One of my bookish red flags is that even though I know nothing about Arthurian legend, I still come running any time a book has any references to it at all.

I saw Sky on Fire on Netgalley and requested it immediately because of aforementioned mild Arthurian legend obsession. I'm going to be honest right away and say I did not realize this was book 2 in a series until after I'd already downloaded my e-ARC. I thought maybe I could make sense of it because it didn't appear to follow the same characters as book one (and I think it was fairly understandable without the context of the first book), but I would highly recommend reading the first book first, even if they're not listed as a series. In theory, it can stand alone, but I'm not sure that it should.
Morgan Enni is a young scientist with a secret, so it's no surprise when she catches the attention of a handful of rebels. The book starts with a quick summary of a rebellion that acts as a backstory of sorts, which is helpful in some sense. I've seen a few reviews saying they found this book to be very worldbuilding-heavy, but honestly, I felt a bit lost. Things were described, but they weren't clarified (either that, or I somehow missed it), and I'm hoping they were explained in book one because I really didn't understand the importance of gene-mages until the very end of the story. The pacing started a bit slow but was pretty quick by the end. However, I also felt the ending was a bit rushed, and all of the action was resolved in about two chapters. Again, the stakes might be higher if you've read the first book, so I don't think this book should be read as a standalone.
I thought Morgan was a very compelling narrator. She's introverted, intelligent, and innovative. I enjoyed seeing her growth as she began to spend time with those who truly appreciated her, and I really liked seeing her dynamic with Ned (especially with her being ace!). Most of the side characters felt a bit flat, but I think that a lot of them were probably developed in book one. I found the tangled web between Pendt, Fisher, and Ned to be quite intriguing, and I liked Pendt and Ned on their own, too. I thought Jonee was interesting, so I'm glad she was relevant for most of the book. I wish I had read the first book before this because I think it would have enhanced the experience.
I wouldn't recommend Sky on Fire as a standalone, but if you read Aetherbound, you won't want to miss this thrilling sequel that brings back old friends and introduces some new ones.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

3.25/5 

It is very rare that I read a book for class and absolutely adore it.

I read Annihilation for my college sci-fi class, but I think even if I had read it in my own time, I would have enjoyed it. A part of me does wonder how much my annotations played a role in my enjoyment of the novel (any time I can ramble on and on about stories in the margins and come up with elaborate theories, I tend to enjoy it more). A part of me wants to get a loan for the Kindle version just so I can upload all of my annotations to my Goodreads, but I also want to go back through my physical copy and reannotate with all I already know.

Over the past year or so, I've discovered an odd little subgenre that has quickly become one of my favorites: botanical horror. I was introduced to it by C.G. Drews, and Annihilation only reinforced my interest in it, even though I know neither of those examples is explicitly horror.

I loved the mystery aspect of the story; it reminded me a lot of House of Leaves, but 10x less infuriating. We follow the story of four unnamed female scientists on an expedition into Area X, an untamed wilderness of sorts. The narrator - the biologist - has her own motivations for joining the expedition, so I was intrigued by the unreliability of her character. I liked the complexity of the dynamics between all of the characters, too, and I definitely had way too many theories about how they fit together.

Overall, I just loved the vibes of the story. I'm a huge fan of plants overtaking humanity, and there was so much imagery throughout the book that I thought was really, really cool. It convinced me to watch The Last of Us, and it definitely encouraged me to look for more books with similar vibes.

Whether or not Annihilation is considered sci-fi can be debated, but regardless, I think it's a worthwhile read for anyone who enjoys a narrative with a mix of adventure, mystery, survival, and science fiction elements. (I just wouldn't recommend continuing the series, so you'll have to be okay with leaving some questions unanswered.)

5/5

 

Binti is the first in a series of YA sci-fi novellas that follow Binti, a plucky young protagonist with roots that resemble African cultures and mythologies.

This first installation in Binti's adventures is roughly 60 pages in the complete trilogy edition that I purchased (I have still only read the first novella), which makes it an extremely quick read to the point where it almost feels more like a snapshot or abbreviated version of a story. I didn't mind this, as the pacing is quite quick and the style itself speeds the story along.

I enjoyed the themes of alienation - fitting for a sci-fi novel - and the questions of what it means to reclaim one's history. I also liked seeing the progression of the dynamics between Binti and Okwu, and I also just enjoyed the sci-fi with vague horror vibes in general.

I've seen some reviews saying that they found the ending to be a bit convenient, and while I agree, I think the point isn't necessarily to be realistic but to portray what could be. If we can suspend disbelief about spaceships that are actually giant shrimp, surely we can imagine a future where perceived justice is delivered and elites are willing to recognize past mistakes.

I intend to finish the trilogy eventually, but focusing just on this first novella, I think it's a worthwhile read due to its short nature, reflective world, and approach to themes of alientation. 

I love carrying books like this around with me in public because my friend thought I was reading a manual on how to destroy democracies.

How Democracies Die looks at the guardrails that maintain democracies and how they dissolve when put under pressure by want-to-be authoritarians. Books like this remind me why politics just flat-out annoys me half the time, because if a large part of our current issues with collapsing democracies stems from the refusal to abide by unwritten rules because they're unwritten...why don't we just write them down? Maybe I'm an idealist (I am, in some respects) or maybe I don't understand politics (I don't 75% of the time), but these feel like issues we could solve.

As seems to be the trend with the books I've been reading for my history classes, this book requires some level of prior knowledge to contextualize the argument the book is making. Because I'm not familiar with dictatorships in Latin America, I struggled to understand what points the book was trying to make. This isn't entirely the book's fault, but it does make the information feel just a little less accessible to those who aren't also experts in the subject. Again, this seems to be a trend with a majority of historical/political books that I've read.

How Democracies Die does have a focus on Trump and failing American democracy, which means if you're looking for a less US-centric summary of dying democracies, you'll probably be disappointed with this book. It's also fairly pessimistic in outlook, which can be discouraging, and its proposed solutions feel a bit unrealistic, but I think it's an important book to read, especially with the current American political climate.

We can only hope that this book is wrong and that our democracy doesn't fall in the near future. 

As far as textbooks go, this one is actually pretty engaging. Instead of focusing on prescriptive grammar (aka telling people that they're wrong), it embraces a descriptive form of grammar that describes trends and acknowledges exceptions to grammar rules.

While some of the examples can be a bit cringey (looking at you, Chapter 17: Grammar in Social Media) or arguable in correctness, the authors explained most topics in easy-to-understand ways. There are plenty of practice sections, too, which is helpful in gauging your understanding of the text. I haven't read anything else about grammar, so I'm not sure how it holds up in comparison to other textbooks, but as it stands, I would recommend it to those who really want an in-depth look at grammar trends and sentence trees. However, if you're looking for a more prescriptive understanding of grammar, I think there are probably more fitting textbooks for you.

This book also contains sections at the end of each chapter that explain how this information can benefit educators, which I think was interesting to include as well.

Also, am I going to be good at grammar now? That's debatable, but I can draw a sentence tree, and I never want to read an excerpt from "Hills Like White Elephants" ever again. 

How Fascism Works was a...wonderful book to read right after the 2025 inauguration.

As far as summaries of fascist politics go, I can understand why some people were disappointed by the scope of the book. Each chapter focuses on a specific strategy/rhetoric employed in fascist politics, which I found helpful. The progression of points makes logical sense, and the author uses previous fascist regimes as a backdrop to provide examples for these strategies. Stanley also highlights the fascist tendencies of far-right politicians in America at the moment, which is probably why some people strongly disliked this book. And for anyone who hates Trump and the trajectory of America as much as I do, this reads as a super depressing projection of the future.

The issue I had with this book is the scope. It offers these fascist points but is often vague when explaining why people fall for them, and it also never proposes any way to counteract these tactics. Also, as someone not entirely familiar with the complete history of fascism, there are times when the book assumes you know about something and doesn't explain it as in-depth or with enough context as it could.

So while I like the fascist strategies suggested by Stanley, I think there is space to build your own arguments using these points. I wrote a paper on this book that focused on the manipulation of language in fascist politics to establish an "us" vs "them" dynamic, so I think it's possible to take the framework of Stanley's argument and build it up in a way that makes sense to you.

If you're looking for signs to diagnose a fascist regimes, this book is for you. If you want a solution, you'll need to look elsewhere. 

As a short person, I am begging authors to please stop making their characters 5 feet tall or shorter. Please. Not every ship needs a three-foot height difference.

Steel & Spellfire is a YA fantasy with elements of a murder mystery and court intrigue, and while I initially picked it up because of the Divine Rivals comp, I think it reminded me more of Kristen Ciccarelli's Heartless Hunter or, weirdly enough, Holly Webb's Rose series. I definitely think this book is more fitting for the younger audience of YA (12-15 range), but I think older teens might enjoy it too. It's fairly trope-y, and there are some details or jokes that I found a bit cringey, but overall it didn't detract too much from my enjoyment of the story.
Pandora Small is perhaps the most powerful mage of her time, but she's been raised as a weapon by her mysterious patron. Determined to find whoever holds the key to her power, Pandora poses as an Ingenue - a young woman seeking patronage - to gain access to the royal court so she can find her secret patron. Once she arrives in court, the murder mystery aspect of the plot begins, as does the romance when Pandora meets Ellis Beacon, a young guard. The plot did feel a bit slower than I would've expected for a murder mystery, but that was because a lot of the scenes still focused on court intrigue. I also felt that there was a lack of tension/suspense in some parts because Pandora's magic feels a bit overpowering, in that the only thing that could probably hurt her is herself. There were a handful of action scenes and investigation scenes that I really enjoyed, and I did like watching the mystery play out, although I don't think it was too unpredictable. However, I also don't think the twist was foreshadowed too well, and I only sort of guessed it because I'm familiar with the shape of these kinds of stories and not the actual details of the story itself. Again, I think this will work for younger audiences, but older teens might not be as hooked by the story.
Additionally, I think some of the characters pulled me out of the story because they're even tropier than the plot. Pandora is your super tiny, super plain, super powerful protagonist who has a bit of a tragic backstory; also, the first chapter of the book is titled "Literally Not Like the Other Girls," which I think sets up the sense of humor this book tries to display. Pandora wasn't too bad as an FMC, she was just a bit bland. Beacon was also your typical YA love interest in that he practically worshiped the ground Pandora walked on, which meant the whole relationship was a bit insta-lovey on his side. He had his own POV, but he read more as a love interest than an actual main character. I didn't like Imogen at first, but I grew to like her by the end. Theo was enticing as a character from his introduction, and certain parts of his backstory somehow landed him a spot as one of my favorite characters in this book. Everyone except Pandora and Beacon was a bit flat, but I didn't mind it too much because they weren't in half the scenes.
Steel & Spellfire is a YA fantasy novel with elements of mystery, romance, and court intrigue that reminded me a lot of other popular books, including Sorcery of Thorns and Powerless.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

3.5/5 

The only part of this book I liked was the foreword, and it wasn't even written by Vandermeer.

I wasn't initially sure whether I wanted to officially review Authority because I read Annihilation for class and only continued the series because I loved it so much. Does this mean that my expectations might have ruined it? Possibly. But given I'm not the only one who was severely disappointed by this book, I'm willing to guess that my reaction is probably one shared by a vast majority of readers. Long story short: if you liked the vibes/aesthetics of Annihilation and want to continue the series for those vibes/aesthetics, I would not recommend continuing the series. Look up the answers you want to know, or just preserve the mystery of book one...I just kind of wish I hadn't read this, and I'm pretending it's not canon.
One of the best parts of Annihilation was the suspense and the mystery woven throughout. Authority tried to mimic this, but so little of anything actually happened that I was more annoyed than anything. Were there mysteries? Yes. Was there suspense? Not really? I think the stakes felt incredibly low, so even when reveals did happen, there wasn't any relief because I didn't really care to begin with. We follow John - also known as "Control" - as he interrogates the biologist and tries to figure out what's going on in Area X, but the threats he faces mostly relate to the Southern Reach and the government. I know this is probably thematically purposeful, but it's incredibly boring, in my opinion, and even the ending couldn't make up for the incredibly slow storyline. I admittedly kind of rushed through the second half because I was so tired of the book and didn't want to be reading it any longer.
Also, none of the characters were as charming as the cast from the first book. Control is one of the least appealing narrators I've ever read about; he's so bland that I didn't care about his backstory or what happened to him in the slightest. I think that's true for most of the characters in this book. I know in the first one that the characters were defined mostly by their titles, and the same thing kind of happens here with some characters and their nicknames (Control, Grace, etc), but for some reason it was much less appealing. No one is really enticing besides the biologist, but no, we had to spend the whole thing in Control's head.
Some fans of Annihilation might enjoy Authority, but if the "plant horror" and mystery vibes are what you loved about the first book, don't bother with this one.

2/5 

Welcome back to reasons why I'm convinced you should never join a secret society in college.

A Mastery of Monsters is a YA urban fantasy/dark academia novel that features a secret monster society, deadly competitions, and mysteries involving missing people. Urban fantasy can sometimes be a bit hit or miss for me, but I didn't mind those elements so much in this book. Admittedly, the setting is implied to be recent, as characters frequently use terms like "rizz," "sus," and "vibes" that might make some readers cringe (especially because they're used unironically), but it wasn't too impactful on my reading experience.
After August's brother disappears and she's attacked by a monster in the forest, she must ally with the only person who might have the knowledge and the willingness to help her: Virgil, a bookworm destined to turn into a monster himself if he doesn't find someone to bond with. The story balances college social life, deadly competitions, and mystery investigations quite well. The pacing can be a bit slow at times, and the book itself is a bit lengthy, but it's overall enjoyable. I found the ending to be a bit anticlimactic, and I struggled to get a grasp on all of the worldbuilding and characters because it felt info-dumpy at times. That being said, I really did have fun trying to guess the mystery, and I was invested in the plot.
August is probably one of my favorite FMCs of the year so far. She's fiery and stubborn, but she's also empathetic, and I found her to be quite realistic. Virgil was fun too, but that could just be because I like bookworm characters. I will admit that there were a lot of names, and sometimes I struggled to keep track of who was who (I think it could've benefited from a glossary and maybe dramatis personae, especially within everyone's affiliations), but I was relatively indifferent to most of the side characters. I liked who I was supposed to like, although so many of the motivations were twisty enough that I'm still not sure who to trust. In general, I just think August's personality is something we need more of in the genre.
If you're a fan of dark academia, secret societies, or not-so-monstrous monsters, check out A Mastery of Monsters.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

3.75/5 

Sometimes what you need in life is a snappy fantasy heist novella to break up the mundane.

Firerend is a fantasy novella with one of my favorite plot types: a heist. I'm going to try not to rate it based on its form, but I really do think this would have been better as a full-length novel. There isn't really time to develop subplots with the length of this story as it is, meaning connections to characters are a bit weaker than they could be, and most of the world-building has to occur through a glossary. It's not often that I say I wish a story was longer, but I would totally have enjoyed another 200 pages or so with these characters if it meant gaining a better understanding of them.
As it stands, this novella is only about 166 pages. The first 65% or so is prep for the main action sequence, so the pacing is pretty quick. While this worked to keep my attention, I do think some descriptions felt a bit rushed and didn't allow for the reader to properly connect with the characters, which impacted my opinions on certain scenes later on. I didn't guess any of the main plot twists, but again, I think they would have hit harder if they had enough time for more foreshadowing or connection to characters. That being said, I did really like the plot, and I think the world-building is enticing. I'm interested to see how this will tie in with other parts of the series, and I'm hoping we'll see some of these characters again in the future because, otherwise, this ending is a bit unsatisfying.
Like I said, there wasn't a ton of time to get to know the characters. I really liked Allara because I'm always a fan of sister relationships, so her protectiveness over Daia immediately gained her points in my mind. I liked Auren a lot as well, though I'm not sure why. I found Nymm intriguing, but personally, she was the hardest of the main characters to connect to for some reason. I think it would have been nice to see the tensions between these characters play out a little more, but overall, I didn't mind seeing them all individually.
Firerend is an exciting start to a new fantasy series that revolves around a magical heist and characters willing to do anything to survive.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

3.5/5