Threadneedle, Cari Thomas

Book Title: Threadneedle

Author: Cari Thomas

Series: The Language of Magic #1

Date Started: June 23rd  2026

Date Completed: July 2nd 2026

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Two Star

Final Rating: Two Stars

Review:

Another book on the did-not-finish pile. Had I been in a more patient mood, I might have gotten further than 130 pages in, but life's too short and this book wasn't for me.

I've never been a massive fan of school plotlines (magic or otherwise), and the Mean Girls set-up has never worked very well for me. But even without my personal preferences, I found the tone of Threadneedle confusing; it seems to take itself very seriously, then jumps into a teenage melodrama. The worldbuilding was disorientating too; without much description in the prose, it felt like a Victorian-esque gothic style, but then in crashes mentions of phones and school lockers.

I wasn't sure what I was picturing most of the time, from settings to characters to magic systems, and it all combined to just be a bit too messy for me to get enjoyment out of.

Fishbone Cinderella, Elizabeth Lim

Book Title: Fishbone Cinderella

Author: Elizabeth Lim

Date Started: May 30th  2026

Date Completed: June 23rd 2026

Genres: Historical, Fantasy

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I've been a big fan of Lim since I first read Six Crimson Cranes, and I'm so excited to see her getting to do different things. Fishbone Cinderella wasn't my favourite, but ultimately just because it didn't feel particularly new or creative. I'm still very much eager to see this author's style and bibliography continue to develop.

The magical realist element of a matriarchal curse could've elevated this book beyond the familiar story (and was, I think, the intention), but its inclusion was a bit peculiar; you'd go through huge chunks forgetting it even exists, and then it would reappear and be working very hard to hold the story together. While magical realism allows flexibility in how present the fantasy elements are in the story until they can provide poetic license, I felt it never comfortably fit in the book, and so didn't give the narrative satisfaction at the end.

Similarly, the perspectives from different generations of women ends up being vital to the resolution, but inconsistent while reading. I almost wish the timeline had jumped about more so that by the end I was attached to all of them, rather than being slightly underwhelmed that what felt like a secondary character completed the narrative.

That being said, I adore the way the book pulls together its plot strings and the timelines, with a good dash of a Chinese fairy tale in there for good measure - it just felt like what came before was just setting that up rather than existing fully realised on its own.

The Fragile Threads of Power, V.E. Schwab

Book Title: The Fragile Threads of Power

Author: V.E. Schwab

Series: Threads of Power #1

Date Started: March 17th  2026

Date Completed: May 26th 2026

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

I, unfortunately, skim-read this book from 200 pages in (once those first 200 pages had taken me over a month to get through). If it wasn't V.E. Schwab, I would've given up entirely.

This book seems to set out with the intention of telling a new story, with an enormous amount of new characters (that I couldn't keep track of), but it just cannot let go of the references, guest appearances and nostalgia of the original trilogy. And it absolutely holds back what this story could have been. At some point, it feels like a continuation but at others it seems to completely forget the central story and goes on a complete tangent for seemingly no payoff.

The structuring in general was strange. We jump between now and 7 years ago (and I still don't see the need), sticking with one character for ages and then forgetting they exist for the rest of the book. I had no sense of how all their stories tied together, and my only assumption is that it's laying groundwork for the rest of the series, but it made this book a really confusing experience.

Overall, you could've cut at least 150 pages; there's so much description, reliving essentially the same scenes, really driving home the protagonists' tortured hero narrative. Less is more is something I thought over and over again reading this book, as we fell into this swirling repetition of prose, prose, prose for the sake of prose. Yes, we love this series for its worldbuilding, but if we're coming back for a sequel series, we'd appreciate a little more plot that isn't just the protagonists' angst. Nothing happened in the first 200 pages!

I'm honestly super disappointed. A Darker Shade of Magic is one of my favourite books and while I've not always gotten along with some of Schwab's other work, I was hoping this step back into the familiar would pay off, but alas. I've still given it three stars because, if you're more attached to the original, you may get more out of it. If this is what Red London is now, I think I'm ready to move on.

The Unicorn Hunters, Katherine Arden

Book Title: The Unicorn Hunters

Author: Katherine Arden

Date Started: May 4th  2026

Date Completed: May 20th 2026

Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Adventure, Romance

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

The Unicorn Hunters, in line with everything else Katherine Arden has ever written, is enchanting, adventurous and, most importantly, masses of fun. I loved how Arden's writing style leant into the medieval tone, feeling noticably distinct from her other work, but still had that shining spark of fairytale magic she injects into her stories.

I adore Arden's skill and palpable adoration for exploring real history, places and politics through the lens of fantasy. By changing just a few threads - Anne of Brittany is older when her father dies, and she is thrust onto the throne, the unicorns of lore are in fact real - a new tapestry so vivid is woven, something so cathartic and ambitious with escapism that it glitters.

This novel has the ultimate feel-good cast of characters, and I almost want a dozen prequels/sequels just for them; the endlessly savvy and exhausted queen, her scrappy headstrong younger sister, the protective but respectful illegitimate older brother (and his not-so-secret affair with one of her handmaidenes - more Margaret, please), the resourceful and streetwise urchin saved from the jaws of death, the valiant childhood friend turned forbidden love - and a cat called Butter who can walk between worlds, because of course.

My one note was that it felt like something was holding it back the whole way through, and that left the finale from truly resonating. Something somewhere was messing with the momentum and keeping it from five stars, but it was undeniably an addicting and magical read.

A Soul Full of Shadows, Derek Landy

 

Book Title: A Soul Full of Shadows

Author: Derek Landy

Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #18

Date Started: April 4th  2026

Date Completed: May 4th 2026

Genres: Fantasy, Action, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Comedy

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

Regardless of where you find yourself in the Skulduggery saga, Derek has yet to disappoint in the new chapter he's added. With more than 20 full-length novels at this point, still every book is a truly original story, always with new ideas and fresh humour to make me laugh out loud (and that never happens). Nothing is redundant in a Skulduggery story, everything comes back around, and everything comes to an end. And, of course, this wasn't the real end.

I struggle these days with the sheer scale of people, places, magic systems and (now) timelines in the Skulduggery Pleasant world. It's somewhat inevitable, 18 main books and several spin-offs down the line, and luckily the hijinks and thrills don't suffer too much from it. I did find the first half of A Soul Full of Shadows a bit of a drag with predominantly talking and lots and lots of set-up, but the second half was a pure joyride and made up for it.

The sequel series/set of trilogies is not what the original 9-book/3-part trilogy series used to be; they've evolved significantly. Some parts I like, some parts I'm not as keen on - but I don't think I'll ever stop coming back for more, so I'm here for whatever road Derek wants to send a burning Bentley down. It would be nice if Tanith got to have something nice for more than 100 pages, though.

The Fox Wife, Yangsze Choo

 Book Title: The Fox Wife

Author: Yangsze Choo

Date Started: February 8th  2026

Date Completed: February 15th 2026

Genres: Magical Realism, Contemporary

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I thoroughly enjoyed this book once I got into it. Both accompanying narrators, a detective and a woman who is also a fox, are compelling in their own ways, spinning closer and closer to one another as the serendipitous threads of fate pull the stitching of the story taut. The mystery and overlapping lives were so satisfying the whole way through, small details gathering meaning long before their meaning is unearthed.

I loved Choo's ability to balance her tones of sincerity, comedy and lightheartedness with gut-wrenching tragedy; anger with joy, wistfulness with ferocity. These characters are fascinatingly flawed, spiteful, curious, overconfident, daring; their mythos all the more enthralling as these whispered creatures become real and, despite the stories, mostly causing mayhem unintentionally. The one stumble was when our protagonist found her goal achieved, but we just sort of rushed on - understandably, knowing the full pilot, but it did feel unfinished and easily let go by Snow.

I want ten prequels about Snow, Kuro and Shiro's adventures - or, having read the closing notes, for Choo to indeed fill an entire novel with footnotes of anecdotes, mythology and side stories in the tradition of Chinese marginalia. I want more time with these characters, more roadtrips across ancient and historical Asia, more mysteries uncovered, chaos wreaked and ridiculous hijinks.

A Court of Frost and Starlight, Sarah J. Maas

Book Title: A Court of Frost and Starlight

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #3.5

Date Started: January 18th  2026

Date Completed: January 28th 2026

Genres: Fantasy, Romance

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

A Court of Frost and Starlight is a very novella-esque bridge between novels without a real story, which is a bit sad given Maas has crafted some fantastic short stories with ARCs and consequence for Throne of Glass. It's not a bad idea to set up where the cast find themselves after the first trilogy, getting ready to move into the next, but this book felt mainly motivated to prove one thing: that Feyre and Rhys are the most perfect people to ever exist, apparently.

Yes, okay, we get it. Feyre and Rhys are the most considerate, charitable millionaires ever. Yes, they went through war and now they can only see those families who lost loved ones, how lucky they are (yes, how lucky). Ah, shopping, a luxury they hate but do frequently, as long as we know how guilty they are about it. I exaggerate and there's nothing wrong in principle with these character elements, it's just laid on so thick so many times in this short book, which you probably could see coming when you realise it's a Christmas-themed short story where the most conflict comes from what to get each other as presents.

ACOTAR honestly has never hit me like TOG does. I think it tries to be darker and sexier, but roots that in very surface-level motivations and emotions, which (yes) definitely leads to the steamier scenes sooner, but also feels like it doesn't build up such a complex system of relationships. The war felt much smaller than TOG, even though I'm pretty sure we spend a lot more time on the battlefield. For me, I crave that other sense of epic, mythic sagas where characters both champion and impede each other with their own quests above intimate friendship groups leading the way into battle. There's nothing wrong with the latter, it's just not as moving for me.

I am, however, excited at the prospect of Nesta and some of the other side characters coming to prominence for the next book. Ultimately, they began as foil and conflicts for Feyre and Rhys, but have grown with the series, so to me feel more fleshed out as characters with all the bad as well as the good and charitable. I suppose, following on from why I think I connect with TOG more than this series, I find the way Maas writes messy and defensive compelling.

Unravel the Dusk, Elizabeth Lim

Book Title: Unravel the Dusk

 Author: Elizabeth Lim

Series: The Blood of Stars #2

Date Started: January 8th  2026

Date Completed: January 18th 2026

Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I quickly followed up with this second book of the Blood of Stars duology, having read the first only a few weeks ago. I love a good Elizabeth Lim adventure, and while I think Unravel the Dusk was trying to do a few too many things at once, it was as always an enjoyable ride.

The threads present in the first book that were clearly going somewhere came to fruition in this second book, which was really satisfying. Side characters completed arcs, as well as the protagonist and her closest allies. The very gentle nods to the mythology of Six Crimson Cranes was also well balanced as a reference without feeling forced.

Ultimately, there were a few too many directions pulling the plot - and Maia's plans - to a speedy conclusion. The build up of the first book set the scene very well for this grand conclusion, but the closer-to-home emotional narrative struggled. Maia, having achieved the impossible multiple times, with her head still attached to her body, would commit to a decision or plan, but be swayed a chapter later for what felt like the sake of romance-fueled angst - her so called breaker of fate plot device didn't come as clearly to a head as expected.

I don't mind a happy ending, but you don't have to bait a sad one that heavily for it to feel earned; we were all behind Maia after what she accomplished in Spin the Dawn. I wish the follow up had been a bit less about her creating her own conflict and pushing everyone away and instead grappling with the tidal wave of chaos already happening in the war-torn country around her - that, yes, she definitely played a part in exacerbating. She could have atoned and grown through her mistakes with her feet on the ground rather than floating around a mess of ruminating.

With all that said, my preferences misdirected, I did of course still enjoy Unravel the Dusk. Lim paints fantastical portraits of worlds and magic and the people within it in such an engaging and vibrant way. I really liked how these books were two halves of the same story, rather than just reiterating the same narrative and character arcs over multiple books. Maia reaches the end of a journey in Spin the Dawn - the resolution is offered for that individual book - and she begins another here. But it was one that was inevitable after the first, she has baggage behind her now, and she has to learn something new once again.

Spin the Dawn, Elizabeth Lim

Book Title: Spin the Dawn

Author: Elizabeth Lim

Series: The Blood of Stars #1

Date Started: December 30th  2025

Date Completed: January 6th 2026

Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Adventure

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I always love an Elizabeth Lim adventure. Her magical weaving of myth and folklore into thrilling stories was the perfect choice to start off the new year. Spin the Dawn took a bit of time to get into, but thoroughly enjoyable once the real stakes were introduced.

It's fun and lighthearted in the romance, but really creative in its epic fantasy. The plot devices are really satisfying and carefully placed throughout. It's a great example to demonstrate that just because the reader can sense where the story is going, it doesn't mean it's poorly written; it's just accessible and takes full advantage of the anticipation that dramatic irony builds in the reader.

I really respect the duology structure rather than squeezing out a mediocre middle book in a trilogy - it worked great for Six Crimson Cranes, and I have a feeling it'll work wonders for this story too. I'm struggling with what to say, as it's just a good time - I won't wait long to read the follow-up.

Owl King, Bex Hogan

Book Title: Owl King

Author: Bex Hogan

Series: Faery Realm #2

Date Started: December 17th  2025

Date Completed: December 21st 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Quality Rating: Two Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Two Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

Around this time last year, I read two books next to each other with Nettle in the title. One was great (Nettle and Bone, turns out), the other was meh. I mistakenly thought this was the sequel to the first, but it was the latter. Oops.

I think overall, I found it unsatisfying as it felt like a children's book (but with a more mature world?). There is charm in the 1001 Nights structure (though it misses the opportunity to truly expand the worldbuilding within it), but the pacing is all over the place. I read Owl King in four sittings, and while the adventure isn't that expansive, an awful lot is going on that I had to remind myself of between readings. There's also a significant role by the first book's protagonist, Nettle, but frankly all of it was lost on me because I have no memory of the actual events of the first one.

My primary resistance to this book itself (rather than just being confused) was the romance and portrayal of abuse, especially as it's a novel intended for younger readers. The titular Owl King is the well-trodden tyrant who takes multiple wives after the last one mysteriously perishes - but worry not, our protagonist's sister will be forced to marry him and, wait for it, fix him of course! I'm being hyperbolic, but 'the magic was too strong' is an awfully convenient excuse for a supposedly reformed serial killer of women to revert to their old ways. However much the plotline may be 'tied up' by the end doesn't relieve the uncomfortable feeling that sat with me through most of the book.

I'm not sure when it happened but the 'save my sister' storyline needs to go into the YA cliche canon. It has very little room for anything other than repetition and seems to just excuse any life-threatening or impossible tasks completely out of its own stakes. I do appreciate the genre's evolution beyond true love's devotion, but I think we've hit another rut - or maybe we just need to be more creative with the concept? Either way, it's another one for the cliche list.

A Small Matter of Impending Catastrophe, Derek Landy

Book Title: A Small Matter of Impending Catastrophe

Author: Derek Landy

Series: Skulduggery Pleasant

Date Started: December 5ht 2025

Date Completed: December 17th 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

These audiobook/podcasts are great and I'm really pleased they're clearly doing well enough to make more of them - but they don't really translate into novels. While taking the full advantage of a sound-based medium, using music to solve puzzles and showcasing a low-vision character in strokes of genius, the charm of its performance is mostly lost in translation.

Without space for Derek's token action sequences and environmental storytelling, you end up with a lot of new information shared very quickly in these novella-style stories. I've found it harder to connect with the characters as most of their personality exists in long conversations (minus the voice acting) on the page, and the pure and simple mystery genre misses out on some of the cross-boundary flairs of the main series.

Despite my lower-than-usual rating of the book, I really do enjoy the audio productions and think the episodic podcast style works really nicely. The sound designers, directors and actors all do a fantastic job of bringing Derek's unique humour to life and I'm excited to see what new stories they'll do with it - I would love them to develop into multi-part stories with proper character arcs, as that seems to be the missing ingredient holding it back.

Tales from Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin

Book Title: Tales from Earthsea

Author: Ursula Le Guin

Series: Earthsea Cycle #5

Date Started: October 18th  2025

Date Completed: November 25th 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

I've never been a huge fan of short stories - especially novella-collections mid-series - but, as Le Guin rightly explains, an interlude for exploring the past was calling for the world of Earthsea. In her afterword, she talks about the 'now' of fictional stories moving, continuing to grow as reality does. And Le Guin's work is so rooted in the realities of gender pollitics, spiritual connection to the ever-changing natural world, and the nature of power and the self, that you leave this book feeling not like you've read a handful of mini-stories but instead as if you've sifted through an atlas.

I thoroughly enjoyed most of these stories, particularly Dragonfly at the end which is an epic in its own rite. Each story has its own masterfully crafted characters, and touches almost every subject we've grown used to in this series - but the environments in which they do so are unfamiliar for the most part. That's what really showcases the range of the Matriarch of Modern Fantasy: people may be familiar and comforting to us, but throw a fish out of water and it has to learn to adapt, however much of a struggle. That's how people, and cultures, and worlds change.

Few foreword/afterwords are as elevanting as Le Guin's. She uses them to take the reader on the journey she walked as a storyteller, and they amplify the themes and feelings of her stories into treasures beyond the enjoyment of the experience. I've learnt more about storytelling through her commentaries on her own work that many writing courses I've taken.

My quest to complete the Earthsea Cycle is drawing to a close, and the anticipation of the climax has never been higher. Over the last few years I've been trying to complete book series I began in my childhood/teenage years, and cross off the ones I've had sitting on my shelf for ages. Le Guin's work is probably my favourite of all the series I've tried to finish, and it'll sit on my shelf even after it's done for a long, long time.

Katabasis, R.F. Kuang

Book Title: Katabasis

Author: R.F. Kuang

Date Started: September 13th 2025

Date Completed: October 20th 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

I found the start of Katabasis hard to get into; supposedly straight into the action, but there is so much it wants to tell us it takes 100 pages for the story to gain its footing. Once it does, though it meanders at times, it's undoubtedly Kuang's most innovative fantasy yet. I was getting strong Boy and the Heron and His Dark Materials and vibes - but Kuang is distinctive in where she takes it for the ending.

I'd be curious to see what someone with 0 Classics/Philosophy knowledge finds it; I know a handful of the references via my interest in mythical folklore and Ancient Greece, but I was mostly just nodding along in acceptance of my confusion. It led to an interesting conversation with my mum (who has a PhD in Political Science), but I came out of it ultimately none the wiser. Perhaps if you know none of it you can buy into the fantastical side a bit more.

And boy is the magic system and world-building creative - insanely so. I know to expect scales of epic proportion when it comes to the universes Kuang wills into being for us, but almost every time she builds on her wealth of knowledge, curiosity, intelligence and pure joy for creating these imaginary plains of existence. Katabasis especially made me appreciate the philosophical way she approaches storytelling: it's not really about creating a world to tell her story in, it's about repositioning your way of thinking so that you're open to the story she's ready to tell. It's ultimately why her novels are so universal, despite their authentic roots in Kuang's own studies, heritage and temperament: what she asks of the reader is to join her in looking at something from a different perspective, and discovering what it leads to together.

While the book is ultimately a character story (though Alice's agency for what happens to her is unreliable), I really enjoyed the exploration of corruption, discrimination and toxicity of gatekeeping education and imbalanced mentor-student relationships. It rang so universally true for imbalanced power structures, even though it focuses very specifically on academia, and made such an impact on the development of the characters without having to be the main plot. Alice is the person who toils, fails, suffers and grows - and the book doesn't flinch from that anchor - but it has an awful lot to say about the hypocrisy of what people expect her to grow into. And a final act that is satisfyingly resolute in its answer.

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.