the_grimdragon's reviews
510 reviews

Spelunking Through Hell by Seanan McGuire

adventurous dark emotional funny tense

5.0

"Normal people aren't supposed to rip holes in the membrane that separates dimensions. That petty pleasure is reserved for sorcerers and umbramancers and the various forms of cryptid who have managed to evolve a more symbiotic relationship with the stuff. For a human like me, it's a violation of the laws that supposedly govern the natural world, and it comes with a price."

Ten fun as hell books later and we've reached Alice's installment, finally! This was everything I needed right now during a time of burn out, barely reading, being busy and the general soul-sucking fuckery that is going on in the world. Seanan McGuire is always such a comfort for me!

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

4.0

"Unnaturally beautiful the stranger was--this was beauty sketched from smoke and dreams, translated into fallible flesh--but his dark gaze was made of flint. It sliced her to the core, sliced with such force she pressed a hand against her chest, fearing he'd cut through bone and marrow, to the very center of her heart."

The Fractured Dark by Megan E. O'Keefe

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

"You were too busy playing hero to notice the wreckage you left behind."

The Project by Courtney Summers

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

"Bea is tormented by all the stories her sister will never get the chance to tell."

Shadow Fall by Alexander Freed

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

4.0

"For a moment the central remains of the two warships seemed to sink, as though they'd found rest in the silt marshes of Nacronis. It might have been an optical illusion--Soran's desperate hope combined with the heat-shimmer of the air--but it gave him solace. What occurred next was unmistakable: a clap like thunder rent the air and the planetary shield rippled back in an expanding circle, seeming to sublime."

Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars by Sam Maggs

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

"Merrin wanted there to be even less between them than there was right now. Wanted to crawl right into the divot in Fret's collarbones and curl up there, burying herself in the heat and warmth. She felt like she was going to overflow with it, and with the fire surging up from her belly and into her hands and her head and her heart. Her entire body was pulsing with it."

Chlorine by Jade Song

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

5.0

The Lost Continent (Wings of Fire, Book 11), Volume 11 by Tui T. Sutherland

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

5.0

"Magic is just science we don't understand yet."

Pantala, here I am!

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

"I must be dead, because life is pain and this is goddamn euphoria. The dark surrounding me is total, but for light-painted colors that I know aren't really there, like the aurora borealis left behind when you rub your eyes too hard. I don't know if I'm awake or asleep, still in the hatch or on my way to hell. All I know is I am not alone."

Wicked Problems by Max Gladstone

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

4.0

"She had a flooding hallway to climb. She had a hand that ate the world. How did that proverb go? If all you have's a hammer, start hitting things and see what happens?"

Wicked Problems is the second book in the Craft Wars series by Max Gladstone.

Many thanks for sending me a finished copy, Tordotcom Publishing!

First of all, let's take a moment to appreciate that cover by Goñi Montes.

Phew.

IT IS EVERYTHING!!!

Set in the same world as Gladstone's Craft Sequence (which you don't have to read before jumping into the Craft Wars trilogy, but definitely make sure you read Dead Country before this) Wicked Problems is dark and funny, there's trauma and therapy, family and gods, radical gore and eldritch horrors. It's emotional, action-packed and the world-building is just so good! ALSO THE CHARACTERS ::chefs kiss:: Dawn & Mal are my favorite!

Shit is truly coming together and I'm wicked excited for the final installment!