Tag: royalty

Tiger Heart by Penny Chrimes

tiger heart.jpgTitle: Tiger Heart

Author: Penny Chrimes

Genre: Fantasy/Time slip/Historical

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Published: 14th January 2020

Format: Paperback

Pages: 260

Price: $15.99

Synopsis: One magical friendship. One roaring adventure.

The magical tale of a bold young chimney sweep and a remarkable tiger, a dangerously hypnotic ruby and a mystical land that’s found across an ocean and through a storm. Perfect for fans of THE GIRL OF INK AND STARS and PAX.

One magical friendship. One roaring adventure.

The magical tale of a bold young chimney sweep and a remarkable tiger, a dangerously hypnotic ruby and a mystical land found across an ocean and through a storm. Perfect for fans of The Girl of Ink and Stars and Pax.

Fly never meant to end up in a cage with a man-eating tiger. And though she’s sure she’s no princess, when the tiger addresses her as ‘your majesty’, she can’t help but vow to free him and return him home.

But the bird-filled jungles and cloud-topped mountains of the tiger’s homeland are an ocean away. And not everyone wants the tiger – or Fly – to get there alive.

With dark and dangerous forces working against them, will Fly be able to fulfil her promise and maybe – just maybe – become the queen her tiger knows her to be?

~*~

Gutterling and chimney-sweep Fly lives in a world that is partially Georgian, and partially Victorian – combing inventiveness of one with rumble-tumble of another to create a unique yet familiar London. It is here that she has lived her entire life after being found outside an orphanage with a strange box with strange symbols. Brought up in a tough world where she’s given little education little clothing and taught to steal, Fly soon finds herself face-to-face with a tiger, and this is where her journey begins as she escapes the life she’s known for a faraway land where, the tiger tells her, she is a princess. Here, she must find her family and save the animals who are destined to be sold by those trying to stop Fly gain her throne back.

Along her journey to Barithea, the mystical country she is trying to get to, Fly meets a boy called Jack, who looks remarkably like her. Reaching Barithea is their first challenge: surviving what is to come is their next challenge, and Fly and Jack must work together to defeat the forces that wish to destroy their family and place of birth.

This was a unique story, combining a historical setting with magical realism and a touch of fantasy to create a world that is believable – Barithea could be a real country, one that is undiscovered, yet it also fits the fantasy country bill. As a result, it is perfectly constructed and perfectly fits in with the feel and tone of the novel. This is one that had a great start, a great middle and wonderful ending for all ages nine and older – great to read alone or with someone and share your thoughts.

In Penny Chrimes’ first novel, an exquisite world has been created that readers can lose themselves to, and it captures danger, childlike wonder and a faraway world of royalty, talking tigers and cursed jewels that threaten to ruin entire families and kingdoms if action to protect them and preserve the traditions of the culture and land is not taken by Fly, Jack, and her tiger.

This was a lovely novel, and one I highly recommend. I hope others enjoy it as much as I did.

 

Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

four dead queens.jpgTitle: Four Dead Queens

Author: Astrid Scholte

Genre: Fantasy/Crime

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 4th March 2019

Format: Paperback

Pages: 432

Price: $19.99

Synopsis:A thrilling debut YA fantasy novel for fans of Red Queen and Three Dark Crowns.

Four Queens. A divided nation. A ruthless pickpocket. A noble messenger. And the murders that unite them.

Seventeen-year-old Keralie Corrington is one of Quadara’s most skilled thieves, but when she steals an unexpectedly valuable package from a messenger she is soon entangled in a conspiracy that leads to all four of Quadara’s queens being murdered.

With no other choices and on the run from her former employer, Keralie teams up with Varin Bollt, the Eonist messenger she stole from, and together they race to discover who has killed the queens. But when dark secrets threaten their reluctant partnership and put everything at stake, Keralie and Varin must use all their daring to stay alive and untangle the mysteries behind the nation’s four dead queens.

An enthralling fast-paced murder mystery where competing agendas collide with deadly consequences, Four Dead Queens heralds the arrival of an exciting new YA talent.

~*~

Keralie Corrington lives in Quadara, a land ruled by four queens – one from each quadrant – and no king. It has been this way for many years, and the citizens of each quadrant are used to being ruled by the queens: Ludia, ruled by Queen Stessa, is the fun quadrant, Eonia is the frozen quadrant, reliant on technology, ruled by Queen Corra. Queen Marguerite rules Toria, the isle of commerce, and Queen Iris rules Archia, where all Quadara’s produce is grown. When thief Keralie, is caught stealing something for Mackiel to sell at the auction house by Eonist messenger, Varin Bolt. This item holds something that will change the course of Quadara forever – the plot to kill all four queens – which comes to pass, as the title suggests. Keralie and Varin set out to stop the killer, or, if they can’t, catch them in the act.

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Using the alternating perspectives of Keralie in first person and each of the queens in third person, the story evolves at a decent pace, revealing secrets, twists and turns as it goes – from relationships between characters, to the history or Quadara, and every other aspect of the mystery surrounding the deaths of the four queens. In doing so, Astrid appears to weave a recent past together with Keralie’s present, and whether this is the case or not, I shall let readers discover for themselves. Either way, it is cleverly done, and clear – and it works well for this story and allows for a mysterious feeling about when in the timeline of the story we are, and a clever look at how each queen is murdered.

Four Dead Queens is Astrid Scholte’s debut novel, and it is a fine debut. It is complex and intriguing, and filled with mystery woven throughout the story, and on every page. Not only the mystery of who kills the queens and how, but the mystery and secrets that each character whose perspectives are present and all those who speak on the page, even if not the primary characters. It is filled with fantastical aspects as well as technology and touches of what could be science fiction, but primarily, this is a fantasy novel even though it crosses several genres.

It is a very female driven novel, which I really enjoyed. It was a powerful read because it showed female characters along a spectrum – in so many different ways that to list them all might be a bit spoilerish, and I want to avoid that but I absolutely loved the diversity of the characters and their personalities and who they were. On top of this, there were so many twists and turns that kept coming right up until the end, and constantly had me guessing at what was to come and questioning what I knew.

The mystery and the big reveals are cleverly plotted and revealed right when they need to be – like any good mystery or crime novel should do. Overall, I really liked this book and it works well as a stand-alone, where everything is concluded but also left a bit open-ended for readers to imagine what happens next.

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