The worst disappointments are the ones where the premise sounds so amazing, but then you read the book waiting for some of that to happen and it just never really does.
I love it when tropes get flipped on their head, so reading a story where the chosen one is a useless kid had me excited. Unfortunately, most of the book's pages are full of meandering tangents, until I forgot that this was supposed to be about a chosen one at all. And maybe that was the point; it just wasn't what I was looking for.
I do think this could make for a very entertaining movie franchise. The martial arts scenes were written really well, and there are plenty of amusing characters and snappy dialogue. The characters moved around a lot, and did a lot of things, but I honestly couldn't tell you about a single event that happened that seemed like it was relevant to the overall plot. This feels very much like a setup book for the rest of the series, rather than a story in its own right.
It does pick up a bit towards the end, which saved the book from being a complete miss for me, but I'd be hesitant to recommend this based just on that....more
This book honestly stands out a bit from all the other fantasy I've read this year, because of its structure and because of the ambitious and fascinating world the author created, but I think the execution didn't entirely work for me.
The first 40-50% feel like a collection of short stories all set in the same universe. Sure, there's some kind of red thread connecting them, but on the surface the stories don't seem related at all. We're introduced to a big cast of characters throughout these stories, and it isn't until we get further into the book that the connections begin to appear. I thought the second half was a lot better than the first, probably because I could see the plot and where everything was leading. That said, structuring the book this way allowed the author to show as many different parts of Ilmar, the titular city, that we maybe wouldn't have seen otherwise.
Ilmar makes for a great setting. It feels like any big city—a mish-mash of cultures and districts, and everyone is suffering under occupational rule. There are different refugee groups, gangs, religions being practiced in secret, and an oppressive regime trying to normalize it all so that everyone follows their standards. But even though there are different factions all supposedly working against the occupiers, the city isn't on the brink of revolution, until, suddenly, it is.
And if that doesn't sound complex enough, there's also the Reproach, a section of the city that will possess anyone who enters it long enough, and a forest that acts as a gateway to other worlds. I found Ilmar extremely compelling, but I also think the author maybe tried to do too much. Because the setting is so vast, it's difficult to focus on specific characters, which means I had less emotional attachment to the people I was supposed to care about. I do think this improves after we're done getting introduced to everything this world has to offer, however, and there were definitely characters that I cared about by the end. The story didn't unfold the way I expected it to, and the way it did might not satisfy everyone, but I think that is what sets it apart for me....more
If you're interested in learning more about eating disorders, I can't recommend this book enough. It contains interviews with proCWs: eating disorders
If you're interested in learning more about eating disorders, I can't recommend this book enough. It contains interviews with professionals as well as people who have had to live with an ED, interspersed with very clear explanations of the different types of disorders. Even though it's not a light topic, the writing style makes this an easy read.
The only thing I was missing was an extra chapter with advice for people that know someone with an ED, and what they should and shouldn't do to help that person. ...more
While I can't say this series is a new favourite for me, or that I was fully blown away by any of the books, I ended up having a pretty good 3.5 stars
While I can't say this series is a new favourite for me, or that I was fully blown away by any of the books, I ended up having a pretty good time. The mystery in this one is a bit less compelling than the other two books, but I think the author made up for it by finally giving me character development. One of my main complaints initially was that the characters all felt like caricatures, and the second book didn't do much to develop any of them beyond that. For me, this third installment finally succeeded where the other two failed. I bought into the relationships, I bought into the romance, I bought into the way the Hawthorne brothers finally showed depth and complexity.
I want to take a moment specifically to discuss the romance, because I was half afraid that we would get a third take on the love triangle. Avery does clearly still care about Grayson, but fortunately the triangle is well and truly flattened. I thought Jameson and Avery worked, and Tahiti helped to make me more invested in them as a couple.
With regards to the story and mystery plot, it was a decent way to wrap everything up, even though the series could've ended just fine as a duology. I do think that what happened here was maybe a necessary catalyst for Avery and the Hawthorne brothers to grow beyond the shadow of Tobias Hawthorne....more
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was fun and charming! The first book is one of my favourite reads of 2022, and it was always going to be difficult to top that, so I'm not surprised this didn't manage it. Most of that has to do with character dynamics--the connection between Edwin and Robin worked for me on a lot of levels, and while I was definitely rooting for Maud and Violet, their dynamic and relationship struggles didn't quite hit that sweet spot. That said, Maud is a delightful character. I love her energy, and the way she is determined to prove that she is more than what people expect from her. I liked Violet as well, but Maud was definitely the shining star of this story for me.
I'm also glad we got more of Hawthorne, and the introduction of Ross brought some extra levity to the book. Overall, this feels a bit lighter than A Marvellous Light, even though there's a murder at the heart of it. The stakes don't feel as high, and aside from the very end, the plot lacks urgency. I think it lagged a bit in the middle, and could've been shorter while still telling the same story. But the setting, the magic, and the writing are still just as good, and I can't wait to see how the story wraps up....more
I had a pretty good time with thiCWs:(view spoiler)[bullying, infidelity, drugging, gun violence, murder, adult/teenager relationship (hide spoiler)]
I had a pretty good time with this. The characters were compelling, there was some very juicy drama, and the writing style was engaging. Some of the twists I saw coming, but others were a total surprise, which is always nice, especially because the author played with a few generalizations and managed to surprise me with the character growth.
Where this fell apart for me was the ending; both the motivation of the killer, and the way the reveal was set up, just didn't make sense to me. (view spoiler)[Olivia thinks she knows who the killer is (she's wrong), finds the actual killer (who she doesn't suspect), tells them that she knows who it is, at which point the killer pulls a gun on her, even though she wasn't suspecting them. Just...why? They could have gotten away with it. I just didn't buy the way it happened. (hide spoiler)]...more
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As with the previous two instalments, I really enjoyed this novella.ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As with the previous two instalments, I really enjoyed this novella. This one ventures into new territory, literally and figuratively, as we move into the Riverlands and also get some fantastic martial arts scenes. The young me who loved anything related to martial arts was squealing in glee. I thought the people Cleric Chih meets in this one were particularly brilliant, and I loved the stories they both did and didn't tell. This one ends with a whiff of mystery; the author lets you draw your own assumptions about what you think happened, and I really loved that....more
For you don't climb to us. You fall only, you don't climb. She had fallen, or been thrown. Now she would never rise again. A long sad time, never.
This could have been a 5 star read, but while I enjoyed the author's writing overall, there were a few sentences that took up almost an entire page, and that always drags me out of the narrative. That said, she somehow managed to develop an entire world and society within 80 pages, had me rooting for the main characters, and added a revenge plot that was compelling and had a satisfying ending. I can see why this won the Nebula Award, and definitely recommend it....more
This was really good. There was plenty of horror, but also a lot of humor in the way the characters acted and interacted. The family dynamics were amazing, and I loved the way this explored the relationship between Ipo and her children.
The art was stunning, and the story was very compelling, which is exactly what I was expecting from the duo behind the stunning Monstress. Looking forward to the second volume....more
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I had such a good time with this book. I loved the setting (isolatedARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I had such a good time with this book. I loved the setting (isolated closed circle mystery on a space ship!), the characters, and all the weird elements that have to be part of this because we're dealing with a murder in space. I really appreciated how much effort the author made to make sure the science part wasn't neglected; the frustration of Tesla's lawyer being on earth and the communication delay getting longer and longer was palpable, but it also made everything feel more real.
Tesla, Shal, and Gimlet were delightful, and I loved spending time with them. The banter and humor between characters was fun. However, I didn't feel like the murder mystery had enough foreshadowing so that readers could figure everything out on their own, which is usually part of the fun for me, but it could also be that I just wasn't smart enough for it.
There's a small learning curve at the beginning of the book where you need to get used to all of the terms and technology that exists in the book, but I thought the author did a good job of easing me into it without a lot of infodumping. I also appreciated the way she dealt with Tesla's chronic pain, including Gimlet, the adorable service dog. One thing I did notice is that even though Tesla makes it a point to mention that people shouldn't just touch her dog because she is on duty, she also sends Gimlet off to distract people with cuteness and pets ridiculously often. And I know Tesla and Shal were on their honeymoon, but there was a lot of making out considering how dire the situation was....more
Check out the content guidance in the synopsis before picking this up.
I appreciated getting to see what happens to the characters after the ending of Check out the content guidance in the synopsis before picking this up.
I appreciated getting to see what happens to the characters after the ending of A Dowry of Blood. This was steamy, but also sweet and wholesome, and I enjoyed reading it....more
Told across 5 different POVs, this is the story of a mother's revenge on the two boyCWs:(view spoiler)[murder, terrorism, child abuse (hide spoiler)]
Told across 5 different POVs, this is the story of a mother's revenge on the two boys who killed her young daughter. It starts off kind of slow, with the mother, who is a teacher, delivering a goodbye speech to her class, during which she tells them that two of the students were responsible for her grief. After the initial setup, we skip to different POVs. Each of them pushed the story forward by giving us a piece of context we'd been missing before, which helped explain exactly what happened, but also by unveiling new twists and turns. So much happened that I wasn't expecting, and the ending was fantastic.
My only issue is that the way the narrative was structured didn't always work for me, and I found it especially noticeable in the first section. It's in first person POV, and when one of the children would ask a question, rather than giving us dialogue, the teacher would narrate the question for us. The chapters that were more introspective or in diary form worked a lot better....more
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rather than following one woman and her cat, this actually 2.5 stars
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rather than following one woman and her cat, this actually contains four stories of women and the cats that adopt them, or vice versa. They're all loosely connected in that the people and cats seem to know each other, but you don't need to read them in any specific order because there is no larger story being told here.
I think I just missed a deeper connection with the characters because of this format and how short the book is, which is why it didn't quite work for me. I do think having the cats narrate part of it is a fun choice, although I will say having one cat refer to his owner as his girlfriend (and thus refusing to cheat on her with other cats) felt over the top. It ended up being one of those things that kept bugging me, but if that doesn't bother you, you might enjoy this more than I did....more
It has honestly been a really long time since I've read a hard scifi that was this compelling. The premise of the book is that a scientist discovers a mysterious object in space, and humans plan a mission to investigate it. Because of how far it is, they end up sending clones. I wasn't sure I would even finish this book when I started--looking at my track record for hard scifi this year, there have been mostly misses. But I think the reason this worked for me, is because it's not so much about the destination, but the journey.
We operated that way because that's the way many Earth societies operated--they didn't respond to potential tragedy, only actualized tragedy. Once we could make our own laws we needed to abandon those ways. We were no longer bound to Earth by its gravity, why should we remain bound by its customs?
This book focuses a lot on characters, relationships, and what a society in space would look like. How communities would evolve. What traditions, rules, and laws would they retain from Earth, and what would inevitably end up changing. If you have finite resources, how do you make sure you don't run out because of population growth? How could AIs develop? What problems might they run into, despite the careful selection of the genes that should go on this journey? And the exploration was fascinating to me. All the scenarios the author came up with felt plausible, even if they were hard to swallow sometimes.
The way it's structured allows us to follow many points of view, without it ever feeling overwhelming. This includes the world building, which is one of my most common complaints when it comes to scifi. But I thought everything was very well explained; you don't always get the answers right away, but you also don't have to wait half a book for them. Things progress slowly but steadily, and each perspective is a jump forward in time, and a jump forward in the development of their society, which means we get to learn a bunch of new things about the challenges they face and how they deal with them.
The last chunk of the book didn't work as well for me. I know it's a series, but I don't feel like I need to know more about the mysterious object than I do now. The journey to get there was enough.
I'm ending this review with two of my favourite quotes, hidden under a spoiler tag because they are definitely spoilers: (view spoiler)[
The prisoners were all criminals, but not a one knew what his or her crime had been--just that it was a crime in their genes, not one they'd enacted themselves.
and
"You realize this isn't a homecoming, don't you?" he said sternly. "I know," she said, running a hand through her hair. "It's First Contact."
I loved this more than the first installment. This one is really about how stories are impacted by the identity or perspective of the one telling themI loved this more than the first installment. This one is really about how stories are impacted by the identity or perspective of the one telling them, which I found fascinating to explore. The writing is just as beautiful, and I was charmed down to my toes. Highly recommend checking this series out if you're in the mood for a really engrossing fantasy world....more
If I didn't know this was an adult fantasy, I would've thought it was YA. It's always hard to find that line between the two age groups, and I can't put my finger on why, exactly, this feels more like YA to me, except that the pacing, the tropes, and the relative simplicity of the world and magic feel more reminiscent of YA fantasy.
I really like the premise: Elspeth has a Nightmare trapped in her head, sharing her thoughts, and sometimes, when she's in trouble, she can call on him. Magic in this world is only allowed if it's performed by using a Providence card, but children sometimes become infected, granting them magical powers. Using those will cause some kind of degeneration, ultimately leading to madness and/or death, which is why the king has ordered all these children killed immediately upon discovery of their magic.
The Nightmare clearly has a lot of knowledge about the magic and the world, constantly teasing Elspeth with rhymes that she didn't understand, but which were clearly meant to signal specific dangers and act as a warning. Some of the rhymes are better than others, and most of them are pretty simple.
Unfortunately, this is another book where the mystery was incredibly predictable. There's also little depth to the characters or the relationships. The romance promises more than it delivers; there is a sex scene, but it's written in such a tame way, using so many vague ways to describe what was happening, that I wondered why it was included at all instead of just fading to black.
There are a lot of references to the poem The Highwayman--the main character's nickname is Bess, the love interest is a highwayman, the title of a book is lifted directly from the poem, and I even see some similarities in the plot. I like the poem, and I definitely don't mind reading a story based on it, but I do think more could've been done to make this stand out from the original....more
On the Same Page
>
Books:
2022
(168)
