A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess

Publication Date: September 20, 2016

Series: Kingdom on Fire (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Fantasy/Alternate-history

Subjects: sorcerers, magicians, magic, supernatural, abilities

Setting: London, England in Victorian times

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Henrietta Howel

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 404 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Random House

Summary/ product description: “I am Henrietta Howel.

The first female sorcerer in hundreds of years.

The prophesied one.

Or am I?

Henrietta Howel can burst into flames.

Forced to reveal her power to save a friend, she's shocked when instead of being executed, she's invited to train as one of Her Majesty's royal sorcerers.

Thrust into the glamour of Victorian London, Henrietta is declared the chosen one, the girl who will defeat the Ancients, bloodthirsty demons terrorizing humanity. She also meets her fellow sorcerer trainees, handsome young men eager to test her power and her heart. One will challenge her. One will fight for her. One will betray her.

But Henrietta Howel is not the chosen one.

As she plays a dangerous game of deception, she discovers that the sorcerers have their own secrets to protect. With battle looming, what does it mean to not be the one? And how much will she risk to save the city—and the one she loves?

Exhilarating and gripping, Jessica Cluess's spellbinding fantasy introduces a powerful, unforgettably heroine, and a world filled with magic, romance, and betrayal. Hand to fans of Libba Bray, Sarah J. Maas, and Cassandra Clare.”

My Review:  A Shadow Bright and Burning is an alternative-history fantasy set in Victorian London. Henrietta Howel has the ability to light herself on fire. She is a teacher and previous student of an all-girls school. She has a friend who is and Unclean (scarred by an Ancient) named Rook. Over a decade ago the Ancients were summoned and a great war began. The seven Ancients, include R’helm the Skinless Man, Korozoth the Shadow and Fog, On-Tez the Vulture Lady, Nemneris, the Water Spider, Zem the Great Serpent, Molochoron the Pale Destroyer, Callax the Child Eater.

A sorcerer named Cornelius Agrippa comes to the girl school that Henrietta lives at and now teaches at and he believes she might be the prophesized one. He says she’s the first female sorcerer in a long time and that she could be the key to defeating the ancients. He bring her to London to meet the other sorcerer apprentices who are all male. He has to train her by the commendation on Midsummer’s eve, the summer solstice.

The other sorcerers are all males and including the charming and flirty Julian Magnus, the brooding George Blackwood, and Arthur, Clarence, Cellini, Isaac, and Dee. She stays in the room that used to be Agrippa’s daughter Gwendolyn’s room. She’s been dead for the past years. She meets a Hobgoblin doctor named Fenswick. He maid’s named is Lilly. There’s also a magician named Hargrove who recognizes Henrietta somehow. Magicians’ magic is outlawed, but they are allowed to live, unlike the witches who used to be around.

Henrietta’s powers grow with the training, but they aren’t reliable like the other sorceress. They seem to be tied to her emotions. Henrietta may not be what she was told that she was. She feels out of place, but will do anything to be commended by the Queen and help defeat the ancients. With some romance, action and magic, a Shadow Bright and Burning is an exciting tales of dark fantasy.

I recommend this book to fans of Red Queen by Victria Aveyard, the Young Elites by Marie Lu, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Aheirs, and The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows.

Cover Art Review: I love the burning rose image, but it reminds me off the book series False Memory. I like the paper used for the cover too.

Walk the Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

Series: The Gold Seer Trilogy (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Paranormal/Western Historical Fiction

Subjects: adventure, magic, gold rush

Setting: Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri and to California

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Leah Westfall

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 431 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Greenwillow Books

Summary/ product description: “Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the flecks in my eyes.

Lee Westfall has a strong, loving family. She has a home she loves and a loyal steed. She has a best friend—who might want to be something more.

She also has a secret.

Lee can sense gold in the world around her. Veins deep in the earth. Small nuggets in a stream. Even gold dust caught underneath a fingernail. She has kept her family safe and able to buy provisions, even through the harshest winters. But what would someone do to control a girl with that kind of power? A person might murder for it.

When everything Lee holds dear is ripped away, she flees west to California—where gold has just been discovered. Perhaps this will be the one place a magical girl can be herself. If she survives the journey.

The acclaimed Rae Carson begins a sweeping new trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America, about a young woman with a powerful and dangerous gift.”

My Review:  I don’t usually read historical fiction for fun. I’ve only read the Madman’s Daughter series, which I enjoyed, and A Clockwork Angel and Dead Reckoning, which I didn’t enjoy. But how could I resist trying to read a book about a girl who can sense gold and travels to California during the gold rush? I like Western movies, hot cowboys, all that. Walk on Earth a Stranger is a true western adventure.

Leah is an awesome heroin. When she leaves her home because her uncle murdered her parents, she disguises herself as a boy and pulls it off. She heads to Independence, Missouri to meet up with Jefferson, a guy friend who’s a neighbor. Jeff is part Cherokee and lots of people have negative beliefs about natives at that time. It takes months to get there and see him again. Crossing the plains and the mountain with a caravan takes way longer and some friend she makes even die along the way. It’s a treacherous journey. She hears her uncle took the sea rout to California, which is supposedly faster and easier. She hopes that her uncle won’t find her because he wants her for her ability to find gold.

I really enjoyed this book. Much more that the Girl of Fire and Thorns, which was pretty slow and used a lot of Spanish words, but had fantasy. This book does have some old fashioned/southernisms in it and sometime is a little slow, but not too bad. I wish there was more paranormal stuff that just Leah finding gold, but it’s fine the way it is. I watch Prospectors on the Weather Channel and sometimes other treasure shows. I panned for gold once in Deadwood, South Dakota. It was seven dollar and I got little pieces of gold, like sand grains. I collect rock too. So gold and gem prospecting is really cool to me.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes westerns or pioneer stuff, like True Grit or the Lone Ranger or even Little House on the Prairie.

Cover Art Review: Beautiful Cover. Not sure I like the girl’s dress though. Leah mostly wears boys clothes in the book are a disguise.

A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd

Series: The Madman’s Daughter (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Gothic Horror/Historical Fiction/Sci-fi

Subjects: retellings, experiments, scientists, love, death

Setting: An estate in the Scottish Moors

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Juliet Moreau

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 388 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer & Bray

Summary/ product description: “After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls.

Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.

With inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman’s Daughter trilogy is about the things we’ll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity.”

My Review:  As I’ve said before, this is the only Historical Fiction series I have enjoyed, and the only hist fic series I had read to completion. These books are dark, gothic tales with a mix of horror and sci-fi. They are very different from most Hist Fic YA out there that usually fall into two categories: Steam Punk/Hist Fantasy and Realistic. These books have mystery and romance and horrifying acts of science.

A Cold Legacy is the third and final book in the Madman’s Daughter trilogy. All the books are retelling of classics that have Doctor in the title. This one is the retelling of Dr. Frankenstein. The first book was a retelling of the Island or Dr. Moreau and the second was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Retellings are wonderful because they take elements from stories you already know about and change them or twist them in some way. I personally have not read any of the books that these books are based off of, but I’ve seen some movies.

Set with a backdrop of the Scottish moors, a cold legacy is especially creepy. It’s winter in the book. Likely February. There’s misty fog and storms, but no snow. The setting becomes a character itself. There’s characters from the previous book and new characters. There are many twists and unexpected ones at that. I was caught by surprise by some of the events. One near then end didn’t surprise me so much, but it wasn’t fixed the way I thought it would be.

Without spoiling the book, I can tell you that Juliet learn about the secrets of Dr. Frankenstein from Elizabeth and she tries to revive someone. Lucy becomes less of an airhead and more determined and important. Juliet and Montgomery plan to have a wedding at the mansion. There is no long triangle issue at all here. Juliet helps Lucy find a way to rid Edward of the Beast since Lucy and Edward love each other, and the Beast is still obsessed with Juliet. Stuff happens in this book. The climax is epic and the story isn’t open ended, but I would like to read an enovella from a different character’s POV. I can’t wait to read Megan’s next series, The Cage. If she can make Hist Fic interesting to me, then I’m sure her regular sci-fi will be just as awesome.

Cover Art Review: Interesting landscape image. The girl is wearing a red bow on her dress like the previous books. The cover when printed looks too dark compared to the image online.

~Haley G

My blog:

http://breathlessbookreviews.blogspot

Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Subjects: magic, love, diversity, racism

Setting: Albion, a country much like London in the early 1900s

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Jessamin

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 275 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover  

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Downton Abbey meets Cassandra Clare in this lush, romantic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White.

“I did my best to keep you from crossing paths with this world. And I shall do my best to protect you now that you have.”

Jessamin has been an outcast since she moved from her island home of Melei to the dreary country of Albion. Everything changes when she meets Finn, a gorgeous, enigmatic young lord who introduces her to the secret world of Albion’s nobility, a world that has everything Jessamin doesn’t—power, money, status…and magic. But Finn has secrets of his own, dangerous secrets that the vicious Lord Downpike will do anything to possess. Unless Jessamin, armed only with her wits and her determination, can stop him.

Kiersten White captured readers’ hearts with her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy and its effortless mix of magic and real-world teenage humor. She returns to that winning combination of wit, charm, and enchantment in Illusions of Fate, a sparkling and romantic new novel perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, The Madman’s Daughter, and Libba Bray.”

My Review:  Illusions of Fate is a standalone fantasy novel that reads more like a paranormal historical fiction novel. I’ve never been a fan of historical fiction; especially ones set in late 1800s/early 1900s London, England (The only series I like set there is The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd). This book is basically set in an alternate version of early 1900s London. It’s got some of the historical sounding English phrases that I hate to read. It’s got carriages and some cars and limited electricity and so on.

But enough of the thing that I did not enjoy. I loved Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy series. She’s good are writing interesting heroines that are determined and sometimes stubborn. She adds humor and lightness and makes pages fly by. Chapters are never too long. There are always interesting elements and side characters. Her books are usually fun. That said, I read Illusions of Fate in one day.

The main character, Jessamin, is half Melei and half Albion. Melei is an island colony much like Tahiti, or maybe the Philippines. The natives have dark skin, Asian features. Albion is basically England and Jessamin’s father is a professor there. Jessamin is studying history though her real passion is math. She’s always doing equations in her head. She meets a guy named Finn and he flirts with her and they run into each other a few times and Jessamin gets invited to a Gala and he’s there. Finn is an interesting character too. He’s charming and sometimes infuriates Jessamin because of it. There’s a character named Eleanor who becomes Jessamin’s friend and she’s very dramatic and loves gossip. She has a brother named Ernest.

I really love Sir Bird, a black bird (Crow or Raven possibly) with yellow eyes that turns into a book. Jessamin is really annoyed with this bird at first but grows to like him. He’s a familiar. He does not talk but he seem to understand some thing. Crows and Raven are smart birds and definitely not evil, but some other black bird seem to be spying on Jessamin. Also there’s a man called Lord Downpike who has evil intentions and threated to hurt Jessamin if Finn doesn’t give him what he wants.

This book has themes of colonizing and race issues. It’s a diverse book since the main character is Asian, even if it’s the fantasy world version. I recommend this to fans of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, The Madman’s Daughter, books with Asian main character and books that may be steampunk or set in Victorian London.

Cover Art Review: Lovely cover. The title with the violet glow and the bird coming out of the painted cup is just gorgeous.