#Friday56 – These Violent Nights

Happy FriYAY Bibliofriends!

This week’s Friday 56 comes from These Violent Nights by Rebecca Crunden. This 3-part story set in a fantastically dystopian version of Earth introduces us to a memorable band of characters as they seek to repair a tear in the universe and bring two warring communities together.

Hosted by Freda’s Voice, the Friday 56 is a weekly bookish prompt. It’s quite easy to do and could cover no end of different books and genres so seems great if you’re looking for a quick snippet to discover something new!

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple.


He was the first Suriia she’d ever met who acted… almost human.
Not sure what to make of the strange encounter, Thorn spent a few minutes testing the locks on the windows before she wandered into the bathroom. She’d never been able to take a hot shower that wasn’t filled with panic at the thought of being caught and killed.

These Violent Nights by Rebecca Crunden

You can check out my full, spoiler-free review of These Violent Nights here.


Drop me a comment below or connect with me here:

Twitter | Goodreads | Book Sloth: @thebiblioshelf |Email: thebiblioshelf@gmail.com

#Friday56 – A Curse of Ash and Embers

Happy FriYAY Bibliofriends!

This week’s Friday 56 comes from A Curse of Ash and Embers by Jo Spurrier. This was a really different style of witchy read and I loved the world building and magical characters created.

Hosted by Freda’s Voice, the Friday 56 is a weekly bookish prompt. It’s quite easy to do and could cover no end of different books and genres so seems great if you’re looking for a quick snippet to discover something new!

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple.


I tried, I really did, but it was too late.
The black shadow moved faster than a thought. In an instant it was wrapped around me, and I was swept to an empty, dark place. Dark and cold, so very cold, a cold that felt like needles dragging over my skin, a cold that pierced me right to the heart.

A Curse of Ash and Embers by Jo Spurrier

If you’re a fan of slow-paced, dark and sinister fantasies with wickedly created villains and a gruelling fight between (a morally-grey) good and evil then you might find something to enjoy in A Curse of Ash and Embers. You can check out my full, spoiler-free review here.


Drop me a comment below or connect with me here:

Twitter | Goodreads | Book Sloth: @thebiblioshelf |Email: thebiblioshelf@gmail.com

Biblioshelf Musings – A Curse of Ash and Embers

Hello Bibliofriends!

This week’s Musings review comes from my first accepted ARC from Edelweiss! I’m still trying to get to grips with the system and formatting of the site but I was so thrilled to finally get off the mark with A Curse of Ash and Embers by Jo Spurrier. Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publishers at Harper Voyager for providing me with a complimentary e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Book: A Curse of Ash and Embers by Jo Spurrier
Series: Tales of the Blackbone Witches (#1)
Genre: YA / Fantasy
Publication Date: November 3rd 2020
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 367
Rating: 📚📚📚

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

A dead witch. A bitter curse. A battle of magic.

Some people knit socks by the fire at night. Gyssha Blackbone made monsters.

But the old witch is dead now, and somehow it’s Elodie’s job to clean up the mess.

When she was hired at Black Oak Cottage, Elodie had no idea she’d find herself working for a witch; and her acid-tongued new mistress, Aleida, was not expecting a housemaid to turn up on her doorstep.

Gyssha’s final curse left Aleida practically dead on her feet, and now, with huge monsters roaming the woods, a demonic tree lurking in the orchard and an angry warlock demanding repayment of a debt, Aleida needs Elodie’s help, whether she likes it or not.

And no matter what the old witch throws at her, to Elodie it’s still better than going back home.

My Musings

Originally published in 2018 and set for rerelease on 3rd November 2020, A Curse of Ash and Embers forms as the first novel in The Blackbone Witches series by Jo Spurrier.

The world of the Blackbone Witches is by far my favourite part of this book. It is so cleverly created and is filled with really imaginative and fascinating forms of magic. I absolutely loved the wicked creatures and demons that were constructed out of bits of nature and old broken bones. They were ominously sinister, like something leaping right out of the horror genre and what’s more, they were believably scary and made me want to hide behind the sofa when our main characters were confronted by them. There is also a freakishly demonic tree (which I hope never to come across in my life!) and an adorably intriguing group of sprites which built up a wonderfully multi-layered world in my head.

The story is told from Elodie’s perspective, however I was much more interested in the parts of the story which were filled with Aleida, Attwater and Laurel. These are the magical creatures/beings around which much of the drama, action and magical elements within the story unfold. Aleida is mysterious and reminds me of those morally grey characters who aren’t necessarily good but aren’t all that bad either. Her presence offered a stark contrast to the rather homely and naive Elodie, through whose perspective the story is told. I felt like I was waiting for the arrivals and interactions of the otherworldly characters to brighten up the storyline and incorporate that fabulous world-building and magical antics into the plot, rather than just living through Elodie’s rather provincial life as housekeeper/assistant.

Because of that, I much preferred the final half of the book to the second half. At about halfway through, the plot and characters seemed to be fully established enough that the pace of the novel lifted as the drama and magic began to snowball. Beasts came out of the woodwork (literally), ghosts came back from the past with a vengeance and we were catapulted forward into what was really quite a darkly interesting and exciting magical world.

Overall, there were many things I enjoyed whilst reading A Curse of Ash and Embers. It offered me a rather different, enchanting world to explore with some really quite grizzly, foreboding villains. The struggle and harsh realities of the battle between good and evil was definitely felt through the storytelling and the wide range of magics and characters woven between the pages.

Why Should I Read This?

For an intriguing magical world filled with steampunk-esque ‘constructs’, a hellish witch-villain and ethereal sprites.
For the morally-grey Aleida who brings a new style to the idea of witch-kind.
For a cleverly crafted plot.

Find out more about this book here:

Amazon | Waterstones | Harper Collins | Goodreads | Author’s Website

Connect with me here:

Twitter | Goodreads | Book Sloth: @thebiblioshelf |Email: thebiblioshelf@gmail.com

#Friday56 – The Once and Future Witches

Happy FriYAY Bibliofriends!

This week’s Friday 56 comes from The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow. I loved the atmosphere and storytelling which catapulted me straight back into 1890s New Salem and introduced me to some fierce, sassy new witches. Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit / Little, Brown Book Group for providing me with a complimentary e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hosted by Freda’s Voice, the Friday 56 is a weekly bookish prompt. It’s quite easy to do and could cover no end of different books and genres so seems great if you’re looking for a quick snippet to discover something new!

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple.


A girl is such an easy thing to break: weak and fragile, all alone, all yours. But they aren’t girls anymore, and they don’t belong to anyone. And they aren’t alone.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

From the first few pages of this book, I had those 5-star read vibes and let me tell you, Alix E Harrow did not let me down! Those characters, that storyline, that slow-burn sapphic romance! I was crying my eyes out by the end as the ending certainly kept me on my toes! You really should read it! You can check out my full, spoiler-free review here.


Drop me a comment below or connect with me here:

Twitter | Goodreads | Book Sloth: @thebiblioshelf |Email: thebiblioshelf@gmail.com

Biblioshelf Musings – The Once and Future Witches

Hello Bibliofriends!

If you’re on the hunt for the perfect witchy read this Halloween, then look no further than The Once and Future Witches! An amazingly ethereal read, Alix E. Harrow’s new novel combines compellingly powerful female characters with a spine-tingling recreation of patriarchal New Salem and a plot that will unite witches everywhere! I loved it! Huge thanks to NetGalley, Orbit and Alix E. Harrow for providing me with a complimentary e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Book: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fantasy
Publication Date: October 15th 2020
Publisher: Orbit / Little, Brown UK
Pages: 528
Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters–James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna–join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There’s no such thing as witches. But there will be.

My Musings

Right from the very first page, The Once and Future Witches had such a distinctive, atmospheric tone that I actually felt as if I had stepped into a vortex and travelled back in time to 1890s New Salem. The way the opening captures and introduces each Eastwood sister… it’s one of the best openings to a story I’ve read in a long time, it hooked me right in. Harrow’s storytelling was so sharp and effervescent; every single word and sentence meticulously crafted to transport the reader right into the hearts and minds of the Eastwood sisters – I loved it! Language and writing style are so important to me as a reader and the way Harrow told her story is by far my absolute, favourite thing about this novel. 

The story is told through the three perspectives of the Eastwood sisters and each one has their own different style linking to their personalities. James Juniper is wild, feisty and headstrong, Agnes Amaranth has a strong moral compass and an iron will to protect her own and Beatrice Belladonna calls out to every book-loving nerdigan out there. I found there was something to relate to in all of them and I was interested in reading every narrative equally rather than favouring one character over another. 

What’s more, these characters are on a mission! The way the rights of women is merged with the rights of witches – all of that anger and vengeance from oppression and the patriarchy is turned into determined action which keeps driving the storyline forwards like an ongoing march without making the storyline come across as aggressive. A slow-burn Sapphic relationship also sprinkled a little romance into the mix allowing one of the main characters to really come into her own.

The subversion of famous historical male figures was like little Easter Eggs which I loved looking out for. Iterations to the heritage of witches with the presence of the Crone, the Mother, the Maiden and Familiars sang out to my inner history geek whilst the featuring of Avalon and a quest to revive the witching ways by hiding it underneath everyday women’s work appealed to my love of treasure hunting and puzzles.

All in all, The Once and Future Witches was exactly the novel I needed to get me right in the mood for spooky season. It is also one of my favourite representations of witches I’ve read for a long time. A beautifully-written, action-packed piece of witch-lore with characters I will be championing long into the future.

Favourite Quotes:

A new witch-tale, for a new world.

Behind every witch, is a woman wronged.

That’s all magic is really: the space between what you have and what you need.

If you want to blame someone for a fire, look for the men holding matches.

You can tell the wickedness of a witch by the wickedness of her ways.

Why Should I Read This?

For a writing style and atmosphere so brilliantly crafted it will suck you into the pages and back in time.
For the incredible narratives and characters of three very different yet sassy and fierce Eastwood sisters.
For a brilliant blend of contemporary female values intertwined with the heritage of witching and the suffragists.

Find out more about this book here:

Amazon | Little, Brown Book Group | Author’s Instagram | Waterstones | NetGalley | Author’s Twitter | Author’s Website

Connect with me here:

Twitter | Goodreads | Book Sloth: @thebiblioshelf |Email: thebiblioshelf@gmail.com