Amanda
A prequel to Wicked covering Galinda's backstory.
It's been years since I've read Wicked, but I remember Galinda as being shallow and annoying at the start and gaining some depth and maturity as the novel progressed. In her self-titled prequel she is as shallow and annoying at the end as she is at the beginning, which I suppose isn't surprising since we already know her character growth happens after the events of this book.
I think it's safe to give this one a miss unless you're a die-hard Wicked fan.
Received via NetGalley.
A prequel to Wicked covering Galinda's backstory.
It's been years since I've read Wicked, but I remember Galinda as being shallow and annoying at the start and gaining some depth and maturity as the novel progressed. In her self-titled prequel she is as shallow and annoying at the end as she is at the beginning, which I suppose isn't surprising since we already know her character growth happens after the events of this book.
I think it's safe to give this one a miss unless you're a die-hard Wicked fan.
Received via NetGalley.
So Let Them Burn has a Jamaican-inspired gloss that makes it feel a bit original, but there's little else to distinguish it from the seas of YA fantasy currently being published.
I got this in the Hugo voter packet and while I don't think it's deserving of a savage review, it doesn't deserve awards either.
So Let Them Burn has a Jamaican-inspired gloss that makes it feel a bit original, but there's little else to distinguish it from the seas of YA fantasy currently being published.
I got this in the Hugo voter packet and while I don't think it's deserving of a savage review, it doesn't deserve awards either.
A wizards' conclave turns into a murder investigation.
I like the premise of the story, but the execution felt like everything was set up to show off a clever solution. It's also so overwritten that I suspect the author is having an affair with a thesaurus.
Received via NetGalley.
A wizards' conclave turns into a murder investigation.
I like the premise of the story, but the execution felt like everything was set up to show off a clever solution. It's also so overwritten that I suspect the author is having an affair with a thesaurus.
Received via NetGalley.
A detective investigating a string of grisly murders comes across a young boy connected to both the murders and a mysterious fire at an orphanage.
This was a great read! It's got great atmosphere and an excellent story that is both self-contained and hints at a larger world to be explored. I'll be picking up Miro's Talent series, to which this story is related, on my next trip to the library.
Received via NetGalley.
A detective investigating a string of grisly murders comes across a young boy connected to both the murders and a mysterious fire at an orphanage.
This was a great read! It's got great atmosphere and an excellent story that is both self-contained and hints at a larger world to be explored. I'll be picking up Miro's Talent series, to which this story is related, on my next trip to the library.
Received via NetGalley.
A royal inquisitor investigating two mysterious deaths seeks to enter the temple of a proscribed religion; the goddess has other ideas.
Most of the story was wryly amusing, but the last few pages took it to somewhere that isn't out of place, but seems to me unimaginative.
Received via NetGalley.
A royal inquisitor investigating two mysterious deaths seeks to enter the temple of a proscribed religion; the goddess has other ideas.
Most of the story was wryly amusing, but the last few pages took it to somewhere that isn't out of place, but seems to me unimaginative.
Received via NetGalley.
A Black family seeks sanctuary in 1871 Kansas.
This story has a lot of layers for its length! Due did a terrific job writing what felt like an epic Western in sixty-odd pages. My only quibble—and it's a *very* minor one—is the dollop of the supernatural in the tale; it doesn't detract from the story, but it feels slightly out of place.
Received via NetGalley.
A Black family seeks sanctuary in 1871 Kansas.
This story has a lot of layers for its length! Due did a terrific job writing what felt like an epic Western in sixty-odd pages. My only quibble—and it's a *very* minor one—is the dollop of the supernatural in the tale; it doesn't detract from the story, but it feels slightly out of place.
Received via NetGalley.
A mysterious death is investigated by a mysterious investigator.
If you mixed The Name of the Rose with the witches of Discworld and threw in a dash of Calvino, you'd end up with something like this short story. It's not a deep read, but it is entertaining and that last line is a corker.
Received via NetGalley.
A mysterious death is investigated by a mysterious investigator.
If you mixed The Name of the Rose with the witches of Discworld and threw in a dash of Calvino, you'd end up with something like this short story. It's not a deep read, but it is entertaining and that last line is a corker.
Received via NetGalley.
Your estranged mother calls you out of the blue and tells you her evil tech corporation will give you an obscene amount of money for very little work if you sign a stack of papers. If the driver the company sends repeatedly urges you to read the papers before signing, do you: A) read the papers? B) ask to be taken back to the airport and forget the whole thing? C) decide he's being "patronizing" and "patriarchal" and quickly sign everything out of spite?
If you answered C, then you will probably love Julia, one of the POV characters of Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep. I think Tremblay thinks she's an intelligent and complex character, but I think she's a collection of pop culture references who is as dumb as a box of rocks.
The chapters from the other POV character, called You, are what keep me from giving this book an even lower rating. They are disorienting, a little frightening, and compelling. I probably would have have given the book four stars if it had been reworked to be solely from You's POV.
Received via NetGalley.
Your estranged mother calls you out of the blue and tells you her evil tech corporation will give you an obscene amount of money for very little work if you sign a stack of papers. If the driver the company sends repeatedly urges you to read the papers before signing, do you: A) read the papers? B) ask to be taken back to the airport and forget the whole thing? C) decide he's being "patronizing" and "patriarchal" and quickly sign everything out of spite?
If you answered C, then you will probably love Julia, one of the POV characters of Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep. I think Tremblay thinks she's an intelligent and complex character, but I think she's a collection of pop culture references who is as dumb as a box of rocks.
The chapters from the other POV character, called You, are what keep me from giving this book an even lower rating. They are disorienting, a little frightening, and compelling. I probably would have have given the book four stars if it had been reworked to be solely from You's POV.
Received via NetGalley.
A detective solves a historical murder mystery.
The murder that's being solved happened roughly two centuries earlier, so it's just the detective telling a story rather than doing the actual investigating. I didn't find it an engrossing read, but it was an entertaining diversion.
Received via NetGalley.
A detective solves a historical murder mystery.
The murder that's being solved happened roughly two centuries earlier, so it's just the detective telling a story rather than doing the actual investigating. I didn't find it an engrossing read, but it was an entertaining diversion.
Received via NetGalley.
Fifteen years after the events of Sleepy Hollow (1999 film), Ichabod Crane returns to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a string of suspicious deaths.
As a sequel to Tim Burton's film, this comic is a failure: Ichabod has forgotten all the lessons he learned and Katrina has somehow acquired a twenty-first century mindset. Although I think the book might have been okay as an original story, trying to tie it to the movie makes it seem like a pathetic attempt to ride the coattails of a popular work.
I'm also unimpressed by the art. The forest is appropriately creepy, but the people have a bizarre, almost batrachian look to them. The dull colors do not help the book at all.
Received via NetGalley.
Fifteen years after the events of Sleepy Hollow (1999 film), Ichabod Crane returns to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a string of suspicious deaths.
As a sequel to Tim Burton's film, this comic is a failure: Ichabod has forgotten all the lessons he learned and Katrina has somehow acquired a twenty-first century mindset. Although I think the book might have been okay as an original story, trying to tie it to the movie makes it seem like a pathetic attempt to ride the coattails of a popular work.
I'm also unimpressed by the art. The forest is appropriately creepy, but the people have a bizarre, almost batrachian look to them. The dull colors do not help the book at all.
Received via NetGalley.
Two women try to return a holy relic while enduring the horrors of the Thirty Years' War.
After reading two books by Johanna van Veen she became a "must read" author for me; her latest book has cemented my opinion of her as one of the finest of current horror writers.
In Bone of My Bone, van Veen once again shows her skill at combining deeply disturbing horror with realistic depictions of historical eras and writing fully realized characters.
Received via NetGalley.
Two women try to return a holy relic while enduring the horrors of the Thirty Years' War.
After reading two books by Johanna van Veen she became a "must read" author for me; her latest book has cemented my opinion of her as one of the finest of current horror writers.
In Bone of My Bone, van Veen once again shows her skill at combining deeply disturbing horror with realistic depictions of historical eras and writing fully realized characters.
Received via NetGalley.
This review refers to the audiobook read by Daphne Kouma.
I am so glad there was an ebook of The Raven Scholar included in the Hugo voter packet because I couldn't even make it through part one of the audiobook. Daphne Kouma was a poor match for this book: this is a book with some intense themes and violence, but she read it in a way that would be more appropriate for an upbeat children's book. Blech.
I had a much more enjoyable experience once I switched to the ebook, even though I found this a *very* slow starter; I feel that the first four chapters could have been dealt with in about half the number of pages with no loss to the story.
I didn't become really engaged by the book until about 20-25% in, but I was wholly invested after that and resented every interruption that took me away from reading. I was entranced by the combination of the trials, intrigue, and the supernatural. By the end of the book I had largely forgotten my frustration with its beginning and was looking up the release date for book two.
My recommendation: skip the audibook if possible, because it is a one star production of a four star book.
Audiobook received via NetGalley.
This review refers to the audiobook read by Daphne Kouma.
I am so glad there was an ebook of The Raven Scholar included in the Hugo voter packet because I couldn't even make it through part one of the audiobook. Daphne Kouma was a poor match for this book: this is a book with some intense themes and violence, but she read it in a way that would be more appropriate for an upbeat children's book. Blech.
I had a much more enjoyable experience once I switched to the ebook, even though I found this a *very* slow starter; I feel that the first four chapters could have been dealt with in about half the number of pages with no loss to the story.
I didn't become really engaged by the book until about 20-25% in, but I was wholly invested after that and resented every interruption that took me away from reading. I was entranced by the combination of the trials, intrigue, and the supernatural. By the end of the book I had largely forgotten my frustration with its beginning and was looking up the release date for book two.
My recommendation: skip the audibook if possible, because it is a one star production of a four star book.
Audiobook received via NetGalley.
A Death After Dinner
The least liked guest at a country estate is murdered and an innocent man will hang for it if Liam Cuthbert doesn't uncover the real killer.
All through reading this book I had the overwhelming feeling that the setting is not quite right: everything from some of the food being served to the characters' behavior struck me as slightly more American than English. I never felt like I was reading about people in England during the 1950s, but rather a Hollywood version filled with stock characters.
I also never warmed to Liam; I think the author was going for charmingly eccentric, but he read as kind of sketchy to me. His hinting that he might be gay to a police inspector investigating the murder struck me as reckless since that was very much illegal at the time and could be seen as a motive for murder strikes me as reckless, and the way he treats Bruce upon their meeting makes me think he was looking for a sugar baby instead of a tenant.
Received via NetGalley.
The least liked guest at a country estate is murdered and an innocent man will hang for it if Liam Cuthbert doesn't uncover the real killer.
All through reading this book I had the overwhelming feeling that the setting is not quite right: everything from some of the food being served to the characters' behavior struck me as slightly more American than English. I never felt like I was reading about people in England during the 1950s, but rather a Hollywood version filled with stock characters.
I also never warmed to Liam; I think the author was going for charmingly eccentric, but he read as kind of sketchy to me. His hinting that he might be gay to a police inspector investigating the murder struck me as reckless since that was very much illegal at the time and could be seen as a motive for murder strikes me as reckless, and the way he treats Bruce upon their meeting makes me think he was looking for a sugar baby instead of a tenant.
Received via NetGalley.
Two employees of a magical apothecary shop have a contentious relationship and each is unaware the other is the pen pal with whom they've fallen in love.
I enjoyed the story, but I found it too drawn out: it's over a hundred pages before one of the protagonists realizes the other is their correspondent, and then there still a couple of hundred pages left in the book. The anticipation that had been building up petered out by the time things actually started happening.
The world building isn't super detailed, but it's solid and the magic system is nifty and shown well.
Letters from the Last Apothecary is a three star read for me, but it will probably be higher for people who enjoy romances more than I do.
Received via NetGalley.
Two employees of a magical apothecary shop have a contentious relationship and each is unaware the other is the pen pal with whom they've fallen in love.
I enjoyed the story, but I found it too drawn out: it's over a hundred pages before one of the protagonists realizes the other is their correspondent, and then there still a couple of hundred pages left in the book. The anticipation that had been building up petered out by the time things actually started happening.
The world building isn't super detailed, but it's solid and the magic system is nifty and shown well.
Letters from the Last Apothecary is a three star read for me, but it will probably be higher for people who enjoy romances more than I do.
Received via NetGalley.
A retelling of Hamlet set at a magic school.
A Dark Academic retelling of Hamlet strikes me as completely appropriate; even a fantasy one seems right—the original has a ghost, after all. Unfortunately, Thoughts Be Bloody misses the mark: it reads more like a knockoff of The Magicians with a Hamlet veneer.
Thoughts Be Bloody is also wordy as all get out, which, to be fair, can also be said of the original, but at least the original has some sublime blank verse going for it.
So, high marks for the premise, but low marks for the execution.
Received via NetGalley.
A retelling of Hamlet set at a magic school.
A Dark Academic retelling of Hamlet strikes me as completely appropriate; even a fantasy one seems right—the original has a ghost, after all. Unfortunately, Thoughts Be Bloody misses the mark: it reads more like a knockoff of The Magicians with a Hamlet veneer.
Thoughts Be Bloody is also wordy as all get out, which, to be fair, can also be said of the original, but at least the original has some sublime blank verse going for it.
So, high marks for the premise, but low marks for the execution.
Received via NetGalley.
A wizard indentured to a wicked king and a hunter under a curse seek a phoenix in hope of escaping their fates.
I was shocked to discover this is a debut novel; I've read books by veteran authors that show less imagination and skill than Kiser displays here. They've created a dark, dangerous world and filled it with characters who are talented, intelligent, flawed, and have complex motivations.
Hunt the Ever Wild is a book I will reread and I look forward to seeing what S. E. Kiser writes next.
Oh, and whoever wrote the line about this book having "the whimsy of Howl's Moving Castle" is doing both it and its potential readers a disservice: Hunt the Ever Wild is not whimsical and it shares little with Howl beyond a fantasy setting.
Received via NetGalley.
A wizard indentured to a wicked king and a hunter under a curse seek a phoenix in hope of escaping their fates.
I was shocked to discover this is a debut novel; I've read books by veteran authors that show less imagination and skill than Kiser displays here. They've created a dark, dangerous world and filled it with characters who are talented, intelligent, flawed, and have complex motivations.
Hunt the Ever Wild is a book I will reread and I look forward to seeing what S. E. Kiser writes next.
Oh, and whoever wrote the line about this book having "the whimsy of Howl's Moving Castle" is doing both it and its potential readers a disservice: Hunt the Ever Wild is not whimsical and it shares little with Howl beyond a fantasy setting.
Received via NetGalley.