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Category: Celeste’s Reviews

Book Review: The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1) by Chelsea Abdullah

Book Review: The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1) by Chelsea Abdullah

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The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher, Orbit Books, in exchange for an honest review.

The Stardust Thief is the first in what is sure to be a solid, atmospheric new fantasy trilogy. This is Abdullah’s debut novel, and I found it to be a strong, well written story with compelling characters and an enchanting setting. A new riff on the classic tale of The Thousand and One Arabian Nights at its core, The Stardust Thief carves a new path into uncharted territory while still beautifully honoring its inspiration. I’ve read very little Arabic-inspired fantasy, but this book made me thirsty for more.

“Death in a free land is better than life in a gilded cage.”

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Book Review: The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning

Book Review: The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning

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The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Shadow Glass is a love letter to kitschy fantasy movies from the 80s. If you’re a lover of movies like Willow, The Never-Ending Story, Labyrinth, and especially The Dark Crystal, then you need to get your hands on this book. Its pages are populated with puppets come to life, a quest to save a dying fantasy realm, and a ton of pop culture references. While I loved the idea behind it, the actual execution of this story left me a bit unsatisfied, but it’s a book that I think is going to make a lot of my fellow nerdy 80s babies extremely happy. …

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Book Review: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) by Brandon Sanderson

Book Review: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) by Brandon Sanderson

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The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Ash fell from the sky.”

So opens The Final Empire, and I was hooked from that very first sentence. When I first read it, I considered Mistborn one of the best fantasy trilogies I had ever read. Upon rereading The Final Empire seven years later, I can tell that my opinion there isn’t going to change. I can’t choose favorites among Sanderson’s Cosmere; I love every world he’s introduced, and have loved every book in he’s written in the Cosmere so far. However, I do think there’s something truly special about the world of Scadrial and the magic systems it introduces. And that’s not even getting into the wonderful cast of characters, the heist planning, the philosophy, and the fight for freedom. There’s so much to love about this book.
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Book Review: Legendborn (Legendborn, #1) by Tracy Deonn

Book Review: Legendborn (Legendborn, #1) by Tracy Deonn

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Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I had heard so many wonderful things about Legendborn that I was a little scared to read it. What if I didn’t love it? After all, YA tends to be very hit-or-miss for me. I needn’t have worried, because this book was absolutely fantastic. I was blown away by the world-building, the concept, and the character development. Bree was a phenomenal protagonist. She was far from perfect, but I loved watching her strengths solidify and rooting for her as she wrestled with the trauma and loss life had dealt her. And it’s a campus novel with a secret society, which is an added bonus. This is also one of the freshest, most original takes on Arthurian legend I’ve experienced, even making me want to go back and reread some of the source inspiration.

“Don’t make your life about the loss. Make it about the love.”

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Book Review: Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke

Book Review: Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke

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Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I’ve never watched Pan’s Labyrinth. I remember borrowing the DVD from the library about a decade ago, but Chris vetoed it about 10 minutes in because it was subtitled and our tv was small. While I always intended to go back to it one day, I just never got around to it. That’s going to have to change, because I absolutely loved this novelization of the story. I feel like “novelization” is almost an insult, actually. Because, while I’ve never seen the movie, I know that the care with which this book was written and illustrated demands more respect that such nomenclature usually provides. Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun, is gorgeous in the same way poisonous mushrooms are: lush, inviting, but deadly.

“In our choices lie our fate.”

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Book Review: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1) by Sarah J. Maas

Book Review: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1) by Sarah J. Maas

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House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The only books I’ve read from Maas are those in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, and even those were very recent reads for me. In comparison to those, Crescent City is pretty wildly different while still delivering the plucky, surly, fallible heroine archetype and sultry, multifaceted, misunderstood love interest they’ve come to expect from her work. While the world building was excessive and clunky, the addition of an intriguing murder mystery kept me interested enough to keep reading. I’m glad I did because, though this book had some issues, the back half made it very much worth reading. …

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Book Review: The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton

Book Review: The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton

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The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher, Simon and Schuster, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have a weakness for dark academia novels, though they only work for me roughly half the time. In recent years I’ve read books in this subgenre that have become lifetime favorites, and those that left me so disappointed it veered into anger. More than one of these disappointments came through books I requested via NetGalley, and yet I keep trying. Books like The World Cannot Give are why. I was almost as enamored by it as I was by Tartt’s The Secret History and Hopen’s The Orchard, both of which I absolutely adore. …

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Book Review: Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Book Review: Upgrade by Blake Crouch

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Upgrade by Blake Crouch
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher, Ballantine Books, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I received an email announcing not only the galley release of Upgrade, but my randomly pre-approved status for it, I was ecstatic. I legitimately squealed. Dark Matter and Recursion were both instant favorites for me, so I couldn’t wait to read whatever Crouch had written next. Then I read the synopsis, which immediately brought to mind the movie and subsequent tv series, Limitless. I loved both iterations of the story, so my excitement swelled even larger. But Upgrade took that basic premise and encompassed not only the radical expansion of the mind, but of the workings of the body, as well. Even more amazing!

“The greatest threat to our species lies within us.”

However, whether due to my irrationally high expectations and excitement or the fact that I might not have been quite intelligent enough for this book, Upgrade left me feeling vaguely disappointed. While still a good story, it didn’t pack the same punch for me as its two predecessors. Subjectively, at least. Remember that this is strictly my opinion from my own experience with the book. No doubt this will be on several Best of 2022 lists. It just won’t be on mine. …

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Book Review: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

Book Review: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

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Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book, y’all. Razorblade Tears broke my heart and kept me on the edge of my seat in equal measures. It’s a superb piece of crime fiction with powerful messages about racism, sexuality, and accepting your loved ones for who they are, no matter how different they might be, before you run out of chances. It’s about vengeance and justice and learning that you can still grow even when you’ve been set in your ways for longer than you can remember. It’s about family, both that which you’re born into and that which you build for yourself along the way. It’s about grief and how, sometimes, you don’t even feel like you deserve to feel it. Above all, this is a story that felt honest and real and true at its core, despite being a work of fiction.
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Book Review: The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

Book Review: The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

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The People We Keep by Allison Larkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of those times when I’m really thankful for Book of the Month. For some reason, The People We Keep isn’t a book I’ve really heard mentioned anywhere else. If it hadn’t been one of BotM’s options, I might have never heard of it, much less picked it up. I’m so incredibly thankful that I did, though. The People We Keep is a heartbreakingly beautiful story that perfectly balances sorrow and joy. With a diverse cast of larger-than-life characters and a protagonist that I not only rooted for but wished I could pluck from the pages and adopt, this book filled my heart to the bursting point and gave me an even greater appreciation for all of the wonderful people in my own life.

“We have people we get to keep, who won’t ever let us go. And that’s the most important part. That’s what’s true.”

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