Quincredible Vol. 1 by Rodney Barnes, a review

Quin’s a regular kid, he’s quiet, he gets beaten up a lot, and his parents love him. One thing not so normal about him is that he’s invulnerable. No matter what happens his body doesn’t get damaged. Or at least it hasn’t yet. Quinton West is one of many who were impacted by a meteor shower that bestowed gifts and powers on people across the city. But he’s not told anyone, because invulnerability is a pretty useless superpower if you’ve only got a one-hundred pound frame to back it up. 

Quincredible Vol. 1 by Rodney Barnes

I picked this up from NetGalley because I just couldn’t resist that cover (I mean look at it!!!!) and I’m so glad I did! This superhero comic was brilliant, not only did I adore the art style but also Quin’s characterisation. He was an incredibly relatable kid. He’s a little stereotypical for the comic world. He’s nerdy and gets beaten up but never fights back. But he has a wonderful relationship with his parents who are loving and supportive, and he’s active in his community and wants to help in a “neighbourhood spiderman” kinda way.

I’ll admit I’m not the best for a critical review of this comic. I don’t read a lot of them, barely any would be more precise. But. If you’re like me in that you don’t delve into this medium all that often, then I highly recommend Quincredible. It drew me in, I adored the art, and I definitely want to pick up vol. 2. And considering I don’t tend to continue with comics that’s a high rating!! If you are a comic reader then I want to pre-warn you that this does contain common tropes, but it also is a fun time and I really did enjoy the story. It might be worth giving it a shot!

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for an electronic review copy of this comic in exchange for an honest review. I ended up giving this comic 4*s out of 5.

Dark Heart by A.B. Endacott – a review

The third and final book in the Dark Trilogy and boy did this series go out with a bang! In book 3 we’re following Freya after the goals and ambitions of her group have been reached, and unlike with most books, where we’re left to imagine what happens next, A.B. Endacott has written a book that beautifully encapsulates all of the difficulties that come with winning your fight.

This book was a fantastic round off to the series. I really enjoyed looking more into how things settle after the main ambition of the group that Freya is within has been reached. Now they have to plan, and sort, and fix things. And try not to be just as bad as those who came before.

The Dark Trilogy follows Freya, a healer, who is Pious in faith, which is banned in the Third Country. As tensions rise across the nation, Freya has to decide who she’s going to be. Whether she will fight for the world she wants or if she’ll cling to that which she holds dear, and stick to the status quo.

I’m sure many of you can imagine what is happening in this book, whether you’ve read the series or not. But I would like to keep it spoiler free regardless. So my best attempts, as always, will be below and forgive me for being vague!

I really enjoyed reading the moral struggle that Freya and the others were going through in the duration of this book. These people have killed others, they’ve deceived the people they love, and they’re trying to not fall back into the ways of the Kade, the religion that had subjugated them for so long. But this is harder than it seems. How do you quell unrest without action? How do you act without being unjust but also preventing riots? Watching A.B. Endacott dance through these issues with a light foot and really bring them to life was more interesting than even I thought it would be going in! (and you guys know how much I love the Godkissed Continent).

I also liked the emotional maturity that has come to Freya. With so little control over her life previously, there wasn’t much that Freya had to think in depth about. There was no point. So when it comes down to it, at first her responses hadn’t been the best or the most well thought out. But over the time that we’ve been following her we really get to see her emotions come under her own control and see the mastery she has over them now.

Speaking of control and mastery! The magic system in this world continues to be one that I love. Based upon faith and able to be manipulated in various ways, it’s incredibly interesting and Freya definitely learns more about her own innate powers and starts to use them. This isn’t always a good thing, but that process is part of the development of her powers.

There were only two things that I wasn’t completely happy with in this book, although I promise they were very minor as I still gave the book a solid 4 stars! First up is that deaths that had occurred seemed to be glossed over a little. Not as much time was spent mourning as I would’ve expected. I know that they have a job to do, but that job should’ve just been made that much tougher not only by the loss of key people to the group but also by the emotional pain that this loss caused.

Secondly, during this book Freya travels to a new location (look I said it would be vague), and she seems to settle in there a little fast. Everything just kind of works in her favour, no opposition, everything going smoothly. Realistically her entrance should’ve resulted in a longer duration of mistrust (in my opinion), or an explanation as to why this trust was so easily established. And she departs swiftly too. I loved the time there but it felt too short and I wished that there had been more issues that had kept us there for longer!

But overall, this book is absolutely fantastic and it’s another wonderful addition to the Godkissed Continent world that A.B. Endacott is creating. I can’t wait to read the First Country book when it comes out as well as everything else she ever writes!

The Riddle by Alison Croggon – A Review

Continuing on with my reread of the series which inspired my bookish handle, I moved on to The Riddle! Starting where we left off at the end of The Gift, the journey through Edil-Amarandh by Maerad and Cadvan continues and we get to see more of this world and more about these two characters.

This book focuses even more heavily on Maerad than the first, and we learn a lot about her and through her we learn a lot about the world she is travelling through. On her trek to find out more information, carrying little more than her lyre, a sword and some sustenance, we follow the young Bard throughout Edil-Amarandh and into realms we haven’t explored in this world before.

I hesitate about going into any depth on any of these topics because they would most likely be spoilers for book one and maybe even for this book. So instead everything here will be vague and I hope you can forgive me. We travel to so many different places within this book, exploring a wide variety of cultures across the world and finding similarities and so many differences through Maerad’s still naïve eyes. I adored learning more about different cities and locations, and seeing how this magical system interlinks with the “normal” folk in different areas and how various schools interact with the light.

There is a lot more focus on Maerad in this book, and the story revolves around her alone. This means that we get to see her grow and develop a lot in her emotions as she is subject to trials and tribulations, as well as love and loss. Throughout this we learn more about not only Maerad as a person, but also about her special powers that set her apart within this world. How these work, where they may have come from, and how she can best harness them.

For me this is unfortunately a 4 star read rather than 5. I did find that the story was lacking slightly. Once again this is difficult to explain without spoilers, but I’ll struggle through! There’s a plot line with someone powerful, but I found personally that I couldn’t believe in their strength, both physical and emotional. There just wasn’t enough built up around it. My memory had this aspect of the book lasting longer but it was over within a relatively short number of pages and I do think that this was a mistake. In order to be fully impactful it needed more depth to it.

My second and final issue which cause the book to drop a star is that in places it seemed kind of… unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong, I adore these books so much. But there’s a lot of meandering that doesn’t feel entirely fruitful and I feel like this book could’ve been edited down to remove those portions. And if a certain wordcount was wanted to keep it in line with the other 3 books in the series then adding in POV from Cadvan would’ve been really constructive to the story and I feel like it would’ve made the book much faster paced and much more enjoyable.

As it is, I still adore this series and what this book brings to it. There are so many specifics within this book that are some of my favourites throughout the series as a whole and I’m so excited to get to the last two books!

The Gift – a review

I did it! I finally re-read my favourite book! The Gift, by Alison Croggon, was my most read book when I was younger. I’ve re-read it at least 50 times, with the pages completely falling out of the book and the binding ruined. I’ve been absorbed in its pages so often. Somehow, I hadn’t re-read it since I started my Bookternet life though, and I finally rectified this! So, let’s get into it!

The Gift, known as The Naming in the US, follows Maerad (my-rad), a young slave girl in dire circumstances. She’s saved from slavery by Cadvan, a passing traveller whom no-one else can see, and is introduced to a life of Bards and schooling. Despite this new world of learning, her life isn’t set to be an easy one, with Maerad and Cadvan set on a perilous journey in order to battle the dark which has sunk its teeth into Annar.

This book. Damn. I’m so so happy that I still love it! This was 100% a five star read for me! There’s always the worry when you go back to a childhood favourite that you’re not going to love it as much. Tastes change, and especially when you go back in age range it can lend a different viewpoint that leads you to not enjoy the book so much. Thankfully, I adore this book just as much as I always have done!

I adore how Maerad has been written as a 16 year old. She felt realistic to me when I was younger than her and at the same age, and she still feels realistic to me now! She’s very nervous being dumped into these new situations and there are definitely times when she feels like she knows everything and then learns the hard way that she doesn’t. With Maerad coming from such a place of ignorance, we get to learn about her powers along with her. Every revelation is a surprise to all parties involved and seeing how everyone reacts to these as the book (and the series) progresses is one of my favourite parts of the book!

Cadvan, Maerad’s rescuer, teacher, friend, companion and so much more. I adore how he is so desperate to atone himself for his past actions. How he’s so truly towards the light. How he isn’t perfect. He can get impatient and harsh but he always apologises when needed. That’s another aspect of characterisation Croggon does incredibly, is making her characters real. They make mistakes, and not always just huge ones but the simple everyday ones we all make.

There is a lot of lore related to this book. I remember when I first read it as a kid I was convinced it was a fictionalisation of real world events. That just shows #1 how much historical fiction I was reading (and how accurate it was!) and #2 how well and in depth Croggon has written this world. Every aspect and facet that could reasonably be known from the “limited translations” is there and she has put so much thought into this world. As a child I wished that I could live there and learn in one of the Schools of Annar and as an adult I found myself wishing the same thing!

I read this for one of the Booktube Rereadathon prompts and I’m so glad that I’m going to be able to fit the other 3 books into the next 3 prompts because I 100% need to re-read this series now! I can’t wait to fully submerse myself in this world again and to see how much I adore the other books upon an “adult” re-read!

Firesong by William Nicholson – a review

I’ve done it! I’ve finally wrapped up this series! This is a series I have owned in two separate editions (accidentally) for well over a decade. And I’ve finally done it. So… what did I think of the finale to this trilogy?

Sadly, this wasn’t such a great book for me compared to the second book in the trilogy (Slaves of the Mastery). Whilst book two was intense, having me gripped and engrossed, book three was just… fine? I have a feeling that I would’ve like it a lot more if I had read it when I first got the book. But one of the reasons that I would’ve loved it then is a reason I wasn’t so keen now.

That reason is that everything is tied up very neatly in a bow, but this bow is wrapped around events that seem to come out of nowhere. Now don’t get me wrong, this is alluded to throughout the series, and I can appreciate that. But the final scene? Where on earth did that come from? Why? Huh? Whereas childhood me would’ve loved the “big twist”, adult me is just left feeling disappointed by a twist that could have been executed so much better.

There is also the issue of sexism in this book, it’s nothing out there and in your face but it’s very much a book (written by a man) of its time. There were definite moments where I was wondering why the hell the girl had to do all the saving but the boy got to be the hero (our two main characters are a boy and a girl who are twins). That was frustrating to read and I hope that Nicholson has educated himself since these books were published.

Despite what I’ve said above, I did enjoy this book. It was a quick read and was a nice little wrap up to the trilogy. Overall, I gave it 3 stars. There was nothing offensively bad, and I am reading quite a bit above my age range so I don’t want to be too harsh. But I can’t rate it any higher than that.

Have you read this series? Do you agree with my points or do you think I’m bonkers?! Let me know!!

Eve of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher| A Review

Eve of Man is a book I had barely heard about, which was kind of surprising. The authors are a married couple and Tom Fletcher is one of the member of McFly so I expected more promotion for this YA book! But thankfully for me my wonderful parents sent me a package down to uni whilst I was doing my postgrad in Portsmouth and they put this book in the box for me!

Sadly, if it wasn’t obvious, I didn’t end up reading the book for quite a while after they sent it to me. In face my MSc thesis was submitted over one year ago now (it was the 4th of October, I remember it well!) and I did that from my parents place so it’s definitely been a long time. But at least I finally got around to it! Now. Onto the book itself.

Eve is the only human female who has been born in the last 50(ish) years. All the other babies were male. And humanity freaked the hell out. When they found out that there was a girl in the womb organisations did all that they could to get her out into the world safe. And once she was born she was placed into a protective bubble, high up away from the rest of the population, and given an in depth education with the only interaction she had being from older women charged with looking after her, guards, and a virtual projection of a friend.

She’s supposed to be paired with a boy who has been selected for her. She gets a choice of three. With him they will restart the human race. But then Eve meets Bram, when she never should have, and now she doesn’t want to follow blindly anymore.

This book is a lot of fun. It is most definitely a stereotypical YA dystopian, it hits all of the beats and it does skip over some complications in order to make the story run smoothly. But I do have to say, despite this. Despite immediately gaining people’s trust, despite this being the highest security building on the planet, despite lots of little niggles that I found with this… It was so enjoyable!

I was totally sucked into this book, it was so fun, I adored the concept and also it ran at a pace which kept me inside of the story and really made me wanna keep reading. I now actually want to carry on with this series and I need to pick up The Eve Illusion which was published April of 2020. I’m looking forward to it!

Have you read this book? Have you even heard of it? Let me know!!

Crown of Midnight – a review

Throne of Glass was a fun book, and I enjoyed it, but Crown of Midnight is a much better sequel and I’m glad I picked it up! Celaena Sardothien, royal assassin, is the King of Adarlan’s deadliest weapon. She must win her freedom through his enemies’ blood – but she cannot bear to kill for the crown. And every death Celaena fakes, every lie she tells, put those she loves at risk.

Sarah J Maas does so much better with Celaena in this book. All the way through the first book we are told that she is an insanely talented assassin, but this doesn’t come across in any way, shape, nor form throughout the book. In other words we’re told not shown. Thankfully, in this book we actually get shown her skills various times and it makes it a lot more believable that she would win the original contest and be known and feared across the city.

One issue that I’ve had with both books so far is that the pacing at the beginning is SO SLOW. I find myself bored so much at the beginning of both books and then by the end I’m enamoured and wanting more! This kinda scares me for Heir of Fire because it’s a much bigger book and I really don’t want to be going through 100/200+ pages of boredom to get to the good bits.

Overall this book has made me want to carry on in the series and for me was so much better than the first book! I just hope that this trend continues!!! Have you read this series? If so tell me what to expect!

The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke | A Review

This book follows Frey, a Boneless Mercie. These are women who will mercy-kill those reaching the ends of their lives whether through age, sickness or injury. She works alongside Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa and they live a simple life. That is until Frey hears of a monster killing men, women and children, and decides to listen to the call to glory that has been in her heart for so many years and kill the beast.

This book is absolutely beautiful, I felt every word in my soul and really felt a connection to all the places and people that we visited. At the beginning of the book I did find myself wishing that we had more time with the Mercies actually being Mercies, but as the book went on I enjoyed the path that it took. If anything, I would’ve loved this book to be longer. The time spent in each location felt a little rushed and I would’ve loved to spend more time learning more about each culture that was introduced in each new location.

I’ve since heard that this is a retelling of Beowulf, which may explain the shortness with which we experienced each location. Although the original epic poem is a long one, it doesn’t leave much time to dwell on each event, and I assume the decision for shortness was Tucholke emulating the fast paced feeling of the original story.

The book is so atmospheric and captivating. I found myself struggling to put it down and I enjoyed every second of the book (something that doesn’t happen too often because I have the attention span of a gnat). I really hope her other books are as beautiful and enchanting as this one, if so I can’t wait to read more from her in the future. Such a beautiful story!

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, book 2 in the Lunar Chronicles | A Review

In the second book of the Lunar Chronicles we are introduced to Scarlet, her grandmother has went missing and nobody seems to be taking it seriously. Even the police have blown her off. When she encounters Wolf, who claims to have knowledge about her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has to trust this suspicious man. We also still get to follow Cinder, continuing on from where she left off at the end of her own book.

3/5 stars

I had been worried, before I’d checked, that we wouldn’t get to carry on reading from Cinder’s point of view. I had really enjoyed her story and was pleased to find out I’d get to read from her again. There are a lot of different points of view throughout this book, and I imagine that is only going to get more intense as the series progresses and more characters are introduced so if you don’t like reading from multiple viewpoints this might not be the series for you.

I love the extra world building that we get in this novel, as it was a little lacklustre in Cinder. We are at two opposite ends of the world as we begin the book, as well as having the Moon come into play, so this allowed Meyer to naturally build a lot more upon what we had shown to us already without info dumping. I also like the extra little bits of character building that develop for all those we already met in book one.

The new characters that were introduced were a lot of fun, I love the platonic and romantic chemistry between so many of them and how they have to work to gain each other’s trust and respect. So often in YA that is skimmed over. I’m really looking forward to seeing how they all interact with each other in the future books, as well as what the new characters I’m assuming will appear will add to the narrative.

I do have to say that the writing was lacking in points. There was one sentence in particular which used the phrase “very special glass” that had me shocked that it made it into the final edit and the published book. At points, with writing like this, the book does feel kind of trashy. Now this doesn’t mean that I’m not enjoying the book, but the writing isn’t the best and that can draw me out of the story at points. It’s not going to stop me from reading the rest of the books but it’s definitely something that I want to mention.

I’ll definitely have to pick up Cress at some point and I’m really looking forward to learning more about this world, the characters in it, and seeing the plot resolve itself finally in book 4! I just hope the writing improves a little bit!

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson | A Review

I am fully aware I’m hella late to this party. This book was first published in 2010, and ten years later here I am. This book follows Lennie, a girl who loves to write down what she’s feeling, read Wuthering Heights and play the clarinet. Not gunna lie, the clarinet is what got me to pick this up! I used to play the clarinet before higher education came along (and it’s a difficult instrument to start back up when living with my parents cause it’s LOUD). Lennie’s older sister recently died, suddenly and without any warning. She should be grieving, she is grieving. But she’s also falling in love.

2/5*

A unique aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the inclusion of mixed media. At the beginning of each chapter there’s a black and white picture of a discarded note that Lennie has written. It also tells us where it was found. Under a rock. Written on the inside of the wardrobe door. These really added an additional view into Lennie’s mindset and also tells you more about her sister Bailey without having to have multiple point of views.

There are some very… weird? plot choices in here. Of course they could happen in real life, but it was really not what I was expecting. I can’t really go into details because it would be major spoilers, but if you’ve read the book I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. I just kind of had to… pretend that it wasn’t happening… so that I could actually read the book.

A problem that I had with this book is that I felt like the portrayal of teens wasn’t the most accurate. Now of course I’m no longer a teen, and I’m also British when this book is set in California, but these kids at points really just felt incredibly cliche and both excessively childish and too grown up simultaneously. But like I said, this could simply be cultural differences.

This book is quite cute and fluffy, and despite the dips and troughs you will likely come out of this book with a little smile on your face. It can’t be denied though that this is a cliche YA contemporary at its heart. Don’t expect anything more from this book. If you do you’ll be disappointed. And bare in mind that there are problematic aspects to this book. But as a basic work of fluff it does what it promises to.