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#historicalfantasy
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julesG
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#BookMail

Pub Day is 11 February

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TeamFiction
What the River Knows | Isabel Ibaez
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15 likes1 comment
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swynn
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(2022) It's a historical fantasy set in the ninth century, following the travels of an Icelander across Europe, looking for horses to bring back to Iceland to make his fortune. The author is a medievalist, and brings her knowledge of the time and its literary forms to the story. I am not a medievalist, but do know she delivered a mesmerizing story that feels authentic about ambition, social change, and (of course) horses.

Bookwomble I loved this one ❤️🐎❤️ 3w
27 likes1 comment
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Night_Reader
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Pickpick

3.8/5 ?

"So long as we continue to put mortal me on thrones and hail them as gods, sacrifice our lives to their legacies, history will repeat itself."

A departure from my usual reads, but I enjoyed it. While some parts felt a bit clichéd, the overarching message about men, power, and legacy was poignant and well delivered. Overall, an enjoyable read.

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mdemanatee
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2024 was kind of an odd reading year for me in terms of headspace for large portions of the reading year. And while I‘m hoping to feel more connected and present in my reading in 2025, I still read some absolutely fabulous titles. Did any of these make your top reads of 2024 and what were your favorites?
More thoughts: https://youtu.be/fCvaUqADor0

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underground_bks
Masquerade | O.O. Sangoyomi
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Pickpick

Inspired by the history of 15th century West Africa and the myth of Persephone, this well-plotted and rivetingly-told historical fiction is for fans of women‘s rights—but more importantly women‘s wrongs, troubled mother-daughter relationships, court intrigue, and underdogs who bite back. I do wish we‘d gotten more of Òdòdó‘s backstory so her character development was deeper and richer.

Julsmarshall I loved this one! (edited) 1mo
Julsmarshall So good! I had the opportunity to meet the author and she was lovely. So young and so smart! 1mo
mariaku21 I'm going to have to find this at the library! This sounds really interesting 1mo
23 likes1 stack add4 comments
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bookandbedandtea
What the River Knows | Isabel Ibaez
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Pickpick

A fun read, for the most part, but I do have a few issues. I liked both Inez & Whit but would have appreciated more character development. This was described as The Mummy meets Death On The Nile & I'm so glad I didn't see that until after as it would have been disappointing on both counts. My brain wanted to compare it to the Amelia Peabody series but luckily I was able to keep pushing that thought away as it would have fallen short there too. ⬇️

bookandbedandtea I enjoyed the description of the river journey and of the temple at Philae but the existence of (former) magic in the world was poorly explained and, given that it was supposed to be so rare, there sure were a lot of magical items around! Tio Ricardo was super inconsistent and his refusal to give Inez ANY information didn't make sense. Whit's situation is TOO obscure. I dislike cliffhangers so this ended on a sour note for me. I was already ⬇️ 1mo
bookandbedandtea prepared to read the 2nd book but the last page pissed me off so now I'll have to see when or if I get to it. I realize I'm making it sound like I didn't like the book but I did! I'm just having a hard time with the things that didn't work for me. 🤷‍♀️ 1mo
37 likes2 comments
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Larkken
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#12Booksof2024 August
I read or heard an interview with Arden somewhere that this book came about when she started thinking about how this time period changed so many of our perceptions of the world and she decided to write about how it might have changed our perception of the devil. I deal with WWII a lot for work and the idea of this - the devil finding a new calling in WWI France - really spoke to me.

Andrew65 Sounds a very interesting read. 1mo
30 likes1 comment
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nitalibrarian
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I finished 8 books in December. My two favorites were The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door and an ARC of Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales. Both books with faeries!🧚‍♂️

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julesG
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#MountARC #NetGalley #ARC

Emily and Wendell embark on their journey into Wendell's realm. Having previously defeated his step-mother, taking the throne should be a formality, yet it is not so easy. A dark curse is threatening the kingdom and Emily soon realises they are living in a "fairy tale" whose many versions don't seem to have a happy ending. Emily is determined to use all her scholarly powers to find ⬇️

julesG ... the one iteration of the story that has a happy ending.

The third Emily Wilde novel is just as good as its predecessors. It's cosy and dark and sweet and funny, and the perfect read for an otherwise grey day.
1mo
TheSpineView Fantastic! 1mo
BookmarkTavern I‘m really looking forward to this one! 1mo
Andrew65 Excellent 👏👏👏 1mo
58 likes5 comments