The Map Shop

  Special thanks to NetGalley for a copy. I'm an affiliate with Z Publishing House. See the bottom of this post for more information. Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen is the first in a new YA series being published by Tor Teen. This book will become available on May 7th, 2019. Jensen is also the author of the Malediction Trilogy and The Bridge Kingdom series.  Dark Shores is a fantasy based on Ancient Rome and the Aztec Empire (possibly, it's unclear which culture inspired this second empire so I have to guess on this part based on location and some little cultural hints that I could be getting completely wrong). There are some trigger warnings for torture, murder, war. Dark Shores follows Teriana, a seventeen year old second mate of a seafaring, merchant society called the Maarin, and Marcus, the Legatus of the Thirty-Seventh Legion who is known for his strategies in battle as well as his ruthlessness as they are threatened and blackmailed by a power hungry se...

 Special thanks to NetGalley for a copy. I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. See the bottom of this post for more information. Wicked Saints is the first in the Something Dark and Holy series by Emily Duncan. She has her worked published in Crows on Heartstrings: An Anthology of Doomed Love Stories but Wicked Saints is her first novel. Published by Wednesday Books, it was released on April 2nd. Wicked Saints follows Nadya, a girl who can speak to the gods and use their power, as she teams up with two refugees and a boy who everyone calls a monster in order to end a three centuries-long holy war by assassinating the enemy king. Meanwhile, the High Prince Serefine is called home from the war to choose a wife and possibly die. This book is marketed as an instant New York Times bestseller, and is often described as a Six of Crows type story. This book . . . frustrated me. I liked most of the characters, the concept was good, and the idea of the blood magic an...