A+ | There aren’t enough words in any language that I can speak — English, Tagalog, and German — that can describe how much I adored this book. It is simply spectacular, beautiful, lush, and stupendous. It is a million times these words. Elizabeth Lim’s writing shines and there is no rest in this novel. Maia is absolutely my favorite protagonist, hands down. And I didn’t think I would love Lady Sarnai more than I did in the last novel. It is everything I want in a book, but especially everything I want to see in a sequel/conclusion to a series.
This is a spoiler-free review as part of the Caffeine Book Tours #UnravelTheDuskTour. Make sure to check out the details for the international giveaway below!
A+/A | A mesmerizing, rich foundational novel dedicated to worldbuilding an introducing the characters, Rin Chupeco’s The Bone Witch envelops you in Tea’s world, in Tea’s story, and in Tea herself . It lays the groundwork through the intricate worldbuilding and to the characters that live and thrive in the world. It is almost like a villain’s origin story — focused solely on establishing who Tea is, the world around her, the people around her, and the magic she wields. Despite there being no plot, this is moot when compared to just how masterfully Rin builds up this world and hooks you to it and its stories.
It’s always hard writing reviews for books that I absolutely adore because I never know where to start and how to stop myself from rambling on and on about the book.
This is one of those times.
From the very first page until the last, I was hooked. With every page and every POV character I met, I fell for this book. It has everything I want in a fantasy novel: compelling POV characters, a lush universe filled with life, magic, and history, a really cool magic system, romances that didn’t feel forced, representation, and a super interesting premise that was well executed.
This book honestly left me hungry for more. Hell, I devoured this book. Had it not been for nursing school and the fact that I had 3 exams coming up, I would have finished this book the day I started it.
A+ | A beautifully rich and addictive fantasy novel that has everything I could want in a book: magic, a protagonist and a deuteragonist who I can connect with and who have solid characterizations and development, side characters that are well developed and whom you can fall in love with too, a super well developed romance that is so utterly believable and that I completely supported, on point writing that grips you from start to finish, a world full of wonder and spectacular imagery, and a plot that is fully fleshed out and refuses to let you go even at the end.
A- | A provocative, heart-wrenching book that documents the brave women who fought for their lives against major corporations who cared little for anything else except for the profits being made by the radioactive substance, radium. “Lip, dip, paint”. These women shined bright thanks to radium, but they also suffered its poisonous consequences after ingesting the paint containing the radioactive substance. This book goes into the girls’ lives, smiles, struggles, pain, suffering, and then eventual deaths. It is not for the faint of heart, but this book should be required reading in US History courses.
A+ | A wonderful, well written biography about Turhan Sultan who became de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire. This book gives you an insight to Turhan Sultan’s life as well as her architectural patronage — one of the big indicators of her power and prestige. It goes into how she used her building projects to not only make a name for herself, but also to spread a message to her son and to the people. This book is absolutely well worth the read for any history student or causal history lovers.
A+ | A short, provocative work documenting Hisashi Ouchi’s intense medical treatment. It doesn’t hold back with its descriptions and images of what happened to Ouchi’s body after the criticality accident in Tokaimura. There is nothing that can prepare you for this book because short as this book may be, it’s unrelenting in speaking the truth about what happened to this poor man.
I started this book right after I finished Midnight in Chernobyl. Since I’m a forgetful nerd, I forgot who/where I found out about this book, but I’m grateful to have found it.
A+ | A spectacular and solid fantasy novel that has everything I love: magic, a protagonist I can connect with, side characters that feel human, a romance that is actually believable and developed rather than shoved down my throat, an actual journey.
Where do I begin?
This book is marketed as Mulan meets Project Runway. However, it’s so much more than that. Yes, it has elements of both with the whole taking her father’s place after an imperial summons and the competition to design clothes. However, about 30% of the way in, it shifts to another direction – our protagonist, Maia, is sent on this impossible journey to craft three mythological dresses that had once been made for a goddess. She’s joined by the endearing Edan, the Emperor’s Enchanter. It has elements of The One Thousand and One Nights/The Arabian Nights and imperial China mixed into the fray.
So I read this book a while back in December 2018 (it's June 2019 now) and while I was updating my write.as, I realized that I never finished writing the review. However, my opinion still stands. Still, since it has been a while and I only got so far in my original review, I'm going to try to keep this nice and short.
A/A- | This book is solid. It maintains that Fatal Frame-esque feel that I love but also brings more meat that I had been looking for from the first book.
I tend to read books I love really fast because I just engulf them. I can't help it. I would stay up all night to finish a good book. The Suffering is that book. I could not put this book down. Rin's writing has a way of gripping onto you and never letting you go.
So I read this book a while back in December 2018 (it's June 2019 now) and while I was updating my write.as, I realized that I never finished writing the review. However, my opinion still stands. Still, since it has been a while and I only got so far in my original review, I'm going to try to keep this nice and short.
A/A- | This book is solid. It maintains that Fatal Frame-esque feel that I love but also brings more meat that I had been looking for from the first book.
I tend to read books I love really fast because I just engulf them. I can't help it. I would stay up all night to finish a good book. The Suffering is that book. I could not put this book down. Rin's writing has a way of gripping onto you and never letting you go.
