Thanks to NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Orbit for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
Okay, so I loved this, even though it wasn't Thanks to NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Orbit for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
Okay, so I loved this, even though it wasn't perfect, and I kind of want to bump my 4.5 stars up to five. I feel like it might be one of those cases where after I read future books and re-read this one, it will be a full five. I want to get a physical copy and annotate! There are a LOT of people who are not getting what this is going for, which is fine if sad. But it's important to go in knowing it's not just a campy, fun time. I think this book is a smart, fun send-up of fantasy as a genre with actual pathos behind it. I can't wait to see what happens with these characters once the author really gets a chance to do things with them.
One verrry uncomfy and confusing scene aside, I had a lot of fun with this. The audiobook is just as good as everyone has said. I love LitRPG when donOne verrry uncomfy and confusing scene aside, I had a lot of fun with this. The audiobook is just as good as everyone has said. I love LitRPG when done well and when not offensively misogynist (which I don't think this was, aside from a few nitpicks) because the feeling of coming along for the ride of a game or puzzle makes my brain very happy. Plus a talking cat is a main character. I will definitely be continuing the series.
This one got extra ridiculous. I was about to say that I really needed more movement on the plot front though, and then the ending happened. I hope moThis one got extra ridiculous. I was about to say that I really needed more movement on the plot front though, and then the ending happened. I hope more plot comes soon, this one was a bit too side-questy for me. I hope Yor gets more to do soon. But I still love everyone, especially Anya....more
Didn't expect for this to be the book that finally got me to give Ilona Andrews five stars. More thoughts later! (hopefully)Didn't expect for this to be the book that finally got me to give Ilona Andrews five stars. More thoughts later! (hopefully)...more
I’m glad that my DNFing of a book I thought was terrible only thirty pages in led to me picking this book up much, much sooner than I would have otherI’m glad that my DNFing of a book I thought was terrible only thirty pages in led to me picking this book up much, much sooner than I would have otherwise, because I really enjoyed myself, despite some nitpicks I have with this, mostly to do with the author being a debut author, and an extremely young one. Overall, she feels like an author who could have some really, truly great books down the line.
This book, which the author started writing when she was in high school, is about three people whose fates are tied together through the ages. There is a prophecy, there is time travel, there are anti-monarchy gay English princes. Most of it takes place split between two timelines: the far future in 6066, and in Regency England 1812. And all of it centers people of color. The author, a self-identified Black nerd girl, wrote this book because it’s the kind of story she loves*, and she wanted to write a story with someone like her inside of it. The joy and imagination is just brimming from this thing, but at the same time that also works to its detriment. The structure and plot are a little overly complicated, and it definitely reads like a debut.
*She is clearly a massive Doctor Who fan.
I find myself feeling similarly towards this book as I did when The Bone Season, Samantha Shannon’s precocious debut, popped up on the scene. This is a person who can write, and will write some bangers in the future, but they do need some more time to mature before that can happen. I do like this book a lot better than I liked The Bone Season, though, for a couple reasons. First, this is a nerd in her element, having fun with her imagination, whereas Shannon went pretentious with it. She eventually learned to reign those instincts in, but nerdy joy is always going to win out over pretentiousness with me. Second, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson is writing not just about people of color in a market (sff) that doesn’t see many women even get a chance to succeed, but she’s also writing in science fiction and adventure, two genres that are white male-dominated. There were A LOT of special girl falls in love with dark brooding guy who should be an enemy books even back in 2013, and there just aren’t that many fun adventure books that play with romance and time and obscure physics concepts. It feels fresh.
Anyway, all that long-windedness to say that I think this is a book worth checking out, and I can’t wait to see what this author does in the future.
(the cover, however, is terrible; i personally don't like the look of it, but also, it makes the book seem like a middle grade story, a story for young readers, when really it's more of an all-ages story and is categorized as adult)
[3.5 stars, rounded up]
r/fantasy BINGO: Author of Color (Hard Mode)...more
“…Something isn’t right with you and this property. Strange things happen around it. I don’t know what is going on, but I will find out. You could
“…Something isn’t right with you and this property. Strange things happen around it. I don’t know what is going on, but I will find out. You could make it easier on yourself by coming clean.”
“Sure. This is a magic bed-and-breakfast and the two guys in my kitchen are aliens from outerspace.”
Can I just have a book about Dina doing banal innkeeper things and making guests happy? I know that's probably not in the cards, though. Like, we need "conflict" and stuff. But I just love this world so much! Being an Innkeeper in this world is like this bonkers combination of coziness and danger, and for some reason that is lighting up my brain so good*.
*I probably won't end up reviewing it, but as proof of this claim, I did end up giving the second book in this series five stars, the first five star I have ever bestowed upon an Ilona Andrews book.
Story of my life, should have written this review sooner, but I'm making self do it now finally because I'm about to start book two, and that always messes me up to try and review two subsequent books in a series at the same time. Too much potential for confusion.
As noted above, what I liked best about this book was the worldbuilding, and that it was just a fast, easy read. But I also liked the characters and the plot held my attention. The contrast between all the weird technomagic stuff going on and normal, human life in Dina's Texas suburb was a kick every time I remembered it. I'm excited to see what the Andrews do with this world....more
This series is a nerdy good time. And this book in particular really leaned into the scholarly nature of Lady Trent's calling. The last book, a lot ofThis series is a nerdy good time. And this book in particular really leaned into the scholarly nature of Lady Trent's calling. The last book, a lot of page-time was taken up by Lady Trent and her companions navigating local and global politics while trying to learn about dragons, and while that is a factor here, too, Voyage of the Basilisk feels more balanced, with a focus more clearly on her science and what she got up to while doing it, and also on her personal relationships with her son and with her colleagues and those she meets along the way, unrelated to politics.
I said in my review of the last book that one of the things I appreciated about this series was that each book takes place in a very distinct location and so it's easier to keep the events straight in your head. That's both true and not true of this book. The distinct location here is on a ship traveling the oceans of the world, but ships move, and so we also get to visit various places across Lady's Trent's world as she embarks up on a two year voyage to study sea serpents and other more tropical dragons (dragon turtles!!!).
This is my favorite of these books so far. I loved the ocean atmosphere, I loved seeing multiple locations and cultures. I liked the way that the consequences of Lady Trent's actions carried through here from both the first book and the discovery of what the preservation of dragon bone has done to dragon populations in certain areas, and her banishment from certain regions of the world affecting her studies. She's also learning as she goes from her mistakes, and her growth as a scholar goes hand in hand with her growth as a mother and friend. I just liked everything about it.
I'm not sure how other people feel about the scientific discussions of made-up beings in this series, but I love it and want more of it, and I'm glad there was much more of it here than in the previous two books. I'm also VERY much here for the developing romance between Lady Trent and a certain cliff-diver.
Side note: I had no idea until last week that Marie Brennan is also M.A. Carrick, and now I need to check out The Mask of Mirrors ASAP. ...more
I don't know why I'm having such a mental block about writing this review, so I'm just going to go and se[finishes book]
[three and a half weeks later]
I don't know why I'm having such a mental block about writing this review, so I'm just going to go and see what happens.
[two days later]
This is an adult queer Regency romance featuring two young women as the protagonists, and it's the first sapphic historical I think that I have really loved*. There still isn't that much f/f historical romance or ones involving nb folks to begin with, but the ones I've read have not been my favorite, so I was still trying to figure out what my brain was wanting from a book like this. It's this. This is what I want.
*I have read really enjoyable ones in the past from authors like Olivia Waite and Cat Sebastian, but those faded from my memory pretty quickly.
[two days later]
Gwen and Beth meet on Beth's first season out in society, and Gwen's fourth. They form a special bond almost immediately, and then only grow closer. Meanwhile their parents appear to hate each other, but it turns out it's because they used to be in love. Neither Beth or Gwen wants to marry (for reasons they will explore coughcough in the book) so they come up with the idea that their parents should marry instead, and then neither of them will have the financial necessity to do so. Their parents are even still young enough to produce another heir! This is all against the backdrop of Victorian England, not Regency for once, and Gwen's father (who is an MP) is fighting to pass a bill that would make it possible for women to divorce their husbands, and thus leave abusive situations. So all the shenanigans have a backdrop of something that is actually quite serious. And then there are epic levels of pining and angst when what everyone wants conflicts with the norms of their societies.
Something great about this book is that for once, the families all know that Gwen and Beth are queer, and they are openly accepting. This is probably not strictly historically accurate, but it was very much appreciated, since most queer historical romance involves the MCs having to hide their relationships from anyone else who isn't queer, aside from maybe a confidante here and there. Here, it's seriously everyone who knows. It's so great.
[the next day]
Anyway, I need to buy this now after librarying it (I did half the audiobook and half the physical copy).
That was like pulling teeth. I'm so glad to be done. Why, brain. Why.
I'm so sad rn, but this was so dull. Cozy fantasy should still have emotional stakes.
I'm actually writing this review straightly upon finishing becauI'm so sad rn, but this was so dull. Cozy fantasy should still have emotional stakes.
I'm actually writing this review straightly upon finishing because I just want to be done with it (barring my May YouTube wrap-up, but talking is easier than writing). Like many, I have been really, really into this cozy fantasy thing since Legends and Lattes first did its thing, and unfortunately, I think this author learned the wrong lessons from that book, which she tells us in the afterword was a huge "inspiration" for her own book. By the fact that her queer femme characters cease their lives of violence to open up a cozy business focused on pursuits of coziness (in this case tea and books), and the book focuses on their struggles doing that, here I found that I just did not care at all. From page one.
Some people have complained that this actually has too high of stakes for a cozy fantasy since monarchs and treason and such are involved, but for me cozy fantasy is about the vibes, and this was definitely going for that. Where I think it lost its grip on stakes is emotionally. Even stories with low stakes have to have narrative tension, and there was absolutely none to be found here, I think for several reasons.
The main reason, unfortunately, is that I don't think Thorne has much of an instinct for storytelling. Storytelling is about building expectations, and then satisfying them. At no point did I develop any sort of expectation or yearning to see what would happen, plotwise or characterwise. Probably you could go in to this book knowing the trajectory of this plot pretty accurately based on the genre, so plot tension is not going to cut it, there also has to be character tension, and Thorne's characters were very dull for me. I couldn't attach to them. We enter their relationship with them already two years in love, we at no point think they won't end the story in love, and the characters themselves have very little personality to make up for any lack there. The prose is also very into telling, not showing. We are told things about the characters, we don't see them doing or saying things that would make us FEEL who they are.
Also, the queen and the politics, as well as the worldbuilding in general were sort of irritating. Also irritating, the love story between the two main characters. I didn't feel it at all, and resented being forced to read about it. I don't think I will be reading any more of this author's books, and I'll be selling my self-pub version of this on Pango, bc mama needs money....more
This could have been so much better written, but I had a great time anyway. It's truly a conundrum and an enigma. I'm genuinely surprised how much I eThis could have been so much better written, but I had a great time anyway. It's truly a conundrum and an enigma. I'm genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed this. More thoughts in my Reading Vlog. You can see the progression in real time as I grapple with how I can be so annoyed and compelled at the same time.
I don't read a lot of middle grade anymore, but when I do, this is exactly what I want. What a magical good time.30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 3 Book 17/30
I don't read a lot of middle grade anymore, but when I do, this is exactly what I want. What a magical good time. The combo of whimsical worldbuilding, magical trials, friendship and found family, secrets, and darker elements that many people would say don't belong in children's books makes for something rather intoxicating (I've never yet read a favorite children's book without those darker elements btw). I've seen a lot of people talking about the book series that shall not be named in relation to this book, and I don't think they're wrong. If I would have read this book closer to the actual age range its meant for, I would have lost my mind over it. As it is, I just had a really good time and I can't believe I haven't picked up book two yet (just ordered it from Pango while writing this, so hopefully will get to it soon).
Morrigan Crow is a cursed child. In her world, this means she was a baby born on the holiday of Eventide. All children born on this night are cursed, and die before or on their twelfth birthdays. Before they die, they bring bad luck everywhere they go. They are blamed for anything and everything that goes wrong in a community. On top of this fun blessing bestowed upon her, Morrigan is also cursed with a terrible, unloving family (her grandma seems all right). But Eventide comes a year early, and Morrigan flees into another world (a kind of pocket universe, I think?) with a man called Jupiter North who takes her under his wing and wants her to try to enter the Wundrous Society, a society of magic wielders who all have a special "knack." The society is very exclusive, so the trials are intense. Also faffing around the edges of the story is the specter of a man called the Wondersmith, Ezra Squall, who was banished hundreds of years before for committing a massacre.
Everything about this book worked for me: the worldbuilding, the characters and their arcs, the plot, the style of the writing. Morrigan is a classic middle grade protagonist, smart and resourceful and pulling at your heart strings. Jupiter makes for an interesting and frustrating mentor. And the details of this world were so wacky at times, it was a constant surprise. Jessica Townsend basically channeled her childhood imagination for this book (my favorite bits being the enormous talking cat who is head of housekeeping at Jupiter's hotel where they all live, and the chandelier at the hotel that grows and changes into things like pirate ships at its own whims).
Would honestly recommend this one for both younger readers and adult ones looking to have some fun.
This was a very well done book that was not for me.
This was a book club pick for one of my IRL book clubs, and I was actually really looking forward This was a very well done book that was not for me.
This was a book club pick for one of my IRL book clubs, and I was actually really looking forward to it, as the subject matter sounded really interesting. Unfortunately, the style the author used and the stuff he wanted to focus on just didn't really gel with my tastes.
So this is a book that is mostly set on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i, which was used as a place to segregate people with Haden's Disease (commonly called leprosy) in the late 1800s all the way up through the 1960s. The settlement was called Kalaupapa, and it was not a place for patients to go to recover voluntarily, but a place they were forcibly removed to by the government, after being arrested (!) for having the disease in the first place. Because Hawaii is a colonized island, native Hawaiians were particularly susceptible to the disease, which was brought to the island by non-natives. The disease tore apart families and was heavily stigmatized, criminalizing and moralizing against those who had it.
All of which is super interesting! But this book mostly follows the personal lives of the patients on the island, starting with Rachel, a six year old child at the time the book starts. And it does so in very bland prose. The leprosy and the island act mostly as backdrops to the human drama taking place there. Which is fine! But this is not really what I wanted from this book. I wanted more about the disease, about the way it affected people on more than a personal level. I wanted a more interesting narrative voice. It's clear that Brennert did A LOT of research about not only Moloka'i, but Hawaii itself, as the lead up and events of the overthrowing of the Hawaiian Kingdom take place during this time. There's a lot on offer here. I just wasn't that into it.
I don't think I would read from this author again, and I won't be continuing the series....more
3.5 stars, rounded up. Audiobook narrator very fun.
"The ____'s Guide to _____ a/and ______" Accountability Rating: I have decided to start holding boo3.5 stars, rounded up. Audiobook narrator very fun.
"The ____'s Guide to _____ a/and ______" Accountability Rating: I have decided to start holding books accountable for frivolously using the extremely overused title construction this book also uses. This book gets an 8/10. I would have preferred a different type of title because this construction is so overused, but there is an actual guide in this book! The main character and her friend call their true crime newspaper column this. And it is central to the plot and themes of the story.
Alternate Titles for This Book: No alternate titles needed. Good-ish job, and I can't think of any anyway....more
First off, this is one of those books that I am pretty sure when I come back to it later for a re-read, I will be bumping up to five stars. It's takinFirst off, this is one of those books that I am pretty sure when I come back to it later for a re-read, I will be bumping up to five stars. It's taking up space in my brain, but I'm still processing. Also, I want to see where it goes in book two. I didn't even have to wait for re-read, it's been simmering in my brain since the summer and now I just remember it as a five-star read I can't wait to revisit. If you love high fantasy, magic schools, and intense worldbuilding based on historical civilizations, this will probably be a book for you.
The Will of the Many takes place in the Catenan Republic, which is inspired heavily by Ancient Rome. Here, people of lower castes cede something called "Will" (think their life-force) to those above them in the social pyramid (here they make literal pyramids, where those at the top cede to no one). This saps those at the bottom of their mental power and energy, while those above them receive exponential strength and magical abilities. The higher up this pyramid of Will you are, the more powerful you are both literally and in society. Our protagonist, Vis (not his real name), has refused to cede his Will to anyone, which makes him a bit of an anomaly. He is also an orphaned royal hiding in plain sight. After the Hierarchy (another name for the Republic) conquered his homeland and his entire family was killed, he went into hiding as an orphan. He is unexpectedly adopted by a Quintus (336 people cede Will to them), who wishes him to infiltrate their most prestigious academy and ferret out secrets.
There's a lot going on in this book, and all of it is very entertaining. We have Vis's arc, the conflict within him to succeed and make friends in the society that killed his family and is trying to wipe out his culture and way of life (plus some conflict without, in that a group of terrorists bent on bringing down the empire knows who he is and is trying to use him). We have the magic school setting, which was my favorite, where he has to navigate the complex politics of Hierarchy society, succeed in his classes, and survive to make it to the top of his class. Then we have the mystery of the Cataclysm, a mysterious event that basically ended the world 300 years before, killing 95 out of every 100 people alive, and decimating human knowledge and culture. The magic system is such a perfect fantasy metaphor for the way that caste systems and social inequality behaves in real life, I'm still thinking about it. And perhaps most importantly, this book had me both emotionally and intellectually pretty much from chapter one, and my engagement only increased the longer the book went on.
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