The Bursting Bookshelf

 High in their mountain covens, red witches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future.
It’s all a fake.
At least, that’s what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes—one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people’s old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated?
But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he’s ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic and about himself will change, when he discovers that the prophecies he’s always scorned—
Are about him.

Review:
After recently receiving this book for review, I was unsure of how I would feel about the book. Often fantasy books are a hit or miss with me. While I was hoping this book would be on the hit side of things for me, unfortunately it was not.

The cover for this book is intriguing. I love the blue colour and how light it is and then you add the scarlet fabric that seems to be in the wind, you get a very colourful cover. The one part of this cover I didn't like was the sword. I felt the cover would have been just as good without it. I also liked the font used for the title and author name. It looks almost sketched or old. Altogether this cover came together fairly well.

As you may have heard, Witchlanders does not feature a romantic aspect. It purely focuses on the bromance between Ryder and Falpian. Of those two main characters, Ryder was by far my favourite because of how he didn't change his mind easily for others and he would go to any length for his family. Falpian on the other hand, I didn't like as much because of how easily he changed his mind and how spoiled he could be at times. A part of this book I liked quite a bit was the relationship between Ryder and Falpian. They came from such different worlds that their friendship was odd, but it worked well.

One of my biggest issues with this book lies in the plot pacing. For the first half of the book, I found the plot to be much too slow for my taste. But then in the second half, the book picked up speed and ended well. This book had so much originality in it as well. I have never read a book about witches quite like this one and I did enjoy how original this book was. The writing was also good, though some of the terms used and just getting used to the world with the writing could get a little overwhelming at times.

Overall, Witchlanders was not my favourite book, though not the worst. If you enjoy fantasy books, definitely give this one a shot. I give Witchlanders a 3/5 altogether.


 

It was a confluence of creative inspirations -- a combination of interest in mythology and fables, horror movies, and contemporary YA -- with a little bit of personal revenge fantasy thrown in for good measure. :)



3) What was your favorite moment in Fury?

Without wanting to give too much away, I love the New Year's Eve scene, when Em and JD go to Boston together. 

4) What was your initial reaction to seeing the book really coming together (ie.getting a cover and being added to Goodreads, etc.)?

Shock, glee, terror, you name it. My bff Lauren Oliver often asks "Aren't you excited??" because my reactions are sometimes understated. It's not for lack of excitement -- sometimes it just takes me a few extra minutes to process such overwhelming news!
 
5) As an author, name 3 things you cannot live without.

1) Quiet alone time
2) Books
3) Cheese

Review:
When Twisted was announced, I was still working on reading the rest of the Pretty Little Liars series. I love those books, so when Twisted came out, I knew I would have to read it. Going into Twisted, I had pretty high expectations after reading the other books, and this book blew past those expectations. Forget everything you thought was shocking in the Pretty Little Liars series, because the girls are back and better than ever. I honestly thought that the books couldn't get any better than it was, but I was absolutely wrong. My one dislike with this book was that there is a period of time between this book and Wanted. Though some of the events between then and now were described, not all of it was there. That aside, with more mind blowing drama than ever, Twisted will be truly satisfying to any Pretty Little Liars fan, and for that reason I give it a 5/5. If you haven't read any of the Pretty Little Liars books, I would recommend them to any fan of the TV series or those who adore drama.