azahller's reviews
178 reviews

Dragon Den by Kriss Dean

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Markus has dreamed of being a Goldwing all his life, but when the day comes to break his dragon, he fails miserably at the task. His failure is actually so devastating that it is supposed to have him kicked out of Dragild (his school). Due to timing, luck, fate, or what have you, Markus is offered another chance at his dreams. All he has to do? Betray all of his friends on a secret mission. Easy, right?

This book was incredibly fast paced and fun. It was described as How To Train Your Dragons meets The Fast & The Furious. I'll be honest, I'm not familiar with The Fast & The Furious because I'm not at all interested in cars, but when you make the cars dragons... I'm very into that. I'm really excited to see where the story goes in the next book (hoping for a next book!!) because I think we made some very interesting turns at the end of this one.

I do think this book would benefit from more world building. It has the benefit of being ~mostly~ in our world, but I have many questions about many things still. I also wish we had gotten a smidge more character development, but I wasn't upset at what we did get. This is a short little book and I'll say that the way everything played out was incredibly reasonable for its length.

I think this book would be great for people who like the pitch: The Fast & The Furious x How To Train Your Dragon. Personally, I love anything with dragons.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Barbarian's Treasure by Ruby Dixon

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The order of these books is highly contested. Many fans tell you to read this one first since chronologically, it occurs first. The author says to read it third, which honestly I wish I had. I read it fourth because another subset of fans recommends that specifically. Regardless of when you read it, this book is a collection of short stories detailing how Celaena ended up in the position she did in Throne of Glass, specifically focusing on her time with the Assassin's Guild.

I really loved getting the back story fully fleshed out, especially given how much it developed Arobynn's character. My very favorite story was The Assassin and the Desert. I genuinely could read a whole series just about her time there. I thought it was fantastic. This really reignited my interest in the series and has me ready to read Queen of Shadows!

Unfortunately the short story model did ensure that every time I was really into the story, we shifted gears and lost momentum. I wish we had jumped in more in the action of some of these. I also was wary of Sam and Celaena's relationship. I wasn't wild about their chemistry and felt everything came out of nowhere just a smidge. It probably just wasn't for me, and that's fine.

I like this book! I like this series. I definitely recommend reading it after Crown of Midnight but before Heir of Fire, as SJM has advised.

Barbarian's Bride by Ruby Dixon

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This installment in the Ice Planet Barbarian series is another flashback. We join Nora and Dagesh well after their happily ever after and backtrack to how it all began. Allegedly Dagesh is telling the PG version of this story to Anna and Elsa, but we get to recall the more... adult version thanks to Nora. I don't know what the PG version centered around, but the grown up version focused on some potential incompatibility in bed.

I really liked Nora and Dagesh. They were both big sweeties and their shared shame over the entire situation was really cute and funny. Introducing strictly human concepts to the aliens is always something that hits for me in these books. I especially liked all the girls trying to throw a Jewish wedding for Nora, and explaining religion to the boys (who of course did not understand). It's also so nice to read about a world where everyone kind of assumes the best from one another.

I will say that especially in comparison to some of the other books this one felt incredibly fluffy to the point of pettiness. I think if this was one of the earlier stories, I would have taken to it more. After seeing so many couples overcome really difficult issues and terrible beginnings, I just didn't really have a ton of sympathy for this couple needing to figure out how to have fun in the sack. Don't get me wrong, it's a sweet story, but it doesn't live up to some of its companions.

Ultimately I would recommend this book as I recommend this whole series

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

In a world where items are tricked into believing an altered version of reality due to magical scrivings, Sancia finds herself hired to steal the more valuable items and tricks. Even she does not anticipate the mess her best paying job will get her into. It's as assassins chase her about the city after taking out her boss that she truly realizes the can of worms she has opened, and the moral ramifications of simply surrendering the object are too terrible to consider.

I thought this magic system was so incredibly interesting. I feel like this entire book is just a thought experiment about the greed of man in a magical world, and it felt very real to me. I especially appreciate the direction we are headed in terms of morality. Naturally, everyone is trying to gain power and knowledge, but how far is too far? At what point are the good guys no longer good? Ugh! I can't wait to find out what happens next. I love this world. I love these characters. Bravo!

I will admit that the first half of the book is significantly slower paced than the last half. I think this is due to the world building elements. Bennett does a great job of slowly introducing elements so that you're not overwhelmed with an incredible amount of new rules/information at once, but naturally that takes time to unfold. I think the rich world we end up with is a completely worthwhile payout.

I would recommend this book to people who like political fantasies and heists! 

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

3.5

Barbarian's Tease by Ruby Dixon

4.0

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Seconds before the world is to end, Arthur Dent is rescued by his friend Ford Prefect. Ford is an alien who has been hiding out on Earth for years doing research for the newest edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Armed with only this book, these two begin an intergalactic journey.

I really enjoyed Adams's writing style! It reminded me a lot of Lemony Snickett in that he is silly and ramble-y, but it is almost as if Adams is the sunshine to Snickett's grumpy. The characters were charming and fun, the jokes had me laughing out loud, and Fry's narration was truly the icing on the cake. A better match simply could not have been made for this book. I'm excited to continue on in the series and I think these will be great pick-me-ups as I continue on.

I do think that going into this, I had anticipated more plot and less ramblings. I genuinely feel that if I knew what to expect going in, this could have been a 5 star read. I also probably wouldn't have opted for the audiobook as I sometimes struggle to stay on task during audiobooks (obviously this is a me problem). I intend to reread this book physically, probably later on this year. Don't be surprised at all if I end up changing the rating.

This book is great for fans of absurd, witty humor and sci fi

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Mark is currently going through the hardest year life has ever dealt him. In order to reasonably keep his reporting job, he must interview the new hotshot shortstop for the Robins. Mark is not a sports reporter and has no interest in making this obnoxious man look good.  Eddie was just traded without warning to the Robins resulting in him making an ass of himself on national television and then topping it off with the worst batting slump anyone has ever seen. To make it worse, his manager now wants him to meet weekly with a reporter. How could anyone possibly think this is a good idea?

I fell in love with these characters so incredibly quickly. The perspective changes really gave so much insight into their characters: what they truly mean, how they are perceived, etc.  I really appreciated how queerness both was and was not a conflict in this book. I don't love to read books where queer characters have to constantly suffer for being queer but it does feel odd sometimes to root a book in a time period and then ignore the general attitude toward queer people during that time. This book found a good balance of acknowledging, but still allowing the characters to have plotlines and conflicts that didn't really harp on the issue. I was very happy with how everything turned out for them.

Grief is a very strong theme in this book as if life after tragedy/misfortune. Because of this, I would advise any reader to check the trigger warning ahead of time as I could not imagine how terrible it would feel being caught off-guard by such an incredibly sensitive subject.

This is for the baseball fans, the romance fans, and anyone interested in reading about happily ever after following tragedy.