Tag Archives: Fae

Book Review: The Queen of Corvids by J.C. McKenzie

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I found this book on NetGalley and immediately requested for a copy as the blurb sounded quite fascinating. Read on to know my thoughts.

About the Book:

Queen of Corvids (Raven Crawford, #3)

Truth can be ugly and part-time waitress, casual PI investigator, and half-fae shifter, Raven Crawford, can’t deny she owes the Lord of War a favour. If she defaults on her debt, she relinquishes all her power to a man who doesn’t know the meaning of mercy. And she thought her bank loans were bad.

With her new role in the Underworld contending with her debt to a dictator, a budding romance with the Lord of Shadows, and her need to pay the bills, Raven is in serious need of balance. But the moment the dark fae walked into her diner months ago, she’s been off-balance.

It’s time for Raven to pull up her big girl socks and prove to everyone she’s no longer the burnt-out waitress with a nifty parlour trick.

She’s the Queen of Corvids

My Thoughts:

First off I have to mention that I have not read the first two books of this series! However, it was quite surprising that I was able to grasp most of the context from this book. Of course it did take me a little time to get used to the characters and the setting and the magic!

The book is fast paced and well-written in a no nonsense manner! The story moves quite fast and is quite enjoyable as it is mixed with both action and romance. The main character, Raven, is strong and though there could have been more depth to her character, she is quite interesting. I particularly enjoyed her dynamics with her guard and with the Lord of Shadows. Another particularly interesting part of the story is Raven’s dynamics with her family and friends.

This story follows her journey towards gaining confidence in herself and taking up the mantle of the Queen of Corvids completely. We watch her navigate the meeting halls of the dark fae and even watch as she works to outsmart most of the villains including the Lord of War!

An enjoyable read, this story is gripping and fun in equal measure! I do hope to read more books by this author soon!

Book Review: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas

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This latest book by Sarah J. Maas has been the talk of the town everywhere! It is literally everywhere! It’s amazing.

Note: The review may have a few spoilers. Be careful when you read it.

Read on to know my thoughts on the book!

About the Book:

House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)

Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. By day, she works for an antiquities dealer, selling barely legal magical artifacts, and by night, she parties with her friends, savoring every pleasure Lunathion-otherwise known as Crescent City-has to offer. But it all comes crumbling down when a ruthless murder shakes the very foundations of the city-and Bryce’s world.

Two years later, her job has become a dead end, and she now seeks only blissful oblivion in the city’s most notorious nightclubs. But when the murderer attacks again, Bryce finds herself dragged into the investigation and paired with an infamous Fallen angel whose own brutal past haunts his every step.

Hunt Athalar, personal assassin for the Archangels, wants nothing to do with Bryce Quinlan, despite being ordered to protect her. She stands for everything he once rebelled against and seems more interested in partying than solving the murder, no matter how close to home it might hit. But Hunt soon realizes there’s far more to Bryce than meets the eye-and that he’s going to have to find a way to work with her if they want to solve this case.

As Bryce and Hunt race to untangle the mystery, they have no way of knowing the threads they tug ripple through the underbelly of the city, across warring continents, and down to the darkest levels of Hel, where things that have been sleeping for millennia are beginning to stir…

With unforgettable characters and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love.

My Thoughts:

Review: 3.5 Stars

House of Earth and Blood is a well-written, fast paced story that has it’s ups and downs. The book started off slowly and abruptly, making it difficult for me to understand the context setting and the initial character introductions. However, as the story progresses, the plot becomes stronger and more interesting. The story becomes gripping and is a wild roller-coaster until the very end. The author ensures that the readers attention is on the book and nowhere else!

Most of the characters are well crafted and interesting. However, I was not very impressed with Bryce, the main protagonist of the story. She is not as relatable as I had hoped, but all in all, she holds her own well in the story. Being half-fae, she is under the protection of the Fae community, but that is where it ends. On her own with her best friends, living away from her loving mother and step-father, anyone will assume that she is enjoying her life. But when tragedy strikes, it all comes undone.

As Bryce is pulled in to investigate her best friends death, the possibility of suicide, then murder all lurk about. Bryce has to sort out the facts and separate the truth from the lies. Hunt Athalar, personal assassin for the Archangels, is forced to step in protect Bryce, while working with her to solve the case. What ensues is a battle of wits and an underlying attraction which the two characters fight. With a lot of secrets being kept, it is not easy to find out the truth.

I did come to love a lot of the supporting characters, Bryce’s best friend Fury, shrouded in mystery. Her step-brother, the Fae prince whom a lot of readers will come to love. His is a very well developed character. I also liked the other Archangels both good and bad. The author brings out a colorful variety in the nature of characters introduced.

One message which is persistent throughout the book is the meaning of friendship and loyalty. The author also shows us the true power of love above all else. The story, even though a little slow at first, was truly a wonderful read! I thoroughly enjoyed the action and appreciate the way the characters find their way in the end! Even Bryce and Hunt grow on you in the end and the reader just has to accept them since they bring the story together!

This book is definetely a must read, especially for fans of Fantasy Fiction and of Sarah J. Maas.

Book Review: Fae of Calaveras series (book 1 and 2) by Kristen S Walker

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About the Books:

Small Town Witch (The Fae of Calaveras County #1)

Small Town Witch (The Fae of Calaveras County, #1)

The perfect life . . . or the perfect lie.

Teen witch Rosamunde thinks she has it all: friends, parties, a happy family, and magic at her fingertips. But something dark lurks underneath the surface. When Rosa uncovers strange spells in her house, the illusion of the perfect life begins to crack, hinting at family secrets she never imagined.
With the help of her friends and the handsome kitsune Kai, Rosa peels back the layers of lies. Her search for the truth will take her far from home, into the dangerous Land of Faerie . . . but if the truth threatens her family’s apparent happiness, will she choose to live with the lie or break the enchantment that binds them all?

Witch Hunt (The Fae of Calaveras County #2)

Witch Hunt (Fae of Calaveras, #2)

She wished her mom would disappear. Now her mom’s missing, and all she wants is to find her again.

Teen witch Rosamunde broke the spell her mother, Rosmerta, used to control her family and reported the illegal use of magic to the Faerie Court. So her mom became a fugitive from the law, taking Rosa’s younger sister Akasha with her. When none of the faeries can track down her mother, Rosa realizes that she’ll have to be the one to find her mom.

Rosa takes a dangerous risk: getting close to the mysterious exiled Unseelie who helped her mother go into hiding. To gain their trust, she’ll have to break the rules. Her faeriekin friends, Ashleigh and Glen, and kitsune boyfriend, Kai, worry that she’s getting in too deep. But for the chance to confront her mother and save her sister, Rosa will sacrifice anything . . . maybe even the things that she believes in the most.

My Thoughts:

 I read 2 of the 3 books in the series and found them to be a decent read in the YA genre with a whole lot of fantasy thrown in. Writing about and handling teenagers is rather difficult, but the author manages to bring out their characteristics with perfection.

The writing is simple and the story line is interesting with a setting in a small town where both magic folk and humans co-exist. The humans know about the vampires, sorcerers and others and even go to school with them. There is a lot of fun and everything seems perfect in Rosamunde’s little world, right up until she starts to ask questions. This leads to a shattering of her previous perceptions and changes everything, turning her world upside down. What do you do when the world as you know it is not actually how it is?

The story on the whole is entertaining and fun with its serious moments. An enjoyable read, the story is well introduced and light in the first book, then takes on a slightly more serious tone with adventure and exploration thrown in.

Read it to know more!

Book Review: The Faerie Guardian by Rachel Morgan

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About the Book:

The Faerie Guardian, Part I

Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until a cute human boy who can somehow see through her faerie glamor follows her into the Fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.

The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the Fae realm. Easy, right? Not when you factor in evil faeries, long-lost family members, and inconvenient feelings of the romantic kind. Vi is about to find herself tangled up in a dangerous plot—and it’ll take all her training to get out alive.

My Thoughts:

A truly magical read, this book takes us into a unique world of magic. A world where it is the responsibility of the faeries to protect the human world from dangerous magical creatures. When Violet, on the verge of becoming a guardian is out trying to protect a human boy from a creature, she finds that he can somehow see through her glamour. When she returns to the Fae realm, she finds that he has somehow followed her there. Now it is up to her to return him home and make him forget everything that he has seen or knows.

Even though Violet knows all the rules, she faces some trials on the way and add to the mix the cuteness of the human boy and behold a fantastic read. The author has written this story really well and the magic will tightly envelope the reader and draw them in. What should be but a simple task turns out into one filled with danger and unexpected twists. I loved the concept and plot of this story and recommend this to all magic lovers! This proves to be a truly wonderful read and is quite enjoyable.