Booklog 38/2020: Sarah J Maas: A Court of Thorns and Roses – Court of Thorns and Roses #1

A Faerie romance. Feyre, the youngest of three daughters living with their (broken) father in a cottage that's little more than a hovel. Once they had money, but that's all been lost and it's Feyre who keeps them fed by hunting in the forest. It's cold and bleak, and so one day when she sees a huge wolf in the forest about to take the doe she's been tracking, she kills it with an arrow. But the wolf is from Faerie, and there's a price. Tamlin, a High Lord, comes for her with a choice, return to Faerie with him or die. It's not much of a choice, but she loathes everything Faerie. Though there's now an uneasy truce, there was once a terrible war between humans and Faerie. Feyre fears the worst, but Tamlin is polite and even kind, though he has scary moments. She comes to realise that not every Faerie court is the same, and she slowly falls in love, though there's much she doesn't know. Outside of Tam's court there is danger for a human, and, soon, within the court, too. Feyre has to fight to break an ancient curse. There are three (so far) full length novels in this series and a novella, but it looks as if more are planned. Note to new readers: Spoilers! Do not read reviews of the next book in this series before you've finished reading this as there's a 'thing' which you might wish you'd not known in advance.

Review copy from Netgalley

 

 

 

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Booklog 39/2020: J. M. Frey: Skylark's Song – Skylark Saga #1

A Netgalley review copy.

Seventeen year old Robin has been working on Saskwyan's battle gliders since she was a child, first as a mid-flight (a mechanic) and then, by chance, as a pilot. She's the only one to survive a skydance with the enemy Klonn pilot flying ace, known only as the Coyote. From then on he's obsessed with her,  stalking her in the skies until the fateful day when he  shoots her down and takes her prisoner. He needs her expertise to fix a rocket pack – the enemy's secret weapon (if it can be made to work). Robin, known only as Skylark, is drawn in by the man, but also wary of his attentions. How much can she believe. Can she trust her feelings? How can she escape?

This steampunky YA story is a thing of two halves. Firstly there's Saskwayan culture of two castes/classes. Robin is low status, and struggles to gain acceptance as a pilot when she's promoted out of her comfort zone. (And is only captured because a fellow pilot sabotages her machine.) Then there's her relationship with her friend, Al, who would like to be much more. Midway, there's a complete change as all the first part of the book becomes irrelevant after Robin is captured by the Coyote and becomes 'Skylark.' We're never really sure whose side Coyote is on. Is he trying to seduce Robin because he genuinely has affection, or is he using her? (He calls her 'my dear' all the time, which is uber-creepy.) She spends a lot of page time trying to work out whether she can love an enemy who has killed so many of her fellow aeronauts.

It’s the first novel in a duology, and I'll have to read the second book to discover whether the first half of this book is relevant to the story as a whole. There were odd things in the worldbuilding which I found frustrating. For instance, the Saskwyans fly gliders into battle against powered aircraft, but we'd been in the air with protagonist several times before we discovered that the gliders were launched from a Zeppelin.