Book Review: Jade War (Jade War Blog Tour)

Author: Fonda Lee

Genre: Fantasy

Age Range: 18+

Published: By Orbit Books on July 23rd, 2019

Content Warning: Gory violence, death, homophobia

Format I Read: Paperback

Grade: Outstanding

Note: I received a free finished copy of the book via Caffeine Book Tours and Orbit Books in exchange for an honest review

On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years.

Beyond Kekon’s borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon’s most prized resource, could make them rich – or give them the edge they’d need to topple their rivals.

Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival – and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon.

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag (2019)

Hello, lovely bookish people! It’s been some time since I disappeared from the blog without an explanation again, but we’re not going to talk about that. The Third Anuual Book Blogger Awards Round 1 hosted by May @ Forever and Everly closes tonight and I’ve been nominated by quite a few people – Kate @ Your Tita Kate, Camillea @ Camillea Reads, Shealea @ Shut Up, Shealea and Simant @ Flipping Through the Pages. Thank you all so much for thinking of me and I just wanted to say that your kind words has got me out my blogging slump. I’m finally motivated to get back to my regular posting schedule and, as my dearest friend, Shruti @ This is Lit, suggested, it’s easiest to start off with a tag. The Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag has really caught on with book bloggers in the recent years, which I’m really happy to see. I have tweaked the original questions a bit to make it more like a mid-year check-in kind of post. You can find the original questions and a slightly tweaked version on Simant’s post. Now let’s move on to the tag itself!

5 Fantasy Books That Need to Be TV Shows

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. How it works is that each Tuesday the host assigns a topic and then posts their top ten list that fits the topic. Every blogger can create their own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well and link to the host’s. The topic for May 14th, 2019 is: Page to Screen Freebie. Today I’m discussing the books I want to see be made into TV shows with a big budget just like Game of Thrones.

Book Review: Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix

Author: Julie C. Dao

Genre: Fantasy

Age Range: 13+

Published: By Philomel Books on November 6th, 2018

Content Warning: Violence and death

Format I Read: E-book

Grade: Outstanding

Princess Jade has grown up in exile, hidden away in a monastery while her stepmother, the ruthless Xifeng, rules as empress of Feng Lu. But the empire is in distress and its people are sinking into poverty and despair. Even though Jade doesn’t want the crown, she knows she is the only one who can dethrone the empress and set the world right. Ready to reclaim her place as rightful heir, Jade embarks on a quest to raise the Dragon Lords and defeat Xifeng and the Serpent God once and for all. But will the same darkness that took Xifeng take Jade, too? Or will she find the strength within to save herself, her friends, and her empire?

Top 5 Books That Are Worth Reading Again

I was a huge re-reader until a couple of years ago when I started my book blog. The pressure of keeping up with review copies and the hyped books has kept me away from picking up my old favourites again. In the recent past, old series are being renewed again or sequels are coming out years later which have necessitated re-reads from publishers themselves. The book community has also embraced re-reading as a way of defeating the dreaded reading slump or as pick-me-ups on bad days. That is why today I feel comfortable sharing a list of books from my past which I want to read once more.

10 Books That Changed My Life

One of the reasons I started this blog was because I wanted to talk about books and hope that the habit of reading would someday change another person’s life as it did mine. Today being World Book Day, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the books that have made me who I am today to illustrate the power of literature. This isn’t a recommendations post as such, but if there’s one thing that I want you to take away from this is that stories have the potential to be the catalyst people need to make their lives better. I would urge you all to pick up a book today – any book – and give it a chance. Maybe it could be the one to improve your life the way the books mentioned below helped me.

Book Review: Descendant of the Crane

Author: Joan He

Genre: Fantasy

Age Range: 13+

Published: By AW Teen on April 9th, 2019

Content Warning: Death, gory violence, slavery, suicide, torture

Format I Read: E-book

Grade: Outstanding

Note: I received a free digital ARC of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review

Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death… because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago.

Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant and alluring investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?

Book Review: Shadow of the Fox

Author: Julie Kagawa

Genre: Fantasy

Age Range: 13+

Published: By HQ Young Adult on November 1st, 2018

Content Warning: Gory violence, animal abuse and death

Format I Read: Kindle e-book

Grade: Outstanding

Note: I received a free digital ARC of the book via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review

One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos. Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.

Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure — one part of the ancient scroll.

There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart. With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.

5 Essential Things That Will Make Any Book Unputdownable

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. How it works is that each Tuesday the host assigns a topic and then posts their top ten list that fits the topic. Every blogger can create their own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well and link to the host’s. The topic for April 2nd, 2019 is: Top Ten Things That Make Me Immediately Want to Read a Book. I’m going to talk about my favourite tropes/elements in the sci-fi and fantasy genre in this post and also recommend one diverse book that uses a particular trope well.

Book Review: The Gilded Wolves

Author: Roshani Chokshi

Genre: Fantasy

Age Range: 13+

Published: By Wednesday Books on January 15th, 2019

Content Warning: Child abuse, anti-Semetism, racism, violence and death

Format I Read: Hardcover

Grade: Outstanding

It’s 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood. Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history — but only if they can stay alive.