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Em

emeraldzak@bookrastinating.com

Joined 6 months ago

library addict dog and cat parent writer of failed book drafts 31 (oh no I'm old)

a description of my avatar: em, a bearded mascy person, is laying down with his fluffy black dog

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reviewed A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon (The Roots of Chaos, #0)

Samantha Shannon: A Day of Fallen Night (Hardcover, 2023, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc) 5 stars

In A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the universe of …

Very Well Done

5 stars

for anyone who loved the Priory of the Orange Tree - wholehearted recommending that you read this right after. The only problem I had was more to do with me than the book itself. Namely, I had to re-reference characters and events from the original book to truly appreciate this prequel. The pacing is better in A Day of Fallen Night compared to Priory, which was a surprise treat.

Yangsze Choo: The Fox Wife (Hardcover, 2024, Henry Holt & Company) 4 stars

'Vivid, enigmatic, enchanting' M. L. Rio 'Irresistible' Sunday Times

Some people think foxes go around …

Ruthlessly Attention-Grabbing

4 stars

The Fox Wife is a fairly slow-paced book until right at the end. The edges of mystery and vastly different perspectives of the two main characters keep the story fresh and interesting. It's a very good read whether you're in it for the murder mystery aspect or the talented storytelling that goes into the book's minutiae. I loved it for both.

started reading A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon (The Roots of Chaos, #0)

Samantha Shannon: A Day of Fallen Night (Hardcover, 2023, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc) 5 stars

In A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the universe of …

It feels like this book could benefit from proximity to reading the Priory of the Orange Tree, or at least a character glossary. tbh there might be a character glossary and flipping around an e reader is miserable so I haven't seen it.

Becky Chambers: The long way to a small, angry planet (Paperback, 2015, Hodder & Stoughton) 4 stars

When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The Wayfarer, …

oddly bad from an author I typically enjoy

2 stars

I disliked the level of writing skill present in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Upsetting because I really loved A Psalm for the Wild-Built, also by Becky Chambers. I ended up finishing TLWtaSAP waiting for it to get better. It did not. My first 2/5 star completed read in a while.

Dialogue was often awkward and unnatural. Transitions between locations and events were absent. A sense of time in the book is almost completely missing - if you aren't paying attention to dates for each chapter (I often flipped back to the prior chapter to get a sense of time), you will have little to no idea how much time is actually passing. This means that within chapters, it feels like a fever dream where time loses all meaning.

I'm sure this is an enjoyable read for people who enjoy the characters who get a lot of …

Yume Kitasei: The Deep Sky (2023, Flatiron Books) 4 stars

Yume Kitasei's The Deep Sky is an enthralling sci fi thriller debut about a mission …

A Space Colonization Story with AI and VR/AR

4 stars

Content warning basic plot intro is spoiled to specify genre

Haruki Murakami: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (EBook, 2010, Vintage) 4 stars

In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing …

Reads like incel fiction

2 stars

there's a strange outlook on every woman so far --- I stopped reading 18% of the way through. This should be viewed as a perspective only on the first story told. The male gaze is personified in the main character. He is somehow never in the wrong despite being incompetent and uncaring much of the time.

Shannon Chakraborty: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi (2023, HarperCollins Publishers) 4 stars

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the …

Super Fun Pirate Romp

4 stars

A refreshing view on the old pirate story trope. Take us over to a complex area where many cultures and religions mix, engage with myths that don't stop at "there's treasure on a hidden island somewhere." This should be the standard for pirate stories. My aging heart smiles at a much older protagonist, as well: Amina Al-Sirafi has retired from the life of a pirate captain, committing to motherhood and a simple life of virtue. Circumstances drag her back in, and she has to get the crew together for one last adventure.

reviewed The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi (The Ending Fire Trilogy, #2)

Saara El-Arifi: The Battle Drum (2023, Random House Worlds, Del Rey) 4 stars

Murder. Secrets. Sacrifice: Three women seek the truth of the empire's past. And the truth …

Great Storytelling, Pacing Issues

4 stars

At book 2 of this series, I can say this: expect pacing issues for the final book in the Ending Fire trilogy. But that's one of the only real critiques I have with the two books in the series thus far. Full of a complex cast of characters, with real, diverse representation throughout. There are peaks and valleys in how engaged I was throughout both The Final Strife (book 1) and The Battle Drum. However, I was always interested in continuing to read so I could experience more of El-Arifi's characters.

Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone: This Is How You Lose the Time War (EBook, 2019, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers) 4 stars

Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange …

Poetry in Prose

5 stars

Please read this book, if only to experience the writing style. Somewhat encourages you to go along for the ride; if you try to figure out too much of the "lore" or how things work, you'll miss the forest for the trees.

Susanna Clarke: Piranesi (2020, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc) 5 stars

Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls …

A Wonderfully Strange Adventure

5 stars

To describe the book is to spoil the book. This is an Outer Wilds situation where every person of impeccable taste will beg you to experience it and never look it up online beforehand. This is a book that wants you to read it. It delights in being read. So do that. A perfect little book whose length feels neither wasteful nor lean. It is Just Right. The Beauty of the House is immeasureable; its Kindness infinte.