Tag: Fledgling • BookLikes

review 2019-10-14 16:08

"Fledgling - Sorcery and Society #2" by Molly Harper

Engaging YA fantasy with just the right mix of fun, fear and friendship

"Fledgling" is the second book in Molly Harper's new YA fantasy series "Sorcery and Society", set in an alternate Victorian England, ruled over by magical families calling themselves the Guardians, who have turned humans (called snipes) into surfs, bonded to a Guardian master.

The story continues on immediately after the climactic end to Changeling. I was pleased to see that, while it kept the same feel-good tone as the first book, it soon broke free from the confines of Miss Castwell’s Institute for the Magical Instruction of Young Ladies, where most of the action in "Changeling" took place. This opened up more of the magical and political world and provided new challenges for Sarah Smith, our young snipe-with-magical-powers-pretending-to-be-a-Guardian-Lady heroine, Sarah Smith.

Molly Harper manages to produce a story that is an uplifting blend of fun, fear and friendship. The teenage girls in the story face some difficult challenges but that doesn't stop them from having fun and behaving like... well, teenage girls, albeit ones with Victorian restrictions on their freedom.

One of the strengths of the book is how well the friendship between Sarah and her two closest friends is described. The banter works and the mix of personalities creates a believable dynamic where the girls encourage and support each other and each brings something different to the story.

The plot has enough tension in it to keep me turning the pages but never falls far into darkness. It has a few surprises and it promises a satisfying story arc for the next few books.

I also liked the fact that the adults that Sarah has most contact with aren't just ciphers. Sometimes, in YA stories, adults appear like the maid in Tom and Jerry cartoons: they swing partly into view but don't really take part. Sarah's parents and the Guardian couple who are sheltering her all make a contribution to Sarah's development and continue to be developed as real characters.

I found "Fledgling" entertaining and engaging and I'm looking forward to the next one.

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text 2019-10-08 22:16

Reading progress update: I've read 11%.

Mike Finn

I enjoyed Changeling, the first book in this series. Now I'm interested to see what Molly Harper does with the world she's created.

speculative fiction audio book Historical-Fiction audio-book speculative-fiction speculative-fiction-series 2019 halloween bingo historical-fiction-series

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review 2019-10-05 00:34

Review: Fledgling by C.F. Welburn

FeeRtheDragon

Fledgling (The Ashen Levels #1) - C.F. Welburn

Fledgling by C.F. Welburn is the first book in The Ashen Levels. Balagir discovers that he is an Ashen. Paying the piper in exchange for power, Balagir must unravel the past to save the future.

Plot 5/5: An intriguing story that kept me wanting more.

Characters 4/5: Interesting characters, but I would have liked to see a little more descriptions as to get a better picture of the characters in my mind.

World building 5/5: An interesting world with a magic system that I have never encountered before in my adventures.

Pacing 4/5: A steady pace throughout the story.

Writing 5/5: Beautifully written prose.

Overall 4.6

I loved this story so much that I bought the next two books. I highly recommend this book.

And, yet again, leave it to Booklikes to add a book under a different author's name. This book is by CF Welburn.

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text 2017-07-01 15:14

On sale

Chris' Fish Place

Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident - Donnie Eichar

Night Train to Lisbon: A Novel - Pascal Mercier,Barbara Harshav

Mornings in Jenin Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1 Reprint edition - Susan Abulhawa

Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes - Michael Sims

On sale this month for kindle US.

Also several Marvel masterworks

The Terror is slow, but good.

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review 2017-04-02 18:16

A REFLECTION ON THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE U.S. ENTRY INTO WORLD WAR I

KOMET

The Fledgling (WWI Centenary Series) - Charles Bernhard Nordhoff

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into the First World War (April 6th, 1917), it is good to read a book like "THE FLEDGLING" whose author (Charles Nordhoff, who would later acquire fame with James Norman Hall, as one of the authors of the novel, "Mutiny on the Bounty", which in turn, was adapted to the screen and became a successful movie in 1935, starring Charles Loughton and Clark Gable) had served as a fighter pilot (pilote de chasse) on the Western Front.

Nordhoff begins his story with a series of letters describing the experiences he had as an ambulance driver at the Front with a French unit from January to June 1917. Then he goes on to provide the reader with some revealing and insightful perspectives on his experiences both as a trainee pilot and later in 1918 as a frontline fighter pilot in the French Aéronautique Militaire.

Originally published in 1919, "THE FLEDGLING" provides the reader with a fresh and sober appraisal of a war that had only been recently concluded. This freshness makes the book worth reading for anyone wanting to better understand an era only recently receded into history.

WORLD WAR I AVIATION