Fantasy

Hunting

Published by on June 13, 2013 | 8 Responses

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I’m extremely excited to spotlight one of my favorite authors this week as part of the Indie & Self-Published Author Event: the awesome A.K. Höst! Today I’m reviewing her latest book, Hunting, and tomorrow I’ve got an interview with the author to share with you — plus a giveaway :) Which I am peer pressuring you into entering, because you can’t miss such great books. It’s just wrong, you guys.

hunting

TITLE: Hunting

AUTHOR: Andrea K. Höst

GENRE: Fantasy

FORMAT: eBook, 264 Pages

Ash Lenthard doesn’t call herself a vigilante. She’s merely prone to random acts of derring-do, and occasional exhibitions of tomfoolery. Her friends, the Huntsmen, have never stepped over the line while patrolling the streets of Luinhall.

That was before the murder of Ash’s beloved guardian, Genevieve.

Now, Ash Lenthard is out for blood and even when the hunt sends her to the palace, on a collision course with a past identity she would do anything to forget, Ash cannot, will not, back down.

This isn’t just a fantasy book. It’s a fantasy murder mystery. How do you resist?? I mean, it has roof running, tree climbing, strategic gossip, undetectable poisons, shapeshifting mages, secret identities, and VENGEANCE. I can’t imagine what else you might want, except maybe an amazing female lead… WHICH IT ALSO HAS. If you’re not sold yet, I have no idea why. Hunting contains everything I love about Andrea K. Höst’s fantasy novels, from incredibly detailed world building to great, complex characters. Read on for more!

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Froi of the Exiles

Published by on June 7, 2013 | 4 Responses

050_froiTITLE: Froi of the Exiles (Lumatere Chronicles, #2)

AUTHOR: Melina Marchetta

GENRE: Fantasy

FORMAT: eBook, 400 pages

PRECEDED BY: Finnikin of the Rock

The throne of Lumatere has been restored, the dark curse lifted at long last. Three years after liberating their kingdom, the people of Lumatere are still in the process of healing. Froi, once a slave and now one of the King and Queen’s most beloved friends, has come to see this land as home. But blood sings to blood, as he discovers when he is sent into Charyn on a mission that will endanger his life and make him question where ‘home’ truly lies…

So since I’ve become semi-famous in our little corner of the book blogging universe as the official Finnikin Ambassador, you should not be surprised by my enthusiasm for the second book in the series. GUYS. So much love for this world and the people in it. I can’t even articulate it properly. Every time anything related to the Lumatere Chronicles is mentioned I seriously just fall apart into a mess of lovestruck babbling. (Also, every time I see someone I know adding these books to their TBR pile it makes me feel all kittens-and-rainbows for at least the next 24 hours.) Anyway, I must warn you that it was really pretty impossible to write this review without including massive spoilers for Book I, so please run away NOW if you haven’t read Finnikin of the Rock yet!!!

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The Puppet Spell

Published by on June 6, 2013 | Leave a response

indieeventbanner054_puppetspellTITLE: The Puppet Spell

AUTHOR: E.L. Adams

GENRE: Middle Grade/YA Fantasy

FORMAT: Digital ARC courtesy of the author & Rowanvale Books

Lexa has a problem. Okay, several problems. First of all, their cat can apparently talk. Second, she and her sister Lucinda just discovered an invisibility potion in their Uncle Devon’s storeroom. And third, Lucinda just used it — never mind the fact that it makes no sense for Uncle Devon to even have an invisibility potion. Now Lexa and her best friend Marlon must follow Lucinda into an entirely different world, one that exists side by side with their own reality, before she’s beyond their help. They will have to contend with strange magic and deadly illusions, along with the denizens of this alternate world: capricious Fey, a shapeshifting chimera, and a malicious sorcerer who calls himself the Puppeteer. Will they ever find Lucinda and make it back safely?

I was lucky enough to get to know the author, E.L. Adams, as part of the Indie Self-Pub Author Event hosted at Say It With Books this month, which focuses on spotlighting all the great authors out there who chose an alternative to the traditional publishing route. Come back tomorrow for my interview with her tomorrow!

I had a lot of fun reading this book. It’s a great fantasy for the middle grade/younger YA audience, with plenty of humor and a dash of the eerie. I loved Lexa and Marlon’s friendship and the otherworld they ventured into, which was an interesting mix of classic fantasy elements and unique magic.

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Vessel

Published by on June 2, 2013 | 10 Responses

049_vesselTITLE: Vessel

AUTHOR: Sarah Beth Durst

GENRE: Fantasy

FORMAT: Hardcover, 424 Pages

Liyana’s life begins on the day she should have died. Since childhood, she has been training to surrender her body as the vessel of the goddess Bayla, who returns every one hundred years to guide her people and bring renewed life to the parched desert. But something goes terribly wrong, and Liyana’s goddess doesn’t come. Instead, she finds herself alone and shunned — a pariah, blamed for the absence of Bayla. Liyana expects to die in the desert… until the trickster god himself comes walking out of the dunes and asks for her help in saving the goddess she failed to summon. The fate of her people hangs in the balance, and Liyana knows it could very well be her choices that tip the scale.

This was one of those books that just had me completely spellbound from the first line. Vessel contains a beautifully constructed fantasy world of sweeping desert and volatile gods, of sand storms that darken the sun and dragons made of glass. Long before the end, Liyana had made it to my list of all-time favorite heroines and the ever expanding list of people I want to be when I grow up. (Uhh, whenever that miraculous event might occur… *cough*)

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