Gemma

When it comes to this series so far, I adore the books while I'm reading them and have no interest in picking them up otherwise. For me this makes a difficult book to rate.

The writing is more like poetry than any other book that I have read. It is this quality that gives the book such a vivid atmosphere and strong characterisation. The audiobook was a fantastic addition to my reading experience as it added to the atmosphere that the book built and kept me immersed in the story.

While I found the first book to be a little slow, the pace of the second book kept increasing until the finale kept me on the edge of my seat.

I would really recommend this series.

Bloodwitch is the third instalment of the Witchlands series, my current favourite young adult series. It continues on from the second book with the same point of view characters and maintains the same quality the first two books displayed.

I loved this book and my previous reviews of the other books will give you a good idea why. I would like to emphasise in this review that I love how the romantic storylines in this series are going. All the potential couples you meet in the first book are really still getting to know each other at this point. The slow burn is really warming my heart. I can???t wait for the next book, and I???m looking forward to re-reading this one already.

Beautifully written, it reads like a myth. I adored the two main characters.

Technically DNF @ 75%

I get that its probably considered sacrilege to actively dislike a Brando Sando book, but I can't lie about this one. Elantris is failed by such a strong reliance on the “I'm not like other girls” brand of feminism and unrealistic main characters.

We have two main characters: Sarene, the Princess of a neighbouring country who is betrothed to the Raoden, the Prince of Kae. Sarene travels from her home to marry the Prince who sadly is struck by the Shaod and must be sent into the city of Elantris where all the others cursed by Shaod magic have to live. Raoden immediately upon learning the new rules of life in Elantris decides to pick the city up by its bootstraps and turn this curse into a positive. He is relentlessly positive after being told he's essentially a zombie with no hope for a future. Also, every person he recruits to his cause to make Elantris great again seems to magically have the skills he needs. The one of those scenes goes:

Raoden: Hey, wanna join us?
Recruits: Yes, sounds good. What can we do for you?
Raoden: Well if only I had someone skilled enough to build a roof.......

Hot damn, the reveals in the epilogue were fantastic.

The first thing that jumped out to me as I started Anna is how creepy and visceral the book was. The book was excellent at building terror as we moved through the story and I thought it was remarkably well done. This was probably one of the strongest aspects of the book. It really elevated the first and third part of the book but during the middle where the character was in a relatively stable environment it meant that the novel dragged a little. As the book is written from Anna???a point of view, it???s her emotions that really help to build the tension and atmosphere so when she gets any form of safety it means the atmosphere falls flat.

Unfortunately, the plot didn???t add to the reading experience. I don???t think it was a negative aspect but it was fairly predictable and a plot line I think I???ve seen before in similar settings. The characters did exactly what I thought they would, so as the plot wore on I enjoyed it less. I think if there???d been a bit more to the plot, maybe subverting some of my expectations it could have been a really solid read.

I thought Anna was a good read, a definite page turner as the first part hooks you in deep. I enjoyed soaking in the suspense and atmosphere the author built and I really think it stands apart from other books in how well the tension was built.

I loved the first book in this series so much that it was going to be difficult to stand up against it. But reading Bear Head made me realise that my love for the first was bolstered by my love for Rex and that the sequel could be just as good in very different ways.

Instead of loving a character and enjoying the plot as a secondary element, the sequel takes the concept I was enjoying and brought it to the forefront of the story. The new point of view character was less lovable (while still being enjoyable to read), so the plot and the wider concepts had more room to shine.

On Mars, our POV character is a low class worker who resents his life. He doesn???t have much, doesn???t get paid much at all and there???s barely anything to do between shifts. He even rents out storage space in his memory for cash. And then he stumbles into a fight for power that he absolutely doesn???t want any part in. This felt fun, like an action packed science fiction comedy, but also managed to discuss deeper topics and make me think all without taking a break from the enjoyment.

This was my first books by Tchaikovsky, but I???m absolutely intending on reading everything else he has released. A stand out series.