Dylan

I knew once the story started picking up that Mia and Grace weren't just gonna pick up where they left off but gosh darn it I wanted an unrealistic, easy, guaranteed happy ending for both of them. I'll take Mia's content smile at the end and assume it all works out for the two of them.

Good read, lots of emotions. The parallel storytelling was fun, and I like all the interconnected relationships and dynamics.

I love that the spaceships are big fish. A lot more exciting than the standard affair. Would love to see more in this universe.

(CURRENTLY IN READING SLUMP, WILL RETURN LATER)

Do not judge this book for its romantasy looking cover. It is not a romantasy by any means, thank goodness.

My favorite books of 2024 feature necromancy and/or traumatized (and kinda toxic) princesses. This definitely met that criteria and, while not as good as those other books, I really enjoyed it nevertheless. 

I really liked the “magic” in this universe, where people can talk to spirits of various kinds and a small number of people can flit across the veil of death. I like how to bring people back from the dead requires bits and pieces of yourself, except in Hellevir's case, Death himself is looking for specific gifts (which is totally setting him up for some shenanigans in the future (especially if he is the Antlered King of lore)).

The major characters are decent. Surprisingly deep. Her family is complex, the Peers are your standard evil religious group seeking bigger and “better” things. The Queen is the mustache-twirlingly evil monarch character we've all become accustomed to.

Sullivain is...tedious. Their relationship/romance(ish) is very toxic and feels a little forced. Every single time she shows even a little bit of improvement she immediately backtracks and somehow gets worse than before. There are snippets of a decent person under her iron demeanor, but they are squashed time and time again. She has potential but she has a lot to atone for. Time will tell...

Death is really cool. I liked his whole thing. I'm immensely grateful that this isn't a romantasy because he would've been the inevitable love interest and I would've hated that so much.

I did laugh a little at the Odin impersonation Hellevir's got going on at the end of the book (eyepatch and raven). And she's ending the book with plans to wander. I swear to goodness if she gets a second raven I'm rioting.

It definitely feels like this whole book is a setup for a series. But I'm definitely gonna check out the sequel though. I want to see where it goes.

Started off a little sluggish, but in typical SJM fashion it picked up and accelerated into oblivion after the halfway point. 

Aelin is noticably less dumb, but still just as arrogant. Her biggest flaw in this book is needing to communicate her intentions and plans to her allies, but I see that happening going forward. 

Once again, Manon is my favorite character. I really liked her development especially when dealing with Elide and the Thirteen (especially that conversation with Asterin about the matrons and the branding) and I can't wait to see her experience the world with the information she gained.
The King of Adarlan still fascinates me (revealing that he's been fighting a demon the whole time was an interesting—if expected—twist, and I'm a little disappointed that he's dead) but I am excited to see what all his plans spanning the last four books coalesce into.

I get why people don't like Chaol, but he is 110% the most human character (aka the Boromir of this setting), which is a valuable perspective to have when surrounded by super powered people. Dorian is a gem, and I loved that he was fighting the demon the whole time (and him being so horny for Manon that he broke through) was entertaining.

Nice to see the pieces coming together for the inevitable nightmare. It will be interesting to see how it all ends up. 

This is a weird book. But I devoured Harrow the Ninth, so I'm prepared for weird books that don't really make sense until the final third.

The cover art and title drew me in, the synopsis snagged me, and the immediate concepts it introduced really got me. 

I'm a huge fan of anything even remotely necromancy related, and splitting ones self into multiple individual beings that inhabit lab-grown bodies to avoid (religious) trauma during an invasion of an objectively evil empire was right up my alley. I really liked the concepts of the characters, and keeping track of exactly who was who and what they were like was a little tedious. 

Despite being from the perspective of a sex worker (though much more disparaging words are used), there aren't any on-page sex scenes (thank goodness), only brief mentions of their activities — the few good and, unfortunately, the large amount of bad.

I'm not normally a fan of “whodunit” stories, but this kinda kept me guessing. The reveal of the perpetrator was satisfying and the deaths of the awful, awful sons felt like a genuine relief with how awful they are. 

I did like how it wrapped up at the end. I don't want a direct sequel whatsoever, but I wouldn't mind seeing more in this universe. Maybe exploring the magic system? Or a prequel from the perspective of Inshil?

Oh, and a map would be lovely.

I really, really liked the world building in this book. There were a lot of creatures (similar to real life with just enough difference to make them unique) and locales that were described well enough to visualize.

I'll always be a sucker for a tidally-locked planet (even if it's named Urth, which I'm not a fan of). The “Father Above, Mother Below” concept was cool. And I did like the various belief systems, gods, and cultures (though I wish they were fleshed out more).

And the letter “y” replaced most instances of “I” (i.e. swyft, wynd, cyll, alchymical, mystic, etc.). Not a fan, but it's fine.

I didn't really like the cast of main characters. Nyx started off as blind, but that was quickly “fixed”... (which was immensely disappointing because I liked the descriptions of her navigating blind and I'd love to read some blind rep). She spends most of the book moping and pining and crying, punctuated with a few moments of badassery. Several men want to sexually assault her (one actually attempts it). Jace is a real one, I liked him a lot. And Kanthe is a real fucking creep. He starts thinking like a Cassandra Clare love interest (y'know, incestual for his maybe-sister Nyx).

Started off incredibly well, dragged horrendously for the entire middle 50%, then picked up and stayed fast pace for the final quarter. 

And there was a painfully cringe line, at the extreme end of the book. I honestly would've DNF'd if it wasn't so close to the end already:

Pg. 547 - “...What is that name in this ancient tongue?”Shiya looked across at Nyx, her eyes aglow.“The City of Angels.”

Context (extreme spoilers):
You find out that the world, Urth, is irl Earth in the distant future after it stopped rotating and the moon is moving closer and closer, and the overarching plot is to stop that from happening. They have to travel far away to unearth some ancient technology that may help them with that. So the City of Angels is so obviously Los Angeles and I haaaate that so much.

I'm intrigued enough to check out the sequel, but I'm not gonna rush into it.

I liked the concept of the premise. I'm usually a fan of the extraterrestrial/unknown but this one didn't do it for me all that much. I'm ambivalent on the “interview” style of storytelling. Not a fan of most of the characters.

The narrator is a faceless unknown G-Man figure with his hands in multiple pots and always has the upper hand in some way or fashion. The book constantly reminds me of how hot Kara is. And speaking of, Kara is immature and reads like a bratty teenager, which is not who I would have pegged as a pilot in the military. She acts and talks like a high schooler that doesn't want to work with a kid in her class. Vincent is an arrogant prick that kinda grew on me. Ryan...exists. I'm intrigued by Rose in the epilogue because as far as we all knew she was dead. 

There was a lot of time spent by the G-Men on the relationships between Kara and the two men in the short-lived, but still godawful (and consequential) love-V. I don't think for a second that an all-powerful G-Man would care about someone sleeping with their coworker(s). I'm grateful the author didn't write out a sex scene. I would've DNF'd on the spot

There were moments that went nowhere. I was promised a trip to Bosnia that happened completely off-page that only lent credence to a boring reveal later in the book about obvious-antagonist turned obvious-villain Alyssa. And there were a few action sequences that were done in a “overhearing it through the phone” interview style that were...fine.
Very conspiratorial “government stooges doing cover-ups and having the upper hand at all times” thriller type stuff. Not really the book for me, to be honest. I might try the sequel and see where it goes.

This is a fascinating book about consciousness and what exactly it means to be human. Good and bad.

As much as I love optimistic sci-fi, this book paints a fascinating and bleak vision of the future, where Earth is barely habitable and getting into space to the many extrasolar colonies requires literally selling your soul and body to an organization called the ISF. It's a mix of conscription and near-sevitude (there are mentions of prison planets for people who dissent).

There are humanoid robots and the book explores the complications and inevitable human prejudices that come with that. Park's relationship with Glenn and, later, Jimex really reflects her soul and the conclusion of the book.

The human characters are fairly diverse with their own complex motives. They're struggling under the chaos of the mission and the looming threat of the ISF. I didn't really like her “relationship” with Fulbreech (thankfully there is no true romance here), but the ending is vague enough that there may never be anything truly there with all that happened.

I will say that I really wish there was more focus on the Fold and less on the boring mutiny stuff. I was kinda hoping that we'd get some really mind-blowing stuff that didn't pan out how I'd hoped. Like, I expected something from Solaris and/or Alien instead of what little we did get. Still a fan of the unity rain and all that, I just wanted more.

It's a book about oppressive religious cult modeled after Christianity, where the witches are not only real but an explicit part of the faith. The setting is vaguely colonial/puritan, so naturally, there is lots of religious trauma, racism, misogyny, etc.

The book opens with a woman giving birth and dying after dropping some cryptic lines that come together much later in the story. The Prophet (church leader) has a harem of battered wives he likes to collect when they're teenagers/girls, and the book doesn't shy away from that fact (up to and including the reveal and death of poor Leah at the Prophet's vile hands.

It's a good book, I'd definitely recommend it to anybody looking for a fictional witch persecution book.

That being said (and if I were to critique one thing), the book feels very YA at times. Kinda like Poppy War, where you have a lot of daaaarrrkk topics and imagery padded with teenage antics. And I know this might come off poorly, but the religion was tame compared to real life puritan culture, in that the FMC not only was educated but had free will and could mouth off to men. Obviously I don't want women oppressed, but if we're gonna make a puritan setting full of blood, creepy church cultists, and witches, we should go all out and make it as bad as it was in real life. 

TL;DR, if you're expecting something like/as dark as The VVitch, prepare to be a little disappointed. It's good, just not terrifying and as bleak as that movie.

I will definitely keep my eye out for this authors books!

I love me a good sci-fi involving malevolent hive mind aliens and body horror “zombies”!

I liked the major characters, from the antagonists to the protagonists. Some of the side/lesser characters were kinda flat, but not so much that they bored me when they were on page.

Tarquin and Naira's relationship developed a little faster than I wanted, but it wasn't as fast as an “enemies to lovers” romantasy, so I'll take it. No sex, only tender moments and sparing kisses. I liked their personalities separate and together, and the webs that were woven throughout. I thought their reunion at the end was a little too convenient. I get that there is a lingering ghost memory, but the beginning-of-the-book Naira wouldn't've trusted him so quickly..

I really liked the technology here. And how it all goes together. The body-swapping and pathways were fascinating. While fictional, it felt grounded.

I loved how quickly it turned from a space opera to a horror story especially when Naira boards the Einkorn (I wish that sequence was a little longer, but maybe the sequels will have some Dead Space 2 residential sequences (please).

Yeah, this is a good book. It's a short, easy read that never left me feeling bored or asking “wtf?” the whole time.

I liked the sparse worldbuilding (it was enough to pique my interest, but I would've liked more details), and I liked the description of all the farmland surrounding the castle. 

The monsters were cool, and I kinda wished the fight with the Kalkara at the end lasted a little longer. Same thing with earlier fight with the boars.

I liked that the relationships with his long-time friends wasn't obnoxious. I was worried when Will and Horace had their little spat (I know why it happened and the amount of stress they were under makes it make sense), I was worried it was gonna turn into some Harry-Draco-esque rivalry. It didn't and I can't wait to see how that turns out. 

The girls are kind of there, but I imagine they'll be fleshed out later since they didn't really get POV sections in this book.

Grouchy Halt smiling at the end of the book was cathartic—the following scene when he developed Will's backstory and strengthenes their bond was great. If (when?) they kill this man I'm gonna riot.

All-in-all, good book, I'll definitely read the sequels. 

DNF at pg. 117.

I'd normally put a book down if a love-V is mentioned in the synopsis, but everything else seemed like it might be worth giving it a shot.

I could forgive confusing, clunky sci-fi worldbuilding. The weird names, weird religion, a bunch of cultures. It's great, I'm here for it.

What I can't stand is insta-love.

Disgraced and usurped by her sister, Altagracia sneaks into the palace where sci-fi Roman empire general is waiting. Disgraced Queen and Space Roman General banter immediately. She strips, they flirt, they have sex (fade to black, thankfully).

Next page/chapter/his POV, they're interacting like a couple. She's draped naked dappled in sunlight and he kisses her. Like they're in love.Done. Not worth my time. Maybe it gets better, I don't know, but knowing that there's a love-V (with his underling, no less) already loaded in the chamber, I'm bailing now.

Celaena is arrogant and a little dumb, but significantly more enjoyable to read about than Feyre. I liked Nehemia a lot (and I thought she had much better chemistry with her than with both Chaol and Dorian combined). In fact, I'm not entirely convinced they weren't developing feelings for each other. Speaking of feelings, I don't really like love triangles, so Chaol and Dorian fluctuated between annoying and tolerable, but they did improve as the book went on.

Nearly everybody else was kinda meh. Nox seems cool. Cain was whatever. Perrington is a creep. Kaltain is a bitch, but she's being taken advantage of in all the worst ways (she didn't deserve her ending imo and I hope that at some point she gets her revenge on Perrington). The Queen is whatever. And so on and so forth.

I do like the King. He's a terrible person but a fascinating character. Definitely want to see what happens with him and why he is the way he is. 

All in all, if you, like me, hated ACOTAR but wanted to see what all the SJM hype is about, give this a shot. It is a little juvenile/YA, but has enough dark adult themes to keep me intrigued.

Celaena is still arrogant and somehow even dumber, but still entertaining. Nehemia is unfortunately dead but I'm not giving up hope to see her again and I still love her (she's maybe my favorite non-evil character). Chaol is doing the godawful “now I have to protect you” thing when the only thing Celaena needs protection from is her own stupid ideas. And Dorian has magic when he shouldn't and develops a lot.

I like all the world building with the wyrdmarks and what they're capable of. Definitely want to see that fleshed out. And I really, really can't wait to learn more about the King.

I liked Yellowlegs a lot and that whole sequence was a lot of fun. Can we please flesh out the Witch lore?

Now I really, really hope Kaltain gets a chance to kill Perrington. 

The scene where Celaena rescues Chaol from the rebel idiots then pummeling him to within a literal inch of his life was cool because you could see where she gets her arrogance from. You finally get a small taste of pre-imprisonment Celaena. 

There was a lot of backstory and character development in this one. Definitely looking forward to seeing where it leads.

Ugh. “Fae males” and “mates” are introduced in this entry in the series 🤢 — nothing sucks the wind from my sails and makes me want to DNF a book more than “mates” — but I powered through because at least in this book, the romance is not the main focus and those godawful terms were used sparingly.

Manon is still my favorite character and I would like nothing more than a book of just her. The King too — dude is just evil for evil's sake and I'm here for it. He even shrugs his shoulders at Chaol and his defiant speech about hope, and casually tells his men to just kill him.

Celaena is finally using some of her brain. She mopes and complains for the first half of the book, but some stuff happens that makes her sort through some traumas and develop as a person.

Rowan is your standard issue romantasy male love interest (tall, muscles for days, significantly older than her (he's 300, she's 19, totally cool and healthy), tan skin, scars/tattoos, lots of growling and snarling, unrepentant jerk until the FMC breaks through his shield and reveals the softy inside, etc, etc.) but since there isn't a romance (yet), it wasn't as annoying. He did help her come out of her stupor, so kudos where they're due. Oh and he does punch her in the face and tell her she'd be better off dead, so that's ✨romantic✨. To be fair, Celaena did say some reprehensible things. Real healthy relationship over here 🤷

Chaol, Aedion, and Dorian's escapades at the castle were few and far between, but very plot advancing. Interested to see what happens with these guys, especially after the ending.

This is my least favorite (so far), but as long as they don't devolve into ACOTAR style “my mate” romance books, this series will keep me intrigued.

I didn't realize that when the blurb on the back said it was for fans of Gideon that it meant that Gideon's long-lost cousin was gonna be one of the main characters.  I was a little amused (and salty) when she tried to sacrifice herself. Thankfully it looks like she lived.
Great book, wonderful characters, loved the dynamic between the trio. The sorta-romance didn't feel forced, Elo wasn't a toxic broody bad boy (just a little dumb in a not-necessarily-bad way), Kissen wasn't some frail whiny petite thing you see way too often in fantasy, and Inara is gonna be a fascinating force of nature in later additions.

I do feel like it could've been a little longer, to flesh out some of the finer details of the worldbuilding. And the ending felt rushed, with the big reveal and final battle sequence all coming and going way, way too fast. 

Definitely looking forward to the sequel!

This is a phenomenal book. I already loved Priory, so I just assumed I'd loved this one too—its definitely faster paced and more action oriented than Priory (so if you thought Priory was boring, you're in luck!).

I loved the characters, loved the plot, enjoyed watching it all develop and come together. A minor frustration in how long it took anybody to figure out that Canthe was sketchy. It was kinda nice to see the world building get added on. 

I'd love to see more in this universe. Maybe a pre-prequel with the Nameless One and Saint/Mother. 

 As an American, annoying monarchs with tea-related antics is appealing to me!

🇺🇲🇺🇲🦅🦅🇺🇲🇺🇲🦅🦅🇺🇲🇺🇲🦅🦅

This was a cute, easy read. Adorable couple (they COMMUNICATE like ADULTS) — Kianthe is a bad-pun machine and Reyna is a doting, overprotective saint. The griffons are cute, the dragons are awesome, and the townsfolk (and most of the people in the story—with notable exceptions) are wonderful.

They do have some exhausting, repetitive arguments as they figure out how to live together and attempt to let go of their past. And this book is not 100% cozy—it does have some PG to PG-13 action sequences in it.

Tarly and Matild are my long-term life/relationship goals.

Definitely want to read more from this series! 

Hmm. This book would've been infinitely better and 300 pages shorter if Nesta had gone to Fairy World. Amarantha would've been taken care of well before the terms and conditions had been violated.

Why the everloving heck did Amarantha leave Alis alive to exposite and propel the plot for nearly a dozen pages, 3/4 of the way through the book. Why didn't Amarantha not just kill Feyre right out the gate? If she was half as intelligent and cunning as they make her out to be, she could've solved all of her problems right then and there. Was it arrogance or stupidity? Both?

The book drags for the first 3/4. Feyre mopes and complains, Tamlin mopes and growls—at least Lucien cracks jokes from time to time. Then the plot finally advances...rapidly. Feyre put her name in the goblet of fire, succeeded with a lot of help (I'm not upset she was helped—it makes sense why people are helping her—I'm upset that the super intelligent, super cunning Amarantha LET IT HAPPEN AT ALL.

AND WHY DO THE FAIRIES HAVE MONEY?! To bet?! They can conjure stuff from thin air, they have magic! I know it gets dumber in later books (flush toilets and magic Snapchat), but still. 

I knew going into this that Tamlin was gonna be tossed to the side in the second book. What I didn't know is that he kinda sucks the whole time and the Rhysand is so obviously her OTP. 

Ugh. I'll get to the sequel eventually, but I need a break.

TL;DR, needs more Bogge and Nesta, less Feyre and Fairy Lords

Like any good time travel story, nothing really ever makes sense until the very end. Thank goodness the journey was as fun as it was varied!

I loved the characters and all the twists, and I really loved all the loose threads coming together. I'm bittersweet about the ending, but it does go to show that you can't really mess with time. 

Good, fun story with lovely art, fantastical visions of (of all places) Ohio—and I really loved that Cleveland cops suck in all time periods.

The plot was kinda lackluster and the pacing seemed a little off at times, but the CHARACTERS are where this book shone! Once the characters started interacting with one another, it was difficult to put the book down.

Really great story about found-family and figuring out exactly who you are when you were sort of born into an expected role. 

It's a little less cozy than Legends & Lattes, but still has themes of found family, construction/renovation, and baking. And books, lots and lots of books. 

The “romance” felt a little lackluster, but I think that's kinda the point, since Viv is only in Murk for a short period of time. That being said, there was much more chemistry between Viv and Fern (or even Viv and Pitts) than with Maylee. Don't get me wrong, I liked Maylee a lot, but I kept getting secondhand embarrassment reading some of their interactions.

But I really liked her interactions with the variety of characters (Fern is an absolute delight and Satchel is a fascinating dude). 

I officially fancast Gatewarden Iridia as Captain Amelia from Treasure Planet.

I want a real-life Potroast (or at least a small plush)!

Noodle is the best dog.

Can't remember specific page. Bored. Maybe I'll try again