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#historicalfantasy
review
bookandbedandtea
What the River Knows | Isabel Iba�ez
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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 ⬇️ 2d
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. 🤷‍♀️ 2d
33 likes2 comments
blurb
bookandbedandtea
What the River Knows | Isabel Iba�ez
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It's finally cold enough to turn on the fire (hooray) and I'm starting a new book (hooray again). 😊

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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. 5d
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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Pickpick

#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.
7d
TheSpineView Fantastic! 7d
BookmarkTavern I‘m really looking forward to this one! 7d
Andrew65 Excellent 👏👏👏 7d
57 likes5 comments
review
Jari-chan
A Restless Truth | Freya Marske
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Pickpick

A low Pick. It's enjoyable and can be read without knowing the first book in the series. But for me it was lacking on atmosphere and chemistry between the characters. Even though they were written quite well, I never felt close enough to really care about them or their case.

(And yes, I need to finish my reviews before 2025!)

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marleed
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Pickpick

Sometimes I have to work myself up to epic stories about of ancient kingdoms - all the characters and their parts. I‘m so glad I prioritized this because I was all in from beginning to end. It was the perfect cast of characters to tell this story, and I was never completely convinced which way Xishi‘s heart would land. The ending was so good.

66 likes1 stack add
review
TorieStorieS
What the River Knows | Isabel Iba�ez
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Mehso-so

I‘m a sucker for an Egyptian mystery/adventure but when I heard it was to be a duology, I waited to have the second in hand before cracking this open! Considering that cliffhanger of an ending, I‘m glad! Main character Inez leaves Argentina after receiving a letter about her parents‘ disappearance in the desert. Always longing to join them, she hopes to uncover the truth of what happened to them. Some predictable turns & Inez‘s naïveté soured it.

review
behudd
Ten Thousand Stitches | Olivia Atwater
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Mehso-so

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
I think my interest in/enjoyment of this second book was colored by both how demanding real life is right now & how much I absolutely loved the first one.
Seeing Lord Blackthorn again was fun as he was such a memorable side character from the first book, and I liked the upstairs/downstairs aspects and learning about more details of faerie.
So I liked it, just not as much as book 1.

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ju.ca.no
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Halfwayr through with this one and so far it‘s very intriguing- the eerie wasteland makes me think of Vandermeer‘s Annhilation/ Southern Reach novels which I also enjoyed lots!