Upon finishing this book, my first thought was: Thank god, it’s finally over. This book was exhausting. I really should have DNFed it and I don’t know why I didn’t. I guess because the concept was cool and the ratings were so high, that I kept hoping it would get better? I am saltier than the entire fucking ocean right now. The ratings for this book on Goodreads are insane. Only three percent of them are below 3 stars. What the […]
I’m not gonna lie, this started slow. I was pretty bored in the beginning, and the multiple POVs – five of them – were making it worse. I outright hated Jude’s chapters, and didn’t care a whole lot about Laskia’s either. 5 points of view were overwhelming, and in the beginning felt a bit unnecessary. However, right around the 30% mark, things finally picked up. And from that point on, I was hooked! The action was almost non-stop from that point up until […]
“Three magics to be feared: curses born of the wrath of gods, poisons that turn soil to ash, and that which leaves one dark of heart and silver in the bone.” I got this ARC at YALLfest last November, to my utter delight! It was one of my most anticipated 2023 releases, and one of the ARCs I wanted to get my hands on the most at the festival. To be honest though? I wasn’t sure how this one would […]
I am SO. SAD. that I didn’t love this one. I adored Gilded Ones, and the sequel was a highly anticipated release. However, it had a raging case of Second Book Syndrome and left me feeling extremely disappointed. I never really got into the story or the world like I did in the first book (and both of those aspects were fantastic in the first book) and felt pretty disconnected overall. It didn’t leave much of an impression on me. […]
I absolutely did not expect to love this book as much as I did!! The hype for it is so well deserved! I went in with little to no expectations – I hadn’t heard much about this one, I just knew that it had quite high ratings and a “curmudgeonly professor.” I enjoyed Even the Darkest Stars, and liked the narrator based on the Audible sample, so I used a credit to get the audiobook. And I’m so glad I […]
This book was awesome! I got an ARC at YALLfest, and honestly I was just in it for the cover and the fact that it’s Asian fantasy. For some reason I was afraid I wouldn’t like it, even though I haven’t read anything else by Zhao. I went in with little to no expectations, and the result? I was blown away! First of all, it’s been a long time since I’ve read a book so cinematic! In the opening scenes […]