wardenred's reviews
842 reviews

Second book in, this series continues to be excellent entertainment. It’s combining all of my favorite things: creepy af eldritch horrors, ongoing romance with flawed characters, a villain who does something horrible because he feels it’s the more moral choice compared to the alternative, unpleasant historical realities not being glossed over and yet not being allowed to stand in the way of hope and happiness, and giggle-inducing banter. If you love those things to, definitely pick Whyborne & Griffin up, don’t be like me and keep delaying it for no sane reason. It’s awesome so far.

Other than just being a really fun and scary supernatural adventure, I feel like this book does great as a series installment specifically. It picks up so many small threads from the first novel to develop and sets up hooks for stuff to come. I feel it’s particularly evident when it comes to character and relationship arcs. Speaking of the latter, I kind of really dislike the places the guys’ relationship went into on a personal level, but I’m really digging it on a storytelling level, kinda? I mean, the circumstances of the third act break-up in the first book clearly showed they’re in for a rocky ride, but then they transitioned into a honeymoon period and kind of swept it all under the rug. But the events of this installment, particularly the involvement of Griffin’s ex, make it impossible to keep that metaphorical rug smooth over the pile, so we’ve got Whyborne’s jealousy and Griffin’s insecurities spilling all over the pages. I think they got pretty toxic at one point tbh, and I feel oddly let down by Griffin. It’s already evident that his whole deal is that he’s spent most of his life as a lying liar who lies, but I thought that some of his personal qualities that particularly endeared Whyborne (and me) toward him, like his inherent kindness, were his actual true colors shining through whatever masks he wore. Now, I’m not so sure. I’m glad the guys were able to talk it out and recommit to each other, but I continue to not be sold on them as a longterm, endgame type couple. They have great chemistry and are entertaining together, but are they *good* for each other? I’ll see what the next books have to say.

As for the book’s flaws, there’s once again the matter of the spicy scenes being kiiiiiiinda cringey due to some word choices, but I think they’re getting better, and I like how by the end of this novel the author started actively using those scenes as tools for more in-depth character development. And then there’s also the mystery—it got *sooo* good around the final 30% of the book with all the reveals and action and high-stakes moments, but I think that some of the threads from the same mystery’s set-up got forgotten. Like, that whole odd alien stone that basically started it all—literally everyone stopped thinking about it midway through investigation. Honestly, now that I think about it closely, I have to admit Jordan L. Hawk is far better at the action-y parts of horror than at the investigative horror these books are billed as, and what the investigative parts are lacking is attention to detail. So now I’m here thinking about constructing effective mysteries and how to make every detail matter or feel like it matters, and I like these thoughts. They’re inspiring.

All in all, I’m really excited to continue with this series. I hope Christine continues to be a prominent presence and that she’ll have more of her own stuff to do rather than just accompanying the leads, because she’s amazing and deserves all the storylines. Excited to see what other curveballs Whyborne’s family has to throw, especially now that he’s utilized his newfound experience in standing up to unspeakable horrors in order to stand up to his father’s butler. Hoping that all those hints about the magic book trying to influence Whyborne’s judgment pay off at some point and create a glorious mess. And I really want to see what kind of person Griffin really ends up being once he’s done dealing with all the self-inflicted layers of deception (it’s so cool, by the way, how Whyborne’s POV makes Griffin’s arc so obvious even as Whyborne himself doesn’t seem to be fully cognizant of his boyfriend’s issues!).

This book picks up right where the first installment of the Drake Chronicles left off and finally makes good on the first book’s early promises with all the big politics coming into play. Which means it once again leaves me feeling slightly deceived, lol. Because the first book made all those promises and then turned into a cozy slice-of-life about adapting to life at a foreign court and learning new customs and falling in love etc, etc. Now I picked up the next one expecting more of the same, with maybe slightly higher  stakes, but instead there are epic journeys and dragons and battles and an ever-increading number of POVs? Like, none of that is a bad thing, and a lot of it is quite intriguing, but can this series decide what it wants to be, please!

All in all, I feel this is what we used to call romantic fantasy before those words were shortened to romantasy and started defining a specific brand of capital R romance in a magical secondary world setting. It’s a fantasy adventure with elements of a family saga, there are dragons and adventures and drama, and there are also prominent romantic storylines. Eric and Ollie’s continuing love story is the biggest among them, but there’s also Tessa’s love triangle with Eric’s nephews that is steadily getting more tangled, and the evolving tension between Revna and Bryne, and then in the “meanwhile back in Drakewell” chapters we’ve got Amelia and Malcolm, whom I’ve personally been really rooting for, but I digress. What I mean to say, this isn’t a straight-up romance following a single couple, but it’s a very romantic story still and maybe just a bit of soap opera, except in a viking-inspired fantasy land with dragons. A pretty entertaining one at that, my gripes with the slight mood whiplash notwithstanding.

I liked seeing Ollies come more into his own and let his sassy side show more and more, both with Eric and around other people. I really, really liked the exciting worldbuilding developments: between shamans and dragons and necromancy, there was never a dull moment in terms of all these discoveries. And the characters all remain really well fleshed-out. What the book is severely lacking, though, is proper editing. There are a lot of typos and awkward turns of phrase that scream “first draft,” and the narrative itself really begs to be tightened up. Because sometimes, it just goes off on tangents, or there are obvious filler/fluff scenes taking up too much space, and while there’s some great character work in those for the most part, it really messes with the pacing.

Such a wonderful winter fairytale with just the right balance of darkness and hope. It’s a Snow Queen retelling that starts off really close to the source material, though it does dig deeper into certain plot points and implications behind them, as well as generally fleshes out the characters. Then, gradually, more and more light twists are added to the narrative, turning it into its own fairytale-inspired story. Still a retelling, of course, but with its own unique flavor.

I really liked the interpretation of Gerta here, with her combination of naiveté and determination and the quiet strength she hones throughout her journey. Her relationship with Janna, the robber girl, was engrossing enough, though I think I expected just a bit more sharpness and bite from Janna. The titular animals were my absolute favorites, Mousebones the raven especially, and this version of Kai is someone I really, vindictively liked hating.

There’s a lot of northern folklore here lovingly woven around the fairy tale tropes, Finnish/Sámi for the most part, and it made the story especially enjoyable to me. I also, as usual, had great fun with Kingfisher’s dialogue and her charming wit. Every book of hers I read reminds me why she’s among my favorite authors.

Here comes yet another book that seemed so fun from the blurb yet ended up a complete miss. My book-picking game is clearly very off.

I did have some real fun with this one, at least—though not because of the things I expected to enjoy about it. Rather, despite them. Because see, when it comes to romance, I expect to be invested in the main couple, but here, these two characters just honestly baffled me. Beat especially (if someone’s blackmailing you with your family’s dirty laundry, idk, maybe getting the money from agreeing to a reality show that is almost guaranteed to dig into your family’s dirty laundry is… not the best move?). But honestly, both of them made so many weird choices and conclusions, especially about each other, and I really didn’t get how their brand of insta-love worked. They just confused me, both as individual characters and especially as a couple.

On the other hand, the whole plot with the tv show and reuniting the MCs’ moms’ band was pretty entertaining. Sometimes cheesy, sometimes slightly unhinged, but it was all good fun, and I honestly kept wishing it was at the forefront of the book more often. Both moms were hilarious, especially their banter when they ended up in a scene together, and their clashing personalities really gave those reality tv vibes. They made me laugh the way only mildly horrible yet occasionally well-meaning people can.

Still sad I didn’t get the type of romance I came from though.

Literally the only reason I persevered through this entire book was because I needed something with a ship on the cover to finish off the Readdun bingo. Otherwise, I would have absolutely DNF’ed.

Frankly, I think this book was done an enormous disservice by being marketed as an adult fantasy novel. Becaues it’s YA. Like, I don’t care how many f-bombs are dropped per chapter, it’s absolutely 100% YA. The very premise involves a bunch of characters—some of whom are literal teenagers and all of whom are acting like ones—going through a literal rite of passage, basically suspended between their adolescent lives and assuming the adult responsibilities that expect them. If there is a more quintessential young adult experience, I’ve yet to think of one. Oh, and Dee, the MC, does not actually have the special thing that makes others special, and is forced to live a lie thanks to his lying, cheating father, and he’s rebelling against it, and his very first appearance is focused on disobeying his Dad. And the book wants me to believe Dee is *checks* in his twenties. Hmm. As someone who just recently was on a contemporary YA kick, I can confidently say the only difference between him and the average fictional high school senior is that those fictional seniors are generally more mature and better capable of growth.

The worldbuilding is super simplistic, with the world divided into 12 districts… sorry, provinces who all play exactly one important part each in the empire’s structure. There used to be 13 of them, but the 13th district… sorry, province rebelled and was excluded and the empire’s now at war with it. On top of that, each province has a special animal associated with it and a unique anime-style hair color. The magic system is incredibly loose and vague and its rules keep changing based on… whatever the author thought would be cool for any given scene, probably. The worldbuilding overall is full of holes and underexplored opportunities. There’s one detail that I found interesting: the magic gift that marks the rulers in this setting literally passes from parents to children, as in, once a child gets it the parents doesn’t have it anymore and is eventually forced to abdicate in favor of the child. But the number of weird loopholes and inconsistencies about it all, as well as traditions/laws that make little sense when poked at, didn’t really let me enjoy it.

If all of the above was just a little bit better edited and marketed correctly, it could make for an entertaining YA romp, actually. One that would still have considerable flaws, though, such as an absent sense of setting. I think by combining modern world details with high fantasy, the author was going for something like Gideon the Ninth, but the result was… not it. Or there’s also the romantic plotline that simply made zero sense. Try as I might, I have no idea where those feelings came from.

Again, there absolutely is a decent YA novel hiding somewhere in the folds of this book. Dee’s sass is kind of fun, even when obnoxious. He started annoying me pretty early on, but somehow he never stopped being entertaining, so kudos for that. A lot of the other characters have great potentially, if only they got flashed out a little more. The setting has its cool elements, they just needed to be double-checked for consistency. The mystery isn’t badly constructed. But I don’t feel like there is anything here that would fit the expectations for an adult fantasy mystery, and I’m honestly just… baffled by this marketing choice.

My feelings on this book are so incredibly mixed! On one hand, I adore the idea of it: a lifetimes-spanning love story (definitely not a genre romance though) with the narrative going back and forth between historical periods. On the other hand, I kind of disliked the execution, and in many ways I’m still struggling to put a finger on the specific flaws that hindered my enjoyment. I think they exist somewhere on the intersection of structure and characterization. The way the timelines intersected within the larger narrative was often confusing and I failed to grasp the logic between the switches from one to another. The characters didn’t really feel like versions or reflections of the same souls through the ages, more like completely separate people. All the storylines felt like they lacked space—maybe each of them would’ve done better as a whole separate book. 

At the same time, there were definitely a lot of moments that really stuck with me, especially in the historical storylines (the modern one, truth be told, I could practically do without). I liked the folklore-inspired bits and all the reminiscences about fate and power. But it was also a constant back-and-forth between the pages that kept me engrossed and the ones that were tedious to get through. Such a weird effect. It’s like I’ve read two or three books awkwardly smashed together. Even the prose wasn’t consistent: it flowed so well in some parts, then turned incredibly clunky for a while. Perhaps this just wasn’t a book for me, even though it sounded like it should be from the blurb!

Well. This was really engrossing in some ways, and incredibly boring in others. In many ways, it reminded me of a TTRPG setting book more so than a novel. Just with a bigger-than-usual helping of narrative holding it together. I got a pretty thorough impression of the city of Eastborne, and a decent understanding of Aedrea as a whole, and some idea of all those places mentioned in the MC’s father’s journal/cocktail recipes collection. Everything remotely plotty that happens on the page feels precisely like story hooks for someone to turn into actual story that’s more than just an assortment of events. The characters have their rare moments, but for the most part, feel quite flat—like they’re merely vehicles for exploring the world.

That last part was really a big disappointment for me, not just because I generally prefer character-driven fiction, but also because the MC’s deal at the very beginning looked so promising. I was looking forward to watching a war veteran with magic-related chronic pain start a new life and find hope and healing, while dealing with the baggage in some way. Instead, it didn’t feel like that baggage even existed outside of occasionally bringing up the pain and the magic. Rhoren mostly just… completely discarded the old and focused on the new. He could have had any other type of backstory and nothing would change, neither about his personality nor what there was of the plot. 

The setting, on the other hand, *is* very well-described, cozy, picturesque, and livable. I wish I could visit. All the cocktail-recipes are very fun and lovingly described, too.

I have no idea why I waited so long to start this series. Obviously the wrong choice, because I love it! This first book isn’t without flaws, but it hits so many of my preferences in such good ways. I knew going in there would be lovecraftian horror elements here, but I didn’t realize it’s full-on lovecrafian fiction, down to the MC being a Miskatonic University alumni. Lovecraft made queer happens to be my favorite brand of horror in the world (I’m kinda an eldritch thing at heart), so that alone was enough to make me squee in excitement early on, and the way all the horrors were handled? 10/10! The vibe and the ratio of horrors to investigations to interpersonal hijinks reminded me of some of my favorite Call of Cthulhu campaigns I was in. Just. Exactly the absolute correct balance, 100% what it should be, can’t properly put into words the absolute rightness of it.

Whyborne, the MC/narrator, took his time to grow on me. At first, I was low-key annoyed by what a blushing virgin he was, and I don’t even mean his behavior in regards to his budding relationship with Griffin, just his whole wallflower mindset. It really seemed way over the top. But as the story progressed, I began to think that I would’ve been far less annoyed by him—maybe the opposite of annoyed, even—if I was seeing him through someone else’s eyes, not his own. He’s not *actually* the epitome of awkwardness, he just strongly perceives himself as such! He’s an unreliable narrator when it comes to himself. Once that clicked, I actually started appreciating him a whole damn lot. He may feel like he’s constantly making a fool of himself and annoying people, but when you just look at his actions, he’s in fact pretty badass. I loved all the multiple uses he found for the single fire spell, the way he kept coming close to falling under the implied influence of the eldritch spellbook and noping out every time, and everything he did around the culmination of the plot. 

Griffin, on the other hand, stole my heart practically from his first appearance. There was just something so endearing about him and his kindness from the get-go, I totally understand why Whyborne fell for him so fast. There was a hot minute when I thought that maybe he was getting a bit too perfect, but then he started revealing hidden depth, ranging from eldritch-related trauma to some excellent acting/lying skills, and my interest was renewed again. I just kept looking at all these puzzle pieces, all the things he clearly wasn’t telling Whyborne without Whyborne realizing it, and thinking about all the potential ways they could be used in the third act to create the perfectly painful misunderstanding that would make way too much sense. (That is, in fact, exactly what happened. I loved every bit of that specific misunderstanding and everything that followed.)

I’m still unsure if I’m buying that I’m buying these two characters as an OTP, though. I’m definitely seeing the chemistry, and the grounds for bonding over bad past experiences, and they kick ass together against eldritch horrors and creepy cultists with a reasonable amount of synergy. But what I’m seeing in this book, at least on Whyborne’s part, feels kinda more like sexually charged puppy love with a potential of simmering down into great friendship rather than the beginnings of a strong romantic feeling. But hey, the series has like 10 more books to convince me of this partnership, and I’m definitely reading on for the love of the eldritch, so I’ll give these two a chance!

As for other characters, Christine is my absolute favorite. She’s awesome on every level. I would read a whole prequel series about her becoming this badass archeologist despite whateveer nonsense the men around her had to say about this. I hope she remains a fixture in all the subsequent books, and I hope she never changes because I’m in love with her no-nonsense attitude, her dry wit, her subdued compassion, her courage—*everything* about her. In a far less positive sense, I am fascinated by the Whyborne family and eager to read more about them. I expect some delightful messes and maybe a mild improvement in like 5 books or so, at this rate. Also, all the cultists who actually got names, personalities, and goals were really engaging to read about (and yes, I understand why they couldn’t all be important named characters, but I still remain curious about the rest).

When it comes to flaws, I guess I can complain about the spicy scenes being kind of cringey and some minor continuity details being off here and there. All in all, there’s this sense of the author and the story still finding their footing, with the narrative literally becoming stronger with each next chapter. I’m really excited for all that comes next.

 Sadly, I'm just not feeling this one. It's been almost 1/4 of the book, and I still don't have the feel for the characters. Or the world. Or the plot. There are a lot of cool ideas here for sure. I loved the premise; it definitely tries to do the same flavor of cozy fantasy I enjoyed in Sarah Beth Durst's The Spellshop, the one where the coziness happens on the edge of darker, sadder events and there's a strong focus on healing. But I don't think it's succeeding. There's already been multiple moments when I wanted to dig deeper into the characters or the world around them, but all the interesting stuff is underexplored or mentioned once and ignored. 

I’ve always enjoyed mystery subplots in KJ Charles’s romance novels, so I was pretty excited to read her first foray into mystery genre—and I wasn’t disappointed one bit. This novel has everything I’ve always loved about this author’s books: complex, fully realized characters, an engaging plot, and a strong sense of well-researched historical setting. There’s still a bit of queer romance here, too, though it’s just a side plot this time, with a messy, tangled web of other types of relationships taking center stage. All those human connections absolutely made the book for me and made me feel super invested in figuring out the identity of the killer (it was exactly who I’d suspected the most, but I still gasped at the reveal).

The premise is this: a member of a notable student clique in Oxford was mysteriously murdered about a decade ago, and to this day Jem, the protagonist, is haunted by the murder. When a letter accusing him of this crime shows up at his workplace and costs him his job, he feels the need to search for the real killer, no matter what sorts of secrets and baggage he dredges up in the process. His circle of suspects is pretty narrow and consists only of all the other members of what used to be a close-knit friends group.

As he reconnects with those former friends of his and lets them know of his intentions, the story turns almost dual-timeline with copious flashbacks highlighting the good, bad, and ugly times back at Oxford. I expected to enjoy those flashbacks the most, because I’m a sucker for the dark academia vibe, but in truth I mostly remained caught up in the present-day plot and appreciated those trips into the past simply for the context they added. Jem was such a compelling protagonist to follow, with a mixture of determination and doubts in his head that felt oddly relatable. And then there were all the others—Nicky, Prue, Aaron, Ella, Hugo. I can’t even settle on a favorite character, I love them all and would happily read a book with each of them as the MC.

As I’ve come to expect from this author’s works, there’s a fair amount of attention drown to the prominent social issues of the time period—some of which bear a striking resemblance to the issues we still have to contend with today, over a century later. ~~Sometimes I despair of human race~~. This is something I for the most part greatly appreciated, though I admit the handling of the subplot focused on reproductive rights was a bit heavy-handed. I fully agree with the sentiments shared by the characters and I think this is a super important topic to discuss today, in fiction and otherwise. But every time it came up, I felt like the characters were lecturing/ranting at me, the reader, on the issue rather than organically discussing it among themselves. And hey, I 100% nodded along with the rants! But those were the only times when I also felt taken out of the story.