Wandering Through Books

Review: Sorcery of Thorns

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Title: Sorcery of Thorns

Author: Margaret Rogerson
Genre: fantasy
Release Date: June 4, 2019

Goodreads Chapters IndieBound

eARC provided through NetGalley

Elisabeth was raised in a library full of very dangerous books- dangerous books that whisper, bite, and sometimes invade minds. Spellbooks that turn into monsters if you go about them the wrong way. Her aspiration is to complete her apprenticeship and be a warden, to guard over the books in the magical library for terrifying sorcerers. But when she is blamed for a death at the library, and nobody believes her warnings that there's something more going on, she finds herself in a world more complicated than she's ever known and with stakes higher than she could have imagined.

Out of Ten: 8/10

Review at a Glance: an equal parts familiar and original plot, with a strong lead and some surprisingly fun scenes.

Review: I requested this one after I finished listening to the audiobook of An Enchantment of Ravens. Partly because I quite enjoyed Enchantment, partly because I was intrigued by the synopsis, and partly because I'm a shallow person and I thought the cover was really pretty.

I think in a lot of ways I enjoyed this one more than Enchantment, simply because I found this one funner to read. As a trope "girl moves into sorcerer's house, he complains but doesn't kick her out because he's being peer-pressured by his demon familiar" is just entertaining for me. (Howl's Moving Castle, anyone?) (Does that count as a trope? I think it should. And it should be used more because it has excellent potential.)

It took me a little while to get into this one, simply because the plot isn't quite structured in a typical way, the build is almost in fits and starts and it's almost like there are two plots layered together. One was the big, flashy plot about the risk to the world, and the second was smaller and more personal. The two threads interacted, but not so much that they ever really became one. I actually quite enjoyed this strategy, Margaret Rogerson did a pretty great job of making both plots ones that I was invested in.

Elisabeth's growth as a character was interesting in that she doesn't so much change as a person- she is, at her core, not changed from the start of the book to the end, she just... grows more into those traits. She learns more about the world, remaining true to the core of herself. She's an enjoyable character to read, and I really enjoyed her dynamics wit the other characters. She's practical and stubborn and just... aggressively believes in people until they eventually have to accept that they're worth believing in. It's kind of a superpower. She's very much a storybook character in that way, and I appreciated it. I also liked the rest of the cast, although Nathaniel took some time to grow on me. Katrien was one of my favourites, although she had a smaller role than many of the other characters.

In terms of setting... I am always a fan of a sinister library. The setting was interesting in that it was also set up as almost a character, and part of the plot. Also talking books are fun. This book played on a lot of familiar plot points and tropes (there were bits of the plot that reminded my Fullmetal Alchemist, for example, and I've already mentioned Howl's Moving Castle) but was enough of an engaging take on them that this was enjoyable, rather than tiring. I also laughed more than expected, since there are actually some funny moments in the book, despite the seriousness of what is going on during most of the book.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this one! I do like a good fantasy standalone and I do recommend picking this one up if it sounds like your kind of book!

Review: This Place

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Fri, 17 May 2019 15:46:00 +0000

Title: This Place: 150 Years Retold
Writers: Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, David A. Robertson, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Jen Storm, Richard Van Camp, Katherena Vermette, and Chelsea Vowel
Illustrators: Tara Audibert, Kyle Charles, GMB Chomichuk, Natasha Donovan, Scott B. Henderson, Ryan Howe, Andrew Lodwick, and Jen Storm
Release Date: May 28, 2019

Goodreads Chapters IndieBound

eARC provided through NetGalley

A graphic novel collection of stories by Canadian Indigenous people, detailing the past 150 years of Canada's history from an Indigenous perspective.

Out of Ten: 8/10

Review at a Glance: A fantastic and informative collection of stories featuring Canadian history from Indigenous perspectives.

Review: This one took me... a long time to get through! I liked to take time to process between stories, so it wound up taking me longer than I expected to. I swear I mean to review it earlier but I decided to take my time with it instead. Anyway, here we are.

This is a beautiful collection, it really is. I'm kind of choosy about graphic novels a lot of the time, and it was great to see a bunch of different art styles together! I think I especially liked the art style of Rosie? It was a little more abstracted than some of the art styles, but it suited the story being told really well, and it was also really pretty!

In terms of themes, obviously there's quite a bit of darkness because... well... Canada has a lot of dark stuff in it's history with respect to the treatment of Indigenous peoples. I'm still learning all of it. I wasn't in high school that long ago, but it was slightly before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's findings were made public, and my history classes honestly touched far more on the World Wars than on anything that happened at any other time. (Um. My history teacher was really, really into the World Wars. I assume other things have happened in history but he wasn't interested in them.)

While I know the broad stokes from a combination of research on my own and osmosis, the timelines provided with each story really helped me understand the context of the stories themselves. So both in terms of perspective and in terms of actual learning more about the actual events. So I really appreciated having a chance to improve my understanding. They're also just really well done in terms of art and storytelling! So, valuable for a lot of reasons.

I definitely recommend picking this one up! Especially if you're interested in Canadian or Indigenous history (and present, since these stories not only cover up to the modern day but also because the ramifications of how Indigenous people have been treated in the past are very much still being felt), but it's also a good read for anyone, in my opinion. As a heads up, there is some kind of heavy material, but if it's something you're comfortable picking up, it's definitely worth it.

First Ten Books I Reviewed

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 18:12:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Okay so the thing is that I had blogs before this and they were terrible and are very deleted like as deleted as I could make them on the internet of things, where in truth things are not ever actually gone but that said don't try to find them because they were terrible. Anyway.

The first one's I've got tagged are reviews on this blog (and so the first ones that were really consistent with my current reviewing style (i.e. blathering on at length but without spoilers) are:

1. The Seven Kingdoms quartet by Cinda Williams Chima

2.Cinder by Marissa Meyer

3. Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

4. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

5. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

6. Wanderlove by Kristen Hubbard

7. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

8. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

9. Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein

10. Nation by Terry Pratchett

A Handful of Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. found family: I know that I'm the millionth person to say this but. Listen. It's a quality trope. A scrappy crew who slowly manage to bond with each other and build a life including each other... is really good.

2. sisters: despite the fact that books featuring sisters are almost always disappointing to me... my quest shall continue...

3. criminal masterminds: it is possible that reading Artemis Fowl was a formative experience for me, who can say?

4. heists: related to the criminal masterminds. I feel like writing a heist successfully is a really good test of an author's abilities too, just because it requires incredible pacing, and an understanding of exactly how many jumps readers can make, strong characterisation, excellent worldbuilding (in the case of fantasy or sci-fi) and a capacity for being surprising but still believable

5. horses: even though it disappoints me almost as often as books featuring sisters... I've spent quite a bit of time working with horses and so I'm picky

6. dragons: I have a lot of books featuring dragons... it's a thing with me...

7. fae: I initially thought that I'd been on a faerie kick recently but then I looked back and realised that... nope... I'm actually just like this all the time

8. vampires: okay so I actually have been on a bit of a vampire kick recently, by which I mean I've just been listening to The Coldest Girl in Coldtown constantly... it's just really interesting to me? There's some really interesting worldbuilding there.

9. fantasy with political intrigue: The Goblin Emperor is my favourite example... and that isn't even all political intrigue, sometimes it's just... political day-to-day management, which was really interesting too

10. steampunk: this is another one I'm picky about but also... I have read a lot of really really good steampunk

Some Thoughts on Audiobooks

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 23:53:00 +0000

I have been listening to a lot of audiobooks lately. Like. A LOT of audiobooks. Over half of what I finished in the month of January was in audiobook form, and I think they're a fantastic way to experience books.

I'm not going to have the discussion about whether or not audiobooks qualify as reading... as far as I'm concerned any way of experiencing a book should qualify. I know audiobooks aren't for everyone, but for people who struggle with reading words on a page, they can be a real boon. It's a fantastic way to improve the accessibility of stories. And for me personally, I just really like listening to them while doing groceries, or taking the bus. Basically if I'm on the go, unless I am speaking to another human being or in class, I am listening to an audiobook. I really, really like being read to, I suppose?

My ever-increasing audiobook listening has me thinking about what makes a good audiobook. Audiobooks to me have always kind of been not only just a book being read out loud, but also a way to add something to the experience of the book. Done well, audiobooks can be really immersive things.

I think it's a symptom of me being me, but I like to dissect. If something isn't working for me, I want to know why it isn't working. I think it's a bit clearer why things DON'T work than why they do. It's like salt- you really notice it when it's not there, I guess?

A lot of this was brought to the surface by me trying to figure out what about the audiobook of The Gilded Wolves wasn't a particularly enjoyable reading experience for me. And I think a lot of it was the narration of the audiobook, rather than the story itself not being compelling.

I've found that a pet peeve for me with audiobooks is when audiobooks with 3+ point of view characters has only two narrators, one per gender. It's... weird for me. For immersion, I've found what works best (for me at least) is to either have:

one narrator for the whole book, or
one narrator per point of view (I get that having a significant number of voice actors come in to narrate challenging and expensive, and a lot of the time there might not be a budget for it... and I honestly think in those cases, I'd rather just have a single narrate carry the whole story, it feels more cohesive in general that kind of... arbitrarily divvying up the characters by gender and for me makes differentiation more difficult.)

Having one narrator per character is really nice in cases of first person point of view especially (and these are definitely some of my favourite audiobooks). It really does a fantastic job of putting the reader into the character's head! A good narrator can really give a fantastic inner voice to a character.

A single narrator, on the other hand, is more about the feel of the book than the feel of a given character. On one hand I think it's easier to make it cohesive with a single narrator (either because there's just one POV, or it's third person), but other the other hand it can take away from the experience if the narrator isn't able to differentiate the individual voices.

Some favourite first person POV audiobooks:

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Fiona Hardingham as Puck and Steve West as Sean: this audiobook the treasure of my heart, honestly. The narrators' voices are, in fact, so tightly tied up in the characters for me that it took a significant amount of mental effort for me to listen to another audiobook read by Steve West without hearing Sean. Both narrators are really good and excellent at giving a sense of place to the story, as well as having intonations that really add something to the characters. My favourite way to experience The Scorpio Races is actually the audiobook (although I love reading it too... the audiobook is really something). Also Maggie Stiefvater did the music for the intro and it is, dare I say, a jam.
Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Emma Galvin as Isabel, Dan Bittner as Cole, and Pete Larkin as Martin from F♮ Live: there are going to be a lot of Maggie Stiefvater novels on this list because the audiobooks of Maggie Stiefvater's novels are kind of everything an audiobook should be. I especially like the narrators for this one. They're both good at caustic and conveying "experiencing an emotion that is blotting out the rest of everything" which is... really good.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, read by Lin-Manuel Miranda: this is just. Such a good book and so,so well narrated. I listened to it while I was doing a summer job cleaning a factory and it was super nice to have it.
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, read by Euan Morton: Euan Morton is so good at carrying multiple points of view (nine first-person points of view, I think?) and making them distinct, to the point where I never found myself forgetting whose point of view I was in at a given time, despite the whole story having one narrator. (This is partly down to Rainbow Rowell's ability to make point of view clear though characterisation, and partly due to Euan Morton's fantastic flexibility as a narrator, I think?) Simon and Baz are the principle points of view and they're both distinct, despite being narrated by the same person they sound VERY different.

Some favourite third person POV audiobooks:

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Will Patton: I told you there'd be a lot of Maggie Stiefvater on this list, but it merits this treatment. I just feel that Maggie Stiefvater's books are really well suited to the audiobook treatment, and these are especially well done.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, read by Christine Lakin: I've listened to this about three times in the past fortnight, which is slightly excessive behaviour, even by my standards
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, read by Jim Dale: I couldn't not mention this one! My parents discovered when we were children that these were a good way to keep myself and my sister quiet in the car for long drives, so this one has some nostalgic value, but they're also just really good audiobooks!

So, that's some rambling on audiobooks, because audiobooks are the theme of the week.(I swear I didn't plan that! Have you met me? I'm not fantastic at planning things. But I digress.)

Do you listen to audiobooks? Do you have a favourite listening program? Are you totally dependent on libraries because audiobooks cost even more money than books in other formats? Do you have any recommendations that stand out as absolutely fantastic? Let me know what you think!

Some Favourite Audiobooks

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 04:06:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This one is aptly timed, as I'm just putting the finishing touches on a discussion post about audiobooks now! Well, no now, as it is kind half past midnight, but you know... in the next day or so. I'm really looking forward to sharing that!

1. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Fiona Hardingham and Steve West: this is one of those books that I actually like best as an audiobook. I loved it when I read it but it really lives when these narrators read this book! Also the music is stellar.

2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, read by the author: this is so lovely as an audiobook, especially with the author herself reading it.

3. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, read by Lin Manuel Miranda: I have very vivid memories of listening to this one while vacuuming a factory floor for a summer job. It got me through vacuuming which is a big deal.

4. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, read by Christine Lakin: I've listened to this three times in the past two weeks, which is a normal amount, I think.

5. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, read by Euan Morton: this has become something that I like to listen to just to relax? Weird choice possibly.

6. Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Dan Bittner and Emma Galvin: the narrators are SO GOOD for the characters. Seriously. I really like how Emma Galvin's Isabel feels like she's almost constantly on the edge, there's a sharp quality to the narration that's really well suited to Isabel's character, and Dan Bittner strikes a really good balance with Cole that I think is probably difficult to get.

7. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale (specifically): I grew up with Jim Dale's Harry Potter audiobooks, and I've listened the the Stephen Fry narration but... it's just not the same for me.

8. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Will Patton: lots of Maggie Stiefvater on this list but... her writing style just works REALLY WELL in audiobook form, and the audiobooks are really well produced (she does the music for them as well which is a cool feature).

9. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, read by Christian Coulton: I'm actually going to (at some point soon I swear) also listen to Lady's Guide as well, especially because I already know I enjoy Moira Quirk's narration.

10. Lockwood & Co. series by Jonathan Stroud, read by Miranda Raison: these are just...really good books that I really like the audiobooks for... when I can I'll just listen to the whole series, back to back.

DNF Review: A Crown of Feathers

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 15:02:00 +0000

Title: Crown of Feathers
Author: Nicki Pau Preto
Series: Crown of Feathers
Volume: 1
Genre: fantasy
Release Date: February 12, 2019
Goodreads

Veronyka, orphaned animage, has been traveling with her controlling sister, searching for phoenix eggs and chasing the dream of becoming a Phoenix Rider. When her sister turns on her, she finds herself adrift, and resolves to search out what remains of the Riders and join them- even if it means disguising herself as a boy.

Review at a Glance: This one just wasn't for me! The characters and the world just didn't feel cohesive and it fell back on tropes that I didn't love, without breathing new life into them.

I really, really wanted to love this one. Like, seriously, so much. It has a gorgeous cover! It's a fantasy debut!

All of which magnified the disappointment I felt when it just... wasn't what I wanted it to be. I've had it on my currently reading shelf for literal months because I didn't want to accept that this one really, really didn't work for me. I started it months before the release and now it is over a month after and I feel super guilty about not reviewing it earlier but I really, really wanted to like it and couldn't accept that I didn't.

The name "Veronyka" kind of put me off a bit because the spelling bothered me... I did try to get past my weird name thing, and I really think that I wouldn't have had a hard time getting past it, had I enjoyed the rest of the story but I just... didn't. I think this was a combination of the writing style, which was heavy on the telling rather than showing and lacking in cohesive worldbuilding.

The characters feel like sketches, especially when I got to the point of introducing more characters. They felt like they were there in order to be features of a plot, in order to move it along in a direction that... really didn't feel intuitive for the plot to go. It kind of took me out o the moment as a reader.

The other thing that didn't work for me was that it fell back on a couple of tropes that I personally just don't care for, and didn't apply them in a way that refreshed the ideas. Mainly, I'm super tired of sisters being constantly at odds... I've seen it so many times in fantasy that I've just gotten a bit bored of it. Also, I think I've very picky about crossdressing as a trope as well, and the introduction of it in this book just didn't feel like it... contributed much of anything. It was just... there? The worldbuilding just wasn't there enough to make a lot of the elements of the plot feel like a logical progression of the world it's taking place in.

In the end, this wasn't for me. I think there's potential there, and imagination but the ideas didn't wind up being carried by the writing for me.

Books On My Spring 2019 TBR

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

2. Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

3. The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare

4. The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala

5. Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse

6. Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

7. I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

8. We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

9. The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad

10. Middle Game by Seanan McGuire

Standalone Books That Need a Sequel

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 04:01:00 +0000

I feel like standalones are split into three distinct categories for me: the "this desperately needs a sequel" section, the "I love it as a standalone and it would change the story a lot for a sequel to be introduced but I would still be excited about it," and the "please please let it stand alone" category.

Books I would very very much like a sequel to:

1. The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer: I feel like this one really was meant to have a sequel and then just... didn't... and now I will wait forever for a sequel that isn't coming.

2. Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley: this one might just be because I felt like the whole ending was rushed and nothing with Sam's family felt sorted out?

3. That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E. K. Johnson: I just want to see the three main characters navigating their relationship and also royal life?

Books I love as standalones but would also be thrilled to revisit the world and thus am torn (it is the cause of a not insignificant amount of readerly angst):

4. In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan: okay this one doesn't really need a sequel but I do want more of this story, and these characters, and this world.

5. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black: mostly I very much love this as a standalone (it's one of my favourite standalones, and favourite books period) but I also find the world outlined in it incredible and I'd love to see more.

6. The Scorpio Racesby Maggie Stiefvater: again 99% of me wants this to stay a standalone but I also adore the world so much that I want more of it.

7. The Goblin Emperor by Katherin Addison: we're actually getting an indirect sequel/ spinoff of this one and I'm pretty thrilled!

... and that's it, I think. And even that's a stretch. I guess I like my standalones as they are...

Top Ten Favourite Non-Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Okay this one requires some convolution to get from point A to point B, given that I've deviated rather far from the initial prompts but in my brain it goes like this: I got a little too close to this topic last week with the visiting places prompt (where I very much went for the fantasy worlds angle) and I just kind of felt like spotlighting some of my favourites from the current actual world where I reside at the moment.

1. Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin: this was, I think, the full-length popular science book that I ever made my way through?

2. At the Water's Edge by Carl Zimmer: the whales bits were my favourite, whale evolution is fascinating

3. Lone Survivors by Chris Stringer: biological anthropology remains one of my favourite areas of study ever and this was such a fantastic overview (although it's probably a wee bit dated now, there have been a few new developments in the past few years!)

4. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte: confession: I haven't actually finished this one yet, but I really enjoyed what I have read. Modern paleontology!

5. Evolution: the Whole Story edited by Steve Parker: another one that I haven't read cover-to-cover, I just like to pull it down of the shelf and look at it from time to time, there are some lovely photos and it's more profile-style than a linear progression of information so picking it up for a bit at a time works.

6. The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner: long term vertebrate evolution research! It's on my shelf right now, I bought a copy when I had to return the library's copy before finishing it, I'm really looking forward to picking it up again.

7. Paradise Lot by Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates: this one made me look at food-gardening differently, especially from an ecosystem lens!

8. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman: I don't actually remember finishing this one because I was pretty young when I picked it up... my father was reading it and I sometimes just picked up whatever my parents were reading, I think?

9. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: I've gushed quite a lot about this one already but I think it bears repeating: this is such a valuable experience, especially in audiobook form.

10. The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing: this one was nice because it was interesting and also because it made me look at social anthropology in a less frustration-filled light than I tend to regard social anthropology with? I have complicated feelings about social anthropology.

February Wrap-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Sat, 02 Mar 2019 19:25:00 +0000

I really only picked up audiobooks this month! That really isn't normal for me. I think part of it is that I've been fighting to make myself read this one ARC and I'm not having a funky time with it so I'm in a state of banned (by me) from reading any new physical books but also (again due to me) not reading it. I think it's going to be my first DNF of the year and I'm not a huge fan of DNFing things so it's causing me a level three crisis.

Read

Books

I actually... read no non-textbook physical books in February! That's bizarre for me. That almost never happens.

Audiobooks

Novellas, Novelettes, and Short Stories

Challenges

2019 Audiobook Challenge:

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly
Trouble Makes a Comeback by Stephanie Tromly

2019 Discussion Challgenge:

this is getting ridiculous
but I swear I am working on one
right now
I will post it ASAP

2019 Retellings Reading Challenge:

nothing to see here

2019 Beat the Backlist Challenge

Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tremly
Trouble Makes a Comeback by Stephanie Tremly

2019 New Release Challenge: 2/60

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-fi

Retelling: A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh ad Elsie Chapman
Dragons: The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm by Christopher Paolini
Thief: The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Superpowers: Archenemies by Marissa Meyer
Aliens: We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson (well... kind of... I think)

In Conclusion

I need to start reading more... physical books again. I really like audiobooks but I do miss actually physically reading too!

Places Mentioned In Books That I’d Like to Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 05:10:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Middle-Earth. I'm going to be a cliche with this one but... yeah. I chose this particular book because I'm weirdly intrigued by the botany especially.

2. Thisby from The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: I love love love Thisby. I'd be happy to risk the carnivourous horses. (They're kind of a draw, honestly. I did part of my growing up getting nipped at by horses).

3. The Aurora from Airborn by Kenneth Oppel: well... just this entire world, but I think riding an airship would be fascinating to ride?

4. Just... the world of Shades of Milk and Honey by Marie Robinette Kowal: it's just quietly enchanting.

5. The Palace Pneumatic Station in The Goblin Emperor by Katherin Addison: the author creates such a fiddly world that I'd love to see. Specifically the pneumatics stations of the palace. I know it's kind of a minor setting that really only gets mentioned a few times but it sounds intriguing.

6. Fairfold from The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black: I know I'd run the risk of getting eaten by faeries but... I feel like I've already mentioned that that doesn't seem to be a significant deterrent for me.

7. Red London from A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab: all of the Londons, really. Even the bad ones.

8. Weep from Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor: I fell in love with Weep the way Lazlo did. I really, really liked reading the buildup where he was doing all his research and whatnot.

9. This is another "the world of" one. I'm just really intrigued by the world of Cinder. I think because we got to see so many snapshots of it throughout the story? Also SPACE. I would love to see space.

10. Sorry-in-the-Vale from The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan: I guess I just like creepy little towns. I feel a little let down by the lack of talking ravens and ominous prophecies in my own town.

Audiobook Review: The Gilded Wolves

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 04:44:00 +0000

Title: The Gilded Wolves
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Read By: Laurie Catherine Winkel, P. J. Ochlan
Release Date: January 15, 2019
Goodreads Chapters IndieBound Libro.fm

Treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie has long thought himself willing to do anything reclaim his birthright as head of one of the houses of the powerful Order of Babel. Now he has been ordered to find an artifact the Order seeks, he and his team will all be putting much at risk. And, in this retrieval, they cannot afford to fail.

Out of Ten: 6/10

Review at a Glance: While it wasn't everything I was hoping it would be, I still enjoyed the experience of this Belle Epoque heist story.

Review: I wasn't as into this one as I was hoping to be. It isn't that I disliked it, per say, I was just hoping to like it more than I did.

I do think part of what hindered my enjoyment of this one was the fact that I listened to this one rather than reading a physical copy. (I am somewhat limited by availability, and the audiobook was what was available). The crux of it is that I wasn't super enthusiastic about the P. J. Ochlan as a narrator for this book. His style was jarringly brusque when compared with Laurie Catherine Winkel's, I think? I think this story might have felt more cohesive had it just had one narrator reading it, anyway. It isn't a dual POV first person as it is (it's 3rd person limited, switching between 4+ characters), so the narrator change just based on gender didn't really add anything to the audiobook as an experience? It's quite possible that it's a matter of personal preference for me but I just... prefer either to have character-designated narrators, or just to have once narrator for the whole thing.

When I actually managed to get a text copy rather than an audiobook (thank you, libraries!) I did have a more immersive experience than with the audiobook! While I didn't find the world quite as vividly described as the world of The Star-touched Queen... I just found I didn't have as strong a sense of place. Individual bits were really lushly described; the food and clothing (especially Laila's), but the place itself... less so. I mean, I've been to Paris, but somehow I didn't have very much luck in picturing it as imagined in this story.

The characters themselves are vividly conceptualised in that they have very clearly defined and distinct traits. It was definitely a strength of the story, especially given how it jumped from point of view to point of view. While the place itself didn't feel quite as vivid as I was hoping, the characters certainly did! They all have their own strengths and struggles, and it was impressive to see them all work together. I really like friend groups because there's a chance to explore a lot of different dynamics there, and that was definitely a strength of this story. (Found family! The Squad! I am here for this!)

The plot itself left something to be desired for me. I'm a big fan of heist stories in general but I do think I'm a bit picky about them! There's a certain balance about how much of the plan is laid out as groundwork and how much is a reveal as the story goes on, and I don't think this one quite struck it, at least not for me. Part of the joy of a heist story is watching the plan unfold (and inevitably watch it go awry and require improvisation). My brain kept wandering off during major reveal scenes because I just wasn't engaged in the plot of the story in the way I usually am in heist stories. I think this was in part a feature of how vaguely defined the magic system and structure of the world were. You can only really reveal a clever plot with lots of twists one the framework of the world is established because it's all about working within the framework in clever and unexpected ways. The lack of a sense of place in this way weakened the plot itself.

Despite my struggles with parts of this story, I did still overall enjoy it, and I definitely got invested in some of the the characters, so I'm looking forward to seeing where this tale takes them next!

Top Ten Books I Enjoyed with Less than 2 000 Ratings on Goodreads

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:06:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Paradise Lot by Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates (653 ratings)

2. The Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle (664 ratings)

3. Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton (769 ratings)

4. Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin (1 015 ratings)

5. The Swan Riders by Erin Bow (1 068 ratings)

6. Passing Strange by Ellen Klages (1 317 ratings)

7. Lone Survivors by Chris Stringer (1 357 ratings)

8. Bygone Badass Broads by Mackenzi Lee (1 562 ratings)

9. At Water's Edge by Carl Zimmer (1 758 ratings)

10. Aerie by Maria Dhavanna Headley (1 867 rating)

Favorite Couples In Books

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I have now automatically forgotten every single pairing ever. Such is how being asked questions goes, sometimes. These are... just some of my favourite romantic relationships in books that I now recall...

1. Puck & Sean from The Scorpio Races
Which is, okay, possibly because I do very much love the book, and the characters are individually. I just really like the dynamic, I guess? They're both independent, stubborn, kind of difficult people and it was great watching them come together.

2. Holly & Angela from The Lynburn Legacy
They kind of snuck up on me? Again, I like them both individually (so much), and think I really like how Holly's relationship with Angela plays into Holly's arc, and it's just... really lovely. There are a couple of really stand-out quotes that I really like about them. I also adore that they both also have really great friendships with others in their group of friends! Kami & Jared are also a favourite of mine but I am restricting myself to one couple per book/series.

3. Cinder & Kai from The Lunar Chronicles
I just really like how they both learn from each other and both grow through that, while still remaining really distinct people. Also I like that they both find the other person funny and miss being able to make jokes specific to one another's sense of humour when they're separated.

4. Fire & Brigan from Fire
I like that a not insignificant part of their relationship is just that they sit on the roof of the palace in companionable insomnia talking about how worried they are about things. Which is a lot of things. They're both... very old young people, I think, because of everything they've gone through, and they both understand that and navigate it.

5. Wolfe & Santi from The Great Library series
Okay, they're kind of a background couple but they're the best couple in the series. You can quote me on that one. There's just something I really like about them. They've been through A LOT, both individually and as a relationship, and they're complicated. They're dealing with being adults unexpectedly responsible for a bunch of rebellious teens hellbent on overthrowing the current world-order (when, back in the day, they were also both teens hellbent on overthrowing the world-order, it didn't work out so well). I've very concerned for both of them in the last book. I hope they'll be okay. Very very much. It's fine. I'm not panicking.

6. Inej & Kaz from Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom
I really like their arc! They've both got a lot to work through, and it was fantastic to see them both working toward something. I also really appreciated how Inej wasn't willing to sacrifice her own personal growth or well-being in favour of a relationship that wouldn't have been healthy at the time. I also appreciate that despite how all-out amoral Kaz can be at times (most times let's be real. At least 80% of all times, approximately), he always shows respect for her personal agency, which is something she's been deprived of in the past.

7. Blue & Gansey from The Raven Cycle
I really like relationships that are built on friendship, and the way their relationship was built was fantastic! Also they're both pretty strange people that are able to continue being strange together in a way that works, which is always a plus in relationships for me. One of my favourite scenes is when they have a midnight phone call and discuss facts about ducks and make objectively unfunny jokes about fax machines and calling Congress.

8. Matt & Kate from Airborn
I feel like they were one of the first romantic relationships that I ever read and I just... like that they're kind of brought together by both being very determined people who are going in roughly similar directions, initially. And then sort of taking turns towing each other along on adventures. (Okay it's mostly Kate doing the towing along. She's... reckless. She is a catalyst of adventure.) And then it's just them being a team who definitely argue and have conflicting personalities, but are also work well in a crisis, and are able to depend on each other during said crisis no matter what they've got going on inter-personally.

9. Tana & Gavriel from The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
They're both such strange people and their dynamic is really interesting to me? I think it's really interesting to see these two characters meet and have the weird realization that, on a certain level, they just get each other? In a really strange way because it's a super messy situation.

10. Miel & Sam from When the Moon was Ours
They're just a quiet and lovely pair who lift each other up? And that they can define themselves in relation to each other and support each other without being unhealthily dependent? And also I love that Sam paints moons and hangs them up places, I'm just saying that is objectively a great trait for someone to have.

I feel like there are a couple of obvious common denominators with a lot of these... make of that what you will.

January Wrap-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 22:10:00 +0000

My January book experience was... mostly audiobooks. Partly because I commuted a lot on a school bus (my university bus is a school bus with seats spaced for children 4 ft. tall or less) and audiobooks are great for that! Also for walking and grocery shopping. Basically if I'm out of the house and not in class, I'm listening to an audiobook.

Read

Books

Audiobooks

Novellas, Novelettes, and Short Stories

Challenges

2019 Audiobook Challenge: 7/50

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Biggs Kimmerer
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
What if it's Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera
Renegades by Marissa Meyer
Archenemies by Marissa Meyer
The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm by Christopher Paolini
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman

2019 Discussion Challgenge: 0/20

look, I know
hopefully I'll do better next month

2019 Retellings Reading Challenge: 1/10

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman

2019 Beat the Backlist Challenge

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman

2019 New Release Challenge: 2/60

The Wicked King by Holly Black
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-fi

Retelling: A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh ad Elsie Chapman
Dragons: The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm by Christopher Paolini

Superpowers: Archenemies by Marissa Meyer

In Conclusion

January was fine! I'm on track for my Goodreads challenge, and I've made progress on a lot of them. I listened to so, so many audiobooks, and I really enjoyed a lot of them. I need to do better at reviewing things in a timely manner though, because I managed to complete very few reviews for the books I read, so I'm skipping into February with a backlog.

Audiobook Review: Braiding Sweetgrass

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 15:45:00 +0000

Title: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Read By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Release Date: June 16, 2016
Goodreads Chapters IndieBound Libro.fm

Robin Wall Kimmerer brings together her training as a botanist and her experiences as a member of the Citizen Patowatomi Nation, teacher, and mother in Braiding Sweetgrass. She brings together different ways of gaining and sharing knowledge, and discusses the importance of the importance of these methods in healing the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world- and in turn healing the natural world itself.

Out of Ten: 9/10

Review at a Glance: A wonderful and thought-provoking blend of personal stories and botanical knowledge, with a message about both hurt and healing (and how ways of knowing contribute to both), showed off to it's best advantage when read by the author.

Review: First things first, I really, really recommend picking this one up. Second things second, ideally pick up the audiobook. It's read by the author and I think it makes it resonate more (at least it did for me).

This was my first book of the year and I just haven't posted a review because I was still processing it, I think? (Or because I'm not fabulous at timely reviews. Take your pick of an explanation. Anyway.) It was such a good way to start out the year! It's thoughtful, and hopeful, without glossing over the way the Indigenous people of North America have been treated over the past few... centuries (yeah... it's real bad). It likewise doesn't sugarcoat the amount of damage that humans have done to the planet on which we live, presenting it as, at least in part, a result of a broken relationship between humans and land.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a member of the Citizen Patowatomi Nation (an Indigenous group whose traditional territory surrounds the Great Lakes), a scientist, and environmentalist. She presents a really valuable viewpoint on knowledge. Science (especially environmental science) has had a history of being very Western, not valuing traditional knowledge, just because it isn't conveyed in a familiar way (or because it was coming from people that scientists felt couldn't possibly know things because... racism). I've taken courses that actually heavily feature similar ideas, but they was a different experience from reading this book.

Through a number of personal stories and examples, Braiding Sweetgrass explores human relationships with the land and the lives of everyone living on it, how knowledge is gained and shared, and whether how repairing the relationship between humans and the world can help both.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a beautiful writer, and a wonderful reader. She shares personal stories about her own experiences and the experiences of her family, Indigenous practices, and the science surrounding many natural phenomena, with equal clarity. It's a pretty great author who makes science work in an accessible way. I've experienced many (many, many) science writers who don't manage it. The combination of human stories, history, and botany also makes it a more holistic perspective on the environment and resource management; especially with the emphasis on incorporating long-disregarded perspectives and healing.

While her views and mine are not identical (they can't be, we have had two different lived experiences and cultural backgrounds) they are aligned, I think, and her insights definitely helped me with getting more perspective. For those who don't know, I actually have a degree in environmental science, which I finished and then automatically switched to a different degree because... environmental problems are overwhelming, and I was exhausted. I figured that studying dinosaurs would be funner and easier than confronting the uphill battle that is getting anything done in resource management. But in the past few months, and especially since listening to Braiding Sweetgrass, I've been drifting back to environmental science, with substantially more hope, and I think, more perspective than before. So I'm really grateful to Dr. Kimmerer for sharing this book with the world on a personal level, because it means that I got to read it, and I think I really needed to.

Overall, I really recommend picking this one up (the audiobook, if you possibly can). It was a fantastic book to start the year with and I'm glad that I picked it up when I did!

The Ten Most Recent Additions to My To-Read List

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 05:03:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff: This was announced today. I'm weirdly intrigued by vampires as a concept and I like when people do weird and interesting stuff with the concept. Between this, and Vampires Never Get Old edited by Natalie C. Parker (2019), and The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh (2018), I'm kind of wondering vampires are making a comeback (did they go anywhere? I don't know)... and I'm delighted about that.

2. Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love edited by Elsie Chapman: This one wound up on the list after Rebecca Roanhorse said that she "took the prompt a little literally" and also

3. Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer: I loved Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer has a lovely writing style and she's a great reader as well, so I'll probably be listening to the audiobook of Gathering Moss as well.

4. Wicked Fox by Kat Cho: I think I mostly put this on my TBR because I like the cover and the synopsis sounded fun.

5. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: This one sounds amazing! (Also, because I am shallow, I have to confess that I also love the cover).

6. Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh: I'm so excited to read some of Emily Tesh's original work!

7. The Green Children of Woolpit by J. Anderson Coats: Pretty cover! Fae wildness!

8. The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu: *looks at Shadowhunters stuff* well I guess I'm just here forever.

9. The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum: This f/f novel sounds a little surreal and a little sci fi and I'm very curious.

10. The Wicker King by K. Ancrum: This I mostly added because Cait of Paper Fury has recommended it a number of times, and I figured it if I was going to pick up The Weight of the Stars, I might as well put this on the TBR as well!

Recent adds that don't have covers yet:

Fantastic Worlds: Impossible Places edited by Dhonielle Clayton: this was just recently announced and I am SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED. Not only does it feature a lot of favourite authors, but it's also WNDB's first short story collection!
Renegades #3 by Marissa Meyer: I finally listened to Archenemies, so I finally got around to adding the book to my TBR.
The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black: I have a habit of not adding a book in a series to my TBR list until I've finished the book before it.
Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse: The moment I heard about this one, it was on the TBR. I loved Trail of Lightning, and the short synopsis available (and Rebecca Roanhorse's tweets) about Between Earth and Sky sound fantastic.

Review: The Wicked King

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Title: The Wicked King
Author: Holly Black
Series: Folk of the Air
Volume: 2
Genre: fantasy
Release Date: January 8, 2019
Goodreads Chapters IndieBound

It has been 5 months since Jude became a kingmaker, putting into motion her plan to keep the throne for her younger brother until he's old enough to rule in his own right.

Now, she struggles to navigate the politics of the High Court, aware that every passing day brings her closer to the deadline on the bargain she made that placed Cardan in her power. Furious with her for the deception that put him on the throne, he continues doing his best to humiliate and undermine her, further complicating their already fraught relationship. He's a distraction she can't afford, as the she faces the prospect of a betrayal by one of the few in whom she's placed her trust, the prospect of her semi-estranged sister's wedding, and a fracturing of the truce with the Undersea that had been in place since before Cardan's father took the throne.

Out of Ten: 8/10

Review at a Glance: A twisty and dangerous continuation to The Folk of the Air trilogy that raises the stakes and complicates already complicated relationships even further.

Review: I'm finding this one difficult to review. I run through Holly Black books mostly on adrenaline, I think? It's difficult for me to review things based on the momentum from just kind of tearing through them whenever I got the chance. Holly Black is one of the only authors who is allowed to leave me on this kind of a cliffhanger all the time.

The Wicked King was definitely a wild ride! This book finds Jude struggling to keep her hold on being the power behind the throne of Elfhame, as things feel like they're spiraling out of her control. Holly Black does a really good job of showing both Jude's strengths and her flaws. Jude is tough, clever, willing to be ruthless, and ambitious; but she's also incredibly out of her depth, and she's terrified. She's never been more isolated: she turned on Madoc, she's estranged from Taryn, there isn't a person anywhere she can tell the full truth. She's keeping secret the vow Cardan made that put him under her control for a year and a day- a deadline which draws closer. He's furious with her for tricking him onto the throne and he's been taking every opportunity to undermine and humiliate her.

The push-and-pull relationship between Jude and Cardan was one of the compelling parts of this story. They both have lists of personality flaws long enough that alphabetization is needed for ease of use, they're dependent on each other, they're attracted to each other, and they don't trust each other, they arguably know each other better than anyone else, and both have they're own motives. It makes things very complicated and intense, especially given their history (and present) of being... kind of terrible to each other. It was intriguing to watch that dynamic play out and evolve over the course of the story as both of them continue along their own individual character arcs. The really impressive thing is the way that, whether they liked or loathed each other for whatever the other person was doing at the time (or both) (usually both), I could see it? They're both compelling that way, and both characters who you find yourself alternately rooting for and furious with.

The plot itself was also... a lot. The stakes are higher, as Jude attempts to navigate the politics of Elfhame, her sister's wedding to Locke (who is, himself, a cause of chaos), and threats of war from the Undersea. There are new players on the board with their own agendas (added to the frankly excessive number of agendas already in play). I loved the twists and turns of the court, and the politics of it all. I'm just... a fan of court politics. All of the threads Jude is trying to keep track of and manage add a frantic feeling to the story. The plotting does feel a bit less tight in this one than in The Cruel Prince. It isn't that there isn't a lot going on it's just that there are SO MANY things going on with less... clear connectivity. Some of this also lays out more things that are going to need to be resolved in Queen of Nothing because... The Wicked King ends on a cliffhanger on the same level as the first book. (It's okay. I'll just sit here. And wait. It's fine.)

I really enjoy the way Holly Black blends the human world and the faerie world. The Folk of the Air series takes place a lot more in the fae world than most of her work, but the human world is still returned to almost as a touchstone. Since picking up my first Holly Black faerie book, The Darkest Part of the Forest, I've also really liked how she writes the fae, equal parts whimsical and menacing, enchanting and petty, glamorous and grotesque, and very much inhuman. There was less of that feeling. Jude sees the fae world with... pretty much no whimsy, not surprising given her experience with them. It's really interesting to explore the world through new eyes. I'm really, REALLY looking forward to seeing this story wrap up in Queen of Nothing, it's going to have a lot of ground to cover and it's going to be fantastic to see how it ends!

Books I Meant to Read In 2018 but Didn’t Get To

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood

2. Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

3. Now I Rise by Kiersten White

4. Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore

5. Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

6. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

7. The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

8. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

9. The Falconer by Elizabeth May

10. Learning to Swear in American by Katie Kennedy

2019 Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Sun, 13 Jan 2019 00:54:00 +0000

I'm attempting a number of challenges this year! I took the last year off of pretty much all challenges besides the Goodreads challenge because over half of the year was an unexpected hiatus.

Runs January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019. Run by HotListens and Caffeinated Reviewer.

Challenge Details

Books must be in audio format (CD, MP3, etc.)
ANY genres count.
Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc.
If you’re a blogger grab the button and do a quick post about the challenge to help spread the word. If you’re not a blogger you can help by posting on Facebook or Tweeting about the challenge.
Updates plus a giveaway will be posted twice during the year. The first update will be June 30, 2019, and the last update will take place on December 15, 2019.

Achievement Levels

Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5

Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10

Stenographer (can listen while multitasking) 10-15

Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20

Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30

My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30+

Marathoner (Look Ma No Hands) 50+

The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2019. Run by It Starts at Midnight and Feed Your Fiction Addiction.

Challenge Details

Please link back to both challenge hosts and include the challenge button in your sign-up posts.
The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2019. Sign-ups will remain open through December 31st, 2019. (So, you can sign up all year long! Come join us!)
Share it! The more people we get to participate in this, the more awesome discussions we can all be a part of and the more fun it will be! So, invite your friends to join us!
Discussions can be about whatever you want as long as it’s relevant to books or book blogging (no discussions about things that are completely off-topic like travel or fashion, etc). They can also be about you personally if it’s a get-to-know-you type post.
On the 1st of every month, a link-up will go up on both Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight where you’ll leave your links for that month’s discussions. Every month, we’ll update this 2019 Book Blog Challenge Page with the links to that month’s Challenge linky–so you’ll always know where to find the latest link-up!
There will also be monthly giveaways, so make sure you check in!
Every month, we’ll feature our favorite posts from one challenge participant. There will be extra options in the Rafflecopter for commenting on posts by our featured blogger.
Use the hashtag #LetsDiscuss2019 to share your progress and connect with other participants on Twitter.
Have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments!

Achievement Levels

Discussion Dabbler: 1-10

Creative Conversationalist: 11-20

Chatty Kathy: 21-30

Terrifically Talkative: 31-40

Gift of the Gab: 41+

Runs January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019. Run by Cornerfolds.

Challenge Details

Books must be read and reviewed in 2019. (You don't have to review books to count towards your goal, but you do have to review them if you want them to count as giveaway entries.)
Audiobooks, e-books, re-reads, short stories, novellas, and graphic novels all count, and you can read adult, YA, and middle grade books for this challenge.
It's also totally fine to use books from this challenge to fulfill other reading challenges and vice versa.
ALL retellings count!
You don't have to be a book blogger to participate! You can link up and track your progress on Goodreads, Instagram, Youtube, or wherever you share books!
Sign up below with your post, shelf, etc. and leave a comment letting me know what your personal goal is.
Link up your reviews each quarter on the post provided! (Bookmark this page to make sure you don't miss a link-up!)

Achievement Levels

Silent Assassin: 1-5 Retellings
Warrior Princess: 6-10 Retellings
Elemental Witch: 11-15 Retellings
High Fae: 16-20 Retellings
Fairest of them All: 21-25+ Retellings

The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2019. Run by Novel Knight.

Challenge Details

this challenge focuses on backlist books, that aren't new releases, of which there are many that I need to read

Achievement Levels

Hmm so there isn't really an achievement list, but I'll be trying to follow along the with the bingo pages.
My ever-updating list of books for this challenge can be found on my Goodreads

Runs January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019. Run by A Dance with Books.

Challenge Details

This reading challenge consists of 3 sections. Fantasy, Sci-Fi and General for a total of 52 prompts which comes down to about 1 book a week.
With each section, one Double-Up is allowed. (1 book for 2 prompts.)
In the general sections both fantasy and sci-fi books can be used, but not other genres.
Graphic novels, comics, audiobooks and novella’s are allowed. It is all reading in my book.
Rereads count
You can move the books around throughout the year if things fit better elsewhere and all.

Achievement Levels

I'll be working my way through at least one bingo card, and hopefully all three sections!

The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2019. Run by Lexxie and Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworkms.

Challenge Details

Books have to be released and reviewed in 2019.
Other challenges can be used as well, if you are participating in the Netgalley / Edelweiss challenge or in the COYER challenge, books can count towards more than one challenge, as long as the ones you use for the 2018 New Release Reading Challenge qualify to the other rules.
The minimum length for a book to qualify is 100 pages, it can be in any format though, physical, e-book, ARC or audiobook.
The New Release Challenge is open from January 1st through December 31st 2019, and sign-ups are open until September 1st 2019.
You don’t have to be a blogger to participate, you can link to your review on Goodreads or Booklikes instead – so don’t be shy!
If you want to spread the love, please use #2019NewReleaseChallenge on Twitter

Achievement Levels

1-30 books per year – New Release Newbie

31-60 books per year – New Release Pro

61-100 books per year – New Release Veteran

101-200 books per year – New Release Enthusiast

200+ books per year – New Release Obsessed

I should probably do some sort of challenge or what-have-you for Instagram in order to make me actually use Instagram this year, so if anyone has recommendations for that, let me know!

Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2019

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

* Lounges, exhausted, on the floor * First day back to class.

Anyway.

1. The Wicked King by Holly Black: this comes out tomorrow but my copy will be here... at some point in my life, presumably. It hasn't shipped out yet. I'm dealing with that just fine. (I am not.) (That said I do have a midterm on Thursday so it's probably a good thing that I won't have any distractions available until later...)

2. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi: Heist story heist story HEIST STORY

3. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo: This has been on too many of my lists recently.

4. Crown of Feathers by Niki Pau Preto: This has... also been on too many of my lists recently. I do have an ARC that I REALLY need to get to.

5. Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner: I don't know how people who've been into this series for two decades have managed the wait, I read everything that was out last fall and I am STILL super impatient for the ending.

6. Descendant of the Crane by Joan He: Pretty cover. Also it sounds interesting, but I'm just deep enough to admit I am a shallow person who was mostly drawn by the cover.

7. Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse: Trail of Lightning was one of my favourites from 2018, and I am really, really looking forward to revisiting the world Rebecca Roanhorse has crafted, as well as (and especially) Maggie, who was definitely one of my favourite characters to come out of last year.

8. Ruse by Cindy Pon: I'm going to need to revisit Want before picking up Ruse, but I'm really looking forward to it!

9. We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faisal: This was one that I didn't become interested in because of the cover. Not that it isn't a great cover, but it just didn't have a cover when I first learned of it.

10. The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu: The thing about The Shadowhunters Chronicles is that I've kind of just accepted at this point that I'm here forever...

9th Annual End Of Year Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 06:40:00 +0000

The Annual End of Year Survey is hosted each year by Jamie over at The Perpetual Page-Turner.

2018 READING STATS

Number Of Books You Read: 102 total, according to Goodreads
Number of Re-Reads: 12 of my total were rereads, more were listening to audiobooks of books I've also already read
Genre You Read The Most From: fantasy

1. Best Book You Read In 2018?

(If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2018 release vs. backlist)

1. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

2. Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

3. Smoke and Iron by Rachel Caine

4. Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills

5. The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo was... sigh... not excellent for me. A lot of bloggers whose tastes usually line up okay with mine really enjoyed it, so I went in hopeful but I wound up kind of dragging myself through it. At this point I don't even really remember much of the story. I remember the romance was infuriating for me and I really didn't like the characters... Likewise, Windersong by S. Jae-Jones was not a favourite this year.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?

The audiobook for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid surprised me by being a book that I've found myself thinking about ever since I listened to it. I think it was the saddest book that I read this year.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

In Other Lands audiobook, which I am listening too at Very Fast Speeds, a thread pic.twitter.com/MJqyKx1abi

— Kelly (@kelly8434) April 19, 2018

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, I think? I didn't read it this year (well... I did listen to the audiobook... twice) but I did recommend it a lot. I also did a twitter thread while listening to the audiobook.

5. Best series you started in 2018? Best Sequel of 2018? Best Series Ender of 2018?

Best Series: Hands down my favourite new-to-me series was The Queen's Thief, which I finally got around to. I know it's over 20 years old but I've strategically timed things so I only have a few months until The Return of the Thief.

Best Sequel: The Lady's Guide to Petticoats of Piracy by Mackenzi Lee, or Smoke and Iron by Rachel Caine

Best Series Conclusion: I think my favourite was The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud

6. Favorite new author you learned of in 2018?

Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trail of Lightning.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan! She was also a runner-up for the last question. This is a surprise on a lot of levels because I don't think I expected to pick up a romance, do to my unromantic nature. Seriously, I'm pretty sure I was voted Least Useful for Romance Advice. I make a hobby of hunting down books featuring historical heroines doing science, and this one came recommended.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

Books that I found hard to put down include: The Cruel Prince, Trail of Lightning, and The Empty Grave.

9. Book You Read In 2018 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

The Cruel Prince, probably, before picking up The Wicked King.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2018?

I'm going to go with a book I haven't mentioned here yet: The Goblins of Bellwater. Mostly because the beautiful cover was the reason I initially picked up the book.

11. Most memorable character of 2018?

Maggie Hoskie, the lead of Trail of Lightning... I spent about a quarter of my review gushing about her, actually. I feel like I've featured this book too much and we're not even halfway through this survey.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2018?

Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore was really lovely. I should probably read it as well, because I had a fever pushing 40°C. Which probably did make it feel even more dreamy than Anna-Marie McLemore's writing already is but also probably means I didn't take everything in as attentively as I probably could have done.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2018?

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is the one I keep coming back to.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2018 to finally read?

The Thief, definitely. It's 22 years old, and I just never picked it up.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2018?

I'm going to need to start making notes of quotes, aren't I?

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2018?

Shortest: Son of the Dawn by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan
Longest: Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

Lots of Cassandra Clare this year...

17. Book That Shocked You The Most

I don't... know if anything really shocked me.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR

I have... a lot of ships but I don't know if any specific one takes the cake this year...

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Felicity and her girl squad from The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy! Also Claudia and Violet's friendship in Foolish Hearts.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2018 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

A lot of my reads this year were from old favourites, but let's go with something that I've not mentioned yet here. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab.

21. Best Book You Read In 2018 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.:

The main reason I decided to listen to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was on a queer book recommendations list.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2018?

I think the closest I get to really having fictional crushes is having favourite characters so instead you just get a bonus second favourite character... Eugenides from The Thief and the rest of the series is a really fantastically crafted character.

23. Best 2018 debut you read?

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adie Khorram was my last read (well, listen) of the year, and it was really good!

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

Hmm... let's go with another one I haven't mentioned yet: Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton was wonderfully atmospheric. I do like creepy towns, and creepy forests, and this book had both, closely and creepily connected to each other.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

In Other Lands was technically a reread but the audiobook made the jokes feel kind of new again.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2018?

Son of the Dawn was kind of emotional for me... I'm still excessively invested in these characters, I guess. I'm never going to be free of it and I've kind of accepted it at this point.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin is one that I haven't seen around anywhere else but it was definitely a highlight of my year.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was definitely the saddest book I read in 2018. Evelyn is a character who just feels like she's been stifled by the world, unable to be everything she is because the world wouldn't accept it.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2018?

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages was pretty unique. It had a very different feel. I don't know if this was neccesarily the most unique... I feel like it's a 30+ way tie this year, but. This one definitely felt unique. Also I wanted an excuse to share the intense beauty of the cover, because it definitely makes my "most beautiful covers" list.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

Wintersong made me more uncomfortable than mad. I just found the relationship more creepy than romantic...

1. New favorite book blog/Bookstagram/Youtube channel you learned of in 2018?

Some favourite new-to-me blogs:

2. Favorite post you wrote in 2018?

Hmm... probably Top Ten Books by North American Indigenous Authors that I've Read/Am Reading/ Am Looking Forward to Reading. It took me a while to put together, and also it was one of the few times I've put a spin on a Top Ten Tuesday post, I usually keep close to the prompt.

3. Favorite bookish related photo you took in 2018:

Well, I finally finished the Harry Potter photo series for my Instagram, so there's that.

View this post on Instagram

If this one looks different, there's an intervening year and a different camera as a reason, because for some reason I didn't photograph The Deathly Hallows with the other books (the whims of past-me are ever-mysterious). Anyway! Here it is! The last #HarryPotter book! I have such strong memories of the first read-through if this one, and it's still one of my favourites (I say, as if all of the books in this series are not "one of my favourites").

A post shared by Kelly (@wanderingthroughbooks_) on Aug 3, 2018 at 9:22am PDT

4. Best bookish event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, etc.)?

I went to a Chapters event when they hosted Uzma Jalaluddin, Nisha Sharma, and Tanaz Bhathena.

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2018?

One of my favourite moments was being able to chat about In Other Lands with people on Twitter, honestly. It was a small and unexpected thing.

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

I mean, I kind of disappeared for half a year. I only returned to blogging at the end of April! I've talked before about how I just... lose interest in things sometimes, sometimes for months at a time, and that was kind of what happened.

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

Best Books I’ve Read In 2018 (So Far)

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

Well... any of the reviews. Reviews take me a lot of time. For just one post, let's go with Trail of Lightning because I want everyone to know about it and read it so I have people to talk to about it.

9. Best bookish sites and stores (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

Hmm... I've been spending a lot more time browsing RedBubble and Society 6 for book-related stuff, if that counts?

10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

Since I missed the beginning of the year, I didn't do any book blogging-related challenges... there was just the Goodreads Challenge. I managed to meet my 100 book goal.

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2018 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2019?

2. Book(s) You Are Most Anticipating For 2019 (non-debut)?

There are... a lot... here's a sample:

Here's my list of titles for the first quarter of the year.

3. 2019 Debut(s) You Are Most Anticipating?

Here's just some:

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2019?

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2019?

This year, I think I'll settle for just managing to be remotely consistent throughout the year.

6. A 2019 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone (if applicable):

I've only read one 2019 release so far, and that's The Girl King. It wasn't entirely my cup of tea, although I did enjoy it!

Review: The Girl King

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 21:41:00 +0000

Title: The Girl King
Author: Mimi Yu
Series:
Volume:
Genre: fantasy
Release Date: January 8, 2018
eARC received through NetGalley
Goodreads Chapters IndieBound

Lu has grown up assuming that she will be her father's heir, the first female empress. Her younger sister, Min, has grown up assuming that she will always be stuck in the shadow of her sister. Then, their father names a male cousin, Set, heir to the throne, with Lu as his bride. Lu finds herself, for the first time, lacking the security of the place she assumed would be hers and, shortly after that, a fugitive on the run. She is determined to regain her throne, but for that, she'll need an army. This sets her out on a desperate quest to find a city that nobody has seen in years. Unexpectedly, she finds herself in the company someone who had been a childhood friend- until her family massacred his people in a brutal move to prevent them from holding shape-shifting power outside of the empire's control. Meanwhile, Min is discovering that she has access to a dangerous form of magic- one that could secure Set on the throne, or allow her to claim it for her own.

Out of Ten: 6/10

Review at a Glance: A story that draws on a lot of familiar tropes, which is enjoyable despite some falterings in character and world-building.

Review: This book reminded me of a lot of other stories, and it feels like potential, in the way that debuts sometimes do. There's a feeling of almost-there-ness that makes reading a bit frustrating.

In terms of plot, this book feels like a return to a classic formula- or, at least, a return for me. I'm not sure if there was a departure, or if I've just been reading other things. The scaffold it's built on is familiar- heir to a kingdom denied what they've always assumed was theirs by right, now in exile, magic which has been all but eliminated by an empire that hunts those gifted with it, the overshadowed younger sibling of the heir with darkness growing in their heart, pretender to the throne with a shadow adviser... And while The Girl King doesn't totally subvert or breathe completely new life into the old story, it at least does a good enough job of treading that path.

The main deviation from the traditional recipe I've listed is Lu's gender. In a lot of the stories of this kind that I'm accustomed to (although not all of them) feature a male hero attempting to reclaim his throne. In The Girl King, as the name suggests, Lu is faced with her gender as- if not a barrier, then at least a significant hurdle. While she fully expected to be the heir to her father, the idea of a woman emperor (i.e. a woman playing a role typically only inhabited by men in this world) was not an entirely popular one. "Better him than the Girl King" was a not uncommon reprise throughout the novel. For me this was one of the most interesting parts of the story- the way Lu's cousin, who has taken the throne, feels that, not only is he entitled to it, but that she is not- because of childhood enmity, and because he feels her an unnatural thing, that such ambitions are unnatural in a woman. He at times, seems more obsessed with her lack of right to the throne; than his own right to have it. This insecurity means that even when he could consider himself cemented as emperor; he does not, fixated instead the specter of The Girl King, somehow simultaneously believing her a significant threat to him, and underestimating her in a lot of ways.

While the novel ostensibly has both Lu and Min set up as main characters, according to the synopsis, Lu gets more screen-time, as it were, more focus, and more development. Nokhai's story and Lu's intertwine pretty early on, shortly after Lu and Min's stories diverge from each other, the result being that the reader winds up spending a lot more time with Lu and Nokhai than with Min, getting to know them both through their own eyes, and through each other's, as the narration switches between Lu, Nokhai, and Min.

This might have contributed to my lack of equal investment in the sisters' stories, although it's also possible that I just don't find Min terribly compelling. I'm still trying to decide if the fact that it felt like she was supposed seem like she was gaining agency and coming into herself, without giving me the feeling that any of that had actually happened was on purpose or not. So it is entirely possible I'll appreciate her story line more as the story continues.

The romance between Lu and Nok honestly felt rushed and a bit out of place within the story. I know I'm not very romantic and so possibly a bad judge but just. With so much else going on and also the baggage between them, it just seemed improbable that it would move forward with so little communication having happened?

The other deviation from the traditional formula is the world. I found that on the world-building front, the structure of the world was vague, I had some sense what it looked like, a sense of a few significant events in it's history, and even some of the traditions of the various peoples. Somehow, though, not really a sense of what the world felt like to be in.There was a little more telling than showing, which took me out of the story a bit.

So much of this story felt like a sketch of a story. Partly because it does tread the lines of familiar archetypes closely, but also because the characters didn't really resonate with me, and the novel didn't really create a strong sense of place. I enjoyed the action scenes, and I really do think that there's a lot of potential as the story finds its feet. Despite the falterings, I still enjoyed reading it, and plan on picking up the sequel, especially with how it ended. The last 10% or so of the story was by far the strongest for me, and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next!

Some books that thematically reminded me of The Girl King:

Wandering Through Books

Review: Sorcery of Thorns

Review: This Place

First Ten Books I Reviewed

A Handful of Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book

Some Thoughts on Audiobooks

Do you listen to audiobooks? Do you have a favourite listening program? Are you totally dependent on libraries because audiobooks cost even more money than books in other formats? Do you have any recommendations that stand out as absolutely fantastic? Let me know what you think!

Some Favourite Audiobooks

DNF Review: A Crown of Feathers

Books On My Spring 2019 TBR

Standalone Books That Need a Sequel

Books I would very very much like a sequel to:

Books I love as standalones but would also be thrilled to revisit the world and thus am torn (it is the cause of a not insignificant amount of readerly angst):

Top Ten Favourite Non-Fiction

February Wrap-Up

Read

Books

Audiobooks

Novellas, Novelettes, and Short Stories

Challenges

2019 Audiobook Challenge:

2019 Discussion Challgenge:

2019 Retellings Reading Challenge:

2019 Beat the Backlist Challenge

2019 New Release Challenge: 2/60

Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-fi

In Conclusion

Places Mentioned In Books That I’d Like to Visit

Audiobook Review: The Gilded Wolves

Top Ten Books I Enjoyed with Less than 2 000 Ratings on Goodreads

Favorite Couples In Books

I feel like there are a couple of obvious common denominators with a lot of these... make of that what you will.

January Wrap-Up

Read

Books

Audiobooks

Novellas, Novelettes, and Short Stories

Challenges

2019 Audiobook Challenge: 7/50

2019 Discussion Challgenge: 0/20

2019 Retellings Reading Challenge: 1/10

2019 Beat the Backlist Challenge

2019 New Release Challenge: 2/60

Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-fi

In Conclusion

Audiobook Review: Braiding Sweetgrass

The Ten Most Recent Additions to My To-Read List

Recent adds that don't have covers yet:

Review: The Wicked King

Books I Meant to Read In 2018 but Didn’t Get To

2019 Challenges

Runs January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019. Run by HotListens and Caffeinated Reviewer.

Achievement Levels

The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2019. Run by It Starts at Midnight and Feed Your Fiction Addiction.

Challenge Details

Achievement Levels

Runs January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019. Run by Cornerfolds.

Challenge Details

Achievement Levels

The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2019. Run by Novel Knight.

Challenge Details

Achievement Levels

Runs January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019. Run by A Dance with Books.

Challenge Details

Achievement Levels

The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2019. Run by Lexxie and Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworkms.

Challenge Details

Achievement Levels

Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2019

9th Annual End Of Year Survey

2018 READING STATS

Number Of Books You Read: 102 total, according to GoodreadsNumber of Re-Reads: 12 of my total were rereads, more were listening to audiobooks of books I've also already readGenre You Read The Most From: fantasy

1. Best Book You Read In 2018?

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

5. Best series you started in 2018? Best Sequel of 2018? Best Series Ender of 2018?

6. Favorite new author you learned of in 2018?

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

Number Of Books You Read: 102 total, according to Goodreads
Number of Re-Reads: 12 of my total were rereads, more were listening to audiobooks of books I've also already read
Genre You Read The Most From: fantasy