Review - Strike the Zither (Kingdom of Three, #1) by Joan He

 

 

 Title: Strike the Zither (Kingdom of Three, #1)

Author: Joan He

Pages: 359

Publisher: Text Publishing

 Release Date: 1st November 2022

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 A dazzling new fantasy from New York Times and Indie bestselling author Joan He, Strike the Zither is a powerful, inventive, and sweeping fantasy that reimagines the Chinese classic tale of the Three Kingdoms.

The year is 414 of the Xin Dynasty, and chaos abounds. A puppet empress is on the throne. The realm has fractured into three factions and three warlordesses hoping to claim the continent for themselves.

But Zephyr knows it’s no contest.

Orphaned at a young age, Zephyr took control of her fate by becoming the best strategist of the land and serving under Xin Ren, a warlordess whose loyalty to the empress is double-edged—while Ren’s honor draws Zephyr to her cause, it also jeopardizes their survival in a war where one must betray or be betrayed. When Zephyr is forced to infiltrate an enemy camp to keep Ren’s followers from being slaughtered, she encounters the enigmatic Crow, an opposing strategist who is finally her match. But there are more enemies than one—and not all of them are human.

 

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My Review:

 *I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Text Publishing and NetGalley*

Zephyr is a renowned strategist who serves Xin Ren, a young woman who fights for the empress against those trying to usurp her.

Zephyr would do anything for Ren, even seemingly betray her in order for her plans to come to fruition.

While in the enemy camp, Zephyr trades barbs with their strategist, Crow.

Can Zephyr help Ren to save the empress and the realm?

The blurb for this book intrigued me - I liked that the protagonist was a female strategist. However, I ended up being disappointed.

Zephyr was a mixed protagonist for me - I liked how loyal she was to Ren, and how far she would go to make sure things happened exactly as she wanted. However, I also found her perhaps a little arrogant and didn't really connect with her. I felt she could have done with fleshing out a bit more, as could Ren, who seemed two-dimensional at times. I liked Lotus, Cloud, Dewdrop and Tourmaline as they had a bit more personality.

The setting was interesting and I would have liked to find out more about the empress and their history/family.

The plot was up and down for me - straight away the reader is dumped into the story and for a while I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. It felt like I was expected to know everything about the situation straight away, which was jarring. Parts of the book felt rushed and I struggled to get into the storyline. I did consider DNFing, but I persevered and there were several things that I didn't foresee, but I wasn't invested enough to be shocked.

I liked the themes of honor, loyalty and sisterhood.

I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.

Overall, this was a mixed read.

 

 

Review - A Magic Stepped in Poison (The Book of Tea, #1) by Judy I. Lin

 

Title: A Magic Stepped in Poison (The Book of Tea, #1)

Author: Judy I. Lin

Pages: 380

Publisher: Titan Books

Release Date: 29th March 2022

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother."

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

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My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley*

Ning's life was changed forever on the day her mother died from drinking poisoned tea. Tea that Ning herself brewed.

Now Ning's sister has also been poisoned, and Ning finds herself making her way to the imperial city to compete in the competition that will appoint the new palace shennong-shi (tea master). Ning hopes that by winning she will save her sister's life through a favour from the princess.

Once in the imperial city, Ning finds herself embroiled in court politics and discovers secrets that threaten the future of the empire.

Can Ning survive the competition long enough to save her sister?

The gorgeous cover drew me to this book, as did the concept of magical tea.

Ning was a likeable protagonist. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind.

Whilst I liked several of the supporting characters, I didn't have a favourite character overall.

The setting was interesting, and we are told a little bit of history.

The concept of tea masters - shennong-shi - and the tea magic was my favourite aspect of the book. I found it really interesting and would have liked to find out more.

The plot was mixed for me as I preferred the first half and lost interest a little in the second half. I wasn't very invested in what happened and nothing particularly surprised me.

I am a little disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.

Overall, this was a mixed read.

 

Review - Poster Girl by Veronica Roth

 

 

 

 Title: Poster Girl

Author: Veronica Roth

Pages: 302

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Release Date: 18th October 2022

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

A fallen regime. A missing child. A chance at freedom.

WHAT'S RIGHT IS RIGHT. Sonya Kantor knows this slogan - she lived by it for most of her life. For decades, everyone in the Seattle-Portland megalopolis lived under it, as well as constant surveillance in the form of the Insight, an ocular implant that tracked every word and every action, rewarding or punishing by a rigid moral code set forth by the Delegation.

Then there was a revolution. The Delegation fell. Its most valuable members were locked in the Aperture, a prison on the outskirts of the city. And everyone else, now free from the Insight's monitoring, went on with their lives.

Sonya, former poster girl for the Delegation, has been imprisoned for ten years when an old enemy comes to her with a deal: find a missing girl who was stolen from her parents by the old regime, and earn her freedom. The path Sonya takes to find the child will lead her through an unfamiliar, crooked post-Delegation world where she finds herself digging deeper into the past - and her family's dark secrets - than she ever wanted to.

 

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My Review:

 *I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton*

Everyone knows Sonya Kantor's face - she was the poster girl for the Delegation who ruled the Seattle-Portland megalopolis.

The Delegation monitored everyone via Insights - ocular implants that recorded everything that was done and said.

When the Delegation was overthrown, Sonya was imprisoned alongside other people deemed to have done wrong by serving the Delegation.

Ten years after the fall of the Delegation, Sonya is given the chance to earn her freedom by finding out what happened to a missing girl who was taken from her family by the Delegation.

Sonya's search uncovers buried secrets and truths she might not want to face.

The blurb for this book really intrigued me, and I was looking forward to reading it.

I found Sonya to be a likeable and relatable protagonist. She was being punished for something that she'd done as a teen, something that wasn't harmful, but as the face of the Delegation she couldn't exactly be allowed to walk around freely by the new regime.

I liked finding out more about Sonya and I really felt for her - her family were all dead and she was basically waiting to die herself, living with barely anything of her own, in a place that sounded really stifling and depressing.

I really liked Sonya's relationship with her neighbour Nikhil, who was someone she knew from before their imprisonment.

The setting was interesting, as was the comparison between the Delegation and the Triumvirate who replaced them - it was quite thought-provoking.

The plot was enjoyable and held my attention. While I was surprised by some things that happened, I wasn't gripped.

The writing style was easy to follow.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

 

 

Review - Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

 

 

 

Title: Alone with You in the Ether

Author: Olivie Blake

Pages: 272

Publisher: Tor Books

Release Date: 1st June 2022

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes an intimate and contemporary study of time, space, and the nature of love. Alone With You In The Ether explores what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you're not broken.


Chicago, sometime —
Two people meet in the armory of the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy.

After their meeting, those things do not change. Everything else, however, is slightly different.

Both obsessive, eccentric personalities, Aldo Damiani and Charlotte Regan struggle to be without each other from the moment they meet. The truth—that he is a clinically depressed, anti-social theoretician and she is a manipulative liar with a history of self-sabotage—means the deeper they fall in love, the more troubling their reliance on each other becomes.

 

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My Review:

 

 *I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Tor and NetGalley*

Charlotte Regan is a volunteer tour guide at an art museum who has been in trouble for making counterfeits.

Aldo Damiani is studying for a PhD in maths and is obsessed with bees and time travel.

When the two meet, they are instantly drawn to each other.

Aldo and Regan both have their own struggles, but can they make things work between them?

I wasn't a big fan of the previous book that I read by the author, but I decided to give them another go and requested a copy of this book on NetGalley.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. It felt rather messy at times, but it was also very honest about mental health struggles.

I didn't feel that I particularly connected to either Aldo or Regan, but out of the two of them I preferred Aldo. I did find Regan to be an interesting character at times, and I did feel for her, but I didn't find her very likeable.

The plot was mixed for me. I definitely preferred the first half as it felt like not much happened during the second half and I lost interest a little.

I struggled with the writing style at times, especially at the beginning, and I wasn't sure I would even end up making it to the end.

I am disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more, but I have to admit that I did go into this book thinking that I probably wouldn't love it.

Overall, this was a mixed read.

 

 

 

Review - The Splendid City by Karen Heuler

 

 

 Title: The Splendid City

Author: Karen Heuler

Pages: 275

Publisher: Angry Robot

Release Date: 14th June 2022

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 In the state of Liberty, water is rationed at alarming prices, free speech is hardly without a cost, and Texas has just declared itself its own country. In this society, paranoia is well-suited because eyes and ears are all around, and they are judging. Always judging. This terrifying (and yet somehow vaguely familiar) terrain is explored via Eleanor - a young woman eagerly learning about the gifts of her magic through the support of her coven.

But being a white witch is not as easy as they portray it in the books, and she's already been placed under 'house arrest' with a letch named Stan, a co-worker who wronged her in the past and now exists in the form of a cat. A talking cat who loves craft beers, picket lines, and duping and 'shooting' people.

Eleanor has no time for Stan and his shenanigans, because she finds herself helping another coven locate a missing witch which she thinks is mysteriously linked to the shortage of water in Liberty.

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My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley*

Eleanor has been sent to the new state of Liberty as a punishment for transforming her co-worker Stan into a talking cat.

Sharing an apartment with Stan is bad enough, but there is something very strange happening in Liberty - water is rationed, people are taken away in vans, and a witch has disappeared.

While Eleanor investigates what happened to the witch, Stan is determined to win a treasure hunt and will do anything to reach it first.

The premise for this book really intrigued me, especially the fact that the protagonist turned her co-worker into a talking cat.

Eleanor was a likeable and relatable protagonist. I really liked that she wasn't perfect.

Stan was an pretty awful character, but it was interesting to read from his perspective.

The setting of Liberty was interesting, and I can easily imagine something like that happening in real life.

The plot was mixed for me - while I did enjoy finding out more about Eleanor, Stan, and what was happening, my interest did wane and I struggled a little with the writing style.

I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.

Overall, this was a mixed read.

 

 

Review - The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

 

 

 Title: The Warm Hands of Ghosts

Author: Katherine Arden

Pages: 387

Publisher: Penguin

Release Date: 13th February 2024

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

The sweeping new novel from New York Times bestselling author Katherine Arden.

World War One, and as shells fall in Flanders, a Canadian nurse searches for her brother believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise in this gripping and powerful historical novel from the bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale.

January 1918. Laura Iven has been discharged from her duties as a nurse and sent back to Halifax, Canada, leaving behind a brother still fighting in the trenches of the First World War. Now home, she receives word of Freddie's death in action along with his uniform - but something doesn't quite make sense. Determined to find out more, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about ghosts moving among those still living and a strange innkeeper whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could this have happened to Freddie - but if so, where is he?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped under an overturned pillbox with an enemy soldier, a German, each of them badly wounded. Against all odds, the two men form a bond and succeed in clawing their way out. But once in No Man's Land, where can either of them turn where they won't be shot as enemy soldiers or deserters? As the killing continues, they meet a man - a fiddler - who seems to have the power to make the hellscape that surrounds them disappear. But at what price?

A novel of breathtaking scope and drama, of compulsive readability, of stunning historical research lightly worn, and of brilliantly drawn characters who will make you laugh and break your heart in a single line, The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a book that will speak to readers directly about the trauma of war and the power of those involved to love, endure and transcend it.

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My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley

A nurse in the First World War, Laura Iven is back home in Halifax, Canada after being discharged.

Laura's brother, Freddie, is still fighting as a soldier in the war, but one day Laura receives his uniform in the post.

Desperate for answers as to what happened to Freddie, Laura makes her way back to Belgium.

Laura hears whispered stories of ghosts walking alongside the living, and a man with a violin who can make people forget their troubles.

Will Laura find out what happened to Freddie?

The premise for this book really intrigued me, and I was excited to read it.

I really liked Laura as a protagonist - she was likeable and relatable. She had been through a tough time, but was still determined to help others despite still grieving herself.

Freddie, Pim, Winter and Jones were all characters that I liked, but Laura was my favourite.

Faland was an interesting character, and I liked the mystery surrounding him. He was quite a complex character, and I was never entirely sure how he would react.

The setting of Belgium in the First World War was interesting, and I thought the author did a good job of capturing some of the horror of what happened.

The plot was enjoyable and held my attention. I did find that my enjoyment dipped in the middle to second half, but only a little.

I enjoyed the split perspective narrative of Laura in her present, and then Freddie several months previous. It was interesting to see how they lined up/came together.

The writing style was easy to follow and I am interested to see what the author does next.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.

 

 

 

Review - The Empire (The Empire, #1) by Michael Ball

 

 

Title: The Empire (The Empire, #1)

Author: Michael Ball

Pages: 400

Publisher: Zaffre

Release Date: 13th October 2022

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 Welcome to The Empire Theatre.

'It's the jewel of the north, The Empire. Lord Lassiter bought it for his second wife, Lady Lillian and she supervised every detail of the restoration. There's not a finer theatre in the country'.

But The Empire is not just a theatre. From music hall to vaudeville, from revue to grand musical spectacular, it holds a special place in the nation's heart. For its audience, for its actors and singers, for the stagehands, the front-of-house staff, for its backers and its debtors - and above all for its owners - it truly is a palace of dreams.

And for young Jack Treadwell, struggling to adapt to civilian life after the horrors of the trenches, it's a lifeline. When he receives a letter out of the blue inviting him to work at The Empire, he leaps at the chance. After all, it's owned by the family of his former commanding officer, Edmund Lassiter.

But as Jack soon discovers, it is not just the actors who are donning a disguise. With whispers of a cover-up, a scandal and sibling rivalry, tensions rise, along with the curtain. For there is treachery at the heart of The Empire and a dark secret waiting in the wings. Can Jack discover the truth before it is too late, and the theatre that means so much to them all goes dark?

Following the lives and loves of the Lassiter and Treadwell families, from the aftermath of the Great War and the Roaring Twenties to the dark days of the Second World War and the Blitz, Michael Ball's debut fiction series charts the story of the high notes and the low notes of British musical theatre in all its glamour, greasepaint and glory.

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My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Bonnier Books UK and NetGalley*

 

The Empire Theatre is owned by the recently widowed Lady Lassiter. Leaving for America to mourn, the running of the theatre is left to the staff, some of whom do not wish to see the theatre do well. There are even people in the town that plot to take the Empire for themselves.
When Jack Treadwell turns up at the Empire following the suggestion of his deceased mother, he finds himself flung into a new and exciting life working at the theatre.
At the Empire, Jack makes friendships and works to save the theatre. All the while, secrets and plotting threaten to ruin everything the staff are working for.

As a fan of the author, I was intrigued to see what their debut novel would be like and it did end up surprising me.
There were a lot of characters introduced at once, which I did find a little confusing. Jack Treadwell was possibly the character that had the most runtime so to speak. He was a war veteran who had recently returned back to the UK after being in France. I liked his relationships with the other characters.
Whilst I didn't particularly have a favourite character, I did like that there was a variety of different characters with different backgrounds and motives. However, some of them did seem a bit two dimensional.
One of my favourite dynamics in the book ended up being between Joe and Agnes, which I hadn't expected at the beginning.
The setting of the 1920s was interesting, and the time period affected the story line.
The plot was enjoyable and held my attention throughout. There were several events that surprised me, and more layers to the novel than I expected. However, I was never gripped or sucked into the plot.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read.