Weekly Book Review

Week: 4/12/26-4/19/26

Books Included: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney, Empire of Storms by Sara J. Maas, and First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison

Author’s Note: Hello, bookish friends, it’s Ry with the first installation of my weekly book reviews! With this segment of my blog, I hope to keep you up to date on my experiences diving into books new and old! I’m a mood reader, but also working through quite a bit of rereads this year as some major releases are coming out and I’m doing my best to prepare for those as we get closer to the fall. That being said, I will be sure to let you know which segments have spoilers or can just be read through even if you have not yet read the series. If you’d like a non-spoiler book review, please just reach out to my tumblr and let me know. If this blog gains a lot of interest, I’m happy to make a separate instagram account for communication and community and such.

Status of books as of 4/19/26: 1. Intermezzo (77% done), First-Time Caller (36%), and Empire of Storms (completed).

Intermezzo

Note: I’ve broken my review into pieces based on what aspect of storytelling that stood out to me, as it really drives the story more than plot, as this is very much character based and less plot-based narrative.

The stream-of-consciousness style writing

I really appreciate how Ivan’s perspective is what I would expect to encounter in a fiction novel, writing wise. It’s predictable and falls within my own experience reading contemporary novels. However, I really love that it doesn’t get hung up on bland structure and it still maintains the feeling that I’m in Ivan’s brain as he’s thinking the thoughts that are written down. 

Peter’s perspective is fascinating to me, although at first I did get confused by the frequent breaks in the sentence and pauses. How the sentences connect but yet separated by punctuation and periods even though the thought isn’t developed or complete yet. In a way, it captures my own ADHD train of thought because he often circles back to a thought from a few lines prior, and so forth. I initially disliked this because it didn’t fall into my own expectations of fiction writing, even though I believe this is my first official literary fiction that I’ve read. However, I’m currently taking a Modern American Literature course in uni and we’ve covered Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and Peter’s structure of thoughts are very reminiscent of Cash’s, in terms of format only. Although, I do believe Peter circles back and is a little more internal with them, but I was reminded of Faulkner as I started this novel since Peter’s perspective is the first one in the book. 

As a neurodivergent individual, it is also hard to ignore the relatability and attachment I experience when reading Ivan’s perspective. While I’m not a STEM major, and find some of his ruminations on related topics harder to understand, his thoughts while interacting with other individuals and particularly the overthinking towards the interactions, are similar to my own. Admiring Peter for unthinkingly putting away his items he carried with him to the restaurant without stopping to figure out where to put each of them, as well as Ivan reading the menu not because he needed to decide (and had in fact decided prior to even getting in the restaurant) just because he didn’t know what to do with his hands, and Peter was looking at the menu. I find the inclusion of these little aspects that can be overlooked frequently to be so refreshing and bring me especially closer with him as a character. 

I’ve spoken a lot about page 156 here from quoting and also mentioning this scene, but it’s also noticeable as I believe it’s the first time Ivan and Peter are interacting together and not just thinking or talking over the phone with the other person. After spending so much time apart and seeing them individually, it’s fascinating to see the underlying tones and socializations made between them here. 

Also, a key part of this novel is obviously the dynamic between the Koubek brothers, and so far I’ve seen both negative and positive points from one brother to another in their thoughts and while outwardly there’s been no negative points said between them, that perhaps makes it an even more realistic perspective. I just encountered the line: “It seems to say something about Peter that when Ivan became a thinking person with his own individuality, Peter didn’t like him or want to spend time with him anymore” (pg 160). I myself am unsure if all siblings experience this change in dynamic, but from my understanding and my own experience, everyone does. Ivan thinks about how this experience ties into Peter’s own view of himself, which Ivan can’t know without asking him, but that is also common in these dynamics. The constant wondering of why the sibling is the way that they are and so forth. I just thought it was an amazing way to encapsulate the confusing pattern that siblings and families tend to experience as one child enters a new life stage than the other or they enter very different and spaced out stages but experience the same events, which creates distance and a separate catalog of individual events surrounding this one big thing that pushed them apart. 

Now, how the dinner scene ends between the two is not positive, but again, Ivan has managed to capture a very significant and relatable moment that all younger siblings could be familiar with (myself included): “Trying to be perceived as grown-up and sophisticated by a patronizing older sibling, he has behaved stupidly…” (pg 169). This is not to say all older siblings are actually patronizing, when in fact a few pages ago Ivan was admiring Peter for a range of aspects that he has come to understand over time and seen how Peter moves through the world positively and his own growth over time. It is only because Peter has responded negatively towards Ivan’s complex romantic relationship, combined with the amount of consumed alcohol (not enough to be black out drunk, but definitely tipsy) that he has perceived Peter as a terrible person and even says to him that he hates him and always has. 

Dialogue

Sounds natural, not like the common recurring phrases that I might expect from fantasy where I am expected, even for bits of dialogue, to suspend reality and my own natural expectations of dialogue flow

Ex: pg 156: 

“Without looking up, Peter says: A fellow chess enthusiast? 

Sorry? Says Ivan. 

Your friend in Leitrim, does she play chess? Oh, I get you. No, she doesn’t.” 

 ^ this could literally be a conversation between my friends and I or any two people naturally, and it would sound natural and within the realm of reality. 

First-Time Caller

“I told Aiden that I’m tired of wasting time on things that don’t feel like everything I’ve ever wanted for myself, but I’m not sure that’s true. I don’t know what I want for myself. It’s all twisted up in the things I think I deserve, then squashed under the things I’m brave enough to reach for. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about any of it long enough to know what I want.” ( pg 75)

I started First-Time Caller as a palette cleanser from reading Empire of Storms by SJM and wow wow wow, I really love this book. I love just how easy it is to fall into it and just have a good time reading without any kind of sadness weighing me down. There are a couple romance authors I know to choose when I want some emotional tugging that don’t drag the story down, but are maybe a little more involved with mental health concepts. Emily Henry and Abbey Jimenez come to mind for that kind of story. But I really just needed something lighthearted and fun to get me back into just getting immersed into a book completely where I don’t want to put it down. This book is perfect for that, and let me just say I will be picking up book two immediately after I finish this before jumping into another book. 

Aiden and Lucie don’t necessarily have crazy banter or work really hard to be funny, their relationship dynamic is very much built on trust and working with the hand they’ve been dealt. It’s not a bad dynamic and I find it kind of refreshing, because any comedy comes from the situations or other characters input, or even just natural flow of conversation like I might have making jokes with my own friends. I really admire that two people can be so honest with one another just as a result of an accidental situation that Lucie’s daughter has put her in, and I really love the underlying tension because neither one of them have acknowledged it yet or seen what we notice as readers between the two of them (As of page 184). 

This book moves quite fast through events and I really love how the chapters are separated, as well as the dual first-person POV we get. Each character seems naturally fit in, and locked into their role, but with just enough intrigue that there are compelling side plots. Maggie, for instance, total badass but is clearly not a very open person, and when we see some of those walls come down with Lucie my investment in Maggie’s story skyrocketed because there’s clearly a lot to unpack there and I want to know, desperately, what it could be. The beef with Jackson and the news reporter over a parking spot is so random and so funny. This is one of those situations that I almost want to peg it as classically rom-com and would never happen in real life, but I do think it actually might. There are seriously some stubborn people, and honestly same. Although, I wouldn’t crawl out my car window. 

I will say, I find myself increasingly annoyed by Grayson, because his one point throughout this book so far is that he doesn’t seem to want Lucie to talk to anyone else about her problems but he also is really not seeming like someone who cares to listen anyways. Like he’ll listen but he’s not seeing what she wants out of it, just what he thinks she wants out of it. I’m thinking that Aiden will acknowledge this and there will at least be a conversation about how that’s a little odd and more than a little toxic, even if they are still good friends and Lucie doesn’t get bothered by this or laughs it off. 

I also am so curious as to who the next pairing of leads will be for the third book, but I’m really hoping it’s Maggie, she could be such an interesting character. 

Empire of Storms

Star Rating: 5 stars

Spoiler Review

Because this is simply a reread of throne of Glass because I missed this world and these characters so much and never actually binge-read the series, I don’t have any exciting philosophical thoughts or enlightenment regarding the plot and I definitely am not the type to create a theory based on little easter eggs, because they go completely over my head when trying to pair it with her other series. 

However, I will say that as I’ve read so far, I really dislike Chaol. I first read this series in segments throughout high school and into uni, and not over the last two years of high school either. I first picked the books up in like Freshman year of high school and didn’t finish the series until I was on spring break my sophomore year of college. I just wasn’t the type to binge read a series, but as time has gone by, it’s more important to me to do so, as it really enhances the journey and I remember more information that way. But now that I’ve been rereading the books…I really don’t know why I liked Chaol at any point. He kind of consistently makes poor decisions and then blames the outcome on other people in a “well, I only did it because you did this…” type of scenario. And honestly my first read through I didn’t like Aelin as much but I mean, it’s not like I hated her either. I found her to be a typical main character up until empire of storms when I finally understood the true extent of what was going to happen with her in the series. 

Now on my re-read, I love Aelin as a character so much, she doesn’t compare to any other character in the novel. Of course I still have my favorite side characters *cough..Manon and Dorian…cough* but I resonate with some part of Aelin’s character, but it’s not easy to pinpoint the quality that I’m relating to. 

I’ve now finished the re-read of it, and can I just say I didn’t realize just how much I procrastinate finishing books when I know they’ll be gut wrenching at the end? I actually cried twice while reading this books, and I believe once was just because of Lysandra and Addison when she is practically nearly dead after shifting into the sea dragon. I love Lysandra, she’s definitely one of my favorite characters in these books, because just like Aelin, she has an amazing arc about overcoming her pain and taking opportunity fully in her hands. I also love that she and Aelin learn to form true friendship, which we’ve seen them both struggle with at different times. In truth, the women in these books are always going to be at the top of the list for me, because even evil Maeve is badass and really is terrifying, even more so than Erawan. The Valg King is really just haunting the narrative aside from a few scenes, but he manipulates the evil desires of men to do his bidding, and while yes that sends a message, I find Maeve’s reveal in this book of her extensive plotting to be so shocking and cunning, she makes for one of the best book villains I’ve read. I think she also serves the purpose of being a dark mirror to Aelin’s own cunning and power, to kind of show that even though Aelin does have moments where she truly is terrifying, it will always be compared to Maeve who has evil intentions where Aelin does not. 

I also really appreciate how this book expands on other characters and utilizes them where before they were merely just names for the sake of backstory for some characters. Rowan’s cadre finally being fully in the group adds a lot more room to allow confusion to brew and even more dynamics to play with. I say confusion not because I found it hard to follow what was going on between the plethora of characters, but because we spend so much time intentionally jumping around that when we circle back, it’s very easy to miss some of the foreshadowing and be surprised later on. I also always appreciate when realistic dynamics are written into fantasy novels, because it makes everything feel more real. Like small sub-units within a large group being closer together than everyone being on equal footing with every person there. Also, the continued thread of underlying honor causing issues between members who are all serving the same person, i.e. Dorian and Addison, Addison and Rowan, Addison and Lysandra, Aelin and Manon, etc. I love that Aedion punched Dorian in the eye for sending their queen into a teleporting mirror when they needed her most, and it really highlights something SJM discussed on the “Call her Daddy” podcast, where she wants to allow and show her characters making mistake because that’s realistic and characters shouldn’t be perfect. After watching that before re-reading the series I’ve just noticed the intentionality of it a lot more. And also that anytime a character keeps making mistakes, it does seem like there’s a much bigger redemption or reward for them at the end. Obviously, suffering follows this too, but I’ve been looking for moments where the characters mess up and make poor decisions since that podcast episode. 

Also, can we discuss Aedion for a moment…he really gets on my nerves more than he used to. To be honest, both he and Chaol really are the most irritating characters in the series for me, and at least for both of them there’s one underlying point that’s contributed: they both blamed Aelin for things that have happened in her absence or what expectations of theirs they didn’t meet. First, Chaol in Queen of Shadows being all pissed off because more val were hunting everyone and it was because she supposedly caused it by fighting the valg in Mistward with her fire. Now, in Empire of Storms, it’s Aedion saying she didn’t raise a big enough army and she had done nothing essentially. They both have so much arrogance and an insane ego, that I honestly cannot wait for us to move past this and get to their respective redemptions. I know based on these tiny moments it’s very easy to get caught up in feeling like they don’t deserve a redemption, but Aelin continued to see the best in both of them and trust them, and I think that’s very important to remember especially as I move into Tower of Dawn next. Also, both project their anger out as they haven’t learned how to best handle it between the world of pain they’re living in. At least for Chaol, I know he moves past and redeems himself, but I honestly don’t remember much about Addison’s progression beyond the scene in Kingdom of Ash with Gavriel…IYKYK. 

Overall, this book remains my favorite in the series and I’m kind of sad I finished it and didn’t love it as much as I did the first time around, because I noticed a lot more faults with Aedion and he was super annoying to deal with. However, it starts some dynamics for my favorite couples, Dorian and Manon, and Lorcan and Elide. I always love watching Elide call Lorcan out on his bullshit and the talent she has to remain calm in the most dire of circumstances and how she can take control of different situations without brute force but her own intelligence. Lorcan of course has a lot to work toward in Kingdom of Ash and a whole lot to apologize and make up for that I can’t wait to bear witness to once more. Also, I fervently wished we got more of Fenrys, he really makes this novel so much more fun and dynamic, and the next time we see him it’s not really all fun and banterous, it’s actually quite heartbreaking and I’m sad already thinking about it. 

Overall, I gave it 5 stars for the good time and the new details I noticed and honestly just for the fact that I love this series and am thoroughly enjoying my reread of it.