The Lord of the Rings

#1 The Fellowship of the Ring

#2 The Two Towers

#3 The Return of the King

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Publisher: 6th July 2022 by HarperCollins Australia

Pages: 407 / 744 / 1031

Genre: fantasy, classic, adventure

My Rating: 5 cups

Book One: The Fellowship of the Ring

Synopsis:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

“The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.”

Book Two: The Two Towers

Synopsis:

The Two Towers is the second part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs. Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin—alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.

“There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.”

Book Three: The Return of the King

Synopsis:

The Return of the King is the third part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

The Dark Lord has risen, and as he unleashes hordes of Orcs to conquer all Middle-earth, Frodo and Sam struggle deep into his realm in Mordor.

To defeat Sauron, the One Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. But the way is impossibly hard, and Frodo is weakening. The Ring corrupts all who bear it and Frodo’s time is running out.

Will Sam and Frodo succeed, or will the Dark Lord rule Middle-earth once more?

“Courage is found in unlikely places.” 

My Thoughts

I first became interested in these books in my early teens. My Grade Six teacher had read The Hobbit to the grade and I became obsessed. Thus ensued a lifelong passion for all things Middle Earth. I have my precious battered copy my mother bought me (having finally become frustrated with having to constantly run to the library to renew these awesome tomes) in 1983.

I have watched all the movies (multiple times) from the first original release in 2001 and each follow up movie onwards. They are one of the truest representations of book to movie adaptations I have ever come across. 

Coming to the end of LOTR feels like coming home or visiting an old friend. The story, the world building, the characters are phenomenal and will never leave you. I mean Tolkien even invented an entire new language for his precious tales. The stories are so well written with strong themes of friendship, camaraderie, loyalty, duty above self. It connects back to a past of greatness where good will conquer evil when we band together for the greater good. It is an incredible literary experience. 

Now, this Friday (*drumroll please) comes The Rings of Power which has me salivating once more. I can’t wait! I simply had to revisit this fantastical tale to lose myself once more in this incredible world. Readers who are cover collectors (and the variety of covers that The Lord of the Rings has is a hobby in itself) will be delighted with the release of a Rings of Power series tie-in editions. The new covers will each show images out of the promotional poster series that was first released back in February.

Are you ready to begin your journey into Middle Earth? Do yourself a favour and dive into the original trilogy in readiness for the upcoming series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Gone to Ground

Title: Gone to Ground

Author: Bronwyn Hall

Publisher: 3rd August 2022 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA

Pages: 272 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre:  contemporary, mystery, adventure, romance

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

HUNTED. ALONE. AFRAID... A heart-in-the-mouth and utterly addictive adventure thriller from a phenomenal debut Australian talent. 

UN surgeon Rachel Forester is posted at a remote medical clinic deep in the jungle of Democratic Republic of the Congo. With violence escalating in the region, Dr Forester risks her life by remaining to tend an injured child while the rest of her team evacuates. On the cusp of her final desperate chance to leave, a soldier is carried into the camp by three other members of his unit, his condition so critical, his airlift must take priority over hers.

With no help coming, and in the path of warring militias, this small unit must flee through the heart of the jungle to reach the safety of the province capital. But in the dark wilderness lies a strangling web of crime and corruption. As they get deeper, they discover a sinister mining operation and stolen children with evidence indicating shadowy ties to the UN. But aren't those the people Dr Forester works for? The only people who know she's still lost out there? And now, the people who want her dead?

The further they delve, the more the web closes around them. Will they make it out alive?

My Thoughts

WOW! Just wow! What a journey! Gone to Ground was unexpected and totally thrilling - this debut novel by Aussie author Bronwyn Hall was brilliant! Fast paced action, packed full of a thrilling adventure with a steaming romance that is not to be missed. I loved it!

 ‘There’s no room. You can’t all fit.’ ‘He’s coming instead of me,’ I said. ‘What?’ ‘It’s okay, I’ll … hide or something. They’ll think I’ve gone with you, so they won’t look for me.’ Both of us knew I was talking crap.’

Set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this is about a UN doctor risking her life to save others and a secret op Canadian military team on a mission. When things go horribly wrong they are forced to set off on foot to safety through the jungle.This book truly had it all - UN military scenario, diamond mining, child abduction, medical dramas, scary jungle with things blowing up all round. The slow burn romance between a down to earth Aussie doctor and a French Canadian soldier makes it worth the read alone - if there is a follow up book with these two I’m queuing up to buy it! All these aspects perfectly combined to produce a rollicking good tale that had me furiously turning pages with a climactic end that had me on the edge of my seat!

‘I spoke of the Congo. Of the instability, the poverty, the health needs and what I’d been doing since I’d left. There was enough colour and detail that they got insight into the difficulties and tragedy’

For a first time author who was not a doctor or had not been ‘lost’ in the jungle this was amazingly well done! I walked every painstaking step and will think of Rachel with every spider I now see 😉 The drama, the mystery and the romance all come together to form the perfectly told story. The plot builds with perfect pacing with the descriptions of the jungle terrifyingly real, the drama in the operating theatre horrifying true.

‘Being a doctor means I look after the health and wellbeing of others, and that territory comes with a lot of abstaining from judgement. But in this part of the real world, staying neutral feels like a stupid, blind luxury.’

Rachel’s writing was on point, richly detailed and immersive particularly when it comes to romance. The connection and sexual tension between Rachel and Anton was palpable. I would read it for this alone. The writing, particularly the ‘kaleidoscope’ scene is off the charts. The secondary characters enabled this to become an  incredibly exciting plot - the ones you loved (Lucas and Jax) and the ones you despised (Christopher).

‘His words pierced straight through the lustful ache dominating my bloodstream and sank into my soul like water into sand.’

If you are looking for an exciting combination of a fast moving, tension filled drama that is overflowing with action this is your book. The steam of the romance smokes off the page with super writing that you can easily lose yourself in. Gone to Ground is a superb debut novel that truly excited me and I highly recommend it as I found it so engaging and fulfilling. 

‘The jungle seemed impenetrable, yet I knew it was filled with creatures in their comfort zone, creatures adapted to their environment in a way I wasn’t.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Blade Breaker

Title: Blade Breaker

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Publisher: 28th June 2022 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 578 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre:  young adult, fantasy, adventure

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

The fate of the world rests on a blade's edge.

Fighting beside her band of unlikely companions, Corayne is learning to embrace her ancient lineage and wield her father's powerful sword.

But while she successfully closed one of the Spindles, her journey is far from over.

Queen Erida's army marches across Allward with her consort, Taristan, right beside them, opening more portals into nightmarish worlds, razing kingdoms to the ground.

Corayne has no choice but to assemble an army of her own if she's to save the realm as she knows it. But perilous lands await her and the companions, and they face assassins, otherworldly beasts, and tempestuous seas all as they rally a divided Ward to fight behind them.

But Taristan has unleashed an evil far more wicked than his corpse armies. Something deadly waits in the shadows; something that might consume the world before there's any hope for victory.

My Thoughts

Last year Victoria presented her fans with, Realm Breaker the first book in her new trilogy - an unlikely band of misfits who came together in their quest to save the world from impending doom and destruction. The second instalment, Blade Breaker has just come out and is the perfect next instalment. 

‘Your world is lost ….' The shadow rippled with His voice. "You do not know it yet. How can you? That wretched hope won't let you accept defeat. Oh, how I despise

that flame inside you, that restless heart of yours. She took another step, this one

a bit easier. The sword grew heavy in her hand.’

The epic adventure continues on right where the first book ended with unsung heroes and vile villains aplenty and intrigue that will have you impatiently awaiting the final reckoning. If you enjoyed the first, then you will happily continue the journey with the fight to control What Waits -  the demonic force that wants to enter the Realm. With Victoria providing a range of POV, there are twists and turns aplenty as the fate of the world rests delicately on the point of a blade. This book is rich and inviting and highlights how far some characters will go to either save or destroy the realm. 

Admittedly, some parts are slow but the ending is worth it. It still has the Lord of the Rings vibe, this time with an added Game of Thrones politicking element. I believe this is all setting up for an interesting book 3 and I look forward to seeing where Victoria eventually takes readers. This is a big book with many characters and a complex world. I will say that the main characters eg. Corayne is still not as appealing as Sorasa or Dom whom I was much more invested in. 

‘Now there is nowhere to go, and yet I keep walking forward. Into what, I do not know. And neither does anyone else.’

 

The humour is still there, the world building is huge, the plot involved and although slow in spots this is an enjoyable read for lovers of this genre. 

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Something Wilder

Title: Something Wilder 

Author: Christina Lauren

Publisher: 24th May 2022 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 360 pages

Genre: contemporary, romance, women’s fiction, adventure

My Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

Growing up the daughter of notorious treasure hunter and absentee father Duke Wilder left Lily without much patience for the profession…or much money in the bank. But Lily is nothing if not resourceful, and now uses Duke’s coveted hand-drawn maps to guide tourists on fake treasure hunts through the red rock canyons of Utah. It pays the bills but doesn’t leave enough to fulfill her dream of buying back the beloved ranch her father sold years ago, and definitely not enough to deal with the sight of the man she once loved walking back into her life with a motley crew of friends ready to hit the trails. Frankly, Lily would like to take him out into the wilderness—and leave him there.

Leo Grady knew mirages were a thing in the desert, but they’d barely left civilization when the silhouette of his greatest regret comes into focus in the flickering light of the campfire. Ready to leave the past behind him, Leo wants nothing more than to reconnect with his first and only love. Unfortunately, Lily Wilder is all business, drawing a clear line in the sand: it’s never going to happen.

But when the trip goes horribly and hilariously wrong, the group wonders if maybe the legend of the hidden treasure wasn’t a gimmick after all. There’s a chance to right the wrongs—of Duke’s past and their own—but only if Leo and Lily can confront their history and work together. Alone under the stars in the isolated and dangerous mazes of the Canyonlands, Leo and Lily must decide whether they’ll risk their lives and hearts on the adventure of a lifetime.

My Thoughts

Something Wilder is a second chance romance with a wild west element thrown in. This involves an adventure based treasure hunting tour where the two leads come together for some rollicking good double crossing escapades and it is enormously fun to read. 

‘Maybe it wouldn’t hurt her to try to enjoy the adventure rather than quietly burning up over the possibility that her father hid treasure from her. She couldn’t change the past, after all.’

I have read other Christina Lauren books (Love and Other Words a firm favourite) and this one certainly hit the mark for me - just good fun escapism. What I truly liked about it was that there were definite layers that gave it more depth. Yes, it is over the top but it is the action and adventure mixed with the romance that make it a more well rounded story. There is mystery and real suspense at times with a somewhat darker theme which was unexpected. 

‘Holy crap. Suddenly, his life in Manhattan felt remote to the point of fiction. His days spent at a desk, sitting down every morning to create a new unhackable algorithm, home every evening to his little apartment, the constant rumble and hum of a city beneath his feet - all of it could not feel more foreign.’

With a narrative alternating between Lily and Leo, the reader is aware of all aspects and points of view. The cast of supporting characters are solid and I just loved Nicole! I was also totally onboard with the setting. I am not sure if that had anything to do with me just finishing the show 1883 (which I just adored and highly recommend) but I was so enraptured with the desert wilds and large open spaces - Christina Lauren captured all of this so beautifully. 

‘She loved this wild country, but she wanted a real house with kids and land for horses to run. She wanted to put down roots, but growing roots wasn’t easy in the desert.’

This is a wonderful tale of treasure hunting with laughs, mysteries and romance all mixed to provide a great fun read. There is much to enjoy in Something Wilder and I definitely recommend reading it. 

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Cry of the Kalahari

Title: Cry of the Kalahari

Author: Mark and Delia Owens

Publisher: 12th October 2021 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 434 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: non fiction, animals, adventure, culture Africa

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

The incredible memoir by international bestselling author of ‘Where The Crawdad's Sing’, Delia Owens and her partner Mark Owens', charting their time researching wildlife in the Kalahari Desert. Reissued and in full colour, for the first time since its original publication.

Carrying little more than a change of clothes and a pair of binoculars, two young Americans, Mark and Delia Owens, caught a plane to Africa, bought a thirdhand Land Rover, and drove deep into the Kalahari Desert. There they lived for seven years, in an unexplored area with no roads, no people, and no source of water for thousands of square miles. In this vast wilderness the Owenses began their zoology research, working along animals that had never before been exposed to humans.

An international bestseller on original release, Cry of the Kalahari is the story of the Owenses's life with lions, brown hyenas, jackals, giraffes, and the many other creatures they came to know. It is also a gripping account of how they survived the dangers of living in one of the last and largest pristine areas on Earth.

My Thoughts

‘The sky deepened. I lay back in the straw-colored grass, and pressing my fingers into the rough surface of the riverbed, as I had so many times before, I wondered how long the Kalahari would belong to the wild.’

Having lived and worked in Africa, I am always eager to read stories from that conflicted continent. ‘Cry of the Kalahari’, originally published in 1984, is being reissued with full colour photos for the first time and I highly recommend it. It was a wake up call almost forty years ago and, sadly, would appear to remain seemingly relevant today. 

Mark and Delia Owens devoted much of their life to conservation. This book details their first seven years of studying the Botswana wildlife, particularly lions and brown hyenas. Here you will read about what would have been the adventure of a lifetime, especially given the situation in the early 80s, namely the lack of communication. The hardships they endured on a daily basis seem so unreal but this is very much a factual account. To balance it out however, they bring such joy to what they did and through the sharing of their immersive lifestyle of living  in such remoteness, we can learn and feel so much. 

‘We had to remind ourselves that they were wild lions. What we felt at such times could not be expressed with any one of the usual emotional terms. It was an amalgam, really, of several emotions: excitement, gratitude, warmth, companionship.’

It would be remiss of me not to draw attention to the proverbial elephant in this review - Delia Owens of Where The Crawdads Sing fame. Having read that novel, having read this current book and having been inspired to read more about the work of Delia and Mark Owens, I have to admit to being intrigued by the seeming correlations of Delia’s experiences adapted to her fictional sensation of Where The Crawdads Sing. Fascinating to consider. 

This is truly an inspiring read of a young couple dedicating seven years of their life to studying the wildlife of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. Tenacious, brave and seemingly fearless, they pushed on through many hardships in an effort to understand and preserve a very special part of our world. A must read for anyone interested in wildlife and conservation.

‘It’s difficult to describe the excitement and joy we felt. We had found our Eden. Yet we were very anxious not to disturb the intricate patterns of life that were going on around us. Here was a place where creatures did not know of man’s crimes against nature. Perhaps, if we were sensitive enough to the freedom of these animals, we could slip unnoticed into this ancient river valley and carefully study its treasures without damaging it. We were determined to protect one of the last untouched corners of earth from ourselves.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.