Book Review: The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

Book Review: The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo


The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher, Tordotcom, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was immediately intrigued when I heard that a fantasy retelling of The Great Gatsby told from Jordan Baker’s perspective was in the works. I’ve always been fascinated by The Great Gatsby, both by the characters and Fitzgerald’s writing style. It’s not the most accessible of novels, despite its brevity, but there’s something magnetic about it, much as there is that same special magnetism surrounding the title character himself. I was very interested in seeing how these characters translated in the hands of another, with magic added to the mix. The author did a pretty great job capturing the tone and feel of the original while still making the story their own.

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Book Review: The King’s Blood (The Dagger and the Coin, #2) by Daniel Abraham

Book Review: The King’s Blood (The Dagger and the Coin, #2) by Daniel Abraham

The King’s Blood by Daniel Abraham

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Dagger and the Coin (Book #2 of 5)

Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy

Pages: 517 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 3rd May 2012 by Orbit


The King’s Blood was a magnificent sequel that expanded upon everything the previous book built.

“Wars are easier to start than end, and where they take you is rarely where you intended to go… It will be better for all of us to avoid it.”

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Double Cover Reveal: The Frostfire Sage, & The Forever Night by Steven Kelliher

Double Cover Reveal: The Frostfire Sage, & The Forever Night by Steven Kelliher

Hi everyone! Petrik from Novel Notions here.

Today, We’re here to bring you an exciting and gorgeous cover reveal, not one but for TWO books! They’re for The Frostfire Sage and The Forever Night by Steven Kelliher. We did the cover reveal to the The Valley of Embers, and now we’re honored and grateful that Kelliher has decided to allow Novel Notions to host the cover reveal to his books once more. Without further ado, check out these cover arts!

Cover arts by Pierre Raveneau
Cover design by Andrei Bat


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Book Review: Sword and Pen (The Great Library, #5) by Rachel Caine

Book Review: Sword and Pen (The Great Library, #5) by Rachel Caine

Sword and Pen by Rachel Caine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars.

Series: The Great Library (Book 5 of 5)

Genre:  Young adult, alternate history, historical fantasy, fantasy

Published: Sept 2019 by Berkley Books (US) and Allison & Busby (UK)


Much to my delight, Sword and Pen delivered a truly satisfying and emotional conclusion to The Great Library, a spectacular YA series that has earned a spot as one of my favourites.

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Book review: Spellslinger (Spellslinger, #1) by Sebastien de Castell

Book review: Spellslinger (Spellslinger, #1) by Sebastien de Castell

Cover art illustrated by: Dale Halvorsen
Interior card art illustrated by Sam Hadley

 

Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Spellslinger (Book #1 of 6)

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult Fantasy

Pages: 416 pages (Hardcover edition)

Published: 4th May 2017 by Hot Key Books


Spellslinger is a highly entertaining and engrossing start to this hexalogy.

Normally when I see a promising sounding book and notice that it is YA, I immediately lower my expectations for it as I have not always had the best experience with the genre. That has steadily changed over the last few years though, as more and more YA books have surprised me. When Spellslinger quietly showed up on my radar, though, I had no such reservations. I love Sebastien de Castell’s writing that much and will give him the benefit of the doubt any day of the week, and I am thrilled to say that it did not betray my trust in the least.

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Cover Reveal: Unbound (Songs of Chaos #2) by Michael R. Miller

Cover Reveal: Unbound (Songs of Chaos #2) by Michael R. Miller

Hi everyone! Petrik and Eon from Novel Notions here.

We’re honored to once again welcome Michael Miller to our blog. When Michael was last here, it was for the cover reveal of his Dragon’s Blade Trilogy. This time around it’s for the cover reveal of Unbound, the sequel to his best selling Ascendant. If you are unfamiliar with this series, The Songs of Chaos is a dragon rider epic that takes inspiration from such celebrated works as Eragon and Pern. In Michael’s own words “It’s about a serving boy who defies society to save a blind dragon from death and rises to become a dragon rider. A bit of cultivation/progression magic is sprinkled into this one.” Sounds bloody awesome if you ask us!

Right, no more tarrying, behold the cover!

Cover art by Randy Vargas

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Book Review: Blacklight Born (The Combat Codes Saga, #3) by Alexander Darwin

Book Review: Blacklight Born (The Combat Codes Saga, #3) by Alexander Darwin

ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Cover art illustrated by: Felix Ortiz

Cover art designed by: STK.Kreations

Blacklight Born by Alexander Darwin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Combat Codes Saga (Book #3 of 3)

Genre: Science fiction, Dystopia, Martial Arts

Pages: 379 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 14th July 2021 by Insight Forge Press (Self-published)


To my own bafflement, I finally finished reading a series for the first time this year.

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Book Review: The Pagan Lord (The Last Kingdom, #7) by Bernard Cornwell

Book Review: The Pagan Lord (The Last Kingdom, #7) by Bernard Cornwell

The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Last Kingdom (Book #7 of 13)

Genre: Historical fiction

Pages: 321 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 26th September 2013 by HarperCollins


For the first time ever in the series, I actually think The Pagan Lord felt almost completely like a filler book.

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Petrik’s Top 10 Books of the Year So Far (1st January-30th June 2021)

Petrik’s Top 10 Books of the Year So Far (1st January-30th June 2021)

Click here if you want to see the list of all the books I’ve read so far this year: Petrik’s Year in Books (2021)

Between 1st January 2021 until 30th June 2021, I’ve read and reviewed 51 books (25k pages).

Please read this first. There will be three rules I set in this list in order for me to give appreciation to more authors rather than having only a few authors hoarding this list. These rules allow me to highlight more authors, and at the same time, I’ll also be able to include both new and older books (many of them still need attention) that I read within this year.

  • Rereads aren’t included.
  • One book per author.
  • The books listed here are not all exclusively published this year; the list consists of the top books I read for the first time within this year. Non-2021 published books on this list will have their first date of publication included.

Do note that although there’s a rank to this list, I HIGHLY recommend every book/series listed below because I loved all of them immensely, and they received a rating of 4.5 or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Without further ado, here are the top 10 books I’ve read this year so far! (All full reviews of the books listed can be found on Novel Notions and my Goodreads page.)

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