Review: EVIDENCE OF THE AFFAIR by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I read this short story in my endeavor to read all of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books. I don’t normally read or care for short stories, but since I like Reid’s writing style and the premise of this one sounded interesting, I thought I would give it a try.

I did end up enjoying the story and more than I expected to, given the length. I thought the plot and characters would be less developed, but Reid knows how to make even a short story captivating. I liked the epistolary method of telling the story as well. By telling the story in letters, the reader hears only what the writers say, not always what they’re thinking, so a lot of information about the situation is intentionally left out and must be inferred. Likewise, we sometimes only see one side of the story, and it added to the tension.

I got so wrapped up in the lives of Carrie and David that I could not stop reading; I read the whole story in one sitting (not that that’s hard to do). It’s a beautiful but tragic story, and sadly relatable. It seems to be propelled by this force of what is to come, pushing them toward a moment of finality.  I found it interesting the stark juxtaposition between the two couples; they had completely opposite lives yet wanted what the other had.

Also, I LOVED seeing the Daisy Jones reference in here. It took me by such surprise.

I didn’t originally plan on writing a review for this little story but I became so captivated by it that I needed to share my feelings after all. I would recommend. Reid’s writing is as beautiful as ever. I think anyone who has been conflicted about choosing between two options, not even necessarily two people, could relate to the story. One is right and good but the other is what I actually want. Which do I choose? How do I choose? We’ve all been there.

Review: DAISY JONES & THE SIX by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Rating: 5/5 stars

I would recommend this book if you have any interest in reading about a fictional biography of a seventies rock band that contains drama and hope and heartbreak and is just an all-around great story with realistic characters and emotions.

The chemistry and tension between Daisy and Billy was nearly palpable. Each of the characters was so dynamic as well. The detail put into the lives of the band members was so extensive that it feels like Daisy Jones & The Six was a real rock band, and oh how I wish they were.

I loved that Billy was really trying to put forth the effort to be a good husband and father, but he also had the controlling and nonchalant side in the studio that made the whole band dislike him at times.

Daisy Jones was something else herself, always getting caught up in the drugs and the alcohol and the late nights, and back to the drugs. I wonder how realistic of a portrayal her life was to the lives of some real rock stars in the 1970s.

My favorite character was Karen. I really liked her voice actor on the audiobook, and her being the keyboardist, I could relate because I play the piano myself.

The real star of the book is Camila though. I love how headstrong Camila is and that she didn’t let Billy’s decisions ruin her life but saw him for who he could be and helped him become that person again. She was so supportive and loving and stuck it out through the rough times, and I loved that about her, just her willingness to never give up on Billy despite everything that got in their way.

I don’t know much about the music industry or what it’s like to record an album or anything like that, so it was nice to get a taste of that in this book. There were references to musical terms that I didn’t know but it made the story sound that much more genuine, and it’s worth noting that not knowing everything mentioned didn’t detract from the narrative in any way. I loved the inside look into the music scene in the seventies.

I listened to the audiobook while reading along with the book so I didn’t get confused about who was speaking, and I would definitely recommend this method for consuming the book. Because the entire story is told as a documentary transcript, it was basically made to be listened to as an audiobook, and the full cast narration definitely helped in that regard.

I am so so excited to see this book become a tv show. I want to see the band’s whole career play out on screen. I want to see Daisy’s fashion. I want to hear the songs and watch the band record them. I honestly would be fine just watching people read this whole book like a bland documentary because I just want to see something. I especially want to hear all ten of the songs from Aurora and see its infamous album cover. I really hope the show does the book justice; I can’t wait.

I loved this book, but it’s no surprise because I expected that I would. I loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo so much that I knew I had to check out Reid’s newest book, Daisy Jones & The Six. I love her writing style, and now I want to read every book that Taylor Jenkins Reid has written. Her writing has such a way of captivating you and drawing you into the story and connecting you with the characters, who feel so genuine and real, and the whole experience is wonderful. She’s an excellent author.

“You have to have faith in people before they earn it. Otherwise it’s not faith, right?” 

Review: DREYER'S ENGLISH by Benjamin Dreyer

Rating: 4/5 stars

I was casually flipping through this book at my bookstore on a slow day and knew immediately I was going to enjoy the whole thing just based off the two-page-long first chapter, so I decided that I had to read it.

Here’s the thing: I love the English language. I studied the linguistic side of it in school, I got an editing minor so I could become a copyeditor and fulfill my lifelong dream of getting paid to read books and fix their mistakes (which hasn’t happened yet, but maybe someday), and I pride myself on being able to use the language “correctly.” (If you’ve ever texted me you know I type only in full sentences without any abbreviations and with proper punctuation because it hurts me to do otherwise.)

I sort of miss my days in college when I was constantly learning and being challenged, and this book brought me right back there. It felt like something I would read for one of my classes, yet I read it of my own volition and still enjoyed it.

Dreyer essentially has written a style guide of the English language as he uses it. Does that sound particularly interesting to read? Not really. But is it interesting to read? Oh yes.

I’m glad to see that he’s not strictly a prescriptionist. As he mentioned and as I’ve heard many times in school, you have to know the rules to be able to break them. He talks about these classic rules and which ones should stand and which ones can be forgotten (or tactfully ignored), and he gives examples to support his reasoning. He would even purposefully break the rule in the same sentence that was explaining what the rule was. It was ironic and made me giggle. And he disagrees with Chicago on a number of things. As someone who adheres to Chicago’s guidelines myself, I couldn’t believe the chief copyeditor at Random House would choose not to abide by its standards but by his own rules; however, I quickly came to side with Dreyer on many of these concepts because his reasoning was valid and I couldn’t argue.

What I enjoyed the most about Dreyer’s English was his humor and wit. You didn’t think I could literally laugh out loud while reading a book about language, did you? Well, I did. Multiple times.

Dreyer has a fun way of defining words and differentiating them from similar words, so much so that I’m considering bookmarking certain words in this book rather than in my Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, which is my go-to source for easily confused words.

This book was a good refresher of my editing skills, some of which I had forgotten. Plus there were a number of things I learned while reading this book, some of which I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know before. Always learning, aren’t we.

If you are an editor, a writer, a fan of correctly used English, or someone who enjoys learning about style, usage, spelling, punctuation, etc. then this book is for you. I think it has earned a permanent place on my shelf, and I’m very glad I took the time to read it.

“The important thing to remember about peeves and crotchets is that your own peeves and crotchets reflect sensible preferences based on a refined appreciation of the music and meaning of the English language, and that everyone else’s are the products of diseased minds.”

Review: THE BLOOD MIRROR by Brent Weeks

Rating: 5/5 stars

**This review contains SPOILERS for The Blood Mirror and the other Lightbringer books.**

I do think this is the weakest of the four books so far, and it was also my least favorite so far, despite all the awesome things that happened, but it was still an amazing book (you’ll notice I still rated it five stars).

The Blood Mirror started out with a bang from chapter one. Right in the beginning we discover that Marissia is actually the White’s—Orea Pullawr’s—granddaughter, and she was never a slave, only a spy for the White. I was sad when she died because I was actually starting to care for her more than just as a passing side character.

Karris has her new role as the White now. I think she’s perfectly fitted to be the White, and I’m so glad she made it instead of someone else who is of an evil mind.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the religious undertones of the series before, but it’s one of my favorite aspects. Weeks himself is Christian, and you can see lots of Christian doctrine and philosophies woven into the story, but not in a preachy way. It’s honestly so wonderful. I love when religion influences a fantasy story. The characters defer to Orholam as their deity, but there are many levels of piety in the books. Lots of history and philosophy is religion-based as well. It just adds so much to the story in my opinion.

I also don’t know if I’ve mentioned in any of my reviews yet that these books are hilarious, which is a detail well worth noting because I have laughed, cackled, and giggled on many occasions during this series, and this book was no exception. Especially during the banter between Kip’s “Mighty” crew, which was a downright good time; they’re a great group together.

Cruxer has really become a great character. I like that he is authoritative without being arrogant. None of the rest of the crew stood out to me as much though.

I was surprised to see Kip draft paryl and chi. I always expected Gavin, as the Prism, to be able to draft the outer-spectrum legendary colors, but I guess Kip, as a full polychrome, should be able to draft them as well. Kip keeps evolving, book by book. I honestly can’t think of another character in any series I’ve read who has undergone so much change and development across all the books as Kip does. He has definitely grown up a lot since his immature ways in The Black Prism. 

Tisis grew on me too. In the first book, she was such a forgettable character, but now she has become an important character, and her personality has gotten much more dynamic. I don’t dislike her like I did when she contributed to Kip’s failing the Threshing in book one, and like when she was trying to seduce Andross. She honestly has become a likable character now and I can’t wait to see how she evolves in the final book. I also really admire Weeks for including her issue of vaginismus in the story and raising awareness of this uncommonly known but very real condition.

So we find out Gavin put the dead man in the prison wall as a form of will-casting of himself before he trapped Dazen. Then Gavin was trapped in the prison and was remembering everything from the past, which he apparently forgot. Because he drafted black luxin which made him forget. Because he’s a black monochrome. THAT was shocking information. He stabbed and killed all of Karris’s brothers to get their colors to become a “Prism,” and thus we learn the true meaning of his title of Black Prism. I am curious though about why Gavin didn’t halo. Black absorbs colors so maybe it was absorbing his colors (he did have to keep killing wights to maintain power and the ability to draft colors) and thus allowing him to not halo because the color was going to the Black instead of to his eyes. But also he’s using stolen colors—I thus realized that every Prism drafts with stolen colors because the blinding knife takes and grants colors to them that weren’t originally their own—so maybe using stolen colors is a factor in not haloing, too. I essentially want confirmation on why he doesn’t halo if he’s not the true Prism.

After this revelation, we now learn we’ve had an unreliable narrator for the past three books so we don’t know what information has been true or fabricated since Gavin has made himself forget his horrible memories.

How do we know the dead man is telling the truth though? He broke Dazen down, so maybe he’s just trying to break Gavin down now too. We don’t know he’s real; we only have his word about what happened in Gavin’s (real Dazen’s) past. Plus he says there is no white luxin, which is obviously not true; he’s either lying or Dazen will-cast that belief into him to confuse present-day Gavin. Gavin already drafted white luxin, although that information came from Ironfist, who we now know we can’t fully trust either. I still believe white luxin exists though.

The dead man later cursed at Gavin in another language. It was printed in characters I’ve never seen before. I wonder if that will come into play later, if it will somehow be important in the last book. Gavin realized that the dead man is actually some kind of separate identity than a will-cast version of himself. What exactly are his origins then? I also wonder exactly how much of what he was telling Gavin is true.

Also, if Gavin took the colors from and then killed all the White Oak brothers, how did Koios survive and then come back as Lord Omnichrome, a full-spectrum polychrome? We learn that Koios was a black drafter himself, so maybe when Gavin used black luxin to strip him of his power, he merely became a non-drafter instead of dying. I would like to know this information because all I can do is speculate.

So Zymun is the new Prism-elect now. I really dislike him. I hope something happens to prevent him from becoming the actual Prism. Even if Gavin ends up dying in The Burning White, I do not want Zymun to have any kind of control. And at least Karris realizes now what kind of a person he truly is.

Who decided the Prism’s sentence is a multiple of seven years, by the way? Is that when he actually loses power and dies or is that when the Chromeria kills him by their choice even if he could be a viable drafter for many more years? And what if all drafters have the potential to be full-spectrum polychromes but what you can actually draft is all about your will? This is just a theory of mine, but how much information does the Chromeria hide from the general populace? Probably way more than we realize. It is interesting that even Andross comments that the Chromeria’s regime is “the absolute worst way to rule.”

And then we find out that Kip is Andross’s son? Andross’s??? I thought when he told Gavin that he, real Dazen, was Felia’s last son that he meant that Sevastain was not her son because he’s the youngest brother. But Kip?? What happened to Sevastian? He probably meant Felia’s last living son since Sevastian is dead.

So Andross seduced Katalina for documents. What documents did he want that badly? Is that who she was referencing when she said that “he” raped her, was it Andross? He did also say that Lina seduced the real Gavin to get back at Andross, so is it at all possible that Kip is actually Gavin’s son after all? Oh I hope so. Andross is such a nasty character, but he’s also so well written that he’s still interesting to read about, and he does have a grey side—he’s not all black inside—so that makes his decisions even more questionable.

Andross said that white luxin was extinct. But we know that Gavin drafted some earlier. Ironfist brought that chunk of white luxin to the White. My theory is that the White stowed it away somewhere and wrote down in her papers for Karris where it was, but then those papers were stolen by the Order, so I think the Order will figure out where the white luxin is and acquire it and use it for malicious purposes.

So the Order promised Ironfist they would foil any assassination attempts on the Nuqaba’s life, yet they then commanded Teia to assassinate the Nuqaba. This does not follow. Is it possible they know of Ironfist’s dual allegiance and are punishing him?

I like Teia, despite her being tangled up in the Order. She thinks she’s being asked to kill Ironfist, but it seems obvious that she’s going to have to kill Gavin instead once he completes Grinwoody’s orders. Killing Orholam? Is that even possible? That’s going to be a main plotline in the last book. I think Gavin’s seventh goal is to become a god, only because Grinwoody commented that he would probably be able to accomplish his seventh goal by completing this mission. I wouldn’t think something like that would be Gavin’s goal, but I can’t think of anything else it could be. 

Why is the book called The Blood Mirror? I know there’s the charred mirror that Grinwoody was showing Gavin, but why did that small thing become the title for this work? I was expecting “Mirror” to refer to a person who is a Mirror, like Janus Borig was, but I was wrong. My honest guess is because they needed a B-word to be the title to match with the other books and this is the best they could do. Unless the mirror becomes important in the next book, who knows.

This book was another excellent installment in the Lightbringer series. I am highly looking forward to October when The Burning White will be released and I will (hopefully) get all the answers I’m seeking. I have some predictions for what will happen in the final book:
—Either Gavin or someone else will reveal to the world that he is actually Dazen.
—Kip will travel to and possibly pass through the Everdark Gates and we will figure out their significance and what lies beyond them. They have been elusively brought up too many times for them not to be important.
—Gavin will climb the tower and “kill” Orholam and magic will be disrupted, then Gavin will die, probably by Teia’s hand.
—Gods of the Two Hundred will come to battle.
—We will get confirmation about what Gavin’s seventh goal was.
—Ironfist’s true allegiance will be revealed.

“A drafter was a candle. She was made to bring light and be consumed in the process.”

Review: THE BROKEN EYE by Brent Weeks

Rating: 5/5 stars

**This review contains major SPOILERS for The Broken Eye. You’ve been warned.**

This might be my favorite book in the series so far. I didn’t much care for the pirate aspect of it, but with Kip’s amazing character progression and all the shocking revelations and that literal jaw-dropping ending, I think I still like this book the best.

So we start with Gavin being now completely colorblind and a slave on a pirate ship manned by Gunner, and Kip has been rescued on another boat manned by Zymun. These scenes in the beginning were my least favorite part of the book (and the series so far) because, for some reason, I struggle with pirate stories.

And then Gavin knowingly drafting black luxin? I wonder what the parameters are to draft black luxin because it seems that it’s tied to being in a very difficult place emotionally.

So for the chapters about the Nine Kings cards, who is looking at the cards? For the chapters with the same card titles, is it different people looking at the same cards, the same person looking at different cards with the same name, or the same person looking at the same card at a different time period and thus seeing a different picture? I had originally thought that those chapters were showing what I would see if I looked at a card but I have since come to realize that they are about someone (who, though?) looking at the cards and explaining them. Is it Kip looking at all the new cards from Janus?

I looked up Diakoptês in the character list at the back of the book and it said the name means “breaker” and is a name or title of Lucidonius himself or of a similar figure to Lucidonius, who some people believe was the Lightbringer. I was becoming more and more convinced throughout the story that Kip is the Lightbringer because his nickname is Breaker. There are just so many coincidences. And then lo and behold, Kip is revealed to be the Lightbringer. No one was surprised about that; we’ve seen it coming since the beginning of the last book at least. I mean the series is called Lightbringer, and it’s not going to be about a character that we haven’t met yet three books in. I love Kip’s progression in this book. Especially compared to the first book, he’s a completely different person now.

There are so many great character arcs during this book, honestly. In chapter 51 when Ironfist and Tremblefist battled during training and Ironfist learned how much his brother loves him, that was so precious. I loved that part. And then Liv was able to see her father and connect with him again, that was really nice to see. And I’m glad she realized that drafting superviolet all the time was such a crutch to her.

A lot also happened with Teia. We now know that she is a light splitter! And she’s still part of the Order, so I’m very curious to see how her membership with them will affect her friendships and alliances in further books. I really didn’t like to see Murder Sharp interact with her though; he gives me the creeps. I wonder if we will ever find out who is the Blackguard that is working for him.

Another interesting character is Quentin, who we discovered was the one who shot at Kip in the alley and ended up killing Lucia instead. I hate that he betrayed Kip. I knew a betrayal would happen at some point but I’m still sad about it. (I wrote this snippet as a note to myself after the fact, not even anticipating the major betrayal to come at the end of the book.) We never got to see Quentin and Kip together again after we found out this information though, and I feel like Kip never knew that Quentin betrayed him, although I guess if he did see all the cards then he would know. But Quentin doesn’t know that Kip knows, so I would love to see some kind of interaction between them again in the next book.

Let’s talk about Gavin for a bit. He really had a rough time in this book, first losing his ability to draft and going colorblind, then becoming an oar slave, then being held prisoner by the Nuqaba, and then being blinded by a white-hot poker! OW! Seriously, just imagine your eyelid being pried open while you’re strapped down to a table, being forced to look directly at the sun, and then having a burning metal rod stabbed through your eyeball. Tssss. It hurts to even think about.

Karris, on the other hand, had much better luck in this book, despite being alone for most of it. She became the new White, much to Andross’s chagrin. I didn’t really expect this to happen but I’m not at all surprised. In fact, I’m quite pleased that she did gain this new position of authority. I think this will add some great tension in the next book as she butts beads with Andross and becomes the third Guile in a high place of power.

The most shocking revelation of all this book was chapter 97. First of all, it starts with the unexpected: Grinwoody is Ironfist’s uncle. Didn’t see that coming, but okay, let’s move on. But wait, Ironfist is working with Grinwoody. He brought a secret box to him from the White’s room. But he wouldn’t betray anyone at the Chromeria, right? Inside the box was the black seed crystal, and thus we find out the true meaning of the Blackguards: to guard the black. But this still isn’t what it looks like; it can’t be. Then the ultimate punch in the face: Ironfist is working for the Order of the Broken Eye, and Grinwoody is its leader.

I was literally so shocked at that scene that I dropped the book right after that moment and had to get up and pace my apartment for twenty minutes just to process everything. The betrayal. I never would have expected it to be Ironfist, but I guess it makes sense that he’s the most likely suspect because he can play his part so well, but still. Everyone trusted him. And even the Order was starting to doubt him, so maybe this means that he actually can be trusted by both sides.

This huge revelation leaves me with a lot of questions. Does Andross work for the Order as well since Grinwoody is his slave and they seem very close? Does Andross even know? How did the Order of the Broken Eye start and how did Grinwoody become its leader? Andross is smart enough to be in the Order but he likes to be in control. I just don’t see him actually working for Grinwoody or the Order because then he would have to take orders and he doesn’t like that, so I’m going to guess that he doesn’t have any idea about Grinwoody’s secret life. I desperately hope we find out more information about Grinwoody’s true identity in the next books.

And I will say it again, the relationship between Tremblefist and Ironfist is so real and precious. Ironfist truly cared about his brother and I loved being able to see that raw emotion. Tremblefist died in his arms and asked him the question that will lead me into the next book: which man are you? Who do you serve?

I theorize that Ironfist will help out the Order in the next book but ultimately result to betraying them and being Kip’s protector against them and then die because of that betrayal. He seems to me to be at least somewhat loyal to both sides, which will only end badly for him because a man cannot serve two masters.

And lastly, that final epilogue. So many implications in less than a page of text. Real Dazen is trapped in the cell he made for real Gavin. Trapped by his father, presumably (although I want to question if it really was Andross because that was only Gavin’s assumption, but who else could it be?). What’s going to become of him now, stuck down there and not even able to draft? People knew he came back, so what will they think happened to him?

I cannot tell you how excited I am to start The Blood Mirror. After The Blinding Knife I was like, surely it can’t get any better. And then The Broken Eye happened, and now I’m like, surely it can’t get any better. Well, I still have two more books. How is The Blood Mirror going to break me next? Surely it can’t get any better.

“In every darkness, there is hope for light. For light cannot be chained.”