#blurrypetals

originally posted sep. 24, 2025 - ★★★★★

Y'all, I'm just sad I waited so many months for this and then burned through it in like a day and a half.

I cannot express how much fun this book was and, while I didn't love it quite as much as I loved Book of Night, this still knocks it out of the part with the twists and turns, the relationship between Charlie and Red, Holly pushing the limits of the worldbuilding and magic she set up in the first book, and so much more make this one of my favorite books I've read this year so far.

Since I already mentioned it, I think Charlie and Red's relationship carries so much weight here. I think too many authors these days mix up yearning and physical attraction, filling their books with talk of nothing other than descriptions of body parts.

By contrast, we actually get to see a relationship built in this book, going from extreme distrust to friends to...? It's genuinely wonderful, and it's all thanks to Red's memory loss. It's normally a trope that's very hit or miss for me, but I think it's handled wonderfully here, especially in regard to his and Charlie's relationship.

I also absolutely loved the way the plot unfolded here. Just like with the first book, I was very surprised by the way everything shook out, really taking me for an absolute ride. It's delightful, to be led along on a journey like this, never breaking immersion, everything so believable, real, lived in.

originally posted jul. 25, 2025 - ★★★★☆

I sincerely didn't know what to expect from this when I received it in the mail back in May. As someone who contributed to the Kickstarter this book is a part of, I'm a huge fan of Cassandra Clare and I'd try reading just about anything she writes.

However, I also didn't know this wouldn't be a collection of all Shadowhunter stories going into it. So, when I found it was just the one about Matthew and the rest were not related at all, I'll admit I was just a smidge disappointed. That said, I shouldn't have been! I really enjoyed the 3 non-Shadowhunter stories in this. So let's get into it!

A Sea-Change This was easily the worst one in the collection. Go figure that the one Shadowhunters story ended up being not so enjoyable. As much as I love Cassie and her work, I'm certainly not under the illusion that she can do no wrong and it's stories like this one that prove such. I love Matthew Fairchild. I think he's a wonderful character whose alcoholism and subsequent sobriety are written beautifully in The Last Hours. I always wanted the best, happiest ending for him. He deserves love, a long life of adventure and joy. This offers those things, but it is all far too rushed to at all feel satisfying or earned. I really didn't find any reasons to care for Sylvain and in fact expected him to betray Matthew and be the real killer. Alas, this really fell flat for me and it's the reason the collection is a 4/5 star read for me.

A Scandal at Undershaw This was surprisingly delightful! I've never been the most dedicated fan of Sherlock stories beyond the Robert Downey Jr. films and a couple of episodes of the BBC series, so this is likely something I never would have read without the entry point of it being Cassandra Clare. Having read it now, I'd easily read an entire series about these versions of the characters. It had some wonderful moments of humor, the mystery was compelling and unpredictable, and the characters were all very fleshed out with interesting backstories and believable motives even in spite of the novella length. I had a great time with this one, I really hope Cassie's agent takes note and can get it sold as a novel or series of novels someday soon!

Wendy Darling This was slightly weaker in execution than the second and fourth stories in this collection, but my affection for all things Peter Pan pulled a lot of weight for me here. I think it's impossible for me to rate anything Pan-related lower than 3/5 because of a lifelong soft spot for the story. Even though this wasn't the strongest of the bunch, though, it also wasn't the weakest. It had some really fun moments between James, Peter, and Wendy that felt reminiscent of Jem, Will, and Tessa (respectively) from The Infernal Devices. The lore could absolutely use some work, but it truly is no more or less developed than your typical CW or ABC Freeform show, so it honestly probably would have worked well enough in the end. Honestly, I'd have watched this as a show!

In Fire Foretold I feel like the thesis of this must have resembled, "How Holly Black can a Cassie Clare work possibly feel?" which, in my opinion, is a great thing. In contrast to Wendy Darling, I felt like what little of the lore we saw here was very solid but it was light enough to make me excited to know much more in the forthcoming novel. I really am excited that, of the three "proof of concept" novellas in this collection, this is the one that's getting a chance to spread its wings. It definitely reminds me quite a lot of the earliest parts of The Mortal Instruments with a snarky blonde boy coming to rescue the heroine from almost certain peril after she discovers there is more than meets the eye about the world she believed she knew after impossible magic things begin happening. That said, I'm stoked for the rest of this story and I'm glad we got this little taste here!

While this collection wasn't what I was expecting it to be, I'm glad we got a little something different for a change. I was really impressed with two of the four stories and enjoyed the third in spite of some flaws and, against all odds, the one Shadowhunter story that was here ended up being the weakest of the bunch. It was all a good time and I cannot wait to get Better in Black soon to finish off this whole fun Seasons of Shadowhunters venture!

originally posted mar. 28, 2025 - ★★★★★

[this review contains untagged spoilers]

I began this review at first by starting to say, "my god, Nora,", but then I decided to reread my review for The Sunshine Court and I started that review basically the exact same way. I also know my other 15 reviews for the first three books on the series have varying degrees of oh my gods scattered throughout.

I simply cannot overstate how happy I am that these new All for the Game books exist. I think the first trilogy is, honestly, basically perfect. That said, it is brutal to read. It is like shattered glass in the palms: agony, then the balm of removal with the promise of healing in the future.

This trilogy, so far, at least, by contrast, is a gentle, beautiful sunflower: turning toward the light, opening up to warmth, healing.

I don't know if I have the words for how much I adored this book, the way Jean begins opening up to Jeremy, Cat, and Laila, trusting and beginning to like his teammates. Realizing he doesn't want to hurt people in effort to make them better, that he enjoys fireworks, that brown is his favorite color, that he can trust Rhemann implicitly...god, does Sakavic know how to write rewarding growth and relationships.

And the reason these relationships pay off so well is because we finally learn in this book what Jeremy and Jean have been through, things we didn't know about them in books previous, and now that we know their pasts, it just makes their kind hearts all the more rewarding.

The family our four main characters form together is, hands down, a top 5 favorite chosen families of all time. The way they all take care of one another, the love these 3 golden retrievers surround their traumatized black cat with, the pain they all feel losing the home they all built together...I definitely cried more over this book than any other All for the Game book.

And a lot of those tears were shed not only because of the house fire, Jeremy's past addiction and his brother's death, the multiple attacks Jean survived, both past and present, or the attempt on Andrew and Neil's lives at their match with the Ravens, but also because of Rhemann defending Jean, Jean admitting he deserves to get better, Cat, Laila, and Jean sleeping over at Jeremy's house, Jean playing a good, clean game with his new teammates...I could go on.

I loved getting to see the Foxes more in this than we did in The Sunshine Court, of course. The news story Jeremy watches after Neil and Andrew's injuries was an absolute riot. I'm glad we got to see Thea there again, too. I really would love to get to see more of her and Kevin together. Their relationship is so interesting to me! Give me a little more, Nora!

On top of that, it was great getting to know more of the Trojans as well. I felt like we got a small taste of just the floozies in The Sunshine Court, but here we get to actually know so many of them, floozies or not, and watch Jean form bonds with them even without Jeremy, Cat, or Laila facilitating it.

I was also so glad to get some Exy in this one! Obviously we got a little bit of practice here and there in the last book, but getting a full match really hit the spot, even if it was followed by one of the most brutal scenes in the whole series.

This has major potential to be my favorite book of the series, competing closely with The King's Men, which has the edge by virtue of being a finale and because I've read it 4 more times than I've read this book. I have a feeling, though, that the next book might take the cake.

originally posted aug. 5, 2025 - ★★★★★

God, did Michelle step up her game between chapters 16 and 17 of this.

I'll never forget the amount of fangirling I did over this section of the comic as it came out. Getting to see the main 4 characters and their demons all interact the way they do in this book is so gratifying after such a long time leading up to it.

In specific, it's wonderful to see Ava and Odin connecting after most of the characters are, in some way, so hostile to one another for so much of the story. Their blossoming friendship is so sweet to see, makes me love them as characters even more than before, if possible.

And god, the art. Every detail, every texture, every facial expression is just...absolute chef's kiss. Everything looks so soft yet so sharp in detail, and the characters' faces are more consistent, more defined.

originally posted aug. 3, 2025 - ★★★★★

I genuinely can't believe I don't have some kind of review for this series on my Goodreads! I've loved Ava's Demon for what feels like an entire age. I love Michelle's art and want to be her when I grow up.

I had the comic on the brain for the first time in a while the other day and realized I had, A, a good handful of new chapters on the webcomic I hadn't read and B, I'd never read the new Skybound editions of the books I got from Kickstarter, so it was time to refresh my memory with my umpteenth reread!

First and foremost here is Michelle's art. Her style, her character designs, the level of detail in every last panel, down to every panel she's redrawn (and redrawn and redrawn, considering she's published this a couple of times now)...it's all immaculate. I'll never get over just how lovely and soft her coloring is. It's also been wonderful to watch her art evolve over the last decade and a half, watching the characters' appearances shift into clearer, sharper versions of themselves as time goes on.

It really is wild to look back at a book like this and see several years' worth of posts and updates compressed into just one book. I remember having to wait months between some panels, so watching it all go by in one afternoon was a trip.

I've always loved this portion of the story and, while much of it is nostalgia, just as much of it is Michelle's talent for writing. The way this story is built up and laid out is so brilliant, intriguing, and unique, and the point this book ends at is literally and figuratively explosive. I love the way this raises the stakes and I'll never forget the horror I felt when I first read it back in the day.

originally posted may 9, 2025 - ★★★☆☆

This is a line I say often, but it's so true here: I think if this was half as long, it would be twice as good. As it stands, though, this is a 700+ page book and it goes in so many circles it scarcely knows where to stop itself as there's no DeathCast call heralding the end for either of our protagonists.

While They Both Die at the End is one of my all time favorite books, The First to Die at the End really didn't resonate with me the same way. I think part of why the first book worked so well is because it's this lovely little self-contained thing that doesn't concern itself with the innerworkings of DeathCast. It didn't require you to suspend your disbelief much to connect with the story.

And while these following books don't ask you to suspend your disbelief much more, the longer this all goes on, the more and more suspension it requires. Like, in and of itself, someone who remembers their entire life requires no more suspension than a company that can predict your death day (but not down to the time for some reason?), but when added together, it becomes more and more weighty.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that this has been a whole lot of navel-gazing just to tease me about what DeathCast is all about in the end. And I'm typically a fan of navel-gazery! The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is one of my favorite books!

I will at least say that I liked this more than The First to Die at the End. I connected a little more with Paz and Alano than I did with Orion and Valentino because their love story felt a little more realistic than anything the First boys went through. That said, it didn't feel anything like that one special night Rufus and Mateo had.

I also didn't know exactly how I felt about the representation of BPD in this book. I know people can sometimes cycle quickly, but it did feel like Paz would cycle from manic to depressive and back to manic very quickly. I also don't know what Alano's deal was here, either. He simply does not exhibit the traits of someone who is dealing with much more than depression, so his so-called "psychotic break" does not feel realistic at all.

originally posted jun. 12, 2025 - ★★★★★

The day I started reading this book, I told my husband a little about what I'd read so far, which was perhaps when I was about 30-40% of the way through, maybe less. I said the pontifications on immortality and long life reminded me of Addie LaRue but the vampires (or, should I say roses?) themselves reminded me of something Anne Rice might write, even though I've never read any of Rice's work, just seen the Brad Pitt movie.

The day I finished this book, I got to go to an event and see V.E. Schwab speak. It was muggy and hot and I felt deeply, deeply grateful I had a birthday card to fan myself with, but I'm so grateful I got to hear her speak on this novel.

It was in that sweltering room that Schwab detailed the idea of the metaphorical garden The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue grew from and how this new book grew as a rose from that same garden. I loved this metaphor, because it not only explained this strange, inexplicable link I could feel between the two books, but it also perfectly describes how these two completely disparate works can still be connected, just as two different flowers in the same garden.

I was also probably enchanted enough to hear Schwab's thought processes, intentions, and the like that this went from a high 4-star rating to a full 5-star rating. I didn't love this nearly as much as Addie, but there was an undeniable fucking quality to this book. Schwab said she's never put so much of herself, personally speaking, into a book before, and I have to say, it shows.

I feel oddly reticent to really dig into things like the characters and plot, as this is so character driven that talking too much about the characters would, in turn spoil the plot of the book. That said, I loved all these women's stories. Their narrative voices were all extremely strong, as were each of the different purposes they had.

originally posted may 1, 2025 - ★★★★★

I love finding books that make me shriek and kick my feet.

Holly Black is one of the only authors I fell in love with as an elementary school student that I still read today in my 30's. I've known and followed her work for over 20 years now, and it's been so gratifying to continuously grow alongside her work, watching it mature, grow more robust.

I get the feeling with this book, more than any other of Holly's that I've read before, that this one is more personal to Holly. This is also Holly's first adult novel and I think that adds an authenticity and depth to it that I really loved. It's disappointing to read some popular reviews on here and see that it wasn't super well-received by so many folks.

I was also really drawn in by the characters. I loved that the fact that there was this gloamist world and plot, but that the most important thing was Charlie and Vince and the crime they were both wrapped up in. It felt like their story almost could have happened even if this hadn't been fantasy, and I loved that.

But the worldbuilding and plot are so very strong here, and I loved the ride this took us on. There is a twist at the end I dare not spoil, but I hadn't even begun to consider it as a possibility, but it made absolute sense in how it fit into everything that had occurred up until that point. It was total genius and brought me back to the equally brilliant twist at the end of White Cat, which is another favorite Holly book of mine.