Started a new job this month so things have been a bit hectic and only just finding time to share my May reviews.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone is a YA fantasy set about 15 years after the Raid when the ruthless King executed all those with magical abilities, destroyed their relics and persecuted the survivors who have lost access to their magic. Zelie is the daughter of one of the executed Maji and find herself on a quest to return magic to the land. The story is told by three characters in first person POV, which is probably the story’s biggest fault, as two of the characters are related, it skews the the perspective. That aside, this story had me hooked from the first page, it’s a quick paced novel with great action, romance and drama, and I loved the West African inspired setting.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

The story is written in the first person and narrated by the titular Amina al-Sirafi, a ship’s Captain, who is lured out of retirement when she is offered a fortune to rescue the missing granddaughter of an aristocrat, but quickly finds herself up against mystical and magical forces. I loved that the story focused on an older protagonist as fantasy still tends to favour teenage or twenty something heroes, and that she was a parent too, there are some thrilling action scenes and hilarious dialogue between the main characters (Dalila, the poisoner, is a favourite), but did feel that there were some pacing issues and the story had quite a long, slow start.

It’s Not A Bloody Trend by Kat Brown and Better Late Than Never by Emma Mahoney

I decided to review these together as they’re such similar books about women being diagnosed with ADHD as adults. Both books cover a mix of looking back over their lives making sense of certain events and experiences with knowledge of how the symptoms of ADHD impacted them, combined with research about ADHD. Of the two, I slightly preferred  It’s Not A Bloody Trend because I found it more relatable and really enjoyed how Kat Brown included so many other people diagnosed with ADHD showing the multitude of ways this often misunderstood condition impacts people across the life course, and I felt that Emma Mahoney was using her ADHD diagnosis to justify some of the way she behaved through life. Having said that, Emma Mahoney explores the pros and cons of medication in more detail and better than most books on the subject, the chapters on how Disability legislation applies to ADHD, and how to find a good therapist or coach are also extremely useful.

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

Salt Houses begins in 1963, fifteen years after the family were forced to flee their home in Jaffa by the Israeli army, it’s the eve before Salma’s youngest daughter’s wedding and the bride-to-be has begged her mother to read her fortune in the coffee grounds. Salma sees great upheaval, arguments and violence in her family’s future and with holds the truth of what she’s seen but she can’t prevent any of the events she’s foreseen from happening. From this ominous beginning the story skips ahead to Salma’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren as the family is forced to move again and again during the Six Day War of 1967 and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. This is a poignant story of one family seeking safety and home after becoming part of the Palestinian diaspora scattered across the world from Beirut to Boston.