Blog Tour: The Wizard’s Promise (The Hanna Duology #1) by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Today please help me welcome Cassandra Rose Clarke to the side as she talks a little about herself and her new release The Wizard's Promise!

1.Where did the idea of The Wizard's Promise come from?

It’s a spin off of my other YA duology, which starts with The Assassin’s Curse. I knew I wanted something set in the same world, and I wanted the main character to be tied to Ananna, the main character from TAC, in some way. So that was the germ of the idea—figuring out a story that would echo TAC without repeating it. Once I knew I wanted it to take place in the ice-islands, the setting further helped me hammer out a plot. Finally, I stumbled across these pictures in an issue of National Geographic and just knew that I would need to incorporate them into the story somehow.

2. How would you describe Hanna to people that have not yet met her?

Hanna has a lot of potential that she hasn’t quite realized yet. She’s smart and she knows what she wants in life—to be a witch, primarily—but she’s not really sure how to get there. She’s slowly starting to learn, though. She values honesty. She’s much braver than she gives herself credit for.

3. What do you like most about writing the books in your chosen genre?

I write speculative fiction—science fiction and fantasy of all flavors—and my absolute favorite thing about it is the opportunity it gives me to be imaginative. All writing is imaginative, of course—I don’t want to imply that it isn’t. But speculative fiction lets you move beyond the restrictions of reality and play around in all sorts of possibilities. I love being able to write about magic and robots and manticores and mysterious curses while also really looking closely at my characters’ personalities and relationships.

4.What do you ultimately hope your readers will take away from your book/s?

I want them to come away invested in the characters. I don’t think there’s any bigger compliment than being told that someone has fallen in love with one of my characters. When that happens, I know I’ve done my job as a writer.

5.Which one of your books would you say you had the most fun writing?

Definitely The Assassin’s Curse/Pirate’s Wish (I originally wrote them as one book). The Wizard’s Promise was also a lot of fun, for many of the same reasons, but TAC was the first time I ever sat down and purposely tried to write an adventure fantasy novel. Before, I’d always stuck to stories that were more literary and inner-character-focused. TAC was difficult because it was unlike anything I’d written before, but it was so much developing the world and the magic and watching the characters’ adventures unfold.

6.What inspired you to become an author? Have you always wanted to write?

I’ve always loved stories and writing. I was a voracious reader when I was a kid, devouring any book I could get my hands on. I also love watching movies (and TV, now that it’s such a high quality), which I think is an extension of my love of stories. So that has been there from the beginning.
“Writer” was one of the jobs I toyed around with when I was kid, daydreaming about my future. I also wanted to be an artist or a veterinarian, so I was giving myself some choices. I remember writing stories and making them into books (including one pop-up book, with illustrations and yep, actual pop-ups). When I got a little older I was really into zines, which is another thing that involves combining writing and drawing.  So yeah, now that I think back on it—I was definitely on the writer track from the beginning.

7.How would you describe your writing style?

I went through a graduate program in creative writing, so I think you can see a pretty big influence on my writing from that experience: I really focus on character, and I’m big on what creative writing programs call “sense of place,” which is basically creating a strong sense of verisimilitude in your setting. But at the same time, I love pop culture and movies and TV shows, and a lot of those tropes tend to shine through in my writing as well.

8.How did it feel to publish your first book?

It was awesome and overwhelming and a little unreal. Publication is one of those things that most writers spend years working towards, and I’d spent a lot of time daydreaming about what it would be like. Did the reality line up with my daydreams? Not really—but does it ever? The reality of it may not be as dramatic and sweepingly cinematic as my daydreams, but it’s actually real, which certainly counts for something.

9.Do your characters ever try to take over your writing?

Haha, not really.  I suspect, though, that it’s because I spend so much time thinking about the story before I start writing anything down that by the time I start, I’m already so familiar with the characters that they aren’t going to do anything to surprise me.

10.What do you have next in store for us readers? :)

Well, the sequel to The Wizard’s Promise will be released some time in 2015. I’m also hard at work at a couple of other projects, but I don’t want to say too much about them yet.

The Wizard’s Promise (The Hanna Duology #1) by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Expected publication: May 6th 2014 by Strange Chemistry

Paperback, 336 pages

Series: The Hanna Duology

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Source:  I got a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange of an honest review.
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads

All Hanna Euli wants is to become a proper witch – but unfortunately, she’s stuck as an apprentice to a grumpy fisherman. When their boat gets caught up in a mysterious storm and blown wildly off course, Hanna finds herself further away from home than she’s ever been before.

As she tries to get back, she learns there may be more to her apprentice master than she realized, especially when a mysterious, beautiful, and very non-human boy begins following her through the ocean, claiming that he needs Hanna’s help.

Hanna Euli want's to be a witch and go on an adventure. What she doesn't want is to be stuck on a very boring fishing trip with a very boring and grumpy fisherman. But what was suppose to be a quick trip suddenly turned into something more when their boat get caught in a storm and get's blown way off course. Now Hanna is farther away from her then she realized with an old man and a new mysterious woman who won't tell her exactly what's going on and a non-human boy that follows their both through the ocean.

What I liked..

- The magic and the world I found was very fascinating. It seems like Clarke has put together something from scratch which made me even more eager to read. I liked the idea of different islands and it's people as well as the different types of witches that seem to exist. Overall there really was something magical about this book. I liked the addition of the mysterious Mists and the non-human species that are also part of this world.

- Hanna, she was an interesting character and even thought she never failed to remained me that she is after all just a kid - I liked her heart. All she ever wanted was to be trained to be a proper witch. The power is already there, she just doesn't know how to use it 100%. She did ask for an adventure and she did get one, but I understand her frustration and confusion towards the adults. I found myself feeling bad for her through most of the book.

- The writing. I thought it was written very well. I liked how easily it seemed to flow, it did not skip and overall it was very easy to follow.

What left me scratching my head...

- I loved the world and the magic but I wish there was more information about it. The world building itself was a like shaky which kept leaving me with a bunch of questions. I wanted to know more about these Mists, more about some of the Islands they stopped by. About the magic, how many people have it? How many different types there are? I know there are a few different types of races, but not much about them either.

- The adults have left me just as frustrated as they left Hanna. I felt bad for her, since they refused to answer any of her questions and I just downright did not understand why. I found myself equally angry especially when it was finally revealed - I did not feel like they should have kept this from her for so long.

- The actual reason for the kidnapping of Hanna and going on this trip kind of baffled me. I have to admit... I expected something greater.

Thought the pacing of the book varied and took a lot of time on the ocean, I really did enjoy the last part of the book and it promises to be an interesting second book because of it. Really looking forward to the next chapter in this adventure.