Tag: ya fantasy

Posted in Reviews

THE MEMORY OF BABEL by Christelle Dabos

Posted on by unapologeticallyabooks
4/5 Stars

I really enjoyed the third installment of the Mirror Visitor Quartet! I won’t get into too much detail to not spoil any of the earlier books, but long story short: you should read this series, especially if you’re a fan of YA fantasy!!!

The Memory of Babel was a fun follow-up to The ​Missing of Clairdelune, particularly in terms of Ophelia and Thorn’s character and relationship development. They were really the stars of the book for me and I always looked forward to their scenes together. While I quite enjoyed the way the first two books focused on the Pole, this book exposed the reader to an all new setting. Dabos once again shows her great knack for worldbuilding as she explored all the unique and intricate customs of Babel.

I was expecting a bit more of an expansion of the setting beyond Babel since the early chapters seemed to indicate that there would be more travel between the other Arks that we haven’t gotten a chance to see yet. But hopefully this will be something we will get to see in the grand finale!

I also felt like I didn’t grow as attached to the new characters as I did with the cast of characters from the previous two books. One of my favorite scenes was in the beginning when Ophelia reunited with Archibald and her other friends from the Pole after three long years apart… only for her to split up from them and not see them again for the rest of the book. So I can’t wait to see what’ll happen in the next book where all these forces Dabos has set up will come together for a dramatic conclusion!

Comparable titles:
Furyborn by Claire Legrand
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

***I received an e-ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Posted in Recommendations

Happy Halloween!

Posted on by unapologeticallyabooks

I hope you’re enjoying this spooky celebratory day by reading a good book! From dark fantasy stories to scary mysteries and thrillers, I put together this fun list of 5 YA book recommendations for reads that are delightfully sinister and perfect for the Halloween spirit.

Here is the full list with links to check out the books:

Let me know if you have any other go-to books for Halloween that you’d recommend! 🎃👻🕸

Posted in Reviews

WE HUNT THE FLAME by Hafsah Faizal

Posted on by unapologeticallyabooks
5/5 Stars

I LOVED We Hunt the Flame!!!!

I can’t believe it took me so long to finally pick this up because I adored every second of it. At the same time, though, I’m kind of glad because this means I won’t have to wait as long for the sequel!

A quick listing of some of the high points of the novel for me:

Dynamic, memorable characters: check
Slow-burn romance: check
Interesting magic system: check
Fun relationships between the characters: check

Basically, what isn’t there to love?

Don’t get me wrong, some of the plot elements could have gone wrong. I tend to find the pacing of fantasy adventure novels that take place over a long journey to be a bit slow and sometimes rambly. And while this one had some side quests and smaller obstacles along the way, they all seemed super important for the end goal and allowed the protagonists to experience further character development.

To get a bit more specific, I really enjoyed the way this story embraced darkness and explored the main characters’, Zafira and Nasir, inner selves and insecurities to portray them as complex, believable characters. The setting was also richly detailed and totally transformed me into the story.

Pick this one up! What are you waiting for??

Comparable Titles:
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

Posted in Blog Tour

Happy Book Birthday to A GOLDEN FURY by Samantha Cohoe!

Posted on by unapologeticallyabooks

Today is the day you can finally get a copy of A Golden Fury in your hands!

I was very excited to be asked to be a part of the blog tour for this magical, historical new release! Make sure to check out my review from last week here.

And just to get you even more pumped about this story, I have included some praise about the novel, provided by the publisher, below:

*A Nerd Daily YA Debut to Watch Out for in 2020*

“Sharply written with a crackling, compassionately determined heroine, A Golden Fury is a vivid ride through eighteenth century Europe with darkness and dread creeping at its corners. Utterly enchanting.” – Emily A. Duncan, New York Times bestselling author of Wicked Saints

“An engaging concoction of fantasy, romance, and historical fiction.” – Booklist

“Cohoe situates the supernatural among the historical, referencing the French Revolution and the Enlightenment while…keeping a sense of urgency as Thea struggles with the magical, demonic pull of the Stone.” – Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“The attention to detail in the story is excellent. Thea herself is a confident lead with a strong voice. A solid fantasy to flesh out the world of alchemy that most readers know only from ‘Harry Potter.'” – School Library Journal

“Cohoe transmutes the legend of the Philosopher’s Stone into a dark, intoxicating tale of ambition, obsession, and sacrifice. Prepare for a magic that will consume you.” – Rosamund Hodge, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Beauty and Bright Smoke, Cold Fire

“Steeped in mystery and magic, Samantha Cohoe’s A Golden Fury immerses readers in beautifully rendered world where magic and science mix, and where the intoxication of power can be deadly. Whip-smart Thea is a heroine readers will root for.” – Lisa Maxwell, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Magician

Jacket Copy: Set in eighteenth century England, Samantha Cohoe’s debut novel, A GOLDEN FURY (Wednesday Books; October 13, 2020), follows a young alchemist as she tries to save the people she loves from the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone. The streets of London and Oxford come to life as this historical fantasy unravels. Weaving together an alluring story of magic and danger, Samantha’s debut has her heroine making messy decisions as she toes the line between good and evil while it becomes blurred.

Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.

While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.

But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.

A GOLDEN FURY and the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone will haunt you long after the final page.

About the Author: Samantha Cohoe writes historically-inspired young adult fantasy. She was raised in San Luis Obispo, California, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood of beach trips, omnivorous reading, and writing stories brimming with adverbs. She currently lives in Denver with her family and divides her time among teaching Latin, mothering, writing, reading, and deleting adverbs. A Golden Fury is her debut novel.

Posted in Blog Tour, Reviews

A GOLDEN FURY by Samantha Cohoe

Posted on by unapologeticallyabooks
3/5 Stars

I’m feeling a bit conflicted about this one!

A Golden Fury follows 17-year-old budding alchemist Thea Hope in French Revolution-era Europe. She has a toxic, complicated relationship with her mother, a renowned alchemist who views her more as her apprentice than her daughter. As they work on forging the infamous Philosopher’s Stone, an unprecedented danger greets them and Thea must branch out on her own to save her mother. She goes to Oxford to seek help from her father, who hadn’t known she existed, but finds that this familial bond is also lacking in trust, driving her to create the Stone on her own.

I found Thea’s journey toward independence to be quite interesting. She found that she could not rely on her family, nor the other few people she placed her trust in over the years. With such a burden on her shoulders, Thea stands out as an inspirational character who was easy to root for.

However, my main issues with the novel involve the plotting. There was a lot of movement and travel involved in the story and I feel like it never quite found its footing in one storyline. The major motivating factor of creating the Philosopher’s Stone was a solid thread that drove the plot. But then there were a lot of characters and obstacles thrown in there that I wish were further developed.

While I appreciated the concept of alchemy in this story, I found the execution of this magic system to be a bit too ambiguous to fully enjoy. I just couldn’t quite picture what Thea was doing to make her so talented. This vagueness also messed with my understanding of alchemy’s limitations in this world. It seemed at any point anything could go wrong, so I never knew what to reasonably expect.

While there were some points that took away from my overall enjoyment of the novel, I did really like how fast-paced this story is. I enjoyed Cohoe’s writing and will likely pick up her future works!

Comparable titles:
The Falconer by Elizabeth May
The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh
Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

***Thank you to Wednesday Books for sending me an e-ARC as a part of the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.

Posted in Reviews

SKY IN THE DEEP by Adrienne Young

Posted on by unapologeticallyabooks
4/5 Stars

This was a fun, unique concept and a super quick read for me! I have been meaning to get to Sky in the Deep for a while now and I’m happy to have finally devoured it.

I found the premise of deep-seated Viking clan rivalries to be a super fun jumping-off point. Having read a lot of stories with the enemies-to-lovers trope, I thought the plot arc was *a bit* predictable at times, but that didn’t take away from the well-developed characters and intriguing details that illuminated this world.

I also thought the ending read suuuper fast (which can be a plus or negative, depending on your reading preferences). I wish that part was fleshed out a little more. But then again, I am also totally the type of reader who loves suspenseful build-ups to big battles where you get to know all of the characters motivations and fears (which this book did a great job of showing), but not a super big fan of the actual action sequence of the battle itself.

Basically, my main takeaway was that I really enjoyed Young’s writing style and characterization, so I’m very excited to read more of her works!

Comparable titles:
Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Nemesis by Anna Banks

***I received a free copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Posted in Reviews

SPIN THE DAWN by Elizabeth Lim

Posted on by unapologeticallyabooks
4/5 Stars

First of all, can I just say the “Project Runway meets Mulan” comp for this book was soooo intriguing to me that I bought this book on the day it came out and I am a bit ashamed it took me a year to actually get to reading it, but also so glad that I have read it now!

This was such a fun fantasy thrill ride. I really found the main character Maia to be such a lovely, likeable person whom I was rooting for so much. Both in the competition and in her life, I just wanted her to be happy! And I think that’s just a great sign for a fun, dynamic protagonist. Plus, Elizabeth Lim’s beautiful writing style on top of this was just A+ *chef’s kiss*.

I’ve always loved stories about making clothes because I love fashion… plus competitions?? It’s like this book was made for me! I will say that I found the pacing of the book a bit jarring. I thought the tailor competition was going to be the main plot of the novel, but it only took about half the book! Then the story completely changed to something new (and exciting!), but I did feel a bit like it was two separate books squished into one. I enjoyed the high-stakes, contained nature of the competition a bit more… although, the latter portion of the novel got *super dark* and deliciously magical too. I think I will need to read the sequel to see how the ending plays out as I felt a bit like I was on uncertain ground by the end there.

All in all though, this was a great premise, with memorable characters and fun twists in the storyline that I would definitely recommend. Looking forward to the next one as well as Lim’s future works!

Comparable titles:
Torn by Rowenna Miller
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
The Falconer by Elizabeth May

Posted in Reviews

FURYBORN by Claire Legrand

Posted on by unapologeticallyabooks
5/5 Stars

Furyborn is definitely one of my favorite reads this year. I am obsessed with this book and I can’t believe it took me this long to finally pick it up.

The book has such a great set-up for a thrilling, YA fantasy story: it’s told in two alternating points of view following amazing, badass women over a thousand years apart. The prologue sets up a prophecy of sorts, where the reader knows from the beginning how Rielle’s story will end. But then we get to follow her life leading up to this point and it’s so much dramatic irony and *ahhh* anti-hero feels. If you love dark, villainous plot points like I do, this timeline will send you to such an ideal cloud of reader bliss, let me tell you.

Then, the other storyline follows Eliana and it’s in the same world but *so much* has changed over these centuries that have passed. Eliana is so freaking cool and I love her (but I also love Rielle and like every single other character too??).

The romance is great and the twists are so unpredictable! The magic system is also super unique. There is so much I want to say but I also loved going into it not knowing much about what I was getting into and being so completely surprised. It’s a bit of a longer book but it is so worth it to set up the rich worldbuilding and what I’m sure is going to be a cinematic stage for the sequels.

I read this book literally in one day. I just couldn’t stop reading. I will definitely be picking Kingsbane very, very soon! Do yourself a favor and binge this series before the final book comes out in October.

Comparable titles:
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
The Young Elites by Marie Lu

***I received a free copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Posted in Recommendations

Autumn Book Recommendations!

Posted on by unapologeticallyabooks

Happy September 1st! This summer has flown by and now it already feels like the autumn vibes are coming with promises of pumpkin spice flavors, sweater weather, and, of course, Taylor Swift’s new folklore album (which may or may not have inspired this book recommendation list 😉). 

I decided to put together a little graphic of 8 books to help you get in the autumnal mood! From woodsy YA fantasies to NA magical stories, these books will be perfect to set the tone for September. Here is a list with links to learn more about each title:

Happy reading! 🍂🌳✨