Magic – Page 2 – Nonfiction and Nonsense

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

I haven’t read a fantasy series that was not heavy on romance in a very long time. I am very glad I chose to go down that road again with this series. I would say that it may have renewed my love and enjoyment of fantasy without spice.

The third and final book in this series starts off very bleak. If you read the first two books in this series, you will remember how badly things went for Alina and her allies at the end of Siege and Storm. Book three picks back up immediately where it left off. Alina is weak both physically and emotionally, having nearly died in her attempt to kill the Darkling and having lost friends and fellow Grisha during that confrontation. She feels extremely guilty, she believes she could have killed the Darkling if Mal had not pulled her away, and that the deaths that were a result of his invasion would have meant something. And it really doesn’t help that the place she was brought to recover is not exactly a place that is conducive to healing. Eventually, Alina and those loyal to her break free of that oppressive refuge and they continue their mission. Unsurprisingly, Prince Nikolai survived the Darklings attack too, and he finds the rogue Grisha after they leave their hideaway and teams up with them once again.

The first few chapters of this book were very frustrating, and I was worried that the entire book was going to be so. I was very glad when the tone changed from gloomy prison vibes to one of strategy, adventure, and discovery. I had some feelings regarding Mal, that he was special, not just an average human, or otkazat’sya as they say, and I will say that I was correct in suspecting something and if you’ve read my reviews before you know how excited I get when my theories turn out to be correct. On another note, some of the things I got quite sad about were a few of the character deaths, and there were a lot of them so be prepared. But finally being able to discover the truth about all the theories and stories we have been reading about for three books was amazing. I am always relieved when all the loose ends are cleanly tied up. I can’t think of anything that I wanted to know that didn’t get answered, and there are five more novels related to the series, plus a book of children’s stories and a book about the saints, which I will be reading next. So, if I do think of something, perhaps I will find the answers there. My journey into the GrishaVerse has not ended, it seems it has only just begun.

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Fiction

Book two in this series begins exactly where the last one left off, a nice, smooth transition. Mal and Alina have crossed the True Sea and are now in hiding in Novyi Zem, the continent to the West of Ravka. They have only been in the city of Cofton for two weeks, trying to be as ordinary and unremarkable as possible. They have gotten jobs as laborers, saving money with the intent to travel even further inland where they hope to disappear. I was surprised that they were found immediately. But it makes for a very exciting opening to this book.

We know from the first book that Mal and Alina love each other very much, their friendship of many years turning into romantic feelings. But being on the run, Alina’s growing power, and the uncertainty of their lives has been putting a strain on these feelings that they have barely begun to explore. A lot of the book is Mal and Alina being angry and frustrated with each other and their situation. Alina in particular is struggling a great deal with accepting the expectations and responsibilities that are being thrown at her because of her immense power. She comes from poor and humble beginnings, she never imagined or even expected to have become one of the most powerful people in the entirety of Ravka. Growing up in an orphanage doesn’t exactly prepare one for rubbing shoulders with the nobility, training warriors, and sitting in on war councils.

I can’t wait to see how everything ties up in the last book in this trilogy. The situation is more bleak than ever, and I don’t see how Alina and her followers are going to defeat the Darkling. They have faced off so many times, I feel as though neither side can be surprised now. The Sun Summoner and the Darkling seem about equal in power and there is possibly only one thing that could give Alina an edge over him. I feel as though Alina will get that thing in the last book and the epic final battle will take place.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Fiction

I decided to start a new series. I originally believed it to be a trilogy, only to do some more indepth research and discovered that there are actually two sets of duologies, and four additional pieces supplementing the series. I have entered the GrishaVerse.

Our female main character is Alina. She and her best friend Mal have known each other since they were both sent to the same orphanage after their parents died. Now adults, they entered the First Army, which consists of ordinary humans. They serve in the shadow of the Second Army, consisting of Grisha, humans who possess magic. The Grisha are headed by the Darkling, an extremely powerful being whose powers are different and greater than all others. While Grisha look down on anyone who doesn’t have magical abilities, and humans seem to either resent or revere them, everyone fears the Fold.

An enormous, cloudy, black mass that is the home to flying monsters, has land locked their country from the sea. In order to trade for much needed goods, ships must regularly cross through the Fold. The story begins when the regiment that Alina and Mal belong to must take a journey through the Fold on a routine trade mission. Shortly into their journey, they are attacked by the monsters that live within and something incredible happens as a result of the attack. Alina finds herself removed from the first army and sent to the king’s castle, far away from the Fold and from Mal.

This is a pretty good fantasy novel. It leans heavily on friendship and self discovery, and there is the tiniest bit of romance. I read through the first book in less than two days, not just because I have so many more books to read but because I was interested in the story. I actually already started to read the next book, but I forced myself to stop so I could write my thoughts down. I don’t want to spoil the story, so I won’t reveal any of what happens after Alina arrives at the castle and the bulk of the story begins. I think I am going to try to give an overall opinion on the series once I am finished, just giving a brief overview of the plot as I read through each book. So far, I am happy that I bought what I thought was a three book series after seeing that the show on Netflix was inspired by the books. I think I am going to watch the show after I finish the second book. I am not sure if the first, and from what I have heard will be only season, of the show ends when the first book does and I don’t want to spoil anything for myself. Perhaps when I watch the show I will throw a little bit of what I think about it into my review as well. Stayed tuned as I read through the rest of this series.

The Dragon Lord’s Daughters by Bertrice Small

Fiction

I finished one series about dragons, only to start a collection of novellas about the three daughters of a man known as the Dragon Lord. I went to my spreadsheet of books for this one, as I was looking for an easy to read standalone novel that I could use to wind down at the end of the day. Bertrice Small always gives me exactly what I need.

This book is split into three parts, one tale for each of the three daughters of Merin Pendragon, a descendant of King Arthur. Averil, his eldest, was born of his greatest love, his concubine Gorawen. Although she is not legitimate, Averil is beautiful and loved by her father, so unlike most girls born out of wedlock, she can expect to make a good marriage. Before her parents can even consider who would make her a good husband, she finds herself kidnapped.

Merin’s second daughter, Maia, is his only legitimate one, as she is the daughter of his wife, Argel. Being beautiful, legitimate, and also very much loved, her chances of making an excellent marriage are even greater than that of her elder sister. She does indeed find herself a wonderful and very acceptable suitor, but she must prove she is worthy of him.

Junia, the youngest, is the daughter of Merin’s other concubine, Ysbail. She possesses great beauty like her sisters and the love of her father. However, unlike her sisters, Junia’s first love ends in tragedy and she swears she will never love again. And after what happened, I do not blame her.

I don’t want to say anything negative about this book, because it served the exact purpose I was looking for, but I have some thoughts. It was easy to read, it was straightforward. There wasn’t an overly complicated plot, I didn’t have to take notes or go back and reread something to understand what was going on. These are things I wanted, and I honestly really enjoyed the first two parts. But the third part, Junia’s tale, just did not fit. The level of violence and cruelty in her tale was misplaced, it really threw me off. Averil and Maia face challenges, but Junia faces pain, terror, and loss, in more ways than one. Her tale is what makes me not really want to consider it a book I would read again in the future. At least I have dozens of other Bertrice Small novels I can turn to.

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Fiction

It’s really nice to be able to read a sequel immediately after finishing its predecessor, especially for a series that you just started but one that others have been waiting months to get their hands on. It ends on a bittersweet note for me, however, as there will be another book following this one that I will have to wait a long time for. And the cliffhanger for Iron Flame was one that had me much more anxious to get to the next part of the story than the surprise I read at the end of Fourth Wing. Read no further unless you don’t mind spoilers.

I was glad that the story picked up right where it left off, with us learning how Brennan faked his death and joined the rebels. After I got over that unexpected twist, I was wondering how the rest of the story was going to go. It didn’t seem like going back to Basgiath was an option after what happened during the War Games. Violet and her squad were led into a trap by Colonel Aetos, a trap in which he expected all of them to die. After recovering for several days in rebel territory I couldn’t see how they would explain where they had been and why they had been gone for so long. Xaden and some of the other rebels came up with a plan, and it was actually pretty clever. It’s a good thing that the battle tactics were well written and made sense, because the ongoing fight between Xaden and Violet hardly does.

Here is where I go on a rant, I apologize in advance but I just need to say my piece. It’s understandable that Violet is mad at Xaden for keeping a few secrets, particularly the ones regarding their relationship, but she can’t expect him to tell her everything when he is protecting so many people with the very secrets she insists he reveal. She then chose to act the hypocrite when she started keeping secrets of her own, ones that she chose to not reveal to Xaden out of both secrecy and spite. She insisted on complete honesty between the two of them in order for her to consider removing the romantic hold she placed on their relationship, yet she herself becomes dishonest towards him. And the dialogue between the two of them gets increasingly frustrating the longer the fight drags on, to the point that I didn’t even care that it put their relationship on hold, I just wanted it to make a bit of sense. I’m pretty sure that at one point Violet herself questioned what they were fighting about, and if that’s not saying something about the irrationality of it all I can’t think of anything else that could make it clearer. They do stop fighting at some point and the plot gets going.

The last eight pages were where a bomb got dropped on us. A lot of stuff happened suddenly and all at once. Even though this series has been heavy on the death, killing established characters maliciously, I was still holding out for the good guys to overcome. I don’t know if that is going to happen now. There is going to have to be another huge twist or some kind of revelation in the next book for a certain character to survive what happened to them during the battle between riders and venin. I am kind of predicting an unhappy ending.