#107 The Ship of Shadows

The Ship of Shadows  by Maria Kuzniar 

The blurb: 'Aleja whiles away her days in her families dusty tavern in Seville, dreaming of distant lands and believing in the kind of magic shes only ever read about in books. After all, shes always been told that girls cant be explorers. But her life is changed forever when adventure comes for her in the form of a fabled vessel known as 'The Ship of Shadows'. Crewed by a band of ruthless women, with cabin walls dripping with secrets, the ship has sailed right out of legend. And it wants Aleja. Once on board its shadowy deck, she begins to realise that the sea holds more secrets than she could have ever imagined. The crew are desperately seeking something, and their path will take them through treacherous waters and force them to confront nightmare creatures and pitch-dark magic. It will take all of Aleja's strength and courage to gain the trust of her fellow pirates- and discover what they are risking everything to find'

I was once again kindly asked by @The_WriteReads to be apart of this amazing blog tour and was very very kindly gifted a physical copy from the wonderful publishers Puffin and Netgalley who also sent me an e-arc. I am super stoked as i have an 8 year old niece that i can pass this book along to, i wish there were more stories like this when i was her age!

Just over a year ago id never read a middle grade book as an adult, it wasnt until i discovered How to train your Gavin on Youtube that i started to take notice of all the amazing middle grade reads and become excited about the stories again.

The Ship of Shadows is a super fun middle grade book featuring an all female pirate crew, a magical ship and a journey to find a lost piece of a map. The story follows Aleja who finds herself in trouble one day and is running away from the possibility of a public lashing when she accidentally runs into a mysterious crew of The Ship of Shadows, they agree to hide her for a few hours but instead set sail from the port with her still on board. The captain wants Aleja to consider becoming a permanent member of the crew so decided to take her along on a mission to recover a missing piece of a map.

This book is jam packed full of magic, mystery and some sea monsters to boot. The story is so endearing and has many elements of bravery and friendship. I loved how each crew member had a special talent that made them unique. The setting was really cool as ive never read a childrens book that was set in Spain and Morocco before, it was all described so richly as well. The writing is just stunning, i cant believe that this is a debut novel.

I can honestly say that i fell in love with the whimsy of it, the descriptions where so well done that i could picture it all so well in my head. Something i really loved that you dont see often in middle grade is that the author didnt shy away from using big words which i loved, middle grade should expand a young persons vocabulary and question what words mean. 

I couldnt have loved this swashbuckling tale of girl power any more! I would love a new book for every piece of the map that the crew need to find please *hint hint* haha. I cannot wait to read this book to my daughter in a few years. The Ship of Shadows has become one of my new favourite middle grade reads up there with Nevermoor and Keeper of the Lost Cities.

Thank you again to Dave, the lovely author Maria who has been so engaging with her readers on Twitter  which has been so lovely and to Puffin books.

A few of the places you can buy this amazing book:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z8NXB49/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780241372920
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ship-of-shadows-maria-kuzniar/1134489553?ean=9780241372920
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-ship-of-shadows/maria-kuzniar/9780241372913

#106 Outlander

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 

I finally reread this absolute tome (800 pages)! Ive been saying for years that i wanted to reread this and carry on with the series and i finally did it *pats myself on the back* Right, so Outlander was first published in 1991 when i was still in the pram and is the story of Claire and Frank who are newly weds in the 1940's just after the war, they go to Scotland for a second honeymoon to try and rekindle their love after spending the first 7 years of their marriage apart. Claire was trained as a combat nurse whilst Frank is a historian and has a keen interest in ancestry. One night the couple come across a stone circle in a field, Claire has a keen interest in herbal medicine and spies some forget me nots. A few days later Claire returns alone to the stone circle to gather the forget me nots and she is magically transported back in time to the 18th century.

Claire is understandably shocked and terrified, she doesn't understand what has happened or where her husband is. She by chance meets Jamie Frazer and doesnt realise just how much her life is about to change. Claire struggles with trying to adapt whilst also trying to find a way back to Frank. The people of 1700's Scotland realise that there is something not quite right about Claire and she is accused of many things including being a witch and an English spy. The book is basically about Claire's journey as she falls for Jamie but still misses her past life with Frank. She is constantly conflicted between wanting to stay with Jamie and fighting to find a way back to Frank.

The world building is gorgeous. The writing style is really descriptive and rich, it really paints a clear picture for the reader. The characters are all so believable and you do fall head over heels for Jamie, well i did at least!

I am so ready to watch the tv show (purely for the actor who plays Jamie...) and read the other 8!! books in the series. Im really hoping for more of an insight into Frank in the next few books as it would be nice to have more of a love triangle scenario with Claire ultimately having to choose between the two men. Ive also read the novella that comes before Outlander called 'Virgins' which is Jamie's story before he meets Claire, its only around 80 pages and well worth a read. I should also mention that im listening to these books on audio and the narrators are really authentic Scottish and the lady who narrates Claire is obviously English. It really adds to the story and helps to break down the thick Scottish brogue that can make the physical book a bit daunting for some.

#105 Anna K

Anna K by Jenny Lee 

I am going to preface this review by saying that i havent read Anna Karenina. I thought this book would be a light contemporary read. I did not realise what i was about to get in to!

Anna K follows our titular character as she navigates through the New York elite. Everyone is rich, private school educated with more money than sense. The story consists of 17 year old Anna who is in a long term relationship with Alexander. Both families have planned out their futures and they are destined to marry. When Anna becomes tempted by a new, exciting man she must resist the temptation of following her heart. Theres around 6 main characters and it delves into each of their love lives and how they navigate through the issues that they face.

Almost immediately i struggled to keep up with who is who but luckily theres a handy dandy guide at the beginning of the book that gives you a 'whos who', i referred back to this constantly in the first 100 pages so was so glad the author included it.

This book should come with so many trigger warnings, theres frequent drug use, drug overdose, cheating and a few fatalities along the way. It was a lot darker than i presumed and its made me second guess whether i should read Anna Karenina as i bet her life is much more bleak than Anna K's!

My only main gripe with the story was how modern the author tried to make it, the leaked sex tape was too much IMO. On the plus side the book felt like there was something constantly happening which made for an easier, page turning read.

A few stand out characters for me were Lolly and Kimmie, especially towards the end. They both had really good character growth. The majority of the rest of the characters felt a little bland. I would have liked more from Beatrice as she seems interesting. The most annoying character award definitely goes to Eleanor but i see how she was necessary to the plot.

Ive heard that the characters are very true to the originals personalities and that Jenny Lee has managed to inject them into modern characters. I do want to pick up the original just to see how the two compare. What i really enjoyed was how the author injected diversity into the book, Anna and Stephen are bi-racial being half Korean which was interesting to read and theres also a black character called Dustin who is Kimmies love interest, he is adopted into a Jewish family. These subtle changes gave this book the much needed kick into 2020 that was needed.

Now for some spoiler chat: the ending... after everything that happened, all of the heartache that Anna went through the author killed Vronsky off at the end. Im not sure if this is what happens in the original and the author was trying to stay true to it but my god did it feel like she went through everything for nothing. She didnt really seem overly heartbroken by it which i found confusing.

The book is fun and dramatic. Basically like Gossip Girl but in a more drug fuelled, scandalous version. I flew through this book and couldnt stop reading. It flows nicely and like i previously mentioned theres always something happening so the reader is never bored.

#104 City of Brass

City of Brass by SA Chakraborty

City of Brass is a borderline YA/adult fantasy trilogy. Ive heard it described as both adult and YA so im really not sure. It read to me as YA. The book is sent in 18th century Cairo. It follows two main perspectives, Nahri is a con artist who is pretty no nonsense, she comes from nothing but educates herself in the field of medicine and is known as a local healer. Nahri also has the ability to heal herself but keeps this a secret.  Nahri is a thief and a swindler, she is trying to survive on the mean streets of Cairo. Nahri uses her abilities to take advantage of people for money. One day she accidentally summons a djinn. (i hope im spelling everything right as i listened to the audio book and dont have a physical copy) who tells her of this other worldly city called Daevabad and tells her that she is likely to find answers about her elusive past if she travels there. When she summoned this djinn it alerted some not so nice people to her existence and she has to go on the run to get to the city safely. The second perspective is that of the Ali who is the prince of the kingdom of Daevabad. Ali's main story line is the second son of the king so hes not the heir to the throne but there is so much political tension. Ali goes behind his fathers back and uses money from the treasury for things his father wouldnt approve of. His motive in life is trying to provide for those who are less fortunate. Ali struggles with doing the right thing and also being loyal to his family. I must admit i preferred Ali's perspective as it was so much more interesting to read.

This book is difficult to both rate and review. It was a strange read, the first half was so info-dumpy. The build up to the story is so so slow.

Ok, things i liked... The world building was so wonderful, i would say this was the best thing about the book and the thing that really kept me going. The writing is so so rich, i must commend the author on that, it was just stunning. The writing was pretty straight to the point, it was descriptive but not flowery. That alone made me want to pick up the second book. The book is quite political which i usually enjoy, in this book it was quite confusing but so interesting and well laid out. I loved the middle eastern culture and setting to it, ive never read anything like that before.

Things i didnt like as much... The characters were a little generic, Nahri and Ali were pretty one dimensional. Their decision making, influences and motives were very stereotypical YA. This was the main reason why i could rate this higher than 3 stars. I couldnt relate to them and i really didnt care about them whatsoever which is such a shame. There wasnt too much character development throughout (in my opinion). I think the main drive that got me through to the end was the political intrigue, i enjoyed how conflicted Nahri was about both sides and how she was discovering the world, the culture and the people along with the reader. You really dont know who to trust.

I feel so weird writing this review as im making it sound like i didnt like it but i really did. I do want to continue on the series and will be following SA Chakraborty for anything else she writes. I really want to go back and read this physically as i found it was too easy to miss details during the audio book. I want to read all those little details very slowly. If you like Strange the Dreamer i think you would really enjoy this book too, they both have a slow build up but have a great ending.