JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova

An epic tale of love and revenge set in a world inspired by Inquisition-era Spain pits the magical Moria against a terrifying royal authority bent on their destruction. Majestic world-building on a grand scale in a knockout YA fantasy.

An epic tale of love and revenge set in a world inspired by Inquisition-era Spain pits the magical Moria against a terrifying royal authority bent on their destruction.

When the royal family of Selvina sets out to destroy magic through a grand and terrible inquisition, magic warrior-thief Renata – trained in the art of stealing memories – seeks to kill the prince, leader of the King’s Justice, only to learn through powerful memories that he may be the greatest illusion of them all … and that the fate of all magic now lies in her hands.

Loosely based on 15th century Spain, Zoraida Cordova’s Incendiary is the first novel in a new YA fantasy duology that explores the power of memory and revenge.

Renata Convida holds the power to absorb — and remove — people’s memories. As a child, she was kidnapped by the King and forced to use her powers to obtain knowledge from prisoners. After two years in the King’s clutches, Renata is rescued by a group of rebels named the Whispers.

The book is set eight years later, Renata now 17.

“When I open my eyes, it is dark once more. I register a tent. A low-burning lamp on the floor beside me. My lashes brush against soft fabric, not the dusty blanked I’ve been carrying for a week. The skin at the base of my neck is tender, the stitches like cords strung too tight. I let out a pained wail as the last thing I remember crashes over me.”

Admittedly, the book sets off to a slow start. We’re thrust deep into a storyline with characters we don’t know and the author expects us to sympathise for their plight. In reality, I was confused by the opening and found myself feeling distanced from the action. It takes some time before we understand characters enough to really sympathise for them, and I don’t think that’s reflected in Incendiary.

Renata and Dez’s romance doesn’t feel overly established in the beginnings of the novel, and so the reader doesn’t immediately care for their relationship. Fairly early on, Renata loses someone close to her but I felt we hadn’t really formed a connection with that character so the loss didn’t really hit hard. It felt like a missed opportunity to engage the reader.

Despite this, the novel picks up and the pace increases. Renata returns to the palace where she was held captive in order to save those close to her, and exact revenge on those who wronged her.

“We’ve ridden for hours, pushing our stolen horses onward without rest as the landscape changed from the Forest of Lynxes to the lush greens that border the Rio Aguadulce, but Andalucia is an oasis in a dry valley. I rub the flank of my horse. The capital is filthy, so we won’t stand out in our travel-worn clothes.”

The strengths lie within the world-building and the unique premise. Renata’s magical ability feels like a fresh addition to this genre — I felt genuinely impressed by what she could do and seduced by her character’s journey through the novel.

At times, the story feels a bit like a yo-yo. She’s kidnapped as a girl, then rescued, then willingly goes back to the Palace, and then works to escape again. I couldn’t help but wonder if the plot could’ve been simplified? Was Zoraida trying to accomplish too much in this book?

Truthfully, I never really felt like Renata was in any danger. When she returns to the Palace, she’s met with open arms because the King is in desperate need of her abilities. And whilst there are some people who are suspicious of her, the immediate threat — Justice Mendez — is not nearly as terrifying or threatening as he could’ve been.

“Silence falls in the darkness of the wagon as it jostles from our excess weight, a ship in a storm. I keep my eyes down and try to become aware of the capital’s deep night sounds. Hooves on cobblestone. Cheering from a tavern. Guards laughing from the wagon’s seat. From somewhere, a cry for help that won’t be answered.”

Readers will be propelled into an absorbing tale of magic and intrigue, and the ending will entice them to read the next in the series. There are plenty of twists and turns, unexpected deception and sketchy characters to intrigue even the most reluctant of readers.

Whilst the plot felt at times muddled and overly complex even for seasoned young readers, there are enough redeeming qualities in the characters, story and plot to maintain a readership.

Recommended for young readers, 14+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Incendiary
Zoraida Cordova
May 2020
Hachette Book Publishers

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

They were the Chosen Ones. Saving the world made them heroes. Saving it again might destroy them.

When Sloane Andrews and her friends defeated the Dark One, and saved the world, it nearly cost them everything. Ten years later, they are still struggling to put the battle behind them and reclaim their lives. After all, the rest of the world has moved on . . . so why can’t they?

Of the five, Sloane has had the hardest time adjusting. Everyone else blames the PTSD – and her huge attitude problem – but really, she’s hiding secrets from them . . . secrets that keep her tied to the past and alienate her from the only four people in the world who understand her.

On the tenth anniversary of the Dark One’s defeat, something unthinkable happens: one of the Chosen Ones dies. When the others gather for the funeral, they discover the Dark One’s ultimate goal was much bigger than they, the government, or even prophecy could have foretold – bigger than the world itself.

Last time, it took everything she had. This time, it might not be enough.

Veronica Roth’s Chosen Ones is a standalone fantasy novel that reimagines the stereotypical plot device of the ‘chosen one’, flipping it on its head and fast-forwarding 10 years into the future. When a chosen one, or chosen ones, have completed their destiny and saved the world, what happens next?

Chosen Ones illustrates the mental, physical and emotional strain that would be placed on young people if they were expected to save the world like they do in books and movies. Ten years after defeating the Dark One, Sloane and her four friends are still trying to adapt and move on from what happened. Not all of them have thrived since they defeated the Dark One.

“She wanted to comfort him, but she didn’t know how. She had never seem him so tired, so…disappointed. In the world, in himself, even in her. She sat next to him on the couch, her hands clasped over her knees.”

Structurally, the book switches between prose in Sloane’s POV, and document clippings — articles, essays, news reports, interviews, classified government files, and police investigations. Whilst it doesn’t necessarily feel like it adds much to the plot, the documents help give context to the setting and the ‘world’ that they’re in, and will give readers a greater understanding of the danger that Sloane faces.

Unique, interesting and well-paced fiction, Chosen Ones feels fresh. Stereotypes are challenged, and the novel plays with the concept of alternate universes. With transformative imagery and descriptive locations, the novel’s setting feel grand, in-depth and well-developed, something that allows the reader to sink into and devour with each passing page.

At times, Chosen Ones is dark and complex. Explored themes include drug use, mental health, torture and physical disability, among many others. Fans who grew up with Veronica’s young adult novels will feel this is a natural progression — Chosen Ones is diverse and inclusive, with a strong core cast of characters and engrossing magic woven throughout.

“The Drain had driven a crater deep into the ground, so deep that some of the workers looked child-size from where she stood. When Sloane first saw a Drain site, she had expected it to be a uniform substance, like the surface of the moon. But there were still remnants of what had been there: broken planks, crumbling bricks, chunks of asphalt, bits of old fabric.”

Set in Chicago, readers will appreciate that this is a standalone novel. Veronica draws out as much from the world and the storyline as she possibly can, and pulls all threads together for an explosive finale.

Stylistically, whilst the book follows the five Chosen Ones, the book focuses primarily on the character of Sloane. Written in third person, Sloane is sharp, bitter and at times unpredictable, desperately trying to understand where she now fits in the world and how to process her life up until this point. Over time, the reader comes to understand the other characters through Sloane and her experiences, allowing for a greater understanding of her motivations.

“Sloane reached for words and came up empty. He had a point — she had been kidnapped by the Dark One, too, but he hadn’t done to her what he had done to Albie, hadn’t attacked her body and left her with no feeling in her hands and no way to rejoin the fight.”

At times, the science behind the world and the explanations behind the magic felt a little too complex and hard to swallow. Additionally, there were a couple of twists that felt a little predictable and were foreshadowed too much for an adult readership — particularly around the character of Mox — but there are definitely enough surprises in the plot to intrigue readers and keep them enthralled in the story.

Whilst this is being marketed as Veronica Roth’s first book for adults, young adult readers will also enjoy Chosen Ones. Truthfully, it feels more YA than adult. The concept of superheroes and the ‘chosen ones’, the magical elements woven throughout the book, the emotional angst between the characters, and the budding relationship between two characters felt reminiscent of a YA novel.

Recommended for fans of fantasy, speculative fiction and young adult. Aged 14+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Chosen Ones
Veronica Roth
April 2020
Hachette Book Publishers

The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi

A Sin Eater’s duty is a necessary evil: she hears the final private confessions of the dying, eats their sins as a funeral rite, and so guarantees their souls access to heaven. It is always women who eat sins – since it was Eve who first ate the Forbidden Fruit – and every town has at least one, not that they are publicly acknowledged. Stained by the sins they are obliged to consume, the Sin Eater is shunned and silenced, doomed to live in exile at the edge of town.

Recently orphaned May Owens is just fourteen, and has never considered what it might be like to be so ostracized; she’s more concerned with where her next meal is coming from. When she’s arrested for stealing a loaf of bread, however, and subsequently sentenced to become a Sin Eater, finding food is suddenly the last of her worries.

It’s a devastating sentence, but May’s new invisibility opens new doors. And when first one then two of the Queen’s courtiers suddenly grow ill, May hears their deathbed confessions – and begins to investigate a terrible rumour that is only whispered of amid palace corridors.

The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi is a contemporary fiction novel, drawing inspiration from history — sin eaters existed in parts of Britain until roughly a century ago. They ate a piece of bread beside people’s coffins to absolve their sins in a folk ritual with Christian resonances. Campisi’s The Sin Eater is a fictional story spun out of fantasy.

Imaginative, seductive and enticing, The Sin Eater was a surprise delight. Set in 16-century England, the story follows orphaned May Owens after she is forced to be a sin eater. She’s shunned and feared by townsfolk, and over the course of the novel, she grows suspicious of multiple deaths happening in the Queen’s Court.

“The Makerman places the collar around my neck. It’s heavy and cold, except where his hands touched it, and I have a sudden image of a horse’s bit, like he might slide it up into my mouth. But it’s worse what happens next. The second Makerman takes hold of the collar’s lock and shoves the shackle in. Even my guts feel the wards catch.”

The Sin Eater explores themes of destiny, expectation and superstition, and highlights an obsession over sins and lies, and where our indiscretions will lead us to after we die. Additionally, the novel explores class, gender and wealth.

The setting is despondent and lacks any hope of improvement. Food is scarce, and money even more so. May spends every day visiting the dying, listening to their sins so their family or friends can prepare the food. Illness doesn’t spare the wealthy, and women and babies are especially vulnerable during childbirth.

“Treason is death. And under Queen Bethany that’s not by a noose and the gallows but by gutting or burning or worse. I wait for the Sin Eater to move. When she doesn’t, I do something plain foolish. I take my hand and place it on hers. I expect it to be cool and hard like the wood of the pews, but heat pulses off it.”

Megan Campisi paints a very realistic 16th Century — her prose is tight and her descriptions vivid. Readers will find themselves absorbed in the setting and the characters. The pacing quickens as the novel progresses, drawing us deep into the mysterious deaths that surround the Queen. What secret is someone trying to unearth? And how many people are they willing to kill to achieve that?

May is really engrossing protagonist. She’s young and naive, a little too unaware, but she’s also quick to learn and fast to act. She’s got good instincts and there are a couple of times in the novel where those instincts save her life.

Admittedly, there are a lot of secondary characters in the novel and history — past mistakes — come into the plot quite a bit. The conclusion was a little hard to swallow, I had to read the ending a couple of times to grasp the twist.

“It’s always women who eats sins, since it was Eve who first ate a sin: the Forbidden Fruit. Some say that’s why so many foods for sins are fruits. But there’s other foods as well, like cream and leeks, that aren’t fruit at all.”

Perfect for readers of historical fiction and contemporary fiction, any tale with a drop of fantasy mixed in. Young readers will also love this tale.

Dark, moving, and gripping. Highly recommended. 14+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Sin Eater
Megan Campisi
April 2020
Pan Macmillan Publishers Australia

Chain of Gold: The Last Hours Book One by Cassandra Clare

Cordelia Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, a warrior trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to Edwardian London in hopes of preventing the family’s ruin.

Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignations, and supernatural salons, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. All the while, she must hide her secret love for James, who is sworn to marry someone else. But Cordelia’s new life is blown apart when a shocking series of demon attacks devastate London.

Trapped in the city, Cordelia and her friends discover that a dark legacy has gifted them with incredible powers – and a brutal choice that will reveal the true cruel price of being a hero.

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare is the first instalment in The Last Hours trilogy, a new fantasy series for adult and young readers. Apparently, it’s a sequel to The Internal Devices trilogy, and a prequel to the Mortal Instruments series, but that doesn’t matter to me. I’ve only read one book from the Mortal Instruments series, and I know nothing about any of the other series. I went in blind to this (I imagine other readers will too).

Above all else, this book explores friendship, identity, legacy and love. There are many things in this book that readers will not be able to relate to — demon attacks, warlocks, ghosts etc — but the teenagers in this book experience things that all readers can understand. They go through love and heartbreak, heartache and deception, betrayal, and they uncover shock secrets from within their own family.

“Cordelia couldn’t understand why she was so worried about Lucie. Several withdrawing rooms had been opened up, and Lucie could have wandered off to any of those, or returned to her own bedroom. She really could be anywhere in the Institute.”

Set in the early 1900s, the book is approximately 600 pages. Does it need to be 600 pages? No it doesn’t. The pacing in the first half of the book is so slow, it’ll make you feel like you’re never going to get through it. It feels like a walking marathon. Once you pass the halfway mark and the demon attacks start ramping up, that’s when events start to get interesting.

Chain of Gold is told through the perspective of Cordelia, a brave, strong-willed Shadowhunter. She’s a complex character, but she’s also confident, self-assured and defiant to those who underestimate her. Over the course of the novel, the reader witnesses Cordelia at her best but also her most vulnerable.

Cassandra Clare has a way of capturing the entirety of a character, delving deep into their emotions and actions so the reader walks away feeling like they truly understood that protagonist.

“He looked away from Grace for the first time and searched the floor for Cordelia. He found her in moments — she was easy to spot. No one else had hair that colour, a deep dark red, like fire shining through blood.”

Chain of Gold features a large cast of core characters, and Cassandra takes the time to really illustrate them all (to be expected when the book is 600 pages). We come to understand motives, doubts, fears, and each character’s biggest desire. Sure, there are plenty of things left unsaid (this is a trilogy after all, we have two more books to go), but the ending to this book felt satisfactory. I’m intrigued to read the sequel.

Admittedly, there are so many teenagers and kids in this book it was easy to get confused about how they were related. Who were siblings? Who were just friends? Who were extended family? Sometimes it was easy to forget. Whilst the core characters were crafted with depth, sometimes it did feel like there were too many of them and perhaps…there didn’t need to be as many kids and teenagers?

“James had never seen the infirmary like this before. Of course he’d heard stories from his mother and father about the aftermath of the Clockwork War, the dead and the wounded, but during his lifetime there had rarely ever been more than one or two patients in the sickroom.”

Recommended for fans of fantasy fiction and young adult literature. 14+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Hours Book One: Chain of Gold
Cassandra Clare
March 2020
Walker Books Australia

Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian

SMOKE CLEARS
AND FLAMES DIE,
BUT ONE BURNING EMBER
CAN IGNITE A REVOLUTION.

The thrilling conclusion to the bestselling Ash Princess trilogy.

Princess Theodosia was a prisoner in her own country for a decade. Renamed the Ash Princess, she endured relentless abuse and ridicule from the Kaiser and his court. But though she wore a crown of ashes, there is fire in Theo’s blood. As the rightful heir to the Astrean crown, it runs in her veins. And if she learned nothing else from her mother, she learned that a Queen never cowers.

Now free, with a misfit army of rebels to back her, Theo must liberate her enslaved people and face a terrifying new enemy: the new Kaiserin. Imbued with a magic no one understands, the Kaiserin is determined to burn down anyone and everything in her way.

With more at stake than ever, Theo must learn to embrace her own power if she has any hope of standing against the girl she once called her heart’s sister.

Ember Queen is the third and final book in the Ash Princess fantasy series by Laura Sebastian. Chronologically, the book starts very soon after the end of Lady Smoke — Theo has descended into the fire mine after negotiations with Cress. In Ember Queen, she emerges alive and more powerful, but she has no memory of what happened down in the mine.

You can read my review of Ash Princess HERE.
You can read my review of Lady Smoke HERE.

Now that I’ve read all three books in the series, I think it’s appropriate to comment on the series as a whole. Does this series feel unique? Do I feel this series adds something new to the fantasy genre? No, I don’t. There are so many elements in this series that can be found in so many other books — love triangles, the concept of ‘the rightful Queen’, betrayal, captives, rebel armies, a cruel and vicious Queen, the list goes on.

But, in YA fantasy, sometimes it feels almost impossible to find a book that doesn’t possess these common, stereotypical elements. And there’s a reason readers keep coming back to these — they’re enjoyable. And I think a teenage reader, one who loves fantasy, would really like the Ash Princess series. Whilst it may be a bit unoriginal in some parts, the characters are interesting, the plot draws you in, and it’s an easy series to get lost in.

“It is a foolish plan. I know that, and I’d imagine deep down, Erik does as well. But with his mother so recently taken from him and the life he knew completely upheaved, Soren is the only family he has left, the only familiar thing in a strange and frightening world.”

Clocking in at over 460 pages, Ember Queen doesn’t disappoint. The characters and the plot are just as engaging as they were in books one and two, and readers will find themselves emotionally invested in the conclusion to the series. Whilst I felt book two was a bit lacklustre because the plot felt like a filler, book three makes up for that with a fast-paced, compelling plot that had me fully engrossed.

Structurally, the book moves along a few different paths. The majority of the book is political, following Theo’s war plans and her strategic campaign to overthrow Cress. Another part of the book follows Theo and Cress’ connection — they are able to meet and communicate in their dreams. Cress thinks Theo is dead, so she believes she’s being haunted. For a time, Theo is able to use these dreams to manipulate Cress and steer everything in a desired direction.

“Blaise said the same thing to me — that I always choose Astrea over him. I don’t think he meant it as a condemnation, but he’s right: what I have left over isn’t enough for him. Maybe it will never be enough for any person.”

There were definitely a few moments in the book where things felt a little too easy for Theo and her crew. Soren’s return to the group was one of them. But the pacing has been consistent in all three books, and readers will feel satisfied with how things unfold in the Ember Queen.

Laura Sebastian captures Theo’s internal conflict incredibly well in Ember Queen. Personally, I feel that this concluding novel is the strongest in terms of capturing Theo’s character development, and illustrating her inner turmoil over the decisions she has to make and the lives she’s putting at stake. After all, this is war. And with war comes death.

Theo is conflicted every step of the way. She feels great responsibility for her rebel army, but she also wants to avoid as much bloodshed as possible. She’s scared, although she hides it well. She’s tormented by Cress, and she’s tormented by all that she’s endured since we first met her in Ash Princess. In Ember Queen, we see Theo as an incredibly vulnerable character, and through that we witness her become the Queen she’s destined to be.

“Sometimes, the time I spent in the mine filters in like sunlight through a curtained window, diluted and soft-edged and incomplete. But other times, the curtain shifts and light pours in, sharp and jarring. I remember darkness; I remember being cold. I remember my mother.”

A satisfying end to the trilogy. I recommend the Ash Princess series to fans of fantasy fiction, or young adult fiction. The trilogy would be a great gift for a young, seasoned reader.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ember Queen: Ash Princess #3
Laura Sebastian
February 2020
Pan Macmillan Publishers