skylacine's reviews
1043 reviews

H O N S E

Bullet review:
+Interesting and overall pretty likable main characters, especially Duchess and Susie
+Good world-building of the fantasy elements
+I like that the characters both are captive and wild for a while, yet neither is seen as a perfect (or terrible) option. A lot of animal xenofiction tends to demonize captivity under humans, which this book thankfully never does. Humans are seen as a pretty neutral aspect here, oftentimes even positive.
+Despite a few loredumps, it thankfully never goes too overboard with it.
-While I'm not calling this book sexist (I've seen xenofiction that is FAR worse in that regard, don't get me wrong) and it does have capable and well-written female characters, I am not entirely comfortable with how pretty much every female character of note in this book is quite literally a broodmare there to put foals into this world. It just feels like it falls into the "every woman wants to be a mother" stereotype. It really couldn't have hurt to have one or two major female characters who just don't bear foals.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/book-review-heavenly-horse-from.html

This is a book that exists. I feel like I got nothing out of it. 

It's mostly boring, some characters are mischaracterized, very little of note happens except for setting up a plot, and Tawnypelt's romantic feelings for [SPOILER CHARACTER] feel horribly out of left field and forced. Moonpaw's chapters were mildly interesting but that's kinda it for this book. It has very little going for it.

I've certainly read worse Warriors books but gosh this was just, well, dull. Anyways back to reading better horse xenofiction.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2025/01/book-review-elders-quest-by-erin-hunter.html

Actual rating 3.25/5

+Well-written character relationships, particularly between Ranger and his best friend, and his mentor.
+The wolf wizards are a pretty neat concept to add a fantasy touch to this book.
+I loved Morpheus, of course.
-Scenes and dialogue sometimes feels repetitious.
-The female characters (the few there are) aren't very well-written; there is only one major female character of note and she's pretty flat. Also there's a bit of fridging female characters for male character's development. The writing of the female characters feels kinda lowkey sexist imo.
-The villains are very bland and one-note.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/book-review-ranger-by-michael-hoyt.html#more

I genuinely had no idea these cute round birbs can turn into murder machines when it comes to defending their territory.

Bullet review:

+Definitely the most anxiety-inducing book of them all, you never once feel like you get a moment's rest alongside Mathijs because he might be arrested and tortured at any point in the book.
+Interesting character development for Mathijs (and to a lesser extent Kirchhoffs).
+Some very brutal scenes, but written in an engaging way still.
+Lots of action in this one.
-Ending is a bit ambiguous. It didn't bother me TOO much but I can see this putting people off, since this is the final book in the series.

Bullet review:

+Van Reen is REALLY good at making the reader feel immersed in this location, the characters and the culture at the time. 
+This is a book that has mostly more mellow scenes and less "Bokkenrijder-ing", but it still was thoroughly engaging. Honestly I could read a book JUST about Mathijs' studies and the mineworkers' rights and I'd be just as engaged even without the Bokkenrijder stuff.
+Interesting character development for Mathijs and Kirchhoffs. 

Really interesting account of the author's journey to help the animals at the Baghdad Zoo around the time of the Iraq war. At times hard to read and quite brutal, but it makes the heroic efforts of Anthony and the other rescuers all the better to read about. I quite enjoyed reading this book and really got enveloped into the events here. Might check out more of Anthony's books at a later date.

Not terrible, but pretty disappointing.

Bullet review:
+Ross and Keeka are likable characters.
+The final battle wasn't terribly executed despite the ridiculous concept.
-The wolfdog on the cover isn't a very major character in this book and I don't think she should be featured so front and center to lure in wolf fans like me. Feels a bit like false advertising.
-The concept of the final battle (where a bunch of animals fight human hunters) is pretty ridiculous and hard to take seriously.
-There is very little nuance or morally gray to be found in the antagonists. They're pretty much all morally bankrupt villains.
-This book is kinda sexist. There are much fewer female characters than there are males, and they're usually just there to be love interests or accessories to the male characters. Most of the females also don't have much of a personality or arc (Keeka being the only exception) and they're not allowed to participate in the final battle.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/book-review-great-timbers-by-james-kane.html