Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
I tried. This book was bonkers (not in a good way) and I started getting bored but pushed through to finish it last night and reward myself with Great British Bake Off. I don’t know what to say except that sometimes too much magical realism can ruin a story. I couldn’t follow a lot of what was going on and then just gave up and kept hoping that things made more sense as I went along. They did not. I think the shifting timelines didn’t […]
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Wow. I don’t have much to say except that I really enjoyed this book from beginning to end. I have never read a book by Eowyn Ivey before and will definitely seek out more works. This book really made me want to crawl out into the woods under a starry sky in the middle of winter and just take a deep breath and let it just roll over me. I thought the character development of Jack and Mabel really worked. Also loved how Ivey dealt […]
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
When I first started reading this, I was a bit worried that it felt derivative of other YA novels. While it was a very different set up, something initially reminded me of Marie Lu’s Legend, though it quickly became its own separate thing. I think it may have been that both alternate between the voice of a young woman and a young man, and in both, the woman has an older brother. Both also deal with resistance fighters and an established empire, though the gender […]
Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
Friends With Boys is more a three and half as something was missing for me. It also feels like a second book should happen but has not. I know the author/illustrator, Faith Erin Hicks, is no stranger to series (I have the Nameless City series on my TBR list) therefore, it might not be unheard of. Yet, at the same time, this is a standalone title. There is an open-ended completion to the story. And because of that, a second read is recommended. I know […]
Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin
I loved Game of Thrones from its very first episode. I was as shocked as any non-reader of the series at its Psycho-like twist in its penultimate first season episode. As soon as I could I grabbed a copy of the first novel. I read the rest and watched the series rush to its inevitable conclusion. I wasn’t as put off as some folks by plot turns that I felt I had seen coming, or at least had been hinted at as very possible outcomes. […]
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Last Bingo: Reader’s Choice to cover “Two Heads are Better than One” I’ve been seeing Gideon The Ninth hyped all over social media for months, and it sounded really cool and interesting. To cite the blurb across the front cover: “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!” This is actually a largely accurate description of the premise: the immortal Emperor sends out a message to the nobles (ie- necromancers) of each of the 9 Houses in this universe to send their strongest necromancer-heir […]
