Paperglass (War of the Princes #2) by A.R. Ivanovich

Blurb: Surviving a narrow brush with death convinced Katelyn Kestrel that she must never return to the war-torn Outside World. Safe again within the sanctuary of Haven Valley, she has forced herself to forget Rune Thayer, the young Dragoon soldier who had sacrificed everything to save her.

Katelyn’s struggle to adapt to a peaceful life is undone when she is assaulted by a classmate, triggering her powers with devastating consequences. The authorities learn of her rare Abilities, and a web of troubling mysteries unravels around her. She finds that an unfortunate twist of fate has delivered Haven prisoners to the Prince of Shadows, and he will stop at nothing to discover the valley’s secret location. Katelyn must find and rescue the captives or witness the destruction of everything she has ever loved.

Favorite Quotes: 

And just like that, I stepped firmly onto the hardened soil of my worst nightmare.

“Sometimes I dream that I don’t hate you.” His words were a cup, brimming with honesty and pain. “Then I wake up. It all comes back. I remember what you did to me—how wicked life is.”

“This is it,” Rune said, looking up at the mouth of the hall. “The moment where we live for our luck, or die for our decisions.”

5 Stars

According to Goodreads, this book has two different titles.  This one is called Paperglass, the other one is called Dragoon.  Both are titled as book 2 in The War of Princes series but they are the same book. I chose this one because this is the only one available on Amazon.

This book totally threw me for a loop. I wasn’t expecting the turn it was going to take.  The supporting characters take a more prominent role in this one. Which really makes this story deeper.  I mean, even if they didn’t have more spotlight time the story would have been great, it just added that extra layer to the story though, ya know? 

The stakes are higher, the love is deeper, and the magic is more powerful.  We learn more about the politics of the both worlds in this one and the author adds more world building as well; making this story really come alive to me.  The first book was great, this one was better.  

I’d like to point out that I loved how the author was able to change her characters temperaments and make me believe it.  This is a tough thing to do IMO.  I can’t wait to see what adventures Katelyn and Co. go on in the next book. 

Wolves of the Northern Rift by Jon Messenger (Magic & Machinery #1)

Synopsis: Magic is an abomination. It spread from the Rift, a great chasm hundreds of miles long that nearly split the southern continent in two. The Rift was a portal, a gateway between their world of science and the mythological world of magic.

On the northern continent of Ocker, King Godwin declared that no magical monstrosity would be allowed within their borders. The Royal Inquisitors were formed to investigate reports of mystical occurrences and, should they be found, to destroy them.

Inquisitor Simon Whitlock knows his responsibilities all too well. Along with the apothecary, Luthor Strong, they’ve spent two years inquiring into such reports of magical abominations, though they’ve discovered far more charlatans than true magical creatures. When assigned to investigate Haversham and its reports of werewolves, Simon remains unconvinced that the rumors are true. What he discovers in the frozen little hamlet is that the werewolves are far more real than he believed; yet they’re hardly the most dangerous monster in the city.

Get it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/20okpy0

This book is FREE!!!!

Add it to your TBR list: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23119473-wolves-of-the-northern-rift

4 stars

This book is free! It’s a steampunk/fantasy book. It’s different than other steampunks because I don’t recall them having magic in them as well. The pace of this book started out slow for me. It was entertaining but it was a little hard to get into. It was very formal and the characters were very proper to me but I think that’s what it was supposed to be. About halfway through the story started to pick up a little more.  The story was well written but for some reason I couldn’t get in to it. It didn’t have enough action and intrigue in it for me. I will say that the dialogue in this book was great.  The manner of speaking was kinda funny at times because it was like insults masked with proper speaking.

Some of the character quirks were amusing as well.  The way that Simon always had his top hat canted to the side was a clear indication of his minor buck to conformity. He was a bit like Sherlock Holmes in his manner and deductions.

Luther, the apothecary, had a deliberate subtleness to his character. He was working hard in the background, allowing others to think he was less knowledgeable.  The author had me fooled in the beginning with Luther.  Kudos to him for that.

The big bad was written well because I had no idea he was going to be so monstrous in the end.  And the way the author described magic was very original.  His grasp of world building and descriptive writing is firm.  There was nice give and take with the action, the ups and downs gave me a real sense of the difficulty of their plot.  All in all, I enjoyed this read.  It’s outside of my normal genre’s and I’m glad I read it.

Favorite quotes:

“Nothing personal, but I’m not overly concerned about her physical well-being at the moment.  I’m far more concerned with your physical well-being.  Bleeding or not, if she comes around while you’re treating her wounds, nothing will stop her from reverting to her previous murderous intent, which, in case I need to remind you, was trying to eat your face.”

“Then it’s settled. We’ll leave tonight, collect Mr. Orrick, send the telegram, steal a flamethrower, create an aerosolized version of your concoction, and free the werewolves.” Simon sighed.  “We have a busy night ahead of us.”