book.dreamblog’s Book Reviews!

This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Summary and Review This is a difficult book for me to review because I absolutely chose a book that was not my usual taste when I selected this to listen to on audio. If you’ve noticed the general trend of books I listen to on audio getting general lower ratings than books I read as physical, it’s because of the correlation to how excited I am about the book. If I’m really excited about reading a book because I think I’m going to love it, then generally I want to buy a physical. And if I’m going to own a physical copy, then I’m going to read that copy, because there’s no point in owning a physical edition of a book if I’m not going to do anything with it. So, I usually pick titles that I’m only mildly intrigued by to listen to on audio—then that way if I don’t love it, I didn’t spend money to own a physical copy of a book I won’t read again.  That’s my philosophy anyway. Also, I listen to audiobooks when I’m work...

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill  *Warning: This review contains spoilers*  Summary & Review  Ok, so I want to start by giving Kelly Barnhill major props for actually coming up with such a unique concept. I have literally never read anything like it before, so I was pretty blown away by that.  The prose is remarkably well written, and the narration of the audiobook I listened to was fantastic as well. As was the actual structure of the novel. I liked the brief “historical” interludes the separated sections of the story being told to give the reader historical and scientific commentary on “dragoning,” as if this truly were a biography (autobiography? Memoir? Case study?) written about the character of Alex to explain the story’s events. This is a kind of structuring that can’t necessarily always be pulled off well, especially in a fantasy novel. If done wrong, it can throw off the pacing of the entire book, but Barnhill handles it with finesse. I actually...

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May *This review contains spoilers* *Content Warning: This review mentions r*pe*  Summary & Review  I want to preface by saying that when I listened to this on audio, I had absolutely no idea that this was loosely inspired by the Great Gatsby and reimagined as a sapphic historical dark fantasy. (Actually, once you turn Gatsby into a sapphic historical dark fantasy, how inspired by Gatsby can it really still be?) But, I think not knowing that actually allowed me to enjoy the story more. Had I known that this was supposed to be inspired by Gatsby, I would have been a lot more critical of the plot, the characters, the general direction of the story, etc. Not knowing just simply allowed me to appreciate this story for what it is on its own.  I don’t have terribly a lot to say about this book. There was nothing terribly bad about it that I want to rip apart, and there was also not a lot overly impressive that I want to gush about either....

  The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid *This review contains spoilers*  *Content Warning* This review mentions suicide and terminal illness. Introduction  The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is often regarded as one of bookstagram’s darlings. It’s received an outpouring of 5 star reviews from across the book-loving community. And there truly is a lot to like about it, from its old Hollywood aesthetic to its unapologetic cast of LGBT characters, and its complex morally gray protagonist.  But does it live up to the hype? The answer for me is yes and no.  Summary and Review Like I said, there is a lot to love in this book. It has LGBT characters in all the leading roles (featuring a gay man, a lesbian woman, and a bisexual WOC), with a W/W main couple—which is something I love. Most mainstream and popular novels always center around straight characters and couples, and if they feature queer characters, they’re usually just relegated to the backg...

  The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller  *This review contains spoilers*   Content Warning This review mentions rape.  Introduction  First and foremost, I am not the type of person who feels compelled to give highly popular book glowing reviews just because everyone else does. I have no problem giving my honest opinion on them. I'm giving this novel a good review, not because of the hype, but because I genuinely feel it deserves it.  The Song of Achilles is a Greek mythology retelling by Madeline Miller that covers the events of Homer's The Iliad, but instead of being told from Achilles' perspective, it is told by his companion Patroclus. There has been quite a deal of speculation about the nature of Achilles and Patroclus' relationship as written by Homer--were they really cousins? Were they actually lovers? Or were they simply just really close friends? As far as the actual Iliad goes, I don't suppose we'll ever know, but in The Song of Achilles, Mille...