The Stolen Heir Review!

The Stolen Heir 

By Holly Black

Pages:368

Published: 03/01/23

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Genre: YA Fantasy

A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both.

Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth, has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge…..

I will be honest and say that although I thought this sounded like an amazing book, I hadn’t finished The Folk of the Air series.  When I initially read The Cruel Prince, I wasn’t keen on the bullying aspect, so I gave it a 3.5/5 rating, started the The Wicked King but my heart wasn’t in it, so it’s still here waiting to be given the time it deserves.  Why then did this book take my fancy?  I didn’t pre order it for the above reason, but after spending 2022 reading The Spiderwick Chronicles,
I loved the writing style so much, that I found this book for half price and decided to buy and read it immediately, and I’m so pleased I did! It was truly an amazing read.  I am sure that if I had finished The Folk of the Air series first I may have gotten more out of this book, but now I have enjoyed this book so much, I will be returning to the world of Elfhame, hopefully next month.  I did note a lot of references to The Cruel Prince, whilst reading, and I was surprised by how many characters and events I remembered!! 

Fantasy is my favourite genre, and this one did not disappoint.  We fluttered from the world of the fae, and the real world seamlessly. I love the way Holly Black describes the surroundings and characters.  I was quickly mesmerised by the characters, and hungry to know more about them.  I loved them all for various reasons, even the villains.

I was transported to their world, and off on their quest with them, chased by villains, collecting clues along the way, and carrying out some brave rescues!

*If you love stories about the Fae definitely pick this up.

*If you love The Folk of the Air series definitely pick this up.

*If you’re a  Holly Black fan definitely pick this up.

I am so surprised to say, that even with my abandonment of the previous series, I so loved this and I gave it an easy 5 stars!

Currently I am reading another new book, which I hope to share and review for you all very soon. Thank you for stopping by.

Until I blog again…keep reading.

A Fantasy Filled January So Far!

January so far!

Hi All, thanks for stopping by.  I thought for this post I would just give you an update on my reading so far for January.  I can happily say 2023 has started really well on the book front 
I am convinced I have found two books which I am totally sure will end up on my best reads of 2023!! 

If you are a frequent reader of my blog you will know I have begun my Year of Brandon Sanderson books.  My first book was The
Final Empire, I can happily say I was blown away by this book, and I can’t wait to see what Febuary will bring when I will be reading Steelheart.  The Final Empire is an amazing book, and not a moment of it is wasted.  Great detail goes into the characters, setting and magic system, and it only makes you fall in love with them even more.  I adored the characters, and the book had every emotion swirling out of me.  For some reason, I thought I would struggle with the writing in this book, but that most certainly was not the case, it is easy to read, with a wonderful pace, and even though it is fantasy, it’s very easy to keep up with as the magic system, and world, is explained so well.  Brandon Sanderson really is an amazing writer.   I have pre ordered his new secret novel, Tress and the Emerald Sea, which will either be my April or May read, depending on when it arrives.   

I gave The Final Empire five stars.

At the beginning of the month I also read The Heartstopper Yearbook by Alice Oseman.  I  have read all of the Heartstopper books, and became very much a fan of Nick and Charlie, so I had to read the copy my daughter received for Christmas.  It was lovely to see the characters in colour.  It’s full of character fact files, and the book mainly centres on Alice Oseman describing how she developed Nick and Charlie, and got them into the books we know so well today.  I thought that this would be very inspiring for anyone who wishes to do something in the same vain today…in fact I found it inspiring to go out and chase your dreams whatever they may be, even if you aren’t a teenager anymore, you really should go ‘do it’ if you really want to, and not give up.  It was a short read, it only took me about forty minutes from beginning to end, but nevertheless I really enjoyed it, and I recommend this book for any Heartstopper fan- I gave it five stars on goodreads.

Finally to finish off this post, I’m currently reading The Stolen Heir by Holly Black……..ohhh my gosh it’s so good!!! Please don’t leave any spoilers!!  I am in the last quarter of the book, and I know something is going to happen, I know someone is going to betray someone, though I don’t know who as of yet!  I love the way Holly
Black writes, last year I read all her Spiderwick books and I was transported into the world of goblins and fairies, and this is no different, I am so enjoying adventuring with these guys, though I know I am soon to get heart broken, and will need the next book, which of course I will patiently have to wait for.

How is your reading going so far in
January? Do drop me a comment and let me know, I’d love to hear all about it.

Until I blog again….. Keep reading

A Year of Brandon Sanderson

A year of Brandon Sanderson!

Those of you who are Brandon Sanderson fans will probably know exactly what I am talking about. Last year it was announced via Kickstarter that you could back a project called A year of Brandon Sanderson-the idea being that every month of the year you would receive something to do with Brandon Sanderson and his books-this also includes the releasing of four new books! Although I was very tempted, I unfortunately did not back this, but I thought it looked extremely exciting.  One of the reasons I did not back this project was because, at that point in time, I had not read one of his books, and was hoping that perhaps a few would land on my shelves by the end of the year, if I kept hinting!  

I am happy to say I did receive several of his books for my birthday, and Christmas-I also managed to find another one second hand in the charity shop-no way was I leaving that there!

With all that in mind, I decided, as long as I enjoyed the first book in January, I would do my own year of Brandon Sanderson!

So this month, I started reading The Final Empire-this is the first book in the Mistborn series, and it is highly recommended as a first read.  It is a hefty book, coming in with a word count of 217,000 according to google, which will make it one of the largest books I’ve read to date-the longest being Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff.

I adore the magic system used within the book-which uses metals, and the book describes the characters with so detail, it’s not long before you start falling in love with them, and wondering if they are all going to make it to the end book-which I jolly well hope so as there are a lot more books to follow.

I will definitely proceed and read a book each month, though I really want to investigate the other books he has written, some of which are smaller, as reading larger books does shorten my amount read at the end of the month, as I am not a fast reader.  For February I hope to pick up either Skyward (sci-fi) or Steelheart, which are smaller books.  I will definitely continue the Mistborn series a little later in the year.  I also have The Way of the Kings to begin, which is another large read, but whether I will start this before I finish the Mistborn series I am unsure-if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear what you think would be best.

I have also pre-ordered the first of the four new novels for myself, which will release to the general public in April, which is entitled Tress and the Emerald sea-I am very excited to start this!

January has started with a real bang, in terms of reading, I know this book will stay with me all year, and probably end up on my best read of 2023, here’s to finding more books, authors and genres that I enjoy!

Are there any books you hope to read each month, if so I would love to hear about them!

Thanks for stopping by, and until I blog again…keep reading!

Welcome 2023!

Welcome 2023!

Well today is the 1st of January, and as a bookworm, this makes me very happy, I can make new plans surrounding my reading, and look forward to reading more books! 

In 2022 I read a total of 102 books, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would make 100!  This year my aim is 75, I know it’s less, but I do have some chunky books I wish to get to, such The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (which I am currently reading), and if I wish to read more from  this world, the following books are definitely not smaller in size!!

My reading goals and chart for 2023

This year I have come up with some goals, I hope to keep… these are:

1. Read a non fiction each month-I have some wonderful non fiction books, which I never seem to get to, and I really want to read them, so I thought this would be a great goal to add to the list.
2. Go back to timing my reading sessions- I had a book counter in 2021 for Christmas, and I began switching this on when I was reading, it was so interesting, and surprising to see how much time I spent reading, so I have decided to start this up again.  I have created a chart to help encourage this.
3. Use my kindle every other month.  I have a kindle, which is the reason I got back into reading, however you can’t beat holding a book.  I’ve decided to try and use it a little more, as I do have a few books on there.
4. Note taking whilst reading.  I don’t know if I will follow through with this one, I read often before sleeping, so I can imagine the note taking getting difficult, at this time, but I will try.  I often forget things which happen in books, so notes will help me keep up with characters and help me to write better reviews.
5. And lastly, it’s not so much a reading goal, but I thought I would add it here, and that is trying to blog once every nine days.  I do find making time for blogging a little difficult, what with work, and a house to look after, but I so enjoy it and want to put more time into this. 

So I’m ready, my new organiser is full of charts and spare paper, it has its own book reading section I have created, and I also have a separate journal for writing reviews.  Goodreads challenge has been added….so welcome 2023 I’m ready to read!!

Thanks for stopping by and reading,

And until I blog again….keep reading.