Title: A Darker Shade of Magic
Author: Victoria Schwab
Genres: Fantasy
Series: Shades of Magic #1
Pages: 400
Rating: ★★★

Synopsis:

Kell is one of the last Antari, a rare magician who can travel between parallel worlds: hopping from Grey London — dirty, boring, lacking magic, and ruled by mad King George — to Red London — where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire — to White London — ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne, where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back — and back, but never Black London, because traveling to Black London is forbidden and no one speaks of it now.

Officially, Kell is the personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see, and it is this dangerous hobby that sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to take her with him for her proper adventure.

Books I Read This Month

I’m a little late with this wrap-up but I wanted to wait until I had a chance to review all the books I read in September. Here’s a summary:

• Soppy: A Love Story by Philippa Rice (not pictured) | Review | Rating: ★★★★★
  • An adorable graphic novel about a young couple’s day to day life after moving in together. It’s short, sweet, and endearing.
• Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor | Review | Rating: ★★★
  • The second book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy! I found this book much better than the first one and the secondary characters made this book more enjoyable.
• Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor | Review | Rating: ★★★
  • The last book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. It was good but lengthy, and it does give a satisfying conclusion to the series.
• Reaons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig | Review | Rating: ★★★★
  • My pick for the self-help genre for September’s Colour Me Read Challenge! A book I’ll be sure to recommend to everyone.
• Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb | Review | Rating: ★★★★
  • Book 1 of The Rain Wild Chronicles! Not one of Hobb’s popular series but I still enjoyed it.

I will say that I felt the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy got more hype than it deserved but I can see how other readers could fall in love with this series. I’m not sure how much reading I’ll get done in October, but hopefully I’ll still manage to review each book I read!

What do you think of the books on this list? Will you be adding any of them to your TBR?

Title: Dragon Keeper
Author: Robin Hobb
Genres: Fantasy
Series: The Rain Wild Chronicles
Pages: 560
Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis:

The first book in a two part series from one of the greatest writers in the fantasy genre. Dragon Keeper returns fans to Hobb’s best-loved world, full of dragons, magical ships and unforgettable characters.

Guided by the great blue dragon Tintaglia, they came from the sea: a Tangle of serpents fighting their way up the Rain Wilds River, the first to make the perilous journey to the cocooning grounds in generations. Many have died along the way. With its acid waters and impenetrable forest, it is a hard place for any to survive.

People are changed by the Rain Wilds, subtly or otherwise. One such is Thymara. Born with black claws and other aberrations, she should have been exposed at birth. But her father saved her and her mother has never forgiven him. Like everyone else, Thymara is fascinated by the return of dragons: it is as if they symbolise the return of hope to their war-torn world. Leftrin, captain of the liveship Tarman, also has an interest in the hatching; as does Bingtown newlywed, Alise Finbok, who has made it her life’s work to study all there is to know of dragons.

Title: Reasons to Stay Alive
Author: Matt Haig
Genre: Self-Help, Non-Fiction
Pages: 266
Rating: ★★★★

I want life. I want to read it and write it and feel it and live it. I want, for as much of the time as possible in this blink-of-an-eye existence we have, to feel all that can be felt. I hate depression. I am scared of it. Terrified, in fact. But at the same time, it has made me who I am. And if – for me – it is the price of feeling life, it’s a price always worth paying.

Reasons to Stay Alive is about making the most of your time on earth. In the western world the suicide rate is highest amongst men under the age of 35. Matt Haig could have added to that statistic when, aged 24, he found himself staring at a cliff-edge about to jump off. This is the story of why he didn’t, how he recovered and learned to live with anxiety and depression. It’s also an upbeat, joyous and very funny exploration of how live better, love better, read better and feel more.

Title: Days of Blood and Starlight
Author: Laini Taylor
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #3
Pages: 613
Rating: ★★★

Synopsis:

By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael’s brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.