Mini-Reviews is a blog series where I’ll be sharing mini reviews of the books I’ve been reading lately. Each post will include 3 books I’ve recently read and will be grouped by genre (though we’re bound to get a hodgepodge post every once in a while!). Let me know if you’ve read anything I’ve talked about or if you feel inspired to pick anything up after hearing my thoughts! I also want to note that I’m attempting to do away with half stars this year and I’m going to use the official goodreads rating system which is based on enjoyment level (1 star = didn’t like it, 2 star = it was okay, 3 star = liked it, 4 star = really liked it, 5 star = it was amazing).
The Stolen Heir by Holly Black (The Stolen Heir Duology #1) – The Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black is one of my all time favorite series so to say I was excited for her new duology following Oak, would be a massive understatement. I tried to avoid any information about the book before its publication so imagine my surprise when I started reading and found that it’s actually from a new character’s point of view. Wren, the child queen of the Court of Teeth fled to the human world and spends her days releasing mortals from foolish bargains they’ve made with various Fae. She doesn’t think anyone remembers her until the storm hag Bogdana chases her and she’s saved by Prince Oak, heir of Elfhame, who she was once promised in marriage to. Oak is on a mission and he wants Wren’s help but neither are being completely honest with the other. As they make their way up North, the danger escalates and both Wren and Oak must choose their words carefully lest they clue the other in to their true intentions. Unlike Cruel Prince, the dangerous, forbidden romance is more of a cat and mouse game than flat out hatred. I loved getting a look into some of the other Fae Courts and as always, the manipulation and selfish intentions of the Fae get me every time. I can’t wait to see how things will wrap up in book two, especially after that amazing ending! While I didn’t love this book as much as I love Folk of the Air, I definitely enjoyed the fresh take and the glimpse at how Jude and Cardan are ruling. It’s fun to see some old faces and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the new ones. What I didn’t love, were all of the info drops about the events of the first series, but it didn’t detract from the book and likely would be helpful for someone who hasn’t read those books as many times as I have!
Stellarlune by Shannon Messenger (Keeper of the Lost Cities #9) –
**Spoilers for books in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series through Unlocked**
I’ve been describing Stellarlune as The Order of the Phoenix of the Keeper series. While I love this series and its characters to pieces, Sophie was definitely trying my patience for a couple of hundred pages. It’s hard to let Sophie’s attitude be my main complaint since she is a young adult and likely would be full of pent up angst between all of the love triangles, the inherent pressure of being the Moonlark, and being the one everyone looks to while trying to save the Elven world. In this book, Keefe has disappeared yet again after being spooked by his newfound abilities and after a very long debate, Sophie decides not to follow him and to focus on learning more about Elysian. We spend the majority of the book looking for information, attempting to open the caches and repeating a ton of information to a ton of different characters. While I will take any form of story in the Keeper world that I can possibly get my hands on, the majority of Stellarlune felt like filler until the very last chapter. There are several more important developments throughout the course of the book, but I do wish we could have fast forwarded a bit or sped up the pacing and had this be the final installment. I expect the next book will be an epic conclusion to the series and I look forward to reading it- I only wish there wouldn’t be any wait time to deal with!
Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco (Kingdom of the Wicked #3) –
**Spoilers for Kingdom of the Wicked and Kingdom of the Cursed**
I can’t believe Kerri Maniscalco’s Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy has already come to an end! In this final installment, we join Emilia and Wrath back in the Seven Circles as they try to solve a murder mystery between trysts. A high ranking member of House Greed has been assassinated, and there’s compelling evidence that the murderer is Emilia’s twin Vittoria (who we found out at the end of book two is still alive). Emilia is grappling with trying to prove her sister’s innocence and wishing for the one thing Prince Wrath cannot guarantee her, his heart. The more interactions Emilia has with Vittoria, the more her childhood memories are shattering and she’s finally seeing the truth for the first time. I love how many story threads in Kingdom of the Feared directly tied back to things that happened or characters we met back in Kingdom of the Wicked. Wrath and Emilia’s overall story arc wrapped up so nicely, but also leaves a ton of room for more. The spice levels in Kingdom of the Feared were off the charts, but on par with book two so if that makes you uncomfortable you may want to steer clear or do some skim reading. I felt very satisfied with this conclusion and I love all of the new lore we learned in this one. My obsession with this world continues and I wish that Kerri will write more spin off series or companion novels so we can fully explore some of the other realms and get more of the Heads of Houses stories. I’m so glad we’ll be getting more Envy in her next book, Throne of the Fallen. And in the meantime, I’m looking forward to binge re-reading this series at some point because I’ll likely pick up on things I didn’t see the first time around.
