dragoninwinterfell's reviews
103 reviews

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for an e-arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really wanted to like House of Marionne. The premise sounds amazing. I also follow the author on social media and her excitement and pride in this book really got me hyped for it as well. Unfortunately, the reality of the book didn't meet the buzz. 

First, I want to say that this has been repeatedly touted as "Game of Thrones meets Bridgerton". I do think the author should stop making this comparison. I understand that comparing your work to multiple popular ones is a common tactic for pitching and marketing, but bringing those two TV show's into this creates expectations that aren't going to be met. There is nothing of Game of Thrones nor Bridgerton to be found in this book. It could more accurately be described as an American Harry Potter with a female lead, a darker magic system, and a hyper speed school pace. I get that most wouldn't want to associate their work with HP due to that author's behavior and troubling beliefs, but it would be the more honest comparison that wouldn't confuse potential readers.

For the novel itself, I really liked the world building with the different magic schools run by different families throughout the US. I like that different families and schools specialize in different types of magic. The practice of essentially fostering a member of another school/house/family in another as a way of tying the schools together in peace while maintaining rivalries with each other also sounds very interesting. I just wish yhe complexity of the world was matched with a story and protagonist that were just as intriguing.

Quell, the protagonist of the story has no personality. She has a backstory and she does things to move the story forward, but she feels like a blank slate with no life in her. Her relationships also fall flat, especially the forced "romance" with Jordan and the abrupt "friendship" with Abby. I put those words in quotes because, while we're informed that Quell cares deeply for these characters, there's no emotional development in either dynamic. The strongest relationship Quell has is with Darragh Marionne, her grandmother and the headmistress of her family's school. Darragh also comes the closest to being a fully realized character. When we get a reveal about her, I found myself wishing we were following her instead of Quell. 

I'm giving this one two stars instead of one mostly due to the world building and the interesting premise.

I listened to the audio of this and enjoyed the narrator, Mary Jane Wells.  The different character voices she did flowed together seamlessly and were easy to differentiate from each other.
The story itself wasn't as enjoyable for me. I was never able to connect to the characters and as a result I never cared about the story. It seemed to get better toward the end, but with the story nearly over, there didn't feel like much of a point in investing in it. 
But for others this story may be for, this is a fae story that has an enemies to lovers romance. The female lead has returned home after years training to take up a specific post in her government. Before she can be granted the position, she meets with resistance from another government official who believes she is unfit and before she can disprove the accusations, she is cursed by the fae. 
I do appreciate that this story seems to have gender equality. As someone who reads a lot of fantasy, I do get tired of institutionalized sexism being the norm in those stories. So it was refreshing to see that the female lead's fitness wasn't being questioned due to her gender (other women held offices as well), but due to her behavior which a man was being judged for as well.

This book hooked me from the start with its gritty fairytale feel. Immediately, I was drawn into Candle and her story. The situation she is in with her family and the magic system is very unique. This is a land where the people have to deal with zombies and demons. Magic is also the norm. Where Candle is an outcast within her family and her community is that she can't use magic and her eyes are blue, which is connected to demonic association. So Candle grows up isolated and shunned to the point where many don't even know she exists. 

Once she escapes, readers get to explore more of the world along with her and learn more about the magic systems. As her brother pursues her for his own gain, she gains allies who become like found family even as has to keep secrets from them. They also have their own secrets as well as dark pasts. 

I will say that some elements of the world building shares commonalities with ASOIAF. For instance, the land they're in is called the Seven Kingdoms and they're fighting variations of zombies/wights. I would also say that the Ancestor's Own as a group is very similar to the Night's Watch, but without the ice Wall. But the characters and story are so different that it didn't feel derivative. 

For instance, there seems to be gender equality within this universe, so the Ancestor's Own are made up of both men and women, all of whom learn to fight and have responsibilities as well as leadership roles.

This book is excellent. Definitely recommend!

The Jasad Heir is a solid debut novel and first installment of a series. Though it has a slow start with too much info dumping, once the story gets going and the characters are firmly introduced, the book is engaging. 

The protagonist, Sylvia, is a morally grey heroine with a tragic past filled with loss and abuse. Having lost her family and status as a princess during a war, she lives as a commoner, hiding her identity as well as her restrained magic. I really loved the complexity of Sylvia's character and following her through each difficult choice and harsh revelation from her past. She felt very real. 

While I'm not usually a fan of enemies to lovers romances, the dynamic between Sylvia and Arin is the best example I've seen of the trope. They are natural enemies as he is the son of the man who overthrew her family and the way their relationship progresses is authentic.

I'm really looking forward to the next installment of this series.

With Stronghold, Melanie Rawn takes the characters she beautifully established in the first three novels and has them face off with a brutal new threat that fits with the established universe while also feeling fresh and new. 

Though many of the enemies and threats that hindered Rohan, Sioned, Pol, and their family and friends have been dealt with, not everything is perfect on the Continent. There are still other rivalries, personal difficulties, and the natural complications of ruling for the characters to juggle. Those complications are exasperated by the invasion of the Vellant'im who are pursuing vengeance for wrongs done generations before. There are many payoffs to dynamics, both good and bad, set up in the last trilogy as some characters side with the invaders for their own ends while many have reason to remain loyal to Rohan, Sioned, and Pol due to decades of earned loyalty. In addition to that, even allies have different views from each other on how the invasion should be handled, deepening the conflict even further. The way Rawn blends together the established and new conflicts makes the story feel so real. 

While the previous three novels put the main characters through heavy struggles and featured major character deaths, Stronghold felt even heavier. I can't tell if the tone is darker or if it's because I've read through decades of these characters' lives at this point, so everything that happens hits harder. 

I wouldn't recommend starting the series from here even though Stronghold is technically the first novel in the Dragon Star trilogy, which is the sequel series of Dragon Prince. Each book builds off of the events and character arcs of the other. But the books leading up to this one are nearly as good.

The premise of this book is incredibly promising. In this urban fantasy, magical families co-exist under an uneasy truce as they each shore up their spheres of power and influence. The protagonist, Emiko Soong has a dark troubled past. She once served as the Blade of the Soong Clan but that came to a bloody end as she became the Butcher of Beijing. The story picks up with her living a somewhat ordinary life in San Francisco. Despite trying to keep her head down and luve an average life, the political intrigues and magical threats contine to intrude on her life.

This should be fascinating. I particularly lived the world building and the way magic is woven into the modern world. The problem is with the execution. It felt like most of the book was exposition. Instead of living in this magical modern world, we're given dry instruction on it. Instead of getting to know the characters as they navigate through the story, we get info dumps on them. This really harmed the pacing, especially in moments that should have been high tension since those moments would be inflated with dumps of information that removed all urgency. It was difficult to care about the characters or their plight when the narrative treated even the most dangerous situations as though they were casual interruptions to the info dumping.

Again, I loved the premise and the world building. I might look into the sequel if only for that.

Thank you to Tor, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.