River's Fantasy Reviews

"Re: Apotheosis" ARC review

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 03:25:37 +0000

Re: Apotheosis is a fun popcorn read that delivers on its premise of bringing Japanese and western media characters to life and having them meet their creators, with varied reactions - leading to an intense “us vs them” battle. The beginning is a little slow, and the characters' reactions to finding out they’re fictional often feel a bit unrealistic, but once you get past the setup the pace picks up quite quickly and the novel is engaging with excellent action scenes and lovable (or love-to-hate-them) protagonists.

"Nightwatch Over Windscar" ARC review

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 17:29:10 +0000

Nightwatch Over Windscar continues The Weep series, with all of the strengths of the first (Nightwatch on the Hinterlands) and not a single bit of mid-series downturn. Iari and Gaer are back, and Gaer’s chapters continue to be my favorite (and we also get a bonus Char chapter partway through!) Eason sustains character voices masterfully, and as in Hinterlands it’s delightful to see Iari and Gaer adapt each other’s speech patterns.

"Light from Uncommon Stars" review

Fri, 06 May 2022 05:04:24 +0000

From video game and anime music to holographic displays to Asian food, Light From Uncommon Stars takes the reader on a journey that encompasses all of the senses, with picturesque descriptions that fully immerse you in Southern California. And both the characters and the story that accompany the setting do it complete justice. Katrina’s experiences in particular are intense, and I definitely cried for her at a couple points, both sad tears and happy tears.

"The Goblin Emperor" review

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 03:41:32 +0000

The Goblin Emperor is one of those few novels that makes me regret giving out five-star ratings to so many things that I’ve read, because it doesn’t let me adequately express how much I enjoyed this masterpiece. It came highly recommended by the /r/fantasy subreddit, and it did not disappoint in any way. Maia makes a wonderful protagonist, newly and quite unexpectedly made Emperor after a tragic airship disaster killed his father and three older brothers. He is quite unprepared for this turn of events, uneducated about courtly matters or how to rule a country, and needs to learn all of these things immediately.

"Saint Death's Daughter" review

Sun, 17 Apr 2022 03:40:35 +0000

Saint Death’s Daughter is an elaborate family drama centered around the Stoneses, a line of royal assassins and necromancers. The current necromancer Stones is Miscellaneous Stones, known as Lanie, who grows up isolated from the rest of her family (to keep her safe from their influence, as she’s allergic to death and violence, including mentions and intentions of it) and tormented by her older sister Nita.

"Vita Nostra" review

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 06:04:40 +0000

There’s a lot of symbolism and metaphor; some of it is literary, some of it philosophical, and some of it religious. The book starts out as a magical school plot, with some possibly-snarky societal critique of baroque application processes and studying requirements in modern universities. Then things start to get…extremely weird (they were already weird).

"The Broken Earth" review

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 06:04:33 +0000

N.K. Jemisin is known for being a master of worldbuilding, and her reputation is absolutely, definitely, no question deserved. The worldbuilding in The Broken Earth is incredible. But…I kind of hated everything else about the trilogy. The second-person narration was unbelievably annoying, the plot was uninteresting, and I don’t particularly like reading plots that involve coerced breeding, even if they make a lot of sense in a very well-explained world that does have excellent worldbuilding.

"Zeroth Law" review

Sat, 09 Apr 2022 06:04:20 +0000

With zero-indexed titles and a protagonist named Ada Liu (after Ada Lovelace) who’s a Coder, I was pretty excited for Zeroth Law - and Ada’s half of the novel was indeed as entertaining as expected. Sadly, I found her co-protagonist Isavel’s arc to be rather generic and boring, and decided not to continue with the series after book 1 because half the chapters made me want to stop reading.

"A Hunter Among Wolves" review

Sat, 02 Apr 2022 04:35:58 +0000

From its frenetic pacing to its video-game-NPC dialogue to its uncomfortably erotic torture scene, A Hunter Among Wolves has a lot of issues. This probably should have been a DNF, but the one thing it does have going for it is that it’s short enough to not be too big a time investment so I figured I may as well finish it so I could write a full review and see if it got any better (it did not).

"Meet Me in Another Life" review

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 04:35:51 +0000

To be honest, the more I think about Meet Me in Another Life, the more holes I see in it and less I’m satisfied with it. The ending does not make very much sense and I’ve become more and more bothered by it. However, much of it is very sweet, and I did enjoy most of it quite a bit while I was reading it.

"Mother of Learning" review

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 04:35:36 +0000

I binge read all of Mother of Learning in four days. It’s wonderful fun fluff progression fantasy. Don’t expect any kind of deep meaning or metaphor out of it, just go in and have fun in a time loop with Zorian as he learns from his classmates and builds a bunch of cool toys and tries to save Cyoria from invasion.

"The Sanctuary Duet" review

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 04:34:58 +0000

The Sanctuary Duet takes place at the same time as the Lighthouse Duet but should be read after Lighthouse. However, if you avoided the other duology because you didn’t want to read something quite so dark, but you still want to read something set in Navronne, it is possible to read Sanctuary Duet on its own; you just might be a bit more confused about the worldbuilding than you otherwise would be, because some things are explained less directly than they might otherwise be, assuming the reader already understands what’s going on from having read Lighthouse.

"The Lighthouse Duet" review

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 10:07:07 +0000

The Lighthouse Duet takes an entire book for the main plot to start, but once it gets there, it’s absolutely incredible. The protagonist is Valen, a “cartographer” with a tormented past who ends up at an abbey in training to be a monk. Most of the first book is almost slice-of-life at this abbey, before the real adventure begins. Once it does, though, you’re in for an incredible epic that you won’t want to put down.

"The Darkness Outside Us" review

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 09:46:51 +0000

The Darkness Outside Us from its cover looks like a young adult romance set in space. And indeed it is set in space, its protagonists are young adults, and it does have a fairly significant romance subplot. But do not think for a minute that this incredible novel is anything other than a science fiction thriller/mystery written for adults with all of the what-if? philosophical questioning requisite of any classic you can think of.

"The Actual Star" review

Sun, 13 Mar 2022 07:56:49 +0000

The book is a mixed bag; its format and bold worldbuilding choices make quite a statement, but at the same time, it falls short in a lot of areas. As is often the case with mixed-timeline, mixed-point-of-view plots, when you take a step back, you realize that almost nothing actually happened in the story; it’s relying on the whole being significantly greater than the sum of its parts. But in this case, the individual stories are so simplistic, and particularly the Maya past one, that I’m not sure the novel quite managed to achieve that greater whole.

"The Atlas Six" review

Sat, 12 Mar 2022 05:30:19 +0000

The Atlas Six follows six medeians who become candidates to join The Alexandrian Society, a secretive and extremely exclusive organization that invites only the best of the best to join its ranks. After a year of study, five of these six will become members of the Society. The novel focuses on their year of study and the competition that this exclusivity creates among the group as they fight not to be that sixth person, creating alliances and picking sides, taking advantage of the Society’s resources, and attempting to manipulate each other - while at the same time being brilliant medeians experimenting with and studying magic.

"Fid's Crusade" review

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 05:30:13 +0000

Fid’s Crusade is the story of genius supervillain Doctor Fid in his quest to, er, save the world. Because the superheroes make terrible role models. And also one of them caused the death of his baby brother, and he needs revenge. It’s at times funny, at times heartbreaking, and at times adorable. It begins as a criticism of celebrity worship culture, turns into a mystery, a found family, and a pretty traditional save-the-world story. Which is to say, it meanders quite a bit before we get to a clear, established goal.

"Legendborn" review

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 05:30:05 +0000

Legendborn tries to do a few too many things at the same time, and as a result is a bit messy and inconsistent when it could have been great. Bree Matthews is a gifted high-school student who gets accepted to an “Early College” program at UNC Chapel Hill along with her best friend Alice. She’s excited to attend, but everything changes when her mom dies in a car accident the day after she receives her acceptance. When she arrives at UNC, she’s dealing with her grief, being a Black girl in a mostly white campus - and a secret society of demon hunters called the Legendborn.

"Red Dust" review

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 05:29:56 +0000

Red Dust has a great premise that it ultimately fails to live up to. Set roughly fifty years after first contact, the novel follows positronic robot police officer (pozzie) Raymond Chandler (yes, named after that Raymond Chandler) in his attempt to hunt down escaped criminal Makrow 34. Chandler teams up with another convict, Vasily Fernández, chosen because he shares the same psychic (Psy) abilities as Makrow 34: the Gaussical ability to manipulate the probability of nearby events to occur.

"Disfigured" review

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 22:25:16 +0000

Disfigured is an engaging look at the topic of disability in fairy tales. Why do so many fairy tales deal with disability? Why do the happy endings insist that being able-bodied is a requirement for a happy ending? Through the lens of the social model of disability as well as that of an author seeing her life as a story, Amanda asks why characters in fairy tales must behave certain ways, and explains the damaging consequences stories can have on real people as they shape our real expectations.

"Fine Structure" review

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 22:25:02 +0000

Fine Structure is one of those books that you read once, then you either read again two or three more times, this time taking notes, or you immediately google “Fine Structure explanation” and read the results of other people doing the same. I’ll save you that googling part for the second option and link the FAQ (yes, the author has an FAQ page). It does, at least, make a lot more sense than Primer.

"The Economy of Blessings" series review

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 17:53:37 +0000

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book or series so filled with compassion for a protagonist as The Economy of Blessings. Charlotte Kersten’s Iraluri starts out in what’s clearly (to the reader, to any outside observer) an abusive marriage, but Iraluri doesn’t know it; not only does her husband keep her from realizing it, but also the oppressive classist and colonialist society that she lives in keeps her from realizing it. But Kersten is here to help Iraluri heal, and while the Economy of Blessings trilogy is one of the most emotionally raw series I’ve ever read, and full of painful scenes and has a bunch of content warnings, it’s also incredibly beautiful, and you can tell Iraluri’s journey is facilitated not just by her in-universe support system but also boundless love and care from the other side of the fourth wall.

"Meadowsweet" review

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 07:05:44 +0000

Meadowsweet is, on the surface, a charming slice-of-life novel about a young boy who goes to live with a distracted sculptor in a magical mountain where the sculptures come to life. The boy lacks a father figure, the sculptor lacks a family (though he has a well-meaning-if-a-bit-scary brother-in-law who visits for about half the novel), and the two of them adopt each other over the course of some exploration, picnics, and a scary thunderstorm while preparing for the winter.

"Daughter of the Empire" review

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 07:05:32 +0000

Daughter of the Empire begins with Mara, seventeen-year-old heir to the Acoma family, inheriting the title of “Ruling Lady” after her father and brother are tricked to their deaths by the rival Minwanabi house (boo, hiss, we hate them). Mara spends the rest of the book plotting both the survival of her own house and her revenge against the Minwanabi. From needra dung estimates to soldier recruitment to Mara’s own marriage for political gain, Daughter of the Empire considers problems of rule both small and big, and follows Mara’s triumphs and mistakes, but mostly triumphs.

"Empire Under a Dying Sun" review

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 21:13:40 +0000

Empire Under a Dying Sun is set in a Greek-inspired fantasy world experiencing a calamity straight out of science fiction (literally, if you’ve read for example Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary) - the sun is dying. With this backdrop, we have four POV characters: A young Empress struggling to find her confidence; her husband, who needs to learn to see the common people as real human beings; an old army general struggling with alcoholism; and his second-in-command, who needs to overcome her childhood trauma at the hands of the empire, and find something worth fighting for other than money. The novel explores these individual stories as well as the ethical dilemmas that arise from limited resources and the dying sun.

"Legends & Lattes" review

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 23:14:44 +0000

When the world is a bad place, sometimes what you want is a quiet, comforting, feel-good, slice-of-life novel that’s the literary equivalent of a kitten and a warm blanket and a fireplace and a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, depending which one you prefer. And that is precisely what Legends & Lattes is: a low-stakes novel about an orc barbarian-turned-barista where the magic is the friendships we make along the way.

"Ink" review

Sat, 19 Feb 2022 08:38:53 +0000

Ink follows four lives: a journalist, his source, his brother-in-law, and the daughter of a government worker, through a dystopian America in which immigrants have their status tattooed on their wrists and are treated as less than human by the majority of the population. At the start of the novel, the government is opening “inkatoriums,” centralized holding facilities for immigrants (“inks”), and the plot glides between following this development and following our characters as they go about their individual lives, through joy and heartbreak.

"Five Magic Spindles" review

Sat, 19 Feb 2022 08:38:46 +0000

Five Magic Spindles is a collection of five retellings of Sleeping Beauty. They range from fairly traditional (the second one, extremely skippable) to barely recognizable as a Sleeping Beauty retelling (the first one) to somewhere in between (the rest). Sleeping Beauty is a hard fairy tale to do a good retelling of, but perhaps that’s why (other than the one that’s a very faithful retelling) these retellings ended up so incredibly goddamn cool!

"Masquerade" series (1-3) review

Sat, 19 Feb 2022 08:38:30 +0000

This is the best series I’ve read since Green Bone Saga, and it’s not even close. If that’s enough of an endorsement (and it should be), just go read it without knowing anything else.

"Bluebird" review

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 18:54:37 +0000

Features of Bluebird include a librarian girlfriend; strong anti-military, anti-colonial messages; a great reluctant partnership complete with nicknames and banter; and a very Firefly, space-western vibe. It’s written in a stylized third-person present-tense that works about 95% of the time. The character relationships are excellent and believable, the banter is well-written, and the factions' mythology sets a great backdrop for the story.

"Cradle of Sea and Soil" review

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 01:51:20 +0000

Cradle of Sea and Soil is a coming-of-age story with a few twists set in a unique world that I wanted to love, but I only mostly liked. The story has two third-person POV characters: Colibrí and her son Narune, both “Halfborn” with island coyote ears and tail who are scorned by the island’s “Trueborn” humans. Despite their status, both of them are proud fighters and do battle against the Stillness, the deadly opposite of the Flows of Creation; and the halja, unnatural, hollow beasts that spawn from the Stillness. At the start of the novel, Narune is beginning to enter adulthood, and he wants to shake off the stereotypes that come with being Halfborn. Unfortunately, these stereotypes are rooted in tragic reality, and his dreams may be harder to achieve than he realizes.

"Battle of the Linguist Mages" review

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 05:54:31 +0000

Battle of the Linguist Mages has one of the most off-the-rails wild bonkers plots I’ve ever encountered in a fantasy novel, ever. First of all, it’s called Battle of the Linguist Mages, and it’s literally about mages who use linguistics to do battle. Features include an incredibly snarky protagonist named Isobel, who happens to be the best player in the world at the virtual reality game Sparkle Dungeon (secretly a method of training linguist mages), sentient alien punctuation marks that have formed symbiotic relationships in humans' brains, power morphemes, and more uses of the words “instantiate” and “ontological” than I expected to see in a fantasy novel, ever.

"CatNet" series review

Sun, 06 Feb 2022 05:45:06 +0000

What would happen if, in the not-to-distant-future, a benevolent AI who likes cat pictures were unleashed upon the Internet? And what would happen if it became the administrator of an online chat forum with a bunch of high school students looking for a community? Catfishing on CatNet tells the story of Steph, a lonely teenager who lives with her mom, the two of them constantly on the run from her dad and always moving from small midwestern town to small midwestern town. Steph’s one constant is her “Clowder,” an online community administrated by CheshireCat - who happens to be a benevolent AI who likes cat pictures.

"The Thirteenth Hour" review

Sun, 06 Feb 2022 05:44:57 +0000

A dark gaslamp fantasy with a unique world and twelve original races, each with its own god, The Thirteenth Hour is worth reading just for its premise and setting. But its characters and plot more than do it justice too, as it follows co-protagonists Kayl and Quen through a reluctant partnership to solve a case that begins as a simple murder mystery and turns into something much, much bigger.

"Wizard's Bane" review

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 05:44:49 +0000

A truly great concept (let’s bring a computer programmer into a fantasy world that currently has no governing principles) executed in an extremely mediocre fashion and with cringe-inducing levels of sexism. Roughly the first 50% of the novel is a boring journey through a forest which the two protagonists resentfully undertake after a plot device dumps them together and from which they’re saved by a deus ex machina. The next 10% is a boring story-within-a-story that introduces new characters that we don’t really care about in the slightest; and finally, the final 40% covers the plot we actually care about, but at this point there’s no time left to spend on the concept we actually wanted. Really, I was hoping for something that had more in common with a compilers textbook.

"The Changeling Sea" review

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 04:52:46 +0000

I didn’t love The Changeling Sea as much as I was hoping. It’s a sweet slice-of-life, fairytale, romance story set by the sea. Peri’s mother is swallowed by depression after her father dies, and so Peri goes to live with an old woman instead. When the old woman disappears, she lives alone. She decides to hex the sea because it has taken too many people from her, and she hates it, and the novel is about her learning to find connection to people around her again when strange events start to take place. I’m not sure if I would have liked it more if I’d read it when I was in a different mood, or if I was just never going to love it, but it just didn’t quite give me the feelings I knew it was trying to.

"Piranesi" review

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 04:52:56 +0000

Piranesi is just a wonderful piece of literary fiction that I cannot recommend enough. Wait to read it until you’re in the mood for a patient read; it’s short, but it’s not fast. If you’re not enjoying it within the first few pages, put it down and pick it up again later. I’d encourage you to pick it up without reading anything else about it; the less you know going in, I think, the more you’ll enjoy it. If you’re convinced, then stop reading now.

"Scales and Sensibility" review

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 23:51:07 +0000

Scales and Sensibility is a fun, cute, what-could-possibly-go-wrong case of mistaken identities. The plot revolves entirely around the fortunes of a couple families in 1800s England-but-with-dragons and takes place over the span of about a week, so it’s a very low-stakes, lighthearted comedy. Our heroic and sensible protagonist is one Elinor Tregarth, split off from her sisters and living with the insufferable Penelope after her family’s ruination by an investment scam and the subsequent death of her parents.

"The Queens of Renthia" series review

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 04:52:51 +0000

Okay this fantasy setting is just, the coolest. Any plot set in this world would be worth reading just because the world is so damn cool. And admittedly, the plot in the first novel isn’t the greatest, but it does subvert a bunch of expectations, and the plots of books 2 and 3 are much more interesting. And the world is SO COOL.

"Iron Widow" review & plot summary

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 09:39:18 +0000

Iron Widow is not a subtle story. Wu Zetian seeks revenge for her sister’s death at the hands of war hero Yang Guang, a Chrysalis pilot who regularly kills female concubine copilots during battle. Only her sister wasn’t killed during battle; instead, he killed her for some unknown reason outside of combat, and her family wasn’t given any monetary compensation as a result. Her family isn’t upset about the death, they’re just upset about the lack of money. Wu Zetian’s upset about the treatment of women in society.

"Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower" review

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 09:40:07 +0000

Fairy tale meets dungeon crawl meets queer romance in this bizarrely adorable novella by Tamsyn Muir. The witch wants to make art, and so she locks Princess Floralinda up at the top of a tower with forty flights. She does it all quite properly, with one challenge per flight, and any prince that wants to rescue Floralinda must face all forty challenges. Unfortunately, even the first challenge is too difficult for every prince who attempts it, and Floralinda remains unrescued. Upon discovering a quite concerning diary, Floralinda decides to take matters into her own hands and attempt to escape the tower. This task would seem insurmountable for a princess, but the fairy Cobweb shows up in a storm, and together they take on the tower’s obstacles.

"The Faithful and the Fallen" series review

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 08:41:57 +0000

After a dreadfully boring first 250 pages of Malice, The Faithful and the Fallen turns into an amazingly action-packed, emotional, and tense epic fantasy saga that I couldn’t put down. It’s an incredible turnaround, and most definitely worth the wait; however, if you don’t want to suffer through that 250-page beginning, at the end of my review I’m including a summary of events that I wrote as things were starting to pick up so that you can skip straight to the part where it gets amazing.

"And Then There Were (N-One)" review

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 04:29:27 +0000

And Then There Were (N-One) is a delightful, almost warm and fuzzy murder mystery novella. It was originally described to me as “cozy,” which is also a great adjective for it. Sarah Pinsker investigates the death of Sarah Pinsker. The suspects? All different versions of Sarah Pinsker from alternate realities, attendees of SarahCon. While investigating, Sarah is confronted by her “Divergence Points” and forced to question her life’s every decision, relationship, and mistake. But I promise, it’s all done in a delightful, warm, fuzzy, and cozy way! It was a joy to read, and I highly recommend it.

"The Last Uncharted Sky" review

Sun, 09 Jan 2022 06:36:48 +0000

I don’t think it was possible for this series to fully live up to the standard set by book 1, and it didn’t, but by no means does that make the next two books unentertaining or low quality. Book 3 falls off a bit more even more than book 2 did, but it’s still a very fun, fast-paced adventure story set in an vivid steampunk world with a deep lore and cool magic system.

"A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcery" review

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 04:15:15 +0000

In short, A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcery is a very satisfying continuation of the trilogy, much more so than I was expecting or hoping for, after such an excellent and well-self-contained book 1. It’s definitely worth continuing the trilogy for more of what An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors had to offer!

"Stariel Series" review

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 22:36:28 +0000

“The Lord of Stariel is dead. Long live the Lord of Stariel. Whoever that is,” proclaims the blurb, and The Lord of Stariel begins with a prologue literally titled “An Ominous Prologue.” What follows is a delightful quartet that is not at all as un-serious as one might expect from such a first impression, but still retains a relatively light-hearted atmosphere with an intimate scope. There’s magic, minor battle scenes, and other standard fantasy fare, but the focus is primarily on Hetta dealing with her family, potential lovers, and increasingly complex politics.

"A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking" review

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 07:04:51 +0000

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking is a delightful young-adult fantasy novel taking on serious, modern themes through the earnest eyes of fourteen-year-old Mona, a baker’s apprentice. She’s lived a somewhat sheltered but not pain-free life until now: her parents died several years ago, and she now lives above the glassblower’s shop, six doors down from her Aunt Tabitha’s bakery, where she spends all of her time, baking and doing magic to bread.

"A Spindle Splintered" review

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 02:59:29 +0000

I dare you to read A Spindle Splintered with a dry eye for a single page (you won’t, it’s impossible). Zinnia Gray is a dying girl who’s spent her life obsessed with Sleeping Beauty because being a cursed girl seems better than being a dying girl. Alix Harrow uses a poetic, musical first-person present voice that leaves the reader heartbroken for both the protagonist and also every other character at every moment of this 128-page-long novella.

"The Crypt Lord's Call" review

Wed, 29 Dec 2021 03:02:14 +0000

The Crypt Lord’s Call was my introduction to the LitRPG genre, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Theo (also known as: Teddy, Not Teddy, Theodore, Crypt Lord) wakes up after seeing some mysterious letters in the sky and finds himself in the Afterlife, forced to participate in an RPG-like System. Step 1: Get some food and clothing. Step 2: Join a guild’s welcoming party. Step 3: Be invited to the guild. Step 4: Reject the guild’s invitation, instead allying himself with local mobs because the System seems damn unfair. Wait, that doesn’t sound right, does it? And things only get crazier from there.

"The Licanius Trilogy" review

Mon, 27 Dec 2021 11:00:16 +0000

Let me preface this review by saying that overall I did enjoy this trilogy. I found the plot to be engaging (especially in the second book), and the political tensions along with several of the antagonists (Gassandrid in particular) were very well-crafted. However, for each of its broad strengths, The Licanius Trilogy had a number of specific weaknesses, so the majority of my review is going to be critical.

"The Paladin Caper" review

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 20:50:30 +0000

The first half of The Paladin Caper combines the best parts of The Palace Job - the humor and character interactions - with the best parts of The Prophecy Con - the true high fantasy plot - as the ancients are beginning to return to the world. It introduces the perfect villain for the setting, incompetent yes-man Handel Westteich. And it even finds a way to make Kail’s “your mother” jokes funny. After completion of the first arc, the novel flounders for a bit, but the payout of the climax is excellent and well worth the wait.

"Jade Legacy" review & reactions

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 04:49:50 +0000

You know that video with the couple on a picnic blanket that zooms out until you’re looking at the entire galaxy? In Jade City we were on the picnic blanket. In Jade War we zoomed out and saw three entire years of life. Now with Jade Legacy, Fonda Lee spans decades to conclude the saga of an entire generation of Kauls, ushering in the next. It’s a work of art. It’s everything you could ever ask for. It will leave you emotionally bare at every twist and turn as No Peak and the Mountain continue to fight each other at home and abroad, and new enemies await both clans at every moment of their journeys.

"Jade War" review

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 06:52:39 +0000

Jade War continues where Jade City left off, with No Peak struggling to keep up with their rival Mountain clan in Janloon on the island nation of Kekon, and the while focus remains on this struggle, the struggle itself adapts to a more international scale as a proxy war breaks out and clans pick sides. Even more so than in Jade City, there’s no single focus to the plot; instead, we follow the lives of the major characters across the globe and over a time frame of several years, watching them adapt to new circumstances and new challenges. And like Jade City, it’s utterly captivating.

"The Prophecy Con" review

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 21:48:36 +0000

Where The Palace Job was incapable of taking itself seriously for more than a couple paragraphs at a time, The Prophecy Con returns with a high-stakes storyline from the start with the fates of nations - and perhaps the world - relying on the back of this volume’s heist. Or, more accurately, heists. Remember “The Love Song Eillenfiniel” that we just spent an entire book stealing and then gave to the elves? Yep, it’s time to steal it all over again. Why? Er…the crew isn’t quite sure, and they need to figure it out quickly.

"Rhythm of War" review & reactions

Sat, 11 Dec 2021 06:42:50 +0000

I knew going into this to expect slow, but after I’d heard the same about Words of Radience yet preferred it to Way of Kings, I wasn’t sure if I actually believed it. Unfortunately, this was…slow. The first bit was great, and the last bit was just as incredible as the endings to the first three novels (I cried at least twice), but good god Venli is the most tedious character ever and maybe one of the flashback chapters total had anything remotely interesting in it.

"Dawnshard" review

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 18:31:39 +0000

Unlike Edgedancer, I don’t think Dawnshard can be read on its own; it’s too tightly embedded into the overall story arc of the Stormlight Archive. But I wanted to write a review of it anyway, because it deals with physical disability so incredibly well, something pretty rare in fantasy. Major spoilers for all Stormlight content up to and through Oathbringer (but not Dawnshard itself) follow.

"Bands of Mourning" review & reactions

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 17:13:13 +0000

Finally, a return to the scale of a Cosmere novel! Not that I would have minded more of the intimate setting of the first two, but…this is really what I’m here for. Being so late in the series, I don’t have much to say without spoilers, but overall a very solid novel. I think my favorite of all of the Mistborn so far, really.

"Shadows of Self" review & reactions

Sun, 05 Dec 2021 16:07:53 +0000

A whole which is not greater than the sum of its parts, Shadows of Self is at once a return to the urban fantasy setting of The Alloy of Law and also an expansion to the greater mythos of Scadrial. Each of these halves on its own works and is engaging, thrilling, enjoyable, all of the things you want out of a Mistborn novel, but put them together the way they are here, and you get an unsatisfying explanation for events that falls flat.

"The Alloy of Law" review

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 15:55:50 +0000

The Alloy of Law is much more urban fantasy than the high fantasy of the rest of the Cosmere, in a Scadrial that is suddenly…the Industrial Revolution? Electricity? Railroads? Fifty-story buildings? What? Yeah, okay. I wasn’t convinced by this for the first 20% or so, but of course this is Cosmere, so I fell in love with the characters and the plot was amazing and I loved it and it’s a great book. Of course.

"Oathbringer" reactions

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 15:16:25 +0000

What a ride! I knew to expect intense, and Oathbringer completely lived up to expectations! I don’t have many non-spoilery things to say, but I laughed and I cried, and I reread some parts to laugh again two or three times as I was reading them, and oh man the ending was intense.

"Edgedancer" review

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 18:17:23 +0000

The Slow Regard of Silent Things meets the Marvel Cinematic Universe embedded into the Cosmere in this absolutely delightful novella. Lift showed up for one interlude chapter in Words of Radience and now gets her own almost 300-page-long spotlight in the most adorable story ever, as she and Wyndle travel from Azimir to Tashikk.

"Words of Radiance" reactions

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 16:17:23 +0000

Based on comments from reddit, I expected this book to be a lull compared to book 1, but I didn’t really find that to be true at all. Being not the first in a series I don’t have much to say without spoilers, but if anything I enjoyed this more than book 1!

"The Way of Kings" reactions

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 16:54:48 +0000

Finally I get to start Stormlight Archive! I’ve been waiting like a month for this, which is like 20 novels or something.

"Sufficiently Advanced Magic" review

Sun, 14 Nov 2021 17:31:42 +0000

This is a combined review of the first two novels in the Arcane Ascension series, Sufficiently Advanced Magic and On the Shoulders of Titans. I DNF’d the series at that point, after reading Goodreads reviews of the third novel, The Torch that Ignites the Stars.

"Reading the Vampire Slayer" review

Sun, 14 Nov 2021 04:40:21 +0000

I read this for the nonfiction Bingo square. It was a waste of time, and I should have DNF’d it and picked up something else, but by the time I realized there was zero value in reading it, I was so far through it that I figured I may as well finish it because I didn’t really want to spend the time on another nonfiction book to fill this square.

"The Palace Job" review

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 20:40:49 +0000

A hilarious heist novel with an ensemble cast, The Palace Job tells the story of a…bookseller who attempts to…acquire and sell a book. Plans are created and foiled, a prophecy may or may not be involved, lots of things go wrong, some things go right, and hilarity ensues.

"The Blacktongue Thief" review

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 23:00:40 +0000

A pretty dark story when all is said and done, but told by an engaging, hilarious narrator that it ranges from lighthearted to funny to bittersweet, and almost never feels as depressing as it should. We’re in a land that’s lost almost all of its male population and a lot of its female population to the Goblin Wars, and horses are all but extinct. Our narrator dodged the draft to join the Takers' Guild, and he’s teamed up with an honorable knight who of course fought in the wars. And now giants are attacking. Yeah, it’s a real pleasant place.

"Cradle" (books 1-10) review

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 17:10:23 +0000

Many reviews on the internet talk about how wonderful Cradle is. I’m going to try and convince you to give it more than the first book by talking about how much I didn’t like the first book yet still loved the entire series, and why you should suffer through the pain that is Unsouled and continue on with this gorgeous progression fantasy epic.

"Jade City" review

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 00:06:30 +0000

A stunning opening to a modern urban fantasy trilogy with deep worldbuilding, Jade City follows the saga of the No Peak clan vs the Mountain clan (haha, get it? it took me an embarrassingly long time to get it). Themes include the rise of globalism, being an outsider, the costs of showing mercy, government corruption, traditionalism, stigma and self-hatred, self-discovery, prejudice, love, different ways to show bravery, family obligations and their costs, loyalty, and so much more. It’s also about superpowered marshal artist gang leaders who ride around in fancy cars and beat people up in breathtaking action sequences.

"The Empress of Salt and Fortune" review

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 05:03:49 +0000

When we hear the costs paid by royalty, by “main characters,” what about the costs paid by those that serve? In-yo is sent from the north to become empress, and she is all alone in an unfamiliar kingdom. She has to give up everything of her past life to serve her country. But this story is not about her, necessarily; it’s about servant-turned-handmaiden Rabbit, who has to sacrifice even more, all for In-yo.

"Elantris" review

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 06:16:36 +0000

You can take for granted that a Brandon Sanderson novel will have a unique, compelling magic system with the necessary depth of worldbuilding to support it, and his debut novel Elantris is no exception. From the Shaod to Aons to Seons, every bit of magic on the planet Sel is captivating, and the story of Elantris is just as compelling. The only complaint I have about the novel is its characterization of women, but even that isn’t enough to knock it down from a 5/5 rating, everything else about it is so good.

"Project Hail Mary" review

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 07:09:34 +0000

Project Hail Mary is tough to review because I think the best way to go into it is not knowing anything at all, and the less knowledge you have about the book, the more enjoyment you’ll get out of it. The protagonist wakes up on page one in a room without any memories. A computer asks him some diagnostic questions, and we go from there. Intrigued? You’ll love it.

"An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors" review

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 07:00:31 +0000

Speaking of the story, this story is incredible. Once we’ve established our very cool characters, setting, and magic, we’re caught up in a non-stop whirlwind of political intrigue with twists and turns and then more twists and turns, followed by some surprises, then additional shocking events (I’ll have you know that I predicted exactly one of them*). The plot is seriously non-stop with no room to breathe whatsoever. I LOVED IT! However, if that doesn’t sound enjoyable, you’ll totally hate this book. Stay away from it; there’ll be nothing enjoyable about it for you. But my god, I loved it.

"A Phoenix First Must Burn" review

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 05:30:14 +0000

Technically this is a DNF review; I only read the first five stories, to complete non-hard-mode Bingo, but I wasn’t intending to read the entire anthology unless I really enjoyed the first five stores that I read, and I didn’t. I’m not really a fan of short stories in general, and these weren’t particularly captivating.

"The Witch Haven" review

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 03:53:30 +0000

A pretty mediocre YA novel, The Witch Haven is set in the early 20th century in New York, but the historical setting is mostly irrelevant to the novel, and it may as well take place anywhere without cell phones or the internet.

"A Natural History of Dragons" review

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 09:51:41 +0000

A Natural History of Dragons is a nice opener to a series that I have not yet continued, but I’ve heard gets much better. It’s narrated by a much older Lady Trent, looking back at her childhood and early adulthood, and the majority of the appeal is her narrative voice rather than the story, though the story is acceptably enjoyable as well. Lady Trent, then known as Isabella, is obsessed with dragons. She wants to study them, to observe them, to draw them, to understand them.

"Beneath the Citadel" review

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 09:35:46 +0000

Beneath the Citadel has a lot going on. From the very beginning, there’s a heist that goes south, then a backup heist, then more hijinks take place. It deals with several interesting themes: Prophecy and free will; memory, memory loss, and identity; power and corruption. There’s strong LGBT representation: a gay couple, a bi character, and an asexual character. There’s a bunch of different types of magic, most of them pretty well defined and worldbuilt. And due to characters' abilities to share, read, and erase memories, the plot is almost akin to that of a time travel novel in complexity (there’s no actual time travel) (although philosophically we could ask if having memories erased and restored is equivalent to time travel…). Unfortunately all of this is significantly crippled by characters who do irrational young-adult-novel things, and the novel is weakened a lot as a result.

"She Who Became the Sun" review

Sun, 24 Oct 2021 08:47:15 +0000

She Who Became the Sun tells the story of a girl who is about to die but steals her brother Zhu Chongba’s supposed fate of greatness. Her story is one of a struggle of identity: If she has stolen her brother’s identity to steal also his fate, who is she? What skills is she allowed to possess? What desires is she allowed to have? How can she define her life? Heaven is watching her - literally - and any misstep threatens to send her back to her original proclaimed fate of nothingness. But her brother did die as nothing, and she must use her own skills and desires to make her own fate in the eyes of Heaven and claim her Mandate in his name.

"Circe" review

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 21:41:58 +0000

Circe is the story of the titular character’s life and exploits in Greek mythology (you know her from The Odyssey where she turns Odysseus’s crew into pigs). It’s told from Circe’s own perspective, at some unknown point in the future as she reflects on her earlier life events with a quiet, almost slice-of-life style despite spanning hundreds of years of history and perhaps a dozen different Greek myths.

"Gideon the Ninth" review

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 02:39:19 +0000

Gideon the Ninth is every genre that I don’t like - horror, locked-room murder mystery, kinda-gross-and-violent battle scenes - but told with the callously disrespectful humor of the titular Gideon’s narrative voice in such a way that I found myself captivated and, surprisingly, enjoying it. Though I will admit I skimmed a lot of the kinda-gross-and-violent battle scenes.

"Lost in the Never Woods" review

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 22:16:20 +0000

The premise is compelling - A “Peter Pan” retelling with an adult Wendy whose brothers never returned from Neverland with her - but the execution is anything but. The majority of Lost in the Never Woods takes place in the “real world,” a quiet, boring town that was disrupted several years ago when Wendy and her brothers disappeared for several months and only Wendy returned. The rest takes place in the nearby woods. None of it takes place in, you know, Neverland.

"Phoenix Extravagent" review

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 09:51:26 +0000

Phoenix Extravagant is a novel about nonbinary artist Gyen Jebi, a relatively talented artist who’s not so good at being a sibling or adult (but they’re trying! really hard!). After getting into a fight with their sister Bongsunga, they find themselves offered a government job that seems too good to be true, but, not being so good at being an adult, they don’t really have any idea how to handle the situation and end up completely over their head.

"The Once and Future Witches" review

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 19:19:17 +0000

Alix Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches is a historical fiction novel about suffragists (except they’re also witches) and sisters (and they’re also witches). It’s equal parts angry, beautiful, and heartbreaking. The prose is lovely, with sweet little alliterations snuck in as the witches discover the wills, words, and ways to change their world. And Gideon Hill is definitely not based on Mitch McConnell according to the Goodreads Q&A.

"This is How You Lose the Time War" review

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 18:16:15 +0000

This is How You Lose the Time War is not really about a time war. There is a time war contained in it, and if I’m being generous, I can say that there is a plot that involves time travel and a war, but this book is not about a time war. It’s unapologetically a romance told in letters between two women who start out as strangers and then almost immediately become pen-pal lovers in what was to me an unbelievably short correspondence period (I hesitate to use the phrase “period of time” given the context).

"The Sword of Kaigen" review

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 09:51:10 +0000

It’s incredible how much M.L. Wang manages to fit into The Sword of Kaigen. It’s a book of contrast and conflict: Two protagonists in a coming-of-age story, Misaki the mother, and Mamoru the son. Misaki’s own life is of contrasts; she received a modern, foreign education and then returned to a remote, traditional life. She and her husband do not have the harmony or communication in their marriage that she desires; he wants to ensure that they never fight, so he leaves her alone. The novel starts with a new boy coming to Mamoru’s school from the city, and again his modern experiences conflict with the mountain village’s traditional culture. And the central plot revolves around conflict, as Ranganese invaders are coming to the Kusanagi Peninsula, and the jijakalu are all that stand in their way.

"The House in the Cerulean Sea" review

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 09:51:01 +0000

My first reaction to The House in the Cerulean Sea was that it was an overly-sweet story that was objectively pretty good but just not for me. I would have rated it 4/5 or so with a personal enjoyment of maybe 2/5. But then I read this review on Goodreads about how according to the author it’s directly inspired by Canada’s Sixties Scoop, and both my overall and personal ratings changed to 1/5, in agreement with that rating.

"Rex Electi" review

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 08:57:20 +0000

In an alternate-history Rome, where the Senate took control away from the Emperor hundreds of years ago and started a new tradition of deciding the empire’s ruler, Caius Serica finds out that his entire life has been a setup both to judge and to prepare him for the Trials to become today’s new Emperor. He’s whisked away to a secret mountain location by Marcus, his advocate, where he will compete against thirty other candidates to vie for the position. While there, he forges alliances, makes enemies, and has to confront not only his opponents but also himself - does he even want this?

"The Poppy War" (books 1-3) review

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 09:50:47 +0000

The Poppy War trilogy will always have a special place in my heart because it’s the trilogy that got me back into reading fantasy. Someone copied an entire page or two from the first novel into a thread of the worst opening lines in fantasy and I suddenly wanted to read more, and four days later I’d finished the trilogy.