sarahdm's reviews
156 reviews

DNF at 27% mark of the audiobook

I don't mind the "this is just D&D" genre of fantasy. But this one is just too much on the nose. Had to stop after a character literally said "roll for initiative."

The humor is crude and repetitive. None of the characters are likeable and most of them are pretty stupid to the point of annoyance, not humor.

I'm sure this is for someone, but its not me.

Here's my no nostalgia review. First time reading this book in 2023.

Menolly truly hits PEAK Mary-Sue here. She is good at everything right away. She literally graduates from Bard School in a week. Her only struggle is that all the other girl's just hate her because she's just TOO GOOD. Eyerolled so hard I might hurt myself.

Thankfully we are introduced to some actually interesting characters here. Sebell and Piemur were delightful. However there is a mentally disabled character and he is handled with the amount of delicacy you expect from a novel published in the 70's. SKIP the audiobook. The narrator does a voice for this character that I just couldn't handle. They did the bare minimum of not using the Hard R word here.

Despite that, Bard School is actually really interesting. We explore the kinds of classes and lessons it takes to mold young students into Harpers. I had a great time exploring more of Pern and the world building. Paired with the 2 albums for this series, it continues to make the Harper Series worth reading.

Here's my no nostalgia review. First time reading this book in 2023.

TL;DR: Worth the read if you like Piemur. This book is short enough that getting through the first boring half really isn't that much of a push to enjoy the rest of this delightful read.

In a lot of way, this is very much like the first two book in the Harper Hall series. Its just Piemur instead of Menolly. The biggest difference is that Piemur isn't a Mary-Sue. Unlike Menolly, Piemur actually has to practice and struggle, he is not just instantly good at things. He's talented but its not instantly like Menolly.

Its unfortunate that this book is a story we have already seen in Menolly, because it makes the first half of the book really boring. But about half way through Piemur starts his own unique journey kind of acting as a spy and adventurer. We get a peak into the interesting stuff that Piemur spoke about in White Dragon which is what really make me interested in this book.

Sebell also gets some spot light in this book, which is a character I really enjoyed learning more about. I almost wish Sebell had his own book where we could dive more deeply into his thoughts and feelings, because in Dragondrums you are kind of just guessing. While Sebell's romance in this book is sweet, it feels shallow. It really needed a little more breathing room in my opinion for it to feel natural.

We learn a lot more about the south in his book but the world building here is honestly thin. It was disappointing.

I am in a love hate relationship with this book.

This book's brand of feminism and female empowerment is really wild. Every fight scene is SO confusing. A lot of the mechanics of how things work leaves a lot to be desired. The world building is so interesting but the book doesn't really give us time to explore it. The book really relies on you being familiar with mech genre, which wasn't a problem for me but god help anyone who isn't a full blown weeb that try's to tackle this book. The MC is honestly not likeable even though I think we are suppose to see her as a Badass™. (I'm fully convinced we could see her become the villain, which could be cool later). The romance is underdeveloped. Its a triad for about 5 seconds before it blows that right out of the water at the 90% mark. (I literally almost stopped reading at this point. The epilogue maybe saved itself).

However-

This is probably the most fun I have had with a book in awhile. I literally could not put it down. The world is so interesting. This concept is so fun. There are likeable, interesting characters. The worldbuilding and character work that IS there is amazing, it makes me want more. The book is well written while still being an easy read. A triad DOES happen even if its short lived (or just put on pause? According to the epilogue, maybe). And of course. The feminine rage. It was so good and I just kept thinking "yes yes yes" the whole time.

This book has flaws, but it also has OVERWHELMING potential. I'm glad that we know another book is coming because if it ended with this book, I would be bumping this down to 3 stars. Iron Widow is not for everyone. I would say give it until the first mech fight to know if you are gonna like it (after the "Welcome to your nightmare" bit)

I really wanted to love this book.

The premise was so nice. Its what D&D players dream about for their characters post-campaign. A nice cozy retirement serving coffee, eating pastries, and finding love. It literally sounds like a perfect little slice of life.

But about the first 70% of the book is just so boring and frustrating. I understand that we have to be introduced to all these characters so that the ending we got makes sense and is as emotional/heartwarming as it was. But I just couldn’t latch onto any of these characters. All of the little B-plots and character moments are cute but thats really it. Nothing really happens for SO LONG. And the things that do happen (the whole paying someone off with cinnamon rolls bit) are just so frustrating to read. There is so little character work in that first 3 quarters of the book. I get that the whole point of cozy fantasy is that nothing really happens but this is just TOO COZY. Low stakes? More like no stakes.

And then we hit a point of the story where the plot really starts to get interesting. The writing quality suddenly spikes and it starts to actual feel like a real book. We get the cute found family heart warming ending which I really did like. It was nice. But it took so long for it to be nice. Too long. I wanted to DNF this book so many times, I only powered through it because my friends love this book.

Also, it was advertised to me as a queer romance. I kept reading WAITING for some kind of exploration of emotion or feelings. But all we got was vague stuff that could just be chalked up to awkward friendship or co-workers just chatting. And, not until the LAST QUARTER of the book did the romance actually start really developing (it should have been building THROUGH THE WHOLE BOOK).

When I finally reached the end of the book I was honestly relieved. I didn’t even bother reading the bonus story in the back. I just wanted to be done with this.

I have no idea why I didn’t like this. I LOVE slice of life fantasy anime where nothing is also happening. This book has such good ideas. Then I saw that it was a NaNoWriMo book and it suddenly all seemed to make sense.

This book needs a few more drafts, maybe some fat trimmed off, and just a little more time to bake. I might even pick up the author’s next book just to see if its a better read with a proper editor and time management this time around.

This is so different from everything else I have read from Sarah Gailey. Like if you go from River of Teeth to this you are gonna get whiplash.

This book feel like a quiet slow-burn thriller, packed full of ethical questions surrounding this fictional cloning situation. The main character is horrible and unlikeable yet her emotions and thoughts are still relatable. I hate the MC but I really still like her as a character. The deep dives into her thoughts and feelings were really refreshing and well written. I enjoyed every minute of this book. Except for the anti-climatic ending. It felt, too neat. I was expecting something less happy ending.

Amazing book, definitely pick it up if you are looking for something like a quiet little ethical horror.

This is the most self-indulgent piece of literature I have read in a hot minute. I think people who give this one-star because "it reads like fanfiction" are missing the whole point. This IS FANFICTION. It really is just a slow-burn bodyguard to lover fanfiction. Its tropes on tropes piled on top of each other. The dedication in the front says "For the fanfiction writers, who taught me everything I know- including, most especially, the pursuit of joy." This one is strictly for the AO3 Goblin with 40 open tabs open on their phone who hasn't read a chapter book since high school.

I think the comparison to Goblin Emperor is pretty justified. Its basically Goblin Emperor fanfiction (maybe Deret Beshelar/Maia Drazhar). Its Goblin Emperor but a romance novel. And this is 100% romance first and fantasy novel second. The fantasy setting and worldbuilding is pretty barebones, similarly to Goblin Emperor. You get introduced to the small magic concept of the novel and then the fantasy takes a back seat for the rest of the book.

Also in the back seat of the car that is this novel is the plot. The counterfeiting plot is so transparent and predictable, I was convinces the obvious villain was a red herring. But no it was exactly who you thought it was gonna be. Thats when I knew this was romance first and fantasy novel second.

The real interesting part of this book are the characters and their growing romance. The book is AMAZING at deep diving into the character's feeling and thoughts. Its excruciating detailed at times, very much like Goblin Emperor. And all these characters are likable. Are some of them cardboard cut outs of a trope, yes. But fanfiction readers LOVE tropes. And I loved all these characters. Kadou and Evemer especially. Kadou whos is the perfect portrait of someone who is controlled by their anxiety, you can't help but relate to him a little. Evemer is just a classic stoic guard, who we really get to watch slowly fall in love. Its delightful. There are also some non-binary characters in the text, it took some getting used to the new pronoun (the author doesn't use the normal "they/them") but I actually really enjoyed.

The only thing I didn't really like about this book is that it kind of ended early. I could have used a few more chapters of the main couple actually being together and having to deal with the consequences of actually being a couple. I'm always a little sad when a book ends with a couple getting together. I want to see them existing as a couple for a little bit.

This book has an audience and I don't think its for everyone. This really isn't some kind of master piece that anyone can pick up and enjoy. I honest to god don't think you can enjoy this book unless you are a fanfic reader. But if you are, its a delight.

Okay this was not what I expected but I still enjoyed this relatively generic fantasy story.

I thought this was going to be about a hero refusing to save the world again. Instead, its just a reluctant hero's journey. Cowardness is more of a theme then an actual character type present in the book. In realty this is just a PTSD riddled hero collecting interesting characters to travel and save the world again. Its got lots of generic fantasy topes but really stands out with its likeable characters and interesting world/culture.

The characters are all actually really likeable. The main party consist of Kell (PTSD human fighter), Gerren (naïve young human fighter), Vahli (a dandy bard/rogue), Bronwyn (our barbarian folk hero), Malormir (our very strange/attractive? foreign fighter), and Willow (unhuman definitely not a Firbolg Ranger). I actually really don't mind books that are just D&D adventure since D&D is classic fantasy book tropes at its core. Between an ice lich and pressure plate traps, D&D players are gonna really enjoy this one. Is it just Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden? Egh, maybe. But its still really fun, especially with the likeable characters.

The world that Aryan has created is also pretty interesting. Every time the characters go to a new town it paints a little picture of a new people and culture. It was nice getting little peaks into the world of "the Coward" and I'm definitely thirsty for more. I definitely wish we had dived a little deeper into Willow and her people. Besides the monsters, she was the only real non-human and Kell's interactions with her were so interesting. I seriously wanted more.

The dedication at the beginning of the book kind of set the tone for this to be a real in-depth look on PTSD. It reads "For all of those who served passed and present in the armed forces." The book really only scraps the surface of post combat (or here, post adventure) PTSD and survivor's guilt. It was a little disappointing but what was presented was nice. I really think the author should have leaned into it more than he actually did.

The writing is great, especially combat. I can tell that we got a fan of grime dark fantasy with how combat was treated. I really enjoyed it.

Now some negatives.

Every once and awhile we would switch perspectives to Reverend Mother Brytak and I would physically feel my soul leaving my body from the amount of boredom. We would be in the middle of some action and then it would be brought to a grinding halt by some cranky clergy lady with political plots. I just could not care about this part of the book. It seems like its only really there to set us up for book two. We definitely could have had a different way of introducing the concept of the "Shepherd" that wasn't THIS. (Also, classic fantasy novel move using any other word besides GOD). You could have just stuck a cleric or devout character into the party. That way these ideas about the Shepherd could be naturally brought up along with the main characters, not flung off completely away from the action.

Secondly, the ending is just boring. We get a huge amount of info dumped on us and the characters don't get satisfying endings. I get that this is Kell's story but all of it felt really ridiculous. I seriously hope the other character's return in the next book because otherwise all that bonding and character growth feel so wasted.

At the end of the day, while this isn't what I thought it was going to be, I still had a lot of fun reading this. The Likeable characters and interesting world kept me reading despite this generic fantasy story.

Honestly, don't think I would have kept reading if I wasn't already familiar with the series (Witcher 3 and Netflix Season 1).

For the first half, I enjoyed the themes and format. But Sapkowski's retelling of fairytales with his original character thrown in the middle just wasn't keeping me engaged enough. Second half, Dandelion/Jaskier accompanied Geralt and honestly the book took a positive turn. I don't know if this is just me picking a favorite character, but Geralt actually becomes interesting when he is interacting with his foil and I could stand to finish this book.

The writing is beautiful. There is absolutely no complaints. I will say that female reviewers are completely justified in theirs complaints. There are some off putting language thrown in the direction of young female characters here. While it did give me pause, I think its easy to chalk this up to translation and setting.

This is such a hard recommend for me. I enjoyed it but there are definitely other fantasy series I'm more interesting in continuing first before picking up the next Witcher book.

I think this was my 2-3 re-read of this novel. I first read it in middle school and again in high school, and now again as an adult.

IWTV is not perfect. It sometimes drags, mostly because Louis will just ramble forever. Some of the language used isn't clear about its intent, which I believe is why a lot of modern readers DNF saying that the text smacks of child sexualization. But I think those reader's are missing this HUGE piece of context for the book. Anne Rice lost her six year old daughter to leukemia and then wrote the first draft of Interview with the Vampire in 5 weeks of blind grief. This is what the book is actually about.

Every page drips with a mourning for lost life. The themes of lose childhood and innocence are everywhere. Rice writes about a life unable to be cherished and yet life that is desperately yearned for. There are even themes of resentment for God for enabling life and death. This book is the damn handbook on the gothic outlook on life. But this book isn't just for angsty teenagers. It conveys emotions of lose every human being has ever felt. That is why even though IWTV is almost 50 years old, its aged amazingly well. There are also LGBT themes in the novel but its so minor it could easily be missed. Well maybe not: "I begged Lestat to let me stay in the closet, but he laughed, astonished. 'Don't you know what you are?' he asked."

This was a re-read for me and I still cried. For me, Interview with the Vampire is a timeless classic that can be enjoyed by anyone who has known lose in their life.