Tag: YA

From NYT bestselling author comes a haunting, high-octane contemporary fantasy for fans of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Winnie Wednesday fights to take the deadly Luminary hunter trials in Hemlock Falls’ nightmare-filled forest.

Hemlock Falls isn’t like other towns. You won’t find it on a map, your phone won’t work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you…

Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie’s town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night. Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyal—and restore her family’s good name. Or die trying.

But in order to survive, Winnie must enlist the help of the one person who can help her train: Jay Friday, resident bad boy and Winnie’s ex-best friend. While Jay might be the most promising new hunter in Hemlock Falls, he also seems to know more about the nightmares of the forest than he should. Together, he and Winnie will discover a danger lurking in the forest no one in Hemlock Falls is prepared for.

Not all monsters can be slain, and not all nightmares are confined to the dark.

For the tour I have been designated a member of the Monday clan – they are the keepers of the Luminaries knowledge. As a former librarian, this works for me!

My thoughts: as a massive Dennerd (as Susan’s fans are known) from the Witchlands series and a follower on Twitter, where she originally had a choose your own adventure via polls version of The Luminaries (it’s still there fyi), I was very excited about this book before it even existed.

As the first title from Daphne Press, created by the lovely founder of Illumicrate, this was a very beautiful creepy/pretty book in terms of the cover. I’m never entirely sure about skulls.

Anyway, I did really enjoy Winnie’s trials and tribulations as she fought to prove herself, redeem her family and win herself a place alongside the other Luminaries and fight monsters for a living. But something weird is going on in the woods and too many people are quick to dismiss it, it’s up to our girl Winnie and the very annoying (and handsome) Jay to prove it.

This is the first in a trilogy and so a chunk of the story is given over to explaining how everything works, the lore, magic etc, which is necessary but I wanted to move onto Winnie training montages and monster fighting, thankfully there’s a bit of that too! I loved the whole days of the week clan thing, it was a bit silly but also funny that they’re literally called the Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays etc, and that poor Winnie’s full name is Wednesday Winifred Wednesday (that’s just mean). But I’m rooting for Winnie to come out on top, especially as she is absolutely right that there’s something out there scarier than the monsters going bump (-ed off) in the night. Roll on book two!

*I got my fancy copy from my monthly Illumicrate subscription but you can now buy a copy with the same creepy/pretty cover from all good bookshops. All opinions remain my own.

The Blight. The end of Mankind. The Bridge that may be salvation or the final betrayal.

Magic is treacherous, it lied to them all…

In this grimdark fantasy, magic and its guardians have been banished to the Deadlands and the Blight threatens mankind’s survival. Terren, the last remaining city, stands alone against its relentless advance. Ever closer draws the choice they all must make: face the deadly Blight or cross the Bridge to Magic.

Elika, an orphan on Terren’s streets, hates and fears the dark bridge. Many who try to cross, perish. Some reach the other side, only to become motionless shadows in the vast, lifeless landscape of the Deadlands, their true fate unknown.Like everyone else, Elika clings to the hope that purging every lingering echo of magic from the world can stop the Blight.

Then she discovers that magic is hiding within her, and through her it seeks to enact the will of its own. Everything Elika knew about her past shatters, as long-buried secrets about her true birth emerge. Accused of being a mage, many doubt her loyalties. Her gang turns against her. The one man she thought she could trust and love, abandons her.

Hunted and alone, Elika must soon decide: Either destroy the magic inside her or cross the bridge to her own uncertain end. But what awaits them in the Deadlands where the enemy of mankind roams wild?

The Bridge to Magic is a dark and intriguing story of a life between two deaths and an impossible choice to make. It is a tale of hope and survival in a world where neither seems possible.

Alex Thornbury is an award-winning fantasy author. She grew up in Cheshire UK, and developed deep love of history and fantasy thanks to the many castles she visited as a child. Though she grew up to be an Alchemist by trade, she never stopped fantasising about other worlds, dragons and epic battles.

She has abandoned her Alchemy and potion making career, and is now a full time author of high fantasy. After all, who does not love to build new worlds and meet its wondrous inhabitants?

My thoughts: this was a really interesting new YA fantasy series. Caught between the Blight slowly eating up everything and the terrifying chasm that the Bridge spans, Terren teems with rumours. Priestesses peddle a “cure” to being an Echo – infected with a hint of magic, paranoia runs rife as more refugees from the Blight flood the city. Gangs of thieves take in orphans like Elika, stealing to survive, dodging the city’s guards and trying to stay a step ahead.

But something is different about Eli, old Bill Fisher tries to tell her with his stories, but can she believe a man who says he’s 700 years old? Is she an Echo or something more, something dangerous? As the city runs out of time, can Eli turn the tide or is it finally time for her to cross the Bridge to the Deadlands?

As Eli tries to figure out who she is, and why she’s being pursued by so many, as the city tears itself apart and the poorest struggle to survive, everything Eli thought she knew might be wrong. A strong beginning to a new and exciting series.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.