Continuing our new series of mini reviews on Mondays, here is our second set of minis!
Many thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl for coming up with the Top Ten Tuesday topics! Here’s the full list of topics if you are interested. Today’s (January 8th) topic is: Most Anticipated Releases for 2019 (the first half).
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
Published by Crown on August 21, 2018
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 512
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads 
"The exciting beginning of a promising new epic fantasy series. Prepare for ancient mysteries, innovative magic, and heart-pounding heists."—Brandon Sanderson“Complex characters, magic that is tech and vice versa, a world bound by warring trade dynasties: Bennett will leave you in awe once you remember to breathe!”—Tamora Pierce
“An absolutely riveting secondary world fantasy…I felt fully, utterly engaged by the ideas, actually in love with the core characters for their differences and the immensely generative friction between them, and in awe of Bennett’s craft. I went to bed late reading it and woke up early to finish it. A magnificent, mind-blowing start to a series I’m hungry for.”— Amal El-Mohtar, New York Times Book Review-In a city that runs on industrialized magic, a secret war will be fought to overwrite reality itself--the first in a dazzling new series from City of Stairs author Robert Jackson Bennett. Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle. But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic--the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience--have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims. Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them. To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.
The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson
Published by Scholastic Press on September 25, 2018
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 1338209965
Source: Bookstore
Goodreads
All 12-year-old Marinka wants is a friend. A real friend. Not like her house with chicken legs. Sure, the house can play games like tag and hide-and-seek, but Marinka longs for a human companion. Someone she can talk to and share secrets with. But that's tough when your grandmother is a Yaga, a guardian who guides the dead into the afterlife. It's even harder when you live in a house that wanders all over the world . . . carrying you with it. Even worse, Marinka is being trained to be a Yaga. That means no school, no parties--and no playmates that stick around for more than a day. So when Marinka stumbles across the chance to make a real friend, she breaks all the rules . . . with devastating consequences. Her beloved grandmother mysteriously disappears, and it's up to Marinka to find her--even if it means making a dangerous journey to the afterlife. With a mix of whimsy, humor, and adventure, this debut novel will wrap itself around your heart and never let go.
