Gemma

I apparently read this book over the course of seven days, but in reality I read it in two long sittings and a final 30 minute stint. And right up until that last 15%, the last 30 minutes, this book was a five star read for me.

To begin with, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a mystery novel like none before it. Aiden Bishop lives the same day in eight different perspectives on repeat; challenged to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle so he may earn his freedom from the loop. I think the mystery was well crafted as it was difficult to figure clues out as you went and prevented me from “solving” the book before the end. In fact, I didn't come close to it. I'm not sure anyone would. The reveal of different perspectives, their limitations and strengths, and their unique relationship to the cast of characters was an incredible strong point for me in this novel and has me ready to add this book to my favourites of the year.

However, I found the last 15% to be a significant decrease in quality. The twist was unexpected and could have been good, but as it was relegated to such a small portion of the book it came across as a rushed decision. I thought it read like the author decided he wanted a twist and wrote it into the book in the forty minutes before submission. I personally feel if the twist had been introduced more gradually, the book would have been a strong five star read. I recommend this book to anyone who is bored with the thrillers and mysteries they've read recently, because this was a shock to the system and deeply addicting.

The Raven Boys is a low fantasy young adult novel about four private schoolboys in Virginia and Blue, the psychic's daughter. I have heard about this series from probably everyone I know who reads and from half of the booktube community I follow. I decided to pick it up after being recommended it so many times over the years because I felt I needed to know finally if it was exactly as good as everyone said it was or if I'd find another over hyped YA novel.

And as with the trend this year, I immensely enjoyed the book. We begin focusing on Blue, the daughter of the local psychic in Henrietta, as she goes on the annual trip to the local churchyard to record the names of everyone in the town who will die in the next twelve months. The novel goes on to follow her as she meets the Aglionby boys and discovers their search for the Welsh king.

I found the plot of the book to be intriguing, however slow to start. For the first half of the book I didn't know when things would begin to happen. While this wasn't a negative experience as vital the backstory and characterisation was done in this half it did feel slow. In fact, at one point in my status updates I lamented that one of the male characters felt surplus to requirement as he had rarely been involved in the plot so far. This was quickly corrected as the second half of the novel ramped up the pace. The characters are actually where I think the book excels. The book is in the third person perspective, which I prefer, and it spends time in all of the main character's heads but focuses mainly on three. Of these three, Adam and Gansey were my favourite characters. The setting felt equally real, and I have no faults with the book there. My only complaint was that the author regularly used flowery writing to describe various things or feelings throughout the book that made absolutely no sense.

All in all, a pleasant surprise of a book.

A Darker Shade of Magic ???????????????A Gathering of Shadows ???????????????A Conjuring of Light ???????????????

Obviously as this is the third book in the series I won't be doing a full review with spoilers, but I have a lot of feelings to write out.

As much as it looks like I am disappointed by this series based on my ratings I adore Schwab's writing and would genuinely read thousands of pages about these characters. My main complaint about this series is that I feel short changed by the lack of plot. This book I personally feel delivered the most plot and really kept me more engaged than the second. I wish the series had been a duology and the plot relevant parts of the second had been moved to the first book.

I was ready to give this book five stars for a long period, but I found the conclusion to be weak and rather “neatly tied”. That isn't a fair opinion if I was to be considering it objectively, but the sacrifices made and difficulties felt like the minimal that could be done to prevent a neat ending that had no consequences. I'm possibly just bitter about how hyped this series was and how much I felt let down.

I have started this series around four times over the years, and always I have only managed the first book. This reread was fantastic.

I enjoyed every aspect of the book, and have no complaints. I thoroughly enjoyed comparing scenes to the TV show as I remembered it and gaining the broader idea of the world as a whole.

I only have this four stars so that the following books could have the chance to beat its rating.