incipientdreamer's reviews
570 reviews

 That last sentence made me bump the rating from 3 stars to 4.

Naomi Salman's Nothing but the Rain was a short and foggy novella about a town where being exposed to rainwater wipes away your memories. The story is written in an epistolatory form, which helps give it a strong narratorial voice. I love books where the character's narration comes across strong and full of their personality. There's a very smudgy aura to the story which works well to establish the setting. The plot isn't very very great, it's more the character and their ramblings that drew me in. I would say objectively, this was a 3.5 star read. Salman is an author I'd keep an eye out for longer works. I've been burnt out on fantasy especially high fantasy so these novellas are great to snack on. 

 I loved this so much!
Alice Oseman is the best at writing about platonic love. I love how much emotion and love they pack into their books. Loveless was about 18-year-old Georgia and her journey in figuring out and coming to terms with her sexuality. The way Georgia's journey was written was soo relatable. I feel like any queer person would be able to understand how difficult it can be to realize their sexuality especially when it's something not normalised. People on the aromantic and asexual spectrum will find it even more relatable. Oseman does their best to cover all the different facets of the spectrum, but everyone is unique and experiences sexual and romantic attraction differences. So while this might not be the ultimate treatise on the subject, it's a book that handles the topic with care and nuance. Part of that might be Oseman's own sexuality and coming-of-age story shining through, but it's a wonderfully written book nonetheless.

I've read two of Alice Oseman's novels previously: Radio Silence and I Was Born for This. And I have also read their Heartstopper: Volume One comics and watched the tv show adaptions. In terms of their novels, I still believe Radio Silence is Oseman's magnum opus, though Loveless is a very very close second. I didn't really like I was Born For This and it remains my least liked of their novels, though I haven't read the Heartstopper prequel and sequel novels, and not really interested in them.

I loved the friend group but I especially loved the friendship between Pip and Georgia, and Rooney and Georgia. It's everything you want in a female friendship and there is so much love and tenderness packed in. Loveless had me crying, laughing and deconstructing my own guilt and internalized homophobia, as well as my attitude towards my sexuality. I'm so so glad I have an amazing friend to bother during my emotional breakdowns at 3 am, and crying over my gay meltdowns. I don't know when or if I'll ever find true love, but I am immensely grateful for the beautiful female friendships I am lucky enough to have. Thank you Alice Oseman for forcing me to rethink a lot of my misconceptions about gender and sexuality.
 

This is a hard one to rate. Flux is one of those books best enjoyed reading in one or two sittings. The plot and mystery have you hooked and putting it off just breaks the tempo of the story. I for sure, would have completed it in a day if I hadn't been so busy with Life stuff these past few days. IDK if it was that, or something more integral to the writing that had me feeling a bit disappointed when I finished this. I had this thought "is that it?" when I turned the last page.

The first 50% is really great. The mystery is intriguing and I was ready to eat it all up, however, my main issue is with the execution of the story. A lot of the plot is just the character realising how to fix stuff in the last 50 pages and just speed-running a happy ending. A lot of the mechanics of the plot are left unexplained. Time travel and how it works is not mentioned at all in a book literally about time travel. The whole deal with the TV show was lost on me. I was waiting for some big plot twist that would tie in the relevancy but there really wasn't anything to it, which disappointed me a lot.

Overall, this feels like an incomplete draft of a novel. Something that could have been really good. It tries very hard to take the Christopher Nolan and Interstellar -esque route but fails epically in that aspect. Maybe it's because this is Chong's debut. Books with unsatisfying conclusions are generally a 3 star rating on GR. Take from that what you will. 

 3.5 stars

I love weird architecture. Correction: I find weird architecture unsettling and that intrigues me. I loved how Spiral and Eye-coded Rose House was. Reading Rose/House was like living in a dreamy fugue state. The writing is great, no surprises there, Arkady Martine has proven herself to be a master wordsmith and that is pretty obvious in the way she so wonderfully builds the atmosphere of this novella.

I still don't think I completely get the book. It's a mixture of gothic noir murder mystery but set in the 22nd century about an AI house. I loved the atmosphere of the story, it feels pretty classic gothic, except the whole technological aspect to it which makes the story very creative and unique. I don't know if this was an experimental piece by Martine, but it was really really good in selling the spooky vibes but keeping the concept fresh at the same time.

I was a bit miffed about the ending since I found it abrupt. This might be one of those cases where an open-er ending would have worked better. Since I was really digging the foggy narrative style. Other than that, the main selling point for this has to be the great writing and atmosphere. 

 4.5 stars

I really am cursed to fall for doomed characters huh?

A Day of Fallen Night, the prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree was a behemoth of a book. Clocking in at 860 pages, it's more complex and denser than Priory. The length of the book didn't really daunt me. I had loved Priory when I first read it in the depths of the pandemic and I was ready to devour anything Shannon wrote set in the same world. While I still ended up liking Priory more than Fallen Night, the prequel stands bold and firm on its own.

Fallen Night is a complex tale chock full of adventure, action, heartbreak and mystery. It's just as queer as Priory, and rekindles my love for this amazing world Shannon has created. The first 100 or so pages is the Prologue which effectively serves as a short history recap that sets the stage for the events of the book. Some might be intimidated by that, but Shannon utilizes every single page in enriching the world building and developing and tangling the character relationships. By the end, even the supporting characters are exceedingly well-developed.

The cast of characters is huge, and at first, it gets difficult to keep track of who's who, but the glossary and dramatis personae accompanying the book are very very helpful. Among the 4 main characters of the tale, Wulf and Dumai were easily my favourites. I loved Tane's chapters in Prioiry primarily because of all the cool water dragons and that remained the same for Dumai's chapters in this book. I loved how much lore we uncovered about the Age of Fire and the Age of Night, as well as her wonderful dynamic with Nikeya. Their romance was very very slow burn but the payoff was wonderful. I loved how tender and emotional her scenes were.

I also firmly believe Dumai didn't die and she was the Maiden Officiant that gave Nikeya the golden comb at the end. Just as a firmly believe Tane was fine at the end of Priory

Wulf's story arc might have been the best in the entire book. The mystery surrounding his birth and how witchy all his encounters would be lent a great deal of mystery to his character. and the reveal of his backstory was skillfully handled. I loved his dynamic with Glorian and Tunuva and his lith. He served as a great character that tied all the different narratives together, and I had the most fun reading his chapters. It's been a while since I read Priory but I don't remember if he was ever mentioned in it, or what he ended up doing later on.

Glorian Shieldheart, ancestor to our beloved Sabran IX in Prioiry was such a tragic character. I found Sab's story very sad in Priory, the way she had to suffer the lies of her ancestor and the grief she had to bear in order to continue the lies. The tragedy stretches back to Glorian. It was interesting to see a character on the asexual spectrum deal with the pressures of queendom and producing an heir. I really felt for Glorian, and it seems like Shannon reserves the greatest pain for her Berethnet queens, and my hobby is crying over every single one of them.

I think my favourite thing about the prequel is that we actually get to see the Priory for more than a couple of chapters. We get to see their lifestyle and the different members of the priory and how they wield their magics. Tunuva's chapters might have been my least favourite in the book. I just didn't like the continuous Odessey-esque narration it had. Tuva spend almost 500 of the 800 pages travelling from one place to another and that just wore me out. I loved her scenes with Esbar and Siyu and

Wulf!

. But I just wasn't interested in those chapters. A shame since I enjoyed Ead's chapters in the South in Priory

In terms of the plot, I found it slightly weaker than Priory, mainly because a lot of the characters don't have much agency and much of the book is action and fighting dragons and lots of suffering and waiting around for the comet to come and solve everything. I guess writing a prequel can be restricting, and it can be difficult not to retcon stuff, but I would have liked some more planning and wit on the character's side, instead of just suffering horribly.


However, reading the prequel has me itching to reread The Priory of the Orange Tree, since I've forgotten a lot of what happened. And at the end of the day, I think that is the mark of a great prequel. One that has you wondering about what else could happen in this world. In that, Shannon pretty much succeeded and I look forward to reading the 3rd book she has apparently sold the rights to The Roots of Chaos. Cue another 4-year long wait! 

<b>2 stars</b>

*taps book* this bad boy can hold so many cliches in it! None of the good ones though sadly. 
Maybe it's my fault for reading gothic spooky novels in 40-degree weather, but I feel like some of the fault lies with the shitty book as well. <i>The Last Heir to Blackwood Library</i> has the premise for a great gothic novel: a character mysteriously inherits an ancient abbey, a spooky library with spooky books, mysterious brooding men, the Yorkshire moors etc. However, the book takes all those staple elements of the genre and uses them in the laziest most cliche manner. There is no originality or input from the author, it's as if they took a glance at the Gothic Mystery Starter Pack TM and copied it exactly. 

I've read many spooky horror gothic novels, and even when the plot is predictable and the characters are disappointing, one thing I can always count on is the atmosphere of the story. That feeling of being watched (All Hail Ceaseless Watcher), and that niggling feeling of wrongness blends in with the setting (yup I'm a slave to The Eye fs) to give the feeling of esoteric and paranormal activity. But <i>Blackwood Library</i> has no atmosphere at all. The book seems to rely on rain and wind and "Yorkshire" to carry the atmosphere and that simply isn't enough! It might have worked for Emily Bronte, but does not work for Hester Fox.

 2 stars
Someone needs to slap me every time I add another contempt romance novel, because how many times do I need to be taught the same lesson?! It's almost like I want to torture myself and write scathing reviews because I rarely end up like this genre. My main issue is concerning how formulaic they all are. The meet-cute/ insta love, then the lusting after someone you met 2 days ago, then the third act breakup, and then the happily ever after. I do not think I have ever read a contemporary romance novel where I have been surprised or gasped out loud at some reveal. It's all so damn predictable!

I mainly picked this one up because of the cover, and the hype surrounding this book (also need to stop going for hyped books, but my FOMO can't help it!). My biggest complaint for The Fiancee Farce was the insta-love. I kid you not, the main characters meet for the first time at a wedding, and 5 mins later are already lusting and pawing each other. I don't think they even knew each other's full names at that point! After that the whole "falling in love montage" goes way too fast. They immediately start dreaming and thinking of each other, and it was simply too unbelievable. It felt cringe and stupid, and I didn't care for any of them. One thing this book did do right was canceling the miscommunication trope. It was nice to see the characters actually sit down and talk about other feelings in a mature way, and that is the only reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. The miscommunication trope has been over used so much in the genre (I'm looking at you Emily Henry 😡) and it's one of the more toxic and unhealthy tropes that writers often use just to drag out their books. Was happy to see healthy communication demonstrated in this book, however.

The writing was also pretty mediocre. Loads of oft over used sentences used too much. The word "cringe" alone was used thrice in chapter one and around 50 times in the entire 300-page book. So, nothing award-winning, but my expectations are always low for these books (I don't mean to sound snobby but that's what I've observed in this genre so sue me).

Ultimately, I need to stop torturing myself with trashy fiction and actually go read genres and books I have a probability of liking. Then again, who am I without at least one scathing review a month?

Before Reading:
not a fan of fake marriage trope or comtemp romance but that cover... 

 DNF @ 21%

I have a rule of thumb, that if a book does not draw me in in the first quarter, I am no longer wasting my time on it. The First Bright Thing had all the buzzwords that usually appeal to me, but for some reason, the writing was so stilted and slow I could not get into it. It's told in a dual timeline, and the writing style for the 1917 chapters is soo much better than the 1926 chapters. It almost feels like a separate writer. The third-person distant style of narration does not seem to work for the 1926 chapters, meanwhile, the third-person personal style is something I enjoy reading in the 1917 chapters.
Long story short: I wasn't much intrigued by the characters, but it was mainly the quagmire-esque writing that made me drop this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for sending me an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.