“When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?”

Stars (Out of 10): 10/10 Stars

Favorite Character: Katsa and Po

Spoiler Free: I couldn’t put this book down once I truly got into it. Looking back, I can’t really find one thing I disliked about this book. The world was built fantastically, and explained in an easy to understand way while also not leaving anything important out. All the characters felt fully fleshed out, and entirely their own, constantly sticking to their values. Additionally, the romance, while fantastic, did not entirely dominate the book nor change the characters involved. And lastly, the plot was one that kept going from the first line to the last.

It was a tale about discovery, love and friendship, and of breaking free. A tale about fighting and learning to love (both others and yourself.) It was a tale unlike any I’ve read before, and I still cannot stop thinking about it.

This is quite possibly the best and most well-rounded fantasy stand-alone I have ever read. It didn’t feel rushed, and the build up constantly contained excitement while still giving the entire novel a base to build upon. And while the world does continue on into other books, I am still sad to leave these lovely characters here.

It's been a hot minute since I last read middle-grade, but after reading Middlegame and reading the snippets of this book that it contained, I knew I had to read this series. I just adore Seanan's writing style.

Returning to this world, in a sense, felt like coming home again. The writing style and story were so comforting, even if it does differ quite a lot from Middlegame. There are just enough reminders and connections. However, this book (and hopefully the rest of the series) does still stand strongly on its own, and I just know I would have been obsessed with this world when I was younger. Even now, I adored the book, even if it's not my favorite of Seanan's works overall. I think my main issue was that it was perhaps a bit short, but I do think the shortness will fit the story overall, especially once I've read more parts. I feel like this was also a book that was largely focused more on the world and characters so far, rather than the plot, but I do think this might change in the next two books (because of that ending!!)

I'm excited to continue!

I definitely enjoyed this one more than the first book! While I adored the first, this book felt like it had a bit more of a plot beyond wandering around and exploring the Up and Under, and I feel like that's the main thing I found missing in book 1. I also just adore pirates and pirate ships, and ship stories generally, so getting some seafaring adventuring was a nice shift from the land-based journeying Zib and Avery had done so far!

I also really liked how this book leaned more and more into specific lore in the Up and Under, since the basics of the world had already been explored in book 1. It has me really excited to see where the next book goes, and I can't wait to see what the ending mean for the final book in the series!

When I first heard about this book, I was immediately hyped for it. I’ve been reading a lot of happier queer books lately, and I’ve loved so many of them, but I also love books that feature queer rage, and it seemed like this book was going to do just that. I mean, the synopsis literally states “a furious, queer debut,” of course I was going to be excited about this!

While this book didn’t quite reach 5-star heights for me, it was still a fantastic read overall. It delivered on the anger and the queerness, and explored so many intense issues, often relating both religion and being queer. I think the amount of religion in this book made it harder for me to get into, as I’m personally quite distanced from religion as a whole and don’t have a personal connection to or experiences with religion. However, I did really enjoy how everything was interconnected, and the additional layers that religion gave to the apocalypse.

I think my favorite aspect of this book was the discussion around whether people saw Benji as a human or not still, even after he begins mutating into a monster. It made for some interesting conversations and moments, both between Benji and others, but also between Benji and other monsters. I also liked how it mirrored the conversation around Benji’s gender identity as well, since there was also a secondary debate over whether people saw Benji as a guy or not (it was largely religious cultists denying his transition). In the end, almost every aspect of this book felt extremely layered and well-thought-out.

Overall, I ended up really enjoying this book, and I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for future books by this author! I also really appreciated the author’s note and trigger warnings at the beginning of the book, especially for a book as heavy as this one.

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I had high hopes going into this book. I mean, it’s a wintry sapphic romance, what’s not to be excited about! I want hot cocoa and snow and women falling in love! And while the book does deliver on a lot of this, it unfortunately just didn’t entirely work for me.

One thing I have to compliment this book on is its atmosphere. I feel like an important part of any seasonal romance is properly setting the scene and making readers feel like they’re also there in that season, even if in real-life it’s an entirely different time of year. This book did a fantastic job of it, and even though it’s only the early days of fall here, I felt like I was in a cabin, buried in inches of snow. It made the book so cozy overall, and I can honestly see this being a perfect read this winter just for this alone. It was incredibly atmospheric, and I can’t wait for it to be winter and for the holidays to come around again now!

Unfortunately, that’s the only part I really loved about this book. While I generally liked the romance, I was never quite into it because I couldn’t fully connect with Morgan. I actually really liked her problems (abandonment, feeling like you’re never going to be enough, etc.), and the angst that came with it, but something about the way she was developed didn’t really work for me, and she remained feeling a bit two-dimensional throughout the book because of it. It kept me a bit more distanced from the romance, too, and the third-act breakup only solidified that distance for me. I wasn’t a fan of what was chosen as the issue here, and how some characters, especially Morgan, felt out of character during that scene. Since I was never truly invested in the relationship, it also made the many cheesy moments a bit too cringy for my taste, which ruined a large part of the ending for me as well. I also just wasn’t a big fan of the epilogue, and felt that it was quite rushed and fast overall. It was hard to tell the exact timing of when the epilogue takes place, but it seemed like it was only a few weeks/couple of months after the end of the book, which only contributed to the rushed feeling.

Overall, this book was a cute, snowy read, but not one I’ll find myself rereading this winter, unfortunately. I do think many people will still find it to be the perfect holiday read, though, especially paired with a massive mug of hot cocoa!

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.


I've been eyeing this series for a while, even though I haven't been as into middle-grade books recently. I just adored Middlegame and Seasonal Fear so much, that I needed to get more of this world in any way possible. When I was approved for this book, it was finally the push I needed to read the rest of the series as well! Over the past two weeks, I've been reading this series and finally made it to the long awaited finale… or so I thought. I went into this book expecting it to be the last, but about halfway through I realized that the main story wasn't actually anywhere close to wrapping up, and there definitely had to be more books coming. Luckily, I realized this soon enough, so I wasn't left confused by the ending of this book, which was clearly not an ending to the series. It actually does make sense for there to be at least four books (one for each of the elements), so I'm glad by this choice overall, though I might have waited to read this whole series until it was completed then. At least each book does start with a semi-summary of the past books, so that helps!

Into the Windwracked Wilds, while not my favorite installment of this series, was about exactly what I was expecting, in both good and bad ways. I'm now three books into this series, and while the world itself is unpredictable and improbable, the stories do seem to fall into similar patterns. It does help to give the world structure, but it also means that reading them all in a row has begun to feel a bit repetitive. The plot itself is also generally continuous, with not super clear separation between books beyond character/element focuses, so it honestly feels like I've been reading one long book so far!

Overall, though, I do really like how this series has been set up, with each book getting a specific element and character that's explored. This book was clearly air, and revolved a lot around the Crow Girl, or at least her background, and exploring her bargain and the bargain of other birds more. We also were introduced to a new side character, Jack Daw, who I've actually grown quite fond of quite quickly! I do still really appreciate the writing in this book as well, even if it does make the book itself a bit more of an intense and draining read, since a bit more focus is required to catch every dip and nuance of the writing.

It'll be nice to have a small break now until the next book, but that doesn't mean I'm any less a fan of this series overall! I know that coming back to the series will be comforting again, and I already am looking forward to it!