books, travel, nursing, and all of life's in-betweens
Second books in a series/trilogy/duology usually fall in one of two categories: exceeding the magic captured in the first book or falling short of expectations, leaving readers unsatisfied. Unfortunately, When Night Breaks by Janella Angeles lands in the latter category. Look, my friends, I adored Where Dreams Descend, but I can’t say the same about When Night Breaks. The final book in the Kingdom of Cards duology disappointed me. So now I’m left asking:
Thrilling. Bewitching. Marvelous. Astounding. Those are just a few words that I can use to describe K.S. Villoso’s The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng, which concludes the epic trilogy known as Chronicles of the Bitch Queen. I cannot believe that this book blessed my eyes. Just when I thought that K.S. Villoso’s writing couldn’t get better; she proves me wrong by knocking my socks off with this phenomenal book.
Thank you so much to Angela Man and Orbit for sending me a free copy. My views are my own.
Oh dear, where do I even begin?
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A+ | Thrilling, intricate, phenomenal. I genuinely don’t think I will ever be able to describe how much I adore The Ikessar Falcon by K.S. Villoso. Every single detail is ornate and elaborate. This book is a grand cathedral wherein every single element — from the stone to the artwork to the chandeliers to the pews — were carefully selected and lovingly crafted to bring this world and these characters to life. Like its predecessor, this adult fantasy succeeds in being so full of life and being so unapologetically Filipino by reflecting those good and bad aspects of Filipino society.
Warning: I am assuming that you have read The Wolf of Oren-Yaro before reading this review. Please click below at your own discretion.
Trigger warnings for this book include the following: sex, violence, threats of sexual violence made against children.
I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher and Caffeine Book Tours as part of my participation in their #DethroneTheDragonlord tour. Thank you Shealea from Caffeine Book Tours and to Orbit Books for providing me with this copy in exchange for this honest review.
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A+ | Lush, breathtaking, show-stopping, splendorous, marvelous, decadent, exquisite. These are just a few words that I can use to describe Janella Angeles’s debut novel. Many of the reviewers I trust have described this book as something akin to a dessert. You know what? I agree. It’s a salted caramel cheesecake. It’s that Bake Cheese Tart from Japan that I adore so much. I have not fallen in love like this with a book in a long, long time. There are some things that I hope Janella improves upon in the second novel. However, these issues did not take away from the fact that I absolutely enjoyed everything that this book offers.
Read this for Wikathon w/ Rose, aka @thatbookishteacher, and you should absolutely check out her blog.
There might be minor spoilers below.
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A+ | There aren’t enough words in any language that I can speak — English, Tagalog, and German — that can describe how much I adored this book. It is simply spectacular, beautiful, lush, and stupendous. It is a million times these words. Elizabeth Lim’s writing shines and there is no rest in this novel. Maia is absolutely my favorite protagonist, hands down. And I didn’t think I would love Lady Sarnai more than I did in the last novel. It is everything I want in a book, but especially everything I want to see in a sequel/conclusion to a series.
This is a spoiler-free review as part of the Caffeine Book Tours #UnravelTheDuskTour. Make sure to check out the details for the international giveaway below!
Read moreA-/B+ | This book is another perfect example of how villain origin stories should be done. While the worldbuilding is pretty damn cool, what really makes this book work for me are the characters themselves, specifically Xifeng. However, the pacing can be far too slow at times, making it a drag to read when it does. Still, I think that Dao comes out strong in this debut novel.
Read moreA | A marvelous end to this outstanding trilogy that stayed consistently strong throughout the whole trilogy, Ember Queen is a great example of how to write the last book in a series. The book’s strength lies in Sebastian’s writing and her ability to make me care about all the characters — even those that I found annoying and even those who I should feel no sympathy for — as well as the relationships between them.
There will be spoilers below.
Read moreC-/D+ | While this book has a great premise, its execution was choppy and poor. The book’s saving grace is the writing. However, beautiful diction can’t hide the fact that there was no structure to this book, that the pacing was all over the place, and that the characters and their relationship didn’t feel genuine.
This review will contain some spoilers.
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A-/B+ | Despite the fact that Talyien was one of the most frustrating characters I have read this year, I truly enjoyed this magnificent, character-driven novel with its lush Filipino-coded world. Talyien is surely one of the most interesting characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading about. The worldbuilding is woven into the story in such a superb way that I could vividly see, smell, feel, hear, and taste the universe. This adult fantasy novel is unapologetically Filipino and it reflects so much of both the good and bad aspects of Filipino society. It is a thrill ride full of heartbreak, betrayal, love, family, duty, and politics.
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C-/D+ | This is such a disappointing book. I actually threw this into my DNF shelf but after drinking iced coffee, I decided to just finish the rest of the book because I was so close to finishing it. I’m only writing this right after I finished reading the book cuz it’s like almost 9pm here in Manila and I’m still on the coffee high. Will this review make sense??? Idk !!
You know what the saddest thing is? I was REALLY enjoying this book. I was in love. But then NOTHING was happening plot wise. Yes, I am all for character driven stories, but if I’m at 40% or something into the book, I should already see ACTION. Instead, about 55% of the book is introductory stuff with nothing major happening. Then when the plot does occur, it just is so ridiculously rushed?
Both Mina (the Queen/Stepmother) and Lynet (Snow White) are interesting characters who did feel alive (Mina more so than Lynet which is lmao), but at the same time, they weren’t fully fleshed out enough. Mina did feel more fleshed out, but wow Lynet just felt bland.
The character motivations thus felt super — idk, subpar. I didn’t and couldn’t believe them, especially Lynet. I didn’t feel like Lynet was in danger at any moment because she had such quick control over her magic which is just ridiculous to me.
Overall, Mina was a better written character but even she suffered at the half way point. The jump between past!Mina POV and present!Mina POV was just a whiplash. It helped because at least it was easier to understand her motivations, but lord after the halfway point when the action happened, I just cringed. Her emotions just didn’t feel REAL and it’s such a shame because I did enjoy Mina’s backstory.
The worldbuilding was also lacking.
The entire thing just felt rushed and wow I’m honestly sad that I didn’t like this book.
