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776 reviews by:
bebocarrick
A sincere thank you to the author for providing me a ebook of this book for an honest review. This does not reflect on my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.
I truly enjoyed some aspects of this book, particularly reading about the author's writing process at the end, but overall, it felt pretty underdeveloped. I wanted to grow more attached to characters, understand their backgrounds, and understand the reasoning/motives behind each of their actions, but I ended the book feeling like I heard snatches of a conversation and am left trying to piece together what was said from the pieces I heard.
Because this is a novella, the constant perspective shifts and introductions to new characters felt too fast and jarring. I think if these chapters were expanded and the reader were allowed to understand each character more, these shifts would not be so jarring. The plot also was quite predictable, which, when combined with my lack of knowledge about the characters, left me uninterested and not wanting to continue. The dialogue also felt rather stilted and artificial. Overall, I was reminded of the movie Werewolves Within, which like this book, is a fun story, but still spreads itself very thin with too many characters and an easily predicted plot.
One thing I did greatly enjoy was the more action oriented fight scenes. Out of all the scenes in this book, these are the ones I liked the most and that struck me as the most unique. As previously stated, I also enjoyed the end portion that spoke about the writer's process, because even though I was not the biggest fan of the result, learning how writers come up with their ideas and what inspires them is always a treat.
I truly enjoyed some aspects of this book, particularly reading about the author's writing process at the end, but overall, it felt pretty underdeveloped. I wanted to grow more attached to characters, understand their backgrounds, and understand the reasoning/motives behind each of their actions, but I ended the book feeling like I heard snatches of a conversation and am left trying to piece together what was said from the pieces I heard.
Because this is a novella, the constant perspective shifts and introductions to new characters felt too fast and jarring. I think if these chapters were expanded and the reader were allowed to understand each character more, these shifts would not be so jarring. The plot also was quite predictable, which, when combined with my lack of knowledge about the characters, left me uninterested and not wanting to continue. The dialogue also felt rather stilted and artificial. Overall, I was reminded of the movie Werewolves Within, which like this book, is a fun story, but still spreads itself very thin with too many characters and an easily predicted plot.
One thing I did greatly enjoy was the more action oriented fight scenes. Out of all the scenes in this book, these are the ones I liked the most and that struck me as the most unique. As previously stated, I also enjoyed the end portion that spoke about the writer's process, because even though I was not the biggest fan of the result, learning how writers come up with their ideas and what inspires them is always a treat.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The things I loved about this book I LOVED and the things I hated about this book I HATED. It was a more positive experience than negative, but damn, there were some things I could not stand. The narration was stellar and I have no complaints in that regard.
I'll start with the positives:
1. The world building: I ADORE this world. The steampunk/vampire/cozy tea vibes were immaculate, as well as the recognition and effects of colonialism in this world. I really liked the idea of the vampires in society being less noticeable than your usual vampire and that they were both a respected and a feared social class. The descriptions of Spindrift were so fun and intriguing and it's a place I would LOVE to check out. The idea of the masked rulers was also very cool and unique.
2. The plot twists at the end: I like a good cliffhanger ending on occasion, and this book did that well. I enjoyed the various reveals at the end and found the tying together of Flick, Jin, and Arthie's storylines quite satisfying.
Now onto the negatives:
1. The characters: oh god. I must say, it has been a while since I have read a book and disliked every single character, especially considering they were supposed to be likable. I found all of them rather insufferable, with Flick being too annoyingly naive and Arthie and Jin reminding the reader of their tragic backstories far too often. Not to mention Matteo just feeling like an unfortunate rip-off of Baldur Gate 3's Astarion.
2. The romances: I disliked this the most out of everything. The attraction between any and all parties was nonsensical to me. It felt too quick and instant, with every attempt at building up tension making me cringe. The weird ass love triangle that Arthie found herself in made me absolutely furious because of how pointless it all felt. I had to stop listening at so many points because the way the romance was written made me want to claw my eyes out. All this to say, I know I was supposed to be invested in these characters love lives, but I wasn't in the slightest, and it took a lot out of this book for me.
3. The heist: Far too much time was spent talking about the heist rather than the actual heist. The heist itself felt anticlimactic and I really wished for more. I couldn't help but to compare this book to Six of Crows, which felt far more balanced as far as planning the heist and executing it, and building the slow burn romance between characters.
Despite my mixed feelings about this book, I do want to continue reading the sequel because of the excellent set up. I also enjoyed the writing style a lot. While I'll agree with other reviewers that it is rather purple, I admittedly love some purple prose, so I have no problems with this. I do hope my issues with this first book somewhat resolve in the sequel.
Publication Date: Feb 20, 2024
The things I loved about this book I LOVED and the things I hated about this book I HATED. It was a more positive experience than negative, but damn, there were some things I could not stand. The narration was stellar and I have no complaints in that regard.
I'll start with the positives:
1. The world building: I ADORE this world. The steampunk/vampire/cozy tea vibes were immaculate, as well as the recognition and effects of colonialism in this world. I really liked the idea of the vampires in society being less noticeable than your usual vampire and that they were both a respected and a feared social class. The descriptions of Spindrift were so fun and intriguing and it's a place I would LOVE to check out. The idea of the masked rulers was also very cool and unique.
2. The plot twists at the end: I like a good cliffhanger ending on occasion, and this book did that well. I enjoyed the various reveals at the end and found the tying together of Flick, Jin, and Arthie's storylines quite satisfying.
Now onto the negatives:
1. The characters: oh god. I must say, it has been a while since I have read a book and disliked every single character, especially considering they were supposed to be likable. I found all of them rather insufferable, with Flick being too annoyingly naive and Arthie and Jin reminding the reader of their tragic backstories far too often. Not to mention Matteo just feeling like an unfortunate rip-off of Baldur Gate 3's Astarion.
2. The romances: I disliked this the most out of everything. The attraction between any and all parties was nonsensical to me. It felt too quick and instant, with every attempt at building up tension making me cringe. The weird ass love triangle that Arthie found herself in made me absolutely furious because of how pointless it all felt. I had to stop listening at so many points because the way the romance was written made me want to claw my eyes out. All this to say, I know I was supposed to be invested in these characters love lives, but I wasn't in the slightest, and it took a lot out of this book for me.
3. The heist: Far too much time was spent talking about the heist rather than the actual heist. The heist itself felt anticlimactic and I really wished for more. I couldn't help but to compare this book to Six of Crows, which felt far more balanced as far as planning the heist and executing it, and building the slow burn romance between characters.
Despite my mixed feelings about this book, I do want to continue reading the sequel because of the excellent set up. I also enjoyed the writing style a lot. While I'll agree with other reviewers that it is rather purple, I admittedly love some purple prose, so I have no problems with this. I do hope my issues with this first book somewhat resolve in the sequel.
Publication Date: Feb 20, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I think some people out there will really enjoy this book, but boy howdy, it was NOT for me. The description sounded really fun. What's not to love about a bone forest, sapphic romance, and magic schools?
Unfortunately, all of this fell so flat for me for a few reasons:
1. The writing style: the writing style felt very clichéd to me. The whole "the wolf in my heart howled" and basically all the talk about the animals in Rosamunde's heart just killed me. The language also felt way too modern for what was supposedly a medieval-ish time period.
2. The heteronormativity of the main ship in a book marketed as queer-normative: YIKES. It truly felt like a slap in the face to my lesbian self to have Shaw so clearly be masculine-coded and take the lead on EVERYTHING and to have Rosamunde be very much the feminine-coded one. For all the other likable queer characters in very queer relationships, the main ship felt like a copy/paste of a stereotypical hetero romance but just with the MMC's pronouns switched. It made me so frustrated!
3. AND FINALLY, THE MOST EGREGIOUS REASON: THE TROPEY-NESS OF IT ALL!! Maybe it's on me for not looking up a tropes list of this book before starting it. But god, this was just a heavy-handed trope cocktail that was so hard to wade through in order to get to some good bits. For those who wish to know, such tropes include:
-fake dating
-fated mates/bonding (also wayyyy feels like this world low-key punishes single people, like bonding is the end all be all? Super irritating as well)
-enemies to lovers
-"I'm not like other girls"
-Hella miscommunication
-school bullying
I honestly probably missed some. One or two of these wouldn't be so bad, but all of them? I truly almost turned off the audiobook in chapter one.
I find the idea of the bone forest very intriguing, and that is the ONLY reason this book is getting 2 stars instead of 1. The audiobook narration was also very nice. I will definitely not be reading the next book because getting through this one was such a pain. But again, I do think there are some folks out there that will eat this UP.
Publish Date: Feb 27, 2024
I think some people out there will really enjoy this book, but boy howdy, it was NOT for me. The description sounded really fun. What's not to love about a bone forest, sapphic romance, and magic schools?
Unfortunately, all of this fell so flat for me for a few reasons:
1. The writing style: the writing style felt very clichéd to me. The whole "the wolf in my heart howled" and basically all the talk about the animals in Rosamunde's heart just killed me. The language also felt way too modern for what was supposedly a medieval-ish time period.
2. The heteronormativity of the main ship in a book marketed as queer-normative: YIKES. It truly felt like a slap in the face to my lesbian self to have Shaw so clearly be masculine-coded and take the lead on EVERYTHING and to have Rosamunde be very much the feminine-coded one. For all the other likable queer characters in very queer relationships, the main ship felt like a copy/paste of a stereotypical hetero romance but just with the MMC's pronouns switched. It made me so frustrated!
3. AND FINALLY, THE MOST EGREGIOUS REASON: THE TROPEY-NESS OF IT ALL!! Maybe it's on me for not looking up a tropes list of this book before starting it. But god, this was just a heavy-handed trope cocktail that was so hard to wade through in order to get to some good bits. For those who wish to know, such tropes include:
-fake dating
-fated mates/bonding (also wayyyy feels like this world low-key punishes single people, like bonding is the end all be all? Super irritating as well)
-enemies to lovers
-"I'm not like other girls"
-Hella miscommunication
-school bullying
I honestly probably missed some. One or two of these wouldn't be so bad, but all of them? I truly almost turned off the audiobook in chapter one.
I find the idea of the bone forest very intriguing, and that is the ONLY reason this book is getting 2 stars instead of 1. The audiobook narration was also very nice. I will definitely not be reading the next book because getting through this one was such a pain. But again, I do think there are some folks out there that will eat this UP.
Publish Date: Feb 27, 2024
This book will live in my mind for a long time, maybe forever. I feel very grateful to have read something so beautiful and enlightening.
It was so good and healing to read mystic/religious texts from queer people throughout the ages, and I want to read more from so many of the authors featured! The introduction was also an incredible intro to the relationship queer people have with the Divine, despite so many people who want to deny or crush it.
This is a wonderful text for those looking to explore queerness and faith (of all sorts), and truly could be used as a little queer prayer book if one so wishes.
It was so good and healing to read mystic/religious texts from queer people throughout the ages, and I want to read more from so many of the authors featured! The introduction was also an incredible intro to the relationship queer people have with the Divine, despite so many people who want to deny or crush it.
This is a wonderful text for those looking to explore queerness and faith (of all sorts), and truly could be used as a little queer prayer book if one so wishes.
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