library books – takes two to book review

Review: The Will of the Many by James Islington

April 9, 2024April 8, 2024 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

The Will of the Many rests on a desk with a cloud wrist rest, a planner, and a cat sniffing the book.

Alexis:

Happy April! I hope you all have been reading some good books. One of my reading goals for this year is to pick up more adult fantasy books. I heard nothing but good things about The Will of the Many, so I grabbed it from the library.

I’m happy to say that it lived up to the hype!

The Will of the Many is one of those books where it’s good to go into it with little expectations. But here’s what you can know about it:

The main character, Vis, is such a great, well-rounded main character. He’s vicious, caring, and intelligent.
A main theme is colonialism and the evils it can bring.
The book is in first person present tense, and it serves the story well.
It’s an Ancient Roman-inspired political fantasy.
It’s partially set in an academy, which gives strong dark academia vibes.
The story has tons of twists and turns!
It has a unique magic system; the society allows a person’s strength, drive, and focus—what they call Will—to be leeched away and added to the power of those in a higher societal position.

It hits on so many hard themes, and despite the chunky page length, I was never bored. While Vis is only 17-years-old, this is definitely an adult book meant for adult audiences. That being said, it appeals to me as a mostly YA reader, as well. If you’re looking for a clever fantasy book, I definitely recommend it!

VERDICT: 🏛️🏛️🏛️🏛️🏛️/5

Review: The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers

March 16, 2024April 8, 2024 Anna and Alexis1 Comment

The City of Stardust in front of a desk with a planner and a pink water bottle

Alexis:

Hello! I’m a little behind on book reviews, but I’m excited to talk about one of my recent reads, The City of Stardust.

The City of Stardust follows Violet Everly. Violet’s whole life is her uncles, who keep her tucked away in the Everly house, and wondering what happened to her mother—who left to break the Everly family curse years ago. When Violet’s mother never returns, Penelope, her family’s ageless tormentor who never forgets a debt, issues an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find her mother, or she will take her place. Violet is the last of the Everly line, the last to suffer. Unless she can break it first.

I really loved this book! It gets all the stars (or stardust) from me.

⁣The writing is so atmospheric, lyrical, and ethereal. This is a dreamy, almost dark fairytale-like story, and on a prose level, it’s gorgeous to read!

It has so many elements that I love—it’s a portal fantasy with magical doors and magical keys. There’s a curse and angry gods. There’s a secretive, snooty group of scholars. There are mysteries that you uncover alongside the main character.

I was so surprised to see that this book only has 3.46 stars on Goodreads.

It is worth mentioning that this is a slower-paced story, and it does take about 50 pages before the worldbuilding becomes revealed and for the plot to pick up. If you like the books/comps listed below or if we have similar tastes in books, then I recommend it!

Ink Blood Sister Scribe

The Ten Thousand Door of January

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Inkheart

The Starless Sea (I personally haven’t read this one, but I heard it’s similar!)

VERDICT: 5⭐

Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

June 29, 2023 Anna and Alexis1 Comment

Alexis:

Look what came in from the library! And yes, I did sit down and binge-read it in two days.

I want to start out by saying that I know that Fourth Wing has been EVERYWHERE. Like, I have seen it not only on book accounts, but just all over the internet in general. And by the time I realized this might be a book I should read (especially since it’s my genre), it was sold out of bookstores. So, thank you to my local library!

Due to this book’s hype, I’m not going to include a synopsis here, so feel free to look up what this book is about if you’ve managed to miss the frenzied discussion around it.

First off, I want to start off with my criticisms of this book.

Fourth Wing is in the same vein as A Court of Thorns and Roses and The Serpent and the Wings of Night with a dash of Eragon on top, so if those are your jam, this might be for you.

This certainly isn’t a unique book, and honestly, that in itself is my main criticism—there were a lot of moments that were just too close to those of other books. I also found the plot to be extremely predictable. I can’t go into it that much without revealing spoilers, but I found that Yarros dropped too many hints about what ended up going down in the ending. The writing also does lean more YA, which honestly doesn’t bother me (this is NA people, that’s the point—adult themes but with the voice and snapiness of YA) especially because they’re in a college.

I also wish we got to see more of Violet’s dragon bonding. And I found Xaden, the love interest, to be exactly like every other love interest in the fantasy romance space and honestly not the most interesting character.

Yet, that being said, I couldn’t put this book down. It has that thrilling, adventurous feeling that’s addicting. Yarros’ writing style is easy to devour, and I appreciated the amount of action scenes in this book. There’s never a dull moment!

The Basgiath War College, aka the dragon riding college, in itself sounded super cool. I loved the brutality of both the college and the world. And I really appreciated the Ehler-Danlos syndrome rep, and I thought Yarros did a good job of exploring how it affects Violet’s training and her confidence.

This book was wholly engrossing, and I definitely think it’s a good start to the series. I’m glad we don’t have too long of a wait until the sequel arrives this fall!

VERDICT: 5⭐ reading experience

Review: Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams

May 13, 2023 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

Alexis:

This past month has been a little crazy, so I haven’t written a review in a while!

I picked up an ARC that I’ve been trying to read for a while, but it wasn’t doing it for me. But then my hold of Practice Makes Perfect became available on Libby, so I started reading it, instead.

I read When In Rome by Sarah Adams recently and loved it. I’m generally picky with rom-coms, but it was so cute and fluffy, with baking and Audrey Hepburn references. Plus, I really liked the characters and Adams’ writing style.

Practice Makes Perfect is set in the same small town, Rome, Kentucky, and follows Annie, (Noah’s sister from the first book), who owns a flower shop. I haven’t read a rom-com with a main character like her in a while: a bookish introvert. I really connected with her character and appreciated her.

As much as I loved the first book, this one just had so much chemistry and tension between Annie and Will, her love interest. Adams did a great job with making them well-rounded, and dual POVs always helps. I also love books that are set in the same town with the same cast of characters (like this one!). It really makes the story and setting feel more grounded, and you also really get to know the characters well.

Overall, if you want a well-written and cute rom-com with flowers and an adventurous bodyguard love interest who has tattoos, then you’ll like this one!

VERDICT: 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Review: The Vanished Queen by Lisbeth Campbell

October 6, 2022October 6, 2022 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

Alexis:

The Vanished Queen is an adult fantasy that starts off with a bang. The prologue delves into a theft: a slightly drunk Anza breaks into a locked room in a library to steal a journal.

The Vanished Queen follows three different POVs. Anza is an archer and a part of the resistance. After the king put her father to death and she found the missing queen’s journal, Anza is dead set on fighting against the cruel and tyrannical king, Karolje.

Prince Esvar is the younger son of Karolje and Mirantha, the vanished queen who is presumed dead. He hates his father’s regime and is desperate to find a way to defy him.

And the third POV is Mirantha, the vanished queen herself. Her story is set in the past, leading up to her disappearance.

To be honest, I considered DNFing this about 100 pages in. The plot was very slow, and despite the synopsis mentioning that Anza and Esvar end up working together, that doesn’t even happen until the halfway point of the book.

But after that, the plot picks up. Schemes and planning happen. The political intrigue thickens and the stakes grow higher. In the beginning, a lot of the characters feel flat, but once the plot picks up, they come to life a little more and I became fully invested in the story. Karolje was such a terrible king and soulless person that I was ready to see him be brought down.

What I liked about this book:

-High stakes

-Mirantha’s chapters

-Themes of love and justice

-Esvar gives me Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender vibes/Dorian from Throne of Glass vibes

-Bisexuality rep: Anza is bisexual

-High fantasy world without magic

What I didn’t like as much:

-I often felt like the characters were being held at a distance; I wanted to be more in their heads

-Slow pacing

The first half of this book is three stars and the latter half is higher.

VERDICT: 👑👑👑👑/5

Trigger warnings:
Death, including hangings, mentions of suicice, rape, violence/blood, torture, coded anti-semitism, domestic abuse, forced abortion

Review: A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

February 12, 2022 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

Alexis holds a library copy of A Conjuring of Light above a deck and wire table.

Alexis: I finished the Shades of Magic series!

Actually, I finished A Conjuring of Light, the third book. But Schwab announced recently that she plans on writing more books in the series!

I think this one was my favorite. All of the plot points came together in the end, and the pace picked up. I loved how all of the characters we met throughout the series finally got together.

I think the minor POVs could have been cut out, as I found myself skimming them.

However, I liked how Kell and Lila’s characters turned out, especially. Lila felt a lot less of a pick me girl than the previous two books, thankfully.

I really enjoyed reading this one, and I’m glad I finally read this book-world favorite.

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

June 26, 2021 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

A library copy of Addie LaRue is being pulled out of a bookshelf, alongside a candle.

Alexis:

Look what I finally got from the library!

I was a little afraid to start Addie LaRue to be honest; it’s been hyped up so much that I was afraid to be disappointed.

However, I really enjoyed reading this book. Schwab’s writing is more poetic and lyrical than in other books I’ve read by her, and it sucked me into the story.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue follows, you guessed it, Addie LaRue. In France in 1714, Addie dreams of escaping her small village, but most of all, she’s desperate to avoid getting married. So she makes a deal with the devil. But the deal goes wrong, and not only is Addie now forgettable, she’s also immortal until she decides to give up her soul.

While I’m not usually a huge fan of non-linear stories, including Vicious by Schwab herself, I think it actually worked well in this book. We jump back and forth between present time (2014 in this case) and Addie’s past escapades. Overall, this book is a slow-moving character study of Addie, and I enjoyed learning about her unique life. I appreciated the emphasis on art, and loved the overall atmosphere of the story.

There were a couple of things that kept this from being a 5 star read for me, however. While I like slow-moving, character-driven stories, I just couldn’t get over the fact that this book is devoid of basically any plot for the first ¾. And this book is a whopping 442 pages long. Instead, we spend most of the time following Addie as she suffers on the streets of different cities, and focusing on all the different lovers she takes up.

There’s one sparse chapter about her being part of a war, which I feel like could’ve been a much more interesting part of Addie’s life, not to mention a much more interesting plot, yet we never see how it impacted her. Despite this being a highly character-driven story, I feel like Addie’s character never actually changes or evolves. And I guess that could be the point, couldn’t it? But not changing in 300 years?

It was also a little strange that Addie is alive for 300 years yet never makes it past Europe and the US. That, and the romance part of this book was subpar for me; the romantic interest was just not an interesting character to me. It didn’t help that the grandiose ending felt a little melodramatic.

Keep in mind that I can’t turn off the critical reader part of my brain. I guess getting your MFA and editing novels will do that to you! So even though there were parts of this book that I think could’ve been done differently, I still enjoyed the overall writing and the reading experience, and I think it’s worth a read.

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Review: The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

May 10, 2021 Anna and Alexis1 Comment

Alexis:

At first, I wasn’t sure this book would be for me. I was unaware that it has a total of five POVs, some in first person and some in third person, something I’m usually not a fan of. The writing style is slightly more “tell” rather than “show,” and the book takes a while to set up the scene for each character.

However, I found myself drawn into this story. All of the characters have very interesting backstories and motivations, and I found their stories engaging, and the world itself to be fascinating. While Jovis’ perspective was my favorite, as he seemed to have the most personality (and more page time than the other characters, besides Lin) I never found myself bored by any of the perspectives.

While the pacing remains fairly slow throughout the book, I hardly noticed it, because there was such an atmosphere of mystery and suspense; there were so many mysterious things working in the background that I found myself endlessly curious about, and I kept wanting to know what was going to happen!

While I sometimes struggle with the accessibility and writing style of adult fantasy, I found this book to be a great segway from my usual YA fantasy. It was also nice to see a fellow twenty-something in a book, as Lin is twenty-three.

So here’s what you need to know before going into this book:

Lin, the Emperor’s Daughter, is trying her best to get her memories back after an illness. She’s also trying to figure out what her father, who can wield bone shards, is keeping from her.

Jovis, the Empire’s best smuggler, is on a mission to find his long-ago kidnapped wife. He finds a mysterious little otter-like creature, Mephi, who becomes his sidekick, and who quickly became my favorite!

Phalue is the daughter of Nephilanu Island’s governor. She’s a fighter who’s trying to win the hand of her girlfriend.

Ranami, Phalue’s girlfriend, is a woman with a heart of gold who’s doing her best to make a difference in the world.

And finally, Sand is a woman stuck on a remote island, whose job is harvesting mangoes. But she doesn’t remember why she, or the other island inhabitants, are there, how she arrived, or who she really is.

The Bone Shard Daughter is one heck of a debut, filled with political intrigue, creatures created from bone shards called constructs, and a chilling yet thrilling ending filled with twists and turns.

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Alexis’ June Library Haul

June 19, 2019June 19, 2019 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

Alexis: About a month ago, I requested three books from the library, and of course they all came around the same time!

Nocturna by Maya Motayne
The Editor by Steven Rowley
The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister

I already started Nocturna, and I can’t wait to read the other two!

On a different note, what’s your favorite Starbucks drink? I usually go for a matcha latte with almond milk, but the espresso machine was down, so I settled for a green tea frappuccino.

Check out the books below!