zoeelizabethk's Reviews (642)

The Tyranny of Faith has just about everything I want out of an epic fantasy. A cool gothic city, shadowy creepy AF monster gods, holy war, political machinations, lawyering, high stakes, in depth conversations about the applicability of common law, and more. If you liked The Justice of Kings, definitely pick this up ASAP, and if you've been unsure about The Justice of Kings, read it! The only caveats I have is that the pacing in the first half is a bit slow, but once you get moving, by golly does it ramp up and is a firecracker of a second half. And my other caveat is that there's a decent bit of expository worldbuilding either in the prose or in dialogue. I think it's well done, and neither of these things were a problem for me, but if those are sticking points for you, be warned. I'm very much looking forward to the conclusion of this trilogy!

Thanks to Orbit and to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review! I finished the book on audio and overall really enjoyed the audio.

I hate to do this, but I'm DNFing this at 50%. The premise - a phantom of the opera inspired tale - was intriguing, but halfway through and we've still made little progress or exploration of this. It's very character and prose focused, but I just don't care enough about the MC for that to carry it. And in the beginning the writing was beautiful and atmospheric, but as we get further on, the writing doesn't stay 100% consistent so it can't fully carry me either. When it comes out I might try it on audio since I know it will be short, but it really just could not hold me attention and after soft DNFing it in December, I never was interested enough to pick it back up again. 2.5 stars

I really enjoyed Several People Are Typing! I think the execution is lacking a little bit at the end, but it was very entertaining and had some very interesting twists and turns. As long as you’re ok with some ambiguity, I say definitely try it! It’s a super fast read. Also I have no experience with Slack but plenty with Discord and I was able to follow the structure just fine. 

Hobb has broken me. Best RotE book so far. And the worst. Such beautiful human moments of vulnerability and simplicity. I love the domestic focus of much of the book and the themes Hobb explores. But also there are moments of pure horror and terror and I found myself constantly stressed for the characters. I don't know how I will ever manage to reread this one, I was so nervous. I pity the people who had to wait for the next book cause I am a mess and I can still pick up the next one immediately. 

I was unfortunately not super into these. They weren’t bad, I just wasn’t really into them and I thought some of them had cool ideas but nothing was necessarily done with them. The Stolen Princess was my favorite of this collection.

There were times when the pacing dragged a little, but I really loved Steinbeck's character writing and his use of themes and symbolism. Left me with lots to think about and this is a classic I would read again.

 

I think Thief’s Covenant does exactly what it needs to do. I think I have a bit of nostalgia for it and this won’t necessarily hold up for adult readers reading this for the first time but this is a great YA series for those who like Mistborn and like thieving and fantasy gods. The dialogue is great and it is nice and fast paced. I think the worldbuilding and characters lack a little bit in this and I did not love the flashbacks, but these things improve over the next books. There’s kinda a lot going on and Marmell manages to get you acquainted and set up for the next books in under 300 pages. I’ll also add a note that I hated the Graphic Audio recording. I think GA is not for me so your mileage may vary, but I found it challenging to keep up and separate out voices and thoughts so I do not recommend the audio unfortunately. I tried to disregard that in this review but it may have still affected it. 

Sajni Patel is becoming a favorite of mine! I really loved First Love, Take Two. Such a sweet, second chance, (mostly) closed door romance. I loved Preeti and Daniel and the book tackled some difficult topics.