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The Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war with their neighbours, but the dragons are gone now, and the bones are no longer plentiful. Now a Keyshan (dragon) has been spotted. Whichever nation captures it and kills it for its bones will gain supremacy.
Joron Twiner has been condemned to the Tide Child, one of the Black Ships (ships of the soon-to-be dead) for a crime undisclosed (at first). He comes from a fisher family, not 'fleet' but he's sea savvy, though inexperienced when it comes to command. He's floundering and lost… and then Lucky Meas appears. She wrests command from him, but surprisingly gives him a position and he begins to learn. Under Meas command, the crew of Tide Child begin to make a cohesive unit. They have a job to do.
The world building is superb. The ships made of dragon bone and glue with slate decks (and always referred to as 'he') are suitably (chillingly) weird and the flora and fauna follow logical patterns. The captains of the ships (fleet and black-ships) are 'shipwives' and the crew are 'deck childer'. But for all the (logical) strangeness, the human conflict is gripping.
A Robin Hood story with a difference, set after all the usual shenanigans with the Sheriff of Nottingham. This is narrated by Marian, a witch, living in the forest with her (and Robin's) two children, while Robin has retreated to Tuck's monastery and for the last 12 years thrown himself wholeheartedly into the arms of god. When someone starts killing Merry Men. Tuck persuades a grieving Marian to use her magic to discover the culprit, so Marian finds herself in the company of a clever fox, an ex-soldier, a tricky Fae lord, and a resentful Robin, angry at being drawn back into the world. Marian, a competent hedge-witch, holds the team together. This is a magical medieval murder mystery. Highly recommended.
This is a short companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo's Grisha novels with a twist ending. There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls...or so the story goes…
Another short companion folk take to Leigh Bardugo's Grisha books. In Ravka,must because you escape one trap doesn't mean to say that the next one won't get you. I love Ms Bardugo's Grisha books, but don't expect any of the characters from those books to appear here, these are early background tales.
This is Ms Bardugo's first adult novel – though to be honest I don't know that it reads any older than her Grisha novels, because they are very complex (and dark, especially the ones with Kaz Brekker). There's a lot of violence, trauma, and sex (not all of it consensual), but that's not necessarily what marks a book as adult for me. Set in New Haven, this is Yale University with magic. There are eight 'Houses of the Veil' (secret societies), each performing rituals with a different kind of magic. The ninth house, Lethe, is the one which oversees the other eight to prevent misuse of power. Alex, after a dropout start and surviving a horrific multiple-murder, is given a 'free-ride' at Yale, because she has a special talent. She can see ghosts. She's recruited to Lethe, and is still learning when her mentor, Darlington, goes missing, and there's an unconnected murder which seems to be clear-cut, but is it? Are the magical houses involved? Alex is determined to find out. I love Leigh Bardugo's Grisha novels, in particular her Six of Crows duo. I wasn't as taken with this. I think part of it is the American University system always seems a bit weird to a Brit (I felt the same way about Pamela Dean's Tam Lin). The setting didn't resonate with me, and though I found Alex interesting I wasn't as invested in her at the beginning as I felt I should have been. Your mileage may vary as I've seen nothing but great reviews so far. I admit she grew on me as I progressed through the book. The magical systems are well thought out and Ms Bardugo's characters are deeply layered. There's a satisfying double twist at the end, and it finished with an opening to the next book in the series.