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Book Review: Kingsbane The Empirium Trilogy – Book Two by Claire Legrand
Kingsbane: The Empirium Trilogy – Book Two by Claire Legrand ★★★★★ Magical and mythic sequel to the epic fantasy Furyborn Rielle and Eliana. Two queens, a thousand years apart, living in a world torn asunder by centuries of war between angels and humans, the latter led by their saints. Rielle, named the Sun Queen against the wishes of her influential adversaries, glories in her dazzling power over nature and the elements. While the burden to save humanity rests on her shoulders, she is plagued by dark impulses and a dangerous temptation that could change the fate of the world should she give way to it. The consequences of her choices and actions are felt by Eliana, her daughter, flung into a far-off future, and forced to come to terms...
Book Review: Wings in the Wild by Margarita Engle
★★★★★ Reviewed by Jo-Anne Blanco Genre: Novel in Verse, Literary Fiction, Romance/Love Stories Young Adults: Children Time Period: 2018 to 2019 Major Regions: Central America, Caribbean Subgenres/Themes: Immigrants and Expatriates, Latinx Writers, Generational Family Sagas, Dealing with Loss, Nature & Environment, Music and the Arts, Activism & Volunteering, Magical Realism Eloquent, lyrical, in-verse tale of two teenagers contending with fire and flood, displacement and loss, as they fall in love and set out to restore the natural beauty of a world being destroyed. Margarita Engle’s wonderful children’s novel Wings in the Wild is dedicated to “los caminantes cubanos y los costarricenses generosos”, which translates to “the...
Book Review: Weyward
★★★★★ A gripping, spellbinding, and powerfully moving tale of three gifted women connected across time. Emilia Hart's debut novel Weyward takes the reader on an enthralling journey back and forth across time to follow the stories of three extraordinary women. In 1619, Altha has been arrested and thrown into a dungeon to await trial for witchcraft. Four hundred years later, in 2019, Kate is trapped in an abusive relationship, from which she plans to escape. Centuries after Altha and decades before Kate, sixteen-year-old Violet lives a secluded life in a manor house in the north of England in 1942, with her strict father and younger brother Graham. Violet's special affinity with insects, birds and other animals, and her deeply felt...
The Black Cat – Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat” uses a Celtic Cat-Sìth both as a symbol of guilt and as a nemesis to punish the guilty. The protagonist, a first person narrator, loves animals, and he and his wife have many pets, including a beautiful black cat called Pluto. The narrator is very fond of the cat. However, the narrator is an alcoholic and one night, coming home drunk, he believes Pluto is avoiding him. He tries to get hold of Pluto but the cat, afraid, bites him. Enraged, the narrator grabs Pluto, takes his penknife, and gouges out one of the cat’s eyes. From that moment on, Pluto flees in terror whenever he sees his master, and, though the narrator feels horror and remorse for his cruelty, when he gets drunk he gets enraged...
Book Review: A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C A Fletcher 5 stars Great title for a great book! The end of the world came gradually, with what was known as the Gelding. Humanity lost its ability to reproduce and the Lastborn generation, known as the Baby Bust, just grew older and older until they finally died out. Only a tiny fraction of a percentage of the population were still able to have children, and they now live in isolated areas, far away from the abandoned mainlands. Among the survivors are Griz’s parents and their children, who live with their pets and livestock on an island in the remote Outer Hebrides, subsisting on what remains of the society who once lived there. Electricity, manufacturing, and communications are all gone....
Book Review: Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron
Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron ***** 5 stars A powerful, mystical journey into a perilous world of gods and magic “Why doesn’t magic come to me, Father?” Sixteen-year-old Arrah has been waiting her whole life for magic to be bestowed upon her. Granddaughter of a great witchdoctor and daughter of the Ka-Priestess of the Almighty Kingdom, she feels the weight of the extraordinary legacy she must live up to, but is forced to watch helplessly as other children younger than her are blessed with the gift while she is passed over. Yet Arrah is gifted in other ways – with intelligence, wit, the ability to see and to feel magic, and a fervent loyalty to her friends which inspires from them fierce loyalty in return. “Magic has a price if you’re...