Incredibly detailed account of a bonkers power couple.

Demons, but make it fashion

Misunderstood hero just wants to give medicine to his family; climb corporate ladder.

I hope the robot that replaces me is way pettier than these robots.

Wanted a wintery thriller; got a wintery thriller.

I loved these terrible people.

Getting situated in the world and its vocabulary was a little tedious, but once things got rolling it was all very, very fun. Lots of open ends to look forward to in the sequel, which I'm starting right this very second.

I loved how much darker this book was than the first. Another very fun and disturbing fantasy-mystery with a smattering of body horror.

I don't know how hard I'll recommend this book to others. It might not be for everyone, but historical fiction written with a mix of contemporary and archaic vernacular about prisoners of war staging Euripides in a rat-infested pit was exactly for me.

It was uncomfortable to read at times but it was always beautiful, clearly written by a poet. I didn’t like Cyrus but I always rooted for him. His thoughts are a weird and wonderful place to visit, but I would never want to live in his head.

If you aren't locking yourself in an oubliette, covered in filth and bodily fluids while taking petty digs at your rivals, fantasizing about adolescents, and having unintelligible math epiphanies… are you even a genius?

Thought we were going to get some tree smut here; glad we didn't.

Bad person makes increasingly bad decisions; learns nothing.

It was light on ghosts? Related to this book so thoroughly I can't even make a joke. Required reading for anyone who's lost a father who was kind of hard to talk to.

I had to microdose this book about a dead child, being that it was about a dead child, but it was nice to be affected, and as brutal as Hamnet was... when it was lovely, it was really lovely.

A sweet and whimsical little love story that unfolds over a few centuries or so. A comically evil villain and demon horse took me out of it, but what it lacked in tone consistency, it made up for in vibes.

I might have hallucinated this one. For fans of Dark Souls, the Witcher, and the bubonic plague; also, the pope? I didn't always know what was happening, but I was grossed out every 5-10 pages. True nightmare fuel.

It's possible I am too old for this.

I am a sucker for historical fic with a cursed house and a faerie dream realm and a tortured magical man — except for the one ridiculous, suspension-of-disbelief shattering physical characteristic (not what you're thinking it is!) that makes him goofy as hell.

I usually love a whimsical MMC?

Lots of "worrying lips," monopoly-man villains, obvious revelations, and characters making sexy jokes at not-sexy moments.

Maybe too much insight into the minds of the total sociopaths aboard the Belgica. I get people want to be the first to see poles/go to poles/touch poles — but Amundsen's core innovation in arctic exploration was using sled dogs and then eating those sled dogs?

Un-put-down-able but deeply infuriating. I read it on a cross-country flight in one sitting but not sure it lives up to the hype.

Rune: that boy is inscrutable
Gideon: *does something scrutable*
Rune: that boy is inscrutable

Anyway I loved it.

Uterus magicians, tortured jocks, at least two people who are terrible at their jobs — I loved it.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is one of my favorite novels and if I know anything about Susanna Clarke it's that this woman has read a lot of books. Having left Piranesi with so much I'm just feeling all agitated wondering what I missed, and what else I'd need to know/read to really get it?

A little slow, needed more horsepower.

Idk you guys, I wish I'd started this trilogy ten years ago because it's really changing how I think about historical fiction. I hear Bring Up the Bodies is even better, and I'll get started on that soon.

Implausible! But very fun.

Three stars for the experience of reading this. It was fun to re-read, when I haven't properly read Jane Eyre since college. A lot of the quirks from the time this was written are a little funny now, honestly, and I had many good laughs.

Truly some of the most poetic and beautiful prose I've ever read. But omg it was tedious to always have to triple check who was talking in this six-person chorus of sorts every few paragraphs.

Some very fun escapism. Not always the best writing but also not bad either! The word 'festoon' is for whatever reason everywhere? My Kindle search says it appears 7 times, which is way too many. This really is a word you should only use once? Otherwise this novel was a pleasant surprise!

Just an incredible collection of artifacts from this time.

Michelangelo, it turns out, was not a party dude. But it was very fun to read about his masterpieces through the lens of his relentless complaining to friends and family.

Percival Everett is the kind of author that makes me feel like I never really learned how to read or write.

I have a soft spot for tortured magical creatures who are really just little cuties.

Nao was a deeply compelling character, and a pleasure to read. I'll definitely pick up more from this author, despite not really vibing with this one.

Thought I was going to love this book and sometimes I did. It's a wonderfully imaginative and creepy and thrilling work of magical realism that unfortunately has aged pretty poorly.

This was kind of a lot — one of those books that was painful to read for how sad and tedious it was. But also it was lovely and comforting, and I'm better for reading it.

Incredible in theory, a little clunky and repetitive in practice. The third act really delivered. I was one of the last ones to get off a flight because the last 50 pages or so had me in a chokehold.

Excuse me, what?! I would describe this as Shakespeare meets The Substance, and I'm here for it.

Really nice prose. They were snappy and precise and made up for what an absolute and unredeemable mess Greta is. There was a jauntiness and joy to the language, even when describing terrible traumas. Especially when describing terrible traumas.

Sweet and cozy but a little cloying for my taste. I appreciated the characters and their quirks and banter. Still, it took me forever to read because it felt like the stakes were just not high enough to keep me turning the pages.

Read this over two days and only stopped to sleep and parent and, coincidentally, see a ballet. I don't think the complexity of the relationships the book sets up pays off as richly as I wanted them to. But this really did not matter. It was immersive and heartbreaking and beautiful to read as an immovable, blanket-covered object.

A classic. A template for every vain, eccentric, vaguely mean guy I’ve ever dated. Doesn’t make me love Howl any less though.

So sweet and so cozy but I kept procrastinating on finishing it.

The first few chapters were so fun and charming, but they set my expectations a bit high! At some point it just felt like there was quite a lot of dialogue.

Everyone is insanely caffeinated. Their veins are rivers of caffeine. They are out of their minds on caffeine. It is also really unlikely that an academic studying Welsh history would have never been to Wales. I feel like you would not be able to keep this woman out of Wales

There was a lot to love in this book — it was atmospheric and mysterious and hard to put down at times. But I couldn't really connect with the main character — who was she? What did she do for fun? Her name's in the title but she is mostly just kinda hot and cursed.

Lots of brow knitting. Those brows could have knit sweaters for every child in Charity House.

You know how there is a guy who makes going to dive bars and liking bad beer like a core personality trait? That guy is in this book.

The first (overt) retelling of greek mythology like this I’ve read. Honestly I thought I’d hate it because how many times can we possibly rewrite these stories. But here we are.

Misunderstood demon seeks love in the wrong places; offers incredible bargains but gets little in return.

“A lover is not a comrade and never could be for a woman.” I listened to the audiobook to hear Toni Morrison’s delivery and it was soft and restrained and devastating. I sobbed in my car?!

I’m so charmed by this series. Something about these, from the cute little horrors (Po, my baby boy) to the whimsical brutality (?!) to the nonchalance over very grave magical injuries makes me lose my composure.

Bride doesn't promise to be anything other than what it is. Good for Bride! You do you!

Like many others, this one took me a while to get into but I was on board half way through — at least enough to continue the farseer trilogy. It was incredibly brutal, though, and it will take me a sec to pick up the next one.

Lots of things in here that would usually bother me, like a character writing in the MC’s journal as a way to switch perspectives. It was cheesy! There were moments I hated both main characters! But something about it was so charming and cozy.

Plus I have a soft spot for tortured magical creatures who are really just little cuties. I smiled a lot.

Strong dislike of the magic system. Too much rhyming? The vibes are good though. People have called it gothic and I don’t know! That doesn’t ring true for me.

MC is a strange caricature — once a troubled youth but then suddenly a hardened homicide detective? — but lots to like in terms of plot twists and turns.

Your enjoyment of this book will be contingent on enjoying the main character, who is kind of insufferable and weird about women. Even his mom maybe?!?!

Nice scene setting, but often feels unrealized. Lots of research, but a bit less soul. Still worth a read.

I just felt that the author seemed super constrained by the time period and all of the trappings you need to set a story there to really deliver on the promise. Otherwise it was so lovely, and I feel like Leigh Bardugo is always growing as a storyteller. Will read anything she writes!!