Fun Fantasy Books
This is the kind of book that benefits from not knowing much! So I'll try to be as vague as possible, while hopefully convincing you to read it!
I really believe that the synopsis downplays how interesting this book is! Yeah, we will have very classic YA tropes (our girl is a special kind of monster and her love interest is, of corse, a monster hunter). But it also really goes above and beyond from it!
Monsters are not paranormal creatures, but rather beings with the ability to travel time by sucking it up from people.
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3 - 3,5 ⭐️
I really wanted to get to Cytonic! It was one of my most anticipated releases of this season and I was dying for some young adult sci-fi and continue with the story of Spensa.
However. This book felt like a total separated story for me: new world, new characters, new plot. The most interesting parts were the interludes as we got a bit of insight into the core of the story and pretty interesting things happened!
The rest tho... felt like a filler. Not a bad story in itself- we will follow Spensa in a new world where she'll meet some pirates and then will need to train her powers as well as fight for her memories to remain. Sounds cool! But it's just not the story that I spent 2 books reading about and loving!
As usual, Brandon's last 10% of the book almost made it all worth it. Just almost this time!
I'm really hopeful that book 4 will get into the main story tho, so I will continue with the saga
P.S I'm so relieved that Spensa ceased a bit her disposition to say “scud” throughout the book. It really was killing me how often Soensa said it at the beginning
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4,5 stars ⭐️
I came to The Bitter Twins with high expectations! After investing 3/4 of the Ninth Rain figuring out with our characters what the heck was going on, now I expected to understand the whole plot, and to continue unraveling the drama that unfolded at the end of the first book.
And girl, did I receive what I expected? YES!
This book starts very strong, continuing with the last scene that the Ninth Rain gave us! and getting into the aftermath of what happens- diving deep into how the different characters fare after the events.
The story unfolds in a very satisfying way- opening new threads that were SUPER interesting in my opinion and the book manages to pack a punch at the end - which I didn't expect. It doesn't have at all the second book syndrome!
As a minor concern, I am a bit unhappy to see how Tor and Noon's relationship gave a step back- they invested so much time in the first book to get to know each other, and I felt like we were again repeating the pattern here. But well.
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4 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm so torn with this book! I loved the overall story- the characters are interesting, the setting was compelling and the plot was interesting enough to keep me very hooked to the pages! It's a very plot-driven book and I felt that although the main PoV is Red and her story, the interludes are a very interesting way to give the reader the “OMG. See what's building up here... this is going to turn out wrong!!”
I was in the mood for a bit of romance and an easy read- which this book 100% gave me.
HOWEVER, I really didn't understand the world of this story and why the main plot happened. It's a beautiful story in a forest perpetually in the twilight, but... why do we need the Wolf?, what's the role of the 5 kings? why do we need second daughters?....
Maybe it was very clear and I just missed it, but overall I think that the world-building wasn't done in a way that satisfied me, and I'm not sure if the second book will give it to me either (LOL)
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3 -3,5 stars
Oh no! I came to The Shadow of the Gods really expecting to end the year with a 5 stars read and to add this series as my most anticipated reads for years to come. But... well, no.
This book is great in so many ways: it has a Norse setting, characters that suffer and that evolve through the story, a compelling plot, a great writing style, and overall the beginning of a new epic fantasy story. I can see why this book is so well-loved...
But still... It didn't click for me:
- Although the setting was very enticing, it took me a fair amount of time to understand properly what the characters were seeing because I didn't understand the lingo. I kept confusing the names of some of the side characters (all seemed similar to me!!)
- Although I'm a character-driven reader... I wasn't in love with any of the characters. I feel that the fact that each story advanced separately, plus the fact that the chapters were very short prevented me to be really hooked to them. I wonder if longer characters would have helped me to bond with them
- Also, each chapter kind of ended strongly so I really wanted to continue reading, but at the same time as so much stuff happened before I reached to the same story again (because the book follows mostly the order of presenting in each chapter one PoV).. I just was like “wait what then?”
Anyway, not a read I regret- it was alright! butttt not sure if I would recommend it to my closest friends!
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4 stars!
Uhh, I didn't expect to like this as much as I did! I'm not sure if it's because I was in the mood for something magical, yet not overly complex, that this book made it for me, or is it just that the series is honestly good!
With a whimsical setting, and a story that promises a quest, and a slow burn- Caraval is a fairly short book that is able to transmit the beauty/madness of the Circus... if this Circus would instead be a game where only VIP people could attend, where they were given clues to find/solve a mystery and where magic is all around us.
The writer took me through this beautiful word in a very engaging way - yeah, I was hooked from page 20- playing my mind around with the different plot twists that I thought were super obvious, just to see the main PoV think about them 2 pages after (LOL).
I wasn't a huge fan of the end tho, but I'm 100% continuing with the series and keen to see how the story continues to unfold!
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4 ⭐️
Six Crimson Cranes has a place within the finalists of the Goodreads Choice Awards for a reason.. and that reason is its beautiful setting, the sweet story, and the overall coziness that the story projects. I think it's a perfect book to read when you're feeling a bit down.
The story is very compelling: we will see a curse fallen upon our main girl, turning her brothers into cranes and forcing her to remain silent as for every word spoken, one of her brothers will die.
However ☝️I found the pacing of the book to be a bit weird- packed at the beginning and the end and really, really slow at the middle - bigger- chunk. And also... the characters were a bit plain for me, I wasn't really moved by their story... compelled and thrilled by the ambiance? YES. Suffering for our main girl and her brothers? No really, no.
I'm still very interested in book 2 as it promises to spend even more time with one of my fave characters, the dragon! Let's see!
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This book was perfect at so many levels. I'm not a massive fan of heists, but I must confess- Foundryside hooked me to the story from the first pages!
- Perfect blend between character-driven & plot-driven story
- Amazing magic system where objects are persuaded to act/be as other things- e.g. you can persuade a house rotten to believe its pillars are solid and of hard stone, a door to grant passage only if you whisper the correct password,...
- Sentient key: which completely stole my heart!
- Realistic characters and motivations
- Impressive world-building!
Just a 10/10! Mis dieses!
4,5 stars!
Winds of Strife is a VERY solid debut of the author U.G Gutman! He has been able to create a compelling world with a thrilling story where the nights are getting longer and longer and the only way to stop them seems to be hunting down witches. To achieve it, the king uses the Harbingers, a group of warriors that are able to harness magic (yeah, magic!!!) to their purpose.
So, let's talk about the magic!! Very reminiscent of Brandon Sanderson's magic, Winds of Strife has a magic system that follows very clear rules! (we have witches and magical powers but they don't spontaneously do whatever they like!) The magic is based on emotions (how cooool is that? - very very cool!)
The characters are gray, like really gray! and we have some trigger warnings about mental illnesses & physical abuse... but the author makes it work! It doesn't have clearly hateful characters (well, just one, lol!) and all of them do good and bad stuff- I think that's the magic of this book, to be honest!
All in all, a great book if you want to jump into a new world with a great magic system!!
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Ouh no!
It's always hard when you get to a book with very high expectations.. because it not always end good! And this was definitely the case!
Horrorstör missed the spot for me completely! I started loving the story and thought it to be very promising... but somehow it lost it's strength for me!
Being very simplistic, for me the horror books/movies are divided into 2 categories: 1) either the book acknowledges from the beginning that the ghosts exist and deals with them from moment 0 or 2) it plays with your mind and only unveils that ghost exists by the end.
I like the first ones! And Horrorstör fit more on the second category (if we could say so!). Nah!
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Really not loving it! A shame!!
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4,5 stars! Jennifer L. Armentrout does it again! She has created yet another book that follows (in my opinion) the same recipe as the From Blood and Ash series, delivering with a prequel that has a thrilling setting, plot, and interesting characters!
I loved this book, don't get me wrong! I thought it was well-paced and it currently had me with book hangover! But the similarities between this book and the FBAA are there! Sera represents in my opinion a more mature (well, at times!) version as compared with Poppy, and Nyktos... well. I just loved Nyktos so much!
The whole world-building is interesting (hello? gods! primals!) and I actually enjoyed it more than The Crown of Gilded Bones! I loved the slow-burn between Sera and Nyktos and how she was brave and committed with her role in life and an absolute bad-ass!
But..... (and spoilers ahead, will separate it with spaces if you haven't read it yet!)
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SPOILERS ahead!!
But... I really was hoping for another situation when Sera & Nyktos finally came together. I thought that after spending so much time pining and obsessed with each other, getting together because Nyktos needs to feed and it's the “heat of the moment” was a bit of a bummer! I so wanted that moment to be special and I got a moment of passion where they were actually pretty mad with other! :unacceptable:
Corny! I know... I wasn't expecting it either! (to need a sweeter yet sexy moment)!
And also, really. What's the deal with the nicknames! I just can't believe we went through a Hawke is Cas all over again (well, we didn't because we knew! but Sera and Poppy passed for the exact same thing!)
Anyway! loved it either way
3,5 stars! - Here's my BookTube channel in case you're interested: https://bit.ly/3AKldmY
The Ex Hex has a certain charm to it! It transports you to a charming small town, where Halloween is just around the corner and where being a witch is just as regular as it gets!
I didn't loved it, LOVED IT - as I think that it the second chance love trope resulted in an insta-love and I'm just a sucker for slow-burns!
But I guess that it really depends on what you're seeking for the season! If you're in the mood for something that is spicy, charming and, let's face it, explicit! this is your book! It will transport you to an adult version of Halloweentown and it will help you enjoy (even more?) this fall season!
If there's a moment to read this kind of book... it's now!
4,75 stars! - here's my BookTube channel in case you're interested: https://bit.ly/3aDrENZ
I mean! If you're in the mood for some Feel Good Halloween vibes, this is your book: a fantastic blend between Halloweentown, Sabrina the teenage witch and Harry Potter and the goblet of fire- this book is fun, lighthearted and cozy!
Don't come to the book expecting something dark or incredibly complex! But rather something cozy!
I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I honestly thought it was going to be 100% predictable, full of cliches and kinda boring. BUT NO! I mean, yes it's predictable! but in a delightful way. Beyond that very engaging and with a very unique setting that made the read one of the best in October!
4stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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So yeah, this book was creepy! I picked it up expecting some goosebumps and girl, I got them! This is the perfect read if you're looking for something spooky, but yet with a great vivid setting and a charming main PoV.
I flew through the pages and the story got really interesting by the end... but I can't scape the feeling that the pacing was a bit odd- somethings very fast and others entertaining a lot of small details.
All in all, a great read and I definitely recommend if you're in the spooktober mood
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Review:
Soo! I can honestly say that this book got me hooked since page 30! It's being a while since I binge-read a book, finding any spare seconds to pulse play to the audiobook!
This was such a good read! Pitched as Gossip Girl + Get Out, Ace of Spades is phenomenal both in the content of the story as well as the format of the chapters: short, character oriented and with a very engaging and mindblowing plot!
I must say that I was picturing something different for the end (as the result of all the theories this book made me do/ re-do as I was reading it). But all and all, very happy with the book! Really recommend! Specially if you're looking for something spooky but still YA!
5 stars!!
Oh my goooooshhhh! What C.S Pacat did with my heart all over this book doesn't have a name! This book should get insta-famous. Like, right now! This book is THAT good!
Dark Rise is supposed to be a young adult book. And I definitely can see why one can think that (the fight between the light & darkness, having clear “good” and “villain” characters... and all that). BUT, I really think that it leaned older! The characters are complex enough and the plot turns... well, it turns.
Compelling characters, a very strong beginning, slow-paced loved the middle and a great cliffhanger at the end!
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Also, I'm a new BookTuber! here is my channel in case you want to have a look!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqu1LgRVYr38sNpMmvqT5Ug