Review of Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin

An enchanting tale of courage and sacrifice for young readers and adults by the wildly popular George R.R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, the series that inspired HBO's Emmy Award-winning GAME OF THRONES.

Lavish illustrations by acclaimed artist Luis Royo enrich this captivating and heartwarming story of a young girl and her dragon.

In the world of A Song of Ice and Fire the ice dragon was a creature of legend and fear, for no man had ever tamed one. When it flew overhead, it left in its wake desolate cold and frozen land. But Adara was not afraid. For Adara was a winter child, born during the worst freeze that anyone, even the Old Ones, could remember.

Adara could not remember the first time she had seen the ice dragon. It seemed that it had always been in her life, glimpsed from afar as she played in the frigid snow long after the other children had fled the cold. In her fourth year she touched it, and in her fifth year she rode upon its broad, chilled back for the first time. Then, in her seventh year, on a calm summer day, fiery dragons from the North swooped down upon the peaceful farm that was Adara's home.

And only a winter child-and the ice dragon who loved her-could save her world from utter destruction. 

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This is a beautiful little story, it's a short story and could be finished in one sitting. The illustration in this book are also absolutely stunning. It's also a way to get a glimpse into the Song of Ice and Fire without having to commit to the massively long books and tv series. Both I'm sure are absolutely excellent, however personally I think I'm going to wait for George R.R. Martin to finish the series and then buy a box set. I give this book 4.5/5 diamonds

 

Review of Sandy Meredith's A Death in Custody

Blood on the Streets as a Town Explodes' boomed the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald one winter's morning in 1987. Heavily armed police had been dispatched to quell a 'race riot' in a northern New South Wales town after yet another young Aboriginal man had died in police custody. Intent on learning the real story behind the headlines, Lou Williams, aspiring investigative journalist, goes north. Each character she meets -- country and western singers, community elders, militants and mechanics -- give her a fragment of the truth. In 'a death in custody' these fragments combine into a mosaic stained with entrenched and deadly racism.


This story is a fictional account of events that ignited anger, suspicion and outrage across Australia, and that led to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody which investigated the deaths of 99 Aboriginals in police custody in the 1980s. Little has changed since then.

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Where do I start, this book has a really important message in it about racism and the unfair treatment of Aboriginals. A problem not unique to Australia. My problem with this book is Lou the main character. I really couldn't relate to this girl, who seemed to be this bipolar, chain smoking alcoholic. Lou's point of view made it really hard to get through this book. I can't tell you how many times I face palmed because this girl was such an idiot. Through the voices of the other characters the author dumps a lot of important facts surrounding Aboriginals in the 80s.  However since I found it not to be focused the message got lost and for me this book read more like an essay than a work of fiction. I would recommend this book for those who are interested in knowing about Aboriginal situation in Australia in the 80s. 3/5 diamonds

Review of Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer's Between the Lines

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.
And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

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Wow what a great premise and something all us book nerds have always dreamed about. I'm sure that all of you reading this right now have at least one book on your shelves where you wished that you could speak to one of the characters inside. This book is fun, heartwarming and funny and is a must read before picking up Beyond the Page, which has gotten a lot of buzz in the BookTube community. Picking this book before Beyond the Page you get a better understanding of the main characters and I find that it helped me to get through some bits of Beyond the Page, I'll write more on that when I write my review on Beyond the Page. I give this book 4.5/5 diamonds

August Wrap up

This month I was able to read a total of 5 books. This month for some reason I read a variety of different genres. I started the month with the companion novel to Between the Lines. I really liked this book but not as much as I liked Between the Lines, as will be explaining all my thoughts for this book and all the other books in my wrap up via book review on this blog really soon. Stay tune every Thursdays for a new blog post. 

 

The next book I read was another Janni Lee Simner novel. I like this book like I liked her Faery bones series. This is a stand alone that takes it influences from Icelandic myths.

  

 The next book I pick up was Ann Brashares book My name is Memory. Wow all the feels gets from this book. Wow that's all I can say for now. 

The next two books I decided to pick up since I was feeling like reading about faeries or fey as they are referred to in Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey saga. Good book however the number of times I just wanted to smack the main female character for her plain stupidity was legendary.