I really loved this book!
Marika is on her way to the imperial city to meet with her betrothed. A marriage her father a prominent samurai arranged for her as she had known would happen her whole life. On the road her convoy is attacked by the Black Clan, a rogue group of bandits, who’ve been hired to kill Marika. As the lone survivor Marika makes the decision to take her life into her own hands, track down the Black Clan and find out who wants her dead.
I really enjoyed Marika’s character. She wasn’t naïve or overly innocent and immature which I kind of don’t like in female protagonists. I thought she was quite forthright and speculative and unwilling to bend. She asks questions, she wants to be informed, she doesn’t want to be in the dark or unaware and she pushes for information. Her growth over the course of the book was great to read. She has decided she doesn’t want any man to make decisions for her. She is in charge of her own destiny. I also really liked how self-aware she became towards the end of the story. She understood how much she overlooked as the daughter of a samurai and how skewed her perception of the world and those around her were.
At first I didn’t find any of the members of the black clan to be likeable. I didn’t really connect with any of them until around the half-way point of the book. When they decided to trust Marika and we got a few more details about who they are and what they are doing and that’s really when I started to be more invested.
I loved reading about the backstory of Ranmaru and Okami. Everything about their father’s and the emperor and how it wove together into the plotline was beautiful. I loved that their friendship was based on loyalty and honour. You could really get a feel for the lengths that they would go to protect each other and the rest of the Black Clan.
I love that this book is so unique and different culturally, learning about the samurai’s and the different clans in the empire. Seeing the political manipulations of the emperor and his son’s and how they interact with others around them. How the plot unfolded and the way the characters interacted kept me highly entertained. Though there were passages at the start where it got a little boring and I was skimming a few paragraphs but overall the actual story was fantastic!
⭐️4.5/5 Twists and turns, samurai’s and sword fights!
The Wicked King by Holly Black – just want to put it out there I did not like The Cruel Prince. I tried very much to like it because everyone absolutely loves it, but I just didn’t gel to the book. I found Jude to be incredibly unlikeable and naïve and the storyline was a little slow paced and all over the place. But because of that ending I do want to continue on with The Wicked King and give this series one more chance. Release date 8th January 2019
The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson – Truly Devious made it to my favourite books of 2018 lists. I was completely taken by surprise by that book as I kind of picked it up on a whim without really knowing too much about it. I was highly entertained throughout the course of the book and plot was woven in such a way that had you second guessing every single character and their motives! Release Date 22nd January 2019
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo – I marathoned the Grisha Series and the Six of Crows duology a few years ago and I was obsessed! I believe this is going to be a new series in the same world as the previous books, which makes me very happy! I love Leigh Bardugo’s characters and her plots are always amazing! Release date 29th January 2019
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi – Children of Blood and Bone was I think one of the most hyped books of 2018 when it was released. So hyped in fact that I had to pick it up immediately and give it a read. I will say that I liked it but I didn’t really love it as much as everyone else does. It was very fast paced with a very unique magic system that kept me invested throughout the story. I can’t wait to see where Tomi Adeyemi will take the storyline next. Release date 5th March 2019
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas – I think this is mostly my fault, I went into this book thinking it was going be as in depth and plot driven as the other books in the series and being a novella I just didn’t get any of that… It was a little uneventful and there wasn’t as much action or adventure that I was yearning for. So it was a bit average and boring to me. ⭐️3/5 stars
hopes for this series, when Restore Me came out earlier this year everyone was scrambling to pick it up and were hyping the series up but when I read them it wasn’t as good as what I thought. The premise of the books is really intriguing but the execution didn’t surpass my expectations. 
The Darkest Minds Series by Alexandra Bracken – Another series that was super hyped when the movie adaptation came out earlier this year as well as a new paperback set… Again I felt like the premise of the books was super interesting but as I was getting into them I was just bored. I gave the first book a 4/5 as I liked the introduction of the characters and there was a few action sequences that kept my interest piqued but as an overall series it didn’t do it for me. 
Amy Leigh Reads 