readabilitea's Reviews (427)

I absolutely loved this. The weaving of Gottlieb's own story with those of her clients was really well done and her writing was warm, funny, and entertaining, without losing its wisdom and gentle navigation of our humanity. I laughed, I cried, I have annotated and tabbed several parts, and I will certainly be returning to read this - whether parts or in its entirety - in the future.

I think I could have finished this one without too much bother but it wasn't grabbing me and I could see it becoming a bit too saccharine for what I was in the mood for, so better to just stop and move onto something I more fitting my reading mood

I really enjoyed this one, perhaps because I was expecting nothing special, but actually it ticked all my boxes: exciting plot, interesting and well-developed romance, witches. I found the coded-France setting to sometimes be a bit laboured and there were certainly similarities to other popular fantasy/romance series (e.g. From Blood and Ash) but I found this surpassed them because time was taken to develop the romance and it didn't fall into the instalove trap and there were some twists that I didn't see coming 

A Godkiller, a baker knight, a young noble and the god that's bonded to her journey to a ruined city in the aftermath of a war against the gods. Already an interesting enough premise to arouse my curiosity, but then I read the prologue at work which was incredibly dramatic and definitely did its job and got me hooked enough to continue reading.

This ended up being a lot more character-driven than I expected and I think it was stronger for it. As mentioned the prologue really kicks off with a bang, and though the pace lulls a bit as we embark on the central quest, the emotions on show, the development of central characters and their relationships to others, and an explosion of action balance everything out. Several mysteries are presented throughout the story and some answers are given, but there is just enough left come the end that it's well set up to be continued as a trilogy without giving me the feeling that it's been deliberately drawn out to be a series. I'm a sucker for anything with found family vibes and there are several within the storyline, and I also liked how normalised LGBTQ and disabled people were. With Kissen in particular, there is no internal struggle or big deal made about her bisexuality, it's just a facet of her, and so too is her disability.

Godkiller has clearly had a huge marketing budget thrown behind it and is already very hyped so I was sceptical going in but I came out surprised and will be looking out with keen eyes for the announcement of the sequel's release date

I loved the premise of this book and the wide variety of authors and countries and bookshops spoken about but on the whole this missed the mark. I expected to not get on with some essays (it's a collection after all) but very few really captured me. I really liked Saša Stanišić's essay and the one by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, and I was grateful to be introduced to some new-to-me writers, but overall this felt like a very self-indulgent collection of essays focusing all to often on 'proper' literature and bookshops

Whilst I was reading this book, I really enjoyed it. It fulfilled exactly the purpose I wanted from a book at the time: it was an easy before-bed read that kept me away from screens in the evening with its interesting world, long lost queen, and a moody prince who needed bringing down a peg or two. The last 50 pages were so action-packed it became my commute read and I know I will read the sequel. However, the further away from finishing I get, the more flaws I find with the book as a whole.

Firstly, nothing much particularly happens, and the pace feels deliberately slow not for world-building purposes but because this is destined to be part one of a series (a duology?). If time had been dedicated to expanding the world a bit more, I wouldn't have minded this so much, but it's so heavily-weighted towards the last 50 pages that the plot suddenly becomes very intense and feels a bit ridiculous.

Given that this is billed as a forbidden romance, it's pretty obvious who is going to fall in love, but this predictability isn't what I minded so much as the insta-love aspect. Alizeh's eyes are so enchanting Kamran immediately falls in love having seen them once and can't stop thinking about her, especially when seemingly simply by existing she disproves all of his cynical theories about her. Given that in terms of plot not much happens, there was definitely room to explore the romance more and not just reduce it to a fated forbidden romance that fills the respective participants with inexplicable feelings of desire when they're in the vicinity of each other.

Having said this, I did enjoy reading This Woven Kingdom. The use of dual POVs worked really well and the drip-feeding of mini cliffhangers at the end of each perspective propelled me reading forward and gave me a short-term hit of excitement. It's just a shame that this was only short-term, and the enjoyment kind of wore off after finishing. 

For a lot of this book I didn't really know what was going on, but I was really enjoying the ride nevertheless. I loved the epistolary format and all of the references littered through the letters and I loved that it actually felt like a dialogue between the two authors.

I liked the uniqueness of the premise of this book: looking at the lives of 20th century dictators through the lens of the food they ate, told by the cooks that cooked for them, but I found the historical context and general information aspect of the book lacking. Too often there were just throwaway comments about significant events and I wanted more. The style and tone was very accessible and it was very easy reading, but I saw myself heading for an at best mediocre read, so I decided it was worth stopping where I was.

I have tried this book both as an audiobook and an ebook and yet I cannot get on with it and it's time to let it go. I really wanted to love this, it being literally the only non-children's Dutch fantasy I know of, but for me it moves too slowly and in a predictable direction. If it were one or the other, I think I would continue, but the fact that it's got both the unnecessary, long, and drawn out descriptions of literally everything and predictability mean it's too frustrating and not really an enjoyable reading experience.