book release

A Review of Spell Starter by Elsie Chapman

Let me just start by saying that I absolutely adored this book! I was introduced to The Caster series relatively recently and as soon as I started Caster, the first novel in the series, I was utterly in love. In love with the characters and their fierce determination but also the world itself. Any story that combines magic users with a climate change based dystopia is right up my alley!

Aza Wu had defied the odds. She beat The Guild’s tournament and emerged as a champion but at the expense of her magic. She isn’t without it for long, though, because mob boss Saint Willow has a proposition for her. Aza can get magic back and help her family and their tea shop, but she’ll have to learn how to use magic that isn’t her own. The effects of using magic foreign to her is painful and, at times, downright deadly, but Aza must solider on for herself and for her family.

When a new tournament, spearheaded by Saint Willow and a mysterious, extremely magical group called The Founders, starts in Lotusland, Aza has no choice but to participate. No longer wanting to be under Saint Willow’s thumb, Aza seeks a way out, but using her magic might just destroy her in the process.

Aza Wu is everything I look for in a female protagonist. She’s tough as nails and powerful and isn’t afraid to be proud about it, but she’s also caring and has immense levels of kindness for her family, for her country, for the environment, and for her friends. It was a welcome change to the more stereotypical female protagonist troupe where the character ends up becoming so tough and powerful they don’t know when to ask for help.

A perfect foil to this is Saint Willow. As a mob boss she’s utterly ruthless and isn’t afraid to reach for immense power, no matter who it hurts in the process. She’s mean, manipulative, and pretty evil. I loved getting to see so many women characters that don’t fit into one or two archetypal boxes but, are instead allowed to be themselves, whether that’s sloppy and evil or soft- hearted and powerful.

I’m not sure if there’s meant to be a third one, but, if there is, I will most certainly read it so I can be transported back to Lotusland and Aza’s fierce power and compassion.

Thank you to Caffeine Book Tours and Scholastic Press for providing me a free ARC of Spell Starter for the purpose of this review.

Spell Starter is out now! Find it below!

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Review of Shielded by KayLynn Flanders

First of all, hold on a second. Scroll back up and look at the cover for this book. Isn’t it drop dead gorgeous? This colorful, artistic, illustrated cover is what initially drew me to the book. I’m just so in love with the way it looks. I feel like it’s not an art style that’s common on book covers.

Anyway, let’s move on to the actual book!

Princess Jennesara longs for a life outside of the stone walls of the Hàlendi palace, but, unfortunately a great many things prevent her. The normal things, like an overbearing father, and the not so normal things like a magical gift that she has to keep secret from everyone else. Her magic, although strong, wouldn’t prove very useful in battle. She can sense the rest of her family’s emotions, in a way that she describes as “tethers”. This, to me, was very similar to The Unwilling, in that there is an actual physical and emotional bond between a brother and sister. Admittedly, the similarities end there. I did, however, vastly enjoy Jennesara and Ren’s sibling relationship. It was refreshing and fun to read.

Seeing as she’s never allowed to leave the palace, Jennesara spends her time doing what any self-respecting princess would; sword and combat training. She’s damn good at it too.

However, everything changes when her father surprises her with a betrothal agreement to a prince in an allying nation across the island, Turia. Prince Enzo of Turia eagerly awaits the arrival of his new bride so she must leave…tomorrow!

Jennesara never makes it to her destination, however, and in the wake of her absence, a devastating war breaks out, guided by the hands of three ancient mages who have awoken after a few centuries of banishment. Could Jennesara hold the key to stopping them and righting the balance of the island?

I really enjoyed this book. I think it was a very solid opening to a series and I got involved in all of the characters, especially Enzo. Sorry, he’s just too damn cute. The world was very easy to slide into and feel comfortable in. I even enjoyed the magic system, although I feel like all we got to see in this first one was the very tip of the magic iceberg. Jennesara is a solid protagonist. She is quite literally put through the ringer in this book and I remember asking myself several times how much more this poor girl was going to have to endure. Through it all, though, she never loses sight of who she is as a person, which I thought was refreshing to see in a YA novel with a female protagonist. Too often, female leads fall into a troupe of having no sense of self and the plot points of the book help them find it. I felt like Jennesara was already extremely comfortable in who she is as a person, she just needs help figuring out a few things. It’s kind of like putting the horse before the cart.

My only qualm with the book is the little one or two page intermissions between the chapters. I found it hard to track where those little snippets fell on the timeline and give them a frame of reference to the rest of the plot. There’s one in particular that involves a character that shouldn’t be able to be in that snippet by that point of the book but there’s no mention of if this little snippet takes place before the reason they should no longer be in that snippet has happened. If that makes sense while keeping it spoiler free. They helped move the plot along, but sometimes they left me a little bit more confused about where I was in the timeline or if I was missing a bigger plot reveal because I couldn’t figure out when in the timeline something was happening.

That’s the only reason I knocked this solid fantasy staple from a five to a four. I felt, at times, that I was missing something, but the action and characterization in the actual chapters more than made up for it. I can’t wait to read the second one and see what other adventures Jenna, Ren, and Enzo can get up to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Books for a free eBook version of Shielded for the purpose of this review.

Shielded is out tomorrow, Tuesday, July 21! Check it out!