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I wanted to like it more than I did. After being very pleasantly surprised with Regency lesbians in Heather Rose Jones' Alpennia series, I did not think this reached the same level.

Which might be unfair, but I really didn't have the Regency feeling with this book. Sure, it takes place in the correct period, there's a society of nobles and rich people that have strict rules how to comport oneself in said society, and it has bluestockings.

It didn't help that the first 50% of the book is dedicated to Tommy and Philippa pining for each other mightily, and we're constantly reminded how it's impossible to be together. There is supposed to be a mission to unmask a liar who stole some cypher from his niece, but that fell flat as well. There is very little story spent on this particular mission, and the 'climax' was over in about 2 pages.

Still, I liked the characters, and there was plenty of witty banter to keep me entertained.

A good follow up of Crier's War, but I really think the story would benefit tremendously if there was a third book, or at least more pages.

When Ayla and Crier meet again at around the halfway point, so many events take place that the second half felt rushed and it was crammed into the remaining pages.. I had the impression everything lasted about 10 minutes, before we had to move on the next event. I wish I learned more about the alchemy. I wish I learned more about Queen Junn and her court. I wish there was more behind the two necklaces. I wish Ayla had more lessons from Lady Dear. The revelation of what happened in The Iron Heart felt glossed over. The ending was anti-climatic. There are no loose ends, though, except that one unidentified person, maybe, but I always just wanted to know more.

That said, the relationship betweeen Ayla and Crier was beautifully written. I also wanted to give props to that one letter that discusses the universe; not only does it suggest that humanity before the War of Kinds had science, but it also mirrored the beginnings of our modern cosmology after Newton published his laws of motion and gravity. I love it when real world science is woven into a fantasy story.

4,5 stars. This was an excellent story, with all the ingredients that make a good fantasy. Although anyone that has some experience with fantasy novels could see from the start how the two leading ladies would end up (and I'm not talking about the romance here).

It would have been 5 stars, but I was not really a fan of how the book was written. There are a lot of different POV's, and I understand that was necessary to explain the plot, but I'm not a fan of this style. What I did not like was that there were a couple of chapters where a random character was introduced, with all their thoughts and actions, only to have that character die at the end of the chapter. I think there are better ways to handle that, but that's an entirely personal opinion.

Also, why does it say TikTok made me buy it in the title (Kindle version)? Wtf has TikTok got to do with it?

I can't wait for the next installment, though.

Generally, I do not like books written in first person POV, and I really do not like books written in alternating first person POV. The few books I have read that were written in first person weren't bad or anything, it's just that the format is not something I can enjoy.

However, I thought I'd venture outside of my comfortzone and picked this book on a whim. While I still don't enjoy the format, Queen of Coin and Whispers was a damn good story.

Nineteen-year old princess Lia inherits the throne to the Kingdom sooner than she expected. I like how this book averts a common trope: Lia actually does want to rule and she is determined to fix the mess the previous King, who was her uncle, has left behind. Of course, things are never as easy as planned. Lia has few allies, and needs a spymaster. She kind of forces young Xania into this role.

This book has a metric ton of court intrigue, conspiracy plots, fraud, politics, and foreign meddling. Soon after Lia's coronation, people start dropping dead left and right. Lia and Xania have to work together to keep Lia on the throne, but the growing attraction between the two could be the catalyst that will end Lia's reign.

Despite the format, I really enjoyed this book. I did think the ending was a bit rushed. A lot is happening in the final chapters, and I felt there was enough material there for a proper sequel.
one of the main characters ends up with a severe case of PSTD, and I felt this was glossed over in the epilogue. I also would have loved to see the Queen of Farezi more involved with the deposing of her son.

Great story, but it was not without some flaws.

Foundryside tells the story of Sancia, a thief with some special abilities. The story takes place in the city of Tevanne, which consists of 4 merchant houses in their sealed off compounds and endless slums. Sancia takes on a high-stakes job of stealing an item from within one of the guarded compounds. She knows she should have said no, but she needs the money to make her normal again.

This world employs magic on an industrial scale. The lore behind the magic is interesting, but it requires a lot of explanation on how it works–or does not work if that's the case. This sometimes interrupts the flow of the story. There is quite an extensive action scene in the first half of the book, where people employ magic that shouldn't be possible. This prompts an elaborate explanation on the origins and evolution of this particular type of magic. Interesting, I'll admit, but I could have done with less. As the book progresses, this becomes less of an issue, though.

The second thing I had issues with, is the dialogue. Most, if not all, characters do not talk their age. One character in particular, who by all accounts is ancient, talks like a 12-year old street kid. The dialogue in general is not very 'adult', while all characters are above 20.

Third, I have to mention the romance, what there is of a romance. The plotting of the book sadly leaves no room to explore the feelings between Sancia and Berenice. There are blushes, surreptitious glances, the tiniest hint of flirting, and yes, a kiss, but I doubt the author dedicated more than 20 sentences to the romance. I do hope the next book has some more of Sancia and Berenice.

That said, the story is interesting with some twists and turns, and I really enjoyed it.

4.5 stars. I'm not quite sure how to review this book, so I'll write down some observations.

I loved Gideon. She has a fuck it, fuck them, and when it comes to Harrowhark, fuck you in particular attitude. Both girls hate each other with the power of a thousand suns, but there's also some camaraderie between the two. I really liked the interaction between the two.

This book has about 400 pages, and while I consider myself quite good at English, there were on average two words per page I had to look up. That means I learned about 800 new words (well, I've forgotten most of them already). There were even one or two words even dictionary.com never heard of. Most of them were just archaic English.

The only thing that bothered me was the worldbuilding. There is space travel, spacestations, and an Cohort that does battle on remote worlds, but everyone is dicking around with swords. I saw one memntion of a firearm (but that was a very old one) and artillery shells. So I didn't quite get why swords were the main weapons.

Speaking of old: the author does a wonderful job describing how everything is old, decrepit, dillapidated, rotten, crumbling and falling apart. Everything is on its last legs, but there's still tenthousand year old machines doing their job.

This was a weird book, but I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
Did anyone catch how the dead girl in the Lost Tomb had some similarities to Gideon? I'm sure we haven't seen the last of her.