Alice Through the Looking Glass

Title: Alice Through the Zombie Glass

Author: Gena Showalter
Publisher: MIRA INK

Year: 2013
Pages: 476
ISBN: 9781848452534
Series: White Rabbit Chronicles #2
Genre: Zombies/ Paranormal/ Retelling
Reading Time: 17 - 24 May
Binding: Paperback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★☆☆☆

Blurb:

 Alice Bell has lost so much. Family. Friends. A home. She thought she had nothing else to give.

 She was wrong.

 After a new zombie attack, her world gets even stranger. Mirror come to life and she can hear the whispers of the dead.

 But the worst? A terrible darkness blooms insider her, urging her to do dangerously wicked deeds that are impossible to come back from...

Review:

 Oh man, I thought I'd enjoyed the first one. That was four months ago and since then I've read a new book by one of my favourite authors and an adult fantasy series originally published in the 90s. Going back to this series, it feels like I'm reading fanfiction written by a teenager. No one talks like these characters, it's a mix of trying to sound you and then speaking in paragraphs and words that no one of their age would use.

 The characters are shallow, everything in the book is either zombie or boyfriends. That doesn't hold up for over 400 pages, especially when the boyfriend theme is stronger and the basis of every other character. None of the relationships in this book are healthy, I worry what this would have taught me about men if I'd read this when I originally bought it a few years ago.

 All the action is contained to three chapters. It's over so quickly and would have been better off coming in half way through the book and being drawn out to at least have something going on rather than Ali constantly feeling sorry for herself.

 I don't know. I'm not a quitter, I already own the third book but not the fourth. I'll try and finish the series but it'll be with slightly gritted teeth.

House of Earth and Blood

Title: House of Earth and Blood        

Author: Sarah J Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year: 2020
Pages: 799
ISBN: 9781526623454
Series: Crescent City #1
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Time: 10 - 14 May
Binding: Hardback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★★

Blurb:

 Bryce Quinlan used to light up Crescent City, partying all night in the clubs where the strict classes of angel, shifter, human and Fae merge into a sea of beautiful bodies.

 And then a demon murdered her closest friends.

 Two years later, when the supposed killer is behind bars but the crimes start up again, the city's leaders command Bryce to help investigate. They assign an enslaved fallen angel, Hunt Athalar, to mare sure she does. But as Bryce fights to uncover the truth - and resist her attraction to the brooding angel who shadows her every step - she finds herself following a trail that leads deep into her own dark past.

Review:

 Wow. Wow. Wow. It's not often I read an 800 page book in 5 days. I read over 400 pages of this beast yesterday. Crying is also not on my list of things I do often with books but I did that yesterday too. I'm thinking this may currently be my favourite first book in a series by Maas. Maybe. Throne of Glass is nothing like the expansions for the rest of the series, A Court of Thorns and Roses is tough to read again when all you want to read is the final half of the book. This though, so much action and set up. Maybe it's just my love for any new Maas material. How long until the next one?

 Let's begin with the setting. I'd like to call this a rich setting, there's clearly a lot of history in this world and we're allowed all sorts of possibilities with the knowledge that there are other worlds that can be reached within this universe. I'll be waiting for references to her other series! There are numerous species within this world and you'd better bet there's a pecking order. We've got mention of ongoing wars which I'll expect we're going to get pulled into later in this series, let's not mention that visitor from another world that I'm very looking forward to seeing again.

 We've got a range of characters, though I think back and feel all our main characters have very similar backgrounds to Maas' other books. Bryce is a good looking party girl, doesn't fit in with either species as a half-breed. Much like Aelin and Feyre. Hunt has a long history of killing, but he's not as bad as everyone thinks. Much like Rowan and Rhysand. I'm not going to complain, this combination has worked for me so far and it doesn't stop here.

 I like Bryce, like the intelligence and wit we get to see in her character. She's got a card up her sleeve and no one has much of an idea who she really is, not that they realise that of course. She's perceived as a vain party girl looking for her next hook up. There are chapters where she definitely is that but there is so much revealed about this character in this first book I don't know where she has to go next.

 Hunt, hello, hello. I don't mind a fallen angel romance, not one bit. Intelligent, a history, powerful. A really good story for him so far and I'm really looking forwards to how it progresses. However we all know what Maas does to first book romances, please not again!

 Other characters, well. I didn't read the blurb so I wasn't expecting a murder within the first few chapters. Luckily I didn't get too connected to those first characters, I think it was the f-bomb in every odd sentence that I wasn't looking forward to continuing to read. They didn't last long at all though, did they? Lele is beautiful, Ruhn is a good brother, the other Fae need a bit more page time, the Angels need a tad more personality, Bryce's friends are a bit of a second thought, I want to spend some time underwater and I want to see some more redemption for the wolves.

 There's so much to say about this beast of a book but to try and avoid spoilers is so tough! Stick with this book, lots and lots have people struggled with the pacing. For me it wasn't a problem. Action in the first few chapters, catching up to the present time and the investigating. Usually the final revelation is in the last 5 chapters and this is an 800 page book so of course it will move a little slowly! Around the 600 page mark things just suddenly explode in to action. Twists, turns, ducks and dives. So. Worth. It.

 I'm struggling to really identify a difference that makes this book adult against Maas' other books but now ACOTAR is being re-branded as adult. There is less sex in this than ACOMAF which needs to be immediately remedied! Our characters are a little older. The only thing is swearing. Which wasn't really needed but I still thought it fit the characters and it wasn't as persistent as everyone is making out.

 Super excited to see this series continue!

Seasons of Storms

Title: Season of Storms

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 2013
Pages: 359
ISBN: 9781473231139
Series: The Witcher #6
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Time: 4 - 10 May
Binding: Paperback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★★

Blurb:
 Geralt of Rivia. The legendary swordsman whose mission is to protect ordinary people from monsters. A mutant tasked with killing unnatural beings. He uses magical signs, potions and the pride of every witcher - his two swords, steel and silver.
 But when a contract goes wrong, Geralt's signature weapons are stolen. He wants them back, even if he has to travel to the other end of the world, outwit scheming sorcerers and slay countless monsters to retrieve them.

Review:
 That was a very enjoyable book. I'm so glad I decided to leave this book until after finishing the series, despite it being very early chronologically in the series! The short stories and this full length book are easily my favourite installments of the series. Not too much politics or a huge overall drama going on. Easier stuff to deal with.
 The monsters we see in this novel are interesting and intelligent in a way that had had me tense until the final pages. The characters, well. Geralt is Geralt. Dandelion is Dandelion. Surprising but excellent appearance from Yennefer. Lots of characters we've met through the main series, Sapkowski is truly fantastic at tying all the stories together.
 That's all. I really don't have much to say. It was easy, fun, brutal adventure and reading after completing the series added some weight to the characters. Fantastic.

The Lady of the Lake

Title: The Lady of the Lake

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 1999 (2020 Gollancz)
Pages: 531
ISBN: 9781473231122
Series: The Witcher #5
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Time: 19 Apr - 4 May
Binding: Paperback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★☆

Blurb:
 After escaping from the Tower of the Swallow, Ciri finds herself lost in a distant world. Separated from Geralt and her destiny in a place where time does not seem to exist, she can see no way back.
 But this is Ciri, the child of prophecy, and she will not be defeated. She must find a way to return home and conquer her worst nightmare.

Review:
 What an end to the series, the chunkiest book of the lot. Again, I'm finding it difficult to put in to words though I've given myself a couple of days to settle before writing this review. I think it's fair to say that this is going to be a review with spoilers. If you haven't started the series, stop reading and go pick up your copy, if you're just following from The Tower of the Swallow I doubt you've got time to spare between opening up the first pages of this book. I will say now, I've still to read Season of Storms as I never quite got an answer for when it was supposed to be read chronologically but the suggestion was usually after The Lady of the Lake even though the book is a prequel. Therefore I still have some Geralt story to tie me over, which I'm really appreciative of!
 The Tower of the Swallow left you open with a fair few questions, leading for me being: where the hell is Ciri? Arthurian legend was not the answer I was expecting. Never, but I loved it. I was a fan of Arthurian legend as a child and absolutely adored the Merlin series produced by the BBC. I thought the tie-in was a really nice element to the series and the way the story comes full circle with use of this setting is a nice touch. This comes about with a big series of crossing between worlds, which was nice and quickly paced but not quite as exciting as I may have imagined. Also, welcome back to Little Horse and the premature panic I had for him!
 I'd previously said that I was really enjoying how the writing had adapted to begin including content from either a few years or very far in the future. You then look back on the events retrospectively and get taken in to the action as if it were the present. I really enjoyed it and this was continued in this book which allows you to draw a lot of conclusions about the impact of the events on the world. The general tying in of loose ends and characters from previous books is honestly fantastic and a note I wish some other authors would take.
 Ciri is still a little bit of a brat, it can't be ignored. There was some real maturity towards the end as she begins to pay back some of her debts though, which was a really enjoyable couple of paragraphs. After the torment she experiences in The Tower of the Swallow I feel the events were a step down which is madness considering so much of it takes place in other worlds.
 Geralt has had an amazing arc. He's a bit overly sex driven, always pining for one sorceress yet happy to jump in bed with any other. Easily distracted hence he's travelling for the majority of the books. I'm grateful for the short stories outside of the series, I feel they're a bit more exciting in terms of getting to see Geralt in action. The ending for Geralt at first had me SO mad, if he was gone I was forever going to hate this series but seeing what he and Yennefer hae at the end, though not fully explained, is a nice light ending. No more prejudice and pain for the witcher.
 Yennefer, a cool character. Still not a lot of presence. I don't understand where the fans for here have come from. It must be the games as she honestly has the least page presence of our main characters for what you may call the main trio, and even less than some of Geralt's gang despite some of them not even being present in some books. Yennefer is probably mentioned more than she's actually in the action throughout the series and her scent has to be more important in the games as it's hardly mentioned in the books. I probably wouldn't have even noticed the detail in the books if a deal hadn't been made in the Netflix show. It doesn't make her any less cool, though I didn't feel like in that very last battle in the town she was as good as she'd previously made out to be. Thank goodness for Triss I guess.
 Geralt's gang. Well. That was a bit of a blow. Like. All of them? In the matter of a chapter? Harsh. I thought Cahir's was actually rather rushed, I was expecting a bit more. Dandelion is all good though, so that was a real saving grace and I'm so happy we got that ending tied together.
 There was actually a point in the book in which I struggled to continue and that was the battlefield. None of these characters were people I cared about of had any real previous attachment to, so why introduce them in the last book of a series? It shows the greater impacts of war but was easily the most boring chapter of the whole series for me.
 It was also shortly followed by what may have been the best chapter. That battle, those deaths, that re-uniting. So good. So torturous. Something I am so excited to see adapted.
 There is a twist to this book. I did not expect it. Not one bit, it never even occurred to me. I love it when a twist gets me like that. I'm also very glad nothing really came of it because it was gross. The general theme of impregnating Ciri in this book is a bit gross to be honest, especially as she's still supposed to be very young.
 Now then, the very end. What really happens to Geralt and Yennefer, it's left fairly open. After a bit of fleeting panic we find out they're left in a place where they're able to be happy and so that makes me happy. Ciri could have a lot of story left and I'm ok with that open ending as well. I think there is a good mix in this book of tied up and loose ends and for a minute I really thought it was going to be horrible. A final heart attack as a gift on departing the series. Like a little 'gotcha' moment.
 I think that ending left me with a lot of pining to read more of Geralt and I'm really lucky to have Season of Storms to read. I think this is a series I will revisit as there are things you'll discover on reading again and as the series continues to adapt I'll probably find it easier to follow the kingdoms and alliances of the characters. I'm so looking forward to seeing it all on the screen!