cozysabie's Reviews (183)

I loved this book. It was my first book for Eastern European & Slavic Folklore & it definitely caught my attention. This book makes me want to find other Fantasy books on Slavic Folklore and read them all! The Witch and the Tsar focuses on Baba Yaga & how she is misrepresented in the rumours around her. Right from the beginning, I could tell this book would be following an amazing FMC, where we learn all about her & her magical abilities.

This book was paced so well, in my opinion. It takes place over a long number of years, as we get introduced to different parts of the folklore, starting from who Baba Yaga's mother is & where she gets her magic from. We hen journey the adventure with Yaga, who takes on so many different personalities throughout her life & learns what is important and what isnt. I loved the ending of this book and the way it goes, I would consider it one of my cozy & comfy reads.

“Maybe this place made all of us that way. Taught us to hide love in sharp edges”

“My anger made everything certain and easy. My love made everything complicated and difficult.”

From the second I started this book, I took it everywhere with me! It was so beautiful and perfect in so many different ways. This is one of my top reads this year and I never thought I would say this about a book themed around Vampires but this made me love that trope again!!

What did I think about it?

OH MY GOD. That’s the only way to describe this beautiful book. Broadbent really outdid herself with this book, it’s so beautiful & captivating in ways that I couldn’t have thought it would be before starting this book.

This is like Hunger Games but with vampires & different form of politics. This book starts off with talking about adoption & how the Nightborn King adopts a human, who are mainly seen as prey in this book. From the very beginning, I’m thinking: Why did Oraya stand out? Why is she known as the Serpent? I had so many questions & I started carrying this book everywhere with me, including to read it during my lunch break at work. The way this book ends is amazing & I’m so glad I didn’t have to wait for book 2 to start it. I’d recommend this book to legit anyone as it was beautiful & perfect in its own way.

Some of my favourite themes/Quotes in the book: (WARNING: SPOILERS)
Oraya & her self-growth:
I loved getting to know Oraya and I loved how you get to see an insight into the who she is, get to go through her personal growth & deal with the theme of self-growth & learning to accept ourselves as we are. Oraya did not choose to be human & growing around her father makes her think that being one is a weakness. When she meets Raihn, he teaches her how to love & accept herself AND how being a human is not a weakness.

This book addresses many themes: self-growth, learning to accept oneself, learning to grow & seeing life beyond the rose-coloured glasses we grow up with, or in Oraya’s situation, hatred-stained glasses.

“I loved it — really, truly loved it — when they underestimated me”

“No, I wasn’t a vampire. That much was abundantly clear, every second of every day.”

“When you’re young, fear is debilitating. Its presence clouds your mind and senses. Now, I had been afraid for so long, so ceaselessly, that it was just another bodily function to regulate — heartbeat, breath, sweat, muscles. Over the years, I’d learned how to hack the physicality of it away from the emotion.”

“There are problems that need to be solved here. I’m not running away from that. This is my home. Maybe it’s a home that hates me, but it’s my home.”

Vincent & Oraya:
This story focuses heavily on the fatherly relationship between Oraya & Vincent. Here are some quotes that shows what their relationship is like:

“The King of the Hair vampires — conqueror of the House of Night, blessed of the Goddess Nyaxia and one of the most powerful men to have walked this realm or the next — saw a fragment of himself in this child”

“Hundred of years later, historians and scholars would look back upon this moment. This decision that, one day, would topple an empire. What a strange choice, they would whisper. Why would he do this? 
Why, indeed.
After all, vampires know better than anyone how important it is to protect their hearts. And love, understand, is sharper than any stake.”

Raihn & Oraya:
Two people that fit together in a way no other fits them. Two people who have been broken because of who they are, things they cannot change in themselves. Their relationship and how they both view their selves hit close to home for me & I can anticipate it doing the same to many other people as how many of us have felt we don’t fit in this world due to things we cannot control or change?

“Raihn. He was on his knees, staring up at me. And that — the way he looked at me — was the first thing that felt real. Real and raw and … and confusing. Because he looked at me in sheer awe — like I was the most incredible thing he had ever seen. Like I was a fucking goddess.”

“My eyes lifted to his. I had never looked at them at such a distance before. I realised they looked red because they were comprised of so many different threads of colour — near-black and honey-gold and coffee-brown and even little glints of bright crimson. SO many disparate pieces that shouldn’t fit together. Just like him. Just like me”

“I had human blood and a vampire heart. He’d had a human heart and vampire blood. The world left no room for either.”

“I know grief," she said, voice soft. "I know what it is to lose half of one's soul.”

"Time is cheap for vampires...Humans mouran time, because it's the only currency that really matters in a life so short."

"A spider swung from beam to beam, crafting a silver silken web. It was a chaotic thing, near-invisible threads strung messily into the shadows, functional but far from beautiful. Like fate itself, I supposed."

GENRE: Fantasy
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
FORMAT: Physical
Would I recommend to others?: In summary, YESS & the lengthy version: YES OF COURSE

Short Review:
This is book two in Crowns of Nyaxia and I loved it almost as much as the first book! In this book, we follow the adventure of Oraya and Raihn after the betrayal that occured at the end of book one, which

Spoiler

DID ANYONE SEE IT COMING?! I did not think Raihn would end up being the king despite hints with his heir mark.

I loved this book and how Broadbent continued the adventure of both Oraya and Raihn by introducing multiple POV in here. You truly get to see both of their sides & learn more about the morally-grey character, a.k.a Raihn. We also still delve into the themes that were focused in the first book, which are learning to accept oneself & loving ourselves with out flaws.

"I would always regret this. Breaking Oraya. That was a sin that I'd never be able to atone for." - Raihn

In this book, we learn the real strength of Oraya, why Vincent picked her and as the first book stated, we come back and wonder how Vincent let Oraya live, when he knew just how powerful she was. However, I definitely didnt brood over the fact that vincent let her live, with the many mistakes he had made honestly. This book definitely shows how our environment can limit our growth and make us feel less confident.

I had asked him why he never took me flying. And I remembered now, as clearly as if he was standing in front of me all over again, what he had said:
The last thing I wanted was for you to think you could and start throwing yourself off balconies.
I choked out, "He knew."
He knew. He always knew.
It wasn't about protecting me. He didnt want me to jump because he didnt want me to find out I could catch myself."

I CANT WAIT FOR BOOK THREE, which doesnt follow Oraya & Raihn but still continues in this amazing world.

Long Review, which includes mild spoilers with quotes:
Oraya & Raihn's Relationship

"Our Magic, her Nightfire and my Asteris, surrounded us like thickening clouds, light and darkness, heat and cold. Every strike I blocked reverberated through my entire body, despite Oraya's small size - she threw that much into each one." - Raihn

"Sometimes, I felt like I knew Oraya better than anyone I had ever met. Sometimes, she was the most confounding mystery. Now, she was both - her hidden pain so obvious, and yet her trembling grip around her blade a question that I didn't know how to answer." - Raihn

"My Nightfire flared at my blade and Raihn's Asteris surged at this, our light and dark intertwining."

Oraya's Internal conflict about Raihn & just everything else in her life

"When I had fought Raihn in the armory, I'd so hated to be reminded of how well we knew each other, how seamlessly we fought together. Now, wielding my blades rather than that clumsy sword, the ghosts of our final battle in the Kejari surrounded us. The ache of my muscles faded away. The two of us hurtled across the training ring together as if locked in a dance. I hated this, and I loved it. It was something solid to grab onto, something mindless and painful in all the physical places I could handle. And yet, every one of Raihn's strike reminded me of the familiarity we'd once had. Reminded me of what he had used it to do."

Lahore, a place in Crown of Nyaxia that represents power & weakness
I decided to include Lahore as a location as it places a primal part in the plot, being Vincent's home & a place that was still recovering from his ugly act to claim the throne. We get to meet Evelaena in Lahore and see the impact of Vincent's act:

"Lahore was that kind of place. The kind of place that the world just moved on without.

"I was broken. Just like Lahore was broken. I was just as broken as this city and its ruins and ghosts. Just as broken as Evelaena and her two-hundred-year-old scar and her twisted obsession with the man who gave it to her."

"I saw myself in Evelaena as clearly as if I was looking into a mirror. Both of us built & broken by the same man. She had prayed for fate and gotten feckless luck. I had hinged my life on luck and gotten secrets. I got power. She got nothing. But at least she could get revenge."

Vincent & who he truly was:

"Loving someone else is a dangerous thing," she said. "Even for vampires. More dangerous still for a king. Vincent knew that. He was never going to open himself up to more weakness. And he already had exposed himself enough with the love he had for you." - Jesmine

"Men & their secrets," she said. "We spend a lifetime trying to unravel them, and once they're gone, we're still at their mercy." - Jesmine

“For the greatest crime of the poor in the eyes of the wealthy has always been to strike back. To fail to suffer in silence and instead disrupt their lives and their fantasies of a compassionate society that coincidentally set them on top. To say no.”

“I wanted to travel the world and sail every sea. I wanted to have adventures, to be a hero, to have my tales told in courtyards and street fairs, where perhaps kids who’d grown up like me, with more imagination than means, might be inspired to dream. Where women who were told there was only one sort of respectful life for them could listen to tales of another who’d broken away—and thrived when she’d done so.”

This is a top read in 2023 and it’s written so well that it just flows in a perfect way. I loved this book and I loved how it’s located in countries that I recognise and are close to where I call home. I can’t wait to read the rest of this Trilogy and see how Chakraborty expands this universe and builds on it. There is no information as to when the second book is coming out but I cant wait to read it and experience the adventures with Amina & her crewmates.

Amina Al-Sirafi is a strong woman, who battles many different aspects of lives and goes against the norm of what a female is expected to do in her society. She is a mother, a pirate and a fair & just leader. Following her journey was a delight and such a fun read.

“You don’t have to love something in order to devote yourself to it.”


“It was an eternal feeling, this sense of being unwelcome. No matter where she was, Effy was always afraid she was not wanted.”

GENRE: Dark Academia Fantasy
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
FORMAT: Physical special edition
Would I recommend to others?: YES, a thousand times YES! This book is one of my roman empires and I love love it!

Review:
Okay so this is one of my Roman Empire books and obviously I have to say that: I loved it! I loved every bit of it. This is a dark academia book with all the right vibes in it! We follow the story of Effy & Preston as they navigate this world that Reid created. It is a cottagecore world that is very gothic and true to the dark academia fantasy side. I loved the world building, how gothic it was and just imagining the characters in this type of world. Here are some beautiful quotes of Reid building a dark academia, poetic and beautiful world (despite it being so mysterious & dark):

“Yet now, standing in the lobby, the library was suddenly a terrifying place. The solitude that had once comforted her had become an enormous empty space where so many bad things could happen.”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Ianto said. Even in the wind, his hair still lay mostly flat.
“It’s terrifying,” Effy confessed.
“Most beautiful things are,” Ianto said.”

From the very beginning of this book, we deal with the issue that is Females are not equal to males and we see this in our two main characters: Effy and Preston. This issue is delved into throughout the book and without giving anything away, we truly see some character development in our main characters and in the side characters in this issue. I think Reid manages to build this issue in a way that is mystical and poetic, yet addressed so well that you feel you are going through the journey & character development with Effy in this regards.

“She had scored high enough for the literature college, but they didn’t accept women, so she had settled for architecture: less prestigious, less interesting, and, as far as she was concerned, monumentally more difficult.”

Reid then continues to develop this story by addressing important issues: Mental Health, how it impacts a person and how others see them due to this. As someone who has mental illness, this journey was so meaningful and healed me in a way I didn’t know I needed. The pain Effy goes through is just touching yet poetic. Isn’t it beautiful? To turn something that’s so painful into something others can admire.

“Effy hated that she couldn’t tell right from wrong, safe from unsafe. Her fear had transfigured the entire world. Looking at anything was like trying to glimpse a reflection in a broken mirror, all of it warped and shattered and strange.”

“If there was anything to attach her true name to, it was this. Her true name held so much sorrow and suffering, but it also held strength. Hope. The yearning to make the old saint’s name mean something new.”

We also get to go through poetic themes in the book, like loving something and appreciating it only because you could wake up tomorrow and it could all be gone:

“The ephemerality of things is that give the meaning. That things are only beautiful because they don’t last. Full moons, flowers in bloom, you. But if any of that is evidence, I think it must be true.”

“The only reason anything matters is because it ends,” he says. “I wouldn’t hold you so tightly now if I thought we could be here forever.”

And the main quote is one where we address a common theme in Fantasy books & one that is reflected in reality: Loving someone & getting to know them is what makes you more prone to getting hurt BY them & you hurting them more:

“There was an intimacy to all violence, she supposed. The better you knew someone, the more terribly you could hurt them.”

And at last, the last major theme is idolising your favourite [inset person] and in this book, it is Effy’s author. We see why this is dangerous for a nation and for an individual and this is such a unique theme! I loved how Reid managed to incorporate this into Fantasy & dark academia and we tend to see the outcome of it throughout the story:

“The man she had spent her whole life idolising had been strange and reclusive, but he had not been coldhearted.”

Ultimately, this quote summarises this book in some ways, in that the characters in it had to endure what nature did. You see the pain the landscape had to go through and at the same time, its reflect on the characters:

“Trees didn’t die when they were cut down, did they? Their daring took months, years. What a terrible fate to endure.”

And here are more quotes connecting the people & the land, the nature that is beautiful yet strong & takes what it wants:

“Water finds its way through the smallest spaces and the narrowest cracks. Where the bone meets sinew, where the skin is split. It is treacherous and loving. You can die as easily of thirst as you can of drowning.” — From Angharad by Emrys Myrddin, 191 AD

“The belief, the hope, and the terror both, had kept her alive. At last, Effy understood the magic of Hiraeth, its curse and its blessing. Hiraeth Manor, the grand thing that Ianto had wanted her to build, would always be an imagined future, a castle in the air. The magic was the impossibility of it. The unreal could never disappoint you, could never harm you, could never falter under your feet. But now the real and the unreal had snarled together and it no longer mattered which was which. Effy was starting down the Fairy King in all his immense power, and she was just a girl clutching a hollow stone.”

Okay, I’ll stop blabbing about ASID and how it’s a beautiful book that talks about so many important themes yet it is still a fantasy book that takes you to another world. Here is a final quote that is covered with a spoiler as it gives away a lot:

Spoiler

“The danger was real. Effy and Angharad had both proven that, with their wits and their mirrors. The danger lived with her; perhaps it had been born with her, if the rest of the stories about changeling children were to be believed. The danger was an ancient as the world. But if fairies and monsters were real, so were the women who defeated them.”

What a beautiful, cozy & captivating book

"In fact, plenty of Folk are gentlemen. And plenty of mortal men are not."

GENRE: Fantasy
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc
Would I recommend to others?: YES! I loved book two just as much as I loved book one!!

Review:
This book was wonderful! Book one was one of my top read in 2023 and book two is a top read in 2024! I love Emily Wilde and Wendell Bambleby and how they are grump x sunshine trope. Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands is a light academia book, just like the first one. It is basically a journal entry of Emily and has footnotes, which just shows how unique and quirky Emily is (& I love that!)

In this book, we follow the adventure of Emily & Wendell again, while also meeting Emily's niece and another professor from Cambridge, Rose. We then embark on an adventure to find the doctor to Wendell's realm. Meanwhile, Emily has started working on her second book, where she is mapping the doors and the realms of the Faerie world.

Also, Emily still hasnt given Wendell a reply to his marriage proposal from book one. However, throughout this book, there is alot of interaction between Emily and Wendell and you can see them build their relationship together as Emily wraps her mind around the idea of being with a Fae. This book takes place in Austrian Alps and has a different environment as compared to book one, where it was more folky and homey. This ties well with the plot as we learn more about the Fae Folks and how the mortals are impacted by them.

This book is cozy, very cottagecore in its vibes and feelings and just had me giggling throughout at the interaction between Emily & Wendell and at both of their peculiar yet cute habits. As an introvert, I always tend to relate more to Emily and how she is quite awkward yet has good intentions AND she is clever. We also get to know a bit more about Emily through her interaction with her niece, Ariadne.

I'm looking forward to book three and cant wait to continue the adventure of Emily & Wendell.

Thank you to Little Brown for a physical Arc Copy and NetGalley for an eArc in exchange for an honest opinion.

"You and I... we need to stay together. We're better this way" - Roman Kitt

SHORT REVIEW:
Divine Rivals has shook the book community by its beautiful story telling, focusing on magical letters & building a connection between two young, yet mature & strong couple. Who can resist a book that is about Greek Mythology, magical typewriter and ends in a cliff hanger leaving us all wanting more? I’d recommend this book to anyone, as it has a little of everything for everyone and it delves into the Greek mythology a lot more than other books. You get to see the connection between the war and its impact on Winnow, Kitt & everyone around them. This book has the Historical Fantasy, Found Family, Enemies to Lovers and Greek Mythology vibes & tropes.

LENGHTY REVIEW WITH SPOILERS:
Below, I discuss different themes in Divine Rivals, including: Vulnerabilities, Grief, the impact of one decision, Grandmothers & Greek Mythology:

The whole story focuses on vulnerabilities, exposing one true's self & protecting oneself with the multiple shield we build throughout our lives due to the hurts & battles we go through. Ross gives us a lot of gems from Iris & Roman, as they learn to trust, cherish & appreciate each other.

"Do you ever feel as if you wear armor, day after day? That when people look at you, they see only the shine of steel that you've so carefully encased yourself in? They see what they want to see in you - the warped reflection of their own face, or a piece of the sky, or a shadow cast between buildings. They see all the times you've made mistakes, all the times you've failed, all the times you've hurt them or disappointed them. As if that is all you will ever be in their eyes.
How do you change something like that? How do you make your life your own and not feel guilt over it?" - Roman Carver Kitt

"I think we all wear armor. I think those who don't are fools, risking the pain of being wounded by the sharp edges of the world, over and over again. But if I've learned anything from those fools, it's that to be vulnerable is a strength most of us fear. It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel the same as you: I can't risk having people behold me as I truly am. But there's also a small voice in the back of mind, a voice that tells me,
"You will miss so much by being so guarded." " - Iris Winnow

"I am so afraid. And yet how I long to be vulnerable and brave when it comes to my own heart." -Iris Winnow

A huge topic in Divine Rivals is Grief and how it shapes & impacts us:

"Time will slowly heal you, as it is doing for me. There are good days and there are difficult days. Your grief will never fully fade; it will always be with you • a shadow you carry in your soul • but it will become fainter as your life becomes brighter." - Roman Carver Kitt

"But she wondered how much the two of them would change in this war. What marks would it leave on them, shining like scars that never faded?" - Iris Winnow

As Iris goes through life and tries to weather all the difficulties, we are faced with many moments where her brother's sacrifice impacted her life:

"Every morning, when I wade through Mum's Sea of Green Bottles, I think of you. Every morning, when I slip into the trench coat you left behind for me, I wonder if you thought of me for even a moment. If you imagined what your departure would do to me. To Mum."- Iris Winnow

I think one of the most under-rated theme of this book is Grandmothers. This is such a sensitive topic for me as my grandmother is my best friend and at the moment she is in a coma. As I reflect on this book, I can see that both Iris & Roman have a unique relationship with their grandmothers and that made me love this book more. The magical typewriters are owned by both of their grandmothers and the magical legacy started with them:

"I am seventy-five years old, Roman," she began. "I've seen endless things throughout my life, and I can tell you right now that this world is about to change. The days to come will only grow darker. And when you find something good? You hold on to it. You dont waste time worrying about things that won't even matter in the end. Rather, you take a risk for that light."

AND what about the beautiful Greek Mythology that we read about in Divine Rivals, the story of beautiful Enva & horrible Dacre who declared a war on her & everything that is beautiful in the world? What about the political input of how the rish side with Dacre while they fear the beautiful music Enva produces. As Roman says, Enva's songs are woven with truth & knowledge.