First up, I am total trash for magical school tropes, so I jumped at the chance to read this one and in terms of loveable and relatable characters, unique magic systems and quirky plot, it ticked a lot of boxes. 

 

This book is touted as middle grade and it certainly read as such, but it may have benefitted in this case by decreasing the age of Ivy Lovely. She is meant to be ~16 years old but much of the dialogue and internal monologue reads more like a 12-13 year old. Additionally, the plot - while quick and easy to read – could have helped having some more intricate world-building; I felt like a thrown into the deep end a little. The plot also did feel a little cluttered and disjointed towards the end. 

 

My thanks to Stories Untold Press for sending me a free e-copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

First of all, I wasn’t sure of Sarah J. Maas was going to change my mind about Nesta but nevertheless, I knew she would find a way. Like many people, I disliked her character in the previous books due to her selfishness, her predilection for conflict and her near constant anger. ACOSF is a true love story but not just in the romantic fashion between Nesta and Cassian. This book is a love letter to everyone who’s experienced trauma and is finding a way to love themselves and give themselves a soft place for their hard feelings to land.

The storyline is perhaps 2/8 plot-based and 6/8 character-based. The plot maintains the momentum from ACOWAR and ACOFAS and finds further narrative in the conflicts with the scheming human queens and various other invested parties. Admittedly, I expected a little more from the plot towards end of the book and it did feel like the build-up fizzed out in the end but as previously said, this book was more about Nesta’s journey.

Fair warning, this book contains a fantastic amount of smut (which Maas has constantly alluded to prior to publication)! But one of the (other) highlights for me were the female friendships Nesta builds throughout the book; for me, these parts of the story drew the whole book together.

The Iron Raven is the first book in a new trilogy in the Iron Fey world. Admittedly, it does help if you’re read the first 7 books in the Iron Fey series, but Julie does a good job of quickly summing some events in past books that are relevant to this book (which is also helpful for someone like me, who hasn’t read the books for a good 6 years!).

The plot is fast with plenty of action and sufficient build-up to the next two books. I did however have some issues with Puck’s inner monologue. It was great to finally get inside the head of a beloved character from this series but much of his inner monologue was very repetitive with just a little too many dad jokes.

There is romance in this book, but it’s not the sole focus which is nice. It did, however, feel a little insta-romance (occurring over the course of 3-5 days, which honestly, it takes me that long to do my ironing let alone fall in love with someone!). It would’ve also been nice if the romance had been LGBTQIA+ of some description to add some representation, especially considering every other romance in the series has been essentially white/heterosexual. I enjoyed it, but didn’t love it

My thanks to @harlequinaus for sending me a copy to review.

This book has been touted as the black, female answer to Ready, Player One; but I’ll say the story and message of this book is so much more than that.

Slay explores harmful rhetoric by both white and coloured people in an engaging and truly emphatic fashion. This book isn’t meant to educate (and it’s not any POC’s responsibility to educate white people about racism), but being white, these kinds of books provide an excellent slice of insight into a lot of matters that we can truly never fully understand as we just don’t live them. 

It’s a truly nuanced read that discusses the need for black spaces that celebrate black excellence which aren’t monopolised by white people. It’s also a fantastic celebration of women in STEM and is a true love letter to black culture of all it’s different facets.