What the River Knows - Isabel Ibanez

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents—who frequently leave her behind.

When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and a golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.

With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her."

 Before we get into the book, I'm just going to say it. This is classified as young adult, but it is fucking not young adult. Publishers, just because a book is fantasy, written by a woman, and has a female main character DOESN'T MEAN IT'S YA! Stop with that shit.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way, I am glad this book was included in my FUCKING YA subscription box even though IT IS NOT YA, because it probably wouldn't have been on my radar otherwise, and HOLY SHIT was it good. For starters, the cover is gorgeous. The dust jacket is beautiful and has a hidden illustration on the inside, there are incredible sprayed edges, the inside covers are illustrated...I mean, any one of those things and I would have been swooning. All of them together? How was I to resist?

Add to that Inez's determination and grit, her curiosity and unwillingness to settle for what others told her she should be doing with her life, and I'm sold on this main character. Then there's the incredible descriptions of Egypt, the inscrutable and mysterious Whit, the fact that you don't know who you can trust, or if you can even trust anyone, and I'M SORRY, WHAT IS HAPPENING?! This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I'm sorry that this review is rambly and unspecific and all over the place, but I literally just finished reading and am still reeling. I need the next book to be out, like, NOW, because I have so many questions, and I need all of them answered. WOW, what a journey I've just been on. I'm still on. If anyone needs me, I'll be thinking about this book.

The True Queen - Sarah Fine

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Now that Ansa knows she is the destined queen of Kupari, she is desperate to find a permanent home for her people, the Kriegere, in the Kupari lands. But as the small band of warriors crosses into the foreign territory, Ansa loses her fragile grip on her newly-acquired—and violent—fire and ice magic and puts everyone, including her love Thyra, in danger.

Inside the walls of Kupari, Elli maintains the facade that she is the magical queen, with her secret—that she has no magic at all—on the brink of exposure every day. But as she tries to prepare the citizens to protect themselves from another invasion, unrest spreads as wielders like her beloved Oskar begin to lose control of their powers.

As Kupari grows increasingly unstable, with the land literally crumbling beneath their feet, and a common enemy once again threatening everything, these two young women on a collision course with destiny must find a way to save the realm and their people from total destruction.In this epic conclusion to the Impostor Queen series, Sarah Fine’s sweeping tale of two fierce leaders imbued with unimaginable power and called to unthinkable sacrifice finally answers the question: who has the strength to be the True Queen?"

OMFG you guys, I posted my First Page Friday for this book and said it was weird reviewing this one since I hadn't reviewed the first two of the series, and then I went back to look through my old reviews, and I did review the first one! HA! How did I forget? And why did I review the first and decide to review the third, but I never reviewed the second? (Honestly...because I read the second book on a plane flying home from Italy, and that flight destroyed me.) I don't want to leave the second book out, so I'm going to turn this into a two-fer.

So...The Cursed Queen is the second book in this series, and it follows Ansa, who was stolen from her people by the Krigere, a warrior clan, as a small child. After a run-in with the Kupari's Valtia during a battle on the water, Ansa is imbued with the Valtia's powers over fire and ice. The young warrior believes herself to have been cursed by the Kupari leader, and, fearful of witchcraft, she struggles to hide and control her new powers. Gradually, she learns the true meaning of her powers, and as she gains knowledge about her past and future, she struggles to determine who she can trust. This book kept me on the edge of my seat. Ansa's journey was stressful and terrifying at times, and while I was pretty sure I knew who she could trust, there were definitely times where I, like Ansa, was terrified that she couldn't trust anyone. I also felt her powerlessness in the moments where she couldn't figure out how to control the fire and ice, and whew...this book was equal parts stressful and awesome.

The True Queen picks up with Ansa preparing to follow Thyra and her people into Kupari, to remove the person she believes to be a false queen from her throne and create a new home for the Krigere. It alternates between Ansa and her journey and Elli, who is struggling to lead the Kupari people as the land around them revolts, causing terrible earthquakes and, worse, weakening magic-wielders and causing some to lose control of their magic. Ansa must avoid falling under control of the evil elders who were responsible for the deaths of the Valtias before her while also harnessing her seemingly uncontrollable powers before they destroy her, and Elli must find a way to hold her people together and stop the earth itself from shaking apart so she can unite with her Valtia and, together, lead their people. I enjoyed parts of the third book in this trilogy, but I didn't feel the story was as compelling or as strong as the first two books. Much of the first two-thirds or so felt repetitive. The first two books were action-packed, while this third installment primarily featured Ansa wandering in the woods at the Kupari border and Elli wringing her hands about how to stop the earthquakes. I wish things had moved more quickly in the beginning so we could have had more action in the end. Overall, though, it was a great trilogy, and I enjoyed it!

Empress of All Seasons - Emiko Jean

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace’s enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete—all except yōkai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. 

Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yōkai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari’s fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yōkai outcast."

Mari is an animal wife, a yōkai who has been sent to the palace to compete for the chance to marry the prince. 

Akira is a half-human, half yōkai who calls himself the Son of Nightmares. Akira and Mari have been friends for years, and while she may not love him, he is in love with her. Terrified at the thought of her risking her life at the palace, Akira tries to convince her to run away with him--when she turns him down, he decides instead to follow her, learn what he can about fighting, and try to win her heart.

Taro, the cold prince, lives a secluded, lonely life. His father, the emperor, is heartless and unfeeling, and Taro finds peace only in his workshop, where he creates mechanical creatures to keep him company. He keeps himself closed off, close with no one, until he unexpectedly runs into Mari and finally finds someone he might be able to open up to.

The lives of these three characters will intertwine in unexpected ways as Mari battles her way through the seasonal rooms, falling in love with Taro along the way, as Taro falls in love in return and struggles to decide who he can trust, and as Akira makes connections with the yōkai resistance and learns how to be a warrior. Snippets of tales about the Gods who created the yōkai and the humans are interwoven with the story, and these stories enrich the narrative by offering insight into what the Gods have in store.

Overall, while I found the story intriguing and enjoyable, there was a lot going on, and the pacing and transitions were clunky at times. Also, I didn't love the ending--lots of hasty wrapping up, when I would have loved to see more detail. Complaints aside, this is a solid read, and I especially think that anyone interested in Japanese folklore will enjoy it.

Ink, Iron, and Glass - Gwendolyn Clare

My rating:

From the cover:

"Can she write a world gone wrong?

A certain pen, a certain book, and a certain person can craft entirely new worlds through a branch of science called scriptology. Elsa comes from one such world that was written into creation, where her mother―a noted scriptologist―constantly alters and expands their reality.

But when her home is attacked and her mother kidnapped, Elsa is forced to cross into the real world and use her own scriptology gifts to find her. In an alternative Victorian Italy, Elsa finds a secret society of young scientists with a gift for mechanics, alchemy, or scriptology―and meets Leo, a gorgeous mechanist with a smart mouth and tragic past. She recruits the help of these fellow geniuses just as an assassin arrives on their doorstep.

In this thrilling debut, worlds collide as Elsa unveils a deep political conspiracy seeking to unlock the most dangerous weapon ever created―and only she can stop it."

Before we get into the book, I've got to shout out the gorgeous cover of this book. I had a pile of books waiting for me to read, and I'm not going to lie, the main reason I chose this one over the others was the cover.

It's so pretty!

We first meet Elsa in the scripted world where she lives with her mother, Jumi, a gifted scriptologist. Very shortly after the two are introduced, Elsa and Jumi are attacked, and Elsa is left unconscious. When she wakes up, Jumi is gone. Elsa follows the attackers to the home of her world's creator, where she finds that he has been murdered and his house set on fire. Alone and unfamiliar with customs in Europe, Elsa goes to her mother's closest friend for aid, who takes her to a home for some of the most gifted young scientists in the real world. Left there alone, worried about the fate of her mother, Elsa is forced to decide if she can put her trust in the young strangers she now lives with or if she must forge ahead and attempt to find and rescue her mother alone.

I felt the story got off to a slow start, I was intrigued with the premise, and the second half was dynamite. Also, while I found the relationship between Elsa an Leo a bit force, I loved the dynamic between the foursome as they unraveled the mystery of what happened to Elsa's mom and worked to save her, and the ending left me dying for more. I can't wait for the next book!