Tag Archives: book review

the inheritance banner

Book Review: The Inheritance, by Ilona Andrews

Leave a reply

I borrowed a copy of Ilona Andrews‘ The Inheritance from my local library.

the inheritance cover

We are at war. The interdimensional invasion brought us unimaginable suffering, but it also awoke talents slumbering deep within us, a means to repel and destroy our enemy. Every day new gates open, leading to breaches filled with monsters and valuable resources. If you are a Talent, your country needs you. The world needs you. Be the hero you were born to be.

Adaline is a Talent. Ten years ago, she had a happy marriage and a job she loved. The invasion shattered both. Now she works for the government, searching the breaches for magic metals and medicine to help Earth repel an interdimensional enemy. Two kids, one cat, bills, benefits, mortgage and school tuition…Risking her life became routine.

She had gone into the dimensional gates hundreds of times. She was always well protected. This time everything goes wrong. Now Ada is trapped in the labyrinth of alien caves unlike any other. Her only companion is a scared German Shepherd named Bear. Together they must uncover the breach’s secrets and escape, because Ada promised her children that she will come home.

The future of humanity depends on it.

my review

I enjoyed this, though I kind of wish I had waited until the next one is out so that I could have read them together. What I especially liked here was just how capable Adaline was. She was a middle-aged woman doing what many middle-aged women do: just get on with the crappy situation they find themselves in and succeed through grit and perseverance. Also, there’s a good doggo (who does not die) and a setup for possible future romantic interest (or not). Did I love the way it felt like an adventure-style video game (with a tank, damage dealers, and healers)? No, not particularly. But that’s a minor irritant in the end. Mostly, I finished excited for book two.
the inheritance photo

Other Reviews:

Dear Author: Review The Inheritance

 

alchemised banner

Book Review: Alchemised, by SenLinYu

Leave a reply

I purchased an ecopy of SenLinYu‘s Alchemised. Once I realized it was the published version of Manacled, which has been all over my feeds, I decided to read it. (Committing to a 1000+ page book right now is difficult.)

alchemised cover

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed.

In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive.

According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit?

To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

my review

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Alchemised does not need to be over a thousand pages long. The world isn’t that complicated. The plot isn’t particularly elaborate, and quite a lot of the events are redundant. The emotional impact could still have been achieved in half the pages. Less talented authors than SenLinYu have achieved it. That this is the pared-down version of the fanfiction it is based on is mindboggling.

Having said all of that, I did actually enjoy the book. The writing is readable. I liked the characters. I was invested in their success. I thought the author took on some interesting and challenging topics. I didn’t even have a problem with the rape, which there is so much discourse about in the review sections (and I’m often critical of rape as a plot device in books). All in all, somewhat to my own surprise, I finished the book happy. I liked it. 

Other Reviews:

New Review- Alchemised by SenLiYu

the shadow queen banner

Audiobook Review: The Shadow Queen, by Sloane Murphy

Leave a reply

Quite some time ago, I received an audio code for a copy of Sloane Murphy‘s The Shadow Queen (narrated by Jeannie Sheneman). Unfortunately, I started a university program shortly after that and ended up with very little time to listen to audiobooks. So, it’s been sitting in the cloud since then. I finally got to listen to it.

the shadow queen audio cover

Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived amongst the shadows and monsters…

Pampered and coddled, Morganna didn’t know any different, until her father took the person who mattered most away from her.

The brutal lesson taught her the truth. Nothing in her world is given. If you want it, you have to take it.

What she wants now is revenge and she will take the thing that matters most to her father.

She will claim The Shadow Realm… and it will be hers.

my review

Meh, I thought this was mediocre, but it basically skirts by as fine. I have no desire to continue the series, but I didn’t dislike the book enough to DNF. So…I guess it is what it is. It felt like it was written with a lot of tropes, but not much of an apparent plot until right at the end.

The reader barely gets to know anyone. The character descriptions are very shallow. This is made worse by the fact that just about the time you get used to one mate, he gets left behind while the FMC goes off with the next. It felt abrupt and a bit like a betrayal. And I did not find the pseudo-noncon humiliation kink/trope to be a positive replacement. I could have done without that entirely. I suppose that leaves room for character development and growth on the part of mate number two. But since I won’t be around for it, the whole thing just left a bitter taste.

I found the descriptions of the FMC really inconsistent. She’ll threaten to kick someone’s ass, but she’s so weak and untrained. She talks like such a badass, but she’s so sheltered and untried. She’s so powerful, but completely unaware of what she’s capable of, and is chronically underestimated. She’s a princess, but not like other royals or girls. (She actually uses the phrase “I’m not like other girls” about herself, even.) This last one begs the question: if she’s raised in the same environment as everyone else, how did she and her brother miraculously turn out to be different?

Lastly, let’s talk about the “Fucks.” Look, I curse like a sailor and fully understand that a well-placed “fuck” can be very effective. So, I am not being prudish when I say this. But the word is the shadow queen photoused far, far, far too frequently in this book. It is so often unnecessary in the sentence that it clutters the dialogue, and, worse, makes all the characters sound the same because they all sprinkle it liberally in their speech in precisely the same way. Eventually, it just started to grate on my nerves.

Look, I’m not saying this was a bad book. It’s readable, and the narrator did a fine job. But I am saying it didn’t do anything for me. I just got to the end and was annoyed with it.

Other Reviews: