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kathlyn's reviews
103 reviews
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
4.5
This was a great sequel. I continue to enjoy Emily’s character. I love seeing a scholar being a badass and utilizing her knowledge in tough situations. I also continue to love her relationship with Wendell. It’s much less creepy to see an immortal + human relationship when the human is not a naive 17 year old girl and instead is an incredibly smart and mature fully grown woman. I liked the addition of Adriane and Rose as characters. I can’t wait for the next one!
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
4.25
The best part of this story is the main character and the trans, autistic representation. So many lines in the book brought me to tears. The setting and plot were also interesting and kept me reading. The book is fast paced and I was able to get through it in one sitting. I do wish there had been some slower moments to allow even more focus on characters and character development. Just like the author’s other book, I felt like aspects like worldbuilding were rushed and not as well developed as I hoped. Also, just like the other book the third act was so fast, which I felt undermined the tension that built through the rest of the book. I do think the elements of gore and horror were well balanced in this book. It was just enough to really show you how scary Silas’s situation was, but it wasn’t too overwhelming to read. I will continue to read this author’s work.
The Will of the Many by James Islington
5.0
This book was so good! The story sucks you in. The author does an amazing job building the world and explaining the magic system. You learn what you need to as you need it instead of info dumps. There’s also a constant sense that so much more is going on than you're being shown. By the end of the book, I feel like I had even less of an idea of what’s happening than I did at the beginning but in a frustratingly good way. I cannot wait for the story to continue. I also really liked the MC. While I will say he doesn’t make mistakes as often as I would’ve liked, he is a really complex and interesting character. His situation seems impossible, and it was interesting to see his motivations and his approaches to problems shift as the story went on. The author also does an amazing job building tension. The last act of the book was impossible to put down.
The book also has a lot of great politicking, which I always love in a fantasy. I think the next book will have even more and I can’t wait.
The book also has a lot of great politicking, which I always love in a fantasy. I think the next book will have even more and I can’t wait.