audiobooks

Review: Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

~ megs14malloy

Gwen & Art Are Not in LoveGwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a Queer Medieval YA Rom-Com that is absolute sugar to read. I walked away feeling light and airy on its sweetness.

This is a YA-debut for this author, and I’m really hoping we’ll be seeing more from them in this space. I feel like this one definitely succeeded in what it set out to do.

This story follows Gwen and Arthur, who have been betrothed since they were kids and they’re not happy about it. The only thing they’ve had in common over the years is the ability to annoy one another.

As they reach marriageable age, Arthur travels to Camelot to stay for the Summer in the lead up to their impending nuptials. It doesn’t start off well, as Gwen catches Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur discovers Gwen’s long-held crush on the kingdom’s only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.

It’s now clear that it’s more than general disdain keeping them apart. Having a new found understanding for one another, and their predicament, the two make a pact to cover for each other as they pursue their love interests.

This was adorable and so much fun. I think this would be a great fit for Readers who enjoy the style and feel of the Lady Janies books, such as My Lady Jane, or My Contrary Mary.

I definitely recommend the audiobook. There is dual narration for Gwen and Arthur, which is incredibly well done. The narrators captured the spirit of these characters.

The dynamic between Gwen and Arthur was the highlight for me. It was a bit of a journey of self-discovery for them both and I enjoyed watching them open up to one another.

Through their honesty with themselves and each other, they were able to develop a much needed support system in their new friendship group. There is a strong found family element to this story, so if that is something you enjoy seeing, you’ll definitely find it here.

I enjoyed the level of humor that Croucher brought to this story and that it didn’t get steamy at all. It’s fun, playful and flirty, but without being drowned out in unnecessary details for characters who don’t feel ready for all of that just yet.

For me, I could have used a bit more action, intensity or intrigue in the overall plot, it was just lacking a little of that for me. That is 100% personal taste though, and you may not feel that at all when you read it.

The action did amp up a bit right at the end, with a battle and some political changes, I just feel like I sort of needed a little more during the bulk of the story if I were going to give this a 5-star rating.

At the end of the day, this is a hugely enjoyable story. It’s heart-warming, it’s fun and I would definitely recommend it to Readers looking for a fun Queer story, or for Readers who enjoy witty dialogue, or a Medieval setting.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I will be picking up more from Lex Croucher!

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Review: After the Sleepover (Sleepover #2) by Kerry Wilkinson

~ megs14malloy

After the Sleepover (Sleepover #2)After the Sleepover by Kerry Wilkinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

After the Sleepover is the sequel in Kerry Wilkinson’s Sleepover series. I finished the first book, I think it was yesterday, it’s all been a bit of a blur, and immediately started this one, flying through and finishing it tonight.

I’m slightly obsessed with this series right now and have spent the entire afternoon wondering if we are going to be getting more. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

This story follows Leah Pearce, who is a bit infamous in her small hometown. Twenty-five years ago, she attended a sleepover with three of her best friends. They did the stuff teen girls typically do at a sleepover, went to sleep, all was well, but in the morning only Leah remained.

The other three girls had disappeared. As the survivor, the town had mixed reactions to Leah. Some believed she had to have information that she wasn’t sharing. How could she have slept through three girls disappearing?!

Others felt she was an unfortunate girl, who just got lucky that night. Certainly she was deserving of sympathy.

All these years later a documentary has been made about the incident, bringing Leah back into the limelight. She never wanted any of that and will be happy when people move on to someone else’s tragedy.

Then three boys go missing during a sleepover where they were tenting out in a field by one of their homes. The mother of one of the missing boys, Jennifer, asks the police to get Leah for her, to stay with her during the subsequent search. She tells them that she and Leah are friends.

Leah is surprised. She knows Jennifer, it’s a small town, and they’re the same age, but she wouldn’t say they were friends. Nor have they ever been. Nevertheless, she feels compelled to go and be with Jennifer in her time of need.

She figures Jennifer reached out to her because who else knows more about missing teenagers than her?

The subsequent investigation makes Leah question a lot of things, even her own past. As she is tied together now with Jennifer, Leah finds herself smack in the middle of it all over again. Will the truth be revealed and is there a connection to Leah’s own troubled past?

I found these two books so incredibly addictive. Wilkinson’s writing is fluid and engaging. I felt like I’ve really gotten to know Leah over the course of this series. As mentioned before, I am seriously hoping this isn’t the end of her story.

I ended up enjoying this even more than the first book. It had a different level of intensity to it. I think mainly because in The Night of the Sleepover the missing girls are in the past perspective. What has happened to them is already done, there’s no changing it.

Yet in this story, the boys that have gone missing, it’s a race against the clock to try to figure out what happened. They can still be saved. I felt like all of the different elements of the story were blended perfectly together.

You still get aspects of Leah’s life outside of the latest case of missing teens. She has stuff going on in her personal life, a hidden relationship, her Dad getting released from prison and getting married, that are equally compelling and I liked going through that with her.

I also found her relationship with Jennifer gripping. Jennifer was an great character. I was hesitant with her from the start. She seemed so, I don’t know, almost in awe of Leah. Like she wanted to be close to her for the wrong reasons, or like she was trying to manipulate something.

It built up a very interesting dynamic and I love how Wilkinson wrote that budding friendship. It was enthralling and had me flying through the pages.

This had a great conclusion. It could go either way. I could be satisfied with this being the end, or I can also see many avenues where Wilkinson could continue to take this story. If there are more books coming in the Sleepover series, you better believe I will be first in line to get a copy.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Bookouture and Bookouture Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I’m so happy that I’ve found a new Thriller author to add to my auto-buy list!!

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Review: The Night of the Sleepover (Sleepover #1) by Kerry Wilkinson

~ megs14malloy

The Night of the Sleepover (Sleepover #1)The Night of the Sleepover by Kerry Wilkinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Night of the Sleepover is the first book in Kerry Wilkinson’s Sleepover series. Having never read from this author before, I had no real expectations going in.

I found Wilkinson’s writing to be quite engaging. She was able to hook me from the start. I was intrigued and couldn’t stop thinking about this when I wasn’t reading it.

In this story we are following single-mom, Leah, who 20-years ago had a her three best friends disappear during a weekend sleepover.

Four girls started out the night, comfy in their pajamas, eating pizza and even sneaking some vodka, but only one remained in the morning. Leah.

As you can imagine, the years since haven’t been easy. She’s had a difficult time getting close to people. It’s a small town, everyone knows her troubled past. Some even cast suspicion on her, how could she have slept through that? Those who don’t, tip-toe around her with pity in their eyes.

As the 20th-anniversary approaches, Leah receives word that, Owen, the little brother of one of her missing friends is going to be making a documentary on the disappearance. He reaches out for her help.

Soon after the news of the upcoming documentary spreads, Leah receives a mystery email from a dummy account stating two words, ‘stop them’.

Leah is scared. Is this message from a friend, or a foe? What could their motivations be? Why would someone want to stop the truth from coming out? After all these years, is the truth better off staying buried?

As mentioned above, I was hooked into this story very quickly. I liked Leah’s perspective and we do get her both in the present, as well as flashbacks to the time of the infamous sleepover.

I thought both timelines were equally intriguing and liked following along as they perfectly-pieced together the truth of what happened that night. This is the kind of story where you need to know and there’s no stopping until you find out.

I enjoyed the level of intensity that Wilkinson was able to conjure here as well. I felt for Leah, to have that night always looming over her like a dark shadow, and then with the anniversary approaching! Honestly, it was like cutting open your own old wounds.

I wasn’t sure who to trust either. We meet a few different side characters throughout Leah’s story and many of them seemed suspicious as heck to me.

The narrator for the audiobook had me feeling like I was literally listening to Leah recount what was happening to her. It brought it to life and in my opinion, made the narrative even more thrilling.

Full disclosure, this was a 3.5-star book for me, which I would have rounded up, pretty much the whole way through, but that ending…

Yeah baby, that’s what I like!!!

I’m so excited for the next book, After the Sleepover. I haven’t read too much about it, so I am not sure in what direction it is going, but regardless, the anticipation is real. I’m starting it tonight!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Bookouture and Bookouture Audio, for providing me copies to read and review. I can’t wait to pick up more from Kerry Wilkinson!!

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Review: The Merciless Ones (Deathless #2) by Namina Forna

~ megs14malloy

The Merciless Ones (The Gilded Ones, #2)The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Merciless Ones is the second-book in Namina Forna’s Deathless series. Admittedly, it took me a minute to recommit to this story, but Forna definitely got me in the end.

I’m glad I waited until now to read it, as the next book is releasing just a few months from now, in February 2024. This had an exciting conclusion and I can hardly wait to find out what is going to happen next!

This book picks up 6-months after the final events of The Gilded Ones. We continue to follow Deka, who is currently residing in Otera with her new friends. They’ve freed the goddesses, but should have known in a world as brutal as this, their fight was far from over.

When strange happenings begin to put all they’ve fought for at risk, and signs point to a dark force growing in the kingdom, Deka and her crew need to figure out what’s going on ASAP. Known now as the Gilded One’s, Nuru ((explained as a bit of a chosen one)), Deka feels it her duty to continue to lead the charge.

The investigation into what is happening takes the group on quite an adventure and of course, puts them in a lot of additional dangers.

Most surprising, a few figures from Deka’s past pop up and the reunions are not warm and fuzzy. Yet again, Deka goes through it in this story. The hits, they just keep on coming, and by the end, I had gained even more respect for this hella strong and resourceful character.

This story is interesting. It started slowly for me and through the initial set-up, I couldn’t see where it was going. After finishing, it’s no wonder I couldn’t. I never in a million years could have guessed some of these revelations.

The final portions of this book contained so many jaw-dropping moments. It pretty much took what I thought was well-established about this world and flipped it on its head.

It was an extremely exciting conclusion, and as mentioned above, I am so glad that the next book is releasing fairly soon. I can’t imagine having to have waited like a year to find out what is going to happen next.

Overall, I wasn’t as crazy about this sequel as I was the first-book, but honestly, that happens to me a lot. I just get so immersed in the initial world-building, that I fall in love.

Then when it starts to slow down a bit, in order to build up tension, or establish future conflicts, I begin to lose a bit of interest, or connection.

Nevertheless, I’m still pretty obsessed with this series and this book blew my mind by the end. Forna’s world-building is incredible. It’s a fairly complex system, but written in a way I feel is accessible to a wide-range of Readers.

I’ve found it easy to empathize with Deka. I’m definitely rooting for her. Her character saw a lot of growth in this installment and even some shifts in her powers.

I don’t even think we know yet the true extent of her powers, and I’m so anxious to learn more in the next book. I also love the friend group, more of a found family, that Deka has gathered around her. They’ve bonded so deeply after the hell they’ve been through, and those bonds run deep.

If you haven’t started this series yet, now is the perfect time to do so. The world and characters are so well developed, it’s easy to get swept up in the action.

Forna has created a brutal world and doesn’t pull punches in her action scenes. You’re going to read some things that will make your toes curl. For me, that’s a plus. It gets me even more invested. You can feel how high these stakes are.

I love Deka and am so excited for The Eternal Ones!!

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Review: Mister Lullaby by J.H. Markert

~ megs14malloy

Mister LullabyMister Lullaby by J.H. Markert
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Mister Lullaby is the 2nd-novel that I have read from Horror author, J.H. Markert and honestly, after my experience with this, I’m starting to second guess my feelings on The Nightmare Man, which I thought I had fun with.

This story just did not work for me at all.

In this one, which is almost completely lost from my mind, we’re in the small town of Harrod’s Reach. Most of the action centers around an old railway tunnel and the fantastical, horrifying properties it may hold.

We follow a whole host of people as they deal with the repercussions of the nature of the tunnel. There’s quite a few individuals in comas, there’s a lot of characters in general and every once in a while there was a bit of a coherent storyline that I was actually intrigued by.

I know this is coming off as all sorts of salty, and I apologize for that, but these are the general feelings I walked away with; confusion and disappointment.

In fact, I was confused by this right from the start. I found it muddled and hard to track, and definitely not an easy narrative to settle into. I’m not trying to work too hard here. I read for fun and escape. I don’t want to be taking notes in order to follow a cast of characters.

Don’t get me wrong, there were glimmers of interest, things I wanted to learn more about, but those portions never lasted long enough to really hook me.

There were a lot of moving parts, and many of those parts were things I had seen before. It felt like a Hodge-podge of Joe Hill and Stephen King ideas rolled into a ball and thrown in a casserole dish, trying to make something delicious, but it burned in the oven.

And that’s how I walk away. Burned.

With all of my venting out of the way, I am sure this review helps you not at all, because I am also going to say, if you are interested in this book, PICK IT UP!!! At the end of the day, I know nothing. This is simply my opinion based upon my own personal reading experience.

Everyone’s taste is different and everyone enjoys different things. I have read quite a few reviews and I know a lot of Readers are enjoying this. You could be one. I would never tell someone not to read a book and I’m not going to here.

There’s a book for every Reader and a Reader for every book. The fact that I didn’t enjoy this means absolutely nothing.

Regardless of my experience, I want to thank the publisher, Crooked Lane Books and Dreamscape Media, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

I am 1 – 1 with this author now and do plan to pick up whatever he releases next. I am hoping this particular story is just a one-off for me and that I will love the next one!

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Review: One of Us Is Back (One of Us Is Lying #3) by Karen M. McManus

~ megs14malloy

One of Us Is Back (One of Us Is Lying, #3)One of Us Is Back by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of Us Is Back is the third, and reportedly, final installment to the One of Us Is Lying series by beloved YA Thriller author, Karen M. McManus.

First things first, I just want to take a moment and say thank you to the cover designers for McManus’ books. Staying with this theme through all the recent releases, whether they are part of a series or not, is such a great choice.

I love how they all look together on the shelf!!!

I have loved this series since the very start and have been anxiously awaiting this release. It was so great to return to Bayview and be reunited with some well-known characters.

The kids in Bayview have been through a lot, but they made it through Simon’s detention death and all that went with it, as well as a vengeful copycat developing a deadly game of Truth or Dare.

Unfortunately, the chaos isn’t over yet…

When a local billboard gets hacked and is set-up to display the words, ‘Time for a new game, Bayview’, many in town take it as a bad joke. For the Bayview crew, however, it triggers a lot of bad memories and new anxieties.

Then after one of their own disappears, their greatest fears are realized. It’s clear something dangerously-fishy is going down in Bayview…again.

I had a lot of fun with this story. I listened to the audiobook, as I have for the rest of the books in the series, and definitely recommend that format. The full cast really helps to bring the characters and intensity to life.

I loved the intrigue and suspense. It was extremely fast-paced, and I flew through it in a day. I loved being back with these characters and their amateur investigations were well-plotted and paced.

I thought the baddie was creative and I didn’t see the reveal coming, but once I did, it made a lot of sense.

Overall, this was another successful thrill-ride from McManus. I love her mysteries and characters. I always end up getting so invested.

Long story short, I will pick up absolutely anything McManus writes and cannot wait to see what’s next from her. I know this is the last book in this series, but I am really hoping it’s not the last story set in Bayview.

A town known for revenge, is a town I want to read about!

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A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand

~ megs14malloy

A Haunting on the HillA Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Initially, after hearing of the upcoming release of A Haunting on the Hill, the first-ever authorized novel to return to the world of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, I thought, this is either going to be amazing and nostalgic, or we’re all going to hate it…

After reading it in a day, I’m happy to report, I loved it and though I wouldn’t say it was nostalgic, it did successfully deliver the atmosphere I was hoping for.

It’s funny because going in, I didn’t read any reviews and honestly, I didn’t even know what the overall rating for the book was since its release. I was surprised after I finished it and rated it, to see that the overall rating was only a 3.46.

It looks like I’m in the minority opinion again.

In this story, we follow Holly, a struggling playwright, her girlfriend, Nisa, a singer, their friend, Stevie, an actor, and a sort of washed-up starlet, Amanda, as they move into Hill House to work on the play Holly has been writing.

Holly rented the mansion for a month after seeing it for the first time while on a weekend getaway upstate. It just seemed like the perfect place to bring her play, The Witch of Edmonton, to life. It promises to be a next-level artistic experience for all involved.

From their very first tour of the house things seemed off, like the house has a spirit and mind of its own. Nevertheless, Holly isn’t able to stop imagining them living and working amongst its gothic goodness. She feels inspired.

Thus, the lease is signed and all associated parties make their way to the property. It’s showtime.

As with Jackson’s original, I loved the feel of the house. Hand did a great job channeling the dreadful atmosphere and the more supernatural elements were appropriately paced and eerie. It was interesting to watch the house unravel each of the characters in their own unique way.

I did find the writing style a little uncomfortable at first, but then I started to see it more as Holly’s perspective, her way of viewing the world and the unfolding events. It is how I could picture her relaying what was happening around her.

With that in mind, it began to flow a lot more easily for me.

Even though this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and I have had a hard copy since its release, I decided to wait for a copy of the audiobook from my local library in order to read it.

I had heard from a couple of different people that the audiobook was amazing and I couldn’t agree more. It is a great production, with fabulous narration and sound effects that boosted my overall reading experience.

I’m not sure if I would have rated it as highly had I just read a hard copy, and unfortunately we’ll never know, because I will never forget this listening experience. It was that good.

I also feel like the way this story is told, a bit slower and more subtle in the beginning, with a lot of character work towards the middle, then a rapid increase in supernatural occurrences as it races towards a rapid conclusion, lends itself well to the audio format.

It kept me engaged and I loved picturing the vivid imagery that Hand developed for us. I also enjoyed getting to know this cast of fairly unlikable characters.

The setting, the atmosphere, the relationships and their interactions, this all suited my tastes quite well. I walk away a very happy girl.

I’m already planning to read this again next year, most likely in the Fall. I am going to read Jackson’s original, immediately followed by this. I think that could help to enhance the experience even more.

At the end of the day, I appreciate so much the story that Hand was able to create here. It had to have been a tremendous amount of pressure to take on this task and I think she did an incredible job with it.

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Review: Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigations #2) by B.B. Alston

~ megs14malloy

Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigations, #2)Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amari and the Great Game is the 2nd-book in B.B. Alston’s Middle Grade Fantasy series, Supernatural Investigations.

The 1st-book in the series, Amari and the Night Brothers, completely stole my heart when I read it in 2021. It was one of those spectacular cases where the story meets the hype. It was just as great as I had anticipated.

It was one of the most engaging Middle Grade stories I had read in a while and I was excited for more!

Amari and the Great Game released in August of 2022 and because I had listened to, and enjoyed, the audiobook for the 1st-book, I wanted to continue with that format moving forward with the series.

Y’all, the library loan wait was real. She was long.

It finally came through at a time when I could utilize it; my annual Thanksgiving solo-road trip. Perfection.

The well-narrated audio was a great way to pass the hours, and the miles. I was swept up again into this world and loved the new aspects and feel that Alston delivered.

This story follows Amari after the tumultuous events of the 1st-book. Her life has completely changed and she finds all sorts of new responsibilities and worries on her plate.

We deal a lot in this one with magicians and the sort of negative associations many in the Bureau have of them. We also get treated to the Great Game, a magical competition, that puts all competitors at risk.

I will say, for me, this did have a different feel than the first book. I think mainly because of the nature of the story. Amari has grown up so much since the 1st-book and she’s now a fairly confident and astute young practitioner, who knows how to fight the good fight. It’s bittersweet.

In the 1st-book, her character was more the kind that you want to shelter and protect. She was like a baby bird, who has now grown so much, she’s ready to leave the nest.

Because of that, I don’t think I was able to form the same emotional attachment to the story. Hence the 4-star rating here, versus the glowing 5-stars of that 1st-book.

Also, middle book syndrome being what it is, this did feel like we were building a lot towards something. With this being said, I am really looking forward to the 3rd-book, which I expect to be absolutely epic.

Regardless of my slight, and I do mean very slight, diminished enjoyment, this is still hands-down one of the best Middle Grade Fantasy series on the market currently. If you haven’t started it yet, and love this genre, you need to.

Alston knows how to bring the action and the world-building is so well done. This is sure to have you at the edge of your seat, cheering for the heroes and wishing you were there alongside them.

I can’t wait to see where Amari’s story goes from here. She’s an absolute forced to be reckoned with and I know at the end of the day, she’s going to make me, and her family, proud!

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Review: The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong

~ megs14malloy

The Curse of Penryth HallThe Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Curse of Penryth Hall is a Gothic Mystery mostly set at a large manor home in the Cornish countryside.

We follow an American heiress, Ruby Vaugh, who after a scandal back home, gets sent to live in Exeter, where she helps run a cozy bookshop.

One day Ruby is given an assignment to go deliver a box of books to a folk healer living in Cornwall. It just so happens her destination will take her to the doorstep of Penryth Hall, where her once dear, now estranged friend, Tamsyn, lives with her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth.

Ruby hasn’t seen Tamsyn since her wedding. The women didn’t part under the best of conditions and there’s a lot of tension simmering just under the surface, but Ruby feels compelled to reconnect nonetheless.

The property itself feels dark and stifling. There’s not a lot of lightness flowing through the corridors. Tamsyn is a mother now and her young son seems to be her pride and joy. Her husband, however, not so much.

After a tense and uncomfortable dinner, Ruby isn’t sure what to think. It seems Tamsyn has gotten herself into a bad position, but how can Ruby possibly help? Tamsyn is an adult. She made her choices.

For her part, Ruby can’t wait to get out of there. She’ll spend one night and then go, back to her life in Exeter. Ruby’s plans for leaving are dashed though when Edward’s dead body is discovered the following morning in the orchard.

The state of the body point to the most gruesome of deaths. Shortly thereafter, talk of the curse begins. Ruby is puzzled by this. Surely, these people don’t truly believe that a curse killed Sir Edward?

She begins to look into it. She wants to prove that a person, a real human being in the flesh, must have killed Edward. And if they did, anyone in Penryth could still be in danger, including Tamsyn and her son.

She ends up teaming up with the person who brought her to Cornwall in the first place, Ruan Kivell, the folk healer, known to the locals as a Pellar. Although Ruby isn’t sold on his brand of healing, she can’t help but admit when he begins to help her in big ways.

Will the two of them be able to put their differences aside long enough to discover what happened to Sir Edward, or will their bickering get in the way?

The Curse of Penryth Hall was a delightful surprise for me. I’m an Atmosphere Girlie, first and foremost, and this entire story was dripping in it.

I also loved Ruby as a main character and the chemistry between her and Ruan, and I don’t even mean that in a romance way, just the overall dynamic between the two of them, was fantastic. Their back-and-forth; the pull and push of their relationship was so fun to watch.

I enjoyed the gothic vibes and having Ruby being a plucky, outspoken protagonist seemed perfect for the setting. She was almost like a fish out of water, but ended up really becoming invested in the goings-on of that little village.

I also really enjoyed how Armstrong played this out. It had a lovely is it supernatural, is it not feel to it that I always enjoy. I thought it was well paced and the mystery was intriguing.

The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the relationship between Ruby and Tamsyn. I didn’t like Tamsyn, so didn’t really get why Ruby seemed so attached her. I guess I just didn’t get enough of their history to have their relationship make sense to me.

Overall, this was just a really good, solid mystery with fantastically-gothic vibes. I had a lot of fun with the setting, story and characters.

There were a few statements at the end that lead me to believe this could be the first in a series. Personally, I would be super stoked if that were the case. I would love to follow Ruby on more adventures.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historically-set mysteries with heavy gothic vibes. I would also definitely recommend it to fans of Hester Fox, or Sarah Penner.

Thank you to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Dreamscape Media, for providing me with copies to read and review. The Curse of Penryth Hall releases on December 5, 2023!!!

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Review: The Heroes (First Law #5) by Joe Abercrombie

~ megs14malloy

The HeroesThe Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Heroes is the fifth-book in Joe Abercrombie’s First Law World. This is an Epic Grimdark series that sucked me in from the very first book and hasn’t let go.

Best Served Cold, the fourth-book in the series, is one of my favorite books of all time and while I was excited to move forward in this world, I was also a little nervous. How could anything live up to that?

The truth is, this didn’t surpass Best Served Cold as far as my enjoyment went, but it was still a bloody brilliant story more than worthy of a 5-star rating.

At its heart, this is a story of war. The players, the action, the strategy, the outcome and the aftermath. We examine portions of each. I loved that it felt like a giant game of chess; moving players around the board, shuffling up alliances and allegiances.

The war is between the Union and the Northmen, lasting for three brutal days, that feel like many more to all involved.

There were a few shocking things that happened toward the end of this that I absolutely was not expecting. Abercromie definitely succeeded in giving me more than one solid jaw drop moment.

I’m really looking forward to continuing on in this world.

Abercrombie’s world-building is a masterclass on how to draw the Reader in. The cast of morally-grey characters is fantastic. It’s like a Grimdark Soap Opera. They’re bringing the drama, each and every installment.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys Epic Fantasy, particularly Grimdark fans. There’s so much delicious content here to sink your teeth into. A must read series!

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