Tag: urban fantasy

Book Review: Book of Night by Holly Black

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Rating: ★★☆
Audience: Urban Fantasy
Length: 320 pages
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: May 3rd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black makes her stunning adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies in the vein of Ninth House and The Night Circus.

In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.

Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister—all desperate to control the magic of the shadows.

With sharp angles and prose, and a sinister bent, Holly Black is a master of shadow and story stitching. Remember while you read, light isn’t playing tricks in Book of Night, the people are.

TURTLE.

This might be the slowest book I have read in a long dang time. And not in a good way. Within the first few chapters I was worried this wasn’t going to be a great read for me, and unfortunately that was the case.

With terrible pacing came a plot that did have some good twists. I was surprised by a few things that were intriguing yes, but a major lack of dialogue left me desperate for more. Not to mention, lack of world building with info dumps. A 300 page fantasy book is a hard task to accomplish without some guides. I also don’t know why there were flashback chapters??? They didn’t add much of anything to the storyline.

Vince was probably the best person here. I liked him. He was an enigma I wanted to put together and carried much more of the story than I expected.

I just really struggled to read this. It was a fight and I think the ending should have pulled more emotion out of me, but I can’t see myself picking up the next book. Not one I’d recommend. Stick to Black’s The Cruel Prince series.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban fantasy
  • Language: some
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: multiple blood/gore depictions of gruesome murders, self harm to get magic, child abuse, general violence, depression and grief, panic attacks, anxiety, gun violence, drugging

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Book Review: Queen (Fae Games #3) by Karen Lynch

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Rating: ★★★☆ (3.5)
Audience: Urban Fantasy + Romance
Length: 428 pages
Author: Karen Lynch
Publisher: Tempest Press
Release Date: February 22nd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Jesse recovered the missing ke’tain to keep her parents safe, but it came at a high price. In the weeks after her brush with death, she struggles to adapt to her new life, while burdened with the terrible secret she learned about her brother Caleb.

On her first visit to Faerie, Jesse faces new challenges and perils amid the splendor of the Unseelie court. Her relationship with Lukas grows stronger, but her happiness is overshadowed by a threat to both worlds. She might be the only one who can save them if she is willing to risk her own future to do it.

Together with an old friend, Jesse takes on the most dangerous job of her life. She discovers an inner strength she never knew she possessed; one she will need when she confronts her greatest enemy. Secrets are revealed and lives are changed forever. Jesse will make her last play, but will it be enough for her to survive the final showdown of this lethal game?

ENDED WELL.

Ah, I do hate feeling a bit let down by a series ender. This was good, but the second half was much better and I struggled to get there to even enjoy it all.

I love Jesse. I think she’s a brave and bold main character. Faithful to her family, strong in who she is (even when that’s changing) and able to make the difficult decisions. I loved her and Lukas together, BUT WHERE WAS HE. This feels like the romance component is supposed to be playing a stronger role and it never hit that mark for me. I hoarded every moment he was in a scene, and looked for him too often.

The plot was good, but slowwwww. The first half is spent with a lot of very nuanced day to day activities that weren’t apart of the previous two books. After there was more headway in solving some key issues in the plot, progression was at last made! Still felt a bit random, buuuut it worked. I think.

A final series thought, it was good. I haven’t read Lynch’s books in a few years and it was nice to read them again. There was plenty of good things to go around and I know some friends who love this story on a whole other level. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban fantasy
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: mild
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, torture, physical altercations, poison, being drugged without consent, sexual harassment and assault, murder

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Book Review: Only A Monster (Monsters #1) by Vanessa Len

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Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5)
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy + Romance 
Length: 416 pages
Author: Vanessa Len
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 22nd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

With the sweeping romance of Passenger and the dark fantasy edge of This Savage Song, this standout YA contemporary fantasy debut from Vanessa Len, is the first in a planned trilogy.

It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother’s eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.

But she soon learns the truth. Her family aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. And Nick isn’t just a cute boy: he’s a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down.

As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

. . . she is not the hero.

MONSTROUS.

Y’all. This book was incredible. I was hooked within the first few chapters and it rarely let up as this urban fantasy unfolded. Not generally one for urban in my fantasies, I ended up loving how this played out in London. I think the time-traveling aspects were exactly the right thing needed for this story that this combination led to my inability to put this book down.

Joan wasn’t a bad main character, but I did struggle with some aspects of her personality. I liked that she was incredibly loyal to her family and trying to solve many mysteries around her, buuuut, she was also a mega people pusher. It was bothersome to continually shove her thoughts down someone’s throat until they capitulated. Besides that, Joan made some tough decisions and worked with what she had, and for that, I liked her.

There’s some how a combination of fated mates (with an enemies kicker) + a potential love triangle? Honestly not sure what I’m supposed to do with that kind of romance information. I really look forward to how this expands in future books because it is wildly interesting and can go so many ways.

The magic system within the monster world is fascinating. There’s a lot to explore with the King, mysterious woman, Court of Lions and more. I think this book did a good job of giving the answers needed for THIS read, but leaving enough out there for the future books.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Urban Fantasy
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: mild blood/gore
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: mass murder event, loss of loved ones, weapons use, mentions of torture (side character), racism, psychological torture, kidnapping

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Book Review: The Atlas Six (The Atlas #1) by Olivie Blake

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: NA Dark Academia
Length: 375 pages
Author: Olivie Blake
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: March 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few…

– Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.
– Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.
– Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.
– Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.
– Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

THIS WAS ODD.

I’m not really sure what to do with this read. On one hand I enjoyed it. On the other, I’m not quite sure about what I did enjoy.

This is a slowww read. And (mostly) not in a bad way. I don’t mind when fantasies take their time as long as things keep progressing. But at some point this switched over to where I felt like I wanted to skim (which I did).

The characters are divinely unique and I loved that. I hated and loved them for a myriad of reasons. Heavily character driven books are my jam. Though I did wonder why everyone was sleeping with everyone? It just didn’t seem necessary or really adding anything.

Plot wise, I needed more. It wasn’t working for me. There wasn’t enough development of WHY all of these people were together. Not until the last quarter did I start to connect some dots.

I stand undecided on reading book two. I think I’ll probably wait to see some friends reviews first. Or I might try the audio to move through it quicker.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Urban Fantasy + Dark Academia
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: multiple vague + closed door + innuendo
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating, near death experiences, extortion, suicide ideation, suicide, alcohol consumption

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