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Alexis: Last, Now, Next—June

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A library copy of both Yellowface and Winter's Orbit sit next to a Kindle copy of The Bone Shard War on a black bookshelf

Alexis: Last, Now, Next📚

Last: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang 

If you want to read a dark satire with an unlikeable main character that delves into the craziness of both the publishing and the writing world (especially online and on Twitter), this is for you. This book was crazy, timely, and easy to fly through!

Now: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell 

I’m only about a quarter way through this one, but it’s an LBGTQ, political space opera with an arranged marriage. I’ve been getting back into space operas and sci-fi, and I like this one so far. It’s definitely a little slow-paced and heavy on the politics (as expected!), but I’m enjoying the worldbuilding and the two main characters. 

Next: The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart

I might have already started this one! I went out of town recently for the first time in a long while, and I started reading it on my plane ride home. I loved the first two, and even though I honestly don’t remember much of what happened in the second book, I’m excited to dive back into this final installment and learn how this trilogy concludes. 

Have you read any of these books, or are they on your tbr?

Review: Nocturna by Maya Motayne

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Alexis:

I hate to say this, but I didn’t love Nocturna by Maya Motayne. However, Nocturna gave me a great writing idea, and Motayne even responded to me on Twitter! She’s super sweet and I think she has a lot of promise.

Nocturna has a great set up: a prince and a girl who can steal faces team together in a Latin-inspired world.

But here’s the thing: I’ve read this book before. Maybe not specifically this book, but all of the elements that tie it together. I found the magic system to be pretty generic: a mix of bending from Avatar: The Last Airbender and the magic from Harry Potter, only with Spanish verbs instead of Latin.

I’ve also read this plot over and over. Alfie, the prince, releases a darkness in order to save his best friend and vows to fix his wrongdoing to save his kingdom from destruction. He and Finn, the face stealer, team up in order to break a girl out of prison to help them.

My other biggest issue with the book is that it’s too “tell-y.” You know, the “show don’t tell rule.” Well, unfortunately, the first half of the book tells way too much. The dialogue sounds stilted because every character talks in chunks of exposition. While the beginning of the book was promising, the book starts to drag pretty quickly. At least 100 pages could’ve been cut from the book to make the plot flow faster.

The dialogue got better as the book went on, but it still wasn’t great. I think “quipped” is now my least favorite dialogue tag.

I also think that “maldito,” or “damned” in Spanish, was really overused.

I liked Alfie as a character, but other than that, I had a really hard time caring about the characters. For that reason, I found myself skimming the last ¼ of the book.

Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me. But I have high hopes for Motayne, and I hope she grows as a writer for the next book in the series.

VERDICT: 2 stars