The Adventures of Amina Al- Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Pages: 496 

Publisher: Harper Voyager 

Released: 28th of February 2023 

Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.

 What I Have to Say 

This book was everything I wanted it to be! It was a wonderful historical setting full of diversity and the kind of rich mix of cultures that really makes the world interesting, it was a beautiful arrangements of fantasy creatures and elements that went into this world to make it just that much more exciting. And it was a character who was different and interesting and funny! 

I don't honestly know what to say other than that. It was a thrilling book that engrossed me completely, maybe not from the first page, but from very early on. There were so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming. It was just perfection. 

I appreciate a slightly older character. Not being a young spry teenager myself anymore, it was really nice to read about someone a bit different in one of these books. I couldn't relate to her entirely as she's a little older than me and a parent, but I've never found that an obstacle to liking the character. 

I just want to scream about this book from the treetops! Go read it! 

5 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood

Pages: 416 

Publisher: Magpie 

Released: 16th of February 2023

From the Sunday Times bestselling historical fantasy author of THE SHADOW IN THE GLASS comes a tour-de-force of faerie bargains, perfect for fans of THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LA RUE, MEXICAN GOTHIC, and TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY

A dance with the fae will change everything

1919. In a highland village forgotten by the world, harvest season is over and the young who remain after war and flu have ravaged the village will soon head south to make something of themselves.

Moira Jean and her friends head to the forest for a last night of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She had plans to leave once – but her lover died in France and with him, her future. The friends light a fire, sing and dance. But with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees.

The fae are here.

Suddenly Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away. The iron medal of her lost love, pinned to her dress, protected her from magic.

For the Fae feel forgotten too. Lead by the darkly handsome Lord of the Fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the Lord to save her friends – and fast, for the longer one spends with the Fae, the less like themselves they are upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltine, they will be lost forever…

Completely bewitching, threaded with Highland charm and sparkling with dark romance, this is a fairytale that will carry you away.

TW: obsession, toxic relationship, sickness, death, injury, brief suicide mentions, grief 

What I Have to Say 

This is how to do fae romance right. It was obsession, it was tricks, it was every twisted thing I want from a fey who's become interested in a human. It was good because it wasn't love. It wasn't treated as love. I didn't like the ending, but up until that it was everything I wanted it to be. 

I loved the relationships that Moira Jean had with different ones of the fey. The brownie was my favourite. I also loved how the changeling flirted with her and made the book so much gayer. I like how Moira Jean's bisexuality was acknowledged in a way that fitted in with the times though I do wish there had been more of it. 

Moira Jean's grief made her character and I don't think she would have been the same without it. It was a good way of getting more romance into the book because there were flashbacks. I don't think it would have been the same book without it. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and I hope there'll be more in the genre like this. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Magpie for providing me with this copy for review. 

Babel (or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang

Pages: 560

Publisher: Harper Voyager 

Released: 23rd of August 2022 

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

Oxford, 1836.

The city of dreaming spires.

It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.

And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.

Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.

Until it became a prison…

But can a student stand against an empire?

What I Have to Say 

This book. Omg. It was everything I could have asked for. A beautiful and necessary book on the colonialism and racism in British history. Full of magic and knowledge as well as betrayal and pain, Kuang's Babel institute is the perfect example of the horrors of colonialism and the injustices that Britain is built on. 

This book was everything to me, but I can see how it would be a marmite book. Be aware that it is full to the bursting of language facts and language roots with the most complicated magic system I have ever seen. If you love languages as much as I do, then this is the book for you, but if it's not consider how much language nerding you can cope with. Don't be put off too much by the complexity though. Kuang does a really good job of explaining everything. There were a couple of bits that I had to reread to make sure I understood fully and the silver working needed the three examples she gave to explain, but I kept up very well. 

At it's heart though Babel is the story of people and their reactions to the mistreatment they encounter. The characters are really easy to like and feel for. This is definitely a book you will need tissues for! 

This is  a book that's going to stay with me for a long time. 

5 stars 

My thanks go to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for providing me with this book to review. 

The Children of Gods and Fighting Men by Shauna Lawless

Pages: 416 

Publisher: Head of Zeus 

Released: 1st of September 2022 

The first in a gripping new historical fantasy series that intertwines Irish mythology with real-life history, The Children of Gods and Fighting Men is the thrilling debut novel by Shauna Lawless.

They think they've killed the last of us...

981 AD. The Viking King of Dublin is dead. His young widow, Gormflaith, has ambitions for her son – and herself – but Ireland is a dangerous place and kings tend not to stay kings for long. Gormflaith also has a secret. She is one of the Fomorians, an immortal race who can do fire-magic. She has kept her powers hidden at all costs, for there are other immortals in this world – like the Tuatha Dé Danann, a race of warriors who are sworn to kill Fomorians.

Fódla is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann with the gift of healing. Her kind dwell hidden in a fortress, forbidden to live amongst the mortals. Fódla agrees to help her kin by going to spy on Brian Boru, a powerful man who aims to be High King of Ireland. She finds a land on the brink of war – a war she is desperate to stop. However, preventing the loss of mortal lives is not easy with Ireland in turmoil and the Fomorians now on the rise...

What I Have To Say 

This book was very meh for me. I didn't hate it at all and it was easy to read, but I just didn't really get much out of it. I liked one of the view point characters, but the other was just very manipulative and used her body several times in order to get her way. I get that she was grasping for power in any way she could, but it annoyed me that the only ways she could get that power was bossing her son around or having sex with people. 

I also expected more battles. We seemed to be constantly on the edge of one, but it didn't actually happen until the end of the book. There were a lot of negotiations or almost battles. It meant that there didn't really seem to be a lot of danger in the book so there wasn't a lot of excitement. 

I did like the history element. It was interesting to learn about the Vikings in Ireland and see how much conflict between the Norse religion and the Christian church. I like how much she used real history and events to make up the story but still had fantasy elements. 

I probably won't bother continuing with this series. 

3 stars

My thanks go to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for providing me with this copy for review.

 

Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong

Pages: 528

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton 

Released: 27th of September 2022 

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends comes the first book in a captivating new duology following an ill-matched pair of spies posing as a married couple to investigate a series of brutal murders in 1930s Shanghai.

It’s 1931 in Shanghai, and the stage is set for a new decade of intrigue.

Four years ago, Rosalind Lang was brought back from the brink of death, but the strange experiment that saved her also stopped her from sleeping and aging—and allows her to heal from any wound. In short, Rosalind cannot die. Now, desperate for redemption from her traitorous past, she uses her abilities as an assassin for her country.

Code name: Fortune.

But when the Japanese Imperial Army begins its invasion march, Rosalind’s mission pivots. A series of murders is causing unrest in Shanghai, and the Japanese are under suspicion. Rosalind’s new orders are to infiltrate foreign society and identify the culprits behind the terror plot before more of her people are killed.

To reduce suspicion, however, she must pose as the wife of another Nationalist spy, Orion Hong, and though Rosalind finds Orion’s cavalier attitude and playboy demeanour infuriating, she is willing to work with him for the greater good. But Orion has an agenda of his own, and Rosalind has secrets that she wants to keep buried. As they both attempt to unravel the conspiracy, the two spies soon find that there are deeper and more horrifying layers to this mystery than they ever imagined.

What I Have to Say 

I put so much expectation on this book and I'm so glad it didn't disappoint.  I think I liked it even better than These Violent Delights. Spies and immortality is more my kind of thing than gangsters and monsters, so this was just right up my alley. The fake marriage trope was pulled off really well. I wasn't especially into the trope when I started the book, but with Orion's casual use of "beloved" I was quickly invested in their relationship. 

 I would honestly give my life for Alisa Montagova  and Phoebe Hong. They are perfect I and adore them. I don't know what it is about little sisters, but Chloe Gong writes them perfectly.  Honestly, all the characters in Foul Lady Fortune were wonderful. There wasn't a single of the main characters who didn't stick out for me in different ways. It was a very good cast. 

I can't end this review without talking about the historical elements. I love a good historical as it gives me a glimpse into a historical setting and China has such an interesting history, especially during and after the second world war, so I was really interested to read more about it. Half of me wants to research and find out more about the time period and the other half wants to keep reading Chloe Gong's books and see it all unfold alongside the plot. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for providing me with this copy for review.