Into the Heartless Wood is the story of a witch queen with eight tree-siren daughters. In the centuries they’ve existed, they’ve harvested human souls to feed the heartless tree and use its power to grow their kingdom of ever-reaching ash, birch, and oak. Owen Merrick lives at the edge of the forest with his father and sister, mapping the stars in his observatory at the behest of the king. When his little sister enters the woods and he goes after her to find her, he comes into contact with Seren, who saves his life rather than ending it. Owen can’t stop thinking about her, and he sneaks away into the forest to meet with her. However, when the constellations change and foretell of war, Seren is compelled to fight for her mother while Owen is conscripted into the King’s army. It looks like a conflict no one can win, and could possibly destroy their kingdoms forever.

This story is told from two perspectives, Owen’s and Seren’s. I loved the way that their voices were defined by Joanna. It further cemented the stark differences between them, Seren being a tree-siren and not human, while Owen was more eloquently spoken. With that said, Seren’s words all carried meaning and power behind them. Their intensity was such an incredible strength, and usually done with such few words. Even better, you can see Seren’s growth based on her thoughts and words throughout the book, and it was amazing. With Owen, I loved his analytical and observant train of thoughts, and his sense of duty to his family.

Truly, what sets this book apart from any I’ve read is the atmosphere. The story has a sad and melodic quality to it. The characters aren’t necessarily happy  with their lots in life, but the catalyst for change doesn’t necessarily come from a desire to change it for themselves (at first), but because of fear and danger. Owen, his little sister and his father have dealt with death recently with the loss of a mother and wife, while Seren is questioning her role as a soldier. Choices play a significant factor into this story, and it certainly has a fairy-tale/cautionary tale style feel to it that I think many will love. You can’t help but turn page after page, wondering what’s going to happen next.

While there aren’t too many characters at the beginning, every character that is introduced on the page has a significant role to play. Some of them are teased as potential villains or even allies, while others serve a morally grey purpose. I’m not quite sure why, but one of Seren’s sisters was actually one of my favourite characters. There’s a way that she resonated with everything going on in a way that I can’t really explain well, but at the same time, you can’t fault her for having her own way of thinking of things. Some readers might feel differently about this and I’m totally up for discussion, because I do feel like this is a story you could have a discussion about for days.

I’d be lying if I said the romance didn’t make me feel a certain kind of way. It’s so soft compared to everything that’s happening around them. It comes across as curiosity and wonder that turns into something more akin to caring and eventually something even deeper. And as is the way with most things, the things most precious to us in a story inevitably get ripped from our hands to turn into something else. I don’t even know how to explain how this romance between a young man and a tree-siren utterly devastated me. This book will certainly hold a place in my heart.

Into The Heartless Wood is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Into The Heartless Wood? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain.

When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch’s wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens. But a shift in the stars foretells a dangerous curse, and Seren’s quest to become human will lead them into an ancient war raging between the witch and the king who is trying to stop her.

Epic, heartbreaking, and darkly atmospheric, Into the Heartless Wood is the story of impossible love between a monstrous tree siren and a boy who lives at the edge of her wood.

The post Review: Into The Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Eda was once the villain, but now she has her own story to tell. After making a deal with the gods to become Empress, the shadow of her bargain still haunts Eda, and amid court politics and unrest, she struggles to uphold it, but she is meant for even greater things than she could know and her promise will not be the only thing she must give to the gods.

I absolutely loved this unique, entrapping fantasy novel. The concept is so fresh and wickedly enjoyable with a main character who was once a villain given a beautiful redemption arc, gods that struggle to keep the world together, and love that is not what it seems.

Eda was a complex and interesting heroine. It wasn’t always easy to love her as she pushed her friends away and acted in unkindness, but after a while, I came to adore her. She is fierce and determined to achieve her goals no matter the cost, but also fiercely loving and protective of those she cares about, even when blind to their needs. She is stubborn and brave with a far kinder soul than you would expect. And as the book progresses, she becomes far less the evil queen and far more the saviour empress.

Beyond the Shadowed Earth was primarily character-driven, which I loved, but the plot was incredible and exciting too. It was capturing and kept me hooked, filled with unique and interesting concepts and obstacles. I don’t want to give too much away, but as we got to the second half of the book and more plot points began to reveal themselves, I gasped!

My main criticism with this book is that the beginning didn’t hook me in. The first 100 or so pages were slow-paced and I just couldn’t pay complete attention, but then it started to get interesting! The middle section started to hook me into the story and characters, but it was the last third or so that really made the book and its plotline so spectacular! I feel like the beginning could have been a little more interesting but I can see how it was important in setting up Eda’s character and the problems she will have to deal with, and I am so glad I pushed through.

Joanna Ruth Meyer’s prose is captivating and enchanting as she weaves characters and worlds in such a rich and vivid way. The imagery and descriptions were stunning, and the novel was full of hard-hitting and iconic quotes, as well as having amazing dialogue, all captured by the author’s haunting and atmospheric writing.

The world seemed at first a relatively normal fantasy world, but as the book progressed, we find out all its intricacies and uniqueness. It’s clear how much planning and love has gone into Eda’s world, and its magic and gods are absolutely wonderful.

Beyond the Shadowed Earth was an immersive and surprising novel with the villain redemption arc we all needed, and I think fantasy fans everywhere will love this character-driven, haunting story of power, sorrow, and sacrifice.

Beyond The Shadowed Earth is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.

Will you be picking up Beyond The Shadowed Earth? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

It has always been Eda’s dream to become empress, no matter the cost. Haunted by her ambition and selfishness, she’s convinced that the only way to achieve her goal is to barter with the gods. But all requests come with a price and Eda bargains away the soul of her best friend in exchange for the crown.

Years later, her hold on the empire begins to crumble and her best friend unexpectedly grows sick and dies. Gnawed by guilt and betrayal, Eda embarks on a harrowing journey to confront the very god who gave her the kingdom in the first place. However, she soon discovers that he’s trapped at the center of an otherworldly labyrinth and that her bargain with him is more complex than she ever could have imagined.

Set in the same universe as Joanna’s debut, Beneath the Haunting Sea, Beyond the Shadowed Earth combines her incredible world building and lush prose with a new, villainous lead.

The post Review: Beyond The Shadowed Earth by Joanna Ruth Meyer appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Need some sci-fi? Mike Chen’s Here and Now and Then sees a time-traveling secret agent from 2142 stuck in the 1990’s, while Eyal Kless’ The Lost Puzzler is a page-turning post-dystopian debut novel.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments below if you will be adding any of them to your TBR!

The Binding by Bridget Collins
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In the tradition of Sarah Waters, Helene Wecker, and Jessie Burton, an atmospheric and mystery-laden historical novel set within a magical world where books are not stories but the repository of individual lives.

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
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Following their adventures in The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower, Vasya and Morozko return in this stunning conclusion to the bestselling Winternight Trilogy, battling enemies mortal and magical to save both Russias, the seen and the unseen.

Slayer by Kiersten White
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From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes a brand-new series set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that introduces a new Slayer as she grapples with the responsibility of managing her incredible powers that she’s just beginning to understand.

The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty
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S. A. Chakraborty continues the sweeping adventure begun in The City of Brass—”the best adult fantasy I’ve read since The Name of the Wind” (#1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir)—conjuring a world where djinn summon flames with the snap of a finger and waters run deep with old magic; where blood can be dangerous as any spell, and a clever con artist from Cairo will alter the fate of a kingdom.

Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye
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A thrilling new fantasy series full of magic and betrayal—from Evelyn Skye, New York Times bestselling author of the Crown’s Game series. Love, spies, and adventure abound as Sora and Daemon unravel a complex web of magic and secrets that might tear them—and the entire kingdom—apart forever.

Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer
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Echo Alkaev’s safe and carefully structured world falls apart after he mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf—the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an offer: for her to come and live with him for a year. In his enchanted house beneath a mountain, Echo discovers centuries-old secrets, a magical library full of books-turned-mirrors, and a young man named Hal who is trapped inside of them.

Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen
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A uniquely emotional genre-bending debut, Here and Now and Then captures the perfect balance of heart, playfulness, and imagination, offering an intimate glimpse into the crevices of a father’s heart, and its capacity to stretch across both space and time to protect the people that mean the most.

The Lost Puzzler by Eyal Kless
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A brilliantly written, page-turning, post-dystopian debut from Eyal Kless, about a society hoping to salvage the technology of a lost generation, a mysterious missing boy who can open doors no one else can, and a scribe who must piece together the past to determine humanity’s future.

Analiese Rising by Brenda Drake
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When a stranger gives Analiese Jordan a list of names before he dies, the last thing she expects to see is her own on it. Her search for answers leads to the man’s grandson, Marek, who has dangerous secrets of his own. Both are determined to unlock the mystery of the list. But the truth is deadly. Analiese is a descendant of the God of Death, known as a Riser, with the power to raise the dead and control them.

The Wolf In The Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky
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A young Inuit shaman’s epic quest for survival in the frozen lands of North America in 1000 AD. The Wolf in the Whale is a powerful tale of magic, discovery and adventure, featuring an unforgettable narrator ready to confront the gods themselves.

Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett
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Robert Jackson Bennett’s Vigilance is a dark science fiction action parable from an America that has permanently surrendered to gun violence.

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
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Rick Riordan Presents Yoon Ha Lee’s space opera about thirteen-year-old Min, who comes from a long line of fox spirits. But you’d never know it by looking at her. his sci-fi adventure with the underpinnings of Korean mythology will transport you to a world far beyond your imagination.

Will you be checking out any of these books? Tell us in the comments below!

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