Tag: fantasy

Book Review: All Hail Chaos (Time of Iron #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance?
Length: 558 pages
Author: Sarah Reese Brennan
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: May 12th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

THE EMPEROR IS HERE. AND SHE MADE HIM WORSE.

Rae is a fantasy reader who’s been transported to her favourite fictional world of swords and sorcery, castles and monsters. Playing the villainess, she thought she could change the narrative, but this version of the plot is far much more deadly than the one she knew.

Her friends are on the run: the Cobra shelters in an eerie manor haunted by dark secrets, while Emer and Lia stoke a revolution in the gutters. Undead armies roam the kingdom, raiders camp at the city gates, and the irresistible emperor – Rae’s favourite character ever, now possibly the greatest monster in the land – wants her to be his evil queen.

What’s a villainess to do? It’s time for wicked bargains and fake engagements, in a fantasy where the most dangerous thing you can do is believe in someone.

All Hail Chaos is Sarah Rees Brennan’s wicked, unmissable sequel to the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling Long Live Evil (‘delicious, subversive’ Leigh Bardugo).

Thank you Orbit Books for the gifted copy.

I DON’T KNOW.

I wasn’t super keen on picking this one up but I got a copy so I wanted to try?? And I, once again, have mixed thoughts. I do not think this is a bad book or poorly written. Just maybe not the story for me. I apparently have a hard time with book within a book plots. Where the main character more or less already knows what’s going to happen, then I already know what’s coming and I like more of a mystery.

There is supposedly a romance in here? For three different POV’s, there’s three sub plot romantic lines and I never felt fully invested in any of them. I think the plot overwhelms the deeper connections between the characters. I did like the audiobook narrator but there desperately needed to be different narrators for each POV. I was getting lost because the story telling in general all ran together.

Maybe I’ll read the third? I am completely undecided on that fact but you never know.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy romance?
  • Language: mild – moderate
  • Romance: 2-3ish quick & vague open door
  • Violence: moderate

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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: July 2026

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How are we halfway through the year?

Here’s my thirty six books for the month of July! I feel like this month went super well reading wise. I loved many of these books. Reviews are out now or coming soon!

  • [ARC/ALC] Our Wicked Gifts by Kathryn Foxfield
  • The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden
  • Spies, Lies, & Alibis by Natalie Walters
  • The Stranger I Wed (The Doves of New York #1)
  • [ARC] To Have and To Fold (Love Stories in Sheet Cake #5) by Emma St. Clair
  • [ALC] A Forsaken Prophecy (The Artisan Trilogy #2) by Stacey McEwan
  • Crown of Blood and Ruin (The Broken Kingdoms #3) by L.J. Andrews
  • Out of the Woods (The Mountains Are Calling #3) by Madison Wright
  • The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee
  • Strange Familiars (The Seamere College Duology #1) by Keshe Chow
  • [Reread] A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2) by Sarah J. Maas
  • The Scattered Bones by Nicole Scarano
  • [Graphic Novel] Dungeon Crawler Carl Vol. 1 by Matt Dinniman
  • Chase Me If You Can by Heather Frances
  • Home Safe by Tracy Baack
  • Songs of the Dead (The Strata Wars #1) by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian
  • [Graphic Novel] To Dance the Moon and Stars by Tasia M.S. and Barbara Perez Marquez
  • Eliza and the Duke (The Doves of New York #2) by Harper St. George
  • [ARC] A Lass Beloved (The Earls of Cairnfell #2) by Nichole Van
  • [ARC/ALC] Armor for Liars by S.E. Grove
  • All Hail Chaos (Time of Iron #2) by Sarah Reese Brennan
  • Ice Shy (Ottawa Otters Legends #1) by K.M. Gillis
  • [Reread] A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3) by Sarah J. Maas4
  • [ARC] To Dance with Death (The Edge of Glass #2) by Brittney Arena
  • [ARC/ALC] Fire to the Stars by Morgan J. Watchorn
  • The Name Game by Beth O’Leary
  • In Stormy Weather by Chelsea Curto
  • North Country by K.A. Tucker
  • [ARC/ALC] The Fast Track by Angelica Cheng
  • Echoes of Emerald Isle (McLaughlins #1) by Ashley Weston
  • [ARC/ALC] Lost and Found (Spunes, OR #3) by Tarah DeWitt
  • The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl #4) by Matt Dinniman
  • Here for the Cake Serendipity & Shenanigans #1) by Jennifer Millikin
  • Not That Kind of Proposal by Victoria Lavine
  • Light Wielder (Fire & Metal #2) by Rachel Schneider
  • This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum

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ARC/ALC Book Review: All’s Fae in Love and War by Lee Nichols

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Urban Fantasy Romance
Length: 371 pages
Author: Lee Nichols
Publisher: Second Sky
Release Date: May 28th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Pandora Voss has one last summer to unlock her powers—or lose all memory of magic forever.

No pressure.

Pandora returns to her enchanted hometown in Maine to nurture the magic she knows must be inside her. Time is running out, and the last thing she needs is a distraction…

Which makes the return of her high-school heartbreak, Leo Carter, deeply inconvenient.

The handsome antiquarian bookseller has come back to the island in search of a rare book. Leo still has that warm, devastating smile that sets pulses racing wherever he goes… Not that Pandora has noticed because she is absolutely, completely over him.

But when an unexpected encounter at Leo’s family boathouse ends in a wildly sexy kiss, Pandora’s plans are blown apart. Andwhen she’s “volunteered” to work with him at the library the next day, the tension between them unleashes a spell that goes spectacularly wrong.

As enchantments wreak havoc across the island, Pandora and Leo team up to save the town. Racing to contain fairytale creatures and dodging unresolved feelings, Pandora must decide what’s more untamed magic… or falling for Leo all over again.

With magical mayhem, spicy romance, and laugh-out-loud humor, All’s Fae in Love and War is the first book in a trilogy that’s perfect for fans of fantasy rom-coms like The Ex Hex and Rewitched.

Thank you to the publisher for a gifted copy.

DID NOT WORK.

On soooo many levels. And honestly I am convinced these two don’t even make it past the last page. That’s how this romance felt.

🎧: One of the few positives was that the audiobook was good and easy to listen to. There’s two narrators for the two POV’s and they do a good job.

I didn’t love that it was written from the perspective of a diary for only Pen’s POV? It came across as breaking the fourth wall rather than an epistolary style story. The romance was just Pen and Carter finding and making up over and over again. And over the same thing. The spice between them was cringey and just didn’t fit the tone of the novel.

There were some things that felt whimsical? Though none of the humor felt humorous. Overall the book felt stale and lackluster. I won’t be continuing the series.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban Fantasy Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 2ish open door
  • Violence: moderate

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Book Review: Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl #1) by Matt Dinniman

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Length: 446 pages
Author: Matt Dinniman
Publisher: Dandy House
Release Date: October 2nd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The apocalypse will be televised!

A man. His ex-girlfriend’s cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.

In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.

The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.

Only a few dare venture inside. But once you’re in, you can’t get out. And what’s worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it’s game over. In this game, it’s not about your strength or your dexterity. It’s about your followers, your views. Your clout. It’s about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.

You can’t just survive here. You gotta survive big.

You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that “it” factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That’s the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it’s anything but a game.

WHAT A SURPRISE.

Not that I was expecting not to like this? It’s just absolutely not my usual. But after my Dad and husband (and a few friends) all asked if I have read this yet, HERE WE ARE, I READ IT NOW ARE YOU HAPPY?

It is an incredibly clever story. The concept is wild and unique and I could not tell you one thing I for sure thought would happen as the book unfolded. I was along for the ride with Carl and I loved how well the audiobook was produced. The voices and video game feel was perfect. Highly recommend that format if you’re wanting to try this. I even caught myself laughing out loud multiple times.

It’s definitely a *boy book* but one I can get behind. I heard the character arc is amazing and I will be continuing this series soon!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy/Sci-Fi
  • Romance: none
  • Language: moderate
  • Violence: moderate+
  • Content warnings; physical/weapons altercations, near death experiences, loss of life, apocalypse themed setting

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