galacticvampire's Reviews (366)

Alphabet Squadron was ine of the most hyped additions to the Star Wars canon, so I was obviously excited for it. While it wasn't exactly disappointing, I didn't love it as much as I expected to either.

That isn't to say the the book is bad in any way. I actually think most of what I disliked were issues of personal preference other than actual execution.

The tone is very much of a war movie and is quite interesting. We have multiple scenes of tactical debate and detailed space battles, and Freed does a great job locating the reader on the chaos of action.

My main issue is that half of the book was what felt like an assembly prologue. I kept waiting for the plot to actually start and the characters to be more explored.

Still, I liked the cast and appreciated how the narrative allowed mistakes and flaws to the heroes, exploring how no government or side is purely good or completely evil.

This is a sweet, simple story about understanding yourself. The portrayal of the aroace experience is incredible and I felt deeply for Georgia all along the way.

I really enjoy how Alice is kind towards their characters. Those are kids learning about life, and the narrative is very understanding that making mistakes isn't the end of the world while not excusing harmful behaviour.

The cast is also quite fun, feeling straight out of a slice-of-life.

I have to praise Tamsyn Muir for managing to always choose the most ???? routes for her books. Even when I don't really like her choices, it's undeniable whe wrote exactly the story she wanted to.

While it was interesting seeing old characters through Nona's fresh perspective, I noticed I struggled a lot with this serie's lack of continuity, even if it's intentional. With every book renewing the cast, pov and circumstances, I felt somewhat detached from the whole thing.

The flashbacks were definitely the highlight for me, finally giving more perspective to the fucked up world of the nine houses. Although I didn't care much for Nona as a main character, the concept and themes around her are really beautiful.

Overall, the fact that this third book wasn't planned is evident. It has the vibe of a side story to the main events, a hiccup on the way, and I personally think it would've benefited of being novella-sized, because somewhere along the way I started getting impatient by the main points being made over and over again.

After a year waiting to know what came after the Starlight fall, The Eye of Darkness felt... more toned down than I expected.

All three previous books were riddled with action and drama and suspense, so while the tone really fit with the situation of the Republic, I couldn't help but wait for *something* to happen.

I still really enjoyed the story, it just wasn't as big of a ride as the others.

-I really missed having the POV of an actual Nihil here, even if former-senator Starros gave an interesting insight to Marchion Ro.

(and his. uh. naked chest.)

- I'm always excited when we're shown the political side of the galaxy, so all the conversations between Lina So and Elzar were super interesting.

- I still don't like Avar. She remains a very one-note character that isn't as nuanced as the rest of the cast. While that would be perfectly fine in a movie or tv show, this series is specifically targeted for adults so she comes off as quite bland.

- Bell and Burry are still 💜💜 I only hoped they would do more, but it fit the themes os the book.

Harrow the Ninth is a clusterfuck of a book. It makes no sense, it doesn't explain anything, it ruins everything you loved in the first one. It is great.

While I didn't have the most fun while reading the book, the experience of having read it is amazing. Tamsyn Muir shows what a great author she is with the disconnected chapters, the unreliable and questionable narrator, the second person pov, all of which manages to fit in the end.

My one gripe with the story was that it was treating The Big Twist like the most shocking reveal possible, assuming the reader was still definitely out of the loop when... it wasn't really the case for me? Most of the mystery was possible to assume by page 100, which doesn't mean the mystery wasn't good, or that is bad when the reader figures it out before the characters, but the tone of the narrative being "wooow, wonder what is happening here huh!" got quite annoying the longer it went.

It still was a great, great addition to the trilogy, and I have nothing but respect for an author who dares to break and crush any reader's expectations. Even the things I saw coming were still satisfactory and the emotion and pain put in every character is unparalleled.

Tales of Light and Life is a mixed bag of eras and ages and characters, and the enjoyment of the reader will wildly vary depending on how invested you are in each of them. 

In some cases, I loved visiting some characters again and having insights on their lives before, during or after their time on page. In other cases, it was cute at most but didn't add much to what we knew. 

I picked up this book mostly for the Bell and Burryaga tale and it was beautifully written, but I still found it odd that such a big issue for one of the main character in the main storyline was solved in an anthology book. 

Individual ratings: 

Really good: Marda, Vernestra, Bell and Burry 

A fun addition: Axel, Affie, Keeve, Amadeo 

Cute but boring: Rooper, Ram and Zeen
 

The thing I love the most in Gideon is the atmosphere. The eery skeletons and necromancy, the mystery, the old and ruined castle. All of that sprinkled with the great humour of Gideon Nav as our narrator.

The writing is both genuinely unique and clunky at times. English isn't my native language so I usually don't notice it, but there were *so many* adverbs everywhere. It is definitely a stylistic choice to fit Gideon's voice, but it took me out of the experience a little. 

I really appreciate how the author doesn't spell everything out even at the end, letting the reader figure out implications of twists on their own. 

Overall, the charm is unparalleled and I kept wanting to know more about the world of the nine houses.

I absolutely love Aphra, she's so chaotic and funny. The true fail woman we should have more of.

While this is mostly a recount of the Vader comic from her pov, I never got bored. The insights we get from her past were also extremely cool.

While it was interesting seeing details of the inner workings of Starlight Beacon, this really is a book for completionists. It doesn't add much to the story and I didn't really care much for the characters. It was cool and that's about it.

Honestly, I was super disappointed on this one because the premise seemed so cool! I didn't really expect it to be a romance in a fantasy setting, but a fantasy with some side romance. I was wrong.

The other way around wouldn't be that bad if the entire relationship wasn't so bland. The sex scenes are boring and there's almost no effort at chemistry between the characters beyond "man so hot" and "girl very curvy". 

In the end every plot point was incredible predictable and it felt like a huge waste of my time. It wasn't even bad to the point of invoking irritation or frustration. Just straight up insipid.

Oh, it was also trying very hard to pretend it was this specific concept of demons vessels or whatever. It's vampires. This is a vampireXwitch romance.