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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Book Series I Want to Catch Up On
My TBR haunts me, it really does. And the series are the scariest because one book leads to another and another and another… Yet, they’re also the best because it’s very likely that if you like one, you’ll like the next. Sometimes I never want a series to end but alas, these are the first world reader problems I face every day. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has listed and inevitably adding a few new series to my TBR from seeing your lists! 😅
Top Ten Book Series I Want to Finish
The Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan – I read the first book in 2014, more than ten years ago! I remember loving it at the time but I haven’t continued the rest of the series and I don’t know why. I need to start over!
The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien – I have the full audiobook series narrated by Andy Serkis and I was so excited to listen to them, but the first night I did, Serkis’ scary Gollum voice woke me up in the middle of the night and I haven’t dared to read it to bed since. I’ll have to try again while I’m awake in the daytime.
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King – Technically, I read the first book a long time ago and didn’t like it at the time, but I’ve changed my mind about Stephen King recently and I’m doing a personal Stephen King reading challenge, so I’m going to have to come back to this.
Poison Study series by Maria V. Snyder – This has been on my TBR forever, it’s embarrassing at this point.
Maddaddam series by Margaret Atwood – I read Oryx & Crake a couple of years ago but never got around to the rest of the series. I’ve forgotten enough that I’ll need to reread the first book again before moving on to the others.
The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells – I read and loved the first six books of The Murderbot Diaries, but two more have been released and I haven’t read those! I’ll also need to reread the first six before reading the latest two!
Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor – I am currently in the middle of this series! I have just finished the first two and am on the third. Hoping to finish this one up until the latest book instead of leaving it for years and having to reread again later.
The Saint of Steel series by T. Kingfisher – I just bought the full series on audio and I am excited to dive into them right after I finish the Bobiverse! Fingers crossed!
The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater – I’m on the fence with this one. I just finished The Raven Boys a couple of months ago but I’m not sure I like it and I’m not sure if I want to finish the rest of the series…but I already bought the whole set so I feel like I should.
Spellshop series by Sarah Beth Durst – I read The Spellshop not long ago and loved it, but apparently there are already two more new books in the series already released and another one coming out next year! I need to catch up!
Have you read any of these series? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these series?
Rosa Mandolini knows in her heart that her family are the greatest painters of magical illuminations in the city. But the eccentric Studio Mandolini has fallen on hard times and the future is no longer certain.
While trying to help her family, Rosa discovers a strange magical box protected by a painted crow. But when she finds a way to open the box, she accidentally releases the Scarling, a vicious monster determined to destroy the Mandolini family at any cost.
With the aid of her former best friend and a painted crow named Payne, it’s up to Rosa to stop the Scarling before it unmakes the magical paintings that keep the city running, and hopefully save her family in the process!
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
It’s T. Kingfisher!
The Quotes
“That’s one of the hardest parts of being an artist, you know—learning to be patient with yourself when you’re not as good as you want to be.”
“Being interesting seemed like a much better deal than being handsome.”
“Rosa thought she might be getting a headache. Maybe it was because she was rolling her eyes so hard.”
“In life, we are always seeking after something. Love…fame…glory…stuffed armadillos. It is the human condition.”
The Narrator(s)
Raquel Beattie. Loved it!
My Thoughts
This is marketed for middle grade so I didn’t expect to like it as much as I like the author’s adult novels, but I think I love it more than some of her adult novels! Rosa is such a character and I love Payne as well. Kingfisher has such a knack for writing the best characters and the non-human ones are some of the best ones.
One thing that infuriated me the most in this story is how her family blamed her for things that weren’t her fault, I thought it was horribly unfair and borderline abusive to immediately blame her and not even let her defend herself. However, the rest of the story is great and her family somewhat redeem themselves a little bit.
I do love the idea of the illuminations and the magical system in this book, and I love how creative and imaginative everything in this story is. Reading this book make me experience the joy and magic I used to experience as a child reading stories like these. I think we should never get too old for magical experiences and I love that this book gives me a taste of it once again.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again…
All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing from the frontline and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris’s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.
But when Iris’s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands – that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper – an unlikely magical connection forms.
Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and, most importantly, love?
An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
This series has been on my TBR for a couple of years. Someone recommended it to me a while ago after I mentioned I love epistolary books and while this series is not fully epistolary, it does have letters as a form of communication and that’s close enough!
The Quotes
“It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel the same as you: I can’t risk having people behold me as I truly am. But there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, “You will miss so much by being so guarded.”
“I don’t think you realize how strong you are, because sometimes strength isn’t swords and steel and fire, as we are so often made to believe. Sometimes it’s found in quiet, gentle places.”
“My favorite season is autumn, because my mum and I both believed that’s the only time when magic can be tasted in the air.”
“He found me on my darkest day. He followed me to war, to the front lines. He came between me and Death, taking wounds that were supposed to be mine.”
The Narrator(s)
Alex Wingfield. Rebecca Norfolk. They were both great and I enjoyed the narration very much.
My Thoughts
Book 1 – Divine Rivals I enjoyed the book very much but I do want to state that while there was some initial rivalry between Iris and Roman, I would hardly call it enemies-to-lovers. It was quite a short-lived rivalry, and they didn’t actually hate each other and were even friendly and helpful to each other at times. I do love the slow-burn though, and one of the reasons I love epistolary novels is because you get to know a person through actual communication, which they did here through their letters. I liked the world-building and the God-lore too, but I feel like there’s still a lot of information missing about who the Gods are and why they are important at all. I was very upset at the end of this book because I feel that what happened did not have to happen and was just drama for a dramatic ending’s sake.
Book 2 – Ruthless Vows I did not like the second book as much. It felt like there were a lot of back-and-forth with things happening that are time-fillers rather than any actual important thing that moves the story along. I also didn’t really like Roman’s role and character in this book; I understand why his role was important to the story but the feeling is like, the story was driving his role, rather than his role driving the story, if that makes sense. I still enjoyed the overall story throughout the series, and I like that we find out more about the Gods here. Still an enjoyable story and worth reading!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this series? Would you read them? Did you like the series or do you think you would like it?
On a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.’ Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen’s alleged age of peace, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies.
Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.
When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
It’s been on my TBR for a while because everyone says how good it is. I’ve also read Blood Over Bright Haven by the author and loved it, so I thought I’d love this one too.
The Quotes
“You learn over time that the world isn’t broken. It’s just… got more pieces to it than you thought. They all fit together, just maybe not the way you pictured when you were young.”
“Most strong things are rigid. If you are water, you can shift to fit any mold and freeze yourself strong. You can be strong in any shape. You can be anything.”
“But if I learned one thing from Firebird, it’s that a person’s tragedy doesn’t define them or cancel all the good in their life.”
“Why don’t you try taking responsibility for the things you can control instead of the things you can’t?”
The Narrator(s)
Andrew Tell. He was really good.
My Thoughts
I have mixed feelings about this book. I loved the first 50-60% of it, and you can be sure I ugly cried for hours at that part. It’s a great story with great world building, and I loved how emotional it was, how visceral everything felt. Every character in the Matsuda family was so compelling; I loved them, I hated them, I wanted to be their bff, I wanted to hurt them… It held my heart in a vice grip from the beginning, and I loved it.
However, the later part of the book felt like it went on too long and didn’t have a place to go. It wasn’t a bad ending; I’d say it ends properly for a story of just the Matsuda family but there were still many unanswered questions about the state of the world of Kaigen and how that affects the Matsuda family. I understand this is because it’s technically a prequel to the author’s Theonite series, which was released a few years before this book but takes place years after the events of this book. Realizing this gives me a little more context to why this book ends the way it does, but as it’s marketed as a standalone, I feel very disappointed in the lack of a more concrete ending.
Having said that, I’m not sure if I’ll bother with the Theonite series as they feature a new set of characters and it’s the Matsudas I fell in love with here, but I am curious to see where the world stands in those books so never say never.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Lucky St. James, a Métis millennial living with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella, is barely hanging on when she discovers she will be evicted from their tiny Toronto apartment. Then, one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky. Burrowing through a wall, she finds a silver spoon etched with a crooked-nosed witch and the word SALEM, humming with otherworldly energy.
Hundreds of miles away in Salem, Myrna Good has been looking for Lucky. Myrna works for VenCo, a front company fueled by vast resources of dark money.
Lucky is familiar with the magic of her indigenous ancestors, but she has no idea that the spoon links her to VenCo’s network of witches throughout North America. Generations of witches have been waiting for centuries for the seven spoons to come together, igniting a new era, and restoring women to their rightful power.
But as reckoning approaches, a very powerful adversary is stalking their every move. He’s Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself.
To find the last spoon, Lucky and Stella embark on a rollicking and dangerous road trip to the darkly magical city of New Orleans, where the final showdown will determine whether VenCo will usher in a new beginning…or remain underground forever.
“She breathed deep, appreciating the moment of solitude. Silence in an outdoor space had a presence instead of an absence.”
“Her grandmother liked to remind her that gratitude was the strongest spell, one that attracts, that transforms, that makes clear.”
“Anxiety makes everything feel very big or very small, depending on which is more hurtful in the moment. Being suddenly relieved of anxiety in this moment gave her a clear understanding that this was the life she had been running towards.”
“At one point, Lettie would have said indifference was worse than cruelty, because cruelty is at least full of passion. Now she knew different.”
The Narrator(s)
Michelle St. John. It was fine.
My Thoughts
I feel like I might have liked it more if I hadn’t gone in with high expectations. It wasn’t necessary a bad story, but it was a slog to get through and a lot of the plot points were more convenient than plausible. A lot of details were also inconsistent, some more obviously so than others; the initial impression that Venco was a big, rich and powerful company only to later seem like they were all alone and had no other help, all the Christian practices in what’s supposed to be a paganistic coven, the antagonist’s behavior in his encounters with opposition, the way the witches were discovered versus the last one.
There was a lot of potential for this story but the characters felt unrealistic to me, the things that happened to keep the story going were drawn out too long, and I didn’t like all the way things just conveniently happened to move the story along. The final quarter of the story got a little more interesting, and I was hopeful for a strong ending but it ended up feeling convenient also. I was really hoping for something good since I love stories about witches and magical heritage, but I feel like this story is all over the place and has no idea what its own message is. It’s quite a disappointing read for me.
My Rating
⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
The Talisman Series by Stephen King and Peter Straub
Jack Sawyer, twelve years old, is about to begin a most fantastic journey, an exalting, terrifying quest for the mystical Talisman—the only thing that can save Jack’s dying mother. But to reach his goal, Jack must make his way not only across the breadth of the United States but also through the wondrous and menacing parallel world of the Territories.
In the Territories, Jack finds another realm, where the air is so sweet and clear a man can smell a radish being pulled from the ground a mile away—and a life can be snuffed out instantly in the continuing struggle between good and evil. Here Jack discovers “Twinners,” reflections of the people he knows on earth—most notably Queen Laura DeLoessian, the Twinner of Jack’s own imperiled mother. As Jack “flips” between worlds, making his way westward toward the redemptive Talisman, a sequence of heart-stopping encounters challenges him at every step.
For my Stephen King challenge and because the third book in this series is coming out this year!
The Quotes
“Everything goes away, Jack Sawyer, like the moon. Everything comes back, like the moon.”
“You don’t own a thing unless you can give it up, what does it profit a man, it profits him nothing, it profits him zilch, and you don’t learn that in school, you learn it on the road, you learn it from Ferd Janklow, and Wolf, and Richard going head-first into the rocks like a Titan II that didn’t fire off right.”
“A universe of worlds, a dimensional macrocosm of worlds—and in all of them one thing that was always the same; one unifying force that was undeniably good, even if it now happened to be imprisoned in an evil place; the Talisman, axle of all possible worlds.”
“That’s how craziness works. You make connections that aren’t real.”
The Narrator(s)
Frank Muller. He has a kind of inflection at the end of sentences that distracted me at first but I got used to them as I went further into the book and stopped noticing them. Other than that, I loved his narration! His voices and the way he portrayed the characters were amazing!
My Thoughts
These books were written years apart; The Talisman in 1984, Black House in 2001, and finally, Other Worlds Than These only coming out in October 2026 (so it’s not out yet at the time of this writing). I haven’t read many of Straub’s works (I very much intend to!), but everyone knows I’m a fan of King, and I love that he often writes stories where we see the protagonists as children and then later as adults (IT, The Shining and Doctor Sleep, etc.) and we still feel the continuity and consistency of the characters and their growth. This is my first time reading these books in The Talisman series so I’m seeing these characters for the first time. In hindsight, maybe I should’ve waited until the final book came out but I got caught up in the excitement and I wanted to be ready for it.
As usual, the best part about King’s books is his characters. Meeting Jack Sawyer for the first time as a 12-year old, I love how realistic it feels to have a boy his age facing all the difficult things that happen, the way he handles them, and how he had to step up and grow up. I feel so much for Jack having to do difficult things but I also believe in the resilience and the adaptability of children his age. They learn fast, they adapt to new realities more easily, they bounce back and try again, and I loved seeing Jack do all of those things.
I also love the other characters; Wolf, Speedy, and even Richard Sloat. Wolf is the purest and best person in the world and if you’ve read the book, you won’t wonder why he has my heart. Richard was difficult to like at first but he grew on me, and maybe claiming love for him is a little too strong but I did like him in the end.
This book was such a journey. I love how King’s books transcend genres; it’s portal fantasy, which I love, but it’s also horror, epic fantasy, thriller, adventure. He just tells the stories and disregards categorizing them – as we all should. I also want to acknowledge Straub as co-writer, I don’t mean to ignore his contribution to the book, I’m just not familiar enough with his works and have no frame of reference to comment upon who he is as a writer in relation to this book. I mean to remedy that as soon as possible! I can definitely see the difference in voice with this book as compared with other King books though, and I’m attributing that to Straub’s contribution. I’m looking forward to more of this series, and more from both these authors!
So many years have gone by since we first saw Jack Sawyer as a 12-year-old. He’s now 31 years old and a retired cop; he’s able to retire young because he’s got money from his family. He moves to a new place which is of course, in a crisis, from a serial child murderer, and is asked to come back from retirement to help catch the murderer. He resists but the killings are related to his childhood adventure and he is uniquely qualified to fix it.
I love seeing him as an adult and still recognizing the same spirit in him that we saw in the first book. Again, the characters are the best thing about this book, and one of the things I love most is how the characters are portrayed; now that Jack is an adult and the victims are children, we initially see the children as helpless and vulnerable (which is still true in a case such as this!), but we are later reminded by a 10-year old Tyler that children are also smart, resilient, and powerful. I just love that. Obviously, I don’t like that any child was hurt by a serial killer or put in any dangerous situation, but I love that King and Straub write Tyler as having his own agency and power and not just as a helpless victim.
The other characters are amazing too, no surprise there; Beezer, Doc, Dale, Judy/Sophie, and my darling Henry. I love them all. If I had read this series before knowing the third was coming out, I’d have been satisfied with the ending but definitely filling in the blanks with my own ideas of what happens next. Now I’m just anxiously waiting for the next book so I can have some questions answered.
As of this writing, I have not read The Dark Tower series but I’ve seen references to it on Stephen King’s various fan sites, and I’m so excited to see that this story has some connections to The Dark Tower series. I can’t wait to read TDT series next and see what all the hype is about!
Book 3 – Other Worlds Than These For the reading challenge(s): TBD
Coming in October 2026!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this series? Would you read this series? Did you like the books or do you think you would like them?
Castle Rock is a small town, where word gets around quickly. That’s why Scott Carey wants to confide only in his friend Doctor Bob Ellis about his strange condition: he’s losing weight, without getting thinner, and the scales register the same when he is in his clothes or out of them, however heavy they are.
Scott also has new neighbours, who have opened a ‘fine dining experience’ in town, although it’s an experience being shunned by the locals; Deirdre McComb and her wife Missy Donaldson don’t exactly fit in with the community’s expectations. And now Scott seems trapped in a feud with the couple over their dogs dropping their business on his lawn. Missy may be friendly, but Deirdre is cold as ice.
As the town prepares for its annual Thanksgiving 12k run, Scott starts to understand the prejudices his neighbours face and he tries to help. Unlikely alliances form and the mystery of Scott’s affliction brings out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others.
From master storyteller Stephen King, our ‘most precious renewable resource, like Shakespeare in the malleability of his work’ (Guardian), comes this compelling tale about finding common ground despite differences, a story with deep resonance for our time.
For my Stephen King challenge, plus it was available immediately on Libby when I was looking for a quick read.
The Quotes
“He thought he had discovered one of life’s great truths (and one he could have done without): the only thing harder than saying goodbye to yourself, a pound at a time, was saying goodbye to your friends.”
“Why feel bad about what you couldn’t change? Why not embrace it?”
“Gravity is the anchor that pulls us down into our graves. There would be no grave for this man, and no more gravity, either. He had been given a special dispensation.”
“Sometimes he thought of a saying Nora had brought home from her AA meetings: the past is history, the future’s a mystery.”
The Narrator(s)
The author himself. Stephen King!
My Thoughts
I remember reading this one some years ago, but not paying much attention to it and not remembering much about it after. I enjoy it a lot more this time around. It’s light and whimsical, which is an interesting thing to say about a Stephen King story, but that’s what I love about King; you never know what you’re going to get but you are always going to be in for a great journey. I say journey, because honestly the story is a bit of a nothing-burger, nothing of substance really happens and it feels more like a fairytale than a serious story, but I always enjoy King’s storytelling. His easy way with words, even when you’re reading his scariest book, just keeps me going back to his books over and over again.
This book is a novella at only 146 pages; the characters are interesting but conflicts get resolved quickly and easily, and it’s more of a feel-good story which I’m perfectly happy with sometimes. I also like that there’s a race scene because I’ve been getting into running and reading a few running books recently. It was a really nice, fun read.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”
It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
This series has been on my TBR ever since it came out years ago but I hadn’t managed to get my hands on the books until they went on sale on Audible recently.
The Quotes
“She wasn’t interested in telling other people’s futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.”
“She recognized the strange happiness that came from loving something without knowing why you did, that strange happiness that was sometimes so big that it felt like sadness.”
“Watch for the devil. When there’s a god, there’s always a legion of devils.”
“People shout when they don’t have the vocabulary to whisper.”
The Narrator(s)
Will Patton. I love him as a narrator for Stephen King books and having him narrate this book gives it some Stephen King vibes for me.
My Thoughts
I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while because I love ravens and there’s a tarot deck based on the books, but I don’t actually know what the book is about so I went in blind. The story is a little messy and I’m struggling to follow the characters because there are so many of them and I get them mixed up sometimes. I bought the books on audio and I feel like I need to reread on print before I continue with the next books in the series.
In general, I love the vibes, maybe because of all the magic and prophecy, and also Will Patton’s narration, but I feel like I missed certain key details and I don’t know what is actually going on with the characters, and I don’t know who to root for. I haven’t connected with any of the characters either. I want to like the book and give it the benefit of the doubt, I don’t want to blame the book if my confusion is due to my poor listening skills, so I do want to try reading this book again before continuing with the next books.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
A librarian with a mysterious past, a war hero with a secret, and the heist of a magic painting. THE LIBRARIAN OF CROOKED LANE is an intriguing new fantasy from C.J. Archer, the USA Today bestselling author of the Glass and Steele series.
Librarian Sylvia Ashe knows nothing about her past, having grown up without a father and a mother who refused to discuss him. When she stumbles upon a diary that suggests she’s descended from magicians, she’s skeptical. After all, magicians are special, and she’s just an ordinary girl who loves books. She seeks the truth from a member of the most prominent family of magicians, but she quickly learns that finding the truth won’t be easy, especially when he turns out to be as artless as her, and more compelling and dangerous than books.
War hero Gabe is gifted with wealth, a loving family, and an incredible amount of luck that saw him survive four harrowing years of a brutal war without injury. But not all injuries are visible. Burying himself in his work as a consultant for Scotland Yard, Gabe is going through the motions as he investigates the theft of a magician-made painting. But his life changes when he unwittingly gets Sylvia dismissed from her job and places her in danger.
After securing her new employment in a library housing the world’s greatest collection of books about magic, Gabe and Sylvia’s lives become intwined as they work together to find both the painting and the truth about Sylvia’s past before powerful people can stop them.
But sometimes the past is better left buried…
The Reason
The whole series was on sale in Audible and I thought I’d give it a try.
The Quotes
“A hidden passage inside a library? Have you been reading my childhood diary and discovered all my favorite things?”
“Nobody could make anyone believe something they didn’t want to, no matter how compelling.”
The Narrator(s)
Marian Hussey. She was perfect for the whole series. I enjoyed her narration immensely!
My Thoughts
Book 1 – The Librarian of Crooked Lane Book 2 – The Medici Manuscript Book 3 – The Untitled Books Book 4 – The Dead Letter Delivery Book 5 – Secrets of the Lost Ledgers Book 6 – The Journal of a Thousand Years
I had never heard of the books nor the author, but I love bookish books and the titles of the books and series drew me in immediately. The whole series was on sale and a preliminary search of the books made me feel good about an impulse buy. I wasn’t disappointed, it was such an enjoyable series! I especially loved the pacing and the way the stories flowed from one book to the next. To the point where it makes it hard for me to talk about the books one by one (which I initially wanted to do) because I don’t remember where a plot ended and another began, so I’ll just talk about all of them as a whole.
Apparently, this series is a spin-off from the Glass and Steele series by the same author. I was initially interested in reading them too but there are 13 books in the series, and unless I get lucky with another sale, I don’t think I’ll be doing that!
As for this series, they give me dark academia meets magical fantasy meets historical romance vibes. I loved how we get to know the characters more with each book and how their relationship progressions grow naturally. There are references to things that I assumed happen in the Glass and Steele series but doesn’t leave us with questions in this series and, as far as I know, doesn’t seem to spoil the Glass and Steele series.
I listened to the whole series on audio, one right after the other, and I thought it was just the perfect series to listen to during a time where I couldn’t be a hundred percent focused. It was light-hearted and easy to follow, yet also interesting and thrilling enough to keep my attention throughout all six books. I loved the whole experience and I was transported into another world for a wonderful time.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this series? Would you read this series? Did you like it or do you think you would like it?
Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.
But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic–the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience–have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.
Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.
To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.
I’d read the first couple of books a few years ago but never finished the series. I remember enjoying it though and I’m rereading all of them to refresh my memory and finally finish it!
The Quotes
“They said I was one thing. But I have changed my mind.”
“Traditional,” she echoed. “What a curious word that is. So bland, and yet often so poisonous.”
“Gregor Dandolo did his utmost to follow the laws: both the laws of the city, and his own moral laws of the universe. But more and more these days, one seemed to disagree with the other.”
“Reality doesn’t matter. If you can change something’s mind enough, it’ll believe whatever reality you choose.”
The Narrator(s)
Tara Sands. She was wonderful! I love all her voices and characterizations.
My Thoughts
Book 1 – Foundryside I don’t usually remember very many details of books I’ve read, especially ones I read years ago, but for some reason I remembered more than usual about this book. Sancia’s abilities, Clef’s personality, the way they connected with each other, and then how they joined forces with Gregor, Orso, Berenice, and everyone else. It was all very exciting for me, and I loved how the characters’ personalities worked and clashed with each other in such organic ways. My favorite thing about this book was how everyone had their own agendas and how messy they all were in each of their own ways, and how reluctant they were to work with each other but became allies out of necessity. I got very invested in all of the characters and I wanted to know what happened next for them.
Book 2 – Shorefall Although this is also a reread, I didn’t remember as much about it as the first book in the series. I did check my notes from my first read and apparently I was a little disappointed because it didn’t give me what I wanted out of it.
Spoiler
I wanted to see more about how the main characters build their Foundry together, worked together strengthening their relationships, using their skills and outwitting the other Foundries. I also felt like we didn’t see enough of Clef until much later.
Rereading it now, I feel the same way, but I went in trying to be more open-minded about what we actually got and I was able to get behind what actually went down. The story this time was still very exciting, and much bigger than previously. There are a lot more magical constructs and inventions that I thought was incredibly imaginative and a little complicated for me, but it works for the story.
I stopped here the first time I read this series, but at this point I’m still in it and I’m excited to finally read the last book!
Book 3 – Locklands I just finished the book and I am very sorry to say I am very disappointed with it. In fact, I was already disappointed with the second book but trying to give the series the benefit of the doubt. I hoped this book would bring the story home but I felt like it really lost focus and meaning and I didn’t even know what we’re reading anymore. I kept hoping it would finish strong, but at about 80% of the book it got so difficult for me to get through that I seriously considered a DNF. I didn’t because it’s hard to let go of the last 20% of the last book after I’ve read everything before it so I pushed through.
I’m glad I finished so that I can know for sure that I don’t like it, but I am really disappointed it turned out this way. Also, I promise I’m not doing this out of pettiness but I’d like to talk about the editing of the book. The overuse of “rather” and the manner of speaking; “It wasn’t like this, rather, it was like that” happens A LOT. Another one was the use of “wasn’t it?”, “aren’t I?”, “can’t you?” etc., as in; “I can do this, can’t I?”, “The worst is going to happen, isn’t it?”. Obviously these are normal ways of speaking, but it happened a lot and at weird places in the conversation/narration, and with different characters.
It’s possible that these happened in the first two books as well but I didn’t notice as much because it’s a gradual buildup and I only noticed after being exposed for three books and/or I was more immersed in the stories in the first two books and bored with the third so I notice its flaws more. Either way, it’s still a disappointment. I loved the concept, the world-building, and the magical system in this series, but the story now seems so trivial and meaningless to me.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. An overall rating for the series.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
