reviews – Page 2 – The Constellation of Moon

The Devouring Gray Review

Posted on June 2, 2019

The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman

Branches and stones, daggers and bones,
They locked the Beast away.

After the death of her sister, seventeen-year-old Violet Saunders finds herself dragged to Four Paths, New York. Violet may be a newcomer, but she soon learns her mother isn’t: They belong to one of the revered founding families of the town, where stone bells hang above every doorway and danger lurks in the depths of the woods.

Justin Hawthorne’s bloodline has protected Four Paths for generations from the Gray—a lifeless dimension that imprisons a brutal monster. After Justin fails to inherit his family’s powers, his mother is determined to keep this humiliation a secret. But Justin can’t let go of the future he was promised and the town he swore to protect.

Ever since Harper Carlisle lost her hand to an accident that left her stranded in the Gray for days, she has vowed revenge on the person who abandoned her: Justin Hawthorne. There are ripples of dissent in Four Paths, and Harper seizes an opportunity to take down the Hawthornes and change her destiny-to what extent, even she doesn’t yet know.

The Gray is growing stronger every day, and its victims are piling up. When Violet accidentally unleashes the monster, all three must band together with the other Founders to unearth the dark truths behind their families’ abilities—before the Gray devours them all.

Rating:

This book surprised me. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as Justine warned about some animal violence and a previous book with it left me a bad flavour.

There is a lot of grief, and a lot of confusion. And at first I felt as confused as Violet. However, there was enough to keep me going rather than giving up. Each of the founder children (they’re teens but since there are technically still adults from some of them children it is for now) has their own “secret”. Justin is hiding one that will cost him his status and reputation if it is revealed.

May has a hidden ability and the cost of reading the Death Omen, meaning she has to tell the truth on what the cards say (even if it hurts, even if it is not what others want to hear).

Violet is dealing with grief and trying to figure out what her ability is and her ritual, plus, how do you manage to live in this odd town?

Harper is managing without a hand and making her best effort while being shunned by Justin who used to be her best friend (oh the betrayal of best friends, sad sad indeed)

And Isaac who is the only one from his family that stayed after his ritual happened.

All of it going on and the stakes keep getting higher and higher as Violet tries her best to figure out what she ought to do to get control of her powers. But it is hard in a town that is drowning under so many secrets and that has a Beast lurking in the Gray…

As I said, this book surprised me a lot and I was so invested in it but as the end became near I couldn’t understand why it hadn’t wrapped everything up but then it made sense that it had to be two books. However I didnt feel cheated or overfilled with other stuff to expand the book into two. Instead I liked the fact we learnt so much in this one even if it meant we didn’t get everything sorted out. The main secrets however were definitely sorted out and a lot of things that didn’t make sense suddenly did, and it was a little scary. The good thing is that it was scary because there was so much at stake, not just for the sake of scaring.

Good book, can’t wait to read the next one!

Book Review, Books

Beauty Sleep Review

Posted on May 3, 2019

Beauty Sleep by Kathryn Evans

Laura was dying. There was no cure for her illness. So her family decided to grasp a desperate last hope – Laura was frozen until she could be cured.

But what happens when you wake up one day and the world has moved on forty years? Your best friend is middle-aged, your parents presumed dead. Could you find a new place to belong? Could you build a new life – while solving the mystery of what happened to the old one?

Dark secrets lurk in the future of the girl from the past…

Rating:

This caught my eye. Cryogenics isn’t a new topic, or at least not to me. It has been one of those things you hear about then the nosie about it quietens, then someone else does it, then again quiet…

Anyway, the premise sounded interesting, and I read it quite quickly. We have two POV in this book, which took me by surprise when we get to the second POV. We have Laura and we have Shem.

And as much as Laura is the main character I want to talk a little about Shem first. To begin with, we just get dropped into Shem’s chapters without any introduction on him (as in, the premise and previous chapters do not tell you anything that would make him meaningful to you in that first Shem chapter). And he’s a “homeless” boy trying to keep himself alive in a world that doesn’t like homeless people. He is experiencing this as Laura is learning that she’s been revived and the rest of the stuff. His chapters weren’t that interesting to me, and pretty much I knew Shem’s “secret plot twist” before the end of his first chapter. So by the end of that chapter I was pretty much over his chapters (and for the rest of the book, Shem chapters just didn’t grab me).

Now back to Laura. Laura’s story was what kept me reading this book. She wakes up in this future world, 40 years later. And her body is readjusting. She has to remember her memories in an “empty” mind. (I liked the take that you just don’t wake up knowing everything as if you had gone to sleep, but that due to being frozen and revived, you “reset” your brain a little and have to work for the memories to crop up).

The process of “adjusting” to the year 2028 (which isn’t that far away for us) was interesting and then her process trying to figure out who she is, where she belongs and what place Miss Lilly has in her life was wonderful. Plus the “secret” was quite interesting and it had layers to it (some of them quite predictable, maybe not to the exact detail but something along those lines and a few I did get quite close to the exact details… I read a lot, do science and play videogames, so no surprise there).

I didn’t know what to think of Laura at first, I was intrigued because as a reader you know exactly as much as she does (and maybe even a little more, but not enough) so you discover the world with and through her. That was one of my favourite parts of this story. There is also the focus on beauty and staying young, which was also interesting to read and consider to what point we are to get in the search for that perfect wrinkle free anti aging magic.

All in all the book was interesting, and the story was also quite good. My biggest issue was Shem and his whole plot line. I could’ve done without a POV from him or maybe just a lot less of his POV because there are some intersting bits in his chapters, but they contribute more to worldbuilding and to setting up plot than to helping Shem specifically. Not that this means it should be that way, just that I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more that way. (But I am learning, after reading Shadowscent that I can do without the whole one chapter POV1 the next POV2 as it tends to feel forced, I prefer the POV chapters to work with the story rather than having to stick to one and one, very few stories can pull this well).

Would I recommend this? Yes! I like that is is a take on Sleeping Beauty and not a retelling. Plus it actually ponders on the concept and cost of beauty. It was a quick read and I was pleased when I finished it.

Book Review, Books

Dream team adventures and time travelling paradoxes

Posted on May 1, 2019

StolenTime Stolen Time by Danielle Rollins

It all starts as an accident, when Ash unexpectedly crashes with his time travelling space ship in Seattle the year of 1913, on just the same day as Dorothy escapes from her own arranged marriage. Without Ash’s knowledge (or approval) she sneaks on board the shuttle, and soon after lands in Ash’s and his best friend Zora’s workshop, which is located in New Seattle year 2077. Unwillingly, but also excitedly, Dorothy becomes a part of the team that are looking for the lost Professor who can hopefully save them all, before the Black Circus, the escalating earhtquakes, or some tricky paradox kills off the entire Earth’s populations.

Rating: 🐖🐖🐖🐖

This is yet another book that I got from BookBox Club, that I was initially felt sceptical towards and probably never had picked out myself, but ended up very much enjoying. I was fearing this to be a mix of all the genres from my Big NoNo-list: historical fiction, space adventures and great life saving quests. But even though Stolen Time contains a good portion of the latter, it’s still dystopian in a very down to earth-kind of way that makes like it. There’s a bit too much action, and the book is a bit too predictable, but it’s still so thrilling that I’m really happy it’s just the first in a series.

Without spoiling anything, I also dare to say that the intrigue, on both the characters, the quests and the societal level, have much potential to develop and grow deeper in the coming sequels. But until that, this is just an exciting dream team adventure that I’ll recommend to anyone that enjoys a bit of time travelling paradoxes.

Dr. Bea approves

For more time travelling adventures, have a look at Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children-series. And if you’re searching for more sci-fi space drama, look no further than to This Splintered Silence.

Book Review, Books

Voices Review

Posted on April 21, 2019

Voices: The Final Hours of Joan Of Arc by David Elliott

Author David Elliott explores how Joan of Arc changed the course of history and remains a figure of fascination centuries after her extraordinary life and death.

Told through medieval poetic forms and in the voices of the people and objects in Joan of Arc’s life, (including her family and even the trees, clothes, cows, and candles of her childhood). Along the way it explores issues such as gender, misogyny, and the peril of speaking truth to power. Before Joan of Arc became a saint, she was a girl inspired. It is that girl we come to know in Voices.

Rating:

I used to love playing Age of Empires II on my Windows 98 computer (yes, I am old, shush!) as a child and teenager. And one of the first campaigns is Joan of Arc. I learnt a lot about her story and France (I am not saying it was perfect, but I learned a lot, and Age of Empires sparked my interest in more history). But the point wasn’t about gaming on a 1990’s computer, rather that it sparked my interest in this book.

As starter things, this book is a poem, it isn’t 100% accurate but more of an “artistic” view as the idea was to focus on the type of poems that would be used during Joan’s time. (This part I found nice, as the poems made a little more sense than modern poetry. Apparently Medieval poems are more similar to general Spanish poems, therefore make more sense poetically speaking than other poems in English do for me). And it isn’t a book about Joan’s whole life, but rather it is meant to be a “I am about to die, my life choices are questioned, this is what led me here” type of book.

I liked the artistic take on the story, and the poems. Some are shaped, and there’s a lot of formatting in it which made the experience of reading it, more of an experience in itself. My absolute favourite is the Fire, but in general, I enjoyed the poems, and I don’t know if I have a sooty mind thanks to hanging out with my friends, but there were some interesting hidden jokes in the poems that made me raise an eyebrow and laugh quietly at it.

It was a nice change of reading, and it was a relatively familiar story, so it was a neat read as I had been suffering from head splitting headaches, and this wasn’t too hard. Which probably made me enjoy it more than I would’ve otherwise. As did my love for Age of Empires…

Book Review, Books

Lord of Secrets Review

Posted on April 19, 2019

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Lord of Secrets by Breanna Teintze

Magic is poison. Secrets are power. Death is . . . complicated.

Outlaw wizard Corcoran Gray has enough problems. He’s friendless, penniless and on the run from the tyrannical Mages’ Guild – and with the search for his imprisoned grandfather looking hopeless, his situation can’t get much worse.

So when a fugitive drops into his lap – literally – and gets them both arrested, it’s the last straw – until Gray realises that runaway slave Brix could be the key to his grandfather’s release. All he has to do is break out of prison, break into an ancient underground temple and avoid killing himself with his own magic in the process.

In theory, it’s simple enough. But as secrets unfold and loyalties shift, Gray discovers something with the power to change the nature of life and death itself.

Now Gray must find a way to protect the people he loves, but it could cost him everything, even his soul . . .

Rating:

Jo Fletcher books kindly accepted my begging for a copy of this and this is a free copy (I will be buying this because yeah it is good and I need more books!)

This has been pitched as a bit of Schwab, Trudie Canavan, Novik and a few others. It feels like a high ask for this book, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I love the books from all three ladies.

However, reading this, neither of those names popped into my mind (say what?!). Instead, what came into mind was Terry Pratchett. I know, I am comparing high. And this is not a Discworld book. But Lord of Secrets has a lot of humour and it is reminescent of Pratchett’s.

It is that dark, gritty, life is hard but let’s make the best/worst of it, nevermind kind of humour. The book had me laughing a lot, and also made me want to read more fantasy books like Canavan’s or Pratchett’s and go into another world.

Gray is an intriguing character, and actually, all the characters are interesting and have a lot of layers. There’s very few “plot” characters (the ones that have names but that only really move plot and have no other purpose), and the plot is mostly carried by the characters and a little by the mystery.

Also, the actual Lord of Secrets and what all that implies was a fun take on necromancy and magic. Oh! Talking of magic! The magic system is wonderful! Write the spells and then say them. Oh but lo and behold, they have a price, they are in a way poisonous and each one has a different effect on you. Makes you consider using magic a little bit more (not that this seems to stop Gray, but then again, he just seems to be frequently in trouble so spells it has to be).

After reading this, I felt refreshed and almost like a “faith restored” feeling for fantasy. This was different to most of what I have recently read, and also in a way familiar enough, which made it cosy read.

Do note that this is not a young adult fantasy book, but properly just Fantasy (saying it is for adults doesn’t mean it is full of erotica, which it isn’t, or that only adults can read it). It deals with topics of family, death, and even slavery and abuse of the self. All with an interesting sense of humour, but still, it touches on topics that are a little bit less in the front of a younger adult/teenager than they would be for an adult. This is hard to explain without revealing important plot points which are good to come to rather than be spoiled.

Book Review, Books

The Bear and the Piano Review

Posted on April 17, 2019

The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield

One day, a young bear stumbles upon something he has never seen before in the forest. As time passes, he teaches himself how to play the strange instrument, and eventually the beautiful sounds are heard by a father and son who are picnicking in the woods. The bear goes with them on an incredible journey to New York, where his piano playing makes him a huge star. He has fame, fortune and all the music in the world, but he misses the friends and family he has left behind. A moving tale of exploration and belonging from an exciting debut author-illustrator.

Rating:

This was another whim buy, because it had a piano in the title (fox, dragon, piano, put those in the title and I’ll probably buy it…) and it looked cute. Not wrong at all.

I read it during the weekend, after months of very intense workload (I love my job so much, but there’s SO much work that my brain has been overwhelmed I have little energy for anything else) and this was a heartwarming little read.

A small bear discovers a piano and starts plonking at it. At first the sound is horrid, but after a lot of plonking, the sounds isn’t displeasing anymore and he gains a crowd of pleased bears to listen. But then the bear gets discovered and becomes famous.

Oh the fame, but then there’s this little thing making Bear want to go back to the forest…

The art is gorgeous, it has a nice palette that is very foresty and then very much glamour. I found the bears cute and it was just simple yet gorgeous.

It’s not a very long review, but if you like bears or pianos, then this is a nice book to buy for when you can’t read a lot and just want to read something and feel that you finished a book!

Book Review, Books

Spectacle Review

Posted on April 11, 2019

Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok

A YA murder mystery in which a young reporter must use her supernatural visions to help track down a killer targeting the young women of Paris.

Paris, 1887.

Sixteen-year-old Nathalie Baudin writes the daily morgue column for Le Petit Journal. Her job is to summarize each day’s new arrivals, a task she finds both fascinating and routine. That is, until the day she has a vision of the newest body, a young woman, being murdered–from the perspective of the murderer himself.

When the body of another woman is retrieved from the Seine days later, Paris begins to buzz with rumors that this victim may not be the last. Nathalie’s search for answers sends her down a long, twisty road involving her mentally ill aunt, a brilliant but deluded scientist, and eventually into the Parisian Catacombs. As the killer continues to haunt the streets of Paris, it becomes clear that Nathalie’s strange new ability may make her the only one who can discover the killer’s identity–and she’ll have to do it before she becomes a target herself.

Rating:

Paris, a young journalist woman with an interesting “gift”, a morgue, a mystery… all sound good to me!

The very first thing I have to say is that the Paris we are led to is very “period” accurate and I liked that. It was fun to read about references to things yet to come, and things that are already there. All of it made it more immersive.

The second thing is that for a mystery, this one definitely was. It kept me guessing over and over and over and I was never ahead of our heroine’s own discoveries. This is a little unusual, and I have to say it was a good thing. It didn’t leave me frustrated but more like “oh wow, I genuinely have no clue, but I need to know, please, let’s find out more”.

It also made me hungry and I want pain au chocolat in a quaint cafe while I write notes.

Natalie is a heroine with depth, and I don’t know if I would be okay with visiting the morgue to go looking at the corpses to “report” on them. That was interesting, because it gave a view on what could pass as entertainment. (I admit I find cemeteries interesting with the headstones and mausoleums, but I am not so sure about seeing the actual dead bodies).

It starts with one body and an accident that makes Natalie find out she can see what happened before the victim died, but she wonders if she hallucinated it or not. This gift she has, costs something, and it was something I liked. She can’t just plunge headlong and use it willy nilly, but instead has to consider the fact that it costs her something (won’t spoil what) and she can’t control that cost. Makes for a more complex conundrum, help solve this and sacrifice something or stay as I am but let this murderer get away with it? Tricky right?

It was a good book, and I just have to say that the last two pages completely confused me, but other than that, it was superb.

Book Review, Books

There is No Dragon in this Story Review

Posted on April 7, 2019

There Is No Dragon In This Story by Lou Carter and Deborah Allwright

Poor old dragon. Nobody wants him in their story. Not Goldilocks, not Hansel and Gretel – no one. But Dragon will not give up! He shall continue on his course of finding someone who wants him in their story. ANYONE. His boundless enthusiasm surely won’t get him into any trouble. Surely …

A glorious story about dragons, heroes and ice cream with sprinkles. From author Lou Carter, a phenomenal new talent, and Deborah Allwright, illustrator of the bestselling The Night Pirates.

Rating:

Another one of those books I randomly found and chose to buy. You can clearly see a dragon in the cover, but the title is that there is no dragon in this story. My curiosity got the best of me. Of course we had to have a dragon, right?

The book starts saying that this was supposed to be a traditional dragon story. The dragon steals a princess, the prince/knight saves her and slays the dragon. But that’s not the story because the dragon refuses to be the villain and wants to be a hero.

So Mr Dragon goes out to all the other stories in this world and kindly asks if he can help and be the hero. Maybe he can stop the wolf for the three pigs? Or do something for Goldilocks? But every story he goes to, they tell him the same thing, he can’t be the hero because “there is no dragon in this story”. Poor dragon.

He has to try one more time, and well, let’s just say this doesn’t go very well and everything goes wrong, so now every story needs a hero. Will the dragon be the hero? Or will this be another “no dragon” kind of story?

I laughed a lot and felt so much for the dragon while reading this. Throughly enjoyed this one so will recommend that you get it for a rainy day when you need an easy book or to get you out of a slump.

Book Review, Books

The Whisper Review

Posted on March 24, 2019

The Whisper by Pamela Zagarenski

When a little girl received a curious book filled only with pictures, a whisper urges her to create the words she cannot see. As the pages turn, her imagination takes flight and she discovers that the greatest storyteller of all might come from within.

A celebration of reading and the power of the imagination, Pamela Zagarenski’s debut as an author reminds us that we each bring something different to the same book.

Rating:

This was totally a cover buy (most of my illustrated children’s books usually are cover buys), a girl with a cute red eared hoodie and a fox and a huge book, of course, I don’t care what it is about I need it.

Good thing it is actually a nice sweet book. And it is mostly about letting your imagination run and have some fun, but also to enjoy books, and how books and words can be “not boring” because you can imagine, and you can create. All the stories, ideas, and you can even change stories in your head with a pinch of imagination.

The author is also the illustrator and you can see just how much love and care there was into making this book match in words and drawings (not saying other books don’t, just that you can see it very well in this one).

The amount of foxes and gorgeous ideas was quite good, and there is a lot to encourage reading.

I know, short review, but it is a short book however the illustrations do make you pause and make them match the words, and try to find what else you can see in it.

Book Review, Books

Echo Murder Review

Posted on March 22, 2019

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Echo Murder by Laura Laakso

Yannia Wilde returns to the Wild Folk conclave where she grew up, and to the deathbed of her father, the conclave’s Elderman. She is soon drawn back into the Wild Folk way of life and into a turbulent relationship with Dearon, to whom she is betrothed.

Back in London, unassuming office worker Tim Wedgebury is surprised when police appear on his doorstep with a story about how he was stabbed in the West End. His body disappeared before the paramedics’ eyes. Given that Tim is alive and well, the police chalk the first death up to a Mage prank. But when Tim “dies” a second time, Detective Inspector Jamie Manning calls Yannia and, torn between returning to the life she has built in Old London and remaining loyal to the conclave and to Dearon, she strikes a compromise with the Elderman that allows her to return temporarily to the city.

There she sets about solving the mystery of Tim’s many deaths with the help of her apprentice, Karrion. They come to realise that with every death, more of the echo becomes reality, and Yannia and Karrion find themselves in increasing danger as they try to save Tim. Who is the echo murderer? What sinister game are they playing? And what do they truly want?

Rating:

The delightful wonderful human behind LWB sent me a copy of this book to review, because I have fallen so hard for Fallible Justice, and I couldn’t wait to read the next one. As the sticker says, I can do whatever about it. But even if I didn’t get this early copy, I am/was getting a copy anyway.

Now to the review. The book picks up just from where Fallible Justice ends. Yannia is making her way back to the Conclave and the Wild Folk with Dearon. Karion has stayed back to do his thing (whatever that is).

And we also meet Lizzie and Tim, who like to go on dates, and Tim really seems to be on the bad side of luck, because he keeps dying every time he goes out with Lizzie. Best/worst part? Tim doesn’t have a girlfriend, and he’s very much alive. So who gets called in?

Yannia does (no ghostbusters in this one!).And this lady isn’t stepping down from investigating things, so she starts trying to find out what type of magic and who could’ve done this.

The tricky thing the “illusions” of the murders are starting to bleed in with the real Tim, and it is becoming more and more dangerous as time goes by. What is making this particular magic so powerful? How can it be?

I loved the writing and the story. However, I have to say that this book has a lot of violence, and some of it is domestic, there is abuse, and well, it is an intense book. But it is also extremely good. I opted for reading it in the morning during a flight. One of those “read it in one sitting”.

It was quite good, and it keep me wondering. Alas, because of the particular topic, it was relatively easy for me to figure out who was behind the Echo murders, and part of the motive. But not everything I guessed and the reasons unspooling as Yannia understood them and raced to catch the one behind it all before Tim actually dies. High stakes indeed.

Karion, Wishearth, Lady Bergamot and a few others still make an appearance, so all good for me. So my take is, read Fallible Justice, read this, and cry until the next one comes out because it is so far away. (You can come cry with me, I’ll share my blanket fort, and give you access to the Moon library).