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Of Shadow and Elves ( Of Goblin Kings 2)
Emma Hamm | 2023
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
151 of 235
Kindle
Of Shadows and Elves ( Of Goblin Kings 2)
By Emma Hamm
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Freya couldn't have known she would destroy the entire faerie court by beating the Goblin King. All she wanted was her sister back, not to imprison the king. But with her sister refusing to return home, Freya is left trapped in her own mess. She has to fix what she broke or the faerie realm will get infinitely more dangerous.

Bring the Goblin King back. Save the people she harmed. And do her best to avoid the temptation of falling into the Goblin King's arms. Considering the Goblin King is locked away in a magical prison, at least one of her goals may be impossible to achieve...

...unless she's willing to go through hardships unnumbered.

I needed this it was all magic and fantasy with kings queens hero’s and villains plus a few goblin creatures thrown in. It followed on from book one seamlessly and was a fun read. Freya is a sweet hero who has to reach deep in this one to go against her own nature all for her goblin king.
  
The Seventh Decimate : The Great Gods War Book One
The Seventh Decimate : The Great Gods War Book One
Stephen R. Donaldson | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
A good read - if you can forgive the main character!
Prince Bifalt must be one of the most unpleasant main characters in a book that I have read in quite a while. He is 'belligerent' to say the least (see what I did there? I don't think this character trait is a coincidence, by any means. The name of his country is Belliger).
Bifalt is on a quest to find the Seventh Decimate - a type of magic which he believes has nullified the magic of the theurgists (magicians) in his country, Belliger. He believes that his country's opponents, the detested Amikans, are responsible for this.
So off Bifalt goes on his quest with his merry band of men, making an inordinately huge amount of mistakes at every turn. I have to admit that I really struggled with the first half of this book. I really didn't warm to Bifalt at all: in fact, at no point in this book did I warm towards Bifalt. It's a good story though. There's loads of action, it's really descriptive and well written. I don't know whether I ever really liked Bifalt, but I think I got used to him, and the other characters were really interesting - his fellow 'Questers' were likeable and the people he met on the way were mysterious and interesting.
I'd recommend this book to those that enjoy fantasy with this type of world building, but if you don't already like this genre, I do think that you would struggle to finish it.
I would be very interested in reading how this story progresses, though, and I shall be keeping an eye out for the next book.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with this book.
  
Heart of Thorns (Heart of Thorns #1)
Heart of Thorns (Heart of Thorns #1)
Bree Barton | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
5
7.4 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
I almost bailed on this book. It's not bad, exactly, it's just - mediocre. Mia discovers that she is the thing she's been taught to hate, discovers that maybe they're not all bad, that what she's been taught is probably wrong, but, y'know, maybe not entirely wrong - it's just one trope after another. It was rather predictable.

And there's this problem with the world. If every woman is suspected of being a witch, (sorry, Gwyrach) and they work their magic through touch - how is anyone having kids? Sure, women are required to wear gloves in public, but - the touch-magic doesn't keep men from abusing women. Not like in The Power, where men start getting actually scared to touch women for fear of what could happen.

The only character in this book that I actually LIKED was Prince Quin. And maybe Dom, the flirtatious gay boy. Mia was rather thoroughly unlikable. First she blindly accepts that she should hate and kill Gwyrach, then is appalled to find out she (and her mother) are/were Gwyrach, and refuses to accept that because of course she can't possibly be one of those reviled women. She refuses to take Quin into her confidence, despite him showing blind trust in her for most of the book. What does he have to do to prove himself to you, woman?

I've read much better feminist dystopias. This is oppressed-women-finding-their-hidden-powers-and-fighting-back clothed in a fantasy instead of a dystopia, and it's not nearly as good as it could be. Despite ending on a cliffhanger, I don't care enough about these characters to read the next book.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com