books by review

 The Light of All that Falls by James Islington Choice is meaningless without consequences, and a privilege we do not deserve if we will not face them. Now thissssss is how you DO time travel!! What the heck, James, that was amazing!  So obviously 10/10 I loved this book and the ending to the Licanius Trilogy, so much so that while I was reading that last 40 pages of this book and waiting for my pizza to cook, I let my pizza burn instead of putting it down for even a moment! I was shook at the ending, heck I was shook in the middle, James really had fun with the time travel and shape shifting aspect of these characters powers and I am here for it . I loved these characters the entire story, I loved the plot, who intricate everything was, the amazing world building that Islington did here was amazing! This is just a great example of epic fantasy to me.  He took the ending-of-the-world-as-we-know-it trope and gave is a fresh spin, I don't want to give too much away here, so...

 The Echo of Things to Come by James Islington The lesser of two evils, or the greater good. Get a good man to utter either of those phrases and there is no one more eager to begin perpetrating evil. The second installment of the Licanius Trilogy did not disappoint. Davian, Asha, and Wir are back, cleaning up the messes that the wave of the blind and almost collapse of the boundary that separates them and the unknown beyond. Wir is left fighting for his position in the country, Davian finally escapes North to the boundary with a team of augurs under a new amnesty that allows them to use Kan as the gifted uses essence, hopefully to fix the boundary, while Asha is thrown into the middle. Caeden's sudden disappearance after winning the battle against the soldiers known as the blind that escaped the boundary into the south, took him back to his past. A man, another immortal being who seemed to know Caeden was waiting for him and helped begin to unlock the memories of who Caeden really ...

 One Foot in the Fade By Luke Arnold You cannot fight for peace. You must give into it. You must let go.   Here we have the third installment of Fetch Phillips adventures, written into existence by Luke Arnold. I have to be honest, for the first two books, in my head, the main characters name was 'Fletch' not 'Fetch', so now that I know the main characters name, I feel like I can give an honest review.  Again, the cover is really cool and this blue is fantastic, but the story itself, not so much. That's not saying it was bad, but just tired and too similar to the other installments in the series. This felt like book number 2, something that just bridges book 1 and book 3, and thats it. It didn't add huge amounts of substance. I feel that this either is leading to the last book, or Arnold is trying to 'Nancy Drew' it and make as many novels in this vein as possible.  It was the same fast paced adventure that the other books had, but some things happened t...

 Babel by R. F. Huang "English did not just borrow words from other languages; it was stuffed to the brim with foreign influences, a Frankenstein vernacular. And Robin found it incredible, how this country, whose citizens prided themselves so much of being better than the rest of the world, could not make it through an afternoon tea without borrowed goods" -  Babel.     Yes that is a long quote to start with, but this book deserves it. I don't joke when I say, that this book helped me understand the world better. I saw myself, people I know, and the world from a zoomed out view. R. F. Huang made me an ant and let me look at the world through a telescope. I loved it.          Robin  Swift was the perfect protagonist for this story, it wouldn't and couldn't have been done as powerfully with any other  character. Robin Swift is gentle, smart, and eager to please those who look after him. He was a survivor, and he hie behind that idea o...

 Circe By Madeline Miller Bold action and bold manner are not the same.      I read this as a sort of pallet cleanser in-between two more challenging or in depth stories, and it served its purpose for sure! Another greek mythology ready, but more mythology-y than than its other siblings  The Song of Achilles .  I have to say I was inspired to read is because I'd been listing to the Epic Musical and this book had some of those characters in this book, so fun cross-over there.  I enjoyed this read but the whole time thought I felt like I was still waiting for the story to start. When Circe was banished to Aiaia, I thought "oh finally, the story its picking up", but then I still was left wondering what the point was, why Madeline Miller was writing this story like this, but then it dawned on me. Why are any books written? To tell a story, and this is just Circe's story, so I was happy to kinda go with the flow from that point on....

 The Friend Scheme by Cale Dietrich I'm going to give him the power to destroy me. I guess thats what love is.     The Friend Scheme, the second novel by Cale Dietrich, was a very cute read. Cute is the best word I can use to describe it, in all of its early teens flirting and first dates, mixed in with a sprinkling of and underground crime world, and Romero and Juliet almost, glory. We follow Matthew Miller, whose father is head of one of the biggest crime families in Florida. Matthew never fit in with the crime family, not like his older brother, Luke, who took to it like a match to dry grass. Besides that, Luke and Matt actually have a cute brotherly relationship, Luke knows his brother is more gentle and looks out for him throughout the whole story.      Matt has known he likes boys for years, but hadn't acted on it, so never really came out to anyone. That was until, at one of his families meetings, he meets a boy. Someone he's never seen b...

 The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington      You can put your trust in something that's obvious, thats measurable, or predictable - that's not faith. Nor is believing in something that gives you no pause for doubt, no reason or desire to question. Faith is something more than that. By definition, is cannot have proof as its foundation.      Where to even begin with this story. It's an epic fantasy, with great world building and magic that is similar to the all famous Force in  Star Wars . It's packed with characters but everyone of them play unique parts, the first being the main character Davian, who goes from being a not-so-ordinary student into a Kan prodigy. The two types of 'magic' in this book are the gifted who can channel  Essence, which is the life in all living things, such as the water in grass, the warmth from the sun, and soul of a person, used by the Gifted. The second type is call...