Fantasy Fiction – nigeladamsbookworm

My occasional foray into other genres has taken me back to the latest reading fad that seems to have struck over the last few years.

And it’s becoming somewhat of a guilty secret. I’m certainly not the target readership, either by age or gender, but I do enjoy these books.

The thing that initially peeked my interest in this series was that the first book is set in New Orleans. It’s one of my favourite cities, and as a place to set a book, in whatever era, it has loads to give.

Secondly the gumph on Amazon suggested an element of New Orleans occult, another subject that has pricked my interest over the years.

So I decided to read Phantasma, an I enjoyed it that much I was straight into Enchantra. Here’s my thoughts

Phantasma is a really good story, When Tess Grimm dies suddenly her gift as a necromancer passes to her eldest daughter Ophelia.

It’s not long before Ophelia finds out mother was hiding other secrets and that her, and her sister Genevieve are about to lose their home.

One thing leads to another an Ophelia finds herself inside a mansion that manifests into the city to hold a deadly competition.

Tasks based on the nine circles of he’ll are played out on a daily basis. The reward for wining is high but once in the competition there are only three ways out, forfeiting, dying, or win the whole thing.

Ophelia forms an unlikely alliance with a Demon who is also to escape eternally being held in the tournament.

Things get very spicy between the two, this is definitely not a book for younger teens, and the will they won’t they is more about, will they fall in love, more than will they get it on, which they definitely do.

The Second Book Enchantra has Ophelia’s sister as the main character.

Following on a few months after the end of Phantasma Genevieve is in Italy looking to unlock more of her mother’s secrets.

Disappointingly the story gets very familiar very quickly. A deadly game of hide and seek in a mystic mansion, a will they won’t they relationship with a Demon and a fair bit of spice.

The story in the two books is so similar it made me think did the author have two settings for the same story and just went ahead and wrote both versions.

It’s a shame really because the first book showed a lot of promise

At the beginning of the year I set myself a bit of a challenge. My staple reading is Crime Fiction and True Crime, and occasionally I’ll dip into spy and espionage thrillers.

The challenge was to read something different. Fantasy has been nibbling away at me for a while now. I was never a fan of Tolkien, although I’ve tried Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit they never grabbed me. Where as the Harry Potter series was one of my favourite reads.

The author Noelle Holten recently posted on social media that she had just read Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros.

This is the second book in a series so I read the gumph and reviews about that, as well as the first Fourth Wing, and thought I’d give the series a go.

Well to say it hooked me is an understatement.

Who would have thought that a book about a young girl doing her military training could be this good, especially being as part of her training is to hopefully bond with a dragon.

But to say just that, is to do it an injustice.

Violet Sorrengail is the third sibling to enter Basgaith War College, but she’s not going to the quadrant she has always thought she would.

A bookish, nerdy, fragile girl, she was the apple of her father’s eye, but he died. To her mother she is a weakling. Nothing like her brother, who died in battle, or her sister who is a legendary dragon flier.

Violet was meant to be a scribe, a scholar. But her destiny is actually to become a Rider.

Just getting into the college is a challenge that some people fail, and die. Not because they don’t have the academic grades, no because they fall from the parapet, a high uneven ledge that leads to the courtyard.

Much like Harry Potter each book covers a year, and in Fourth Wing Violets main focus is surviving the first year.

As well as making lifelong friendships she also falls for a second year student, but he shouldn’t be the right man for her for so many reasons..

It’s difficult to go into the timeline or stories within the series without giving away spoilers. However I will say I can very highly recommend it.

On Amazon it’s billed a Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy. Well romance might be stretching it a bit far, but full on spicy in places would definitely cover it.

This is a war story. If you take it at is basics. It’s the story of a young girl struggling to survive military training in a country where the general public are being given false information about the safety of the nation.

There are storm clouds on the horizon and she is not only going to have to battle some formidable foes but also the leaders of her army, college, and national. Unfortunately one of those leaders is her own mother.

I can honestly say that this series has let me scratch that itch of looking for something new. And like a good scratch it’s left me sitting here very satisfied.