BOOK REVIEW - The Girl In The Tower

Title: The Girl In The Tower
Author: Katherine Arden
Published by: Del Rey
Publication date:  January 9th 2018
Format: Kindle
Source: ARC (Netgalley)

Sequel to The Bear And The Nightingale 

This sequel to The Bear And The Nightingale does not disappoint!

Though different in a few ways, this charming, magical story still holds the same enchantment as the first in the series.
In this installment, however, we get more adventure, more action, more daring, and much more bravery!

This time we get to follow Vasya as she leaves all that she knows behind and travels across the deadly frozen landscape of Russia. Running from the memory of her dead father and a village accusing her of being a witch, Vasya finds hope in her dream of freedom.
Refusing to be confined by marriage or a convent Vasya disguises herself as a boy and rides her horse off into the woods and towards adventure!

And there was so much adventure in this book!

We get to brave snowstorms, fight bandits, race horses, encounter even more spirits, meet The Grand Prince of Moscow, be reunited with lost family, and attempt to save the Kingdom from danger.

And of course there's plenty more of Morozko the winter demon/God too!

This is less of a cosy tale of family, snow and folklore such as The Bear And The Nightingale, and more of a grand, daring, frosty adventure.
It still contains plenty of magic, but has a healthy dose of danger too!

If you enjoyed the first book in this series then I think you'll be more than thrilled with The Girl In The Tower!
Get ready for magic, folklore, adventure, and lots of snow!

BOOK REVIEW - There May Be a Castle

Title: There May Be a Castle
Author: Piers Torday
Published by: Quercus Children's Books
Publication date: 6th October 2016
Genres: Middle Grade, Children's Fiction
Format: Kindle
Source: Advanced reading copy from the publisher.
Amazon UK **Amazon US **Goodreads

It's Christmas.
And Mouse hates Christmas.
This Christmas is particularly awful because Mouse has to spend hours in the car with his older sister Violet, who's dressed as a pirate, and his baby sister Esme, who keeps shouting "Easta!" at the rapidly falling snow flakes.
But things take an unexpected turn when Mouse's mum looses control of the car in the snow after being hit by a flying dinosaur.
Mouse is thrown from the car and tumbles into a whole new (and scary) world. This world is filled with a whole host of fantastical characters such as a sarcastic one eyed horse called Nonky, a friendly sheep called Bar (because that's all she can say), a giant robotic dinosaur, a mildly irritating Minstrel who weirdly reminds Mouse of his Dad, and a terrifying Knight dressed in bright pink armour. 
And of course, there may be a castle...

This book surprised me completely.
Its a story about the startling power of imagination and how we can achieve remarkable things if we just imagine that we can. 
It's a story about love, family, and the staggering things we are able to endure in order to protect them.
It's a story about life and death.

It's a story you should read.

BOOK REVIEW - Summerlong

Title: Summerlong
Author: Peter S. Beagle
Published by: Tachyon Publications
Publication date: 30th September 2016
Genres: Literary Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Format: Kindle
Source: Advanced reading copy from the publisher.

Summerlong is the story of Abe and Joanna; a middle aged couple living near Seattle between their two homes. The story starts when they meet the mysterious and beautiful (seriously, she's likened to Botticelli's Primavera on multiple occasions) Lioness Lazos, who is the newest waitress at their favourite restaurant. The couple feel instantly and helplessly drawn to Lioness and end up leaving the restaurant having invited her to live in their garage rent free. This is mainly due to Lioness getting all sad eyed about being cold and needing to live someplace warm as she just.can't.stand.the.cold.
As time passes the couple start to realise that Lioness is hiding something (they suspect that she's running away from someone) and that she's also not quite "normal".
The story follows the bumps and troubles of Abe and Joanna's relationship and how things change between them after they let Lioness into their lives. This normal, everyday story is seamlessly blended with Greek mythology to form and interesting (if somewhat dull) mix of the two.

Pros 

This is a well written story which flows well between real-life happenings and interesting mythology. Its a very subtle fantasy book which would work well for people who may not necessarily be fans of the fantasy genre normally.
It holds onto its secrets, keeping you guessing for quite a while as to who Lioness really is and where she came from.

Cons 

There is just not enough fantasy or magic in this story.
At least not for me.

The whole thing seemed rather mundane and boring, which is surprising when it includes some really interesting characters! 
I just don't understand how you can write a book about characters from Greek mythology and think, "Hey, you know whats interesting? Harmonicas!" what?!
There was too much focus on the relationship between Abe and Joanna. Sure, reading about a middle aged couple is kind of refreshing for me, but Lioness was so much more fascinating and yet her character seemed like it was hardly explored.

Also, nothing happens to the two main characters.
Nothing.
By the end of the book they both seem to think that their lives have changed dramatically and that nothing will be the same because of meeting Lioness, but seriously? 
The changes in their lives (Abe joining a Blues band and Joanna taking up Kayaking) would have happened anyway, even without Lioness factoring in. 
The other things that happen while Lioness is around are so laughably minor and insignificant that I can't see why they make any difference at all?
Abe does make a huge mistake towards the end of the book (which obviously does come with consequences) but other than this one thing, nothing of any real interest actually happens. 

So, to sum up...

Pick this one up if you fancy an easy, well written, sometimes dull story about the relationship between two middled aged people who meet a pretty girl one day. 
And nothing happens.