Nov, 16 - Falling into Fantastical Worlds
It's kind of weird to say this, but this month just largely hasn't been a reading month, which has made posting blog posts a bit tricky. I think this week was the first week all month where I actually had a good number of books to post, so here we are, back again for another exploration. I was apparently in the mood for fantasy this week, so all the books below feature fantastical worlds of one sort or another.
I'm still figuring out how to review long series since I don't often have lots of new things to say as the books progress other than "Yup, still like it," and it gets harder and harder to review the books without providing spoilers even just by posting the synopsis for the previous books. That means that even though I listened to and thoroughly enjoyed two more books in the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell, I didn't include the review to them here. Maybe someday I'll circle back and review the series as a whole or something? We'll see what happens when I get to that point.
In the meantime, here's a review for a book from a series where I have had different things to say for each book, so it feels less strange to continue writing reviews for it:
Author: Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Genres: Romantasy, Adult
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Review Type: I was curious
Place in Series: Book 3
Series Type: Ongoing
My Tags: fantasy-series
Synopsis
Since this is book three of the series, I'm going to avoid accidental spoilers by not posting the synopsis here. You can find it on the book's GoodReads or StoryGraph page if you want to read it for yourself.
My Review:
I did not give a very high rating to the first book in this series. The worldbuilding felt nonsensical, the characters felt inconsistent, and the writing drove me a bit crazy at times. I wouldn't have finished the series if I hadn't known other people who were going to read the second book and discussing the second book with them sounded like fun. To my delight, the second book was much more coherent and the characters were significantly more cohesive. Some of the nonsense from the first book started to make more sense, and the unhinged elements from the first book mellowed into something fun and quirky. I finished the book hopeful that the third book would continue that upward trend.
To my delight, it did. The characters are even more coherent, the worldbuilding makes even more sense, and the quirkiness compliments the storytelling and adds a delightful depth to the story. The one thing that I didn't appreciate (but expected given the direction the other books were going) was the inclusion of an open-door sex scene. I'm actively looking forward to the release of the next book so I can continue exploring this delightful world.
I'd recommend this book for: People who want a fun, quirky romantasy with morally grey lines and don't mind the mild sexual content that comes with the genre.
Find this book on StoryGraph and GoodReads!
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Author: Bart Carroll
Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adult
Review Type: BookSirens ARC
Star Rating: 4.5 Stars!
My Tags: Standalone-fantasy, sci-fi-dystopian, booksirens-arc
Synopsis:
A panel of the artificial sky has fallen; a market town below suddenly destroyed. And while everyone on the Emerald—this small garden world of Shattered Earth—wishes to celebrate Yuletide, nobody knows if their entire sky is now about to fail.
Saint Alexandra, devout judge-errant, has been deployed to investigate. Find the true cause, and she’ll keep the lives of her people safe, including that of her custodial squire.
Scrounger, disgraced former commander, has been assigned to salvage the ruined town. While secretly looting instead, he discovers three of its boys are still missing. Find them, and he may be able to restore some semblance of lost honor.
My Review:
I get curious easily when it comes to books. I see unusual covers, strange blurbs, and unknown authors and I think, "I bet this is a hidden gem." Sometimes I'm right. Other times my friends deal with the consequences of my curiosity by being subjected to hours-long rants about everything that frustrated or annoyed me in the story. This book was one of my curiosity-induced ARC requests, and I went in basically blind. I was immediately captivated as I followed the story. I don't want to say too much about what captivated and held me because frankly a big part of the reason that I personally enjoyed the story so much was because I went in blind. Every twist and turn was unexpected, and I loved it. There were some truly masterful moments in the story, and it's one I'd be interested to read again and see how some of those moments were set up now that I'm comfortable in the world and the story.
If you do pick this book up, do be warned. The world it portrays isn't quite grimdark, but it does get grim and dark at times with violence and death both normal aspects of life. At times, it was on the edge of what I normally tolerate and appreciate, but I also have a pretty low tolerance and so people more comfortable with grimdark literature probably won't find this as grim or dark as they're used to.
I received an advance review copy from BookSirens for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I'd recommend this book for: People who want a mind-bending genre-breaking read that tackles complex characters and worldbuilding.
Find this book on StoryGraph and GoodReads!
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Author: Rachelle Nelson
Genres: YA fantasy, Retelling, Christian Fantasy
Star Rating: 3.75 Stars
Review Type: I was curious
My Tags: fairy-tale, standalone-fantasy
Synopsis
Gilde has spent her life isolated in the wild marshlands, a place too wet for the dragon to go. She’s safe there, according to her father. So why is he asking her to leave with him now that she has come of age? There is more to Gilde’s family than she knows, and debts need to be paid.
Betrayed and shattered, she wakes in a crumbling mountain castle with the beast of her nightmares. Except this dragon speaks like a man and reads books. His kindness confuses her and opens a forgotten longing in her heart, all while Gilde plans her escape from a mountain full of secrets.
This place can unveil her past and why she was sacrificed to the beast—truths that may put both their lives in danger if they can’t learn to trust each other. But how can Gilde ever trust again? Especially after she discovers what dragons truly are.
My Review:
I love Beauty and the Beast retellings, and so the blurb for this one caught my eye while I was browsing books at my local library. I'd never heard of it before, but I figured I'd give it a try. On the whole, I enjoyed it. It was a new take on Beauty and the Beast, and I enjoyed the way the worldbuilding both echoed old fairy tales and also put its own spin on familiar concepts. I think this would be an interesting world to explore further, and I'm curious now about other books this author has written.
That being said, there were two main things that detracted from the story for me. First, the romance felt rushed. I've been realizing recently that I've called the romance rushed for most standalone books that I've read, so maybe I just have a problem with standalone romances? Whatever the reason, I had a hard time believing the chemistry in this book and understanding why the relationship between the two changed as quickly as it did. Second, there were times when the prose rubbed me a bit the wrong way. It wasn't ever severe enough that I got pulled out of the story, but there were times when it made it a bit harder to get fully immersed when I picked the book up again.
I'd recommend this book for: people who want a new take on the Beauty and the Beast story and don't mind suspending their disbelief a bit.
Find this book on StoryGraph and GoodReads!
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