Tag: Fantasy

Book review: The Fever King by Victoria Lee

Rach @ Anxious Nachos6 Comments

Title: The Fever King by Victoria Lee

Publisher: Skyscape

Publication date: 1 March 2019

Genre: Fantasy | Young Adult | A little science thrown in for good measure

Page count: 375pages

Rating: 5 out of 5 GLORIOUS stars

Synopsis: In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear.

Caught between his purpose and his heart, Noam must decide who he can trust and how far he’s willing to go in pursuit of the greater good.

Despite having only just started this blog, I think this will still be the third time I’ve mentioned The Fever King, because it is incredible. It’s my favourite book of the year so far, it may even be my favourite book ever and I just cannot explain how much I want you to read this.

This book blends science and magic into one unique package: magic is caused by a virus. A virus which just so happens to kill the majority of people who catch it. Those who survive are called witchings, capable of wielding magic. Each witching has a presenting power – these powers are hugely varying from healing to technopathy. But it isn’t quite that easy. Magic is hard. It requires an understanding of the science behind it to wield it effectively. Noam, an immigrant in the nation of Carolinia, has survived the virus and awoken with the power of technopathy. Trying to take down the regime from inside, Noam accepts the minister of defence, Calix Leher’s, invitation to study and learn the science. So Noam ends up under the tutelage of Leher, one of the most powerful men in the country, living with 4 other trainees in the ministry complex.

As Noam trains, he becomes deeper and deeper involved in the fight against the government, and closer and closer to Dara, Minister Leher’s adopted son. Dara and Noam’s relationship is so beautifully and heartbreakingly written. They both have been hurt so badly and yet are so protective of each other, I love every page with them interacting. I did reread the book before I wrote this review, and reading it the second time, knowing what you do about the ending, it really does make their relationship even more intense and beautiful. Their is definitely no instalove here, I really enjoyed the slow development of their relationship. One of my biggest YA pet peeves is instalove, I can just never get onboard, but in The Fever King, the romance is much more developed and it’s really lovely to watch how Dara and Noam’s behaviour changes as they become friends.

Whilst Dara was my favourite character, I very much related to Noam. There were some passages I found very difficult to read because of how much I have felt like he did. These boys are just ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

The book deals with some very difficult subject matter – Victoria has a full list of trigger warnings here. The way the story unravels, as you slowly become more and more uneasy about certain characters, feel terrible for liking some of them to start with, slowly fall in love with others, and then get shot through the heart a million times, is just amazing. I found the development of Leher particularly fascinating – he’s such an interesting and complex character and one you’re never quite sure about. Pay attention to the archive extracts which talk about Leher’s previous rise to power, it’s really interesting to re-read these knowing the ending and spot all the things you didn’t notice before.

This is a very difficult book to review without giving too much away because there are some really big revelations throughout the book which drastically alter what I can talk about. All I can really say is that I was absolutely enthalled from the first to the last page, and I want nothing more than to give these boys a farm and some goats.

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeead it.

Paws out,

Rach + Draco

Book review: The Darkest Bloom by P.M. Freestone

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The Darkest Bloom by P.M. Freestone

Title: The Darkest Bloom (Shadowscent #1) by P.M. Freestone

Publisher:  Scholastic

Publication date: 7 February 2019

Genre: Fantasy | Young Adult

Page count: 448 pages

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: In the empire of Aramtesh, scent has power. When disaster strikes and the crown prince lies poisoned, long suppressed rivalries threaten to blow the empire apart. It’s up to a poor village girl with a talent for fragrances and the prince’s loyal bodyguard to find an antidote. To succeed, the pair must uncover secrets – cryptic, ancient tales as well as buried truths from their own pasts – in an adventure that will ignite your senses.

I really wanted to absolutely love this book. It had such an interesting premise – scent has power?! It sounded so different and such a different magic system that I really wanted this to be great. However, whilst I enjoyed reading this, it did fall a little flat and lacked depth for me. All in all, it’s an easy, enjoyable read but one which lacked something for me.

Rakel is a girl from a poor village; her father has ‘The Rot’, an incurable illness reminiscent of the Plague. In order to find the money for medicine which will slow the illness, Rakel enters a perfumer’s competion for which the winner will receive an apprenticeship at the city’s perfumer.

Ash is the crown prince’s bodyguard. He accompanies the prince across Aramtesh to visit his uncle, only when they reach their destination, the prince ends up poisoned. Ash teams up with Rakel to follow an ancient quest to reach a hidden library, where they hope a cure will be found for the prince. Adventure ensues and the two find themselves encountering problem after problem.

The book is split into two POVs, Rakel’s and Ash. The two are together for the majority of the novel so each section of POV starts immediately as the other one ends. I’m not sure I enjoyed this POV swapping, I think it would have read better following just one POV as there was very little left to guess or interpret as we had insight into both their thoughts on everything. The Darkest Bloom is enjoyable but just lacked the depth and description needed to really hook me. There was nothing unexpected about how the plot plays out. At times, it felt very ‘then this magically happened’ with very little explanation about how everything fell into the right place all the time. It just felt a little too easy. They wasn’t a huge sense of urgency throughout the book, despite the fact they were being chased, so I didn’t feel hugely emotionally involved in any of the drama.

In saying that, I did like all of the characters. Rakel is a good female lead, she felt realistic and I liked how stubborn she was. I also liked Ash, particularly his relationship with Prince Nisai. Prince Nisai was definitely my favourite character though. From his short time on page before being poisoned, you could really see why Ash was so devoted to him.

I also really wasn’t feeling the romance. It felt very sudden, half way through the quest they suddenly were in love and I just didn’t feel the chemistry between Ash and Rakel.

Although it didn’t quite live up to my expectations, I did really enjoy the scent based magic. It’s such an interesting creation – Rakel has such a powerful nose that she can work out ingrediants in potions and drinks, even identifying poisons. I really enjoyed all the descriptions of smells throughout the book as well. As we follow Rakel’s POV for half the book, there is quite a lot of it and it works really well.

All in all, I was disappointed the premise didn’t play out as I imagined, but it was a quick, enjoyable read, and I will likely pick up the sequel when it is released next year.

Paws out,

Rach + Draco

Book review: Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin

Rach @ Anxious Nachos2 Comments
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Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin

Title: Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin

Publisher:  Titan Books

Publication date: 2 April 2019

Genre: Fantasy | Paranormal | Young Adult

Page count: 336 pages

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: The house at the end of the lane burned down, and Rita Frost and her teenage ward, Bevan, were never seen again. The townspeople never learned what happened. Only Mae and her brother Rossa know the truth; they spent two summers with Rita and Bevan, two of the strangest summers of their lives… Because nothing in that house was as it seemed: a cat who was more than a cat, and a dark power called Sweet James that lurked behind the wallpaper, enthralling Bevan with whispers of neon magic and escape. And in the summer heat, Mae became equally as enthralled with Bevan. Desperately in the grips of first love, she’d give the other girl anything. A dangerous offer when all that Sweet James desired was a taste of new flesh…

Other Words for Smoke is a delightfully creepy and haunting tale about a haunted house in Ireland and a cat who isn’t really a cat, which in my opinion, sells this book more than any words in my review ever could.

Twins Mae and Rossa are sent to live with their great Aunt Rita during their parent’s slow relationship breakdown. There, they meet Bevan, an older teen that Rita took in after Bevan’s mum dissappeared. Bevan is seemingly in the thrall of a paranormal being, who lives in the walls of her room – Sweet James. The book tells the tale of Sweet James’ creeping influence over the household and his attempts to tempt and ‘eat’ various members of the house.

Other Words for Smoke is very different to the books I normally read – I usually stay as far away from paranormal books as I can as they really scare me, but I picked this up after hearing lots of people talking about in on my Twitter feed and then seeing the stunning cover in the bookshop. It’s told from three POVs, Mae, Rossa and Bevan. Bevan’s POV is definitely the most interesting, it’s told in the second tense, as if Sweet James is talking about her. It is fantastically creepy and you can really see the insidious way that Sweet James’ influence comes over her. Rossa was my least favourite – though in saying that, he really did feel very realistic, I just really didn’t like him as a person, he felt quite self-centred and didn’t seem to care much for his twin.

Obviously, I do have a special mention for Bobby the cat, the cat who’s not quite a cat. I won’t give anything away, but I really feel that more books should have a cat like this because it would make all my dreams come true.

The book has a very lyrical and other-wordly quality to the writing, it feels very fairytale-esque which I love, and it really fits the setting of the book, in this small, country town in Ireland. I did enjoy the second half of the book more, I felt the characters were much more relatable in the second half when they have aged a few years. I really enjoyed seeing the characters grow up and seeing how they developed and changed after the events in the first half of the book. The pace during the first half did also feel a little slow for me, but it did fit the style of the story well.

All in all, this book was a really delightful find, and I think Sarah Maria Griffin really needs some kind of reward for making me almost pass out on a tram when I was commuting home from work one day due to a certain ear piercing scene. I am very glad I picked up this book, and if you’re looking for a creepy fairytale-esque story with a coming of age feel, definitely try this book!

Paws out x

OWLs readathon wrap-up

Rach @ Anxious Nachos1 Comment

Happy weekend everyone!

Last month, I participated in my first ever readathon, and what a way to start! This was the OWLs readathon, run by @MagicalReadthn. This readathon is based on the Harry Potter series, and the exams you sit at Hogwarts. It happens twice a year, OWLs in April and NEWTs in August.

For each subject ‘exam’, there is a reading prompt; you read a book following the prompt, you pass the exam. In addition, there was an amazing list of careers designed with qualifications you are required to get for each career in the Harry Potter world. As I was visiting family in Scotland for most of April and didn’t have a huge amount of time for reading, I decided to go for a career which didn’t have a huge list of subjects to study for and that was….Librarian!

For the Librarian career, I needed to sit Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic and Transfigurations. I managed to complete a prompt for all of these, plus a bonus exam, Potions (because I am a Slytherin at heart).

My reads:

Ancient Runes prompt: A retelling

For this I read the amazing A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer. This is a fantastic retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The two main characters are so well written. Prince Rhen was put under a curse so that he turns into a terrible monster each season. Harper, a girl with
cerebral palsy, finds herself kidnapped from her world (our world) and taken to Rhen’s realm, so he can try to make her fall in love him. Rhen is written absolutely brilliantly, he suffers so much pain at seeing the damage he has wrought on his empire when he turns into the beast. Then there’s Harper who is such a strong, female character, who won’t tolerate Rhen’s attempts to make her fall in love – instead she wants to take on the witch who put the curse on him. This is such a great read, a shout out needs to go to Gray as well, Rhen’s bodyguard. I’d love another book telling his story. Final rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Arithmancy prompt: a work written by two or more authors

For this prompt, I chose Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman, after a number of recommendations on Twitter. This is a very interesting read, I’ve never read anything like it before. It’s a sci-fi YA novel written entirely from instant messages, email transcripts, video recordings, military transcipts and more. It did take me a while to get into the style, but once the story started ramping up, it was a really good read. There were so many twists and turns and I was guessing right until the end. I loved the growth of the relationship between the two main characters as well. I do recommend not reading this one on an e-reader though, as it seemed to mess up a lot of the formatting. Final rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Defence Against the Dark Arts prompt: Reducto – title starts with ‘R’

For DADA, I went with The Raven Tower, one of the few hard copy books I took over to Scotland for my visit. I forced myself through car sickness to continue reading this which I think says a lot about how great it was. The Raven Tower is a fantasy novel about gods and birds and rocks and honestly, it is so damn good. It’s told in the second person which is SO effective. It follows two different timelines, one with the narrator telling us about how the world began, and the other following a character called Eolo as they try to work out who killed the previous ruler. Another fantastic read! Final rating: 4 out of 5 stars

History of Magic prompt: published 10 or more years ago

For HoM, my mum recommended a short novella she’d read recently, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. This was very different to my usual reads, but was a really haunting and creepy tale about two sisters. I didn’t quite connect with this book because I just couldn’t find anything redeemable about any of the characters, I found them all rather awful people. But the setting and atmosphere of the book is deliciously weird and wonderful. Final rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Transfigurations prompt: sprayed edges or red cover

Whilst I was in Scotland, I spotted Eve of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher on a shelf because the cover was GLOWING. It’s a shiny gold, checkered pattern with black sprayed edges and it just looked amazing. The premise for this sounded so up my street, girls stop being born and humanity pretty much breaks down. Until, one day, 50 years since the last girl was born, another is born. She is called Eve. We follow Eve as she begins to be ‘matched’ with a series of boys to begin procreating. I thought this would be a really great, Handmaids Tale-esque book, but instead I was really disappointed. The characters had no depth for me and I just couldn’t really root for any of them. The pacing of the book felt off, it’s very slow to start with no action until the later half of the book and the romance felt very lacking. I know there are lots of people who have really enjoyed this book though, so do give it a try! Final rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Potions prompt: sequel

For Potions, I did slightly bend the rules – they asked for a sequel, and I went with Before Mars by Emma Newman, which whilst set in the same universe as her other books, isn’t technically a ‘sequel’. This was my first foray into Emma’s work, and I am so glad I chose to jump into her world. Before Mars is absolutely amazing, it’s the third in her Planetfall series, a series of four novels set around space travel. Before Mars follows Anna as she travels to Mars, seemingly to paint on the planet for her wealthy employer. When she gets there however, she finds a note warning her about another member of the crew…in her own handwriting. This is a beautifully descriptive, psychological sci-fi novel. The book is very emotive, I really liked Anna as a character as she battles trying to work out if she’s crazy or if there is something wrong. The mental health representation was done so realistically and was written so well, and I know this is something Emma writes about quite a lot so I can’t wait to read the other novels in this series. Final rating: 4 out of 5 stars

And that’s it for the OWLs readathon wrap-up. This readathon is back in August, where I will be studying for my Librarian NEWTs. Let me know if any of these books are on your TBR!

Paws out from Draco and I

Top 5….2019 releases

Rach @ Anxious Nachos1 Comment

Hi world,

2019 has been FIERCE so far with its new releases and I am already falling behind. And yet there are so many great releases to still look forward to it this year, it makes me so sad to think that there is no way I am ever going to be able to read them all.

Today, I bring you the first of my Top 5 recommendations – expect to see these every few weeks. If you have any Top 5 suggestions you’d like to see me write, drop me a comment and let me know! They can be as random and wild as you want – from my Top 5 magic systems, to my Top 5 books featuring cats (I can’t wait till I write that one!) But for now, here are my Top 5 2019 releases (still to come.)

Number 1 – Gideon the Ninth by Tasmyn Muir

Lesbian. Necromancers. Do I need to say more?! Necromancy is one of my favourite fantasy powers, in part, I won’t lie, because Dorian was a necromancer in Dragon Age: Inquisitions and he is such an important fictional character to me, and therefore I support all things necromancy. But also, because necromancy just has the perfect amount of creepiness and darkness that it’s so appealing. Release date: 10 September (just in time for my BIRTHDAY!)

Number 2 – I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver

Okay I’m almost cheating with this one, since it’s a mere few days before this is realeased, but I have been waiting for this book for what feels like forever and I can’t WAIT to read it. IWYATB is about a person who comes out as non-binary to their family, and they’re thrown out of their home. It sounds both heartbreaking and heartwarming and everyone should go pre-order this immediately. Also, Mason created an awesome Spotify playlist for this which made me cry at work and so therefore I think everyone should listen to it (you can check the playlist out here). Release date: 14 May

Number 3 – The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus

The cover for this book is just stunning. Audre, a 16 year old from Trinidad, has found out she is being shipped off to the US after her very religious mother caught her with the pastor’s daughter. This book calls to me with the talk of religion and queerness in the blurb as it was something that really f**ked me up as a teen and so I can’t wait to read this one. Release date: 17 September

Number 4 – The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah

Okay you guys but this book sounds AMAZING: humanity now lives under the ocean becasue of climate change. The protagonist, Leyla, is a British Muslim who’s father has been arrested and she enrols in an underwater marathon to try and win a prize that will free him. This has such a great premise and I am very excited to read it. Release date: 29 October

Number 5 – Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Another hella gay one, another that is almost cheating because it’s out in just a few days. I am SO SO SO SO excited. This is a romantic comedy where the First Son of the United States falls in love with a British Prince. The two have to fake a friendship in order to fix the relationship between the US and UK after pictures leak of the two in a confrontation at a wedding. Release date: 14 May

And that’s my Top 5 books still to be released in 2019! Let me know if you are as excited as me to read any of these books, and if you have any suggestions for a Top 5 list, drop me a comment.

Paws out from Draco and I!

Anxious Nachos introduction

Rach @ Anxious Nachos6 Comments

My top 5 books of 2019 so far

Hello world!

Thank you for reading the very first of (hopefully) many bookish posts here at Anxious Nachos. I’m Rachel and I’m here to talk to you all about the many books I’m reading and loving.

I thought I’d start with a little introductory post that would give everyone an idea of the type of books I read and enjoy. So without further ado, here are…my Top 5 books I’ve read so far in 2019!

2019 is the first year in quite a while that I have properly got back into reading, and I’ve already read so many excellent books that narrowing it down to just 5 was so tricky.

There is one book I’ve read this year which I had no problem deciding to put on this list. It has become one of my absolute favourite books, it is ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR: The Fever King by Victoria Lee. The Fever King was released earlier this year, and I picked it up after spotting it on a ‘Best queer books releasing in 2019’ list. It tells the tale of Noam, a queer Jewish immigrant, in a post-apocalyptic America. Lee combines science and magic into a fantastic, unique magic system. A full review will follow for this title, but suffice to say, it is my favourite book I’ve read so far this year, and I fully expect it to be a contender for my favourite book of the year. I couldn’t sleep the night I finished this book because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The sequel, Electric Heir, is out in March 2020 and I cannot. wait.

The next book on my list is a bit different from my normal reads. I picked it up after V.E. Schwab kept recommending it and I am so glad I did. It is the marvellous If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. If Were Were Villains opens when you meet Oliver, a man who has just spent 10 years in prison for murder. The story jumps back and forward between the present day, where Oliver is telling the true story of what happened to the police officer who investigated the murder back when it originally happened; and then the past, which takes place at a elite arts school and follows Oliver and his 6 friends as they study Shakespeare. This book is absolutely beautifully written, and it twists and turns until the very last page. The ending is just…..Gah. I have no words.  

I won’t say much about this third book, it’s a book I completed very recently and there will definitely be a full review to follow in the next week or so. Do You Dream of Terra-Two by Temi Oh I think might be my favourite sci-fi book EVER. There’s not a huge amount of focus on technology or space, instead, it is very character-driven which I loved. Do You Dream of Terra-Two follows 6 teens who have been training to go to space in search of a new, habitable planet (Terra-Two). It follows them as they launch their mission and is very much focussed on how space travel and the mission affects each of the characters. Absolutely fantastic, more will follow on this book soon..

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd was the first book I bought when my hard copy purchasing ban ended (a move to Australia and lack of space at various flats very much limited my buying power). But The Book of M caught my eye as it has such a pretty cover and looked beautiful in the bookstore. Set in what feels like a very near future, people start losing their shadows. And it turns out that shadows were where memories were stored. The book follows the story of Ory and Max, a couple who escaped to a hotel in the woods when people started losing their memories. However, when Max loses her shadow, she runs away from Ory to avoid causing him any pain at seeing her deteriorate. The story then switches between Ory’s point of view, as he tries to find Max, and Max’s, as she tries to reach New Orleans, where ‘something’ is happening. This is another one that has an ending that hurts (appears to be a theme in this list), but it felt very unique and I really loved reading it.

The last one for this list is very special one for me. I read it very early in the year, and it was so fabulous and magical and I cannot recommend it enough: Witchmark by C.L Polk. This book was really what propelled me to start reading in earnest again, because I was so happy at seeing the diverse cast and the beautiful queer relationship that it made me want to go find more awesome diverse books to read. Witchmark is set in what feels like a Edwardian England, where noble families use their powers to control the nation. Miles Singer was born less powerful than his sister, and thus was destined to spend life enslaved to his family’s desires. Not willing to suffer this, he went to fight in his country’s war. When he returned, he started work in a hospital, where he treats those suffering mentally after the war. His powers give him a gift for healing, but when a patient is murdered and his powers are revealed, he has to investigate the death. I struggled when I first read this to find words other than MAGICAL to describe this book, because that’s what it truly is. It features such an interesting magic system, and yet feels like it could’ve been taken out of a history book, the setting is so realistic. Add the fierce character list, and it really is just such a wonderful read. Witchmark has a sequel coming out in 2020 with Grace, Miles’ sister at the helm, and I am so interested to see her thoughts on what happened in the first book.

And that’s it for my first post! In working out this list, I noticed two very clear themes that come through:

  • Queer books are killing it in 2019.  Expect to see quite a lot of amazing books featuring queer characters on this blog. This year so far, I’m very much reading for teenage me who would’ve killed to see such awesome queer books on her shelf (but instead had to resort to fanfiction).
  • I like to be hurt: 3 of the 5 books on this list had endings which absolutely killed me

Let me know what you think of these reads, or if they’re on your TBR!

Goodbye from me, and Draco (my cat)

What a babe.

P.S. Okay so I’m cheating with the whole ‘Top 5’ and giving a special mention to The Poppy War by R.F Kuang which I only finished last week and which was phenomenal.