Alchemy and a Cup of Tea

Finished August 13

Alchemy and a Cup of Tea by Rebecca Thorne

This novel is the fourth and last book in the Tomes and Tea series, but the first I've read. I picked it up for the title, not realizing that it was part of a series. That said, it reads well on its own, and puts you into the action right from the start when you find one of the main characters, Queen Reyna held by a gang who kidnapped her for unknown reasons. She works out how to free herself, while her wife Kianthe, a woman with strong magical abilities who hold the position of Arcandor, launches a rescue mission. 

The rescue team discovers a mysterious alchemy circle hidden in Reyna's holding cell, and begin asking about its unusual design and potential purpose.

The reader soon learns that the pair are recently married, and that Reyna is the new head of a parliamentary kingdom. They live in a New Leaf, small mountain town in the Queendom, and together run a bookstore and café. Reyna is a skilled tea sommelier and they both love books. The marriage has brought tourists to the town hoping to see the couple and the town is not equipped to handle the large influx of people. As they work with town officials on possible solutions, they worry that they might have to close the shop and leave the community they love.

They are due to attend an important magical conference, and hope to learn more there about they alchemical circle, but find there are other strange happenings and attempts to disrupt the core magic that Kianthe is one with. 

This book has tame griffins, powerful ancient dragons, small communities trying to survive difficult conditions, and common goodwill from many citizens of the neighbouring countries. I found it a cosy fantasy with touches of romance, mystery, and danger. It portrays loving relationships and friendships that are accepting of differences and supportive of each other. 

The Fiercest Joy

Finished February 9

The Fiercest Joy by Shana Abé

This is the third novel in The Sweetest Dark, a historical fantasy series. I also noted that it tied in with the Drákon series by the same author, in an interesting way. 

Eleanore (Lora) Jones is in her final year as a scholarship student at the prestigious Iverson School for girls, and torn between two drákon men she loves, brothers Aubrey and Armand. This year there is also another scholarship girl at the school, and it would appear that she is a drákon as well, going under the name Smith. She cannot apparently turn into a dragon, but she has other skills. The three can't help wonder what she is doing there and whether she is putting them at risk. 

When Lora gives into her intuition one night and engages in a coastal battle, she encounters another dragon, and feels threatened by his presence. 

Soon after that two drakon people, brother and sister, arrive at the school, claiming to have been searching for Eleanore for years. They intend to take her to join her family. But Eleanore is still unsure and since she is now engaged, she insists that her fiancé come as well. 

Meanwhile Aubrey is researching Lora's past with a clue from a memory of hers, by searching for ship passenger lists near the time of her birth. He and Armand have also shared historical letters regarding their family with both her and Miss Smith. 

This tale has lots of dramatic moments and suspense as well as moments of strong emotion. It wraps up this series nicely, while still offering possibilities for future books.  

The Treasure Keeper

Finished January 10

The Treasure Keeper by Shana Abé

This is the fourth book in the Drákon series, a historical fantasy series I've been reading completely out of order. The main character here is Zoe Lane. Zoe is the daughter of a seamstress in the English town of Darkfrith, a drákon town hidden from discovery by humans. When she was a child she used to play with Rhys Langford, the son of the head of the town. Rhys disappeared months ago, and men sent after haven't returned either. One of them is Zoe's fiancé, and she doesn't like sitting around waiting. 
Zoe, like many of the more recently born women in the community doesn't have the ability to shapeshift to either smoke or a dragon, let alone both, but she does have two gifts that no one knows about. One is the ability to become invisible. the other is the power to feel other's emotions, and often see their thoughts. 
Using her first power, she escapes Darkfrith and follows the trail to Paris, the last place her fiancé wrote her from. She bases herself out of a room in an abandoned royal residence, and frequents cafés listening to others' emotions and trying to find the men who have been hunting dragons, men known as the sanf inimicus.  
However Zoe is also finding herself seeing Rhys and she doesn't understand why. She is sure he must be dead, but she can talk to him and he seems to be the same as the man she knew. She believes that she is talking to his soul and that she can therefore talk to the dead. 
When his presence saves her from a confrontation with someone working for the sanf inimicus, she is taken aback, but very thankful. When a clue leads her to drákon men hunting the same people as herself, she asks to join, but is refused. She is hesitant to reveal her gifts, but may have to do so to be successful in her hunt. 
I really enjoyed this novel, cheering Zoe on as she revealed herself as a strong woman, and willing to learn how to take best advantage of the gifts she has been given.

Realm of Dragons

Finished April 8

Realm of Dragons by Morgan Rice

This is the first book in the Age of the Sorcerers series, which runs to eight novels overall. As with many first novels, there is a lot of world-building happening here, and lots of characters to get to know. 

The story takes place in a kingdom that has been in a tense standoff with one of its neighbouring kingdoms for years. The current king has decided to accept an offer of marriage for his oldest daughter from the neigbouring kingdom, hoping that it will lead to a more peaceful future for them both. His daughter is willing and her new fiancé is attractive and charming. But does his kingdom have an ulterior motive?

We see the stories of all six of the king's children, three women and two men, all teens and early twenties, and all quite different in nature. Besides the eldest princess, one is tomboyish and wishes for the battle training that her brothers have been given. One is quiet, bookish, and keeps to herself except when she is wandering in the forests, making some discoveries of her own. 

Of the males, one is honest and resolute and his father sends him on a quest that may result in him not being where he needs to be. The second oldest is a party guy, who also goes through women quickly, and is always looking for a quick win even if he has to cut corners or take advantage of someone. The youngest is bookish and very intelligent and is looking for answers that may help his family in the long run. 

Besides these, there is also the sixteen-year-old son of a blacksmith, a young man who is naturally skilled with the sword, and finds that his fate may take him to places that he never dreamed of, even as it leads away from his family at first. 

I found the book interesting and with some interesting storylines starting involving dragons, monks with unusual skills, and danger coming from the seas. I would be interested in reading more in the series. 

The Iron Flower

Finished June 22

The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest

This is the second book in The Black Witch Chronicles series. Elloren Gardner has come a long way in the short time she's been at the University in Verpacia. As the granddaughter and lookalike of one of her country, Gardenia's, heroines, she has a lot of preconceived ideas about her to overcome, from both friends and enemies. 

After having many of her own prejudices changed, she has found herself working with her new friends to right wrongs as she encounters them. However, now that her country has shown itself to be the current aggressor in their world, she finds herself part of a much larger struggle. As Gardneria and its leaders force other races into slavery, submission, or death, she fights against her use as a pawn in the battle. 

In this second book, she travels to some neighbouring realms, and finds herself tied to one man while trying to suppress her feelings for another. She also fights against the family legacy, and finds her siblings fighting along with her. I found this novel full of action and emotion, as Elloren realizes what is at stake, and grieves those she has known and cared for as she finds herself aligned with new powers. 

A satisfying read. 

The Invisible Library

Finished May 21

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

This book starts a series, and is a fantasy book with an interesting, for me at least, focus. The library of the title is a place that exists between worlds, as a kind of gateway. It takes up a lot of space, and has multiple rooms, all filled with shelves of books, with nooks where computers exist, for looking things up, writing reports, communicating with others, etc. That's pretty interesting as a construct for me. The idea of nearly endless books is fascinating. The library collects books from different worlds to strengthen the connection with those worlds. The senior librarians determine what books to collect and send junior librarians, like the central character here, Irene, out to get them. 

The worlds are different versions of our world. Sometimes only slightly different, sometimes vastly different. The library tries to keep things in balance. Too much technology can result in a tightly ordered world with no creativity. Too much magic can result in a world of chaos. The world that Irene and the trainee that is assigned to her, a man named Kai, is leaning towards chaos. 

We get a sense of what can happen as Irene finished up a case as the book opens, using her skills and her knowledge of the special Library language to control things. This glimpse is intriguing. 

They arrive in an alternate London through a gate inside an office in the British Library. The book they are seeking is rare and, when they arrive, has already been stolen by someone. The person, a vampire in this case, that bought it recently was killed. They soon discover that they are not the only ones seeking the book, a book of tales by Grimm, and that one of those is a fae. 

The mix of magic and reality is done well, and some of the elements of attack are unexpected, consisting of creatures that we normally don't think of as in the context they appear in, or that fit the context by attack in unexpected ways. 

There is also the idea of dragons as creatures on the side of good. The dragons are on the side of order not magic, and have their own abilities in doing this. There is also an element of peer rivalry between Irene and another librarian, which influences the plotline. 

A book that had me engrossed and amused at the same time. I liked the touches of humour that existed within the book, and the underlying tensions between some characters that were attracted to each other. All together a fun read. 

The Black Witch

Finished January 29

The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

This is the first book in a high fantasy series set in a world similar to our own. The current political situation is only a couple of generations old and unstable. The main character is Elloren Gardner, a 17-year-old who has led a sheltered life. There was a major war going on when she was very young, with her grandmother Clarissa a heroine for the winning side. Gardnerians made a pact with the Elvish people to create a peace, but it came at a cost to many of the other ethnic groups around. Elloren's parents were killed in one of the final battles in the war and she and her brothers Rafe and Trystan were looked after by their uncle Edwin, who brought them up in a remote pastoral part of the country. 

Near the beginning of the story, Elloren is surprised by an announcement from Edwin that she will be joining her brothers at Verpax University, to study to be an apothecary like her mother. Her paternal Aunt Vyvian, at the core of the Gardnerian government is on an unannounced visit and wants to wandfast her to the son of a prominent family.

This is a land of magic, where children are tested for magic at a young age and then classified into ranking based on their magical ability. Many other nations of being have magic as well, magic unique to them. Elloren has been told that she doesn't have magic, but she suspects she might have a different sort of magic. 

As Elloren is immersed into a world of diplomacy, rivalry, and infighting and forced to deal on a daily basis with beings she has had limited to no contact with before, she must navigate this with limited help from others. 

She finds herself living with two others, one a being said to be evil incarnate, of whom no males are allowed to live, and the other a half breed that is outcast by most of her mother's people. She must earn her tuition with labour after refusing to bow to her aunt's will, and work in the kitchens with those who both hate and mistrust her. 

Worst of all, she is the spitting image of her warrior grandmother and people assume she is like her in all other ways as well. 

As Elloren meets individuals of different beings, she finds more in common with them than she does with some of her own people, and she finds herself making choices that will shape her destiny. 

This is a story of a world of prejudice, with a caste system, and betrayal between former allies. It is a world where some are trying to build bridges, while others are planning mass genocide. 

It is also a world of unpredictable magic, of dragons and elves, fae folk and werewolves. A world where maybe anything is possible. 

I found myself totally immersed in this book, and immediately placed a hold at my library for the next in the series. I'm looking forward to seeing what Elloren and her friends get up to next. 

The Dream Thief

Finished October 25

The Dream Thief by Shana Abe

This is the second book in the Drakon series. They are set in the late 18th century. I've read the third book in the series Queen of Dragons, so I had some sense of where this book would end up. The Drakon are people who can transform from human to smoke and to dragons. Most gain this ability during their late teens, but not all. 

Amalia (Lia) is the daughter of the leader of the clan and she doesn't have the ability to turn, but she does have other abilities that she keeps to herself. One is to recognize real gems, like diamonds, sapphires, etc. including being aware of them from a distance. One that she has sensed for a long time is Draumr, an infamous diamond buried in the mountains of Carpathia, that has the power to enslave the drakons. It was buried by a princess of the clan who died doing it after being enslaved for years to an ordinary man. Her other gift is that she dreams the future, and she knows that it is a man with special skills who will go after Draumr. 

Lia is sent to boarding school in Scotland, but her knowledge of the future enables her to prepare in some ways for that, things like learning the languages of Hungarian and Romanian. She is also aware that Zane, a man rescued as a child by her mother, and who thus knows about the drakon, is a skilled thief who will be the one to go after the diamond. She approaches him when she is very young, but he rebuffs her. 

So when he is hired to go after the diamond, she must use her skills to follow him, and then travel with him on this journey. Along the way, she learns more about her own skills and abilities and finds herself capable of even more than she realized. 

We also see how capable Zane is, with his weapons knowledge and preparedness, and his ability to move quickly and surreptitiously when needed. 

In Romania, we also see the current Prince Imre of the castle where the diamond is, a man of drakon heritage, who lacks the ability to turn, and his bride Maricara, a child taken against her will from her peasant family because of her turning ability.

This is a story with strong protagonists, Zane and Lia, as well as other strong female characters, which I liked to see. It is also a story of control and power, and how that can corrupt and taint relationships. This story has a journey that is difficult and fraught with setbacks and hurdles from arson to snowstorms. 

A very enjoyable read. 

Queen of Dragons

Finished February 4

Queen of Dragons by Shana Abe

This is a later book in a series and I am now going back and reading the earlier ones. Here, a young woman named Maricara from the mountains of Romania is the queen of the drakon community there. But they are being threatened by locals that know of their ability to change into different forms. Maricara was born as a peasant, but she developed her skills early, and was taken from her home at a young age to be wed to the dragon leader. Now that he has passed away, she is the leader, and must worry about this threat to her people. She has become aware of men with skills like herself who have come from elsewhere and been hunted and killed nearby. She determined to go to England, where she knows where they were likely from, a small drakon community who has taken great care until now to hide themselves and their abilities. Her arrival brings both alarm and the consideration of tactics to the small community of Darkfrith. 

The chemistry between Maricara and the leader of the English community, the Earl of Chasen, is undeniable and he feels that he has the right to claim her as his own. But Maricara is a woman who knows what it is like to be claimed and held by another, and she protects her independence as she knows how. 

This is a tale that started before this book, but becomes an urgent fight for survival and the future of their kind here. 

Involving strong feelings, conflicting views on the visiting drakon, and the dangers now coming from outside their community, this is a tale that becomes more of a page-turner the further into the book one reads. 

I liked the independent nature of Maricara and the respect she earns from some of the English drakon. A good story that I want to read more of. 

The Deepest Night

Finished June 27
The Deepest Night by Shana Abe

This is the second book in the series that started with The Sweetest Dark. It is 1915 and Lora Jones is a scholarship student at Iverson, a prestigious boarding school for upper class young ladies housed in an old castle on England's southern coast. Lora grew up in an orphanage, and spent some time in a mental institution as well due to the music that she hears due to her special abilities. In the first book in the series, Lora discovered that she wasn't an ordinary human girl, but one that could change into a dragon. Here, she is recovering from injuries she received then, and has a new mission, to rescue Aubrey the eldest son of her benefactor, who is in a POW prison in Austria.
To help her, she has only the younger son of her benefactor, Armand, a young man who has fallen in love with her although her love is elsewhere. Armand does what he can to protect Lora, whether at the school, or outside of it. Even sometimes from his own father. And Lora does what she can to protect Armand, even as he begins to go through the changes that will bring him into his own dragon transformation.
I enjoyed the first book and always meant to follow up on the series, and am glad that I did. A lot of the plot here has to do with social classes, but there is also World War One which figures strongly in the book. Lora has her baggage from the past, and she has challenges in the present with not only the mission that the stars have for her now, but also with some of the girls that she goes to school with and with the social situation that she finds herself in. I really liked her as a character, and how she developed over the course of the book.
Looking forward to reading the third one

The Sweetest Dark

Finished October 20
The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abé

This is the first teen novel, launching a new series. This is a book of both historical fiction and the paranormal. Set in the first year of World War I in England, it focuses on Eleanore Jones (Lora), who was found at the age of ten on the streets of London and grew up in an orphanage. Lora always felt herself different than other children, and heard the sound of singing around her all the time. When her orphanage is destroyed in the war, she finds that she has been given a place in an elite girls school on the coast. There, she finally learns of her true nature, that of a drakon. This is an interesting departure from the paranormal popular creatures of late, and the awakening of Lora is done well.
As she arrives at the school Lora captures the attention of two very different young men, and it is their involvement that leads her to both danger and knowledge. As she learns of her nature, and begins to practice the skill of turning from human to smoke and dragon, she also learns of the history of her people. But she will be called upon to use her new skills in ways she never imagined.
A wonderful new series for teens that includes romance, danger, and history.

Dragonhunt

Finished April 27
Dragonhunt by Frances Duncan
I heard of this book in a book I read earlier this month, Book Ends. It sounded interesting and I managed to pick up a used copy. It is an older book (published in 1981) but doesn't read that way. I loved the use of words, the imagery, and the story. It read like an allegory to me, perhaps because of the visions the main character, Bernice, has. She was very interesting. At first, I thought she might be autistic, because of the way she avoided social situations and meeting people's eyes, but as I read on, that seemed to be more something she had grown into. To me, it felt like she'd had abuse in her life and had retreated from that.
An example of the wonderful language:

" Bernice now felt she wanted to give George words, felt as obsessed with wanting words as she had felt denying them. She wanted to find exactly the right words with the right nuances, to swim in an ocean of words and by fishing to pull up for his benefit exactly the most perfect word, to lay it at the altar of that smile. She tried, but was not satisfied, for words were too important, too invocative and evocative, and there were elements she wished to neither invoke nor evoke. Also, words had no revocative power; once uttered they remained, objects with separate identities, as palpable as a clam or pearl, able to punish, haunt, wreak havoc with their existence. Better to suppress the desire to give words, to abort their existence."
Not a long book, but an intense one, and one I wanted to savour.

Children's book

Finished April 30
The Shadow Dragons by James A Owen, read by James Langton
This book is part of the series The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.
The current caretakers have gathered in the woods near Oxford to discuss the current challenge of the young girl Rose, the Grail Child, who was brought through to their time on a previous adventure. They are met by a man who introduces them to even more dangers and in escaping from one situation, find themselves involved in another.
As the Shadow of the Winter King tries to take control of both the Archipelago and the Summer Lands, they must find a way to fulfill the prophecy that prevents this as well as dealing with the disintegration of the Keep of Time and the threats of the Imperial Cartological Society. With a variety of characters from the past, both literary and scientific, and they mythical knight Don Quixote, they look for the way to save the two worlds from a terrible fate.
For children 10 and up this is a deep fantasy novel with elements of this world, other worlds, and time travel. A very enjoyable read.