Everless by Sara Holland

Most people find the forest frightening, believing the old tales of fairies who will freeze the time in your blood, or witches who can spill your years out over the snow with only a whisper.

Jules and her father are behind on rent, and low on time. To stop her father bleeding himself dry to clear their debts, Jules takes a job at Everless, the grand estate of the wealthy Gerling family. But Everless is a dangerous place, especially with the marriage of the Gerling heir to the Queen's daughter, and Jules soon finds herself tangled in a web of secrets and temptation.

Everless is a YA fantasy with a great premise. Time is literally money in the world of Sempra. The poor bleed themselves of hours and even years to make iron coins to pay their debts while the rich can live for centuries. It's an awesome and thought-provoking premise that I've not come across before... but the rest of the book was disappointing. The plot was paper thin and relied too heavily on inexplicably terrible decisions and secrets that were kept secret for no reason other than to advance the story. The characters were dull and uninteresting, and don't even get me started on whatever weird non-romance was happening.

All in all, Everless is a great idea let down by insipid characters and a flimsy plot struggling under its own weight. It wasn't terrible by a long way, but there are far better books out there.

Recommended For: Younger readers might enjoy this a lot more than I did

Read On: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard and Red Rising by Pierce Brown are a similar tales of unfair societies, rebellions, and commoners with special abilities.

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

The daughter of the siren queen, Lira killed her first prince on her twelfth birthday. She has since killed five more, and has become feared far and wide as the Prince’s Bane. She’s well on her way of living up to her mother’s savage reputation. However, an unintended act of compassion sees Lira cursed into the body of a human - and the only way to break the enchantment and return to the sea is to take the heart of Prince Elian of Midas. The problem? Prince Elian is more pirate than royal prince. He’s a siren-hunter. He’s wily and ruthless and determined to wipe out the sirens once and for all, starting with the Prince’s Bane herself. Who will take the other’s heart first? 

To Kill a Kingdom is a deliciously dark YA fantasy with a fierce heroine that was a lot of fun to read during a long day of travelling. The trope of enemies-becoming-friends is well worn, and the ending was obvious from the get-go, but I loved the sheer exuberance of the plot and the witty bickering between Elian and Lira. For all that the plot is vaguely ridiculous and the world building is a little thin, the two protagonists had flashes of emotional depth which were really quite touching and, if I'm honest, unexpected. In the first few chapters both characters seemed a little uninspired, but they became much more interesting as they struggled against the expectations placed onto them by their parents and searched for the bravery to defy the stereotypes of what they are.

At its heart, To Kill a Kingdom is a dark retelling of the fairy tale of the little mermaid which is crammed full of sass and swashbuckling adventure. The ending can be seen from miles off, but the joy of this book is totally in the journey to get there. 

Recommended For: Fans of darkly funny and character-driven YA fantasy 

Read On: Other dark YA fantasies with fierce and ruthless protagonists include Half a King by Joe Abercrombie and Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake.

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

Half A King tells the story of Yarvi, the King of Gettland's youngest son and the not-so-proud owner of a crippled hand. When his father and brother are killed, Yarvi finds himself on a throne he never wanted. Things go downhill from there until Yarvi finds himself miles from home and plunged into one life threatening situation after another. After gathering a strange fellowship of drifters and outcasts, Yarvi vows to get his revenge - and his throne.

Joe Abercrombie is one of my favourite authors and Half A King is very much a typical Abercrombie offering. It is a gripping, dark fantasy that grabbed my interest from the first page as the plot twists and turns right until the end. Yarvi himself is the kind of flawed but sympathetic character that Joe Abercrombie writes so well. He screws up, he makes terrible decisions, he betrays people and is breathtakingly ruthless, and yet his actions feel completely realistic and understandable. The secondary characters are also very well written. They are as strong, flawed and complicated as the main character, and each one helps drive the plot forward, often in unexpected directions.

This is a great YA fantasy. It's a Viking saga and a coming of age story in a world which is cold, brutal and savage, and a book about the importance of friendship and finding one's place in the world.

Recommended for: People who like their fantasy dark and revenge served cold.

Rating: A dark, Viking-inspired YA fantasy with a flawed hero. Five stars from me.

Read On: Half a World is the next book in the Shattered Sea trilogy. If you liked his writing, check out Joe Abercrombie's adult fantasy starting with The Blade Itself, the first book in the First Law trilogy.

Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell

To become a man of his people, the Jan’Tep, Kellen needs to do three things. He has to defeat an opponent in a duel, show mastery of the magic that defines the Jan’Tep, and reach his sixteenth birthday. There’s just one problem: Kellen can’t do magic. Facing disgrace and possible exile from the only life he’s ever known, he tries to trick his way through the first trial only to be called out by his own sister. Alone and humiliated, Kellen encounters a hard drinking, chain smoking, card playing drifter who offers to show him another path.

Spellslinger is a YA fantasy novel with a Wild West setting, and is the first book in a new series by Sebastien de Castell. It's fast paced, full of action and witty dialogue, and well-written but, as the first book in the series, I felt that the world building was really lacking. I would have loved to learn more about the history of the Seven Sands and the various cultures mentioned in the story. Also, I have a feeling that I haven't yet got to the real story, that this is an origin story and the main story won't get going until the next book.

That being said, Spellslinger was a really fun read and I devoured it in an afternoon. The characters were a blast and the banter between them was frequently hilarious. Ferius is awesome - she drinks, she curses, she has a lot of opinions and she uses playing cards as weapons. My favourite character, however, is Kellen himself. He's sassy and self-depreciating, and it broke my heart a little bit as he desperately tried to come to terms with being rejected by the people he loved the most. He had to deal with some really tough situations and I loved how he matured through the book.

At its heart, Spellslinger is a coming-of-age novel about accepting who you are rather than who your family or friends want you to be. It's about learning to do the right thing, even if it's hard, and about finding your own path in the world.

Recommended for: YA fantasy fans looking for a quick and easy read

Rating: A really fun, quick read with great characters but lacking in world building. Four stars on Goodreads.

Read On: The next book in the Spellslinger series is Shadowblack. Another YA fantasy coming-of-age novel with a clever protagonist having to find his own path is Half a King by Joe Abercrombie.