zoeelizabethk's Reviews (642)

It was nice to see that this series did not disappoint now that I've read it as an adult. Bartimaeus is witty and the star of the show, and Nat is just starting out, destined for many schemes and shenanigans. I think the book delivers for its audience really well but it sophisticated enough that readers of all ages will enjoy it. Highly recommend for middle grade and YA readers who love fantasy, and for adults who love london fantasies, djinn, sassy protagonists, and sarcastic footnotes,

I did not know what to expect out of this book. I don't remember how it got recommended to me, but I think I thought it was sci-fi. It's not. It's a beautifully lyrical post-apocolyptic literary fiction story about a girl and her father who depend on and work with nature to survive as the last people on earth. It's post-apocolyptic fiction a la Henry Thoreau and Wendell Berry. It was beautiful and thought provoking and like nothing else I've read, and I recommend you check it out.

A Vampire in Bavaria was a fast-paced and fraught conclusion to Miss Sharp's Monsters. The stakes were very high and the whole cast of characters comes together, secrets are revealed, assumptions are challenged, and tricks are played. A very fun and satisfying conclusion to the series!

Maybe it was the translation I read, but I really was just not as interested in Sir Gawain as I was in high school. Interesting themes, and it's certainly important, just didn't particularly enjoy it.

This book was awesome!! Quick pacing, intriguing and complex characters, and stunning, almost visual story telling make Skyward maybe my favorite book of the year. There were some sci-fi tropes that felt a little predicable but honestly, having a little predicability was a really great thing because everything else was so fast paced and original. I did not expect to like this book as much as I did, and I wonder whether it quite deserves a full five stars but this was just such a darn fun and exciting book! This took me back to my sci-fi tv days and love of Star Wars and video flight games, and even some more recent dystopian novels but all creative and very much its own thing. And even though Skyward isn’t in the Cosmere, there’s plenty of mystery and, dare I say it, almost “magic” to be figured out and understood that this will appeal to sci-fi and fantasy lovers alike. Go read!