books – Page 10 – Lyndsey Hall

Six sequels I’m dying to read!

Hi folks, I thought I’d give you all a little look-see at which book series I’m loving right now and which sequels I can’t wait to read. I’m going to cheat a little bit today, some of these books are yet to be released, some are recent releases, and some are years old, I just haven’t managed to squeeze them into my busy schedule yet.

Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought!

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper Kerri Maniscalco

How beautiful do those covers look together? I’m not usually a huge fan of people on covers, but these are just gorgeous. I especially like the cityscapes that are blended in, as a big part of these stories is the location they’re set in (London, Romania and a luxury cruise liner to America!). I just finished the audio book of Hunting Prince Dracula a couple of weeks ago and loved it even more than Stalking Jack the Ripper, so I’m really excited for Escaping from Houdini’s release this month! I’ve preordered it using my September Audible credit so I can download it as soon as it goes live.

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

Probably my favourite series of all time (after Harry Potter, of course) and soon to be a TV series! I’m just about to finish reading the paperback of Tower of Dawn, which has been a new experience after listening to the audio books of the previous five books – I normally get through these in a week or two, but it’s taken months thanks to a new baby stealing all my reading time! Thank the gods I’m back to work and can listen to the audio book on my commute when Kingdom of Ash is released next month.

Now I Rise & Bright We Burn by Kiersten White

I still can’t believe I haven’t read Now I Rise! At least now Bright We Burn is out I can read both in quick succession instead of dying from the long wait. I listened to the audio book of And I Darken (and loved it!), and for some reason book two never appeared on Audible. I waited and waited, but I guess I’m going to have to get my hands on the paperbacks of these two. I’ll have to hit up the mobile library next time it comes around!

(Do you have mobile libraries in other countries? It’s basically a minibus full of books that drives around rural villages. You can order books like a normal library. They’re pretty great when you live out in the sticks, but might only come once a month depending where you live.)

Half Lost by Sally Green

Half Bad was such an unexpected joy of a book, I’d never heard of it until a friend who works for Waterstones gave it to me just after it was released, but I was hooked immediately. Green’s got such a captivating way of writing, she throws you straight into Nathan’s head and you barely get a chance to catch your breath until you’ve finished the whole book. I read Half Wild a couple of years ago, and I’ve just never gotten round to Half Lost (clearly putting off ending the series and saying goodbye to Nathan and Gabriel!).

Fire & Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Graceling was the best YA fantasy I’d read in about a year, and has cemented its position as one of my all time favourites. The story is just so well crafted, with beautifully detailed world-building and fully-formed characters. The whole concept of Graces is fascinating, like natural talents and affinities taken to the nth degree, and I can’t wait to find out more about them in the two companion books, Fire and Bitterblue. They follow different characters in the same fictional world, with some of the cast of Graceling popping up as cameos, and Bitterblue obviously focusing on one of the secondary characters from book one. If you haven’t read Graceling yet, I’d definitely recommend it, I jumped on the bandwagon late, but now I’m practically driving it!

Lord of Shadows & Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

I’ve been obsessed with all things Shadowhunter since I first read City of Bones about 8 years ago, quickly ordering and devouring all the available sequels, and then The Infernal Devices, and stalking the filming of the Mortal Instruments movie with Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower. I actually enjoyed the film and was really disappointed when it didn’t do that well, so I was thrilled when they decided to turn it into a TV series. Now Shadowhunters is coming to an end and I’m left with the book series again. Not that I’m complaining, I’ve got Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and Lord of Shadows sitting on my shelf just waiting to be read, and Queen of Air and Darkness will soon be out in the world. Then there’s the fourth series Clare is planning, The Last Hours, and I cannot wait to hear about Will and Tessa’s descendants! So it’s not like I’m struggling for content over here.

And that is a very non-exhaustive list of the sequels I’m desperate to read and plan to jump headlong into as soon as I get a spare moment (babies, amirite?). Which series are you loving right now and can’t wait to get your hands on the next book?

Lyndsey

Ten books I’d combine to make an even better one!

Hi folks, I’m linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl this week for Top Ten Tuesday! This week’s topic is ‘books you’d mash together (pick two books you think would make an epic story if combined)’.

1. The Raven Boys X One of Us is Lying

Can’t you just see it? Blue, Gansey and the gang involved in a totally non-supernatural murder and a bunch of normal high school drama? I see Gansey as Bronwyn, Blue as Addy (at the end rather than the beginning), Ronan as Nate, Adam as Cooper and Noah as Simon (of course!). In fact, now I think about it the similarities between these two groups of characters are huge! It would be even more fun to combine the two groups and see how the dynamics changed.

2. Six of Crows X Throne of Glass

I reckon Kaz could give Celaena/Aelin a run for her money in the mad scheme area. Somehow their plans always seem to come together in the end, even if things go horribly wrong somewhere in the middle. They also both have a band of misfits and outcasts for friends, with a variety of talents and abilities, who are loyal to the death. I think they’d start out as enemies and wind up friends (with a bit of healthy rivalry thrown in).

3. Red Rising X Cinder

Something about these two just fits together for me, like they could be going on concurrently in the same universe – Cinder is what’s remaining of Earth, and Red Rising is just one of many new colonies across the galaxy. The sci-fi elements feel like pieces of a jigsaw that would fit neatly together, and I think Cinder and Darrow are a match made in heaven.

4. Stalking Jack the Ripper X The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

Wouldn’t Audrey Rose and Felicity just be the best of friends? They could go on adventures together, share tips on medical procedures, and generally show the boys how it’s done. I love single-minded and bold female characters, and these two are even better as they’re so ahead of their time and incongruous to the historical setting, yet so believably written. Thomas and Monty would probably be firm friends too, they share the same cheeky sense of humour.

5. The Bone Season X Clockwork Angel: The Infernal Devices

Both of these novels give me a strong steampunk vibe, despite the fact they’re set around 200 years apart. I can imagine Will, Jem and Tessa living in the same world as Paige and Warden, just a couple of centuries earlier, can’t you?

6. Strange the Dreamer X The Sin Eater’s Daughter

Strange the Dreamer and The Sin Eater’s Daughter are both full of gorgeous imagery, strange new mythologies and selfless, heroic characters – and they’re two of my absolute favourite books/series in the world! The gods and magical goings-on in Taylor’s novel would absolute fit with the world of fairytales-come-to-life created by Salisbury. In fact, I might need these two to collaborate on something now…

7. Flawed X Delirium

In Oliver’s beautifully written trilogy, love is forbidden and everyone undergoes a lobotomy (delightfully named ‘the Cure’) at age 18 to prevent them from developing feelings. In Ahern’s YA debut, Flawed, moral and ethical mistakes have been outlawed and those who commit errors of judgement are labelled ‘Flawed’ and branded with an F on the related part of their body, whether that’s their head, chest, hand or even tongue. I can totally see these two regimes coinciding, and as dystopians go they’re two of the most credible I’ve read. Scary.

8. The Hunger Games X The Maze Runner

The similarities between Panem and WICKED are massive – both think it’s totally cool to send a group of kids into a man-made arena with engineered monsters, and a strong possibility they’ll all die. The main difference is that one is doing it because of a (man-made) virus that broke out and almost wiped out humankind, and the other because war broke out and almost wiped out humankind…(how is killing more people the answer?? Who knows.) I definitely think The Maze Runner could learn a thing or two from The Hunger Games, particularly in the fashion stakes.

9. Fallen X Hush, Hush

Ah, two of my favourite teenage reads. Actually I was probably in my early twenties, but same thing. Aside from the similarly beautiful covers, both stories centre around a girl who falls in love with a fallen angel, who are both your typical brooding YA males, with a divine twist. I loved the strong family and best friend bonds Nora has in Hush, Hush, but I am a sucker for a boarding school setting, so a combination of these two books would be the ultimate angel story for me.

10. Nevernight X Prince of Thorns

I can’t think of two more stabby and sassy characters than Mia Corvere and Jorg Ancrath. Both went through a terrible, bloody and traumatising experience as young children, forcing them to become the badass assassins they are today. Mia’s story is set in a fantasy world resembling ancient Rome, complete with gladiators, whereas Jorg’s setting is suggested to be the future of our planet, centuries after some event, the likes of that which killed off the dinosaurs, has destroyed everything we currently know and returned civilisation to the Dark Ages. They’re both incredibly detailed and well-drawn settings, providing the perfect stage for our murderous little friends to perform on. I wonder what Mr Kindly would make of Jorg?

There you have it, ten pairs of books that would combine to make an epic tome of the absolute best kind! Which two books would you create a mash up of if you could?

Lyndsey

Review: The Sin Eater’s Daughter trilogy by Melinda Salisbury

Sin Eater's Daughter trilogy Melinda Salisbury

If I had to choose an author whose books I hope mine are one day shelved next to in book stores, it would be Melinda Salisbury. The Sin Eater’s Daughter is one of my all time favourite series, and the style of YA Fantasy that I absolutely aspire to write. It’s been a while since I finished reading The Scarecrow Queen, but I wanted to review the series here for anyone who hasn’t read it yet. (Where have you been?! Get to the library quick sharp!)

The Sin Eater’s Daughter

Twylla is sixteen, betrothed to a prince, and forced to serve as the court executioner. The human embodiment of a goddess, she has the power to kill with just a touch, her skin imbued with a deadly poison that has no antidote. Only the royal family are immune to it. But that doesn’t stop her supposed fiance from staying as far from her as possible.

When a new guard is assigned to her, she finds his playful smiles and lack of fear a refreshing change, and soon falls for his charms. The controlling and paranoid queen reveals her plan to destroy the enemies she believes are out to threaten her rule, and Twylla must choose between escaping into the night with her lover, or staying to protect the kingdom she is bound to serve.

I adored the first book in this series, it’s full of fairy tale elements and forbidden romance. Twylla’s character doesn’t have much agency in book one, she seems to be pulled along by the actions of everyone around her, but that is a big part of her arc and by the end of the series she’s become much more active than reactive, and the growth and development she undergoes is more believable for being a slow, steady change.

The big revelation towards the end of book one was a complete surprise to me, I did not see it coming at all, and it left me questioning absolutely everything about the world I’d become absorbed in. It’s a very well done twist, adding another layer to the dark, Brothers Grimm style fairy tale.

The Sleeping Prince

Ever since her brother left them to work as a guard at the castle, Errin has been struggling to keep both her and their sickly mother alive. Foraging in the forest for ingredients to create her illegal herbal concoctions, selling them to a mysterious stranger who refuses to show her his face, and dodging the authorities who are looking for any reason to throw them both in the makeshift jails that are popping up all over the kingdom. But that all pales in comparison to the threat of the Sleeping Prince, whom the queen has woken from his enchanted sleep, and is now on the war path.

When Errin’s village is evacuated and her mother is taken by soldiers, Errin is forced to travel across a dangerous, war torn kingdom alone. What she discovers along the way could be the key to defeating the Sleeping Prince, but is the danger closer to home than she realises?

Book two follows a completely new character who is mentioned but never appears in book one, which makes it slightly more difficult to get into at the beginning. By the time I was a few chapters in though I was enjoying this book even more than the first – I’d go so far as to say it’s my favourite of the three. Errin is a brave, strong and complicated character, and after Twylla’s quieter, softer persona and her life at the castle, book two is a real change of scenery. Both books are tense, suspenseful and exciting, but instead of court politics, veiled threats and the creeping feeling that something isn’t quite right, book two is full of danger, betrayal and monsters straight out of a nightmare.

The Sleeping Prince begins after the action of book one, and the story lines merge towards the end in a pretty satisfying way. The two protagonists balance each other out nicely, so I would recommend persevering if you didn’t absolutely love Twylla, or if you struggle at first with the change in POV from book one to two.

The Scarecrow Queen

The Sleeping Prince has taken control of the kingdom with the help of his terrifying golems and has now installed himself at the castle. Twylla and Errin have become separated, Twylla is in the mountains gathering a force against Prince Aurek and Errin is simply trying to save her mother, and herself, from his evil clutches. As the war rages on and time begins to run out for the rebels, allegiances will be broken, friendships betrayed and lives lost before the final battle can be fought.

Book three alternates between the POVs of both Twylla and Errin, following their parallel story arcs to the ultimate conclusion where they converge once more. Whilst I was a little bit disappointed about some of the character arcs and how they ended in The Scarecrow Queen (#JusticeForLief), the conclusion of the series was very satisfying and credible. Twylla was the character who came the furthest in my opinion, as Errin started out a stronger and more independent woman, but Twylla became strong and really developed over the course of the three books. The plot and subplots all tie up nicely at the end, but it still left me hoping for more from this dark and beautiful fairy tale world.

In addition to the trilogy, there’s a novella called The King of Rats which I haven’t actually read, but hopefully one day I will! It’s a prequel detailing the story of Crown Prince Aurek and his sister Aurelia, and how the curse came about, which is one of my favourite parts of the series, I love how Salisbury took fairy tales we all know well, such as the Pied Piper of Hamlet, and twisted them into something completely new and surprising. I’m not sure what inspired the concept of the Sin Eater, I’d love to know if it’s something that truly takes place in some cultures, as I found it fascinating and loved how it was woven into the story.

Final word: if dark YA fantasy and fairy tale retellings are your cup of tea, you’ll absolutely love The Sin Eater’s Daughter trilogy.

Lyndsey