Ravenous Beasts / Savage Daemons - Lauretta Hignett

59%

10.09.26 / 12.09.26

Just as crazy and confused and surprisingly feminist as the first two in the series but just as much fun, especially the last book, which went off in all sorts of unexpected directions.

Vicious Creatures / Fractured Gods - Lauretta Hignett

59%

04.09.26 / 06.09.26

More dark fantasy fun, this one even more violent than usual. There was, however, just as much need for a proper proofread (e.g. using 'little' five times in one paragraph and the constant focus on a particularly 'masculine jawline') but Hignett's irrepressible heroines and wry humour mean she is one of the few authors for whom I can overlook her lack of editing.

Immortal Death / Immortal Life - Lauretta Hignett

57%

18.07.26

I'm reviewing these two books together because the whole series might as well have been a single, continuous story, and there's not much to tell them apart anyway. Because it's fun, fairly feminist, vivid (if with slightly stereotyped characters) and has a not-entirely-predictable storyline, I'll overlook the lack of editing in places, and how some parts didn't really make sense.
 

Immortal World - Lauretta Hignett

58%

12.07.26

This was slightly messier than the previous book in the series and could have done with a slightly more thorough edit at times but was still good violent fun with some deeper messages in amongst the craziness.

Immortal Games - Lauretta Hignett

60%

09.07.26

Since I have free Kindle Unlimited again, I couldn't resist returning to Lauretta Hignett's urban (well, smalltown) fantasy world. I was right about the first in the series just acting as a springboard as this was much better. The humour is balanced with a fair helping of violence, darkness and angst, along with strong character development. 

The Games Gods Play - Abigail Owen

 60%

12.05.26

I liked the refreshingly fun, irreverent tone and vivid worldbuilding. I didn't like the inevitable power-imbalanced, male-possessive romance, the narrative inconsistencies or the main couple being the only characters with character, and not particularly likable ones at that. But a refreshingly fun, irreverent tone and vivid worldbuilding counts for a lot.

The Last Hour Between Worlds - Melissa Caruso

64%

05.02.26

Well written, vivid, exciting, clever and fun, this story throws you straight into the careful worldbuilding, with strong female characters taking charge and the men mostly just afterthoughts. But it did lack a little something emotionally - neither the romantic nor the maternal love were quite convincing enough.

A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering - Andrew Hunter Murray

44%

24.01.26

This couldn't be more different to the previous book I read - it's all action and gentle British humour. What it does have in common is the lack of character development and emotional engagement, making it instantly forgettable.

The Bones Beneath My Skin - TJ Klune

57%

12.01.26

The genre might vary but a Klune novel will always have a male/male romance, found family, a supernatural element, awkward dialogue and jokes in surprising (sometimes inappropriate) places. This was essentially an action thriller with an eye on a Netflix adaptation but that made it feel rather superficial and I doubt I'll remember much about it in six months.

Crooked Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo

57%

31.07.25

Bardugo is a fine writer. Her worldbuilding is vivid and her characters are complex. I enjoyed the first book in this series. So why was this one so boring? I had to force my way through it, in search of a real plot, anything that wasn't adolescent heartache and confusing economics. And then, of course, at the end, nothing was as it seemed. Except for the things that were. 

One Perfect Couple - Ruth Ware

56%

29.07.25

I think this book works best if you read it ironically - as a satire with more than one unreliable narrator. Whether that was the author's intention is another matter, but it's dark and fun and gritty and silly and generally so full of contradictions that you just have to go with it.

Spin the Dawn - Elizabeth Lim

57%

05.07.25

This was prettily written and started out well but was ultimately disappointing. It didn't seem to know what it was about - a competition? An expedition? A romance? A fantasy adventure? All of those things but never settling on one, with an irritatingly open ending for the next book.

Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

 67%

11.06.25

This was structured like the card tricks that appear throughout the story - carefully planned, carefully dealt, only revealing the full hand at the right time. The worldbuilding was impeccable and the characters mostly three-dimensional. All that makes it a little easier to overlook the fact that those characters (as usual for Bardugo) are unrealistically precocious teens and the apparently independent women don't pass the Bechdel test.

Immortal - Lauretta Hignett

56%

01.05.25

This'll be the last Hignett for a while, promise as I have many, more literary, novels to read. That said, while there's no doubt her books are entertaining, she also sneaks in more serious political or emotional messages, adding a little depth to what could be cliched wish-fulfillment stories. This series starter was better than Susan's and Prue's but still seemed a little transitory - on its way to somewhere else later in the series, where I don't feel very strongly about going.

Susan, You're the Chosen One - Lauretta Hignett

48%

27.04.25

The idea was promising but the whole book just read like an introduction to the series rather than anything worth reading by itself.

Ravensong - TJ Klune

49%

22.04.25

As I said about the prequel to this book, Klune does good work but it doesn't always pay off. This was all over the place in terms of tone, plot and character, lurching from one thing to another - and it did such a poor job of establishing sympathy that I ended up wondering what made the goodies so sure they were good.
 

Bad Bones / Bare Bones - Lauretta Hignett

48%

17.04.25

These books are, inexplicably, much duller than the Foils and Fury series - the 'found family' and 'secret supernatural' themes just aren't handled as well. I've almost forgotten I've read them.

Foils and Fury (series) - Lauretta Hignett

63%

13.04.25

Four books comprising:

• Oops I Ate a Vengeance Demon
• Dancing with the Vengeance Demon
• Dating with the Vengeance Demon
• Dying for My Vengeance Demon

A fun, feisty, feminist fantasy series that I read n about 5 days. A pretty biting political commentary too, marred only by a few jarring typos. 

How to Summon a Fairy Godmother - Laura J Mayo

58%

08.02.25

Or how to write a fun, very (sorry, "quite") American take on a traditional fairytale. Some engaging scenes although it was hard to get a handle on any of the characters and it seemed as if (sorry, "like") more budget had been spent on the fabulous cover art than on editing.

Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Paige

52%

19.01 25

The best thing about this was its title. If it wasn't based on existing Oz lore, it would be just another, albeit quite well written, chosen-one-teen-girl tries-to-kick-ass-fantasy-that-doesn't-even-end-properly-because-it's-the-first-of-a-trilogy. Even the romance, such as it was, seemed shoehorned in.