Novel Notions

Book Review: Blood of an Exile (Dragons of Terra, #1) by Brian Naslund

July 17, 2019 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

ARC provided by the publisher—Pan Macmillan—in exchange for an honest review.

Blood of an Exile by Brian Naslund

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Dragons of Terra (Book #1 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy

Pages: 416 pages (Hardcover edition)

Published: August 8th, 2019 by Tor (UK) & August 6th, 2019 by Tor (US)

Blood of an Exile has dragons and dragonslayer, if you love a great fantasy debut with dragons, I doubt you’ll be reading the rest of this review.

And yet I will still write one. Blood of an Exile is Brian Naslund’s debut. It’s the first book in the Dragons of Terra trilogy. The story follows the Silas Bershad the Flawless, an exile who was supposed to die after he was caught trying to assassinate a noble. Bershad, the most famous and successful dragonslayer in the world, receive a task from the man who exiled him in the first place. The mission is to kill a king and save an innocent child in captive, only then he’ll be pardoned from his crime. With that kind of nickname, the premise led me to believe that this would be an ultimate Gary-Stu story but what I got was something more in-depth and empathizing. Without giving spoilers, there’s a rule to Bershad’s rumored “immortality” and “strength”; he’s not always immortal and full of strength 24 hours, and I found the mystery behind his power to be one of the main driving force of the narrative.

“Heroes and villains morphing out of the same people based on rumors and reputations and the simple passage of time.

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Books review: Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews

July 16, 2019 Haifa Comments 0 Comment

This post includes reviews of the 3 available books of the Hidden Legacy series. All 3 reviews are spoiler-free.

What is it with Ilona Andrews‘ books that keeps me awake until dawn or makes me steal a few precious minutes here and there every time I have a break? I can think of multiple reasons, including amazing female characters, flowing and funny writing, original magic systems or imaginative worlds but I honestly can’t settle for one that makes their books stand out this much in the Urban Fantasy genre! Since reading and ~~obsessing over~~ absolutely loving Kate Daniels (the best UF series I’ve read to date), I kept looking for a new UF series that would make me feel the same pleasure and the same level of immersion. But here I am, for the third time in two years, coming back to basics! …

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Blog Tour: The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

July 15, 2019 Petrik Leo Comments 4 comments

Hi everyone! Petrik from Novel Notions here. We, the team at Novel Notions, are very thrilled and honored that we were asked by Orbit to kick-off the massive blog tour for The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter. I loved this novel. It’s been four months since I finished this African-inspired epic fantasy debut and I must admit that once in a while, this work of magnificent still sneaks up on my mind. If you haven’t read it, I strongly urge you to give it a go. Without further ado, here’s my interview with Evan Winter.

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Book review: Jade War (The Green Bone Saga, #2) by Fonda Lee

July 14, 2019 Petrik Leo Comments 7 comments

ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

Jade War by Fonda Lee

Petrik’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

TS’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Green Bone Saga (Book #2 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Pages: 624 pages (UK paperback edition)

Published: July 25th, 2019 by Orbit (UK) & July 23rd, 2019 by Orbit (US)

Petrik’s Review

Absolutely amazing; Jade War was a brilliantly compelling sequel filled with skillfully-written characterizations and tension-packed action scenes.

I read this novel with four other readers of different ethnicity—TS, Emma, Jenia, and Nils—living in different parts of the world, and all of us pretty much agreed that we were in love with—and terrified by—the events in Jade War. It’s satisfying and astonishing that Lee was able to successfully create a sequel as good as this. Jade War topped all the stunning quality in Jade City, which has won many readers’ hearts and the World Fantasy Award trophy last year. But Fonda Lee did it spectacularly. Again, Jade War was unbelievably better than the first book. The fantasy genre needs more urban high fantasy as refreshing and great as this series.

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Doctor Sleep (The Shining, #2)

July 12, 2019 Celeste Comments 0 Comment

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Revisiting a famed story over 35 years after its original publication has to be terrifying for any author, even the King of Horror. However, King handled this with great aplomb and, though I was skeptical in the beginning, I feel that he did right by Dan Torrence. In his author’s note King said that this story spawned from two questions: “Whatever happened to that kid from The Shining?” and “What would have happened to Danny’s troubled father if he had found Alcoholics Anonymous instead of trying to get by with what people in AA called “white-knuckle sobriety”?” Through Doctor Sleep, we get answers to both of these questions, but with Danny himself standing in for Jack Torrence in the alcohol department.

“There are other worlds than these.”

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Book Review: The Bone Ships (The Tide Child, #1) BY R.J. Barker

July 10, 2019 Petrik Leo Comments 2 comments

ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Tide Child (Book #1 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy, High fantasy

Pages: 496 pages (UK paperback edition)

Published: September 26th, 2019 by Orbit (UK) & September 24th, 2019 by Orbit (US)

Highly imaginative world-building with a large focus on sea voyages and naval warfare. …

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Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

July 9, 2019 Celeste Comments 2 comments

Educated by Tara Westover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tara Westover’s Educated is a case of truth being stranger than fiction. I seldom read nonfiction because I often have a hard time connecting to a book if it doesn’t have a compelling story to tell, and will find myself fighting boredom and finally abandoning the book. That was never a danger with Educated. Westover’s memoir is horrifying and poignant and powerful, and it captivated me in a way that few books outside the fantasy genre have. It’s a story that I can’t stop thinking about, and I truly believe that it will stay with me for a long time to come. It also made me insanely thankful for my family and upbringing, my freedom and education.

“My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs.”

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Celeste’s Top 10 Books of the Year so Far (January 1st, 2019-June 30th, 2019)

July 8, 2019 Celeste Comments 3 comments

The featured image above was specifically designed by Felix Ortiz for Novel Notions’ Top 10 Lists. His work is amazing, and we feel incredibly fortunate to have been favored with it. Thank you so much, Felix!

So far, 2019 has been an incredible reading year for me. Between January 1st and June 30th I read right around 60 books, and have found a number of new favorites. It was incredibly difficult to narrow my list down to ten books, but I finally managed it. There will be a handful of honorable mentions at the end of this post, for those I just couldn’t bare to not include. I’m taking a page from Petrik and following three rules for my list:

1. Only one book per author.
2. Rereads don’t count.
3. The books were new to me, but didn’t have to be published this year.

For the first time, I’m ranking my reads. That being said, every single book on this list was a 5 star read and I highly recommend them all. You can view my full review of each book (including the honorable mentions) by clicking the link in each title. And now, without further ado, here are my favorite books of the past six months. …

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Book Review: The Poppy War

July 7, 2019 TS Chan Comments 2 comments

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Poppy War (Book 1)

Genre: Fantasy, military fantasy

First published: 1st May 2018 by Harper Voyager (US) & 3rd May 2018 by Harper Voyager (UK)

I wanted to love The Poppy War quite desperately given its inspiration (and gorgeous cover).

The Poppy War is firstly a welcome change to the standard western Europe medieval setting and secondly, it is an allegory to the history of China. The narrative casts a harsh light on the brutal history of early 20th century China, specifically the genocide of the Nanjing Massacre. The mythology and culture present in the story are also so closely depicted that the novel almost reads like historical fiction, albeit in a secondary world.
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Book Review: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

July 5, 2019 Petrik Leo Comments 7 comments

ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Stand-alone

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Pages: 384 pages

Published: September 12th, 2019 by Orbit (UK) & September 10th, 2019 by Redhook (US)

Gorgeous and magical; it’s not a stretch to call The Ten Thousand Doors of January a magnificent physical manifestation of a grimoire.

Orbit did it again. The Ten Thousand Doors of January has shot to the top of my TBR since the moment I saw the cover and heard about the premise; I was charmed and can safely say that I don’t think I’ve read many books as beautifully written as this novel. I’ve been saying this over and over again for a while now; when it comes to modern SFF debuts, just read everything that Orbit publishes. SFF books published by Orbit these days has a strong chance to satisfy your reading preferences and this novel amplified that notion. I would also like to give a shout out to Emily Byron, who made sure this book reached me for my review, and Maddie Hall, the one in charge of the design behind the ARC packaging of this book; easily the most beautiful ARC package I’ve ever received.

Picture: My ARC of The Ten Thousand Doors of January

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