WhiteIsland

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me the ARC of Sorcery and Small Magics for an honest review. I to be very honest, I put off reviewing this book for a while because I wanted to make sure I was fair but it turns out that this isn’t going to be much of a review because I really just didn’t care for this book. I really didn’t like the main character at all and it was hard to appreciate the story. I think the writing was decent but I found Leo to be very immature and self destructive in nonsensical ways and just extremely annoying. So much so that I had to walk away from the book several times because I found him so ridiculous. I also didn’t really understand the magic system where one group writes spells for the other to cast because neither group can do both well enough to be independent from the other. So with the strong dislike of the main character and a few other quibbles there’s really not much more for me to say.

This is a beautiful graphic novel edition of Mo Dao Zu Shi. This first volume covers from the beginning of the story up until Wei Wuxian try's to warn the young cultivators on Dafan Mountain that it is a Goddess that they are up against. It is in Chinese but even if you don't speak the language it's a nice book to have if you collect MDZS. Mine did come with 4 bookmarks, each of a different character: Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling.

While I enjoyed the sweetness of the romance and the traditional elements of the story, this retelling falls short of what I was hoping for. Clara is a frustrating character as she is not consistent. Sometimes clever, sometimes oblivious. Sometimes mighty, sometimes meek. She claims to not want the trapping of the elite class but is enamored of it and struggles with jealousy. She claims to want to marry for love but easily falls in love in a matter of days. She wants freedom but doesn't really fight for it in the moment it matters most and relies on her uncle's magic to just make things perfect for her (this was the most disappointing part for me). As for the rest of the characters and the parts they played it was fine, nothing groundbreaking or deep but enjoyable for a quick Christmas-y read.

note: I have the Beacon Box Excl Ed and it is riddled with typos and grammatical errors. Not sure if this is the case for other editions but it's pretty ridiculous for an exclusive edition.

I really loved this comic. Aside from the art being absolutely beautiful, I immensely enjoyed the characters, their relationships with each other, the unique magic and the story itself. I look forward to seeing how King Polaris and his Knight Yildun overcome their Royal obstacles. I hope Alcor finds purpose, peace and happiness (possibly with the cute Prince Mirach) and continues to strengthen his relationship with his brother. (As the older sibling myself, my heart aches a bit for Alcor and I hope Polaris helps him find his way.) needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the next volume!

I'll admit I'm not a big fan of superhero's and comics but I really like the books that WhimsicalPublishing has put out so I wanted to give it a try and I'm glad I did. This book was fun, witty, charming and full of surprises. I really enjoyed the characters the most because Rosemary was so very relatable and snarky, sassy Ironfall? Well you'll fall in love with him despite the fact that he is the villain. The romance blooming between these two was very sweet and I definitely want to see where it goes. The book was definitely a YA read, it has some cringe in it but it was more fun than anything and I'm absolutely invested in the characters and seeing what happens next.

2.5 Stars
This book wasn't quite what I was hoping for. Firstly, the timeline of this story doesn't make sense to me so it throws off the whole story for me. Due to the flashbacks and dream sequences and just the math of the years spent here and there, the time and the pacing of the story is a little jarring. The whole scene/ memory of France on the Odysseid's estate felt like it was added at a later time and just doesn't seem to fit in the timeline correctly. The character's all had great potential but didn't feel completely fleshed out. I did really like the character growth that we see in Lore, especially at the end.

I had a love/not-love relationship with this book. Whitten's writing was beautiful and she created an amazing and atmospheric world that was an absolute pleasure to discover. Eammon and Red's relationship was a true delight and it is absolutely what kept me coming back for more. No insta love here and there was lots of individual growth as well as coming to know each other. I also really appreciate that actually help each other and become a strong team because they build trust and work together. While I enjoyed Red's story and her relationship with the Wolf and their character growth I found I did not like Neve's half of the story. It was always during her bits that I'd lose interest and get bored because I found her utterly predictable and thus a little boring. Yet at the end she was sort of redeemed in my eyes because she acknowledges that she was more aware of what was happening around her than she wanted to admit and made her decisions for selfish reasons. Making decisions and then dealing with the consequences of those decisions and how they impact others was definitely a theme I saw woven throughout this book. I am curious to see how things go in the next book, and though I'm not particularly fond of Neve, I do see potential in her.

I really enjoyed the witty banter between the main characters but I would have liked a little more fleshing out of the love interest, especially since he's a 400 yr old vampire (what happened with Death?!) and the side characters that played significant rolls in her life. I would have also liked a little more fleshing out/ background of the village and it's occupants. They went to suspicion and hatred real quick without much explanation of why which I found a little unbelievable. While this wasn't quiet insta-love, I would have liked to see a little more emotional connection and less “who's more powerful” in their relationship. This was a quick (only took a few hrs) and fun read and I look forward to this debut authors growth and future endeavors.

I received an advance review copy for free from BookSiren, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.5 stars This was an awesome book that I would highly recommend. I love good scary stories/movies (not gory but scary) and this book definitely had creepy vibes that sent a little thrill up my spine which impressed the heck out of me! A retailing of The Twelve Dancing Princesses with a haunting atmosphere and engaging characters solving a ghostly mystery, this was a book I devoured very quickly. Could not put it down.

This book was difficult for me because it was a pleasant afternoon read but it just didn't grab me. It was extremely predictable and I didn't really connect to the characters. It dragged in some places and it would be difficult for me to stay engaged. I normally really like enemies to lovers but when you use that trope the characters have to have a lot of chemistry but to me they felt a little flat so it didn't quite click. Perhaps if the characters were a little more complex or unique it would have been more engaging. Perhaps I was just not in the right mindset to really enjoy this book. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.