zoeelizabethk's Reviews (642)

As with any collection of stories, I found myself very engaged with some and dragging myself through some others. I really appreciated Pyle's voice and loved what he did with these tales. So many of the characteristics and virtues of this era are somewhat foreign to us now, but can yet inspire chivalry and courtliness and true affection to this day. I also found it really neat to finally read some King Arthur myths and it was easy to see how language, custom, and these ideas permeated into works by Tolkien and others. Overall, not my most "fun" read, but I learned a lot and would absolutely read these to my son.

This is going to be a DNF at almost 70% unfortunately. It really wasn’t bad - I found the premise interesting - but it was kinda predictable and it never grabbed me. For awhile I wanted to push through to finish the story, but at this point I’ve been reading it too long and I’m avoiding my kindle, so it’s time to admit defeat. Others will probably like it, but it just couldn’t hold my attention.

Thanks to Tor and to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed A Gathering of Shadows. I don't know if I liked it *better* than A Darker Shade of Magic, but characters already felt more established and it had a lot of elements that I usually enjoy - cue magical tournament. I liked the pacing and found it pretty fascinating as events ramped up and really got going fast. It does end a little abruptly to be picked up in the next one - so if that bothers you, be aware. Probably going to be unpopular, but I actually liked A Gathering of Shadows better than A Conjuring of Light. I feel like it's rare to like the middle book best in a trilogy but I really loved this one. All in all, a solid, fun, fast paced read in a world I've really enjoyed reading about. 4.5 stars.

I immediately started A Conjuring of Light after A Gathering of Shadows because of the clifhanger. I enjoyed this book, but I got a bit confused at times and felt like it dragged a little in places. This could totally be my fault for listening on audiobook and not giving it 100% of my attention, but I just liked #2 better unfortunately. I did really like the ending and I found the world super interesting throughout the series. I'm looking forward to when she writes the next trilogy, but this was was just a little bit of a step back for me. 3.5 stars.

In a Certain Kingdom is a collection of 9 Russian fairy tales - some might be familiar to you and some might be new to you. I've read a couple of these in Russian, but it's lovely to have nice English translations/retellings. I'm looking forward to reading these to my son once he's old enough!

My doula gave me this book to read and I took an EBB childbirth class. I feel like, because I took the class, the book didn't give me a whole lot of extra material. Babies are Not Pizzas is really more of a memoir than a book about childbirth or parenting. I found it interesting and Dekker writes is a very accessible way that made it easy to read, but I didn't feel like it was exactly necessary for me. It did help affirm for me all the reasons that I want better prenatal and birth care that actually takes into account my desires and wants. Warning for some: there are a lot of accounts of medical trauma, obstetrical violence, and other things that might be hard for some readers to read.

A fun, compelling, and well crafted short story. I'm really impressed with the level of worldbuilding he managed in 40 pages. I can't wait to read the next novella.

I found this translation of Beowulf very accessible and easy to read. It's not one of my favorite classics or epics, but it was nice to reread and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It was fascinating for me because I didn't remember the strong Christian influence from the bard. I thought it was particularly interesting reading Beowulf while keeping Tolkien's works in mind as well.e

I didn't exactly know what to expect going into Black Sun. I heard it described as fast-paced. I don't think the plot is very fast-paced at all, but the writing style is very accessible and so the book reads pretty quickly. I found Black Sun to be very political and religiously-themed. It actually reminded me of Tamora Pierce's Trickster Duology because of the blend of politics and religion. We have four POVs, and each time one was introduced I found myself really skepticla that I would like them, but they really won me over pretty quickly because each of their stories was so interesting and added more layers to the world. I did find myself a little annoyed because POV chapters often end on slight cliffhangers and I wanted to keep going but then we had to go check in with someone else. All in all, I really enjoyed Black Sun. The world is fascinating and really well thought out and vibrant. I'll be looking forward to reading the next one when it comes out.

As an FYI, the whole book is not like this, but there are probably 3-4 scenes that are pretty gruesome in terms of violence and physical mutilation. I got through them ok since there were only a few, but maybe go in knowing that if that's something that bothers you.