The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

This was an unexpected adventure for me. I do not know what I checked out before wanting to read it, but whatever it was stood me in good stead. This fantasy world that we visit in this book is similar to a medieval version of ours, except with a form of magic (in scientific versions)…

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Narrated by: Shivantha Wijesinha The book is not for the faint of heart. I love listening to different narrators from different countries because it is a very immersive experience. Unlikeable central protagonists are usually not something that I enjoy, but this time, there were so many points of introspection here that I could not help but champion (towards…

The Snow Girl by Sophie Anderson

I have read one other book by the author and liked the style of writing and the kind of protagonist the story revolves around. This was also similar in that sense. Tasha is a lonely girl, scarred by previous events (mentally). She is finding it hard to trust and befriend people again. She has moved…

The Many Lives of Charlie by Kid Toussaint & Aurélie Guarino

As with many comics published by this publisher, there is something different about the content in this one. There are discussions about the great beyond and the mundane tasks for those left behind. Charlie is a spark of colour in an otherwise drab office where they deal with the conversion of the remains of dead…

Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim

Narrated by Krupa Pattani I had both a digital and audio version of this book available to me, and I am glad I worked my way through the audio version. The young adult protagonist shone through the narration, and I could feel and empathize with her inner conflict as she worked things out. It took…

A Mandeville Mystery #2,#3 by Callie Langridge

The Mandeville Secret Although there is a mystery at the core of this book, the atmospheric setting and the different interactions between everyone introduced to us are the focal points of everything. In this installment, I went in blind, not having read the first. I finished the book wishing I had read the previous book,…

Magician and Fool by Susan Wands

I like strangely written books (most of the time). The ones that meander through the protagonists' lives and give glimpses of seemingly random people in the periphery who turn out to have major impacts at later stages in the narrative.This was one such book that I did not enjoy as much as I wanted to.…

A Tall Dark Trouble by Vanessa Montalban

This is the kind of book that plunges right into the narrative and then moves backwards and forwards (to the present) to give us a complete picture of what we are reading about.The twins, Delfi and Lela, both get a turn to voice their thoughts. They have always been told to keep their powers at…