Review: The Unready Queen by William Ritter

The UnreadyQueen by William Ritter

Publisher & Release Date: Algonquin Young Readers

Type: Middle Grade Fantasy, 320 pages

Series: TheOddmire Book Two

Summary: Human and goblin brothers Cole and Tinn are finding their way back to normal after their journey to the heart of the Oddmire. Normal, unfortunately, wants nothing to do with them. Fable, the daughter of the Queen of the Deep Dark, has her first true friends in the brothers. The Queen allows Fable to visit Tinn and Cole as long as she promises to stay quiet and out of sight—concealing herself and her magic from the townspeople of Endsborough.

But when the trio discovers that humans are destroying the Wild Wood and the lives of its creatures for their own dark purposes, Fable cannot stay quiet. As the unspoken truce between the people of Endsborough and the inhabitants of the Wild Wood crumbles, violence escalates, threatening war and bringing Fable’s mother closer to the fulfillment of a deadly prophecy that could leave Fable a most Unready Queen.

My Review: 

I was invited to join the Blog Tour for this second book in the Oddmire series! I was given an advanced ebook for free in exchange for an honest review, just like last year for book one!

I was thrilled to be back in the Oddmire Forest with Cole, Tinn, and Fable! I fell in love with these characters in Changeling and couldn't wait to catch up on their latest adventures! I was particularly interested in seeing how Tinn was doing after the events of the first book and I wasn't disappointed.

But while book one focused on the twins this book really focused on Fable, the someday Queen of the Forest. I absolutely loved seeing how her character grows into herself throughout the course of this novel! She is incredibly well written and I just love her to bits.

The Oddmire Forest is once again the setting of this book but we see more of the town as well. Seeing how the townspeople respond to having a forest full of magic is incredibly interesting and I think it was handled quite well. There is also a lot more conflict in this book which honestly makes the world seem even realer.

Once again this book has such a charming wit about it that just sucks me in! I would gladly read as many books as William Ritter writes about these characters in this world! I highly recommend this series for kids who like magical stories! And if you've read Jackaby you won't want to miss out on this!

~Laura!

Series Spotlight: The Witchlands by Susan Dennard

The Witchlands by Susan Dennard

I am so excited to tell you that I was invited to be a part of the blog tour celebrating the new fancy schmancy boxset of the wonderful Witchland series! It came out on Tuesday and you really should check it out! It includes the first 3 core books of the series with new covers and an amazingly detailed map of the Witchlands!

Every Tuesday for the last couple months on Instagram I've been posting photos about how much I love this series! I thought I would do a round up for you folks who aren't hanging out over there yet!

But before we go into that I should probably tell you what it is about! The series is set in a world that has three empires ruling it. Everyone there is born with some kind of magical skill that is called a Witchery, hence the world being called the Witchlands! For the last two decades the three empires have held a sort of peace that was brought about by the "Twenty Year Truce." But that truce is about to come to an end, bringing back the centuries-long war! The books mostly follow 2 badass women, Safiya and Iseult! One can tell if you're lying and the other can see the threads of emotions. Together they can stop the war, so what happens when they are torn apart? (Have I hooked you yet? Honestly I was hooked the moment I read "WITCHLANDS! so if you got any farther than that I'm surprised!)

So, back to the round up! Through these posts I have found out that I am definitely a waterwitch and that if I were to have a patronus from the Witchlands it would be a Sea Fox. But what does that mean? Well, in the Witchlands everyone has a witchery. There are so many kinds but they all fall under one of six elements. Four of them are the physical elements like Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, and then two are more abstract, Void (death) and Aether (life). To find out I was a waterwitch I took THIS quiz that Susan Dennard the author of the series made. I was surprised by this because I was sure that with my work with animals I would be an earthwitch! Then the coolest thing happened. I voiced this surprise and Sooz Dennard actually commented! She said that, "maybe my waterwitchery let's me connect with animals because I'm naturally in sync with the ebb and flow of the world!" The more I think about this the more I believe that she may be a genius! That fits me perfectly! The more I learn about the world of #theWitchlands the more I fall in love with the series! And as for my Witchlands Patronus? Well it goes spectacularly with my waterwitchery! I got the Sea Fox! I took the quiz HERE and it said, "Fickle as the tides, their tempers might turn on a dime--but their hearts never will. Silky, beautiful, and awe-inspiring, no magical creature in the Witchlands is quite so alluring--or quite so clever--as the Sea Fox!"

Honestly, as cool as finding out how I would fit into the Witchlands, the witchery isn't my favorite part of the world that Susan Dennard has made for us. What I love the most is her characters. Safi and Iz are two of the strongest leads I've ever read and they are surrounded by even more badass, strong allies! I wish I lived in a world where they were in charge! I wholeheartedly recommend that you read this series! Come for the magic but stay for the connections! 

The Witchlands Boxset can be found at most major retailers, irl and online! Let me know if you check them out!

~Laura!