Absolutely perfect. Both hilarious and heartfelt, meaning the second book to ever make me cry and laugh in the span of one page (the first was Eat, Pray, Love). I loved Clay's enormous protective heart, Matrick's bravado and care for his country and kiddos, Moog's outrageous goofiness and in-the-nick-of-time helpfulness, Ganelon's deep soul and wicked way with a blade, and, of course, Gabriel's determination and skill. It is perfect high fantasy and has completely ruined D&D podcasts for me as none will ever be this good.

If this wasn't the sequel to Kings of the Wyld, I would have liked it so much more. It has a classic fantasy vibe (young motherless girl goes on an adventure and learns heroes are just people) but all of Eames' insane brand of humor and elegant, dramatic fight scenes.

But it's not as good as the first book. Which is a shame, because I loved that this book finally had complex female characters that I really enjoyed. It just lacked the camaraderie between the bandmates that the first book had, so I didn't care about any of them even a fraction as much. It made the final scenes less poignant than they should have been.

This verse novel, about a boy deciding what to do after his brother has died, is unexpected and beautiful. It is sad like Ellen Hopkins' books are sad: in a way that makes you want to reach out and take care of someone in need. It's the kind of book you want to give to troubled teenagers.

A 450-page middle grade novel where literally nothing of interest happens and the fairies are impossibly, disappointingly lame. If I had read this at twelve it might have put me off books forever.

Her talent really comes through in works like "A Story Like Mine" where you can feel her anger and frustration, or "Seventeen" where the familial anguish of a hurt sibling is palpable. Unfortunately, her extended metaphors that blend into reality don't work for me. When she does one or the other, it's great, but she hasn't mastered the blend.

Overall it was forgettable and I doubt it would have been published if she weren't famous. I'll stick with her music.

Not very exciting but I'm a sucker for fairy tales.

So absurd it was funnier than it had any right to be.

This was charming, but I didn't like Don or Rosie so it was hard to get invested in their romance. The romance felt kind of forced and I thought it was weird that Rosie didn't seem to have any friends? I did like seeing how Don's attitude towards the world changed, and I think his growth arc was done really well.

A really solid collection of middle grade stories that are entertaining and sharp. I love his elderly characters.