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The Sleepless

Victor Manibo

DID NOT FINISH: 1%

Immediately disliked the style and main character.

Volaria

M.D. Neu

DID NOT FINISH: 33%

I prefer my magic systems a bit more defined and my sci-fi to have lots of hand-waving, this felt like the inverse of both and just didn't work for me. The world-building is fairly detailed in terms of the systems and bureaucracy around the characters, in a style which draws connections to their history (our present) as touchstones. There are a lot of visual details of actions and descriptions which give a sense of setting and specific body language, leaving room for the reader to infer emotions of secondary characters (and occasionally the main character). It's a combination of narrative styles that I've encountered before and which rarely work for me, it didn't fit in this case, so I'm stopping.

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Crossroads of Canopy

Thoraiya Dyer

DID NOT FINISH: 3%

I don’t like the tone and the focus on binary gender. It’s cool that the gods and goddesses are reborn in different genders, but I’m not excited about the world.

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A Venom Dark and Sweet

Judy I. Lin

DID NOT FINISH: 12%

This picks up with no overlap from the end of the first book. The shift from a first-person perspective only in the first one to a combination of two narrators (one in first person and one in third person) makes the events at the palace feel disconnected. The first book ended in a cliffhanger where it was uncertain whether Ning would live or die, but then when this book begins she's just fine, with very little fanfare. I also remembered very little of the plot from the first book, partly because only a few important things actually happened. The story so far feels like it has very little to do with A MAGIC STEEPED IN POISON, and it's not one I'm interested in.

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The Darkening

Sunya Mara

DID NOT FINISH: 15%

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A Crack in the Line

Michael Lawrence

DID NOT FINISH: 47%

I liked this trilogy as a kid but it's not appealing to my older self.

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The Bruising of Qilwa

Naseem Jamnia

DID NOT FINISH: 56%

It feels like it’s taking forever to get anywhere. It’s so short that I made it over halfway through but I’m not enjoying it and I keep reading other things instead of making any progress.

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The Drowned Woods

Emily Lloyd-Jones

DID NOT FINISH: 59%

This feels similar to THE BONE HOUSES in many of the ways that made it just okay for me. In particular I find myself disliking the animal companion, this time it’s a Corgi. I want the guy to be broody instead of just quiet, I have very little sense of what anyone thinks, and I’m just not having a good time, so I’m stopping.

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One Dark Window

Rachel Gillig

DID NOT FINISH: 13%

Slow to start, and not interesting enough to keep me around longer.

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Direwood

Catherine Yu

DID NOT FINISH: 2%

I don’t like the narrator nor the style.

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