Enter the world of the Trees of Man with Vedientir By Ivan Hladni

 

Title: Vedientir

Author: Ivan Hladni

Source: ebook

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4 paws up

The alliance of the four kingdoms crumbles when armies belonging to powerful horrors from an era before time itself existed break their way through the Great Trees from the old "Slavic" speaking world of magic and gods into the "English" speaking world of mankind.

Dion, a young man in his early twenties, is then thrust out of the besieged city of Echa on a task to get help from the king, but finds that their kingdom is no longer the safe haven it once was. Things have come out of the Great Trees that have not lived in the world outside of old wives' tales, and Nightmares walk the earth, but not everything is lost...

This light-hearted book is full of action, magic and humor, and the main characters in it are young, especially the dragon, Zmai, who is one year old, or as he said to king Valan - he is "edna rok star", since he does not speak English, but fortunately for the dragon, Dion speaks the Old language and can talk to the dragon and translate for us.

I won this in a goodreads giveaway I cannot believe it took me so long to read it. It is a book that will stick with me and I will recommend to others.  I honestly did not expect to like it as much as I did. This is a story that I did not expect to just blow me away. Simply love Dion, Kerkio and Zmai as well. There is so much in this novel that keeps you hanging on the edge of your seat.  Dion is the character that doesn't see his strength and thinks everyone baby's him but then comes to realize how strong and important he truly is and what he can do to help save his city.  Kerkio is the type of friend everyone needs.  He's lifting Dion up and reminding him that they are companions, friends, not babysitter.  I think there is more to Kerkio than what we see, he's a force to be reckonded with.  And Zmai, that is there not to love about a young dragon who imprinted on his rescuer??   I love the acorns of the great Oak trees and the mythos that is with in this novel. Hladni creates his own culture and mythos that makes me simply want more.  I love the use of acorns as magical reagents to travel between cities, summon elementals, and so much more that we didn't really get to see yet in this book, but you just know is more.  The book leaves it open for more novels and I hope Ivan Hladni writes more, I checked this afternoon and it doesn't look like there is one yet. I don't know what else I could compre this novel too, there is nothing else quite like it. I could really see this book game made into a movie I wish it would be.

Follow the students of Minghau as they protect: The Library of Legends by Janie Chang

 

Title: Library of Legends

Author: Janie Chang

Genre: Fantasy

Source: Physical Book

Rating: 5 paws up

It's 1937, Japanese bombs are dropping on the city of Nanking China, in order the ensure the safety of their students Minghua University order Hu Lian and her classmates to flee.  Lian and a convoy of other students, faculty and staff must walk miles to find safety in one of China's Western provinces.  A trek that is riddled with threat of enemy attacks.  While the students stive to find safety, they must also protect a priceless treasure: a collection of myths and folkore that is 500 years old: the Library of Legends.  This journey creates bonds among the students and staff.  While Lian form new friendships, she also forms an unlikely romance with the handsome and wealthy Liu Shaoming.  But their trials do not come in the form of enemy attach alone.  One classmate is arrested and another is murdered, and betryal swims through the group.  Lian realizes she must escape for her family's past secret puts her in more danger.  Lian, Shao and his madiservant, Sparrow (who has a secret of her own) make their way to Shanghai in hopes of find refuge and family. During the journey, Lian learns of the connection between her two companions and a tale from the Library of Legends, The Willow Star and the Prince. This revelation comes with profound consequences, for as the ancient books travel across China, they awaken immortals and guardian spirits who embark on an exodus of their own, one that will change the country’s fate forever. 

This was probably one of my favorite books so far this year.  I have come to love the lyrical and poetic way that Janie Change tells her stories.  She is just a gifted and talented atmospheric storyteller, that I haven't seen the likes of in a long time.  I may, dare I say, like her novels more than Lisa See.  *GASP* I know!  I was in a reading slump before I picked up this one from my shelf and it brought my reading mojo back.

This novel is filled with myth and folklore, romance, betrayal, family relationships, and so much more.  Chang provides readers with accurate historical details and weaves it perfectly with legends showing their spiritual importance and meaning.  I so want to find a copy of the Willow Star and The Prince because it seems like a beautiful story.  I enjoyed all the characters, though I kind of wanted more of Sparrow and the legends beyond their own exodus, or more on that.  I do also like that the romance wasn't the 100% focus of this story.  Chang's spent a lot of time showing readers the historical significance of her tale, as well as the spiritual.  The story is set during an event that gets overshadowed by other historical events surrounding WW2 that other historical novels focus on. It was a relief to read something that didn't focus on the typical events that we generally see in this genre.

 If you enjoy books like The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, then you would enjoy this book.  It has so much to offer.  Janie Chang will quickly become a favorite.

Library of the Unwritten by AJ Hackwith

 Title: The Library of the Unwritten

Author: A.J Hackwith

Genre: Fantasy

Source: Library Paperback

Rating: 3 paws up

Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing of a library in Hell.  This is where all the unfinished stories by various authors reside.  Her job is to repair and organze the books like most librarians, but from time to time a book gets resetless and self-actualized and becomes one of it's characters in the flesh and try to escape the confines of the library: Claire must stop them.  Things go awry when a hero escapes from his book to search for his author.  Clair and her assistant Brevity (a former muse ooooh) and a nervous young demon named Leto.  This seemingly simple assignment goes horribly wrong when not only the hero tears pages from his book, but an angel, Ramiel, attacks them.  He believes the librarians hold the missing Devil's Bible, a powerful weapon that can easily unleash war between Heaven and Hell.  So now Claire and her ragtag team must find this book before it reshapes the fabric of Heaven, Hell, and well...Earth.

I have been seeing this book a lot recently and decided to check it out to see if it was up my alley.  Now normally I love a good story that revolves around libraries and book.  The concept that Hackwith had was very creative and interesting.  I was drawn to the synopsis and thought this would be a perfect fit for me.  Indeed I was drawn to the story, however, I found it difficult relating to any of the characters or felt connect to them.  I did love Brevity, but she was barely in the book, and this Leto wasn't as instrumental as he could have been.  The focus seemed to be more on Claire, the Hero, and Ramiel. There were points were the story just dragged on so when I got the real meat of story, I wasn't as emotionally invested as I would normally have been.  This one took me a lot longer to read than normal, I am not sure because I am feeling like I am in a reading FUNK or not, but that also affected how I responded to the story.  There just didn't seem to be a lot of oomph to this one. There is so much potential that I think it fell a little flat, too much expectations on my part maybe.  I do plan on reading the next book and giving A.J. Hackwith a second chance to really wow, but I am unfortunately not holding my breath.

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

 Title: The Firebird

Author: Susanna Kearsley

Source: Paperback

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Rating: 4 paws up

When Nicola Martin touches an object, she sometimes sees the previous owner of any given time period.  When an older woman brings in a wooden carving, Nicola can see it's entire history which reveals that it is named after a Russian legendary creature: the Firebird.  Nicola finds herself compelled to know more and follows the life of a young woman named Anna: in the past.    She enlists in the help of a former love whom she is somehow mentally connected with.  Together they travel through tales of Jacobites, Russian courts as the unravel tales of love, courage and of course redemption.

I have come to really love Susanna Kearsley's work ever since I had read Shadowy Horses.  I could not get the chilling tale out of my mind so I have been devouring much of her other time travel, historical fiction novels.  In my mind, she is a master at weaving the time travel together so that it flows naturally rather than feeling disjointed in going back and forth between time periods.  She does it in a way that makes the reader want to know more about each time, you want Nicola to go back to Anna's time and then go back to her own to see what happens with the handsome cop.

While it is a standalone novel, it does reference The Winter Sea and Shadowy Horses, which I love that she ties them together through small references while keeping each book their own.  The book may seem intimidating at a  little over 500 pages, but they fly by.  I could not put this novel down.  In fact I think I may have lost sleep because I kept saying "One more chapter." 

Kearsley doesn't fall into the trap of spending too much time on details like period clothing or excessive info dumping.  She gives you the right amount of information right when you need it.  It made me want to know more about the Jacobite Rising, I mean who wouldn't after the way she tells it.  Sounds like such and interesting period of time to study.

I cannot wait to tackle another one of her novels, I think I have 3 more sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.