Scookie Reviews

THREADS THAT BIND by Kika Hatzopolou Disclaimer time: As always, the following is just my opinion. Other opinions are available.  THREADS THAT BIND is an epic fantasy with an urban feel. It has a fascinating magic system inspired by Greek mythology, and a story that explores the bonds of sibling relationships. Overall, it's a fast-paced book about fate, choices, and forgiving yourself, so prepare for morally grey moments and difficult sibling relationships.  Io and her sisters are descendants of the Fates, which means they're able to see and manipulate the threads that connect people to the things they love. Io is the third sister, and therefore she is able to cut threads. The story kicks off when Io is hired by the 'mobqueen' to investigate murders linked to vengeful wraiths. To top it off, she has to work with the very person she's been avoiding for years, a boy she's fated to love - except he already has a girlfriend. If you think that the above sounds like t...

THE CITY OF SNOW AND STARS by S.D. Howard 4 Stars Verdict: A dark fantasy with a wholesome cast.  Trigger warning for rape/abuse.  'I'm not wanted for me, only what I can give, and there is nothing left.' I don't usually quote books, but this is a very quotable story! The dialogue was powerful in places, and the way the characters bonded together was the strength of this Christian fantasy adventure.   It's written in third person with a narrative that I personally found a little distant at times. That said, the characters are easy to root for. Runaways Trinia and Jayden team up with a wizard to take down Trinia's abusive father before he can take over the kingdom. They're joined by a talking wolf and a shapeshifter called Batanny, who in many ways seems like an older version of Trinia. Threads of pain run through this book and pull the characters together in a way that makes this dark read still feel wholesome at times.  It soon became an easy to enjoy fant...

OCTAVIA BLOOM AND THE MISSING KEY by Estelle Grace Tudor 5 Stars Verdict : A beautiful book, through and through.  When eccentric Great Aunt Clara comes to stay in the Bloom's family castle, Octavia learns she's the keeper of the key for a magical fairyland. However, her family has a secret, one that involves finding rare flowers in order to break a curse. Although Octavia should protect fairyland and stay in the human world, the last flower to break the curse can only be found through the door.  Octavia is clever and mischievous, so she's the perfect heroine for this tale. Her sister Fliss is protective and caring, making her a great side kick for this first book. I hear from the author that each book will focus on a different character, so this is Octavia's chance to shine.   I loved Great Aunt Clara and Grandma. They're the sisters who were the past keepers of fairyland who have very different ideals about the hidden world, and they bounced off each other well. T...

THE CHILD OF CHAOS by Glen Dahlgren 5 Stars Verdict: A gritty and original fantasy based around Order and Chaos.  Galen has a wild imagination and doesn't want to end up a fisherman like his father. However, he doesn't seem to possess the 'longing' needed to belong to a temple and perform magic. Instead he has a different pull, one that might be responsible for his mother going missing. What's more is his bully, Horace, has the same longing and will go to extreme lengths to be first to find the cause of it.  I really enjoyed reading this book from start to finish.   Galen is a typical hero who's brave and has a good moral compass. He doesn't quite fit in with the labels his world forces on him, and there's something calling him to adventure out into the world, possibly to go missing forever like his mother.  My favourite thing about this book was Horace. He's a young yet ruthless villain, a fast thinker, clever, brutal - and damaged. He's haunted...

THE RAVENS by Kass Morgan & Danielle Paige 5 Stars Verdict: Is it too early to call my favourite book of the year? When Vivi joins Westerly College, she discovers the sorority known as the Ravens are actually a secret coven of witches. In her pledge to join, she quickly gets on the wrong side of Scarlett, a legacy Raven, who desperately wants to be voted president to meet her mother's unreasonable expectations. Although the dark events of last year are catching up with Scarlett, putting the whole sorority in danger.  For me, this will go down as one of my favourites of all time. It has everything I loved about 90s Charmed combined with everything I adore in YA fiction. It's fast paced, full of complex family history and teen drama, and had enough magic and mystery to keep me enthralled throughout. It has a darker edge to it too, like the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina , plus a couple of lines of humour, and tons of mystery.  The story is told through third person dual POV...

Here are two reviews for recently published young adult fantasy books. Both are gory, both have a lot to offer, but neither really knocked my socks off. Why? You'll have to watch and see! Click here to visit my channel, Scookie Reviews. I've got a good rhythm at the moment for creating video reviews. They're coming out on Wednesdays. THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS by Chloe Gong KINGDOM OF THE WICKED by Kerri Maniscalco Hope you enjoy! Feel free to share your comments about the books below. I received an ecopy of both books from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  You can also buy the books using the affiliate links below. The links mean that I get a very small percentage of the profits from amazon without taking anything away from the authors.  Buy THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS. Buy KINGDOM OF THE WICKED.

This middle grade fantasy tale is just perfect for this time of year, so I decided to make a video review. I'm still getting into the swing of things but hopefully this will cover everything you might want to know before choosing this book, and of course, no spoilers! Watch on YouTube and subscribe!

SPIN THE DAWN by Elizabeth Lim 4 stars Verdict: Awesome, dull, then crazy! Maia is a talented tailor who dreams of working for the Emperor. When a male from her family is summoned to compete for the honour of imperial tailor, Maia poses as her brother to take his place.  Magic, adventure, and banter ensue.  This tale is spun from three parts, and my opinions varied throughout. It starts as Mulan meets Project Runway, and then suddenly becomes an adventure romance before ending on a cliff hanger. Let's break it down. Part one I absolutely adored. It was fast and fresh with all the right East-Asian fantasy vibes. Maia is a brave, loyal, and ambitious girl and her voice is compelling. The competition is fierce, mixed in-between a magical court drama with twists, stakes, and intriguing characters, oh my. Part 2 slowed the pace. Maia is sent on a fetch quest which sounded like the perfect opportunity to explore the world more. Instead, it became a romance. It kind of felt like a ba...

CROOKED KINGDOM #2 Six of Crows 5 Stars V erdict : A fine sequel (Coming from me, that says a lot!) I read this book like sipping a fine wine, savouring the good bits but perhaps falling asleep on the sofa once or twice. I didn't find it quite as gripping as book one, and I will admit the 'plotting scenes' received too much word time for my likings, given that the whole point is for their plans to go askew anyway...So I wasn't always enthralled, but the whole thing was enjoyable to read from beginning to end.  I LOVE that this is duology. As you might know, I have beef with book two's of trilogies, mostly because the writer drags the poor story across three books, stretching every plot thread thin until my interest breaks entirely. This two book series keeps the pace, keeps the tension, and keeps twisting until the very end. I feel satisfied that it has a real ending. Please more duologies in future! As a character led story, the whole ragtag bunch are fully fleshed...

THE WICKED KING by Holly Black #2 The Folk of the Air 3 Stars Verdict: An okay middle book. Me and 'middle books' of trilogies have beef. It's been a long time since I've really enjoyed one, and I'm starting to think it's me. Why do they always spend the first two thirds of the book in story limbo? Why do they refuse to end in a satisfying manner and instead throw you over a cliff and expect you to hang on for the next hundred thousand words to be published? Why does nothing good ever happen to the protagonist? Wicked King is marginally better than the other middle books I've read recently. Still, it reads like A Guide to a Miserable Existence , by Jude Duarte, who wanders around for months on end before stuff finally starts to happen. Just when you're really interested, the book ends within the slice of a guillotine as it cuts off the last section, leaving you wondering what was that noise all about. It's not a bad book. The main ch...

ACE OF SHADES by Amanda Foody 4 Stars Verdict:  A mixed hand. Prim and proper dancer, Enne Salta, braves the so-called City of Sin in search of her mother. She seeks out Levi Glaisyer, a young gang leader struggling to pull off the last leg in a financial scam. Gangster magic ensues! I had mixed feeling about this story from start to finish, but did I enjoy it? Yes. Mostly. I felt critical while reading it, but I still enjoyed the ride. It starts off fast, almost too fast, so that it has to slow down immediately after in order to build up the world and characters. The pace might plummet, but the world and characters are very well done. I enjoyed Enne's growth from a stuffy prim and proper lady into a survivor, and I liked how she he clashed with Levi's laid back persona - textbook chemistry! Levi, on the other hand, is in over his head, and things only gets worse for him. I've heard lots of comparisons to Six of Crow' s Kaz Brekker, and I'd say Levi isn...

ASH PRINCESS by Laura Sebastian 5 Stars Verdict:  An unexpected page-turner. When Theodosia was six, her country was invaded, her people enslaved, and her mother, the queen, was murdered before her eyes. The Kaiser crowned Theo 'Ash Princess', a joke to court and a prisoner to torture. As the rebellion suffers it's greatest fall yet, Theo decides now is the time for her to fight back. I wasn't expecting much for this one. Pretty cover, pretty name, but make no mistakes, this is not a pretty book. Don’t let the word ‘Princess’ fool you, this is a cutthroat story from the very start. And, yes, pun intended, thank you very much. As for trigger warnings, this book ticks a lot of boxes. It involves physical and emotional abuse. Rape is mentioned and there is a violent scene that's difficult to read through. It's a story of colonisation by a ruthless leader who humiliates and tortures a sixteen year old girl as a lesson to his enemies, so that's somethi...

CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by Tomi Adeyemi 5 Stars Verdict: So good it hurts. The night magic died, Zélie watched her mother's murder as the Maji were slaughtered. Now Zélie has a chance to bring back magic. With the help of her brother and a rogue princess, she must outrun the crown prince and battle her self-doubts to restore magic to the world. This West-African inspired fantasy is powerful and all round awesome from start to finish. The writing is emotive and imaginative, the pacing is as perfect as it gets, and the characters are real with flaws and charm. I hardly know what to say. A brilliant book like this tells the editor in me to shut up and enjoy the ride, so I'd need to read it again to offer more of a critique. If every book was as good as this one, I would never be able to stop reading. The struggles, anger, and pain are carved into this book so deeply that the desires bleed through the pages and the triumphs feel earned. The emotion in this book is ...

THE DARKEST MINDS by Alexandra Bracken 4 Stars Verdict: A sluggish start but a spectacular ending. We've heard it all before. Kids start developing powers at puberty and the government has locked them all up in 'rehabilitation' centres. Ruby, terrified of her powers, is just trying to survive when the resistance takes too much of an interest in how she could help them fight the government. This story could do with an exposition comb run through it, alongside a pair of thought-thinning scissors. It’s a slow read for the most part, dense with info and thought dumping, which left me craving action, plot, and active characters. My first impressions were not great. I actually stopped reading this after the first ten percent earlier this year. Six months later and a third of the way in, I was gearing up for a two star review. I love kids-with-powers stories, but it sounded too much like other dystopians. I felt impatient for it to move along into fresher material. Aft...

THE GIRL WITH GHOST EYES by M.H. Boroson 3 Stars Verdict: Asian folklore, fierce battles, but something missing... Li-lin is a widow and the daughter of a renowned Daoshi exorcist in San Francisco, Chinatown, 1898. Her gift of seeing the spirits bring shame to her father, and dooms her to a short, pained life. When her father is injured by a sorcerer, Lin-lin must stop an ancient evil from destroying Chinatown. At first I was enthralled by the mythology-rich opening, strong female lead, and the head-first dive into conflict. I enjoyed the introduction of weird and wonderful spirits with added details of Chinese culture and mythology. Five stars were on my mind. However, something felt missing. As the book raced onwards with fight after fight, I started to lose interest. I didn't want to, because I enjoyed the opening so much. But it seemed to focus on the wrong things. It kept introducing new concepts when I craved to learn how all the pieces we already had could fit tog...

FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS by Julie Dao 5 Stars Verdict: Rich, gradual, and gory. Xiefeng is destined to be Empress of Feng Lu, but only if she lets the darkness guide her... I’ll admit, I can only read one high fantasy story a year and it has to really stand out. In this case, the East-Asia mythology aspect of this one drew me in within an instant. The darkness of the story, the unconventional twists in the relationships, and the gorgeous writing had me slithering through this book slower to enjoy it for longer. I always know a book has me where it wants me as soon as I stop counting pages. Xiefeng is an antihero I could get behind. She’s jealous, selfish, righteous – but her desires, suffering, and efforts and so strong, I rooted for her all the same. For a writer to make me like someone who is morally grey is a kind of magic I want to understand more. There’s no crescendo for this book. No huge twist or gut-wrenching moment which turns the book back on itself. That’...

GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE #1 by Natasha Ngan  4 Stars Verdict: A beautiful and difficult tale. With a book like this, I think it’s important to point out that it’s not for everyone. It explores the theme of sexual abuse in a way that’s unavoidable, unskippable. The scenes aren’t graphic, but the emotion is, or at least it felt like that to me. Please bare that in mind before reading. Lei is part of the Paper cast, meaning she’s human from head to toe, unlike the power and magical chimera-like casts that are afforded the better status in Ikhara. She’s taken from her small village and made into one of the chosen eight concubines of the bull king. Unlike the other concubines, Lei refuses to submit to the 'honour' of being a Paper girl. When I heard this was a fantasy novel inspired by Asian culture, I had to have it. Asian mythology has inspired my own writing, so I couldn't wait to sink into this tale, and the world building definitely delivered. The premise is dark...

HEART OF MIST by Helen Scheuerer 5 Stars Verdict:  One of the best fantasy book I've read this year! Bleak wants a cure for her illegal magic, if possible, but mostly, she wants wine every day. A summons from the king is a death sentence to her. Henri is the queen of Valia, a race of strong female fighters, but she isn't the queen of the realm. A choice she makes could send her people to war with the true king. Dash is a stable boy, but he's also best friends with the blind princess. He dreams of being a knight, or even just meeting one. They live in a land which is threatened by a growing mist, one only those with magic can survive. I loved this right from the start. Beautiful descriptions, dark humour, and a pace that doesn't let up. This is my ideal story. It had a good balance of action, character, and pace, the three entwined as the plot moved ever forwards, each detailed, but not too heavy to handle. I thought there could perhaps be more world bui...

MAGIC BITTER, MAGIC SWEET by Charlie M. Holmberg 3 Stars Verdict: A strange way to bake a cake. Note: I listened to the audio-book for this one, which was a new experience for me. Maire is a baker who can infuse her creations with emotions, enriching the eater with love, happiness, luck, strength - anything she puts her mind to. She only has memories of the last four years, and so doesn't know how she acquired this skill, and is happy to work in a small shop, selling her cakes for little or nothing. When marauders raid her village and turn her into a slave, Maire meets Allemus, a strange man who can see the magic in her and wants to use it in bizzare and nefarious ways. I think chapter one was my favourite. I loved the descriptions of the magical cake baking and the emotions it involved. The idea is simple yet beautiful, and created a world of ideas which I couldn't wait to explore. Most of the rest of the book I found...odd. There were bits to enjoy here and there...

TO KILL A KINGDOM by Alexandra Christo 5 Stars Verdict:  A killer little mermaid retelling. Lira is a murderous siren known as the Prince's Bane, for each year she steals the heart of a promised ruler to add to her collection. Her horrid mother, the sea queen, enjoys tormenting her, and thinks that the mercy Lira shows her victims makes her unfit to rule the sea. Prince Elian is a siren killer. He travels the seas with a band of misfits - similar to a pirate, minus the plunder, pillaging, and general illegal behaviour - but one day must return to rule Midas. He finds his impending duties suffocating, but when he hears  whispers of a relic that could kill the sea queen herself, he barters his freedom away to find its location. When Lira washes aboard Elian’s ship with legs instead of fins, the pair are thrown together in a quest to find the second eye of Keto, a powerful crystal strong enough to kill the sea queen. So it’s a little mermaid with a dark twist, w...