Category: Fantasy

Classic Review: Song of the Lioness Quartet

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews, Young Adult2 Comments

I feel like I talk about Tamora Pierce and her wonderful Song of the Lioness Quartet fairly often…but it was a long time ago that I actually reviewed the books!  Since I’m a little occupied this week with releasing my new novel (which happens to be about a strong heroine in a magical world), it seems like an appropriate time to dust off this review about one my favorite strong fantasy heroines!

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I’m going to try–I really am–not to wax too enthusiastic today.  But it’s hard when I’m talking about a favorite series–when it would actually not be inaccurate to use phrases like “changed my life” and “favorite character ever.”

Am I talking about some great inspirational work?  Well…not a traditional one.  I’m talking about the Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce.

The first book is Alanna: The First Adventure.  Alanna is a girl who wants to become a knight, except that girls aren’t allowed to become knights.  So she disguises herself as a boy and sets out to become one anyway.  Alanna is an incredible character.  When I was younger, I basically wanted to be her when I grew up.  She’s stubborn, determined, and incredibly brave, but also human–she makes mistakes, she has struggles, and she’s not always sure of herself.  She was my favorite character when I was a kid, out of any book I’d read. Continue reading “Classic Review: Song of the Lioness Quartet” →

Book Review: Rivers of London/Midnight Riot

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews5 Comments

Despite the double title, I’m only reviewing one book today, by Ben Aaronovitch–in England it’s Rivers of London, in the American printing it’s Midnight Riot, and if I hadn’t first heard of it by the British title, I might not have picked it up.  Because let’s be honest–you had me at London!  Since the plot involves ghosts and murder, it’s also a perfect read for R.I.P.

Peter Grant is a rookie cop in London, who one night finds himself taking a witness statement from a ghost in Covent Gardens.  This eventually lands him as an apprentice wizard to Detective Nightingale, tasked with investigating supernatural crimes.  The book centers around a string of brutal murders with an apparently ghostly cause, and a tense stand-off between Mama Thames and Father Thames, warring gods of the river. Continue reading “Book Review: Rivers of London/Midnight Riot” →

Book Review: Marianne Dreams

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews4 Comments

Sometimes I stumble on books in the strangest of ways. Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr was referenced in a blog article on feminism, and was not cited favorably. All the same, I was so intrigued by the premise—and hopeful that the complaint might be exaggerated—that I read the book anyway.

Marianne lives in England somewhere during the first half of the twentieth century and, as children did then, falls ill with a fever and must spend weeks in bed recovering. She draws a house with a pencil she finds in her mother’s sewing box—and when she falls asleep, she dreams of the house she drew. She soon realizes that whatever she draws with the pencil will come to life in her dreams, including Mark, a boy more seriously ill than Marianne, and also sinister watching stones Marianne draws in a fit of temper.  Marianne and Mark have to work together to regain their health and to escape the dangers in their shared dream.

Continue reading “Book Review: Marianne Dreams” →

Book Review: Blackfin Sky

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young AdultLeave a comment

I didn’t plan to do a “dead heroine returned to life” theme this week…but I seem to have stumbled into one! Blackfin Sky by Kat Ellis begins with just that premise.

Sky Rousseau hurries in late one morning to her high school, to be greeted by staring faces and the news that she died three months earlier. Sky remembers the last three months as perfectly ordinary—but her family, friends, the cute boy she’s been flirting with, and everyone else in town remembers that she drowned at Blackfin pier the night of her sixteenth birthday. Blackfin, a tiny secluded town, has never been quite normal, and now Sky has to unravel some of Blackfin’s and her family’s secrets to find out what happened, and how to defeat the danger still threatening her.

I’m debating how much I should reveal of this story—because I thought the novel got much better once a few of the mysteries were cleared up. To hit a middle ground, suffice to say that Sky discovers she has special abilities, and using them leads her to answers and gives her power to fight the villain those answers reveal. Continue reading “Book Review: Blackfin Sky” →

Book Review: The Castle Behind Thorns

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews4 Comments

I enjoyed The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell, which seemed like a good reason to explore what else she’s written—which brought me to The Castle Behind Thorns. Not as close a fairy tale retelling as I had hoped, but still an engaging fantasy.

The Sundered Castle has stood abandoned and surrounded by a wall of thorns for thirty years, and Sand (Alexandre) has never given it much thought. No one in the village ever has. But one day Sand awakes to find himself inside the castle, inside the thorns, with no way to get out and evidence all around of a bigger mystery than the local story can explain. The earthquake that supposedly damaged the castle can’t account for shredded pillows or anvils wrenched in half. Using his wits and his blacksmith skills, Sand begins repairing items he needs—and some of the repairs work strangely, perhaps magically, well. Most significantly, Sand replaces a fallen corpse on its shelf in the crypt; a few days later, Perrotte emerges, restored to life and anxious to learn what became of her family and her castle. Continue reading “Book Review: The Castle Behind Thorns” →