Bretta

Another 5-star from me for John Gwynne! In the second installment of the Bloodsworn Saga, we are continuing our trek all over Vigrid with Orka, Varg, and Elvar, but we are soon following along with Guthvarr and Biorr as well. The addition of these two POVs, adds the chance to see what’s happening with Lik-Rifa and those who have come to her aid, and provides a look at Queen Helka’s court and the deception taking place.

There are so many amazing scenes in this book, and it is by far one of the best second in a series books I have ever read. Gwynne provides something I have not gotten in any other fantasy series, and that is this amazingly succinct recap so you get a nice little kick-start for your memory so you can jump right into the action. I loved this! This world is huge in its detail, and not having to re-read the first book if I’m away for a while is amazingly convenient.

I have heard some criticisms of the meandering quality of this book, but I really felt like I was moving through the world in a way that made sense, and allowed the relationships to form that will inevitably drive act three. In the overall scheme of things, I feel like where we leave off in this book is going to make for an amazing conclusion in book three.

Our primary character is Charlotte, who we meet while she is on an archaeological dig in Egypt in the 1930s. During Charlotte’s time in Egypt she faces a lot of the typical misogynistic obstacles one would expect of a young woman trying to find success in a man’s world. It’s during this time she meets Henry, a dashing young man with whom she ends up falling in love. During their affair, Charlotte becomes pregnant and they decide to marry, but with the approach of WWII they find themselves at the mercy of circumstance and the dig site is shut down.

On the night they leave Egypt, a tragedy occurs and Henry, their daughter, and a stolen artifact are lost in the sinking of the ship meant to take them home. As we follow her, we jump forward to 1970s New York where she is now a curator for the Egyptian exhibits at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. They are currently amping up for the Met Gala, which is being organized by the legendary Diana (Dee-on-uh) Vreeland, who was “FUN FACT” at one time the editor of Vogue Magazine and tied to the Met Gala from 1972 to 1989.

Enter our additional POV, Annie, a young woman growing up in New York who is just trying to survive while taking care of her mother. As a favor for her landlady, Annie takes a delivery to the Met for Diana and stumbles into the opportunity of a lifetime, when she is hired to be Diana’s personal assistant.

What follows in The Stolen Queen is an impeccable blend of fiction and fact, where the stolen artifact from 1936 is now on loan to The Met, raising all kinds of questions for Charlotte. Annie begins to glow in her new role, but sabotage becomes the name of the game, and she must prove her innocence. Missing persons, stolen antiquities, and international art repatriation organizations abound in this story. It is complex and interesting, and can be overwhelming in its expansiveness, but has an exceptional core story of never giving up. If you love a good mystery with a heroine, in this case two of them, whose perseverance leads to adventure and answers then this is a book I would recommend.

Since I was able to start the third book right after the second, I did not face the dread of having to wait between releases, but I still couldn’t get to it fast enough. With all the upheaval and death in Hunger, the ascension of Elvar was by far my absolute favorite. I know there are those who are not fans of her character, but I have really enjoyed her growth the most. She is as much of a warrior as Orka, but she has grown in her “though-cage” and heart, and you can feel she is on the cusp of something big.

The only reason this book lost half a star is because at times it was a bit all over the place, which left me reeling after certain scenes. I would also say that while Guthvarr’s perspective was worthwhile, I didn’t always relish his chapters the way I did the others, even Biorr. He’s just such a twit, and I was kind of waiting for his come-uppance.

I can’t say enough about how much I loved this series, and it’s definitely one I will revisit over and over again. I do not have physical copies of this, but I will be picking them up when I can. I also plan on visiting Gwynne’s other worlds and look forward to sharing those journey’s as well.

In the third book of the Fourth Wing **cough** trilogy we are recovering from the events of bringing up the wards and what it cost. Xaden is existing in a state of constant vigilance, and separating himself from Violet for fear of draining her. Not giving up on him, she is exhausting every idea and resource at her disposal to find a cure. With the dragon riders and the flyers trying to find common ground, the higher-ups of Basgiath seem determined to send the fliers back outside the wards. Ever the rebel, Violet and her squad are on the hunt to nullify the rune that is preventing the fliers from accessing their powers.

I have enjoyed this world so far, and want to love this book, and while I’m not as mad as some people seem to be about it, I am disappointed with certain aspects. The focus on Xaden’s problem and the side-quests was over the top, and I felt like certain parts of the story were not given the focus they deserved. Theophanie’s story being so heavily concentrated at the end was too quickly done, and didn’t get the backstory it deserved.

So many people thought this was going to be a trilogy and it’s not, but the information was so buried that people were shocked when they got to the end and BAM! I have so many questions about her approach and the implications of what happened with Violet and Xaden, but I want more backstory on the betrayal because it currently feels to simple. If you know you know.

All in all, Onyx Storm was awesome, but not 5-star spectacular, and if I had known it was going to end on a cliffhanger I would have waited on it a bit longer. Now I’m going to need to re-read the entire series right before the release of book four.

This book jumps back into the world of Percy Jackson after the events of The Last Olympian which was published in 2009. The Chalice of the Gods was published in 2023, but is set only 2 years after the events of The Last Olympian and Percy is a senior in high school. Due to all his quests for the gods, he is trying to figure out how to make up for all his missed education and attend New Rome University with Annabeth.

We still have his bestie, Grover, and there is a calmness that is a part of Percy’s life at the start of the book, but of course this does not last. In order for him to be accepted into NRU, Zeus is requiring Percy complete three quests to get three letters of recommendation from different gods within the pantheon.

This continuation felt unnecessary to me, and resulted in me not enjoying the book as much as I enjoyed the original series. It is entertaining and lighthearted, and could have been a good segue into more from Riordan but I just couldn’t reconnect to the story. The readers who grew up with Percy and friends are adults now, so I feel like taking it into a new adult or young adult setting would’ve been more appealing for me. If it had come out within a couple of years of the original series I think this would have made more sense.

That said, the story is written well, but my connection to the characters has been lost, and too much time has passed for me to invest in reading this arc further. If a reader new to the PJ universe were to read through the initial series and move on into this one I think the disconnect would be less of an issue.