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kalventure's reviews
519 reviews
These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
3.0
This would have been a 2 star read but the twists and reveals were so well done that it made the back third of the book incredibly enjoyable to read.
The Sleepless by Victor Manibo
Did not finish book. Stopped at 48%.
Thank you Kate for the recommendation, I'm so sad this one didn't work for me! This is a smart book with an important message, and I hope you give it a try if it sounds interesting to you!
eARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion nor the contents of my review. Quotations are from an unfinished proof and subject to change upon final publication.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 48%.
DNF @ 48&
It pains me to say that writing style The Sleepless did not work for me. I loved the concept and underlying messages on capitalism but found the narrative dragging and circuitous. It took what felt like 48 hours to read 48% (it was really 4.5), and I knew that I'd be back in a slump if I kept reading. Many thanks to my pal Amanda for cheering me on and for ultimately telling me what happens.
"'It's the choice between more or less time, and the answer is pretty obvious.'"
Thank you Kate for the recommendation, I'm so sad this one didn't work for me! This is a smart book with an important message, and I hope you give it a try if it sounds interesting to you!
eARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion nor the contents of my review. Quotations are from an unfinished proof and subject to change upon final publication.
The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones
dark
medium-paced
5.0
I adored The Bones Houses and the short story included in His Hideous Heart, so the excitement I felt for The Drowned Woods cannot be overstated. I preordered a copy of the book before finishing the prologue, and by the time I finished the book, Emily Lloyd-Jones was added to my autobuy author list! I hope I can write somewhat of a cohesive review to do this amazing book justice.
"Magic was not a human trait. It was other; it was something to be feared and wondered at."
Part heist novel and part dark fairytale, The Drowned Woods is a lush and captivating tale that draws you in on the first page. It feels like nestling into bed for the night for storytime and the story unfolds easily around you with atmospheric writing.
"[T]here was no light. None at all. The darkness was all-consuming -- the kind that seemed to close around a person, to fill their every breath."
Expertly plotted and fast-paced, there is not a word that doesn't serve to expand the reader's understanding of the world or the events driving the plot forward. Lloyd-Jones expertly unveils not only the history of magic but also Mer's backstory and quickly instills a sense of danger for the road ahead in a manner of pages. As a lover of immersive and vast worldbuilding, this book is a beautiful delight.
"Sometimes it felt as though she were more storm than person, bringing chaos and pain everywhere she went."
Worldbuilding and atmosphere are met with characters you can't help but root for... and then curse. The diviner, the ironfetch, and the thief (and the corgi spy?) have found one another on an unlikely adventure, and I loved each of them. Especially Trefor the delightful and loyal doggo companion with an affection for boots who sneezes near magic and might be a spy for the Otherfolk. (Side Note: I found myself emotionally attached to another animal companion from Lloyd-Jones! Let us not forget the delightful zombie goat from The Bone Houses!)
I love stories with an unlikely band of characters with a common goal, and the ragtag crew that Renfrew pulled together for the heist to topple a cruel ruler . The banter! The barbs! The quiet moments of concern. Each character breaths life into the story and have their own complex set of motivations. There's tension and action, and there are real stakes.
I love stories with an unlikely band of characters with a common goal, and the ragtag crew that Renfrew pulled together for the heist to topple a cruel ruler . The banter! The barbs! The quiet moments of concern. Each character breaths life into the story and have their own complex set of motivations. There's tension and action, and there are real stakes.
"She had learned how to be a deadly shadow, but Fane had the power to walk where he liked without fear. She didn't understand why he sounded so haunted."
π The Diviner Mer has power over water and was stolen from her family as a child, bound in service to a cruel king who used her powers against his enemies. She's quick to temper when seeing injustice and is haunted by the results of her actions at the behest of others.
π The ironfetch Fane bargained with the fey who has a pure moral compass and has experienced more heartbreak than I'd like. He's also haunted, but I won't say more about that. He has an adorable corgi named Trefor and I will die for him.
π° The Thief Ifanna is a former paramour who brings sarcastic comedic relief and is also haunted by her former choices.
π The ironfetch Fane bargained with the fey who has a pure moral compass and has experienced more heartbreak than I'd like. He's also haunted, but I won't say more about that. He has an adorable corgi named Trefor and I will die for him.
π° The Thief Ifanna is a former paramour who brings sarcastic comedic relief and is also haunted by her former choices.
"Death lurked in the shadowy spaces between his fingers."
At its heart, The Drowned Woods is a dark fairy tale exploring power, and choice - and the consequences of our choices. The lengths one will go to in order to ensure a better world. Mer has been a pawn and weapon all her life but does that absolve her from the consequences of her actions? Where does the blame lie? Will she be able to live with herself if she keeps running?
"A person with a knife was one thing. A person with a knife and a cause could topple kingdoms."
There's so much I could say about this book. It made me cry. It's beautiful and painful and powerful. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and need more people to read it so I can scream with them about [redacted] and [redacted], so please be sure to scream at me when you read it, ok?
I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley for my honest review. This has not affected my opinions or the contents of my review. I have since purchased a finished copy.
Content warnings: character death (both on-page and off-page), grief & survivor's guilt, violence, war (off-page)
I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley for my honest review. This has not affected my opinions or the contents of my review. I have since purchased a finished copy.
Content warnings: character death (both on-page and off-page), grief & survivor's guilt, violence, war (off-page)
Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.75
Gritty & dark, RELUCTANT IMMORTALS consumed me from the first page to the very last. The horrors of being irrevocably changed by someone without your consent. It asks if weβre doomed to be monsters if we come from one?
Friends, this book sunk its teeth into me and didn't let go. I've been thinking about it since I finished almost a week ago: this is a book that will stay with you long after reading and worm its way slowly into the recesses of your mind, changing you irrevocably. I want to re-read and annotate as this is a book that both entertains and makes you think deeply about the world.
Reluctant Immortals follows the immortal afterlives of Lucy and Bee, forgotten women of history who were irrevocably changed by the monstrous men in their lives: Dracula and Mr. Rochester. I love retellings that take characters who play a small role in fiction to explore the work through their lens, and Kiste does an excellent job with Lucy (Dracula) and Bee (the wife in the attic, Jane Eyre). Sidenote but I am now horrified that I viewed Jane Eyre as a romance and want to re-read it through the gothic lens of Rochester's wife standing in the way of his happiness with Jane.)
Friends, this book sunk its teeth into me and didn't let go. I've been thinking about it since I finished almost a week ago: this is a book that will stay with you long after reading and worm its way slowly into the recesses of your mind, changing you irrevocably. I want to re-read and annotate as this is a book that both entertains and makes you think deeply about the world.
Reluctant Immortals follows the immortal afterlives of Lucy and Bee, forgotten women of history who were irrevocably changed by the monstrous men in their lives: Dracula and Mr. Rochester. I love retellings that take characters who play a small role in fiction to explore the work through their lens, and Kiste does an excellent job with Lucy (Dracula) and Bee (the wife in the attic, Jane Eyre). Sidenote but I am now horrified that I viewed Jane Eyre as a romance and want to re-read it through the gothic lens of Rochester's wife standing in the way of his happiness with Jane.)
"There are tales about Rochester and Dracula, books and movies, ones where Bee and I have been mostly written out, deleted from our own story, our own lives."
It's 1967, and Lucy and Bee have lived in Los Angeles for about ten years, doing their best to live the quiet afterlives forced upon them. The friendship and support Lucy and Bee give each other, including giving space to not discuss traumatic events of their respective pasts, is so sweet and I found myself happy they found one another. Their nightly routine of going to the local drive-in? Yes. This book largely centers their friendship and I love that.
This is not your typical Gothic Horror novel. Reluctant Immortals is fast paced with a sense of wry humor oozing from Lucy's narrative, giving the book the feel of reading Urban Fantasy. Where the gothic comes through is in the themes: the confinement and isolation our characters escaped when they found each other, the exploration of power, and decay; but this is not a book where tension slowly builds. It's there from the first paragraph and mounts as the story progresses. This would be an excellent read for anyone who enjoys the back third of gothic books ("where all the action happens") like Mexican Gothic but may have struggled with the slow pace.
The theme of decay is tied to the horrors of abusive men and their lasting effect, changing the women and destroying who they were Before. Trauma permanently changes a person's brain, and decay is an representation for that. This theme extends beyond our protagonists and their home, though. The drive-in theatre itself is experiencing a form of decay as the once thriving business has lost patronage for years and is a husk of what it once was. The setting of Los Angeles is perfect for this story because of how it's a place romanticized, much like immortal life, but the harsh realities are much worse than we care to notice.
This is not your typical Gothic Horror novel. Reluctant Immortals is fast paced with a sense of wry humor oozing from Lucy's narrative, giving the book the feel of reading Urban Fantasy. Where the gothic comes through is in the themes: the confinement and isolation our characters escaped when they found each other, the exploration of power, and decay; but this is not a book where tension slowly builds. It's there from the first paragraph and mounts as the story progresses. This would be an excellent read for anyone who enjoys the back third of gothic books ("where all the action happens") like Mexican Gothic but may have struggled with the slow pace.
The theme of decay is tied to the horrors of abusive men and their lasting effect, changing the women and destroying who they were Before. Trauma permanently changes a person's brain, and decay is an representation for that. This theme extends beyond our protagonists and their home, though. The drive-in theatre itself is experiencing a form of decay as the once thriving business has lost patronage for years and is a husk of what it once was. The setting of Los Angeles is perfect for this story because of how it's a place romanticized, much like immortal life, but the harsh realities are much worse than we care to notice.
"This is a glittering city haunted by the ghosts of dead girls and dead dreams."
Los Angeles is famous for Hollywood and countless people flock there to "make it big," only to be consumed by a brutal -- and at times abusive -- industry. Just as Lucy and Bee were consumed by Dracula and Rochester, these nameless and faceless Hollywood hopefuls had their lives irrevocably changed by the power wielded by others, making the city a perfect setting for Lucy and Bee to call home. I could honestly write essays about the use of decay in Reluctant Immortals!
"All their necks cracking as they lurch forward, their mouths gaping open like beached carp."
I loved the way Relutant Immortals expands on vampire lore in unexpected ways, particularly how sunlight actually affects them. Since the book is told from the perspective of someone who had essentially been written out of history, Kiste was able to play around with other omissions of history or things that were just plain wrong. And seriously, Lucy and Bee's daily routine of racing around their house to clean up the decay is the sweetest part of this whole book. (Oh no, I am about to write more about the decay, abort! Abort!)
Overall, just WOW. Reluctant Immortals is a feat of genre-bending, retelling Gothic novels Jane Erye and Dracula in 1967 California through the lens of two forgotten side characters who today are relegated to a footnote. It's poignant and hopeful, beautiful and macabre. This is a book that will consume you while reading and won't let you go, a book that has a lot there to analyze if you're so inclined but also stands on its own as a powerful and feminist tale of two girls trying to regain some agency over their lives and be free of the trauma they experienced at the hands of men. Kiste is absolutely a horror author to watch and I look forward to checking out her backlist immediately. I can't recommend this book enough and can't wait for you to read it!
I received an ARC in a Twitter giveaway hosted by the author. This does not affect my opinions of the book or the contents of my review. Quotations are from an unfinished proof and are subject to change upon final publication.
Overall, just WOW. Reluctant Immortals is a feat of genre-bending, retelling Gothic novels Jane Erye and Dracula in 1967 California through the lens of two forgotten side characters who today are relegated to a footnote. It's poignant and hopeful, beautiful and macabre. This is a book that will consume you while reading and won't let you go, a book that has a lot there to analyze if you're so inclined but also stands on its own as a powerful and feminist tale of two girls trying to regain some agency over their lives and be free of the trauma they experienced at the hands of men. Kiste is absolutely a horror author to watch and I look forward to checking out her backlist immediately. I can't recommend this book enough and can't wait for you to read it!
I received an ARC in a Twitter giveaway hosted by the author. This does not affect my opinions of the book or the contents of my review. Quotations are from an unfinished proof and are subject to change upon final publication.
The Agathas by Liz Lawson, Kathleen Glasgow
2.5
This was okay, I guess. I almost DNF'd a few times but the mystery itself was plotted really well and I was interested enough to see what happened. I kind of found the main character's obsession with Agatha Christie a little insufferable, and the characters didn't feel fleshed out: they felt like a handful of characteristics in a trenchcoat rather than an actual person. Not to mention that Alice's motivations didn't feel strong enough for me to drive the plot.
"There are an awful lot of morally gray areas to being a detective."
THERE SHOULDN'T BE. And I would be remiss to not mention that it is WEIRD that an actual defense attorney breaks confidentiality to essentially work with a handful of teenagers because??? she babysat one of them? I can suspend my disbelief at the roundabout sharing of intel to find the truth but kind of draw the line at a murder board pizza party. Of course, take this with a grain of salt as I am an adult and not the target audience (but it's still weird af).
The reading experience was a definite 2 but the mystery was done well and it got a little better character-wise towards the end so I rounded up to 3. A sequel was just announced but I won't be continuing.
The reading experience was a definite 2 but the mystery was done well and it got a little better character-wise towards the end so I rounded up to 3. A sequel was just announced but I won't be continuing.