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Book Review: To Ride Hell’s Chasm by Janny Wurts

Book Review: To Ride Hell’s Chasm by Janny Wurts

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Cover art illustrated by: Janny Wurts

To Ride Hell’s Chasm by Janny Wurts

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy

Pages: 704 pages (Mass market paperback edition)

Published: 1st January 2002 by Harper Voyager

A great fantasy standalone that will make you know how it feels to live for five days in a fantasy world.

This is the first time I read Janny Wurts’s solo work; prior to this, I’ve read The Riftwar: Empire trilogy that Wurts co-write with Raymond E. Feist within this year. The Riftwar: Empire trilogy, to me, has become one of my favorite trilogies; I am stunned that it took me this long to finally get around to reading that trilogy. Janny Wurts is often well known for her work on Riftwar: Empire trilogy and her magnum opus: Wars of Light and Shadow. I’m fully intended to read her magnum opus but before I get around to reading Wars of Light and Shadow, I thought it might be better for me to read her standalone novel first. The reason behind this is that many fans of her works have mentioned that it’s better to read To Ride Hell’s Chasm first to get an idea of Wurts’s prose, which is significantly more difficult than the one in The Riftwar: Empire trilogy, and they’re not wrong on this. I will talk about this more in the review below.
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Book Review: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

Book Review: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

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Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Pages: 432 pages (US Hardcover edition)

Published: 2nd October 2012 by Ace (US)

A bleak historical fantasy/horror about life, death, faith, and hope. …

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Book Review: Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

Book Review: Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

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Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Jennifer Saint penned a lovely, if depressing, novel in Ariadne. It will definitely appeal to the same audience that loved Madeline Miller’s Circe. However, there was some magic imbued into Miller’s work, some fierce beauty behind the pain, that wasn’t present in this novel. It felt like viewing a work of art through a fog instead of clear glass. While it was a very well written mythological retelling, I couldn’t quite love it. …

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Book Review: Revival Season by Monica West

Book Review: Revival Season by Monica West

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Revival Season by Monica West
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Revival Season is not the kind of story I can read completely objectively. My faith is a huge part of my identity. I’m a Christian, and I’ve attended Baptist churches my entire life. When something is so integral to who you are, it’s difficult to remove yourself from a story that centers so profoundly around that trait or belief. And that was one of my biggest problems with this book. There were so many religious red flags that I wanted to take the whole fictional family to counseling. This was a twisted, maimed version of my faith staring back at me from the page, a funhouse reflection of what I believe.  I just wanted to look away.  I didn’t.  I finished the book.  But it was a struggle for me. …

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Book Review: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Book Review: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

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ARC provided by Goodreads & the publisher—Scribner—in exchange for an honest review.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Genre: Historical fiction, Science fiction, Literary fiction

Pages: 656 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 28th September 2021 by Scribner

Cloud Cuckoo Land is more ambitious and complex than All the Light We Cannot See in every possible way. …

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Book Review: Legacy by Nora Roberts

Book Review: Legacy by Nora Roberts

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Legacy by Nora Roberts
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

When will I learn? I’ve read over 200 Nora Roberts novels, and yet every once in a while I will still read a synopsis for an upcoming novel of hers and decide that I’m not sure I’m going to love that one. So instead of preordering, like I generally do for her new releases, I place a hold with my library. That’s what I did with Legacy. And now I have to buy it anyway, because I loved it. …

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Book Review: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Book Review: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

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The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher, Macmillan Audio, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise for The Maidens immediately piqued my interest. A ritualistic murder on a prestigious college campus, with a Classics professor and his select group of all female students, known as the Maidens, at the center of the intrigue? Yes, please. I love dark academia, especially when combined with the study of Ancient Greek and classical literature. I went in hoping form something along the lines of The Secret History, which I absolutely adore. But I liked what this book pretended to be far more than what it actually was. If that makes sense. Alas, The Maidens fell a bit flat for me. …

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Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

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The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Ocean at the End of the Lane was the very first Gaiman book I ever read. I’ve sense read nearly everything he’s written, and have discovered that my favorite way to ingest his stories is via audio when he reads the books himself. His voice is divine, and I’ve found that listening to him tell his own stories adds to the magic for me. So what better way to revisit the novel that first charmed me into reading his work than by trying it on audio? It was the right decision. I was once again transported into this nameless boy’s childhood adventures, and Gaiman’s voice merely added to the charm of the tale.

“Words save our lives, sometimes.”

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Book Review: Hellmouth by Giles Kristian

Book Review: Hellmouth by Giles Kristian

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Cover art designed by: Stephen Mulcahey

HELLMOUTH: A novella by Giles Kristian

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Genre: Historical fiction, Horror

Pages: 52 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 19th February 2021 by Giles Kristian (Self-Published)

Hellmouth is a bloody terrifying blend of historical fiction and horror.

“In the absence of light, darkness prevails”

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Book Review: From a Buick 8 by Stephen King

Book Review: From a Buick 8 by Stephen King

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From a Buick 8 by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From a Buick 8 was way more interesting than I expected. Honestly, this is one of the few novels in King’s backlist that I would have had no qualms skipping if it hadn’t been on the suggested expanded Dark Tower reading list I found here. I had no desire to read about a supernatural car. Freaky inanimate objects don’t really do it for me. Most of the time, anyway. I should’ve remembered the topiaries in The Shining. Because this unnatural Buick ended up being pretty darn creepy. I was expecting Christine or James Dean’s Little Bastard. That’s so not what was delivered. …

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