incipientdreamer's reviews
570 reviews

 5 stars

Dragonfall is easily the best book I've read so far this year. The story draws you in with the phenomenal writing and fast-paced plot. It's enemies to lovers, featuring a human and a dragon and it's oh-so delightfully queer. Diving into the story, I felt that much sought-after reader's bliss. The moment you read the first page and you know that this story is going to be a special one. One that will stay with you for a long time. I always have a terrible time writing reviews for books I love, so bear with me.

The worldbuilding is lush and I was especially intrigued by the dragon realm and its mythologies. I loved the narrative style adopted for the dragon's POV. The payoff is wonderful, and I hope the same style is adopted for the sequels, though I'm not sure considering where lam chooses to take the story next. I loved how it mirrored the prophetic nature of dragon kind in this book and came to such an emotional close at the end. The narrative style might also be the reason why I found the dragon's chapters so much more fun to read than the human's, unlike other reviewers. One thing is obvious, L. R. Lam can WRITE. This is the first book I've read by them and will probably not be the last. The story flows so effortlessly, I found myself immersed in reading it for hours on end. For a genre as over-saturated as epic fantasy, Dragonfall stands tall and distinct with the phenomenal slow burn and well-explained magic system.

I was surprised to see how big of a part the romance played in the book. Like I knew there would be a romance since I'd read the blurb, but the romance seemed to take up a pretty large chunk of the plot. So readers who are looking for less romance in their epic fantasy might not like it. I actually loved the romance. The build-up was torturously slow, but it made the payoff and the angst even better. Since this is the first book of a trilogy, I expect the romance was focused to build up the rest of the books on it.

The characters were also all pretty well written. While we primarily follow the dragon's and the human's POVs, both of which were engaging in their own ways, we also have a smattering of chapters from a warrior priest called Sorin and the dragon's sister Cassia. While they were sparse and few, I loved how the author developed Sorin's character and I am excited about what role she ends up playing in future books. At the end of the book, I don't know who I felt more sorry for Arcady (the human) or Everen (the dragon). I was obviously rooting for both of them but this book ends on a MASSIVE cliffhanger, I don't know how I'm supposed to wait for the next book because finishing this book felt like emerging out of a pool after nearly drowning.

Dragonfall is a submersive, atmospheric epic fantasy with high stakes, slow burn, and gorgeous writing. Come for the dragons, stay for the gay pining. Storytelling at its best.

Dragonfall comes out 2nd May 2023. Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder&Stroughton for sending me an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

 3.75 stars

Everyone knows how hard second books in trilogies can be. To impress, to live up to the original, and especially to top the original. The Faithless is one of those second books that I actually liked more than the first. The pacing isn't much faster than in The Unbroken, it seems like this is simply the style Clark prefers in her books. This is fine, as what made this book better was that Touraine wasn't as much of a naive dumbass as she was in book 1, and Luca was so much more likeable. I couldn't stand Luca in the first book. I felt like throwing something every time her chapters came around, but Clark's characters definitely grew from the first book and that is always nice to see. I absolutely despise static characters, even more so when it comes to series. Another thing I liked was that all three of the leading characters have a very distinct voice for a book with multiple POVs in 3rd person. Oftentimes, my complaint with multi-POV books is that the character voices blend together, that isn't the case in The Faithless and is another reason why it is a strong contender after The Unbroken.

Plot-wise, there is a lot happening, but at the same time, nothing happens. This was definitely more of a character-based book, and for once I didn't mind it because I found the characters so lacking in book 1, and it was good to actually understand them, and sympathise with them somewhat. The romance was also a lot better, and it just goes to show that slow-burn romances are the way to go. I might not have shipped Luca and Touraine in book 1 (mainly because of my distaste for Luca), but I admit to getting butterflies during the more intimate scenes here.

Similar to my complaint with the deus ex machina ending for The Unbroken, I am not a fan of how there is always so much conflict going on, but ends up being solved abruptly and so easily once the 80% mark comes around. It doesn't feel as satisfying and makes the aforementioned high stakes seem not so high because we know they will be somehow solved by the end of the book. Clark does not shy away from killing off her characters though, which was demonstrated in how she killed off 3-4 major supporting characters in one chapter.

I will read the finale of the trilogy because I am pretty invested in this series by now. I hope it's better in terms of plot progression, conflict resolution and pacing as compared to the first two books. Clark's improvement in writing is pretty noticeable in The Faithless, so I trust we are in good hands for the ending. So far the sapphic trifecta has not disappointed me, and I am excited for the resolution for all three of the book later this year or hopefully next year.

Thank you to Netgalley, Little Brown Book Group UK, and Orbit UK for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The Faithless comes out on March 7th 2023.
 

 3.5 stars
I have been dreading writing this review because I am still so confused about this book, I honestly don't know how I feel about it, or more precisely, I don't know if there is a single feeling to describe it.

I liked Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow's idea. Following two friends on their journey of making video games. Zevin perfectly nails what it's like to have childhood friends, and sometimes how difficult it can be to stand the sight of them because you know each other too well. The first half of the book flew by for me, and I was pretty much hooked on their different video game ideas. Tomorrow pretty much sold on the idea of nostalgia for the 80s and 90s, which I feel like Gen X will really adore. I know I shelved this as contemporary fic rather than historical fic, and it's mainly because the book sounds so modern to me. Video games, computers and the internet are all things that seem like stuff that happened very recently. Or maybe it's because the stuff that happened/was novel during one's lifetime will always feel contemporary. I still remember the feeling of buying a new game on a CD from the store and the excitement my sister and I would feel in playing it for the first time on our ancient computer.

The two main characters, that the entire book revolves around, however, are not at all likeable. Which makes this a hard book to sometimes read. I usually don't mind reading about despicable characters, but the annoyance I would feel when they would pull dumb shit would make me want to pull my hair out. I did find Sadie to be more palatable than Sam. Though I feel like a lot of their fights could have been avoided if they'd tried to have honest conversations with each other and try to emphasise what the other was going through. To nobody's surprise, Marx ended up being the only person I liked, and we all know how that turned out.

I also didn't like the omniscient narrator style of storytelling that this employed. It made me feel very distant and didn't leave much depth to the character's actions as we were informed of every single feeling/motivation/action that all the characters were going through. For me, omniscient narration only seems to work for a particular type of story, and this didn't seem like it.

I did like the circular nature of the plot. Books where the story is shaped in a circular way and where the endings reflect the beginning is something I enjoy a lot, and Zevin pretty much nailed that aspect. There's a lot I loved about this book, I understand why it ended up being as big as it was last year. And unlike most trendy, best-of-the-year books, I feel like Tomorrow actually deserves to be up there. It is a unique story, I loved how Zevin dealt with character relationships so deeply, and the themes and tropes she employed didn't seem over the top or annoying which are usually a staple of this genre or for famous books.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes. Would I recommend it to other readers? Definitely. Was this book perfect? No, far from it. So why the 3 ish stars? I honestly don't know. Writing this review, it feels like there was more stuff I liked that I didn't like but when I sat down to rate it, 3 stars just seemed appropriate. Like I said this was a weird book to rate and review. 

This was okay. Nothing great, nothing bad. The audio narrator was brilliant though. Really brought the story to life. I do think I prefer Nghi Vo's longer stuff over her short stories. Wasn't a big fan of her Singing Cycles series either despite everyone loving it

 DNF@ 54%

I really tried with this book. The premise was very unique. A tattooed, chain smoking, queer ex-punk rock nun solves a mystery at her Catholic school. Her dark past is shown in flashbacks and she's clearly not your typical definition of a nun. Sister Holiday's character was something I wanted to read more about and we are told about her tragic backstory in bits and pieces, and what ultimately led her to become a nun teaching music at a school in New Orleans. Sadly, the writing made me lose interest in the weak plot and nonsensical police investigation. The arson investigator Rivaeux who was clearly meant to be Holiday's romantic interest also came across as bland. The plot and writing are very stilted and janky, the sentence structure is simplistic and events move in the A to B way which doesn't really make you invested in the story.

Apparently, this is the start of a sleuthing series, so hopefully, the sequels are better written than this one. Though I do seem to be in the minority in my opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

 How to make a hell heist tedious as fuck, a lesson by Leigh Bardugo.

That is honestly the first thing that came to my mind when I finished this book. Ninth House was a book that made me appreciate Bardugo's writing as an Adult author, but Hell Bent just made me want to take all of it back. The Oleader Sword by Tasha Suri has raised my standards for 2nd books in trilogies and Hell Bent is way below the mark.

My main issue was this book was how circuitous and repetitive the entire ~500 page novel was. It's one of those books where nothing happens but everything happens. So much so that you stop really caring about what happens next. Oh, the first portal to hell summoned something bad, no biggie we'll keep trying until we either fuck up so bad or we somehow fix it. That's literally how the plot works. And the issue is that it removes the sense of danger or thrill when you can open a portal to hell on any old full moon.

Another issue I had was how Bardugo flirts with the New Adult Paranormal Romance genre but never really commits to it. Either go full SJM or don't! Make up your mind so I can make up my mind about whether to read your damn book. The most detested trope in Adult Straight Fantasy books for me is the monster-fucking-smut trope. You all know what I'm talking about. The one that involves this super hot demonic dude, who the heroine is attracted to because he's so monstrous and the dude's "lust" is likened to animal attraction (I'm cringing as I am typing this eurghh). I hate that trope with every fibre of my being. If you like it, that's great. But duping readers by skirting around the topic just because you want to market your book to the SJM fanatics over on tick tock, but also not lose your initial audience is a glowing dick move (yeah I said it). Because I feel like that's what the series is ultimately building to with the finale and if that is true, count me out.

What I did like was the stuff that was good ol Ninth House. Yale's turbulent history with power and privilege. How powerful men have been using magic as another form of oppression. To lift themselves up, and another way for them to dodge the consequences of their actions. I loved Bardugo's intricate research into the Gauntlet and Sterling. Reading about it made me feel like I was solving the puzzle with the characters. Something that would have improved my reading experience was if the book had pictures of Sterling's inscriptions and the entire Gauntlet because at times it made it difficult to imagine for someone who's never been to Yale. I know the probability of that being included was nil, but a girl can dream. I also thought the bunny rabbit symbolism would be something deeper (think Alice in wonderland, down the rabbit hole to hell type symbolism) but I guess it was still nicely tied in to flourish Alex's character.

It is very less likely that I'm going to read book 3 of the series. For sure, going to wait for reviews before pre-ordering it as I did with Hell Besnt. If you enjoyed Ninth House I would recommend leaving it at that because the ending to Ninth House isn't that big of a cliffhanger and can serve as a stand-alone if you want. Though I could be wrong and Hell Bent is just another one of those books stuck in middle book purgatory.
 

 

DNF @ 25%
The trouble with literary fiction x speculative fiction books is that they are either a hit or a miss. I was very excited to get into The Terraformers, it sounded like everything I love in a book. However, the info-dumping was relentless even after 9 whole chapters. Maybe I was more invested in the time jump, but that didn't seem to be happening any time soon. The idea and concept are amazing (talking flying moose, I mean who would hate that?!), it;s just the execution that sorely misses the points. Perhaps it gets better after a while, but I made only one New Year's Resolution in 2023, and that was to dnf books if they didn't seem interesting.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz comes out 31/01/23.

 

 I needed a short respite from reading serious sff for the past few months straight. And nothing says respite better than some dumb romance novel blended in with a space adventure. For some reason, I can't stand pure romance books and need something more to really enjoy them. I liked Ocean's Echo for its fast readable nature, where I didn't really have to pay a lot of attention to the book. Though I feel like this book only works if you suspend logic and don't think too hard about the plot (why are mind controllers more acceptable than mind readers? fuck if I can tell you. it seems to just be 🌟society🌟). I definitely would not have liked this if I had gone in expecting a lot. The romance is pretty mild but it seemed to work given the reading mode I was in. Other than that, I don't really have much to comment on this book except that it served as a decent brain reboot.