Yami

So I throughly enjoyed this book even though it took me a good minute to get to the end even though it was only twelve chapters. Its not that the story was bad I just kept getting distracted and life got in the way. 

Lets start with the setting/worldbuilding. (Spoilers ahead Ill just mark everything out so if someone wants to actually read this book youve been warned.) If you want the short version: I really loved how open-world it seemed even though it was basically a straight shot from the village.


We start at the edge of the village where our main character, Oliver is being sent out to go get rain because of a drought. Now my first thoughts of this, mainly because his familiar is an armadillo, was are they in some sort of desert? but as it turns out no just regular farmland with some woods off to the west side of town where “no one's ventured before”. Within a couple days of walking the two come across a farm where all Oliver can think of is being able to sleep underneath a roof and have a decent meal. Which honestly is a mood. Anyway, the people living there just so happen to be Ghuls (basically Zombies) and they want to eat Oliver and Armadillo (the familiar has an actual name but I feel more comfortable calling him Armadillo ngl) so some hijinks insew involving pigs and a stow(?) Not sure what a stow is but Im guessing its a female pig? Im not gonna spoil the whole book but overall the setting was awesome for the story it wanted to tell.


Now the characters:

Oliver - The MC: At first I wasnt sure if I was going to like him given the fact Kingfisher drove home the fact he only knew three spells within the first two pages in. He eventually grew on me once he grew a pair and protected himself from an enemy that I wont say here. Did he act like a usual twelve year old boy? Kind of? Mainly being insecure about his magic or lack thereof. 

Armadillo - The Familiar (companion): God I love him so friggin much. Maybe its because of his sarcastic remarks and him telling Oliver to stop trying to learn a spell not even his mentor could do. Plus he was the main one to guide the group in the right direction.

Trebastion - Supporting Character(?): We dont meet him til closer to the middle of the book and like with Oliver I was skeptical that I would like him. Would I in real life? No because I feel like he would be too loud and clumsy for my liking. Now his power? That was pretty interesting to say the least. 

Honestly I really appreciate the book in of itself I just couldnt find myself reading any further because of the story being confusing and all over the place.

So this book was.. interesting to say the least. The only thing is (and Ill spoil this part) The whole Shard being the Summer King and the Prince of Valir came out of left field and Hallrs death was only talked about once after it happened and never spoke about again.

All in all this book really gave Warrior Cats vibes granted its with Gryphons instead of cats and theres no Clans to really speak of. Im not considering the Pride as a clan since theres no clear leader aside from when The Red King assigned Shard a group as a way of “trusting him”. I will be continuing this series though.

This is gonna be one of my favorite reads this year granted it took a hit in terms of star rating cause it felt werid towards the end with pacing.


Also to anyone who thinks kissing is sexual. Seek help they only do it twice and its towards the end of the book. (Mainly towards people who tag this book with sexual stuff)

Im just going to get right into the review Im just gonna spoil the whole thing to save the trouble.

So the book overall was actually pretty decent with Galestar and Stripestar starting with meeting in Starclan after the events of Ivypools Heart then the following chapter as apprentices and after that skipping right to being leaders. The timeskip was a little jarring given the fact we didnt get to see them as warriors or deputies to see if we even gave a damn about them. But I guess that was the point cause there wasnt a point to see them before they were leaders.

Not to bore everyone with story stuff Ill just skip to the parts of the books I really like. Which was the traveling and seeing the Tribe again granted this was way before the Great Journey with the modern clans. Not gonna lie even the deaths and Galestar and Stripestar being stripped of their nine lives was also kinda neat cause Starclan actually did something. TLDR: Im a Starclan supporter for this book.

With some good theres some bad mainly the pacing cause as soon as something happens it starts to go at a snails pace before picking up again not a paragraph later which kinda threw me for a little bit. Also once Stripestar and the rest of Thunderclan got back to the forest territories I started not liking Stripestar cause how pitiful he got and even before that when they first lost Galestar and the kits he was already assuming they died in the storm. Like you hardly even looked at that point.

So I really enjoyed this book from cover to cover. Granted I wasnt sure if I would of been able to finish it given the page count in between chapters. As per usual Ill spoil my thoughts below so whoever reads this won't get spoiled.

To start off I would like to compare this book to The Wizards Guide To Defensive Baking as there isnt any noticeable romance to be found here which is something I always look forward to in a book. The main character, Tao, is as you may have guessed is a traveling fortune teller who ran away from the Capital cause her stepfathers a prick and her mother (at the time) didnt defend her daughter because of a vision she had about her father dying and that vision coming true.

So at the beginning of the book shes all alone with no companions or anything until a adventurer named Mash and a (former) thief named Slit comes to her tent to look for Mash's daughter. Tao sees a vision of Mash giving Leah (his daughter) a kitten which we see come true at the end of the book.

Anyway Im not going to go through the entirety of the book (mainly cause I dont want to lol), but it really did feel like a D&D adventure granted I haven't participated in one. The only thing that they're missing is a Druid and a Bard I believe then they got a whole party lol. 

So at first I was half expecting this book to be about a furbaby getting lost and dying before ever seeing their family again. Would I had picked up this book if that was the case? No. Not in a million years. I just can't really handle reading those books if I'm being truthful here. 

Now, I really wish we had more of what Tatum thought about the world around him especially during the few chapters that he was just wandering the Woods looking for the girl that he thought was his mom (adorable by the way). Also it took me a lot longer to read the book since it started to feel stagnant of the characters just walking and talking about getting Tatum home. Maybe that's just me though I'm sure there will be other people who would agree. 

So I kind of liked this book. It just seemed a little too child-like for my taste. Then again with it being involved with Disney I guess it's to be expected. Also I love how I could tell who was behind the kidnapping within the first two chapters because I watch too much Criminal Minds to not notice when the unsub inserts themselves in the investigation to be closer to the crime to admire their work and to be able to come back to the scene of the crime. 

I really didn't feel any attachment to the characters in this book to be they all felt flat and one dimensional. The only thing that kept me reading is the plot not to mention the Riddles were pretty interesting. Which is why I thought it sus that the first two Brian figured it out immediately that made me throw up major red flags because what the hell man at least make it seem that no one knows who the kidnapper was.

Yeah I tried to read this book but I guess I don't really like slow burns (or whatever it's called) another one for the DnF pile even though there was a dog :(

Lemme just spoil this rq cause this got wild real quick.

So Im definitely on the Oliver hate train here. I know that Authur was behind the whole keeping everyone in the RV until Red came forward with her secret. Granted at first I thought it was a pre-recorded thing that Authur set up but since the sniper didnt repeat what they were saying on the Walkie Talkie that ruled that out. Also Oliver putting everything to a vote to kick Red out really didnt matter since he picked her up anyway and threw her out.I hope to god he rots in whatever place he went to cause it sure isnt going to be heaven along with his mom. I dont care that Authurs the one who pulled the trigger causing Reds Moms death in my book that gets a pass.

So I really enjoyed like the first half of the book but it kept circling back to insert character name here telling Ellie some tales about her Sixth-Great Grandmother. I would of given this book one star the only thing that saved it was the Ghost Star and how Darcie planned her Supernatural creatures like Vampires and such.

So I'm just going to start off by saying this book had me in the first sentence which is why it's getting 5 stars along with a certain spoiler at the end of the book. For those who haven't read the book at all I suggest you stop reading my review and Go read the book it's amazing!My Thoughts on the book  (I have spoilers marked throughout cause I haven't really written a review before lol the black bars are spoilers unless I say spoilers beside it.)
So we start off the book with meeting Dee who was charged with the murder of her sister. She says she's innocent (Spoiler) She actually is and its a girl named Mona that you meet about a quarter of the way through saying that she was framed. She starts out in a maze only to find herself in a Cinderella-like dress and realize she's about to he murdered by Prince Scyther (correct me if I'm wrong lmao), who's signature involves his victims dressing up as famous Disney Princesses. Through some quick thinking she actually kills him but as it turns out Prince was actually the Postman ....

I'm definitely not going to go through the whole book but I really enjoyed the twists and the murders splashed everywhere throughout the book from the Embalming (and something else that I'm not going to mention cause it might be triggering for someone) and burning alive. The plot didn't leave me waiting for any action and I'm grateful for it. 

It took too long to plot and after reading ahead and found who the killer was it took at least ten more chapters to finish the book that I didnt have patience for.

I just didn't like the slowness of it and it just really wasn't working for me.

I really couldn't handle seeing Kate getting R*ped by Simon so I had to stop it just makes me uncomfortable if I'm being honest

Yeah no. I can't read past chapter 3 to save my life.

The MCs being a big baby did it for me. I cant with her if she says “Its my fault my father is dying” Im going to throw someone. Probably the author.

Dont get me wrong I loved the book but Im not a language major by any means. 

I didnt like the narrator ngl every other paragraph it was Lana this or Lana that. This made me want to throw my Kindle at a wall. So for my sanity and my Kindles safety this is one book Im glad to get off my reading list.