“In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to discovering the secrets of her nation’s past—and unleashing the demons that sleep at its heart. An epic fantasy series inspired by the mythology and folklore of ancient China.” – publisher
I appreciate books that not only transport me to a fantasy realm, but provoke me to consider “ifs” — If I were in Zen’s shoes, would I have made the same choices? How would I handle life if I witnessed my family’s murder at the hands of invaders?”
The other thing I like about Song of Silver is that Ms. Wen Zhao faces the trauma head on – her characters’ decisions lean into morally gray areas. Again, questions like “How would I react if this kind of thing happened to me?” push me to responding to the text more critically. Reading becomes a learning vacation.
I would recommend R.F. Kuang’s Poppy War or Babel to further your foray into fantasy that makes you think, and if you enjoyed Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass, I recommend this as an upgrade.
Mrs. Ashworth rates this book 4/5 stars.
The Vampire Lestat is a paranormal fantasy by Anne Rice. It’s the second book in the Vampire Chronicles series. The setting changes from ancient times and then back to the 1980’s. Lestat spends a lot of time thinking, evaluating, assessing circumstances and trying to understand the meaning of being a vampire. He seems to be battling the good and evil within as well as trying to define what a modern day vampire life should be in the 1980’s. There remains a large cast of characters that pop in and out of Lestat’s life and this creates interesting situations and further assists the reader in understanding Lestat’s current and future life troubles. The story can be interesting, complex and at times a bit of a drag.
“It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.”
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Four preteen girls meet in the early-morning hours the day after Halloween. All four of them are distributors for their local newspaper, and all four of them are about to witness things more astonishing and unbelievable than any story that has ever been printed in the papers they toss onto people’s driveways. Vanishing civilians and strange futuristic technologies are just the beginning of their troubles, and as timelines and realities warp, they must rely on each other to survive.
“Remember the past, live in the present, and write the future.” We Are the Ants is a wonderful story consisting of journal entries written by Henry Denton. Henry describes the personal struggles that his family members are going through: his mom is struggling to keep the family together, his older brother is struggling to be the best father for his incoming baby, and his grandmother is struggling with Alzheimer’s. Henry also has plenty of his own struggles: his boyfriend committed suicide last year, he is bullied at school, and he is constantly abducted by aliens. As Henry faces all of the problems in his life, the aliens offer him the opportunity to prevent the end of the world by pressing a big red button. But he only has 144 days to make up his mind. Should Henry press the button to save the world or should he allow the world’s destruction to erase his problems? It is up to Henry to decide whether the world is worth saving. Henry pretty much makes up his mind until he meets Diego Vega, an artist with a secret past, who makes Henry question his choices, his place in the universe, and whether any of it really matters. With Henry’s humorous and sharp journal entries, a story of choices is slowly unraveled.
This book is about how two runaways, Delilah Dirk and Mr. Selim, work together to plot the downfall of the evil pirate, Zakul. Delilah is caught trying to steal Constantinople’s king’s ancient scrolls, and ends up in the royal prison. She meets Mr. Selim here when he is sent to serve her tea, and when she escapes, he is framed for assisting her. So they both run away, and travel to distant towns on her flying boat, stealing loot from various places and giving it to the poor. Mr. Selim is unaccustomed to her life of being on the run, and decides to stay behind in one of the towns they run to, Kardaki. However, after a few months, he decides to go after her, and finds her as she is in the process of running from security guards. The book ends with them running away, once again partners in crime.
This Is Where It Ends is about a student who opened fire in a locked auditorium, and is told from four different perspectives. It’s told over the time frame of fifty-four minutes of terror for the students, all of whom recall their relationship to the shooter or the people he shot, and hope for it all to end, while not knowing what’ll come next.
As Wikipedia so nicely stated, “The plot follows seventeen-year-old Evie O’Neill as she helps her uncle Will – curator of the fictional ‘Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult’ – uncover the killer behind a mysterious series of murders.”
Lynbrook Reviews 