andat's Reviews (467)

Shadow and Bone was fast and action-packed. Siege and Storm moved the story along and got Alina, Mal, and Nikolai where they needed to be. Ruin and Rising, that is where Leigh Bardugo cuts your damn heart out and feeds it to you. Despite reading this series out of order I still got blindsided by the revelations in the last quarter of the book. I got slammed, thrown around, and eviscerated and here I am begging for more. Damn you, Bardugo. Why do you hurt us so good?

I’m sad to leave the Grishaverse behind. You never do capture the delight and wonder of a first read twice, and this has been a hell of a ride. 

(Also where is my Inej duology? Please? Don’t make us beg. But also we will beg.)

I was fully expecting this to start out like The Bone Season, which was heavy with backstory and world-building. Nope. This one launches you straight in and gods help you if you can’t catch up. Paige is back in the mime-lord realm and struggling against the new world order and her trauma in Sheol I. Twists and turns abound, and we get a healthy dose of Jaxson and his shifty self. This is an edge of the seat read with will she or won’t she in just about every chapter. I am thoroughly sunk in this world! Onto the next!

I wanted to like this. I was even excited for this to come out. 100 pages in and I hate it. It’s slow, it reads like a history textbook narrative and there’s no character building. And why was he so focused on their meals. Every. Single. Meal. I can’t do it. It’s a DNF for me. 

Nope. I am not ready. I refuse to accept that this is the end of the Lunar Chronicles. The last book has been filled with laughs, love, friendships, heart-stopping action, betrayal and double crosses. 

Right this instant I am procrastinating instead of reading the final 10 pages of this 824 page conclusion. I can’t do it. I can’t say goodbye. This book (and series) has been such a welcome break from reality. It gives you the right amount of fairytale sweetness to the daring adventure of the team trying to bring the rightful queen to the throne and save the world. It’s been a true joy to read this series. my hat is off to Marissa Meyer for writing this story that I didn’t know I needed. Thank you for treating these princesses like the royalty they are. 

I am not a fan of cozy anything. There are a precious few exceptions and this is one of them. Cozy space adventure was not on my radar. Becky Chambers introduces us the crew of the Wayfarer and spends time with each very unique individual. Sure there’s some adventures, but reading this in the way it’s written lets us see how the characters begin to weave together and truly form a crew. It’s not about the destination. It’s the friends you make along the way. 

I’d give this 6 starts if I could. 

“We can live for more. We can live for justice. Change. Vengeance. Power.”

Absolute. Chills. 

A screaming tribute to righteous feminist rage drives the plot of Iron Widow. Feminism isn’t passive or non-violent. It’s cold, calculating, and fighting for your right to live in a society that desperately needs you and holds you down to ensure you don’t ever find out you are stronger than they are. The theme of shaking off the expectations of the past that may have formed you to build a different future makes this book a must read. 

That ending though. Fuck. That’s how you end on a cliffhanger. 

I was promised space horror. This was not space horror. Yes there’s a ghost ship, in both senses of the word, but this wasn’t “scary” in the way that horror is typically described. The only truly gory moment (for me) was the whole eyeball situation that happened towards the end of the novel. 

That said, if this were dubbed as space adventure, or even just space mystery, I’d be 100% supportive. It’s a solid read, with plenty of twists and turns. Even a smidge of social commentary around corporation mindsets. But if you’re looking for horror, this ain’t it.

I just…

And then…

Did she…

What the…

That can’t be the end, right? Right!?!?

Damn you, Rebecca Yarros, you know what you did. 

Look. When you decide to sit down and read the Locked Tomb series, just accept that you won’t have a clue as to what’s going on until you’re halfway through the book. Sit down, enjoy the ride, and wait for it to all come together with an incredible speed and beauty that will astound you. Will you wonder what the fuck you just read? Yes. Will you feel like you’re reading a fever dream? Also yes. Will you immediately want to read the next one? Yes. 

Nona the Ninth starts out much the same as Harrow the Ninth. With wondering what the fuck is happening. By the time you hit the halfway point the pieces are starting to pull together and we are getting a glimpse into the other side of the war. So much happens in the last quarter that I won’t spoil any plot lines, just know that Tamsyn Muir ends with her typical cliffhanger, and we don’t have a date for the final book of the Locked Tomb series.

This one was on my soft DNF/try again later list. A friend strongly recommended I give this another shot. (Yes, Bre you were 100% right!) And let me tell you, I am glad she made me pick it up again! 

Originally El was so annoying and…angry. I didn’t want to dive into a book with a resentful main character. But now I realized I read her all wrong. El is definitely cranky. At the world, at her situation, at the school and the kids in it. Which makes sense. They are all together in enclaves and she’s stuck on her own carrying some pretty heavy weight on her shoulders. And there’s that whole prophecy where she’s the greatest evil the world has ever seen. Which can really be a bit of a downer on your social life. 

This was such an underrated gem. Once I started it up again I fell right in and didn’t want to let go. (Yes, I was reading between meetings. Don’t judge me.) And the ending was quite a twist! I find myself (again) having to wait for book two to be available at the library. (When will I learn my actions have consequences?)

If you put this one down, pick it back up. If you haven’t read it yet, go read it now. I am dying to tell about this book with someone!