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Emily reviewed The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

Sarah Penner, Lorna Bennett, Lauren Irwin, Lauren Anthony: The Lost Apothecary (AudiobookFormat, 2021, Blackstone Pub)

Disappointing

2 stars

Sad I didn't like this one. It sounds really fun but lost the plot somewhere along the way. Wasn't so bad I didn't finish it but it was pretty boring.

Authors, if you ever feel the need to fill a page with two characters deciding how to Google info: don't.

Emily reviewed Black Leviathan by Bernd Perplies

Bernd Perplies: Black Leviathan (2020, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom)

This was exactly to my tastes.

5 stars

This is described on the back of the book as Moby Dick, but instead of whalers, it's about drachenjagers (dragon hunters) traversing the Cloudmere in their magic crystal-levitated ships. Much like whaling, dragon hunting is dangerous business. And much like Moby Dick, here a jager captain's crew was struck with tragedy when a monstrous dragon of myth known as Gargantuan, aka the Black Leviathan, attacks his crew and kills nearly everyone on board. The bulk of the story takes place five years later and follows Lian, a young man studying krillian (magic crystal) carving, who suddenly finds himself in a bind and has to flee his home.

This book is exactly what I love about dragons. Powerful, mysterious monsters that aren't fully understood. They're dangerous, they need to be taken seriously, they're not talking ridable pets. (Unless you have the mettle and sheer force of will to tame one. But …

This is described on the back of the book as Moby Dick, but instead of whalers, it's about drachenjagers (dragon hunters) traversing the Cloudmere in their magic crystal-levitated ships. Much like whaling, dragon hunting is dangerous business. And much like Moby Dick, here a jager captain's crew was struck with tragedy when a monstrous dragon of myth known as Gargantuan, aka the Black Leviathan, attacks his crew and kills nearly everyone on board. The bulk of the story takes place five years later and follows Lian, a young man studying krillian (magic crystal) carving, who suddenly finds himself in a bind and has to flee his home.

This book is exactly what I love about dragons. Powerful, mysterious monsters that aren't fully understood. They're dangerous, they need to be taken seriously, they're not talking ridable pets. (Unless you have the mettle and sheer force of will to tame one. But they're still beasts.) They're not friends, they're not magically bound to humans and telepathic with them. They can be tamed, but it's more akin to taming a tiger.

The pacing is good, there's very little downtime and time wasting fluff. Lots of fun dragon fights and other exciting things happen. Entertaining the whole way through. I haven't read Moby Dick so I don't actually know just how close it is in terms of story beats to that, but as its own story, it's very good. A perfect book for me.

Emily stopped reading Highfire by Eoin Colfer

Eoin Colfer: Highfire (Hardcover, Harper Perennial)

No rating

Returned before finishing because Libby forgot where I was in my audiobook. 😠 May return to this later.

It's a fun modern day "what if dragons were real all along" sort of story where there's just one dragon left, Lord Highfire (who now goes by Vern), who's a crude guy who just sits around and watches tv all day in the swamps of Louisiana, trying not to be found. So, of course, he's found by a teen, a "good kid" who cares about his mom who the crooked sheriff is trying to romance.

Emily reviewed Upstream by Mary Oliver

A relaxing take of viewing nature and life.

4 stars

Haven't read her before but I understand that she's a poet; I picked this up first to see if I'd be interested in her poetry, and I think I'll check it out. (Wanted to read the essay collection first since it's been years since I've looked at poetry.)

Mary is very in touch with the natural world around her and how it shapes her perspective.