Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was excited after hearing this was the book to read after watching Sinners, but this shocked me /neg. Very little time was spent on the history of the vampires. The prologue included a singular scene focusing on the history and that was it. A very large majority of this book was inflicting pain on the slaves, especially the women and children. There needs to be content warnings because I was not expecting to read multiple graphic rape and torture scenes. None of the violent scenes contributed to the plot or character development, in my opinion. The revenge scene was lackluster and too short. The native rep was lazy, and I wish the women had been listened to throughout the story as they warned the men (including our main character) of the hubris of listening to the vampire. The writing style was fantastic, don’t get me wrong, and the story was well paced and compelling, in an odd sort of way; however, I think the plot was too focused on torturing the slaves and looking down on them (there’s a scene where it’s insinuated

that the vampires become enlightened and that’s why they no longer speak like slaves

) instead of the interesting vampire lore or the freedom of the slaves.

This was interesting as an intro to Kafka. It pulled me in immediately. I’m not quite sure how I meant to interpret this, but to me it felt like commentary on how the nature of relationships change, how resentment can grow, how reliance can inhibit growth. Kafka’s writing is a bit dry, but I loved Gregor and Grete’s characterization. Gregor, as depressed and insecure, as his family provider and Grete, as the younger sister, ready to shoulder the burden of care yet ultimately needing the space to grow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Shroud is a very heavy, sci-fi focused story that explores what happens when you drop people on a planet where there’s no light and everything wants to kill you. I loved that the aliens were incomprehensible. There’s this sense of otherness that’s so unlike so many other sci-fi novels. I will say it got to the point where it felt like Juna and Mai were in hard situation after hard situation and it made the story drag because it was repetitive, but ultimately after getting around the jargon, it was a really interesting sci-fi read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

T Kingfisher, I love you. This was an amazing and unexpected Snow White retelling. The beginning was a bit slow, but in the true Kingfisher fashion, the pace picks up dramatically after a quarter of the way through. Anja is such a compelling main character. I love that she was a grown woman (35) and was so immersed in her poisons work that she wasn’t focused on societal pressures or social expectations. Even being a Snow White retelling, the twist was innovative, and the atmosphere was sufficiently creepy. I like the way that the plot progressed. I liked the romantic subplot because it was very subtle yet came to a satisfying conclusion. The story overall came to a satisfying conclusion, however, I do wish that the science from the first half and the magic of the second half had been brought together more. T Kingfisher, I have placed you on my automatic buy list.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Madeleine Nakamura is very consistent with the conciseness of her writing. Adrian is just as heartbreaking in Angel Eye as in The Cursebreakers. I’m glad that Nakamura spent more time exploring all sorts of relationships for Adrian, but I do wish more time was spent world building and expanding the magic system, as well as giving Malise and Gennady more of an arc, rather than focusing so much on new characters. I think that the plot lacked tension, the antagonist was given away too early and I didn’t really feel any sort of stakes throughout.

I went into this blind because I received an arc of Angel Eye. The concept was very unique. I feel like so much of fantasy academia is focused on the students, not the professors. I liked Adrian‘s characterization. His mental illness and his addiction aren’t demonized, they’re handled with nuance and care. What I couldn’t understand was his love for Casmir. Casmir was a dick to him throughout the story and the blowup between the two of them felt like it should’ve happened much sooner. I loved the progression of Adrian‘s friendship with Gennady. I feel like very little was explained in the way of the plot, and I felt very disconnected from what was happening. The antagonists and their goals felt one dimensional, and Adrian felt like the only character that was fully explored or given depth.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this a lot more than Nothing but Blackened Teeth and The Salt Grows Heavy. This truly felt like a fever dream. Alessa was the perfect unreliable narrator. I really enjoyed the non-linear storytelling, but it was jarring at first. This book feels like how the word squelch sounds; it's gross and weird and filled with righteous rage. I don’t want to give too much away, but the political commentary and themes are explained with such nuance that they don’t feel like force fed morals. I truly enjoyed this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I feel like this had so much potential, but ultimately felt short. The moral heart of the story was very simple and wasn’t explored with any sort of nuance, it was very black and white. Poppy was such a weak main character, despite her power and her role in the community and I found that I didn’t care whether or not she achieved her goal. The world building was mediocre. It wasn’t super heavy in regards to setting so there wasn’t info dumping, but there were so many places that could've been explored more and I finished feeling unsatisfied with the world building, magic system and character arcs.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Cool premise, not great execution. First warning, this was very descriptive and did make my stomach turn. I like the representation of grief and family dynamics. I loved Ronny‘s relationship with Tommy, but ultimately the story fell flat. I’m not sure if it’s because Ronnie is 14 but the writing felt very simple. The horror and gore also feel out of place, like it wasn’t fully integrated into the story. If Ronny’s anger had been shown differently, I don’t think much of the story would’ve changed.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was excited for a little necromancer novel, but I left this irritated despite how short it is. Nevermore felt like a fake idgaf-er. Vex was irritating. I lost count of how many times he smirked in 90 pages. The writing was choppy and rushed, and the “romance,” if you could even call it that, was one dimensional and boring. The two women were stereotypes and fought each other over Vex (who they both knew for all of 10 minutes). Overall, I would not recommend anyone to read this.