Wtf was this?!

I honestly don't even know where to start with this book. It's been a long time, if ever, that I have felt betrayed as a reader and taken advantage of in a way I feel this book did to me.

I loved The Diabolic. Loved. It. In my written review for it, I even stated that I was disappointed when I realised it was a standalone because I would have loved just more of Nemesis and Tyrus, and the cut-throat sci-fi world they live in.

I'd like to just say here that you can 100% read The Diabolic as a standalone. And with all my feelings regarding what happened in The Empress, I wouldn't encourage anyone to read on past the first book.

I wasn't sure where The Empress was going to go but I did not expect what happened. Not in my wildest dreams. You know that bit in The Hunger Games when it's revealed Peeta is hijacked and the Peeta we loves seems to be gone? That feeling of despair, and heartbreak? Yeah, expect to feel all of that but it's even worse.

Now don't get me wrong here, the writing itself was good, the story seemed to be going okay for a while - if slightly dragged out with the discussions around Pasus and Devinee and then the journey to the Sacred City. But when Venolux was introduced and everything started to go rapidly downhill, I was just left in this state of shock. This book is depressing. And by that I mean, by the halfway point, I couldn't see any way out for the characters we fell in love with in The Diabolic, and continued to love so far in The Empress. It kind of felt like those scenes in the Titanic when all the metal hatches are being closed off, except Nemesis, Tyrus, and the readers were the ones left to drown in the engine room.

The book had felt quite slow up to this point as well, and suddenly with only about a quarter to go everything sped up to double speed and all the poo hit the fan. I was honestly left in a quivering wreck - I didn't know what was happening, who to trust, and I felt like crying in just pure frustration at the story unfolding before me.

On the plus side: Nemesis was wonderful as usual. I adored how she took care of Tyrus, her cute friendship with Gladdic (when she hugged him and said "there, there," my heart!) and just how strong she proved herself over and over.


Proper spoilers from here:

What happened to Tyrus broke me.

It's extremely similar to Peeta's hijacking in The Hunger Games except at least with that, it was only aimed at Katniss and he seemed to still be his old self around other people. Tyrus was just not himself. The Tyrus we loved was gone. The Tyrus that showed Nemesis she could actually love someone other than Sidonia was gone. And how can he ever come back from what he's done? It actually left me feeling very hopeless.

And also everything that Neveni did. I understand that she is grieving her people,and her planet but a lot of what she did honestly just made no sense to me.

I just don't appreciate being used in the way I feel this story used me. Completely changing everything about a character's personality the way that happened in this one is just wrong. Particularly when it's a character who was such a positive and loved person in the first book. I honestly can't even really explain all my feelings about this book properly, or put them into words but this was the first time ever that I have finished a book and not known how to rate it. It's the first time I've ever had to really sit and ponder over all the ways I felt let down by a book. It just ripped up everything I loved about the first one, shredded it up, ate it and defecated it out.

Fortune’s Fool follows Simon O’Shaughnessy who aims to become an eventer and is well on his known with a year’s work placement in a prestigious stables. When Simon buys Fortune, a gelding that needs a lot of work, he has to convince everyone, including himself, that he was right to do.

I really enjoyed this book, and it was definitely the exact kind of story i needed after feeling a bit of a book hangover from my previous read.

Simon is a really interesting character as he seems to have a lot of sides to him. He can be gruff, but professional, he’s extremely smart but also impatient with learning, and he seems cold at times but actually has a heat of gold underneath it all. I love that this book shied away from a lot of other tropes I see in horse books - both Simon and Fortune are already seasoned eventers, and it’s not a ‘Zero to Hero’ kind of plot. Simon knows that he’s probably only able to bring Fortune so far, and that he himself may never be a top eventer due to not really having enough money or opportunity but he’s doing the best he can.

Simon’s sexuality was explored in great ways too. He already knows he’s gay, and is out to the people that matter to him. He doesn’t shout it from the rooftops but nor should he have to. I really loved his relationship with Max and how sweet and normal it was. I also loved that Simon confronted some challenges and annoyances in how some of his female colleagues treated him because he was gay - like how he didn’t ‘count’ when they talked about men, or automatically became the GBF in their mind who loved shopping when he couldn’t be farther from that. I can believe that they may be real irritants to other gay men.

Nothing really happens in this book - like there’s so crazy plot or action. Its more just following Simon as he falls in love, and competes in events with Fortune. I really liked that.

I did miss the bond between rider and horse in this book, which I normally see in other horse novels I read (though that may be because they’re normally YA and this is mature YA/Adult). I didn’t see much of Simon and Fortune’s bonding practice, and while they were fond of each other, I wouldn’t really say they were partners in crime by the end of it.

I also wasn’t too crazy about Simon’s contempt for the people who worked office jobs and only had horses in their lives at weekends. Some people just don’t have those opportunities early in life to pave the way for a job in the horse world, and for many, like myself, the ‘box job’ is the only thing that allows for riding lessons and moments of peace with horse and rider.

But I did love this overall, and I’m 100% reading the next book.

3.5 stars

Narrator: Edwin Wren

This book was very beautiful, and the best word I can use to describe it is soulful. It's written in an almost melodic way, and it was a wonderful one to listen to on audio particularly with Edwina Wren's narration as it was beautiful. It was a quiet book about three people in a seaside Australian town who were all broken in some way and learning how to mend, with the main character being a widow called Annika Lachlan. I probably would have given this four stars if it wasn't for the very end, as I wasn't expecting it at all and it did leave me a little bit disappointed. The narration though was a 5/5 stars!

4.5 stars

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A magical toyshop, a family who can make the ordinary become extraordinary and a runaway girl looking for a new place to call home.

This book - there is no other word for it but magical. Think The Night Circus meets the childish wonder and imagination of Toy Story, and you’ve got it - all set in pre-First World War London.

The descriptions in this book and how the emporium became alive in the pages, from the patchwork dogs to the toy soldiers, the Wendy House and the cloud castle. It was wonderful to read. I also loved how this story was able to combine real magic, ordinary magic but not also not disguise the horror of the real world such as jealousy and rivals between brothers, and what war can do to a man and his mind.

I loved the relationship between Cathy and Kaspar, it was just so lovely - how it began, and how real it became, how Kaspar loved Martha so much from the moment she was born into his arms. There were moments when I was afraid he was too in the clouds and maybe didn’t feel for Cathy the way she felt for him, and the way Emil felt for her but the moment when the came together was lovely.

I do feel sad about parts of this book, more so because what happened - it was such a long time. A long. long time and I mourn for the time wasted, the time they should have had together.

The Emporium is definitely one of those bookish places I would love to become real, and visit. And I adored how vibrant and real it was in the pages - much like the books Papa Jack and Kaspar created themselves.

I 100% recommend this book, it’s just lovely!

The Sleeping Sickness is a short novella that is a cool, steampunk spin on Sleeping Beauty. It follows an amazing engineer/genius Malena as she creates mechanical crows and dragons, and then sets out to right a wrong she (was forcefully) committed against her friend Briar.

I really liked this and how some of the key elements of Sleeping Beauty were there but also morphed into a super cool steampunk existence. I also liked how Malena, who was obviously based on Maleficient, wasn’t the evil queen she’s always portrayed as being but was instead just a clever woman who was very focused on her work, and found it a bit too easy to distance herself from the world around her.

This was a nice little interlude from a very long book I was reading, and it gave me a pleasant read, and because it was short, the instant high that finishing a book, any book, can bring you. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for something nice and adventurous to read for a bit of a break, as well as anyone who loves a unique fairytale retelling.

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

TW Graphic sex, assault, excessive drink and drugs, suicide attempts, violence towards women.

A powerful book focusing on a college student’s foray into feminism, women studies, college campus rape culture and the dangerous world of fraternities, and violence against women.

This is a heavy but powerful, important read that only makes the reader think and feel a lot of things bu definitely brings up topics of conversation regarding the issue of victim blaming, slut shaming, and issues of consent.

This book made me feel a lot of things and I really loved seeing Karen wade her way through the world of feminism and women studies while also keeping a grasp on the ‘basic girl’ college experience by dating a frat boy, and going to their parties but as ‘one of the untouchables.’

I loved how this book explored Karen’s two sides and how she was able to weave through these two worlds, though not without any problems.

There are definitely a lot of uncomfortable scenes in this book from sex scenes, assault and also times when Karen ends up slut shaming and victim blame without even realising to. It’s frustrating as a reader to see all the times she stays silent when she could speak out and help a potential victim.

This book is set in 1995, though there are scenes set in present day (which I found a little bit unnecessary most of the time), but it could easily be thought as set right now because the women are suffering from the exact same issues as we are today from slut shaming, harassment, male empowerment and female belittlement. And it’s f-ing infuriating.

I was a huge fan of the thing going on between Karen and Bruce. There was something so openly raw and sensual about their bathroom meetings, and they were made even more chemistry-laden considering they never once kissed. I didn’t blame Karen for a moment about her attraction to Bruce, as honestly I felt it too. And I love how this arc explored that confusing line between Karen loving Bruce but also being aware of the things he partook in as a frat member.

A lot of the things that Dyann, Charla, Steph and MJ took part in were obviously pretty problematic, and definitely were on the extreme side of feminism, do I even dare to say the side of feminazi (a term I typically despise). But I think what happened was a great look at how advocating for change, and a desperation for change, can cause people to do the wrong things, and even illegal things. I’m not condoning their behaviour at all, and it really threw up the questions and the often fuzzy issue of consent.

Things went a little bats**t crazy for me at the end, and I was expecting something tragic but not that. I do think some stuff explored in this book border on the extreme side of things but I also know next to nothing about real college campus life in the US except for media portrayal, so who am I to judge?

This is a really timely book, and definitely one to read following the #MeToo, #TimesUp movements.