The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden

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At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn't mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse's fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa's new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa's stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse's most frightening tales.

I was immediately entranced by the atmosphere that the author was able to create. I was skeptical of people who had said to read this in the winter because the author makes you feel as if you are within that season in the book. It is absolutely true! I found that I had to have a space heater on because the author describes the hardships of winter for the characters in the book so well. 

The Bear and the Nightingale never seemed to go in directions that I thought that it would and I loved the unpredictability of it. There was still a great progression to the book and held my interest throughout. Vasilisa was a great main character that helped to drive the story forward. I loved her strength and wildness but I hated how she was described as being ugly so much. It bothered me that she was seen as having little to no value because she was not seen as beautiful and docile. I have to give the author credit for making me hate the way that society was at that time because I wouldn't have fully understood Vasilisa's perspective as well as I did without it. 

Early on in the book, the author makes it known that religion old and new is a part of the culture of the time in the story. I thought that this aspect of the book might make it hard for me to continue reading the book. I don't tend to enjoy preachy books but luckily I found the book exciting and fantastical even with the religious aspect. It adds more depth to the book and adds in unlikely villains. 

I had never read any kind of Russian folklore or fairy tales before this book but The Bear and the Nightingale has me wanting to read many more. I am hoping that I will enjoy the next book in the series as much if not more than this one. I would add that if you enjoy historical fiction or fairy tales or are looking for a way to begin reading either of the genres then you would probably enjoy The Bear and the Nightingale. 

An Unkindness of Magicians (An Unkindness of Magicians #1) by Kat Howard

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There is a dark secret that is hiding at the heart of New York City and diminishing the city’s magicians’ power in this fantasy thriller by acclaimed author Kat Howard.

In New York City, magic controls everything. But the power of magic is fading. No one knows what is happening, except for Sydney—a new, rare magician with incredible power that has been unmatched in decades, and she may be the only person who is able to stop the darkness that is weakening the magic. But Sydney doesn’t want to help the system, she wants to destroy it.

Sydney comes from the House of Shadows, which controls the magic with the help of sacrifices from magicians. 

Unkindness of Magicians thrusts readers into a world without any previous knowledge and teaches you about the dangerous world as the chapters progress. I was pulled into the story immediately and thought that it read a bit like a movie. There are quite a few perspectives but I think that it adds to the story as well as the flow of it. I usually have issues with so many points of view because it can be distracting and confusing but I was able to follow along easily. 

I thought that the author set the scene extremely well and brought readers into the world without info dumping. I thought that the magic system was really interesting and loved the elements that the author added in. I have often wondered what happens to those with magic as they use it and this book answered a question that no other book has before. 

I loved Sydney! She was by far my favorite character due to her flawed but righteous nature. She is a result  of her circumstances and an example of what can happen when your choices come back to haunt you. I enjoyed the simplicity of the questions that the novel posed through each characters experience with the magical world. It asks the question: How far would you be willing to go to obtain power? What would you do to fix a broken system?

There was one point that I felt was anticlimactic after so much build up to that event coming to pass. I would have liked to have had more tension within that part of the story as well as more detail in the rest of the story but found the book enjoyable enough to overlook the flaws. I recently found out that the author has decided to write a sequel which I am looking forward to reading. If you are looking for a fantasy book that doesn't require much brain power and is a fun read read then I highly recommend Unkindness of Magicians. 

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

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"Gosford Park" meets "Groundhog Day" by way of Agatha Christie – the most inventive story you'll read this year.

Tonight, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed... again.

It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.

But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...

This book was not exactly what I expected but exactly what I needed. I'm always on the hunt for a mystery/thriller that is unique and takes things in a direction that I'm  not expecting. I had heard that 7 and a half deaths had a sci-fi element to it which is another genre that I enjoy so this book really intrigued me. 
The author throws you right into the fray with no information beforehand whatsoever. I was as disoriented as the main character probably was waking up in the body of a party guest having no idea where he was or how he came to be there. There were periods in the book that were thrilling and left me yelling at characters to run or not to trust certain people in the book. It was interesting and kept my attention easily because I wanted to solve the mystery right along with the main Aiden. There were points in the book where the pacing off and seemed to slow down considerably which was extremely frustrating for me. The slow pacing seems to happen towards the middle of the book and picks back up by the end. Everything happens so quickly and answers to questions are delivered. If you aren't paying close attention you could easily miss something and have to go back and read passages again. 
Something that I both loved and hated was that I couldn't figure out who the murderer was until the author spells it out at the end of the book. I'm usually really good at it but the end result was confusing for me. The murder mystery is a bit hard to follow and I'm not sure that the author left the appropriate amount of breadcrumbs for readers to solve it. 
Some of the questions that I had that were not pertaining to the murder but the rest of the story as a whole were never answered and I am still left wondering how certain things came to be or why. 

I have to say that I did LOVE the twist in the story pertaining to Aiden. I thought that it was so devious and clever. I wish that the author would have delved into that aspect of the story even more or would write another book focusing on that aspect of the book. I understood the end result of Aiden's stake in the story but would have preferred it end a bit differently than it did. 

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey

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Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

I watched The Expanse TV show with my husband and we both really enjoyed it. It took me some time to get into the show and word of advice...get through the first three episodes and by the fourth episode things really start to pick up. I wanted to read the books first but I'm a mood reader and have to be in the mood for something otherwise I end up putting it down. 

I decided to listen to the audio book which is good but extremely long. The TV show follows the book very closely so I would recommend reading the book first before watching. I had a hard time paying attention to the book because I felt like I already knew everything that was going to happen. 

The book follows two different points of view which are Miller and Holden. The world is vast and there are quite a few characters but by having only two points of view it helps the reader to not become overwhelmed by information. 

The world is built really well and steadily throughout the book which I appreciated. I wish that some of the characters could have been fleshed out better because Miller and Holden seemed to be the only characters that had much depth. There is some romance in the book but I wish that the authors would have just skipped over that. I don't think that it needed to be included and appeared more like insta-love which I hate. 

Caliban's War (The Expanse #2) by James S.A. Corey

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We are not alone.

On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system.

In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun . . .

Caliban's War is a breakneck science fiction adventure following the critically acclaimed Leviathan Wakes.

I was extremely happy to see that there were some new perspectives in Caliban's War including some of my favorite characters of the series (Bobby and Chrisjen Avasarala). I have been religiously watching The Expanse TV show since my husband got me addicted to it and have recently begun reading the book series. If you enjoy the show then it is pretty much a guarantee that you will love the books the show is based on. I really liked the first book but found that Holden and Miller were a bit bland and found my mind wandering somewhat during the book. That was not the case with Caliban's War! I loved reading Bobby and Chrisjen Avasarala's points of view. I also surprised myself with being interested in Prax's point of view even though he didn't do much for me in the show. It is important to keep in mind that characters and some of the situations in the book differ greatly from the show. For instance, Chrisjen Avasarala is even more of a spitfire and well....even more of a politician if you know what I mean.

I loved how there were so many action packed scenes as well as more political intrigue. I know that quite a few people think that the plot in Caliban's War is similar if not the same as the first book in the series and I agree somewhat. I suppose the crew of the Rossi are again going on a mission to find out more regarding the protomolecule which has them some into contact with a missing persons case again. I think that there was a different feel to this book though. I feel it was a great continuation of the story giving readers more clues and perspectives from people racing to figure everything out and have the most control and power.