Long before the mammoths and sabertooth tigers of the ice age, even more prehistoric mammals roamed the earth, pioneering traits that would one day make us, us.
Read MoreBook Review: Beasts Before Us
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Book Review: Certain Dark Things
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Between Mexican Gothic and Certain Dark Things, Moreno-Garcia has, in my opinion, very quickly risen to the top of the contemporary horror game. Drawing on classic noir tropes with an alternative future-driven twist, she creates a very vibrant version of Mexico City as a safe haven in the center of a country plagued by drugs, disease, and a melting pot of cross-cultural vampire lore. When Domingo spots Atl on the subway, he’s taken by her and decides that he’ll do anything to get her attention, including putting his life on the line for a girl who is more than just a normal girl.
am a HUGE fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s writing, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting the rerelease of Certain Dark Things for a hot minute. I got to listen to an advance copy of the audiobook, and folks, the anticipation was worth it, I loved it. Very rarely do I feel as immersed in a story as I did with this book, and I am so genuinely excited that this book is being rere
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Book Review: The Fabric of Civilization
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I LOVED this book. As someone who grew up with textile crafts, my mind was blown by the myriad of connections that the author makes and repeatedly put it down just to consider how cool it is. I could rave about this book for days, but I will stop writing this preamble so that you can read my actual review and see how wonderful it actually is.
Postrel’s history brings a fresh perspective to textiles of the past by going beyond the expected descriptions of materials and instead delves deep into large and small scale implications of the development of this product over time.
Not only is this a history of textiles, it’s an overview into the history of agriculture, our understanding of chemistry, the shaping of language, the rise of industrialization, and the influence of skilled workers on economics and gender roles through the present day. By using every tool at textile historians’ disposal— from DNA sequencing to determine when humans began domesticating cotton, sheep for wool, and other natural fibers; to studying economic records of the past; to working alongside materials scientists to work on textiles of the future. Postrel paints a fuller picture of the impact of fabric on everyday life (besides the fact that we touch and use it every day) and ties together the seemingly distant threads of what arose in the process.
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Book Review: Let's Talk About Death (Over Dinner)
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This is it: the new book I’m recommending about death to anyone who asks.
Filled with conversation starters, prompts, and stories about people who have contributed to their own Death Dinners in the past, Hebb compiles the ultimate guidebook to having a hard but important conversation with both strangers and loved ones with grace and ease. While it provides guidance, Let’s Talk About Death (Over Dinner) is never a preachy self-help book— instead it guides you through learning and self reflection and gives advice on how to bring this conversation to others.
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Series Review: Shades of Magic
I started reviewing books on my own for a while before I started formally blogging about them, so I have quite the backlog that I get to work through if I want to. The Shades of Magic trilogy is the first series that I read in 2021, and I immediately wished that I had this series when I was in middle school and going through my fantasy phase hard (okay, maybe I’m going through a fantasy phase again now, so my first fantasy phase?).
The world building, magic system, and diversity of characters make this trilogy stand out for me as a series on its own, but I’ve found myself recommending this series to a lot of people looking for something to fill the void that a certain boy wizard series left behind for them. It features a Chosen One, magic tournaments, secret crushes, and the rise of a dark magic that are more than enough to make this my new favorite London-based magician book (if you know what I’m saying).
Whether you’re reading Shades of Magic to fill up a fantasy niche in your life or just because it sounded interesting on its own, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
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Book Review: The Dead and The Dark
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If you know me, then you’ll know that I love audiobooks, so I jumped at the chance to listen to an advance copy of The Dead and The Dark because it was narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Soneela Nankani. Her narrations are always fantastic, so I assumed that this book would at least be okay, even if the premise wasn’t super appealing to me.
Unfortunately, I was wrong— this book was not it for me.
From the predictability of the mystery to the just straight up bad writing, I really had to force myself to just finish listening to this book as quickly as possible. It reads like a Ghost Adventures fanfiction (which I am sure preteen Em would have loved but adult Em just felt weird reading) with a hastily planned murder mystery overlaid on top of it.
This book defies logic, but not in a good way, and I was just not a fan.
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Book Review: Big Vape
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Do you ever pick a book up because the title is just so outrageous that you need to be able to say that you read it, if the situation ever arises? That’s what I did when I saw Big Vape on a new releases list.
So feeling bold with an impulse to read, I downloaded the audiobook to listen to while I worked, and I was pleasantly surprised. Big Vape reads like a long-form article that you’d spend a whole morning pouring over, uncovering just how deep the conspiracies and crimes go. It’s fast-paced, but never overwhelming when it comes to names and events. Thanks to regular reminders of who and what everything is, it’s something that you could absolutely marathon reading (like I did) or take your sweet time on, without feeling hopelessly lost.
Big Vape follows the whirlwind success of Juul, the skyrocketing popularity of vaping, and the dramatic business deals, health crises, and legal cases that were left in its wake.
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Book Review: The Girl From The Sea
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Morgan likes to keep her life compartmentalized— friends, family, her dreams of going away to college— but her big secret, that she thinks she likes girls, makes her afraid that she’ll lose everything that she loves. But when Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl from the sea, she starts to learn that being her true self is the most magical thing of all.
This book is just pure middle-grade and early high school sweetness. It’s the coming-of-age graphic novel that I wish I had growing up. It’s a fast read (or maybe it was only fast because I tore through it), but has so many shining moments. It’s sweet and funny, occasionally heartbreaking and tense, tender and joyful. I would consider this a full family must-read that made me wish I could go back and give a younger version of myself and my siblings this book.
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Book Review: When We Were Magic
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This book has been on my TBR list for a while, and I honestly am sad that it took me this long to read it because it was such a joy! This was the last Sarah Gailey book that I had yet to read, and it was as witty and wonderful as I’ve come to expect all of their writing to be. They really capture the in-between-ness of the changes that come with the end of high school and then played them up in the most extreme way, and I really think that this is something that they really shine at as an author.
Behind a layer of magic, this story is so unapologetically realistic about the end of high school. When We Were Magic is one of those books about teenagers that, while they definitely are somewhat mature for their age, really reads like it’s truly from the perspective of teenagers. There’s so much awkwardness around crushes, relationships with parents, and navigating labels and how the characters understand themselves that it just felt undeniably high school.
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Series Review: Dauntless Path
This is my first foray into reviewing a full (or as-published) series, but I’m hoping it will not be my last because boy howdy do I love a series! I picked up a copy of Thorn from the local authors table at Downbound Books, and I was hooked on this duo.
Thorn and Theft follow the stories of two girls from two completely different worlds, who are swept up into the politics and secrets of the city of Tarinon. While I do think that either could stand alone, as companion books, they’re a delight to read together— with more robust world building, Easter egg-type character cameos, and continuing character development that makes reading both more worth it in the end.
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Book Review: The Maidens
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Therapist and recent widow Mariana’s life couldn’t get any more out of her control, until she receives a call from her niece that her friend has been murdered, and she thinks she knows who did it.
This book made me ask myself if I’d ever see a book that is so aggressively marketed to be THE hot new book of the Summer that promises to be a combination of some of your favorite books and not have high hopes for it. I was very determined to stay neutral on this book when I went in and not let the expectations that I had for it ruin my enjoyment of it.
Usually when I go to write a book review, I have a single post-it of mid-read thoughts to consider, instead of just my post-read reaction. I had so many thoughts reading this book that I ran out of post-it space and wrote a full essay instead, so please enjoy reading said essay.
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Book Review: The Icepick Surgeon
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Amongst all of the genres that I read, nonfiction about medical history is one of my top favorites. I especially love audiobooks that walk you through the weird, gross, and somewhat backwards world of pre-FDA medicine, so I was very pumped to get an advance copy of the audiobook for Sam Kean’s newest release, The Icepick Surgeon, expertly narrated by Ben Sullivan.
At its heart, the message that this book is trying to get across is that the ethics and human cost of research is something that we need to constantly need to evolve, scrutinize, and be conscious of. Kean uses true crime-style case studies to discuss the crimes that scientists have committed in the name of advancing our understanding of medicine
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Book Review: Ace of Spades
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Ace of Spades starts strong and does not quit. Just when you start to think that things cannot get any more out of hand, the plot escalates and you get a new rush of adrenaline that stops you from putting the book down. The blurbs are not kidding when they say this book is Gossip Girl meets Get Out: it’s a teen drama turned deadly thriller for the only two Black kids in their school.
For all of the accolades that I’ve heard from other people about this book, I promise that they are beyond well-deserved. This book is worthy of its instant bestseller status. The dimensionality of her main characters shines, they aren’t perfect, but they bring the story of two teenagers to life so realistically. The mystery of the book is never cheesy and keeps you guessing, even if you think you’ve figured it out. While this book is YA, the fact that it falls into that age group shouldn’t dissuade older readers from enjoying it (I never thought I would enjoy a book about high schoolers like this), it’s as mature and thrilling as (or maybe even more than) any adult mystery can be.
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Book Review: One Last Stop
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After their previous hit romance, Red, White, and Royal Blue, I was pretty eager to read Casey McQuiston’s new cute Summer romance. I had bookmarked it a while back, a cute subway romance seemed right up my alley as someone who doesn’t usually go for straight-up romance books.
I found myself getting annoyed with the exact same thing that I got annoyed with in their previous book, but it’s definitely a fun and cute read if you can get past the writing style. I’m thinking this would be the perfect beach read for anyone who doesn’t get annoyed by impossible and poorly thought through scientific explanations (my ultimate downfall when it comes to a lot of fantasy/sci fi/fiction). The writing style was just not good enough for me to suspend belief and not get caught up on little things.
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Book Review: The Jasmine Throne
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Under the rule of a zealous dictator, a princess in exile, a maidservant with a magical secret, and a gang of rebels who will stop at nothing to get what they want discover that the legends at the heart of the empire they wish to topple hold a lot more sway than any of their positions.
Folks, Tasha Suri is on a roll, and has yet again written a book that I’ve lost sleep over (in the best way, I would have stayed up reading even later if i could have). It’s filled with political intrigue, civil unrest, complicated families, cute sapphics, and deadly magic in an Indian-inspired epic, and I loved it.
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Book Review: Locked In Time
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During my time being a guest on Atlas Obscura’s Dino 101, I met so many truly wonderful people, so I jumped at the chance to read an advance copy of Dean Lomax’s Locked in Time following his appearance on the show. Even though he beat me in a game of Opinion Dominion, it was honestly impossible to hold it against him in writing this review because his book is so wildly good.
There are very few dinosaur (and other extinct species) books that really can get me as excited about them as talking to people does for me, and Locked In Time really did that. Not only does it bring childlike awe to seeing these animals come to life on the page, but it gives them a Planet Earth-esque storyline. We see them play, hunt, take care of their babies, and so much more, and it, at times, made me so emotional for these long dead critters.
Read MoreBook Review: Written in Bone and Out Cold
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To celebrate the start of a new month, six months(-ish) on Bookstagram, and the release day of 2 ARCs that I got to review, so why not start an actual blog to post reviews on?
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