Exquisite and mesmerizing, The Fox Wife kept me enchanted from the very first moment to the very last.

Told through the alternating perspectives of Bao, an aging investigator with a penchant for sniffing out the truth, and Snow, a mysterious lady on a quest to avenge the death of her child, this story sits at the irresistible intersection of historical fiction, mystery, and folklore.

Secrets and questions abound in here. Who are these characters? What do they want? And how do their paths cross through so many years and miles of tribulations? Add to that a main character who is not quite human, as well as the singular backdrop of the wintery world of Manchuria during the last years of the Qing dynasty, and the scene is set for a tale unlike any I've come across before.

I'm always drawn towards folklore, and the hallmark of a good one is the seamless blending of the real and the fantasy. You don't want to get mired in the weeds of the how's and why's of this slightly altered world, but you also don't want to just be dropped in the middle of what feels like an artificial construct. And this story achieves that balance flawlessly.

With so much of the story riding on its animal characters, there's the fear that it can come across contrived or, even worse, silly. But the foxes in here feel so real, as if these creatures really do live in our world, coexisting among us in disguise and leaving havoc but also wonder in their wake. In fact, the portions of the story told from Snow's perspective were the most evocative, and I found her to be vivid and compelling.

Snow's quest to avenge her dead child struck something in me. The quiet and reflective prose that Yangsze Choo so deftly wields adds this soft dignity to Snow's plight, and the end result is so emotionally resonant, I felt it deep within my heart. Her grief and anger were so raw and sharp, yet her continued strength in the face of such tragedy makes her the sort of strong female character I love and cheer for.

One of the most surprising and delightful additions in here were all the little nuggets of fox wisdom. Of course if the world were seen through the eyes of an animal, their life experiences and their way of thinking would be different from ours, resulting in unique insights. And these little morsels were dispensed at the most pertinent times, leaving me nodding and chuckling along at their undeniable wisdom and humor.

When I finish a book, there are two distinct feelings I can have. Either I'm happy to be done and excited to move on to something else, or I feel a sense of melancholy that I've reached the end of a magical journey and there's no more. And this book falls squarely in the latter. I could've easily gobbled up another 400 pages of this and it still wouldn't have been enough.

What an epic and memorable tale Yangsze Choo has crafted. The story itself often speaks of foxes beguiling humans into falling in love with them, yet I can't help but feel as if it was the story that has cast a spell on me, and I was the one who was beguiled all along.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

"What's the most irritating question that a writer can be asked? . . . it's Where do you get your ideas?"

You guys, I don't know what I thought I was getting with A Ladder to the Sky, but I certainly wasn't expecting to be completely gobsmacked.

Maurice Swift has always known he wants to be a writer. And not just any old writer that no one has heard of. No, he wants to be famous and celebrated in the literary world. The only problem? He may be a little short in the talent department. But that won't deter a man as cunning and ambitious as Maurice, especially when he's willing to do anything to achieve success.

First of all, I wouldn't say this is a premise that grabbed me right off the bat. Honestly, it sounds like a cross between a dark tale of embarrassment and possibly a bad psychological thriller, both of which I avoid like the plague. But no, thankfully, it's nothing like that at all.

Instead, it's a tale so masterful, I'm left in awe. The writing, the plot, the characters—it was all so razor-sharp, everything just leapt off the pages.

At the center of this story is the character of Maurice. He's self-centered and manipulative, with zero regard for others, but the way he's portrayed not only makes him feel authentic, but also compelling and oddly sympathetic. I'm intrigued, and I want to know more. He's the perfect antihero, immoral and deceitful, and I just can't look away as destruction and ruin follow along his wake. And pretty soon, I'm neglecting sleep and the real world, wanting to read just one more page.

But it's not just the characters. The plot takes one surprising turn after another, gluing me to the edges of my seat. Honestly, it's got more twists and turns than a thriller. And the whole time, the writing is just so precise and sharp in its delivery, it draws you in with each and every sentence.

If all that sounds a bit too serious, I assure you it's not. The story has a vein of dark humor running throughout, with its slightly irreverent take on the literary world and the publishing industry, and it even manages to poke gentle fun at authors too. It made for a jolly good time.

Recently, I did a reread to see if I still love it as much as I did, even now that I know how the story unfolds. And my answer is a resounding yes! If anything, the second time around was even better, and I gobbled it up all over again.

I feel like I can just gush about this story all day long, but I'll stop here. I won't say any more for fear of spoiling this amazing book. You should go and read it if you haven't yet. And I need to go and check out more of John Boyne's works.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!