Category: Fantasy

Fantasy, Fiction, Horror/Thriller/Suspense, Mystery

Ninth House by L.B.

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4 stars. Wow. This was a raw metaphor for greek life on college campuses across the nation with their white-entitlement, detrimental hazing rituals, and blatant disregard for anyone besides themselves. Bardugo caught Brock Turner in every evil, vile act he ever escaped because he was “a kid with a promising future” and showed us how many of those people go under the radar for years only to become the Brett Kavanaughs of the world. Why read a book about WASP kids dabbling in stuff they don’t understand? Because the main character is a BA POC and she investigates beautifully. Also spooky ghosts, real life problems, and twists and turns! READ IT! I mean it was slow going at times, but entirely worth it. Bardugo is becoming more of a favorite with every book I read.

Book Review, Fantasy, Mystery, Series

Series: Hexen’s Cross by J.K.

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Hexen’s Cross

5 stars. Instantly captivating. Some romcom-esque tropes. But you know what? I didn’t even care. With an original plot line and interesting characters and development, I can’t wait to read the second book of Kowallis’s sophomore series!

Hexen’s Binding

4 stars. This book was not at all what I expected to come from this series. It was totally off pace with the first and yet still in line. It was a joy to read and get to know all the characters a little more as well as meeting new people altogether. There were a few editorial oversights, but nothing too distracting (especially since it cleared up near the end). Kowallis sure knows how to make a struggle real and I admire that wholeheartedly. The pace was a bit slow for my liking, but that would probably be my biggest and only qualm with this story. An overall success.

Hexen’s Wane

Not yet released. Hopefully soon!

Book Review, Fantasy, Romance, Series, Time Travel

Series: All Souls Trilogy by D.H.

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A Discovery of Witches

3 Stars. I have mixed emotions about this book. I read it in just a couple days, but I’m not entirely sure I actually enjoyed it. The plot is intriguing and the overall world-building is captivating, but I really can’t grasp the appeal of another “I’m a helpless young woman and I’m resistant to the idea of anything unnatural, but I also can’t live without my immortal lover” trope. But besides that, I guess it was fine. The prose was elementary at best and altogether boring, but the story was somehow interesting at the same time (?) And it HAD to be the first in a series AND end with a cliffhanger. So I have to read the rest of the series but it’s booked at the library for the next 6 months and I refuse to buy it because I didn’t like it THAT much.
What a dilemma.

Shadow of Night

2 stars. First of all I’m honestly tired of vampire romances. Second of all these are the least memorable characters of all time. I was halfway through the book before I realized who was who (and who had even participated in the first book). I think most of the confusion came from it being an odd combination of Twilight and Court of Thorns and Roses–but not the good parts (what? were there good parts? the answer is a resounding NO!)
But I narrowed it down, guys. Why do people think codependency is so romantic? And the constant qualifiers attributing territorial, possessive, and abusive tendencies to a vampiric and/or immortal state is, frankly, the worst reason ever and encourages poor impressionable youths that they should aspire to that kind of relationship. C’mon, readers!
The third thing that drove me insane was the constant repetition. Not in a good, poetic way where you’re like “oh, thank you author for reminding me of that important detail as well as making it literarily relevant and intriguing” NO! it was the “wait, what? did this seriously just reference something I read two pages ago in the same chapter. Do they think I’m stupid or, like, completely without common sense or inductive reasoning skills? I’m super insulted!” way.
I cannot say that I’m excited to read the last book, but I probably will because I’m not a quitter. (yuck)

Book of Life

2.5 stars. Yep, this series is still as petty as ever. Honestly, I can’t believe I even got this far. It was slightly better than the others in terms of how it was written, but was largely grasping at straws to try to mend its previous flaws. My opinion could be derived from the fact that I’m not a fan of romance and/or because it legitimately sucked.

Like I said: petty. But then, maybe we both are.

Book Review, Fantasy, Romance, Series

A Court of Frost and Starlight by S.J.M.

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Rest of series coming soon.

1 star. Lazy prose! Good heavens. This is probably the worst piece of “literature” (if you can even honestly call it that) I’ve read in, like, ever. It’s basically fan fiction, just trying to squeeze the last drop out of a series that wasn’t all that good in the first place. The characters continue to be forcefully “round” (again I’m taking liberties with these terms) by putting additional surprising and unnecessary characteristics upon them. And all their petty problems, sweet mother of all that is holy, are so deafeningly grotesque! Like, gag! Ew. I think I need to shower for ten hours, and I’m a big water conservationist so that means a great deal!!!

Oh gross!!! Yuck. *shivers with disgust*

And I’ve said this before, what friggin’ time period is this? It’s like steam punk without all the bells and whistles (literally). It’s wholly unbelievable without some sense of familiarity. Ok so, medieval with a dash of showers, toilets, and a pinch of fleece leggings and texting? A slow painful death would be more enjoyable than the hours of pulling my eyes out of my sockets whenever I read an installment in this series.

On to happier things.

List of words I will hate eternally because of this entire series:

Mate

Bond

Female

Male

Court

Power

Ribbons

Made

Roar

Love

Lord

Winnow

Things I hate because of this specific installment to the series:

The words holiday and rite

Any mention of sex in any smutty way ever again

How young Feyre is… 21? Are you f****** kidding me?! It’s like twilight (oh dear heavens that’s a terrible book too), when Jake (?) imprints on Nessa (?)… I am not going to fact check that, because I’ve already had a bad enough day just reflecting on ACoFaS.

This book brought to memory everything I hate about this series. I am grateful to the library for forcing me to read it quickly before I no longer had access, it was like ripping a bandage off.