Cinders Zine

Category: Reviews

  • Book Review – The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson

    Book Review – The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson

    The Wren Hunt, you might have heard of it? Or the Wren Boys? If you’re from outside of Ireland you probably won’t have – and even if you’re living in Ireland, the chances are slim… They’re boy’s who hunt the wren the day after Christmas. Nowadays the wren boys chant and sing and parade through…

  • Book Review- Not if I save you First by Ally Carter

    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…

  • Recommended reads: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

    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…

  • Recommended Reads: Frances Hardinge, Seanan Maguire, Joanne M Harris

    A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge Following on from the success of The Lie Tree, A Skinful of Shadows is Frances Hardinge’s next big hit. A Skinful of Shadows is a dark YA historical fantasy set in the early part of the English Civil War. Makepeace is an illegitimate daughter of the aristocratic Fellmotte…

  • Book Review- The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss

    Book Review- The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss

    Monsters, mysteries and mayhem! Right out of a penny dreadful, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is a fun, enjoyable romp through the Victorian classics with a feminist twist. Take Dr Jekyll’s daughter, Mr Hyde’s daughter, Frankenstein’s daughter, a poisoner’s daughter, and an intelligent cat woman, put them all together and you get The…

  • Book Review: The Extinction Trials by SM Wilson

    The Extinction Trials have been hailed as ‘Jurassic Park’ meets ‘The Hunger Games’ and that phrase definitely rings true, however the bell might sound a bit too loudly. Stormchaser Knox is a young woman who lives in a world that is ravaged by disease and poverty, over which part of it has been taken over…

  • Book Review: Owning It by Caroline Foran

    Caroline Foran’s Owning It has swept onto our shelves and excited new readers. Anxiety is something that we are all familiar with, whether in ourselves or in another person’s point of view. Anxiety has a place in our world now and it’s very welcome to have a book from someone who has experienced it for…

  • Best books of 2017 part two

      The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo Leigh Bardugo is a perennial favourite of ours in Cinders, we really enjoyed her Six of Crows series and her recent Wonder Woman story Warbringer has been hailed as one of the best ever renditions of Diana of Thymiscera. The Language of Thorns however is somehting different, …

  • Best books of 2017 part one

    Turtles all the way down by John Green You’d have to be living under a large and leafy rock not to know that John Green (of Fault in our Stars and Vlogbrothers fame) has released a new book this October. Turtles all the Way Down is the newest volume about an unusual girl trying to…

  • What we’re reading: Stephanie Garber, Sara Pascoe, Jane Austen, and Jo Baker

    What we’re reading: Stephanie Garber, Sara Pascoe, Jane Austen, and Jo Baker

    Caraval by Stephanie Garber Caraval is a book that has been all over my ‘recommended reads’ lists for months now. I finally picked up a copy to see what all of the hype was about. Billed as being similar to Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus Caraval tells the story of two sisters who are invited…