My last 5 books: Mostly fantasy

1. I Am Not Okay With This, by Charles Forsman. I watched the Netflix show years ago and I can’t remember it being like this. I recalled some things, but that ending was definitely changed in the show. I knew it was a comic and that I'd read through it in no time at all, but I didn’t expect the story to be both this disjointed and also make complete sense, at the same time. I've got the feeling I'd enjoy this a whole lot more if I was 20 years younger, but at the same time there’s so much in Syd's story that I recognise. The absolute despair and hardship of teenagehood.

2. The Devil's Whore, by Catherine Batty. She’s gotta stop. Like honestly, why are you in my head? There gotta be more pleasant places to be. I was so relieved in the beginning of this book. He lived T_T And then she goes and introduces Jack the Ripper and I get a massive flashback to a story I wrote in 2012 which included both Jack and Bathory as vampires... This plot didn’t head the same way as mine though lol. The multiple time skips in the middle ish were a bit jarring to read through, like whiplash from changing the setting too often, but other than that this was perfect. The lore is coming into its own, the story is settling into what it’s supposed to be, the introduction is over and now the fun begins. I'm less okay with this ending than I was with the previous one. Don’t you dare...

3. The Devil's Due, by Catherine Batty. Okay now I’m sad. Because it’s over. At least my favourite sorceror survived. I would’ve had some choice words if he hadn’t. I didn’t expect the twist with Leo tbh. After they had discovered he had the gene, albeit dormant, I figured there'd be something happening with that. I never expected he'd take the plunge. Throughout this whole trilogy I've enjoyed the scientific aspect of it all, attributing things to genes and DNA and a virus, it adds a modern feel to something that’s otherwise historic, gothic sometimes, even medieval fantasy tinged. From the moment I picked this book up I couldn’t put it down and finished it in 3 days (would’ve been faster if I didn’t have to work). Even shed some tears at the events towards the end. Only thing I didn’t love about this was the time skips at the very end, and I can’t really pinpoint why because I get why they’re there and what they’re doing, but I just... I don’t know. Fell flat because of all the action and emotion just before it? I went into this for the vampires, but now I want more gay sorcerors.

4. Fearful, by Lauren Roberts. This book just felt unnecessary. A bit of fluff about Blair and Lenny, otherwise this was just Fearless but from the perspective of a mostly silent spectator that's revoked a few times through Fearless, and also more deeply surrounding Kitt and his motives and feelings. Nothing that we couldn't live without and nothing that couldn't have been surmised from reading a bit between the lines in Fearless. It brings very little to the series and feels like an attempt to just capitalise on success. 

5. Beyond the Wand, by Tom Felton. Being a lifelong Potterhead I had heard most of all of these stories before from a great variety of different sources. Most of what I didn't know was the pre-Potter and post-Potter events. It wasn't a read I devoured exactly, but it was nice, and because it was such an easy read I finished it in basically two session. It's always heartwarming to read or hear the Potter cast members talk about one another because they always either love or respect one another so much, a big found family. The way Tom talked about himself as a kid gave off "I was a little shit" throughout and it was honestly such a joy to read, even though it was most likely annoying to deal with lol. When this book first dropped I read a lot of reviews talking about how he's too young for a memoir, some even saying that the book ended when it was just getting started because there was no more life left to cover, but in my opinion this book serves as an end to a chapter. This was everything that happened before, and now we're doing the rest. And in my opinion it works. It doesn't end before it starts, and there's a lot of living done. The ending, for me, really highlights how this book serves as a sort of closure to that period of his life. I liked it!