Reviews and Comments

Anja drinks poison. A lot.

Healer Anja, the usual competent Kingfisher protagonist, is hired to uncover the mystery of how someone is being poisoned. Cats, bodyguards, some really creepy bits, and a satisfyingly true to life resolution of the final, niggling “plot hole” make this an enjoyable twist on a certain fairytale.

Princess Marra needs to figure out how to rescue not only herself, but her siblings too.

Another enjoyable fantasy from T. Kingfisher. This one feels a little darker in tone than Kingfisher’s non-horror fare, and is very fairytalesque, with godmothers, and princesses, and kings. As usual, Marra the protagonist is satisfyingly down-to-earth, and works with the tools at her disposal to attain her goals. A nice, quick read about comeuppances and chickens.

Kitty has an affair which leads to difficult consequences.

I didn’t care for this. Unlike “Of Human Bondage” in which Maugham mesmerised me with his prose, I found the dialogue stilted, flat and the writing tiresome. When I looked it up, I was stunned to learn “The Painted Veil” was written a decade after “Of Human Bondage”.

Kitty, the rather unpleasant protagonist, is a spoilt, shallow child of a woman who marries a man she barely even likes, on a whim. Her development throughout the novel didn’t ring true, and seemed unlikely, making her character feel flat and unbelievable. I just couldn’t manage to suspend my disbelief of the transformation she undergoes. I found the setting bland, didn’t care for any of the characters, didn’t enjoy the plot, and felt very disappointed by the ending. In short, not for me.

Alice, Charlotte and Maria all hunger for a life different than circumstance has afforded them.

An enjoyable read with a slightly different take on vampires. I love the title, and the twists to classic vampire lore Schwab plays with. Much of the book is historical fiction, and also queer, both of which I find appealing.

While I found the stories of Maria and Charlotte most engaging, Alice’s used a few tropes I am thoroughly tired of. Her chapters were the ones I least enjoyed. I also found the denouement somewhat lacking. Otherwise, a fun read with well-defined characters and interesting storylines.

Check, matriarch and soon-to-be-widow, attempts to keep friends and family safe while living in the Cherokee Nation in 1875.

A fine read, but a little too sprawling and unfocused for my tastes. I found Verble’s “Stealing” a much more intimate and compelling read. Partly because “Cherokee America” isn’t written in first person, but also because its wide-ranging portrayal of a time and place which touches upon many characters and situations lacks the sensitive depiction of a single protagonist I so appreciated in “Stealing”.

A group of retirees get together every Thursday and solve cold cases, but one day a hot one in need of solving shows up.

I wanted to like this more than I actually did. While I understand why people enjoy these books, they just aren’t my kind of thing. I didn’t like the crimes, nor the resolutions, and had issues suspending my disbelief about how much detecting the Murder Club could actually do, and found it all a bit too sappy in the end.

Det. Maritza Smith needs to solve the mystery inside Rose House, but the only way she can get in is if Dr. Selene Gisil allows it.

While I very much enjoyed Martine’s Teixcalaan Series, and I found the idea behind Rose/House extremely appealing, I didn’t care for this at all. I found the characters bland, the prose slippery and overly descriptive, and the denouement ultimately unsatisfying. I’d much rather read another Teixcalaan novel.

Fern the rattkin is dissatisfied, and uproots her life, heading off to Thune to set up shop next to a certain coffee shop.

Absolutely adorable. A lovely, cosy read following Fern, who is possibly even more foul-mouthed in middle age. Delightful characters show up, some new and some old, and the story itself is very sweet, albeit rather more adventures than previous instalments in the series. I find Fern extremely charming, and I really hope she will return as a main character in future novels. Where is the Legends & Latte TTRPG? At least give us a lore book! Take my money!

After Kit’s mother dies, her need for connection leads her to make friends with Bella, a young newcomer in town.

The writing is excellent, and Kit is written with great tenderness. She feels like a real little girl in a real world. As her story meanders back and forth, the blanks get filled in, and the reader gets sucker punched more than once. I’ll be reading more Verble.

What bits of the human body are replaceable, and why is it so difficult?

I’ve read most of the popular science books Roach has written, and enjoyed them all. “Replaceable You” is no different, it’s an easy read about an interesting topic, and I learnt a lot. However, I didn’t find Roach’s writing as charming as before, and suspect it’s me rather than any fault of hers. I’d just like a lot more facts, and a bit less breezy chattiness.