Good information interspersed with harmful rhetoric (i.e. fatphobia, "red bodies", "yellow bodies", etc.) as well as being a bit of a technical mess. So many parts of this book were both redundant and contradictory, somehow. Not to mention the odd advice, such as in your fight against your internalized white supremacy to (given you are not satisfied with your birth name) name yourself after a Black historical figure and the example given is Rosa Parks. 

While I see the good within this book, it wasn't for me. 

“Hope, he had learned, arrived swiftly, seeking to bloom in the darkest of places and in the most harrowing of times.”

An incredibly satisfying, heartfelt conclusion to this duology.

I enjoyed this so much more than book one and I'm not even sure why. Perhaps I was just in the right place for it or maybe it really was an improvement (don't get me wrong, book one was good too!) but this was so good. With We Hunt the Flame I remember loving the writing style and the worldbuilding but struggling with the characters, something that didn't happen this time. The writing style and worldbuilding remained impeccable, but I grew to care for the characters as well - even Nasir, which was a surprise after how much he annoyed me in book one.

There were a few moments I felt confused about the plot but I'm always willing to admit that might be because I missed the key details that would have made those aspects make sense. Either way, they were usually resolved quickly and I was back to understanding everything that was going on.

Overall, this is such a solid YA duology that deserves all of the attention and love it receives. 

“One doesn’t need magic if one knows enough stories.”

After intending to pick up this book for over a year now, I finally read it and I'm... conflicted.

It was charming and cozy and all of the lovely things everyone said it was; but it was also jarringly dark at times, slightly disjointed in both tone and plot, and extremely ableist

(even if the ableism hadn't been a factor it still would have been the unrepentant and physical abuse of the changeling child, whom we establish ((multiple times)) that he has the mentality of a child that simply misses his home - sadistic fae or not)

I don't mind when books are dark, particularly when dealing with faeries. If anything, I appreciate that the faeries weren't sanitized for the sake of not touching on dark topics. It was simply the way they were handled that I wasn't fond of.

Again with the conflicted feelings, I loved the banter between Wendell and Emily - but I didn't care for the development of their romance(?). Some part of me wishes they could have just remained acerbic yet secretly caring friends. If they were meant to be romantic, we could have... built up to it differently than what actually happened.

If you're one of the few people left that hasn't read this yet, I would recommend it if you're a fan of A Natural History of Dragons and The Spiderwick Chronicles but not if you're easily bored by slow-paced, meandering plots. (Something I tend to love!)

Overall, I can completely see why this book is as beloved as it is; it truly is a delightful, almost cinematic read. Despite my criticisms, I also really enjoyed it and I'm hopeful that book 2 will be even better as well as improving upon the problematic aspects. 

“Mind your mettle, Tessa”

In the wise words of Paramore, "How did we get here?"

Truthfully, the only reason this is getting a full three stars is because I genuinely loved following Harristan. Everything else was either super underwhelming or just poorly executed. From loving Defy the Night, I was originally expecting this to be a new favorite series. After struggling with book 2, I had hoped that was just a middle book slump and book 3 would redeem the series.

It - unfortunately - did not.

There is a difference between writing for young adults and the story reading younger and writing for older people (under the guise of YA) and the story reading incredibly immature. I am aware the characters were still young adults, but this read so NA without increasing the quality of the humor or the solutions to the problems. For such a long book, things were strangely rushed and awkwardly timed. The relationships felt stilted and immature, utilizing the characters telling us they cared deeply for the other person rather than making us care ourselves.

By the time the guard Rocco had beef with a 5 year old named Elmo, I wanted to put the book away. This might be some people's sense of humor, but it was not mine and felt strangely out of place after reading about someone being brutally tortured.

On top of that, Tessa and Corrick were absolutely ridiculous - but Tessa was surprisingly worse. It has been a while since I have found a FMC that annoying, especially when I previously hadn't minded her character. She was spoiled (more than usual), childish, and praised for everything she did with little to no consequences ever truly making an appearance.

Again, Harristan was a delight. His chapters saved this book for me, even when I was finding the solutions presented in his POV to be Disney direct-to-video-sequel quality at best.

Also... for the love of all things bookish, if you have multiple audiobook narrators, make sure they receive the same instructions. They should not be pronouncing character names differently or giving them different accents to the point it becomes cartoonish. (What was Corrick's Quint voice? That was a jumpscare)

Overall, while I can't pretend I wasn't disappointed in this book, it could have been much worse. For a 550 page novel, it read fairly quickly and by the end, I felt like the characters were where they were meant to be - even if the road there was laughable. I cannot say I will ever revisit this series, but somehow I will still carry fond memories of it.

If you struggled with book 2, I would recommend - perhaps - skipping this one. 

"And of course the world ended. But it went on too."

One of the easiest five stars I have ever given.

I shouldn't have been surprised by the love I have for this, after how much I love The Bear and the Nightingale (I will carry on with the series eventually, I swear) but I guess I wasn't expecting to love this story this much. My feelings are beyond words. I'm in awe of the journey I went on with this book, so many lines and little details that I know I will not stop thinking about for a long time to come.

Unflinching in its depiction of war, creating a seamless bind between historical fiction and fantasy, as well as flawlessly weaving in the theme of the Biblical apocalypse, all while following characters that are so realistically human - there is literally nothing this book could have done better. Katherine Arden's writing style is so poetic yet simplistic, never feeling as though she is trying too hard - instead, overwhelming me with the power of every word she writes.

This book was incredible. I cannot praise it enough, but that won't prevent me from trying. 

"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again." - C.S. Lewis

ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

There are no words for how sad I am that I didn't love this book. Everything about it seemed like it was created for me, but unfortunately the brilliant concept and the execution of said concept are two very different things.

The Lost Story was an overly ambitious novel, that attempted to fit an expansive story into 330 pages, whilst also struggling to ride the line between mature and whimsical. There were moments when this was successful, when the intention of the story was so clearly felt and realized that I knew I could have adored this book if things had been different.

Unfortunately, they were not.

I struggled with the characters. I struggled with the dialogue. I struggled with the pacing. I struggled with the world-building or lack thereof (which gets explained at the very end, but by that point, it felt like it was being thrown in there so we didn't question the lack of world-building.) I struggled with the timeline (acting like the characters were there for years when it was only 6 months, felt weird). I struggled with the relationships between each of the characters. I hated the interjections from the Storyteller.

I say I struggled with many of these aspects because - for most of them - I could see what the author's intention had been, I could see that I would have liked them if they had been executed differently. As it was, attempting to create a contrast between the maturity of the characters and the magic of the enchanted world by having the characters say things like "Magical horses are whores for berries." did not work for me.
It made the story feel strangely like it was written by a homeschooled child trying to create an edgy story with how they think adults speak. (I can say that, I was homeschooled.)

This might be considered a spoiler so if you consider romantic relationships a spoiler, I wouldn't read this next paragraph.

Rafe and Jeremy's relationship was another one of those things that I could have loved if it was done differently. I appreciated the queer rep and how meaningful it was that the enchanted world was a safe haven for them to finally be their true selves. However. When the entirety of their relationship is built off of a year they spent together when they were fourteen (half of which one of them can't remember), and the reader is consistently reminded that they're a.) both nearly 30 and b.) how physical their relationship was at 14, on top of them being called brothers within the narrative... it made it really hard for me to feel much more than a topical concern for them.

This review is getting too long and at the risk of just becoming me ranting, which isn't what I want to do at all. Despite all of my criticism, this was an easy read and there were things I really liked about it.
I appreciate what Meg Shaffer was attempting to do with this book and I'm grateful for the ARC, but unfortunately, The Lost Story missed the mark for me. 

 "Of women, he's heard it said: "She will be the end of me" or "She will by my undoing." None of that is true for Liska Radost. She is not the end of anything, but the beginning of everything. He has been dead a long time, and she is his resurrection."

Beautiful, bittersweet, and magical; this book was a delight from beginning to end.

Where the Dark Stands Still had so many elements I love in a story: sentient houses, eerie forests, nature magic, a study of the conflict between paganism and Christianity, the old gods and the new, morally grey characters, and even a hint of found family. This book felt like someone incorporated Polish folklore into a crossover between The Bear and the Nightingale and East of the Sun, West of the Moon, (two of my favorite stories) creating something that was both familiar and unique at once.

Though I felt there were a few technical flaws, the fact that the reading experience for this book is so reminiscent of a fairytale - eerie and strangely cozy at once - made these aspects easy to overlook. If a plot-point seemed too rushed or didn't make sense, it did so in the dream-like way of a fairytale.
Any other flaws were mostly personal, such as the fact there are - in my opinion - too many YA books utilizing "fox" related nicknames from the love interest and every time the nickname was mentioned (which was often) it pulled me out of the story a bit.

All of this to say, I'm so glad I decided to pick this book up on a whim because it really was such a lovely experience. I think this is the kind of book that will appeal to so many readers and I'm looking forward to whatever the author creates from here. 

A short yet informative and thought-provoking read. A bit hard to follow at times, but I'm willing to think that might have just been my own inability to concentrate. 

“Bravery wasn't an identity, so much as a choice.”

If Redford Morgan has a million haters, I'm one of them. If Redford Morgan has ten haters, I'm one of them. If Redford Morgan has one hater, it's me. If Redford Morgan has no haters, then I am no longer on this earth.

I am the first person to admit that I am picky about my romance books, however! I don't think my pickiness was the issue here. Between the phrase "Then he cracked, like a perverted egg" (not the only egg comparison in the book either?) being used in the male POV when he accepted he was sexually attracted to Chloe and the incessant use of the word sticky, this entire book was a sensory nightmare.

Beyond that... you cannot simply have your MMC think "oh, that was perverted" or "oh, thinking like that makes me sound like a pervert" after every creepy thing he thinks and act as though that has redeemed him of how entirely fucking creepy he is. There were so many lines in this book that made this man sound like a nightmare. In fact, his entire POV was a glaring red flag - one that his past relationship trauma did not excuse.

(This isn't mentioning... in public....)

If this book had been simply about Chloe and her family, particularly her grandmother (whom I loved) I probably would have really enjoyed this book. If the romance had been absent, I feel like - beyond being freed from the sticky clutches of Superintendent Pervy Yolk - we might have actually gotten more of Chloe's character development, which I really wanted.

As it was, the focus is so romance based (when I say romance, I mean sex. Any of the "romance" aspects just felt like a side-effect of the fact they were horny) that despite the fact we do see Chloe accept more help, I feel like we missed out on her rediscovering herself. I wanted her to make more friends, to realize that more people could accept her for who she was. Maybe even a realization that some of her past friends just thought she didn't want to be around them anymore because she had never properly communicated her needs. She does have this development, to an extent, but I wanted more.

All of that being said, this book was not for me. I appreciated Chloe's chronic illness rep and thought it was really well done, I loved every second her grandmother was on page, and hated pretty much everything else. 

“What you're trying to say is that it's easier for you to hide in your own darkness, than emerge cloaked in your own vulnerability. Not better, but easier. However the longer you hold it in, the more likely you are to suffocate.
At some point, you must breathe.”

If you look at the reviews of this book, the word beautiful shows up an astonishing amount of times. I don't mean to add to that, but beautiful really is the first word I think of when I think of how to describe this.

There's others, of course: heart wrenching, lyrical, raw, hopeful, introspective, vibrant, emotional, evocative, and incredibly, unflinchingly human. And yet, beautiful seems to be the word that encompasses all of these the best. I'm someone that usually agrees when people say books are overwritten, but that couldn't be further from my opinion on this book. Not a single word was wasted.

Somehow, the author crafted an exquisite story within just 160 pages which is... astounding, to say the least. I think I said this in my review for The Deep by Rivers Solomon (another incredible novella) but I continue to be stunned when an author creates a masterpiece on such a small canvas. Instead of making the story feel rushed and incomplete, the short page count serves this story so well.

I struggled a bit getting into the book, slightly thrown off by the almost stream-of-consciousness style of writing (not the second person POV, though; I don't mind that at all) but as the story progressed, my previous hesitation went away and I just fell in love with the writing style. With the ways words were utilized, the sentences that showed up multiple times throughout the book, the details that were important enough to be included, and the story that they painted.

I don't know why it is so much harder for me to review books I love than ones I hated. It might just be that I feel I can never do the books I loved any kind of service or maybe just that it's easier to dwell on things we hate, than to explain how deeply something we loved affected us.

Either way, it's hard for me to sum up just how much I appreciated this book or how much I believe it deserves every bit of praise it has received, but I wanted to try. If you're someone that loves books about the complexity of being human, a study on love (romantic, familial, love of a stranger, etc.), race, trauma, and the struggles of vulnerability I highly recommend this.