Girls of Storm and Shadow (Girls of Paper and Fire Book 2)

 

Rating: 2 for getting through it, but also knowing that I am abandoning this series.

My Thoughts:

This second book reminds me of the Harry Potter series or rather the Harry Potter movie that no one really wants to rewatch where Harry and Hermione and Ron are out camping in the wilderness as they look for hoarcruxes. Everyone starts to bicker amongst themselves and the large fight scene is a movie away. That is what this book felt like. I never did like the Lei character. She seems to do the least amount, especially considering she is the main character. However, she did have a large moment at the end of book 1. Still, this one was a slog. Lei's naivete turns into outright dense-ness and stupidity. 

That is really all I had to say about this, except I am glad I got it from the library because I would not want to buy this.  I will link the first book, Girls of Paper and Fire, however, I am not reading the third book. 

From the Publisher

Lei, the naive country girl who became a royal courtesan, is now known as the Moonchosen, the commoner who managed to do what no one else could. But slaying the cruel monarch wasn't the culmination of her destiny -- it was just the beginning. Now Lei, with a massive bounty on her head, must travel the kingdom with her warrior love Wren to gain support from the far-flung rebel clans.

Meanwhile, a plot to eliminate the rebel uprising is taking shape, fueled by dark magic and vengeance. Will Lei succeed in her quest to overthrow the monarchy, or will she succumb to the sinister magic that seeks to destroy her bond with Wren, and their very lives?

Publication Information:

Author: Natasha Ngan
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Page length: 417 pages

Girls of Paper and Fire

 

Rating: 3 for potential and social justice fantasy

My Thoughts:

This book has the potential to be something I am interested in: non-white author, social injustice, class system (Paper Caste - humans:  then a couple other castes of demons - Moon Caste, Steel Caste), sexual exploitation, violence, oh my. However, as I got further in, the sapphic relationship was awkward. There was more heat with the Moon Caste wolf demon, Kenzo. When Kenzo carries a broken Lei back, say that is not more passion than any other actual relationship encounter. 

I did make it through to the end, and I am reading book 2, but if you want a really good read with similar themes, I would try Saara El-Arifi's The Final Strife. She has similar problems with her book 2, but the love triangle is so much more interesting.  I have also decided that I am not reading book 3, and when I looked up El-Arifi's trilogy, I realize that I did not read her third book either. 

From the Publisher:

In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after: the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest.

Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, she does the unthinkable: she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.

Publication Information:

Author: Natasha Ngan

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Nov 6, 2018)

Print length: 401 pages

The Battle Drum

 

My Thoughts:

This is book 2 of the Ending Fire Trilogy. The first book The Final Strife had so much potential, but the problem with trilogies is that the second book has to act like a bridge so basically nothing really happens except building the bridge between the first and last book. 

It bring in new elements, new worlds, new issues. There is death, murder, separation, large surprises, but Sylah and Jond are the main characters. Without Sylah, Anoor as a character cannot hold the story line with the people left behind. Those characters that are left behind, minus Anoor (specifically Kwame, the Wife and Hassan) really kept me invested in the Empire. This book could have done without Anoor, although she promises to be a large part in book three. I hope as a character she becomes more investment-worthy, but I really do not see the relationship with Sylah as anything beyond lust. Even Sylah's last decision in this book is disappointing and immature. 

If like me, you really understand the deep love and hurt between Sylah and Jond, then Battle Drum keeps things exciting for a little bit. It has nothing to do with the non-cis, gender or pronoun issue, although there is a glossary of pronouns for characters at the end of this book.  It really has to do with the maturity of the relationship. For example, I think the relationship between Loot and his husband Fayl was very deep. Loot's actions may be messed up, however, it is Fayl's compassion as well as his fierce loyalty despite his own misgivings that gives depth to this relationship. 

If I were to "sell" this book to students, I will probably wait until the last one comes out. This book cannot be a stand alone and it does not end in a way that would sustain reluctant readers to wait for the third book. 

From the Publisher:

Anoor is the first blue-blooded ruler of the Wardens’ Empire. But when she is accused of a murder she didn’t commit, her reign is thrown into turmoil. She must solve the mystery and clear her name without the support of her beloved, Sylah.

Sylah braves new lands to find a solution for the hurricane that threatens to destroy her home. But in finding answers, she must make a decision: Should she sacrifice her old life in order to raise up her sword once more?

Hassa’s web of secrets grows ever thicker as she finds herself on the trail of crimes in the city. Her search uncovers the extent of the atrocities of the empire’s past and present. Now she must guard both her heart and her land.

The three women find their answers, but not the answers they wanted. The drumbeat of change thrums throughout the world.

And it sings a song of war.

Ready we will be, when the Ending Fire comes,
When the Child of Fire brings the Battle Drum,
The Battle Drum,
The Battle Drum.
Ready we will be, for war will come.

Publication Information:

Author: Saara El-Arifi

Publisher: Del Ray (May 23, 2023)

Bio: Saara El-Arifi is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Final Strife, the first part of a trilogy inspired by her Ghanaian and Sudanese heritage. She has lived in many countries, had many jobs and owned many more cats. El-Arifi knew she was a storyteller from the moment she told her first lie. Over the years she has perfected her tall tales into epic ones. She currently resides in London, UK, as a full-time procrastinator.

The Wicked King (Folk of the Air Book 2)

This book follows The Cruel Prince

From the Publisher:

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.
The first lesson is to make yourself strong.
After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.
When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

My Thoughts:

The last book does not come out for another 2 months. Not good for me. I think what makes this book so binge worthy is that it is so complicated. I know I said that in the first review, but as someone who reads a lot of this genre, I was still surprised at what happens in the story. The characters do not do what I think they will do. They also do not react the way I think they do. I am left questioning motives, emotions, schemes. . .all the best things. 

Last book The Queen of Nothing

And I Darken

This trilogy is touted as YA's answer to Game of Thrones. Set in the Ottoman Empire, this first book  has all the necessary elements that will keep readers connected. If teen readers like the backstabbing, court intrigue, spying and naked ambition of the Westeros folks, this book has all of that, minus the supernatural threat of the white walkers.

The female protagonist, Lada Dragwyla will remind readers of a mix of Cersei's ambition, Daenerys' leadership and Arya's brutal fighting skills. Although she goes soft for Mehmed and her brother Radu, unlike some of YA's bad ass heroine's like Katniss Everdeen and Beatrice Prior, she is willing to more quickly turn her back on others who do not giver her what she wants, even if it means being alone.

Description:

NO ONE EXPECTS A PRINCESS TO BE BRUTAL. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, who’s expected to rule a nation, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.
But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.
From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes the first book in a dark, sweeping new series in which heads will roll, bodies will be impaled . . . and hearts will be broken.

Last words:

"Not Dragwyla," she said. "Lada Dracul. I am no longer the daughter of the dragon." She lifted her chin, sights set on the horizon. "I am the dragon."

The Girl of Fire and Thorns Trilogy by Rae Carson

I have no excuses, but here are my excuses - I finished my doctorate a year ago and was in an administration job,  while also trying to do research and publish as well as get my abstracts chosen for research conferences. So, my reading is behind.

The great part of being behind on my reading is that I am not waiting with bated breath for these authors to pump out the next book in their trilogy. 

This trilogy is another badass girl is gonna save the world all by her damn self trilogy (Hunger Games, Divergent, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera).

What I like about this chosen girl, Elisa, is that she is fat, like seam busting fat. She is the chosen one, but she doesn't know why and no one really clues her in so she needs to rely on her own wits and her heavy body to not betray her.

She is nowhere near perfect, but she transforms herself and she thinks about her people first. Nice.