Category: YA/MG/Children’s Books Page 16 of 38

Venators: Legends Rise (Audiobook) by Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May: The Venators Have Their Hands Full in this Packed Adventure

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On October 17, 2020

In Audiobook, Fantasy, Fiction, Venators, YA/MG/Children's Books

For the last part of my Tour Stop, I’ll be talking about the Audiobook version of Venators: Legends Rise, as I have with the first two books in the series this year as part of The Write Reads Tours for them. And, as before, I largely copied what I said about the paperback-but tweaked things a little bit and added something about the narration (just in case you read the earlier post and think I’m repeating myself, you’re right, I absolutely am.)

Legends Rise

Venators: Legends Rise

by Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)
Series: Venators, #3

Unabridged Audiobook, 18 hrs. 9 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020

Read: October 6-9, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“How long ago were we here?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Two weeks? Three? I’ve lost track of the days.”

She sat with that for a moment, trying to reconcile the timeline. “Why does it seem like forever ago?”

“Because it was.” Grey rested his forearm across the saddle horn, face pensive. “We’ve lived a lifetime since then.”

I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who couldn’t believe how little time went by in the first two books.

What’s Legends Rise About?

At the end of Promises Forged, Tate is taken by the Fae and is sent back to the Gladiator games that he’d escaped from not that long ago. He’s doing this so he can get his wife and son to safety (and maybe see them for the first time in years, too).

But our heroes, Grey and Rune, need to get him free from that—preferably without letting the Council know he’s been taken. So while they’ve been assigned to go rein in the remnants of the Werewolf pack they let get away in Magic Unleashed, and maybe bring another pack to order, they’ll use that assignment as cover for their real concern.

A neat trick if they can pull it off.

Along the way they get to train, they get to experience more of their new world and abilities than they’ve been able to thus far in their crash-course introduction to the ways and mores of Eon. The training, obviously, is really important if we’re to continue to believe their success in combat. A couple of lucky breaks like we’ve seen so far is one thing, but at a certain point, we need to see some competence out of them.

Venator Development

This book sees Rune and Grey getting to know each other better—Grey shares a lot with Rune and she responds as she ought. They both settle into roles as partners, their individual personalities helping them support the other in weak spots while working together.

Grey continues to be the character I’m most invested in and most interested in for this series—his strengths—compassion, empathy, concern—are seen even more clearly than before. He’s quite the contrast to the Venators of legend on Eon. Yes, it gets him into trouble. Yes, he has flaws and stumbles into being someone I really don’t like during the final battle of the book. But assuming he can keep himself from that in the future, and stay true to who he is, he’ll be the hero that Eon needs and will keep me reading the series.

Rune on the other hand…I change my mind about her repeatedly in each book. As a character, Walls keeps developing her along the lines we’ve seen so far—particularly in Promises Forged, building on those traits and showing herself, her trainers, Grey, and the Council what she’s capable of. I’m not crazy about some of her choices and actions—but I think most of them will be good for the series, and one of them will lead to melodrama and problems (and will be a source of delight for most readers).

I’m glad that I’m not all-in with either character—it makes them feel more real, more grounded that I like aspects of them, and am troubled by others. It also points to the tendency Walls showed in Promises Forged for the Venator powers to shape the thinking and attitudes of the individuals and how much these two need to strive against that. Give me a complex protagonist any day.

Some Skin in the Game

Zio makes a move here—a lot sooner than I expected her to, too. It’s not a big attack, it’s more of a surgical strike, just to sound out her opponents and test out her pet Venator. If more happens and she gains some big advantages while she’s at it, all the better.

She’s craftier than I gave her credit for and I think that this was a smart move by Walls—both for the progression of the story and for the development of Zio as a character. It’d be easy to write her off as a Skeletor-type, just a power-hungry magic-user trying to cause chaos and destruction for her own gain. And, yes, I still think she is that—but I think there’s more to her than that.

A Bonanza of Backstory

Two of the most important figures for our Venators are Beltran and Verida. We know there was some sort of romance in their past, and that it didn’t well at all. We get that filled in a little bit, which is good. But more than that we get looks into their pasts—what brought them to the point they were at when we first encountered them.

We see a lot of what motivates Verida in her desire to train these Venators, to aid the resistance. We get some insight into what drove the wedge between her and her father. We even meet some of her family and can see that she could very easily have been a different kind of person. I walked away from this book liking Verida a lot more than I did before.

We see more of Beltran’s story, too, and come a lot closer to understanding him—I think Walls is keeping a surprise or two about him up her sleeve, though. I’d like to think that someone with his centuries of experience would possess a little more maturity, and not be quite so emotionally adolescent—but maybe for his species you don’t hit that for a few more hundred years.

An Almost Entirely Frivolous Sartoirial Question

Does anyone on Eon wear loose clothing? Every time* someone’s pants are described, the words “tight” and “leather” appear. From just about everything I’ve ever read, leather pants are really uncomfortable. Maybe society would be better, people would be more prone to get along if Rune introduced them to denim? Could Grey get people to wear chinos and with the improved blood flow help cooler heads to prevail?

* No, I haven’t done a search on e-copies of this to verify this, there may be exceptions—roll with the hyperbole here.

At the very least, from this point can’t we just take it as read that every time Walls says “pants” that she means “tight” and “leather” and trim 1-2% of her word count?

Is this petty? Sure. But Walls spends enough time talking about clothing that questions arise. If I were so inclined (and someone would have to pay me to be), I think I could do an entire post on the clothing of Eon.

My Big, Not-Frivolous Question

What are people (the Council/Zio/Resistance) fighting for? Control of Eon? Power? Sure, that’s obvious. But Power for the sake of Power is dull and hard to care about as a reader. If you look at Panem, you can get an idea why people are fighting for it (on either side), ditto for The Society in Red Rising, Luna from The Lunar Chronicles—you get the idea.

What are the ideals of this society? What has the Council betrayed? Are they pretending to uphold something from the past that they’ve actually abandoned and that the resistance are trying to restore? (see the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars)—while at the same time, Zio has another idea entirely?

What’s the point of this Resistance movement? What are their goals? When are we going to finally meet them?

Where’s the joy in this world? Where’s The Good (or just good)?

We spend some time in a city and in a village here—they couldn’t be less similar, so we’re getting two separate looks at Eon society. The city puts Mos Eisley to shame, and the poor village is just…well, poor. Even before tragedy hits (thanks to the Venators, in a way) this village, I don’t see that there’s a lot going for it or its citizens.

I guess that I was just struck by the question, “why?” Why are these factions working so hard to gain control of this place? I don’t doubt for a moment that Walls has a handle on this question—she knows it. I just hope she clues her readers in soon.

How was the narration??

Daniel Thomas May really impressed me this time. He balances the action and emotion well, keeping the focus on the characters. Walls gave him a large cast of characters to work with in these pages and he handles it well. I feel like I should have more to say, but I really don’t. He does a good job and kept me entertained.

So, what did I think about Legends Rise?

This was by far the most ambitious of the Venators novels (I know it’s only book 3, but I read two versions of book 1, so I’m counting this as the fourth), and I applaud Walls for taking a big swing here. I wonder if she maybe tried to do too much, though. I’ve tossed this idea around a lot over the last few weeks and I’m undecided. I’m hoping that listening to the audiobook for the upcoming Book Tour will help me decide.

We got some good backstory on pivotal characters, we see a lot more of the world and have a better understanding of parts of it, the Earthlings get a chance to acclimate a bit more to Eon and spend some time with citizens. And, yeah, there are some pretty great action sequences. There’s even some romance for those who want that sort of thing—and I’m certain almost every reader of this series will be very pleased by it (I actually don’t mind a romantic subplot, I just can’t stand this one and think it’s a bad move for everyone involved).

Regardless of what the stars may suggest—I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Furthermore, I like this series, I’m really curious about what’s going to happen next and I think anyone who reads them will, too.

3.5 Stars

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

EXCERPT from Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls

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On October 17, 2020

In Fantasy, Fiction, Quotations, Venators, YA/MG/Children's Books


For the next part of my stop on The Write Reads Blog Tour for Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls, I have this nifty excerpt provided by the author. Enjoy!

from Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls (available from Brown Books Publishing Group)

After such a long day and a full meal, Rune and Grey were both yawning. Beltran was feeling the exhaustion himself, but he needed Rune to be at least partially awake for the conversation he had planned for tonight. He got to his feet and brushed off his pants.

     Verida eyed him from across the fire. “Where are you going?”

     “I tried to explain before we left but was rudely interrupted.” He crossed to the packs and started pulling out shimmering pieces of fabric, grinning at Verida’s silent glower. “I have gifts from Arwin.”

     Grey leaned back on the palms of his hands, craning his neck. “What is that?”

     “Your tents.” Beltran strolled behind Grey, separating one from the rest and dropping it in his lap.

     “This is my tent?” The fabric whispered through his hand, sliding away like liquid silk and pooling in his lap. Grey’s face fell. “We’re going to freeze.”

     “On the contrary.” Beltran handed one each to Verida and Rune. “Tonight you will be warm, comfortable, and most importantly, unnoticeable to anything passing through the area.”

     Given his ability to shift, Beltran didn’t actually need a tent—he could sleep just about anywhere in a well insulated form. But he was endlessly fascinated with Arwin’s abilities and wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to experience the wonder of magic by volunteering to turn himself into a bear.

     Besides, with Rune so nearby, he was particularly attached to this human form, and would rather not be covered in fur in the middle of the night. Although, considering the cold shoulder she’d given him since the incident, an unexpected tent visit from Rune was probably a touch optimistic.

     “How are we supposed to use this?” Grey asked. “Are there stakes or ropes or—”

     “Grey.” Beltran tsked. “We’re dealing with a wizard. Arwin would be offended. Observe.” He flipped the fabric outward, the way Arwin had shown him. It snapped in the air. He gave it a sharp yank, pulled it over his head, and released. The fabric fluttered down around him and caught, puckering as if suspended by something, and then draping to the ground.

     At first Beltran could only see the brightness of the fabric, but then a translucent circle appeared at the center point above his head. The effect grew larger, flowing down like rain water until it appeared that he was surrounded by nothing at all. The only tell-tale sign of the tent’s presence was the occasional shimmer that rippled across the inside.

     Beltran saw everything, but to an outsider, he’d just become invisible.

    Verida looked at the fabric in her hand like it was a viper, and Beltran stifled a laugh. She hated magic. The lack of control, understanding, and predictability ate her alive.

   “Go ahead,” he called. “Try it.”

   Rune’s nose crinkled. “Not very soundproof, is it?”

   “Intentional. I asked Arwin to leave it that way.”

   “Why would you have done that?” Verida took out her nervousness on the first thing she found, gesturing wildly. The delicate fabric clenched in her hand, flipped, and rolled. “What if Grey snores?”

   Grey’s head snapped up, his brow furrowed. “But…I don’t.”

  Well, Verida darling, that way, when you try to kill me in the middle of night, Rune and Grey will hear my screams and come running to my aid.” He poked his head between the flaps and would’ve winked—he wanted to—but the look on Verida’s face said she’d probably remove the offending eyeball.

   “I’ll speak to Arwin about the glaring flaw in his design when we return.”

   “I’ll let him know to expect you.”

  “Hey,” Rune said. “Why didn’t we use something like this instead of nixie bubbles?”

  Verida whirled, shouting, and shaking the tent in the air. “Because I didn’t know Arwin could do this, and we weren’t walking around the council house openly asking for help to disobey the council!”

   “All right, all right,” she held up a hand. “Sorry I asked.”

  Don’t worry Rune, it’s not you,” Beltran said, stepping out from the tent. “Verida hates magic.”

  “Stop. Talking!”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets, and shrugged at Rune as if to say…see?

  “I don’t think I’m understanding,” Grey interjected. “Did you really choose not to soundproof this because you were afraid she’d murder you in your sleep?”

  “Would you blame me?” Beltran mimicked Verida’s earlier flailing and grinned. “But no. Arwin said I could have invisibility or sound protection. I chose what I thought would be the most beneficial.”

   “It would’ve been nice to know you brought tents before I packed the regular ones,” Verida snapped. “We could’ve done without the additional weight.”

   “We’ll need both. Arwin gave me a very long speech loaded with copious amounts of wizardly terms that I wasn’t completely familiar with, but basically meant that fabric doesn’t hold magic as well as earth. He infused a stone—and proceeded to instruct me no less than fourteen times not to lose it—and then connected the rock to the fabric via another spell. It was very convoluted but amounted to the simple fact that the fabric can only hold so many hours of magic before needing to be placed back in the pack with the stone. These should last until morning, but once the tents are depleted, they’ll need to rest for at least a full day before they can be used again.”

   He smiled at Verida, who asked, “then why are we using them tonight?”

    “I thought it best to test out their capabilities.”

“I see.” She pulled in a tight breath through her nose. “And hope we don’t need them tomorrow? Excellent.”

    “A better option than pulling them out when we desperately need them and discovering they don’t work.”

   “Hold up,” Rune interrupted. “Let me get this straight. Our tents have to… charge?”

   Beltran looked at her blankly. “I have no idea what that means.”

   Rune rolled her lips in.

   Grey burst into laughter, holding up the tent like he’d found the prize of an era. “Rune! Look! It’s the new upgraded iTent! The Bluetooth connection is non-existent but it’s new, improved, and doubles as a shelter.”

   “But,” she snickered. “How’s the screen size?”

   The two Venators continued, laughing hysterically, and dropping one joke after the next.

   “I have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about,” he said dryly, glancing to Verida. “And I’m really starting to dislike how often that’s happening.”

   “Agreed.”

   At least they agreed on something.

Read the rest in Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls.

Thanks to Devri Walls for this excerpt! Also, thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls

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On October 17, 2020

In Book Tour, Fantasy, Fiction, Venators, YA/MG/Children's Books

I’m very pleased today to welcome The Write Reads Blog Tour for Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls. How excited about this am I? I’m posting this on a Saturday, and I never do this kind of thing on a Saturday. This Tour Stop consists in this little spotlight post, an excerpt from this novel coming up soon, and then my take on the audiobook coming along in a bit. Let’s start by learning a little about this novel, okay?

Book Details:

Book Title: Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls
Publisher: Brown Books Publishing Group
Release date: July 14, 2020
Format: Ebook/Paperback/Audiobook
Length: 448 pages

Book Blurb:

The path will be forged in sweat and blood.

Rune, Grey, the shape-shifter Beltran, and willful vampire, Verida, set out to rescue their friend and mentor, Tate, from the gladiator games. But first they must navigate the perils of Eon and its warring factions. Each of this band of four carries with them a secret that threatens to tear their group apart from within. Rune now bears the mark of the promise she made to save Grey’s life – a nixie bubble lodged in her arm that could call her away to do their bidding or spell her death.

Even as their loyalty to their cause and to one another faces its greatest test, Rune’s twin brother Ryker is forging an alliance with their mortal enemy, the powerful sorceress Zio, who has plans of her own for the Venators and Eon.

Hearts will be bared, secrets unveiled, and relationships made and destroyed in this stunning new installment of the Venators series.

About the Author:

Devri WallsDevri Walls is an international best selling author. She lives in Meridian, Idaho with her husband, two children and one adorable little mutt. Writing in all things fantasy, she would do just about anything for a working magic wand.

Mostly because she’s a walking disaster and a wand would be of enormous help…although she’d probably trip and break it. So, there’s that.

She graduated with a degree in theater and has studied vocal performance most of her life. She now teaches voice lessons when she’s not writing novels, cooking dinner, playing taxi, spending time with her amazingly supportive husband or trying to read.

Social Media:

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Youtube ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest ~ Bookbub ~ Amazon ~ Goodreads

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips, Isabelle Follath: A Story of Friendship and a Magical, Voracious Beast

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On September 23, 2020

In Fantasy, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

The Beast and the Bethany

The Beast and the Bethany

by Jack Meggitt Phillips, Isabelle Follath (Illustrator)
Series: The Beast and the Bethany, #1

eARC, 240 pg.
Egmont Books, 2020

Read: September 14, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s The Beast and the Bethany About?

Ebenezer Tweezer has one goal in life—to keep on living. And he’s been doing a good job of that for over five centuries. He’s able to do this because of potions given to him by a magical Beast he met as a child. To keep the potions coming, he has to bring food to the Beast (who is only slightly more mobile than a caged bird). In return, the Beast magics money, treasures, and other gifts for Ebenezer.

The thing is, The Beast has peculiar tastes—monkeys, cacti, Ebenezer’s beloved cat, endangered species, and so on. Now, it has a specific task for Ebenezer. The Beast wants to eat a human child. A nice plump one with rosy cheeks. Initially horrified, Ebenezer decides that he’s really more interested in prolonging his own life enough that he can probably find a child easily enough.

It’s actually not as easy as he initially thought, but he eventually brings one home and sets to fattening it up a little bit for The Beast. In those few days, Ebenezer starts to think that maybe there are things more important than living to 512.

The Beast

Shockingly, The Beast is the least interesting thing in this book. It’s a large, grey, probably hideous looking, blob with tiny hands and feet. Its mouth is anything but small, much like its appetite. And that’s the problem.

This amorphous and amoral antagonist has an avaricious appetite. It has an overwhelming desire for more and for novelty. It’s not satisfied with being gluttonous, it wants something new, new experiences, new tastes, new flavors. If, like with its first victim in the book, the food happens to be rare, that’s all the better. But what seems to drive it more than anything else is something it hasn’t had before. For parents, caretakers, teachers who like to make young readers think about what they read will probably have a lot of fodder there.

But let’s not get bogged down in that—it’s mean, it’s greedy, and it’s not that bright and fairly helpless. It’s these two things that will help the protagonists.

The Bethany

(I love that the title uses the definite article for her…I can just see the beleaguered teachers at her school doing that. “Oh, you’ve got The Bethany in your class this term? Better you than me…” “Did you hear what The Bethany did today?”)

Bethany is…and I mean this in the strictly technical sense…a horrid, obnoxious, pill. And yes, yes, there are reasons for that, and we ought to understand that and exercise empathy toward her and try to help her. But at the beginning of this book, that’s not the point. The point is that she’s an ill-mannered bully, and that if Ebenezer had to pick a child to feed to the monster, you can certainly grant that she’d make a worthy nominee. Put in a slightly less homicidal way, Bethany is precisely the kind of girl who’d make Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle think of retiring.

Until—and this is the key—until she’s shown some kindness (unintentionally, sure, but that’s not important). When Ebenezer does nice things for her, extends her some courtesy—and inadvertently acts like a friend. That makes all the difference to Bethany, and she responds in kind (and probably ends up losing her definite article along the way). Those parents, caretakers, and teachers I mentioned earlier can really camp out on this point, I’m sure.

Ebenezer Tweezer

When the book starts, it’s easy to write off Ebenezer as merely The Beast’s errand-boy. Sure, a 511-year-old errand boy, but an errand boy nonetheless. Then once you understand what he’s doing and why…well, you lose pretty much all sympathy for him. Sure, some sort of alien, magical creature that only wants to eat is one thing, you can get that impulse. But Ebenezer has sold his metaphorical soul to him, in his Faustian bargain for a long life, Ebenezer has helped facilitate a swath of destruction through this world. And that just seems worse than The Beast’s actions.

And for what? Money, years, and nice things? He might as well be Smaug.

But as soon as you’re about to name him the true villain of the piece, he shows a little bit of a conscience. A teeny, tiny hint of one, but a conscience. Then, like the Grinch’s heart, that conscience grows three sizes. And once he accidentally befriends The Bethany? Suddenly, this villain becomes something approximating a hero. Then when Bethany reciprocates his kindness, his friendship, well, then you can’t help but cheer him on and wish him all the success. Parents, caregivers, teachers—you get where I’m going with this.

Throw in a backstory worthy of Heinz Doofenshmirtz and Ebenezer Tweezer turns out to be a character that could become a favorite after a re-read or two.

A Bit About the Illustrations

I’ve proven time and time again, that I’m just not that good with describing visual art or my reactions to it. So let me start with the simple—I liked Follath’s work, it seemed to fit the flavor and feel of the text. Which is just what you’re looking for, right?

My memory of Quentin Blake’s work is pretty dim, but I can see why people would compare these illustrations to his work (although most of that probably has to do with comparisons to Dahl, see below). But the artist that came to mind—repeatedly—for me while reading this was Jules Feiffer. Stylistically, there’s a lot to distinguish the two—but there’s some quality that I can’t put a name to that made me think of Feiffer.

I’m also not sure how big the art is in hard copy, how much of a page it’ll take up. In my eARC, the illustrations are typically pretty small—like they wouldn’t take up much room on a page. That’s a shame—if that’s true for the hard copy, I’d recommend getting a magnifying lens, so you can take in the detail. If you’re reading an e-copy, you should be able to zoom in/magnify the pictures with a click or a reverse pinch. Do so, you’ll be glad you did.

So, what did I think about The Beast and the Bethany?

I think it’s pretty clear that I liked The Beast and the Bethany—I’ve certainly talked enough about it. It’s a solid story with great characters, told in a clever way—just enough humor and wit to make this truly disturbing tale pretty entertaining and diverting. There’s even a nice little moral or two embedded in the text, but delivered in such a way that the target audience can ignore them so they can focus on Bethany’s efforts not to get eaten.*

* While the morals percolate in the reader’s subconscious, where it’ll do some good.

I’ve seen a lot of comparisons to Roald Dahl used in discussions of this book. Those may be fair and apt, I don’t remember enough of Dahl’s work to make them myself (nothing against the guy, I remember positive experiences with his works, but he was never a favorite). For me, this reads like a latter-day Daniel M. Pinkwater.* I don’t know what kind of audience he has today (I certainly had a hard time finding his stuff when I had kids the right ages), but I remember spending a lot of time in elementary school rereading and rereading books like Lizard Music, The Hoboken Chicken Emergency, I Was a Second Grade Werewolf—which combined horror elements, odd humor, and snappy writing. Just like this book. I couldn’t tell you the last time I thought about him—but I wasn’t far into this book when I started thinking about Pinkwater.

* It may not be fair to say latter-day, as Pinkwater’s still putting out books.

Put another way, this is the kind of book to give a middle grader that you want to turn into an A. Lee Martinez fan. I’m not sure how many people have that as a goal (it’d be a worthy one), but it’d work. If you are an A. Lee Martinez reader and are thinking about reading this book yourself or getting it for someone younger, this is right up your alley.*

* Conversely, if you’re looking for something like this written for adults, check out Martinez.

For laughs, for a warm fuzzy or two, for a little bit of horror, for a fun read for readers of all ages, The Beast and The Bethany is an almost sure-fire winner.

4 Stars
My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including the novel from Egmont Publishing via Netgalley) they provided.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt Phillips, Isabelle Follath (Illustrator)

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On September 23, 2020

In Book Tour, Fantasy, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

I’m very pleased and excited today to welcome The Ultimate Blog Tour for the creepy and fun The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips, Isabelle Follath (Illustrator). This Tour Stop consists in this little spotlight post and then my take on the novel coming along in a bit (and man, did it turn out that I had a lot to say). Let’s start by learning a little about this novel, okay?

Book Details:

Book Title: The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips, Isabelle Follath (Illustrator)
Publisher: Egmont Books
Release date: December 8, 2020
Format: Ebook/Hardcover
Length: 240 pages

Book Blurb:

The most exciting new children’s book of 2020 and a modern classic in the making. The Beast and the Bethany has all the classic macabre humor of Roald Dahl with the warmth and charm of Despicable Me, finished off with a gleeful bite of Little Shop of Horrors! This book should be on every little monster’s birthday and Christmas list.

Ebenezer Tweezer is a youthful 511-year-old. He keeps a beast in the attic of his mansion, who he feeds all manner of things (including performing monkeys, his pet cat and the occasional cactus) and in return the beast vomits out presents for Ebenezer, as well as potions which keep him young and beautiful. But the beast grows ever greedier, and soon only a nice, juicy child will do. So when Ebenezer encounters orphan Bethany, it seems like (everlasting) life will go on as normal. But Bethany is not your average orphan…

About the Author:

Jack Meggitt-Phillips is an incredibly exciting new talent. He is an author, scriptwriter and playwright whose work has been performed at The Roundhouse and featured on Radio 4. He is scriptwriter and presenter of The History of Advertising podcast. In his mind, Jack is an enormously talented ballroom dancer, however his enthusiasm far surpasses his actual talent. Jack lives in north London where he spends most of his time drinking peculiar teas and reading PG Wodehouse novels.

About the Illustrator:

Isabelle Follath is an illustrator who has worked in advertising, fashion magazines and book publishing, but her true passion lies in illustrating children’s books. She also loves drinking an alarming amount of coffee, learning new crafts and looking for the perfect greenish-gold color. Isabelle lives in Zurich, Switzerland.

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: A princess. A riddle. An heiress. A game.

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On September 18, 2020

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, YA/MG/Children's Books

The Inheritance Games

The Inheritance Games

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Inheritance Games, #1

eARC, 372 pg.
Penguin, 2020

Read: September 11-12, 220

What’s The Inheritance Games About?

We begin by meeting Avery, a high school junior on a mission. She’s determined to get through high school without drawing a whole lot of attention (good or bad), to fly just under everyone’s radar—but to do so in a way that’ll pick up enough in scholarships to get to college and get to a stable and lucrative career (in actuarial science). Once she’s there, she can take time to breathe, time to relax. But not until then—now it’s about studying, working, and hopefully getting to help out the older sister that she lives with.

And then a mysterious—and obviously stinking rich—stranger shows up and tells her to get on a plane to Texas where she needs to be at the reading of a last will and testament. She knows no one in Texas, has never heard of the deceased, and can’t think of why she needs to be there. But hey, it’s a free trip for her and her sister (and she’s curious about the will).

The deceased is Tobias Hawthorne, a billionaire. With a B. He was the richest man in Texas and among the richest in the world. It turns out that he’s left almost everything to Avery. If she can live in his mansion (the word mansion doesn’t seem to cover it, but English doesn’t have a word that’d actually describe the place) for a year.

The difficulty in that lies in the rest of the household—there’s the staff who don’t seem all that welcoming, Hawthorne’s daughters and son-in-law who clearly resent the interloper, and Hawthorn’s four grandsons (all around her age) who were the presumptive heirs before she came along.

Avery and the grandsons (and, actually, pretty much everyone in the world once the story breaks) just want to know one thing—why her?

The Characters

I’ve been thinking all week about how to talk about the characters in this book, and I think the best way to get a handle on them is to think of them in three tiers (and as soon as I write that sentence, I think of a way to separate them into four, or maybe five, so admittedly, there are problems with this approach, but I’m sticking with it),

Tier One is simple: Avery and the four Hawthorne grandsons—Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander. They aren’t as all well-drawn as the others (Avery, in particular), but any time they’re around, the reader and the scene focuses on them over everyone else. The novel is about them, everyone else is a supporting character. More than the other Tiers, each of these characters has an obvious goal, an obvious storyline, a motive to find out what Hawthorne was doing with this will. They’re three-dimensional characters (Nash could use some more definition, though). It’s hard to like them all consistently, but you can’t help but be curious about each of them.

Tier Two consists in Libby, Avery’s sister; Oren, her security chief; Alisa, the lawyer/primary contact with Hawthorne’s law firm (and Nash’s ex, but that’s another story); and Max, Avery’s best friend (who she only communicates with via text and telephone throughout the novel). It occurs to me that this group consists of people that Avery trusts (maybe she should, maybe she shouldn’t, but they haven’t given her a reason not to). We know them a little better than the rest, but the focus on them isn’t as great as it is on the Tier One characters. Of these, I really wanted more time with Max—and hope that the story will allow more interaction with Avery and Max in the sequels.

Tier Three is everyone else—people from their schools, consultants/employees of the estate, and well, anyone else who shows up. Most of these are little more than names and titles—some are filled out a little bit, but few are more than a two-dimensional sketch. If they get more than two dialogue lines, they’re interesting, and you typically want to know more about them and hope that Barnes finds an excuse to use them some more (with the exception of Libby’s boyfriend, who you just hope never to hear from again, every time he makes an appearance). Some of these may be trustworthy, but you have almost no reason to trust anyone on this Tier (Libby’s boyfriend is the exception—you have absolutely no reason to trust him). This is an interesting quirk of this world—there are precious few people that the sudden-heiress can trust, everyone has an agenda dealing with her, usually a hidden one.

Of course, looming over everything is the specter* of Tobias Hawthorne. As he’s dead, I don’t count him as a character. But his personality, his achievements, his machinations govern everything. As Xander notes (and Avery frequently remembers), even if she’d manipulated Tobias into this, she’d find he was manipulating her all along.

* Not literally, this isn’t that kind of book.

You take the large cast of characters that this represents, using them all (particularly Tier Three) as pieces of the puzzle themselves–and all of them providing multiple clues of various quality to the big question, and the word “complex” almost doesn’t cover the nature of this puzzle.

A Thought about Genre

I keep seeing references to this as a thriller. It is absolutely not a thriller. There are moments that could be seen as belonging to that genre, but they’re so brief that they don’t count.

This is a puzzle, this is a mystery, this is a mental exercise, a riddle. It’s practically a cozy (closer to one than it is a thriller, anyway).

That’s not a criticism of anything but the marketing. But anyone walking into this should not be expecting pulse-pounding tension, breakneck speeds (although it is generally fast-paced), and nail-biting action. This novel about the characters, it’s about figuring out motives, and the meaning of various acts.

So, what did I think about The Inheritance Games?

I picked this up just to read a chapter or two in order to get a flavor for it, then I was going to put it down for the evening, and pick it up again the next day. I ended up reading 30% of it before I had to stop—and read almost another 20% that night. It’s engaging, it’s smooth, it’s so, so, readable.

The pages just melt away and you get swept up in the story—as outlandish as it is. Without any effort, you not only suspend your disbelief, but you put a gag on it and stuff it in a closet somewhere.

There’s a definitive end, a puzzle is solved, and there’s a sense of resolution. Which is immediately replaced with the next puzzle and a promise of more to come in the sequel. So while I don’t think you can call it a cliff-hanger, you can definitely see the cliff just ahead on the path.

I’m a little annoyed that I saw The Westing Game referenced a few times in the marketing for this book. Because I really wanted to talk about the way that this had a similar feel to The Westing Game and be able to come across as insightful to do so, Instead, I’m just part of the echo chamber. Still, there’s a very Westing Game-vibe to The Inheritance Games, and as there are few books that I consider as clever, as well constructed, and as readable as Raskin’s book, that’s a high compliment.

This is just a fun, fun read. Pick it up.

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided via Penguin Random House Children’s UK and Netgalley.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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On September 18, 2020

In Book Tour, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, YA/MG/Children's Books

I’m very pleased today to welcome The Ultimate Blog Tour for The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This Tour Stop consists in this little spotlight post and then my take on the novel coming along in a bit. Let’s start by learning a little about this novel, okay?

Book Details:

Book Title: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Format: Hardcover/Ebook
Length: 384 pages

Book Blurb:

A Cinderella story with deadly stakes and thrilling twists, perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying and Knives Out.

Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why–or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man’s touch–and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes.

Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a con-woman, and he’s determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather’s last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK ~ Amazon US ~ Waterstones ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Indie Bound ~ Bookshop

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls: The Venators Have Their Hands Full in this Packed Adventure

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On September 15, 2020

In Fantasy, Fiction, Venators, YA/MG/Children's Books

The surest sign that the end of July and all of August got away from me is this: I haven’t posted about Venators: Legends Rise yet. I wanted to get my initial impressions of this out before now, closer to the e-book release date, but now with the Paperback release this week, this will have to work. I’ll be taking part in a book tour for this book in a month—and will have new thoughts, second impressions, and things to say about the audiobook then (as I have with the first two books this year). But here’s where I am at this point.

Legends Rise

Venators: Legends Rise

by Devri Walls
Series: Venators, #3

Kindle Edition, 575 pg.
Brown Books Publishing Group, 2020

Read: July 22-25, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“How long ago were we here?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Two weeks? Three? I’ve lost track of the days.”

She sat with that for a moment, trying to reconcile the timeline. “Why does it seem like forever ago?”

“Because it was.” Grey rested his forearm across the saddle horn, face pensive. “We’ve lived a lifetime since then.”

I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who couldn’t believe how little time went by in the first two books.

What’s Legends Rise About?

At the end of Promises Forged, Tate is taken by the Fae and is sent back to the Gladiator games that he’d escaped from not that long ago. He’s doing this so he can get his wife and son to safety (and maybe see them for the first time in years, too).

But our heroes, Grey and Rune, need to get him free from that—preferably without letting the Council know he’s been taken. So while they’ve been assigned to go rein in the remnants of the Werewolf pack they let get away in Magic Unleashed, and maybe bring another pack to order, they’ll use that assignment as cover for their real concern.

A neat trick if they can pull it off.

Along the way they get to train, they get to experience more of their new world and abilities than they’ve been able to thus far in their crash-course introduction to the ways and mores of Eon. The training, obviously, is really important if we’re to continue to believe their success in combat. A couple of lucky breaks like we’ve seen so far is one thing, but at a certain point, we need to see some competence out of them.

Venator Development

This book sees Rune and Grey getting to know each other better—Grey shares a lot with Rune and she responds as she ought. They both settle into roles as partners, their individual personalities helping them support the other in weak spots while working together.

Grey continues to be the character I’m most invested in and most interested in for this series—his strengths—compassion, empathy, concern—are seen even more clearly than before. He’s quite the contrast to the Venators of legend on Eon. Yes, it gets him into trouble. Yes, he has flaws and stumbles into being someone I really don’t like during the final battle of the book. But assuming he can keep himself from that in the future, and stay true to who he is, he’ll be the hero that Eon needs and will keep me reading the series.

Rune on the other hand…I change my mind about her repeatedly in each book. As a character, Walls keeps developing her along the lines we’ve seen so far—particularly in Promises Forged, building on those traits and showing herself, her trainers, Grey, and the Council what she’s capable of. I’m not crazy about some of her choices and actions—but I think most of them will be good for the series, and one of them will lead to melodrama and problems (and will be a source of delight for most readers).

I’m glad that I’m not all-in with either character—it makes them feel more real, more grounded that I like aspects of them, and am troubled by others. It also points to the tendency Walls showed in Promises Forged for the Venator powers to shape the thinking and attitudes of the individuals and how much these two need to strive against that. Give me a complex protagonist any day.

Some Skin in the Game

Zio makes a move here—a lot sooner than I expected her to, too. It’s not a big attack, it’s more of a surgical strike, just to sound out her opponents and test out her pet Venator. If more happens and she gains some big advantages while she’s at it, all the better.

She’s craftier than I gave her credit for and I think that this was a smart move by Walls—both for the progression of the story and for the development of Zio as a character. It’d be easy to write her off as a Skeletor-type, just a power-hungry magic-user trying to cause chaos and destruction for her own gain. And, yes, I still think she is that—but I think there’s more to her than that.

A Bonanza of Backstory

Two of the most important figures for our Venators are Beltran and Verida. We know there was some sort of romance in their past, and that it didn’t well at all. We get that filled in a little bit, which is good. But more than that we get looks into their pasts—what brought them to the point they were at when we first encountered them.

We see a lot of what motivates Verida in her desire to train these Venators, to aid the resistance. We get some insight into what drove the wedge between her and her father. We even meet some of her family and can see that she could very easily have been a different kind of person. I walked away from this book liking Verida a lot more than I did before.

We see more of Beltran’s story, too, and come a lot closer to understanding him—I think Walls is keeping a surprise or two about him up her sleeve, though. I’d like to think that someone with his centuries of experience would possess a little more maturity, and not be quite so emotionally adolescent—but maybe for his species you don’t hit that for a few more hundred years.

An Almost Entirely Frivolous Sartoirial Question

Does anyone on Eon wear loose clothing? Every time* someone’s pants are described, the words “tight” and “leather” appear. From just about everything I’ve ever read, leather pants are really uncomfortable. Maybe society would be better, people would be more prone to get along if Rune introduced them to denim? Could Grey get people to wear chinos and with the improved blood flow help cooler heads to prevail?

* No, I haven’t done a search on e-copies of this to verify this, there may be exceptions—roll with the hyperbole here.

At the very least, from this point can’t we just take it as read that every time Walls says “pants” that she means “tight” and “leather” and trim 1-2% of her word count?

Is this petty? Sure. But Walls spends enough time talking about clothing that questions arise. If I were so inclined (and someone would have to pay me to be), I think I could do an entire post on the clothing of Eon.

My Big, Not-Frivolous Question

What are people (the Council/Zio/Resistance) fighting for? Control of Eon? Power? Sure, that’s obvious. But Power for the sake of Power is a dull and hard to care about as a reader. If you look at Panem, you can get an idea why people are fighting for it (on either side), ditto for The Society in Red Rising.

What are the ideals of this society? What has the Council betrayed? Are they pretending to uphold something from the past that they’ve actually abandoned and that the resistance are trying to restore? (see the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars)—while at the same time, Zio has another idea entirely?

What’s the point of this Resistance movement? What are their goals? When are we going to finally meet them?

Where’s the joy in this world? Where’s the Good (or just good)?

We spend some time in a city and in a village here—they couldn’t be less similar, so we’re getting two separate looks at Eon society. The city puts Mos Eisley to shame, and the poor village is just…well, poor. Even before tragedy hits (thanks to the Venators, in a way) this village, I don’t see that there’s a lot going for it or its citizens.

I guess that I was just struck by the question, “why?” Why are these factions working so hard to gain control of this place? I don’t doubt for a moment that Walls has a handle on this question—she knows it. I just hope she clues her readers in soon.

So, what did I think about Legends Rise?

This was by far the most ambitious of the Venators novels (I know it’s only book 3, but I read two versions of book 1, so I’m counting this as the fourth), and I applaud Walls for taking a big swing here. I wonder if she maybe tried to do too much, though. I’ve tossed this idea around a lot over the last few weeks and I’m undecided. I’m hoping that listening to the audiobook for the upcoming Book Tour will help me decide.

We got some good backstory on pivotal characters, we see a lot more of the world and have a better understanding of parts of it, the Earthlings get a chance to acclimate a bit more to Eon and spend some time with citizens. And, yeah, there are some pretty great action sequences. There’s even some romance for those who want that sort of thing—and I’m certain almost every reader of this series will be very pleased by it (I actually don’t mind a romantic subplot, I just can’t stand this one and think it’s a bad move for everyone involved).

Regardless of what the stars may suggest—I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Furthermore, I like this series, I’m really curious about what’s going to happen next and I think anyone who reads them will, too.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

COVER REVEAL: Avalon’s Portal by Lynne W. Bailey

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On September 11, 2020

In Book Tour, Fantasy, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Welcome to The Irresponsible Reader’s part in the Cover Reveal for Lynne W. Bailey’s Avalon’s Portal! There’s a spiffy looking cover down below, but before the picture, I’ve got a few words to share about the book.

Book Blurb

Nothing exciting ever happens to Arthur, and that’s the way he likes it. But when he stumbles into a magical world on his 13th birthday, the new teen has to put on his big boy pants and begin the quest of a lifetime to find his way back home.

With the help of new friends, Arthur overcomes seemingly impossible obstacles, tames magical creatures, and fights mythical monsters. By the end of his journey he has changed in ways he could never have imagined; he needs to get home, but the pull of Avalon leaves him with a difficult decision to make.

About Laura Guthrie

Lynne W. BaileyLynne has been writing short stories and poems since the age of 12. She is currently working on various ghostwriting projects for a reputable publisher, however, Avalon’s Portal is her debut novel, published in her own name.

Lynne loves anything weird and wonderful, so expect to find her books full of magic, crystals, and mythical beings. Whilst working on the second book in this series, Lynne also holds a full time job and enjoys spending time with her family.

And now…

The Cover


If that doesn’t scream MG Portal Fantasy Goodness, I don’t know what does.



My thanks to Love Books Group for the invitation to participate in this reveal and the materials they provided.
Love Books Group

Screamcatcher: Dream Chasers by Christy J. Breedlove: Back to the Nightmares

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On August 17, 2020

In Fantasy, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Dream Chasers

Screamcatcher: Dream Chasers

by Christy J. Breedlove
Series: Screamcatcher, #2

Kindle Edition, 250 pg.
Fire & Ice Young and New Adult Books, 2020

Read: August 3, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Screamcatcher: Dream Chasers About?

Having survived their trip to the world of her family’s dream catcher, Jory and her friends have determined they can help others in the same (or similar) situation they were in—and better yet, they can make some good money off of it. In my post about the first book I said, “I don’t see how this leads to a sequel, in fact, I’d have thought it precluded one.” This? This is the way to a sequel—most of these kids could use a decent income and monetizing this particular skill is a smart move.

I’m going to cheat, again, and use the official blurb:

Seventeen year-old Jory Pike knows a thing or two about Indian lore from her half-blood Chippewa ancestry. She can trap, hunt and fish with the best of them. She has a team of three other teens friends called The Badlands Paranormal Society. Instead of bagging groceries or playing on I-pods, they think they can excel at banishing evil spirits. They hope to cleanse houses and earn fat paychecks for their services.

Dream catchers aren’t just the chic hoops tourists buy at novelty shops—they work. And sometimes they clog up with nightmares until they collapse under their own evil weight, imploding and sending the dreamer into an alternate world. Jory uses her worst nightmare to enter the dream catcher world. She’s pulled her teammates in deliberately. Everything goes right on schedule but they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Now Jory and her friends are there, trapped between the people who have confessed their sins to the Great Spirit and are seeking a way out, and the monsters and evil spirits, which are happy to keep them trapped in the web world forever.

They were once considered Seekers in the dream world. Now they’ve become vigilantes and call themselves Pathfinders. Is it spiritual enlightenment they after? Or have they now become fatally reckless?

I can’t put it better than that—or more succinctly without being flippant.

The Problem of Peril

These next two paragraphs get a vaguely spoiler-y. Sorry. You’ve been warned.
In the second book of a series, you pretty much take for granted that the series characters will make it to the end—no matter how much danger might be lurking around the corner. So the threat has to hover over the new characters. And for me, I didn’t feel that for a moment for any of the “Seekers” they were trying to help get out of the nightmare world. Yes, there were obstacles, deadly ones at that—but, I just never doubted that anyone would survive.

It didn’t seem that any of the Badlands Paranormal Society felt that much different than I did—it seemed like they were just approaching the whole adventure as just another day at the office (or at the fast-food cash register, they are that age). And while this is a job to them, it shouldn’t feel like they’re punching a time-clock already, they’re too fresh at this to be so jaded. If Breedlove had made them confident to only turn and make the reader and the characters see that confidence as hubris, I’d have been all over it. But no, it was a near-blasé attitude toward the dangers and obstacles they faced. That just didn’t ring true or right for me.

So, what did I think about Screamcatcher: Dream Chasers?

That said, I liked it. It’s imaginative, you never know what’s going to be lurking around the next corner and how the team will get through it. These nightmare worlds are fantastic, the monsters they’re filled with are, too—and the opportunities to do just whatever in them seem almost endless. The characters are likeable—but they could all use a little more depth. But in too many ways, this felt like a slightly tweaked version of the previous book. The problem with peril that I just talked about is another stumble. If Breedlove can address those, and I imagine she will, I can see myself sticking around for a while with these books, and I do think people in the market for a YA fantasy adventure—particularly one not in the Western European mold—will have fun with this book.

Now that I know how the series is going to go, the question I had last time about how Breedlove could build on Web World is answered and I like the answer. I see that I’ve taken so long to write this up that the third volume in this series is available, I’ll be ordering it here shortly. I have great hopes for it.

Disclaimer: I received this novel from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion—I appreciate that, and do apologize that it’s taken so long to get it read and posted.

3 Stars

20 Books of Summer

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

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