Review: THE WRATH AND THE DAWN by Renee Ahdieh

Rating: 1.5/5 stars

I’ve been rather excited to start this series for some time, but unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the hype for me. I actually ended up quitting about 45% in because I really didn’t want to suffer through the rest of this overly descriptive story with a weak plot and unbelievable protagonist.

I felt so distant from the story and the characters the entire time I was listening to it. To me, it felt like everything was happening inside Shahrzad’s head and she was telling us about it rather than me actually getting to experience the story’s events. I don’t know if this was because of the audiobook narrator and the way she told the story or because of the actual writing style or what. I liked the sound of the narrator’s voice, but she used the same tone for all the characters, so I think I struggled to know who was talking at times and whether she was actually reading dialogue or narrative in the first place.

The writing was so descriptive and flowery that I had trouble keeping track of the story buried underneath all the extra words. I normally don’t have an issue with overly descriptive writing but I think the audiobook hindered my understanding of the story. Plus the narrative felt very slow-moving to me, despite the audiobook, and I think it was because of the flowery writing that it took so long for anything to happen.

Shahrzad kept talking about how she was going to kill the king, that was why she volunteered to be his wife in the first place, yet she had no plan, and she never even tried to kill him. Instead she fell in love with him in two days, and when her inner monologues were saying that she was about to kill him, her outer actions were only showing him love. She ends up kissing him instead, this man who killed all her friends, within two days of being in the palace, and I just didn’t get it. Talk about cliche.

This book felt like the typical YA fantasy book, similar to many stories I’ve read before. A girl defies the odds and does something no other girl has done before. She softens the hard-hearted guy who has budged for no one before and falls in love with him even though she knows she shouldn’t. She somehow survives despite that she should have died on many occasions before. She’s stronger and more determined than any other girl in her town. She can fight just as well as the guys. She discovers she has some special magical ability that makes her different from all the other girls. Etc. etc. etc. I’ve read this before and I don’t want to read it again. Setting the book in an Arabian desert doesn’t make it unique.

I like the original story of Scheherazade in 1001 Arabian Nights, but I sadly didn’t care for this overly descriptive and cliched retelling.

Review: I'M NOT DYING WITH YOU TONIGHT by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal

Rating: 1.5/5 stars

This isn’t normally the kind of book that I would pick up, but I had to read it for the September YA book club at work that I moderate, so here we are. I didn’t care for it. I didn’t hate it, but it was just not for me.

Basically, there’s a black girl and a white girl who are trying to survive the night together after a riot starts at their school. I didn’t think it was explained well how the riot started. A guy punched another guy and all the sudden they’re like, uh oh, it’s a riot! But it wasn’t described in a way that made me feel like it was a big deal. I’ve seen a fight break out and this didn’t seem like anything bigger than the ordinary high school fight. The riot started over the smallest thing and I didn’t get it. And it also wasn’t explained how the one punch turned into a small fight that turned into a town-wide riot, which is a detail I would have liked to know.

I have never experienced anything like the events described in this book, and I’ve never heard about any riots or similar events happening at my school or in my town or on the news near me. I understand that in some places and for some cultures this is a realistic story, but because it’s such unfamiliar territory for me, the reality of it was a far stretch and made me unable to relate to the story. I wonder how often riots like this really are.

I think people who have experienced riots in their own school or town will enjoy this book much more as they would be able to relate to it, but I just couldn’t. That’s probably the biggest issue I had, that I couldn’t relate to the story or characters at all. I also simply didn’t like the book—I didn’t hate it, but this is not a style of book I would have ever picked out to read on my own. I understand stories like this one are important to many people, and I sincerely hope other readers got more out of it than I did. I recognize that this book deals with important topics and very real issues in the world today, and I’m glad there’s a book to discuss it for those looking for that kind of story. 

One saving grace was that this was a quick read. Despite dreading picking it up, I flew through it faster than I read most books, and I wasn’t skimming.

I didn’t like Lena’s voice in the story. I get that it’s “true to culture” but it was so distracting to read not only her dialogue but also her narrative that was omitting verbs and using incomprehensible slang. There was honestly so much slang in this book that I had to utilize Urban Dictionary just to know what some of the characters were saying. This was distracting enough that I struggled to actually focus on the story in the beginning, but I eventually got used to it and ultimately ended up liking Lena better than Campbell.

Campbell’s such an airhead, honestly. I expected her to be a typical smart kid but she was acting so clueless the whole book. Like I’ve probably never read a book with a dumber protagonist than Campbell. I am glad, though, that she was able to learn some things throughout the book about Lena’s culture and eventually stand up for herself in the end. She slowly became more interesting. 

This book feels like horrible stereotyping of both races represented and is a testament to the fact that stereotypes always sell. Both Lena and Campbell have very cliched personalities that I wasn’t surprised by either of their thoughts or actions. I hate saying that, but it feels true to me.

While I appreciate that there’s a map in the back of the book, it’s dreadfully incorrect. The descriptions in the narrative of where they are versus what the map displays is constantly contradictory and confusing. I wish book map-makers would pay more attention to the stories beforehand. The characters would say they’re heading south but they’re also heading toward this one building which is actually north on the map, or the narrative would say that this building is across from that building but it’s not on the map. This map is incorrect if you follow it along with the story; like there is no way it’s drawn correctly.

Also, there was one point where police blockaded the road to the south but then the characters are running away from the police but they’re heading south but the police are still to the south of them, like that didn’t make sense at all. And then there was another point after the police blockaded the road when the friend drives up in his car, but like how did he get there if the police have the road blocked? And also, they kept running around trying to figure out how to get away from Seventh Avenue but they never thought of taking a side road out, they just kept running up and down the street. Like why wouldn’t you just take another street to get away? It never said if any other streets were blocked or not so to me that seemed like a viable option that was never explored.

I know I’m Not Dying with You Tonight is an important book with lots of necessary social commentary about race and black culture. I think many out there will enjoy it, as it’s been compared to the popular title The Hate U Give (which I haven’t yet read); however, I personally didn’t really care for the story. I just don’t want to read about real-world violence and hate riots and the such; I much prefer my fantasy worlds. Even though this book wasn’t for me, I can’t deny that it was compelling and fast-paced and almost begs to be read in one sitting, and I think if it sounds like your type of book then you will enjoy it. It certainly kept me engaged while I was reading, which was a nice surprise because I didn’t expect that it would.

Review: CALAMITY by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

The story starts off mid-action that immediately pulls you back into the world of the Reckoners and all their crazy shenanigans. The action is nearly non-stop in this book, fight scene after fight scene that kept me on the edge of my seat. Up to a certain point. . . .

I actually struggled a lot with this book. Unfortunately, this series went downhill for me after Firefight, which I thought was the strongest of the trilogy. Calamity just wasn’t as enjoyable to read, and it did suffer from some cliche and predictable moments. Not that I guessed what the plot points would be, but more along the lines of “oh of course this device broke right at this time” or “of course this character is actually a bad guy” or “of course the very detailed plan won’t work out as planned,” that kind of thing.

The Epic powers also started to feel very contrived. Grant an Epic any power you wish to write off something in the story. Obviously, the team was able to do this thing because this Epic had these powers we’ve never heard of before. I accepted this during the first two books but I’m just tired of this scenario repeating itself now in the third book.

I’m so disappointed because Sanderson managed to pull it together in Steelheart and Firefight, even when I was nervous it wouldn’t work, but unfortunately not in Calamity. The whole book frustrated me.

There were still some good things about the story, I didn’t hate it but was more just disappointed with it. David’s jokes are still terrible but still entertaining, and the humor is prevalent throughout the book, which is always nice to see. Also, the setting was, once again, different and interesting.

Although the city of Ildithia was very unique in its construction, I just didn’t like it. It was gritty (literally) and dark and the image of it in my mind was all grey (compared to the city of Babilar in Firefight which was vibrant and colorful and sounded like a much more enjoyable place to live). I’ll give it up to Sanderson for always creating a unique setting, but that doesn’t mean it’s always a setting I want to read about.

Megan was one of my favorite characters during the first two books, but I didn’t really care for her during this book. Her Epic ability made it feel like such a cop-out when she would use it because she could basically get the team out of any bad situation by using her powers, and David exploited her so much.

And Prof, who I used to love, ended up becoming one of my least favorite characters in this book, and not only because of what happened to him at the end of Firefight but also because of how he acted afterward. I just don’t like him anymore.

I did find a new character I liked in Knighthawk though, and that was unexpected, but he was pretty cool. Although I have to be honest—and this is a problem throughout the whole series—but I feel distanced from all the characters. I don’t feel like I know any of them very well at this point, which is a problem, seeing as it’s the third book in the trilogy. I should be familiar with all the characters by now, but I still don’t feel like I’d be able to pick out their moves or statements or motivations. I’ve felt detached from them since the beginning.

The story itself up until they entered Ildithia was decent and I didn’t really have any problems with it, but the book started going downhill from there, at around the halfway point. I didn’t like being in Ildithia and I didn’t like anything that happened in Ildithia.

And then the ending. Excuse me—that ending! It made no sense. It was unrealistic and I had to suspend my belief too much, even for this series. I didn’t like it.

I’m a huge Sanderson fan and I’ll read anything he’s ever written, but this is my least favorite book of his. I think the overall concept of Epics and the Reckoners is pretty cool, and the first two books were good, but this last installment didn’t do it for me, sadly.

I would still love to see these books made into movies someday, despite my not liking how the final book ended. The amount of action and cool technology would make for a pretty sweet film, plus hopefully they’d be able to explain some details better visually than we got through words only.

Even though the ending did wrap up into a nice conclusion, I’m still left with quite a few questions. I’m going to get into SPOILERS AHEAD so I can vent some of my feelings.

First, I mentioned earlier how it felt like Megan’s abilities were a cop-out. For example, she could reload a gun with the snap of her fingers or resurrect herself or pull someone through another dimension who was exactly who they needed at this second, and it had me rolling my eyes because of course Megan jumped in to save the day with her powers. It made me frustrated.

Also, the harmsway doesn’t affect Megan in book one but completely heals her in book three? It’s unlike Sanderson to leave a plot hole like this in his books so I’m guessing the explanation for this was there but I just missed it.

Speaking about plot holes though, Stormwind died, who provided the food for the whole city, so it was mentioned that a famine was on the horizon for Ildithia, yet this was never brought up again. Did I miss something?

And then the whole scene where the Reckoners prepare to infiltrate Sharp Tower to rescue Tia and make Prof face his fears felt so useless to me because of how it ended. Tia died and they made Prof angrier and they essentially failed their mission, and to me I just felt like I had wasted the last one hundred pages of reading. I know they figured out valuable information still, but I just couldn’t believe we were basically back to square one and I had spent hours reading pages that didn’t really matter in the long run.

I was also frustrated at the end that we still don’t know where Calamity came from or how it all started. And I didn’t like that David and Mizzy got Epic powers, like that felt so cliche to me. That was actually something I was nervous about in Firefight because David almost got Epic powers then, and I’m so glad he didn’t or I would have liked that book less. I can’t believe it happened in Calamity though. Leave the main character as an ordinary human! It didn’t make sense to me though why David and his dad in the alternate dimension got Steelheart’s powers. I don’t know if I missed something huge, but why would Steelheart’s powers be granted to him?

Review: WARBREAKER by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

See my updated 2021 reread review here. 

In my continual effort to read every Sanderson work, I picked up Warbreaker knowing more or less these two things about the story: it involves color magic, and it’s a prequel of sorts to the Stormlight Archive.

Those statements are both true and false at the same time.

I believe Sanderson himself said that Warbreaker is a prequel to The Way of Kings because it gives the backstory about a certain character in that series. Although, I’ve talked to a couple people who have read both books and they told me that you don’t need to read one before the other for either to make sense, that neither spoils the other, and that it’s less the character that’s important but a certain object that shows up in both books that’s important. I’m planning to read the Stormlight Archive next year (I’m putting it off until the end because I’m truly intimidated by it), so I wanted to read Warbreaker first.

Second, although colors are involved in the magic, I wouldn’t say this book has a color-based magic system. (See Brent Weeks’s Lightbringer series for a true color-based magic system!) Instead, the magic here is based on Breaths. Each person is born with one Breath, and you can give your breath away at any point if you choose. You need a certain number of Breaths to be able to do different commands and essentially gain abilities because you’ve reached a certain heightening that allows for such things. Some of the abilities allow you to see colors more distinctly and see auras, so I think that is where the book gets partially mislabeled as having color magic.

I enjoyed Warbreaker quite a bit, although it reminds me a lot of Elantris. I think the politics and the gods and the voice of the writing are all similar while still maintaining different plotlines. I also think this is a natural comparison to make because Brandon himself even said that Warbreaker was inspired by Elantris and that “both take the same concept, then run different directions with it.” In Elantris, people become gods but we don’t get to see what happens to them after that. In Warbreaker, we get to see what happens to them after they become gods, and we also see a god who doesn’t even believe in his own religion. Siri reminded me a lot of Sarene in the beginning of this story, and they are similar because both are required to marry someone they don’t know and don’t want to marry, but there are very different outcomes for them. I liked the plot of Warbreaker better, but I liked the overall story in Elantris better, if that makes any sense, but both were excellent books from Sanderson.

Warbreaker reads like a standalone, yet Sanderson has said he’s planning to write a sequel eventually. I am curious if the sequel ever comes to fruition if it will take place before or after the Stormlight Archive since Warbreaker takes place before that series. I’m wondering if he’s going to finish TSA first and then write Warbreaker’s sequel after as a way to come full circle with the story. I don’t know. Regardless, I would love to read more about these characters and the magic of Breaths, so I’ll read any future books set in this world.

I loved the political intrigue mixed with the religions of the world and the underlying mystery all wrapped up in this well-crafted colorful fantasy world. I’m surprised at how many unexpected directions this book went in; I didn’t see many events coming, and I love being shocked and surprised in my books.

I also thought this book had so many great characters. Siri was probably my favorite, and I can’t believe how much Susebron grew on me by the end. Though if we’re being honest, the actual best character is the magical talking sword. Yep.

I wish this book had a map because I’d love to see all the land and regions and cities mentioned in the story. That’s my biggest complaint (which really is such a minor thing) because I think all fantasy books need maps!

Lastly, I was happy to see Hoid in this book. It wouldn’t be a Cosmere story if we didn’t get an appearance from Hoid somewhere. Hoid said that he learned to tell stories “in a distant place where two lands meet and gods have died.” I’m trying to figure out if I should know where he’s referring to, but I don’t think we know yet, seeing as we still haven’t gotten Hoid’s origin story. I love how Sanderson includes so many connections between his books and worlds in the Cosmere.

Warbreaker was another great addition to my list of amazing fantasy books, and I would definitely recommend it to my fantasy friends out there. Even though it had many noticeable similarities to another of Sanderson’s works, Elantris, it was still a unique story in itself. I listened to this book on audio and I would love to reread it in physical form someday because it’s definitely worth a reread and I want to soak in all the details with my eyes. I’ll probably do that in ten years when the sequel comes out. Or sooner, because I’m going to miss these characters.

Review: EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU by Celeste Ng

Rating: 4/5 stars

After reading and loving Little Fires Everywhere, I decided to pick up Ng’s first novel, Everything I’ve Never Told You. Both stories are incredible, and I’m so glad I decided to spontaneously read them. In my mind, I don’t really like family sagas, but Celeste Ng is just so good; I love her books. I did like Little Fires Everywhere better than Everything I Never Told You, but both are great nonetheless.

I love Ng’s writing style. Her stories are captivating in such a way that I get lost in the lives of the characters and become invested in their pasts, mistakes, presents, etc. and I can’t stop listening to the audiobook until I’m done.

This book, like her other one, is told in third-person omniscient perspective, knowing the lives and minds of all the characters at once. I hardly ever read books with an all-knowing narrator and it’s refreshing; I think Ng writes this way very well and, once again, I quite enjoyed it. I don’t think just any author could pull off this narrative choice while still making the story flow as well as Ng did; she has a true talent.

As both Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere take place in Ohio, I’m glad I read both of them while living in Ohio. I feel like I can understand the story better because I’m familiar with the setting. Although, I haven’t ever been to Shaker Heights, where the stories take place, but I do want to go visit now.

I loved this book, and I definitely recommend it. The ending is so tragic once you know all the details, but it’s evocative and it will stick with me. I do hope the movie deal goes through because I would love so much to see this family drama on the big screen.

Review: FIREFIGHT by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 4/5 stars

Firefight was both stronger and weaker than Steelheart, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

We’re still following David and the Reckoners, but now we get to see a new group of Reckoners as David and Prof travel to Babilar, once New York City, and team up with the crew there.

I absolutely love the setting of this book. It’s New York but with extremely high water levels in a dome around the city so everyone lives on the rooftops. Plus there’s glowing fruit and psychedelic vibes and trees that grow fortune cookies—it all was super neat, and I want to visit this place. 

In Firefight, we see more crazy action scenes and awesomely unique technology, some facets that make this a strong story like the first one. But the payoff wasn’t as good. The kills were too easy in my opinion, and the ending was a little confusing and wasn’t as epic as I hoped it would be (like the ending of Steelheart that blew my mind). There weren’t any big reveals or twists, and that made the ending feel weak to me because I was really hoping for more. 

In fact, I think this book almost steered toward cliches at times, and I was really worried about what was going to happen. There was just enough Sanderson flair that it still felt somewhat original, but I’m nervous about the final book, to be honest. 

Also, I think it’s worth noting that the writing in this series isn’t the best; Sanderson has much more prolific and tightly woven stories, but I still enjoy these books for the good times that they are. 

I love the running gag that David can’t use metaphors at all and always comes up with terrible ones that make no sense. This book, like the first, is full of humor. The jokes and goofy metaphors are the best part of the story. 

The Reckoners books are just plain fun to read. I’m glad I’m finally getting to them, and I’m looking forward to wrapping up David’s story in Calamity. I really hope the ending of that one doesn’t disappoint. 

Review: STEELHEART by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 4/5 stars

I don’t know what I expected from this book, but it wasn’t a dystopian urban sci-fi action-packed adventure story. In what was once the city of Chicago, supervillains called Epics have taken over, the government is no longer in control, and one Epic named Steelheart has killed David’s father. David vows vengeance on Steelheart and that’s basically where this book takes off.

I was a little nervous going into this book—in fact, I kept putting off starting it for months—because it doesn’t seem like my genre and I didn’t think I was going to like it. But Brandon Sanderson wrote it so obviously I had to read it. And I should have known not to doubt him.

I hate to be stereotypical, but this felt like such a “guy book.” Action-packed superhero story, full of guns and fight scenes and near-death escapes in an urban setting, most of the characters male except for the one BA hot female of the group. I think Steelheart would make an amazing movie. This is totally different from anything else Brandon Sanderson has written, and I much prefer his epic fantasies and cosmere stories, but this was still surprisingly good.

There is some pretty sweet technology and weaponry in this book. I have to give it up to Sanderson for coming up with it all because it’s quite unique. He always has great technology uses in his books, which I love.

David’s a pretty cool protagonist, but his metaphors are consistently so bad. SO bad. They don’t make sense most of the time, but that’s the point. Sanderson writes quite a bit of humor into this book and I appreciated it because it kept me entertained.

I have to admit that I didn’t really care for the book at first, but the story grew on me. I shouldn’t have doubted Sanderson; even in a style of book I don’t normally reach for, he still managed to make me enjoy the story and care about the characters.

Steelheart was an incredible and fun read. There was lots of action, great banter, and super sweet technology, which was my personal favorite part. While I do think this book is geared toward teenage boys, I also think it can be enjoyed by a wider audience as well, as is evidenced by my liking it. I really did not expect to love it as much as I did, but I can say with certainty now that this is a new favorite and that I’m so excited to continue on with the series because I was worried I’d have to push myself to read the other two installments, but now I know that I’ll enjoy them.

I gave it four instead of five stars because I struggled to get into the book and connect with the story or characters during the first third, but the action scenes throughout and that crazy ending more than made up for it because holy cow was that a ride.

It’s very interesting the revelation they make about Epics at the end. I can see threads of that idea throughout the story now that I know what I’m looking for. Sanderson is so good at foreshadowing his reveals and I love that I never see the clues until I know the ending and then go back and pick apart the story; he still gets me every time.

Review: THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY by Ruth Ware

Rating: 3/5 stars

I was in the mood for a thriller so I picked this up, but Ruth Ware’s books are more slow-burn mysteries than thrillers so that was my bad because I ended up being a bit disappointed at the pace of the book. The beginning did set a nice tone for the story and give good background information about Hal and her financial situation and motivations for going to the estate, but I was still hoping for something a bit quicker-paced.

The way Hal is so focused on money, how getting caught in the rain means she’ll have to use more heat when she gets home and that will cost her money that she doesn’t have, that is so relatable. The beginning was quite a bit darker than I wanted it to be, but I really do think it was necessary in this book to set the right tone.

I liked The Death of Mrs. Westaway more than The Woman in Cabin 10, but this one, like that one, starts out grim and gritty, and I have realized I don’t really like reading contemporaries that dark. Both of those books’ protagonists have someone break into their home at the beginning of the story, and I don’t want to read about dark real-world problems like that; that does not lend well to escaping into fiction when it feels so real. So that’s a personal preference, not a fault of the book or author, but it did make me a bit hesitant to pick up this book at times, although it did get more enjoyable for me as the story went on.

Unfortunately, The Death of Mrs. Westaway felt like a lower quality and less engaging version of a Kate Morton book. I love Kate Morton’s books so much, and while The Death of Mrs. Westaway had a lot of similar aspects as Morton’s books, it’s just not as well-written with fewer twists and turns in the mystery and a less satisfying ending.

One aspect of the story I did really enjoy was the tarot card motif, how Hal looks at cards throughout the story and even though she tells herself not to believe them, the cards still foreshadow what’s to come in the narrative.

I guessed the ending, but I guess I still don’t understand the motivations. Why were secrets kept? I don’t think it was all that exciting, like everyone should have just told the truth from the beginning; what was there to cover up when the people they were trying to hide the information from knew it anyway? The ending was pretty underwhelming, honestly, and it left me wishing there was more to the story.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway was a decent book; I enjoyed it but I didn’t love it. I don’t think Ruth Ware’s writing style is quite for me, and I don’t know that I’ll be reading any future books from her when there are other similar books that I know I’ll enjoy so much more.