Fae Child (The Fae Child Trilogy #1) by Jane-Holly Meissner Review

5/5 Stars 220 pages
Published December 15th 2020 by Inkshares

Here’s another one of those books that I finally finished, and thought to myself, why didn’t I read this sooner? With the same old winter and summer courts in the land of the fairies, this book gives a unique twists on the fantasy when a young child is mistakenly pulled through a portal, and left in her place is a changeling. Focusing on both sides of the portal, one with the girl and her journey back home, and the other with her father, an exiled elf from said land who’ll stop at nothing to get her back before it’s too late.

What I didn’t expect from this book was how childlike and innocent it managed to stay throughout the story, whether it was battles with goblins or wolfs or other wild creatures or on the other side of it, as a father battles his own feelings trying to pretend that the changeling is in fact the daughter he knows is missing to save his wife from finding out the unbelievable truth about the whole situation. Though the characters went through some stressful times in the story, I didn’t feel stressed out reading it, which is something I really appreciate especially with my headspace lately. I couldn’t ask for more from this book.

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The worlds that it’s weaved into are really easy to imagine, and the characters are loveable even when they’re being a touch frustrating throughout the story. I really couldn’t put it down once I started it, and I think my favourite characters were probably Foster, a young child guardian of the summer court, and of course Abbie, our main character. I’d love to get to know them better in the future. Since this is a trilogy, I can’t wait to see what’s next in the storyline. Will the characters be older? Will it be completely different characters in the same world? Why aren’t half elves really allowed to exist in either world? These are just some of the many questions I’d love to have answered in the next installment.

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Overall, if you’re looking for an exciting story built out of an old classic, than I highly recommend checking out this book. It has a beautiful cover that would make a lovely addition to any bookshelf, mine included, and I think really anyone from young teen to adult would enjoy this, and I can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t, unless they’re just really not into fantasy like this.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here through my Amazon Associates link!

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great day, and are doing well.

The Cursed Codex by Matthew S. Cox Review

The Cursed Codex by Matthew S. Cox 4/5 Stars 312 pages
Published August 17th 2018 by Division Zero Press

“The Cursed Codex” is a book that’s a lot different than the other’s that I’ve read, written by author Matthew S. Cox. Following a boy named Keith, he feels completely invisible at school, aside from breaking up fights that the bullies start with his friends. After a particularly brutal fight, leading to a black eye on his part, he decides to take the long way home from school, and stops at a garage sale along the way, buying a board game to play with his friends. Little does he know, it’ll change his life forever.

 

Part Jumanji part Dungeons and Dragons, this book is an intricate mix of the two. He learns, after buying the game, that it was owned by a girl who went missing in the 80’s. After gathering his group of friends and playing, he becomes obsessed with not only the game, but the character that the missing girl left behind, and eventually begins seeing a shadow that he can’t quite shake.

 

The book switches between his real life, in 2017, and the game, following their characters. That is, until they get sucked into the game. And I don’t mean that the game is just really interesting. One night after he wakes up from a bad nightmare, he stumbles into his closet to find the missing girl herself, who hasn’t aged a day, locked behind bars asking for his help to find the missing key. That’s when things really start to get interesting.

 

I really enjoyed this book, and it’s a lot different than the other’s that I’ve read lately, even though I know I say that a lot, I can’t say that I’ve read anything like this. Although the characters are much younger than myself, they act mostly like adults, and I didn’t feel like I was too old to be reading it. My favourite character was probably Tira, because she’s so small and smart. The world they’re in was really interesting to learn about, because I do like playing games like the one in the book. The book is a race against the clock to get out of the game before they become trapped for years, like the missing girl.

 

Overall, I think the lesson of this book is to not buy old board games at garage sales. Just kidding, but wouldn’t that be crazy? All this book made me want to do, is sit down and play D&D with my family. I’ll definitely be checking out more from the author, seeing as I’ve loved all the books I’ve read so far, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me next. Definitely check it out if you like action packed fantasy stories with child characters. The book is available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter.

 

Thanks for reading!

Machine City (Detective Barnes #2) by Scott J. Holliday Review

Machine City (Detective Barnes #2) by Scott J. Holliday 5/5 Stars 300 pages
Published October 16th 2018 by Thomas & Mercer

When I saw that this book was coming out, I knew I had to read it. I was really excited, because I absolutely loved the first book. While this one is different, I’d like to think it’s just as good but in a different way. Not as violent but still action packed and mysterious. I’m glad to get to know John Barnes all over again.

This time, there’s a missing girl. John Barnes is now a former homicide detective, married with a child, working as a construction worker. He’s been surgically repaired after the events of the last book, and the voices in his head have gone quiet for quite a while now. He has a son named Richard. It’s been six years since the last book.

His new life is rocked, however, when three police officers show up on his doorstep to give him an envelope and ask him to come back on the now outlawed machine, as a favour. Of course, he’s reluctant at first. But then he goes to get a pizza, and gets wrapped back up in it all once again. His wife isn’t happy. It messed his head up bad last time, and she doesn’t want to have to go through that again. But he knows what he has to do will probably save the missing girl and everyone surrounding her.

Desperate to finish an old scavenger hunt from his brother, he begins to unravel things in the world he didn’t know were possible. A monster, dressed as a man. He begins hearing a strange new voice, who only pushes him to go on the machine more and more, to figure out the mystery. And I loved every single page of it.

The characters are amazing, and they always have been. That’s not something that has changed. What has changed, however, is that they’re not looking for a serial killer this time. No more going into victims minds, hunting down the person that killed them. This time, he’s searching for a live victim. The story itself was breathtaking, and I couldn’t put it down once I started it. It’s everything I wanted it to be and more. I could really clearly see the surroundings they were in, and that’s always something I enjoy.

Overall I absolutely loved this book, and I can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next. I know that this is probably the end of this series, but it definitely makes me want to check out the other books by the same author. If you love exciting and dark mysteries that suck you in immediately, you’re going to love this book. While I don’t think you absolutely have to read the first book to understand this one, I think you’ll definitely enjoy this book more if you do. It’s available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter.

 

Thanks for reading!