Books Archives - Page 8 of 50 - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

Books Kids Like

By Brookelorren on April 28, 2020April 27, 202021 Comments

Hello! It’s Tuesday, which means time for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl)! Today’s topic is “Books I Wish I Had Read as a Child,” but I can’t think of any, so I’m going to make a list of books kids like. I’m going to get my own kids involved in this! My youngest loves Middle Grade and some YA books (I’m happy to say he’s read 10 Marie Lu books), so I’m going to split today’s list between books me, my boy, and my girl liked as kids.

Prince Tanis

My boy likes Lauren Magaziner’s books like I like Marie Lu’s. He adores her Case Closed books. Lucky for him, when coronavirus shut down our library, he happened to have one of these books checked out.

Here’s another Lauren Magaziner book that my boy loves. He read The Only Thing Worse than Witches a while back, and loved it. These books have adorable covers.

Sensing a pattern here? Wizardmatch was the first Lauren Magaziner book my boy read. We don’t own any of these books (although if she ever comes to The Tattered Cover I’d definitely bring him and buy a book for her to sign for him) but our library has a good selection of these.

Here’s a book that’s not by Lauren Magaziner! Wanna take a quick guess as to how Prince Tanis started reading the Spirit Animals series? Anyway, I was going to only give each of my kids 3 books for today’s list, but he loved this series so much (and he read the entire series, unlike me, who’s only read this one) that he wanted me to give him four book picks today.

Prior to discovering Lauren Magaziner, my boy pretty much exclusively read Minecraft books.

Laurana

My daughter didn’t really want to participate (she says she can’t remember what books she liked as a kid) but I did get her to agree that she liked these three books. One of the book series she liked as a kid were the Percy Jackson books. I think she’s read all of them.

My daughter was also into the Warriors series when she was younger. Our library didn’t have all of them, so she didn’t get the chance to read them all, but she read several of them.

My daughter also liked reading the Michael Vey books. I’m pretty sure we have all of these. I still haven’t read any of these yet, even though I want to at some point. Oh well.

Me

I loved the Little House on the Prairie books when I was a kid. I read this entire set several times. When my daughter was little I read most of these books to her. I’m not sure how far we got, but I know I read The Long Winter to her. Sadly, I let my daughter borrow my boxed set and she pretty much destroyed it.

My grandma got me interested in reading the Anne of Green Gables series. I think my favorite was Rilla of Ingleside, the last book in the series. I ended up inheriting my grandma’s set. I still need to read these again.

I can’t really think of another book that really stood out to me like the first two books. I did like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume though. I remember (in 4th grade) my teacher, Ms. Cheron, reading this book to the class. I think she followed up with Superfudge too. These were great books.

So there are ten books that me and my kids liked as kids! What books did you pick for today? Next week is “Things I’d Have at My Bookish Party.” I have no clue what I’m doing for that.

Fallen Glory

By Brookelorren on April 22, 2020April 21, 2020Leave a Comment

I have recently been trying to read more nonfiction. The real world is so interesting and it’s fun to find out more. Fallen Glory wouldn’t have been my first choice of nonfiction books though: the lives and deaths of history’s greatest buildings. I don’t know a lot about architecture. However, when I went to the Penguin Teen Tour in March, Marie Lu said she was reading this book, and the way she described it made it seem amazing (she was right).

Fallen Glory is not just a book about a bunch of destroyed buildings. It tells the story of the people that created the buildings and the people that destroyed the buildings. At times, it is a sad reminder of our lost history. For example, the first chapter is the story of the Tower of Babel. While we don’t know exactly where the exact site for the tower was, this book tells about some of the possibilities. It also tells the story of many of the artifacts of the time that were lost during the Iraq War, when thieves broke into an area museum and ransacked it.

It’s the story of buildings lost in both ancient and modern times, from Asia to America, with stops in the Middle East and Europe. With this as a backdrop, the author, James Crawford, weaves a compelling story. Chapter eight, for example, tells the story of the Nika riots in Constantinople. While you may or may not have heard of them before, Crawford gives all the background information you need to know for this to be an interesting story. Even if you’ve never heard of the Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora before.

The book tells stories of the obscure, such as Vilcabamba, to the well-known, like the Bastille. Not knowing about the former didn’t make it less interesting than the latter. Crawford is a great storyteller.

I thought one of the most interesting stories was the chapter on GeoCities, which wasn’t even a real city in the first place. Crawford tells how it was developed and later became popular. Eventually it was bought out by Yahoo! I could write a lot about Yahoo! I remember when they were so small that they still added their entries by hand. Yahoo! eventually closed down GeoCities, and in that one moment, years of early Internet history was erased (although some people were able to archive a lot of the site).

Conclusion

I really liked Fallen Glory. It’s not just a book about buildings: it’s a book about the societies that built the buildings, lived with the buildings, and watched its destruction. The stories it told were interesting. Some buildings I had heard of before, but others were new. Whether they were new to me or not, the stories brought a fresh perspective to the locations. If you’re interested in history ranging from the Tower of Babel to the 21st century, you may enjoy this book.

Titles that Would Make Good Band Names

By Brookelorren on April 21, 2020April 20, 202026 Comments

Hello! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl). Every week, we talk about a new topic. Tuesday is our day to gush over books, and you’re welcome to join in! Today we’re talking about Book Titles that Would Make Good Band Names. There are so many books that would make good band names! Simon Lewis from The Mortal Instruments came up with some REALLY horrible band names, until he finally decided to call his band The Mortal Instruments. That one stuck. But let’s see some more! I decided to go mostly with books I read in 2018, just so I can talk about some different books than I normally do.

Maybe some of these titles already are band names? I don’t know. If they are, it’s entirely coincidental.

I just finished reading Veronica Roth’s Chosen Ones, and that’s the first book that came to mind. That’s why it’s here. I love it as a title.

There was Ace of Bass, so why couldn’t there be a band called Ace of Shades? I was sad to learn, years later, that one of Ace of Bass’s band members was a former skinhead. 🙁 Let’s hope the band members of Ace of Shades are not that way. Maybe we can have the characters form a band with this title.

I could definitely see War Storm as a heavy metal band. It might not be my cup of tea music wise, but as a band name, it’s definitely catchy.

Frequency actually is a very music-driven book, so it’s not surprising to me that it seems like a good band name. Maybe the main character starts a band called Frequency after the book ends.

The Midnight Star would probably be a pop band with huge stage shows and flashy pyrotechics. At least that’s how I’d imagine the band to be.

I see Fangirl as the female equivalent of a boy band. A group of teenage girls singing pop songs about cute boys and crushes and things like that.

Addicted to Outrage would be another heavy metal band, I think. I don’t think the lead singer could audition for the role of Colonel Sanders though. I imagine the band members to be in their 20s with mohawks and a very gritty sound.

I think Fawkes would be a band whose brand would be wearing those Guy Fawkes masks on stage. They could get the audience to chant “Remember! Remember! The 5th of November!” as something of a catch phrase.

I actually still have to read Starfish (bad me!) but I think this would be a really cool band name. I think this would be a pop band with catchy tunes and the occasional ballad or mellow song you could chill out to.

A Reaper at the Gates would probably be another good metal band. It makes me think of death and anger. I probably wouldn’t be too fond of their music, but the band name is pretty cool. Maybe they could wear masks too.

So there’s ten! This was a fairly unique topic this week! What books did you decide to immortalize today as band names?

Next week we’re supposed to do Books I Wish I had Read as a Child. I’m not sure if I’m going to do that one, because I can’t really think of anything. But I do have an idea that twists the topic, and I think I’ll go with that. See you then and you’ll see what I come up with!

Chosen Ones

By Brookelorren on April 19, 2020April 19, 20201 Comment

What do you do for the rest of your life after you save the world? I recently had the chance to read Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth, which explores this question. It is her first adult book. While it was good, I don’t think it had quite the same magic as Divergent (which, after reading page 50, I finished, along with Insurgent and Allegiant, in two days).

Alternate Universes

Chosen Ones takes place in an alternate Earth. I thought this was a pretty cool concept, and think that so many interesting stories could be told this way. It is a little confusing at first, as it covers a time period that I lived through and–I don’t remember a monster called The Dark One invading the earth and almost destroying it. When you get to part 2 of this book, it makes even more sense.

Characters

Sloane, the main character, is suffering from PTSD. She was one of the Chosen Ones that saved the world 10 years ago, and she has never truly recovered and moved on with life. Her boyfriend, Matthew, another Chosen One, happily meets with people and is your typical extrovert. Esther, another Chosen One, has turned into an Insta! superstar. Perhaps the only person that seems to get her is Albie.

I don’t personally connect with Sloane as much as, say, I connected with Tris. I think some people will though.

Story

About a third of the way through the book, something happens where they have to save the world again. I can’t say too much without being spoilery. Sloane isn’t really happy with this–didn’t she already serve her time? Things are not exactly as they seem though. As the story progresses, we find out the truth, Sloane begins to make peace with her life, and of course… there’s a resolution, which I also can’t give away without being spoilery.

Conclusion

Chosen Ones is a fairly unique book. There are a lot of things I really liked about this book. I didn’t like this quite as much as I liked the Divergent and Carve the Mark series–there wasn’t a FourTris or Akos and Cyra that really drew me in, and that might be part of it. Although both Cyra and Sloane were characters that had been through trauma and were trying to deal with it, Cyra had Akos, and while Sloane wasn’t exactly alone, the book spends most of its internal focus on Sloane battling her demons, and there wasn’t as much of a connection to the people around her.

If you like Veronica Roth’s other books, read her other books and wish there was less emphasis on the romantic relationships but otherwise liked the books, or maybe would like a sci-fi book with very little romance in it, you might like Chosen Ones. I did like it. although I’m unlikely to be obsessive over it like I was with Divergent.

The Best Laid Plans

By Brookelorren on April 14, 2020April 14, 20204 Comments

I hope everybody is doing well staying inside and social distancing. Recently I requested The Best Laid Plans by Cameron Lund from my library, and they kindly bought it. If you’re looking for a sweet end-of-high school story about first loves, this might be the story for you.

It’s Keely’s 18th birthday, and she’s having a horrible time. Her best friend, Andrew, is having a party–and the last of her friends has lost her virginity. Keely feels all alone and inexperienced. Are things going to be worse when she’s in college?

Then, she meets a cute boy that looks like James Dean, and he seems to like her. Only now Keely has an even bigger problem. Her friends are telling her that he’s not going to like her if he finds out that she’s a virgin. So she hatches a plan. Ask her best friend Andrew, who’d never hurt her, to help her gain experience. After all, he always seems to be with a different girl.

The Characters

The characters in The Best Laid Plans seem realistic. Keely, the main character, is insecure about her experience with boys and has ideas of how she needs to behave in order to keep the boy she wants. Her girlfriends think they’re experts on relationships, but like a lot of high school girls, they aren’t. Andrew is a sweet boy and–some of the boys in the school are a little crude. But aren’t they in real life? Dean also seems like a lot of college boys that might find themselves interested in high school seniors without really developing a friendship first.

The Story

Over the course of the story, Keely realizes what she really wants. Her high school friends are involved in a little drama, and we realize at the end of the story what the cause of the drama is all about. I thought the story was great and tied up nicely at the end.

Controversy?

Some readers may or may not find the book controversial, especially if they don’t finish the book. There are things that are revealed at the end of the book that clarify the meaning of the book. For one, everybody seems to be sex-crazed. Seems is probably the best word for it, because we’re seeing this through Keely’s eyes, and this is something she’s anxious about. It’s something her circle of friends seems to care about. Are there people in her school that aren’t? Probably, but since the book is from Keely’s perspective, we don’t see that.

The other controversy in this book is that one of the characters is being slut-shamed. The book doesn’t condone that happening. By the end of the book, we find out who is doing it and why. Not all of the people in this book are nice. Some people in this book are pigs. But isn’t that reality? Especially in high school?

Conclusion

Overall, I thought the book was good. Perhaps not everybody is going to agree with Keely’s choices, and Keely’s view of the world may be skewed, but I think that makes it a realistic first-person POV book. The ending was sweet and slightly surprising–obviously since this book is categorized as a romantic comedy we know there’s going to be a happily-ever-after (or at least, for now), but I really enjoyed the lessons Keely learned and how things ended up turning out. If you’re looking for a sweet, best-friends-to-lovers book to take your mind off the news, I recommend it.

Books I Enjoyed But Rarely Talk About

By Brookelorren on April 14, 2020April 13, 202025 Comments

Hello! It’s Tuesday again, so it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl)! The other day I couldn’t remember what day of the week it was, but then I remembered that it was Top Ten Tuesday, so I knew it was Tuesday. It’s come to that. Anyway, today we’re talking about books we enjoyed but rarely talk about. There are books and authors I talk about all the time, and there are some that I loved but–don’t get the love they should. So today, we’re going to give them some love. So, no auto-buy (or nearly auto-buy) authors today, no books that were in my top ten for the year, etc. I’m not going to talk about books I read this year, because I haven’t had the chance to talk about them (or not) yet.

Alex, Approximately was such a good book, but I haven’t had the chance to mention it that much. I just love a story where characters meet over the internet. Maybe because I met my husband over the internet. This was my first (but not last) Jenn Bennett book.

I had difficulty putting down Every Other Weekend. It’s the story of two teens whose families have separated, and they get to see each other (and develop a relationship) every other weekend. It’s such a sweet story!

Safe Harbour is another book that I read last year, really liked, and haven’t said much about since. It’s about a girl who lived on a boat with her father, until he sent her up to Canada to wait for his arrival. He never shows up. The book deals with her life as she first realizes her dad isn’t going to show up, deals with being a homeless teen, and then ends up trying to figure out why her dad never came for her.

It would be terrifying to live in a city where people end up getting randomly attacked by mobs of teens. This is what happens in Every Stolen Breath. Lia’s dad died in one of these attacks, and when she tries to get to the bottom of it, she ends up endangering herself–and her loved ones. The book was hard to put down, but I haven’t talked about it much since my review.

Across a Broken Shore is a lovely historical novel that takes place in 1930’s San Francisco. It’s a book about a girl whose family has expectations for her that conflict with the things she wants. A little like the book I’m editing (except mine is fantasy). It’s a great story, but somehow when I’m talking about books each Tuesday, this one doesn’t often come to mind.

I could probably do several Top Ten Tuesdays like this. Song of the Crimson Flower was beautiful and I loved the story between Lan and Bao, but again, it just hasn’t come to mind for me to mention it.

Start Here by Trish Doller is such a lovely story about a couple of teens who were once a part of a trio of friends. When their mutual friend dies, they realize they don’t have a great deal in common; however, their mutual friend’s dying wish was for them to go on a sailing voyage together. It was a lovely story and I’m starting to tear up thinking about it. This is a fun summer read that I rarely talk about, but probably should.

I read On the Come Up last June, and I think I mentioned it a couple of times, but it was a really good book, but I don’t talk about it a lot. It was especially good on audiobook.

The Last Year of the War was such a sweet story. I think I talked about it a little shortly after it came out, but I read it last January and haven’t mentioned it in several months. I cried so much while reading this story. Make sure you have tissues ready. Or if you’re having trouble finding tissues in the store due to coronavirus, at least a towel or a sleeve to wipe your tears off on.

I haven’t mentioned Storm and Fury much since reading it either, even though I really liked it and hope to read the next book in the series. This was the first book I read by Jennifer L. Armentrout, but it wasn’t the last one (and I plan to read more). I really enjoyed reading about Trinity and Zayne and their magical world, and would love to find out more!

What books did you mention this week? It seems like it’s easy to forget about books that you really liked when they’re not YOUR MOST FAVORITE BOOK that you have to scream about week after week, or they’re not books that other people really liked that they mention all the time. I hope to hear about a lot of underrated books this week! Next week we’re going to talk about books that would make good band names.

The Lucky Ones

By Brookelorren on April 13, 2020April 13, 20201 Comment

I recently read The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson (thank you Netgalley and Delacorte Press for offering me an Advanced Reader Copy). This book came out April 7th so you can read it now!

This book deals with two characters that were affected by a school shooting. May lost her twin brother Jordan during the shooting. She hid in the closet while the shooter killed everyone in her band class. Zach’s mother is the lawyer who decided to defend the killer–most of his friends decided to abandon him after that. When they meet at a band audition, you would think that this might be a match made in hell. Or… maybe not?

The Characters

I have to admit, I didn’t like May at first. She wasn’t very nice, even to her friends. Even before the shooting, we probably wouldn’t have been good friends had we gone to the same high school. After May went through this trauma, she became selfish and mean. However, she sees tremendous growth in this story and by the end, I’m rooting for her.

Zach seems likeable enough. Again, we probably wouldn’t have hung around with each other had we gone to high school together, but he makes a good match for May. But first, they both have some issues to work through.

The supporting characters make the world vibrant and lifelike. Both May and Zach have slightly dysfunctional families. May’s parents were so wrapped up in her brother’s life before he was shot, that they really don’t pay much attention to their daughter, even after their son died. Zach’s mother is always off at work, and his dad has been struggling with depression and isn’t present, even though he lives with them. Their friends seem like the kind of people that would make good friends with Zach and May.

The Story

The Lucky Ones has a great story to it. Both Zach and May have to deal with a lot of things, including how to deal with each other. They both have to deal with guilt resulting from things they couldn’t control. Eventually, with some help from their friends, they learn to begin living again. Even their parents take their heads out of the sand.

Although it took me a while to get into the story, I was definitely invested in the characters and the outcome by the end of the book.

Conclusion

The Lucky Ones is a fairly serious book that deals with a fairly serious issue. Although we don’t have to worry about school shootings while we’re all isolating ourselves in our homes due to coronavirus, it’s likely to be a problem that comes back once schools reopen. The people that have been affected by school shootings, or will be affected, can have their entire lives altered. It’s a book that deals with depression and guilt, and as a result, can be something that a lot of teens can relate to.

I did enjoy the book, and recommend it if your heart can tackle more weighty issues right now. If you’re already in a dark mood due to the coronavirus and are looking for a lighter book that deals with school shootings, I recommend That Night by Amy Giles (link is to my review). If your heart can’t take it right now, I do recommend coming to this book at some point, as it was good.

Books I Bought Because They Were On Sale

By Brookelorren on April 7, 2020April 6, 202026 Comments

Hello! It’s Tuesday again, and I hope you’re doing well. It’s another Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl). Today’s topic is “Books I Borrowed/Bought Because…” and I’m going to do books I bought because they were on sale. I have trouble passing up $1.99/$2.99 books! I figure even if I’m only mildly interested in a book, it’s worth picking up at that price. So I’m going to go through my order history and share some of my bargains!

My favorite price for books? Free. That’s what Obsidian is going for, as of Monday (so it might still be free). There are always free books on Amazon, but they’re not always books I want to read. Anyway, I borrowed Obsidian from the library last year and I liked it, so I figured for free, I might as well get it.

Right before The Kingdom of Back came out, most of Marie Lu’s books went on sale. Don’t you already own them all? you might ask. Yes, but I didn’t own them all on the Kindle. Now I do. My family members tend to prefer Kindle books, plus you can search through them. So next time my family want to borrow my Marie Lu books, they can read them on the Kindle, instead of on my (now signed) first print hardcovers.

EreaderIQ is a great place to go to if you’re looking for cheap books. I track books that I’m interested in purchasing but don’t want to pay full price for and don’t have an urgent need to read right away. I was tracking The Bride Test for months. Although I saw the bargain first on Twitter, EreaderIQ did send me an alert to let me know this book went on sale. I’m tracking four other books at the moment. If they don’t go on sale by the time I want to read them, there’s always the library.

I wanted to read Romanov when it was still an ARC, but I didn’t get approved. However, I did see it on sale for $1.99 and I couldn’t pass it up at that price. I still haven’t read it yet, but I plan to at some point.

I tend to get a lot of books for $1.99. Sometimes I even forget that I’ve purchased them. One gem I’ve discovered while going through my orders to write this post today is Ruta Sepetys’s Salt to the Sea. I liked her book The Fountains of Silence, and when I saw this on sale, I couldn’t pass it up.

I keep saying that I need to read The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Myer. I’ve had the whole set for over a year–they were on sale for $2.99 each over Cyber Monday in 2018 (they also were on sale over Cyber Monday in 2019 too, but I had already purchased them). One of these days I really need to.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January was also another book that went on sale for $2.99 that I couldn’t pass up. Like many of the books on this list, I still haven’t had the chance to read it, but hopefully I’ll get to it at some point. At least Kindle books don’t take up a lot of space in your house.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely was another book I was able to find for $1.99. I really need to get to reading some of these books! Many of them look so good but I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet!

Sometimes I feel like a bad friend. My friend Katerina King’s book, Malediction, came out last fall, and I still haven’t read it yet. I want to! This book I also got on sale for $1.99.

Another book I got for $1.99 was A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas.

Sometimes I’m surprised at what books go on sale at such bargain rates. I certainly can’t afford every book I want at full price, so it’s nice that I can find these books at such low prices. It’s either that or the library, and sometimes it’s checked out.

What did you write about today? Next week, we’re going to talk about books I enjoyed but rarely talk about. So no books by my auto-buy authors next week!

Once a King

By Brookelorren on April 4, 2020April 4, 2020Leave a Comment

One of the things I’ve been doing since this coronavirus threat started strangling the world is taking more walks. This means… more audiobooks! I just finished listening to Once a King, part of the Clash of Kingdoms series by Erin Summerill. While I enjoyed the book itself, I didn’t care for the audio narration.

The Story

Once a King is narrated by Aodren, king of Malam, and Lirra Barret, daughter of the Arch-Traitor of Malam, and a wind channeler. Many people in the kingdom are gathered at a summit of nations. King Aodren is concerned because his father murdered channelers; he’s trying to right the wrongs of the past, but a lot of people don’t want to put the past behind.

Lirra’s father sends her a letter and asks her to deliver it to the “Bloody King of Malam,” as she calls him. They don’t have any respect for each other at first, but as they work together to solve a problem that is threatening the citizens of Malam–and Lirra’s da–they begin to like each other.

My Thoughts

I enjoyed the story, but I don’t think I was as enthralled by Once a King as I was with Ever the Hunted and Ever the Brave. I think the character’s relationship in the first two books of this series was more engaging. However, part of this could be due to the fact that I listened to this via audiobook, which I’ll get to later.

I enjoyed the setting in this book, and the villain did surprise me. There were tense moments and how they got out of these situations surprised me as well.

The Audiobook

I really did not like the audiobook narration. Almost everybody’s accents were unnatural and got on my nerves. King Aodren narrated half the book and I especially didn’t like his voice. He spoke with drawn out words that made him seem like he was bored. The side characters often had nasally, drawling, or otherwise unnatural voices that were often more annoying than not.

Overall

If you enjoyed Ever the Hunted and Ever the Brave, you’ll probably like Once a King. This book can be enjoyed without reading the other two books; however, they do give the background information on the magic system that would make getting into this book easier. Britta and Cohen get the briefest of mentions in this book (they’re away on their honeymoon), so don’t bother looking for more on that couple. If you liked the world and the magic system and want a little more of the world, I recommend this book. I don’t recommend the audiobook though.

Night of the Dragon

By Brookelorren on March 23, 2020March 22, 20202 Comments

Hello! I recently read Julie Kagawa’s Night of the Dragon. I really liked it (and look at that drool-worthy cover!). It is the third book in the Shadow of the Fox trilogy. If you haven’t read any of the other books, you might want to binge this series while you’re social distancing. Because this is the third book in the series, there may be spoilers for this review. You can read my reviews for Shadow of the Fox and Soul of the Sword, the two previous books, at the links above. A big thank you to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for providing me with Advanced Reader Copies!

Yumeko, Tatsumi/Hakaimono, and their companions must finish their quest to disrupt the Night of the Wish. Of course, as with any great adventure, their final leg of the journey is not without its perils. The final battle won’t be easy either. It left me in tears. But my tears of sadness turned into sweet tears of happiness at the end, so you’ll be okay reading this book.

Night of the Dragon has a massive plot twist. I won’t tell you what it is, but the book will answer questions you didn’t even know you had. There are villains in this book you weren’t even aware of. But I absolutely loved it.

The Setting

I loved Night of the Dragon. One of the things I enjoyed about the Shadow of the Fox trilogy is the medieval Japanese setting. In a really odd coincidence, I just happen to be reading an old book from 1970, Japan: From Prehistory to Modern Times by John Whitney Hall, right now. You don’t have to be reading a history book on medieval Japan to enjoy the setting (I loved the first two books last year) but it is making it more interesting for me. There are some terms that you might find unfamiliar, but there’s a glossary at the end and you can always google any unknown words. Even though there are things you might be unfamiliar with, to me, it makes the setting stand out even more.

The Characters

I love these characters! They all have come a long way since Shadow of the Fox, where Yumeko was a naïve half-kitsune and the rest of them all had something to learn. They are still the people they started this journey out as, only better. In this final segment of the story, they step up and fulfill their destinies. I can’t say much else because I don’t want to spoil the plot, but I did love how it all turned out. Even though it made me cry.

Conclusion

Night of the Dragon is definitely worth reading. A lot in this book’s plot depends on the other two books in the series, so you’ll definitely want to read those first. If you have read those (or if you haven’t, just binge all three books) then I definitely recommend this book. It will probably put you in tears (fair warning) but it was well worth reading.