Book Summary of The Last Celestials by Becca Mionis A defeated general. A jaded princess. A really awkward situation. Orion and Cassiopeia are the last of their kind: an ancient, powerful race of space-dwelling beings known as Celestials. After losing a terrible war against another, deadlier race, Orion appeals to Cassiopeia, hoping she’ll help him… Continue reading Loathing at First Sight: The Last Celestials ARC Review
Month: January 2022
The Twelfth Day of Christmas: The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
The opening line sets the tone for The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti: “When Loo was twelve years old, her father taught her how to shoot a gun.” The scene following sets up a lot of the critical threads that emerge throughout the novel: the guns, the relationship between Loo and her… Continue reading The Twelfth Day of Christmas: The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
The Eleventh Day of Christmas: Trickster Drift & Return of the Trickster
When I read the first book of this trilogy, Son of a Trickster, by Eden Robinson with its snarky voicing and wacky scenarios, I really enjoyed it. The mysticism of the Native trickster Wee’git (who is also literally a “wee git”) is the starting point for a well-built urban fantasy story. Although the excessive substance… Continue reading The Eleventh Day of Christmas: Trickster Drift & Return of the Trickster
The Tenth Day of Christmas: Notes from Underground
Even then I already carried the underground in my soul.Notes from Underground I don’t really know what to say about Notes from Underground. I’ve read it twice now. It was my first taste of the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky and it made me want to read more by him. Although it is in translation,… Continue reading The Tenth Day of Christmas: Notes from Underground
The Ninth Day of Christmas: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
After writing my post about books that follow a particular title trend, I picked up this one from that list. I read The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin over Thanksgiving weekend and it was a nice light read with a charming atmosphere, entertaining and unique characters, implausibly plausible incidents manufacturing drama for… Continue reading The Ninth Day of Christmas: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
The Eighth Day of Christmas: The Mortal Word & The Secret Chapter
I came into the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman and was really favourably impressed with the first few books. The concept of an extra-dimensional library maintaining tenuous balance on alternate worlds affected by the order of the dragons and the chaos of the fae is chock full of potential, and it really delivers at… Continue reading The Eighth Day of Christmas: The Mortal Word & The Secret Chapter
The Seventh Day of Christmas: After the Fireworks
Aldous Huxley is of course best known for his heart-chilling vision of a hellish dystopian future in Brave New World. I can’t say I really loved that novel, though I recognise its societal importance “so much the more as we see the day approaching,” so to speak. However, this selection of novellas by Huxley are… Continue reading The Seventh Day of Christmas: After the Fireworks
The Sixth Day of Christmas: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Since spending one New Year’s Eve reading Sherlock Holmes into the New Year, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has joined Charles Dickens as seasonal reading for me. I began re-reading the complete Sherlock Holmes in December 2020, and while I haven’t gotten to reading more of it this December, I am reviewing the first collection of… Continue reading The Sixth Day of Christmas: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes