This post starts with the elevant in the room, a book so long tha tthe audiobook lasts, at normal speed for a full 2 and a half days. Yes, I mean Wind and Truth.
I chose specifically to pick up this book first to start 2025. I have come a long way as a Sanderson fan having finally reached the point of having to wait for a Stormlight Archive book release. Honestly, I was really nervous to pick up the book because I have invested so much in this entire universe that Sanderson has created and because as I waited to start reading, I started to hear criticisms. In hindsight, and judging by
ratings and reviews, those negative opinions are just loud. They are also not shared by me. I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK. I loved the complexities, many of which I still do not understand. I loved the care that Sanderson took in building and balancing all of the narrative arcs and character development. As an avid Adolin stan, I could not get enough of his storyline. That ending though? I cannot say that I loved it because of how long we have to wait for actual resolution in the next books. Why did any of us think that we were actually going to get a complete resolution when the whole second half of the series remains?
As opposed to Wind and Truth, this audiobook took me only a day to read. My brain needed a break and this cozy mystery with the most lovable and a bit screwy in the best way possible characters fit was just what I needed. I find the most enjoyment in Richard Osman’s books with the characters. The mysteries and some of the actions of the characters are a bit absurd but I do not mind at all. It’s a fun time and I loved it.
This was a short, adorable, little novella that I probably should have read between books one and two rather than books two and three even though I think that’s when it was published originally. The plot is low stakes since the reader knows that the two side characters who act as main characters in this novella end up together. Zuzana is such an adorable, quirky character showing a little bit of her lovable side here. I enjoyed this short
dip back into this world before the sure to be intense conclusion to the trilogy.
While this book worked quite a bit better for me than A Study in Drowning, it still lacked just a bit in the storytelling. As the title makes clear, this book retells and transforms the story of one of Shakespeare’s most well known female characters. In most portrayals of the Scottish play, Lady Macbeth – without a name of her own – willingly colludes with her husband in his treachery. Reid twists this by setting the events of the story shortly after
their arranged marriage, making Macbeth a sex-crazed brute hungry for power (not that much of a change from the original there), placing Lady Macbeth in the position of domestic abuse victim, and giving her another love interest who has a curse of his own. (I forgot to mention that she supposedly has a curse of her own which manifests in the ability to compel men with her eyes, supposedly. Reid kept me interested in the plot for most of the story, including many of the familiar plot beats from the original play while extending the time frame in which they occur, better to fit in the other events she added to the narrative. Unfortunately, the ending, in my opinion, deviated too far from the original and left me feeling unsatisfied with where the story ultimately ended. I will try other works from Reid in the future but will skip any book box subscription that chooses a future book of hers, choosing instead to make use of my local library instead.
This book took me by surprise. I did not know what to expect and that, combined with my internalized opinion of the cover, set my expectations lower. I ended up really enjoying this book which had far more complex world-building that I normally expect from YA fantasy. I love that because a younger age does not mean an author can get away with lazy world-building and Tan definitely put the work in. This narrative
alternates primarily between two POVs, Rui, a girl training to become an exorcist to avenge her mother’s death and Yiran, the bastard grandson of a powerful exorcist family who has no magic of his own. Their lives become inextricably linked when a spell somehow takes Rui’s magic and gives it to Yiran, something that should not be possible. This plot line I would expect from a YA fantasy novel; Tan takes it so much deeper which is where the third POV, Nikai, comes in. Nikai serves one of the kings of hell who went missing 18 years ago. Of course, this is connected to Rui and Yiran as well as Rui’s friend and love interest, Zizi. I will definitely pick up the sequel/conclusion to the duology.
I do not know if I have ever read a short story collection before. For someone who has read as much as I have, that might sound surprising. I simply have never found myself drawn to them. I chose this one from Book of the Month, primarily because of what was said about the author who died tragically at the age of 22 having never seen any of these stories published. I also saw it as an opportunity to potentially expand my reading
taste. I will keep trying though because this collection, unfortunately, was not a massive hit for me. For most of the stories, I found myself engaged in the narrative only to be left a few pages later at the abrupt end, like the reader opened the door to the house, watched for a little while and then closed it without any resolution. Additionally, I did not understand the second to last story at all which was written in a completely different style to all of the rest of the stories in the collection. I do not regret reading this collection though, especially since it gave me a taste of the genre.
My library loan came in sooner than I expected so I went ahead and read the book even though wasn’t yet on my TBR. I continue to enjoy this story and now have a comparison in the middle grade fantasy graphic novel series “genre.” (I will discuss that comparison in a separate post where I will review all the graphic novels that I read during the school day while my students read.) Every installment in this series so far
advances the overall macro-plot while also building out this world and including one off side characters that help Suri (and her companions) develop further. I also love how Rioux keeps the caitsiths so close and yet so far behind.
This book, this whole series, has such a massive scope, yet Fonda Lee navigates the world, the politics, and the massive cast of characters in such a way that kept me highly invested in this world and this family. I never thought that a generational mafia urban fantasy story would hook me so well but this one definitely did. Lee is definitely not afraid to “kill [her] darlings” as the proverbial phrase goes. Obviously, I cannot say much if
anything about the plot since this is book two but I will say that I found the moves that Lee made in this book an intricate masterpiece. The plot moves slowly but deliberately. I am so nervous about the finale though thankful that I have to wait only as long as I want to since I already own it.
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