Song of Silver, Flame Like Night – Amélie Wen Zhao

I am back with my favourite genre, fantasy, today as I join the blog tour for Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao today. Many thanks to Amélie and Harper Voyager for providing me with a copy of the book, and to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part.

BLURB:

Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonisers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and spends her days scavenging for remnants of the past. For anything that might help her understand the strange marl burned into her arm by her mother, in her last act before she died.

No one can see the mysterious mark, an untranslatable Hin character, except Lan. Until the night a boy appears at the teahouse and saves her life.

Zen is a practitioner – one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdon, whose abilities were rumoured to be drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Magic to be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.

Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep with. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.

PURCHASE LINKS:

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REVIEW:

One of the reasons I love fantasy books so much is that they offer pure escapism from everyday life. A well-crafted fantasy novel makes the real world just melt away, and re-entering that world can sometimes be a bit of a jolt. This was certainly the case with Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, and actually I was pleased I finished it late one night, so that I could just go straight to sleep and delay my trip back to reality for a little longer.

The world building in this book is phenomenal with centuries of history, gods, Demons, and two distinct magic systems. I would love to see how Amélie achieved this without getting tied up in knots. Each chapter uncovers a new layer, carefully revealing all of this glorious detail as Lan learns more about the world around her.

Zen makes for an endearing hero, torn between loyalty to his school and protecting Lan, whilst keeping his own secrets hidden. I really enjoyed watching the relationship between these characters grow throughout the book – the way they interact with each other is just beautiful and took me through the entire spectrum of emotion.

To my shame, I know next to nothing about Chinese culture or the mythology and folklore of China, and I admit I was worried that I would feel like I was missing something while reading this book, but that was not the case at all, and in fact it has just left me wanting to learn more (and very much looking forward to the next instalment!).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Amélie (yes, like the movie!) has adored putting pen to paper since she was in kindergarten. Born in Paris and raised in a multicultural community in Beijing, Amélie has bone-deep love for traveling and immersing herself in new worlds and cultures. She lives in New York City, working as a full-time financial professional by day, and writer at night.

She hopes to empower young readers with messages of acceptance, strength, and courage through her works, and to continue to push the boundaries of young adult literature by exploring new, cross-cultural themes.

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The Witch & The Tsar – Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

Well, 2022 is certainly going out with a bang – my final blog tour this year features one of the best books I have read this year, the wonderfully wintery The Witch & The Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore. Many thanks to Olesya and to Harper Voyager for providing me with a copy of the book, and to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to be a part of the blog tour.

BLURB:

As a half-goddess possessing magic, Yaga is used to living on her own, her prior entanglements with mortals having led to heartbreak. She mostly keeps to her hut in the woods, where those in need of healing seek her out, even as they spread rumours about her supposed cruelty and wicked spells. But when her old friend Anastasia – now the wife of the tsar and suffering from a mysterious illness – arrives in her forest desperate for her protection, Yaga realises that the fate of all of Russia is tied to Anastasia’s. Yaga must step out of the shadows to protect the land she loves.

As she travels to Moscow, Yaga witnesses a sixteenth century Russia on the brink of chaos. Tsar Ivan – soon to become Ivan the Terrible – grows more volatile and tyrranical by the day, and Yaga believes the tsaritsa is being poisoned by an unknown enemy. But what Yaga cannot know is that Ivan is being manipulated by powers far older and more fearsome than anyone can imagine.

In this stunning debut novel, the maligned and immortal witch of legend known as Baba Yaga will risk all to save her country and people from Tsar Ivan the Terrible – and the dangerous gods who seek to drive the twisted hearts of men.

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REVIEW:

Wow! I thought I was almost set on my favourite books of 2022, but this one has certainly put a spanner in the works. From the cover to the very last page, The Witch and The Tsar is an utterly beautiful book, exquisitely written and absolutely captivating. I studied Russian history at A-level many years ago, and this book brought the rich culture, landscape and folklore of the country to life in a way my teacher could only have dreamed off.

Part historical fiction, part reimagining of Russian folklore, The Witch and The Tsar weaves together the facts of Ivan IV’s reign of terror with the traditional tales of Baba Yaga and Koshey Bessmertny, giving a twist to their stories and offering a new explanation for Ivan’s behaviour. I was not hugely familiar with Russian folklore prior to reading this book, but it has left me wanting to know more and I will certainly be looking for more about Yaga and Koshey.

Olesya Salnikova Gilmore’s characters are simply wonderful, and I felt an emotional attachment to each and every one of them. She even managed to make Ivan the Terrible seem somewhat relatable! Even the worst, most evil of the characters had motivations that were understandable, whilst their actions remained awful. It is no mean feat to make a reader feel sorry for the antagonist, but Olesya succeeds in this beautifully.

It is hard to believe that The Witch and The Tsar is the debut novel from Olesya Salnikova Gilmore. I think we can expect great things in the future, and personally, I can’t wait!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Olesya Salnikova Gilmore was born in Moscow, Russia, and raised in the United States, and graduated from Pepperdine University with a BA in English/political science, and from Northwestern University School of Law with a JD. She practised litigation at a large law firm for several years before pursuing her dream of becoming an author. She is happiest writing historical fiction and fantasy inspired by Eastern European folklore. She lives in a wooded lakeside suburb of Chicago with her husband and daughter. The Witch and the Tsar is her debut novel.

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Make sure you check out the other blogs taking part in the tour.

The Embroidered Book – Kate Heartfield

I am joining the blog tour for the exquisite historical fantasy novel The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield today. Many thanks to Kate and to Harper Voyager for my copy of the book, and to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me to be a part of the tour.

BLURB:

“Power is not something you are given. Power is something you take. When you are a woman, it is a little more difficult, that’s all.”

1768. Charlotte, daughter of the Habsburg Empress, arrives in Naples to marry a man she has never met. Her sister Antoine is sent to France, and in the mirrored corridors of Versailles they rename her Marie Antoinette.

The sisters are alone, but they are not powerless. When they were only children, they discovered a book of spells – spells that work, with dark and unpredictable consequences.

In a time of vicious court politics, of discovery and dizzying change, they use the book to take control of their lives.

But every spell requires a sacrifice. And as love between the sisters turn to rivalry, they will send Europe spiralling into revolution.

PURCHASE LINKS:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

REVIEW:

The Embroidered Book is a beast of a book, but despite its size, I found I read it quite quickly as I was captivated by the story. Part historical fiction, part fantasy, The Embroidered Book is full of magic and intrigue, all based around one of the most interesting and turbulent periods of European history.

Kate Heartfield’s attention to detail and the level of research that must have gone into this project is incredible. It must have been a real labour of love, and I felt that this comes through in the writing.

I think Charlotte and Antoine’s stories would have been fascinating enough on their own, given their place in history, but the addition of magic and a secret society made this all the more appealing to me. Kate Heartfield weaves magic and history together so artfully that it seems more than plausible that these two astonishing women had access to hidden skills. It would certainly explain a lot of what went on throughout the period!

Despite knowing how this story must end, I still found myself on the edge of my seat, willing the sisters on to a different ending to their tempestuous relationship. I was totally under their spell from start to finish. Kate Heartfield is, quite simply, a genius.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kate Heartfield is the author of The Embroidered Book, a historical fantasy novel out in February 2022. Her debut novel won Canada’s Aurora Award, and her novellas, stories and games have been shortlisted for the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, Sunburst and Aurora awards. A former journalist, Kate lives near Ottawa, Canada.

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Threadneedle – Cari Thomas

I am thrilled to be joining the blog tour for the amazing Threadneedle by Cari Thomas. Many thanks to Cari and Harper Voyager for providing me with a copy of the book, and to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me to be a part of the tour.

BLURB:

Anna’s aunt has always warned her of the dangers of magic. Its twists. Its knots. Its deadly consequences.

Now Anna counts down the days to the ceremony that will bind her magic forever.

Until she meets Effie and Attis.

They open her eyes to a London she never knew existed. A shop that sells memories. A secret library where the librarian feeds off words. A club where revellers lose themselves in a haze of spells.

But as she is swept deeper into this world, Anna begins to wonder if her aunt was right all along. Is her magic a gift or a curse?

Told through spells created with knots and threads, this is a story that is both innovative and based in traditional witchcraft.

PURCHASE LINKS:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

REVIEW:

I first heard about Threadneedle from my lovely friend Kate Kenzie who couldn’t say enough good things about it. With it coming so highly recommended, I knew that this would be a book that I would love. Even with such rave reports though, Threadneedle still caught me by surprise – not least because it has a contemporary setting, whereas for reasons known only to my subconscious, I had been utterly convinced that it was going to be historical. Once I’d got beyond that little misconception though, it wasn’t long before I was utterly hooked.

Threadneedle is a book of contrasts, the light and dark of magic, the warmth of Rowan’s mum and the positively Arctic personality of Anna’s aunt, the fine line between teaching someone a lesson, and taking it just a little too far. It is full of magic and mystery and I loved following Anna on her voyage of discovery of both magic, and life with friends. I was completely swept away by the hedonism of Beltane, which was actually vaguely reminiscent of a club I went to in Ibiza many years ago. I found myself longing to visit the magical club, and hidden library of magical texts, and all the other secret spaces there are to be found in London.

The complicated friendships, family relationships, and shared histories mean that there is an awful lot to unpick in this book, and I don’t want to give any of it away and take away the pleasure to be found in discovering it for yourself. It is a wonderfully original story which cleverly entwines plenty of the history of witchcraft within it.

Fantasy and YA are my two favourite genres of books, so Threadneedle was always going to be a winner for me. I couldn’t read this book fast enough but at the same time I didn’t want it to end. Here’s hoping I don’t have to wait too long for more from Cari Thomas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cari Thomas has always loved magic, inspired by her upbringing among the woods and myths of Wales’ Wye Valley. She studied English and Creative Writing at Warwick University and Magazine Journalism at The Cardiff School of Journalism. Her first job was at teen Sugar magazine where she ran the book club and quickly realised she wanted to be the one writing the books instead. She went on to work at a creative agency, spending her spare time researching magic and accumulating an unusual collection of occult books. She wrote her debut novel Threadneedle while living in London, wandering the city and weaving it with all the magic she wished it contained. She now lives in Bristol with her husband and son, who bears the appropriately Celtic name of Taliesin.

A NOTE FROM CARI THOMAS:

I remember the old family stories about my Great Aunt Mary. A fiercely independent, enigmatic woman who was said to be a witch. Perhaps it was these early stories seeping into my subconscious, perhaps it was devouring The Worst Witch, or growing up in rural Wales surrounded by myth and fairy tales, or maybe it was just me, but from a young age I developed a fascination for all things witches and magic.

But let’s not forget that the witch’s hut always sits outside of the village for a reason. In my research, I became just as obsessed with magic’s opposite forces – repression, fear, suspicion and prejudice. After all, if my Great Aunt Mary had been alive a few centuries earlier she may well have been burnt at the stake.

Witch hunts became an area of fascination for me and the more I read the more outraged I became – how powerful, outspoken women and men, or people of the pagan faith, or simply outsiders, have time and time again been suppressed, silenced and extinguished from society. How the power structure of the day meant that it was near impossible for them to have a voice and to defend themselves. Why was it such people terrified those in power? Why were we not taught more about this dark period of history? Why did the themes feel like they still resonated so strongly today?

I explore these tensions in Threadneedle – the freedoms of magic set against a fear of witches and feminine power; schoolgirls forced to take on the injustices of the world one spell at a time.

The sheer joy of writing the book came in bringing these tensions to the modern world and particularly into the London setting we think we know.

Ultimately, this is where the heart of the story lies: in feminine power and sisterhood, bringing together an unlikely set of outsiders, who together must navigate their way through the light and dark of being a young woman in today’s world. A world that is more complex than ever and yet still plagued by many of the same issues that my Great Aunt Mary would have faced, and all the witches who came before her.

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