Audiobook Review - Beneath The Keep

As you guys know, I really liked the Queen of the Tearling trilogy and have, for years, been saying I will reread the trilogy. But I always keep putting it off for one excuse or another. So when I discovered this, a prequel of the trilogy, by sheer fluke (I have heard NOTHING about this. No news of Goodreads, from the publisher or anyway. It wasn’t hidden, but there has been no noise or advertising), I jumped on requesting this and then, because I decided to close my Audible account (for now), used my last credit to preorder this.

Title And Author: Beneath The Keep: a Novel of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
Publisher: Bantam Press & Penguin Audio
Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook & Audiobook
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof gifted by UK publisher in exchange for honest review/reaction while Audiobook’s bought. 
Length: 448 Pages or 14 Hours 49 Minutes

Set around 20-25 years prior to the events of Queen of the Tearling, we follow several characters who have roles to play in the Tearling’s current climate of the rich protecting the rich and the poor suffer. The Tearling is on the edge of a rebellion with the rebellion group, Blue Horizon, whispering of a prophecy. A prophecy of the True Queen, rising up and saving them all.

We have Christian, a young boxer in the Creche, the kingdom’s sinister underworld, Princess Elyssa, whose mother is doing nothing to help her people who are dying due to the ongoing drought, Niya, Elyssa’s handmaiden who is not who she says she is, and Aislinn, a young farmer’s daughter who starts a rebellion. 

As each of the character’s four stories head towards a collision course, we see answers to questions hinted at in the original trilogy, and we discover the events that happened that lead to a Queen’s Guard, the Mace, coming for the Tearling’s new Queen, Kelsea, and taking her out of hiding at the start of Queen of the Tearling…

#re3 - The Surgeon

My first reread of 2021! And it's in one of my fave genres - crime and thriller. I admit that IO'm not exactly sure why I decided that I wanted to reread (via audiobook) The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen. I haven't read this since, I think, when I first read it back in April 2006 (?). I usually read her later books such as Body Double (this I hope to reread later this year as well as Vanish and The Mephisto Club. I have really affection for Body Double and Mephisto Club, hence why these two are high on my To Be Reread List). 

Now, if you don't know this book, let me get some info down and chat a little about the book. 

Title And Author: The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

Publisher: Bantam/Transworld Digital

Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed audiobook from local library via BorrowBox

Length: 416 Pages or 10 Hours 49 Minutes

A serial killer is attacking vulnerable women in Boston. He tortures them, does medical procedures on them and then kills them, only to neatly fold their nightgowns and leave the scenes. All these attacks have horrible, if not exact, similars to a spare of killings that happening Savannah two years ago. Expect the surviving victim killed the perpetrator. But the final girl - a doctor now - is working is Boston and, the more the Police investigate the new killings, the more they realise that she is at the heart of it all.

Book Review - Origin

Before you give me that look, dear reader, allow me to explain why I decided to read this.

I have, in the past, read Dan Brown. Two, to be exact. Angels and Demons (which I surprisingly liked) and The Lost Symbol (which I liked at the time [I wrote a review on it and everything], but looking back, I hold a "What the?" reaction to it). I am considering reading all his novels next year as a challenge to push myself into reading more grown-up books (because, as I told one person jokingly, I hate myself...). And I wasn't planning on reading this, truth be told. I was going to let this slip on by. I thought I was done with Dan Brown. I thought I was done with Robert bloody Langdon. I was done.

Until I preordered the book. I'm not entire certain when I did this...

Anyway, to the review/discussion/whatever the hell this is.

Robert Langdon has been invited to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to watch an announcement from his friend and former student, Edmond Kirsch, make an announcement that he claims with challenge and shake the fundamentals of human existence.

But before this revelation is unveiled, Edmond is shot and the Langdon is on the run, his life in danger. He runs with museum's director, Ambra Vidal, who wants to discover the truth. But as they run round Barcelona, looking for clues and symbols in modern art to help bring the truth to light, an enemy is getting closer to them. An enemy that might have connections to the Church or the Spanish Royal Family...

Out of the three Dan Brown books I have read, this is the worst. It's not awful, but it's lacking so much.

Am going to get this off my chest: this is meant to be a thriller. I'm meant to be on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, hoping that Langdon will survive at the end. But a thriller needs to grab me from the start - and this didn't. It took over 100 pages for something to happen that kickstarted the story (in my opinion), and then took another 100 pages before I felt the pace kick into gear.

That's 200-odd pages before I felt sucked in. That's half the book! Normally, I would have given up and moved on, but I was on holiday and thought "Let's see if this can save itself."

But this sticks to the Dan Brown formula. Smart male lead, a smart and beautiful female lead who has a personal connection to the mystery (in this case, she was close friend to Edmond and there's a second reason which comes later), a secret that will shock the world, a baddie assassin, religion, art, high-powered originations trying to stop our leads revealing the secret... It's all there!

This should work as a thriller. Dan has stuck to this formula with most of his books and they work. But this time, it doesn't. He throws subplots, facts that have no importance to the story whatsoever, things that slowed the plot down and weren't needed. Info-dumping stopped the story moving at a fast pace. If these were removed or put in footnotes, the plot would have moved faster and the story would have been tighter.

Plus, I thought he had jumped the shark in Lost Symbol with the breathable gel. Well, he outdid himself this time with Winston...

Now, if you are a fan of Dan Brown, you know what you're going to get and if you enjoy reading him, go forth and read him! Read what makes you happy!

But for me, this didn't work. It felt dull compared to Angels and Demons and, after my possible Dan Brown 2018 Reading Challenge (still in two minds over this), I think I'm done with Mr Brown and Langdon. I have to make peace with this and move on...

Book Review - The Fate of the Tearling

I did it! I read the whole Tearling trilogy! And I read and finished the third and final book in the series before I went on my holiday! HOORAY!!! And it took me just over 2 weeks to read (compared to however long the audiobook of Queen of the Tearling took me and two months for Invasion of the Tearling).

So, here we are. The third and final book in the trilogy and the one most book bloggers who have read this were going "NO! Don't do it, Andrew! It's a trap!" over...

It's been less than a year since Kelsea took the Tearling throne and already, she has become a powerful Queen. But with power comes danger and enemies, one of which is the Red Queen who, in the last book (Invasion) was on the verge of invading and easily conquering the Tearling until Kelsea made a huge sacrifice - she offered herself and her magical sapphires to the Red Queen to save the Tearling, leaving the head of her Guard, the Mace, as Regent till her hopeful return.

But the Mace isn't going to sit back and wait. He's going to rescue Kelsea and nothing will stop him...

And all the while, an enemy is slowly growing in power. An enemy that scare the Red Queen, and an enemy Kelsea has unleash onto the world. And this enemy isn't going to rest till it gets what it has long desired...

The fate of the Tearling is now on the line... and not everyone is going to be around to see the final outcome...

Ok, dear readers. I have to admit this: this is a strong fantasy trilogy and I am really surprised on the writing, the world development, the magic and the complexity of the characters. This is a strong, solid adult fantasy trilogy that just work.

And yet, I completely get why I was told to avoid this book. It doesn't reach the same heights of Queen of the Tearling (out of the three books, I feel that the first, Queen of the Tearling, was this trilogy's strongest) and it either just on par or below my feelings of Invasion of the Tearling. And it's mainly because of the ending...

For three quarters of the book, this was solid! It felt stronger than Invasion and I was impressed on what this book was showing. But the last 20-ish percent of the book - oh boy. It's an ending you are going to love or hate. I am very much on the "meh" side - right in the middle. I saw it coming and went "Oh no... no, really? You want to go down this route? I hate this troupe so why are you doing this?" so had time to brace myself. And while I understand why this was the direction the series took (and it shouldn't be much of a shock for us - there were clues from Queen and it got more clue heavy in Invasion), I get everyone reaction of "This is a cop-out ending" because it is. It's a cheap "Get Out of Jail Free Card" trick that most readers don't like, because it really undermines the whole story.

I like this trilogy and I will be intrigued to see what Erika Johansen writes next. But the last 20-odd percent of Fate of the Tearling is going to be the thing that defines most readers thoughts on the series. But this series and this ending - you are either going to love it or loathe it.

Book Review - The Invasion of the Tearling

Two months. This book took me TWO MONTHS to read. TWO MONTHS, READERS!!! It didn't help that, for the first month, I was reading this as a side project as I wanted to read this series but I wasn't ready to return fully into this world...

I know, I'm an odd reader.

Anyway, The Invasion of the Tearling is the second book in the Tearling trilogy. Kelsea is the Queen of the Tearling, and she is fast becoming a queen of possible legend. She's fair, just and powerful.

But power is a double-edged sword... When she first came to the capital, she put an end to the horrible slave trade (this was back in book 1). But doing this defied the Red Queen, ruler of neighbouring country who rules with dark magic and fury.

With her armies ready to invade the Tearling, Kelsea has to find a way to protect her people. But with her beginning to get visions of a woman from before the Crossing and the walls of danger and mistrust growing around her, Kelsea and the Tearling's time are running out...

Right... ok... Writing this is going to be difficult so bear with me while I write my thoughts and feelings about this.

Because this book took me so long to read (TWO MONTHS!), I might be misremembering stuff and feelings but this, like the first book (review for The Queen of the Tearling is here), is an interesting beast of a book. It's interesting and, when it finds its footing, is gripping and complex (I enjoyed the complex twists and ideas this series is trying to lay out).

But there were moments where the book did lag and you flinched at certain issues the book tackles (some of these issues are triggers such as sexual assault, self-harm and others). Remember, this trilogy is found in the adult fantasy/sci-fi section rather than YA, so I understand this is more for an adult audience therefore tackles darker themes, but when it is sold as having huge crossover appeal, it would be useful to see if there was something to warn readers about trigger warnings (but this is a topic for a later date, me thinks...).

Don't get me wrong. I did like this book and I do plan to read the final book in the trilogy, The Fate of the Tearling, by the end of the year. I bought a paperback copy, against most of the book bloggers and vloggers who have read this and gone "DON'T DO IT! THE THIRD BOOK IN THE TRILOGY SUCKS!!!!". But I didn't seem to enjoy myself with Invasion as much as I did with Queen of the Tearling.

Maybe I'm being a little hard of this book. The writing is solid, the characters are complex and interesting to read, the political and religious intrigue was good and I always liked it when I read this and went "How is this going to pan out?". The same goes with characters relationship - I adore Kelsea's relationship with the Mace, and we got to spend more time with Kelsea and Pen. And with Kelsey's visions of the Pre-Crossing, most of the time, it made gripping reading. Most of this book is a solid fantasy read.

But, it didn't really hit the same heights as The Queen of the Tearling. It just missed it. There were times when situations and issues were put forward, but were either weren't resolved (I know, this is a second book in the series so foreshadowing, but some of these moments felt disjointed) or they were resolved far too quickly and out of character (the self-harm storyline is a good example for this).

While a solid read, Invasion of the Tearling didn't hit the same heights as its predecessor. I hold some hope that Fate of the Tearling will reclaim the wow factor, but am going to keep my hopes low due to everyone's reactions...

Audiobook Review - The Queen of the Tearling

I have been listening to this audiobook for over a month. I know I started this back in March and only told my Goodreads that I was listening to this in April. Plus, I finished this last weekend. So I have been with this story for longer than I normally would if I had the book version at the start. But I got a copy of the audiobook from Midas PR & Audible.co.uk and, halfway through listening to the audiobook and wanting to read this faster, I was given a copy of the book via Transworld Books themselves. Which was super lovely of these parties so thank you all. When I needed a break from one format, I jumped straight into the other! Plus, it was always nice to check where I was and see names of characters and compared to how I heard them. 

Kelsea is nineteen. Because of this, the soldiers have come for her. To take her to the city and reclaim what is rightfully hers - the throne. Kelsea is Queen of the Tearling. Because of this, she must leave her adopted parents, go to the city and take the throne and, somehow, begin the huge unspeakable task set before her - figure out how to save her people from the corruption from within her kingdom and the overwhelming threat of the Red Queen in the neighbour kingdom, who needs little excuse to invade. 

Kelsea has all the marks of a true Queen: fair, just and powerful. That is, if she can stay alive long enough... 

This book is an interesting creature. It's not your typical YA book. If you went into a bookshop, you would have to go into the adult fantasy/sci-fi section. But this has really strong crossover appeal. It's a mix of genres - historical, but set in the future and with hints of dystopian in it. Has fantasy elements, but they are few and far between. It's more political and has a wider cast of characters. It's difficult to explain this book. 

But, for some reason, it worked. A good chuck of this book, I really enjoyed it. It felt like a fantasy novel I have been waiting to read for ages and, at last, here it was! It was something I could sink my teeth and, once I found my footing with the story, I whizzed through. I wanted to know all the political and see the beginnings of the alliance that are setting up for, not only this book, but the trilogy as a whole. It had magic but used sparing. And there was strong characters and ideas and themes. It felt like a grown-up fantasy, something I really should be getting into more as I enjoy fantasy. And I wanted more. This story ticked most of my boxes when it comes to fantasy. 

I am going to admit there are problems. This wasn't perfect. I wasn't the biggest fan of the audiobook's narrator when I started this. I warmed to her as the story went along and, by the time we got a few chapters in, I couldn't imagine anyone else reading this. But, there were times, when she read it, I just didn't click. And when an action scene was happening, she would read louder and faster. 

But the reason it took such a long time to audiobook is because the first 100/120 pages, the characters were travelling on horseback. I get why this happened - we had to get to know some of our main players in this story and this is the best way - but it was SO SLOW! 

Another thing some people won't like while reading/listening to this story is that there is a lot of backstory to characters and a lot of long-winded descriptions/details. Now, I liked this, but I know some people won't. 

But I really enjoyed this. I'm surprised how much I did enjoy this! This felt like a fantasy book I have been waiting for a very long time to read, and I can not wait to read The Invasion of the Tearling.