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Enter the Dragon – Interview with Samantha Shannon

There was never a single eureka moment for this book, as there was with The Bone Season – it was a few different ideas coming together over twenty years. I can trace the thread of inspiration right the way back to my fifth birthday, when I first saw Dragonheart. That film sparked a lifelong love…
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Our favourite magical books! Laini Taylor’s Lips Touch

We love a good magical haunting story to give us goosebumps here in Cinders! Here are a few of our favourite mystical, dreamlike reads to curl up with for November! Lips Touch by Laini Taylor Laini Taylor writes magical stories so well she may actually be magic herself. Lips Touch Three times is one…
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Autumn Books Preview: Outrun the Wind by Elizabeth Tammi

Do you like myths? Fantasy? Ancient Greeks? Love stories? Then Outrun the Wind is the book for you. Taking us on a breakneck tour of some of the most famous Greek gods and their domain Outrun the Wind tells the story of two girls who find themselves in debt to two of the most ruthless…
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Three fantasy novels you don’t want to miss: Albert, Cogman, and Mostyn

The Hazel Wood By Melissa Albert Was the original Alice in Wonderland a little too tame for your taste? Are the Grimm Brothers not dark enough for you? Are you hungering for something a little creepier in your childhood fantasy heroines? Then by all means pick up a copy of The Hazel Wood by…
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Coping with the future – an interview with Stefanie Preissner

Stefanie Preissner is not a new name to the Irish writing scene, but is one that’s getting called all the more frequently. Through her work in theatre, her critcally acclaimed series, Can’t Cope Won’t Cope and her new book, Stefanie Preissner has gone from ‘one to watch’ to someone we’re all watching closely. We sat…
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Re-reading Ursula Le Guin

Cinders Editor Méabh McDonnell can list five books that changed her life, Ursula Le Guin’s Very Far Away from Anywhere Else is one of them. To mark Ursula K. Le Guin’s death earlier this year, she talks about how her books affected her. “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it…
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Recommended reading: Katherine Arden, Image Comics, Ursula, K. Le Guin

The Girl in the Tower By Katherine Arden The Girl in the Tower is the sequel to the amazing Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. We reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale in Cinders Says in our very first issue, and we were delighted with the dark, wintery Russian fairy tale. The story continues…
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Book Review- Not if I save you First by Ally Carter

How many times have you thought – life as a secret service agent must be fun? Many? Me too. Well, Maddie Manchester knows exactly what it’s like. Because her father was one. He isn’t anymore, because, well, that’s what happens when your father takes a bullet for the president. He tends to re-think his priorities…
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Recommended reading: Mary HK Choi, Jaime Questell, Catherynne M. Valente
Emergecy Contact by Mary H.K. Choi Emergecy Contact by Mary H.K. Choi is an absolute joy. Calling it a love story seems wrong, it’s more like a friendship story of two people who fall in love. And I enjoyed it so very much. Penny is an aspiring writer in her first year of college…
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Recommended reads: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Fans have waited eagerly for Holly Black’s return to the realms of Faerie and the fae and The Cruel Prince doesn’t disappoint. Holly Black rightfully retains her crown as the Faerie queen in this new beginning to a trilogy that presents a faerieland that is just as bloodthirsty and cruel as we remember. Jude is…