alchemists – Cannonball Read 17

A seasonal book that takes a season to read

Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire

September 29, 2024 by CoffeeShopReader 2 Comments

Bingo 18: Earth Day Seanan McGuire knows her folklore, and it shows. In Seasonal Fears, there’s a ton of tropes, but mostly well handled. Basic plot involves the King of Winter and the Queen of Summer dying, and their crowns being up for grabs to those with affiliations for that season. The whole season emphasis thus qualifies for general environment theme, especially since the recently departed King of Winter was cheating the system where he was always in ascendance, which was probably causing climate […]

Alice in Wonderland meets The Wizard of Oz with Alchemists

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

May 2, 2020 by CoffeeShopReader 1 Comment

I’ve had Middlegame on my TBR shelf about since it came out and I’m just now getting to it. I think it really did help me to have read several other things by Seanan McGuire, and also to know that she considers this her most technical work to date. There are several parallel stories set up as well as some time bending woven into the story, and for me it mostly works. The main plotline is that of Roger and Dodger, twins created by mostly […]

Back to Rotherweird and further weirdness

June 27, 2018 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

I really like Rotherweird, so I knew I wanted to get the sequel Wyntertide. The problem was that I had purchased Rotherweird in Edinburgh, Scotland last summer and hadn’t ever seen it here in the US. So how to get the newly released sequel which was only available online and included international shipping? I call Mother who lives about 2 hours from Glasgow (Scotland still) to see if she would have time to check a bookstore or two next time she was in the city, […]

Don’t ignore the preface of this entertaining monster mash-up

June 5, 2018 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

The Fangs of Freelance continues with the entertaining story of Fred the Vampire Accountant and his friends who include alchemists, zombies, mages, therians, a dragon, a sentient house, and some unknowns. This stuff began and continues to be a fun riff on monster-type fantasy fiction. It also plays with the supernatural crime-fighting organization, which gets more attention in this book as we actually get to see Fred go through his interview and skills test to become a contract-based accountant for the Agency where Krystal (demon-contracted […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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