...magpie syndrome

"I do have a habit of chattering on so. Why if I could liken myself to a bird, a magpie would probably be the closest thing I could resemble." ~ Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery

For as long as I can remember, my sister has accused me of having, what she calls, "Magpie Syndrome".

Not only do I 'chatter' persistently and breathlessly, but I have that famous magpie quality of being attracted to, and distracted by "shiny things", both literal and figurative!

For now, life is one big shiny magpie worthy distraction.
I'm working less consistently owing to the pandemic - the downside being less financial stability, the upside being more allotted time to write, right?
Wrong!
Everyday I wake up, fluff my feathers and tell myself that today is the day I'm going to sit down at my desk to write. After coffee...because the chance of me stringing together a coherent sentence without a caffeinated beverage is not good.
Whilst drinking my coffee, I find myself looking around the house with beady eyes, finding things out of place, but more likely, finding some task that distracts me and pulls writing from the top of my priority list for the day.
Vacuuming, laundry, tax returns, paperwork, delivery men, work calls. The list is endless and shines with tinkly magpie distraction.

Social media is a huge culprit. I've never spent so much time online in my life, having little or no excuse not to keep my socials updated when presented with such an abundance of time. When I'm not online, I'm taking pictures to post online, or searching Pinterest for bookish inspiration to create posts to publish online.

Books are the shiniest of shiny objects. My magpie senses tingle! I photograph books. I review books. I read books. I fawn over books. I leer over the beautiful covers of recent publications that hypnotise me into dropping them into virtual shopping baskets and inevitably collecting more books.

The result is a nest woven from words, that makes my feathers fluff with the pride of a peacock. We find our happiness's where we can at the moment. In my case it's in a small scale book-shopping addiction.
Do they let magpies go to Shopaholics anonymous?
Probably not.

I can't wait for the world to return to normal and to re-establish some sort of balance to settle my feather-brained mind. My magpie syndrome has peaked, and the distractions around my house are shiny and plentiful. I need a clear space and clear mind to be able to write and submerge myself into my fictional world, and that's not happening with nearly enough frequency for my liking.

I'm going to close this blog now, knowing that I've got a whole TO-DO list of magpie distractions to get through today.

I'm thinking my situation must be a relatable one for a lot of people at the moment, so please show me some solidarity in the comments. Birds of a feather flock together! And let me know if there are any blog topics you're interested in reading about at the moment if you're still home and looking for something to take your mind off the world's madness.

I'll be back with another blog next Monday, but you can find me in the meantime @zuzuspages on Instagram Facebook Twitter and now Pinterest !

Zuzu 🖋

...(book review) snow like ashes trilogy by sara raasch

Sixteen years ago, the kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now the Winterians' only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been searching for the chance to steal back Winter's magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter's defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee. Training to be a warrior - and desperately in love with her best friend and future king, Mather - she would do anything to help Winter rise to power again. So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore their magic, Meira decides to go after it, only to find herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics - and to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

SNOW LIKE ASHES by Sara Raasch

Published: 2014

Genre: YA Fantasy Fiction.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch is the first of three glowing gems that make up this brilliant trilogy of books. I stumbled upon them quite by chance a couple of years ago when doing research into this genre for my own writing, and am so thankful that I did!

As much as I would love to review the series as a whole, I don't want to risk too many spoilers, and so I'll begin with Book One and elude a little along the way...

"Even the strongest blizzards start with a single snowflake."

Published in 2014, Snow Like Ashes is by no means a recent publication. However, I find myself recommending it over and over again to friends, family and strangers alike, and so I shall rhapsodise over it on a public forum in hopes of recommending it more thoroughly.

It was the intricacy of the world creation that struck me most about these books.
Their setting, the land of Primoria, is composed of eight kingdoms divided into Rhythms and Seasons. Cordell, Yakim, Ventralli and Paisley are the four Rhythm kingdoms, all sporting normal seasonal rotations, and described with such stunning clarity that I almost felt I could push through the pages and walk amongst them; whereas, Summer, Winter, Spring, Autumn, the four Season kingdoms, have perpetual seasons that do not change. These seasons are mirrored in the distinct appearance of their residents, noting them instantly as belonging to their respective kingdoms.
For example, the Winterian's are white haired, pale skinned and resilient to the cold.

The wonderful main character, Meira, is a Winterian.

All the kingdoms play their part in the story as it unfolds, but none so much as Winter and Spring.

Spring, lovely in nothing but name, is ruled by a powerful dictator, who's responsible for the enslavement of the Winterians. The reigning monarch of each kingdom has access to magic via a conduit, but Winter's is lost.
It's down to Meira and the seven other survivors who escaped Winter's enslavement to find it and restore Winter's magic.

The story is told from the perspective of Meira, who is everything you'd expect in a heroine and more. She's strong and resilient, but she's imperfect, being so young and inexperienced in combat despite having been taught to fight. It's when her chakram is wielded that she becomes a dangerous force to be reckoned with.

She's a multi-layered character, which helps give believable complexity to her relationships, particularly with Mather and Sir.
Mather is her best friend and initial love interest. Owing to Mather being Winter's only surviving heir, they've been told they cannot be together, but that doesn't stop the heart from wanting. Their bond is a deep one founded on shared experience. They're the youngest of Winter's survivors, and as such have few solid memories of Winter beyond the stories they've been told. Both have trained to be warriors, fighting for a kingdom they have no bond with, and yet are still bound to by responsibility.
You can feel their longing for it; a longing to belong to a place they have only imagined for years living as refugees.

Sir was a character I particularly enjoyed. As a former general of Winter, he is the indisputable leader of the Winterian refugees, and a father figure and mentor to Meira. She refers to him as Sir rather than William owing to the way he reacted on the singular occasion she made the mistake of calling him father.
Meira's eagerness for his approval, and how unattainable it feels to her is sure to be something many readers can empathise with.

The characters are all so diverse and well sculpted, but there's something relatable in each of them, regardless of age, gender or otherwise - which to me is a sign of brilliant writing.

I've read comparisons between Snow Like Ashes and the Game of Thrones series in feel and content. I disagree. Having read both, I can see where comparisons have been drawn in terms of theme: both are well structured fantasy fictions, darkened by political intrigue and magical elements, but that is where the comparison ends.

Snow Like Ashes is the first in an admirably written YA fantasy trilogy that stands on it's own and needs no comparison. It features romance, politics, magic and more. I hope many of your have already been exposed to it's brilliance, and to Sara Raasch's amazing writing.

There are some beautiful quotes to be extracted from these books, my favourite being:

"Someday we will be more than words in the dark."

It the perfect mixture of hope and nostalgia, and I think it's beautiful.
And on that contemplative note, I leave you. To say more would be to taint your own impressions of the series. But I hope you'll heed my recommendations. These books are incredible and I rate them 5 stars.

Snow Like Ashes. published 2014
Ice Like Fire. published 2015
Frost Like Night. published 2016

Zuzu 🖋

Find me in between blogs @zuzuspages on Instagram Facebook Twitter

...buying from independents!

So, it's no secret that I buy a lot of books...

I frequently post proud pictures of book hauls - mostly from Amazon or eBay, both of which make it fatally easy to bulk buy. Amazon helps me out with those new releases I'm convinced I can't live without and therefore have to employ Prime for next day delivery. And eBay feeds my book addition with cheap-as-chips second hand books, meaning I can indulge in one or two (dozen) with minimal book-buying-guilt...

...don't worry, I'm aware I have a problem...for which the only cure can be more books, right?

But let's talk for a minute about buying second hand. The recent pandemic might have closed down bookshops temporarily, but it hasn't stopped people (me) from buying from online sellers, or from rescuing books from decluttering sales outside houses.
I strongly recommend buying second hand! It gives books a second life. It's a form of recycling. And sometimes you get little mementos tucked between the pages that hint at its previous life, whether it's someone's misplaced shopping list, or a little inscription inside the cover of a vintage book that eludes to previous owners.

Most of the time, these books don't even look like they've been read. I frequently walk out of charity shops with ridiculous piles of pristine books that set me back less than £5.

Book Haul from my local charity shop earlier this year...

I'm also a huge believer in supporting independent book stores - which has become even more important given the recent pandemic and the fact that so many businesses were forced to close for so long!

Independent bookshops are quirkier, they're atmospheric, they're no more expensive than buying from high street bookshops such as Waterstones -- and yet, unfortunately they're a dying breed! Don't let them disappear from the corners of towns and villages.

For anyone Kent or London based, these are a few of my favourites with links to their websites:

INDEPEDENT BOOKSHOPS:
📘 Harbour Books in Whistable, Kent
📘 The Rye Bookshop - technically a Waterstones, though they operate with an independent ethos.
📘 The Chaucer Bookshop in Canterbury, Kent
📘 The Tiny Book Store in Rye, Kent - (no website) Church Square, Rye, TN31 7LB
📘 Halls Bookshop in Tunbridge Wells, Kent

SECOND HAND / ANTIQUE BOOKSHOPS:
📘 Baggins Book Bazaar in Rochester, Kent
📘 Wadard Books in Farningham, Kent
📘 The Oxfam Bookshop in Maidstone, Kent
📘 Quinto in Covent Garden, London
📘 Alice Through The Looking Glass in Covent Garden, London - this amazing shop is hard to categorise, but in their own words, they are an amazing shop "specialising in Alice iconography, 1st editions, rare illustrated editions, and unique objects created in collaboration with talented artists."

I did some posts with similar links during Independent Bookshop Week at the end of June, but I think businesses could use an extra boost right now. So here we go. Happy shopping. Happy reading!

Zuzu 🖋

Find me inbetween blogs @zuzuspages on Instagram Facebook Twitter

...(book review) the mercies by kiran millwood hargrave

On Christmas Eve, 1617, the sea around the remote Norwegian island of Vardø is thrown into a reckless storm. As Maren Magnusdatter watches, forty fishermen, including her father and brother are lost to the waves - their menfolk are lost in an instant.

Vardø is now a place of women.

THE MERCIES by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Published: Jan 2020

Genre:  Adult Fiction

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is an incredible book, written by an author that I've already raved about multiple times this year. I'm captivated by the unique and strong female characters she weaves through her stories, and find myself just as gripped by her writing.

In The Mercies, Kiran Millwood Hargrave provides a bleak and desolate landscape for her story through the isolated island of Vardø where a group of women are surviving under a veil of grief after the death of their sons and husbands in a sudden storm.

They become forcibly yet fiercely independent, fending for themselves through a hard winter. Until a commissioner arrives in the village with his new wife Ursa, called upon to take control.

Vardø, to Ursa, appears to be a place inhabited by hardy women possessing independence like she has never known.  But to her husband, it's a place permeating ungodly evil that it is his mission to root out and be rid of.
The Commissioner comes with a reputation for rooting out "witches" and bringing them to fiery justice. And when his attention falls on the sudden manifestation of the storm that killed Vardø's menfolk, tensions in the village begin to run high.

This is a brilliantly researched historical fiction. Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, this is a story of loss, dangerous love, and suspicion that spreads through Vardø with plague-like efficiency as the women begin to turn on each other, manipulated by the Commissioner.

The story focuses on two characters in particular, Maren who's father, brother and fiancé were lost in the storm; and Ursa, the commissioners young wife. Both have reason to fear the commissioner's authority, and find solace and friendship in each other when Ursa first arrives in the village.
The two characters feel solid and real against the bleak backdrop and the horrors stirring around them.

The climax of the story is suitably dramatic, but unexpected. It cemented my love of this book and the strength of the characters.
As always, I thoroughly recommend this book. Actually, all of Kiran Millwood Hargrave's books. Let me know if you read The Mercies on my recommendation, or if you've had the experience of reading it already. I'd love to know what you think!

Published in January 2020, this is the most recent of Kiran Millwood Hargrave's books, as well as being her first Adult Fiction. Previously her novels have been Young Adult or Middle Grade fantasy and fiction - all of which I've rated very highly. But the tone of The Mercies is certainly more mature, as are the emotions and events running through it.

Happy reading!
Zuzu 🖋

Find me inbetween blogs @zuzuspages on Instagram Facebook Twitter