The Saturday Review is a weekly meme hosted by me (Taylor Fenner's Bookish World) where fellow book bloggers and readers can share what books they've recently reviewed.
The Shadowglass by Rin Chupeco
In the highly anticipated finale to the Bone Witch trilogy, Tea’s life—and the fate of the kingdoms—hangs in the balance
Tea is a bone witch with the dark magic needed to raise the dead. She has used this magic to breathe life into those she has loved and lost…and those who would join her army against the deceitful royals. But Tea's quest to conjure a shadowglass—to achieve immortality for the one person she loves most in the world—threatens to consume her heart.
Tea's black heartsglass only grows darker with each new betrayal. And when she is left with new blood on her hands, Tea must answer to a power greater than the elder asha or even her conscience...
My Review:
Cover: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (I have loved all of the covers for this trilogy. The cover artist is amazing, and these covers are so eye catching and beautiful.)
Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 ("I am sorry for many things, but I am not sorry about this." This sounds like Tea's battlecry for the series. Yes, she has done things that she regrets, but she should never apologize for trying to right the wrongs done by others... no matter how bad it may make her look.)
Characters: 🌟🌟🌟 🌟 🌟 (Tea is a wonderfully complex character and I've loved watching her grow from a young girl who accidentally raised her dead brother to reluctantly training to be a bone witch, and coming into her own. Fox, the Bard, Kalen, and the ashas are all well rounded characters and I especially love The Bard's conflicted feelings toward the bone witch. To the world Tea is hated, but he sees the other side of her.)
Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (This has been one of the things I've loved about this series from the beginning - the worldbuilding. The settings, the different cultures and beliefs, the clothing, the Daeva... I can see it all so clearly.)
Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (Going in, I knew The Shadowglass would be bittersweet. On one hand I was dying to see how it would all end and fill in the remaining blanks of Tea's journey from bone witch to exile but at the same time I'm sad to let this world go. The Bone Witch was the first book I was approved to review on Netgalley as a beginning book blogger so this trilogy will always hold a special place in my heart. This book was so easy to get engrossed in, flipping back and forth between Tea's past and the present events. Parts of this book will break your heart but Tea will rebuild it and make you cheer for her fierce persistence. Overall, I really loved this book and found it to be a perfect end to the trilogy.)
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟 4.8 of 5 Stars!
Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 ("I am sorry for many things, but I am not sorry about this." This sounds like Tea's battlecry for the series. Yes, she has done things that she regrets, but she should never apologize for trying to right the wrongs done by others... no matter how bad it may make her look.)
Characters: 🌟🌟🌟 🌟 🌟 (Tea is a wonderfully complex character and I've loved watching her grow from a young girl who accidentally raised her dead brother to reluctantly training to be a bone witch, and coming into her own. Fox, the Bard, Kalen, and the ashas are all well rounded characters and I especially love The Bard's conflicted feelings toward the bone witch. To the world Tea is hated, but he sees the other side of her.)
Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (This has been one of the things I've loved about this series from the beginning - the worldbuilding. The settings, the different cultures and beliefs, the clothing, the Daeva... I can see it all so clearly.)
Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (Going in, I knew The Shadowglass would be bittersweet. On one hand I was dying to see how it would all end and fill in the remaining blanks of Tea's journey from bone witch to exile but at the same time I'm sad to let this world go. The Bone Witch was the first book I was approved to review on Netgalley as a beginning book blogger so this trilogy will always hold a special place in my heart. This book was so easy to get engrossed in, flipping back and forth between Tea's past and the present events. Parts of this book will break your heart but Tea will rebuild it and make you cheer for her fierce persistence. Overall, I really loved this book and found it to be a perfect end to the trilogy.)
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟 4.8 of 5 Stars!
My Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
4.8 of 5 Stars!
The Black Witch by Laurie Forest
Blurb:
Cover: 🌟🌟🌟 (The cover is just okay for me. It doesn't stand out too well from other books and I honestly don't know if I hadn't specifically wanted to get this book if it would have grabbed my attention on a shelf of other fantasy books.)
Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 ("Some echo of her power courses through my veins... waiting to be released." I love the tagline, but after reading the book it doesn't really fit with this particular book in the series. Perhaps a future book in the series but Elloren is powerless for the most part in this book.)
Characters: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (In the beginning I had a hard time liking Elloren, which almost made me DNF this book early on. She's been sheltered her whole life which makes her very prejudice against other races, but she does transform throughout the book and becomes friends with a diverse cast of characters she previously would have steered clear of. This book has a plausible villain (the Mage Council, Elloren's aunt, Marcus) which adds fear and tension to the story. And I particularly liked the secondary characters - Especially Diana. She may be my favorite character in the book.)
Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (This isn't the best worldbuilding I've ever read but I did get a good sense of the Gardenarian world, their prejudices and practices, the relationship with the other races - Lupine, Icaral, Kelts, the mention of the fae. )
Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟(Once I really got into this book I loved it. We watch Elloren go from a sheltered, ignorant girl to one who sees the flaws in her safe little Gardnerian world and wants to save her friends and herself from the horrors to come. There's romantic tension, a love triangle+, a nasty female rival, sassy characters, and just the right amount of danger lingering. Overall, I would recommend this book.)
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 3.8 of 5 Stars!
My Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟
3.8 of 5 stars!
The Black Witch by Laurie Forest
A new Black Witch will rise…her powers vast beyond imagining.
Elloren Gardner is the granddaughter of the last prophesied Black Witch, Carnissa Gardner, who drove back the enemy forces and saved the Gardnerian people during the Realm War. But while she is the absolute spitting image of her famous grandmother, Elloren is utterly devoid of power in a society that prizes magical ability above all else.
When she is granted the opportunity to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an apothecary, Elloren joins her brothers at the prestigious Verpax University to embrace a destiny of her own, free from the shadow of her grandmother’s legacy. But she soon realizes that the university, which admits all manner of people—including the fire-wielding, winged Icarals, the sworn enemies of all Gardnerians—is a treacherous place for the granddaughter of the Black Witch.
As evil looms on the horizon and the pressure to live up to her heritage builds, everything Elloren thought she knew will be challenged and torn away. Her best hope of survival may be among the most unlikely band of misfits…if only she can find the courage to trust those she’s been taught to hate and fear.
My Review:Cover: 🌟🌟🌟 (The cover is just okay for me. It doesn't stand out too well from other books and I honestly don't know if I hadn't specifically wanted to get this book if it would have grabbed my attention on a shelf of other fantasy books.)
Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 ("Some echo of her power courses through my veins... waiting to be released." I love the tagline, but after reading the book it doesn't really fit with this particular book in the series. Perhaps a future book in the series but Elloren is powerless for the most part in this book.)
Characters: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (In the beginning I had a hard time liking Elloren, which almost made me DNF this book early on. She's been sheltered her whole life which makes her very prejudice against other races, but she does transform throughout the book and becomes friends with a diverse cast of characters she previously would have steered clear of. This book has a plausible villain (the Mage Council, Elloren's aunt, Marcus) which adds fear and tension to the story. And I particularly liked the secondary characters - Especially Diana. She may be my favorite character in the book.)
Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (This isn't the best worldbuilding I've ever read but I did get a good sense of the Gardenarian world, their prejudices and practices, the relationship with the other races - Lupine, Icaral, Kelts, the mention of the fae. )
Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟(Once I really got into this book I loved it. We watch Elloren go from a sheltered, ignorant girl to one who sees the flaws in her safe little Gardnerian world and wants to save her friends and herself from the horrors to come. There's romantic tension, a love triangle+, a nasty female rival, sassy characters, and just the right amount of danger lingering. Overall, I would recommend this book.)
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 3.8 of 5 Stars!
My Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟
3.8 of 5 stars!
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