Book Review: And Break the Pretty Kings by Lena Jeong

And Break the Pretty Kings by Lena Jeong

 Book title: And Break the Pretty Kings
Author: Lena Jeong
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: June 20, 2023
448 pages
My rating: 3/5

Summoning fire was easy. Mirae had been studying the manipulation of the four elements her whole life. Scorching the woman in front of her, however, was something she hadn’t managed even once in the past three months.

After a generational madness incapacitates her mother, sixteen-year-old crown princess Mirae needs to take the crown. Before she can do that, she needs to show herself capable of wielding the three magic powers of her bloodline, including her rare ability to switch with herself in time. But when a monster is unleashed and her brother is kidnapped, she must embark on a mission to save her brother and to stop a war that has been brewing for thousands of years.

And Break the Pretty Kings is the first book in Lena Jeong’s young adult fantasy series Sacred Bone. It is also Jeong’s debut novel. I liked the Korean-inspired fantasy world and found the magic system interesting enough. However, despite the worldbuilding being solid, it wasn’t super exciting.

Book Review: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by Amélie Wen Zhao

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White
by Amélie Wen Zhao

Book title: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White
Author: Amélie Wen Zhao
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: January 2, 2024
345 pages
My rating: 4/5

I am Sòng Lián, survivor of the Sòng clan and heir to the Order of Ten Thousand Flowers. I will bring an end to the Four Demon Gods and the vicious cycle of power, war, and bloodshed they have wrought upon this land and its peoples.

Eighteen-year-old Lan must find an ancient weapon to destroy the demon gods and to rid her land of the occupying, cruel Elantians. At the same time, Zen seeks to harness the dark powers of the demon gods. Both will find what they are seeking in the desert city of Salakhira, but once they find the hidden city, they uncover dangerous secrets.

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White is the second book in Amélie Wen Zhao’s young adult fantasy duology Song of the Last Kingdom. I read the first book, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, last year. Unfortunately, over the year, I had forgotten a lot about what had happened in the first book, and Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White didn’t do a very good job of reminding me of all the things I had forgotten. I wish more fantasy series did something like what Saara El-Arifi’s The Ending Fire trilogy did with the second and the third book beginning with a recap of the events of the previous books.

Book Review: Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Book title: Ruthless Vows
Author: Rebecca Ross
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: December 26, 2023
420 pages
My rating: 4/5

“Sometimes,” Iris began, “I don’t think we know what we’re made of until the worst moment possible happens. Then we must decide who we truly are and what is most important to us. I think we’re often surprised by what we become.”

Iris Winnow has returned home without her husband, Roman Kitt. Her hometown Oath continues to live in denial, unconcerned of the war between gods waging closer and closer to the city. When Iris is given the chance to return to the front, she once again heads westward despite the danger, determined to tell the truth of the war and to find Roman. On the other side of the enemy lines, Roman wakes up, healed by god Dacre but with no memories. He begins to work as a war correspondent for Dacre, but when a letter arrives beneath his wardrobe door, he is once again drawn to his mysterious pen pal.

Ruthless Vows is the second book in Rebecca Ross’s young adult fantasy duology Letters of Enchantment. I loved the first book, Divine Rivals, and I gave it four and a half stars. This book picks up a few weeks after the events of the first book. Iris and Roman are separated, and they need to find their way back together and to end the war between the gods. There’s less romance and a lot more fantasy warplot in this book. We also get a lot more scenes and chapters from Roman’s point of view. Personally, I would have preferred to see more of Iris’ point of view, and that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t like this book as much as Divine Rivals.

Book Review: Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

Book title: Divine Rivals
Author: Rebecca Ross
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: April 4, 2023
368 pages
My rating: 4.5/5

“I think we all wear armor. I think those who don’t are fools, risking the pain of being wounded by the sharp edges of the world, over and over again. But if I’ve learned anything from those fools, it is that to be vulnerable is a strength most of us fear. It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are.”

Eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow dreams of becoming a writer, but right now she needs to hold her crumbling family together. With her brother fighting on behalf of gods on the frontline and her mother turning to liquor, Iris strives to win a promotion as the columnist at the Oath Gazette. At night, she writes letters to her brother and slides them under a wardrobe door, where they vanish. But instead of finding her brother, the letters end up in the hands of Iris’s rival at the newspaper, handsome and cold Roman Kitt. When he anonymously writes back, a magical connection ties their lives together.

Divine Rivals is the first book in Rebecca Ross’s duology Letters of Enchantment. This was a great, fast-paced young adult fantasy. The book is set in a fantasy world where gods have awakened from their long sleep and are again waging a war against each other, using people and magical creatures as their soldiers. After a devastating incident, Iris gets a job as a war correspondent and exposes the truth to her hometown's residents, who have thus far been unconcerned about the war raging outside of their borough. She continues writing letters to her mysterious pen pal, slowly falling for him, until Roman arrives at the war zone, and Iris’s feelings become conflicted: who does she like more, the unknown letter writer or her fiercest rival?

Book Review: A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

Book title: A Curse for True Love
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: October 24, 2023
386 pages
My rating: 3.5/5

She tried to pull away, but Jacks held tight, knotting her hair in his fist and keeping his forehead pressed to hers. “Please, Little Fox, remember.”

Evangeline Fox seems to have found her happily ever after. She is married to a handsome, devoted prince. But there is one huge problem: Evangeline doesn’t remember how she ended up married to the prince or who stole her memories. And worse, it seems her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out. But before they can have their happy ending, he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

A Cruse for True Love is the third and final book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy trilogy Once upon a Broken Heart. This is an action-packed and fast-paced finale to the series, but I found myself wanting something more.

Book Review: The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

Book title: The Ballad of Never After
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: September 13, 2022
416 pages
My rating: 3.5/5

“Some of her ideas about love might have changed since coming North, but she still believed it was the most powerful force in the world. If two people really loved each other and they were willing to fight for that love, if they were willing to go to war for each other, day after day, then it didn’t matter what they were up against. Love would always win as long as they never stopped fighting for it.”

The Ballad of Never After is the second book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy trilogy Once upon a Broken Heart. I’m trying to be as spoiler-free as possible in my reviews, but inevitably the following synopsis will contain spoilers of the first book. Proceed with caution.

After Evangeline Fox learns that her husband Apollo is still alive, she swears she will save him – and without the help of Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, who has betrayed her. But when Apollo wakes up from his magical sleep and tries to kill her, Evangeline has to turn to Jacks again and ask for his help. To break the murder curse, she agrees to collect the missing stones to open the mysterious Valory Arch.

The Ballad of Never After picks up right after the end of the first book. I found the plot of this instalment a lot more interesting. We finally get some action instead of all the set-up of the first book. However, the action is stalled in several places in favor of the romance plot. There’s a lot of pining and uncertainty, as Evangeline fights against her feelings for Jacks. Evangeline has some character development, but for the most part, she is still very naïve and trusting.

Book Review: Once upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

Once upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

Book title: Once upon a Broken Heart
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: September 28, 2021
408 pages
My rating: 4/5

All stories are made of both truths and lies, she used to say. What matters is the way that we believe in them.
And Evangeline had a gift when it came to believing in things that others considered myths—like the immortal Fates.

Evangeline Fox has always believed in happily ever after – but then the love of her life chooses to marry someone else. Desperate to stop the wedding, she strikes a deal with Jacks, an immortal Fate known as the Prince of Hearts. In exchange, he wants her to give three kisses to three people of his choosing. Evangeline agrees, but after the first kiss, she learns that Jacks wants more from her than she is willing to give.

Once upon a Broken Heart is the first book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy trilogy. The novel is set in the same world as Garber’s Caraval trilogy which I read last year. For some reason, I expected this series to be a prequel to Caraval, but I must have misread some review. It’s actually a sequel and the events take place immediately after the end of the last book of the Caraval trilogy, Finale. Nevertheless, you can easily follow the plot of Once upon a Broken Heart even if you haven’t read the other trilogy, although it is easier to understand some aspects of the world building if you’re familiar with the world and some of the recurring characters.

Book Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Book title: Crooked Kingdom
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: September 27, 2016
561 pages
My rating: 4/5

“I would come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together – knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”

Kaz Brekker and his team have just pulled off a daring heist, but instead of enjoying their reward, they have been double-crossed by the merchant who recruited them. Determined to get their revenge and their money while the whole city is after them, the group plans another series of elaborate schemes to destroy their enemies – and maybe to save a few Grisha as well.

Crooked Kingdom is the second book in Leigh Bardugo’s young adult fantasy duology set in her Grishaverse. While the first book Six of Crows left me a little disappointed, it also lowered my expectations enough so that I could be pleasantly surprised with Crooked Kingdom. I'm happy to report that I enjoyed this book a lot more.

Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Book title: Six of Crows
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: September 29, 2015
491 pages
My rating: 4/5

“Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason. Those were the words whispered on the streets of Ketterdam, in the taverns and coffeehouses, in the dark and bleeding alleys of the pleasure district known as the Barrel. The boy they called Dirtyhands didn’t need a reason any more than he needed permission – to break a leg, sever an alliance, or change a man’s fortunes with the turn of a card.”

Criminal mastermind Kaz Brekker has been offered a deal of a lifetime: break into an unbreakable fortress of the Ice Court and retrieve a hostage, and he will become a millionaire. But he can’t pull it off by himself. Together with a team of five other outcasts, he sets out to carry an impossible heist.

Six of Crows is the first book in a duology set in Leigh Bardugo’s fantasy world Grishaverse. I read Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy a year ago, and I must admit I was slightly disappointed. You can find my reviews of Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising behind the links. However, several people told me that Six of Crows is a better series than the first trilogy set in Grishaverse, so I was excited to read this book. But again, I wasn’t as enamored with the book as I had hoped to be. I think my expectations were too high, and that led to an inevitable disappointment.

Book Review: Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night
by Amélie Wen Zhao

Book title: Song of Silver, Flame Like Night
Author: Amélie Wen Zhao
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: January 3, 2023
459 pages
My rating: 4/5

“The Elantians destroyed everything that made the roots of our kingdom: our culture, our education, our families and principles. They wish to take us out on our knees, to subdue us so that we will never lift our heads again. But what they do not know is that, so long as we live on, we carry inside us all that they have destroyed. And that is our triumph, that is our rebellion.”

For years, the Hin kingdom has been occupied by the Elantians, a metal-magic wielding nation determined to destroy the Hin culture. Eighteen-year-old Lan entertains the occupiers by night and by day scavenges the remnants of the past for anything that might help her understand the mysterious mark her mother left her right before she died. She meets Zen, a practitioner of forbidden Hin magic, who saves her life and teaches her to use magic. Together, they hold the power to liberate their land – or to destroy it.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is the first book in the young adult fantasy duology Song of the Last Kingdom. I have to admit I’m not one hundred per cent sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the story and thought the description of colonialism and oppression was well-done, but at the same time there were a few things that stop me from giving it five stars. The first is the writing style. The text was slow to read, and especially the first half of the book was full of exposition that was done in a clumsy and info-dumpy manner.

Book Review: Finale by Stephanie Garber

Finale by Stephanie Garber

Book title: Finale
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: May 7, 2019
478 pages
My rating: 4/5

“Every story has four parts: the beginning, the middle, the almost-ending, and the true ending. Unfortunately, not everyone gets a true ending. Most people give up at the part of the story where things are the worst, when the situation feels hopeless, but that is where hope is needed the most. Only those who persevere can find their true ending.”

Two months after the Fates were released from a magical deck of cards, the lives of everyone in Valenda are at stake. Scarlett and Donatella Dragna must destroy the leader of the Fates, the Fallen Star, with the help of friends—and potential foes. In the process, they uncover unexpected truths that threaten to upend their lives.

Finale is the third and final book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy series Caraval. Unlike Caraval, which was told from Scarlett’s point-of-view, and Legendary, which was told from Tella’s, Finale is told form a dual point-of-view. We get both Scarlett’s and Tella’s reactions and viewpoints in the same book, although Tella’s point of view is more prominent. In this book, the stakes are higher: the Fates are threatening the lives of everyone, and the sisters have to come up with a way to destroy them.

Book Review: Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Book title: Legendary
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: May 29, 2018
451 pages
My rating: 4/5

"Your future can be whatever you wish. We all have the power to choose our own destiny."

Donatella Dragna has saved her sister Scarlett from an arranged marriage and escaped her father. But now she must pay her debt to a mysterious criminal and find out Legend’s true name. Her only chance of uncovering the secret is to join Caraval again and win the game – or else she might lose everything, including her life.

Legendary is the second book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy trilogy Caraval. I enjoyed Caraval, but I must admit it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The same can be said about Legendary. My feelings are conflicted: on the one hand, Legendary was better than Caraval, but simultaneously and paradoxically I also found it more boring. I liked the plot and the expanded worldbuilding, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care about what was happening. I think that was because I didn’t connect with Tella even to the little extent that I did with Scarlett.

Book Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Book title: Caraval
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: September 29, 2016
407 pages
My rating: 4/5

“Remember it’s all a game. What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you, but don’t let any of it trick you.”

Scarlett Dragna’s life-long dream has been to see Caraval, a performance where the audience participates in the show and competes for a prize. A few weeks before her arranged marriage, she finally gets an invitation to Caraval for herself, her sister Tella, and her fiancé. With the help of a mysterious sailor Julian, Scarlett and Tella escape their cruel and abusive father and journey to a far-away island, but as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s organizer, Legend. Now Scarlett must find Tella before the game ends, or she risks losing her forever.

Caraval is the first book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy trilogy of the same name. I have heard a lot of people rave about this series as well as the Once Upon a Broken Heart series, so I was intrigued to read both trilogies, starting with Caraval.

Book Review: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Book title: Ruin and Rising
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: June 17, 2014
350 pages
My rating: 3/5

“He’d seemed confident, strong, as if he belonged in that palace and on that throne. I know things about power that you can barely guess at. I gave myself a shake. I might not be a threat, but I could become one. I wouldn’t let him beat me before I’d had a chance to give him the fight he deserved.”

The Sun Summoner Alina Starkov and the remnants of the once-great Grisha army are forced into hiding as the Darkling has claimed the throne of Ravka. She must find the elusive firebird if she wants to have a chance to defeat him. But as she learns more about her power, she has to choose whether claiming it will truly be worth it.

Yeah, no. Just no.

Book Review: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Book title: Siege and Storm (*Amazon affiliate link)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: June 4, 2013
386 pages
My rating: 4.5/5

“My life would be allegiance instead of love, fealty instead of friendship. I would weigh each decision, consider every action, trust no one. It would be life observed from a distance.”

The Sun Summoner Alina Starkov is on the run from the Darkling. But she and her best friend Mal can’t outrun her destiny for long. With the help of a notorious privateer, she returns to Ravka, determined to lead the Grisha army to a fight against Ravka’s enemies.

This was a weird read because on the one hand, this was better than Shadow and Bone, and at the same time it… wasn’t? Let me try to explain.

Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Book title: Shadow and Bone (*Amazon affiliate link)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: June 5, 2012
358 pages
My rating: 4.5/5

“Standing on the edge of a crowded road, I looked down onto the rolling fields and abandoned farms of the Tula Valley and got my first glimpse of the Shadow Fold. My regiment was two weeks’ march from the military encampment at Poliznaya and the autumn sun was warm overheads, but I shivered in my coat as I eyed the haze that lay like a dirty smudge on the horizon.”

In the war-torn nation of Ravka, seventeen-year-old Alina Starkov’s regiment is assigned to cross over the Shadow Fold – a barren wasteland of unnatural darkness and monsters. When her best friend Mal gets hurt in a monster attack, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves their lives and leads Alina to join the forces of the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite, and their notorious leader, the Darkling.

Book Review: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

Book title: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea (* Amazon affiliate link)
Author: Axie Oh
Genre: Young adult fantasy
Published: February 22, 2022
321 pages
My rating: 4/5

“The myths of my people say only a true bride of the Sea God can bring an end to his insatiable wrath. When the otherworldly storms rise from the East Sea, lightning breaking the sky and water ripping up the shore, a bride is chosen and given to the Sea God. Or sacrificed, depending on the measure of your faith.”

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for a century. People believe that they are cursed by the Sea God, their former protector, and to appease his wrath, they sacrifice a young maiden to him every year. To save her brother’s beloved Shim Cheong from being sacrificed, Mina throws herself in the sea and ends up in the spirit realm. She meets the Sea God, who is sleeping an enchanted sleep, and a mysterious young man Shin, who promises to help her break the curse. But her time is running out, as a human cannot live long in the land of the spirits.

Book Review: A Thousand Heartbeats by Kiera Cass

A Thousand Heartbeats by Kiera Cass

Book Title: A Thousand Heartbeats (*Amazon affiliate link)
Author: Kiera Cass
Genre: YA fantasy, fantasy romance
Published: November 29, 2022 by HarperTeen
565 pages
My rating: 3/5

“Love has a sound. It sounds like a thousand heartbeats happening at the same time.”

Princess Annika lives a life of luxury in the prosperous kingdom of Kadier, but her life isn’t hers to control. Her father is forcing her to form a marriage alliance to duke Nickolas for political gain. Meanwhile, in the decaying Vosino Castle, Lennox prepares for a war to take back the throne from Annika’s father. When these two enemies meet, the call of a thousand heartbeats binds their fates together.

A Thousand Heartbeats is a Young Adult standalone fantasy romance. I expected the book to have more fantasy elements, especially as the cover seems to imply that the characters live in a world with a lot of water. But no. There’s no magic or magical creatures. Basically the only thing that makes the novel a fantasy is that it takes place in a fictional world. The setting is medieval-esque with its castles and princesses and warring kingdoms, so this book could be classified as a Young Adult fairytale.

Book Review: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Book Title: Legendborn (*Amazon affiliate link)
Author: Tracy Deonn
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Published: September 15, 2020
502 pages
My rating: 4/5

“I imagine myself running like the moon is my finish line. Running like I can leave the anger and the shame and gossip behind. I can almost feel the delicious burn in my muscles, the rush sweet and strong in my veins, as I sail over the cliff and into emptiness. Without warning, the roiling spark of After-Bree stretches up from my gut like a vine on fire, but this time I don’t shove her away. She unfurls behind my ribs, and the hot pressure of her is so powerful it feels like I could explode.”

Sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews is grieving the sudden death of her mother. Being accepted to the prestigious UNC Chapel Hill’s Early College Program seems like the perfect get-away from her father’s grief and the constant reminders of her mother. Everything changes when she witnesses bad-boy-esque Selwyn Kane kill a demon before he unsuccessfully tries to erase the event from her memory. Her ability to resist the memory-erasing spell reminds her of something that happened the night her mother died. She gets sucked into the dangerous world of Legendborn, the descendants of King Arthur and his twelve knights of the Round Table. With the help of golden boy Nick Davis, she joins their ranks to uncover the secrets of her mother’s death.

Book Review: The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim

The Dragon's Promise by Elizabeth Lim

Book Title: The Dragon’s Promise (*Amazon affiliate link)
Author: Elizabeth Lim
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: August 30, 2022
482 pages
My rating: 4/5

“The bottom of the Taijin Sea tasted of salt, slime, and disappointment. But for a few faint beams of mysterious light, it was darker than the deepest chasm. Hardly the magnificent watery realm dragons were said to call home.”

Princess Shiori promised her late stepmother to return a dragon’s pearl to its rightful owner, a mysterious half-dragon, half-demon known as the Wraith. Keeping that promise turns out more dangerous than she could have imagined. A religious sect wants to kill her because of her magical skills, while a bloodthirsty demon has his eyes on the dangerous and capricious pearl with a mind of its own – sometimes helping Shiori, sometimes deserting her when she needs it the most.