Tag: author BR Kingsolver

Review:  Chameleon Assassin (Chameleon Assassin Series Book 1) By BR Kingsolver

 

Rating: 4⭐️

This is another engaging, interesting series by Kingsolver, an author who I automatically follow. I enjoyed this story and the character, a woman assassin/thief raised by her criminal parents in a dystopian world. 

The world building is well established and the society is one that the reader can understand visualize. 

Voted Best Urban Fantasy 2017, it’s very contemporary in its content with corporations ruling over the population, and the Chamber of Commerce at the top. The poor have become even more worse off and the rich elite are obsessed with staying there. 

Kingsolver is best at portraying the lower classes, the castoffs of society, where her spare language is used to maximize the impact of their lack economic status and dire social conditions. The way that Libby, utilizes her mutations (a norm of this world) is fascinating. She’s a rare type, one being a chameleon, perfect in her many roles from assassin to thief. 

Her parents, both great characters as well, are intriguing in their own roles and I look forward to learning more about them. 

The storyline is suspense filled with plenty of action, mystery, and intriguing characters. 

This introduces the reader to her and her world, setting the groundwork. 

My few thoughts about her development was that a character so well trained, and established, especially from a young age, wouldn’t be telling a “friend “ details about a delicate highly confidential heist, one that could potentially cause her death and that of her father. That made no sense. She would have kept quiet.   

This and a few other narrative “mis-steps” took some credibility away from her character. 

Chameleon Assassin (Chameleon Assassin Series Book 1)

 By BR Kingsolver was a fun read and another Kingsolver recommendation.

Cover art by Heather Hamilton-Senter

The Chameleon Assassin Series Chameleon Assassin Chameleon Uncovered Chameleon’s Challenge Chameleon’s Death Dance

Buy link

 Book 1 of 5: Chameleon Assassin Series 

Blurb 

Voted Best Contemporary/Urban Fantasy of 2017 by eFestival of Words

I’m the best thief, hacker, and assassin money can buy. But even I know when a job is too dangerous.

In 2200, corporations rule what’s left of civilization, turning the world into a ruthless battlefield of wealth and survival. The elite live in their walled estates, indulging in luxury, while the mutants, the poor, and the criminals scramble to survive.

That’s where I come in. Need a corporate rival eliminated? A priceless artifact retrieved? A high-security system hacked? I’m your girl—if the price is right.

But even paradise has its problems. A deadly new drug is killing off the elite’s sons and daughters, and the 

Chamber of Commerce wants me to find out who’s behind it. Millions are on the line. Bodies are piling up. And this time, there may be no clean way out.

They think I’m just another player in their game.

They’re wrong.

If you’re ready for a gritty, high-tech thrill ride with a heroine who never blinks, start here

Review: Dark Running Exile of the Winter Court By BR Kingsolver 

Rating:  4.75⭐️ 

Books with fae characters and/ or fae realms are prevalent in current fantasy and romantasy genres, so much so that I sort of look for stories with elements outside of this genre. But Kingsolver, a gifted author who’s novels I don’t read enough of, has written a fabulous novel of adventure, fae privateers, complex fantasy political betrayal, royal scheming and fiery battles on land and sea, set on alternate historical landscape. 

This is a world where one event, wherein King Charles II, in 1680, kidnaps the fae daughter of the Summer King has catastrophic consequences. The fae invade England across the very Veil erected to keep the races and realms separate , destroying multiple European cities and England’s empire forever.  Leaving the human landscape, political parties and governments changed. 

These aren’t your typical Fae, the ones that are human coded as written by other authors. Kingsolver has created fairies and a variety of different fae that are as alien to humans as I would like and hope to read. Even the fae courts look and act differently to humans and to each other. Not that any human being would ever want to willingly go to either court or the Fae realm. 

From their physical appearance to their personalities and perspectives on the human race and humanity’s ideas of emotions, from love to empathy, it’s clear they are a complex, and clearly defined older race. Apart and superior. 

Which makes Alanis Nightshade, the fairy pirate and trader, a fascinating character. A high born daughter of the dark Winter court, she’s the owner and Captain of the unique magical Fae ship, the Merry Prankster, who sails the seas through both sides the Veil in search of cargo to sell and profit to make. 

It’s her ship that makes her a target of political scheming and hidden enemies.  It’s a ship that is prized by more than one group of individuals who have their own agendas. 

The fabulous tale of intrigue and high suspense and survival is nerve wracking, complex, and highly entertaining. It’s beautifully detailed with Edinburgh’s landscape, imaginative creatures and wildly appealing designs of the Fae Realm. And the indescribable beauty and horror of the fae who rule there.

The only reason this doesn’t have a 5 star rating is that i wanted the ending to have been fully executed, more details and the drama that was expected given everything that came before. 

And honestly? I wanted to see those fae on their dangerous unicorns riding into battle, obliterating the army before them. What an amazing scene! My mind is still engaged with their wild journey. 

Highly recommended, the author included. 

No romance. All action and suspense. 

Love this cover. 

Cover art by Heather Hamilton-Senter

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comDark Running: Exile of the Winter Court eBook : Kingsolver, BR

Blurb 

When Charles II kidnapped a Sidhe princess in 1680, her father didn’t send diplomats—he sent armies. The Fae stormed through the Veil, leveled cities, and rewrote history. Centuries later, Humans and Fae still share the Mortal Realm uneasily… and England never recovered its empire.

Alanis Nightshade, Winter Court Fairy, smuggler, and occasional pirate, prefers to stay far from royal drama. She flies under the radar, smuggling rare goods between worlds and minding her own business. But when she’s stranded in Edinburgh during a coup, she’s dragged straight into the kind of trouble she tries to avoid.

A new Sidhe king has seized Scotland.

He’s hungry for conquest, and he wants what Alanis possesses—

a ship that can cross the Veil and carry an army straight into Faerie.

If she doesn’t outwit him, outrun him, or outright kill him, both realms may pay the price.