Book #9 of 2022: Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong (These Violent Delights #2) I was on the fence between a three-star and four-star rating for the first volume of this YA duology, and since I rounded up then, I suppose I’ll go with the lower score for this sequel, which I haven’t enjoyed quite …
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Book #7 of 2022: A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (The Last Binding #1) An utterly charming gay adult fantasy from debut author Freya Marske. Set in Edwardian England, the story follows a young baronet appointed to a seemingly meaningless civil service role, only to discover that its innocuous title masks a true duty of …
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Book #3 of 2022: The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros I am predisposed to appreciate #ownvoices Jewish fantasy, but even within that slowly blossoming genre, this new historical fiction novel about a gay teen haunted by the dybbuk of his murdered best friend should stand out. The immersive details bring to life the World’s Fair …
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Book #2 of 2022: Tristan Strong Keeps Punching by Kwame Mbalia (Tristan Strong #3) Certain scenes in this final Tristan Strong novel are terrific, but overall I would say that the middle-grade #ownvoices fantasy trilogy has never managed to recapture the magic of its first volume for me. As engaging as it remains to see …
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Book #1 of 2022: The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee (Montague Siblings #3) Although it maintains the feel-good / hopepunk ethos and the commitment to marginalized historical voices of its predecessors, this final Montague Siblings novel never quite gets its hooks into me to the same extent. We’ve jumped forward a …
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Book #375 of 2021: Reave the Just and Other Tales by Stephen R. Donaldson This reread is the final book I’ll finish in 2021, and since that’s a bit of an occasion and author Stephen R. Donaldson is one of my favorites, I decided to review each of the stories in the collection individually. As …
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Book #369 of 2021: Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood The publisher is pitching this novel as an “Ethiopian-inspired… fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre,” which doesn’t quite seem to hit the mark, as the two books really only share a wealthy man named Mr. Rochester whose manor holds dark secrets (and a few isolated …
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Book #366 of 2021: The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White (Camelot Rising #3) The beginning of this YA fantasy trilogy held a frisson of excitement in the way it reinterpreted the familiar Arthurian mythos that its sequels have unfortunately never matched. This final volume furthermore takes a few odd detours, like keeping its protagonist a …
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Book #360 of 2021: This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron (This Poison Heart #1) This YA fantasy novel is a breath of fresh air, especially after I wasn’t entirely sold on author Kalynn Bayron’s previous offering Cinderella Is Dead. The plot is a little slow, but in that hopepunk, Maggie Stiefvater way that focuses on …
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Book #359 of 2021: Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim (Six Crimson Cranes #1) This is an #ownvoices East Asian retelling of the Wild Swans fairy tale, wherein a princess’s brothers are transformed into birds by their wicked stepmother while the girl herself is cursed to be unrecognizable and warned that each new word from …
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