Overall: I enjoyed world-building, well-crafted characterization and likable heroine. This is a great, promising, fresh start of the series. I think I cannot wait to read the second installment! I loved Chris Cleave’s Little Bee, so when my husband learned that I was meeting a friend in a bookstore, he told me I should look for Cleave’s first book Indendiary and see if I’d like that too. So I looked. I was enormously moved to read your comment and your thoughtful & generous blog post about Incendiary. Its subject matter made it a wrenching book to write – I was a very new parent at the time – and I thank you for your empathy in understanding that the circumstances of its publication were hard to deal with. (It really didn’t make me stronger, as such non-fatal trials are reputed to.) Through the novel I’ve subsequently met survivors of the 7/7 bombings in London, who of course carry far worse psychological scars – as well as physical ones. They have changed my life. I’m amazed at how little psychological and material support many of them have received. (Our fury at the terrorists is not always matched by our compassion for their surviving victims.) During a garden party, Ren takes a memory from a statue about the Queen meeting with Illan. She’s about to do something awful in it.

But when the story gets going, it also gets a bit grim, which I enjoyed because you could never be certain where Córdova will take our characters. Speaking of which, Ren is an enigma, with a past that is gradually revealed. Even then, it is a long time before we get a complete picture, since she doesn’t remember all the details herself. Before her rescue by the Whispers, she was a child manipulated into doing terrible things with her powers. As a Robari, she has a special type of magic that allows her to steal memories from anyone with just a touch, and if she takes them all, her victim becomes a Hollow—an empty shell that has lost everything that makes them who they are. That said though, when used carefully, her abilities can also take away bad memories, freeing the person of any pain or trauma. While memory thieves are not exactly a new idea in fantasy, I did enjoy how this duality of Ren’s magic was explored and the way these dynamics gave her character more depth. A compelling world filled with beautiful, brutal magic and characters that feel real enough to touch' Sara Holland, New York Times-bestselling author of Everless Thank you so much for the book and its many messages. I shall look for your other two books to read. Besides for the story feeling incredibly fake, I also had a problem with the story's structure. This woman is drafting a note to Osama Bin Laden, and surely has never used a punctuation mark other than a period in her life. While some stories can benefit from a character's unique linguistic style, this was just distracting. And couldn't help but make me think- lazy. I definitely think if this book was cut down to 400, or even 350 then I would have absolutely LOVED this book. But as it stands, it just took way too much time to make any plot progress.

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Castian by what we find out about him is that he is not a total asshole. Like Cardan and Warner, there is a great depth to his character and the arrogant image we get from him is just this grand illusion created for his father and his loyal servants. Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred — or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned “hollow” during her time in the palace. Finally, I want to talk about the world. It’s incredibly rich and relies on an attention to detail. Beyond the fascinating magic system, there’s a lot of history and politics thrown in, which can become confusing at times. The information wasn’t overwhelming — Córdova creates links between events, places, and political events and/or figures — but it was a lot to remember. Renata is a very complicated character. She is a girl who was used as a weapon all the time, by the king, by the Whisperers. So by any rights, the girl struggled with trust issues because anyone could betray anyone in her world. When the book actually first started, I didn't know how to feel about her at first, but as the book went on and as I got to know her from her perspective. I realized that she's like any 17 year old girl (despite the fact that she has a very deadly power), she doesn't know who she is, she is slowly discovering herself, realizing her strength and of course her power later on the book. Which was a very well written progress. Additionally, the world-building was much more flat than I expected. There are multiple elements that are not at all explained when it could be a very cool part of the story.

A young mother's life is blown apart when her husband and four-year-old son are killed during a bombing at a football match. Following this, the young mother falls into a depression. While the young mother tries to battle her depression, she also must fight the guilt of committing adultery the same day of her son's and husband's death. Honestly, there’s nothing that I didn’t like about this story. It’s beautifully written, and each character has their own memorable personality. This isn’t a story about a stellar young woman who magically gets away with everything she does. Her actions tend to have consequences, and I’m excited to find out what her actions at the end of this book will lead to in the next one. 10/10. Add it to your TBR, because I’m telling you, you’re not going to want to miss it.

Cleave is right: today's Brits are not the self-same people who, faced with a blitz of aerial bombardment in the second world war, kept calm and carried on. 70 years of convenience, of cheap fatty foods and evening spent relaxing on sofas in front of mindless television, have done much to diminish that. One factor is the early disintegration of genuine communities, where neighbours are only people who happen to live near one another as opposed to united people making their lives together in a shared space. Mid-20th century Britain was a tough, sturdy nation - that strength has melted away into fat, and it's a depressing thought how this new sort of nation would respond under similar threat. Castian threatens Celeste by showing her Lucia, who has become a Hollow. Celeste poisons herself before she gives Castian any information, and Castian’s men burn down the house. Books that Ride on the Coat Tails of Actual Tragedies so as to Beef Up Their Lousy Rendition of Same. Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred--or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned "hollow" during her time in the palace.

Another exciting penned by Cleave is called ‘Gold’. It was published by the Simon & Schuster in 2012. The central plot of this book revolves around friendship & rivalry between 2 women and the consequences of the choices they end up making in the determination of outplaying each other. The primary characters introduced by author Cleave include Zoe Castle and Kate Meadows, who are professional cyclists and close friends. They remain rivals on the field and always show the winning attitude in every situation. Kate and Zoe go on to participate in the London Olympics, the big event that changes their lives forever. Ren speaks to Davida, who basically raised Castian herself after Castian’s brother died and his mother went into mourning. Her memories show Castian being abused by his father. Ren determines that Davida isn’t the spy. Yet Cleave's evocation of the aftermath of the bombing strikes the reader as undeniably authentic - viciously indiscriminate reprisals against Muslims, airports closing while DIY stores stay open ("people are grouting against terror"), Elton John occupying the number one slot with a song called "England's Heart is Bleeding". It's in details such as these that Cleave seems to get the ratio between prophecy and satire satisfyingly correct.

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Renata has the power to steal memories from people and once they're stolen they can never be returned. Her power is pretty cool, but Ren herself........she was am 'okay' MC, though she annoyed me sometimes. I love Leo though. It seems like all the Leos I've read about are always charming and the best. I found Lady Nuria more entertaining then the MC herself.🤦‍♀️ For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. What use is there in fiction in times like these? In the days after 7th July 2005, as the posters for Incendiary were hastily pulled down, the advertisements cancelled, my book tour shelved, and the novel temporarily withdrawn from sale by many UK retailers, I didn’t have an answer. At times the book did feel predictable because...well..what young adult book hasn't featured an ill-conceived rebellion and a forbidden love?

When Dez, the commander of her unit, is taken captive by the notorious Sangrado Prince, Renata will do anything to save the boy whose love makes her place among the Whispers bearable. But a disastrous rescue attempt means Renata must return to the palace under cover and complete Dez's top secret mission. Can Renata convince her former captors that she remains loyal, even as she burns for vengeance against the brutal, enigmatic prince? Her life and the fate of the Moria depend on it. Letters that magically, somehow, have perfectly remembered dialogues and long plot driven descriptions that no one would ever write. It’s this part of her, of course, that does her in. Mothering Jasper, then Petra then Terrence was never going to fill the chasm inside her, was it?Finkelstein is unrepentant. 'When I want to invoke the memory of my parents I am accused of using it. There is something plainly revolting going on. There are people claiming to be working in the name of Holocaust victims, getting money on false pretences and then not distributing it. The group learns that the king’s men know about the hideout. There’s a massive fight, the elders still hate Ren, and Illan dies. Before he passes, Illan gives Ren the memory of him taking the younger prince away, and Castian being framed for drowning him. This is so that the king will think Castian is super loyal to him. Renata was only a child when she was kidnapped by the King’s Justice and brought to the luxurious palace of Andalucía. As a memory thief, the rarest and most feared of the magical Moria, Renata was used by the crown to carry out the King’s Wrath, a siege that resulted in the deaths of thousands of her own people.