It’s All in How You Fall by Sarah Henning 4.5 stars – I will be the first to hold my hands up and say that I am not a fan of contemporary books especially contemporary romance but over the last year that has been slowly changing. The opening to It’s All in How You Fall was interesting as we are introduced to a teenage gymnast, Caroline Kepler who has three competitive beam wins under her belt and chronic back pain to go with it and at only 15 she is seeking medical advice about it. Her doctor’s advice is for her to retire but she isn’t willing to do that because gymnastics is her life but when she falls in practice revealing a potential permanent injury to her spine she is forced to retire bringing her whole life crashing down around her. I get Caroline’s passion for the sport and how much she has devoted to it but the way she was injured was completely her fault since she knew her father and coach were going to get her to retire and she was showing off so it was hard to sympathise towards her and I feeling that she is going to become really snippy with people because she can’t have what she wants and I am wary at the moment but the premise was good.
The Last Blade Priest by W. P. Wiles 3.5 stars – The opening to The Last Blade Priest was interesting as we are introduced to Inar who is a Master Builder for the Kingdom of Mishig-Tenh. We learn that there was a war previously between the Kingdom and the League of Free Cities and there is currently an uneasy alliance between the two factions. During the war, Inar’s father and older brother were both executed for treason solidifying his allegiance to the Kingdom but when some League Knights roll through looking to levy Inar his loyalty is questioned and he is ultimately given to the League but also instructed to act as a spy for the Kingdom. We are then introduced to Anton, the Blade Priest for Craithe, the God Mountain. Anton is a Blade Priest meaning he is supposed to take part in human sacrifices but this practice has just been outlawed much to Anton’s relief and we begin to learn about the religion of the God Mountain but not much. We switch back to Inar who has been taken by the League to a fortress where it does look like they are preparing for a second war but he and Lott have no choice but to wait and see what the League want them to do while keeping their eyes and ears open to what is going on around them. They are under the care of Anzola who seems to be a hero in the eyes of the League but her ward, Duna is more interesting right now since she seems to have an air of mystery and power surrounding her.
The Loop by Ben Oliver 5 stars – I have read both The Loop and The Block before but since The Arc came out recently I am rereading the first two books to read the conclusion. We are following Luka Kane who has just turned 16 and he celebrates inside a state of the at prison known as the Loop, which is run by the AI, Happy. The Loop keeps the prisoners in almost completely isolated apart from one hour a day where they can talk over the walls. All the prisoners have been sentenced to death and the only way to prevent the execution is by taking Delays. Delays are medical trials and experiments that the prisoners take part in to pay back their execution date. One thing to note is the society is split between Alta, genetically modified cyborgs and Regulars, non-altered humans and there are Naturals too, these are Regulars that are more beautifully that others but not as much as an Alt. Luka used to have a friend in the loop, Maddox but he went for a Delay and never returned which is pretty common, however, there is some good about Luka’s prison life. The warden, When seems to care about them smuggling them in non-technological items like books and using Happy’s update time to let them or of their cells to interact and it’s here we get to meet some of the other prisoners.
The Block by Ben Oliver 4.75 stars – The opening to The Block was interesting as it almost seems like Luka and the others won the war against Happy but this is quickly revealed to be yet another simulation from Happy to extract the location of the others from Luka. However, Luka hasn’t been idle during this time and has been gaining the trust of one of the guards in order to escape and for a moment it is working. He is able to learn that Kina, Wren, Woods and Malachai are all in the Block with him and they are the only ones since everyone else died but Luka doesn’t know why. He is also coming to learn more and more about Happy’s plan but right now he only wants to escape. Obviously, Happy stops this before it even begins but there are seeds planted in Luka for the next attempt it is just a question of whether he and the others can stay sane long enough to put a plan into action or for the others to rescue them but it has been over a month. Luka knows the others aren’t dead since Happy is still asking for their locations but he is losing hope that they will rescue him.
The Coward by Stephen Aryan 5 stars – I have read The Coward before and loved it but with the upcoming release of the sequel I had to re-read it to see if it was a good as I remember it being the first time around and to complete the duology. I loved the opening line to this book it is just as memorable as the opening line to Nevernight as they both involves the mention of shit. We are introduced to Kell Kressia, the resident hero who slew the Ice Lich nearly ten years before along with 11 other heroes. Kell remembers a very different set of events than the one that is told by the bards where he took off the Lich’s head with one blow of his mighty sword, Slayer but has come to live in relative peace until the King’s men coming knocking once more. Kell has been ignoring the warning signs that something is wrong for a while, relying on his friends like Dos Mohan to keep him sane and safe as they remember the scars, inside and out, he returned with last time. However, King Bledsoe, isn’t a man to be refused and Kell is practically forced to travel to the capital, Thune, where he learns from an old friend, Lukas that the Ice Runners have sent an envoy just like last time asking for help in dealing with whatever has taken up residence in the Ice Lich’s castle. I can immediately tell that Kell doesn’t want to go, even though I have read this book before, it is painfully obvious that Kell wants to refuse more than anything and return to his farm but he can’t without speaking to the King first and assessing how real the threat is and whether or not there is anyone else to deal with it even though Kell doesn’t particularly care.
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse DNF – From what I can gather from the synopsis Labyrinth is going to be a dual perspective, dual timeline fantasy with possibly a large portion of the novel taking place in a historical setting. Now, historical anything has never really appealed to me apart from a few exceptions I can name especially within the fantasy genre so I am excited to see how I get on with this book since it is on the larger side as well. The opening to Labyrinth was interesting as we are introduced to Alice who is working as an archaeological volunteer in the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, On her final day there she ends up finding the entrance to a tunnel that leads to an underground chamber, everything about this place is off as the boulder hiding the entrance which collapses isn’t heard or seen by the rest of the team when it should have been but Alice ventures inside. There she finds two bodies one with a small book and ring containing the strange labyrinth symbols that are carved on the walls. However, something happens to Alice as she collapses seeming to fall into someone else’s memories before coming around. In the past we meet Alais, a young newlywed noble lady from what I can gather although not at too high of a rank as she heads out to the river to collect plants used in healing. There she ends up stumbling across the body of a man who had been murdered which isn’t unusual given the threat of war which has hung over France for the better part of a year but her father is concerned believing he knew the man but he is proven wrong. While the opening was interesting and caught my attention absolutely nothing makes sense right now and I have no idea what is happening.
Comments