galacticvampire's reviews
350 reviews

Dark Heir follows exactly where Dark Rise left off: Will and his friends need to flee from the Hall and find a way to stop evil plans, except that now Will is very aware of who he is and is intentionally keeping it from the others.

I really appreciate the complexity of the narrative. Will IS a reincarnation of the villain, and you see Sarcean's personality peeking through here and there, but he also has no plans of world domination and lives terrified of being found out and abandoned by his friends.

At the same time, we get flashbacks and several POVs that flesh out the world and put into question everything we've been told. What really happened at the war? Was it all really black and white, good versus evil? Who's telling the truth?

The cast continues being a delight, where even the antagonists get an opportunity to share their point and we can see exactly why each character thinks their perspective is the right one.

While I liked this book even more than the first one, I still think this story would've had more space to thrive as an adult work; both in terms of character and plot.

Probably the most cumbersome writing style I have encountered in the Star Wars Disney canon. It somehow feels straight out of a 80s hard sci-fi AND wattpad fanfiction at the same time.

Usually, an underground planet filled with somewhat-sentient fungi and lovecraftian silk creatures would be right up my alley, but the cool world building just became annoying when we kept stopping mid scene to paragraphs-long analysis on the fauna. It got repetitive very fast.

I think if Lucasfilm is going to hire people to publish what is basically official fanfiction, the very least they could do is have them consume a lot of the original material beforehand. This is a Mace Windu book, and yet, Mace Windu's characterization is all over the place.

I like how it emphasized Mace's feelings, breaking him out of the stoic and strung-up stereotype, but it pivoted too hard and by the end he was just? Totally okay with killing a bunch of people and plotting a planet civil war? He could've been a random smugler-hero in an original sci-fi story and it would've worked better than trying to shove it in Star Wars.

While the plot itself was overall ok, the writing made the whole thing feel cringe, jumping from the technical world building to clunky dialogue; including a ridiculous romance, a cartoon villain and multiple inconsistencies.

Honestly I felt like the author wanted to write a in-universe encyclopedia and got handed this instead, and no one got out of it happy.

The creepy and disgusting vibes of this book are incredible!

Following a group of girls quarantined on an island after a weird and contagious outbreak took over their boarding school, Wilder Girls uses the mysterious Tox as a way to talk about queerness, growing up and belonging.

There isn't anything particularly unique about the characters, but the atmosphere made up for it. With tons of body horror and an eerie mutaded forest, it's impossible not to crave the explanation on what is the disease and why it's affecting the island and its inhabitants like that.

I specially enjoyed the Byatt chapters, as they went deeper in the details and research on the outbreak, but they were sparse compared to the main plotline.

Which is a shame, because there's nothing particularly remarkable about it. We have our main character looking for her missing best friend and trying to uncover the secrets the government and the school are keeping from them. And even with some quite fun scenes, there's nothing too out there about it.

This book is great for those who really enjoy vibes and this type of horror (toned down for YA), but anyone looking for a substantial plot might find this one lacking.

(I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. While I don't believe a sequel is warranted, the inconclusiveness of it all wasn't that satisfying.)

Dark Rising has a simple premise: a boy who just lost his mother suddenly learns not only that there is magic out there, but that he could have a role to play in the fight against an ancient evil king being reborn.

Basic. The most standard YA fantasy plot possible. But it really shines in how it subverts expectations.

The main cast is very fleshed out, feeling lively and interesting way beyond our protagonist, Will. Violet is surprisingly compelling in how she refuses to be a genre heroine and James is an absolute delight.

I found the big plot twist very predictable, but the narrative really paved the way for it so it felt most like a secret between story and reader and less like a flat reveal.

Still, I think C.S. Pacat could've made this into an adult series to really explore implications and depth, as many times they made incredibly stupid choices and the narrative felt constrained.

I was completely obsessed with the setting and world building of this story. Even if it's not the type of book that explains the mechanics behind the magic, it all felt fresh and intriguing.

The whole concept of the wood was awesome, and it really made me wish this was maybe a duology. It was so rich that I felt that you really could come up with a lot more in it.

The only flaw of this book is that its romance was very whatever. Instead of random ~sexual tension~ scenes we could've had them actually bonding and becoming friends, and I think that would've not only made more sense, but been way more unique.

Overall, it made me curious to read other books by the author and it's a great addition to my list of grim fantasy.

This book was sweet and entertaining, a great pick for anyone looking for a light-hearted romance.

Even if the plot wasn't that unique, the magic system was quite interesting, adding complexity and depth to just saying a spell. I also really enjoyed the characters .

With the overall tone of the book being more on the rom-com style, the explicit sex scenes felt really out of place, even when they weren't badly written. 

It's a fun experience, but not really remarkable.

I love everything about Tears of the Nameless. Reath and Cohmac have always been my favorite master/padawan duo, and this book only cemented that.

The addition of Amadeo and Lox to the cast was also great, and I loved seeing how Reath dealt with having someone younger to "mentor".

There are a couple decisions that are pretty silly and clearly only made to achieve a certain plot point (

while a sad moment, the plan that killed Lox made *no sense*

) but none of them really interfered on how much I enjoyed this book.

Every single conversation about doubting yourself, accepting your choices and keep trying to improve perfectly encapsulated what I personally think is the most important theme of Star Wars: hope.

I'm still here for the messiness of it all, but I can't help but feel frustrated about how stupid they are. ALL THREE OF THEM KNOW THEY ARE ALL INTO EACH OTHER WHYYY ARE THEY DOING THE CHEATING THING???

Book one was definitely better than this one, as I still struggle a lot with Isolde as a character (the whole warrior nun thing is ridiculous and she kinda just? Starts loving Mark out of nowhere?) but the tension when all three of them were dancing around each other still was deliciously written.

There were some plot-points that felt a little lackluster

like do you really want me to believe that Mark was completely blindsided by the cheating? Really? When everyone else noticed? And then Tristan chooses to help Isolde run away? Why??

like the author really wanted to make it a trilogy and had to add stuff to complicate situations. 

If I had started out with this prequel I probably wouldn't have read the rest of the series.

There's some leeway I'm willing to give for silly choices, because I know the Cool Factor helps with the whole sexy fantasy. A billionaire who's also former CIA? Sure. Said billionaire is also basically playing at shadow government because he owns a sex club that gathers the most important people in the world? Ok.

But honestly. The whole warrior nun/vatican spy/groomed virgin assassin was Too Much. You can have the girl just liking fighting, I don't know, but this whole thing made me think Isolde was not only stupid but extremely annoying.

The writing is perfectly fine but I found it really hard to do anything but cringe at both her backstory and the blushing teenager trope.

Forget whatever you think about erotica, this book is an absolute SOAP OPERA.

Yes, there's a lot of spicy scenes and they were really well written but I was absolutely enthralled by their messiness.

Picture this: man comes back from war, man's dad remarries, new step-uncle gets him a job. Step-uncle owns a kink club and needs bodyguard! Man FALLS IN LOVE with step-uncle/boss??

Proceeds to become his sub. Finds out boss is actually engaged, breakes up, FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE FIANCÉ TOO??????

Like sure the sex is great but I'm here with my popcorn for this reality-show level of drama! 

Absolute great audiobook to just turn your brain (and moral standards) off and enjoy the show.