Book Review: "Iron Widow" by Xiran Jay Zhao

Title: Iron Widow

Author: Xiran Jay Zhao

Series: "Iron Widow" #1

Genre: YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Page Length: 394 pages

Publication Date: September 21, 2021

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

You guys. This book! 

Iron Widow is one of those books that I was incredibly excited to release in 2021. I've had it sitting on my shelf since it came out and I consistently found myself looking at it with the burning desire to pick it up and read it. And I finally did. 

I loved this book. I had high expectations for it and I was not disappointed. While the book didn't exceed those expectations, it did meet them and I was quite happy. I feel like the best way to describe that feeling is that this book was exactly what I expected it to be (and what I wanted). The majority of my expectations did come from hearing so many people raving about it online and, I have to say, I think this book could be raved about even more. 

So, right off the bat, my favorite part of this book was the characters. I, personally, am a character-driven reader. A plot can be amazing but if the characters aren't written well then I tend not to enjoy it as much. But a 4-star plot could still lead to a 5-star rating if the characters are on point. This book had great characters.

My favorite was, of course, the main character Zetian. She is just...amazing. She's badass, she's angry, she's fierce but she's also at a huge disadvantage in this patriarchal world. I found her to be such a great character to read from and I cannot wait for more of her in the next book. It was also refreshing to read about a badass female character who does the wrong things because she's been pushed to the edge. I think the phrase that best describes my feelings about her are "I support women's rights...but more importantly, I support women's wrongs." Zetian, my murderous baby <3 Also, Li Shimin and Yizhi were so well written and I am very attached to this trio. 

Now, there's two love interests and one of my favorite parts of the book was that it flipped the traditional love triangle on its head and gave a poly romance to us. Now, this was heavily in the marketing and promotion for this book and I was incredibly excited. I've been reading reverse harem and poly romances in indie books for years now and I've always hoped it would become more mainstream. I will say, I did expect more of a focus on the romance from how talked about it was. I think the next book is set up to further explore this and hopefully have more of it developed on page.

The world was very intriguing. It's based off of precolonial China but does stand as its own fantasy/sci-fi world. There is a bit of world building to decipher but it was easy to learn. I don't read much sci-fi so this world and the way the battles were fought were brand new to me. It was really refreshing and exciting to read a story like this with technology and magic combining themselves. 

The writing style was perfect for me. I've been digging myself out of a reading slump and highly descriptive or verbose writing has been a struggle. This book and the way it was written was perfect for my brain. The pacing and writing had me reading hundreds of pages without even realizing. Combined with the plot and characters, this book definitely fits into the category of "books that made me forget I was reading."  

Overall, this book was amazing. It was queer, it centered a polyamorous romance, it was full of feminist themes and issues, and it was just amazing. It really highlighted the difficulty in dismantling systems of oppression and how deeply ingrained in people they can be. It was dark and painful but also full of passion and, dare I say, hope. I cannot wait to see where the sequel takes us and, once again, I stan Zetian and her murderous desires.

Please be aware that, although it is YA, this book deals with a lot of difficult topics and themes. Remember to prioritize your mental health first and foremost. Content and trigger warnings include: murder & death, torture, forced body modifications, abuse, violence, sacrifices, misogyny/sexism, alcoholism, depression, anxiety & panic attacks, themes of colonization, talk of sexual assault, and more. Please read responsibly. 

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "Supernova" by Marissa Meyer

Title: Supernova

Author: Marissa Meyer

Series: "Renegades" #3
Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Page Length: 552 pages

Publication Date: November 5, 2019
Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Book 1 Review

Book 2 Review

Wow. All I can say is wow. This book was so good and I had an absolutely wonderful time reading it. I binged this series over the course of about a week and I can firmly say that after finishing this trilogy it has cemented itself as one of my favorites of all time.

When I started this book, it was pretty late in the evening. I only planned to read about 100 pages before going to bed. The next thing I knew, I had finished the entirety of this 550+ page book in one sitting and it was now 2 am. And I wouldn't have changed a thing.

So much happened in this book and I don't have the time or space to discuss it all. Marissa Meyer truly knew how to build the tension throughout the trilogy so that this final book was explosive. So many things happened that I expected but there were also a lot of things that happened that I was not expecting. I was truly blown away by this book.

We start off with high-tension right at the beginning. There is no significant change in time between the end of the second book and the start of this book so I felt that I was right back in the story and the action. Since the first two books had been building tension and upping the stakes, the tension was quite high at the beginning of this book. I felt that, although there were less high-action scenes in this book until the end, the book was definitely not boring or slow paced at all because the tension was so high.

The characters were wonderful, again. There were a few moments with different characters that I was so excited for and finally happened. That being said, I do think the focus on the character development wasn't as strong as the first two books. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though, because I felt that I had a good connection to the characters from the first two books. I also just want more of these characters! I want novellas and stories about them just living their lives after this trilogy's events.

It's hard for me to succinctly put my love for this book into a review. I just had so much fun with this trilogy that I don't have any bad things to say about it. I'll just end with this: I absolutely adored this series and I'm so glad that I finally read it. I highly recommend it to everyone who likes science-fiction, enemies to lovers tropes, and flawed superheros.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "Archenemies" by Marissa Meyer

Title: Archenemies

Author: Marissa Meyer

Series: "Renegades" #2

Genre: YA Sci-Fi 

Page Length: 474 pages

Publication Date: November 6, 2018

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Book 1 Review

Okay so from the very first page of Renegades, I was obsessed with this story. After how that book ended, I was very excited to see where the story would go in this book. I was not disappointed in the slightest. So many things happened in this book both plot and character wise and I could not put it down.

Much like the first book, this book starts with an action scene. We are right into the action and don't have to bother with long lead-ups or narratives. One of the many things that Marissa Meyer does right is suck you into the book right from the beginning. Like the first book as well, once we are pulled in, this novel does not let you go. I did read this over the course of three or four sittings but only because I was falling asleep while reading. When I was reading this book, there was not a single moment in which I wanted it to be over quicker.

The thing I love most about this series is the characters. We have our two main characters, Nova and Adrian, who alternate POVs throughout the novel. I absolutely adore each of them and think that their perspectives are so interesting to read from. The character and relationship developments with each of them were so on point. Their inner journeys as well as moral struggles are so well done in this trilogy, especially in this book. I really can't say much else other than I love these two so much. They have quickly become some of my favorite characters I've ever read from.

The side characters also make this book stand out from other series. Whereas in some series, the side characters fall into the background or don't get much development, the side characters in this trilogy are so well written. While none of them have their own POVs, we do get plenty of page time with them. I like that we also get to see side characters from each side of this battle: Anarchists vs Renegade. I just...I love most of the side characters and the ones that I don't love were written to be unlikable and were still written brilliantly. Also, I just have to say, I love them all and am so scared for the final book because half of them are on one side of the fight and half of them are on the other.

Of course, while characters tend to drive stories for me, the plot and storyline of this book did not suffer at all. Not only are we continuing with some existing plot lines from the first book, but there are a lot of new reveals and twists in this book that have their own little threads to follow. All of these threads do tie back to the main plot of the entire trilogy and I felt that the depth we get from them has really made this trilogy stand out even more to me.

This book also seemed darker and grittier than the first one. We still had fun and cute moments, but the tension is building and things are getting more serious as the stakes rise. There are some seriously messed up things that happen as well which just add to the tension. I am rather interested to see what the mood of the final book is going to be.

One of my favorite things about this trilogy is the moral debates. To try and sum it up without spoiling anything, there is this new society created by the Renegades after the Age of Anarchy and some people love it but some people see flaws with it. Then there are different actions being taken, rules being put into place, etc but also a ruling council that wasn't elected but rather put themselves in charge. There are also plenty of other moral and philosophical debates in these books, but I really love how Marissa has written them in. I myself have no idea what to even think because I've read from differing perspectives and can understand each of them. I'm just very excited to see how these moral dilemmas are continued in the final book.  

Overall, I just loved this book. I am so excited and nervous about the final book that I'm going to be starting later today. I think that Marissa has really outdone herself with this trilogy and I find myself loving these books more than the Lunar Chronicles (the only other books I've read by her). I think that, based off just the first two books, this series will definitely be one of my favorites and I can only hope that the final book solidifies that standing.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "Renegades" by Marissa Meyer

Title: Renegades

Author: Marissa Meyer

Series: "Renegades" #1
Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Page Length: 556 pages

Publication Date: November 7, 2017

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Why did it take me so long to read this book?! I'm cursing past Lauren for her mistake because this book was amazing and she should have read it sooner. To be fair, when this book first came out I wasn't at all interested in reading about superheros and preferred watching them in movies. However, over the past few years, I saw the hype around this series and I'd read other things by Marissa Meyer so I became more intrigued. Finally, I bought this book over a year ago. Still, it took me up until a few days ago to finally start it and I'm so happy that I finally did!

I'll start off by saying that, objectively, this book has flaws. If I wanted to get into the deep analysis of pacing, plot, character development, etc then this book would probably be 4 or 4.5 stars instead of the 5 that I've given it. However, based on my pure enjoyment and the fun I had reading this, I had to give it the full 5 stars.

What drove this book for me was definitely the characters. We follow two main POVs, Nova (who is an Anarchist) and Adrian (who is a Renegade). I adored both of them. I could go on and on about these two, but I'll just say that (1) I really loved them as individual characters and (2) I really loved their interactions. These two characters are very well fleshed out and I can't wait to see more of them in the next book.

The side characters were also phenomenal. I think the way that Meyer wrote this story was interesting because we're getting both the stories of the Anarchists (the "villains") and the Renegades (the "heroes"). Neither are perfect and I honestly could not tell you who I'd prefer to win in a battle. I just loved getting to know each of the characters on each side. They're all so unique and well-written.

I also really enjoyed the overall story. I thought the book was balanced well with the action placed well throughout the book. The book started off on a high-intensity scene and kept that energy and excitement throughout the entire novel.

There's really not much else that I can say except I loved this book. I had such a great time reading it and I cannot wait to read the rest of the trilogy! Overall, I just want to describe this book as fun. Despite the book being serious most of the time and all the action, betrayal, etc...I just had a fun time reading it. I highly recommend this to sci-fi and Marissa Meyer fans!

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "Their Fractured Light" by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Title: Their Fractured Light

Authors: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Series: "Starbound Trilogy" #3
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Romance

Page Length: 428 pages

Publication Date: December 1, 2015

Rating: 4 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Book 1 Review

Book 2 Review

I binged this entire trilogy (plus a novella) over the course of four days and loved every second of it. I really enjoyed this installment and thought the ending was very fitting, though I still think book 2 is my favorite of them all.

Like with the last book, the action starts from the very beginning in this book and keeps going. There was a bit of a lag towards the middle/end in action but the very strong beginning and the character development throughout more than made up for it. I think that the pacing was rather good overall even if some of these scenes did lag.

I also think I was a bit confused still on the whole issue with the other-universe beings. I don't think I understood it well-enough in the first book so that by the time I finished this one, I understood it more but definitely not as much as I'd hoped I would have.

I also liked how this book ended. I think that it could have gone so many different ways but not only do I love this ending, but it also just makes sense within the world and characters. I think that while everything in this trilogy was wrapped up nicely, there's also definite potential for future novellas or spin-offs dealing with the aftermath. I don't know if that would happen, but I would like it!

What really drove this for me were the characters. Not only do we have to new amazing characters to read about, but we also have the other main characters from previous books making an appearance and coming together with our new characters. I'm a big sucker for a group of characters who have to come together when the odds are stacked against them. Also, this book felt to me like the beginnings of a found-family situation and I loved it. I would honestly love to see more of these characters in the future and I'm excited to go back and reread one of the novellas I haven't read yet.

Overall, I really enjoyed this final installment and this trilogy as a whole. It's been sitting on my bookshelves for years and I'm both happy and proud that I've finally read it and that I enjoyed it. When I get actual shelves again I can't wait to have these on my Kristoff/Kaufman/Spooner shelf along with all the other great sci-fi novels they've written.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "This Shattered World" by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Title: This Shattered World

Authors: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Series: "Starbound Trilogy" #2

Genre: YA Sci-Fi Romance

Page Length: 394 pages

Publication Date: December 23rd, 2014

Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Book 1 Review

Okay so I really enjoyed book 1. I thought it was a solid start to this trilogy and I was definitely invested in the world and characters. However, book 2 was so much better! I loved this installment and I'm so glad that I read it right after book 1 so that everything was fresh in my mind.

This installment follows a new pair of main characters, though characters from book 1 do make an appearance. We're also on a brand new planet dealing with different plot lines, though the big overarching reveal from book 1 is expanded upon in this book a lot.

From the very first page there's action. We don't mess around with any info-dumps or long expositions and the action is pretty much instantaneous. The pace is set and the authors run with it. I really enjoyed this storyline and thought it was way better than the last book's storyline (even if I enjoyed book 1, it was lacking in some areas). A lot happens and there's many sub-plot lines from the overarching trilogy plot. Just the amount of action and plot development in this book raised it above book 1 immensely.

Like with the last book, the big thing that drove my enjoyment of this one was the characters. I loved the characters in the last book and I loved these characters as well. I was so happy when Tarver and Lilac showed up in this book because just getting to see them again helped connect me to the story. But the main characters were Jubilee and Flynn and they were just wonderful to read from. This was a classic case of some of my favorite tropes (forbidden romance, enemies-to-lovers, etc) and I loved how it was done. I'm quite fond of these characters and how their story was told, not to mention all the side characters that were added in!

I'm very happy with the plot twists and the ending. I think that this book played out in a really good ways and I didn't always see what was coming which made for more impactful twists. Overall, I really thought that the ending was good and both tied back in with the first book as well as set up the third book.

To finish out this review, I really liked this book and thought it was a lot better than book 1. I cannot wait to see what happens in the next and final book just so that I can be reunited with these characters as well as see how everything wraps up.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "These Broken Stars" by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Title: These Broken Stars

Authors: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Series: "Starbound Trilogy" #1

Genre: YA Sci-Fi Romance

Page Length: 378 pages

Publication Date: December 10, 2013
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

Goodreads

When I originally picked this book up, it was because I'd just read Illuminae and loved it, so when I saw Amie had another sci-fi trilogy with beautiful covers, I knew I had to pick it up. I'm a bit ashamed to say that it took me years to finally read it but that I have finally done so and really enjoyed it!

From the first page, there was something that felt so familiar about the writing, which I no doubt attribute to the fact that I've read other books by Amie. The writing was easy to fall into and I read this book rather quickly in only two sittings across an afternoon. There is just something so light about the writing in this book and I really enjoyed it.

The characters themselves were what drove this story. I really enjoyed reading from Tarver and Lilac's POVs. I liked the alternation between each and I also liked the little transcripts of interview in between each chapter. More so, I liked the characters themselves. They were just really fun to read from and I really enjoyed reading about their character and relationship growth.

I will say it was the characters that primarily drove the story for me. There were a lot of things in the plot I liked, but there was a bit of drag in the repetitive-ness of their journey and I was a bit confused on the big plot things at the end. However, I am excited to read the next books so that I can get a better understanding of what all is going on.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I definitely had some feels but I felt like one of the big feel things wasn't as big of a deal since I kinda knew what the outcome was. But I did like this book and I'm excited to see what happens next in the series!

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Top 5 Wednesday: Sci-Fi/Fantasy BFF's

Hello all! Today we're finally back with another Top 5 Wednesday. I realized I completely forgot to post last week since I was moving out of my college dorm so it will have been two weeks since our last Top 5 Wednesday. This week's prompt is all about favorite friendships in sci-fi/fantasy books or characters you'd be best friends with. I decided to talk about some of my favorite friendships and these are in no particular order so let's just dive in! 

First, let's talk about Mor and Feyre from the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. It's hard not to love these characters individually, but then when you see them interact with each other, you can't help but adore them even more. I loved Mor from the beginning and I absolutely adore her and Feyre's friendship that bloomed in the second book. 

Next, I absolutely adore Safi and Iseult from the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard. You can tell just how deep their friendship runs through everything they do and think, especially in the first book. I just absolutely adore them and I love how they put each other first over everything else and would do anything for each other. 

Up next we have Aelin and Lysandra from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. I loved seeing how their friendship formed and progressed over the books into such a strong bond. While not as close as Safi and Iseult are, Aelin and Lysandra would definitely sacrifice for each other and support each other in such amazing ways. 

Then I decided to go with Rielle and Ludivine from Furyborn by Claire Legrand. I'm currently rereading Furyborn and I'm absolutely in love with their friendship. They're both so supportive of each other and, while they don't always see eye to eye, there's so much love between them. I honestly can't wait to see their friendship blossom even more in the second book. 

Lastly, I chose Cristina and Emma from the Dark Artifices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. From the very first book, these two characters captured my attention. I loved the fact that we had this friendship going on in the books because, in Cassie's other series, the main protagonist doesn't focus on friends as much. But in this trilogy, we got so many amazing friendships including Cristina and Emma's. Honestly there's not much I can say other than I love them together. 

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "Invictus" by Ryan Graudin

Title: Invictus

Author: Ryan Graudin

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Page Length: 458 pages

Publication Date: September 26, 2017

Date Started: April 3, 2019

Date Finished: April 8, 2019

Rating: 3.5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

I was so excited for this book. I'd somehow secured a trade for an arc almost two years ago and have been excited to read this ever since. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed but I'm attributing some of that to the fact I was literally hyping it up in my mind for almost two years. Overall, I did enjoy this book and thought the characters and plot was enjoyable, but I thought there was a lot of missed opportunity.

Looking back on reading this, I feel as if I can count the major plot points on a single hand, which is rough because this book is over 400 pages long. I honestly don't feel like there was much actually going on. Also, for a time-traveling crew of space pirates, there's not very much time-traveling or pirating. Yes, there's a few different time periods we get to see, but I expected so much more time-travel for a 400-page book. Still, what we did get was interesting and I wish we'd gotten to see even more of how time-travel technically works. It seems to me that whenever they time-traveled, the scene would go something like, "character typed in a few numbers, we waited, and then we were there." I just feel as if there were a lot of missed opportunities for more time-travel, more new exciting places, more everything. But, instead, a lot of times I found myself bored or wishing their was something actually going on rather than the characters just sitting around a room talking because that doesn't work for me unless I'm highly invested in them. 

In terms of the characters, I did really enjoy them even if I didn't connect a whole lot. I definitely found Far to be my favorite, but the others on the crew were also very enjoyable to read from. There were only two main points of view, but at some point or another a lot of characters got a chapter or two where we ended up with about seven total points of view, which is a bit much and could be a potential reason I didn't connect as much. I feel as if the multiple points of view let me connect a little bit with every character but not beyond that. But the main thing is that I did connect with every character and I liked most characters, I just didn't love them. 

The relationships between the characters were another thing that made me like this book a lot more. I was indeed shipping characters with each other and I did want to see how everything ended up between each of them. I also really liked how at the start of this book the main character was already in a relationship with another character because we already had that established bond that continued to grow throughout the book. 

I flew through the last 100 pages  when I was supposed to be doing homework because I had to know how the ending played out, even though I pretty much called it. The more I think on it, too, the more the ending is growing on me. I originally didn't like the ending but when I look back on it now I find that it was a good ending for the situation.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I didn't love it but I did enjoy it though I do think that it disappointed me with all of the missed opportunities. I did think it was a fun read and what we got of the time-travel was interesting, I just wished there had been more of it. 

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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