Review: Malice by John Gwynne

Author: John Gwynne
Pages: 628
Star Rating: ✪✪✪✪.5

Synopsis

Young Corban watches enviously as boys become warriors, learning the art of war. He yearns to wield his sword and spear to protect his king’s realm. But that day will come all too soon. Only when he loses those he loves will he learn the true price of courage.

The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, the earth running dark with their heartsblood. Although the giant-clans were broken in ages past, their ruined fortresses still scar the land. But now giants stir anew, the very stones weep blood and there are sightings of giant wyrms. Those who can still read the signs see a threat far greater than the ancient wars. Sorrow will darken the world, as angels and demons make it their battlefield. Then there will be a war to end all wars.

High King Aquilus summons his fellow kings to council, seeking an alliance in this time of need. Prophesy indicates darkness and light will demand two champions, the Black Sun and the Bright Star. They would be wise to seek out both, for if the Black Sun gains ascendancy, mankind’s hopes and dreams will fall to dust.

My thoughts

I really enjoyed this first book in The Faithful and The Fallen series. The author is writes really well and caught my attention from the beginning. I enjoyed watching the characters grow. I really enjoyed reading the relationship between the main character Corban and his sister Cywen. I thought the pacing of the book was done really well. Gwynne made me hate characters with a passion and love characters equally as much but my gosh does John Gwynne know how to flip characters and to write emotion inducing endings.

I have immediately bought the next in the series and plan to try and add this to my TBR for either August or September.

Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

-Happy reading
xoxo

Review: Shadows of Self

Author: Brandon Sanderson
Pages: 383
Star Rating: ✪✪✪✪

Synopsis for book one

Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds.

Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.

One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will.

After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.

My thoughts

I felt like I enjoyed this book a little more than the first book now I know what the characters are like and how different they are against the first trilogy. I found a few of the characters were starting to develop a little more and I started to understand them better.

One of the things I really liked were the fact we get more of the back stories of Wax and Wayne. I love Wayne as a character, he is extremely funny and this helps when the tensions are getting to high.

The plot in this book picked up a lot more compared to the first book in the series, and you see more of how the first series is linked with this trilogy. The middle was a little slow, in my opinion but the last part of the book picked up and grabbed my attention. I will be picking up the last book soon to complete the series and I am looking forward to it.

have you read this book? what did you think, let me know in the comments below

-Happy reading
xoxo

Review – Malice

Author: John Gwynne
Pages: 628
Star Rating: ✪✪✪✪.5

Synopsis from author website

Winner of the David Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Debut, 2012

Called a ‘Hell of a debut’ by bestselling author Conn Iggulden, Malice by John Gwynne is the first in The Faithful and the Fallen series.

Young Corban watches enviously as boys become warriors, learning the art of war. He yearns to wield his sword and spear to protect his king’s realm. But that day will come all too soon. Only when he loses those he loves will he learn the true price of courage.

The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, the earth running dark with their heartsblood. Although the giant-clans were broken in ages past, their ruined fortresses still scar the land. But now giants stir anew, the very stones weep blood and there are sightings of giant wyrms. Those who can still read the signs see a threat far greater than the ancient wars. Sorrow will darken the world, as angels and demons make it their battlefield. Then there will be a war to end all wars.

High King Aquilus summons his fellow kings to council, seeking an alliance in this time of need. Prophesy indicates darkness and light will demand two champions, the Black Sun and the Bright Star. They would be wise to seek out both, for if the Black Sun gains ascendancy, mankind’s hopes and dreams will fall to dust.

My thoughts

My first thought – I absolutely love this book. I enjoyed watching Corban, grow from a unconfident boy to an confident man. I loved watching his relationship with his sister grow and mature, from the other sister looking after him to her realising he is a grown man and can stand up for himself. As an older sister, I recognised this as something I went through with my brother. I found the story to be perfectly paced and didn’t get drawn out.

There were characters I loved, like Gar and Tull and characters I couldn’t stand like Rafe and Nathair.I really like when a author can make me feel strong feelings towards certain characters. I found all the characters development was done extremely well.

The only thing I have as a small complaint was that there are alot of characters which sometimes could get a little confused at the beginning, this would be easier as the book went on.

The ending was really well done and I can’t wait to get the next book in the series.

Overall a really good book and I will definitely be carrying on with the series.

Have you read this book? what did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Book Review – The Alloy of Law

Author: Brandon Sanderson
Pages: 325
Star Rating: ✪✪✪✪

Synopsis

Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds.

Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.

One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will.

After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.

My thoughts

This book didn’t grip me as the original trilogy did, the beginning was a little slow, but it did pick up towards the middle and the end of the book. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed myself when reading this book and I enjoyed getting to know the characters of this new series.

Waxillium – Is an honourable character who has been through some things in his past. I really enjoyed this character.

Wayne – He is a very witty and loyal to Waxillium. He brings the humour to the story and compliments Wax amazingly. I love the dynamic between the two characters

Marasi – She is a strong character who takes what she wants into her own hands and doesn’t let Wax tell her she can’t do something. I really want to see how this character develops throughout the story.

I will continue on with the series, I love the way Brandon Sanderson tells writes the stories he is telling.

Review: Forensics

Author: Val McDermid
Pages: 292
Star Rating: ✪✪✪✪✪

| Synopsis |

Val McDermid is one of the finest crime writers we have, whose novels have captivated millions of readers worldwide with their riveting narratives of characters who solve complex crimes and confront unimaginable evil. In the course of researching her bestselling novels, McDermid has become familiar with every branch of forensics, and now she uncovers the history of this science, real-world murders and the people who must solve them.
The dead talk – to the right listener. They can tell us all about themselves: where they came from, how they lived, how they died, and, of course, who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help serve justice using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene, or the faintest of human traces. Forensics draws on interviews with some of these top-level professionals, ground-breaking research, and McDermid’s own original interviews and firsthand experience on scene with top forensic scientists. Along the way, McDermid discovers how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine one’s time of death; how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer; and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist were able to uncover the victims of a genocide. It’s a journey that will take McDermid to war zones, fire scenes, and autopsy suites, and bring her into contact with both extraordinary bravery and wickedness, as she traces the history of forensics from its earliest beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern-day.

| My thoughts |

I also find it difficult to review non-fiction books but I found this one so informative.

I found this book extremely interesting and very well researched. I like the fact it was based on UK proceedings but also touched on cases in other countries. It had a mixture of old and new cases, some of the newer cases were ones I was familiar with due to them being on the news in the UK. The author puts enough detail into the case to discuss the topic she is talking about but she didn’t pry into the lives too much. There were so much I didn’t realise about the forensics in cases and how they work to catch the suspects.

Val McDermid also writes mysteries but I haven’t had a chance to pick any up at the moment.

I would highly recommend this book for people who are interested in forensics.