Fiction

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I’m reviewing An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson. Please visit the author’s website here. I admit I wasn’t sure about reading this one for the longest time. I just didn’t think I would like it, and unfortunately I was right. It was a very disappointing read for me. I will say that An Enchantment of Ravens had a lot going for it, I just didn’t like the execution. The main character, Isobel, is a talented portrait painter with the uncanny ability of painting raw emotions on the portraits of her…

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I am reviewing The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell, the second installment of The Saxon Stories series. Read my review for The Last Kingdom, the first book of this series, here. Like all my reviews, this review has spoilers. The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell is a fast-paced and action-packed historical novel, and it is the first book in this series that follows this author’s well-known formulaic style. After defeating the Danes at Cynuit (and saving Wessex) in the process, Uthred falls out of favor with King Alfred whilst his enemies…

I don’t remember exactly how I first heard about The Oyster Thief by Sonia Faruqi but I thought it might be a book that I would appreciate given its interest in raising concern for the conservation of the ocean and the animals living in it. But this book was not what I expected. Coralline is a young mermaid engaged to the merman of her dreams, but on the night of her engagement party an oil spill wreaks havoc on her village and her little brother falls gravely ill. Blaming herself for his condition, Coralline decides to leave home and embark…

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I am reviewing The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. Visit the author’s website here. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang is the first book of the eponymous trilogy based on the second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). It is both a coming-of-age story and a grimdark military fantasy series. Trigger warnings for this book include self-harm, rape, genocide, drug use (the protagonist is an addict), violence and gore, torture, and death, to name a few. It is also a very popular, highly-acclaimed, and award-winning novel that debuted in 2018. This review has minor…

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I’m reviewing The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. This author, however, is best known for her second novel The Night Tiger (read my review here).Nonetheless, The Ghost Bride is also quite popular, and it has been picked up by Netflix for adaptation into a TV drama series. The show is available for streaming on Netflix’s website now. Visit the author’s website here. This review has spoilers. This book is definitely going to make it to my most surprising reads of 2021 list, for I liked it a lot more than I…

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I am reviewing Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. This is the author’s debut novel. Visit her website here. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint is a retelling of the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, from the point of view of the woman who helped Theseus kill the monster, Ariadne of Crete, daughter of Minos and the King of Crete. Or so that is what Goodreads says. Frankly, the synopsis of this book is a little misleading because this is not what the book is about. Yes, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur…