Review: RUTHLESS MAGIC by Megan Crewe

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Ruthless Magic is ruthless indeed.

This book follows three young mages that have just graduated from high school. Upon graduating, one may be Chosen, meaning they get to keep their magical ability and continue on studying it at college, or Dampered, meaning nearly all of their magical ability is taken away except for a small amount that manifests itself as an area of heightened skill. Those who are Dampered have the option to accept that fate or declare for the Mages’ Exam, a brutal test against other mages to become a Champion. A Champion gets to keep their magical ability like a Chosen mage, but all those who fail will have their magic burnt out completely, not even allowed to be Dampered anymore. Is it worth the risk of having no magic at all for the chance to be Champion?

For our three protagonists, that answer is yes. We follow the perspectives of Finn Lockwood, a descendant of old magic that navigates the Exam with his best friend Prisha Mathur, and Rocío Lopez, a highly skilled new-magic mage who wants to avenge the death of her brother who died while taking the Exam some years before.

I really enjoyed this story. I haven’t read a book this magical in a long time, like with mages and enchantments. I feel like books usually have more of an ethereal magical quality, but this one has more of a hard magic. One thing I didn’t like about this magic system, however, was that I had a very weak grasp on it. It was not clearly explained at all, and the limitations weren’t defined, so I never really felt sure what the mages could or could not do with their magic. It seemed that magic just floated through the air and any mage could tap into and use that magic. I got the sense that there were some rules put in place by the Confederation of Mages, but that was also only vaguely explained. I would have liked to have a more concrete understanding at the beginning of this book of how the magical abilities worked and how mages could summon the magic; I think that extra detail alone would have prevented any confusion I felt throughout the rest of the story. But overall, the magic was very expansive and I did enjoy it a lot.

I think what the blurb says about Ruthless Magic combining “the magic of Harry Potter with the ferocity of The Hunger Games” is true. Like l said earlier, this book is full of magic in a way that I don’t often see, and Harry Potter is a close resemblance on the magic front (I don’t like when people say any book is the next Harry Potter because they’re always wrong and that’s not what I’m saying here, just that this book has lots of hard magic like Harry Potter). As for The Hunger Games, this book is even more brutal since the mages go through a similar test of strength and survival against other young mages (although this book isn’t set in a dystopian world). At first, I thought the description of “fierce” was an overstatement because the story seemed chill and friendly during the first few chapters, but then we got to day two of the Mages’ Exam and I realized I was so wrong: this book is savage. I didn’t think it could get any worse but every day of the Exam was a new level of scary. And I loved every minute of it.

I really liked all three main characters and their relationships. One thing I love seeing in multi-perspective stories is when the book starts out with two characters that don’t know each other and throughout the story become acquainted, so the reader can see how the characters evolve in the other characters’ eyes. Ruthless Magic included this element and I quite enjoyed it.

I loved this book way more than I expected to. It is a fast-paced and engaging roller coaster ride; I constantly wanted to pick up the book again whenever I paused reading because the story was so intense. Megan Crewe is an excellent storyteller and I can’t wait to read the sequel to Ruthless Magic and all the rest in this series. I also look forward to reading some of her other books as well.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: THE OPPOSITE OF LONELINESS by Marina Keegan

Rating: 5/5 stars

I don’t usually read—or enjoy—short stories, but this collection piqued my interest, probably because of the tragedy that happened to Marina. I got this book for free from a selection of otherwise uninteresting choices, but I probably wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise. I started casually browsing through it the day I got it, but then I decided I wanted to sit down and actually read the whole thing immediately. This is the first time I can remember when I read a whole book within a week of acquiring it.

I will summarize my thoughts on each story and essay below:

• I really enjoyed reading the introduction by Anne Fadiman about Marina’s life and her enthusiasm to be a writer. This really set the ground for her stories, giving me some background into who she was.
• “The Opposite of Loneliness” was wonderful and very empowering, especially to recent graduates and young people. Some lines of it spoke to a part of me that needed to hear them, and I’m glad I discovered this essay (which I actually read three times in a row).
• The first fiction story, “Cold Pastoral,” was pretty good but also sad. In my opinion, it was her best story in this collection.
• The next story, “Winter Break,” honestly seemed dull and pointless, and I wasn’t really sure what she was trying to communicate with that one. It was my least favorite piece in this collection.
• “Reading Aloud” was very different, a unique concept. I can’t say that I entirely enjoyed it, but I was so enthralled that I couldn’t stop reading.
• “The Ingenue” was an interesting story that shows how one inconsequential detail can make all the difference. I did like it.
• Even though I didn’t care for “The Emerald City” (I just don’t really like war stories), the descriptive writing was great. And I loved how we got to read the email correspondences from only one person, even though it was implied that the other person was writing back. That’s a unique way to tell a story.
• “Baggage Claim” was the shortest and most forgettable of the stories, but it was still based on a unique concept.
• I want more of the story told in “Hail, Full of Grace.” I want to know what’s going to happen to the characters. I’m also impressed that Marina was able to write someone twice her age so well. I don’t think it’s very common for authors to write about a protagonist older than themselves, but she did a good job.
• “Sclerotherapy” was a nice, very short story about the permanence of our choices. I wonder where Marina came up with the ideas for her stories such as this one.
• “Challenger Deep” was the saddest of all the stories and I didn’t really care for it, but it continues to show Marina’s gift of writing.
• Now on to the nonfiction. The first essay was “Stability in Motion,” and I loved it. I just love her writing style so much in the way she describes scents and memories, everyday visuals with such detail that I wonder if I’ve ever even seen those things at all before now. I could never write an essay about my car as poetic and beautiful as this one. Definitely a favorite.
• “Why We Care about Whales” reads like a paper for school, but how I wish I could have written papers like this. It is not formal. It is whimsical. It illustrates her argument beautifully while other essays might be rigid with forced concern. The way she wrote this really made me interested in the topic, and I love how the point isn’t even about the whales. She really was a gifted writer.
• “Against the Grain” was an important story. I learned a lot from it. I didn’t realize people could feel so left out being gluten-free. I really like the title of this story as it doesn’t mean what you think it means at first; it’s very clever. This might be my favorite nonfiction story.
• “Putting the ‘Fun’ Back in Eschatology,” at barely two pages long, felt like the introduction to a science paper. It didn’t feel like a full essay because it just brushed on the topic of preserving our solar system with no real depth, and I felt it introduced contradictory ideas. This was my least favorite essay in this book.
• In “I Kill for Money,” Marina was distant as the author, writing entirely in third person and inserting no real opinions. It felt like a documentary but it read like a fiction story. And it was an odd sort of story. I wonder what led Marina to interview and shadow a bug exterminator for a day.
• Yes! “Even Artichokes Have Doubts” is an excellent essay that supports an epiphany I’ve been having for the past three months (more on that at the end of this review). This essay definitely had the biggest impact on me. Pursue your passions, people!
• “The Art of Observation” sounds like a journal entry. It’s raw and honest, but it also recognizes a great truth in the world.
• “Song for the Special” is another really good essay. There’s a quotation in here that immediately resonated with me (see my epiphany below for details): “There’s a really good chance I’ll never do anything.” I feel like that all the time.

I have a hard time believing that Marina was my age or younger when she wrote these stories. The fiction stories are very evocative and emotional. She has a way of noticing the smallest details, and in writing about them, she creates a very realistic portrayal of life. Her descriptions are immaculate. For a book titled The Opposite of Loneliness though, these stories are all very lonely. It intrigues me that someone who advocates for not being lonely, being surrounded by friends and love, would write such sad stories.

I especially love all the opening lines and titles that Marina comes up with. The titles are refreshing and original, giving me a different perspective on her stories before I even start, and the first lines are so shocking that they draw me in in fifteen words or less and I’m already invested before I finish the first paragraph.

Overall, I loved this collection. I thought I’d mildly enjoy it as I do any average book, then forget about it a few weeks later, but I was wrong. This book showed me that short stories can actually be good. They can, in fact, make me feel emotions after ten minutes that I normally only feel after spending hours with a character. They can be profound and deep, which I never expected. I guess I’ve just never read any good short stories before now because I never knew that good ones existed. This book also showed me that essays don’t have to be stuffy and boring. They can be engaging and resonate with me in ways I never imagined, and they can even teach me about myself.

Marina was a very talented author, and it is a blessing she could share even this much of her passion with the world. If Marina had lived to write a full-length novel, I have no doubt it would have gotten published, and I predict I would have loved it. Her writing style is wonderful, even if the content of her fiction stories is a bit depressing. But it’s touching and it makes me feel things, which is the mark of a good writer. Again, I can’t believe she was only twenty-two or younger when she wrote these stories. She has a raw talent that I think is hard to find in writers these days, especially young ones.


*Here is more about my epiphany: The people who really make a difference in the world and are the happiest at what they’re doing and are living a “dream” life are the people who have a passion and have sought after it to no end. You cannot dedicate your life to something you’re not wholeheartedly passionate about. But not everyone has a passion. In fact, I would say that most people don’t. For example, I’ve casually thought my whole life that because I collect words and I like reading, because I’m good at writing and editing, I would become a writer someday. Not necessarily an author, but maybe a writer for a magazine or something. Now I realize that isn’t true. I haven’t been writing my whole life. In fact, other than writing in my journal to comprehend my emotions and writing all these book reviews, I’ve never written anything that wasn’t required for school or for some kind of application. I’ve never written a short story, a nonfiction essay, or even a basic novel outline. I’m the age of Marina when she died, and I have no collection of writing to my name, nothing to show for my “love” of writing. Marina had so much to show, so many poems and essays and stories. That is what defines a true writer: someone who cannot stop writing, who writes everything they can think of, all the time. I’m glad Marina wrote all these pieces for me to read. I’m glad I could see what determines a real writer from a fake one. (I am the fake one.)
   The difference is that Marina had a passion for writing, whereas I do not. I’m interested in a lot of things from reading and writing to playing the piano, dancing, creating all forms of art, photography, horseback riding, interior design and graphic design, traveling, rock climbing, and the list goes on. But I’m not passionate about any of that. I don’t want to devote my life to only one of those activities and abandon the rest, but that’s what having a passion is. You give up everything to pursue your passion, even when it’s completely illogical and your family thinks you’re crazy and you’re up all night working on your project because nothing will stop you until you get there. The people who quit their jobs to start non-profits because they want to help people in a specific way are people with passions. The people who travel around the world to visit strangers and research history just to learn are people with passions. The people who dedicate a decade of their lives to being nearly homeless and broke just so they can be a drummer or a singer in this no-name band are people with passions.
   I wish desperately that I had a passion, but I don’t think I do. Logic rules my life, sometimes a little too much, and it always gets in the way of me making decisions and following any one path. I’m rambling now, but this particular essay, “Even Artichokes Have Doubts,” really shows me that I’m not alone in wanting to do something with my life but being scared and not knowing what to do so taking the easy way out instead. It is so common, and it is so sad.

Review: CITY OF GLASS by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I liked this book better than the first two in the series. It had higher stakes and gave me the answers I've been craving. (City of Glass's Chapter 17 was the most important chapter in all three books. When Jocelyn tells Clary all the details she needs to know, I was utterly lost in the audiobook and couldn't stop listening.)

I don't really have much to say about this book, or about this series in general, but I do want to make one statement about Cassandra Clare as a writer. One thing I've seen her do well in all three books is to make the characters question her own writing. What I mean by this is that readers always have questions about how the world works, why this can't happen, why things don't work a certain way. I, for one, always question the logic in a book because it seems like far too often characters make stupid decisions only because the author can't think of a better way to solve a problem. But Cassandra Clare isn't like that. She challenges the logic and answers the questions that most other writers don't address. Here's one of many examples from this book: Simon asks Clary why she can't just create a rune to destroy all demons or to destroy Valentine. This is the kind of question an intuitive reader would ask, but most authors would gloss over that point, probably thinking, Well she could create that rune but that would make the story less exciting and fun, so as long as that thought doesn't cross her mind, I can make the plot go this more exciting route instead. Like I said, Clare doesn't do this; she answers all those kinds of questions I had and explains why the world doesn't allow for this or that, and that made the story so much more realistic and enjoyable for me. This is the biggest compliment I can give her as a writer.

Another thing I really liked is how much this story ties into Bible theology. I think a lot of writers shy away from religious aspects, thinking it will alienate part of the audience they are trying to reach, but Clare really embraces Biblical concepts in her stories. For example, I love the idea that the mark of Cain was actually an ancient rune. Ideas like that are so cool and help to make the magical system seem more realistic.

Overall, City of Glass was a strong concluding novel to the original trilogy. It answered all my questions and wrapped up all the loose ends. I'm really happy with how the book ended, both with the main storyline and with the direction all the relationships took. (I don't understand why there are three more books though.) I think there are a lot of good messages and morals in the whole story, which I was glad for because we don't always see that in young adult novels.

Next, I plan on starting Clockwork Angel before continuing on with City of Fallen Angels. I've heard it's best to read the books in publication order, so that's what I'm going to do. I'm looking forward to delving deeper into the world of Shadowhunters.

Review: CITY OF BONES by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I don’t know how I’ve managed to avoid all spoilers for this entire series, considering how popular it is and how long it has been around, but I seriously knew next to nothing before I started the book. I knew it was an urban fantasy, there are beings called Shadowhunters, and the main characters are Clary and Jace. That’s it. I’ve been wanting to read The Mortal Instruments for quite some time but kept putting it off because it’s a long commitment, but I really wanted to get to it this year, so here I am.

City of Bones is about Clary, who finds out she is a Shadowhunter (which is a demon hunter). The story basically just follows her as she learns about and gets used to the Shadowhunter world while fighting some monsters in the meantime. This was a very foundational book because most of the story is introducing us readers to the main cast of characters and how the “magic” system works and what the world looks like. Of course, there is also drama occurring and secrets being revealed, but nearly everything that happened felt like a plot device so Clare would have a reason to explain X, Y, and Z about her world without just throwing those details at us randomly.

I could tell this was a debut novel because the writing did seem amateurish at times, but I have heard from many people that Clare’s writing gets better as the series continues. I love seeing how authors’ writing styles progress over their careers. The writing is my favorite part of any book.

For the most part, I did not feel like there was a lot of info-dumping, which was nice. Going into a brand new fantasy world with unknown creatures and abilities, it can be hard to adequately explain it all without overloading the reader all at one time. There were a few times when a lot of information was being handed to me, and I had to slow down and reread to process it all, but overall the descriptions were spread out enough throughout the book to be interesting and engaging but not overwhelming.

I did not like the characterization in this book. A lot of the characters felt very stereotypical, predictable, and one-dimensional. Especially Isabelle. What a stuck-up snob. And Jace isn’t any better. He’s your typical bad boy who’s actually just a piece of crap. I like Clary, although sometimes she can be melodramatic, and Simon is my favorite character for his humor. I hope as the series progresses, the characters will become more fleshed out and realistic and relatable.

I do not like when people compare books to other books, but City of Bones definitely gave off Twilight vibes. There was just something about the writing style, the character traits, and the plot nuances that reminded me of Twilight. Except I liked Twilight more.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it. I found it to be entertaining, but also highly melodramatic (and reading the blurb for the next book, it sounds like the whole series is going to be that way). I wasn’t at the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happened next, which is how I usually am when I’m reading a fantasy. In fact, I didn’t have a problem pausing in the middle of an intense high-action scene and coming back to the book at a later time. I guess I just didn’t feel as emotionally invested in this story as I usually do when I’m reading. I’m hoping as I continue the series that I will become more connected to the characters and the plot.

What I didn’t like the most was the ending of this book. There was no resolution in the ending, no cliffhanger to make me want to read more, and it honestly felt like nothing really happened. I think this first book of The Mortal Instruments was fairly weak, but at least it was entertaining for the most part. If I were younger (like if I had read this book when it was released), I might have enjoyed it more. But as it is now, I don’t feel especially compelled to read City of Ashes, but I am still going to because it was my goal this year to read this series, and I own all six books. I’m hoping I will enjoy each one more and more.

Review: ACROSS THE WAY: MEADOWS by Eber & Wein Publishing

 Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This is a poetry collection that probably won’t be read by anyone except the people whose poems are in the book. I read it only because I own a copy, and I own a copy only because one of my poems is printed in this book.

I love poetry on its own, but I hardly ever read whole books of poetry. It’s exhausting to read 300 pages of poems in place of a novel.

This is an amateur poetry collection. As such, there were poems that I didn’t care for, poems that sounded superficial, and there were poems that I quite enjoyed, poems that were full of deep emotion. There were also plenty of poems in dire need of editing, but it is clear the publisher printed the poems “as-is” without correcting even basic spelling and punctuation mistakes.

Even though this book’s title is Meadows, the subjects in this book are unrestrained, covering any number of topics possible. Lots of poems were very personal, some talked about family and relationships, and many had religious elements, while others seemed so abstract that I couldn’t make sense of them.

This collection goes to show that any person can create art through their experiences. It proves that many many people (probably every person out there, honestly) struggle with very personal issues that leave deep imprints on their lives. No one is alone in their sadness or trials, and that’s the most important thing I learned while reading this book.

My favorite part of this collection was the stories from select authors about their poems. I liked reading about the inspiration behind the poems. Here are the poems I liked best from Meadows:
“Everything,” 25
“Life in a Hyphen,” 61
“Evil Spirit,” 73
“Wonder,” 112
“Sad Eyes of the Beautiful Hot Dog Stand Girl,” 130
“Wording,” 243

Review: LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly

Rating: 4/5 stars

Lilac Girls is a mostly true account following three women during World War Two.
—Caroline, 37, American, volunteer at the French Consulate in New York City
—Kasia, 17, Polish, prisoner at Ravensbrück concentration camp
—Herta, early 20s, German, doctor at Ravensbrück concentration camp
I feel like this book mostly tells Kasia’s story, but it features perspectives from Caroline and Herta, two people who had profound impacts on Kasia’s life. The stories of these three women intersect to create something heartbreaking but also beautiful. Before reading this book, I didn’t know anything about Ravensbrück, the all-female concentration camp, but now I’ve been provided with an intimate view of what life was like inside.

Something I liked about this book was that the chapters alternated points of view, and each chapter ended in such a way that I had to know what happened next, but the next chapter was usually from a different character’s perspective. Written this way, the narrative propelled the reader through the story and really created an engaging plotline throughout.

I love historical fiction, and it’s been awhile since I’ve read a WWII story, but this one reminded me how brutal that time was. This book is gritty at times and takes the reader right to the heart of the concentration camp life at Ravensbrück and the medical experiments performed there. Many times it was hard to read, but I also couldn’t stop reading because I was so engrossed in it. I cannot express enough how grateful I am to not have lived through that. I know I wouldn’t have survived, and I feel sick just reading about it.

For the first eighty pages or so, I really struggled to keep the characters and the story straight. There are a lot of side characters. There are also a lot of words in German or Polish with no English alternative or definition provided, so I often became confused during those sentences about what had transpired. For example, matka means mother in Polish, but for about half the book, I thought it was Kasia’s mother’s actual name (it was capitalized in the book). These few reasons are why I am giving this book four stars instead of five. I think it is very deserving of five stars, but my rating is based on personal enjoyment, and my struggle in the beginning leads me to give this four stars.

I cannot believe this is Martha Hall Kelly’s first book. The writing was amazing and captivating, the editing extremely thorough. (Being an editor myself, I usually find at least one error or plot hole in every book, but I cannot remember any from this book.) I know she did about ten years of research for this story, which is an astonishing feat unto itself. I can only hope that one day I’ll be as devoted to a topic as she was to telling these women’s stories. Here is a wonderful short video of Kelly talking about how she became interested in the story she tells in Lilac Girls, and it showcases some places that inspired her and pictures of the real people featured in the book.

Everyone needs to read books like this one at some point in their lives: actual accounts of the horrors of war (this book is technically fiction, but it is based on true events and features many real people as its characters). Every time I read a story about the war, specifically what it was like to be a prisoner in a concentration camp, I shiver with utter horror at the thought that humans could treat other humans that way. Absolutely unfathomable to me. I am beyond grateful that I did not have to endure the torture and experimentation that the girls in this book did. It’s very difficult to read about but also very eye-opening how blessed we are today, and it really makes me appreciate the life I have. Even on my hardest days, I would prefer to live them a hundred times over than live one day as a prisoner during the war. The women in this story really suffered through a lot but probably grew exponentially more than I ever will because of those experiences. I highly recommend Lilac Girls, in part because of the imprint it will leave on you when you finish.

Would You Rather: Book Edition

Would you rather . . .

1. Read only series or only standalones?
read only standalones

2. Buy all your books at a bookstore or online?
buy all my books at a bookstore

3. All books become movies or tv shows?
all books become tv shows

4. Reread your least favourite book yearly or never be able to read your favourite book again?
never be able to read my favourite book again

5. Be a professional book reviewer or a professional author?
both, but if I had to choose, a professional book reviewer

6. Read only your 20 favourite books or only never-before-read books for the rest of your life?
read only never-before-read books

7. Be a librarian or a bookseller?
be a librarian

8. Read only your favourite genre or every genre but your favourite genre?
read only my favourite genre

9. Ready only physical books or only ebooks or only audiobooks?
read only physical books

10. Receive an unlimited number of free books for life or live inside your favourite book?
receive an unlimited number of free books for life

11. Own only as many books as you can physically carry or own enough books to cover every wall in your house?
own only as many books as I can physically carry

12. Read only the most popular books or read only books that no one you know has read so you can't discuss them?
read only books no one I know has read 

13. Read the last chapter before starting any new book or never read the last chapter of a book?
read the last chapter before starting any new book

14. Read only one book a year and remember everything or read a hundred books a year but remember nothing?
read a hundred books a year but remember nothing

15. Read a book with a cliffhanger ending or read a book with a heartbreaking ending?
read a book with a cliffhanger ending

16. Have a book's ending spoiled or never know how it ends?
have the ending spoiled

17. Read a book that's missing the middle chapter or read a book that's missing the first and last chapters?
read a book that's missing the middle chapter

18. Love a book everyone hates or hate a book everyone loves?
hate a book everyone loves

19. Have your favourite book made into a bad movie or never made into a movie?
have my favourite book made into a bad movie

20. Have to wait five years for the final book in your favourite series or read it now but have to read major spoilers beforehand?
read it now but have to read major spoilers beforehand

Review: BITTERBLUE by Kristin Cashore

Rating: 5/5 stars

Read my updated 2021 reread review here. 

Bitterblue is the best book in this series by far. After we left Princess Bitterblue in Graceling, I was curious to see how her future would turn out now that Leck isn't at the helm of her life. I'm glad she got her own story, and I can't believe I almost didn't read this book because I didn't love the last two. This book is worlds better than the other two, and Cashore's writing has significantly improved since book one. Although Bitterblue follows characters introduced in Graceling and features cameos from characters in Fire, I do think it could be read as a standalone, or as a sequel to Graceling, omitting Fire. I will say having the knowledge from Fire definitely added to my reading experience of this book, but it is not pertinent to read that book prior to Bitterblue.

I loved the characters in this story. Bitterblue is lovely (I actually like her more than Katsa), and it was so nice to see how she's matured since her childhood in Graceling. Moreso, I loved the evolution and progression of her character and strengths from the beginning of this book to the end. Cashore has a talent for writing really strong female leads that have great arcs of character development throughout the story, being tested in many ways but always emerging triumphant and stronger in the end. Of all the characters in this book, I think I liked Sapphire the most (and his name is pure gold). He was unpleasant at times, but I continued rooting for him and I loved when he showed up in scenes. He, too, goes through some nice moral changes as the story progresses.

My very favourite scene in this whole book is when Bitterblue walks into the courthouse while Saf is on trial. I listened to that part of the book on audio, and I was laughing so much at how ironically funny it was. Simply charming.

One thing I wish we were given more details about was the romance. Bitterblue and Sapphire had a kind of relationship that could have been more intimate than we saw it, but we don't know what happened to them after the story ended. Bitterblue also seemed fond of Giddon, but their relationship was always only platonic. I could see it turning into something more in the future, but we readers won't know what happens with Bitterblue's possible suitors because the story was left open-ended with this matter.

In Bitterblue, the use of ciphers and codes and secret messages is paramount to the story. I've always been interested in that kind of thing but never had an aptitude for it, so I enjoy reading about it in books from time to time, watching the characters figure out the puzzles piece by piece. Each new message that Bitterblue deciphers or each code that she had to break had me completely enthralled with how detailed they were, how complex they were to solve. And their prevalence goes to show that Bitterblue really couldn't trust anyone. Truly, I had no idea who was on her side and who was putting on a facade. People were changing their allegiances in the middle of the book, discovered to be an enemy but then ended up being an ally, and vice versa. That is one thing Cashore did really well in this book: she had me completely unable to trust any of the characters. Even the main characters that were most present in the story were under scrutiny from Bitterblue, and I can't imagine that strain on her as an emerging queen. Luckily, all answers were elucidated by the end of the book.

I did think it was weird, for how focused on characterization Cashore is in her writing, that we never got to meet the spies. Bitterblue mentions her spies quite a bit, and at first I thought that was a pretense for her guards, that her "spies" were actually herself and Saf and Teddy. But then I realized she actually does have spies, but we never got to meet them or know their names. I found that a bit strange with how much this book revolves around secrets and the acquisition of information.

I like that this book heavily relied on politics, but they didn't control the story like they did in Fire. In Fire, the politics were the story, and the plot became very dry and boring. But in Bitterblue, the politics enhanced the story, and that was so much more enjoyable to me. I think politics are crucial to any good fantasy that takes place in a medieval setting with castles and rulers, but I find that they can make or break my interest in the story.

Overall, Bitterblue was an excellent conclusion to an otherwise ordinary trilogy. Cashore's writing has developed greatly since her debut novel, and I believe she will continue to grow even stronger in that skill as time goes on. She writes great characters and interesting political plotlines with shocking revelations throughout. This story was long, but it didn't feel that long because every bit of it was entertaining. One neat thing about this book in particular is the considerable amount of bonus content at the end, which really enhances the reading experience. We have beautiful drawings of the three bridges in Bitterblue City, detailed maps of different parts of the castle and the land, a character list with helpful descriptions, and Cashore's writing process for Bitterblue, which was actually very eye-opening. She wrote two complete first drafts of the story over the course of many years to get all the details of the plot where she wanted them to be. While that would have been a grueling rewriting process, I know that Bitterblue was only better for it in the end.