Tag: magical

eARC Review – This Golden Flame

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Title: This Golden Flame

Author: Emily Victoria

Publisher: Inkyard Press

Publication date: February 2nd, 2021

416 pages

4/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Flee across the sun-and-shadow islands of Eratia, where runes have the power to unleash monsters…

Seven years ago, Karis was forced to become an acolyte for the Scriptorium, the rune scholars who rule Eratia. For centuries, these Scriptmasters have sought the key to reanimating the country’s fearsome automaton army, and anyone they deem unable to help them achieve their goal is sent away…including Karis’s brother, Matthias.

Then Karis discovers a unique human-sized automaton and unintentionally wakes him up. Intelligent, with a conscience of his own, Alix has no idea why he was created. Or why his father—Eratia’s greatest traitor—once tried to destroy the automatons.

Upon learning Matthias is being held by the Scriptorium’s sinister leader, Alix and Karis set out to rescue him and uncover the truth about Alix’s past. But when Karis is faced with an unthinkable choice, betraying everyone she cares about may be her only desperate chance to save their world.

Review

This Golden Flame had a lot of wonderful, unique aspects of YA writing. It reminded me a lot of LIFELIKE and brought up a lot of questions of what exactly it means to be alive, human, and free. Exploring a new world where each country has access to Script, the magic to create endless opportunities, one country uses it for war and creates automatons. When one of the best creators shuts down the use of Script and the automatons, the magistrate will do anything to get it back. Flash forward 200 years and you have our main characters trying to sort out the right and wrongs of history & save the country.

The main characters, Karis and Alix, are both very well developed in my opinion. The chapters are rotating POV’s, which I always prefer, because you get a look into both their minds and personalities. Karis is a young acolyte at the Scriptorium, which she hates. She finds Alix, a sentient automaton (which is basically unique and unheard of). They embark on an adventure to find out who he is, what is he, and what his purpose is (because he was created in the before period). Karis is ace (heck yes, representation!) and Alix is basically a robot so there is very little romance in this book. Background characters are given romantic interests but it is NOT a highlight of the book, which I really appreciate. The YA standard is that there is always a romance and the main characters will always fall in love. It was nice to get away from that.

I wish this book was a series. I truly think the world was developed so well and thoroughly that it had the potential to go even more in depth and create a larger series. Of course, this is always up to the author, but I think it’s a positive to note that the book was so interesting and the world so complex that I wanted more to it. Also, there is no info dumping. The author does an amazing job letting necessary background information join the story when it makes sense to, instead of spending most of the first 5 chapters just setting the scene.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this story from debut author Emily Victoria.

Thank you to Inkyard Press and Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Happy reading, folks!

Book Review – House of Salt and Sorrows

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“We are born of the Salt, we live by the Salt, and to the Salt we return.”

Title: House of Salt and Sorrows

Author: Erin A. Craig

Publisher: Delacourte

Publication date: August 6th, 2019

403 pages

4/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh’s involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it’s a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.

Review

Nights like this were meant to be shared, remembered, and talked about for years. Skies like this were meant to be kissed under.

Erin A. Craig, House of Salt and Sorrows

In a retelling of 12 Dancing Princesses, Annaleigh is one of eight sisters left after four died tragically. The family has suffered so much loss, and Annaleigh can’t help but wonder if it’s too much loss to just be attributed to bad circumstances or coincidence. She starts to think the most recent death was a murder, so she starts investigates. The more she finds out, the more she realizes she has no idea what is happening in Highmoor – and everything and everyone is in question. Will Annaleigh figure out what’s happening before more death comes to call?

House of Salt and Sorrows is seriously dreamy and magical. Whereas it is a serious story with death and terrible things happening, you can’t not notice the fairytale feel and magical essence to the writing. I was able to read this book in one sitting, it captured and held my attention throughout. There was even a bit of a mystery element to it as you tried to figure out who is bringing the darkness down on the family – and I totally didn’t see the ending coming until it was there.

Annaleigh was a good narrator, she is a middle sister and is somewhere in the middle between oblivious and too suspicious, if that makes sense. Her older sister seems completely oblivious to everything happening around them, but one of her younger sisters seems too involved in the mystery – even seeing visions and ghosts. I think it was a good decision to make someone in the middle be the narrator, and then experience the whole spectrum from the outside.

I very much enjoyed House of Salt and Sorrows, and goodness just look at that cover?! Absolutely amazing. I loved that it was a standalone and the whole story was wrapped up in one book. If you’re looking for retellings with magical qualities, or a ghost story go check out House of Salt and Sorrows!

Happy reading, folks!

April Wrap Up!

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Hello again, friends!! It is already the last day of April and I lament the end of this month that was almost completely spent indoors, whether at work or at home. I have never been a huge outdoors person, but my body is desperately missing the ability to go places and just hang out. I also seem to be going through a bout of insomnia, which the internet says could be due to a lack of natural light… but the weather’s been so bad here that I haven’t been able to spend time outside! I am yearning to take a chair outside and read but nooooope not fun in almost daily rain.

Anyway, that’s how my month has been going. I’ve been reading, but it’s been a struggle and I haven’t wanted to read anything I planned to read. (Spoiler alert I did not read everything on my April TBR!) I did however manage to read 18 books this month, but 6 of them were very short, fluffy, Kindle Unlimited books – because it’s what I needed in my life at that time.

PHYSICAL BOOKS

  1. The Wife Between Us, Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen – 4/5 stars
  2. Magic For Liars, Sarah Gailey – 3.5/5 stars
  3. Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #1), Laini Taylor – 5/5 stars
  4. House of Salt and Sorrows, Erin A. Craig – 4/5 stars
  5. Well Met, Jen DeLuca – 5/5 stars

NETGALLEY EARC’S

TBH I really only wanted to read books on my phone/iPad this month for some reason… I wasn’t interested in physical books at all! So strange for me, because it’s normally always the opposite! Oh well, it was good for my Netgalley ratio!

  1. The Girl with the Whispering Shadow (The Crowns of Croswald #2), D. E. Night – 4/5 stars
  2. Chasing Lucky, Jenn Bennett – 5/5 stars
  3. What Lies Between Us, John Marrs – 4/5 stars
  4. By the Book, Amanda Sellet – 3.5/5 stars
  5. A Taste of Sage, Yaffa S. Santos – 4/5 stars
  6. The Circus Rose, Betsey Cornwell – 4/5 stars

EARC FROM AUTHORS

  1. Last Memoria (Memoria Duology #1), Rachel Emma Shaw – 5/5 stars

KINDLE UNLIMITED

  1. Love at First Fight (Geeks Gone Wild #1), Maggie Dallen – 4/5 stars
  2. My Virtual Prince Charming (Geeks Gone Wild #2), Maggie Dallen – 4/5 stars
  3. Once Upon a Comic-Con (Geeks Gone Wild #3), Maggie Dallen – 3.5/5 stars
  4. Playing the Enemy (The Trouble with Tomboys #1), Maggie Dallen – 4/5 stars
  5. Play to Win (The Trouble with Tomboys #2), Stephanie Street – 4/5 stars
  6. Playing the Field (The Trouble with Tomboys #3), Christina Benjamin – 3.5/5 stars

So that’s that! All 18 books I read this month! I have also revamped my plans for my TBR moving forward, but I’ll leave that for tomorrow’s post!

Happy reading folks!