Category: book reviews

First Lines Friday – 29/08/2025

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In another First Lines Friday, I feature another book I’m reading as part of my upcoming ChatGPT recommendations reading challenge. Yes, I’m absolutely trying to get you as excited for my thoughts on this challenge as I am to taking part in it! 

For this challenge, I’m reading and reviewing three books. Last week I featured the most mainstream author and book on the list. Today, I’m doing a 180° and reviewing the indie author I was recommended after requesting a less mainstream novel. 

Now, here are the opening lines of today’s feature. Then, I’ll tell you more about the book…

A trickle of blood oozed down the cold steel of Aldrich’s sword. Drops splattered onto dry leaves, staining them red. He pressed his back against the old tree’s gnarled trunk, rough bark scratching his skin through his shirt. Thirty yards away lay the still-warm corpse of the man he’d put down, one arm outstretched, reaching for a knife discarded in the undergrowth. There was a smell of wrongness about the body, and something odd about its appearance; it looked… denser, somehow. 

Eyes closed and barely breathing, Aldrich waited, listening. All was silent.

 

 

A Crucible of Souls – Mitchell Hogan 

Genre: Fantasy 

Pages: 500

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Indie, then Harper Voyager

Publication Date: July 2013

Goodreads – A Crucible of Souls

 

Mitchell Hogan, an imaginative new talent, makes his debut with the acclaimed first installment in the epic Sorcery Ascendant Sequence, A Crucible of Souls, a mesmerising tale of high fantasy that combines magic, malevolence, and mystery.

When young Caldan’s parents are brutally slain, the boy is raised by monks who initiate him into the arcane mysteries of sorcery.

Growing up plagued by questions about his past, Caldan vows to discover who his parents were and why they were violently killed. The search will take him beyond the walls of the monastery, into the unfamiliar and dangerous chaos of city life. With nothing to his name but a pair of mysterious heirlooms and a handful of coins, he must prove his talent to become apprenticed to a guild of sorcerers.

But the world outside the monastery is a darker place than he ever imagined, and his treasured sorcery has disturbing depths he does not fully understand. As a shadowed evil manipulates the unwary and forbidden powers are unleashed, Caldan is plunged into an age-old conflict that will bring the world to the edge of destruction.

Soon, he must choose a side and face the true cost of uncovering his past.

 

My Thoughts…

One aspect I enjoy most about blogging is getting the opportunity to read and rep indie or lesser-known authors. BookTok and other socials are great at keeping the mainstream on top of the list. And that’s great – there are lots of mainstream authors I enjoy and love to see content about. 

However, the status quo has an opportunity to change with the introduction of new voices. I love variety, and so I’m excited to feature Mitchell Hogan, an Aussie author who originally published independently before A Crucible of Souls was picked up by Harper Voyager. 

Advertised as a coming-of-age novel, it leans into a well known fantasy trope. Broadly I do enjoy these, and it’s been some time since I picked one up. What does A Crucible of Souls have to offer? ChatGPT recommended this book to me for its inclusion of forbidden knowledge and magic, and a morally grey protagonist. 

I’m really excited to read this soon! 

Thanks for reading today’s First Lines Friday post! Have you read A Crucible of Souls? 

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Book Review: The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi – Shannon Chakraborty

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Hello reading friends! Today I’m excited to bring you a long-overdue review for The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty. I read this book in April/May 2023, so a little while ago!

This book fell in the middle-of-the-road for me. There were some aspects I loved, but others that introduced resistance to my reading experience. Read on to find out more!

 

The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi – Shannon Chakraborty

Genre: Non-fiction

Pages: 492

Audience: Adult

Publisher: HarperVoyager

Publication Date: 02 Mar 2023

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi

 

A pirate of infamy and one of the most storied and scandalous captains to sail the seven seas.

Amina al-Sirafi has survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse, she jumps at the chance for one final adventure with her old crew that will make her a legend and offers a fortune that will secure her and her family’s future forever.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the higher the stakes. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savour just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.


My Thoughts


Plot

The plot of The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi manages to be whimsical with a high page count. For some, this fun and lightheartedness may suit. It’s an aspect of the story I was less keen on, if I’m honest.

It was a perfectly acceptable read, but not a book I rushed back to in order to finish it quickly. Perhaps the whimsy wasn’t quite what I was expecting, and therefore I didn’t enjoy this quote so much.

Otherwise, as plot goes, I enjoyed the sea-faring, derring-do action of the narrative.


Setting

The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi is an eastern fantasy. It’s always refreshing to read fantasy with these inspirations, especially as someone who has read a lot of, and grown up with, westernised fantasy novels on tap.

I loved the focus on non-western religious cultures. It was a new take for me and not what I expected from this fantasy novel. Its ties to well-known religions in real life helped give the book some grounding — much needed if you ask me. It also gave me an opportunity to get insight into Muslim religion and culture in a place I didn’t expect. Every day is a school day… and I felt this was a great touch for this book.

 

Characters

I love that the narrative is led by a strong woman. Piracy was typically a man’s game. Flying in the face of patriarchy, this spin on events is quite unexpected (especially considering some of the cultures featured in the book), but welcome.

Even in fairly modern fantasies, female narrative voices are only just starting to take centre stage. The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi does this – and does it well!


Narrative Style

Considering the whimsical nature of this narrative, the book took me longer to read than anticipated. It’s about a 500-page book, so not exactly small. Even so, I found the fanciful plot line at odds with some of the other elements in this book. Although this book is marketed at adults, I would argue some of the plot devices smack more of a young adult target audience.

 

Summary

The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi is a fun, adventurous and light-hearted read.

Whilst I wasn’t captivated enough by the book to motivate me to continue on with the series, I had fun at the time.

If you are looking for fantasy with positive multicultural and female rep, this book will still be up your alley.

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First Lines Friday – 22/08/2025

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In today’s First Lines Friday, I’m pleased to feature a book I’ll be reading as part of an upcoming reading challenge. This is a bit of a teaser post, and I hope it’ll drum up some excitement. 

For that challenge, I’m reading and reviewing three books – today, I feature the most ‘mainstream’ book and author of the three chosen. The others are lesser-known but no less anticipated by me. 

Let’s get into the opening lines of today’s First Lines Friday feature and then I’ll share more about the book and my upcoming reading challenge! 

 

The blade traced a slow line of fire down his face. 

He desperately tried to cry out, to jerk away, but the hand over his mouth prevented both. Steel filled his vision, gray and dirty. Warm blood trickled down the left side of his face, onto his neck, under his shirt. 

There were only fragments after that. 

Laughter. The hot stink of wine on his attacker’s breath. 

A lessening of the pain, and screams—not his own. Voices, high-pitched with fear, begging.

Then silence. Darkness.

 

 

The Shadow of What Was Lost – James Islington 

Genre: Fantasy 

Pages: 604

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Orbit

Publication Date: 04 Aug 2014

Goodreads – The Shadow of What Was Lost

 

AS DESTINY CALLS, A JOURNEY BEGINS

It has been twenty years since the god-like Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them— the Gifted— are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion’s Four Tenets, vastly limiting their own powers.

As a young Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and others like him are despised. But when Davian discovers he wields the forbidden powers of the Augurs, he sets in motion a chain of events that will change everything.

To the west, a young man whose fate is intertwined with Davian’s wakes up in the forest, covered in blood and with no memory of who he is…

And in the far north, an ancient enemy long thought defeated, begins to stir.

 

My Thoughts…

James Islington is an author I’m excited to try. I’ve seen this book talked about before on the likes of BookTube and in the wider book community. However, prior to planning my ChatGPT book recommendations content, I haven’t seriously considered picking up one of his books for myself.

That, of course, is changing. When I asked ChatGPT for book recommendations based on other books I’ve enjoyed (A Game of Thrones and Mistborn), The Shadow of What Was Lost was the first recommendation given to me. And it’s a great recommendation! In theory, there is plenty I should enjoy about this book, and I’m excited to give it a go very soon.

I like the sound of the book based on the synopsis. The opening lines, though, have definitely piqued my interest. 

What do you make of today’s First Lines Friday feature? Do you like the sound of the book, either by the synopsis or the opening lines? Have you read The Shadow of What Was Lost? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 

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Sunday Summary – 17th August 2025

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Hello friends! It’s the end of another week (and weekend… again 🙄), so I’m back with today’s Sunday Summary catch-up. I have some fun books I’ve been reading, and I can’t wait to share those with you! As always though, before we get that far, let’s recap what posts I’ve shared with you in the last seven days.

The first post of the week was a Top Ten Tuesday instalment. This week, the topic was Books Guaranteed to Put an End to Your Book Slump. In this post, I feature some firm favourites I turn to when I’m in a slump and need a pick-me-up. If you ever find yourself in this position, maybe one of these books can drag you from the abyss?

On Friday, I shared an interesting dystopian novel with an extreme take on diet culture. It’s an odd topic for a dystopian to lean into, but I love the sound of it. I reckon this could make for good discussion in the context of diet culture too. As and when I get to reading it, I’ll let you know if that is truly the case!

On Patreon, I shared my review of Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night. As prequels go, I think A Day of Fallen Night ticked all the right boxes. I also love that you can read the books pretty much standalone, or in any order. If you want to find out more of my thoughts of this book, consider subscribing to me on Patreon for early access to my reviews of recent reads!


Books Read


If We Were Villains

As planned, I finished If We Were Villains early this week. It wasn’t quite Monday – it ended up being Tuesday.

I really enjoyed how the events of the book played out and the narrative style. My only regret is that I left it so long to pick up this book! Even if you aren’t a big fan of Shakespeare (and I’m not overly – it’s hard to understand!), that doesn’t especially matter. It contributes to the narrative, but doesn’t dominate it. It can be read without understanding the full context of the plays, characters and lines. I have a suspicion those more in-the-know on Shakespeare probably got more in the way of foreshadowing and ‘easter eggs’ from the plays and characters portrayed. Even without that level of appreciation myself – I had a great time!


The House Witch

This week I’ve made a real effort to catch up on the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club read, The House Witch. As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I’d only just started the book. This week, I’ve made an effort to catch up on where I *should* be with it. I set the schedule and yet I’m not quite keeping up with it 😅

As of this Sunday Summary, I’m nearly on track! I’ve got to chapter 17, which is only a week behind schedule. I’ve already read 120 pages or so in the last few days and I plan to read more tonight as I wind down for the evening.

So far I’m enjoying the book. I hope we get to see more of the character dynamic between Fin and his father. I feel like that’s what the book is building up to and it’ll make for an interesting dynamic.

 

Tyrant’s Throne

As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I’ve come on leaps and bounds from the 1.5 hours of Tyrant’s Throne I’d listened to. Over the last seven days, I’ve listened to a further 5 and a half hours. In terms of overall progress, that puts me at around 45% progress.

I’m intrigued as to where this book is going to go to round up the series. Already, the events of the book have taken a turn I didn’t expect. We’re at what I suspect to be a pivotal point in the story right now – and it could go one of two ways. As final books in a series go, this one of up there for unpredictability and for having me hooked to get to the end. I’m not even lamenting the fact that I only have 9 hours of audio of the book/series yet! Usually, I find myself in a mixture of eagerness to get to the end, but also sadness it’s about to end. For this one through, I’m that gripped my events I want to listen on!

Whilst I may not finish this audiobook next week, I hope to get as close as I can!


Books Discovered


Whilst my wallet hasn’t suffered this week, I have added a few books to my TBR. I’m lining myself up to start a new challenge after 20 Books of Summer is over. I’m not going to spoil anything on that too early, but in short, I’ll be picking up three reads that weren’t on my TBR from ChatGPT recommendations. More on that challenge to follow.

On Facebook this week, I read about a book called I Know I’m in There Somewhere: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner Voice and Living a Life of Authenticity. It’s not a super-long read, but I think it could be an interesting one to pick up.


Coming Up…

Last week I kicked off my blog content with a Top Ten Tuesday, and the same applies this week! However, this week’s topic is books with a high page count. As you know, an epic fantasy lover like me will have plenty of those to share. Tune in on Tuesday for a list of chunky book recommendations! I promise to feature more than just fantasy books 😊

On Friday I’ll return with a First Lines Friday feature. In that post, I’ll tease one of the three books I’m reading for my aforementioned upcoming reading challenge. I hope you can take a look at what’s coming up for that reading list.

Last of all, I’ll return with another Sunday Summary post this time next week How many books will I finish next week? Hopefully a few more than this week!

What are you reading?

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Book Review: Stolen Focus – Johann Hari

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If you enjoy the odd self-help book here and there, today’s post may just feature your next read. In April 2023 I read the eye-opening Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, and I was shocked. With staggering statistics like attention spans lasting only seconds, it’s no wonder we struggle to get anything done! That’s a little ironic given how long it’s taken me to publish my review. 

In my defence, it wasn’t a lack of attention but rather a streak of perfectionism that held it back until now. 

I confess, Stolen Focus has made me more aware of how often I get distracted, or try to multitask (tip – it’s not helpful in the long run!). If you’re intrigued, then I hope you’ll let my review distract you from whatever it is you are MEANT to be doing for just a few minutes… 

 

Stolen Focus – Johann Hari  

Genre: Non-fiction 

Pages: 357

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Crown

Publication Date: 06Jan 2022

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – Stolen Focus

Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening–and how to get our attention back. 

In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Like so many of us, Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live. He tried all sorts of self-help solutions–even abandoning his phone for three months–but nothing seemed to work. So Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention–and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong.

We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit. Hari found that there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention. In Stolen Focus, he introduces readers to Silicon Valley dissidents who learned to hack human attention, and veterinarians who diagnose dogs with ADHD. He explores a favela in Rio de Janeiro where everyone lost their attention in a particularly surreal way, and an office in New Zealand that discovered a remarkable technique to restore workers’ productivity.

Crucially, Hari learned how we can reclaim our focus–as individuals, and as a society–if we are determined to fight for it. Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back.

 

My Thoughts

Content

I love that Stolen Focus doesn’t seek to blame, but to convince readers that a loss of focus is a societal issue. Whilst there are things we can all individually do to help, ultimately, the world we live in and the pace of living is the most limiting factor. 

Technology is one of the biggest leeches of our attention. You’ve probably seen families out for gatherings at restaurants and every member at the table is on a personal device. I have on many occasions, and it will only get worse. Johann shares a personal story in which a young relative is addicted to these devices. It’s an alarming trend, but not surprising since the apps and services are designed to hook our attention and hold it. This was also discussed in another book I recently finished, The Anxious Generation. I definitely recommend this as further reading. 

Hustle culture and stress is in part responsible too. Sleep deprivation is no joke. With more and more people forfeiting shuteye in favour of time on personal devices, or paid work, it’s no wonder focus is shattered. Work smarter not harder friends! It’ll pay the same dividends and you’ll feel a whole lot better for it! 

 

Narrative Style

I don’t often break reviews down into sections for non-fiction reviews. It’s not always appropriate. However, I did want to make a special mention to the structure of Stolen Focus. 

The book is broken down into several smaller chapters, each one an explanation of why we struggle to focus in our modern day life. As a result, the book is really approachable to read. If you don’t have a lot of time to read, you could even cherry-pick your chapters of interest to take from the book what you want. 

 

Summary 

Stolen Focus is the kind of book I’d recommend everybody read in their lifetimes. It would especially help those who pressurise themselves to do better, go bigger or otherwise set themselves high bars. As someone who does this to a certain extent, it should help you appreciate and accept life’s  limitations. It’s not about you, and Stolen Focus does not seek to blame. 

The book also offers some practical advice, so we’re not powerless. Stolen Focus strikes the perfect balance of providing information and tips on what to do with that information. Really, it’s a book from which you can take as much as you want. 

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Sunday Summary – 13th July 2025

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If you’ve had glorious weather this weekend as I have, then I hope you’ve been able to make the most of it! Welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update! After a busy week and weekend, I’m here to catch you up on reading progress this week.

Overall, progress has taken a slower pace this week. That’s because real life priorities had to come first. We’ve had a busy week at work. I knew this was coming and so I only planned to share a Top Ten Tuesday post before today’s Sunday Summary. However, even that ended up being late. This belated post went out on Wednesday, so if you’re interested on books I’m planning to re-read, go and take a look at that post.

 

Books Read

The Anxious Generation 

In last week’s Sunday Summary update, I confided that I only had 30 pages left of this book to finish. Whilst my intention was to pick up the book and finish it last Sunday, it was Monday in the end.

The Anxious Generation was a very informative and interesting read. I already had a good measure of the book from what I’d read so far, so the ending and my feelings about the book weren’t really a surprise.

 

The Measure 

Next, I moved on to a kindle read – The Measure by Nikki Erlick. You may recall this is the book we’re reading together in the book club I host at work.

This week, I haven’t made a load of progress with the book, although I have really enjoyed starting it. The blocker on reading progress this week hasn’t been any fault of the book, but rather my time. Quarter end is a really busy time and it was especially rough this time as we had several people out of the office. I did quite a bit of overtime. To top it off, I didn’t make any reading progress on Saturday because I was out at a hen do all day. At least I got to enjoy the beautiful weather! 

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I’m 25% into The Measure. It’s a really interesting book and premise so far. I really like where the book is going in terms of exploring individual stories, but also highlighting changes in society. If you are unfamiliar, the book is about what happens when people have the knowledge of how long they are going to live. There are some really interesting character discussions and events that take place as a consequence. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this progresses and fingers crossed I can make a good deal more progress now things are settling down.

 

House of Frank

A book I have started this week, that isn’t on my official July TBR, is House of Frank. This will probably come across as an unusual choice, but it makes sense when I explain where it’s come from.

I have just become a moderator of an online book club called the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club over at Chantelle Solace. With my experience of hosting our work book club, I volunteered and was offered the position of moderator to help with the book club. Naturally, I need to read the books that this club are reading, hence why I have started House of Frank.

Reading progress on this book has also been slow. I’ve literally only read the first chapter so far, but I think this is going to be an interesting and cosy read. Given that one of the main topics it’s dealing with is grief, this sounds like an unusual combination but one I’m happy to explore. 

I’ll be sharing more on that next week. If you’re interested, you can find out more here.

 

Alan Turing: The Enigma 

I haven’t made any more progress with Alan Turing this week. After a very slow start last week, I’ve not been able to psyche myself up to pick up this book again.

So much so, I’m only including this book in today’s post to let you know that I’m DNFing it. I’m not enjoying it, so there’s no point in forcing myself to continue when I could be reading or listening to something else more interesting… 

 

Books Discovered

I’ve picked up one book this week. As and when I pop into one of our bigger Tesco stores, I usually take a look at the little bookshelf they have near their customer services area. Most of the time, they don’t have anything that catches my eye. 

However, this week I found a copy of Janice Hallett’s The Examiner in a really good condition. I really enjoyed reading The Appeal so I’m excited to be able to try another of her books written in mixed media format. And, I dId a good deed in getting my copy as charity benefits! 

 

Coming Up… 

So, what’s the plan next week? Well, given most of my time sensitive deadlines are now over at work, scheduling should return to normal. 

This week I’m returning to my draft review of Stolen Focus in an attempt to finish it off to a standard I’m happy with. In terms of word count for the review, I’m not far off where I want to be. It’s hopefully just a case of refining it, but we’ll see.

On Friday I return with my regular First Lines Friday feature. In the spirit of making things more interesting, I’ll set myself a challenge here and now to feature an upcoming read from my 20 Books of Summer reading list. I hope you can tune in to see what that is! 

Lastly, I’m back again for another Sunday Summary instalment at the end of the week. With work deadlines less imminent and more staff in the office next week, I should get my time back. 

What are you reading this week? 

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Book Review: The Mad Ship – Robin Hobb

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In today’s post, I review the second book of Robin Hobb’s The Liveship Trader series, The Mad Ship. If you haven’t caught yourself up with this series yet, I reviewed the first book of this trilogy, Ship of Magic, back in January. If you need to start back at the very beginning, my review of Assassin’s Apprentice is here. 

I really enjoyed this second instalment. Whilst it took me a little while to get into the story of Ship of Magic, I had no such trouble with The Mad Ship.

 

The Mad Ship – Robin Hobb  

Genre: Epic fantasy 

Pages: 906

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Publication Date: 04 Feb 2008

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – The Mad Ship

The Farseer trilogy continues the dramatic tale of piracy, serpents, love, and magic. The Vestrit family’s liveship, Vivacia, has been taken by the pirate king, Kennit. Held captive on board, Wintrow Vestrit finds himself competing with Kennit for Vivacia’s love as the ship slowly acquires her own bloodlust. Leagues away, Althea Vestrit has found a new home aboard the liveship Ophelia, but she lives only to reclaim Vivacia and with her friend, Brashen, she plans a dangerous rescue. Meanwhile, in Bingtown, the fading fortunes of the Vestrit family lead Malta deeper into the magical secrets of the Rain Wild Traders. And just outside Bingtown, Amber dreams of relaunching Paragon, the mad liveship …

 

My Thoughts

Plot

If there is one thing Robin Hobb can’t be accused of, it’s that her books lack in action. There is always so much going on in these books, but it’s cleverly written so we can follow events spread across multiple locations and characters. The narrative we experience in The Mad Ship spans a vast part of the world.

From political turmoil to a daring rescue attempt, The Mad Ship does not lack for events keeping us on our toes! Combined with the world-building and developing character arcs throughout the book, there isn’t a dull moment. Seemingly separate characters and events start to make connections in this book, but the full truth doesn’t truly get unveiled until Ship of Destiny. For the eager-minded trying to work out what’s happening before the revelation, you won’t be disappointed. 

For a book that is a dense 900 odd pages, I read it pretty quickly! I finished it in around two weeks, and made over 550 pages’ progress in one week alone. If that doesn’t sell how captivating I found the book, I don’t know what will… 

 

Setting

If you are a regular reader, you’ll know that I love world-building. The Mad Ship (and the rest of the Realm of the Elderlings series to date) allows for lots of this! Set across a huge fictional world spanning multiple continents and cultures, there is a lot to take in. From the current state of events to the history of the world, no detail is left untouched. Throughout the narrative, there is a wide variety of locations in play at any one time. It allows us to explore world lore and history in detail, and never get bored! 

Not only do we get the benefit of events being spread across multiple locations, but we get to enjoy these places from different perspectives too. Characters are very active in this book in moving around. Not only does that help keep the action flowing, but it gives us the chance to revisit places through fresh eyes. 

Plus, it wouldn’t feel right to have a book about sentient ships that don’t go anywhere… right? 

 

Characters

The titular ship, Paragon, is one of my favourites in the trilogy. He’s a complex and far from noble character. That’s what makes his story interesting. Most of the Liveships are loyal to their masters and are largely unremarkable. Vivacia is interesting for her recent sentience and the power struggle over bonding with her. Otherwise, though, the liveships are almost one and the same. Until we get to Paragon. The Mad Ship. The disowned ship, left abandoned on the shore and threatened with being broken up by its owner, the Ludlucks. 

Amber saves Paragon from this fate, and her attempts to bring him back to himself are admirable. Paragon is also childish, and in some ways reminded me of Malta’s petulance. However, Paragon is a far more complex character. The root cause of this doesn’t come out straight away, but it makes perfect sense and the mystery about him has us reading on. Until that revelation, Paragon is demonised as mad, having murdered his crew several times. 

There are characters I love in this series, and there is one I love to hate. It feels a little unfair to say because in book three, Malta’s character arc redeems her a lot. She grows, but not yet. In The Mad Ship, she is her usual petulant, selfish, and childish self. Although I loved the book in general, I found Malta’s chapters the hardest to read. They give a lot of information on current events, so they are worth it. But man, I’m sure I ground my teeth a lot enduring her chapters… 

The cast goes on! I could sit here and talk about each of the characters, but this would be a very long post. These two are the main standouts for me, but every character has a strong position in this world. Not with any character have I felt that their place was superfluous or not contributing to the narrative. 

 

Narrative Style 

Given there is so much going on with these books, it’s important to get the pacing right. Take events too quickly and you can lose readers. Take them too slowly and readers get bored. Although I would describe Robin Hobb’s pacing as slightly slower than average, I think this is needed to give readers the chance to absorb what is going on. Plus, this isn’t done at the expense of our interest. Like my recent read of The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang, there’s a benefit to slowing things down a little so we can appreciate the intricacies of the world created and what is going on. 

 

Summary 

The Mad Ship is a great second instalment to this three-part series. It’s also a very long book at over 900 pages. If you’re looking to cosy in with an epic fantasy trilogy this summer, I can guarantee this will not disappoint! 

Have you read The Mad Ship or any other books by Robin Hobb? My next read from the series is Golden Fool – what’s yours? 

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Sunday Summary – 25th May 2025

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Happy late May bank holiday weekend, folks! Normally, when I’m drafting my Sunday Summary, I’m lamenting another weekend being over. This week, though, that’s not the case! I’ve still got another day off, and I’m looking forward to it 😁

So, what have I been up to this week? Firstly, I shared a post this week about the importance of libraries and what we can all do to help them. It doesn’t have to cost money either!

On Friday, I returned with a Shelf Control post. This week’s feature was an upcoming young adult thriller I’m curious to try. The premise is unlike anything I’ve seen before…


Books Read


Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World


Prior to today, over the course of this week, I listened to two and a half hours of Crashed. This was mainly when driving into work. However, I had some time at home on my own today and a number of self-imposed jobs to do. To keep me company, I picked up this audiobook again.

… and finished it. I had about five hours of audio left when I started listening today, and I did it! It wasn’t specifically my intention to, but once I realised I only had a small amount left to go, I was on a mission then.

Crashed is an interesting book to listen to. We often think about the multiple financial crises from the early 2000s through to 2016 as separate events. Adam Tooze makes arguments that they’re not. It’s not funny, haha funny, but when you then consider the coronavirus pandemic and yet more turmoil after all that, it’s been a rollercoaster. Turns out Adam has also subsequently written another book about the pandemic.


Ultra-Processed People


In last week’s Sunday Summary, I was only just in a position to share that I’d started Ultra-Processed People. As of this Sunday Summary, I’ve gone on to read 175 pages, bringing me to 45% progress in the book.

I’m on a non-fiction roll and enjoying the variety of the genre. When I set out to read this book, I expected it would change how I think about food. In the last few months, I’ve already been consciously trying to cook more from scratch and eat less ultra-processed food (UPF). I’m not looking to put it out entirely – as this book argues – in the UK’s food environment, that’s going to be difficult. However, eating less UPF is an improvement!

Chris is really good at putting into perspective what the ‘ingredients’ commonly found in UPF are, how they got there, and who is most affected by it. It’s a really informative read, and I’m looking forward to reading on.


Books Discovered


Do you recall I mentioned Adam Tooze has published a book about the COVID-19 pandemic? It’s called Shutdown, and I got the audiobook after I finished Crashed this afternoon.


Coming Up…

It’s the last week of May, so I need to get my skates on with my TBR!

With this in mind, I’m taking a few days off to enjoy some reading time and to try and make more of a dent in the list by the end of next week. So, my first post will go live on Friday, and that will be a First Lines Friday feature. In the spirit of keeping things easy, I’m not setting a particular challenge this time.

This time next week, I’ll share another Sunday Summary update, in which I have all the bookish updates for you!

Have you read anything lately that you’d like to recommend?

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Book Review: Death of Kings – Bernard Cornwell

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My review of Death of Kings comes two years after I read the book. To say I needed to refresh myself on the events is an understatement! That’s why this post is out a day later than usual. Rather than rushing and putting out something I wasn’t happy with, I wanted to take my time and make sure I got it right. This book deserves that justice!

One of the reasons I’m glad to review Death of Kings is that it’ll remind and inspire me to continue reading the series. It’s been two years, but I’m yet to pick up the next book, The Pagan Lord, even when I said after I finished it I wanted to continue on soon. I’m somewhat familiar with the story as a whole as I watched the TV series and final film too. Even so, the books are always better and it was a while ago now since I watched them. As to what specifically happens in the next book, I’m not sure…


Death of Kings – Bernard Cornwell

Genre: Historical fiction

Pages: 335

Audience: Adult

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: 29 Sept 2011

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Goodreads – Death of Kings


As the ninth century wanes, England appears about to be plunged into chaos once more. For the Viking-raised but Saxon-born warrior, Uhtred, whose life seems to shadow the making of England, this presents him with difficult choices.

King Alfred is dying and his passing threatens the island of Britain to renewed warfare. Alfred wants his son, Edward, to succeed him, but there are other Saxon claimants to the throne as well as ambitious pagan Vikings to the north.

Uhtred‘s loyalty – and his vows – were to Alfred, not to his son, and despite his long years of service to Alfred, he is still not committed to the Saxon cause. His own desire is to reclaim his long-lost lands and castle to the north. But the challenge to him, as the king’s warrior, is that he knows that he will either be the means of making Alfred’s dream of a united and Christian England come to pass or be responsible for condemning it to oblivion.

This novel is a dramatic story of the power of tribal commitment and the terrible difficulties of divided loyalties.

This is the making of England, magnificently brought to life by the master of historical fiction.

 

My Thoughts

Plot

King Alfred hopes to leave behind a united England in death. However, with him ailing further, the peace and unity he strives for seems a long shot.

As ever, Uhtred finds himself stuck in the middle. Whilst he has a degree of loyalty to King Alfred, he also longs to undertake his own goal – to return to his homeland of Bebbanburg. He has no fealty or ties to Alfred‘s intended successor, Edward. Whilst Alfred hopes Uthred will support his claim, he doesn’t feel inclined to do so.

The result of all this internal conflict is that the Danes feel like they can take advantage of a weakened England. As in other books, there are numerous battles and skirmishes throughout!


Setting

As a key man taking part as a warrior, messenger, negotiator, and savour, Uhtred gets around a bit. The narrative roams all across the country of England as we know it today. Whilst there is a lot going on, this is well managed in the narrative so it’s easy to follow where events are taking place.

The constant action and changes of location keep the narrative interesting. Even if you aren’t a huge fan of books with a plot line involving politics, there is plenty of action in this book to counterbalance this. The frequent relocations of our main character keep us on our toes.


Characters

In Death of Kings, we get to see a mischievous side to Uhtred. In this instalment of the series, we actively see him undertaking the role of both the Saxon and a Dane and stirring up conflict. I quite enjoyed seeing the side of the story and this aspect of his character. It’s both entertaining to read, but also gives opportunity for a lot of internal conflict within Uhtred and testing where his loyalties lie.

He may have been born Saxon, but he was raised as a Dane, and in today’s society, we would say he identifies as a Dane. As to which side of the fence he should actually sit on is something that thus far in the series has swung backwards and forwards. I expect more of this conflict in future books, and I can’t wait to read on.


Narrative Style

If you like your historical fiction full of action, Death of Kings won’t disappoint. With numerous conflicts, both physical and political, throughout the book, there’s plenty to keep us occupied.

For me, the pacing of Death of Kings and the wider series as a whole suits me; there are moments of intense action, and the pages just fly by. Equally, there is enough time to reflect on what has happened and what the consequences are. The action doesn’t compromise the world-building, and overall, Death of Kings strikes an ideal balance between the two.


Summary

I’m a huge fan of Bernard Cornwell‘s Saxon stories series, and the latest instalment, Death of Kings, has lived up to the high expectations set by earlier books. This review hopefully encourages you to pick up the book but has likely also achieved its goal of reminding me of the series and giving me a nudge to pick up the book soon.

Have you read Death of Kings? What are your thoughts on this book or series?

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Sunday Summary – 4th May 2025

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I confess I’ve written a good deal of today’s Sunday Summary in advance. Today, I’ve taken part in a charity walk, which is an 8.8-mile route down the south of the island. In case I’m pooped afterwards, I’ve prepared this post so I don’t have too much to do!

So, what have I been up to this week? On Wednesday, I published my monthly wrap-up post for April. If you’ve yet to see that post and you want to catch up on all the books I read last month, here’s a link to that post.

On Friday, I shared my monthly TBR for May. I’ve got some great books coming up. This TBR is non-fiction and fantasy-heavy… and I’m excited!


Books Read

Normal Women

This week I decided to put down Normal Women and have a little break from the book. It’s not a DNF and I will be coming back to it soon.

 

The Poppy War

As of today’s Sunday Summary, I’ve read a little more of The Poppy War in the last week. Admittedly, I haven’t made the most progress with this book. However, I have enjoyed seeing Rin settle herself into Sinegard. The book is already setting up a narrative where Rin is the outsider. Given there are obvious class and perhaps racial divides in the characters, I’m looking forward to exploring this in a non-British or European setting.

I’m not very familiar with non-Western cultural elements. A lot of the fantasy I have read growing up has been Western as opposed to Eastern, and so I’m not as fast as I could be on where these divides may lie in other cultures. That’s what I’m looking forward to exploring in The Poppy War.


Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Shaped the World

I’ve been doing a fair bit of walking during my lunch hours this week. As a result, I’ve listened to about three and a half hours of Crashed.

I’m definitely enjoying this second part of the book more than the first. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a political element to the narrative. However, the emphasis is on the crisis, and that’s what I’m more interested in reading about.

The book is still a little more technical, so some of the detail goes over my head. However, that’s not impacting my understanding or enjoyment of the book.


Books Discovered

I’ve added The Obesity Code to my TBR this week. I read about this book online, and it promises to change readers’ ideas of how weight loss is achieved.

Even if you aren’t invested in the subject, I’m sure you’re aware of how much conflicting information there is out there. I’m trying to wade through it and bust the myths. This book is very highly rated, so I’m hoping it’s one of the more reliable books 🤞🏻


Coming Up…

I plan to keep content on the light side of things early next week. I’ve seen a book tag online that’s based around board games over at Bewitching Books Ravenous Reads. I think this could be good fun to write, so I’ll be sharing this in the next few days.

On Friday, it will be time for my Shelf Control regular feature. In this series, I take a look at upcoming books on my reading list. It’s a great way to get myself looking forward to a particular book. I hope you can stay tuned to find out what’s coming up on my reading list soon.

Last, but by no means least, I’ll return with a Sunday Summary at the same time next week. I’m looking forward to having more reading updates to share with you and how I’m getting on with progress in my May TBR.

Until next time, happy reading!

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