This book would have been five stars for me, easy, if it wasn’t for this one thing I will talk about in the spoiler tagged section below. But for the most part, Crooked Kingdom (and the series as a whole) is a fun, character driven, well-written fantasy heist romp. This book is also technically YA, but it doesn’t really read like it (which I gather is different even from Bardugo’s previous series, which shares a universe with this one). I mean, the protagonists are all […]
“I am become a blade”
Spoiler warning! This is the third book in the Grisha trilogy and therefore NOT the place to start reading. This review will contain at least some minor spoilers for the previous books in the series, and who starts a trilogy with the third book anyway? Go read from the beginning, starting with Shadow and Bone. This review will be here when you’re caught up. Alina is shadow of her former self, trapped in tunnels underground, “protected” by the zealous Apparat (former high priest of Ravka) […]
A marked improvement on the first one
3.5 stars Spoiler warning! This is the second book in a trilogy. I will be unable to review the book without possibly giving away spoilers for the first book in the series, Shadow and Bone. Which is obviously the one you should start with if you’re interested in this series. After the rather dramatic show-down with the Darkling at the end of the last book, Alina and Mal are on the run, trying to get as far away from Ravka as possible. Having to hide […]
Why spend a 5-star review explaining why I like the book, when I can chide heartbroken shippers instead?
Beware shippers, you guys. Sigh. I ruined this review before it ever began, because right after I finished Ruin and Rising, I ran (internet-ran) to the reviews on Goodreads, excitedly, to hit the “like” button a bunch of times on said reviews, and instead, I was confronted with a bunch of one- and two-star reviews from people who were devastated that their favorite series would end this way. Some of them made valid points, that I nonetheless disagree with, but I understand their interpretations. But […]
“The ox feels the yoke, but does the bird feel the weight of its wings?”
My wish for half-star ratings becomes ever more pronounced with my review of Siege and Storm, because where I gave its series predecessor, Shadow and Bone, 4 stars, it was probably more like 3.5 (I liked it a lot, but there were issues.) Here, I also give Siege and Storm 4 stars, but I’d just as soon bump it up to 4.5 (One minor irritation, but otherwise amazing!) As this is a review for a second book in a series, spoilers for the first book […]
Light and dark are exactly what they seem
When Leigh Bardugo’s first novel from a new series dropped in 2015 and started getting all kinds of raves, I knew I’d have to go back post haste to the ever-growing TBR and pick up the first series, which I had been intending to read for some time. The Grisha Trilogy imagines a fantasy world based out of a Russian analog country, where those possessed of magical abilities are called the Grisha, and anyone who is not Grisha is probably either a peasant or a […]