Tag: Fantasy

Serena’s Review: “Sorcery and Small Magics”

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Book: “Sorcery and Small Magics” by Maiga Doocy

Publishing Info: Orbit, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: Leovander Loveage is a master of small magics.

He can summon butterflies with a song, or turn someone’s hair pink by snapping his fingers. Such minor charms don’t earn him much admiration from other sorcerers (or his father), but anything more elaborate always blows up in his face. Which is why Leo vowed years ago to never again write powerful magic.

That is, until a mix-up involving a forbidden spell binds Leo to obey the commands of his longtime nemesis, Sebastian Grimm. Grimm is Leo’s complete opposite—respected, exceptionally talented, and an absolutely insufferable curmudgeon. The only thing they agree on is that getting caught using forbidden magic would mean the end of their careers. They need a counterspell, and fast. But Grimm casts spells, he doesn’t undo them, and Leo doesn’t mess with powerful magic.

Chasing rumors of a powerful sorcerer with a knack for undoing curses, Leo and Grimm enter the Unquiet Wood, a forest infested with murderous monsters and dangerous outlaws alike. To dissolve the curse, they’ll have to uncover the true depths of Leo’s magic, set aside their long-standing rivalry, and—much to their horror—work together.

Even as an odd spark of attraction flares between them.

Review: While cozy fantasy has been more a miss than a hit this year, I ever live in optimism! Plus, it’s nice to see a romantic fantasy novel marketed as “rivals to lovers” instead of the getting-very-tired “enemies to lovers” (especially when the so-called “enemies” are nothing of the sort more often than not!). Add on top of that the promise of monsters and spooky woods, and this one sounded well-worth my time to check out!

For the most part, I very much enjoyed this one! This is definitely one of those books, however, that lives or dies with its main character. It’s told from a single POV (which I love and always wish would become more the standard), so if readers are not on board with the character, there may be challenges ahead. Beyond that, much of the book is made up of smaller moments between the two main characters, with much emphasis placed on their banter and their growth as they begin to understand and care for one another.

I also really appreciated the fact that this is a true slow-burn romance. By the end, even, very little actual “romance” has occurred. But in this way, the story feels more true and more meaningful. The author spends the time building up this love story slowly, giving the reader plenty of time to become attached to both characters together and separately. It’s also a great way to wet the palate for the sequel, since you’ll be sure to want more of what promises to be a great love story!

I also enjoyed the world-building that we got to see. There were tons of fun magical monsters, mysterious, enchanted rooms, and, of course, the curse that binds our two characters together. I also enjoyed the exploration of the magic system and the way high and low magic, essentially, worked in this world. As a lover of detailed magic systems and world-building, I could have used a bit more in both of these arenas, however. I, for one, always appreciate a map, for example! But, as I said earlier, this is a character-forward story, so this lighter touch on world-building and fantasy elements makes sense and works with the low-key vibes of the book itself.

Overall, this was a quick, fun read and a breath of fresh air for me personally, as it reminded me of the joys that can be found in cozy fantasy. Readers who enjoy slow-burn romances and whimsical fantasy stories should definitely check this one out!

Rating 8: A character-driven cozy fantasy that is full of heart and humor!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Sorcery and Small Magics” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Cozy Fantasy Readathon List and 2024 Debuts.

Serena’s Review: “A Tribute of Fire”

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Book: “A Tribute of Fire” by Sariah Wilson

Publishing Info: Montlake, November 2024

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

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

Book Description: Lia is the princess of Locris, a dying desert nation cursed centuries ago by an earth goddess—one still worshipped by the thriving and adversarial nation of Ilion. Every year, Ilion offers the goddess a sacrifice: two Locrian maidens forced to compete in a life-and-death race to reach her temple. In a millennium, no maiden has made it out of Ilion alive. This year, Lia is one of the hunted.

An education in battle gives her a fighting chance, but the challenges are greater than she feared: Lia’s beloved but untrained sister Quynh has been put in the path of danger. The winding streets of Ilion itself have been transformed into a labyrinthine maze of countless choices and dead ends. And if the risks weren’t significant enough, Lia is reluctantly drawn to the commandingly attractive Jason, an Ilionian sailor she loathes to trust and desires like no man before.

The tribute game is on. It’s up to Lia to lift the goddess’s curse, restore Locris to its former glory, and change the fate of every young woman destined to follow in her path.

Review: I haven’t read anything by this author before, but I was familiar with her name as as a contemporary romance writer when I was approached to cover this book. I’m always excited to see how established authors make the transition into writing in the fantasy genre! Sometimes, I feel like they bring a breath of fresh air to a genre that can feel bogged down in worn-out tropes more often than not. And while the summary itself didn’t feel all that new, it still intrigued me and I went in with high hopes!

And, overall, those hopes were met! As I said, the premise of this one did feel familiar at times, with many fantasy books over the last decade focusing on deadly trials and competitions. However, I really appreciated the way this was woven into the Greek mythology and history of the book. The author’s note was particularly interesting as it added some depth to the points of reference used for this story, many of which I hadn’t been familiar with before picking up this book.

I also really enjoyed our main character! Too often, we are introduced to FMC with a single badass fight scene in the first chapter…and then the book proceeds to bash readers over the head with reminders that the heroine is badass, but any actual evidence of that fact is nowhere to be seen. Here, Lia remains fierce and driven throughout, reinforcing the fact that she is a woman to be reckoned with. Of course, there is a very “Hunger Games” essence to the affair with the whole “beloved and untrained sister” thing, but even here, I feel like the book did enough to build up this relationship to distance it from too many comparisons.

I also enjoyed the romance, for the most part. Yes, it was a bit on the instalove/lust side, but there was enough chemistry between the two to pull me through. I enjoyed their banter and all of the scenes we had with them beginning to grow closer (of course, he’s an “enemy” so we’re checking off the seemingly required “enemies to lovers” trope that we see in so much romantasy currently). However, I feel like some of the twists and reveals at the end of this book were fairly obvious right from the start. This didn’t necessarily reduce my enjoyment of the book, but it’s something to note.

The story also ends on a fairly significant cliffhanger, so readers should know that going in. As a whole, the book was enjoyable and had a distinct arc, so this ending felt earned. What’s worse in my opinion is when books spend the entire first novel setting up a concept and then end on a cliffhanger right when the point of action/conflict is introduced. This one has enough adventure and intrigue to hold up on its own, so that’s a definite win. Overall, I thought this was a solid fantasy entry from an author making her first attempt in the genre. Romantasy fans should definitely give it a go!

Rating 8: Full of adventure, danger, and a swoon-worth romance, Sariah Wilson’s debut romantasy enters the genre with a bang!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Tribute of Fire” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Best Books About Mythology.

Serena’s Review: “Where the Library Hides”

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Book: “Where the Library Hides” by Isabel Ibanez

Publishing Info: Wednesday Books, November 2024

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

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

Book Description: 1885, Egypt

Inez Olivera is left reeling from her cousin Elvira’s murder, and her mother’s betrayal, and when Tío Ricardo issues an ultimatum about her inheritance, she’s left with only one option to consider.

Marriage to Whitford Hayes.

Former British soldier, her uncle’s aide de camp, and one time nemesis, Whit has his own mysterious reasons for staying in Egypt. With her heart on the line, Inez might have to bind her fate to the one person whose secret plans could ruin her.

Previously Reviewed: “What the River Know”

Review: Surprise! I decided to finish up this duology after all. Sometimes my completionist tendencies get the better of me, and even though I didn’t really enjoy the first book, I thought I might as well finish up the duology. After all, the first book was fairly universally beloved, and my struggles were definitely in the minority. So who knows? Maybe the second time is the charm!

Well, I’ll say that this duology will not go down as a great read overall, but I’ll give credit it where it is due and say that this second entry is a definite improvement on the first. So let’s start with these positives. One thing that I struggled with in the first book was the inexplicable magic system. I still have questions about the history of the world and the role that magic has played in it, but this book did a good job of digging further into how all of this worked together, which I appreciated.

This book also benefited in being the second in the series, which helped with some of my pacing concerns from the first book. There, I felt like the action worked against the character development of our main character. But here, as we’ve already met and followed Inez’s story through one book, when this story’s plot took off, I didn’t feel as if I was following around a character I barely knew. In that way, I felt like the fast-paced tone of this book better fit with the story it was telling and was less of a hinderance to the character arcs themselves.

However, the one place where I continued to struggle was with the characterization as a whole. I just can’t get myself to like Inez. She’s the kind of female main character who I feel like exists primarily on sass and spunk, but then when you step back from the book and actually look at her story, it’s one full of blundering around making silly decisions and being rewarded for it because it is necessary to the plot. She seems incapable of reading those around her, misunderstanding almost everyone she meets. And, worst of all, she seemed to instantly forgive the romantic interest for a massive breach of trust, pretty much for no other reason than instalove purposes.

Whit also continued to be an annoyance. At best, he remained a stereotype of YA romantic heroes. But, unfortunately, he went downwards from there. Like I mentioned, part of the book includes some fairly despicable actions/lies told by this character that he is then simply let off the hook for with zero repercussions. What’s worse, by the end of the book, there is a character switch that comes out of nowhere, with Whit suddenly morphing into an endearment-loving sweetheart. Who is this guy and where did he come from? Character arcs do involve changing from one thing to another, for better or worse, but it should be shown on the page as something happening gradually and as a direct result to what is going on in the story. Here, he seemed to turn into this completely different person by the end of the book, seemingly to almost gaslight the heroine and the reader into forgetting who he had been throughout the rest of the series.

Overall, while the characters were still a struggle for me, this was a definite improvement on the first book. I feel like both the world-building and pacing were better handled. There were still some plot points that I found unlikely to the point of disbelief, but I was mostly able to lose myself in the inertia of the story. That said, the characters became increasingly annoying and unlikable as I read. However, those who enjoyed the first book will likely love this one. And if you were on the fence, it may still be worth checking out!

Rating 7: While the characters still proved to be a stumbling block to my enjoyment, I did think this one improved on the first book with more complex world-building and a better paced story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Where the Library Hides” can be found on many Goodreads lists, including Most Interesting World.

Serena’s Review: “The Wild Huntress”

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Book: “The Wild Huntress” by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Publishing Info: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: Every five years, two kingdoms take part in a Wild Hunt. Joining is a bloody risk and even the most qualified hunters can suffer the deadliest fates. Still, hundreds gamble their lives to participate—all vying for the Hunt’s life-changing prize: a magical wish granted by the Otherking.

BRANWEN possesses a gift no other human has: the ability to see and slay monsters. She’s desperate to cure her mother’s sickness, and the Wild Hunt is her only option.

GWYDION is the least impressive of his magically-talented family, but with his ability to control plants and his sleight of hand, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his cruel older brother from becoming a tyrant.

PRYDERI is prince-born and monster-raised. Deep down, the royal crown doesn’t interest him—all he wants is to know is where he belongs.

If they band together against the monstrous creatures within the woods, they have a chance to win. But, then again, nothing is guaranteed when all is fair in love and the Hunt.

Review: I am going to start this review off with a general lament: Emily Lloyd-Jones is the most under-rated YA fantasy writer currently putting out books! It’s wild to me that she still seems to fly so far under everyone’s radar. The quality of her storytelling, the strength of her characters, the excellence of her dialogue, and the lovely secondary romances are truly on a whole new level from so many other YA fantasies that seem to take off. It’s bizarre to me. She’s an auto-buy author for me at this point, so it was a given that I was going to review this book. It was all the more exciting when I received an ARC copy to boot!

Sometimes it’s harder to write reviews for books that I absolutely adored than it is for ones I have mixed feelings about. With nothing to question or complain about, it quickly devolves into incoherent gushing. But I’ll start with something that I think makes Jones’s books stand out from much of the current YA fare: she allows her characters to behave in natural ways, making choices that can lead to tragedy and real conflict, and then forcing them to truly live with the results, both in a practical sense as well as an emotional sense. Too often, conflict that is introduced in other similar books is hand-waved away quickly, with characters seeming to easily forgive massive transgressions. Or characters will make bad decisions or poor judgements of character, but because the plot necessitates it, things always work out perfectly. In this way, Jones’s stories and characters feel somehow more real, more true, and I’m easily more invested in their stories. The lows are truly tragic, but this makes the highs all the more sweet.

In particular to this book, there is drawn-out consequence of one character’s choices that comes to play in the final quarter of this book. From this moment on, all of the other characters dramatically shift, and the rest of the book is not only wrapping up the plot, but truly dealing with the emotional fall-out of this situation. There are a few choices here that feel almost shocking. But, importantly, they feel shocking NOT because they are unrealistic; indeed I think they are very true to the impossibilities of the situation. But they feel shocking in the sense that I can’t think of a contemporary author writing in this same genre that has the bravery to fully commit to the decisions her characters would make in their story as Jones does here (and in her other books.)

But, even though I’ve now spent much of this review talking about the darker aspects of this story, this is largely a fun, funny, and sweetly romantic tale for 80% of the book. As I mentioned above, for all that the plotting and world-building is so excellent, one of the things that also stands out is the strength of the dialogue. There were several moments that had me laughing out loud and re-reading a few times before moving on.

On top of this, I’ve now come to rely on the romantic subplots that Jones includes in her fantasy novels. While I like full-on romance novels, as far as my absolute favorite reads go I always tend towards book that have a more reserved approach to the love story. Here, the relationship is clearly secondary to the main plot, but somehow this made the sweet moments we got all the more special. Above all, I appreciate the way the characters slowly come to know and begin to care for one another. There’s not a whiff of instalove or instalust to be found here.

I could go on and on. Even with all of this writing, I didn’t even get to the fantastic fantasy plot, full of adventure and magic. Or the fact that there are fun little nods to her other books that can be spotted throughout. If you haven’t read anything by this author, RUN (don’t walk) to the bookstore and just get all three at once. They’re that good!

Rating 10: One of the most under-rated YA fantasy authors writing today, Emily Lloyd-Jones shines and shows the highs that the genre can truly reach!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Wild Huntress” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Books for rainy tea-filled days  and My favorite Medieval Fantasy novels.

Serena’s Review: “Blood Over Bright Haven”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Blood Over Bright Haven” by M.L. Want

Publishing Info: Del Rey, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.

What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.

Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?

Review: I haven’t gotten around to reading it, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve had the book “The Sword of Kaigen” pop up as a recommended title. So much so that I went ahead and ordered a copy through the recent Kickstarter that was live recently even though I still haven’t read it! All of this to say, I was very excited when I found an ARC of this title at ALA and immediately scheduled it down as one to review this fall. Let’s dive in!

As I said, it’s been unavoidable to not hear all of the praises sung for Wang’s previous novel. This left me with quite a high bar of expectation going into this one, and I’m happy to say that it largely lived up to this! So many aspects of this book were masterfully done, from the gaslamp/dark academia world-building, to the deep characterization of our two main characters, to the careful and thorough exploration of themes of misogyny, prejudice, ambition, and the careful balance between one’s intentions and the corresponding results.

As characters are always at the forefront for me, let’s start there. I really enjoyed both of our main POV characters. Sciona’s story, however, stood out. She begins as what I have to believe is an intentionally unlikable character, full of ambition and self-interest. Given the barriers that have been placed before her, however, it’s also easy to see how she has become the person she is. To succeed, she has had to “buy in” more fully than any of her peers, face added challenges, and constantly push through the prejudices of those around her. In doing so, she has needed to fully entrench herself in the culture into which she is trying to make headway. As her story unfolds, and she discovers more about her world, we see her grapple with the shocking revelations buried beneath much of her existence.

The story also grapples with many challenging topics. I was especially impressed with how carefully and thoroughly these themes were explored. Nothing was presented on a platter to the reader with a simple platitude or a bright arrow pointing towards “THE RIGHT WAY.” Instead, the book presents situations and conflicts, from the practical to the more abstract, and lets the reader, alongside the characters, struggle with the morality of it all. How far does one’s intentions take you when the results are bad? Or the opposite?

By the time we get to the end, I was deep in all of the feelings. As is expected, given the themes, the story goes to some dark places and there are no easy answers to be found here. However, I also can’t say that it doesn’t resolve in a way that felt earned and also necessary. Overall, I thought this was an excellent read and I’m excited to check out the author’s previous book when I finally get my hands on a copy!

Rating 8: Detailed world-building, intricate character work, and a thorough exploration of difficult but important themes all cement Wang’s place as a fantasy author to keep one’s eye on!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Blood Over Bright Haven” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2024 Dark Academia Releases

Serena’s Review: “Bloodguard”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Bloodguard” by Cecy Robson

Publishing Info: Red Tower Books, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: One hundred years. Tens of thousands of gladiators. And today, only one will rise…

Everything in the Kingdom of Arrow is a lie.

Leith of Grey thought coming to this new land and volunteering to fight in the gladiator arena—vicious, bloodthirsty tournaments where only the strongest survive—would earn him enough gold to save his dying sister. He thought there was nothing left to lose.

He was wrong—and they took everything. His hope. His freedom. His very humanity.

All Leith has left is his battle-scarred body, fueled by rage and hardened from years of fighting for the right to live another day.

Then Leith meets Maeve, an elven royal who is everything he despises. Everything he should hate. Until the alluring princess offers him the one thing he needs most: a chance to win the coveted title of Bloodguard—and his freedom.

But in a kingdom built on secrets and lies, hope doesn’t come cheap.

Nor will his ultimate revenge…

Review: While I think it’s clear now that I often tend to gravitate towards book told from a female POV, I always like to check out titles that present from a man’s perspective. It’s even more rare to find a book that focuses on a male POV in the romantasy genre, so I was excited to read this book when it was offered for review!

Since I already brought up POV characters, I maybe shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was to find out that Leith does in fact share page time with Maeve who has her own perspective chapters. While I didn’t have a problem with either individual on their own, I still do think it would have been an interesting choice to remain in Leith’s head the entire time. Especially in a romantasy title!

This book was a bit of a mixed bag, however, as I continued to read. It’s biggest strength is in its action and in some of the dialogue. The book starts off with a bang, throwing Leith right into the gladiator action, fighting for his life. Whenever the plot called for action scenes like this, I found myself immediately more drawn in. The writing style was at its best in these moments, propelling the story forward at a relentless pace that, at times, reminded me of Pierce Brown’s writing style (high praise indeed, as I love Brown’s books!). The dialogue was also a strong suit. Not only did it read naturally (this feels like it should be a given for novels, but so often it is not), but there were also some very funny exchanges.

However, when the story slowed down from the action scenes, I did find myself struggling to piece together how everything worked in this world. Maybe I was just missing things, but it was unclear to me how Leith had been a gladiator for as long as he had been, but hadn’t died or moved up the tattoo-based ranking system. It was explained several times that fighters won elements of their tattoo by winning matches, but then only one grizzled veteran had any tattoo piece at all. So did everyone just die in their very first fight all the time? And how has Leith been fighting for as long as he has, but starts without any tattoos? Are there lesser fights they do most of the time? I don’t know. I could have missed things, but for as often as it was talked about, I struggled to piece it all together.

Some of Maive’s plotting and scheming similarly suffered. For all that the action is written so well, the story structure itself felt pieced together, with characters making decisions rather randomly. There were also clunky descriptive bits when the story was languishing between dialogue and action. It was odd, because there are lines of dialogue that I still remember now as being funny. But there are also lines of text that I still remember now as cringe-worthy.

That said, I do think the author has a lot of potential. And the strength of the idea and action-oriented writing make it well worth checking out if you’re a romantasy reader looking for something that feels completely unique from the current trends.

Rating 7: The writing would shine one moment and then feel awkwardly formed at another, which lead to a rather jarring reading experience. But I’ll still check out what’s next!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bloodguard” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists, but it should be on Gladiators.

Serena’s Review: “Pride and Prejudice in Space”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Pride and Prejudice in Space” by Alexis Lampley

Publishing Info: Union Square & Co, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is arguably the forerunner of all romantic comedies and certainly one of her most popular and irreverent works. And now, graphic designer and Nerdy Ink co-owner—and obsessive fan of Pride and Prejudice—Alexis Lampley gives this timeless, classic, Regency-era romance a new twist, setting it among the stars in a futuristic universe where spaceships and interplanetary travel is the daily norm. Featuring 50+ color illustrations of the Londinium Lunar System, drawings of gowns by Lydia Bennet, and spaceship designs by Elizabeth Bennet, this is a futuristic take on a classic by a dedicated Jane Austen fan, for Austen newbies and super-fans alike.

Review: While I have to draw the line somewhere (usually around the realm of contemporary romance), I try to read as many Jane Austen re-tellings as I can! This one had immediate appeal as it combined both a “Pride and Prejudice” re-telling with science fiction, one of my favorite genres! There was also the promise of beautiful illustrations to spur me forward!

There was a lot to like about this book! However, I do think that readers might not be properly prepped for the sort of story this is meant to me. When I first picked it up, I was expecting a loose re-telling in which the main characters and plot are the same, but the story itself is written over again in a wholly original manner. Instead, this falls much more in line with re-tellings like “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” where the majority of the text is directly pulled from the original book. Now, the original book is obviously brilliant, and once I understood what we were doing, it was fine. But I do think some readers may be surprised to find themselves largely reading the original version of “Pride and Prejudice” all over again with a few tweaks here and there. Some of those tweaks, of course, were fairly straightforward changes. Instead of travelling by carriages, they would trap in space ships. The villages were not towns, but different planets and moons. There was also a very useful map included in the beginning which really helped with this new layout.

However, the book diverged further from the original novel by including chapters from other characters’ perspectives (like Jane’s) as well as various communications between characters (texts and emails and such). I think, overall, the latter was more successful than the former. With the messages and communications of that sort, the style was clearly different from the novel portions, so the change in language served to enhance the added information we were getting. However, when the book would switch from Jane Austen’s original text to a wholly original chapter from Jane’s perspective, for example, it was a bit jarring to mentally switch over. The author makes a strong attempt, but doesn’t quite capture the same tone as Austen’s writing, making these switches feel a bit clunky. They also felt largely unnecessary. This is, perhaps, one of those situations where less is more, and the book would have been better served to remain largely as a slightly adjusted re-imagining of the original, with the addition of the epistolary sections for extra flair and insight.

The unfortunate thing about reading this book in its ARC format was that I was cruelly teased with regards to the art. The cover, of course, is fantastic. And as I was reading, there were numerous spreads of art throughout. Unfortunately, this was all in greyscale, so I wasn’t able to fully appreciate what I’m sure were excellent pieces of art.

Overall, I thought this was a very fun re-telling of the classic tale. I do wish that it had perhaps committed a bit more fully one way or the other. Either, remain using mostly only the original language with only little flairs of unique text here and there. Or re-write the entire thing in the author’s own words. As it is, the story was a bit clunky and broken up at times switching between the two. However, fans of Jane Austen who are looking for a new version of this story should definitely give it a go!

Rating 8: Who knew that what we really needed was a version of “Pride and Prejudice” where Darcy and Elizabeth whizz around in space ships?? Well, we did, and this was great fun all around!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Pride and Prejudice in Space” isn’t on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on “Pride and Prejudice Retellings.”

Serena’s Review: “The Last Dragon of the East”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Last Dragon of the East” by Katrina Kwan

Publishing Info: S&S/Saga Press, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: At the spry young age of twenty-five, Sai has led a quiet life, keeping the family teahouse up and running—even if that means ignoring the past-due notices—and taking care of his ailing mother. But he has a not-so-secret gift that he’s parlayed into a side career: he was born with the ability see the red threads of fate between soulmates, which lends itself nicely to matchmaking. Sai has thus far been content not to follow his own thread, the only one he’s ever seen that’s gray and fraying.

But Sai’s ordinary existence is about to be turned upside-down by a pair of shining dragon scales. When his mother’s doctor sells them to him, claiming them as a miracle cure, Sai is pretty sure he’s being scammed. When the medicine actually works—and the terrifying, ruthless emperor catches wind—Sai is thrust into the search for a dragon long thought extinct that will lead him into the throes of a brewing war and deep into foreign lands, facing down challenges both magical and mortal on an unexpected adventure. And for the very first time, as his own thread of fate begins to move, he may be able to solve the mystery of his Fated One on the other end of the line.

Review: I was very interested in checking this one out when the publisher reached out about a potential review. For one thing, it’s rare that I see fantasy titles like this that are centered from the man’s perspective (I typically prefer a female POV, but some of my favorite books are from male POVs, too!). For another, I’ve read a few other stories that explored the concept of the red thread of fate, and I was curious to see how this author would tackle this topic. Plus, you know…dragons.

Overall, there was a lot to like about this one! As I’m often primarily a character reader, I’ll start with our main characters themselves. Sai was an excellent POV character, with all the charm and laughs that one could want. Yes, this did the tone of his narration did sit awkward with some of the more gruesome and gory descriptive moments. But on its own, he was a fun main character to follow. I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of his more light-hearted character type against the female love interest, Jyn’s, more stoic personality. It was a nice switch-up to the typical roles we often seen in romantic pairings like this. I perhaps wished there had been a bit more character exploration given to this character, but as the story picked up towards the latter half of the book, the character arcs took a bit of a back seat to the lore and romance anyways.

I don’t want to go into any spoilers here, but I very much enjoyed the dragon aspects of this story. I’m not sure what I really had in mind, but the story definitely took a few twists that I wasn’t expecting. Once I realized what was going on, I was definitely all in. However, again, even here I wish that the story had lingered a bit longer over this history and how it affected our characters. Much of the plot gets stuck in an escape adventure which starts to overshadow some of these details. And while exciting enough on its own, the dragon history was incredibly compelling, and I think the book would have been better served to just fully lean in on that part.

This was a fun, fast read! I think fans of adventure fantasy will definitely enjoy this, though the romance does play a prominent role (which I, for one, very much liked) towards the second half of the book. I’ll definitely look forward to whatever this author comes out with next!

Rating 8: An excellent exploration of Chines mythology and dragon lore, one that will likely appeal to many adventure fantasy fans!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Last Dragon of the East” can be found on these Goodreads lists: East Asian Fantasy and Asian Mythology Inspired Books.

Serena’s Review: “The Bloodless Princes”

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Book: “The Bloodless Princes” by Charlotte Bond

Publishing Info: Tordotcom, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: It seemed the afterlife was bustling.

Cursed by the previous practitioner in her new role, and following an… incident… with a supremely powerful dragon, High Mage Saralene visits the afterlife with a boon to beg of the Bloodless Princes who run the underworld.

But Saralene and her most trusted advisor/champion/companion, Sir Maddileh, will soon discover that there’s only so much research to be done by studying the old tales, though perhaps there’s enough truth in them to make a start.

Saralene will need more than just her wits to leave the underworld, alive. And Maddileh will need more than just her Fireborne Blade.

A story of love and respect that endures beyond death. And of dragons, because we all love a dragon!

Previously Reviewed: “The Fireborne Blade”

Review: I read and enjoyed the first novella in this series, so it was mostly a given that I would check out this next entry. That said, I definitely would have picked this one up based on the cover alone. I mean, for heaven’s sake, one of the lead characters is cuddling some sort of magical cat creature! So, without further ado, let’s dive into the review.

This was a romp of a ride! It’s a short little adventure tale that packs in a lot of action and lore within a limited page count. While I enjoyed the dragon lore we got in the first entry (and could have wished for a bit more of it here), I also liked the shift into a more Greek-inspired tale. Adventures through the land of the underworld are always a good time, and this one tied in nicely with some of the events and reveals at the end of the first book.

Like the first book, I enjoyed the way the author played around with storytelling format, imbedding numerous folktales throughout the story through different perspectives. And, like the first book, I was surprised to find that some of these entries were almost my favorite parts of the entire book! Not that I don’t enjoy our main characters and their story, but given the short length of the story, there’s isn’t a lot of complicated character arcs to be found there. Which isn’t bad, but it also means that I wasn’t heavily invested in them either. I enjoyed following their tale, but I also enjoyed simply learning more about this world. And, of course, I loved the cat dragon. Was it perhaps a bit of a bone throne to fantasy-lovers? Sure. Did I mind it at all? No, no I did not.

Overall, this was a fun duology. It didn’t break any barriers within the genre, but it was also the sort of beach read fantasy that I think will appeal to many readers who want to escape on a fun adventure but not commit to a massive tome. Fans of the first book will likely enjoy this one, and I definitely recommend this duology to all fantasy readers looking for a fast-paced adventure tale following two fantastic leading ladies!

Rating 8: Adventure, romance, and a dragon cat, what more can you want?

Serena’s Review: “The Stars are Dying”

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Book: “The Stars are Dying” by Chloe Penaranda

Publishing Info: Bramble, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: In a world abandoned by the celestial guardians and left to suffer a tyrant king’s reign, all Astraea knows is safety in seclusion. With fragmented memories of only five years of her life, she’s determined to discover more about her past, even if that means fleeing the cruel arms that hold her safe from the wicked vampires rumored to roam the land.

But when Astraea stumbles upon the mysterious Nyte, she soon realizes determination alone isn’t enough to guard her heart. He lingers like the darkness that expands between the stars, and soon she discovers her captor’s wicked means of control weren’t based on a lie to keep her under locks after all. In her desperation, Astraea accepts Nyte’s help before she can decide if she might have sold her allegiance to one of the bloodthirsty beings the people of her world fear.

Once their bargain is struck, Astraea’s chance to escape comes in the form of accompanying her best friend Cassia to the King’s Central. There on royal territory it’s the centenary of the Libertatem, a succession of trials hosted by the king in which five human lands compete for a cycle of safety from the vampires seeking blood, claiming souls, and savaging after dark. So when tragedy strikes, Astraea must decide if taking the place of a murdered participant for the safety of her kingdom is a ruse is worth dying for, or if protection—and the answers to her past—really are her strongest desires.

Review: I was definitely excited when I saw that this book had been picked up by a traditional publisher, Bramble. I’ve had some good luck with Bramble’s choices (Carissa Broadbent is a new fave by far!), and there was a lot of positive hype around this book, including it being picked by a book box I subscribe to that also has been hitting it out of the park recently. So, with many good signs pointing to a great reading experience, I eagerly dove in once I received my ARC copy!

Unfortunately, all of these positive indicators let me down a bit. But even though the book didn’t work for me, I can see why it has the hype that it does. There is a lot of strong potential here, especially given currently popular tropes and read-alike authors whose names get thrown around a lot as comparisons. The writing would also veer wildly, but when it was at its peak, it could by lyrical and whimsical in a way that I think appeals to a lot of romantasy fans.

It’s also notable that one of my primary gripes with this book has to do with its use of a character type/arc that I’ve read in another book recently that managed to pull it off where this one did not. I didn’t review “When the Moon Hatched” on the blog, but I read it last spring and was, frankly, a bit surprised by how much I liked it. I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler, but the main character’s arc revolves around her identity and who she may have been in a long-lost life. It’s a tricky concept to write, but that book managed to pull it off where this one took a very similar approach and failed. I think the difference all comes down to the execution of this main character and the type of personality/role they are assigned within the story. In WtMH, we had a main character who was action-oriented, violent, a sheer force of nature. The slow reveal of her past is one that is actively pushed against; she has a complete personality and history as it is, and much of her story is trying to reconcile who she is know with who others see her as.

Here, we have…not that. I do think this book set itself up for a much harder challenge by making the main character a victim of abuse as well. This sets her up to be an incredibly passive, withdrawn character for much of the book. Yes, I understand that the author is trying to show the ways in which learned helplessness is a survival technique, but for the story itself, it leaves readers following a character who feels profoundly uncurious and unmotivated to engage with the mysteries swirling around her. Things are ostensibly happening (there was a lot of “plot? what plot?” throughout the first three quarters of this book), but she is such a passive character, that it was incredibly frustrating to feel stuck in the wake of her inaction and seeming uninterest.

I also felt like there was zero chemistry between her and the romantic lead. Again, we have a character here who is aware of her past, so the book neatly side steps the need to create the bond between them. Instead, readers are simply told it’s there. It’s almost like insta-love in that way. Sure, we’re meant to understand that these two have a bond that was established before, but as we never saw it and see no work to re-establish it in a natural way here, it instead feels the same as insta-love: unearned and lacking any true foundation built up on page.

And while there were moments of strength in the writing, I did struggle with it more often than not. Right from the start, I found myself having to re-read pages to try to piece together what the author was trying to convey. Just because words sound beautiful together, doesn’t mean they actually make any sense to read. What am I meant to be picturing? The plotting and pacing also left much to be desired. Due to the passive main character and the lack of any real action, the book feels like a slog to get through for much of the first half. Things do pick up towards the end. But even here, I was incredibly frustrated by what we were given, or, more notably, not given. Almost none of the mysteries surrounding our main character were revealed. I still know next to nothing about who she was five years ago and how she got back.

Overall, this was a fairly frustrating read. I do plan on giving the second book a go as I have already requested it, but this book did set that one up for a steep climb to any sort of enjoyment. Perhaps readers who enjoy more passive main characters in romance novels may enjoy this, but as it stands, I think there are better examples of this sort of story out there. We’ll see how the second book wraps things up I guess!

Rating 7: While there was potential in the basic premise, the passive main character was difficult to follow and the insta-love romance frustrating to read.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Stars Are Dying” isn’t on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on October 2024 Most Anticipated Romance Releases.