Review: The Cradle of Ice by James Rollins

The Cradle of Ice by James Rollins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an audio ARC of this book via Netgalley, thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me an opportunity to review this book. As always, all opinions expressed in my review are my own. This book was published on February 7, 2023 and is available now in ebook, print, and audio.


After reading The Starless Crown last year, I couldn't wait for the next installment. This was one of my most anticipated books of 2023 and it did not disappoint. While this doesn't end on a what I would consider a cliffhanger, it is very clear that the series is not complete. I'm not sure how many books will be in the series, but I want the next book ASAP. This is a great epic fantasy with some sci-fi elements as well. It is a mix of all of the things I really enjoy about the genre and while it is a bit on the long side, I'm here for ever minute of the journey.


I will say that this book and series has alot going on. If you have trouble keeping track of lots of plot lines and characters, you may not enjoy this book. When I read book 1 I had both the print book and the audiobook going and I found that much easier to keep track of everyone and everything that was going on. This book is long, the audio is just over 26 hours, so if you can't keep track of what is going on it makes things really difficult and hard to stay invested in the story and characters. This time I only had the audio and it was a little harder to keep track of everything. After a few chapters, I was able to settle in and remember who everyone was and stay invested in the story. Speaking of the audiobook the narrator, Nicola Barber was really enjoyable. She did a good job giving a voice to the many characters in the book so you knew who was present in each chapter and who was speaking during dialogue.


As I mentioned this is a tad on the long side, there are times when I felt like the pace and the plot dragged a bit. I find this often occurs in epic fantasy/sci-fi when there are so many plotlines and characters and the author often switches between them from chapter to chapter. You will just start to get invested in one plotline, then you will jump to what is going on somewhere else. The transitions can be a bit jarring and the reader has to remember what was going on a few chapters ago with that part of the story. This also contains many of the tropes that you tend to find in epic fantasy novels and is not devoid of action. This has all of the things I love about a long fantasy/sci-fi novel to keep me interested until the end, it has political intrigue, fight scenes, cool science elements, an interesting magic system, and interesting characters.


Overall, I'm loving this series and I can't wait to find out what happens next.
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Review: The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar by Robin R. Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris

The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar by Robin R. Means Coleman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book vi Netgalley, all opinions are my own. This book was published on February 7, 2023.  Thank you to Gallery / Saga Press / Simon & Schuster for providing me an early copy to review.

Let me first start this review by saying, I haven't seen or heard of many of the movies that were mentioned in this book. I tend to consume my horror via book instead of movie because it tends to follow many of the formulas mentioned some with and some without the racial issues brought up within this book. I have seen a few of the book to movie adaptations that were mentioned in this study of horror movies, and often they are poorly done. I did discover a few movies I'd like to check out after reading this book.

This book does a good job portraying and explaining the lack of people of color in movies, horror specifically, and the racial stereotypes that are portrayed in movies that do have people of color in them. In more recent years Hollywood has seen more diversity behind the camera in the writers, directors, and producers which has changed the casting and portrayal of people of color in movies and the roles they are cast in. There is still work to do, but there has been change in the right direction.

This book has a lot of great points to make about the lack of representation in the movie industry especially when it comes to the horror genre. The authors did a good job with the one liners to add humor to the book. You can tell that the authors are well versed in the horror genre and they did their research. They gave lots of examples of different stereotypes and tropes portrayed by the Black actors in horror movies throughout history. They also went into the various racial stereotypes that are portrayed in movies that hurt how people of color are seen in movies and in life and how the on screen portrayal is hurtful. People of color have often been portrayed as violent, promiscuous, and savage in horror movies or they are killed off early and often.

I did find that the repetitive nature of the format and the long lists of synopses that are repeated in each chapter take away from the message that the authors are trying to convey. I found that after about chapter 3 I started to lose interest because the same information on the same list of movies was listed multiple times. Given that the authors felt this information was important for the reader to have perhaps an appendix would have worked nicely instead of adding bulk to each chapter. I felt more like I was reading an academic research paper.

Overall, this was a very informative book. If you are a horror movie buff and interested in behind the scenes history, this is a great option.



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Review: Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood

Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This book started out really strong, the premise of the Wildbloods and blood science is really interesting as is the sentient jungle, however I'm left with alot of unanswered questions at the end. The concept of the Wildbloods is really unique but we never get any explanation as to how they came to be or why they exist. You are just supposed to accept them and their abilities and therefore accept their poor treatment in the touring company. We never really come to understand where each of the characters come from other than they were kidnapped to become part of the touring company and to work for the abusive boss. I love a unique magic system or ability, but I need a little bit of an explanation as to how it works, and we don't get any explanation or tie to the local folklore. I believe the entities encountered in the jungle are tied to Jamaican folklore, but we don't get much background on this either. I don't mind doing my own research on myth and lore, but I feel like the author could have given us a bit more to go on here. I kept hoping that it would come up as the tour proceeded through the jungle, but those details never came to light.

The world building was great. The descriptions of the jungle and the entities that the tour group encounter are well done. After about the first half of the book, the focus of the plot shifts to the strange insta-love romance between Thorn and Victoria, and her trauma filled relationship with Dean. This created what felt like a love triangle, and I feel that the social commentary and character development aspect of the book was overshadowed by the romance tropes. I will say that I enjoyed the ending, and how the author brought things full circle.

This is a pretty brutal book, with lots of trigger warnings. The story is filled with symbolism and trauma. I believe this is YA, so the descriptions of events aren't overly graphic, but the situations and topics lean a bit more on the mature side. There is SA, physical and mental abuse, violence, blood magic, blood in general, slavery, death, and probably some others. The author is trying to address some pretty complex topics within a SFF setting. While I think the execution suffered bit by tackling too many tropes, it was an interesting story overall.

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2023 Alphabet Soup – Author Edition Reading Challenge

 

I've that in 2023 I'm going to try some different reading challenges.  I'm adding The Alphabet Soup challenge hosted by Dollycas to my repertoire this year.

You can sign up and find all of the info on Dollycas' blog post here.  This one sounds really fun and encourages using books you are reading for other challenges for the 

I'll be posting updates as I finish titles.  I always try to plan out my books in advance, but if the Popsugar and Book Riot reading challenges have taught me anything, it is that I almost never read what is on the plan.  Anything with a link has a review posted, so feel free to check out my thoughts.

Link to my google spreadsheet

A - Ryka Aoki - Light from Uncommon Stars

B - Lauren Blackwood - Wildblood

C - Rin Chupeco - Silver Under Nightfall

D - Sarah Daniels - The Stranded

E - Jumata Emill - The Black Queen

F - Francesca Flores - The Witch and the Vampire

G - These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong

H - Robin R. Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris - The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar 

I - Hajime Isayama - Attack on Titan Volume 1

J - Ripley Jones - Missing Clarissa

K - Shalane Flanagan & Elyse Kopecky - Rise and Run: Recipes, Rituals and Runs to Fuel your Day: A Cookbook

L - Adrianna Locke - Sacrifice

M - Liz Maverick - Eight Winter Nights

N - Ari North - Always Human

O - K. O'Neill - The Moth Keeper

P - Christopher Paolini - Fractal Noise

Q - Kate Quinn - The Diamond Eye

R - James Rollins - The Cradle of Ice 

S - Sukeikha Snyder - Tikka Chance on Me

T - Tijan - The Revenge

U - June Eric-Udorie - Can We All Be Feminists?

V - Sarah Vaughn - Sleepless Vol 1 & 2

W - Martha Wells - Network Effect

X - Xiran Jay Zhao - Iron Widow

Y Adrienne Young - Spells for Forgetting

Z - Gabrielle Zevin - The Storied Life of AJ Fikry

Review: Hex You

Hex You by P.C. Cast
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This is the final installment of the Sisters of Salem series.  I highly recommend you read this series in order as you will be very lost if you do not.  This book picks up where book 2 left off with the sisters relationship still a bit in shambles but at the point where they are willing to accept their mistakes and make amends for the greater good.  The gates that the sisters are responsible for are weakening by the minute, and Amphitrite is still up to no good.  The sisters with the help of their friends have to heal their bond if they are going to heal the gates and the town.

The timeline isn't completely linear in this book which took a bit of getting used to.  You will be in the present with Mercy in one chapter, then you will be in what is Hunter's present in the next chapter but it actually took place before the chapter you just read with Mercy.  It jumps around a bit, and that can be a bit confusing at times.  I felt the dialogue was a bit immature even for teenagers.  I can get on board with Xena's speech being a bit strange because she isn't exactly human, but the rest of the dialogue (and there's alot of it) seemed really childish given the age of the characters.  No teenagers I know talk the way the teens in the book talk and the conflict resolution was too convenient and rushed to make it feel authentic.  The trilogy has been leading up to the healing of the trees, which the twins are guardians of, but the climax felt under developed and rushed.  

Overall, this is a fun YA series.  This particular installment is my least favorite of the trilogy.  I think younger readers will enjoy this series.  There is a little bit of everything from romance, to action and mythology, to magic.  My main issues lie in the execution of this book when it comes to world building and plot.  If you want some thing light and fun, you may not be bothered by those things.  

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Review: Begin Again: A Novel by Emma Lord

Begin Again: A Novel by Emma Lord
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was providing both the audio and digital arc of this book via Netgalley.  Thank you to Macmillan Young Listeners and Wednesday Books for allowing me the chance to review this book.  As always all opinions are my own.  I swapped back and forth between the print and audio version of the book and enjoyed both.  

Georgina Sadler did a great job with the narration.  She gave each character their own voice, which I always appreciate in a book with lots of characters.  Andie has a semi-large friend group here and the narrator does a good job making sure they each have a distinct accent or voice so you know who is speaking during dialogue. 

Despite this being set in a college environment this is very much a coming of age story.  I'll admit I struggled in the beginning with the immaturity of the characters, then I remembered they are freshman in college and thought back to my freshman year and realized I was being a bit harsh with my expectations.  The characters were doing exactly what 18-20 years old college students do in college.  They are discovering new friends, figuring out life, and discovering who they are and who they want to be.  I actually think the author did a good job making the characters relatable to a younger audience.

This follows Andie as she begins her second semester of college.  She has recently from community college to Blue Ridge, which happens to be the place where her parents went.  She has big plans, and wants to learn more about her mom as she participates in activities her mom founded when she went to school there.  Andie wants to be a self-help guru, and her psychology major and natural tendency to fix everyone's problems seem to be a good fit for her plans.   Andie does admit that she's a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to dealing with her own problems as she'd rather help others fix their issues than deal with her own.  I felt that her 'fixer' tendencies were a bit over the top at times, but it is critical to her character growth arc and she has to stumble a few times along the way until she finds her own path.  I loved the side characters and felt they were well developed.    I really enjoyed getting to know Andie's friend group who become her found family.  They aren't afraid to tell her what she needs to hear, even when she doesn't want to hear it.  I really appreciated seeing them all grow and find their way.  I was initially worried that Andie was making all of her choices for the wrong reasons, but I was pleasantly surprised as she slowly started to come out of her shell and started to do things for herself not for the shoes she was trying to fill.

This was a really cute YA coming of age with a little romance and a little comedy.  I think this will be perfect for a younger audience as it addresses a lot of topics teens and college age students face.  

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Review: Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame by Meg Long

Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame by Meg Long
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This picks up a few months after Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, with Remy as the main character. Sena and Iska are present throughout, but they are more side characters and their advendure on Tundar doesn't really play much of a part in this new adventure. I do recommend reading Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves first so you get and understanding of some of the references and backstory. I do feel you could read this as a standalone and not be terribly lost though. This is more like a companion novel in my opinion than a sequel.

In this installment, Remy shines as the main character as she tries to find a lost friend and her former partner who betrayed her. Sena and her wolf Iska are along for the ride, and the three of them find themselves on a rainy jungle like planet completely opposite of where they came from. Remy uses her genetic engineering to infiltrate and gather intel on the leadership that is now in place on Marass to help locate her ex-partner Kiran in order to reset mistakes of the past.

I really enjoyed this second installment! It was nice that it wasn't a traditional sequel and followed Remy instead of Sena, though Sena and Iska were still very present and involved in the storyline. It feels like we are going to get a third book, and I hope it follows the same format. I'm looking forward to seeing who the main character will be next. Remy is constantly fighting her genetic programming vs who she is as a person. She wants to do what is right and is constantly asking herself, "Am I like this because that is how I was made?" "Or am I my own person?" In the end she's a little of both. but she gets to choose what side she is on. I'd like to see a bit more character development from Remy when it comes to her emotions, but for most of the book I think she felt like she wasn't engineered to have them. She developed one friendship in her life and she felt if failed, and I hope we get to see her work on that more in the future.

This had great world building. Long does a great job describing the setting and the creative creatures she came up with. The pacing was a little slow for my taste but it does pick up in the second half as the revolution gets organized and starts to move forward. There is more action in the second half once we know all of the players and have the lay of the land.

I look forward to seeing what the author comes up with in the future!

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