Month: October 2024

The Reckoning (Zodiac Academy #3) by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti

Posted on October 21, 2024 by - Book Review

Well, this was the one that broke the camel’s back. I’m done with this series taking up any more of my time, and I have no earthly idea why this series got popular.

I was really hoping, by book three, that some sort of writing improvement might have started to develop. No dice. Ms. Peckham and Ms. Valenti could really benefit from having an editor look at their work. Books one, two, and three could have been a single novel with some moderately decent pacing instead of clones of one another. All of this shit and each book covers the span of about a week each?!?!

I know that the intention is to make Tory and Darcy seem like progressive strong young women, but there is far too much willing subjugation for that to hold any water. The flingy flip-flopping over the Heirs is just so incredibly cringe. These aren’t much more than re-hashings of the Gor books.

I’ve been told that the later books “get better,” but I wonder what the bar is. I won’t be finding out because I’ve already wasted far too much time on this drivel.

Such promise squandered on shitty writing, shitty character development, and a total lack of pacing. I’m sure the fan-fic is far superior to the source material.

Ruthless Fae (Zodiac Academy #2) by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti

Posted on October 18, 2024 by - Book Review

My god, why do I keep reading these books. I was really hoping for a bit of an improvement from the first book, but that just didn’t happen. If anything, the ridiculous extremes from the first book magnified here. The heirs are still dicks, only now they are just that much more dickish! The poor Vega twins are still rattled and confused and slide right into their victim roles despite showing slight sign of the toughness and independence they claim they are based in.

I think what bugs me the most about this series is the pacing. I churn through loads of pages, but barely any time passes, and nothing really goes on. Half of this book could have ended up on the editor’s floor (I’m making a bold assumption that there was an editor at all), and the story would have been unaffected.

Ahh, but this book does have something that the first doesn’t: more violence against women, more role manipulation, more racism, and more inappropriate posturing.

I honestly don’t know if I’m going to be able to make it through this entire series. If it wasn’t for the other books that I’m reading concurrently, I would have already abandoned this folly. At this point, I guess all I have to look forward to is seeing if it’s the Vegas or heirs who crack first, and to see who dies (someone better die).

Lightfall (The Everlands Trilogy #1) by Ed Crocker

Posted on October 15, 2024 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

Lightfall is a book about vampires, werewolves and sorcerers. In fact, it might be the most innovated novel about vampires, werewolves and sorcerers that I’ve read in decades, and I do not say that lightly.

Mr. Crocker has managed to create a world of immortals and make the reader worry about their humanity. This book really tilts everything with its politics and hierarchy plays. That this is Mr. Crocker’s first novel is even more amazing. Some authors just have the gift right out the gate.

The city of Lightfall is a fallback haven for the vampires who were basically chased out of their primary city of First Light by the very mysterious Grays. Blood determines the rules, and if you are nobility, you have access to the powerful blood, and if you are a worn, you get basic stuff that causes you to show age over time. Nobody leaves Lightfall in fear of being killed by the Grays.

One problem, though. The city’s ruler’s youngest son is murdered, and by some ingenuity, and a lot of luck, palace maid Sam finds the only substantial clue. What entails pulls in a magic-less sorcerer cult, an apex predator werewolf, and a whole lot of mystery and intrigue.

This book is super high on my best books of the year list, and it doesn’t even come out until January 2025! The way Mr. Crocker has written each character’s point of view is masterful, and the worldbuilding is absolutely top notch. It’s been a very long time since someone brought something this dynamic to the genre without it falling back on cliche. This is a novel that came to me out of left field and I could not be happier.

Let me just tell you that the last quarter of Lightfall is an insane roller coaster that had me guffawing and gasping with each turn of the page. I absolutely cannot wait for book number two, and I will be giving many friends “raincheck” Christmas presents so I can get this in their hands come January.