Gemma

Update: I re-read this book over the past two days, and I really really enjoyed it. I think this series is a top YA series for me. And I still stand by my reasoning behind not giving a full five stars in my original review. Onto the next few books so I can pick up Bloodwitch!!

If I was the type to give half stars, this would be 4.5 stars.

Truthwitch is a fantastic tale of friendship between two young women as they face to save their own lives. And I adored it. I don't really read YA because it doesn't keep me guessing enough, but this book had enough going on that I loved every second.

I have only two complaints. Firstly, there wasn't enough world building for the world to feel clear. I had absolutely no clue what a thread witch was for the longest time or why they needed to keep emotionless. I think the story would be vastly improved if the different aspects of the world and it's history had been introduced more carefully.

Another complaint would be regarding the dramatic use of language. It was not a common occurrence, and I'm quite sensitive to melodrama in my media, so it was a forgivable sin in my case. However, what on earth does “stasis in my fingers and toes” mean? Because stasis means inactivity and unless the character is hoping for paralysis I have no clue what she means.

I really really enjoyed the second book!

The humour is dry and well balanced. The additional characters added in to expand the plot kept things fresh and Kitty was a great focus point.

I feel like the plot is fairly well wrapped up, so I???m curious to see what book three has in store for me.

Ooooh, this should be a five star for enjoyment and is in reality a 4.75 star.

There are few books that make me get emotional and yell at them. I cannot wait for the second one!

Better review to come!

I hate to say it, but I am becoming more and more disheartened with every Canavan book I read.

The Age of Five focuses on Auraya, who in the beginning of the book becomes one of the White. The White is an order of five prophets who can communicate with their gods and preform miracles using the gods' power to protect their citizens. Auraya also has a complicated relationship with the Dreamweaver who saved her mother's life years ago, as the gods have always opposed the Dreamweavers. Using the Dreamweaver powers of healing on a non-Dreamweaver person is against the gods' will, and heavily penalised. Her new connection with the gods puts her love for Dreamweavers at risk of becoming the best weapon against the Dreamweavers.

Spoilers Ahead

This book sets up a strong plot concerning the White trying to establish strong allies in the countries surrounding them. They want to build a strong system of allies so they can take on hostile southern countries who believe in different gods. To do this, they need to reach out to remote races of flying humans and building the first positive relation they have with land-walkers.

However, as part of this plot the White suddenly decide to build bridges with the Dreamweavers partially due to Auraya's connection with Dreamweavers. This section of the plot quickly takes over and becomes a romantic story between Auraya and the Dreamweaver who healed her mother all those years ago. I barely knew Auraya at the point where this began, and therefore didn't care at all about her new forbidden relationship. It was boring to me, developed too intensely and completely put me off the whole story.

I picked up Americanah as part of my bookclub as one of the members had used it in their dissertation and was excited to share it with us. I'd heard a lot about this book through booktube, but I never thought I'd pick it up myself. I don't read a lot of literary fiction and I already own quite a few that I haven't got to yet. I listened to the audiobook, which I would highly recommend. I really liked the narrator's voice and it made the listening experience so lovely.

PLOT ???????????????
As with most literary fiction, we are going for a deep dive into Ifemelu's life and relationships. But I found the plot of Americanah to be much easier to read because there was an inciting incident that we remained firmly in the midst of throughout the book. Ifemelu decides after thirteen years in America that she misses her home, and moves back to Nigeria.

CHARACTERS ???????????????
I wasn't that interested in Ifemelu's relationship with Obinze, which was the main reason I couldn't connect to the story. I found so much of Ifemelu's life interesting that Obinze didn't really rank high enough on that list for me to care about. Ifemelu's blog posts added a more informal style of writing which was interspersed, and I really liked those breaks.

OVERALL ???????????????
All in all, this is a well crafted book that probably just isn't to my taste. I can't really say anything bad about it, I just didn't love it.

Hmm. Not sure about this one. I really liked exploring human-daemon relationships but felt like the plot about the roses was background noise I mostly ignored. I think it'd be 3.5 stars

Prose was right up my alley, loved the world and even enjoyed a character who I normally would find dramatic and unrealistic, but the number of characters we meet to immediately move on from has bugged me. Hoping some come back for the next book and we keep a main cast throughout