Review: THE MOTH KEEPER by K. O'Neill

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

I love K. O'neill's work and I've read every book they've released so far, so I was very excited to discover that they would be coming out with a new graphic novel. 

The Moth Keeper is true to O'neill's style: it's wholesome with a focus on friendship, found family, nature, and learning how to do hard things. The illustrations were also the soft paint style that you see in all of their other works. 

I really enjoyed this graphic novel and the morals of the story. I have already preordered the hardcover and I can't wait to sit down and reread it because the artwork in the early review copy was clearly unfinished, and I'm excited to see how it will look when it's done. 

I definitely recommend this book, and not just to the target middle-grade audience. I love K's stories and I'm an adult, but I also look forward to reading them to my future children someday. They are always wholesome and inclusive, and The Moth Keeper was no different. It's not as good as The Tea Dragon Society, in my opinion, but it was still great and worth a read. 

Review: GLEANINGS: STORIES FROM THE ARC OF A SCYTHE by Neal Shusterman

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Arc of a Scythe is one of my favorite dystopian series and one of my favorite young adult series ever, but even though I love it so much, I was a little apprehensive to read Gleanings because I have a history of not liking anthologies very much, which this book is.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by this collection. I really shouldn’t be though, as I love Neal Shusterman’s writing and worldbuilding, and this anthology stays true to his style. 

I recommend reading this book only after finishing The Toll. The stories here take place before, during, and after the series, but even the stories that occur pre-Scythe are best read afterward as there are still spoilers for the series in them and reveals that won’t make sense unless you already have the knowledge of the whole trilogy. 

True to the book’s title, each of the stories has to do with gleaning in some way. Most of the stories are about characters that we’ve never met before, so I didn’t have a ton of emotional attachment to any of them, but they were still good stories. We got to peek into the lives of people all over the world and experience more fleshed-out worldbuilding for this series than we got in the original three books. 

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Gleanings. If you are a fan of the Scythe series then you will almost certainly enjoy this collection of stories; but on the other hand, if you want to be done with this series after The Toll and not continue on, then you’re not missing anything crucial here. This anthology is entirely extra material for the fans without being a must-read. It doesn’t negate the ending of the third book or anything drastic like that (as I’ve, unfortunately, seen done before), but simply expounds on a world that readers already know and love. 

“Formidable”—4 stars
We love to see Scythe Curie being a boss. I believe that the events of this story were alluded to in the original trilogy so it was cool to see them played out. 

“Never Work with Animals”—3 stars
This one really surprised me. Definitely didn’t expect it to turn out the way it did. Not my favorite story but still a good one. Also the longest one in the collection, I believe. 

“A Death of Many Colors”—4.5 stars 
I love reading from the Thunderhead’s point of view. And this story was really interesting, surrounding a group of people who don’t believe Scythes are real. 

“Unsavory Row”—4 stars
A very interesting look at the different kinds of Unsavories and the experiences they have. I’m glad this one was included here because I feel like I understand Unsavories better after reading it. 

“A Martian Minute”—4 stars 
Wow, that ending got me. I wasn’t sure about this story the whole time I was reading it because I don’t generally love stories set on Mars, but then the last couple of paragraphs changed everything. That’s the thing about Neal Shusterman—he has a way of writing that leads you down a curvy path where you aren’t sure where he’s leading you but you’re invested enough to keep going, and then you reach the end and suddenly everything makes sense and you realize you’ve been on a remarkable journey and you’ll never be the same. I noticed this numerous times as I was reading the Scythe series, and “A Martian Minute” is no different. Wow. 

“The Mortal Canvas”—4.5 stars 
This was one of my favorite stories in the collection. I love art and artistic exploration, and I enjoyed seeing it through the eyes of these four students as they worked to impress Scythe Af Klint. 

“Cirri”—3 stars 
A story told by “the solitary offspring of the Thunderhead’s brief union with a human,” called Cirri. This story won’t make sense unless you’ve finished The Toll. This one was less exciting than some of the others. 

“Anastasia’s Shadow”—3.5 stars 
This is a story about Citra’s brother, Ben, undergoing scythe training, and it turned out to be rather wholesome in the end. 

“The Persistence of Memory”—4 stars 
Ironic and funny, this story is the second one about art in this collection. I enjoyed it, especially the ending. 

“Meet Cute and Die”—5 stars 
Even though I didn’t know any of these characters before reading this story, I love them all now. Marni and Cochran, who actually did have a meet cute before they both died. I laughed out loud multiple times during this short story. One of the best in the collection, in my opinion. 

“Perchance to Glean”—3 stars 
This story takes place in Antarctica, where people have collective dreams together and scythes glean only during dreams. I thought this was a cool concept, but I have to say that this is the weakest of all the stories in this collection and was a little confusing at times, as is common with stories set in the unlawful land of dreamscapes. 

“A Dark Curtain Rises”—3.5 stars 
A story that takes place far after the end of The Toll, so I won’t say too much about it other than it was unexpected but I liked it. An excellent ending to this collection and also to the Arc of a Scythe series of books as a whole. 

Review: BASTILLE VS. THE EVIL LIBRARIANS by Brandon Sanderson & Janci Patterson

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

It's no secret that I'm a huge Brandon Sanderson fan, but this is the one series by him I hadn't ever read until this year when I heard the sixth and final book was being released. Over the past month, I read the first five volumes for the first time to prepare for the release of Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, and I had such a fun time with them. 

The ending of the fifth book is quite devastating, and I can't imagine reading it and not knowing that there would be one more installment coming in the series. Luckily for me, I knew ahead of time, and I didn't have the agonizing wait for it to come out either. 

Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians is a great conclusion to the Alcatraz series. It nicely wraps up the story in a satisfactory way and has all the trademark humor and character development that readers have come to expect throughout the first five books. To be honest, I couldn't really tell a difference between this book, written largely by Janci Patterson, and the first five books, written solely by Brandon Sanderson. The humor, including all the jokes and puns, is the same. It's a cohesive installment, which I was very happy to see. 

The only real difference between this book and the other books is that this one is told from Bastille's point-of-view, while the others are all told from Alcatraz's point-of-view. I think having Bastille finish the series off was a great decision since she has become such a critical character in the narrative. 

I love these books, and I can't wait to read them to my future children one day. They have good morals and great characters and excellent illustrations. Overall a very solid middle-grade series that I highly recommend, especially if you love funny fantasy stories. 

Review: LEGENDS AND LATTES by Travis Baldree

 

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Legends and Lattes was such a wholesome surprise of a novel. 

Viv is an orc who's done with the fighting lifestyle after twenty-two years and wants to do something new. After one day trying a gnomish drink called "coffee," she decides to settle down and open her own coffee shop to share the wonder with others in her town. 

This book is pretty slow, but in a good way. It's not boring at all, but it takes its time letting you get to know the characters. Viv goes through the process of procuring a building, fixing it up, hiring a few assistants, advertising to the people in the town, hosting events in her shop, and overall just watching her small business flourish. And watching her relationship with Tandri grow throughout the novel was adorable. The whole story is so inspiring and sweet. 

I am not a coffee drinker myself, but I loved this book nonetheless, and I loved all the food descriptions that made me hungry while I was reading. I want to visit this coffee shop. 

The perfect way to describe this book is that it's a cozy read. The original self-published cover had the tagline, "A novel of high fantasy and low stakes," which I think is a perfect description, and it's exactly what I wanted. As much as I love epic fantasy, I don't actually love action or battle scenes, so this book that still had that fantastical feel and setting while being a more day-to-day lifestyle story was a subgenre I didn't know I needed. All of the characters are creatures of some sort: there are orcs, succubi, gnomes, dwarfs, and elves, among other species. 

I highly recommend Legends and Lattes if you want a cozy and wholesome fantasy that feels like a hug. We need more low-key stories like this because it was just the best, and I had such a fun time reading this. 

Review: SLAYING THE DRAGON: THE SECRET HISTORY OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS by Ben Riggs

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons or any tabletop RPG games, nor watched anyone play them, so I’m not sure why I was drawn to this book. I’ve always loved video games, so I’ve always wanted to try out D&D and other formats of games, but for some reason I’ve never had the opportunity or means to play. Nevertheless, I still wanted to read about its history. 

Slaying the Dragon is the true story of the rise and fall of Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), the original creators of Dungeons & Dragons, and how the game ultimately ended up in the hands of Wizards of the Coast, TSR’s biggest rival at the time. 

Despite having never played D&D and not being a huge fan of nonfiction, I actually found this book to be very interesting and easily readable. The author’s writing is so captivating and enjoyable. This wasn’t dry or hard to read at all. The only real complaint I have is that sometimes I got the people mixed up, but that likely comes from listening to the audiobook and not being able to see the names written down, which overall wasn’t a huge deal. The audiobook narrator was excellent though and had a great voice to listen to. 

The history of D&D is full of surprises and the author did a great job of laying it all out from the beginning, including all the big moments while also highlighting minor details that were notable or simply just interesting facts. I think it’s hilarious that in the “Satanic Panic” era of the 1970s, people thought D&D summoned actual demons and enticed people to commit suicide. I’ve never understood how people come to these absurd conclusions about fantasy games or novels. 

Overall, Slaying the Dragon was a super fun read that I would definitely recommend to any Dungeons & Dragons fans out there, whether you were a hardcore fan in the ’80s or you’re a casual player now or you only read the novels. Tabletop and RPG gamers would likely also have a good time reading this book. Above anything, it’s a really fascinating history, even if you aren’t super familiar with D&D (like me). I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read this. 

Review: DAUGHTER OF REDWINTER by Ed McDonald

 

Rating: 3.75/5 stars

Daughter of Redwinter is the start of an exciting new fantasy series. Raine has a curse that allows her to see and speak to the dead. One day she finds Hazia almost dead in the snow and saves her, which turns out to be a bad decision because Hazia escaped from Redwinter, the monastery fortress of the warrior magicians known as the Draoihn, and the Draoihn want her back. 

This book starts off with action that hooks you and characters that are easy to connect with and enjoy reading about. I really liked getting to know Raine and learn more about her dark magical ability. She is a protagonist that you will love and root for. The character development and world-building in this novel are both done very well. 

Daughter of Redwinter is dark without being grim. It reminds me of Red Sister because of the magical convent and the cold snowy setting, but it’s done way better in my opinion. I had never read an Ed McDonald book before this one, but I have his Raven’s Mark trilogy sitting on my shelf that I will need to move up my TBR now. 

Even though I really enjoyed this book, I don’t think I was able to enjoy it to its fullest potential though by listening to the audiobook. I think I will need to reread this with my eyes before I can continue the series so I get the most out of the story. I liked the narrator, but I don’t know if her voice was conducive to maximum comprehension level. Just something to keep in mind if you choose to go the audiobook route. Overall though, I’m glad I had the opportunity to read this novel and I look forward to continuing the series eventually. 

Daughter of Redwinter is perfect for fans of:
• morally grey characters who make bad decisions. 
• a protagonist whose curse allows her to speak to the dead. 
• incredible and lush worldbuilding. 
• danger, fighting, and death. 
• books such as Red Sister, The Witcher, Hall of Smoke, and Shadow of the Gods. 

Review: TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin

 

Rating: 5/5 stars

Add this book to your summer reading list because you are not going to want to miss this one. 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a story that spans 30 years following the lives of Sam and Sadie and Marx, beginning in college, as they design and produce video games, some bestsellers and some flops, and all the nuances involved in that business. This is a very character-focused story as the narrative weaves in all the characters’ backstories in such a masterly way that you don’t even realize you’re falling in love with each and every character until it’s too late. Even though this novel has video games at its heart, you don’t have to love or even understand gaming to be able to love this story. 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is compulsively readable. I can’t remember the last time I wanted so badly to forget about everything just so I could read, or when I wanted to call off work (which I didn’t because I’m responsible, but I wanted to) just to get a few more hours of reading in that day. I was invested, and I wish every book’s reading experience was like this one, where I get lost in the pages and don’t get distracted at all until I finish, where I forget that I’m even reading because I’m so involved with what’s going on in the story that I feel like I’m there with the characters. It’s a rare book that provides that kind of experience. 

I absolutely love how this book was written. Zevin employs third-person singular, third-person omniscient, and second-person POVs throughout the book, and it worked. It was being told in past-tense, but as if the characters themselves were in the future and looking back and telling their own story, so occasionally they’d casually hint at what was to come in the future, and that destroyed me. It was always during a happy time, and then a character would be like But we didn’t know everything would change in five years. Excuse me, I am not okay now knowing that! 

Zevin is also an intelligent writer. It’s been a while since I read a book with a word or two on nearly every page that I had to ask Google to define for me. I honestly loved that because I really enjoy learning new words while I read, and it didn’t feel overdone here. 

I fell so deeply in love with Sadie and Sam from the first few pages that I knew this book would emotionally destroy me. I remember mentioning to my husband on page six (6!) that I could tell this was going to be a five-star read and that I would not be okay when it ended. And I knew it: I’m not okay. How did I know that so early on? It was the characters and their relationships. 

I kept longing for a friendship like the one Sadie and Sam had while in college. I’ve had a lot of friends, I’ve had quite a few good friends, and I’ve even had some best friends, but I’ve never had a friendship like the one they had. It’s something I still long for, to this day. I want someone, outside of my husband, to know me as intimately as they knew each other, to do anything for me, to draw me secret mazes, to show up unannounced with bagels when I’m depressed, and just generally know me better than I know myself. 

And I want to do all that for someone else too. I think a lot of us are too shy and uncomfortable to reach that level of friendship with someone, or we form the friendships too late in life, thus not allowing them to have that innocent beginning that children’s friendships have, bonding over the shared love of a game one day and becoming lifelong best friends the next. It’s a special and rare thing to have a friend like that.

This book is not a romance and has next to no romance in it, yet it is undeniably a book about love. The love that Sadie and Sam have for each other is so large and emotional and consuming. But on the other hand, the characters have many small relationships throughout the novel that still were impactful. This book is about love in all its forms—erotic, platonic, unconditional, familial, the love of two people who are more than friends but not lovers, and the love of art, of creation, and of life.

“Every person you knew, every person you loved even, did not have to consume you for the time to have been worthwhile.”

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow has “Best Book of the Year” vibes and was certainly one of the most incredible and outstanding novels I have ever read. I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was, and I didn’t expect to love it as much as I do. This book deserves all the attention it can get. If everyone knew what story awaited them between the covers, they would all be running to the bookstore to buy a copy. It’s just that good. 

Read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow if you like: 
•Video games (or if you don’t).
•’90s nostalgia. 
•Japanese culture and influences. 
•Academic settings. 
•Grandiloquent language choices. 
•Theatre and poetry, specifically Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson. 
•A character-based narrative. 
•Friendships that define and consume you. 
•Love, in all its many forms. 
•Being forced to stay up until 2 a.m. reading. 
•Emotional damage.