Dagger Eyes is a soft fantasy (light on the magic) court intrigue book that was submitted to me to review. It is also, unfortunately, a book I struggled to finish, primarily due to the plot, but somewhat to the characters as well.The plot is slow, which is less the issue than it is slow and […]
While described as ‘horror’ I found Only in Darkness more of a dark paranormal (meaning dealing the the extraordinary in an otherwise ordinary modern setting.) There are definitely some scenes intended to be frightening, but only a few, with the first being the strongest. But the narrative doesn’t play out like a horror story (hunter […]
As sequels go, this one is excellent. It maintains the same quality as the first in every regard while also diverging significantly. The beauty of this sequel is how it builds on its predecessor; Gwendolyn spends the entire book battling with the trauma caused by the events of the first book, and that trauma is […]
The Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray, tonally, felt like a mixture of a Wrinkle in Time and Alice in Wonderland. The prose is definitely geared toward a younger audience, but the author’s style of writing itself added huge amounts of life to the words and ultimately delivered a very enjoyable reading experience for me.The narrative […]
Listened to this on audiobook and very much enjoyed the reader.Excellent comedy, full of energetic scenes and characters that had me chuckling. The characters are likable, diverse, and memorable without requiring a lot from the reader or time in the book to display them. (This is due to several excellent introduction scenes.) The antagonist is […]
The Legacy of the Brightwash is a slower book, not in the sense that nothing happens but in the sense that it takes time to unfold and build itself. We are shown the world (particularly from a cultural aspect, though the physical and aesthetic is very much present and wonderfully detailed as well) in immersive […]
The Forever King is full of strong elements: motivationally complex characters, strong visual flare, and a wide arrange of fantastical elements. But it suffers from a variety of small issues, albeit relevant issues, that make it hard to enjoy the book. Yes it it full of scenes and moments intended to be visually rich and […]
The Confidence Men is slow to start, requiring a significant amount of preamble to set the scene of the First World War and the events and battles leading up to Hill and Jones’ capture. I found this part interesting, but the logistics and movements (etc) of warfare is something I find interesting. Other people may […]
I found the Iron Crown slow to start, propelled solely by the mystery of its main character’s origin. I attribute this primarily to the fact that the book struggles with characterization. Our main characters isn’t given any particularly interesting, likeable or enjoyable traits; he has no sense of humor, no snap, no energy in his […]
I thoroughly enjoyed Reign and Ruin from start to finish.The pacing is excellent and while the book does lean more towards the political and character aspects (which I very much enjoyed) there are enough action scenes and scenes of immediate peril to provide variety and deliver satisfactorily on the power aspect of the magic.Naime is […]
Well written with immediately likable characters, Shadows of Ivory is an unusual fantasy in its archeological focus and it utilizes this focus to good effect and degree without it ever crossing over in the boring or the too much.Or MC, Eska, is likable, complex, and wonderfully intelligent and you fully understand how she commands the […]
