Tag: Novel

Posted in Audiobooks, Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: The Bees by Laline Paull

Posted on by elishasbookreview

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*No Spoilers*

Born into the lowest class of her society, Flora 717 is a sanitation bee, only fit to clean her orchard hive. Living to accept, obey and serve, she is prepared to sacrifice everything for her beloved holy mother, the Queen. Yet Flora has talents that are not typical of her kin. And while mutant bees are usually instantly destroyed, Flora is reassigned to feed the newborns, before becoming a forager, collecting pollen on the wing. Then she finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers secrets both sublime and ominous. Enemies roam everywhere, from the fearsome fertility police to the high priestesses who jealously guard the Hive Mind. But Flora cannot help but break the most sacred law of all, and her instinct to serve is overshadowed by a desire, as overwhelming as it is forbidden…

I enjoy novels about personified animals. This one seemed right up my alley. The way this book was written made it seem like the beehive was a cult. I didn’t finish this book because it really became monotonous and repetitive and it couldn’t hold my interest passed the first-half of the book.

Overall the book isn’t a bad book, but with the tagline “The Handmaid’s Tale” meets “The Hunger Games” and not having read “The Handmaid’s Tale” I didn’t have a proper reference point to be able to say that this is “The Handmaid’s Tale” with bees or that it just borrows themes from the book.

For my overall decision, this book would be more suited to people who are interested in personified animals and are fans of books and TV Shows like “The Handmaid’s Tale”. 

Posted in Audiobooks, Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmbergo

Posted on by elishasbookreview

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*No Spoilers*

Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic… forever.

Yet the spells Ceony learns under the strange yet kind Magician Thane turn out to be more marvelous than she could have ever imagined — animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic.

An Excisioner — a practitioner of dark, flesh magic — invades the cottage and severely injure Magician Thane. To save her teacher’s life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure and reveals the very soul of the man.

I’ve seen this series floating around on my book clubs and groups. The premise seems intriguing, a magician who can wield paper is rather an odd concept. So I jumped into this novel, cautiously optimistic.

On Goodreads, this is not classified as a “romance”. There are certainly romantic themes in this novel. As Ceony is off to rescue her mentor and starts to learn about him, his past, his hopes, and dreams. She steadily falls in love with her mentor, and this drives her further into figuring out a way to rescue him.

As the journey kept going, I started to grow less and less interested. The romance got to be very boring, and sure it was interesting to learn more about Magician Thane. However, her slow progress as “time is ticking away” aspect doesn’t feel like it doesn’t meet expectations sort of like it actually doesn’t matter.

My opinion being what it is, I don’t really want to recommend this book, but if you are still interested this book would be better suited to someone who prefers books about romance.

Buy it on Amazon!

Posted in Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: The Hiss-tory of Magic (Wonder Cats Mystery #1) by Harper Lin

Posted on by elishasbookreview

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*No Major Spoilers*

Cath Greenstone, her cousin Bea, and her hippie aunt Astrid live in Wonder Falls, a small town near the mystical Niagara Falls. They run the Brew-Ha-Ha café, and naturally, they’re witches hiding in plain sight along with their three magical cats, Treacle, Peanut Butter, and Marshmallow.

When Brew-Ha-Ha’s baker is burnt to a crisp, along with their beloved café, Aunt Astrid lets out a big family secret: a powerful spell book, a Greenstone heirloom from the Salem days, has been stolen from its secret hiding spot in the café. If it’s fallen into the wrong hands, black magic could destroy not only Wonder Falls but the world.

My mom recommended this book to me. I do love the supernatural and cats. A connection I made between this book and another book I’ve read was, Pru Marlowe Pet Noir series. Both of the main protagonists has a very special talent for reading what cats are thinking and are able to help them.

This book starts at a slow simmer, gradually getting more hot as the story goes on. This mystery had me bamboozled! Even at the end, I was trying to collect my thoughts about the climax and aftermath.

All three main characters were my favorites, along with their cats Treacle, Peanut Butter, and Marshmellow. Treacle was the main cat amongst the three and belonged to Cath. Peanut Butter was an anxious and frightened orange cat that belongs to Bea. Marshmellow being the elder of the three and the one wielding the most magic; Astrid’s cat naturally.

My only complaint, and it’s just a minor one, but I wish the cats were more involved in the plot. Sure they helped the police find a clue, but other than that, Cath seemed to use the cats for eavesdropping on others.

I would recommend this novel to lovers of cozy mysteries, cat mysteries, and the supernatural!

Buy it on Amazon!

Posted in Book Reviews, Graphic Novels, Manga

REVIEW: Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 1 by Ryoko Kui

Posted on by elishasbookreview

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*No Major Spoilers*

When young adventurer Laios and his company are attacked and soundly thrashed by a dragon deep in a dungeon, the party loses all its money and provisions…and a member! They’re eager to go back and save her, but there is just one problem: If they set out with no food or coin to speak of, they’re sure to starve on the way! But Laios comes up with a brilliant idea: “Let’s eat the monsters!” Slimes, basilisks, and even dragons…none are safe from the appetites of these dungeon-crawling gourmands!

This manga caught my eye by the odd-sounding title. The theme of eating the monsters that are found in the dungeon is a unique idea. Most dungeon-crawlers are dependant on “standard” foods. Eating the monsters is unorthodox to most dungeon-crawler type scenarios.

My favorite character is Senshi, the dwarf. He joins the team at the beginning and teaches the group how to cook the monsters and how their diets affect their abilities to fight and travel. His unique perspective on the adventure is admirable and humorous.

My least favorite character is Marcille, the mage. She is against the whole idea of eating monsters and complains every step of the way. Even after Senshi proved to her time, and time again that eating monsters wasn’t a bad thing, she continued to complain throughout.

A unique touch I found in the story was whenever they cooked a dish, they would show the recipe and nutrition facts. I thought that was funny and added a nice touch to the story overall.

I would recommend this manga to lovers of dungeon-crawlers, monster lovers, and aspiring cooks alike. This is a unique take on the rehashed story of “going through the dungeon to save/do x,y, and z.

Buy on Amazon

Posted in Audiobooks, Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: Video Game Plotline Tester (The Dark Herbalist #1) by Michael Atamanov

Posted on by elishasbookreview
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*No Major Spoilers*

Would you be prepared to work for free? How would you like to bust your hump for a large corporation 60-plus hours a week without a wage or a single day off for the vague promise of some mysterious perks in the distant future?

You’d refuse point blank, wouldn’t you?

But what if the job in question was playing a state-of-the-art fantasy MMORPG game? And what if this was the only thing you’re really good at? Especially considering that your in-game partner is someone really special to you – and this person already lives a virtual life?

After thoroughly enjoying the Mirror World series, I thought I could continue to follow the virtual-reality genre. Though similar in theme, both series are different in their own rights.

My opinion on the two series is that whichever series you start first is going to be your favorite. Whether you start with The Dark Herbalist or Mirror World series, both are great in their own rights.

Now, my opinion on this book in particular. I enjoyed this book, the thought of a goblin herbalist is a very interesting character. In Boundless Realm, the virtual reality game, Goblins are disliked by most species. However, being an herbalist means you can learn alchemy and make potions to better your chance of survival.

In Boundless Realm, people can kill NPCs as well as fellow players (this causes a criminal marker to be next to their name). This book shows that the NPCs aren’t just complex codes and have cardboard personalities.

The main job description, as the title implies, is to test unusual character/job combinations in order to draw new players to the game. Instead of your typical combinations of characters and jobs, for instance, an Orc Warrior, or an Elf Mage, you can choose unlikely combinations for a unique playing experience.

One of the scenes I found to be most memorable was when the main character, Timothy, found a swamp home to wyverns while exploring and on a quest to kill the queen of the wyverns. The prize he was to claim from completing this quest was very unique, a wyvern egg which allows for one to hatch and raise the creature to become a usable mount in the game later.

In conclusion, I found this book to be overall well enjoyable, it was action-packed and held my attention quite well. There’s a lot more to the story that I haven’t said here, but it’s a fun read for sure.