Evie and the Upside-Down World of Nevermore by Birgitte Märgen – Review

“Rule One: Don’t eat or drink.

Rule Two: Never, ever tell anyone your name.

If you don’t follow these rules, your soul will be lost there forever.”

Quoted from Evie and the Upside-Down World of Nevermore

Rating – 3.5/5

While running through the forest on a full-moon night, Evie falls into a big hole and finds herself trapped in the Upside-Down World – a world that mirrors ours but is different too. Here unicorns are not gentle creatures, fairies are nasty, giants are not scary, and many more twisted versions of folklores dot the landscape in this strange world.

Evie must follow these unspoken rules and cross the various obstacles in her path, relying only on a compass given by an angry gnome, her deceased grandfather’s lessons and her mother’s haunting memories, to reach home. Can she do it? Read Evie and the Upside-Down World of Nevermore by Birgitte Märgen to find out.

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Five Books with Red Covers You Must Read

Below I have listed out five books with red covers, some of which I have read and some I plan to.

Five Books with Green Covers You Must Read

In this post, I am going to list out books with green covers that should be read. Unfortunately, I don’t have books with green cover in my bookshelf (except one). Let’s start the list, shall we?

Soul of the Elephant by Pam Laughlin – Review

Soul of the Elephant by Pam Laughlin – Review

Rating – 4/5

Born in a family of mahouts (elephant trainers), Hemit dreams of getting his elephant in the cattle fair next year. He is a gentle soul and understands animals in a way that no one can. He believes the relationship between a mahout and his elephant should be based on trust, love, and respect. However, his father uses harsh ways to dominate his elephant. Unable to withstand any more ill-treatment towards the elephants in the family stable, he takes a stand against his father.

Hemit’s yearning to understand the elephants better leads him to a mystical fakir, who everyone believes is an evil sorcerer. But Hemit sees otherwise and accepts the fakir’s help to learn how to communicate with his beloved elephant. Will Hemit succeed in convincing his father that love and respect are the only ways to gain an animal’s trust? With his new-found learning, can Hemit win Asha’s (an abused elephant) trust? Read Soul of the Elephant by Pam Laughlin to find out.

Whispers from the Depths by C. W. Briar – Review

Only a chosen few, called Whisperers, are gifted with the Voice – the ability to tame the wild and dangerous water spirits. However, the once revered Whisperers are now an enslaved lot forced to serve under cruel kings and nobles. Their price of freedom is too high to pay. Betka, a novice Whisperer, can only dream of being free again and being reunited with her family.

A dangerous water spirit has attacked the castle where Betka’s sister is serving. She, somehow, joins the crew that has been assigned to protect that castle in hopes of finding her sister alive. However, upon reaching there, the spectacle of carnage that Betka and the crew witnesses make any chance of finding any survivor slim. But they need to enter the castle, unaware that a savage foe awaits them inside. Can Betka save her sister? Will the other crew members perish too? Read Whispers from the Depths by C. W. Briar to find out.

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson – Review

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson – Review

Rating – 3/5

Set in 1491 during the reign of the last sultanate in the Iberian Peninsula, The Bird King is the story of Fatima, the only remaining Circassian concubine to the sultan, and her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker. 

Hassan has a secret–he can draw maps of places he’s never seen and bend the shape of reality. When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan’s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realizing that she will see Hassan’s gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule. With their freedoms at stake, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan and escape the palace walls?

As Fatima and Hassan traverse Spain with the help of a clever jinn to find safety, The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson asks us to consider what love is and the price of freedom at a time when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate.