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I found this book really hard to read. It was very well written and ties in perfectly with Borne. (I definitely recommend reading it immediately after Borne) In this short novella I found myself instantly connecting with our main character “strange bird”. Even though she is a biologically created and altered creature she has a consciousness and she is who we follow throughout the book.

What gave me chills and made my stomach turn is how easily people in this broken down society were willing to capture, use, toss away and repurpose her for themselves.

The way the magician treated her and took her apart broke my heart and I am actually still feeling things about it.

Thankfully we have some relief in the end and it was tied up beautifully. I look forward to three dead astronauts!

Jeff VanDermeer writes some pretty interesting sci-fi. I enjoyed The Southern Reach Trilogy and Borne was no different.

We spend the book following Rachel as she attempts to merely survive in an apocalyptic world full of altered creatures, mutant children, a giant flying bear, a magician and the “company” (who caused this nightmare in the beginning).

She’s lost her parents and she is living with Wick who was formerly a company employee. Everything changes when she finds Borne (she assumes he’s a plant) on the hind quarters of Mord while she scavenges.

This story was so weird. In a good way. But I guess a very typical Jeff VanDermeer weird. I was getting major Southern Reach vibes and kept trying to fit them together, hoping so badly they were in the same universe.

The first half or so of the book was definitely slow. Focusing a lot on Rachel and her relationships with Wick and Borne as the chaos ensues in a world outside their balcony cliffs home. I’d say the last quarter really picked up speed and I was actually wondering if we’d have answers or not before the book ended.

I’m not sure how he does it... this general eerie and creepy vibe without a lot of gorey action. It’s as though the hints and smaller descriptions are enough to create a big picture in your mind.

I recommend reading Strange Bird immediately after Borne.

So this was my first Gillian Flynn book. I snagged it at the library because it was cute, small and looked like a quick easy read. It was all of those things. It started off really interesting. The main character was well written and I found I liked her, I understood her motives and I could appreciate her honesty.

The story went from strange to creepy and when I thought I had it all figured out I was thrown for a big loop. I was instantly more interested in the story, anticipating how this story would end... and then it ended. Very anti climactic, felt like the last five pages were just thrown together and it didn’t do anything for me.

While I liked the writing and the idea of the story (and really most of the story) the end blew it for me. I give it 3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book. In fact, the closer I got to the end, the more anxiety I had over having to wait for the next book in the series.

Fantasy is a tricky genre. It either works on all levels or falls flat. There really isn’t an in between. The Blacksmith Queen worked. A badass groups of strong, witty female leads who can hold their own in a fight. Queue the war monk sister and fighting cousin. Shapeshifting centaurs, I was shipping Caid and Keely from the beginning. A soft, empathetic,
Rough around the edges blackmsith who loves all creatures great and small (including demon wolves with eyes of fire). And a Sociopathic Narcissistic sister who wants only power at any cost. I found the story had a fresh spin on fantasy elements, while still keeping true to the nature of what a fantasy story is all about.

A few things that I really enjoyed were the fight at the farm, the Smythe family will stop at nothing to protect each other. The sex scene where she honestly tried to get her pants off with one hand and then she shuffled and wiggled to try and get them them off the rest of the way, not able to and having on leg still on at the ankle. That is the most realistic sex description I’ve heard. I also really liked how truly kind Keely is. She is always making every effort she can to alleviate pain and protect people/creatures, even though it sometimes doesn’t go exactly right she still does what she feels is right. And yet she can still dish out justice when she needs to.

My only issues would be a little more world building, and more Keran! At the beginning she’s an active participant, albeit a bit groggy, but as our journey progresses she becomes more drunk, more sleepy and less involved. She did show her A game at the end but I was really hoping for more of her throughout.

This is a great starter fantasy book. The language is more “current” be the characters are relatable. Can’t wait for the next book!

The Bees, by Lalaine Paull. I honestly got this from the library solely based on the cover. It is stunning and incredibly eye catching.

My assumptions about this book were one of a few things:
A. Killler Bees
B. Dystopian society due to the loss of bees
C. A warning for current us to heed the warning about saving the bees

It was NONE of these things. It was basically as far from those guesses as possible.

With that being said I really enjoyed the story in this book. We follow Flora, a bee at the bottom of the hives hierarchy. She emerges from her cell larger, dark and standing out she works her way from lowly sanitation worker to admired and praised forager.

I looked up the facts in this book and many of them were pretty spot on. While it is OBVIOUSLY a work of fiction with assumptions about the inner thoughts of bees I really enjoyed it. I felt it often read as a David Attenborough documentary the way we followed one bee throughout her life in the hive which made learning about different positions in the hive really interesting.

The writing was really well done and I had to continuously remind myself that I was reading about bees when certain scenes played out and Flora was treated in certain unkind ways.

Overall this book was very enjoyable. I’d recommend doing some research once you finish just to see how hives and bees actually work, but it’s a really cool way to learn about one of the worlds biggest assets.

Also. Save the effing bees!

Trigger Warning was a nice buffer between books. A mix of short stories and poems it was a really easy read.

I loved the Doctor Who story the most. It was really well written and I could picture the characters exactly how they are in the show.

Overall this was a good book. I was expecting more “haunting” and scary stories, when this was actually more of a soft spook.

Steve and Lexi Brannigan are mourning the loss of their infant daughter Robin. Steve has stopped going to work, drinks a lot and drowns has grief with self pity and anger towards his wife Lexi who has taken to staying at her parents.

The creepy elements in this book were very well written and descriptive. I spent a lot of time wondering wtf was going through Lexis head during a lot of this and how they go to this point.

I felt like the ending was well done and left questions both answered and unanswered.

Was this a story of an enraged husband and father who disguised his guilt in pity and whiskey? Or is it a metaphor for the depths of grief felt when you lose a child?


I have put a request in at my local library to have more of Kealan Patrick Burke’s books brought in because his spooky style has left me wanting more!