Review – children of fire by Drew Karpyshyn

A brutal story of power, betrayal, and guilt, Children of Fire sets the table for what looks to be a decent series. It starts simple enough, introducing the main characters one by one through their births. It can be confusing for somebody with a fleeting mind (like me) as so many characters are introduced, but through attrition, manipulation, and of course magic – the characters start to come together. Things get a little easier to follow once most of the “heroes” are together and they follow a single storyline.

The characters aren’t perfect, both inside and out, and the adventure definitely takes its toll on both.

The story is a little slow paced to start but really picks up by the end of the book.

If the first book is any indication, the remainder of the series will be full of twists, turns, and of course brutal violence.

3/5 stars

The Bookstore – By Deborah Meyler

The bookstore was advertised to me as a ‘quirky’ book about a young woman who finds herself single, pregnant, and working in a bookstore (while also working on her PhD in art history at Columbia) and it certainly delivered. I found it easy and relaxing to read although there were parts that annoyed me.

The main character, Esme, is a smart young woman but in sections of the book she seems way too naive. Overly so. More so that I would have believed of a “real” woman. Especially because in other sections she’s not naive at all. Everyone came across as a bit too perfect – except Esme’s ex-boyfriend of course.

The characters are colourful, and I found myself wanting to hear more about them as the story progressed which is always a good thing except that the book never delivered on my desire.

There’s a lot of details about her schooling, and her ex-boyfriends career. Details about the bookstore which I found really endearing. The writing flip-flopped while I was reading though, from being detailed and quite intricate to being very plain and simple. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it did make me want to skip some of the boring bits to get to the main story again.

Over all, I do think it was a well written debut novel. No issues with grammar or layout of the ARC I was given in return for an honest review. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a light romance story with a lot of education packed behind it – and of course anyone who loves those little bookstores that are tucked away in all of our cities.

4/5 stars

Reflections of a Wandering Mind – By Meghan Robbins

From time to time I like to wander away from the usual fantasy books that I read, and so my ‘travels’ found me browsing through Netgalley looking for something different.

Reflections of a Wandering MInd is a book of poetry – and it’s all about how we feel when we grow up. Sadly when I received this book it was almost impossible to read it in the format it was presented to me in which was kindle. How poetry is presented on a page is very important, and I found it almost impossible to work with. Still, I read it.

Some of the poems were wonderful. They resonated with me and growing up, thoughts and ideas that I had at one time. A lot of moments spent trying to figure ourselves out, figure out where we fit in the world and how our friends influence everything. It felt like there was quite a bit of repetition in subjects between the poems, and some were more like jumbled thoughts running together than poems, but that is often how ‘art’ works. One meaning to the writer, and another to the reader.

I think the book was a great starter, and wonder if the author has written anything more. It was quite a short read, but it didn’t make the words any less powerful.

2/5 stars