#draongfall

July was a busy month—went on vacation but still read most nights. Had a few books that were almost perfect and one truly 5/5 read that I adored.

An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi (combo print/audiobook) 4.5/5 ⭐️. I picked this book up because, to be honest, I didn’t know much about African history and I wanted the perspective of an African on their own history. Meticulously researched, this is a survey of the entire continent’s history and it gave me a few more topics that I want to run down books on (which almost always happens with survey books). I felt the author’s take on the slave trade was nuanced and fair, acknowledging bias and contributions to problems with an even hand while not letting anyone off for the shared blame. This book spans everything from Ancient Egypt, Lucy, the Belgian Congo Disaster/Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the Berbers and the Magreb, to less known topics such as various kingdoms with their Kings (and Queens!). A marvelous introduction to African history that is sure to make you pick up more about this topic. Would recommend for anyone interested in having their euro-centric world history knowledge challenged. Category: Nonfiction, History, African Studies, Historical Survey/Overview

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambo 4.5/5 ⭐️, 1.5/5 🌶️ I’ve heard more than one person say this is an adult version of a Miyazaki movie and I would agree with that assessment—there’s something profoundly Japanese about this book and it also reminded me of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and the Kamogawa Food Detectives. This book feels and reads like Spirited Away in all the good ways which is my favorite Miyazaki movie (Princess Mononoke is a close second). Hana and Kei’s romance was beautifully built with enough conflict to keep the reader interested. The imaginative world that Hana and Kei travel through is going to haunt my thoughts for a while it was so vivid. The book didn’t quite stick the landing, which accounts for the half star deduction. I still really loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves Miyazaki films or modern Japanese literature. The spice is minimal but used appropriately to move the plot and relationship development along. Category: Contemporary Science fiction/fantasy, Japanese inspired literature, cozy fantasy/romance.

Bury Our Bones in Midnight Soil by VE Scwab (July Bookclub Read) 5/5 ⭐️, 2/5 🌶️ . The first five star read of the month and it’s even the book club read (rarer still). This might be my favorite book by VE Scwab (competing with the Villains Duology). The lesbian vampires are truly toxic in this one, the vibes immaculate and a fresh take on vampires. Spice level is there but it’s not the whole focus of the book. Characters are well fleshed out and the motives for choices understood. I perhaps liked some of the secondary characters best—Matteo broke my heart for how his story ended with his grief. Lottie was a fresh take on Regency Romance while Sabine/Maria was the perfect antagonist. The only quibble might have been Alice but she stood on her own as a character. Would recommend for anyone who hears toxic lesbian vampires and is interested. Category: Historical Fiction, Fantasy Horror, Sapphic romance. Vampires.

The Housemaid’s Wedding (The Housemaid #2.5) by Freida McFadden (audiobook) 3.5/5 ⭐️, 1/5 🌶️ Millie and Enzo tie the knot along with a few complications along the way (and a threatening presence attempting to derail their happily ever after). This is technically a novella that happens between books 2 and 3 in the series. Could read the series without, but was cute and very Freida McFadden. Spice is minimal but there’s some cute-ness between Millie and Enzo. No Italian Stallion jokes necessary in this one. Category: Thriller/Murder Mystery, Contemporary romance/wedding, short story/novella.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr 4/5 ⭐️. This is, at it’s heart, a story about making the same mistakes over and over again. There’s a heavy element of religiosity given that the main characters are part of an order of monks dedicated to preserving knowledge lest it be lost in a post nuclear apocalypse dark age. The book is divided into three different time lines that are clearly delineated. The first book, Brother Francis’ story is perfect, the second and third timeline suffer by comparison but still have a lot to say. This is old style science fiction that is swinging for the fences asking hard philosophical questions. There’s very few female characters in this story—which in my opinion simplified the story a bit—and the most impactful female characters are in the third story arc. This story is bleak but there’s an underlying thread of hope that fights the despair of human nature. I think this is a book worth reading but it’s not easy to read or think about. While there’s parts of Miller’s arguments that haven’t aged well, the ideas of what he’s asking is still relevant especially in light of current events regarding access to nuclear weapons and geopolitical instability. If you’re a fan of the Fallout video game series (and the Brotherhood of Steel), this book is for you. Category: Dystopian Post Apocalypse Science Fiction, Science Fiction Classic, Post WWII Speculative Fiction

The Housemaid is Watching (The Housemaid #3) by Freida McFadden (audiobook) 3/5 ⭐️, 1/5🌶️. This is my least favorite of the Housemaid series. It feels strange compared to the first two—it’s not Millie plotting against someone harming women this time and for ¾ of the book, Enzo was like nails on a chalkboard with McFadden attempting to fake us all out with him potentially cheating on Millie. There was a lot of character assassination going on in this book—neither Millie nor Enzo felt like themselves in this story and both had become much more unlikable in the process. The kids were great and the highlight of the book and regained a star the rest of the book lost. Suzanne was ugh—wanted to throw something every time she was part of a scene. The twist was particularly crazy this time around and felt like it didn’t quite work. I’m still not sure how Enzo wasn’t in more trouble. Would honestly recommend skipping this book and stopping with the wedding novella. Spice is barely there—Millie and Enzo’s fun time is chronically interrupted before it can go much past Enzo trying to sweet talk Millie and Suzanne’s terrible flirting is terrible. Category: Thriller/Murder Mystery

Dragonfall (The Dragon Scales Duology #1) by L R Lam 3.25/5 ⭐️ 1/5 🌶️. This book is often sold by saying ‘if you liked Fourth Wing…’ and well, there’s a dragon and, Arcady (the other half of the romantic pairing) is non-binary romance so there’s some vague similarities between this book and Fourth Wing but they’re really not much alike (although the edition I have is quite pretty with sprayed edges). There’s a lot of world building info-dumping at the front third of this book, then the middle half drags, and then the end is a somewhat confusing race to a cliffhanger. The biggest problem is that this book basically had me saying ‘meh’ through most of it. Everen (the dragon) is semi-interesting as is Arcady but they both suffer from a lack of chemistry and nothing much happening for half the book while the author is building their relationship through proximity. Theoretically, a heist should have been the highlight of the book but it didn’t really pay off in the rush of a climax and felt lost in the plot the author was trying to work with. There’s a lot of vague supposition to Arcady’s past relationships of found family and their tragic family past but it never really hooked me. The setting never felt very well defined and the social structures the author was attempting to build isn’t fully actualized. Spice is only a kiss and some mild references to self-pleasure. TL:DR: this book felt like a big Meh. I am slightly curious as to the cliffhanger and might eventually pick up the sequel Emberclaw, but it won’t be in a rush. Category: Romantasy, Dragon Fantasy.

King of Greed (Kings of Sin #3) by Ana Huang 3.25/5 ⭐️, 4/5 🌶️. Well, this one was better than the previous book in the series. Ale and Dom find their way back to each other without really ever being detached—second chance romance that despite the plot didn’t really feel like it was earned imo. My biggest gripe is that the subplot of Dom’s foster brother Roman showing up ended up being over in about five seconds. Tbh, Roman sounded more interesting in a lot of ways than Dominic was (maybe i need more spy/mercenary books in my TBR pile). Give us Roman’s story, Ana! Or at least someone more exciting than Dominic and Kai (maybe Ale’s brother needs a romance?). Alessandra and Dominic had good chemistry, the spice was appropriately spicy and the scenes made sense placed where they were. On to Sloane’s romance with Xavi (which has at least the bare bones of being more interesting than the last two books in this series). Category: Contemporary Romance

Howling Dark (The Sun Eater #2) by Christopher Ruocchio 4.25/5 ⭐️, 1/5 🌶️. Despite all internet reviews to the contrary, this isn’t a perfect book.  The start is a bit too slow and Hadrian tends to philosophize a bit too much since he’s a basic pretentious brat™️ (or a melodramatic bitch to quote Gibson). That said, the story builds nicely in the last third, pulling threads that were earlier laid down to weave it into a satisfying story.  The last fourth is mostly one long, drawn out fight/battle.  The betrayal that Hadrian experiences seemed to come out of nowhere for the person involved (which I didn’t love) however I suppose it had to be someone and CR went for the choice with the possible biggest emotional gut punch (which makes it perhaps less shocking).  I’m curious where CR is taking Hadrian next as there seems to be quite the time jump inbetween books.  My internet research says that reading the novellas is not mandatory so we’ll be going straight to book #3 next month (maybe I’ll look into the novellas at some point but we’re already talking a seven book series and they’re chonky reads).  I’m still not Hadrian’s biggest fan (*waves Pallino is awesome flag*) but he was perhaps less annoying by the end of the book as he’s gaining some adult perspective as we go.  I do wonder if he’ll regret his decision at the end of the book regarding his betrayer.  Anyways, great space opera.  If you like space operas, you should give Sun Eater a try.  Spice level is very mild—mostly some kissing and mentions of other activities but nothing is graphically described or extraneous. Category: Science Fiction, Space Opera. 

Children of Time (Children of Time #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky 4.75/5 ⭐️, 1/5 🌶️. This one was almost a perfect book. Why not, you say? Space Spiders. Evolved Space Spiders. *shudders*. I may be dreaming of arachnids going to war riding herds of ants. Anyways, only AT could turn misogyny upside down and speak for the plight of the poor male spider (Fabian) doomed to be killed after mating with the high priestess spider (Portia). This is one of those books that I’d recommend even if you’re not fond of spiders (me) as the way AT weaves the evolutionary tale interspersed with enough humans playing god and a desperate voyage in search of a new home for the remnants of the human race. I knew I was going to love this book given my fondness for AT’s other works, and I was not wrong. Loved the book (minus the possible dreams about evolved smart spiders). Spice is minimal between two of the human characters, there is also a sprinkling of references to female spiders having harems of male spiders that they may or may not kill after mating with. Category: Science Fiction. Space Opera.

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez 4/5 ⭐️, 2/5 🌶️. My first book by this author and it was a pretty solid 4 stars. This pair of star cursed lovers are known for both being the last person someone dates before meeting their one. Justin and Emma plot to end their cursed love lives so they can find their one true love—what could go wrong? I found this book cute and moderately predictable (but I forgave that because AJ wrote solid characters you can root for—I’ll even forgive the third act breakup/plot twist). Trigger warning for Emma’s mother is mentally ill, doesn’t seek treatment, and is quite destructive to those around her. Spice level is quite tame (this ain’t an Ana Huang book) but it is present. Category: Contemporary Romance

Flawless (Chestnut Springs #1) by Elsie Silver 4/5 ⭐️, 4/5 🌶️. This was surprisingly good (chosen because vacation was including going to a rodeo and what better than a Cowboy rodeo romance?). Rhett and Summer’s romance was believable and they had great chemistry. The relationship felt earned instead of instalove, the conflict mostly believable (I really hope we get to see Winter’s side of things at some point as I suspect there’s some pov character assassination going on). Loved the entire family around Rhett—I’m assuming Cade’s story is the next in the series (even if I was kinda hoping for Beau’s). Spice level is up there and at times did feel slightly extraneous as it took away from the book progressing however was well written and wasn’t eye rolling inducing. Category: Contemporary Romance, Cowboy/Western Romance

Books in progress:

Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (combo audiobook/print)

Does it Hurt? HD Carlton

Current August TBR (very subject to change/random whims and in no particular order):

Demon in White (The Sun Eater #3) by Christopher Ruocchio

Children of Ruin (Children of Time #2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

King of Sloth (Kings of Sin #4) by Ana Huang

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Dopamine Nation (bookclub read) by Dr. Anna Lembke (Audiobook)

Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

The Medusa Protocol (Assassins Anonymous #2) by Rob Hart

Finders Keepers (Bill Hodge Trilogy #2) by Stephen King

Local Woman Missing By Mary Kubica

Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell

The Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

The Future by Naomi Alderman

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst