prettylittlewriter

Synopsis
‘With the heat of a kiss, the walls between Alizeh, the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom, and Kamran, the crown prince of the Ardunian empire, have crumbled. And so have both of their lives.

Okay, so Tahereh is fast becoming one of my favourite fantasy authors! She’s blown me away yet again with this brilliant and gripping story, full of sexual tension and mystery.

Alizeh is yet again, a clever and badass heroine, determined not to let Cyrus or Iblees take advantage of her. But yet, she still wants to help lead her people, so the offer of marriage to Cyrus so she can become Queen, is a temptation.

Throughout this novel, you see her with conflicting emotions towards Cyrus, as one minute he is threatening her life, and the next, he is being incredibly genuine and kind towards her. I truly believe that he is not going to be as bad a person as the rumours within Ardunia have made him out to be, and in all honesty, I actually think him and Alizeh would be amazing together (the sexual tension between them is incredible, and I’m DYING for the next novel to see what happens between them).

On the other hand, I also absolutely love Kamran, and I felt incredibly sorry for him throughout book #2, as he struggled knowing who he could trust and whether Alizeh had betrayed him. It was also very intriguing seeing them explore the magic within Kamran, and why his skin is now suddenly covered in gold.

I think I am leaning more towards Cyrus & Alizeh as endgame at the moment as he had a lot more interaction with Alizeh within this book, but I am torn between who I would actually like her to end up with, they’re both very good love interests.

I definitely think Kamran’s Mother has a lot more involvement in the story than we were first lead to believe too, and I hope this is explored in book #3.

The ending left you on a cliff-hanger yet again, so I am now desperate for Tahereh to give us some ideas on a release date soon as I NEED to read it!! (even just the title of the next book would satiate me, for now!).

Overall, yet another smash hit from Tahereh, and I now need to read the Shatter Me series to continue this brilliant fantasy ride!

5/5 stars

Thank you so much to Black Crow PR and Tor books for sending me a copy for review!

 Synopsis
‘Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker. Now she speaks to Edinburgh's dead, carrying messages to the living. A girl's gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone's bewitching children--leaving them husks, empty of joy and life. It's on Ropa's patch, so she feels honor-bound to investigate. But what she learns will change her world.

This is a brilliant read full of ghosts, magic and a dream library setting!

It took me a little while to like our main character Ropa, as she was very stubborn at the start and would only help the departed communicate with their loved ones for a charge (which wasn't very empathetic).

However, as the novel went on, a softer side came out of her, especially when she starts making friends within the library.

The first person thoughts from Ropa were a brilliant way to read the novel through her perspective, and it really helped hook me to the story.

The book takes place in an alternate Edinburgh, set in the future (after an event known as ‘the catastrophe’) and features slums, poverty and quite a bit of violence. Even though it seems to be set in the future, some parts of the novel give me a retro vibe.

I really enjoyed the paranormal elements to it, and the incorporation of Ropa’s mbira (African instrument) to help tether the spirits to the earth so she can communicate with them properly. There was also the mention of another realm, where the departed can be banished to, that has no time or gravity and is full of monsters.

The main danger/baddie within the novel is very clever and really interesting, and without giving too much away, I found it quite scary and difficult to read in places due to the nature of it.

Overall I enjoyed this book a lot, and would highly recommend to anyone that likes a fantasy novel that incorporates ghosts and a dystopian element.

I'm very much looking forward to the 2nd book!

4/5 stars