Book Review: The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski is the second book in the Winner’s Trilogy, and this one was much, much better than the first one. This one has more political intrigue, more action, a tiny bit more romance, and also, betrayal.

Let’s start off with the upcoming royal wedding between Kestrel and the Emperor’s son, Verex. It was supposed to be a happy time in Kestrel’s life-she’s getting married, she’s about to become Empress of Valoria…but instead, Kestrel turned into a spy for the Herrani people, secretly using Moths to tell Tensen information about things and also sneaking around in a maid’s outfit. When the Emperor learned about what Kestrel did though, thanks to her father finding Tensen, reading the letter and then killing him (and also because he’s in the Emperor’s back pocket). Thus her confession was rewarded-with her going to the camps to work, while the Emperor fabricated some story about her and his son eloped and moved to the south, but she got sick and died.

WTF.

In the words of Ser Clegane, “FUCK THE KING.” In this case-FUCK THE EMPEROR.

Over on Arin’s side of the world, he went to Dacra to try and get an alliance with the queen, even though he got caught and had to be a prisoner in Dacra. But before all that, he was trying to be a leader for his people-making sure they were alright, they had some food and also do everything the Emperor wants him to do (which, may I reiterate, is bullshit). Then one day he was invited to the Empire for a ball for Kestrel and Verex…in which he kissed Kestrel behind the curtains and tried to get her to confess, I think. But it didn't work, and then he got cut by Kestrel’s original dagger, so now he has a scar on the side of his face.

Oof.

Then he left to go to Dacra, where he became a prisoner to the Dacran royal family, doing everything he can to get the alliance-following the brother around and doing all the queen’s dirty work, learning the language fast, even making out with the queen and nearly sleeping with her, only to realize that he loved Kestrel and went back to the Empire to tell her.

Everything went to hell after that, and now our lovers are torn apart. Now I wonder what’s going to happen next because now I wanna know.

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Book Review: A Touch of Darkness (Hades x Persephone #1) by Scarlett St. Clair

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is the first time I’ve read a Hades and Persephone retelling-and I enjoyed this. It was actually really good. I was gonna put this as a four star because of my problem of hating the mother in the story (*cough* Demeter*cough*) but I put it as five star because it's different. We all know the story of how Hades fell in love with Persephone and he “kidnapped” her to take her to the underworld and all that, but in this book, it’s very different.

Persephone is a student at New Athens who’s working on graduating college in six months, and to get a job and also live as a mortal. One night, she and her friend Lexa go to a club called Nevernight, which is owned by Hades, the God of the Dead. There they meet Adonis (whom I hate with a passion) and she starts to have a good time-until she meets Hades. The both of the played a simple game of cards and when Persephone lost, that’s when Hades made a deal with her: create life in the Underworld.

At first, Persephone was confused-she didn’t know how to create life in the underworld. Each time she uses her magic, everything dies. But the more she spent time down in the Underworld-meeting the souls and spending time with them, hanging out with Hecate and learning how to use her magic, even playing with Ceberus. But she didn’t expect that she was going to fall in love with Hades.

And Hades…oh my word. Hades in my new book husband, OH MY GOD. I can read him and be around him and never get tired of him. He’s TALL (my weakness), he’s very kind when he wanna be, cordial when he wanna be, and HIS HORNS ARE TALL AF AND I LOVE IT. Oh, and the spice is really good…I just wanna know if Hades eat (y’all know what I mean…) but other than that…Hades is always secretive like a mother’s tight purse.

Then shit kinda hit the fan with Adonis posting Persephone’s article and nearly hurt her if it wasn’t for Hades for stopping him. Then when he started blackmailing her…oh my god Adonis you idiot. But at the end Persephone found her magic, Persephone and Hades told each other that they loved each other (Which was perfect, honestly). I can’t wait to read book two to see how this goes because I’m now invested in this retelling.

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Book Review: Bleach (3-in-1 Edition), Volume 4: 10,11,12

Bleach (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 4: Includes vols. 10, 11 & 12 by Tite Kubo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THE SOUL SOCIETY ARC

Basically this has been one whole ass ride. From being shot up in the air to being seperated, Ichigo and the gang are trying to find Rukia and bring her home. Ichigo meets Kenpachi Zaraki, a bloodthirsty Captain of the 11th division whom no one can cut at all. He’s like the original Mountain/Sandor Clegane, but much, much worse.

We also see Ichigo and Renji fight, but Renji lost and Renji tells Ichigo one thing: “Save Rukia!” before he collapses with his wounds. While all of that was going on, there’s some shit stirring up in the Seireitei. Captain of the 5th Division, Sosuke Aizen, was brutally killed, and was found by his lieutenant, Momo Hinamori, which is a big ol’ oof. Poor Momo was triggered and nearly got into a fight with one of the other lieutenants, but was put in jail. Then Rangiku came and passed her a letter from Aizen when he died, and it looked like he told her everything in this letter, question mark???

This manga was so good. It kept me on my toes and it had me on my toes, and I can’t wait to read the next one to find out what happened next.

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Book Review: Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just like Legendborn and Iron Widow, this book right here has soared into the top five books I love this year-and it’s only the second month of the year. Sue Lynn Tan has written a wonderful world full of gods, goddesses, demons and love. It is inspired by the legend of the Moon Goddess Chang’e, and it is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read in a long time.

The story is about the title character, Xingyin, the daughter of the moon goddess. She is trying to free her mother from her enchantment that was placed on her, as punishment for drinking an elixir. One day, she left her home because of a visit from the Celestial Empress and the fact that she sensed someone at the home. Leaving her home was painful, but she had to do it as she left to escape the Celestial Goddess to go to another kingdom so she can live a better life.

That better life starts out by serving a very horrid girl. She had to lie about her family as she worked, and it was one of those days where she met Crown Prince Liwei. The two talked a bit, and then (I honestly forgot the name of the girl Xingyin served honestly, she was trash) and then invited the both of them to a contest. Xingyin won the contest, and she and Liwei are together a lot-training, going to school…falling in love.

But Xingyin doesn’t want that, even after she finds out Liwei is going to get engaged to another royal. She joins the Celestial Army and is right next to a man named General Wenzhi. The both of them go on adventures and encounter monsters like the bone devil and the Governor Ruyi when she is finally rewarded with what she craves: a seal and a wish for whatever she wants. She reveals herself as the daughter of the moon goddess, and everyone is up in an uproar about it. Even though it was just a simple wish, and she had to hide it for reasons, the Celestial Emperor came up with a task for her: get the pearls from the dragons.

And she does, only to learn that the Celestial Emperor once controlled the four great dragons. So Xingyin comes up with an idea: she’s going to return the dragon’s essence to them. She does so, and then danger strikes when she’s kidnapped by Wenzhi-and is revealed that he’s a demon prince and he had feelings for her (shocking-and this happened before she released the dragon’s essence to them). Thanks to his younger brother, Xingyin escaped the Demon World and went back to the Celestial Kingdom, where she gave the pearls back to the Emperor (who was fucking furious) and learned that Liwei broke the bethrothal to his betrothed, because he was in love with her.

This book was so good and I think EVERYONE should read it. It was slow at first, but then it ramped up, and I loved every bit of it.

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Book Review: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkowski

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

cw: mention of slavery, rape

I’ve heard of this book as I was going to college, but I’ve never picked it up until now. Honestly, I can’t remember what happened in it, so this review is going to be short. All I remember was that Kestrel is the daughter of a general that was bored one day at the markets and brought herself a slave named Arin.

She took Arin home, not knowing that he was a spy for the Herrani and the two fell in love until the rebellion, where all the royals that lived in the stolen houses of the Herrani people were taken back and they were also poisoned. Ah. Then Kestrel became the slave/prisoner of Arin and was attacked by Cheat almost every single day, doing the worst things he can think of. One night Cheat nearly rapes Kestrel, I think, and then Arin killed her.

Kestrel escapes and she goes to the empire, where she pleads with the Emperor to spare the Herrani people and give them their freedom. He does…if only Kestrel marries his son, She agrees, go back to the Herrani land, and told Arin that the emperor granted them their freedom and also that Arin is now the governor, and he has to do everything the Emperor says.

So basically that’s it…the book was okay, I found it boring in a couple places but I liked it. I’m reading book two now, so hopefully this series gets better as I keep reading…if not I might just stop at book two if it doesn’t pick up.

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Book Review: Bleach (3-in-1) Volume 3 by Tite Kubo

Bleach (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 3: Includes vols. 7, 8 & 9 by Tite Kubo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book introduces the Soul Society arc, where Ichigo and the gang goes to the Seireitei to save Rukia from getting executed for giving her powers to Ichigo. We’re introduced to Renji Abarai and Byakuya Kuchiki, two soul reapers assigned to bring Rukia back to the Soul Society, but before they could, they are stopped by Uyru, the Quincy that hates soul reapers.

Rukia left a message for Ichigo to not follow her, and thanks to Kon…he goes after her. Only to lose the fight between Renji and Byakuya, who stabbed him and took away his soul reaper powers. Ichigo was taken care of by ‘hat and clogs’ Urahara, who basically trained to be a soul reaper again, while Mr. Yourichi trained Chad and Orihime, and Uyru trained by himself, to be stronger.

Now the training was quite brutal. First, Ichigo had to get his soul reaper powers back, and boy that was the most painful things I’ve ever read, ever. He also learned the name of his zanpakuto, which is called Zangetsu, and once he learned the name and released his powers, that’s when he and Urahara trained until it was time for them to go to the Soul Society. Everyone-Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, and Uyru spends a summer in town before they go to Mr. Urahara’s shop to go to the Soul Society, and being led by Mr. Yourichi, they go into this gate Urahara constructed to let them go into the first part of the Soul Society, a long tunnel filled with dark things that are getting cleaned up by a huge train…

…that Orihime rejected, thus putting the gang in front of the gates of the Seireitei. Guarding the gates is a guardian named Jibando, and he and Ichigo fought, resulting in Ichigo’s victory. But it was short lived, when Gin Ichimaru appeared and pretty much killed Jibando, and Ichigo tried to stop it, but it didn’t work as he was knocked back, and the gate slammed down on them.

So they went to a village filled with lost souls, and Ichigo and a man named Ganju nearly got into it, but was stopped when he and his huge boar had to go home. Even though they thanked the elder and Chad met his pet parakeet again (who was a boy, which was cute and sweet at the same time), and they went to see Kukaku…which turns out to be Ganju’s sister, and who’s also an explosives expert.

Her plan? To launch them in the air to put them in the Soul Society.

Sounds like fun…but will our heroes enjoy it?!

It feels like I’m watching the show again, but much better. It was fun to see Renji, Byakuya and the others. I can’t wait to read the next volumes because it’s reigniting my love for Bleach again.

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Book Review: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book right here…OMG. I felt like I just got done reading a two season anime and I want the third one. This book was so good that I almost cried because of how good it was. Even though this book is a retelling and reimaging of the life of Wu Zeitan, this was very well done. Polyamory relationship between Zeitan, Shimin and Yizhi? Beautiful. The most beautiful thing I”ve ever read in my life. Because I need more of this book, and if its a series, I’m going to buy the second book and read it immediately because holy shit this book was SO GOOD.

Like I said in the beginning, this book is the reimagined life of Wu Zeitan, the Chinese Empress that lived in the seventh century of China, but with mechas. Zeitan wants revenge on the pilot of the Nine-Tailed Fox, Yang Guang, who had murdered her sister, and she does, thanks to her family who practically sold her to be a concubine-pilot to the pilot of the Chryaslises they had. First night from being alone with Yang Guang, she went into the Nine-Tailed Fox and helped him fight the Hunduns. Once she got into the cockpit and went inside his mind jungle, she saw Yang Guang do horrible things to females and decided to turn around and kill him, thus taking over the Nine Tailed Fox and finished off the Hunduns. When the cockpit opened, she stepped out and yelled into the crowd, Welcome to your Nightmare!

Soon, Zeitan is in chains and is brought in front of Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang, and was also given the name Iron Widow. She is partnered up with the pilot of the Vermillion Bird, Li Shimin, also known as the Iron Demon, and found out that this so called “Iron Demon” was nothing more than a nineteen year old boy who was getting alcohol abused by the army so they don’t have to deal with his emotions, a boy who went to school and wrote beautiful calligraphy and had studied while he was fighting, thus fucking up his eyesight. And he’s a tall-ass teddy bear, thus my nickname for him ‘Iron Teddy Bear’, and he felt so much guilt for killing his concubine-pilot, Wende and the girls. Then Yizhi got into the mix, and everything felt so much better…

UNTIL THE ENDING.

XIRAN, IF YOUR READING THIS, I WANT TO DUEL YOU FOR SHIMIN’S SOUL (and then lose because I haven’t played Yu-Gi-Oh! In a long-ass time). That ending with stick with me for a long time, because yes, finally, Zeitan is showing the world that girls can control the Chrysalis and beat the Hunduns, and that the yin and yang didn’t matter which seat the boy and the girl was in. BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SHIMIN…I WANTED TO PROTECT HIM AS MUCH AS I CAN. But noooo, he just turned around and is now the Metal Emperor (I think…because I’m trying to figure it out if its really him or not) and now I’m worried. I don’t want nothing happening to Shimin and I hope Zeitan and Yizhi figure out how to save him…

Along I don’t care about the bloody Tortoise anymore. I did for a minute, then they did that to the bird and I hated them.

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Book Review: Chapelwood (The Borden Dispactches) by Cherie Priest

Chapelwood by Cherie Priest
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My first three star of the year...

So let's get started with this book review, shall we? Chapelwood was an alright book-had the same feel as the first book, but it was totally different, since it was set in Brimingham, Alabama. It felt like a southern gothic story, and it didn't pick up till the end, where Lizzie finally grabbed an axe and killed all those people...but then she disappeared. Like she left and I have no idea where the heck she went at the end. But I felt like the ending the flat, and that we don't get a really good description of the so called "God" that was in the basement when Inpector Wolf found it.

But we are introduced to Ruth Stephensen, a girl who is terrified of her father and the Chapelwood Church. She has these little "spells" that takes over her, and she talks to the spirits. Her father beat her and her mother, and she decided to leave one day when her family went to Chapelwood. Something about Chapelwood scared her, because she left her house to go to Father James Coyle for help. Father Coyle listened to her and gave her a solution: marry Pedro Gussman, a latinx man who was a handyman. She does, and her father finds out about it. So what does a father do when he learns that his daughter eloped with a strange man that he doesn't know?

He unalives the Father.

After that, that's when Inspector Wolf comes down to Brimingham, which is rich with prejudices and the so called 'True Americans' and the KKK, to pay his respects and to also see through Ruth and the trial of her father, in which he knew that he would walk free. So he asks Lizzie Borden to come down and help him, only to find out that the same evil that was in Maplewood before was down here in Birmingham. Then everything spirals to the end, where something happened to Lizzie, we don't know what, an earthquake happened when Wolf threw the reverend into the hole where the so called "God" was, and Ruth became a medium and is working under Wolf.

It was an alright book up to the end, wish it ended better, but then, Lizzie was older than she was in Maplecroft, and things just fell flat for me when I thought it was going to get better. But I did like murder parts in the beginning, with Leonard Kincaid started going mad seeing the numbers. But other than that, that was it. No appearance of Nance, no nothing. Fell a bit flat for me, but hey, I still enjoyed it, though.

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