Tuesday, September 27, 2022
ApollyCon 2022 Recap: Day Three
Saturday, September 24, 2022
Stacking the Shelves: The Post-Disneyland Edition
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Review: Bone Weaver by Aden Polydoros
Bone Weaver
Publication
Date: September 20, 2022My Review
Bone Weaver is the atmospheric tale of a young necromancer and the two boys she meets on her journey to save her sister. It has a whole host of creepy creatures that are all ready to take a bite out of anyone they can get their hands on, as well as some friendly monsters that are just misunderstood. This book combined the power elements of Shadow & Bone with sentient undead to make a unique world based on Russian/Slavic folklore.
Now, while Bone Weaver did have some unique elements, unfortunately, it didn't start off on a strong note. Why? Because I didn't know the protagonist, Toma, was a girl until 10% into the book. (I hadn't read the synopsis since I requested the book months ago.) I was so disoriented when it was finally revealed. That's the issue with first-person POV, it's hard to establish the main character outside of their thoughts. Toma is kind of a necromancer, but not. She weaves thread that helps put her dead family members—who are kind of like sentient zombies called upyr—back together when they start falling apart. When Toma's sister is taken, she meets two boys on her journey to rescue the little upyr. One is a serious prince, Mikhail, and the other is a not-so-serious commoner, Vanya.
I know what you're thinking, a love triangle is about to happen. But actually... no. This storyline had the potential to be a TRUE LOVE TRIANGLE. Meaning there's attraction between all three characters. Sadly, the relationships don't really go anywhere over the course of the story (so if you're reading it for the romance, you might want to bow out), but it was refreshing to see a love triangle done right, nonetheless. Unfortunately, the characters weren't as developed as they could've been, either. They lacked depth and were just kind of... there... in my opinion. I felt no connection to them.
As for the plot of the book, it was pretty straightforward and easy to follow until the worldbuilding got involved. Every time a fight scene was explained that involved some sort of political situation or the various locations or creatures were mentioned my brain just could not follow. During one particular mid-book fight scene, I had no idea why certain characters were doing certain things. Why were the townspeople fighting? What were their motivations? Why did the main characters get involved? It just wasn't very clear, even though it had kind of been discussed by the protagonists. Some descriptive element of scenes like this one were just missing somewhere. Until the ending, that is. Towards the end, things got a little better, but by that point, the book was over.
All in all, the political factions and random creature name drops made this a hard book to wrap my head around for quite some time. Bone Weaver had potential as a series. However, I'm not sure if it has a sequel coming out or if it's a standalone. The ending to this one was left pretty open, since not a lot was truly settled. I would say try Bone Weaver out if you're looking for something a bit creepier and different in your YA fantasy stories, but be wary of that potentially unsatisfactory finale.
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Stacking the Shelves: The French Edition
Tuesday, September 6, 2022
August Wrap-Up & September TBR
August has been a mess. It's been very stressful at work, so I haven't been reading a lot compared to the earlier months of the year. This month, I've mostly been coming straight home from work and vegging out. My brain can't process doing much else. However, I think once mid-September rolls around and all my deadlines are in the past, I'll have an easier time reading.
In this wrap-up,
I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received,
and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!
Books Read in August
Till Death: 3 stars
I read five books this month. All of which were physical copies. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall was a reread in preparation for the sequel, Husband Material. Sadly, Husband Material was a slight disappointment compared to the first book, so I'm crossing my fingers the third installment is better. Then, I reread another book, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. This was in preparation for the TV show, which I don't think I'm going to watch, as it doesn't appear to follow the books very well. (Why isn't Dimitri Russian!?!). And, for my birthday week, I decided to read whatever book(s) I wanted to, and for some reason, Jennifer L. Armentrout's Till Death stood out to me. I guess because I wanted something quick. I then read A Strange Hymn by Laura Thalassa out of my Bargainer series omnibus edition. So in total, I reread two books I already owned pre-2022, read two books I bought in 2022 (Husband Material and A Strange Hymn), and read one book I bought in 2021 (Till Death).
Books Bought/Received in August
Another giant haul this month, so I'm going to separate it into two sections again. This time the sections are non-FBAA books and FBAA books. Simple, right? Haha. For the non-FBAA books, I have 17 that I bought/received this month. (Technically 18 if you count August's YA FairyLoot book, but because I'm getting rid of it, I'm not counting it.) One of the books I got this month was a NetGalley review e-copy, Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall. The remaining 16/17 were all physical copies.
What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods, which was July's Adult Bookish Box book, as well as August's YA FairyLoot book, are both copies I received but paid for in the previous month(s). And Husband Material and The King Will Kill You by Sarah Henning were both B&N preorders. Aurora Burning and Aurora's End by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff were from B&N as well, but my parents bought them for me as birthday gifts at the store. Now the other 11 are all from my local used bookstore. I had a dentist appointment, which is near the store, so I got a bunch of Kresley Cole, Rachel Vincent, Nalini Singh, and Yasmine Galenorn books for like $23 total.
And this is random, but I don't think I ever included my ebook copy of Wild Lands by Stacey Marie Brown in a haul/wrap-up. So, I also bought that around June/July.
I had a lot of FBAA books arrive in August. First, my Illumicrate preorder of the three latest installments in the series came in. And these are so beautiful! I love them so much. My preorder of the Bookish Box TWOTQ also arrived. As for the rest, I have two FBAA copies, one TWOTQ, and one ASITE that I bought off of either Depop, eBay, or Mercari for cheap. I'm snatching up cheap copies so I can use them for alternative dustjackets. So, in total, I bought 17 books this month that actually arrived in August, while I technically bought 22 in August overall (this includes preorders that charged but won't arrive for a bit and the late August Adult FairyLoot box). In total, though, I received 26 books with all the titles included, even the FairyLoot YA one.
Currently Obsessed With
I've mostly been rewatching The Office... again. However, like a lot of fantasy lovers, I had to watch a certain prequel show.
House of the Dragon started the day before my birthday (so an early present to me!). I was pleasantly surprised by both the first and second episodes. I still don't think it has the same gravitas and overall presence that GoT has, but I am enjoying the show. I do think it'll be weird when the young actress is switched out for an older actress to portray the time jump, however. I'm not sure how I'll feel about that.
September TBR
There are a lot of repeats on this month's TBR. Oops. Like last month, I have some books that I still need to get to for review/book club purposes. They include rereading Frostbite, Vampire Academy book two, for my book club and reading/reviewing three NetGalley books, Bone Weaver by Aden Polydoros, Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah, and Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall. I also, once again, need to catch up on reading A Storm of Swords. Then, I want to read A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown and Nevernight by Jay Kristoff. But those two are just for funsies. I'd also kind of like to get finish off the Bargainer series as well.
***
Okay, well, that's the month of August, plus some September sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!
Saturday, September 3, 2022
Stacking the Shelves: The Late Birthday Edition
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Review: A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
A Taste of Gold and Iron
Publication
Date: August 30, 2022My Review
Slow-burn romantasy? Slow-burn queer romantasy? Slow-burn queer romantasy set in a diverse and intricate world? Yes! Yes! A thousand times YES! A Taste of Gold and Iron is an almost lyrical, political tale of a prince and his right-hand man dealing with a counterfeiting scandal that could cost their kingdom everything while fighting some *ahem* feelings...
Now, while I did enjoy this book, and I find myself thinking about it randomly sometimes, I have to admit that the first 25% was a tad difficult to get through. It's very dry in terms of worldbuilding, language, politics, and writing style, so it took a bit for my brain to truly get sucked into the atmosphere of the setting. But after that first 25%, there's more action and things just start to flow better.
The two main characters of the story, Kadou and Evemer, are very different. Kadou is a prince wracked with anxiety about his kingdom, while Evemer is a no-nonsense bodyguard/advisor who gets assigned to the human disaster that is Kadou. I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of bodyguard romances, and with this story, Evemer's role is a little more servant-like at times, which was even worse, in my opinion (totally just a personal preference). However, I could look past that dynamic as the story progressed. In fact, I started loving the power dynamic the two had once things started heating up between them. Evemer would do anything for his liege, and I loved reading about his internal struggles. Though, at times, it felt like Kadou didn't quite reciprocate, even when things started going strong between them. Honestly, there really needs to be a sequel just to establish more relationship between these two characters.
As for the plot of the story, there were quite a few surprising twists and turns throughout the middle chunk. But the plot definitely suffered towards the end with a pretty anticlimactic and predictable reveal over who was causing the counterfeiting kerfuffle. This anticlimactic ending also caused a lot of rushing. The author had spent so much time setting up the world and the characters, only to try to squeeze too much in during the final 10%. I was left thinking "That's it?" when the last page was turned. It simply felt unfinished, which hopefully means there will be a sequel, but Goodreads isn't telling if that's the case.
All in all, this book could've easily been four stars if not for the rushed ending. However, credit where credit is due, because I cannot stop thinking about Evemer and Kadou. They really stuck with me. So I could see A Taste of Gold and Iron being a hit with some fantasy romance readers, though I do expect that others will find the political elements too much for them. I'd say this one is less for fans of Sarah J. Maas or Jennifer L. Armentrout than for fans of Everina Maxwell's Winter's Orbit, Foz Meadows's A Strange & Stubborn Endurance, or even S.A. Chakraborty's Daevabad books. And if you like both of those styles, then I would say you should definitely add Kadou and Evemer's story to your TBR!























