andat's Reviews (467)

For whatever reason, I got into my head that this was a YA book. I'm going to blame the Laura Steven's previous work, Infinite Fates for that. And not me overlooking that this is most categorically NOT YA. Not even a little teeny tiny bit. 

True to Steven's style, that opening..it is an absolute heart stomper. I knew it would be, but the vivid imagery of the entire scene makes you feel like you're in the pantry with her. That pivotal moment sets our heroine in motion... it's a wonder the poor thing made it out in one piece. My heart broke for Saffron.

I absolutely love the magic system. Magic has to be replenished once the user hits the bottom of their well. Pleasure or pain can refill magic. Which I love the concept of. You can't create it from nothing, it has to be pulled from a source and the source needs to be refilled as its used. This is so clever! (Also I loved Saff's necklace, what a beautiful concept to wear your loved ones so close to your heart. I'm not crying, you're crying. Shut up.) Pleasure fills the well up, but pain is what makes it stronger. 

There's a few parts in the beginning that felt a little rough. The f-bombs (and I do love some f-bombs) felt strangely out of place and for lack of a better term, crass? (I know I'm one to talk, but bear with me.) It was like they were wedged in, and didn't quite fit into the sentence or scene. Saff's schoolmates hadn't quite become people yet, and I had a hard time telling them apart. Except for the one with the forked tongue allegedly descended from a dragon. As we get to the 20% mark, we can see Laura Steven has hit their stride and settles into the characters and their mannerisms nicely. 

Saff is on a mission that she put herself on the path for since she was 6 years old. Suffering after the brutal murder of her parents by the Bloodmoons. An opportunity comes, with a price. She has to flunk out of special training, be publicly shamed, and spend a small bit of time in a dungeon. Easy peasy. Then she'll be able to infiltrate the Bloodmoons and have them brought to justice. Oh, and she has to hide a huge secret about herself and her abilities from everyone. Easy peasy.

Nope. Not easy. Not peasy.

Saff is queen of not picking the right choice in just about everything she does. You love her for it though because you can just see, girl is TRYING SO HARD. In an impossible situation with a huge secret to hide, she has to choose whether justice for her parents or the possibility of changing the entire future is worth her life. It doesn't help that the Bloodmoon kingpin's son is distractingly hot and oh so perfectly damaged. There are definitely some spicy moments, but nothing felt gratuitous or overly drawn out for smut's sake. The way it's worked into magic system was actually perfect. Playing the double life is tough for anyone, and Saff has a heart bigger than she should with all that trauma hanging around. (There is another element in play here, and those that read Steven's previous bestseller may guess what it is, but I won't go into detail as it could fall into spoiler territory.)

Laura Steven does an incredible job of keeping up with the pace of a high-stakes, high-risk situation tempered with some truly vulnerable and tender moments from almost her entire cast of characters. 

This is a perfect slow burn enemies to lovers to...? Well, you'll just have to read it to find out. Silvercloak hits stores July 29. I highly recommend picking up this one and getting lost in this innovative and imaginative fantasy world. 

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

This. You need this book in your life. Like, right now. If you loved Blood Over Bright Haven or Babel, this is for you. I want to scream from the highest hills in pure rage at the patriarchy as I bring it down to its knees. That is this book. 

This is brutal, this is no holds barred at the way marginalized people are treated in a medical setting. Yes, I know this is is fiction. Moreover its historical fiction. It's too close to reality. It's close to real, and that's the scariest part of it. I tore through this book in nearly one sitting. I started it at 5pm and finished by 12:30am. It is THAT good. I could not and didn't want to put it down. I am stunned, readers. Absolutely stunned. This will live in my head rent-free forever. 

Let me leave you with this. The trigger warnings in the beginning of the book are real. I strongly suggest paying attention to them. If you are able to proceedread this, I highly recommend you do. It's a phenomenal read. One that had me pausing before the last 30 pages to order my own copy of this book for my shelves.

Holy crow, that was the wildest ride I think I've read in a long while. I am just sitting here, jaw on the floor. From the first chapter, which mind you is thoroughly unhinged in the best way, it was non-stop action, intrigue and absolutely incredible world-building. I am stunned, besties. Stunned.

The gods, the priests, the villains... it's so, so much. I can't say a word without a possible spoiler. Just run, get this and read it. Buy it or grab it from the library and read it this instant. I need more people to be talking about this book and how amazing it is!

Also, I'm going to need those giant corvids as a mode of transportation like yesterday.

I mean, what is there to say. This entire series has been a whirlwind of storytelling. And she's not done yet. The way this has been woven together from the very first chapter in the first book... this is mastery. I refuse to accept this as YA. I will die on the sword over this. This is hands down one of the best series I have ever read. If you've waited to decide until reading this review of the third book, this is me telling you, dear reader, GO READ THIS SERIES!

This is the book we get to learn about the Nightbringer. His backstory, the history and his pain is in every action and word. There is deep capacity to care in him, and we get to see those brilliant bright flashes of care and love. Only to be dashed away by the casual cruelty that makes up the dark as night parts of what he is. His arc made me reconsider who are the big baddies in this series. I also never expected to cry about a villain but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

I did something different with this one for myself, in addition to getting the book from my library, I also got the audiobook. I bounced between the two when I needed to be mobile. Let me tell you, anyone that says audiobooks isn't reading is deadass wrong. I loved being able to hear the story come alive. All the voices, the accents (omg the accents in this were AMAZING) and even how to pronounce the names made this an incredible experience. Books have always been immersive for me, and I'd worried that audiobooks wouldn't let me disappear into the stories the same way. I am happy to report I had nothing to worry about. It was an incredible experience. If you're on the fence about consuming books through audio, I am here to tell you to take the jump.

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

Let me start off by saying that I adored The Book of Doors. I thought it was such an inventive take on magic and the idea of a secret library society that was determined to protect them. I was so looking forward to reading this book. It’s adjacent to the same world in Doors, existing within the same space but not a direct sequel. 

And I’m so sorry to say The Society of Unknowable Objects is not only knowable, but kinda boring. Doors had such a great hook at the start to pull you into the story. This one wanted to, but it was so “mysterious” it just came across as confusing. I was struggling to connect with the characters and the objects they were determined to protect. I think it was jumping in time between chapters but it was so hard to tell. I was lost, I was bored, and I was forcing myself to continue reading. 

I hate that this is a DNF for me. I wanted to love it, I really did. It fell flat for me. 

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

I seem to be on a tear when it comes to reading dark AI stories. But here we are…

After a disastrous chatbot as a newsletter deployment in a non-profit our main character, Octavia is on the hunt for a new job. She lands an interview and role at one of the biggest auditory tech companies on the planet. After she aces a scoring algorithm, that is. And by ace, I mean she brute force cracks it by acting like an overcompensating white man. Gee, who knew unchecked and unethical tech could all go so wrong. (Me. I knew.)

This entire novel is told in second person. It was jarring at first but I found myself immersed quickly and didn’t notice it. It’s clear the issues with tech companies, data collection, and AI are the main threads here and you can tell the author spent time as a minority in tech. The scars run deep. It has some deep philosophical moments that had me examining my own career and impact. And I learned a lot about contributions from Black innovators and writers that I didn’t know or only knew the whitewashed version of, which was pretty cool. It’s often eloquent and beautiful as Octavia struggles with grief after losing both her parents and her own sense of self. 

But. And there is a but. It’s strangely slow for being as short as it is. At the 50% mark it felt like we were getting to the wrap up and I had to double check my progress. The pacing is a little off, it felt drawn out and clunky in places it should have been picking up. The interaction with the blind old man towards the end felt out of place. Honestly, you could lose that entire interaction and still not lose anything in the narrative. And the last chapter I have serious mixed feelings about. The concept is solid but I would have loved more breadcrumbs throughout. I guessed the “twist” easily but I can’t say that is for everyone as my background as a woman in tech is a walking spoiler here. 

This is more of a nitpick than anything else. For whatever reason being this is about a big tech company dealing with DEI issues has absolutely zero mentions of any South Asian representation. CJ Farley primarily focuses on Black and white, with one fairly minor Asian character. This feels like a huge miss when discussing race in a tech environment, but again this could have been sticking with their own direct experiences vs trying to be inclusive of all PoCs in tech. 

Overall, it’s a solid read and I enjoyed it. Octavia made some dumb choices, owned up to them, made more trying to make it right. The frankness in how CJ Farley writes her feels authentic and real. I’d be interested in reading more from this author in the future. 

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

I love this book! I actually read it out loud to my entire family. It was exactly what we needed to hear during this absolutely insane time. We plan as a family to adopt more cat behaviors in our fight against fascism. Leave no tabletop adorned! No nap not taken! This pride will be well cared for and ready to help take the world back from the fascists. 

This is my first audiobook! I have been wanting to read this for ages. I adored the show (except for the last season), so of course I wanted to find out how different the source material was. And it is. Her parents have been executed in the book, not just her dad. And there was a whole storyline that wasn’t in the show with Glass. 

I am mad at myself for missing the boat on this book series. It’s fantastic! And this was such a fun departure from how I normally read with this on audiobook. I thoroughly enjoyed the immersion and the dual narrators so you didn’t zone out on the story. 

Now I have to dubs the rest of the series. My library only has this audiobook available out of the whole series. Hell of a cliffhanger, too!

I won’t lie. I was reluctant to dive back into the world with Darrow. So much war and ruin, and to be fair the last book felt sluggish. I loved the story but it felt out of place and glacial compared to the first trilogy of books. This one took until nearly 250 pages to get cranking. We get to see the weariness from our favorite main characters. The war, the political machinations, the scheming and plotting- it wears the soul down to a nub. Chaos reigns supreme, and never was it more chaotic than when Vox upends everything only to fall victim to more of the Golds and their endless 4D chess moves. 

Y’all. I’m tired. The parallels to the current issues in the US are not lost on me. But this feels like it’s all over the place. We got Red Hand, we got Ephraim and his bullshit, we got Mercury, and now we have Fa and his mythical crap (did I miss the seeds planted for this one, or did this just materialize from deep space for the hell of it?) And poor Pax and Electra feel like they’ve been nearly forgotten for most of the book so far, despite being the main plot point for most of the action. I am at a loss, dear readers. I want to love this, I do. But I’m not even to page 500 and I am wondering what in the hell is going on here. This doesn’t feel like good chaos, it just feels like too many cooks in the editorial kitchen chaos. 

I’ll continue reading. I’ve come this far but if Brown doesn’t pull a rabbit out of a hat and start weaving these together, I’ll be sending him a box of grapes. 

Okay. Seriously. A CLONE. Ffs. I can’t even…

Lysander, you little pissant. No one likes you. Gods that child is insufferable. 

I have mixed feelings on this one. It felt like a lot going on and at times, frenetic pacing. Then it would crawl along. I found myself getting bored and irritated. I’m not sure if it’s just where I am mentally or if it’s with the storyline. This felt like a lot (more than just page count).

I think I might hold off on Lightbringer for a bit. Maybe I need a break before I dive back in. 

Holy hell, this was a freaking roller coaster of a read! Wow. Everything that Salt and Sorrows needed, House of Roots and Ruin gives you on a silver platter. Pacing issues? Non-existent. Sluggish character builds? Nope. Not here. Erin A. Craig heard and she listened, y’all. She. Listened. 

We start out more than a few years down the road from where Salt and Sorrows left off. This time we are with Verity. She of the “I see dead people” vibe with the killer art skills. One of those things remains- the art skills, which lead her to a commission on the mainland for an odd family requesting a portrait of their young adult son. 

It gets weird from here, guys. Whatever you think you know, you don’t. At least not all of it. And it’s a tale to make the gods cry. 

I have only one question remaining. More, please?