The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon | Review

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Genre: YA Fantasy
Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:

The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people’s minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.

It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.

10 YA series I never got round to reading

I’ve mentioned this before but I’ve always felt like the Book Community is one which is so fast paced and constantly moving that it’s so hard to keep up with the new releases. I was recently introduced to The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon and as I began to read the first book, I thought a post linked to the 10 series I never got round to reading would be a fun idea!

Each of these series were so popular and hyped on booktube and in the book community in the past, but I never got round to reading them before the next popular series came along!

Here are my 10 YA series I never got round to reading…

What Book Generation are you?

As I make my return to book blogging, I thought it would be interesting to start a tag called ‘What book generation are you?’ There might be one like this already floating about but since I’ve been gone for a year I’m not familiar with any. The book community is one that changes constantly as their are always so many new books being released and new trends and I was thinking how it would be amazing to find out the book generation we each grew up on. For some it might be Harry Potter, Twilight or even A Court of Thorns and Roses (just to give examples).

Here are the sets of questions I chose and which I would love for you to answer if you would like to get involved too! Let’s begin shall we….

Why I left the Book Community & Returned.

Hello,

It’s Hannah, you might remember me and you might not since I’ve been absent for nearly a year now. I never had any intentions of leaving blogging and the book community behind, but life happened and here we are.

This post is all about why I left the Book Community and why I’ve chosen to return, but don’t worry I don’t plan on boring you with what I was up to for the past year. What I really want is to start a fresh if you’ll let me?

Books to buy your children/younger siblings to teach them about #BlackLivesMatter (10yr+)

I would firstly like to say that I am of course no expert on this topic and I am not trying to place my voice in front of the Black Community. When I posted my support on twitter, I asked the book community if they would like me to do a series of posts about the Black Authors, Artists, Documentaries and Black Voices which I have studied during my Masters Degree as I did my Dissertation on this topic and many said yes. It is not down to the Black Community to help educate you on this topic, it is down to yourself to find the information.

I first wanted to start with a post about Children as I have seen many parents asking for advice on how they can better teach their children about this movement. As I mentioned, I am in no way an expert on this topic, please introduce them to Black Content Creators who are sharing their experience. But in the hopes of helping to spread awareness, I have listed 4 books below, which I believe every parent should have their children read so they get a better understanding on systematic racism and what is currently happening. Please also sit your children down and have the conversation with them, talk about it.

There are SO many books out there which you can buy, these are just a select few which I have chosen as I have read them myself and they are truly amazing. I will also include links to other creators with lists which will help you.

NOTE: I put 10 yrs + for the content being about Police Brutality, Violence and Racism but if your child has read books like The Hunger Games then I see no problem with them reading these.

Unpopular Opinions: 5 Books I Didn’t Enjoy.

The unpopular opinions tag has been floating around booktube and book blogs for a while now and I thought now was finally the time I put on my big girl pants and shared some of my unpopular opinions too. So here are 5 books which I didn’t really like…

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir | Spoiler Free Review

Elias and Laia are running for their lives. After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness | Spoiler Free Review

A world of witches, daemons and vampires. A manuscript which holds the secrets of their past and the key to their future. Diana and Matthew – the forbidden love at the heart of it.

When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it’s an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she’s kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires. Sensing the significance of Diana’s discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire genticist. Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enmities, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels…

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir | Spoiler Free Review

What if you were the spark that could ignite a revolution?

For years Laia has lived in fear. Fear of the Empire, fear of the Martials, fear of truly living at all. Born as a Scholar, she’s never had much of a choice.

For Elias it’s the opposite. He has seen too much on his path to becoming a Mask, one of the Empire’s elite soldiers. With the Masks’ help the Empire has conquered a continent and enslaved thousands, all in the name of power.

When Laia’s brother is taken she must force herself to help the Resistance, the only people who have a chance of saving him. She must spy on the Commandant, ruthless overseer of Blackcliff Academy. Blackcliff is the training ground for Masks and the very place that Elias is planning to escape. If he succeeds, he will be named deserter. If found, the punishment will be death.

But once Laia and Elias meet, they will find that their destinies are intertwined and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

In the ashes of a broken world one person can make a difference. One voice in the dark can be heard. The price of freedom is always high and this time that price might demand everything, even life itself.

Managing Anxiety in the Covid-19 Outbreak

As you know, outside of this being a book blog, I also like to discuss Mental Health to try and help as many people as I can. In light of recent events, I thought now was a perfect time to try and help those of you who might be struggling.

Having Anxiety at the best of times is incredibly hard but during a pandemic as country after country declares national emergencies, newspapers are full of devastating stories and scary statistics and social media is filled with videos, its even harder.

There are numerous ways your mental health might be affected, and I truly believe this is a time that many people who have never dealt with mental health issues will come to understand what its like to a degree. Many people will suffer during these moments, many people will feel isolated and alone but please remember whilst we are in a dark and scary time, you are not alone. We are all in this together.

It can especially be hard for those who don’t have supportive family members as they will be on lock down with them for a long time. It can be daunting and particularly scary as no end seems in sight.

Here are some tips on how you can help manage your anxiety: