Grishaverse series part 1

 Hi Bookworms!

In mid of July we started buddy read of Grishaverse series by Leigh Bardugo. Our schedule contains:

Grisha trilogy:

1. Shadow and Bone - July

2. Siege and Storm - August

3. Ruin and Rising - September

followed but not scheduled yet by:

Six of Crows duology and King of Scars duology.

In Shadow and Bone we are meeting Alina Starkov - young girl, orphan, refuge, who in face of brutal attack of her regiment and her best friend Malyen Oretsev being injured reveals her dormant power - power which can help her country, but also is wanted by someone far more powerful then others. This book was fast and easy to follow read, with nicely shown characters and flow-y storytelling. Strong 4*.

Siege and Storm - Alina and Mal run away to be out of reach of the Darkling, but they are found... In this book we meet a privateer captain Sturmhond (really Nikolai Lantsov) and with his help our friends are starting fight against the Darkling. The Apparat - priest and advisor to Lantsov family is interesting character (he is another power hungry person here, using peoples' faith to gain what he wants).

So I can say we have here nicely written and easy to follow next part of the story. Solid 4 stars.

Ruin and Rising - fast paced, with some twists last part of trilogy, where a story of Alina and Mal coming to the end and Ravka is free of the Darkling and work of Nikolai, new Ravka's king finally can start. I'm suspecting more about it in next books from Grishaverse universe, possibly King of Scars duology. My rating for Ruin and Rising - 4 stars.

So overall trilogy was nice read and I can't wait to read duologies :)

Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas part 2

 Hiya Bookworms,

Today my thoughts about House of Sky and Breath I finished reading a week or so ago.

I have mixed feelings about this one to be honest. Overall this book is not bad, but is sort of messed up (my feeling), could be much shorter really than it is. We're finding bit more about people around Bryce, bit more about her dead friend Danika and the Asteri. Bryce and others jumping blindly head on into massive troubles... I expected more sense in what they are doing, but they behave like... nursery kids - no research, not a bit of planning really. And whole thing finish in disaster - expected to be honest. Maybe that was author's idea from the start... 

Just 3 stars from me, but very weak 3.

The Witchlands part 1

 Hiya Bookworms,

In August we started buddy read of The Witchlands series by Susan Dennard.

Till today we ticked Truthwitch and Windwitch.

Blurps on books covers or on webs saying about: a continent on the edge of war, coming-to-age story, girls friendship, magic, different types of witches etc.

My thoughts about Truthwitch:

We are meeting here truthwitch, threadwith, windwitch and bloodwitch (mainly), few other types are mentioned. I like Safi and Iseult, they seems very attached to each other, kinda complementing each other behaviour wise if you know what I mean. Merik is interesting character in this book, I'm not sure how to classify Aeduan yet. 

I'm curious about what will happen next and this book has 4 stars from me.

My thoughts about Windwitch:

Safi and Iseult are separated in this book, we're finding out more about Iseult background, Merik's childhood and who Aeduan is. We also meeting other witches and finding out by the end of this installment who tricked who and why... Not all questions are answered, no... we finishing this book with some more questions. I'm pretty sure not all culprits are revealed yet and we can expect more mess around before we find out who was good and who was bad in this series.

Another 4 stars here.

Bloodsworn part 3

 Hiya Bookworms,

Sorry I didn't write for a bit, had some reading to finish 😅.

Today about the last book from John Gwynne trilogy The Bloodsworn Saga - The Fury of the Gods, which is described as 'earth-shattering final of the series, packed with myth, magic and bloody  vengeance and culminates in a climatic battle for the fate of Vigrid, where varied fractions clash to determine the future of their world'.

My thoughts:

Great end of the story! Fact I'm not 'the happiest bunny' with some of characters being killed, but... their deaths were not in vein, so we can say 'I can live with it'. All them struggling, fighting not only with enemy, but characters own 'demons', decisions what will be the best for Vigrid...

Absolutely brill storytelling of John Gwynne.

I enjoyed reading this book a lot - solid 4 stars.

Murder's Snare

 Hiya Bookworms,

Today book 23 from The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan by Paul Doherty.

What we find in this book? Few gruesome murders, nice splash of politics, some greedy people and some who tries to have their life kinda back on track (by helping others or by vengeance).

Story starts in 1358 in Normandy where the free company called Via Crucis sweeps into peaceful village Avranches and leaves only death and destruction behind, then we finding ourselves in 1382 London where brother Athelstan is helping Coroner Cranston to find the truth and culprits of few murders (all connected to Via Crucis). 

In background we have 'big politics' as France and England are trying to negotiate a truce.

In between we have day to day 'problems' of Athelstan's parishioners and how he's helping them.

Overall enjoyable, solid 4* read for me.

Szpony i kly anthology

 Hiya Bookworms,

Today something from my homeland - Szpony i Kly - anthology of short stories inspired by Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher saga - result of writing competition from few years back announced by Nowa Fantastyka magazine.

We back with this book from our latest holiday in Poland. I did read Witcher (Wiedzmin) in 90s as a young person between secondary school and university and love it.

I was bit worried about this book... But honestly I shouldn't 😁. Maybe it's not written by Mr Andrzej but them guys are not half bad and as message from Witcher's creator on the book cover says few of these authors have a real writing potential.

I enjoyed reading this stories, some were sad, some made me giggle, some were pure delight to read. 

Overall this is solid read and has 5* from me. 

Shattered Sea by Joe Abercrombie part 3

 Hello Bookworms,

So.. Today Half a War - last installment of Shattered sea series.

We are meeting 'old' friends here (Thorn, Koll, Yarvi, Blue Jenner) and new ones: Princess Skara of Throvenland and Raith - sword-bearer to Grom-gil-Gorm.

More fighting, bloodletting, bit of love, friendship and... betrayal - epic scale one. But... will this betrayal be seen/found by everyone in this story? Who turned out be a traitor? If you didn't read this book - who is your main suspect? If you did - was it a surprise for you? I smelled something fishy in all these skirmishes, bigger and smaller attacks here and there, had few characters in mind, cause each of them wanted something real bad.

Nice finish of the series.

Solid 4*.