Tag: book review

Review: Vicious (#1) by V.E. Schwab

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments
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Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.
Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

It’s time to talk about my first 5 star read of 2022, and it’s no surprise that it’s a V.E. Schwab book! I’ve been slowly making my way through buddy reading some more of her books with Alex, and I’m so glad we finally picked up Vicious. Schwab has this incredible skill of writing completely unique stories with a writing style that feels equally different in each book/series and familiar. I love diving into new books by her and picking up a new story knowing I never know what to expect.

This story is different from anything by Schwab I’ve read before, and I really loved the premise. This one is a gritty story following two college roommates who become extra-ordinaries, and ten years later are trying to track each other down as enemies. The chapters switch between many different time periods, from present day to 10 years before and pretty much anywhere in between, and I was so surprised at how easy it was to follow – it really requires some skill to write like that.

Plenty of humans were monstrous,

Schwab writes amazing morally grey characters and I loved reading about them in this book. Although I can never decide whether I want to root for the characters, there are definitely a couple of characters in this series who I liked, and I want to get behind as I go into Vengeful.

The writing in this is immaculate, and I absolutely loved the audiobook too. The narrator did an incredible job of reading this and fit the book so well. I couldn’t stop listening to this book and I found myself becoming so involved in the story easily.

and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.

I firmly believe this is the superhero book that everyone needs. The short chapters make it addictive, with a fast paced plot and easy-to-read writing. I know I’ll be recommending it to everybody!

★★★★★
5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: Pride & Prejudice – a retelling by Laura Wood

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment
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Witty, intelligent Elizabeth Bennet has no desire for a marriage of convenience. And when she meets the handsome, wealthy Mr Darcy, her opinion of him is quickly set: he is aloof, selfish and proud – the last man in the world she would ever marry.
Until their paths cross again, and again, and the pair begin to realise that first impressions can be flawed… But as Elizabeth and Darcy become entangled in a dance through the strict hierarchies of society, will there be space for true love to bloom?

After having read A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood and Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen last year, I knew this one would be one I wanted to pick up. I then realised just before the book was released that this one is actually published by Barrington Stoke, a dyslexia friendly publisher. I’ve read a few books published by them, and after reading this one with Alex, we found out there’s also retellings of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights that we’d love to pick up in the future.

Rather than this book being inspired by Pride & Prejudice, it’s actually a direct retelling of the story using the same characters, plot and basis for the writing. It’s a simplified version of the story which takes the bare bones but keeps the feeling, plot and even some of the main quotes from the original book, which I loved.

Laura Wood did an incredible job of taking this story and making a much shorter, more accessible version that still gave me the atmosphere and feeling that the original book did. If I ever wanted to have a taste of the original book without watching an adaptation, I’d definitely pick this one up happily!

★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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ARC Review: Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment
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Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister’s place in the palace. Trained from birth to return to the place of her parents’ murder and usurp the only survivor, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Or she would, if only a certain palace guard wasn’t quite so distractingly attractive, and if her reckless magic didn’t have a habit of causing trouble…
Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility. Marriage into a brutal kingdom awaits, and she will not let a small matter like waking up in the middle of the desert in the company of an extremely impertinent (and handsome) kidnapper get in the way of her royal duty. But life outside the palace walls is wilder and more beautiful than she ever imagined, and the witches she has long feared might turn out to be the family she never knew she was missing.
Two sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other’s lives a whole lot better. But as coronation day looms closer and they each strive to claim their birthright, the sinister Kingsbreath, Willem Rathborne, becomes increasingly determined that neither will succeed. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown?

Thank you to the publishers of this book for a pre-release copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of the most advanced copies before release I’ve ever been sent – it actually doesn’t release until May 12th! I’ve had this one for a couple of months, but I’ve finally picked it up a few months ahead of publication and this one was such a pleasant surprise. I’ve read Wing Jones and Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Katherine Webber and absolutely loved them, so when I saw she was a co-author of this new YA fantasy, I knew I wanted to pick it up.

I wasn’t sure how this would read, and I was a little daunted by the size of it, clocking in at just over 500 pages. But I soon realised this one is such an easy read and almost feels a little guilty pleasure because of it – I’ve seen that this is a-likened to The Selection and although I would disagree in a lot of ways (this one is definitely a lot more sophisticated!) I definitely felt similar with how easy this one was to read.

I liked so much about this series on top of the wonderful writing – both Wren and Rose were brilliant female main characters, and I really liked both of them. I was a little concerned about Rose coming across as privileged due to her upbringing, and even though she does to a degree, I still really liked her character. I also liked the love interests which definitely made for a more enjoyable read, and I liked the animal companions so much too!

The setting and magic world are both great to read about, and I could definitely picture the world very well. The world-building is brilliantly balanced with the rest of the story, and I really enjoyed reading about it. The plot was well paced for the most part, and the only part that let me down slightly was right at the end, which felt quite rushed.

Overall, this book just had so many great parts to it and I really enjoyed reading. It didn’t quite reach 5 stars for me, but it was very close to it!

★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: The Poppy War (#1) by R.F. Kuang

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments
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When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.
But surprises aren’t always good.
Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.
For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .
Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.

You know there are some books that just grip you from the start and you have a feeling that they just may turn out to be a 5 star read? This one was one of those books, but I’m very sad to say it didn’t quite live up to expectations as we went through the story.

This book starts with Rin studying to pass the Keju exam which will allow her to travel north to Sinegard, a military academy and escape a marriage that has been set up by her parents. I loved these chapters so much and I was so optimistic with the start of this book. I listened to this one on audiobook, and I feel like there are some audiobooks you have to focus on throughout the entire story, and some that capture your attention so suddenly that you can’t help but be entranced. This was one of those books.

I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible. 

However, what I thought might last for the entire book ended quite soon into the story, and around 150-200 pages in, we are thrown from Sinegard Academy and into a war zone. Although this was more what I expected from this series before starting it, I was enjoying the academy setting so much that I did find it quite disappointing to go to the complicated, confusing and pressure-filled environment of a war. Although the rest of the book was still enjoyable, it in no way blew me away like the first 150 pages did, dropping my rating from 5 stars to 4.

There was still so much I loved about this book, however. I really liked how a lot of the topics were handled, from marriage to birth control and children, racism and classism to self harm. Please beware if you are going into this book there are a lot of trigger warnings and heavy topics that I will mention at the end of this review, and some of these were disturbing to read about. But for the most part, I thought a lot of the difficult topics were handled quite well.

Was she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.

Overall, this didn’t end up being a 5 star read for me, but I did still really enjoy it and I’m intrigued to see where the story goes in the next two books!

TW: sexual assault, self harm, violence, murder, genocide, gore, rape, animal cruelty, human experimentation, torture, mutilation

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: More Than This by Patrick Ness

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment
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A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies. Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive. How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?
As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?

I’ve had this book on my shelf for a very long time, and I don’t know why I’ve felt so daunted by it. Although this book is fairly long, clocking in at almost 500 pages, it reads so easily and so quickly. It’s been so long since I read a Patrick Ness book and I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed it.

I don’t know what I quite expected from this one, but it definitely wasn’t what it ended up being. We follow a boy after he drowns as he wakes up in his childhood home, which doesn’t appear to have changed since he was a child and his family moved to America. He is the only person in the world, and nobody appears to have been around for years.

A book… it’s a world all on its own too. 

I was a little concerned where this one would go, as I often feel with dystopian books. This one was the second dystopia/post apocalyptic book I read in January and with both I really wasn’t sure where this was going to go or even where I wanted it to go. I just knew that I’d feel at the end if the outcome was what I wanted or not.

I wasn’t quite sure how I felt at the very end of the book, but overall the outcome was super interesting and inventive. This took a sci-fi turn which I didn’t quite expect but I didn’t mind the way it went. Considering the story mainly focused on one character alone in the world, the pacing felt very fast, and it was interspersed with flashbacks from his life. There were some important topics faced, including homophobia and sexuality in general.

A world made of words, where you live for a while.

Overall, this one was a super enjoyable read. Not quite 5 stars, but one I found really entertaining and I sped through over a couple of days.

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments
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Greece in the age of Heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is nobody, just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles.
Achilles, “best of all the Greeks,” is everything Patroclus is not—strong, beautiful, the child of a goddess—and by all rights their paths should never cross. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his wing and soon their tentative connection gives way to a steadfast friendship. As they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something far deeper—despite the displeasure of Achilles’ mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.
Fate is never far from the heels of Achilles. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to the hands of Fate.

I can’t believe I finally read this book and that I’m finally going to articulate my thoughts and feelings on this one. Which are very, very mixed. I feel like reading and reviewing books as hyped as this one is always going to be difficult, and I couldn’t help but be very apprehensive going into this one. I’ve read Circe by Madeline Miller and sadly it wasn’t for me, but I had a lot of hope going into this one because it does read very differently.

The Song of Achilles is definitely a lot less dense and a lot more accessible than Circe, and I immediately found myself connecting much more with the characters. The first part of this book was much easier to follow and I enjoyed it more, and it contained a lot of intimate scenes between Patroclus and Achilles. I really liked these scenes, which I think is why I couldn’t connect to the end of the story.

I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. 

Although this does follow the lead up to the Trojan War, and the latter part of the book does focus on the Trojan War itself. This is where I really started to lose interest, and missed the lack of focus on the relationship side of the story and the intimacy between the couple. Another problem I had was with the way women were portrayed, and sometimes it almost felt like there was a ‘token’ woman who was treated better – in this case Briseis – that excused the way other women were treated. Despite this, Briseis is still treated very much as an object and a status symbol. Although this reflects the myth accurately, this is a retelling so in my opinion could have been changed or even left out. It does feel a little softened, but still came across badly to me.

I really liked the writing, however, and at times it reminded me of the writing in Call Me By Your Name, with the same beautiful tones and level of vulnerability and honesty. The two felt so human, and the way their love comes across is gorgeously written and portrayed.

I would know him in death, at the end of the world.

Although there were many aspects I enjoyed about this book, I think a lot of it still wasn’t quite for me. I’ll definitely keep this one on my shelves though, as I’d like to come back to it in future.

★★★★
3.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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ARC Review: This Woven Kingdom (#1) by Tahereh Mafi

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment
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To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight.
The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.

Thank you to the publisher, HarperCollins, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those books I wanted to like so, so badly. I’ve had mixed experience with Mafi’s books – from being disappointed by Shatter Me but absolutely loving A Very Large Expanse of Sea. I decided to pick this one up due to the intriguing synopsis and some great blurbs from some of my favourite authors such as Cassandra Clare and Leigh Bardugo.

Sadly this book just ended up being okay for me. I read 400 out of the 495 pages in just one day, so I must say this one was an easy read and was compelling enough for me to continue. But I also feel like I could summarise the plot in a few sentences. What I expected to happen by a quarter of the way through the book happened three quarters of the way through, and I feel like most of the book was summarised in the synopsis itself.

I did really like Alizeh’s character and she had a strong identity which I loved, and she felt like a strong female lead. I wasn’t a big fan of Kamran and I do feel like Mafi struggles to write male characters that I have any sympathy with. Their romance felt very insta-love to me which I also struggled to enjoy reading about.

The part of the book that probably turned out to be my favourite was the world building, and I liked the fantasy elements a lot. It felt like a really unique fantasy in a lot of ways and elements such as the language felt really natural and genuine.

Overall, this one was definitely mixed but I enjoyed it, it just didn’t blow me away.

★★★★
3.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: The Monsters of Rookhaven by Padraig Kenny

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments
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Mirabelle has always known she is a monster. When the glamour protecting her unusual family from the human world is torn and an orphaned brother and sister stumble upon Rookhaven, Mirabelle soon discovers that friendship can be found in the outside world.
But as something far more sinister comes to threaten them all, it quickly becomes clear that the true monsters aren’t necessarily the ones you can see.

This book reminded me of a younger version of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and had a lot of gothic/horror aspects that still felt applicable for the age group. This one is a middle grade book following a house known as Rookhaven, where Mirabelle lives with her family. The family are monsters, and each have something that makes them unique.

The family are exiled from the local village, looked down upon by humans and protected from the outside world by a veil. But one day, a crack in the veil allows two humans, Jem and Tom, to break through and end up staying in the house with the family.

I really liked the growing friendship between Jem and Mirabelle, who end up being some of our main characters alongside a human from the local village and Piglet, one of the monsters. The friendship between the two girls represent a growing bond and understanding between the humans and monsters, and was super interesting to read about in this fantasy landscape.

The setting was a lot of fun to read about and it definitely didn’t feel small in the way it is contained within the house and the local village. The story is complimented beautifully with illustrations from Edward Bettison and I added an extra layer of chilling atmosphere.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend this one for any ages, but it definitely has a childlike wonder alongside being deliciously dark!

★★★★
3.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: A Conjuring of Light (#3) by V.E. Schwab

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment
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THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED…
The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise.
WHO WILL CRUMBLE?
Kell – once assumed to be the last surviving Antari – begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?
WHO WILL RISE?
Lila Bard, once a commonplace – but never common – thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.
WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL?
And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay. 

This book is the final and concluding in a 3 part series from V.E. Schwab, and one I’ve been meaning to read for a very long time. I’ve been listening to this entire series partly on audiobook and partly reading the physical copies, and I have to say the audiobooks improved drastically as the series went on. I also read these with Alex, and it was great to have the motivation to read these as the last one is particularly chunky!

I really loved how the plots varied throughout this whole series. The first one was so different it almost stood as a standalone, and the other two seemed to have a more continuous plot, but still felt separate enough to keep things interesting. It definitely meant the whole series kept a fast pace and felt interesting throughout, rather than one feeling like a bridge book between the other two.

“Love and loss,” he said, “are like a ship and the sea. They rise together. The more we love, the more we have to lose. 

I loved the characters and I definitely grew closer to them as the series went on, but it was also the most disappointing part for me. I just felt like I could have had an ever so slightly closer connection to them, and I just wanted to feel more emotion towards them in parts when I really felt like I should have done. I still loved the characters, but I couldn’t help but compare them to Six of Crows, another third person point of view fantasy with a found family aspect.

This last book did feel quite long, but it was well balanced. In places it almost felt like it was a little too long, but it definitely didn’t feel like a slog or a struggle to read in any way. The writing was absolutely amazing and was probably my favourite aspect of the entire series – these books have some brilliant quotes!

But the only way to avoid loss is to avoid love. And what a sad world that would be.”

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed reading this series but it didn’t quite reach 5 stars for me because I wanted to feel slightly more emotional than I did. However, I’d still highly recommend them!

★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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Review: You and Me at the End of the World by Brianna Bourne

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment
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This is no ordinary apocalypse…
Hannah Ashton wakes up to silence. The entire city around her is empty, except for one other person: Leo Sterling. Leo might be hottest boy ever (and not just because he’s the only one left), but he’s also too charming, too selfish, and too devastating for his own good, let alone Hannah’s.
Stuck with only each other, they explore a world with no parents, no friends, and no school and realize that they can be themselves instead of playing the parts everyone expects of them. Hannah doesn’t have to be just an overachieving, music-box-perfect ballerina, and Leo can be more than a slacker, 80s-glam-metal-obsessed guitarist. Leo is a burst of honesty and fun that draws Hannah out, and Hannah’s got Leo thinking about someone other than himself for the first time.
Together, they search for answers amid crushing isolation, but while their empty world may appear harmless . . . it’s not. Because nothing is quite as it seems, and if Hannah and Leo don’t figure out what’s going on, they might just be torn apart forever.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little hesitant going into this one as it sounded a little cliche, and I wasn’t wrong. This book felt very teen to me, and was definitely something I would have enjoyed more if I was younger, so I would definitely recommend this one for a pre-teen/young teen audience.

This book is told in alternate points of view and flicks between our two main characters, Hannah and Leo. Both of the characters have awoken in a world where they are the only two people left, and they have no idea why. 5 days later, at the start of this book, they stumble across one another and find they’re not alone in the world.

Sometimes it’s easier to be strong

One of my major concerns going into this story was that Hannah and Leo would be overly characterised, and they definitely were. Hannah was very much a ‘Ballet Chick’ (and was literally referred to as this by Leo on multiple occasions) and whenever Leo was shocked by something Hannah said or did, I almost rolled my eyes. Leo was the classic ‘Bad Boy’ with softer undertones that Hannah wasn’t expecting. As I said, this was something I would have probably looked over as a younger reader but did slightly annoy me as an adult.

The most intriguing part of this book was definitely the whole apocalypse. I was so intrigued to find out why Hannah and Leo had been left as the last people on earth, and this book kept pulling me in by teasing what could be happening. Without spoiling any of the book, I was a little concerned about where this could have been going but I actually quite liked the ending and felt like it was done quite well.

if someone else is showing cracks.

Overall, this was definitely mixed but I did enjoy reading it and I liked it, I just didn’t fall head over heels for it. If it sounds like something you’d like, I would definitely recommend it, just be aware that it does read a little younger in my opinion!

★★★
3 out of 5 stars

-Beth

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