Genre: Mystery

Necromancers, cavaliers, copious amounts of magic and challenges, oh my! Tamsyn Muir’s debut novel and the start of her Locked Tomb series, on paper Gideon has everything going for it. While featuring many hallmark elements of fantasy epics such as an emperor with numerical houses/factions, pseudo magician + knight pairings, and an unknown challenge for representatives to ascend to the “Lyctor” status, Gideon the Ninth separates itself from the rest of its genre firstly by setting the series not in the traditional fantasy-realm past, but instead in an interstellar futuristic expanse. Secondly, this novel’s reputation featuring “lesbian necromancers” proceeds itself and has that instant hook for booktok and social media recognition (though important to note, while having a wandering queer eye, this is not a romantasy novel). While technically being classified as fantasy and sci-fi, Gideon’s second half functions more as a whodunnit survival thriller meshed with dark academia elements and is very compelling when Muir gets it just right. Unfortunately, despite the ambitious plotting and creative ideas found throughout the story, Gideon the Ninth is held back by a few but very notable flaws with its approach to storytelling as well as its confusingly vague and messy world-building. Additionally,…

Like my reviews for other very well-known books and authors, I’m going to skip the usual introduction and pre-amble and get right into my impression and thoughts on Verity. Colleen Hoover is probably one of the most polarizing authors with such big-name recognition that I felt the need to try at least one of her books, picking Verity as the one that had the best match for my reading genre preference. Yet despite that, my feelings while reading Verity ranged from utter bafflement, to eye-rolling embarrassment, to irritation, and finally shock, but not in the way the novel hopes it to be. One of my earliest notes while reading this novel was “Verity reads like the literary equivalent to Stranger Danger, and I don’t like this at all.” Whether it was an early sign or not, the overall vibe of the novel just felt uncomfortably questionable which is something I very rarely experience, even extensively reading horror and serial-killer murder mystery works. I’ve read and watched a lot of dark series that explore the depths and shadows of the human mind so I had no problems with Verity‘s content on paper, but the tone and vibe felt all wrong. Paired…

Combining internet creepypasta x reddit culture with conspiracy theory discussions invoking the Mandela effect, while wrapped up with a premise involving former child stars reuniting under devious circumstances, Mister Magic’s ideas and concepts are nothing short of ingenious. A unique, suspenseful thriller with dashes of horror and paranormal activity, Mister Magic is wildly creative while simultaneously feeling like a personal literary work. Heavily hinged around the theme of lost childhood and the misdirection of parental guidance, there are moments where Kiersten White hits hard with relatable and edgy personal jabs at adulthood that are impressive. Unfortunately for me, those sporadic bursts of genius and excitement are surrounded by a slow and messy narrative that is never quite able to deliver on its hook and ideas on paper. Its ending also devolves into a rushed and convoluted mess. Working at a camping retreat with no cell phone and largely removed from society for the last 30 yrs, former child star Val is unexpectedly reunited with her former co-stars following the death of her father who once grounded and rescued her from a traumatic childhood she cannot remember. Encompassing elements of many popular kids tv shows, Mister Magic’s concept and mysterious disappearance…

Well known for his long-running series The Thursday Murder Club, We Solve Murders is the first entry in a new series featuring completely new characters, stories and themes. Despite the fresh start, in many ways We Solve Murders is quite similar in tone and style to The Thursday Murder Club as a light-hearted cozy murder mystery novel filled with subtle cheeky humor. I haven’t read the subsequent books in The Thursday Murder Club series to compare to, but We Solve Murders feels like a more polished, refined, and focused novel that has a clearer direction for the kind of reading experience its trying to do. Unlike his past novels that were firmly in the cozy mystery territory, We Solve Murders crosses over into the thriller genre (on paper anyway) with elements of spies, mobs, hitmen, fraud, etc. That being said, I personally found We Solve Murders to be a bit overwritten and slow at times, and the characters/focal mystery felt a little underwhelming and too cozy for my personal taste. I previously commented in my review for The Thursday Murder Club that I enjoyed Osman’s writing style and tone but felt the plotting and story was trying to do too…

What if you stumble across odd coincidences between seemingly unrelated incidents and your brain starts working overtime in the background to try to make sense of these odd occurrences? Random connections abound, that is the concept and world of Terry Miles’s novel Rabbits. Taking place in a realistically and authentically portrayed version of Seattle, Rabbits explores a mysterious hush hush game played in real-time that involves players following strange connections and coincidences that shape and alter the world and reality around them. A self-contained story taking place within the world of a 2017 pseudo-documentary podcast of the same name, no knowledge of the podcast is required to read and understand the novel, though it certainly enhances the read. Conceptually great and full of details and references that will make any internet junkie or video-game geek jump with glee (sorry the pun was too tempting), its actual execution is a bit of a mixed bag and one that many readers may find frustrating or disappointing to read. This is one of those novels that I appreciated the ambition and ideas while finding the actual reading experience less enjoyable. Easily the biggest highlight and strongest element of Rabbits is Terry Miles’s attention…