I knew this would be an emotional read based on the dedication, but you know what? I wasn't ready. I wish I could share some of the quotes in this revI knew this would be an emotional read based on the dedication, but you know what? I wasn't ready. I wish I could share some of the quotes in this review but they'd all be spoilery so I can't, boo.
Anyway, I was really surprised by Lost Souls, it's super easy to read & get into, I zoomed through it in no time. I really appreciate that there are no huge info dumps, which can happen with scifi, and the author gradually introduces us to the world.
We follow a few PoVs, but Maximus's is the main one. The way he goes from kind of unaware, to ambitious, to...something I can't say, was so interesting.
He was the most developed character, but there was this "jump" in his personality that made me wish the book was longer so that the progression would feel natural. I didn't mind that much in the grand scheme of things though.
I liked Max's friendship with Ratchet and Kana, and wish we saw more of that since Max was often away doing his own thing. All three of them are cool characters, but the coolest, if you ask me, is (drum roll)...Moraxa!!! It's the purple, I admit. I need her to be in the next books so bad.
The ending was fitting, if a bit sad. I couldn't have picked a better one out if I tried. I'm looking forward to book two now, fingers crossed it's double as long (yes I'm manifesting)....more
Sam Paisley really woke up one morning and said, "hey, let me write one of the most fantastic debuts ever because I'm just that talented". And then, TSam Paisley really woke up one morning and said, "hey, let me write one of the most fantastic debuts ever because I'm just that talented". And then, The Winds of Change was born.
Of course I know the author worked on this for a decade (I believe) and IT SHOWS!!! Like the attention to detail, the character development, the world building & lore and the writing...so much soul was put into this novel and it leaps off the page.
It's a bit of a slower paced book at first, and you don't really know what hit you when you transition from the prologue to the first chapter, but as more things are revealed, it starts to make sense.
We have two main characters, Cooper and Reid, who get thrown into a world far beyond their wildest dreams. A world filled with magic, cute little spreetas, and one where you're never sure who's truly friend or foe.
This is just the beginning of a trilogy, so while we do have battles, the majority of the book is the boys learning how to use their powers. If you've ever complained about training montages being super short, then give this a try, it really digs into the magic system and how it works.
A portion of that training is something called the Trials, so if you enjoy stuff like The Hunger Games, I have an inkling you'll have fun with this story too.
And Cooper & Reid are just so great as characters. I love their friendship and how they'd die for one another (and the universe) if need be. They each have a spreeta, which, by the way, are the most adorable things ever created. So I'm gonna need EVERYONE to support this book so that we can get spreeta plushies!!!
I AM NOT KIDDING, GO BUY THE WINDS OF CHANGE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT LET THE LENGTH INTIMIDATE YOU, EVERYTHING IS TOP TIER! LISTEN TO ME! OKAY? OKAY.
Oh, and did I mention how funny this is? I genuinely found myself smiling and laughing at the banter, especially at the start. It gets a bit more serious later, but don't worry, the jokes are still there.
Mr Paisley, please write faster, I need more of this series ASAP, thank you....more
I happen to love sailing/pirate books, so of course I had to read this. Endless Seas is more of a sailing fantasy though, because we do have a former I happen to love sailing/pirate books, so of course I had to read this. Endless Seas is more of a sailing fantasy though, because we do have a former pirate, but the rest of the crew aren't pirates.
It's definitely an adventure on the high seas though, or should I say adventureS? Because this book is told through a series of shorter stories or adventures featuring the same cast of characters.
You could, theoretically, read them in any order, because in every chapter there's such good descriptions of each character, their roles on the ship, even their appearance.
In the first chapter I was a bit overwhelmed with how many characters were introduced, how I'd remember them all etc, so the repetition of their names & roles really helped me out.
I'd still recommend you read them in the order the book presented them in though, because they'll flow better that way.
My absolute favourite adventure was the sweetums one!!! They're so adorable!! I want one!! Or maybe not, considering the chaos...yeah better not. But the way they multipled was so hilarious, everywhere the crew looked BAM a sweetum.
Which brings me to how funny this book was in general, and the way some of the characters delivered their lines was so casual which made it even better.
My favourite character is Norah, and I'd love to maybe see some updates about her as a grown woman. I grew attached to the rest of the crew as well, and I'd love to follow them on more adventures.
Also, I have to say, this reminded me of Stargate in the best way. A bit of Firefly too, but more Stargate.
4.5
*Thank you to the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*...more
Have you ever wanted to go to Roswell and get abducted by aliens? If your answer is yes then this is the book for you.
I had such a good time listeningHave you ever wanted to go to Roswell and get abducted by aliens? If your answer is yes then this is the book for you.
I had such a good time listening to this, it was hilarious and I loved all the characters, especially Indy. He's like a tumbleweed alien with tentacles and he keeps abducting people he comes across because he just wants to go somewhere but can't communicate where, so they're all forced to go on a road trip together.
At first I wasn't Francie's biggest fan, with the way she was immediately dismissive of people who believe in UFOs, but when Indy abducted her she got more likeable.
I also love her and Wade together, even though we only got some crumbs of their romance thrown in. But they were cute.
The only off thing about this is that the ending comes out of nowhere, in the middle of a conversation. The audiobook ended and I was like "huh???", but apparently that IS the end. So I'm hoping we'll get a sequel, because otherwise that's a really strange place to end it, it's not even an open ending, just...odd.
BUT YES IF YOU WANT CUTE AND FUNNY ALIENS READ THIS BOOK....more
Mark Lawrence is one of those authors that I've been meaning to get into for around 10 years now, but never did because I felt like I'd love DNF @ 46%
Mark Lawrence is one of those authors that I've been meaning to get into for around 10 years now, but never did because I felt like I'd love his books and should own all of them before I start reading them and so on and on it dragged.
I'm not really the type of person who can just start anywhere with authors who have a lot of books, I need to start at the beginning, but new books just keep on coming out...
But anyway, all I knew about this book was that it wasn't connected to any others so it would be a decent place to start, and I put a hold in for the audiobook, not entirely sure about wanting to read it.
My turn to borrow the audio came and it was pretty clear from the start that this book and I would not mesh well. I was so bored, right from the beginning. Now that's a whole record.
The issue might be me though, because so far no books that were set in libraries have worked for me. Not The Midnight Library, not Piranesi and now not The Book That Wouldn't Burn. I really don't know why I have this issue with fictional libraries, when I love them in real life, but something about them in books just isn't the same.
The audio is 22h long and I decided to dnf because nothing was happening, the pace was so slow, I didn't care about the characters and honestly wasn't interested in what would happen next. I should've dnfed earlier but good on me for lasting this long!!
I'm still looking forward to checking out his other books which appeal to me a lot more than this one ever did. I'm certain they'll be better than this. ...more
1. I love romantasy, I prefer it to pure romance books and read a lot of it. 2. I love Star Wars, I grOk, a few things to note before we get into this:
1. I love romantasy, I prefer it to pure romance books and read a lot of it. 2. I love Star Wars, I grew up watching it with my dad. 3. I haven't read the fanfic this book was based on and I'm not a Reylo shipper.
That third point may have affected my experience with The Hurricane Wars. When I requested it, I had no idea it was a Reylo fanfic turned into a book, and if I had known it was, I'm not sure if I would've done so. So take that into consideration.
This was not a bad book overall, but it didn't work for me.
The main reason why is that the book expects you to already know who everyone is, because there's barely any introductions. Sure, we get info dumps at the start which are more than a bit overwhelming (and worldbuiding based), but if you want to know about the characters, tough luck.
In this the book shows its origins, because with fanfics you're already familiar with the characters and don't need any extra details about them to enjoy what you're reading. But in a book? More time should've been taken to flesh out the characters, give them unique personalities etc.
Why should I care about them when I know nothing about them (other than roughly who they're supposed to be)? Someone dies early on, a friend of the mc and I was just like huh okay, moving on...
I was expecting more romance than we got, to be honest. Because I saw a few reviews say it happened so fast, it was insta love, there's spicy scenes, or that the plot is basically working around forcing these two into scenes together. I didn't really experience that?
I mean, their attraction to one another didn't really do anything for me, I wasn't feeling it because there wasn't much depth there, but I do think we got enough plot on the side that this wasn't as romance focused as it could've been.
The romantic scenes were often cringy and I hated the emphasis on their size difference (hence why I avoid Reylo fics turned published books, huge size differences are not my thing, personally), but there were so few of them that I didn't mind them all that much.
The majority of them happened during the last third of the book, but the rest of it was just crumbs, really.
The world building and the plot weren't bad, I think the author did a decent job with both, even if the latter was predictable from the start. But at least it was interesting enough to get me to finish the book. Was it interesting enough to get me to read the sequel though? Ehhhh, not really.
I will give extra points for even attempting to convert everything into a book, it does take skill to not only change character names (and have them make sense in the context of the world) but to also come up with new lore without making it too similar to the original.
I'm sure thousands and thousands of other people will love this book with their whole heart, but sadly I'm not one of them.
P. S. Because this is my 1000th review, I'm feeling nice and I'll round my rating up to 3 stars, but it's somewhere around a 2.5 on the enjoyment scale.
*Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*...more
This should've been right up my alley, but sadly wasn't. I was hoping for something similar to The First Sister, and this did have subtle similar vibeThis should've been right up my alley, but sadly wasn't. I was hoping for something similar to The First Sister, and this did have subtle similar vibes, but overall I wanted more development.
I'm not sure if this is a standalone or if there are more books to follow, but as is I think it should've been split into two books at least. There was barely any time to get to know the characters, to care about them, especially Sahar who had so few PoVs.
Out of the other two PoVs, Korinne, who is the main character, is the most developed, but I still found it so hard to relate to her and care about her.
Aster was probably the coolest character (who eats stars!), though the names of her chapter titles kept changing. Which, while it made sense with the plot, felt a bit out of place. Because Korinna's chapters were all just her name, Sahar's too from what I recall. Either give all of them different titles, or none. Or at least give Aster just one, it was hard to keep track of all of hers when there were so many changes.
The romance started off very obsessive, Aster lived in Korinna's head rent free and vice versa. Despite that, I can't say I saw any chemistry there. But I do like the sapphic rep.
The pacing was both fast and slow, it would depend on the chapter. There were times where I felt like I had to push myself to continue reading, and times where I thought "ohh this is going well, let's read a few more chapters".
Generally though, I don't think this is a hard read that will take people longer to finish, but it can be info dumpy.
The magic system wasn't completely clear to me, but that's ok, I'm very much a "vibes" person so I don't need exact explanations for magic systems in books. I think I kind of get the gist?
I liked the world building and the plot, there were some interesting ideas there, and I'd be happy to read another book by this author which will undoubtedly be better.
*Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*...more
The audiobook was free and the blurb seemed interesting so I decided to go for it. I thought I was going to love it at first, but honestly nothing reaThe audiobook was free and the blurb seemed interesting so I decided to go for it. I thought I was going to love it at first, but honestly nothing really happened?
I was hoping to like this enough to continue the series, sadly I won't be doing that. I think the idea was there, a good one, but the execution was lacking.
I'm familiar with the male narrator and I liked his performance, while the female narrator was so-so. Not the best but also not the worst.
Would I have liked this better with a different female narrator? Eh, maybe, maybe not. There's only so much narrators can do with a book like this, so I'm not disappointed....more
Nora's friendship with Asha was the best part of this novella, and I hope we'll get to see more of them in the main books.Nora's friendship with Asha was the best part of this novella, and I hope we'll get to see more of them in the main books....more
Wasn't such a big fan of Meghan in this one, I don't know if she'll get her own book later on in the series, but if she doesn't I don't really mind.Wasn't such a big fan of Meghan in this one, I don't know if she'll get her own book later on in the series, but if she doesn't I don't really mind....more
I loved two of these in a row?? Huh. I don't know why but I'm not complaining.
They were kind of enemies to lovers but not really enemies, still cute tI loved two of these in a row?? Huh. I don't know why but I'm not complaining.
They were kind of enemies to lovers but not really enemies, still cute though. I loved the slower burn, they were kind of similar to Tiffany and Salukh. And there was a plot.
I was wondering how this series would go like I said before, when all the humans are mated, but now we know how the next two will go at least. After that? Who knows. I'm in for the whole ride....more
SALUKH SAID CONSENT IS SEXY AND WE LOVE HIM FOR IT!!!
This is definitely one of my favourite books in the series, it felt like a slow burn but was stilSALUKH SAID CONSENT IS SEXY AND WE LOVE HIM FOR IT!!!
This is definitely one of my favourite books in the series, it felt like a slow burn but was still happening fast enough for it to not drag.
Tiffany was raped by the aliens that abducted her and the other girls and because of this she has a problem with being touched. She's also one of the last humans without a mate which is why everyone seems to be competing for her affections, while poor Tiffany would rather be left alone.
Salukh knew that Tiffany was going to be his, and he started off with being her friend, helping her out with her projects, listened to her, never touched her unless she said it was okay. He's great really.
He was so patient with her and so caring and I really enjoyed their story. And while I don't like that Tiffany had to suffer at all, I like that she didn't immediately get over what happened to her, and she gradually did it over the course of the book.
I do feel bad for Josie though, Tiffany was showered with affection she didn't want while nobody paid any mind to Josie, even though she's a candidate too and desperately wants to resonate and have a family.
Well Josie did resonate at the end and I'm excited to read her story. And because I know there's so many more books after these ones I'm wondering who the rest of the guys will mate with, if more humans will arrive or what?
Also I have to mention this, when I first saw Salukh's name I instantly thought of Sa'Luk from the Aladdin movie....more
I really really wanted to love this book, and was so happy to get the arc, but it didn't totally work for me. Still, I think this book has a storylineI really really wanted to love this book, and was so happy to get the arc, but it didn't totally work for me. Still, I think this book has a storyline worth exploring.
I'll list what I liked first:
- Brielle, she's the most developed character and can be smart on occasion. Like when she's threatened, there are scenes where she asks/accepts help from other characters and doesn't fall into the "I'm the main character so I must do everything myself" mentality.
- The diversity, everyone is black, we love to see it.
- The plot, to an extent, is entertaining, and to its credit I only guessed one major reveal, everything else was unexpected.
- The length (both liked and disliked this, I'll come back to it later), I like that it's on the shorter side and as a bonus it's very fast paced so you can get through it in no time.
- The spider scene was very funny, and in general Tapped By Legacy had some really funny moments.
Now what I disliked:
- As much as Brielle was developed, the other characters weren't which made it hard to care for them. The pacing (and length) are partially why, I think.
Because this book is very chaotic (sometimes in a good way, sometimes not) and so, so many things are going on, that we simply don't have time to get to know any of the characters.
- It's very repetitive, this one thing that I won't spoil keeps happening to Brielle and her friends over and over, it's like that's all this Secret Society does.
- The writing felt a bit juvenile, and this whole book did too, really. I think someone who's on the younger end of the ya spectrum would like this a lot more and I'd even recommend it to them.
Would I read the sequel, if there is one? I think so, especially since there's always room for improvement. So who knows, maybe the next book would be more fleshed out.
*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*...more
Well, this was not like the TV series that's for sure. It was slow at the start, and it picked up eventually, but it was just alright at the end.Well, this was not like the TV series that's for sure. It was slow at the start, and it picked up eventually, but it was just alright at the end....more
I needed a quick little read and this was it, my last book of the year. I was expecting a tiny bit more from it though, because the world building wasI needed a quick little read and this was it, my last book of the year. I was expecting a tiny bit more from it though, because the world building wasn't explained well, it was all kind of jumpy and I didn't care much about the characters. ...more
This was a wacky book, but I liked it. It's one of the most entertaining classics I've read, or rather listened to. The narrator did a good job and I'This was a wacky book, but I liked it. It's one of the most entertaining classics I've read, or rather listened to. The narrator did a good job and I'd like to listen to other books narrated by him too....more
I finished this series woohoo!! Sadly none of the stories were exactly to my taste, but I'll still check out the authors I didn't already know from beI finished this series woohoo!! Sadly none of the stories were exactly to my taste, but I'll still check out the authors I didn't already know from before....more
