A bit of a slow start, I took some time to get into this and get my head around it, but it was ultimately intriguing.

I know I should be reading something from my TBR, but I‘m currently re-reading these 2.
MOBY in preparation for Bees, as I need a refresher on what‘s happened.
Assassin‘s Apprentice just cos I want to. I finished the RotE series a few months ago and I just miss the characters. Robin Hobb is amazing. I‘m loving the re-read, it‘s so good picking up on all the little intricacies now that I know the characters well and what‘s to become of them.

There‘s a LOT going on in this 600+ page novel. It‘s set in the past, present and future and told from 5 different perspectives. It incorporates several genres and themes.
I found the first 1/3 a bit slow, but the rest I finished relatively quickly.
The characters and times were interconnected by the love of an Ancient Greek myth and the impact that the story has on their lives, despite the different circumstances of their time.

A nice little distraction, which I needed at the moment.

A lovely novel about love, loss, grief, representation and the importance and power of words.
Beautifully written with interesting characters. It‘s protagonist, Esme is intelligent, curious and quietly elegant as she finds her voice and a way to make a meaningful contribution in her own way. I really enjoyed this.

A fun fantasy novel! The character development was excellent. There were a few characters that were amazing. I loved Attis so much, he was awesome.
However, I didn‘t really buy into the magic system. There were lots of really cool magical elements - such as the library and lots of other fun, quirky things, but the rules around how the magic system itself worked, felt a little tedious to me.

Yep…. Horror is NOT my genre. I know this, but I had to buy it and give it a try, as this copy had such a superb cover.
I put off reading it and it took me a lot longer than is normal for me to get through.
The first 3/4 dragged for me, but it redeemed itself in the end. It had a very dramatic conclusion.
I hated Jack (a lot), even before the s**t hit the fan. What a dick.

A powerful, stop-and-make-you-think story about what the culture of a club or place is, and the effect this can have on its individuals.
‘Culture is as much about what we encourage as what we permit.‘

I feel like I read this at the right time for me.
It‘s always good to be reminded about what‘s important in life and making time to notice and seek awe, wonder and joy.
I lost a bit of interest towards the end, but I loved the majority of this book.

This was lovely. The pace was probably a little slower than what I was in the mood for, but it‘s written beautifully. A book about the love of wild places and wild creatures set in the beautiful and untamed wilderness of Alaska.
Fairy tale magic meets the harsh reality of survival.

Becky Chambers is so good at world building!
This novel follows the daily lives of the humans in the Exodus Fleet. The first Exodus Fleet left Earth when it was no longer habitable. Centuries later, their descendants make choices to leave for alien cities or stay in the carefully regulated environment of the ship. Over time, some stay and some go.
What does humanity mean to people who have never seen Earth and have always lived in the stars……..

This has been on my TBR for ages, and I‘m glad I finally got to it. I found the first half really compelling, but lost a bit of enthusiasm for reading it towards end. It‘s told from a straight-forward, third person perspective, which is great for conveying a lot of information, but I didn‘t really feel an attachment to the characters.

This was charming. Who wouldn‘t love an adventure into the land of faerie.
It took me a little while to get into it, but I just needed to be patient, because it all linked up beautifully.

An eloquent and gripping narrative giving us a harrowing and shocking glimpse inside the Australian legal system related to sexual crimes.
Bri Lee‘s courage and determination in the face of so much injustice is both an inspiration to victims and a message to perpetrators.

A quiet, thoughtful novel about the ebbs and flows of a life.

I picked this up because I wanted something light, and that is what I got.

An epic conclusion to an epic series.
853 pages in this book and I could not tear myself from it. I have ignored both family and sleep for the duration of time it‘s taken me for me to read it.
I‘m trying to tell myself that I‘m not sad that it‘s over, because I know one day I‘ll read the whole series over again and get even more joy from the re-read.
This series was such an amazing journey. These characters will stay with me for a lifetime.

This was pure agony in the most wonderful way. Fitz spends most of this book feeling miserable and frustrated. So consequently, so did I. Thanks Robin Hobb 😜
Come on, Fitz! Go get em already!
Next up is the last book in the series. I‘m not sure I‘m emotionally strong enough to handle whatever is coming. But I can‘t look away. So onward we go!

“I tried not to be surly and resentful. It was difficult.”

🤦‍♀️ Oh, Fitz. How I love you. Even though you‘re such a miserable bastard 😆

Talk about tension! My stomach was in knots all through this book! Stayed up until 1am to finish it and I‘ll be picking up the next in the series first thing in the morning. A few new characters introduced in this one and as always, they were so well written. It was great to see Fitz again, even if he does keep F‘ing everything up! This time we see him from a different perspective and in a different phase of his life, which is really interesting.

Epic and satisfying conclusion to The Rain Wild Chronicles. Full pelt adventure from start to finish.
Now to start the last trilogy and see what Fitz has been up to….

Robin Hobb writes characters so well that I can sincerely say that I hope Hest gets eaten by a dragon in the next book. Preferably by Relpda, Sedric‘s dragon. That would do nicely, thanks 😆

Excited to begin

This book captures the imagination so much so, that I found myself actually dreaming of dragons and the Rain Wilds.
I usually try to only read 1 Robin Hobb per month, in order to get to all the other books on my TBR. But lately, every time I finish one I find myself picking up the next one in the series. The others will just have to wait, I‘m fully immersed in this world and I don‘t want to leave!

The synopsis on the back of this book says it‘s about a love triangle. But the way it‘s written makes it about so much more than that and elevates it into a book about friendship, love, community, faith, secrets, regret, choices and the flow on effect of grief.
The writing was so compelling, I was hooked right from the start.

Mysteries and ghost stories are not usually my thing, so this was a change of pace for me.
Took me a little while to get into it, but I was keen to keep reading to unravel the mystery.

Took this on holiday to read to my 7 year old. My 12 and 13 year old decided to listen in as well. They were all hooked by the end of the first chapter and all 3 loved it.

Pure magic! I was hesitant to start this series as I didn‘t want to take a break from Fitz and his story, but this was so good!
I got so invested in the story and the characters.
Most are new characters and some we get to see again from the Liveship Traders books, which was fun.
The new characters are just as amazing, interesting, despicable and wonderful as what we have already experienced from Robin Hobb. I can‘t wait to start the next one!

Heartbreaking, inspiring and beautiful

Starting my re-read of the series at the beginning, in preparation for Bees.

This was so entertaining! I didn‘t think it would be possible for me to like this book as much as I loved The Martian, but I do. I loved it and couldn‘t put it down. It was funny, smart, and totally compelling. Rocky‘s character and the mode of communication used was so well done. Very clever Andy Weir 👏 Such a fun ride.

This is so flipping good! I‘m 2/3rds in and I have to keep stopping myself from peeking ahead to see what happens.

The Midnight Library is a halfway point between life and death where Nora can try out different lives based on a taking a different path from what she originally chose.
I‘ve seen reviews at both ends of the spectrum, but for me this fell somewhere in the middle. It made me think about how regrets can shape lives and about the possibilities that we often take for granted. It was a quick and lovely book, if a little cliched and predictable at times.

I‘ve never read anything like this before. I have a feeling I‘ll be thinking about this book for some time. It took me a little while to get into it, but it did really grab me and hold my attention once I was in. I was creeped out, but I couldn‘t look away.
It has an old-style fairytale, pagan, folkloric vibe combined with a modern-day take on mental illness. Was it the Faeries? or psychosis?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ There is nothing I can say to justify how wonderful this book is. It was gripping from start to finish. I lost so much sleep while I was reading this as I just couldn‘t put it down. I mean, sigh: 🖤 Fitz and the Fool (our beloved always), and the culmination of the last 9 books rolled into this epic conclusion. Superb. 💗

I enjoyed this. I have a dream to one day travel to and explore Scotland. Having Scottish heritage, I‘ve always been interested in learning about the clans and Highlanders. I‘m also an Outlander fan, so I enjoyed some of the behind the scenes info included. The banter between Sam and Graham was fun too. The only thing I probably would‘ve liked more is if there was more info on the clans and less on the actor‘s past careers.

Lovely!!
Hosseini is such a good storyteller. I enjoyed following all of the different, intersecting storylines in this book.
What‘s so good about his writing is the way he is able to mirror life and people in all of their imperfection, messiness and beauty. He manages to find the poetry within the everyday.
The way things in life turn out or the way sometimes they don‘t, and how we find and make our peace with that.

Oh, this book was FUN! This story begins just after the final events of ‘The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet‘, but the story follows Pepper and Lovelace rather than the Wayfarers crew.
Becky Chambers must have an unlimited, boundless imagination. I am in awe of the world she has created.
Such superb world building, but the characters are what make this book amazing. Pepper‘s story was totally captivating.

This was interesting, thought provoking and full of insights I hadn‘t considered before.

I liked the theme of this book. The blurb says: ‘A bold and immersive fantasy, a young heroine fights to save a world that would dare tame her and discovers she is her own fiercest weapon‘.
However I wasn‘t the right target audience for this book. I found myself getting a bit exasperated with teenaged Deka. I‘ll wait until my daughter is a few years older and pass it on to her to see what she thinks.

I loved reading this book. I loved the characters, the story and the way it was written. One of those books where you just soak up the beauty of the writing and feel better for having read it.

A thoughtful and heartfelt book about life‘s joys and hardships. A book about learning the subtle and beautiful art of being gentle with yourself and giving yourself the time you need with patience and grace. This book was lovely.

Hmmm, yes I liked it, but didn‘t love it. It had a good ending, but it took a while to get there.
There was something about the writing that for me felt a little bit disjointed or clunky. I did really like the epilogue. I liked the last 2 pages better than the actual book itself.
Great quote: ‘We started to wonder: By whispering, whose secrets were we keeping anyway - ours or theirs? Whose interests did our silence ultimately protect?‘

Gorgeous little book told from Christopher‘s point of view. This is such a great insight into the autistic mind.
(Keeping in mind that it‘s a very large spectrum and this is just one perspective).
Once you pick this book up it‘s very hard to put it down. It‘s really easy to read, at times funny, at other times it‘s so sad. It‘s a gem of a book and you‘ll find yourself cheering Christopher on the entire way.

Bloody brilliant.
I was hesitant to begin this one, as I was (and am) still recovering from Fool‘s Errand. But it‘s just so easy to fall right back into this world and into Fitz‘s life again.

Torrential rain all weekend has allowed me to make some serious headway into this one. So good - I can‘t put it down.

Fun, edgy and smart. It was a pleasure stepping into these women‘s perspectives.

This book follows different character‘s perspectives before, during and post apocalypse, (not necessarily in that order).
What I found really interesting was the post apocalyptic world - 20 years into the future, where we follow the Travelling Symphony: a roaming band of actors and musicians whose purpose it is to perform orchestra and Shakespearean theatre. The motto of the Symphony and in fact, the entire book being ‘survival is insufficient‘.