It has been a very long time since I've read a Lilith Saintcrow book and this was the unique mix of horror, fantasy, and mystery Lilith is known for. I found it a little slow and overcomplicated at times, but it was different from what I'd read recently, so a nice palette cleanser. Solid read, but didn't quite hit the spot for me. May try again when I'm in a different head space.

Stopped at about 20%. The narrator is fairly good and does a decent job differentiating voices. Unfortunately, I am just not connecting with the characters, setting, or plot. I gave it a couple more tries than I would have if it wasn't an ARC, but it never really sparked anything except the talking cats thing. I was slightly interested when the cat was there, but the author kept changing point-of-view and I would lose interest again. I especially was not very interested in seeing anything from the mother or the thief's point-of-view at this point in the story. Perhaps because I didn't know their characters or because I wanted the plot to move forward and their viewpoints didn't seem to serve that purpose. Anyway, this one was not for me.

Lilith Saintcrow is one of my favorite authors and I enjoyed Spring's Arcana just as much as I expected I would! In addition to enjoying the story and character development, I was delighted with Barrie Kreinik's narration of the book.

Spring's Arcana is the first book in a series, so you can of course read it like a standalone. The juxtaposition of the traditional Baba Yaga story with a modern-day setting lets the author craft a spell-binding universe. I loved it, and I bet you will too. While I don't re-hash the publisher's summary of the story, I can tell you that the trials and triumphs that Nat faces as she navigates a nearly impossible task will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Barrie Kreinik is a wonderful narrator and is easy to listen to at accelerated speeds. Her nuanced storytelling loses nothing at 2x or even 3x speed (I just don't listed to audio books any faster than that.) You can almost see the story unfolding in front of your eyes. She is just such a talented voice actor.

Nat will do anything her mom asks her to as she is in the hospice. She goes to see an old woman in a skyscraper and agrees to find something that her mother took long ago and hid. In exchange the old woman will help her mother get out of the hospice. But Nat soon realizes that her mom kept much from her besides who her father was. Gods and goddesses live among us and maybe Nat’s mom may have been one. She is told to attend a party and that night Nat is dropped headfirst into a world that she never knew about and must survive to finish the quest if she is going to save her mom. The people she meets are disbelieving that her mother would have kept her in the dark and yet a few lend her a helping hand on the way while she she travels with an unreliable partner that wants to eat her as much as wants her to finish the quest so he can take what she is sent after. The ending is a stopping point on the quest but it isn’t finished and will conclude with the second book. At least we don’t have to wait long at all to find out if Nat finishes her goal.

A different spin on Baba Yaga… This just fell flat for me. It was very slow and just didn’t have enough to keep me super interested. I had high hopes with the Supernatural vibes the cover gives too…..

I was excited for this one, but unfortunately it didn't work for me. I couldn't get invested in the plot or the characters. To be fair, I often struggle with urban fantasy though. The characters just didn't intrigue me and felt underdeveloped. DNF @ 27%.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t the right one for me. I love fantasy, especially the kind that is sometimes called urban fantasy or magical realism, where the fantastical elements interact with the real/regular world. And so I thought this book would be a great fit for me, with its take on Baba Yaga mythology. (I haven’t read American Gods so I can’t comment on that comparison.) I absolutely loved another recently published book that centered on a retelling of Baba Yaga (Thistlefoot) and was hoping for another winner here.

I wound up putting down this book/audiobook a couple of times and trying again, but at nearly 30%, I still wasn’t sure who was who and what was going on and so I finally decided to give up. I kept hoping I’d get to the publicized road trip but at that point it still wasn’t looking like it was happening anytime soon.

The bright spot was the narration by the ever-wonderful Barrie Kreinik, but even she couldn’t save this story for me.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

DNF @ 24%

I received an ARC audiobook of this title from the publisher through NetGalley.

Well written in terms of prose, but the story just didn't grab me.

Wow. I stayed up all night on this one. It’s American Gods meets John Wick meets Hades and Persephone (that last one is wishful thinking.)
The story telling is so vivid that you have no problem feeling like you’re in every roadside bar, desert oasis, or hotel room.
The pacing of the plot was perfect, the characters were well imagined and super interesting. The speed that the FMC figures things out was a little wearing. She came off as unbelievable stupid at times, which I think was the point but it was still somewhat insufferable. I am beyond excited for the second book!

Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me. It was promising but there was so many descriptions that I got tired of all of the descriptions. At times I was lost in the story and as much I wanted to connect with the MC I ended up having no desire to see if she was able to finish her quest. There are a lot of characters named and I lost track of them all. On a positive note, the narrator, Barrie Kreinik did a phenomenal job. The tones and inflections used were great and I absolutely enjoyed the accent she used.

Story: 1 star
Narration: 5 star

A very special thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the ALC.

This is book #1 in the Dead God’s Heart series.
I decided to request this book because…well the cover kind of reminded me a smidge of Supernatural. Plus, we get some mythology thrown in. However, I know so extraordinarily little of Slavic myths, so I do not think I appreciated this one as much as I would if I knew more about it.
My impression of the story is that it is a bit like American God’s with a dash of grown-up Percy Jackson thrown in. We have the old gods that moved to America and their progeny. Nat wants to save her dying mother and is sent on a quest by Baba Yaga to recover a stolen item. She goes on this quest with another god who is trying to “protect her” but that is definitely up in the air. Basically, we have a story of a young woman going on a quest, but it is more about discovering who she really is.
The author does a wonderful job painting the world, wonderful world building, beautiful words, but it just was not for me. I do not know if it simply because I do not know the world of Russian folklore, or that the world just did not pull me in. I wanted to like it, I really, really did, but I just could not get into it. The characters were a little to one dimensional for me, maybe it is because we are just trying to get to know them. The concepts were interesting, I liked the horse motorcycle, but it just was not for me.
The narrator also did a fantastic job with bringing the story to life. She was able convey all the emotion and stress of Nat’s story and did fantastic on all the voices and accents.

The first 50% of this book really pulled me in as it gave me all of the Good Omens by Neil Gaiman feels. However, after that, the book just becomes ridiculously repetitive and a pure slog to get through.

I was drawn in by American Gods vs Baba Yaga. Boy, did it deliver. It had all of the feel of American Gods, but was Slavic deities. Growing up with stories of Baba Yaga and Leshi I was so excited to read and I cannot wait to listen to it over and over again. Excellent story, did a great job on the gods, didn't want to put it down.

I love contemporary re-tellings of myths and legends. And Spring's Arcana definitely does not disappoint. It will remind you of American Gods but with a definite Russian twist. Nat Drozdova must seek a "jewel" her mother has kept hidden in order to save her life. Baba Yaga has the clues for Nat's quest. And as her mother lays dying, Nat becomes stronger with a power she never knew she had.
I cannot wait for the second book of this duology! As a side note, the narrator, Barrie Kreinik, is amazingly talented and extremely good at accents, etc. Listen for the story and an amazing performance.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.

DNF 36% This book did not do a good job with the world building. I'm over a third of the way through and I still do not have a good grasp on what the magic system is nor who these characters are. It is taking too long to get invested in the characters, as of now I am not interested in any of them and therefore am not going to finish the book. I like that the book has Russian mythology/folklore however, it should hav been more developed and explained.

The narrator is good.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to listen rage and review this audiobook which will be available for purchase May 2,2023.

Let me preface by saying this author wrote a fav series Dante Valentine. This is not that series. It is an American Gods vs Baba Yaga Russian inspired contemporary fantasy.

The narrator Barrie Kreinik did an absolutely phenomenal job bringing this story to an immersive level of life.

The story itself has a slow start then it gets faster paced with action. I enjoyed it but I do not think I will continue the series. It was lacking something

I really loved the writing style as this book opens. Saintcrow uses athletic descriptions and similes and metaphors to bring a snowbound yet dismal NYC in December to life. I felt enmeshed in Nat and her sadness and loneliness. I felt I understood her harsh yet loving relationship with her mother.

But as Nat’s cross country adventure unfolds, the over-description weighs down the story and slogs the reader into frustration and disinterest.

The magical makeover, the self-driving cars, the multitude of deities, the jealous, shallow side characters, the sexy and powerful bad boy, all felt familiar. Nat is an oft-seen YA main character who is lovable yet clueless and is “surprised” to learn she is a princess/goddess who happens to be drop dead gorgeous.

I loved the narrator on this book. They did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life. Springs Arcana is a novel with so much going on and so many big ideas. From the very beginning you can feel the tone off the book. There's a ton of mystery and twists to this tale. This is a book that you have to be in for the long hall, but it is totally worth is. I really enjoyed the array of character that we are introduced to in book 1 and found myself liking our MC the further and further along I got. I loved the world building and the writing. I'm really excited to see where this story goes in book 2.

Spring’s Arcana was an enjoyable Russian-inspired urban fantasy.

Nat Drosdova’s mother is dying of cancer, and there’s nothing she can do about it. Except she keeps asking her to visit a fancy skyscraper downtown.
When Nat eventually plucks up the courage to visit, she finds herself thrust into a world of divinities - both familiar and not - and discovers that nothing about her life is what she believed.

I enjoyed Spring’s Arcana. The plot was fast paced and interesting, with plenty of characters the reader would recognise to varying degrees. The inclusion of the Russian inspiration was different, and I liked that it wasn’t limited to Baba Yaga.

I mostly liked Nat as a main character, however I did find her naivety somewhat frustrating in an adult fantasy lead, and I also personally do not enjoy this particular style of ending, where the story simply stops and says ‘To be continued…’ it felt a little abrupt to me, and I was jolted out of the story and left surprised there wasn’t more to the book.

Audio-wise, the narrator was fantastic and I loved the way they embodied the characters. They really added something to the story and I think I enjoyed it more as an audiobook than I would if I had read it myself.

Overall, if you like urban fantasy and Russian-inspiration, I would recommend Spring’s Arcana as a quick read!

I really enjoyed the first part of this duology. I found a world populated by various divinities to be fascinating. I can’t say that I liked the ending though, I would have much rather read a longer book than have this book just end. 3.5 stars.