andat's Reviews (467)

Huge thank you to Berkley Publishing Group | Ace for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I’m going to start out by saying that even if Mark Lawrence plagiarized Biscuit Goes to the Farm, I would still buy and read it. (In truth, I’ve preordered my copy of The Book That Held Her Heart already.) That being said, I’m absolutely over the moon to read this early and plan on sharing my honest opinions of the third and final book. 

First things first, if you’ve been sleeping on the quotes that start every chapter in this trilogy, shame on you. Go back, read them, and try not to giggle. Lawrence really pulled out the stops in this one, though. They are on a whole other level. (Including the stones to quote his own works, I do love an author with some swagger!) 

You can feel yourself hurdling through the story portals to the end. Even in the chaos, small moments of joy and laughter are beautiful here. You see the threads being pulled closed, weaving their stories together, converging on significant points through the portals. In that last leg, we get to the inflection point, the climax of the library’s/Livira’s book. 

No. Nonononononononono. Not… No. please no. 

The end is beautiful. It’s perfect. And I did not have enough tissues at the ready. Damn you, Mark Lawrence. I can’t think of a better ending than this. 

Huge thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Full disclosure, I 100% pre-ordered this book before reading the e-ARC. That was no way I wouldn’t because I adored The Tainted Cup (how could you not with that cover?!???). I also adore this author even though he made me cry over a sentient key. 

Now, that we have all that out of the way, let’s talk about book 2 of the Shadow of the Leviathan series. There are not many authors that can start a story with about bad fish in the protagonist’s stomach, but here we are. Proving once again Robert Jackson Bennett is no ordinary author (see: cried over sentient key). We start with discovering the murder victim Din has been sent to investigate is not so much a victim as parts of a victim. And by parts, we find it’s closer to parts of parts. Parts of parts of an unwelcome guest in Yarrowdale, a tax official. (Hahahah, the only two constants indeed: death and taxes.) The way the title is woven throughout the book is incredible, not just as a theme but often the mechanism for the undoing of bad actors.

It never ceases to amaze me how Bennett writes such a lush and full fantasy setting and then smacks a full Agatha Christie style mystery in the middle of it, and it works. It works seamlessly. I am completely, utterly sunk in. It’s obscene, really. Quit hoarding all the talent, man. Leave some for the rest of us. At the core, the unveiling is complex and subject to the most basest motivations of man. The beauty is the way it’s unfolded to us. 

I’d give this eleventy billion stars if I could. More Din and Ana, please! 

I feel like I see this book everywhere. I couldn’t resist the pull! Library hold list to the rescue. This book is brutal, both in its violence and its depiction of classism. I am thoroughly surprised this hasn’t been made into a series yet. It practically leaps off the page in living color, Pierce Brown excels at world- and character-building. Wow. Just wow. That was non-stop action from the first page. I am still stunned, Darrow was an absolute beast!

Huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

One small caveat: I selected this book for the book of the month club before I was approved for the Netgalley ARC. This review is of the eARC, not the printed BOtM book. 

Ok, now that we have that out of the way. That prologue! Holy shit. I am 100% sold right there. That is how you start a book! I am absolutely blown away at how good this book is! There’s just a few that come along to transcend their categories, this is without a doubt one of those rare books. Every page is a gut punch in the best possible way. It’s beautifully written and I will argue to my dying day this should not be YA, it’s too big and too gorgeous to be limited in audience. 

This is the kind of book that I will forever buy every special edition of so I can keep it close and lend it out to share the amazing story with someone new. Absolutely incredible. 

Thank you to Zibby Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this. I thought the premise was funny, but I never connected with the characters. Bud comes across as a privileged middle aged divorced white man looking for “what it all means” after a massive misstep in which he posts his own obituary to the news wire. (High Fidelity did the whole searching for life’s big meaning better, honestly.) Perhaps I’m not the target audience for this book, though. It’s not badly written, it’s just not for me. 

Huge thank you to Dark Matter INK for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank Almighty Cake, a sci-fi novel that doesn’t bury the reader in deep political landscapes. I am so unbelievably happy to a real, honest sci-fi story to dig into!

Welcome to Hibiscus, or Hib. The first pages immediately launch you into the world of Young, who’s working as a miner in a penal colony. Her crime? Trying to kill herself. Her story is revealed slowly and reluctantly not unlike Young herself. Battling with her past, flunking out of pomp training, and coming to terms with her new existence, Young has a lot of issues to work through. Everything changes the morning she’s late to work and an explosion takes out the cave her team is in, sparing her. And everything Young thought she knew was wrong, even about herself.

This world is so well-built and detailed I can’t help but feel as if I’ve been plopped down in the middle of a book series. I’m not mad about it, though. Maria Dong’s writing pulls you into the story and does not let you go. I was more than halfway through the book before I knew it. It was a single day read for me, I just couldn’t put it down. This is true sci-fi and I’m thrilled to have it front and center again!

I literally do not know how to describe this book. I happened to see it in someone else’s read list and was intrigued. A book about CPTSD that wasn’t telling me all the things I’m doing wrong, say less. I grew up in a household that would be considered abusive. I did a great deal of healing on my own, sometimes even voluntarily. This book pointed a big spotlight on parts of my life I thought I’d worked through. It didn’t show me that I had work left to do though, it showed me how far I’ve grown as a human. At times this is hard to read. It was definitely triggering, so be forewarned. What Foo suffered at the hands of her parents was reprehensible. She’s managed to come through the other side, battle scars on full display and somehow with a sense of humor that isn’t straight gallows. She’s incredible, and I am now a huge admirer. Thank you for writing a book about CPTSD that showed there’s a side to it that isn’t hopeless hot mess. 

Not even a single page in and I’m already fighting tears. The dedication page to Evan Winter’s father was beautiful. It gives you an idea of where the author was as he wrote this book, highlighting specifically the father and son relationship. 

The speed at which I tore through this book borders on obscene. It moved so fast and poured so much into Tau and Tsiora’s stories, I barely wanted to eat or sleep. Every page was packed with so much, I was in denial that the end of the book was approaching. 

There’s no way to capture everything that happens. The relationships that were built for Tau, within the scale and the remaining royalty were at the forefront. Action was not compromised, when swords clashed the fervor and detail of each skirmish was still the same high bar Evan Wjnter had set from the first novel. Winter holds nothing back in this sequel. He kills and maims with the likes of GRRM. Get attached to no one and nothing, lest your heart break.

And now I must be patient for the next book. I am not a patient person. But I suspect this book will be living in my head rent free until it’s ready.  

Barely a breath later than the ending of The Song Rising is where we pick up. Paige Mahoney, keeper of troubles long and wide, forced to flee under the cover of night. I had assumed at some point we might slow down just a hair while Paige recoups her strength and plan her next steps. Nope. Off to the races despite coming off fresh from her torture tour, she’s infiltrating all the things. 

Never in my life did I believe Paige Mahoney was 20 as I do when contemplating the sheer pace this girl functions at. (Also I might be a smidge jealous.)

We have secrets revealed, all of which chip of what Paige think she knows about the world around her. In another country, with few trusted allies, she’s got to figure out how to stop the second colony before it’s too late. 

Samantha Shannon does an excellent job of teasing out the inevitable only to turn it back at the very last second in ways you don’t see coming. We finally get to see the true meaning of Paige’s card reading. The question is whether it’s enough to break rebellion or fuel it to burn it all to the ground.