Lives of Bitter Rain

 Hi Bookworms,

Today another Netgalley position on my reading list. Short novella by Adrian Tchaikovsky called Lives of Bitter Rain.

This novella is a part of The Tyrant Philosophers series and telling us a story of growing up of Angilly - child of Pal soldiers who by sequence of accidents and sort of wrong life choices lead her to Outreach.

If you read this series you already met Angilly in Days of Shattered Faith which still awaiting my attention...

I do like Angilly, her live is strange really, I'm not sure she really ever had a choice to be someone else...

This story is very compact if I can use this wording, I would like it much more with bit more dialog, but I understand the author wrote it to give us a chance to find bit more about Angilly without writing next long story from this universum.

I gave it strong 3.5*.

Bookshops and Bonedust

 Hi Bookworms,

Did you read Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree? Bookshops and Bonedust is prequel to this story.

I read Legends.. over a year ago and enjoyed it totally, because come on how to not enjoy a book with ogre girl who worked with sword and decided to stop and be a coffee shop owner :)

This one

telling us bit more about Viv before and is a gem :) I love it :) We have our ogre girl here and ratkin and another ogre and dwarf and bookshop and bakery and I'm not telling more, just read it peeps!

Can't wait to have a chance to read a sequel Brigands and Breadknives which is planned to be published this year.

Tempest's Queen

 Hi Bookworms,

Today another book I read thanks to Netgalley: Tempest's Queen by Tiffany Wang.

This book is a sequel to Inferno's Heir I had a chance to read last year and I can say I enjoyed this one as much as the first book.

Main character of both is Teia princess and later a queen of Erisia. Book 1 tell us the story of a girl who can control two elements and because of that her half-brother - soon to be king - want to have her out of his way (killed). Teia joined the rebels to ensure her own safety by betraying them to her half-brother, but meantime finding friends and... one formidable enemy.

In Tempest's Queen we are finding out what's happened sometime after Teia is crowned Queen of Erisia and she's travelling to Shaylani - her mother home country to warned her cousin about threat from her archenemy Lehm.

I can say it is solid read with right amount of action where you can find friendship, love, manipulation, betrayal and more. 

Both books have solid 4* from me.

The Summer War

 Hiya Bookworms,

Today short novella from Naomi Novik I had a chance to read thanks to Netgalley.

It's sort of fairy-tale like story about Celia who discovering her talent to magic the day her beloved older brother left home.

Book blurp telling us that Celia cursed her brother out of childish anger and then with passing time trying to find a solution to undo this and she's finding out the truth about the old war between her people and their immortal neighbors the Summerlings. Now with help of her other brother she has a chance to undo the curse and heal the war-torn land. 

Whole novella is just bit more then 100 pages long and I can truthfully say fast and nice read when you have some time spare during travelling. I read it when sit in train during my holiday travels.

Story has few twists and giving us a chance to find out more about Celia, her brothers and her father before its final. Characters are nicely written, not 'flat' and I definitely like how this story builds up and how its finished. 

Solid 4* from me here.

Bloodsworn series part 2

 Hiya Bookworms,

Today book 2 of Bloodsworn series by John Gwynne.

This book is over 600 pages action packed delight, so much happening you basically have no chance to complain that book is too long or something.

As I tend to read more then one book in the same time this one was on 'my plate' for plus minus a week, but to be honest around 75% of it I read in two days and enjoyed it. 

We're still following Orka, Elvar and Varg on their 'adventures', but also bunch of other characters - both good and bad and some somewhere in between..

We are also meeting gods here: 

Lik-Rifa - dragon god (freed from her eternal prison), who plots new age of blood and conquest.

Ulfrir - wolf god (thralled to Elvar), raised from the dead - brother and enemy of dragon god.

Rotta - rat god, brother of Lik-Rifa and Ulfrir.

Orna - eagle god, raised from the dead to be thralled to Queen Helka, but killed short after by Lik-Rifa.

Lots and lots is happening in this installment of Bloodsworn series and I'm very, very curious how all this comes to end in last book of this trilogy. Who will survive to tell or sing the saga?

The Fury of the Gods is planned in our buddy reads schedule for August, so few more day LOL!

Shattered Sea by Joe Abercrombie part 2

 Hello Bookworms,

Half the World was another solid 4 star read, I do like new characters we're meeting here.

Hild 'Thorn' Bathu - 16 years old girl 'touched by Mother War' is one of new characters and through the book we can see how she's growing up as young person and a warrior.

Brand - young man (possibly 16) with strong morals who wants to be warrior to help his sister and himself to have better live even if killing not laying right with his moral backbone.

We have Yarvi here still as central character, he has a certain reputation now and he is trying his best to avoid unnecessary bloodshed of his people before unavoidable war starts. Finding allies is not easy when you have cunning Grandmother Wexen and High King as enemies. But you can find temporary 'friends' in surprising places :)

How this part of the Shattered Sea story finish? Will new characters survive? You need to read it to find out cause I'm not telling any more here :)

The Christmas Ring

 Hi Bookworms,

Today about book I have a chance to read thanks to Netgalley. It's The Christmas Ring by Karen Kingsbury.

If I'm not wrong book is classed as romance and Christian literature.

Fast read with right amount of emotional bits and love. Solid 3 maybe even 3.5 stars here cause really hard to find anything wrong in it. Just different, more delicate, almost naive in compare with romances and so called contemporary fiction these days, possibly because of strong faith and patriotism of characters.

Overall story is good, but I'm not sure if young generation would understand it fully or I should say the way author wants this story to be seen/understood.