Review: The Gilded Wolves

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've seen a lot of conflicting responses to this book in the time since it came out, and even before that. A lot of people saying it's too similar to Six of Crows, or that it's got too much of an overwrought writing style, that sort of thing. Well, I'll concede on the first point only because, frankly, SoC was so big that it practically defined the YA fantasy heist story, and while this book isn't as much about the heist, it's also got a lot of what helped define SoC as the classic it was: namely, a beautifully complex magic system and a wonderfully inclusive ensemble cast. It also has this much else in common with SoC - it's marketed as YA but would make much more sense as an NA book. Mostly because Séverin, for one, comes off a little too mature and businesslike to be a teenager...but I digress.

Review: Undying

Undying by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is supposed to be the end of the series? Duology AGAIN? Gaaaaaahhhhhhhhh...

...but hey, after the first book dazzled me so much, I'm not surprised that this one caps off the story in high action, high romance, and high fashion.



What he said.

Review: Slayer

Slayer by Kiersten White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been waiting for this book pretty eagerly for a while, it being a spinoff-slash-sequel to one of my all-time favorite series. And it's good to know that like many in the YA community, Kiersten White is a fan too, and it shows in her work. That said, though, I read this book and couldn't help but feel a certain sense of disappointment, which I think stems from the fact that it's a Kiersten White book and, for some reason, she's always been one of those authors I'm not super able to get into, for whatever reason.

Review: The Storm Crow

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Trigger warnings for this book: depression, self-harm, colonial invasion.

Harry found this ARC at work and saved it for me, believing it to properly be my style. And for that, I thank him. I admit, the comps written on the back don't inspire me with a lot of confidence, because I'm not a fan of Eragon or of And I Darken. But I have a comp in mind from reading this, a comp that I think works so much better: The Dragon Prince, but with magical, elemental crows in a very expansive and complex system, one of the more unique ones I've yet seen in fantasy.

Review: King of Scars

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR PREVIOUS GRISHAVERSE NOVELS. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

I managed to forget Nikolai for the most part after reading the Grisha Trilogy for the first time...but after rereading all those original books, I remember and love him a lot more.

Now I've finally read the first in his duology - well, it's a little misleading to simply refer to it as the Nikolai Duology as GR has been doing. The King of Scars Duology sounds more accurate, not unlike the Six of Crows duology - which, well, it's not the Kaz Brekker Duology for a reason. Maybe it's a little less ensemble in its casting than Six of Crows, but the fact that we get three main POV characters spotlit in the blurb - Nikolai, of course, as well as Zoya and Nina, returning from SoC and Crooked Kingdom - means this really isn't just Nikolai's series, not by a long shot. Nikolai's story does, however, really form the core of the book, as he's struggling to balance the day-to-day of being Ravka's dashing new king with the night-to-night of a curse of a pretty lycanthropic nature, courtesy of that worst of the worst hacky-sack villains of the YA world whose name isn't Umbridge, the Commandant, or Maven Calore: the Darkling.

Review: The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one's a strange one to rate. It took me a long time to read, and it had a lot of good points, but also a lot of negative aspects too. All in all, I'll give it a perfectly middling rating, but I have to admit I'm somewhat disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the whole "Field Guide" aspect going on, it lent a pretty snarky style to the whole story. Unfortunately, that snark was somewhat undercut by the fact that, being told in third-person POV, it was therefore a lot harder for me to connect to Norris as a narrator and protagonist.

Review: Oathbringer

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third book of Sanderson's magnum opus - yes, I officially consider The Stormlight Archive to be Sanderson's magnum opus simply based on its sheer scale so far outclassing everything else he's ever written - is one of the biggest and most jam-packed books I've ever read. So big, in fact, I heard that Tor had to contract a whole different bindery to get it made. But all 1200+ pages of this brick are worth the read, because it feels like such a slow-mo explosion of awesome. And I mean "awesome" in both the modern and the old-fashioned senses, because as we get more acquainted with the Shards and Heralds and the great social conflicts of Roshar, it really shows just how much Sanderson's imagination operates on a godlike level. Not for nothing is his Cosmere super-influencing the screenwriting projects I'm working on with my buddy Koda! But seriously, this book is such an enormously rewarding one to read, and it's a good thing I read it again because I'm going to want to remember it all before the fourth book (tentative working title: The Rhythm of War) drops next year.

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