I think I need to officially take a break (give up on?) reading Kuang books. Everything sounds so promising, and yet everything is overcomplicated and underdone. I am disappointed.
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang | book reivew
fantasy
Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber | book review
This was super duper fabulous right up until the ending, and then things were a little too open-ended for my liking. Which is where the stars have been knocked off – we were full-steam ahead to the five-star rating up until that point.
A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold by George R.R. Martin | book review
This is clearly the book where everything gets real. Being part 2 of book 3, things went up a gear in terms of battles, character deaths and general plot progression. I lost count of the number of times I was shocked in this book!
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree | book review
A new favourite for my list, to be sure. What's not to love in this adorable cosy fantasy? This lived up to the hype and beyond for me.
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree | book review
This series is the cutest darn thing ever, and I'm very glad that Baldree has written several books about these characters so that I don't have to part with them just yet.
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri | book review
This was an absolutely epic tale that had all the great vibes of an Arthurian legend retelling. I found the broad concept to be super unique - a land sustained on the belief of tales, but very specifically in that each tale is connected to a piece of land on the Isle, and if that tale was forgotten, so too would the land connected to it disappear.
The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison | book review
There is something that has been so quietly enjoyable about this series. Book one, The Goblin Emperor, had really stuck with me – it was a narrative that I kept returning to again and again in my head. So I inevitably found myself reaching out for The Witness for the Dead to dive back into this world and soak up the atmosphere some more.
The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman | book review
【 THE DAUGHTERS' WAR 】 book #0 (prequel) in the Blacktongue series ★★★★★ Genre: FantasyAudience: AdultAuthor: Christopher BuehlmanPublished: June 2024Publisher: Tor BooksPages: 416 (paperback) The audiobook production for this was fantastic, as with the first book, the perfect narrator was chosen and it really made Galva's character come alive. However, I didn't find myself quite as blown … Continue reading The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman | book review
We Are the Dead by Mike Shackle | book review
This was unexpectedly complex and amazing – questioning why more people aren't talking about it! I did the audiobook version of We Are the Dead so I'll start by saying the narration is awesome and I really enjoyed it. Just one narrator, but she manages to bring all the characters to life (and there are so many) in a way that made me forget I was listening to just one person tell me this story.
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison | book review
This is bizarrely brilliant. I listened to the audiobook and I'm very glad I did because while I don't know how all those names and places are spelled, I'm sure I would've had a canniption trying to pronounce them myself!
Upside-Down Books 