fantasy – Page 20 – The Constellation of Moon

YA + Fantasy PageHabit

Posted on November 17, 2017

Last month PageHabit offered to send an extra book on the same box, which was a good idea for me since I didn’t want two boxes.

Let’s do a counterclockwise round this time (because I keep saying I will and never do, so here you go!), starting from the top right corner:

A Plague Of Giants by Kevin Hearne. This is the book for Fantasy and looks impressive and I really love the annotated part of it.
Light up pumpkin key chain. It is cute fun even if it is small and silly.
Last Star Burning by Caitlin Sangster. This one is the YA book and also annotated.
Bookmark with Einstein quote.
Library Card pillow case, which is really fun!
Author letter for YA book, I wish I had had both author letters since I had both books.
Short story included.
A Nessie tea strainer, which I am happy to get because they have been so expensive I had desisted from buying one but love the look of it (not that I will actually use it for tea. If you read my blog frequently, it is common knowledge that I have one tea strainer I sought high and low to find that was perfect and it is the only one I use, as fun shape ones are a pain to clean).

I liked the box it was simple but had some fun items, so it was good. I get PageHabit because the books are annotated which is nice and interesting. However, some people have been having issues with them, I have not and as such can only say they have been good and I am just unhappy because shipping costs a lot but there’s not much that can be done about it.

Book Review

The Last Namsara Review

Posted on November 11, 2017

This will be funny once you see the next post.

I went to one of Gollancz events about Fantasy in YA and managed to get my book signed which was really great and the talk was fun and it was awesome so I left wanting to read the book and I did.

The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli

In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be darkness—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death-bringer.

These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl.

Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.

Rating:

I enjoyed this more than I expected, I guess partly because I wasn’t sure what to expect. Usually I love books with dragons, except for Paolini’s books for reasons I won’t go into in this review, so I knew I would probably like this one.

I am also really into heroines that seem to have a life purpose that distances from others but they also long for a life, and with Asha, it broke my heart that she had to marry someone she didn’t want to marry (and it just was she didn’t want to marry, not that she had a secret love somewhere). It felt powerful.

The tiwsts of the story and how Asha clings to her previous beliefs then slowly the blinds are taken from her eyes and she starts seeing things in a different light, correcting the wrongs becomes so much more important. This was beautifully achieved and the character growth in this particular aspect was a delight to read.

I wasn’t too much into the romance mostly because it feels like it still has to grow but I assume it’ll be taken on on the book since it is only somewhat starting at the end of this book.

The way the slaves aren’t meant to even look at the draksor and can’t touch them was chilling and I just hope it is delved deepr into why it was chosen this way and what had driven the dragon queen to do such atrocities.

And I really liked the secondary/side characters, Asha’s brother, her cousin, the rest of the cast were very well developed (and also the villains, I love well developed villains with layers and motives and wow).

All in all a good fantasy book with dragons, stories and interesting characters. Definitely looking forward to the second one.

Moon recommends

If you like dragons and heroines, read The Last Namsara. As I read it, I couldn’t help but find a lot of similarities with The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, which actually at first put me off since it is such a beloved book for me, but the similarities are good and they are different enough that they are each a strong book on their own so my love for them doesn’t conflict.

PS. The book beneath The Last Namsara is Dragonology, I am also taking advantage of Krakow props like the dragon and the coaster because they have their own fire breathing dragon outside the castle.

Disclaimer: There is an Amazon Associates link, but if you choose to use them and buy from them, know that you’re just helping me buy more books and feed my reading needs. Book synopsis is from Good Reads.

Book Review

Everless (Proof) Review

Posted on October 30, 2017

During YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention), I managed to get a proof copy of Everless (not the fancy one they are recently sending out and which I wish I had a copy of) by Sara Holland.

Everless
Picture by the delightful Nikki, idea by me.

Everless by Sara Holland

In the land of Sempera, time is extracted from blood and used as payment. Jules Ember and her father were once servants at Everless, the wealthy Gerling family’s estate, but were cast out after of a fateful accident a decade ago. Now, Jules’s father is reaching his last hour, and she will do anything to save him. Desperate to earn time, she arrives at the palace as it prepares for a royal wedding, ready to begin her search into childhood secrets that she once believed to be no more than myths. As she uncovers lost truths, Jules spirals deeper into a past she hardly recognizes, and faces an ancient and dangerous foe who threatens her future and the future of time itself.

Rating:

I should’ve posted this review sooner, but after I finished reading Everless, I was in a slump. I couldn’t make myself read another fantasy book that had anything similar to it because I’d compare it, and it was a struggle tofind a book to read.

When I got the copy of Everless, I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, it sounded fun but light and I didn’t expect it to be a wow book. As seems to be the case, books I underestimate, blow me away.

The first few chapters introduce you to the world of Sempera, the Gerlings, blood iron, the myth of the Sorceress and the Alchemist, and of course Jules and her own world. It is a slightly slow introduction but it doesn’t feel too much like an info dump and I was glad for that.

Without spoiling anyone, I was quite pleased with all the sudden plot twists (the only one I could see miles away was the one regarding Liam) since they weren’t that predictable but they also weren’t illogical. I didn’t feel like the plot had been useless now that the twist was revealed. Instead it slowly fit like a good puzzle.

One other thing I really loved about this is that there is no insta romance, no crazy love triangles and any hints of romance are just that, hints. Romance doesn’t take main stage and it doesn’t fill in plot gaps (and if you take it away you don’t really loose anything plot wise).

So all in all, a good fantasy, with interesting concepts, refreshing story and ideas, no insta romance and love triangles, good plot twists. Worth the read. (The sad part is that the book hasn’t even come out yet and then add to that that I already want to read the next one!).

Moon recommends

You read this book then curl up in bed until the next one comes out because you need to know what happens next. Go watch In Time film with Justin Timberlake, it’s like it but also totally not like it, but somehow my mind linked them and it is a fun link. Read some high fantasy, or something unrelated. I started Warcross to cure my book hangover, but you can also read some Trudi Canavan (like Thief’s Magic) or Robin Hobb (like Assasin’s Apprentice)and you’d be in great magical territory.

If you’d like to pre-order/buy Everless, you can find it here.

Subscription Boxes

October’s Fantasy & Sci-fi Leafer Box

Posted on October 24, 2017

As you may know, Leafer Box is one of my “permanent” boxes. There are a lot of good reasons why I love it:

It’s cheap, each box costs £12.99 plus shipping (UK is £2.99) and you can use code KESTREL10 for 10% off so even cheaper!
It doesn’t have a crazy hype and there’s like zero chance you’ll get a repeat with another book box.
You can buy the box of the month any day of the month! No missing out because it sold out in a few hours and you couldn’t connect at the time, no problems if you only get paid until the end of the month. As long as you order during the month, you get that box.

My list could go on but I’d rather just show you my bundled Fantasy & Sci-Fi box.

Starting from the chocolate bar because chocolate and going clockwise:

A Galaxy chocolate bar, this is one of the big ones and that makes me so happy, they don’t go small on chocolate and yummy goodies.
Sci-Fi book, Champion of Mars by Guy Haley. I don’t know why but it makes me think of mythology despite knowing it isn’t exactly that…
Botanical bookmarks (they are not part of the box but rather a thank you gift from them because I rave so much about them)
Glow in the dark constellations! I always wanted glow in the dark stars on my ceiling but never got my parents to get some for me, and as an adult forgot, but now I do!
A space/Mars pen (usually their pens are fine point and have beautiful ink and write lovely)
An Alien necklace that made me laugh when I saw it, it is cool.
Now for the Fantasy box contents, a summer wax melt tart thing that definitely smells like summers and picnics and just good!
A thunder and lighting necklace, also quite lovely and cool.
A golde twig/branch hair pin which looks amazing on my hair and people have been complimenting when I wear it.
And the book, The Fifth Season which was already on my “I’d like to read that book” list so I was very happy to get it in this box.

As you can see, the box(es) was packed full of goodies and it is a great bang for your buck. Absolutely recommend it and there are several other genres you can try.

Books, Subscription Boxes

September’s Sci-Fi & Fantasy Leafer Box

Posted on September 18, 2017

Since I was very happy with Leafer Box last month, I messaged them and asked if there was a way to bundle up the Sci-fi and Fantasy boxes into one. Skip one of the chocolates (since technically each box comes with chocolate) and if there are ever repeat items between boxes, skip those too. I also really liked their logo sticker so I asked if they would kindly send some so I could use them to decorate my drawing clipboard and/or laptop, and they did!

Also, drum roll please, after promoting them unofficially, I am now an official rep for LeaferBox which absolutely made my day once we agreed on it. (They are quite small so there was no rep search but I have seriously been recommending them after being impressed with the boxes).

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So the contents of my mixed box are as follows (I tried to leave Fantasy in one side and Sci-Fi on the other but it is also a mix so there you go). Starting on top left corner with the book.

The Fantasy box book was A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall. It has a female main character and sounds like a great read that I will probably want to read quicker than is humanly possible.
A bath bomb that smells delicious (I have yet to try it but oh, scented items just make my day, specially bath bombs and bubble bars/bombs).
Thorntons Classic Selection chocolates which I have been enjoying at work to make the time go by.
The Sci-Fi book, The Echo by James Smythe. Space adventures and once again, sounds quite interesting.
In the little bag there are some space stickers (I didn’t take them out because they are small and I was dying to have the chocolates so wanted to take picture quick. This seems to be a repeating thing with this box).
Super cute and adorable and I am dying to use them and just look gorgeous on my desk Earth sticky notes.
A small sampler of Ginger Green tea which I am happy to try soon.
A sword and gem keyring, for a second I thought it was a letter opener and then realised it wasn’t but it is still cool. This is probably the only item I won’t actually use, and this is mostly because I have more keychains than keys currently so limiting the amount of them. But this one is quite cool.
3 pens with galaxy/space decoration. My boyfriend ended snagging one so he could make notes about the power for one of his model airplanes and he liked it. I have yet to try them but they worked quickly and easily on top of several not ideal surfaces (why keep paper around when you can use scrap, right?)

Overall I was very happy with the box(es). Each box is almost half the price of most other subscription boxes (£12.99, shipping is not included but for UK is £2.99 , keeping still very affordable) and the only “downside” is that the book isn’t a super hyped YA read that is about to release or has only just been relased. I can live with that, since most of the time, by the time I get to those books they are not that new, woops (hey, I read Book Box Club books first and whatever my mood wants).

If you think this is the box for you and would like to give it a go, there is an even better pro: you can buy it any day of the month. To get September’s box, any day in September that you submit your order, you will get the September box, it can be the 1st, 12th, 26th or 30th and you will still be able to get it. They usually are quick to ship boxes and mine usually arrives next day or two days after shipping (not bad at all).

Are you convinced now? You can choose from Historical, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Chick-Lit, Comedy, Thriller or Surprise. And you can use code KESTREL10 for 10% off whatever you buy (1 month, 3 months, 6 months). Just remember this does not renew automatically so you have to visit their etsy page to buy the next one.