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★★★★★ No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. This was surprisingly quite funny! The narration was done in that particular style that seems to have been largely abandoned by modern authors: third-person told from a first-person non-character narrator. I love this style! Many of my favorite classics (Peter Pan, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc) are told in this style, and it always lends itself a storybook quality that is sorely lacking in today's literature. The story itself was something I am at this point extremely familiar with, as it has permeated all corners of Western civilization at this point, but still, there were some things that are often excluded in most adaptations, such as the children of mankind: "They are Man's," said the Spirit, looking down upon them. "And they cling to me, appealing from th...

★★★★★ Buddy read with Nana !! OH MY GOSH Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker? The Writing and Worldbuilding I adore Garth Nix's writing. It's lyrical without distracting from the narrative and flows very well. He clearly has a very strong grasp on the language. I absolutely loved every bit of it. I have to admit that I thought this wouldn't be nearly as good as it was, because it came out before I was born and often older (and tbh even current) YA writing lacks strong narrative voice and relies heavily on tropes and cliches to convey the story. But this was totally unique and excellent in every way! I can even see the influence it has had on the genre, with books like Shadow and Bone and Throne of Glass clearly trying to emulate what this book had (though their success varied). I AM IN LOVE with this world and its inhabitants. From the very beginning, this gave me White Walker and the Wall vibes from Game of Thrones a...

★★★★★ This is my favorite book in the series and rereading it reminded me of that. I love how everything plays out, how the threads tie up. The titular character and their main theme is the best part though. It makes the entire series more than just a fun middle-grade adventure. It's a story about the meaning and importance of family, whether that be by blood or by friendship, and how it can literally change the world. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★☆☆☆ To live in dreams is a waste of reality. The Writing and Worldbuilding Oh dear this is really bad. But in a kinda good way? So, this felt like something I would have written at the height of my fairy craze when I was 12 years old. In fact, this feels even more like a terrible vampire book I wrote during that time, almost word for word. It's written with that particular styleless style that people with zero narrative voice always use, where the MC is ~ witty ~ and lacks personality other than being pretty. For being a book supposedly about vampires - sorry, I mean ~ high fae ~ - it's not lyrical whatsoever, full of awkward exposition and that iconic YA brand of unrealistic dialogue and behavior from every single character. Besides its more ~ scandalous ~ parts (like the swears and the sexual stuff) this is basically the quintessential preteen dream of an ~ edgy ~ fairy book. It has the iconic YA fae who are for all intents and purposes just v...

★★★★☆ "Inside yourself, it's only you who can help you." I really enjoyed this one! It expanded the world a lot and developed the characters more. I loved the dream-lore! It had an excellent atmosphere that was almost tangible. It really put me on edge though hah. Ronan's journey was awesome and it was really great to get to have so much of his perspective. I did have an issue though with the pacing. The middle of the book felt like it was dragging just a little bit and the conflicts were fairly predictable. It seemed that the book was trying to handle a few too many things and didn't know where to put it all. My biggest issue was with the Gray Man's relationship with Maura. It really broke reality because for some reason, no one was realistically bothered by his occupation as a hitman. They all behaved as if he worked for the IRS or something - someone most people don't like but are generally okay - not a murderer who gets paid. The...

★★★☆☆ Dec 18th, 2018 update: I've been thinking about it more and I'm gonna lower my rating from 4 to 3 stars since tbh this book is trash and really doesn't stick with you afterwards. (The review has been appropriately changed to reflect this.) ~~~ Hope is a powerful thing. Some say it’s a different breed of magic altogether. Elusive, difficult to hold on to. But not much is needed. A simple, easy-to-read novel that's a good thing to shut your brain off and read. It dips its toes into depth but doesn't delve deep, and overall paints a nice enough picture. I found the world not particularly interesting but that's just because nothing at all was fleshed out. There are no info dumps because there was no setting exposition. This book takes place in a proverbial white room. The time period parallels were impossible to figure out, though I'm thinking it's early 20th century or perhaps late 19th. Also...was the "foreign" lan...

★★☆☆☆ I received this eARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. Obligatory Summary Rufus is an ex-thief whose beloved wife is dying of a mysterious and seemingly incurable disease. Nothing he does stays the symptoms as she deteriorates away before his eyes. And when a high-class doctor arrives with news that a cure exists, Rufus is willing to do anything to save his love. But the doctor requires him to do one more heist, against his dying wife's wedding request - that he give up thievery forever. Nothing is what it seems, though. Greater elements are at play, and a war between the races of the world hinges on the mysterious stones he is required to take. The Writing I have to be honest here - I hated the writing. Its diction and syntax are needlessly pretentious and often downright incorrect. The author was clearly going for a Shakespearean, Middle English merged with Latin sty...

★★★★☆ Better than the first in a lot of ways, and a little bit worse in others. But you can build a future out of anything. A scrap, a flicker. The desire to go forward, slowly, one foot at a time. You can build an airy city out of ruins. I originally rated this 5 stars after finishing it, but upon reflection, it really was more of a 4 star read for me. But it was still awesome! Grief is like sinking, like being buried. I am in water the tawny color of kicked-up dirt. Every breath is full of choking. There is nothing to hold on to, no sides, no way to claw myself up. There is nothing to do but let go. Let go. Feel the weight all around you, feel the squeezing of your lungs, the slow, low pressure. Let yourself go deeper. There is nothing but bottom. There is nothing but the taste of metal, and the echoes of old things, and days that look like darkness. Honestly, this felt like a different series a little bit. Part of that was definitely the lack of chapter e...

(see original cover here . It's really bad. ) ★★☆☆☆ So, for starters, this wasn't actually always really bad, but when it was bad, it was one of the worst things I've ever read. But in a good way. Here's a list of some stuff (there are some unmarked spoilers, so if you do want to read this for some reason, be warned): 1) She's somehow the only white girl in an inner city NYC high school. She doesn't mind this because she's ~ not racist ~ since she has had diverse friends in the past, and "some of her meanest frenemies had been white." Make of that what you will. 2) She had insta love with not only one, but two guys! One of them is a human person of color (and an actually genuinely great guy!) and the other is a soulmate-ish ~ protector ~ sort with brown hair and lovely eyes. He's also 3,000 years old and has a vampire ex-wife named Sera who is needlessly antagonistic. He declares his love for her after knowing her for like...

★★★★★ Space was not a finite container, but that didn't mean it was empty. Asteroids, stars, planets, the current stream; space debris, ships, fragmented moons, undiscovered worlds; this was a place of endless possibility and unfathomable freedom. It was not nothing, it was everything. I had some mixed feelings about the first book, but I entirely loved this one! It was so good! The inclusion of Eijeh and Cisi's perspectives really added a lot to the story and the world. We got to see so much more through them than just through Akos and Cyra, and it was greatly appreciated. I got my more planets wish and got some awesome visuals along the way (Ogra is my dream aesthetic) The themes were great in this, and the pacing was also great. Everything was great. I was hesitant about the Lazmet death retcon, but it was done really well and added a lot to the story. The plot twists were all super effective and the hard-hitting moments were pretty intense. Let me...

★★★★☆ Oh wow this was intense! And very informative! What is it about sociopathic murderers that's so fascinating? Why are we as a society so prone to exalt such people to celebrity status? Buy the book here: Amazon

★★★★★ There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights. Why am I always so surprised that classics are seriously fantastic? I loved everything about this! Even knowing the general story, having absorbed it via osmosis most of my life and having once watched a terribly adapted play put on by my high school peers, I was still pulled in by the tension, the terror, and the themes. I loved every character and found the plot to be very climactic and engaging. The writing style was superb! Each narrator had a consistent voice that defined them and made their perspective all the more interesting. My personal favorite was Dr. John Seward. He had a very lyrical way of viewing the world and it made his sections beautiful to read. The opening part with Jonathan Harker's imprisonment in Dracula's Castle was palpably tense and drew me in immediately. All in all, the entire thing was excellent! For life be, a...

★★★★★ !!!!! I suppose it doesn't matter how they get out. All that matters is they do. And when they do, they must be found. They must go back. The Writing and the Worldbuilding So I'm low-key freaking out a little because my current WIP has some parallels to this (afterlife, dead younger brother the female Mc wants to bring back to life somehow, and mystical access to memories through touch) and I know I can never top the Schwab, so wish me luck 🤞 The first few chapters of this really didn't do it for me, I must admit. They were slow and, frankly, a little boring, and I really didn't like the narration style very much at first. BUT! Once it grew on me, I ADORED EVERYTHING!! It really kinda gave me Cruel Beauty vibes with a specific ghostly character and also some The Mortal Instruments vibes as well. I could almost taste the shapes of what would become her later books, like A Darker Shade of Magic and This Savage Song . The framewo...