Review: The Blood-Born Dragon

The Blood-Born Dragon by J.C. Rycroft
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun dragon fantasy with plenty of action and lively characters.

Des makes a great heroine, though I was absolutely not a fan of Liv. As a consequence, their relationship irritated me a lot. Des, you can do better girl.

Strong love for Squid though - it's about time fantasy brought in a dragon this sassy!

The writing is solid, telling the story easily with plenty of time for action as well as rumination on feelings. The world-building is decent, keeping it simple but intriguing. I would have liked a little more flesh on the bones of the world, but what we got was still enough to colour the setting.

My frustrations with Liv persisted throughout the book, and I found there really wasn't much to like about her. Even as we learned more about her I still didn't find it excuse enough for her behaviour, so her part in the story was harder to swallow.

Still, the story held my attention throughout, and I was curious about the dragons and where this story would take us.

I'd happily recommend this one to fantasy fans needing a dragon-driven narrative in their reading life.

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Review: A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance, Vol. 2

A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance, Vol. 2 by Rick Remender
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not quite the strong conclusion I wanted but still not too bad.

I think the strength of the series has really been in using images, rather than words, to tell the story, but having finished it feels like it just didn't tell us enough. There are still a lot of unanswered questions and holes in the narrative.

Still, the story progression was fun, giving a little more background and creating a little more of an emotional attachment to the story.

I enjoyed the story overall and will happily recommend, though personally I would have liked a little more detail to really fill out the story and bring it home strong.

Buddy read with Jet and Tasso

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Review: A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance, Vol. 1

A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance, Vol. 1 by Rick Remender
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Strong opening to the story!

I've found a lot of Remender's stories to be a bit average - he seems to have great ideas but doesn't really know how to captivate with his writing or character development.

This, however, speaks really well through it's minimal dialogue and narration; Remender gets out of the way and let's the art tell the story.

I really enjoyed the setup, though the blurb tells what's more of a mystery when reading. I wasn't sure how our protagonist was involved, and I wanted more back story, but was happy to wait.

The violence, when it comes, is brutal and not for the faint of heart. It's detailed and attention is paid to every wound inflicted, meaning if you're squeamish with body horror this may not be the best fit.

Ultimately this first volume was a great setup and I really enjoyed it.

Buddy read with Jet and Tasso

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Review: Cleopatra

Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Adjoa Andoh
Presented by Harper Collins UK Audio

Mixed but mostly negative feelings about the audio. I think she actually did a (mostly) brilliant job but it just wasn't for me.

The story itself was a bit disappointing to me, as I think it tried too hard to make her a sympathetic character. Cleopatra has always seemed like such a badass of history, and this rounds her out a bit more, but with tales of woe and hardship rather than steel. There's a huge focus on her as a mother and a lover, and I wanted more of her as a ruler. I guess that's kind of the point of the story - to offer the bits history doesn't - but to me it watered down the character into less than I expected.

I was also increasingly frustrated every time the story referred to things yet to come. While Cleopatra is such an iconic figure from history, I think there are many who don't know all the details of her life so it ends up spoiling a lot of big moments. I'm one of them - I know her as a badass queen but not too much about the details, and I was excited to learn more through this medium. So naturally, many of the references were big spoilers. I HATE SPOILERS. I'm the kind of person who doesn't even want to know how a book made you feel because it's a spoiler on how I might feel reading it.

I'm in two minds as to how I would go with the physical, compared to the audio. On the one hand, I think I would have appreciated Cleopatra as a person a little more, but I also think I would have been even more bored with the length of the story. This really does travel, giving plenty of detail of Cleopatra's life, and while it's nice to hear about everything, it does make it long and a little tedious at times. I enjoy audio for books like this, because I can zone out a little without missing much. But I always get a richer experience with reading physically so this may have led to a better impression of the character.

The narration itself was very hit/miss for me. I enjoyed the strength of her voice and its representation of the character, but at times it didn't seem to suit. Some of the pronunciations bothered me, and I felt sometimes it was a little more dramatic than necessary. But then at other times I was completely swept away by the performance, feeling true anguish when the character experienced it. I'd want to listen to this narrator on another book to see how it differs.

I did enjoy the story, but it didn't capture me quite as much as I wanted it to, and I wanted to hear more of the coldhearted queen of history. Still, it's stirred up more interest in researching the historical woman so that's never a bad thing! I'd definitely still encourage people with an interest in the Egyptian Queen to give this book a go.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Killer Moms: True Stories

Killer Moms: True Stories by Amanda R Woomer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Courtney Patterson
Presented by Highbridge Audio

Some interesting stories here, though some are quite dated.

This book compiles cases where mothers have killed their child/children sorted by reasons - for love, for money, for the child's sake, etc.

Some of the tales are gruesome, some heartbreaking, and all tragic. The death of a child is always sad, but at the hands of a parent? Unspeakable horror.

I really enjoyed how this broke down the details and took and empathetic view when needed. For example, some of the stories detail a psychosis in the mother which convinced them their child needed to die - this book tells the story while expressing how much the woman needed help and support. I liked that, while this presented the facts of the cases, it also took time to consider perspectives and the greater emotional and psychological experiences.

I did find some of the older cases a little frustrating just in how dated they were, and how little could be known. Some frustrate purely just because of far technology has advanced in order to catch criminals, and the comparison of, 'If this happened today ...' was quite brutal in its implications.

The narrator did a great job of presenting the cases with empathy but not overactive emotion. A great balance of factual delivery and considerate tones. I quite enjoyed the listen.

There are a LOT of stories, and I feel like this could have benefited from less stories with more details. That said, I acknowledge I'm not sure how much extra detail there might be available. But with this many cases, they do begin to blend, and the quantity means they lose a bit of the impact. I did find my thoughts wandering if I listened for too long at a time. It may be better to read/listen to only a few cases in one go.

Still, an insightful look at some of the most heinous crimes, and why mothers might be driven to such extreme ends as murdering their children.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: The Clock House Murders

The Clock House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Man, no matter how many things I think I've worked out, I still never see things coming. Such imaginative solutions!

This one feels very similar to The Decagon House Murders (which I still haven't reviewed, my bad!) in that a group of students go to investigate a bizarre, isolated house, with a man on the outside trying to solve things from afar. It does make a few (spoiler-free) references to that story, too, so I was glad I'd read it beforehand. It enhanced the experience.

The puzzles are crazy, with lots of clues and red herrings. I really enjoyed the setting and somehow grew to hate clocks myself!

The solution was interesting and twisted, which I love. The creative solutions in these Japanese detective stories are my favourite parts.

Highly recommend this series. It will be a nice touch to have read Decagon first, but this stands alone well.

With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC

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Review: She Walks at Night

She Walks at Night by Seishi Yokomizo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one took a different approach to the rest of the series, and I really enjoyed it!

More characters, clues, red herrings, etc, and a great mystery to keep you guessing. It seems less convoluted than the previous stories but it's still twisty enough to surprise.

The writing is fantastic, if a little dated. It does a great job of keeping it all about the mystery while injecting plenty of cultural notes and references to create the appropriate atmosphere.

Series still going strong and another read that kept me addicted throughout! Highly recommend.

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