Dinara Tengri

First, an announcement. Our special Silent Fear Halloween giveaway is now over , and we have picked our winners. Well, Rafflecopter's picked our winners. Your names will remain anonymous, of course, but we will be contacting you very soon (like, right after I finish writing this post).  It's Halloween, and instead of trying on my new costume for the upcoming Halloween party, I'm drinking cough medicine, and chewing on breath mints like they were... well, breath mints.  Being sick sucks, especially when you had your whole week planned out down to the littlest detail.  But since there is nothing I can do about my physical state right now, I might as well make the best of my predicament and finish the second half of the latest book review double feature. Last week, I reviewed Udda Verklighet , literary debut of author Nene Ormes. It's an urban dark fantasy with elements of horror and romance. Since the book is written  isSwedish, I decided to wri...

Welcome to another round of 2017 Halloween Special!  Udda Verklighet is the literary debut of the Swedish author Nene Ormés. Published in 2010, this dark fantasy novel is the first in the De Sära series. What made this book so interesting to me was that it's about Malmö, my hometown. "Udda verklighet" is Swedish for "odd reality", but it's really a play on words, because Udda is also the name of the heroine. "De sära" is Swedish for "the special ones". And that concludes our crash course in Swedish, because I will be writing two reviews - one in Swedish, and one in English. Happy Halloween! Titel: Udda Verklighet (De Sära, #1) Författare: Nene Ormes Utgivningsdatum: 10.05.27. Förlag: Styxx I en dröm ser Udda en kvinna som flyr för sitt liv i spårområdet vid Malmö Central. I jakten efter sanningen bakom drömmen försvinner Uddas vän Daniel spårlöst och när Udda tvingar sig ner i gångarna under spårområdet för att leta ef...

Title: Among Others Author: Jo Walton Published in 2011 by Tor Books Source: Malmö city library  Startling, unusual, and yet irresistibly readable, Among Others is at once the compelling story of a young woman struggling to escape a troubled childhood, a brilliant diary of first encounters with the great novels of modern fantasy and SF, and a spellbinding tale of escape from ancient enchantment. Raised by a half-mad mother who dabbled in magic, Morwenna Phelps found refuge in two worlds. As a child growing up in Wales, she played among the spirits who made their homes in industrial ruins. But her mind found freedom and promise in the science fiction novels that were her closest companions. Then her mother tried to bend the spirits to dark ends, and Mori was forced to confront her in a magical battle that left her crippled--and her twin sister dead. Fleeing to her father whom she barely knew, Mori was sent to boarding school in England–a place all but devoid of true magic. T...

Title: Three Parts Dead (Craft Sequence, #1) Author: Max Gladstone Year of publishing: 2012 Published by: Tor Books Source: City Library  You can also read my review for Full Fathom Five (Craft Sequence, #3). A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart. Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot. Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith. When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of s...

Title: Phantom Eyes (Witch Eyes #3) Author: Scott Tracey Year of publishing: 2013 Published by: Flux Source: the Malmö city library. You can also read my reviews for the two first books in the series - Witch Eyes and Demon Eyes . Every child in Belle Dam is taught about the feud from an early age. There are ‘our’ people and ‘their’ people. Friends and enemies. Associates and strangers. It’s the kind of town where eyes are always watching, and you don’t need a reason to sell out your neighbors. But the feud is a lie. As a new wave of fury sweeps through the town, creating a third front to an already overtaxed war, Braden has been broken worse than ever. His innocence? Shattered. His heart? Crushed. His magic? Gone. His new life? Ruined. And this is only the beginning. Beneath the city lay deep wellsprings of power. The one who controls them is the one who will win the feud. In a city filled with puppet masters, Braden must elude their strings and end the feud once and for al...

Who's up for some magic? Because today, I'm reviewing Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , the latest film set in the Harry Potter Universe. I went to see Fantastic Beasts last night with some friends from school, and I just had to give my two cents about it. This review is going to be completely, one hundred percent spoiler free, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, you have nothing to worry about. Fantastic Beasts is set seventy years prior to the events in the Harry Potter books/movies, but it's not a prequel . Oh, no, this movie is doing its own thing. Aside from a few hints and references, the story in this movie has no connection to Harry Potter whatsoever. I did not have to re-watch any of the Harry Potter movies in order to enjoy Fantastic Beasts , and that is the first good thing I have to say about this movie. In this movie we follow a young wizard by the name of Newt Scamander , played by the one and only Eddie Redmayne, who travels from London ...

Last night, I went to see   Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children , with my student. In the ideal world, I would have read the book before I went to see the movie, but what are you gonna do?  The best thing I can say about Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is that it got me a little curious about its source material. That, and the visuals are stunning. It's a beautiful film with very good CGI. A real treat. But in my experience, a film will not have a lasting impact on me simply because it's beautiful. And it's not that difficult to create great visuals with today's technology, so it's not that much of an achievement. Any movie, be it fantasy or drama, has to have a good story in order to have a lasting impact, and I'm already beginning to forget some parts of this movie. Like I said, I haven't read the book, so I don't know if it suffers from the same problems as the movie. I certainly hope not. The movie follows a t...

Title: Daughter of Deaths (The Scythe Wielder's Secret, #3) Author: Christopher Mannino Publisher: Muse it up Publishing The wait is (almost) over! Daughter of Deaths - the final chapter in the Susan Sarnio saga is coming out on e-book on September 20th , so be sure to check out this page on said day for some delicious details. I received an advanced copy of DoD (that's the abbreviation I'm going with from now on) from the author, in exchange for an honest review. As much as I loved the first two books, this won't affect this review. You can also read my reviews of the first two books - School of Deaths and Sword of Deaths - as well as my interview with the author, Christopher Mannino. SPOILER ALERT if you haven't read the second book, Sword of Deaths. Two years ago, Susan Sarnio was brought to the World of Deaths. Fighting sexism and bullying, the first female Death helped reinvent the College. Now, her friends journey deep into the heart of ene...

So last week, I was going to post a new book review... and then I went down with a bad case of flu. A couple of sleepless nights later, and all I have to show for is yet another top ten list. Well, that's not entirely true. My scheduled review for Isaac Asimov's short story, The Last Question is almost finished, and I'm planning on posting it sometime this week.   For now, a Top Ten Tuesday will do. It's a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish . And this week, I'm going with my own topic, and listing ten book series that I want to finish (someday). Some of the books in the series I've already reviewed, and you'll find the links to those reviews down below.      1. Newbury and Hobbs , by George Mann Still waiting for that fifth book - The Revenant Express, to arrive. The last book ended on a cliffhanger, and this one is supposed to take place in Siberia (change of scenery), so there's a lot to look f...