Django Wexler

This Week by Proxy: 10 – 16 August

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Welcome to This Week by Proxy. Join me as I link up with the Caffeinated Reviewer to look back on the past week and see what I’ve been reading, posting, watching and playing!

| This Week by Proxy: 10 – 16 August 2020 |

As busy as it’s been, this week has seemed to fly by! Unfortunately, so has the weekend, which has been a strange mixture of both horrific and relaxing.

Saturday morning was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. The other half and I were awoken on Saturday morning to a phone call telling us our nephew had gone missing in Blackpool. The police were involved and we scrambled to get out of the house as quickly as possible and make the journey to the coast. I have never gotten ready so quickly in my life!

Fortunately, before we left, we received another phone call to say a wonderful man had found him lost on the beach and had taken him to the police. Reunited with his parents and sister, he soon seemed oblivious to the panic he had inadvertently caused and spent the day playing on the beach and making sandcastles. I have never felt either such dread or such relief in my life, and my faith in humanity has most definitely been restored.

Following that, we decided to put our other plans on hold and spend the weekend relaxing and recovering from the shock.

I hope you have all had far more enjoyable weekends and I wish you all a fantastic week ahead!

| Books Read |

This week I finished The Ashes of London, a wonderful slice of historic crime fiction set during The Great Fire of London of 1666. Both skilfully plotted and bursting with descriptions of seventeenth century London, this was a wonderful start to a series I cannot wait to continue.

I also managed to squeeze in another P.G. Wodehouse novel, Ring for Jeeves, which was a brilliantly funny read.

| Currently Reading |

I’m currently enjoying the audiobook for The Doors of Eden, which is a somewhat long recording but fills in a lot moments where I can’t physically hold a book! And All Systems Red is already a joy to read and is only being usurped by A Little Hatred which I am finding difficult to put down!

| Upcoming Reviews |

I’m still making my way slowly but surely through my backlog of reviews and I’m actually seeing the sky through the clouds now! I should have two reviews for any of the above out this coming week!

| Watching |

I finally finished my Humans binge which ended in horror, tears and joy. This is a thoroughly enjoyable series which actually raises some profound questions about those we consider ‘other’ and what it means to be human.

The Umbrella Academy is, as usual, wonderfully ridiculous and makes for an excellent wind down at the end of a busy day, while the latest series of Good Girls isn’t quite hitting my sweet spot just yet. We’ll see how it fares over the course of the season.

| Gaming |

While I haven’t had much time for gaming this week, I’ve still managed to squeeze in a few games of GTFO, Apex Legends and continue the story mode for Red Dead Redemption 2. I’ve also started getting urges for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, which comes out later this year (we hope!), so I may see a return to WoW sooner rather than later.

| Posts |

Review: Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

Review: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Music Mondays: My Only Chance

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Books I Loved but Never Reviewed

Teaser Tuesdays: The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor

Waiting on Wednesday: Orfeia by Joanne M. Harris

The Friday Face-Off: Spectacular

Friday Firsts: A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

I hope you all have a wonderful, book-filled week!

What have you been reading, watching and playing this week? Have you accomplished any goals?

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This Week by Proxy: 03 – 09 August

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Welcome to This Week by Proxy. Join me as I link up with the Caffeinated Reviewer to look back on the past week and see what I’ve been reading, posting, watching and playing!

| This Week by Proxy: 03 – 09 August 2020 |

Another hot and sunny end to a busy week spent indoors! Yesterday we took an expedition along the canal to feed the ducks, and my stepdaughter took us on a detour down some wooded paths to find some fairies where, by (not unintended) chance, we came across Rapunzel’s tower. Now it is, in fact, either a folly or what was meant to be a chimney for an unfinished mining ventilation shaft but it suited a three year old’s imagination very well. We then spent the rest of the day in the garden, watering plants, playing with the bunnies and reading books. Not a bad weekend at all!

I hope you are all well and have had a wonderfully, bookish week! 

| Books Read |

This week I finished Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie and Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey and they were both wonderfully entertaining reads in very different ways. It has taken me an awfully long time to get round to reading Sharp Ends, so I’m particularly happy to have finally read it, and Leviathan Wakes really was an incredible start to a series that I cannot wait to continue. 

| Currently Reading |

This week I started The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor, a historical crime fiction novel set in the year of The Great Fire of London. It is an excellent read so far, very detailed and beautifully written with interesting characters and details – Taylor’s writing is most definitely a feast for the senses. The architect in me is particularly enjoying the ties to Christopher Wren’s vision of London and the rebuilding of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

I have also started listening to the audiobook for The Doors of Eden, which I try and squeeze in any time I can, and have finally (hurrah!) picked up All Systems Red, the first novella in The Murderbot Diaries.

| Upcoming Reviews |

I am still slogging my way through the review list, making slow and steady progress. Now that a few deadlines are out of the way at work I’m hoping the time I spend doing unpaid overtime is finally going to be minimised and I can spend more of my time writing reviews! 

| Watching |

The other half and I have finally finished the second season of The Order, which was both silly and highly entertaining, and have started watching the second season of The Umbrella Academy. I have also made it to the third season of Humans, which I am enjoying very much. 

| Gaming |

I submitted to peer pressure this week and started playing GTFO, a survival horror cooperative first-person shooter which is both a challenge and brilliantly entertaining. I hadn’t expected to enjoy it as much as I am doing and , seeing as the other half is playing it while I write this post, it will probably be top of the list for the coming week too! I have also played limited amounts of both Apex Legends and No Man’s Sky, both of which I am still thoroughly enjoying.

| Posts |

Review: Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler

Music Mondays: 0:59

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Books with Black in the Title

Teaser Tuesdays: Leviathan Wakes

Waiting on Wednesday: The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Friday Face-Off: Action

Friday Firsts: The Ashes of London

I hope you all have a wonderful, book-filled week!

What have you been reading, watching and playing this week? Have you accomplished any goals?

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Review: Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler

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Ashes of the Sun

Book One of Burningblade & Silvereye

by Django Wexler

Fantasy | 592 Pages | Published by Head of Zeus on 21st July 2020

| Rating |

| TL;DR |

This vibrant, rich and detailed novel tells the tale of two siblings on either side of an ages old war. As Maya, agathios of the Twilight Order, attempts to clear her mentor’s name and Gyre, Maya’s brother, searches for a powerful artefact to help him bring about the the Order’s destruction, their two intertwining narratives dramatically converge in this exciting and action-packed epic.

With strong characters, a unique magic system and a beautifully rendered landscape, Ashes of the Sun straddles the line between good and bad, right and wrong, and paints this broken empire in exquisite shades of grey.

| Synopsis |

Long ago, a magical war destroyed an empire, and a new one was built in its ashes. But still the old grudges simmer, and two siblings will fight on opposite sides to save their world in the start of Django Wexler’s new epic fantasy trilogy.

Gyre hasn’t seen his beloved sister since their parents sold her to the mysterious Twilight Order. Now, twelve years after her disappearance, Gyre’s sole focus is revenge, and he’s willing to risk anything and anyone to claim enough power to destroy the Order.

Chasing rumors of a fabled city protecting a powerful artifact, Gyre comes face-to-face with his lost sister. But she isn’t who she once was. Trained to be a warrior, Maya wields magic for the Twilight Order’s cause. Standing on opposite sides of a looming civil war, the two siblings will learn that not even the ties of blood will keep them from splitting the world in two.

| Review |

The ages old war between the Chosen and the ghouls has obliterated the landscape and left it in ruins. Spearing from the earth and tunnelling under mountains, relics from the past are now home to the ever expanding towns and cities of man, and all that was left behind has either been salvaged, scavenged or stolen.

But more than one war continues in this shattered landscape. From the Forge, the Centarchs of the Twilight Order, powerful champions of the Chosen, are charged with keeping order and fight to eliminate dhakim – those who practice ghoul magic and use it to create the abominable plaguespawn. In the cities, the rebellion fight for freedom and against those who would suppress the tunnelborn, a subjugated people living on the outskirts of society, even if it means taking on the local militia, the Legions of the Dawn Republic, and the Twilight Order itself.

Born to one household but raised apart, Maya and Gyre find themselves on opposite sides of this insurmountable divide. Maya, an agathios – or novice – of the Twilight Order is gifted with a connection to the deiat, and wields the unimaginable power of Creation. Gyre, driven by this troubled past and his burning hatred for the Order, fights for the rebellion under the pseudonym Halfmask. As trouble brews across the realm, Maya and Gyre’s lives converge in an explosive and action packed tale where the line between good and evil are hopelessly blurred.

Told form two entirely different perspectives: one which champions discovery, order and the power of good and the other that champions vengeance, liberation and, ultimately, destruction; Ashes of the Sun pulls the reader into the midst of a conflict which questions the very nature of good and bad, right and wrong, for a non-stop, whirlwind of a tale. Narrated by two distinct voices and personalities, these two opposing viewpoints work together to paint a vivid picture of a world that, in reality, comprises shades of grey.

With ruined constructs, great metropolises and fallen skyships, this post-apocalyptic and fantastic vision unveils a colourful world with a unique and inventive magic system. The weight of history is woven into the landscape in the ages old struggle between the forces of chaos and order, and in the people and their struggle to survive under such deprivation. The divide between the rich and the poor, between the repressed and their suppressors, is depicted with a clear and direct vision which emphasises Maya’s naivety, her steadfast belief that the Order are solely good, and Gyre’s bitterness, that the world’s ills stem from the likes of the irredeemable Order.

From auxiliaries and legionaries to dogmatics and pragmatics, Wexler has created a strong foundation on which to build his series; the two tangled narratives threatening to derail plans, destroy hope and eliminate what little respect Maya and Gyre had for one another in the first place. This is a tale that thrives on its worldbuilding, that celebrates its diverse characters and that is all the better for its use of politics and intrigue throughout its plot.

Maya and Gyre are two siblings defined by their differing experiences and entirely disparate lives, with Maya’s comfort and innocence contrasting sharply with Gyre’s hardship, anger and resentment. With unique and memorable viewpoints, neither protagonist outdoes the other in either drama, suspense or action, with the endearing qualities of one complementing the bravado of the other.

Similarly, the supporting characters provide an interesting and diverse backdrop to the protagonists. Those of the Order – Bec, Tanax and Varo – show the complex hierarchy of the Order and their devotion to the Inheritance, and those of the rebellion – Yora, Lynnia and Harrow – show a driven and like-minded community who will fight for the rights of their people at almost any cost. Providing plenty of interest, intrigue and diversion throughout the narrative, these characters are only surpassed by the enigmatic and ultimately dangerous Kit Doomseeker who steals more than just the show.

Well written and highly-enjoyable throughout, this series opener succeeds in setting a perfect scene from which to read the remainder of the series. While there may be a lot of new terminology to absorb throughout the novel, the steady pace and the intricacies of the narrative give plenty of time to fully absorb the different terms – in between bouts of plaguespawn, skirmishes and bar fights, of course.

Ashes of the Sun is a well-written, exciting read that I barely put down over its six hundred pages. While I could have lived without many of the romantic aspects of the storyline, these remained only secondary to the narrative and didn’t inhibit my enjoyment of the story as a whole. With more fights, skirmishes and powerful artefacts than you can shake a stick at, the first in Burningblade & Silvereye promises the start of something quite special.

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for providing a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

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Teaser Tuesdays: Leviathan Wakes

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Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays – a weekly feature hosted by The Purple Booker. Expect a new teaser every week!

| Teaser Tuesdays: August 04 |

Leviathan Wakes

Book One of The Expanse

by James S. A. Corey

Science Fiction | 561 Pages | Published by Orbit in 2011

“The old shipyards protruded from the asteroid, great spiderwebs of steel and carbon mesh studded with warning lights and sensor arrays to wave off any ships that might come in too tight. The internal caverns of Eros had been the birthplace of the Belt.“

~ Chapter 22 | Page 226 | Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

| Synopsis |

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.

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

| Join In |

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Please leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here!

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This Week by Proxy: 20 July – 02 August

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Welcome to This Week by Proxy. Join me as I link up with the Caffeinated Reviewer to look back on the past week and see what I’ve been reading, posting, watching and playing!

| This Week by Proxy: 20 July – 02 August 2020 |

This week’s post is actually a two-week post, as last week my weekend was so chaotic that I didn’t find any time to wrap up anything! I did, however, do some gardening with a three year old, read many a children’s book, drank copious amounts of wine, and had an insanely lengthy trip to Ikea where I spent a veritable fortune on items that I hadn’t planned on buying in the first place! But such is life.

I have also managed to enjoy several socially distanced meet ups with both my parents and my partner’s parents, which was a lovely change to my somewhat house-bound working week. However, both their areas have now gone into an extended lockdown period and we will be unable to meet up until restrictions have been lifted again.

I hope you are all safe and well and I can’t wait to catch up on your bookish posts during the week!

| Books Read |

I finally finished Ashes of the Sun, the first in a new fantasy series by Django Wexler, which proved to be a beautifully wrought and complex tale of siblings who find themselves on opposite sides of a war that has lasted the ages. This was a joy to read from beginning to end and has me itching to see what else Wexler has to offer.

I also finished Becky Chambers’ novella, To Be Taught, If Fortunate, which tells the tale of the crew of the Merian as they explore, study and catalogue their findings of strange, new worlds. While not in the same league as the Wayfarers series, this was still an enjoyable tale which explores several interesting concepts.

I also completed my second Jeeves novel, Right Ho, Jeeves, which I rather enjoyed, and a collection of Blandings short stories, Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best.

| Currently Reading |

I just can’t cope with how in love I am with Leviathan Wakes. If a book can be devoured, then every time this one is opened up it is a feast for the mind. The worlds, the ships, the people – they’re all so clearly and wonderfully wrought that I feel lucky to be reading it.

I have also finally gotten around to reading Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie which, for some unknown reason, I’ve left high and dry on my bookshelf – pristine signed hardback looking down at me in stunning blue. I am thoroughly ashamed! With short tales of new and familiar characters, I couldn’t be happier to be back in the world of The First Law.

| Upcoming Reviews |

I am definitely struggling to stop myself from reading and start reviewing at the moment. I partially blame my excessive hours behind a computer whilst working from home but, in all honesty, everything I’m reading is so exciting that I’m too eager to go onto the next thing before I’ve given myself some time to process. I will, however, be playing a bit of catch up this week (as I certainly don’t want to fall any further behind!) and should have all the above reviews out in the next two weeks.  

| Watching |

The other half and I are slowly making our way through The Order in between bouts of gaming, while I’ve been watching Humans, an addictive science fiction series about AI and synthetic consciousness. I first started watching Humans when it was first released and, for some unknown reason, failed to continue – so I have plenty to catch up on!

| Gaming |

For the past two weeks I have been playing copious amounts of No Man’s Sky and Red Dead Redemption 2, interspersed with Apex Legends. No Man’s Sky is a beautiful and expansive game of planetary exploration which I now believe I’m slightly addicted to. Likewise, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a stunning, chaotic and wild ride across the Wild West. Had I not already chosen my Top Ten Games of the Past Two Years, which will be posted next week, these two would almost certainly be featured.

| Posts |

Review: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

Music Mondays: Huggin & Kissin

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Book Festivals in the UK

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Books with Red in the Title

Teaser Tuesdays: Ashes of the Sun

Teaser Tuesdays: To Be Taught, If Fortunate

Waiting on Wednesday: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Waiting on Wednesday: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

The Friday Face-Off: Framed

The Friday Face-Off: White

Friday Firsts: Leviathan Wakes

I hope you all have a wonderful, book-filled week!

What have you been reading, watching and playing this week? Have you accomplished any goals?

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Teaser Tuesdays: To Be Taught, If Fortunate

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Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays – a weekly feature hosted by The Purple Booker. Expect a new teaser every week!

| Teaser Tuesdays: July 28 |

To Be Taught, If Fortunate

A Novella

by Becky Chambers

Science Fiction | 136 Pages | Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2018

“As an astronaut, you know conceptually that you’re going to another world, that you’re going to see alien life. You know this, and yet there is nothing that can prepare you for it.“

~ Page 58 | To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

| Synopsis |

At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in sub-zero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore neighbouring exoplanets long suspected to harbour life.

Ariadne is one such explorer. On a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds fifteen light-years from Earth, she and her fellow crewmates sleep while in transit, and wake each time with different features. But as they shift through both form and time, life back on Earth has also changed. Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the wonders and dangers of her journey, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening.

Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads

| Join In |

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Please leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here!

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Teaser Tuesdays: Ashes of the Sun

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Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays – a weekly feature hosted by The Purple Booker. Expect a new teaser every week!

| Teaser Tuesdays: July 21 |

Ashes of the Sun

Book One of Burningblade & Silvereye

by Django Wexler

Fantasy | 592 Pages | To be published by Orbit on 21st July 2020

“He dug a firestarter out of his pocket, flicked it open, and applied the tiny light to the end of the cable. It caught immediately, burning with a cool blue flame that zipped up the way they’d come, briefly outlining a curve of light through the red-tinted darkness.“

~ Chapter 4 | 16% | Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler

| Synopsis |

Long ago, a magical war destroyed an empire, and a new one was built in its ashes. But still the old grudges simmer, and two siblings will fight on opposite sides to save their world in the start of Django Wexler’s new epic fantasy trilogy.

Gyre hasn’t seen his beloved sister since their parents sold her to the mysterious Twilight Order. Now, twelve years after her disappearance, Gyre’s sole focus is revenge, and he’s willing to risk anything and anyone to claim enough power to destroy the Order.

Chasing rumors of a fabled city protecting a powerful artifact, Gyre comes face-to-face with his lost sister. But she isn’t who she once was. Trained to be a warrior, Maya wields magic for the Twilight Order’s cause. Standing on opposite sides of a looming civil war, the two siblings will learn that not even the ties of blood will keep them from splitting the world in two.

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

| Join In |

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Please leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

The Friday Face-Off: My, What Big Teeth You Have

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Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme here at Books by Proxy. Join me every Friday as I pit cover against cover, and publisher against publisher, to find the best artwork in our literary universe

The Infernal Battalion by Django Wexler

Welcome to the Friday Face-Off where this week we’ll be comparing covers which feature a cloaked figure! With ever an abundance of mysterious cloak wearing, cape donning, and shroud covered characters inhabiting fantasyland, this Friday I’ve been spoiled for choice in the cover department.

With two starkly different covers, Django Wexler’s The Infernal Battalion has won out this cloak-off – even if one of the covers has nary a cloak nor a cape to be had. Published by Head of Zeus in the UK (no-cloak) and Ace Books in the US (cloak!), check out this week’s featured covers and decide which one is your favourite.

Head of Zeus | UK – Cover #1

Ace Books | US – Cover #2

| The Friday Face-Off: Winner |

The UK cover, with its cold hues and stark imagery, depicts a battlefield of smoke, dirt and rain, where a besieged city towers in the distance and burns with bright orange flames. The soldiers illustrated in the foreground have a certain dynamism to their character as they struggle through the mud of the battlefield with a cannon. The typography is bold and simplistic, neither dominating nor distracting from the imagery.

The US cover, by comparison, transports us to the city walls themselves. Here the colours are hot and dangerous, and the image of a cloaked figure dominates the foreground as fire and smoke swirls behind. As effective as the tone and setting are, the figure doesn’t appear to be engaging with their surroundings, looking a little nonplussed as the city burns.

Perhaps this was the purpose of the design and refers to a particular moment in the book, but I much prefer the dynamism of the UK cover – making it this week’s winner!

Which cover wins your vote this week? Have a cover of your own? – Post the link below!

Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads

Next week’s theme is:

Groovy Baby

A cover that is retro

Remember to check The Friday Face-Off Feature Page for upcoming themes

| Links |

Lynn @ Books and Travelling with Lynn

S.J. Higbee @ Brainfluff

Drew @ The Tattooed Book Geek

Mogsy @ The Bibliosanctum

Steve @Books and Beyond Reviews

Wendell @ Bookwraiths

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The Monthly Round-Up: February 2016

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Welcome to The Monthly Round-Up. Join me as I look back on the past month to see which books I’ve read, the reviews I’ve posted, the goals I’ve completed and my all important Book of the Month!

| Books Read |

February 8

February has flown by in a torrent of amazingly bloody, beautiful and brilliant books. I only managed a respectable eight but every single one of them was fantastic – I expect that there won’t be less than a four star review amongst them! I may have completely ignored my goals of the month but never mind! February was a blast. It also featured a book so good it required its own rating!

Here’s the run down of the books I devoured last month:

| 1. |

The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky

| 2. |

The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

| 3. |

Broken Banners by Mark Gelineau and Joe King

| 4. |

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

| 5. |

The Grim Company by Luke Scull

| 6. |

Legend by David Gemmell

| 7. |

The Copper Promise by Jen Williams

| 8. |

Dragon Hunters by Marc Turner

Book of the Month

Promise of Blood

by Brian McClellan

| February Goals |

To finish NOS4R2 and Emma before the month is out!

Status: Incomplete (I haven’t even picked one of them up!)

heart

And to really challenge myself to be organised…

To post every day in February

Status: Incomplete (22 of 29 days Complete)

| Goals for 2016 |

Goodreads 2016 Reading Challenge: 18/100 Books Read (18%)

Status: +8% in February

| Reviews Posted |

5+

Promise_of_Blood

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

5 Stars

The Thief by Claire North

Faith and Moonlight by Mark Gelineau and Joe King

The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

three point five

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Rising Tide by Rajan Khanna

| Other Posts From February |

The Monthly Round-Up: January 2016

The Month Ahead: February 2016

Cover Reveal: Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Cover Reveal: Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho – Paperback Edition

Cover Reveal: The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan

Bookish Beats: Bonobo – Black Sands

Bookish Beats: Massive Attack – Mezzanine

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Historical Settings

Teaser Tuesdays: February 02 – The Copper Promise by Jen Williams

Teaser Tuesdays: February 09 – Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

Teaser Tuesdays: February 16 – The Grim Company by Luke Scull

Teaser Tuesdays: February 23 – A Fever of the Blood by Oscar de Muriel

The Friday Face-Off: February 05 – The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley

The Friday Face-Off: February 12 – The Thousand Names by Django Wexler

The Friday Face-Off: February 19 – Vicious by V.E. Schwab

The Friday Face-Off: February 26 – The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Book Haul: February 06 – The Frey and McGray Series by Oscar de Muriel

Book Haul: February 08 – Drake, Servant of the Underworld and The Crimson Ribbon

Book Haul: February 10 – Low Town Series and City of Bohane

Book Haul: February 13 – The Rats, The Folding Knife and The Electric Church

Book Haul: February 23 – The Raven’s Head, And Then There Were None and Ink and Bone

Book Haul: February 24 – Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart