Wednesday #Review - Stormcaster by Cinda Williams Chima #YALit #Fantasy

Series: Shattered Realms # 3
Format: Hardcover, 544 pages
Release Date: April 3, 2018
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

The empress in the east—the unspeakably cruel ruler whose power grew in Flamecaster and Shadowcaster—tightens her grip in this chilling third installment in the series.

Vagabond seafarer Evan Strangward can move the ocean and the wind, but his magical abilities seem paltry in comparison to Empress Celestine’s. As Celestine’s bloodsworn armies grow, Evan travels to the Fells to warn the queendom of her imminent invasion. If he can’t convince the Gray Wolf queen to take a stand, he knows that the Seven Realms will fall. Among the dead will be the one person Evan can’t stand to lose.

Meanwhile, the queen’s formidable daughter, Princess Alyssa ana’Raisa, is already a prisoner aboard the empress’s ship. Lyss may be the last remaining hope of bringing down the empress from within her own tightly controlled territory. Multiple intricately interwoven storylines converge in this gripping novel about a brave, coordinated effort to undermine a horrific tyrant.

Stormcaster, by author Cinda Williams Chima, is apparently the third out of four installments in the Shattered Realms series, with the final installment supposedly releasing in 2020. If you haven't read this book yet, let me give up a heads up. This is a story filled with multiple storylines from Evan Strangward to Princess Alyssa ana’Raisa and everyone else who has been introduced so far. Like the previous installments, the author spends quite a bit of time introducing you to Evan who we actually have met before.

We ride with him as a 15-year old who is being sought after by Celestine Nazari who claims that she is trying to unite all those with Nazari blood. Apparently, Evan not only wears a magemark on his neck, but also is a Nazari. Later, Evan finds his way to Fallsmarch where he meets characters we've seen in previous books, and characters who have been around since the authors last series which was set 25 years before this one. Really, in essence, it takes a full third of the book to get where the previous installment left off. 

Then, it's a hodge podge story that encompasses everyone including Adrian sul'Han, Lila Barnwell, Captain Halston Maklan, Destin Martin, Jenna Bandelow, and of course,

Alyssa ana’Raisa who was taken along with Breon by Celestine. Let's just save some time, shall we? In the end, Adrian and Lila make their way home and there is a touching reunion which leads to news about Alyssa. Jenna meets Alyssa along with her dragon compatriot Cas. Jenna is still planning on killing Celestine. 

Meanwhile, Lila is involved in almost every single storyline, except Jenna's. I do mean that. I'm not talking hyperbole. She has her hands in so many different characters plans that I am not sure who she is really working for. After escaping from Celestine's army, Hal arrives back home in Ardenscourt

hoping to gather an army to fight against Celestine as well as rescuing Alyssa. Lastly, Destin is also in Ardenscourt trying to avoid a civil war and gain an upper hand by removing obstacles to his plans. 

Oh, and let's not forget that there has been a war going on for 25 years, and now we can add Celestine's advancing armies to the massive kerfuffle. I am rather glad that Raissa hasn't been shoved aside fully. I think there is way more that is to come when it comes to her longevity and ability to survive numerous attempts on her life hoping to end the war. I'm not really a fan of Evan's, nor was I impressed with the author's direction for his character. The problems with having way too many characters and way too many storylines going on at the same time is that certain characters get shoved to the background, like Jenna & Cas. The issue is that all of the storylines are happening concurrently, and thus while something is happening, something else has already happened. I would prefer less characters, and a straight forward storyline. Silly me, right? The only positive is that when we do get to Alyssa's perspective, we get to visit a whole new land and meet Celestine's army that has been blood sworn to her. 

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Monday #Review - Shadowcaster by Cinda Williams Chima #YALit #Fantasy @HarperTeen

Series: Shattered Realms # 2
Format: E-Galley, 551 pages
Release Date: April 4th 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy


A lifelong war.

Alyssa ana’Raisa is the reluctant princess heir to the Gray Wolf throne of Fells, a queendom embroiled in a seemingly endless war. Hardened by too many losses, Lyss is more comfortable striking with a sword than maneuvering at court. After a brush with death, she goes on the offensive, meaning to end the war that has raged her whole life. If her gamble doesn’t pay off, she could lose her queendom before she even ascends to the throne.

A life in peril.

Across enemy lines in Arden, young rising star Captain Halston Matelon has been fighting for his king since he was a lýtling. Lately, though, he finds himself sent on ever more dangerous assignments. Between the terrifying rumors of witches and wolfish warriors to the north and his cruel king at home, Hal is caught in an impossible game of life and death.

The shadow of defeat.

Shadowcaster is the second installment in author Cinda Williams Chima's Shattered Realms series. It is important to note that this series takes place 20 or so years after the ending of the Seven Realms series. While there may be guest appearances from some of the cast of that series, the current series focuses on the sons and daughters of the cast of the Seven Realms series. Flamecaster featured Adrian sul’Han, the son of Han Alister and Queen Raisa ana'Marianna, this book features the youngest daughter of the couple, 15-year old Alyssa (Lyss) Ana'Raisa, also known as Lieutenant Gray. 

4 years ago, Han Alister was assassinated, and it was also presumed that Adrian was killed at the same time. At least that is what Lyss has been told for years. (If you've read the previous installment, you know what really happened). With the death of her older sister, Lyss has become heir apparent to the crown, but she really doesn't want anything to do with it. After all, she's still young, and her mothers nagging does nothing to change her mind. Lyss is much, much more than a spoiled princess who loves dresses, and is eager to be married to the next available candidate. She is a warrior. She is a soldier. She leads her own army, and she loves and respects each and every single one of them and takes their losses personally. But, like her brother, and father, she isn't safe from the threats of being assassinated.  

In typical Chima fashion, Lyss finds herself being pulled towards another new character. This character, who is also featured as one of the voices of this story, is named Halston Matelon. He is a Captain in the Ardenine Army, and therefore he is supposed to be a villain. Yet, he is a soldier who finds himself conflicted between what he is told by his leader, and the girl who is supposed to be some sort of witch, or something like all the other women of Lyss's Queendom. Matelon is between a rock and a hard place. He can either follow orders, or find himself in deeper than he can imagine.

Lyss's connection to Matelon isn't one of insta-holy hell I'm in LOVE! situations. It becomes one of respect and admiration then curiosity. Lyss and Matelon meet several times in battle, and each instance, Lyss comes out on top. I think Hal's preconception of who Lyss really was, was melted away in a really brilliant way. Matelon comes to see Lyss as clever, a brilliant strategist, and one who would do anything to save her people. 

There are a lot of characters who make an appearance in this story that you've probably met before if you read the Seven Realms series. Raisa, and her sister Princess Mellony, Dancer, his wife, and kid, plus Captain Byrne. Micah Bayer, and others who made their marks alongside Han and Raisa in the previous series. Jenna and her dragon Flamecaster also make an appearance, as does one of the baddest villains we have really had the pleasure of exploring, Celestine. While sad villain shows up towards the end of the story, she leaves a lasting impression that one can not deny. Only real negative for me is the lack of Ash in the story. Where is he? Why is it taking him and Lila so long to return home? 

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

#Wednesday Review - The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima (Young Adult, Fantasy)

Series: Seven Realms # 1
Format: Hardcover, 506 pages
Release Date: October 6, 2009
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for his family. The only thing of value he has is something he can't sell—the thick silver cuffs he's worn since birth. They're clearly magicked—as he grows, they grow, and he's never been able to get them off.

One day, Han and his clan friend, Dancer, confront three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to keep him from using it against them. Soon Han learns that the amulet has an evil history—it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.

Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Marianna, princess heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. She's just returned to court after three years of freedom in the mountains—riding, hunting, and working the famous clan markets. Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea—the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But her mother has other plans for her...

The Seven Realms tremble when the lives of Hans and Raisa collide, fanning the flames of the smoldering war between clans and wizards.

The Demon King is the first installment in Cinda Williams Chima's Seven Realms series. This series that alternatives narratives between two characters. The first is 16-year old Hanson "Han" Alister aka Hunts Alone. Han is a former street lord who has tried to stay on the straight and narrow for the sake of his mother and little sister. The second is Raisa ana'Marianna, the princess heir of the Fells who has been seeing the Grey Wolves that indicate that trouble is brewing. 

These two characters couldn't be more different. Han wears silver cuffs on his wrists, while Raisa has been raised not only in her mother's world, but also her fathers which is much more exciting. Hans best friend is known as Fire Dancer and seems to know a lot about magic. Raisa's is Amon Byrne who comes from a long line of guards who have sworn to protect the monarchy with their lives, if necessary. One could hint that Amon would have been the perfect romantic interest for Raisa had things been different.

After a brief encounter with Micah Bayar and friends who are all magicians, Hans finds an amulet that only he is able to touch. An Amulet that people will kill in order to find. Raisa, in the meantime, finds that her own mother may be under the sway of magic that nearly destroyed the seven realms during the reign of the Demon King and Hanalea who Raisa tries to emulate. Raisa's curiosity and bravery really gives this book the much needed kick it needs to get going. 

My reading of this particular novel became necessary after I read Chima's Flamecaster which takes place 20 years after this series. It became necessary because this novel really hits on several characters who will be important cogs in Chima's new series. The Demon King, for all purposes for this review, takes place a thousand years after an agreement between the clans and the Wizard Council ended the calamity that nearly destroyed the world. Yet, as history is often likely to repeat itself, readers will find subtle hints that things aren't exactly all that copacetic when it comes to peace and harmony in the Seven Realms. 

The Demon King is slow paced for the first part of this book and that's fine since you need to understand the world and the characters that you are attempting to connect to. Han truly is the most intriguing character because of his silver cuffs and his street creed and the clans who have basically raised him. Whenever I find myself reading an Epic Fantasy novel, I have to suspend disbelief at the situations that these characters find themselves in.

Aye, I dare say that Raisa is a bit pretentious and snotty at times. She spends too much time thinking about who she is supposed to marry, or who she is supposed to kiss, and ignores what is going on right under her eyes. When the grand scheme is finally exposed, it is then that Raisa shows who she is really capable of being. That being said, and this being the first book in the series, reading The Exiled Queen next is almost mandatory to ensure that you remember how this book ended. 

In the end, The Demon King is a story that is filled with magic, treachery, heart breaking loss, action, and a whole lot of interesting secondary characters that hopefully will carry over into the next installment.

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble |  Kobo

#Wednesday Review - Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima (Young Adult, Fantasy)

Series: Shattered Realms # 1
Format: E-Galley, 535 pages
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Edelweiss
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

A burning vengeance.

Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. The son of the queen of the Fells, Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now Ash is closer than he’s ever been to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. As a healer, can Ash use his powers not to save a life but to take it?

A blood-based curse.

Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told the mysterious magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught.

Destiny’s fiery hand.

Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

Set in the world of the acclaimed Seven Realms series a generation later, this is a thrilling story of dark magic, chilling threats, and two unforgettable characters walking a knife-sharp line between life and death.

Flamecaster is the first installment in Author Cinda Williams Chima's Shattered Realms series. This is a series that takes place TWENTY years after Chima's Seven Realms series which ended with the release of The Crimson Crown. A story that I am slowly but surely working towards thanks to my library.  Flamecaster has lots of connections to the former series, including the appearance of Han Alister, High Wizard of Fells, and former street thief who ended up marrying Raisa ana'Marianna the queen of Fells. 

While both Hans and Raisa were main characters in the previous series, it is time for their son Adrian (Ash) sul'Han to take the reigns of this new series. I often state that it is highly encouraged to finish one series before jumping into another. This is true with Flamecaster as well as I have finally come to realize after reading The Demon King. Case in point. There is a scene in this book, which I shall not spoil, that has both Hans and his son Ash in it. 

It really pushes the story forward and sets Ash on his path to becoming his own man, with his own destiny, that brings him to meet yet another character named Jenna Brandelow. Jenna is apparently the daughter of another character that I haven't met yet. She's got a strange tattoo on the back of her neck which nobody can really explain. Like Ash, she survived something horrible that sends her on the way to becoming a fighter. She also becomes one of the most desirable and hunted characters in this entire story. 

Ash and Jenna's journey is told in alternating narratives. The story begins when both characters are barely teenagers, to FOUR years after both have experienced a painful loss that sets them on a road that will eventually bring them together in a desire to bring down one of the most villainous of the villains, Gerard Montaigue. While this story is centered around Ash and Jenna, it features secondary characters like Lila Barrowhill who you can't ignore. In fact, I dare say that Lila is seriously badass and can hold her own against anyone.

Flamecaster has a whole lot of action, along with magic, a curious magic that makes its presence felt, and a curious ending that has left me wondering about the synopsis for the next book in the series. Chima has a tendency to write large novels that are rather large in length. I am not going to say anything negative about the length of the story because really there isn't much she could have taken out without affecting the characters, the setting, and the story itself. 

Ash is a character that I think readers will come to like as much as I do. He walks the line between good and evil. He's trained to heal, and to kill. He heals those who have the misfortune of getting in the way of the villain, while hunting down those who need to be dead. But, it his magical abilities, his eventual connection to Jenna, that I had the most fun with.  I will say that while Ash gets an abundance of the credit for carrying this story, don't mistake Jenna for a character who didn't earn her way by becoming diabolical and slippery as a snake as the King's men are chasing her down. She has her own crosses to bear, and perhaps a few secrets that will become clearer as the story progresses.

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble |  Kobo