themelodyofspring
Read this as a punishment or a reward. Still undecided. I also made two other people suffer with me by sending them pics of the text. One of them cursed me, the other wants to read it lol.
Aethelthryth is a great name. I didn't even bother to try to pronounce it. Enyedi too.
This is a short and sort of funny read. The guy is still hugeeee but no large hands were mentioned. Very cliched. There was a non consensual scene as well but not like I didn't know it after the chess ♟️ book.
Who named this book and whyyyy???
Loved it! I enjoyed how the premise is about a sister cursing her brother accidentally, but then there's not a lot of magic in this. Barely any. Nothing is fixed by magic, but by the wits of the characters.
I loved, loved the ending. The duels were so well written as in not the action, but the emotions they portrayed and evoked.
Audiobook narration was fantastic.
Can't believe they've started putting a copyright claim at the end of books to stop data mining by fucking AI. What a world we live in. Sue the shit out of those thieves.
A paranormal duo for hire that make a third friend and everybody spends quality time on the beach before they're all almost killed.
This was engaging but the plot wasn't anything mind-blowing. I'll still read the sequel because the trio gets along.
Can't thank Recorded Books enough for all their audiobooks. I get recommended a book and it's sitting there on Storytel while the ebook costs a fortune.
3.5 ✨
This was pretty good, having not heard or read Antigone before, which is a Theban play by Sophocles. It's better not to know the original for this or else, as all Greek tragedies, you'll know it's doomed from the start.
Sci-fi and dystopian twist on the original play with lots of focus on child bearing being mandatory in a dying civilization. But having kids traditionally is frowned upon as the children are said to have no souls, and defective. Instead, you choose DNA to mix and match from the Archive.
There was a bit in there about being trans and the state not recognising it (yeah what else is new).
Would've helped if it was longer and not a novella so we got to understand the world and the people more. Still very enjoyable. Dual narration in the audiobook was good.
500 stars!!!!!!!!!!!
Some thoughts after sleeping on it (minor spoilers, not about the main plot):
I love novellas. They don't waste any time and every sentence is a punch in the face, or at least this one was. It is so well written that I wish it was a full length novel so I could read more of Dymitr, Niko and Ala going on reluctant adventures (and almost dying).
Love how we still had the relationship building between the trio after the first book but somehow introduced more pain and angst in this. The little detail of Dymitr mending the holes in Ala's socks without her asking him and then her wearing them was
Very short and enjoyable story about the friendship between a boy and a bird. The bird gets sensory overload from loud noises (me too buddy). The boy's journey of thinking of the unknown as monsters to understanding and making friends with them.
The full page art was very pretty, just like in the Maithili books. Love the South Indian touches to the characters.
“I had no gift for comfort, and myself found the truth no comfort at all, only duty.”
I didn't know there was more in the Goblin Emperor series till I finished book 1. This was shorter (but took me ages to finish because I kept getting distracted).
Poor Celehar is so overworked. Doesn't say no to anybody. Doesn't even care if his colleagues are disrespectful to him.
There were lots of little plots in this. Main storyline of Min Shelsin kept getting interrupted by people annoying Celehar with side quests. Of those, my favourite was the case of finding Min Urmenezhen's grave and her murderer.
Mer Pel-Thenhior my beloved! Take Celehar on a vacation. He's in dire need of one.
“I have been grieving for a long time for someone who was very dear to me. And it is only recently that I have been shown that my calling did not die with them. I suppose I simply got out of the habit.”
Going to continue this series because the characters are soooo well written.
Read as an ebook because paperbacks elude me.
Kyle McCarly, I owe you a bag of crisps for the heart wrenching narration. Almost started crying at the “I love thee still” part.
Great book with the simplest plot ever. Emperor and the princes die in an accident so the youngest, neglected son ends up as the emperor. He goes from one meeting to another to another to another with his very competent secretary and body guards who say things like, “if anything happened to you we'd kill ourselves at the feet of your corpse”.
Loved Maia's interactions with everyone and how kind he was. And how Csevet was always there to guide. Cala and Beshalar too. And then Kiru joining was the cherry on top. This book was full of competent people who liked their jobs.
My favourite little plotline was the princess' marriage vs “I want to study the stars”. Very wildly gesticulated and screamed during that.
All the little bits about Maia thinking of his mother scattered throughout the story were so interesting and melancholic.
The usage of flatting of ears was such a clever way to describe emotions for the elves and goblins. Have never read it like that before.
Hope Maia gets to take a day off here and there. He needs it.
This book was religiously read (listened to) while I cooked dinner every night. Last time I went crazy over a book this much was The Spear Cuts Through Water
Boooooring!
Why in the world is this so damn hyped? It was so damn slow and boring. The dragon took forever to wake up. Then took 2 mins to get killed. The main action was so bland. What even happened in this book. Yay lesbians though. I will not be reading whatever sequel/prequel this book got.
Loth was the MC considering how many adventures and quests he went on.
This one had a really fucked up horse in it. All I could think when it showed up was that someone should call T. Kingfisher. She'd love it.
Very cop out ending. Nothing that happened near the last 20% was interesting. Kest having to go up against the Saint of Steel (or what I forgot his name) had me so hyped for them to then not show the fight AT ALL.
The trio of Falcio, Kest, Brasti was fun if only we had more interactions.
Now what was that completely useless sex scene for? I read about it in another review but nothing could have prepared me for it. I remember reading it and going ???¿¿¿ It's like somebody tried to fix Kaladin's depression with sex. (Hate even typing this).
Man has depression, he saw his wife get assaulted, get carried off and then she got killed when he wasn't there. He goes berserk where he almost dies, makes a friend who also gets murdered and you're trying to fix that with sex?!????
And then he gets asked to come live on an island with her. When he says no (thank God) she's like, it's because you think you don't deserve love. Ma'am! His friends are waiting for him. He met you last night only. Maybe tone down the destiny shit.
If this had happened to a female character, there would've been massive outrage. Reads very much like an old novel with lots of meh let's just wing it type of resolutions. Don't care if it's only book one. The bit with the Tailor just being everywhere when needed, then taking the memories was so full of shit.
If I ever continue this, it'd be for Kest. I want to read more about him but maybe not right now.