Kaleigh's Book Reviews

Kaleigh | 25 | Vampire Expert, AI Hater

[kbookblurbs]

HI!

My name is Kaleigh and I read a lot. This blog is here to track the books I read and whether or not I liked them. Most posts will contain some spoilers (I assume) so read at your own risk!

Let me know if you have any recommendations! I'm big on Sci-Fi and Fantasy, though I am super picky about both

Main is @a-menaceinpink - my dms here and there are always open!

Current Read: Phantastes: A Faerie Romance

Current TBR:

Children of Ruin - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Swann's Way - Marcel Proust

[kbookblurbs]

Pendergast: the Beginning - Preston & Child

3.5/5 - Very fun introduction to Pendergast; the timeline on this guy baffles me

I have made my peace with the fact that I will never understand the timeline of Pendergast's life. That said, this had a gorgeous setting and a fun villain, even if I (per usual) appreciate the miore horror-adjacent aspects than the fantastical. Even that, though, was a return to form for PReston & Child. It's much more grounded and has more magical realism to it than anything else.

I have to say I love that Pendergast is exactly as annoyingly unhinged as a younger man as he is older. It makes him much more of a full character and also quite funny as a scene partner.

[kbookblurbs]

Bloodless - Preston & Child

2.75 - WAY too much fantasy; I was actually kinda disappointed

Preston & Child seem to think I'm in this for the excessive sci-fi fantasy bit and I fear I am not. Best I can accept is light curses or mystical objects. This whole multi-layered reality nonsense and time travel is starting to piss me off (read: really piss me off).

As a certified vampire lover, I also was not happy about the crazy mosquito alternate dimension fake-out. I honestly would've preferred satanism.

[kbookblurbs]

Blood of the Old Kings - Sung-il Kim (The Bleeding Empire #1)

3.5/5 - Realistic ending; I didn't like the actual prose but the bones are good

This story was fine to me. It didn't stick out as particularly memorable, or as doing anything particularly innovative. It has a somewhat subversive ending by stopping short of fully revolution (in this book at least), somewhat analgous to how I imagine it would have been to rebel against the long arm of the Roman Empire, which coincidentally is clearly the inspiration for a lot of this.

I have to wonder, though, if the resolution isn't influenced by the author's Korean background and Korea's history with imperialization. I can't claim to know whether Korea has historically attempted to become a more independent colony outside of its context with the US (where that arguably is true).

My big thing is that I just didn't enjoy the prose. I think I just wasn't a fan of this translator's style of writing because the bones of the story are actually decent.

[kbookblurbs]

This Savage Song - V.E. Schwab

2.75/5 - Standard YA novel; American-style cultural Christianity, doesn't ever really interrogate where that comes from

Light spoilers

I picked this up having heard good things about it and I have to say I was disappointed. It's standard YA fare, the prose isn't anything objectionable, and if you're 15 reading this, I'm sure it's fascinating.

Unfortunately, I am not 15 reading this and thus, I didn't find it kept my attention. In my defense, I didn't know if was YA when I went in because I saw it recommended amongst a million other standard adult fantasy books. In any case.

The demons of this book really rely on the idea of "sin" and specifically that there are demons who function as literal sin-eaters. Their sustenance is the souls of sinners and its frankly really unclear when a sin becomes big enough that they want to eat someone's soul.

[kbookblurbs]

Thirst (La Sed) - Marina Yuszczuk

4.75/5 - Vampirism as a method of grieving and avoiding perpetuating pain inflicted upon you

Thirst really captured me for a couple reasons. The first is how Yuszczuk emphasizes that her vampires are truly "out of time". Our main vampire lead finds herself suddenly incapable of running the city as she was used to and beings to feel her age as the city progresses. It's an interesting way of looking at the human psyche as it decays over time, and this vampire emphasizes particularly the grief that comes of outliving everything you've ever known and your supposedly immortal companions. In every scenario, she alone remains after death. (There's also an interesting Fuck You Catholic Church scene, but I think that has more to do with the vampires feelings of indifference towards the idea of an all-seeing male god, particularly after escaping her first master, and less to do with the Church itself)

The second reason was the strain of desire that runs through this book. Both the vampire and our single mother admit to being unsatiable, always hungering for something more, something different, something and anything at all. The desire isn't always so literal as for blood, but also for connection, for understanding, for time - every entry of each woman's "diary" serves to show how lonely they both are. It's frankly quite sad, and the ending of the novel leaves a lot up to interpretation, but I found the novel lingering with me the more I read it.

[kbookblurbs]

The Time Machine - H.G. Wells

3/5 - Not my favorite of Wells' work; I love an epistolary novel

I'm not sure I agree with the theory that Wells puts forth here. It's confirmed in the text, so it can't properly be called a metaphor or allegory or anything similar, but the Eloi represent the upper class and the Morlocks the lower in the eventual degradation of the human race. This allows us to investigate a couple different things, particularly as they relate to the class stratification much more clearly visible in English society. The most clear point of this theory points to the upper class as being fundamentally incapable of the mundane tasks of human life - their lives are so easy, so devoid of strenuous effort and the grit of being alive that eventually they lose the capability to work simple machinery or fire at all. Coming at this book from 2025 with the rise of rampant generative AI usage, this holds a new weight.

The other half of this equation are the Morlocks, who represent the lower classes and those who more generally do the heavy labor of keeping up machinery that makes life so convenient. This group lives below ground and has for so long that they now represent cave creatures, with huge eyes that are extremely sensitive to any and all light. Wells portrays them as wickedly clever and arguably cannibalistic. While he's critical of the upper and lower class lifestyles in this book, I find the depiction of the lower class particularly to be a little mean-spirited. The depiction of the upper class is disdainful, sure, but there's no sense of the malice that the upper class propagated then and continues to propagate. They are reduced to harmless childlike figures when, if we're speaking historically, that is the group which would be most able to inflict harm (physical, mental, economic, or otherwise) on other people.

Given what I know about Wells' politics later in life, I'm forced to agree with his own assertions that this is a relatively amateur entry into his works. I really enjoy the format of the epistolary novel though (which I've recently learned was popularized in the early 18th century), so that was a plus here, but overall I wasn't overly impressed. Also the whole bit with Weena really threw me off in an unpleasant way.

[kbookblurbs]

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros

1.5/5 - it's a book

In all honestly, I probably would've rated this just slightly higher had the audiobook not closed with Xaden's POV which I just … hated. I just never want to hear from him. I thought being in Violet's head was annoying and then I got stuck in his and I have never wanted to leave more.

Let's begin! I don't like the relationship aspect of this book. I know it's a romantasy and honestly, I just wasn't that interested in the romance. I think what I've discovered it that I just don't really like romantasy novels most of the time - I'm almost always more interested in the politics or the worldbuilding or even the intricacies of the magic building than I am in the romance plotline. So fronting with the fact that I do not like the romance aspect as a main, rather than a side dish, I found myself irritated for most of the book because Violet is always distracted by how hot and irresistible and fuckable Xaden is. She has a job to do! She has good friends! Why are we always hearing about the chiseled lines of Xaden's abs and barely anything about Rhiannon, Ridoc, or Sawyer.

Putting that aside, the plot leaves something to be desired. It's mostly an extended training montage before launching into the world's worst battle scene and stutters between each interesting scene.

Unfortunately, Violet is also deeply annoying. I really wanted to like her - she has everything going for her and I thought it would be an interesting commentary on ableism, seeing as she has a condition that gives her chronic weakness and chronic pain. I would have liked more on her condition and the stabilization that she needs for her joints and less about how she's the tiniest, most waif-ish little girl you've ever seen. I recognize that's probably a reality for many people with chronic condition, but given the constancy of tiny little girls as main characters in fantasy novels, it irritates me more than a little. Also, her tendency to blurt exposition and world-building as a nervous tic was the kind of thing that children imagine smart people do.

Finally, and I know this is a personal gripe, I really dislike that Riorson is 23 and Violet is 18. Violet is talking about how she can't believe she could be so naïve to trust Xaden when again, she's literally only 18. It also just means that all this talk about how Xaden is so in control and has such an iron grip on his emotions has very little impact on me, because clearly it's not that great of willpower if he's giving into a woman he met like a month ago.

All things considered, not a book I particularly enjoyed, even though I do enjoy dragons and dragon novels - honestly the dragons were a little too human and a not inhuman enough. Their ways were understandable and their minds were knowable, contrary to what the narration tries to tell us.

[kbookblurbs]

Oh, and another thing, why are we heavy on the war and imperial propoganda in this book ... I know it's at least slightly because Violet is naive but it's omnipresent.

[kbookblurbs]

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros

1.5/5 - it's a book

In all honestly, I probably would've rated this just slightly higher had the audiobook not closed with Xaden's POV which I just … hated. I just never want to hear from him. I thought being in Violet's head was annoying and then I got stuck in his and I have never wanted to leave more.

Let's begin! I don't like the relationship aspect of this book. I know it's a romantasy and honestly, I just wasn't that interested in the romance. I think what I've discovered it that I just don't really like romantasy novels most of the time - I'm almost always more interested in the politics or the worldbuilding or even the intricacies of the magic building than I am in the romance plotline. So fronting with the fact that I do not like the romance aspect as a main, rather than a side dish, I found myself irritated for most of the book because Violet is always distracted by how hot and irresistible and fuckable Xaden is. She has a job to do! She has good friends! Why are we always hearing about the chiseled lines of Xaden's abs and barely anything about Rhiannon, Ridoc, or Sawyer.

Putting that aside, the plot leaves something to be desired. It's mostly an extended training montage before launching into the world's worst battle scene and stutters between each interesting scene.

Unfortunately, Violet is also deeply annoying. I really wanted to like her - she has everything going for her and I thought it would be an interesting commentary on ableism, seeing as she has a condition that gives her chronic weakness and chronic pain. I would have liked more on her condition and the stabilization that she needs for her joints and less about how she's the tiniest, most waif-ish little girl you've ever seen. I recognize that's probably a reality for many people with chronic condition, but given the constancy of tiny little girls as main characters in fantasy novels, it irritates me more than a little. Also, her tendency to blurt exposition and world-building as a nervous tic was the kind of thing that children imagine smart people do.

Finally, and I know this is a personal gripe, I really dislike that Riorson is 23 and Violet is 18. Violet is talking about how she can't believe she could be so naïve to trust Xaden when again, she's literally only 18. It also just means that all this talk about how Xaden is so in control and has such an iron grip on his emotions has very little impact on me, because clearly it's not that great of willpower if he's giving into a woman he met like a month ago.

All things considered, not a book I particularly enjoyed, even though I do enjoy dragons and dragon novels - honestly the dragons were a little too human and a not inhuman enough. Their ways were understandable and their minds were knowable, contrary to what the narration tries to tell us.

[kbookblurbs]

The Scholar & the Last Faerie Door - HG Parry

4/5 - slow plot; morally grey main character; dark academia if you squint

Major spoilers below!

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but I would remark on a couple of things here:

First, the pacing is a little bit all over the place. It's relaxed, almost languid in the first two sections of the novel before wrapping up the plot in record speed. The culmination of the plot happens so quickly that it's almost hard to enjoy. Maybe this is meant to reflect the state of mind of our protagonist, Clover, during this period but from a reader perspective, I found the pace change jarring.

I do think that this is making a nice commentary on the English class system, particularly as it relates to the university system over the pond. The magical aristocracy can only remain in their "superior" place thanks to their early exposure to magic and inherited wealth magical ability, and are not naturally superior in any way to those more "common" folk other than their access to resources. Furthermore, they're fundamentally reliant upon the subjugation of faeries and the colonization of their land. So basically, just normal Britain!

I do wonder what that implies for the other magical universities apparently scattered across the world. Are they also colonizing faerie land? Are we, as readers, to draw a parallel with the oppressed and colonized peoples of the human world with the fae? What does that mean for how they're portrayed? Obviously the silver birch dryad is meant to be perceived as violent with a clearly justifiably intention, but I do think it makes for an imperfect metaphor.

[kbookblurbs]

The Island of Doctor Moreau - H.G. Wells

3.5/5 - very quick read, very interesting depiction of the hubristic nature of man; some very racist undertones

One of the things I've discovered about myself is that I really enjoy the saga of novels / novellas told as letters, "posthumously" published papers written as real accounts, newspaper articles, etc. It's why Frankenstein, Dracula, and Carmilla remain some of my enduring favorite novels of all time. For that reason alone, I enjoyed the premise.

My rendition had a introduction by Margaret Atwood and I really enjoyed reading through the themes of the novel there - apparently it was received as quite blasphemous at the time (LOL). From my perspective, it seemed strongly about potential bastardization of science and how man might attempt to go beyond his means to appropriate God's power (if you're being Christian about it, which Wells was). To give it a modern blend, it's very Spy Kids 2!

Unfortunately, the way that Wells depicts the Beast Folk as easy to mistake for native Pacific Islanders or Africans is … crazy levels of racism actually. There's also some weird undertones related to how the breakdown in the Law for the Beast Folk comes from the women being more sexually available and abandoning strict Christian monogamy. Right now, I'm having trouble parsing if Wells' thinks that the breakdown of morality and higher reasoning would come with women becoming more sexually liberated, or if Wells thinks that the patriarchal gentry (depicted through Prendick) thinks this. Food for thought I suppose!

[kbookblurbs]

A Long Time Dead - Samara Breger

3.75/5 - good queer romance and found family; only okay as far as vampire novels go

I came into this book really hoping to enjoy it. While I did have a pleasant reading experience, I can't say this is a novel that I'll return to in the future.

From a prose perspective, I wasn't enamored but nor was I turned away. It was better than much of the flowery prose I've come to expect from modern fantasy writing, though I'll admit this feels like a lot of showing and not a lot of telling.

The queer romance at the center of this book is easily the highlight. Poppy and Roisin enjoy a beautiful relationship, and Poppy's blossoming friendship with the rest of the brood is deeply heartwarming. Despite some of the darker themes present, I would say this certainly qualifies as a "feel-good" read to me. That said, I do find that Poppy and Roisin fell into the "insta-love" trope and I wasn't convinced of their relationship until much later in the story.

I was disappointed to find that this novel wasn't doing anything new with the concept of vampires. I have always found myself more interested in stories that use vampirism as a method of exploring some aspect of humanity: the siren call of eternal youth, fear of mortality, grief and its long shadow over the world. This book, unfortunately, doesn't engage with really any of these concepts on anything more than a superficial level.

[kbookblurbs]

This Ravenous Fate - Hayley Dennings

3/5 - sapphic vampires in Harlem during prohibition; great concept, mid execution

Now I have only ever been to NYC once in my life and I was 10, so I don't really think that I have a good sense for what the city is supposed to feel like. I can say that I thought the jazz elements and the Prohibition setting were a lot of fun! I was also intrigued by the parallels between how Black people have been mistreated and abused in the medical field with the situation of the vampires, but that didn't seem to be a fully baked idea in this novel yet.

As much as I wanted to enjoy this novel, there was never any spark. Elise and Layla don't have very distinct voices - it was honestly difficult for me to tell when one section ended and another began. There doesn't feel like real tension between them because we never actually flash back to their history and the consistent disregard for any sense of vampire lore drove me up the wall.

I also just feel that the murder plot of this novel isn't very interesting because we all already know what happened and the "real cause" behind the murderer's actions is glaringly obvious.

All in all, a disappointing read for me and I don't think I'll tune in for the second book.

[kbookblurbs]

Little Rot - Akwaeke Emezi

3.5/5 - not sure this is a book for me

I can't deny that this book is well written - the prose is well constructed and at a sentence level, it's nice to read.

My problem is I just didn't really enjoy it. This book is a series of bad things happening to people who might be kind of terrible themselves. It's particularly glaring to me that much of this novel revolves around a teenage prostitute who is never given a POV chapter.

Frankly, it felt a little bit like Emezi was trying to create a novel that makes you feel vaguely gross after putting it down. With the exception of Ola, Souraya, and Ijendu, I didn't really like any of the characters, but also didn't quite feel enough about them to hate them either. It was a little bit like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

[kbookblurbs]

House of Hunger - Alexis Henderson

3.5/5 - vampires but also no they're not; kinda Lovecraftian; weak on the world-building

Overall, I would say that I enjoyed this book - I liked Marion as our central character and I liked the references to Elizabeth Bathory, who allegedly bathed in the blood of young maidens to stay young. I think there was a suitably Gothic aura surrounding the book, though the metaphor of the upper class as sucking the lifeblood of the poor and particularly the poor of the Global South was a little on-the-nose for my tastes. I also think we could have made the pull of wealth a little more of a constant theme throughout the book, as it gets left by the wayside after Marion leaves Agnes.

What I most appreciated was how Lovecraftian the reveal was - it felt a lot like A Shadow Over Innsmouth to me, with these strange creatures that come from the sea and proceed to cause problems.

What is keeping me from rating this any higher though is how limited the scope of the novel is. For all that this book allegedly has to do with the wider politics of the Houses, we never hear anything about them, even in Marion's lessons. The world-building is weak in that regard. Furthermore, it feels like much of the novel is spent telling us how someone should or does feel, plodding from one plot point to the next without any real push or pull in any direction. Marion is also frustratingly naïve at times.

[kbookblurbs]

A Tale of Mirth & Magic - Kristen Vale

4/5 - cutie love interests; delectable descriptions of food and sex; kinda sorta insta-love

Shout out to Kristen Vale who I know personally! This was her debut romance novel and I really enjoyed it - I thought it was incredibly sweet and I did accidentally read all of it in one sitting.

Anyway! Very cutie soft romantic male lead who is a little too in touch with his emotions and a little too overwhelmed by them at times. Hilarious, flirtatious, devil-may-care fat romantic lead. It's a match made in heaven!

But truly, I appreciated that this book had just enough plot to support the romantic musings, and that their miscommunications were eventually cleared up (even if, at times, I doubted how a person / half-elf / half-giant could come to those conclusions so quickly). An excellent use of the miscommunication trope that everyone wrongfully hates on!!

My only thing that took away from the overall sense of joy I have is how quick the plot moves - I never really love a plot / romance that begins and ends within a week, even if it makes sense in-universe.

[kbookblurbs]

The Woods at Midwinter - Susanna Clarke

3.75/5 - short 'n' sweet

This book would be excellent for young children and while it truly is brief - concise and to the point to a fault - I think it gives a very clear picture of what's going on in Clarke's head in the realm of writing Piranesi (excellent novel which everyone should read)