Author: Leigh Bardugo Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ This is the second book in the Six of Crows duology. This takes place in Leigh Bardugoโs Grishaverse, which is this fantasy world where some people, Grisha, have magic-like powers, and there are all sorts of political struggles relating to them. This duology takes place after the Shadow and Bone... Continue Reading →
Jade War: No middle-book syndrome here
Author: Fonda Lee Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ Jade War is the second book in the Green Bone Saga, the first of which is Jade City. In the first book, weโre following various members of the Kaul family, who run a sort of crime syndicate in this fictional setting of Janloon, the capital of the island of Kekon,... Continue Reading →
A Curse of Blood and Wolves: So generic, I thought it was a parody
Author: Melissa McTernan Rating: โญ๏ธ I donโt think this book was written by an AI, but Iโm confident that if the author had put the general tropes and vibes she was going for into ChatGPT and asked for a story outline and character profiles, it would have spit out what was in this book. This... Continue Reading →
The Honey Witch: What is love?
Author: Sydney J. Shields Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ I nearly DNFed this book, but about a week after putting it down, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to finish the last hundred pages. Iโm glad I did, but not for the reason you might think. This book follows Marigold Claude, a woman living... Continue Reading →
Evocation: A bit of a disappointment
Author: S.T. Gibson Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ I'm wondering whether or not I should be surprised by my ambivalence towards this book. While I enjoyed the rich prose of S.T. Gibson's A Dowery of Blood, I also felt that that book had a very choppy and light plot. Perhaps without the added flourish of the lush prose... Continue Reading →
A Woman of No Importance
Author: Sonia Purnell Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ This was an amazing book. Firstly, the subject was amazing, but also, the author did such a good job documenting her story. This is the story of Virgina Hall, an American woman who worked for the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which was an espionage agency formed in the early days... Continue Reading →
Suncatcher
Author: Romesh Gunesekera Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ This was my May pick for my Around the World Book Tour, and this is the book I chose for Sri Lanka. In this book, set in 1960s Ceylon, we follow Kairo, a pre-teen boy who meets an older boy called Jay who he immediately feels a connection with. As... Continue Reading →
A Darker Shade of Magic
Author: V.E. Schwab Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ This was my favourite fiction book of May, and my first book by V.E. Schwab, who I know has a substantial backlist, so Iโm glad to have found a new author I enjoy. This book follows Kell, who is an Antari, which means he can use magic to create portals... Continue Reading →
An Immense World
Author: Ed Yong Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ This book is a fascinating account about how animals sense the world. In each chapter, the author covers a sense, how it works, the kind of sensory receptors these animals have, and how they use that sense. He talks to researchers and conservationists. He visits animals both in labs and... Continue Reading →
Lore Olympus: Vol. 6
Author: Rachel Smythe Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ This is the sixth volume in this series, which is a Webtoon reimagining the Greek gods. In this series weโre following Persephone, who is a goddess raised in the mortal realm by her overprotective mother, Demeter. She wants to go to university in Olympus though, so her mother allows her... Continue Reading →
