Science Fiction and Fantasy Archives - Page 4 of 4

Review of Protect the Prince by Jennifer Estep

Leave a Comment / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

I got hooked into reading the first title in this series, Kill the Queen, by its first two sentences: “The day of the royal massacre started out like any other. With me doing something completely, utterly useless.” So you can imagine my amusement when I discovered that the second book, Protect the Prince, starts out: […]

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Review of Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep

Leave a Comment / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

Kill the Queen had me hooked from its first two sentences: “The day of the royal massacre started out like any other. With me doing something completely, utterly useless.” From this inauspicious beginning, things rapidly go even further downhill for the protagonist, Evie – officially Lady Everleigh Saffira Winter Blair, a very minor royal in

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Review of Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik

Leave a Comment / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

I originally saw Polaris Rising mentioned on an e-book forum, and when I checked it out online, I discovered that Ilona Andrews (whose books I always enjoy) had provided nice feedback about it. So that encouraged me to (1) buy it, and (2) move it to the top of my long to-be-read list. And then

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Looking forward to….Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews on Jan 12, 2021 (review)

5 Comments / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

I don’t read much urban or contemporary fantasy, but I’ve somehow gotten hooked on pretty much all of the books written by author duo Ilona Andrews. So, I was quite happy to receive an advance review copy of their latest book, Blood Heir, which will make its debut on January 12, 2021. Blood Heir is

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Review of A Wizard’s Guide To Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

7 Comments / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

Based on a recommendation in the Science Fiction/Fantasy thread at the MobileRead forums, I just picked up and read A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. It’s a young adult title, and I’m not a young adult (!!!), but I do enjoy some YA books from time to time. And this was one of them. Overall

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About Mostly Mysteries

Whether you are a non-stop reader looking for your next series to binge-read, or someone without much spare time, wanting to make sure the next book you read is great, I hope my reviews will help you out. I hate reading reviews that just say “five stars” or “I loved the book, it was great”, and I’m sure you do too. So you won’t find any of those here! Instead, I take the time to read and think about a book, and then write a review that (1) doesn’t just parrot the blurb, (2) talks about what I liked and didn’t like, and (3) has some additional info to help you decide if the book might be right for you.

I’ve been a huge fan of mysteries since my earliest days of reading, cutting my teeth on Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew, and quickly moving on to Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. From there, I bounced around a bit, trying some thrillers, like Alistair MacLean, and some romantic suspense, mainly Mary Stewart. And then I started branching out. I discovered historical mysteries, and British mysteries (Sarah Caudwell is my idol), and cozy mysteries, and police procedurals, and mysteries set in foreign climes, and noir, and…well, you get the idea! Just about the only mysteries I’ve never quite gotten into are psychological thrillers.

This blog reflects my own personal tastes, so, as you might guess, you’ll mostly find reviews of mysteries here. But, over the decades, I’ve also picked up some other reading habits. I read a fair amount of history, especially books about the Great Game rivalry between Britain and Russia. I’ve gone through all the Asterix comics (a big thank-you to my middle-school French teacher), and I even read a bunch of them out loud to my son when he was young. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read and re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and those books have led me into a little bit of fantasy and science fiction as well. Oh yeah, and recently, I’ve been reading some social and political science books too. So check out the Science Fiction/Fantasy, Nonfiction, Romance and Other Stuff tabs up in the menu as well!

Finally I’d love to hear from you too, so please make use of the comments sections available for most of my posts, or use the contact form, down at the bottom of the page.

Reviewing and Rating Info

I rate books on a scale from 1 to 5 stars, with occasional half-stars when a full star just won’t do.

Many of the books I review are provided to me by the publisher or author as a reading copy – in other words, at no cost to me. In other cases, usually for older books, I’m reviewing books I borrowed from the library or bought myself. My rating and review do not depend on whether I was provided a free reading copy. However if I did receive a free reading copy, I will disclose this in the review.

I do not post reviews of every book I read – not even close. It takes a lot of time and effort to craft a good review, and so I tend to be biased towards reviewing books that I enjoy or that excite me. As a result, you’ll find mostly 4- and 5-star reviews on my blog. Also, I do not post 1- or 2-star reviews on my blog unless the author or publisher asks me to.