I’m prefacing this review with saying that I adored the Luminaries trilogy. However, this was just not for me. The 90’s references felt a little misplaced, Nsync for example weren’t super famous until 2000/2001 and yet this is set in 1999. Cell phones being mentioned as often as they were felt a little off too, what with most people only just purchasing one and not really using them much. This was also a little romance heavy for me, I wanted more thriller/murder mystery based on the blurb than teen drama/making out every other page. I started to forget there were murders even happening.

Perhaps I was just the wrong audience for this one, but it really isn’t for me.

Absolutely magical. I really loved this book, it had a nostalgic feel of the fairytales I read as a child, full of mischievous imps and fairies. Magpie is a such a sweet character and I really loved the relationships she had with everyone. It’s YA but does read on the younger end of YA, there are some darker moments in this one, especially with the Djinn and the shadow. I would 100% read again.

Hal and Alistair are both competing to be accepted into St Penderghast’s, a prolific school where they can either learn to be gravers or spires. Using necromancy, gravers create monsters from the dead to use as fodder for what seems to be an on going war, and spirers use some kind of lightning magic and long spear like weapons to kill the monsters. Hal wants to be a graver, since birth she’s been told she’s going to be a graver, she’s been raised to be one but things go wrong when both she and Alistair are almost refused entry to St Pendergast’s unless they both compete as part of an accord for a place together, if one fails they both fail.

At first I was a little confused with the world building, it really does just throw you into the deep end and hope that you’ll swim. Some parts I’m still not 100% on to do with technology in Preybern. I liked Hal, although at times her characters naïveté can be irritating. I understood and enjoyed Alistair’s character. The villain was a surprise but I’m sure more will be explained in book two when it is released. Danielle Knight’s writing is descriptive and at times beautiful (although at other times incredibly visceral). I can’t wait to to read the next one.

An interesting take on the fairytale of Snow White. This is not the story of a helpless girl lost in the forest. Cursed by her mother, Elka must consume the hearts of seven men to free herself. She has nearly completed her cure when Kaz, a huntsman, wanders into her life and she finds herself unable to kill him. Weaving elements of the original Snow White into something original and new, Kuznair has created something truly magical. There is action, magic and dragons as well as romance and yearning. I really enjoyed this one.