#48 Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

This is the first Joe Abercrombie book I have gotten around to reading but it will not be my last one. This is follows the younger son's path of revenge for his father and brother's murder. Fortune does smile of Prince Yarvi more than once in the book but mostly if it wasn't for his training to become a King's minister he never would have been able to take every chance that he came across and use it to the best advantage. The other thing he does is not abandon anyone that he comes across and shows mercy whenever he is able and that does pay dividends for him when he needs it the most. This can be marketed as either a YA or a regular fantasy novel. I know I'll be waiting for the next book but now I think I will read his other books some point soon to tide me over.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher thought NetGalley

#49 The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

There has been a ton of hype in publishing about this book, it has been optioned for a movie and the odds are it will be a good one. Kelsea has been raised away from people and she knows she is to be the next Queen on her 19th birthday. But she has never met her mother and doesn't know who her father is. There were gaps in her education that help the plot along but only makes sense in the fact that her unknown mother didn't want her growing up knowing about the political decisions and the fallout of those decisions that Kelsea has to deal with. Her uncle the Regent has a price on her head and even getting to the palace in once piece will not guarantee that she will sit on the throne and make policy changes to the kingdom and stop the practice of sending her people to the Red Queen as part of a peace treaty her mother had negotiated. What the book shows of the Red Queen doesn't show enough of her to understand the whys of what she is. There is magic in this universe and clues that we may be more familiar with this world instead of a standard fantasy realm.  There is magic but the reader isn't given much insight into it since Kelsea knows almost nothing about it as well. A good solid YA book and I'm interested in seeing how it all turns out.


Digital reveiw copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.