Ahoy there mateys! This novel takes place on the islands of Gelle-Geu.  The main character is a poet named Erígra Lilún who does not deal well with people and wants to be left alone to garden and write.  Unfortunately, the ghost of their ancestor is badgering them to become the island starkeeper, a position Erígra knows they cannot handle.  The ancestor claims that the star is failing and Erígra is the only person to save it and the islands.  The official starkeeper is Ranra Kekeri who is trying hard to figure out what is wrong with the island and do what she believes is right.  Then Ranra and Erígra meet and are smitten with one another.  But do they deserve happiness on the brink of potential disaster?

I enjoyed this book but didn't love it.  So much of this book focuses on the two characters' inner turmoil.  Not enough of the plot dealt with the island culture and star.  I think the major problem for me was while I loved both characters and sympathized with them, it was hard to watch them make the right choices for themselves and then having such a horrific ending.  I honestly can't say if I believe the ending was inevitable no matter what Erígra and Ranra did or if they could have salvaged the situation by doing something different.

One of the elements that I had trouble with in this book was Erígra spending so much time pondering what their gender identity was.  I totally understand why this was important to the character but it did not seem important to the plot.  Whatever Erígra chose was going to be accepted by island people.  I wanted the focus to be on the islands themselves, the star failing, the magic system, and the impact on the islanders.  Personal preference.

While the writing is still lovely and I will read more from the author, this novel was the least favorite of the Birdverse so far.  No regrets about reading it though.  Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys! I love this author's work and yet this was a complete miss for me.  The short version is that privilege and money solve everything in the novel.  The longer version is that the individual elements didn't work when mixed together.

For example, I liked that the main character, Tesla, suffers from both chronic pain and PTSD.  I liked the inclusion of a service dog.  I enjoyed the setting of a luxury cruise liner in space.  I loved that there was an extra dead body but everyone is supposedly accounted for.  I liked that Tesla's spouse, the detective, is a suspect and is locked up leaving her to solve the crime and save him.  I liked the concept of Tesla dealing with her lawyer in space and having to account for the time lag.  I enjoyed how the future dealt with gender and identity.  And I absolutely loved the author's notes behind the novel.

Sadly, I think what the author was going for fell spectacularly flat.  Tesla wants to care about the poor but once her secret identity is blown she throws her name, money, and attitude around like crazy.  Her PTSD and pain seem to fluctuate in direct relation to what is needed in the storyline and her internal computer is real convenient.  The police force on board is so stupid that they all came across as villainous caricatures and botch everything to further the plot.  I got tired of all of the focus on drinking.  Ditto for the romance elements when there is a murder investigation going on.  Tesla has a service dog that is not actually used correctly to do its job but always seems to be off-duty to be petted.  How the spouse is dealt with didn't work at all and Tesla is always looking to him for validation.  Tesla doesn't seem to actually use deductive reasoning well and "solves" the crime by accident.  There are several red herrings and a ridiculous solution to the murder.  Seriously how climax and ending happened were laughable.

I honestly spent the entire book waiting for the magic moment where the story would click for me and I would fall in love.  This didn't happen and I am heartbroken.  Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys! I really enjoyed some of the author’s work in the past so I was excited to read this murder mystery set aboard the Eternity space station. Supposedly this be the first book of a series. I wish I would have known that before picking it up. Though I am not sure if that would have completely helped. I really don’t get all the four and five star reviews.

This book had a fun premise in that Mallory Viridian, a human, seems to be a magnet for death. Where she goes, it seems someone gets murdered. So she spends a lot of time avoiding people and hopes that by fleeing to the space station, where there is only one other human, she can finally relax. I really enjoyed the set-up and how she gets to Station Eternity. I liked the ridiculous human diplomat. I also enjoyed the different aliens on the station itself.

Sadly once the other humans are scheduled to come to the station and murders begin, the plot began to be beyond strange. I did enjoy the effects of the unhappy space station. I did enjoy learning how all the humans related to Mallory. I also liked the side characters of the feisty grandmother, the rapper, and the rock princess. I did not enjoy any of the murder mystery. Mallory does not actually seem to do any sleuthing. Also most events seemed to be either completely nonsensical or contradictory. This book was a choppy mess.

I am not sure exactly where the plot is supposed to go in the next book. Curiosity may lead me to reading the next book but the expectations for it have been lowered substantially. Just know that pretty much everyone disagreed with me and loved this. Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  This book won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel (2018) and the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel (2019).  It is being republished by Tor Nightfire.  I have to admit that I enjoyed this book at lot more than the last house on needless street.

The focus of this book is a small cult on the island of Altnaharra in Scotland.  The story begins with the discovery of the cult's demise with only one survivor and slowly works its way towards the hows and whys and whos.  The majority of the events take place from 1917 to 1921.  Though I guessed the twist early on, I was engrossed in finding out how it all went down.

I found Eve to be fascinating character.  She desperately wants Uncle, the cult leader's, attention.  She is both creepy and sympathetic.  The slow unfolding of the history of the cult and its practices were the highlight for me.  I actually enjoyed learning and reading about all the characters in this one.  The inspector ended up being a surprising favorite.  Ward's writing is evocative and compelling.  The non-linear timeline was fantastic in maintaining suspense and curiosity.  Highly recommended.  Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received an eArc of this sci-fi novel through NetGalley in exchange for me honest musings . . .

I love books about shipwrecks, ghost ships, and ghost stories.  So this was a must read for me.  And it was a lot of fun.  The story follows Claire Kovalik whose crew is on their final mission setting up communication equipment on the far edges of space.  They are about to head out when their ship receives a distress signal.  Nothing should be out here but they investigate and discover a luxury cruise liner, the Aurora, that went missing over 20 years ago with everyone on board long presumed dead.  Why is it so far off course?  The crew wants to claim the ship for salvage and fame.  They don't get what they expect.

I really loved Claire.  She is an unreliable narrator due to past trauma.  Are Claire's ghosts in her head or literal?  I thought the structure of the novel set this up so nicely in that ye start in the present with Claire in hospital, go back into the past, and then get caught back up to the present before moving forward.  I was kept guessing the entire time about both Claire's mental state and if she even understood what the truth was.  It could be frustrating to many readers because not everything is answered.  I, however, thought it keep the tension strung out nicely.

I also thought the horror of the state of the bodies was creepy and fun.  How folks ended up dead was excellent even if the why of it ended up being a minor weak part for me.  That said, I loved the company's attempted cover up and how the plot resolved.  Aye, ye have to suspend disbelief a bit (especially for the final chapters of the book) but it was a fast paced read that I didn't want to put down.  I am so glad to have read this one.

So lastly . . .

Thank ye kindly Tor Nightfire!

Ahoy there mateys! This be the final book in a trilogy.  I really loved book one and enjoyed a lot of book two.  The majority of my problem with book two was the time jump.  Well in book three the author jumps another 54 years.  I could not settle into this one at all.  I wanted to read more about how the world changed since the Crow Tallin.  Really, I wanted to read more of Pomella's life as it happened not after the fact.  I like the author's writing style.  I just didn't end up liking where he took the plot.  I abandoned this book fairly early in though I didn't keep a record of where I stopped.  Thanks to the publisher for the eArc.  Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I enjoyed this novel even if I have no idea what the point of it was.  The story takes place in a city called Ilmar otherwise known as The City of Last Chances.  It is a city in turmoil.  Foreign occupiers with the goal of "Perfection" are in control everywhere except the Anchorwood.  This wood has a door that opens up to other dimensions? I am not sure how or why it works.  There are resistance factions in Ilmar but none work together.

Frankly, in trying to explain this, it really seems impossible to.  The characters and city itself are bizarre and unlikeable.  The reader is kinda tossed in over their head and trying to stay afloat.  There doesn't seem to be a single character who isn't flawed or self-absorbed.  The magic is a minor aspect in all the politicking.  Yet I couldn't stop reading and wanted to know what happened next.  Turns out the ending does not really explain anything.  I was flummoxed but rather ended up being overall content with me reading journey.  Yasnic was me favourite character followed by Hellsgram.

I would read more set in this world.  Even if it confuses me, it is not boring.  Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! Lesbian space pirates is what I was told. And I love this author's Universe of Xuya. This one did not work for me. I knew it was going to be more romance based but it featured both insta-lust and an arranged marriage that made no sense. So the tone of the book fell flat from the beginning. However, I kept hoping that the plot or characters would win me over. Not enough pirates and way too much angst. All that angst could have been resolved with a single conversation. Ended up jumping ship at 26%. Wish there was more pirates. Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! This caught me fancy because it follows a space thief whose first mate is " the wisecracking, AI-uplifted, genetically modified cat Thibauld." This had all the ingredients for a successful book but didn't gel for me. Even the talking cat couldn't save it. In retrospect, I think the humor ended up being not to me taste. Or maybe I just couldn't completely connect to the main character, Coop. There were elements I really liked and this book has 4 and 5 star reviews all over the place. Wish I could do the same. Abandoned this one at 15%. Thanks to the publisher's for the eArc.

Matey Cathy wrote a lovely review saying this book was “Regency romance with a touch of magic. Governess trope! False identity! Scotland! Rugged Scotsmen! Damsel in distress! Treacherous antagonist! Drama!”. Not me usual type but sounded good enough to give it a whirl. I was enjoying this immensely but after 58% couldn’t bring meself to finish this book. I was there for the romance, the magic, and the silliness. Even the angst didn’t bother me much. What ended this book for me was how stupid Penny (main character) was about the baddie. It wasn’t believable to me given how intelligent she was in other circumstances. So close to making it to the end but after trying to finish multiple times this was a wash for me. Recommended to others though because if these types of books are yer jam then ye be likely to like this. Arrr!