Tag Archives: August 2020

A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland

Arrested on accusations of witchcraft and treason, Chant finds himself trapped in a cold, filthy jail cell in a foreign land. With only his advocate, the unhelpful and uninterested Consanza, he quickly finds himself cast as a bargaining chip in a brewing battle between the five rulers of this small, backwards, and petty nation.

Or, at least, that’s how he would tell the story.

In truth, Chant has little idea of what is happening outside the walls of his cell, but he must quickly start to unravel the puzzle of his imprisonment before they execute him for his alleged crimes. But Chant is no witch—he is a member of a rare and obscure order of wandering storytellers. With no country to call his home, and no people to claim as his own, all Chant has is his wits and his apprentice, a lad more interested in wooing handsome shepherds than learning the ways of the world.

And yet, he has one great power: his stories in the ears of the rulers determined to prosecute him for betraying a nation he knows next to nothing about. The tales he tells will topple the Queens of Nuryevet and just maybe, save his life. 

A Conspiracy of Truths is a story about stories. It is a story about people, about their stories, and about how their stories aren’t all that different from other people regardless of where or when.

I will be honest and say I did not quite know what to expect when I started reading A Conspiracy of Truths. Going by the blurb provided I was expecting something akin to 1001 Arabian Nights or something similar. And while A Conspiracy of Truths does include stories within the main story, the book as a whole is a completely different beast entirely.

In regards to the characters, there are so many to choose from that every reader is likely to find someone they can connect with. Whether it be the elderly, snarky, main character Chant, or his seemingly unhelpful and maybe cares a little too much advocate Consanza, there is someone for practically everyone. The majority of the characters have 2, 3, even 4 names – and that doesn’t count titles! – and it can be a little difficult to keep track of who is who. While I didn’t do it myself, I highly recommend readers take notes on character names because it is very easy to get confused.

Plot-wise, A Conspiracy of Truths is a bit politics heavy. Because so much happens so quickly and so much information is given to the reader it can feel a little overwhelming at times. This is why I recommend the reader take notes and even go back and reread passages for anything they might have missed. The overall story is very deep and very wonderful and one wouldn’t want to miss a thing.

I really enjoyed reading A Conspiracy of Truths. Ms. Rowland not only did an outstanding job creating and peopling a world, she did it in a way that makes it relatable to almost all who read it. I highly recommend it to my readers and I look forward to seeing what Ms. Rowland comes up with next.

Provided for Review: The Girls with No Names by Serena Burdick

Not far from Luella and Effie Tildon’s large family mansion in Inwood looms the House of Mercy, a work house for wayward girls. The sisters grow up under its shadow with the understanding that even as wealthy young women, their freedoms come with limits. When the sisters accidentally discover a shocking secret about their father, Luella, the brazen older sister, becomes emboldened to do as she pleases.

With rebellion comes consequences, and one morning Luella is mysteriously gone. Effie suspects her father has made good on his threat to send Luella to the House of Mercy and hatches a plan to get herself committed to save her sister. She has however made a mistake, and with no one to believe her story, Effie’s escape from the House of Mercy seems impossible—unless she can trust an enigmatic girl named Mable. As their fates entwine, Mable and Effie must rely on each other and their tenuous friendship to survive.

This book was provided for review by NetGalley. Thank you!

Trigger Warnings: Infidelity, Mentions of rape, Teenage pregnancy, Racial slurs (Specifically the word “gypsy”)

“The times they are a-changin’…” So goes the line in the song by Bob Dylan and so goes the overall theme in Serena Burdick’s The Girls with No Names.

Told from the point of view of a variety of individuals, The Girls with No Names is a story about change. The changes that come with age, that come with knowledge, that come with the inevitable march of time. Events that change the way one sees the world regardless of how large or small it is.

As it is primarily set in the early 1910’s, the way of thinking of some characters might be off-putting for some. When Effie and Luella come across the Romani camp in the beginning of the book, they are enamored of the “other” ness of the group. There is a sense of playing with the forbidden when the girls continue to visit the camp even after their parents express their distaste. It is something that comes up again when the girls’ Grandmother complains of “foreigners” taking over the city.

I personally found myself captivated by each individual characters story in this book. Each woman is connected to the others in numerous ways – by blood, by love, by circumstance. Each connection bringing another layer to the story until it is a veritable tapestry.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Girls with No Names and was able to finish the book in just two days. While there is some difficult subject matter, I found it to be written about in a way that sensitive without being overly so.

Readers who are looking for well written female characters are likely to enjoy this book. I recommend they give it a go.

I Bring the Fire Parts 1, 2, and 3 by C. Gockel

Sometimes the hero is the wrong guy at the right time.

When Amy Lewis prays for a savior, Loki Norse God of Mischief and Chaos isn’t who she has in mind. Loki can’t resist Amy’s summons, but he can insist she help him outwit Odin, ruler of the Nine Realms. Can Amy trust a so-called God of Mischief? With a powerful evil calling him from beneath the city’s streets, can Loki even trust himself?

In this urban fantasy tale a nice mid-western girl and a jaded, mischievous Loki must join forces to outwit gods, elves, magic sniffing cats, and nosy neighbors. If Loki can remember exactly what he’s forgotten and Amy can convince him not to be too distracted by Earthly gadgets, Earthly pleasures, or three day benders, they just might pull it off…

Part One of I Bring The Fire was reviewed here, while Part Two was reviewed here.

Part Three of I Bring The Fire is aptly subtitled Chaos and picks up immediately where Part Two left off. Loki’s intention on taking the mysterious World Seed for himself still burns as bright as ever. He wants to watch Asgard burn and Odin suffer even if he doesn’t quite understand the reason behind it.

Like with the previous books the story is told from a variety of view points. We see various points from Loki’s past, from when he was a child and from when he was an adult. Moments with his first wife Anganboda and his second wife Sigyn, moments with his children; moments that shape him in to the man that he eventually becomes. There are other moments as well, moments that hint to Loki’s true past.

Loki changes the most in this third book and it isn’t always for the best. Throughout the first two books Cera has done untold psychic damage to him and it is in the third book the results are seen. In Part One Loki was a mischievous character but still likable. Part Two saw him as a darker man even while he had his lighter moments.

In Part Three he is almost a completely different person. While not overtly cruel, he is manipulative even to those he purportedly cares about. He is especially this way towards Amy, taking her to Paris and away from the people who have come to rely on her.

It is only when Loki gets what he wants does he realize in doing so he loses everything.

The way Part Three wraps up makes it clear this is not quite the end. This is only a single story arc with other arcs following behind. Readers who were able to make it through Parts One and Two would do well to read Part Three. It wraps a good deal up while leaving plenty for subsequent books to cover.

Extreme Medical Services by Jamie Davis

Read the book described by one reader as “Like Grimm With Paramedics.” Follow the exploits of new paramedic Dean Flynn as he gets assigned to a backwater station no one has ever heard of, Station U. He soon learns that his unusual patients are far from normal. They are the creatures of myth and legend. His tough, experienced paramedic trainer Brynne is determined to teach him everything she knows. With vampires, werewolves, witches and fairies as patients, will he survive? Will they?

Ever since he was a teenager Dean Flynn has wanted to be a paramedic. Working hard and graduating top of his class, Dean is sure he’ll have his pick of posts. Instead, he’s assigned to Station U – a tiny station at the edge of town that practically no one knows about. Dean thinks he’s being punished until he learns about the unique patients Station U treats.

Extreme Medical Services is one of those books that doesn’t fit neatly in to any one category. It’s not quite a medical style novel nor is it completely fantasy based – it is instead a mish mash of the two. It does rely quite heavily on medical jargon however if the reader has seen even one medical drama (ER, Chicago Hope, The Good Doctor, etc.) they shouldn’t be to lost.

This overabundance of jargon and procedure comes at a price though, and that price is the characters themselves. There just isn’t enough given to create a connection between the reader and the characters. Everyone sounds quite interesting yet as there is so much emphasis put on the actual emergency procedures themselves, no one character is allowed to develop any depth.

I am also rather confused by the picture on the cover. None of the paramedics show even a hint of supernatural abilities.

As someone who has enjoyed the occasional medical drama in the past, I was rather looking forward to reading Extreme Medical Services. Especially as it was combined with another genre I enjoy – fantasy. I was however sadly disappointed. The premise itself was quite promising but the execution was sorely lacking. Readers who prefer a book that focuses on actual medical procedures albeit in a fictional setting might enjoy it. Other readers might want to look somewhere else.