Sarah J Maas – Amy Kuivalainen

Maas Destruction: What to read after Crescent City

Hey everyone,

I am seeing a heap of recommendation lists circling around about what to read after Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, and I decided to throw in my 2 cents worth. Why? Because a lot of the recs are really random and YA. CC is absolutely not YA and while I get that SJM’s fan base started in YA, I’d be really reluctant to rec anything YA and call it similar (especially the same 10 trad YA books that everyone recommends for everything, all the time). Also, I’m not seeing many indie recs in these lists which annoys me a bit, because paranormal and urban fantasy indie is fucking awesome, to the point that its super rare for me to actually buy trad in these genres. So here is my list of trad first:

Dark Fever by Karen Marie Moning
Dragonbound by Thea Harrison
Angel’s Blood by Nalini Singh

These three are book 1’s of series that SJM has previously claimed have been huge inspirations and favorites of hers….and believe me, after reading CC, you can really tell. I also really love them (especially Dragon Bound), and highly recommend them to everyone who wants to venture into this genre. Thea is hybrid and I love her indie series a lot (oh my god, Moonshadow is everything) so can’t recommend her enough.

Okay, onto indies:

Sin and Chocolate by KF Breene
Pestilence by Laura Thalassa
The Scribe by Elizabeth Hunter
Fury Rising by Yasmine Galenorn
A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter

These are also book 1’s of some of my fave indie series. Elizabeth Hunter gets mentioned twice because one series deals with angels, the other vampires. I could on forever about my indie list because they are writers who have not only inspired my writing but my love of indie publishing. These guys absolutely kill it in every way and I won’t stop recommending them ever.

Hope this list helps you find some series you’ve never tried before, and they they help with the CC hangover/ Maas Destruction, which is still killing me too.

Ames x

April 6, 2020

akuivalainen1 Comment

Early May Update

Holy crap it’s May already – HOW did this happen?

There hasn’t been a proper update on this blog for a while so here I am to give you all the news. Firstly, thank you thank you thank you to everyone who blogged, liked, re-tweet or requested an ARC for ‘The Immortal City.’ The response to the cover and the book itself has been amazing and over whelming and I’m so happy and excited for my book baby. It really was a passion project from the start which goes to show you should always write the shit that sets your heart on fire because that love and enthusiasm will shine through.

I’ve kind of been underground the past few months, except to make noise about ‘The Immortal City’, because I’ve been neck deep into writing the third book in the series. Seriously its the biggest book research wise I’ve ever attempted and it’s taking me a while to write because even though I researched everything to plan it..niggling things keep coming up that’s forcing me to go back and double check or dig deeper. I love the process and I have to remember not to freak out if the word count isn’t as high as it normally would be because its going to be big and I don’t want to rush it. It’s taken me two months to write part one which was only 32k words, and I feel like I’m only just getting into my groove.

Some cool stuff thats happened in the past month not Magicians of Venice related? I went and had an afternoon with Sarah J Maas and Lynette Noni as apart of the ‘Kingdom of Ash Tour’ here in Melbourne and yes I did freak out with excitement.

Guys you know how much I love Queen Maas, and afterwards she went to the top of my ‘Writers I Most Want to Have Drinks With’ list. She was rad and funny as hell, and it was one of the best writer events I’ve ever been to. I have photos but look…they are a bit shit because of lighting. I was there as a reader but also as an author because the idea of one day being on a stage really freaks me out so I’m always interested it seeing it done well.

I’m dying to read her new Urban Fantasy that comes out in Jan 2020 ‘Crescent City.’ I mean, LOOK at that teaser. How pretty is that? I want. Also it will be cool to see her step over from epic fantasy into urban and give it her particular touch.

OKAY. Fangirling Over.

Well, not quite over because I’ve read some freaking AMAZING books since I last did an update and I need to share.

First of all I got a copy of ‘The Immortal’ by Krishna Udayasankar. I have huge complicated feelings about this book. Here is a short description :

Professor Bharadvaj is more than just another whisky-loving, gun-toting historian-for-hire. Behind the assumed identity of the cynical academic is a man who has walked the earth for scores of years. He is Asvatthama – the cursed immortal, the man who cannot die. When Professor Bharadvaj is approached by the enigmatic Maya Jervois to search for a historical artefact unlike any other, he is reluctant to pursue it. The object in question, the Vajra, is rumoured to possess incredible alchemical powers, but the Professor does not believe it exists. After all, he has spent many lifetimes – and identities – searching for it, in a bid to unearth the secret to his unending life.

This book has the most amazing research I’ve come across in ages. As someone who has spent the past four years reading about magicians and alchemists and history for a book series, I was really excited to 1: be getting all the references and 2: being blown away how Krishna weaves them into plot. Throughout the book the protagonist keeps reiterating that he’s not a hero and he’s really not. It’s one of the rare times I’ve read a book where a character says that and doesn’t turn around and BE a hero. Its well worth the read but it will leave you thinking and processing it for ages afterwards. I still think I need to do another re-read to fully appreciate just how good and tricksey the plot and writing was.

The next book to blow me away in the passed month is ‘Wicked Saints’ by Emily A. Duncan.

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.

Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light.

I cannot express fully in wordage how much I love this book. A goth Slavic fantasy full of saints, monsters and magic. Holy shit. This book has everything I love. It’s about villains and anti-heroes and complicated beautiful monsters. I know its book one of a series and I can’t wait for the next installment. It’s no surprise it hit the NYT Best Sellers list because unlike my complicated love/hate relationship with Holly Black’s ‘The Folk of Air’ series (which is also about villains), Wicked Saints I connected to all of the characters and their motivations and fell in love with them and their world.

Now this last one is not a book but Assassin’s Creed Odyssey launched their Fate of Atlantis DLC last week and I’m blown away by it. Usually I will rave for hours about AC as it is (especially Odyssey) but to give me Atlantis and the Underworld ON TOP of it all? I cannot deal. The story telling is so good I’m freaking out every time I play it. AND ITS ONLY PART ONE. Just look at how pretty it is!! Its so cool to have the Greek Gods come into play and I swear if I don’t a chance to make out with Hades when I reach the Underworld I will riot. It makes my nerdy heart so happy to see Atlantis popping up right in time for ‘The Immortal City’ because yay Atlantis is the BEST.

Okay so thats all I got for. My life is all about writing ‘The King’s Seal’ and not much else. It’s awesome.

Ames x

April 29, 2019

akuivalainen

August Update

Hey Everyone,

It’s been a while since I’ve done an update so I’ll try not to make it too long.

The reason I’ve been so quiet on the blog and social media is that I’m under the pump to get a book finished and edited by November. It’s a part of the Secret Project series that I can’t talk about just yet (announcement will be soon I swear), so I’m up to my eye balls in research and drafts and generally trying to pull it together. For those who are like WTF I thought you working on a Aramis and Soren/ Firebird Fairytales World spin off book… Yes, I am. I’m about 40k words into it but its had to take a back seat while I finalise the other book. I’ve been able to write two books at once before, but the new series is different. It requires more space in my brain and more research to get right so I’ve put other books and uni on hiatus for a few months. It’ll be worth it I swear!

If you follow my Facebook you would have seen that I’m currently at the Cover Design phase of KINGDOM, the third Blood Lake Chronicles book, and if all goes to plan it should be out in October/November. I’ll make a more official announcement once I have a pre-order page up and passed the final edit/stressing stage. I’m really happy and excited how its come together!

What else?

I’ve managed to be dragged out of my writer cave and have been to two great exhibits in passed month; Wonderland at the ACMI and Vikings: Beyond the Legend. Both were fantastic and seeing how I’m obsessed with Alice (omg the costumes from Burton’s movies were there and I almost died) and Vikings I was in heaven.

Also, check my freaking awesome Loki statue I got from the Vikings Exhibit as well as Rune Swag!

I highly recommend both exhibits if you happen to be in the Melbourne area.

Apart from working on the book, I’ve been taking the time (ie forcing myself) to self care and refill the creative well. A looming deadline can really throw out my creative process, work my anxiety into a frenzy and generally stir me up to a point where I can’t focus on actual writing. This particular series is research heavy so I’ve spent some delightful hours on JSTOR, reading articles, following leads and making connections I never would have thought of without taking the time to immerse and enjoy myself.

In the reading department I finally finished my Sarah J Maas pile! I was actually really surprised how much I enjoyed Tower of Dawn. The world building was great and I really enjoyed the fantasy twist on the Huns that Maas created. Also yes, I AM in love Dothraki- Bae of the Skys a.k.a. Sartaq The Winged Prince. Hell, I even stopped hating Chaol in this one which surprised me. Catwoman has just come out and I’m already about half way through and enjoying Maas’s take on Gotham.

The other series I’m obsessed with at the moment is Thea Harrison’s Moonshadow series. If you like my Blood Lake Chronicles, and you are after more Celtic paranormal with an Arthurian twist I really recommend you check them out. To be honest you could go for any series of Thea Harrison and it would be worth it. I’m working my way through her whole catelogue at the moment and have loved everything (though Moonshadow and Dragon Bound have been my favourite).

OH. And I feel like I should mention here that I demolished ‘Spinning Silver’ by Naomi Novik. I have FEELINGS about this book. Like any book of hers, she just slays me. Her new takes on Russian mythology with this book and ‘Uprooted’ continues to leave me in awe and with serious impostor syndrome. I am shamelessly in love with the Staryk King, but seriously, a Winter Elf King who can do magic…its like it was made just for me to obsess over. I could write essays about this book but I wont. Please read it, and ‘Uprooted’ if you haven’t already.

Okay guys that’s about all I’ve got for you. I’m all head in the books at the moment and very unexciting. Fingers crossed I can break some awesome writing news to you all soon and then you get full enthusisatic Amy about the new series I’m so obsessed over that I’m literally incapable of thinking about anything else at the moment.

Ames x

August 14, 2018

akuivalainen

Eastern Gods on Kindle Scout!

Hey Everyone,

Apologies from being away from the blog for so many weeks. My life has been super crazy wrapping up projects and job hunting BUT exciting news!

Eastern Gods, book one of new YA Fantasy series Western Wars, is up on a Kindle Scout campaign for your view and vote! I’m crazy excited about this one. It would be really good for fans who enjoyed Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass series or MTV’s Shannara Chronicles.

This series is the first lot of books I wrote as a teenager. I finished the whopping, originally titled, Eastern Gods and Western Wars when I was about nineteen. It landed at 180k words. I believed in the story, I wanted it out there, and so it has been through a massive reworking and editing for the passed year. Its now split into two books, Eastern Gods and The Golden Queen and I can’t wait for you to read them.

I love this series. It helped me survive a really dark period in my life and taught me so much about storytelling, craft and helped create a safe place in my mind where I could hang out. I was reading a lot of fantasy as a teen; loads of Lord of the Rings, Stephen Lawhead and Ian Irvine’s View from the Mirror Quartet (please check it out – its so freaking great) and it is these writers and stories that shaped my passion for writing epic fantasy.

This series is a big one, twisted up with family, war, love, faith and magic. It’s a hero quest and a coming of age and the secrets that you discover about your family as you grow older. It’s about sacrifice and blood and forgiveness at it’s most brutal.

Please check it out here, there is a huge sample on the site for you to read too so bonus!

Eastern Gods

Description

Enter a world of forgotten magic, kings, gods and the woman who will dare to defy them.

Prince Haldirian’s safe world is shattered when he captures a spy from the silent and forgotten Eastlands. There is only one scholar of the East who could stop the fear of war spreading, Aláenor of Silandáe.

The first female heir in history, highly intelligent and carrying a warrior swagger Aláenor isn’t what Haldirian has learned to expect from royal princesses.

The eastern spy Hilkiah reveals that he was sent by Mordecai, Emperor of the East and powerful dark magician residing in the city of Rotech. The West has turned their back on magic for centuries and fearing that war is imminent, a spying party is sent back to the East to discover the truth.

Mordecai is burning for payback on the western king who destroyed his life. He needs Aláenor to fulfill his revenge, and he will have her…even if he has to kill the man she loves and destroy her soul to do it.

May 4, 2017

akuivalainen2 Comments

Defending YA: My Recommendations Round 2.

Round Two, I give you Sarah J Maas. It was really hard to write this blog without going full spoiler because the writer in me wants to go critical analysis on these books and I will with the slightest provocation…thats maybe a post for another day. It was this series in particular that roused me to start the rewrite on my own fantasy YA series I wrote as a teen and made me passionate about high fantasy again.

In November last year I was about to move three states and was highly stressed and like a god send Amazon recommended me Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass.

I hadn’t come across a high fantasy series I’ve really gotten into for a long time but I couldn’t get enough of it. This blog is going to be an overview of the series and SJMs A Court of Thorns and Roses and once again I will keep it brief and spoiler free as possible.

ThroneofGlassAUSWallpaper1366x768_zpsc64e5100

Teenage Amy would have been a hardcore fan of the assassin and smart mouthed Celaena Sardothian.

Throne of Glass begins with Celaena being pulled out of the salt mines of Endovia and entered into a competition to become the champion to the King of Ardalan and eventually gain her freedom. She wins the trust of Prince Dorian, Captain Chaol and Princess Nehemia along the way. This isn’t a love triangle sort of series, there are elements but they are relatively minor in the sheer scope of the novels. The thing I loved about the romance element of these novels is that when Celaena reveals a side of herself to her potential love interest and he’s afraid and repulsed she does the only thing any girl should do…she leaves him. No matter how much it hurts she won’t get back together with him because he can’t choose parts of her to love, he must love her in her entirety. That is a powerful message to send to the target audience in this world that tells them they must look and act a certain way to be loved. Celaena says that’s not good enough so hopefully other girls will do the same. Celaena is tough but she’s also vulnerable and she doesn’t compromise her femininity ( dresses are described in drool worthy detail) instead she uses it as another weapon in her arsenal.

Maas does not hold hold back with any of her characters and certainly not because the main character is a girl. Celaena frequently gets wounded and scarred up as an occupational hazard and the scars don’t magically disappear, they are referred to as scars should be, as badges of honour. There is one part of the series where she gets tattoos over her slavery scars and it’s a very powerful and beautiful scene.

Celaena really grows as a character, she’s got some serious past and Maas is very careful on how much is revealed at any one time. Even though she writes in third person omniscient Celaena keeps her cards close to her chest as if she’s as untrusting of the audience as she is of everyone else.

The world building in this series is amazing mainly because of what she doesn’t tell you. It’s one of those tropes of fantasy that whole swathes of the book is being told in detail all about the cultures and gods and special foods with unpronounceable names. There are handy maps of Maas’ world in the beginning of the novels but its cultures as well as the constant state of war and conquest is revealed through experiences of the characters, especially their emotional gauges. Where there is description it’s minimal and leaves the audience to put together the pieces together in their own way. Admittedly I haven’t read tonnes of YA so I can’t say if this is a common thing in the fantasy section of the genre but I found it refreshing being left to enjoy the story without the convoluted world baggage in my head.

People who know me know I’m mad about magic and Faerie and when this culture makes its appearance in the series I went into a rather hardcore fan girl mode. They are formidable, powerful and have the emotions of the eternal. I won’t spoil it but the third book of the series Heir of Fire was definitely my favourite.

I will however move onto the first book of SJM’s new series A Court of Thorns and Roses.

This book makes me feel all….

If there’s a story I love more than anything in this world it’s the fairytale Beauty and the Beast. This book is a retelling of that tale in the most beautiful, made-for-me, way possible by having the relationship between a human and one of the High Fae.

Feyre is a hunter, trying to keep her family alive until one day she kills a wolf in the forest. Unknown to her he’s actually one of the fae and his friend Tamlin (a nod to another fairy tale which I squealed at) turns up to claim a blood debt. She’s taken into Faerie as a prisoner and forbidden to leave Tamlin’s court. Even when he’s not in his beast form Tamlin and other members of his court wear masks that cannot be removed, the result of the curse that is lain on them.

Like Celaena, Feyre is a strong female protagonist and is capable of taking care of herself, even in a strange land with monsters keen to kill her. You can see how Maas has matured as a writer in this novel and her descriptions take on a fairy tale gleam that brings the court and characters to life.

This novel is also aimed at an older audience, sitting in the New Adult area more than Young Adult, and the scenes between Feyre and Tamlin are filled with crackling energy and sexual tension. The desire between many of the characters is palpable. I wont go on and say who but what is written is hot. If Maas ever decides to write adult fiction I will be first in line throwing my money at her. Who am I kidding I would be first in line anyway and I can’t wait for the next instalment.

There is a lot that would appeal to adult readers in both series and its easy to look past the characters age. The story lines are intricate and well structured and definitely worth spending your money on.

You can check them out here.

p.s. Dresses! Because I can…

February 4, 2016February 6, 2016

akuivalainen