(i started writing this april 1 omg)

 

I think I'm cursed. I read three books again this month. For some reason I just can't read more than three actual books this month. I did read a graphic novel though so I guess it's a start. I need to be reading more than three books a month to complete my goal but I just don't want to read anything. I have so many books on my tbr but the books I want to read I have to buy and I put myself on a ban. 

 

The whole read 5 before I buy thing isn't doing me good. 

 

The first book I read was Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon which I've already done a review on. It was an okay book for me. I wasn't a fan of the characters nor the romance, but the actual plot of the book was interesting. I'm still on the fence if I'm going to read the next book or not. I think I want to, but I'm in no rush to actually buy it. 

 

The second book I read was Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas which I've also talked about. It was good. I couldn't stand Chaol in this though for some reason. I'm also Team Dorian so....

 

The last actual book I read was The Wizard's Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke. I wasn't actually planning on reading this book for quite a while because I wanted to wait for news about the sequel since the publishing company closed down. No news yet but I'm hoping for a sequel. Basically this is a companion series to her Assassin's Curse duology about a girl named Hannah who just wants to become a witch but has to work as a fisherman's apprentice. One day out in the sea, they get caught in storm and end up a long way from home. From there we learn about the real reason for the storm and as well about this mysterious boy who is following her.

 

I thought it was good. I prefer the other story but I still really enjoyed this. I really liked the magic in this and that there is basically no romance at all in this one. I liked that this book didn't focus on the romance or the relationship between Hannah and the mysterious boy-who might I mad was kind of annoying. Anyway, I really can't wait for the sequel. 

 

Lastly I read Rat Queens Vol. 1 which is a comic book and oh my did I enjoy it. Basically this follows a group of women who come from all different walks of life and how they're trying to find out who sent assassin's after them. At least that's the gist of it. This was really entertaining. I love reading about bada** female characters. It got a bit 18+ but I'm okay with the violence and gore. I'm a horror junkie.

 

 

That's all I read in March. Meh, it wasn't a lot. I'm aiming to read at least 4 books this month. Hah, we'll see. Wish me luck!

Welcome back to the world where a once great tale of a stubborn pirate, Ananna, and her assassin, Naji, came about. An adventure filled with wonders and dangers of a world so vast and breathtaking for two unlikely allies, who eventually turned into star crossed lovers; a story that had fan girls like me swooning and sighing over a simple, sweet ending.

Now, enter this world again to meet a new protagonist, Hanna, a simple apprentice to a secretive said-to-be fisherman. She gets a taste of an adventure she didn’t sign up for, with a mysterious boy trying to help her out, and with danger lurking in air, and eventually… NOTHING HAPPENS.

Wait… – WTF?!

I know. It was kind of annoying to reach the end of the book, and yet I have learned nothing of what was going on other than the basics.

The reason I picked this book up was because I adored Cassandra Rose Clarke’s The Assassin’s Curse and The Pirate’s Wish. Seeing that it was such a lovely story, I thought The Wizard’s Promise would bring about just as an exciting tale as those two. Damn, was I so wrong!

So maybe some would say I’m exaggerating over how uneventful this book was, so let me elaborate. It isn’t that nothing really went on or that the story didn’t flow out, it was just a tedious narrative with nothing IMPORTANT going on. Major parts of the book focused on the mundane life of Hanna, who I find to be such an annoying protagonist. Prepare to watch her fishing and using her magic to cast the winds; being angry at her mentor, and this mysterious non-human boy; complaining and wanting to go home; being furious over being taken away from home when she said she wanted an adventure like Ananna’s; and see the Mist come threaten and put people around her at harms way and eventually leave her alone again until they feel like they want to do it again. Then we go back to fishing! OMG! I get it! She’s a fisherman… err, woman. Whatever. Get on with it already!

After The Assassin’s Curse and The Pirate’s Wish, I expected to see a story just as adventurous, if not more, with The Wizard’s Promise. I didn’t expect to watch a protagonist spend months on the sea and in a foreign territory with one or two disasters happen then eventually end up with nothing. So I don’t think I will be reading the next installment.

*Thank you, Strange Chemistry and Netgalley for granting my request to view The Wizard's Promise.

For more of my reviews, please visit my blog:
The Blair Book Project @ www.theblairbookproject.blogspot.com

Seventeen years old Hanna wants to be a proper witch but she is stuck as a fisherman’s apprentice. Bemoaning the tedium of her life, she is sure nothing interesting is ever going to happen to her. When she and her master Kolur embark on their regular fishing run, she expects the routine to continue. Even after a magical storm blows their ship, Penelope, towards a remote island, she has no clue.

Then instead of sailing back home, Kolur points his ship in the opposite direction without explaining anything to his apprentice. He also picks up a trained witch to help him maintain course and perform other magical tasks. With no way home, Hanna has no choice but to accompany her secretive master on his mysterious errand.
Nobody talks to her, neither Kolur nor his witch. One night, stewing in frustration and longing for answers, Hanna meets a strange magical merman who seems to be following the ship. Unlike Kolur, the merman talks to Hanna but he speaks in riddles. He spouts vague warnings of danger and mayhem, caused be the otherwordly evil Mists, and professes his readiness to help Hanna. He doesn’t give straight answers to any of her questions either.

Hanna is mad at them all, especially at Kolur for abusing her trust. This irritating situation continues for half the book, while Hanna fumes and collects disjointed snatches of information to make informed decisions. The plot moves as slowly as Hanna’s life at sea, but the tension soars. Nothing happens, but something will and soon. And the reader keeps waiting for the break in monotony, until another magical storm shipwrecks Penelope in a distant land.
Finally Hanna abandons her master: he doesn’t deserve her loyalty. Because of his idiotic mission she has stumbled into an unscheduled and hazardous adventure, and she doesn’t like it one bit. It’s cold, wet, and life-threatening. All she wants is to get back home. Unfortunately, she can’t. Out of options, she finds a job at another fishing boat and hopes to save enough money one day to return home. But her adventure is not nearly complete. Kolur’s unwise actions unleashed terrible perils and magical monsters, and they target her and her new friends. In the end, she would have to fight the villains, no matter how unwilling she is.
The story is a classical case of a reluctant hero, but this book is only the beginning of Hanna’s journey. As soon as she says Yes to her adventure, the book ends. No surprise I hate cliffhangers.
The protagonist is controversial. On one hand, her heart is in the right place. She helps her friends whenever they need her, even risks her life, when necessary. On the other hand, she is whiny. She weeps a lot – tears are her signature reaction to any distress. She is as unlikely a hero as you could get, but what is a girl to do in her situation? She doesn’t know where her boss is taking her, for what reasons, or for how long, and not for lack of trying to squeeze the answers out of the old sailor. When belligerent magic breaks their ship, he still wouldn’t say a word. He seems to keep her ignorant out of a misguided wish to protect her. But ignorance doesn’t protect anyone. Only knowledge gives power.
I came to hate Kolur’s guts together with Hanna – for his dratted silence and his multiple lies and evasions – and I did sympathize with Hanna’s trials, but to tell the truth, I’m not sure I want to read her next story. I couldn't bond with her.
I will read other books by this author though. The writing was excellent.

I've been meaning to read [b:The Assassin's Curse|13533650|The Assassin's Curse (The Assassin's Curse, #1)|Cassandra Rose Clarke|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335967954s/13533650.jpg|18229805], but haven't gotten around to it just yet. I needed a good break after reading [b:A Game of Thrones|13496|A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369520317s/13496.jpg|1466917], though, and saw that I had this book sitting around. I decided I'd read this as a sort of taste-test to see whether or not I should put more effort into finding The Assassin's Curse.

The answer is yes.

The Wizard's Promise is a kind-of sort-of sequel, set in the same world as the Assassin's Curse duology. There was a bunch of world-building in this book, and key terms were explained, so you don't have to have read the first duology to appreciate The Wizard's Promise. I'd imagine that there's more to enjoy in there for someone who has read the first series, though.

I loved the world-building in this book. The atmosphere of the story was great, especially towards the end of the story. The masked procession - both the introduction and the twist - was just so creepy and so wonderfully established. The bit with the twisted procession was definitely my favorite part of the story.

The plot is a tad bit slow, with most of the action happening at the beginning and the end, with a gaping hole in the middle where nothing much happened, as far as plot progression goes. Hanna gets a job fishing and starts trying to save up money to make her way home. That's really all that happens for a good stretch of time.

I didn't really mind the slow pacing. Sure, there were times where I wished something would happen, but in general, there was so many things being described that I was never bored.

There's a downside to me choosing to read this now, of course. The publisher, Strange Chemistry, went out of business, so I have no idea when, or if to expect the second book.

Ah, well. I've got the first series to read, I suppose.

Named after one of the most awe-inspiring pirates, Hanna thinks that there must be something more to her life than being an apprentice to a surly fisherman. Learning some magic, and maybe even be a little good at it doesn't seem like an order too tall anyway. But little does Hanna know that Kolur is not what he seems to be, and what she's in for may be not the simple, tranquil fishing life she's imagined, but one of the biggest adventures in her life yet.

Hanna wants a grand life, the kind of life that her namesake Ananna, the great pirate, has. So when she becomes apprentice to Kolur, the grumpy coot who fishes, she thinks that the only magic she'll be honing will be all about the catch. While I do like Clarke using Hanna's starstruck voice when she talks about Ananna, as she uses the young girl to update readers of the great pirate's adventures, I did feel a bit overloaded with information about Ananna. Don't be mistaken; I love Ananna, and I love Ananna best when she's with Naji, but this one was supposed to be all about Hanna and her unlikely adventure.

Moving on.

Kolur is as vague as all get out when he instructs Hanna whichever way they need to go, so of course Hanna isn't particularly happy with the way things are working out. She's bent on getting back home where things aren't as crazy (or as unpredictable) as this wild ride. To top it all off, there's an insanely beautiful boy named Isolfr in the, err, water. But like Kolur, he can't tell Hanna his purpose either. So Hanna's even more pissed because everyone seems to be in on the big secret, and she's not. (And no, it obviously does not entail a surprise birthday party on an island for Hanna.)

I actually like Isolfr - even when I feel like I'm butchering his name because I can't pronounce it right (I-Sulfur? Isolf with a silent 'r'? Sorry, dude). While his vagueness was maddening, it was endearing watching him interact with the increasingly petulant Hanna. And it was kind of amusing to watch Hanna be all, "ADVENTURE PLEASE!!!" and watching her retreat back with something like a "NO, NO THANKS. I WANNA GO HOME NOW. K."

While the novelty of the mystery was refreshing at first, it soon waned and got me just about as impatient as Hanna. There's still a hint of the same author who penned both The Assassin's Curse and The Pirate's Wish, but having The Wizard's Promise follow up a fantastic quest like that made it kind of pale in comparison. It's still enjoyable, I must say, it's just that it felt more like a companion novel, or a novella, as opposed to a spin-off that would be having succeeding titles.