The Mask Falling

Book Title: The Mask Falling

Author: Samantha Shannon

Series: The Bone Season #4

Date Started: December 23rd 2020

Date Completed: December 31st 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Dystopian, Sci-Fi

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

Since I read the first Bone Season novel I've loved this series, and it always takes me reading the new instalment to remember just how much I do love it (I know I still like it, but it feels like each book rekindles the same feeling of excitement again, and that's priceless). The Mask Falling has, like each instalment, been a long time coming, and I'm very happy to say I enjoyed every minute of it.

These books are pure entertainment and excitement. The characters are fun and investable; the locations are recreated some real cities in full glory with such creativity and wonder; the plots feel like puzzles and murder mysteries without anyone even being hit over the head with a candlestick. It has the flair of revolution and literature and it's a little gilded, but that's where the fun comes from.

That's not to say that the book is perfect. While I love Paige, she, like many protagonists in stories leaning on the YA side, could do with engaging her brain a little more actively sometimes. And while the schemes are ingenious and the puzzles inventive, I can't help but feel it's a little too 'refined' for an attitude that would really nail it home (without drawing comparisons, I couldn't help being reminded that the Throne of Glass series has just as fiendish strategies, but has a bit of an attitude to make it really strike its crux).

And there are so. Many. Names. Samantha, I love you, take all the time you need between books, but please don't expect me to remember who everyone is by their mollisher names (or even just their normal names...) - I appreciate that in the physical books you can flip to the character glossary but it made reading this review galley a little difficult. And there is such strength in the immersion of this vividly rich world that I don't want to be taken away from it to look through a glossary just to be on my feet with the politics.

I do sometimes wonder if The Bone Season needs to be a seven-book series (a lot of similar antics happen over and over again - though the gaps in publication and growing layers of politics mean it still feels fresh) but, nonetheless, I'll be sitting here waiting for the next one, and the next, until we reach the end of Paige's story.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror

Book Title: Lonely Castle in the Mirror

Author: Mizuki Tsujimura

Date Started: December 5th 2020

Date Completed: December 23rd 2020

Genres: Magical Realism, Contemporary

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Lonely Castle in the Mirror since it started off feeling very predictable. Its story is not a new concept, but the way in which it was told was. While a little slow and contrite at times, the moments when it reaches out or reveals itself are genius enough for it not to matter.

Tsujimura is clearly a lover and student of fairytales, and I felt so akin to the way in which she used that to anchor the story. While most of the stories are Western, there's a real reclaiming of them in the Japanese culture we get to see which I really liked. The puzzle-solving element for the reader, rather familiar from classical fairytales, to work out just what is happening in this mysterious castle in the mirror was especially enjoyable - and while I worked out the first twist before the end, its very last one was still a surprise.

I also want to give praise to the translator (who I'm having real trouble finding the name of, which is actually quite upsetting) because they've done a fantastic job. Part of what reached me with this book was its honesty and clarity in the experiences of its young characters, something that felt so real and eerily familiar that it moved me to tears. To write that kind of authenticity is an achievement on its own, to communicate it across to another language is yet another.

I will say that the majority of this book is very talky. It feels like literary fiction a lot of the time, with a dash of magical realism for good measure. While I'm not particularly well educated in what's happening in contemporary Japan, the short afterword does do a lot to explain why this book is so important; Japan is ranked second from the bottom for the rates of young people's mental health. While I don't think context is vital to appreciate a story on its own, Tsujimura's already colourful exploration of young people and coming of age felt all the more vivid after realising that.

The magical realism may frustrate some people, but I feel like it's possibly a good introduction to Japanese fantasy for Western readers, as well as also just being a comforting and enjoyable read in its own right.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Book Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Author: V.E. Schwab

Date Started: October 17th 2020

Date Completed: December 5th 2020

Genres: Romance, Historical, Fantasy

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was quite a long way from what I had thought I was going to be reading when I picked it up that can, for me, ultimately be distilled into a cool concept made too convoluted. While I'm used to a good mix of adventure/mystery from her stories (or at least a little fantastical drama), this time Schwab chose to go down the purely romantic genre with a historical flair, which caught me a little off guard. It is fantastical too, but it doesn't feed too much into the story.

I will openly admit that part of why this novel felt so dragged out was because I was reading it over the course of nearly three months. While not necessarily that long, it does pack a lot of prettily-written information into every sentence. I love that about Schwab's writing but I'm still puzzling over one thing: why is this book the same three scenes over and over again? Addie gets forgotten by a past lover; Addie gets taunted by Luc; Addie and Henry do coupley things. Over and over again, set in slightly different (and conveniently recognisable) historical time periods. There are only two significant plot points, first when Addie meets Henry about a third through and then when she tries to save him at the end - other than that, nothing changes across the entire novel, and it felt so out of character for Schwab's storytelling that I was even more uneasy about the whole thing.

At the start, I felt the book was overly sentimental and, by the end, I suspect that may be the root of why I didn't enjoy it. You can see Schwab has poured her heart into it, but there's no discipline in the storytelling; there barely is a story, it's all so fragmented and dreamy, but without a driving force (or even really a goal) as a result. This glimmers of character and moments in time and images are beautiful and so clearly emotionally relevant to the writer, but it's all so patchworked together it felt unpolished as an actual novel for me.

The above being personal preferences, I do also want to point out that the final resolution to this book was disappointing even if you disagree with my stylistic observations. Why is it always that the boy gets redemption and the female protagonist 'sacrifices' something. I'm so bored of that trope, especially with a character like Addie who otherwise rejects all expectations of what she should be unless she makes them for herself.

My overall takeaway from the book was quite disappointing given how much I love some of Schwab's other work and how much hype there was around this particular one. For me, it just petered along the same way all through and then fell back onto a cliche at the end. I'm sure a lot of people will like it a lot, and I'm not saying it's necessarily bad - but I don't understand some of the creative choices, and it's not my thing overall.

A Natural History of Dragons

Book Title: A Natural History of Dragons

Author: Marie Brennan

Series: The Memoirs of Lady Trent #1

Date Started: November 3rd 2020

Date Completed: November 12th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Mystery, Historical

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to. It made me feel like a kid again even as an adult, in the way that only a whimsical but politically-conscious fantasy story can really do. Some people might think there aren't enough dragons and it's a little too domestic, but I get the feeling that this is an enormous biographic story that Brennan planned over a whole series, so it's not much surprise that the first instalment is a lot about the first steps.

I love the Victorian-esque setting and was impressed by how seamlessly the dragons had been placed into it. They were like exotic animals not that different to a tiger or a whale to the people themselves. As much as dragons are of course the centrepiece for the world-building, in general there's a lot about exploration, archaeology and other adventurous pursuits thrown in here. I think a good comparison (just to give people an idea of the kind of book this is, more than an explicit recommendation) is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. These collections of stretching experiences that don't necessarily feel like they're making a plot but are totally immersive and ultimately do thread together to construct a person rather than a single story.

My one criticism, and it's quite a big one sadly, is that the writing borders on casually xenophobic at some points with the 'peasant village' the story takes place in and its inhabitants. While I get it fits with the time period being recreated, arguably the aesthetic, and that Brennan is demonstrating Isabella to be a complex and flawed character etc, this is a fantasy novel and it felt like that frame of mind wasn't really necessary the whole way through quite the way it was written.

Following on from that, however, I want to say how much I did adore Isabella as a character. The first third or so of the book follows her as a child as she collects tiny dragons and has this fascination and curiosity about them that no one appreciates. We've all seen similar origin stories before, but the whole world-building and whimsical nature of the dragons just made me feel so in tune with her, so like that child, and I fell in love with it. The retrospective narration of Isabella writing autobiographically once she's obviously made a name for herself added something to this as well; you could tell she was going to succeed eventually, so the journey of her initial (big) mistakes was all the more exciting.

Ultimately, the end of the book was a bit more complicated than it needed to be once it effectively became a murder mystery, but I still enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the other books in the series. I also think this would make a kickass TV show.

Turtles All the Way Down

Book Title: Turtles All the Way Down

Author: John Green

Date Started: November 2nd 2020

Date Completed: November 3rd 2020

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Mystery

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

The quirks! The angst! The profound quotes! It must be a John Green novel! In all seriousness, while I'm not personally a fan of quoting every author in history to reinforce your thematic points, Turtles All the Way Down has the charms all of Green's other books have too. They weren't quite enough to totally win me over, but it wasn't an unpleasant experience to read.

One thing I will commend Green on, which I know is sometimes controversial, is how mental health representation. I can't really remember enough of the books I read as a teenager, but I was impressed by how Aza wasn't just a 'tortured teen', she had genuine OCD and there was an understanding of what that means to all aspects of her life - and also that that doesn't condemn her forever. It explored things a past the glorified teen angst we're more used to from YA literature.

That being said, I know there's joking cynicism about Green's tortured teens and while I hate to put things in a blanket category, there were moments where I really needed some of the characters to get over themselves and engage their brains.

My biggest critique is that I'm not totally sure what the plot was. I didn't follow the mystery at all - in fact, I couldn't explain what happened in that respect other than someone went missing, then at the end they guessed where they were. Admittedly, the mystery is a side note, but it was a shame that nothing a bit more solid came of it because it's actually a pretty engaging concept.

John Green is a good writer, he's just got a niche audience in the grand scheme of things - which isn't a bad thing at all. I'm not here to diss a good writer, just to give it a try and say it isn't really my thing.

Jurassic Park

Book Title: Jurassic Park

Author: Michael Crichton

Series: Jurassic Park #1

Date Started: October 29th 2020

Date Completed: October 30th 2020

Genres: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Thriller, Horror

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

Michael Crichton's original story is anything but a novelisation of the film that has become so iconic, and I can see why a lot of people who know the film don't necessarily like the book. But I personally found this to be a great novel, if of course flawed. And actually, knowing the process of translating prose to screenplay, I was more impressed by both the source material and Speilberg's wonderful work to adapt it.

I think we all appreciate that it's impossible not to compare this book to the film, so I'll get the major things out of the way. The big changes are that Alan Grant likes kids (shocking, right?), the girl is actually the younger sibling and pretty much useless, and there are a lot more dinosaur encounters written down than end up in the film. In a broader sense, the book is both slower and faster-paced; the first section is all about the mystery of this strange lizard that has been found while the audience tries to work out what's happening - it's pretty obvious to all of us now, but I did like the way it really built up the ripple effect of Hammond's creations before we even got into the meat of what he had created. I'm also going to point out that the women in the novel are far less prominent, and written as figureheads. While Crichton is aware of the sexism that's around them, he doesn't do much to oppose it other than inferring to it a few times.

Aside from those inevitable comparisons, however, I was really impressed at how creepy and tense this story was. Considering it's written and has no actual visuals of dinosaurs for the reader to reference, it's very vivid and wonderous. Having been a dinosaur-obsessed child (as so many of us are) I could picture a lot of them, but even so their behaviour, the way they moved, the mere presence of size and strength was tangible.

The whole book reminded me a lot fo the Martian. It's very much fiction but backed up with a lot of constructed science, and very convincing. A lot of the tension is in the reader's realisation as the writer explains the evidence. A little unexpectedly, Crichton does a lot of this with maths as well as biology (Malcolm is even more pretentious than in the film if that's possible) and even starts delving reasonably deeply into philosophy. Again, potentially another reason why some people don't totally engage with it.

Overall, I really enjoyed Jurassic Park, although it does become repetitive the further on you go when it basically becomes Grant and the kids having various encounters with dinosaurs that only really differ depending on a very specific characteristic that highlights the behaviour of said species they run into. But you can tell it's an influential work of fiction because even the new films are still borrowing things from this first book.

Lirael

Book Title: Lirael

Author: Garth Nix

Series: The Old Kingdom #2

Date Started: October 13th 2020

Date Completed: October 27th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

Lirael, like the first book in the Old Kingdom series, was another really fun read - again, I know I would've appreciated and enjoyed it more as a kid than I have as an adult.

I do have to say I felt a lot more immersed in this one. I had an idea of the world and its rules already, so I was really able to pay attention to the new things Nix was introducing and exploring. That's always the most fun in fantasy, and while Sabriel was packed full of it the action was also such a dominating force forward that it was hard to balance focus on both at the same time.

For me, Lirael's story did veer a little too much in Sam's direction for a book named Lirael in the middle, but once they met up she definitely got to come into her own and Nix's token balance of power dynamics in various relationships shone once again. (Speaking of, I also really liked the way Nix referenced the first book and its events a lot, but allowed Lirael to be its own story).

My one complaint is about the ending, and I don't think I can possibly be alone in that - let's be honest, it was a cop-out. We get to such a high point of tension, a dramatic reveal, and then we just end - quite similarly to Sabriel. At least this finale won't be quite as rushed as I always felt Sabriel had been, but it was a bit of a let down for the story to finish so suddenly without solving the big problem from the start of the book. It felt too constructed to bridge over to the next book to be satisfying.

These Violent Delights

Book Title: These Violent Delights

Author: Chloe Gong

Date Started: September 15th 2020

Date Completed: October 11th 2020

Genres: Historical, Fantasy, Romance

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for this eBook copy for review ◆

I have to admit, I did nearly put this book down at least three times before finally deciding it wasn't for me - so there was clearly something that made me want to keep trying. But, in the end, it just didn't do it for me and despite continuing on multiple times I only made it 35% through. It's not a bad book, but it's quite YA-ish and contrite, and it just wasn't keeping my attention enough.

A lot happens, even in the first third I read, but the story progresses at a snail's pace. We'd only really achieved two things at the time I stopped reading. I mean, really, it's so repetitive, it's basically the same three scenes over and over again. There's an edge of Libba Bray's The Diviners in the way it builds up the monster mystery, but the character's plotlines aren't holding the core strong enough for it to remain compelling. Gong also dumps a lot of information constantly - while the cultural and historical aspects are really interesting, I wish it had come across more in action and behaviour than explicit explanations.

I'm also not a massive fan of the leads, and I didn't feel their chemistry at all - and that's always a big factor for me personally. Most of their character is built up from what has happened in the past, but the problem is that it gets so concerned with the backstory (and with being mysterious about it) that it doesn't actually get to telling this story. It was also, for me, too dramatic. I didn't feel the tension because it felt like someone held up a *cue gasp* sign. This doesn't make it bad, it's just a stylistic element that I'm not a fan of.

The whole book just felt pulled in too many different directions: at times it was a melodramatic YA gangster love story, then it was a monster mystery, then it was a historical political drama. All are great and can be balanced together, but I just don't think Gong quite managed it for me this time.

The Burning God

Book Title: The Burning God

Author: R.F. Kuang

Series: The Poppy War #3

Date Started: September 3rd 2020

Date Completed: September 14th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Adventure

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for this eBook copy for review ◆

The Burning God is a fitting conclusion to The Poppy War trilogy - and, even though it's painful, it always had to end this way. That being said, this still wasn't what I expected from the third book, but that's been true for each instalment and it's never been a bad thing.

The first thing I want to point out about this whole series is the execution of its inspiration drawn from Chinese history and mythology. I read and watch a fair amount of South-East Asian stories, but that in no way means I'm an expert on it - but you can go into these books with next to no knowledge of the context and be wholly transported there because Kuang does such a good job of immersing the reader in Nikara and explaining the context as the story moves along (obviously, a fantastical adaptation of its real-life inspiration, but the point stands). Moreover, the magic and politics and relationships are all so sophisticated in their own rights. They have depth, are believable, and we feel the stakes they each have in Rin's predicament - and still, all three of them have equal weight in the story. That's such a hard balance to strike, and Kaung seems to do it effortlessly.

I've said it in my previous reviews of this series, but The Poppy War deals with all the aspects of (realistic) warfare and its horror with such maturity. If you want to hear more of my thoughts on it, go look at my review of The Dragon Republic. The one thing I would say about The Burning God specifically was that it has a lot fewer glimpses of humour and hope that balanced out the horror in the previous books. It's totally fitting for the story being told, but I missed it a lot and it really highlighted how much effect those small moments had had on the previous books for me.

I, of course, have to once again praise Rin, especially at the end of the series. She is, without a doubt, what sets this series apart from other high fantasy war epics. We as the reader know, wholeheartedly, that Rin is making bad decisions a lot of the time. She is terrifying, totally messed up, and there are so things that I absolutely relate to personally (and get a little scared of how familiar the temptation feels) and I doubt I'm the only one. You don't get to see heroes being wrong in a lot of fantasy - questionable, sure. Almost every protagonist is a thief or an assassin or some indebted criminal. But straight-out wrong, and not even really realising it, is a rarity. And yet, we still root for Rin because she is so painfully human and that's exactly the point.

It's been great reading this series. Those of you that know my reading style know that I usually pace out trilogies over a couple years honestly, but I read The Poppy War last month and now the whole trilogy's over. It's been a breath of fresh air in a lot of ways, has really ignited my interest in South-East Asian history, and I can't wait to see what Kuang comes up with next.

The Memory Police

Book Title: The Memory Police

Author: Yōko Ogawa

Date Started: August 27th 2020

Date Completed: September 3rd 2020

Genres: Dystopian, Magical Realism, Literary

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

Well, I don't know what The Memory Police is trying to say to me, but I know that I enjoyed it. There's an allegory in there somewhere, and probably with a bit of research and thinking I could work it out, but it was a pleasant enough experience without wholly understanding what it meant.

The Memory Police is a dystopia, set on an unnamed island where objects spontaneously 'disappear' from people's memories and all traces of which are subsequently destroyed by the authoritarian police mentioned in the title. But it's a dystopia that's more concerned with the experience of the people trapped in it than challenging the authority or solving it altogether. For me, it reads more like magical realism than science fiction, and I would keep that most in mind because if you don't get along with speculative, slightly abstract musings without an actual explanation for why things are happening, you're probably headed down the wrong path with this book.

The book is beautifully written and translated. Although there is a storyline and tension, it's really a meditation on the importance of memory as identity and our fixation on objects to tie them to, and what actually constitutes emotional value and remembrance. Different characters have different opinions on this, and I really liked that fact that there was no clear cut solution or point of view that won out. The people who forgot the objects felt no grief for their lost memories - and is it really fair to get angry/upset with someone for no longer identifying with something, all completely out of their control? But is it also the duty of people who do remember to preserve what is forgotten for those who forget? The fact that the novel is also from the perspective of someone with an acceptance of their situation (maybe with some hope, if not belief, that it could change), rather than the typical rebel, was refreshing.

Honestly, it's almost the same thing over three hundred pages - very little actually changes even with little discoveries or emotional arcs. I don't think that was a bad thing, it was actually fascinating for me, but it's probably suited for a particular kind of reader.

Night Shine

Book Title: Night Shine

Author: Tessa Gratton

Date Started: August 21st 2020

Date Completed: August 26th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Two Star

Final Rating: Two Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to the author for this eBook copy for review ◆

I loved another of Gratton's novels, The Queens of Innis Lear, when I read it a few years ago and while I can see the stylistic similarities, Night Shine was not for me in the end. I was unsure to begin with but gave it a good chance, and then another, and another; I kept pushing through to halfway, but when I got to that midway point and felt like my original concerns were still very much at the forefront of my reading experience, I decided to move on to something else.

I know that my biggest problem with this book was the protagonist. 'Nothing' was just... not enough to lead it. She's flat and detached, overly theatrical at times when she's supposed to be saving the day out of nowhere, and totally inconsistent. She feels like a ten-year-old and that doesn't develop through the first 50% of the book at all, and it's honestly uncomfortable when all the other characters feel so much more mature and have a great deal of power over her. She also doesn't seem to understand the hierarchies or magic system of her own world past 'demons exist' which makes it impossible for us to.

While I do applaud the LGBT+ inclusion in Night Shine, I am left feeling conflicted about its representation. Kirin, the crown prince, gets his bodyguard to pretend he's a woman while they're away from the castle (that's not a spoiler, it's in the first chapter) - the book seems to imply that Kirin is transgender (more than somewhere else on the spectrum) but continues to refer to the character as 'he' for as much as I read. I honestly would've felt happier if Kirin was referred to as 'she' in the prose, even if the characters had a hard time switching from the male pronouns.

Furthermore, the relationships between Nothing, Kirin and Sky (the bodyguard) straight-up confused me; if it's supposed to be a love triangle, okay, or a three-way situation, fine, but I couldn't work out what the hell it was. And, again, when Nothing feels so much younger and candid than the men it's confusing and a little uncomfortable for me when she seems to be totally at the whim of these boys who feel older and more mature (it's less about her being immature, and more about the emotional power status the men have over her seemingly without her knowing). None of this is helped by the fact that from the very first page both Nothing and Sky have this absolute blind faith and idolistic love in this prince that we have never met and yet are supposed to immediately fall in love with.

I've read a few other people say that they didn't understand the story, and I kind of agree. I love the quest structure and the fairytale-esque style (it's very Snow Queen, East of the Sun West of the Moon, maybe even a little Bluebeard), but the actual goal of the story is so scrambled (and the protagonist doesn't seem to have one herself but is buffeted along a tide of what other people want) that it was hard to follow the purpose of scenes and events. The writing style, I have no problem with. In fact, I really like the dreamy detached narration, I just found it hard to picture what it was narrating. The story just takes a long time to get going and then moves in stops and starts. As I said, I only got halfway through the book and, while many things had happened, it felt like next to nothing had actually progressed in the story.

I don't really understand why this is being marketed as a queer Howl's Moving Castle. Because it has a witch and a curse in it? There's a lot more to Diana Wynne Jones' book than that. I also think that, while the LGBT+ representation is prevalent, it's pinned most strongly to secondary characters that feel less like they're supporting the protagonist's the story and more like they're put on display (I'm aware of the hints that Nothing herself might get a queer romance, but if there's not a strong direction for that halfway through a book where the story's already grinding, I'm not totally sure I'd enjoy it if/when it did happen).

The Dragon Republic

Book Title: The Poppy War

Author: R. F. Kuang

Series: The Poppy War #1

Date Started: August 14th 2020

Date Completed: August 21st 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Adventure

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for this eBook copy for review ◆

I enjoyed The Poppy War, but Kuang upped her game very fast into one of the most impressive high fantasy war novels I've ever read. It handles a very dark and complex story with the maturity, imagination and heart that few writers I've come across even come close to.

It's maybe a little misleading to just summarise this book as a war story because it feels much more like a fantasy adventure, but it is ultimately a mix of politics vs. strategy vs. action. And it's all grey area, with morality you have to learn as you go, which is so engaging. I feel like I'm playing a game of chess just reading it, trying to work out who to root for and trust. It's doubly effective when you have such a compelling and flawed character as Rin at the centre, making those tough decisions and having to live through the consequences. The magic system also works perfectly with it; I sometimes forgot I was reading a fantasy novel because the shamanism is layered so well into the worldbuilding and is totally believable.

What I think jars most people about these books is how graphic and grim and violent they can be, but there (so far) hasn't been a moment where I feel like it's not being taken seriously. The killing and the hurting and the terror aren't indulgent or used for excitement, and arguably not always even plot devices; it's treated with the maturity and depth needed. There were a few points in this book where my stomach turned when things nearly crossed too far for me, but actually Kuang plays the balance well.

A little sidenote for me is that Kuang writes exactly the kind of romance I love; where it doesn't have to be said between the two people or even to the reader because it's clear they care deeply for the other person. The fact that it's rooted in friendship is another element I adore and think frames it so well in a novel like this, where the character's personal lives aren't necessarily the main focus but inevitably affect their motivations and decision-making.

I absolutely loved The Dragon Republic, and if the next book jumps up in intensity and/or emotional involvement then I predict tears. Seriously, how much is The Burning God, the final book in this series, going to kill me?

Wicked Fox

Book Title: Wicked Fox

Author: Helen Oyeyemi

Series: Gumiho #1

Date Started: August 9th 2020

Date Completed: August 13th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Contemporary

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

Wicked Fox was a lot of fun. To start with, I really enjoyed reading a fantasy novel set in Korea with strong ties to Korean mythology; I mean that's enough for me, I'm sold. As expected, there were a lot more Young Adult influences mixed in there too which I wasn't as much of a fan of, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the book altogether.

The book feels like a well-written fanfiction - which I don't mean as a critique but rather a heads up on the genre and direction of play. And not an obnoxious one either because we all love some indulgent angsty flirting every now and then. I wasn't mad about the initial high school drama situation (it's just not my thing) but once the adventure/mystery side kicked in I fell into it and read the last two-thirds of the book in a day.

There was a good balance of myth and modernisation for an urban fantasy as well; it didn't feel like the real folklore was shoved into the gaps of contemporary society or vice versa. And I loved - loved - the Korean culture and that Cho was happy to fill the text with the Korean names and titles etc. I really like it when books do that, firstly because it really immerses you in the world, but also because it's gently educational! I'm an intermediate Korean speaker and there were new slang words and food names and mythological creatures that I'd never come across before which made the whole experience all the richer. I also think Cho does a good job of leaving hints and/or explanations for readers who won't know what the names refer to so it's accessible for all.

Something that I've thought about since finishing the book are the relationships; there are some really interesting ones. And I like that Cho allows there to be complicated dynamics between characters, but still puts care into distinguishing what's manipulation and what's a human mistake. Look, contemporary romance-based stories just aren't my jam, and I think in part because I have bad associations with unhealthy relationships (romantic and otherwise) being romanticised in some books I read as a teenager. Cho gets the balance and tone exactly right, and that's so good to read.

It was so nice to read something like this, and I hope it opens the way for more fiction in this vein (not everything has to be set in the US or a medieval-style English magic school (despite popular belief, we really don't have that many of them)). Wicked Fox was very enjoyable and I might pick up the sequel if I'm feeling in the mood for it, though I will also commend Cho for writing a story that wraps itself up perfectly well on its own.