Author: thelibraryladiesmn

Book Club Review: “Summer Days and Summer Nights”

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We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. This June we celebrated our 10 year anniversary of book club. So in celebration of that milestone, we are re-visiting authors we read way back in those first few years of our book club. For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

Book: “Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories” by Stephanie Perkins (Ed.)

Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Griffin, May 2016

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Repeat Author: Stephanie Perkins

Book Description: Maybe it’s the long, lazy days, or maybe it’s the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Kate’s Thoughts

WAAAAY back during our first cycle of Book Club get togethers one of our members chose the anthology “My True Love Gave To Me”, which had a bunch of then in demand YA authors writing holiday themed romance short stories. We all generally enjoyed it, with some authors standing out quite a bit. So it was fun when one of our other members picked the summertime follow up “Summer Days and Summer Nights”, harkening not only to a repeat author, but also continuing into the quasi-sequel. And much like the previous book in the series, I had some authors who really stood out this time, while others kind of fell back to the wayside.

Unsurprisingly it was the works by Leigh Bardugo, Libba Bray, and Brandy Colbert that I enjoyed most, as I do like those authors in general and I liked their own interpretations of a summer romance short story prompt. You have some fantasy bittersweetness from Bardugo’s “Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail”, you had some horror humor from Bray’s “Last Stand at the Cinegore”, and you had some genuine teenage love story and ache from Colbert’s “Good Luck and Farewell”, and they ran such tonal gamuts and yet completely fit into the prompt it was charming as hell to see. That said, many of the other stories in this anthology were hit or miss for me, some being enjoyable, others just falling flat. Which is probably just due to the fact that romance isn’t really my thing unless it meets certain parameters. Also something to note is this book came out in 2016, and it’s kind of a fun snapshot into which YA authors were being approached with these kinds of ‘let’s cover a broad range of in demand voices’ anthologies.

Overall, it was a perfectly fine summer read for our Book Club, with some strong stand outs from authors who have maintained their popularity over the years. If you want to cling to summer for one last hurrah, this could be a good fit!

Serena’s Thoughts

As readers of this blog know, neither Kate or I read tons of short story collections. I’m perhaps more on the record for usually actively avoiding them. And yet, somehow this is the first of THREE short story collections that I am reading and reviewing this month! You’ll see two back-to-back short story reviews coming from me next week. I had some control obviously over those, but it’s just fate that the bookclub book also fell in this rare category!

And I agree with much of what Kate said. For me, this collection really lived and died on the strength of the individual authors of each story. And, like Kate, I found myself naturally gravitating towards the authors I enjoyed outside of short story collections. I, too, very much enjoyed the Leigh Bardugo story, as it neatly highlighted so many of the strengths of her writing: bittersweet fantasy stories, complex characters, and beautiful turns of phrase.

I also really enjoyed Veronica Roth’s entry. Like so many of her books, her story was incredibly unique, pushing the boundaries of fantasy and science fiction in new and fresh ways. My one critique of this story is that as much as I love a happy ending, I do think this is a case where Roth was held back by the prompt of a love story collection which required happy-ever-after endings. From my experience, Roth has zero qualms about ending her books in tears, and I think this short story would have actually been stronger had it been allowed to be a bit darker towards the end.

There were also a number of authors who had fallen completely off my radar! Libba Bray being one of them! I read and reviewed her YA fantasy trilogy on the blog years ago, but as I hated (HATED) the way that trilogy ended, she’d fallen completely off my list of authors to follow. I did enjoy this story from her, however.

All this said, as a whole, I did struggle with this book. Other than the few stories I’ve mentioned here, I didn’t connect with many of the tales in this book. I’m not really the target audience for many of them, and obviously, I have my own personal hang-ups with short story collections. When your go-to read is epic fantasies that often come in around 55o pages, you really do struggle with the entire concept of a short story. But even putting that aside, I do think that a large chunk of these stories fell solidly in the “just ok” category. Many of them weren’t offering much new to readers and some of them employed “neat little stylistic tricks” that were frankly just annoying. If you’re a love of short stories and romance (and maybe check out the author list ahead of time to see how many of them you already enjoy), you may like this one.

Kate’s Rating 6: The stories I liked I REALLY liked, the others were pretty hit or miss bordering on meh.

Serena’s Rating 6: A few stands outs weren’t enough to save this reading experience for me, unfortunately. But fans of the individual authors involved may want to page through it and selectively read those stories!

Book Club Questions

  1. Did you have a story in this collection that you connected with the most? What about the least?
  2. Were there any authors in this collection that you were unfamiliar with before you picked it up? If so, did you discover any new authors you definitely want to read more from?
  3. In terms of authors you did know from this collection, did any of them surprise you with what they put forth as their story?
  4. Were there any stories in this collection that you would like to read more of, perhaps in a series of short stories or in novel form?
  5. This collection came out in 2016 with popular YA authors from that period making up the story set. If they were going to do another collection like this with present day popular Young Adult authors, who do you think would be part of that collection?

Reader’s Advisory

“Summer Days and Summer Nights” is included on the Goodreads lists “Summer Themed YA”, and “YA Anthologies”.

Next Book Club Pick: “Attachments” by Rainbow Rowell

Serena’s Review: “The Games Gods Play”

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Book: “The Games Gods Play” by Abigail Owen

Publishing Info: Entangled: Red Tower Books, September 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publicist!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: The gods love to toy with us mere mortals. And every hundred years, we let them…

I have never been favored by the gods. Far from it, thanks to Zeus.

Living as a cursed office clerk for the Order of Thieves, I just keep my head down and hope the capricious beings who rule from Olympus won’t notice me. Not an easy feat, given San Francisco is Zeus’ patron city, but I make do. I survive. Until the night I tangle with a different god.

The worst god. Hades.

For the first time ever, the ruthless, mercurial King of the Underworld has entered the Crucible—the deadly contest the gods hold to determine a new ruler to sit on the throne of Olympus. But instead of fighting their own battles, the gods name mortals to compete in their stead.

So why in the Underworld did Hades choose me—a sarcastic nobody with a curse on her shoulders—as his champion? And why does my heart trip every time he says I’m his?

I don’t know if I’m a pawn, bait, or something else entirely to this dangerously tempting god. How can I, when he has more secrets than stars in the sky?

Because Hades is playing by his own rules…and Death will win at any cost.

Review: I’d had my eyes on this one for a bit before the publicist reached out about a potential review. While Kate has been reviewing “Lore Olympus” on the blog, I, too, have been reading and loving the series! And this book sounded very much like the same sort of story but in novel format. Plus, a few years ago I read and enjoyed a YA fantasy title by this author, so I felt fairly confident that she could pull it off. And boy was I right!

There’s so much to like about this one that it’s hard to know where to start. I guess I will begin with a note that while we’ve seen many trends come and go within the fantasy genre, I have to guess that the influence of “The Hunger Games” with its deadly competition has to be the most long-lasting. Since that series came out, has there been a point in fantasy publishing where this theme isn’t consistently showing up? Not that I can think of! That being the case, it’s definitely a packed field, making it more and more difficult for authors to make their take on the topic feel fresh. So credit where credit is due, Owens does a fantastic job of breathing new life to a very tried-and-true formula.

While many aspects of the fantasy competition is familiar (the one competitor who is overly vicious, the magical abilities/gifts that can give a competitor a leg up, the teaming up of various parties to make their way through), the most important part is the creativity behind the tasks themselves. And that’s where this book really shines. We see a decent number of these events, and all of them felt new and exciting. There was a lot of variety between them and the forms of danger and challenge they presented were all interesting. If anything, I wish we had seen even more of these events!

My likening it to “Lore Olympus” was also more on point that I had even suspected. Tonally, the two felt very familiar: funny, romantic, and full of heart. While the love story itself was obviously the focus, I also enjoyed the strong friendships that were explored and established throughout the story. And Lyra is a fantastic lead character around whom to build all of these various relationships. She’s brave, caring, and empathetic to the situations of those around her, even while many of them treat her terribly. And, of course, the dynamic and chemistry built up between her and Hades was perfection.

I don’t want to go into spoilers, as there are a few major twists and turns towards the end of the book, but I also really appreciated the way Owens dealt with the lore of the Greek pantheon. It’s the kind of book where readers are rewarded with little winks and nudges here and there depending on their level of previous knowledge of the famous myths. But at the same time, none of these Easter egg moments are crucial, and the book is equally approachable to readers who may know less going in. I also very much liked the way Persephone’s story was dealt with, which was my major concern when I read the description of this book.

I did have a few stumbling points in my reading experience, however. First and foremost, I failed to truly understand Lyra’s curse on two fronts: both how it worked and why it was necessary to the plot. To the first point, we are told that the curse disallows people to “care” about her. Specifically, this isn’t limited to romantic love. However, as the story progresses, again and again we see characters form connections to her, some so deeply that they are willing to risk their lives to help her. If that’s not “caring,” I don’t know what is! I was honestly expecting a late-game twist where Lyra had misunderstood her curse the entire time and it either never existed in the first place or meant something completely different. However, we didn’t get that. And, in the end, we didn’t really get anything Honestly, if we just took this aspect of the story out, nothing major would change! If Lyra’s character arc needed to focus on her insecurity forming strong relationships, that could happen without a curse and take away some of these major question marks that were left as it currently stands.

I also did not love the late game conflict introduced into the romance. I feel like I just wrote about this recently, but I wish authors felt more comfortable moving away from this strict plotting structure for romance novels. Especially with romantasy titles that have other plot elements built in already, this late-stage conflict point often feels as if it is thrown in simply to check a box and not as something organic to the story itself. Here, the actual conflict didn’t make much sense. And it made even less sense that Lyra would be able to piece together the already nonsensical logic leaps behind it on her own.

With these minor flaws in mind, I should maybe rate this book an 8. However, I simply had too much fun reading this one to leave it that! I read this one in about two sessions and was having a blast the entire time. There was adventure, romance, and drama. Fair warning, however, it does end on a fairly massive cliffhanger, so readers should be aware of that going in (I’m talking to you, Aunt Mary!).

Rating 9: If you’re wallowing in the loss of “Lore Olympus,” never fear! Abigail Owens is here with a fantastic new take on the Greek gods and everyone’s favorite dark and broody love interest, the God of the Underworld himself!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Games Gods Play” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists, but it should be on Greek Mythology.

Serena’s Review: “Serpent Sea”

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Book: “Serpent Sea” by Maiya Ibrahim

Publishing Info: Delacorte Press, September 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Imani is a magic-wielding warrior sworn to protect her land from the monsters that roam the desert. But an even worse enemy now threatens the Sahir. As the powerful Harrowlanders march south with their greatest weapon—spice magic—Imani knows it’s only a matter of time before their invasion of her land begins . . . and it will be a losing battle for her people.

But Imani also knows that one way to fight magic is with monsters. If she can restore Qayn’s stolen powers, together they can summon a supernatural army to defend the Sahir from the Harrowlanders. Forming an alliance with a djinni king is risky, but Imani will do anything to save her people, even embarking on a dangerous quest beyond the sands to find the magical jewels of Qayn’s lost crown.

As Imani journeys far from home, she will discover monsters that warriors have only heard about in myths . . . monsters that can strike at any moment. Meanwhile, her rival, Taha, has been captured and is on a dangerous mission of his own.

One wrong move could cost them their lives—and everyone they love. But they may find that there is more than meets the eye crossing the Serpent Sea . . . and betrayal cuts deeper than any dagger.

Review: We’re back with another one of those strange reviews where I’m covering a sequel to a book that I read before but didn’t write about here on the blog. But the situation was the same: received an ARC copy from the publisher and enjoyed the first book well enough to want to give the sequel a shot! And here we are! The short and sweet for “The Spice Road” was that I enjoyed it overall, though it did fall into a few of the predictable pitfalls of YA fantasy (a bit too much “telling” vs. “showing” as far as the heroine’s abilities, mostly). Let’s dive into this one!

There was a lot to like about this sequel! For one thing, this is one of those rare circumstances where an additional POV helped the book rather than hurt it (I know I’m in the minority with this general opinion on POVs but I stand by it!). Here, since our main character, Imani, was a bit of a struggle point for me with the first book (we were told she was very badass but got to see very little of this in action), the book was better served by adding an additional POV character. Now with two character arcs to follow, it felt like the reading experience was more balanced and drew attention away from any of the weaker moments in the telling vs. showing metric (which was still a bit of a problem here, unfortunately).

I also really liked the expansion of the world. The first book had a very intriguing world full of monsters, magic, and the many challenges of the Swallowing Sands. But here, in a bit to save their land from an invading force, the characters had to travel out into the wider sea. As such, the story benefitted from an increased feeling of adventure and action as our party set out across the titular Serpent Sea and into foreign lands. The landscape and world-building throughout remained solid and one of the primary points of interest for this series as a whole. Where the author has struggled with some characterization, she excelled in fantasy creation.

The pacing was a bit off at times, falling into the typical mid-book slump that so many stories suffer through. However, again, the interesting world-building and magical creatures did a lot to help carry it through these weaker moments in plot. I also enjoyed the exploration of themes such as colonialism and prejudice. The book didn’t have a ton of new insight to offer in these areas, following a fairly tried and true path taken by many YA fantasy books before it, but it also didn’t shy away from the more brutal aspects of these topics. Particularly, the author wasn’t afraid of allowing her characters to be flawed individuals who still have much to learn.

Overall, this was a good sequel to the first book. While I didn’t review/rate “The Spice Road,” I feel like I would have given it an 8 on our scale. And so, too, that’s where this one falls. It’s not without some flaws with pacing and characterization, but it was still a fun ride full of exciting fantasy elements. Fans of the first book are sure to enjoy this one!

Rating 8: The adventure continues, and with the expansion of the world and the adventures it offers, this one is sure to please fans of the first book!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Serpent Sea” can be found on this Goodreads list: Arabian, Egyptian, and Indian Fantasy.

Kate’s Review: “This World Is Not Yours”

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Book: “This World Is Not Yours” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: This World is Not Yours by USA Today bestseller Kemi Ashing-Giwa is the perfect blend of S.A. Barnes’ space horror and Cassandra Khaw’s beautiful but macabre worlds. An action-packed, inventive novella about a toxic polycule consumed by jealousy and their attempts to survive on a hostile planet.

After fleeing her controlling and murderous family with her fiancée Vinh, Amara embarks on a colonization project, New Belaforme, along with her childhood friend, Jesse. The planet, beautiful and lethal, produces the Gray, a “self-cleaning” mechanism that New Belaforme’s scientists are certain only attacks invasive organisms, consuming them. Humans have been careful to do nothing to call attention to themselves until a rival colony wakes the Gray.

As Amara, Vinh, and Jesse work to carve out a new life together, each is haunted by past betrayals that surface, expounded by the need to survive the rival colony and the planet itself.

There’s more than one way to be eaten alive.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novella!

When “This World Is Not Yours” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa ended up in my inbox, the cover alone caught my attention. I mean dang, look at that cover. The expression on that person’s face! And looking more into the story itself, I was absolutely intrigued by the premise of a space colony with a strange ecosystem, and a ‘toxic polycule’ (we all know that I LOVE that kind of drama). And the phrase ‘There’s more than one way to be eaten alive’? GIVE IT TO ME NOW. Suffice to say, I was going into this novella with some high hopes.

First the highlights. I am always game for a sci-fi/space horror tale that brings up some of the perils of colonialism, especially on an unfamiliar planet with an unfamiliar ecosystem and with mechanisms that aren’t fully understood. This is one of the reasons I loved “Annihilation”, and the Gray and New Belaforme colony really reminded me of that novel in a number of ways. Secondly, the space horror in this book is unrelenting, it builds some good tension, and when the tension breaks it is GORY AS HELL and in the best and most horrifying ways possible. First with the tension bit. There was one moment where someone was literally swimming in The Gray and I am pretty sure I clamped my hand over my mouth because I knew that could NOT be a good idea, but Ashing-Giwa takes her sweet time in pulling out all she can from the suspense. And then when we do finally get a pay off for it, and the tension breaks into a gory, terrifying mess?

It was disgusting and absolutely nasty. Which is exactly what I want from space based body horror. ( source)

All of this was spot on.

That being said, and this is in a lot of ways a ‘me’ issue, I wasn’t as enthralled with the Science Fiction stuff. I am at the point where I need to just tell myself ‘look Kate, even if it’s Space Horror, Sci-Fi isn’t your thing’ and maybe not take it on. And in “This World Is Not Yours” we get a lot of that, with colonies, space intrigue, Science Fiction scenarios involving populations and ecology, and lots of references to tech that kind of made me skim the pages a bit. I will reiterate that these are all things that are to be expected in this genre, and people who like that will probably like how it is done in this. So that negative aspect is probably on me. But along with that I didn’t feel like I really got to know our characters as much as I would have liked, especially Jesse, one of the cornerstones of the polycule that has been forced upon our main characters. I understood his connection to Amara, but the connection to Vinh was more talked about than really demonstrated. I think to buy some of the high stakes moments at the end I needed more from Jesse. I also needed more development of Vinh’s assigned husband Henry, because Amara REALLY hates him and I understood why she would hate him as a jealous wife, but he seemed pretty bland until there were a couple of hail Mary moments of terribleness that felt like they were there to be like SEE THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD HATE HIM that didn’t feel super earned. On top of that, Amara and Vinh as the couple we are supposed to be rooting for didn’t really click with me. But this could have been solved had we explored them more, and I think that we probably needed more pages to do so.

So all in all “This World Is Not Yours” was a bit mixed for me. The space horror at its peak was fantastic. But it wasn’t as centered as I had hoped it would be.

Rating 6: When the space horror was in full force it was terrifying. But a lack of character development and a little too much Sci-Fi made this not the home run I had hoped for.

Reader’s Advisory:

“This World Is Not Yours” is included on the Goodreads list “Queer Polyamory”.

Serena’s Review: “A Dark and Drowning Tide”

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Book: “A Dark and Drowning Tide” by Allison Saft

Publishing Info: Del Rey, September 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness to secure his reign of the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she’s only ever read about.

The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are her five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again—and a coup begins in earnest.

But there are other dangers lurking in the forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons waiting beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood.

As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for one another—they discover that their professor had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, or if this kingdom is worth saving at all.

Review: Saft has been a “must read” author for me for a bit! While I may have quibbles with certain pacing issues in several of her books, she always delivers with solid characters, sweet romances, and lovely, fairytale-like stories. And that’s more than enough for me! This one even had the extra appeal of tropes like “academic rivals” and “gothic vibes” to add to the mix!

There was so much to enjoy about this book! As predicted, many of these elements felt as if they had been picked out especially for me! I especially enjoyed the focus on folklore and the darker themes found in these tales. Through this lens, Saft deftly explores themes of anti-Semitism, fear, and hatred, all neatly tied to our main character’s own life and experiences. This arc necessarily follows Lorelei’s slow journey to opening up and trusting those around her. This can make her read as a bit closed off when she is first introduced, but I’m also particularly prone to enjoying these sort of stand-off-ish, intellectual type characters, so I was happy to follow her on her journey.

I will say, the book was a bit of a bait and switch. While yes, I did get a focus on the folklore aspects, the story also leaned much more heavily into the realm of murder mystery than I had been anticipating (yes, it’s in the book summary, but I guess I had mentally relegated this more to a subplot, so maybe this is a me issue). As I enjoy mysteries as a genre as well, I was happy to go along with this. However, I do think it might be a bit more of a shift for many fantasy fans than they might have been expecting. And for bigger mystery fans, the actual mystery was a bit predictable at times, with a series of suspects seeming to line up for inspection and be easily dismissed in a tidy order.

One thing that Saft always delivers on is the promise of a great romance, and this one wasn’t any different! This is specific to me, but I appreciate that the fact that she still writes romantic fantasies like this as told from only one POV. While I know other readers like to see in the heads of both members of a romantic pairing, I’ve found too often that authors rely on this trick as a way to avoid showing, rather than telling, how the love story develops. Here we can experience the slow development of this relationship as it would be seen by any individual, without a neat window into the other relationship partner’s head.

Overall, this was a great read, and I very much enjoyed it. However, once again, Saft did seem to struggle a bit with ending of this book. If felt almost abrupt. I appreciate that she didn’t try to tie up every flaw of this world in a neat bow, but the pacing still felt strange. Small quibbles aside, fans of Saft’s other books are sure to enjoy this, as well as any fantasy fans looking for a new romantic fantasy to check out!

Rating 8: Saft deftly explores dark themes of anti-Sematism and hatred while also weaving together a swoon-worthy romance.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Dark and Drowning Tide” can be found on this Goodreads list: Edwardian Fantasy.

Kate’s Review: “The Night Guest”

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Book: “The Night Guest” by Hildur Knútsdóttir & Mary Robinette Kowal (Translator)

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.0rg | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Hildur Knutsdottir’s The Night Guest is an eerie and ensnaring story set in contemporary Reykjavík that’s sure to keep you awake at night.

Iðunn is in yet another doctor’s office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something’s not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven’t revealed any cause.

When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same ― have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps.

Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night . . .

What is happening when she’s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won’t anyone believe her?

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

Earlier this summer I went into the doctor for some weird symptoms that seemed to come out of nowhere. I was experiencing head spinning and elevated heart rate at times, mostly when driving, and I was worried that something was wrong. But after running tests and even putting me on a heart monitor for two weeks, the doctor wasn’t able to find anything out of the ordinary (and the symptoms generally resolved), and I ended up having to basically chalk it up to anxiety (and given that I had a massive anxiety episode a couple months later that was probably the case). But in the moment I was very stressed about symptoms that weren’t really explainable no matter how supportive my provider was (and she was!). So there were some aspects of “The Night Guest” by Hildur Knútsdóttir that were personally very relatable to me, what with the question of medical mysteries and the stress that comes with it. Luckily I can say that the relatability ended there, as this novel was supremely, SUPREMELY, creepy, and just got creepier as it went on.

I loved how weird and creepy this book is. We are following the perspective of Iðunn, a woman living in Reykjavik who has been exhausted and feeling poorly, although her medical tests are coming up without any answers. But after she buys a watch with step counts, and the counts over night are in the tens of thousands in spite of her thinking she’s asleep, the first person POV novella slowly spirals as she becomes more and more incoherent and unhinged. Knútsdóttir really captures a deeply disturbing tone, starting with the already kind of upsetting (but also too real) scenario of a woman dealing with medical issues that no one else can really explain, and how hopeless that can feel, and going deeper and deeper int weird territory as phantom steps, weird injuries, and other odd things begin popping up that feel connected to Iðunn. Since it’s in the first person we really get into Iðunn’s mind and slowly learn her backstory as her perspective is crumbling more and more. I absolutely loved how bananas this descent was, and how we do learn things about her and her background and part of what may be driving her mental state as these bizarre things are happening to her. It’s very much an unreliable narration story, but Knútsdóttir hits the exact right notes to make it abjectly horrifying the longer is goes on until even the reader feels like they are going mad.

One qualm? I did find the ending to be a little confusing and perhaps a little too quick. There is always a risk of going too deep into the weeds with an unreliable narrator that is perhaps losing their mental faculties, and I think that’s what may have happened here. It’s a hard balance to strike when trying to keep a consistent tone to a character, but also having to maybe explain SOMETHING as the story wraps up. I didn’t feel like we really got that there, though I do understand that it may be a bit difficult to do so with the trajectory that Iðunn took and where she was by the ending. But that being said, it kind of made the ending more of a thud than a stuck landing.

But at the end of the day I found “The Night Guest” to be really weird and unsettling in a really good way. Should more of Knútsdóttir’s works be translated I would definitely seek it out, what a strange and unique story this was.

Rating 7: Super creepy and very unnerving, but a frantic and confusing ending bumped my score down just a little bit.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Night Guest” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”.

Joint Review: “Lucy Undying”

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Book: “Lucy Undying” by Kiersten White

Publishing Info: Del Rey, September 2024

Where Did We Get This Book: We received ARCs at ALAAC24.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: In this epic and seductive gothic fantasy, a vampire escapes the thrall of Dracula and embarks on her own search for self-discovery and true love.

Her name was written in the pages of someone else’s story: Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula’s first victims. But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire, and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula’s clutches–and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants.

Her undead life takes an unexpected turn when, in twenty-first-century London, she meets another woman who is also yearning to break free from her past. Iris’s family has built a health empire based on a sinister secret, and they’ll do anything to stay in power.

Lucy has long believed she would never love again. But she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris, while Iris is mesmerized by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by forces from without. Iris’s mother won’t let go of her without a fight, and Lucy’s past still has fangs: Dracula is on the prowl again.

Lucy Westenra has been a tragically murdered teen, a lonesome adventurer, and a fearsome hunter, but happiness always eluded her. Can she find the strength to destroy Dracula once and for all, or will her heart once again be her undoing?

Kate’s Thoughts

I am going to preface my review with some caveats. The first is that I have genuinely enjoyed all of the books that I have read by Kiersten White. Like, not a clunker in the bunch in my experience. The next is that I have a very, very personal connection to the original story of “Dracula”, as I read it in my all time favorite college class which was taught by my very favorite professor turned friend Andy, who tragically passed away due to a brain tumor far too young, and his analysis and contextualization of the novel made for very rewarding reading. And I really liked the idea of approaching Lucy Westenra, who was basically a character to be a tragic woman victim to drive the men in her life towards justice, to get some more complexity and time to shine. After all, we know that women don’t have to just be victims there for man pain. With these things in mind, I was so, SO anticipating “Lucy Undying”, White’s newest retelling and reimagining of a classical piece of Western literature. My hopes were so high.

And man. I really didn’t like this book.

There are many things that I didn’t like about this book and I don’t want to turn this into a long rant, so I will do my best to keep this brief. What I will say is that I started out liking it for a bit. Some of the set up was promising. But then it fell apart once we got into the nitty gritty. This book is told in multiple perspectives. The first is Iris, a woman living in the modern day who is trying to escape the clutches of the toxic MLM that her family, particularly her now dead mother, has been running and has made them powerful and dangerous. When she arrives in London to try and sort out some property that her family has, she finds the diary of Lucy Westenra, the tragic victim of vampire Dracula (but also almost everyone around her) centuries before. Iris has also met the mysterious ‘Elle’, who is quite obviously vampire Lucy. Along with the present day, we have TWO perspectives from Lucy. The first is her diary from her time shortly before becoming a vampire (which Iris has found), as well as transcripts from therapy sessions that let us know what Lucy was up to AFTER her turning and before now. It’s a hefty amount to juggle, and unfortunately it isn’t juggled very well, feeling meandering and bloated. It’s a lot of telling instead of showing when it comes to Lucy and her exploits, and it makes the pacing lag as we jump between the three. I wish that one had been cut completely to be frank. And then to make matters more convoluted, the tone does a sudden shift later in the book, and it feels like two different novels being combined into one, but shoehorned in in an awkward fashion.

But the most egregious thing to me was how in an effort to bolster Lucy up beyond the admitted victimized waif that she was in the original text BASICALLY EVERY OTHER CHARACTER FROM “DRACULA” has been turned into a devious villain who meant to do her harm. And look, I get the drive to do so. I wholly understand the way that many women were treated during the Victorian era by the men in their lives. I can understand wanting to make The Five Heroes perhaps not as gallant as the original text did, that maybe they were men of their time with all the baggage that comes with it. Hell, I can even perhaps get into the debate of trying to treat a dying Lucy with blood transfusions when she wasn’t REALLY consenting to it (though it sure wasn’t unheard of, and I know this because I once worked in a historic upper class Victorian house in St. Paul that has SO MANY medical horror stories, especially for the women). But making Dr. Seward a psychopath? Making Quincy a total dumb dumb? Making Arthur scheming for more wealth? MAKING VAN HELSING AN ‘OLD PERVERT’?! Hated it. And the biggest sin? Mina is not exempt from this. So what is supposed to be a feminist re-envisioning makes the choice to throw the only other woman from the original text under the bus to make Lucy look better and wronged and scorned and etcetera etcetera. It’s the same lazy trap that that vanity project “Maleficent” fell into, and I HATED that movie and I really disliked this book because of this. I admit that I may be too personally fond of the original story to really give this the fairest of shakes, but this kind of approach almost always sticks in my craw, beloved text or not.

I do have a positive I will share because it’s only fair to do so after this long rant of a review: I absolutely loved the predatory Utah based MLM storyline, Goldaming Life and how Iris and Lucy connect to it. In the author’s note White mentions that she’s writing a book that does more Utah MLM culture deconstruction and oh my GOD I am SO here for that. Though in another moment of ranting, Arthur’s title in “Dracula” was spelled “Godalming”, not “Goldaming”. I think this was just a misspelling as there was no indication that misspelling was intentional. I’m hoping this will be corrected in the final product.

I still intend to keep reading Kiersten White’s books, as overall I still really like her as an author. But I really disliked this book, which was such a disappointment because I had such high hopes for it.

Serena’s Thoughts

If I just type “same” and call it good, would that count for my half of this joint review? But honestly, much of what Kate expressed was my own experience as well. I want to re-emphasize truly how much of a shock this was. Like Kate, I’ve loved every book I’ve read by this author. Sure, I’ve had favorites (I particularly enjoyed her “Vlad the Impaler” trilogy), but none of them have whiffed nearly as badly as this one did. I’m honestly not sure what happened. It could be simply a case of the author having too much tied up in her own head canon regarding Lucy (as she admits in the author’s note in the end), and then the story itself was lost in the shuffle.

I’ve only read “Dracula” once, so I don’t have the same deep ties to the story as Kate does. That being the case, I was happy enough to go along with the reinterpretation of some of these characters. But very quickly, I ran into the exact problem that Kate expressed: the “reinterpretation” was the same for every single character, namely, they were all terrible people in comparison to Lucy. I really lost it, however, when this carried over to Mina. I truly dislike it when authors attempt to write “feminist” re-tellings of classic characters and the way they end up showing this is by demonizing the other women surrounding them. It’s just icky. This was made all the worse for Lucy then being written as your tried-and-true special snowflake who literally inspires every other woman around her and, yes, essentially ends WWI all on her own.

Beyond that, while I think the modern day story was better written, I don’t feel that it fit comfortably alongside Lucy’s own history that was slowly unfurled through diary entries and therapist notes. It also wasn’t helped that, personally, this storyline was simply of less interest to me. I can see that it was better done, but my original draw to this story was in the original “Dracula” time period and characters (I’ll also say that I think the cover is a bit misleading, as it definitely leans towards a more historical/gothic vibe than the large chunks of contemporary horror/thriller storylines that we got here).

Overall, I have to agree with Kate in pretty much every way. This was a disappointing read, all the more so for it coming from an author who has been such a sure thing in the past.

Kate’s Rating 3: A huge misstep from an author I usually quite enjoy, “Lucy Undying” is bloated, convoluted, and relies too much on demonizing other characters in order to bolster Lucy up. Very disappointing.

Serena’s Rating 3: A bizarre missing of the mark from an author who has had great success tackling similar re-tellings in the past.

Reader’s Advisory

“Lucy Undying” is included on the Goodreads lists “Queer Vampire Books” and “The Vampire Renaissance”.

Serena’s Review: “The Phoenix Keeper”

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Book: “The Phoenix Keeper” by S. A. Maclean

Publishing Info: Orbit, August 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: As head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for magical creatures, Aila’s childhood dream of conserving critically endangered firebirds seems closer than ever. There’s just one glaring caveat: her zoo’s breeding program hasn’t functioned for a decade. When a tragic phoenix heist sabotages the flagship initiative at a neighboring zoo, Aila must prove her derelict facilities are fit to take the reins.

But saving an entire species from extinction requires more than stellar animal handling skills. Carnivorous water horses, tempestuous thunderhawks, mischievous dragons… Aila has no problem wrangling beasts. But mustering the courage to ask for help from the hotshot griffin keeper at the zoo’s most popular exhibit? Virtually impossible.

Especially when that hotshot griffin keeper happens to be her arch-rival from college: Luciana, an annoyingly brooding and insufferable know-it-all with the face of a goddess who’s convinced that Aila’s beloved phoenix would serve their cause better as an active performer rather than as a passive conservation exhibit. With the world watching and the threat of poachers looming, Aila’s success is no longer merely a matter of keeping her job…

She is the keeper of the phoenix, and the future of a species – and her love life – now rests on her shoulders.

Review: There was a lot to like about the summary for this one. The concept alone sounded intriguing and unlike anything I had read before. Add in a dash of romance and some fantasy creatures, and my interest was thoroughly piqued! I’m also on the never-ending quest to hone in exactly what makes certain cozy fantasies work for me while other don’t. This one may have clarified one factor for me!

Unfortunately, that clarification fell on the more negative side. But let’s start with some positives! Overall, I very much enjoyed the concept of this book. The ins-and-outs of that fantastical zoo were all interesting and exciting to explore. For a book that is light on plot, the author took great advantage of all the unique aspects of her setting and the magical creatures that populated it.

I also enjoyed the main character, Aila for the most part. I thought the depiction of her introversion and social anxiety were done well, neatly exploring both concepts without reducing Aila to nothing but these traits. There wasn’t necessarily a lot of new depth to these topics, however as they are both, especially social anxiety, topics that have been well-covered recently. This is, of course, a decided improvement on the past where characters like this were never seen on the page. However, it does present a challenge to authors going forward to distinguish their own characters and stories from a more dense market. This one wasn’t bad, by any means, but it also did not stand out from the crowd.

The romance was also perfectly serviceable. It hit all of the predictable points that one expects from an “enemies to lovers” romance, and the two characters had good chemistry. That said, while I think romance stories like this often follow distinct patterns, this one was a bit too predictable. That, combined with the lighter plot, did make the entire reading experience feel a bit thin.

And, finally, for my revelation about cozy fantasies (and perhaps cozy-any genre): I think it’s the day-to-day aspect that I personally struggle with. I can think of several authors who write cozy fantasies that I very much enjoy. But when I think about the stories themselves, they all are still heavy on plot while deploying an overall “cozy” style to the writing and world-building. On the other hand, cozy fantasies like this, which are light on plot and tell a very day-to-day story are more of a struggle for me. Of course, this is a very subjective take, and there are readers out there who enjoy this sort of book. But while I like the vibes of cozy fiction, I do still need an actual story attached. And this, like others in the same subgenre, had very little of that to speak of. What action we did see was confined to the last quarter of the book and very predictable. The rest of the book was devoted to the minutia of Aila’s life and, frankly, often bored me.

So, I think readers’ enjoyment of this book will very much come down to their personal feelings on day-to-day type stories. If you like them, this is the book for you (though I still think there are better options to be had, even in this sub-sub-genre)! If you don’t, not so much.

Rating 7: The book accomplishes what it sets out to do: tell a day-t0-day cozy fantasy/romance. However, it fails to bring anything new to the subgenre or the themes its attempting to cover.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Phoenix Keeper” can be found on this Goodreads list: Best books of August, 2024

Serena’s Review: “A Song of Ash and Moonlight”

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Book: “A Song of Ash and Moonlight” by Claire Legrand

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Casablanca, September 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: The curse plaguing the Ashbourne and Bask families has finally been broken, but Farrin, the eldest Ashbourne daughter, still struggles to find peace. Unflappable and tireless, her composure masks a seething sorrow. Since her mother abandoned the family, Farrin has been their rock—managing her father’s temper, running the estate, keeping tight control over her dangerous musical power, and ignoring her own need for rest, distraction, and most of all, love.

In Ryder Bask, Farrin’s stubborn strength has met its match. The man infuriates her. He’s coarse, arrogant, annoyingly handsome. He’s as tired of their feuding parents as she is, and he brims with some secret anger that mirrors Farrin’s frustrated rage.

But Farrin must work with every ally she can—even the man she has been raised to hate. With every rising dawn, the Middlemist weakens further. Anointed magicians are disappearing. A fiery Olden creature is stalking Farrin. Strange visions haunt the High Queen Yvaine. And as Farrin and Ryder race to find stolen loved ones, they begin to realize a horrifying thing:

The gods are not dead. They’re waking up. And someone is hunting them.

Previously Reviewed: “A Crown of Ivy and Glass”

Review: While I ran into a few stumbling blocks in my read through of the first book in this series, there was still plenty to recommend the series as a whole and to specifically recommend the second book in particular. I struggled with Gemma, but even the few glances we were given were enough to convince me that Farrin sounded like a fantastic main character. With this in mind, I went into this book with high hopes!

I’ll say on the top that this book wasn’t a perfect read either, but it is also a definite step up from the first one. Let’s start, as usual, with the most positives aspects of the story. First of all, the more time I spend in this fantasy world, the more intrigued I am by it! The first book was promoted as a sort of “fantasy/Bridgerton” mash-up. And while that did fit that book in a sort of round-about way, the “Bridgerton” aspects of it all were lacking (if you count having ball scenes as “Bridgerton” and not just any old fantasy book that deals with courts, lords and ladies, etc. ) So I was pleased to see that this second book leaned even more fully into the fantasy aspects of it all, and left out the “Bridgerton” comparison altogether.

As the summary hints at, this book massively expands the scope of the world and the brewing conflict. It’s no longer one demon and a mysterious arch villain; now we have gods reborn, complicated linages explored, and long-suppressed secrets revealed. All of these new layers to the world and story were fascinating and used in creative ways. There were a few twists that genuinely took me by surprise. On top of the magical elements of the world, I enjoyed the further exploration of Farrin’s musical magic. In the first book, hers was the sort of magic that felt least approachable and the most foreign. So I enjoyed the deeper dive into how exactly her magic worked and the potential ways in which she could manipulate this particular ability. What seemed like a magical ability that could seem weak in comparison to the other two sisters, by the end of this book, readers will truly appreciate what Farrin brings to this team.

As for Farrin herself, this is where my feelings became a bit more complicated. Something very strange happened as I was reading this book. As I read, I kept having the thought “Gemma? Is that you?” In that, somehow Farrin seemed to have morphed into Gemma between the first book and this, with all of the same character flaws that I found so tiresome the first go around. And on the other hand, Gemma, now a background character, began to read like a fantastic character whom I’d love to read an entire book about!

Now, I’m all for complicated and flawed characters who have to explore challenging inner struggles over the course of a book. The problem here was that Farrin’s voice, Farrin’s personality, and, most notably, Farrin’s inner struggles all seemed to be so, so similar to Gemma’s. It almost began to feel as if Legrand is incapable of writing a main character in a different voice, or to explore a different inner life/inner struggle in her lead heroine. Somehow background characters suddenly morph into the interesting ones, while the main character is dragged under by such a mire of anxiety, indecision, and self-loathing as to become tiresome.

I noted in the first book that while Gemma’s struggles were of the sort that often made her a bit unlikable, that didn’t make them not worth exploring. What I definitely DIDN’T want was to explore many of those exact same themes again with Farrin. Farrin is an entirely different character! Why didn’t we lean more into her crippling sense of responsibility? Her inability to trust or rely on others to get things done? Perhaps an unwillingness to work as a team? (To be fair, we do get bits of this, but it falls to the way side with other issues). All of these would be grounded in not only her personal story and history, but would fit by the personality of the character we were originally introduced to. The Farrin of the first book was secretive, but confident. Distant, but sure-footed. There was so much potential here, and to find myself reading another story where our heroine is almost frozen by her own self-loathing and anxiety…it was incredibly frustrating. And, again, made me start to question the author’s ability to write a variety of main characters. Further, I remain very interested in reading the third book in this series, but I’m increasingly worried that I’ll pick it up and find the warrior woman sister I’ve been reading about now in three books has somehow magically turned into yet another self-loathing ball of anxiety.

On another positive note, however, I definitely enjoyed the romance and the romantic lead in this book more. Ryder was a fantastic hero and, if a complaint is to be found, almost too perfect. But as romance readers are not known for whining about perfect leading men, I won’t even bother. That said, I do think this book might have been served better to have strayed further from the structure of the classic romance novel. In that set-up, there’s always the late third act conflict between the hero and the heroine that must then be resolved before the HEA. And this one was just ridiculous.

I don’t want to spoil it (though it’s obvious not only from the beginning of this book but probably even the first, to the astute reader), but Farrin’s reaction to being told one of Ryder’s secrets is so overblown for the actual situation as to be not only ridiculous but to paint in her an unlikable light (again, this is not helped by Ryder’s perfection throughout this book). Yes, she quickly realizes her mistake, but then the final quarter of the story is spent with her waxing on about her fears that he won’t forgive her for this reaction. Again, “tiresome” is the only word that comes to mind. And, frankly, it was totally unnecessary. This book is action packed and built to an excellent climax of magical fighting and wonder; there was no reason to waste page time on a frivolous fight between love interests (seemingly only included to meet this romance novel standard of structure).

This is already an incredibly long review, but I do want to end on one other positive. For all of my complaints about Farrin’s inner life, I did appreciate the way that Legrand explored her discomfort with her body. This isn’t the sort of struggle you often find in romances, and I think it was generally well done. I do wish more time had been devoted to exploring how Farrin developed this particular anxiety, as it was crippling at times and not something one would imagine to pop up with out an instigating event. That said, I still appreciated its inclusion.

So, all my ranting aside, I actually enjoyed this book quite a lot! While I struggled with her more than I anticipated, I still liked Farrin’s story overall. The romance was better than the first, and this book took massive strides as far as the world-building goes and in setting up the third book and its conflict. I’ll definitely be checking out the third (please, PLEASE, don’t let Mara turn into another cut-out of this same character), and fans of the series will likely enjoy this one!

Rating 8: Not without flaws, but an improvement on the first and laying the groundwork for what could be an excellent final entry!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Song of Ash and Moonlight” can be found on this Goodreads list (not my list, for the record): My favorite Fairytale Fantasy novels.

Ripley’s Reviews: “The Talented Mr. Ripley”

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“Ripley’s Reviews” is an ongoing series where I will review every book in Patricia Highsmith’s “Ripley” Series, as well as multiple screen adaptations of the novels. I will post my reviews on the first Thursday of the month, and delve into the twisted mind of one Tom Ripley and all the various interpretations that he has come to life within. Up first is the first book in the series, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”.

Book: “The Talented Mr. Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith

Publishing Info: Coward-McCann, January 1955

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: It’s here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith’s five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a “sissy.” Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley’s fascination with Dickie’s debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie’s ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game.

“Sinister and strangely alluring,” (Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly) The Talented Mr. Ripley serves as an unforgettable introduction to this smooth confidence man, whose talent for self-invention is as unnerving—and unnervingly revealing of the American psyche—as ever.

Review: As mentioned in my intro to this new blog series, I first discovered Tom Ripley and “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, the first in Patricia Highsmith’s “Ripliad” when I was a teenager on Spring Break. It ended up being the perfect beach read, and I was totally immersed in the story of a con artist turned murderer usurping the life on an unsuspecting heir apparent on an Italian extended holiday. There has been a bit of a renaissance of creepy protagonists behaving badly all for the entertainment of a joyful audience, and clearly I picked this up all those years ago and it has followed me ever since. I was curious what revisiting it would be like as an adult with a healthy love of thrillers and despicable antiheroes, and baby, Tom Ripley still wows after all this time.

Cheers you sick bastard (also we will get to THIS specific Ripley in a few months). (source)

As a thriller it is taut and suspenseful and well paced, as we start off in New York and meet Tom Ripley, an aimless twenty something who finds himself asked by a wealthy patriarch to go and fetch his son Dickie Greenleaf, whom Ripley knew in passing and has been gallivanting in Italy on his father’s dime. Ripley and Dickie were barely acquaintances, but a free trip to Europe is too good to pass up, and once Tom arrives he is completely enamored with Dickie and his lifestyle. What starts as an awkward friendship between Tom and Dickie (and Dickie’s quasi-gal pal Marge) slowly turns into Ripley coveting everything Dickie has, which leads to murder, more murder, and identity theft and fraud. Highsmith approaches this with a very matter of fact tone that was in some ways a bit disturbing, but also knows how to eek out all of the tension as Tom does more nefarious things, and flirts more and more with danger as the authorities start to catch on that something is wrong. It’s cat and mouse and part of the suspense is not whether Ripley will get away with it, but whether he is going to be caught. And while that sounds like the same thing, it isn’t really. Because Highsmith lays this out in such a way that it is very likely that the reader will perhaps be more hopeful that he gets away with it.

How is this possible? Well, we of course have to talk about Tom Ripley and the way that Patricia Highsmith presents him to her readers and the audience. He was far more calculated and cold than I remembered him being, basically from the jump being portrayed as a con artist at best (as when he is approached by Dickie’s father to set forth to Italy he is running petty IRS scams on unsuspecting rubes) who sees an opportunity to live off the elite, and then revealing his sociopathic nature as the story goes on. I don’t particularly find Ripley charming or even likable, but Highsmith does write him in a way that managed to still make me kind of want to see how far he could go because she drew him out so well in her characterization. And having read it previously and knowing there are a few more books in the series, knowing he was going to get away with it was galling… but also a little satisfying. Come on, it’s not like the thriller genre doesn’t produce villainous protagonists all the time these days, and Ripley was certainly one of the first, and he still holds up. In this book it’s just a bit of a wicked thrill to see how he slowly takes over Dickie’s life and wealth, even if Dickie (and Ripley’s other victims) certainly don’t deserve it. Highsmith absolutely achieved what she set out to do with this character. I am more than happy to keep following him and see what terrible shenanigans he gets into going forward, because now I am wholly unaware. Bring it on, Tom.

“The Talented Mr. Ripley” was as enjoyable this time around as it was when I was a teenager, and it is a clear foundational work for the modern thriller. It gets under the skin but makes you want to know more. What a ride this ongoing series is going to be. Next up is Book 2 in the series, “Ripley Under Ground”.

Rating 8: A game changer for the Thriller genre and a deep dive into a highly despicable (yet highly entertaining) psychopath and his thought processes, “The Talented Mr. Ripley” still stands tall after all this time.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Talented Mr. Ripley” is included on the Goodreads lists “Thrillers You Must Read!”, and “I Like Serial Killers”.