Fireby Kristin Cashore480pp (Hardcover)Read Fire ExcerptMy Rating: 9/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 4.51/5Goodreads Rating: 4.33/5 Fire is a YA fantasy novel by Kristin Cashore. It is a loosely connected prequel to her debut novel Graceling and takes place approximately 35 years prior to it in a different land. Without having read Graceling, Fire was perfectly accessible and I did not feel at all lost reading it. However, Cashore’s site does say that reading Fire first gives away a spoiler for Graceling […]

Havemercyby Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett448pp (Paperback)My Rating: 9/10Amazon Rating: 4/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.87/5Goodreads Rating: 3.67/5 Havemercy is a collaborative debut novel written by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett. In July, an indirect sequel (i.e., a related book with a different set of main characters, some of whom were introduced in the first book) called Shadow Magic was released. On its own, Havemercy has a satisfying ending, but as one of my favorite reads of this year so far, this character-driven […]

The Magiciansby Lev Grossman416pp (Hardcover)My Rating: 8/10Amazon Rating: 3.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.77/5Goodreads Rating: 3.58/5 The Magicians, written by Time magazine book critic Lev Grossman, debuted at #9 on the New York Times bestseller list and is currently #21. Although the ending isn’t quite what I would call a cliffhanger since the main loose ends from this book are tied up, it also seems to be leading up to another book. Grossman has confirmed that there will indeed be a sequel in […]

The Drowning Cityby Amanda Downum384pp (Paperback)My Rating: 5.5/10Amazon Rating: 5/5LibraryThing Rating: N/AGoodreads Rating: 3/5 The Drowning City is Amanda Downum’s debut novel and was just released on August 25. It is the first book in The Necromancer Chronicles series, and the next two books are scheduled to be published approximately a year apart (The Bone Palace in 2010 and Kingdoms of Dust in 2011). Ever since I saw the cover quote from one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth Bear, I’ve […]

The Book Smugglers has been celebrating YA Appreciation Month with a whole bunch of reviews and giveaways of YA books as well as interviews/guest posts with some authors who write YA. They posted an open invitation to other bloggers to post reviews or articles about YA books on August 15 and I decided to participate. It was tough to pick a book to review but I ended up settling on the sequel to a very good book I read earlier […]

Best Served Coldby Joe Abercrombie512pp (Hardcover)My Rating: 8/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.94/5Goodreads Rating: 4.23/5 Best Served Cold is a stand alone novel by Joe Abercrombie set in the same world as his First Law trilogy with a different set of main characters. It takes place sometime after the end of the series, although I’m not sure exactly how much time has passed other than it must have been at least a couple of years. Although I enjoyed the First Law […]