Gemma
This is a dequel trilogy to The Black Magician trilogy which I re-read in the past few years. The original trilogy follows Sonea, a girl from the slums who is discovered to have magic and it taken to the Guild (and surrounded by nobles) to learn magic. The originally trilogy was my original introduction to adult fantasy books, and it was genuinely life changing. It opened up a new world of books and renewed my waning interest in reading.
To start, the original trilogy commented on the discrepancy between classes through self centred attitudes of the nobles. I found that to be one of the reasons I enjoyed the first trilogy so much, along side Canavan's writing and my deep love of Sonea. In this second trilogy, old favourite characters are there alongside Sonea's son, Lorkin. Lorkin is a young man with the ambition of finding ancient magic, but he doesn't yet have a strong personality on the page. This did hold the book back somewhat, as I do not feel any attachment for Lorkin. I am not particularly worried that this is a long term issue, because I remember finding the first book in The Black Magician trilogy slow therefore it is likely that the later books in the trilogy will develop him further.
All in all, I think this is a good start to the trilogy and I have high hopes for it to get better. I think I currently own all of Canavan's back list books, and I would quite like to read as many of them as possible in 2019.
A quick read to begin 2019 and to conclude my experience of rereading the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. I adored book one of the trilogy and fund the rest of the series to be massive disappointments.
This novella was no different. The author tried out a jerkier writing style that skipped between scenes more often and I really found that in this case it reduced my enjoyment of the writing. I have to acknowledge that Weeks' technical writing style usually works very well for me and it's often the content of his books that spoil the experience for me. In this novella, I found too much plot was packed into small nuggets of story without being fully immersive.
I wish it had been a full standalone novel.
This was a delightfully quick read, which I was in need of after hitting a small slump. I found the writing to be a bit bland to read, but I suspect that was due to the author trying to convey the lack of emotions of some of the characters. This was a good thriller, and I would have given it four stars if the ending had not left me feeling unsatisfied. I understood the twists, and I really liked the idea of them, but I think if they had been revealed more gradually (over 20% of the book versus 10%) the impact of the individual twists would have hit me more. I will say that I only saw about half of the twists coming, and even then I wasn't really sure.
A genuinely engaging and surprising read, but not a favourite of the genre so far.
This was a deep look at a young girl living under the thumb of her religious fanatic father. He has seemingly inexplicable rules and lessons for her to learn, often brutally. Throughout it all, Maude discovers a deep connection to animals and slowly learns to stand up for herself and question her father's teachings.
I though this was a beautiful work, and read really easily in terms of writing style. The chapters were short and to the point. The book chronicles Maude's journey to adulthood, and at the end has a touching chapter where the author reflects on her life in adulthood and shows a remarkable sympathy for her mother.
I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in nonfiction books about cults. I was disbelieving throughout that so many adults could enter into the house of this cult and not feel anything was off about how this little girl was treated.
I read this online years ago, so I am really glad to get to pick it back up now it has been published. It was a great, quick read and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
The prince of Akielos is captured and sent to a rival kingdom as an unwilling slave. To protect himself he must keep his royal birth a secret while trying to find a way to return home. The characters are interesting to read, there are multiple layers to the movements of the plot and it was a genuinely well crafted novel. It was rather short, but surprisingly I didn't feel anything was lacking from the world. I do tend towards longer books, so I wish it had been longer to develop the atmosphere and world further.
An old favourite, and one I'm glad I read.
Sharp Objects is my first Gillian Flynn novel, but not my fist experience of her work. I watched Gone Girl and was hopelessly confused. Not by the plot, but I had read a review before seeing the film that desibed it as a feminist work of art. After seeing the film I had to conclude it was one of the greater thrillers I'd seen, but that blogpost about its feminist contributions must have been satire.
I read Sharp Objects for my bookclub, on my suggestion. I was expecting a typical detective style thriller where the big twist was that the reporter we were following was much more closely connected to the story that we expected. A lot of thrillers follow this pattern, but I really wasn't expecting the twists and flavour that Flynn put on that storyline. The plot took such a rapid increase in tension towards the end of the book that I flew through the pages. The story was captivating and horrifying; I almost didn't believe the ending once I had read it.
For this book, I would have to say that while I enjoyed the reading experience I would have preffered a longer book. I think that some of the plot elements would have benefitted from more time before the reveal, and that Flynn's writing was so gripping that I could have easily read double that pagecount. I'd like to go on to read all of her stories, especially as I hear so many great things said about her as an author.
The Way of Shadows ???????????????Shadow's Edge ???????????????Beyond the Shadows ???????????????
For this review, you need to know that I went into this trilogy with an open heart. I had read the complete trilogy years ago, possibly encroaching on ten years ago, when I was a bairn. When it came to my 2018 re-read I only remembered the first book but my feelings regarding the trilogy were warm and fuzzy.
That was lies. I adored book one, it always and forever will be a favourite book of mine. Both books two and three are trash fires that I kind of wish hadn???t been written. That???s not a fair nor objective response to those books. My hopes were high and then subsequently destroyed so my ratings are possibly an overreaction. I???m going to cover my issues with both of the sequels in this review, but be aware that beyond here there be spoilers.
In the second book the cast widens from the first to include POV from Kylar/Azoth???s childhood friends, Elene and Jarl. Additionally we get POV from another apprentice wetboy who was mentioned in the first book Vi, Momma K, Logan Gyre and Solon, Feir and Dorian. There is a wide range of backstories and character types in this cast that would have made for some excellent reading. Only, every time any of the women in the main cast are in a scene it is somehow related to their sexuality and connection to one of the men in the series.
Momma K is the only one who I feel could argue doesn???t fall prey to this as she is successful currently in the timeline of the series on her own means. However in scenes where she interacts with any bloke we are reminded of her beauty and how it made her the hottest commodity back when she was a whore. So I both loved Momma K and her boss ass knowledge/most competent character thing and hated how her backstory kept creeping back in there.
Then we get Elene, the virginal woman who is literally lifted onto a pedestal for her morals and innocence. She really felt like I should be imagining a golden glow around her the whole time. I think this could have been passed over if it hadn???t been for Vi???s demonisation due to her promiscuity. It mentions that she used sex as a weapon and that the master who essentially raised her abused her sexually, yet somehow she never felt sexual pleasure until she fell in love with our hero. I???m not buying the dick so good it reversed the numbness. I just don't. The triangle that was going on for the last two books never felt worth it to me as it was so one sided and undeveloped. Additionally we were treated to that double love triangle goodness in the third book with Jenine/Logan/Dorian. I???m not touching that one at all, none of it was believable or well written and I could have happily skipped it entirely.
Another issue I had with this series was the lack of world building. I struggled to keep the countries and motivations straight in my head the whole time. I???m still not sure where the Chantry is or why everyone seems to not mind that their method of recruitment is kidnapping. Alitaerans are who exactly and what stake do they have in any of this? Why is Cenaria the name of a city and its country (as far as I can tell)? I thought Ceuran meantime someone from Cenaria for ages, and now I???m not sure. I feel like having read this entire series twice I should be sure. If this element had been stronger I probably would have enjoyed this series better.
And finally, what brand of bullshit are we calling that ending? Vi realises magically that Elene is no longer pregnant at Elene???s funeral when touching her. Then instantly realised this must have been because of Dorian touching the two most magical artefacts (as they sang that weird song as a group as Elene lay dying) took her baby and implanted into the pregnant womb of the woman he loved. I would like to smoke whatever Vi is smoking because it might have made that make sense. After this bombshell is dropped, we just move on with life in the happily ever after.
I???m doubting my choice to buy the first four Lightbringer books now. Can someone reassure me they are better that this mess?
A Darker Shade of Magic ???????????????A Gathering of Shadows ???????????????A Conjuring of Light ???????????????
Obviously as this is the third book in the series I won't be doing a full review with spoilers, but I have a lot of feelings to write out.
As much as it looks like I am disappointed by this series based on my ratings I adore Schwab's writing and would genuinely read thousands of pages about these characters. My main complaint about this series is that I feel short changed by the lack of plot. This book I personally feel delivered the most plot and really kept me more engaged than the second. I wish the series had been a duology and the plot relevant parts of the second had been moved to the first book.
I was ready to give this book five stars for a long period, but I found the conclusion to be weak and rather “neatly tied”. That isn't a fair opinion if I was to be considering it objectively, but the sacrifices made and difficulties felt like the minimal that could be done to prevent a neat ending that had no consequences. I'm possibly just bitter about how hyped this series was and how much I felt let down.
The Raven Boys ???????????????The Dream Thieves ???????????????Blue Lily, Lily Blue ???????????????
I can't speak to the plot specifics of this book, as it is the third in a series, but I found it to be the most enthralling book in the series to date. Plot aspects ramped up and elevated the tension that felt more like an undercurrent in the first two books. A plot point which I had heard rumors of began to unfurl.
Also, Jesse Dittley and the Better Ant is the best scene and possibly the best band name I've ever heard of.
This book is like one of the concept albums that you're supposed to watch like a movie with all the music videos. It's absolutely doing something and I had a good time reading it but I think for maximum impact I needed to be at least familiar with Moby Dick.
I enjoyed the whales and the art! A gorgeous book.
I genuinely loved this book for many different reasons. Firstly, I know the history of how the States came to be (a little), but the specifics of it all isn't something I'm familiar with. I really enjoyed and appreciated a closer look into the life, and variations of a life, you might expect living in different states in that time period. I love the closeness we feel to Cora, in fact, I found her to be an endearing character. I really resonated with her struggle with her relationship with her mother, the sudden moments of anger she felt and admired how human she felt at times.
Similarly, the book struck a really strong emotional chord with me throughout. I really feel like this book was the one that made me feel the most this year.
The Golden Compass ???????????????The Subtle Knife ???????????????
The second book in His Dark Materials was a romp through multiple worlds, and delivers some interesting plot developments along the way. I found the plot to be less interesting than the first book as I am not particularly interested in the witches and a bigger portion of the plot follows their story. I liked the new characters who were introduced and am still looking forward to finishing this series. I may try the third book on audiobook to see if it keeps my interest more.
I have been queuing for this book on my library app for a while now, maybe a month or so. I remember being excited for it when I discovered it was provided by my library and immediately forgetting what the plot was and why I was excited. As you can clearly tell, I loved it.
My overall feeling from the book is that this is an adultier, better version of An Ember in the Ashes (which I liked, possibly loved). This book follows two (kinda three, but honestly not really) children of the Emperor. One son is the heir and was sent to live in a remote monastery as a part of his training. The other was sent to train to become a member of an elite military squad. The Emperor dies (it's in the Goodreads blurb, so I can spoil it) and the sons are thrown in immediate danger. The book follows both boys closely as they try to complete their training but there is also a murder mystery at the heart of the story that is a stroke of genius. I want more fantasy murder mysteries.
I adored every second of this book. I initially planned on marathoning it in one day while I was in work. The initial 30% or so is a slow paced deep dive into the world, but as we get further into the plot we reach the surface of the water and things just gradually speed up until we reach a comfortable pace. The plot was complex enough, and the different connections between the separate story lines kept me interested.
I found the male characters to be compelling and enjoyable to read. There wasn't too much in terms of variation between the women, they were all gorgeous and adept at their required physical skill. This in some cases felt surprising (a young girl who has not trained physically can keep pace with three others who have trained relentlessly everyday) and repetitive. No bloke was described by how sexy or attractive he was, so I could have done with less of a focus on the women's bodies and more on their person. All that being said, there were some fantastic female characters that showed flaws and strengths at the same time. I think the main source of the poor characterisation came from the idea that the book was written from the point of view of a 19-21 year old man, so he will be focusing on the sexy aspects of the women. If we could abandon this idea and let young men in books control their genitals more often, that'd be great.
The setting was clearly well developed and I adored every aspect. I'm desperate to find out more and see a map, as my library ebook copy did not have one. The writing had me by the heart from the prologue and it didn't let me down once. I feel acutely aware that the next book I read is going to be heavily compared to this, and likely won't hold up.
I'm excited to see where the second book goes, and I will definitely keep an eye out for more of the author's works. My largest paragraph in this review is dedicated to a negative aspect of the book, but it was a minor issue and overall I felt like this was going to be a five star book all the way through from page one.
A Game of Thrones ???????????????A Clash of Kings ???????????????A Storm of Swords: (Part 1) Steel and Snow ???????????????A Storm of Swords: (Part 2) Blood and Gold ???????????????
I am so glad this book was split into two volumes in the UK because I had such incredibly different reading experiences with each volume. The first volume got a three star review from me which translated roughly into a slow moving book with insufficient plot to distract me from the repetitive nature of GRRM???s writing. I wouldn???t give any of the books in this series less than three however because they are of a decent quality when it comes to the technical aspects of writing and plotting.
As you can expect, this second volume really ramped up the plot. I checked, and events which occur in this volume span season three and four of the tv show. Plot points I did not remember or new ones that are ignored in the show have begun to show themselves and I am excited and ready for the next book.
Also this book completes my personal challenge of reading 50% of ASOIAF in 2018, as I was counting each volume individually.
Wow. I think I'll need a minute to collect my thoughts here.
Firstly, you need to know that for the first two parts of this book I was 100% ready to dish out a five star review. I had been totally captivated by the premise and the terrible twisted nature of the main character. Amber doesn't hide who she is for a second on the page, although she conceals it from those around her. The second part of the book is from a different POV, whose I won't spoil, and that completely ramped up my love for the book. I was on the edge of me seat for the entire second portion of that book. The climax to the second portion was the most satisfying one I've read in a long time.
I wish the book had stopped there. The third section builds on the climax and pushes further to take a resolution that I had considered 90% tied up and had really enjoyed even further. I wasn't interested in this section of the book and it sounded like an overly braggy post of r/revengeporn. Over the top and spoilt the conclusion to a thrilling book for me. I think I love psychological thrillers now, and I need to read so many more.
This is my first Discworld novel, and indeed the first book I've read by Terry Pratchett. I have had my eye on the Long Earth series as well which I will hopefully get to one day.
I found the writing and plot of this book delightfully reminiscent of reading Hitchhiker's Guide. It was a light and witty book that I flew through. I found I enjoyed it even more than Hitchhiker's because it was set in a fantasy world which is something I'm more familiar with than scifi. It was such a peculiar and amazing feeling to be reading the description of the discworld for myself, as I only knew of it through hearing references and other people describe it.
Rincewind and Death are my two favourite characters from this book, and I genuinely can't wait to see who pops up in the next book.
The cover is what first drew me to this book, months ago when I added it to my GR wishlist. Soon after I heard it was inspired by Russian folklore, which only intrigued me further. Some reviews came in from GR and YT, which made me more and more interested. Finally, I was gifted a gorgeous edition for Christmas and decided to pick The Bear and the Nightingale up after at least a year.
This is a fantastical historical fiction novel set in 14th century Russia. I found the fairy tale-esque writing style to be captivating and really set the tone of the story well. The book follows Vasya, a young girl who can see spirits in the world around her. This greatly complicates her life as she grows older and becomes one of the only people in her village to believe. Branded a witch, Vasya has to step up and protect her family from dangers only she knows exist.
I was surprised by the length of this tale, as I was reading it as an ebook borrowed from the library and could not see the thickness of the novel in my hands. So much happens in this book, it's almost impossible to recount it all.
I found this book enchanting, and it gave me the same feelings as reading North Child by Edith Pattou. It would be fair to say that the worldbuilding and atmosphere are really what set this book apart from others. While Vasya as a character was admirable and inspires a lot of love from the reader, the cold and creepy atmosphere that creeps in throughout the book kept me absorbed in the pages as I read.
A Darker Shade of Magic ???????????????A Gathering of Shadows ???????????????
You might see this rating and think I???m crazy. You might think I hated this book. That isn???t exactly the case, because I found the book incredibly readable and I thoroughly enjoyed every page.
This second book follows on four months from the first, and concerns the triwizard tournament of Red London (which is a basic description of the plot, and is missing the nuances, but will suffice for the review). Lila Bard, who is aboard a vessel with her new captain, travels back to London for the tournament.
Without going into spoilers my issue with this book is that there are no stakes or plot relevance until the last 20%. It all really goes down after the tournament ends. Which means the book could have been condensed and the series made into a duology without loosing plot. I can see why this was a book in and of itself as it builds some new relationships and shows the progression of time over the previous four months for one key character in particular. But that key character only had about 20% of the ???screen time??? and the relationships were not so complex or explained in such a detailed way that it required an entire 500 page book to discuss it.
Aside from the fact that this book felt like it was entirely filler though, I found the writing to be just as fantastic as last time. I adored every page and if I wasn???t expected a plot filled middle book in a trilogy, I would happily read 5000 pages of filler if it was written by V E Schwab. I gave it three stars because it wasn???t the book I felt it should be, but if I ignored my issues with the lack of plot it would easily be a four or five star book.
I read the first book in this series and loved it. An Ember in the Ashes received a five star review from me. In that review I highlighted my love for Elias' difficulties reconsiling his upbringing and his nature, but I wasn't overly impressed with Laia and I found the way Elias spoke about his two female friends boring and repetative.
In this book, a lot of the high stakes action lost its edge due to the many leagues between the characters and those who inspired the fear. Over the course of this book Elias and Laia are pursued by the Commandant and Helene separately, and in that they never seem close enough for us to really worry about. It leaves a lot more of the character interactions as the star of the show in the second book, and I find them lacking in both the first and second book. I even found Elias a bit dreary in this book.
While I flew through the book, it wasn't doing anything special for me. I feel like the plot of this book could have been condensed into 300 pages and added to another book in the series. All in all, a disappointing read after how much I enjoyed the first book and I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to the third book now.
I never thought I would enjoy a Liane Moriarty novel, after I hated The Husband's Secret (?????? ?????????). In that a particular story, I found the reveal came too quickly and the writing wasn't strong enough to support the story. However, in this novel I really enjoyed the writing. The style of the book lends itself well to the writing, as it is all written through the speculation of 3 unreliable narrators. At the end of chapters there was a brief summary of the gossip going about.
The novel is a similar construction as to The Husband's Secret, where it follows 3 women who know each other because their children all attend the same school. Drama flies about the school after one child is accused of bullying; while the chapter titles count down to the school trivia night, where something horrible has occurred.
I feel like this was the novel The Husband's Secret was meant to be, but seeing as this came only a year after according to goodreads publication dates I'm surprised the quality improved so quickly. I highly recommend this one, and I'm delighted I've finished now and I can watch the tv show.
The Way of Shadows ???????????????Shadow's Edge ???????????????
Did that seriously only take me six days? It felt like an eternity.
Firstly, I finished The Way of Shadows and adored it. This whole series is a re-read for me: I originally read this series around 7-10 years ago. I tanned the whole trilogy quickly and I was far too young to properly understand and appreciate the plot. Upon re-reading, I gave the first book a five star rating and was really disappointed by this book. In fact, when speaking to my dad about the series (he had read it around the same time I originally I did), he remembered loving the first and being disappointed by the second. He told me he never bothered with the third.
The second book is so disappointing because of how much of a departure it is from the first. The first follows Kylar as he grows from young orphan boy to a master assassin. The plot is complex, the book is fast paced and the relationships are rich. I found the dynamic between Kylar and Durzo to be one of my favourite parts of the first book and I did miss it in the second. But more importantly, Kylar seems to regress from the first to the second book. In the first book he is focused and calculating, even outside of battle. For the first third of the second book he is completely adsorbed by his relationship with Elene. It makes him a completely unlikeable incel (involuntary celibate), and the majority of his thoughts about Elene complain about how they haven't had sex yet as she wants to wait for marriage.
It brings me on to another point that other reviewers have made, more eloquently than me. All of the women in this novel are piss poor caricatures of women. A whore who fell in unrequited love, a deadly assassin who uses her body for her work because she can feel no love, a prudish virgin, a woman forced to whoring and rejected by her family. It disappoints me because I enjoyed Momma K in the first book, and I was astounded at how boring and predictable Vi's plotline turned out to be in the second book.
For the first 90% of the book, the pacing is too slow and it felt like running through soup to get through the book. The last 10% flew by too fast, and held a large portion of the action. I have heard that Brent Weeks' second series shows a large improvement from this one, so my hope still remains strong. I am going to continue on and finish this trilogy to see how the bombs dropped at the end of this book detonate.
Another successful re-read!
Lyra is a young girl who lives in the care of university scholars in Oxford. She lives in a world where everyone has a daemon; the physical manifestation of their soul as an animal. When the Gobblers come to Oxford and steal her best friend, Lyra embarks on a dangerous journey to save him.
I have a lot of nostalgia for this book, and I found reading it to be a lovely trip down memory lane. Not only did I remember the plot fairly well, but I still enjoyed all the twists and details that occurred along the way. I can never decide if this book is YA or children's, but as it deals with some heavier topics I would lean towards YA. It's actually one of the few YA books I would recommend for those who prefer to read only adult novels as I thought both the themes and execution were excellently done.
I only gave it four stars so the rest of the series had the potential to beat it. I might come back and update my rating.
DNF @ 15%
This year began I trend of taking risks on young adult fantasy and having a string of four and five star sucesses. I should have realised that there were bound to be misses. It just didn't occur to me that widely acclaimed Nevernight was going to be my miss.
On page, Nevernight has so many things I love. Assassins, revenge, what sounded like would be a fast paced and twisty plot and everyone on booktube raves about the main character, so I had unknowingly built quite the hype around this book. I ended up DNF'ing this book on page 64 (around chapter 6) simply due to the writing style. I liked that the flowery descriptions, but I found them to be nonsensical at times. No matter though, because I think that about The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and it garnered a four star rating for me.
On the first nine pages of the UK paperback, the phrase “O, [blank]” appears on every page at least once. That got fucking tiring, really quickly. The narrator talked to the reader, and referenced the reader like an audience calling them “gentlefriends”. The footnotes felt unnecessary to the story, and gave the writing a smary feel to it. I have enjoyed books with footnotes before when I read the Bartimaeus Trilogy as a kid/teen, but I ended up skipping these ones. I just generally couldn't truck with the style of writing, and I'm really disappointed because this would have probably been a four star read for me otherwise.