I have a confession. This is my first ever Cassandra Clare book, despite being the perfect age when The Mortal Instruments came out they somehow never made it onto my radar. So this is a review from someone who is brand new to Cassandra Clare’s writing.
About Paige
Review: A Crack in the World: The Reckoning by James Mordechai
A Crack in the World: The Reckoning is another very strong book from Mordechai. Introducing both new characters to the story and revisiting Gino and Carter the story effortlessly weaves in details from the first book while quickly getting into the action. This can be read either standalone or as a sequel, Mordechai has made sure that no reader will be lost.
Review: Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This is Adrian T doing what Adrian T does best. Writing stories that’ll make you sympathise with the aliens.
Review: Symbiote (Ice Plague Wars #1) by Michael Nayak
Symbiote is a ride and I was there every terrifying step of the way. Described as Contagion meets The Walking Dead I knew this was going to be something I really enjoyed, and I wasn’t disappointed. Nayak takes an already terrifying idea and dials it all the way up. Because what’s scarier than a parasite that turns your co-workers into rage-fuelled cold-loving hosts? When you’re stuck so far from civilisation that you have no hope of escape.
Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
I can confidently say that this is the first book I’ve read where I’ve felt physically unwell reading a birth scene. There’s one in particular where the girl is referred to as a ‘patient’ and it’s meant to feel detached from reality, but the body horror and detail Hendrix included made me flush hot and cold. I genuinely felt like I was going to pass out. And I think that’s a sign of some truly incredible writing.
Review: A Kingdom of Lies (Realm of Fey #2) by Ben Alderson
For me A Kingdom of Lies had a slow start, there was a bit of time where I was wondering if I should just put it down, but I persisted and I’m happy to say I really enjoyed the second half of the book. Once the plot got out of ‘what do we do next’ and people were no longer trapped in places I found that I was quite enjoying myself.
Review: Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2) by Mai Corland
I’ve started off 2025 with what may stay as one of my favourite books of the year. I loved Five Broken Blades and I think Corland has upped her game with this one! There is no second book syndrome to be found here. Four Ruined Realms keeps up the break-neck pace and builds on the relationships from the previous book.
Review: Acceptance (Southern Reach #3) by Jeff Vandermeer
This is the final book in the original trilogy and I think my second favourite after the first book. Acceptance doesn’t give answers but does give a little bit more context to the possible creation of Area X and a bit more of a look at Area X in the present day.
Review: A Betrayal of Storms (Realm of Fey #1) by Ben Alderson
This book (and I suspect the series) is fun, if you want a Fae Court fantasy with bodyguard romance this one is for you. You’re not going to find anything brand new, but sometimes you just want to curl up with a book that feels like a comfort read before you even begun.
Review: The Courting of Bristol Keats (The Courting of Bristol Keats #1) by Mary E. Pearson
By the end I was really enjoying myself. This is romantasy where it’s light on the fantasy plot and heavier on the romance. The Courting of Bristol Keats’ main fantasy plot is ‘there’s a portal open and we need to close it using a rare power’, by all means not a bad fantasy plot, this is really just the intro book to it where Bristol is learning to use her power and learning about faerieland as a whole. The romance I got quite swept up in by the end of the book.
Review: Authority (Southern Reach #2) by Jeff Vandermeer
One of the reasons I’ve always wanted to read the Southern Reach series is because it inspired my favourite game ever, ‘Control’. This is the book where I went ‘oh I can see exactly where they took inspiration and this is awesome’. Pretty much the entirety of Authority is set within the Southern Reach agency building, as we follow John aka ‘Control’ as he joins the Southern Reach and tries to unravel the mysteries. It also features a character from the first book and it was nice to have that link back to the book I’d just finished.
Review: The Songbird & the Heart of Stone (Crowns of Nyaxia #3) by Carissa Broadbent
This was my first Carissa Broadbent book and I can tell you for a fact it will not be my last. This is technically the third in the Crowns of Nyaxia series but first in its own duology. So no need to have read the first two books to start this one, it follows what I believe is a side character in the first two books, and all of the important history and context is revealed throughout the book. At no point did I feel like I was missing any context by not having read the other books. TLDR; you can start with this book and be fine.