howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

If you, like myself, grew up loving Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, you absolutely need this book in your life. It's essentially a version of Scary Stories for adults, complete with the twisted little illustrations and everything, and I had a lot of fun with this one! I will say it didn't pack quite the punch that I at first expected it to after having read some other short stories by this writing duo, but the further into the collection I got, the more I appreciated that, because these feel so authentically inspired by the stories I loved so much as a kid. I'm also a sucker for urban legends, so if you are too, you'll enjoy the homages these stories pay to campfire stories and those tall cautionary tales so many of us grew up hearing.

Read via the Worlds Seen in Passing anthology.

Every little girl wants a pony, but ponies are a lot more expensive and harder to take care of than pet demons. This piece was hilarious. I literally laughed throughout every single interaction with the little demon pet, and by the end of it, I desperately wanted one of my very own.

Read via the Worlds Seen in Passing anthology.

A story of intergalactic warfare, told through the perspective of a fighter spacecraft who’s in love with her pilot. I never thought I would empathize with a machine so much, but the narrative in this is beautiful.

This was so over-the-top and idiotic in the best way and I laughed out loud so many times. RTC

#1 The Red Pyramid ★★★★☆
#2 The Throne of Fire ★★★☆☆
#3 The Serpent's Shadow ★★★☆☆

“Fair means everyone gets what they need. And the only way to get what you need is to make it happen yourself.”

I grew up a huge fan of Egyptian mythology and history, plus I loved the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series when I (finally) picked it up a couple of years ago, so it was long overdue that I pick up the Kane Chronicles trilogy. I felt like I'd never heard of people raving about this series nearly as much as any of RR's other series, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but within just a few chapters of the audiobook for this one, I was so impressed! Sadie and Carter had such distinct, entertaining voices, I loved the banter and bickering between the two of them, and more than anything, I absolutely adored how quickly the two of them fell into these protective, caring sibling feelings for each other despite having been apart so much in their childhoods.

While the plot itself felt rushed and convenient more than a few times, that's something I generally expect from a lot of MG books, so it didn't take away from my enjoyment too much. On the other hand, I really loved the casual representation with Sadie and Carter being biracial and the commentary on how Carter lived through so many different experiences than Sadie, with Carter being dark-skinned and Sadie being white-passing.

I think the only big detractor from my enjoyment of this first installment was the weird, forced beginnings of romance here, which proved to be a big issue later in the series, sadly. I don't care for romance in MG novels to begin with, but especially romance as unnatural as the ships we see in this series. That said, they were minor in The Red Pyramid, so this first book still got an easy 4 stars from me!

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Buddy read with Ellyn! ♥

#1 The Red Pyramid ★★★★☆
#2 The Throne of Fire ★★★☆☆
#3 The Serpent's Shadow ★★★☆☆

“The right choice is hardly ever the easy choice.”

If you've seen my review for The Red Pyramid, the first book in this series, then you already know this trilogy had a brilliant start for me. I spent the entire first book so pleased and delighted, wondering why on earth nobody ever raves about this series like they do with RR's other series! Sadly, about halfway through this book, I began to see why, because it was a pretty big let-down from book 1.

My two complaints about The Red Pyramid were the pacing (certain important pieces of plot feeling very rushed and under-explained) and the forced romances, and both of those issues were just magnified further in this middle installment. On top of that, the parts of this book that weren't rushed created the opposite problem: they were slow and boring. I don't think I was genuinely happy with any of the pacing in this entire installment.

On top of that, the romance takes a big spotlight in this one, whether it's Carter's weird obsession with Zia, a girl he barely knows and who knows him even less, or Sadie and her creepy love triangle with Walt and Anubis, who is not a teen reincarnation in a modern body, but the literal, several-thousand-year-old god. Sure, he's in a 16-year-old boy's body (which is still a bit off — Sadie turns 13 in the beginning of this book), but it doesn't negate the fact that we have a 13-year-old trying to date this ancient, immortal entity. I honestly usually don't point out age gaps in MG or YA books this much, but everything about this ship skeeved me out.

There is still a lot of fun humor and adventure in this installment, and we meet some very lovable side characters, but all in all, I was pretty bummed out and had lost a lot of my enthusiasm for the trilogy by the time this one finished.

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Buddy read with Ellyn! ♥

#1 The Red Pyramid ★★★★☆
#2 The Throne of Fire ★★★☆☆
#3 The Serpent's Shadow ★★★☆☆

“A person's shadow stood for his legacy, his impact on the world. Some people cast hardly any shadow at all. Some cast long, deep shadows that endured for centuries.”

Ahh... and finally, the series comes to an end. What a roller coaster ride of a trilogy, my friends. I spent the first book falling in love, the second book gradually feeling less and less pleased with this series, and the final book wishing it would just finish already. That said, I should preface this by saying that The Serpent's Shadow was slightly better for me than The Throne of Fire, so if you've read the first 2 books and are uncertain as to whether or not you want to finish the series, let me be the first to tell you that you absolutely should. Besides, you've already come this far, right?

Anyways, this book was much of a repeat for the second for me as far as the romances went — still not buying Carter and Zia as an even remotely possible couple, and still super uncomfortable with Sadie's interest in boys at all, much less ones who are thousands of years older than her — but the pacing was a lot better and I enjoyed the action scenes tremendously. I think battle scenes must be tough to write, but every RR book that I've read has featured one whether big or small, and I always walk away thinking Rick has a serious talent for scripting them out.

I might not have loved this series overall, but I'm glad I picked it up and I feel like any fan of Rick Riordan's should give it a chance. If you're feeling hesitant, I highly recommend the audiobooks, as the narrators did a fantastic job. That said, I 100% recommend that this is not your introduction to RR's series, because the PJO series is frankly a million times better than this one, and I would warrant a guess that all of his other series are, too.

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Buddy read with Ellyn! ♥

This was honestly so adorable and I loved every single page. The art is cute and colorful, the storyline is delightful, and Aster is a protagonist you can't help rooting for. She has her moments of ridiculousness as any kid (or person in general) does, but for the most part, she's witty, hard-headed, capable, and a ton of fun. I absolutely loved the side characters — especially the Chestnut Knights! — and think this would be a big hit with a lot of MG readers regardless of age. I especially recommend this if you like Adventure Time, because something about the art and story style reminded me a LOT of that show and made me want to go back and rewatch my favorite episodes ASAP.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

That was super cute and fun. More of a 4.5, but I rounded up because it makes my heart happy to see SO MANY gay girls in one place. <3 This series has loads of sapphic rep, POC rep, QPOC rep, lighthearted talks about serious topics (like being ready for sex, etc.), and jokes, all wrapped up into a team of cuties kicking the patriarchy's ass and saving the world, one mixtape at a time. The 90s setting is SO much fun and I loved the addition of the Y2K subplot!

In NO WAY was I even SLIGHTLY ready to say goodbye to my perfect, soft little gay hockey boys. I'm so emotional right now. I wish this series would go on forever, but at the same time, it ended so sweetly and I adored every single damn page of this beautiful book. Not only the cutesy romantic bits and the baking and the hilarity, but also the social commentary on being a queer athlete and coming out to your family, for better or for worse? Ugh. FEELS™.