andat's Reviews (467)

While Red Rising took a minute to get started, Golden Son does not. Immediate carnage with no chance to breathe between pages. In a 1-2 sucker punch Darrow/Reaper is confronted with a loss of magnitude for those under his command. All at the hands of the revenge-seeking Bellonas. (Mama Bellona giving off those strong narc vibes with that whole heart on a platter thing. Therapy, my dudes, it’s a thing. I beg you.)

And the hits keep on coming. Mustang is now on the arm of Cassius (that bitch, how could you). Our poor Reaper who can’t quite pull off the win in successive attempts to win his master’s favor, now lives on the edge of obliteration by the Sovereign, highest noble of the Society. What to do, what to do? Only the craziest harebrained idea, of course! Start a civil war. 

Where Red Rising was chaotic energy and action, the temperament of youth and brashness; Golden Son is the intelligence of plotting and masterful double backs that is political maneuvering for power. It’s elegant, brutally violent and beautiful in its craft. Once again, Pierce Brown rips everything you thought you knew out and stomps on it in the last 100 pages. Damn. I did not see that coming. 

This one took me a second to get invested, but boy does it take off! The story opens with a bartender who used to do hero stuff, but is now a jaded and sarcastic bar owner. Quips fling at you right and left, and you get an idea of Jim’s interaction with the world including his long abandoned hero dreams as Lode. (The scene with the waitress and the special dessert he uses to deal with rude patrons- chef’s kiss!)

Yeah heroes are great and all, until they aren’t. About halfway, we get to the meat and the action. Jim is talked into finding out what really happened after his sister and hero partner, Lock was asked to join the Spectrum and died under mysterious circumstances. It’s soon revealed that the invitation Jim received along with many other hero hopefuls was not in good faith. Win or die, there’s no other choices.

The flow is fast, the banter is hilarious and you can’t help but get sucked into the story. The inner monologues are peak.

And that ending… Daaaaaamn. Archer Thorn sure knows how to leave you hanging.

Thank you to Book Sirens and Everwatch Books. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Huge thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. 

The book’s premise is simple. What if you could share a meal one last time with someone you’ve lost? What would you do for that one last meal?

The first 20 pages of this I knew it was going to hurt in the best way. I knew there were going to be tears. And there absolutely were, in the best way possible. This book is beautiful. The loss in Konstantin’s life drives him to what makes him unique. A way to bring back the dead for one last meal, so the living can heal and let go. It’s the Aftertaste that brings your soul (and theirs) to peace. Or does it? Everything has a cost, even Aftertastes. Are you truly willing to pay?

I mean, damn. Right. In. The. Heart.

I tell you, I never ran to preorder this book faster. This belongs with the precious few others that are in the “change your life after you read” category. And this one? It’s skyrocketing to the very top. 

Run, don’t walk and get yourself a copy on May 20. I tell you, no…I guarantee you will not regret it. 

Huge thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Be forewarned, this sucker is 500+ pages. For a YA novel, that is a chonky book. And it’s the first of a series as well. This one took me a minute to get into. We start into a prologue from a cat’s point of view of the pharaohs and witnessing a divine birth of triplets. From there we jump to the triplets at 17 on the verge of attending the festival of Bast. 

We get other narratives in the subsequent chapters painting a picture of what life is like in this world modeled on ancient Egypt. Right now my absolute favorites are Neff and Karim. I love how both of them are starting to weave into the larger thread of the story. Ah, and Rae!

This story is incredible and sweeping. It marries together the magic of Egyptian gods and goddesses, palace intrigue, rebellion and human nature to be better. It’s written in such an engaging g way that you can’t help but feel you are IN the story. And that ending. My god, that ending was chef’s kiss perfect. Stunning!

I will definitely be getting a physical copy when it releases on May 6 and reading the rest of the series! 

I was over the moon to find out Killers of a Certain Age had a sequel. Instead of ladies who lunch, we have mavens who murder and I LOVE it! The team is back together again on a small budget, off the books, attempting to find a Russian gangster that emerges from their past and a mole in the Museum organization. This one is an action-packed, hold your breath and curse out loud pace. We have double crossing, relationship drama, globe trotting super spy works, and a whole train adventure in over 300 pages. Like seriously, my heart is still racing. One hell of a fast read that won’t let you down!

Huge thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

We waste no time launching right back into Gravesdown Hall and our favorite heir, Annie. The mysterious fortune teller Peony Lane (the same one that gave a ticking time bomb to Aunt Frances) finds her way to Annie, offering another fortune and mystery to solve. This time it’s the car crash that took three Gravesdown lives and gave Ford the family fortune.

Just as Annie begins delving into the mystery of the crash, Peony Lane is murdered…in the same room as Annie and her best friend, Jenny are sitting. Who wants Peony dead, and why? 

This book is incredible, almost better than the first! It’s twisty, weird, layered, tangled, and all about the human condition. We finally get answers to some of the mysteries introduced in the first book, and left with an unanswered question at the very end. Wonderfully enjoyable read!

I wanted to like this but I felt like I got plopped into a world I should have been familiar with and wasn’t. It made me feel like I needed to catch up and I couldn’t. The premise is great, but I needed more world-building and background to connect with the story. There were so many names and things within the first chapter that I struggled to understand what was happening. I want to connect to the world, tell me more about it! Writing style came across clinical and unemotional, characters felt flat and boring. 

Many thanks to Book Sirens for the opportunity. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a weird one. Dark academia, witchcraft, mental health issues and what could be described as unhealthy relationships have the main themes here. The death of her girlfriend and subsequent institutionalization has made Felicity’s return to Dalloway rife with landmines. She’s seeing things in the woods, convinced her ex is literally haunting her and pushing limits with her dorm’s newest resident Ellis. Ellis is mystery personified. She’s smart and dangerous, willing to trample over any and all boundaries in the name of research for her next novel. Their relationship gives toxic a new meaning, Ellis preys on Felicity’s vulnerabilities and pulls her into dangerous games. It’s twisty and dark, and you want to shake Felicity by the shoulders and yell at her to run for the hills. Having the benefit of age behind me, I can see that all of Ellis’ behaviors are ticking the box for unhinged, but late teens / early 20s me would be enamored of her confidence and mysteriousness. I 100% would have been sucked up into her orbit. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. You can’t look away and you really want to see what happens!

Side note: I saw some of the flack for how the author depicted PoC that was in the early reviewer copies, but seems to have been revised for final publication. I am not seeing the interactions described in earlier versions in this hardbound copy. 

What did I just read? It’s like Ninth House, The Craft, and Mean Girls had a baby. An incredibly unstable baby. I am at a loss for words.

Thoughts while reading this:

WTF is gun powder tea?

Is Ava real? Are the tiny women real? And why are they tiny?

The tiny people that live off of sugar…so toddlers?

Samantha = Fairuza Balk

If they do the light as a feather bullshit, I’m out

Where can I find the kitten crown dress?

Note to self: get a drink me flask 

Ava is a ghost isn’t she. Or a hallucination. Got to be. 

I kinda want lace gloves

How did she get away with no work on her thesis in an entire semester and still graduate- I call bullshit

If this is an allegory for mental illness I will scream

Omg a neck brace. Regina George much?

What just happened? Is that IT!?

I don’t know if I liked it, loved it, or hated it down to its paper particles. I am traumatized. That’s it. That’s the review. (Sorry?)

How can you not get taken by the opening line in this book, “Father told me I’m broken.” It’s a hell of a start, that’s for sure. 

It’s a sweeping tale with bone magic at the center, engraving commands onto bone to create constructs. There’s some political intrigue, classism with a side of rebellion, and some competition between the emperor’s daughter and his foster son. 

But really. This book belongs to Mephi. Mephi and Jovis 100% stole this narrative and took off running.