Category: Reviews

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YA Review: The New World / The Wide, Wide Sea / Snowscape

Title: The New World / The Wide, Wide Sea / Snowscape (Chaos Walking series)
Author: Patrick Ness
Edition: Kindle
Rating: 4/5 – 5/5

Three short stories, designed to be read alongside the Chaos Walking books. They all contain spoilers, so it is really hard to review them properly, but each one adds an extra dimension to the Chaos Walking trilogy.

The New World gives us Viola’s take on the opening chapters of The Knife of Never Letting Go. It should be read after the novel to avoid spoilers, but if you’ve finished the novel, you’ll know what happens. Experiencing the events through Viola’s eyes is vivid and heartbreaking, but it gives the reader a valuable and emotional insight into her backstory. 5/5.

The Wide, Wide Sea is a story of forbidden love, set alongside the events of The Ask and the Answer. It’s another heartbreaking story, this time touching on injustice, prejudice, and the cost of fighting for what you believe in. 4/5.

Snowscape is set after the end of Monsters of Men, and the spoilers are everywhere! Definitely save this story until you’ve finished the trilogy. It clears up some unfinished business from the end of the final book, but also explores a sinister side of the New World that isn’t addressed in the novels. 5/5.

All three stories offer neat, well-crafted insights into the world and the characters of the Chaos Walking books, and all three are worth reading – just don’t jump in until you’ve read the associated novels, as the spoilers are brutal.

Have you read the Chaos Walking short stories? What did you think of the glimpses into the New World? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

Review cross-posted to GoodReads.

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YA Review: The Queen of Nothing (Folk of the Air #3)

Title: The Queen of Nothing
Author: Holly Black
Edition: Hardback
Rating: 5/5

I really don’t know what to say about this book! I’d been waiting for the resolution to the particularly painful cliffhanger since I read The Wicked King in January, and I was thrilled when the publishers decided to launch The Queen of Nothing ahead of schedule.

To recap, the series follows Jude – a mortal girl, brought up in Faerie. She fears for her life, her future, and her family, surrounded and threatened by the magic-wielding Folk of the Air. Madoc, the head of her household, teaches her that power is the only thing that will save her.

Jude’s obsession with power leads to a fascination with the Prince who leads the bullies – and to his fascination with her, a mortal who dares to fight back. The Cruel Prince sees this fascination take them both into danger, and in The Wicked King both the danger and the fascination expand.

I don’t want to spoil the series for anyone who has yet to read it, so there’s a lot I can’t say. I can say that The Queen of Nothing is a less dark book than both its prequels, and that the story wasn’t entirely what I was expecting. But the more I think about it, the more I realise how clever the story is, and how neatly the ending ties back to the beginning of the series. Both Jude and Cardan feel much more grown up in the final book, and both characters are starting to learn the lessons of their earlier experiences, mistakes, and failures.

And Jude remains an absolutely wonderful character. She is brought into Faerie at the beginning of The Cruel Prince, and has to fight for dignity, respect, and survival from the start. She is brave, strong, and determined, and willing to do whatever it takes to protect herself and her family. I loved reading her story, and I think these books are going to be my go-to reading when I need to feel brave and undefeated.

Extremely highly recommended.

Have you read the Folk of the Air trilogy? What did you think of the final instalment? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

Review cross-posted to GoodReads.

Please keep your comments YA appropriate. Be patient! We want to hear from you, but comments are moderated, and may take some time to appear.