Review Take Two & Giveaway: Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff

Title: Kinslayer
Author: Jay Kristoff
Genre: steampunk, fantasy
Series: The Lotus War #2
Pages: 448 (ARC edition)
Published: September 17, 2013
Source: Forwarded to me from Jessie
Rating: 4.5/5

A SHATTERED EMPIRE
The mad Shōgun Yoritomo has been assassinated by the Stormdancer Yukiko, and the threat of civil war looms over the Shima Imperium. The Lotus Guild conspires to renew the nation’s broken dynasty and crush the growing rebellion simultaneously – by endorsing a new Shōgun who desires nothing more than to see Yukiko dead.

A DARK LEGACY
Yukiko and the mighty thunder tiger Buruu have been cast in the role of heroes by the Kagé rebellion. But Yukiko herself is blinded by rage over her father’s death, and her ability to hear the thoughts of beasts is swelling beyond her power to control. Along with Buruu, Yukiko’s anchor is Kin, the rebel Guildsman who helped her escape from Yoritomo’s clutches. But Kin has his own secrets, and is haunted by visions of a future he’d rather die than see realized.

A GATHERING STORM
Kagé assassins lurk within the Shōgun’s palace, plotting to end the new dynasty before it begins. A waif from Kigen’s gutters begins a friendship that could undo the entire empire. A new enemy gathers its strength, readying to push the fracturing Shima imperium into a war it cannot hope to survive. And across raging oceans, amongst islands of black glass, Yukiko and Buruu will face foes no katana or talon can defeat.

The ghosts of a blood-stained past.

Reviewed by Danielle. 
Remember how I struggled with Stormdancer? How I was tortured between my love of Yukiko and Buruu and my very real concerns with racist and sexist content? Well I’m happy to say that the only struggle with Kinslayer is putting into words what a forward leap I find it.

There are still a lot of -sans and -samas and at least one saraimen, but I didn’t see a single aiya or closed fist bow. I think Kristoff really listened to the criticism of the first book. The time period still seems to be an interesting mash-up of Europe’s industrial revolution, Edo Period Japan, (which did overlap, but the gaijin technology seems more early 1800s, while the Shima culture is more 1600s,) and early 1900s Yakuza. (Again, they existed in the Edo Period, but the torture was more reminiscent of the Russian Mafia from the 1920s.) I can see how, especially in a long term war environment, a culture could stagnate a bit while weapon technology advanced, but I found most of the mob scenes incongruous because they invoke a time so far in the future.

Split between four locations with alternating points of view, Kinslayer introduces and reintroduces a bevy of interesting characters, beyond Yukiko and Buruu. They’re still here, of course, but their journey is almost secondary to the intrigue going on in Kigen.

This time around, Yukiko and Buruu fly off to find a way to deal with Yukiko’s growing psychic powers. There’s one hell of a scene at an abbey and an unlikely meet-up on an island of black glass, but their chapters will be remembered for the bombshell dropped. It’s not a twist I saw coming, or even particularly like, (OK, I hate it,) but it’s sure to have fans talking. Strangely, despite the book being seemingly named for Buruu’s mysterious past, we never learn more than is given in the blurb. Together he and Yukiko only get about a half dozen chapters and they remain disconnected from the main story.

Speaking of, Kigen is in turmoil from the death of the emperor and there are a lot of people capitalizing on that. The four clans are coming just shy of war, as no heir to Yoritomo is available. This allows the Lotus Guild to really take control through a figurehead, which is kind of the opposite of what Yukiko was going for.

Michi has remained in the palace and manages to continue being the most compelling character for me, while being completely under guard. The glimpses into her past give a very good, realistic direction to where her character has ended up. She remains fiercely strong and unrepentantly ass-kicking. When you’re done with “that scene”, message me so we can flail together.

Michi is also connected to our main new character, No One, a new Kagé spy inspired by the Stormdancer’s speech. She risks everything, especially if the Lotus Guild finds her, to help Michi and the other rebels. She’s a bit one note at times and her big reveal left me scratching my head, but her backstory was super compelling and she gets one big, kick ass moment that left me cheering.

Exploring themes of family and love, along with anger and revenge, all of the characters are struggling to find their footing in this new empire. Some regress and some push forward, but no one’s making easy choices. As the stage is set for an explosive series finale, I don’t expect we’ll ever see easy again.

Kinslayer is an impactful story that wrung the emotions out of me. It’s a rare sequel that surpasses the first book and really tries to course correct. Kristoff still hasn’t met a noun that he doesn’t want to attach an adjective, (or two,) to, but it’s no longer repetitive. The world building is cleaner, battles are bigger, and its heart, more breaking. I truly recommend.

And since Jessie was kind enough to pass her ARC copy on to me, we’re paying it forward and sending it to one of you.

• US Addresses only.
• Contest closes October 11, 2013.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bookish Arrivals

So, as I do periodically, I went a bit book crazy these last few weeks. Here are all the ones I bought (plus one ARC sent for a blog tour):

ROSE UNDER FIRE! by Elizabeth Wein. Out of everthing I got, and there are some highly-coveted books herein, none was more coveted than RUF. Even Bitterblue doesn't compare. I loved Code Name Verity from my head to my toes so I have been waiting for this book since FEBRUARY. As soon as I can, this book is going down.

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfeld. This is for a readalong with Lyn of Great Imaginations and Pixie from the Bookaholic. I've heard the prose is lovely so I am pretty excited to start this soon.

BITTERBLUE by Kristin Cashore. I am also ridiculously excited for this. I love love love Graceling and, to a slightly lesser degree, Fire, so a return to this world (and PO) is more than welcome.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr. Over the last year, I've become quite the fan of Zarr's. While neither Sweethearts nor Story of a Girl has matched my love for How to Save a Life, I am still eager to see what this one has in store.

Relic by Renee Collins. Like I've said before, if you mention dragons, I'm pretty much dead set on reading your book.

The Shattering by Karen Healey.A book I found discounted on Amazon, I don't know much besides I liked the cover and synopsis enough to buy it purely on a whim.

The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman. My extreme love for the author's The Book of Blood and Shadow made this a must buy for me, even if I am not a fan of horror books without zombies in them. Reviews have been good, and I've been sneaking chapters when I can and I do think I will enjoy this.

Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas. I've already read this and holy moley this is a readable, compelling, utterly infuriating book. 

Five Flavors of Dumb by  Antony John. All I know about this is that a few friends have really liked it and the hardcover was on sale for less than $4.

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill. When I ordered this, it was a standalone. It's since morphed into a series and I am really not sure how I like that. 

Kinslayer (The Lotus War #2) by Jay Kristoff. I was lucky enough to get a print ARC of this earlier this summer so it's another I've already read (and reviewed.) And it is AWESOME.

 The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater. I utterly loved the first Raven Boys novel (it was my first Stiefvater, too!) so this is another highly anticipated read.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab. The hype around this is incredible. But hopefully, truthful. Another I wish I had two pairs of eyes for so I could read it while going about my daily life.

Steelheart (The Reckoners #1) by Brandon Sanderson. I loooooove Brandon Sanderson. He writes some of the best fantasies around (Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, etc.) and I am very interested to see what he does with this more modern novel.

Lastly, the ARC I was sent - The Color of Light by Helen Maryles Shankman. Thank you to TLC Tours for this one. And it is a hefty brick. Seriously, this book is big and weighty. But I am very much looking forward to reading it.


I also bought ebooks this morning. But first there was this:

 
Nook is having quite the sale. If you move quick enough, you can get all of these books at half off the regular ebook price. And those four books are:

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

 On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova—a man who hasn’t been seen in public for more than thirty years.

For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence. Though much has been written about Cordova’s dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself.

Driven by revenge, curiosity, and a need for the truth, McGrath, with the aid of two strangers, is drawn deeper and deeper into Cordova’s eerie, hypnotic world.

The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. This time he might lose even more.

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

Franny Banks is a struggling actress in New York City, with just six months left of the three year deadline she gave herself to succeed. But so far, all she has to show for her efforts is a single line in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters and a degrading waitressing job. She lives in Brooklyn with two roommates-Jane, her best friend from college, and Dan, a sci-fi writer, who is very definitely not boyfriend material-and is struggling with her feelings for a suspiciously charming guy in her acting class, all while trying to find a hair-product cocktail that actually works.

Meanwhile, she dreams of doing "important" work, but only ever seems to get auditions for dishwashing liquid and peanut butter commercials. It's hard to tell if she'll run out of time or money first, but either way, failure would mean facing the fact that she has absolutely no skills to make it in the real world. Her father wants her to come home and teach, her agent won't call her back, and her classmate Penelope, who seems supportive, might just turn out to be her toughest competition yet.

Someday, Someday, Maybe is a funny and charming debut about finding yourself, finding love, and, most difficult of all, finding an acting job.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship - and innocent love - that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel's dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice - words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

Margot by Jillian Cantor

 Anne Frank has long been a symbol of bravery and hope, but there were two sisters hidden in the annex, two young Jewish girls, one a cultural icon made famous by her published diary and the other, nearly forgotten.

In the spring of 1959, The Diary of Anne Frank has just come to the silver screen to great acclaim, and a young woman named Margie Franklin is working in Philadelphia as a secretary at a Jewish law firm. On the surface she lives a quiet life, but Margie has a secret: a life she once lived, a past and a religion she has denied, and a family and a country she left behind.

Margie Franklin is really Margot Frank, older sister of Anne, who did not die in Bergen-Belsen as reported, but who instead escaped the Nazis for America. But now, as her sister becomes a global icon, Margie’s carefully constructed American life begins to fall apart. A new relationship threatens to overtake the young love that sustained her during the war, and her past and present begin to collide. Margie is forced to come to terms with Margot, with the people she loved, and with a life swept up into the course of history.

So many books, so little time!

Review: Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff

Title: Kinslayer
Author: Jay Kristoff
Genre: fantasy, steampunk
Series: The Lotus War #2
Pages: 448 (ARC edition)
Published: September 17 2013
Source: received for review from publicist at Thomas Dunne Books
Rating: 5/5 (ALL THE AWESOME)

A SHATTERED EMPIRE
The mad Shōgun Yoritomo has been assassinated by the Stormdancer Yukiko, and the threat of civil war looms over the Shima Imperium. The Lotus Guild conspires to renew the nation’s broken dynasty and crush the growing rebellion simultaneously – by endorsing a new Shōgun who desires nothing more than to see Yukiko dead.

A DARK LEGACY
Yukiko and the mighty thunder tiger Buruu have been cast in the role of heroes by the Kagé rebellion. But Yukiko herself is blinded by rage over her father’s death, and her ability to hear the thoughts of beasts is swelling beyond her power to control. Along with Buruu, Yukiko’s anchor is Kin, the rebel Guildsman who helped her escape from Yoritomo’s clutches. But Kin has his own secrets, and is haunted by visions of a future he’d rather die than see realized.

A GATHERING STORM
Kagé assassins lurk within the Shōgun’s palace, plotting to end the new dynasty before it begins. A waif from Kigen’s gutters begins a friendship that could undo the entire empire. A new enemy gathers its strength, readying to push the fracturing Shima imperium into a war it cannot hope to survive. And across raging oceans, amongst islands of black glass, Yukiko and Buruu will face foes no katana or talon can defeat.

The ghosts of a blood-stained past.

Jay Kristoff:

• looks a lot like Dave Grohl
• has a lot of imagination
• a tendency to pull no punches
• the ability to craft a viable, complex, interesting world
• breaks my brain with every book he has written

Last year, Jay burst onto the scene with his steampunkian fantasy of an almost-Japan (here called the Shima Imperium) with his debut novel, Stormdancer. The hype began early, built over months of anticipation, and swelled to immense proportions before the book dropped. And when it did, Jay delivered -- Stormdancer was a tour de force of fantasy, steampunk, kickass characters, and rebellion. Immense in scope, in creativity, and filled with unforgettable writing, and complex, realistic characters, it exceeded my expectations in every way -- and they were HIGH.

I am here to tell you that Kinslayer, book two in this Lotus War series, is even better. You want more death, destruction, struggle? You got it, in spades. The scale is bigger, the stakes are higher, and this is an author that can, and does, improve on his already-impressive first book. If you liked what Kristoff had to offer in Stormdancer - chainsaw katanas, a fresh and inventive take on steampunk technology, an incredibly well-drawn world, betrayals, secrets, conspiracies, rebellion, action aplenty - then you'll love what he serves up for round two. The Lotus War is a story told on a grand scale and one that doesn't shy away from making readers flinch.

While in book one we were told, "the lotus must bloom", now the rebels have modified it to the more ominous, "the lotus must burn." This is a darker book. The lines have clearly been drawn and a civil war is on the brink. Yukiko wrestles with her role, with what she has done, and with what she will do. People die. People you like will die. People you like will surprise you -- and not always in a good way. The risks that Jay Kristoff takes with his plotting and characters more than pay off. He creates suspense with ease as well a genuine fear that no one -- and nothing -- is truly safe with Shima on the brink. He writes with a clear eye for the visual and a lot of the action scenes read cinematically. The detail is dense, the worldbuilding intricate and complete, and it all serves to create an Empire that feels dangerously real and frighteningly familiar.

Kinslayer is epic. It's an epic story with several major plotlines across an empire; there's Yukiko and Buruu going about doing what they do (no spoilers!), there's the Kagé stronghold in the mountains, and there are the subversives hiding in Kigen city, waiting for a chance to hit back at the authorities. Widening the focus of the story allows for more prominent characters than just Yukiko and the antagonist of the soon-to-be-Emperor/Yukiko's former lover, Tora Hiro. Both Yukiko and Hiro play important parts, but they are mostly removed from the main action - Hiro through the dense administration system surrounding a clan Daimyo, and Yukiko through her own struggles to rectify what has happened to her life in the previous novel. Buruu remains a key participant in Yukiko's storyline, and remains one of the best animal characters to ever grace a page. However, even he is full of surprises as the hundreds of pages race by.

We've met Michi before as a minor character, but here in Kinslayer, she gets the time and pages to shine. Her storyline is taut, full of deception and suspense. While Yukiko has spearheaded the fight against the Guild and the Emperor, Michi is in the trenches (credit for that line goes to the lovely Christina at Reader of Fictions!) fighting however and whoever it takes to win. She emerges as a major player and easily surpassed Yukiko in my affections, due to her pragmatic and bad ass approach. Hana, another newcomer with more to her than meets the eye, also more than proves her worth. Between her characterization and Michi's, it's obvious there is more than one strong, dangerous woman in Shima. Yukiko may be the Arashi-no-odoriko, but these two women are capable, smart, cunning, and each play pivotal parts in all that plays out in the pages. While most of my appreciation, character-wise, is for these two newish characters, older and more familiar faces continue to operate in various functions. Akihito, Kin, Kaori, etc. all are prominent and important, but do lack the liveliness of Michi and Hana's storylines.

Though there are clearly the good guys and the bad guys, Kristoff creates a cast that is not black and white. Yukiko is the heroine, but not everything she does is heroic, or even right. The Kagé are the good side, compared the power-hungry Guild and the omnivorous Empire, but not all of its members are truly good people. Similarly, the people that surround Hiro, the book's clear antagonist and foil for Yukiko, are not all evil power despots. The shades of grey that the author imbues into his characters make them all more realistic, more complex, and thus, interesting. Clearly the most sympathy will lie with the Kagé and their struggle to topple a corrupt government, but I appreciated how deftly Kristoff handled the creation the characters on all sides of the conflict. I always say I want a complex antagonist over a one-dimensional psychopath, and that a conflicted heroine is better than a perfect paragon, and I am proved right by the layers each of these two key characters possess. I may not like either of them too much, but I can understand where both are coming from and what they hope to gain.

The worldbuilding is truly some of the best I have ever read in the fantasy genre. It's on par with series that have taken twice as many volumes to create their version of Earth. In just two books, Jay Kristoff has created a viable, deadly, believable world. He has shown how a once-prosperous country can find itself on the verge of failure. From the mythology to the government, there is more than enough detail to flesh out the culture of the Shima Imperium to a reader's satisfaction. No stone has gone unturned, no idea unexplored. New cultures are shown, and new ideas are explored. Above all, Kinslayer never stagnates or dawdles. While the steampunk technology is less featured here (exception: Earthcrusher, clockwork arm!), it retains its originality, usefulness, and flair. Jay proves that less is more and doesn't oversaturate his plotline with nifty gadgets and chainsaw katanas. This isn't a version of steampunk featured on dirigibles and tea -- this is steampunk focused on war, domination, and destruction. And it. is. AWESOME. 

Kinslayer is a book with everything you could hope for in steampunk fantasy with arashitora and sea dragons. It's packed to the brim with action, drama, and suspense. It takes characters we know and changes them, makes them evolve and hopefully grow. It proves that in war, no one is safe and anyone can betray you.  It shows all sides of a conflict and doesn't flinch from murdering off favorite, beloved characters. It's a brash, loud, completely fun read. It's dense, and detailed, and still the pages fly by. If you want originality, or an inventive fantasy, or a book that combines dire straits with a dash of humor, or all of the above, this is the book you want to read. This is one of my favorite books of EVER, and I will be rereading it for years to come.

My only worry is how Jay Kristoff will manage to top this.

--And when I can get a copy of the third book.

Review: Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

Title: Stormdancer
Author: Jay Kristoff
Genre: steampunk, fantasy
Series: The Lotus War #1
Pages: 451
Published: September 1, 2012
Source: Purchased
Rating: 3.5/5

Griffins are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her warrior father Masaru are sent to capture one for the Shogun, they fear that their lives are over. Everyone knows what happens to those who fail him, no matter how hopeless the task.
But the mission proves far less impossible, and far more deadly, than anyone expects – and soon Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in her country's last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled griffin for company. But trapped together in the forest, Yukiko and Buruu soon discover a friendship that neither of them expected.
Meanwhile, the country around them verges on the brink of collapse. A toxic fuel is slowly choking the land; the omnipotent, machine-powered Lotus Guild is publicly burning those they deem Impure; and the Shogun cares about nothing but his own dominion. Yukiko has always been uneasy in the shadow of power, when she learns the awful truth of what the Shogun has done, both to her country and to her own family she's determined to do something about it.
Returning to the city, Yukiko and Buruu plan to make the Shogun pay for his crimes – but what can one girl and a flightless griffin do against the might of an empire?

Reviewed by Danielle. 

It’s not often that a steamfantasty set anywhere other than Industrial Revolution London comes along, but Jay Kristoff has stepped out of the box with the story of Yukiko, a sixteen year old girl in a feudal-esque Japan-inspired world where griffins, demons, and all manner of mystical creatures have died out. That is, until the Shogun dreams of a thunder-tiger and sends our heroine, along with her dad, his girlfriend, and his heavy, to capture him a mythological beast. And that’s when everything goes, (even further,) to hell.

Picking a score for this book is extremely hard. I liked the plotline and the main characters, Yukiko and Buruu. In fact, I really liked most of the characters. I liked Aisha and Michi and their alternate view of female strength. I liked Kin, a character made of contradictions. I didn’t like Hiro, but are we even supposed to like that cardboard cutout? And so, I spent the entire book utterly torn between enjoying Yukiko’s growth and strength and being horrified at some of the problems I’ve detailed a little later on.

Again, I thought Yukiko was awesome and Burruu, the best. Every scene with them together made it very hard for me to stay mad at the book. I thought Kristoff did a really good job of exploring their growing bond and how they temper and change each other. I loved the scenes at the palace and the final battles. I loved the flashbacks to Yukiko’s childhood and the reveal of her talent. I thought the ending was phenomenally done, with a scene I’m not ashamed to say made me emotional. So it’s with definite sadness that I say, it’s all marred by the fact that the book is racist, sexist, and inexpertly written. I don’t think it’s malicious, but it’s definitely problematic.

It’s poorly researched, with modern loanwords like salarimen between Edo period-inspired samurais and Chinese phrases and bows. The fact that the author said in an interview that his research consists of manga and wikipedia is readily apparent. (Source.) There’s a lot of leeway to be given in alternate history/steampunk stories, but especially given the way Westerners invalidate East Asia’s culture by confusing China and Japan’s, (and Korea and Thailand and Lao’s...) histories, it’s impossible for me to ignore the racist implications.

The author’s descriptions of the female characters are almost fetish-y, emphasising their “exoticness” in descriptions of their “hooded, almond-shaped” eyes and “midnight-black [hair] against pale, smooth skin”. It’s never more apparent than the awful bath scene. Not content to just be a recreation of an 80’s teen farce, it takes an otherwise strong character, removes all of her agency, and actually shifts the narration to a man literally gazing on her body via peep hole. It’s like if Porky’s was actually about the girls in the shower trying to get into ivy-league colleges, only to keep the famous peeping scene exactly as filmed.

The author gets stuck on a turn of phrase. “Blue-black smoke” is used four times in the first ten pages and twenty-one times over the entirety of the novel. Likewise, “aiya”, which isn’t even Japanese, is used thirteen times and there are twenty-three covered-fist bows. (Again, that’s associated with Chinese martial arts, not Japanese.) 

It’s okay to like problematic books, but you have to acknowledge where they go wrong. I like Stormdancer. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy it, too. I’m very interested in continuing the adventures of the Arashi-no-ko and her brother. I’m just hopeful that by the time I get to Kinslayer, Kristoff has worked out some of his debut kinks. And invested in a history textbook.

Added This Week and eBook deals!

I've been doing pretty well on my no-book-buying moratorium, but with the package I got in the mail today, I coudn't resist an Added This Week post!

In my mail today was...

 

a signed ARC of Stormdancer, UK edition!

In case you've not heard of this much-anticipated japanese-inspired steampunk, here's more info (and the US cover, cause it's bitchin' too!)

Stormdancer  by Jay Kristoff   (The Lotus War, Book One)

A DYING LAND
The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, the land is choked with toxic pollution, and the great spirit animals that once roamed its wilds have departed forever.

AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST
The hunters of Shima's imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger – a legendary creature, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows the beasts have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.

A HIDDEN GIFT
Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a talent that if discovered, would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, she finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her.

But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire.

And now onto the Nook/Kindle books on sale!

Hourglass by Myra McEntire (Hourglass #1) - only $1.59 for Nook and Kindles!

One hour to rewrite the past . . .

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Full of atmosphere, mystery, and romance, Hourglass merges the very best of the paranormal and science-fiction genres in a seductive, remarkable young adult debut.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (Anna #1) - only $2.99 for Nook and Kindle!

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

I don't know how long these prices will last, so be sure to grab them (and add Stormdancer to your TBR!) ASAP!