Review: West Heart Kill

West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for gifting me a pre-release copy. Below you'll find my honest review.

I'm really torn on how to rate this one, because it's absolutely unique and brilliant in its own right, but some of that uniqueness turned it sour for me.

I liked the characters - it felt very much like an old-timey, Agatha Christie era murder mystery story. I liked that the characters weren't really all that likeable half the time, even the detective, and I liked that there were a lot of twists in who people really were on the inside.

I liked the mystery - a death, another death, another death, they just kept coming. I liked that one of those deaths was completely and entirely unexpected for me and subverted my expectations.

I liked the unique style choices the author made - at one point, the novel becomes a screenplay, which was a very clever and interesting way to show the scenes.

BUT, all of that being said, the non-stop style choices, the swaps between tenses, the jumping into lessons on the history of mystery writing, the charming-at-first bits about how the reader interacts with the story and has certain assumptions/guesses/etc.... these things all became tedious and distracting. Every few pages, you're pulled out of the story for another aside, and after a while, it just became hard to stay engrossed in the actual mystery.

Couple this with a highly unsatisfying ending, and I just couldn't say I loved it like I wanted to when I started. I still enjoyed the novelty and clever shtick for much of it, so I will give it a solid, yet average, three out of five stars.

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Review: The Innocent Sleep

The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and DAW for gifting me an early copy of this SECOND October Daye book releasing this year!

This one, best read immediately after SLEEP NO MORE, is the first full length novel in the series that isn't Toby's POV. It's Tybalt's POV, following the same events leading out of BE THE SERPENT.

We've been in Tybalt's head before, in some of the Patreon shorties and some of the freebies, but this one really gave us some deeper insights into our favorite King of Cats. We get to see his true feelings on the people around him, the people in their lives, whether friend, acquaintance, or begrudging ally.

While the end of this one is a quick recap of the end of SLEEP NO MORE (just through Tybalt's eyes), the rest was a glorious glimpse into the catman we love so much.

Yet again, McGuire finds a way to keep me on my toes waiting for the next one to come out. It's one series I really hope continues a long, long time.

As has become the trend lately, this one includes a novella that adds to the Octoberverse, this time from Helmi, Dianda's Cephali handmaiden, and jumps through time, tracing life in Saltmist from before Dianda's birth up until the events of SLEEP NO MORE/THE INNOCENT SLEEP. It's a cool peek into more of Saltmist and their traditions and peoples.

Highly recommended, but please do yourself the favor of reading the rest of the series first. You won't regret it.

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Review: Under the Smokestrewn Sky

Under the Smokestrewn Sky by A. Deborah Baker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for gifting me an early copy of this novel. Below you'll find my honest review.

I adore Seanan McGuire, and everything she writes is gold. This isn't my favorite of the Up-and-Under tales she's written as A. Deborah Baker to build up the lore for the Middlegame world, mostly because the end left me dissatisfied, but it was still a great story. There were a few obvious reveals, and some things that felt rushed in this one. There was just a little something more I was left wanting.

Overall, a fun little adventure tale in four parts that I still highly recommend for fans of Alice in Wonderland or the Tales of Oz, fairy tale worlds, and really creative characters. Four stars from me!

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Review: Long Past Dues

Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for the early copy of this one! Below you'll find my honest review.

The author has definitely honed his craft some more!!! This one was fantastic, and really delivered a solid plot, moving at just the right pace, with just the right reveals. It continues some of the storylines set up in book one, pushing them forward and leaving just enough threads dangling for you to know there's more to come without the plot of *this one* feeling unfinished.

The villain in this one was clever. I figured it out early on, but didn't figure out the connections to the main and side plots, so that was a nice surprise.

I really like the character of Wudge. Wildly entertaining, that one. I also love how Grimsby fights for Mayflower as well. And Rayne's story from the first gets amped up in this one, too, as all the storylines head for a big crash into each other near the end.

Recommended for fans of urban fantasy, but please read book one first. :) Can't wait for book three!

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Review: An Inheritance of Magic

An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with an early copy. Below you'll find my honest review.

I'm really struggling to review and rate this one, as there were so many pros but a few big cons as well, so bear with me.

First, the good things: I liked the main character. I could relate to his struggles and his feelings of isolation and inadequacy. I also liked some of the other characters, especially the cat and the priest. I also loved the uniqueness of the world-building and the magic system. I felt by the end that I had a good grasp on it. I also loved the first 10% and the last 15% of the book.

Unfortunately, there were quite a few big issues I had with the book. It was a lot of world building but not much character building. Most of the characters felt underdeveloped and lacking depth. I also felt like the explaining of the magic system was a little repetitive, and in addition, from the 10% mark to the 85% mark, very little actually happened. Go Well hunting, build/try a new sigl, comment about needing money, repeat.

You know how Patricia Briggs started her Alpha & Omega series with a novella that felt full and complete, but was edited well and still built the characters and the world appropriately? I feel like this story was all setup without much payoff.

All in all, I like the world and the magic system, and I'll definitely read the next one to see what happens next and if, now that the world is developed, we get more out of book two.

Three stars. Recommended to fans of urban fantasy who like unique magic systems and rooting for the underdog. Not recommended for readers who don't like slow burns and lots of world building/quasi-info dumping.

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Review: Let Him In

Let Him In by William Friend
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for gifting me an early copy of this novel. (Well, early for the US!) Below is my honest review.

This novel had a great hook - grief, twins, lost parent/partner, mysterious entity. We never know what we can trust the whole time. Is Black Mamba real? Is he imaginary? Is he a demon? Are the girls making him up? It makes for a fun, compelling read, as events keep pushing Alfie, the twins' widowed father, and Julia, the twins' aunt, towards a confrontation with the thing known as Black Mamba... and each other.

All in all, I found it to be a hard to put down read. The short chapters are split by Julia and Alfie POVs, and we learn a little more of the story from each - both past and present - as things are slowly revealed. But each chapter makes you want to read just one more, which is the sign of a great book.

I did say, the ending didn't leave me fully satisfied, and I really wish that they'd kept the UK title ("Black Mamba") for the novel. Of course, it wasn't a bad ending... I just had felt so compelled to keep reading that when I got to the end, I wanted more.

All in all, four stars. Recommended for horror fans and fans of tales of grief and rebuilding.

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Review: Black River Orchard

Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Ballantine - Del Rey for gifting me an early copy of Chuck Wendig's Black River Orchard. Below you'll find my honest review.

If you're a fan of Stephen King, then I'm going to recommend you immediately get your hands on a copy of Black River Orchard. Chuck Wendig is an incredible writer, and some of his other novels have been very reminiscent of King, especially The Book of Accidents. But this one is a masterpiece, and comparing it to King is the highest praise I can think of for someone in the genre.

It starts with a slow burn - introducing the town, the characters, their histories, and of course, the apple. Obviously, you know the apple isn't going to be a good thing, and as you watch each character have their choice to take a bite, you pray they make the right decision.

As things heat up, and the apple's magic begins its work, the book goes directly into "almost impossible to put down" territory.

So go on, pick up this book and take a bite. You won't regret it... but beware the apple.

HIGHLY recommended.

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