I went to a book event recently where Samantha Shannon talked about how there isn't time for a lot of quiet moments in the main Bone Season series, buI went to a book event recently where Samantha Shannon talked about how there isn't time for a lot of quiet moments in the main Bone Season series, but she felt Paige really needed time to heal after the events of The Song Rising, so she wrote this. I can see what she was doing, and I really enjoyed those healing quiet moments. I don't think the "flashbacks" to the events that were in The Bone Season were really necessary, and quite frankly can't remember if this stuff actually happened previously (even off-page) or if SS is retconning things....more
Feels like a middle book. There's some new settings but we don't get to linger in them, just hop from place to place. Feels like a middle book. There's some new settings but we don't get to linger in them, just hop from place to place. ...more
It's a little ghost hunt story. Fun times, not necessary to reading the rest of the series, but the events herein ARE mentioned in The Mime Order so iIt's a little ghost hunt story. Fun times, not necessary to reading the rest of the series, but the events herein ARE mentioned in The Mime Order so it's good to read this before that one IF YOU WANT TO. Again, reading this is NOT needed to read the rest of the series, you just get a little "Ah, I know what that was!" bit if you do read this one before The Mime Order....more
2025 reading challenge category: A book with a title that is a complete sentence
I thought this started out pretty strong but went off the rails when (2025 reading challenge category: A book with a title that is a complete sentence
I thought this started out pretty strong but went off the rails when (view spoiler)[the ancestor turns out to still be alive and making trouble (hide spoiler)] and really brought it down as a whole. It lost its spooky Gothic vibes at that point and just became a meh story....more
2025 reading challenge category: A book about menopause
Loosely based around the Long Island Serial Killer, though there has been a REAL LIFE ARREST in2025 reading challenge category: A book about menopause
Loosely based around the Long Island Serial Killer, though there has been a REAL LIFE ARREST in a number of those cases since this book came out!!!
Anyway, my local Barnes & Noble recently had a featured table called "Feminine Rage and the Men Who Deserved It" and while I don't think this particular book was on that table, it did belong there. This was a complete banger for me....more
Fun times. The Dark Mirror just released yesterday and it would be FABULOUS if this series could wrap up so I can finish reading it before I'm 40...
AnFun times. The Dark Mirror just released yesterday and it would be FABULOUS if this series could wrap up so I can finish reading it before I'm 40...
Anyway. Greater use of Scion London in this one as well as the Seven Seals themselves. I think there's more Warden in the next one which would be good? I do wish the Unnatural Assembly as a whole had been utilized a bit more....more
It's...not the strongest book. It gets off to a pretty good start but once Elise and Layla are supposed to team up and investigate things, they don't It's...not the strongest book. It gets off to a pretty good start but once Elise and Layla are supposed to team up and investigate things, they don't really do any investigating. They show up to various places under the PRETENSE of investigating...but then they mostly end up leaving those places for various reasons with no investigation having happened. I also didn't understand why Layla didn't just tell the other vampires why she was working with Elise--that Elise's father was going to destroy them if she didn't? She just...never said that and let them all think she was betraying them. Whyyy. Also this book was marketed VERY HEAVILY on time and place--Harlem, during the Harlem Renaissance--but that time and place didn't end up mattering pretty much at all. This could have been set pretty much anywhere during any point in the Prohibition. The pacing goes off the rails in the last part of the book to set it up for a sequel, but quite frankly, it wasn't necessary. This book had enough pages to be a better-developed standalone than it is a setup book, if it had undergone better developmental editing.
I would read something else from Dennings in the future, but I probably won't read the second half of this duology. I'd be more interested to see what she does after this particular story is done....more
Truly excellent. Loved the whole thing, would have read tons more of it! Would pair well as a reading experience with Even Though I Knew the End; bothTruly excellent. Loved the whole thing, would have read tons more of it! Would pair well as a reading experience with Even Though I Knew the End; both are paranormal fantasy stories set in Chicago, and though they're set in different eras, the vibes match really well....more
No indication Roanhorse is considering extending this series, which is too bad, because I really liked it. I loved the addition of Ben as a character No indication Roanhorse is considering extending this series, which is too bad, because I really liked it. I loved the addition of Ben as a character and how Roanhorse incorporated some settings readers might recognize into the story....more
2023 reading challenge category: A book becoming a show or movie in 2023
This book felt like it was coming up to digging into various aspects of this s2023 reading challenge category: A book becoming a show or movie in 2023
This book felt like it was coming up to digging into various aspects of this story a few times, but it never really did. Completely lacking in intersectionality too, which was disappointing. Some of the things Alderman said in the afterword were interesting--about how different artifacts were named, in particular--but overall this wasn't mind-blowing. I wonder how the show is....more
2023 reading challenge category: A book that was self-published
It has been quite a while since I read A Drop of Dream (which had a different title whe2023 reading challenge category: A book that was self-published
It has been quite a while since I read A Drop of Dream (which had a different title when I read it) but it was easy to step back into this world. There are some things that stood out as "wait, what?" from a self-publishing perspective--like a character leaves in one scene and then is mysteriously back and interacting like they never left in another. I'm also not sure that I love the dynamic with Harrod. He wants a relationship with Emma, she's not really interested--which is perfectly fine! But it does feel like she's keeping him "on the hook" so that he's available in case she decides she DOES want a relationship with him later. (The friend zone, as a reminder is not a thing. If Emma just wanted to be friends with Harrod, that would be completely legitimate! But then the waffling at the end of the book while still letting him do all these things for her that it feels like he's doing just because he is interested in her feels kind of icky.) But I love Lenny and Gibble and all of the supportive community Emma has around her. The end of this was lovely and the book as a whole has a cozy paranormal mystery vibe.
However, also worth considering with Hopkins' worldbuilding is this Tor article () which digs into the question of witches (or, in Hopkins' case, half-Talented people) being an embattled minority and stand-in for racial tensions in books that are overwhelmingly white. This doesn't mean this is a BAD series! I will read the next one. But with the way Hopkins has very specifically structured her world as one where Emma and people like her don't really have rights while acting like they are the only ones facing these issues, makes this something to think on while reading....more
2024 reading challenge category: A book with 24 letters in the title
I liked this but didn't love it. I don't think it's the age thing; there have been2024 reading challenge category: A book with 24 letters in the title
I liked this but didn't love it. I don't think it's the age thing; there have been other middle-grade books I've enjoyed a lot more even as an adult. I just think this particular story didn't really click for me BUT I can think of LOTS of people it would be perfect for, and I think Alston did a great job with how the plot unfolds in the last 1/3 of the book....more
I know a lot of people were disappointed in this one (not as many vampires as anticipated) but I really liked it! It is more of a historical paranormaI know a lot of people were disappointed in this one (not as many vampires as anticipated) but I really liked it! It is more of a historical paranormal romance with vampires than a vampire book with romance in it, for sure. But the vampires are both literal and a metaphor, and I liked that...though if the metaphor hadn't been spelled out quite so explicitly it would have had a lot more elegance....more
I LOVED this. I would read a million books like this. It does feel like two very distinct halves but I loved them both equally. I loved the family dynI LOVED this. I would read a million books like this. It does feel like two very distinct halves but I loved them both equally. I loved the family dynamics, I loved Luc, I loved the exploration of grief, and I absolutely loved the ending....more
Was this supposed to be a horror book? Fantasy? I'm not quite sure. Either way, I liked the sense of place here--90s Mexico City specifically in the fWas this supposed to be a horror book? Fantasy? I'm not quite sure. Either way, I liked the sense of place here--90s Mexico City specifically in the film production scene--and the main characters, and the premise is cool. But this book is way too long. The story could have got going a lot faster, and the pacing felt all over the place as a whole....more
I can see why people who like Dresden Files like this series. As someone who did NOT like Dresden Files, I also found this way too male-gazey for my tI can see why people who like Dresden Files like this series. As someone who did NOT like Dresden Files, I also found this way too male-gazey for my taste, despite what I think was a cool worldbuilding premise. The female characters actually are written pretty well on their own, but there was only so much of the MC imagining burying his face in their boobs that I could take. Pass....more
I had some suspicions about this book fairly early on and was right on all counts, but it was still a cool read. Very atmospheric, with a traditional I had some suspicions about this book fairly early on and was right on all counts, but it was still a cool read. Very atmospheric, with a traditional complete lack of adult interference in the affairs of teenagers. Like, literally every adult in town packs up and leaves three teenagers to fend for themselves in the middle of a hurricane. Lol what? But ignore the "missing adults" trope and this is a great read....more
2023 reading challenge category: A book featuring two languages (English and Spanish)
I saw the ending of this coming, but I was a bit disappointed tha2023 reading challenge category: A book featuring two languages (English and Spanish)
I saw the ending of this coming, but I was a bit disappointed that (view spoiler)[the only other "black sheep" in the family ended up being the villain (hide spoiler)]. Anyway, this is a really different YA paranormal fantasy novel and I liked it a lot overall....more
2023 reading challenge category: A book with a pet character
This is a fun book, though it deals with some heavy topics. I loved Kirby the ghost dog, t2023 reading challenge category: A book with a pet character
This is a fun book, though it deals with some heavy topics. I loved Kirby the ghost dog, the concept of "home" to repel vampires, etc. But the writing felt very inconsistent; as far as I can tell this is a young adult novel (which tracks with the main character's age) but at times the writing felt very middle-grade instead, reading much younger than at other times....more
2023 reading challenge category: A book with a rabbit on the cover
What can I say? I eat this shit up. That said...I think this could have been a duolo2023 reading challenge category: A book with a rabbit on the cover
What can I say? I eat this shit up. That said...I think this could have been a duology. I'm not sure we really need the third, and Bardugo could have wrapped this all up in two books if she'd moved through them just a bit faster....more
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