Tag: ARC

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

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Title: Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Author: Emma Törzs
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Törzs’s debut shows real promise as she introduces a fascinating world of book magic, three unique central characters, and realistic, conflicted relationships in which well-meaning people who care about each other still struggle to find the right way forward.

I love the intricacies of the magic in the story, and how the magic ties in to the conflicts between the characters — especially the complicated family relationships that Joanna, Esther, and Nicholas grapple with as they try to understand and deal with what’s happening around them. The book doesn’t entirely work for me, though: It has uneven pacing (taking about 20% of the book to really get moving and veering into extensive backstory just at the climax near the end), at least one obvious magical inconsistency, and leaves me more invested in Nicholas than the two title sisters. I also wasn’t too surprised by the way things played out, including the motivations for various characters’ actions that were revealed and explained at the end.

That said, I’m willing to forgive a debut novel for issues like pacing when it can deliver such interesting world building, believable relationships, and a magical system that feels new, and I look forward to how Törzs develops her storytelling in future books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cornerstone (Penguin Random House) for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Ink Blood Sister Scribe comes out on July 6, 2023.

The Forgotten Promise by Paula Greenlees

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Title: The Forgotten Promise
Author: Paula Greenlees
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Historical
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I was very drawn in by the premise of this book: Best friends Ella and Noor make a promise to always be close, but as they grow up they are separated by class and then further by World War II arriving to Malaysia (then British Malaya), as Ella flees with her son to England while her husband puts their daughter into Noor’s care. Sadly, just as Ella and Noor had trouble keeping their promise to each other, I felt that the story had trouble delivering on the promises it made to me.

It felt like almost everyone in the story was, to some extent, just a sketch or a stand-in for anyone who might find themselves in that particular situation, defined primarily by their backgrounds, hobbies, or jobs rather than unique character traits. I was thoroughly captivated by the history, and Greenlees made me care and even do further research about the people and events in Malaysia before, during, and after the war— if you are primarily interested in seeing depictions of what it may have been like for people and especially women at the time, this book really delivers. It also kept me curious about what would happen, but as it wrapped up, I was disappointed by how little Noor appeared on the page and how little I felt about how Ella’s story ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cornerstone (Penguin Random House) for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The Forgotten Promise comes out on December 29, 2022.