I feared both men and spirits now. I had no allies, only enemies on all sides.

A magnificent retelling, The Night Ends with Fire isn't the Mulan legend of your Disney youth, that's for sure.

Meilin has grown up under the thumb of her oppressive father all her life. Soon he plans to sell her for her dowry to another violent man who will treat her the same. When war comes to the Three Kingdoms, Meilin seizes her chance and enlists in the army as a man. But as she gains skills and confidence and the power of a spirit, she begins to wonder if her duplicity will hold and how far she's really willing to go to secure her freedom.

Let me just gush for a second here. I had such an amazing time with this story. It's exactly the sort I adore, with a badass heroine and a high stakes conflict where everything is on the line. There is no easy victory, only hard choices, and every character is some shade of morally gray.

I feel like Disney's Mulan was a bit too goody two-shoes (as is typical of Disney), so I'm really glad this book turned that on its head. Meilin certainly isn't good through and through. Instead, she must balance her desire for freedom and power with her duty to her kingdom and her love for her family. There was a rawness and courage to Meilin that makes it easy to like her and relate to her, even if I didn't always understand or agree with her decisions.

In fact, it's not just Meilin's character that's interesting and complex. It's almost every character in this book. Their moral ambiguity is a large part of why they come across as real and interesting. There is no straightforward path when it comes to war, no high road to take on the way to victory. There is only bloodshed and sacrifice and death, and this tale certainly doesn't shy away from that.

The writing in here is evocative and easy to fall into. I feel like I was sucked in from the very first page. To me, there is no higher compliment and no greater quality in a book than immersiveness, and this story has it in spades. I wanted to gobbled it up but also savor it slowly so that I didn't reach the end too soon.

This is categorized as romantasy, and I would say it's mostly fantasy with just a bit of romance sprinkled in, exactly how I like it. The fantasy world is vivid and easy to grasp without a lot of complex worldbuilding. And the light romance should appeal to readers who aren't big fans of it or don't care for lots of explicit scenes.

One interesting thing to note are the names in here. When you translate names between different languages, you have the choice of going phonetically or contextually. Phonetically is generally considered more authentic, but you lose the meaning behind the names. Here, the author chose to do a mix of both. While at first it was a little odd to have names in pinyin like "Meilin" next to "Sky" and "Sparrow", I did grow to appreciate that it gave context where otherwise there would be none and helped to distinguish the characters for an English-speaking audience.

Same could also be said for including some Chinese phrases mixed in in an English book. When the meaning is unclear, the author often put the pinyin and the English side-by-side, so that really the phrase is duplicated. I can see the purists getting up in arms over it, claiming that it's sufficient just to include the pinyin and leave it at that. So what if the audience it's intended for doesn't understand? But that's just silly. While I'm all for authenticity, I'm happy with the balance the author struck so that no one has to miss out.

What an exhilarating tale this turned out to be. I originally picked it up because the luminous cover and pretty sprayed edges totally captured my attention, and I wasn't about to pass up a Mulan retelling. While judging a book by its cover doesn't always pay off, it certainly did in this case.

My only regret is reaching the end and realizing this isn't a standalone. Now starts the long wait for the sequel.

Readaroo Rating; 5 stars!

And the award for Most Interesting Premise But Lackluster Execution goes to... drumroll please... The Wishing Game.

Like what the heck? Obviously, I have a lot to say, so please hear me out.

First, the premise. With its promise of a famous children's author hosting a game to win it all on a remote island shaped for the face of a clock, this book sounds like the most magical, whimsical journey. It's distinctly Willy Wonka-esque, and I don't know anybody who doesn't love that. Add in that eye-catching title which totally tugs at the imagination, and I was all ready to be impressed. But no, this fell so short on pretty much every level, I can only gape at the distance between my expectations and reality.

At the heart of it, this just doesn't read like adult fiction. It reads distinctly like a children's book, and honestly, not a very good one. There's a simplicity to the writing and the story that doesn't grab my attention. It's hard to stay engaged when every scene is so formulaic and bland. In fact, there are excerpts in here from the children's books themselves, and there were no discernible differences between the writing in there and the actual story.

The characters never became anything more than cardboard cutouts of real people. Each has one or two characteristics that define them, and they stay within those narrowly defined bounds. Lucy is poor and hates her family and wants to adopt Christopher. Christopher is a sad foster kid who loves sharks. Hugo is a temperamental artist who scowls a lot. And Jack is an eccentric author who lives in an eccentric house on an eccentric island, and every thing he says is eccentric. There, I've summed up the entirety of the cast.

The way they interact with each other is so odd and forced. Like if you've only known someone for 24 cumulative hours, would you go around hugging them and asking them to be your parent? What about calling your coworker "baby girl"? Or promising a child without parents that you can just adopt them, even when you yourself don't have safe housing or reliable transportation? I don't know, maybe you can, and it's just me that's weird.

But it wasn't just a scene here or there. There were so many moments that came off as vaguely creepy or inappropriate or uncomfortable or just plain weird, but they were all written as if they're actually heartwarming. It was so bizarre and puzzling, I felt like I was in a twilight zone.

And that's just it. Throughout this entire book, it's as if I was being sold a story and I couldn't shake the feeling that it was wrong. I can suspend disbelief for plot, but it's very hard to suspend disbelief for characters and the way they act. If what they say and do feel a little bit off, then it's like I'm constantly being reminded that what I'm reading isn't real. It's hard to become immersed in a story like that.

There's this phrase—"death by a thousand cuts"— that I think is totally appropriate here. There isn't any one thing I can point to that is egregiously wrong with this story, but there are so many little things. The simple writing, the dull dialogue and plot, and the way all the characters interact that feel just a little bit off—all put together, make this an extremely underwhelming read.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

This slim novel packs quite a punch, one I wasn't really expecting.

Speculative fiction can be hit or miss for me. The ones that miss tend to have extremely enticing premises, but when you look beneath the surface, there isn't much there. Hum is totally the opposite. I can't even explain what the premise is because it sounds so generic. The world is beset by climate change and capitalism gone awry, and a woman is trying to raise her kids and love them as best as she can in such a world. See, that doesn't really grab you, does it? And yet, there was so much more underneath the surface.

What makes this book so subversive isn't that the dystopian society presented in here is completely different from our current one. Rather, it's that it's almost the same. We need not look very far into the future—or even at all—to imagine that our lives could be like this. And that's what makes this so chilling.

Reading this, the disquiet and horror stole up on me slowly. At first, this seems like a dystopian world far from ours. In their world, capitalism runs amuck, constantly serving up ads and materialistic goods at the smallest sign of acquiesce. In their world, you must monitor air quality carefully and stay indoors during the bad days. In their world, everyone prefers the easy company of their "bunnies" and wooms to the complicated company of other humans. Except, oh wait...

And maybe part of the reason this hit me particularly hard is that I'm a mother to a young child, so I totally understand May's perspective. Her desire to disentangle her family from technology, all the while relying on its more useful parts, is a dilemma both familiar and unsolvable.

The only missed mark for me is perhaps the title of this book. I felt naming the story after the AI robots in here to be a bit of a misnomer. This story isn't about the hums at all. It's about us humans, and how far we are willing to go, how much of our humanity we are willing to sacrifice, in order to have everything we want at our technological fingertips.

Even though, like all speculative fiction, the world that's presented in here is just theoretical, it certainly feels much more than that. There's a prescience that is undeniable, and I suspect this story will continue to gnaw on me long after I'm done. It's definitely one of my most thought-provoking reads of the year.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Calling all fans of science fiction—if you haven't read The Illuminae Files, what the heck are you waiting for?

Here we have reached the final book in this trilogy, and what a stunning culmination and conclusion it is. You know what this reminds me of? It reminds me of being a kid and reading for the pure joy of it. There are no themes to dissect, no greater takeaways to suss out. It's just a rip-roaring good time you can sink your teeth into, and the experience is so immersive, the line between the real and the fictional starts to blur.

The first time I read this series, I was fairly new to science fiction. So of course I made the mental mistake you always make when it's your first of anything. You assume what you got was fairly common and there's plenty more like it out there, so you use that to set the bar for average. Well, imagine my consternation when, after years and years of reading sci-fi, I realized that I actually read one of the best in the genre right off the bat, and I'm never really going to find another one quite like it.

I think you guys know my love for science fiction by now. But on the off chance you don't, please allow me to wax poetic for a moment here. Science fiction will always rank high on my list of favorite genres, if not at the very top spot. And that's because of how bold and imaginative it is. When done well, it takes you to places you've never been before in ways you've never encountered. And that's exactly what this series does.

There is something so audacious about every aspect of this story. The characters are about as brave and badass as you can hope for, putting their lives on the line again and again to save those around them. But they don't just brute force it. No, they use their brains to outwit their enemies, and you guys know I can't resist that. The dialogue in here is so snarky, whip-smart, and funny, to call it banter seems like such an understatement. And the plot surprises at every turn. Just when you think you've got a grasp on what's going on, well you didn't see that coming, did you?

Its format is as interesting as it is groundbreaking. The dossier-like style matches up perfectly with the action-driven plot, and together they seamlessly weave a story that is hard to look away from. You know that feeling of having your heart in your throat? That's exactly every moment of this book and this series in a nutshell.

But it isn't just action scene after action scene. The very best science fiction is profoundly moving, asking us to think deeply about what it means to be human and what price we would be willing to pay to protect that humanity. And so this series does too, reaching deep into our conscience to ask those searing questions.

The only minor drawback to this series is that it's young adult. The heroes and heroines in here are unabashedly teenagers, with their attitudes, romances, and cheesiness all rolled into one. And while there's nothing wrong with that per se, it is several decades in the past for me now. But over the course of three books, their courage and bright-eyed idealism won me over, and so did their hip lingo. I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't let the YA part dissuade you, even if you're an old fogey like me. If you can look past it, there is as good of a sci-fi story here as any adult ones I've come across, and it just might get you in touch with your younger self.

This whole series has felt so bold and fearless, taking the reader on a sublimely imaginative ride. And this third and final book does the series justice, bringing an epic conclusion to that breathtaking journey. Along the way, it left me in awe and gave me all the feels.

I guess my only remaining question is: when are they going to turn this into a movie? Someone needs to get J.J. Abrams on the line stat because the only thing that could make this even better is copious amounts of lens flare.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

She wonders how terrifying it felt . . . looking at the sea, feeling like she was at the very end of it all. She wonders what it was that made her realize there was somewhere else to go.

While The Wedding People wasn't a perfect read for me, it certainly was a darn special one.

Phoebe has always wanted to go to the grand Cornwall Inn in Newport, and now she is finally here. But it isn't at all the vacation she spent years dreaming of. For one, she isn't going with her husband because he is no longer her husband. For another, she didn't bring any luggage because, well, you'll have to read the book for that. And just as she has resigned herself to her decision, she unexpectedly meets the wedding people, all there to attend a week-long celebration. Soon she is swept up in their exuberance and drama, and just maybe this is the vacation she was meant to take after all.

This is definitely one of those books you read for the journey, not for the outcome. It's pretty clear right from the beginning where this story is going to go, because how else would you have a story at all? To follow Phoebe as she meets these strangers, see how they touch her life at exactly the moment she needs it, while she in turn touches theirs, brings a lump to my throat and a flutter to my heart.

There is something so inherently loveable and relatable about Phoebe, even if we have not all suffered the exact same terrible setbacks in life that she has. Her candidness and vulnerability seems like a breath of fresh air, inviting the reader into her heart and her mind, and we have no choice but to follow along.

No doubt Phoebe has been through a lot, more than anyone can be expected to endure. And yet, there is a quiet bravery and courage in how she approaches her life and in how the author chose to portray her. I can see how at the hands of a lesser wordsmith, this story could've easily turned maudlin or preachy, but no such fears here. For a story about such sad topics, I felt remarkably buoyant and hopeful while reading this.

There was so much heart and humor in here, I was often nodding and laughing along, surprised at all the little nuggets of wisdom and joy to be gleamed from these pages. If I were someone who marked up books (which I would never, the sacrilege!), I suspect I would've used up an entire highlighter trying to capture all the worthy lines.

I mentioned this wasn't a perfect read for me because while I particularly loved the beginning and the end, I did feel the middle sagged a bit. At times, it was a little overly long and meandering, with dialogue that was a bit too clever and may be verging on glib. And yet, the story continued to draw me in, even if the pacing wasn't quite even throughout.

I will say, I think this is a story best enjoyed with a reader's full and undivided attention. Often it feels like there were a multitude of things going on at the same time—the rapid-fire dialogue on the surface, the emotions underneath, and the wisdom to be sussed out if looked carefully. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to find solid chunks of uninterrupted reading time nowadays, so the book did lose some of its potency for me read in bits and pieces, a few lines at a time, especially in the middle there. But that's really my bad and not the story's fault.

I feel like the most resonant books are always the ones that address the human spirit—its unfailing desire to endure, to belong, to love and be loved, and to find meaning. And if you can sprinkle in a dash of humor along the way, all the better. Well, if that's the case, then one cannot ask for a better story than this.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!