randi_jo's Reviews (420)

I am bereft. I was expecting a lot of western shoot-outs, bandido adventures and debauchery, and more magical elements, but instead was served some heart achingly tragic morality tale about the nature of humans and their ability to become something new, old, good, or evil. The magical realism is subtle in this, even though it seems to start out strong in the prologue, but it boils down to the physical embodiment of a generational curse and its dissolution. 

Godspeed, Peter Ainsley. I wish we had known you longer.

A TW I think might be very important for some people:

There is quite a bit of child death and the mourning over killed children in this one. It hits hard though and is treated like the deplorable act that it is.

This was a fun read with a nice little twist at the end that's not TOO out there (considering it has hyper intelligent animals who can type). Charlie is fun to follow as an MC and Morrison is the ultimate henchwoman. There were a few parts that felt overexplained, but it didn't really detract from the story.

Never underestimate a man and his cat(s).

In all, I found this to be a pretty mid-tier romance. Has some good, some bad, but nothing outrageous or risk-takey when it comes to the tried and true romance formulas. ML was the generic boring soft boi with a huge dick and slightly less generic name. FL was the simple doom-thinker who by the end of the book is willing to finally take a risk or two because ~plot progression must happen~.

There's some mention of Gemma's family being magic.

I believe the words were something like: "You were the one who inherited the family's paranormal abilities." from Gemma's sister, Kiersten

And by some mention I mean a literal sentence. Do I care more about that possibility and it's implications than just about everything else that happened in the book? Yes.

I also feel weird having read Kate's bio at the end of the book, stating that she hates owls. What did the owls do, Kate? What have they done to you?

I have not read such a piece of overly glorified, self-serving, Mary Sue self-insert, garbage in SUCH a long time. If I had even a MODICUM of self respect, I would have DNFed by page 100. But alas, I hate myself, so here we are.

FMC is so painfully Mary Sue; so naive but SO SMART according to literally everyone else. She so cool, and loved by everyone (oh but her literally family loves her in abusive/obsessive ways, because what heroine could possible have a stable family life??!?!?!), and probably costs a shit-ton of money to keep her since she's losing jewelled hairpins every three paragraphs. The only way to make her SO RELATABLE is to give her an OBVIOUS handicap, so lol make her lose the use of one hand!!! DOESN'T STOP HER ANYWAY.

MMC is just. . . idk; someone has a redhead fetish and I will leave it at that.

Romance? You mean trauma-bond.

But the prose is wonky as fuck, randomly placed paragraphs that go on for a full page describing scenery/rooms/areas - in the middle of actions scenes, even!! -  to idk, show off how much author knows about history/anthropology of the era; the dragon montage mini chapters; the fact that the dragon is literally referred to as she/her and by her FULL NAME IN FRYDA'S AND BEOWULF'S POV CHAPTERS LIKE HOW DO THESE BITCHES KNOW A DRAGONS GENDER AND NAME FROM A GLANCE?

I need a stiff drink. Thank you for coming.

 The first 100 pages or so read very try-hard and almost made me put the book away forever because all she does is talk about how much you should hate her because she. . . has privilege and suicide ideation? Unsure. Anyway, once she stops trying to make every member of her family into a depreciative joke and starts to talk about herself and the cults (12 step programs, self-help methods, etc, not actual religious cults where you have to do morally and ethically questionable things to please a god-like figurehead) that she's joined in her quest for mental stability, it gets interesting and engaging in a way that feels very organic and personal.

The ending kind of putters out, as if she was unsure what to actually say to make it all end, lol. In all it wasn't a bad read, but I also feel sort of bad it took her 3 years to write it (she only lambasts herself about this fact about 800 times; beat that dead horse, girl). 

An endearing WWII short about how humans can connect and form lasting bonds between time/space.

I, somehow, simultaneously have no idea what I just read, yet know exactly what I just read. Like if I were also imbued with deadly radiation, I too would just wander the streets looking for the source while also slowly becoming aware of a (potentially evil?) organization who is interested in (maybe alien?) tech.

Anyway, it has some real VanderMeer vibes with the maybe, not so maybe, one liner about possibly aliens but no actual proof. Almost feels like a prequel. . . unless. . .  👀 

I think this is a great start to introduce the Witcher universe, while also alluding to different situations that set off the plot of the series. I love how sassy Geralt is, how he contrasts against Dandelion, and how things are slowly uncovered rather than lore being thrown in your face all at once. Super glad I got the illustrated edition as well; the art of Yennifer is *chef's kiss*.