods
Book 2 in the Goddess War series
AUTHOR: Kendare Blake
PUBLISHED: October 14th, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mythology twists
PREMISE: The war between the gods continues and alliances are tested...
MY REVIEW: Kendare Blake is an extremely underrated author. Sometimes the book world is unfair that way. I'm not saying things are bad. Not at all. In fact I think the flood of new books we get every year is fantastic. Every year we get new voices and new ideas and there are a TON of options out there for people to read. If anything, I think we're kind of in the golden age of publishing. Especially where YA is concerned. It's just that with all this new stuff sometimes really good authors like Blake get overlooked because people just have so much to pay attention too.
But seriously YA readers, pay attention to this author. Her books are entertaining as hell. True, this is sort of like the Starcrossed Trilogy by Josephine Angelini, but I personally think it's a tad better (and definitely not as problematic as that series could sometimes be).
This sequel did a great job of furthering the story while adding new elements and new character development. It's actually a very good middle book, which is no easy feat. I can't wait for the next one which promises Demeter getting in on the action.
WHO SHOULD READ: Antigoddess fans, Anna Dressed in Blood fans, Percy Jackson fans, Starcrossed Trilogy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five prophets

Book Review: Vengeance Bound

TITLE: Vengeance Bound
AUTHOR: Justina Ireland
PUBLISHED: 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mythology referencing
PREMISE: A girl who has to carry out the will of the furies tries to lead a normal life...
MY REVIEW: This one was...interesting. It's one of the few YA books using furies that didn't make me roll my eyes hard so kudos there, author. But like most of these YA books regarding furies...it grapples with the concept and tries to hard to make it NOT about furies.
When this book was talking about the morality behind the killing and whether it was justified, I was digging it. But every time it got a little too dark it was as though the author was afraid to scare her audience or something and suddenly it was "look at the cute romance that came out of nowhere and has little to no basis!" Yeah. The dreaded insta-love. When it wasn't going on about that, I found this book interesting. I could have done without the completely unnecessary villifying of Amber as well (seriously, what was the point of that plot? It was gross and not needed).
So...I give the author points for trying to discuss the morality of furies. I just don't really think she went as far as she could have because she focused too much on insta-love and drama. So it wasn't bad...but it could have been better.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Fury, fans of greek mythology
MY RATING: Three out of Five mythology creatures running amok

Book Review: The Chaos of Stars

TITLE: The Chaos of Stars
AUTHOR: Kiersten White
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: Isadora's life is complicated thanks to the fact that she's the human child of Egyptian Gods.
MY REVIEW: So first review of the year! This one is a little book by Kiersten White, one of my favorite underrated YA authors. As always with White, the idea is interesting. One of the things I love about this author is that she takes some familiar YA tropes and puts her own spin on them.
Judging from the reviews on Goodreads (however funky they may be), I'm one of the few who actually enjoyed this one. True, I wish somethings had been a little more fleshed out. But I have the feeling this was never meant to be a best seller. Sometimes, authors just need to get stories out there so they can move on to the next project. I have a feeling this was one of those. I also notice that like Mind Games, this one played around with story-telling/writing style. So this was probably a bit of an experimental book, which I have no problem with. I love it when authors don't stick to one thing and try new ideas.
I would read this only if you're a die-hard White fan. If you're a newcomer to White, I would try Paranormalcy first. But if you're a White fan, who doesn't mind that this isn't typical of her stuff, it makes for a decent library read.
WHO SHOULD READ: Kiersten White fans, Kane Chronicles fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five gods being sassy

Book Review: Antigoddess

TITLE: Antigoddess
Book 1 in the Antigoddess series
AUTHOR: Kendare Blake
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mythology
PREMISE: A girl gets caught up in a war between the gods...
MY REVIEW: I freely admit, there is bias in this review. I loved Kendare Blakes Anna Dressed in Blood series so I had pretty high expectations for this series. I will say I didn't love it as much as the Anna books, but it was still a very good read.
Like Anna, it was creative and unexpected and well written. Things are slowly revealed over time, so if you're the impatient sort, you probably won't get into it much. But if you are, it's worth it. Characters are not perfect. They have moral gray areas which I know is not everyone's cup of tea but it is mine (there's a reason I love Game of Thrones).
So this one was not at all what I expected but I liked it a lot. I have a feeling it's one of those that won't appeal to everyone though, so I say check it out of the library first before you buy it.
WHO SHOULD READ: Mythology fans, Starcrossed Trilogy fans, Anna Dressed in Blood fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five feathers

Book Review: Crimson Frost

TITLE: Crimson Frost
Book 4 in the Mythos Academy series
AUTHOR: Jennifer Estep
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mythology Referencing
PREMISE: Gwen's life gets complicated when she's brought up on charges of working with Loki.
MY REVIEW: Long series are tricky beasts. If not done well, they can get stale really fast. There's a reason most writers do trilogies. Luckily, Estep seems to be one of those writers who understands what it takes to get you to keep reading.
One of those things that keeps me reading is Gwen. She's frankly a enjoyable character. While I'm not one of those who requires my characters to be perfect beings, I do tend to get twitchy eyed if a protagonist is too flawed and I'm still expected to root for them. Gwen is that nice balance between flawed but also endearing. Then on top of that, there's plot twists/action that keep things from getting stale. This one brings development for Logan as well that explains quite a bit about his character.
So this was another enjoyable and satisfying installment to a fun series I already love. I really need to get caught up on this series (as well as Elemental Assassin which I'm woefully behind on).
WHO SHOULD READ: Mythos Academy fans who've read books 1-3, Percy Jackson fans, Veronica Mars fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five snarky swords

Book Review: The Wicked Within

TITLE: The Wicked Within
Book 3 in the Gods and Monsters Trilogy
AUTHOR: Kelly Keaton
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mythology Referencing
PREMISE: Ari and her friends face down Athena and the gods in the conclusion to the Gods and Monsters Trilogy.
MY REVIEW: This was one of those trilogies that when it started out, I enjoyed it. It was a bit cheesy, sure, but it was fun and there was good stuff. Then the second book happened and I enjoyed it less. Now...I'm kind of apathetic about it really.
This was kind of a ho hum ending really. Nothing happened that I didn't really expect. The only thing that really came out of left field was the ending with Athena (really, that's how you get rid of a Goddess? Throw a baby at her and watch her coo at it?). Oh and the thing with Violet was a wee bit of a surprise, but she turned out okay so it wasn't a huge deal in the end.
I honestly don't have much to say here. Sure, it tied up loose ends, but it was sort of a lackluster ending to a overall just okay trilogy.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fans of books 1 and 2, Percy Jackson fans, mythology fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five mythology figures
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Three and a half out of Five

Book Review: The Enchantress

TITLE: The Enchantress
Book 6 in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series
AUTHOR: Michael Scott
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Adventure, Mythology, Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: The twins finally face their destiny in the last book of the series.
MY REVIEW: This series is one of those underrated series that I wish more people knew about but at the same time it does sort of have issues so I also understand why it's not very popular. It didn't help that it was one of the many that came out just as HP was nearing its end and publishers were pumping out fantasy books like whoa in the hopes of finding something that would make it as big (spoiler alert: never happened, but we did get many wonderful series as a result of this frenzy such as Percy Jackson).
So this series has been going on for quite a bit. I'm a little sorry to see it end because as wacky as it could sometimes be (seriously, William Shakespeare is alive in this and is sort of a villain) it was sort of fun. I love how Scott mixes up history/mythology and just plays with it. Again, much of it is wacky and probably will make no sense. But it was fun too.
As an ending to a series this was satisfying. Some of it was predictable as these things can sometimes be, others were actually a surprise. All in all, I liked the ending and am going to miss this series. But I look forward to whatever Scott has in store for us next.
WHO SHOULD READ: Percy Jackson fans, those that have read books 1-5
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five historical figures still alive and kicking ass
Rating for series: Four out of Five

Book Review: Goddess

TITLE: Goddess
Book 3 in the Star Crossed Trilogy
AUTHOR: Josephine Angelini
PUBLISHED: May 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mythology
PREMISE: Helen deals with the consequences of her actions in book 2.
MY REVIEW: The Star Crossed Trilogy is one of those up and down sort of series for me. I enjoy a lot of it. I love the way the author plays with the mythology for one. She puts new spins on it in fun ways but also pays attention to actual Greek mythology. This is also one of the few YA mythology series I've read that has actually acknowledged that a lot of the Greek myths are messed up and often end tragically.
On the other hand some of the stuff in it bugs me. For instance there are some rather sexist comments in it occasionally which I find strange considering there are some pretty fierce women in this series who quite obviously don't need a man to tell them what to do with their virtue. Some of the things happening in this book were also odd for me, like the entire thing with Matt, Claire, and Ariadne. That whole thing made no real sense to me, sorry. I could maybe see Matt and Ariadne doing what they did, but Claire? No, not with the Claire that was presented in books 1 and 2. Oh, and did I call the whole Lucas and Helen not being related after all thing, or what?
So...while I still like this trilogy as a whole...stuff about it bugs me. All in all it's a satisfying series though, so I'm not complaining too loudly. I'll be interested in reading whatever Angelini has in store for us next for sure.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fans of the first two books, Greek Mythology fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five angry gods
Trilogy as a whole: Four out of Five

Book Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

TITLE: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Book 1 in the Inheritance Trilogy
AUTHOR: N. K. Jemisin
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: Yeine gets summoned to her Grandfather's court and the next thing she knows, she's named heir and is drawn into a ruthless game for the throne.
MY REVIEW: So I've recently added a new goal to my reading in order to motivate me more to keep up with this blog (I know I've been bad guys, sorry). That goal is to read more adult fantasy fiction. See, in recent years I've sort of abandoned it. Part of it was because I was reading all the shiny new YA available and reading all the ones there I missed, another part was the genre just wasn't appealing to me much anymore. Everything kept looking the same. But people have assured me, there's good stuff out there recently published and I do honestly feel bad about getting away from it. So this is me trying to jump back into the genre. If any of you know of adult fantasy that I should read/you think I would enjoy, published in recent years then please let me know. To give you an idea, you can search my blog archives for what I've read (or go to my shelfari page, which is linked on the sidebar). I've read Gaiman (can't wait to get my hands on Ocean at the End of the Lane), I'm reading Dance of Dragons very soon, and the Outlander series is already on my list. I did try Mercedes Lackey a few times, I just couldn't get into her books (I know, I know, it's not the books it's me). Perhaps I'll try again. Maybe third times the charm?
So one of my first forays into getting back into the genre is the Inheritance Trilogy which many online readers assured me was awesome and said if I liked Game of Thrones I was sure to like this. Thankfully I for once agree with the masses: this is pretty awesome and a great read for any of you suffering from Game of Thrones withdrawal. I love the imagination going on in this series.There's diversity, there's strong women (who don't face the rampant sexism that the women in Game of Thrones have to face which is nice), and there's political intrigue. It's honestly no wonder I liked the first book. I will say the narration style takes some getting used to, as well as the set up of the chapters (you'll see what I mean) but I kind of like it when authors play around with storytelling styles so I didn't mind it so much. But I know that's a thing for some readers.
Honestly, I loved this. I know however, it probably won't be everyone's cup of tea (probably why it hasn't become uber popular). But personally, I can't wait to read the next books which will hopefully be soon.
WHO SHOULD READ: Game of Thrones fans, Throne of Glass fans, those that don't mind dark fantasy
MY RATING: Four out of Five gods causing mayhem