Thoughts of a Bibliophile: 2018

Title: Shadow and Bone

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Release: 2012

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

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How has it taken me so long to read this trilogy? Six of Crows was one of the first fantasy books I read and is still one of my absolute favourites. I loved its characters and fun plot, but I did always feel as though I was missing a lot of the backstory from having missed reading the Grisha Verse. And I am so happy to be finally getting more into this world.

It has one of the most unique magic systems in any of the books I've read. Yes, there is a lot of elemental magic which is pretty typical, but the way it works is so interesting. There are three main groups, which are then specialised further. The Corporalki is the order of the living dead. They are split into two, Healers and Heartenders. The former is pretty obvious and the latter can slow your heart down and kill you. They literally have death stare. Then there are the Etherealki, the order of Summoners. They are split into three, the Squallers who control air pressure, Inferni who control fire, and Tidemakers who control water. Finally, there are the Materialki, the order of Fabirkators, who are split into Durasts that can manipulate metal, stone and pretty much any other solid material. There are also the Alkemi who dabble in poisons and explosions. Pretty cool right?

I loved following Alina as she is thrown into this world of magic and her attempts to try and fit in. To be honest, she's a bit all over the place and doesn't really know what she's doing or who she really is. But for me, I thought this made her much more believable as a character and I liked her more for it. Who really has their life all sorted out at 17?

I do want more from the villain. I feel like this book only brushed the surface and I want to know more about them and their motive. At the moment it's a bit clique with the whole hungry for power and destruction vibe but I hope I will find out more in the next two books. I won't say who it is as big spoilers there but I'm not sure yet. I also feel like he needs to do more evil. We didn't see a whole lot of evil actions from this character until the end and I want some more please!

Finally, the love interests. This is one of the things our main character is confused about and I have to say I did like one over the other. But that could never work and I'm not too keen on where it left off. Which I think makes me a bit evil as it is quite nice but I'm just not feeling it. I also don't feel like it really can work in their situation which makes it slightly less believable. I feel like that very abstract but I am really trying not to spoil anything! If you've read it, I hope you know what I mean and comment if you agree or completely disagree and are currently cursing your screen. Sorry!

And there we go! What did you think of the first book of the Grisha Verse or are you like me and so far behind you're only just getting to it/ haven't picked it up yet?

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Title: A Reaper at the Gates

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Release: 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: ★★★★☆

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Beyond the Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger.

The Blood Shrike, Helene Aquilla, is assailed on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable, while the Commandant capitalizes on his madness to bolster her own power. As Helene searches for a way to hold back the approaching darkness, her sister's life and the lives of all those in the Empire hang in the balance.

Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. But while hunting for a way to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would aid her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she'd have to fight.

And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that will stop at nothing to ensure Elias's devotion--even at the cost of his humanity

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I've decided not to do a proper review of A Reaper at the Gate, mainly because it is the third instalment of the Ember in the ashes quartet so I feel like a review would be pointless. It is still a review of a kind, but more discussiony, maybe a bit more spoilerish but if you haven't read it I don't think it will ruin anything.

The first point I want to talk about is how faced paced it was! I a lot happens in quite a short time to a lot of characters. I think this stemmed from having three points of views so each storyline didn't have enough time to go into lots of detail, and sometimes it was just too rushed. I'm the kind of reader that likes some description to ground the scene, and I like a lot of time to read about my favourite characters. At some points, somthing quite significant or interesting would happen in one paragraph, and already it was moving on. I don't see how the POV could have been done any other way as there needed to be three points of views to tell all that was going on logistically, (although I did find myself wanted to race through Elias and the Blood Shrikes chapters to get to Laia's) but I would have been quite happy if the book had been bigger. After all, who wouldn't want to spend more time reading this series?

I also really hope to see more of Musa, the character who acts like Laia's (kind of) fairy godmother, in the last book. I felt he left way too early. He brought a lighter feel to the book with a lot (A LOT) of death and hurt and destruction. And whilst he definitely does not have a light past, he represents the hope for the future that Laia had almost forgotten about in her determination to destroy the Nightbringer.

Speaking of the Nightbringer, I loved reading about his history. It seems so relevant and I can completely imagine some human going in and ruining something that didn't need to be interfered with and therefore dooming the rest of their kind when the king they destroyed comes back to utterly destroy them in return. But are we to feel sympathy towards the Nightbringer? Whilst I don't think I do because he's still done very evil things, I can understand why he is now so hateful. And he is definitely getting his revenge. I would love to know more about that world before. It's moments when reading bits like this when I wonder whether or not Sabaa Tahir already had this background planned out even from the first book. It seems so far from the Blackcliff setting of An Ember in the Ashes but looking back, it all links and makes complete sense. Authors are magic I swear.

I did find myself wanting to throw the book in frustration a few time, but then not being able to as I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. If you haven't read this yet then prepare yourself for the number of devastating things Laia, Elias and Helene have to go through. If you have read this, are you hanging in there? Or trying not to go and cry in a corner like I am... I had a lot of moments when I wanted to ask Sabaa Tahir how she could be so cruel and wondered if there could be another way but nope. The characters were to be destroyed one way or another. Hopefully the next book everything resolves itself with lots of sunshine and rainbows with a nice pink bow on top, leaving everyone happy and perfect. Yeah, probably not but a girl can hope!

That's pretty much all I have to say, what were your thoughts?

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13:00 No comments

Title: More Happy Than Not

Author: Adam Silvera

Release: 2015

Genre: YA Contemporary, LGBT

Rating: ★★★★☆

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Life hasn't been easy for sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto, but with the help of his girlfriend, he's slowly remembering what happiness might feel like.

Then Thomas shows up...

Thomas is smart and funny, and before long Aaron is spending all his time with him. But as Aaron's feelings for Thomas intensify, tensions with his other friends start to build.

Soon Aaron is faced with a choice - one that will make him question what it is he wants, and how far he'll go to get it.

Why does happiness have to be so hard?

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** Trigger warning for suicide, depression and homophobia.

More Happy Than Not is a beautifully written, coming of age contemporary about a boy who has to deal more than his fair share of teenage problems. Adam Silvera’s debut novel deals with the struggles of finding your identity, how to pressures of society amplify that struggle, coping with depression and most likely more. I feel as though this is a novel that has so many layers underneath that I could read it multiple times and notice a new thing each time.

Aaron Soto, our protagonist, is a sixteen-year-old boy who loves to draw, comics and lives in a one bedroom flat in New York, sharing a sitting room with his game playing brother. His mother works two jobs and his father committed suicide just five months previously. Already it’s fair to say Aaron has had to deal with much more than I hope to ever have to.

Not only do we follow Aaron as he figures out how to cope with his father’s death, but also his changing friendships which greatly affect his life. His conflicting feelings for his new friend Thomas leads onto new issues, including the deterioration with his girlfriend and coming to the recognition and accepting of his own identity.

The novel is quite isolated from the rest of society, set mostly in Aarons small block of flats and the immediately surrounding area. This makes for a very focused and realistic insight into Aarons life and reflects how his entire life revolves around what happens in the very small community. And a community that doesn’t fully accept him.

Despite coping with such harrowing events and Aarons own depression, Adam Silvera balances this with a sense of hope that is what I thought resonated most after I finished the last page. Whilst the title may not seem to be the most optimistic title, it reflects more the reality of life, and the reality of Aarons life which holds very few of the luxuries others would say are necessary for a happy life. Instead, it shows how a change in mindset is what is needed to instead, not to try and see the happiness in everything as that’s almost impossible, but to see it more often then you don’t.

This is the journey that you will witness when reading More Happy Than Not. The journey of a boy who struggles to find out who he is with his conflicting feelings for his friend, coming to terms with who he is in a society that doesn’t wholly approve, how to come out the other side with hope for happiness and the determination to find it.

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I am attempting to write my first book! To write my own book is a dream and whilst I have no idea if it will ever get published or if anyone apart from myself will ever read it, I thought I would share bits of my journey on here. Hopefully, it is useful to some people out there who are thinking of writing a book and have the same thoughts as I do, (as I am sure someone out there is doubting as much as I have), but also so I can look back at it and see how far I've come, ~~or not come~~.

Here are some of my thoughts that I had as I was writing the first 10 000 of my first draft. It was difficult and I haven't had much time as I would like to work on it but hopefully, once I get in a routing, I'll have an update for you for the next 10 000 words!

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1. Tenses are hard - I don't know if this is just me over thinking it, but I changed which tense I wanted to use multiple times throughout the first two chapters.

2. Dialogue is hard - how to writers write it without it feeling fake? Also how to lay it out takes a lot more thinking time than I thought it would have.

3. I should have probably planned more. A lot more.

4. I'm not very patient... I want to get to the middle bit of the writing and get all the character building and interesting stuff down but it takes a looooong time to get there.

5. I work really well with word sprints - the NaNoWriMo timer is what I use and I am able to write quite a lot when I use it! Not that much of it is good but at least it's down on paper.

6. I am going to have to do a lot of drafts - there are so many layers to writing there is no way I am going to be able to get everything I want in on the first go. And most likely things will change slightly as I go and my ideas expand.

7. Creating interesting and fun characters is difficult - I have so many ideas on how I want my characters to come across but it's much harder write it down on paper than it is just to think it! But, the more I write the more real they are becoming.

8. Writing is hard.

9. Like, very hard.

10. But I can keep going - a few times I wanted to stop thinking that this idea wasn't any good anymore or if it was, I couldn't do it justice but I kept going and will continue to keep going until I at least have a finished draft. I want to prove to myself I can do it, and so I will!

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Is anyone else writing a book? How is it going?

I know these seem a bit negative, but it was a lot of realisation and a bit of a reality check, but now that I have had that check, it's onwards and upwards to, hopefully, creating some pretty amazing character and a plot to match!

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Goodreads is one of my favourite ways to keep track of all the books I've read, how fast I read them, when I read them, and how I rated them when I was finished. When I was looking back over the books I have read this year, I realised I have only one book I have rated 5 stars, and even that was a re-read. And when I scrolled through all the books which I rated 4 stars (there are a lot of these) some of them I thought I would have rated them higher, and some a lot lower. Which got me thinking as to why I give books the rating I give and is it really better to wait a few weeks to see how to book sticks with you before deciding on which star to give it.

Three-star and down, I think are pretty solid and all the books I give those rates, normally stay the same. But I am wondering if I am too picky when I first finish a book on whether to give it 4 or 5 stars. A few of my 4-star ratings like Strange the Dreamer and Children of Blood and Bone I would say are now some of my favourite books, but they aren't five stars. They are definitely more highly rated than some of my other 4 star books like Empire of Storms or The Wrath and the Dawn, but those two are definitely 4-star books.

And there are a few I also think need to be lowered. Leah on the Offbeat for example, especially after reviewing it, and Turtles All the Way Down, are books I thought were ok, but I didn't enjoy as much as I hoped. So really they should be 3 stars, not 4? I think these were definitely influenced by what I wanted to rate them, as many other people love them, not by what I actually thought.

I think I need a better definition of what I think each category means and what a book should do/have to be in them.

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5 STARS: This has an amazing book that as soon as I finish, I want to read it again or move straight onto the sequel. I loved the characters (especially) and the plot with very few faults in the entire book. I very very very rarely give a book 5 stars as I feel this is reserved for my absolute favourite books of all time. I have thought about them a lot even a while after finished them.

4 STARS: This is a book I really loved, really loved, but I didn't have the same level of excitement needed when reading to give it a 5th star. The characters are amazing but there are a few more faults. These books are what I think most people would rate 5 stars unless they're as harsh as me!

3 STARS: These are good books. I enjoyed reading about them but will probably not pick them up again and I'm not too bothered to continue on with the series. Most of the time I probably will because I don't like not reading the ending but it wouldn't be a priority.

2 STARS: Yeah, I do not like these books. I most likely found them dull, had real issues with the characters or plot and would not recommend. I probably did finish it as I could still get through it but I wish I had picked up another book instead.

1 STAR: I have never given a one star on all the books I have on good reads but that probably because if it was this bad, I would not have kept on reading. I can't think of a book that I have read that I think warrants only one star but if there was not, I would warn everyone to never, ever, ever go near this book as it is that bad.

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Hopefully, by expanding what is needed to get a 5 star rating and having clearer categories for me to follow,, when I give a book a star rating, it should have these qualities and reflect more accurately what I thought both whilst reading, as well as after.

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How do you group your ratings? Is there anything you think is essential to a particular star that I've missed? If so, let me know and I'll update my definitions to suit!

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Title: To Kill a Kingdom

Author: Alexandra Christo

Published: 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: ★★★★☆

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I have a heart for every year I've been alive.

There are seventeen hidden in the sand of my bedroom. Every so often, I claw through the shingle just to check they're still there. Buried deep and bloody.

Princess Lira is siren royalty and revered across the sea until she is cursed in humanity by the ruthless Sea Queen. Now Lira must deliver the heart of the infamous siren killer or remain a human forever.

Prince Elian is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world, and captain to a deadly crew of siren hunters. When he rescues a drowning woman from the ocean, she promises to help him destroy sirenkind for good. But he has no way of knowing whether he can trust her...

Blurb from the UK paperback edition.

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Sirens, hunters, ships, sea and romance - what more could you want from a fantasy? This is a novel that manages to fit a whole lot of action into just 357 pages, a length I was quite shocked at as that is very short for a fantasy and did have me a bit anxious to dive right in (pun intended...) Whenever asked if I like series or one-offs, I am always for a series as I love to get more involved with the characters and see them develop over time. This is very hard to do in one book and rarely happens to the same level. So not only this being so short but also a stand-alone, it is a rare species to find in the fantasy book world.

But I have to say I am annoyed I didn't pick it up as soon as I got it. It ticks almost all the boxes for a good fantasy and some that are often missed. For me, my favourite part of this book is the friendships within it, especially amongst Elian and his crew. They made me smile and I just wanted to read more about their lives together on their ship.

If you have read Six of Crows and loved it, I would definitely say to give this ago, or vice versa, as the friendships in this I kept reminding me of the other. Six of crows is one of my favourite books, mainly because of its friendships (and so much more but we won't get into that now) so to read somthing so similar in that respect was great.

I would describe this as a darker version of the Litte Mermaid crossed with Six of Crows. Sounds good right?

My only problem is I would like to have seen more of the characters, which isn't a bad problem to have. With it being so short and being told from a duel person, it is just not possible to have to depth or time to get to really know the characters as much as I would have wanted to. I wanted to see more plot as it did feel a bit rushed, and more of their every day lives on the ship that just the main bits of plot. That's why it just can't get a 5 star rating despite being so close.

What is your favourite fantasy retelling? I seem to be really enjoying those right now so would love some recommendations!

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