Review: School for Psychics by K.C. Archer

School for Psychics by K.C. Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

This came up on my dashboard on NetGalley, but when I read the synopsis I didn't think I was very interested. There are so many books on my TBR pile this year, I didn't want to waste time on something that didn't sound interesting to me. But then someone I follow, who usually has similar taste in books to me, praised it in a review, and made it sound so much better than the blurb. So I requested it, and I was approved. But I put off reading it because of other books I wanted to read, so this review is a little delayed. My apologies to NG and the author for that.

Anyway, you'll notice that a book I wasn't interested garnered four stars from me. They are pretty enthusiastic stars, too. It wasn't perfect (far from it), but I absolutely loved the character progression and how you are always led in certain ways, but may end up in a different place than expected.

So there was some obvious foreshadowing. A few different characters come under suspicion, and you aren't sure which one(s) to believe or disbelieve, but I think I figured out the "big bad" early on in the book. I wasn't 100% sure, but my suspicions were confirmed at the end.

But it's not really a "big bad" in the sense that the characters have to destroy this thing to save the world. So in that it's much more sinister. What are their true motives? By the end we know approximately who they are, but not what they are, and not really much else about them.

Regarding characterization, I absolutely HATED Teddy when I first met her. She was selfish, seemed to have a sense of guilt but still threw her life away anyway, and didn't seem to want to improve her situation at all. She went to Whitfield very reluctantly, and only because she had just lost a shit-ton of money at poker and her bookie was going to come to collect very soon. When she got there, she distanced herself from everyone, refused to let anyone in, and kept making selfish mistake after selfish mistake. I wanted to slap her in the head and ask her what the heck she was doing, because I know her trajectory is all too realistic and it is frustrating. She was *real* to me. Even when she's still screwing up at the end, she's still struggling with everything she has done. There is development there, progress, and a shift in perspective for her.

So by the end, I had grown to love Teddy and all of her flaws, despite all her mistakes, or maybe because of them.

Also, I just need to talk about Jillian for a second. Does anyone watch The Good Place? The entire book, all I could picture whenever Jillian was speaking or mentioned was Tahani. For reference:



I think my one major complaint about this book, hence only 4 stars, is that all the characters acted and spoke like teenagers, not people in their mid-20s. I also couldn't get a read on how old Nick was, which confused me a little later on in the book. So I had a hard time not reading these kids as high-schoolers in a military setting, which has obviously been done before, but it didn't read right for me. Also, there seemed to be some jumping around in time that wasn't clearly noted, so I would be reading something about the characters being one place, and then shortly after they were somewhere else with no indication that they had moved. That may have been the ARC, or it may have been that I was missing the written shift for some reason, or it may have just been that way.

Overall, a great book and satisfying read. I'm glad I read that review, I'm glad I requested it, and I'm glad I read it. Psychics are hard to do well. I think K.C. Archer did a good job, and I look forward to reading book 2 when it comes out.

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Review: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OK. So. This book was amazing. I loved it. This is the first time in a LOOOOOOOONG time that a super-hyped-up book has actually met (and exceeded) my expectations. I am super impressed by the writing style, the inventiveness of the story, and how freaking awesome all the characters are (and not necessarily in a good way - Saran was a goddamn monster). Everyone (except maybe Inan, I had some issues with him) was completely fleshed out. They were living breathing human beings with pasts and lives and expectations. That is what so much modern fantasy is missing. I'm so tired of the Mary Sue protagonist. Zelie is as flawed as they come, and she is brilliant for it.

Two things took away from it for me, so that's why I'm knocking off a star:

1. Guh, the romance. I could suspend my disbelief about the magic because of course this is fantasy. I could not suspend my disbelief enough to believe that in the span of like two chapters, two hostile murderous enemies suddenly are making out like horny teenagers.

2. Zelie had a "sea-salt soul." I was reminded of it in *every single* Inan chapter. The repetition drove me nuts.

But this is love, so now I sit and wait for #2 to come out so I can figure out WTH happened at the end!

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Review: Furyborn by Claire Legrand

Furyborn by Claire Legrand
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

I am pissed that I wasted however many pages this book has to find out what the f was happening in the very first scene, and we don't even get that much. I hated everyone in this book except Remy and Simon. I think Eliana was probably the worst. One star, would not recommend, boring AF. Even the sex scene was absolutely ridiculous.

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Review: Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire

Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

I have only discovered Seanan McGuire in the last year, but boy howdy has she quickly become one of my favorites. I am not usually into ghost stories because, well, they freak me out. But this sounded so interesting, I couldn't help myself.

The notes at the end mention that this book was originally a series of short stories and then turned into the novel it is now. Which makes the book make a little more sense in my head. Instead of a linear narrative, it moves around in history through Rose's time as a ghost, and tells what seem to be unrelated stories (but which connect, somehow, in the end). Rose is an interesting character. She died at age 16, and has never aged, but when I read her voice she sounds much older. Much harder. Of course, she would have to be to survive as a road ghost, a hitcher.

Rose's path is fascinating, not only to see how she will help those she's sent to help, but also how she may fail them. Even for a ghost there are still dangers, and if she doesn't want to be wiped away, she needs to abide by the rules and keep an eye out for Bobby Cross. And there are a lot of rules, which show up at different points. The narrative takes the form almost as a field guide to being a hitcher, which kept me reading even when it got a little creepy. I liked some of the vignettes more than others, but the one that really got to me was at the end, with Gary.

Knowing that this is book 1 of 2, I can forgive the ending not being a complete wrap-up. There are loose ends left, which I was hoping meant there would be a sequel. I wasn't quite ready to put Rose down, even though the book was very packed and dense. I'm looking forward to reading The Girl in the Green Silk Gown when it's released later this year.

Highly recommended to fantasy and ghost fanatics alike. I loved Rose and her story, and can't wait to dive deeper into her "life" as a ghost.

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Review: To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

Waffling between 3 and 4 stars, but giving 4 because I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

*****SEMI-SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT*****

Despite being completely predictable, it still managed to have enough action and suspense to carry it. I do think that too much time was spent in the various stops along the way and not enough time actually on the mountain, but if there had been more pages devoted to the mountain then the book would have ended up too long for my liking.

There is a lot to like here - a reworking of siren mythology; two protagonists who learn enough through their journeys that they realize they don't want to be who they were anymore; an interesting same-sex marriage of royals; and pirates. I wasn't surprised by much, but it was fun all the same.

If I were to criticize this book in any significant way, it would be the chapters. They were written from either Lira's or Elian's perspective. Most of the time you don't know who is speaking for a few sentences or even paragraphs. One chapter it took an entire page before it was revealed which perspective it was from. It would have been much more helpful (and left me much less confused) if the narrator's name were in the heading of the chapter. I also thought that some of the action was a bit too drawn out - it felt like I was reading and watching it in slow motion, when it was supposed to be moving along a lot faster.

Overall, a pretty good book. Predictable but interesting. I liked the way we get to watch redemption progress. And I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

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Review of Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

I enjoyed this enough to want to read the sequel, but not enough to buy copies of my own. I'll probably pick it up from the library so that I can at least get some closure.

This book was well-written, lyrical, and emotional. I loved how the story unfolded, but I do wish there had been a little more ... explanation? It seems like everything is still a mystery to me, but it was still a good read.

My only qualm is that the Goblin King essentially kidnapped Elisabeth. He kidnaps her sister first, then manipulates her into staying in the Underground with him as his wife. She loves him but she doesn't, but she does? I felt like she was manipulated into loving him, like Stockholm syndrome. It kind of bothered me and got in the way of my liking the romance.

There were also a few passages that were lifted directly from Labyrinth. And yes, the book was heavily inspired by Christina Rosetti's The Goblin Market (which I just read for the first time today). I minded but I didn't. If that makes sense.

Overall an interesting romantic fantasy. I wish I could have pictured the Goblin King as someone other than David Bowie, but oh well.

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Review: Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer

Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

A lot of blurbs and reviews touted this as reminiscent of Jeff VanderMeer. Originally, that really put me off requesting it on NG, because I am not a fan. City of Saints and Madmen was an interesting book, but not my reading preference. I thought it was confusing and a little gross for my taste. I never picked up another one of his books because I didn't like his writing style.

But then I read a review by an author I have been following for a while. I feel that we often like the same books, and dislike the same books. So when she said that it really wasn't anything like VanderMeer's work, and that it was really quite good, I figured what the heck. A little apprehensive, I began.

What started out as a normal classical Victorian family story with a little adventure thrown in, quickly devolved into demons and blood. Now I'm always one for a classic, so reading this was like being back in familiar territory. But when things went south, and boy do they go south, holy cow what a ride.

Admittedly, it was predictable. I called several of the major "twists" before they were explained, because the foreshadowing was a bit obvious. Nonetheless, the ride was enjoyable and the writing was fantastic. Even when blood comes, it's graphic but not chainsaw-massacre-horror-movie-style graphic. I could manage it, and I'm not one for gore. So to any typical fantasy reader, I don't think it would be too horrible. I've read a lot worse.

The statement that it's based on The Picture of Dorian Gray was pretty obvious. For someone who has degrees in English Literature, I'm not exactly the most well-read in the "big names." I preferred a lot of lesser-knowns. So I have never read Dorian Gray, but after reading this it may show up on my to-read list. Who knows, maybe eventually I'll get around to it. I know the basic idea of the story but not how it unfolds, and not exactly how the painting works. I think that even not knowing that, you can still make the connection with this book. The way the painting was used in this one was quite interesting, and I'm curious to see how it aligns with the original.

For not being in my normal wheelhouse, this book was great. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it. The only reason I gave four stars is for the predictability, although to be fair, I don't really know how the author could have been more subtle.

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2018 Reading Challenge

It's time for my 2018 reading challenge goal!  Last year I set the goal at 75, and when it got to be December and I was nowhere near it, I lowered it to 60 (yes, I'm a cheater).  I couldn't bear to not have the "completed" banner across my challenge again :(  But this year I'm setting it at 75 again.

What I am planning on reading this year:

• The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, plus The Hobbit
• CS Lewis' Space trilogy (once I get my copies back...or maybe I'll just buy the pretty new editions I've been drooling over...)
• Several series I've been enjoying have new installations releasing this year, and I plan on getting my hands on them!
• My husband bought me the annotated Wuthering Heights a couple Christmases ago after I told everyone and their mother I wanted a copy, and I didn't read it.  So I'm going to this year.
• My annotated editions of Jane Austen's books
• Charlotte Brontë's Villette, which I bought an annotated copy of so that I could have footnotes for all the French
• Any other interesting books that come my way over the course of the year

Good luck to all of you who are setting reading goals as well!  My widget is on the sidebar so you can keep track of how I'm doing.  

What are you planning to read this year?

Review: The Power by Naomi Alderman

The Power by Naomi Alderman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

What would happen if suddenly women held all the power? We find out one possibility in The Power by Naomi Alderman. The book itself takes the form of a novel written by a man, 5000 years after The Cataclysm, which took place presumably in current times. The author is writing a novelization of what happened the day young women came into their electrical power, and the aftermath of how that changed and shaped the world.

At the time I read this, a whole bunch of men, celebrities and political commentators and movie producers and politicians, have been accused of rape and sexual harassment. Several have already lost their jobs. Hopefully the rest will follow. Women are starting to reclaim some of their power. And that has been in the back of my mind the whole time I was reading The Power. Alderman has managed to put out a culturally relevant piece of speculative science fiction that resonates strongly with what is happening in the US right now.

There is a lot to like about The Power. Roxy Monke was probably my favorite character, because even though she had the power, we find out exactly how strong she is when shit hits the fan. (Spoiler: Strong AF.) Mother Eve was also incredibly interesting. Who was the voice inside her head? Was it really God? Or was it something else? Was she just mentally ill? I was amazed that a traumatized teenager could essentially start her own worldwide cult, help create a new country, and then tear the world apart just by taking the power to name God. Tunde was also interesting, in that he was able to become a prominent and world-famous journalist after chancing on a video CNN wanted to buy. The "end" of his story line was discouraging, but hopeful. I wish we could have seen what happened to him.

Margot Cleary and her daughter Jocelyn were not nearly as interesting as the other perspectives. Frankly, I could have done without them. While they grounded the conflict in the US, I didn't feel that aspect of the story was very relevant or even advanced things very much. Yes, the US was one of the countries that ended up starting the Cataclysm, and sure we needed to see why, but their stories were far too frequent when I really wanted more of Roxy, Eve, and Tunde.

What the book comes down to is, power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. When we rejoin the author and "Naomi" at the end, we see how much society has been flipped upside-down in 5000 years.

Where the book lost me is the end. The discussion between Naomi and the "author" of the book is a direct switch of genders. She suggests that he publish it under a woman's name in order to escape the "men's literature" genre. She questions whether it is possible that there could have possibly been legions of male soldiers 5000 years prior. She calls the author's historical record "fun," suggesting that it's not legitimate. She undermines him completely while proclaiming to be his friend. This is something that has been happening to women for centuries. And while it was a hoot to read, I felt it was a little too obvious, like a lecture. The end of the actual story, just before this conversation-in-letters, leaves so much open-ended that I feel a little cheated. I wanted to know what happened to Roxy and Tunde. I'm assuming that Eve/Allie didn't make it through, since she's surrounded by nukes and there is apparently a huge nuclear war on the horizon. The voice deserts her. Who was the voice? And what happened to her former foster mother monster, who was running an orphanage in Eve's name? Did Tunde make it across the border? We get all this lead-up to a big clash, and then it's like the flash of white light just before the impact. Then, a calm conversation.

But overall, I found the book relevant, interesting, and worth reading. I struggled with the brutality. But knowing that it was what women have been experiencing for thousands of years, I couldn't ignore it as unnecessary to really get the point across. 3.5 stars, rounded to 4.

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Review: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

I really loved Hartman's first book in this world, Seraphina. There was a lot to love about Phina, and a lot to learn about the dragons. In Tess of the Road, we see Phina from a different angle, and it's not quite so lovely. In fact, I think that's why I wasn't as thrilled with this book as I was with Seraphina.

In Tess of the Road, we get the story from Tess's POV. Tess is the younger half-sister of Seraphina, and while she played only a minor part in the first book, this is the beginning of her story. And it's not a pleasant one. Tess is an alcoholic, scarred by a romance-gone-wrong which has left her "sullied," a fallen woman, who then has to pretend to be the younger twin so that her real younger twin, Jeanne, can get married first and bring the family back to prosperity.

I feel for her, really I do. She has experienced tragedy like I could never imagine. And it is understandable why she hates her life - I hate her life. And I hate pretty much everyone in it, including Phina. That's what bothered me - one of the characters I had grown to love in another book, I was essentially told to hate in this one. She's pictured as cold, annoying, superior, and generally unable to feel anything for anyone. That doesn't completely jive with the character I got to know.

Also, there was a LOT going on in this book. Once Tess runs away from home (which we all know she's going to do, because otherwise the book couldn't be named as it is), she goes for a walk. She doesn't think it through. She just knows she's leaving, she has a bag-o-crap to get her along for a few days, and after that it's the glory of open roads and everyone leaving her the heck alone. All of that sounds fantastic, but then she sees men on the road and in the fields, and because of her mother's batshit St. Vitt, she thinks that all of them are going to try to assault her because that's what men do. She goes on like this for a while until she realizes, hey, why don't I become a man too? Then they'll leave me the heck alone.

Now, this trope is pretty overdone. I've read so many books just this year alone that deal with characters who cross-dress because of reasons. Frankly, I'm surprised Tess is believed for a man. She doesn't seem to make attempts to really alter herself other than the clothes she's wearing, and eventually cutting her hair (it is noted a few times that she deliberately pitches her voice down, but honestly, how realistic is that?). I didn't particularly enjoy the whole man thing, and I thought it was completely ridiculous that she used her brother-in-law's name the entire trip through Goredd, as if no one was going to track her down that way.

The slow reveal of Tess's relationship with Will was also drawn out a bit too much. We don't get the whole story until the very end, and I guess you could say that was for character development since by the end she's finally "strong" enough to face what happened to her, but I felt like some of it could have been revealed a little earlier, or at least not in such scattered pieces.

Then we have Tess's development as a person. She sobers up on her trip, and meets up with and rescues an old friend, Pathka, a quigtl (we met those in Seraphina, if you recall). Pathka is on a quest to find Anathuthia, a World Serpent, something of myths and legends and that no one believes is actually real (except Pathka and Tess). So Tess decides to join up with Pathka, go find this giant serpent, and so begins their quest. Tess learns she's a terrible thief, but never thinks to actually work for her food and lodging until much later. She's a little brainless sometimes, never quite thinking things through until it's too late. She rescues an old man, meets the nuns she was supposed to join but ran away from, and poses as "Brother Jacomo" to just about everyone who will listen. She tries to think of herself as a hero, as someone who is strong, but doesn't want to face the hard things about herself and her past. When she finally does, it is very emotional. I admit I teared up a little when she has these major revelations about herself.

But despite the heavy emotions in this book (and they are super heavy), I still didn't love it. Like I mentioned above, there's a lot going on. There are a lot of side-stops, a lot of attempts to find Anathuthia, and a lot of flash-backs while she's trying to find her way. Eventually she's responsible for something very tragic while trying to be a hero, and I'm not quite convinced she truly understands how completely ridiculous she was. The repercussions of what happens towards the end aren't even felt in this book (I'm hoping they will be left for the next book, since there's a pretty big cliffhanger there).

And it made me hate Phina. That sucked.

Good book, but while I loved Seraphina, I didn't love this one. Read if you like a slow burn and a lot of side stories.

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Review: The New Dark by Lorraine Thomson

The New Dark by Lorraine Thomson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

I don't want to write a lengthy review on this, because there isn't much to say. I will say that I've read this story before, by many other authors, and most of them were done better. It doesn't bring anything new to the table, but rather feels like a mish-mash of a bunch of other post-apocalyptic books I've read over the last few years. What really got me was the religious cult in Ulbroom, and how similar it felt to the Mormons in The Book of the Unnamed Midwife.

I couldn't really understand the motivations of most of the characters. I couldn't understand why the mutants were killed at birth, other than because they're mutants. If Einstein is a good mutant, couldn't you raise a mutant to be a good kid just like any other kid? It wasn't explained at all. The plot is not that original, and there's a LOT of crossing-paths-unseen missing of two people who are looking for each other, and are in the same place at the same time but never meet up. And then we get to the end, where this group wants Sorrell to help them start a revolution, all because she has a stupid birthmark on her wrist that matches a poster in an old tube station. None of it makes any sense.

Lastly, there were a lot of wrong words and misspellings. At first I thought that it was a translation error, because they happened so frequently and stood out so much. I noticed when I started that there was a German edition and a German publisher, but now that I see the author is from Scotland, it doesn't make more sense to me. Oh well.

Frankly, there are better books out there that tell a very similar story. I recommend The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, for one (although this is YA, and Unnamed Midwife is definitely adult). It's not a similar story, but it's better post-apocalyptic literature, and I think it tackles a lot of the same issues much more thoroughly.

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Review: The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

I'll be a little generous with my stars, since the end of this book was much better than the beginning. I would rate it 3.5 if I had the choice, but 4 is not a stretch. It's not one of my favorites, but once the story got going, it was a pretty good ride.

Amalia is the heir to her mother's seat on the Council of Nine, which essentially "rules" Raverra, their city (I think it was just a city within the Empire, to be honest I didn't quite get all the relationships here). She would rather bury her nose in books (normally my kind of girl) than be a political leader, but here she is. One morning she's out picking up a rare book from one of her connections, when she sees a girl about her age in trouble with a bunch of men. These men are obviously trying to kidnap the girl, claiming she's an indentured servant and still has time left on her contract. Amalia steps in, but the girl says she's got this, and sets the men on fire. Then she sets the area around her on fire. She is completely out of control, the fire is spreading, and Amalia has no idea what to do when suddenly, a man shows up and tells her "Hey, put this bracelet on the girl's wrist and it'll all be cool." So she does, and the fire goes out, the girl passes out, and Amalia is suddenly bound to this girl for life. The girl, Zaira, is now Amalia's Falcon, and Amalia is Zaira's Falconer. The Falconer is charged with keeping the Falcon's magical powers under wraps so that she can't use them, with a set of release and binding words. Admittedly, I was pretty grossed out by the whole thing. It's essentially conscription into an army as soon as the "mage mark" shows up, which is usually in early childhood. The Falcon becomes a soldier, bound to the Falconer, and only allowed to leave their special home (which is an island, by the way) when the Falconer lets them, and only when accompanied by them. It feels like slavery. And Zaira is none too happy about being forced into Falconhood when she wakes up.

Amalia is a pretty wet noodle of a character for a good chunk of the book. It's once we hit the middle point in the book that we see more of a character progression. In the beginning she acts like a teenager with a semi-regal attitude. By the end, she's definitely more regal and interesting. But boy was getting there difficult.

To be honest, I wish this had been told from Zaira's point of view. The political manipulation we get when we hear Amalia's first-person narrative can be pretty boring, and sometimes interesting, but I think Zaira is probably the smarter of the two (at least she has more common sense), and would have made for a more compelling story. As it is, she's practically reduced to a background character. Amalia can go wherever the heck she pleases, while Zaira is at her mercy.

The author did a good job of showing how terrible the whole situation is, especially for Zaira, who never wanted to be caught in the first place. There is a lot of resistance, and even at the end it's not 100% certain as to where Zaira's loyalty lies. The tentative friendship (if you can call it that) at the end of the book is very shaky and seems like it could break at any time. And I'm sure that's where the author was going with it. I just wish I'd had Zaira's side of it all without the cloud of Amalia's judgment.

There is also some instalove, which I called from the first time we meet Lieutenant Verdi (no spoilers here, Amalia's blushing within five minutes of meeting him). I don't quite understand what made him fall for her (or even her fall for him, he's pretty bad at protecting anyone, if you ask me. Frankly, he's a pretty wet noodle himself). He's sweet, and I assume handsome, and of course Amalia is beautiful, and so is Zaira, and so is pretty much every other good character in the book. But I really just wasn't feeling the romance here.

This review is turning out more negative than I expected. OK, let's get to the good!

Like I said up there, I really enjoyed the character progression we saw from Amalia. She grows a spine, grows a personality, and grows into her role in the political battlefield. She learns how to be more covert, she puts her regal-ness to use, and she gets the job done more effectively than I would have expected.

Zaira is also a plus, although she acts pretty much the way I would have anticipated she would. There's really no point in forcing a fire warlock to the battle front if you know she isn't willing to burn shit down. But admittedly, I enjoyed her slight warming to Amalia, even though it's clear Zaira carries all the sense in the relationship.

Once I got to the halfway point, the story started picking up. The twists and turns that the plot took were mostly foreshadowed enough that I could figure out what was going to happen. The only one that surprised me was (view spoiler)[Ignazio (hide spoiler)]. The rest I sort of saw coming. That didn't mean they weren't good, because it really was a very convoluted plot, and I wasn't quite sure where the author was going to take it.

Prince Ruven felt like a tropey evil witchlord, full of all the venom, malice, and plain sociopathy you'd expect from a villain. I know that in book 2, Raverra is trying to deal with a threat from Ruven's country, but I couldn't quite figure out how he was connected with the plot that was the main thread. Maybe he wasn't actually connected in the true sense of what was going on, but only in the fact that his presence could help sew discord, which would in turn help fuel the war he wants with Raverra/the Empire. I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out.

Overall this was a good read. It took a while to get going for me. I wasn't thrilled with Amalia as a main character, but I admit that she did go through a great transformation by the end. I think there was some pretty strong writing, although getting a sense of place and time was a little difficult. I enjoyed it as a fantasy, but wish there had been a little more explanation of the magic system and how it worked. A little bit of extra worldbuilding would not have been amiss either, although at almost 500 pages, it was already running a little heavy. I really love long books and love that this wasn't split into two (YA fantasy has really ruined the art of the long novel, TBH) just to cater to short attention spans. And I'm glad that I didn't cave in to my short attention span and abandon the read. Pick it up, check it out, and see if it's for you.

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Review: The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

The Girl in the Tower: A Novel by Katherine Arden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

Much like The Bear and the Nightingale, this book was masterfully written, full of atmosphere, and absolutely enchanting. Once the story gets on its feet, it moves along at such a rapid pace I hardly realized how quickly I was blazing right through it.

Vasya has left her home after the deaths of her father and stepmother, and gone off into the wilderness in the dead of winter. Morozko is always nearby, although not necessarily to help her (even though he does provide help in several ways throughout the story). Sometimes he felt almost too present, there at her greatest need, although I imagine he would be anyway. Vasya is off on an adventure, and unexpectedly, her path crosses with her brother Sasha's, who had left in the first book to become a monk. He is now an advisor to the Grand Prince Dmitrii, a warrior monk, and is forced to lie to everyone about his sister Vasya, who has been pretending to be a man.

While I was immediately drawn back into the world of Rus', I admit I did not get fully absorbed into the book until part two, where we really get into the meat of how Vasya came to be in the same place as Sasha at the same time. She has rescued three girls, who had been stolen by raiders, and brought them to sanctuary. Sasha and Dmitrii have been out hunting these raiders, and Vasya, riding in as a man, is the only one who knows where they were hiding. Fooling just about everyone as to her gender, she manages to get into the prince's good graces, and leads the party where they want to go. I won't spoil from here, but it is pretty much non-stop action, plot and fantastic storytelling from here on out.

There are new characters, who must have a careful eye kept on them lest they surprise you (admittedly I wasn't sure about one character, but I was not completely taken aback when my initial instinct was proved right). And there is also the return of my most despised character from the last book, Konstantin. That damnable priest is up to no good, and while I wasn't surprised by his arc, I was admittedly still feeling those same feelings of disgust I got the last time around.

If you loved book 1, you will love book 2. I am now going to eagerly camp myself out on this author's page and wait for book 3...

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Review: The Overneath by Peter S. Beagle

The Overneath by Peter S. Beagle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

Peter Beagle has been a favorite of mine since childhood. Admittedly, I didn't know much about him outside of The Last Unicorn until I was in my late teens. Which is a very sad sad thing. I know I had several of his books hanging around my house, but can't remember if I read them or when. (Remind me to go find them and read them, just to be safe!)

The Overneath is a collection of short stories, some of which were published elsewhere, and some of which are new. I believe both Schmendrick (!!!) stories are new, and they both made my heart skip a few beats. Reading about his life before he met the unicorn was magical! It was like a completely new depth brought to a character I've loved for years. (Peter, please write more Schmendrick! And Molly Grue! And Lir, oh bring Lir back...Yes I know he's gone...but I always want more. The Last Unicorn is one of my absolute favorite books.)

The other stories were very different from the others of his that I've read (although I can't say I've read his other short stories, I am really just talking about his books). I enjoyed the title story very much, and the very last one based on the dedication to The Last Unicorn. Both were intriguing. I still want to know what happened to the narrator's friend in The Overneath, and more more more.

Peter Beagle has always had a way of making me just want more. Can you tell?

I highly recommend this collection. His short stories are just as magical as his novels and novellas. There is so much atmosphere, such great character development in such short spaces. The stories are interesting (except that troll one - that one kind of left a bad taste in my mouth). And the unicorns! Okay, I think there was only one unicorn. But that's all right. The fantasy was there, the mood, the magic and the wonder of it all. Read this if you are a fan. Even if you're not a fan, give it a shot. You never know what you might find...

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Now as an aside - I did notice at least one review on Goodreads where the reviewer had received an e-mail from Tachyon Publications claiming that Connor Cochran, Beagle's manager, actually co-wrote many of Beagle's books and short stories, and requesting that he be credited in all reviews going forward (and previous reviews be edited as well).  Included on that list was In Calabria, which I have read.  I don't remember most of the titles from The Overneath, but there may have been one or two in there that Cochran claims he helped to write.  I have also read just about everything I could find on the internet about the dueling lawsuits between Cochran and Beagle, and frankly, what I've read has broken my heart.  Until a decision is made by an actual judge on whether Cochran is committing elder abuse, or Beagle is not the sole "author" of these works, I will not edit any reviews, nor will I acknowledge Cochran's contribution.

I'm back!

Well hello there everyone!  It's been a long two-and-a-half years and a lot has happened since I stopped posting.  I had a baby, who is now a two-year-old (as of next Sunday), and ... well I had a baby.  Which is a lot!  She takes up a lot of my energy and time, but I am still finding time to read when I can.  So I figured I'd start back up with the posting.  For now it will be mostly reviews.  But if I do manage to get any author interviews, those will go up too!  Who knows, maybe eventually I'll clean out my bookcases and do some giveaways (you know, when pigs fly because I have no energy).

So keep your eyes peeled on this page!  I'm not really sure what's going to show up, so maybe you'll be surprised.☺