Book Review: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

The Golden Enclaves
Author: Naomi Novik
Series: The Scholomance (Book 3)
Publication: Del Rey (June 27, 2023)

Description: #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for in the triumphant conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate.

FINALIST FOR THE HUGO AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Paste, Publishers Weekly

The one thing you never talk about while you’re in the Scholomance is what you’ll do when you get out. Not even the richest enclaver would tempt fate that way. But it’s all we dream about: the hideously slim chance we’ll survive to make it out the gates and improbably find ourselves with a life ahead of us, a life outside the Scholomance halls.

And now the impossible dream has come true. I’m out, we’re all out—and I didn’t even have to turn into a monstrous dark witch to make it happen. So much for my great-grandmother’s prophecy of doom and destruction. I didn’t kill enclavers, I saved them. Me and Orion and our allies. Our graduation plan worked to perfection: We saved everyone and made the world safe for all wizards and brought peace and harmony to all the enclaves everywhere.

Ha, only joking! Actually, it’s gone all wrong. Someone else has picked up the project of destroying enclaves in my stead, and probably everyone we saved is about to get killed in the brewing enclave war. And the first thing I’ve got to do now, having miraculously gotten out of the Scholomance, is turn straight around and find a way back in.

My Thoughts: In this finale to the Scholomance trilogy we learn what happens after El, Orion, and her colleagues manage to get everyone out of the Scholomance. Well, almost everyone, Orion stayed behind which makes El determined to find a way back in to get him.

There are some problems to overcome first. Something is killing enclaves, and the various enclaves are on the brink of war. Looking for help uncovers all sorts of secrets. Secrets that could bring the whole system of enclaves tumbling down. 

El's plans for the escape from the Scholomance did manage to cut the number of mals in half but didn't do anything for the most awful of all the mals. The maw-mouth doesn't just kill wizards. It keeps them alive inside it in such a way that they can't die. And killing them has been a task that requires a large group of adult wizards working together. At least it did until El. 

This was an excellent conclusion to a very good series. I loved the worldbuilding. I loved the way El grew through the trilogy. She had so many decisions to make. 

Favorite Quote:

I imagine it's always easier to do something monstrous if you can convince yourself you aren't going to, up to the last minute, when you do. 

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice. This meme is currently on hiatus but many of us are still including a sentence from page 56 or from 56% of the ebook. Anne @ Head Full of Books is picking up the slack until Freda is ready to return. I think this link will get you to the correct place. 

Beginning:

The last thing Orion said to me, the absolute bastard, was El, I love you so much.

Friday 56:

It wasn't anything like being inside the Scholomance gym. That place had been a lie: an imitation of the real world we couldn't get to and most likely would never see again. This wasn't a lie. This was a story, a fairy tale: it wasn't pretending to be real, it was just a place that couldn't be and hadn't been, a place of perfect beauty.

This week I am spotlighting The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik. It is the last in the Scholomance trilogy. Here's the description from Amazon:

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for in the triumphant conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate.

FINALIST FOR THE HUGO AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Paste, Publishers Weekly

The one thing you never talk about while you’re in the Scholomance is what you’ll do when you get out. Not even the richest enclaver would tempt fate that way. But it’s all we dream about: the hideously slim chance we’ll survive to make it out the gates and improbably find ourselves with a life ahead of us, a life outside the Scholomance halls.

And now the impossible dream has come true. I’m out, we’re all out—and I didn’t even have to turn into a monstrous dark witch to make it happen. So much for my great-grandmother’s prophecy of doom and destruction. I didn’t kill enclavers, I saved them. Me and Orion and our allies. Our graduation plan worked to perfection: We saved everyone and made the world safe for all wizards and brought peace and harmony to all the enclaves everywhere.

Ha, only joking! Actually, it’s gone all wrong. Someone else has picked up the project of destroying enclaves in my stead, and probably everyone we saved is about to get killed in the brewing enclave war. And the first thing I’ve got to do now, having miraculously gotten out of the Scholomance, is turn straight around and find a way back in.

Audiobook Review: Intrigues by Mercedes Lackey

Intrigues
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Narrator: Nick Podehl
Series: Collegium Chronicles (Book 2)
Publication: Brilliance Audio (October 11, 2010)
Length: 10 hours and 9 minutes

Description: Mags was an orphan and slave of ‘bad blood’ who toiled in a gem mine all his young life. He would have died before adulthood, had he not been Chosen and taken to Haven to be trained in the new Herald Collegium.

Now, Mags was never hungry and never cold. He slept in a real bed in his own room and, most importantly, he had Dallen, who was like another part of himself. And yet, aside from Lena and Bear, both loners like he was, he couldn’t relate to most of the Herald, Healer, or Bard trainees. He was the only trainee who came from what - to the others - was unimaginable poverty.

There was another factor that contributed to Mag’s isolation. Foreign assassins, masquerading at court as envoys, were discovered. As they fled from the Guard, one of them seemed to “recognize” Mags. Now, Mags was an object of suspicion.

He had always been curious about his parents, but after the incident it became urgent for Mags to discover exactly who his parents were. And at Haven, he had access to the extensive Archives. Poring through the Archives, he got only incomplete information: his parents, found dead in a bandit camp, had been two of a number of hostages, some of whom had survived. The survivors had told the Guard that Mags’ parents spoke a language that no one understood or recognized.

This information did not help, for the ForeSeers had been having visions of the king’s assassination by “one of the foreign blood”. Some had even Seen Mags with blood on his hands. How could Mags defend himself against a crime that hadn’t yet been committed?

My Thoughts: The second of the Collegium Chronicles sees Mags beginning to fit in at the Collegium. While still mainly a loner who feels he has nothing in common with most of the other students, he has made some friends with Lena and Bear and Amily. Each of them are different than the other students too. 

When Lena's father comes to the Collegium, Mags learns that he is a famous bard who had ignored Lena all her life. He is totally self-centered, but Lena wants his love and approval. He can only see her if there is some way he can use her like when Mags becomes a champion at a new sport being developed and when Mags becomes a hero for saving Bear's life when he's kidnapped.

Meanwhile Bear is facing his own problems. He comes from a family of healers, but he doesn't have the magical gift of healing. However, he is an excellent herbalist consulted by everyone including senior healers at his school. And he is good at surgery and other healing too. But his family wants him to come home, get married, and sire children who might have the healing gift. He's under constant pressure because of their demands.

Then Mags comes in for his share of pressure when those who can see the future predict that someone foreign born will assassinate the king. Mags has just learned that his parents were captives of bandits and were from some unknown country. That makes Mags immediately an object of suspicion. And since part of his heraldic gifts includes a touch of empathy, Mags is totally aware of the suspicions which feed into his own insecurity about his right to be a Herald. 

This was an emotional story with Mags and his friends all dealing with deep personal issues. But there is also the problem of the foreign envoys who disappeared from the palace and have some sort of hidden agenda. They seem to have some mind gifts to go along with their agenda and only Mags is able to tune into them. 

This was a fun story with great worldbuilding. I'm enjoying watching Mags build confidence and become a Herald of Valdemar. 

I bought this one from Chirp Audiobooks. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Rumor Game by Thomas Mullen

The Rumor Game
Author: Thomas Mullen
Publication: Minotaur Books (February 27, 2024)

Description: A determined reporter and a reluctant FBI agent face off against fascist elements in this gripping historical thriller set in World War II-era Boston.

Reporter Anne Lemire writes the Rumor Clinic, a newspaper column that disproves the many harmful rumors floating around town, some of them spread by Axis spies and others just gossip mixed with fear and ignorance. Tired of chasing silly rumors about Rosie Riveters' safety on the job, she wants to write about something bigger.

Special Agent Devon Mulvey, one of the few Catholics at the FBI, spends his weekdays preventing industrial sabotage and his Sundays spying on clerics with suspect loyalties―and he spends his evenings wooing the many lonely women whose husbands are off at war.

When Anne’s story about Nazi propaganda intersects with Devon’s investigation into the death of a factory worker, the two are led down a dangerous trail of espionage, organized crime, and domestic fascism―one that implicates their own tangled pasts and threatens to engulf the city in violence.

With vibrant historical atmosphere and a riveting mystery that illuminates still-timely issues about disinformation and power, Thomas Mullen delivers another powerful thriller.

My Thoughts: THE RUMOR GAME is set in Boston during World War II. Annie Lemire writes The Rumor Clinic which debunks the many harmful rumors floating around town. Most are just gossip mixed with fear and ignorance. Annie is tired of chasing rumors and wants to tackle something bigger. When she begins looking into attacks on Jews by Irish toughs, she doesn't get much support from her editor. 

Special Agent Devon Mulvey is one of the few Irish Catholics with the FBI. He's dealing with internal prejudice which hampers his investigation into the murder of a Jewish man who worked at a munitions plant. His brief is to look into preventing industrial sabotage which means that he can't interest his partner or anyone else in the FBI about the murder.

Devon and Annie grew up in the same Boston neighborhood but lost track of each other over the years. When they meet again over the same murder case, they are coming from wildly different points of view. Annie learned she was half-Jewish when her father died. Ostracism forced her family to move out of the area. Devon's family moved out too when his father made enough money. 

Now they find their investigations uncovering things neither of them want to learn which alter their viewpoints about events. Devon doesn't want to acknowledge that his father and cousins could be part of a plot to force the US not to take the fight to Europe. Nor does he want to acknowledge that the campaign against local Jews is being orchestrated by those same relatives. Annie isn't sure who to trust, but knows that it isn't the Boston Police and maybe it isn't Devon.

This was an engaging thriller about a piece of the activities on the Home Front that I hadn't heard about before. I enjoyed the story and the characters. 

Favorite Quote:

Loose lips didn't just sink ships, they also angered parents and scared teenagers who needed to enlist. They confused, terrified, alarmed. The made us worry we were weaker than we feared, vulnerable in a newly dangerous world. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Leave No Trace by A. J. Landau

Leave No Trace
Author: A. J. Landau
Series: National Parks Thriller
Publication: Minotaur Books (February 27, 2024)

Description: In a daring, brutal act of terrorism, an explosion rocks and topples the Statue of Liberty. Special Agent Michael Walker of the National Park Service is awakened by his boss with that news and sent to New York as the agent-in-charge. Not long after he lands, he learns two things - one that Gina Delgado of the FBI has been placed in charge of the investigation as the lead of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and two, that threats of a second terrorism attack are already being called into the media. While barred from the meetings of the Joint Task Force for his lack of security clearance, Walker finds a young boy among the survivors with a critical piece of information - a video linking the attackers to the assault.

As a radical domestic terrorist group, led by a shadowy figure known only as Jeremiah, threatens further attacks against America's cultural symbols, powerful forces within the government are misleading the investigation to further their own radical agenda.

My Thoughts: LEAVE NO TRACE was an engaging, fast-paced thriller. Special Agent Michael Walker of the National Park Service is called to the site of an explosion that topples the Statue of Liberty and kills more than 600 people. There he meets FBI Agent Gina Delgado and, after a brief tussle for the lead in the investigation, the two work together to find out what happened.

Gina is an expert on explosives which comes in handy since a rare and supposedly well-controlled explosive was used. Michael discovers a young witness who has video of a suspicious boat watching the island just before the explosion. The young boy becomes the target of the terrorists who planned the action, but Michael manages to keep him safe. 

The terrorists have a big, well-coordinated plan to make the events of January 6 look like the dry run they turned out to be. Someone has managed to unite all the disparate groups who want to take down the United States to rebuild it in according to their plan. Gina and Michael need to track down the conspirators before they can begin their new civil war. 

Since the terrorists are beginning their terror spree by destroying national monuments and national parks, we get a look at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the Arch in St. Louis, and Zion National Park as terrorist acts occur. 

I enjoyed this story and like the characters of Michael Walker and Gina Delgado very much. 

Favorite Quote:

"Sure, I will. But I need you to do something for me first. I'm at New York-Presbyterian in downtown Manhattan with Danny Logan, who's being guarded by a park policeman I've never met before named Buckland. Can you text me a picture?"

"Sure, but there's no need. I made the assignment myself, because she's one of the best."

"She?" Michael managed. 

A knock fell on the door, before it eased open to reveal the man wearing Buckland's name tag. "Everything okay in here?"

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Shield's Lady by Jayne Ann Krentz

Shield's Lady
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Narrator: Natalie Ross
Series: Lost Colony Trilogy (Book 3)
Publication: Brilliance Audio (September 8, 2009)
Length: 11 hours and 57 minutes

Description: Legends can be dangerous, just ask Sariana Dayne. She sets out to hire one and wakes up married to him. It’s a marriage of infuriating inconvenience as far as Sariana is concerned.

Gryph Chassyn stirs all her senses but he’s one of the mysterious mercenaries known as Shields. Sensible women do not marry such men. But for Gryph, marrying Sariana is a matter of honor, passion and survival. He needs her in ways she cannot even imagine.

Before Sariana can find a way to escape the bond that has been forged between them, she and Gryph are caught up in a desperate quest to save their world. The future looks a little different but some things, like love and passion, and murder never change.

My Thoughts: This science fiction romance written in 1989 was an entertaining story with Krentz's strong, independent characters. Sariana Dayne has fled her home to the flamboyant West when she was chosen for an elite academic academy. She is sure that if she can right the finances of the Avylyn clan of jewelers, her reapplication will be successful.

Unfortunately, in order to right their fortunes, she needs to recover a prisma cutter which has been stolen. To do so, she wants to hire a Shield named Gryph Chassyn who doesn't seem interested in the job. Her plans to drug him and kidnap him so that she can make her business proposal doesn't work out the way she would like.

Gryph has come to the city to look for a bride. He isn't interested in a job, but he becomes very interested in Sariana. He believes that she has the qualities that make a good Shield's mate and that she would be able to give him a son. She isn't interested and, in fact, isn't at all sure she believes any of the legends she's heard about Shields since she arrived in the West. She wouldn't mind having an affair with him though.

He tricks her into marriage with him during their night of passion. And when his informer is killed after telling him the cutter was taken by a rogue Shield, Gryph and Sariana embark on a journey to find the missing cutter and the rogue Shield.

They also discover that the rogue has found an intact prisma ship filled with weapons and being insane is determined to use the weapons in his quest to conquer the planet. Gryph and Sariana have to find a way to work together to defeat the rogue which they manage and to chart a whole new path for Gryph's social class under the guidance of Sariana who uses her knowledge gained in her education in the East to assist. 

This is science fiction lite. It takes place on another planet which was settled some unnamed period of time earlier. The two ships sent to settle were separated when attacked by unknown enemies. One ship was assisted by the Shields who were part of an earlier migration. The Shields managed to carve out a role for themselves and their descendants in the rigid social structure that came along with the colonists. The book's main strengths come in the interesting characters especially Gryph and Sariana and the romance they have. 

It was a fun story. 

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: I Only Read Murder by Ian Ferguson & Will Ferguson

I Only Read Murder
Author: Ian Ferguson & Will Ferguson
Series: Miranda Abbott Mystery (Book 1)
Publication: MIRA; Original edition (February 27, 2024)

Description: A once-famous TV sleuth
An amateur theater production
An onstage murder
A town full of suspects…

Miranda Abbott, once known for the crime-solving, karate-chopping church pastor she played on network television, has hit hard times. She’s facing ruin when a mysterious postcard arrives, summoning her to Happy Rock, a small town in the Pacific Northwest. But when she gets there, nothing is what she expected.

In dire straits, she signs up for an amateur production at the Happy Rock Little Theater. On opening night, one of the actors is murdered, live, in front of the audience. But no one actually saw what happened. Now everyone is under a cloud of suspicion, including the town doctor, the high school drama teacher, an oil-stained car mechanic, an elderly gentleman who may have been in the CIA—and Miranda herself.

My Thoughts: Actress Miranda Abbott is in a bit of a slump in her acting career - a fifteen year slump. After achieving fame as Pastor Fran - crime solver and karate chopper, her career has hit hard times. She's relying on her downtrodden assistant Andrews for paying her rent and taking care of her. She finally hits the bottom when her agent offers her the role of the grandmother in a Metamucil commercial. 

Then she gets a postcard that takes her on a journey to her past - a sixteen hour bus journey. She winds up in Happy Rock, a very small town in the Pacific Northwest. She and her husband Edgar had honeymooned there after Pastor Fran tanked. Edgar fell in love with the place and stayed by buying the local bookstore, but Miranda headed back to Hollywood. But now she has nowhere left to go.

Her happy dreams are dashed when she arrives only to have Edgar ask for a divorce. She winds up staying in a B&B owned by one of her biggest fans. Bea even has Pastor Fran nights where the old videotapes are dragged out and played again and again. Determined to ger back with her husband, Miranda auditions for the tenth annual presentation of Death Is the Dickens but only manages to get the one-line part of a maid who dies in the first act. The lead goes to Annette Baillie - former morning show star turned real estate agent and very much a local celebrity. 

When Annette dies in the first act by drinking poison, it is up to Miranda and her new friends to solve the crime and free her now-ex-husband who has been arrested for the crime. There are lots of suspects from the local drama teacher who went to Yale and is constantly butting heads with Annette to the car mechanic who just can't remember his lines and whose business Annette threatened to the local teen Miranda beat out for the part of the dying maid. 

This was an amusing story filled with caricatures more than characters. From the ditzy Miranda to the fanatic Bea and all the rest, the story is filled with intriguing people that I came to care about. I liked the way Miranda kept accusing suspects who were quickly proven innocent. She was persistent and did finally find the correct villain. 

Favorite Quote:

Miranda may not have known it, but the real star of the show had arrived. Envy was one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Murder, strangely enough, was not. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.