The justice of Kings by Richard Swan

Series: Empire of the Wolf (#1)

Format: 464 pages, Paperback

Published: August 23, 2022 by Orbit

Fantasy/own

I actually dnfed this one, forgot to log it, and tried it again. And was bored. But I pushed through. 

One annoying this was that the blurb on my copy made it look like it was about Vornvolt, then I am reading and I am all what? No, the book is about Helena, his clerk, telling her and then his story. Like what?

Vonvolt goes around the empire handing out justice. Murderers beware! Then they are in the middle of a mystery with high stakes. And the whole Empire seems to be crumbling.

 It took a while, but i got there. I still have not decided though if I want to read more. Some books that turn out good in the end leave me wondering. They are so close to that just ok. And after some time I decided nope.

The Empire of the Wolf simmers with unrest. Rebels, heretics, and powerful patricians all challenge the power of the Imperial throne. 

Only the Order of Justices stands in the way of chaos. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is the most feared Justice of all, upholding the law by way of his sharp mind, arcane powers, and skill as a swordsman. At his side stands Helena Sedanka, his talented protégé, orphaned by the wars that forged the Empire. 

When the pair investigates the murder of a provincial aristocrat, they unearth a conspiracy that stretches to the very top of Imperial society. As the stakes rise and become ever more personal, Vonvalt and Helena must make a choice: Will they abandon the laws they’ve sworn to uphold, in order to protect the Empire?

The things we do to out friends by Heather Darwent

Format: 384 pages, Paperback

Published: January 4, 2024 by Penguin Books Ltd

Fiction/Borrowed

Sometimes a book is not bad enough to end it, and then it sort of grows on you and you want to know wtf is happening....

Clare comes to uni, meet a strange group of girls. A bit like Bunny, though Bunny was better. And then they start with something. And then we learn Clare has secrets.

Who needs enemies when you have friends. I cant say much cos that spoils it all. Everyone was just a mess. But I wanted to see how it would play out

Clare arrives at the University of Edinburgh with a secret. This is her chance for a blank slate: to find the right people and reinvent herself.

And then she meets Tabitha. Tabitha is charismatic, beautiful and intimidatingly wealthy. Soon Clare is sucked into her enigmatic circle of friends and their dizzying world of champagne on rooftops and summers in France.

Her new life has begun. Then Tabitha reveals the little project they're working on, a project they need Clare's help with. It's reckless, possibly perilous and might finally allow Clare to become who she was meant to be...

But how much is an extraordinary life worth if others have to pay?

A trade of Blood by Roberth Jackson Bennett

Series: Ana and Din Mysteries (#3)

Format: 380 pages, Paperback

Published: August 4, 2026 by Hodderscape

Fantasy/own

Why am I so late!!!! Srsly, this review will not be as good as it should be since I read the book 1,5 weeks ago

Ana and Din has another mystery to solve. Two families at war, people dying. And this is the cattle district and things need to function.

Who did it? Oh I can never solve these things. I am surprised to the end.

As for Ana...yeah things are being discovered.

Good mystery, good story and I can´t wait for more

Detective Ana Dolabra must prove a condemned man’s innocence and confront a terrifying magical technology in this fantasy-mystery from the bestselling author of The Tainted Cup, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy awards.

The heir to one of the Empire’s most powerful families sits in jail, accused of murder. His hands are covered in the victim’s blood, and he can neither deny his guilt nor explain his actions.

But if the great detective Ana Dolabra cannot save him from the noose, the farming canton of Sapirdad will explode into war, threatening to plunge the whole Empire into starvation and chaos.

As Ana investigates—her assistant Dinios Kol, as ever, acting as her eyes and ears—she fears her task is even more daunting than it seemed. For this murder is just the latest in a deeper, subtler web of death, woven by a mastermind with an ancient weapon at his disposal.

With their customary skill, Ana and Din pursue their adversary through the canton’s wild ranges, sprawling ranches, and reeking slaughterhouses. Yet even they are not prepared to learn the horrifying secret behind their opponent’s powers.

Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald

Format: 496 pages, Paperback

Published : January 25, 2024 by Penguin Books

YA Mythology/own

When I had finished this one I read it was YA. Huh, I actually did not know that. It really works as both.

In this one Persephone says F it! She does not want to be a prize given away to whatever God wins. She choses her own fate so she jumps into the underworld. And Hades is not happy, but grants her sanctuary.

This was about Persephone finding her voice, her self worth and well all of that! She grows and no Gods or Goddesses can tell her what to do.

It takes a while for something to grow between her and Hades but it does. And I like it.

To hell with love, this goddess has other plans...

Thousands of years ago, the gods told a lie: how Persephone was a pawn in the politics of other gods. How Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his bride. How her mother, Demeter, was so distraught she caused the Earth to start dying.

The real story is much more interesting.

Persephone wasn't taken to hell: she jumped. There was no way she was going to be married off to some smug god more in love with himself than her.

Now all she has to do is convince the Underworld's annoyingly sexy, arrogant and frankly rude ruler, Hades, to fall in line with her plan. A plan that will shake Mount Olympus to its very core.

But consequences can be deadly, especially when you're already in hell . . .