Publisher: Tor Books


Friday, September 13, 2019

Characters Worth Dying For: Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

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I received this book for free from Tor.com in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Characters Worth Dying For: Middlegame by Seanan McGuireMiddlegame by Seanan McGuire
Published by Tor.com on May 7th, 2019
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Source: Tor.com
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three-half-stars

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained. 

I want to preface this review by stating that I love Roger and Dodger so much. I would DIE for these kids. Months ago, when Middlegame had just come out, I saw someone describe this as a story about two superheroes who screw up a whole lot (paraphrased because I don’t remember who said this or even what platform I came across this description on.) That description is absolutely perfect for this boo. Even though there is a LOT of stuff-bigger than both the MCs- going on, at its heart, Middlegame is 1000% a coming of age story. It follows these kids from childhood well into adulthood as the navigate all the pains of growing up. 

My love for the main characters unfortunately did not help the plot or the world this book is set in, make sense. It also didn’t make the book 200 pages shorter. I finished Middlegame happy and satisfied but discussing it with friends made me realize I didn’t know half of the things that were happening. I could not tell you what the impossible city was or what the improbable road is even though the existence of these kiddos is tied directly to those things. The vagueness felt intentional at times but the degree of it didn’t really work for me and took away from my enjoyment of the story. 

The book is also, simply put, too long. A weird thing to say given that I enjoyed almost every minute I spent reading this book but so many things felt unnecessary. As much as I enjoyed being able to dwell in the characters’ journeys through time and space, some plot points felt unnecessary? 

I don’t know if anyone else would have the same issues I did because so many people seemed to have loved the book. Maybe I was just not smart enough to appreciate the geniusness of this world but I definitely appreciated the amount of work Seanan McGuire put into developing Roger and Dodger and characters. I also appreciated the secondary characters we caught glimpses of throughout the story (Erin in particular.) The villains on the other hand??? I didn’t think they were truly developed because I never understood their intentions for anything they were doing, except to be the BAD guys. 

Generally speaking though, if you are a fan of character driven books, Middlegame will absolutely be your thing. While I did struggle with world building aspects, I could also appreciate weird time stuff that was going on and the general unreliability of time itself within this book. I am actually kind of sad this is a standalone because I love Roger and Dodger so much and wish I had more time with them. 

three-half-stars

3.5 Hot Espressos

Disappointing: The Toll by Cherie Priest

Posted by on 07/25/2019 • 2 Comments

I love southern gothic with a dash of horror and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Cherie Priest so when I came across The Toll, I was curious. I ended up being disappointed. Maybe this book never stood a chance because I read it in the midst of an extreme book hangover from finishing Spin the Dawn but here we are.

For one, there are too many different POVs for my liking. Sometimes many POVs work, especially when distinguished. They were not distinguished in this case so the transitions were always sudden and it took me a bit to figure out who I was following. Honestly, it wasn’t until I hit the 33% mark that I was actually able to differentiate the names and the voices of the characters. So for…

Review: 738 Days by Stacey Kade

Posted by on 06/07/2016 • 4 Comments

It’s been so long since I’ve read a book that completely hooked me and wouldn’t let go. I am so glad that I picked this one up to read because it reminded me of how much I love getting absorbed in a book and nothing can stop me from putting it down. The characters were so complex and amazing, and the story was interesting to read. I needed to know what would happen next and how their relationship would progress. This book gave me all the feels and I had many tears of happiness, and of heartbreak. I felt like I really knew the characters and what was happening to them took a toll on my emotions.

I will start with Amanda Grace. My heart broke for her so much,…

Review: Dead Spots by Rhiannon Frater

Review: Dead Spots by Rhiannon Frater

Posted by on 02/11/2015 • 9 Comments

It’s not often that I get super excited and fan girl over a book, but this is one of them. I read a very early copy of this since I was lucky enough to be a beta reader. I feel like I need to disclose that. Having said that, this is a book that I need to own a physical copy of because it was absolutely amazing!! I need to read it again. (As soon as I can make myself carve out time for it, which will be soon.) The terror was so real, the emotions and feelings were pulling me every which way, and I felt so drawn into it and needed to know what was coming. This book really just hit me hard with the feels and the…

Waiting on Wednesday (95)

Waiting on Wednesday (95)

Posted by on 10/09/2013 • 31 Comments

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week:

This sounds like my kind of creepeh! Plus just knowing it’s from the horror guru themselves – Tor Books – makes me want to read it all the more! The authors described it as “dark and disturbing” on a cover reveal post I saw. Cmon, y’all know me by now! How could I not want to read this? 😀

What are you waiting on?

Review: Vicious by Victoria Schwab

Review: Vicious by Victoria Schwab

Posted by on 09/10/2013 • 18 Comments

With such an addicting writing style I can see why this author has made a ton of fans from her previous books, Vicious was my first by Victoria but it definitely will not be my last. In fact, I already have The Archived on its way to me!

First to note should be that this book is not YA, it’s Victoria’s first adult book. Characters are in their 30s and you can tell by the maturity of the storytelling (which is ruthless and violent). Personally, I was pleasantly surprised as I was well overdue for an adult book, particularly a merciless paranormal read such as this. Vicious is ultimately a story of revenge. It’s told in an unusual time lapse, where we don’t have a story from A to Z,…