This book was written in the late 1940s and published in 2000. What has the potential to be an epic gothic tale was marred by racist language, using mental health as a “creep” factor, and controlling a women to kiss a man with her explicitly saying no. I am saddened that Ray Bradbury did not grow enough as an author/person in the fifty years to update the novel before publication. Because it could have been amazing but is just problematic.

The Bell Tolling is an indie published religious fantasy. The story follows a religious leader and his followers tasked with saving the people. It is an interesting combination of purity of self and very violent actions. The book is full of killing and all sorts of violence but the characters are so pure in thought that it is almost hard to believe. 

I am not an extraordinarily religious person so I had difficulty grasping the instant obedience and unwavering faith that the characters had. However, that is exactly who they are supposed to be and they were portrayed well. 

The story did start off a little slow but picked up quickly. I think it was more a matter of being oriented into the world and meeting all the characters. Once that is done then the plot takes off. 

If you enjoy religious or faith centered fantasy then I believe you will adore The Bell Tolling. 

The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle is the third book in the Edinburgh Nights series, an urban fantasy series set in Scotland. The main character is a 14-year-old ghost talker that wants to hustle her way into a better life. Through books one and two, she was slowly making that happen. 

 

The books are as much mystery as they are urban fantasy as our main character works as a detective solving paranormal crimes that she usually finds herself directly involved in. While the MC may be young, the books themselves are adult fiction. 

 

The books are told in first person, with the narrator having a Scottish accent that is written into the page. It may take some getting used to but isn’t overwhelming, usually. However, I found this book to have an abundance of runaway internal monologue and incomplete sentences. I listened to the first two books via audiobook and read this one, it may be that I prefer this series via audiobook, or it could be the book itself. 

 

The plot for this third book was also slower. The big event is a theft of a magical object, and I just wasn’t connected to the object to really care about it. There was no larger diabolical theme, and yet the theft and not even the greater crime was the intention. Honestly, it was a boring plot that needed a bit more. There was so much cut away about the history of Scotland and of these two imagined clans, much of it repeated multiple times that it felt like a third-book slump. I still love the series, but this one was not a winner for me. 

Just not my thing. I’m not much for ya romance. There was supposed to be aro/ace rep but it was apparent it wasn’t the main character or a main plot of the story. 

The first book in the Foothills Fea Academy series reads like a middle-grade book. The characters are around the age of 13 and starting their schooling at a magical academy. As the series progresses, they will continue to age. While the writing style and structure is middle-grade, there is dating and such and making out, mostly of the older characters. 

 

The book is a dual POV written in the first person. There are a lot of different POVs ranging from the core characters and, at times, other characters that are not part of this core group. While the characters were well-developed, it was hard at times to understand who was narrating. 

 

I’m not entirely sure I liked the characters all that much. A lot of them seemed to be very horrible. I really did not like how Amber was continually talked down to because she did not dress feminine and attractive. As a trans-mast kid, I found this problematic and kind of offensive. Even then, a lot of the kids’ behaviors were just not very nice. That is supposed to be the culture of the Fea world, and there was mention of it being addressed in book two, and to some degree, it was addressed in this book. But specifically for Amber, it was a lot of I hope she doesn’t change herself to fit other people’s expectations, but she also better because who she is is gross. 

 

I enjoyed the writing style overall. It could have benefited from more sensory detail, but it built up the visuals of the book well. The world-building was a lot. Often it was just laid out, but then was told again multiple times. Sometimes just in the next sentence. It made it hard to stay connected to the story. The book is also nearly 500 pages and could benefit in a good reduction in at least 100 of those pages that would make the story tighter, the plot stronger, and the reader more engaged. 

 

I think there is a lot to really enjoy about the Foothills Fea Academy and it has the potential to be really great.