Transitive Verve

  *edited to add* I apologize for errors and typos and I typed most of this with one hand while holding a fussy baby. I have been SO excited for this! I'm a big Leigh Bardugo fan, and I've been following the progress of this adaptation since they first announced it and started announcing the cast members. (PS--to see my reviews of the books, click the "Leigh Bardugo" tag! I still have not read the newest Grisha series though--I am going to reread the originals first.) I'm not going to summarize the plot here because that's easily google-able, but I will sum up the major "difference," which is that the series combines the main plot of the original Shadow and Bone  trilogy, and then melds in the Six of Crows  characters by incorporating some new original content plus some character backstories, since SaB takes place a bit before SoC does. So we meet the Crows before the events of the actual books take place. So it really is a full Grishaverse that we g...

Note: This review may contain spoilers for all the previous books in the ACOTAR series, but will not contain spoilers for this particular installment. The wait for this book was already extra long--all the ACOTAR books had come out a year apart, but this one came out two  years after the last one--and it  felt  even longer, because 1) ACOFAS contained a preview of this book that was FIRE, and 2) on the whole, I was less than satisfied by the SJM release that we got last year, the first novel of her new Crescent City series . (I can't ever seem to remember its actual title, even right after I've just read it.) I liked it, I mostly just wished we could have this next ACOTAR book instead. And now we have it. For starters, I want to point out that the covers have been redone for the entire series, because I think they're trying to rebrand it as adult, which I fully support because OH MAN, this book was raunchy. I mean, I'm pretty sure we were all expecting it--Cassian and N...

Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Summary:  Bryce Quinlan is half-human/half-fae in a world where even being full human makes life hard, let alone being a "half-breed." But she has a job as an assistant to an antiquities dealer, an apartment she shares with a ballet dancer, a mercenary, and the someday-heir to the wolf shifter throne, and weekends full of wild partying. All of that comes crashing to a halt as she comes home one night to find her best friends slaughtered. The murderer is apprehended, but Bryce will never be the same again. Two years later, similar murders are being committed, and it's clear that there is a further mystery to be solved. Bryce is recruited to help investigate, due to her connections to the victims, and along with fallen angel/assassin Hunt Athalar, Bryce dives into the deep underbelly of Crescent City in order to discover the truth and avenge her best friend, unprepared for the secrets that will be uncovered.

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary:  Mia Corvere watched her father die, hung for being a traitor to the Itreyan Republic. Then she watched her mother and brother get hauled off by the same corrupt senate that ordered her father's execution. And then she was taken away to be disposed of herself. But years later, Mia is still alive, and gunning for revenge. She has trained for years to merely qualify to join the legendary Red Church School of Assassins, and now, in order to be able to return and avenge the fall of the House Corvere, she will have to survive the training program, as well as her deadly classmates. But Mia has a special ability that her classmates don't have: she can manipulate shadows. As Mia makes allies and enemies alike, someone is murdering her fellow initiates. If she wants to earn her spot in the Red Church and eventually get her revenge, she will have to reckon with her past, defeat her rivals, and stay alive.

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary:  Alex Stern was a nobody going nowhere fast. After being the sole survivor of a horrific drug-related mass homicide, Alex awakes to a chance at a new life: a full ride to Yale in exchange for some work with its Ancient Eight secret societies, or Houses. The thing is, those Ancient Eight Houses, with their illustrious, powerful alumni that include past Presidents and other well-known figures, operate using some very old and dangerous magic. And it is the job of the Ninth House, the House of Lethe, to keep those Ancient Eight in check. Alex's work with Lethe, already dangerous and difficult to stomach, takes a turn for the worse when, first, her mentor disappears and, second, a local townie girl is found murdered on campus. Authorities are quick to brush off the murder as mundane (well, non-magical), but Alex thinks there is some House involvement. Surviving on just her street smarts, her memories of her mentor, and her u...

It's July, and apparently this is a thing bookish Internet people do :) 1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019? 2. Best sequel you’ve read? (Well, I read all three of these this year, but yeah!) 3. New release you haven’t gotten to, but want to? 4. Most anticipated release for the second half of 2019? 5. Biggest disappointment? I can't say that I have one! I mean, I've read books this year that I didn't love, but to call them a disappointment would mean that I had high expectations to begin with, lol... 6. Biggest surprise? The plot twist was DEFINITELY one I didn't see coming, and plus, this book challenged me in surprising ways. 7. New favorite author (either debut or new to you)? Stephanie Garber, author of the Caraval  series (new to me) 8. Newest fictional crush? The gang of The Raven Cycle , but I'm a Gansey girl for sure. 9. New favorite character? The entire gang of Aurora Rising . Like, their entire dynamic together...

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: This is a review for the entire series (because I read them all in one go), but I will paste here the blurb for the first book, so as to avoid spoiling anyway. My review, however, will talk about the entire series as a whole, and WILL contain spoilers for at least the first two books. Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over. But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first ...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: This is the third book of the Raven Cycle  series. This review will contain spoilers for the earlier books. Here are my reviews for The Raven Boys  and The Dream Thieves . Blue Sargent has gained a new family in her Raven Boys, but now she has lost family as well: her mother, Maura, has disappeared into the caves of Cabeswater as the new school year starts, and Blue doesn't know what to do with herself. In addition, a new teacher has shown up at Aglionby Academy with a deadly agenda.

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary:   The Dream Thieves  is book 2 of The Raven Cycle , and will contain spoilers for the first book of the series, The Raven Boys . For my review of The Raven Boys , please click here . Ronan Lynch, dark and dangerous, has a secret. His secret is that he can bring things back from dreams and make them real. But he's not the only one with secrets. And he's not the only one with this particular secret. As hit men and bounty hunters converge on Henrietta to find the Greywaren (the object that can bring things back from dreams), Ronan is being both hunted and haunted by his ability.  In the meantime, Gansey continues his quest to find Glendower, the lost Welsh king. But his friendship with the others grows complicated, as Ronan dives deeper into his ability and his family history, Adam learns what it truly means to be the one who has awakened the ley line, and Blue learns that there is no fighting the psychic ...

Thoughts at glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: This book is the sequel to Strange the Dreamer , and this review will contain spoilers for that book. Click here for my review of Strange the Dreamer . When human interference leads to mass destruction in Weep, Lazlo finds himself suddenly blue-skinned, the long-lost son of Skathis, the brutal god who could bend Mesarthium to his will and raped countless generations of human women to sire godspawn. Sarai, the godspawn daughter of the goddess of despair and the legendary god killer, Eril-Fane, finds herself now a ghost, and at the whim of Minya, who has the power to control ghosts and is hell-bent on taking vengeance on Eril-Fane as well as the rest of humankind. If Lazlo does not do what Minya asks, she will let go of Sarai's soul, letting it evanesce into oblivion. But in the midst of their battle with Minya, a larger threat looms, with its own score to settle when it finds the seraph-shaped citadel, as well as the lar...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: Many of us get the feeling that we were meant for something more. Something special . In real life, that doesn't always end up happening, but in this book, Lazlo Strange, who is born a no-name orphan and ends up the errand boy at the prestigious Library of Zosma, finds himself taken along on a journey that only dreams are made of: to figure out the mysteries of a long-lost city called Weep. Summoned by the famous Eril-Fane, christened Godslayer after he rose up against the gods that kept the humans of Weep in slavery, a caravan of warriors, thinkers, tinkerers, and Lazlo head to Weep in order to solve a problem that has long kept Weep isolated across the vast desert. And in the meantime, the long-forgotten children of the humans and the slain gods plan their revenge.

Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Summary: This is book 7 of the Throne of Glass series. Therefore, it will contain spoilers for all the previous books. If you would like to check out all my previous TOG reviews, here they are: Assassin's Blade  (Book 0/prequels) Throne of Glass Crown of Midnight Heir of Fire Queen of Shadows Empire of Storms Tower of Dawn  (parallel to EoS) When we last left Aelin and Co. in Empire of Storms , things were really bad. Like, REALLY bad. As in, "Aelin has been captured by Maeve and locked in an iron box and now no one knows where she is, and Lysandra has to pretend to BE her to keep the resistance going, because everyone knows they're probably going to die fighting the evil demon king, Erawan" bad. And Tower of Dawn  had Chaol, Yrene, and Nesryn racing back to the Northern continent with reinforcements and the news that Maeve is really a Valg QUEEN in disguise. And Manon and Dorian are off on THEIR own, trying ...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) This is officially designated book 3.1 of the ACOTAR series, meaning that it's not a full novel, but it is a follow-up to the third book. It's kind of a sequel--an epilogue, really--that sets up the spinoff novels that will come out in the future. This review may contain spoilers for the previous books in the series. For those reviews, please see below: Book 1: A Court of Thorns and Roses Book 2: A Court of Mist and Fury Book 3: A Court of Wings and Ruin Summary: Hybern has been defeated, and for now, Prythian is trying to put itself back together and maintain the peace that they fought so hard for. For Feyre, now back with her beloved Rhys and their Night Court, it means settling into her duties as the High Lady. This includes not just the typical responsibilities to their people and their kingdom, but also sorting out the aftermath of everything they just went through (losing her father, nearly losing Rhys), helping ...

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: This is book 2 of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone  trilogy, so this will contain spoilers for the first book. To read my review of book 1, please go here . Karou has finally discovered who she is, but at great cost--the lives of her friends and family. As the surviving chimaera are being viciously hunted down by the seraphim, Karou finds herself in the unfortunate position of having to ally with the vengeance-fueled chimaera leader who had her executed in her previous life. Meanwhile, Akiva strives to find a way to continue to rebel against the seraphim leaders' orders, to try to atone in some way for the pain he has caused Karou. But stirring up a rebellion is a dangerous thing, and what seemed like a simple plan ends up turning into something bigger and far more dangerous to more than just seraphim and chimaera.

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary:  To her art school classmates, and everyone else in Prague, Karou is a mystery. Does her hair really  grow out of her head blue? Where does she get the inspiration for the fantastical monsters and stories that fill her famous sketchbooks? And where does she keep disappearing to for her mysterious "errands"? Karou is even a mystery to herself--she's not sure where she came from or how her life came to be what it is, but yes, her monsters aren't just real; they're her family. Her hair grows blue because wish magic is true. And the errands she runs are for Brimstone, who is famous in the chimaera underworld for trafficking teeth that he uses for... some magical purpose that Karou doesn't understand. And now, black handprints are showing up on every magical portal door that leads to Brimstone's shop, and seraphim are rumored to be the ones behind it. Karou finds herself caught in the midst of an an...

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: This is book... 6? 5.5? of the Throne of Glass  series. Therefore, it will contain spoilers for all the previous books. If you would like to check out all my previous TOG reviews, please help yourself :) Assassin's Blade (collection of prequel novellas) Throne of Glass Crown of Midnight Heir of Fire Queen of Shadows Empire of Storms You have been warned!!! If you haven't read the series in a long time and need some refreshing, I would definitely recommend rereading "The Assassin and the Healer" from Assassin's Blade , as it introduces the character of Yrene Towers (one of the main characters in Tower of Dawn ) and maybe also Queen of Shadows , which takes place right before TOD. So, at the end of QOS, we have a small parting of ways. After the destruction of the glass castle in Rifthold and the subsequent revelations about Erawan and the greater threat to the world, Aelin and her crew (Rowan,...

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: This is book 3 of the ACOTAR series; therefore, this review contains spoilers of the first two books. You have been warned! You can click to read my reviews of A Court of Thorns and Roses  and A Court of Mist and Fury . At the end of the last book, Feyre, who has been made High Lady of the Night Court, is taken back to the Spring Court by Tamlin, who sold out his own people to the King of Hybern to get her back. In addition, Tamlin's priestess Ianthe had sold out Feyre's sisters to the King as well, and Feyre had been unable to save them from being changed into Fae by the King. So now she's in enemy territory, forced to pretend that she is no longer connected to her mate, Rhysand, so that she can gather information and bring down the Spring Court. And that's only the first step in a long and brutal battle to protect all of Prythian and the humans who live in the bordering territory.

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary:  Liesl has always been the plain, overlooked Vogler child - her younger sister, Kathe, is the golden-haired, beautiful child, while her younger brother, Josef, is the violin prodigy. As the oldest, she is saddled with responsibility and duty, and the only things that have brought her joy her entire life are composing music and hearing about the legendary Der Erlkonig , or the Goblin King. But he's not just a legend - when he kidnaps Kathe, Liesl must follow him to the underground to rescue her. And when it turns out that the price of saving her sister is to give up her own life to become his bride, she pays it. Now the Queen of the Goblin realm, Liesl finds a delicious freedom that she has never experienced before as a mere human. But even that comes with a price.

Thoughts at a glance:   ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: This is the second book in a series, so please be forewarned that this review contains spoilers for book 1, An Ember in the Ashes . You can read my review for that here . Picking up right where Ember  leaves off, Laia and Elias are now the Empire's Most Wanted. They're both supposed to be dead, but instead, they are now escaping through the tunnels underneath Serra, with the Commandant, the Masks, and the new Blood Shrike - aka, Elias' best friend Helene - hot on their heels. Laia and Elias have a treacherous journey ahead of them as they attempt to travel to Kauf prison, to break out Laia's brother Darin, whom may or may not even still be alive at this point. Along the way, not only do they have to dodge the entire Empire (Martials, bounty hunters, etc), but apparently some otherworldly beings are after them as well, with some alarming consequences. A new narrator for this book, Helene Aquilla has sworn...

This book was provided to me for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: ** (It was okay) Summary: Britta is all alone this world - her father, bounty hunter for the King of Malam, was murdered two months ago, and the only other person who cared about her - a boy who apprenticed with her father - left without a word well before that. Starving, with her home on the verge of being seized by the government, Britta is then caught poaching in the King's forest. It's a death sentence for sure - until she is offered a deal: her life will be spared if she can hunt down her father's murderer. Who happens to be Cohen, the very boy whom she had grown to love and who had broken her heart when he had disappeared from her life. With Royal Guards in tow, Britta must hunt down the boy she loves and kill him in exchange for her own life. But as they travel through the country, which is on the verge of war, Britta realizes that things are not w...