This was one of my most hyped releases this year, and while I did enjoy it, it didn't quite fully live up for me.

I think the biggest let down for me overall was the romance. Altan and Ahn were very clearly obsessed with each other, constantly sneaking furtive glances and pining from afar (or not afar), but I felt like I never actually felt their chemistry myself. I wasn't invested in this relationship at all, beyond just liking them both individually as characters. It made some scenes feel weaker to me, because they seemed to hinge on their love for each other, but I just never felt it.

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I also generally am not a fan of YA books using the word love when the characters only know each other for such a short amount of time, as it often feels so fast and ruins it for me, even if I'd been liking the relationship so far up until that point.

I think this world and setting has a lot of potential, and I enjoyed the role that history and lore played in the plot and background of the characters. I also quite enjoyed the characters overall, even if I sometimes found Ahn or Altan a bit frustrating or shallow (in terms of writing and development, not as a personality) at moments. The side characters definitely intrigued me more than the main characters on multiple occasions, and I wish that overall we had gotten more time with some of them.

While things were overall fairly predictable, I didn't find myself minding too much overall. However, this led to me liking the story rather than loving it, because it never felt like it really came into its own. I mainly just liked everything, but I was never obsessed, racing to find out the ending. In that way, it's a book I enjoyed and don't regret spending time on, but I don't think I'll be thinking of this story for months to come.

I was wary of this going in just because of how hyped it was, and not all my friends loving it, but in the end I really, really enjoyed this!

First off, I have to commend the audiobook. I listened to the UK version (still not sure now where this book is set though haha), and it was fantastic. It had a full cast (like the US audio does), and a bunch of production effects that just elevated it even further. There were writing and texting sounds when it made sense, and a grainy audio filter applied over the production log to make it sound more authentic. Honestly, it elevated my entire reading experience, and I'm so glad I chose this format to read this book in.

I also really liked both Ravi and Pippa, and how they weaved through the twists and turns of this research project turned murder mystery. Overall, there were a lot of individual aspects to the story that I'd seen before, but the way this particular story wove them together. I also liked that alongside the actual mystery itself there was this larger story of how a town turned so easily against a family, and how the book kept returning to this great wrong, and explored the racism behind the town's actions. We didn't just want to find the truth, but we wanted to see the wrong undone. I also really liked the double twist, and while I had guessed one early on, the extra layer meant I was able to still be wholly surprised.

Overall, I really enjoyed this, and can't wait to read the rest of the series! I do really appreciate that this book wrapped up this particular mystery though, as it means I can pick up the next one at my own pace, when I want a mystery like this one again!

This is such a hard book to review because I am absolutely, devastatingly in love with this series and I don't know how to put that into words. I love Vasya, I love her loud strength and her determination to not let the world remake her into something palatable. I love Morozko and his quiet yearning, the growing softness alongside his sharp shards of ice. I even loved her family for the most part, stuck on the sharp edge of loving someone so much, yet not knowing how to keep them safe.

This book was beautifully written, and I found myself rereading some passages multiple times. I felt the snow in my hair, the harsh touch of icy winter. I felt the depth of Vasya's desire for freedom, her fire when it came to protecting those she loved. Every word felt carefully placed, chosen for maximum effect, and there were so many moments where these words broke my heart. Vasya's story takes place in an often cruel world, and the fantastic writing only made it so much more painful to read.

Vasya was, of course, still my favorite character, and I loved the time we got to spend with her and Solovey, whether it be inside the walls of Moscow or in the perilous depths of the forest. I loved seeing her unfettered joy during some scenes in this book, as much as it hurt to see that joy lost in others. I can't wait to see where her journey continues to bring her.

I loved the Bear and the Nightingale, but The Girl in the Tower has placed this series high on my list of favorites, and I am both extremely excited and endlessly terrified to start the next book, and see where this story brings me next.

I've read, and loved, Traci Chee's previous book, The Reader, though I still need to continue the series, so I was extremely excited when my request for an advanced copy of this book was approved. The synopsis seemed like exactly my sort of thing, and I couldn't wait to dive in!

I adored this book, and it kept growing on me more and more as I went on, and as the story shifted forms. Each time the story shifted, I found something new to love, and I loved how it was ever-changing, keeping me on my toes and constantly guessing what could possibly come next. This carried an aura of fairy tales whilst still feeling a step apart from other fairy tale style stories or retellings I've read before.

I also really enjoyed how many creatures and monsters and spirits were involved in every page of this book, and I thought the footnotes giving some of them quick explanations were a nice touch. It allowed curious readers to learn more about the creatures on page without bogging down the writing and storytelling with possibly repetitive introductions to creature after creature. I honestly really loved how small a role humans seemed to play in the story overall, and that so many of the characters seemed imbued with magic somehow, either through being a spirit themselves or having some connection to them. It made the story feel richer overall, and I loved meeting them all, whether they were names I had encountered in other stories before or not.

Miuko's journey was also an intriguing one, and I found it so hard to decide what to wish for for her, in terms of an ending. Did I want her to free herself of the curse, a dream she so determinedly clung to? Or did I want her to embrace this new side of herself, even if it came at the cost of her humanity? The answer to this was ever-shifting, as Miuko's journey proceeded and more information came forth, about both options. Miuko herself wavered on this specific decision many times as well, and I found this internal journey a perfect complement to the external one she was taking alongside it. The villain also played an intriguing role, even if, as time went on, he became a clearer and clearer villain. I enjoyed the fuzziness around his morality at first,

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and part of me still wishes the book had perhaps followed the route of them joining up, not to necessarily burn the world down and remake it, but rather for both of them to find their wishes in each other. I wished for this less and less as the story went on of course, and it became clearer that the villain was not redeemable, but I definitely could have seen this side of the story as well, from some parts at the beginning.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book, and cannot wait to pick up a copy for myself when it releases. If you love magical spirits, strong-willed heroines, and tricky side characters that aren't quite human, this is a perfect read to start off 2022 with!

This book wasn't truly on my radar until it was revealed to be the Illumicrate book for December, and then as time went on, I found myself getting more and more hyped for it. I'd see videos of people loving it, saw the gorgeous Illumicrate copies arriving, and by the time mine showed up, I wanted to dive right in. Storytel had an audiobook available of this, and with all the Christmas present wrapping there was to be done, I decided that to read the book in that format. It was a great choice in hindsight, because I really enjoyed the narration of this story, and it was light enough that it was easy to follow, even while wrapping frustratingly shaped gifts.

Magic seemed to unfurl slowly in this book, revealing a bit more of itself with each and every page, until we had a full-on magical mystery on our hands. I loved seeing these little glimpses of magic and power as we, and Robin were introduced to this new, dangerous world. The pacing of these revelations seemed to perfectly align with Robin and Edwin getting to know each other, big reveals lining up with big jumps in their closeness. It worked perfectly for me.

The magic itself was also quite intriguing, from how it was used by others to how it was treasured by Edwin. I also loved how the magic was done, and how preciseness lined up with how much magic one had to spare. There were harsh limitations to this magic as well, especially for those who had very little magic, like Edwin. The descriptions of magic, and it's various uses within the story, were also wonderful, and I loved seeing both the how and the why of different types of spells, and how different characters applied magic differently.

However, the thing that drew me into the story the quickest was the dynamic and relationship between Edwin and Robin. There was so much banter, and then so much soft pining and angst, and it all drew me in so much faster than the story itself originally did. I loved watching them tackle the mystery together, and how it brought them closer and closer. I can't wait to see what the rest of the series has in store for them, though it does seem like the next book will have different main characters (which I'm actually quite excited for!)

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this, and have already started recommending it to people I know would love it. I can't wait to read what's next!

“They wanted to kill her, so this Vhalla would die, she resolved, and a new Vhalla would be born from her ashes.”

Stars (Out of 10): 9/10 Stars

Overall Thoughts: I absolutely loved this book!! I’ve been in a terrible slump these past two months, and this book has basically reignited my need to read again. I loved the plot, the characters, the world, everything! I am super super curious as to how the series will continue too, as there are so many ways for it to go now as well!

The Good: I really loved most parts of this book. I loved the characters we were introduced to, and how we already got to see them grow in this book alone. In addition, I’m really interested in how the plot will continue, since what we’ve seen so far has opened so many ways for the book to go as well. The plot also had quite a few twists, and I have the feeling that there’s much more of that in store in the series!

The Bad: The beginning was a bit rough, since it didn’t seem to paint a true picture of Vhalla’s life before finding out about her powers, and jumped rather quickly into the action. Not necessarily the worst thing in the world, but it was a tad harder to connect with Vhalla because of this, since we didn’t really know who she was before magic.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE

The Characters: I grew to love the characters very quickly, especially Vhalla, Aldrik, and Larel. I also like that the main characters (Aldrik and Vhalla) have obvious flaws, and didn’t automatically change their ways just because they met each other. Vhalla held onto her hatred of sorcery for quite a while, and didn’t just suddenly change her mind because her magic was rare. It built up a more “real” character, and I really loved that.

The Plot: I was really intrigued by what has happened so far, especially the trial near the end. Seeing everything come together, both people and plans, is always my favorite, especially when we as readers have no idea about it.

The World Building: We haven’t had the most of this yet, only the limited knowledge that Vhalla herself had, but we were taught enough to understand the story and plot. I’m super curious to learn more though, about the magic, the war, etc. and I think we’ll get that in book 2 when Vhalla moves to the front!

The Favorite Character: Vhalla

Buy it, Borrow it, or Bin it: Buy it!

This review can also be found on my blog: https://paragraphsandpages.wordpress.com/

Reread review: I'm finally trying to finish this series, after having it stare at me from my shelves for ages. However, it's been years since I originally read this book, so I decided to reread the first few books again first. Unfortunately, I don't like this book as much a second time around, though I am still intrigued about the series as a whole. While I still enjoy Vhalla and Aldrik's dynamic, I feel like I'm less forgiving of Aldrik's harshness, and the man still has a lot to make up for in the next book. I also found the writing quite simple overall, feeling more like only a vessel through which the story is told, rather than adding to it. This is one of Kova's first books however, so I'm not judging this story too harshly in terms of technical skill yet, because I do think she's grown a lot since this book, and probably within this series as well. I still agree with my earlier thoughts of the book falling a bit too quickly into action, not really giving us a proper glimpse of Vhalla's quiet life before. It makes it hard to see why she would ever want to remain in the library, and give up her powers for that peaceful life. It also means we never get to see Roan and Sareem act as proper friends before they sort of turn on her for her new powers/interest in magic, so it makes those relationships seem quite shallow as well. Readers are just never given enough to understand why Vhalla would want to stay in the library, behind her just adamantly claiming that that's so. Anyway, I'm excited to finally dive into the rest of the series, both relearning twists I'd read once already and discovering new ones.

This has to be, overall, one of the best series I have ever read. This finale was so beautiful written and crafted, and secured this series as one of my favorites, and I'm sure I'll find myself rereading it in the future. Also, I would like to sue Fonda for emotional damages because I don't think a book has ever made me sob so consistently! It was 700 pages! That's a lot of pages to be crying over!

I loved Jade City when I first listened to it back on an airplane home for the 2020 holidays. I was heading back to my family, after the longest stretch of separation from them since moving away in 2017. I saw myself in Shae, who was also returning home after an even longer time away, to a family who she wasn't sure would accept her anymore, at least not as she currently was. I fell in love with Hilo's passion and ferocity, Lan's desperation to lead a fracturing city and country, with every single one of these characters. And when I started my reread of Jade City in November 2021, in order to continue this series, I fell in love with them all over again.

The Green Bone Saga has to be one of the most meticulously crafted, well-written trilogies I've ever read. I found myself losing minutes, hours, days in the pages of these books, losing thoughts to these characters and their fictional issues. Quite frankly, I found myself wholly obsessed, bewitched even, by the words on these pages. (And I have to commend the narration of the audiobooks here, which brought a whole extra layer to this story. The range of emotion that the narrator was able to articulate when speaking was breathtaking, and I especially love how well he played Hilo, especially at his rawest moments.)

Jade Legacy is the crowning achievement of this saga, spanning decades and continents, bringing together every moment that the last two books contained. Everything mattered, every small spoken word brought to fruition within Legacy's pages. You could almost physically feel every small side story coming full circle once again, imparting its own lesson or final meaning on the reader as the book drew to a close. I still cannot believe how full of meaning the ending truly was, and I'm still left pondering the end that was given to certain characters. I feel this story in my bones, and I honestly never expected to love it quite this much.

I don't think I can ever quite forgive Fonda Lee for what she made me go through during these three books, and especially Jade Legacy, but I am grateful for this reading experience and for the sheer range of emotions it evoked in me. I've read many fantastic books in 2021, but this series is definitely one of the best.

I feel like this book further highlights a gap in contemporary fiction for books set during university, specifically queer books. We have such a growing wealth of queer stories set in high school, both about coming out or discovering your identity, or just the trials of being queer in high school, and it's fantastic, especially for the coming generations of queer kids. But now everyone has this all figured out so early, and for a lot of people college and university, or the first few years of true adulthood, is when we learn these things about ourselves. I loved Loveless just for exploring this facet of the queer community alone, and I really want to see more stories like it.

This book also heavily showcases the lack of (positive) asexual/aromantic media we have in our society. I've seen ace/aro side characters, whether it be in fantasy or contemporary, but rarely ever do I see a main character with this identity. Asexuality is still one of the most misunderstood parts of the queer community, with some people arguing it doesn't even 'deserve to be called queer at all' (which is such bullshit, honestly). The various forms of media nowadays (films, tvs, books, etc) are so, so important in helping both others understand people different from them and helping people understand themselves, that diversity and proper representation in media is more important than ever. I really hope that Loveless is the start of a whole wave of works based on asexuality or asexual characters.

Loveless is such a fantastic, beautiful story about platonic friendship and finding oneself. It was also just a heart-wrenching story about heading off to university and leaving your family, and everything you know behind, and how your high school relationships may last, or they may not, and both is ok. I loved this, I loved the humor and the characters and seeing them grow. While I had enjoyed the other book I'd read of Alice Oseman's, I loved this one, and I can't wait to read more of her works now.

This book was... frustrating. I completely understand how I put down the series a little after getting through this one. It just featured everything I really dislike in stories and romances like this.

Miscommunication and misplaced jealousy sucks, more so when it seems to drive so much of the story. It felt like over half of this book was Vhalla reacting to Aldrik hanging out with another woman, whilst that woman was hanging off of Aldrik and endlessly insulting Vhalla without consequences from him. It was just so, so frustrating to read, and I'm glad I had the audiobook for this, so I could force myself through the tiring parts. I honestly couldn't even focus on the plot or magic progression because they were just being dumb for no reason. It was ridiculous. I'm also annoyed that on top of this that

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Larel died, one of my favorite characters.

Lastly, the cliffhanger on this book is really bad in a way that almost puts me off continuing. It literally did put me off continuing on my last read through. I went right to book 3 to see what happens, then stopped a few chapters in when things were okay again, because that was my only driving reason to pick that book up right then. The same happened now, and it took me a bit to start the audio for book 3, despite my determination to finally get through this series on this read through. I don't like when a book ends in such a way that the story feels so unfinished and hanging open that you feel forced to read the next book immediately. I'd rather be so drawn into the story that I can't help but start the next book, cliffhanger or not, and this extreme cliffhanger removed my interest to continue again. (However, I have managed to push through by now and am now the farthest I've ever been into book 3!)

This is my second time trying to read this book, and while a lot of reasons originally stopped me from continuing the first time (too much angst/frustration, especially in the romance), I wanted to persevere this time. Unfortunately... it didn't get any better.

Vhalla was so isolated in this book, and while that was probably the point, I hated it. I always liked seeing her friends in the last two books, especially some scenes in Fire Falling, so this book in comparison felt overall way less interesting to me. I also really disliked that

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Aldrik was integral in this isolation, and while it was sometimes brought up and discussed, it was only ever when Vhalla was annoyed with Aldrik for some extra reason. I'm glad she's going off on her own for a bit to find herself, because it's almost as if she's been absorbed by him. If I didn't think this was the ending romance, I'd almost think this relationship was trying to teach something about toxic relationships and how kind they can seem when one's in them.

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However, even with the isolation, I probably would have given it 3 stars if it not were for the ending. We see so much growth in the characters, and especially Aldrik and his relationship with others, throughout the past three books, only for a single argument to burn it all down. Their final fight was honestly so toxic that I don't even know if I want them together anymore. I half hoped

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Daniel would come along, and a new romance would happen

, even if I found that to be unlikely. I also feel weird in general about how the romance stuff with Daniel went down, because even after Vhalla strongly says no he's still? a little too romantic? He also made a point of saying 'your feeling don't dictate mine' which I at first thought was a good line, but honestly, in a romantic context, it's actually not great at all. So at this point I'm just completely frustrated with the romance in this series, and it's such an integral part that it's ruining my reading of the series.

I'll still continue the series, because I want to enjoy them and see this reading through, but I really hope future Kova books have less frustrating romantic subplots.