Book Review: “The Shadow Palace” by Celine Jeanjean

Title: The Shadow Palace (The Viper and the Urchin #6)
Author: Celine Jeanjean
Genre: Steampunk/fantasy
Intended audience: Upper YA/Adult
Date Read: 28/01/20 – 01/02/20
Rating: ★★★☆

Review:

Please note: this review may contain minor spoilers for the previous books in this series.

It took me a little while to get into this next Viper and the Urchin book, but I think that is because I was feeling a bit reading slumpy. Having said that, I think the story itself did pick up in the second half and that did help me to become more engaged.

This instalment picks up where the previous one left off, with Rory and Rafe trying to snag a meeting with the Minister Voynia in order to aid their mission for the Old Girl back in Damsport.

One thing I really enjoy about this series, especially the books not set in Damsport, is trying to spot the real-life cultures that inspired the ones in the books. I was imagining the Airnian Court much like Versailles – ridiculously wide dresses, wigs, powedered faces, vacuous courtiers… Celine Jeanjean’s descriptions are once again strong and vibrant and I had a really clear picture in my head.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but there was a particular aspect of Longinus’ arc that had me genuinely wondering how he would get himself out of the tight spot he was in. It was very touch and go for a while. He also had some really great character development as a result of what happens to him in Airnia. I love seeing a favourite character evolve.

We also learned a few things about Rafe that we didn’t know before and I think that’s going to play a bigger part in the upcoming books – he’s going to have to learn to be honest with Rory or she’s going to ditch him.

There’s big political stuff going on, too, and now that the team have found some answers in AIrnia, it’s going to be interesting to see how things play out in Damsport.

Even though this book wasn’t my favourite in the series, it was still highly readable and as always, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the follow-up!

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(Thank you to Celine Jeanjean for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. This did not affect my opinions in any way)

You can read my reviews of The Bloodless Assassin (book 1),  The Black Orchid (book 2), The Slave City (book 3), The Doll Maker (book 4) and The White Hornet (book 5) by clicking their titles.

Find me on:
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#WWW Wednesday – 29 January 2020

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished Don’t Read The Comments by Eric Smith and I totally loved it! It was not the kind of book I expected to keep me up late, but I kept saying “Just another chapter….” Really well done. Here’s my review.

After that, I read Bitter Falls by Rachel Caine and to be honest, didn’t love it. There’s only going to be one more book in the series so I might read it to see the series through, but on the other hand, I feel like I’m good with leaving it where I am. Here’s my review.

Last but not least, I finished Blackbirch: the Beginning by K. M. Allan. This author is part of my 6am writing group on Twitter, so I’ve been watching this book evolve for a while and I’m so pleased it’s finally out! My review will be up on Friday and the book comes out on Feb 17. If you like witchcraft and spooky forests, add it to your TBR!

Since my last WWW, I also reviewed It Sounded Better In My Head by Nina Kenwood, and you can read that review here.

What are you currently reading?!

I haven’t been listening to audio books as much as usual, so I’m very slowly going through Before The Devil Breaks You, the third in the Diviners series by Libba Bray. Still really enjoying this series but there are times when it feels like it goes on way too long. And the next book is even longer! Ah well.

I have paused my Audible membership for three months so I don’t have to pay anything while I work through 50ish hours of unlistened-to content!

I’ve just today started The Shadow Palace, which is book 6 in Celine Jeanjean’s Viper and the Urchin steampunk series. I’ve given the last couple of books in this series 5 stars, so let’s hope the streak continues!

I am still going with The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross but to be honest, it’s on hold while I get through my ARCs.

What do you think you will read next?

Next I’ll be reading Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok, another ARC. I just can’t resist historical fantasy set in France. There’s something about it.

What are you reading this week? 🙂

WWW Wednesday – 31 October 2019

Announcement: On Monday I posted the cover reveal and pre-order link for an anthology I am apart of. It contains 8 Christmas stories set in Australia, where 25 December is in the middle of a summer and quite a different experience from what many of you are used to. I’d love it if you checked it out and threw a pre-order our way.

And now to your regularly scheduled WWW post.

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

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What have you recently finished reading?

I absolutely loved The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg! There were parts that could have been more fleshed out but it totally hooked me so I didn’t mind. Here’s my review.

Next I read Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin, which was really engaging but I had a lot of questions abuot the world-building. Namely how does literal Christianity exist in a made-up fantasy world? My review goes up on Friday.

After that, I read The White Hornet by Celine Jeanjean. This is the fifth book in the Viper and the Urchin series. Celine has been churning new books out this year but somehow always manages to maintain a high standard. Here’s my review.

And finally, I finished the Antics of Evangeline series by reading Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights by Madeline D’Este. I’ll have my reviews for the series up soon.

I’ve also posted reviews of The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley and Songbird by Ingrid Laguna since my last WWW post. Click the titles to read them.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve started Too Flash by Melissa Lucashenko. This is a YA contemporary and will count towards my 2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge, and my challenge-within-a-challenge to read at least two books by Indigenous Australian women.

Except I forgot to take Too Flash with me t o work today, so I started my ARC of A Christmas Wish and a Cranberry Kiss at the Cosy Kettle by Liz Eeles. I enjoyed the last Cosy Kettle book and I couldn’t resist a Christmas title.

I’m also listening to Circe by Madeline Miller on audio. Audible kept reccomending this to me and I wasn’t in the mood for any audio books so I just picked this up on a whim. But it turns out I’m enjoying it quite a lot.

Last but not least I have finally started A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas. To be honest, I wasn’t intending to read this series but a friend whose opinions I trust said she really enjoyed it and that it was quite different to Throne of Glass (which I DNFed and she didn’t enjoy either). I’m about 20% of the way through, and yeah, got to admit it’s pretty readable.

What do you think you will read next?

.I started the audio book of Illumination by Karen Brooks a while ago and I knew it was just too long and I wasn’t going to get through iit before it was due back, so I’ve got the hard copy now. It is a massive tome with tiny print! But I’ll get there, and it will be nice to finally finish the Curse of the Bond Riders series.

What are you reading this week? 🙂

 

 

 

Book Review: “White Hornet” by Celine Jeanjean

Title: White Hornet (The Viper and the Urchin #5)
Author: Celine Jeanjean
Genre: Steampunk/fantasy
Intended audience: Upper YA/Adult
Date Read: 13/10/19 – 17/10/19
Rating: ★★★★★

Review:

Please note: this review contains minor spoilers for the previous four books in this series.

If you’ve been following my reviews for a while, you’ll know that there is very little negative I have to say about the Viper and the Urchin series. This instalment is no different.

In White Hornet, the gang are undercover in the neighbouring country of Airnia, on a spy mission for the Old Girl. They have no idea who they can trust, and at any moment, their covers could be blown…

There was so much intrigue going on. I loved seeing the political machinations inside the House of Bel, even as I hated basically everyone there.

There are some really great character moments, from Adelma using alcohol to try to hide how much recent conflicts in Damsport have affected her (and the others noticing anyway), to Rory and Rafe setting some ground rules in their burgeoning relationship and Longinus finding out more about his family.

I really enjoyed Rory dealing with the Airnian fashions. Rory is no noblewoman, so having to put up with bustles and corsets was very much not to her liking and it was incredibly entertaining. XD

Speaking of Airnia, the descriptions were fantastic. I felt like I was in the middle of a steampunk Imperial Russia with all the descriptions of cold and snow and heated carriages, and enormous coats and pelts. A far cry from muggy Damsport.

This is the first book in the series to end on a cliffhanger, and the next book will be out in a few months. I’m intrigued to see how our team goes as they continue to navigate among their enemies!

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(Thank you to Celine Jeanjean for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. This did not affect my opinions in any way)

You can read my reviews of The Bloodless Assassin (book 1),  The Black Orchid (book 2), The Slave City (book 3) and The Doll Maker (book 4) by clicking their titles.

Find me on:
GoodReads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

WWW Wednesday – 01 May 2019

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished P Is For Pearl by Eliza Henry Jones, which is a lot more character driven than books I usually read. But the coastal town vibe was so well done and I really liked the characters so I still enjoyed it. I’ll have a review up soon.

Click to read my review of The Doll Maker, book four in Celine Jeanjean’s The Viper and the Urchin series. This was released yesterday and might be my favourite one of the series so far!

What are you currently reading?

Still listening to Enchantee by Gita Trelease. The last audio books I read were A Thousand Pieces of You and Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray and I was actively cleaning or folding laundry in order to have more time to listen. I… am not having the same desire with this book. It’s going to take me a little while to get through, I think.

I am also reading an ARC of Lucid by Kristy Fairlamb, about a teenager cursed to dream the final moments of the dying. I’m about 20% of the way through and there have been some interesting characters introduced and some pretty nasty dream descriptions, but I’m kind of waiting for the story to get going. There’s a weekend away with friends coming up so I suspect that might be where things start getting interestinig.

What do you think you will read next?

I have accidentally ended up with eight library books out at once! Though a few of them are ready to return, several are for my Children’s Book of the Year reading challenge, which I need to get back to. I think I’ll start with The Things That Will Not Stand by Michael Gerard Bauer.

What are you reading this week? 🙂

“Even if tonight goes all belly-up, I’ll still be very glad today happened the way it did.” // Review of “The Doll Maker” by Celine Jeanjean

Title: The Doll Maker (The Viper and the Urchin #4)
Author: Celine Jeanjean
Genre: Steampunk/fantasy
Intended audience: YA
Date Read: 21/04/19 – 24/04/19
Rating: ★★★★★

Review:

Celine Jeanjean is spoiling us. After a gap of several years, we’ve received two Viper and the Urchin books within a few months of one another. And I have to say I really loved this one. I may have caught myself making silly noises a couple of times.

One thing I enjoyed about this book particularly was that a lot of the stakes were really personal. Friendships were betrayed, loyalties were tested and feelings had to be faced.

We also got to learn more about the history of Damsport, and how the Marchioness and Lady Martha operate. Revolution is in the air and that got quite tense at times. It was interesting to see Rory having to reconcile her loyalties in Damsport with the political situation she sought to dissolve in Azyr in the previous book.

Rafe grows on me more with every book and in this instalment we got to learn a bit more about the family he’s unwilling to talk about. I also really loved the dynamic between him and Rory here. I won’t say anymore. 😉

Longinus once again needs all the hugs for various reasons. He’s still the Longinus we know and love from book one, but he’s learning to overcome some of his issues, though they are certainly still haunting him (and that’s going to be a major part of the next book, I expect).

I pretty much read this book in one sitting, so now I’ve got to wait the maximum amount of time for the next one. But I think it will be worth the wait.

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(Thank you to Celine Jeanjean for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. This did not affect my opinions in any way)

You can read my reviews of The Bloodless Assassin (book 1),  The Black Orchid (book 2) and The Slave City (book 3) by clicking their titles.

Find me on:
GoodReads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

WWW Wednesday – 24 April 2019

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading?

I spent Friday reading Romanov by Nadine Brandes and for a while I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Part of that was because I was expecting it to be something it was not, but also in and of itself, there were things I had issues with. But I found myself thinking about the true story of the Romanovs a lot as a result, so it obviously got under my skin. Here’s my full review.

Then I read The Winter  Freak Show by Daniel Parsons, which has been on my TBR since about 2015! I want to give it the benefit of the doubt and say I’m just a bit old for it… but honestly, I think it was just not the best written book. I just never felt involved.

Last but not least, I finished my early copy of The Doll Maker, which is the fourth book in Celine Jeanjean’s The Viper and the Urchin steampunk series (she hasn’t got it up on GoodReads itself yet). I liked this more than the third book! I think because the conflicts were more personal to the characters, rather than the sweeping effects on a whole nation in the last book.

I don’t usually mentioned DNFs on WWW posts, but a couple of people were interested in Changing Gear by Scot Gardner when I mentioned it last week. I read about 90 pages and it’s possible that it was going to pick up after I left off. But the main character just made a string of terrible decisions and I didn’t have any sympathy for him!

I also reviewed Wolfhunter River by Rachel Caine this week. Click the title to read it.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve started P Is For Pearl by Eliza Henry Jones, which is next on the 2019 Children’s Book Council of the Year Award Notables list. It’s a contemporary, and the Aussie setting is really vivid and the teen characters actually seem realistic (with all the SFF I’ve been reading recently, everyone has seemed a bit older than their years). I’m not sure exactly what this one’s about but I’ve been warned to have the tissues handy.

Not much movement on Enchantee by Gita Trelease this week. To be honest, after finishing Romanov, I spent my solo driving time singing along with the Anastasia cast album,  so this got pushed aside.

What do you think you will read next?

I was scanning NetGalley the other day and Lucid by Kristy Fairlamb was available as a Read Now. I already follow this author on Twitter and had been considering reading the book, so I snapped it up.

What are you reading this week? 🙂

#WWW Wednesday – 13 February 2019

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

First of all, a bit of a plug!

So do you remember in my last WWW post, I mentioned I was contemplating starting a Booktube channel to talk about Australian authors? Well, I didn’t think about it for too long and I started one! I’ve already put up two videos, so check it out if you feel inclined.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled WWW post.

What have you recently finished reading?

This was a good reading week!

I finished The Slave City, the third Viper and the Urchin book by Celine Jeanjean. I enjoyed seeing the world of the first two books expanded as the characters travelled to a new country. I reviewed it here.

After that, I read my ARC of In Another Life by C. C. Hunter, which comes out at the end of March.  This is a YA contemporary about an adopted girl who finds out that her adoption may not have been strictly legal…

Then I read Finding Aurora by Rebecca Langham, which is queer retelling of Sleeping Beauty.  This was really good except I didn’t realise it was a novella, so it was really short! I reviewed it here.

Lastly, I read The Zigzag Effect by Lili Wilkinson. This is a YA contemporary about a teen who gets a summer job working for a magician and I had hoped to really love it. It was enjoyable but not my favourite.

I’ve got to get a few reviews written but I also posted my review of Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor here.

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading an ARC of Second Star by J. M. Sullivan, which is a sci-fi retelling of Peter Pan. It has some really strong aspects and some… not so. Like Harry Potter references in the very far future? Except some of the character dynamics feel more like they are from the time period of the original story… so. Still, I am enjoying it. I’m about 40% of the way through and at the moment it’s feeling like a solid 4 star read.

I think I went at least a week without listening to Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor, but I’ve started up again with it this week. Minya was frustrating me for a while but we are now getting to know her a bit more, which is good. But at the same time, as with the first book, I can tell the different story threads will intersect at some point and I kind of wish they’d hurry up about it!

What do you think you will read next?

I should probably start focusing on my Australian Women Writers Challenge, since I upped my goal to twenty for this year (the previous few years I’ve only offficially aimed for twelve) and I’ve only read two. It’d be good to get ahead in case i start lagging around uni and travel times later in the year.

What are you reading this week? 🙂

Book Review: “The Slave City” by Celine Jeanjean

Title: The Slave City (The Viper and the Urchin #3)
Author: Celine Jeanjean
Genre: Steampunk/fantasy
Intended audience: YA
Date Read: 24/01/19 – 01/02/19
Rating: ★★★★

Review:

I’ve got to say, I was pretty excited when I got an out of the blue email from Celine Jeanjean offering me an ARC of this book, as it had been a while! I re-read the first two in antipcation and then dived into this third one, where we are not only reunited with all the fabulous characters from this series, but also get to  see what this world is like beyond Damsport.

In this instalment,  Rory and Linginus, along with a ragtag group of friends, are sent to the nation of Azyr to rescue a Damsian machinist, and assist with the rebellion against the ignorant Prelate and evil Seneschal. Of course, nothing goes to plan…

In this book, Jeanjean diverges from the pattern in the first two books of only having Rory and Longinus as POV characters. We get to see what Cruickshank is doing, along with some of the new characters from Azyr. Sometimes I felt that it let us know what was going on a bit too too early, but it definitely made sense later when nearly all the characters were separated from one another.

I really enjoyed Rory’s character growth.  She realises over the course of the book that you can’t always hold onto things from the past, and sometimes you have to let go of things that once seemed the most important things in the world.

The plot is once again tightly structured. Having read all three books in the series in quick succession, I have to say I’m jealous of Jeanjean’s ability to craft a story. Things are foreshadowed and references made in the beginning of the book come full circle by the end.

I’m gather Celine Jeanjean has plenty more ideas left for these characters and I’m definitely looking forward to continuing adventures in this series.

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(Thank you to Celine Jeanjean for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. This did not affect my opinions in any way)

You can read my reviews of The Bloodless Assassin and The Black Orchid by clicking their titles.

Find me on:
GoodReads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

#WWW Wednesday – 29 January 2019

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished The Black Orchid, which is #2 in Celine Jeanjean’s The Viper and the Urchin series. I remembered a fair bit of it from the first time I read it, but I still enjoyed all the little details I had forgotten. l

I am behind on my reviews, so nothing new posted this week.

What are you currently reading?

I am making progress with Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor. I get the reasons for Minya’s single-mindedness but it is still irritating me. But Lazlo and Sarai are still great.

Also reading The Slave City, the third Viper and the Urchin book. It hasn’t quite grabbed me the way the other two did but I remain jealous of Celine Jeanjean’s ability to craft a world and structure a plot.

What do you think you will read next?

I have no idea! I haven’t read anything for my Australian Women Writers Challenge yet and considering I upped my goal this year, I should probably get on that. I’m also contemplating starting a BookTube channel focusing on Australian authors, so if I want to do that any time soon, I’ll need to get started.

Short and sweet post this week! What are you reading?