eggcatsreads's reviews
471 reviews

Under the Surface by Diana Urban

4.25

A heart pounding thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat desperate to know what happens next, with twists and reveals that will keep you guessing until the end.

This book starts off with a bang and doesn’t let up until the end. Told with dual perspectives - Ruby, an aspiring travel vlogger whose aspirations lead her to getting lost in the Paris catacombs, and Sean, her almost-boyfriend doing everything he can from the surface to find where Ruby has gone missing. With the timeline ticking down on being able to find Ruby and the others, we don’t know who - if any - will survive to the surface. 

This is a perfect read for anyone who is a fan of YA thrillers - filled with drama, romance, betrayals and a shocking twist I didn’t see coming - I was on the edge of my seat until I finished reading. 

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Penguin Young Readers Group for providing this e-ARC.

Overgrowth by Mira Grant

4.75

 

‘I am the vanguard of an invading species of alien plant people.’

Overgrowth is the story of what happens when your friend, who’s a bit strange and has been insisting on being an alien plant instead of a human since childhood - has been telling the truth this entire time. 

Something I found fascinating was the fact that - until the actual invasion began - we can read Stasia as simply an autistic who has latched onto not being human to understand her life. I found myself relating to her and her struggles with not fitting in - being bullied her entire life leaving her anti-social with only a small group of friends who accept her as she is. In many ways, this novel almost works as a commentary on what it means to be human when you don’t understand, or are liked by, your peers. 

Of course, this novel is also about invasive meat-eating alien plants here to ‘harvest’ the people of Earth. We can’t forget that part.

Told as a countdown to the actual invasion from our main ‘non-human’ character Stasia’s point of view, we learn how she came to be - and how the invasion actually occurred. The invasion has already happened, we’re just learning about it after the dust has settled on the battlefield.

‘This is a story. It can’t hurt you anymore.’

The start of this novel is so shocking and visceral that when we fast-forward 30 years and begin to slowly meander throughout Stasia’s life - we can’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop the entire time. Kept in a kind of limbo - similar to our main character who knows she’s an alien plant here to invade Earth, but has no proof of such a claim - we can only watch in anticipated horror as the foretold invasion date slowly creeps closer. 

With Stasia finally evolving into her botanical roots, she has to decide whether to fight for humanity - who has rejected her her entire life, or her biological family who she has never before met. Are the bonds, friendships, and relationships she’s forged enough to make her forget 30+ years of hardship? Are these bonds strong enough to last even while she begins losing her humanity entirely?

Humanity has been warned for over 30 years about this upcoming invasion - and yet no one is prepared for when it finally arrives. Even Stasia’s friends and boyfriend, who claimed to believe her, are left wrong-footed when their reality suddenly changes to reflect what she’s been saying will happen this entire time. With the timeline of life on Earth slowly ticking down, relationships are put to the test and sides are chosen. 

To prevent the invasion, humanity had to do only one single thing - believe her when she warned them about it. They made their choice by making a mockery of her. And now, Stasia has to make hers.

‘Are we isolated because something - some great, predatory force - is using the space around us as a hunting ground, picking off our neighbors before they have the chance to find us?’

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Tor Nightfire for providing this e-ARC.

 

Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen

5.0

A perfect, heartwarming (after the pages and pages of heartache) ending to this trilogy, I think this might be one of the best YA series out there. With a wide range of likeable characters, legitimate issues and fantastic character interactions, if you were looking for a fantastic YA trilogy to sink your teeth into then look no further. Margaret Owen is a phenomenal writer and once I entered back into her world I was hooked until the last page - I HAD to know how everything ended. 

I won’t provide spoilers - if you read the first two books you have an idea of what you’re getting into here. And I’m here to tell you, it’s a perfect rollercoaster of a last book. Nothing was left feeling unfinished and - despite the pain throughout all three books in this trilogy - by the end I was happy and glad to have gone on the journey.

One thing I will say, that really surprised me, was how Margaret Owen has two people who feel perfect for one another - and yet, when those people enter in other relationships neither party is resentful or unjustly hates the other person. I loved how both Emeric and Vanja had other relationships while they were separated, and yet both of those other characters were full-fledged characters in their own right and we never see the typical unnecessary hate or bitterness towards them, and instead allow them to grow into their own characters within this story. I personally loved that, especially since that isn’t something you see very often. 

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing this e-ARC.

 

Strange New World by Vivian Shaw

4.75

This is one of my all-time favorite series I have read, and this book is no exception. This fun and quirky urban fantasy with down-to-earth characters and out-of-this-world conflicts is such a delight to read, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book as much as the other three in this series. 

I don’t want to spoil too much, but if you loved the other novels in the Dr. Greta Helsing novels you’ll love this one as well. Dealing with the issues felt with the literal apocalypse in the last novel, we follow our main cast - with a few new characters - as they try to navigate the consequences of those actions. I loved the insight into Heaven and Hell’s politics, and how the different styles of operation affect those living in both of those realms. I also just loved how Greta and Varney now being married and their interactions with each other were so cute and domestic, I love them both so much. 

I know this says it’s the conclusion to this series, but in all honesty this book felt like it could have set up for further books in the future, and I desperately hope that is the case. I thought the last book was the end (and that this series was actually a trilogy) and so I hope that I’ll have a similar happy surprise sometime in the future. 

(There was also some chemistry between two unexpected characters that - if this series does continue - I need to see resolved in some way. And the fallout of that, because it would blow the politics of Heaven and Hell apart, which would be an absolute delight to read. I won’t spoil it with who, but I refuse to believe they don’t have something between them.)

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Orbit for providing this e-ARC.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

4.5

“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”

SGJ continues to be the absolute best at slow-burn horror, and TBHH keeps him on that pedestal. Told mostly through journal entries from 1912, we follow as a Lutheran pastor gets a confession he never expected to hear - and faces the consequences of the choices he’s made.

With a fresh take on the vampire genre and a creeping historical narrative that would fit next to Dracula, this book forces you to confront the bloody history of America and its treatment of the native Americans who were here first. Bloody and compelling, we can’t help but sympathize with the actions of Good Stab even when he leaves a trail of bodies behind him in his wake. 

I also loved the interpretation of the vampire within this novel, and how one specific thing affects those who are afflicted with the condition. When we finish with the journal entries that one specific trait suddenly becomes front page and center, and we are confronted with a type of body horror that - while mentioned - was always relegated to the back-burner before this point. 

My only issue is that I wasn’t as familiar with the history as I wish I was before getting into this novel, as well as I wished there were a translation guide for some of the words Good Stab uses to describe his narrative. The book does an excellent job of not holding your hand throughout, but with some of the names for the animals used I wished there was a way for me to look up a translation, as in many ways Google was unhelpful. (Some words are given definitions, like I now know that dirty-face means mouse, but others were not or I had missed it during my read-through.) This didn’t take away my enjoyment of this novel, only that in some ways I had difficulty understanding what exactly was going on, as I wasn’t sure which animal was actually being described here. 

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Saga Press for providing this e-ARC.

 

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

5.0

What is madness if everyone is mad? What is depravity if everyone is depraved? What is power if no one is in control? This book makes you think about all of this, and more, while making you come into direct contact with some of the worst conditions humans can endure while trapped in a finite space - and whether or not anyone even deserves to be saved. 

In all honesty, you need to go into this book with an open mind and an empty stomach, and just allow yourself to be engrossed in it. I went into this book entirely blind and I personally think that was the best decision I could have made. The second you think you understand where this book is going you will be hit with another round of madness just around the corner making you realize you don’t understand anything at all. Enter of your own free will and enjoy the ride, because you’ll be taken on one whether you want to be or not. 

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing this e-ARC.

Tideborn by Eliza Chan

2.25

With the beautiful storytelling and political climate in Fathomfolk, I was really excited to see how this duology would end in Tideborn and unfortunately, I was left extremely underwhelmed. In many ways I felt like this book was written as if it was intended to be the second book in a trilogy, and not a duology, as it focused on small inconsequential details that did not go anywhere, and included a journey that felt rushed to complete at the end. Up until the about 80% mark the book meanders throughout its storytelling, and then suddenly everything is wrapped up in a weird nice little bow as everything resolves itself because the author remembered this book was the ending and not the middle. 

I also noticed how inconsistent the characterization was throughout. For instance, Kai’s mother, Jiang-Li, was constantly fluctuating on her treatment of Mira. She would treat her poorly for not being “pure folk” and for marrying her son and being the cause of his death - but then, the next chapter she would be silently supportive or openly friendly with her. I kept mixing up this character with someone else as I was reading because her characterization was so inconsistent that I kept thinking “no, surely this is some other dragon matriarch” because that made more sense than her character simply…doing whatever was needed to move the plot forward. In the same way, Cordelia randomly decided to take “revenge” on Mira randomly throughout the book, but her reasoning was flimsy at best, and she would be doing this while also being friendly and helpful to her. It made absolutely no sense. 

I also felt like the author focused too much on keeping the same POV characters from Fathomfolk, as Cordeilia’s entire subplot with her daughter and drug-smuggling had no point to it. Instead, we have her son Gede having - apparently - a TON of growth and characterization that we never see happen! It’s just there! He is the character I found the most interesting, and we never get any chapters focused on him, or his thoughts. 

Nami’s entire plot also did not go anywhere at all. To avoid too many spoilers, her character arc was clumsily done and Firth only showed up to force her hand into actually developing as a character. However, the journey that she goes on, that is so important for her to do? Meaningless. Absolutely nothing comes from it, and her entire goal fails entirely. She’s supposed to find the other titan and try to keep it from destroying Tiankawi - but when she fails at doing this spectacularly, she acts like Jiang-Li’s plan to use her pearl to destroy the titan is the worst possible thing that could happen. And I’m reading this like, well? Okay, then? What’s your plan, because otherwise only one of you isn’t killing everyone in the city, and it’s not you! 

This book was too ambitious, had too many unconnected plots, and doesn’t solve any of them - but rather, just…ends. The book ends and everything is “resolved” because this is supposed to be the ending to a duology, and so this story has to be resolved. I was left extremely disappointed, because - while I did have some issues with Fathomfolk, I could see the potential and was hoping this ending would deliver. Instead, it meandered, focused on unimportant characters and plots, and then suddenly ended without warning. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing this e-ARC.

When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur

5.0

A delicious Southern Gothic horror that traps you from the first page and makes you really question what you would make a deal with the devil for. 

This book ensnared me from the first page, and didn’t let go until the ending. We follow four teens as they become more and more entangled in the lore and danger of the town they live in - Carrion, the poorer area; and Lake Clearwater, right next door for the wealthy. With a strange intensity every 13 years when the cicadas arrive, everyone knows that people go missing around this time - and no one knows why. 

Sam is the daughter of a man who no one will acknowledge is the hidden violent power behind the Langleys. Reid is a Langley, the most powerful family in Lake Clearwater and the center of the local legend surrounding the town. Neera lives in and works for her grandparents' hotel, but dreams of escaping Carrion to be a musician. And Isaiah is a true crime podcaster who gets an email from someone who went missing, but investigating would require him to look into his own hometown. Brought together during the 13 year cicada emergence when strange things begin to occur, they might discover something happening even deeper under the surface of their town. 

One thing I really loved was the inclusion of the folk legend about Lake Clearwater, as well as the song people sing to warn their children about making deals with the devils. The occasional refrains, and mention of the legend during the book really brought home the insular feel of the town, with the feeling that everyone knows that there’s something lurking further beneath the surface - but other than a select few chosen, they only know enough to be wary about it. As I was reading I was trying to connect the dots about everything that was going on within the town, and while I was able to figure out a few, some were a legitimate surprise to me. This book kept me interested until the last page, and I had to know how it ended before I could stop reading. 

If you love tense and atmospheric creeping Southern Gothic, complete with cult activity and living folklore, then When Devils Sing is the book for you. A phenomenal debut, this novel captured the feel of the south - and the local legends that everyone knows about, but won’t admit to being true. 

The devil went down to Georgia

The devil went down and never left

They say you meet the devil

At the crossroads down in Georgia

When there ain’t no options left

There’s the devil you know

The devil you don’t

The devil you wish you’d never met

Be careful of the devils down in Georgia

There ain’t no coming back from the pact

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing this e-ARC.

 

Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff

3.25

A light campy cozy horror novel where the nearest eldritch horror might just be your neighbor, and a town where the god is very real - and all you need to do is make a sacrifice for it!

Direct Descendant fits right into that campy semi-serious horror genre that fits podcasts like Welcome to Night Vale and novels like The Stranger Times, and once the story took off I could see the charm. 

My biggest issue with this novel was the beginning simply dumping you into the story with no buildup or anything to make the reader understand anything of what was going on - or who any of the characters were. Several times I re-checked to ensure that this actually was a standalone novel and not a “standalone but connected to another series” novel, because in many ways it felt like one. Rather than introducing the reader to the story, the location, or the characters - we are instead starting in the middle of the story, and we (the reader) have to slowly piece together who exactly everyone is, and what exactly is going on. Once this footing was found I enjoyed this novel a great deal more, but the rough start seriously made me consider DNF’ing as it was just very difficult to get into the story. 

However, I did find this novel to be cute and charming, and I always have a soft spot for stories that add the aspect of “cursed town but everyone is fine with it” into it. I love stories that focus on a small group of people having insider information, where the world at large is ignorant of whatever is “actually” going on - and this town fits the bill perfectly. 

When a stranger Sacrifices himself and vanishes, it sets off unexpected consequences throughout the livelihoods of everyone around. Suddenly, the agreement they have with the strange eldritch monster is falling apart, and things aren’t working as well as they used to. Compounded with the grandparent of the man who vanished, hiring a schoolteacher to nose around the town to figure out what, exactly, happened to her grandson - and the secrets of the town are about to fall apart entirely. 

The romance between our two main characters I thought was cute, but it was very “lust at first sight” that made both of their insistence that this was, somehow, a relationship that they’d be together for years to come seem…unrealistic. I can understand them liking each other, and forming a bond and wanting to see where their relationship goes, but the sudden idea - after they’ve slept together once - that they were the true love of the other felt a bit shoehorned in to give romantic tension when there otherwise wasn’t any. 

Overall, I did find this book not be a bad read, but the rough start, as well as the romance and some of the characterization and writing/dialogue, kept it firmly in the 3 star range for me. I enjoyed the worldbuilding of the town, and the people within it, but felt like much of the rest of the plot to be a bit shaky and not very coherent - or concrete. I would recommend anyone who is a fan of the idea of cozy eldritch/cosmic horror to give this book a try, however, and to see if you find something in it that I didn’t. 

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and DAW for providing this e-ARC.

 

The Queen's Spade by Sarah Raughley

5.0

“I’m no heroine. I feel no inner struggle over any supposed codes of ethics, nor have I lost sleep over the ‘wrongness’ of my decisions.”

A tale of righteous feminine rage, revenge, and retribution - with just a dash of romance thrown in - The Queen’s Spade is a historical fiction novel that isn’t to be missed. Inspired by the real tale of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, “goddaughter” and ward of Queen Victoria after being stolen from West Africa, we follow her journey of revenge against everyone who has wronged her since she was captured and brought to England. Forced to adapt and become exactly how the white British society has decided to mold her, she’s still discriminated against for her skin color - seen as a curiosity, and not a person. 

Expected to be grateful for the “opportunity” to be a treasured showpet to the queen, rather than a ruler due respect in her own right, Ina/Sarah begins to enact her carefully crafted revenge against everyone who has disrespected her - and caused the death of her childhood friend on the journey to England. Starting off with a (well-deserved) murder, we follow Ina as she recounts the humiliation and pain wrought upon her for the last decade. We watch as she cleverly gains power and independence in a world that doesn’t wish her to have any, while she uses those same wits to try to crumble the very empire that has entrapped her. With a forced marriage in the works cutting her timeline down significantly, we struggle with Ina as she balances trying to avoid an unwanted marriage, as well as keeping her plans intact. 

I didn’t know anything about this aspect of history, and this book made me want to research further into her life to learn more. While loosely inspired, rather than a wholly accurate account, while reading this novel you can tell a great deal of research went into its creation. 

Perfect for fans of historical fiction and feminine rage, The Queen’s Spade is a journey into British colonialism and hypocrisy, and a woman filled with anger at her unjust treatment and her fight to seek justice. 

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Harper Collins Children's Books for providing this e-ARC.