Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson; Book Review

 

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If murder mysteries have rules, so too do Christmas Specials, which the universe has kindly obliged here. You’ll find ahead Santa-fied clues aplenty, and don’t rule out characters having to dress up in silly costumes for some tangentially related plot reason, which I will satisfy in a minor turn as Rudolph. And of course, by the end of these things, the detective has to learn the true meaning of the word Christmas. So we’ll get there too.

A quick festive novella for Ernest Cunningham fans, Everone This Christmas Has a Secret manages to tangentially follow all the seasonal special rules in Stevenson's witty way, while still in keeping with the Golden Age mystery rules. Ernest is called to solve a seemingly impossible mystery just before Christmas and steps into a world of professional tricksters, each with their own secret.

The plot is captivating and true to the Ernest's word, the readers get enough clues along the way to try and piece the puzzle together. The story provides a pretty strong foundation on which to build everything else, though not all characters are sketched out solidly. I enjoyed Stevenson's witty writing and sense of humor in this one; the blatant references to Christmas have to be forgiven I suppose.

And for those wondering if any aspect of formatting plays a role here -
In keeping with an accidental theme— my first case involved a full stop, my second a comma—this may well be the first mystery ever solved by Comic Sans.

Thanks to NetGalley, Mariner publishing group and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟
[3/4 star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the story arc; Half a star for the characters; One star for the writing; Half a star for the world-building and description- 3 3/4 stars in total, rounded up to 4 stars.]


View all my reviews

Le Fay by Sophie Keetch: Book Review

 

Le Fay by Sophie Keetch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

And they should fear me, the power I possessed, and the bright, ravenous rage that now fuelled my every breath. From that moment onwards, even I did not know what I was capable of.

Sophie Keetch's Le Fay tracks Morgan's journey from her ambiguous morality to in the first book Morgan Is My Name to... still ambiguous morality, even with the incredible premise, through all her losses suffered, despite the number of times she threatens to burn everything, and against all the potential antagonists.

Like the first book, there are some good secondary characters, but all the antagonists are one-dimensional men... the King of Gore returns of course, but even Merlin is portrayed as weirdly one-dimensional, and it takes some imagination to fit a potentially jealous credit-stealing male academic mentor like Merlin to a brilliant student like Morgan into the lecherous misogynist trope.

This book could have explored more of Morgan's relationship with Arthur and Guinevere, and how it devolves, but all we hear is the number of times Morgan says Arthur was her dear brother and she his trusted advisor. It would have been great to actually see Morgan help Arthur with any of the various aspects of running a kingdom, but we only see her help plan a tournament at the beginning of the book while trying to avoid Guinevere. Accolon's return starts off childish squabbles between them, which might have evolved into a mature relationship, but given the many number of times we hear that, it gives the exact opposite impression. And finally, we really should have seen Morgan explore her magic and study healing to the fullest extent here, but this is overridden by trying to blame Merlin for introducing dark magic to Morgan. Morgan le Fay's magic should have been the one thing that was completely hers!

In short, could have, would have, might have, should have is my review.

And all of this in Keetch's writing style, which I enjoyed in the first book, but was just too descriptive in this book.

To hear him tell it so plaintively was to feel it as the truth—Arthur’s truth, different from mine but no less lived and felt. I gazed across at this man, this King, my brother, his eyes shining silver with grief. His argument was convincing and logical, and blisteringly, devastatingly wrong.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada publishing group for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟
[3/4 star for the premise; Half a star for the characters; Half a star for the story arc; 1/4 star for the writing; 3/4 star for the world-building- 2 3/4 stars in total, rounded up to 3 stars.]


View all my reviews

All Systems Red by Martha Wells: Book Review

All Systems Red by Martha Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's wrong to think of a construct as half-bot half-human. It makes us sound like the halves are discrete, like the bot half should want to obey orders and do its job and the human half should want to protect itself and get the hell out of here.
As opposed to the reality, which was that I was one whole confused entity, with no idea what I wanted to do, what I should do, what I needed to do.

Martha Wells has done an amazing job with making the construct Murderbot, as they call themselves in The Murderbot Diaries, completely empathizable! And this is coming from someone who doesn't like the robots-take-over-world trope. But Murderbot, doesn't care about the world, and does their job half heartedly, while devoting most of their free processing time to entertainment. Being a construct doesn't mean they are devoid of feelings or emotions however, and complex ones like social anxiety too. Working security with a team of scientists who don't just leave it alone gives space for a lot of character development.

It's tough to do inner monologues well, but it's great when done well and I really enjoyed Wells' writing. The book is a short novella with them escaping danger as the base plot, and more page space was devoted to characterization than world-building. But I didn't mind that, as the story could have been happening on any outer planet common in Sci-Fi. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

🌟🌟🌟🌟

[3/4 star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the characterization; Half a star for the world-building; 3/4 star for the story; One star for the writing - Four stars in total.]

View all my reviews

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: Book Review

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had written this book because it was so difficult to do that the idea had fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious. I wrote the book after a tremendous amount of planning, and I was pleased with what I had made of it. It was clear, straightforward, baffling, and yet had a perfectly reasonable explanation; in fact it had to have an epilogue in order to explain it. It was well received and reviewed, but the person who was really pleased with it was myself, for I knew better than any critic how difficult it had been.

- Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None

If I had to recommend one book by Agatha Christie to anyone, or even just one mystery, it would be And Then There Were None. With such a perfect locked room (island) premise, and with her brilliant execution of the whole story, Christie really had every reason to be pleased and proud of this book! And for the world to still think of her as the queen of mystery.

What's left to say?
Christie had a good psychological grasp of her ten well-sketched characters, shown as brief glimpses into their trains of thought. Apart from the prevalent suspense and suspicion, the paranoia that can set in when they realize they're in danger, Christie does a great job showing the devolvement of the rules of society and position over the course of the book. As a modern day reader, I was actually a bit surprised how many 'rules' were actually stuck to - but this is one of the reasons I like reading Christie and other writers of her time, we can actually see a good representation of her time and the society then.

The writing is simply masterful - we see everything of essence and more, brought across to the reader in less than 300 pages! The best way to enjoy this book and the story arc is to go in blind if possible, as I did. The epilogue explains the mystery, along with the very few clues scattered through the book. But the book itself is a perfect locked room mystery.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[One star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the story arc; One star for the characters; One star for the writing; One star for the world-building and description - Five stars in total].

What Feasts At Night by T. Kingfisher: Book Review

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If this was a fairy tale, it was the kind where everyone gets eaten as a cautionary tale about straying into the woods, not the sentimental kind that ends with a wedding and the words, “And if they have not since died, they are living there still.”

What Feasts At Night by T. Kingfisher is the second book in the Sworn Soldier series, in which Alex Easton returns to their hunting lodge to find the caretaker dead, learns about the local superstition regarding ghosts appearing in dreams, confronts their belief/ non-belief in the supernatural and chooses to do everything they can to protect their friends.

Kingfisher's terrific world-building continues in this second book, this time leaning more on the supernatural. The characters retain their deadpan humour however and their interactions are still fun to read!

The story is fast paced, showing how belief in the supernatural is viewed by different characters. The writing weaves superstition, dreams, hallucinations and internal battles brilliantly, emphasizing survival instinct and acceptance of the battle to win.

It can’t have worked, I thought. You can’t really kill someone in a dream. This isn’t just a dream, though. It’s the war.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

[One star for the premise and the whole book; Half a star for the characters; Half a star for the story; One star for the writing; 3/4 star for the world-building - 3 3/4 stars in total, rounded up to 4 stars.]

View all my reviews

What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher: Book Review

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I looked across the tarn to the house and sighed myself.
It was not a promising sight. It was an old gloomy manor house in the old gloomy style, a stone monstrosity that the richest man in Europe would be hard-pressed to keep up. One wing had collapsed into a pile of stone and jutting rafters. Madeline lived there with her twin brother, Roderick Usher, who was nothing like the richest man in Europe.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher is a slightly creepy retelling of the Gothic Poe original The Fall of the House of Usher, in which we see the protagonist Alex Easton visit their friends Madeline and Roderick Usher, get introduced to mycology, identify the cause of some strange behaviour in the wildlife there and help the Ushers in dealing with it.

The retelling seems to be more or less faithful to the original story and characters, though we see Kingfisher's characterization skills in the sworn soldier Alex, their valet Angus, the very British mycologist Miss Potter and the American Doctor Denton. This retelling is supported by some terrific world-building - not at all supernatural, but still alien enough to be horrifying - in explaining the Fall, literally and figuratively.

The dead don’t walk. The dead don’t walk. If they did, then … then … I don’t know what. Something dreadful.

The tone of the writing is horror with a healthy (or unhealthy) amount of creepy. Kingfisher still manages to infuse the writing with her deadpan humor, which I enjoyed. The most deadpan character would be Alex's world-weary horse Hob, with the valet Angus being a close second, and Alex's relationship with both is a comfort.

🌟🌟🌟

[Half a star for the premise and the whole book; 3/4 star for the characters; Half a star for the story arc; Half a star for the writing; 3/4 star for the world-building - 3 stars in total.]

Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson: Book Review

 

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Thank God we’re (crime writers) just inventing it! If one of the six of us was to die right now, you’d have five suspects who all know how to get away with murder.”

The premise of Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson is exactly that - one of the authors at a writer's festival happening on a train is murdered and everyone else on the train is a suspect, including all the other writers who've done their research on how to get away with murder. Ernest Cunningham, one of the invitees for his book Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, tries to solve the mystery by banking on the individual expertises of all the writers, work on his next book, inject some romance into the proceedings, and also (less importantly) manages to defend his use of adverbs and learn to pronounce denouement.

If you think you don’t already know the rules to writing a murder mystery, trust me, you do. It’s all intuitive. I’m writing this in first person. First person equals survival. The rules are simple: nothing supernatural; no surprise identical twins; the killer must be introduced early on and be a major enough character to impact the plot. To prove the point, I’ll tell you that I use the killer’s name, in all its forms, exactly 106 times from here.

The plot and the character arcs fulfill the promise made by this premise and kept me hooked enough to finish the book. I particularly enjoyed Stevenson's style of writing as he emulates the Golden Age mysteries, but with his own breaking-the-fourth-wall flippant humor. Ernest's (Stevenson's) perspective in describing the setting and all the players involved initially was good, but his arc from a disinterested detective to an active player who stood to lose a lot as the stakes got higher was more satisfying!

I will point out that one inadvertent mimicry is the curious coincidence that both cases are solved by a piece of punctuation. Last year it was a full stop. This time, a comma saves the day.

I generally enjoy writers and actors breaking the fourth wall, if subtly done. There was quite a lot that worked in this book, like the little pronouncement about the comma at the beginning of the book. I will admit I kept a look out for suspicious commas and maybe even errant semi-colons.

I also see the point in making sure that the killer is a major character and has enough of an on-page presence. What I did not enjoy was keeping an active tally of the number of times each character was mentioned! Not to forget the number of writers on the train at any given time. The rules followed by the Golden Age mystery writers were to promote one purpose: To allow the reader the satisfaction of deducing the killer on their own, based on everything written that far. This constant counting of the number of times any given name appeared in the book did not promote any rational or logical thought towards figuring out the mystery and kept detracting from the reading experience.

However, we soon get to
The De-noo-moh, not Dee-now-ment (duh)
“I have to go through everyone’s motives and alibis publicly,” I said. “It’s basically a requirement of the genre.”
“Does it usually take this long?” All the crime writers in the room said simultaneously: “Yes.”

🌟🌟🌟

The rating for this book is 3 1/4 stars, rounded down to 3 stars as some of the clues given by the author while breaking the fourth wall annoyed me.

[3/4 star for the premise and the whole book; Half a star for the character arcs; One star for the plot/ story arc; Half a star for the world-building and description; Half a star for the writing - 3 1/4 stars in total.]

Quiz: How many adverbs do you spot in this review? 😉

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson: Book Review

 

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once.
Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

The first book in the Ernest Cunningham series, by Benjamin Stevenson, follows through on it's title and recounts the killings as a satirical play on the mysteries from the Golden Age. There are multiple mysteries, apart from the original event from a few decades ago that sets everything in motion, and kept me guessing (some correctly!). The setting for this book is an almost snowed-in family reunion and the book follows Ernest, the expert publisher of 10 Easy Steps to Write Crime Like You Lived in the 1930s and Golden Age to Your Golden Page: How to Write a Mystery, as he tries to unravel them before the body count gets too high.

The narrative style has a flippant humour that fans of Knives Out and/or Only murders in the building might relate to. We get plenty of Ernest's comments as he earnestly tries to follow Ronald Knox's ten rules for the murder mystery club. Having recently read a lot of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, I enjoyed this particular style of narration. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

🌟🌟🌟🌟

The rating is 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4 stars for Goodreads as the series is intriguing.

[3/4 star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the writing; Half a star for the characters; 3/4 star for the story; Half a star for the world-building/ description - 3 1/2 stars in total.]

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S Beagle: Book Review

 

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The warning came in the form of a great wind, sudden and cold, sweeping the western mountains on a perfectly bland and cloudless summer day.

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons is the story of people coming together to face this challenge, but more than that, it's the story of these teenagers realizing that they are not who their roles force them to be, and trying to figure out who they are in the face of this danger, what they need and what they want.

Peter S. Beagle's writing is straightforward, though quite descriptive and I think the book is accessible to pre-teens and early teens also. The world-building is more focused on the dragons than on their kingdoms, which I didn't mind.

It is the character development and their individual arcs which really carried the book for me, and the story is very much character driven. I enjoyed seeing Princess Cerise's arc, ostensibly interviewing princes but teaching herself to read, sword fight and even spitball in secret! Prince Reginald also turns out to be a solid character, who doesn't want to be a hero but finds himself to be quite heroic if the situation demands it. Robert's arc from an inherited job of dragon exterminator to not is particularly engaging!

The dragon's gaze held him in a grip far more powerful than that of the wizard, and once again he cried out - or thought he did, "Who am I? What do you want of me?" 

Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟
The rating for this book is 3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4 stars as the book and the whole delivers a good read.

[Half a star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the characters; One star for the story; Half a star for the writing; Half a star for the world-building and description - 3 1/2 stars in total].

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater: Book Review

 

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The hundred eyes of Witchwood Manor loomed above, grinning through torrential rain.

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater is a dark faerie tale with a Gothic ambience - wherein Winifred Hall untangles the dark menace behind Witchwood Manor, finds out information regarding the mysterious disappearance of her once-protector and rescues the kidnapped young heir to the Manor, all while conquering her inner demons and befriending the hostile faerie butler.

Winifred is a strong and clever lead character, bringing iron knives in her chateleine and lies with her governess guise to deal with whatever is tormenting Witchwood Manor. She is beset by both human and faerie menaces during the course of the fast-paced story and her character growth in dealing with them is doubly remarkable.

Though this book can be read as a standalone, the stakes grow higher as the story progresses and I'm looking forward to the next books in this series (Victorian Faerie Tales). I'm also intrigued enough by the layered world-building and several tidbits in the storyline to read the other books in this world (Regency Faerie Tales). Atwood's writing with the Gothic vibes complete the package!

Thanks to NetGalley, Starwatch Press publishers and Olivia Atwater for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

The rating for this book is 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4 stars for Goodreads and NetGalley as I'm interested in this series.

[Half a star for the premise and the whole book; Half a star for the story arc; One star for the characters; Half a star for the writing; Half a star for the world-building and description - 3 1/2 stars in total].

A Study In Drowning by Ava Reid: Book Review

 

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It began as all things did: a girl on the shore, terrified and desirous.

A Study In Drowning is a portrayal of a young girl's life and struggles with myth, misogyny and mental health in a combination of dark academia and dark faerie tale.

Ava Reid's lyrical prose provides a strong foundation to the novel and easily draws one into Effy's story. Though set in a time in the last century when girls were not even allowed to enroll in particular college courses, her struggles with misogyny were relatable as some of the instances and the writing just ring true.

The writing, hand in hand with the story sets the dark faerie tone of the novel and the inclusion of Angharad, the story within the story and Effy's well-used book, adds to the whole tone. Angharad provides the only functional bridge to understanding for Effy between her world and the world that she sees but everyone else dismisses.

This is overlaid with a mystery in a Gothic mansion and the world-building on the whole supports the story. Effy's character development as an unreliable narrator as the story progresses is interesting.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟
[One star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the characters; One star for the writing; Half a star for the story; Half a star for the world-building - Four stars in total.]

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett: Book Review

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I glared. I’m afraid I have not gotten over my resentment of him for saving me from the snow king’s court in Ljosland earlier this year, and have made a solemn vow to myself that I shall be the one to rescue him from whatever faerie trouble we next find ourselves in. Yes, I realize this is illogical, given that it requires Wendell to end up in some dire circumstance, which would ideally best be avoided, but there it is. I’m quite determined.

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands journals Emily's activities as she searches for a door back to Wendell's faerie kingdom while dodging assassins sent by his enemy, following the trail of long lost scholars, bonding with her niece and saving Wendell.

The Emily Wilde series has a lot of components I like such as women in academia, researching magic systems and mysterious faerie worlds, but overall does not work for me. The characters seem flat to me, mostly because all the character development and important revelations happen off-page - as I noted while reading Book 1 Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries too. I couldn't relate to the characters - which is surprising as I would usually understand needing to be bribed with a book to attend a work party!

The plot rambled a little, suffering from the middle book syndrome. Or maybe that was just the dazed journal entries writing style - we get neither a clear third person narration of events as they unfold nor a reasoned documentation of relevant facts and important events written with hindsight. This detracts from my reading experience and I couldn't get invested in the story. Character relationships too are mostly glazed over - I would have liked to see more of Emily mentoring Ariadne (who could have been any assistant, her being Emily's niece was too much of a coincidence) and more of Emily's growing relationship with Wendell. What we actually see is too little for any private diary and too much to be included in a scientific journal.

The world-building, is interesting, but less detailed than I could have wished. I generally prefer magic systems that follow rules and complex worlds to stories that rely on random spells and artifacts acquired coincidentally. They also keep noting interesting tidbits suggesting they still don't understand much of the faerie worlds - to be expected - but don't seem to get around to researching any of them.

Overall, I might recommend this to people who like light academia as a quick read, but I don't think I'll be re-reading this series.

🌟🌟

[Half a star for the premise and whole book; 1/4 star for the characters; Half a star for the story; Half a star for the writing; 1/4 star for the world-building - Two stars in total.]

Emily Wilde #1: My Review of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki: Book Review

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

With a name like that, I'd been expecting something quaint and old-fashioned, but this looked more like a trendy pop-up café. Its soft lights glowed against the dark backdrop of the riverbank.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki is a mystical novel about a pop-up café appearing to people in need of some time off, a custom order made specially for them, and some external perspective on their lives.

While the premise is interesting, the external perspective received by each customer is entirely too dependent on astrological charts. I expected a little astrology from the description, but tying up everything from the choice of their profession to their romantic interests and general luck with random events to just a series of Zodiac houses based on the time and place of birth was too trite for me. I would have liked at least a little conversation about their lives and opinions first that weren't immediately attributed to astrology or their 'phase of life'. Or a food/ drink order customized more to the people's personality or mood than just their age.

I did enjoy the mystical vibes surrounding this café and whom it appears to, but it seems like the advice was given only to this group of people due to a special connection in their earlier years. Overall, I'd recommend the book to anyone interested in or familiar with astrology.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Random House publishing group - Ballantine for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟

The rating is 1 1/2 stars, rounded up to 2 stars for NetGalley and Goodreads as there might be some concepts lost in translation.

[Half a star for the premise and the whole book; 1/4 for the characters; Half a star for the writing; 1/4 star for the world-building; Zero stars for the story arc - 1 1/2 stars on the whole].

View all my reviews

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett: Book Review

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett follows Emily in the last stages of collecting material for her Encyclopedia, but soon gets drawn into the local people's and Faeries' lives more than her academic dispassionate self would like.

I liked the premise - the academic study of Faerie species, habits and worlds, supported by the world-building. The writing, last century Cambridge English also helped set vibes.

The characters however seemed two-dimensional and detracted from the book for me. Emily and Wendell were colleagues and friends before the story began. There were two or three revelations about Wendell, both personal and academic, that were nearly plot twists, if Emily hadn't already known or guessed them. So her reactions, her thoughts, the whole book even felt a bit flat to me.

🌟🌟🌟

The rating is 2 1/2 stars, rounded up to 3 as I'm interested in the series.

[Half a star for the premise and the whole book; Half a star for the characters; Half a star for the story arc; Half a star for the writing; Half a star for the world-building - 2 1/2 stars in total].

View all my reviews

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik: Book Review

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The last thing Orion said to me, the absolute bastard, was El, I love you so much.

The Golden Enclaves takes off with this and is a superb conclusion to the Scholomance trilogy. The most satisfying aspect, to me, is to see El and Orion's character arcs complete and stable, making space for each other. Naomi Novik has done a few fantastic fairy tale retellings before (Spinning Silver and Uprooted), but in my head I think of this story as The Beast and the Beast retelling - where, spoilers, neither is a Beast, not really. A perfect short quote that made me think of this again - But they'd loved Orion only in exactly the same way they'd hated me. Neither one of us were ever people to them. He just made himself useful, and I refused to. I loved that their character arcs started in very different places and have been complementary to each other, evolving beautifully since the first book.

El's snarky sarcastic sassy voice brings it's own unique flavour to this book, and series; her thoughts and analysis just makes her more relatable to me though the exposition might be too hyperactive for some people. Novik writes masterfully - of complex young adults in one layer, of a brilliant fantasy tale in another and of moral philosophy as the foundational layer. The premise of the series, as El finally recognizes in this book, is paraphrasing the trolley problem - is it okay to save many people by sacrificing one person? And what are the consequences of this decision?

Everyone has to decide for themselves, and El more than anyone as she's a budding dark sorceress (a tertiary order entity really). Intent and belief are more important than the words of any spell, and El finds that she has to keep deciding to not be a dark sorceress every step of the way as she races from one place to another. Because once she takes a step down that path, it'll be so much more difficult to stop. The story is paced well, weaving together action, magic and all the good intentions behind the worst politics.

The intricate magic system and the world-building also support the central question of this series; it dwells not just on the mechanics of the magic, but more on ephemeral concepts like overarching balance in the universe, hard earned mana and easily stolen malia.

Overall, a definite recommendation to pick up this series!

Scholomance #1: A Deadly Education Review
Scholomance #2: The Last Graduate Review

Thanks to NetGalley, Naomi Novik and the Random House publishing group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[One star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the characters; One star for the writing; One star for the story; One star for the world-building - Five stars in total.]

View all my reviews

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik: Book Review

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Keep far away from Orion Lake.

The Last Graduate, the second book of the Scholomance series, picks up from this cliffhanger with all the brilliance of the first book - and more! The book follows El through her last year at the Scholomance as her friends (yes, she realizes she has friends!), and she try to rescue every student from the world's maleficaria until the very last graduate.

El's character growth is considerable in this book, always listening to her conscience and driving the story forward - her bubble of 'us' grows from one to three to dozens to hundreds, her sarcasm and impertinence notwithstanding. Orion's character arc provides a great complement to El's as he finally finds himself looking beyond just fighting mals and cares about something for himself.

The world-building is well done, especially as we hear it from El's snarky point of view. We find out more about how this world works along with the magic system. The Scholomance itself is finally seen as an individual entity with (artificial or natural) intelligence as it 'protects all the wise-gifted children of the world'. It actively prods El and the other students towards definite plans and conclusions, even driving the story at certain points.

Novik's masterful writing interspaces the story with world-building as well as character growth. Many secondary characters are given time and space to grow and overcome the politics of the outside world, some even proving we can't truly know what people would rise to do in a crisis. It was wonderful to see many people take the reins on different projects and working together in the end. The book, on the whole, makes for a great second part of the series and ends with a cliffhanger (of course) for the third and final book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the Random House Publishing group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
[One star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the characters; One star for the writing; One star for the story; One star for the world-building - Five stars in total.]

Overall, a definite recommendation to pick up this series!

Scholomance #1: A Deadly Education Review
Scholomance #3: The Golden Enclaves Review

View all my reviews

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik: Book Review

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

'I decided that Orion needed to die after the second time he saved my life.' - A Deadly Education takes off with one of the most riveting opening sentences in fantasy!

Naomi Novik weaves a refreshing take on the magic boarding school trope with masterful narrative pacing, unforgettable characters and intricate world-building. What I enjoyed most is the tone of the book, set by the smart and impertinent lead El and her many sarcastic inner musings. The complementary character arcs of El and Orion, of whom you find out a lot in just the first few opening words, drive the story forward and are made a lot more distinctive by their personalities. The characters, including many secondary ones, are quite well-formed and are made relatable teenagers even though they face extraordinary unrelatable circumstances. El manages to retain her wit and sass even while fighting her destiny of becoming a dark goddess of death and destruction!

The novel is set in the Scholomance, a magic boarding school with a sort of AI giving personalized course structures for each student; and they learn by surviving not only exams but also the aforementioned extraordinary circumstances such as frequent attacks by mals /monsters. The layered world-building does require some exposition but it's packed in well along with the action, keeping the story moving forward at a good pace. More importantly, this book is enjoyable and provides a good foundation for the next books in the series.

Overall, the book has great diversity and quite distinct characters. It was heartening to see Naomi Novik acknowledge and apologize for racially insensitive comments on dreadlocks. And the series deserves some extra points for trying to create a matter-of-fact cosmopolitan environment, including all the politics.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Thanks to NetGalley and the Random House Publishing group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[One star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the characters; One star for the writing; One star for the story; One star for the world-building - Five stars in total.]

Overall, a definite recommendation to pick up this series!

Scholomance #2: The Last Graduate Review
Scholomance #3: The Golden Enclaves Review

View all my reviews

Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik: Book Review

Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

''What if we went the long way round instead, next time?'' Aston said.
Why not?

Buried Deep and Other Stories is a fantastic collection of stories from worlds old and new, told and retold by Naomi Novik. Most were published previously in other anthologies, but I haven't read these and was happy to see this book come out! There must be something for everyone in this collection of thirteen stories, whether one likes the Scholomance or Temeraire worlds, retellings of fairy tales, mystical stories, Regency romances, or even a glimpse into a new world!

Finding magic, finding a thing of magic, while you were still young enough to truly believe, could open the door, and then if you had some little gift as well, a powerful magic could awaken it to bloom.

The foundation for all these stories is the strong world-building, fascinating magic systems and intricate societies. Whether the length is a short few pages or more like a novella, the glimpses we see are of full-fledged worlds.

Lady Araminta - the possessor of several other, more notable names besides, here omitted for discretion - had been caught twice trying to climb out her window, and once in her father's library, reading a spellbook.

The characters, some bright and sharp, some delicate sparks, some rough and sturdy, and some even matte and resilient are all relatable or at least empathizable (is that a word?)

The real story isn't half as pretty as the one you've heard.

Novik can masterfully spin (yes, I said that) both mystical and practical stories with action as well as intospection. I enjoy reading character driven stories, and there are plenty here. Some are just vignettes with only a small story arc, but satisfying nonetheless.

She was armored against incivility, however, by the knowledge that a dragon waited eagerly for her to return and give a full accounting of the gowns and jewels worn by every lady present.

Lastly, the writing is adapted well to the different settings and stories. It drew me into the story, set appropriate vibes and even interspersed humour, all while flowing smoothly!

As with every anthology, there are one or two stories and settings I couldn't get invested in, but that's more to do with personal taste than the story itself I believe.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Del Rey for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The rating for this collection is 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 for Goodreads, as most of the stories are simply great!

[One star the premise and the whole book; One star for the characters; One star for the writing; Half a star for the story arcs; One star for the world-building and description - 4 1/2 stars in total.]


----‐‐-------------------------------------------------
April 23, 2024

Very excited to receive an ARC through NetGalley! Can't wait to dig into ( 😉) more of Naomi Novik's work 😀.

View all my reviews