High-Fantasy

Sometimes, there comes along a book that completely enchants its reader, draws them under until they can hardly resurface. This was one of those. It’s a book with an old soul, one that feels like it’s been there forever. It made me feel nostalgic, enthralled me with an alluring world full of beautiful illusions covering a rotten core, with an awkward protagonist set against almost insurmountable odds, and a maybe-eventually-ship that’ll keep me glued to the pages until the very end …

Where do I even begin? To quote one of our great poets (never thought I would draw Goethe into this): “Two souls alas! are dwelling in my breast.” So what’s the deal? Well, I know for a fact that naive 16-year-old me would have loved this series. Not-quite-as-naive-and-a-lot-more-sensitised 28-year-old me not so much. There’s common ground though: it’s just my kind of fantasy world. But while 16 is swooning about just her type of (male) characters, 28 is screeching at her that these characters, their relationships, and some of the concepts are totally fucked up and toxically romanticised, and 16 should just get lost in the past where she belongs (you see, it’s always fun living in my head). Wondering what has them so worked up?

Wicked Saints is certainly not for everyone but it’s 100% for me! It’s been a while since any book had me this much on edge, this excited: There’s the Eastern European inspired world (always there for that!), a complicated inscrutable magic system (I like puzzling over that stuff!), a gripping dark and desolate atmosphere (gets me every time!), intriguing characters (hello, dark-and-mysterious-more-or-less-evil guy!), and an ending that left me quite devastated (gimme that second book already!) …

The Book of Three is delightful, fast-paced middle grade high fantasy with adorable characters, funny banter, difficult journeys, a multitude of wicked situations, and the realisation that being a hero is not as simple as it sounds …

I wasn’t a fan of the first book in this series but since I already owned the sequels, I decided to give The Sleeping Prince a chance – and was pleasantly surprised although not blown away. All it took to get me on board was a more likable protagonist, a more engaging plot without love triangles, and a deep dive into the wonderful lore of this high fantasy world!

I was hooked by a mysterious title, a stunning cover, and an intriguing idea. Unfortunately, it was all a ruse. The title belongs to a different book, the cover only fits the first third and the idea was abandoned in favour of a generic romance-y fantasy plot. This is one of the ‘great idea, poor execution’ cases and therefore fell flat for me …

I read and reviewed Shadow and Bone in 2013. Spoiler: I didn’t like it much, which is why I never bought the sequels. A small part of me, however, was curious how the story would continue so when I got my new library membership, this was the first book I picked up. And what can I say? I’m glad I didn’t invest in the English hardcovers. I just can’t warm up to this series. Maybe I’m a little more critical than I usually would be because I didn’t like the first one. I don’t want to get too much into details here to keep it spoilerfree, but I’ve got a couple of things I want to address …