Book Review: Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence

Genre: Fantasy/YA
Series: Book of the Ancestor
Author info: http://mark—lawrence.blogspot.com

First of all: You need to read the short story Bound story before reading Holy Sister. There is some important stuff in it that will connect to some events here. (Purchase here)

I gotta say this is one of the best endings I have ever read. Wow. Just. Wow. This book packs some punches in the guts, so be ready to cry. Thereare highly satisfying moments that will make you scream “HELL YES!” and supremely sad moments. N It’s one hell of a ride full of surprise with fantastic tempo and incredibly well-planned political intrigue.

Abbess Glass’s political chess games in Grey Sister were pretty impressive, but it goes to a whole another level here. I gotta say Abbess Glass became one of my favorite heroines in fantasy genre after reading this trilogy. There is a severe lack of awesome mature female characters in the genre and Abbess Glass truly shines in that regard.

Nona’s character development turned out even more brilliant than I could imagine. It was so cool to watch her put all the good stuff she learned in Sweet Mercy to good use cultivating some of the best scenes in the book. Zole’s character arc is quite a work of art as well. (Oh man it’s so tough to write spoiler-free reviews!) Zole is awesome. One thing I missed here is Keot the demon from Grey Sister. (I think Keot deserves his own book, I know I am not alone in that.) We get to learn quite a bit more about those demons in Holy Sister which is intriguing.

One of my favorite parts was the Ice and the ice tribes. Their culture and wisdom is quite different and the stark difference from the settled people inhabiting the temperate belt of the world is written well.

There is one character that steals the show and has one of the most glorious moments, I can’t say who since it’s a brilliant twist but it left me so awestruck I had to put the book down for a moment to process the whole thing. Holy Sister is full of badassery and splendid action scenes going like a roller-coaster, but also with moments of profound emotional depth. The last 100 pages are stunning, impossible to put down. You better read those parts when you have uninterrupted time. (Trust me on that one.)

I got some answers to the mysteries I’ve been itching to learn about, but I hope more will be revealed about the Missing in the next trilogy that is set in Abeth. Gotta say none of my theories got even close to what got revealed. About the characters, Abeth, The Missing, the Focus Moon. Mark Lawrence never fails to surprise.

The final big battle was one of the most epic battles I have ever read. If you are cursing the 8th season of Game of Thrones and think the Long Night battle sucked, I highly recommend Book of the Ancestor trilogy and the magnificent epic battle in the end.

I will be counting the days until The Girl and the Stars is released.

Book Review: Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence

Genre: Fantasy/YA
Series: Book of the Ancestor
Author info: http://mark—lawrence.blogspot.com

Grey Sister is the sequel to Red Sister, and second book of the series. Here is my spoiler free review of Red Sister.

I said Red Sister will leave you with a book hangover in my review. Well, take that and multiply it by a hundred, that’s the hangover you will get after reading Grey Sister.
The sequels getting better and better is a Mark Lawrence thing, going by his track record.

Grey Sister picks up the story fast forward two years. Nona is studying in the Mystic class, with the yearning for vengeance burning in her heart. The way the characters, plots and relationships develops over the foundations laid out in Red Sister is just amazing. Nona’s character development is brilliant and her infinite love and loyalty for her friends will put a tear in your eye.

Nona’s conflicts and struggles, and the way she handles them adds quite a bit of depth to her character. She is overpowered in some parts and totally vulnerable in some others, which creates a good balance.

Things get hell of a lot darker as the story moves forward, with more evil business uncovered, and pretty gritty settings. It is not grimdark like The Broken Empire books, but has quite a few grimdark elements. There are also some horror story moments which gave me goosebumps.

Abbess Glass and Zole are the rising stars in Grey Sister. Zole was an annoying character in Red Sister, but she grows into a first class badass and one of the coolest characters of the series. She steals the show in some glorious and unforgettable badassery moments, as well as some deeply emotional ones.

In my Red Sister review, I said “I have a feeling she will do serious damage in the next book” about Abbess Glass, and I was right. I have to say Abbess Glass is a wonderful representation of mature female in fantasy literature. She doesn’t have any magic skills, but she has a the genius wits, wisdom and intuition. She has a much bigger role now that she is deeply involved in an intricate chess game of political machinations, which I found absolutely mind-blowing as a huge fan of political intrigue. Not only that, but the corruption in the church and people using religion to further their own agendas makes the story pretty realistic.

Sister Kettle also has a bigger part and her epic assassin ninja mojo steals the show in a few places. Her battle scenes are super awesome, and her lovely personality comes as a bonus. Not to mention she has admirable heroic qualities.

My other favorite was a non-human character called Keot, the little demon companion of Nona. He is a proper chaotic neutral, quite charming in a twisted way, and highly entertaining. It takes a special kind of genius to bring a disembodied character like that to life, with a palpable presence and strong voice. I’m a fan!

There are incredible twists and turns in Grey Sister, dialled up from what you see in Red Sister. I’m still so awestruck with the marvellous political intrigue and the breathtaking action-thriller parts. Second half of the book picks up the pace by several levels and the action gets so thick, you can’t put the book down to the point you forget to eat lunch. I am not kidding you.

The magic system introduced in Red Sister was pretty neat, but Grey Sister lays bare all the dazzling details of it. I have to say the originality and the whimsical beauty of the thread magic was one of the absolute best things I have read in any fantasy book to date. I don’t even have the words to do the justice here. Let me just say that if they made this series into movies, thread magic would make some truly mesmerizing scenes.

The last chapters took me to a whole another dimension and would have left me with a supermassive book hangover had I not lined up just the right books to cure it.

If you aren’t reading this series, you are missing out a damn lot. Grey Sister is a masterpiece and fantastic in every way to say the least.

Book Review: Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

Genre: Fantasy/YA Fantasy/Grimdark
Series: Book of the Ancestor
Author info:http://www.marklawrence.buzz/

Release date: April 4th 2017

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of Red Sister from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Warning: This book is going to leave you with severe withdrawal symptoms, but good news is Mark Lawrence is a prolific author and delivers the next books in the series like clockwork, judging from his established track record.

Red Sister completely blew my mind, bringing back the magic school environment I missed from Harry Potter and Kingkiller so much, with a kick and some serious action. It’s not only the magic but the teachers with all kinds of different personalities, friendships, bullies, assassination plots, mysteries, friends sneaking out and cooking up mischief, the whole package. But it’s dark, much darker than any book with magic schools.

Now, I’m a big fan of Mark Lawrence and I’ve read all of his books, but this one is quite different. It’s very much Mark’s style, but written in third person and I think that’s one major element making it different from the others which were all in first person. There is the amazing prose of Mark Lawrence, if you are not familiar with his previous work, let me give you an example from Red Sister:

She left nothing but an echo of her lantern light, soon consumed by a night so ancient that it never truly left such places.

And another:

I have been too young to know, and I have been too old to care. It’s in that oh so narrow slice between that memories are made. So enjoy it.

And my favorite of them all:

A long blade, thin, carrying a slight curve, its edge cruel enough to cut silence and make it scream.

Now if those won’t make you hit that buy button, I don’t know what will! For those who are not familiar, this is the typical Mark Lawrence prose. So beautiful, poetic and magical.

The story is heavily character driven, as Mark Lawrence’s other books, but with an awesome magic system to boot.

The main character, Nona, is the best female lead I have read in the fantasy genre along with Mara from the Empire trilogy. If you love Arya Stark, you will definitely love Nona. Even if you are no fan of Arya Stark, you will still love Nona, cause she is a no-nonsense girl, the kind of character everyone can root for.

Another thing worth mentioning is the friendships between the girls, something that was missing in the Harry Potter books and pretty much every fantasy book I have read except for the Wheel of Time. Friendships, loyalty and betrayal in Red Sister is so realistic, it took me back to the middle school and high school years.

Nona starts off as the bullied outcast but she turns out to be a serious badass who doesn’t take BS from anyone. She had no friends but one until she got sold to a child trader by her mother and village folk, and she values friendship a great deal. I found her reflections on friendship, and her relationship with her closest friends Clera and Hessa quite touching.

Hessa is disabled, left with a withered leg after an infectious disease. She is such a sweetheart and a smart cookie, also incredibly heroic, which made her one of my favorite supporting characters.

One thing I loved about Red Sister was how even the minor characters were fleshed out so well. The teachers all have their distinct personalities, and some of them reminded me of teachers I had in school back in the days of my youth. The classes were great fun to read, but my favorite was the martial training parts.

The magic system is quite original and intriguing as I mentioned. The migrants who populated this world had four tribes with different kinds of traits, and those of them with magic could wield the different sorts of magic powers depending on their bloodline. The tribes had to intermarry and mix their blood to survive the harsh conditions of this alien world. Children showing the traits of more than one bloodline are highly prized by the people who train them as fighters, assassins, battle nuns and what have you.

Another thing I loved was how Nona’s mysterious backstory slowly unfolded along with the mysteries of the strange world Abeth. The curiosity kept me turning the pages well into the wee hours. Last few chapters of the book are outstanding with superb action and plot twists.

Abeth is an alien world, but the characters being so realistic makes you forget that at times. It has its own rules, strange laws of nature, a dying sun and a falling moon, and is covered with glaciers except for the fifty mile corridor at its equator. There are mysterious remnants of an older and seemingly extinct civilization, I suspect we might find out more about it in the next book.

The fight scenes are quite original, though I can’t say much cause it would be a spoiler, but as someone who is easily bored of typical fighting scenes, I loved these since they are from a completely different perspective. Kind of like the special effects in movies, but the book version, which is something very difficult to do in writing. I think that was one of the things where you realize what a master wordsmith Mark Lawrence is.

Another thing I absolutely love about Red Sister is the lack of irritating love triangle cliches and the forced romance plots you see in the overwhelming majority of YA books and coming of age storylines. No sir, no romance here, and no love triangles. These girls literally kick arse left and right and have serious things to worry about, and Red Sister gets the big bonus points from me for the awesome political intrigue with the female villains having motivations stemming from political ambitions not involving shallow romance drama.

There is another kickass thing here which I can’t mention cause it would be a spoiler, but it should suffice to say I enjoyed reading -with a huge grin in my face- how Mark Lawrence upended some of the most annoying coming-of-age cliches and showed the real girl power here.

My other favorite supporting character was Abbess Glass, who is a snarky and sharp-witted middle aged female character. This sort of character is so rare in fantasy -at least the books I’ve read so far. She reminded me of Olenna Tyrell from A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones and queen Alica Kendeth from Red Queen’s War, she’s awesome like them. I have a feeling she will do serious damage in the next book.

And the ending… Gods above, what an ending that was! I really, really hope this series becomes a mainstream hit and they make movies or TV series of it, cause this story with its superb action scenes would be so great to see on the screen.

I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a superb fantasy novel featuring amazing characters -especially female characters!- an awesome magic system, great plot twists, killer action, political intrigue, sans the annoying love triangles and tired cliches. Such a great book with a fresh new perspective and impressive depth.

I really don’t have time to re-read books with my rather massive TBR, but I put this in my re-read list cause it’s the special kind of great. I have to thank Mark Lawrence for bringing back my youth with such a mind-blowing magnificent story.

Luckily I have such a massive TBR, or else it would be painful to wait for the next book, which I know will be even better judging from Mark’s established track record.

Waiting on Wednesday: Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine.
I am waiting for Red Sister by Mark Lawrence, to be released on April 4, 2017.

Here is the blurb:

At the Convent of Sweet Mercy young girls are raised to be killers. In a few the old bloods show, gifting talents rarely seen since the tribes beached their ships on Abeth. Sweet Mercy hones its novices’ skills to deadly effect: it takes ten years to educate a Red Sister in the ways of blade and fist.

But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don’t truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls as a bloodstained child of eight, falsely accused of murder: guilty of worse.

Stolen from the shadow of the noose, Nona is sought by powerful enemies, and for good reason. Despite the security and isolation of the convent her secret and violent past will find her out. Beneath a dying sun that shines upon a crumbling empire, Nona Grey must come to terms with her demons and learn to become a deadly assassin if she is to survive…

I’m looking forward to this one because:

I’m a huge fan of Mark Lawrence and I’m reading the e-ARC at the moment. It’s totally different from the other books he has written and it’s truly glorious. Even though I have the e-ARC, it would be real nice to have the hardcover copy on my shelf.

What new release are you looking forward to? Share your post in the comments below!

Guest Post by Brandon Draga: Why YA?

– “Why YA? Why Not?”

*Grabs a cup of coffee*
*Sits down*
*Sips*
Hi everyone, my name’s Brandon, and I write Young Adult Fantasy.
Hoo, okay, that felt good to get off my chest.
I guess you could say it started innocently enough, with my sister urging me to write something en vogue, something with a young female protagonist set in a dystopian society. Naturally, my inclination was to figure out how to do this in a fantasy setting.

Also, to make sure that I wasn’t writing a YA novel.
Denial was a huge part of a number of the creative decisions I made with The Summerlark Elf. I made Enna twenty years old solely so she wouldn’t be a teenager. I left out any trace of a romance subplot, never mind even broaching the idea of a love triangle. I kept the female protagonist and the dystopian setting though (sort of).

After the book was released, I was steadfast in my belief that it was decidedly not a YA book. I made sure to tell everyone who asked that it was meant for an adult audience, though I made sure to add the caveat that it could be read and enjoyed by someone as young as twelve.
Definitely not YA, though. Not at all, thank you kindly.
“But why not?” my girlfriend and cover artist asked on more than one occasion. “What’s wrong with YA?”
“I want to be taken seriously as a fantasy author.” I would reply, with a surprising lack of irony. “I want my books to appeal to a wide range of people!”

And they have, I’m proud to say. I’ve spoken to teens for their library book club, received fan mail from people well into their senior years (of life, not school), been read by the most hardcore genre fans and people who have never read a fantasy book in their life. But then, the same can be said of a lot of people who write books billed as YA, especially genre YA.
J.K. Rowling?
Suzanne Collins?
Veronica Roth?

Hell, look at people like Terry Brooks, David Eddings, or Raymond Feist. You cannot tell me that, had their respective series’ been released today, they would not be pushed as YA titles. Let’s take it further and admit that most post-Tolkien fantasy up until the mid-90s or so fits the most basic tenant of Young Adult fiction, in that the protagonist is a young adult.

Which, if the media is correct (I know), is anyone between 18 and 25. Not unlike Enna Summerlark.

So, that being said, what was my issue, and what changed my mind?
I think we can chalk a lot of it up to me, frankly, being an elitist jerk, and assuming that most fantasy readers are the same.
You see, a funny thing happened when I released The Summerlark Elf. For the first time since I started reading fantasy way back in the before times, I was interacting with other fantasy readers, readers who put my credentials to shame. Readers who, by and large, were perfectly happy to read a YA book, provided it was good. Not just that, but the more people read the book, the more they would tell me it felt like a YA book, and not derisively.

Moreover, something else happened this past year. For a tenure of about eight months, my books were being published by the ultimately ill-fated Realmwalker Publishing Group, and damned if they weren’t selling better that I had hoped. A large part of that, upon careful examination, was the fact that RPG had opted to start billing Summerlark, and its follow-up The Missing Thane’s War as Young Adult Fantasy! Apparently, the best way to broaden my readership was ultimately to narrow my work’s genre classification – who knew?!

It took me longer than I care to admit, but it doesn’t matter who I think my writing is supposed to appeal to, but rather who it does appeal to. Calling my books Young Adult doesn’t change the story in any real way; I’m still writing the books I want to write. And really, YA is a ridiculously large market with a really ridiculously large fan base. If my books sell as Young Adult books, then who am I to say no?
Still not crazy about love triangles, though.
I’m looking at you, Wil Ohmsford…

Author Bio

Brandon Draga was born in 1986, just outside Toronto, Ontario. His love of all things fantasy began at an early age with games like The Legend of Zelda, Heroquest, and Dungeons and Dragons. This affinity for the arcane and archaic led to his studying history at York University from 2005 to 2011. In late 2012, he began writing a D&D campaign setting that would lay the groundwork for the world of Olhean, the setting for his “Four Kingdoms Saga” novel series, compared by critics to the works of Terry Brooks, Michael J. Sullivan, and R.A. Salvatore. Brandon has also proven that SF/F can be made accessible at any age, writing the lauded picture book “Dragon in the Doghouse”. Brandon still lives just outside Toronto, and when he is not writing enjoys skateboarding, playing guitar, and playing tabletop games.

You can learn more about Brandon’s work on his web site: http://www.brandondraga.com/

YA Fantasy Books With No Love Triangles – Part 7

This is a multi part blog post series featuring the YA Fantasy books without love triangles, where romance is minimal or not central to the plot. I did my best to include the books which would be enjoyable reads for the grown up YA Fantasy lovers and inspiring for the young people, where they could read about heroic adventures, friendship, loyalty, responsibility, survival, consequences of decisions, etc something other than romance and ‘which lover should the protagonist choose’ stuff.

See Part 1 here

See Part 2 here

See Part 3 here

See Part 4 here

See Part 5 here

See Part 6 here

I included the Goodreads links to make things easier so clicking on the image will take you to the Goodreads profiles of the series/books.

Warriors: Power of Three series by Erin Hunter

Archer’s Goon by Diana Wynne Jones (Standalone Novel)

There are wizards and magic in this one and it’s by Diana Wynne Jones!

The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones (Standalone Novel)

A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones (Standalone Novel)

Magids by Diana Wynne Jones

Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones

The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones

Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull

This concludes Part 7. See you next week in Part 8!
If you have any recommendations, feel free to let me know and I will add them too. The only requirement is non-romance plot and no love triangles.

YA Fantasy Books With No Love Triangles – Part 6

This is a multi part blog post series featuring the YA Fantasy books without love triangles, where romance is minimal or not central to the plot. I did my best to include the books which would be enjoyable reads for the grown up YA Fantasy lovers and inspiring for the young people, where they could read about heroic adventures, friendship, loyalty, responsibility, survival, consequences of decisions, etc something other than romance and ‘which lover should the protagonist choose’ stuff.

See Part 1 here

See Part 2 here

See Part 3 here

See Part 4 here

See Part 5 here

I included the Goodreads links to make things easier so clicking on the image will take you to the Goodreads profiles of the series/books.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

This series is set in alternate Londons, one with no magic, the others with magic and completely different realities. I have seen it on many book blogs and it has received great reviews. There’s plenty of adventure, thieves, cutthroats, conspiracies and interesting characters. I’m quite intrigued by the reviews and planning to read this series soon.

The Twixt series by Dawn Metcalf

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

This is hyped to death on every book blog featuring YA books and people swear up and down this is an awesome series. It’s set in the far future, so it’s a different kind of fantasy than I read. The main character is a Cyborg Cinderella, which sounded quite interesting and I decided to give it a shot even though I prefer medieval and ancient world kind of fantasy. There is romance but people told me there’s so much more and great worldbuilding, so I’m including it here.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Standalone Novel)

Temeraire series by Naomi Novik

This is a scifi-fantasy blend with alternate history, featuring dragons.

Sand and Blood by D. Moonfire (Standalone Novel)

If you are looking for something not set in medieval Europe or the Western world, this may be just the book for you. It’s set in the desert clan culture, features rite of passage and ancestral magic.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This one is high up in my TBR and I’m planning to review it as soon as I can.

Maradaine series by Marshall Ryan Maresca

The first book of this new series came out in February 2015. The blurb got me interested and some book bloggers I highly respect gave it great reviews so I added it to my TBR. Here is the first paragraph blurb:”Veranix Calbert leads a double life. By day, he’s a struggling magic student at the University of Maradaine. At night, he spoils the drug trade of Willem Fenmere, crime boss of Dentonhill and murderer of Veranix’s father. He’s determined to shut Fenmere down.”
I’m sold!

This concludes Part 6. See you next week in Part 7!
If you have any recommendations, feel free to let me know and I will add them too. The only requirement is non-romance plot and no love triangles.

YA Fantasy Books With No Love Triangles – Part 5

This is a multi part blog post series featuring the YA Fantasy books without love triangles, where romance is minimal or not central to the plot. I did my best to include the books which would be enjoyable reads for the grown up YA Fantasy lovers and inspiring for the young people, where they could read about heroic adventures, friendship, loyalty, responsibility, survival, consequences of decisions, etc something other than romance and ‘which lover should the protagonist choose’ stuff.

See Part 1 here

See Part 2 here

See Part 3 here

See Part 4 here

I included the Goodreads links to make things easier so clicking on the image will take you to the Goodreads profiles of the series/books.

Shattered Sea by Joe Abercrombie

This masterpiece series by the Lord of Grimdark has been the talk of the town for quite some time. It’s YA grimdark and a lot of people love it to death. I haven’t read it just yet but planning to read it this year. Judging from his First Law trilogy -of whcih I’ve read the first book- I expect it to be an awesome read. You can’t go wrong with Abercrombie!

Court of Fives by Kate Elliott

This one is in my TBR list and I’ve heard a lot of good talk about it too. Only the first book is out yet but the series sounds quite promising.

The Queen’s Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

This award winning series has received tons of great feedback and some people are saying it’s on par with the Patrick Rothfuss books. It’s a historical YA fantasy in an ancient Greece inspired setting, features a thief main character and sounds like a superb story. Well I have a thing for heist stories and ancient Greece so I’m sold. I will definitely review this series soon!

The Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo

This one shows up in a lot of book blogs I follow and it’s being hyped, but it sounds quite intriguing unlike some other hyped up books out there. There is romance but judging from the blurbs and the reviews it’s not the main plot and also there are no stupid love triangles. The plot and the setting sound interesting, it has some Russian culture elements which is a nice change. I also loved the covers so I placed this series high up in my TBR list. The beautiful covers only get the books into my TBR, but the blurbs that intrigue me, recommendations form my bookish friends and the reviews move them to the top.

There are a bunch of extra stories in this series, be sure to check them out when you click on the covers below and go to the Goodreads page of the series!

Curse Workers by Holly Black

This is a paranormal YA urban fantasy series set in an alternate reality. The magic concept sounds interesting, I’ll certainly give it a try.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (standalone novel)

This one is a vintage-contemporary type of fairy tale theme and received a lot of good reviews. There is a bit of a romance but it’s low profile and not central to the plot.

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma (standalone novel)

This is a paranormal thriller, a ghost story in a contemporary setting featuring two best friends. Not exactly fantasy but sounds like it might be interesting to some of my readers so I included it in the mix.


This concludes Part 5. See you next week in Part 6!
If you have any recommendations, feel free to let me know and I will add them too. The only requirement is non-romance plot and no love triangles.

YA Fantasy Books With No Love Triangles – Part 4

This is a multi part blog post series featuring the YA Fantasy books without love triangles, where romance is minimal or not central to the plot. I did my best to include the books which would be enjoyable reads for the grown up YA Fantasy lovers and inspiring for the young people, where they could read about heroic adventures, friendship, loyalty, responsibility, survival, consequences of decisions, etc something other than romance and ‘which lover should the protagonist choose’ stuff.

See Part 1 here

See Part 2 here

See Part 3 here

I included the Goodreads links to make things easier so clicking on the image will take you to the Goodreads profiles of the series/books.

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

This series is a classic and a must read for any YA fans out there. I’m guilty of not reading them myself, but planning to remedy that as soon as I can!

The Jelindel Chronicles by Paul Collins

This series is about the epic journey of a rich girl whose family gets killed. She dresses as a boy to survive on the streets and finds herself in a heroic adventure. I added this to my TBR, the heroine sounds great and the whole series looks like an interesting read.

The Laws of Magic by Michael Pryor

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes (Standalone Novel)

The Heir Chronicles by Cinda Williams Chima

This sounds like a very intriguing and different series, quite promising.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

The Heroes Fall by Zy J. Rykoa

This is a modern fantasy book, quite different from the typical urban fantasy out there centered around romance. It god great reviews on goodreads and even though modern fantasy is not my thing at all, the reviews convinced me to read it anyway. The characters and the worldbuilding sounds so good!

This concludes Part 4. See you next week in Part 5!
If you have any recommendations, feel free to let me know and I will add them too. The only requirement is non-romance plot and no love triangles.

YA Fantasy Books With No Love Triangles – Part 3

This is a multi part blog post series featuring the YA Fantasy books without love triangles, where romance is minimal or not central to the plot.

See Part 1 here

See Part 2 here

I included the Goodreads links to make things easier so clicking on the image will take you to the Goodreads profiles of the series/books.

The Network Series by Katie J. Cross

I have read the first book of this and going to read the rest as soon as I can. Read my review for Book 1 here.
This is an impressive indie series which was received well by the readers and got in Amazon’s best seller lists. If you are looking for a magic school environment with different kind of magic mixed with Wiccan elements, you will love this series. The second book features sword training and the political intrigue gets deeper. It’s very inspiring for young girls and has been acclaimed by teachers and parents. I think it’s a great read for all ages.

Graceling Realm by Kirsten Cashore Ness

Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson is pretty solid and his Mistborn trilogy has a huge fan base. I haven’t read any of his books yet but people swear up and down all of his books are great. This series is a YA dystopian scifi-fantasy and sounds like an interesting read.

Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

Another great series by highly acclaimed Brandon Sanderson, this one new and already a NY Times best seller. The second book is expected to be released in 2017. This is an epic teen adventure, it has received great reviews and lot of praise from the fantasy reader community. It’s high up in my TBR list, along with his Mistborn and the Stormlight series.

Un Lun Dun by China Miéville (Standalone Novel)

Railsea by China Miéville (Standalone Novel)

Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

This series has a bunch of prequels and alternate beginnings, you might want to check the Goodreads page to see them. There is also an Omnibus edition including the complete series. I think that’t the best option.

The Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

An alternate history YA steampunk series by the NY Times best selling author Scott Westerfeld. I’ve been meaning to start reading some steampunk and I think I will start with this series since you can’t go wrong with Westerfeld.

This concludes Part 3. See you next week in Part 4!