A lot of my initial disappointment with this book was because I was reading under the assumption that McMahon was Laura Lippman, a murder mystery author I adore, and thought Lippman had taken temporary leave of her senses when she wrote this. Only she didn’t write it and I think this was McMahon’s first novel, so it’s a bit unfair that I was holding it to such a high bar, but there it is. McMahon can’t decide if she’s writing a ghost story or a […]
Hey, Not Every Review I Write is Negative!
After reading a string of unsatisfying fantasy, I danced with joy when Clariel was released because I knew Garth Nix would not disappoint. If you have not read his Abhorsen trilogy yet, you should get on that immediately, especially if you are a fan of young adult fantasy with strong women characters. You could start with this book, because it’s a prequel to the trilogy and covers lot of the basics of the world building, I think it makes a better companion piece to the trilogy […]
400 Pages of I Just Can’t Even
I never liked Holden Caulfield. Crucify me if you must, but I did make the mistake of reading Catcher in the Rye as an adult, with adult sense and sensibilities. So I was really not sympathetic to Holden Caulfield at Hogwarts and I’m certainly not taking Holden Caulfield’s shit in Narnia either. Quentin (the Holdeness of all Caulfields) and his band of self-adsorbed fellow magicians now reign in Fillory (it really is Narnia adjacent) as self-adsorbed despots. Grossman loves to play with genres and tropes, but I […]
If You Throw Away the First 3/4ths, You Might Have an Okay Book Left
I’ll never admit that I’m a bright person; it took me until half way through the second book in this series to realize it was just Star Wars, but with dragons instead of the Force and lightsabers. Which probably explains why I still love the first book, Eragon. (See that? That’s “dragon”, but with one letter changed. That’s the level of cleverness we are working with here.) So this is the last book in the series, so we know Not Luke Skywalker is going to […]
Not Everything in the Teen Paranormal Romance Section is a Lost Cause
Have you started the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy? No? Then don’t read this, because it will be Spoiler City as this is the last book in the series. (Although I wouldn’t be surprised if this world of angels and chimera and Karou makes a reappearance at some point, considering how this one ended.) Karou is leading the chimera army, or what’s left of it, through deception. A sacrifice from the previous book let her with a puppet regime, with her at the strings. […]
Yellow Causes Anxiety
I’m just a bit behind in my reviews, meaning I read this book back in April and now it’s fall, so… Which is probably for the best, because this really isn’t a springtime book. This book needs to be read on a chilly fall day, while you’re under a quilt, with a pumpkin spice latte or mulled wine in your hand. The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories that pre-date Lovecraft and his elder god horror. (In fact, Lovecraft included the mythos began […]
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