Stars: 2 out of 5. DNF at 70%, so you darn right I’m leaving a review for this, since I put so much effort into this book! I am very disappointed. I loved The Ender’s Game by the same author so I had high hope for this story as well. And the beginning was pretty … Continue reading Wakers (The Side Step Trilogy 1) by Orson Scott Card </a
Category Archives: Elena Linville’s Tower of Winds
In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu
Stars: 3.5 out of 5. This was an interesting book. More a collection of unrelated stories than one continuous story, a bit like the Thousand and One Nights. This collection of stories helped showcase this strange world that the author has created without having our main characters travel around it. It’s an interesting approach. And … Continue reading In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu </a
City of Songs (The Seven Swords 3) by Anthony Ryan
Stars: 4 out of 5 This book is the best in the series so far. I think it’s because we got the exposition and character background out of the way in the first two books, so the author is free to just tell his story. And it is a compelling story, no doubt about that. … Continue reading City of Songs (The Seven Swords 3) by Anthony Ryan </a
Shadow Shinjuku by Ryu Takeshi
Stars: 3 out of 5 I have a hard time formulating my thoughts about this book. I liked it enough to stick around till the end, but it didn’t leave a big enough impact to consider it a really good book. There is one aspect I really loved, and that’s Tokyo as a whole and … Continue reading Shadow Shinjuku by Ryu Takeshi </a
The Liar of Red Valley by Walter Goodwater
Stars: 5 out of 5 I absolutely loved this book, y’all! This gave me the same vibes as American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett, only with a much more reliable protagonist. Sadie’s mother was the Liar of Red Valley. A position that gave her a certain power with its inhabitants. They didn’t like her, they … Continue reading The Liar of Red Valley by Walter Goodwater </a
The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next 1) by Jasper Fforde
Stars: 5 out of 5 I have a difficult time describing this book other than that I absolutely loved it! It’s well written and engaging, and the world is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I’m not sure how to classify it. Is it alternate history? Is it urban fantasy? Is it steampunk? Or maybe … Continue reading The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next 1) by Jasper Fforde </a
The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst
Stars: 5 out of 5 Most epic fantasy books end with our mighty heroes defeating the big bad and riding into the sunset and their happy ever after. But ask yourself this question – what happens after the sun sets? What does that ever after look like? Especially if you spent years preparing for this … Continue reading The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst </a
The Moonsteel Crown (Dominion 1) by Stephen Deas
Stars: 5 out of 5 I must admit that I loved this book, despite a couple flaws. But those flaws are too small to mention and didn’t take anything from the sheer pleasure of discovering the rich world the author created and following the characters. I think that the characters are the biggest strength of … Continue reading The Moonsteel Crown (Dominion 1) by Stephen Deas </a
Midnight, Water City (Water City 1) by Chris McKinney
Stars: 2.5 out of 5 Honestly, my reaction after finishing this book is “meh.” I went into this book excited about the premise. An underwater city? Humanity averting the end of the world for once? This sounded so exciting! Unfortunately, we spend little to no time at all in the actual underwater city. And the … Continue reading Midnight, Water City (Water City 1) by Chris McKinney </a
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
Stars: 5 out of 5. This was an amazingly, delightfully creepy book! The older I get, the less I seem to enjoy horror books, especially the gore and guts kind of horror. I still enjoy the atmospheric, psychological horror, but I find it hard to find good book that don’t repeat the same tired clichés … Continue reading The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher </a
Last Exit by Max Gladstone
Stars: 2.5 out of 5 It pains me to give a less than stellar rating to Max Gladstone, but this is the first book of his I’ve been disappointed with. How can a book about found family, road trip, end of the world, parallel universes and so on be so… boring? I loved this author’s … Continue reading Last Exit by Max Gladstone </a
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
Stars: 2.5 out of 5 I’m always eager to discover new voices in literature, especially if they come from other cultures. Those authors always have very unique outlooks at life that you won’t find in our Western civilizations. It definitely broadens my horizon as a reader. So I was very eager to pick up this … Continue reading The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa </a
Moon Rising (The Upsilon Series 1) by Daniel Weisbeck
Stars: 3.5 out of 5 This was an interesting novella about an android that’s just different enough to finally achieve consciousness. I liked our main protagonist Silon and her slow realization that everything is not as it seems. I also must admit that the first chapter was really chilling, especially since we didn’t know she … Continue reading Moon Rising (The Upsilon Series 1) by Daniel Weisbeck </a
Goblin by Josh Malerman
Stars: 3 out of 5 This was a meh kind of book. It’s a series of short stories book ended by the story of a delivery driver bringing something terrifying to the city of Goblin. The short stories are related only by the location where they happen – the city of Goblin on the … Continue reading Goblin by Josh Malerman </a
Of Starlight and Plague by Beth Hersant
Stars: 1 out of 5 DNF at 52% I know that zombie books aren’t a paragon of high literature. I expect that. But when I pick up one, I expect to be entertained at least. This is the first boring zombie book I’ve ever read, so that must be a record. I picked it up … Continue reading Of Starlight and Plague by Beth Hersant </a
The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley
Stars 3.5 out of 5 This was a very interesting take on time travel and on what happens to people when history changes. The idea of the deja vu and the fact that people would suddenly forget who they were for a few moments wile reality rewrote itself is something I never saw before. What … Continue reading The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley </a
The Black Coast (The God-King Chronicles 1) by Mike Brooks
Stars: 2 out of 5 DNF at 51% This book suffers from the first book in a series syndrome. The author is so excited to introduce the reader to his brand new world, that he throws everything but the kitchen sink into the first book. This leads to a book that is a hefty … Continue reading The Black Coast (The God-King Chronicles 1) by Mike Brooks </a
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Stars: 3 out of 5 For most of the book, I thought this would a solid 5 star read. The story was fun to read and fast paced – a perfect book to spend a cold day with, curled up by the fire… Then I hit the last quarter of the book and finished it … Continue reading The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi </a
One Day All of This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovski
Stars: 4 out of 5. This was a delightful little novella and a very nice introduction to the author, as far as first impressions go. The story itself is quite an interesting take on time travel that I haven’t seen explored before, even though there is a certain logic to it. If someone was sent … Continue reading One Day All of This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovski </a
Dogs of DevTown by Taylor Hohulin
Stars: 3.5 out of 5 I don’t usually read a lot of cyberpunk. Mostly because the few books I tried, I couldn’t get into the story. I did love the game Cyberpunk 2077, even though it had its own bugs and frustrating moments. So when I read the description of Dogs of DevTown, I decided … Continue reading Dogs of DevTown by Taylor Hohulin </a