All Categories - Alyce Caswell - Author

Alyce Caswell - Author

Masters of Boredom

12/11/2025

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

A vampire tries to sell a house with a ghost in it. The godson of Death has to play a game. If you want a proper plot, go read something else. I will try to keep this brief, because I am rather annoyed by how much time I wasted reading this book. The writing is pretentious to the point of tedium. All the characters sound exactly the same so it reads like the author is talking to herself for 100k+ words.

This would have made a much better novella or short story.

The only thing I liked about Masters of Death was the acknowledgement that my favourite song of all time is a classic. It really is.

The Unpopular Candidate

12/11/2025

The Boyfriend Candidate (Fool Me Once #2)
by Ashley Winstead

Alexis Stone, precariously employed school librarian, heads to a bar to have a one-night stand. There she meets Logan, but their tryst is interrupted. And then he bails. Turns out he's running for governor and now there are scandalous photos of him with Alexis going viral. Alexis can save his campaign if she agrees to fake date Logan and she's getting something out of it. But lines soon start to blur...

This book has a brilliant, fiery start...but then it fizzles out and only manages to get some of the spark back towards the very end. I also feel like it just didn't flow well, although I wonder if that's just because I didn't really connect to the story of the characters. Alexis' sister was particularly grating. I cringed every time she appeared. She made Alexis risk everything and put her in a terrible position, but the awfulness of this is never properly addressed. With siblings like these, who needs enemies? I can't say I enjoyed The Boyfriend Candidate, alas.

Cosy Christmas Cheer

4/11/2025

On Christmas Avenue by Ginny Baird

Clark Creek is in dire financial straits. What it needs is a miracle - and it definitely doesn't need an expensive "Christmas Consultant". Evan, the town's sheriff, is doubtful that Mary can do anything but push Clark Creek further into debt. Mary is determined to prove him wrong. She has a promotion to earn in Seattle, which means nothing can keep her in Clark Creek. Not even a certain sheriff...

If you love Hallmark Christmas movies, you're going to love this book. It hits all the right notes. Perhaps it's not always believable and perhaps there's not much substance to it, but it delivers the cosy hug you'd expect to feel while reading it. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that everything was properly resolved by the end, since we weren't given reassurance that Mary made the right choice!

What's in a name?

31/10/2025

The Crystal Crown (Star Wars: The Acolyte - Disney)
by Tessa Gratton

Padawan Jecki Lon is pleased to discover that Master Sol is taking her on a mission to another world - but she's less pleased about Padawan Yord Fandar and his master going along with them. Jecki and Yord soon find themselves signed up in a competition that will force them to work together - and perhaps Yord will even be forced to have fun! However, the competition is the least of their concerns...

So this is basically "Star Wars does Hunger Games" - and maybe I'm just in a good mood or something, but this didn't bother me at all. I mean...it was obvious and a tad cringey, yet it was still fun. Gratton also managed to make me grow very attached to Jecki and Yord. They definitely deserved better than what The Acolyte did with their characters and this prequel did them justice. I kind of wish there was a whole Jedi Apprentice-esque series about them!

This isn't a perfect book. There are issues. There were many awkward turns of phrase... the villain was revealed way too early... and a Twi'lek was named "Darren", which was so completely jarring (it's a very prevalent name here in Australia lol - it's not suitable for a Twi'lek!). But all that aside, I found it enjoyable.

Into the Disappointment

29/10/2025

Into the Light (Star Wars: High Republic)
by Claudia Gray

The lush world of Kashyyyk is under threat from the blight and a team of Jedi (and other assorted randoms) led by Reath Silas is hastily despatched in response. But there is a more immediate danger - the Drengir have arrived and are ready to violently break their truce with the Jedi. Reath and his companions are in a battle of darkness against light...and not all of them will win.

I was ecstatic to see my boy Geode again and he really stole the show here. Reath is usually my favourite but honestly, Reath who? His characterisation seemed to contain less depth compared to his outing in Tears of the Nameless, and I wish the shorter page length was wholly to blame. It also doesn't help that each book in the High Republic project seems to have a rule not to give away too much of what happened in other books preceding them, but it makes the whole reading experience feel very disjointed. Especially when key character and plot developments don't translate across titles!

I'm actually a huge Claudia Gray fan, so this book was a tad disappointing when compared to previous titles of hers I've read. There's still some enjoyable stuff, though. I LOVE the Drengir. Way more than I should. Ha! I'm pleased they've finally had a proper ending.

Flaws of the Named

26/10/2025

Tears of the Nameless (Star Wars: High Republic)
by George Mann

Jedi Knight Reath Silas has thrown himself into the task of finding a solution to the Nameless and Blight problems. He'll use any resource, even the dark sider Azlin Rell, who is not be trusted...especially around a Jedi so isolated from his peers. The arrival of Padawan Amadeo Azzazzo into Reath's lab sparks new ideas - and dangerous new missions that might shed light on everything.

The YA novels have always contained the far more interesting aspects of the High Republic project - at least for me, anyway. Tears of the Nameless certainly delivers. I love it when characters in any medium get to navigate ruins and investigate lost civilisations in attempt to save the present. I was a VERY happy camper. For the most part.

Now I know why the Jedi, in the associated adult novel, believed that their bizarre scheme of returning Nameless (which felt like it came out of nowhere) would work. I really could've used some spoilers about it in the adult novel, frankly, instead of having to backtrack - this happened because no one is publishing the YA/MG Star Wars novels as ebooks in my country right now, so I eventually caved and ordered in expensive US hardcovers. I shouldn't have go to these lengths for the High Republic project to make any damn sense. The adult novels suffered so much from not carrying the main plot at times (which they should have done). But I digress.

I have loved Reath right from the very start in Into the Dark. Mann does him justice - and delivers some of the best prose of the project, in my opinion. Excellent writing. Which is even more impressive given his personal situation. But this is not a perfect book. There are unnecessary passages and Vernestra may as well not even be in it (any character could have replaced her!).

Perhaps I should stop being so harsh on the High Republic novels... in any case, I loved nearly everything about this one.

Awesome the Hutt

23/10/2025

Beware the Nameless (Star Wars: High Republic)
by Zoraida Córdova

Zenny Graylark is desperate to find her sister, so she sneaks aboard the Innovator. She isn't the only stowaway - she's joined by Jedi younglings Tep Tep, Kildo and Jamil. A transmission from Palagosal has Zenny convinced her sister is there. She and the younglings get the go-ahead to search. But first they find Churo, an unHutt-like Hutt with a secret - and then something terrifying and dangerous.

Due to a postage delay, I accidentally read the book set after this first and I quickly became a fan of Churo. I'm still a fan. I love this guy - er, Hutt. So I was pretty happy to meet him properly this time. And the other characters are so easily likeable (even Tep Tep - I think I'm slowly recovering from the subpar narration in those Drengir audiobooks).

The story was pretty good as well; I was mostly engaged. I was, however, constantly distracted by Ram's absence. He's been a big presence in other books, so I was expecting a bit more for him. His concurrent mission is quickly wrapped up in a few paragraphs towards the end. I might not have been a Ram fan but that was weird. Surely he deserved a better sendoff in his own books! I know we see him in the comics after this... it's just not the same.

The Ram weirdness aside, this is a really solid MG instalment..

Rumours of His Death...

14/10/2025

Everyone in This Bank is a Thief (Ernest Cunningham #4)
by Benjamin Stevenson

Ernest Cunningham has decided to branch out - instead of investigating whatever murder he gets caught up in, he's going to become a private detective and do other stuff. But for this he needs a business loan. Which is why he's at Huxley's Bank when he gets caught up in a heist. Ernest is now locked inside with hostages and thieves... and perhaps even murderers.

I must applaud Stevenson for managing to shake up the series a bit with something slightly different for this instalment, though I must also sigh because Ernest managed to jump the fence from amusing into irritating (he made some seriously stupid decisions - more stupid than usual, I mean). And while these books are messy, this felt even messier. Mostly due to the ending... but anyhow. It's a decent enough read if you've enjoyed Stevenson's work before.

Passing Storms

10/10/2025

A Valiant Vow (Star Wars: The High Republic)
by Justina Ireland

The Stormwall is down! For Jedi Knights Imri Cantaros and Yacek Sparkburn, this doesn't mean much at first - they are still supporting the refugees on Aricho. But then scav droids start bringing down ships, Churo the Hutt's vessel among them, and the government's shadiness soon comes to light. The threat of the Nihil may only be tempered by the arrival of Zenny Greylark and Tep Tep!

So... from the above, you can see that's a lot of things going wrong all at once, but it works. This book never feels rushed. In fact, the pacing is excellent - and I was quickly invested in every character's journey. I know this is written for kids, but it was so much tighter and much more interesting than the adult novel of this wave. I couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed about that. Not every aspect of this large multimedia project has been good, so I wonder if I rate stories that have all the best aspects much higher than I should. Hmm... in any case, Ireland is a great writer with more hits than misses.

Side note - Tep Tep is forever ruined for me by the terrible voice the narrator gave her in the audiobooks. She does briefly reference those adventures here.

I Need a Book Tonight

8/10/2025

Love is a War Song by Danica Nava

Singer sensation Avery Fox is on the verge of being cancelled after an inappropriate cover photo hits the stands. So that she can lay low for a bit, Avery is sent to live with on her Muscogee grandmother's ranch. There she meets Lucas, who makes no secret of his dislike for her. Avery is determined to prove herself to everyone - Lucas especially. But how can they start something that's inevitably doomed?

Ahh. This was exactly what I was hoping for from Nava. Her previous book wasn't quite as polished, but this one hits it out of the park. I loved it. But this was never in doubt when the plot involved a city girl having to prove her worth on a farm. I'm such a sucker for these kinds of stories. The only issue is that Avery's "voice" is much younger than her apparent age. She reads as a YA heroine and so it was jarring when it was revealed that she was a Millennial. This aspect was, unfortunately, unconvincing for me.