Usually sequels are very picky for me, more often than not, I would pick up the first book, like it and then not be even remotely interested in the sequel (even in a duology) but this one has got to be one of the most fascinating, fast paced, plot twist after plot twist book sequel I've ever read. I really enjoyed Six of Crows for them traveling and having a heist not in Ketterdam but I really enjoyed this one because it was rooted in Ketterdam and was less confusing in terms of visualization.
Love love love it!
Perhaps even more than Six of Crows but only time will tell :)

This was so good holy crap.

Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book
I have bumped this down to a 4 from a 4.5 after further thought.
Τhis was a very wonderful sapphic novella reminiscent of one of my favourite Greek myths, that being the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Unfortunately, while this was a fun, short read, I would have longed for it to be longer. Underhill creates this incredibly interesting world with witches and princesses and destruction (or so everyone thinks) but doesn't really build on it. Had it been a non-established relationship, perhaps the Teagan's quest to save Cress might have been more believable, might have made me believe more in the power of their love. We do get flashbacks which help understand how the couple met and what led to Cress leaving for the Shadow Realm and Teagan following behind. There is a spoiler section, feel free to scroll down past it for the rest of my thoughts.
In addition, for a being as feared as the Shadow Princess, her story arc fell sort of flat.
**Spoilers ahead**
I really thought there would be more to the Shadow Princess and their deal instead of just her (Shadow Princess) having a very selfish ruler of a husband and her not wanting to be his crown jewel and therefore she gets her revenge by putting this whole Shadow Realm between her and the other people of the world. Also the deal? Her saying that T and C can't touch each other and then showing up at the end and then one of them saying "you only said it for so-and-so road' was a bit of an easy win.
**End of Spoilers**
I think this novella would have benefited from seeing parts of the journey from Cress' perspective and part of it from Teagan's. In result of the 3rd person POV centering on Teagan, I didn't feel much connection to Cress and while I could see that Teagan did love Cress, I wanted to see that same love, that same feeling from Cress as well.
I think that is all I can think of for this novella. This was a fun short read, as mentioned before and thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC.

4.5 final rating

So good!!!

Oh my heart
Rtc

Following Anya who grew up on a farm in Russia, the reader is met with a cast of characters and a wonderfully built world inspired by Russian and Finnish folklore. The found family trope is something that slightly appears in this book: an array of characters meet up to protect Anya from the Darkness, a group of magicians and other mythological creatures that want to take Anya to their side because she is a very powerful shamanista.
I especially liked how Anya was referred to as a shamanista
I really enjoyed all the references to the Russian folktales and folklore because I knew what and who the story talked about! I really enjoyed that the author not only added russian and finnish folklore but also creatures from Greek mythology such as the "thanatos" and the "keres" which were interesting takes on these myth creatures. The book really kept me on the edge of my seat and the characters are very well built out. The different romances, with their different histories and all their friendships were an equally nice addition. I found myself really rooting for all the romances which does not happen very often, especially with more than one couple. Overall a really wonderful and fun book.
**Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of the book**

A Dragonbird in the Fern is a story about a girl who has to find her sister's killer before the sister (who has turned into an "Earthwalker", a sort of spirit that hasn't moved on) becomes more violent (as Earthwalkers become the longer they stay on the side of the living and not move on) as well as marry the king her sister was supposed to (before she was killed) and figure out a whole new language along with all the new customs and traditions. Something I really enjoyed about this book was Jiara's dyslexia. She has always been made to feel stupid because she couldn't read as fast as her siblings but she never lets that discourage her. In fact, she figures out an important piece of information about her sister's killer despite her dyslexia.
Another thing that I really liked was that the reader comes to the same suspicions as Jiara as to who the killer is even though a lot of evidence, especially people defending the person/not entirely understanding Jiara because of the language barrier. It does end up the person Jiara thinks it is which was a good sort of conclusion to that question.
Lastly, I really loved the subtle, lovely relationship between Jiara and Raffar. Yes, Raffar was meant to marry Jiara's sister but honestly, I was rooting for both of them throughout the whole book!
I really loved the fact that Jiara has dyslexia and the subtle sapphic couple hehe. The beliefs were interesting and that plot twist at the end-
This was a really fun fast paced book that I highly recommend!
**ARC was provided through NetGalley**

So, how do I start this...uh...gimme a second.

I heard all the hype about this book.
1920s Shanghai...Romeo and Juliet retelling...the author is literally a uni student as well as a bestselling author...Chinese Juliette and Russian Romeo...slow burn...enemies to lovers...
I heard it ALL.
I was convinced from the start really but my library didn't have a copy yet so I either had to wait ages for an e-book OR I could spend money and buy it.
I did the latter. And oh boy am I glad.
I was in a reading slump when I first started this book so it felt slow and tedious to read (at that point, all books did because despite reading books on and on, I still felt like I was just in such a slump) so I put it down temporarily and I focused on my other books.
Y'all I am going to scream about this book till the end of time.
First off, the White Rose gang. Something I am incredibly picky about are Russian characters in a book. These were perfect.
The reason I say this is the author used the correct last name ending for the different characters. Roma's, obviously a guy, last name is Montagov. Alisa's, his sister, a girl, last name is Montagova. The correct ending! And I cannot stress this enough!
I really loved the Russian words thrown in because I actually understood them haha. Re: the word "chudovishe" which means monster. Also Roma calling Juliette "dorogaya" had me in my FEELS. Dorogaya means dearest btw.
I can't exactly comment on the Chinese representation but I did enjoy Gong's representation of being Chinese (or simply Asian) in America/The West and then coming back home and feel alienated in a different way. I think, no matter where from Asia you are, that is something that Asians who come to "the West" all feel. That they are obviously different and are often made fun of, either for their looks, their language, their food or their name. And then if we ever go back home, relatives might make fun because you are now too "westernized". But I think that is a conversation for another time.
I loved the allusions to Romeo and Juliet even though the play definitely isn't my favourite from Shakespeare (Macbeth still remains superior) and I enjoyed guessing which characters from this book lined up with the characters from the original play.
I also got an ARC of Our Violent Ends which, I believe, comes out in November (not too long from now actually) and I read like the first two chapters and let me tell y'all...

Really fun to be back in this world! Clark is for sure a very talented author!
Full review to come!