roseleebooks's reviews
227 reviews

Jeanette McCurdy reflects on her upbringing as a child actor. I won't describe too much other than to say it gets more horrifying the more you learn about how she was treated by her mother and other adults she interacted with in Hollywood. This was a fascinating story to read despite the dark themes and content.

I first discovered Martha Wells through her book The Wizard Hunters. Since then I've hoped she would return to fantasy writing as that series was so beautifully written and her characters so likeably flawed. This book gave me the same feeling of discovering a world and characters that would stay with me long after I finished reading.

The story centers on Kai, a demon who has built a family in the world above the Underearth. The narrative includes both the present - in which Kai and his close friend Zeide wake up in an underwater prison - and the past when Kai first met Zeide, Tahren, and Bashasa. It's ultimately a book about keeping promises to those we love, told via a cleverly paced journey through a well-crafted world. I appreciate that Wells doesn't spend excessive time on explanations that wouldn't fit with the character's experience of the world. As a reader it takes a little more attention and intuiting but helps the story flow more smoothly.

My only wish for this book was that there was more of it. I would love another novel in the same world that followed some of the other characters introduced here. Regardless, this book is fantastic as a stand alone and will be on my reread list along with Wells' Ile-rien series.

This book reminded me a lot of Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series in terms of atmosphere. The pace is very quick though and the romantic plot more central. Overall enjoyable, will continue with the series as the book was a quick and overall enjoyable read.

Satisfying second installment in the series overall. Pace was quick, the mystery wasn't dragged out but the story didn't feel rushed. I enjoyed getting more of Natalie's background in this book.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I read through it very quickly wanting to know what happened next!

Things that were done well were the pacing and the setup for the ending. There are multiple plot threads to pick up in the next book which could be frustrating for some readers. The key theme of dealing with past trauma and identity after being separated from the foundations of that identity was intriguingly explored throughout.

Also, establishing that the MC was an unreliable narrator partway through the story opens up a lot of possibilities going into the next portion of the series.

There were several things that were problematic here with the FMCs relationship with the MMC,

including power imbalance and 🚩 behaviors from the MMC. Other reviews have commented on the colonizer/colonized aspect of it as well, which is off-putting. If the MMC goes full villain in the next book this would make much more sense to me, I'd like to assume the author has purposely laid this unsettling foundation. The love story was secondary to the main plot but the banter is where some of the twists and info reveals occurred

Overall the writing was fairly smooth, the story moved along at a fast pace, and I found myself rethinking things that I took at face value initially about the characters and setting throughout as new information was revealed. I'll definitely be picking up the next book to see what happens next. This may change my review here depending on how some of the above issues are handled.

I don't know what I was expecting, but couldn't get past the glorification of military service. Was already on the fence due to the author placing external blame for his problems. Ultimately the narrative comes across as entitled and doesn't acknowledge the harm his own actions and position have caused.