K.N. Salustro's Blog, page 10

Review – Vicious

[image error]I’d heard a lot of good things about this book, but it just didn’t click for me. It has kind of an interesting premise, but the idea of people with special abilities has been done so many times before that it felt a little stale here.

I think that impacted my enjoyment of this a lot, but the bigger issue for me was that I didn’t like either of the main characters. I did not like Victor or Eli, and found myself disgusted with them more than anything else. A lot of their conflict stems from the...

Review – Illuminae

[image error]This book. THIS book. THIS. BOOK.

I risked frostbite on my fingers to finish this book. I was so engrossed in the ending that I could not bear to put it down for the walk from the bus stop to my destination, so I kept my nose pressed against my Kindle and tried to ignore my frozen hands in favor of getting to the end.

In short, I like it. A lot.

5 stars and 10 frozen fingers worth of liking it.

This book is written in a really unique and interesting way. As the reader, you’re going through fi...

Review – The Song of Achilles

[image error]I’m actually really glad that I read Circe before I read this book. I loved Circe, but I don’t think I would’ve picked it up if I’d read this one before it.

It’s not a bad book, but man, is it slow. Much slower than Circe was, since that narrative was littered with gods and heroes and monsters, even when the titular Circe was trapped on an island. Compared to that, The Song of Achilles is a very long summer vacation experienced by two adolescent boys, followed by an extended camping trip. I c...

C2E2 Photos!

C2E2 2019 was awesome. Met tons of really nice people, got some new readers, saw some returning readers who were all extremely kind, and took a lot of photos of amazing costumes. I’ll upload all of them to my Facebook page later, but for now, check out a few of my favorites:

Click to view slideshow.

I’m planning on returning to the convention next year. I don’t know if I’ll have a new book ready by then since it looks like the event will be even earlier than it was this year. Currently, the d...

What’s Coming to C2E2

C2E2 is in three short days, and I’ll be vending at booth #126 all three days of the event. Here’s a peek at everything I’m bringing with me!

Paperback Copies of the Star Hunters Trilogy

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Paperback Copies of The Arkin Races

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Planetary Travel Posters

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New “Moonlit Flight” Poster

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Handmade Arkin Plushies [image error]This is the new batch I made for C2E2, including a Toothless and Light Fury-inspired pair of floppy bean plushies and micro arkin plushies. Even more handmade arkin plushies will be at...

C2E2 is Coming Up!

C2E2 2019 is in eleven short days, and I’ll be at booth #126. This is right near where I was last year, straight down the aisle from the show floor entrance to Cosplay Central. If you’re going to the event, stop by my table and say hello! And for those looking for merch, I will have books, posters, and handmade plush for sale. Books include paperback copies of the full Star Hunters trilogy as well as a limited print run of The Arkin Races. Stop on by and pick one up!

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Follow me on: Instagra...

Review – And I Darken

[image error]This was an interesting read. For some reason, I expected it to be a fantasy novel, but it was actually historical fiction that switches the gender of Vlad the Impaler from male to female. But even though there were no dragons or magic users here, it still read with the energy and sweeping world-building that I’ve come to expect from well-done fantasy novels.

I shaved off a star because it felt like the pacing started to drag about 2/3 of the way through the book, when hormones caught up to e...

Review – Binti

[image error]This is a novella, and a pretty short one at that, but man does it pack a punch. Ursula Le Guin blurbed it, saying that a single page of this story is as rich or richer than a volume of epic fantasy. And she was right. Every detail in this story serves to build the universe title character Binti sets out to connect to, but never once feels too dense to fully appreciate or understand. The prose is crystal clear, and so tight it hums.

And as for the story itself?

We start off watching Binti lea...

Review – Late Eclipses

[image error]Man, do I love me a Toby Daye book. This one was no exception, though there were a couple of instances toward the end when the action broke off in favor of vague-ish conversations, and one character made such an abrupt alliance shift that it felt jarring.

Out of that, however, this was a good one.

Toby is back in the world of Fae, racing to solve mysteries before people die—herself included. This time around, though, her enemies are smarter and often well ahead of her, whether they’re standin...

Review – Leviathan Wakes

[image error]This is one of those books that I heard about several times, always with the assertion that you HAVE to read it if you like science fiction.

I don’t really agree.

I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads, but it’s closer to 2.5 for me. There’s some very strong, interesting stuff here, from the protomolecule to the tense relations between Earth, Mars, and the Belt. The problem is, the book takes so long to actually get to those things, and focuses on characters that I didn’t really care for in ex...