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toastyghosty13's reviews
109 reviews
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
This was such a fun read that was so nostalgic for me!! It reminded me of the books I loved to read as a kid (i.e. The Septimus Heap series) and I really enjoyed it. I listened to this as an audiobook, which was narrated by Emily Ellet whom I have heard narrate before. I love her voice which just added to the enjoyment.
Elizabeth Scrivener is an interesting and capable character that has a mysterious backstory where she was left on the doorstep of a great library and subsequently raised in the library. She is falsely accused of a crime and then transported to the main city by a magister Nathaniel Thorn and his butler Silas. This sets off a chain of events where they have to work together to unravel the mystery behind the chaos around the city. I loved watching them grow closer and also learning more about the characters and why their similarities brought them closer. There were also some great villains in this story, and it felt like a lot happened without it feeling too rushed or forced.
My understanding is that this is a standalone book for the most part, but that there is a follow up novella that continues the story but with a different and more lighthearted plot. I sincerely hope there is more in the works for this "series?" in the future, since it seems that the novella was published in 2023, roughly 4 years after the publishing of Sorcery of Thorns in 2019. Sorcery of Thorns has the closure to finish as a standalone novel, but my hopes for more books are still high since it has been revisited with the novella Mysteries of Thorn Manor.
I highly highly recommend this book if you want a fun story with loveable characters, a great villain, a unique magic system, and some nostalgic vibes. It was an absolute joy to listen to the audiobook and I plan on buying a physical copy!
Elizabeth Scrivener is an interesting and capable character that has a mysterious backstory where she was left on the doorstep of a great library and subsequently raised in the library. She is falsely accused of a crime and then transported to the main city by a magister Nathaniel Thorn and his butler Silas. This sets off a chain of events where they have to work together to unravel the mystery behind the chaos around the city. I loved watching them grow closer and also learning more about the characters and why their similarities brought them closer. There were also some great villains in this story, and it felt like a lot happened without it feeling too rushed or forced.
My understanding is that this is a standalone book for the most part, but that there is a follow up novella that continues the story but with a different and more lighthearted plot. I sincerely hope there is more in the works for this "series?" in the future, since it seems that the novella was published in 2023, roughly 4 years after the publishing of Sorcery of Thorns in 2019. Sorcery of Thorns has the closure to finish as a standalone novel, but my hopes for more books are still high since it has been revisited with the novella Mysteries of Thorn Manor.
I highly highly recommend this book if you want a fun story with loveable characters, a great villain, a unique magic system, and some nostalgic vibes. It was an absolute joy to listen to the audiobook and I plan on buying a physical copy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
relaxing
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? It's complicated
3.25
I have not read any of the books from The Witcher series until now. I have seen the first few episodes of the Netflix tv show and decided I wanted to read the books before continuing after I learned the show and games were based on books. I was pleasantly surprised at how different Geralt is in the books than in the show. Geralt is more talkative and witty in his dialogue with other characters in the books than I remember him being in the show. I really enjoyed hearing more of him than the "hulking lethal man that's tall dark quiet handsome and mysterious" they make him off to be in the show.
I also like reading about Yennefer since she was one of the characters I liked most from what I saw in the show. Her background story in the show was so interesting to me, and the way that she and Geralt's fates intertwine in the book was really interesting to see as well as to get an idea of the dynamic of their relationship in the future.
I ended up buying a physical box set with illustrated editions after listening to this audiobook because I liked the characters, stories, and world building so much. I loved the way the narrator did all of the voices in the audiobook, but it was also hard to keep track of who all of the characters were when there were so many as well as so many places. I chalk this up mainly to the fact that this book and the next (Sword of Destiny) are labeled as prequels and short stories, so I assume that Blood of Elves will be the first full length story rather than somewhat cohesive mini tails. Even though I don't normally like short stories, I feel that this fit perfectly with the fairy tale retelling aspect since a lot of the stories seemed somewhat familiar but also so unique.
I am excited to see more of Geralt and the other characters that were introduced in this installment, as well as see when Ciri eventually comes into the picture!!
I also like reading about Yennefer since she was one of the characters I liked most from what I saw in the show. Her background story in the show was so interesting to me, and the way that she and Geralt's fates intertwine in the book was really interesting to see as well as to get an idea of the dynamic of their relationship in the future.
I ended up buying a physical box set with illustrated editions after listening to this audiobook because I liked the characters, stories, and world building so much. I loved the way the narrator did all of the voices in the audiobook, but it was also hard to keep track of who all of the characters were when there were so many as well as so many places. I chalk this up mainly to the fact that this book and the next (Sword of Destiny) are labeled as prequels and short stories, so I assume that Blood of Elves will be the first full length story rather than somewhat cohesive mini tails. Even though I don't normally like short stories, I feel that this fit perfectly with the fairy tale retelling aspect since a lot of the stories seemed somewhat familiar but also so unique.
I am excited to see more of Geralt and the other characters that were introduced in this installment, as well as see when
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Incest, Death, Infertility, and Sexism
Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This book felt a bit darker than the rest of the series has felt so far. Cammie does not remember multiple months of her life sine she ran away from school to keep her friends safe, and she is still on the run from the mysteries Circle of Cavan. This book was much more mysterious than the others, and felt like a good lead off into the series finale, since it helps uncover some more secrets about Cavan as Cammie retraces her steps with friends and family to figure out what happened and where she went after she left. This book was also quite sad because of this, as well as the way that the spy industry in this universe is so family oriented; it could mean that anyone you know, love and trust could be the enemy and be lying to you.
This book was much more tense, which is part of why I did not rank it as high as the others. I started this series because it was meant to be a fun read about how teenage girls are gonna teenage girl and do stupid things when it comes to boys, like using expensive spy equipment to run surveillance on him to see if he's planning on asking you to the school dance. This series has taken a large pivot from that, and has turned into a focus on espionage and betrayals. While I enjoy the latter, I still wish I had more of the former. I liked that this series did not take itself too seriously, but now it is taking itself a bit too seriously for how it started off. Even with my thoughts on that, I find this series and this book enjoyable since it was about time there were more spy novels about girls!!!!
This is still a fun series that I would recommend to anyone that is craving a little bit of childhood nostalgia in their reading lives.
This book was much more tense, which is part of why I did not rank it as high as the others. I started this series because it was meant to be a fun read about how teenage girls are gonna teenage girl and do stupid things when it comes to boys, like using expensive spy equipment to run surveillance on him to see if he's planning on asking you to the school dance. This series has taken a large pivot from that, and has turned into a focus on espionage and betrayals. While I enjoy the latter, I still wish I had more of the former. I liked that this series did not take itself too seriously, but now it is taking itself a bit too seriously for how it started off. Even with my thoughts on that, I find this series and this book enjoyable since it was about time there were more spy novels about girls!!!!
This is still a fun series that I would recommend to anyone that is craving a little bit of childhood nostalgia in their reading lives.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Blood, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Car accident
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
Vera Wong is such a funny character and I wish I had her in my life. She is a an grandma with too much time on her hands and loves to meddle in peoples business. When she finds a dead body in her tea shop, she seizes the moment to try to solve the mystery. She quickly starts meddling in the lives of the people that visit the tea shop after the murder, since she has the theory that anyone with a guilty conscience would revisit the scene of the crime. What happens is the creation of wonderful friendships between an unlikely group of strangers, and the rekindling of an old friendship.
The audiobook for this is great, Eunice Wong has a great voice and did all of the impressions so well. It really takes another level of skill to sound like a 3 year old child, an old Chinese grandmother, a 23 year old woman, and more and be just 1 person doing all of these voices. My fiancee and I have started saying "AYAHHH" whenever we are upset about a small inconvenience now because Eunice's portrayal of Vera et al is ICONIC. I also now wish to name my firstborn Tilbert.
We mainly listened to this book during car rides and it was something we dearly looked forward to. It is actually laugh out loud funny, which rarely happens for me with books. This was a very cute story, but is also filled with some dark topics when more is revealed about the characters and their relationship to the victim.
If you like murder mysteries with a Miss Marple-esque character, you need to read this immediately!!
The audiobook for this is great, Eunice Wong has a great voice and did all of the impressions so well. It really takes another level of skill to sound like a 3 year old child, an old Chinese grandmother, a 23 year old woman, and more and be just 1 person doing all of these voices. My fiancee and I have started saying "AYAHHH" whenever we are upset about a small inconvenience now because Eunice's portrayal of Vera et al is ICONIC. I also now wish to name my firstborn Tilbert.
We mainly listened to this book during car rides and it was something we dearly looked forward to. It is actually laugh out loud funny, which rarely happens for me with books. This was a very cute story, but is also filled with some dark topics when more is revealed about the characters and their relationship to the victim.
If you like murder mysteries with a Miss Marple-esque character, you need to read this immediately!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Bullying
Moderate: Murder and Gaslighting
The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
3.0
This is a funny book that doesn't take itself too seriously. It is about a woman that wakes up and cannot remember who she is, but very quickly finds out that her identical twin is a spy that is currently on the run from multiple intelligence agencies around the world as well as cartels. She learns to cope with having to be on the run with a hot spy guy that happens to be her twin sisters partner.
I listened to the audiobook of this, and I do wish that they had done the reading a bit differently. This audiobook was read by both a man and a woman, each reading the chapters for the respective POVs of the male main char and female main char. This mean that, if it was the female main char POV, the female voice actor would also read the male parts, and vice versa for the male main char POV, with the male voice actor also reading the female main char dialogue. I feel that if there are already going to be 2 different voice actors, they might as well have them read for the proper parts. I mainly say this because the male voice actor reading for the female main character made her sound annoying and bratty, which made it a bit less enjoyable for me when I actually did enjoy the female main character for the most part.
This is a fun read and was a great first step into audiobooks for me. I thought it was a great book to listen to because it's not overly complicated and just meant to be a goofy fun time.
I listened to the audiobook of this, and I do wish that they had done the reading a bit differently. This audiobook was read by both a man and a woman, each reading the chapters for the respective POVs of the male main char and female main char. This mean that, if it was the female main char POV, the female voice actor would also read the male parts, and vice versa for the male main char POV, with the male voice actor also reading the female main char dialogue. I feel that if there are already going to be 2 different voice actors, they might as well have them read for the proper parts. I mainly say this because the male voice actor reading for the female main character made her sound annoying and bratty, which made it a bit less enjoyable for me when I actually did enjoy the female main character for the most part.
This is a fun read and was a great first step into audiobooks for me. I thought it was a great book to listen to because it's not overly complicated and just meant to be a goofy fun time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This was a tense conclusion to the book Divine Rivals. I found it incredibly slow and hard to read, but this is not due to the quality of writing. I found this book so slow due to the absolute panic and stress I maintained throughout its entirety that something bad would happen to Iris and Roman. They are so precious to me and this book had me afraid to finish it on the chance that it would break my heart.
I do wish that there was more of a final showdown with Dacre at the end, and it also felt like a strange cop out to have Enva unable to help or leave the city limits. I also wish that we saw more of Attie & Tobias, as well as Marisol & Keegan. The deaths of Forrest and Prindle were upsetting to me as well, mainly concerning Prindle since Forrest kind of sucks imo after he dragged Iris away from Roman in Divine Rivals.
This book will absolutely have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I recommend reading this on a weekend where you have the time to cope with the inevitable anxiety that will ensue.
I do wish that there was more of a
This book will absolutely have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I recommend reading this on a weekend where you have the time to cope with the inevitable anxiety that will ensue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death
Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer Study Guide by Dan Sullivan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.
found a better resource and this was sooooo dry plus the app you have to read it in sucks
Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
this book focused more on building out the secret society that has been chasing after cammie. it was interesting to see the total pivot from the beginning of this series to what this book is: a story of a deeper conspiracy and secret societies. i do wish there was more about zach and cammie together, since they are a cute couple, but it is also great to learn more of his backstory.
if you’re already this deep into the series, def read!!
if you’re already this deep into the series, def read!!
Classified Material by Ally Carter
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
this was a sad alternating pov of cammies friends showing their thoughts after cammie disappears. it’s quite sad because they miss her so much and are so worried about her, yet there is nothing they can do to help.
this is a bonus chapter that is super short.
this is a bonus chapter that is super short.
The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
i found this book to be soooo frustratingly slow. it started off strong and i really enjoyed the prior 2 books, so i had high hopes. instead, it felt very repetitive of “insert new problem here that arises” and “have to find this artifact/person/location” to get further down the plan, but all of these problems and necessity of key items/persons/locations are seemingly come out of nowhere.
i also was frustrated that the book before this spends soooo long getting to a location, and then finally arrived there at the end, but only because we barely spend any time in the final location during this book and then immediately back track to the location we just came from in the previous book. we spent so long trying to get to atlantia and barely got a good glimpse of it.
i also am getting tired of hearing how strong and courageous and beautiful and brave poppy is. this is one of a multitude of reasons this book could do with some better editing.
i wish i enjoyed this more since i liked the previous books so much. not sure if/when i will get around to the rest of the books in the series and the books in the prequel series.
i also was frustrated that the book before this spends soooo long getting to a location, and then finally arrived there at the end, but only because we barely spend any time in the final location during this book and then immediately back track to the location we just came from in the previous book. we spent so long trying to get to atlantia and barely got a good glimpse of it.
i also am getting tired of hearing how strong and courageous and beautiful and brave poppy is. this is one of a multitude of reasons this book could do with some better editing.
i wish i enjoyed this more since i liked the previous books so much. not sure if/when i will get around to the rest of the books in the series and the books in the prequel series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood