2024 Reading Year in Review

14 Jan 2025 1 Comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I’m a bit late with this post, but I still wanted to write up my annual look back at what I read for the year. First off, here is a nice graphic from Goodreads to summarize:

A few other stats that Goodreads provided were that the shortest book I read was The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente at 155 pages, while the longest was Lord of Chaos (The Wheel of Time #6) by Robert Jordan at 1,011 pages.

The average book length that I read was 481 pages, although I think this is not a terribly accurate statistic, because I don’t always put the correct edition of what I’ve read into Goodreads.

My total number of books read in 2024 is down a little compared to recent years as you can see below:

  • 2023 = 48
  • 2022 = 39
  • 2021 = 43
  • 2020 = 39
  • 2019 = 43

So what did I read in 2024? Here is a graphic of all 36 books (not quite in reverse chronological order that I read them):

Here are a few more interesting statistics about what I read in 2024:

  • Science fiction or fantasy genre = 28
  • Historical fiction = 4
  • Mainstream = 2
  • Genre fiction with some romance = 14
  • Non-fiction = 2
  • Classics = none
  • Audiobooks = 6
  • Graphic novels = 1
  • Part of a series = 25*
  • Stand-alones (or could be read as one) = 13
  • Completed reading of a series OR kept up with the series as each book was published = 5*

* I counted individual books here.

I’m counting The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo as fantasy and NOT historical fiction, because magic is a significant component of the story. The Outlander series fills out the historical fiction because although these books contain time travel, the plot mostly concerns other aspects.

I made a note that some of these books contained an element of romance, but none were pure romance novels. I often make an effort to read something considered a classic, but I think that the closest I came in 2024 was God Emperor of Dune, and that only fits under classic science fiction by its proximity to the original Dune novel.

What were the BEST books I read in 2024? Here are my top three:

You can find my reviews of each of these, as well as (paid) links if you want to pick up your own copy:

  • Yellowface by R.F. Kuang: review here, link to purchase here
  • The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune: review here, link to purchase here
  • Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros: review here, link to purchase here

Some of my other favorites from the year are below, also with links where applicable:

  • Starter Villain by John Scalzi: review here, link to purchase here
  • Outlander (series) by Diana Gabaldon: reviews (Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn), link to purchase (series) here
  • Starling House by Alix E. Harrow: review here, link to purchase here
  • The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten: review here, link to purchase here
  • The Core by Peter V. Brett: review here, link to purchase (series) here
  • Dawn by Octavia E. Butler: review coming soon, link to purchase here
  • Ever the Night Road by Michael Breen: review here, link to purchase here

Up next will be my look ahead at my reading for 2025: too many books, unrealistic goals, starting more series than I can finish, and much more!

If you are on Instagram, remember to take a look at my bookstagram account there and follow me: @ihazabookproblem

November/December 2024 Reading Wrap Up

22 Dec 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

December isn’t quite over yet, but I want to leave some time to get an end-of-the-year post done. I also never got around to a November reading post, so I’m combining both months in this post for today. As with my other posts, the paid links here go to support this blog, so please click on any you’re interested in.

I’m continuing to be more distracted than I would like and have been taking longer than usual to finish what I’m reading. My Goodreads Challenge tells me that I could still make by 2024 goal if I would just read 5 books a DAY, LOL.

Books I Finished: The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera, The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart, Dawn by Octavia Butler (audiobook) (paid links). I’m still working on reviews for these – the internet ate the one I had nearly finished for The Gods Below, and I was so disheartened by that that I have yet to rewrite it.

Books I’m Still Reading But Should Finish This Month: The Boys Vol. 1 Omnibus, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence, The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness (audiobook) (paid links). I should finish The Boys today and I’m really enjoying The Book That Wouldn’t Burn. The Black Bird Oracle is a disappointment and I’ve been strugging to get through the last few hours of the audiobook.

Books I’m Reading But Won’t Finish This Month: The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (audiobook), Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald. I took a break in my Outlander listening to get through a couple of other books. I have one more I want to read before I pick The Fiery Cross back up. I hadn’t intended to read Daughter of Redwinter until the new year, but I was stuck out of the house without a book! This was one that I received courtesy of NetGalley some time ago, the e-book was already in my Kindle app, and I had planned to start it in a few weeks anyway.

Next Up: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (paid links). I think I’m supposed to have Ancillary Justice read by next week for a book club, so I should start that one soon! Great Circle is NOT science fiction or fantasy and is that other audiobook that I’m planning to listen to before I get back to the Outlander series. Sorcery and Small Magics looks like a lighter read than the books I’ve been consuming lately, so I’m looking forward to that.

New Books:

Oh boy – I received an email from the Science Fiction Book Club several weeks ago that made it sound like they were going to be out of business in the coming months. I had 2 credits sitting on my account and went shopping, only to find several other books also at steep discounts. Here are the ones I picked up:

I also had a few books arrive from subscription box services:

I used a couple of Audible credits to pick up Columbus Day, book #1 of the Expeditionary Force series on my brother’s recommendations. I enjoyed Alexander Darwin’s first book, The Combat Codes (review here), and want to continue the series. I usually try to stick with the same format, but I have too many books and this was available in audio, so I’ll switch it up for book #2 – Grievar’s Blood (paid links).

A Look at January: I’m starting to put together my reading plans for 2025, and like always, it’s chaos, with way too many books that I want to read, new releases, books I said I’d review, book club picks, and spur of the moment reads that sow disorder throughout my year.

I decided that for January, I’d try to focus on a few NetGalley reviews that have sat for too long. This is why Daughter of Redwinter was on my radar. I also have Knife Children by one of my favorite authors, Lois McMaster Bujold on that same list. I don’t know why I haven’t read this yet since I love all her books and already read the core series on which this story is based. House of Blight by Maxym M. Martineau isn’t out until April and is another NetGalley pick, but one I only recently received. I’ve read one of her earlier books, Kingdom of Exiles and you can find that review here (paid links).

I’m also anticipating the January 21 release of Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros, the third and final book in her ridiculously popular Empyrean series. You still have a little time to catch up with the earlier books, Fourth Wing (review here) and Iron Flame (review here) (paid links).

If I have any time left in January, I’m also going to try to read The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong and Perfectly Wicked by Lindsay Lovice, which I already mentioned earlier in this post (paid links).

Now it’s time for me to get back to reading!

Book Review – The Underground Railroad

18 Nov 2024 1 Comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , ,

Sometimes I decide to step back from genre fiction and read something more mainstream. Although part of the premise of The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is fantastical, that is not what the book is about (paid links). This novel won several awards, including the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction. Read on below to find out more.

I read the hardcover edition of this.

Here is the blurb:

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood–where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned–Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor–engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Like the protagonist of Gulliver’s Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey–hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.

This was a hard book to read on an uncomfortable subject. This alternate history story set in the pre-Civil War American South features a literal underground railroad. Rather than providing a way for slaves to escape to freedom, this railroad is a literary device that the author uses to show the effects of slavery and racism in different constructed social settings.

Cora starts her journey as an enslaved young woman on a traditional southern plantation. The terrors on the Randall Plantation are those that are we’d expect from history. When the “kinder” of two brothers who own the plantation dies and Cora catches the eye of the remaining brother, her situation turns more imminently dangerous, impelling her to flee with the help of another slave.

In each destination that Cora reaches, she finds arguably better treatment. Yet none of these places treat her the same as the whites, even once she finds a freer community in the north. She has the illusion of freedom, but others are making decisions about what is best for her. She never has the agency that she should.

Throughout Cora’s story, she loses everyone who tries to help her. Cora doesn’t dwell too much on these losses and while this could make her characterization seem shallow, I felt like this was also a way for the author to make a specific point. Cora was originally abandoned by her mother, and given that families were torn apart in the slave trade, this was part of her life and something that she would have had no control over. It doesn’t seem fair that even when Cora finds some degree of safety and freedom, she still loses those she cares for, but her life is not fair because she cannot escape the color of her skin.

I’m glad that I read this book, but I don’t think that it added anything to what I personally already believe about human rights and discrimination. It was definitely a worthwhile book and offers a unique perspective on how racism has changed through history and how abolition hasn’t solved racial discrimination. I will probably donate this book to my local library so that other people can read it.

Have you read any books by Colson Whitehead? Is there another one that you would recommend I read? Let me know in the comments!

You can find more of my book reviews here.

Book Review – The Hemlock Queen

14 Nov 2024 1 Comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The Hemlock Queen is the sequel to The Foxglove King, and the second book in The Nightshade Crown series by Hannah Whitten (paid links). I really enjoyed the first book, and you can find my review of it here.

I read the hardcover edition of this.

Here is the blurb:

The corrupt king August is dead. Prince Bastian has seized the throne and raised Lore—a necromancer and former smuggler—to his right hand side. Together they plan to cut out the rot from the heart of the sainted court and help the people of Dellaire. But not everyone is happy with the changes. The nobles are sowing dissent, the Kyrithean Empire is beating down their door, and Lore’s old allies are pulling away. Even Prince Bastian’s changed. No longer the hopeful, rakish, charismatic man Lore knows and loves, instead he’s reckless, domineering and cold. 

And something’s been whispering in her ear. A voice, dark and haunting, that’s telling her there’s more to the story than she knows and more to her power than she can even imagine. A truth buried deep that could change everything. 

With Bastian’s coronation fast approaching and enemies whispering on all sides, Lore must figure out how to protect herself, her prince, and her country before they all come crumbling down and whatever dark power has been creeping through the catacombs is unleashed.

Second books in a trilogy are tough. I often regret not being able to start the second book immediately after finishing the first one because I tend to forget small details of the characters’ relationships and the worldbuilding. I ran into this problem with The Hemlock Queen, but was still immediately swept up in the story.

This second volume picks up in the immediate aftermath of the previous book. Bastian is now King, but Lore quickly realizes that something is wrong with him, almost like he is two different people. She begins to hear a voice in her own head, and while it won’t answer her questions, she can’t continue to ignore it. I felt like this book was a little more unfocused than the first one, with Lore herself seeming lost between navigating Bastian’s odd moods and her own role in his regime.

The history of the gods in this world was explained better and I felt like I had a greater understanding of the magic. The larger political picture also played a role, and I’m curious to see if more political intrigue will feature in the final book.

Lore continues to navigate her fraught relationships with men, with Bastian and Gabe both continuing to show that they care, but refusing to let her get any closer. This second installment in the series does finally deliver on some of the spiciness set up in the first book, but I don’t want to ruin it by saying more.

The ending also comes to a tragically perfect conclusion that clearly sets up the final book, The Nightshade God, due out in July 2025 (paid link). I liked this series enough that I had to pre-order this. Also – don’t read the blurb on this final book until you’ve read the earlier ones – spoilers!

For anyone who enjoys pretty pictures of books, I have also started an Instagram (or Bookstagram) where you can see me put together pretty displays like these below. I’ll have posts there (ideally) 6 days a week. You can find me at @ihazabookproblem.

Do any of you have your own Bookstagram? Let me know in the comments and I’ll take a look!

You can find more of my book reviews here.

Book Review – The Past is Red

11 Nov 2024 1 Comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , ,

I don’t think that I had ever read anything by author Catherynne M. Valente, and that’s one great reason to participate in a book club. The Past Is Red is a novella that was chosen by one of my book clubs and was not a story that I’d been aware of until then (paid link). It was nominated for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novella. Read on below to see what I thought.

I read the e-book edition.

Here is the blurb:

The future is blue. Endless blue…except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown.

Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she’s the only one who knows it. She’s the only one who knows a lot of things: that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world, that it’s full of hope, that you can love someone and 66% hate them all at the same time.

But Earth is a terrible mess, hope is a fragile thing, and a lot of people are very angry with her. Then Tetley discovers a new friend, a terrible secret, and more to her world than she ever expected.

This novella is divided into two parts. The first one is a previously published novelette – The Future Is Blue – while the second part is new material. Together they tell the story of a post-apocalyptic world in which the inhabitants are not trying to rebuild the society that was lost, but are content to simply live amid the remnants.

I had a hard time getting into this story and didn’t finish it in time for the book club discussion (although I did still finish it). The story is set in Garbagetown which is where those humans who have survived catastrophic sea level rise have managed to eke out an existence on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I think that part of what limited my enjoyment of this story was that the timeline hops around and there wasn’t a well-defined plot. Our narrator is not always reliable, which also made it challenging to orient myself in this unfamiliar future world.

Despite these things, Garbagetown itself was fascinating, and I would have loved to have learned more about how it reached its current state. The city is divided into different regions, each named for the type of garbage that they contain. The inhabitants all dream of the day that they will find solid land, and this tiny sad bit of hope keeps many of them going.

Part of this story evoked the old Kevin Costner movie, Waterworld, but without the Mad Max-ian aspects of fuel-obsessed clans fighting over resources. While our protagonist, Tetley, has to still find enough supplies to survive, she also never tries very hard to do more than that. When Tetley finally makes contact with an unexpected friend, I had hoped that this would lead to more of a science fiction-y resolution to the dilemma of those trapped in Garbagetown. But this was not that kind of story, and I’m probably not the right audience to truly have enjoyed this book.

What novellas have you enjoyed and would recommend? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my book reviews here.

Book Review – Somewhere Beyond the Sea

09 Nov 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , ,

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the newest book by T.J. Klune, and is book #2 in the Cerulean Chronicles. I enjoyed book #1 – The House in the Cerulean Sea – a lot and you can find my review of it here (paid links).

I read the e-book edition.

Here is the blurb:

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

The ending of the first book made it obvious that there would be a sequel, but did not leave any significant hints of how that story would go. The plot in the second book tells a new story, but it is thematically a continuation of the first book. Not much time is spent on re-introducing the characters, so if you’re interested in reading this series, go back to start with the first book.

While I have to say that I didn’t like this second book as much as the first, I don’t want that to really detract from my review at all. Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a wonderful book, but the first one is truly a tough act to follow.

Linus is no longer the main driver of the story in this book, but remains pivotal as support for Arthur as he navigates the more public role he has chosen to take on. The children at Marsyas grow up a bit in this sequel, while still engaging in their endearing shenanigans.

So why didn’t this book quite live up to the expectations I had from the first one? I felt like the plot was too loosely constructed and rather unfocused. The characters on Marsyas also never felt like they were in enough danger to me. I didn’t believe that DICOMY would take the children away from Arthur and Linus, so the story lacked the tension and conflict that I wanted to see. However, this was still a book that I enjoyed, and I think that my negative nitpicking is truly a reflection of how GOOD the first book was.

I have put all of TJ Klune’s other books on my to-be-read list. Which one should I start next? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.

October 2024 Reading Wrap Up

04 Nov 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

October is over and wow, did that month go by fast! I was traveling for part of the month, and between my trip and a flurry of work before and after, it has brought me to November before I was ready. Our weather here has been unseasonably warm and dry, making the autumn leaves spectacular, but also uncomfortable to burrow under blankets for reading without that fall chill. Before I look ahead at November though, let’s look back at my reading for October.

Books finished: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune, Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon, The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente, The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (paid links).

I had really enjoyed The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune and you can find my review of it here. I picked up the sequel as soon as it was released. I continued to read the Outlander series, with Drums of Autumn being the fourth book. You can see my recent review of that one here. The Past is Red was a choice for a local book club and was a shorter read as a novella. While on my trip, I read The Hemlock Queen, which is the sequel to The Foxglove King (review here), then picked up the more serious The Underground Railroad as a stand-alone read (paid links).

If you read my blog occasionally, you may have noticed that I listen to audiobooks a lot. If you’d like to try an Audible membership, you can currently sign up here to get a Premium Plus membership for $0.99 (paid link).

Currently reading: The Boys Omnibus Vol. 1 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera, The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart (paid links).

I will actually finish The Boys graphic novel this month, really! I’m continuing my read of the Outlander books and I’ve head that this fifth volume is less popular with other readers, so I’ll see how it goes. So far I’m only a few chapters in. The Saint of Bright Doors won the Nebula Award and was nominated for the Hugo for best novel. I’m about halfway through that one. Then I just started to read The Gods Below after receiving the beautiful Fairy Loot edition (see my previous post about this).

What else am I hoping to read in November? Here are some of the books that I’m considering.

Dawn by Octavia E. Butler is a selection for a book club discussion at the beginning of December. It’s also time to get back to my Wheel of Time reading with book #7 – A Crown of Swords. I read one book by Mark Lawrence in the past and was very much NOT a fan of it (because of the main character). However, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn caught my interest and maybe I’ll enjoy this one (paid links).

I have had Scorpica by G. R. Macallister on my shelf for a couple of years after hearing the author speak at New York Comic-Con. I also have the second book in the series. Then lastly, I picked up The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness as an audiobook. This is the latest installment in her All Souls series. I have also been watching Netflix for the third season of the television series based on her books – A Discovery of Witches (paid links).

I have been trying to be more intentional in creating time to read since I hit that slump in the mid-summer. I find that creating the right space and atmosphere helps. Do you like to set the mood for your reading? Here are some items that I would love to have on hand on a quiet chilly day. I like to buy candles, even when I already have candles, and this Hello Fall one is available in spicy pumpkin, apple cinnamon, or morning autumn scents (paid link).

Having a fuzzy blanket or throw is mandatory for fall and winter reading for me. Here are a couple of throws that look nice and plush and warm. This gray one comes in a variety of colors. For a heavier option, this one shown below in dark blue fleece might be nice, and also comes in several colors (paid links).

Something would be wrong with me if I didn’t pick up new books in October. A new Fairy Loot book arrived – Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy. This is a new author and I’m excited to dive into this one soon. This special edition is also gorgeous, with foil inlay inside the cover, illustrations on the inside of the dust jacket, and printed edges.

My mother lent me The Alice Network, which appears to be a historical fiction novel about female spies during World War I (paid links). It doesn’t appear to be a fantasy or science fiction story, but sometimes that is okay.

I don’t want to think about it too much yet, but 2024 is nearly over. I am woefully behind on my Goodreads challenge for the year (31 of 96 books read). Their widget won’t even tell me how many books per week I need to read to meet my (unrealistic) goal.

What are you reading? What books are you still looking forward to reading in 2024? Let me know in the comments (above).

Book Review – Drums of Autumn

30 Oct 2024 2 Comments

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I have finished another book in the Outlander series, by Diana Gabaldon. Drums of Autumn is the fourth book in the series (paid links), and you can find my reviews of the earlier books in the series below:

I listened to the audiobook edition.

Here is the blurb:

What if you knew someone you loved was going to die? What if you thought you could save them? How much would you risk to try?

Claire Randall has gone to find Jamie Fraser, the man she loved more than life, and has left half her heart behind with their daughter, Brianna. Claire gave up Jamie to save Brianna, and now Bree has sent her mother back to the Scottish warrior who was willing to give his life to save them both. But a chilling discovery in the pages of history suggests that Jamie and Claire’s story doesn’t have a happy ending.

Brianna dares a terrifying leap into the unknown in search of her mother and the father she has never met, risking her own future to try to change history . . . and to save their lives. But as Brianna plunges into an uncharted wilderness, a heartbreaking encounter may strand her forever in the past . . . or root her in the place she should be, where her heart and soul belong.

I thought that this installment of the series took longer to get started, but ultimately brought the characters together in new and more complicated ways. This book also added more time spend in different viewpoints, with Brianna and Roger becoming more involved in the central plot. Thankfully, the trans-Atlantic journeys in this volume went by in fewer pages than that in the previous book.

Many of the problems that the characters encounter could have been easily solved if they had been more open about talking to each other. Unfortunately, certain assumptions are made that nearly lead to catastrophe. But without circumstances like that, we wouldn’t find conflict and tension in stories, which would make them a lot less interesting to read.

In the third book, Voyager, and again in this one, the characters speculate on the nature of their time travel. This aspect of the series starts out as a completely mysterious occurrence, but as they try to figure out how to intentionally travel through time, I have to wonder how this will play out in future books.

I just started the next book, The Fiery Cross, so I’ll be back with a review on that one in 6 to 8 weeks (paid link)!

Have you read any of the Outlander books? Have you watched the show? I just saw the first episode of the first season last week (for the second time). Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.

Book Review – The Familiar

28 Oct 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo is a new stand-alone novel set in late 16th century Spain that incorporates significant fantasy elements. I have enjoyed several of Bardugo’s other books, so read on below to see what I thought of this one (paid links).

You can find my review of her other books here:

I read this in hardcover.

Here is the blurb:

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

This book opened more slowly than some of the author’s other stories, but Luzia’s life was richly depicted and it was easy to get drawn in to the sense of place that was established in the opening. As she gets drawn into the schemes of those better off, she tries to grasp some small piece of agency for herself, making her choices more understandable as she knowingly puts herself at risk.

Like much of Leigh Bardugo’s other novels, there was an element of romance within this story. This threw me at first, because I had not read the description of one character accurately and had made some incorrect assumptions. However, I was able to reorient myself and this ultimately didn’t take anything away from the story for me.

I felt like I didn’t understand the magical aspects of this world quite as well as I would have liked. Perhaps that was because this was a stand-alone novel and I simply had fewer pages to become comfortable with the backstory and myths that were revealed as the plot unfolded.

Despite these nitpicks, I did enjoy this novel. I found it to be a refreshingly different type of story from the author, and while I would love to discover another novel that was as good as Six of Crows, it is also great to know that she can vary her work to keep it fresh.

Which of Leigh Bardugo’s books have you read? Which was your favorite? Let me know in the comments (above)!

Find more of my reviews here.

September 2024 Reading Wrap Up

02 Oct 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Is everyone awake now? September has ended and that means that we’re entering the final quarter of 2024 and it’s time to look back at my reading for the past month!

I had another slow month, but I had to travel for work. So while that helps me read (while on a plane), it takes up time with the event and the packing and preparations. In September I finished reading Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America’s Moon Landings by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton (review here) and The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (paid links). I should have a review of The Familiar up later this week.

I had taken the graphic novel The Boys Vol. 1 with me on my trip, but then misplaced it when I unpacked, so I didn’t make much progress on it. It has since been found, so I should finish that soon. I’m also almost done with Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune (the sequel to the amazing The House in the Cerulean Sea) and The Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) by Diana Gabaldon (paid links).

I recently signed up for one of those monthly subscription boxes (Fairy Loot), with the theme of this one being fantasy novels. My first delivery arrived last week and it’s a pretty hardcover of The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart.

Jewels and snakes on the edges of the pages.

I haven’t read anything by this author, but her earlier series (The Drowning Empire: #1 = The Bone Shard Daughter, #2 = The Bone Shard Emperor, #3 = The Bone Shard War) has been on my radar as a series of interest. The Gods Below looks like the first book in a new series (paid links).

I’ve included some pretty pictures of the features of this special hardcover edition.

Pretty artwork on the inside covers.

What’s up next for my reading? I’ll be traveling again, but for a vacation. While I’m sure I’ll have plenty of activities to keep me busy, I also plan to do some poolside and beachside reading.

I plan to start reading The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente this week for a book club discussion next week. I should be able to start the fifth Outlander book – The Fiery Cross soon. Then as far as other picks, I don’t know how many of these I’ll get to, but some of the possibilities include The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence, and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (paid links).

Have you read any of these books? How do you decide what to read next? Let me know in the comments.

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