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Tag: fiction

  • Book Review: “Arrows of the Queen” by Mercedes Lackey

    Book Review: “Arrows of the Queen” by Mercedes Lackey

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Genre: Epic Fantasy

    Length: 284 pages

    Format Read: Library ebook

    Published Year: 1987

    Screenshot of “Arrows of the Queen” book cover with excerpt: “When Talia ‘found’ one of the legendary Companions, she took the first step along the magical pathway to her destiny.”

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    I did not expect to love this little book as much as I did. I read the first book in the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey called “The Arrows of the Queen” and I enjoyed this fantasy very much. It has very strong themes of Found Family and anti-patriarchy and love for friends and coming-of-age for a book from 1987.

    The story follows Talia, a 13 year old girl who lives in a “Holdhouse” with her immediate family, including all of her father’s wives. The adults tell her that she’ll be married off almost immediately to any of the possible men, all the way from someone “young” to one of the older men to be one of his “underwives”. She (I say, understandably) does not want this, declares she wants to be a Herald, and runs into the woods. She’s found by a Heralds’ Companion, which looks like a horse but is a type of Familiar. The Companion takes her to the Heralds’ school where she learns about her gifts, herself, and how to trust others.

    I loved the themes in this story, from self-love and acceptance, found family, trusting friends, and coming-of-age. The coming-of-age elements were very well done. I did feel at times that the characters acted a bit too emotionally mature for their declared ages, but the story does explain that Heralds are different from most people in this respect due to their magic and their bonds with their Companions. Otherwise, Talia’s encounters with friendships and bullying throughout the story are relatable for a coming-of-age. The little romantic elements are also cute and well done, I felt.

    I deeply felt a lot of the things that came from Talia’s point of view. I was taken back mentally to my own preteen years and I almost cried at the hollow feeling that echoed when Talia thought “How can I trust these strangers to care about how I feel if my own blood family doesn’t care about how I feel?” It hit me right in the feels as a person that was told repeatedly as a child to “stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about.” It gave words to my experience that I didn’t realize was still a wound for me.

    By the end, she grows significantly; the story covers a few years’ time period, even though it is a relatively short book. She learns about herself and her gifts and her newfound family helps her along in this journey, and I thought this was also a very nice part of the story; she’s a Chosen one in a special role, but she’s not alone in her journey and her found family helps her in every step of the way.

  • Book Review: ‘Dragon Blind’ by Dr Iman Christians

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Genre: Fantasy Romance/Romantasy

    Length: 411 pages

    Format Read: Paperback

    Published: 2025

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    ‘Dragon Blind’ by DR Iman is a beautiful story. One of the things I absolutely loved about this story was the main character’s independence. The main character Asha has become blind later in childhood, but that doesn’t drive her into a narrative of helplessness throughout the story for the situations she’s in. I love that about her. She also is not continually saved by the male main character in every event in the story, which I found to be well done. The prologue set that particular mood for this story rather quickly; from page one, in fact.

    The main male character Adriel is well done. He has emotions and leans more progressive than Asha’s family, but he has understandable shortcomings there as well; the overall culture wants to make decisions for Asha so Adriel’s driven in that direction, too. Fortunately, he really doesn’t get to “save” Asha every time; she mostly helps herself by way of her bond with dragons. In particular, Drakkar.

    If you like sassy dragons, you will love Drakkar. Drakkar is an excellent, sassy, helpful dragon friend that any woman would like to have by her side.

    I only had issue with one inconsistency; at the beginning, Adriel tells Asha that his kingdom takes care of and empowers individuals who have conditions such as blindness, but when she actually visits his kingdom, we don’t really find that to be the case. She is able to find books in the language she can read, but it is still very limited along with overall accessibility around the castle. I couldn’t tell if this was a story inconsistency or a way to show that the existing king was not as good as he should be, or even to show that Adriel was not as aware as he could be. If that is the case, my personal opinion would be that he can grow to improve in his awareness.

    Overall: 4 stars because this is a beautiful fantasy journey and story with wonderful characters and emotional depth. 2 spicy peppers in my opinion because there is a detailed open-door scene.

  • Book Review: ‘To Light a Candle’ by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟

    Genre: Fantasy

    Length: 856 pages

    Format: Library Borrowed Ebook

    Published: 2004

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    I am thoroughly enjoying the ‘Obsidian Trilogy’ so far. ‘To Light a Candle‘ marks the second entry into the series and the story continues to deliver nostalgic, epic fantasy vibes. We have a chosen one and all his friends. We have legendary creatures appearing. We have fantastical creature bonds and magic. And a little bit of a side character romantic sub-plot that the main character wishes would stop. (It is between his sister and his new friend after all.)

    Continuing with Kellen’s adventure, he is continuing to grow into a strong knight-mage and his training has helped him to progress further in that endeavor. Some of his growth in this book feels slightly rushed but it is also explained that the Wild Magic fuels a lot of his knight-mage “powers” that he has developed. While this is an okay explanation, it sometimes still feels as if the events happened for no reason and he’s just instantly amazing at all of the fighting and sword skills that he tries.

    He isn’t quite a “Gary Stu” however; the plot doesn’t always lend itself to his instant-success — he does cause battles to go awry and he causes the armies to have heavy losses at times because his knight-mage “battle sight” fails him in actually predicting disasters accurately and helpfully. Sometimes, it only shows him that disaster is coming when it is right upon all of them. Other times, he is able to save the elf armies from losses. It wasn’t always clear when this was a narrative choice that made sense so it felt arbitrary at times. Otherwise, I love this series.

    The atmosphere is incredible. I love the pacing and the world-building. The elves are this interesting race of people with their traditions and their manners that make sense for being long-lived people, but they still have a cozy acceptance for the differences of others that also makes sense for everything they have seen and know about humans and other races like the centaurs.

    Kellen is hilarious towards the end of the story when he and Cilarnen have to pair up. He becomes like an incredibly petty older brother to Cilarnen even though Cilarnen is older than Kellen. It makes sense for the narrative with the history between the two of them at the beginning of ‘The Outstretched Shadow.’ The experience that we see through Cilarnen’s eyes also further validates the growth that we see Kellen undergoing, which is part of why I don’t feel that he was completely written as a “Gary Stu” type of character. Kellen has undergone growth that becomes more apparent when Cilarnen sees him and how far Kellen has departed from the boy he was when he left the city Armatheleah.

    Overall, 5 🌟 for the story, atmosphere, world-building, and humor between the characters. I am looking forward to reading the next and final book of the trilogy: ‘When Darkness Falls.’

  • Book Review: “Daindreth’s Assassin” by Elisabeth Wheatley

    Stars: 4.5 out of 5

    Genre: Fantasy Romance

    Book Length: 276 pages

    Format Read: Paperback

    Published: 2021

    This book was highly enjoyable. I loved the slower pace and the enemies-to-lovers trope of the story. As this book also doesn’t contain sex scenes, the yearning is written excellently. To be fair, I would say the enemies-to-lovers trope is primarily at play at the beginning; they feel more like a friends-to-lovers couple as the story progresses. Friends-to-lovers is my favorite between the two tropes, so I was happy.

    The story’s pacing feels cozy until the action scenes begin; once we’re in a fight, the pace picks up appropriately, and the scene plays out in my mind clearly based on the description. This is perfect because I find I hate when a book’s action picks up too quickly and makes me go back to read like “wait, wait, WAIT, where are we? What happened??” I stayed immersed in this book from beginning to end.

    I enjoy Elisabeth’s writing as well because it clearly conveys the story and characters’ feelings, and it doesn’t have the shock factor written into it that some of the most popular authors lean on. The book is written for an adult audience, but without an abundance of cursing or crude jokes and comments. These things are in the writing, but not forced in for the sake of it; these moments fit the overall story or emotion for the moment.

    My Favorite Moments

    **Spoilers Ahead**

    Amira’s (second time) meeting Daindreth on pages 41-44, and specifically when he kissed her hand in greeting. Her sassing Thadred was also wonderful. I, too, choke to death all the time.

    Daindreth asking King Hyle for Amira’s hand in marriage on pages 48-50 was a top favorite moment. I felt just as confused as the rest of the room with the court.

    That moment is quickly followed by the fight between Amira’s stepmother and herself. The anger was palpable and satisfying. Queen Hyle never stood a chance. This results in what any good MMC does.

    Page 71 is one of the first moments that I really liked Daindreth. He betrays everyone’s feelings on this later, but he tries here and other times in the story.

    The meeting between Amira and the Empress sets the perfect tone for their whole relationship in the book.

    The whole of chapter 9. It’s an entire favorite.

    Page 141 – “Who did this?” Gets me every time.

    The kiss on page 176 and the resulting conversation with his possessiveness and yearning showing on 177-178 – gah! I have no words for how good it is.

    Chapter 17 made me mad in the best way. The betrayal.

    Finally, on page 233, my eyes couldn’t open any wider, and I might have cheered aloud. “The chokehold broke like a cut rope.”