Empire of Flame and Thorns by Marion Blackwood

TL;DR: More of the same tropes and a cliffhanger ending with no satisfaction. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: Silver haired fae girl enters trials to get freedom, black haired broody man gets horny. Characters: I can’t say much for them because honestly there wasn’t much too them. Setting: Felt very much like every... Continue Reading →

Kill All Wizards (The Barbaric Ledgers #1) by Jedediah Berry

TL;DR: This felt like Conan had an acid trip in a wizard city. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: Gotch is trying to avenge his brother in a city run by wizards, the weird follows Characters: Gotch was our best character, but I really liked the variety we were introduced to Setting: This city... Continue Reading →

March’s End by Daniel Polansky

TL;DR: An ambitious mix of Narnia, The NeverEnding Story, and really any contemporary story. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: A family balances normal life and struggles with ruling a fantasy world. Characters: There are SO many here, even for me there were probably too many. Setting: I loved the idea of the March,... Continue Reading →

Once Upon You and Me by Timothy Janovsky

TL;DR: Maybe not for me, very quick burn with shallow feeling characters. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: A young assistant falls for his boss’s ex-husband. It goes about as well as you expect. Characters: They felt very bland and honestly seemed to exist to check some boxes, which made me very uncomfortable. Setting:... Continue Reading →

A Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed

TL;DR: A great debut about a generation ship and the weight and division of language. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: Pacing was a bit rough, but overall a fascinating plot setup for a series. Characters: I really liked all of the characters we got here. Setting: The ship felt really real. It wasn’t... Continue Reading →

Love Galaxy by Sierra Branham

TL;DR: Pacing was all over the place, with a lot of flaws. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: A dating show to choose the next Emperor’s spouse, what could go wrong? Characters: Ugh. Our MC is entirely incompetent and our love interest is grossly toxic. Setting: I didn’t get much from the setting. Sci-fi:... Continue Reading →

Cruel is the Light by Sophie Clark

TL;DR: This one tried for edgy romantasy and flopped a bit. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: A master exorcist and foot solider… have no chemistry. Characters: No thank you, I didn’t love them. Nope. Setting: There was some effort at worldbuilding but I don’t think it’s well done. Romantasy: This was… not it.... Continue Reading →

The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten

TL;DR: A deeply disappointing sequel. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: Immediately after book one, and we quickly find out nothing was free will? Characters: For such fierce characters in book one these three felt so drab and dull. Setting: The city just sat there. It felt like a prop. Other parts of the... Continue Reading →

Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison

TL;DR: An interesting thought experiment Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: A goverment faction clones our founding fathers, what could go wrong? Characters: These weren’t really the important part, it was more the idea. Setting: Again, not important. SciFi: We didn’t get much of that either? Summary: The trouble starts when a curious young... Continue Reading →

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