Tag: Tor Books

Books

Book 802: The House in the Cerulean Sea – T.J. Klune

Geoff W

I knew I was going to like this going in because of how much I enjoyed the quirkiness of Klune’s The Extraordinaries, but I didn’t know I would like it this much! I’m now desperate for Flash Fire (the sequel to The Extraordinaries), but have months to wait!

The House on the Cerulean Sea is the story of Linus Baker, a cog in the machine that is the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY). He is sent to Marsayas to investigate the orphanage run by Arthur Parnassus, an extraordinary caretaker who cares for and teaches his wards but has his own secret.

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Books

Book 762: The Extraordinaries (The Extraordinaries #1) – T.J. Klune

Geoff W

I think I found the natural successor to Perry Moore’s Hero. I honestly don’t remember that much about Hero, other than really loving it, but this definitely will stay with me longer.

I found this after someone blogged/Insta’d about Queer young adult books coming out in 2021 when the sequel, Flash Fire, will be released and it’s cover caught my attention so of course I looked into it saw there was a prequel and immediately requested it from this from the library.

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Books

Book 613: A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic #3) – V.E. Schwab

Geoff W

Disappointment doesn’t even begin to cover my thoughts on this. Did it end the series well enough? Yes. Did it inspire me to read more of Schwab’s writing? No. Am I even more concerned that she is being compared to Diana Wynn Jones? YES.

A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light aren’t so much book two and book three of the Shades of Magic trilogy as they are part one and part two of book two of the Shades of Magic duology. All three of the books in the “trilogy” take place in incredibly short amounts of time with a four month gap between one and two/three.

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Books

Book 611: A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2) – V.E. Schwab

Geoff W

Well, this one was stronger than A Darker Shade of Magic, but I’m still not on board with the “natural successor to Diana Wynne Jones” promo-ing in her bio. (But honestly, I can’t blame her, if someone said that about me I’d probably get it tattooed on my body.) Do I think she could get there? Probably. Is she there yet? Not yet based on these to books, but she wrote seven other books I’ve yet to read.

My largest critique of the books/series still stands: Is this an adult book or a young adult book? I honestly cannot tell. There’s no explicit sex, there’s not really that much violence, the language is pretty much G-rated, and the writing and plot are relatively simple and straight forward. There will be MAJOR spoilers in this review so don’t read past this if you don’t want to know.

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Books

Book 610: A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) – V.E. Schwab

Geoff W

I picked this up after seeing it on LouLouReads’ blog. The title intrigued me and then I read the official blurb and was like okay I like this idea of parallel worlds I’ll give it a go. Thankfully, my local library had the first two and I got them the next day and the third had a very short wait list.

Like LouLouReads I agree that the book was rather one-dimensional to start. I do feel that it grew, but I’m not sure Schwab’s writing deserves the accolade touted in her bio, “the natural successor to Diana Wynne Jones.” Those are some huge shoes to fill that Shwab might be able to do some day.

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