strange and random happenstance

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: October 8th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Alex Stern has been given an opportunity she never thought she'd get. At the age of twenty she is going to be a freshman at Yale with a full ride despite never having graduated from high school. How did she even get to New Haven? She had thrown her life away, living among the dregs and the drug dealers in California. Then she miraculously survived a gruesome multiple homicide that claimed the lives of her best friend and her boyfriend. That horrible night at Ground Zero she lay down next to Hellie hoping to never wake. But she did. In the hospital. While cuffed to her bed she was approached by Dean Sandow from Yale. He wanted her to tell him about the Grays. It turns out Alex has been able to see ghosts her entire life. Her "job" will be to join the Ninth House, Lethe, it is a regulatory body for the Ancient Eight, the eight secret societies at Yale, Skull and Bones being the only one that the general populace believes to exist. She accepts Dean Sandow's offer and is eastward bound. To a girl christened Galaxy by her hippie mother just the prospect of Yale's cafeteria is a dream come true, but being thrust into the world of the elite could take some getting used to. Take Daniel Arlington, Darlington, for example. He is there to mentor her, the Virgil to her Dante, and shepherd her in her duties to the other houses because once he graduates she will take over his duties. Darlington is the epitome of a Yale student. Like the members of the other houses, he is a golden boy, but underneath that golden exterior he's different, he's a true believer with an encyclopedic knowledge of New Haven. While the two of them are exact opposites when Darlington disappears Alex realizes that she might be in way over her head, not to mention her course load piling up on top of the demands of Lethe. Now Alex has a problem, find out where Darlington went and bring him back. But as the new moon ritual draws near she is drawn into a murder on campus. At first it looks just like a tragic death of a townie, something Yale really doesn't care about. But Alex sees herself in Tara and while her investigation brings up no untoward evidence when a gluma attacks her she knows her instincts were right. Tara was murdered. A Gray saves her and she realizes that something far deeper is at play at Yale. She will get to the bottom of it and find Darlington, though it might just kill her.

There are some books that need to be read at a certain time to work. There are some books that need to be reread in a certain frame of mind to work. The first time I read Ninth House I detested it. And detest might even be too forgiving a word for how I felt. The way this book deals with rape and rape culture is highly problematic. Trauma can not be erased by something bad happening to those who hurt you. It might be cathartic, but in the end it's nothing more than a temporary balm. It's dismissive to think that it is. But so much of this book is just trauma heaped on trauma all these characters are going to need a lifetime's worth of therapy just to start handling all that they have been through. The first time I read this book I just couldn't get past this. And yet so many people I know loved this book while acknowledging it's flaws. It wasn't these friends who led me to pick up Ninth House again but Leigh Bardugo herself. She is a fabulous writer and, well, there was a sequel now. I adore the Grishaverse and there were some books in that series, in particular Crooked Kingdom, which needed to be reread to be appreciated. Once I had to come to terms with the death of Matthias I could appreciate that book. Therefore I had to embrace the flaws of Ninth House before I could learn to love it. I mean, it's still not perfect, but this time I was able to enjoy the journey without quibbling about all my issues. I was prepared to face the dark with my armor of salt. And, as I write this, some of my issues, especially with regard to trauma, are being dealt with in the sequel, Hell Bent. But rereading Ninth House I can say I think the one thing this book does really well is capture just how overwhelming the adjustment to college life is. It made me nostalgic but it also made me have some serious nightmares about missing final projects and exams. And I'm not just saying this as a way to justify how Leigh Bardugo writes about Yale and New Haven with such an insiders view. Because while it might come off as pompous and elite, there's a part of me that gets it. This is the world Alex has been thrown into and she herself is trying to become an insider while she is very much an outsider. An outsider who is rather one-dimensional. She's basically the Katniss Everdeen of Yale. Reacting not acting. But I forgive her. She's been through a lot. Here's hoping she gets the therapy she so rightfully needs. And here's to second chances. Alex needed one and well, so did I with this book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alex Stern, College, Crooked Kingdom, Darlington, Grays, Grishaverse, Hell Bent, Katniss Everdeen, Leigh Bardugo, Lethe, Matthias, New Haven, Ninth House, Rape, Second Chances, Secret Societies, Skull and Bones, Top Ten, Yale

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: October 8th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Alex Stern has been given an opportunity she never thought she'd get. At the age of twenty she is going to be a freshman at Yale with a full ride despite never having graduated from high school. How did she even get to New Haven? She had thrown her life away, living among the dregs and the drug dealers in California. Then she miraculously survived a gruesome multiple homicide that claimed the lives of her best friend and her boyfriend. That horrible night at Ground Zero she lay down next to Hellie hoping to never wake. But she did. In the hospital. While cuffed to her bed she was approached by Dean Sandow from Yale. He wanted her to tell him about the Grays. It turns out Alex has been able to see ghosts her entire life. Her "job" will be to join the Ninth House, Lethe, it is a regulatory body for the Ancient Eight, the eight secret societies at Yale, Skull and Bones being the only one that the general populace believes to exist. She accepts Dean Sandow's offer and is eastward bound. To a girl christened Galaxy by her hippie mother just the prospect of Yale's cafeteria is a dream come true, but being thrust into the world of the elite could take some getting used to. Take Daniel Arlington, Darlington, for example. He is there to mentor her, the Virgil to her Dante, and shepherd her in her duties to the other houses because once he graduates she will take over his duties. Darlington is the epitome of a Yale student. Like the members of the other houses, he is a golden boy, but underneath that golden exterior he's different, he's a true believer with an encyclopedic knowledge of New Haven. While the two of them are exact opposites when Darlington disappears Alex realizes that she might be in way over her head, not to mention her course load piling up on top of the demands of Lethe. Now Alex has a problem, find out where Darlington went and bring him back. But as the new moon ritual draws near she is drawn into a murder on campus. At first it looks just like a tragic death of a townie, something Yale really doesn't care about. But Alex sees herself in Tara and while her investigation brings up no untoward evidence when a gluma attacks her she knows her instincts were right. Tara was murdered. A Gray saves her and she realizes that something far deeper is at play at Yale. She will get to the bottom of it and find Darlington, though it might just kill her.

There are some books that need to be read at a certain time to work. There are some books that need to be reread in a certain frame of mind to work. The first time I read Ninth House I detested it. And detest might even be too forgiving a word for how I felt. The way this book deals with rape and rape culture is highly problematic. Trauma can not be erased by something bad happening to those who hurt you. It might be cathartic, but in the end it's nothing more than a temporary balm. It's dismissive to think that it is. But so much of this book is just trauma heaped on trauma all these characters are going to need a lifetime's worth of therapy just to start handling all that they have been through. The first time I read this book I just couldn't get past this. And yet so many people I know loved this book while acknowledging it's flaws. It wasn't these friends who led me to pick up Ninth House again but Leigh Bardugo herself. She is a fabulous writer and, well, there was a sequel now. I adore the Grishaverse and there were some books in that series, in particular Crooked Kingdom, which needed to be reread to be appreciated. Once I had to come to terms with the death of Matthias I could appreciate that book. Therefore I had to embrace the flaws of Ninth House before I could learn to love it. I mean, it's still not perfect, but this time I was able to enjoy the journey without quibbling about all my issues. I was prepared to face the dark with my armor of salt. And, as I write this, some of my issues, especially with regard to trauma, are being dealt with in the sequel, Hell Bent. But rereading Ninth House I can say I think the one thing this book does really well is capture just how overwhelming the adjustment to college life is. It made me nostalgic but it also made me have some serious nightmares about missing final projects and exams. And I'm not just saying this as a way to justify how Leigh Bardugo writes about Yale and New Haven with such an insiders view. Because while it might come off as pompous and elite, there's a part of me that gets it. This is the world Alex has been thrown into and she herself is trying to become an insider while she is very much an outsider. An outsider who is rather one-dimensional. She's basically the Katniss Everdeen of Yale. Reacting not acting. But I forgive her. She's been through a lot. Here's hoping she gets the therapy she so rightfully needs. And here's to second chances. Alex needed one and well, so did I with this book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alex Stern, College, Crooked Kingdom, Darlington, Grays, Grishaverse, Hell Bent, Katniss Everdeen, Leigh Bardugo, Lethe, Matthias, New Haven, Ninth House, Rape, Second Chances, Secret Societies, Skull and Bones, Summer School, Yale

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: January 29th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Nikolai thought the darkness within him was gone like the Shadow Fold. But it has returned. When he falls asleep the monster awakens. He's been lucky so far in that those in his closest counsel have been able to locate and restrain him before he has done any real damage. No one has died. Yet. He is fearful that that day is quickly coming. But Ravka is his primary concern. The country is broke and war is looming. Again. Plus there are murmurs, rumors about saints and miracles. When Nikolai looks at a timeline of the so-called miracles he realizes that they started when the monster within awakened. This can't be a coincidence. What's more, the Darkling now has followers petitioning the crown to legitimize him as the Starless Saint. The eager monk Yuri brings evidence forward that all the miracles are converging on the very spot the Darkling died. Therefore that is where Nikolai must go. Taking Zoya, Tamar, and Tolya, they are ostensibly touring the miracle sites, but they are on a mission to purge Nikolai of his darkness. Something that seems possible according to ancient texts, but it must be kept a closely guarded secret. Ravka is weak and this will be an opportunity for their enemies to lash out. Which is why they have invited all their enemies to a giant party as a way for Nikolai to stabilize the country's finances through a political marriage. Something he does not want to do, but realizes must be done. The only problem is it looks like he's going to miss the biggest party of the year as he comes face to face with real saints. Can his friends and counselors keep the country going in his absence? Only time will tell. And one of his friends is far from home. Nina is undercover in Fjerda. She is rescuing persecuted Grisha and getting them to Ravka, for their own safety and also to help rebuild the Second Army after the bloodbath the Darkling unleashed on them. Only Nina's parem altered powers tap into a dark and dangerous game the Fjerdans are playing with their captured Grisha. They have long experimented on them but what Nina discovers changes everything. Including her own mission. Will her work be able to help Nikolai if he's lucky enough to survive the darkness? Who knows.

I won't say that King of Scars let me down, I feel about it the same way I felt about the Six of Crows duology when I first read it, I'll love it in time but on my first reading there were things that annoyed me. Things that I will now forever be forewarned about. I have to learn to embrace the new characters and the way the old characters have matured. When I first read Six of Crows the only two characters I felt a connection with were Nina and Matthias. Of course I love them all now, but for me Nina and Matthias's relationship makes a plot development in this book a bit of a sticking point for me. That point is Hanne. Leigh is setting up Hanne to be Nina's new love interest. OK, fine. I don't have a problem with this because Nina is young and I knew she'd eventually find love again. Here's the part I DO have a problem with, the eventually being so soon. This seems to diminish Nina and Matthias's love for each other. Here's Nina burying his corpse and oh look at that attractive young novitiate on a horse, I'm good to go! WHAT!?! NO! I know they are young, but does that mean their hearts heal that fast? This just took so much away from my enjoyment of the book that I can't even begin to say how much. Two books of Nina and Matthias fighting for their love and fighting against their love and it's just gone. I know some people will say that dragging his corpse around the countryside for a long time and then finally burying him is mourning followed by closure, but TOO DAMN SOON is all I have to say. I don't like unnecessary change. Like look at Nikolai, his personality change, from dashing rogue to haunted leader, while I didn't like it it made sense because he has changed from the darkness within and from the burdens placed on him. And as for that darkness...well...I really have a thing about vanquished enemies returning from the grave. It's a cop out. It doesn't matter how loved or loathed they were because it's just a stupid trope. I always think of the end scene in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Buffy vs. Dracula" where she just sticks around to repeatedly slay him quipping: "You think I don't watch your movies? You always come back." Yeah, stop coming back!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bardugo Bash, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy vs. Dracula, Dracula, Fjerda, Grisha, Grishaverse, Hanne, King of Scars, Leigh Bardugo, Matthias, Nikolai, Nina, Ravka, Saints, Six of Crows, Starless Saint, The Darkling

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: September 29th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

What if Grisha could be more powerful? Not to just have their powers amplified but to have them changed. Magnified to a degree that the world itself morphs before their eyes and anything is possible. Of course, such a discovery would be desired by the wealthy and the powerful, and especially the military. Bo Yul-Bayur is a chemist who accidentally created Jurda Parem from the common stimulant Jurda. While fatal to Non-Grisha, to Grisha it can make them fly, literally, but it makes the user an addict after one dose. Afraid of what he has created Bo Yul-Bayur attempts to seek asylum in Kerch but is captured by the Drüskelle and taken to the Fjerdan capital of Djerholm and imprisoned in the impenetrable Ice Court. Who knows what the Fjerdan's will do with this technology, seeing as they have been carrying out pogroms on the Grisha "Witches" for as long as anyone can remember. This is where Kaz Brekker comes in. Kaz is the lieutenant of The Dregs and is known as the man who gets things done. So when mercher Jan Van Eck needs someone to break Bo Yul-Bayur out of the Ice Court he turns to Kaz with the offer of a lifetime. The score from this impossible heist could set Kaz and his crew up for the rest of their lives. Kaz recruits Inej, the "wraith", Jesper, a born sharpshooter, Wylan, for his demolition skills and the fact that if need be he is Van Eck's son and could be used as a hostage, and Nina, because she's a Grisha who is a Ravkan Heartrender. But more importantly, Nina has a connection to someone who intimately knows Kerch and the Ice Court, former Drüskelle Matthias Helvar. Matthias is in prison because of something Nina said and she's been trying to make it up to him ever since, and breaking him out of prison for a big payday should make them even. The improbability and complexity of their plan could go wrong at a million different places, yet they are all good at thinking on their feet, they wouldn't have survived in Ketterdam with all the rival gangs and dangerous alleys if they weren't. But is the payout really worth the risks? And when all is said and done can they trust Van Eck?

When I first read Ocean's Eleven: Ketterdam, or is that Ocean's Six, or even Kaz's Six, hmm, I really have to think this through more...but anyway, when I first read Six of Crows I didn't love it. I felt that in the end the biggest letdown is that Six of Crows just shows us the futility of striving for a better life. From the very beginning Kaz's crew are given this impossible task, one at which they could fail at any second, but deep down you know they are going to succeed. But in succeeding they fail. And somehow I knew this. I just knew that they'd make it to the end and yet they'd fail. I don't know if it's all the heist movies I've watched over the years, but somehow I knew it would be like that bus dangling over the precipice at the end of The Italian Job, all that work wouldn't really be worth it in the end. We were left hanging, waiting for the second book. And that's why they had to fail, because this is a duology. The plot couldn't be wrapped up nice and neat with them walking out of the Barrel millionaires after one book. And for some reason I couldn't accept that at the time. I was annoyed by this ending that opened up the story wider versus locking it down. So what changed between me reading this book back in 2015 and me reading it now? Well, that's twofold. One reason is I've already read the sequel so I know where this is going and therefore could appreciate this book for what it was versus bitching about what it wasn't. The other reason is that I am currently so immersed in the Grishaverse I can take my time to appreciate the characters. I do love these characters so much. In fact I didn't realize how much until I took the book down off the shelf and devoured almost a hundred pages in my first sitting. I was waiting each and every day, biding my time until I could read again. And this is a book where I know what happens and still it kept me on the edge of my seat and staying up way too late. But most importantly, I really can't wait to see who shows up in Nikolai's duology! Yes, those are the books I haven't read yet but I felt the need to reread everything that came before before allowing myself that luxury. I really can't wait!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bardugo Bash, Drüskelle, Fjerda, Grisha, Grishaverse, Heist, Ice Court, Inej, Jesper, Jurda Parem, Kaz Brekker, Kerch, Ketterdam, Leigh Bardugo, Nikolai, Nina, Ocean's Eleven, Six of Crows, The Italian Job, Wylan

The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: October 6th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 128 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

The Istorii Sankt'ya, The Lives of the Saints, is given to children in Ravka to learn about the saints. When Alina was given a copy by the Apparat she brushed it aside as something meant for children. Yet she soon comes to realize that this book full of short lives and brutal deaths might be the key to defeating the Darkling and that saints might be synonymous with Grisha. All the saints are enumerated here, even Alina herself. The tales told are miraculous. Some are self-sacrificing, some are misunderstandings, but each is illuminating. And each only has a small aspect of the truth. Because truth changes over time. Truth morphs and becomes something palatable. Something that can be understood versus the true magic of what was. So even if you think you know what happened, perhaps you don't know the whole truth. Sankta Lizabeta, she of the bees and the blood red roses, she who was killed for not protecting others, she might have a dark little secret that was later revealed...Sankt Juris slayed a dragon or did he? Did he and the dragon become something more? But perhaps the most surprising saint is the Starless Saint, for those who seek salvation in the dark. The Starless Saint is none other than the Darkling. Because while a villain to all logical thinking people to some he is a hero. He did just want to keep Ravka safe and make it a haven for Grisha. If he had to kill a fair amount of Grisha to accomplish his goal, his long life could perhaps excuse his lack of empathy. His lack of understanding that every single life matters not just the welfare of the greater good. But here he is, among the pages of a children's book, there to worship and build alters too, like all the rest. And who knows, in the end maybe some of them were just as misguided as the Darkling...

This companion book to Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse is obviously a bit of a cash grab. They had to produce the Istorii Sankt'ya for use on the Netflix show as it's so important to the plot and figured since they already had it made there had to be fans who would fork over good money for a copy. And they were right. Yet the whole commercial aspect of this book doesn't diminish the fact that it is a beautiful little volume that adds so much to your understanding of the universe Leigh Bardugo has created. We learn the stories of the saints who Inej named her knives after. We get to finally hold in our hand the painting of Ilya Morozova, Sankt Ilya in Chains, that fueled Alina's search for the third amplifier. And we get to see how Alina herself was immortalized in the pages of this book she clung to so feverishly. As she pointed out, all saints live brutal lives that end in death, but it's the ways in which Leigh changes her narrative for each saint that keeps the stories fresh. Sometimes we get a straightforward tale of what happened to them, and other times we get stories that are about the people who worshiped the saint and because of their devotion they were saved, hello Yuri! This second example is what Leigh does with Sankta Alina, therefore giving us a story that is new to our favorite heroine and saint. But this book is full of surprises. As Alina herself pointed out when she was researching Ilya Morozova, there are so many variations and iterations of tales out there that perhaps we've heard it before. And here there is one we have if you happened to have read The Language of Thorns. Sankta Ursula's tale is the tale of Ulla from "When Water Sang Fire" about the creation of the Broken Heart islands off the northern coast of Fjerda. This little callback was a wonderful parallel that shows how perfectly built Leigh's world is. Almost as perfectly built as the Ice Court...but that was a different saint altogether.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alina, Apparat, Bardugo Bash, Empathy, Grisha, Grishaverse, Istorii Sankt'ya, Leigh Bardugo, Morozova, Netflix, Ravka, Saints, The Darkling, The Language of Thorns, The Lives of the Saints, The Starless Saint, Ursula

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

There are tales that should only be told in the darkest months or at the darkest hours. Tales of magic most wondrous and dangerous. Tales that you think you know the outcome but take you to unexpected vistas, places beyond which normal sanitized fairy tales end. There's a beastly prince who holds a town in his grasp. Yet all he really longs for is a story. One that ends true. And there's the young Ayama, overlooked by her own family, who could save them all or realize her own overlooked power. There are animals who believe that no matter what that they are the most clever and that they will never be caught. But what if they fail to see the danger in disguise? Then there's Nadya. Girls have been disappearing in the woods near her home. Everyone says the woods is eating them. But Nadya doesn't believe in that superstitious rumor. She believes the danger is closer to home. She doesn't trust her new step-mother who just has to be a wicked one. A witch that drives Nadya from her home and her beloved father and into the very woods that "eat" young girls. Yet Nadya finds a kind witch. A witch that takes care of her and eventually she learns that nothing is as it seems. Father's in fact can be trouble, as young and beautiful Yeva learns. Her father decides to barter her hand for his own prosperity, never once thinking what his daughter might want. Though one should never expect an outcome they desire when they don't fully appreciate what led them to victory. The worm can turn. As it does for Droessen the toymaker. He wants to better himself and his standing in the world. He wishes not to be someone brought for entertainment at the holidays. He wants wealth. He wants what his patrons have. So he makes a vehicle for his purposes, a nutcracker. One who will do his bidding. Yet what happens when knowledge and autonomy set in? Life always has a way to strike you down when you try to reach beyond your abilities, when you try to set your hat at something that you don't deserve. But most importantly, when you use others to achieve those goals. Ulla learns this the hardest way possible, but one related to living darkness might just find a way to get her revenge.

The Language of Thorns is a compilation of dark fairy tales that everyone should own. And I mean EVERYONE. You don't need to have read Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse books in order to appreciate them. You don't need to have any experience with her writing AT ALL. This is just an amazing series of tales that I know my grandmother would have loved to read with me, for her the darker the tale the more she enjoyed it. Of course if you ARE a fan of the Grishaverse this book should already be on your bookshelf for the deeper understanding you acquire of the complexity and history of the world Leigh has created. As with any good set of fairy tales several of these are well known tales told in a different way. We have Beauty and the Beast, The Nutcracker, and The Little Mermaid. She makes them all deliciously darker. And this is saying something because Leigh uses the original story of The Little Mermaid as her inspiration, NOT the Disney version... though you can still feel the Disney influence in a wonderfully twisted way. I loved all these tales so much but I have to say the retelling of The Nutcracker, "The Soldier Prince" won my heart. I have never been a fan of The Nutcracker, I have issues with the rat king, but here Leigh combines it with another story I am not too fond of, The Velveteen Rabbit, and creates a Christmas tale that is a meditation on what makes us who we are and what can happen if we take control of our own destinies and stories. None of these stories end up where you expect and I think that is what makes them so powerful. That and the illustrations. This book could be bought just for Sara Kipin's illustrations alone. She starts each tale with just one small drawing that every time you flip the page gets added to until the entire tale has this magnificent border that has morphed and changed over the course of the tale. As a final treat the last two pages of each tale are a beautiful illustration surrounded by the border we have seen develop. It's truly astonishing and reminds me of the awe I had for flip books when I was little. This whole book reminded me of my childhood and I love that this is a selection of fairy tales for those of all ages. Share it with those you love.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bardugo Bash, Beauty and the Beast, Fairy Tales, Grishaverse, Leigh Bardugo, Magic, Midnight Tales, The Language of Thorns, The Little Mermaid, The Nutcracker, The Soldier Prince, The Velveteen Rabbit, Witches

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: June 5th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (Different edition then one reviewed)

Alina and Mal only have each other. Orphaned in the wars they grew up looking to each other for everything. Now they are in the first army together, Mal's a tracker and Alina's a cartographer. But little does Mal know Alina's true feelings for him. The way her heart thumps when he's near or how she worries that they might be parted. Their parting is near at hand. The land of Ravka is divided by a darkness, a nothing. The capital is cut off from the ports and the country has been vulnerable for hundreds of years while creatures roam the blackness killing those who try to cross it. Mal and Alina are about to attempt the crossing with their units; only everything goes wrong. They are attacked and it looks as if they are both going to die, but then a light as bright as the sun shines out and cuts the creatures down. Little does Alina realize that the light emanated from her. Being called before the leader of the second army, the Darkling, Alina thinks that for some reason she is in trouble, but doesn't know why she is brought before the Grisha. The Grisha are masters of the small science, innate abilities in them that classify them as Corporalki, Etheralki, or Materialki, with powers ranging from stopping a human heart to metallurgy. Summoning the Sun means that Alina is an Etheralki who somehow avoided detection. Finding out that she isn't in trouble but is in fact what their country has been praying for since the arrival of this dark rift puts pressure beyond measure on Alina. Not only is she trying to forget the pain of being separated from Mal, she's dealing with the cosseted little world of backbiting Grishas, all while coming to grips with a power she never knew she had and hoping that it's all just a big mistake. Yet what if the Darkling has a different purpose in mind for Alina's powers than banishing the darkness? Will she be able to withstand his magnetism and the allure of life at court and find her way back to Mal?

It should go without saying that I obviously had to re-read this entire series before the Netflix adaptation hit the small screen. I wanted to reimmerse myself in the Grishaverse before it became something more, something else. Plus with the way the world has been it's a comfort to sink back into a series where you know what to expect. There's a reason I reread Harry Potter so much. This time around I wasn't thinking so much about the series being Tamora Pierce meets Buffy meets Harry Potter meets The Hunger Games meets The Neverending Story meets on and on and on with Malcolm Reynolds by another name. Instead I enjoyed it fully on it's own terms, even with some of the bizzarre naming choices which I hope are jokes. Fjerda HAS to be a Swedish Chef joke right? Børk Børk Børk! But it's the subtler undertones of Mother Russia that drew me in again and that coheres the book, versus the more absurd elements (Børk!) The mirroring of the political situation of Russia at the beginning of the last century was spot on. Strip out all the Grishas and the magic, take out an evil nothing and what have we got? We have a country with a widening gap between the haves and the have nots. The King is just a figurehead that no one respects and has a mysterious religious leader as counsel. The power of the country resides in the army and out of this a megalomaniacal leader will take the country's reigns for his own will. So the Darkling is Stalin or Lenin, with the Apparat as Rasputin. Yet by seeing this through a filter of fiction and fantasy it somehow makes it more real than less real. When we travel with Alina from her life of drudgery in the army to her life of splendor in the Little Palace we get to see in stark relief the widening gap between the haves and the have nots. Sometimes it takes another medium to filter events for us to get at the truth of something, and that is what Leigh Bardugo has done in Shadow and Bone. It might not be perfect (Børk), but it is memorable and echoes down the ages to our shared history.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adaptation, Bardugo Bash, Etheralki, Grisha, Grishaverse, Imperial Russia, Leigh Bardugo, Netflix, Rasputin, Ravka, Russia, Shadow and Bone, Sun Summoner, The Darkling, The Fold, The Little Palace, The Swedish Chef

Last year when the rest of the world finally discovered Leigh Bardugo through the Netflix series Shadow and Bone I felt a little smug because I've been a fan since the beginning. I also might have said "I told you so" to several bookish friends who immediately picked up the books I've been recommending for years just because they loved the show. But due to my ever expanding to be read pile there were a few books I hadn't gotten around to in the series. In other words, anything written after Crooked Kingdom. Therefore the show provided me with an opportunity to revisit my friends in the Grishaverse and to finally get to the King of Scars duology and the two companion books. I spent exactly a month held rapturously in thrall to Leigh Bardugo's gift of storytelling. I loved it so much I might just have to do it again in the near future. But until that time I can relive it all with you with my Bardugo Bash! A month long celebration of the Grishaverse! We have to do something to tide us over until season two or the next re-read right?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adaptation, Bardugo Bash, Crooked Kingdom, Duology, Grishaverse, King of Scars, Leigh Bardugo, Netflix, Re-Read, Rule of Wolves, Shadow and Bones, To Be Read

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

There are tales that should only be told in the darkest months or at the darkest hours. Tales of magic most wondrous and dangerous. Tales that you think you know the outcome but take you to unexpected vistas, places beyond which normal sanitized fairy tales end. There's a beastly prince who holds a town in his grasp. Yet all he really longs for is a story. One that ends true. And there's the young Ayama, overlooked by her own family, who could save them all or realize her own overlooked power. There are animals who believe that no matter what that they are the most clever and that they will never be caught. But what if they fail to see the danger in disguise? Then there's Nadya. Girls have been disappearing in the woods near her home. Everyone says the woods is eating them. But Nadya doesn't believe in that superstitious rumor. She believes the danger is closer to home. She doesn't trust her new step-mother who just has to be a wicked one. A witch that drives Nadya from her home and her beloved father and into the very woods that "eat" young girls. Yet Nadya finds a kind witch. A witch that takes care of her and eventually she learns that nothing is as it seems. Father's in fact can be trouble, as young and beautiful Yeva learns. Her father decides to barter her hand for his own prosperity, never once thinking what his daughter might want. Though one should never expect an outcome they desire when they don't fully appreciate what led them to victory. The worm can turn. As it does for Droessen the toymaker. He wants to better himself and his standing in the world. He wishes not to be someone brought for entertainment at the holidays. He wants wealth. He wants what his patrons have. So he makes a vehicle for his purposes, a nutcracker. One who will do his bidding. Yet what happens when knowledge and autonomy set in? Life always has a way to strike you down when you try to reach beyond your abilities, when you try to set your hat at something that you don't deserve. But most importantly, when you use others to achieve those goals. Ulla learns this the hardest way possible, but one related to living darkness might just find a way to get her revenge.

The Language of Thorns is a compilation of dark fairy tales that everyone should own. And I mean EVERYONE. You don't need to have read Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse books in order to appreciate them. You don't need to have any experience with her writing AT ALL. This is just an amazing series of tales that I know my grandmother would have loved to read with me, for her the darker the tale the more she enjoyed it. Of course if you ARE a fan of the Grishaverse this book should already be on your bookshelf for the deeper understanding you acquire of the complexity and history of the world Leigh has created. As with any good set of fairy tales several of these are well known tales told in a different way. We have Beauty and the Beast, The Nutcracker, and The Little Mermaid. She makes them all deliciously darker. And this is saying something because Leigh uses the original story of The Little Mermaid as her inspiration, NOT the Disney version... though you can still feel the Disney influence in a wonderfully twisted way. I loved all these tales so much but I have to say the retelling of The Nutcracker, "The Soldier Prince" won my heart. I have never been a fan of The Nutcracker, I have issues with the rat king, but here Leigh combines it with another story I am not too fond of, The Velveteen Rabbit, and creates a Christmas tale that is a meditation on what makes us who we are and what can happen if we take control of our own destinies and stories. None of these stories end up where you expect and I think that is what makes them so powerful. That and the illustrations. This book could be bought just for Sara Kipin's illustrations alone. She starts each tale with just one small drawing that every time you flip the page gets added to until the entire tale has this magnificent border that has morphed and changed over the course of the tale. As a final treat the last two pages of each tale are a beautiful illustration surrounded by the border we have seen develop. It's truly astonishing and reminds me of the awe I had for flip books when I was little. This whole book reminded me of my childhood and I love that this is a selection of fairy tales for those of all ages. Share it with those you love.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Beauty and the Beast, Fairy Tales, Grishaverse, Leigh Bardugo, Magic, Midnight Tales, The Language of Thorns, The Little Mermaid, The Nutcracker, The Soldier Prince, The Velveteen Rabbit, Witches

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: October 8th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Alex Stern has been given an opportunity she never thought she'd get. At the age of twenty she is the going to be a freshman at Yale with a full ride. But how did she even get to New Haven? She had thrown her life away, living among the dregs and the drug dealers. Then she miraculously survived a gruesome multiple homicide that claimed the life of her best friend and her boyfriend of which she was a prime suspect. While recuperating in the hospital she was approached by Dean Sandow. He wants her to tell him about the Grays. It turns out Alex has been able to see ghosts her entire life. Her "job" will be to join the Ninth House, Lethe, it is a regulatory house for the other eight secret societies at Yale, Skull and Bones being the only one that the general populace believes exists. She accepts Dean Sandow's offer and is eastward bound. To a girl christened Galaxy by her hippie mother just the prospect of Yale's cafeteria is a dream come true, but being thrust into the world of the elite could take some getting used to. Take Darlington for example. He is there to mentor her and shepherd her in her duties to the other houses because once he graduates she will take over his duties. Darlington is the epitome of a Yale student. Like the members of the other houses, he is a golden boy raised by the right family with expectations. While the two of them are exact opposites, when Darlington disappears Alex realizes that she might be in way over her head. Now Alex has two major mysteries in her life, Darlington, and whatever happened that day when Hellie and Len died. And then she lands in the middle of a third when she starts investigating a murder that happened near the outskirts of campus. Her investigation brings up no untoward evidence until a Gray attacks her. Only once before has a ghost been able to touch her, and that was when she was almost raped by one on a school field trip. Oddly enough another Gray saves her and she realizes that something far deeper is at play at Yale. She will get to the bottom of it and find Darlington, though it might just kill her.

I find the worst thing in the world is when a book you've been waiting for with baited breath turns out not to even be worth the breath to discuss it. I mean, just thinking about writing this review is making me tired. I slogged my way to the bitter end of this dreck, I guess given how many people love this book I can rise to the occasion to explain why they are so so wrong. So, secret magical societies at Yale right? Should be magical yeah? Nope, it's just horrid. And what's interesting is that people who've liked it kind of agree with me once I start to innumerate my issues. So let's start! My problems, and they are nearly innumerable, can be summed up with the dismissive way rape culture is handled in this book. Leigh Bardugo seemed to want to include issues that are topical to colleges within her fantastical framework, IE rape culture, but instead she just pays it lip service. Magic is literally used to rape Alex's roommate Mercy and instead of handling this in a mature and helpful manner, Alex thinks up something so immature that I can barely even discuss it. I mean, ugh, seriously, this is a viable solution? Because her roommate's rape goes viral Alex decides to make the rapist Blake the star of his own viral shit eating video. She literally uses magic to make Blake eat shit and records it. And then her roommate is just fine because, well, no one remembers the girl who was raped when there's someone eating shit! Um no. This isn't how trauma and survival work. I am literally so mad thinking about this that I have to stop writing this for awhile. I'm back but still mad. I have literally been trying months to finish this review and every time I get angry so I try to pretend I'm just not bothered to exert any effort. But the truth is I'm just so bothered I just can't. How did the creator of the Grishaverse write this!?! Since I started this review and since now when I'm typing this I re-read the Grishaverse in it's entirety, and it handles abuse so thoughtfully and yet here!?! And don't get me started on the fact that the best character is just not there. Or that the ending is lame. Or that this series is taking away valuable time when Leigh could be writing another series! Ugh!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alex Stern, Darlington, Ghosts, Going Gothic, Going Viral, Grays, Grishaverse, Leigh Bardugo, Lethe, Murder, New Haven, Ninth House, Rape, Rape Culture, Secret Societies, Sexual Assault, Skull and Bone, Survivor, Yale

THIS is THE SHOW I've been waiting all year for. Heck, YEARS for, so yes, I might be a tad more critical because I just re-read all the books in the Grishaverse and therefore little things were getting to me amongst the greatness of this epic, like I do not believe there is any way Zoya would have bangs. Yes, she's a Squaller so she could probably maintain them, perfectly balancing humidity and placement, I just don't think they're Zoya... And yes, I admit I've probably thought about this more than was necessary, but that's just me. The grandeur and the beauty and the bangs are all here on display. This is the epic fantasy we've been needing to purge Game of Thrones out of our system, so STOP comparing it to Game of Thrones! Unless you've read all the books then I'll let you call Zoya Daenerys Targaryen 2.0. But that is all. There is so much they go right in this adaptation. I was so wary of Kaz, Jesper, Inej, Nina, and Matthias being brought forward in time I was shocked how well they fit in, merging the original trilogy and the first duology. This led to some wonderful "what if" scenarios like the Darkling and Kaz meeting in an alley. Kaz's exit was priceless. In fact while I feel the casting was so perfect throughout, hats off to Kit Young, he IS Jesper. I don't know if I've ever seen a book to screen adaptation get something so right. He just doesn't play the character well, he is Jesper! And as for the addition of Milo? Dear saints, I didn't know how much this series needed a goat until it happened! The only real issues I took had to do with budgetary concerns. They used beautiful Eastern European locations in Budapest, but Leigh so lovingly describes the Little Palace in detail I wish they had had the funds to actually build it, or at least the dining hall. Also sometimes the CGI was a little off, especially when Mal and Alina were hunting the stage, Mal himself looked like he was CGI right out of a video game and I was fighting some true uncanny valley issues. So in the end my analysis is, they got in pretty damn right, I just feel like I'm more in the world when I'm reading the books. Which now need a goat.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alina, And the Emmy Goes To, Bangs, Budget, CGI, Daenerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones, Goats, Grisha, Grishaverse, Jesper, Kaz, Leigh Bardugo, Mal, Milo, Shadow and Bone, The Darkling, Zoya

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: March 30th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 608 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The wolves are circling and a young king will face his greatest challenge in the explosive finale of the instant #1 New York Times–bestselling King of Scars Duology.

The Demon King. As Fjerda’s massive army prepares to invade, Nikolai Lantsov will summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm - and even the monster within - to win this fight. But a dark threat looms that cannot be defeated by a young king’s gift for the impossible.

The Stormwitch. Zoya Nazyalensky has lost too much to war. She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend. Now duty demands she embrace her powers to become the weapon her country needs. No matter the cost.

The Queen of Mourning. Deep undercover, Nina Zenik risks discovery and death as she wages war on Fjerda from inside its capital. But her desire for revenge may cost her country its chance at freedom and Nina the chance to heal her grieving heart.

King. General. Spy. Together they must find a way to forge a future in the darkness. Or watch a nation fall."

I may be more than a little Grishaverse obsessed. Have been since then beginning!

Bone Crier's Dawn by Kathryn Purdie
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: March 30th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ailesse and her friends change the afterlife in the gripping conclusion to the fantasy duology that began with Bone Crier’s Moon from New York Times bestselling author Kathryn Purdie - perfect for fans of Stephanie Garber and Roshani Chokshi.

Love is a matter of life and death.

Bone Criers have been ferrying the dead into the afterlife for centuries, a dangerous duty only possible with the powers they gain from sacrificing their amourés, the men destined to love them and die. But Bone Criers Ailesse and Sabine - along with Ailesse’s love, Bastien - are working to chart their own course and rewrite the rules of the afterlife. If they don’t break the soul bond between Ailesse and her amouré, she could die - just as Bastien’s father did.

Sabine struggles to maintain her authority as matrone of her famille - the role always destined for her sister - even as she fights to control the violent jackal power within her.

Bastien is faced with a new dilemma as the spirits of the Underworld threaten the souls of his friends - and his father.

Ailesse attempts to resist her mother’s siren song as she’s drawn into her own version of the Underworld. How will she save her friends once she’s cut off from their world?

This pulse-pounding follow-up to Bone Crier’s Moon is a story of love, sisterhood, and determination as three friends find the courage and power to shatter the boundary between the living and the dead."

This week is the week of duologies!

John Updike: Novels 1978-1984 by John Updike 
Published by: Library of America
Publication Date: March 30th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 950 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The third volume of Library of America's five-volume edition of Updike's novels features the continuation of the renowned Rabbit saga and two wickedly funny satires set in the charged realms of sex, politics, and family.

The third volume in our five-volume selected edition of the novels of John Updike includes three books: The Coup, one of Updike's most outlandish satires, set in a fictional African nation; Rabbit Is Rich, the third, and many say best, novel starring his most famous protagonist; and the wildly popular The Witches of Eastwick, which was memorably adapted in the film starring Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, and Jack Nicholson. In The Coup, a surprising departure from his prior novels, Updike stages a withering take down of an array of targets, from American materialism and its baleful effects on the developing world to the follies of Cold War geopolitics and the fevered megalomania of the dictatorial mind. In Rabbit Is Rich, the third installment of the Rabbit tetralogy, we meet up with Harry Angstrom, now 46, dealing as best he can with the challenges and cares of midlife, a time when "you are carrying the world in a sense and yet it seems more out of control than ever." In The Witches of Eastwick, Updike imagines a small New England town possessed by magic - at least as practiced by the female trio at its center who, freed from the burdens of their marriages, make common cause and unleash their whimsical witchcraft on Eastwick's narrow-minded townspeople."

Here for this volume, and REALLY here for The Witches of Eastwick!

The Ultimate Sherlock Holmes Puzzle Book by Pierre Berloquin
Published by: Wellfleet
Publication Date: March 30th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 204 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This full-immersion experience challenges you to solve these slightly re-imagined scenarios inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous Sherlock Holmes short stories:

Interactive Challenge 1: Begins with a short introduction to the short story/crime, giving a summary of the main characters and plot. Following the introduction, 24 puzzles - including cryptograms, crosswords, logic conundrums, visual puzzles, ciphers, and word searches - are presented, for a grand total of 144 puzzles.

Interactive Challenge 2: Utilizes maps that readers use to maneuver around the chapters, completing each puzzle not in a chronological order but, instead, relying on tips and clues from each solved puzzle to travel around the book, like a maze.

Interactive Challenge 3: Drops hidden clues that accumulate into a final, overarching word search, which requires the completed clues from all 6 chapters.

The Puzzlecraft series from Wellfleet Press tackles some of the greatest conundrums of our time. Learn how to navigate the world’s trickiest mazes, solve the most complex crosswords, and finally get the answer to “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” Follow literature’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, as he guides you through hundreds of challenging cross-fitness brain exercises inspired by his most popular cases and adventures. You can also train your memory to perform better and learn the meanings behind your own personality traits or the traits of others. These handy and portable paperbacks are sized perfectly to travel, whether on vacation or just for your daily commute. The intricately designed covers and bold colors will capture your attention as much as the engaging content inside."

A different kind of puzzle than what you're used to! Get your game face on!

Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: March 30th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the wake of World War I, Jane Wunderly - a thoroughly modern young American widow - is traveling abroad, enjoying the hospitality of an English lord and a perfectly proper manor house, until murder makes an unwelcome appearance...

England, 1926: Wedgefield Manor, deep in the tranquil Essex countryside, provides a welcome rest stop for Jane and her matchmaking Aunt Millie before their return to America. While Millie spends time with her long-lost daughter, Lillian, and their host, Lord Hughes, Jane fills the hours devouring mystery novels and taking flying lessons--much to Millie's disapproval. But any danger in the air is eclipsed by tragedy on the ground when one of the estate's mechanics, Air Force veteran Simon Marshall, is killed in a motorcar collision.

The sliced brake cables prove this was no accident, yet was the intended victim someone other than Simon? The house is full of suspects - visiting relations, secretive servants, strangers prowling the grounds at night - and also full of targets. The enigmatic Mr. Redvers, who helped Jane solve a murder in Egypt, arrives on the scene to once more offer his assistance. It seems that everyone at Wedgefield wants Jane to help protect the Hughes family. But while she searches for answers, is she overlooking a killer hiding in plain sight?"

It's not JUST that this book ticks all the right boxes, it's also that some of my FAVORITE people have recommended and blurbed it! John McDougall, Tasha Alexander, and Daniel Goldin to name a few!

Wild Women and the Blues by Denny S. Bryce
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: March 30th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ordinary People meets Chicago the musical as played out in the city's Black Belt, Wild Women and the Blues is a mainstream historical fiction novel that weaves the stories of a grieving film student in 2015 and an ambitious chorus girl in 1925 in a tale of history, love, and secrets that only family can define.

In a stirring and impeccably researched novel of Jazz-age Chicago in all its vibrant life, two stories intertwine nearly a hundred years apart, as a chorus girl and a film student deal with loss, forgiveness, and love...in all its joy, sadness, and imperfections.

“Why would I talk to you about my life? I don't know you, and even if I did, I don't tell my story to just any boy with long hair, who probably smokes weed.You wanna hear about me. You gotta tell me something about you. To make this worth my while.”

1925: Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Café is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper’s daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path to the good life, socializing with celebrities like Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. But Chicago is also awash in bootleg whiskey, gambling, and gangsters. And a young woman driven by ambition might risk more than she can stand to lose.

2015: Film student Sawyer Hayes arrives at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, still reeling from a devastating loss that has taken him right to the brink. Sawyer has rested all his hope on this frail but formidable woman, the only living link to the legendary Oscar Micheaux. If he’s right - if she can fill in the blanks in his research, perhaps he can complete his thesis and begin a new chapter in his life. But the links Honoree makes are not ones he’s expecting

Piece by piece, Honoree reveals her past and her secrets, while Sawyer fights tooth and nail to keep his. It’s a story of courage and ambition, hot jazz and illicit passions. And as past meets present, for Honoree, it’s a final chance to be truly heard and seen before it’s too late. No matter the cost..."

I'm reading this because Jazz-age Chicago was my grandmother's playground when she should have been at school! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bone Crier's Dawn, Denny S. Bryce, Duology, Erica Ruth Neubauer, Grishaverse, John Updike, Kathryn Purdie, Leigh Bardugo, Puzzles, Rule of Wolves, Sherlock Holmes, The Witches of Eastwick

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and folklore, #1 New York Times-bestselling author Leigh Bardugo has crafted a deliciously atmospheric collection of short stories filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love.

Enter the Grishaverse...

Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.

Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid's voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy's bidding but only for a terrible price.

Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans, the tales in The Language of Thorns will transport you to lands both familiar and strange―to a fully realized world of dangerous magic that millions have visited through the novels of the Grishaverse.

This collection of six stories includes three brand-new tales, each of them lavishly illustrated and culminating in stunning full-spread illustrations as rich in detail as the stories themselves."

The second book Bardugo has out in as many months and the one I'm REALLY looking forward to, Grishaverse!

The Wonderling by Mira Bartók
Published by: Candlewick
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this extraordinary debut novel with its deft nod to Dickensian heroes and rogues, Mira Bartók tells the story of Arthur, a shy, fox-like foundling with only one ear and a desperate desire to belong, as he seeks his destiny.

Have you been unexpectedly burdened by a recently orphaned or unclaimed creature? Worry not! We have just the solution for you!

Welcome to the Home for Wayward and Misbegotten Creatures, an institution run by evil Miss Carbunkle, a cunning villainess who believes her terrified young charges exist only to serve and suffer. Part animal and part human, the groundlings toil in classroom and factory, forbidden to enjoy anything regular children have, most particularly singing and music. For the Wonderling, an innocent-hearted, one-eared, fox-like eleven-year-old with only a number rather than a proper name — a 13 etched on a medallion around his neck — it is the only home he has ever known. But unexpected courage leads him to acquire the loyalty of a young bird groundling named Trinket, who gives the Home’s loneliest inhabitant two incredible gifts: a real name — Arthur, like the good king in the old stories — and a best friend. Using Trinket’s ingenious invention, the pair escape over the wall and embark on an adventure that will take them out into the wider world and ultimately down the path of sweet Arthur’s true destiny. Richly imagined, with shimmering language, steampunk motifs, and gripping, magical plot twists, this high adventure fantasy is the debut novel of award-winning memoirist Mira Bartók and has already been put into development for a major motion picture."

Foxen! Dickensian Foxen!?! Even better!

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
Published by: Profile Books Ltd
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye."

That cover is just as inviting as a good book on a cold day!

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King
Published by: Scribner
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 720 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this spectacular father/son collaboration, Stephen King and Owen King tell the highest of high-stakes stories: what might happen if women disappeared from the world of men?

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep: they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent. And while they sleep they go to another place, a better place, where harmony prevails and conflict is rare.

One woman, the mysterious “Eve Black,” is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Eve a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain? Abandoned, left to their increasingly primal urges, the men divide into warring factions, some wanting to kill Eve, some to save her. Others exploit the chaos to wreak their own vengeance on new enemies. All turn to violence in a suddenly all-male world.

Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women’s prison, Sleeping Beauties is a wildly provocative, gloriously dramatic father-son collaboration that feels particularly urgent and relevant today."

So this could go really well or really bad... should be interesting either way.

Sleep Like a Baby by Charlaine Harris
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In Sleep Like a Baby, the latest installment of the #1 New York Times Bestselling Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series, Robin and Aurora have finally begun their adventure in parenting. With newborn Sophie proving to be quite a handful, Roe’s mother pays for a partially trained nurse, Virginia Mitchell, to come help the new parents for a few weeks. Virginia proves to be especially helpful when Robin has to leave town for work and Roe is struck with a bad case of the flu.

One particularly stormy night, Roe wakes to hear her daughter crying and Virginia nowhere to be found. Roe's brother Philip helps her search the house and they happen upon a body outside… but it isn’t Virginia’s. Now, not only does she have a newborn to care for and a vulnerable new marriage to nurture, Roe also has to contend with a new puzzle -- who is this mystery woman dead in their backyard, and what happened to Virginia? This heart-pounding and exciting next installment of the Aurora Teagarden series will leave fans happy and hungry for more."

It's always a good day when there's a new Charlaine Harris book!

The Hunt by Chloe Neill
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of the Chicagoland Vampires Novels—the hunter becomes the hunted in a New Orleans devastated by a Paranormal war....

When bounty hunter Liam Quinn discovered that Claire Connolly was a Sensitive and infected with magic, he should have turned her in to be locked up in the prison district known as Devil’s Isle. Instead, he helped her learn to control her power and introduced her to an underground group of Paranormals and humans who know the truth about the war and those who fought it.

Now the weight of Liam’s own secrets has forced him into hiding. When a government agent is killed and Claire discovers that Liam is the prime suspect, she races to find him before the government can. But she’ll discover proving his innocence is no simple matter. Their enemies are drawing closer, and time is running out...."

Lost meets Urban Fantasy! Sign me up!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aurora Teagarden, Charlaine Harris, Chloe Neill, Grishaverse, Leigh Bardugo, Mira Bartok, Owen King, Shaun Bythell, Stephen King, The Diary of a Bookseller, The Language of Thorns, The Wonderling