Series Review / The Empyrean (Fourth Wing) Series (Books 1, 2 and 3) by Rebecca Yarros

 

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die

Published:  Book 1 (2nd May 2023), Book 2 (7th November 2023) and Book 3 (21st January 2025 

Publisher:  Red Tower Books / Platkus

Goodreads :  Click Here

Series or Stand-Alone:  Books 1, 2 and 3, The Empyrean

Source:  Bought

MY REVIEW

What I loved about this story so far ..  I adore this series so far!  It may be better to list here what I didn't like about this story because it wouldn't be a long list.  The writing was easy to read and follow.  The story was addicting, for me, right from the first page.  There are characters that I both like and dislike (sometimes both for the same character).  If I had to pick one thing that I liked the most about this series so far it would have to be the history of the world and certain characters.  I am not going to spoil it for those who either haven't started the series or have not read all of the books yet but there are certain characters where its obvious that there's a lot more history to be discovered.  That's not mentioning the world they are living in which I feel like there's so much more we don't know about yet.  I can't wait for the next book, but I fear I may be in for a bit of wait....

Would I recommend?  Absolutely!  Not too complicated and so much fun to read.  Book 3 read a lot slower than the first two books but feels to me to be more of a book in the series that is laying down the ground work for the next books.  

Book Review / A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas (Book 1)

 

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.
 

 

 

Published:     5th May 2015
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 1, A Court of Thorns and Roses
Source:  Owned

 

MY REVIEW

 

I am one of those types of readers who just can't pick up a book later in a series that has just come out (having waited a very long time for it to come out) and just delve back into that book.  Usually I rarely remember the smaller details that you would remember if you had read the previous books before picking up the new one.  With the release of A Court of Silver Flames, I knew that to give that book a fair chance I would re-read the previous books, which was no trouble because I adore this series.

What I love the most about this first book in this series is the world building and the character building.  The more times I read this book the more little details I notice and also realise that there may be some foreshadowing going on for future books.  

I enjoyed this book just as much as I did the first time around and would happily re-read this over and over again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERIES REVIEW / Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her ... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead ... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Published:     2012 to 2018
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Books 1 to 8, Throne of Glass
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

With the final book in this series now out, rather than just picking that up and reading it and as this series is one of my favourite ones of all time, I thought it would be a good idea to pick this up again right from the beginning.   I know that if I was to just pick up the final book, I would just end up spending a great deal of time at the start trying to remember and figure out what had gone on before.  I am so that glad I did.

What I didn't like about this series...  Despite the fact that I loved this series and have given it a full five starts, that doesn't mean that there were no aspect of it that I would have changed given the chance.  One of those for me was with the main character Celaena herself.  Yes, she is a hard ass trained assassin but at times it felt that she did not think too much about the actions she takes or the repercussions of her actions, leaving remaining characters to pick up the rest.  

What I liked about this series...  

The Writing -  Easy to read, follow and because of the type of complexity of the story you don't want to spend too much time trying to decipher fancy wording etc.  No fancy wording but great descriptions that helped build the world and characters in my own imagination.

The Characters - What I liked the most was the character progression and the different struggles they face as the story goes along, both in terms of the story and in terms of their own internal dialogue.  My favourite character was Chaol.  You see him at the start a bit grumpy and
very regimented on his position but also very loyal.  As the story goes on, he is still all of those things but we slowly see a lot more.

The Story - With each book, we learn more and more.  Even with Tower of Dawn when we take a 'break' from the main story and follow Chaol on his journey (that, of course, was one of my favourite stories of the whole series).  There were a few story lines that I enjoyed more than most.  One of them was the story of Chaol (as mentioned above), where he meets Celeana and goes on from there.  There are a few more but don't want to spoil the story for those who have not read all the series yet!

In Summary...  I loved this series.  It was one of those stories that I picked up and just could not put down until I reached the very last page of the last book.  I am so sad that this series has come to an end but very excited to see what Sarah J Maas has in store next!

Series Review / Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare *** CONTAIN SPOILERS ***

The Shadow Market is a meeting point for faeries, werewolves, warlocks and vampires. There the Downworlders buy and sell magical objects, make dark bargains, and whisper secrets they do not want the Nephilim to know. Through two centuries, however, there has been a frequent visitor to the Shadow Market from the City of Bones, the very heart of the Shadowhunters. As a Silent Brother, Brother Zachariah is sworn keeper of the laws and lore of the Nephilim. But once he was a Shadowhunter called Jem Carstairs, and his love, then and always, is the warlock Tessa Gray. Follow Brother Zachariah and see, against the backdrop of the Shadow Market’s dark dealing and festival, Anna Lightwood’s doomed romance, Matthew Fairchild’s great sin and Tessa Gray plunged into a world war. Valentine Morgenstern buys a soul at the Market and a young Jace Wayland’s soul finds safe harbor. In the Market is hidden a lost heir and a beloved ghost, and no-one can save you once you have traded away your heart. Not even Brother Zachariah.

Published:     2018
Series or Stand-Alone:  Series, Shadowhunter World
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

As I have probably mentioned in previous review of the books in the Shadowhunter world, I do not normally pick up novellas or side books in series.  Generally, I stick to the main books and that is it.  I had found when I had picked up those books in the past that they never really added much to the story, just gave more depth to the characters in it maybe.  Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter world novellas and side novels are completely different.  Each and every one adds a bit more to the overall Shadowhunter world and gives more depth to each of the characters' stories that are in it.

I have put a warning on this review that it contains spoilers but that is only because of the description of the series above.  For those who have not read a lot of the books in this world, it is probably best to go back and start from the beginning.  I would recommend starting with the Mortal Instruments series and go from there.  For me, this world has just got better and better.

With a lot of characters in this book, we see a lot more of Brother Zachariah and Tessa Gray along with ancestors of the characters from the Mortal Instruments series and learning even more about the Shadowhunter history.

I loved this mini-series in itself and can't wait to see what happens next in this world!