Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.
This week’s book is:
Strange Animals by Jarod K. Anderson! 🌲🦋
This one looks pretty cool! It’s been forever since I’ve last read a book focused on cryptids!
An ordinary man discovers a hidden world of wondrous supernatural creatures – and an unexpected home – in this enchanting contemporary fantasy debut.
Cryptonaturalist: one who studies cryptids; an expert in or student of supernatural history.
After a series of inexplicable encounters upends his life, Green finds himself alone and terrified in the Appalachian mountains, full of questions about the transformation he’s undergoing and the impossible creatures he’s starting to see.
When he meets a hermit named Valentina, he realizes that something more than chance has brought him to her door. For she has devoted centuries to researching the hidden world of cryptids that Green is only now beginning to perceive.
As Green begins his studies beneath her watchful eye, he comes face to face with time-stopping giant moths, cyclops squirrels, and doorways to elsewhere. Along the way come clues about his own nature and the powerful beings who led him here – and, most wondrous of all, a sense of fulfillment like nothing he’s felt before.
But Green’s new happiness promises to be short-lived, because alongside these marvels lurks a deadly threat to this place he’s already come to love.
Featuring incredible creatures and an unforgettable cast of characters, Strange Animals is a charming, addictive fantasy about the magic all around us.
Are you looking forward to Strange Animals? What other books are coming out in the next few weeks that you’re looking forward to?
As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!
Hey everyone and Happy February! Another month, another bunch of new books that are coming out! Yep, it’s time for The Most Intriguing New Books of February 2026.
Here’s the sitch if you’re unfamiliar: this is a monthly post about new releases. Specifically, it’s about new releases that I find interesting, which means they’re most likely all going to be fantasy or science fiction, since those are my favorite genres. There’s occasionally an outlier, though.
These are just books that look interesting to me, by the way. There’s no guarantee which ones I’ll read, or if I’ll even read half of them. We’ll see. Anyway, let’s get going! This month, six books have caught my eye!
RELEASING: February 3rd
This magical new YA romantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of To Kill a Shadow will steal your heart. Set in Andalay, a world where the ruling Fates bestow gifts among the favored, a thief must join forces with the palace darling after he unwittingly steals a necklace with the power to change everything.
When Damien, a cold and hardened thief, is hired to steal a gift from the powerful Fates meant for Andalay’s sweetheart, Wren Hayes, he finds himself entangled in a web of secrets.
The gift? A locket containing his own phototroph.
Once the locket is opened, hidden truths unravel, ones that shed light on the ruthless ways of the upper-class society. Yearning for the three Fates and the magical gifts they bestow, the lords of Andalay will go to any length to keep their power—including murder.
Brought together by destiny, and fighting a temptation that neither understand, Wren and Damien navigate a seedy world where the truth can destroy not only their lives, but the city itself.
RELEASING: February 3rd
A desperate girl at a cutthroat magical academy faces a choice between life and death: become an assassin for the enchanted elite or watch her decaying body draw its last breath. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, Brandon Sanderson, Lev Grossman, and R.F. Kuang.
Anabelle Gage is trapped in a male body, and it’s rotting from the inside out. In Caimor, where the magical elite buy and swap designer bodies like clothes, Ana can’t afford to escape her tattered form. When she fails the entrance exam to the prestigious Paragon Academy, her last hope of earning a new body implodes. As the clock ticks down to her last breath, she’s forced to use her illusion magic to steal a healthy chassis – before her own kills her.
But Ana is caught by none other than the headmaster of Paragon Academy, who poses a brutal ultimatum: face execution for her crime or become a mercenary at his command. Revolt brews in Caimor’s smog-choked underworld, and the wealthy and powerful will stop at nothing to take down the rebels and the infamous dark witch at their helm, the Black Wraith.
With no choice but to accept, Ana will steal, fight, and kill her way to salvation. But her survival depends on a dangerous band of renegades: an impulsive assassin, a brooding bombmaker, and an alluring exile who might just spell her ruin. As Ana is drawn into a tangled web of secrets, the line between villain and hero shatters – and Ana must decide which side is worth dying for.
RELEASING: February 10th
An ordinary man discovers a hidden world of wondrous supernatural creatures—and an unexpected home—in this enchanting contemporary fantasy debut.
Cryptonaturalist: one who studies cryptids; an expert in or student of supernatural history.
After a series of inexplicable encounters upends his life, Green finds himself alone and terrified in the Appalachian mountains, full of questions about the transformation he’s undergoing and the impossible creatures he’s starting to see.
When he meets a hermit named Valentina, he realizes that something more than chance has brought him to her door. For she has devoted centuries to researching the hidden world of cryptids that Green is only now beginning to perceive.
As Green begins his studies beneath her watchful eye, he comes face to face with time-stopping giant moths, cyclops squirrels, and doorways to elsewhere. Along the way come clues about his own nature and the powerful beings who led him here – and, most wondrous of all, a sense of fulfillment like nothing he’s felt before.
But Green’s new happiness promises to be short-lived, because alongside these marvels lurks a deadly threat to this place he’s already come to love.
Featuring incredible creatures and an unforgettable cast of characters, Strange Animals is a charming, addictive fantasy about the magic all around us.
RELEASING: February 17th
From Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Heather Fawcett comes a healing and heart-warming fantasy with magic shops, rescue cats and a second chance at love.
All strays are welcome here.
Agnes Aubert is very fond of making lists. These lists kept her afloat when she lost her husband two years ago. And now, as the founder of a cat rescue charity, her meticulous organization skills feel like the only thing standing between her beloved cats – His Majesty, Banshee and sweet elderly Thoreau, to name a few – and utter disaster.
But when Agnes is forced to move the charity, she soon discovers that her new shop is being used as a front; right under her feet is the lair of the decidedly disorganised – not to mention self-absorbed and infuriatingly handsome – Havelock Renard.
Havelock is everything Agnes doesn’t want in her life: chaos, mischief, and a little too much adventure. But as she gets to know him, she discovers he’s more than the dark magician of legend, and that she may be ready for a little intrigue, perhaps even romance. After all, second chances aren’t just for rescue cats…
RELEASING: February 17th
Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.
Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval.
She just also happens to be a demon hunter.
Ever since her father’s murder, she’s been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider… Until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she’ll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.
But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about. Not when the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv’s father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, and fast. All while trying to ace her classes, not fall for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?
RELEASING: February 24th
From the author of The Last Dragon of the East comes a sweeping fantasy adventure with a dash of romance between a nine-tailed fox and the demon-hunter who captures her, banished to the underworld together and forced to form a reluctant alliance in order to escape the circles of Hell.
Yue may be the last of her kind. At night, she stalks the streets of the capital city of Longhao, luring in unsuspecting victims with the mask of a beautiful woman, then consuming them in her true form of the nine-tailed fox.
When she is captured by a powerful demon hunter named Sonam and banished to Hell, she manages one final act of revenge: dragging him – and two of his subordinates – down with her.
Now trapped in an abyss with unimaginable terrors, they’ll need each other’s help to navigate Hell and bypass the gods who preside over each circle, each of whom presents the group with a unique and deadly challenge. Forced to depend on one another as they claw their way out of the underworld, both demon and demon hunter discover that there might be more to the other than meets the eye.
So yeah, these are all of the books releasing in February 2026 that I’m at least a little interested in. What books are coming out soon that you’re looking forward to? Do we share some of the same ones?
As always, thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!
Another week has gone by, so it’s time for another Weekly Wrap-Up! This is kind of a quick start to the year, huh?
Last week was pretty good. I’m generally satisfied with both my reading and blogging. I didn’t get a book review out, but oh well – it’s not that big of a deal.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!
Tuesday 1/27: Top Ten Tuesday
Last Tuesday, I participated in Top Ten Tuesday for the first time in a couple of weeks. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. The prompt for last week was Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025.
On Wednesday, I participated in Can’t-Wait Wednesday for the first time in a couple of weeks. Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings. It focuses on books you’re looking forward to reading, usually new releases.
Last Friday, I participated in First Line Friday again. Two weeks in a row! First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words. It’s where you guess what book the post is highlighting based on the book’s first words.
So yeah, last week wasn’t bad at all. I want this coming week to be just as good or better. I hope that ends up happening.
Concerning blogging and blogging adjacent stuff for this week, I want to do a couple of things. First, I want to participate in at least one of the usual posts that I jump into most weeks. I’d also want to post a book review. Most importantly, though, I want to do my Most Interesting Looking Books of February 2026 post, as well as my monthly reading wrap-up for January 2026. Gotta get those posts out. And for what book I’m reading next, I’m honestly not sure. I have a few ideas, though.
Outside of books and blogging, nothing much is going on. We’ve finally moved from January to February, which I think I like, as I think I might prefer the second month of the year to the first. I’m not sure, though. But yeah, the only thing really going on right now is that my spouse and I are trying to be healthier, and are eating more home-cooked meals and stuff.
Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!
Two weeks in a row with this! Happy Friday everyone!
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page 📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first 📙 Finally… reveal the book!
Here are the first lines:
He sang along with the radio.
Something about taking a sad song and making it better.
After, he laughed until he could barely breathe.
Know the book? If not, here’s another hint or two…
Still not know? Here are some wonderful photos of books to look at while you consider it a bit longer…
Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune!
RELEASE DATE: 26 October 2018 (e-book only) / re-released 4 February 2025 (for print)
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A spine-tingling standalone novel by bestselling author TJ Klune – a supernatural road-trip thriller featuring an extraordinary young girl and her two unlikely protectors on the run from cultists and the government.
There’s nothing more human than a broken heart.
In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his only brother wants nothing to do with him, and he’s been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington, DC.
With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family’s summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon, to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It’s not.
Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary ten-year-old girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn’t exactly as she appears.
Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.
What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
Hey everyone, and Happy Wednesday! It’s time to participate in one of my favorite Wednesday posts!
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.
This week’s book is:
Queen of Faces by Petra Lord! 🎭🗡️
Can’t-Wait Wednesday this week was so difficult! I was so torn between this and Stolen Midnights by Katherine Quinn. Honorable mention to that one, especially since I personally haven’t seen as much buzz for it. Ugh. This is what I get for deciding to skip this post last week, I guess. Stolen Midnights also looks amazing, and will definitely be on my list of interesting new books of February 2026, though.
A desperate girl at a cutthroat magical academy faces a choice between life and death: become an assassin for the enchanted elite or watch her decaying body draw its last breath. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, Brandon Sanderson, Lev Grossman, and R.F. Kuang.
Anabelle Gage is trapped in a male body, and it’s rotting from the inside out. In Caimor, where the magical elite buy and swap designer bodies like clothes, Ana can’t afford to escape her tattered form. When she fails the entrance exam to the prestigious Paragon Academy, her last hope of earning a new body implodes. As the clock ticks down to her last breath, she’s forced to use her illusion magic to steal a healthy chassis – before her own kills her.
But Ana is caught by none other than the headmaster of Paragon Academy, who poses a brutal ultimatum: face execution for her crime or become a mercenary at his command. Revolt brews in Caimor’s smog-choked underworld, and the wealthy and powerful will stop at nothing to take down the rebels and the infamous dark witch at their helm, the Black Wraith.
With no choice but to accept, Ana will steal, fight, and kill her way to salvation. But her survival depends on a dangerous band of renegades: an impulsive assassin, a brooding bombmaker, and an alluring exile who might just spell her ruin. As Ana is drawn into a tangled web of secrets, the line between villain and hero shatters – and Ana must decide which side is worth dying for.
Are you looking forward to Queen of Faces? What other books are coming out in the next few weeks that you’re looking forward to?
As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!
Hey everyone, and Happy Tuesday! I’m here participating in another 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 Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025. There are a lot of options with this one: new-to-you authors, new genres, new bookish resources you found, new general bookish stuff, etc. I’m going with: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2025.
Anyway, in order from earliest discovery in the year to latest, here we go!
Christine Calella (via Liar’s Kingdom)
Max Gladstone (via This is How You Lose the Time War)
Amal El-Mohtar (via This is How You Lose the Time War and The River Has Roots)
L.R. Lam (via Dragonfall)
Katherine Rundell (via Impossible Creatures)
M. Stevenson (via Behooved)
Nicole Jarvis (via A Spell for Change)
Andrew Rowe (via How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps)
Brittany Cavallaro (via A Study in Charlotte)
Lois McMaster Bujold (via Penric’s Demon and Penric and the Shaman)
What authors were new to you in 2025? How did you like their books? Will you be reading things written by them again, or was their work not for you?
As always, thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you have an amazing day/night!
Jeez, I can’t believe it’s been another week already. Oh well, time flies when you’re being relatively productive, I guess.
Last week wasn’t too bad, in regards to both my reading and my blog activity. I finished a book and reviewed it – and it was my first of both for the year too! I also managed to post a few times, and am happy with the amount of blog posts I was able to do. So yeah, a pretty good week overall.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!
Wednesday 1/21: The Ashfire King Review
Last Wednesday, I finally posted my review for The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah. It’s the sequel to The Stardust Thief, as well as the second book in the Sandsea Trilogy. This one was a long time coming – but I finally read and reviewed it!
The book ended up being slower than I expected for a good portion of it, but I liked it overall. The plot and characters are still great, and the writing is as engaging as ever. I gave it ★★★★☆.
On Thursday, I participated in Birthstone Book Covers at a more reasonable time for the first time in months. Birthstone Book Covers is a fun little post created and hosted by Leslie @ Books Are the New Black.
Each month, for the post, you feature book covers that are either the same color of the month’s birthstone or include the color in the title. This month was January, and its birthstone is garnet. So the colors to pick from are shades of red.
Last Friday, I participated in First Line Friday for the first time in a few weeks. First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words. It’s where you guess what book the post is highlighting based on the book’s first words.
So yeah, my reading and blogging this past week was pretty good. I’m pretty happy with all that I did. I hope this week is just as good.
Concerning the blog this coming week, I want to participate in at least a couple of the usual weekly posts that I participate in as well as do a book review. So hopefully I’ll finish the book I’m about to start reading before the end of the week so that I can review it.
Speaking of what I’m planning to read next, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune. I already have it checked out from the library. I haven’t read any of his works in a couple of years, so I’m looking forward to it. This has actually been nebulously on my TBR for about a year, lol. I was going to read Water Moon and The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao, but I ended up not feeling either of them at the last second.
Being in late January, we’re now in the midst of winter, and it really displayed that in my area late last week. It snowed quite a bit, and said snow is still piled on the ground even now. It’s also been freezing cold and will continue to be for at least the next several days. Brrr. In other news, my spouse and I are still trying to be healthier.
Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!
Hey there. It’s been a bit since I last participated in First Line Fridays – about a month, actually.
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page 📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first 📙 Finally… reveal the book!
Here are the first lines:
Time has no borders except those people make. On this particu-larly cold autumn day, Ishikawa Hana fashioned that border out of the thinnest layer of skin.
Do you know what the book is? If you don’t, here are another couple of hints…
Still have no idea? Here are some lovely and cozy pictures of books to admire while you think about it a little longer…
Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao!
On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see only a cosy ramen restaurant. And just the chosen ones – those who are lost – will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.
Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as its new owner to find the pawnshop ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike other customers. For he offers help, instead of seeking it.
Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice – through rain puddles, hitching rides on paper cranes, across the bridge between midnight and morning and through a night market in the clouds.
But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own – and risk making a choice she will never be able to take back.
What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
Another month, another bunch of birthstone colored book covers to showcase! It’s time for Birthstone Book Covers, this time posted at a reasonable time in the month.
Birthstone Book Covers is a fun monthly post created by Leslie @Books Are the New Black. Each month, she features book covers that are either the same color of that month’s birthstone or include the color in the title.
January has one birthstone – Garnet. So shades of red for this month’s books!
Rules:
📚 Mention the creator (Leslie @ Books Are The New Black) and link back to her so she can check out your post. 📚 Pick 5+ book covers that match the current month’s Birthstone. 📚 HAVE FUN! 📚 Nominate people if you want!
Wool by Hugh Howey
Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong
Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
A New Darkness by Joseph Delaney
The Bronze Beasts by Roshani Chokshi
Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab
What are your favorite books with red covers? If you participated in Birthstone Book Covers, which books did you choose this January?
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have the most amazing day/night!
Every story is a memory. A tale that happened neither here nor there, but in another time and place. Our job as story-tellers is to describe that reality as we understand it. It is the listener who must determine what is and is not.
A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.
Neither here nor there, but long ago… After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.
The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. And amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion in the jinn’s capital city is on the rise. When Loulie saves the life of a dissenter – one of her bodyguard’s old comrades – she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.
Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?
My Review
There is no such thing as a single truth. There are just the stories we tell others, and the ones we tell ourselves.
It’s been quite some time since the first book in the Sandsea Trilogy. This is true for me as well even though I read and reviewed The Stardust Thief about a year after it came out, I’m also reading and reviewing its sequel nine months after it first released. So it’s been almost as long for me as it had been for everyone else last April.
I don’t know why it took me so long to read The Ashfire King. I got the book the day it came out and I was so excited about it (it was one of – if not my most – anticipated new book of last year), but then I just… didn’t read it. Part of it is because I was currently in the middle of another series and I wanted to wait to read anything else, I think. I’m disappointed it took me this long to read it, though.
Anyway, to the review!
General Thoughts
“So long as I breathe, I will not falter. To live is to persevere. For the world, and in spite of it.”
I did enjoy this book a lot, though not as much as its predecessor – that one I loved. I think it might be because it was a little slower, plus I didn’t vibe nearly as strongly with it as I did the first book. Oh well, I still liked it, though.
When we left our characters at the end of The Stardust Thief, the party was split. Qadir was captured by Omar, Loulie and Mazen were hurtling down into the jinn realm with the ifrit Rijah, and Aisha was fleeing into the desert.
And The Ashfire King pretty much continues from where the first one left off. It should be noted that the book starts off with one of the trilogy’s ‘story sections’ and this one kind of gave a little summary of what happened in the first book, which was very nice after the gap. It was integrated well into the story itself, as well, since there was a new character introduced that needed to be caught up on the events of book one. Not to mention it was in-character, what with Mazen being a storyteller and all.
The Characters and Story
She gasped at the sight of the compass in his hands.
Her compass.
Loulie stifled a cry as she grabbed it from him. The moment she felt its magic humming beneath her fingers, she grinned. Even had she wanted to, she could not have smothered that smile.”You went back for the compass?”
“You came back for me. It was the least I could do.”
Speaking of the main characters, they each continue to have their own little arcs here.Loulie is desperate and determined to get back to the surface and find Qadir, and she’ll do whatever it takes. Mazen is struggling with Omar murdering their father the sultan, his uncertainty of Hakim’s whereabouts, and his fear of returning home. Aisha has sworn revenge on Omar for lying and betraying her, whilst she deals with sharing a body with the Resurrectionist after their bargain in the first novel. And Qadir and what happened to him is unknown, though it is strongly implied he’s been captured by Omar. And everyone’s character development was extremely compelling here – I ultimately really enjoyed where they all ended up at the end of the book.
The plot was pretty slow, as I mentioned earlier. There were a lot of big moments throughout, but the book didn’t really ‘pick up’ so to say until almost two thirds of the way through. I’m not sure if this is a case of middle book syndrome, or if this book is just kind of slower just because it is, but I don’t recall the first book being as much of a slow-burn. I remember being pretty invested in that one for almost the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, the plot here was interesting and I enjoyed all the character moments. But parts of it did feel slow.
The Romance and Writing
Remembering the last time they had flown-the last time he had convinced Loulie to fly – he smiled and said, “Are you scared, Loulie?”
She cast a sharp look back at him. Just as they had been then, her eyes were filled with defiance. She gave him the same answer.
“Never.”
The climax was great though, and I generally liked the ending (except for the cliffhanger – ugh). The romance and relationship development is also a very slow-burn, but that was fine as it works for this story and makes sense with the characters. (I will confess to being unsure of its existence occasionally, however, with how slow it is, lol.)
The novel’s writing is also just as strong as its predecessor. I again also really enjoyed the way the little story sections were written and stylized. It’s probably one of my favorite things about this series.
Final Thoughts
His dedication flummoxed her. But then she realized she felt the same way. She did not know when it was she had come to rely on Mazen bin Malik, but at some point, the thought of losing him had become unbearable.But he was safe. They were safe.
But he was safe. They were safe.
For a moment, Loulie let herself believe it. She leaned her cheek into Mazen’s chest and thought, I refuse to lose anyone again.
Somehow, she would make certain of it.
The Ashfire King is a pretty good sequel to The Stardust Thief, and it clearly sets up the third book in the trilogy well. I definitely recommend it to fans of the first book – I think they’ll probably enjoy it. I also think it’s a good read anytime of the year, though you should definitely only read it if you’ve read the book one.
As always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
