The Guest List is a book that didn’t grab me at first. In fact, for the first few chapters, I thought I was in for an excruciating read. But once the character introductions are out of the way, Foley gives us a fast-paced web of a story that is almost impossible to put down.

A Perfect Explanation is an obvious passion project for the author, detailing her own family history. But the problem with true stories is they often lack the narrative and characters that make fiction engaging, and the problem with family history is that it is rarely interesting outside of your own family. And by honouring the truth, Anstruther's obvious talent is unable to overcome these issues.

“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” was recommended to me by a friend as one of those books that you just have to read. And while it’s an engaging story and very well written, I felt something was missing. Something I only figured out once I got to the end.

And we're finally here. We've reached book fourteen (of an originally planned six) and the end of the epic saga of The Wheel of Time. The Last Battle, Tarmon Gai'don, has arrived. There is no more time for posturing or positioning. The fate of time itself rests in the balance.

Queenie is one of those books I picked up because of an undefinable sense that I needed to read it. I didn’t know anything about it or Carty-Williams, other than that a number of people had listed Queenie in their must-read lists over the last couple of years. And boy, reading it was the right choice.

With her debut novel, Jenna Adams takes us right back to the insecurities and struggles of adolescence. And once I reached the halfway point, I literally sat up into the early hours and finished the second half in one single sitting. 

Towers of Midnight is our final “breather” instalment. As the Last Battle begins, our characters get one final chance to wrap up their business and get everything ready for the climax. But as they do, we must deal with the narrative snarl Jordan left Sanderson to clear up.

It's been a long time since I picked up a book that hit me so hard as this one. It took me a while to really get hooked, but by the end I literally could not put it down.

And so we come the the final push. Part 4 of The Wheel of Time. The Final Battle, Tarmon Gai’don approaches. And, along with everything else, a new author to take up the mantle of the fallen.

A beautifully written book that gives little away at the start yet lays the perfect amount of breadcrumbs to keep you reading. But depending on your taste for literary fiction, I can’t say it would be everyone’s cup of tea.

With “Knife of Dreams” not only do we wrap up Part 3 of The Wheel of Time, we find a welcome return for form for Robert Jordan’s final novel.

Sometimes a “classic” is only a classic because uptight literary snobs have decreed it so. Other times, a novel becomes a classic because it tells a universal story that manages to be both readable and universally relatable. “The Remains of the Day” is the latter.

As I said in my review of Winter's Heart, I was ready for Crossroads of Twilight to be one of the worst entries in the series. But I have to admit that it's not nearly as bad as I remembered.

This was a book with a lot going for it. But where we were promised a dark, inverted twist on Cinderella, we're left with a story that ends on a flat, disappointing note.

In my last post, I talked about the series entering The Slump, the section of The Wheel of Time where everything drags for a few books. But then, of course, Winter's Heart comes along and perks things right back up again.

You can always trust that any collection of stories by Junji Ito will be a wonderfully creepy and creative experience. And with this collection of some of his earlier works, The Deserter does not disappoint.

The Path of Daggers isn't the worst entry in The Wheel of Time series, but it lacks the drive and excitement of the ones we've had up to now. Instead, it feels like Jordan is getting the characters in place for what is coming next. 

I absolutely loved My Best Friend's Exorcism. But I went into it thinking I wouldn't. As much as the author clearly loves the '80s horror aesthetic, the B-movie vibe of this book's packaging really undersells it.