Tag Archives: 4 star

Book Review: A Venom Dark and Sweet

A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin audiobook edition cover

Source: library via Libby

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Narration: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin is second in a YA romantasy duology based on tea lore and Chinese mythology. Ning can channel magic through her tea and she must figure out how to use her magic and allies to save her country from a dark god.

I loved the characters, who managed to stay true to themselves while navigating the complexities of the court, a coup, and a counter-revolution. Their motivations, actions, and relationships all made sense. The main character, Ning, has so much love and compassion but isn’t a pushover. She has gumption and common sense. It was a pleasure following her on her adventures. The romance really took a back seat, which was fine with me.

I enjoyed the magic system. Whenever the four Chinese gods come up I can’t help thinking of the anime Fushigi Yuugi, which was my introduction to them, and getting a warm feeling of nostalgia. I also love tea, so it was fascinating to see how the power of the gods was combined with traditional Chinese herbal medicine to create magical teas.

I think the narrators were chosen primarily for their ability to speak Chinese because while they did so well, they were a bit monotone. I prefer this solution, however, to the way Chinese pronunciation was addressed in R. F. Kuang’s Babel. In Babel, the Chinese words were dubbed in by a second narrator who didn’t even sound close to the main reader. I much prefer somewhat monotone narrators who can pronounce Chinese properly themselves. Luckily the excellent writing and vibrant characters in A Venom Dark and Sweet are enough to make up for the deficiencies in narration.

I recommend the Book of Tea duology to anyone looking for a Chinese fantasy.


https://bookshop.org/widgets.js

Buy from Honeycomb’s Book Hive on Bookshop.org
Buy Honeycomb a Tea on Ko-fi

Book review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros audiobook edition cover
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros audiobook edition cover

Narrated by Rebecca Soler and Teddy Hamilton

Source: 📚 library via Libby

Narration: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros keeps moving quickly, which is a good thing for an action-heavy novel. There are no slow spots. The world-building is solid without a lot of info-dumping. The dragons are wonderful, though I do wonder about their population health because each color seems to originate with a single dragon and that can’t be good genetically. The politics are present but not overwhelming and drive the plot and action forward instead of turning it into a boring slog. As someone with hypermobility, I appreciate that the heroine, Violet, copes with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. The enemies-to-lovers romance between Violet and Xaden is believable and the spicy scenes are well-written.

I’d categorize Fourth Wing as Coming of Age rather than YA because of the amount of sex and cursing, and that the protagonists are college age men and women — a fact it’s hard to remember sometimes. That’s partly because of the characters’ maturity level and partly because the narrators sound younger.

I gave four instead of five stars because there were several times I rolled my eyes at Violet. For such an intelligent girl she was sometimes rather slow on the uptake and really had a hard time adjusting her worldview to fit new facts. The narration emphasized her youth in these moments, adding to my impression that the characters were high schoolers instead of college age.

Speaking of the narration, overall it was good, but some words were terribly mispronounced. I also didn’t really like the male narrator, Teddy Hamilton. He didn’t seem like quite the right fit for Xander. I would have preferred if Rebecca Soler narrated the whole book. But then I’m not usually a fan of multiple narrators.

Overall I’d say Fourth Wing lives up to the hype and is worth a read. I plan to read the sequel, Iron Flame.

Buy from Honeycomb’s Book Hive on Bookshop.org
Buy Honeycomb a Tea via Ko-fi

Book Review: Gallant by V. E. Schwab

Gallant by V. E. Schwab audiobook edition cover

Source: library via Libby

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Narration: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gallant is the first book I’ve read by V. E. Schwab, but it will not be the last! After seeing Schwab’s latest novel on lots of TBRs and all over the BookWeb, I was curious and decided this standalone novel was a good chance to check out a new author—especially since I could get it from the library via Libby.

I’m a little surprised Gallant is marketed as horror. I can see why, but while I’d call it a dark fairytale, I wouldn’t call it horror. I was never truly frightened. The spooky and creepy gothic atmosphere was fabulous, but not horrific. I think that’s a good thing.

In Gallant we follow Olivia, a mute young woman who has grown up an orphan. She can also see ghouls and is a remarkable artist. One day she receives a summons from a long lost uncle to come home to the Prior family estate, named Gallant. We learn that gallant means bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Gallant the house is well named because it and the Prior family stand against a mirror realm of death.

Schwab does a great job with Olivia’s mutism. It adds layers to the character without defining her and the reader is asked to empathize with but not pity Olivia. Her struggles are not played as a maudlin means to tug heart strings, they just are. She also doesn’t dwell overly long on Olivia’s circumstances in the orphanage. We get enough to understand it was awful even though the matrons did the best they could. Schwab doesn’t resort to child abuse to get the point across.

Similarly, Schwab plays masterfully with the gothic atmosphere and creates two eerie but entirely believable worlds. Since Olivia is an artist, Schwab uses the vocabulary of line, color, and medium to juxtapose the two worlds. It’s very effective.

I loved and rooted for the characters. No one made foolish, irrational decisions. I didn’t find myself rolling my eyes. The plot was simple, but I was invested in how it played out.

I will definitely be reading more from this author. I’ve already placed A Darker Shade of Magic on hold at the library.

Buy from Honeycomb’s Book Hive on Bookshop.org
Buy Honeycomb a Tea on Ko-fi

Book Review: Foxglove by Adalyn Grace

Foxglove by Adalyn Grace audiobook edition cover

Foxglove by Adalyn Grace

Narrated by Kristin Atherton

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Narration: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed Foxglove much more than its predecessor, Belladonna. Foxglove pulled me in from the first with gorgeous, synesthesia-like descriptions of Fate creating and weaving the threads of life. From there it didn’t waste any time becoming a murder mystery. The characters were well fleshed out and their actions were believable. I enjoyed the plot and the ending.

I gave the narration 4 stars because Kristin Atherton speaks very quietly, almost whispering, to make Death and Fate’s voices. While the result is sexy, it’s hard to hear.

Foxglove is the first book I’ve used Book Roast’s CAWPILE system to rate. We’ll see if I stick with it. If you’re unfamiliar with CAWPILE, it’s a spreadsheet that calculates a star rating based on 7 attributes. I’ll explain further and how I’ve modified it in a later post once my friend Ryn finishes some illustrations for me. So far I feel like it calibrates with what I would have rated the book going off gut alone.

Year in Aeldia readathon map

Foxglove is also the final book I needed to read for the Year in Aeldia supplement to the Magical Readathon. My character can now summon a spirit fox friend!

Buy from Honeycomb’s Book Hive on Bookshop.org
Buy Honeycomb a Tea on Ko-fi