The Hod King (The Books of Babel #3) by Josiah Bancroft

Synopsis:

 

Fearing an uprising, the Sphinx sends Senlin to investigate a plot that has taken hold in the ringdom of Pelphia. Alone in the city, Senlin infiltrates a bloody arena where hods battle for the public's entertainment. But his investigation is quickly derailed by a gruesome crime and an unexpected reunion.

Posing as a noble lady and her handmaid, Voleta and Iren attempt to reach Marya, who is isolated by her fame. While navigating the court, Voleta attracts the unwanted attention of a powerful prince whose pursuit of her threatens their plan.

Edith, now captain of the Sphinx's fierce flagship, joins forces with a fellow wakeman to investigate the disappearance of a beloved friend. She must decide who to trust as her desperate search brings her nearer to the Black Trail where the hods climb in darkness and whisper of the Hod King.

As Senlin and his crew become further dragged in to the conspiracies of the Tower, everything falls to one question: Who is The Hod King?

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Is it too early to say this is my favorite book of the year? If the mood of the first two books was "oh man I can't put this down, I have to find out what happens next," The Hod King is hands-down EVERYTHING BAD THAT COULD HAPPEN IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW.

Basically, I was white-knuckled on the book the entire time I was reading it.

Josiah Bancroft never ceases to amaze me with his originality. I swear, this man is a bottomless well of creativity. His world-building never stagnates. He never settles into the comfort of this incredible world he's created. With every novel, the Tower becomes ever more complex and detailed. Whatever brain food diet Bancroft is on, I want some.

Unlike Senlin Ascends or Arm of the Sphinx, the majority of this installment takes place in Pelphia, the fifth ringdom. Even though the location is consistent, Pelphia continues to evolve over the course of the novel as the characters experience different facets of its society. Pelphia demonstrates the worst of what "court culture" can be, filled to the brim with the rich and idle. Yet despite the exploitative and sometimes downright evil nature of the scandal-obsessed society, the grotesque never felt graphic. I'm a big fan of dark fantasy, and I think it takes a lot of skill to be able to communicate the same level of moral bankruptcy without doing so in an especially stomach-churning way. Bancroft masterfully balances the reader's sense of whimsy with the reality of the wickedness that occurs within Pelphia and the Tower at large.

I also thought the structure of The Hod King to be especially compelling. Unlike most ensemble narratives that consistently rotate POVs, this novel is split into three main acts (and a mini act at the end), each featuring POVs from a specific set of characters. This structure is especially successful because of how each act is built. Each ends on the sort of cliff-hanger that had me flipping forward to find out when I would be back with that character. But then the next act would build up to a cliff-hanger just as intense, and all I wanted to do was find out what happened to THAT character. It was horrible for my anxiety and you better believe I loved every goddamn minute of it.

Also can we talk about how there's a f/f relationship in this?? Between two middle-aged women??? When does that EVER happen, especially in fantasy?????? JOSIAH BANCROFT WENT THERE. HE DID THAT FOR US.

Overall, I'm just in awe of this series. Each book is so incredible, and none of the installments ever demonstrate a dip in quality. The prose is clever and whimsical, the characters are wildly realistic, and the world-building is just of such a high caliber it makes me want to weep. I cannot recommend these books enough. I know plenty of people with more authority and several years of life on me have already said this, but sincerely, these books are classics and I adore them with all my heart. You better believe that I'm going to get up at some ungodly hour and order that Anderida Books edition as soon as it's announced.

Also, I still love Byron and would give my left leg to protect him at all costs.

Two Dark Reigns (Three Dark Crowns, #3) by Kendare Blake

Synopsis:

 

Queen Katharine has waited her entire life to wear the crown. But now that she finally has it, the murmurs of dissent grow louder by the day. There’s also the alarming issue of whether or not her sisters are actually dead—or if they’re waiting in the wings to usurp the throne.

Mirabella and Arsinoe are alive, but in hiding on the mainland and dealing with a nightmare of their own: being visited repeatedly by a specter they think might be the fabled Blue Queen. Though she says nothing, her rotting, bony finger pointing out to sea is clear enough: return to Fennbirn.

Jules, too, is in a strange place—in disguise. And her only confidants, a war-gifted girl named Emilia and her oracle friend Mathilde, are urging her to take on a role she can’t imagine filling: a legion-cursed queen who will lead a rebel army to Katharine’s doorstep.

This is an uprising that the mysterious Blue Queen may have more to do with than anyone could have guessed—or expected.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

This is by far the best book of the series thus far. It fixed all of my issues with the previous books, mainly the slow pacing of One Dark Throne and how deeply I disliked Arsinoe and Jules as characters.

In my review of the previous book, I explained that I felt like Arsinoe felt more like a device to make Jules's narrative relevant to the story than an actual character. Together, I just found them insufferable. But in Two Dark Reigns, they spend the majority of the novel separate and HOLY CRAP did it make a difference. Separating Arsinoe and Jules is hands down the best decision Kendare Blake has made for this entire series.

Without Jules as a crutch, Arsinoe became an actual character! Granted, she still didn't quite feel "full" because she's deeply connected to the Blue Queen, but she had a heck of a lot more presence than when she was with Jules. Jules, on the other hand, has always been by far my least favorite main character (though Joseph still takes the cake for least fav character overall). But I daresay I liked her in this novel? Without her dedication to Arsinoe and constant pining after Joseph, she finally had a personality beyond them, and more focus was given to who she actually is as a person. I thought Jules was an interesting deconstruction of the "chosen one" trope, with her uncertainty and outright rejection of being lifted up as the Legion Queen.

The pacing, and thus plot, were also significantly improved in this novel. While I thought the slow pacing of Three Dark Crowns did a fantastic job at building suspense, it made One Dark Throne so boring. In Two Dark Reigns, the pacing picked up to its fastest yet, which meant there was significantly more plot. Gone are the days spent meandering about Wolf Spring, in favor of a rising rebellion with a false queen, killing mist, and the ghost of the Blue Queen of legend.

I'm so glad that Kendare Blake was given the opportunity to add more onto this series. If it had just been the duology, honestly, I would've been disappointed, between the slow pacing and annoying and/or underdeveloped characters Two Dark Reigns was a much-needed addition to this series - almost necessary, I'd argue.

I read the preview of Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

Synopsis:

 

Seventeen-year-old Keralie Corrington may seem harmless, but she's, in fact, one of Quadara's most skilled thieves and a liar. Varin, on the other hand, is an honest, upstanding citizen of Quadara's most enlightened region, Eonia. He runs afoul of Keralie when she steals a package from him, putting his life in danger. When Varin attempts to retrieve the package, he and Keralie both find themselves entangled in a conspiracy that leaves all four of Quadara's queens dead.

With no other choices and on the run from Keralie's former employer, the two decide to join forces, endeavoring to discover who has killed the queens and save their own lives in the process. When their reluctant partnership blooms into a tenuous romance, they must overcome their own dark secrets in hopes of a future together that seemed impossible just days before. But first they have to stay alive and untangle the secrets behind the nation's four dead queens.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Netgalley has a free preview available to read, so I gave it a go.

I'm pleasantly surprised. Four Dead Queens isn't set in a stereotypical medieval European-inspired fantasy world. Its medicine and technology are advanced, but only in certain regions. The balance between the traditional fantasy-medieval regions and the more dystopian-esque technologically and medically savvy regions is intriguing. Astrid Scholte seems to capture the best of both worlds in only one world, creating this fantasy-dystopia mash-up that, unlike Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen series, so far holds up.

The writing seems a little on-the-nose at times, but the pacing and prose are good, even if there is info-dumping. I like Keralie as a character, though I do think Varin outshines her so far. Keralie seems a little too stereotypically "badass female character," whereas Varin isn't the swaggering, cocky male character YA tends to favor, automatically making him a more interesting character to me.

Overall, this preview surprised me and enticed me to pick up the novel upon release.

One Dark Throne (Three Dark Crowns #2) by Kendare Blake

Synopsis:

 

The battle for the Crown has begun, but which of the three sisters will prevail?

With the unforgettable events of the Quickening behind them and the Ascension Year underway, all bets are off. Katharine, once the weak and feeble sister, is stronger than ever before. Arsinoe, after discovering the truth about her powers, must figure out how to make her secret talent work in her favor without anyone finding out. And Mirabella, once thought to be the strongest sister of all and the certain Queen Crowned, faces attacks like never before—ones that put those around her in danger she can’t seem to prevent.

In this enthralling sequel to Kendare Blake’s New York Times bestselling Three Dark Crowns, Fennbirn’s deadliest queens must face the one thing standing in their way of the crown: each other.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Unpopular opinion: I liked Three Dark Crowns better.

I understand why Three Dark Crowns was slow. It gave the reader the opportunity to really get to know the characters before their lives were in danger, set up the world, build the stakes, etc.. One Dark Throne, therefore, had no business being as slow as it was for the first 200 pages or so. The death competition has started! We don't need anymore set-up! Not to mention, the slow pace didn't create the same sense of tension as it did in Three Dark Crowns, and so the pacing just felt dull without any payoff of suspense.

I didn't like Arsinoe or Jules in the first novel, but they were tolerable enough that I wasn't "seething hatred"-level bothered. In this book, however, they drove me absolutely bonkers. Thankfully, Joseph wasn't nearly so annoying as the first book, but it's like Arsinoe and Jules absorbed everything irritating about him and doubled it. Arsinoe really doesn't contribute anything to the plot, and really seems more like a vehicle for making Jules's narrative relevant to the story. I guess I understand Kendare Blake wanting to include a non-queen narrative, but I wish it hadn't been at the cost of sacrificing Arsinoe as a character. She's not even boring. Boring I could handle. Instead, she's so frustrating that I want to hurl her out of the novel.

Low-key, I'm devastated about Katharine's character. Don't get me wrong, I ADORE the power and mystery she's taken on since being thrown into the Breccia Domain a la the previous novel, but I wish it had happened to a different character. Katharine was my favorite character, and in my opinion the most compelling of the three queens. I would've preferred to see her character preserved, and had a different character undergo the changes of the Breccia Domain. I think Mirabella would've been a fine candidate, and seeing her struggle between the will of the dead queens and her own mercy for her sisters could've been incredible.

I couldn't put the book down from the Queen's Duel section and onwards, hence my 3 star rating despite all of my issues. That, combined with Katharine's existence, really saved this book from being a 2 star read for me. One Dark Throne really felt like a lot of missed opportunities. The first book set it up to be so dark and so complex, and it just didn't live up to the expectations the first book built.

I'm relieved that there are more books after this one, because that conclusion read as such a non-ending that I would've rioted lol

Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake

Synopsis:

 

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

WOW, I really liked this one! I've heard a lot of mixed reviews, with people either loving it or hating it and not much "meh" in between. I tend not to buy into hype anymore - especially YA hype - because I always end up disappointed, so I'll admit I was pretty cynical going into this. But hot damn, I was gripped from the first chapter.

I understand why Three Dark Crowns isn't everyone's cup of tea: it's slow, has a lot of characters, and is unapologetically dark and mature as YA goes. But that's exactly what made me love it. I love dark fantasy, but it usually fails in the YA genre. I find much of the time that when an author tries to make their YA dark, it ends up coming off as cheap and edgy, and overall feels gratuitous. But Kendare Blake really nailed it here.

Though I do agree that there are a few too many characters, I really enjoyed the main trio of Katharine, Arsinoe, and Mirabella. I didn't necessarily like them all - Arsinoe in particular I liked less and less as the novel progressed - but they were all so wonderfully flawed and different from each other. YA has a tendency to default to the badass female character archetype, and it was refreshing to see the nuances of what it means to be "powerful" explored through each sister. What power means for each sister is different, but ultimately each one is rendered powerless at some point in the novel, depending on the circumstances. I absolutely adore how layered Blake's exploration of power is. Not to mention, I loved seeing women at the forefront of politics and power.

Jules and Joseph fell the most flat for me. Joseph felt more like a way to create drama in order to propel the plot forward than a character. Jules just pissed me off to no end, and often had me wondering what her purpose was in the novel besides to cause drama and make Arsinoe more interesting. Jules falls most into that "strong female character" trope, insta-love included. I personally would've liked to see Arsinoe navigate her life without Jules to constantly save her ass, or keep Jules, but have her be less trope-y.

I don't mind slow reads as long as the writing keeps building my sense of suspense and anticipation, so the slow pacing didn't bother me as much as I think it did other people. But I do think the pacing needed to pick up sooner than it did. I started to get a little bored in the page 200-300 range. If the synopsis had been different, I don't think it would've been a problem. This book is mostly set-up for the death competition between the queens, but the synopsis paints the novel as though it is the death competition. Because the competition doesn't kick in until the last 100 pages, the all the set-up started to drag for me.

Ultimately, the things I disliked about Three Dark Crowns were minor for me. I went in with low expectations, and instead was presented with a real gem of dark YA fantasy. I can't wait to start the second book!

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Synopsis:

 

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.

Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.

But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

I'm surprised by how much I loved this. I absolutely despised Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, and with the similarities between that novel and this one, my expectations for Eliza and Her Monsters were low. But I enjoyed this book so thoroughly that I read it in one sitting, all 400 pages of it.

Francesca Zappia really nailed the experience of being in a fandom and having online friends. While I wasn't nearly so shy during high school as Eliza, I didn't have many meaningful friendships irl. My online friends were my people. They understood my love for writing, for books, for adoptable pet sites I probably should've stopped playing when I was ten. Fangirl failed to capture this online identity and experience, but Zappia represents with it with near-perfection. The blog posts, profiles, and online chats especially were the highlight of the book for me due to their realism.

Surprisingly, I liked Eliza. I think she could be too cringey at times - more cringey than I ever was, despite being similarly shy and awkward in high school - but I'm willing to forgive it because of how clearly her mental illness was expressed and how she desired to change. I liked Wallace and his relationship with Eliza, even if was frustrating as hell towards the end.

The worst part of the book was definitely Eliza's family. Her family's lack of understanding and sympathy for Eliza felt so over-the-top that they became a caricature, a stereotype we see in early 2000s teen movies and YA novels. It was just Bad, which is so disappointing when Zappia does a great job with her realism otherwise.

Also, even though I loved this book, damn did it stress me out lmao.