zoeelizabethk's Reviews (642)

 I read Hall of Smoke for a buddy read, and if I hadn't I would have DNFd it. And it's sad because I feel like I should have loved it, especially the conflict between gods and the exploration of religious loyalty, two things I generally love in books. I think there's two reasons it didn't work for me.

First is the writing style. Hall of Smoke is written in a lyrical first-person narrative. I tend to love lyrical writing, but, for me, it just never worked for the story being told. The writing style reminds me A LOT of the style of Red Rising. But RR worked better (though not idealy) because of my second reason.

The second reason this didn't work for me was (and I don't usually say this) that it had fascinating concepts but poor execution. And I think Red Rising had better execution. The concepts in Hall of Smoke were super interesting and it was the concepts - as opposed to the physical worldbuilding - that was the true focus of the book. But so many words were wasted on physical details of the world, Hessa's feelings, and overexplained vague interactions and details. I think the writing made the book try to be an atmospheric book, but couldn't succeed because the book wasn't really about place. I wanted more of the gods and their actions and reprecussions, but I couldn't get that well from Hessa. While she didn't feel shallow or badly characterized exactly, Hessa felt like a extended example of why the gods are not to be trusted. And so I couldn't feel connected to Hessa.

I think Hall of Smoke tried to be too much. It just couldn't succeed (for me) to be atmospheric, lyrical, character driven, and focused on the repercussions of conflict with higher beings all at once and so it kind of failed at all of those things.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Samara Naeymi. I thought the audio was pretty good, though a little inconsistent at times. 

The Managerie is a cute, heartwarming middle grade for lovers of mythology and fantastical creatures!

I listened to the audiobook by Em Eldridge and enjoyed the narration.

Nevermoor was a wondrous, magical read. It's the kind of book that you come away from feeling like everything in it was vibrant and full of color. And lots of good lessons about family and friendship and kindness. I personally love the magical competition trope and loved it here, but it did make for slightly awkward pacing when a good portion of the book takes place at the hotel but the competition is what drives the plot. But regardless I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one. 4.5 stars

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Gemma Whelan and recommend it on audio. Evidently there are illustrations in the book, but I didn't ever feel like I was missing anything on audio.

Jade War was almost as good as Jade City. I found parts of the book to be suffering slightly from middle-book syndrome because they're setting up things either later in the book or for Jade Legacy I'm assuming. BUT the last third of the book was pretty much non-stop and I read until about 2 am one night to finish the book, so I still obviously really was into it. As with Jade City, I wish we had more time with certain characters - I really want more from Anden and Shae - but I wouldn't want the pacing to suffer from it. Overall, super stoked to pick up Jade Legacy!

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Andrew Kishino and very much enjoyed it!

I don't read a ton of mysteries, but I enjoyed Death By Dumpling. It didn't feel overcomplicated or overwritten, but without feeling like it was badly written or had nagging plot holes. I liked that it was an easy read, I really liked the setting and I think the author brought the different locations to life, and I enjoyed the mystery. I'll definitely try to pick up more from this series when I get a chance, although I will admit that I'm skeptical about how many mysteries can take place in Asia Village.

I rarely read romances, but one of the prompts from my 2022 challenge was to read a romance, and I'm so glad I picked up The Love Hypothesis for this. I really really enjoyed it, and it was a really cute, fast-paced read. It's a fake-dating trope with a sweet/grouch pairing. I was sucked in, I liked the relationship, and I enjoyed the stem background. I did find Olive a bit annoying at times with her lack of self-confidence. Also I didn't feel like it was really necessary to mention just HOW good looking Adam was as often as it was mentioned. That wasn't the driving force for Olive so it felt out of place a bit. Anyway, this is a perfect weekend binge read that will leave you with "awwwww so cute" sparkly feelings at the end. 

For those who like to know: this book was 95% of the time not terribly spicy because it revels in the slow burn. BUT there are 2 chapters that get pretty explicit.

I listened to The Love Hypothesis on audio with Callie Dalton narrating, and I really enjoyed Dalton's narration.

I went into Jade City with tempered expectations because of all the hype around this book, but I'm so glad to say that I loved it! I'm discovering that I love family saga dynamics in my books, and it was so well done in this book. I really appreciated the focus on family and loyalty, and it made for really interesting characters and choices. I loved that no character felt too predictable, they felt very real with well developed arcs and motivations. I thought the worldbuilding was really well done, and I loved the magic; although I kept forgetting this was "modern" until I read about TV and skyscrapers. Jade City definitely is adult and gritty, but it doesn't feel hopeless or like it's glorifying violence, it's just the environment of this clan family. I also really appreciated that the stakes felt high. I don't want to say much here, but partway through the book you realize that anything could happen and that really paid off when it came to the ending of the book. I don't normally binge series, but I found myself pausing my current kindle read so I could listen AND read to Jade City, and I'm really wanting to pick up Jade War like right now. 

Some possible cons for some people: 
- if you are highly character driven, you might not always have quite enough connection with the characters. Not to say that the characters are bad or poorly written at all, but the main characters are not necessarily the most lovable. 
- Jade City is somewhat slow paced. It never bothered me and I thought it had a good balance of action, but the book doesn't quite ramp up until maybe halfway through.
- there's a decent bit of "telling" in terms of worldbuilding. And there are sometimes flashback-type sequences to flesh out world or character development. It did not bother me and didn't feel excessive, but I know some people really hate this. 

Illborn was a book that I went into with high expectations after hearing a lot of praise, and it lived up to my expectations. Four young adults are born within a few weeks of each other and are connected by a strange dream they all share and burgeoning forbidden powers. Corin is part of a clan in the North and ends up in trouble after a raid on a neighboring village. Allana is the daughter of a courtesan who must disappear after an unfortunate accident. Arion is supposed to fulfill his duty as the third son and become a priest, but longs to become a knight. Leanna has an experience that makes her consider the priesthood instead of her upcoming marriage. Throughout the book you follow these four characters as they learn more about themselves and their powers and the world around them.

I really loved the worldbuilding in this book. The world of Illborn is reminiscent of Medieval Europe during the crusades and the inquision. In fact in many ways Illborn almost doesn't read like fantasy for quite awhile, or perhaps as historical fantasy or alternate history. However the events and the religion are not quite what you think. For me this really upped the stakes because it felt familiar but foreign enough that I didn't know what would happen. The world felt very detailed and I really loved the prominent theme of interweaving religion, politics, and war. The ending was satisfying and pretty epic, but at the same time I was left with lots of questions and I'm very interested to see where we go in the next book.

Pacing wise, I never felt myself dragging despite the book's length, because I loved each of our characters. However, I do feel like the book lacks an arc that can be easily identified. It feels like there's no central plot or arc. Each character has a really detailed and vivid arc that is well realized and well paced for the most part, but if you asked me what the book is about overall, all I would be able to say is that you follow these four characters. There is plot going on as the world starts to come together and characters run into other people, but more in the sense of a nation's trajectory over history than a typical book arc like the classic quest. It almost feels more like a middle book because it's obviously setting a lot of up for future books. This never really bothered me because the characters and world were so interesting, and it even made the stakes a little higher I think. However, if you are a heavily plot-driven reader, this book might be a challenge for you.

Overall I highly recommend Illborn. I'm very excited for the next one to come out and look forward to finding out more.

I don't know how, but I've been on a binger of seemingly plotless books recently. And I've enjoyed them. Despite my misgivings initially with The Goblin Emperor, I ended up really enjoying it. This is not a terribly plot-driven book. Everything starts from the beginning conceit of a youngest, neglected son of an emperor who must suddenly become emperor when his father and brothers die. From there it's really a journey watching our MC learn to deal with court and grow a bit along the way. The worldbuilding is really intricate and well realized, however because I listened to it on audio I struggled a bit with the myriad of names, titles, and various political machinations. The character development is good and the ending was satisfying. As long as you enjoy scheming and don't mind there not being a central plot then you'll probably enjoy The Goblin Emperor. I liked it a lot actually, but I probably won't read the companion series.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kyle McCarley, who gave a fabulous performance. Caveat to the audiobook is that it is harder to sort out the many characters and titles.