Tag: books

Readathons, TBR

Buzzwordathon TBR

by amyleighreads1 Comment on Buzzwordathon TBR

I joined in the last round of the Buzzwordathon and when I saw the announcement video for the final round I knew I had to participate again! It will be held from Monday 21st through to Sunday 27th so for next week I will just pause on the Bookopoly and pick up the three books I could find in my TBR that match the Buzzword which is NIGHT … I am super excited to be participating again and will hopefully be reading some great books!

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

The Language of Thorns : Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo

Updates

⚔️ An Ember in the Ashes Series Reread ⚔️

by amyleighreads2 Comments on ⚔️ An Ember in the Ashes Series Reread ⚔️

I’ve just recently completed An Ember in the Ashes and I liked it better this time round. This is only the second time I have read this book since I first bought it two years ago and having read hundreds of other fantasy novels in the meantime made me appreciate this story even more! Right from the start I was highly invested in our two main protagonists and with the stakes gradually rising as the story continues there was never a point where I wanted to put the book down. This time around I was surprised by how much the deaths of all the masks affected me during the third trial. Seeing Elias’s anguish and torment with killing all of his friends and how willing some of them were to die really hit me in the feels. I love the Romanesque feel of the world and the war focused society and can’t wait to become more re-established as I continue on with the series. We get a little taste of the magic system and the lore surrounding the ghuls, ifits and djinn enough to keep me engaged but I’m definitely left wanting more. Overall I think this was a perfect introduction to a new series, we have high stakes, twists and turns and characters you can’t help but love.

Reviews

The Memory of Babel Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on The Memory of Babel Review

The Memory of Babel continues about two and a half years after the events of The Missing of Clairedelune. Ophelia has spent her time on Anima trying to research and waiting to hear from Thorn. When Archibald turns up and offers her the chance to go back to the Pole, Ophelia makes the decision to go find some answers on her own.

I think in this edition of the series Ophelia really wants to be seen as an adult and not some child that doesn’t know what she’s doing. The fact that she embarks on the apprenticeship when she gets to Babel even though it pushes her right to her breaking point really shows how much she has evolved over the course of the series. I just wish she would of asserted herself a bit more and didn’t let people get under her skin so much.

Thorn I struggled a little bit with in this book. He is incredibly cold and standoffish when he is reunited with Ophelia and even though he did finally expressed his feelings to her he doesn’t display it. For the majority he is present in the book I get the feeling that he didn’t even miss her at all and the way he spoke to her didn’t really give her cause to express her feelings back to him. He only really opens back up to her after she bears her soul to him and then we finally get some concrete answers to what’s actually going on.

Babel was a completely different setting to the previous Arcs. It definitely made me more invested in the book as I was eager to find out about what prompted Ophelia to come here. We are introduced to a lot of new characters and I appreciated some of the new friendships that were sparked, mainly Blaine and Augustus. I think they are going to have more focus in the coming book!

I was surprised by the direction this book went in. I genuinely thought this was the last book in this series so throughout the course of the story line I was waiting for all the plot points to come together and make sense but it seems as we were getting some answers more questions were popping up. There were certain twists that I predicted from the start but then there were others that completely took me by surprise.

⭐️4/5 stars A slow build but the end ensnared me once again!

Reviews

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin Review

by amyleighreads3 Comments on A Song of Wraiths and Ruin Review

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin follows two perspectives Malik and Karina. Karina is hell bent on bringing her mother back from the death after she was assassinated and Malik is trying to kill Karina in order to save his younger sister from an evil spirit who has kidnapped her.

I was really invested in Malik’s storyline right from the start; from his backstory with his sisters and how they came to be in Ziran, to his magical abilities and his journey over the course of the storyline. I loved seeing how he has had to overcome his insecurities and anxiety and step up and do the right thing in order to save Nadia.

Karina was a little unlikeable at the start to be honest. I can understand the situation she is in and the pressure that has been placed on her since the death of her sister, but she came across as whiny and selfish to me. She does evolve and see the error of her ways and kind of comes to terms with the fact that her family are never going to come back but still she just wasn’t a favourite character of mine. It didn’t impede my enjoyment of the story at all, just something I wanted to note.

The world building was great even though we are only in this one city for the majority of the book I can see the potential for growth in the rest of the series. The history of the royal family and the kingdom was very interesting and I definitely want to learn more about Karina’s family and faceless king in the coming books as well. The magic system we didn’t really learn that much about. I am looking forward to Karina and Malik figuring out how to control their powers and trace back to their origins.

I liked the concept of the book I think it is highly original and engaging. The use of the competition kept me highly invested in the plot and eager to find out what was going to happen next.

⭐️3/5 stars Great introduction to the series, I’m looking forward to continuing!!