The One Hundred Nights of Hero, Isabel Greenberg

Book Title: The One Hundred Nights of Hero

 Author: Isabel Greenberg

Date Started: September 18th 2025

Date Completed: September 19th 2025

Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆ 

Since reading this graphic novel for the first time in 2017, it has been amongst my favourite books of all time, forever. At a time when I was finding my voice as a storyteller and recognising the patterns and power hierarchies and magic in the world, it was entirely pivotal to my worldview and my own sense of justice and worth. For the longest time, I was adamant that I wanted to adapt it when I became a filmmaker.

You can understand my heartbreak, then, when it was announced that an adaptation was in fact being made, directed by Julia Jackson, starring Emma Corin, Maika Monroe, Nicholas Galitzine and more. That heartbreak didn't last very long though, because it was being made, and well by the looks of things. Having secured tickets to the BFI London Film Festival Closing Gala of the film thanks to a friend, and preparing for the premiere of my second short film, itself inspired by myth, I knew I needed to reread it. I was not disappointed.

The One Hundred Nights of Hero is a story about storytellers, about courage in the face of fascism, and about the preciousness of words and the agency to use them for good. You never know what world a book or film or any other form of art will be released into; these days, by the time people see the final thing, it's been a long time since it was created. But some works of art ring true - sometimes even more so - when they're released. It's what makes them wild, and why the audience are part of their creation.

The point of fairy tales is sometimes oversimplified or sometimes objectively miscategorised as stories teaching people moral tales. If you'd like to avoid a little academic context, skip these two paragraphs, because I wrote my dissertation on this stuff and I'll be damned if I'm not using it. Moral tales, generally, actually align with animal tales or fables - two of the six types of traditional oral storytelling genres. Mythology and legends, intrinsically tied to religion, explore concepts of right and wrong in their respective cultures.

But fairy tales and folklore (generally speaking) were special because they weren't made to instruct, but to cope. We largely believe fairy tales and folklore to have been created by the people, for the people, in times of upheaval and persecution, prejudice and against the unfathomable natural world. They weren't stories that told you what to do if you ever found yourself in a certain situation; they were stories that said, if this ever befalls you, you have survived and this is how you get up again. They are, at their core, about making knowledge and courage accessible to all. This is why the characters in fairy tales and folklore are largely unnamed and predominantly without identifying features in the way that legends and myths distinguish mortals and deities, and how animal tales and fables paint certain character traits as animalistic stereotypes.

So, then, this fairy tale of epic proportions, inspired by timeless classics like A Thousand and One Arabian Nights and the Twelve Dancing Princesses, is about storytellers telling stories in the face of fear and oppression. Okay, sure, simple enough, we've seen it all before, right? The market is undeniably now richer with narratives inspired by these ancient traditions, but in the eight years since I first read this book, I still haven't experienced something that came close to its gentleness, its defiance and its acknowledgement of pain that comes along with it all. Hero and Cherry, and their characters and ancestors, and even the men around them (good boys, just like Paris Paloma says) all suffer from the society and traditions they have been locked within, and pushing against it draws blood. It's scary. But the stories patch them together again. They teach us to get up again.

A Court of Wings and Ruin, Sarah J. Maas

Book Title: A Court of Wings and Ruin

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #3

Date Started: August 22nd  2025

Date Completed: September 13th 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Action

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

I'm gradually coming around to the ACOTAR series, after absolutely hating the first one - but it just doesn't compare to Throne of Glass for me. It's a lot of fun, I raced through the just-about-700 pages and didn't want to put it down, but ultimately I don't connect with the characters. Nesta is my favourite - and feels the more real, presents conflict but is grounded in a compelling narrative arc - and while I like the others, I don't feel close to them which brings the stakes down by quite a bit.

Maas is renowned for the grandeur of her worlds and their places, cultures and politics. But A Court of Wings and Ruin reminded me how great she is at writing battles, in a way that allows the plot to flow through and heighten the excitement. There's just enough action to feel epic, enough chaos to intimidate, but not so bogged down in the movements and strategy that the story is sacrificed.

It firmly feels that this was originally written as a trilogy that then expanded, and while I was a little disapponted at the lack of character deaths and long-standing loss for the world, I really enjoyed the way Maas satisfyingly wrapped up the story, but left the door open just enough for another - which it evidently went on to do and perhaps will continue to.

No Friend To This House, Natalie Haynes

Book Title: No Friend To This House

Author: Natalie Haynes

Date Started: June 29th  2025

Date Completed: August 22nd 2025

Genres: Historical, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆ 

I loved the way this novel told all the little stories that weave together myth, all the crossed paths of epic heroes and the creation of mythical beasts, the legacy of these cities and temples - in the first third, we really got to delve into that and it kept the momentum up enough to stay interested. And, then, I enjoyed the last part of the book, where of course the creative license of retelling has the most to play with. The biggest chunk in the middle, I honestly really struggled to stay focused throughout.

Medea's chapters - yes, the supposed protagonist of the story, basically repeated the same prose over and over again. I've never been a fan of first-person narration, but in this context it makes the female perspectives feel defensive rather than diverse and included. Part of why the figure of Medea has captivated us for hundreds and hundreds of years is really that, even as a sympathetic character, there is space to imagine what could make someone act in the way she does. Writing it out into black and white (which may not have been the intention but was the result) loses that.

No Friend To This House is a retelling that tells everything and shows almost nothing at all. It feels like a stage play in that sense, which, sure, is a nod to the original versions of the myth - but why not just go and read those, which will always be incomparable masterpieces. We're just retelling the same events through new eyes - but we don't seem to be expanding these characters' perspectives, their backstory. Sure, they're given grounded motives, but it's like theatre where we're just expected to accept it to serve the performance. Rather than a story exploring who these characters are out of the plot, so that when they finally take to the stage, we understand them.

Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros

Book Title: Fourth Wing

Author: Rebecca Yarros

Series: The Empyrean #1

Date Started: June 18th  2025

Date Completed: June 29th 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Action

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

This book takes a leisurely, indulgent journey to get to the heart of its story - but when it gets there, it undeniably kicks ass. It is addictive, exciting and glorious escapism, but it wasn't until the last 100 pages that I totally jumped on board.

I have notes from the middle of the book complaining about the sacrifice of story for a couple of hundred pages of smut and angst, and there was a point where it felt like we weren't going to move beyond sexy dragon training for this first instalment. I can't lie and say it wasn't fun - the whole thing was hard to put down - but I really wanted more. The book did eventually deliver, and it's cleverly set up that I'm itching for more.

As a side note, I appreciate that the characters are set up so deliberately in the world order, but Violet really is the perfect example of nepotism in action. Yarros doesn't seem to want to draw critical attention to the fact that she'd be dead 20 times if it weren't for tiny actions of favouritism that really let her skip some ladder rungs (I don't mean the saddle or her medical support, I'll get to that). None of this means Violet doesn't work hard - she absolutely does, and has to carry the expectations of her name - but in the current climate, I think it's a useful example of the status quo's normalisation of nepotism.

With that said, it made my heart happy to see the story adapt to Violet's personal abilities and challenges, particularly in its clear point that there's no shame in using mobility aids or your body having different needs. It is nebulous, so I don't know if identifying it as a disability is right or not, but it struck me nevertheless. I would really love it to be more explicitly represented in future books, especially in this of story and genre.

I'm excited to pick up the next one now that the world building, the politics, the relationships and the real threat are set up in prime position. It would've been nice to get a bit more of it in this first book, but I recognise the care that's gone into establishing how we feel about the actions and emotions of Violet and her peers - I'm sure Yarros will make it hurt sooner rather than later.

I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

Book Title: I Capture the Castle

Author: Dodo Smith

Date Started: June 8th  2025

Date Completed: June 18th 2025

Genres: Historical, Romance

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

I love the film version of I Capture the Castle, and have had the novel on my shelf for a decade and a half. There are some moments that have always stuck with me (the Midsummer rights, the writing study in the ruined castle, Cassandra and Stephen in the woods and then beside the Thames), but it was a pleasure to rediscover the whole story in its own right.

A British classic, it is beautiful and melancholic and fanciful and quaint. I certainly haven't read many contemporary 1930s/40s stories that aren't WWII focused. I wasn't aware of the history of the book before reading (Dodie Smith and her husband, a conscientious objector, left Britain during the war for California) but it makes sense in its nostalgic nature, reflecting on the everyday lives of people making connections with others unlike themselves, and the messes we make even with the best of intentions. It is a timeless representation of girlhood, both in its moments of exact shared experience as well as the wild imaginings of adventure.

More so than the film, the book is such a collection of character portraits. Despite being told in first person by Cassandra, who spends varying amounts of times with different people, it struck me how full each character was in their own rite, and the ways that that impacted Cassandra's life. She's not a passive protagonist, but is navigating the decisions of those around her as much as her own - and it's so interesting to learn more and more about these people from their actions that we might not have expected.

I'm so used to first person narrators (especially young women) being intentionally headstrong or sickly sweet or just seeming to care so much about what the reader thinks of them - notably, the reader over the characters they're existing beside. Cassandra is so inexcusably herself and strikingly kind and intelligent and growing as she learns that's not always enough.

Faithbreaker, Hannah Kaner

Book Title: Faithbreaker

Author: Hannah Kaner

Series: Fallen Gods #3

Date Started: May 13th  2025

Date Completed: June 5th 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Action

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

What a series to dive into across a year. It definitely started on a high and felt like walking down a very long mountain to reach the valley at the bottom, in both the good and the bad of that. This final book had my attention drifting until two thirds in, but I admit I got goosebumps at the finale.

What I remember loving so much about Godkiller was the sense of an epic landscape and history woven in between this closely whispered story of a trio of strangers and a rogue little god. In Faithbreaker, those characters and their lives had been so lost in the noise, the sweeping war, the tumultuous world building, and the cresting wave of the plot that at times they felt almost forgotten.

I miss what was achieved in that first book, but I especially miss knowing Kissen like the back of my hand, longing for Elo to find what was right for him, for Inara to stand her ground and Skedi to win me over. By the end they felt most like pieces on a chess board - which is thrilling in itself, but not quite how I wanted to part with them.

That all being said, I have to praise the vast normalised representation that is so organic and natural you almost forget it's there. The ease at which Kaner paints all of her characters in hopes and beliefs and ambitions, not regardless of their backgrounds - their disabilities, race, gender, class, sexual orientation etc etc - but because of or in spite of it. It felt effortless and I would really love to read more stories that make it so.

Circle of Flight, John Marsden

Book Title: Circle of Flight

Author: John Marsden

Series: The Ellie Chronicles #3

Date Started: May 4th  2025

Date Completed: May 14th 2025

Genres: Action, Adventure

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

I'm actually quite emotional at finishing this book, the final in this trilogy plus the original Tomorrow series. I've been reading these since sometime around 2010 (when a family friend gifted me the first book after seeing me read under the table at a family dinner rather than socialise).

I've said it before, but John Marsden makes domestic things like farming, auctions, court hearings and more interesting and emotionally involving. These books are set in high-strung environments, literally and politically, and they have their fair share of adrenaline and pandemonium. But the characters exist in the downtime too, and not just a filler between fights. In so many ways, it differs from my usual reading preferences, and yet I am always drawn magnetically to the next book.

And when all hell does break loose - which, with Ellie, is pretty often - the action continues to rival the best I've ever read. It's exciting, fluid, chaotic but coherent, and oh so intelligent without being over-explained. It's not just this person does this move and then this; it's Ellie sees an opening so moves over here, has an intrusive thought and then gets her head back in the game, tries to do this and completely fails but manages to do this instead, gets hurt but lets the adrenaline take over etc etc. It's messy and raw and scary, but just like Ellie you recognise how thrilling and addictive it is, and maybe feel conflicted about that too.

Circle of Flight has a fitting end to this sequel series without being too self-conscious about nostalgically drawing attention to references of the past. It honestly brought me joy to see reveals and final resolutions done so well; not driven by ego or shock factor, just coming into Ellie's awareness as if they've always been there and she just hadn't looked over her shoulder and noticed (which is very Ellie coded). It's so satisfying, draws you so close to her as a protagonist, and feels like reality.

Ellie has been one of the most influential, present, important role models and characters in my life. I have enjoyed every moment of these books with her and her friend, and I am very grateful for them. This book itself was probably 4 stars, but I've given it 5 as recognition of both the Tomorrow series and The Ellie Chronicles as a whole, being some of the best fiction - the most creative, intelligent and emotionally charged - I've read in my life.