---

---

I went into A Treachery of Swans with high expectation… and maybe that’s exactly why the disappointment hit even harder. The cover, with its dark, mature hues, seems to promise an intense, moody story, and above all a sweeping sapphic love story worthy of masterpieces like As Many Souls of Stars or Bury My Bones in the Midnight Soil.
But the reality, unfortunately, is quite different. A Treachery of Swans turned out to be a rather light-toned YA novel, memorable more for its decadent vibes and original French-inspired setting than for any complexity in its plot or depth in its characters.

---

The Story

Raised by a sorcerer, Odile has spent years preparing for the heist of a lifetime. The plan is simple: impersonate a princess, infiltrate the royal palace, steal the enchanted crown, and restore magic to the kingdom.

But when the king is unexpectedly assassinated, Odile is forced to seek help from Marie, the real princess. Together, they begin to unravel a tangled web of lies and betrayals that soon leaves Odile facing a difficult question: whom can she really trust?

Soon enough, Odile must choose between her mission and the girl she’s falling in love with.

The fate of the kingdom, quite simply, depends on her choice.

---

A Treachery of Swans – Review

Yes, but… where is my Black Swan?!

A Treachery of Swans is a retelling of Swan Lake, and to give credit where it’s due, Poranek is incredibly skilled at crafting a seductive, atmospheric aesthetic for her novel.

The worldbuilding is solid, every scene is wrapped in a luxurious, decadent opulence, and the magic system is engaging, even without leaning on particularly original ideas.

And yet, the truth is that I simply couldn’t enjoy this book as much as I hoped. And I’m afraid the main reason has a very precise name: Odile.

Instead of the fascinating, morally ambiguous villain the premise seemed to suggest, Odile comes across as petulant, naïve, and surprisingly childish. Her entire character arc is overshadowed by her father, whose villainy is so blatant anyone would notice it immediately… except her.

Her slowness in acknowledging the obvious makes following her point of view frustrating, and it also drags down the development of her bond with Odette—a relationship that could have been far more intense and magnetic, but instead gets bogged down in the protagonist’s insecurities and her exhausting daddy issues.

Continue reading →

---

---

A Language of Dragons is a New York Times bestseller, and I couldn’t be happier about its success. Against all odds, I completely fell in love with this YA novel by S. F. Williamson, which masterfully weaves together translation, academic rivalry, dragons, and intrigue.

It’s a light yet brilliant read — and, most importantly, an incredibly fun one. Imagine the rebellious themes of Babel mixed with the breathtaking action of Fourth Wing; the tension of The Hunger Games blended with the academic wonder of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries.

---

The Story

London, 1923. Dragons rule the skies and protests fill the streets, but Vivien Featherswallow isn’t worried. She plans to follow the rules, secure an internship in her dream field — the study of dragon languages — and ensure her little sister Ursa never risks becoming a Third-Class citizen.

By midnight, though, Viv will be caught in the middle of a civil war.

When her parents are arrested for sedition, the safety she has worked so hard to build begins to crumble. So when she’s offered a mysterious chance to save herself, she accepts — even if it means leaving London, “abandoning” Ursa, and entrusting her sister’s safety to the family of a friend she has betrayed.

At Bletchley Park, Viv discovers she has been recruited to decode a secret draconic cipher and aid the war effort. If she succeeds, her family may go free. If she fails, their fate will be far darker.

At first, Viv believes deciphering the dragons’ forbidden language will be easy — after all, she’s a linguistic prodigy. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes the world she grew up in isn’t the safe haven she thought. The government doesn’t protect everyone — only a select few, echoing George Orwell’s timeless truth:

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

In the end, Viv must decide which war she’s truly fighting, and what — and who — is worth risking her life for.

---

A Language of Dragons by S. F. Williamson – Review

Like a World War II Spy Film… with Dragons!

The moment I read the line, “The last dragon professor was replaced by a human teacher at the beginning of the year,” my mind immediately went to Wicked: Part One. After all, A Language of Dragons tackles similar themes: privilege, the fight for animal (or draconic) rights, and a determined resistance against an oppressive regime.

While none of these ideas are exactly new to seasoned fantasy readers, Williamson manages to craft a story that feels fresh, gripping, and wonderfully immersive, balancing dark academia aesthetics with touches of dystopian drama. Think Divine Rivals meets a glamorous black-and-white spy thriller.

The real highlight, though, is Vivien’s emotional arc. Despite all the action, betrayals, and adrenaline-filled dragon flights, the focus remains on her gradual transformation. Her shift in worldview never feels abrupt or forced — instead, it unfolds naturally through trial, error, and painful growth. Watching her evolve is one of the novel’s greatest joys.

---

Love in the Time of Dragons

A Language of Dragons features a beautifully written slow-burn romance. Some readers have labeled it enemies-to-lovers, but I’d have to disagree — Violet and Atlas may clash and misunderstand each other, but they’re never true enemies.

Continue reading →

---

---

Being a Chinese Girl in New York, living with OCD, and surviving a pandemic…

Anyone would agree that this is the perfect setup for a horror story.
And indeed, in Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, author Kylie Lee Baker takes this premise and transforms it into one of the most haunting, dark, and emotionally charged novels of 2025!

---

The Story

Cora Zeng works as a cleaner, specializing in scrubbing away the aftermath of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. But none of it feels truly terrifying—not after witnessing the worst thing imaginable: the death of her sister, Delilah, pushed in front of a train by a stranger.

Before fleeing the scene, the killer shouted only two chilling words: “bat eater.”

The bloody messes don’t disturb Cora as much as the germs on subway railings, the strangers’ hands brushing against hers, the viruses lurking everywhere, or the bite marks on her kitchen table. Ever since Delilah’s death, Cora has been struggling to tell what’s real from what exists only inside her mind.

She suppresses her emotions and ignores her aunt’s advice to prepare for the Festival of Hungry Ghosts, when the gates of hell are said to open. But she can’t ignore the unease in her stomach every time she finds bat carcasses at a crime scene—or the chilling fact that all the recent victims have been women of East Asian descent.

And most of all, as Cora will soon learn, some ghosts simply cannot be ignored.

---

Review: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

When Fear Reveals More Than We’d Like to Know About Ourselves

What many moviegoers—or “casual” horror readers—often fail to understand is that horror was never created just to bombard you with jump scares or make you laugh nervously while you snack on popcorn with your friends. Believe it or not, that was never its true purpose.

Jordan Peele and his impeccable social horrors didn’t invent anything new. Since its earliest days, macabre storytelling has always been a magnifying lens, capable of enlarging everything grotesque, monstrous, or simply unpleasant that hides in the shadows of our collective and individual psyches—dragging it into the light and forcing us to look at it in all its unsettling splendor.

It’s not about “political correctness,” “diversity quotas,” or any of those tiresome labels that certain right-wing voices use to discredit the work of writers from marginalized backgrounds. It’s about giving a voice back to those who have to fight with everything they have not to be silenced. And for us, the readers on the receiving end of that communication, it’s about learning to listen. To listen and to understand that our version of the world is not—and will never be—the only one that exists.

---

Chills and Adrenaline

That said, Kylie Lee Baker is not one of those authors so consumed by her message that she sacrifices the thrill of storytelling.
On the contrary: in Bat Eater, she draws generously from modern horror classics like The Ring and The Grudge, evoking the rich folkloric imagery of Asian ghost stories to deliver a cascade of breathtaking moments that will remind you exactly how and why you used to be afraid of the dark as a child.

Continue reading →

---

---

What happens when you mix Resident Evil, Guardians of the Galaxy, and a dash of Starship Troopers… then throw in a heroine who could’ve stepped straight out of So I’m a Spider, So What?, topped with the nerdy humor of Andy Weir?

Easy: you get The Inheritance, the new (and surprisingly adrenaline-packed) sci-fi experiment by Ilona Andrews.

What began as a “just-for-fun” project for the authors ends up reading like a full-on space-themed RPG campaign you’ll never want to log out of!

---

The Story

Humanity is at war. An interdimensional invasion has torn through our world, bringing unimaginable suffering — and awakening hidden powers within us. These gifts are the key to fighting back. Every day, new breaches open, crawling with monsters and filled with valuable resources. If you’re one of the Gifted, your country calls. The world calls. And you’re expected to answer.

Adaline is one of those Gifted. Ten years ago, she had a peaceful life — a loving husband, a career she adored, and two kids. Then the invasion changed everything. Now she works for the government, diving into dimensional rifts in search of magical metals and rare medicines that could save humanity. Between her kids, the bills, and her mortgage, risking her life has become just another part of the daily grind.

But this time, something goes wrong. Ada and her loyal German shepherd, Bear, are trapped inside a labyrinth of alien caves unlike anything she’s ever seen. To survive, she’ll need every ounce of strength and wit she has — because she promised her children she’d come home.

What she doesn’t know yet is that the fate of humanity may rest in her hands.

---

A “Side Project” That Became a Page-Turner

Originally written as a web novel — a small side project between larger series — The Inheritance could have easily been a throwaway experiment. But in true Ilona Andrews fashion, it’s anything but minor!

Here you’ll find everything fans love about the duo: relentless action, imaginative worldbuilding, and a magical system that levels up like an RPG.

The prose is brisk and modern — perfect for a phone read you start “just to peek” and finish in two sittings because you can’t stop turning the pages.

And perhaps the biggest surprise: this is one of the rare Ilona Andrews books even non-romance readers will love. There’s no forced chemistry, no obligatory “spicy” subplot — just a raw, touching bond between a woman and her dog that grows and deepens with every chapter.

---

Ada’s Journey and Elias’ Promise

Because of its length, The Inheritance is only the first half of a duology — with a sequel already confirmed (and possibly more to come).

If there’s one thing I’m hoping for, it’s a stronger spotlight on Elias. For now, he feels a bit like a suit-and-tie parody of Leon Kennedy — charming but not quite memorable. The authors have hinted on their blog that his role will expand in book two, so fingers crossed we’ll see a bit more edge and less “boy scout”!

Ada, on the other hand, is a fantastic protagonist for a sci-fi adventure: witty, determined, and wonderfully human in her vulnerabilities. She starts with a seemingly useless power — a “scan” spell that only detects hidden materials — but as the story unfolds, her abilities evolve alongside her emotional growth.

With the help of a quirky alien mentor (who feels like she just flew in from a Captain Marvel comic), Ada’s magic becomes a symbol of her resilience and transformation.

---

Final Thoughts

The Inheritance might have started as a passion project, but it reads like a love letter to creativity itself. Fast-paced, heartfelt, and brimming with imagination, it’s proof that when authors write for the sheer joy of it — we, the readers, have all the fun.

---

Loved The Inheritance? Here’s what to read next!

• Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

• Solo Leveling by Chu-Gong

• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

• Alien: Echo by Mira Grant

• This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews