speculativeshelves's reviews
685 reviews

This is one of the most fun reading experiences I've had all year. I always love stories involving a character who gets pulled into their favorite book and so naturally I fell in love with this one as well - especially because I think it's brilliantly executed. Upon finishing I wanted to immediately reread it and the wait for the next installment may kill me. The ending is exciting, unexpected, and satisfying (it's always fun when you develop a theory in between chapters and want it to happen because you think it'd be a great plot twist and it does, in fact, end up being a great plot twist).

Long Live Evil is chaotic and epic. It's a story that simultaneously pokes fun at classic high fantasy tropes and involves a lot of silly moments (including a musical number) but also takes itself seriously and involves a lot of high stakes (the last 3rd of this book in particular had me on the edge of my seat). In some ways I want to say the experience feels like what you would get if the movie Scream was a high fantasy novel? There's lots of self-referential humor and it feels like a love letter to the fantasy genre (and fandom) as a whole.

Sarah Rees Brennan employs standard fantasy tropes throughout this story and expertly deconstructs them (just as the protagonist, Rae, (un)intentionally ends up deconstructing the plot she's familiar with when she enters the story). This allows the story and characters to provide some interesting perspectives on what it means to be a hero/villain, the authorship of a story, and the agency/motivations characters (especially side characters) have within a story.

I really enjoyed the cast of characters and I especially loved Rae, our protagonist turned villainess. She's one of my favorite kinds of female protagonists - an angry girl willing to do anything to survive. The other main characters are fantastic too but I think it's best to not know much about them until you experience the story yourself (though if you want some teasers I recommend checking out the author's instagram which features some excellent character art/descriptions).

It's not a 100% perfect book - occasionally the contemporary dialogue/jokes don't land for me, there's a lot of infodumping moments that slow the pace down (particularly in the first third of the book), and some of the POV changes cause the story to lose momentum at times. Overall though I think Long Live Evil is an excellent start to a new portal/high fantasy series and definitely one of my favorite books of the year so far! 

Such a fantastic dark and gritty crime novel. This is not my typical genre so I don't have much to compare it to but I would definitely recommend for anyone that enjoys dark crime thrillers (with quite a bit of violence).

This book has a beautiful writing style and I really enjoyed the protagonist. I loved the exploration of race (particularly the experience of a Black sheriff trying to change the state of policing within his small town - is it even possible?), white supremacy and Christian nationalism - it feels very relevant to the current sociopolitical climate of the United States.

The pacing in the middle didn't quite work for me which is why it's not quite a 5 star but I definitely intend to read more by this author! Also the audiobook narrator is fantastic. 

I struggled a bit with the pacing/jumping between the multiple POVs in this story as the three main plotlines weren't super connected to each other but that being said this book was full of excellent character arcs and fascinating reveals. I'm super excited for both Temptation of the Force (

the scene between Vernestra and Elzar at the end of the book sets up an interesting character dynamic

) and Tears of the Nameless(

Reath and Azlin Rell!!!!

). It's a book that works well as both a sequel to Out of the Shadows and Mission to Disaster from Phase I as well as a YA opener to Phase III (while also expanding on what was already established in The Eye of Darkness.

Vernestra and Avon are by far my faves and so their storylines were by far my favorite (I especially loved Vernestra's grief journey) but I enjoyed seeing more of Jordanna, Xylan, and the always fun San Tekka vs Graf family rivalry as well - even if my investment in those storylines wasn't quite as strong. It was also nice to get some brief time with previous YA High Republic Characters - Sylvestri Yarrow, the crew of The Vessel, Nan, and Reath Silas. 

The wait for the next High Republic book might kill me a bit but at least there's only a month to go?

Yet another delightful middle grade adventure for the High Republic! Really enjoyed the found family aspect of the Scarlet Skulls, the discussions on what "attachment" really means for Jedi, a significant plot point being the "best friends to enemies" trope

(the quote "I'm killing my best friend. Have some respect." had me screaming I loved it)

, the connection to Phase II of The High Republic Adventures, and the always excellent diverse representation. 

I think the story did a great job of getting me emotionally invested in all of new characters but since this is a short book I couldn't help but want a little more from each of their character arcs (though I'm sure we'll get it in the future). 

In a surprising turn of events the antagonists stole the show for me in this one - I cannot wait to see where Driggit and Niv Drendow's storyline goes from here - I loved everything about the epilogue. 

Occasionally interesting and a quick read but overall a bit underwhelming. I loved the premise of this story - a devout protagonist haunted by (and eventually falling in love with) the heretical sorcerer she killed while undergoing a crisis of faith - but it just left me wanting more.

The beginning of the book had me hooked. I enjoyed Sleeping Beauty-esque curse and Rosamund Hodge's writing style worked well for a YA dark fairy tale story. Lia and Ruven's enemies to allies to eventual lovers dynamic was great and by far my favorite part (even if I did wish it was even more of a slowburn). While there are elements that feel familiar when compared to other YA fantasy stories, the book feels quite unique - I would love to see more YA books tackle theological themes!.

Ultimately I enjoyed how the story wrapped up but the pacing in the middle stalled quite a bit for me. Plot points and Lia's thoughts began to feel repetitive and I feel the story never went as deep as it could have. The side characters all felt very one-note and while there some interesting discussions of faith I just constantly wanted more. I was particularly underwhelmed by the lack of exploration re: Ruven's "heretical" beliefs and the Magisterium. The story gets pretty in-depth with the gods and saints of Lia and the Royal Family's religion but it never delves into the religion of the Magisterium other than there being a few descriptions making it clear it was analogous to Catholicism. I wanted to know more about how the two faith systems interacted/overlapped/contrasted and I wanted to know more about how Ruven's sorcery was connected to his own faith.

If you're looking for a YA fantasy story with a strong emphasis on religion (specifically how one's faith evolves when what you're raised to believe contradicts what you feel is right) this still may be worth picking up - especially if you enjoy a side of enemies to lovers romance. However, it just didn't quite live up to the high expectations I had based on its premise. 

Beautifully written and powerful. I definitely feel like this will be considered a classic in the future. 

!!!!!!

The last 200 pages of this were particularly incredible but I really loved this installment all the way through (<i>Words of Radiance</i> might still be my favorite). I enjoyed how this book opened the series up to an even wider scope than before with additional POVs and lots of new worldbuilding information without being overwhelming. I know for a lot of readers this installment is their least favorite and they don't like the pacing but I did not have that experience at all.

Dalinar's arc is the most important part of this book and I loved his character arc more than I expected. I think of all the flashbacks in this series, his are the strongest (and

I particularly liked how we got the flashbacks alongside Dalinar as he was getting his memories back

). Stories of redemption/atonement are my favorite so naturally the central theme of this book worked really well for me. Ultimately this is a story of characters figuring out who they want to be and in addition to Dalinar's arc I thought all of the main characters had fantastic arcs. There were lots of emotional scenes for a variety of characters that hit me hard.

Also it was exciting to have (another) one of my favorite Cosmere characters

VIVENNA!!!

not only make an appearance but have a significant role. It's taking everything in me to not reread <i>Warbreaker</i> when I have 100000 other books (Cosmere books included) to read instead.

You can always count on Emily Henry for writing a fun contemporary romance full of banter, likable main characters with great chemistry, and an emphasis on friendship and family. While Beach Read and Happy Place remain the top tier Emily Henry books for me, Funny Story once again hit the mark.

The first half of the book makes it seem as if this book is one of Emily Henry's lightest books (and I do think that is true - I readers who love less angst and more rom-com in particular will love this). The whole concept of fake dating your ex-fiancé's new fiancé's ex-boyfriend is ridiculous in the best way and Daphne and Miles have an excellent roommates-friends-to-lovers arc. The second half brings in the usual emotional depth that you can always expect from Emily Henry's books - at its core this story is about two very guarded people learning to be vulnerable with each other and healing childhood wounds.

Personally I wasn't as invested in the characters (both main and side characters) quite as much as other EH characters but I did ultimately love how their story ended. I also discovered that as someone who works in a public library I do not enjoy reading about a character who works in one (not enough escapism for me!) - though the portrayal of public librarianship was pretty accurate which I appreciated.

Sad I didn't enjoy this more since I really loved Dead Silence. It was fine but it's not a story that I feel is particularly memorable. It's very slow for a horror/thriller novel and I didn't feel any sense of dread or suspense until halfway through.

I found the protagonist to be frustrating and the other characters felt one-dimensional so my emotional involvement in the story was minimal - if this were a multiple POV story it might be more compelling. There was enough in the plot to keep me interested in reading until the end but ultimately I did not care all that much about the fate of any of these characters. 

How to End a Love Story has everything I want in a contemporary romance and I'm so thrilled that Yulin Kuang is adapting some of Emily Henry's books to screen (including my favorite, Beach Read). It strikes the right balance between fun rom-com elements, tension, angst, grief, complicated family dynamics, and self-discovery. Helen and Grant were easy characters to connect to and I loved seeing how their story played out (even if they occasionally got on my nerves at times - for reasons that were understandable and realistic).

I also really enjoyed the dual third-person present POV which made the story feel quite cinematic (and really worked for a story that involves screenwriting). This, combined with the story's setup (the accident that caused Helen and Grant to have a shared traumatic past) made this book feel unique and I know it's one that is going to stick with me - a rare occurrence for me since, aside from a few exceptions, contemporary romance is not really my genre.

I always associate contemporary romance novels with Taylor Swift songs and this one is a combination of The Archer, I Can See You, This is Me Trying, Out of the Woods, Say Don't Go, The Great War, False God, and Daylight.