Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.
Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate’s baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place in our world, or theirs.
My Review
“Do you really want to know where we come from?” she said. “In every century, in every country, they’ll call us something different. They’ll say we’re ghosts, angels, demons, elemental spirits, and giving us a name doesn’t help anybody. When did a name change what someone is?”
It’s been a while since I’ve gone back and gone over books I’ve read in the past. And seeing as June has been a rougher month for me in regards to reading, I thought it was time for another retrospective book review.
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff is something I’ve read quite some time ago, but it’s always been something I’ve enjoyed. And, as I’ve realized going back through it, something I still enjoy.
The simple truth is that you can understand the way you are. You can know and love and hate it. You can blame it, resent it, and nothing changes. In the end, you’re just a part of it.
Mackie Doyle 🪇 is our resident protagonist here, as well as our point-of-view character. He’s a little whiny and nervous at first, which is a little annoying, and is something I usually hate more often than not. But that wasn’t the case with this novel. I actually enjoyed following him and his story. I also enjoyed his character development. There’s a lot of interesting stuff regarding him and his identity that really kept the momentum going throughout the whole story. (This was a book that I found somewhat difficult to put down.)
Tate Stewart 🎱 is another one of our main characters, and features heavily throughout the novel. She’s my favorite character in the book. The feisty, determined kind of protagonist, but not in the annoying way that so many female protagonists are written like nowadays. There’s substance to her. I also loved how she didn’t take Mackie’s crap those times when he kind of started to angst/whine and would immediately set him straight. She and Mackie were pretty well balanced and cute together.
Emma Doyle 🌿 is Mackie’s sister, and a pivotal character in the novel. It’s because of her and her actions before and during the plot of the book that things ultimately turn out alright. She and Mackie had an excellent sibling bond.
The simple truth is that you can understand a town. You can know and love and hate it. You can blame it, resent it, and nothing changes. In the end, you’re just another part of it.
I also really enjoyed the plot 📖 of this book. Before I got the book, I looked into reviews, which is something I don’t always do. And when I looked at these reviews, some thought certain things were unclear about the story and the twist, but that’s definitely something I disagree with.
I think that it’s pretty obvious what’s going on in the town of Gentry, even from the beginning. And they basically spell it out in the climax, just without being too specific. But it’s still clear. I also really liked how the whole town was in denial about everything. This is a plot that’s heavily involved with the fae, but like the more lore accurate kind of fae, unlike in A Court of Thorns and Roses and all the romantasy books that spawned from it. And I loved how everything was handled.
I looked at the ground and the dark, drizzling sky and pretty much anyplace that wasn’t her. “I like you. A lot.” When I finally glanced at her, my face was hot and it was hard to keep looking.
She squinted up at me. Then she crossed her arms. “This is a really inappropriate place to be having this conversation.”
“I know. I like you anyway.”
Saying it a third time was like breaking some kind of spell. Her face went soft and far away.
“Don’t say that unless you mean it.”
“I don’t say anything I don’t mean.”
The romance 💘 was a bit of a slow-burn, but it was executed really well. I thought that Mackie and Tate worked really well as a couple – they felt like a team. I wish that books would do that more, romance so often doesn’t feel this way to me, and this is my favorite kind of romance.
I thought that the writing 📝 was also very good. I felt pretty immersed the whole way through, and as I mentioned earlier, it was a compelling read that I had a bit of difficulty putting down sometimes while reading. I also really liked the dialogue – I thought it was written well and felt very natural.
“What’s wrong?” His voice was loud, so sharp that he sounded angry.
I knew I should be careful, keep the secret, but I was too far gone to talk around it. My chest was working in huge spasms and I could barely breathe. “I kissed her.”
“And then you went into anaphylactic shock?”
I closed my eyes and let the rain patter against my face through the open window “She has her tongue pierced.”
And I still feel basically the same way about this stuff now. I really do think The Replacement is a solid YA fantasy novel with fantastic horror elements to it, that also has a great ending. I recommend it to those who like the other fairy lore that doesn’t tend to make it into the romantasy genre.
As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!
So yeah, this is really late. I enjoyed the vacation my spouse and I took earlier this month, but man did it push all of my posts back. Let’s get into my reading wrap-up for May 2025.
My reading in May was… okay. I know that I could’ve read more books, and a decent part of me wishes that I would’ve read more, but that didn’t end up happening. At least I read more than one novel, though.
Anyway, let’s just start talking about my StoryGraph statistics from last month!
May Reading 2025
I read 2 books and 662 pages
😐 MOODS: I had five Moods in May, which is more than the month before. The Moods from this past month were: Adventurous, Lighthearted, Hopeful, Funny and Emotional.
👢 PACE: The two books I read last month both had different pacing. One was fast-paced and the other was medium-paced.
🔢 PAGE NUMBER: The novels I read last month were between 325 and 336 pages.
📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction. As usual.
🎭 GENRES: There were three Genres in the books I read in May. They were: Fantasy, Middle Grade and Romance.
📄 FORMAT: This pie chart was surprisingly correct once again. I didn’t even have to meddle with it this time, either! All of the novels I read last month were on my physical copies.
⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 3.5, as I rated the two books I read 3.25 and 3.75 stars.
📉 PAGES READ DAILY: My reading for May was really up and down. I didn’t really start off that great, but I finally started reading my first novel of the month around the 11th and finished it around the 16th. I started reading the second book on the 27th and finished it on the 31st. My highest reading peak was the 30th.
So yeah, this is late and last month I could’ve done better. I’m hoping that the rest of June will either be better than May, or that I’ll do as well as last month.
Right now the stuff on my immediate TBR consists of The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah and A Spell for Change by Nicole Jarvis. I’m still not sure which one I’m going to read next. There are also a couple of new June releases that I’m interested in, so I might actually read one of them first. We’ll see what happens.
I also do want to get back into buddy-reading One Piece with my spouse, but they have a bit of a TBR pile of their own at the moment, and I don’t think I’ll have time in June. Hopefully we’ll get back into it before the end of the summer, though. And as for blogging and blog posts, I’m just gonna keep doing what I’ve been doing.
Anyway, as always, thank you for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my May reading in 2025. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!
PUBLISHER: Knopf Books for Young Readers (originally published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
RELEASE DATE: 10 September 2024 (originally publication date 14 September 2023)
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR • A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND SHELF AWARENESS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
The day that Christopher saved a drowning baby griffin from a hidden lake would change his life forever.
It’s the day he learned about the Archipelago—a cluster of unmapped islands where magical creatures of every kind have thrived for thousands of years, until now. And it’s the day he met Mal—a girl on the run, in desperate need of his help.
Mal and Christopher embark on a wild adventure, racing from island to island, searching for someone who can explain why the magic is fading and why magical creatures are suddenly dying. They consult sphinxes, battle kraken, and negotiate with dragons. But the closer they get to the dark truth of what’s happening, the clearer it becomes: no one else can fix this. If the Archipelago is to be saved, Mal and Christopher will have to do it themselves.
Katherine Rundell’s story crackles and roars with energy and delight. It is brought vividly to life with more than 60 illustrations, including a map and a bestiary of magical creatures.
My Review
“I think… wherever you are, the needle points you home.”
Impossible Creatures is a solid middle grade fantasy-adventure novel. The characters are diverse, interesting and likeable. The world of the Archipelago is lush and vibrant with life. And the art spread throughout this book is absolutely beautiful.
Christopher Forrester 🗺️ and Mal Arvorian 🧭 are our two protagonists. And I think that they complement each other out rather well. They’re both curious and bursting with a need for adventure, as well as courageous, intelligent and kind. Christopher was a good audience surrogate, and Mal was a good way to exposit the world building of the novel. I also enjoyed the characters that traveled with the protagonists Nighthand ⛵and Irian 📔 as well the creatures that traveled with the group.
The creatures were one of the biggest highlights of the book. The sphinxes and kraken were probably the most intriguing of them all, but my favorites were al-mirajes, the ratatoskas, the kankos and hippocamps. Also the glowing cat. And I always like mermaids and nereids. Ratwin the ratatoska 🌊 was a cool and I really liked how often she popped up in the novel. Gelifen the baby griffin 🪶 was also cute.
“And that’s the magic? The glimourie?”
“Glimourie, aye. Or glamarie, some of the islanders call it. Glawmery, glamry, glim, glimt. It’s all the same: it’s the name they give the first magic. Long ago, it was everywhere.”
I thought that the story of Impossible Creatures was pretty good. It wasn’t my favorite part of the book, but I think it was just fine for a middle grade novel. There were a few standout moments for me and a couple “twists” that got me – in that they weren’t actually twists but I thought they would be, so they ended up surprising me. I kind of figured out all of the actual twists though, and I thought that they were a little too obvious. To me. But they probably wouldn’t be for the actual target audience of this book, so I think they’re actually fine.
I also thought some of the character motivations were a bit unrefined and that the characters got attached to each other a little too fast. It felt like the author was rushing to get to certain points, and was speedrunning certain things in order to get there. I felt that the second half of the book was also much stronger than the first.
I also thought some of the character motivations were a bit unrefined and that the characters got attached to each other a little too fast. It felt like the author was rushing to get to certain points, and was speedrunning certain things in order to get there. I felt that the second half of the book was also much stronger than the first. The climax and ending were really good, though.
I’m kind of half-and-half on the writing here. On the one hand, the author definitely has some experience and some of the prose reflects this. On the other hand, I thought some of the dialogue was stilted and unnatural, and there were a lot of weird metaphors, some of which I thought didn’t really make sense.
Some sentences have the power to change everything. There are the usual suspects: I love you, I hate you, I’m pregnant, I’m dying, I regret to tell you that this country is at war. But the words with the greatest power to create both havoc and marvels are these:
“I need your help.”
The artwork, including the cover and the interior illustrations, was probably my favorite part of the novel. It’s just… so good. The cover is vibrant and colorful, and the actual hardcover itself beneath the book jacket is also very nice – nicer than most other hardcover books I’ve seen in a while. Like, it’s not just one color, there’s a bit of embellishment to it. The red sprayed edges are also nice, and complement the book well, whether the book jacket is on or off.
And of course, the interior illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. As much as I like to imagine myself what everything looks like, I always enjoy pictures and art of it within the book just as much. Also, there’s an awesome map inside as well – and it’s also the inside cover pages!
I also wanted to highlight the bestiary. I love it when books have bestiaries and appendices and stuff like that, especially when they’re well done. And this book has a good bestiary. Seeing pictures of what almost all of the creatures looked like was really awesome.
“For instance: consider the greatest riddle of all-what you should do with your one brief life? The answer is different for each person. There is no neat answer, though many have tried to offer one. There are no answers to being alive. There are only strong pieces of advice.”
All in all, however, I think that Impossible Creatures was a pretty decent book, a good middle grade novel and a solid start to a new series. I definitely recommend it to its target audience, as well as those who enjoy middle grade fantasy-adventure books with great art. The sequel is also coming out later this year, so now is the perfect time to read it.
Anyway, as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!
Hey there everyone! It’s been a couple of weeks since I last participated in Top Ten Tuesday!
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is Ways in Which My Blogging/Review Style Has Changed. By the looks of the prompt, I’m pretty sure you can either talk about how your blogging has changed, how you’ve changed how you write reviews, or both. So I’ve decided to go with both. I’m gonna try to go back and forth with my top ten list.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get going!
#1: My Featured Image Graphics for Weekly Wrap-Ups
I used to do more colorful thumbnails/featured images for my Weekly Wrap-Up posts, and honestly, more colorful thumbnails/featured images in general. But after I came back from my break from doing Weekly Wrap-Ups, I decided to redesign my thumbnails/featured images for the post to match the coloration of my blog more. I also made it look… nicer I guess, and gave it a bit more elegant flair.
#2: My Featured Image Graphics for Book Reviews
I’ve also changed my thumbnail/featured image style for when I do book reviews. This one has actually gone through a few iterations, since I first started the blog about two and a half years ago. At first, I attempted to do catchy titles, but they were usually too long and didn’t work super well with SEO, so I put the catchy title in the thumbnail/featured image instead. I’d also put a close up of the book’s cover of the novel that I was reviewing in the background. Eventually though, I kind of got tired of this format and completely overhauled the whole thing, and my new thumbnail/featured image for book reviews matches the coloration of my blog, clearly states it’s a book review and mimics the font of the title on the book cover.
#3: The Original Posts That I’ve Created and Stuck With
I’ve created a few original posts on my blog, though I haven’t really stuck with them. Bewitching Book Covers was actually the first original post I created, and was formerly known as Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays. The post focuses on book covers that I like, and it’s specifically where I gush about them and then attempt to analyze them. Then, I got tired of trying to commit the post to a specific day of the week, and renamed it so it wouldn’t be weird to post it on a specific day.
I have a couple of other posts that I’ve created since I’ve been blogging. One of these is Popular Books That I’ve Read Never: where I highlight books I’ve never read, don’t plan on reading and why I don’t think I’ll ever read them. Another post that I’ve created but haven’t stuck with was Reading & Recipes: a post where I go over a recipe to something I cooked or baked recently and also do an update about what I read the day I made that recipe.
#4: The Way I Organize the Content in My Book Reviews
This has changed quite a few times since I first started the blog. At first, I kind of spat out my entire review in one huge several-paragraphs-long chunk. Soon after that, though, I’d add a quote I enjoyed from the novel I was reviewing occasionally throughout in order to break up the review a bit.
Eventually, I started breaking up the review even more and I’d talk about specific things from the book – characters, plot, romance, writing – in a specific order complete with headings separating all these sections. At this time, I also started posting the quotes I liked at the end of the review, rather than spread throughout.
Now I’ve gone back to threading favored quotes throughout my reviews again, and unless the book review is longer or it’s a book series review, I tend to leave out the headings dividing the sections of stuff from the book that I discuss in my reviews (characters, plot, etc). Who knows, maybe I’ll go back to distributing headings to sections again eventually.
#5: The Frequency of Specific Posts
I used to try to do a post of all the weekly/monthly posts I created/participated in every week/month, but I’d burn out. So I decided it was far less stressful and much more sustainable to just do them when I felt like it. I also dropped a few posts.
#6: The Weekly/Monthly Posts I Participate In Have Changed a Little
As I just mentioned above, I had created several posts that I used to try to make regular and recurring. I’d do the same thing with every single weekly/monthly post I found and liked. But, as I also mentioned, it just wasn’t sustainable for me, so I had to pick and choose which ones I’d drop.
This wasn’t particularly hard for me to do or anything, as I just kind of naturally stopped doing posts I wasn’t as into. It’s just interesting to me which posts I’ve stuck with, which posts I haven’t and which posts have gone and come back later.
I used to do W.W.W. Wednesdays often, but when I brought Weekly Wrap-Ups back I felt it was redundant, so I stopped doing it. I tried both Spell the Month in Books for a while, before stopping Spell the Month in Books entirely. Something similar happened with Top Ten Tuesdays, as I paused it for a couple of months where I spent time considering whether I wanted to continue with it or not, ultimately deciding to keep with it. And of course Weekly Wrap-Ups left for almost a year before I brought them back. It’s just interesting to me what posts I’ve done throughout my years with this blog.
#7: The Way I Post About New Books Coming Out Soon That I’m Interested In
The format of this post hasn’t changed at all since I started it almost two years and four months ago, but the frequency of it has. I used to do this post quarterly and list and highlight books releasing in the next few months that interested me. But at the beginning of this year I decided to do this monthly instead. And so far, it’s been great – I’ve been loving it.
#8: How Much of My Life Outside Blogging and Reading I Share
I am, and always have been, a very private and introverted individual. This is especially true with how I treat my online persona; I’ve tried my best to obscure my name, age and gender and the names, ages and genders of my loved ones and aquainteinces. I’ve never been comfortable sharing about things in my “real life” beyond this blog and in regards to reading, both because I’m very private about things like that and she to paranoia.
But, in the last few months or so, I’ve decided to be a little bit – just a little bit! – more open about a few things I do outside the blog in my “real life” as well as share a few more of my interests beyond reading and books. I don’t think I’m ever gonna do more beyond this, though. I’m just too private and paranoid and the Internet is scary.
#9: I No Long Post or Reference Everything I Do On My Blog On Instagram
I used to do an Instagram – or Bookstagram – post for every post I did on this blog, save for Weekly Wrap-Ups I believe. Eventually, I started to think that it might be cluttered up my Instagram, so I decided to just do Bookstagram posts on my book reviews, book tags, book hauls, Monthly Reading Wrap-Ups and book pictures I’d take for Instagram posts specifically.
#10: I Generally Post Less Often Than I Used To
This is just something that I’ve noticed has happened. I used to post something almost every day for the first several months after starting this blog, but as the months wore on I started to get burnt out by this. Now, I try to do a Weekly Wrap-Up as well as three or four additional posts of any type every week, and try to give myself about two days off from blogging. Frequently, I end up posting less than this, however, and it kind of annoys me almost every time it happens. I wanna do four to five posts a week, dammit!
How has your blogging style changed if it’s changed at all? How has the way you do your reviews changed if it’s changed at all? What do you think might change about your blogging or review style in the future?
As always, thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you have an amazing day/night!
I’m posting this a bit later than I wanted, but it’s sooner than last month, so I’m taking it as a win. Let’s get into my reading wrap-up for April 2025.
So far, April is the best I’ve been with reading books, so I’m therefore the happiest I’ve been all year with my reading. I know I can still do better, though, and would’ve still liked to have read an additional novel or two than the three books I ended up reading.
Anyway, let’s just start talking about my StoryGraph statistics from last month!
April Reading 2025
I read 3 books and 1,019 pages
😐 MOODS: I had four Moods in April, which is the same amount as the month before. The Moods from this past month were: Adventurous, Tense, Mysterious and Funny.
👢 PACE: All three of the books I read last month were fast-paced.
🔢 PAGE NUMBER: The novels I read last month were between 331 and 352 pages.
📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction. As usual.
🎭 GENRES: There were two Genres in the books I read in April. They were Fantasy and Young Adult.
📄 FORMAT: This pie chart was correct for once (but I admittedly did meddle a bit when I noticed it was slightly off, lol). All of the novels I read last month were on my e-reader.
⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 3.42, as I rated the three books I read 3.0, 3.5 and 3.75 stars.
📉 PAGES READ DAILY: My reading for April was a little sucky throughout the month, but with high peaks occasionally, as I read each of these books over three days but one day per whole book. It spiked the most on the 4th because that was the day I read the longest of the three novels. The other two spikes were the 15th and the 19th.
So yeah, even though April was definitely an improvement compared to the other months of the year so far, I think I still could’ve done better. I think I could’ve done better with my blog activity last month either, but that’s neither here nor there. Here’s hoping I manage to do better in May, though. 🍀🤞
For May, I already have two books ready to go on my immediate To Be Read Pile. The first is Impossible Creatures, because I have other family members interested in reading it so I have to read and finish it pretty soon. The other book is The Ashfire King, which I’ve had since it came out last month but still haven’t gotten around to reading yet, but I’ve really wanted to.
After those two, I’m not as sure. There are a few books this month that I’m pretty interested in, so there’s a good chance I’ll read one of those. But I’ve also been really meaning to continue with One Piece for a while now, so hopefully I’ll get around to reading the next arc of that later this month.
Anyway, as always, thank you for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my April reading in 2025. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!
BOOKS:The False Prince, The Runaway King, The Shadow Throne
COLLECTIVE LENGTH: 1055 pages
GENRES: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Fiction
PUBLISHER: Scholastic Press
RELEASE DATES: 1 April 2012 – 25 February 2014
DESCRIPTION ON BOOK #1:
New York Times bestseller The False Prince thrills with wild twists and turns, danger and deceit, and the revelation of hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.
In a discontented kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.
As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.
My Review
“Don’t make this a fight.”
“I won’t, but you make everything a fight.”
The Shadow Throne
I’m finally posting this book series review. Yay! Getting this review written took so long. I dunno what it was about it, I just had a bunch of trouble getting myself together and sitting down to get this review done. But I’ve finally done it, so here it is!
Anyway.
I first read part of The Ascendance Series several years ago, back when it was still The Ascendance Trilogy. Back then, I read the first two books and the first few chapters of the third. And then I stopped reading for some reason; I’m not actually fully sure of the reason why at this point anymore.
But about a month ago, I found out there were new books in this series and felt the urge to go back and finish at least the first three books. So I did that. And now I’m reviewing the original trilogy of this series as one whole review. I’m also really considering reading the last two books in this series sometime as well, maybe even later this year (I just wanted to take a break after book three and stuff – I was getting slightly burnt out on this series). Anyway, without further ado, here’s the review for The Ascendance Series Books one, two and three!
The Characters
“Have you come here to kill me?” I asked. “Because I’ll scream when you do and it’ll wake up the princess and probably a whole lot of other people and you’ll get into trouble.”
“You’ll be dead.”
“Yes, but you’ll be in trouble.
The False Prince
The characters in the Ascendance Series were okay. There were really only a few standouts, and only what I’d consider to be a couple really strongly written members of the cast; but I’ve also long conceded that this is also a middle grade series of books, so there was never gonna be anything like that anyway.
Let’s discuss the characters a little bit…
Sage 🧩 is the main character, throughout the entire series. He starts going by another name after the first book, but I’m not gonna tualk about it here ’cause it’s a spoiler. Anyway, he kind of irritated at first, but he really grew on me as the story went on, though. He really starts to shine as a character in book two. Sage is a sassy teenager with a strong heart. Though he did continue to do something in all of the books that continued to irritate me throughout my time reading trilogy – however I will say that this is more of an issue with the writing than Sage himself. (We’ll get to this specific issue in a bit.)
He starts to show his true colors as the novels go on, and even from early on it’s established that he’s brave and determined and highly intelligent, and he’ll do anything for those he cares about. This is when he started to be more compelling for me to follow as I read the books. Anyway, I think kids will really enjoy following him – and I actually did start to enjoy his personality and character more in the second book.
Sage’s friends Tobias 📚 and Roden 🗡️ are also pretty important. They don’t have a lot to them though, and I didn’t find myself interested in either of them really. I also didn’t really understand why they bonded and became friends, as everyone is constantly flip-flopping on everything in book one when they first meet and do the bulk of their interactions with one another. Out of the two, I guess that Roden is the more compelling character, however. I really wish we got to see more of their characterizations.
Bevin Conner 💰 is the one who sets the events of the series in motion and he’s definitely one of the more interesting characters here. Even though I kind of had him and his allegiances figured out pretty early on, I’m an adult reading middle grade, and I think younger readers will be questioning his motives throughout the trilogy. His servant Mott 🛡️ is a bit less interesting, but I still liked him and the familial bond he and Sage started to forge. Mott is also the most rational character in the series, and it was always refreshing when he’d interject his perspective on things.
And yes, there are also female characters in this series, although only two of them matter. Imogen 💞 is the first of these, and unfortunately her only purpose is to be a motivation for Sage. She doesn’t get that much page time, and I couldn’t take her and Sage’s budding romance seriously at all throughout any of the three books. I’ll get into it more in a bit, in another section. Anyway, the other relevant female character is Amarinda ✨ , who I liked a lot more than Imogen and thought was far more interesting, even though neither of them had that much of a personality aside from being kind and brave. I felt like Amarinda had a bit more to her character, though – probably because she wasn’t stuck in Middle-Grade Protagonist Love Interest Hell like Imogen was.
The Story
What’s the point of gaining peace if it costs us our freedom? I won’t trade the one for the other.
The Runaway King
I think that the plot – especially for the first book – is pretty intriguing and will draw people in, as it did me like seven years ago when I first read part of this trilogy. The False Prince 👑🔷 has a very compelling premise and the way the writing is keeps readers pretty engaged. Even if you know the big twist ahead of time, there are still little nuggets carefully placed throughout the novel that hint at it and make a reread interesting, too.
My favorite of the first three books of The Ascendance Series was The Runaway King. ⚔️💚 I don’t really know why, I guess because I already knew the big twist of book one ’cause I’d read it years before (though I figured it out almost immediately when I read The False Prince the first time as well). I also preferred Sage’s character during the second novel – he was far less of an annoying brat, though he definitely still had his moments that really irritated me.
The Shadow Throne 🗝️🔴 is also pretty good, and works well as the second half of the story set up in The Runaway King as well as an engaging climax. Almost all of the loose ends in the trilogy were also all tied up by the end – there were basically no hanging threads left over – which is always really nice to see. I love it when series do that.
The Romance
Villains and plots and enemies are simple things to me. But friendships are complicated, and love is harder still. It has wounded me deep.
The Shadow Throne
Even though it wasn’t a big focus in this series – the adventure was the main thing here – I still gotta talk about the romance. Because I don’t think any it was really that great.
There were two couples that have focus so far in the first part of The Ascendance Series, but one doesn’t really happen until the third novel, so I’m not really gonna talk about that one. That’s not the one I’m really annoyed with either, as it’s more of a side pairing and both of the characters in this relationship get equal screentime. No, the romantic relationship I’m talking about is the main one, between Sage and Imogen.
I don’t like this romance. For one thing, Imogen is barely a character, and for another, her and Sage only have like one or two interactions before they’re suddenly extremely protective and interested in one another. And this felt really weird to read, both times I went through the books. Not to mention, particularly in The False Prince and parts of The Runaway King, Sage makes Imogen uncomfortable quite a few times and that kind of made me uncomfortable to read.
I want to stress that he wasn’t being weird or anything – he was being pretty kind actually! – it just seemed like he overwhelmed her and would pile a lot of changes on her shoulders. Their relationship definitely moved too fast for two barely fifteen year-olds, though. Not to mention, Imogen didn’t really show up that often in any of the books, which didn’t help their relationship feel like it was evolving. So yeah, their romance basically never felt like it got any development, really. I do understand and acknowledge that this is a middle grade fantasy-adventure series that is likely primarily targeted towards boys, and that I’m definitely not the audience intended for these books though, so it doesn’t bother me that much.
The Writing
Nobody gives you respect in this life. You must take it, you must earn it, and then you must hold it sacred, because no matter how hard respect is to attain, it can be lost in an instant.
The Shadow Throne
I think that the actual prose itself in The Ascendance Series – as well as the dialogue – was pretty good. I felt that it was great for middle grade novels. Nielsen is a pretty good writer, and her writing really starts to shine in the second and third books.
I don’t like the way that the author has Sage narrate the books, however. Yes, I understand that Sage is meant to be an unreliable narrator… in the first book. And the way that he’s an unreliable narrator bothers me the same way that Gen is an unreliable narrator from Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief – I’m not gonna say how because that would spoil the twist of both novels. But anyway, I don’t think that Sage should still be as unreliable (but in a different way) as he is in the subsequent two books that I read.
In books two and three, Sage is unreliable in the same way that I’ve heard Bryce Quinlan from the Crescent City novels is unreliable: they both do stuff off screen. Yeah, Sage basically always makes plans without telling the reader what he’s doing and then it almost always comes together in the end. And I hate that, when characters are written like this, because I think it’s a way that authors use when they’re trying to make their characters seem smart and clever, but they either aren’t skilled enough to do this in a better way and/or are lazy. So yeah, I’m not fond of this at all, and it’s the main thing that annoys me about Sage in the second and third novels.
Final Thoughts
With introductions out of the way, Erick got down to the business of having abducted me.
“Why were you asking Fink about the priest?”
“I have some sins to confess,” I said. “For ruining the life of the last man to kidnap me.
The Runaway King
All in all, I think that The Ascendance Series is a pretty solid middle grade fantasy series. Again, as I mentioned earlier, I’m definitely not the target audience for this series, but I was able to get some enjoyment out of it as an adult.And though there were some writing decisions that bothered me, they probably won’t bother middle schoolers – heck, they likely won’t even notice them! I think that kids in the intended age group will really enjoy it, actually.
And though there were some writing decisions that bothered me, they probably won’t bother middle schoolers – heck, they likely won’t even notice them! I think that kids in the intended age group will really enjoy it, actually.
Anyway, with everything in mind, my star rating for this series as a whole is:
Anyway, as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!
See ya ~Mar
My Star Ratings for Each Book
Some Other Quotes I Enjoyed That Have Spoilers (for the First Book)
“From all I’m told, the prince they sent away was selfish, mischievous, and destructive. The king who returns is courageous, noble, and strong.”
“And a fool,” I added.
Mott chuckled. “You are that too.”
The False Prince
“You should thank me for tolerating you. I had hoped that becoming a royal would cure your foul manners.”
“That’s interesting. My father hoped that stripping me of royalty would do the same thing.”
The Runaway King
“It’s your storm, and the future of us all depends on you now. So who are you? Sage, an orphan boy who cares only for himself? Or the undisciplined, rebellious prince your father sent away? Life has tested your resilience and strength and willpower, and you have succeeded in ways nobody ever thought possible. But the storm has never been worse, and it will either destroy you, or define you. When everything is taken from you, can you still stand before us as Jaron, the Ascendant King of Carthya?”
Well this is late. I don’t even have a good excuse for it either; I’m just late with this post. Anyway, here’s my reading wrap-up for March 2025.
I’m happier with my reading last month than I was with my reading in February. Sure it was two books read instead of one, but it was still better. I think my activity on the blog was also higher than the month before last, but I’m not quite sure about that.
Since this is already super late, I don’t really want to keep the rest of the post any longer. Let’s get into my StoryGraph statistics from last month!
March Reading 2025
I read 2 books and 621 pages
😐 MOODS: I had four Moods in March. That’s an extra Mood from February, which is cool. The Moods from this past month were: Adventurous, Mysterious, Dark and Emotional.
👢 PACE: The books I read last month were both fast and medium-paced.
🔢 PAGE NUMBER: The novels I read last month were between 133 and 407 pages.
📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction. As usual.
🎭 GENRES: There were two Genres in the books I read in March. They were Fantasy and LGBT+.
📄 FORMAT: This pie chart was once again incorrect – both of the books I read last month were digital. Whatever.
⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 3.5, as I rated both novels I read 3.5 stars.
📉 PAGES READ DAILY: My reading for March basically sucked for the first half. It spiked some on the 16th, but then dipped for the next week or so. Then, during the last week of the month, I read on and off, peaking on the 30th and the 31st.
So yeah, even though my reading for March could’ve been better, it was still better than February, so I’m counting it as a win. I’m also generally happy with most of the blog posting I did, too.
April has at least one new book I’m definitely playing reading, and I’m also hoping to get to one or two of my anticipated new releases from March that I have gotten around to reading yet. We’ll see. At the very least, I’m hoping to read more books throughout this month than I did during the last one.
Anyway, as always, thank you for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my March reading in 2025. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!
The first in a new epic fantasy series from David R. Slayton, Dark Moon, Shallow Sea is a powerful story of divine betrayal, ghosts, and self-discovery, perfect for fans of the Dark Souls series or Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.
When Phoebe, goddess of the moon, is killed by the knights of the sun god, Hyperion, all who follow her are branded heretics. With Phoebe gone, the souls of the dead are no longer ferried to the underworld, and instead linger on as shades who feast on the blood of the living.
Raef is a child of the night. He lives in the shadows, on scraps, eking out a meager existence as a thief. But when an ornate box is sequestered in the Temple of Hyperion, the chance of a big score proves too great to resist. What he finds within propels him on an odyssey across the sea and back again, altering the course of his life forever.
Seth is a knight of the sun. But unlike the others of his order, the fire of Hyperion only brings him pain. He believes he deserves this penance, exacted for his unknown origins. Tasked with recovering the contents of the box, Seth must also venture beyond the horizon if he’s to learn the truth about himself.
In a dying world divided by the greed of those in power, Raef and Seth find their destinies intertwined–and learn they might have more in common than they ever imagined.
My Review
Dark draws dark as light draws light, but only one may cast the other out.
So… Clearly Dragonfall didn’t work out for me. Haha. Moving on.
Dark Moon, Shallow Sea has been on my TBR for a while. Like, over a year type of a while. I gave rsr discovered it in November of 2023. I almost read it then too, but decided to read one of the author’s earlier works first, to try to get a feel for the writing style and see if I liked it. And… I did. White Trash Warlock was generally a pretty enjoyable reading experience for me. There were a couple of things that I was kind of “meh” on, but it was a positive experience for the most part.
So when my Kindle told me that Dark Moon, Shallow Sea was on sale about a month and a half ago, I finally grabbed it. And then near the end of last week, I finally got around to starting reading it. And it was perfectly… okay.
Let’s get into it.
Characters and Plot
They’d circled each other for so long. The gods had to have a hand in it, that the two of them, probably the last of their breed, should meet over and over. They’d danced like the moon and sun, like their gods, like night and day.
Our two mains are 🌙 Raef 🗡️ , a former future acolyte to the Moon Goddess Phoebe turned thief, and ☀️ Seth 🔥 , a warrior to the Sun God Hyperion with a lot of issues with his fire powers. They’re also the characters whose point of view we follow throughout the novel. I enjoyed their characters well enough – I really liked how kind Raef was despite all his circumstances and trauma, as well as how soft and awkward Seth was despite everything in his past.
The other major character here was Kinos, whom I hated since and was immediately suspicious of the second he started talking. So the thing later on with him didn’t surprise me too much – I actually figured it out a couple of chapters before it happened – nor did I feel upset whatsoever by what he did. I hated this guy – at the very least, he was annoying.
I also enjoyed Raef’s and Seth’s relationships with the parental figures in their lives. Raef’s relationship with the old lady he lived with – Eleni – was great. I love how they were both snartasses to each other. It felt really genuine. Raef’s past relationship with his teachers when he was still a ward of the tower he grew up in was also wonderful, as well as heart wrenching later on in the story. I loved Seth’s father-son relationship with Father Geldar as well – it was so sweet.
The 📖 plot 📖 itself was pretty engaging and interesting. I always enjoy a good light vs. dark / sun vs. moon motif in stuff; it’s the contrast, I think. Also, the last quarter of the book felt a little rushed with everything that was going on, but it still worked fine.
Romance and World Building
“I, uh-like your mask,” Seth said nervously. It disarmed Raef a little, despite his mounting panic. How could it not? Seth wasn’t trying to burn him. He was trying to what, flirt?
“Thank you,” Raef said. “I like your, uh, helmet.”
I didn’t like the 💘 romance 💘 here. Honestly, I think I just don’t like the way that Slayton writes his romantic relationships, because that was what I felt was one of the weakest aspects about White Trash Warlock as well. They always move way too fast for me.
In this book, I actually didn’t mind at first because I knew the first romance initially introduced wasn’t going to be the endgame relationship. But then the second relationship took forever to get going and then there wasn’t really any time spent on it besides the he fact that the two characters were drawn to each other, and then they pretty much felt like they got together offscreen at the end of the book. Ugh. It was very frustrating to read, especially because I thought that Raef and Seth were especially cute together and had a lot of potential as a couple.
The 🗺️ world building 🗺️ and ✨ magic system ✨ was interesting, but I was having a little trouble determining what the setting was supposed to be emulating. Like, there was clearly a lot of inspiration taken from Greek myths – particularly in some of the names – but the world itself didn’t feel like it was a fantasy land based on Greece itself. The relationships between some of the gods, as well as many of the names of the gods and what they were the god of, were also vague and generally undefined.
Final Thoughts
A lifetime ago, the Knights of Hyperion had been his cousins, worshippers of his goddess’s brother. No one would have batted an eye to see them friends or even more.
All in all, Dark Moon, Shallow Sea was a pretty decent book, even though I think it could have done with a bit more polish. I also didn’t think the book really felt like the games in the Dark Souls series either. Like, I guess because the dead couldn’t move on properly and some of the stuff surrounding that? It didn’t really have the same vibe though, if you get my meaning. Anyway, I guess readers who like high fantasy, really fast romance and LGBT+ rep might enjoy this novel.
As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!
The River Has Roots is the hugely anticipated solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar. Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.
The hardcover edition features beautiful interior illustrations.
“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”
In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.
There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.
But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…
My Review
What is a river but an open throat, what is water but a voice?
Nevermind what I said in my last weekly wrap-up, I’ve decided to do a book review today instead! And before I get into it, I just wanted to say to everyone: Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! ☘️🍻 It was a nice day today where I live. Spring really feels like it’s on its way.
The River Has Roots was a pretty good read. The cover is honestly what first caught my eye (it’s gorgeous). But as someone who recently read and loved This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar having written it also contributed to me wanting to read it. And, like I said, it wasn’t a bad read at all.
Ysabel said, fiercely for all that her voice was muffled into Esther’s shoulder: “Promise?”
“I promise,” said Esther, and meant it with her whole heart.
I really liked the focus on the two main characters: 🎵 Esther Hawthorne 🦢 and her younger sister 🎶 Ysabel Hawthorne 🔔 . I haven’t read any sibling-focused books lately, but I always enjoy a good sibling dynamic. And these sisters have one. They do it without having either being exactly the same, or exact opposites. This was refreshing, because siblings in media are usually one or the other.
💍 Rin 🌊 was also an interesting character. I tend to like characters who are fae creatures – mostly when they’re fae creatures written correctly – and Rin is not the exception here. I found their romance with Esther to be sweet, and I was rooting for them as a couple right away. The witch, 🪄 Agnes Crow 🐦⬛ , was also pretty awesome – I think she was the most interesting character to me, honestly.
I enjoyed 🖋️ the plot 📄 well enough, as well. I really appreciated the nods to other fairy stories (like Tam Lin) and some of the references therein. There’s a pretty strong story here too, despite it all being only about 100 pages or so. I will say that the book is noticably shorter than it appears to be. This is because literally a quarter of this book is just a sneak peak for El-Mohtar’s upcoming short story collection. So that’s what the last 30 pages are, if you were curious.
What is magic but a change in the world? What is conjugation but a transformation, one thing into another? She runs; she ran; she will run again.
My favorite thing about The River Has Roots, however, is the way that ✨ magic ✨ interacts with the 🗺️ world 🗺️ and the way it’s described. I loved the way the author used the word grammar, as well as the usage of conjugation. I also adored the singing sisters, and their singing ancestors, and how music framed so much of the novella and its magic. And the puns – the puns were also cool.
And before I close out this review, it would be remiss of me not to comment on the absolutely 🖌️ beautiful artwork 🎨 featured here. Yes, as I mentioned above, the cover art is very pretty, but the interior illustrations are also amazing. Essentially, in addition to being a pretty good novella, this book also has pretty pictures to look at, too.
But that is the nature of grammar-it is always tense, like an instrument, aching for release, longing to transform present into past into future, is into was into will.
So yeah, this was a pretty good book, and I enjoyed it well enough. I definitely recommend it to those who are big fans of This is How You Lose the Time War, and to a slightly lesser extent, those who like faerie stories and LGBT+ stuff in fantasy. Novella fans will probably also find something to like about this book.
As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
It’s a couple of days later than last month, but I think I’m posting my reading wrap-up for February 2025 at a pretty reasonable time. The contents I’m gonna be analyzing here… are not so great in comparison.
Yeah. My reading last month sucked. I only read one book, and I didn’t even get to reviewing it until this month. But seeing as in February 2024 I only read one book as well, I guess I didn’t do worse than last year. So I guess that’s something. Technically.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get into my StoryGraph statistics from last month!
February Reading 2025
I read 1 book and 356 pages
😐 MOODS: I had three Moods in February, which was the same as in January. They were all the same size slice. The Moods were: Adventurous, Lighthearted and Funny.
👢 PACE: The book I read last month was medium-paced.
🔢 PAGE NUMBER: The novel that I read was 356 pages.
📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction. But when you only read one book and it’s strictly fiction, it’s impossible to also read nonfiction.
🎭 GENRES: There were two Genres in the books I read in February. They were Fantasy and Romance.
📄 FORMAT: This pie chart was actually correct for once. Or twice, since this is the second month in a row this has happened. The only novel I read was a physical copy.
⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 4.0, and it was my only rating.
📉 PAGES READ DAILY: My reading for February basically sucked until the last week. As in, I didn’t read anything. The only reading I did was between the 22nd and the 28th.
So yeah, my reading from last month really sucked. I’m hoping beyond anything that it improves in March. Like, just about anything would be better than my performance in February.
March has a couple new books that I’m particularly interested in, so there’s a good chance I’ll read at least one or two of them. I might not get to one of them until a later month in the year, though. I also have a bit of a backlog of a TBR I’ve been wanting to get to, as well as a sequel series that I’ve been thinking about continuing with for a while. We’ll see what I end up reading.
Anyway, as always, thank you for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my February reading in 2025. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!
