Take a photo of a barcode or cover
xeni 's review for:
Stargazy Pie
by Victoria Goddard
At first I really disliked this book. The whole Stargazy Pie was so disgusting; too well described with it's fish heads and eyeballs. I was just very grossed out and wasn't even sure if I could finish it.
But I posted on the discord server run by Victoria and people mentioned this is really not a thing aside from the early book, and thus I continued on. And I'm quite glad I did!
The plot gets entirely too convoluted for itself: mermaids and stone arms and cultists and magical allergies, to invading house parties that turn into magical orgies and garden crops. It's all quite wild mayhem. And yet I just adored how Mrs. Etaris is our cool, calm, older matronly head keeping everyone sane, on task, and yet usually the most energetic and knowledgeable one. Since I've already read [b:The Return of Fitzroy Angursell|56392665|The Return of Fitzroy Angursell (The Red Company Reformed #1)|Victoria Goddard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1608755753l/56392665._SY75_.jpg|87873864] this was a wonderful easter egg (same with the very short line dropped about how Mr. Dart studied at Stoneybrook under Dominia Black!). I love how Victoria Goddard already has a lot of the backstory and main story of her world plotted out, so she can easily say "thus and thus character was here, doing these things" and it's normal but also extra.
But I digress! The plot, while convoluted does make a sort of sense by the end of the book (I'm not sure I entirely followed all of that, however). The characters are crazy fun. I do hope there is more of Violet in future books because she is amazing! I love that she clearly has a life and story of her own and isn't willing to divulge it to our cast (or to us) so quickly. There is still a lot there to explore, although we get so much more about Jemis' backstory than I ever hoped. I can't help but feel that all of that is going to come up again in a future book.
So, you've done it again, Victoria! I don't quite love this story with all my heart like I do Kip's and Tor's, but I adore Jemis as a protagonist. He's so stalwart, intelligent, and yet soft and squishy inside. He's kind and polite and at the same time he will not let a wrong go unaddressed. Victoria just writes the best characters, especially when it comes to men. So often men have to be physically strong or at least if they're more emotionally it's all cutting wit and straight to anger. And hers have none of those cliches. At least when Jemis loses his temper it's righteous anger about how he's been terribly wronged and it burns itself out just as fast. He's a character after my own heart, so I certainly must continue reading this series and serve it up on a silver platter! (Also the next book finally has the infamous dragon!)
But I posted on the discord server run by Victoria and people mentioned this is really not a thing aside from the early book, and thus I continued on. And I'm quite glad I did!
The plot gets entirely too convoluted for itself: mermaids and stone arms and cultists and magical allergies, to invading house parties that turn into magical orgies and garden crops. It's all quite wild mayhem. And yet I just adored how Mrs. Etaris is our cool, calm, older matronly head keeping everyone sane, on task, and yet usually the most energetic and knowledgeable one. Since I've already read [b:The Return of Fitzroy Angursell|56392665|The Return of Fitzroy Angursell (The Red Company Reformed #1)|Victoria Goddard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1608755753l/56392665._SY75_.jpg|87873864] this was a wonderful easter egg (same with the very short line dropped about how Mr. Dart studied at Stoneybrook under Dominia Black!). I love how Victoria Goddard already has a lot of the backstory and main story of her world plotted out, so she can easily say "thus and thus character was here, doing these things" and it's normal but also extra.
But I digress! The plot, while convoluted does make a sort of sense by the end of the book (I'm not sure I entirely followed all of that, however). The characters are crazy fun. I do hope there is more of Violet in future books because she is amazing! I love that she clearly has a life and story of her own and isn't willing to divulge it to our cast (or to us) so quickly. There is still a lot there to explore, although we get so much more about Jemis' backstory than I ever hoped. I can't help but feel that all of that is going to come up again in a future book.
So, you've done it again, Victoria! I don't quite love this story with all my heart like I do Kip's and Tor's, but I adore Jemis as a protagonist. He's so stalwart, intelligent, and yet soft and squishy inside. He's kind and polite and at the same time he will not let a wrong go unaddressed. Victoria just writes the best characters, especially when it comes to men. So often men have to be physically strong or at least if they're more emotionally it's all cutting wit and straight to anger. And hers have none of those cliches. At least when Jemis loses his temper it's righteous anger about how he's been terribly wronged and it burns itself out just as fast. He's a character after my own heart, so I certainly must continue reading this series and serve it up on a silver platter! (Also the next book finally has the infamous dragon!)