June 2024

Book Reviews

Hell Bent

by

Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Fantasy, Thriller, Horror

Synopsis: The sequel to a fantasy murder mystery centred around an organisation regulating magical societies’ rituals at Yale and a “deadbeat” girl who can see ghosts. I absolutely ate this up and loved every second of it. The vibes are impeccable.

Read full review…

Part of Your World

by

Abby Jimenez

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Synopsis: Two people from very different backgrounds collide in a chance encounter with what starts as a one-night stand and progresses to much more. I devoured this book in one sitting so if you’re looking for a quick read, this will deliver.

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Hell Bent is the sequel to Ninth House and follows Alex Stern, an ex-junkie/thief, who was offered an opportunity to work for Lethe – an organisation that regulates the rituals performed by the magical societies at Yale – mostly because she has the rare ability to see ghosts. Basically, it’s dark academia meets demonic fantasy, meets murder mystery, meets found family.

This book was utter perfection – the characters, the atmosphere, the banter, the plot, just everything was so incredibly solid. I feel like Leigh Bardugo is one of the only authors who has successfully written a badass character without it being forced. Alex is raw, witty, unapologetic and somehow both ice-cold and incredibly compassionate. This was also a tipping point for me falling in love with Darlington’s character – I liked his character in Ninth House but Hell Bent properly made me a fan.

There isn’t anything that I would’ve changed (not that I’m any authority on what should be changed in any book). If there were any plot holes, I’m clearly too stupid to see them because I enjoyed the entire thing from start to finish.

Ninth House spoilers below!

Like Ninth House, Hell Bent involves some mysterious murders but the main focal point is Alex’s mission to do whatever it takes to retrieve Darlington from hell – a lot easier said than done when you’re essentially trying to steal a half-demon from the darkest corner of the universe. 

Leigh Bardugo does the most exceptional job of building up the plot from Ninth House, somehow making you love all the characters more, raising the stakes, and wrapping up the book in a satisfying way while leaving you feeling like you’ll be utterly discombobulated until she releases the next book. I honestly can’t wait!

“She read paperbacks too, one after the next like she was chain-smoking – romance, science fiction, old pulp fantasy. All she wanted to do was sit, unbothered in a circle of lamplight, and live someone else’s life.”

“‘No one is looking out for us but us.’

Alex traced her fingers over the letters. ‘Darlington was. He’d go to hell for me, for you, for anyone who needed saving.’

‘Alex,’ Michelle said, dusting off her skirt, ‘he’d go to hell just to take notes on the climate.'”

“She found herself fantasizing about a life not only without fear but without ambition … She would feel curious instead of panicked when people mentioned artists she didn’t know, authors she’d never read … She would have a stack of books by her bedside table … She would get the jokes, speak the language, she would become fluent in leisure.”

“She’d never liked that phrase, diamond in the rough. All that meant was they had to cut you again and again to let the light in.”

“Mercy, if anyone fucks with you, I will teach them a new word for violence.”

“‘You have to be kidding,’ Turner exclaimed. ‘He’s a loaded weapon.’

‘He’s barely a squirt gun.'”

I listened to this on Audible and will forever regret that decision because it was so beautiful that it deserved to be savoured in a physical copy. One For My Enemy is a modern take on the classic Romeo & Juliet but with a fantasy twist that delves into the power dynamics of rival families. It’s packed full of witches and magic, emotional declarations of love, tragedy, bitter revenge, greed and tells the tale of how misery cycles through generations when the same mistakes are made.

The story follows multiple POVs of different members of both the Antonova and the Federov families, as well as side characters – somehow it’s less confusing than it sounds. I loved how the book is set up to replicate a play with several acts and scenes, like Romeo & Juliet.

The book truly shines in its prose. Half of the reason I loved the book so much was just because of the heartbreakingly beautiful quotes. I will say that I didn’t love the ending as much as I was hoping I would. However, even with that, it is well worth the read.

“Whenever you’re ready. When you’ve finished making heaven and Earth your domain, come back.”

“‘Write me a tragedy, Lev Federov,’ she whispered to him. ‘Write me a litany of sins. Write me a plague of devastation. Write me lonely, write me wanting, write me shattered and fearful and lost. Then write me finding myself in your arms, if only for a night, and then write it again. Write it over and over, Lev, until we both know the pages by heart. Isn’t that a story too?'”

“‘What exactly is your connection to Marya Antonova, Dimitri Federov?’

She is my entire soul, Dimitri didn’t say. ‘We knew each other once.'”

“You’re nothing until someone wants you dead, remember that.”

“This one is not for you, he knew, but please, please, may I borrow her from someone else’s fate? May I have her until her stars change, or mine? May I worship her until I die, and may I give her all of me, for better or worse…”

This is a fantastical kidnapping plot that follows Kaz and his team of unlikely allies. With multiple POVs, a cast of intrigueing characters, incessant action, a fun magical system and a multicultural world with a rich but still digestible history, Six of Crows is the perfect example of how YA books can be brilliant for what they are.

I genuinely had such a good time reading this, partly because I read it as a buddy read with a friend, and partly because it’s an easy book to love. Leigh Bardugo does an exceptional job of balancing the plot with character details and backstories so that you feel invested but never bored. I am also a fan of having a bit of a love-hate relationship with the protagonist – you want to hate him but you just can’t.

In my opinion, the tension between the characters and the dialogue was fantastic. Also, the plot twists were just twisty enough for them to be exciting without being convoluted. My one, and probably only, gripe with the book was the age of the characters – never in my days has it seemed conceivable that 17-year-old teens would be able to pull off what those characters did. 

“… the only law that applied to her was gravity, and some days she defied that, too.”

“‘Nina is everything you say. It’s too much.’

‘Mmm,’ Inej murmered, taking a sip from her mug. ‘Maybe you’re just not enough.'”

“Greed may do your bidding, but death serves no man.”

“‘How did you know I wouldn’t shoot?’

‘Because, Matthias, you stink of deceny.'”

“If your god is so delicate, maybe you should get a new one.”

Part of Your World follows the developing relationship between two people who live drastically different lives and all the external conflict that comes with the reality of that. Alexis is a doctor and an heir to a medical legacy and Daniel is a very small-town mayor just trying to get by.

Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that I thought the book was good and clearly it was absorbing enough for me to literally finish it in one sitting. The writing was great (I’ll definitely be reading more from Abby Jimenez) and it was entertaining but I also just don’t think that I was the target market for this.

There was a lot about Daniel’s character that was a bit off-putting. The way he idolised Alexis was kind of icky and the only thing I remember about his character was that he was permanently nice. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the character being nice, it’s just that if the only thing I can recall is that the man was nice, it doesn’t exactly speak volumes about him being an interesting character.

Alexis had plenty of personal issues that she was dealing with and he had none that were internal; all of his issues were things being done to him. Maybe I just missed the point somewhere along the line but personally, it felt like the intrigue of the book was almost solely being carried by Alexis’s character.

“Grace costs you nothing.”

“When you don’t care, everything’s on your terms. They can take it or leave it. It doesn’t matter to you, so ask for whatever the hell you want.”

“Love follows you. It goes where you go. It doesn’t know about social divides or distance or common sense. It doesn’t even stop when the person you love dies. It does what it wants.”