Fantasy/Urban Fantasy

This was last month’s Book of the Month Club selection whose synopsis grabbed my attention right from the get-go. I just couldn’t resist a book was the words “Mayan Death God” and “1920’s” in the description and turned out to be a delightful Mayan folklore story chock full of mythology.

Gods of Jade and Shadow is a standalone fantasy story that takes place during the Jazz Age in the Roaring ’20s and follows a young woman named Casiopea Tun who lives in Yucatán, Mexico. She and her mother are considered the poor relations and are pretty much servants, spending their days slaving away for their wealthy and tyrannical grandfather.

So one day, she discovers that her grandfather has left the key for the strange wooden trunk in his room, a trunk that has always remained locked. Unable to resist her curiosity, Casiopea opens the chest and inadvertently releases the Mayan god of Death, Hun-Kamé, who was apparently imprisoned in the trunk.

We learn that Hun-Kamé was the king of his realm and his twin brother, Vucub-Kamé, trapped him in the trunk and stole the kingdom, which is their Underworld called Xibalba, which is basically the land of Death. So Hun-Kamé, the rightful king and Supreme Lord of Xilbalba, requests Casiopea’s help in getting back his throne. Well, I shouldn’t say request — as it turns out, she doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter (for reasons I won’t go into).

Now the kicker is, is that if she fails, she dies. But if she succeeds, her deepest desire can come true. What follows is a harrowing journey as Casiopea, along with the handsome yet commanding death-god, embark on a treacherous adventure into Mexico City and subsequently into the dark Underworld, and along the way, encounter all manner of gods, demons and creatures.

I love a book where there’s an adventurous quest, and this one didn’t disappoint. From what I understand, this story is a fairytale-inspired by Mexican folklore. Now don’t worry if your knowledge of Mayan history and culture is lacking, as the author lays it all out in an easy-to-understand and compelling manner — there’s even a handy glossary in the back of the book. All the details you need are worked seamlessly into the action.

The prose in the story is luxurious, lyrical, and incredibly imaginative with vivid descriptions, a truly magical plot and a vast arrayP of exciting and complex characters. I loved the otherworldly, fairytale aspect to this tale and found it utterly enchanting. The blending of the old Mayan myths, legends, and gods with the new lifestyle of the 1920s really worked well for me.

I also thought that the world-building was terrific! It was so much fun to immerse myself into it and watch as the story slowly expanded it. The vibrant world that the author created here in this story was magical, captivating, twisty, and compelling yet also dark and dangerous. I felt that the detail that went into the storytelling here really brought it to life — at least it did for me.

I loved Casiopea’s character and felt she’s a phenomenal heroine. She’s feisty, headstrong, brave, determined, defiant, proud and refuses to take crap from anyone — even from Death himself — and I found myself falling in love with her more and more as the story progressed.

All in all, I loved this inventive and addictive story. It was elegantly written and well-constructed, with an evocative and gripping plot that I found fascinating. I thought that the author seamlessly blended the real and the mythic in a way that was a joy to read.

It also had a satisfying character arc for both of our protagonists, which I appreciated as both of them really changed and grew throughout the story. There was also an exceptional chemistry between the two main characters, which only increased as the story progressed.

So yeah, I loved the book, and I hope to read more of this author’s work.

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The story follows fifteen-year-old Grace Logan, a free-spirited young woman who yearns for adventure and longs to be a pirate like her father. But instead, all she has to look forward to is an arranged marriage.

But before her wedding can take place, the unthinkable happens: an unknown enemy has captured her father. Once an attempt is made on her life and a sleeping/death curse is placed on her home, Grace’s eyes are opened for the first time, and she discovers that she is surrounded by magic and magical beings.

Determined, she makes the decision to go on a quest to rescue her father from the Goblin underworld. Additionally, she discovers that a student, John Dee (yes, THAT John Dee) has stolen a magical book from her family and unless she retrieves it, the world will be thrown in utter chaos.

So Grace, along with two Sidhe friends, embark on a harrowing adventure into the world of Goblin, an adventure fraught with danger. Grace faces all manner of instances and comes face-to-face with a variety of monsters/creatures from Irish myth and along the way, learns more about herself, her family and friend than she ever thought possible.

This story is actually chock-full of Irish history, myth, and mythology, including faeries and folktales, and it was a delight to read about it. I will say, however, that for someone who isn’t familiar with Irish mythology (and the Book of Invasions), some of the information may seem a tad overwhelming. I have studied Irish mythology a bit, so I quite enjoyed the manner in which the author wove in these myths and legends, which added extra depth to the storytelling.

I loved Grace Logan and the Goblin Bones and found it to be an atmospheric novel where magic can be found in the mundane. This is a pulse-quickening story, and I loved how the author took these old myths and legends and turned them into something new and fresh. It was an exciting novel with fascinating characters and a fast-moving storyline which kept me on the edge of my seat. Prepare to be dazzled.

Many thanks to Pam Binder and The Wild Rose Press for providing me with an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

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“My life to yours. My Breath becomes yours.” 

The Story

Warbreaker is a story that follows two sisters who are princesses, a handful of mercenaries, a powerful, deadly yet mysterious warrior, a flippant atheist god who seems to take nothing seriously, a group of other gods and goddesses all of whom have returned from the dead and finally, the God King of this world — the ultimate ruler.

The two kingdoms in this story are Idris, from where the two princesses come and Halladren, ruled by the silent yet powerful and fearsome God King. These two cities have been barely tolerating each other for three centuries.

Now the King of Idris needs to make good on his daughter’s marriage contract; you see, one of his daughters has been promised to the God King with the goal being to produce an heir to the God King while maintaining the peace treaty between the two nations. But things turn out a little differently than expected when one daughter is on route to Halladren to marry the God King and the other has undertaken a personal rescue mission to save her sister from the horrid ruler.

The rest of the story takes place in Halladren, where we’re introduced to living gods called The Returned because they have returned from the dead. Every once in a while, someone comes back from the dead and when they do, they are then worshipped as Gods.

We’re also introduced to the system of magic called Breaths revolving around breath and colors. A breath is a chromatic essence of a person – like part of the soul — and each person is born with one breath, which can be given by one person and taken by another. The person who gives away his or her breath then becomes a “drab,” in which the world appears gray and pretty much colorless. The person receiving the breath is bestowed with heightened senses in which they’re able to discern subtle distinctions of color and sound. They are also infused with magic, making them capable of animating objects such as clothing, rope, dead squirrels and even little men made of straw and commanding them to do your bidding. This system is called Awakening, and a person needs a lot of Breath to perform an Awakening.

There’s also the mysterious Vasher to whom we’re introduced immediately in the first chapter, and he repeatedly appears throughout the book. The thing is, is that we have no idea who he is or what he’s up to. Is he trying to assassinate someone? Start a war? The more he appears, the more is revealed.

As political chaos, conspiracies, backstabbing, and unrest in the streets begins brewing, we learn that someone is indeed trying to start a war and it’s up to only a few people to prevent it: a god who doesn’t believe in his own divinity, a princess who overnight become unimportant, another princess who overnight become all-important, an immortal wielding a sentient dagger whose primary goal is to kill evil, and the God King himself.

What I Liked

Given that magic system in this story revolves around colors, it’s no surprise that Warbreaker is a book vivid and vibrant with colors. I found it easy to picture the scenes in my head, and the lush descriptions really helped to give the novel a strong sense of place.

Additionally, the plotting and world-building were outstanding. In this story, Sanderson gives us a rich world filled with riveting history and mythology, fascinating politics, an intriguing mystery and numerous twists resulting in a truly immersive read. I especially enjoyed the political system in which the common people actually interacted one-on-one with the gods.

The gods themselves were also captivating, and I found it interesting how they remembered nothing from their past lives after they were “Returned” so in essence, they had to reinvent themselves when they began their second life. I loved the whole concept of “The Returned” and found it fresh and original. I also thought that the mythology surrounding the Court of Gods and the God King was utterly fascinating and would have loved to have learned more about them.

But the real treasures of this story were the rich, vivid and life-like characters:

• We have two princesses, Vivenna and Siri, who couldn’t be more different personality-wise, and both of whom grew enormously throughout the arc of the story
• A witty, sarcastic and irreverent god named Lightsong the Bold (my personal favorite character) — a multi-layered hero who doesn’t believe in his own divinity and whose main goal is to be as lazy and useless as possible
• Denth and Tonk Fah, two tremendously humorous mercenaries who popped into Vivenna’s life
• Vasher, the deadly and enigmatic warrior
• Nightblood, Vasher’s sentient talking sword who has one role: to destroy evil, though given that it’s is only a sword, its concept of evil is a tad cloudy, so it simply sets out to destroy everything
• Susebron the holy and majestic God King who we know nothing about until his personality slowly begins to unfold
• And the numerous other gods, goddesses and high priests, all of whom were entertaining with distinct, well-developed personalities.

The character development in the book was terrific, especially with Siri, Vivenna, and Lightsong. It was fun seeing their growth as the tale progressed.

I thought there was a lot more humor in this book than in the other Sanderson novels I’ve read and caught myself laughing out loud several times during the story. Lightsong’s witty and wry humor was particularly fun, especially during his exchanges with the other Returned. I also enjoyed the endless banter between the two male mercenaries and even the exchanges between Vasher and his deadly talking sword were often amusing.

As is the case with other Brandon Sanderson novels, the magic system in Warbreaker, which uses a combination of breath and color to bring objects to life, was phenomenal. There were some fascinating scenes involving animated objects and zombie-like characters. The author certainly has a knack for creating creative magic systems that are intricate, clever, unique yet easy for the reader to comprehend.

Additionally, I liked the idea that magic is costly and not easy to master. I also liked how everyone has the potential to do magic in this world and not just a select few — it all depends on how many breaths you can gather up. The more breaths a person acquires, the longer they live and the more magic they can do. It’s also worth noting that a breath cannot be taken forcefully — it must be given freely.

What I Didn’t Like

Susbron, the God King, remained pretty much a mystery through to the end of the story. We learned a little bit about him but not nearly enough to be satisfying. I wish the author would have delved a little more deeply into his story and history. Likewise, I wish he had gone a little more into the history of the Manywar, the Returned and the Court of Gods.

The book also took a while to get going. My experience with Brandon Sanderson novels has shown me that they’re often slow-starting as the author spends a good portion of the book on world-building as the characters and story begin to take shape. So in this way, the middle dragged a bit. However, I felt the slow-buildup was totally worth it as the story took off like a bullet during the last 20% or so of the book.

Final Verdict

I really didn’t have any niggles with this and ended up loving it. Like the other Sanderson books that I’ve read, the world in Warbreaker is infused with a captivating magic system, compelling political scheming and plotting, unique and interesting religions and such rich history and mythology that I couldn’t help but fall in love with this novel. Sanderson expertly intertwines religion, culture, mythology, and history into a genuinely compelling narrative.

There were so many interesting themes that ran throughout the novel: religion, sacrifice, bravery, intolerance, self-discovery, compassion, empathy, and redemption. It also has an excellent cast of believable characters, a plausible world, an intriguing political system, and a thoroughly satisfying ending. I loved this epic, compelling, complex story of Siri, Vivenna, Lightsong, Vasher, and Susebron as they struggle through emotional, physical, and moral challenges. The intrigue and excitement grow steadily resulting in a perfectly balanced story which by the end, proved to be difficult for me to put down. All in all, a tremendous book that I absolutely loved.

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I was so excited when I received an Advanced Reader Copy of Summoned to Thirteenth Grave. This is the thirteenth and final book in the Charley Davidson series and I’ve followed this series since 2011 when Darynda Jones published the first book in the series entitled “First Grave on the Right.” Seven years I’ve been with these characters and the dreaded day finally arrived when I would have to say farewell to them, once and for all.

This series follows Charlotte Davidson AKA Charley Davidson who sees dead people and it’s up to her to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances — like murder for instance — they sometimes want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. She has her own investigation business but as it often turns out, most of her clients are the dearly departed.

As the series progresses and the tale unfolds, we meet all manner of interesting characters: ghosts, demons, angels and even Gods and the main characters of our story have all sorts of surprising secrets — some of which the characters aren’t even aware of themselves!

Now you may think that the series sounds spooky — and I guess it can be. But these books are filled to the brim with humor and snarky comments which at times, caused me to laugh so hard that tears were running down my face. In fact, a couple of times my partner would look at me while I was in the throes of hysterical laughter and ask,

“Are you reading Charley Davidson again?”

 “Why yes. Yes, I am.

Now there is so much more to this story than a young woman who sees ghosts — hell, it took 13 books to tell this tale — so I can’t say too much about it since I don’t want to ruin anything for those of you who haven’t read it. Let me just say that the author did an excellent job of wrapping up this series. At the end, it felt like I was saying goodbye and farewell to much beloved old friends.

This last book was phenomenal and I really, really hated to see it end. This is probably my all time favorite series and this is one that I may even consider rereading. Heck, I actually pretty certain that I’ll reread it at some point.

So if you follow the series, know that this final book will be released in January of 2019 and it is a very satisfying conclusion to the series.

If you haven’t yet discovered Charley Davidson and if the premise intrigues you, then you’ll want to start with the first book “First Grave on the Right”. It’s the perfect time to dive in as you won’t have to wait for the next book in the series. They’re all finished. Let me tell you, it was hell each year waiting for the next book to come out.

I don’t really need to say that I gave this book five stars. A huge, grateful thank you to St. Martin’s press and Darynda Jones for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy.

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