Tag: Bookish Box

Book Review – Autumn’s Tithe by Hannah Parker

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy; Young Adult

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5 / 5

With Hannah Parker announcing the release date for Autumn’s Traitor (December 9, 2022), the second book in The Severed Realms Trilogy, I thought it was about time I wrote my review for Autumn’s Tithe. 

For me, nothing hits home quite like a badass female main character – and Larken is everything I could have hoped for.

Autumn’s Tithe by Hannah Parker is the first book in The Severed Realms Trilogy, and I can assure you I will be picking up the follow-on novels the moment they are released. 

Ballamor, the human realm, is separated from the faery realm of Airodion except for seven days a year when faery royalty crosses into Ballamor to select a human girl for tithe. Most young girls dream of the day they are chosen for a beautiful life in the faery realm.

Larken has never cared for luxury, let alone among the fey, but when she learns something is amiss with the fey and her best friend may be in trouble, she crosses the bridge into Airodion to find her only friend and bring her home. 

This book has it all – gorgeous descriptions of the fey and their lands and a Nancy Drew vibe where we are solving puzzles and traveling the lands in search of answers. It’s rounded out with an eerie feeling that the darkness running throughout this story is more than we could ever imagine. 

Where the story falls short is Larken’s relationship with the faery prince, Finder, and with overall character development. The story is well-written, the imagery is painted beautifully, but I’m not fully convinced of Finder and Larken’s connection. We spend so much time learning about the dynamics and history of the world itself, sometimes the characters are lost. 

I’m hoping this was a creative decision and as we move through this trilogy, we build a better relationship with our characters and learn more about their relationships with each other. I’ll still be picking up book two and hope to learn more about our characters individually and their relationships with each other.

Posted on by cieraraeoldham 0

Book Review – Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

This review is long overdue. Vespertine is one of the best fantasy novels I have read recently, and I really hope you decide to pick it up.

Artemisia is the hero we all need. She’s strong, independent, and 100 percent over the bullshit. She’s training to become a Gray Sister, a nun who works to cleanse spirits of the dead so they can pass peacefully. Without the Gray Sisters, the dead would return to torment the people of Loraille. 

When possessed soldiers attack Artemisia’s convent, she uses the power of an ancient spirit bound into a sacred relic. Artemisia knows there are risks to utilizing this power. The Revenant is capable of taking over completely if she isn’t careful. But a partnership forms between the pair as they work together to fight back against the evil spreading throughout Loraille. 

We have ancient religious secrets, dark magic, and unlikely friendship – what’s not to love about this story. 

“Me, the goat, the Revenant, we weren’t very different from each other in the end. Perhaps deep down inside everyone was a just a scared animal afraid of getting hurt, and that explained every confusing and mean and terrible thing we did.”

Margaret Rogerson, Vespertine

I grew up in an extremely religious environment, so the element of pushing back against corrupt religious leaders and seeking out the truth hidden among the tenants of religion used to control people speaks to me more than I expected it to.

My copy of Vespertine came from The Bookish Box, so it’s not something I had heard of or was interested in previously. Now that I’ve read the book, I’m so thankful for my subscription. Not to mention, the book itself is gorgeous. 

We love a badass heroine (with no love interest, which in my opinion really makes the story) who is putting her life on the line for people she knows would murder her if she makes the slightest misstep. But regardless she follows her intuition, revives magic long forgotten and forbidden, and saves the people who will likely be her downfall one day. 

“They would martyr me themselves to satisfy their hunger for a saint.”

Margaret Rogerson, Vespertine

Artemisia has always been an outsider and knows that isn’t going to change no matter how many lives she saves. You will be cheering for her from the moment her name appears on the page.

Margaret Rogerson wrote a reluctant hero in the best way possible. I fell in love with Artemisia and you will too.

Posted on by cieraraeoldham 0

What I’m Reading – Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer wasn’t on my radar, but when I opened this month’s Bookish Box I knew I had to move it to the top of my TBR. I don’t often judge a book by it’s cover – but this one was so gorgeous I refused to just file it away on my book cart full of unread books.

I’m only 50ish pages in so far, and I’m already invested and excited to continue reading. Right away Kemmerer has created a world full of suspense and a strong desire to know more about the characters I’ve been introduced to. 50 pages in and I’m already making predictions about how things will play out. I love it.

Hoping the review I write at the end will be full of the same excitement, so stay tuned.

Synopsis

From New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer comes a blockbuster fantasy series, perfect for fans of Holly Black and Victoria Aveyard, about a kingdom divided by corruption, the prince desperately holding it together, and the girl who will risk everything to bring it crashing down.

Apothecary apprentice Tessa Cade is tired of seeing her people die. King Harristan and his cruel brother, Prince Corrick, ignore the suffering of their people and react mercilessly to any sign of rebellion, even as a sickness ravages the land. That’s why she and her best friend Wes risk their lives each night to steal the petals of the delicate Moonflower, the only known cure. But it’s not enough to keep everyone she loves safe―or alive.

When Prince Corrick commits an act of unspeakable cruelty, Tessa becomes desperate enough to try the impossible: sneaking into the palace. But what she finds there makes her wonder if it’s even possible to fix their world without destroying it first.

Brigid Kemmerer’s captivating new series is about those with power and those without . . . and what happens when someone is brave enough to imagine a new future.

Posted on by cieraraeoldham 0