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ElleBelleXOXO

I'm all over the place with genres but I love fantasy/sci-fi/mystery with beautiful worlds and characters that are well built. My not interested list is pretty short: Non-Fiction šŸ˜…

164 points

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Level 2
Iconic Series
My Taste
The Hobbit (The Lord of the Rings, #0)
The Bear and the Nightingale (The Winternight Trilogy, #1)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
House of Many Ways (Howl's Moving Castle, #3)
Reading...
The Rainshadow Orphans
8%

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The Rainshadow Orphans

The Rainshadow Orphans

Naomi Ishiguro

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  • Isles of the Emberdark
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  • ElleBelleXOXO wrote a review...

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  • Isles of the Emberdark
    ElleBelleXOXO
    Jun 29, 2026
    Isles of the Emberdark
    4.5
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.5Plot: 4.5
    🦜
    šŸš£ā€ā™‚ļø
    šŸ‘½

    Well that was in interesting way to dip my toes into the Cosmere. I saw it on a shelf with new books at the second had bookstore so I knew it was popular, it was a pretty cover, and the blurb looked like nothing I had read before. I only had a vague sense of who Sanderson even is, so it was a bit of a blind buy, although I did look up how well rated it was and if it could be read as a stand alone. Color me impressed. I'm a huge fan of the show Firefly and it had a similar vibe. Little guys and big space. Like a crossover between Indiana Jones and Star Trek. The beginning was a rather slow, and a bit tedious. Some parts just felt like information dumps which make it less engaging. Also, I did feel like I was noticing the intentional easter eggs and still missing what they meant, which was a little distracting at times. The book picked up quite a bit just before the half way point and I got sucked in fully. The plot seemed pretty solid and the info dumps were helpful in understanding the "lore" of the world. The characters were fascinating, deep, and flawed while often still being likeable (or a love to hate them) which is a hard thing to nail. Dusk was a fantastic character, honestly probably one of the best I've read in a long time. Character development was realistic and done in a way that I barely noticed it happening. I found the ending fell into exactly what I had expected, but in a satisfying way. Overall, it is one of the best books I've read in the past few years.

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    Isles of the Emberdark

    Isles of the Emberdark

    Brandon Sanderson

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    Isles of the Emberdark

    Isles of the Emberdark

    Brandon Sanderson

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    Brandon Sanderson

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    ElleBelleXOXO is interested in reading...

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    The Starless Sea

    The Starless Sea

    Erin Morgenstern

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    Isles of the Emberdark

    Isles of the Emberdark

    Brandon Sanderson

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