whimsydearest

The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon is riveting sci-fi fantasy that completely blew me away. It reminded me of why I fell in love with epic fantasy in the first place. It has immersive, well-wrought worldbuilding and a compelling cast of characters who you can’t help but root for. There’s a guilt-ridden priest grappling with his faith, a crippled boy trying to harness the powers of an ancient demon, and his estranged mother who is desperate to protect him. Together they join forces in order to stop tyrannical gods from harvesting human sacrifices from their planet. This book checked off so many boxes for me! It’s got telepathic priests, messed up familial relationships, plenty of action, and, to top it all off, it doesn’t shy away from body horror. Some scenes were so visceral they left me squirming in my seat. Overall, this was a stellar debut that sets Aragon on the map of authors to look out for. Thank you, NetGalley and DAW, for providing me with an ARC.

The Eye of Leviathan by M.A. Carrick delivers an interesting spin on faeries that I haven’t seen before. Set in an alternate Spanish Golden Age, fae are trying to avoid prosecution from the Spanish Inquisition. Discovered faeries are stripped of their wings since they are a “blasphemy” against angels. The author also takes the Spanish Age of Exploration and expands it onto the Spaniards trying to conquer all of the faerie realms as well. I thought this was a clever blend of fantasy, religion, and history. Moreover, Estevan is a really fascinating MC. He’s an ancient fae trapped in the body of a human child, watching the world he knew drastically change around him. He’s forced to watch his own kin get persecuted as he tries to maintain his human disguise. I really got a sense of his confliction and turmoil. Him I actually I cared about. On the other hand, I found I wasn’t as invested in the mortal girl's storyline. The Hungry Girl is infuriatingly naïve, and the fae she’s living wi...

I’ve watched Cindy’s channel for years. I adore her hilarious reviews, so I'm sad to say that her debut novel fell short of my expectations. The Secret World of Briar Rose alternatives between two main timelines. We follow Amelia, the Sleeping Beauty-esque princess who is cursed to fall into an eternal slumber on her eighteenth birthday. On the other hand, there’s Corin, one hundred years in the future. She’s a jaded thief who falls into the princess’ dreams in search of her missing sister. I ultimately think the book is so preoccupied with creating fantastical dreamscapes that the character writing, plot, and everything else falls to the wayside. For instance, Amelia and Malicine’s dynamics were like a watered-down version of the Maleficent movie without feeling earned. I also wish the worldbuilding had been fleshed out more—like there’s no sense of culture or customs to Gyldan. The time period is also vaguely ambiguous. It’s odd to have a quasi-medieval castle setting and then ...

Between the Rival Courts by Victoria Mier delivers an Arthurian retelling that teems with court intrigue, yearning, and characters who are doomed by the narrative. This book paints a nuanced portrait of Mordred. He’s a changeling knight who’s caught trying to straddle both the Fey Court and the Court of Camelot. All in the meanwhile, he’s also trying to prevent his own prophesized destiny: that he’ll end the age of mankind. He’s (understandably) emo about it. So often he’s portrayed as a villain, so it’s refreshing to get a more complex interpretation of him. It was also a delight to read the on page tension between him and Nyneve. She’s a fiery, crafty FMC, and the dynamics of their love/hate relationship was fantastic! Overall, this book is filled achingly beautiful prose and compelling characters who’ll tug at your heart strings. I highly recommend this book for fans of Arthurian legends and Welsh mythology. Now I’m bracing myself for the angst to come in the sequel. Thank you, Beh...

In  The Fox and the Devil  by Kiersten White, Van Helsing's daughter, Anneke, hunts down her father's murderer across Europe. Theoretically, a sapphic cat and mouse game sounds great! However, this one really dropped the ball for me. It turned out astonishingly dull for a murder mystery. I felt like there was a lack of tension, and I wish there was a stronger sense of danger toward the Anneke’s group. I would’ve also liked to have seen more of a push and pull between the two leads. Also, this might partly boil down to personal preference, but the writing style drove me up the wall. It’s told mostly in the first person present tense, which is a tense that is better suited for a contemporary thriller than a historical fantasy that’s supposed to be set during the Victorian period. Moreover, the author has a habit of favoring short, choppy sentences. You can take a look at this line of dialogue here: “No he didn’t. It was her. This woman. This Diavola. She killed him, and I found ...

The Swan's Daughter  by Roshani Chokshi weaves an enchanting fairytale that'll sweep you into a delightfully fantastical world. Here you’ll find a sentient castle, fallen clouds, a talking library wyvern, and veritas swans: shape-shifting swan maidens who can compel the truth with their song.  As the title suggests, the main story draws from swan maiden folklore—albeit with a bit of an  Ugly Duckling twist. Our main character, Demelza, is the youngest daughter of a diabolical wizard and an imprisoned swan maiden. She’s the only of her siblings without wings or a lovely singing voice. However, she must rely on her wits to assist a prince in finding a bride who won’t murder him.  I really enjoyed watching Demelza grow as a character and gain her own independence (learning how to fly with her own wings so to speak). I have one gripe about this book though. I feel like the author has a tendency to dump too much character backstory up front or give several-page long...

I'll start off this review by saying that I really adored the first two book in the series. Lostetter crafted fascinating villains and a really unique emotional-based magic system. However, my enjoyment for the third book, The Teeth of Dawn , was muddled by some bizarre narrative choices. I'm kind of baffled here. First off, the beginning of the book introduces us to a futuristic version of the world and a new set of characters that feel more like they belong more in a separate spin off series than the final book. In fact, I feel like the overall cohesion and pacing of the story would’ve worked better if these POVs had been removed entirely. Then when we actually do get back to our already established characters, apparently three years have passed since the happenings of the second book. The time skip felt jarring to me and really broke the continuity of the story. Overall, I feel like this book suffered from a lack of focus. It's the core characters of Krona, Thibault, and...

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling weaves a deliciously delirious descent into madness. The story centers around a besieged castle whose occupants are running out of food and are desperate for a miracle. However, when otherworldly visitors appear, claiming to be saints, the gifts they offer may come at a terrible price. It’s told through the lens of a heretical sorceress, a guilt-ridden knight, and a mysterious servant. There’s not a single weak POV in this story for me. Starling manages to craft compelling, morally gray characters facing impossible choices. I couldn’t help but feel invested in them. I absolutely devoured this book. It’s got cannibalism, alchemy, debauchery, and a garden made of fingernails. Oh, and did I also mention that it has toxic sapphics? It's like this book was concocted in a lab for weirdos like me. All in all, this book delivers a bizarre, medieval-esque fantasy that will make you feel like you've stepped into a Hieronymus Bosch painting. It’s a...

In  Fable for the End of the World , Ava Reid crafts an intriguing dystopian world. The inhabitants of Lower Esopus live in a flooded city where they must navigate by raft and take decontamination tablets to survive. Mutated wildlife roam the woods, and citizens who accumulate enough debt must participate in a deadly cat-and-mouse game called the Gauntlet. I also adored Melinoë as a character. She's an Angel—an augmented cyborg who's raised to be a weapon. However, she must grapple with the guilt of killing people and repeatedly have her memories erased (think along the lines of Bucky or Caleb). When she’s assigned to hunt a girl named Inesa in the Gauntlet, she becomes conflicted. However, it’s the relationship itself where the story falls apart for me. For someone who vehemently despises the government, I feel like Inesa is far too quick to trust her would-be assassin. Likewise, Melinoë is far too quick to discard all of her programming to protect Inesa. In essence, their ene...

Volatile Memory  by Seth Haddon is a queer sci-fi thriller that explores transness, personhood, and our relationship to our bodies in a beautiful, thought-provoking way.Bo First off, I really loved the concept of masks in this book. The biotech masks in this world grant different abilities depending on the type of mask (kind of like in Majora's Mask—albeit with a sci-fi twist). For instance, an ox mask will grant its user extra strength and a rabbit mask heightens your awareness and alerts you to danger. I’ve also got to applaud the author for taking artistic choices that pay off. The story is actually told from the perspective of the sentient mask, and it switches from I to you to we depending on how integrated the mask is with Wylla at the time. I felt like this works cleverly on a thematic level to show the two characters' growing connection with each other. All and all, this book turned out to be one one my favorite reads of the year. It’s an inventive and boldly honest sci...

The Devils  by Joe Abercrombie marks a significant departure from his previous works. Yes, the trademark witty banter is still there. However, this one feels more like a comedic romp than a grimdark fantasy, which I feel readers will either hate or adore. Unfortunately, I belong to the former camp. At first glance, the idea of an alternate history Europe with magic sounded cool. However, the type of humor in this book was just not my cup of tea. The story devolved into a lot of poop and fart jokes that killed any sense of stakes or danger. Ultimately, I found myself not caring what happened to the characters. They felt like they were more of a running gag than a complex, compelling character. We’re told over and over again that this is ragtag bunch of [insert joke about a geriatric vampire, a cutpurse princess, and a pompous magician here] that it becomes stale. This is such a shame since Abercrombie has created such interesting morally gray (or not-so-gray) characters before like ...

Th e Floating World  by Axie Oh weaves a spellbinding silkpunk fantasy that’s inspired by Korean legend and  Final Fantasy . I’m happy to say, this one did not disappoint. In her latest novel, Oh crafts a compelling cast of characters who tugged on my heartstrings. There’s Ren, an orphan who lives with a performance troupe while trying to conceal her powers. Then, on the other hand, there’s Sunho: an ex-soldier turned sword-for-hire who remembers little of his past. Their two paths collide when he’s tasked with tracking down a mysterious girl who lit up the sky. The world itself is equally as interesting. Beneath a floating city in the sky lies the Under World, a city that’s plunged in darkness. To light their city, they mine a toxic ore, which creates devastatingly unintended consequences. However, this book wasn’t completely without flaws. I think my biggest issue was the pacing. The fight scenes were a cool mix of martial arts and unique weapons (like there’s a really fun t...

Grave Empire by Richard Swan brings an exciting new flintlock fantasy filled with mad science, muskets, and vicious mer-men. This series takes place a few hundred years after the events of Empire of the Wolf . However, I feel like it’s still accessible to newcomers and could be read as a standalone series. I’ve got to say, hands down, my favorite storyline had to be Peter’s. He’s a disgraced officer who is assigned to a remote military outpost where he hears strange weeping at night and a mysterious entity is picking off the men one by one. His sections felt wonderfully atmospheric and gothic and almost reminded me of The Island of Doctor Moreau . The worldbuilding itself is well-fleshed out and fascinating. The Sovan Empire is on the cusp of industrial revolution. Magick has largely been prohibited (save for the Corps of Engineers who are allowed to practice thaumaturgy). The author even goes through the pains of creating in-world languages, so when culturally specific words from our...

When thirteen strangers are teleported to a mysterious tower, they must work together in order to navigate deadly traps and puzzles. The Way Up is Death by Dan Hanks delivers a propulsive, genre-bending thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. I’ve got to say, this is a multi-facetted read. On one hand, it’s an entertaining book that pokes fun at influencers and modern culture. On the other hand, there’s a definite horror undercurrent as well. I absolutely loved the unsettling, every-changing architecture of the tower that seemed to respond to the characters, forcing them to face their inner demons. In a way, this reminded a bit of Silent Hill or the movie Escape Room (2019)—where the environment is a reflection and manifestation of its visitor’s mind, which allows for a deeper psychological look into its characters. Overall, I feel like if you’re a fan of video games, complicated group dynamics, and cosmic horror with heart, you’ll have a good time with this one. Thank you, Net...

We Are the Beasts  by Gigi Griffis introduces a new historical horror inspired by the Beast of Gévaudan. As a total history nerd, the premise sounded intriguing. I was all on board to love this book. However, it’s spoiled by a bizarrely modern narrative voice and shoddy technical writing. For starters, the story is supposed to take place during the mid-1700s, and yet the writing is choppy and feels like it belongs more to a contemporary comedy. It’s filled with modern phrases like “not today, Satan. I’m not sure if the author was trying to appeal to a younger audience, but it felt so tonally off and completely took me out of the story. The author also continually begins sentences with “And.” While this is grammatically incorrect, I’m fine with authors occasionally splitting conjunctive clauses to create emphasis and for artistic effect. However, the author abuses this technique to the point that it loses its impact and disrupts the flow of the writing. Overall, I appreciate that th...

After angels raze the once-dazzling city of Azril to the ground, the demon Vitrine tries to rebuild her city as an exiled angel seeks her forgiveness. The City in Glass  by Nghi Vo is a beautiful gem of a novel—written with evocative, vivid prose that brings the city of Azril and its inhabitants to life. It’s a richly imaginative and heartfelt story about immortality, grief, and forbidden love. The demons in this world are grounded and sentimental, and you can’t help but feel for Vitrine. This is a sweeping tale that covers the course of centuries. Due to this nature, the pacing can be slow at times. It’s the true definition of a slowburn. However, if you’re in the mood for a quieter, more contemplative fantasy, this one will hit the spot. Thank you, NetGalley and Tortotdom, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

  The premise itself for  Metal from Heaven  by August Clarke is barrel of rip-roaring fun. It’s a gun-slinging, industrial revolution-inspired book that explores worker exploitation—albeit with a magical twist. However, all these stellar concepts unfortunately get watered down by shoddy execution. On a technical level, the writing quality was terribly inconsistent for me. The action sequences are awkward and clunky at times and riddled with comma splices. For instance, take a look at the following passage: "A man scrambled from his booth and threw himself across the gap, but the train lurched, his ankle twisted, he slipped and was caught just before gravity stole him by a second enforcer, who tossed him down in the second car, strode across him as she advanced on the bandits, but she’d lowered her weapon to catch him and had no time to ready it again." For a fast-paced action sequence, there is no artistic reason for this section to contain so many conjunctive clauses or...

Highschooler Andrew Perrault finds solace in the twisted fairy tales he writes, and his closest friend, Thomas Rye, brings his stories to life by illustrating them. Literally. Their lives are uprooted when they make the horrifying discovery that their creations are coming to life. Now the boys find a way to destroy the source of the monsters before they kill everyone they love. Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews weaves a modern-day fairytale filled with achingly beautiful prose and thorns. Honestly, the writing is biting and had me hooked from the first page to the very last. All in all, if you enjoy books filled with angst, longing, and tight-bonds (in the vein of The Raven Boy s or Your Blood, My Bones ), I cannot recommend this book enough. Thank you, NetGalley and ‎Feiwel & Friends, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

From the author of  If We Were Villains  comes  Graveyard Shift , a new horror mystery novella. The story centers around an insomniatic group of night workers who stumble across a freshly dug grave, and, over the span of a single night, they try to uncover its secrets. I found the characters themselves to be fun and engaging and we get some crumbs of fantastic body horror, but the plot itself is threadbare. Granted, novellas can be a tricky length to tackle, and, clocking at only 144 pages, this book feels more like the barebones of a plot idea than a proper story. It feels incomplete. I wish it had been fleshed out and developed further because, as it stands, many questions go half-answered and the abrupt ending may leave readers unsatisfied. Thank you, Netgalley and ‎Flatiron Books, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lorelei Kaskel is a surly folklorist who is sent as a part of an expedition team to find the fabled source of all magic. However, when her mentor is mysteriously murdered aboard their ship, Lorelei must reluctantly team up with the beautiful naturalist Sylvia von Wolff to find the killer before they strike again. I was really looking forward to A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft. It was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year, so I’m sad to say that this book turned out to be yet another milquetoast disappointment. This book was pitched a story as a sapphic rivals-to-lovers dark academia, but there isn’t any rivalry to be found. What I got instead was Lorelei throwing petty, high-school grade insults at Sylvia because she doesn't approve of her hand-own research approach. There are no compelling reasons and personal history of bad blood to justify Lorelai's animosity toward Sylvia, so their initial dynamics feel juvenile and shallow to me. There’s also a weird...