Review: Court of Lions

Court of Lions by Somaiya Daud
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think when Somaiya Daud came out with her debut novel in 2018, it was meant as the start of a lovely, lush, beautiful new trilogy of YA SFF like none we'd ever seen before. But now I think that, given the two year gap between this book and its sequel and how little attention it seems to have attracted across the community (despite much-deserved love from Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Roth, among others), Daud might have reworked this book to be another duology conclusion. Which is a bit of a shame, but hey, it also doesn't detract from the absolute richness of this Arabian-inspired intergalactic romantic fantasy, with Daud's eye for deep detail and complex characterization. Even more so than in the first book, since while Maram, for one, came off a bit of a one-dimensional hate sink at times, now it becomes clear that Amani has reason to sympathize with her a lot more. Namely, because Maram is gay and closeted, but also because the connections between them - the connections explaining why it's perhaps not so coincidental after all how nearly identical they are - are simultaneously shocking and unsurprising given the conventions of the book's genre(s). So, while I do still hope for more adventures in this universe, I'm glad to see that Daud gives this story a nice, logical conclusion worthy of an ave atque vale. For now, at least...

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Review: Lore

Lore by Alexandra Bracken
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Okay...so a lot of the time I pick up an Alexandra Bracken book after months, if not years, of looking forward to it and I find it interesting to start off. But her narratives historically tend to sacrifice a lot of action for dead air and bloat to pump up the page count, and I'm sorry to say that her latest was no exception. Though promising an action-packed sort of Hunger Games starring the Greek gods - in modern-day New York so as to resemble the stories of Percy Jackson, especially The Last Olympian - Bracken gives us a slate of characters who fill several pages of dramatis personae, but prove surprisingly lifeless in practice. Even with a lot of exciting promise - family revenge on Lore's part, especially, since her family was all killed in the last round of the Agon - the combination of Bracken's usual stagnant storyline speeds and a seriously detached third person narration with sporadic flashbacks don't serve this novel well at all. I don't usually give one star except as a DNF, but I was skimming this book so severely by the end that it might as well have been a DNF for me. With apologies to Bracken's many fans, but hopefully she'll have something better with her next publication.

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Review: A ​Court of Silver Flames

A ​Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well I'll be honest. By rights, this isn't a four star book. A 3.5 really, and if not for the fact that Nesta and Cassian are fast becoming major comfort characters for me, it'd really just be a straight 3. But to see that this is where Maas is taking the world of ACOTAR next - in addition to her freshly announced TV adaptation with the team behind Outlander - with a fresh new trilogy focused on Nesta and Cassian? I'm absolutely down. 

Review: Chain of Iron

Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

600 pages and a beautiful, beautiful cover? OMGGGGGGGG YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

As is normal when I see something new from Cassandra Clare.

Now, though...here we are at a point where I've completed a full reread of Clare's work to date, topped off with her latest, and here I am wondering...when will we actually get her upcoming trilogy conclusions? We don't have covers, let alone release dates, for The Black Volume of the Dead or Chain of Thorns yet, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Clare - and Wesley Chu too, naturally - made us wait an ungodly long time to finish these stories.

Review: Super Powereds: Year 1

Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew Hayes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Literally the first book I read in Oregon...well, no, but my roomie Justin is a big, big fan, and he played the audiobook on much of the back half of our all-day drive from the Bay Area to Hood River last month. Starting in Eugene or so, and only stopping once we got to Portland and it really started to snow...but in all that time, the amount of book we were able to cover was barely a seventh of it, according to the paperback I picked up later to finally finish the story. 

Review: Infinity Reaper

Infinity Reaper by Adam Silvera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think, like with the first book of Silvera's first official series - thankfully not another duology, though he sure as hell took his sweet time announcing the upcoming third and final novel - Infinity Reaper will get a 3.5 star rating, rounded up to a 4. Though the world-building feels a little more solid than the first book's rather nebulous, not-super-explained effort (having a full list of characters and biographies at the beginning helps), and Silvera makes sure to pick things up right away after the first book's notorious cliffhanger, it also does suffer from a certain overlength problem.

Review: Wings of Ebony

Wings of Ebony by J. Elle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having heard about J. Elle and her debut while watching the virtual launch of Sabaa Tahir's A Sky Beyond the Storm, I'm glad I was able to get ahold of this book from my library - and then, once I finally opened it, it proved pretty unputdownable, demanding to be read in one sitting. Neatly bridging the gap between its imagined island of the gods (somewhere off the southern tip of Africa, though the geographic description of Ghizon's location is deliberately somewhat floaty in relation to the real world) and modern America, both places where Rue has a ton of issues in her life to deal with. It's a balance that Elle strikes very well, giving us an unflinching look at the effects of systemic racism while also highlighting some of the most unique and memorable magic you'll ever see in YA fantasy. While fans of Tomi Adeyemi and L.L. McKinney wait for them to publish their respective long-awaited third novels, Wings of Ebony starts a strong new series to occupy readers' minds - a duology, at the very least. It'll really be something to see how Elle follows up this magical debut - because yes, Sabaa Tahir's high praise is very well warranted.

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Review: The Desolations of Devil's Acre

The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well. Here it is. The conclusion to the adventure of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children...again. 

Though I have to say, this one manages to feel even more final than even Library of Souls did. It's got the sprawling length of A Map of Days and the unrelentingly fast pace of The Conference of the Birds - not only because we begin with the last book's cliffhanger finally getting resolved, but also because this one opens with a powerful punch, smack in the middle of a hurricane. And we thought the tornado in the last book was wild enough...