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.
Review: Honeycomb by S.B. Caves
Honeycomb had me HOOKED. Wow. It took me by surprise so many times and I couldn’t put it down, I thought I knew what was going on but there were still moments that really caught me out.
This is a great high-concept thriller with a central plot that utterly hooked me. The idea of putting six people together in a locked house and giving them an experimental drug is such a great concept and S.B. Caves pulls it off so so well.
Review: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adrian Tchaikovsky can do no wrong. Service Model is an utter triumph of fun sci-fi with an added edge of things being a liiiiittle too close to home. Told entirely from the perspective of Charles, a personal valet robot who embarks on quite the journey.
Charles at the start of the book is a very unintentionally humorous robot, and his observations of the world around him are so very naive. I really enjoyed the first quarter of the book where he’s interacting with other robots who are following their routines, and the lack of human interaction is messing with their systems. A particular favourite was the detective and doctor robots, it was for me the first realisation of just how funny this book can be.