eProof Review - When Among Crows

As I said in my Queen Macbeth post, I was holding that shorter stories will give my reading the kick up the backside it needed after March’s reading slowdown/slump and the disappointing reads over the Easter break.

So you would be surprised to hear that I decided to read this novella.

Let me explain: I fell in the love with the cover when it came into my Twitter timeline and I was deeply considering buying it, so when I saw it on NetGalley, I requested it but I had my doubts that I would be approved as my stats on NetGalley haven’t been great since the great Amazon Easter Hack/Deleting of 2023 (no idea if someone tried to hack my Amazon account or if Amazon tried to delete my account by accident but, due to this, I lost ALL MY EPROOFS ON MY KINDLE!). Now, imagine my surprise when I found out I was approved and, after reading The Brothers by Kimberley Chambers and feeling so underwhelmed by it, I decided to read this instead of the reads I had planned (The Escape Room by LD Smithson, Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett &/or The Company by J.M. Varese).

Title and Author: When Among Crows by Veronica Roth

Publisher: Titan Books

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction.

Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

In modern day Chicago, Polish folklore is alive. Monsters feast on human emotion, knights split their souls to make their weapons and witches always take more than what they give.

Pain brings Dymitr and Ala together. Dymitr’s pain is the monsters he and the other Knights of the Holy Order slay and split his soul into two to create his sword from his own spine, while Ala’s is the family curse she has inherited to see visions of the horrors that the Holy Order committed.

One fateful night, the two meet and agree a bargain: if Ala can help find the legendary witch Baba Jaga. In exchange, Dymitr will give her an enchanted flower that might cure her.

But Ala doesn’t know who Dymitr is and what he truly wants and with less than 24 hours before the flower dies, killing her hopes of the curse being broken, the two need to move fast. But others want the flower and Baba Jaga’s location and they aren’t afraid to hurt and kill to get them… 

eProof Review - The Butcher Of The Forest

Happy First Read of 2024! Fingers crossed all your have been fun and great. 

Mine? Not so much. You’ll see why in the moment in gif form and for that, I do apologise. 

Anyway, let me get all the details for you and we can get this party started!

Title and Author: The Butcher Of The Forest by Premee Mohamed

Publisher: Titan Books

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction.

Buy from (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

In the dark, fairytale-like novella, a ruthless Tyrant forces an ordinary woman into an enchanted forest to retrieve his two missing children. The enchanted forest is full of dark things and won’t let the heirs go easily. And the woman isn’t as ordinary as she’s the only person known to have gone into the forest and to have come out again, all to save a child. 

If the woman fails, all she lives will be destroyed. So, she must step carefully as one misstep could be the end of everything…

eBook Review - Gallant

This is a bit of an impulse read. I saw it on NetGalley and went "Oh, this sounds like a creepy Secret Garden" and everyone seems to love V.E. Schwab and I've only read two books of her (I still have one or two titles on my TBR so, of course, I will be reading them in the future), but I thought this might be a nice way to ease myself into her writing again as it's been a while. Plus, this had vibes of a gothic fairy tale type story, similar to her debut, The Near Witch. 

Title and Author: Gallant by V.E. Schwab

Publisher: Titan Books

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction.

Olivia Pryor is missing three things. Her mother who died when she was young, her father who she doesn't remember and her voice, which was she was never born with. But when she gets a mysterious letter from an uncle she never knew she had, begging her to come home to the estate, Gallant. 

But when she gets there, her uncle has been dead for several years and no one remembers him writing the letter. Though Olivia is allowed to stay, there are two rules: don't leave the house after dark and don't go near the wall at the end of the garden...

GoodRead - Harry Potter: The Creature Vault

Of course, I was going to have this book, my dear blog readers. I am a huge Harry Potter fan and I asked for it for Christmas (thank you bro-in-law!).

The Creature Vault looks into the creatures that featured into the Harry Potter movies and shows concept art, behind the scene photos and film stills as well as an in depth description of the creature and how the creature came to be...

I said this before in my review of The Art of Disney's Frozen, I love these types of books. They are a rare treat for me and when I got Harry Potter: Page to Screen, it took me around six months to read as I wanted to take my time over it. I wanted to adsorb it.

But with this, I sped through within the course of one evening. I devoured it and loved every second. Like I said, I like these types of books when I read them.

There is a tiny section in Harry Potter: Page to Screen that touches on this (The Creature Shop Compendium) and images are used in both books, but I feel that the information has been expanded on a lot more and there's a lot more art and photos in this. It was just interesting to see how little concept art was revealed in both Harry Potter: Page to Screen and Harry Potter: The Creature Vault. I could very easily have had this book just filled with art and I wouldn't have cared!

My only real nitpick of a problem is that, within the book, it used the America title of the first movie - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, not Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (which is what it is known world-wide). I wonder why this wasn't amended for territories outside the United States...

I think this is a really good book to give insight to how the creatures were created in the Harry Potter movies, and I love it (Hello? Harry Potter fan speaking!). I think I will show you some art within this book and try and hide you from that hideous Grindylow drawing...

 

Ok, I lied. If I had a mini start when I saw it, then so are you!

GoodRead - Harry Potter: Page to Screen

I treated myself to this BEAST of a book during the Christmas Sale (I had a Waterstones giftcard and Amazon Kindle voucher and yet, this isn't a ebook [thank Goodness - will explain in a bit] and no Waterstones I went to had it in stock. Expect for WHSmiths who had one hidden away in the back so, to that WHSmiths, THANK YOU!] and have been reading it slowly for the past 6 months.

I wasn't going to rush this! And this book needs your time and full attention!

This book details the filming of the Harry Potter movies. Not just talking about the movies themselves but the making of them. The actors, producers, directors, but most of the crew talk openly and frankly about making the movies and the effect the movies had on their lives. Showing concept art, never-seen-before photos and showing how the magic was done, this is really a film buff's book.

I LOVED this book! Of course, I was going to love it. I'M A HARRY POTTER NUT! And I adore the books and movies (maybe not the early movies which my other half is making me watch...), and I always find the "This Is How We Make" stuff quite interesting (I treated myself to The Art of the Avengers... Tiny heads-up).

I'm a geek. I admit it.

Now, the book is split into three parts. The Making of Harry Potter (which talks about in depth about the films and how they were made, which had funny and, often, emotional information like 9/11 and Richard Harris's death), The Art Of Harry Potter (this is why it's not on kindle. The amount of detail in concept art, photographs and notes is high and your eReader won't do it justice) and the Epilogue (am saying nothing about this...).

But, oh! This book was wonderful! *hugs the tomb of a book close to my chest* If not for anything, then for the exercise (weight-lifting) it has done to my arms!

I think if you are a fan of the Harry Potter movies are just a film buff (and if you can find this book - it was a nightmare to find my copy!), get it! Will show some images... enjoy!