A Thousand Words A Million Books || A Young Adult Book Blog: Empires

Title: Song of the Current (Song of the Current #1)
Author: Sarah Tolscer
Publication Date: July 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 1/2 of the Song of the Current Duology
I Got A Copy Through: Bloomsbury India (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Amazon UK || Barnes and Noble || Wordery || Flipkart || Snapdeal || Infibeam || Foyles || Waterstones || WHSmith || Kobo || Books A Million || Chapters Indigo || Google Books

Blurb Description: Caroline Oresteia has always been destined for the river. Her father is a wherryman, as was her grandmother. All Caro needs is for the river god to whisper her name, and her fate is sealed. But at seventeen, Caro may be too late.
So when pirates burn ships and her father is arrested, Caro volunteers to transport a dangerous cargo in exchange for his release. Secretly, Caro hopes that by piloting her own wherry, the river god will finally speak her name.
But when the cargo becomes more than Caro expected, she finds herself caught in a web of politics and lies. With much more than her father’s life at stake, Caro must choose between the future she knows, and the one she never could have imagined

Before I begin my review, I had the opportunity to interview the LOVELY Sarah Tolcser on my Meet The Authors Feature, which you can read here. There's also an INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY you can enter!

Before I begin, can we PLEASE have some SERIOUS COVER APPRECIATION FOR THIS BOOK? I know we aren’t supposed to judge books by their covers, but honestly, if a book has a good cover, it makes me was to OWN AND READ it THAT MUCH MORE!

Saying this book looks beautiful is an understatement because the Cover Gods in the Shiny Book Tower have TRULY outdone themselves this time. Combine a beautiful book with a FEMALE PIRATE AND MAGIC and this was a book ALL OF MY BOOKDRAGON TINGLY SENSES WERE TELLING ME I HAD TO READ IT.

I buddy read this book with the lovely Anisha who blogs (tweets and bookstagrams over at Sprinkled Pages) but she was so much faster than me at reading it.

Let’s break this book down:

IDEA:

Female Pirates, Destiny, Magic, Gods and Empires in the balance? It was a no-brainer that I needed to read Song of the Current because EVERYTHING about it sounded so good. Moreover, I heard BRILLIANT things about this book before I began and it had me even more excited.

PLOT:

I’ll be honest, it took a while to get used to the world this was set in. As Anisha and I spoke about while we read the book:

a) The world-building could have been better. We were thrown names of countries and cities, titles and sailing terms with little to no explanation which resulted in a LOT of flipping to the front where the map what and trying to figure out WHAT WAS GOING ON.

b) A glossary for this book would HONESTLY have been much appreciated. It would have really helped in understanding everything.

Since the world building was a little rough, it took me a while to get used to the story. I hoped that Tarquin wouldn’t be the love interest and I hoped that the Black Dogs would be some serious opponents but I was slightly let down on both counts.

At the same time, there were also a lot of things I LOVED, including how Caro was the PERFECT BADA*S HEROINE. As she says, she isn’t someone waiting to be rescued like a princess in a tower and moved towards something better. (YES! A FIRST! GO SARAH TOLSCER!) She made decisions on her own and her parents respected them instead of trying to mould her to fit their expectations. (ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU SARAH.)

Image created by Brittany's Book Rambles

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED that ending. If I was unsure about the book for the first two thirds, the BRILLIANT ending made up for it. (No spoilers)

WRITING:

I’m mostly going to tie this to the world building that could’ve been better and hence by default, the writing could have been too. I loved how the concepts of the Gods and Destiny and Fate were written about, but I just wish the world building had been better.

CONCLUSION:

Be true to yourself, could you TRULY pass up a book with FEMALE PIRATES, MAGIC AND A SPECTACULAR COVER? Song of the Current is definitely worth your time, and your heart! 4 stars.

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Sarah Tolcser lives in New Orleans, where she writes young adult fantasy and science fiction. A graduate of St. Lawrence University, she double majored in writing and philosophy. She enjoys video games, NBA basketball, and books about girls who blow stuff up. She is married, with three cats. The C in Tolcser is silent.

http://sarahtolcser.com

Twitter: @sarahtolcser

Instagram: @sarahtolcser

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Have you read Song of the Current yet? What did you think of it (AAND the cover)?

Who are some of your favourite pirates - female or male? Do you think we should have more books about Female pirates out there?

I can't wait to hear from y'all!

Title: Empress Of A Thousand Skies (Empress Of A Thousand Skies #1)

Author: Rhoda Belleza
Publication Date: February 7th 2017
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin RandomHouse)
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 1/2 of the Empress Of A Thousand Skies Duology
I Got A Copy Through: Penguin Random House International (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon || Barnes and Noble || Wordery || The Book Depository || Kobo || Google Play Store || Chapters Indigo || Books A Million ||

Blurb Description: CROWN PRINCESS RHIANNON TA'AN WANTS VENGEANCE.
The only surviving heir to an ancient Kalusian dynasty, RHEE has spent her life training to destroy the people who killed her family. Now, on the eve of her coronation, the time has finally come for Rhee to claim her throne - and her revenge.
ALYOSHA is a Wraetan who has risen above his war refugee origins to find fame as the dashing star of a DroneVision show. Despite his popularity, Aly struggles with anti-Wraetan prejudices and the pressure of being perfect in the public eye.
Their paths collide with one brutal act of violence: Rhee is attacked, barely escaping with her life. Aly is blamed for her presumed murder.
The princess and her accused killer are forced to go into hiding - even as a war between planets is waged in Rhee's name. But soon, Rhee and Aly discover that the assassination attempt is just one part of a sinister plot. Bound together by an evil that only they can stop, the two fugitives must join forces to save the galaxy.
In this exhilarating debut for fans of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles and Pierce Brown's Red Rising trilogy, RHODA BELLEZA crafts a powerful saga of vengeance, warfare, and the true meaning of legacy.

The first thing I noticed about Empress of A Thousand Skies was HOLY CRAP THAT COVER. It is SO FREAKING beautiful – and it took me about two weeks to even SEE the girl on the planet. It truly is one of the PRETTIEST covers this year!

The second (and what the cover obviously alluded to) was that this WAS A SPACE BOOK! After reading Illuminae and Gemina earlier this year, I have become OBSESSED with books set in Space!

Also, add in the words Empress, Fighting for her Throne, Vengeance and Politics AND I HAVE ALREADY WANTED TO READ THIS MORE THAN ANYTHING.

“An entire universe full of stars and planets, and not a single one that would hold her.”

Rhiannon (Rhee) Ta’an is the last surviving princess of the legendary Ta’an Dynasty. After her parents and older sister were killed, she was shipped to a moon orbiting the planet she would rule over one day, to learn and to grow.

The book opens on the day she’s scheduled to go back to her planet, for her coronation, only to have her best friend’s father try to kill her. On the run with a boy she doesn’t know with secrets of his own, she must find her way to reclaim her throne and avenge her family.

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Alyosha is a Wratean. His planet was blown up in the Great War ten years ago that ended in the Unrew Treaty which Rhiannon’s family paid the highest price for. After he is blamed for the assassination of the princess, he goes on the run, trying desperately to prove his innocence.

What I LOVED about this book:

1. THAT ENDING: Gorgeous. Spectacularly Done. WONDERFUL. Such a set up for Book Two! I CANNOT WAIT for the next instalment.

2. THE FACT THAT ROMANCE DIDN’T PLAY THAT BIG A ROLE: In a war that will overtake a galaxy, I AM SO HAPPY that it focused on the war, and the rebels, and the Ravaging and the Overwriting of Cubes that there were no star crossed lovers mooning for each other. SUCH a breath of fresh air.

3. THE TECHNOLOGY: While I did LOVE the technology in this book – and the misuse of it, I wish it had been better explained. What were hyperloop trains? What were the functions of NX Droids? I felt like I had to make a LOT of assumptions and it left me feeling sort of uncomfortable. STILL. LOVED ALL OF IT.

What I didn’t like about this book:

1. RHEE TA’AN’S DECISION MAKING PROCESS: For some reason, I HAD NO IDEA WHAT THIS GIRL WAS DOING. Why WHY did she get the Mark on her face – there HAD to have been 8 billion other disguises. WHY did she not reveal herself? Especially if all the media was there TO RECORD IT. If she’s the girl everyone’s looking for, won’t they believe her? Why did she leave Dahlen? SHE WAS GOING TO WHERE HE WAS.

2. The Fact That Something Was Missing: The viewpoints switched between Aly and Rhee and well, each time it switched back, the characters weren’t in the same place we left them and it had me slightly… disoriented? It was a strange feeling, and I kept feeling like SOMETHING WAS MISSING.

A beautiful book on loyalty, family, vengeance, war and traitors. SET IN SPACE. I LOVED it and I could not recommend it more. 4 stars.

Rhoda Belleza was raised in Los Angeles, where she grew up writing XFiles fanfiction and stuffing her face with avocados. When she's not writing, Rhoda obsesses over nail art tutorials, watches kung fu movies, and sews together crooked things that pass for clothes. She's a children's editor at a publishing house and writes from a sunny Brooklyn apartment stuffed far too many bikes and far too many shoes. Empress of a Thousand Skies is her debut novel.