Review: SLAYING THE DRAGON: THE SECRET HISTORY OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS by Ben Riggs

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons or any tabletop RPG games, nor watched anyone play them, so I’m not sure why I was drawn to this book. I’ve always loved video games, so I’ve always wanted to try out D&D and other formats of games, but for some reason I’ve never had the opportunity or means to play. Nevertheless, I still wanted to read about its history. 

Slaying the Dragon is the true story of the rise and fall of Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), the original creators of Dungeons & Dragons, and how the game ultimately ended up in the hands of Wizards of the Coast, TSR’s biggest rival at the time. 

Despite having never played D&D and not being a huge fan of nonfiction, I actually found this book to be very interesting and easily readable. The author’s writing is so captivating and enjoyable. This wasn’t dry or hard to read at all. The only real complaint I have is that sometimes I got the people mixed up, but that likely comes from listening to the audiobook and not being able to see the names written down, which overall wasn’t a huge deal. The audiobook narrator was excellent though and had a great voice to listen to. 

The history of D&D is full of surprises and the author did a great job of laying it all out from the beginning, including all the big moments while also highlighting minor details that were notable or simply just interesting facts. I think it’s hilarious that in the “Satanic Panic” era of the 1970s, people thought D&D summoned actual demons and enticed people to commit suicide. I’ve never understood how people come to these absurd conclusions about fantasy games or novels. 

Overall, Slaying the Dragon was a super fun read that I would definitely recommend to any Dungeons & Dragons fans out there, whether you were a hardcore fan in the ’80s or you’re a casual player now or you only read the novels. Tabletop and RPG gamers would likely also have a good time reading this book. Above anything, it’s a really fascinating history, even if you aren’t super familiar with D&D (like me). I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read this. 

Review: DAUGHTER OF REDWINTER by Ed McDonald

 

Rating: 3.75/5 stars

Daughter of Redwinter is the start of an exciting new fantasy series. Raine has a curse that allows her to see and speak to the dead. One day she finds Hazia almost dead in the snow and saves her, which turns out to be a bad decision because Hazia escaped from Redwinter, the monastery fortress of the warrior magicians known as the Draoihn, and the Draoihn want her back. 

This book starts off with action that hooks you and characters that are easy to connect with and enjoy reading about. I really liked getting to know Raine and learn more about her dark magical ability. She is a protagonist that you will love and root for. The character development and world-building in this novel are both done very well. 

Daughter of Redwinter is dark without being grim. It reminds me of Red Sister because of the magical convent and the cold snowy setting, but it’s done way better in my opinion. I had never read an Ed McDonald book before this one, but I have his Raven’s Mark trilogy sitting on my shelf that I will need to move up my TBR now. 

Even though I really enjoyed this book, I don’t think I was able to enjoy it to its fullest potential though by listening to the audiobook. I think I will need to reread this with my eyes before I can continue the series so I get the most out of the story. I liked the narrator, but I don’t know if her voice was conducive to maximum comprehension level. Just something to keep in mind if you choose to go the audiobook route. Overall though, I’m glad I had the opportunity to read this novel and I look forward to continuing the series eventually. 

Daughter of Redwinter is perfect for fans of:
• morally grey characters who make bad decisions. 
• a protagonist whose curse allows her to speak to the dead. 
• incredible and lush worldbuilding. 
• danger, fighting, and death. 
• books such as Red Sister, The Witcher, Hall of Smoke, and Shadow of the Gods. 

Review: TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin

 

Rating: 5/5 stars

Add this book to your summer reading list because you are not going to want to miss this one. 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a story that spans 30 years following the lives of Sam and Sadie and Marx, beginning in college, as they design and produce video games, some bestsellers and some flops, and all the nuances involved in that business. This is a very character-focused story as the narrative weaves in all the characters’ backstories in such a masterly way that you don’t even realize you’re falling in love with each and every character until it’s too late. Even though this novel has video games at its heart, you don’t have to love or even understand gaming to be able to love this story. 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is compulsively readable. I can’t remember the last time I wanted so badly to forget about everything just so I could read, or when I wanted to call off work (which I didn’t because I’m responsible, but I wanted to) just to get a few more hours of reading in that day. I was invested, and I wish every book’s reading experience was like this one, where I get lost in the pages and don’t get distracted at all until I finish, where I forget that I’m even reading because I’m so involved with what’s going on in the story that I feel like I’m there with the characters. It’s a rare book that provides that kind of experience. 

I absolutely love how this book was written. Zevin employs third-person singular, third-person omniscient, and second-person POVs throughout the book, and it worked. It was being told in past-tense, but as if the characters themselves were in the future and looking back and telling their own story, so occasionally they’d casually hint at what was to come in the future, and that destroyed me. It was always during a happy time, and then a character would be like But we didn’t know everything would change in five years. Excuse me, I am not okay now knowing that! 

Zevin is also an intelligent writer. It’s been a while since I read a book with a word or two on nearly every page that I had to ask Google to define for me. I honestly loved that because I really enjoy learning new words while I read, and it didn’t feel overdone here. 

I fell so deeply in love with Sadie and Sam from the first few pages that I knew this book would emotionally destroy me. I remember mentioning to my husband on page six (6!) that I could tell this was going to be a five-star read and that I would not be okay when it ended. And I knew it: I’m not okay. How did I know that so early on? It was the characters and their relationships. 

I kept longing for a friendship like the one Sadie and Sam had while in college. I’ve had a lot of friends, I’ve had quite a few good friends, and I’ve even had some best friends, but I’ve never had a friendship like the one they had. It’s something I still long for, to this day. I want someone, outside of my husband, to know me as intimately as they knew each other, to do anything for me, to draw me secret mazes, to show up unannounced with bagels when I’m depressed, and just generally know me better than I know myself. 

And I want to do all that for someone else too. I think a lot of us are too shy and uncomfortable to reach that level of friendship with someone, or we form the friendships too late in life, thus not allowing them to have that innocent beginning that children’s friendships have, bonding over the shared love of a game one day and becoming lifelong best friends the next. It’s a special and rare thing to have a friend like that.

This book is not a romance and has next to no romance in it, yet it is undeniably a book about love. The love that Sadie and Sam have for each other is so large and emotional and consuming. But on the other hand, the characters have many small relationships throughout the novel that still were impactful. This book is about love in all its forms—erotic, platonic, unconditional, familial, the love of two people who are more than friends but not lovers, and the love of art, of creation, and of life.

“Every person you knew, every person you loved even, did not have to consume you for the time to have been worthwhile.”

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow has “Best Book of the Year” vibes and was certainly one of the most incredible and outstanding novels I have ever read. I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was, and I didn’t expect to love it as much as I do. This book deserves all the attention it can get. If everyone knew what story awaited them between the covers, they would all be running to the bookstore to buy a copy. It’s just that good. 

Read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow if you like: 
•Video games (or if you don’t).
•’90s nostalgia. 
•Japanese culture and influences. 
•Academic settings. 
•Grandiloquent language choices. 
•Theatre and poetry, specifically Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson. 
•A character-based narrative. 
•Friendships that define and consume you. 
•Love, in all its many forms. 
•Being forced to stay up until 2 a.m. reading. 
•Emotional damage. 

Review: SEASPARROW by Kristin Cashore

 

Rating: 4.75/5 stars

While I would definitely recommend having read the first four Graceling Realm books prior to reading Seasparrow, you don’t have to have read them recently for this book to make sense. Cashore helpfully recaps everything that happened in Winterkeep during the first few chapters, refreshing the reader on who the characters are, where they are, and what they’re doing. Seasparrow picks up shortly after Winterkeep ends. 

This book starts out being set on a boat, which I thought I wouldn’t like, but I actually didn’t mind it here. I tend to not like stories on boats, but Hava talks so much about her day-to-day activities and her emotions and her spying that the boat setting didn’t bother me. 

Hava, the protagonist and sole POV in this installment, is a girl who has learned to hide. Her Grace is being able to change what people see when they look at her, essentially rendering herself invisible. Her ability makes her the perfect spy for Bitterblue. 

I absolutely loved Hava as this book’s viewpoint character. Before I started reading, I wasn’t sure how I would like her, but I quickly came to love her. She’s so real. She’s bitter and holds grudges longer than she should, but she’s also compassionate and cares fiercely for those close to her. She seeks justice in the face of being wronged, even to the detriment of those around her, which I found to be so relatable. Of all of Cashore’s protagonists so far, I saw myself the most in Hava, which surprised me. Bitterblue has always been my favorite, but she’s a queen and level-headed and can stand up for herself in front of thousands, and that’s just not me. Katsa is loyal and a fierce fighter who will survive against any odds and protect those she loves, the typical strong YA protagonist who I want to be but who I know I’m not. But Hava, she’s smaller, weaker, used to hiding and being overlooked, smart and clever but also irrational at times, and oh so angry. I loved her. I feel like I am her. I love how different each of Cashore’s female leads is across this series. 

Seasparrow is about hope and survival. Kristin Cashore knows how to write about endless and relentless cold in a way that makes me physically cold while I am reading. I had this experience when I first read Graceling years ago, and I had it with this book too. The characters are suffering and doing everything possible to survive in grueling, freezing conditions. I could physically feel it. That’s good writing, in my opinion. 

The end of Winterkeep alluded to lots of political machinations to come in Seasparrow, but the politicking doesn’t come into play until the last third of the story. The first two-thirds of Seasparrow is about hope and survival during a long and physically demanding journey from Winterkeep back to Monsea through the icy cold north seas. It’s slower-paced. The story that I expected to see in this book doesn’t start until the crew finally makes it back to Monsea. That’s when the intrigue with the zilfium finally becomes prevalent. 

The first 70% is pretty slow and the last 30% feels pretty rushed. I honestly didn’t mind it because I loved the book regardless, but less devoted fans may find parts of the book to be more difficult to get through and struggle with the pacing. I would have loved more political intrigue because I think it’s one of Cashore’s strongest areas of writing. 

The ending alluded to a possible sixth book to come in the future as Hava outlines her plans for the next few years, and there’s a possible cold war looming on the horizon. At least I hope there’s another book planned. I could read Graceling books for the rest of my life. I think having the next book be from Trina’s POV would be super interesting as her future plans are mentioned toward the end and it really piqued my interest. Either way, the way Winterkeep ended left more to be desired that I had hoped to get in Seasparrow, but I didn’t feel like this book fully covered what I expected it to, which is why I think there has to be another one coming. 

Seasparrow is mostly a story about Hava coming of age, even though she’s already twenty-one years old. She’s still very haunted by demons from her past, and she’s holding a lot of grudges that she’s struggling to let go of and move past. The reader sees Hava arguing with herself and refusing to admit truths to herself while also being faced with new challenges and being in the spotlight for the first time in her life. And by the end, Hava has gone through so much and overcome so much and really learned who she is and who she wants to be. It was so heartwarming to see and I was so proud of her. 

There is also not really any romance in this novel, except for a slight hinting within the last few chapters at one to come in the future. This is the first Graceling book that didn’t have a romance subplot and instead was primarily character-focused on Hava with the actual plot being secondary. I honestly loved it. I love how Cashore approaches each of her books differently and writes such distinct female leads that are each strong in their own way. 

I loved Seasparrow, so much, and it was definitely one of my most anticipated books of the year. I sincerely hope it’s not the final installment in this series. Each book is written in a way that it could be the last one, or it could be one of many more to come. I have no idea what’s in store, but I’m not ready to leave these characters and this world behind. I believe the Graceling Realm series is a standout YA fantasy series, different from the cookie-cutter stories that seem so common nowadays. It’s truly one of my favorite series ever. I love it. And if you love it as much as I do then you will also enjoy Seasparrow for the journey and the character development and all of the wonderful additions to this world that it brings. 

Review: HALF A SOUL by Olivia Atwater

 

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Half a Soul is a historical fantasy hate-to-love romance between Elias Wilder, the grumpy and stuck-up Lord Sorcier, and Dora Ettings, a girl cursed by a faerie to have only half a soul. 

I loved that both our hero and our heroine are awkward and unlikable in their society, but still likable to the readers. Elias is snarky and generally avoided by others because of his lack of decorum. Dora does not feel embarrassment or fear ever since she was cursed, so she’s always saying the wrong thing in public. I thought their relationship was cute, and even though the reader knows they will get together from the beginning when they don’t like each other, it is still a fun journey through the book watching them interact and be awkward. 

This book is being published by Orbit, so it’s an adult fantasy, but it’s very clean and wholesome and reads kind of like a YA, so it’s definitely suitable for a young adult audience. I’m actually surprised that Orbit of all publishers is who picked it up because this doesn’t feel like an Orbit title at all, but I am glad that they are diversifying their fantasy genres a bit. 

Half a Soul is part of a series, but it also could be read as a standalone novel. I felt satisfied with the ending so I don’t know yet if I will be finishing the series or not. I liked the book for what it was, a romance with light fantasy elements, but I also don’t feel super inclined to read any more books in the series. If you are looking for a cozy and fun book, then check this out. 

Half a Soul is for fans of books that feature:
• A Regency time period
• Hate-to-love romance
• Grumpy/sunshine romance
• Clean yet swoon-worthy romance 
• Awkward yet wholesome characters
• Soft fantasy with light magic
• Magical mirrors and scissors
• Divination
• Cunning faeries 
• Faerie tales
• A standalone plot that’s also part of a larger series 

Review: THE LOST APOTHECARY by Sarah Penner

 

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I’ve had my eye on this book ever since I saw the entrancing cover when it first came out. The Lost Apothecary is a historical fiction novel about a hidden apothecary that caters to women bent on escaping from the oppressive clutches of their husbands: through discreet murder. 

I saw this advertised as historical fantasy, but it’s not; I’ve read books not labeled as fantasy that have more fantastical elements than this book did. The only aspect that even alludes to something magical is that Eliza, a young girl, believes in ghosts, and she also thinks the potions and tinctures are magical, but they’re just doing what any medicine does. There’s no magic in this book, so don’t be misled before you start it. As much as I love all things fantastical, I think this novel was just fine the way it is and doesn’t need magic to make it better. 

I’m glad I picked up The Lost Apothecary because I really enjoyed it. My favorite part was seeing how the two POVs in eighteenth-century England intertwined with and connected to the POV in the present day. The three perspectives we read from are Nella, the apothecary; Eliza, a young girl sent to the apothecary by her mistress and who wants to become an apprentice to Nella; and Caroline, a woman in the modern-day who finds an old apothecary vial in the river and desires to uncover its history. My favorite historical fiction novels are those that have multiple protagonists whose perspectives all weave together, so this was perfect for me. 

I love that this novel was about giving power to women at a time when they didn’t originally have much power. The Lost Apothecary shows how women can triumph over men who are abusing or neglecting them. I thought it was an original and fun idea: women go to this special hidden apothecary to get poison to administer to their unfaithful husbands, etc. I loved being able to read from the apothecary’s POV and see how she came to be in the place that she was. My favorite perspective, however, was Caroline in the present. It is uncanny (but intentional on the author’s part) how many parallels she draws between her own life and the life of the women she reads about in the 1700s. I thought it was so fun to follow her journey of uncovering the history of the vial she found and the history of the apothecary shop. 

Overall, this was an enjoyable historical fiction novel that I would recommend. It’s not my favorite nor is it the best book out there, but I had a good time reading it and would consider reading other works from Sarah Penner in the future. 

Review: ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

I have to be honest. I almost unhauled this book on many occasions, but something always kept me from doing so each time. I just don’t care much anymore to read WW2 historical fiction, which is what this book is. I kept passing it over when it came time to choose another book, thinking I’ll get to it eventually.

This year I am doing the Buzzwordathon reading challenge, and June’s prompt is a book with the word “all” in the title. All the Light We Cannot See is literally the only book I own that fits that prompt, so I reluctantly picked it up, seeing no other option. 

Dang, am I glad I didn’t unhaul this! This book is the kind of book that reminded me of why I originally liked historical fiction in the first place. Doerr’s writing is incredible and captivating, and it’s what kept me reading. 

The time and place are less of a focus here than the characters, which I really appreciated. I love that we get to see the POVs from two people on opposite sides that you know will ultimately collide in the end. 

Overall, I’m really glad I ended up reading this book, especially after putting it off for so long. All of the praise this book gets is warranted, and I would definitely recommend it. I can’t wait to read Anthony Doerr’s newest work, Cloud Cuckoo Land, because his writing style was my absolute favorite part of this reading experience. 

Review: A PRAYER FOR THE CROWN-SHY by Becky Chambers

 

Rating: 3/5 stars

I've been meaning to check out Becky Chambers's work for awhile now, and I decided on a whim that I was going to read the Monk and Robot duology as my introduction to her writing. Both A Pslam for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy are very wholesome sci-fi novellas that I ended up enjoying. 

The story follows a tea monk, Dex, and their robot companion, Mosscap, as they travel across the land together while learning about each other and the various people they come across on their journey. There's not really much more to the plot than that, but this story doesn't need more. 

This story is about acceptance and hope and living. Mosscap is still trying to find the answer to the question, "What do people need?" which it asks everyone it comes across but no one seems to have a good answer. Dex is still trying to find their purpose as well. Mosscap was definitely my favorite character as it was just so wholesome, and I loved seeing its innocence as it learns about the way humans live. 

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy was an enjoyable read, but it also wasn't a standout story to me. I liked it and I'm glad I read it and I'd recommend it, but I also don't know how long it will stick with me. It does have me interested in checking out more of Becky Chambers's works in the future though.