keepcalmblogon's reviews
177 reviews

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

adventurous emotional tense medium-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? No

4.0

I also reread Children of Virtue and Vengeance as an audiobook, and this time around it landed as four stars for me. 

I appreciated how heartbreaking this book rightly had to be based on the story it was presenting. I also think that Inan and Zélie struggling with their ideals of magic was so well done. It takes a lot of skill to write enemies beginning to change their minds and switch positions on an issue–essentially coming to see things through the other person’s eyes, but in a way that had them nearly switching sides and thus still disagreeing. I think Adeyemi did that so beautifully.

I also loved the introduction of a new love interest in Roën! But in the end, I wasn’t as enamored of this book as I was of book one, so it came out to four stars for me. 

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I found Children of Blood and Bone when it published in 2018 and Tomi was on Jimmy Fallon. I’m a huge fan of Jimmy’s because he’s from my town, so when he selected CoBaB as his book club pick, I had to have it! Recently, I did a reread in anticipation of the release of the conclusion.

Immediately, this book presents the broken land of Orïsha, torn apart by the prejudiced laws of the monarchy against the magical maji—despite the maji having lost their power. 

Zélie is rightfully hurt and angry at the monarchy because when magic disappeared they enacted a slaughter against the defenseless former magic-wielders, killing her mother in front of her—and countless others. 

Zélie’s brother, Tzain, and her father are magicless kosidán, so Zélie seems to find herself in a different position from Tzain, who also witnessed their mother’s murder, but does not face the day-to-day prejudice that Zélie does as a divîner with white hair that sets her apart from kosidán. Tzain seems like the perfect son, and Zélie is often the hot-headed mess-up. But Zélie is also the hero of this story. 

Zélie reluctantly allies herself with the princess Amari, and soon after Tzain joins them. Meanwhile, Amari’s brother, Prince Inan, is hot on their trail with the army. 

In the end, there is heartache, blooming romance, hidden magic, enemies-to-lovers, and action, action, action! I gave this five stars when I first read it, and five stars again now!

P.S. This time around I listened to the audiobook and loved Bahni Turpin!

A Curse of Frost and Stone by Lara Buckheit

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

Thank you Lara for letting me be an ARC reader! I was so excited to find out what Val was up against in book two, and I was not disappointed!

A lot of books suffer from a sophomore slump, but this was not one of them! Despite not remembering every little detail from book one, there were enough context clues and reminders to not feel lost in the plot. Val is as messy yet badass as ever, though, and her cohort is there to love and support her through her trials. 

ACOFAS definitely sets up some major book three action, and I am so excited to see where this goes–especially after that ending!!

A Curse of Frost and Stone is four stars for me!

The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson

adventurous medium-paced

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

5.0

The moment I began The Courting of Bristol Keats I was getting Holly Black’s Elfhame vibes! I’m starting this review with recommending this to any Folk of the Air fans! But this is an adult Elfhame in which we get some incredible romantic tension and spice!

Bristol suffers from family secrets and suppressed magic. She enters Elfhame having made a bargain to help them if they help her, but she doesn’t realize that not everything she’s heard of fae is true. I really enjoyed the constant irony of the story through multi-POVs. While knowing the secrets of each party might seem spoilery, it really upped the anticipation of converging truths coming to a head. I also found the POVs of inanimate objects, locations, and beasties to be so fun and unique!

I enjoyed the found family, training, and reluctant allies tropes. I felt the romance was the perfect amount of tense and spicy without anything too gratuitous. I did not expect the ending to be a cliffhanger though! Now I have to be patient while waiting for the next book! In the end, this was five stars for me!

Tale of the Flying Forest by R.M. Romero

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

R.M. Romero has been a must read author for me since The Ghosts of Rose Hill, and I was excited to read Romero’s prose! Tale of the Flying Forest is described as Jewish Narnia, and I definitely felt that! Tale of the Flying Forest is middle grade, so while I definitely enjoyed it, it’s probably not for many of my peers, but I highly recommend it to those who enjoy middle grade or have a middle grade reader. I like that it dealt with dark themes, like child abuse and grief, but I loved the positivity of finding literal family and discovering one’s own courage and heroism. I thought it was unique how it brought Judaism in with Jewish stories, language, and ideas. Even as an atheist, I enjoyed learning about aspects of Judaism, and it felt very natural in its delivery, so I believe anyone of any background or religion would still enjoy this book. This book is five stars from me!

The Thief's Keeper by Kyrie Wang

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

The Thief’s Keeper, “a heartwarming coming-of-age medieval adventure” is exactly that! Thank you, Kyrie, for the free audiobook to review. This was my first Spotify audiobook as well, and I enjoyed that system! Aelfric and Aliwyn are two characters who are in flux finding themselves and their places in the world. It was so cute watching them negotiate a tentative team on the run, and sweet when at crossroads they kept coming back to each other. I felt the historical aspect was fun in what it portrayed and was clearly well-researched. I also liked the addition of a fictional people that helped to give a lot of subplot and subtext on overcoming  prejudice and the importance of seeing people as people–it was also portrayed through the interactions of the Normans with the English, but the Vasfians really highlighted it. I read Healer’s Blade back when it had a different title and ending and character names, but I still was so happy to see the past of these two characters and how it played into what they’d end up going through. Now I’d love an audiobook of Healer’s Blade to read the final edition of Aliwyn’s story!

I think in the end this was just heartwarming and engaging enough to be four stars!

I liked the narrators fine as well, but I did prefer the chapters narrated by Michael Hajiantonis a little more, they felt more polished.

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

adventurous emotional tense medium-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

The conclusion to The Scholomance trilogy is nuanced with grief, romantic relationships, more reluctant allies, and social commentary. This book felt a lot more adult than the first two, and honestly I’m so fine with YA series maturing as the characters grow because it’s logical. Not only did El and Orion save the rest of their classmates, but their work ends up overhauling their world’s entire enclave and Scholomance systems, and in the end, they save each other. 

I thought El’s reaction to grief honestly mirrored my own when I was her age. Young adults are still figuring out love, sex, and relationships—romantic or otherwise. Plus the hormones and plague of emotions exacerbating and exacerbated by the grief made everything messy and confusing for El, and for me. Five stars!

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

This book was so fun because it was full of “training montages” and prepping for battle. I always find that kind of storyline really enjoyable because relationships and characterization tend to grow through these. El’s reluctant hero position and her truly good heart, despite feeling like a darkness, are revealed further through this book, and her relationship with Orion really heats up, which I enjoyed a lot! This book upped it to five stars for me!

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

dark funny 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

Unfortunately, I did wait a little too long to write my review and I also read this series in quick succession, so the entirety of the story does run together a bit. What I do know is I really loved these books. I thought A Deadly Education was one of the more unique magical school books I’ve read since the school is basically there to cull the magical herd of children, and that’s pretty dark! Then there’s El, who is a no-fs given girl, which is a pretty uncommon FMC characteristic. She is caustic, stubborn, and dark, and while that might not make her likable or relatable, I loved her!

Watching her be unapologetically herself and find people who accept her the way she is was actually quite charming! Orion was also such a mystery to me in book one, he was quiet, mildly oblivious, and super sweet, but clearly had something going on! He and El’s relationship was one of the more fun YA relationships that I’ve seen because they weren’t quite friends or enemies, but reluctant allies. Four stars!

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-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

Little Thieves was such a fun book! It was recommended by a friend as one of their favorite reads and it did not disappoint. I absolutely love Vanja, she’s the most imperfect, antiheroine with childhood trauma and low self-esteem—she was completely relatable! Watching her learn a lesson imposed by her curse and discover what family, friendship, and love truly mean was really wonderful. Her budding romance with Emeric is so enemies-to-lovers sweet and not-feeling-worthy-of-love tender, Vanja’s decisions come as no surprise by the end of the book. I also really enjoyed the demi-sexual representation with these two!

My favorite character though has to be Ragne, the shapeshifter who slowly learns how to be human(ish) and finds her own romance. She needs her own book in my opinion!

Little Thieves was five stars and was the perfect book for those looking for that fairytale feel without an overt retelling (it is apparently a Goose Girl retelling, but it doesn’t hit you over the head).

(P.S. I listened to the audiobook, and Saskia Maarleveld is one of my favorite narrators!)