rtc. you ever think you have 30 pages left in a book but then it turns out it's over and the rest is bonus content?rtc. you ever think you have 30 pages left in a book but then it turns out it's over and the rest is bonus content?...more
Thank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are a guild of undead assassins that pledgThank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are a guild of undead assassins that pledged themselves to the goddess of assassins in life, were brought back to life without their memories, and now kill their targets under a strict set of rules. Eveen is one such assassin, and when she's assigned a mark that has ties to a past she doesn't even remember, a dangerous plot is revealed.
This is my third P. Djeli Clark - I've read Ring Shout and Master of Djinn, gave both 4ish stars, and so I requested this ARC. Despite being the premise I was most interested in, this may be my least favorite of his, although by a small margin.
This is such an interesting premise for a story. We've got someone who's dedicated their (after)life to something they can't even remember why they dedicated in their first place. There's some cool magic and politics that we're introduced to, and an intriguing start to a mystery. However, to me, this book felt like Clark had reached word count limit 100 pages ago and had to axe half the book. He kept a lot of the cool things, but because we didn't have time to sit with anything or explore any more than was absolutely uncuttable, I felt like I didn't get the full experience. I didn't fully grasp our world, so any developments felt like deus ex machina. The bare bones made it way easier to guess what could've been a great plot twist. And I just didn't get invested into our characters because I didn't have time to. There was so much stuff that I could point to and say, that's cool, but nothing really stunned me in their execution. I had fun with what was going on, but I wanted way more.
Overall, this has a wildly cool premise, but the tiny page count was a disservice to the story....more
Thank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars Anahrod has been a fugitive for 15 years, scraping by in the Thank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars Anahrod has been a fugitive for 15 years, scraping by in the dangerous wilds between the towering mountains of her world run by dragons. When she falls in with a group of adventurers sent to find her, she gets enlisted in the ultimate heist: stealing from the dragon queen's horde.
This was a fun, not-super-serious fantasy standalone that was an easy one to get through. While it definitely departs from it, you can tell that the author was inspired by DND in the setup of the characters and plot. I think the strongest part of this was the unique world. We have fun settings, with a world that is defined by its giant mountains. The way that the story interacts with dragons was something I haven't seen much: magically-blessed dragonriders are chosen by dragons that are not their partners, but much more often their owners. Those dragons also all have unique hordes and abilities. There was also the cultural element of identity rings, where people wear rings with specific designs that describe their job, interests, gender identity, or sexuality, making this a queernorm fantasy. I liked the heist and how many things went wrong with it. I could've used even more expansion on the magic dragon riders use. But I think the element I struggled with the most was the characters, particularly the interpersonal relationships. I didn't feel like I knew Anarhod very well. Then, she goes on to have these really deep relationships (romantic or not) mostly with people she just met. It felt like these attachments had no build up; they were introduced and then bam - they're together forever. I was at first rooting for the romance as it is different from most, but it went from 0 to 100 (though this is closed door & not a fanro). This also doesn't make sense because Anarhod is supposed to have trust issues. Besides that, some of the plot felt redundant, like Anarhod getting knocked out about 6 times and getting kidnapped 4 of those times.
Overall, I think the strongest suit of this fun fantasy was its unique world building. The heist was also a good time, but I was left wanting from our supposed found family....more
Eleanor Bennett has died. Her children, Byron and Benny, are recently estranged from one another, but have to come together to fulfill their mother's Eleanor Bennett has died. Her children, Byron and Benny, are recently estranged from one another, but have to come together to fulfill their mother's final wish: to listen to the recording she left them, detailing the secrets of her life she never told them, and to eat the Caribbean black cake she left for them.
I totally understand how this was one of the most popular general fiction books of its year. There's a lot of good to this book, but it's also a kitchen sink drama, which helps it be so widely appealing. We spend a good amount of this book hearing Eleanor's recording, as she describes her childhood on an unnamed Caribbean island (inspired by Jamaica) and her young adulthood in England before she was the woman her children know. She goes through so much trauma and strife to try to live a life of freedom. However, her plot felt like I'd read it several times before, so I wasn't as invested in what is an objectively emotional story. It also got kitchen-sink-y, with everything dramatic that could happen happening. What did get me emotionally was her children's reaction to her recordings. The present timeline, as we deal with the complicated relationships that these family members had and have, felt very real and fleshed out. I also really enjoyed the ending portion of this where so many strings of Eleanor's life come together in such a satisfying and heartfelt way. Most of all, I loved the discussion of identities across all of the characters, and how complicated it can become when you don't fit into the "box" associated with the identity.
Overall, this is a solid general fiction. I was more invested in the present timeline than the past one, but thought it came together very well by the end...more
Arthur less is a middle-aged gay author who's struggling. His books aren't selling and his publisher doesn't want his new ones. His boyfriend of nine Arthur less is a middle-aged gay author who's struggling. His books aren't selling and his publisher doesn't want his new ones. His boyfriend of nine years just got engaged to someone else. To run away from his problems, he decides to travel the world on random writing and author gigs he'd normally say no to.
Mid life crisis! Yay! I read this because it got so many awards (namely the Pulitzer) and knew very little going in. Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of those literary fictions that doesn't really go anywhere. This book does not deviate from the reader's expectations at all. I thought it was great to have a story from an older queer character because it's not a popular point of view. There were some funny moments, especially with Less being quite dopey. I just didn't think this really went anywhere and anything it wanted to say was apparent from the opening chapters. It didn't do anything wrong, it just felt very typical.
Overall, this book does exactly what it says on the tin, no more, no less (ha). Mid-life crisis adventures with the expected lessons learned. ...more
Viola nearly died as a soldier at Waterloo, and took that opportunity to fake her own death and live her life as the woman she always has bee3.5 stars
Viola nearly died as a soldier at Waterloo, and took that opportunity to fake her own death and live her life as the woman she always has been. After years of being sequestered from anyone who knew her past self except her family, she is sent to the house of her former best friend, who is still in mourning for her.
I read this for my book club, Three of Clubs, for our quarter of reading Friends to Lovers books. This theme is over, but if you'd like to join us for July-Sept 2024, we're reading books about rogues - thieves, assassins, and spies! Join us here:
This book was so close to being absolutely fantastic, but the first 200ish pages and the last 300ish pages are just entirely different books. In the first half, we have so much emotion just pouring off the page. The tension is so high, the characters are feeling so much, and we're discussing some things that aren't really touched in regency fiction such as PTSD, disability, and addiction. Then at that mark, there's a series of incredible scenes that cover a big conflict. I was interested to see that this part, which normally would have been a third act conflict, was put so early. But unfortunately, having it that early pulled all the tension out of the book. It didn't feel like the characters had any reason to not be together (by the standards of the book, not real life). The plot then didn't even focus on our main characters anymore and was, frankly, boring. I still like the conflict where it was, but the back half should have been shorter, more focused on the protagonists, and more in line with the established tone.
Otherwise, some more comments: I liked that the main character being trans isn't the source of conflict for the book - she still has to keep it a secret, but there isn't a problem with her loved ones loving her. I liked the inclusion of the intimate scene, as it represented some things not often covered in the genre. The communication between our characters (once secrets are out) is fantastic. I liked Gracewood a lot and thought he felt different to a lot of male romance leads. Viola's personality I thought could've used a little more show and not telling. I also thought it was strange how little she thinks of the war, which obviously was super formative in her life. I also could have used more past recollections on their friendship.
Overall, the first half of this book was stellar, but the second half is far too long for having very little to do with our main characters. ...more
Isaiah and Samuel have been together since they were young. As enslaved men on a plantation in the American South, they have to keep their re3.5 stars
Isaiah and Samuel have been together since they were young. As enslaved men on a plantation in the American South, they have to keep their relationship quiet. When another slave decides to try getting the master's favor by preaching, he starts turning the slaves against each other, and especially against Isaiah and Sam.
This does such a fantastic job portraying the complexity of slavery and the social politics surrounding it. It captures a lot of elements of slavery that aren't necessarily touched on all the time while also staying away from being gratuitous - though it's still painful to read these people's experiences. Here's some great things that this touched on: Many relationships slaves wanted to have were forbidden or broken because of the slave owner's whims, and relationships that did exist were molded by them. Slaves were not a united monolith and had many divides, often caused by the slave owner. Social politics at the time (and today) caused oppressed people to beat down on those who are perceived as lower than them to try to gain an ounce of power - as seen in the preacher character and the slave owner's wife. Enslaved people were exploited wholly, not just in their labor and being beaten. Being stolen away from their cultures and families stole away the identities of enslaved folks. And a million other things this talked about. Plot and content wise, this book was brilliant. However, the execution I was less of a fan of. While I appreciated that this was an ensemble piece, I truly had problems keeping all the characters straight. The writing style wasn't my favorite - I've heard it compared to Morrison, who I've enjoyed, but this felt a little ethereal to me, straying from what was going on. From reading other reviews, the style either works for you and you give it a five, or it doesn't and you give it a three-ish. I think that if this was turned into a tv show, I'd adore it more.
Overall, this is such a great book for conveying the complex lives of enslaved people, but I wasn't a fan of the delivery - though I know others will be. ...more
Told through the eyes of her husband, brother-in-law, and sister, a woman begins to have violent dreams about meat leading her to go vegetarian. As heTold through the eyes of her husband, brother-in-law, and sister, a woman begins to have violent dreams about meat leading her to go vegetarian. As her family refuses to support or help her, she experiences a psychotic break. Translated from Korean.
This is such a thought provoking book. This is a literary fiction that borders on horror at times when we occasionally see through our main characters' eyes, experiencing her troubled reality. I liked that this decided to tell this story mostly from outside perspectives, so we as the reader see the more three dimensional person, but while seeing the thoughts of those who see her as just one thing. All three of our stories about her were interesting in their own ways and told a different part of her journey; I was personally most invested in the middle one. It's hard to see her be treated the way she is, but also to see from the outside the mental state she's in. She's so troubled by her dreams that she no longer feels comfortable in her own flesh, and takes all her guilt and fear out on her body. The author said in an interview that this was inspired by the idea of the potential impossibility of innocence for humanity, and she ties this specifically into the choice to eat meat before it spirals from there.
Overall, this book will keep you thinking about the nature of violence and humanity as well as how we treat one another....more
Thank you to Tor Forge for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Lightly inspired by the myth of Persephone, Ododo is a blacksmith in 15tThank you to Tor Forge for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Lightly inspired by the myth of Persephone, Ododo is a blacksmith in 15th century Timbuktu, when blacksmiths were women cast out by society. After a strange man approaches her while she makes her signature metal flowers, she's kidnapped - it turns out that man is the recent conqueror of her city and the king of Yorubaland, who has taken her to be his wife.
Let's start out with something important: this isn't a fantasy book. The author herself calls it a historical fiction. Its contents are entirely realistic fiction, if not entirely true to history. There's so little we know about this time period in Africa compared to the rest of the world, so the Yorubaland we see in this was inspired by three real life kingdoms/empires of this setting. There are mentions of the Orisa in terms of belief, and there's a singular dream scene that could be seen as fantastical, but no magic happens and it's set in the real world. It's alternate history, sure, so I would put this in the speculative fiction category rather than fantasy! Semantics. However, I do think this, with its court politics galore, will appeal plenty to fantasy fans - as long as they have the right expectations going in.
This book is a lot of court politic-ing from a character that came from nothing shoved into a place where no one can be trusted and everyone's looking out for themselves. Her freedom has been taken away, but now that her life isn't so precarious, she's going to take whatever power she can grab at. Nobody around her is all good, and it surprised me how much she fit into them. It doesn't take long for Ododo to start acting against what the audience would perceive is good, which made for a more interesting character study and made me feel very complicated about her. There was a portion of this book that I wasn't sure where it seemed like it was going in a way I didn't like, but ended up turning to something that made more sense. I didn't see any reason for Ododo to love the king, which she herself claims she does. Other than she's not impoverished anymore, and he one time protected her (in a really scary and violent way), he's been nothing but awful the whole time. I wish we knew a bit more about the stakes and more details about the court (and more about the greater world, she's extremely sheltered so that's fine). This was a really interesting story about a woman trying to gather what power she can by whatever means possible, and I think that'll appeal to a lot of people.
Overall, this is a solid speculative historical fantasy about antihero characters politicking that I'll definitely be recommending to others. I wasn't sure of everything along the way, but Sangoyomi sticks the landing. Let's market this appropriately, though!...more
Thank you to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Amidst historical inserts from various dragon hunters, Maddileh is one of verThank you to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Amidst historical inserts from various dragon hunters, Maddileh is one of very few female knights, and now that she's been disgraced, she's decided to retrieve the Fireborne Blade from a dragon to restore her honor - a blade that it is prophesied cannot be retrieved by any man, but maybe a woman can.
I used to avoid novellas like the plague. I had too many books that I was burned by because I thought that they were too short and didn't expand enough. I've mostly gotten over that - I've been reading novellas in several genres recently. However, this book definitely falls into my fear - if this decided to expand this story into possibly even twice its length, I would've liked it more. There is such a cool magic system going on that I want to know more about; one of the parts is the ghosts of knights past constantly reliving their deaths, which felt very ominous. I thought it generally gave Witcher vibes, particularly the short stories. The plot twist at the end was also incredible; I didn't see it coming at all. I liked following Maddileh and meeting the few other characters we did, but the thing is, that plot took up only 50-60% of the book. The historical inserts that do worldbuilding (and are cool) but don't connect to the plot are so much of this under-200-pages book. Not only that, but Maddileh's plot is in two timelines, splitting our time with her further as we're cutting from scene to scene quickly. I felt like I didn't have time to get invested or fully get everything that was happening. Which is a shame, because there was so much that had great seeds. I wish that every scene we had, we spent more time in.
Overall, this book has so much potential, but we spend too much of our little time in this book away from the main characters and we cut betweens so much I felt like I had no time to get invested....more
On her 40th birthday, Alice isn't satisfied with her life. Her joy in life has stagnated, especially since her father - famous for having written a cuOn her 40th birthday, Alice isn't satisfied with her life. Her joy in life has stagnated, especially since her father - famous for having written a cult classic time travel novel - has declined in his health. When she stumbles to her father's home drunk and ends up in his shed overnight, she wakes up on her 16th birthday - her father's hale and hearty, her best friend is at her side, and her crush is still within reach. Maybe this is the opportunity she needs to change her life.
I read most any time travel fiction I can get my hands on - it's my favorite thing. Because of that, I'm used to what a lot of time travel stories will do. This literary time travel story does exactly what a literary time travel story does and doesn't deviate from that one bit in its messaging or plot. From the first pages, you know where this'll go. This had a good balance of having Alice take control of her life and accept the things she can't control. I thought the type of time travel she encounters was fairly fun, and I liked her going through the process of figuring out what the rules were. I also thought the fast pacing of the final act was really effective. Given the way that this book was pitched, I expected her relationship with her dad to be center stage more; I would've liked that to be expanded on. She goes on about her teenage crush for a longer time that I thought necessary (ignoring the whole 40 y/o in 16 y/o body... giving it the excuse of hormones). It also pitches itself as funny, I thought it was fairly plain. If I had to compare it to a time travel thing I've seen before, it's like a less fun/interesting About Time.
Overall, this is the typical literary time travel. It won't surprise you, but it has good messaging....more
The Thursday Murder Club is back to solving cold cases. Ten years ago, a news reporter's car was thrown off a cliff and her body was never found. BetwThe Thursday Murder Club is back to solving cold cases. Ten years ago, a news reporter's car was thrown off a cliff and her body was never found. Between a drug dealer the club put behind bars, a new foe self-proclaimed as "Viking", and a former KGB agent friend of Elizabeth's, the club will have to unravel what happened all those years ago.
I'm not too much of a mystery/cozy mystery reader, but this series and my return to Christie is making me want to change that. I enjoy the comedy of this series a lot - these absurd characters are always playing straight men to the modern world in a way that always gets me. Truly, this should be adapted. I really like the balance of the characters as always in this series - flippin between POVs and how they each have their own strengths - but I thought this installment particularly let them each have their own time to shine. I enjoyed the new characters for this mystery and had a good time pointing fingers. This plot felt most like those I'd watched on British crime TV, in a good way. I have had a streak of guessing who secret bad guys are (mostly in fantasy novels), so I was pleasantly surprised when I missed who did it. The plot twists didn't entirely blow me away, but I didn't guess a good bit of it and it still felt logical. I liked this more than I did book 2. It's been long enough that I have a hard time remembering my time with book 1, but it's definitely on par with it.
Overall, this series is a delight. It's got a good combination between everyday silliness and over the top silliness alongside solid mysteries. I need to get the next book!...more
Ballet teacher Bree and football player Nathan have been in love with each other since they were teenagers, but since they've never been single at theBallet teacher Bree and football player Nathan have been in love with each other since they were teenagers, but since they've never been single at the same time, they've never admitted their feelings. When they now are and a clip of drunk Bree talking about him goes viral, they decide to fake date. But Nathan and his team have made a cheat sheet up his sleeve to get Bree to finally see him as more than a friend.
I read this with my book club, Three of Clubs, for our quarter where we read Friends to Lovers books. Join us in June 2024 for A Lady For A Duke! Link to the discord: join us here!
Sometimes you can't trust BookTok because the books are problematic, but sometimes you can't trust BookTok because the books just aren't good. This is the latter. I read too many romances in a row (as a non-romance reader) and they all had a venn diagram of things I didn't like about them. The couple of good things: I did believe that these two have been best friends for a long time. There was a panic attack scene that was really good. The football team making the cheat sheet was actually really funny (but that wasn't much of the book). The not great things: so much of the relationship stuff made me cringe so hard that I had to pause the audiobook and not return for a while. That happened multiple times. This is made worse by the fact that there is NOTHING in this book except the relationship - it doesn't feel like these characters exist outside each other, with very few scenes of exception. In the first chapter, Bree acts like such a terrible person to Nathan's girlfriend at the time and we're just supposed to root for her in that scene? There's not any other scene where there's a girl liking Nathan, so this ugly side of her isn't shown again, but multiple people were turned off the book because of this. The ending - while Bree says it's what she wanted and to each their own - left a weird taste in my mouth. There were a few good scenes hidden amongst an otherwise not great romcom. Hopefully her future titles have a better proportion because I actually own a different one of her books... oops.
Overall, while there were some scenes that were great, the majority of this book had me cringing and regretting picking it as a book club read....more
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