I’ve tried my best to keep this review spoiler-free, but if you haven’t read the first book yet and do plan to read it, it’d probably be best if you refrained from reading my review!

In A Radical Act of Free Magic, Parry once again brilliantly blends together intense political intrigue with magic. The narrative constantly jumps between England and France and Saint-Domingue and Egypt, and the switches are seamless every time. In my review of A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, I mentioned how we didn’t get to see all the different kinds of magic in action much. But in this book we do witness some magical battles, and they were as stunning as I’d hoped they’d be! The final conflict with the French vampire king came about in a very unexpected fashion, even though I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Instead of being action-packed like one would expect a final battle to be, it was laden with emotion, and it struck a chord with me. I’ll admit that even though I was aware of how it all ends, I cried anyway.

Most of the characters in A Radical Act of Free Magic are ones we have already met in A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, aside from a few like Napoleon Bonaparte, the commoner weather mage Kate Dove- one of the first women to join the navy, and Lady Hester Stanhope. Wilberforce and Pitt retained their positions as two of the three major POV characters in A Radical Act of Free Magic. In book one, we saw them as extreme idealists, as were most of the other cast members. All of them with their black and white notions of good and evil, and all of them justifying their actions and believing them to be for the greater good, all the while still working against each other. With book two, however, Parry unflinchingly portrays the limits of idealism. As a few years have passed by, the characters are now more mature, and they are finally recognizing what they did wrong. I especially liked that Parry didn’t try to change characters like Pitt in any way to make them seem more agreeable to her readers; in fact, one of my favourite scenes would be the part where Fina confronts Pitt and holds him accountable for how Britain has treated her people, and even though Pitt does acknowledge the role he played in her people’s torment and shoulders the blame, Fina makes it clear that he doesn’t deserve their forgiveness.

Speaking of Pitt and Wilberforce, the relationship between the two remains my favourite thing about this duology, and it’s definitely one of the best written platonic relationships I’ve read. As they went through a lot of personal development in the time between the events of books one and two, their friendship changed a lot, which was equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming. Even though he was somewhat eclipsed by Pitt in book one, Wilberforce really shines in A Radical Act of Free Magic. The way Parry writes Wilberforce with his heart on his sleeve and his endearing, slightly baffled but delighted demeanour, it’s all too easy to fall in love with him, which I did.

As for the other significant members of the cast, personally I didn’t feel Napoleon as a character was as impactful in the story as I’d hoped he’d be, and he was majorly overshadowed by the vampire king, who also was sort of underwhelming. However, one of my primary issues with book one was the fact that Fina, despite being a POV character, didn’t really stand out. This time though, I loved how Parry handled Fina’s arc. Hester became another favourite of mine, and I absolutely adored her and Fina’s friendship!

To sum it up, despite some small objections, A Radical Act of Free Magic is still the best finale to the Shadow Histories duology I could ask for. If you’re a history nerd and politics-heavy fantasy books appeal to you, you should definitely check this series out! And if you’re a fantasy fan but aren’t so sure about the historical part, I’ll leave you with this: this book has a dragon.

A Radical Act of Free Magic is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up A Radical Act of Free Magic? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

The Concord has been broken, and a war of magic engulfs the world.

In France, the brilliant young battle-mage Napoleon Bonaparte has summoned a kraken from the depths, and under his command the Army of the Dead have all but conquered Europe. Britain fights back, protected by the gulf of the channel and powerful fire-magic, but Wilberforce’s own battle to bring about free magic and abolition has met a dead end in the face of an increasingly fearful and repressive government. In Saint Domingue, Fina watches as Toussaint Louverture navigates these opposing forces to liberate the country.

But there is another, even darker war being fought beneath the surface: the first vampire war in hundreds of years. The enemy blood magician who orchestrated Robespierre’s downfall is using the Revolutionary Wars to bring about a return to dark magic to claim all of Europe. Across the world, only a few know of his existence and the choices they make will shape the new age of magic.

The post Review: A Radical Act of Free Magic by H. G. Parry appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Being a huge fan of the Lady Janies’ particular brand of historical fiction, I was quite excited about My Contrary Mary, especially since this one brings us back to the world of E∂ians (humans who have the power to shift into an animal) from My Lady Jane, which  was the very first Jane book and happens to be one of my all-time favourites. My Contrary Mary was every bit as humorous as I’d expected, and I had an absolute blast reading it.

My Contrary Mary takes place in Renaissance France, and tells the story of a seventeen year old Mary, Queen of Scots, who despises doing as she’s told. As Mary gets married to her betrothed, the French dauphin Francis, back in Scotland John Knox is publishing pamphlets condemning all Verities (normal humans who don’t have E∂ian powers) and leading a revolution against Mary, who is presumed to be a Verity. Meanwhile, in a France where E∂ians are despised and oppressed, only Mary’s ladies-in-waiting and Francis know the truth about her— that Mary is actually an E∂ian and can turn into a mouse at will.

When King Henry mysteriously dies in a jousting accident, Francis and Mary suddenly find themselves in charge of France. Along with the seer Nostradamus’ daughter Ari, Francis and Mary now have to make their way through mousetraps, conspiracies, and treason to seize their thrones, and maybe fall in love along the way. 

My Contrary Mary is quick-paced and hilarious; the voices of the three authors merge together seamlessly and their writing flows, with a well-built plot and flawed yet strong characters. There’s also some political intrigue involved, as is to be expected from the time period the book is set in. However, the religious conflicts this time aren’t between the Catholics and the Protestants; instead they are between the Verities and the E∂ians. 

Coming to the characters, I really liked how the main characters all behaved like actual teenagers. There was Mary, headstrong and queenly and still so naïve, and Francis, a loveable dork who’s too in love to see sense. However, Aristotle or Ari, the third point-of-view character, struck me as the most interesting one. Ari’s prophecies tend to go sideways always, and they rather resemble scenes from popular movies of our time, which I found to be a quite witty and amusing way to sprinkle in pop-culture references.

As for the romance, friends-to-lovers being possibly my favourite trope, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Francis and Mary’s relationship. There was also a sapphic romance that, despite being on the sidelines, was also quite well-written. We also got to meet some beloved old characters from My Lady Jane near the end of the book, which was one of my absolute favourite scenes. 

In conclusion, My Contrary Mary is a funny and sweet story that I thoroughly adored, and I can’t wait for the next books in the Mary series! If you like fantasy, books about royalty, friends-to-lovers romances, and historical fiction, or if you are simply looking for some light reading material, this is a book you should definitely check out!

My Contrary Mary is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up My Contrary Mary? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and . . . queens?⠀
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Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she’s a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It’s a secret that could cost her a head—or a tail.⠀
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Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But after the king meets a suspicious end, things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn. Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis are forced to navigate a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps, and treason. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.

The post Review: My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Maeve Chambers is used to feeling small and insignificant; in her family of geniuses, she seems to be the only idiot, and she’s not exactly popular in school either. But when she finds out that tarot comes naturally to her, she finally feels like she has uncovered her calling. That is until she reads her ex-best friend Lily’s cards—despite Lily’s reluctance—and draws a card called The Housekeeper she knows nothing about. The outcome of the reading upsets Lily and the two get into an argument with Maeve ending up wishing that Lily would disappear. Scarily enough, Maeve’s wish comes true so she teams up with Lily’s brother Roe and her new friend Fiona, and vows to bring Lily back at any cost.

All Our Hidden Gifts is an easy read and it’s the kind of book you can fly through in one day. O’Donoghue’s writing is very simple and straightforward with the story moving quite fast. The witchy/magical elements in the book, especially the tarot cards, are explained effectively and without seeming info-dumpy, so that readers like me—who are not very familiar with the tarot—have no trouble following the story. Despite the plot being quite severe and tackling several intense issues, the book also managed to be weirdly funny at places, which certainly made it an entertaining ride.

The main characters within the book, aside from Maeve, are all quite loveable. Roe, who is fiercely earnest in everything he does, but is also soft and deeply vulnerable, is sure to win your heart. However, Maeve as a protagonist falls short next to the other characters like Fiona and Roe and even Lily, whom we get to see very little of. At times, Maeve is quite arrogant and self-centered, which makes it really hard to like her or connect to her. All Our Hidden Gifts also has a subplot about a cult-like religious group attacking queer people across the town, led by a man as powerful as Maeve; however, unfortunately it’s not handled as well as it could have been and ultimately feels rather half-baked.

O’Donoghue weaves in great diversity throughout her narrative, both in terms of the characters and the themes and issues discussed in the book. Among the primary characters, Fiona is Filipino, Roe is questioning his gender identity, Lily wears a hearing aid, and one of Maeve’s older sisters Jo is queer. One of the things I liked best about All Our Hidden Gifts is how Maeve, who is a cishet white person, is called out frequently by her friends whenever she makes thoughtless comments about the prejudicial treatment of people of colour or acts naïve when it comes to hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community. At one point, Roe comments on how Lily doesn’t owe it to Maeve to forgive her after all the awful things Maeve did to her, and Fiona points out how Maeve makes the mistake of making others’ oppression all about herself.

Despite the few problems I had with the book, All Our Hidden Gifts is an engaging read that talks about gender identities and sexuality in an informative manner, and will definitely appeal to younger teens. If you like The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman, or All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle, you’d probably want to check this one out!

All Our Hidden Gifts is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 8th 2021.

Will you be picking up All Our Hidden Gifts? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Maeve’s strangely astute tarot readings make her the talk of the school, until a classmate draws a chilling and unfamiliar card—and then disappears.

After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she quickly becomes the most sought-after diviner at St. Bernadette’s Catholic school. But when Maeve’s ex–best friend, Lily, draws an unsettling card called The Housekeeper that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily isn’t at school the next Monday, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace.

Shunned by her classmates and struggling to preserve a fledgling romance with Lily’s gender-fluid sibling, Roe, Maeve must dig deep into her connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find—even if they lead to the terrifying Housekeeper herself. Set in an Irish town where the church’s tight hold has loosened and new freedoms are trying to take root, this sharply contemporary story is witty, gripping, and tinged with mysticism.

The post Review: All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The Nerd Daily very recently had the opportunity to chat with Hannah, and in the interview she tells us about her favourite fairy tale, what makes a good love story for her, her upcoming projects, and more!

Hello Hannah! Thanks so much for doing this interview! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself first?

Thank you so much for having me! So I live at the top of a mountain in Tennessee with my spouse, our feral kid, two cats, and a dog. I have way too many houseplants, notebooks, and weird postcards. I regularly trespass into the woods behind our house to take instagram pictures. I have never successfully taken care of a begonia, and I can’t do a cartwheel.

For the Wolf, your debut novel, is out now! Would you tell us a little about the book?

The two not-quite-a-pitch ways I’ve described WOLF is as fairytale soup, and what would happen if Brand New decided to do a Red Riding Hood concept album. It’s not necessarily intended as a retelling so much as a melting together, a story that takes elements of classic fairytales and twists them to hopefully feel like folklore in its own right.

For the Wolf will remind readers of fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast. What’s your favourite fairy tale, and why?

I actually love Hansel and Gretel, mostly because it’s such a simple story that can be hugely terrifying. The idea of being abandoned and fighting your way back is really appealing to me. It’s something I’d like to write a reimagining of eventually!

A central part of For the Wolf is the romance that develops between Red and the Wolf- who’s a man and not the monster he’s been made out to be. What elements do you think make up the best love stories?

My favorite love stories are the ones where the people falling for each other are in difficult to understand positions, where they think they’re all alone, and someone comes along who does understand. Seeing someone realize they don’t have to be alone—that someone else is lonely in the same way they are—always gets me.

If you could switch places with any of the characters from For the Wolf, who would you be and why?

Oof, no one is having a great time so I wouldn’t want to switch with any of them, hah! But the one I have always identified the most with is Neve.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? What’s your writing process like?

Kind of a hybrid! Now that I’m writing to deadlines, I tend to plan a lot more, but I still leave room for myself to figure things out as I’m drafting. I will usually write until I run out of steam on an idea and then write messy narrative chapter outlines for the rest—it helps me work through blocks and tease out any tangles that I might run into without the added pressure of trying to write them well. Once I have a roadmap, I go back and draft, though things definitely change in that stage, too. I think the key is being flexible, because every book requires something different from you. You’ve just gotta tune into the story enough to figure out what it needs.

What’s next for you, aside from the sequel to For the Wolf?

I have a few irons in the fire, though right now they are all contractually secret

Do you have any book recommendations for us?

Tons! The Jasmine Throne, The Chosen and the Beautiful, The Wolf and the Woodsman, Sorrowland, Wound From The Mouth of A Wound, and The Atmospherians are all some I’ve loved lately.

Will you be picking up For The Wolf? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Hannah Whitten, Author of ‘For The Wolf’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

“Dearest Joe, come home, if you remember. M.” says the postcard Joe Tournier receives in 1898; it has apparently been held at the sorting office for 93 years, so that it could be delivered to him on the date specified. The postcard has a picture of a lighthouse called Eilean Mor in the Outer Hebrides, but Joe doesn’t recognise it. He doesn’t even remember who he is supposed to be, since he lost his memory a while ago. Joe is told that he is a British slave in London, one of the many in the French empire. But he also gets flashes of a life he has supposedly never lived, in an England that’s not ruled by the French and where he can freely speak English.

On an impulse, Joe decides to visit the lighthouse anyway, in search of the truth of his existence. Little does he know that his journey would take him back through time itself to a stranger called Kite who seems to know him better than himself, and would hand him the power to change the very future of his world.

I’m usually not a big fan of books that centre around a romance, but there’s just something about LGBTQ+ romances set in historical periods that always appeals to me, and that was probably the main reason I picked up The Kingdoms. This book is a bit of a hodgepodge of a few different genres as there’s time travel and it’s obviously historical fiction, but there’s also elements of fantasy so seamlessly weaved throughout the story that they almost blend in with the very essence of reality. Pulley’s prose feels ethereal even as it sizzles with dry humour. Pieces of the story take place at multiple places and times, and Pulley paints every single one of those settings with utmost veracity and vividness. Every single aspect of this book was indeed sheer perfection to me, but the romance at the core of the story—that blossomed even amidst all the uncertainty and carnage and hopelessness of war—really was the most beautiful thing about this book.

Joe is the main character in The Kingdoms, but talking about him could give away a bunch of spoilers, so I’ll just say this—I loved him with all my heart and then some. As for the English navy officer Kite, he’s faced abuse all his life, so much so that he’s begun to turn into a bit of a machine, someone who seems incapable of natural human emotions. With a romance that involves a person who doesn’t know who he is, and another who’s barely holding up against emotional and psychological trauma while leading his ship into what seems like a losing battle, it’s understandable that this relationship isn’t one that’d give you unadulterated happiness. And yet, even as these two broken people keep fighting against time to find each other again and again only to lose each other every time, and even as you can’t shake the feeling that they were doomed from the start, you still keep hoping against hope for something good to happen. The Kingdoms is not an easy book, but in the end, Joe and Kite make it worth it.

With The Kingdoms, Pulley has given me a book that I’d forever be recommending to everyone I see, just so I could have someone to scream about this exquisitely beautiful story with. If you like nail biting agony, time travel, alternative history, and super slow burn gay romances with pining and one of the involved parties being oblivious of the other’s feelings, The Kingdoms is the book for you. You could check out Pulley’s other books too, I’ve been told they are all equally heart-wrenching, and I can’t wait to find out for myself.

The Kingdoms is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 25th 2021.

Will you be picking up The Kingdoms? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

For fans of The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and David Mitchell, a genre bending, time twisting alternative history that asks whether it’s worth changing the past to save the future, even if it costs you everyone you’ve ever loved.

Joe Tournier has a bad case of amnesia. His first memory is of stepping off a train in the nineteenth-century French colony of England. The only clue Joe has about his identity is a century-old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse that arrives in London the same month he does. Written in illegal English—instead of French—the postcard is signed only with the letter “M,” but Joe is certain whoever wrote it knows him far better than he currently knows himself, and he’s determined to find the writer. The search for M, though, will drive Joe from French-ruled London to rebel-owned Scotland and finally onto the battle ships of a lost empire’s Royal Navy. In the process, Joe will remake history, and himself.

From bestselling author Natasha Pulley, The Kingdoms is an epic, wildly original novel that bends genre as easily as it twists time.

The post Review: The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Son of the Storm starts off at the great city of Bassa in the continent of Oon, and centers around Danso, a young Bassai scholar who is prejudiced against for being a Shashi—the child born of a union between a mainlander and an outlander. Danso is to be joined to the obstinate, callous Esheme, but he doesn’t want the life everyone seems to have planned for him. Instead, he wants to escape Bassa and seek out the truth about the outlander mother he never knew.

When Danso comes across Lilong—a warrior from the Nameless islands outside the Bassai city borders, who has supernatural powers the Bassai have always been led to believe are mere myths—Danso becomes privy to the secrets the Bassai leaders have been keeping about the world outside their city. With Lilong at his side, he sets out on a journey to discover his heritage, and finds out everything he had known about his people and his continent had been an illusion.

Son of the Storm is told through several points of view, with Danso, Lilong, Esheme, and Danso’s attendant Zaq being the primary PoV characters. None of these people fully belong to the highest caste in Bassa—the Idu class—and therefore it was really intriguing to see the author explore caste, systemic oppression, and social privilege through the eyes of these so called outsiders in the Bassai high society, and how some of them strive to claim their own places in the very society that scorns them at every step, while others yearn to escape.

One thing about the book that grated at me a lot was the extremely slow pace of it, especially in the second section out of the four parts in the book, when nothing really seemed to happen for a hundred pages or more. The worldbuilding here, however, is done extremely well. I loved how the author keeps giving us tidbits regarding both the history and geography of the world throughout the book, especially in Danso’s chapters where he mentions songs and stories from Bassa he has had to learn as a Jali novitiate, and Lilong tells him about the Nameless islands, giving their world a realistic, lived-in feel. Even though Son of the Storm might seem a little incomprehensible at the beginning with many fantasy terms and background knowledge about Bassa and the continent in general thrown in within the first fifty pages or so, it starts getting interesting once you reach Esheme’s chapters.

I adored Danso as a protagonist, with all his naivety and his love of stories and his desire to know more about the world outside Bassa, but Esheme was definitely the most interesting character in this book. Her cunning and ruthlessness makes her the exact opposite of Danso, and her rise to power within the Bassai society was fascinating to read about, even as it makes you uneasy every step of the way. With Zaq, it was compelling to see the perspective of a person who remains loyal to the very people who have oppressed him since his birth and his reasons for doing so. As for Lilong, she’s the typical warrior love interest many fantasy books have, and since I failed to find her likeable, I was sort of glad that she had fewer chapters than Danso or Esheme.

To sum it all up, while I did have issues with the pacing in this book, I really loved reading about Danso and Esheme, and will definitely check out the second book if only to find out where the story takes them next. If you’re a high fantasy fan and have loved books like R. F. Kuang’s The Poppy War or Rebecca Roanhorse’s Black Sun, you’d want to read Son of the Storm as well!

Son of the Storm is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Son of the Storm? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

From one of the most exciting new storytellers in epic fantasy, Son of the Storm is a sweeping tale of violent conquest and forgotten magic set in a world inspired by the pre-colonial empires of West Africa.

“Everything I love in a fantasy novel. Damn good stuff!” —Jenn Lyons, author of The Ruin of Kings

In the ancient city of Bassa, Danso is a clever scholar on the cusp of achieving greatness—only he doesn’t want it. Instead, he prefers to chase forbidden stories about what lies outside the city walls. The Bassai elite claim there is nothing of interest. The city’s immigrants are sworn to secrecy.

But when Danso stumbles across a warrior wielding magic that shouldn’t exist, he’s put on a collision course with Bassa’s darkest secrets. Drawn into the city’s hidden history, he sets out on a journey beyond its borders. And the chaos left in the wake of his discovery threatens to destroy the empire.

The post Review: Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Ariadne, the eldest princess of Crete, still remembers the time before her monstrous brother Asterion’s birth, when her mother used to smile and dance with her and tell her the stories of gods and heroes and monsters. But since he’s been born, her mother seems to get more and more distant with every passing day, as the half-bull child grows into a nightmarish creature whom Minos renames the Minotaur after himself, and who needs to be trapped in a labyrinth running underneath the king’s palace. When Minos’ eldest son Androgeos gets trampled to death by a rampaging bull on an Athenian hillside, Minos wages war on Athens and returns victorious, and as payment for his son’s lost life, he demands fourteen Athenian children be sent every year to Crete to sate the Minotaur’s appetite.

In the third year since Minos’ war against Athens, the Athenian prince Theseus arrives at Crete with thirteen other Athenian children to conquer the Minotaur. Ariadne is drawn to him almost immediately upon his arrival, and she decides to help the hero kill her brother, defying the gods and deceiving her father. In the world of gods and heroes where even the divine women are nothing but assets and pawns belonging to the men, Ariadne sets out to find her happy ending, and her rightful place in a hero’s glorious tale.

In her retelling of Ariadne’s story, Saint stays true to the original Greek myths, and stitches together elements from the many different versions of the tale of Ariadne. Despite Saint’s captivating writing, Ariadne’s narrative voice wasn’t one I particularly enjoyed; there was little dialogue, and too many instances of Ariadne monologuing about her problems and not actually doing anything to solve them, which got monotonous after a while. Indeed, Ariadne as a protagonist is quite indolent, her life too sheltered and stagnant for a reader to truly be interested in her story. Only when the story is almost at its end does she finally, truly decide to take her fate into her own hands and do what is right, but by then, it’s too late.

As for Phaedra, I found her chapters to be infinitely more absorbing when compared to those of Ariadne’s. Phaedra, whom I hadn’t known much about before reading this book, is almost a villain in the Greek myths she’s a part of, branded a conniving seductress. However, we first see Phaedra in Saint’s writing as a charming, witty, effervescent girl, and I enjoyed reading about how she slowly made her place among the men involved in Athens’ city governance. As for the other people in the book, while the Olympian Dionysus and the famous hero Theseus both play significant roles here, the ones who truly shined were the minor characters, like the inventor Daedalus and Theseus’ son Hippolytus. Even though both these characters get very little page time, they manage to leave their marks on you, and when tragedy strikes them both, it truly is almost unbearable, unlike Ariadne, with whom I failed to form an emotional connection in Saint’s story.

If you are interested in the Greek myths and enjoy retellings, you might find Ariadne to be a good read. While Madeline Miller’s Circe is still in a class all by itself, you’d want to give Saint’s novel a try if you liked some of the recent women-centric mythological retellings, like The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes, or The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec.

Ariadne is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Ariadne? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur – Minos’s greatest shame and Ariadne’s brother – demands blood every year.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods – drawing their attention can cost you everything.

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne’s decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover’s ambition?

Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.

A mesmerising retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Perfect for fans of CIRCE, A SONG OF ACHILLES, and THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS.

The post Review: Ariadne by Jennifer Saint appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The customs of Tóurin see that when twin heirs are born in the royal family, one has to become queen, while the other becomes the next Firebird—the one to conserve the magical balance in Tóurin. This means that Izaveta and Asya were separated when they were only ten with Asya sent to train with her aunt who embodied the spirit of the Firebird then, while Izaveta remained at the palace. However, before Asya’s training is complete, the queen dies unexpectedly when both princesses are only seventeen. Asya, now the Firebird, receives a Calling upon the queen’s death that suggests a magical imbalance in relation to the queen’s demise, and she travels to the palace to answer it. As both Izaveta and Asya try to fit into their new roles and try to find their way back to each other despite their wholly different upbringings, they also have to find the queen’s killer.

These Feathered Flames is told through the two sisters’ points of view. While Izaveta’s chapters are mostly about the twisty court intrigue, Asya’s chapters give you some insight related to the magic system in their world, and her chapters also have the most exciting action sequences. We find out that while Tóurin once had magic in abundance, in recent years the land has witnessed a natural phenomenon they have come to call the Fading. Magic is now scarce throughout the land and only the Firebird seems to be able to access it freely. The Church thinks killing the Firebird would bring magic back into Tóurin, and as Izaveta does everything in her power to keep the Firebird from being hunted down, I’ll admit I enjoyed her narrative a lot more than Asya’s.

The main issue I have with These Feathered Flames is its faltering pace. In some chapters, the story adopts a moderate or slow stride as the sisters have these moments of rumination where they analyse their actions and think themselves unworthy of their respective roles (and there are a lot of these moments), and then suddenly there would be a fast-paced action sequence in the very next, and I found the transition from one to the next to be quite bumpy. There’s also the fact that Overy’s worldbuilding leaves a lot to be desired as quite a few questions remain unanswered. As for the magic in this world, while we’re told that to fix a magical imbalance the Firebird extracts a price from the magic user, that’s essentially all we know. The magic system is not very well explored.

The clashing personalities of the siblings, however, make their story a quite fascinating read. Izaveta, who’s almost the anti-hero in this book, is definitely my favourite of all the characters, and I really enjoyed being inside her head and seeing her schemes play out. As for Asya, Izaveta’s strong personality shadows her quieter, more introspective nature. There’s a queer enemies-to-lovers romance in this book that, despite being pushed into the background, manages to shine brightly enough, and I really wish we got to see a little more of it. Among the remaining characters, there’s a scholar called Nikov who’d definitely become one of your favourites with all his wit and snark.

These Feathered Flames, despite its flaws, has a plot that will keep you hooked throughout with some breathtaking action scenes, queer sword fights, and some strong characters you’d definitely like. Definitely give it a read if you’re a fan of YA fantasy, retellings, and books about siblings!

These Feathered Flames is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up These Feathered Flames? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

A queer retelling of “The Firebird,” a Russian folktale

When twin heirs are born in Tourin, their fates are decided at a young age. While Izaveta remained at court to learn the skills she’d need as the future queen, Asya was taken away to train with her aunt, the mysterious Firebird, who ensured magic remained balanced in the realm.

But before Asya’s training is completed, the ancient power blooms inside her, which can mean only one thing: the queen is dead, and a new ruler must be crowned.

As the princesses come to understand everything their roles entail, they’ll discover who they can trust, who they can love—and who killed their mother.

The post Review: These Feathered Flames by Alexandra Overy appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The Last Shadow Warrior follows twelve-year-old Abby Beckett, who is a Viking and one of the Aesir—elite warriors tasked with hunting down the monsters called Grendels, who have been enemies of the Aesir race since forever. When Abby gets attacked by what she thinks is a Grendel at her home, she and her father are forced to flee to the state of Minnesota, where Abby would attend an elite private school called Vale Hall. However, everything goes wrong when they are again attacked on their way to Minnesota, and Abby’s father falls into a strange coma.

After a Valkyrie rescues Abby and her father, she discovers the secret Viking headquarters at her new school. However, when she tells the Grey Council about the Grendel attacks, they refuse to believe her, since nobody has seen a Grendel in centuries. Now it’s up to Abby and her new friends Grimsby and Gwynn to find a cure for her father’s mysterious coma, as well as stop a Grendel.

The plot of The Last Shadow Warrior is pretty simple and straightforward and while the author introduces some quirky monsters that Abby and her friends have to contend with, like a rogue Valkyrie who loves the game of Bingo or a sea monster who plays ping-pong, the narrative fails to engage the reader. Even if the stakes are raised pretty high here—what with the fact that Abby’s father would die if they fail to find the cure for his coma in time—you never really do feel the urgency despite the running timer, and the story falls flat.

Among the prominent characters, aside from Abby’s father and her little group of friends, we have the usual middle school bully and the teachers at Vale Hall—some of whom provide Abby with some much-needed support and guidance, and that one teacher who seems to really despise all kids, but especially the protagonist. Abby is a fierce protagonist and out of the other main characters, Grimsby is a lovable goof, even though Gwynn—the only POC in the book—feels pretty one-note. Dr. Ruel, Abby’s mentor, is the character I found to be the most interesting, and Abby’s relationship with her father was also quite well-written, even though the two get very few scenes together.

The Last Shadow Warrior is an entertaining, action-packed story that you can just sit back and enjoy, but it doesn’t delve too deep into the themes it brings up, like the exploration of grief and loss, and dutifully follows the well-trodden path many a middle grade fantasy novels have taken to date. However, the novel will still serve to pique your interest in the Norse myths and Beowulf, which is a good reason to pick this one up. If you have liked Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron or the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series by Rick Riordan, you might just end up enjoying The Last Shadow Warrior too!

The Last Shadow Warrior is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up The Last Shadow Warrior? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis  | Goodreads

Twelve-year-old Abby Beckett is proud to come from a long line of elite Viking warriors known as the Aesir. She’s spent her entire life training to hunt the horrific creatures known as Grendels – the ancient foe of the Aesir – just like her mother did before she died. But there’s just one, small problem: No one has seen a Grendel in centuries, and the Viking Council wants to disband the Aesir . . . forever.

When her father is injured in an attack that leaves him in a coma, Abby is forced to take refuge at Vale Hall, a mysterious school in Minnesota where nothing is quite as it seems. She soon discovers the tables have turned and a Grendel is hunting her, but when she tries to alert the Viking Council, they accuse her of making up stories for attention . . . just like her mother did.

Desperate to protect her father and clear her mother’s name, Abby goes on a dangerous quest to discover the truth–a journey that brings her face-to-face with some unlikely foes, including a Ping-Pong-playing sea monster with a wicked backhand, and a dark Valkyrie with a fondness for bingo. Abby quickly realizes that someone at the school is trying to stop her progress and destroy the Aesir for good. And only she can unravel the sinister plot before it’s too late.

The post Review: The Last Shadow Warrior by Sam Subity appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi Sam! Thanks so much for being here! Would you tell us a little about yourself?

Awesome to be here! I was one of those kids who read almost everything I could get my hands on, which in a small town in Ohio included everything from a well-loved set of The Chronicles of Narnia to a nearly complete collection of World Book encyclopedias missing the So-Sz volume. I also wrote short stories and plays about my favorite characters, but the idea of writing an entire novel always seemed next to impossible. Then when my brother passed from cancer in his thirties, that was a sort of wake-up call about the brevity of life, and I knew if I didn’t try, then I might never get the chance. So I took this idea I’d had for Percy Jackson meets Beowulf and over the next few years gradually built it into a full middle grade novel.

The Last Shadow Warrior, your debut novel, is out now! What can readers expect when they pick up the book?

The story is packed with Vikings, hidden worlds, creatures from Norse mythology, and even an epic Ping-Pong battle! My main character, Abby Beckett, is the typical modern-day twelve-year-old—she loves cookie dough ice cream and struggles with complex fractions—except she’s descended from an ancient line of Vikings and knows her way around a battle ax. I really had so much fun writing it, and I hope readers have just as much fun reading it. It’s just the sort of story I loved most when I was growing up, with a combination of heart and humor, and where kids go on fantastical adventures and face huge, impossible odds.

What inspired you to write Abby’s story?

The core of Abby’s story started as a humorous short piece that I wrote for a magazine years ago about a kid whose parents sent him to middle school dressed like a Viking (horned helmet and all) and had a Norse longship parked in their driveway. But even as I finished that story, my brain was already starting to build a bigger world where a fierce, twelve-year-old Viking finds herself at the center of this struggle between good and evil going all the way back to Beowulf. It’s a clash of an older world of myths and monsters with a new, modern age where Abby finds herself caught in the middle and perhaps doesn’t fit in either.

Vale Hall, the school Abby and her friends go to, is also the place where the Vikings have their secret headquarters. Was Vale’s creation inspired by any other famous schools in literature?

I’ve heard Vale compared to Hogwarts on a few occasions already, which I think is inescapable for anyone writing fantasy these days. But I actually started out from the historical research that I did on the Viking Age to construct a school with its DNA rooted in the structures that real Vikings would have used but updated for the modern age. For example, the main gathering hall with its sweeping timber frame and enormous fireplace is based on medieval mead halls like Heorot from Beowulf. And the sports arena behind the school is nicknamed “The Longhouse” and is modeled after the actual dwellings called longhouses where people in Scandinavian countries spent most of their time a thousand years ago.

Without spoiling anything, can you tell us about any particular scene in The Last Shadow Warrior that you had the most fun writing?

I’ve always loved stories that drop you right into the action, so I really wanted my first chapter to do just that and give readers a flavor of the fast-paced and exciting adventure ahead. In that scene readers get their first glimpse of Abby in full-on battle mode. She and her dad have developed a really close connection after Abby’s mom died several years back, and there’s this tension where Abby wants to be seen as grown up and able to handle herself, but at the same time she’s internally dealing with a mountain of self-doubt. And it all quickly comes to a head when she gets the chance to prove herself and…well, readers will just have to check out the book and find out what happens!

What does your writing process look like?

I can really write in any quiet, sunny spot. Early on, I used to do my first drafts in longhand with pencil and notebooks, but my handwriting has unfortunately become so bad that I was spending too much time trying to decipher what I wrote, so I switched to drafting on my laptop instead. But I still like to return to pencil and paper when I’m really struggling with a scene that isn’t working, and that often helps me rediscover some sort of visceral connection with the story that is harder to get sometimes with a keyboard. I’ll usually start with a rough draft of my first chapter or two then plot out chapter titles or concepts as waypoints to help guide me through the rest of the draft so that I know where I’m headed.

What’s next for you?

If enough readers connect with The Last Shadow Warrior, then I’d love to have the chance to write the next book in the potential series. I’d originally imagined it as a trilogy to map to the three-part structure of the original Beowulf epic, so hopefully I’ll be able to carry that out and complete Abby’s story.

And finally, what are some upcoming middle grade novels you are excited about?

My reading list has been full of stories about animals this year. My daughter and I just read an advance copy of the most adorable and adventurous story called Journey Beyond the Burrow by Rina Heisel which comes out in July. It’s about a mouse named Tobin who adventures into the woods to rescue his baby brother. I’m also really excited to read The Wolf’s Curse from Jessica Vitalis which comes out in September about a boy who’s been cursed since he witnessed a wolf stealing his grandfather’s soul.

Will you be picking up The Last Shadow Warrior? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Sam Subity, Author of ‘The Last Shadow Warrior’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.