en-US Sat, 26 Apr 2025 07:54:29 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 204294881 From Joshua Phillip Johnson, an odd, melancholic near-future sci-fi standalone about two parents determined to save their daughter, turned strange and fae after her death, by seeking answers deep within mysterious nature preservesOn the autumnal equinox of 1987, the countries of the world closed the gates on vast fenced-in nature preserves called Harbors, created to combat the escalating effects of climate change.132,329 people died that day, but instead of going cold, they endured, becoming odd and fae before disappearing beyond the fences, never to be seen again. Each autumnal equinox thereafter, the same happens again.In the present day, Evangeline and Calidore are working as government-employed protectors of the Harbors with magical powers. Returning home after an equinox spent patrolling, they find their daughter Winnifred, not yet six, has died and grown fae, killing her babysitters and leaving strange symbols etched into the walls.��Unwilling to surrender their child, Evangeline and Calidore chain her in iron and carry her into the lands beyond the fence, crossing over into enemy territory with a desperate use Winnifred to find the Faerie Queen, kill Her, and steal whatever power She holds over death to bring Winnifred back.An imaginative and melancholic sci-fi standalone, The Nothing and the Dread is an atmospheric odyssey set against a tense chase as parents race to reclaim the life of their lost child.]]> 464 Joshua Phillip Johnson 0756419190 blok sera szwajcarskiego 0 3.96 2025
author: Joshua Phillip Johnson
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: received-from-net-galley, currently-reading
review:

]]> 221211448

A smutty, super-queer horror-comedy featuring unbridled narcissism, Vampires at Sea is a hilarious and satisfying snack!]]> 168 Lindsay Merbaum 1951971221 blok sera szwajcarskiego 1 received-from-net-galley
1,5⭐️

When intoduced to the idea of a married vampire couple going on a hedonical cruise, where they meet a shape-shifting unicorn they both fall in love with, and you decorate this premise with some rivalry, I will eat this shit up. That is precisely why it pains me to rate Vampires at Sea so low, but this novella did not live up to any expectations at all.

Firstly, if you want a sexy, romantic story of a couple, the couple have to bear any emotions towards each other. Rebekah and Hugh feel like arranged marriage they don't despise, but certainly don't enjoy, either. And every couple of pages Rebekah hypocritically becomes jealous of his attention, proposing the idea of her loving him, but in the end it's about something different.

And that is the second point �� I couldn't stand her. Pity, as she is the narrator. Her jealousy-turned-lust towards Heaven would be greatly enjoyable, if she wasn't so... much. Her marriage with Hugh is about control, first he grows bored and blunt, then she's frustrated when he tries to change anything, yet she bears no interest in bonding with him. Hugh's an avan-garde artist, but she supposedly hates art, or it simply bores her. But beware anyone who would like to even converse lightly with her husband, as Rebekah the harpy will plan your murder. And she? She sleeps with anyone who will even slightly glare at her. Hugh has to accept that, but gods forbid he tries to someone fun on the side.
Once again, such description sounds like an interesting piece of a book, but gods Rebekah makes it unbearable. With all her lust, her constant reminders of "see, I told you I were different" and this emptiness inside her it hollows the plot, too. I would be on board with the idea of toxic wife and her adventures, but this is not fun. It's miserable.

The premise about which author talks about in acknowledgement is visible �� however what she missed was the element of entertainment. The ending didn't help with that. It was so, so disappointing, to discover there is no sense of change, no understanding, no conversation, not even any fun from erotical parts. The rivalry sucks, the revenge falls flat, there are no bursting emotions. Writing isn'tgreat, either; certain elements were supposed to be comedic (I've suspected an inspiration from WWDITS, which was proved by acknowledgement, however it is an inspiration that doesn't understand why the source was funny in the first place), but with quotes like: "In the evening, I force myself to hunt even though my heart - or is it my clit? - still isn't it." it was needlessly sexual. The juxtaposition between Heaven, a modern influencer, and Hugh, old-way elegant artist, and their unexpected feelings may have worked, but not from the current perspective.

A very frustrating read about toxic woman that neither enjoys her toxicity nor tries to change it anyhow. She should have been in therapy, but frankly, she would fuck her therapist and then eat him. And that's not how it works.]]> 3.48 2025
author: Lindsay Merbaum
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2025
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/26
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

1,5⭐️

When intoduced to the idea of a married vampire couple going on a hedonical cruise, where they meet a shape-shifting unicorn they both fall in love with, and you decorate this premise with some rivalry, I will eat this shit up. That is precisely why it pains me to rate Vampires at Sea so low, but this novella did not live up to any expectations at all.

Firstly, if you want a sexy, romantic story of a couple, the couple have to bear any emotions towards each other. Rebekah and Hugh feel like arranged marriage they don't despise, but certainly don't enjoy, either. And every couple of pages Rebekah hypocritically becomes jealous of his attention, proposing the idea of her loving him, but in the end it's about something different.

And that is the second point �� I couldn't stand her. Pity, as she is the narrator. Her jealousy-turned-lust towards Heaven would be greatly enjoyable, if she wasn't so... much. Her marriage with Hugh is about control, first he grows bored and blunt, then she's frustrated when he tries to change anything, yet she bears no interest in bonding with him. Hugh's an avan-garde artist, but she supposedly hates art, or it simply bores her. But beware anyone who would like to even converse lightly with her husband, as Rebekah the harpy will plan your murder. And she? She sleeps with anyone who will even slightly glare at her. Hugh has to accept that, but gods forbid he tries to someone fun on the side.
Once again, such description sounds like an interesting piece of a book, but gods Rebekah makes it unbearable. With all her lust, her constant reminders of "see, I told you I were different" and this emptiness inside her it hollows the plot, too. I would be on board with the idea of toxic wife and her adventures, but this is not fun. It's miserable.

The premise about which author talks about in acknowledgement is visible �� however what she missed was the element of entertainment. The ending didn't help with that. It was so, so disappointing, to discover there is no sense of change, no understanding, no conversation, not even any fun from erotical parts. The rivalry sucks, the revenge falls flat, there are no bursting emotions. Writing isn'tgreat, either; certain elements were supposed to be comedic (I've suspected an inspiration from WWDITS, which was proved by acknowledgement, however it is an inspiration that doesn't understand why the source was funny in the first place), but with quotes like: "In the evening, I force myself to hunt even though my heart - or is it my clit? - still isn't it." it was needlessly sexual. The juxtaposition between Heaven, a modern influencer, and Hugh, old-way elegant artist, and their unexpected feelings may have worked, but not from the current perspective.

A very frustrating read about toxic woman that neither enjoys her toxicity nor tries to change it anyhow. She should have been in therapy, but frankly, she would fuck her therapist and then eat him. And that's not how it works.
]]> 196795364
When Myung flees the whale, she stumbles into a new universe where shapeshifting islands and ancient maps hold sway. There, she sets off on an adventure that is both tragic and transformative, for her and Laleh. For at the heart of her quest lies a mystery that has confounded scholars for centuries: the truth about the mad sisters of Esi.

Fables, dreams and myths come together in this masterful work of fantasy by acclaimed author Tashan Mehta, sweeping across three landscapes, and featuring a museum of collective memory and a festival of madness. At its core, it asks: In the devastating chaos of this world, where all is in flux and the truth ever-changing, what will you choose to hold on to?]]> 510 Tashan Mehta 9356994153 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
You ought to be mad to fell in love with this book.

Tashan Mehta weaves a beautiful, but peculiar family saga into a cloth made from whales, skies and academic papers. It starts with two sisters, but reaches far beyond it, mixing the study of indigenous cultures (bloodlines?) with fantastic tale about magic and higher instances. It's strange, but between weirdness and variegation it finds the way to your heart.

I certainly adored every inch of it.]]> 4.28 2023
author: Tashan Mehta
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

You ought to be mad to fell in love with this book.

Tashan Mehta weaves a beautiful, but peculiar family saga into a cloth made from whales, skies and academic papers. It starts with two sisters, but reaches far beyond it, mixing the study of indigenous cultures (bloodlines?) with fantastic tale about magic and higher instances. It's strange, but between weirdness and variegation it finds the way to your heart.

I certainly adored every inch of it.
]]> 222856100
But when she encounters the mysterious Evelyn Price at a controversial exhibition, Clara's carefully ordered world begins to unravel.

Drawn into the mysterious Blackwood Society, Clara discovers art that defies reality itself. Torn between her rigid training and an intoxicating new freedom, she finds herself questioning everything she once believed. But the price of this freedom may be higher than she ever imagined, and the person she's becoming could be her very own undoing.

Clara will have to decide how much she's willing to sacrifice for greatness. Because as her art transforms, so does her heart—but nothing in the Society is quite what it seems, and some secrets are painted in shadows too dark to escape.]]> 256 Parker Lennox blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
The Art of Unmaking is fascinating case of a book wrapped in such thick atmosphere of danger, that when you arrive at the center of it you find asking yourself "is that really all?". The story is quite simple �� a young woman on a painting scholarship, approached by an artistic society, finds not only a new style, but also a deeply awaiting desire to another soul.

Let me tell you, the vibes are immaculate. The way Clara and Evelyn flirts, how they behave like starving lions fighting for the last piece of meat, unsure whether they will dive in each other's flesh or bury themselves in kisses. And this passion leads to nothing, it's just a romance that starts greatly, but later changes the direction, leaving all those emotions behind. It was a bit sad, actually.

Besides that, I think it's a rather good novella. It's not particularly wrong, and while the setting and surroundings seems to not play the major role to the overall narration, I would not say it's disappointing. The twists are present, the intrigue isn't the simplest, the gothic is gothicing. I admit, I have wanted something more once I found myself buried deep into the story, but overall it was not a wasted time.]]> 4.25
author: Parker Lennox
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

The Art of Unmaking is fascinating case of a book wrapped in such thick atmosphere of danger, that when you arrive at the center of it you find asking yourself "is that really all?". The story is quite simple �� a young woman on a painting scholarship, approached by an artistic society, finds not only a new style, but also a deeply awaiting desire to another soul.

Let me tell you, the vibes are immaculate. The way Clara and Evelyn flirts, how they behave like starving lions fighting for the last piece of meat, unsure whether they will dive in each other's flesh or bury themselves in kisses. And this passion leads to nothing, it's just a romance that starts greatly, but later changes the direction, leaving all those emotions behind. It was a bit sad, actually.

Besides that, I think it's a rather good novella. It's not particularly wrong, and while the setting and surroundings seems to not play the major role to the overall narration, I would not say it's disappointing. The twists are present, the intrigue isn't the simplest, the gothic is gothicing. I admit, I have wanted something more once I found myself buried deep into the story, but overall it was not a wasted time.
]]> 219874871 Nine children travel with their families to their Grandfather's vacation property, where strange things begin to happen: eyes blink from the bottom up, mushrooms ooze blood, people's faces don't hang right anymore-except they do, once you look more closely. Transformations warp the children's sense of time and place, the very land itself seeming to encroach upon them.
As The Liar watches the children succumb one by one to an unknown fate, she must make sense of absent stars in the night sky, vials of amber liquid that taste of milk, a funny little rope tied in knots. She's faced with a choice: join or resist, only the choice is not so simple.
Set in The Grandfather's Lake House as he continues to extend his property lines and told in the eerie we of the children, Root Rot explores predatory family dynamics, the boundaries of bodies and home, and how individuals choose to participate in or push back against structures that would harm them.]]> 142 Saskia Nislow 1951971256 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
3,5⭐️

Certified weird book, which I really enjoyed. There are interesting ideas that creates this unique atmosphere �� the perspective of children, the anonymity, the strangeness of time and space. I think I will come.back to this story one day, to explore it even further, as it is short, yet impactful.]]> 3.71 2025
author: Saskia Nislow
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

3,5⭐️

Certified weird book, which I really enjoyed. There are interesting ideas that creates this unique atmosphere �� the perspective of children, the anonymity, the strangeness of time and space. I think I will come.back to this story one day, to explore it even further, as it is short, yet impactful.
]]> 216539332 There can be no victory without betrayal.

Hara Duja Gatdula, queen of the island nation of Maynara, holds the divine power to move the earth. But her strength is failing and the line of succession gives her little comfort. Her heir, Laya, is a danger—a petty and passionate princess who wields the enormous power of the skies with fickle indifference. Circling the throne is Imeria Kulaw—the matriarch of a traitorous rival family who wields recklessly enhanced powers of her own—with designs to secure a high-ranking position for her son and claim the crown for her family. Each woman has a secret weakness—a lover, a heartbreak, a lie. But each is willing to pay the steepest price to bring down her rivals once and for all.

Filled with passion, romance, betrayal, and divine magic, Black Salt Queen journeys to a gorgeous precolonial island nation where women—and secrets—reign.]]> 393 Samantha Bansil blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
4,5⭐️

Black Salt Queen is a fantasy book, where it's hard to belive it's from a debut author, as the prose and story are a mature breath of freshness. Writing is so beautiful, it avoids clichés for the sake of characters expressions; it flows naturally, in a constant string of cause-effect. I really liked how Bansil connected elements of fantasy with a bigger, more nuanced plot.

In BSQ there are several characters who lead the narration. Young lovers, the son of a traitor and a daughter of ruling queen, who must answer the question how much can they sacrifice in the name of their love. Two mothers, who are intertwined by a common past. Voices from the revolution and royal court. And one alchemist, brought from outside the border, writing letters to his deceased love.

The plot focuses on the intrigue rising in the royal court, discussions of revolution, revenge and magic, as it lays deep inside each heart, yet doesn't manifest itself constantly. Bansil doesn't use it lightly, for her magic is not a plot resolution, it's a last resort eith consequences, and that settles the tone of the story. It's genius. Every each of the elements that build BSQ is well thought, precise like a cog in a machine. It's on such a high level of eloquence and preparation that I was truly surprised it was a debut. There is a bright future in writing in front of Bansil.

The only reason I've lowered my rating is the ending, as I am not entirely convinced with it. I liked many elements of it, especially the resolution at the very end (great twist and cliffhanger), but I wish a plot with Imeria and Duja was treated similarly. I understand why it was like it was, yet the feeling of it being rushed never left. But that's the only thing I am not sold on. The rest is truly brilliant.]]> 4.18
author: Samantha Bansil
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

4,5⭐️

Black Salt Queen is a fantasy book, where it's hard to belive it's from a debut author, as the prose and story are a mature breath of freshness. Writing is so beautiful, it avoids clichés for the sake of characters expressions; it flows naturally, in a constant string of cause-effect. I really liked how Bansil connected elements of fantasy with a bigger, more nuanced plot.

In BSQ there are several characters who lead the narration. Young lovers, the son of a traitor and a daughter of ruling queen, who must answer the question how much can they sacrifice in the name of their love. Two mothers, who are intertwined by a common past. Voices from the revolution and royal court. And one alchemist, brought from outside the border, writing letters to his deceased love.

The plot focuses on the intrigue rising in the royal court, discussions of revolution, revenge and magic, as it lays deep inside each heart, yet doesn't manifest itself constantly. Bansil doesn't use it lightly, for her magic is not a plot resolution, it's a last resort eith consequences, and that settles the tone of the story. It's genius. Every each of the elements that build BSQ is well thought, precise like a cog in a machine. It's on such a high level of eloquence and preparation that I was truly surprised it was a debut. There is a bright future in writing in front of Bansil.

The only reason I've lowered my rating is the ending, as I am not entirely convinced with it. I liked many elements of it, especially the resolution at the very end (great twist and cliffhanger), but I wish a plot with Imeria and Duja was treated similarly. I understand why it was like it was, yet the feeling of it being rushed never left. But that's the only thing I am not sold on. The rest is truly brilliant.
]]> 211004176 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.

“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…]]> 133 Amal El-Mohtar 1250341086 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
4,5��

The River Liss is always changing. It is the core to the lives of two sisters, Ysabel and Esther, in a world where magic is born between the space of grammar and lexis. There is a neighbouring world, Arcadia, where magic is stronger, yet wilder, where lives Rin, a lover to Esther and a Fae.

And frankly, that is all I can say to not take the joy and enchantment from reading this novella. Amal El-Mohtar is a sister figure to Susanna Clarke, with the same brilliant writing; yet where Clarke dives into finding magic in the real world, El-Mohtar looks for doors in everyday life to cross the boundary of magical one. "The River Has Roots" is nothing less than a fairytale, with bright visuals vowed by words, with a world-building so simple yet impactful �� for the question "how much of it you can fit in less than a hundred pages" she has an answer "all and a few more". It's mind blowing how large the world is, how deep this care for detail go, and yet to create such a small thing with such depth, it is trully impressive. I did, indeed, let myself be cursed and enchanted, and adored every little bit of it.]]> 4.19 2025
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

4,5��

The River Liss is always changing. It is the core to the lives of two sisters, Ysabel and Esther, in a world where magic is born between the space of grammar and lexis. There is a neighbouring world, Arcadia, where magic is stronger, yet wilder, where lives Rin, a lover to Esther and a Fae.

And frankly, that is all I can say to not take the joy and enchantment from reading this novella. Amal El-Mohtar is a sister figure to Susanna Clarke, with the same brilliant writing; yet where Clarke dives into finding magic in the real world, El-Mohtar looks for doors in everyday life to cross the boundary of magical one. "The River Has Roots" is nothing less than a fairytale, with bright visuals vowed by words, with a world-building so simple yet impactful �� for the question "how much of it you can fit in less than a hundred pages" she has an answer "all and a few more". It's mind blowing how large the world is, how deep this care for detail go, and yet to create such a small thing with such depth, it is trully impressive. I did, indeed, let myself be cursed and enchanted, and adored every little bit of it.
]]> 64650908
War has festered in the split kingdoms of Norwen and Lenwen for a generation. When the Princess Alexandra of Lenwen rejects all of the suitors at her debut she angers kings, princes, and her own formidable mother. As punishment for her pride, the queen strips the princess of her title and forces her to live in poverty with the lowliest commoner she can a young bard named Tom. If she can live the life of a commoner for a full year, she will be able to return to the palace and gain the coveted position of regent. Alexandra journeys with the bard to the neighboring kingdom of Norwen, realm of the suitor she spurned, and is faced with the harsh reality of life with a poor bard. For the first time in her life, she must learn to care for someone other than herself, or else face loneliness and starvation. Despite the constant hardship, Alexandra finds herself drawn to the handsome, lighthearted Tom, until she is faced with the choice to return to her old life as a princess and end the war once and for all. A retelling of King Thrushbeard filled with pride, betrayal, and an unexpected love story.]]> 372 Vanessa Green blok sera szwajcarskiego 2 received-from-net-galley
I have this awful habit of proceeding to read every book I start, even if I don't enjoyed it, as I believe each piece should be rated and perceived as a whole. Faithful to that, I have finished The Bard's Bargain, despite the numerous times I wanted to DNF it.

Perhaps I am just too tired of romances where the FMC is written as a spare, a narrator that has to undergo a drastic change, while MMC is this perfect from the start figure that clearly is meant to enchant a reader, equally like, if not more, than his love interest. Tyram and Alexandra are the perfect example of this cliché. And it was infuriating. Despite their age, she acted like a spoiled five years old, while being exaggerated with every element of her character. At first I've despised her, later on I've pitted her. She was indeed manipulated by everyone around her, and for some reason the author believes that contact with poverty and drastic loss of everything is the perfect solution to any "spoil brat" characteristic. Besides its cliché, it is also extremely desensitised towards those "poorer" characters. I thought we left the idea of "suffering ennobles" deep in the past.

Meanwhile Tyram (or Tom) is a character I cannot understand. On the one hand, he is this perfect love interest, not only for Alexandra, but also supposedly for the reader. He is the one we are meant to admire, he is good-hearted, understanding, handsome, basically the perfect man. On the other hand, he is also a liar, he made a pact with Alexandra's mother and proceed to put FMC through a lot �� theoretically, it all was for her "own good", but I'm sorry, at the point when Alexandra gets lice or meets orphans from burned village something breaks in her. And I don't mean this magical change, I mean she starts acting like someone abused. It's extremely weird and uncomfortable, especially because of this patronising tone of "the poor are poor, but they are happy". Such narration could have stayed, but a different tone would make a drastic difference.

There is also a case of so called romance, and something that stroke me was this discord between the writing style and what was happening. Basically, this book follows the trope of forced proximity and reluctance-to-love, yet between the main characters there is lust from the very beginning. I was surprised when somewhere in the first one hundred pages they were almost sleeping with each other, even though few pages earlier they were bragging about how annoying they find each other. It wouldn't be such a problem if the writing style was different; for now, the book is written as it was for someone somewhere between teenagers and young adult. There are little to none clever intrigues or a proper tone when it comes to more serious topics, yet there are few intimate scenes, which did caught me off guard. Why so early? Why write it that way?

I will admit, I am a foul for pretty covers, and here I fall a victim to one. And the more I think about this book, the less mad I am. It's not good, certainly a mile away from what I've expected, but it's far from bad �� just needs a little of polish, to make it feel less debut-ish, and more like a proper story. Especially when its topic is meant to cover such serious agenda.]]> 3.54
author: Vanessa Green
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.54
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

I have this awful habit of proceeding to read every book I start, even if I don't enjoyed it, as I believe each piece should be rated and perceived as a whole. Faithful to that, I have finished The Bard's Bargain, despite the numerous times I wanted to DNF it.

Perhaps I am just too tired of romances where the FMC is written as a spare, a narrator that has to undergo a drastic change, while MMC is this perfect from the start figure that clearly is meant to enchant a reader, equally like, if not more, than his love interest. Tyram and Alexandra are the perfect example of this cliché. And it was infuriating. Despite their age, she acted like a spoiled five years old, while being exaggerated with every element of her character. At first I've despised her, later on I've pitted her. She was indeed manipulated by everyone around her, and for some reason the author believes that contact with poverty and drastic loss of everything is the perfect solution to any "spoil brat" characteristic. Besides its cliché, it is also extremely desensitised towards those "poorer" characters. I thought we left the idea of "suffering ennobles" deep in the past.

Meanwhile Tyram (or Tom) is a character I cannot understand. On the one hand, he is this perfect love interest, not only for Alexandra, but also supposedly for the reader. He is the one we are meant to admire, he is good-hearted, understanding, handsome, basically the perfect man. On the other hand, he is also a liar, he made a pact with Alexandra's mother and proceed to put FMC through a lot �� theoretically, it all was for her "own good", but I'm sorry, at the point when Alexandra gets lice or meets orphans from burned village something breaks in her. And I don't mean this magical change, I mean she starts acting like someone abused. It's extremely weird and uncomfortable, especially because of this patronising tone of "the poor are poor, but they are happy". Such narration could have stayed, but a different tone would make a drastic difference.

There is also a case of so called romance, and something that stroke me was this discord between the writing style and what was happening. Basically, this book follows the trope of forced proximity and reluctance-to-love, yet between the main characters there is lust from the very beginning. I was surprised when somewhere in the first one hundred pages they were almost sleeping with each other, even though few pages earlier they were bragging about how annoying they find each other. It wouldn't be such a problem if the writing style was different; for now, the book is written as it was for someone somewhere between teenagers and young adult. There are little to none clever intrigues or a proper tone when it comes to more serious topics, yet there are few intimate scenes, which did caught me off guard. Why so early? Why write it that way?

I will admit, I am a foul for pretty covers, and here I fall a victim to one. And the more I think about this book, the less mad I am. It's not good, certainly a mile away from what I've expected, but it's far from bad �� just needs a little of polish, to make it feel less debut-ish, and more like a proper story. Especially when its topic is meant to cover such serious agenda.
]]> 221789645
El hombre es policía, la mujer es ciega o al menos nunca abre los ojos. Los nombres, los lugares, la época no importan, porque nuestro disfrute es simplemente verlos acercarse entre sí a través de los capítulos.]]> 128 Kotteri 1772943614 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
It's such a beautifully drawn story, a real treat for the eyes. Emma and Alexander's history is intriguing, but manga itself consists of just snippets of their life, it's no surprise they're called "scenes" instead of "chapters". I do wish it was more developed, as there is a pure charisma beating under the ink.

Plus it could have been yuri. There was even a kiss between two women! /lh]]> 4.21 2019
author: Kotteri
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

It's such a beautifully drawn story, a real treat for the eyes. Emma and Alexander's history is intriguing, but manga itself consists of just snippets of their life, it's no surprise they're called "scenes" instead of "chapters". I do wish it was more developed, as there is a pure charisma beating under the ink.

Plus it could have been yuri. There was even a kiss between two women! /lh
]]> 213131347 A vibrant and emotional science fantasy about cousins trapped in mirrored worlds �� the resplendent and verdant summer city and the ice-carved wastes of the winter city. For fans of Every Heart a Doorway and This is How You Lose the Time War.

Welcome to Jamie Pike’s Fairharbour �� a city stuck in perpetual winter, its windows and doorways bricked shut to keep out the freezing cold, its residents striving to survive in the arctic conditions.

Welcome to Esther Pike's Fairharbour �� a city stuck in constant summer, its walls crumbling in the heat, its oppressive sunlight a relentless presence.

Winter and Summer alike, have both fallen under the yoke of oppressive powers, that have taken control after the cataclysm.

But both Fairharbours were once a single, united city. And in certain places, at certain times, one side can catch a glimpse of the other. As Jamie and Esther find a way to communicate across the divide, they set out to solve the mystery of what split their city in two, and what, if anything, might repair their fractured worlds.]]> 297 Oliver K. Langmead 1835411452 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
City of All Seasons tells a story of a city torn by unknown circumstances into two entities �� one covered in never melting snow, one drowned in summer sun. One cousin lives in endless winter, one in constant summer. But under such simple division lies an actual story, about a legendary Pike family, about corruption, love and... cinema.

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised with this title! At first glance it seems like a simple idea for world-building, one that doesn't reach deeper than surface level, yet Langmead and Whiteley created a complex world, simultaneously intertwining it with a family saga. The prose is beautiful, I enjoyed the atmosphere and descriptions of two cities. Although Jamie and Esther are the narrators, each character is a layered human being that shares a significant role to the whole image. I will admit, the intrigue and bitter-sweet ending are the elements that truly put the whole story together. It was a welcomed surprise.]]> 3.58 2025
author: Oliver K. Langmead
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

City of All Seasons tells a story of a city torn by unknown circumstances into two entities �� one covered in never melting snow, one drowned in summer sun. One cousin lives in endless winter, one in constant summer. But under such simple division lies an actual story, about a legendary Pike family, about corruption, love and... cinema.

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised with this title! At first glance it seems like a simple idea for world-building, one that doesn't reach deeper than surface level, yet Langmead and Whiteley created a complex world, simultaneously intertwining it with a family saga. The prose is beautiful, I enjoyed the atmosphere and descriptions of two cities. Although Jamie and Esther are the narrators, each character is a layered human being that shares a significant role to the whole image. I will admit, the intrigue and bitter-sweet ending are the elements that truly put the whole story together. It was a welcomed surprise.
]]> 205762592 For fans of�� The Princess Bride and Gideon the Ninth: a bloody�� lesbian revenge tale and political fantasy set in a glittering world transformed by industrial change �� and simmering class warfare.

Ichorite is progress. More durable and malleable than steel, ichorite is the lifeblood of a dawning industrial revolution. Yann I. Chauncey owns the sole means of manufacturing this valuable metal, but his workers, who risk their health and safety daily, are on strike. They demand Chauncey research the hallucinatory illness befalling them, a condition they call “being lustertouched.�� Marney Honeycutt, a lustertouched child worker, stands proud at the picket line with her best friend and family. That’s when Chauncey sends in the guns. Only Marney survives the massacre. She vows bloody vengeance. A decade later, Marney is the nation’s most notorious highwayman, and Chauncey’s daughter seeks an opportune marriage. Marney’s rage and the ghosts of her past will drive her to masquerade as an aristocrat, outmaneuver powerful suitors, and win the heart of his daughter, so Marney can finally corner Chauncey and satisfy her need for revenge. But war ferments in the north, and deeper grudges are surfacing. . .

H. A. Clarke’s adult fantasy debut, writing as August Clarke, Metal from Heaven is a punk-rock murder ballad tackling labor issues and radical empowerment against the relentless grind of capitalism.]]> 448 August Clarke 1645660982 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Wczesny dostęp otrzymany dzięki uprzejmości portalu NetGalley w zamian za szczerą recenzję, za co dziękuję!

Jestem prostym człowiekiem. Dostaję kompilację Disco Elysium i Gideon the Ninth, to sięgam w ciemno. Co mogę przyznać, zawarte w blurbie bloody lesbian revenge jest najlepszym podsumowaniem tej opowieści. Bardzo podobał mi się pomysł stojący za tą fabułą, czeka tu dużo refleksji na temat tego industrialnego świata, fascynujące jest nazewnictwo, dużo potencjału kryje się za tym tytułem. Nie będę ukrywać, wszystko wskazuje na to, że jest to idealna kontynuacja tego niszowego gatunku, który obejmuje safickość, sci-fi i humor.

Tym, co niestety nie zadziałało, był sposób pisania. August Clarke składa proste zdania, a jego styl momentami jest wręcz surowy. Ma to swój urok, nadaje pewnej atmosfery całej lekturze, ale nie będę ukrywać �� w pewnym momencie mnie to zmęczyło. Straciłam wątek. Liczyłam na idealne wypełnienie dziury tęskniącej za Arcane, jednak pacing był tak specyficzny, że nie potrafiłam się dostosować; doceń bardzo, że wstęp do historii, który jest kluczowy dla pozostałej fabuły, trwa wystarczająco długo, by nie był tylko punktem wyjścia, a faktycznie znaczącym elementem. Jednak czasami osoba autorska skacze między rozdziałami w taki sposób, który przypomina bardziej rozplanowanie niż pisanie. Lubię specyficzne narracje, jednak miałam dwie próby do tego tytułu, i przy obu ten sam element mnie uwierał.

Cóż, już teraz ta książka ma swoich zwolenników. I całkowicie to rozumiem. Sama oczekiwałam czegoś trochę charyzmatyczniejszego. Ale na pewno tym spragnionym tejże specyficznej atmosfery przypadnie do gustu.]]> 3.91 2024
author: August Clarke
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
2,75⭐️

Wczesny dostęp otrzymany dzięki uprzejmości portalu NetGalley w zamian za szczerą recenzję, za co dziękuję!

Jestem prostym człowiekiem. Dostaję kompilację Disco Elysium i Gideon the Ninth, to sięgam w ciemno. Co mogę przyznać, zawarte w blurbie bloody lesbian revenge jest najlepszym podsumowaniem tej opowieści. Bardzo podobał mi się pomysł stojący za tą fabułą, czeka tu dużo refleksji na temat tego industrialnego świata, fascynujące jest nazewnictwo, dużo potencjału kryje się za tym tytułem. Nie będę ukrywać, wszystko wskazuje na to, że jest to idealna kontynuacja tego niszowego gatunku, który obejmuje safickość, sci-fi i humor.

Tym, co niestety nie zadziałało, był sposób pisania. August Clarke składa proste zdania, a jego styl momentami jest wręcz surowy. Ma to swój urok, nadaje pewnej atmosfery całej lekturze, ale nie będę ukrywać �� w pewnym momencie mnie to zmęczyło. Straciłam wątek. Liczyłam na idealne wypełnienie dziury tęskniącej za Arcane, jednak pacing był tak specyficzny, że nie potrafiłam się dostosować; doceń bardzo, że wstęp do historii, który jest kluczowy dla pozostałej fabuły, trwa wystarczająco długo, by nie był tylko punktem wyjścia, a faktycznie znaczącym elementem. Jednak czasami osoba autorska skacze między rozdziałami w taki sposób, który przypomina bardziej rozplanowanie niż pisanie. Lubię specyficzne narracje, jednak miałam dwie próby do tego tytułu, i przy obu ten sam element mnie uwierał.

Cóż, już teraz ta książka ma swoich zwolenników. I całkowicie to rozumiem. Sama oczekiwałam czegoś trochę charyzmatyczniejszego. Ale na pewno tym spragnionym tejże specyficznej atmosfery przypadnie do gustu.
]]> 215041954 In an eat or be eaten world, domestication is a death sentence.

When Janie chose the isolated sheep farm, she knew her husband would hunt her down. What she didn’t expect was Rob and Howard. Rob rules the farm with the same domination tactics she uses to train dogs, while Howard believes only human supremacists think humans should be treated any differently than other animals. Janie inadvertently jumps out of the frying pan and into the fire. She wishes to leave her old self behind. She wants to transform. Will she devolve into meat, metamorphose into a monster, or transcend beyond her domesticated limitations?]]> 349 Shannon Knight blok sera szwajcarskiego 0 4.39
author: Shannon Knight
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: received-from-net-galley, currently-reading
review:

]]> 215179636 Thyme Travellers collects fourteen of the Palestinian diaspora’s best voices in speculative fiction. Speculative fiction as a genre invites a reconfiguring of reality, and here each story is a portal into realms of history, folklore and futures.��


A man stands on the shore waiting to commune with those who live in the ocean. Pilgrims stretch into the distance, passing a stone cairn with a mysterious light streaming from it. Two Australian women fervently dig a tunnel to Jerusalem. Men from Gaza swim in the sea until they drown, still unconcerned. A father and son struggle to connect over the AI scripts prompting their conversation.


Building on the work of trailblazing anthologies such as Reworlding Ramallah�����Ի���Palestine +100, this volume is the first of its kind in Canada. Editor Sonia Sulaiman brings together stories by speculative fiction veterans and emerging writers from Australia to Egypt, Lebanon to Canada.��]]> 170 Sonia Sulaiman 1773637045 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Anthologies are always a tough nut to crack �� so many voices, so many differences. "Thyme Travellers" is a cross-section of various genres and ideas. It draws from historical context, as well as contemporary times, it's full of fantasies and possibilities. It's human and extraordinary, it's hopeful and heartbreaking, it's beautiful and painful. Some stories I liked more than the other, but overall I wouldn't rate it low �� it's short but complex representation of Palestinian writing, both from across the world and from the very heart of the land.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.]]> 4.12
author: Sonia Sulaiman
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,75 ⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Anthologies are always a tough nut to crack �� so many voices, so many differences. "Thyme Travellers" is a cross-section of various genres and ideas. It draws from historical context, as well as contemporary times, it's full of fantasies and possibilities. It's human and extraordinary, it's hopeful and heartbreaking, it's beautiful and painful. Some stories I liked more than the other, but overall I wouldn't rate it low �� it's short but complex representation of Palestinian writing, both from across the world and from the very heart of the land.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
]]> 216540053 Spaceships aren’t programmed to seek revenge—but for Dracula, Demeter will make an exception.

Demeter just wants to do her shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures, as her AI medical system, Steward, would have her believe. These are paranormal murders, and they began when one nasty, ancient vampire decided to board Demeter and kill all her humans.

To keep from getting decommissioned, Demeter must join forces with her own team of A werewolf. An engineer built from the dead. A pharaoh with otherworldly powers. A vampire with a grudge. A fleet of cheerful spider drones. Together, this motley crew will face down the ultimate evil—Dracula.

The queer love child of pulp horror and ​classic ​sci-fi, Of Monsters and ​Mainframes ​is a dazzling, heartfelt odyssey that probes what it means to be one of society’s monsters—and explores the many types of friendship that make us human.]]> 407 Barbara Truelove 1964721156 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

That was one fucking charismatic book, pardon the language.
One that captures you from the first chapter, and before you know, you've devoured it whole in one evening. You find yourself at the edge of your seat, deeply involved in space opera about werewolves and cosmic vampires, deeply in love with every strange character on across-galactic stage. What can be said about Of Monsters and Mainframes to make you feel like you need to read this book when it's still hot off the grill?

What will interest you? A new aspect of sci-fi, a story told from the perspective of spaceship AI, but not in the "gaining self-conciousness" way, but more "I am here to cause mayhem and mischief" way? Maybe you want queer cast? Or maybe you love vampires and werewolves, but grew bored of classical interpretations �� don't worry, here we have them in space. Murder mystery? Sure, but why limit �� let's get mass murder mystery. And not once, but twice. You want existential dread? Humor? Absolute insanity? Absolute hodgepodge of mismatched elements that become genius next to each other?

Well look no further.

I adore this book. It's funny, with a great side of charming, it's weird, but it's also greatly written. I do not exaggerate when I say I don't know when I've read. It lasts, and then it ends, and you're left with the want of more. Barbara Truelove wrote a georgeous story that proves there are still new paths to find in science fiction genre.

Y'all need to read this book. Y'all need to experience how AI medical system argues with fifteen years old werewolf when the spaceship they're on does a low-g barrel in space, while throwing a dinosaur theme party. ]]> 4.48
author: Barbara Truelove
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.48
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
4,5⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

That was one fucking charismatic book, pardon the language.
One that captures you from the first chapter, and before you know, you've devoured it whole in one evening. You find yourself at the edge of your seat, deeply involved in space opera about werewolves and cosmic vampires, deeply in love with every strange character on across-galactic stage. What can be said about Of Monsters and Mainframes to make you feel like you need to read this book when it's still hot off the grill?

What will interest you? A new aspect of sci-fi, a story told from the perspective of spaceship AI, but not in the "gaining self-conciousness" way, but more "I am here to cause mayhem and mischief" way? Maybe you want queer cast? Or maybe you love vampires and werewolves, but grew bored of classical interpretations �� don't worry, here we have them in space. Murder mystery? Sure, but why limit �� let's get mass murder mystery. And not once, but twice. You want existential dread? Humor? Absolute insanity? Absolute hodgepodge of mismatched elements that become genius next to each other?

Well look no further.

I adore this book. It's funny, with a great side of charming, it's weird, but it's also greatly written. I do not exaggerate when I say I don't know when I've read. It lasts, and then it ends, and you're left with the want of more. Barbara Truelove wrote a georgeous story that proves there are still new paths to find in science fiction genre.

Y'all need to read this book. Y'all need to experience how AI medical system argues with fifteen years old werewolf when the spaceship they're on does a low-g barrel in space, while throwing a dinosaur theme party.
]]> 217953677
Seventeen-year-old Paprick is a common butcher, carving slabs of meat from gargantuan monsters so elite chefs can prepare magic-granting meals for the rich. But Paprick’s true passion is cooking, and if he can learn the secret art, his dreams of liberating his people and sharing the monsters�� magic with the world could come true. He steals the precious ingredients needed to practise recipes at home, but if he’s caught, he’ll be executed.

As his desperation grows, he ventures into the black market and uncovers a spice imported from unknown lands. Combining it with the last of his stolen meat, he cooks a dish the world has never tasted before, with side-effects he couldn’t have foreseen.

The dish’s magic grows Paprick to kaiju-size, and legends of his powers spread among the people. Immediately, the rulers arrest him, but Paprick convinces them to make him a chef’s apprentice―if they ever want to learn his Recipe. However, his exposure to the world of high cuisine reveals the rot at its centre, and with his new power, rebellion is only a few recipes away…]]> 480 Ryan Rose 1837840644 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
The blurb of Seven Recipes for Revolution states that it is "perfect for fans of Pierce Brown and Jay Kristoff"; not sure how it is for everyone else, but as someone who did not enjoy a single book of theirs, it was a rather red flag. Fortunately, the blurb consists of much more than a simple comparison.

Ryan Rose managed to do something neither of those mentioned authors could �� create a greater story around a rather young protagonist. Paprick is a teenager in a cruel world, one that got his love for food from his mothers, and yet is stopped from pursuing that passion due to strict rules. But even a common can shake the world, just like a common may attend a prestigious Culinary Academy, while being accused of the greatest crime possible.

Story of young Paprick is intertwined with story of Paprick the Butcher, a figure so powerful and terrifying, people crave his interrogation to reveal his secrets. And that works. It is incredibly captivating to discover this story from two different perspectives. Rose writes with incredible lightness, even as he is describing the most devastating scene. It is also delightfully queer, which I appreciate greatly.

Seven Recipes for Revolution serves as an obvious beginning to a bigger narrative, and it works perfectly �� everything starts somewhere, every step is important. I may not be the earnest fan of books set in universities, as I find them rather boring, especially when I know there is something bigger waiting around the corner. But truth to be told, that's on me, even Poppy War couldn't make me interested in that. Here, it is the sole reason my reading took so long. But in the same time I must admit, Rose does a lot of things to never really focus only on one subplot at the time. There is a constant action, even if you discover it only after few chapters �� each ingredient is necessary to cook the delicious dish this book happens to be.

Recommended with pleasure and full stomach, as you do grow hungry during the reading.]]> 4.24
author: Ryan Rose
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

The blurb of Seven Recipes for Revolution states that it is "perfect for fans of Pierce Brown and Jay Kristoff"; not sure how it is for everyone else, but as someone who did not enjoy a single book of theirs, it was a rather red flag. Fortunately, the blurb consists of much more than a simple comparison.

Ryan Rose managed to do something neither of those mentioned authors could �� create a greater story around a rather young protagonist. Paprick is a teenager in a cruel world, one that got his love for food from his mothers, and yet is stopped from pursuing that passion due to strict rules. But even a common can shake the world, just like a common may attend a prestigious Culinary Academy, while being accused of the greatest crime possible.

Story of young Paprick is intertwined with story of Paprick the Butcher, a figure so powerful and terrifying, people crave his interrogation to reveal his secrets. And that works. It is incredibly captivating to discover this story from two different perspectives. Rose writes with incredible lightness, even as he is describing the most devastating scene. It is also delightfully queer, which I appreciate greatly.

Seven Recipes for Revolution serves as an obvious beginning to a bigger narrative, and it works perfectly �� everything starts somewhere, every step is important. I may not be the earnest fan of books set in universities, as I find them rather boring, especially when I know there is something bigger waiting around the corner. But truth to be told, that's on me, even Poppy War couldn't make me interested in that. Here, it is the sole reason my reading took so long. But in the same time I must admit, Rose does a lot of things to never really focus only on one subplot at the time. There is a constant action, even if you discover it only after few chapters �� each ingredient is necessary to cook the delicious dish this book happens to be.

Recommended with pleasure and full stomach, as you do grow hungry during the reading.
]]> 213570812 "I'm in your blood, and you are in mine��"

The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.

Then, the worst happens. Sarah's behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry�� and hungry.��

Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.]]> 368 Johanna van Veen 1728281571 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Though if God disagrees and you are damned and restlessly must roam, please, Saartje, please come and haunt me.

Oh, what a delightful and dreadful story that was! van Veen spins a great horror story, weaving into it love, hunger and (un)death, drenching it in unrepeatable atmosphere. She draws from both worlds �� writing a gothic novel that could undoubtedly stand next to the classics, yet conciously enriches her text with her modern perspective and modern knowledge of the epoque. A chilling plot with morally questionable characters, uncertainty of what is real and what belongs to supernatural �� it was a real feast to read.]]> 4.00 2025
author: Johanna van Veen
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
4,25⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Though if God disagrees and you are damned and restlessly must roam, please, Saartje, please come and haunt me.

Oh, what a delightful and dreadful story that was! van Veen spins a great horror story, weaving into it love, hunger and (un)death, drenching it in unrepeatable atmosphere. She draws from both worlds �� writing a gothic novel that could undoubtedly stand next to the classics, yet conciously enriches her text with her modern perspective and modern knowledge of the epoque. A chilling plot with morally questionable characters, uncertainty of what is real and what belongs to supernatural �� it was a real feast to read.
]]> 202763292 A queer, madcap, friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers time travel romance with the future of the world at stake, this charming fantasy tale is sure to satisfy fans of Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree.

The kingdom of Farsala is broken and black clouds hang heavy over the arid lands. Former Grand-Mage of the High Court, Cyril Laverre, has spent the last decade hiding himself away in a ramshackle hut by the sea, trying to catch any remaining fish for his cat familiar, Shoestring, and suppressing his guilt over the kingdom’s ruin. For he played his part �� for as the King, Eufrates Margrave, descended further and further into paranoia, violence and madness, his Grand-Mage �� and husband �� Cyril didn’t do a thing to stop him.

When Shoestring wanders away and dies one morning, Cyril knows his days are finally numbered. But are there enough left to have a last go at putting things right? With his remaining lifeblood, he casts a powerful spell that catapults him back in time to a happier period of Farsalan history �� a time when it was Eufrates’s older sister Tig destined to ascend to the throne, before she died of a wasting disease, and a time when Cyril and Eufrates’s tentative romance had not yet bloomed. If he can just make sure Eufie never becomes King, then maybe he can prevent the kingdom’s tragic fate. But the magical oath he made to his husband at the altar, transcending both time and space, may prove to be his most enduring �� and most dangerous �� feat of magic to date��

Featuring a formidable Great Aunt, a friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romance, an awkward love quadrangle and a crow familiar called Ganache, this charming story is imminently easy to read and sure to satisfy fans of fanfiction who like their fantasy lite.]]> 336 Mariana Costa 1915998190 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
2,75⭐️

I recognize Mariana Costa by their art on social media, ones that I enjoy both visually and through the lore they post snippets of. To say I was curious about her writing debut would be correct.

From the blurb we can imagine a rather grand story, full of intrigues, plot twists (it is, in the end, a story about time traveling) and complicated characters' relationships. But what is worth acknowledging is the recommendation for cozy fantasy readers. Because Shoestring Theory is a slow, low action tale. And i believe tale is a key word, as the world-building is just enough, not too little information, yet not to much, to not take the attention from the main thing.

The main thing being, I believe, characters. Through the text it is visible that the author is also a visual artist, descriptions of certain looks are detailed. Sometimes it felt like comic-to-text movement, which isn't a disadvantage, just a peculiar and certainly original feature of this title. However, sometimes the pacing feels unfinished �� the first half wonders around exposition, backstory, setting the basic plot points for the future, but lacks interactions between main characters. Yes, Cyril and Tigres have plenty of conversations, but between the mage and his husband is only (greatly written, may I add) conflict balancing between love and hate. But later, as they discover more, its base becomes long-winded. There were moments with too little or too muhh dialogue, making the story quite uneven.

I may not be the fan of the pacing, either, yet for completely different reason. The blurb suggests a lot, while all promised aspects have their place, the overall story appears rather... slow. Fantasy aspects, like magic, were not explored enough for me �� I must admit, Costa has many great ideas, ones that work and charm the reader, but it's further developed into character based book. Some resolutions I found good, some were lacking the spark.

Overall, I feel like Shoestring Theory represents a unique thing in literature, presenting narration that is rather absent. The author is not a classical debut writer, she does not use typical language nor frames of action. I found that intriguing, refreshing even. Besides the fact I expected to be slightly more engaged in the story, I think it will be a good title for many readers]]> 4.06 2024
author: Mariana Costa
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/18
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

2,75⭐️

I recognize Mariana Costa by their art on social media, ones that I enjoy both visually and through the lore they post snippets of. To say I was curious about her writing debut would be correct.

From the blurb we can imagine a rather grand story, full of intrigues, plot twists (it is, in the end, a story about time traveling) and complicated characters' relationships. But what is worth acknowledging is the recommendation for cozy fantasy readers. Because Shoestring Theory is a slow, low action tale. And i believe tale is a key word, as the world-building is just enough, not too little information, yet not to much, to not take the attention from the main thing.

The main thing being, I believe, characters. Through the text it is visible that the author is also a visual artist, descriptions of certain looks are detailed. Sometimes it felt like comic-to-text movement, which isn't a disadvantage, just a peculiar and certainly original feature of this title. However, sometimes the pacing feels unfinished �� the first half wonders around exposition, backstory, setting the basic plot points for the future, but lacks interactions between main characters. Yes, Cyril and Tigres have plenty of conversations, but between the mage and his husband is only (greatly written, may I add) conflict balancing between love and hate. But later, as they discover more, its base becomes long-winded. There were moments with too little or too muhh dialogue, making the story quite uneven.

I may not be the fan of the pacing, either, yet for completely different reason. The blurb suggests a lot, while all promised aspects have their place, the overall story appears rather... slow. Fantasy aspects, like magic, were not explored enough for me �� I must admit, Costa has many great ideas, ones that work and charm the reader, but it's further developed into character based book. Some resolutions I found good, some were lacking the spark.

Overall, I feel like Shoestring Theory represents a unique thing in literature, presenting narration that is rather absent. The author is not a classical debut writer, she does not use typical language nor frames of action. I found that intriguing, refreshing even. Besides the fact I expected to be slightly more engaged in the story, I think it will be a good title for many readers
]]> 123284957
But stopping Alexey is not so easy as plotting to kill an ordinary man. Through a perversion of the Ludayzim religion that he terms the Holy Science, Alexey has died and resurrected himself in an immortal, indestructible body—and now claims he is guided by the voice of God Himself. Able to summon forth creatures from the realm of demons, he seeks to build an army, turning Novo-Svitsevo into the greatest empire that history has ever seen.

Dimitri is determined not to let Alexey corrupt his country, but saving Novo-Svitsevo and its people will mean forfeiting the soul of the husband he can’t bring himself to forsake—or the spymaster he’s come to love.]]> 448 Laura R. Samotin 1039007562 blok sera szwajcarskiego 2 received-from-net-galley
tw // sa, manipulacja, przemoc, bodyhorror, trauma, dubcon

Po zapowiedzi mrocznej fantastyki o mężach stojących po dwóch przeciwnych stronach konfliktu, który zasiał jeden z nich, rozdzierając świat na pół, oraz szpiegu w niego wplątanym, oczekiwałam wiele. Dorzucić tu jeszcze inspiracje folklorem żydowskim oraz wschodnią Europą? Wow.

A potem sięgnęłam po pierwszy rozdział i mi się odechciało.

Ale jak już powróciłam, to przynajmniej skończyłam. Co z zapowiedzi zostało tu dotrzymane? Zdecydowanie mrok całej opowieści.

O ile komentowania odzwierciedlenia kultury żydowskiej się nie tykam, bo nie znam tematu wystarczajaco, o tyle mogę zrecenzować całą resztę światotwórstwa. A tutaj, niestety, ono leży. Choć autorka ma wykształcenie w polityce, nie wykorzystuje go �� niewiele wiadomo na temat świata oraz zasad jego działania. Nawet magia wymyka się jakimkolwiek opisom. Owszem, to jest historia, która stoi bohaterami, nie fabułą, ale cholera, jeżeli już mają bić się o tron carski, to chociaż wytłumaczcie czemu ten tron jest taki ważny (poza faktem, że Aleksiej ma obsesję na punkcie władzy). Dodatkowo ów grono bohaterów w rzeczywistości sprowadza się do trzech postaci-narratorów. Jeśli czułabym się chojna, to doliczyłabym ich siedmiu, co na opowieść tak rozległą i epicką jak tutaj (budowa armii i podbój imperium od środka) wciśż jest mierną ilością.

Nieobiektywnie tym, co utrudniło mi lekturę, jest ten mrok. Dużo jest tutaj traumy na podłożu seksualnym, bohaterowie również używają seksu, by komunikować swoje emocje. Ale, po raz drugi, cholera, w prawie każdym rozdziale? W porównaniu z ilością scen fabularnych to one właśnie budują tę książkę. Podkreślam, to, że ze mną to nie siedziało, nie oznacza, że to zło absolutne. Po prostu po tej historii spodziewałam się czegoś absolutnie innego.

Świat Aleksieja, Dymitra i Wasilego to świat mężczyzn; od A do Z rządzą i ważni są sami mężczyźni, na całą jego długość pojawiają się cztery kobiety �� dwie ważne dla Dymitra (obie skrzywdzone przez wojne, muszące stacjonować na pozycjach na dworze, których nie chciały) i dwie przypadkowe, których spotkanie Wasyli wykorzystuje do osiągnięcia swojego celu. Generalnie tu nie ma postaci kobiecych. Jest duża nierówność w tym, jak wspomniane bohaterki niepojawiające się na stronach we własnej osobie wpływają na fabułę (nijak), a jak tacy bohaterowie (ogromnie �� od choćby przemocowego cara, który cieniem kładzie się na wszystkie wydarzenia, do oprawcy Wasyla z dzieciństwa, który zostaje ukarany podczas fabuły). Może to nieważne, może nie wszędzie trzeba zachowywać jakąś proporcję, cholerka, możecie nawet powiedzieć �� przecież to inspiracja na osiemnasty wiek, oczywiście, że tu nie będzie wiele kobiet! I może macie rację. Po prostu chciałam podzielić się obserwacją.

Trochę mnie Samotin pozostawia w rozterce, z jednej strony umiem docenić, jak nietypową historię obrała i z jaką pieczołowitością opisuje bohatera-złoczyńcę, z drugiej �� czy to była dzięki temu przyjemna lektura? Czy sprawiła, że to będzie moja ulubiona książka? No nie. Wyjątkowa na rynku, ale wyjąkowość niestety nie zawsze wystarcza.]]> 3.80 2024
author: Laura R. Samotin
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/15
date added: 2024/08/15
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Wczesny dostęp otrzymany dzięki uprzejmości portalu NetGalley w zamian za szczerą recenzję, za co dziękuję!

tw // sa, manipulacja, przemoc, bodyhorror, trauma, dubcon

Po zapowiedzi mrocznej fantastyki o mężach stojących po dwóch przeciwnych stronach konfliktu, który zasiał jeden z nich, rozdzierając świat na pół, oraz szpiegu w niego wplątanym, oczekiwałam wiele. Dorzucić tu jeszcze inspiracje folklorem żydowskim oraz wschodnią Europą? Wow.

A potem sięgnęłam po pierwszy rozdział i mi się odechciało.

Ale jak już powróciłam, to przynajmniej skończyłam. Co z zapowiedzi zostało tu dotrzymane? Zdecydowanie mrok całej opowieści.

O ile komentowania odzwierciedlenia kultury żydowskiej się nie tykam, bo nie znam tematu wystarczajaco, o tyle mogę zrecenzować całą resztę światotwórstwa. A tutaj, niestety, ono leży. Choć autorka ma wykształcenie w polityce, nie wykorzystuje go �� niewiele wiadomo na temat świata oraz zasad jego działania. Nawet magia wymyka się jakimkolwiek opisom. Owszem, to jest historia, która stoi bohaterami, nie fabułą, ale cholera, jeżeli już mają bić się o tron carski, to chociaż wytłumaczcie czemu ten tron jest taki ważny (poza faktem, że Aleksiej ma obsesję na punkcie władzy). Dodatkowo ów grono bohaterów w rzeczywistości sprowadza się do trzech postaci-narratorów. Jeśli czułabym się chojna, to doliczyłabym ich siedmiu, co na opowieść tak rozległą i epicką jak tutaj (budowa armii i podbój imperium od środka) wciśż jest mierną ilością.

Nieobiektywnie tym, co utrudniło mi lekturę, jest ten mrok. Dużo jest tutaj traumy na podłożu seksualnym, bohaterowie również używają seksu, by komunikować swoje emocje. Ale, po raz drugi, cholera, w prawie każdym rozdziale? W porównaniu z ilością scen fabularnych to one właśnie budują tę książkę. Podkreślam, to, że ze mną to nie siedziało, nie oznacza, że to zło absolutne. Po prostu po tej historii spodziewałam się czegoś absolutnie innego.

Świat Aleksieja, Dymitra i Wasilego to świat mężczyzn; od A do Z rządzą i ważni są sami mężczyźni, na całą jego długość pojawiają się cztery kobiety �� dwie ważne dla Dymitra (obie skrzywdzone przez wojne, muszące stacjonować na pozycjach na dworze, których nie chciały) i dwie przypadkowe, których spotkanie Wasyli wykorzystuje do osiągnięcia swojego celu. Generalnie tu nie ma postaci kobiecych. Jest duża nierówność w tym, jak wspomniane bohaterki niepojawiające się na stronach we własnej osobie wpływają na fabułę (nijak), a jak tacy bohaterowie (ogromnie �� od choćby przemocowego cara, który cieniem kładzie się na wszystkie wydarzenia, do oprawcy Wasyla z dzieciństwa, który zostaje ukarany podczas fabuły). Może to nieważne, może nie wszędzie trzeba zachowywać jakąś proporcję, cholerka, możecie nawet powiedzieć �� przecież to inspiracja na osiemnasty wiek, oczywiście, że tu nie będzie wiele kobiet! I może macie rację. Po prostu chciałam podzielić się obserwacją.

Trochę mnie Samotin pozostawia w rozterce, z jednej strony umiem docenić, jak nietypową historię obrała i z jaką pieczołowitością opisuje bohatera-złoczyńcę, z drugiej �� czy to była dzięki temu przyjemna lektura? Czy sprawiła, że to będzie moja ulubiona książka? No nie. Wyjątkowa na rynku, ale wyjąkowość niestety nie zawsze wystarcza.
]]> 174146852 A sharp-tongued folklorist must pair up with her academic rival to solve their mentor's murder in this lush and enthralling sapphic fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic.

Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness to secure his reign of the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she’s only ever read about.

The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are her five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again—and a coup begins in earnest.

But there are other dangers lurking in the forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons waiting beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood.

As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for one another—they discover that their professor had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, or if this kingdom is worth saving at all.]]> 384 Allison Saft 0593722345 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
4,5⭐️

That night, as she did every night, she dreamed of drowning. Only this time, in the exquisite and unbearable sweetness of Sylvia von Wolff's eyes.

Never have I ever anticipated a book more since the moment Allison Saft hinted the existence of "A Dark and Drowning Tide". It was my first death.
The second death came with receiving a preview �� felt like dreams come true.
And so, the third and final death would come after the lecture �� whether from utter disappointment or romantic death from love, it all depended on Saft's craft.

Glad to admit I fell in love, truly and deeply. A tale woven carefully with finest fairytale and grim atmosphere, paired with mysterious murder and political shenanigans. With a variety of characters neither good nor evil, each detailed and different, Saft writes an amazing story that just escapes any genre border you could set. It has a great, sprouting romance, but in the same time a captivating story about scientific expedition, a discussion about country's independence and imperialism.

Besides the aesthetics, which I adored, a perfect Gothic tale, I was captivated by the discussion on greater themes. Saft doesn't settle for one, clear answer, demanding the reader to rethink freely what's a better decision, or one that will carry lesser evil. On a technical side, I won't ever be failed by Saft's writing �� sensible, detailed and exceptionally beautiful. Combined with fantastic world-building �� so enchanted with this German inspired world, woven with magic as a basic principle and academic agenda! Full of magical creatures, existing alongside humans everyday! Every piece of this story has its place, everything coexist, building a great fictional world you yearn to visit.

I will certainly come back to Lorelei and Sylvia, not only in thoughts, but also to reread their story. Couldn't recommend enough to every sapphic lover, fairytale enthusiast and those who search for something different yet enchanting.]]> 3.59 2024
author: Allison Saft
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/14
date added: 2024/07/14
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

4,5⭐️

That night, as she did every night, she dreamed of drowning. Only this time, in the exquisite and unbearable sweetness of Sylvia von Wolff's eyes.

Never have I ever anticipated a book more since the moment Allison Saft hinted the existence of "A Dark and Drowning Tide". It was my first death.
The second death came with receiving a preview �� felt like dreams come true.
And so, the third and final death would come after the lecture �� whether from utter disappointment or romantic death from love, it all depended on Saft's craft.

Glad to admit I fell in love, truly and deeply. A tale woven carefully with finest fairytale and grim atmosphere, paired with mysterious murder and political shenanigans. With a variety of characters neither good nor evil, each detailed and different, Saft writes an amazing story that just escapes any genre border you could set. It has a great, sprouting romance, but in the same time a captivating story about scientific expedition, a discussion about country's independence and imperialism.

Besides the aesthetics, which I adored, a perfect Gothic tale, I was captivated by the discussion on greater themes. Saft doesn't settle for one, clear answer, demanding the reader to rethink freely what's a better decision, or one that will carry lesser evil. On a technical side, I won't ever be failed by Saft's writing �� sensible, detailed and exceptionally beautiful. Combined with fantastic world-building �� so enchanted with this German inspired world, woven with magic as a basic principle and academic agenda! Full of magical creatures, existing alongside humans everyday! Every piece of this story has its place, everything coexist, building a great fictional world you yearn to visit.

I will certainly come back to Lorelei and Sylvia, not only in thoughts, but also to reread their story. Couldn't recommend enough to every sapphic lover, fairytale enthusiast and those who search for something different yet enchanting.
]]> 211960914 In this nuanced queer fantasy set amid the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia, the last witch of the Ridge must choose sides in a clash between industry and nature.

After her best friend dies in a coal mine, Benethea “Bennie�� Mattox sacrifices her job, her relationship, and her reputation to uncover what’s killing miners on Kire Mountain. When she finds a half-drowned white woman in a dirty mine slough, Bennie takes her in because it’s right—but also because she hopes this odd, magnetic stranger can lead her to the proof she needs. Instead, she brings more questions. The woman called Motheater can’t remember her true name, or how she ended up inside the mountain. She knows only that she’s a witch of Appalachia, bound to tor and holler, possum and snake, with power in her hands and Scripture on her tongue. But the mystery of her fate, her doomed quest to keep industry off Kire Mountain, and the promises she bent and broke have followed her a century and half into the future. And now, the choices Motheater and Bennie make together could change the face of the town itself.]]> 416 Linda H. Codega 1645661792 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
Bennie has a goal �� to prove the death of her friend in mines was not an accident. Living in close proximity of Appalachia, the world and people are strange. But the strangest thing happens when she discovers dead body on the side of the river coming from the mines. Even stranger? The body is alive, and belongs to the witch that lived one hundred and fifty years ago, one that lost her memory, remembering only one thing �� she was a Motheater. Together, they are meant to discover secrets behind the small town, and magic it is bound to.

Guys, when I say I adored this book since the very beginning, I mean it. The opening lines were so captivating, capturing the very essence of its story �� the weirdness, the uniqueness, the magic and atmosphere. You really feel the wilderness roaring from the lines, the love that burns the author to that particular region. The plot is slow, I will give it that, and not really adventurous �� but it is worth it. Simple, yet charming. Simple, but detailed, crafted with love and talent. It would be a great movie, I would give everything to see it, but until that, read "Motheater". I ain't no fan of comparing one book to another, but if you're looking for the similar uniqueness that Maggie Stiefvater writes about, give Linda H. Codega a chance.]]> 3.42 2025
author: Linda H. Codega
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/13
date added: 2024/07/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Bennie has a goal �� to prove the death of her friend in mines was not an accident. Living in close proximity of Appalachia, the world and people are strange. But the strangest thing happens when she discovers dead body on the side of the river coming from the mines. Even stranger? The body is alive, and belongs to the witch that lived one hundred and fifty years ago, one that lost her memory, remembering only one thing �� she was a Motheater. Together, they are meant to discover secrets behind the small town, and magic it is bound to.

Guys, when I say I adored this book since the very beginning, I mean it. The opening lines were so captivating, capturing the very essence of its story �� the weirdness, the uniqueness, the magic and atmosphere. You really feel the wilderness roaring from the lines, the love that burns the author to that particular region. The plot is slow, I will give it that, and not really adventurous �� but it is worth it. Simple, yet charming. Simple, but detailed, crafted with love and talent. It would be a great movie, I would give everything to see it, but until that, read "Motheater". I ain't no fan of comparing one book to another, but if you're looking for the similar uniqueness that Maggie Stiefvater writes about, give Linda H. Codega a chance.
]]> 209439541 Endless night befalls a sleepy seaside town, leaving it to young Madeline Tock to save her community from a threat known only as the Night Mother . . .

The moon is stuck like a broken clock in the midnight sky, the sun a distant memory. No one in this quiet seaside town can remember how long this unnatural darkness has lasted. No one, that is, except for the curious girl who lives in the graveyard, caring for the dead: twelve-year-old Madeline Tock. In gratitude, the departed whisper their worries to her, sounding just like her overprotective but loving father: beware this endless night and she who causes it.

Because there’s someone else who can hear the whispers, too . . . someone whose gown is a map of the cosmos, hair a tangled constellation, eyes like the lights of faraway stars. The Night Mother. Her elemental duty is to gather the souls of the dead in her lantern, then send them to their eternal rest as beautiful moonlight. But when her hunger for power drives her to take souls from the living, Madeline bravely stands up to defend her town and those she loves. Can Madeline help bring back the sun, or will she be lured by the starry promises of this mysterious woman?

Written by Jeremy Lambert (Doom Patrol, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Goosebumps) and richly illustrated by Alexa Sharpe (Lumberjanes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Uncanny Magazine), The Night Mother is a lush gothic tale perfect for readers of all ages who relish in the wonder of the night sky.]]> 88 Jeremy Lambert 1637154941 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
Every panel of this graphic novel is a visual masterpiece, an extasy of art, with colors so vibrant, atmosphere so unique and artsyle that is a pleasure to look at. And the storynof Night Mother is as fascinating as the visual aspect �� I adore the folklorish note behind it. Although it was roughly one hundred pages, it managed to set a great world-building, with great, complex characters and possibilities endless for the continuation. I am so glad I was able to read it, because it instantly swooned me, and I fall in love. Cannot recommend it enough!]]> 3.73
author: Jeremy Lambert
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.73
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/11
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Every panel of this graphic novel is a visual masterpiece, an extasy of art, with colors so vibrant, atmosphere so unique and artsyle that is a pleasure to look at. And the storynof Night Mother is as fascinating as the visual aspect �� I adore the folklorish note behind it. Although it was roughly one hundred pages, it managed to set a great world-building, with great, complex characters and possibilities endless for the continuation. I am so glad I was able to read it, because it instantly swooned me, and I fall in love. Cannot recommend it enough!
]]> 206334404 Amid the chaos of a dying city ruled by colonizers, three rivals—a thief, a slumlord, and an heiress—race to find a hidden cache of magic that will decide the city’s fate.

In the occupied city of Tejomaya, calor��a magical fossil fuel—is found only in the blood rains that fall from the sky. While a six-month drought has brought Tejomaya to a desperate standstill, rumors of a secret stash of magic propel three unlikely treasure seekers to risk everything.

Tenacious and street-smart Zain Jatav has been forced to steal calor for her slumlord bosses for years. Finding the magic reserve might be her only key to freedom. But she’ll have to contend with Iravan Khotar, a slumlord himself and an ambitious revolutionary hoping to use the same magic to save his people from the mysterious illness devastating the slums—and to bolster a fight against their oppressors. Meanwhile, heiress Anastasia Drakos leads the ruling council of Tejomaya from the safety of a nearby island. With the hidden magic, she could finally take full control of the city and crush the slums beneath her unyielding fist.

As Zain, Iravan, and Anastasia draw closer to finding the treasure, their paths tangle, and not for the first time—they met before, a decade ago, in a fire that destroyed each of their lives in different ways. Their reunion might bring the already-weakened city to its knees.

Exploring the devastating mechanisms of power, this searing climate fantasy breathes life into a crumbling world hovering on the brink of total destruction.]]> 384 S. Hati blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
My my, what a captivating little book we have here!

S. Hati introduces a magnificient world-building, simple enough to focus on one city, yet complex enough in political issues and history. It's equally magical and scientifical, charming in this connection and surprising in its intelligence. The author settles on the story that lately is not so popular �� one that is driven by actual sotry, and the characters are just a part of a bigger picture. Do not be fooled, it doesn't equal they are flat or uninteresting, quite the opposite actually. But given so different perspectives it feels like all the characters are important, even those from the background, as they all work towards the same goal. And it works greatly. It evokes emotions, it drives your interest, while simultaneously providing clever commentary over discussed topics.

I love finding niché fantasy books that end up being a real treasure, and I'm glad to state that Hati's one definitely belongs among them. Amazing!]]> 3.87 2024
author: S. Hati
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/08
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

My my, what a captivating little book we have here!

S. Hati introduces a magnificient world-building, simple enough to focus on one city, yet complex enough in political issues and history. It's equally magical and scientifical, charming in this connection and surprising in its intelligence. The author settles on the story that lately is not so popular �� one that is driven by actual sotry, and the characters are just a part of a bigger picture. Do not be fooled, it doesn't equal they are flat or uninteresting, quite the opposite actually. But given so different perspectives it feels like all the characters are important, even those from the background, as they all work towards the same goal. And it works greatly. It evokes emotions, it drives your interest, while simultaneously providing clever commentary over discussed topics.

I love finding niché fantasy books that end up being a real treasure, and I'm glad to state that Hati's one definitely belongs among them. Amazing!
]]> 203613906 Spirit away with a whimsical fantasy filled with dark magic and flirty, polyamorous romance.

Cursed to haunt the river running through the magical spa town where she drowned, Gisela is a water nymph who dreams of returning to the living world and the family she left behind. All it takes to regain her humanity is a kiss from a mortal...but everyone sees her as a monster.

And then there’s Kazik, the brooding, interfering, spirit-hunting grandson of a local witch. He's determined to rid the world of unholy creatures like Gisela. After Kazik botches Gisela’s exorcism, she strikes up a deal. She won’t tell the other spirits that he’s losing his magic, if he agrees to play matchmaker and helps her get a kiss. But Gisela’s plan goes awry when Kazik also falls for the devilishly handsome young man that she sets her heart on—someone who could be linked to Gisela’s troubled past.

Finely crafted with a magical setting, this delectable quest through the spirit world is an enchanting read for fans of queer romantasy.]]> 416 Alicia Jasinska 1682637360 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
3,75⭐️

This Fatal Kiss happens to be my second meeting with Alicia Jasinska's writing, and I consider it much more succesful than previous one. Not perfect - about which in a moment - but left me with a pleasant feeling.

Depending on what you expect from this story, you may feel different. If you looked for a nice, folklore-inspired poly romance loosely based on The Little Mermaid, ding ding ding! You just hit a strike. If you wished for a fantasy book rooted in Polish legends �� you may be a bit disappointed.

Gisela is a rusałka, and like all of them, she did not become it by her own wish. However what differs her from her sisters and siblings is the fact that she wishes to regain her humanity. What stops her are two obstacles �� no memory of the night when she died and a mortal kiss that would grant her mortality. But with a little help of local healer Kazik and handsome, but mysterious Aleksey she may flirt her way towards those goals.

I adore everything this story stands for �� the atmosphere, ideas behind world-building, characters and all. There is an improvement in Jasinska's writing, which is worth complementing. Although it can still be polished and mastered, it already is a great lift from previous simplicity of the style.

What took me aback was the world-building. While yes, I love the potential hidden in it, it could have been explored deeper. There was a time and place to develop the idea of "family" of rusałki, the lore behind Leśna Woda and conflict between Wojciech and Leszy. I suspect there might be a book two, so my expectations may be met, yet it could still take place here. Simply the fantasy part could have been more fantastical.
Time is another facture to look deeper into �� I couldn't guess when everything took place. Is it modern time, with radios and tourist attractions, or is it more fairytale like, impossible to pin point?
Is it bothering during lecture? Not really. It's not something that will break the immersion. But certainly such details could only be beneficial.

Overall, I really liked it. If there will be a second book, I won't complain, even gladly read it. Plus look at that gorgeous cover �� a true gem among covers!]]> 4.00 2024
author: Alicia Jasinska
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

3,75⭐️

This Fatal Kiss happens to be my second meeting with Alicia Jasinska's writing, and I consider it much more succesful than previous one. Not perfect - about which in a moment - but left me with a pleasant feeling.

Depending on what you expect from this story, you may feel different. If you looked for a nice, folklore-inspired poly romance loosely based on The Little Mermaid, ding ding ding! You just hit a strike. If you wished for a fantasy book rooted in Polish legends �� you may be a bit disappointed.

Gisela is a rusałka, and like all of them, she did not become it by her own wish. However what differs her from her sisters and siblings is the fact that she wishes to regain her humanity. What stops her are two obstacles �� no memory of the night when she died and a mortal kiss that would grant her mortality. But with a little help of local healer Kazik and handsome, but mysterious Aleksey she may flirt her way towards those goals.

I adore everything this story stands for �� the atmosphere, ideas behind world-building, characters and all. There is an improvement in Jasinska's writing, which is worth complementing. Although it can still be polished and mastered, it already is a great lift from previous simplicity of the style.

What took me aback was the world-building. While yes, I love the potential hidden in it, it could have been explored deeper. There was a time and place to develop the idea of "family" of rusałki, the lore behind Leśna Woda and conflict between Wojciech and Leszy. I suspect there might be a book two, so my expectations may be met, yet it could still take place here. Simply the fantasy part could have been more fantastical.
Time is another facture to look deeper into �� I couldn't guess when everything took place. Is it modern time, with radios and tourist attractions, or is it more fairytale like, impossible to pin point?
Is it bothering during lecture? Not really. It's not something that will break the immersion. But certainly such details could only be beneficial.

Overall, I really liked it. If there will be a second book, I won't complain, even gladly read it. Plus look at that gorgeous cover �� a true gem among covers!
]]> 203166772 Bestselling and award-winning author Andrew Joseph White returns with a queer Appalachian thriller, that pulls no punches, for teens who see the failures in our world and are pushing for radical change.

A gut-wrenching story following a trans autistic teen who survives an attempted murder, only to be drawn into the generational struggle between the rural poor and those who exploit them.

On the night Miles Abernathy—sixteen-year-old socialist and proud West Virginian—comes out as trans to his parents, he sneaks off to a party, carrying evidence that may finally turn the tide of the blood feud plaguing Twist Creek: Photos that prove the county’s Sheriff Davies was responsible for the so-called “accident�� that injured his dad, killed others, and crushed their grassroots efforts to unseat him.

The feud began a hundred years ago when Miles’s great-great-grandfather, Saint Abernathy, incited a miners�� rebellion that ended with a public execution at the hands of law enforcement. Now, Miles becomes the feud’s latest victim as the sheriff’s son and his friends sniff out the evidence, follow him through the woods, and beat him nearly to death.

In the hospital, the ghost of a soot-covered man hovers over Miles’s bedside while Sheriff Davies threatens Miles into silence. But when Miles accidentally kills one of the boys who hurt him, he learns of other folks in Twist Creek who want out from under the sheriff’s heel. To free their families from this cycle of cruelty, they’re willing to put everything on the line—is Miles?

A visceral, unabashedly political page-turner that won’t let you go until you’ve reached the end, Compound Fracture is not for the faint of heart, but it is for every reader who is ready to fight for a better world.]]> 370 Andrew Joseph White 1682636127 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
This book is like a raw flesh �� awfully naked, terrifying to look at, with the uncomfortable thought like it's not supposed to be, and yet so warm, so familiar to human creature on a primal level.

Andrew Joseph White do not write for everyone, but oh baby, he sure speaks right into my soul. Third book, and third time he enchanted me with his words. Emotions keep buzzing, style is evolving, stories become more terrifying and heartbreaking, and I follow like a faithful dog.

Miles' story is raw and complicated. It crawls under your skin, shape-shifting there, from a beating heart to sharp tusks, comforting you just to tear your mortal shell to pieces. And it doesn't stop there. The atmosphere of West Virginia �� gods, I've never been there, but I sure as hell felt like I did. It's beautiful and iniquitous, habituated by people neither good nor bad. Yet between them awaits true evil �� yet you can't be sure where to look for it.

Of course I'm recommending it. How could I not, after it left me in state of want to tear my teeth out of my mouth, dip my fingers into tree bark and howl?

tw // graphic violence, queerphobia, transphobia, opioid dependency, physical and emotional manipulation, animal harm, discussion of ableism, vomiting ]]> 4.44 2024
author: Andrew Joseph White
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/29
date added: 2024/06/29
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

This book is like a raw flesh �� awfully naked, terrifying to look at, with the uncomfortable thought like it's not supposed to be, and yet so warm, so familiar to human creature on a primal level.

Andrew Joseph White do not write for everyone, but oh baby, he sure speaks right into my soul. Third book, and third time he enchanted me with his words. Emotions keep buzzing, style is evolving, stories become more terrifying and heartbreaking, and I follow like a faithful dog.

Miles' story is raw and complicated. It crawls under your skin, shape-shifting there, from a beating heart to sharp tusks, comforting you just to tear your mortal shell to pieces. And it doesn't stop there. The atmosphere of West Virginia �� gods, I've never been there, but I sure as hell felt like I did. It's beautiful and iniquitous, habituated by people neither good nor bad. Yet between them awaits true evil �� yet you can't be sure where to look for it.

Of course I'm recommending it. How could I not, after it left me in state of want to tear my teeth out of my mouth, dip my fingers into tree bark and howl?

tw // graphic violence, queerphobia, transphobia, opioid dependency, physical and emotional manipulation, animal harm, discussion of ableism, vomiting
]]> 89144437 Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. The facility is cold, the instructors merciless, and the students either bloom into eligible wives or disappear. So when the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its rotten guts to the world—as long as the school doesn’t break him first.]]> 399 Andrew Joseph White 1682636186 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
If a dead girl prays to God can he hear her?

tw // transphobia, ableism, graphic violence, sexual assault, discussions of forced pregnancy and miscarriage, mentions of suicidal ideation, extensive medical gore

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth picked up a pair of silver scissor and thrusted them into my body, leaving a mush of muscles and bones behind barely recognizable as me.

There are no longer words. I surely don't have them. I cannot even begin to describe what I felt while reading, how Silas's story grabbed me by a hand since the page one, and how his hand was moving deeper and deeper into my flesh and ribs until it found it and mercilessly grabbed this beating heart. It. Is. Marvelous.

The horror? Indescribable. The tension? Unbreakable. The story? Fucking wild. Good isn't the word, bad is. How wrong it is, how uncomfortable with this evil waiting under its surface. AJW is a genius when it comes to sending reader way down into darkness of a world deprived of light, just to shine a dim of hope upon them. It breaks you. And yet you cannot leave. You don't want to leave.

I am well aware it is unhinged, feral and untamed book that is not for everyone. It never was meant to be. It won't be praised by most, but that's what makes the very core of it. TSBIT does not choose simplifications. It does not agree to exist as anything but this.

And I fucking loved every shard of glass it thrusted into me.

If this is AJW's young adult version of horror, I am terrified of the twisted adult tale he's preparing. Cannot wait for it.

BUMOING CAUSE IT'S PUBLICATION DAY BABYYY]]> 4.48 2023
author: Andrew Joseph White
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/30
date added: 2024/06/29
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

If a dead girl prays to God can he hear her?

tw // transphobia, ableism, graphic violence, sexual assault, discussions of forced pregnancy and miscarriage, mentions of suicidal ideation, extensive medical gore

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth picked up a pair of silver scissor and thrusted them into my body, leaving a mush of muscles and bones behind barely recognizable as me.

There are no longer words. I surely don't have them. I cannot even begin to describe what I felt while reading, how Silas's story grabbed me by a hand since the page one, and how his hand was moving deeper and deeper into my flesh and ribs until it found it and mercilessly grabbed this beating heart. It. Is. Marvelous.

The horror? Indescribable. The tension? Unbreakable. The story? Fucking wild. Good isn't the word, bad is. How wrong it is, how uncomfortable with this evil waiting under its surface. AJW is a genius when it comes to sending reader way down into darkness of a world deprived of light, just to shine a dim of hope upon them. It breaks you. And yet you cannot leave. You don't want to leave.

I am well aware it is unhinged, feral and untamed book that is not for everyone. It never was meant to be. It won't be praised by most, but that's what makes the very core of it. TSBIT does not choose simplifications. It does not agree to exist as anything but this.

And I fucking loved every shard of glass it thrusted into me.

If this is AJW's young adult version of horror, I am terrified of the twisted adult tale he's preparing. Cannot wait for it.

BUMOING CAUSE IT'S PUBLICATION DAY BABYYY
]]> 199373378
Abby Rodier was a “drop-box baby,�� a Korean orphan whose mother could not take care of her and left her as an infant. Abby’s tumultuous experience in the American foster care system has led her to live a solitary and guarded life, closed off to almost everyone except her best friend Iseul, whose parents took Abby into their home as a child.

Abby’s work studying the origins of life in sea slugs and bacteria leads her to wonder about her birth parents and question her place in this world. It's not long before Abby stumbles upon a biological discovery that will change the course of her life. Meanwhile, Iseul’s devotion to their ill brother leads to an entanglement between her work as an investigative journalist and the murky world of black market medicine.

After a tragic event, Abby’s life is thrown into a tailspin. With the rug pulled from under her feet, she spirals into a disorientation of grief, apparitions, and compulsions. With the help of those around her, Abby must embark on a journey to understand her true roots and make peace with her present.

From an exciting new voice in literary fiction, We Carry the Sea in Our Hands is a complex and layered ode to found family, perfect for fans of The Last Story of Mina Lee and Goodbye, Vitamin .]]> 336 Janie Kim 1639107533 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Iseul is going back to the sea.

Janie Kim crafted something really beautiful �� a complicated yet hopeful story about family ties (those known and unknown), loss, science and sea slugs. Abby starts her career with bacteria, unconciously hoping this study will lead her to her biological parents. She does not expect, however, what kind of ground-breaking discovery she will make �� and what will it cost her. Because science does not like to be mingled with emotions, yet those seem to never truly leave Abby.

I have this problem with family sagas and minisagas that I love the beginning, but grow rather numb with time. This is not the case. Janie Kim surprised me; when I thought I knew the direction, she spinned the bingo known as plot and dealt the new cards. Abby's story is comforting in its heartbreaking ways, interestingly developed and steeped in real emotions. Although it took me some time to get through, and the pacing is rather slow, I do not regret any page. It was a beautiful story, and I am sure it will stay with me for some time.]]> 3.66 2024
author: Janie Kim
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/05/22
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Iseul is going back to the sea.

Janie Kim crafted something really beautiful �� a complicated yet hopeful story about family ties (those known and unknown), loss, science and sea slugs. Abby starts her career with bacteria, unconciously hoping this study will lead her to her biological parents. She does not expect, however, what kind of ground-breaking discovery she will make �� and what will it cost her. Because science does not like to be mingled with emotions, yet those seem to never truly leave Abby.

I have this problem with family sagas and minisagas that I love the beginning, but grow rather numb with time. This is not the case. Janie Kim surprised me; when I thought I knew the direction, she spinned the bingo known as plot and dealt the new cards. Abby's story is comforting in its heartbreaking ways, interestingly developed and steeped in real emotions. Although it took me some time to get through, and the pacing is rather slow, I do not regret any page. It was a beautiful story, and I am sure it will stay with me for some time.
]]> 201626991
She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom on the brink of war. Home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional character: the Once and Forever Emperor. He’s impossibly alluring, as only fiction can be. And in this fantasy world, she discovers she's not the heroine, but the villainess in the Emperor's tale.

So be it. The wicked are better dressed, with better one-liners, even if they're doomed to bad ends. She assembles the wildly disparate villains of the story under her evil leadership, plotting to change their fate. But as the body count rises and the Emperor's fury increases, it seems Rae and her allies may not survive to see the final page.

This adult epic fantasy debut from Sarah Rees Brennan puts the reader in the villain's shoes, for an adventure that is both 'brilliant' (Holly Black) and 'supremely satisfying' (Leigh Bardugo). Expect a rogue's gallery of villains including an axe wielding maid, a shining knight with dark moods, a homicidal bodyguard, and a playboy spymaster with a golden heart and a filthy reputation.]]> 435 Sarah Rees Brennan 0316568716 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

This book was written to specifically infuriate me.

What can I say? Me, a big sucker for SVSSS, finding a book about isekai-ed dying girl into the fantasy world, only to find out she is a villain? How could I say no?

And then the alerts started to arise.

Firstly, the beginning. I don't think I've ever read so messy introduction and exposition of world-building. Bad, sure, those I know, but so chaotic, to the point where it was a logical puzzle to try and grasp the surroundings �� I must confess, it was the first. It stopped me from lecture for a long time. The resolution for that would be very simple �� just state the plot of the original book as a first thing, and later on build on top of that. Because to this moment I am not sure what was the "canonical" event, and what was a twist. And that worsens the isekai experience.

Secondly �� the characters. Be as campy as you want, there is no easier way to create surprise than use a stereotype for a twist. But gods, do create them. Besides Rae and Eric (later on Lia and Marius are added to this list) there is no character anyhow developed. There are changes, but those are said changes: They were like that before. Now, they're like this. For me, who knows those characters from only few chapters yet, this means nothing.

The plot was... interesting. The idea �� great; some resolutions �� really great, they surprised me and actually invested me. But what good it brings, I ask gods, if there is so much unnecessary camp thrown at me. I may survive lot, but oh, the popcultural references were like bullets to my heart. Density so tight I might cry if I see another TS quote. I know Rae is supposed to be this out of place one, that doesn't really care about the world, but pays close attention to why she's in it, yet is it that hard to make main character at least a little more into the story she's in?

But do you know why I feel bad criticising both the book and the main character? It's because Rae has a cancer. And a lot of introduction, later on also her thoughts, is influenced by that.

It sounds a bit ridiculous when you try to portray her backstory �� she has a cancer, and during this illness her father leaves, her boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend, and this said BFF fat shames her all the time. How much more could she suffer?
The worst part is I am not so sure how unreal this backstory is, because it was devastating for me to learn the author is a cancer survivor herself. Because after reading acknowledgements I started understanding so much more of this title than without such knowledge.

Long Live Evil is not a serious, poignant story. It is a convalescence, a fun little adventure that takes no borders, but brings everything that's light and warm. It goes into much darker corners the more you read, leaves you in a quarrel, yet still shines some laugh from beside the clouds.

I may have not liked it as I expected, I may have even suffered through some parts (cringe culture is dead but I have daily limits), but I also changed my opinion a lot through the lecture. At the beginning I was unsure whether I wanted to rate it, and now? After so long? I think I might even pick up Polish translation when it's released.]]> 3.87 2024
author: Sarah Rees Brennan
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/04
date added: 2024/05/04
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
2,75��3⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

This book was written to specifically infuriate me.

What can I say? Me, a big sucker for SVSSS, finding a book about isekai-ed dying girl into the fantasy world, only to find out she is a villain? How could I say no?

And then the alerts started to arise.

Firstly, the beginning. I don't think I've ever read so messy introduction and exposition of world-building. Bad, sure, those I know, but so chaotic, to the point where it was a logical puzzle to try and grasp the surroundings �� I must confess, it was the first. It stopped me from lecture for a long time. The resolution for that would be very simple �� just state the plot of the original book as a first thing, and later on build on top of that. Because to this moment I am not sure what was the "canonical" event, and what was a twist. And that worsens the isekai experience.

Secondly �� the characters. Be as campy as you want, there is no easier way to create surprise than use a stereotype for a twist. But gods, do create them. Besides Rae and Eric (later on Lia and Marius are added to this list) there is no character anyhow developed. There are changes, but those are said changes: They were like that before. Now, they're like this. For me, who knows those characters from only few chapters yet, this means nothing.

The plot was... interesting. The idea �� great; some resolutions �� really great, they surprised me and actually invested me. But what good it brings, I ask gods, if there is so much unnecessary camp thrown at me. I may survive lot, but oh, the popcultural references were like bullets to my heart. Density so tight I might cry if I see another TS quote. I know Rae is supposed to be this out of place one, that doesn't really care about the world, but pays close attention to why she's in it, yet is it that hard to make main character at least a little more into the story she's in?

But do you know why I feel bad criticising both the book and the main character? It's because Rae has a cancer. And a lot of introduction, later on also her thoughts, is influenced by that.

It sounds a bit ridiculous when you try to portray her backstory �� she has a cancer, and during this illness her father leaves, her boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend, and this said BFF fat shames her all the time. How much more could she suffer?
The worst part is I am not so sure how unreal this backstory is, because it was devastating for me to learn the author is a cancer survivor herself. Because after reading acknowledgements I started understanding so much more of this title than without such knowledge.

Long Live Evil is not a serious, poignant story. It is a convalescence, a fun little adventure that takes no borders, but brings everything that's light and warm. It goes into much darker corners the more you read, leaves you in a quarrel, yet still shines some laugh from beside the clouds.

I may have not liked it as I expected, I may have even suffered through some parts (cringe culture is dead but I have daily limits), but I also changed my opinion a lot through the lecture. At the beginning I was unsure whether I wanted to rate it, and now? After so long? I think I might even pick up Polish translation when it's released.
]]> 178619817 304 Crystal J. Bell 1635830982 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
This is my life. Warbler is my home. Who am I to let women be harmed when I can do something about it?
Even if that means becoming a monster myself.
I'm my father's daughter, after all. [...]
There is an evil in Warbler, and I am the only one who knows about it.

First, there was a cover. A dark and mysterious, beautifully drawn cover, full of mist, roots, darkness and mysteries. It caught my eye. Enchanted me with its atmosphere. Couldn't pass the opportunity to check what story it hides.

And then, there was a story.
A story about a town near water, with great boats and not great people. A town inhabitet by evil and darkness, full of flaws, mistakes and fear. They walk through streets boldly, because Warbler is their place on Earth. No justice awaits for them, as they are the ones setting the rules.
Is there a place, in such world, for a young woman craving equity?

"The Lamplighter" is neither a happy nor bright story, but hells on Earth �� it's a fucking good one. It's supposed to be YA horror, but I genuinely believe it could proudly stand at first place of adult category. The dread, the Gothic, the chills. You cannot make this up. I was served and satisfied, fall in love with Warbler's ghost tale, just to gladly have a heart broken, shattered and scattered through the orchard ground later. It's so good. I can't even find my words.

I live for such books.

Merged review:

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

This is my life. Warbler is my home. Who am I to let women be harmed when I can do something about it?
Even if that means becoming a monster myself.
I'm my father's daughter, after all. [...]
There is an evil in Warbler, and I am the only one who knows about it.

First, there was a cover. A dark and mysterious, beautifully drawn cover, full of mist, roots, darkness and mysteries. It caught my eye. Enchanted me with its atmosphere. Couldn't pass the opportunity to check what story it hides.

And then, there was a story.
A story about a town near water, with great boats and not great people. A town inhabitet by evil and darkness, full of flaws, mistakes and fear. They walk through streets boldly, because Warbler is their place on Earth. No justice awaits for them, as they are the ones setting the rules.
Is there a place, in such world, for a young woman craving equity?

"The Lamplighter" is neither a happy nor bright story, but hells on Earth �� it's a fucking good one. It's supposed to be YA horror, but I genuinely believe it could proudly stand at first place of adult category. The dread, the Gothic, the chills. You cannot make this up. I was served and satisfied, fall in love with Warbler's ghost tale, just to gladly have a heart broken, shattered and scattered through the orchard ground later. It's so good. I can't even find my words.

I live for such books.

Merged review:

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

This is my life. Warbler is my home. Who am I to let women be harmed when I can do something about it?
Even if that means becoming a monster myself.
I'm my father's daughter, after all. [...]
There is an evil in Warbler, and I am the only one who knows about it.

First, there was a cover. A dark and mysterious, beautifully drawn cover, full of mist, roots, darkness and mysteries. It caught my eye. Enchanted me with its atmosphere. Couldn't pass the opportunity to check what story it hides.

And then, there was a story.
A story about a town near water, with great boats and not great people. A town inhabitet by evil and darkness, full of flaws, mistakes and fear. They walk through streets boldly, because Warbler is their place on Earth. No justice awaits for them, as they are the ones setting the rules.
Is there a place, in such world, for a young woman craving equity?

"The Lamplighter" is neither a happy nor bright story, but hells on Earth �� it's a fucking good one. It's supposed to be YA horror, but I genuinely believe it could proudly stand at first place of adult category. The dread, the Gothic, the chills. You cannot make this up. I was served and satisfied, fall in love with Warbler's ghost tale, just to gladly have a heart broken, shattered and scattered through the orchard ground later. It's so good. I can't even find my words.

I live for such books.]]> 3.75 2024
author: Crystal J. Bell
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/29
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

This is my life. Warbler is my home. Who am I to let women be harmed when I can do something about it?
Even if that means becoming a monster myself.
I'm my father's daughter, after all. [...]
There is an evil in Warbler, and I am the only one who knows about it.

First, there was a cover. A dark and mysterious, beautifully drawn cover, full of mist, roots, darkness and mysteries. It caught my eye. Enchanted me with its atmosphere. Couldn't pass the opportunity to check what story it hides.

And then, there was a story.
A story about a town near water, with great boats and not great people. A town inhabitet by evil and darkness, full of flaws, mistakes and fear. They walk through streets boldly, because Warbler is their place on Earth. No justice awaits for them, as they are the ones setting the rules.
Is there a place, in such world, for a young woman craving equity?

"The Lamplighter" is neither a happy nor bright story, but hells on Earth �� it's a fucking good one. It's supposed to be YA horror, but I genuinely believe it could proudly stand at first place of adult category. The dread, the Gothic, the chills. You cannot make this up. I was served and satisfied, fall in love with Warbler's ghost tale, just to gladly have a heart broken, shattered and scattered through the orchard ground later. It's so good. I can't even find my words.

I live for such books.

Merged review:

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

This is my life. Warbler is my home. Who am I to let women be harmed when I can do something about it?
Even if that means becoming a monster myself.
I'm my father's daughter, after all. [...]
There is an evil in Warbler, and I am the only one who knows about it.

First, there was a cover. A dark and mysterious, beautifully drawn cover, full of mist, roots, darkness and mysteries. It caught my eye. Enchanted me with its atmosphere. Couldn't pass the opportunity to check what story it hides.

And then, there was a story.
A story about a town near water, with great boats and not great people. A town inhabitet by evil and darkness, full of flaws, mistakes and fear. They walk through streets boldly, because Warbler is their place on Earth. No justice awaits for them, as they are the ones setting the rules.
Is there a place, in such world, for a young woman craving equity?

"The Lamplighter" is neither a happy nor bright story, but hells on Earth �� it's a fucking good one. It's supposed to be YA horror, but I genuinely believe it could proudly stand at first place of adult category. The dread, the Gothic, the chills. You cannot make this up. I was served and satisfied, fall in love with Warbler's ghost tale, just to gladly have a heart broken, shattered and scattered through the orchard ground later. It's so good. I can't even find my words.

I live for such books.

Merged review:

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

This is my life. Warbler is my home. Who am I to let women be harmed when I can do something about it?
Even if that means becoming a monster myself.
I'm my father's daughter, after all. [...]
There is an evil in Warbler, and I am the only one who knows about it.

First, there was a cover. A dark and mysterious, beautifully drawn cover, full of mist, roots, darkness and mysteries. It caught my eye. Enchanted me with its atmosphere. Couldn't pass the opportunity to check what story it hides.

And then, there was a story.
A story about a town near water, with great boats and not great people. A town inhabitet by evil and darkness, full of flaws, mistakes and fear. They walk through streets boldly, because Warbler is their place on Earth. No justice awaits for them, as they are the ones setting the rules.
Is there a place, in such world, for a young woman craving equity?

"The Lamplighter" is neither a happy nor bright story, but hells on Earth �� it's a fucking good one. It's supposed to be YA horror, but I genuinely believe it could proudly stand at first place of adult category. The dread, the Gothic, the chills. You cannot make this up. I was served and satisfied, fall in love with Warbler's ghost tale, just to gladly have a heart broken, shattered and scattered through the orchard ground later. It's so good. I can't even find my words.

I live for such books.
]]> 204237305
HELSINGØR, 1536.

Ophelia is a disgraced handmaid to the queen, the cast-off lover of Prince Hamlet.

She is also a witch, and a good one at that. And she can see that Denmark is rotting from the inside out, afflicted by dark magic.

WITTENBERG, 1536.

Hamlet is a useless son, a failed heir. He is the prince of a nation about to fight a war they won't win.

He doesn't know about magic, but if he did he would use it to destroy their enemies—no matter the consequences.

As Hamlet and Ophelia find themselves increasingly torn apart, they must decide: how much are they willing to sacrifice in order to save Denmark?

And, by the end of it all, will they be beyond saving?]]> 500 Yves Donlon blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
"I saw a world as dark as raging river," Solveig said softly. "I saw a girl crowned in flowers, floating in the water �� a boy with a grinning skull for a face, and he was drenched in blood �� I saw... I saw a gaveyard with rows upon rows of fresh graves, and yet more to be dug. And the air smelled like death and roses."
[...]
"Quod tuum est, meum est," the man said. What is yours is mine.

Now that was a wild ride. Shakespearean retelling of Hamlet, but with magic? And queers?? It will be either a grand surprise or even greater disaster.

As you see by my rating, Yves Donlon rather delivered. While in the beginning I had some doubts, later I became completely lost in the story of a young prince, on his path to damnation, and young mirror-being, on the path to her redemption. A story of S&BV is rather peculiar �� it is not really a retelling. Donlon takes what Shakespeare gave and rearanges it to their own want. There is certain intelligence to that, with all the balancing between fantasy fiction and intelligent use of real history. Worldbuilding feels rather empty, and in this emptiness it takes the greatest strength �� it enchants and snatches, deep into peculiarity and weirdness.

Because it is a weird book. My favourite title to give to the stories that I adored.

If Ophelia has a legion of fans, I am one of them.
If Ophelia has one fan, I am the one.
If Ophelia has zero fans, I am quite possibly dead.

I love the way her character is developed, this strenght inside her and the feeling of injustice, but without modern overview. It is not a slander of modern feminism, it is an appreciation that Donlon does keep to the setting they chosed. I would give my right hand to read more about the Otherwold, Corruption, the way Ophelia moves around the court, with this all-knowing manner and yet desperacy of her young age. Good food, indeed.

On the other hand there is Hamlet �� Hamlet with which I struggled, I bored, I found interest and I misunderstood. Donlon's idea of approach to such iconic character is rather unexpected, but that is what I wanted. My relation with him is rather unsimple, which is great. It is not a figure I can take like or dislike from the very beginning, he hurts my head and that is why this story works. It is not simply a retelling, it is a rediscovery, it is originality in adaptation, it is something weird, fresh and charming.

I really, really liked that.]]> 4.00 2024
author: Yves Donlon
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/10
date added: 2024/04/10
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

"I saw a world as dark as raging river," Solveig said softly. "I saw a girl crowned in flowers, floating in the water �� a boy with a grinning skull for a face, and he was drenched in blood �� I saw... I saw a gaveyard with rows upon rows of fresh graves, and yet more to be dug. And the air smelled like death and roses."
[...]
"Quod tuum est, meum est," the man said. What is yours is mine.

Now that was a wild ride. Shakespearean retelling of Hamlet, but with magic? And queers?? It will be either a grand surprise or even greater disaster.

As you see by my rating, Yves Donlon rather delivered. While in the beginning I had some doubts, later I became completely lost in the story of a young prince, on his path to damnation, and young mirror-being, on the path to her redemption. A story of S&BV is rather peculiar �� it is not really a retelling. Donlon takes what Shakespeare gave and rearanges it to their own want. There is certain intelligence to that, with all the balancing between fantasy fiction and intelligent use of real history. Worldbuilding feels rather empty, and in this emptiness it takes the greatest strength �� it enchants and snatches, deep into peculiarity and weirdness.

Because it is a weird book. My favourite title to give to the stories that I adored.

If Ophelia has a legion of fans, I am one of them.
If Ophelia has one fan, I am the one.
If Ophelia has zero fans, I am quite possibly dead.

I love the way her character is developed, this strenght inside her and the feeling of injustice, but without modern overview. It is not a slander of modern feminism, it is an appreciation that Donlon does keep to the setting they chosed. I would give my right hand to read more about the Otherwold, Corruption, the way Ophelia moves around the court, with this all-knowing manner and yet desperacy of her young age. Good food, indeed.

On the other hand there is Hamlet �� Hamlet with which I struggled, I bored, I found interest and I misunderstood. Donlon's idea of approach to such iconic character is rather unexpected, but that is what I wanted. My relation with him is rather unsimple, which is great. It is not a figure I can take like or dislike from the very beginning, he hurts my head and that is why this story works. It is not simply a retelling, it is a rediscovery, it is originality in adaptation, it is something weird, fresh and charming.

I really, really liked that.
]]> 196262577
When her best friend, Teo, second son of the Anand Tech empire, is framed for murdering his family, Ocean and her misfit crewmates are pushed to the forefront of a high-stakes ideological conflict. But dodging bullets and winning space chases may be the easiest part of what comes next.

A thrilling adventure across the solar that delivers hyperkinetic action sequences and irresistible will-they-won't-they romance alongside its nuanced exploration of colonialism and capitalism, Ocean's Godori ultimately asks: What do we owe our past? How do we navigate our present while honoring the complicated facets of our identity? What can our future hold?]]> 341 Elaine U. Cho 1638930597 blok sera szwajcarskiego 2
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

My dislike for rating media without fully discovering the story is pretty strong; I believe it's unfair, as you lack a whole picture. But in the same time I must be true to myself, and boomeranging from and to "Ocean's Godori" in span of few weeks is more tiring than hopefull. The story was a miss, despite that fantastic premise �� murder, space, journey of self-discovery? Sign me up!

And then I am moving like a snail during reading. Unability to find one element that would keep me going was the last nail for me �� I don't think it's a bad book. It's not a book that made me regret having eyes, it was absolutely okay, but because of this okay-ness it become bland. Sadly, not my cup of tea.]]> 3.61 2024
author: Elaine U. Cho
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/05
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: received-from-net-galley, did-not-finish
review:
DNF 37%

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

My dislike for rating media without fully discovering the story is pretty strong; I believe it's unfair, as you lack a whole picture. But in the same time I must be true to myself, and boomeranging from and to "Ocean's Godori" in span of few weeks is more tiring than hopefull. The story was a miss, despite that fantastic premise �� murder, space, journey of self-discovery? Sign me up!

And then I am moving like a snail during reading. Unability to find one element that would keep me going was the last nail for me �� I don't think it's a bad book. It's not a book that made me regret having eyes, it was absolutely okay, but because of this okay-ness it become bland. Sadly, not my cup of tea.
]]> 176443511
The Mushroom Knight follows the adventures of Gowlitrot the Gardener, a sentient bipedal fungus created by a race of woodland gnomes called Gödels, as he investigates and unearths a deadly conspiracy that reveals the true nature of himself and the devastation humans have wrought upon the global biosystem that he has sworn to protect.]]> 112 Oliver Bly 1960578790 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Talk about some weird, eerie, fantastic comic, and this one truly serves. Do I know what I read? Not to the full. Did I enjoyed ut? Oh hell fucking yes I did.]]> 3.35
author: Oliver Bly
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.35
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/16
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,5⭐️
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Talk about some weird, eerie, fantastic comic, and this one truly serves. Do I know what I read? Not to the full. Did I enjoyed ut? Oh hell fucking yes I did.
]]> 176442883 Discover Lysandra Vuong's hit supernatural action Webtoon Covenant in print for the first time ever.

"If you need a comic that blends action fantasy with mythology, comedy, and punk gothic fashion, Covenant is wildly enjoyable." -Women Write About Comics

In a world where priests are decked out in holy tattoos and brandish machine guns in the face of demons, a powerful exorcist and a mysterious boy cross paths . . . in a college classroom.

Erza’s faith is waning when God intervenes and sends him on a mission to protect Sunny, an outwardly normal human, from demonic forces. Looks can be deceiving, however, as Sunny proves to have hidden secrets and a bloody past nipping at his heels. Between Erza’s sunny sarcasm, and Sunny’s closed-off distant demeanor, the two struggle to find any common ground to bridge the gap. Yet, as much as the two bicker and retain distance, neither can help but be drawn to the other.

With his church under scrutiny and the threat of war on the horizon, will Ezra find his conviction in time to keep Sunny safe? Will Sunny even accept his help? Or will they both suffer the consequences??

From debut creator LySandra Vuong comes the first volume of the supernatural action webcomic that explores religious faith, a slow burn queer romance, the weight of destiny, and what it means to be good in a world plagued by demons.

This volume collects episodes 1��18 of the hit WEBTOON comic Covenant.]]> 240 LySandra Vuong 1637152817 blok sera szwajcarskiego 1 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Look, me and Webtoons don't go hand in hand in the first line. But my beige flag is that I will from time to time do some testing in works from outside my region. Although the given chance, Covenant just proved webtoon genre is not for me. I disliked the pacing, writing varied too drastically between quirky, goofy, silly dialogue and poignant, high focus monologues. The story may be interesting and I definetely see why others get the appeal, but I could not find a bone in its skeleton to dig for. None of characters grew on me. While the aesthetics are very subjective, I did not find the artstyle appealing nor interesting. A standard webtoon style, not bad, but not original either. I'm trying to not be overly negative, as the fact that I found this story rather bland and boring doesn't equal that others will have the same reaction. It lies rather in my dislike of webtoon comic form (as I prefer graphic novels much more) and conventions brought into the story because of it rather than the idea itself.]]> 4.07 2024
author: LySandra Vuong
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2024/02/16
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
1,5⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Look, me and Webtoons don't go hand in hand in the first line. But my beige flag is that I will from time to time do some testing in works from outside my region. Although the given chance, Covenant just proved webtoon genre is not for me. I disliked the pacing, writing varied too drastically between quirky, goofy, silly dialogue and poignant, high focus monologues. The story may be interesting and I definetely see why others get the appeal, but I could not find a bone in its skeleton to dig for. None of characters grew on me. While the aesthetics are very subjective, I did not find the artstyle appealing nor interesting. A standard webtoon style, not bad, but not original either. I'm trying to not be overly negative, as the fact that I found this story rather bland and boring doesn't equal that others will have the same reaction. It lies rather in my dislike of webtoon comic form (as I prefer graphic novels much more) and conventions brought into the story because of it rather than the idea itself.
]]> 150065064 Moulin Rouge meets Holly Black in a thrilling sapphic friends-to-lovers romantasy!

For Sybil Clarion, the Belle Époque city of Severon is a wild, romantic dream, filled with cafés, cabarets, and glittering nightclubs. Eager to embrace the city’s freedom after running away from home, she’s traded high-society soirées for empty pockets and barren cabinets. At least she has Esme, the girl who offered Sybil a home, and maybe—if either of them dared—something more.

Ever since Esme Rimbaud brought Sybil back to her flat, the girls have been everything to each other—best friends, found family, and secret crushes. While Esme would rather spend the night tinkering with her clocks and snuggling her cats, Sybil craves excitement and needs money. She plans to get both by stealing the rare posters that crop up around town and selling them to collectors. With rent due, Esme agrees to accompany—and more importantly protect —Sybil.

When they’re caught selling a poster by none other than its subject, Maeve, the glamorous girl doesn’t press charges. Rather, she invites Sybil and Esme to The Absinthe Underground, the exclusive club she co-owns, and reveals herself to be a Green Faerie, trapped in this world. She wants to hire thieves for a daring heist in Fae that would set her free, and is willing to pay enough that Sybil and Esme never have to worry about rent again. It’s too good of an offer to pass up, even if Maeve’s tragic story doesn’t quite add up, and even if Sybil’s personal ties to Fae could jeopardize everything she and Esme have so carefully built.

Jamie Pacton, author of The Vermilion Emporium, dazzles in this lavish and decadent LGBTQ+ fantasy romance that will leave readers utterly enchanted!]]> 304 Jamie Pacton 1682634922 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

What catches the eye in The Absinthe Underground is the cover, and later on the story �� Belle Epoque in Paris, sapphics, mystical intrigue. It is a gift wrapped in such a lovely form. I'm a bit sad that the time and setting didn't play much bigger role in the end, but regardless of that I would lie if I said I hadn't had fun reading it. I had lots of fun; characters are charming, their adventures rather stoic than adrenaline-rushed, yet still interesting to follow. Pacton's writing catches the essence of magic, beauty and love in small details. I wished it was longer, so I could stay with Sybil and Esme longer, visiting the Absinthe Underground, exploring Fae courts and stealing the posters under the cover of the night. Greatly recommended!]]> 3.45 2024
author: Jamie Pacton
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/16
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,5-3,75⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

What catches the eye in The Absinthe Underground is the cover, and later on the story �� Belle Epoque in Paris, sapphics, mystical intrigue. It is a gift wrapped in such a lovely form. I'm a bit sad that the time and setting didn't play much bigger role in the end, but regardless of that I would lie if I said I hadn't had fun reading it. I had lots of fun; characters are charming, their adventures rather stoic than adrenaline-rushed, yet still interesting to follow. Pacton's writing catches the essence of magic, beauty and love in small details. I wished it was longer, so I could stay with Sybil and Esme longer, visiting the Absinthe Underground, exploring Fae courts and stealing the posters under the cover of the night. Greatly recommended!
]]> 150247444
The stories in Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart are about the abomination that resides within us all. That churning, clawing, hungry the desire to be loved, and seen, and known. And the terror of those things to be loved too well, or not enough, or for long enough. To be laid bare before your sweetheart, to their horror. To be known and recognized as the monstrous thing you are.��

Two young women working at a sinister roadside attraction called the Eternal Staircase explore its secrets—and their own doomed summer love. A group of witchy teens concoct the perfect plan to induce the hated new girl into their ranks. A woman moves into a new house with her acclaimed artist boyfriend and finds her body slowly shifting into something specially constructed to accommodate his needs and whims. And two outcasts, a vampire and a goat woman, find solace in each other, even as the world's lack of understanding might bring about its own end.

In these lush, beautifully written stories, GennaRose Nethercott explores love in all its diamond-dark facets to create a collection that will redefine what you see as a beast, and make you beg to have your heart broken.]]> 259 GennaRose Nethercott 0593314182 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart and I would let each of them do it over and over again. GennaRose Nethercott woved a magnificent lore of short stories, which are not my favourite sort of reading, yet from time to time there appears an author who proves me wrong. I'm honored to add Nethercott to that list, because their imagination draws world in colors not known to human eyes. It's simple, yet magical, lyrical and, when it needs, able to rise goosebumps.

Wonderful collections. Please proceed to let it break your heart.

Bump and happy publication day!]]> 3.76 2024
author: GennaRose Nethercott
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/18
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart and I would let each of them do it over and over again. GennaRose Nethercott woved a magnificent lore of short stories, which are not my favourite sort of reading, yet from time to time there appears an author who proves me wrong. I'm honored to add Nethercott to that list, because their imagination draws world in colors not known to human eyes. It's simple, yet magical, lyrical and, when it needs, able to rise goosebumps.

Wonderful collections. Please proceed to let it break your heart.

Bump and happy publication day!
]]> 154433984
Past plants on the mud-flats that send up brief, man-shaped clouds of seeds to lure you out, past shanty towns full of old sailors and pilots scraping a living from the dregs of the passenger trade, between the wicker effigies in the Wodwo graveyards this is a journey at once familiar from folk tales and country customs and utterly strange and alien.

Cady, back on her boat and feeling every day of her 1,600 years; the tight-lipped but beautiful little girl and her rubber-stitched-faced, mechanical companion are an odd but warmly imagined and compelling cast to accompany the reader on a quest into a world of mysteries and terrors that leave the reader with an inkling that this world is perhaps more familiar than it first appears.

Can Cady find her youth again?]]> 333 Jeff Noon blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
What first brought my attention was this stunning cover, and when I buried myself in reading the blurb, I was sure sold. I like weirdness. "Gogmagog" is definetely weird, with its rich characters, unique world-building and narration; it's adventurous, and full of life. But unfortunately it was lacking tenderness. I could not for the love of me bite into it. The lecture was nice, but I'm afraid nothing more than that. Sadly, I don't think Cady's story will stay with me, no matter how much uniqness and interesting things was put into it.]]> 3.63 2024
author: Jeff Noon
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/05
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

What first brought my attention was this stunning cover, and when I buried myself in reading the blurb, I was sure sold. I like weirdness. "Gogmagog" is definetely weird, with its rich characters, unique world-building and narration; it's adventurous, and full of life. But unfortunately it was lacking tenderness. I could not for the love of me bite into it. The lecture was nice, but I'm afraid nothing more than that. Sadly, I don't think Cady's story will stay with me, no matter how much uniqness and interesting things was put into it.
]]> 182506390 Discover this creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance—from the perspective of the monster—by Nebula Award-winning debut author John Wiswell

Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.

However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she’s found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way.

Shesheshen hates keeping her identity secret from Homily, but just as she’s about to confess, Homily reveals why she’s in the area: she’s hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?

Eating her girlfriend isn’t an option. Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, but to give herself and Homily a chance at happiness, she has to figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. As the hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, Shesheshen must unearth the truth quickly, or soon both of their lives will be at risk.

And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life.]]> 310 John Wiswell 0756418852 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Any gods, above or below, they were surely laughing at how badly love undone her.

As I'm searching for words appropriate to catch all my feeling that are flowing through me, I am also trying to imagine a way to talk about this story. Peculiar doesn't do it justice. John Wiswell liberated flesh from limitation of a physical body, freed monsters and defined them as new. They wrote about love in words that slips like hands under the skin, to go deeper and deeper. It redefines what it means to be a mother, a lover, a family. It unties bows that connect those things and shape them into new, strange, sometimes terrifying forms.

And gods above and below, I adored every second of it. Please read this book when it's officially published, I beg you.]]> 3.97 2024
author: John Wiswell
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/02
date added: 2024/02/02
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
4,75-5⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

Any gods, above or below, they were surely laughing at how badly love undone her.

As I'm searching for words appropriate to catch all my feeling that are flowing through me, I am also trying to imagine a way to talk about this story. Peculiar doesn't do it justice. John Wiswell liberated flesh from limitation of a physical body, freed monsters and defined them as new. They wrote about love in words that slips like hands under the skin, to go deeper and deeper. It redefines what it means to be a mother, a lover, a family. It unties bows that connect those things and shape them into new, strange, sometimes terrifying forms.

And gods above and below, I adored every second of it. Please read this book when it's officially published, I beg you.
]]> 176443184
Alefret, the founder of Varkal’s pacifist resistance, was bombed and maimed by his own government, locked up in a secret prison and tortured by a ‘visionary�� scientist. But now they’re offering him a chance of freedom.

Ordered to infiltrate one of Med’ariz’s flying cities, obeying the bloodthirsty zealot Qhudur, he must find fellow anti-war activists in the enemy’s population and provoke them into an uprising against their rulers.

He should refuse to serve the warmongers, but what if he could end this pointless war once and for all? Is that worth compromising his own morals and the principles of his fellow resistance members?

A stunning meditation on war, nationalism, violence and courage by a rising star of the genre.]]> 368 Premee Mohamed 1837860467 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

The Siege of Burning Grass is an exceptional tale of a war, much less focused on the battles, and yet somehow much more cruel, bloody and deathly than if it did happen amongst soldiers. I've enjoyed Mohamed's writing, peculiar and slightly reserved, as she guides us through her story not like an all-knowing deity, but a mentor. Supporting. not explaining. Distant, yet closer than ever before. While she draws a tale like none other, it gives it a feeling of realism, like looking in the mirror �� not a perfect, one to one picture, but something closer. More chilling. Stranger.]]> 3.77 2024
author: Premee Mohamed
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/03
date added: 2024/01/03
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,75⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

The Siege of Burning Grass is an exceptional tale of a war, much less focused on the battles, and yet somehow much more cruel, bloody and deathly than if it did happen amongst soldiers. I've enjoyed Mohamed's writing, peculiar and slightly reserved, as she guides us through her story not like an all-knowing deity, but a mentor. Supporting. not explaining. Distant, yet closer than ever before. While she draws a tale like none other, it gives it a feeling of realism, like looking in the mirror �� not a perfect, one to one picture, but something closer. More chilling. Stranger.
]]> 61963206
Before Emile can sort out his affections or unravel the growing Montoni family mystery, his identity is revealed and his aunt comes to collect him.

When she arrives, Count Montoni forces everyone to depart to the remote Udolpho Castle—where there are no witnesses and no chance for escape. There, Emile realizes that he will have to risk his life to find the love he deserves—and survive the Montoni family.]]> 384 David Ferraro 1645679721 blok sera szwajcarskiego 0 3.51 2023
author: David Ferraro
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/03
shelves: audiobook, received-from-net-galley, did-not-finish
review:

]]> 176443221
Korinna has simple stay on the Navitas , stay out of trouble, and stay alive. She may be a Redseer, a blind priestess with the power to manipulate space-time, but she is the weakest in her Order. Useless and outcast. Or so she has been raised to believe.

As she takes her place as a navigator on an Imperium ship, Korinna’s full destiny is revealed to blood brimming with magic, she is meant to become a weapon of the Imperium, and pawn for the Order that raised her. But when the ship is attacked by the notorious pirate Aster Haran, Korinna’s world is ripped apart.

Aster has a vendetta against the Imperium, and an all-consuming, dark power that drives her to destroy everything in her path. She understands the world in a way Korinna has never imagined, and Korinna is drawn to her against her better judgment.

With the Imperium and the justice-seeking warrior Sahar hot on her heels, Korinna must choose her side, seize her power and fulfil her destiny--or risk imperiling the future of the galaxy, and destroying the fabric of space-time itself.]]> 400 Meredith Mooring 1786189380 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
While Redsight has every element that should make me fall in love, I just couldn't find a heart for this book. I adored world-building, it should be considered as a one of the greatest aspects of this story. Writing was decent, characters were interesting, basically on every step this book is good. I just couldn't focus on it; maybe it's the space opera element, maybe I just wasn't in the mood. I think I will come back to Korinna, Sahara and Aster, as there's a lot in them to explore, and reading about it was quite pleasant. But for now �� three stars from me. I feel the thrill when I think of it, but no the connection.]]> 3.48 2024
author: Meredith Mooring
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/16
date added: 2023/12/16
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

While Redsight has every element that should make me fall in love, I just couldn't find a heart for this book. I adored world-building, it should be considered as a one of the greatest aspects of this story. Writing was decent, characters were interesting, basically on every step this book is good. I just couldn't focus on it; maybe it's the space opera element, maybe I just wasn't in the mood. I think I will come back to Korinna, Sahara and Aster, as there's a lot in them to explore, and reading about it was quite pleasant. But for now �� three stars from me. I feel the thrill when I think of it, but no the connection.
]]> 61541145
Toba Peres can speak but she can’t shout; she can walk but she can’t run; and she can write in five languages�� with both hands at the same time.

Naftaly Cresques dreams every night of an orange-eyed stranger; when awake, he sees things that aren’t real; and he carries a book he can never lose and never read.

When the Queen of Sefarad orders all the nation’s Jews to leave or convert, Toba and Naftaly are forced to flee, but an unlucky encounter leaves them both separated from their caravan. Lost in the wilderness, Toba follows an orange-eyed stranger through a mysterious gate in a pomegranate grove, leaving Naftaly behind.

With a single step, Toba enters an ancient world that mirrors her own. There, she finds that her fate—and Naftaly’s—are bound to an ancient conflict threatening to destroy both realms.]]> 512 Ariel Kaplan 1786188244 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
There are books that are pretty good, and there are books that are captivating beyond the point of understanding. "The Pomegranate Gate" is definetly the second type. Although I need to mark that I took a four months long break from reading (without particular reason, certainly not a problem of the book itself), so my opinion is partially based on trust in this story. Coming backto it after such period of time made catching with the plot harder �� but, gods, if Ariel Kaplan can't serve, I am a Queen of England. Despite the break, despite months that passed, I was brought into this world again quicker than a thunder. It's magical. It's not afraid to take a long moment to unravel, but every stage is mesmerizing. The characters are great, they complement the world-building and vice versa. And the story - the story is so original, so different, and yet not overcomplicated, it's impossible to resist its charm. I loved it very dearly and regret a bit not reading it sooner.]]> 4.07 2023
author: Ariel Kaplan
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/15
date added: 2023/11/15
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

There are books that are pretty good, and there are books that are captivating beyond the point of understanding. "The Pomegranate Gate" is definetly the second type. Although I need to mark that I took a four months long break from reading (without particular reason, certainly not a problem of the book itself), so my opinion is partially based on trust in this story. Coming backto it after such period of time made catching with the plot harder �� but, gods, if Ariel Kaplan can't serve, I am a Queen of England. Despite the break, despite months that passed, I was brought into this world again quicker than a thunder. It's magical. It's not afraid to take a long moment to unravel, but every stage is mesmerizing. The characters are great, they complement the world-building and vice versa. And the story - the story is so original, so different, and yet not overcomplicated, it's impossible to resist its charm. I loved it very dearly and regret a bit not reading it sooner.
]]> 60656615
But as she finds her trust betrayed and with newer, more sinister threats arising, Rozlyn learns that some curses are better left unbroken ��

For fans of Hannah Whitten and Rebecca Ross, Unbound is a gender bent re-imagining of the classic tale of a monstrous beast and the beauty determined to tame it, set against the lush backdrop of Irish mythology and folklore.]]> 425 Christy Healy blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
3,25⭐️

I think Christy Healy wovem a very lyrical, delicate story of what is a monster and what is love. Parts based on Irish folklore and Celtic mythology were dear to me, as well as the ending. It was certainly my favourite part. I would love to love this book, but it's an okay story. Absolutely not bad nor dull, just... okay. I had fun reading it, I was pleasantly surprised, but that's about it. Doesn't regret reading it, though.]]> 4.14 2024
author: Christy Healy
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/31
date added: 2023/10/31
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange of honest opinion, thanks!

3,25⭐️

I think Christy Healy wovem a very lyrical, delicate story of what is a monster and what is love. Parts based on Irish folklore and Celtic mythology were dear to me, as well as the ending. It was certainly my favourite part. I would love to love this book, but it's an okay story. Absolutely not bad nor dull, just... okay. I had fun reading it, I was pleasantly surprised, but that's about it. Doesn't regret reading it, though.
]]> 198546556 138 Stéphane Fert blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
GOOD GOD? IT WAS SO GOOD??

The graphics, colours, art style �� magnificient. A pleasure to look at. But the story? The world building? Characters? It made me speechless. Stéphane Fert put a spell on me with this little yet three-dimensioned story of Temperance and her aunt-sisters witches, in a postapocaliptic world full of magic, nature forces and mist, as they cultivate their culture and start an expedition in order to protect it.

I swear, it's so good, it will make you want more. It's so beautiful you will wish to stay in this world. It grasps you into its fist and then gently carry over mountains and valleys, through colorful skies and womb of the Goddess, and you guys need to read it, because I need a volume 2 asap.]]> 3.98 2023
author: Stéphane Fert
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/27
date added: 2023/10/27
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

GOOD GOD? IT WAS SO GOOD??

The graphics, colours, art style �� magnificient. A pleasure to look at. But the story? The world building? Characters? It made me speechless. Stéphane Fert put a spell on me with this little yet three-dimensioned story of Temperance and her aunt-sisters witches, in a postapocaliptic world full of magic, nature forces and mist, as they cultivate their culture and start an expedition in order to protect it.

I swear, it's so good, it will make you want more. It's so beautiful you will wish to stay in this world. It grasps you into its fist and then gently carry over mountains and valleys, through colorful skies and womb of the Goddess, and you guys need to read it, because I need a volume 2 asap.
]]> 126921125 The Birds meets The Princess Bride in this tale of friendship, responsibility, and the primal force of nature.

“Murder owls are extreme,�� Jude said. “What’s more extreme than murder owls?��

Madeleine Purdy is stuck in her home town library.

When tens of thousands of owls descend on the building, rending and tearing at anyone foolish enough to step outside, Mad is tasked with keeping her students safe, and distracted, while they seek a solution to their dilemma.

Perhaps they’ll find the inspiration they seek in her favorite childhood book, The Silent Queen��.

With food and fresh water in low supply, the denizens of the library will have to find a way out, and soon, but the owls don’t seem to be in a hurry to leave��

The Parliament is a story of grief and missed opportunities, but also of courage and hope.

And of extremely sharp beaks.]]> 361 Aimee Pokwatka 1250820987 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

From my perspective "The Parliament" would make a great, cozy movie/mini-series, as it's very dialogue driven type of story. It works as a concept, but not really as a book. I couldn't quite devoted my whole attention to the story. For the bright side, I really enjoyed kids' characters and how they were written. There was care put to that. And I don't find rest of them bland, quite the opposite �� it's a mix of interesting backgrounds and motives. It just didn't work as it wished it did.]]> 3.72 2024
author: Aimee Pokwatka
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/26
date added: 2023/10/26
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
2,75⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

From my perspective "The Parliament" would make a great, cozy movie/mini-series, as it's very dialogue driven type of story. It works as a concept, but not really as a book. I couldn't quite devoted my whole attention to the story. For the bright side, I really enjoyed kids' characters and how they were written. There was care put to that. And I don't find rest of them bland, quite the opposite �� it's a mix of interesting backgrounds and motives. It just didn't work as it wished it did.
]]> 126127744 Kathryn Darkling, imprisoned in Holloway, is facing death by hanging for her vengeance killing. Haunted by a spirit, she still hopes to perform the ancient black magic that will free her soul, or her struggle to punish the mighty will have been in vain. Will the love of her life come to her aid? Or can she find a way to escape her fate?
Winner of The Virginia Prize for Fiction , Bone Rites is a dark, literary tale of love, loss and one woman’s obsessive fight for justice and redemption within a ruthless world. .]]> 296 Natalie Bayley 1912430878 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
All hail all kinds of toxic love!

Bone Rites is a strange book, one that starts with a storm after which comes calm. We meet Kathryn as a child, an older sister and untamed daughter, enchanted by medicine and grimoire from her father's library, dedicated to bone magic. She puts her fingers in it, just to get a taste, but what she doesn't know is that she will never get rid of that stain. Obsessed with her younger brother, with a friend and secret lover from medical school, and then obsessed with revenge, Kathryn becomes lost in sanity, not sure what is real and what is not. She becomes goddess, haunted by the loved ones, powerful as not many before, ready to destroy the world the second she hears her brother's whisper in the ear.

I wish a bit the fantasy plot was more relevant, and the magic part was explored more, but it would be a lie to say I wasn't interested in current one. It's impossible to categorize what genre Natalie Bayley wrote, but it sure is mesmerizing.]]> 4.34 2023
author: Natalie Bayley
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/03
date added: 2023/09/03
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

All hail all kinds of toxic love!

Bone Rites is a strange book, one that starts with a storm after which comes calm. We meet Kathryn as a child, an older sister and untamed daughter, enchanted by medicine and grimoire from her father's library, dedicated to bone magic. She puts her fingers in it, just to get a taste, but what she doesn't know is that she will never get rid of that stain. Obsessed with her younger brother, with a friend and secret lover from medical school, and then obsessed with revenge, Kathryn becomes lost in sanity, not sure what is real and what is not. She becomes goddess, haunted by the loved ones, powerful as not many before, ready to destroy the world the second she hears her brother's whisper in the ear.

I wish a bit the fantasy plot was more relevant, and the magic part was explored more, but it would be a lie to say I wasn't interested in current one. It's impossible to categorize what genre Natalie Bayley wrote, but it sure is mesmerizing.
]]> 63933651 A teen girl looking for the truth about her missing mother forms a reluctant alliance with her former best friend...in exchange for hiding him from his cult-leading family.

Wil Greene's mom has been missing for over a year, and the police are ready to call the case closed--they claim she skipped town and you can't find a woman who wants to disappear. But she knows her mom wouldn't just leave...and she knows the family of her former best friend, Elwood Clarke, has something to do with it.

Elwood has been counting down the days until his 18th birthday--in dread. It marks leaving school and joining his pastor father in dedicating his life to their congregation, the Garden of Adam. But when he comes home after one night of after a final goodbye with his friends, already self-flagellating for the sins of drinking and disobeying his father, he discovers his path is not as virtuous as he thought. He's not his father's successor, but his sacrifice. For the woods he's grown up with are thirsty, and must be paid in blood.

Now on the run from a family that wants him dead, he turns to the only one who will believe him: Wil. Together, they form a reluctant partnership; she'll help him hide if he helps her find evidence that his family killed her mother. But in the end they dig up more secrets than they bargained for, unraveling decades of dark cult dealings in their town, led by the Clarke family.

And there's a reason they need Elwood's blood for their satanic rituals. Something inhuman is growing inside of him. Everywhere he goes, the plants come alive and the forest calls to him, and Wil isn't sure if she can save the boy she can't help but love.]]> 272 Skyla Arndt 0593526279 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
"Are you preapred to love a monster? I think I am. [...]
The woods devour what never should have existed in the first place."

This book made me want to rip a heart out of my chest.

It has everything �� horror, extraordinary way to write a romance, small town setting and the smell of dark woods. It's all I could ask a story to be and more.

There's an echo of fear, enchanted into pages of Together We Rot. Fear, and love, and passion, so intense you wish it stayed longer. But it stays, after those three hundred pages you still think about Wil and Elwood, the horrors and secrets they uncovered, the magic that beats like a heart underneath the ground. Comforting in its unhappiness. Loving in its monstrous way.

I can't wait for the moment when I out my hands on a paper version of this bad beauty.

bumping my review because its premiere day!]]> 3.54 2023
author: Skyla Arndt
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/03
date added: 2023/08/29
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"Are you preapred to love a monster? I think I am. [...]
The woods devour what never should have existed in the first place."

This book made me want to rip a heart out of my chest.

It has everything �� horror, extraordinary way to write a romance, small town setting and the smell of dark woods. It's all I could ask a story to be and more.

There's an echo of fear, enchanted into pages of Together We Rot. Fear, and love, and passion, so intense you wish it stayed longer. But it stays, after those three hundred pages you still think about Wil and Elwood, the horrors and secrets they uncovered, the magic that beats like a heart underneath the ground. Comforting in its unhappiness. Loving in its monstrous way.

I can't wait for the moment when I out my hands on a paper version of this bad beauty.

bumping my review because its premiere day!
]]> 122758134 208 Allan Radcliffe blok sera szwajcarskiego 2 received-from-net-galley
Grief is like a violin, and Allan Radcliffe played on it with extreme delicacy. Unfortunately, my ears were deaf for it. It wasn't bad, rather quite charming, yet it didn't get to me like I wished.]]> 3.90
author: Allan Radcliffe
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.90
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2023/08/14
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Grief is like a violin, and Allan Radcliffe played on it with extreme delicacy. Unfortunately, my ears were deaf for it. It wasn't bad, rather quite charming, yet it didn't get to me like I wished.
]]> 128014530 Readers of Shauna Lawless and Thilde Kold Holdt will love this Celtic-inflected adventure by critically acclaimed, grimdark epic fantasy novelist, Anna Smith Spark.

A Sword of Bronze and Ashes combines the fierce beauty of Celtic myth with grimdark battle violence. It's a lyrical, folk horror high fantasy.

Kanda has a good life until shadows from her past return threatening everything she loves. And Kanda, like any parent, has things in her past she does not want her children to know. Red war is pursued by an ancient evil, Kanda must call upon all her strength to protect her family. But how can she keep her children safe, if they want to stand as warriors beside her when the light fades and darkness rises?

FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at and connect on social media @FlameTreePress]]> 359 Anna Smith Spark blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"I, monster, killer, Ikandera Thygethyn, who has destroyed lives beyond number, I am pregnant with a child, I am creating life, that cannot be right."

Anna Smith Spark takes a different turn on a "chosen one" trope. It's not about a journey of becoming one, it is about consequences. Typical fantasy book tries to paint how life changes when you go from zero to top, sings about poignant adventures, honor and bravery, doing the right thing. A Sword of Bronze and Ashes isn't interested in that. Instead, it tries to paint a very different idea: what if a hero makes a mistake. What happens to once-known-as hero. How hard the past can bit your ass.

Kanda is a mother and a wife to a farmer. She rises three daughters and bread dough every morning. She also slaughtered her past life and buried it deep into the ground, but dead don't stay dead very long in her world. When people she used to know burn her village and make her family go for the run, she must embrace what she has hidden all those years ago, but what is perhaps harder: look into her family's eyes, as they discover who she really is.

Can I just say, I adore this concept. It's a great premise with interesting takes: a woman warrior, way into her fourties, with everything that comes with age, taking care of kids and saving the world. I wish the world building was stronger in this one, as it wasn't as developed as I had hoped. Anna Smith Spark has ideas and shows them, as without them there won't be a story, but it could've been more. I want to know what Kanda's world is capable of, how it looks, how it works. I'm starving, as the bits I receiber where good, but not enough to satisfy.

I wondered how much writing such story is possible without first writing the "becoming a hero" part. Lately there's a lot of books named "cozy fantasy", and lots of people say they're lacking something. And what they're lacking is high stakes which are crucial to show in order to let characters feel this cosiness. Kanda's story is definitely about consequences, but how much can you show the weight of them without showing their origins. Anna Smith Spark pretty much manages to do that �� I still think it could use a bit more world building, but besides that, I think it was pretty satisfying.

If you look for a very much adventurous book, I don't think this is a perfect choice. But if you look for a story of high emotions, with family's bounds in foreground, it is an interesting book to read. Some pages were dull and could use some polish, but you know what? I can't think of any other book where the main female character is a warrior, but also is an old woman, and a mother, and not an object of desire of every man in circle of thousand miles. Kanda has stretch marks, gray hair and normal body reactions, she is a warrior, but most importantly: she is a human. And I'll drink to that.]]> 3.84 2023
author: Anna Smith Spark
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/13
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,5⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"I, monster, killer, Ikandera Thygethyn, who has destroyed lives beyond number, I am pregnant with a child, I am creating life, that cannot be right."

Anna Smith Spark takes a different turn on a "chosen one" trope. It's not about a journey of becoming one, it is about consequences. Typical fantasy book tries to paint how life changes when you go from zero to top, sings about poignant adventures, honor and bravery, doing the right thing. A Sword of Bronze and Ashes isn't interested in that. Instead, it tries to paint a very different idea: what if a hero makes a mistake. What happens to once-known-as hero. How hard the past can bit your ass.

Kanda is a mother and a wife to a farmer. She rises three daughters and bread dough every morning. She also slaughtered her past life and buried it deep into the ground, but dead don't stay dead very long in her world. When people she used to know burn her village and make her family go for the run, she must embrace what she has hidden all those years ago, but what is perhaps harder: look into her family's eyes, as they discover who she really is.

Can I just say, I adore this concept. It's a great premise with interesting takes: a woman warrior, way into her fourties, with everything that comes with age, taking care of kids and saving the world. I wish the world building was stronger in this one, as it wasn't as developed as I had hoped. Anna Smith Spark has ideas and shows them, as without them there won't be a story, but it could've been more. I want to know what Kanda's world is capable of, how it looks, how it works. I'm starving, as the bits I receiber where good, but not enough to satisfy.

I wondered how much writing such story is possible without first writing the "becoming a hero" part. Lately there's a lot of books named "cozy fantasy", and lots of people say they're lacking something. And what they're lacking is high stakes which are crucial to show in order to let characters feel this cosiness. Kanda's story is definitely about consequences, but how much can you show the weight of them without showing their origins. Anna Smith Spark pretty much manages to do that �� I still think it could use a bit more world building, but besides that, I think it was pretty satisfying.

If you look for a very much adventurous book, I don't think this is a perfect choice. But if you look for a story of high emotions, with family's bounds in foreground, it is an interesting book to read. Some pages were dull and could use some polish, but you know what? I can't think of any other book where the main female character is a warrior, but also is an old woman, and a mother, and not an object of desire of every man in circle of thousand miles. Kanda has stretch marks, gray hair and normal body reactions, she is a warrior, but most importantly: she is a human. And I'll drink to that.
]]> 150086759 384 Caroline George 0785236244 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

I'm thinking how to approach this book properly. On one hand, it's gorgeously painted atmosphere of Southen US, generational trauma and family secrets, full of chilly moments. It's dark and mysterious, which were my favourite parts. On the other hand while I had breaks from reading I asked myself what are my real feelings about this title. Because it lacked something; besides the hypnotising thrillerish chapters, doomed from the beginning characters and incredibly interesting plot it wasn't a full picture. I'm not able to fully grasp what was missing, as all those things that are present in CaOBT are enough to write a great story.

Besides that, full recommendation. I've read a surprising amount of books connected to swamps and curses this year, and Caroline George did not disappoint me with her one either.]]> 3.75 2023
author: Caroline George
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/04
date added: 2023/08/04
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,5⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

I'm thinking how to approach this book properly. On one hand, it's gorgeously painted atmosphere of Southen US, generational trauma and family secrets, full of chilly moments. It's dark and mysterious, which were my favourite parts. On the other hand while I had breaks from reading I asked myself what are my real feelings about this title. Because it lacked something; besides the hypnotising thrillerish chapters, doomed from the beginning characters and incredibly interesting plot it wasn't a full picture. I'm not able to fully grasp what was missing, as all those things that are present in CaOBT are enough to write a great story.

Besides that, full recommendation. I've read a surprising amount of books connected to swamps and curses this year, and Caroline George did not disappoint me with her one either.
]]> 81360036
An easy, solitary life on the outskirts of Ghosthallow is all Lou Ramirez wants. They want to buy their house plans and live their quiet life far from townsfolk’s prying eyes. That plan, however, hits a bump when instead of house plans, a house wife is delivered to their door instead.

Clementine Castellanos desperately needs a way out from under her family debt, and it seems as though selling her services as a wife is the only way to do it. Expecting a rough, harsh man to be her new husband, Clementine is pleasantly surprised to instead be dropped off at the ranch of an equally surprised Lou.

Lou would rather Clementine leave them to their lonely existence, but Clementine is too charmed by the quiet and mysterious rancher to give up. She may have come into Lou’s life easily, but she certainly isn’t planning to leave that way. Undeterred by Lou’s prickly demeanor, Clementine is determined to get her reluctant spouse to open up to her.

When the past comes back to haunt the pair, the fight for their independence—and their love—may become more deadly than either of them ever expected.]]> 298 M.B. Guel 1642474827 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

A bit too much miscommunication for me, but goddamit if stealing ducks together absolutely bought me.]]> 3.74 2023
author: M.B. Guel
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/22
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,5⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

A bit too much miscommunication for me, but goddamit if stealing ducks together absolutely bought me.
]]> 59639847 How do you face your fears when everything is terrifying?

Fifteen-year-old Brynn can’t stop thinking about death. Her intrusive thoughts and severe anxiety leave her feeling helpless—and hopeless. So after her mom interprets one of Brynn’s blog posts as a suicide note, she takes extreme measures, confiscating Brynn’s phone, blocking her Internet access, and banishing her to stay with her father who lives “off the grid�� on a houseboat in the Florida mangroves. Isolated from her online friends—her only friends—Brynn resigns herself to a summer of mind-numbing boredom and loneliness�� until Skylar appears.

Skylar is everything Brynn isn’t—sultry, athletic, and confident. Yet Brynn feels at home around this fearless girl who pushes her to try new things and makes her belly flutter with nerves that have nothing to do with anxiety. When Brynn discovers that Skylar is trapped in the bayou and can’t tell her why, she resolves to free her new crush from the dark waters, even if it means confronting all of her worst fears.

In the devastating but uplifting tradition of Adam Silvera and Nova Ren Suma comes a queer supernatural coming-of-age story from acclaimed author Maria Ingrande Mora.]]> 352 Maria Ingrande Mora 1682635422 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
The Immeasurable Depth of You catched my eye with gorgeous cover. And as with most of my NG arcs, I didn't read the blurb, rather jumped into the story with no expectations.

So did jump Brynn, into the Florida's swamps and lakes, relationship with long "lost" father after his divorce with mom and post-online era after one Tumblr post that changed everything. She's supposed to stay on father's houseboat for the summer, no Internet connection, no Internet friends. Brynn knows why and doesn't stand against it. She's aware why it has to be that way. It doesn't help that she's suffering from anxiety and a feeling that nobody understands what's happening with her. Especially when she looses her father's paddle and meets Skylar, a freckled girl in yellow swimsuit in the middle of the lake.

This book radiates a dense feeling of differency. It feels so real, despite supernatural elements of world-building �� Maria Ingrade Mora writes as if they were inside the reader. Characters are flawed, but likeable, the plot is thickening until it's washed away by a hurricane. It's an essence of a silence before the storm, following Brynn's story, learning about her, understanding her. She's not an easy child, she knows that �� but she's also not an average main character in a book about mental health. Mora understands perfectly how complicated and messy feelings may be, and describes them on point. Their story isn't what it seems at first glance, for better and for worse.

I've quite enjoyed this romance-not romance situation. I've loved the representation, with what grace it was handled. On some level this is another YA story about mental health and queer people, but in the same level it never meant to be one. It's not "A to B road", rather it catches you questioning: was any of it real? Did that really happened, or is it the consequence of such narration?

It's always surprising, when book for teens manages to get its way into my twenty-something yo heart. But I can't thank enough TIDoY for doing it.

tw // suicide, anxiety, mental health discussion, child death

[reread]
Welp, my point still stands. This book is truly something else, and I admire it with all my heart and soul.]]> 3.70 2023
author: Maria Ingrande Mora
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/13
date added: 2023/07/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

The Immeasurable Depth of You catched my eye with gorgeous cover. And as with most of my NG arcs, I didn't read the blurb, rather jumped into the story with no expectations.

So did jump Brynn, into the Florida's swamps and lakes, relationship with long "lost" father after his divorce with mom and post-online era after one Tumblr post that changed everything. She's supposed to stay on father's houseboat for the summer, no Internet connection, no Internet friends. Brynn knows why and doesn't stand against it. She's aware why it has to be that way. It doesn't help that she's suffering from anxiety and a feeling that nobody understands what's happening with her. Especially when she looses her father's paddle and meets Skylar, a freckled girl in yellow swimsuit in the middle of the lake.

This book radiates a dense feeling of differency. It feels so real, despite supernatural elements of world-building �� Maria Ingrade Mora writes as if they were inside the reader. Characters are flawed, but likeable, the plot is thickening until it's washed away by a hurricane. It's an essence of a silence before the storm, following Brynn's story, learning about her, understanding her. She's not an easy child, she knows that �� but she's also not an average main character in a book about mental health. Mora understands perfectly how complicated and messy feelings may be, and describes them on point. Their story isn't what it seems at first glance, for better and for worse.

I've quite enjoyed this romance-not romance situation. I've loved the representation, with what grace it was handled. On some level this is another YA story about mental health and queer people, but in the same level it never meant to be one. It's not "A to B road", rather it catches you questioning: was any of it real? Did that really happened, or is it the consequence of such narration?

It's always surprising, when book for teens manages to get its way into my twenty-something yo heart. But I can't thank enough TIDoY for doing it.

tw // suicide, anxiety, mental health discussion, child death

[reread]
Welp, my point still stands. This book is truly something else, and I admire it with all my heart and soul.
]]> 101156284
In search of his missing friend, Adam travels to the heart of Romania's most supernatural forest, Hoia Baciu. Disregarding the local's warnings of iele hunting the men in the vicinity, and the witch's premonition of his impending death, he remains steadfast in his decision to find his friend. Though with every passing night, it becomes impossible to ignore the happenings around him...]]> 96 Ennun Ana Iurov 1952303745 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

I'm trying to guess how a 90 pages long comic managed to inject pure fear under my skin, but I'm afraid I don't have an answer. I loved it.

Perhaps it's a fact that Whisper of the Woods is about part of Romanian folklore that isn't used too frequently. Transylvania means Dracula, and Ennun Ana Iurov takes us somewhere else, into a small village on the edge of the forest. With Adam, who's best riend just went missing in the woods, and who's a foreigner, we're trying to find out what actually happened. The artstyle is really nice, colors work perfectly for setting, which blended with interesting plot it makes a great comic.

It's very short, but uses its length to the full. Cannot not recommend to everyone who likes spooks different than obvious monsters!]]> 3.09
author: Ennun Ana Iurov
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.09
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/15
date added: 2023/06/15
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
4,25⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

I'm trying to guess how a 90 pages long comic managed to inject pure fear under my skin, but I'm afraid I don't have an answer. I loved it.

Perhaps it's a fact that Whisper of the Woods is about part of Romanian folklore that isn't used too frequently. Transylvania means Dracula, and Ennun Ana Iurov takes us somewhere else, into a small village on the edge of the forest. With Adam, who's best riend just went missing in the woods, and who's a foreigner, we're trying to find out what actually happened. The artstyle is really nice, colors work perfectly for setting, which blended with interesting plot it makes a great comic.

It's very short, but uses its length to the full. Cannot not recommend to everyone who likes spooks different than obvious monsters!
]]> 63573018
On the island city of Lenorum, Maeve serves the Sisterhood of Good Death, a convent whose purpose is to shepherd lost souls from one world to the next. But her life of devotion to the unquiet dead is upended by an encounter with the haughty poet Imogen Madrigal, who has mysteriously returned from beyond the veil not in spirit, but in the flesh--and determined to obtain justice, whatever the cost. Maeve agrees to help Imogen solve her murder, which propels her headlong into the hedonistic and heretical world of the extravagant and influential Poets' Court.

THE UNTIMELY UNDEATH OF IMOGEN MADRIGAL delivers a metaphysical mystery in the richly imagined, darkly fantastic and urbane world of Lenorum, as Maeve comes to terms with her own path and learns what living a good life truly means.]]> 350 Grayson Daly 1944286284 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

I'm a big opponent of rating debut novels low, mainly because I see them as a road for author to find their writings. But sometimes that journey is rowdy and takes time.
I loved premise of "The Untimely Undeath of Imogen Madrigal", because hey, if you serve me nuns, murder mysteries and lesbians how can you expect me to not eat this shit up? And Grayson Daly serves a good meal in this field. Imogen and Maeve's story is interesting, funny and pleasant. Their adventures are full of great ideas for world-building.

But in the end this is what I lacked. World. Something more than characters, which isn't a disadvantage, as books driven by characters are great, too. But this one fel more like a TV series synopsis, there's little description and many dialogs, which didn't manage to make its story feel full.

I'm sure a lot of people will fall in love with this silly story of a (un)dead poet and very much alive nun, but sadly, it wasn't for me.]]> 4.02
author: Grayson Daly
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.02
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/06
date added: 2023/06/06
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
2,75 ⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

I'm a big opponent of rating debut novels low, mainly because I see them as a road for author to find their writings. But sometimes that journey is rowdy and takes time.
I loved premise of "The Untimely Undeath of Imogen Madrigal", because hey, if you serve me nuns, murder mysteries and lesbians how can you expect me to not eat this shit up? And Grayson Daly serves a good meal in this field. Imogen and Maeve's story is interesting, funny and pleasant. Their adventures are full of great ideas for world-building.

But in the end this is what I lacked. World. Something more than characters, which isn't a disadvantage, as books driven by characters are great, too. But this one fel more like a TV series synopsis, there's little description and many dialogs, which didn't manage to make its story feel full.

I'm sure a lot of people will fall in love with this silly story of a (un)dead poet and very much alive nun, but sadly, it wasn't for me.
]]> 62695377 In a world where the children of the gods inherit their powers, a descendant of the Greek Fates must solve a series of impossible murders to save her sisters, her soulmate, and her city.

Descendants of the Fates are always born in threes: one to weave, one to draw, and one to cut the threads that connect people to the things they love and to life itself. The Ora sisters are no exception. Io, the youngest, uses her Fate-born abilities as a private investigator in the half-sunken city of Alante.

But her latest job leads her to a horrific discovery: somebody is abducting women, maiming their life-threads, and setting the resulting wraiths loose in the city to kill. To find the culprit, she must work alongside Edei Rhuna, the right hand of the infamous Mob Queen—and the boy with whom she shares a rare fate-thread linking them as soul mates before they’ve even met.

But the investigation turns personal when Io's estranged oldest sister turns up on the arm of her best suspect. Amid unveiled secrets from her past and her growing feelings for Edei, Io must follow clues through the city’s darkest corners and unearth a conspiracy that involves some of the city’s most powerful players—before destruction comes to her own doorstep.]]> 352 Kika Hatzopoulou 0593528719 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Writing a book based on Greek mythology is a hard task nowadays, but I'm down for every new variation people are ready to give me.

In Threads Thay Bind we follow Io, a private investigator, but also moira-born sister that like their ancestors can see threads of life. She is sent to resolve series of mysterious murders, under which awaits more troubling matter, connected to all gods' descendents in a post-gods world. Next to this, for Io awaits family conflict, as her older sister comes back to town with no notice, and we all know old habits die hard.

I've really enjoyed this book. It's not scared to get to the darker themes nor try to avoid action scenes that may be shocking. This mythology twist actually really grown on me, world-building is extremely interesting, especially when it comes to its history. Decorated with nice writing, it really is a delicious piece of literature cake.
I loved the danger flowing under Io's skin, how we don't really know what she's capable of and what she's destined to do. It was extremely nice to discover Hatzopoulou hadn't reveled all the cards of her.

If I had to talk about things I didn't like �� it was romance for sure. Not my type of tea, unfortunately. I can appreciate it wasn't instant fall-in-love situation, but the whole plot with fate-thread was uninteresting. But bear in mind I dislike most of romance subplots that exists, so I'm not the shining example for this.
There's also the feeling as if the intrigue could have been deeper �� not in the "let's get more people into it and show how much wider it reaches" way. I just didn't feel the connection, didn't really get the feeling of it.

Overall, if there are any mythology geeks out there looking for a not typical retelling of it, craving for action, investigations and detective style, get your hands on this title. You won't be disappointed!]]> 3.91 2023
author: Kika Hatzopoulou
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/25
date added: 2023/05/25
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,5⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Writing a book based on Greek mythology is a hard task nowadays, but I'm down for every new variation people are ready to give me.

In Threads Thay Bind we follow Io, a private investigator, but also moira-born sister that like their ancestors can see threads of life. She is sent to resolve series of mysterious murders, under which awaits more troubling matter, connected to all gods' descendents in a post-gods world. Next to this, for Io awaits family conflict, as her older sister comes back to town with no notice, and we all know old habits die hard.

I've really enjoyed this book. It's not scared to get to the darker themes nor try to avoid action scenes that may be shocking. This mythology twist actually really grown on me, world-building is extremely interesting, especially when it comes to its history. Decorated with nice writing, it really is a delicious piece of literature cake.
I loved the danger flowing under Io's skin, how we don't really know what she's capable of and what she's destined to do. It was extremely nice to discover Hatzopoulou hadn't reveled all the cards of her.

If I had to talk about things I didn't like �� it was romance for sure. Not my type of tea, unfortunately. I can appreciate it wasn't instant fall-in-love situation, but the whole plot with fate-thread was uninteresting. But bear in mind I dislike most of romance subplots that exists, so I'm not the shining example for this.
There's also the feeling as if the intrigue could have been deeper �� not in the "let's get more people into it and show how much wider it reaches" way. I just didn't feel the connection, didn't really get the feeling of it.

Overall, if there are any mythology geeks out there looking for a not typical retelling of it, craving for action, investigations and detective style, get your hands on this title. You won't be disappointed!
]]> 59849909 One sister must save the other from the goblin prince in this rich, spooky, and delightfully dark fantasy!

Lizzie and Minka are sisters, but they’re nothing alike: Minka is outgoing and cheerful, while Lizzie is shy and sensitive. But when Minka is charmed and ensnared by a prince of the zduszes—the goblins—and taken to his dark forest home, Lizzie will have to draw on reserves of strength she never knew she had and follow her sister into a world of dreams, danger, and death.

Rich worldbuilding inspired by Polish folklore combines with a tender sister story for an original and compelling fantasy-horror adventure.]]> 240 Diane Zahler 0823450813 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
3,5⭐️

A very nice novel built over Polish folklore and pretty writing. Perfectly balanced, not too long but neither too short story about two sisters and danger from the forest, waiting in the local market, enchanting with fruits and trinkets. Synaesthesia part of it was really nice, too. I've had a good time during the lecture.]]> 3.83 2022
author: Diane Zahler
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/13
date added: 2023/04/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

3,5⭐️

A very nice novel built over Polish folklore and pretty writing. Perfectly balanced, not too long but neither too short story about two sisters and danger from the forest, waiting in the local market, enchanting with fruits and trinkets. Synaesthesia part of it was really nice, too. I've had a good time during the lecture.
]]> 60674368
For Jaime, returning to the tiny Vermont town of Saint Juniper means returning to a past he’s spent eight years trying to forget. After shuttling between foster homes, he hopes he can make something out of this fresh start. But every gossip in town already knows his business, and with reminders of his past everywhere, he seeks out solitude into the nearby woods, called Saint Juniper’s Folly, and does not return.

For Theo, Saint Juniper means being stuck. He knows there’s more out there, but he’s scared to go find it. His senior year is going to be like all the rest, dull and claustrophobic. That is until he wanders into the Folly and stumbles on a haunted house with an acerbic yet handsome boy stuck—as in physically stuck—inside.

For Taylor, Saint Juniper is a mystery. The surrounding woods speak to her, while she tries—and fails—to practice the magic her dad banned from the house after her mother died. Taylor can’t seem break out of her spiral of grief, until a wide-eyed teenager barges into her life, rambling on about a haunted house, a trapped boy, and ghosts. He needs a witch.

The Folly and its ghosts will bring these three teenagers together. But they will each have to face their own internal struggles in order to forge a bond strong enough to escape the Folly’s shadows.]]> 304 Alex Crespo 1682635775 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
"Do you ever think about how the forest won't remember us?"

AAAAH, THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!

Haunted houses, curses, magic and three traumatised teenagers �� what could go wrong? Alex Crespo serves both very thoughtful and fun story about old secrets, walked right by murderous spirit in strange town. It's such a fun to read, characters are easy to fall in love with, perfectly balanced between warm YA and chilling horror-wanna-be.

Recommended to every Cemetery Boys and Starkid lover!]]> 3.81 2023
author: Alex Crespo
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/12
date added: 2023/04/12
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"Do you ever think about how the forest won't remember us?"

AAAAH, THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!

Haunted houses, curses, magic and three traumatised teenagers �� what could go wrong? Alex Crespo serves both very thoughtful and fun story about old secrets, walked right by murderous spirit in strange town. It's such a fun to read, characters are easy to fall in love with, perfectly balanced between warm YA and chilling horror-wanna-be.

Recommended to every Cemetery Boys and Starkid lover!
]]> 62919607 Mariko and Rem are breaking up but they have one last night together in the Mall of Portals, an inter-dimensional consumerist heaven full of unending vice, before Rem takes his new job doing data entry on the Moon of Plenty. With a couple hours to spare, no personal repercussions and entire dimensions at their fingertips -- what's the worse that could happen?

This out of this world rom-com is straight out of the year 2099, but speaks to a feeling that time will never change. The fear of loss. Artist Liana Kangas teams up with author Matthew Erman to create a world of lust and star dust. Find yourself navigating the human condition with the most out of this galaxy characters. Mariko Between Worlds is a realistic down to earth graphic novel completely off the wall swarming with magic portals and sexy aliens.]]> 114 Matthew Erman 1952303532 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Mariko Between Worlds is about human Mariko and non-human Rem that needs to break up. Before that, they go into one last night, full of portals, strange creatures and complicated feelings, which may or may not change their decision.

I loved that part very dearly. The idea for a story is simple but very good, not something you see daily in romcoms, and it hooked me from the very first moment. Character designs are something worth loooking for, too, and the overall world-building was very nice.

But I wish it went deeper. I wish we had a chance to meet with it all for longer, that more was shown to us. I know the idea behind this story is meant to be short/one-night-stand, yet I can't pain to imagine what we could have get. It's definitely too short and too fast, especially when you look how much of backstory there waits.
Graphically it's not... the best. Chaotic is a good word to describe both art and plot. There's still a lot to enjoy, but sometimes the art style went messy, and details were blurry. Color pallette was great, though.

Overall, if you're looking for something quick and different, you should give this story a chance. I wish it was more than that, though, as there was a time a place for it.]]> 3.14
author: Matthew Erman
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.14
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/11
date added: 2023/04/11
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Mariko Between Worlds is about human Mariko and non-human Rem that needs to break up. Before that, they go into one last night, full of portals, strange creatures and complicated feelings, which may or may not change their decision.

I loved that part very dearly. The idea for a story is simple but very good, not something you see daily in romcoms, and it hooked me from the very first moment. Character designs are something worth loooking for, too, and the overall world-building was very nice.

But I wish it went deeper. I wish we had a chance to meet with it all for longer, that more was shown to us. I know the idea behind this story is meant to be short/one-night-stand, yet I can't pain to imagine what we could have get. It's definitely too short and too fast, especially when you look how much of backstory there waits.
Graphically it's not... the best. Chaotic is a good word to describe both art and plot. There's still a lot to enjoy, but sometimes the art style went messy, and details were blurry. Color pallette was great, though.

Overall, if you're looking for something quick and different, you should give this story a chance. I wish it was more than that, though, as there was a time a place for it.
]]> 63142008 At turns haunting and breathtaking, Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves explores legacies of love, family, and the ghostly imprint grief leaves behind as three women face the past to bring light to an old Southern town lost deep beneath the surface.

Years ago, yellow fever gripped the small lakeside town of Prosper, Arkansas. At the height of that summer swelter, in the wake of an unexpected storm, the dam failed and the valley flooded—drowning the town and everyone trapped inside.

The secrets of old Prosper drowned with them.

Now, decades later, when a mysterious locked box is pulled from the depths of the lake, three descendants of that long-ago tragedy are hurled into another feverish summer. Cassie: the reclusive sole witness to an impossible horror no one believes. Lark: a wide-eyed dreamer haunted by bizarre visions. June: caught between longing for a fresh start and bearing witness to the ghosts of the past. Bound together, all three must contend with their home’s complex history—and with the ruins of the town lost far beneath the troubled water.]]> 368 Quinn Connor 1728263875 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"I, she would think, I am alive. I am so alive that it hurts. I am so alive that it's growing out of me."

If I had a nickel everytime in 2023 I read a book that dances around magic, ghosts and stale waters, which enchanted me deeply and stole my heart, I would have two nickels.
Which isn't a lot, but I don't know if I have enough hearts to be stolen.

Authors hidden behind the name Quinn Connor built a story so stale as the lake, and yet so deep as one. It's foggy and melancholic, this lives of Cassie, June and Lark, haunted by ghosts of silent relatives and forgotten history. I find it hard to describe the actual plot, not because it's complicated or badly written, quite the opposite really �� with peculiar happenings and mysteries under every blade of grass it affects something deeper in reader. I genuinely recommend reaching for this title as soon as it's published, just to let its magic consume you, just to try how deep into this fairytale you can go.

"Just a dream. And yet."]]> 3.25 2023
author: Quinn Connor
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/07
date added: 2023/04/07
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
4,5⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"I, she would think, I am alive. I am so alive that it hurts. I am so alive that it's growing out of me."

If I had a nickel everytime in 2023 I read a book that dances around magic, ghosts and stale waters, which enchanted me deeply and stole my heart, I would have two nickels.
Which isn't a lot, but I don't know if I have enough hearts to be stolen.

Authors hidden behind the name Quinn Connor built a story so stale as the lake, and yet so deep as one. It's foggy and melancholic, this lives of Cassie, June and Lark, haunted by ghosts of silent relatives and forgotten history. I find it hard to describe the actual plot, not because it's complicated or badly written, quite the opposite really �� with peculiar happenings and mysteries under every blade of grass it affects something deeper in reader. I genuinely recommend reaching for this title as soon as it's published, just to let its magic consume you, just to try how deep into this fairytale you can go.

"Just a dream. And yet."
]]> 90328281 Readers of Carissa Broadbent will love this thrilling new series, from the author of The Immortal Goblet, weaving an intriguing world of fantasy and folklore.

After the murder of her father �� which no one but her believes happened �� Verve just wants to hold her family together and take on the role of provider. Unfortunately, a cruel fae lord believes she knows the location of an ancient magical weapon and steals her away to Letorheas, realm of the fairies. The fae lord seems to want something from Verve that goes beyond the weapon, something that many doubt she can provide. Verve must find a way to navigate the strangeness of Letorheas and embrace a destiny more intertwined with the fae than she would like to believe.
]]> 304 Beth Overmyer 1787587916 blok sera szwajcarskiego 0 received-from-net-galley
I need you to teach me how to transform a feather into a knife so I can betray you.

In a post-SJM era it's extremely easy to compare anything fae related to her works, and this case isn't different. I could go into heavy details, and the want to do it crawls underneath my skin, but I'm going to resist that. I don't see any value in it other than negative light, but also I think it's harder to rate Brittle as its own work. And that's what my job.

Brittle has a very strong opening that left me in shivers. The tone was dark and mysterious, almost bloody �� main character writing horror stories as a way to live? Gory murder of her father and mysterious letter? Disturbing neighbours? I was hooked. That was a fae story I would love to read.
But soon after Overmyer changes the way story goes, same with the atmosphere, and it left me confused. There are still those peculiar, dark moments, somewhere deep lies this twisted fantasy story that I looked for. But it's overwhelmed by a tale about courts and love. Which isn't strictly badly written, it's just completely different, with other priorities. Verity's life becomes about cursed lovers, dark magic and unwanted power.

Overall, I think I liked this book. It hadn't charmed me in ways I hoped, there are no shoes that fallen from my feet after the ending. If something bothered me a lot, it was the fact that Brittle has this amazing, original idea underneath, with great character sheets and marvellous world-buulding. But it chooses a path walked before, a one known pretty well already, and it pains me when right next to it is a whole undiscovered forest. I wish I could rate it anyhow, tell if there are more flaws or warm feelings, but in reality Brittle left me in a cluster of emotions and unsureness.]]> 3.24 2023
author: Beth Overmyer
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/04
date added: 2023/04/04
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

I need you to teach me how to transform a feather into a knife so I can betray you.

In a post-SJM era it's extremely easy to compare anything fae related to her works, and this case isn't different. I could go into heavy details, and the want to do it crawls underneath my skin, but I'm going to resist that. I don't see any value in it other than negative light, but also I think it's harder to rate Brittle as its own work. And that's what my job.

Brittle has a very strong opening that left me in shivers. The tone was dark and mysterious, almost bloody �� main character writing horror stories as a way to live? Gory murder of her father and mysterious letter? Disturbing neighbours? I was hooked. That was a fae story I would love to read.
But soon after Overmyer changes the way story goes, same with the atmosphere, and it left me confused. There are still those peculiar, dark moments, somewhere deep lies this twisted fantasy story that I looked for. But it's overwhelmed by a tale about courts and love. Which isn't strictly badly written, it's just completely different, with other priorities. Verity's life becomes about cursed lovers, dark magic and unwanted power.

Overall, I think I liked this book. It hadn't charmed me in ways I hoped, there are no shoes that fallen from my feet after the ending. If something bothered me a lot, it was the fact that Brittle has this amazing, original idea underneath, with great character sheets and marvellous world-buulding. But it chooses a path walked before, a one known pretty well already, and it pains me when right next to it is a whole undiscovered forest. I wish I could rate it anyhow, tell if there are more flaws or warm feelings, but in reality Brittle left me in a cluster of emotions and unsureness.
]]> 63354707 184 Nicholas "Tac" Whitcomb 1733110143 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
2,75��3⭐️

A weird tale of a simple but interesting story. Ideas mixed with writing gave it a spark, author is very talented when it comes to planning and showing the world-building to readers. August's story reminded me of books from my childhood, full of strange happenings, peculiar storyline and unusual endings. In the end, I very much enjoyed it.]]> 3.50
author: Nicholas "Tac" Whitcomb
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.50
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/21
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

2,75��3⭐️

A weird tale of a simple but interesting story. Ideas mixed with writing gave it a spark, author is very talented when it comes to planning and showing the world-building to readers. August's story reminded me of books from my childhood, full of strange happenings, peculiar storyline and unusual endings. In the end, I very much enjoyed it.
]]> 102185744 328 Caylan MacRae blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
"My name is Ezra Santos and I died last week."

What a delightful book that was!
It was so simple yet so full of (after)life. Ezra's story grabs you since the page one, starting with action scenes and ending in emotional cluster. Cutting Your Teeth has the atmosphere and characters, both that makes you easily fall in love with them. The story reminds me of old(ish) time writing, and that's the biggest advantage of it.

If you're looking for gay vampires with a twist, family secrets, amazing dynamics or just a book that will kidnap you easily into its fantasy world, I would definitely consider giving it a chance. I, for once, had so much fun I find that criminally offensive.]]> 3.75 2023
author: Caylan MacRae
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/15
date added: 2023/03/15
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"My name is Ezra Santos and I died last week."

What a delightful book that was!
It was so simple yet so full of (after)life. Ezra's story grabs you since the page one, starting with action scenes and ending in emotional cluster. Cutting Your Teeth has the atmosphere and characters, both that makes you easily fall in love with them. The story reminds me of old(ish) time writing, and that's the biggest advantage of it.

If you're looking for gay vampires with a twist, family secrets, amazing dynamics or just a book that will kidnap you easily into its fantasy world, I would definitely consider giving it a chance. I, for once, had so much fun I find that criminally offensive.
]]> 61286907 Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes.

Eight stories of literary dark fiction from a master storyteller. Exploring the shadow side of love, these are tales of grief, obsession, control. Intricate examinations of trauma and tragedy in raw, poetic prose. In these narratives, a woman imagines horrific scenarios whilst caring for her infant niece; on-line posts chronicle a cancer diagnosis; a couple in the park with their small child encounter a stranger with horrific consequences; a toxic relationship reaches a terrifying resolution��

Originally published under the title The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales, this is a much-praised collection of deeply unsettling, painfully dark tales.]]> 205 Eric LaRocca 1803363002 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Collections of short stories are always a hard nut to crack; they're like a wildflowers on a field �� so beautiful, but so different from one another. One may look outsanding in a color pallette, but poorly on its own.

Eric LaRocca's meadow is a peculiar one �� ordinary, but full of secrets. Bloody, unethical, awful secrets. They're off-putting. Creepy. Their words make your skin crawl. LaRocca doesn't hesitate from going off road, taking a dark, unexpected turn that many will despise, that will make many disgusted. And yet I am intrigued, with this unusual ideas splitted between bad people. Certainly made me to check other their works.]]> 3.69 2021
author: Eric LaRocca
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/13
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Collections of short stories are always a hard nut to crack; they're like a wildflowers on a field �� so beautiful, but so different from one another. One may look outsanding in a color pallette, but poorly on its own.

Eric LaRocca's meadow is a peculiar one �� ordinary, but full of secrets. Bloody, unethical, awful secrets. They're off-putting. Creepy. Their words make your skin crawl. LaRocca doesn't hesitate from going off road, taking a dark, unexpected turn that many will despise, that will make many disgusted. And yet I am intrigued, with this unusual ideas splitted between bad people. Certainly made me to check other their works.
]]> 55711041
Two hundred years in the future, refugees from an environmental cataclysm have fled underground. They survive, scrounging out a living in a twisted maze of tunnels and canals. Scavengers, mistitfs, bandits, renegades and mutants are among the citizens of this subterranean realm. They are sewerfolk, their home, the bowels of a utopian city that was never completed.

Life is hard enough, but an overzealous mining company, PERCH wants to get their claws on this new underground frontier and they don’t mind bulldozing any sewerfolk that get in their way.

Caught in the middle is a young girl, Cricket. She’s in a desperate search to find her family that fled underground. Join Cricket as she explores this savage new world, to find her parents and unlock the secrets of a past long forgotten, in the three-part graphic novel series for all ages, Knee Deep .]]> 224 Joe Flood 1620109387 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
"Knee Deep" is an interesting take on how the world 200 years into the future can look like �� what will happen if the ecosystem falls. This idea obviously has a twist, in order to make an adventure oriented comics, I like it, I think it's a great start to very atmospheric history, but there are a few flaws.

Division of "chapters" (or rather �� changes of perspective, from one character to another or from now to past) is a bit confusing. There are no breaks between them, so sometimes reader can lose the thread �� I certainly did. Because of that the story becomes messy. It has a spark that makes you want to know more, to continue the story, but it still could be improve.

Can't really say anything about characters yet, as it's the very beginning of their adventure. We just met them, and here the world-building has to stand in the first line in order to build fundaments, so I'm interested to see how it goes.

It's a pretty okay comic despite shortcomings �� it has a heart and a soul of a good story, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for it.]]> 3.34
author: Joe Flood
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.34
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/04
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"Knee Deep" is an interesting take on how the world 200 years into the future can look like �� what will happen if the ecosystem falls. This idea obviously has a twist, in order to make an adventure oriented comics, I like it, I think it's a great start to very atmospheric history, but there are a few flaws.

Division of "chapters" (or rather �� changes of perspective, from one character to another or from now to past) is a bit confusing. There are no breaks between them, so sometimes reader can lose the thread �� I certainly did. Because of that the story becomes messy. It has a spark that makes you want to know more, to continue the story, but it still could be improve.

Can't really say anything about characters yet, as it's the very beginning of their adventure. We just met them, and here the world-building has to stand in the first line in order to build fundaments, so I'm interested to see how it goes.

It's a pretty okay comic despite shortcomings �� it has a heart and a soul of a good story, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for it.
]]> 55711029
The Sprite and the Gardener, the debut graphic novel by Joe Whitt and Rii Abrego, is bursting with whimsical art and vibrant characters. Join our neighborhood of sprites in this beautiful, gentle fantasy where both gardens and friendships begin to blossom.]]> 88 Rii Abrego 1620109069 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Heartwarming, beautifully illustrated story about self-grow and finding your purpose. Parallels between Sprite and Gardener weren't complicated, but with so little words authors managed to tell such universal truth. And the art �� it's a pleasure to look at! Colors, art style, character design, truly amazing.]]> 4.09 2021
author: Rii Abrego
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/28
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Heartwarming, beautifully illustrated story about self-grow and finding your purpose. Parallels between Sprite and Gardener weren't complicated, but with so little words authors managed to tell such universal truth. And the art �� it's a pleasure to look at! Colors, art style, character design, truly amazing.
]]> 61884985
Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. This gave him plenty to talk about in therapy.

He walked among invisible devils and anti-gods that mock the mortal form. He learned a lethal catechism, lost his shadow, and gained a habit for secrecy. After a blood-soaked childhood, Fetter escaped his rural hometown for the big city, and fell into a broader world where divine destinies are a dime a dozen.

Everything in Luriat is more than it seems. Group therapy is recruitment for a revolutionary cadre. Junk email hints at the arrival of a god. Every door is laden with potential, and once closed may never open again. The city is scattered with Bright Doors, looming portals through which a cold wind blows. In this unknowable metropolis, Fetter will discover what kind of man he is, and his discovery will rewrite the world.]]> 356 Vajra Chandrasekera 1250847389 blok sera szwajcarskiego 2
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion.

Very sorry for this decision, but unfortunately there was nothing that would make me stay to end this story. The idea was amazing, yet the writing made me too confused, I could not focus over the plot nor characters. Maybe one day I will give it a second chance.]]> 3.64 2023
author: Vajra Chandrasekera
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: did-not-finish, received-from-net-galley
review:
DNF 67%

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion.

Very sorry for this decision, but unfortunately there was nothing that would make me stay to end this story. The idea was amazing, yet the writing made me too confused, I could not focus over the plot nor characters. Maybe one day I will give it a second chance.
]]> 63261123
“A melancholic, funny, and magical coming-of-age story, The Gospel of Orla is glorious, wise, and totally weird. I loved it.�� —Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals

“The Gospel of Orla is an astonishing feat of characterisation and storytelling. The prose is both earthy and sparkling and the story—equal parts bravado and vulnerability—is told with both wit and tenderness. Everyone should read this.��
—Jenn Ashworth, author of Ghosted

“The Gospel of Orla is written with immense control and precision so that the voice of the protagonist emerges as alive, individual and memorable. Eoghan Walls manages to make every single emotion Orla feels �� every thought, response and action—utterly convincing and fresh and original.�� —Colm Tóibín, author of The Magician

“In his debut novel, poet Eoghan Walls imagines the intersection of the material and the mystic when a grieving adolescent stumbles upon a struggling savior. Walls provides an authentic and page-turning narrative from the perspective of his restless and ever-beguiling protagonist. As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin.�� —Kia Corthron, author of Moon and the Mars]]> 224 Eoghan Walls blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"You are the Son of God so get up and walk again. [...]
All I have are memories.
Good bits and bad bits.
That's all I have.
I don't want to give them up."

So you wanna meet God, kid?
Because Orla didn't. Orla wants to runaway to Ireland, where her mother's family is, and she has the plan. She's prepared for the roads, and boats, and bad weather conditions, yet for what she is not prepared is peculiar meeting with strange men that tries to steal her bike. This one unusual guy will shatter all her preparings (with which she won't be happy), but that's not how her story will end.

The question mark for this book is accurate. What is this story? Starts blurry and finishes even less clearly. Orla's story was written by a poet, which is incredibly visible, but it's this kind of poetry that's weird and confusing, the one that's not very much liked by people. We don't like things hard to categorise, and Orla is everything but easy to categorise. Behind her runaway plan lies conflict with family, grief, loss, feeling of being los, alienation and questions. A lot of questions about the way life goes.

At first it's just a book, a strange one for sure. It doesn't show its true conflicts for a very long time. There is one peculiar girl that wouldn't fit with reader in real life and one depressed Jesus eating birds, but then there is family abuse. Religion trauma. Fear of world going to fast. The deal behind life and death. It's not perfect, but it sure is a try to get your mind wrapped around the idea what if religion was as literal as we always take it. Is the world ready for what it knew since the very beginning. How hard is to say goodbye, especially for people that felt like one wasn't needed.

I was thrown into the eye of a conflict and left with no answer. And so I'm not sure how to feel about it. But there is this interesting feeling inside me, like if Orla has stolen something from me like she steals some things through the whole book. And I think like I need to thank her for that.]]> 3.68 2023
author: Eoghan Walls
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/29
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,5⭐️(?)

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

"You are the Son of God so get up and walk again. [...]
All I have are memories.
Good bits and bad bits.
That's all I have.
I don't want to give them up."

So you wanna meet God, kid?
Because Orla didn't. Orla wants to runaway to Ireland, where her mother's family is, and she has the plan. She's prepared for the roads, and boats, and bad weather conditions, yet for what she is not prepared is peculiar meeting with strange men that tries to steal her bike. This one unusual guy will shatter all her preparings (with which she won't be happy), but that's not how her story will end.

The question mark for this book is accurate. What is this story? Starts blurry and finishes even less clearly. Orla's story was written by a poet, which is incredibly visible, but it's this kind of poetry that's weird and confusing, the one that's not very much liked by people. We don't like things hard to categorise, and Orla is everything but easy to categorise. Behind her runaway plan lies conflict with family, grief, loss, feeling of being los, alienation and questions. A lot of questions about the way life goes.

At first it's just a book, a strange one for sure. It doesn't show its true conflicts for a very long time. There is one peculiar girl that wouldn't fit with reader in real life and one depressed Jesus eating birds, but then there is family abuse. Religion trauma. Fear of world going to fast. The deal behind life and death. It's not perfect, but it sure is a try to get your mind wrapped around the idea what if religion was as literal as we always take it. Is the world ready for what it knew since the very beginning. How hard is to say goodbye, especially for people that felt like one wasn't needed.

I was thrown into the eye of a conflict and left with no answer. And so I'm not sure how to feel about it. But there is this interesting feeling inside me, like if Orla has stolen something from me like she steals some things through the whole book. And I think like I need to thank her for that.
]]> 61900207
There's a catfish under the islands of Japan and when it rolls the land rises and falls.

Sora hates the catfish whose rolling caused an earthquake so powerful it cracked time itself. It destroyed her home and took her mother. Now Sora and her scientist father live close to the zones �� the wild and abandoned places where time runs faster or slower than normal. Sora is sensitive to the shifts, and her father recruits her help in exploring these liminal spaces.

But it's dangerous there �� and as she strays further inside in search of her mother, she finds that time distorts, memories fracture and shadows, a glimmer of things not entirely human, linger. After Sora's father goes missing, she has no choice but to venture into uncharted spaces within the time zones to find him, her mother and perhaps even the catfish itself...]]> 432 Clara Kumagai 1803288043 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
Catfish Rolling is like a coin, it has two sides. One is a dystopian story about earthquakes in Japan that, surprisingly, moved not only ground, but time itself. The land is divided into zones, each one moves slower or faster than the rest. Clocks aren't truly helpful in such world, and neither nature's way of existence. People get lost, and Sora's mother was one of them. Her dad dedicated his life to research this weird phenomena of time, and Sora's here to help.

The second side is a story about loss. Grief you can't relieve live through, but can't ignore it, either. About losing yourself, the almost impossible journey to find your place as world around tries to exclude you from everywhere. Sora is not Japanese enough to be as her classmates, but not foreign enough to be treated in different conditions. Her dad slowly floats away from his mind, forgetting little things like what day it is or when something happen. It's extremely subtle, but every action in this book is both literal and metaphorical.

Clara Kumagai manged to write a complex yet little story about time and how we exist in this strange river of it. It reads greatly, both as a fantastic adventure and emotional journey.]]> 3.66 2023
author: Clara Kumagai
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/14
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Got an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Catfish Rolling is like a coin, it has two sides. One is a dystopian story about earthquakes in Japan that, surprisingly, moved not only ground, but time itself. The land is divided into zones, each one moves slower or faster than the rest. Clocks aren't truly helpful in such world, and neither nature's way of existence. People get lost, and Sora's mother was one of them. Her dad dedicated his life to research this weird phenomena of time, and Sora's here to help.

The second side is a story about loss. Grief you can't relieve live through, but can't ignore it, either. About losing yourself, the almost impossible journey to find your place as world around tries to exclude you from everywhere. Sora is not Japanese enough to be as her classmates, but not foreign enough to be treated in different conditions. Her dad slowly floats away from his mind, forgetting little things like what day it is or when something happen. It's extremely subtle, but every action in this book is both literal and metaphorical.

Clara Kumagai manged to write a complex yet little story about time and how we exist in this strange river of it. It reads greatly, both as a fantastic adventure and emotional journey.
]]> 61763234
More than a century ago, the network of MASTTs, the space-time tunnels that made interstellar travel possible, violently collapsed, the backlash destroying a lot of the solar system’s space-based infrastructure. Cooper “Coop�� Douglas, a thief and conman is in serious debt to outer-system crime-lord Eric Galioto. While trying to salvage a valuable chunk of a space station destroyed by the backlash, Coop makes a startling discovery: MASTT Primus, the tunnel that used to lead to New Earth, is open again. That raises an intriguing possibility: Coop could flee the solar system and his debt to Galioto and make a new life—and possibly fortune—around another star.

Accompanied by his first mate, the wisecracking, AI-uplifted, genetically modified cat Thibauld, Coop sets out to “liberate�� the solar system’s only remaining functioning starship from an Earthside museum, enlisting the help of Laysa Grey, a former-lover-turned-cop on Luna. Along the way, he is pursued by Galioto and dogged by law enforcement and thugs.

And beyond MASTT Primus, the tangled stars await . . .]]> 473 Edward Willett blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
a space adventure with two humans, tangled in life, and one sassy cat �� for what else you could ask?]]> 4.07 2022
author: Edward Willett
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/17
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

a space adventure with two humans, tangled in life, and one sassy cat �� for what else you could ask?
]]> 61272941
A nameless alien data compiler comes to Earth to study humans, setting up shop on the outskirts of a small desert community in North America. Working under forced labor, it must watch humans in complete secrecy while sending regular reports to its manager back home. Using spore-like technology to read the minds of his hosts, the alien quickly takes a special interest in Will, one of his early subjects. That interest proves to be a problem when the alien is accidentally revealed to Will's family and it takes desperate measures to save its own life.

In doing so, it discovers a forbidden ability...it can control human minds. Now, the alien struggles to keep this secret from its manager, deal with a growing number of suspicious humans, and come to terms with its ethically questionable decisions. My Life Among Humans is a beautifully painted, evocative first graphic novel from illustrator and cartoonist Jed McGowan.]]> 96 Jed M. McGowan 1637151993 blok sera szwajcarskiego 4 received-from-net-galley
3,75⭐️

I'm very satisfied with the fact this short comic managed to surprise me! It's about little alien robot researching humans, but also reaches a lot deeper. Despite the length and focus over alien POV, "My Life Among Humans" manages to comment over very down-to-earth relationships. There was a certain amount of warm feeling during reading, a bit of comedy, a bit of seriousness. A perfect mix of everything.]]> 3.67
author: Jed M. McGowan
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/30
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

3,75⭐️

I'm very satisfied with the fact this short comic managed to surprise me! It's about little alien robot researching humans, but also reaches a lot deeper. Despite the length and focus over alien POV, "My Life Among Humans" manages to comment over very down-to-earth relationships. There was a certain amount of warm feeling during reading, a bit of comedy, a bit of seriousness. A perfect mix of everything.
]]> 62566283
Investigating the mysterious deaths of two asylum patients, Meg discovers an intriguing Edwardian world of steampunk spiritualism, genteel gay romance, and radical therapies. Digging deeper, she begins to realise something evil lurked behind the asylum’s liberal façade. Did the patients find out? Was that why they were killed?

Deciphering a coded document takes her nearer the heart of the asylum’s secrets and reveals shocking truths about Meg’s own life. Her grip on reality crumbles as the dark Edwardian past begins to overtake her. Can she survive the damaging path to the final piece of the puzzle?]]> 372 Cat Thomas 1916025145 blok sera szwajcarskiego 2 received-from-net-galley
I hate to be a party pooper, I really do, but for a book titled "The Haunting" and described with words horror and gay romance it was extremely underwhelming. It was what drawn me to this title, yet it's also what didn't work for it.

For instance, I wanted creeps. Spooky vibes. Dark undertones. The only part that actually defends itself in this category is the ending, yet it was so... surprising (not in strictly positive way) that it felt ridiculous. The very rest of THoAH is a try to write a solving murder mystery type of story, and because this trope is a pet peeve of mine I feel dissapointed. The whole "solving" is a group of mcs sitting in different places, reading a diary that gives them all the answers. Sometimes they move in order to research, but it's so not the main plot it shows.

Don't get me wrong, the story is interesting more or less. The twist at the end? Pretty cool, but because the whole book was so static and one-way it felt a bit out of place. I still don't know how old main characters are and what are their relationships between them, this part is messy and again, very straightforward. No side plots, not much of characters depth, not many emotions awaken in reader.

I'm not a big fan of stories divided into two perspectives �� one from now and the second from the past. But in THoAH it's actually pretty cool, if I had to point advantages of this title. Despite my disappointment in plot I can see that the author put a lot of heart into it. I was ready for a spooky, full of action ghost hunt, not calm novella about family issues. There are people that will like it, I'm more than sure about that, it's just not mine kind of jam.]]> 3.74
author: Cat Thomas
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.74
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2022/10/24
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

I hate to be a party pooper, I really do, but for a book titled "The Haunting" and described with words horror and gay romance it was extremely underwhelming. It was what drawn me to this title, yet it's also what didn't work for it.

For instance, I wanted creeps. Spooky vibes. Dark undertones. The only part that actually defends itself in this category is the ending, yet it was so... surprising (not in strictly positive way) that it felt ridiculous. The very rest of THoAH is a try to write a solving murder mystery type of story, and because this trope is a pet peeve of mine I feel dissapointed. The whole "solving" is a group of mcs sitting in different places, reading a diary that gives them all the answers. Sometimes they move in order to research, but it's so not the main plot it shows.

Don't get me wrong, the story is interesting more or less. The twist at the end? Pretty cool, but because the whole book was so static and one-way it felt a bit out of place. I still don't know how old main characters are and what are their relationships between them, this part is messy and again, very straightforward. No side plots, not much of characters depth, not many emotions awaken in reader.

I'm not a big fan of stories divided into two perspectives �� one from now and the second from the past. But in THoAH it's actually pretty cool, if I had to point advantages of this title. Despite my disappointment in plot I can see that the author put a lot of heart into it. I was ready for a spooky, full of action ghost hunt, not calm novella about family issues. There are people that will like it, I'm more than sure about that, it's just not mine kind of jam.
]]> 60320603
From a young age, Althalia knew she would someday be the last of her kind—a bruja, tasked with keeping the power and stories of the ancient ways from fading fully into history. Never alone, Althalia works in a paranormal museum with her friends, a real-life Chupacabra and a were-coyote, while living with and caring for her beloved abuela. Through these powerful connections, her skills and knowledge grow.

But the prejudice her people have always faced continues, and after a seemingly random encounter with a priest, Althalia feels the weight of hundreds of years of religious oppression coming down upon her and her abuela. She must realize her destiny and grow into it quickly if she is to prevent the church from achieving its ultimate goal—destroying the last bruja.]]> 128 Aaron Duran 1549308165 blok sera szwajcarskiego 5 received-from-net-galley
Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Magnificent visuals, linked with intriguing story about loss, culture, magic and what part of your life family plays. I was hooked from the first page thanks to the art, and the deeper I went, the more I wasn't disappointed. Althalia as the main character works greatly �� she's a good at heart but flawed person, it's very easy for her to do action before thinking, but she learns from her mistakes and deals with consequences. Supporting character stole my heart, I already can't wait for the next volumes, and although the villains were barely introduced, it is something I'm not going to complain about. They will receive plenty more time next, I'm sure, but as a welcome to the story, "Season of the Bruja" works marvellous.

Cannot not recommend!]]> 3.63
author: Aaron Duran
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.63
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/27
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
4,5⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Magnificent visuals, linked with intriguing story about loss, culture, magic and what part of your life family plays. I was hooked from the first page thanks to the art, and the deeper I went, the more I wasn't disappointed. Althalia as the main character works greatly �� she's a good at heart but flawed person, it's very easy for her to do action before thinking, but she learns from her mistakes and deals with consequences. Supporting character stole my heart, I already can't wait for the next volumes, and although the villains were barely introduced, it is something I'm not going to complain about. They will receive plenty more time next, I'm sure, but as a welcome to the story, "Season of the Bruja" works marvellous.

Cannot not recommend!
]]> 56779306
Henry Hamlet doesn’t know what he wants after school ends. It’s his last semester of year twelve and all he’s sure of is his uncanny ability to make situations awkward. Luckily, he can always hide behind his enigmatic best friend, Len. They’ve been friends since forever, but where Len is mysterious, Henry is clumsy; where Len is a heart-throb, Henry is a neurotic mess. Somehow it’s always worked.

That is, until Henry falls. Hard. For the last person he imagined.

From an exciting debut author comes this passionate story of growing up, letting go, and learning how to love.]]> 328 Rhiannon Wilde 0702263141 blok sera szwajcarskiego 2 received-from-net-galley
2,25��
So, it all started with a kiss, huh?

"Henry Hamlet's Heart" is a really cozy book. There's not too many side plots, but like the title says, I can tell there was a lot of heart put into this story. The beginning was very nice �� all those name jokes, queer and heartwarming ideas (sapphic granny for the win), pleasant narration. Characters not too complicated, but in the same time more than one dimensional. But I couldn't catch about what exactly is it.

And I kinda still can't. Henry's road to early adulthood happens to be complicated and not easy, same with his way to love, and yet there was something lacking. Not that every book needs intense action, epic battle scenes or something. There are a lot of stories incredibly slowly paced or even anti-action, and so I do not consider it as a disadvantage. I'm sure a lot of readers will find comfort in Hamlet and his life, because I can easily see that.

His story isn't meant to be big and epic. His story is meant to be casual, extraordinary in its ordinariness. Small step for a human race, but big for Henry Hamlet. It's written in a way I liked a lot, even if, in the end, there wasn't much chemistry between me and the book. I wasn't too attached to characters, even if I liked them, and I felt lacking some bigger motivation behind them. Subjective feelings, of course.

HHH is a book perfect for late summer/early autumn period, with its joke-y nature, cozy aesthetic and love story that will feed every "friends to lovers" fan.]]> 4.18 2021
author: Rhiannon Wilde
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2022/05/06
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
Got an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

2,25��
So, it all started with a kiss, huh?

"Henry Hamlet's Heart" is a really cozy book. There's not too many side plots, but like the title says, I can tell there was a lot of heart put into this story. The beginning was very nice �� all those name jokes, queer and heartwarming ideas (sapphic granny for the win), pleasant narration. Characters not too complicated, but in the same time more than one dimensional. But I couldn't catch about what exactly is it.

And I kinda still can't. Henry's road to early adulthood happens to be complicated and not easy, same with his way to love, and yet there was something lacking. Not that every book needs intense action, epic battle scenes or something. There are a lot of stories incredibly slowly paced or even anti-action, and so I do not consider it as a disadvantage. I'm sure a lot of readers will find comfort in Hamlet and his life, because I can easily see that.

His story isn't meant to be big and epic. His story is meant to be casual, extraordinary in its ordinariness. Small step for a human race, but big for Henry Hamlet. It's written in a way I liked a lot, even if, in the end, there wasn't much chemistry between me and the book. I wasn't too attached to characters, even if I liked them, and I felt lacking some bigger motivation behind them. Subjective feelings, of course.

HHH is a book perfect for late summer/early autumn period, with its joke-y nature, cozy aesthetic and love story that will feed every "friends to lovers" fan.
]]> 58505006 What happens in Vegas when an all-asexual online friend group attempts to break into a high-stakes gambling club? Shenanigans ensue.

Some people join chess club, some people play football. Jack Shannon runs a secret blackjack ring in his private school’s basement. What else is the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul supposed to do?

Everything starts falling apart when Jack’s mom is arrested for their family’s ties to organized crime. His sister Beth thinks this is the Shannon family’s chance to finally go straight, but Jack knows that something’s not right. His mom was sold out, and he knows by who. Peter Carlevaro: rival casino owner and jilted lover. Gross.

Jack hatches a plan to find out what Carlevaro’s holding over his mom’s head, but he can’t do it alone. He recruits his closest friends—the asexual support group he met through fandom forums. Now all he has to do is infiltrate a high-stakes gambling club and dodge dark family secrets, while hopelessly navigating what it means to be in love while asexual. Easy, right?]]> 352 Amanda DeWitt 1682634663 blok sera szwajcarskiego 3 received-from-net-galley
Got an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Well you can't expect me to not jump on board when I hear (illegal) gambling, family secrets and asexual representation, so it was clear for me to get into this story asap.

"Aces Wild" is, well, wild when it comes to its concepts. It's a retelling of King Arthur's story dressed in Las Vegas clothes �� or, perhaps I should say, cards. Jack Shannon's family has its flaws, but they stick together, even if they seem like puzzle pieces from five different boxes. He also has his own crew of friends, with which help he's going to change the playing world of casinos with a bang.

The writing is really good, the best part of it is humor. Gosh, I love such narration, Jack's way of telling story can give high five Percy Jackson's one. Characters don't seem like a cardboard cutouts, but real, complicated people, and that's great. I fell in love with the crew of Aces Wild deeper the longer I kept reading.

The story itself is not the complicated one, which I should praise, as the author managed to keep it real to the character's age. There wasn't anything unnatural or impossible that would make it abstract, which counts as a positive. Yet in its simplicity lies the fact that not really much happened. It's a heist, sure, and there is a heist, but besides from that one moment it's more static? More focused on emotions and ways such plot twists influence characters? Which is interesting, because AW goes for a young adult book, but unfocused on the romantic subplot �� in fact one lacking such, and it successes. It could use one last big boom at the end, cause while the main story is closed, it would be nice to see other subplots' finales, too.

It's a great book if you're looking for a nice YA, the same yet so different from its genre, with ace and non-binary representation, marvellous jokes and a cast of characters you'll love.]]> 3.77 2022
author: Amanda DeWitt
name: blok sera szwajcarskiego
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/21
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: received-from-net-galley
review:
3,5��

Got an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Well you can't expect me to not jump on board when I hear (illegal) gambling, family secrets and asexual representation, so it was clear for me to get into this story asap.

"Aces Wild" is, well, wild when it comes to its concepts. It's a retelling of King Arthur's story dressed in Las Vegas clothes �� or, perhaps I should say, cards. Jack Shannon's family has its flaws, but they stick together, even if they seem like puzzle pieces from five different boxes. He also has his own crew of friends, with which help he's going to change the playing world of casinos with a bang.

The writing is really good, the best part of it is humor. Gosh, I love such narration, Jack's way of telling story can give high five Percy Jackson's one. Characters don't seem like a cardboard cutouts, but real, complicated people, and that's great. I fell in love with the crew of Aces Wild deeper the longer I kept reading.

The story itself is not the complicated one, which I should praise, as the author managed to keep it real to the character's age. There wasn't anything unnatural or impossible that would make it abstract, which counts as a positive. Yet in its simplicity lies the fact that not really much happened. It's a heist, sure, and there is a heist, but besides from that one moment it's more static? More focused on emotions and ways such plot twists influence characters? Which is interesting, because AW goes for a young adult book, but unfocused on the romantic subplot �� in fact one lacking such, and it successes. It could use one last big boom at the end, cause while the main story is closed, it would be nice to see other subplots' finales, too.

It's a great book if you're looking for a nice YA, the same yet so different from its genre, with ace and non-binary representation, marvellous jokes and a cast of characters you'll love.
]]>