Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by Random House Worlds in exchange for a fair and honest review ** I’m just going to cut to the chase, right off the bat, and say that this was a hard one to read that I almost DNF’d about a dozen times. The premise was plenty intriguing. Five students...
Justin Bowers
I adore Ms. Schwab’s writing, and she has proven to surprise me again and again with her ability to shift gears, and styles, with each release. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is no different. Queer vampire stories are definitely not new, but Ms. Schwab introduces some new twists that make...
Justin Bowers
It’s taken me quite a while to sit down and put my thoughts to electrons on this one. Yeah, I liked it a lot, but Big Swiss is a very very heavy book to digest. Greta, I guess we will call her the protagonist of this novel, is a quintessential fuckup living with her similarly odd friend,...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** It’s the end of the year, and I’m looking for something amusing and Fantasy to pick up to get me into the first bit of 2025. I was perusing synopses, and one caught my eye: pirate goblin with a ragtag...
Justin Bowers
I’m just going to cut straight to the meat of this. I loved this book, and think it’s the best, so far, of The Empyrean series. I know there are a lot of “hot sports opinions” out there about this book, but that does nothing to diminish the collective impact this story, and this series, have had...
Justin Bowers
Imagine eating a book, map, magazine, etc. and being able to retain the information in it? Imagine also that you are part of a not quite human society ruled by rather draconian patriarchs, and daughters are basically passed off to other bookeater families to ensure their lines continue. Oh, but...
Justin Bowers
Typically I kick off my book reviews with a quick synopsis of the plot, the major characters, and a teaser into what to expect. This book, much like the others that Ms. Chambers has written, is different. As someone who reads a whole hell of a lot of hard sci-fi as well as (probably) too much...
Justin Bowers
I really really don’t know what to think of this one. On one hand, the way this, highly anticipated, series-ender wraps up is annoying as all hell, but on the other hand, it is probably one of the most realistic resolutions to such a fantastic series of untenable situations I have read in a very...
Justin Bowers
Well, I finally caved in and read the dragon book everyone has been raving about for the past year. I fought picking it up because I find a large portion of what is pitched as “romantasy” just awful to read. This book was so hyped by my reader friends who fawn over Sarah J. Maas’ stuff, so it was...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** I’ve been waiting for this book for a long while. No Gods, No Monsters took up a lot of my headspace, and I really needed Mr. Turnbull to move some of these characters along for the sake of my...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** I wanted to love this book so much. The City of Dusk was an amazing read that really set the scene and executed superbly. The Midnight Kingdom, though, not so much. The world building continued to be...
Justin Bowers
Our favorite mercenary orc is back! In this prequel to Legends & Lattes we find Viv fighting for Rackam’s Ravens and hunting a powerful necromancer. When she is injured, Rackam leaves Viv in Murk to recuperate. Naturally, Viv gets bored, and finds a good diversion in the form of a local...
Justin Bowers
Holy crap, it’s a new book in the A Darker Shade of Magic universe! To say that I had great expectations for this novel is an understatement. There was definitely the expectation that we would encounter Lila, Kell, Rhy, and Alucard; but what new shenanigans would be introduced to keep us...
Justin Bowers
It’s very rare that I read a book that I know absolutely nothing about and turns out to be so incredibly life changing. This is one of those books. I cannot say enough about the worldbuilding that Ms. Chambers spins into this incredibly wholesome tale. Dex is a monk unhappy with their role in...
Justin Bowers
Here’s the setup: in the far future of Earth, two factions battle each other for supreme control of the world, the timeline, and, well, everything. Two factions — Commandment and Garden — have their elite agents working clandestine operations throughout the various time threads. Our two...
Justin Bowers
After three books and much experimentation, I believe I have figured out the secret to full comprehension of The Locked Tomb series: just let it flow over you. Enjoy the ride and do be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. OK, here we go with the story of Nona....
Justin Bowers
Typically I meander about a review before letting you know that it’s a good read or something worth passing. With Legends & Lattes, however, I’m just going to come straight out and tell you to put down whatever you are reading and pick this one up. Yes, you heard me, and do so immediately....
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** Sometimes you stumble on a book that hits all the right buttons at just the right time. Boy howdy, The City of Dusk sure did. Set in the realm of Nexus (a very telling name, no?) in the city of...
Justin Bowers
Ms. Kaufman and Mr. Kristoff are deities at creating perfect YA science fiction trilogies. The Illuminae Files was just an incredible experience of whirlwind storytelling piled on with some crazy space action, and The Aurora Cycle follows suit without even being the least bit derivative. It’s...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** Here’s the setup. Our protagonist, Jes, is a “fugitive” on the lam from a sinister institute that was basically torturing him as a method of studying his gravitational powers. At the start of The...
Justin Bowers
Here’s the setting. A young daemon gets inhabited and taken over by his father and proceeds to go on a Duke Nukem-style bloodbath to help raise power for and spread the corruption of his father. His sole driving force was to just ambush and kill and kill and kill. Then the oddest of things...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** Rosalind Featherstone is a badass. Yeah, she might not always make the best decisions; she’s a little impulsive, and she probably drinks too much, but, nonetheless, Roz is a badass. When we first meet...
Justin Bowers
I’ve been mulling over how to approach a review for this amazing piece of fiction. Ms. Steifvater’s work is often very transcendent, but Mister Impossible just takes the cake. The Dreamer Trilogy, follow up series to the wildly popular Raven Cycle, is focused on seminal “bad boy” Ronan Lynch...
Justin Bowers
I cannot get over this book. I picked it up because Ms. Anders has some serious Sci-Fi chops, the premise sounded interesting, and, duhhh, it’s YA Space Opera. What I got, however, was unlike anything I have ever read. The basic story is that our protagonist, Tina Mains, is not just the...
Justin Bowers
Space Opera is a genre that has been around for almost one-hundred years. In this century of epic space battles and the triumph over good and evil — of which I read a lot — I have finally found a story that had a super-unique approach, and that is the total gem that is Ms. Leicht’s Persephone...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** It’s no secret that I have a severe love for YA Fantasy novels. I was already excited about taking on In the Ravenous Dark just from the synopsis, and, let me tell you, it is pure gold. Hell, this book...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** There are books that I read that absolutely hit all of the right buttons for me. The Dead and the Dark is definitely that kind of book. Logan Ortiz-Woodley is a recent high school graduate living...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** Sorrowland opens with our protagonist, Vern Fields, out in the woods giving birth to twins all by her lonesome. Yeah, that’s an opening that will grab your attention. If that were not enough, there...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** I’ve been thinking a bit about how to approach reviewing this novel. Let me be very clear, I absolutely loved it, and I really enjoyed the very raw and emotional struggles and triumphs Mr. Henderson...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** It’s very hard to start in on a review of something as magical as The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry because it just has so many facets and layers. At first glance we get the feeling that one Miss...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** One reading peeve of mine is being dropped into the middle of a multi-book series without having read the previous books. I tend to read a lot of series, so I approach each one with a “will this stand...
Justin Bowers
** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ** First and foremost, this is a book you have to pay attention to. Yes, it’s a casual read, but the subtext is almost its own character in this one. No Gods, No Monsters is the kind of book that almost...
Justin Bowers
I will start this review by saying that if you read only one book this entire year, please make it this one. Victoria Schwab is an absolute powerhouse author who has built some pretty damn incredible worlds in her novels. It is by the grace of the gods that she is amazingly prolific, so there...
Justin Bowers
Lore is something that keeps me totally invested in a book. Give me a well thought out world where there is far much more going on than is in just the setting of the primary story, and we’ve got something. I’m not talking about the insane heights of world building like J.R.R. Tolkien or George...
Justin Bowers
Every so often I come across a book that is both incredibly enjoyable, and masterfully constructed. The Starless Sea is definitely one of those books. I really enjoyed Ms. Morgenstern’s first book, The Night Circus, so I figured I’d give this one a go after it sat in my “to be read” pile for a...
Justin Bowers
There are stories one reads that one hopes will never end; then there are stories that absolutely cannot end. Harrow the Ninth falls firmly in the second category. I absolutely fell in love with the wit and language of Gideon the Ninth and the story of Lyctor and last necromancer of the Ninth...
Justin Bowers
This book was provided to me by NetGalley in return for a fair review This book was an absolute wonder; a tale of women who tried, and women who dared. Women who took the rules and norms of an uncertain time in their hands and used the ways, the words, and definitely the will to attempt...