Title – Thief’s Magic Book One of Millennium’s Rule
Author – Trudi Canavan
Genre – Fantasy
Length – 553
I featured this as my Fridaybookshare a couple of weeks ago.
Blurb
Sometimes magic lies within…
When the young student Tyen unearths an ancient book, it opens the door to a realm of mystery and danger. For it holds a clue to a disaster facing the world.
Elsewhere, in a land ruled by priests, Rielle has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she has a talent for it, and desperate times may force her to risk the Angels’s wrath.
But not everything is as Tyen and Rielle have been raised to believe. Not the nature of magic – and not even the people they trust.
First Thoughts
I loved the start of this book, a young wizard archaeologist discovering an ancient book that was forged from a living person. I couldn’t wait to read on.
Characters
Tyen – young wizard trying to do the right thing but caught up in events and used as a scapegoat. He is forced to flee everything he knows. Because of this, I felt he was too trusting of others he met along his journey.
Riselle – she is fated to be married off with little say. When she takes matters into her own hands, well more stumbles along into situations, she makes her plight worse. There was a lot of self reflection on her part, but in all I preferred reading her story and wanted things to turn out better for her.
Style
At first I was annoyed that we had followed one character for so long and then switched to a new VP. But I was instantly drawn into Riselle’s world and had the same annoyance when the story switched from her back to Tyen.
Summary
I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but the rest didn’t live up to the start. It was not the book I was hoping it would be. It’s hard to say why without spoilers.
Final thoughts
I can’t help feeling disappointed by this book. At the start I had such high hopes for a fast, actioned packed read, which is was in the beginning. Somewhere around 300 pages, I can’t pinpoint a particular place, my attention fizzled out and it was a struggle to finish the rest of the book. I think part of that rests with the problem that I came to dislike reading Tyen’s scenes – I couldn’t picture the magic flying carts, nor the magic battles he was involved in. The magic of his world is well thought out, but for me lacking something… I’m not sure that I want to carry on with the rest of this series.
Recommend to
I believe fans of Trudi Canavan will like this book.
Rate 3 out of 5 stars.
My review last month for Rosie Amber’s book review team. #RBRT
The count down is on…
The Schedule is confirmed…
Please join us if you can.
Here’s the links for the bloggers involved. Check out their brilliant sites…
Visions of Zarua Blog Tour 2016 Schedule
Mon 27th June betweenthelinesbookblog Promo Post
Tues 28th June rosieamber Review
Wed 29th June bookwraiths Indie Wednesday feature, Guest Post & Giveaway
Thurs 30th June aliasfaithrivens Review & Interview
Fri 1st July TheTattoedBookGeek Novel extract & Promo Post
Sat 2nd July teripolen Promo Post
Sun 3rd July alinefromabook Review & Promo Post
Mon 4th July barbedwords Review & Post about Varina and her favourite recipe
Tues 5th July baubtaub Review, Interview and Giveaway
Wed 6th July shelleywilson Promo post
Thurs 7th July jenanita01 Review
Fri 8th July spookymrsgreen Promo Post
Sat 9th July thehappymeerkatreviews Review & Promo Post
Sun 10th July color me in Cyanide and Cherry Review
Sun 10th July Lucciagray Q&A
***
If you fancy checking out Visions of Zarua before the blog tour begins, please see the reviews already on Amazon UK and Amazon US and Goodreads.
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We spent a wonderful summer break last year at Whitecliff Bay. It was late August and the weather was lovely. The sea was even warm enough for the kids to swim in. As I’m preparing to send my son off to the Isle of Wight for his PGL school trip, I thought I’d go for a little weekend wander around the beautiful island.
White Cliff Bay
One of my favourite places on the Isle of Wight is Shanklin Chine. This gorgeous ravine has been open to the public since 1817. It has a drop to sea level of 105ft. It’s an inspiring place to visit and I plan to use the location in at least one of my future books.
The Chine leads you down to a beautiful beach.
I was able to capture a couple of good shots of a local buzzard.
Finally, some beach art and a gull.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this weekend wander.
This is my second attempt at audio books and I’m happy to say that I did enjoy this experience a lot more. Now the book is finished I find myself missing the times I would put it on whilst cooking the dinner, loading the dishwasher etc.
Title – The Girl on the Train
Author – Paula Hawkins
Book Type – Audio
Genre – Psychological thriller
Length – 11 hours
Narrated by Clare Corbett, India Fisher, Louise Brealey.
Blurb
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.
Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.
Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…
First Thoughts
At first it felt to me as if the story was told in diary form and I wasn’t sure I would get into it. However, I soon found the first person narrative compelled me to keep listening.
Characters
The three narrators voices were well suited to the characters and brought them to life. I soon began to understand that each of the characters were unreliable. They’ve all done things that make they hard to like, yet I still found myself enjoying the story and wanting to unravel the mess these women had gotten into.
Style
It is told in first person from the three different characters points of view. It also switches back in time to a year before this book starts – but the timeline and character VP are always explained at the start of each new section so you don’t feel lost at any point. Switching VP’s made for a compelling read / listen.
Final Thoughts
I had not listened to the hype around this book, nor did I know what it was about when I started listening to it. I did guess the outcome quite early on, but there were plenty of red herrings to keep me wondering if I had made the right guess. I was glad to be proved right and I didn’t feel cheated by the conclusion.
I really miss listening to the story – I think I have the audio book bug!
Recommend to those who enjoy psychological thrillers.
My rating – 4 stars
***
What do you think of the book and all the hype?
Are you looking forward to the film coming out later this year? I am. I think Emily Blunt will make the perfect Rachel Watson. I don’t know why it had to be relocated to America though.
Friday Book Share is created by Shelley Wilson. Check out her site for the rules. Join in and have fun discovering new books to read.
Another Friday as crept up on me and this week I would like to recommend a book that has been on my Goodreads currently reading shelf since March. As soon as I finish last week’s recommended book Thief’s Magic, I will be starting on this one.
First line of the book.
Bodies pressed in on me from all sides.
Recruit fans by adding the book blurb.
Ian Troy is one of the Shinree, a fallen people with an inherent addiction to magic. Scorned and reviled for the deadly side of their spells, the Shinree are bred as slaves. Their magic is suppressed by drugs and used only as it serves the purposes of the other races. Descended from a long line of soldiers, Ian is conscripted into the Rellan army and made to fight in their longstanding conflict against the ruthless Langorian invaders. The downfall of Rella imminent, Ian goes against orders and turns to the Crown of Stones, an ancient Shinree relic of untold power. Ignorant of its true purpose, Ian uses the crown to end the war, and pays a terrible price. A decade later, still tortured by the aftermath of that day, Ian lives as a bounty hunter in self-imposed exile. Having renounced his magical heritage, he curbs his obsession with a steady stream of wine and regret. He struggles to put it all behind him, until a fateful encounter with a pretty assassin brings Ian’s past crashing into the present. Targeted by a rogue Shinree, and a ruthless old enemy, Ian is forced to use magic again. His deadly addiction is rekindled and his life of isolation is brought to a swift end. With the land he gave up everything to protect once more in jeopardy, and his people’s future at stake, Ian becomes embroiled in a violent race for control of the Crown of Stones. To save the realms and those he cares for, Ian must embrace the thing he fears most: his own power.
Introduce the main character using only three words.
(I have to confess I don’t know him well enough yet to comment)
Delightful design (add the cover image of the book).
Audience appeal (who would enjoy reading this book?)
Fantasy fans
Your favourite line/scene.
The urgency in her voice tore at me. Aylagar was my Queen. She was my commander and my lover. The ground had settled all across the field. Weary bodies were rising up, raising their weapons to resume the killing. She could be in trouble.
But as I stared at the ring of vibrating, coloured stones in my grip, I knew what I had. And I realised I had no choice but to betray her.
Check it out on Goodreads
Have a great weekend everyone!
Film – Legend
Date – 2015
Length – 2 hours 12 minutes.
Cert 18
When I first heard Tom Hardy was doing a film about the Kray Twins and playing both Reggie and Ronny, my first thought was why? The second was how can he possibly pull it off?
I decided there and then that I didn’t want to watch it – even though I think Tom Hardy is an excellent actor.
However, the husband talked me around and I settled down with a glass of wine, fully expecting to hate the film. I don’t like gangster films and I don’t usually like films set in the 1960s. I’m a superhero, fantasy, thriller and comedy fan.
Legend took me by surprise. It was sometimes funny, sometimes gruesome, and there were touches of emotion that I wasn’t expecting. Tom Hardy did a brilliant job creating the two characters. You totally believed there were two actors playing the parts of the Kray twins.
I rate the film 4.5 stars and recommend it to everyone even if, like me, you don’t normally like gangster movies.
Now I have a craving for lemon sherbert (if you’ve seen the film you’ll understand).
Have you seen it? Have I persuaded you to give it a go?
Books, games, music, and life — filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.
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