Unapologetic Reviews

I finally finished my ARC copy of A Claiming of Souls by R. A. Sandpiper . This is the final part of her Amefyre trilogy, and it was a satisfying conclusion to a great series. (Also, just FYI—there’s a companion novella !) The ending was genuinely unpredictable. I usually have a good sense of where stories are going, but this one kept me guessing—so kudos to the author. I really enjoyed the story in this final book. A lot was happening, and there was even a little callback to the novella, which I appreciated. There were some surprising moments throughout. Suri ’s new powers were used really well—I liked that they didn’t make her feel overpowered or invincible. She still had real moral dilemmas to face and discovered a lot about herself. Her arc was deeply satisfying; she truly developed as a character while still staying true to who she was at her core. Kol , the other main character, wasn’t as prominent in this instalment. He was present, but he didn’t stand out as much this time. An...

I read The Seven Dials Mystery (1929) for my 2025 Agatha Christie Reading Challenge . At first, I confused it with The Clocks . Both involve clocks and a murder, but The Clocks is a Poirot story and this one isn’t. That initial confusion set the tone for me, as I went in expecting one thing and found myself in quite another. This is Christie in her thriller phase . In the late 1920s, she liked to play with secret societies, masked meetings, and the idea that danger lurks just beyond the country-house gates. The novel also reuses the setting from The Secret of Chimneys and brings back a few characters, though I wasn’t familiar with them before. It gave me the feeling of being introduced to a group of old friends everyone else already knows. The heroine here is “Bundle” Brent, young, sharp, and impulsive. When one of her friends turns up dead, she charges headlong into the mystery. What begins as the familiar comfort of a body in a grand house shifts into something stranger. There ar...

Pride and Prejudice is the second novel published by Jane Austen , and it is without question her most famous. It has become one of those cultural cornerstones that most people know even without having read it. You would be hard-pressed to find someone who has not at least seen one adaptation. For me, the definitive version will always be the BBC adaptation . I do not think there is a better one . This was actually my first time reading the novel itself, and I experienced it as an audiobook narrated by Rosamund Pike . I do feel a warning is necessary here. If you start with her version, you will be spoiled. Pike is an exceptional narrator. Her delivery is precise, expressive, and perfectly attuned to Austen’s irony . At times it feels less like a reading and more like a performance. It is hard not to wish she had narrated all of Austen’s novels. Honestly, she could read just about anything and I would listen. Pride and Prejudice is peak Austen. The characters are sharp and memorable,...