Book Review: The Beasts We Bury

The Beasts We Bury 

by D.L. Taylor

Book 1 of The Broken Citadel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Why are more people not talking about this book?! It’s really great for a debut, YA, Romantasy novel. It has all the elements one might desire in a book of its genre and target age group; and yet I can’t help but think the marketing is part of the trouble. Even the tagline on the hardcover from my library feels all wrong. At no time is our leading guy trying to steal the throne or get in the way of it. Instead he is just trying to get by and live. To not starve another day or sleep shivering in the cold, harsh, glass edged world war has left him. And our leading gal is just trying to survive her own existence, while opulent and at the palace, it too is fraught with horror and drenched in the blood of the many animals she has killed with her bare hands!

All of this comes about not by choice for either of our teen characters; but by circumstance. This is perhaps what makes this such a good story. Neither character needs the other, per se; and yet each needs the other more than they can imagine once they realize they could support each other. Amongst politics, lies, magic, alliances, deals, and intrigue is this sweet little romance between two unlikely people. Although I couldn’t help but think street rat and princess like in Aladdin; but that’s okay as it doesn’t have any other resemblance to Agraba or its magic.

The Beasts We Bury is the kind of book that could have made a splash, like Fourth Wing, if it had a bit more refinement and a better marketing campaign. A few things could use fixing up. For example, why didn’t our main gal ever go back to the training academy to check on the improvements she was promised? Why didn’t she have more of a relationship with either mom or her sister (the distance felt so awkward)? And why was she still so in love with dear ol’ daddy even as she understood he was a huge part of the evil in the realm? These types of issues needed a lot more exploration to get this up to 5 stars. Plus both Vie and Rooftop needed to be more than just typical side characters with jealousy and one skill or trait that their whole personality hung on.

I could likely list a few more places I’d make enhancements or changes; I will say this is immensely readable, very clean and suitable for teens, and an overall intriguing premise. The narration from both narrators is solid and I love how each chapter swaps the POV between our guy and gal. Most importantly the ending is a bombshell that must be explored!!!
So yes, I’ll be searching out book 2 quickly, as I definitely want to know where this goes and am hopeful the darkness factor creeps up a bit more.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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Book Review: Marion

Marion 

by Leah Rowan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a ride!! I could have easily finished this in a weekend; but instead dragged it out a bit just because it was so crazy I didn’t want to know the end right away. This is the feminine Psycho. A girl, meets Norman Bates, and wins. But now there is a dead body (or two or three), money from weird circumstances, a sister, a crazy mom, and a lot of details to handle.
With a lot of uniqueness, new players, added plot from every corner, and a base story we all know so well, Leah Rowan takes us on a crazy, wild, kinda fun, with lots of blood splatter, killer ride. I don’t know how else to describe this except a lot of fun, immensely clever, quite satisfying in the end, and a very readable story.
If you like thrillers or murder mysteries, you’ll likely enjoy Marion.
If you enjoy the story from the offenders eyes, you’ll likely enjoy Marion.
If you want to see how someone goes from totally normal to a bit deranged this might be for you.
It’s definitely for those that want a light thriller for the beach or a weekend read that keeps them flipping the pages quick to find out what happens next.

I’m sure some armchair detectives could rip details apart here; I didn’t even try as I had too much fun reading about Marion and her exploits. The best part, she didn’t do it alone and it’s not unreasonably set-up or implausible. Just a good, crazy thriller that keeps you on your toes. Whether as an audiobook or in print (I swapped back and forth) I think the average reader will find something here to admire in this rewrite of the Bates Motel.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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Book Review: The Fox Hunt

The Fox Hunt 

by Caitlin Breeze
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 star, rounding up to four stars because I think this story concept is excellent, more than acceptable writing for a debut novel and characters have good development arcs. The biggest issue for me was connecting our characters back together in the final chapters.

I felt like I read two or three totally different, yet related, stories. Portal fantasy does tend to do this where you are taken somewhere so different it’s jarring. And yes, you want to create a sense of discomfort for your reader (as your MC is likely having that feeling), it’s still critical to connect the story back to the original pages. And that is where Fox Hunt comes up lacking. There must be a hundred or more pages where the MC’s main ‘enemy’ from the beginning of the book isn’t mentioned directly. It seemed a bit odd for me when we finally circled back around. While the group our boys are members of is mentioned lots they are (seemingly) forgotten for a while and I can’t figure out why. I’d link them back in for part two to help join things up.

Overall, my advice is to go in prepared. A lot happens, it’s not that complex to follow necessarily, but we meet characters early on that we don’t see again (sadly) until the final pages of the story. Our leading gal undergoes a large transformation (in so many ways) from start to finish. And so you must accept that the severity of her circumstances causes her to shift quickly into the person she becomes. I’d definitely pick up another book by debut author, Caitlin Breeze, as I see a lot of promise in her storytelling, especially as her writing style matures.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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