Book Trailer: This Savage Song - Victoria Schwab

I know I'm not the only blogger who struggles to read all the books on their to read mountains, there are  just so many amazing books out there and not enough hours in a day to actually read them all. Anyway, I want to continue highlighting a few that are on my radar but I haven't quite managed to get to yet.

I love Victoria Schwab's writing, her Shades of Magic, Archived and Villains series are all fantastic but I just haven't had time to read the Monsters of Verity yet. I love how different all of the worlds she creates are though so I have no doubt I'll enjoy This Savage Song when I get around to it.

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information



Have you read This Savage Song yet? If you have leave me a link to your review and I'll drop by your blog to check it out.

Review: The Near Witch - V.E. Schwab

Brand new edition of Victoria Schwab’s long out-of-print, stunning debut

All-new deluxe edition of an out-of-print gem, containing in-universe short story "The Ash-Born Boy" and a never-before-seen introduction from V.E. Schwab.

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

There are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger, a boy who seems to fade like smoke, appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab's debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won't soon forget.

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information

Review:
Lexi lives in the small town of Near, it's isolated location on the moors ensure that they don't get visitors so it's a well known fact that there are no strangers in Near. Lexi also grew up on stories about the Near Witch, the tales were told to frighten naughty children but she never believed they might be true. Not until children start going missing in their beds the same day a mysterious stranger is spotted on the moor. The villagers are immediately suspicious of the stranger but Lexi isn't so sure that Cole is to blame, in fact she believes he might be the only person who is able to help her find the missing children.

Even though this edition of The Near Witch was only published earlier this year this is actually V.E. Schwab's debut novel. I was really pleased when I found out the story was being republished by Titan books since it's been out of print for a while and I was having trouble getting hold of a copy. There is no doubt that this is a creepy and atmospheric read that has almost a fairytale like feel to it. I did find the first half a little slow going and I don't think the romance was as well developed as it could have been but it was an enjoyable story and I absolutely loved the setting.

This edition also includes the short story The Ash-Born Boy which was previously available to read online for free but I don't believe was ever in print before. This gives us some insight into Cole's mysterious background. I hated seeing everything that he had to go through but I kind of lost all sympathy for him at the end when he destroyed an entire city full of innocent people. I get wanting revenge on the people who hurt you but that doesn't justify hurting innocents. To be honest I probably could have done without reading this story as it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Source: Received from Titan Books in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
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Hardback / Paperback / Kindle:

Review: Vengeful - V.E. Schwab

A Super-powered collision of extraordinary minds and vengeful intentions - V.E. Schwab returns with the thrilling follow-up to Vicious.

Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.

But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she's finally gained the control she's always sought - and will use her newfound power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She'll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other once more.

With Marcella's rise, new enmities create opportunity - and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.

Villains Series:
Warm Up (free prequel short story can be read online here)
Vicious
Vengeful

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information

Review:
I absolutely loved Vicious so although the story worked well as a stand alone I was really excited when Victoria Schwab decided to revisit these characters in Vengeful. This really has been a series unlike anything else I've ever read and I still stand by my comment in my previous review that rather than being a series about anti-heroes it's more a series about characters who are varying levels of evil. There aren't really any good guys here, well apart from Sydney and Mitch that is, but since they follow everything Victor plans they aren't really innocent bystanders either.

The main events in Vengeful are set about 5 years on from the end of the previous book but it's not told in a standard linear way so the timeline jumps about from one chapter to the next, we see parts of Eli's childhood, events from Vicious from different points of view and things that have happened to all of the main players in the years we've missed. I was worried I might find it confusing, especially since we have multiple narrators too, but it was actually so cleverly written that I had no problem following the story and I was about to really appreciate how the story gradually comes together as you start linking more and more of the different threads together.

Eli has spent the last few years in prison, most of it being tortured but now in isolation helping the police with their enquiries while Victor, Sydney and Mitch have been hunting down EOs looking for answers to a problem that Victor is experiencing. New character Marcella has gone from mob wife trying to guide her husband's criminal career to vengeful woman looking for revenge and determined to take power for herself. We're introduced to a few other new characters, most of whom are looking out for themselves and never quite seem trustworthy, but you'll have to read the book for yourself to find out about all of them.

Sydney and Mitch have long been my favourite characters in this, they're the only two who are somewhat innocent, they've crossed lines at times but they would rather not choose the path of violence. Victor has pretty much gone off the deep end though, he's dealing with some major issues but that doesn't really excuse his behaviour in this book even though you can kind of understand why he's making the choices he does. I still find Eli despicable but Victoria Schwab actually managed to make me feel a little bit sorry for him, not just for his childhood but also for the treatment he was receiving in prison.

This world is just so complex and I love that all of the characters are shades of grey, nothing is simple and they've all done bad things, sometimes for good reasons but not always. I was totally rooting for Marcella when she started her bid for revenge against the person who tried to kill her but she ended up taking things far too far which made her much harder to like. It was pretty hard to root for anyone really but that's what makes it fun to read.

I have to finish this review by mentioning how gorgeous the UK hardback of Vengeful is, it matches the collectors edition of Vicious perfectly & is a great addition to my overloaded bookcase.

The foil on the naked hardback is silver this time not gold

and the end papers are just as pretty

Source: Received from Titan Books in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Hardback / Paperback (Preorder) / Kindle:

Review: The Dark Vault - V.E. Schwab

The two novels from The Archived Series appearing together for the first time.

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Mackenzie Bishop’s grandfather first brought her here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now her grandfather is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

The Archived Series:
The Archived
The Unbound
Leave the Window Open (Short Story)
The Dark Vault (bind up containing all 3 stories in The Archived series)

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information

Review:
The Dark Vault is a bind up that contains all three stories in Victoria Schwab's Archived series together in print for the first time. I'm going to review each of the stories separately but this has been a really fun series to read so it's one I'd definitely recommend trying.

The Archived:

Imagine a world where after you die a kind of copy of your soul is taken to the Archive to be kept as part of the world history. These copies, also known as “Histories”, contain all of your memories and thoughts but they aren’t real people so they are kept unconscious in special drawers a bit like books on a shelf. Occasionally these Histories wake up and escape from the library and it’s at that point where Keepers, like Mackenzie, are called in to capture them and bring them back to the Archive.

Being a Keeper is a dangerous job and it can be really difficult to juggle its challenges alongside real life, especially as Mac isn’t allowed to tell anyone about the Archive or her role in it. It gets really hard to explain her constant disappearing act to her parents but the whole family is already in crisis since the death of her brother and this is just one more way they’re falling apart. As Mac finds herself having to deal with more and more escaped Histories she starts to question everything she thought she knew about the Archive but she has help from a fellow Keeper to try and figure things out.

I have no idea where Victoria Schwab gets her ideas from but I love how completely different each of her series are from each other. You never know quite what to expect from one of her books and I love it when an author can keep me on my toes by constantly surprising me! I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like The Archived before, the world she has created is totally unique and really intriguing so I can’t wait to continue the series.

This story focuses a lot on grief, it’s not been long since Mac lost her younger brother and it was really hard to see how badly that has affected her entire family. They’re all dealing with it, or not dealing with it as the case may be, in their own ways and that side of the story felt incredibly realistic. Mac is also dealing with the loss of her grandfather, the man who introduced her to the Archive and who was the rock who she had always been able to turn to in the past. She’s a bit adrift at the beginning of the story and makes some stupid decisions because of that but she was always relatable and easy to root for. I still have a lot of questions about the Archive in general and think there are a lot of secrets still waiting to be uncovered so I’m really looking forward to continuing the series.

The Unbound:

The Unbound picks up Mac's story a few weeks after the end of The Archived. She's still traumatised from everything that she went through and suffering with nightmares and flashbacks about what Owen tried to do to her. Mac is in a very fragile state emotionally and I thought Victoria Scwhab handled her PTSD very well. She's afraid to sleep because of the nightmares, she's nervous about walking into the Narrows to carry out her job of Keeper and she's having a very difficult time convincing her parents that there is nothing strange going on.

As if that wasn't bad enough she's been put on warning my the Librarians and if they decide she's not capable of doing her job they'll have no qualms about wiping her memory and kicking her out of the Archive. When she finds out about a series of disappearances she realises they all have one thing in common, Mac was the last person to have contact with them before they disappeared, and now her paranoia only gets worse.

I think I enjoyed this story even more than the first one, I was glad that Mac was suffering with real life consequences to everything that had happened. I was also pleased to come across YA parents who actually take an interest in their child and notice when she disappears at odd times with no warning. It makes things more complicated for Mac but it was so much more realistic because of that.

I don't think I mentioned it in my review of the first story but I also really love Wesley, he's another Keeper so he knows all about Mac's secret life and he's the one person she can be completely open and honest with about what is going on. I did find it really frustrating that Mac continues to keep secrets from him and from her librarian mentor Roland but I could understand why she was trying to deal with her problems on her own. I still think she would have figured out things a lot sooner if she'd had their help though and hopefully she's learned her lesson from that.

Leave the Window Open:

Leave the Window Open is a short story told from Wesley's point of view that you can read for free on Victoria Schwab's website here or find in The Dark Vault bind up of The Archived series. The story won't make a lot of sense if you don't read The Unbound first but I loved getting a glimpse inside Wesley's head. He's just so cute and I love his relationship with Mac. Plus we FINALLY get to find out his real name & it was worth waiting for!

Source: Received from Titan Books in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback Bind up of the series / Both stories are available separately on Kindle:

Review: A Conjuring of Light - V.E. Schwab

The precarious equilibrium among the four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise. Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari - begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. Lila Bard, once a commonplace - but never common - thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry.

Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery and the Night Spire crew are attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible, as an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown and a fallen hero is desperate to save a decaying world...

Shades of Magic Series:
A Darker Shade of Magic
A Gathering of Shadows
A Conjuring of Light

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information

Review:
A Conjuring of Light was exactly what I wanted from the finale of the Shades of Magic series and I love it when a series goes out on a high note! At 666 pages this is a whopper of a book but there is just so much going on that it honestly doesn't feel like it and I flew through it in a couple of days. The action is pretty much non-stop from the first few pages and there is twist after twist as you follow all of our favourite characters to the end. This story isn't all sunshine and roses, there are heartbreaking moments and I'll warn you right now that not everyone survives the book but there are also fantastic friendships and some incredibly sweet and romantic moments to lighten the mood just when you need them.

First let me talk about how much I adore the brotherly bond between Kell and Rhy, these two are brothers by choice even if not by blood and their friendship never fails to make me smile. One of my favourite moments in the book was a conversation Rhy had with his mother near the beginning of the story about the bond he shares with Kell and I think this quote sums up their relationship perfectly:

Rhy shook his head, exasperated. “Kell isn’t the only one you fail to understand. My bond with him didn’t start with this curse. You wanted him to kill for me, die for me, protect me at all costs. Well, Mother, you got your wish. You simply failed to realize that that kind of love, that bond, it goes both ways. I would kill for him, and I would die for him, and I will protect him however I am able, from Faro and Vesk, from White London, and Black London, and from you.”

I also love the relationship between Kell and Lila, they have a lot in common and now that Lila has grown up a bit (she irritated me a bit in the last book but showed a massive character growth in this one!) I think they make a really cute couple. I like that Lila has learnt to accept that she doesn't know everything and that she's willing to take Kell's advice and learn from her mistakes. She's still a very proactive character who doesn't sit around waiting to be saved and is much more likely to be right in the middle of any trouble rather than watching from the sidelines but she's lost a bit of that cocky edge that made her annoying rather than just confident. Kell has changed a lot too, he has the weight of his whole world on his shoulders and that's a lot of stress for anyone to deal with but he is determined to fix the mistakes he made and resolve things. I was shipping Rhy and Alucard so hard from the middle of the last book and that didn't change here. They have a lot of history between them and not all of it is good but I was rooting for them to find a way back to each other.

I think the most surprising character award would have to go to Holland. I never expected to end up liking him after what he did in A Gathering of Shadows but we get to see some really interesting glimpses into his past that showed exactly how he ended up making the choices he did. I still don't agree with his actions but it wasn't too hard to imagine Kell or even Lila making similar choices if they were in his position to begin with. He also works really hard to try and fix the mess he made and I enjoyed the grudging respect that slowly builds between him, Kell and Lila.

A Conjuring of Light was a fantastic end to this story arc but I'm kind of hoping that V.E. Schwab isn't done with this world yet. I think things were definitely left open enough that we could have more adventures in this world but don't worry you're not left with a horrible cliffhanger so it won't matter if there are no more books to come. I'm going to miss Kell, Rhy and the rest though so I hope we'll see more of them in the future.

Source: Received from Titan Books in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

Review: A Gathering of Shadows - V.E. Schwab

Kell is one of the last magicians with the ability to travel between parallel universes, linked by the magical city of London. It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into his possession and he met Delilah Bard. Four months since the Dane twins of White London fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body back into Black London.

Now Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila. And as Red London prepares for the Element Games - an international competition of magic - a certain pirate ship draws closer. But another London is coming back to life. The balance of magic is perilous, and for one city to flourish, another must fall . . .

Shades of Magic Series:
A Darker Shade of Magic
A Gathering of Shadows
A Conjuring of Light

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information

Review:
I absolutely loved A Darker Shade of Magic so of course A Gathering of Shadows was one of my most anticipated books of 2016, I couldn't wait to dive back into this world to catch up with Kell and Lila and I had incredibly high hopes for this story. Perhaps my expectations were a little too high because I certainly came away feeling disappointed. I won't go as far to say AGOS is a bad book but it definitely suffers from second book syndrome and in no way lives up to it's predecessor. The pacing was off in this book and the story dragged, and I mean it REALLY dragged. It took me 9 whole days to finish it because I would read a couple of chapters and make an excuse to put it down and do something else, then I'd have to force myself to pick it back up again later. Things do pick up in the last third but then you are hit in the face with a giant cliffhanger so I can't even call the ending satisfactory.

The beginning of the story sees Lila off looking for adventure like she promised she would at the end of the previous book, she's managed to earn a place on the crew of a pirate sorry privateer ship and she's having a brilliant time exploring the world and finding new ways to steal from people. She's also started learning magic under the supervision of the ship captain Alucard (who is a brilliant new character by the way, he was probably my favourite thing about the whole book!). The trouble is Lila has started to get comfortable in her new life, she's actually started to feel settled and even to consider the crew as friends and that is making her very nervous. Lila doesn't do well with routine or friendship and she decides that she's going to have to make her excuses and leave so when Alucard announces that they'll be returning to Red London for the Essen Tasch, the world's greatest magical tournament, she decides that's a perfect time for her to start yet another new life for herself.

I absolutely loved Lila in the first book and even at the beginning of this one I was praising her for her cocky and self assured attitude because she has always had the skills needed to back up any claims she makes. Lila has the kind of adventurous spirit that means she's always getting into trouble but that doesn't bother me because she nearly always has a plan to get herself back out again and her adventures along the way are so much fun to read about. No matter how much I love her she did start to annoy me in this book though, she grew up in Grey London and didn't have even a tiny amount of magical ability or training until she came to Red London four months ago yet she decides she deserves a place competing amongst the best trained magicians in the whole world. She doesn't even know the rules of the game yet she thinks she has a right to be there competing even though the competitors were chosen months ago.

I don't think I'd have minded so much if she had earned her spot in the contest, in fact she could have even won it by cheating another magician in a card game and I'd have cheered her on from the sidelines. Instead she attacks a complete stranger with absolutely no plan and no idea how she is going to keep him out of the way for the entire contest. What the hell would she have done if Alucard hadn't turned up out of nowhere and found a solution for her? Would she have gone so far as killing the rightful competitor just to take his place? That whole situation left a very bitter taste in my mouth and I still haven't forgiven her for it. That's without thinking about the way she suddenly has the skills to compete in a magical battle against magicians who have trained for YEARS when she's not had a single day of training to fight in a magical duel. She supposedly picks up everything she needs to know from watching the couple of fights before her own match. Up until that point Alucard has been teaching her the basics of how to control the elements and she's been struggling with that so you really expect me to believe she's now a brilliant fighter using nothing but her magic to attack and defend herself? You have got to be kidding me.

So Lila's side of the story started well but went downhill rapidly and left me with a pretty low opinion of her but what about Kell? Kell's whole world has been turned upside down after events at the end of the previous book, his life has forever been bound to Rhy's and he is the only thing keeping the prince alive. The King and Queen also blame him completely for everything that went wrong and they're now treating him worse than ever. So Kell has every right to be upset and angry but it does mean that he spends a lot of his time moping around and feeling sorry for himself. I could completely understand why that was but it doesn't make for very interesting reading. I do love the bond between him and Rhy though, the boys are closer than ever and Rhy is determined to do whatever it takes to pull Kell out of his black mood - even if it does mean secretly entering him into the Essen Tasch, something which is strictly forbidden since Kell is so powerful. At least Kell has the skill needed to make his spot in the contest valid though and I actually really enjoyed seeing him go into battle. His side of the story picked up dramatically when the Essen Tasch started and it was nice to see a more positive side to him that had been missing earlier on.

So there were parts of this story that I enjoyed immensely but there were others that either made me really angry or completely indifferent to the characters. We are also hit with a KILLER cliffhanger at the end of the story. There are two different types of cliffhangers, ones that leave you feeling like you had a decent ending to the book but still make you desperate to get your hands on the sequel or ones that make you want to throw the book across the room and vow never to start reading another series by this author until all the books have been published. Unfortunately for me this was of the second variety. I understand that authors want to hook readers in so that we'll buy the next book but I'll do that anyway if I love the characters and the world building. A Gathering of Shadows reads more like a very long prequel to the third book in the series than a story in it's own right. It's a filler book in which very little actually happens and I'm sorry to say it but I'm disappointed. Will I read the next book? Of course I will, I loved the first book so much and I'm still really invested in these characters so I want to find out what happens to them. I'll be waiting for confirmation that it's definitely a trilogy before starting the next book though, if it's going to be a longer series then I'll wait until all the books are available before I carry on reading.

Source: Received from Titan Books in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week has a different theme & you can find all the details about how to join in HERE.

Today's topic is Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2016. There are so many upcoming releases that I'm looking forward to but since I already posted a list of my most anticipated 2016 Debuts I decided to focus this list

1. Allegiance of Honor by Nalini Singh: I absolutely love everything Nalini writes so I can't wait to get my hands on this book. It's not often you find series that are still going so strong at book 15 but this is definitely one of them.
2. Morning Star by Pierce Brown: I've been addicted to this series since I first read Red Rising nearly 2 years ago, the series has gone from strength to strength and I can't wait to see how it ends.
3. Night Study by Maria V Snyder: I'm a huge fan of the Chronicles of Ixia series and I'm really pleased Maria decided to revisit the original main characters Yelena and Valek in these new books. I don't think I'll ever get enough of this world!
4. Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs: It's no secret that I love Patricia Briggs, in fact I'm currently on my third read of the Mercy Thompson series because I couldn't resist reading it again before the new book comes out. I think that says all there is to say about how fantastic it is!
5. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas: I love Sarah's Throne of Glass series but I think I enjoyed A Court of Thorns and Roses even more so I'm going to be dropping everything the second I get my hands on a copy of ACOMAF.
6. Of Flame and Promise by Cecy Robson: The Weird Girls series is another of my favourites, this is the first book to be told from Taran's point of view and I'm really looking forward to getting inside her head and finding out what makes her tick!
7. Judged by Liz de Jager: I've known Liz since she was a blogger so I was thrilled when she got her publishing contract and I've loved every minute of the Blackheart Legacy. I'm going to be taking part in the blog tour for Judged, the final instalment in the trilogy, in January so happily that means I get to read it very soon :o)
8. A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab: A Darker Shade of Magic was absolutely fantastic so I'm really looking forward to seeing what trouble Kell and Lila get into next.
9. Camp Alien by Gini Koch: This is another series that makes me drop everything when I get my hands on the latest instalment, the books are always completely crazy and laugh out loud funny.
10. Midnight Marked by Chloe Neill: I love the Chicagoland Vampires, this series just gets better and better and I'm looking forward to spending more time with Merit and Ethan.

So those are my most anticipated reads from early 2016. Do any of them match the books on your list? What books are you most excited about?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten New To Me Authors I Read for the First Time in 2015 (& yes I do know I'm 2 days late LOL)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week has a different theme & you can find all the details about how to join in HERE.

Today's topic is Top Ten New To Me Authors I Read for the First Time in 2015 and I've discovered some wonderful new authors this year so I have lots to talk about. This will include a mixture of debut authors and authors who have been around for a while but who I only discovered this year. I'm also including a selection of adult and YA author's so there hopefully should be something here that appeals to everyone.

I've been looking forward to this topic for ages but life got in the way & I'm only just getting around to actually writing it so I apologise for being 2 days late. Better late than never though so here we go :o)

I love discovering new authors (I've actually read books by over 50 new to me authors this year!) and you can see a list of all the author's I've discovered in 2015 HERE if you're interested. It's been very hard to narrow it down to just my top 10 but I've finally done it so here are my favourites:

Pippa Dacosta

Pippa Dacosta has quickly become one of my favourite authors, I fell in love with her writing when I picked up the first in her science fiction series Girl From Above: Betrayal but have since also devoured her urban fantasy series that starts with Beyond the Veil. In fact I've worked my way through her entire back list (11 books and novellas) since August so that should give you a hint about how much I LOVE her stories. You can read all of my reviews of her work HERE.

K.F. Breene

K.F. Breene is another author whose books I've been absolutely devouring, I've not managed to make my way through her entire back list but I did devour all of the books currently available in her Warrior Chronicles series and I'm now desperately waiting for the next book to be written! Read my reviews HERE.

Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

I can't believe it took me so long to discover these author's wonderful series, I absolutely devoured These Broken Stars and This Shattered World earlier this year and the final book in the trilogy, This Fractured Light, is right at the top of my Christmas wish list this year. Both Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner have been added to my list of auto-buy authors and I can also highly recommend Illuminae that Amie wrote with another fabulous (but not new to me) author Jay Kristoff. Read my reviews HERE.

V.E. Schwab

Another new autobuy author has to be V.E. Schwab, I absolutely adored both A Darker Shade of Magic and Vicious. Both books are very different but utterly brilliant and I'm glad we're going to get more stories set in each world. You can find my reviews HERE.

E.K. Johnston

A Thousand Nights was one of my favourite books of the year so of course I had to include debut author E.K. Johnston in my list. This story is incredibly atmospheric and was so, so beautiful to read, I completely devoured it and I can't wait to see more from this author in the future. Read my review HERE.

Becky Chambers

I've been really enjoying my science fiction this year and Becky Chamber's debut, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, was brilliant. It has such a varied cast of characters and I really hope that this is going to be the start of a new series. I'll definitely be watching out for whatever this author writes next though. Read my review HERE.

Pamela Clare

I don't tend to read a lot of romantic suspense but I've been hearing amazing things about Pamela Clare's writing from American bloggers for such a long time now so when I found out her books had been picked up by a UK publisher I couldn't resist giving them a try. I can definitely understand why everyone raves about her now because these books are amazing! You can find my reviews HERE.

Naomi Novik

I loved Uprooted so much that I've already read it twice this year, it's an absolutely wonderful fairytale type fantasy story that I don't really have the words to describe, hence the reason I STILL haven't written up my review for it! I will be getting caught up with my final reviews by the end of the year though so watch out for this one - it's put Naomi Novik on my list of must read authors and I'm really looking forward to working my way through her back list.

Juliet Marillier

Another fantastic fantasy story that I'm yet to write a review for. Dreamer's Pool was brilliant and I already have the next book in the series that I'm hoping to read very soon so Juliet Marillier is another recommended author.

Louise O'Neill

Louise O'Neill's Asking For It isn't an easy read, in fact there were times when it was incredibly painful and it made me so mad that I could have probably committed murder if I'd been able to climb into the story and confront some of the main characters! This is such an important book though and I really do feel like EVERYONE should read it, Louise shines a light on rape culture in today's society and I think it paves the way for some very important questions that we all need to ask ourselves. I really think this should be required reading in schools to get people openly talking about what constitutes rape and whether anyone is ever Asking For It (of course they're absolutely NOT but you'd be surprised at how many people don't agree with that!). I've heard great things about Louise O'Neill's debut novel Only Ever Yours too so I'm planning on reading that one as soon as I get a chance.

So those are my favourite newly discovered authors for 2015. Have you read any of the books or series I mentioned? Which ones are your favourites? Who are your top new authors? I'm always looking for recommendations :o)

Review: Vicious - V.E. Schwab

A brand new hardback edition of V.E. Schwab's critically acclaimed novel.

Features:
New cover art
In-universe short story Warm Up
A teaser for the forthcoming sequel Vengeance
Specially designed end papers - unique to this edition
Presented with a ribbon marker

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in one another. A shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death-experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. They become EOs, ExtraOrdinaries, leaving a body in their wake and turning on each other.

Ten years later Victor has escaped from prison and is determined to get his revenge on the man who put him there, aided by a young girl with the ability to raise the dead. Eli has spent the years hunting down and killing every EO he can find, convinced that they are a crime against God, all except his sidekick, a woman whose power is persuasion and whom he cannot defy. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the arch-nemeses have set a course for revenge but who will be left alive at the end?

Villains Series:
Warm Up (free prequel short story can be read online here)
Vicious
Vengeful

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information

Review:
After really enjoying A Darker Shade of Magic I was really excited to get my hands on a copy of Vicious to see what else V.E. Schwab was capable of. The two stories couldn't be more different but they both show what a talented writer she is and I thoroughly enjoyed her take on superheroes, or perhaps I should say anti-heroes because there aren't really any good guys here!

The story is told in two distinct narratives, you have flashbacks ten years into the past where we see Victor and Eli meeting a university, they are close friends and very competitive in their studies so when Eli comes up with the idea to study EOs (ExtraOrdianry people with superpowers) for his thesis Victor automatically wants to join in and take things one step further. The boys run dangerous experiments trying to turn themselves into EOs and the resulting tragedy sees Victor put in prison for murder. In the current timeline Victor has broken out of prison along with his cell mate Mitch and he's determined to track down Eli and make him pay for betraying him. It takes a while for us to uncover exactly what went down between them but it is clear from the beginning that they have both become very dangerous men who will stop at nothing to further their causes.

I already mentioned that this is a story of anti-heroes but I find it kind of hard to think of Victor as anything other than a slightly less evil villain. Victor and Eli are both extreme and they're both willing to torture and kill without batting an eye so it's hard to decide which side you should be rooting for. We get to see a more human side of Victor through the eyes of Mitch and Sydney, a young girl he rescues along the way, but from their point of view Victor can't be called a good man, he's just the lesser of two evils. I loved how ambiguous these characters are though, you can never quite be sure what Victor is capable of so it's hard to trust his motives long term and that is one of the things that makes him quite so fascinating.

This is a dark world, one where some people have amazing abilities but they rarely use them for good. I was completely hooked from the beginning and I loved the masterful way V.E. Schwab wove the two different time lines together in a way that kept you guessing right through to the end. There were a couple of incredibly well thought out twists and I was impressed that she managed to get me rooting for a psychopath. I would love to read more stories set in this world so I hope the author decides to revisit it at some point in the future.

Update October 2018:
I recently purchased the new Collectors Edition hardback of Vicious so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures so you can see just how gorgeous it is! This edition also includes the short story, Warm Up, that was only previously available on the Tor.com website.

I love the gold foiling on the naked hardback!

and just look at those endpapers!

Source: Received from Titan Books in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Original UK Paperback

Hardback (Collectors Edition) / Paperback / Kindle:

Quick Review: Warm Up - V. E. Schwab

It’s been 297 days since David died–and came back.

He may have survived the avalanche, but the aftermath has been far worse. His wife moved out, taking his son with her, and a devastated David hasn’t left his house since, terrified of the mysterious new power that followed him home from the ill-fated expedition.

After months in seclusion, David’s ready for a fresh start, and ventures out, determined to keep his power in check. But David’s power isn’t the one he needs to worry about.

Villains Series:
Warm Up (free prequel short story can be read online here)
Vicious
Vengeful

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information

Quick Review:
It's been 297 days since David died and came back to life, 294 days since his wife left him and 293 days since he left his house thanks to the scary new ability his near death experience seems to have given him.

Warm Up is a short story set in the same world as V.E. Schwab's that can be read for free on the Tor website. It's a great little intro to a dark world where some people have superhero type powers and have to learn how to control them. One of the main characters from Vicious makes an appearance towards the end of the story and it definitely left me looking forward to reading the full length novel.

If you're undecided on whether you want to read Vicious or if you just want to try out V.E. Schwab's writing style then this is a great place to start. It's very well written and I was totally invested in David's story from the beginning, my only complaint was that I wanted the story to be longer!

Source: Read for free on the Tor website here.

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Review: A Darker Shade of Magic - V.E. Schwab

Kell is one of the last travellers - magicians with a rare ability to travel between parallel universes connected by one magical city. There's Grey London, without magic and ruled by the mad King George III. Red London - where magic is revered, and where Kell was raised alongside the heir to the empire. White London - where people fight to control the remaining magic and magic fights back. And once there was Black London . . .

Officially Kell is the Red traveller, carrying letters between the monarchs of each London. Unofficially he is a smuggler, a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences. His escape to Grey London leads to a run-in with Delilah, a cutpurse with lofty aspirations, who forces Kell to take her on a proper adventure. But perilous magic is afoot, and an adventure becomes a mission to save all of the worlds.

Shades of Magic Series:
A Darker Shade of Magic
A Gathering of Shadows
A Conjuring of Light

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information

Review:
I've heard a lot of great things about V.E. Schwab's writing, in fact I had several of her books on my wish list, so when I was offered a review copy of the first book in her new series, A Darker Shade of Magic, I jumped at the chance to read it. I'm so glad I did because I can certainly see what all the fuss was about and I'm definitely going to be working my way through her previous titles while I wait for the release of the next book in this series.

A Darker Shade of Magic is a wonderful mix of historical fantasy, swashbuckling adventure and magical mayhem. Here there are three very different versions of London, three distinctive parallel universes that only a rare few people known as the Antari are able to travel between. Grey London is closest to a historical version of our world, there is no magic and most people are completely unaware of the other universes. Red London is a lavish kingdom where magic is plentiful and people on the whole are happy and healthy, most people are aware of the other worlds but have no desire to leave their own home. White London has magic but it is a different, darker, kind and people are constantly battling for power over each other, this London is a place where the weak are preyed upon and only the strong survive. There used to be a fourth world but there the magic was twisted and decayed, Black London was being destroyed from the inside out so the other versions of London banded together to permanently close the gateways and cut them off and it is believed that the world has since destroyed itself.

Kell is one of only two known Antari, he was born in Red London and he is tasked with the role of delivering messages between the royal families from each remaining version of London. Although it is forbidden to bring anything between the different worlds Kell is a collector and he regularly smuggles what he believes are harmless trinkets between the Londons to trade with the few people who know of the different realities. Kell meets Lila when his hobby lands him in trouble, injured and trapped in Grey London Kell has nobody to turn to and is forced to rely on Lila to help him. Lila has always dreamed of adventure so when Kell tells her about Red London and the other universes open to him she is determined to find a way to travel there and see them for herself. What the two of them don't realise is that they have dangerous enemies, ones who could be powerful enough to destroy not just Red London but all three remaining universes.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this story, each version of London is vividly described and I found it incredibly easy to picture them. I loved learning about the magical Red London, it sounds like such a brilliant place to visit and I would love to see the glowing red Thames and experience the magic flowing through it. White London sounds absolutely terrifying, it is cold and harsh with danger lurking on every corner and definitely not the kind of place you would choose to go to while Grey London is dreary and smog filled, pretty much exactly what you'd expect of early 1800's London. I loved the descriptions of magic too, we get to see some exciting magical battles and I enjoyed learning more about Kell's ability to travel between the different worlds.

One of the places A Darker Shade of Magic really shines is in it's characters though, nobody is what they first seem to be, they all have complex layers to them and very real motives for everything they do. Kell is great, he is intelligent and powerful but he isn't perfect, he makes a lot of mistakes and has to rely on his wits to get him out of the messes he finds himself in. Lila surprised me, I wasn't sure if I was going to like her at first because she seemed to have so little regard for anyone other than herself but it didn't take me long to warm up to her and I loved how badass she was. Lila is feisty, smart and ruthless, she doesn't play by the rules but she does have her own code of honour and no matter how much she tries to pretend to be completely blasé about things she really does care. What I loved most is the friendship that builds between her and Kell, in the beginning they have no reason to trust each other, they are thrown together though and have to work together if they want to survive. It was great to see that Lila, a girl from Grey London who had no magic of her own, was often the one who rescues Kell even though he is the powerful magician. There are so many other characters who are worth a mention here, prince Rye is definitely someone I'm looking forward to seeing more of but V.E. Schwab also created some truly creepy and terrifying villains.

A Darker Shade of Magic is a fantastic story that was completely different to anything else I've read which is what makes it really stand out. If you love rich world building, brilliant multifaceted characters and plots with plenty of surprising twists then you need this book in your life. It's definitely a series to watch out for and V.E. Schwab has added herself to my list of must read authors.

Source: Received from Titan Books in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

Blog Tour: V.E. Schwab's Favourite Literary Dystopias

I absolutely LOVED A Darker Shade of London by V.E. Schwab (my review will be posted later today) so I'm thrilled to be taking part in the blog tour and excited to welcome Victoria to my blog today to tell you all about her favourite literary dystopias. Before I hand over to her I want to tell you a little more about the book though. A Darker Shade of Magic is a fantastic fantasy story, one full of magic and parallel worlds and that will keep you on the edge of your seat as you follow Kell and Lila on their adventure!

Trust me this is a book you won't want to miss, just check out this blurb if you don't believe me:

Kell is one of the last travellers - magicians with a rare ability to travel between parallel universes connected by one magical city. There's Grey London, without magic and ruled by the mad King George III. Red London - where magic is revered, and where Kell was raised alongside the heir to the empire. White London - where people fight to control the remaining magic and magic fights back. And once there was Black London . . .

Officially Kell is the Red traveller, carrying letters between the monarchs of each London. Unofficially he is a smuggler, a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences. His escape to Grey London leads to a run-in with Delilah, a cutpurse with lofty aspirations, who forces Kell to take her on a proper adventure. But perilous magic is afoot, and an adventure becomes a mission to save all of the worlds.

Visit V.E. Schwab's website for more information

Now doesn't that sound fabulous? Now let me hand you over to Victoria . . .

********************

Victoria's Favourite Literary Dystopias

by V.E. Scwhab

I think the trickiest thing about fictional dystopias is the fact that unlike, say, paranormal, where the character type is the commonality, in dystopian, it’s the world. And while you can reimagine witches or ghosts, it’s hard to reinvent a failed utopia in ways that don’t feel inherently derivative. I admit to being a hard sell, but here are a few of my favorites:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – An incredible novel about a future in which books are burned because they’re seen as the root of all discord. An obvious choice, but it’s simply stellar.

Legend by Marie Lu – The reason the Legend trilogy succeeds, in my opinion, is because it doesn’t overemphasize the world. This is one of those rare occasions where less is more. The premise for the dystopian aspect is slim but believable, and the emphasis is on the characters and their relationship. It also gets points for being a YA dystopian take on Les Miserables.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – This is probably my favorite dystopian novel to date. At once out there, and incredibly grounded, I see so much of today’s world in this book about creating a “happy” society through brainwashing, drugs, and social stratification. I found it extremely troubling, and extremely believable.

********************

Thanks so much for a fabulous post Victoria, I have a terrible confession to make & have to admit that I've not read any of the books you mentioned but they all sound fantastic. I actually have a copy of Legend sitting on my to read pile so it looks like I need to bump it up the list but I definitely need to check out the others too so thanks for the recommendations :o)

Have you read any of Victoria's choices? Are any of them in your favourite literary dystopias list? Which other books would you add?

Don't forget to check out the rest of the stops on the A Darker Shade of Magic Blog tour: