Babel by R.F. Kuang

Publication Date: August 23, 2022

Description from the Publishers through Netgalley

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.

Babel is the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? 

My Review

At its core, Babel is a love letter about language and the written word. Woven throughout the story are nuggets of thought about language; its meanings and origins. I read this as a buddy read, one chapter a day throughout the month and I think that added to the experience. I was invested in the characters and came to want to know more about them every day.

According to the author, this is also an emotional tired to Oxford University. I can feel that in the story as well. I was angry, sad, stored, happy, and excited as each of the characters was. The blatant discrimination that the country and Oxford itself exhibited was appalling. I enjoyed this read immensely. It was the perfect blend of reality and magic.

I gave this book 5 crowns.

I received this E-ARC from the Publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Publication Date: September 6, 2022

Description from the Publisher through Netgalley

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon.

They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire – it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age.

My Review

Imagine The Golden Girls as badass assassins. That is what this book is. I enjoyed every second of this read. Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie are the perfect characters. Their sarcasm and ingenuity reminded me of Sofia, Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy.

This book does explain the history of the Museum and the women’s jobs there by bringing you back to when they joined and specific missions. The way the story progressed was perfect and the moments in previous years did not feel confusing to read like some stories with multiple timelines do.

I gave this book 5 crowns.

I received this E-ARC from the publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Blame Game by Sandie Jones

Publication Date: August 16, 2022

Description from the

In the vein of the Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick The Other Woman, Sandie Jones’s heart-pounding new novel The Blame Game will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Games can be dangerous. But blame can be deadly.

As a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse, Naomi has found it hard to avoid becoming overly invested in her clients’ lives. But after helping Jacob make the decision to leave his wife, Naomi worries that she’s taken things too far. Then Jacob goes missing, and her files on him vanish. . . .

But as the police start asking questions about Jacob, Naomi’s own dark past emerges. And as the truth comes to light, it seems that it’s not just her clients who are in danger.

My Review

This story sucked me into the plot almost immediately. I appreciate how the background of Naomi’s life came out throughout the story and wasn’t just mentioned at the beginning. I really had a difficult time deciding who to believe in the story however, not all of the characters were likable. Naomi’s husband, Leon, was a jerk that I did not care for. Naomi needed to go back to school or to a therapist herself and talk about appropriate boundary setting with her clients.

The story moved forward at a decent pace but the ending was so abrupt and it made my feelings for this book change a bit.

Overall, I gave this book 3 crowns.

I received this E-ARC from the publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Warne’s Sister is Missing by J.A. Schneider

Publication Date: July 21, 2022

Description

April 1861, New York City. Civil War has just broken out. Kate Warne, first female detective and a Pinkerton, returns to find that her beloved sister, Saskia, has gone missing. Where to turn? Who to suspect?

Danger surrounds Kate. Secessionists’ fury has followed her since she thwarted their recent attempt to assassinate Lincoln in Baltimore. New York City is also a powder keg, with most elites and even the city’s mayor violently pro-South. Or could Kate’s possibly pro-South relatives have anything to do with Saskie’s disappearance?

Buck Hackett, a handsome fellow Pinkerton, teams up to help but also yearns for Kate. She resists loving him, fearing more heartache after the loss of her husband. Instead, she and her frequent partner Hattie Lawton – whose family Pinkerton helped escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad – plunge headlong into the dangers of 1861 NYC: from the theater scene to scenes of squalor and vast wealth – then through the raging opium epidemic and the secret tunnels of Chinatown. To find her sister, Kate braves every danger, knowing that every second counts.

My Review

I have been reading works written by J.A. Schneider for many years. When she contacted me that her newest book was about to be released, she told me a little about it. I will admit that I was hesitant at first because the time period that it was written in is not one that I normally gravitate towards. However, my love of her work led me to devour this book. I loved the characters, especially Kate, but her team as well.

You can tell that there was an immense amount of research that went into creating this story and I was sucked right in. I can’t wait to see what happens next to Kate Warne.

I gave this book 5 crowns.