Nico

A world where elves, vampires, humans, etc. live together...yes please! I was most hooked by the exploration of the species and the society of the book's main timeline (in fact I ate it up), but Arnold spent a lot of time in flashbacks or explaining the history. This wasn't really relevant to the plot and seemed like info dumping for world building purposes. In the end made it felt like two different books. Fans of the Dresden Files might want to pick this up to see if it works for them.

3.5 stars. If you're here for some teen/YA and an alternative history of the recent past with Cloverfield vibes, this could be for you. This is one of those teen/YAs that I didn't personally enjoy, but I do recommend it for teens because it has a fast moving plot and you know, actually has themes. I was surprised by the depth that it covered familial and partner abuse, both mental and physical. It also eluded to imposter syndrome and identity issues due to mixed-ethnicity and I can think of only one other fantasy book that touched on that so I appreciated seeing that as well

First, I highly recommend this for teens/YAs - or for adults who really like teen/YA. It is a fast-paced book with important themes and topics, romance, and conflict. My personal enjoyment was mixed because I was eating up the Argentine mythology and issues woven throughout, but struggled with the characters' actions and dialogue (read: a lot of angst, impulsive decisions, first love romance). I do think this is an underread YA book and even though I'm not highlighting its pros as much as my cons, I think it should be recommended more.

I had listened to “The Cemetery Boys” by the same author earlier this year and really enjoyed it. Though a Peter Pan retelling, it's set in the modern day real world and as you can imagine with the topic of missing children in the real world, there was a lot of processing of loss in this book (which although sad is something I enjoy for my own grief processing). My only issue as an adult reader is I believe this is teen/YA and like Thomas' other book, I felt the “teen-ness” in the dialogue of this one that slightly put me off from time to time. Overall I really liked it, I thought I was going to predict the ending but I was wrong and pleasantly surprised by it.

I've concluded this is like if Archer (the show) and Shrek (the movie) had a baby and this book is that baby but it's a hormonal teenager. So it's a mix of cute and sweet and raunchy in a dumb, silly, crude and lewd kinda way. So basically I dug the humor and thought it was hilarious. But this will certainly not be everyone's cup of tea. For the romance, I went from annoyed to awww to annoyed to awww to annoyed to eh. But if you like the Archer sophomoric humor and enjoy or don't mind A LOT of sex-talk, I highly suggest this for a good laugh and for it's sweetness, solid friendships and loving family and found-family. Also, the audiobook narration is superb.

This is another one of those novellas where I'm shocked by what an author can do in a short amount of pages. This is a heart-breaking and loving story focused on some very magically inclined siblings, with some political intrigue sprinkled in. Based on the mixed reviews I didn't think I was going to love it as much as a did, it's been a couple days since I've finished it and I'm still thinking about it.

I thought this was a stunning conclusion to the Wayfarers series (which to me is mostly made up of standalone books than stories that flow into the next). A very minor mystery/event starts the book off and between that and the very masterfully done character work I was hooked from the start. This is a very heavily character-driven book and if you like those kinds of books I strongly recommend this one.

Sometime before 25% I was thinking of quitting this one, but here's another time I'm glad I kept going. I loved this book and I think folks who want to see a unique magic system, like mystery and badass detectives, or like serial killer plots will enjoy it. Upon reflection, I think this did for me what the Legend of Sleepy Hollow does for me in terms of a rich, creepy atmosphere and storytelling. Because of the slow start for me, I'd probably rate it 4.5, because I devoured the remaining 75% and it was the perfect way to start my spooky reading month. Not sure if I'll round down or up.

I'm baffled. 1) How can the same author of Spinning Silver, which I found well written, rich and complex, have written this series, which I find the opposite? 2) I truly don't understand how this has a 4.2-star average rating on GoodReads. I tried to make it through after reading that if you liked A Deadly Education you'd like this one. I did like the first book, despite it being very info-dumpy it surprisingly didn't bother me. With this sequel it was all the worst aspects of the first amplified and none of the good. Well maybe the ending is good, like how it was with the first, but it's not worth it to keep going passed 77%.

Like “An Unkindess of Ghosts” this will likely sit with me for a long time, but unlike it I actually really enjoyed this work. It took me a little bit to get into the story and interested in our main character, Vern, but by the half way point I was all in. There's so many good reviews out that explain what this is about way better than I could, I recommend checking them out...and I do recommend this book too.

This is a modern day family drama sci-fi with some light alien war aspects and it is my first book by Chen. At the end of the day, I needed the first 70% to be no longer than 25% - to me the main plot drivers are [IMO annoying] family drama, and not executed in a successful way like in the Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee. I was satisfied with the last 30% though. I think those who have strained family relationships or who like to read interpersonal conflict might want to try this book.

I never heard of the Valdemer series growing up, but I'm pretty sure this would have been a favorite if I had read it. It's a preteen or teen appropriate tale of a young girl in a magic school essentially. If it were released now I don't think it would be stand out YA, but still one that I can see many young readers gobbling up.