Raven Storm is book 3 in the Fire Walker series, a series I have loved since the first book Raven Tower.
Blurb
Fear walks with those in power.
Divided, the land of Chem hangs in the balance. In the west the Ravens seek to bring safety to women, and an end to slavery. In the east the remaining covens cling to their power, refusing to give up their way of life to foreign invaders. Across both lands the priests whisper and plot, their gods a shadowy threat hanging over them all. To protect their young family, Kesta and Jorrun have made their home in the Raven Tower of Elden. Unable to abandon their responsibility or friends, they remain embroiled in the fight to the north. Whilst peace and friendship blossom between the Fulmers, Borrows and Elden, the arrival of strangers turns the court of Taurmaline upside down.
The history of the Fire-walkers is about to catch up with them, and the Fire-spirit’s truth will be revealed.
My Mini Review (as previously shared on Goodreads)
I’m so happy I discovered this wonderful fantasy series. The cast of characters continues to grow and I find myself caring about them all. The world building is executed with great skill and I loved the magical battles. The enemies Kesta and Jorrun face are even more deadly than in the previous books and kept me turning the pages desperate to find out what happened next. As always it was full of surprises, I cannot wait to see what happens in book Four!
So I didn’t set myself a huge target this year, but I didn’t expect to have completed it by August either. That makes me very happy.
Some people might read 20 books in a few months but I’m still pleased with this figure and hope to read quite a few more books by the end of the year.
Netgalley has been responsible for quite a few of my recent reads and I have 4 more accepted requests lined up that I will post about later.
Here is my list and links to reviews or a brief summary of my feelings for the books.
Netgalley Reads
The Hotel at Honeymoon Station – Tilly Tennant. An enjoyable and gentle romance. My 4 star Review
Chasing the Italian Dream – Jo Thomas. Brilliant summer read, I still miss the characters. My 4.5 star review
The River Between Us – Liz Fenwick. Enjoyable dual timeline though maybe not Liz Fenwick’s best work. My 4 starReview
Waste Not. Want Not – Lilac Mills. A surprising and enjoyable romance. My 5 starReview
Under the Italian Sun – Sue Moorcroft. I loved this hot romance right from the first page (not just hot because of the weather!) My 5 star review.
Writing Resourses
200 boosts for Indie Authors – Rayne Hall. A great book of tips to work through to improve your books and author career. Better for those starting out I think. 4 star
Save the cat! Writes a Novel – Jessica Brody. Very interesting way of looking at writing which I hope to try out on a new WIP very soon. 4.5 star.
Romance your brand – Zoe York. Helpful guide that makes you rethink how you should be writing a series. 4 stars
Romance books
An Island Christmas – Jenny Colgan. Enjoyable and emotional read.
Summer Kisses at Mermaid Point – Sarah Bennett. Enjoyable and heartwarming. Looking forward to revisiting soon.
The Tanglewood Teashop – Lilac Mills. Loved it so much I bought the next books straight away. Can’t wait to dive in again.
Unpredictable Consequences of Love – Jill Mansell. Loved this book and thought about the characters long after I finished it. My review
Winter Beneath The Stars – Jo Thomas. Despite a shaky start for me I ended up loving the characters and the location was wonderful. See my review.
Christmas Wishes – Sue Moorcroft. A heart-warming Christmas read I absolutely fell in love with. My big fat 5 star review.
(I started Christmas Wishes at the end of 2020 and finished it in early 2021. I considered it one of my fav reads of 2020 but it could also be a contender for the best of 2021 reads too!)
Fantasy
Raven Storm (book 3) – Emma Miles. My only fantasy read so far this year (shocking)!
I loved this third book just as much as the first 2. Emma Miles is such an accomplished fantasy writer and I love the world and characters she has created in this series. I must review this book and get on with reading book 4 which came out a few months ago. My Review of the series so far (books 1 and 2)
Other Reads
Beginning of The End – GJ Stevens. Gripping with non-stop action and a surprising twist end. My 5 star review.
Capital Action – GJ Stevens. Entertaining thriller of a read. My 5 star review.
Wolf Hollow – Lauren Wolk. Very emotional, evocative and immersive 5 star mid-grade read.
The Circling Sky – Neil Ansell. This cover is beautiful and I love the title which reminds me of the Pink Floyd song ‘Learning to Fly’. I love the New Forest and this book helped to transport me back there. I’m grateful a fellow reviewer sent me her ARC copy once she’d finished reading it – thanks Hannah at Echoes in an Empty Room. This is a relaxing 4 star read.
My only DNF
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte. I just couldn’t get on with this classic. I got half way through but I just didn’t care enough to keep reading. More of a frustrating read than entertaining for me.
The whole reason I decided to read this was because a character in my new romance series is an English Literature Professor and he said Wuthering Heights is one of his favourite reads. Having attempted to read in myself, I’m going to have to have a chat with him as to why he chose it!
What are your views on this classic or classics in general? I just can’t seem to get on with them.
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It has been great to escape into books this year and I have enjoyed being forced to start reviewing again mainly due to my Netgalley reads. There are some books here I would still like to review, especially by indie authors as I know how important it is to get those precious reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
I’ll be back soon with a list of the books I want to read during the rest of the year including the books I still have outstanding on Netgalley.
What are your reading plans and how close are you to completing your 2021 Goodreads Challenge?
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P.S.
Talking of reviewing books, my Goodreads, Amazon and Audible book pages seem to have hit a bit of a slump. If you have read any of my books would you consider helping me out by posting a quick review? I love to read your thoughts and even a short review will really make my day. Thanks very much.
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Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy and heart-warming romance
Fantasy is a genre close to my heart. I love to read and write it. As mentioned in yesterday’s reading update post, I’ve decided to dedicate a whole post to the Indie Fantasy books I want to read in 2020. I’ve only picked a couple as I don’t have much time left in 2020 to read them, but it’s great to be able to give a shout out to some fellow indie authors.
This post is inspired by #selfpubfantasymonth taking place during the whole of September.
So here is my list of books to read this year.
Emma Miles – Raven Storm book 3 I’ve read the series so far this year and loved them. Here’s my joint review of Raven Tower and Raven Coven – duo review.
I would love to catch up with Ian Gregoire’s series. Book 2 Apprentice in the Master’s Shadow which came our earlier in 2020. Here’s my review of book 1.
I’ve been wanting to read Talis Jones’ Otherworld trilogy for ages. I bought Crooked Raven book 1 in 2018 and still haven’t managed to read it. I can’t believe the whole trilogy is already published but at least that means I won’t have to wait for the release of the following books!
Now I know I wont have time to read any more books this year, but these are books I’ve picked up in 2020 and hope to read at some point soon. Click the book titles for Amazon links.
This is an impulse buy as I love the cover and the title.
Emma Miles – Hall of Pillars and Hall of the Night.
I loved Emma’s Fire Walker books so thought I’d give this series a go. Review of Fire Walker Series.
Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol
My son is studying this in English so I thought I would have a go at reading it with him (already beginning to wish I didn’t bother!).
Neal Shusterman – Thunderhead (book 2).
I read Scythe book 1 last year and loved it so I’ve been looking forward to catching up with the rest of the trilogy. Here’s my mini review of Scythe.
Patrick Moore Astronomy for Beginners
This is research for my current WIP The Starlight Prophecy. Even though it’s a fantasy, I like to base my story on facts and real life where possible.
Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games
I loved the films and have been trying to get the kids to agree to read the books. I finally bought a copy and would love to find the time to read it as well, especially with the prequel coming out this month.
GJ Stevens – Lessons Learned – (Carrie Harris Book 2)
This book has just been released this month so I snapped up a copy, especially as I’ve been reading book 1 this month. See below. You can get your copy of Lessons Learned here.
S.A Chakraborty – The Empire of Gold (book 3 Daevabad trilogy).
I was really excited to be given a copy of this from the publisher via Netgalley. I can’t wait to read book 2 The Kingdom of Copper so I can get onto this one.
Ian Gregoire – The Apprentice in The Master’s Shadow (Book 2 Legends of the Order)
This came out in May but I’d thought I’d share it here as I’m looking forward to reading it. Another gorgeous cover too! Here’s my review of book 1.
Claire Huston – Art and Soul
I love all the cake recipes on Claire’s blog so I had to give her debut book a go.
Currently reading
Laura Laakso – Infallible Justice.
I’m enjoying this book very much. It’s a modern day London with magic. I hope to post a review very soon.
GJ Stevens – Operation Dawn Wolf Book 1 Agent Carrie Harris
I plan to review this book asap so don’t want to say too much right now apart from the fact that it’s very good! But if you’re interested in reading it you can get a free copy of the book by joining GJ Stevens newsletter. That’s how I got my copy.
That’s about it for my recent purchases. I’m hoping to get lots of reading done over the summer so look out for reviews of the above.
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Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic and heroic fantasy
I have had the great pleasure of reading the Fire-Walker series by Emma Miles and I wanted to share it with you.
I haven’t written a proper review in a long time, but this series has inspired me to share some book love. Keep reading to see why I loved it so much.
Book One The Raven Tower
The Blurb
How much would you sacrifice to save your people? Your freedom, your home … power … love … your life?
Four lands beneath the sky. A haven of peace, a kingdom of plenty, ravaged islands, and a nation of cruel, dark magic. One will try to devour them all.
Spring brings the ruthless Borrow raiders much earlier in the year, their attacks more ferocious, more desperate. When Kesta uses her magic to see in the flames who is really behind the raids the Independent islands of the Fulmers seem doomed to fall. Their only hope is to cross the sea to seek the help of the King of Elden and his dangerous sorcerer, the Dark Man; but what price will the king demand for his aid?
Wild Kesta has been raised to be a leader, trusted, loved, with the freedom of her cherished Islands. Can Kesta subdue her fiery nature and work with a man she hates, a man she fears, to stop the evil that will consume their lands and enslave them all?
My Review
Sometimes you pick up and book and know from the very first few lines that you are going to love it. That’s what happened to me and I was so glad I found Emma Miles’ books through the blog tour she ran with Rachel’s Random Resources.
I love a book where you’re not sure which characters you can trust and no one is quite what they seem. The Raven Tower has plenty of mystery surrounding certain characters like Jorrun and I loved how Kesta is thrust into this very different life to save her people. Your understanding grows with Kesta’s and your are drawn in deeper with her.
I applaud the world building in the Fire-Walker series and the magic of the different cultures is very cool. Kesta’s home the Fulmer’s is probably my favourite place and you can understand her desire to save it and her longing to return there when she is locked away with the Dark Man!
I don’t want to reveal too much but just to say The Raven Tower is a magical, fantasy adventure with just the right amount of romance, mystery and intrigue to satisfy any reader.
Book Two The Raven Coven
I won a paperback in a blogging competition last year via twitter. It was only as I received the book that I realised it was book 2 in a series and I didn’t have book 1! Stupid me for not paying attention, but then who cares I just bought book 1 and started reading it when my book club decided to read The Raven Tower by another ‘famous’ author. I couldn’t get on with the other book but Emma Miles wowed me from the start and I wish the book club had chosen her book instead.
Without giving too much away from the plot, book two continues with the same characters you fell for in the first book, but there are even more twists and turns and heartbreak ahead. I had my heart broken a few times and I’m sure when you read it you’ll find out why!
This book had a satisfying conclusion to the series and I expected it to end there with the usual emotions inspired by a great book, happiness at the awesome ending and tears that it’s really over. BUT the author noted she plans to write at least two more in the series. I’m excited for this, though I hope the characters will get a breather for a while.
The Fire-Walker series has that page-turning quality which can lead to some very late nights if you haven’t got a moaning grump next to you asking you to turn out the light!
I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys magic and adventure, characters you’ll want to spend hours reading about and a world you never want to leave!
Suzanne Rogerson Fantasy Author 