Blog Tour: Dargonwitch by Anne Elizabeth Stengl

Dragonwitch (Goodreads)

Who Will Dare to Face the Dragonwitch? 

Submissive to her father’s will, Lady Leta of Aiven travels far to meet a prospective husband she neither knows nor loves–Lord Alistair, future king of the North Country.

But within the walls of Gaheris Castle, all is not right. Vicious night terrors plague Lord Alistair to the brink of insanity. Whispers rise from the family crypt. The reclusive castle Chronicler, Leta’s tutor and friend, possesses a secret so dangerous it could cost his life and topple the North Country into civil war.

And far away in a hidden kingdom, a fire burns atop the Temple of the Sacred Flame. Acolytes and priestesses serve their goddess to the limits of their lives and deaths. No one is safe while the Dragonwitch searches for the sword that slew her twice…and for the one person who can wield it

My thoughts . . . 

I first saw this book on Netgalley and was instantly suckered by the cover (intriguing) and the name (I love dragons). I had requested it before I even read the blurb. Then I saw that Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer was offering a blog tour for this so I signed up. My post should have been up yesterday, but to be honest I have really struggled with every aspect of this book, but I saw too much merit in it to just declare it a DNF. (Though I admit I was sorely tempted up until about 40%) 

I understand now, (after doing a bit of research) that this is the fifth book in a series Tales of Goldstone Wood (Goodreads) Although it's supposed to stand alone, I think I would have found it easier if I had read the others. So what are the problems and merits?

Problems first. 

Like many fantasy authors, Stengl is big on unpronounceable names. You know the kind I mean, hit a few consonants on the keyboard, chuck in a few vowels, and there . . . we have a name. The trouble with this is that there are a lot of characters and places to be remembered and having awkward names did not help with understanding.

But that was a minor problem compared to the real biggie . . . The plot follows three distinct story lines with three distinct sets of characters - immortals, mortals, fey, goblins, and just about everything else in between. While it all eventually starts to come together (at about 40%, according to my Kindle) I spent a good chunk of my reading scratching my head, wondering what was going on. I kept slamming my Kindle cover shut, saying to my husband "That's it. Done with this." But I wasn't done, because regardless of my many, many frustrations, I pushed on. Why?

The Merits

The characters whose story I did undertand (and whose names I could pronounce) were compelling. By this I mean Alistair, the Chronicler and Leta. I instantly attached myself to them. I wanted to follow them, to get to know them, to empathize with them. I'll give Stengl her due, she can create brilliant characters. Once I got the gist of what was happening in the other story lines, I fell in love with the Cat Man too. And as for the Dragonwitch - the baddie in this book . . . well, she is superbly drawn. I don't think I have ever read her equal. And that is some praise given some of the bestsellers I've read over the years.

As mentioned, the story line is complex, very, exploring religious themes, good versus evil, inner beauty and strength versus outward perfection, jealousy, love . . .  the list is almost endless. I don't think there is a major literary theme not covered. But there was also constant action, good dialogue, not too much description, and - one I figured out what was happening (60%) - it flowed quickly. Romance is alluded too, but it was pretty predictable how it would all work out. 

So The Big Question?

Did I enjoy it?

I wish I could give you a definitive answer, but I can't. I feel a bit iffy about it. It was compelling. The writing is excellent. The plot imaginative. The themes interesting. The characters step off the page. But I didn't love it. That doesn't mean that you won't, though, because if I look on Goodreads, I am way in the minority. Most people gave it five stars. Me? Three shiny blue stars who talk to people and turn into unicorns.

Meet the Author

Author Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Anne Elisabeth Stengl makes her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, Rohan, a passel of cats, and one long-suffering dog. When she’s not writing, she enjoys Shakespeare, opera, and tea, and studies piano, painting, and pastry baking. She studied illustration at Grace College and English literature at Campbell University. She is the author of HEARTLESS, VEILED ROSE, MOONBLOOD, STARFLOWER and DRAGONWITCH. HEARTLESS and VEILED ROSE have each been honored with a Christy Award.

Facebook * Twitter * Website * Goodreads

GIVEAWAY

As with all Kathy's Blog Tours, there is a Giveaway. Good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cheers
Gwynn
PS. I was given this book for free for an honest review.

Review: Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

On behalf of all the Greek gods everywhere, I protests! 

Vehemently. 

And if I were Hades, I would whistle up my three-headed dog, leap into my chariot, scream across the River Styx and come and smite Aimee Carter for daring to malign my name by association with Henry (Henry!!!), so-called hero of this book.

The book in question?

 

The Goddess Test (Goodreads)

Regular readers to my blog will know that I don't slam books. In fact, I make a point of trying to find positive things about every book I review. This time however, words fail me. Still, I will try . . . 

Find the positives. 

Ho-hum . . . Rubs chin . . .  

Ah! Light bulb moment. 

Kate, the heroine, is a devoted nurse to her dying mother. Yes, we'll go with that. But she is also so guilt-ridden as to make her pathetic. Almost as pathetic as the love interest Henry, AKA Hades. But we will get on to him in a minute. 

So back to Kate. Let me explain: If a so-called friend (Ava) invites you to a party, drives you into the bush to said party, only for you to discover that it's all a lie - a ploy to get you on your own so the so-called friend can abandon you in the wilds - would you feel responsible/guilty when said friend cracks her head open on a rock and dies? No, of course not. No normal person would. 

But Kate now, she's different. I mean, if she hadn't moved to Eden, hadn't met Ava, hadn't spoken once in passing to Ava's boyfriend, hadn't agreed to accept the party invitation, then Ava would never have needed to dump her in the first place, and then Ava would never have cracked her head open on the rock and died. So it's all Kate's fault. Logical, right? 

Wrong. But that doesn't stop Kate from trading away half her life to Henry in-exchange for resuscitating Ava. 

Yes, Kate and Henry are relieving the Hades and Persephone story, but with a modern-day twist. 

Now I'm all for kindness and doing a good turn, but really, this is just ridiculous. And it didn't stop there. Kate carries such a burden of guilt, I swear she begrudges herself the oxygen she breaths. I honestly can't remember when last I found a heroine to be so pathetic.

Pathetic, that word again.

And then there's Henry. *Eye Roll* I won't debase Hades again by referring to him in the same breath as his namesake Henry. Just know that Hades was not - and never will be - a hot teenage immortal. But here in The Goddess Test, our Henry is gorgeous (of course), tortured (obviously) and only about eighteen years old. (Does the name Edward Cullen ring any bells?) He is also pathetic. 

I think Carter was trying to put the pants on the wimpy Kate by making her the (supposedly) tough one, the seducer of the god, which is why she made Henry so diffident and, dare I say it, so useless. As a ploy, it was an epic fail. 

Which brings me to the love.

There are some authors who know how to write love (Katie McGarry and Stephenie Meyer spring to mind) They can take the simplest moments and create sizzling romance out of them. Carter, I'm afraid, isn't one of those authors. Not once did my heartstrings tug, not once did I feel the slightest tingle, or the vaguest flutter of butterfly wings. The love in this book is about as dead as the folk living in Hades' Underworld.

And speaking of the Underworld, what about the other Greek gods? 

Yes, they're all represented here. Ah, another positive! I have to give Aimee Carter credit for an interesting twist at the end of the book. But, yet again, if you showed Zeus, or Poseidon, or Athene their supposed look-a-likes in The Goddess Test, they would, in Kate's words, 'turn you into a pile of ash'. Carter's gods are about as unbelievable and as unimpressive as a photocopied banknote.

So, I think you can gather that I didn't go for The Goddess Test in a big way, and I definitely won't be reading the sequel, even though I have it sitting on my bookshelf. I had my daughters in mind when I bought these books, but knowing their tastes, I think I'll just frogmarch these two down to the book exchange.

Stars? 

Don't ask. We in the southern hemisphere have a cosmic phenomenon called The Coal Sack, (a dark patch of sky near the Southern Cross), so named for the total lack of observable stars. Maybe that would be my rating . . . one miserable coal sack.

I know many of you will disagree with my review. Please don't be shy to comment and tell me why you think I've got it all wrong.

Cheers

Gwynn

Nightspell by Leah Cypress: Review

Nightspell wins first prize for originality! This story swept me away into a kingdom where ghosts linger amongst the living. Together they reside in a castle that parties all night and sleeps by day. That, of course, is when the inhabitants – both living and dead – aren’t intriguing against each other. That skulduggery often leads to murder – the reason there are so many ghosts in Ghostland Kingdom. The dead are supposed to return just long enough to kill their killers, but, unfortunately, most of them enjoy their half-life too much, seeing it as an opportunity to terrorise the living and party to their hearts’ content!

Darrie’s sister Carrie was trapped here as a child. Now Darrie has a chance to save Carrie if she agrees to a betrothal with the prince of the dead. From the moment Darrie arrives in Ghostland she discovers that nothing is as it seems. Even her little sister has changed in ways she could not have believe possible.

  

 This book was such fun, keeping me riveted from the beginning to the end. I loved the characters – especially Cassie. Darrie was a tough-as-nails warrior too. But most of all I fancied Prince Kestin. Even though he’s dead, he still managed to command the page, leaving me with a lasting impression of his latent ‘hotness’ and intelligence. Too bad he’s a ghost. (Yes, I know. I’m very shallow)

But the thing that really grabbed me about Nightspell was the world building. Leah Cypress’s writing is beautifully evocative. The flagstones were hard and cold under my feet as I followed the characters and their convoluted adventure around the castle. I was so sad to leave and really hope she writes a sequel. I just cannot believe there’s no hope for that tortured prince! In fact, that was my only complain about this book. The ending was inconclusive, leaving me to think that she is planning a sequel.

This is definitely a book I wish I had written. How much more praise can I possibly give it? If it hadn’t been for the ending I would have given it five stars, but I will settle for four star-studded ghosts.  

Cheers

Gwynneth

Throne of Glass: Review

What were the publishers of the American version thinking with that boring cover? THIS is what Celaena really looks like! Way to go, girl!

  

Yes please! This is my idea of a kick-butt girl. Celaena Sardothien (magic name, I love it) is everything a heroine needs to be: vane, insecure, arrogant, sardonic, funny, deadly - and she eats candy like a kid. She is without doubt my new favourite heroine. (Eat your heart out Aria and Triss)

I devoured Throne of Glass, hardly coming up for breath. It has all the elements I love: strong, well-fleshed out characters, utterly believable world building, great bad guys, twisting plot that keeps you guessing to the last minute, magic, meddling of the dead, battles, bloodshed and hot boys. What more can a girl want?

The next book in the series.

Why oh why, do publishers make us wait so long for our books. In an ideal world, all our book boyfriends and girl friends would come alive and hunt them down. Celaena would take out most of them single-handily. But I’m getting carried away . . .

This book starts in Endovier salt mine where Celaena has been sentenced for life for her crimes as an assassin. Then she is offered a deal by Dorian, Crown Prince of Adarlan. He wants her to be his champion in a tournament his father is hosting. If she wins, she secures her freedom after four years of servitude to the crown. It’s an offer she can’t refuse.

For those who hate love triangles, be warned: there is a triangle of sorts in this book between Celaena, Dorian and Chaol, Captain of the Guard. But I think it was pretty much solved by the end of book one. I have my suspicions that a romance with one of these men would be an absolute no-no. Something to do with eye colour! But I will say no more. Also, in my view, the most deserving of the two hot guys won her smiles by the end of the book.

In case you think this book is all about romance, relax, it’s not. It has a very strong plot that left so many unanswered questions that I suspect the challenges Ceaena faced in book one will be nothing compared to what awaits her in book two. Bring it on!

As far as writing style goes, it could have been better. But hey, this isn't Literature 101, it's me connecting with characters and stories I love, so, over looking the flaws, I give this book five very sharp daggers.

Cheers
Gwynneth
PS: There are about four eBook novellas about Celaena's early life. Expect reviews! 

Stacking The Shelves

Thanks to Tynga for hosting this meme. I welcomed two Kindle books into the family this week.


Last week I featured Nightspell. Since then I've read it and it was such fun.

The characters are well developed, the world building fantastic - Ghostland is amazing - and the plot complex. 

I would recommend this to anyone who likes high fantasy, kick-butt female characters, intrigues and ghosts. Wonderful stuff. My favourite character was definitely Cassie. If you've read it I'd love to know your views.

Because I loved Nightspell to the value of four stars (and because the ending was left hanging with so much promise for more) I went onto Amazon to find a sequel.

There wasn't one. Duh! This was the second in a series, (Although it works just as well as a stand-alone), so I immediately downloaded the first book Mistwood onto my Kindle.

Stunning cover . . . what do you think?

Anyway, I stayed up until three this morning reading Mistwood, and I'm hugely impressed. I just cannot understand why it's only sitting with a 3.54 star rating on Goodreads. Anyone know the answer??? I'll tell you what I think when I'm done reading it.

While I was on Amazon, I couldn't resist downloading Roar And Liv: An Under The Never Sky Story onto my Kindle. I have been meaning to read this for ages and since I've just reread Under The Never Sky, I just couldn't resist it.

So that was my week. Tell me about yours.

Cheers
Gwynneth

Dying in Style. Or Not.

Beware . . . beyond here be dragons. Or, in Goodreads terms, Spoilers. You have been warned.

So, dying with style  . . . or, in other words, how do authors keep us engrossed in their worlds after killing off much-loved characters?

I’m sure you know what I mean . . . we’ve all read books in which we’ve gasped, cried or ranted when a character we love is knocked off as a plot device.  

I’m ashamed to admit that I even stopped reading The Knife of Never Letting Go, (which I thought was amazing) because that twit Patrick Ness let Manchee the talking dog die! 

At that point, I was too stressed and exhausted by Todd and Viola’s plight to cope with Manchee’s death. Perhaps if the pace hadn't been so hectic and I'd had time to absorb what was happening, I wouldn't have been so offended. But I was angry, so much so that I even marched the book off to the second-hand bookstore – and that’s really is something, given that I don’t buy books, I adopt them.
 

Years on, I still haven’t forgiven Ness, so the Knife of Never Letting Go – and the rest of what could have been a humdinger series - remains unread.

In my view, if authors are going to kill off important characters, they must convince us that it's justified and not done only for shock value, or on a whim.

To me, Mockingjay was another book with a whole lot of totally senseless deaths.

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Collins barely left a character standing after Katniss and Co roared through the Capital on their ‘secret’ mission. 

Although most people lamented Prim’s death, it was the almost off-handed reference to Finick’s demise that really got me. By the time Prim snuffed it, I was in such a state of shock that I couldn't grasp that she was gone. Maybe the movie will bring it home for me. 

Yes, I know. I can almost hear you crying that The Hunger Games was about war, and that people die senselessly in war. Sorry, I'm not buying it. People can still die needlessly without their deaths being flippant and matter-of-fact. Collins didn't even give us time to grieve, and in real life, humans always have time for grief - even in the most tragic circumstances.

I just know that at the end of Mockingjay, I felt I needed therapy.

Perhaps I wouldn't feel so strongly about these books if it hadn't been for another author who, in my opinion,  handled her deaths so much better.

JK Rowlings was also required to kill off most of her leading characters, but she didn’t leave me feel drained and shell-shocked. 

Honestly, I can think of few protagonists who have been so stripped of friends and loved-ones as was Harry. Almost everyone who mattered to him, except Hermione, (girl power!) abandoned him at some point, or died. Harry really had to take that final walk into the forest alone.

I've forgotten Todd (I needed to Google Viola's name) and Prim, but I still grieve for Sirius and weep for Dobby. I never want to read The Hunger Games again, (I'm not even sure I'll see the next two movies) but Harry Potter remains one of my favourite series of all time. 

What was the difference in the writing? I'd love to hear your views.

Cheers
Gwynneth