booksthatburn's Reviews (1.46k)

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book. 

THE SCRATCH DAUGHTERS explores friendship, found family, queer identity, and the corrosive nature of hate as Sideways and her coven try to track down Madeline and get Sideways' specter back.

The worldbuilding has three sides, mundane, magical, and creepy. The mundane bits include the specificity of place which grounds this in rural Ohio, Sideways’ dads and the antique shop, and the Scapegracers still going to school while all this is happening. A lot of the magical stuff is new-to-them hexes and some backstory on Mr. Scratch’s previous coven. The creepy is everything witchfinder and Chantry, including a fucking weird tour of their house. 

THE SCRATCH DAUGHTERS wraps up several things left hanging from THE SCAPEGRACERS, the most prominent of which are Madeline’s next moves and what she wanted with Sideways’ specter. THE SCAPEGRACERS was about coming together to do witch stuff, but they did so very suddenly and this time around the cracks are showing in complex ways. There’s a new storyline embedded which deals with gender stuff, but mostly it’s an extension of the same wild ride which began in the first book. It leaves several things for later, mostly having to do with the climactic ending and assumed fallout to come. Sideways is still the narrator, and the general tone and densely syllabic style has carried over from THE SCAPEGRACERS, harshened by the absence of her specter in ways which overlap with but are distinct from dysphoria. 

THE SCRATCH DAUGHTERS might make sense to someone who hadn’t read THE SCAPEGRACERS because much of the relevant backstory is quickly explained when its needed, but a lot of the worldbuilding related to witches was established in the first book and isn’t re-explained here. It’s fleshed out in some cool ways, but that might not be enough for someone completely new to the series. For that reason (and because this is the second of three books), I recommend starting with THE SCAPEGRACERS if you haven’t already.

The main goal and driving force in the narrative is the mission to get Sideways’ specter back from the person who stole it. To that end, driven by the jagged lack of a specter (made worse as that specter is used by its thief), Sideways makes impulsive move which stress out the other Scapegracers and highlight already-existing cracks between them. The various threads are handled well, mostly driven by Sideways’ inability to sit and wait when every moment is an agony they don’t know how to explain to their fellow witches. Sideways’ depression/dysphoria/whatever-you-call-it-when-your-soul-is-missing means that the mess of tensions with the other Scapegracers is so much that it’s numbing, paradoxically making it easier for me to handle as a reader since a lot of the emotional churning is happening between the other three, and Sideways gets bits and pieces of it sporadically.

Read THE SCRATCH DAUGHTERS to get some midwestern teenage lesbian witch fuckery and revenge in your life.

GLORIOUS FIENDS is a fever dream of a book, with intense friendships between utterly relatable monsters tasked with dooming their fellow creatures for their own survival, lest they be forever tormented in their nightmares.

It explores friendship, the tension between old friends and new relationships, and outgrowing each other without hard feeling. The short format brings a frenetic energy to these themes, with each scene lasting precisely long enough to create intense emotional arcs in very few pages. 

Characterization is definitely much more prominent than worldbuilding in this. Everyone's powers seem to be what would make sense for their kind of monster but also be kind of inconvenient for how this all works. I didn't recognize all the references because I'm not a horror buff, but based on what I did catch I think most of the monsters are based on classic horror, usually with some genderbending involved (explicitly so for Mx. Hyde). My favorite is Medusa, with a use for her snakes that I haven't run into before and which definitely surprised me. 

Check this out if you'd like some sexy horror which doesn't shy away from the gloriously weird.

A mysterious enemy with a massacre-heavy army has appeared, now Kate and Curran must make a stand to save Atlanta.

As the final book in the series, this wraps up major things related to Roland, the People, Kate and Curran, Julie, Hugh, and Kate’s relationship to her magic. There’s a new storyline related to the appearance of a mysterious force which massacres whole towns in hours. This is, from one perspective, both introduced and resolved in this book. However, for anyone who read IRON AND MAGIC, this town-massacring force will be familiar but not yet stopped. 

Kate is still the narrator, much changed from the earlier books, but she’s consistent with her narration in the previous one. It wouldn’t make much sense to start here. Not only is this the final entry in a ten-book series, but the first of the Iron Covenant books takes place right before this and involves a different group of the same attackers. Someone who just read IRON AND MAGIC and wanted to know what Hugh did next might find it useful to read MAGIC TRIUMPHS, but I’d recommend reading the most recent few Kate Daniels books at least in order to get more of Kate and Hugh’s relevant history. 

The plot splits its time between Kate dealing with her son, trying to figure out who is massacring towns and how to stop them, and worrying about what Roland is up to. I’d anticipated more of a showdown between them, but as the story focused increasingly on the mysterious town massacres it slowly becomes apparent that Roland had his big battle in the last book and he lost, so whatever he does this time around will come from a different angle and not absorb as much of the plot. 

With a series this long-running there can be issues with power creep, but I think the escalation overall was handled well. They weren't "coincidentally" powerful enough to meet this newest threat, but instead have to pull together all their resources (and a few they weren't planning to ever use), and even that isn't enough on its own. Most of the new worldbuilding this time around is devoted to the mysterious, town-massacring enemy, and to baby Conlan’s emerging powers. The various members of the Pack, the People, the Witches, etc., are only briefly described because whole books were devoted to establishing them earlier in the series, and now a name will suffice to invoke them. After having teased the Druids as a reclusive group, we finally get to see some of them, which was a nice and subtle payoff. Those who live on Kate and Curran’s street get more attention, but still, this isn’t an introductory book by any stretch. It does just enough to establish how everyone is at this point, and what the new status quo is after the big battle at the end. I’m happy with how it wraps up, especially with the epilogue. I plan to read more books in this world as they come out, but this seems to be the end for this part of Kate's life, at least.

Hugh and Elara's contentious and generally toxic relationship is founded on resources and spite. At most they trust each other to be themselves, but there Elara has an advantage on Hugh because she knows his reputation and he's in the dark on her background. Their rapport slowly changes from genuine distaste to a rough but mutually desired intimacy.

This is not technically a sequel, but it does star one of the recurring antagonists from the Kate Daniels series, and takes place between books nine and ten of that series. That means it leans on a lot of worldbuilding from those books. As far as I can tell, the relevant worldbuilding and backstory are conveyed throughout IRON AND MAGIC, but I'm so immersed in that other series that it's difficult for me to say for sure. The main attraction of this book would be to know what Hugh is up to after certain events in the Kate Daniels books, so while someone could read this without having read those, they would be lacking a depth of knowledge which makes seeing this side of Hugh more meaningful. 

The story begins when Hugh, cut off from the all-consuming and reassuring nature of Roland and his magic, has been exploring his restored mortality by trying to drink himself to death or until the void inside his soul disappears, whichever comes first. After his remaining Iron Dogs inform him that they're being hunted down, he pulls himself together and strikes a deal with Elena for them to marry and present a united front, he having troops with no base and her having a castle with few defenders. A lot of the plot focuses on their power plays as Elena and Hugh have different priorities and not necessarily the same goals while modifying their base. Gradually, as the threats they were abstractly fortifying against come calling, Hugh and Elena have to work together in more than name to protect as many as they can.

I enjoyed this immensely, especially as an exploration of someone who has until now been presented as a villain. This story explains who Hugh can become outside of Roland's dominion, and it turns out that person is a complex and interesting character who has all the competence and violence I've come to expect from him, but now has reasons to direct that violence towards protection rather than desolation. The way Elena and Hugh are just pretending to be a couple and the gap between the public narrative and the private reality is explored in some depth, and I like what Elena brings to the table.

The worldbuilding leans on characterization and brutality, with few aesthetic descriptions. The major groups are the Scholars, the Tribes, and the Martials, with the Rebels generally composed of Scholars who are trying to resist the Martials. There are a few other groups mentioned, but they weren't major players in this first book, and at a certain point it matters more whether someone is a Mask, slave, Augur, or part of the Resistance. I like books which are full of plans and political tensions over scenery, so I enjoyed this emphasis on individuals and factions. 

For those who enjoy love triangles, this has an innovation on the form: Laia and Elias each have two people to choose between. As the protagonists they're of course drawn to each other, but Laia has a smoldering attraction to one of the rebels, and Elias is slowly realizing he might have romantic feelings for his best friend (the only female Mask in his generation). These tensions aren't completely resolved in this book either, leaving room for this to develop more in the next one. I like both options for each of them, and it feels like there's a genuine question over what they'll choose. For those who are a little less into such plots, it's a consistent but not overwhelming thread and there's plenty else to like.  

The plot begins with Elias and Laia on two sides of the same raid, where Laia's grandparents are killed and her brother is kidnapped, while Elias is one of the Masks carrying out the invasion. The chapters frequently overlap, with each narrator sometimes beginning their chapter by telling their perspective on an event or a slice of time which was just told by the other. Since they generally have completely different experiences, I like this overlapping style but it took a little getting used to. It made it feel more like they were each narrating what was important to them, uncaring and unknowing of what the other described. Laia asks the Rebels for help getting her brother back, and is placed as a slave to the Commandant of the Academy where Elias is. Elias was planning to escape, but is told by an Augur that the only way to actually be free is if first he stays. The rest of the story unfolds as Laia tries to get information to the rebels and survive her enslavement, while Elias tries to survive the gauntlet of challenges to be the next emperor (a title he doesn't even want). 

One thing I appreciate about this book is that in a system so controlling and overseen by (basically) mind-reading (probably) immortal Augurs who never explain their own goals, it would make very little sense for the heroes to have genuine agency over their lives at a macro level. So they don't. They don't have control over how things will go, their plans keep working out very differently than they even dared to hope, and they frequently suffer for it. They're constantly in danger and often get hurt, Laia from the Commandant's whims or Elias from the challenges themselves. When things do go well, an Augur usually turns up to tell Elias how he's done what they wanted, yet again. It's frustrating but completely in keeping with the brutality and sheer mind-fuckery of the situation. Because they have so little control, most of the plot focuses on how they feel and what they decided to do in the small moments they do have.

I enjoyed this and plan to read the rest of the series, this is an exciting and well-paced beginning to the quartet.

CITY OF SECRETS drops any coyness about being a magical cure narrative and goes for it almost immediately. Matt is dyslexic and struggles with reading, but in Talia he can read easily. It’s true that in Talia Luciano was always cancer-free, but somehow this feels more egregious to me, even though neither boy can take this “cure” home to England with them.

Ultimately I became frustrated with the strange pacing and the way this doubles down on treating the Manoush as magical, where Aurelio (a blind Manoush man first appearing in CITY OF STARS) is extra magical even for them. My original impression of the Manoush is they're the Talian version of the Romani, so their increasing role as oracles who pop in and have special powers plays into a bunch of real-world stereotypes.

I don't like Matt, I don't like how he treats his girlfriend. He spends so little time with her that I got a third of the way in and all I know is she's named Ayesha, he's jealous when she has male friends, and a little of what she looks like.

Quitting while I'm ahead, this was better as a trilogy. Georgia and Nicholas's storylines were specifically, definitively wrapped up in CITY OF FLOWERS, so them hanging around now feels so pointless. The scenes don't even focus on them when they do show up, it's just like "hey, remember characters you actually like? here they are!" I don't like that at all.

I tried for months to make it through this and I just can't do it. I don't like Rin, and I don't dislike her in an interesting way. The plot feels meandering and I don't want to read a book where I'm just trying to make it through. 

My understanding is that the arc of the trilogy is about how someone becomes terrible and willing to commit atrocities after having experienced them herself, but apparently that's not actually a story I want to read right now.

Zulfakir bonds with Fatima's fire to save her life before they know each other at all. This means Fatima's attraction, while eventually genuine, lags behind Zulfikar's bond to her, and the trajectory of their relationship resembles a political or otherwise arranged marriage where the couple become close after they're already linked. I like this and adjacent tropes, so I enjoyed their romance immensely. Because it's not actually an arranged marriage, there are some associated secondary tropes that play out less predictably in enjoyable ways. 

The female characters are complex and vibrant, even (or perhaps especially) when at pursuing contradictory aims. The Alif sisters appear often as a unit, but each of them get brief moments as distinct people outside of their connection. I was treated as a part of a similar unit as a child, and so I'm grateful that the narrative clearly does not think of them as interchangeable. There's a strong emphasis on women's rights and female empowerment, with women claiming control of their own bodies and asserting their right to take up space. These themes take into account misogynist efforts to stop them, but they are independent of what the male characters think about it. It's handled as a theme throughout with a few pointed scenes, making it obvious as a societal value with specific impacts, even if some misogynist characters think their repulsive actions will win out instead. 

Most of the male characters are less distinct, having far less space in the narrative. By the end, I got a sense of who Zulfakir and Anwar are as people, but no real sense of the rest of the men. To me, this feels like the right emphasis for this story and I'm not bothered by it, but I did want to note it (especially in contrast to how well we get to know most of the women). 

The worldbuilding is detailed, taking seriously that the various characters are part of that world. There are at least two scenes where characters who spent time living on the street give a walking tour to one of the nobility. These moments double as opportunities to show the reader even more of the city, and from a more intimate perspective. There are descriptions of clothes and food from a variety of religions and cultures, humans and djinn, making the city feel alive and vibrant. The audiobook narrator did a wonderful job, the audiobook is excellent.

The plot builds slowly, focusing on conversations between people as they go about their lives. It means that long stretches feel almost like a slice-of-life story, leaving me with no idea what the overall direction was, nor which scenes were important to the main plot. Much of the tension in the middle of the story is between Fatima and her adoptive sister, Sunaina, as Fatima has been suddenly and irrevocably changed but is unable to fully explain to her sister what happened. Even when the political intrigue plotline begins to surface, it's important but doesn't take over the narrative because no one thing is given primacy. 

I'll definitely be checking out more by this author, this is an excellent story.

“Secrets at Midnight” is part of the ongoing Psy Changeling series. I haven’t read any of the other books, but this is an erotic and well-explained introduction to the series. I can tell that some character backstories were probably the focus of other books, but the amount of detail here was enough to let me sample whether it’s a series I’d be interested in reading further. Because it fits in after book twelve, it probably has spoilers for what happens to some characters, but I’d be surprised if any of them are major. As for the plot and characters, I like Kirby and Bastian, and their story is well-paced. Based on reading this I’m adding the main series to my TBR pile. Highly Recommend.

“Magic Steals” is about Jim and Dali, two of the shifters in the Kate Daniels series. It’s set before book seven of the main series and focuses on how their relationship becomes official while Jim helps Dali find out who is magically attacking a group of shop owners. The main plot is an engaging story and the progression of their relationship is handled well. Highly Recommend.

“Lucky Charms” is a prologue to the SPI Files series, covering Mac’s first day on the job. It had a fast-paced, quippy, pop-culture-referencing style which I prefer in much lower concentrations than what is presented here. That style is consistent, which has helped me decide that the rest of the series is not one I intend to read, but I do appreciate that this let me easily make up my mind. I’m also uncomfortable with how it handles queerness, seeming to know some of the complexity of gender presentation and sexual orientation, but still feeling like the main character is disturbed by a male-presenting character who shapeshifts into a woman. Not Recommended.

“The Beast of Blackmoor” is set in the series A Gathering of Dragons, taking place before the first book. It deals with consent and sexual joy in the context of previous abuse, where a warlord is devastating and abusing the people he rules. This is a higher concentration of traumatic events per page than my normal comfort level (alternated with erotica) so I don't think I'll try the rest of the series, but it's very well done. Recommend.