You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
maises's reviews
30 reviews
Hawk Mountain by Conner Habib
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Todd writes in his notebook, everything is broken up, even when it’s supposed to be continuous. But maybe, he thinks, it’s the other way around, and everything is continuous even if it seems broken up.”
Is it denial of self? Of acceptance? Of moving on? Yes. This was a very thrilling introspective into a very specific kind of relationship. The gradual decline of Todd and the people around him was incredible to watch. Additionally, the reoccurring theme of an ouroboros-like inevitability was so strong that the last two chapters hit like a meteor, even though I should’ve expected something like it from the very first part of the book. Todd wanted to scrub Jack from his life in every aspect. Yet by the end, the realization thatonly Anthony remained still had me in complete shock.
Something about this story, although very much a horror and thriller, is simply an exploration of having someone mark you so strikingly and being unable to untangle yourselves from them. There is also tenderness, even with the hatred.
Habib’s prose really struck every chord for whatever atmosphere needed. I didn’t even actually mean to read this book yet but I skimmed the first chapter and literally could not stop reading. Finished it within a day. Definitely something that will stick in my mind for a little while longer.
Is it denial of self? Of acceptance? Of moving on? Yes. This was a very thrilling introspective into a very specific kind of relationship. The gradual decline of Todd and the people around him was incredible to watch. Additionally, the reoccurring theme of an ouroboros-like inevitability was so strong that the last two chapters hit like a meteor, even though I should’ve expected something like it from the very first part of the book. Todd wanted to scrub Jack from his life in every aspect. Yet by the end, the realization that
Something about this story, although very much a horror and thriller, is simply an exploration of having someone mark you so strikingly and being unable to untangle yourselves from them. There is also tenderness, even with the hatred.
Habib’s prose really struck every chord for whatever atmosphere needed. I didn’t even actually mean to read this book yet but I skimmed the first chapter and literally could not stop reading. Finished it within a day. Definitely something that will stick in my mind for a little while longer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Murder
Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Marillier
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
“[…] even when you'd seen a person scorned and beaten and degraded, you could still show them courtesy.”
I thought I’d solved the mystery halfway and then got blown away by one little itsy bitsy tidbit I missed. Love a Marillier twist.
The characters were interesting and I was refreshed to meet them. Blackburn and Grim’s partnership really touched me. Blackburn was a heroine for women and girls and I really adored her for it. My favorite kind of crabby and jaded woman with a heart of gold (so she would deny). I felt so safe whenever Grim’s chapters would come on; he’s just so reliable that I was endeared. I had a good time, if the story was a little actionless at times.
I thought I’d solved the mystery halfway and then got blown away by one little itsy bitsy tidbit I missed. Love a Marillier twist.
The characters were interesting and I was refreshed to meet them. Blackburn and Grim’s partnership really touched me. Blackburn was a heroine for women and girls and I really adored her for it. My favorite kind of crabby and jaded woman with a heart of gold (so she would deny). I felt so safe whenever Grim’s chapters would come on; he’s just so reliable that I was endeared. I had a good time, if the story was a little actionless at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
Not a comment on the contents of the book, but as I got to the end note I really was impressed with the level of reverence and study Marillier put into her Turkey research. I feel like this should be the norm with most non-western depictions of historical fiction. Everything felt well-lived and researched even to the extent they needed to be within a straightforward adventure story and I appreciated it.
I feel like there’s not too much I can say about the novel and it isn’t a negative. I adored Paula and Stoyan and Duarte as a trio and somewhat was sad the book endedwithout at least Duarte coming back and taking all of them out for some other adventure. They all played off each other so well. Stoyan and Paula’s young love was very sweet.
The “villains” of this one were also very compelling. I enjoy that Marillier villains have a certain complexity in them not so much that they become gray or anything but enough that they seem realistic in a sense. I liked having that little twist on who the bad guy was this time around.
I did also love the cave trials at the end. It reminded me that I haven’t read simple obstacle-type adventures in a really long time and I feel like those are always fun. Very enjoyable to me.
I feel like there’s not too much I can say about the novel and it isn’t a negative. I adored Paula and Stoyan and Duarte as a trio and somewhat was sad the book ended
The “villains” of this one were also very compelling. I enjoy that Marillier villains have a certain complexity in them not so much that they become gray or anything but enough that they seem realistic in a sense. I liked having that little twist on who the bad guy was this time around.
I did also love the cave trials at the end. It reminded me that I haven’t read simple obstacle-type adventures in a really long time and I feel like those are always fun. Very enjoyable to me.
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Second cousin-cest is kinda not fun at the end of the day…
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
“‘He’s dead.’ He said it as if he couldn’t believe it, even though he’d seen it with his own eyes. ‘Costi’s dead. The witch took him. Drăguţa, the witch of the wood. She pulled him under and drowned him.’”
Book club pick for October. I happened to choose this one because I enjoyed Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest so much earlier this year. I also do love a sibling-centered fairy tale, so I wanted to see what Marillier would do with the iconic Twelve Dancing Princesses (minus seven). I wasn’t sure what her writing YA would be like, but I wasn’t disappointed! This review will contain spoilers overall, but I’ll try to use the hidden text for things really specific. It’s somewhat of a mystery, after all.
First of all - elephant in the room:The cousin end game love is definitely a CHOICE. Not a great one. Yes, Jena’s dad and Cezar & Costi’s dad are cousins so technically they are second cousins who have been romantically linked in the narrative. I am sure they don’t actually care because it’s [insert era that was not specified here], but also they are not real people. Please, Juliet Marillier, have mercy on my soul. I just want to read a romance from you that doesn’t have one singular element that makes me squint because your romance writing is so so good. I’m on my knees. Regardless of my own likely popular opinion on this plot point I will just say separately, I do love these characters. They have so much charm to them that I can just rewrite their relationship by the end as something completely platonic if I have to. Sorry. That’s kinda bad.
Apart from all that, I think it was a very beautiful book. It’s one that dips into the Fairy Folk a bit more than the Sevenwaters series does, with a relationship much more genial too. Marillier’s strength really is in her world-building. She made the other world so appealing to five different girls’ interests. Even the look into the evil fae world was compelling and dark which I actually loved.
The sisters were the best. My biggest critique there is only just my personal gripe with how easily Tati pushed aside her love for her sisters in place of lovesick-induced complacency. Jena shouldered way too much of that plot on her own. But I think it’s also too easy to dislike Tati for that - I genuinely did enjoy her insane love spiral with Sorrow, the most pathetic (affectionate)non-vampire of the story. Sorrow was a character I wasn’t planning on liking at all, especially in the first chapters solely because of the stress it gave Jena and therefore me. But genuinely by the last few chapters I really was on Team Sorrow until the end. Especially loved the parts where he was undergoing the trials set by the fairy queen except off-screen and you didn’t know exactly what he was up to only that he was suffering whilst doing Indiana Jones-esque feats while Jena and Costi were eating pancakes. He was a legend for that. There’s just something about reading pathetically in-love characters but from a perspective outside of that duo. It really did exude the same energy as a younger sister viewing her older sister fall in love for the first time, which I would know firsthand.
Cezar was a great villain. I feel like when people say this they always mean it like they love his character, but no, I hated his little annoying guts. But I think he was an amazing antagonist that really was victim to the whims of Drăguţa and fate. His descent into a pathetic (insult) and desperate version of himself felt rewarding. I did feel pity for him when I think that hemade his wish as a dumb old child and was forced to stick with it. Even though I hated him and the things he did to Jena and her sisters, I know he was also a victim in a way. Doesn’t excuse anything of course, but I really liked that element of him thinking he’s in the right. There’s nothing scarier than a teenage boy with more authority than he should have on a power trip. That in itself is realistic enough.
I don’t really know why I’ve rambled on this long, but I still feel like I haven’t even put down all my thoughts yet. I’ll leave it at all the things I enjoyed while reading: Gogu in general, Gogu slamming himself on the wall that one time Cezar made him mad, the supporting fae folk characters, the fairy dancing balls, Stela and Ildephonsus, the scene on the ice whenGogu turned human , the flashback when Costi died and Cezar made his trade because Costi was his most beloved thing , this Gogu quote - “If a man has to say trust me, Gogu conveyed, it's a sure sign you cannot. Trust him, that is. Trust is a thing you know without words,” the fact that Sorrow and his sister Silence are just named that apparently, pondweed pancakes, Jena and her father, the younger sisters annoying each other but are always ride or die… It was a fun time.
Book club pick for October. I happened to choose this one because I enjoyed Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest so much earlier this year. I also do love a sibling-centered fairy tale, so I wanted to see what Marillier would do with the iconic Twelve Dancing Princesses (minus seven). I wasn’t sure what her writing YA would be like, but I wasn’t disappointed! This review will contain spoilers overall, but I’ll try to use the hidden text for things really specific. It’s somewhat of a mystery, after all.
First of all - elephant in the room:
Apart from all that, I think it was a very beautiful book. It’s one that dips into the Fairy Folk a bit more than the Sevenwaters series does, with a relationship much more genial too. Marillier’s strength really is in her world-building. She made the other world so appealing to five different girls’ interests. Even the look into the evil fae world was compelling and dark which I actually loved.
The sisters were the best. My biggest critique there is only just my personal gripe with how easily Tati pushed aside her love for her sisters in place of lovesick-induced complacency. Jena shouldered way too much of that plot on her own. But I think it’s also too easy to dislike Tati for that - I genuinely did enjoy her insane love spiral with Sorrow, the most pathetic (affectionate)
Cezar was a great villain. I feel like when people say this they always mean it like they love his character, but no, I hated his little annoying guts. But I think he was an amazing antagonist that really was victim to the whims of Drăguţa and fate. His descent into a pathetic (insult) and desperate version of himself felt rewarding. I did feel pity for him when I think that he
I don’t really know why I’ve rambled on this long, but I still feel like I haven’t even put down all my thoughts yet. I’ll leave it at all the things I enjoyed while reading: Gogu in general, Gogu slamming himself on the wall that one time Cezar made him mad, the supporting fae folk characters, the fairy dancing balls, Stela and Ildephonsus, the scene on the ice when
Content Warnings
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
I love you, Britney Spears.
The Red Palace by June Hur
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
“He moved my hand into his, and as our fingers intertwined, it occurred to me that love wasn’t all that I’d feared it to be. I had imagined that it was a wildfire that incinerated everything in its path. Instead, it felt as ordinary and extraordinary as waking up to a new day.”
September book club read! The Red Palace’s biggest strength was its simplicity. I don’t necessarily think it needed more than it gave in a narrative sense - every plot beat for beat was enough to keep the story going. The mystery unraveled very cleanly and the writing was extremely solid; Hyeon was a reasonable protagonist and I did like her and Eojin. I think my one downside to all of this was how calm and flat some scenes could be, especially when they called for something with a bit more flourish or passion. At the end of the day, I think this was a well written fiction based on historical events, but as a mystery drama/romance lacked the kind of umph that gets my heart racing!
September book club read! The Red Palace’s biggest strength was its simplicity. I don’t necessarily think it needed more than it gave in a narrative sense - every plot beat for beat was enough to keep the story going. The mystery unraveled very cleanly and the writing was extremely solid; Hyeon was a reasonable protagonist and I did like her and Eojin. I think my one downside to all of this was how calm and flat some scenes could be, especially when they called for something with a bit more flourish or passion. At the end of the day, I think this was a well written fiction based on historical events, but as a mystery drama/romance lacked the kind of umph that gets my heart racing!
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
slow-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
“Thou art emperor, as Setheris told thee. And at this juncture, truly, thou canst be emperor or thou canst be dead. Which dost thou prefer?”
This is probably my very first “court intrigue” heavy novel as of yet. While at the start it was easy to get bogged down by a lot of the world-building, I thought there was payoff a quarter into the book, once things begun clicking. I’m reminded a bit of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea big but quiet world possibly just because I expected a lot more war and violence coming into a story about a monarchy. But avoiding the task of a war plot really does save the more subtle and domestic issues of Maia’s court. I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would, maybe because I only seriously had to focus on what the inner workings of Emperor Edrehasivar’s daily life was like. Which isn’t even to say it was boring—TWO coups in a month!
I enjoyed how Maia’s growth as an emperor didn’t compromise his compassion for people. It’s just refreshing sometimes to follow a protagonist who still had insecurities and faults but whose morals were unfailing. Maia was so likeable in a Ghibli boy character kind of way, if I can be silly here. His rise into “the Bridge-Builder” was gradual and maybe even predictable, but that doesn’t take away the satisfaction of it.
Maia was just such a good kid. I was pretty protective of him and his nohecharei and Csevet at certain points and am glad everyone—including Idra and his little sisters—got well-wrapped endings. If there’s one critique I did have with everything was just Chancellor Chazares/Shevean and also even Tethimar’s coup/assassination attempts just felt a bit weak and non-threatening, considering those were the biggest immediate troubles Maia faced as emperor all through the story. Also kinda wish we could’ve seen Maia’s wedding to Csethiro, but narratively I know it wouldn’t make too much of a difference. I don’t know how to squeeze this in here but the Great Avar is also my favorite type of old grandpa. We (formal) had fun.
This is probably my very first “court intrigue” heavy novel as of yet. While at the start it was easy to get bogged down by a lot of the world-building, I thought there was payoff a quarter into the book, once things begun clicking. I’m reminded a bit of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea big but quiet world possibly just because I expected a lot more war and violence coming into a story about a monarchy. But avoiding the task of a war plot really does save the more subtle and domestic issues of Maia’s court. I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would, maybe because I only seriously had to focus on what the inner workings of Emperor Edrehasivar’s daily life was like. Which isn’t even to say it was boring—TWO coups in a month!
I enjoyed how Maia’s growth as an emperor didn’t compromise his compassion for people. It’s just refreshing sometimes to follow a protagonist who still had insecurities and faults but whose morals were unfailing. Maia was so likeable in a Ghibli boy character kind of way, if I can be silly here. His rise into “the Bridge-Builder” was gradual and maybe even predictable, but that doesn’t take away the satisfaction of it.
Maia was just such a good kid. I was pretty protective of him and his nohecharei and Csevet at certain points and am glad everyone—including Idra and his little sisters—got well-wrapped endings. If there’s one critique I did have with everything was just Chancellor Chazares/Shevean and also even Tethimar’s coup/assassination attempts just felt a bit weak and non-threatening, considering those were the biggest immediate troubles Maia faced as emperor all through the story. Also kinda wish we could’ve seen Maia’s wedding to Csethiro, but narratively I know it wouldn’t make too much of a difference. I don’t know how to squeeze this in here but the Great Avar is also my favorite type of old grandpa. We (formal) had fun.
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.75
Read this as the first book club read since restarting. I thought the pacing at the start was fine and was satisfied that the ending wrapped all plot points with a bow. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I loved any of the characters involved that much. I just thought the constant pop culture references took me out of the immersion only because there were so many. Plus the author talking down In The Mood For Love did make me unreasonably angry, especially since the book revered Twilight so much that the entire thing was an ad for it. Sorry that I don’t give a shit about books that make a mockery of real life indigenous people and don’t applaud white mediocrity in that way but I’m just another loser anti-girl hater apparently. Not liking Wong Kar-wai movies doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, but it might just mean your idea of compelling romance is stale (opinionated and harsh but only because Elsie got to be).
To be fair, I didn’t take off a star just for that. But I can list what I did like: certain parts of the romance scenes that had actual substance to them was nice. I thought the window into the science community and the jargon were interesting. If you ever want to do a drinking game regarding this book, take a shot every time Elsie describes Jack as “big” and “huge” and you will be rightfully messed up.
To be fair, I didn’t take off a star just for that. But I can list what I did like: certain parts of the romance scenes that had actual substance to them was nice. I thought the window into the science community and the jargon were interesting. If you ever want to do a drinking game regarding this book, take a shot every time Elsie describes Jack as “big” and “huge” and you will be rightfully messed up.
Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier
Did not finish book. Stopped at 42%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 42%.
Daughter of the Forest set the bar too high. The pacing of Son of the Shadows in comparison is drastically different, and the characters are fine but not as interesting to me as the first cast. I think it doesn’t help this is more of a build-up book/necessary for plot for going onto the next book, therefore it probably is less interesting than what the climax would be. This is also a minor factor but I’m just not the biggest “next generation of main characters” fan. It’s giving nepo babies… like I’m supposed to support you guys? I don’t know you like that I just know your parents…
Anyway, I say all this but realistically will probably pick it up again when I have the time! And then my mind will probably change completely. Just wasn’t fair of it to come right after Daughter of the Forest, since that one came out swinging.
Anyway, I say all this but realistically will probably pick it up again when I have the time! And then my mind will probably change completely. Just wasn’t fair of it to come right after Daughter of the Forest, since that one came out swinging.
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
challenging
fast-paced
“I will be good, ” it says. “Please let me out. I will be good!”
Just needed to reread this one before bed. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.
Just needed to reread this one before bed. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.