Category: Fiction

4/5 Star Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

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This book by Grady Hendrix came recommended to me by a good friend, and I’m so glad that I decided to pick it up even though it’s not my usual genre of choice. This book was absolutely brutal and graphic – but also well written. I think if people who read it couldn’t relate to the book, they might have a difficult time seeing it as ‘horror’. It was moving in a way that I can’t really put into words, and the author took some obvious pains to learn their subject. It really showed (I know this all sounds quite cryptic, but I don’t want to give away the plot of the book). I did feel that there were some ‘over the top’ moments, but it didn’t feel like it was ‘too much’ considering the subject. It was a fantastic read.

4/5 stars

3/5 Star Review – Strange Houses

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This book by Uketsu was a YouTube sensation a few years ago, and a friend suggested I read it, so I did. The translation to English makes it a bit awkward. It was not my favourite genre, but it was interesting to see where it went. I think I was expecting it to be a more interesting story, but I found it pretty tame, with a lot of build up for nothing. The telling of the story was the most interesting part, and then once you knew the details the story lost interest (at least for me). I probably will not read any more of the series though I do really want to read their other book, Strange Pictures.

3/5 stars

4.5/5 Stars – The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

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I finally finished book 6 (audio book) of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series – first, it was VERY LONG. Such a good listen though, probably one of my favourites so far. The adventurers are on a new floor, which of course means new mechanics. This floor involves cards almost like Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon, and they’re used in combat.

There wasn’t enough Princess Donut in this book, and I wasn’t especially engaged in the card fight mechanic for the floor. Carl goes through some brutal memories and scenes involving his step brother and Dad. The AI is messed up. Mordecai was OK. The nun was creepy.

This book was completely off the wall in a way that I’ve come to expect from Matt Dinniman, except I have NO IDEA how he does it. The entire book is filled with action, horror, humor, and drama. The more you listen to it, the more everything that seems over the top and ‘too much’ clicks exactly into place, and you’re just left standing there thinking “woah, holy shit.” and the amazing (to me) part of it is – IT MAKES SENSE. Matt Dinniman has created an incredibly over the top messed up world that logically makes sense in my brain when he describes it, despite the fact that it is completely made up bonkers nonsense.

This book held more emotional scenes than the previous ones (IMO), and I was there for it. I can’t wait to start the 7th book.

4.5/5 stars

4/5 Stars – Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

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This book was recommended to me by all sorts of friends, and I started seeing it pop up on my feed here and there – so when Kobo offered it on sale, of course I had to grab it. This was the very first book I bought for my Kobo Clara, and it was a lovely read. Things started out a bit slow, but as I progressed through the book and learned more about the two characters, I got deeply involved in the story. My only reason for giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I didn’t really enjoy how this book ended, it felt a bit rushed compared to the overall feel of the rest of the book.

The more I read, the more I started liking Wendell Bambleby (Emily’s colleague / rival) and the less I liked Emily! She started getting on my nerves. I did love how well we came to know the main character, the book came complete with footnotes and it was pretty unique. I saw some reviews mention the ‘dryness’ of the book, but honestly I think it suits the academic feeling of things, and I found the deeper stories to be just perfect. Overall, a lovely cozy read, and I’m sure I’ll be picking up the others before too long.

4/5 stars

5/5 Stars – Clockwork Boys

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This is Clockwork Boys, by T. Kingfisher. Wow. I’m so glad I read the Paladin series first, even though it’s out of publishing order as far as these books go. I loved this book so much but I think it also helped that I already knew the history involved. Kingfisher is brilliant, her characters came to life (as always), and I can’t say enough good things about this read. It was an absolute joy in every aspect.

There’s a ton of ‘unique’ aspects of this book that make it so much more than your basic fantasy read. The carnivorous tattoos, the ex-demonhunter paladin, a smart ass assassin. I’m very excited to read the next book because of course it ended on a massive cliffhanger.

5/5 stars

3/5 Stars – The Christmas Tree Farm

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The Christmas Tree Farm, by Laurie Gilmore. I needed something easy on the brain, and this was available at the library so I picked it up. It is your typical hallmark-esc romance, except r-rated with some sex thrown in. I could not take this book seriously. The part where he found her vibrator in the couch was just hilarious to the point of being unbelievable (in specific, their discussion around it, not the actual act, that part I could see happening). Not a literary masterpiece, but it was what I was looking for. Just a nice simple read.

3/5 stars

5/5 Stars – Dandelion

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Dandelion – by Jamie Chai Yun Liew.

I borrowed this from the library as an audiobook, and while it started off very slow (giving a LOT of background to the main character, introducing family members, etc), I really loved it by the end. It was heartbreaking, and felt real. Later on I discovered it was a work of fiction, and I almost wish I had not known that. This book was suggested by CBC reads, in my effort to read more Canadian authors. All of the other books had very long wait times, and this one was available immediately. I’m not sure why.

The ending felt a little rushed, the reader is presented with a lot of information in a very short span and everything wraps up in a neat little package which didn’t exactly feel realistic. Going over the reviews a lot of readers felt that the writing was poor – but that didn’t come across in the audiobook version and I’m glad I decided to listen to it in that format.

5/5 stars