Alison

I wish this had been longer; delving into some of the concepts behind the world(s) and how it worked would have bumped this up to five stars for me. As it was, fantastically creepy and intriguing.

This has been in my TBR pile for an embarrassingly long time. More than five years, in fact. I'm not sure why it never made it to the top except that it never seemed quite the right time.

I'm glad it finally jumped up and down enough to claim my attention. Creepy body horror, old school witch stories, body horror, magic that's tied in with land and tradition and ancient rules about power... all the best stuff.

If you like your magic dark and earthy and your faerie stories wild and dangerous, this one will be right up your alley.

Smart, funny, utterly unique. It took me until my second try to get hooked, but once I did, I was all in. Fantastic.

Fantastic. Magic, mystery, morally complex characters, Venice-by-another-name setting, societal strictures, seedy underbelly... a great read. Very much looking forward to the next in the series.

Confusing, and not in a good way. The plot sounded great on paper (no pun intended); in practice, it felt like a bit of a mess. Strange pacing, characterisations that never quite rang true.

Not for me.

This twisted my brain inside-out in the best way. I need to read it again.

Not a new idea by any means, but still a great bit of fun to read. I'm a sucker for the whole old, irrelevant gods trope.

A absolute breath of fresh air.

Magic + Edwardian setting would have been enough to hook me, but add in a wonderfully written queer romance, a mystery, and characters you can't help but fall for, and - well - I'm done for.

Loved this. I hope the author can re-catch that lightning in a second bottle.

I had mixed feelings about this book. The use of disabled people as a story device made me uncomfortable, especially the way they are made out to be so two-dimensional; childlike and bright and full of wonder, instead of being shown to be complex people. A great book for a book club, to generate discussion and debate.

Sounded cool (no pun intended) but just didn't do it for me.

This felt like it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be fantasy adventure or political metaphor, so managed to not quite work as either. Heavy-handed and average, and just not my cup of tea.

A strange mishmash of essays on income inequality and theories of how we might address climate change. I struggled to find - and follow - the story underneath the soapbox.

A fantastic expansion of the world while still staying true to the spirit of Silo.

Dystopian, post-apocalyptic setting? Check.
Great prose? Check.
Unputdownable? Check check check.

Fantastic. I wish I hadn't let it sit in my TBR pile for so many years.

Solid start, let down by a rushed and far-too-simple ‘the good guys prevail' ending.

Funny and razor-sharp as ever, although I couldn't help but wish for some more familiar faces.

Less a novel than an epilogue. Goodbye, Stark.

Not entirely sure what I thought this was going to be, but somehow it managed to be... not what I expected. A decent read, but more of a meandering tale than a fast-paced, high-stakes thriller.

I'm not usually a Laurell K. Hamilton fan, but I'm always a sucker for a supernatural / detective mashup. I've fallen in love with Bobby Dollar, Sandman Slim, Harry Dresden, October Daye, Peter Grant, and now Zaniel Havelock.

Great world building, great story, great writing (and thank god, complete lack of angsty romance or love triangle bullshit).

More please!

So close, but it didn't quite cross into ‘great' territory for me.

I loved the setup of the different magical languages, but the mashup of mysterious family history with teen drama didn't quite do it for me. The ending seemed very rushed and confused, with a little too much Agatha-All-Along for me to really believe the suddenly revealed motivations of the characters. After the second or third switcheroo I gave up trying to keep track and just went with it.

Things I did love: the descriptions of music, particularly when used as a language. The gorgeous cover. The incredible magical places that we saw (fleeting) glimpses of - the club, the curio shop.

Still a solid read.

Destined to become a classic of the vampiric fantasy genre.

It was thoroughly refreshing to have vampires be terrifying, evil creatures. I loved the depth of the lore, the worldbuilding, the mix of magic and religion, and trying to work out how it all intersected.

Brilliant.

Sounds cooler than it is. I got lost somewhere around the alternate universe shadow monsters being overshadowed by Nazis and teen drama.

I'm not sure how I got to this point of my life without having read Jasper Jones, but there's a reason why it's an Australian classic.

I enjoyed the first half of this book, but it lost me in the second.

There's metaphor, and then there's beating your readers over the head with your (paper-thin) allegory.

Three stars instead of two purely for the vicarious enjoyment I got from The Mother's aggression towards the mental load and domestic expectations.

A masterpiece. I don't know that COVID lockdown was really the best time to read it, though.

Was I entirely captivated by these characters and their lives? Yes.

Do I want to read it again? Not anytime soon.