Tag: magic

2.5 star, YA

ARC Review: My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Mary #1

Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and . . . queens?⠀
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Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she’s a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It’s a secret that could cost her a head—or a tail.⠀
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Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But after the king meets a suspicious end, things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn. Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis are forced to navigate a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps, and treason. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.

**My Contrary Mary comes out June 22, 2021**

Thank you Edelweiss and HarperCollins for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been a fan of the Lady Janies since their first collaborative work, My Lady Jane, came out. With humor and plenty of witty asides to us readers, these ladies can really draw you into their version of history full of the miraculous and happy endings. My Contrary Mary follows this same line of storytelling, the first in I’m assuming a series of ladies named Mary instead of Jane. However, sometimes like a joke that repeats itself a bit too much in a comedic routine, it just loses its initial appeal.

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5 star, YA

Review: Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Caraval #2

A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister, Scarlett, from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister’s. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice, but now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever…

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . the games have only just begun.

I just absolutely love this series. Andge is completely with me here on the 5 Drink Me Potions rating, and there is just no denying it. Something about the magic of Caraval just sucks you right back in for round two, this time with Scarlett’s sister, Donatella.

Mysterious, dark, intriguing and beguiling are all terms I would use to describe the magic of Caraval and just being in this world that Garber has created. Even though this second adventure follows more of the story behind Legend and his magic, we still get to experience all the magic and mystique of the Caraval game itself.

Legendary, as its name might suggest, delves further into the backstory of Legend, through the eyes of Donatella, Scarlett’s sister. Having been the prize in the previous game, she had not participated in the game itself last time. This time, another Caraval is put on for Elantine the Empress’s 75th birthday, and yet another grand prize is awaiting the winner. Donatella, of course, has all her own motives as well for wanting to participate this year, and in this journey, the stakes get higher and higher as she uncovers more and more of the truth.

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5 star, YA

Review: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Alex Stern #1

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

This one was simply brilliant. A bit longer than the books I normally read, but every bit was worth it. Andge and I both agree on this 5 Drink Me Potions rating, with only one slight knock that we agreed on. How do I even describe this book? It’s an…urban…fantasy…mystery? Elements of history? It’s actually hard to put a finger on, but either way, we absolutely enjoyed it.

Ninth House is about a world where magic is real. But not the kind that you’re thinking of (Expelliarmus!), but much more sinister in nature, with rituals and summonings and illusions. The world building of this fantasy is actually amazing, more amazing than anything I’ve read (about magic) in a long while. A brief introduction is that magic is based around these “tombs” or “nexuses” where magic converges, and each of the eight Houses of the Veil can deploy a specific type of magic using these power points.

Alex Stern, our protagonist, gets sucked into this world in New Haven. Just why was she chosen to become a part of it?

First of all, can I just say that the name Galaxy is amazing. Yes we know her by Alex basically the entire novel, but shortening Galaxy into Alex is pretty cool. And it’s not just for the sake of having a cool name, since names are quite important in this fantastical world. Not only that though, she is a strong-willed character, fiery and fierce, with the will to survive stronger than anything. And with the amount that she’s been through, I don’t blame her at all.

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