All Things Halloween Review of A Queen of Thieves and Chaos

A Queen of Thieves & Chaos (Fate & Flame, # 3)

By: KA Tucker

Publication: September 5, 2023

606 pages

Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--From internationally bestselling author K.A. Tucker comes the third novel in her Fate and Flame series, an adult fantasy novel that should be read in series order.

"You betrayed your brother to steal a broken crown."

The kingdom stands on the brink of chaos. Atticus' grip on the realm is faltering, and as threats arise ever closer to home, he is driven to increasingly desperate acts to hold onto power.

With Islor's fate now in the balance, Zander stands to defend the Rift from the oncoming Ybarisan army. With the king's forces scattered, he must risk unlikely new alliances.

And behind the walls of Ulysede, secrets wait for its new queen. Romeria knows that the paths of the hidden city will lead her to answers. But will they be enough to save the realm – or is their fate already sealed?

A Queen of Thieves and Chaos was simultaneously one of my most anticipated books and also one of my most dreaded. I had a fear about the path these books were headed down and I didn't want to be right. In the end, I wasn't right or wrong. I will say that KA Tucker didn't go in the direction that I was concerned about...yet. Romy hasn't exactly surpassed Zander in that Zander is still acting in a monarchial role for Islor even though Romy has the rule of Ulysede and theoretical ties to Ybaris. Zander and Romy are working together, of course, but Romy isn't dictating to Zander because she's reached some status he's unable to attain. ...Yet anyway. KA Tucker could still go in that direction, but as of this book it didn't seem like that would be where she'd headed.

A Queen of Thieves and Chaos is different from the previous two books in that additional narrators have been added. Mostly, Atticus, Gracen, and Agatha. Atticus's POV was needed to know what was happening in the heart of Islor since Zander is on the run. Gracen is needed to humanize Atticus. Plus since Zander and Romy have made it to pretty solid ground in their relationship, the introduction of a new romance is great for holder reader's attention who also loves this aspect in books. *raises hand* Me. It's me. I'm that reader. Agatha was a little more boring for me because she's all technical behind-the-scenes information. Necessary, but not as interesting as the exciting bits of the story. Agatha is the Master Scribe. 

We have two big bads for the most part in this book. There's the original Princess Romeria's mom, Queen of Ybaris. And there's also Atticus who has taken control of Islor. Atticus is facing his own enemies. The royals that seek to overthrow him just as he overthrew Zander. And then, of course, Zander intends to take back his throne as well. Atticus is doing his best to strategize. And reading his perspective makes it easy to see what he sees, but Atticus isn't the best statistician. 

All of the side characters are important and come off the page as I'm accustomed to KA Tucker doing. There are old friends of Romy's that are still in Cirilea, some are still in the palace and have made friends with Gracen. Some a new. Of course, there's Jarek. He's one of my favorites. There was a chemistry or tension that seemed to float between him and Romy that I had to kind of question. Again, I was getting Blood and Ash vibes. Eden. Zander and Atticus's sister that I can't remember her name right now. Tyree. Elias. And others that are even spoilers.

Favorite quotes:

-"The rich don't like giving up being rich."

-"You have already lost. You just haven't realized it yet."

-"People believe what they want to believe, even when the truth is laid bare, unfiltered and undeniable, before them."

-"You ar the worthiest of causes I have ever met, that I ever will meet, and I will follow you into the rift if you ask it of me. But do not ever ask me to leave your side."

As I said A Queen of Thieves and Chaos was one of my most anticipated releases of 2023. I was dying to get my hands on it. Yet I was apprehensive about Zander turning into a subject of Romy's. So far that hasn't happened, and both are working together and separately to achieve their collective and individual goals. I like this approach. I felt like one of the Big Bads I mentioned above was handled a little too easily. There was a lot of build-up for a short conflict. Either way, I'm stoked to continue the series with book 4. Atticus and Gracen's relationship has helped to continue building interest beyond Romy and Zander. A Queen of Thieves and Chaos gets 4.5 Stars. Have you read A Queen of Thieves and Chaos? What did you think? Let me know!

This review is part of my All Things Halloween event--a month of fantasy, paranormal, supernatural, mystery/thriller, etc reviews and books.

Sunday Post - 10/29/23

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~ It's a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Monday was a normal day for us. Tuesday was full. The big kids had dentist appointments first thing. Then we went to a new to us park and met up with a friend. Then the boys got much needed haircuts. After that was lunch and nap for the youngest. Little Girl went to a playdate with a different friend who's great grandmother lives on our street. I did school with Little Boy and then he was off to Grammy's. Little Girl came home and I did school work with her. Wednesday was back to a normal day thankfully. Husband was off work this week, but that didn't affect our normal schedule until Thursday. I spent Thursday morning doing last minute things to plan for a birthday trip for the big kids. We left Thursday right after lunch to go to Great Wolf Lodge in Lagrange, Georgia. We had a blast. The kids were really well behaved for the most part and memories were made. Husband and I both agreed that the trip flowed well. Our only hiccup was that Baby Boy had trouble sleeping both nights which meant that Husband and I were both up through the night with him both nights. We did the waterpark on Saturday until about lunchtime and then headed home. It is good to be home though.

THE PAST WEEK:

Monday: All Things Halloween Review of Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, # 1) by Rebecca Yarros (4.5 Stars)
Wednesday: 2023 Series Enders Reading Challenge - October Wrap Up

UPCOMING THIS WEEK:

Monday: All Things Halloween Review of A Queen of Thieves and Chaos (Fate and Flames, # 3) by KA Tucker
Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday?
Wednesday: Can't Wait for Wednesday?
Friday: Homeschool Friday - Mini Reviews?

My annual "All Things Halloween" event is starting. This is my month-long event where I feature reviews from Halloween-y genres (fantasy, paranormal, supernatural, sci-fi, horror, mystery, thriller, and suspense). Over the last few years I've had mostly fantasy books as I just haven't been in the mood for much horror, but still...these are books that can get you in the mood for Halloween.

Don’t forget to link up for the 2023 Series Enders Reading Challenge! You have until December 15th, 2023 to sign up. Each month there will be a giveaway for those participating with an end of the year giveaway too! Click on the picture below or the link above to find out more!

NEW BOOKS:

No new books this week.

That's it for my shelves and recaps of my past and upcoming week. What did you add to your shelves this week? Any bookish news you want to talk about? Let me know!

2023 Series Enders Reading Challenge - October Wrap Up

Time for our Monthly Wrap Up for the 2023 Series Enders Reading Challenge hosted by Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know and Holly @ Words Fueled by Love!

Neither Sandy nor Holly finished any series enders this month.

Which series enders did you finish? Link the up below. Don't forget to include the title, your name, & your blog name (Ex: Requiem - Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know) Also, the October giveaway runs from October 25th - November 25th. On November 25th we will use random.org and the linky entries to pull a grand prize winner.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

All Things Halloween Review of Fourth Wing

Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, # 1)

By: Rebecca Yarros

Publication: May 2, 2023

528 pages

Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Dragon

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

One Sunday, I was visiting blogs, which I don't get to do very often, and stumbled upon one that caught my eye. I can't remember the exact wording, but the blogger stated they didn't enjoy a book that was getting a ton of buzz and love. However she worded her comments piqued my interest, so I looked up the book on Goodreads and decided almost instantly that it sounded like something I would like. I added it to my wish list, and Husband bought it for me for my birthday. I still put off reading it for a while because I needed to focus on review books first. I finally found time to pick it up, and I have to say that I didn't want to put Fourth Wing down. We never have lazy days where we just let the kids watch TV all day, but Husband wasn't feeling well, it was 101 degrees outside, and I was enthralled. So I read every chance I got that first day and read about 80% by midnight. I needed to sleep because I knew that was too much to finish at a reasonable time for me. And I finished the other 20% the next day.

Fourth Wing has everything you could want from the first release in a new fantasy series. You have a flawed leading character--Violet is fragile. Her bones break easily, her joints and ligaments are weak as well. She is short. And generally not physically strong. She is, however, brilliantly intelligent. She spent her entire life training to go to the scribe quadrant. But her mother, one of the nation's top military leaders, decrees that Violet will enter the dragon rider's quadrant instead.

The rider's quadrant is a vicious school of tests and challenges that will end with more cadets dead than alive. Often times the tests kill the cadets. Just as often, the other cadets will do the killing. And what deaths remain are likely from the dragons themselves! Unique schools like this are why series like Harry Potter, Vampire Academy, Divergent, Red Rising, and even Throne of Glass have been wildly popular and universally loved.

And I mean dragons! The appeal of these mythological creatures is fascinating. Perhaps because they're imaginary, we love the different iterations of dragons throughout various literature and media. Fourth Wing's dragons are some of the best I've come across, from the varieties and their discerning qualities to their ability and willingness to bond to humans. Plus, the bond enables a psychic connection with their riders. These dragons are so well done. I applaud Rebecca Yarros for her imagination and vivid depictions in bringing them all to life.

The friends are an interesting variety as well. There are friendships that form almost instantly, those that have spanned entire lifetimes, those that form unexpectedly, and even ones that form begrudgingly. The personalities differ as much as the dragons and the abilities they bestow upon their riders. Violet's older sister, Mira, warns her against forming friendships in the rider's quadrant. Allies are important, but friendship can often be a liability. Plus, when cadets are dying more frequently than surviving, forming friendships means saying goodbye to people who have shared pieces of their hearts with you and vice versa. But Violet doesn't survive the rider's quadrant by following the path others have established. She must survive by her own instincts and her own journey through the tests and trials.

Speaking of abilities, Rebecca Yarros also did an excellent job creating a wide range of abilities since there are so many different characters. None of the signets were too similar to each other. And I loved the intrigue of wondering what new talent would be gifted to the next cadet. She even forms opposite sides of a coin without it appearing to be mirror talents.

The enemies were fierce. We start off with Violet being warned by her sister Mira to steer clear of Xaden Riorson because he will kill her as soon as he gets the chance as revenge for what her mother did to his father in executing the king's justice for his father's rebellion. Violet meets him almost immediately. Nearly the same time, a brutal new cadet sets his sights on her as an easy target to weed out the weak links. Only Violet embarrasses the new cadet, and he swears revenge that he will kill her. And he's not the only person she ticks off during her first year. Xaden is hard to read. He forces Violet into his wing since he's a wingleader. He bounces back and forth between giving her advice that will help her survive, ignoring her completely, and sending others to her in ways that could be construed either for or against her.

Of course, the driving questions are about whether Violet will survive each challenge she's faced with. If she does, will a dragon want to bond with her? At least until you get to a point where you have answers to these questions, and then you want to know what will happen next. I can't reveal those questions to you as they'd be spoilers.

Favorite quotes:

-"They choose for reasons they don't see fit to share with us." He pushes off his desk. "And not all strength is physical, Violet."

-You are not attracted to toxic men, I remind myself...

I had to laugh at that one.

-"One does not live a century without being well aware of the space one takes up."

-"Justice is not always merciful."

-"I know you just want to keep me safe,...,"I whisper. "But keeping me safe is also keeping me from growing, too."

-"I will hate you for this." "Yeah." He nods, a flash of pure regret crossing his face as he draws away. "I can live with that."

-"Andarna is my favorite."

-"You can ride me when the flesh rots off my bones, wingleader."

-"Whatever you feel is natural. Allow yourself to feel it, but then let it go."

-"...if we let fear kill whatever this is between us, then we don't deserve it."

-"One generation to change the text. One generation to choose to teach that text. The next grows, and the lie becomes history."

I was so disheartened when I finished Fourth Wing and went to go purchase Iron Flame only to find that it wasn't released yet. The unique school setting where the cadets die more often than survive. The friends. The enemies. The romance. The DRAGONS. All of it was exactly what I look for in a series. Now, I will say that once the characters leave the setting of the school and undoubtedly have to face the corrupt government, things have the potential to go south like series such as Divergent and The Hunger Games. We shall see if The Empyrean series can survive the traps that other series before it fell into or will it thrive similar to series like Red Rising and Throne of Glass. That being said, Fourth Wing gets 4.5 Stars. Have you read Fourth Wing? What did you think? Let me know!

This review is part of my All Things Halloween event--a month of fantasy, paranormal, supernatural, mystery/thriller, etc reviews and books.

Sunday Post - 10/22/23

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~ It's a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

I don't even remember Monday. Tuesday was library day. Little Boy was whining because he didn't want to go to the park. I can't fathom it, but I kept my mouth shut and just drove anyway. Once we got to the library he saw the Halloween decorations at the park and changed his mind about going. Literally no one else was there. We had the entire park to ourselves. I was wondering if that would make them bored quicker, but they played so well together. Wednesday we ended up going to Walmart to get a birthday present for a little girl we go to church with. Thursday we had a field trip to the MOOseum. That was a little bit of a letdown. There were 25 kids and a small area with little play items. After 30 minutes we decided to leave. But that's okay. It was still an experience. We then went to my parents' house to eat lunch and play. Friday was Little Girl's 8th birthday. I can't believe she's so big. I mean eight seems like a legit big kid. She's not a little one anymore! I am so proud of the growth she's had and the person she's become. She is legit one of my favorite people. She was so excited to bake and decorate her own birthday cake. She also made homemade lemondade, and she was probably more excited about doing those things than about getting gifts. Saturday, we went to the birthday party for the little girl from church. Little Girl had fun. Little Boy was having an emotional day and kept saying other kids were being mean to him. I wasn't in the bounce house to see what was happening. And Baby Boy got hurt FOUR times. He fell off the swing twice, tripped on the concrete, and then tripped again on the way to our car. I was exhausted and frazzled by the time we got home. We did finish listening to The BFG on audio in the car on the way to the party.

THE PAST WEEK:

Monday: All Things Halloween Review of Grace and Glory (The Harbinger, # 3) by Jennifer L Armentrout (4 Stars)
Wednesday: Can't Wait for A Drop of Venom by Sajni Patel

UPCOMING THIS WEEK:

Monday: All Things Halloween Review of Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, # 1) by Rebecca Yarros
Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday?
Wednesday: Can't Wait for Wednesday?
Friday: Homeschool Friday - Mini Reviews?

My annual "All Things Halloween" event is starting. This is my month-long event where I feature reviews from Halloween-y genres (fantasy, paranormal, supernatural, sci-fi, horror, mystery, thriller, and suspense). Over the last few years I've had mostly fantasy books as I just haven't been in the mood for much horror, but still...these are books that can get you in the mood for Halloween.

Don’t forget to link up for the 2023 Series Enders Reading Challenge! You have until December 15th, 2023 to sign up. Each month there will be a giveaway for those participating with an end of the year giveaway too! Click on the picture below or the link above to find out more!

NEW BOOKS:

No new books this week.

That's it for my shelves and recaps of my past and upcoming week. What did you add to your shelves this week? Any bookish news you want to talk about? Let me know!