onejadyn's reviews
64 reviews

For some reason, while reading this book I lost interest at about 35% through and ended up failing to pick it up for over a week.

I couldn't explain why, since I loved the setting and I loved reading about the protagonist—a former renowned smuggler turned family-driven mother who still had a taste for the sea. I wanted to love it, but for whatever reason I just wasn't picking it up and my library time was ticking.  

I returned it to the library hoping I'd want to pick it up again. 

Not a couple weeks later, I got an opportunity to take it out of the library once again and wow. I'm invested once again. 

I'm not sure what caused my lapse—it may have just been personal stresses—but I'm so glad I picked it back up. They set to sea and have landed on the island they're looking for—and everything is so eerie and unsettling in such a subtle way. Finally we have a reveal of a character I desperately want to know more about and let's just say I wish I could skip work today and keep reading. 

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So I finished it. Quickly. It's insane how much this turned around. From the time of my last review, I was just flipping pages until it was over with no reprieve. I was so invested and excited for the grand journey of Amina al-Sirafi and did not disappoint.

Honestly, it was just fun. Amina al-Sirafi is a mother and an adventurer, once retired but still in love with the see. Reading through her journeys, you can't help but root for her and empathise with her. She's got slippery morals but lines she won't cross. The adventure was fun and palpable, but real, with real stakes and fears, and it was just exciting. I don't know if I'd call this book profound or life-changing, but I will say I just enjoyed it mightily.

I honestly really enjoyed this one. For my typical tastes, it was very romance heavy, but I enjoyed the writing style enough that it didn't matter. It was funny and the story as a whole felt ... just the tiniest bit absurd. When they fell for each other too quickly, I didn't mind it, for it felt like that kind of story, and I loved both characters very much. 

There was lots of plot going on with assassinations and heads and all that good stuff, but it really was about these two people and how they healed together. 

That said, the premise behind Stephen was interesting enough that I wanted more. To my knowledge, other works of T. Kingfisher contain more of the paladins, and I'll definitely be checking it out. 

Re-read Aug 2024:

I found myself thinking of this book more than I expected and attempted to start its sequel quite recently. Shortly after starting, I decided a re-read was in order.

Honestly, it's a good story, especially if you go in with the right expectations. There's also just something about the story that makes you look forward to more — Isabella feels incomplete. The narrative voice is so much stronger and more worldly than this version of Isabella, and it leaves you wanting to see the woman she becomes.

Upgraded review from 3.75 to 4.25

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Original review:

I was looking to get into more non-fiction books, rather than just fantasy. I figured this would be a decent start for someone entirely unwilling to read anything but fantasy.

I don't know what to say about this book. I liked it. Almost loved it. There was something immersive about it. It pulled you into the world, where you did want to believe in Lady Trent and her earnest memoir, her references to previous works that no doubt haven't actually been published in our real world.

It was slow and ordinary, and also filled with dragons. It's almost more a story about rising above the station permitted by your sex than it is about dragons themselves — and on that note, I wish we'd learned more of dragons, for I certainly hadn't expected how much politics would be encompassed in this story. 

A village they don't get along with, villagers ready to kick them out, religious disputes, their guide and host missing, the smugglers, the boyars. It engaged me, but I feel sorely lacking in the meat of the research, the latter half of which was summarised after the climax of this town conflict.  

Also, Jacob's dead. And no, I am not alright with it. It is deeply unsatisfying and I couldn't believe they'd done it. Just as I was preparing for the journeys they would go on, I realised he was never to make it there with her. There was something real about their relationship, something earnest. It definitely feels as though something is missing without him.

I look forward to continuing with this series. I hope to learn more about dragons too as I do. 

This was a really great read. Somewhat of a pioneer of low stakes/cozy fantasy in a non-Earth setting, I really enjoyed seeing a new take on fantasy as a genre. It's lovely to enjoy the setting and magic of a fantasy world in a more ... mundane story of you will. It was satisfying and gratifying experiencing every small win and victory as we watch Viv's progress building up her new life. 

A great and quick read overall. While I liked the characters, I didn't fall in love with them, but honestly, I enjoyed the story anyway. It was gratifying, simple, and for me, very quick.

I typically tend to higher stake fantasy, but honestly, this book is a great breath of fresh air between bigger reads, and I can definitely see the use of a subgenre like this one in the future.

Now this was a super enjoyable story. This is my first Neil Gaiman story and I've got to say that I had a smashing time of it. Satirical and amusing to a fault, you can't help but root for the finding of Marquis' coat, which is of course magnificent and the color of a wet street at night.

It was a super fun read that kept giving, and the humor actually landed. 

I also found immense satisfaction in the fact that one of my early and odd questions was actually explained narratively. 

I had wondered why the letter was so conveniently enclosed in a plastic bag—because surely that wasn't just to save it from the water-filled room that happened to come by later?

I ended up immensely satisfied to realise it was actually trapped, which explained the bag and foreshadowed the ill-intention quite nicely.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable tromp in a magical setting that I really enjoyed. 

I found the beginning somewhat frustrating and busy, featuring a large range of new people and a fanciful very magical city, but once I settled in, I was in for a great time. 

It really was just a fun adventure, with a small band of adventerurs/thieves given what sounds like an impossible task, and doing their best work to beat the odds. 

More enjoyable than it should've been, and an overall great time.