blewballoon's Reviews (763)

I really enjoyed The Drowned Woods, so I was confident I would like this and I wasn't wrong. I think I might have liked The Drowned Woods a little better, just because it spent a little more time with more characters while this one is very heavily focused on the main two and their adventure. I do kind of wish neither book had a romance, but it's not because the romances were bad at all. I just think I wasn't in the mood for a romance element, but the romance is fairly minimal anyway. I highly recommend either of these books if you like T. Kingfisher's writing, and visa versa. Both authors do fantasy stories and character journeys in a way that is satisfying but also easy to digest. I also recommend any audiobooks narrated by Moira Quirk, she's excellent. 

Overall this was good. I enjoyed the spooky murder mystery with ghosts. I liked death as a character and

would have been obsessed with his relationship with Signa as a teenager, but as an adult I worry about things like a huge age gap and lack of common ground.

I wish we had gotten more of Signa using her unusual abilities but I can understand why they needed to be limited. There were plenty of red herrings with the murder mystery, so it wasn't too easy for the reader to solve. I do wish this wasn't a series, I would have preferred to have

everything wrapped up at the end like it was going to be, before the cliffhanger happened.

But I could see that the author wanted to do more with the characters that had been set up. I'm not sure if I'll read any sequels. This book sort of reminded me of The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause, although the plots and setting are very different. 

I listened to this on audiobook. I've said it before but Moira Quirk is a treasure and breathes so much life into the audiobooks she narrates. The book itself captured me immediately, which I didn't expect. I normally have to force myself through the first hundred or so pages before I'm properly invested. The story feels like a fleshed out fairy tale. There is action, adventure, heist stuff, an adorable dog, lore, and magic. I loved it, it's exactly what I want in a fantasy book and right up there with my favorites like Nettle & Bone. 

This was a solid fantasy epic with interesting world building, creative technology, magic, and creatures. The fight scenes were exciting. There were a lot of compelling characters, although the two mains often made decisions that I didn't like. I appreciated how gender neutral the entirety was, with the grim poverty and violence it was nice that at least there wasn't any sexism or misogyny.

I hated Kit, her influence probably brought down the story for me more than it should have. I liked Yora so much more, and I was sad and disappointed that we weren't going to get more of her story and development. We never found out who was leaking rebel information, either.

I will probably pick up the next book, but I won't rush for it.

I think I enjoyed this as much as Pride and Prejudice. I love a friends to lovers romance, so that aspect was great for me. I thought the insufferable characters were less insufferable than some other Austen novels, and the quirks of characters were more endearing to me than annoying. Miss Bates never annoyed me, I just loved her. My only complaint I think is with the classism, but that's a product of the time.

This wasn't for me. I do like cheesy romances very much, but I think I prefer them more grounded and relatable. I think if you're looking to escape into the world of very rich celebrities and having their outfits and food described to you in present tense first person, you will love this. The writing is not bad and the characters have just enough substance to root for. 

I liked a lot of things about this. The subjects of death, grief, family/found family and self worth are all touched on. The characters were colorful and diverse. The cozy tea shop setting was welcoming. I am not sure I liked the ending, I feel like it maybe undercut some of the other messages in the story.

I feel like bringing Wallace back to life is hard to justify, and conflicts with a lot of the conversations about the meaning of life and death. If The Manager can just bring people back, then death doesn't have the finality and weight that it should. Also, if any future ghosts/husks found out about Wallace it could completely ruin their own acceptance of death. The epilogue with Hugo's grandfather and dog going through the door was one of the most powerful parts of the book for me. I do think it made sense for Wallace to stay behind to help Hugo in place of Nelson, but I think it would have made more sense for him to do so as a ghost.

My biggest complaint is that I found a lot of the dialogue kind of cringe and I felt like conversations went on for too long or were redundant. This book probably could have been 50 pages shorter with lots of dialogue cuts and the themes and messages might have had more emphasis.

This is still great because it's Jane Austen. The writing is excellent. The characters, though, are all mostly insufferable, and the story is just so long.

I may have enjoyed this more if I had not just read The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow, which was pretty much exactly what I wanted from a Pride and Prejudice spinoff novel. This novel takes a darker and more modern tone with the subject matter it discusses and the type of language it uses. I had a hard time sympathizing with Anne and understanding her character because she spends what feels like the majority of the book in a contentedly drugged stupor. It's especially frustrating because she has such a uniquely privileged position and it takes forever to feel like she even begins to grasp that. The lgbtq+ aspects of the story were the most compelling and interesting. Many of the characters feel like props, with their motivations and personalities unclear. Apart from Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Colonel Fitzwilliam, Darcy, and Elizabeth, there aren't many characters involved from the original Pride and Prejudice story. Darcy and Elizabeth only play a very small role. 

If you are a naturally outgoing and socially adept person, the first part of the book may be painful for you as you try to understand and sympathize with how Mary handles social interactions. That being said, I really enjoyed this book. I loved watching her learn and grow. I felt the tension and injustice of her struggles. As a historical fiction romance, it works very well. It also succeeds as a Pride and Prejudice companion. The tone and subject matter feels like a Jane Austen novel, but less verbose and with less commentary from the omniscient narrator. You get to see some parts of Pride and Prejudice from Mary's perspective, but you also get to go beyond that and see further into the future. The characters from the original story feel like themselves, and it's lovely to hear about them after the happily ever afters.