aphrael's reviews
719 reviews

I went into this knowing the writers do kind of simplistic stuff most of the time, so I was suprised that the start includes some

murder

. Other than that it's about what you can expect, but there's a bit of messing with time and space that, while creative, gets a bit tedious. Especially when there's a lot of

"this should happen first before we do that", which makes it seem everything is predestined.

The whole plot is maybe too neat and recursive and boring, but the core of family and love the authors are so good at really help sell the book. That said, the characters are a bit one-dimensional and any issues are solved right away so the fight doesn't really seem to be very high stakes. This annoyed me a lot while reading it. I probably outgrew these authors a while ago, but this book cemented that completely. I think if you're younger, it's probably an ok book.

A faithful retelling of the myths with some added banter. I loved this one more than the other one I read from this author, I'm not sure if this is a later book and she got better at writing, or if this source material just allowed for more embellishment since it's got a lot of fantastical elements. Either way, it got a lot of heart in this retelling. I loved the idea of Perseus being an inept asshole (not sure where he gained that attitude as a fisherman but ok).

I was kind of puzzled why his most famous thing with the mirror shield wasn't in there, but with how the characters were set up it made sense to just have him murder Medusa in her sleep

. I loved how the story of Medusa was told, how warm her little family was even though you know it won't end well.

I am not sure I quite enjoyed the intermezzo bits by the crow and the gorgoneion, the content was interesting but the form was a bit awkward, especially the 'dear reader' type exposition. Athene was always my favorite godess and I get the feeling she's the author's as well. The ending kind of caught me off guard, which got me very conflicted. On the one hand I understand it and think it's beautiful and sad and interesting, on the other hand, I was very much not ready for Athene pretty much committing suicide by turning into a statue. Some more foreshadowing would have been nice because I didn't see it coming and the book ended somewhat abrubtly to me because of it.

That said, I enjoyed this book a lot and will probably read some more from this author.

This is just a tiny book but it follows the twins along their life. There's a lot happening for them and in their country. Even though a lot of the emotion plays beneath the surface, it's still easy to relate to the main characters. The treatment of gender in this is very interesting, as well as the blending of magic and technology

I've not read many fantasy book that had an explicit nod to chemical weapons.

It's very interesting to see how even though they grow up and get their own life, they are still stuck in the system and family they grew up in, in a way. There's a lot of sad stuff happening but it's definitely a lovely book with a very sentitive and delicate way of describing being a human. I'm sure I'll read more by this author.

Very basic creepy haunted house type story but really well written. This would work so well as a tv show actually. It was very creepy but also sad. The last chapter felt a bit out of place, suddenly there's a wider world involved in what is up to then a really insular story. It would have been nicer if the ghosts could have been more effective, I was really rooting for them.

There actually being an organisation dealing with people like Norah and Jonah felt a bit meh, it didn't have any forshadowing or backstory

That said, the character sketches for each chapter are really good, and knowing what was happening just made the tension mount a whole lot. Creepy af, it's a good book. 

Lovely little book, lots of feelings about family and beloning, so that's nice. I don't thinkthe villain's motive made as much sense as the hero side, but there were a bunch of interesting stories going on so I don't suppose it matters. I think knowing more about the Breccan society would have been helpful, I don't think the cultural norms there were quite clear until late in the book. But I suppose this book has a sequal all about that? It's a lovely book, but somehow I just didn't get into it as much as I would have liked. I don't know if that's because I don't have anything in common with the characters or if I just picked it up at the wrong time. It's a lovely book and I liked it, I just wasn't really into it.

Quite interesting book from a native american perspective. In the end it's mostly a story driven fantasy thing, but slightly more serious than some of the other stories out there. The story isn't super surprising, but I like that it features characters and story lines from a different cultural tradition of story telling.

I quite like that the main character ends up with the good guy rather than the abusive god/mentor type character, because that happened in so many other books it's kinda gross

. I liked the book but didn't have strong feelings about it. I might read more from this author if I happen to come across it.

Very interesting take on time travel/do-overs. Lovely characters who try their best, except for the selfish guy who wants to hold all the cards, but even he has good intentions really. The chapters from the different characters did feel actually like whole persons instead of the writer in a different coat. I really liked this book even though it was way stranger than I expected. There's a lot of love there, I think the writer really cared about the characters too.

It's quite historical, but the main characters are very strong so it's still easy enough to follow what's going on. I don't know any of the history in the period this book is about so I don't know how accurate it is, but I loved Sigrid, who's actual name I don't know how to spell. She's quite strong and smart and daring but not inhumanly so, she doesn't officially have much power but plays the game really well to collect informal power for herself and her children, which was interesting to see. However, the book ends kind of abruptly. It's rather large already so I can see why the rest of the story didn't fit in this volume, but it's one of those books that is lovely while you're in it but quite daunting to pick up. For people who are much more into history than I am it's a definite recommendation though! 

This had the feel of a made for tv Christmas Special. Kind of a low budget version of the original really. I liked parts of the book, but the characters and the obstacles between them didn't quite make sense to me. The character who's supposed to grow, only has to grow in terms of making one decision (that turns out not to even have consequences) because trusting and feeling less alone is a mindset thing or something? I don't think psychology works like that. The writing/dialogue is good but the story felt a bit hollow for me. 

The main character is absurdly bold and good at everything, which isn't very relatable to me. I liked the other series I read from this author much more, as it featured an older character. However, I liked how the characters made friends and how silly a lot of it was. I don't think I will continue this series. The other series I read from this author I enjoyed much more.