Originally posted to I Should Read That


I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  This review is spoiler-free.


As you guys may know by now, I love fantasy books that investigate the aftermath of wars or sieges -- I'm always keen to see what happens after the dust settles.  I was very interested in Redemption’s Blade for that exact reason -- it shows the consequences of the classic good-versus-evil fantasy battle that I so craved in books like Lord of the Rings.  It is also written by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the author of one favourite books.

I think Redemption’s Blade was a book that was a great idea in theory, but didn’t necessarily work in practice.  The plot is incredibly thin and really felt like a vehicle for exploring this war-broken world -- Celestaine’s journey was pretty bland and generic.  What the plot does effectively is carry the reader through various parts of the world so we can meet other races and cultures and see how the war affected them.  For me, this cultural exploration was one of the things that worked so well. I really enjoy old-school fantasy and Redemption’s Blade feels like a throwback to those classic worlds and plots.  We have multiple races that were enslaved, created, or destroyed by the villain, and I found myself most drawn to these cultures and how they are trying to heal after the war.

Similar to the plot, I felt like Celestaine’s character was a little thin.  I never really got a feel of who she was. She told us her thoughts and we saw her actions and reactions, but she never really came to life for me.  She’s a classic brooding hero character, and I really wanted more from her. Again, she feels a little like a vehicle for investigating this world and the effects of the war.  I did, however, really enjoy the side characters. Heno and Nedlam were easily the best part of the book. They’re Yorughan, creatures bred by the Kinslayer specifically to subjugate and torment other races during the war, who are freed from his oppressive grasp after their master is defeated.  They just want to figure out how to live in a post-war world, but they still represent everything the Kinslayer stood for. I really loved their characterisation and their struggles to overcome the past they never wanted. They were easily the best part of the book for me.

Overall, I thought Redemption’s Blade was a decent read, but nothing that stood out as spectacular.  I really loved the concept of the book, but I just didn’t feel it worked as well as it could have.  This series will continue on with different authors exploring other concepts are parts of the world, however I don’t think I will pick up the next book.

Originally posted to I Should Read That


I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  This review is spoiler-free.


I’ve been shouting at you all ever since reading and loving Katie Khan’s debut novel Hold Back the Stars last year.  In fact, it was one of my favourite books of 2017 -- I hadn't read anything else quite like it and Katie became an auto-buy author for me.  When I learned her new book was going to be about time travel and missed opportunities, I was naturally all on board. I love the way she blends science fiction and romance into an incredibly readable and accessible narrative.  

The Light Between Us is an incredibly captivating tale that perfectly balances the science, romance, and character experiences.  I can’t speak for the accuracy of the science, but I found it easy enough to follow and it wasn’t overwhelming to a reader with no scientific background, such as myself.  The story splits into three different paths as the narrative progresses, and I found myself compulsively turning the pages to see what happened next.  This is a book that sticks with you and really makes you think -- I continue to find myself returning to the plot and ending.

For me, it is really the characters that make the book come alive. The Light Between Us has one of the most accurate and delightful friendship groups I’ve read in a long time.  I often find, particularly in contemporary settings, that heroines just don’t have friends. Or if they do have friends, they're more like window dressings that help push the heroine's story along.  This wasn't the case in The Light Between Us.  I really loved Thea, Ayo, Urvisha, and Rosy’s relationship. From cheesy jokes and banter to incredible support for each other, I just loved that they were so integral to the story and to Thea herself as a character.  They felt so real and their unwavering support of Thea and her work was one of the best parts of the book for me.

Thea and Isaac are our main characters, and I really enjoyed watching their relationship evolve and change -- this is something that is particularly well done toward the end of the book. Thea was my favourite --she just felt so natural, like someone I could actually know in real life.  She’s quirky, flawed, and single-minded in the way that only a PhD student can be, but she also has incredible depth. I really liked Isaac, who is much more like a regular person and someone I really can't talk about without spoilers, as well, but Thea really came to life for me.  

The Light Between Us is a fascinating and bittersweet story of time travel and second chances with Khan’s signature twist.  If you enjoy science fiction or contemporary fiction, The Light Between Us is a book you should absolutely try.  It will lift you up and break your heart.

Originally posted to I Should Read That


This review is spoiler-free.


I must confess that I initially ignored the hype surrounding After the Fire.  It is listed as a contemporary YA novel, a genre I don’t tend to enjoy, and I knew nothing about it but the hype.  When I spotted it at YALC this year and actually bothered to read the back, I realised that After the Fire is the exact kind of book I love!  It’s a book that, like The Book Thief, truly transcends age ranges and is suitable for readers of all ages, particularly adults.

After the Fire is a cult book, hell yes.  Not only is it a book about a cult, it is influenced by the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.  Hill drew heavily from those events to create the plot of After the Fire. Although the two are not exactly the same, there are obvious parallels between real life and fiction, to the point where I guessed what event influenced the narrative after only half a page.  Hill truly does justice to his subject, conveying the terrifying and horrible situation incredibly well. The jumps between the past and present add so much tension to the novel as well.  While Moonbeam's secrets aren't terribly difficult to figure out, the slow reveal of her time in the compound added so much to her story and makes After the Fire a compulsive read.

Moonbeam herself is one of the reasons this book works so well.  Hill's decision to make her an intelligent and clever character worked out incredibly well -- I think that her upbringing in the compound could have made her an incredibly ignorant, and therefore less compelling, character.  I also really loved the fact that she had doubts well before she is removed from the compound.  Her intelligence really shines through, and I loved reading through her thought process. She doesn’t get out of the compound unaffected though. Her struggle to overcome everything she has been taught about outsiders and the government is so visible on the page.  She’s a complex character without being complicated -- she’s truly a masterclass in character writing.

After the Fire is truly a book worthy of the hype surrounding it.  Don’t be fooled by the contemporary YA label, it’s a book that transcends genre and can truly be enjoyed by all sorts of readers from across genres and age ranges.

Originally posted to I Should Read That


I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free.

I ended up enjoying Foundryside, despite being a little cautious initially — it’s so hard to dive into a new series when the author’s previous books are your absolute favourites. The world building and magic systems in Foundryside are both well done, however they take a little while to develop. In terms of the world, it is hugely different from Divine Cities. In Divine Cities, there is very obvious equality between male and female characters, and his female characters were truly powerful and outstanding. The world of Foundryside has a lot of sexism and some threats of sexual assault and hints of sexual coercion, something that is pretty much completely missing from his other series. However, these instances do drive the story forward and work well within the world he has established. My obvious bias leans toward the world of Divine Cities — who doesn’t love equality? — so it was a little bit of a struggle for me to fully immerse myself in the world of Foundryside. I do think that he set up the world to become really fascinating in future books, so I’m looking forward to exploring more in later books.

The magic system is particularly important to the plot of the book, and it took awhile for me to fully realise just how incredible it was. Scriving seems to begin simply enough, however you begin to realise its earth-shattering potential. The way that he sets out this fascinating system, which initially seems so straightforward, and slowly allows the reader to uncover its complexities was just fantastic. It took some time for me to really understand the potential of scriving, but I am all on board with this interesting and intricate system.

Foundryside, like his other novels, has a core cast of interesting characters. There weren’t any standout favourites for me, however I think they have a lot of potential to become fantastic and fascinating as the series progresses. Separately, the main cast of characters are fine to read about, but they’re truly at their best when they are all together. Their chemistry is off the charts and I’d love to see more interaction between them in the future.

The three who stood out most to me are Sancia, Gregor, and Orso. Sancia, the thief, is definitely our main character. I really enjoyed uncovering her background, as depressing as it is, and discovering how her talents aid her career as a thief. She has a great character arc — she undergoes a ton of growth over the course of the novel — and really loved her interaction with other characters, particularly Clef. She has so much potential that I don’t think has been fully tapped into yet.

Gregor is a character I really wish we got more of in the book. He’s the son of one of the Founders, however he has rejected his privilege in order to do good in the city of Tevanne. I absolutely love this type of character, and I wish we got to see more of him throughout the story. Of everyone in the book, I think my favourite character was Orso. He’s another type of character I love — he’s older than the rest, foul-mouthed, and so annoyingly talented that no one can get rid of him. He’s the Hypatus of House Dandolo, meaning he is a master of scriving, and comes up with so many incredibly interesting ways of manipulating the magic system. I absolutely loved every time he was on the page.

The key word for Foundryside is ‘potential’. I think there’s so much potential here — this has the makings of a great series. It definitely had its ups and downs for me — there were parts that I thought were brilliant and others that didn’t work well for me. While I don’t love it as much as I love the Divine Cities books I am definitely going to keep up with this series, particularly after reading the fantastic ending. I’d highly recommend Foundryside if you enjoy heist novels like Mistborn, or want to read a fast-paced fantasy novel with a great magic system.

Originally published on I Should Read That


This review is spoiler-free for Record of a Spaceborn Few, as well as the other books in the series.


Becky Chambers is one of my absolute favourite authors and I adore her books. Record of a Spaceborn Few was one of my most highly anticipated books of the year, and I must say that it did not disappoint.

The thing I love so much about her books is the wonderful world building. For the first time in her Wayfarers series, she truly focuses on humans and the Exodus Fleet, their culture, and how they interact with each other and those who choose to leave. Readers may recall that when mankind left Earth, they travelled to the stars in a fleet of ships — many humans have since left the Exodus Fleet, but many still remain onboard those ships. We’ve dealt with human characters in the Wayfarers books before, but always in interactions with other species and beings. Spaceborn Few is unique among Chambers’ books due to this fact — there’s only one alien species in pretty much the entire book, and she’s very much an observer. Chambers gives us a glimpse into life in the Exodus Fleet, using her talent for world building and creating beautiful and unique cultures to weave together a tale of everyday life of the humans who remain in the Fleet.

What I loved about Spaceborn Few is that there’s really not much in terms of plot — the book is essentially a snapshot of the characters’ lives. I cannot think of another author who could possibly pull this off better than Chambers herself. While there are defining points within the narrative — the book deals with the aftermath of a terrible accident years after it happens — it is really about how people have decided to live their lives. It’s a book about family and culture and holding onto or rediscovering your roots. What could be more beautiful than that?

The characters in Spaceborn Few, like in her other books, are so incredibly relatable and memorable. Each represents a different aspect of human life among the stars, and it is those who uphold the culture of the Fleet that were my favourites. Elyas and Isabel both have beautiful stories, but also personify the culture of the Exodus Fleet. Elyas, who is probably my overall favourite, conducts the funeral rites for the citizens of the Fleet. In a culture in which nothing is wasted, she ensures the dead return to the soil to fuel the future. Isabel, an archivist, records and collects the Fleet’s history and conducts ceremonies to celebrate births of new citizens. Although I loved every single character in this book — a rarity for me, especially as it has six POV characters — these two played such beautiful roles within the narrative and had wonderful relationships with those around them.

Record of a Spaceborn Few, along with her other novels, is a book that is already very special to me. I’m confident that you’ll love it if you enjoyed Chambers’ first two Wayfarer books. As always, she gives such wonderful insight and commentary on racism, gender, equality, and cultural values. If you haven’t picked up any of her books yet, what are you waiting for?

Originally posted to I Should Read That


This review is spoiler-free.


Apparently this has been the Summer of the Novella for me — I recently read the three books in the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire and The Blue Salt Road by Joanne M. Harris. While novellas aren’t something I often read, I really feel like I’ve been missing out on great stories lately. All Systems Red is a book I’ve been hearing amazing things about, so I decided to take a chance.

One of the reasons I’ve avoided novellas is that I feel like there just aren’t enough words and the story doesn’t reach its full potential. This really felt like the case with All Systems Red. I absolutely love the concept of “Murderbot” — a security robot created of organic and inorganic parts that hacks its own system, gains sentience and a sort of freedom, becomes socially awkward, and wants all the humans to just shut up so it can watch its soap operas — but I didn’t feel like the book fell a little short because of the word count. One of the things that I loved about Every Heart a Doorway, another recent novella read, is that the author manages to create a beautiful, fully realised world in under 200 pages. I don’t feel like this is the case with All Systems Red.

While I didn’t connect with the human characters — they basically have little to no development and are treated more like window dressings than anything else — what I did love about this book is Murderbot. I’m not sure how, but Wells has managed to create a character that calls itself ‘Murderbot’ and still manages to be one of the most delightfully relatable characters I’ve read in sci-fi. Murderbot does its duty to protect the scientists, but still longs for downtime to watch its vast collection of videos. I love any character that struggles to discover what it means to be human, and that is exactly what Murderbot is trying to do. Their attempts to control their emotion and reactions to the hazardous situation and their knowledge of how the crew must feel about having such a being onboard with them were all really well done. I don’t want to say too much, but Murderbot’s character arc is just wonderful to read and has a sense of completion while opening the opportunity for a series.

Overall, I liked All Systems Red, but I wish it was a longer book. I feel like there’s so much left unexplored in this world. The plot reads like a thriller and should be filled with twists and turns, but is fairly straightforward — I would have loved a little more mystery. I did love Murderbot themselves, and will continue to read this series if I find the other books on sale for Kindle or from my local library.

Originally posted to I Should Read That


I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free.



Gilded Cage was such an interesting reading experience for me. It started out incredibly slow — to the point where I considered setting it aside in favour of other book several times — but had one of the most explosive and exciting endings I’ve ever read. Parts of it were absolutely amazing, while others just didn’t wow me at all.

My main issue going into Gilded Cage was that I felt like we had seen this all before. I liked the concept of a modern, alternate Britain that is ruled by an aristocratic class that has magic, or the Skill, and commoners must serve as slaves for ten years of their lives, a period called one’s ‘slavedays’. This sounded great, but the execution was where it went wobbly for me. The book starts out with an underwhelming plot until we get into the second half of the book. The groundwork has been laid out at this point and the plot can really get going. The last third of the book is an absolutely astonishing roller coaster ride that I absolutely loved, but I really had to fight to get there.

Once you do reach about 60%, holy crap. I had such a strong reaction to the story! Some of the best twists and turns in YA are contained within the last pages of Gilded Cage. There’s a particular scene at a party toward the end that I cannot stop thinking about — I’m pretty sure I gasped out loud when I read it. When Gilded Cage gets going, it doesn’t let up. Because the world building and the politics have been established in the first half of this book, I really think the sequels will continue on at this breakneck and heartbreaking speed and I cannot wait.

Part of the reason Gilded Cage didn’t initially resonate with me are the characters. They felt like stock characters, plucked out of a catalog labeled ‘Characters You See in YA Novels’. You have Abi, the supposedly wickedly intelligent girl who has her instalove romance with a star-crossed lover. You have Luke, the younger brother who has to grow up fast and learn to be a man. It was great to see parents in this book –they’re usually pretty absent in YA novels — however they didn’t really do much. I still really struggle with Abi, but Luke ended up growing on me and had one of the best character arcs in the book.

So who did I love? The Equals. They were deliciously evil and self-centered and I absolutely devoured their POV chapters. Silyen is my favourite character, and easily one of the best and most compelling male YA characters I’ve read in a long time. I loved every second he spent on the page and can’t wait to find out more about him. I also enjoyed discovering the complexities of Gavar’s character — he’s another one that shows some great growth as the book progresses.

Overall, I really liked Gilded Cage by the end, but I probably wouldn’t have finished it if I hadn’t been warned by a friend about the slow first half. If you’re patient, you’ll be rewarded with a great pay off. I cannot wait to devour the rest of this trilogy.


CW: Lots of implied and confirmed (off-screen) rape, slavery, violence

Originally posted to I Should Read That

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free for Bloody Rose, but may contain some very spoilers for Kings of the Wyld.

Kings of the Wyld was one of my favourite books this year. It is so funny and filled with heart — it’s the perfect kind of book for me. I knew that it would be a tough act to follow, but when I realised the sequel, Bloody Rose, was coming out I knew I had to read it. Bloody Rose is a very different book from Kings of the Wyld, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all.

I feel like in a lot of ways I’m still processing this book. There was a lot that I loved, some things I loved a little less, and some character arcs that are worthy of a bit more pondering. Overall, I enjoyed the heck out of Bloody Rose. It still has that humor I loved so much in the first book, although there was a lot less of it, and it deals with some of the heavier themes that were touched upon in Kings of the Wyld. Tam is our POV character and because she’s new to the mercenary life she sees things a little differently from her companions. I really liked that Eames digs deeper into some heavier themes in Bloody Rose thought Tam’s eyes. Most notably were the question of what makes a monster monstrous — characters like Roderick are a great addition to the book in this sense — and what happens when the arena lifestyle collapses when there are no more monsters to fight. He explores these ideas in particular without going too deep, which was a little disappointing for me but that is strictly personal taste. Kings of the Wyld scratches the surface of these questions, but doesn’t do more than that, and I was really happy to see Bloody Rose expand on these themes.

Bloody Rose has a rich cast of characters, but some are stronger than others. Bloody Rose takes place six years after the events of Kings of the Wyld — Rose is in her mid-twenties and a very different person from the girl we saw at the Battle of Castia. What’s strange for me is that Rose wasn’t the strongest character in the book, which is obviously named after her. We only get a strong sense of who she is in the last 200 pages or so. Part of that is obviously the choice to have a different character, Tam, as our POV character rather than Rose herself. However, I really liked the fact that Eames made this decision — I think having a complete stranger narrate the story added to its strength. What a conundrum.

The characters I loved? Brune and Freecloud, which is funny given that I was so excited to get female leads in this book. The two of them get the strongest back stories and have such wonderful story arcs — it is an absolute joy to watch them interact with their band mates and the other characters they meet. They are the ones that really leapt off the page at me. I also really liked Tam, which is understandable given that we spend the most time with her. The fact that she’s a character who has no experience on the road means that we get to learn about mercenary life alongside her as she fights her own ideas of what life on the road means. I particularly liked how it all ties in with her beloved mother, and how she follows in her footsteps.

I really liked Bloody Rose, but it was hard to separate it from Kings of the Wyld. I prefer Kings — that style of humor is so rare in fantasy and I just had the absolute best time reading it, but I very much appreciate the heavier themes and higher stakes of Bloody Rose. I have no idea where the series might go next, but I am eagerly awaiting the third installment.

CW: self harm, mentions of suicide, substance abuse, general fantasy gore