The Ascendance Series Books 1 & 2 & 3 by Jennifer A. Nielsen | Book Series Review

A strong heart will always overcome a strong body.
The False Prince

The Ascendance Series (Books 1 – 3) by Jennifer A. Nielsen

BOOKS: The False Prince, The Runaway King, The Shadow Throne

COLLECTIVE LENGTH: 1055 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Scholastic Press

RELEASE DATES: 1 April 2012 – 25 February 2014

DESCRIPTION ON BOOK #1:

New York Times bestseller The False Prince thrills with wild twists and turns, danger and deceit, and the revelation of hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.

In a discontented kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

My Review

“Don’t make this a fight.”

“I won’t, but you make everything a fight.”
The Shadow Throne

I’m finally posting this book series review. Yay! Getting this review written took so long. I dunno what it was about it, I just had a bunch of trouble getting myself together and sitting down to get this review done. But I’ve finally done it, so here it is!

Anyway.

I first read part of The Ascendance Series several years ago, back when it was still The Ascendance Trilogy. Back then, I read the first two books and the first few chapters of the third. And then I stopped reading for some reason; I’m not actually fully sure of the reason why at this point anymore.

But about a month ago, I found out there were new books in this series and felt the urge to go back and finish at least the first three books. So I did that. And now I’m reviewing the original trilogy of this series as one whole review. I’m also really considering reading the last two books in this series sometime as well, maybe even later this year (I just wanted to take a break after book three and stuff – I was getting slightly burnt out on this series). Anyway, without further ado, here’s the review for The Ascendance Series Books one, two and three!

The Characters

“Have you come here to kill me?” I asked. “Because I’ll scream when you do and it’ll wake up the princess and probably a whole lot of other people and you’ll get into trouble.”

“You’ll be dead.”

“Yes, but you’ll be in trouble.
The False Prince

The characters in the Ascendance Series were okay. There were really only a few standouts, and only what I’d consider to be a couple really strongly written members of the cast; but I’ve also long conceded that this is also a middle grade series of books, so there was never gonna be anything like that anyway.

Let’s discuss the characters a little bit…

Sage 🧩 is the main character, throughout the entire series. He starts going by another name after the first book, but I’m not gonna tualk about it here ’cause it’s a spoiler. Anyway, he kind of irritated at first, but he really grew on me as the story went on, though. He really starts to shine as a character in book two. Sage is a sassy teenager with a strong heart. Though he did continue to do something in all of the books that continued to irritate me throughout my time reading trilogy – however I will say that this is more of an issue with the writing than Sage himself. (We’ll get to this specific issue in a bit.)

He starts to show his true colors as the novels go on, and even from early on it’s established that he’s brave and determined and highly intelligent, and he’ll do anything for those he cares about. This is when he started to be more compelling for me to follow as I read the books. Anyway, I think kids will really enjoy following him – and I actually did start to enjoy his personality and character more in the second book.

Sage’s friends Tobias 📚 and Roden 🗡️ are also pretty important. They don’t have a lot to them though, and I didn’t find myself interested in either of them really. I also didn’t really understand why they bonded and became friends, as everyone is constantly flip-flopping on everything in book one when they first meet and do the bulk of their interactions with one another. Out of the two, I guess that Roden is the more compelling character, however. I really wish we got to see more of their characterizations.

Bevin Conner 💰 is the one who sets the events of the series in motion and he’s definitely one of the more interesting characters here. Even though I kind of had him and his allegiances figured out pretty early on, I’m an adult reading middle grade, and I think younger readers will be questioning his motives throughout the trilogy. His servant Mott 🛡️ is a bit less interesting, but I still liked him and the familial bond he and Sage started to forge. Mott is also the most rational character in the series, and it was always refreshing when he’d interject his perspective on things.

And yes, there are also female characters in this series, although only two of them matter. Imogen 💞 is the first of these, and unfortunately her only purpose is to be a motivation for Sage. She doesn’t get that much page time, and I couldn’t take her and Sage’s budding romance seriously at all throughout any of the three books. I’ll get into it more in a bit, in another section. Anyway, the other relevant female character is Amarinda ✨ , who I liked a lot more than Imogen and thought was far more interesting, even though neither of them had that much of a personality aside from being kind and brave. I felt like Amarinda had a bit more to her character, though – probably because she wasn’t stuck in Middle-Grade Protagonist Love Interest Hell like Imogen was.

The Story

What’s the point of gaining peace if it costs us our freedom? I won’t trade the one for the other.
The Runaway King

I think that the plot – especially for the first book – is pretty intriguing and will draw people in, as it did me like seven years ago when I first read part of this trilogy. The False Prince 👑🔷 has a very compelling premise and the way the writing is keeps readers pretty engaged. Even if you know the big twist ahead of time, there are still little nuggets carefully placed throughout the novel that hint at it and make a reread interesting, too.

My favorite of the first three books of The Ascendance Series was The Runaway King. ⚔️💚 I don’t really know why, I guess because I already knew the big twist of book one ’cause I’d read it years before (though I figured it out almost immediately when I read The False Prince the first time as well). I also preferred Sage’s character during the second novel – he was far less of an annoying brat, though he definitely still had his moments that really irritated me.

The Shadow Throne 🗝️🔴 is also pretty good, and works well as the second half of the story set up in The Runaway King as well as an engaging climax. Almost all of the loose ends in the trilogy were also all tied up by the end – there were basically no hanging threads left over – which is always really nice to see. I love it when series do that.

The Romance

Villains and plots and enemies are simple things to me. But friendships are complicated, and love is harder still. It has wounded me deep.
The Shadow Throne

Even though it wasn’t a big focus in this series – the adventure was the main thing here – I still gotta talk about the romance. Because I don’t think any it was really that great.

There were two couples that have focus so far in the first part of The Ascendance Series, but one doesn’t really happen until the third novel, so I’m not really gonna talk about that one. That’s not the one I’m really annoyed with either, as it’s more of a side pairing and both of the characters in this relationship get equal screentime. No, the romantic relationship I’m talking about is the main one, between Sage and Imogen.

I don’t like this romance. For one thing, Imogen is barely a character, and for another, her and Sage only have like one or two interactions before they’re suddenly extremely protective and interested in one another. And this felt really weird to read, both times I went through the books. Not to mention, particularly in The False Prince and parts of The Runaway King, Sage makes Imogen uncomfortable quite a few times and that kind of made me uncomfortable to read.

I want to stress that he wasn’t being weird or anything – he was being pretty kind actually! – it just seemed like he overwhelmed her and would pile a lot of changes on her shoulders. Their relationship definitely moved too fast for two barely fifteen year-olds, though. Not to mention, Imogen didn’t really show up that often in any of the books, which didn’t help their relationship feel like it was evolving. So yeah, their romance basically never felt like it got any development, really. I do understand and acknowledge that this is a middle grade fantasy-adventure series that is likely primarily targeted towards boys, and that I’m definitely not the audience intended for these books though, so it doesn’t bother me that much.

The Writing

Nobody gives you respect in this life. You must take it, you must earn it, and then you must hold it sacred, because no matter how hard respect is to attain, it can be lost in an instant.
The Shadow Throne

I think that the actual prose itself in The Ascendance Series – as well as the dialogue – was pretty good. I felt that it was great for middle grade novels. Nielsen is a pretty good writer, and her writing really starts to shine in the second and third books.

I don’t like the way that the author has Sage narrate the books, however. Yes, I understand that Sage is meant to be an unreliable narrator… in the first book. And the way that he’s an unreliable narrator bothers me the same way that Gen is an unreliable narrator from Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief – I’m not gonna say how because that would spoil the twist of both novels. But anyway, I don’t think that Sage should still be as unreliable (but in a different way) as he is in the subsequent two books that I read.

In books two and three, Sage is unreliable in the same way that I’ve heard Bryce Quinlan from the Crescent City novels is unreliable: they both do stuff off screen. Yeah, Sage basically always makes plans without telling the reader what he’s doing and then it almost always comes together in the end. And I hate that, when characters are written like this, because I think it’s a way that authors use when they’re trying to make their characters seem smart and clever, but they either aren’t skilled enough to do this in a better way and/or are lazy. So yeah, I’m not fond of this at all, and it’s the main thing that annoys me about Sage in the second and third novels.

Final Thoughts

With introductions out of the way, Erick got down to the business of having abducted me.

“Why were you asking Fink about the priest?”

“I have some sins to confess,” I said. “For ruining the life of the last man to kidnap me.
The Runaway King

All in all, I think that The Ascendance Series is a pretty solid middle grade fantasy series. Again, as I mentioned earlier, I’m definitely not the target audience for this series, but I was able to get some enjoyment out of it as an adult.And though there were some writing decisions that bothered me, they probably won’t bother middle schoolers – heck, they likely won’t even notice them! I think that kids in the intended age group will really enjoy it, actually.

And though there were some writing decisions that bothered me, they probably won’t bother middle schoolers – heck, they likely won’t even notice them! I think that kids in the intended age group will really enjoy it, actually.

Anyway, with everything in mind, my star rating for this series as a whole is:

Anyway, as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

My Star Ratings for Each Book

Some Other Quotes I Enjoyed That Have Spoilers (for the First Book)

“From all I’m told, the prince they sent away was selfish, mischievous, and destructive. The king who returns is courageous, noble, and strong.”

“And a fool,” I added.

Mott chuckled. “You are that too.”
The False Prince

“You should thank me for tolerating you. I had hoped that becoming a royal would cure your foul manners.”

“That’s interesting. My father hoped that stripping me of royalty would do the same thing.”
The Runaway King

“It’s your storm, and the future of us all depends on you now. So who are you? Sage, an orphan boy who cares only for himself? Or the undisciplined, rebellious prince your father sent away? Life has tested your resilience and strength and willpower, and you have succeeded in ways nobody ever thought possible. But the storm has never been worse, and it will either destroy you, or define you. When everything is taken from you, can you still stand before us as Jaron, the Ascendant King of Carthya?”
The Shadow Throne

MY LINKS:

Goodreads

Instagram

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Floating World

Hey all, happy Wednesday! It’s been a couple of weeks since I last participated in this post. But I’m here again with another new release that I’m interested in.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.

This week’s book is:

The Floating World by Axie Oh!! 🗡️✨

I really liked The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea when I first read it – when it came out, in early 2023. This novel is by the same author and it also looks interesting, so I’m intrigued. It also looks like it’s the start of a series as well!

The Floating World by Axie Oh

SERIES: The Floating World #1

LENGTH: 368 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Feiwel and Friends

RELEASE DATE: 29 April 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From Axie Oh, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone in this romantic fantasy reimagining the Korean legend of Celestial Maidens.

Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd-jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of coins for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light.

Meanwhile, far to the east, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat traveling with her adoptive family and performing at villages. But everything changes during one of their festival performances when the village is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon. In a moment of fear and rage, Ren releases a blast of silver light—a power she has kept hidden since childhood—and kills the monster. But her efforts are not in time to prevent her adoptive family from suffering a devastating loss, or to save her beloved uncle from being grievously wounded.

Determined to save him from succumbing to the poisoned wound, Ren sets off over the mountains, where the creature came from—and from where Ren herself fled ten years ago. Her path sets her on a collision course with Sunho, but he doesn’t realize she’s the girl that he—and a hundred other swords-for-hire—is looking for. As the two grow closer through their travels, they come to realize that their pasts—and destinies—are far more entwined than either of them could have imagined…

Are you looking forward to the release of The Floating World? What other books are coming out in the next few weeks that you’re looking forward to?

As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 4/18

Hi everyone. It’s been, what, three weeks since I’ve participated in this post? Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Anyway, here’s First Line Fridays.

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here are the first lines:

Neither here nor there, but not so long ago…

There lived a merchant named Loulie al-Nazari who was as legendary as she was elusive. Garbed in midnight-blue robes, she was known as the Midnight Merchant, a magic-peddler who sold enchanted jinn relics in hidden souks.

Know the book yet? If you don’t, here’s another couple of hints…

Still have no idea? Here are some lovely photos of books to look at while you think about it a bit longer…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah!!

(Didja guess it?)

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah

SERIES: The Sandsea Trilogy #2

LENGTH: 544 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Orbit

RELEASE DATE: 11 April 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.

Neither here nor there, but long ago… After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.

The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. And amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion in the jinn’s capital city is on the rise. When Loulie saves the life of a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.

Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?

What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Ashfire King

(Edit: Ugh. For some reason this didn’t post yesterday, and I just noticed a minute or so ago. Welp. I already made it, so I’m still gonna make sure it gets posted, because next week will be too late. Oh well. Technology sucks sometimes.)

This week’s book is:

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah!! ⏳🔥

I know that some people don’t like it, but I really enjoyed The Stardust Thief. I’ve been looking forward to the continuation of the Sandsea Trilogy since I read the first book, so this is probably one of my most anticipated books of the year.

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah

SERIES: The Sandsea Trilogy #2

LENGTH: 544 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Orbit

RELEASE DATE: 15 April 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.

Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?

Are you looking forward to the release of The Ashfire King? What other books are coming out in the next few weeks that you’re looking forward to?

As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Dark Moon, Shallow Sea by David R. Slayton | Book Review

Only mortals die forever.

Dark Moon, Shallow Sea by David R. Slayton

SERIES: The Gods of Night and Day #1

LENGTH: 350 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Blackstone Publishing

RELEASE DATE: 31 October 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The first in a new epic fantasy series from David R. Slayton, Dark Moon, Shallow Sea is a powerful story of divine betrayal, ghosts, and self-discovery, perfect for fans of the Dark Souls series or Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

When Phoebe, goddess of the moon, is killed by the knights of the sun god, Hyperion, all who follow her are branded heretics. With Phoebe gone, the souls of the dead are no longer ferried to the underworld, and instead linger on as shades who feast on the blood of the living.

Raef is a child of the night. He lives in the shadows, on scraps, eking out a meager existence as a thief. But when an ornate box is sequestered in the Temple of Hyperion, the chance of a big score proves too great to resist. What he finds within propels him on an odyssey across the sea and back again, altering the course of his life forever.

Seth is a knight of the sun. But unlike the others of his order, the fire of Hyperion only brings him pain. He believes he deserves this penance, exacted for his unknown origins. Tasked with recovering the contents of the box, Seth must also venture beyond the horizon if he’s to learn the truth about himself.

In a dying world divided by the greed of those in power, Raef and Seth find their destinies intertwined–and learn they might have more in common than they ever imagined.

My Review

Dark draws dark as light draws light, but only one may cast the other out.

So… Clearly Dragonfall didn’t work out for me. Haha. Moving on.

Dark Moon, Shallow Sea has been on my TBR for a while. Like, over a year type of a while. I gave rsr discovered it in November of 2023. I almost read it then too, but decided to read one of the author’s earlier works first, to try to get a feel for the writing style and see if I liked it. And… I did. White Trash Warlock was generally a pretty enjoyable reading experience for me. There were a couple of things that I was kind of “meh” on, but it was a positive experience for the most part.

So when my Kindle told me that Dark Moon, Shallow Sea was on sale about a month and a half ago, I finally grabbed it. And then near the end of last week, I finally got around to starting reading it. And it was perfectly… okay.

Let’s get into it.

Characters and Plot

They’d circled each other for so long. The gods had to have a hand in it, that the two of them, probably the last of their breed, should meet over and over. They’d danced like the moon and sun, like their gods, like night and day.

Our two mains are 🌙 Raef 🗡️ , a former future acolyte to the Moon Goddess Phoebe turned thief, and ☀️ Seth 🔥 , a warrior to the Sun God Hyperion with a lot of issues with his fire powers. They’re also the characters whose point of view we follow throughout the novel. I enjoyed their characters well enough – I really liked how kind Raef was despite all his circumstances and trauma, as well as how soft and awkward Seth was despite everything in his past.

The other major character here was Kinos, whom I hated since and was immediately suspicious of the second he started talking. So the thing later on with him didn’t surprise me too much – I actually figured it out a couple of chapters before it happened – nor did I feel upset whatsoever by what he did. I hated this guy – at the very least, he was annoying.

I also enjoyed Raef’s and Seth’s relationships with the parental figures in their lives. Raef’s relationship with the old lady he lived with – Eleni – was great. I love how they were both snartasses to each other. It felt really genuine. Raef’s past relationship with his teachers when he was still a ward of the tower he grew up in was also wonderful, as well as heart wrenching later on in the story. I loved Seth’s father-son relationship with Father Geldar as well – it was so sweet.

The 📖 plot 📖 itself was pretty engaging and interesting. I always enjoy a good light vs. dark / sun vs. moon motif in stuff; it’s the contrast, I think. Also, the last quarter of the book felt a little rushed with everything that was going on, but it still worked fine.

Romance and World Building

“I, uh-like your mask,” Seth said nervously. It disarmed Raef a little, despite his mounting panic. How could it not? Seth wasn’t trying to burn him. He was trying to what, flirt?

“Thank you,” Raef said. “I like your, uh, helmet.”

I didn’t like the 💘 romance 💘 here. Honestly, I think I just don’t like the way that Slayton writes his romantic relationships, because that was what I felt was one of the weakest aspects about White Trash Warlock as well. They always move way too fast for me.

In this book, I actually didn’t mind at first because I knew the first romance initially introduced wasn’t going to be the endgame relationship. But then the second relationship took forever to get going and then there wasn’t really any time spent on it besides the he fact that the two characters were drawn to each other, and then they pretty much felt like they got together offscreen at the end of the book. Ugh. It was very frustrating to read, especially because I thought that Raef and Seth were especially cute together and had a lot of potential as a couple.

The 🗺️ world building 🗺️ and ✨ magic system ✨ was interesting, but I was having a little trouble determining what the setting was supposed to be emulating. Like, there was clearly a lot of inspiration taken from Greek myths – particularly in some of the names – but the world itself didn’t feel like it was a fantasy land based on Greece itself. The relationships between some of the gods, as well as many of the names of the gods and what they were the god of, were also vague and generally undefined.

Final Thoughts

A lifetime ago, the Knights of Hyperion had been his cousins, worshippers of his goddess’s brother. No one would have batted an eye to see them friends or even more.

All in all, Dark Moon, Shallow Sea was a pretty decent book, even though I think it could have done with a bit more polish. I also didn’t think the book really felt like the games in the Dark Souls series either. Like, I guess because the dead couldn’t move on properly and some of the stuff surrounding that? It didn’t really have the same vibe though, if you get my meaning. Anyway, I guess readers who like high fantasy, really fast romance and LGBT+ rep might enjoy this novel.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

Goodreads

Instagram

The Most Interesting Looking New Books of April 2025

Hey there everybody! Another month, another bunch of new books that are coming out! Yep, it’s The Most Intriguing New Books of April 2025.

This used to be a quarterly post, but I’ve recently decided to do it monthly instead. Also, even though this post is about new releases, it’s primarily focused on fantasy and science fiction, as those are the genres I tend to prefer to read. (Not to say other genres won’t ever appear on these lists – it just isn’t super likely; it’s likely to be a very rare occurrence if it happens at all.)

If you’ve seen this post by me before, you know the drill; I’m only interested in these books – there’s no guarantee that I’m gonna read all of them. There’s not even a guarantee that I’m gonna read even half of them. We shall see. Anyway, let’s get going!

RELEASING: April 8th

Irish mythology collides with Gilded Age New York in this sweeping debut enemies-to-lovers historical romantasy, perfect for fans of Outlander and A Fate Inked in Blood.

Manhattan, 1870. Rua knows only two things: her name, and that she has no memories. So when the wealthy Harrington family mistakes Rua for their missing daughter, Emma, Rua goes along with the charade, hoping for answers about who she really is. As she tries to blend into a society she doesn’t remember, she’s drawn to a firmly off-limits man: the Lord of Donore, a newcomer to Manhattan society who is somehow familiar to Rua.

Finn is new to this side of the Atlantic and knows that the best way to fit in as Lord of Donore is to make friends in high places and play by the rules of society. He knows he shouldn’t become involved with a mysterious, recently missing debutante, but he’s intrigued by Emma Harrington, and Finn has an uncanny feeling that this isn’t the first time they’ve met.

With societal pressures mounting on both sides, Rua is determined to discover the truth about the missing Harrington daughter and her own past. But when her memories begin to return, they’re of a world far stranger than New York and traced in dark magic.

As ancient secrets unfurl in Rua’s memory, Rua and Finn are forced to uncover the mystery of their past and try to save their future. In this gritty and glittering romantasy, nothing and no one is as they seem.

RELEASING: April 15th

A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.

Neither here nor there, but long ago…

After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.

The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. And amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion in the jinn’s capital city is on the rise. When Loulie saves the life of a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.

Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?

RELEASING: April 29th

From Axie Oh, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone in this romantic fantasy reimagining the Korean legend of Celestial Maidens.

Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd-jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of coins for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light.

Meanwhile, far to the east, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat traveling with her adoptive family and performing at villages. But everything changes during one of their festival performances when the village is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon. In a moment of fear and rage, Ren releases a blast of silver light—a power she has kept hidden since childhood—and kills the monster. But her efforts are not in time to prevent her adoptive family from suffering a devastating loss, or to save her beloved uncle from being grievously wounded.

Determined to save him from succumbing to the poisoned wound, Ren sets off over the mountains, where the creature came from—and from where Ren herself fled ten years ago. Her path sets her on a collision course with Sunho, but he doesn’t realize she’s the girl that he—and a hundred other swords-for-hire—is looking for. As the two grow closer through their travels, they come to realize that their pasts—and destinies—are far more entwined than either of them could have imagined…

RELEASING: April 29th

Benigno “Benny” Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can’t call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds everyone, especially the eccentric side-show proprietor who commissioned it. Benny’s work earns him an invitation to join the show’s eclectic crew of performers—his first welcome in the city—and share in their astonishing secret: the tank Benny built is a cage for their newest exhibit, a living, breathing, in-the-flesh merman stolen from the banks of the East River under a gleaming full moon.

The merman is more than a mythic marvel, though. Benny comes to know Río as a clever philosopher, an observant traveler, and a kindred spirit more beautiful and compassionate than any human he’s ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny’s heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Río’s captivity—and his own.

A cage is no place for a merman to survive. Though releasing Río means betraying his new family, bankrupting their home, and losing his soulmate forever, Benny must look within for the courage to do what’s right, and find a love strong enough to free them both.

When the Tides Held the Moon is a beautifully illustrated novel with artwork throughout by Venessa Vida Kelley, known for her stunning romance and fantasy art. This novel includes two different full-color endpapers for front and back, fully-designed chapter headers, and twenty-six pieces of detailed illustrations throughout.

So yeah, these are all of the books releasing in the in April 2025 that I’m at least a little interested in. What books are coming out soon that you’re looking forward to? Do we share some of the same ones?

As always, thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 2/21

Here we are. Happy Friday everybody! Two weeks in a row with this one, once again! I’m hoping to hit another stream with this post.

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

Here’s the first line:

Zeru closed his burning eyes, reeling as always from that first shock of brightness as he pushed his face aboveground.

Do you know what book it is yet? If not, here’s another hint or two…

Still have no idea? Ruminate on it a little longer while admiring these pretty pictures of books…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Forest King’s Daughter by Elly Blake!!

(Didja guess it?)

The Forest King’s Daughter by Elly Blake

SERIES: Thirstwood #1

LENGTH: 384 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

RELEASE DATE: 11 February 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Once upon a time, among the bloodred trees of Thirstwood, a young forest princess became friends with a lonely boy from underground. He gifted her an amber ring, a worthless trinket–or so he thought–because no sooner did he slide it onto her finger than the queen of the underground and the forest king declared war.

Years later, Cassia is a crucial force in her father’s army, wielding her ring of light that can blind and disorient hundreds of enemies at a time. Then battle-hardened Zeru abducts her, planning to steal the ring back to fix his costly childhood mistake. Exhausted, terrified, and more than a little mistrusting, Cassia is forced to travel with Zeru to a place they both believed only existed in storybooks, one where their childhood friendship slowly rekindles into something much more. But it’s only a matter of time before the war they’ve escaped comes for them, and a hidden threat to forest and underground folk alike grows in the shadows.

From the author of the Frostblood Saga comes the first book in an enchanting, adventure-filled fantasy series about the daughters of the powerful forest king, sure to leave readers breathless and desperate for more.

What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Bewitching Book Covers: The Beasts We Bury

Hey guys! Happy Thursday! It’s been a while, but I’ve wanted to do another Bewitching Book Covers post for a while, so here it is.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week the book cover I’m highlighting is The Beasts We Bury by D.L. Taylor.

The Beasts We Bury by D.L. Taylor

LENGTH: 400 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Henry, Holt and Co.

RELEASE DATE: 4 February 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Deceit and betrayal abound in this dark YA romantasy about an heir to the throne who can summon an army of animals and a thief who plans to manipulate her to pull off a once-in-a-lifetime heist.

Will he steal her heart or her chance at the throne?

Daughter and heir to the throne, Mancella Cliff yearns for a life without bloodshed. But as a child, she emerged from the Broken Citadel with the power to summon animals—only after killing them with her bare hands. Her magic is a constant reminder of the horrors her father, the ruler of the realm, has forced upon her to strengthen their power.

Silver is a charming thief struggling to survive in a world torn apart by Mancella’s father’s reign. When a mysterious benefactor recruits him for the heist of a lifetime, a chance to rob the castle, Silver relishes the opportunity for a real future—and revenge. But he’ll have to manipulate Mance and earn her trust to pull it off.

As the deception and carnage mount, Mance must find a way to save her realm without becoming the ruthless monster she’s been bred to be. And when Silver discovers that his actions are fueling the violence that Mance wants to prevent, he’ll have to choose between his ambition and the girl he’s falling for.

Book Cover Rating: 🪻🪻🪻 • 3 sprigs of purple flowers

So, The Beasts We Bury has a really pretty cover. I’m just a total sucker for covers with flowers in general, so this obviously caught my eye immediately. I also really enjoy shades of purple and lavender, which is something else that drew my eye to it.

The black backdrop really helped the rest of the cover pop out. The light purple flowers really stand out, as well as the gold colored text. The title and the flowers also contrasted well with one another, probably because they’re complementary colors.

I really liked the font used for the title and author and cover text in general. The B’s in particular look really nice. The author’s name also really stands out, yet matches the rest of the cover at the same time, by virtue of being green. So it stands out from the rest of the text by not being gold, but matches the cover by being green like the stems and leaves of the flowers. All in all, though, I think the cover art here is pretty good.

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read The Beasts We Bury?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: Unlock the Dark

Happy Wednesday! It’s been a couple of weeks since one of these from me, but there’s still quite a few books coming out lately that I’m interested in!

This week’s book is:

Unlock the Dark by Sasa Hawk! 🗝️📜

Unlock the Dark by Sasa Hawk

LENGTH: 352 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: HarperCollins

RELEASE DATE: 25 February 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Perfect for fans of Brigid Kemmerer and Lexi Ryan, this debut romantasy stand-alone novel blends an immersive world, unique magic system, and swoon-worthy romance to create an unputdownable read that explores the great and terrible lengths to which love compels us to go.

Elia Tallis’s key conjuring abilities, when used with her father’s magic, allow her to open a path to any location. But Papa is dying, and Elia has been forced to painfully tether him to life so she can siphon his magic to provide for her siblings. The god of death, angry to be denied his due, punishes her by claiming her youngest brother as a servant.

Desperate to save her brother, Elia accepts a potentially deadly commission from Trys, a kindhearted prince with his nose stuck in a book. Trys wants Elia to help him find a legendary scroll. In exchange, he’ll give her his hand in marriage, securing her and her siblings’ futures and allowing her to release Papa to the afterlife.

Despite the danger of their quest, Elia and Trys find themselves increasingly drawn to each other. But when Trys finally reads the scroll, it transforms him into a monster beyond comprehension. Elia will have to wield her power in ways she never thought possible, braving a world of endless darkness and the nightmares dwelling within it to bring home the prince she’s growing to love.

Are you looking forward to the release of Unlock the Dark? What other books are coming out in the next few weeks that you’re looking forward to?

As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 2/14

Happy Valentine’s Day!! 💝🌹💌🌷🍫💐 Wow, it’s been like three weeks since I last participated in this post.

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

Here’s the first line:

If there is one subject upon which Wendell and I will never agree, it is the wisdom of attempting to drag a cat into Faerie.

Know the book? If you don’t, here’s a couple more hints…

Still not know? Think about it a bit more while looking at these nice photos of books…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett!!

(Didja guess it?)

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

SERIES: Emily Wilde #3

LENGTH: 352 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Del Rey

RELEASE DATE: 11 February 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The third installment in the heartwarming and enchanting Emily Wilde series, about a curmudgeonly scholar of folklore and the fae prince she loves.

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project yet: studying the inner workings of a faerie realm—as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival—now fiancé—the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world: How can an unassuming scholar such as herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in, for Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic—and Emily’s knowledge of stories—to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.

What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar