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.
Review: Sorcery and Small Magics (The Wildersongs Trilogy #1) by Maiga Doocy
I feel like this was originally described to me as ‘cosy’ but I’m not sure that fits. If you ignore the romance this is a story about an accidental curse and two students’ journey into a dangerous magical forest to find a cure. They hear rumours of a sorcerer who might be able to undo the curse that Grimm accidentally uses on Leo, and I really enjoyed the portion of the book where they ventured into the forest and braved the monsters within. That in itself made for a great story, but add in a very slow-burn romance and I found myself really enjoying Sorcery and Small Magics.
Review: Annihilation (Southern Reach #1) by Jeff Vandermeer
This book is a wild ride. Did I know what was going on? No. Was I have a great time anyway? Yes. This edition comes with a great introduction by Karen Joy Fowler which sets you up for the weird and wonderful ride you’re about to have. It’s an introduction I’m going to revisit once I finished the series (as I likely will with all the intros for these editions) just so I can see how my understanding has changed.
Review: Sinophagia by Xueting C. Ni
This is an utterly incredible collection of Chinese Horror. Xueting has done a truly incredible job of curating and translating collection, it’s got a stunning variety of stories, in length, content and horror type. It has ghost stories, it has locked-room horror, it has horror with a twist at the end and every single one deserves it’s place in Sinophagia.
Review: A Stitch Between Worlds by Frasier Armitage
I’ve made no secret of my love for Frasier’s writing. He writes these incredible sci-fi books that always have me reeling by the end when he reveals something that just blows my mind. A Stitch Between Worlds is no different. I won’t spoil why because I think you should experience it yourself, but it’s truly masterful.
Review: Influencer by Adam Cesare
If you’re looking for a book with a narrator you will not like this is for you. It’s partially told from the perspective of Aaron aka ‘The Speaker’, and he is a complete psychopath. The vast majority of the book is following Aaron as he joins a new school and begins to use his influence to bring out the worst in some of the kids he meets. This is a YA horror so it is centred around high school kids, but it can stand up pretty well against some adult thriller/horrors.
Review: Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa
It’s tough to describe what this book is. The publisher has gone with ‘A queer, madcap, friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers time travel romance’, which to be honest is about as close as you can get. It’s also been described as ‘cosy’ which I don’t necessarily agree with as much but I can see why it might dip into the category at times. Basically it kind of defies explanation and you’ve just got to go with it and see where it takes you.
Cover Reveal: A Stitch Between Worlds by Frasier Armitage
“The differences between worlds — they’re like two tapestries, one made of silk and the other of wool. But this door is a needle that sends me between them, and I’m what stitches them together.”
Review: Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood
Hellooooo cosy autumn reads. It is time. Make sure you’ve got Rewitched on your cosy tbr because it is *perfect*. Coming in at almost 400 pages it’s chonky for a cosy read, but the story hooked me and the pages flew by!
Review: The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
This is a beautiful, uplifting story exploring a kind of ‘in-between’ place where the dead go to view their memories before they move onto the afterlife. It’s a story that deals with death and grief without actually touching on those subjects directly. You feel for all these people and those they’ve left behind, but it’s also a celebration of their life and what they achieved. The outlier here is the final character, Mitsuru, who tragically dies at the hands of her parents, but ultimately she gets her happy ending still.