Conquer the Kingdom ends the Gargoyle Queen trilogy, the spin-off of the Crown of Shards trilogy. It had been a
while since I read the previous book, but the author brought me right up
to speed and I had no trouble following.
Milo, the enemy crown
prince, is on the run and Gemma, the princess turned spy, is trying to find him. Failing that, she
lures him to her kingdom—but he has a trap of his own. Gemma is forced
to truly connect with her magic and her darling gargoyles if she hopes
to defeat him.
I enjoyed this book. It was fast-paced and the
stakes were high. Gemma’s romance with Leonidas was satisfying and the
side characters held their own, even if Gemma overshadowed them in
the first person narrative.
The book had a good ending, but it
seems the author isn’t done with the world and there is one more queen
in the making. Looking forward to reading about her.
I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
A Sense of Danger is urban fantasy spy mystery and romance that was meant to be a
stand-alone and reads as such. It follows Charlotte and Desmond who work for
Section 47 in Washington DC, a black-ops agency employing paramortals, people
with special abilities, who hunt paramortal terrorists. Not only is the agency highly
secret, ordinary humans don’t know about paramortals.
Charlotte
Locke is in her mid-thirties and an analyst for the Section. Her magic allows
her to see written errors and untruths, which is useful when tracking evil
people. She can also hear if a person is speaking the truth or lying, and she can
sense danger. She’s very good at her job, but frustrated, because her immediate
supervisor keeps blocking her reports. On the private front, she’s swamped with
debt from medical bills, which forces her to have a second job as a waitress.
Desmond
Percy is a cleaner, aka an assassin for the Section, and excellent at his job.
He can manipulate energy from electricity, which among other things allows him
to heal fast. He’s recently survived an attempt to his life that killed his
partner, and he’s on a private mission to find a mole inside the Section who
leaked their location to a terrorist he’s been after. This brings him to
Charlotte, who is currently investigating a terrorist connected with his.
They’re
ordered to work together in a sting operation to capture the terrorist. But
they’re privately trying to find the mole, all the while knowing that everything
they do will be leaked to the terrorist if they’re not careful. And they know
too that they both have private agendas, which makes it difficult for them to
trust each other.
This was an
action-packed mystery with enough twists that I couldn’t immediately guess who
the mole was and even then I didn’t know everything. It’s told from the first-person
point of view of both Charlotte and Desmond, giving the reader a good insight
to them. I liked them, but I especially liked that Charlotte wasn’t a nerdy or
stupid damsel who stumbles on the truth and needs to be rescued by Desmond from
her ineptitude. She was a stone-cold killer who went after the mole with unwavering
determination. That left Desmond with a supporting role, but he was mature enough
to handle it. Romance was slow burn, but satisfying.
The only
thing that left me wanting was Desmond’s backstory. He’s the son of a man high-up
in charge of the Section and their relationship isn’t good. Much is made of it,
but the father doesn’t even make an appearance. I found this especially surprising
since Desmond had forged the father’s clearance for his operation. I kept
expecting some kind of confrontation or consequence for it, but it didn’t come.
Since this
was meant as a stand-alone, the ending is conclusive, but it also leaves an opening
for more books. And luckily, the next one is arriving already in November.
Looking forward to reading it.
Jennifer
Estep is a prolific writer of fantasy and urban fantasy, but Only Bad Options, Galactic Bonds 1, is her first sci-fi novel. It has action and some romance,
but mostly it’s about the trauma of being abandoned and maybe finding someone
to ease the loneliness with.
The world
is a combination of science and magic, a collection of psionic abilities, where
the latter complements the first, like in making new technological innovations.
Humanity has spread all over the galaxy, there’s faster than light travel, and
no non-human people. Everything is clean and technologically advanced, and if
there’s suffering, it isn’t shown. Much of the world is derivative, but
everything works within the framework of the book.
There is a
constant war going on between aristocratic Regals who mostly have psionic
abilities, a technological alliance no one knows anything about, and a third faction
that mostly control the raw material like minerals. All the technological advancements
are in the service of the war.
Vesper
Quill is a developmental engineer working for a Regal family that manufactures
weapons and spaceships for the ruler of the galaxy. She has some magic that
helps her see how tech works, which she has put to a good use, only to have
others steal her designs.
A spaceship
has crashed and she’s the only one who knows it was because of a technical flaw
in the design. When she tells the leader of the family the truth, she suddenly
finds her neck deep in trouble on a war zone. Her only options are to die or to
find an ally that is likeliest to survive.
Kyrion
Coldren is a Regal and the leader of Arrows, the ruler’s special forces who fight
with a combination of weapons and psionic abilities. He’s feared throughout the
galaxy as the ruler’s assassin. When he’s injured in a battle, he finds himself
being saved by Vesper, which forms a galactic bond between them—a connection between two people, romantic
and non-romantic, both metaphysical and physical—a much desired but incredibly rare occurrence.
And he instantly wants to break it, by killing Vesper if nothing else works.
Little by
little, they form a truce and then alliance. She’ll help him figure out who
tried to kill him, and he’ll help her to reveal the truth about the design flaw
in the spaceships. After that, they’ll break the bond and go their separate ways.
But nothing is ever as easy as that.
This was a
great book with mature characters who had believable backstories and a lot of
baggage. The romance was very slow, taking all the steps from enemies to
neutrals and then friends, without quite reaching the lovers stage. That will
hopefully happen in the latter books. The narrative was first person from the
point of view of both Vesper and Kyrion, which gave a deeper insight into them.
I liked both, separately and together.
There weren’t
all that many side characters and only a couple of them had a meaningful role
in the story. Bad guys were thoroughly bad, but there were a few characters that
might have been either way, making them a bit more interesting.
The book
was full of action, intrigue, and betrayals, some healing and a lot of
self-discovery. It didn’t quite have the emotional impact that the best of
Estep’s books have, but I’m sure that’ll change in the upcoming books. The
ending was satisfying, but open enough for me to look forward to reading what
happens next.
It’s a new year and that means a new Goodreads Reading
Challenge. I’ve set myself a reading goal there several years in a row, and I find
it a fun way to keep track of what I’ve read and maybe challenge myself a
little too. Last year I made a personal reading record of ninety-five books (or
eighty-five, if you only count those I finished). This year I pledged to read
eighty books, though that may change later.
Every year, I make a list too, of books that I want to read. It’s
a guideline more than a mandatory programme; last year I only read ten
books from it. But I’ve noticed that it’s easier to keep up with everything I
want to read if I’ve listed every book I already own and haven’t read yet, the
books on my wish list and the upcoming publications by my favourite authors.
This year’s list contains a whopping hundred and fifty
books, mostly because I did so poorly with it last year that several books moved
over. It has four sections: books from the old list, new books, books from
NetGalley, and books I chance to read outside it—obviously currently empty.
There are fifty-two books from the old list. Some of them
didn’t seem so interesting anymore, so I pruned it down to those I already own
or definitely want to read. That brought it down to twenty books. These include
The Burning God by R.F. Kuang, which was published in November and I got for a
Christmas present and didn’t have time to read last year, and Crush the King by
Jennifer Estep that I reserved from the local library, but haven’t got yet.
The list of new books filled with everything I bought last
year and didn’t have time to read. There are several by Lindsay Buroker, for
example, as many of her boxed sets were free or discounted—and
she’s published a lot. But there are also many upcoming books from my favourite
authors; two from J.R. Ward and three from Nalini Singh. All in all, the list
has seventy-nine books, so if I manage to read them all, that’s my reading
challenge pretty much covered.
And then there’s the NetGalley section. I’ve already been
approved to read twenty-two books, and that’s only until May. A couple of
really interesting books there, like Victories Greater than Death by Charlie
Jane Anders, which will come out in April; A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady
Martine, the follow-up to A Memory Called Empire, which will be published in
March; The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers, coming out in February,
and The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris that will be published in February
too.
All in all, a full and interesting list. And there’s still
room for surprises, so bring them on. Last year ended with one such surprise,
as I picked Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher, a really great fantasy romance,
and instantly proceeded to read her Clockwork Boys, which is the first book I’ve
finished this year. I’ve already started it’s follow up, The Wonder Engine. So
the reading year is on to a good start. Follow this blog to find out how it
proceeds.
One of the best reading surprises for me this year was Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep, the first book in her Crown of Shards fantasy trilogy.
It introduced Everleigh, a heroine who is both tough and soft-hearted, and a
world that strives to be unique. The economy is based on mining of precious and
magical stones, there are creature comforts like indoor plumbing and trains,
and gladiator games are not only a form of entertainment, they’re a legal way
to settle the matters of throne. Add to that shapeshifting ogres and dragons,
and you have an intriguing world.
Protect the Prince by Jennifer Estep
Protect the Prince is a good follow-up to the first book.
Everleigh is now the queen, much to her surprise and the dismay of the
nobility. Everyone expects her to fail, herself included. But the same enemy
that assassinated the entire royal house is still after her head, so she can’t
settle down to learn how to be a queen. She needs allies, and for that she
heads to the neighbouring kingdom. Only problem is, the king there blames her
for the death of his son in the massacre.
This book doesn’t have a similar satisfying arch like the
first, where the massacre of the royal house forced Evie into hiding in a
gladiator troupe until she was strong enough to kill the evil queen. Still, quite
a lot happens in this book, mostly assassination attempts against Evie. The
book is helpfully divided into sections that count the attempts, giving the
reader something to anticipate. And, since this is the middle book, the ending
is open enough for a grand finale in the last one.
Where the book is at its weakest is its characters. It’s a first person narrative, which makes Evie the character we learn the most about. She has all the friends she made in the previous book with her, but for most of the
book, she stands alone. Other characters are just a backdrop to her,
there when she needs them, but with no real interaction or impact on the story. This includes
Sullivan, the bastard son of the king and sort of love-interest to Evie.
Sully was a distant figure in the first book too, which made
the romance budding between him and Evie feel forced. This book didn’t bring
any change to that, even though the reader is given background into the
heartbreak that made him leave the kingdom and join a gladiator troupe; it’s something Evie accidentally overhears, not something Sully shares
with her. So when he and Evie declare their feelings, it mostly feels like
empty words—even to the very end.
I also hoped that better use would’ve been made of the
unique features of the world, like the shapeshifting ogres, or gargoyles that
were introduced in this book. With Evie handling a battle after a battle alone,
there was no room for any of that. All this made it a more traditional fantasy
book.
Despite the weaknesses, it’s a good book. It’s action-packed
and interesting to the end. And Evie does grow, finding her magic when it
matters the most. The last book in the trilogy promises to be more unique
again, so I’m looking forward to reading that too.
After the previous book, I struggled to
find a book that could hold my interest. I started a couple of books that I had
to put down, but I’ll maybe finish them later when my mood is more suitable for
them. The one that won in the end was Kill the Queen (Crown of Shards 1) by Jennifer Estep.
Kill the Queen is epic fantasy that reads like urban
fantasy. It’s told in the first person point of view, the heroine is a sassy
woman in her late twenties set apart from others because of her different magical
abilities, and she kicks ass. The story itself is pure epic fantasy: the entire
royal family is massacred, and the sole survivor, Evie, goes into hiding to
learn the necessary skills to avenge everyone and claim her place on the
throne. To achieve that, she joins a gladiator troupe where she finds true
friends that she hasn’t had in the court.
The book isn’t necessarily remarkable, and it doesn’t stand
out among the similar books. The lone orphan betrayed by the one person she
thought was her friend is a trope well-tried before. The medieval world is familiar,
even if this one was mixed with things like indoors plumbing and fast
communication. The peoples populating the world were too similar to ours—the
people of the north had Nordic names and the dragon shifter was Chinese. But
the writing style is catchy and I found myself reading late in the night, eager
to find out what would happen next. The story was concise and got to the point
satisfyingly fast, and the ending was good. The story doesn’t need a follow-up,
but there were a couple of questions left open, and I’ll definitely read the
next book too to find out what will happen.
