Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron

Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron by Jonathan Strahan (Editor)

Hardback, 432 pages

Published 4th October 2013 by Hot Key Books

Shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, death, fairy-tales, fantasy, ghosts, let-down, magic, magical-realism, not-for-me, read, read-in-2013, shapeshifters, short-stories, supernatural

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

A stellar cast of acclaimed fantasy writers weave spellbinding tales that bring the world of witches to life. Boasting over 70 awards between them, including a Newbery Medal, five Hugo Awards and a Carnegie Medal, authors including Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix and Holly Black delve into the realms of magic to explore all things witchy... From familiars that talk, to covens that offer dark secrets to explore, these are tales to tickle the hair on the back of your neck and send shivers down your spine.

I love a good seasonal read and Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron was my choice of read for Halloween this year. The book is a collection of short stories by several well known and talented authors, with all of the stories relating in some way, to the iconic witch hat, witchery or in general, magic. 

I don't often read short stories, but with a choice of eighteen tales, I thought this would be a fun choice and I was guaranteed to enjoy at least a few of the stories! I haven't reviewed many short stories, but I thought it'd be easier to give you an idea of each of the tales, and what I thought of them. After an introduction by the editor, I started to take some short notes.

The first tale was 'Stray Magic' by Diana Peterfreund. Our protagonist, Malou, is working in a dog shelter when a magical dog called arrives. The dog has lost its owner/master. Malou is only one who can see the magic behind the dog and can  communicate with it. Malou and the dog attempt to find the owner as the dog becomes ill without him. Though the short story is resolved, this could have definitely lead to longer story. I thought that it was a well written piece, but personally I didn't find it interesting enough to hold my attention well.

The second tale was 'Payment Due' by Frances Hardinge. Immediately, this story felt modern, the contemporary writing style was very enjoyable.The story starts with our main character's gran having some of her goods reposessed by bailiffs. Our main character then seeks revenge as she trades her body with a cat, invades the bailiffs home and tricking him. The story did leave me a little confused by the end, but it was a fun read.

'A Handful of Ashes' by Garth Nix gave us a new  firm setting and a more complex story with a lot of structure. It's clear that we're only getting a sneak peek of a much bigger surrounding and story. The story consists of old magic bylaws, magic class systems and laws. It was quite dense in information and detail for a short story and I think that this will really appeal to people who like having a firmly established setting and history in their stories.

I really enjoyed the next story, 'Little Gods' by Holly Black. It had a contemporary and almost coming of age style to it. We follow a girl, Ellery, who is going on a trip to participate in a ritual with her coven. The ritual is one of passion and is actually very similar to many high school parties! The story appears to be about ghosts, witchery and magic, but really it focuses on friends, lessons and life. It focuses on the little things, and that's what I loved about this one. 

'Barrio Girls' by Charles de Lint turns the book in a little more creepy directions as we are introduced to two teenage girls who are on a walk, followed by their friend, Pepé, who usually watches over them. The friends find a Witch as they're walking in the wash and she kills Pepé. The girls look for revenge, finding out how to kill the Witch, and find out that the way is to kill her with kindness. There is a message about being yourself weaved within this story, which I appreciate, but once again, I wasn't all that interested in this story - there was no real excitement for me.

In 'Felidis' by Tanith Lee, there was a romance with a which who is a cross between a human woman and a feline. At first, I found it slightly confusing and the story was certainly peculiar. I can see the intrigue of the feline character, but this one was just too 'out there' for me.

'Witch Work' by Neil Gaiman is the shortest contribution to this book, in the form of a poem. The work was short but effective, with the very vivid scenes that you'd hope for from Gaiman. This piece may have had a small word count, but it still had one of the biggest impacts. 

'The Education of a Witch' by Ellen Klages came next, and this was one of my favourite stories in the book. It follows Lizzy, a young child who goes to see Sleeping Beauty but rather than love the 'good' princess as expected, she loves the 'evil' witch character and as her baby sister is is born, Lizzy begins to become even closer to her favourite character. This was a really fantastic story which felt quite like a psychological thriller. I loved the writing style, the slight tension and the good pace. I would have loved to have read more.

'The Threefold World' by Ellen Kushner is next and it is a story of knowledge, faith, legend and magic. It has a lot of substance and it works well. I imagine that it will appeal to many people who enjoy fantasy, journeys and folklore. I am not quite sure why, but I personally couldn't get into this story, it bored me.

Next was another slightly stranger tale, 'The Witch in the Wood' by Delia Sherman. This tale tells of a witch who finds true love -- in the shape of a stag that she shoots! The deer is a shapeshifter, and though I've never particularly enjoyed reading about shapeshifters, I thought that this was a really captivating story. I quite enjoyed the twist of the ending and I would like to know what happened in the end.

My favourite story in this book had to be 'The Carved Forest' by Tim Pratt. This is another story that read like a psychological thriller. The story told is of a witch who has a forest of trees carved into the shape of everyone in her town, and two special carvings of her late husband and daughter. When the main character, Carlos, starts worrying about his sister forming a friendship with the witch, he intervenes. This is a haunting and very intriguing read which really stood out and I loved it.

'Burning Castles' by M. Rickert had a sense of ambiguity about it - we don't know exactly what is going on between the witch and who appears to be her child. The realism with hints of a haunted spirit world was effective. The story was drark and powerful despite being so short and it was good in the way that you could use your own imagination to fill ing the blanks.

Isobelle Carmody's 'The Stone Witch' was next, following a woman on an airplane flight, disappointed to be sat next to a child. The plane starts to crash and the woman starts to dream. The child and a witch both appear in her dream, the witch threatening their lives. The woman and child both go on a quest in hope of saving their lives. Both characters have flashbacks which were effective and which added another good, strong dimension to this story. I did enjoy this story though to be honest, I think I would have preferred it without the magical/fantasy aspect!

The next tale, 'Andersen's Witch' by Jane Yolen was a very brave move by the author! This is a tale of both Hans Christian Andersen and an ice witch. I think and hope that fans of Andersen will enjoy the fairytale like quality of this story.

'B is for Bigfoot' by Jim Butcher was next. This story starts with a professional wizard being called upon by a bigfoot who needs help as his scion (half human, half supernatural) son, Irwin, is getting bullied at school. The wizard gets into the school and attempts to help the problem but ends up getting caught up in it whilst Irwin and the other kids manage to sort the problem out themselves. 

The penultimate tale in the book was 'Great Grandmother in the Cellar' by Peter Beagle. It is a story of family, present and past, and focuses on relationships, with a very spooky skeletal great grandmother at the centre of it all! Unfortunately this was another story that just didn't do anything for me, and I had to stop myself skimming through the pages.

The last tale, 'Crow and Caper, Caper and Crow' by Margo Lanagan was about a character meeting her magical grandchild. The story was a nice ending to the book as this story had very high quality writing and I wanted to read more of this tale.

Overall, this book had both high and lows, and I can't deny that at points, I really struggled keeping with it as I did feel bored or I just wanted to get onto something more exciting. However, there were also some stories that really stood out in a positive way, namely The Education of a Witch and The Carved Forest, and I appreciate the book for allowing me to sample some fantastic authors. Though this wasn't one of my favourite books, it is something that I would recommend to anybody who likes young adult fiction, especially of the fantasy genre, as there should be something for everyone in this book.

Charade Blog Stop! Masquerade (Heven & Hell #1) Review, Guest Post and Giveaway!

Heven and Hell Blog Stop!

I'm happy to announce that the Heven and Hell blog tour has stopped by blog!

I think that the Heven and Hell series is a fantastic series for young adults. I am certain that a lot of you will really enjoy these books, and that (as well as the author being awesome) is why I've decided to feature these books here on my blog. I hope that a lot of you will decide to try out this series!

Thanks to the author, Cambria Hebert for providing a guest post and a giveaway (see 'extras').

For those of you who haven't yet started the series, here's my review of the first book in the series, Masquerade. I hope that it'll persuade you to pick it up!

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Masquerade (Heven and Hell #1) by Cambria Hebert

Paperback, 360 pages

Published December 16th 2011 by Otherworld Publications

My shelves: angels-demons, arc-or-review, blog-tour, books-i-own, currently-reading, fantasy, read-in-2012, series-or-companions, shapeshifters, young-adult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Before. Everything was so much better Before. I wasn’t haunted by nightmares, my place at school was secure and my face was flawless. Now, I’m a freak and everything has changed. The worst part is that I can’t remember the night I was sentenced to the shadows. The memory has been stolen from me and I just can’t shake the feeling that someone, something is out there -watching.

Just when I think I have my life handled, Sam, with his intimidating golden stare and shiver inducing voice, makes me realize that I don’t know anything. He makes me see that my scars don’t matter. That they never mattered. I can’t help but fall for him, completely unknowing that he knows exactly how I got this way. Not knowing he was involved.

***

Heven has no idea how closely death stalks her. She has no idea what I have done to keep her alive. I fear the day she learns my secrets, finds out what I really am. But even then I cannot stop, I vow to make things right. Finally her hunter will be hunted, Heaven and Hell, faith and sin will battle, and we will be victorious. But first, Heven must learn to be what she never imagined. I know her strength is there – I feel it. If we are to overcome all odds, she must push past her flaws - her frailties - to become much more.

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My thanks go to Otherworld Publications for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had looked forward to reading this book since I heard about it, it sounded intriguing and had a lot of potential. Although there are many paranormal young adult books out there, Hebert still manages to keep her story fresh and exciting, throwing in a lot of twists and turns along the way. There is no doubt in my mind that a lot of you will love this series, 


I absolutely loved meeting the characters that Hebert has created, especially our main character, Heven. She was a definite individual and was realistic, she had insecurities, she was vulnerable - she wasn't perfect and she knew that. I also thought that it was really interesting to read about a character who had a facial disfigurement  due to an attack, rather than someone with just the average high school/friend/family problems. It was quite refreshing to read about a character who is not confident and doesn't always have the answer to everything. It was also good to read about a character who seemed to have a good best friend, Kimber, who despite having some difference of opinions, did support Heven for the most part.  


Things start to unravel when we meet a new guy at Heven's school, Sam, and they start to get closer. For those who like their romance, I think that Heven and Sam's romance was well written. It did happen a little too quickly for my liking, but I wouldn't class it as insta-love. However, despite the chemistry forming between them very quickly, I found their relationship to be quite understandable - Sam certainly had something different about him, something that was intriguing and loveable. He was determined to protect Heven and due to her vulnerability, that's what she needed. 

The mystery behind the attack which scarred Heven's face was what really got me hooked into the book. Obviously something bad had happened on the night that she was attacked, but Heven couldn't seem to remember much about it, apart from having strange dreams of the night that it happened. I didn't know what or who it was and so it was interesting to see events unfold and to find some clues. Paranormal fans will certainly enjoy the revelation of the attacker and the details surrounding that. It got really exciting around the last third of the book. I found myself gasping, I was truly shocked and absolutely enthralled, wanting to know more about Sam's other side and why Heven was the target of an attack - a lot was revealed, but there is certainly a lot more that I want to find out about! We are also introduced to Sam's brother near the end of the book and I can't wait to learn more about both him and his family.

Overall, though there is a lot of competition and repetition in this genre, I think that Hebert has been very successful in starting off a new series that is bursting with potential. In fact, there are a lot of very popular series out there already, but I think that the quality of this exceeds a lot of them and it does deserve more coverage. I am very excited to get my hands on a copy of Charade as I think that now I know the basics, the room to develop and expand this series is huge. This is a series that can really develop further and I can't wait to see what's in store next for Heven and Sam!

Already read Masquerade and want more?

Check out the brand new second instalment of the series, recently released on 18th May!

Dying at the hands of a psycho was a shock. Having my life returned to me by an angel was incredible. Being named a Supernatural Treasure and being given Sam as my guard was pretty darn awesome. Acquiring a debt for it all—well, I should have seen it coming.

Now here we are, fighting demons from Hell, caring for a boy that I just don’t trust, and traveling to faraway places to return a treasure to its rightful place. Nothing is as it seems. Everyone wears a mask; everyone puts on a charade. It’s up to us to separate the truth from the lies and reality from fiction. A hard task when my new reality involves fallen angels, witches and dragons… and did I mention Hell?

Anchoring me down through it all is Sam. Sam, who must face tragedies of his own and is put to the test again and again.

If we fail in our task, life as we know it—life as you know it—will end. Forever.

Love quotes? I know I do! Cambria Hebert has kindly provided a guest post which tells us a few of her favourite quotes from Charade. 

Thank you so much for having me here today! I don’t know about any of you but I always like to read quotes. I have an app on my website for quotes that I like and I have one on my homepage for my computer. Quotes can be inspirational, funny, meaningful or words that male you pause to really think about something. I also really enjoy reading reviews from bloggers, readers and book reviewers that include a snippet of their favorite quotes from the book they are discussing. It gives a girl (or a guy ) a glimpse at the writer and what a book holds between its pages and it also piques curiosity.Sometimes I often wonder what quotes an author really loves from his/her work. As a writer, I know the time consuming job of rewrites and editing. An author must read their manuscript until they practically recite it in their sleep. Why? Well, I can’t speak for all authors but for me it’s because I want to know that I have done everything humanly possible to make my book the best it can be and the only way to reassure myself of that is by reading it a bazillion times (yes, that is a number).  I don’t mind admitting that when I am reading my book for the bazillionth time sometimes I get bored. LOL!! (now, now that doesn’t mean the scenes aren’t good but I mean even listening to your favorite song a million times you have to turn off the radio – you know?) But there are always those scenes, those snippets of dialogue or quotes that no matter how many times I read I still love. Every single time. Here are those quotes for me, from Charade: 

“If you cannot breathe, I will breathe for you. If your heart will not beat, mine will beat harder.If you do not live, neither will I.” ~Sam 

“I loved this boy. More than myself. More than life. More than anything. Tears leaked from beneath my lids because my feelings were so intense that they had nowhere else to go, there just wasn’t room in a single body for how I felt for him.” ~Heven 

"I kept my eyes on the water—how deceiving it could be. It appeared peaceful; it appeared beautiful. It was good at lying." ~Sam 

"I wasn’t afraid of the dark but I was afraid that when day arrived and the sun came out it would shine light into all the shadows from the night before, revealing all that the darkness had hidden." ~Heven 

 “Oh, and one more thing,” she said and looked over her shoulder. “Don’t hold back because I’m a girl. I might be a girl, but I will kick your ass.” ~Gemma
  
“Hope you like dirt, you’re going to be eating a lot of it today.”~Sam

 “… all the way back to last year when I was injured (I didn’t think of it as disfigured anymore because I wasn’t disfigured. There had been nothing wrong with the way I looked. The problem had been with the way I felt.)” ~Heven

I'd like to give huge thanks to Cambria for giving her time to provide a guest post and I hope that this post has persuaded some of you to give this series a go!


Want to win an eCopy of Charade? Cambria is kindly offering to giveaway a copy here, all you have to do is fill in the Rafflecopter form below:

Charade giveaway

Arcadia Awakens (Arkadien #1)

Arcadia Awakens by Kai Meyer

Hardback, 332 pages

Published March 1st 2012 by Templar
(First Published November 1st 2009)
My shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, cover-appeal, fantasy, lgbt-characters, mythology, read-in-2012, series-or-companions, shapeshifters, templar, translated, young-adult, 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

To New Yorker Rosa Alcantara, the exotic world of Sicily, with its network of Mafia families and its reputation for murder and intrigue, is just that—exotic, and wholly unknown. But when tragedy strikes, she must travel there, to her family’s ancestral home, where her sister and aunt have built their lives and where centuries of family secrets await her. Once there, Rosa wastes no time falling head over heels for Alessandro Carnevare, the son of a Sicilian Mafia family, whose handsome looks and savage grace both intrigue and unsettle her. But their families are sworn enemies, and her aunt and sister believe Alessandro is only using Rosa to infiltrate the Alcantara clan. And when Rosa encounters a tiger one night—a tiger with very familiar eyes—she can no longer deny that neither the Carnevares nor the Alcantaras are what they seem.

Ancient myths brought to life in the Sicilian countryside, dangerous beasts roaming the hills, and a long history of familial bloodlust prove to Rosa that she can’t trust anyone—not even her own family. Torn between loyalty to her aunt and love for her family’s mortal enemy, Rosa must make the hardest decision of her life: stay in Sicily with her new love . . . or run as far and as fast as she can.

My thanks go to Templar for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unlike most other readers, the premise of this book did nothing for me, simply because I've never had any sort of interest in the mafia which is a big theme in this book. I was a little unsure about the shapeshifter element, another big theme, as I've not yet read any books about shapeshifters that I've really enjoyed. Why did I read this then? I'm not all that sure - I guess I just wanted to see if this was any different to other young adult books at the moment and I'd read some great reviews. I'm very glad that I did decide to read this one as it was a surprisingly engrossing read!

I'll start with the main thing that bugged me and that was the writing style. This book was actually written in German, so I'm not sure what was lost in translation and I can't blame the author for that. I just felt as though a lot of the sentences didn't flow well - note that I did read an ARC of this book though, so this may be slightly different in the final version.

Apart from the sometimes awkward writing, I found Arcadia Awakens to be a very enthralling read. This is a quite loosely based modern day Romeo and Juliet, set on the alluring island of Sicily, Italy. The backdrop to the story wasn't overly described but Meyer gave us a very good sense of the setting. Our two main characters, Rosa Alcantara and Alessandro Carnevare, are from opposing sides of the Sicilian mafia and they form a forbidden bond, falling in love with each other. Thankfully the love wasn't instant and instead, they gradually grew to trust each other. I actually did find myself wishing that there was slightly more chemistry between them, but I think that it was enjoyable enough as it was - it felt natural and unforced. There was potential for conflict between them and I thought that could've been explored more - especially because of the feud between the two families. Of course, there is certainly room for a lot more exploration in the next books in the series.

I really did begin to care for both Rosa and Alessandro, they were both very likeable and strong characters. I thought that Rosa was particularly fascinating. From the beginning, we see that she is quite head-strong and confident - however, she does have a somewhat fragile layer underneath which we can see from her recollections of what's happened to her in the past. Rosa clearly has a history outside Italy and the Mafia, which I would love to learn more about. I think that Alessandro and the mafia history were equally as interesting - something that I never thought I'd say! I did find it slightly confusing at points as parts of the clans, the history and hierarchy were explained but it wasn't overly heavy or difficult which I was thankful for - I am glad that it was explained to help me understand the story as it was quite intricate. Arcadia is a part of Greek mythology and it was interesting to see how this was interwoven into the clans lives.

As well as unexpectedly enjoying the mafia aspect of the story, I also really liked reading about the shape shifters. The Carnevares turn into different species of big cats (i.e. tigers, lions and panthers) and the Alacantaras morph into snakes. I thought that the transformation was very well described and I didn't find it 'creepy' like I have in other novels - although it's fantasy, it didn't actually seem that bizarre, it was almost mesmerising to see how the humans changed and how their animal sides acted.

I thoroughly enjoyed Arcadia Awakens and would love to see how the rest of the trilogy turns out. It's quite a unique, complex story which certainly brings something original to the young adult genre. I'd recommend this to anyone who simply wants a different fantasy read. If you're a little apprehensive of the subject matter like I was, I'd also urge you to give it a go - you'll probably be very pleasantly surprised!

Oliver Twisted

Oliver Twisted by J.D. Sharpe, Charles Dickens

Paperback, 274 pages

Published February 6th 2012 by Egmont Books

My shelves: arc-or-review, better-than-expected,
books-i-own, currently-reading, fantasy, horror, 
read-in-2012, shapeshifters,vampires, 
young-adult, zombies

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

“FLESH", the woe-begotten moaned at Oliver, baring teeth which were ragged and black.

“FLESH”, came another moan, and he turned to see two more woe-begottens behind. They began to shuffle towards him, barefoot – toes blue from cold, arms outstretched.

The world according to Oliver Twisted is simple. Vampyres feed on the defenceless. Orphans are sacrificed to hungry gods. And if a woe-begotten catches your scent it will hunt you for ever. When a talking corpse reveals that Oliver will find his destiny in London, he sets out to seek the truth. Even if it means losing his soul.

My thanks go to Egmont's new imprint, Electric Monkey, for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am not usually tempted by books of this type - an idea taken from a classic book, but changed by a new author, adding new ideas. However, I was glad to see that this wasn't the original work with some new parts stuck in, but instead it was reworked and retold in a very original manner by an author who obviously loved the original characters.

As many of you will know, it was the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens this week, and so I thought, although it's not a traditional work of his, but rather a modern reworking, I'd pick up Oliver Twisted and see how it was. With it's great foundation and it's modern ideas, this was a fun read. Ashamedly, I haven't read Oliver Twist, but of course I am aware of the basic aspects of the story from other media, like most. From the altered name of this novel and it's very apt tagline 'Please, I want some gore', I knew that this was going to be a bit different from the original!

Our new story follows Oliver who is, as a lone orphan, travelling to London where he befriends Dodge and subsequently gets drawn into a world where he is used by Fagin in order to try and gain power for his evil brotherhood. The story is well written, thanks to a good basis and good original characters. 

For our main character, Oliver Twisted, a new and very gory story including zombies, vampires, werewolves and soul stealers is created. Due to these creatures that are very popular at the moment in young adult literature, I think that this book will appeal a lot of young adult readers, especially those who enjoy the paranormal genre. 

Characters that appear and that you may recognise include Fagin, Dodge, Bill Sikes and Nancy. These all possess the characteristics of their original personalities, but Sharpe has also expanded and added a new lease of life to them, making them react realistically to their new situations. 

The writing was good - there was still reference to the old english writing style right at the beginning, but for the most part, the writing was modern and very easily accessible to middle grade children upwards. The book is extremely gruesome - the grotesque descriptions made me squirm several times but were very effective - I can imagine that a lot of children would love this aspect, but beware if you have a sensitive stomach! The pace of the story is very fluid and it does become quite action packed towards the end. This was easy to read and rather quick, too - so there's no excuse not to give this one a go.

I think that JD Sharpe does do justice to this book and is successful in achieving what she intended - a twist to Oliver Twist, turning it into a modern 'horror' story - something that  will certainly appeal to the majority of older children and young adults today. I would definitely recommend this and hopefully it will encourage more people to read the original work too - I know I certainly will, and I would love to read more from Sharpe, too!