Best 2016 Releases I've Read So Far

This week's Top Ten Tuesday theme is favourite 2016 releases so far. As with last week, this isn't going to be a very long list; I've only read two 2016 releases so far, both of which were published last month. Fortunately, both of them were really good!

 

Escape from Rome by Caroline Lawrence

The first book in a new series, Roman Quests, which is a sort of spin-off of the Roman Mysteries series. I really enjoyed this and you can read my review of it here. I'm now eagerly anticipating book #2 in the series, The Archers of Isca, which comes out in October.
 

The Star Bell by Stephanie Ricker

This was the third volume in The Cendrillon Cycle, after The Battle of Castle Nebula and A Cinder's Tale. I've really enjoyed all three of these. I'm hoping to post a review of this one in the next few days.

Book Review: Escape from Rome by Caroline Lawrence

 


Summary (from Goodreads): The year is AD 94. When the evil Emperor Domitian sends soldiers to seize his family's home in the middle of the night, Juba must escape with his brother and sisters, and journey to distant Britannia on the edge of the known world.

His task: To avoid capture and death.
His quest: To find a safe haven in Britain.
His destiny: To save the children.

I really enjoyed this book.

It has the distinction of being one of the few books I've read in recent years which I actually knew about prior to publication (although I didn't realise it was out until I came across it at the library last month). It's the first in a new series, which is a (sort of) sequel to the Roman Mysteries series, which was one of my favourite series when I was younger. It's been seven years since the last book in that series was published, so obviously I was very much looking forward to reading this one, and it did not disappoint. I think I liked it even better than most of the Roman Mysteries books.

What I liked about it:
The characters. I liked the characters a lot. They were all well-drawn with interesting and unique personalities, and they all developed a lot during the course of the story. Ursula especially I liked; she is kind-hearted and likes animals (like Nubia in the Roman Mysteries series), but is also pretty fearless and much more confident than Nubia. Juba and Fronto also were well developed and the other characters the children meet along the way, Castor and Bouda, I also liked a lot (as characters).

The story. The plot was quite character-driven, as the major plot points mainly rested on the children having to make difficult decisions, about whether to do the right thing or not. But there is also a fair amount of action and enough tension to keep the story moving.

Plus the reappearance of some old friends from the Roman Mysteries series definitely added to my enjoyment of the book. However, there is no need to have read the series to understand or enjoy this book.

Overall, I really did like this book, more than I thought I would! Now I have to wait until October to read the next book in the series.

Classics Club Spin (Again)

It's time for another Classics Club Spin. Last time I did finish my book but was a few days late in doing so; hopefully I'll do better this time.

Five books I'm slightly intimidated by:

1. Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore

2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

3. Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell

4. Ivanhoe by Walter Scott

5. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Five books I've been meaning to read for ages:

6. Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

7. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

8. Elizabeth Captive Princess by Margaret Irwin

9. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

10. The Painted Garden by Noel Streatfeild

Five books I can't wait to read:

11. Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

12. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

13. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

14. Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery

15. Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson

Five books I'm neutral about:

16. Villette by Charlotte Brontë

17. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

19. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

20. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Book Review: The Rakshasa's Bride by Suzannah Rowntree

Summary (from Goodreads):
Preeti Kamla has the evil eye. It’s the only explanation for the tragedy and disgrace besetting her once wealthy family. But when a handsome stranger in the village square tells her he has broken her curse, Preeti almost believes him.

Until a twist of fate whisks her away from everything she knows, and the gruesome Demon Rajah claims her as his bride.

A rich and romantic retelling of Beauty and the Beast in the style of a Bollywood epic. Novella, approximately 18,000 words.


So, I knew basically nothing about this book going in, other than that it was a fairytale retelling. I realised maybe halfway through that it was supposed to be Beauty and the Beast. It's also a Christian allegory, although this is fairly subtle, and I didn't realise this either until a fair way in. Of course after I realised these things I knew roughly what was going to happen, but I still wasn't sure what route the author was going to take and so the ending wasn't that predictable, and I felt there was an interesting twist. I thought it was an interesting, although very quick read; I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it, but it certainly made me think, even a while after I finished it, and the story was well written and engaging. Overall I'm glad I decided to take a chance and read it, despite not knowing much about it.

This book counts towards the Once Upon a Time challenge, in the Fairytale category.

Mini-Reviews #1: May 2016

I haven't posted in a while, because I've been too busy with uni work, but I've now finished so hopefully I can get back to posting fairly regularly. I have been reading a fair amount, so I have a couple of book reviews in the works, and I have a few other ideas for posts, but I thought that for now I'd post some mini-reviews of some of the other books that I've read.

 

The Battle of Castle Nebula by Stephanie Ricker

This is the prequel to A Cinder's Tale, which was published in the Five Glass Slippers anthology, and which I loved. This book was great too; I think I enjoyed A Cinder's Tale slightly more, but it certainly didn't disappoint me. I would probably recommend reading A Cinder's Tale first, because as this is a prequel I don't think it would be fully satisfying as a story in its own right, but it isn't necessary. The third book in the series is out soon, so I hope to read that one soon too, because now I really want to know what happens next.

 

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner

This book I didn't enjoy so much. It was alright, and there were some parts I enjoyed but overall I didn't find it that interesting. It is apparently however the first book to feature a child detective, so from that viewpoint it is interesting.

 

Alice-Miranda at School by Jacqueline Harvey

I picked this up recently expecting it to be an easy and hopefully fairly entertaining read but I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting; I definitely would have loved this if I'd read it when I was younger (it has a sort of nostalgia value, even though I hadn't read it before). Alice-Miranda is a (very) precocious seven-year-old who goes to boarding-school a year early, but when she gets there, although she loves it she finds that there are some things that are a little odd - such as that the headmistress never comes out of her office and there are no flowers anywhere in the grounds, which she finds very sad. She sets about trying to get to the bottom of the mystery and to sort out everyone's problems along the way. Of course everything gets sorted out pretty quickly and everyone (bar one or two not very nice characters) is happy by the end of the book.  Overall it was a nice, sweet read.

Belle: The Slave Daughter and the Lord Chief Justice by Paula Byrne

This was quite an interesting book, telling the true story behind the recent film Belle (I'm not sure which came first). It is not quite what the title claims since there isn't actually very much about Dido Belle herself in it - as not much is known about her - but it is still an interesting look at slavery and attitudes to black people in England at the time, and about Lord Mansfield and the significance of the court case (and various other ones). If you want to know the true story behind the film (which took rather a lot of liberties even with what is known) then it is worth a read.

Book Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

 

This was my Classics Club Spin book, which I was a few days late in finishing.

I’m not quite sure what to say about this book. I didn’t have very strong feelings about it either way – I enjoyed it, but I didn’t love it, and it’s such a well-known story that I’m sure everything I could say about it has been said before many times.

I found the story itself to be very compelling; there were certainly enough twists and turns to keep the story interesting. I didn’t guess the solution until fairly near the end (and then only partially). The writing style was very straightforward, conveying just enough information to tell the story and build atmosphere, without giving any unnecessary details; which is in keeping with Watson’s character who is the narrator of the story. This is different to many other books that I have read, which I found quite refreshing. It’s pretty short too (despite the amount of time it took me to read it).

I don’t think there was anything in particular that I disliked about it, I think it just wasn’t as much to my taste as some other books. I definitely enjoyed it more than The Sign of Four, which is the only other Sherlock Holmes book that I’ve read to date, although I plan to read the rest of them sometime, maybe soon (I have an edition of the complete short stories sitting on my shelf).

So overall, I thought this was good and I would probably recommend it, especially if you are a fan of mystery/detective novels.