Once again both books I’m going to talk about today have an average rating of more than four stars. To me, that means they’re pretty popular, even if you may not have heard of them.
Kill Your Darlings by L.E. Harper
This one is more of a ‘popular book I didn’t love’. I wouldn’t say I disliked Kill Your Darlings, but it did take me a long time to get through it. The book covers a lot of heavy topics, some quite graphic and it has great queer representation, but something was missing. I think it was the extremely slow pace that suddenly accelerated to a finale.
Synopsis: Fantasy author Kyla knows dreams don’t come true. Isolated and grappling with debilitating depression, she copes by writing about the realm of Solera. Fearless heroes, feisty shapeshifters, and mighty dragons come alive on her pages. She adores her characters, but she doesn’t believe in happy endings. And if she can’t have one, why should they?
Kyla’s on the verge of giving up on everything when she wakes one morning, magically trapped in her fictional world. Now she’s with her most cherished characters: the friends she’s always yearned for, the family she’s never known. There’s even someone who might be Prince Charming (if Kyla could get her act together and manage some honest communication). She’d surrender to the halcyon fantasy, except she knows a nightmarish ending awaits. Solera is at war, and its defenders are losing against the insidious villain spawned in the depths of Kyla’s mind. He feeds on the energy of dreams, seeks the destruction of all who oppose him—and Kyla’s become his number one target.
Kyla must trade her pen for a sword and fight to change her story’s ending, but this isn’t a fantasy anymore. No happily-ever-after is guaranteed. And mental illness has robbed her of everything she needs to succeed: love, fighting spirit, hope. If Kyla can’t overcome the darkness inside her, she’ll die with her darlings.
The Red Citadel and the Sorcerer’s Power by Craig Halloran
I read this back when I refused to DNF books and boy did I struggle to get through it. I don’t remember a single thing that happened and that’s probably true for most of the books I read back in 2019. When I first got my Kindle I downloaded a bunch of free books, so I’m not surprised they weren’t the best.
Synopsis: Once a respected wizard
Finster is now a drunkard and a con man living anonymously amongst simple, easily manipulated village folk. But his self-serving cunning cannot save him when soldiers of the Magus Supremeus of the High Order burst in to drag the disreputable mage to the dreaded Red Citadel.
Finster’s captor, the new Magus, is none other than Ingrid the Insane
His former acolyte, a young woman of cold heart and ruthless ambition who has already murdered numerous magic-doers in her quest for ultimate power. The only reason Finster still lives is Ingrid’s belief that he knows the whereabouts of the Founders Stone, a magical artefact that could make her invincible.
Rendered powerless by a scarab beetle attached to his back
Finster realises he is doomed unless he escapes and recovers the Stone before Ingrid does, and he turns to his dungeon cellmate for help. But the hulking, mute, barbarian youth he calls “Moth” is inscrutable and unpredictable. And their ultimate survival—and the survival of an entire kingdom—may require the cowardly wizard to assume a most unfamiliar and uncomfortable hero!
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: The Best Of: Books I’ve Rated Five Stars #4