I’m not going to putz and pontificate here, just get right to the point. I loved this book. Adored it. My fondness for it knows no bounds. If it were a type of cookie I would eat them until I was sick. If it were a sweater I would wear it every day. If it were a color I would paint my walls with it. If it were a person I’d marry them. I think you get my point…

Usually when I read a fantasy book I have a difficult time getting into it. The world just seems fuzzy and not quite clear so the story doesn’t suck me in. With the world that Schwab created that was simply not the case. I was completely sucked in within the first few pages. The world she crafted was so clear in my head, the characters so vivid, and the story so full that I couldn’t put it down. I can’t remember the last time that I was so thoroughly engrossed.

A sharp, elegant fantasy thriller – a breathless journey in the company of characters you can only trust to charm you. -Delia Sherman, author of Young Woman in a Garden

We begin with our dashing hero, Kell. Kell has the special ability to pass between realities. There are four realities which Kell explains as being stacked together like pages in a book. They are Grey, Red, White, and Black. You can’t cross from Grey to White without passing through Red. A lot of detail gets put into the world building but I’ll try to sum it up as best I can.

Grey gave me the impression of being based on our own 17th century. A little dark, not much in the way of technological advances, and a certain brand of lawlessness. Red is bright, vibrant, rich, and full of magic. Red is Kell’s home where he is an unofficial part of the royal family. White has been sucked of all color and vibrancy and is ruled by violence and terror. It is a horrifying place and is home to Holland, the only other person that can go between worlds besides Kell. There is very little known about Black. Black had been completely consumed by magic. No one was spared. The other worlds feared that they would be consumed as well so they cut themselves off and Black was locked away. Nothing could leave that fallen world. Any artifacts from Black that had gone to the other worlds were destroyed in fear that their disease would spread.

Kell begins as mostly just a glorified messenger between worlds as he and Holland are the only two that can pass between them. He delivers notes and messages and meets with the rulers across the worlds. He does, however, have an unfortunate habit of trading small items from one world to another which is strictly forbidden. It’s mostly just little things like music boxes and games. However, he finds himself accidentally transporting a dangerous package to his home of Red.

It is a surviving artifact from Black.

With the help of a girl, Lila, from Grey he tries to rid the worlds of this dangerous item. The influence of the dark magic from Black leaks from the artifact and begins polluting anyone who touches it and the world around it. Kell is determined to save the surviving worlds with great personal risk to himself. Lila is in it for the adventure and fun but finds something more of herself. She is strong and determined and you quickly find yourself rooting for her.

I was completely absorbed the entire book. There are twists and turns that take you by surprise, evil doers you aren’t expecting, bravery, sadness, and magic. It is all woven together into a wonderful story that is difficult to put down. I plowed through all 400 pages in 24 hours. I am so happy that I stumbled onto this book and can’t wait to read the others in the trilogy.

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• A Gathering of Shadows
• A Conjuring of Light (Due out Feb 21, 2017)

Three dark queens

are born in a glen,

sweet little triplets

will never be friends

Three dark sisters

all fair to be seen,

two to devour

and one to be Queen

Look at that. Look at it. Read it. Let it take your imagination away. That is what is printed on the back cover of this book. And just look at that front cover. Doesn’t it draw your eye? Pull you in? Don’t you feel the yearning to read it? The art and the poem tempt you to pick this book up, give it a try. They make you feel like they will not let you down.

Oh, my friends, but they do. They do.

I have never been left infuriated by a book. I’ve been disappointed. I’ve been disgusted. I’ve been left feeling dirty. I’ve been left with my soul empty, carried away by musty pages. But never, in all my life, have I been infuriated. I promise you honest reviews and, oh, you shall have one.

We have three sisters, triplets, who were separated at a young age to be raised by different factions all on the same large island. This island is a kingdom unto itself and nearly entirely cut off from the outside world. Each sister has a gift.

Arsinoe was brought up in a village where most people have an animal companion, a familiar. The people of that village are fiercely independent and are people of the land. They can encourage plants and crops to grow, coax fish from the sea, and are skilled at the hunt.

Katharine was taken in by the current ruling faction, the poisoners. They are skilled at mixing poisons and being immune to them. The poisoners see any food that does not contain poison detestable and insulting. They are used to being in charge and will do anything to continue that way.

Mirabella was raised by the elementals. They have control of, you may have guessed, the elements. Fire, water, wind, and earth. Mirabella can call down a storm, walk through fire, cause an earthquake, and most anything else involving the elements. She is considered the strongest of the sisters and her faction also controls the heart of religion on the island by means of the priestesses.

These three sisters were separated to be raised by the factions only to be brought back together during their sixteenth year to, in a nut shell, fight to the death. Two of the sisters must die by the other’s hand. The one left alive will rule. They have their entire sixteenth year to accomplish this.

Doesn’t that sound like a great premise of a book?

The poisoners have had control for the last three queens and of course they want Katharine to conquer over her sisters so they may continue their rule. The problem is that Katharine is not a very good poisoner. She can mix and brew with the best of them but actually ingesting the poisons still makes her violently ill. She is weak. Arsinoe is a strong willed, brave young woman but she has no familiar and has not learned control over animals and growing. She is also perceived as weak. By contrast, Mirabella is a goddess. She can walk through flames without feeling the heat. She can bring on a storm that can sink ships in the harbors. She can shake the ground and bring buildings crumbling down. Most assume that she will be a shoo in for murdering her sisters and inheriting the crown.

And that right there folks is pretty much all you get the entire book. There is all of this build up and explanations and ceremonies leading up to the Beltane feast. It is the Beltane celebration that signals the beginning of the year when the sisters are to off each other. There is so much anticipation and focus on this that you expect there to be a bloodbath or something.

You know what? There isn’t. There isn’t anything. You wait the entire book for absolutely nothing to happen. Guess what? There is a second book. It hasn’t been published yet, but there is to be another book. So this one is just a 400 page buildup of absolutely nothing happening so that the second book will make sense. I just read 400 pages just to be coaxed into reading the second book. I don’t think so. It feels like a Walking Dead episode. Nothing happens nothing happens nothing happens…BOOM! Cliffhanger at the end to encourage you to watch the next one.

I got sucked into a story that ended up feeling like a preview for the actual action. Not only are there so many characters in the book (one of which is called by three different names just to make things confusing) that they are nearly impossible to keep straight. None of them mean anything to the story in the concept of this as a stand alone book. It’s like a commercial where you are supposed to be impressed by whatever the promoted item does but you never actually get to see it do anything. I am infuriated.

You know what? I’m sure the next book will be fantastic. That it will tie things together and make the build up interesting and hopefully kill off some of the multitude of characters. But guess what? I won’t be reading it. This commercial didn’t sell me on the product, it just ticked me off.

“Stuff and nonsense. Nonsense and stuff and much of a muchness and nonsense all over again. We are all mad here, don’t you know?”
― Marissa Meyer, Heartless

After my last read being so violent and depraved I turned to Heartless hoping for something a little lighter. Something that would leave me with a good feeling. What I got instead was the absolute worst book hangover I have ever had. I finished it nearly a day ago now and it is still dancing around in my head. The story got it’s hands in me and won’t let me go.

From Alice in Wonderland we all know the general cast of characters that come from the classic Lewis Carroll novel. We have The Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts,the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, and a bevy of other characters that all seem at least a little out of their right minds. They are all lovable in their own ways and have made a lasting impression across generations since initial publication in 1865. What we have in Heartless is (mostly) this same cast of characters before Alice fell down the rabbit hole. Before the reign of the Queen of Hearts. They each delighted and entertained me. Most broke my heart.

Catherine, our lovely heroine, is a young woman with dreams of opening her own bakery with her maid and dear friend Mary Ann. Being the daughter of aristocrats her parents obviously don’t want her filling her head with such nonsense as having a career or owning her own business. That, in their minds, is simply and utterly beneath them. What they want, which of course overrules anything Cath may want for herself, is to have their daughter married off to the King of Hearts. Cath is absolutely, unreservedly, and entirely against it.

The king is a spineless dolt of a man who is very jovial in his ignorance of anything that could potentially be upsetting. His determination to ignore things that tip the happy balance of his kingdom has spread to his subjects and they all live in a contented state of cluelessness. The king plans to propose to Catherine, it never crossing his mind that she may be against it, at a ball and all the nobility in Hearts are invited. At the ball there is an attack by the dreaded Jabberwock and, luckily for Cath, his proposal is cut short and she dashes out into the night.

And into the arms of Jest.

Jest is the king’s court jester and quickly becomes the love interest of Cath. Jest, while I adore him, never felt completely right to me as a character. He was just too perfect. The author has explanations for this within the book but it still just rubs me ever so slightly the wrong way. I want my hero to seem human, which seems silly in the context of a book where many of the characters are in fact not human. Humans have flaws and imperfections which make them relatable. Jest seems to have none of that. Luckily for him it doesn’t make him obnoxious and you easily come to love him anyway.

Throughout the story we also meet Hatta. Hatta, known by Alice as the Mad Hatter, is perfectly sane and logical, thank you very much. This is something I love about the book. We know that at some point Hatta’s sanity takes a leave of absence but here he is an intelligent, logical man with an unprecedented talent for making hats and being mildly mysterious.

We follow Cath in her adventures as she attempts to thwart the king from his wooing of her, continues her efforts to open her own bakery, gets confusingly courted by Jest, and then watch it all come spiraling down in an out of control avalanche. I read another review of this book which I completely agree with. I would like to take the last five or so chapters of this book and forget that they happened. It would entirely change the entire story for the future Alice and I would be completely content with that. Don’t get me wrong, they are wonderfully written and it brings the story as a whole to a conclusion in preparation for Lewis Carroll’s world, but it completely breaks my heart.

There are so many lovely details of this book that bring it all together into an irresistible whole. It is magic and fun and love and mystery and, in the end, completely, emotionally draining. I don’t want to pick up another book yet because the world within this one still has it’s hold on me.

“These things do not happen in dreams, dear girl,’ he said, vanishing up to his neck. ‘They happen only in nightmares.’
His head spiraled and he was gone.”

 

Some books, once you read them, you turn back to them again and again like an old friend. Their pages give you comfort during some of your darkest hours. Only three books I can think of give me that feeling of comfort and peace. The Hobbit, Bitterblue, and The Night Circus.

To be fair, this book has a pretty hefty mix of reviews across the board. It’s another one of those love-it-or-hate-it works. In case you can’t tell, I love it.

I’ve read it several times now and fall more in love with Morgenstern’s world each time. I find myself thinking, “If I had to be stuck in time somewhere, I’d be okay with being there.” I could see the circus beautifully painted inside my head. This circus gives me a feeling of magic and wonder unlike real circuses which are creepy pits of despair thrust upon this world. 

Morgenstern crafted a wonderland of the venue full of magic and dreams. The black and white tents, fascinating performances and performers, and the tantalizing smells wafting between the tents. The descriptions are so well written, if I close my eyes I can walk the venue in my mind. Exploring among the tents with a glossy caramel apple in my hand, gazing at the carefully hung signs that give only hints of what is to be found inside each tent. The world in which the author takes you is beautiful and wondrous, my bowler off to you Ms. Morgenstern. 

I will admit though, and I hate to say it, the story is a bit slow moving. For being nearly four-hundred pages you can easily fit the summary into a hand full of paragraphs. The first time I read the book through I put it down often because I’d tire of some scene or another and wonder when that section would end. The description and content of each scene is glorious, there is just too much of it at times. 

My other complaint of the book is jumping around through story lines. You read one chapter and get a good sense of the characters and what their purposes are and what is going on with the backstory. Then in the next chapter, it is a year later or ten years earlier and you are given no ruler to measure this time jump by. Only dropped hints such as “I was sad when he died last year” are there to give you a marker as to when it is during the story. At those points you have to pull yourself away from the story for a minute to remember when said character died and place when this part of the book is supposed to be. If it continued to be foreword moving, I would not have a problem with it. It distracted from the story in general.

Mind you, despite these little complaints and annoyances, the story is truly wonderful. If you are the kind of person that enjoys a fast paced, get things done and move on kind of read this book probably would not be for you. But if you want to wander through a magical world filled with interesting characters and a strange if sometimes confusing plot, this is the book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Mere minutes ago I finished reading this book and I’m still immersed in the story. Isn’t that part of the goal of every writer? For the reader to finish the words on the page and not want to close the book because then it will truly be over. To have their audience be so caught up in the story that they don’t want to say goodbye. Just to live in the story forever.

I did not want to say farewell to this book.

The Witch of Painted Sorrows is the third book I have read by M.J. Rose and she has never disappointed me. Her stories are so rich and vivid. They live in the real world with a touch of something “other”. The otherworldly aspects are never pushed beyond the believable and into science fiction which is an aspect I enjoy immensely.

In this story we follow Sandrine Verlaine through a period of upheaval and change in her life in Paris, 1894. Rose draws you in with excitement and curiosity in the very first paragraph of the book:

“I did not cause the madness, the deaths, or the rest of the tragedies any more than I painted the paintings. I had help, her help. Or perhaps I should say that she forced her help on me. And so this story- which began with me fleeing my home in order to escape my husband and might very well end tomorrow, in a duel, in the Bois de Boulogne at dawn- is as much hers as mine. Or in fact more hers than mine. For she is the fountainhead. The fascination. She is La Lune. Woman of moon dreams, of legends and of nightmares. Who took me from the light and into the darkness. Who imprisoned me and set me free.”

Sandrine, when she flees her terrible husband in New York, travels secretly to Paris to stay with her grandmother, a courtesan of considerable wealth. She goes initially to escape the man, her husband, that had directly caused her father’s death and whom she feared. While in Paris, she discovers dark secrets hidden within her grandmother’s home that have been there for many generations.

As the darkness she finds creeps over her, possesses her, and tries to consume her Sandrine falls in love with a man that the darkness within her hungers for. While this creature, this consciousness, is inside her Sandrine accomplishes things in her life she had once only dreamed of while at the same time being touched by murder and madness. The spirit, who you learn has haunted Sandrine’s family for generations, seeks to entirely possess her host and force Sandrine out.

Will Sandrine win or will this consciousness from the past push her out? I won’t spoil it here. I will, however, say that the end surprised even me. It wasn’t entirely what I was expecting. I re-read the last chapter to make sure I had read it right. The story did have some slow parts, as most stories do, but push through them. I promise that you won’t be disappointed.