Maybe it's because I grew up reading a certain book series (that i will not mention bc ykw)'s fanfiction and later on wizard school alternate universeMaybe it's because I grew up reading a certain book series (that i will not mention bc ykw)'s fanfiction and later on wizard school alternate universes in other fandoms on AO3 but oh my goodness I adored this book. Sorcery and Small Magics is the kind of cozy fantasy I love - charming and whimsical in a way cozy fantasies tend to be but also still a well written worldbuilding that leaves you satisfied enough to continue reading and filled with lovable and strong characters. This book was also so funny and full of humor - the banter between the characters were so great.
Leo was such a great main character - I loved his humor, wit but also how kind hearted he is deep down, and Grimm was also a fantastic grumpy character to Leo's sunshine. I adored the romance - can you even call it that? It's so slow burn that you barely see any romance in this at all BUT at the same time you know it's there. That ending had me shrieking!!! I am very excited to follow Leo's and Grimm's development in their friendship(?) in the next book. Another thing I also enjoyed was both Grimm and Leo's character development, especially Leo in regards to the way he thought of his privileges and also the reality of the world outside of his.
This book definitely falls into my "this book might not be the best book ever but it made me so happy and in love with reading" 5 stars category so if you're in the mood to read something cozy yet still fun and fast paced - I would recommend you this one!
Thank you so much to Orbit UK and Netgalley UK for the ARC. Sorcery and Small Magics comes out on October 17, 2024 if anyone is thinking of adding this to their tbr<3 ...more
i really loved this book:( beautiful writing (i love the stream-of-consciousness format), and for such a short book there was so much stuff that was ci really loved this book:( beautiful writing (i love the stream-of-consciousness format), and for such a short book there was so much stuff that was covered: about motherhood, catholicism, disability, and struggles of being a caregiver for a disabled loved one.
I decided to reread this book because Orbit UK had kindly sent me a physical copy (which is INSANE, thank you Orbit I'm so grateful). And I thiUpdate:
I decided to reread this book because Orbit UK had kindly sent me a physical copy (which is INSANE, thank you Orbit I'm so grateful). And I think I liked this book even more the second time around? Whilst I focused more on the plot the first time, I focused more on the characters and the small details this time. I had so much fun annotating and googling all the discussions about the gods and the characters, and reading more about the details of the story. Mahabharata is a major epic hence there are so many different interpretations online so it was really fun to be able to read through some of them and try to make meaning of what I found.
Also second time around of reading this, I grew even more frustrated with the characters. I grew up learning about the righteousness and the goodness of the Pandavas brothers so reading this gave me a different view of them. This was definitely a frustrating book to read but I felt like I reflected so much so that was quite nice LOL.
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First of all, a big thank you to Orbit UK and Netgalley for approving me of an ARC of Goddess of the River! Kaikeyi was one of my favorite books of 2022 and because of this, I was highly anticipating Vaishnavi's second book.
Ganga is a familiar name and entity to me as her name is occasionally mentioned in religious contexts through out my life - so I was so excited to read this one. Despite being familiar with both the Mahabharata and Ganga individually, I have always known them as separate entities/concept (I recognize that this is my fault - I didn't have much interest during religion classes and I wasn't really taught much about them). Therefore, encountering a narrative that intertwines the two was particularly intriguing for me.
Much like her writing in Kaikeyi, I also really enjoyed Vaishnavi's writing. It reads much like a folk/fairy tale though so if you're thinking of reading this one, please take note of that beforehand. This book just feels like Ganga trying to narrate through her life story and in a way it kind of feels soothing. One thing that I wasn't expecting though was that unlike Kaikeyi where we truly focus on her story, Goddess of the River follows a few other characters and although we are narrated by Ganga only, it's not solely HER story that we are reading. This kind of bums me a little bit if I'm being completely honest but I think that these plots are needed to support Ganga's story and messages. I also really enjoyed the message behind this book about righteousness and loyalty, and I especially liked the discussion about "vows before dharma".
The pacing of this book for me was much slower than Kaikeyi and I think that's why I couldn't fully enjoy this one and give it a perfect rating. However, this book definitely motivated me to learn more about the goddess and about the story itself and I really appreciate all the research that Vaishnavi has done to write an accessible reimagining like this....more
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