Tuesday 2 July 2013

Bite Size Books (5): The Queen's Army, The Humans: An A-Z and Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale


The Queen’s Army – Marissa Meyer

Pages: 29
Publisher: Tor.com
Release Date: 20th November 2012
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1.5
Edition: e-novella, purchased

Synopsis
It is time. The boy must leave his family to serve in the Queen’s army. To be chosen is an honour. To decline is impossible. The boy is modified. He is trained for several years, and learns to fight to the death. He proves to the Queen – and to himself – that he is capable of evil. He is just the kind of soldier the Queen wants: the alpha of his pack.

Mini-review
The Lunar Chronicles has quickly became one of my favourite series’ so I was really pleased to find out that Marissa Meyer had written another e-novella for it. I loved getting some background into the Lunars and learning more about Queen Levana’s dastardly plans. It really shone some light onto the thurmaturges that pop up in Scarlet and a few characters in particular (one that made me squeak with surprise) play a fairly big role both in Scarlet and The Queen’s Army...

I developed a surprising amount of sympathy for Levana’s soldiers and I get to see more about them in Cress now I know the horrible lives they led on Luna before Levana plucked them out of their homes for her cause.

A fantastic taster of the awesomeness of this series. I’m really getting excited for Cress now!


The Humans: An A-Z – Matt Haig

Pages: 4
Publisher: Booktrust
Release Date: 30th May 2013
Series: The Humans
Edition: PDF, free download

Synopsis
An exclusive ‘DVD extra’ for to end his Booktrust residency blog posts, this list gives an alien visiting Earth the basic knowledge of what things mean down on this strange, strange planet.

Mini-review
This is a seriously short piece of writing and yet it completely delivers on style and humour. Matt Haig’s distinctive voice came through strongly and effectively. The emotion and confusion and awe of the human race came through immediately and I think that The Humans: An A-Z is the perfect introduction to a wonderful, wonderful book or a lovely thing for people in mourning once they’ve finished The Humans!

The Bane Chronicles 3: Vampires, Scones and Edmond Herondale – Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan

Pages: 40
Publisher: Walker
Release Date: 18th June 2013
Series: The Bane Chronicles #3
Edition: e-book, purchased

Synopsis
In Victorian London, Magnus Bane attends preliminary peace talks between Shadowhunters and Downworlders and is charmed by two very different people: Edmund Herondale, a young Shadowhunter, and a vampire called Camille Belcourt. Will winning hearts mean choosing sides?

Mini-review
I think this may be my favourite instalment of The Bane Chronicles yet! There was such a strong connection between the worlds and characters we’ve come to love in The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices. It was so cool to meet the descendents of characters I know and love at the setting up of the Accords. The way that the Shadowhunters treated the Downworlders was really awful and explain a lot of the hostility between the two in the series’.

My favourite element of Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale by far was how deep we went into Magnus’ need to help Will in The Infernal Devices and his attraction for Alec in The Mortal instruments as well. it made me so, so excited for City of Heavenly Fire – not that I wasn’t ridiculously excited (and terrified) for it before!

Sophie

1 comment:

  1. A Lunar Chronicles novella! I'm going to go and download it right this minute. I loved Cinder and Scarlet!
    Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale was fab, wasn't it? I loved getting to know Will's father and sat grinning whilst reading it. I loved it so much!

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