Tag: historical fantasy

Book Review: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Fantasy
Length: 325 pages
Author: Katherine Arden
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: February 13th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.

As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.

BEAUTIFULLY POIGNANT.

I am the biggest fan of historical fantasies. They get me every dang time and this was no exception. I’m also a major fan girl of all books Katherine Arden, so I shouldn’t be surprised by this development.

I thought this was beautifully written and explored many nuanced aspects of WW1. The fantasy dynamics intrigued me and I highly recommend reading the author’s note at the end. It brought the whole book (and certain characters) into an even better focus and the complexity is next level.

Freddie and Laura were great main characters. Giving two sides to this moving tale. The fierce love between siblings to find each other again, amidst the war, and ghosts, and love and all of these factors yanking and tugging them in different directions.

I could pick a few things I’d love a bit more of, but overall, this is a really solid standalone and one I would highly recommend to others. A book that is dark and vibrant at the same time and one that will stick with you.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fantasy
  • Language: low
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: blood and gore depiction, WW1 themes

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Book Review: Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Fantasy
Length: 544 pages
Author: R.F. Kuang
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: August 23rd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

WHY DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG TO READ THIS?

Well I do know why, I didn’t love the conclusion to The Poppy War series, but I heard too many good things about this book not to give an [eventual] go, AND HERE WE ARE.

I loved it.

I loved how complex it was. I would sit there and be in absolute awe that R.F. Kuang created this amazing story. I felt like I learned so much and with the audio it really came alive (highly recommend this route, I think it saved me from thinking it was too slow).

Robin Swift is the definition of a tangled character. Going through everything he does and choosing some good and some bad decisions. I loved following his story and the intensity at which I felt for the high and low moments. Some of those moments towards the end had my heart breaking. There is so much I could discuss but also no way I could fit it into a review, if you’ve gotten this far just know YOU SHOULD READ IT.

I felt a whole range of emotions reading this and this dark academia story is a new favorite.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fantasy
  • Language: some strong
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of loved ones, murder, colonization, war themes, discussions of slavery, physical abuse, racism, xenophobia, colorism, mentions of suicide, inhuman work conditions, police brutality, brief sexual assault, misogyny, anxiety depiction

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Book Review: The Shattered City (The Last Magician #4) by Lisa Maxwell

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Fiction Fantasy
Length: 768 pages
Author: Lisa Maxwell
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Release Date: December 6th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Once, Esta believed that she could change the fate of magic. She traveled to the past and stopped the Magician from destroying a mystical book that held the key to freeing her people from the Brink, an energy barrier that traps all Mageus who cross it.

But the Book was more than she bargained for. So was the Magician she was tasked to steal it from.

Hunted by an ancient evil, Esta and Harte have raced through time and across a continent to track down the powerful artifacts they need to bind the Book’s devastating power. They’ve lost family, betrayed friends, and done what they’d both vowed never to do: fallen in love with the one person who could truly destroy them.

Now, with only one artifact left, their search has brought them back to New York, the city where it all began. But nothing in Manhattan is as they left it. Their friends have scattered, their enemies have grown more powerful, and as the deadly Brink beckons, their time is running out.

If they can’t find a way to end the threat they’ve created, then the very heart of magic will die—and it will take the world down with it.

I AM GOOD WITH THIS CONCLUSION.

I feel like I’ve worked really hard to get to this point because these books are THIIIICK. And here I am, finished. And I did like the ending a lot!! Things were wrapped up well and got plenty of happy endings for the entire cast.

What is still over my head is some aspects of the magic system. I can’t go into detail because of spoilers, but the time travel + magic artifacts + different timeline saga threw me through a loop occasionally. It mostly worked out enough at least.

I enjoyed these characters and I like the romance aspects weren’t locked up in miscommunication or third act break-up kind of stuff. Everyone worked together to defeat the evil terrorizing the foundation of magic and I love those kind of found family aspects.

If you’re in for a long haul series with multiple romances, historical fiction, time travel, magic, mayhem and more. Maybe try this on audio! I do love the audiobooks and it made some of the longer pacing balance out better.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction + Urban Fantasy
  • Language: some
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: racism, homophobia, near death experiences, magical and physical altercations, kidnapping

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Book Review: Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment #2) by Rebecca Ross

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: NA Fantasy Romance
Length: 432 pages
Author: Rebecca Ross
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: December 26th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The epic conclusion to the intensely romantic and beautifully written story that started in Divine Rivals.

Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign.

Since waking below in Dacre’s realm, Roman cannot remember his past. But given the reassurance that his memories will return in time, Roman begins to write articles for Dacre, uncertain of his place in the greater scheme of the war. When a strange letter arrives by wardrobe door, Roman is first suspicious, then intrigued. As he strikes up a correspondence with his mysterious pen pal, Roman will soon have to make a decision: to stand with Dacre or betray the god who healed him. And as the days grow darker, inevitably drawing Roman and Iris closer together…the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.

WAS IT GOING TO BE ANYTHING ELSE.

Five stars.

All the stars.

All the emotions too.

I loved this book. It was the kind of duology sequel you hope for. Dream about reading. After my total obsession with Divine Rivals the hype was real for this one. And hallelujah all the hype was deserved.

Just go into this book blind. The story unfolds with beautiful writing and a continuation of the storyline you won’t be able to look away from. I loved how the romance evolved, how the meddling gods affected the world and the stunning and raw conclusion.

It’s incredible. Worth the read x1000 over. I love the way Rebecca Ross writes and creates stories. They are always some of my favorite books each year.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Historical Fantasy Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: war themes (bombing and loss of life), near death experiences, weapons violence

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