Blog Tour Review - Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler

Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler 

Published 1st October 2020 by Head of Zeus

Star Rating - ****

I was gifted a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

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.

My Thoughts

I've always been intrigued by several of Django Wexler's work so when I was offered the opportunity to read and review this one I jumped at the chance. The synopsis really caught my eye and I'm pleased to say that it lived up to my expectations. 

The plot was really interesting. It moved at a steady pace and kept me engaged throughout. Even when the characters were travelling I was still invested in the story and was keen to keep reading. I also really enjoy duel perspective stories so this was a big plus for me too in terms of writing style. I loved the magic system too. I liked the two sides to it, the side that came from the Chosen and how that was different to what came from the Ghouls but also how it can also be interchangeable and used by the opposite side through the use of arcana. I found this really interesting. 

The characters were great too. There wasn't an obvious side to route for. Both perspectives had their flaws and their values and I thought this made for interesting reading. I liked the edginess and sarcasm that came from Gyre and Kit's side but I also liked the determination to do the right thing that came from Maya. I also appreciated Maya and Beq's relationship exploration. I thought this was an effortless part of the story and it didn't feel like it was imposed upon the story for diversities sake. 

Overall I really enjoyed this story. I was super intrigued by the ending and didn't really want the book to end so I can honestly say I will be keeping a close eye out for the sequel when it's released. 

Overall Rating 

Author Bio

Django Wexler is the author of the Shadow Campaigns novels. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with degrees in creative writing and computer science, and worked for the university in artificial intelligence research. He is also the author of middle-grade fantasy novels, The Forbidden Library, The Mad Apprentice and The Palace of Glass.

Thank you to the publishers, Head of Zeus, for the opportunity to take part in the blog tour. Please check out the other bloggers on this tour to see what they are saying about this great book. 

Review - Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko 

Published 18th August 2020 by Hot Key Books

Star Rating - ***.5

Goodreads Challenge - 22/50

I was kindly gifted and ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Nothing is more important than loyalty.
But what if you’ve sworn to protect the one you were born to destroy?

Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood.

That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself?

My Thoughts

I was excited to be offered a review copy of this book. I haven't really read a fantasy inspired by West African folklore and I was keen to dive into this one because it sounded so good. After finishing this book I can say I enjoyed the story overall but i definitely have some mixed feelings about it.

I will be honest after about 100 pages I was considering DNFing this book. I will say now that I've finished it I'm really glad I didn't however, for the first 100-200 pages I really struggled to get into the story. The writing was fine, but I felt the pacing of the story was a bit off. There was several big time jumps in the beginning and I think this hindered the character development and the world building. There were things happening that I didn't really understand and their were aspects of the story that I didn't feel were explained well enough which was a shame as the plot itself was really interesting. The story picked up in the second half and there wasn't really any large time jumps which helped me to follow the plot better and I found myself wanting to keep reading as I was keen to see how it ended.

I loved the characters however, I really liked the idea of challenging the stereotype of this world where only men can rule and woman are seen as a lesser being in the royal circle. Our main character Tar was quite complex, it often felt like she was being pulled in many different directions and I liked how she didn't just give in to the easy option. She continued to fight for what was right even though she could hurt herself and the people around her. I thought the idea of a sacred council all linked together was really interesting. I really liked the strong found family vibes this story gave off and I liked that the romance that went along with this was very much a slow burn as it could of quite easily been quite 'instalovey' with the way the characters bonded together.

Overall a bit of a mixed one for me. I enjoyed the plot and the characters however, I felt the execution wasn't quite right for my taste. I'm not sure if this is part of a series or if there will be any more books in this world but if it is then I may look at picking up the next one from my library.

Overall Rating (3.5*)

April TBR

Happy April everyone! I hope you are all keeping safe and well in these unprecedented times and managing to make the most of the isolation by reading all the books!

Today it's time for yet another TBR and as you may or may not know April is the month of the O.W.Ls Magical Readathon. I took part in this for the first time last year and loved it so I'm looking forward to it again this year. Along with this readathon I'm still planning on taking part in my usual month challenges and such and will structure my TBR as normal. 

Without further ado lets see what I'm hoping to read in the month of April. 

As usual I'm splitting my TBR up into the following sections...

• TBR and Beyond yearly challenge prompts (I will be choosing two of these a month)
• TBR and Beyond monthly challenge 
• Any readathons I'm planning on taking part in, for this month it will be the O.W.Ls Magical Readathon
• Review copies I have to read
• Any library books or books from my existing TBR I'm planning on reading

So here's what I plan to read in April. 

Yearly Challenge Prompts

My two challenge prompts for this month are...

• A book written in the 1990s or a classic from the 1990s - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Illustrated Edition by J.K. Rowling
• A book without a person on the cover or a book with a POC on the cover - The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman 

TBR and Beyonds Monthly Challenge

The aim of this challenge is a little bit like pairs. You choose up to two cards and read a book that matches the prompts or complete the activity on the card. You can pair cards up however you want book prompt and book prompt, activity and activity or one of each. I'm hoping to complete several pairs this month with the books I'm already planning on reading. 

O.W.Ls Magical Readathon

I have chosen the career Trader of Magical Tomes and for this I need to read four books completing the following prompts...

• Ancient Runes A heart on the cover or in the title - The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven
• Charms A white cover - One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
• History of Magic A book featuring witches or wizards - I have lots so I'm planning to mood read this one.
• Transfiguration A book/series that includes shapeshifters - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Other (Library/Existing TBR Books)

• Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (re-read)

I'd love to hear about what's on your April TBR.

March Wrap Up

March was another great reading month for me, I seem to be on a roll at the moment. Not only did I read 7 books again but 6 of them were 4 stars and above. Here are the books I read in March.

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
Published 18th August 2020 by Hot Key Books
Star Rating - ***.5
Goodreads Challenge - 22/50
Review - Blog Review

Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence

Published 14th November 2019 by 47 North

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge - 16/50

Re-Coil by J. T. Nicholas

Published 3rd March 2020 by Titan Books

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge - 18/50
Review - Blog Review

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Published 6th February 2020 by Macmillan Children's Books

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge - 19/50



Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (re-read)
Published 17th June 2014 by Square Fish
Star Rating - **** (original rating 3.5*)
Goodreads Challenge - 20/50



The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas (audiobook)
Published 31st July 2018 by Penguin Random House
Star Rating - ****
Goodreads Challenge - 21/50

Aru-Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

Published 3rd May 2018 by Scholastic 

Star Rating - *****

Goodreads Challenge - 17/50

How many books did you manage to read in March? I'd love to hear about your favourites. 

Review - Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Thorn by Intisar Khanani 

Published 24th March 2020 by Hot Key Books

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge (2019) - 68/50

I was gifted an unsolicited ARC copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

A princess with two futures. A destiny all her own

Between her cruel family and the contempt she faces at court, Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life. But when she’s betrothed to the powerful prince Kestrin, Alyrra embarks on a journey to his land with little hope for a better future.

When a mysterious and terrifying sorceress robs Alyrra of both her identity and her role as princess, Alyrra seizes the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.

But Alyrra soon finds that Kestrin is not what she expected. The more Alyrra learns of this new kingdom, the pain and suffering its people endure, as well as the danger facing Kestrin from the sorceress herself, the more she knows she can’t remain the goose girl forever.

With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds and ultimately must decide who she is, and what she stands for.

My Thoughts

I had never actually heard of this book before I received it in the post neither have I read the original fairytale that this book is based on, The Goose Girl. However, after reading the synopsis I thought it sounded exactly like something I would really enjoy and I wasn't wrong. As I said, I haven't read the source material but this didn't hinder my enjoyment of this book at all and I don't think you need to have read the original fairytale to enjoy this one.

This book is beautifully written. It is descriptive but not unnecessarily so and the plot moves along at a nice steady pace that keeps you engaged throughout. The magic is weaved well throughout the story and there are points where the magic makes the story feel quite atmospheric. There were also some quite hard hitting moments within this book. The story doesn't shy away from incidents and events and at points was quite brutal and that made it feel like a true fairytale.

I loved our main character Alyrra also known as Thorn. She was quite humble and really appreciated the small things. She just wanted to be happy and carve out a life for herself where she felt like she belonged however, as we progressed through the story she begins to grow as a person and starts to fight more for what she believes in. I really liked the relationship between Alyrra and Kestrin too there was no instalovey stuff happening and I felt the story really explored how they felt about each other. Even in the end, they are still not quite there and I appreciated this lack of romance and exploration of feelings.

Overall I would recommend this one for fairytale lovers. Whether you've read the original tale of The Goose Girl or not I think this story will be enjoyed by many.

Overall Rating 

Review - Re-Coil by J. T. Nicholas

Re-Coil by J. T. Nicholas

Published 3rd March 2020 by Titan Books

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge - 18/50

I was kindly gifted a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Out on a salvage mission with a skeleton crew, Carter Langston is murdered by animated corpses left behind on this ship. Yet in this future, everyone’s consciousness backup can be safely downloaded into a brand-new body, and all you’d lose are the memories of what happened between your last backup and your death. But when Langston wakes up in his new body, he is immediately attacked in the medbay and has to fight once again for his life—and his immortality. Because this assassin aims to destroy his core forever.

Determined to find his shipmates and solve this evolving mystery, Langston locates their tech whiz Shay Chan, but two members are missing and perhaps permanently killed. Langston and Chan are soon running for their lives with the assassin and the corporation behind him in hot pursuit.

What Langston and Chan ultimately find would signal the end of humanity. What started as a salvage mission just might end up saving the world.

My Thoughts

I don't read much sci-fi as I tend to find much of it can be quite science heavy which isn't something I enjoy. The sci-fi I have enjoyed tends to be a little bit lighter, generally YA, however, the synopsis of this one sounded so interesting I thought I would give it a shot and I'm really glad I did.

This was a high action sci-fi thriller that kept me reading until the very end. A real page turner, the writing was fast paced and engaging and the story really kept me on my toes. There were lots of twists and turns that kept me wanting more. I thought the idea of being re-coiled was a really interesting concept and that this book explored the idea of being pretty much immortal in a different way to that which is usually explored in fantasy novels. This then led to a really great discussion surrounding gender, particularly biological gender. This book freely discussed how people can be re-coiled in a body whose gender is different from that of the person themselves. This actually happened to one of our main characters and I thought explored their feelings about this well.

I enjoyed both of our main characters too. They both had really distinct personalities and I enjoyed reading about them. They both seemed to have some shady history and this definitely played a part in them doing the right thing and I liked this morally greyness about them. I also appreciated the very little romance in this book. It was hinted at a lot throughout however, at no point did it over shadow the story and I enjoyed this.

Overall a really great read and one I would recommend to both sci-fi and thriller fans alike. I will be keeping an eye out for further books from this author in the future.

Overall Rating 

March TBR

I didn't manage to get a TBR post up for February however, I did post a picture on my Twitter and I'm pleased to say that I managed to complete this TBR so that's 2/2 so far. 

March's TBR is going to be a little more free as I have a few books to read and I'm not sure which prompts they will fit into for my monthly challenge so any extras will depend on this (this should make more sense in a moment). 

As before I'm splitting my TBR up into the following four sections...

• TBR and Beyond yearly challenge prompts (I will be choosing two of these a month)
• TBR and Beyond monthly challenge 
• Any readathons I'm planning on taking part in
• Review copies I have to read
• Any library books or books from my existing TBR I'm planning on reading

So here's what I plan to read in March so far.

Yearly Challenge Prompts

My two challenge prompts for this month are...

• A book with time travel or parallel universes - Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence 
• A book from the Rick Riorden imprint or the Salaam Reads imprint - Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

TBR and Beyonds Monthly Challenge

This is where I need to wait to see if any of the other books on my TBR fit into any of these prompts. The aim of this challenge is to choose a chain and read a book to match each prompt on the chain. Which chain I choose will depend on if any of my other reads fit into any of the prompts (I hope that makes sense). If you would like to know which chain I choose in the end I always update my reading progress on my Twitter. 

Review Copies 

• Recoil by J.T Nicholas

Other (Library/Existing TBR Books)

• Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (Exsiting TBR/Reread)

Lets hope I can keep up my momentum from February and read all the books in March. 

What are you planning on reading in March? Let me know.