Rhythm of War | Review

Mortals search for meaning, so it is proper they should create it. You get to decide what it meant. What you meant. 

This installment of the Stormlight Archives was on massive scale we have yet to have the pleasure of seeing. We pick up about a year or so after Oathbringer with a steady unrelenting war with Odiums forces. Kaladin is succumbing to his trauma and takes a mandatory leave from the army. Shallan discovers a spy within her ranks and beings to see enemies all around her, unsure of who to trust, including herself. Adolin, feeling like he has little to contribute, takes on a diplomatic mission to go to the honor spren of Lasting Integrity in Shadesmar to petition for their help to return to aid humans. Navani struggles to find her place between Queen and Scholar. And Dalinar must find a way to defeat Odium once and for all.

Clearly this book is PACKED, and thats probably only half the characters that have roles and amazing stories. There is still Venli, Eshonai, Jasnah, Terravangian, Teft, Dabbid, Rlain and more! Its incredible how I feel overwhelmingly satisfied with almost every character and their progression in this novel.

On top of just pure character plot and development we have the wider cosmere. Never before has Sanderson written so unabashedly about his lore. This was honestly the hardest to follow, I felt like there was so much I had to keep stopping to piece it all together. This didnt hinder my experience at all, as it isnt necessarily bad or confusing, in fact its probably to the betterment of Sanderson. Im more interested in his lore, rereading books Ive already gone through, and getting on to more side stories like Dawnshard and Mistborn Secret History. There's so much to unpack here about the cosmere that I feel like it would not be blasphemous to now say that this is on par with Tolkein and Sanderson needs his own Silmarillion!

To keep this novel as short as possible Im just going to focus on the stand out Characters for me, starting with Kaladin:

I am not a fan of Kaladin. I completely understood his role and dont think he should change but I was never completely on board with him through the first 3 books. He just got on my bad side and wasn't always fun to read from. But this book even made ME feel wonderfully overcome with Kaladins journey. The look into depression, and trauma with him is incredible. His fight to be a surgeon or soldier returns. His strength is tested, pushing him to his absolute limits. Almost the entire novel you are worried for him and his fate. I wouldnt say subjectively his plot is my favorite, but damn....I might have to admit as objectively as I can, that his story and journey is the strongest. His plot is also very connected to Navani's.

So quickly I will bring her up. She deserves her own section and for it to be longer, but theres a limit! Her struggle with overcoming her own self worth while dealing with an incredibly ancient and masterful foe was phenomenal. Like most of the characters in this book, her climatic ending was rich with satisfaction!

Lastly we will travel into Shadesmar to talk about Shallan and Adolin. As has been the trend in the previous books, Shallans story very similarly aligns to Kaladins own trials. Her past ever haunts her and we hadnt even heard the whole story until this book. Just like Kaladin I was on the edge of my seat so afraid for Shallan, probably my favorite character from the Stormlight. After my own research in DID I felt like Sanderson represented it very well without straight up announcing, "Hey this is a real thing that people in our world cope with."

Im most interested to see what her goals and path will lead to after this book.

This leaves me with my other favorite, Adolin. Oh...sweet Adolin. I hope this books stops any Adolin haters from ever dishonoring Adolin again. I know this is getting personal, though they shall remain nameless, I know there are many people out there having assumed Adolin would turn into Odiums champion or some kind of "turn to the darkside". The plot line and how Adolin handles the honorspren, the deadeyes, and his wife Shallan was just incredible. There are even smaller moments like him helping Kaladin. Adolins story has one of favorite moments of the series now, on par with the "Honor is dead, but Ill see what I can do." scene. Its weird, Ill admit, how defensive I can get about a fictional character. But Adolin is so pure, not perfect, but honorable and kind. I think he's one of the best characters of this novel, completely flying under the radar. His whole journey I think mirrors toxic masculinity issues of the real world. This strong man, who is told by his country not to be emotional, not to hug. He respects others that are deemed "below" his station. He likes fashion, he likes respectful duels. But he also has his own hesitations, his own weakness' and self-doubt. He doesnt have the deepest traumas like Kal or Shallan, or the most respectful and important roles like Dalinar and Jasnah. But he's my favorite.

I just have to end this and express again how much these characters stories have blown me away. I teared, and got choked up on multiple occasions. Out of sadness, or just pure epicness, whether it was good or bad this book is full of emotion. And its full of pure interesting world building. 

I feel like I have to let alot of it sink in and it would take a reread of the whole series to know where I would place it in terms of "which ones best" but I feel like it definitely has some of the best moments of the series and the book continues to build the series, no steps taken backward. It took the most important step, the next one.

The Diviners | Review

 

Set in the 1920's we are introduced to a world very much like our own. Small towns have big drama and small problems. New York is the city of lights and opportunities. And things go bump in the night. As we follow a unique and diverse cast of characters we are further inducted into a world where creepy crawlies are more than just ghost stories.

The atmosphere of this book is incredibly set up in my opinion. We mostly follow Evie O'Neil, as she Nancey Drews her way through New York, helping her Uncle try to solve a dangerous and cryptic new serial killer.

Evie is a Diviner, a person with special powers, hers being the abilities to see the past and memories of an object she touches. I very much enjoyed Evie. She is a brash and blunt young woman with alot of spunk (sometimes too much as it usually ends up getting her into trouble.) We watch as she tries to deal with the trauma of losing her brother in the war and struggling with whether or not to hide her powers.

There is a larger cast of characters we switch to every so often. Each character has their own past and the chapters that peel back their layers get you very invested in them.

The pacing can, at times, be a little slow. The spooky creepy parts are the most interesting as we sometimes get a glimpse into what the killer is doing, and their past. But even when we aren't focused on that I really enjoy the 20's atmosphere the author creates.

Besides some pacing issues, I'm not a fan of some of the romance directions and have me worried for how they will be addressed in the future books. There are demons and ghosts in the world! We dont have time for love triangle drama!

Overall Im very invested in the Diviners and learning more about them. Toward the end we don't really have almost any closure on some characters, just a wrap up on the main plot. So this has me excited to continue the series, I just may want to get to them soon as I can see myself losing interest.

Sorcery of Thorns | Review

Sorcery of Thorns introduces us to Scrivener, our special orphan is (luckily) special because of where she happened to grow up rather than because she was born that way.

In this world magical Tomes are Sentient. They have personalities and souls of their own. But they are also dangerous, so they are housed in great libraries and protected my librarians. Scrivener being one of those librarians.

The only people that can use said tomes are magicians, and magicians can only have their power by summoning demons and conscripting them to their service, bargaining for a price. So because of this librarians are wary of them, thinking them evil even though....they work in a library with books....created by magicians...for magicians?

The plot kicks off when a saboteur of these great libraries is going around sabotaging the libraries. Scrivener gets caught up in one of these incidences, and manages to beat one of the evil books. So she is then under suspicion of doing...such evil? So she is going to the main city to be put on trial...or something

For too long of the early parts of the book she believes the magician escorting her, Nathaniel, is the person who ACTUALLY sabotaged the library. But since the reader isn't an idiot we know this is just a waste of time and OH LOOK, she figured it out...

We also meet Nathaniels demon, Sylas, who is the best character of this book.

Scrivener continues to fumble along this plot of conspiracy, sabotage and danger. Confusing the reader to who the real enemies are. Is it the tomes? the magicians? the demons? the people? the political maneuvering? Who knows?

That is until near the end, with a plot twist that is so grand that you'll be thinking, how did we get here? why are we going here?

Some stories just don't need to be tales about the end of the world.

By my description you may tell that I am just a bit underwhelmed by this story. To be blunt, I really couldn't care for what was happening most of the time.

The characters, I just didnt care for. Scrivener was not interesting to me. Nathaniels back story was very compelling but how he was used in the plot, not interesting. Like I said Sylas was the best character, but I didn't fully understand what it really meant to be a demon and his struggle by the end. Is he compelled to be evil? Did love change his blackened, old withered heart? I dont know, but he was enjoyable.

The world gimmick, that being the sentient grimoires, was cool. But I feel like they should have been focused on more, because they were the best part of the world. Everything else was odd, like I pointed out, Magicians are feared, even though the libraries are for the magicians.

Lastly the Villain was nonsensical. He had the "You dont understand why Im doing this, but Im doing it for right reasons." The reasons were not clear, or he just didnt have any. So we couldn't sympathize or believe him, so he was just one of those generic mustache twirling folk.

Also as a pet peeve, there was a romance slipped into the pages of this book, and I wish it was ripped out. But thats just a preference, it didnt effect my rating.

It was just not for me, a solid 3. The tome aspect of the novel will probably stay in my brain but everything else is forgettable and underwhelming.

(P.S. LOVE the cover. I usually unhaul my 3 star and below books, but I think Ill hang on to this one)

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue | Review

My name is Addie LaRue...

I know, another 5 star review? But hear me out. I didnt bawl over the ending, it isn't my favorite book of the year, and I'm not over the moon gushing. But Ill be damned if I cant say that this is one of most lovely books with an enchanting premise if I've ever read one. A book doesn't need to be perfect to be 5 stars, and this one isn't, but it was amazing. So let's begin...

Some she's found by accident, others in the course of this or that adventure. She keeps them tucked away, like slips of paper between pages of her book.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a story of a girl, born in France in the early 1700's. Her small village life gets all the more restricting and suffocating as her family plans to marry her off. She sees the world differently than most in her village, and their idea of the life she should have does not work for her.

On the evening of her wedding she makes the mistake of praying to any god that will answer her, but the only god that was listening was one of night. Luc enters and strikes a deal with Addie, to give her freedom from her life. She accepts without realizing that true freedom is to pass through the world with no strings attached, and so she finds herself immortal, walking among humans only to be forgotten as soon as they leave sight of her.

That is, until someone doesn't forget her...

I am the one who sees kindling and coaxes it to flame.

I want to get my biggest praise out of the way first. The way Schwab writes is outstanding. I don't think I've come across a book that does prose like this, and gets away with it so beautifully. There was SO many analogies, similes/metaphors and "one liners" that never came across cringey, out of place, eye-rolling, cliche, or beat you over the head. I'm just incredibly impressed by her writing. 

Who you sacrifice to matters less than what you sacrifice for.

Normally I don't like slower paced books, and that's definitely what this felt like, but with her writing, and possibly just my mind set and the fall weather and such, it just worked for me. So if you don't like slower reads with little plot, maybe this will work for you too, but I can see how it might not. The story is really just her retelling her life over a 300 year time span with it occasionally jumping to the present (2014).

People talk about carrying torches for old flames, and it's not a full fire, but Addie's hands are full of candles.

Another strong positive is the character. Not characters, but THE character. Addie LaRue was fantastic. I was so enraptured in her life, her stubbornness, her strength, her vision and so much more. We see her battle Luc over many years as he tries to get her to surrender her immortal life so that he may claim her soul.

We begin to see a startling similarity between the two as they both find their own ways of stoking the fires of artist throughout time, but done so in very different ways.

She missed him the way someone might miss the sun in the winter, though they still dread its heat.

The nuance in which she is so eloquently written was fantastic. The way she battles Luc with her mind and words, but then how she struggles with still wanting to/ having to face him. After all he is the only person that can remember her, that can say her name. That is until Henry...

Blink and you're halfway though, paralyzed by the idea that whatever you choose to do, it means choosing not to do a hundred other things.

Henry is my least favorite part of the book. He is introduced as the only person that has been able to remember her in 300 years. It teases us slowly as they spend more time together, which I didnt mind because we still jump back to Addie's past in France, Germany, Italy and so on. But soon it gets to a section that is all about him, and that's when the book slowed down for me a lot. His story didnt grip me, I didnt really for sorry for him, and I found him (to be blunt) weak. I didnt feel the passion for him. I also began to worry that the book may not address the question, "Does Addie only like him because he is the only human that can remember her?"

Easy to stay on the path when the road is straight and the steps are numbered.

But by the end I was very happy that it wrapped up very nicely in a way I appreciated Addie's story. It really secured the 5 star rating from falling to a 4. 

And this is what good-byes should be.
Not a period, but an ellipses, a statement trailing off, until someone is there to pick it up.
It is a door left open.
It is drifting off to sleep.

It was a story beautifully written, a strange long life wonderfully captured.

Six of Crows

 Better to have terrible truths than kind lies.

Ok wow...alright Six of Crows I see you.

I feel like I'm late to this, that's obvious.

This book has been around booktube for a while, its pretty popular. To me it seemed to come off as a fantasy romance with a side plot of a heist.

So I never thought I would end up liking it, Im not huge into YA romance, it usually doesnt strike the balance I prefer. I feel like people underplayed that this really just a character driven novel. Sure there are inklings of relationships, they struggle with knowing if they should or would want to get together. But thats just because they all have incredibly difficult and troubling pasts.

Almost all of them were compelling, and the ones that weren't still came across well. I was just really happy with how the characters were written, their stories and how they interacted. That was definitely the highlight. My vote is for Inej the pirate queen!

So what else was there? Lets start with the powers.

By the end it went from PG13 to rated R real fast, there was some nasty stuff happening with those Grisha Powers. I wasn't fully wrapped around the powers. I think its because I didnt know they would play such a role. My understanding of the Grisha-Verse was heavily skewed. The way I interpreted this series and Shadow and Bone was that they were in the same universe but so far apart that it wasnt obvious. It seemed to me that Shadow and Bone was deep fantasy, and Six of Crows was more modern and so had less magic. But they are only 5ish years apart. I just had to explain this because this affected my comprehension as I was reading and it wasnt until later I realized how much these powers would effect the book and by then I knew I was missing some stuff. (Which isnt all bad because that means Ill have a really good reread!)

Additionally to the powers was the world and different nations! All of that was really interesting as we got a look into how different nations are, their culture, way of life, and most importantly to this book, their prejudices.

This was so much better than I thought it would be, I was very happy with it and looking forward to the sequel!

No mourners.

No funerals.

Night of the Dragon

They tell stories, nowadays, of a wandering fox. Most times it would appear as a humble peasant girl, but sometimes as a yokai with glowing golden eyes.

Immediately following Soul of the Sword, the 3rd and final book of the Shadow of the Fox series picks up with our crew heading to a port to catch a ride for the Moon Islands and stop the villains from using the Dragon Scroll.

This book, for the most part, was a very good mesh of the first and second book. We have some small, episodic like adventures like in book one. And then there is a good amount of character interaction and romance from book two.

It isnt all good, however, I actually have quite a few issues with the book.

Yumekos fox powers get  far more powerful for some reason. Early on in the novel I was getting annoyed that her throwing out her blue fox fire would STILL startled her opponents (because they dont know its not real fire) We got alot of that in the first two books. Then all of a sudden her fox fire was real and burned people. I dont know if I missed something because she didnt really seem to question this or fill in any blanks.

There was a couple more issues that the author actually managed to correct later in the novel. So though through a good portion of the book I was getting annoyed, or irked at the development, she managed to come up with good reasoning, or even better, not fall into some bad tropes.

I will say one thing that always throws me off in books is when the thing you expect to be at the end, is SMACK dab in the middle. It really threw off the pacing and made most of the rest of the book feel drawn out. It didnt help either when the last half turns into a long "climax" of confusing, convoluted reveals and unnecessary battles.

For the most part I was planning on giving this a 3 stars, but I think the ending (mostly after the climax) really pulled it up from that lower score. I think this book evoked a lot of emotion in me. I appreciated the consequences of this war and the fights. By the end I really did come to enjoy the little gang we picked up along the way.

Overall, the climax was a bit over-reaching. This seemingly episodic YA fantasy trilogy had the ending of a 5 book long epic fantasy, which was incredibly jarring. But I liked how the author didnt always take the obvious or easy way out with some of the plot points and I say is a solid ending to her series. 

I would very much enjoy a 4th novel, with lesser stakes, and some more episodic adventures of the roaming Kitsune once more...

I wanted to go into a few spoiler discussions below with some specifics about the ending.

Spoilers:

I didnt like how early on they set up that this naive peasant girl was going to be the new leader of the moon clan. BUT as I mentioned above, the author corrected that toward the end by letting a lot of time pass before Yumeko took over.

Furthermore on that point, I felt like the first two books didnt focus enough on Yumeko being without a home, or that being an orphan bothered her. Its why alot of the mother/father/moon island clan stuff didnt fit really well for me. I didnt feel like she needed to be, essentially, a special chosen one. BUT AGAIN, I like how the author showed Yumeko knowing there was more to do in the world and she left to explore. The letter where she described the fox yokai being seen at the places we previously visited was really sweet and struck a cord within me. Like I said above, I would like a nice novel of her roaming adventures.

Some of the stuff I feel like the author avoided was obviously the resurrection trope. I was really nervous she was going to revive everyone that died which would have been...so bad. And I feel like I already explained how she avoided or corrected my annoyance with Yumeko being the leader, and wanting to find a home and stay there.

Most of the Seigetsu stuff went completely over my head. I dont understand about the bead, and his whole goal, it felt out of left field. Also with Yumekos mothers pain in that cave, and the mask...it was just alot all at once. I still didnt feel particularly attached to the mothers character or story since we got it all in the last half of the book. The ending fight with Seigetsu in general went on too long. But it was cool to see Yumeko try to outsmart him. There was just ALOT about the climax I didnt care for. But it had some good moments like Daisuke and Okames fight. Suki bringing back their spirits to help Yumeko in the end. 

Speaking of which. In general I thought Sukis whole thing was pretty cool. She is the first chapter we get ALL the way back in book one, which honestly REALLY stuck with me. I felt so bad for her. But I like how she became their guide, and the fact that she led them when they were all alive, and then again when most of them were dead...that was some good stuff right there.

In conclusion, like I said, Climax was a bit much for me, but the ending was really really good.

Kings of the Wyld | Review

 We are each what the past has made of us.

Well this was, in a word, badass.

Kings of the Wyld pretty much gave me exactly what I was expecting and more.

Kings of the Wyld is the Epic of a band a mercenaries. The most epic of mercenaries, they are in their glory battling demons, rescuing princess' slaying dragons. Oh wait? No this is many....MANY years after that?

Yup, this is a story about a bunch of crusted, busted old mercs. They've gone their own ways, maybe started a family, maybe lost that family. But one of their members, Gabriel comes back into the picture asking for Clay Cooper (our "main character") to help get the band back together and save his daughter.

And so reluctantly Clay sets out with Gabriel to reform Saga. 

Getting to each member has its own host of issues, their own years of baggage must be dealt with and they even pick up a fair few new ones.

Its not easy to pull off , and maybe some wont like this but personally I love when a story is told to you like you already know the world. There isnt long slogs of exposition or anything, but through dialogue or events we slowly learn more about this world and Saga in a very natural way.

There is some blunt badassness, the Band shows their age, their humor, it just has everything. On top of all of that there is some very emotional moments, some intense back stories and broken histories. I didn't expect to love this as much as I did and its definitely a new favorite.

I cant wait to explore more of this world and meet some new characters in the sequel!

Warbreaker | Review

 

This was incredible! However, this book alone can't explain why I'm so mind blown by it. But I'll get to that later toward the end.

This novel follows a daughter of the kingdom Idris as she is sent to their neighboring kingdom as a deterrent to a threatening war.

This daughter, Siri, however, was not the one that was originally supposed to go. Siri is the youngest of her family and for all intents and purposes was not important.

Her older sister Vivenna was supposed to go in Siri's place, Vivenna trained her whole life to perform this task. To go to Hallandren and marry their God-King and bare them a child to prevent a war.

However, before it is time to send Vivenna, her father decides that even if he sends his eldest daughter, war still might come, for this reason he decides to send Siri.

Vivenna, feeling lost having been stripped of her purpose that she spent her life preparing for decides to also go to Hallandren to save her sister.

And so begins the incredible journey of fascinating characters, betrayal, and a unique and colorful magic system if I ever saw one.

The first thing I want to point out that I was NOT aware of is that this book is not a "traveling adventure" story. I don't know why but every time someone described it I thought it was Siri travelling to Hallandren and getting into shenanigans on the way. So I was surprised that by chapter 3 she was already there!

This story, lore and revelations was so striking that I want to immediately reread it. It's a story and world that I just want to make sure I know EVERYTHING about it!

I unfortunately was not very invested in the beginning. It went pretty slow. We follow Siri as she slowly starts to learn about her new husband, the mysterious God-King Susebron. Vivenna arriving and finding herself wrapped up in a conspiracy and follow her as she sheds her initial prejudices about Hallandren. And finally Lightsong, a Returned, who are Gods in Hallandren as he slowly unravels his own found conspiracy.

The set up for these characters is slow as we learn about the world and magic. But colors is it worth it by the end.

We see Siri's intelligence and compassion as her and Susebron learn  more about each other blossoming into something beautiful. Lightsong playing at being dumb and struggling with his Godliness only to have one of the most epic endings. Vivenna, who struggles the hardest, enduring the worst this book can throw at her. She meets up with a character from the Prologue, Vasher, and it is just non stop intrigue from there out.

There is so much to this world and it's incredible. Besides the pacing, (which in its defense is needed to set up the ending) this books holds up so well. The twists, revelations and betrayals accompanied by an intriguing magic system, I can't love this enough.

Except there is MORE! If you're a fan of this book or any books by Sanderson you may or may not have read his Stormlight Archives. I won't get into spoilers but MAN did I wish I read this before I read Stormlight. I want to reread this and those books so bad right now. When you realize the connections these stories have, you'll be frothing at the mouth. I hate I have no body I could immediately start discussing this with. I truly hope that with Rhythm of War coming out we will get even more Warbreaker tie in. I also heard that he's making a sequel to Warbreaker that will help fill in gaps between this and the Stormlight archives. I love the kind of joy and excitement this book brought into my life! I am READY for the future of this and Stormlight!

The Red Scrolls of Magic | Review

"Oh dear. You'll excuse me. Our sirens have taken up residence next to the champagne fountain and trying to drown guests in it."

In the spin off from the Mortal Instruments we follow Magnus and Alec as they explore their new relationship through a series of awkward character interactions, and unnecessary interruptions to their sex life.

Though I am not the truest of true Shadow Hunter fan, I still feel like this book has issues. So if by chance anyone loved the portrayal of Magnus and Alec from the Shadow Hunter tv show, I have some bad news. 

But most of my critique has "I dont like this, but you may if you like..." kind of format.

For instance, I have a huge pet peeve with duel perspective when they have one characters chapter and then the chapter after that is what the other character does at the SAME time. I just dont like this because it feels, even if we are learning or seeing something new, it isn't progressing the story. I dont like the feel of time stopped, it aggravates the flow of the story. Its even worse when the perspective isnt needed at all! One chapter just has Magnus at a place, the next chapter is Alec getting to that place. Just WRITE Alec already being there, I literally could skip that chapter and have missed nothing.

This actually leads me to one of my more "objective" opinions about the book. (as objective as you can be in reviews) This book just has padding. I feel like it was obvious they didn't have enough to create a book that was more than 150 pages so they put a bunch of stuff in here that I think really ruined the flow, and just inserted unnecessary writing. This is where most of my issues come from:

For example, the unnecessary back pacing of the duel perspective mentioned above.

Next the story is supposed to be them enjoying their vacation and time together. So we get moments of them trying to do date like stuff, only to be interrupted by demons or whatever. I can see I guess where people would like this, especially if this was how the Mortal Instruments was written. But to me its annoying. For most of the time the plot isnt strong enough to warrant interrupting the building of this relationship.

(Especially for me who, coming from the show, assumed they worked through most of the initial relationship stuff so not only do I have to suffer through this again but I keep getting interrupted for some asinine pointless fighting.)

Though I do have to commend them actually being competent fighters. But then I just kept asking myself, "what the hell, what is this magic system that just seems limitless?" (I didnt count it against the books just because there were bigger issues and I didnt bother to read the first 6 books)

The second issue I had of padding and general bad writing is character interaction and cameos. I dont know how many and which characters are from the spin off series, but there seemed to be a ton.

Some of them I actually enjoyed like Tessa from Infernal devices. Others I absolutely hated like Raphael. Why was he here, and why is he so annoying.

I feel like cameos just weren't done well in this book. But I also come from the Percy Jackson Riordan series where I feel like he does cameos well, people show up and have a point and are well integrated.

There was someone who Im pretty sure is in the Spin off from the LA series. And conveniently at the end they make a pact to never speak of what happened in this book....so hooray now theres a canonical reason that they wont mention theyve met each other in the future. Thats....good writing?

There are some more very convenient people that show up out of nowhere. Isabelle tells Alec someone they are looking for is busy and cant help, that person just so happens to show up where Alec ends up going...how convenient? (Sorry I mean bad writing)They shoe-horn in some more gay representation which seemed unnecessary. But one REALLY aggressive and egregious bisexual who just immediately tells Alec to dump Magnus and to go hook up. It was cringey. But theres a bit of that going around. Like when the Shadow Hunters go up to a Mundane who just then spills EVERYTHING they did regarding the plot...like ok cool.

Ok was that all the bad? There's more nitpicking, but that's the worst of it.

All in all Alec and Magnus still had some good scenes together. But some of it came off a little too "extra" with them going out of their way to over praise each other. But now that most of that is out of the way I think the next book should be more evened out hopefully.

Finally, when we got to the plot in the end. It wasn't so bad. I'm genuinely disappointed how much the beginning of this book dragged down this decent plot and reveal. (Makes the padding seem more obvious, they clearly had this part down and figured out and just fumbled making it longer)

It's about immortals, coping with their long life and family ties. Some sweetness about not being alone and how some people handle it. So kudos for that stronger finish. 

I know this is also co-written so I wonder if its obvious where Clare is influenced and when its Chu. Maybe the Mortal Instruments is better since its all from Clare? I dunno.

(Spoiler for the future:

Can't wait to see the fallout of Alec letting the Villain escape only for them to clearly still be the Villain in the next books...good move.)

Red Skies Falling Review

 [Insert one of the many good Bird/Sky related quotes here!]

This was an incredible sequel!

We pick up pretty shortly after book one ended. Kylee is at the Sky Castle training her Hallow Tongue in preparation of the Kartami invasion. Brysen is getting by in the village with his new friend/ they wanna be more buddy Jowyn.

The first 50% of the book is non-stop tension and intrigue. We don't know who to trust, what to believe, and London doesn't hold back with deaths and shocking revelations! If you like you're books to have consequences, this book has it in droves.

I will continue to praise London and his development of this little fantasy land. I never felt any cheesyness from the first book when it comes to the bird/ sky phrases and comparisons. And I continue to feel that way in this book. The language and thought process of these characters continues to immerse me in his world. It makes these people feel real and with a culture.

Speaking of Culture, sometimes the fanaticism is sick in this book, but again in a good way? This book just makes you feel things. The way the Altari people act is...just ridiculous sometimes.

Back to the flow of the book. Unlike Book 1 where it felt like ALOT of it dragged and was slow, this book has break neck pacing in the beginning. With only the 3rd quarter slowing down and back tracking a bit, but the last quarter of the book really holds up and ends incredibly.

Kylee's asexuality is a pretty refreshing point of view to read from. You will see alot of build up of the Uztari people and the political intrigue will have you on the edge of your seat in her parts.

Brysen's point of view I continue to love. Following this poor broken boy is still a compelling treat. His trauma is so real and you still see him trying to find himself and his path. I LOVE what London crafted for him. But beware, heartbreak is still rampant in this book!

I really cant say too much non-spoilery stuff about this sequel, it was an incredible step up from book 1. Especially considering the middle books are usually the worst in the series. I feel like if you were hesitant in book one, this should secure you into continuing.

And lets just say, the title of this book is VERY apparent in the last chapter....damn what an ending. I have no idea where they're going from here.

The last thing I have to say is spoilery though, so don't continue if you haven't read it.

Shara: I was honestly VERY disappointed how this played out. I LOVED when she came back the first time. I was getting big Phoenix vibes from Brysen at this point. And then again at the end with all the smoke, I was very curious wtf was happening. Again I find it interesting that the Ghost Eagles basically trained the humans to do what they wanted them to. Clearly Brysen was built up to be this healer to save the Ghost Eagle? Maybe? I dont know, but Im excited!

What I WASNT excited for was why bring in Shara AGAIN. Just to fly next to Brysen, take a hit and for Anon to fckn rip her head off? Like come on London. You made it clear you will write consequences but this just felt unnecessary and I just felt wrong by it. We didn't really get any satisfying moment from Shara after Brysen revived him. I became really invested in this, and I almost want to knock it down a star grade just because I feel like London might have done it on purpose just to get an emotional pull from the audience. Very disappointing...(and at this point it would just be cheap to bring her back again in book 3?) 

The Extraordinaries

I know its cliche to say "OMG I wanted to like this book so much! I'm so sad that this book disappointed me!"?

Well....OMG I wanted to like this book so much! I'm so sad that this book disappointed me!

Let's just get the good out of the way. The characters personalities are pretty great. There is a pretty big element to family, which most stories leave out so that was nice. There is a good amount of diversity, obviously with Queer characters. And the motivations for these characters...can be argued is logical.

But this story was so incredibly frustrating. I think the story of Nick and his Father is probably what really matters but I don't 100% know because I was too busy skimming the last half of the book so I could get this over with.

Let's go ahead and just address the biggest issue of this book. If you HATE the "miscommunication" or "lack of communication" trope. Stay SO far away from this book!

I now understand why no one wrote Mary-Janes point of view. That's what this book basically is. Everyone keeping secrets from you. Except the book doesn't keep secrets FROM THE READER. We know what's going on because it's obvious! And the character we follow takes 300 something pages to figure it out (jk its actually revealed to him he doesn't figure it out)

They also have ALOT of "almost" reveals. Where someone is about to say something but just doesnt...

There is also alot of moments where the Main character and his love interest/ best friend say REALLY deep romantic things to each other but still don't talk about how they should get together? Had me eye rolling.

This will definitely be my most disappointing book of the year. I can't imagine anything will match how frustrating it was to suffer through this character stumbling through his life.

Some more complaints but with spoilers so I can be specific:

All the parts where Nick wants to become a super hero are painfully stupid. "Sometimes I dont know if you're really smart or completely insane." 

No, thinking you can get exposed to radiation and live and get super powers is fucking stupid. I can't believe his friends humored him with this, and then Nick even threw a fit like "No one believes in me I can do anything I set my mind to."

Good thing he was just an Extraordinary all along >_< Thanks Mom genes.

I think he's also supposed to be described as creative? Yet his fan fiction is painfully (and obviously) repetitive and unimaginative. (Referring to the part where he decided that his character would randomly HAVE powers all along instead of having them develop in a life or death situation or something) I dont really care, i thought it was a fun way to start the book, but it doesn't make me believe he's a good writer, or idea person or anything.

Seth goes off on a tangent about how it sucks to be a super hero because you cant tell your family or friends.

Yet he LITERALLY has his Uncle Aunt and Friend helping him. But sure, still dont tell your best friend/lover.

Maybe DONT write how Jazz points out how obvious everything was in the end and have the main character go "wow how did I not see this" because that's literally how the readers feel!

Why would Seth just let him make fanfiction of the villain? I just dont understand.

And then Gibby was there when Owen/ Shadow Star saved them and Nick made an idiot of himself.

There's so many more annoying illogical or annoying things that happened. I'm just tired but glad this book is over.

Calamity | Review

We're not moments, Megan, you and me. We're events. You say you might not be the same person you were a year ago? Well, who is? I'm sure not. We change, like swirling clouds, and a rising sun. The cells in me have died, and new ones were born. My mind has changed, and I don't feel the thrill of killing Epics I once did. I'm not the same David. Yet I am.

This book delivered some conflicting feelings in me. I feel like most of the non spoiler discussion will be negatives, but the great stuff in the book, (often typical for Sanderson) comes at the end which is full spoilers. So let's begin and I'll let you know when I start the spoilers.

Like most of this series, the beginning of book 3 throws you right into the action. On the cusp of losing their leader and gaining the strongest enemy they've come across, David and the gang, including Cody and Abraham, are attempting to gain any advantage possible. First of which is raiding the Knighthawk base, who has created their Epic weapons and technology but now refuse to do so.

Let's just immediately dissect why and how we have come to this moment, because honestly, I feel like it's rare we get moments like this that show how great a SERIES can be. We see how useful and important Prof is in the first book, and then how powerful he is. Then in the second we start the emotional path of trying to save Prof, a glimpse into the hope of a future where Epics can be saved. Now we begin the 3rd book with the crippling realization of what we have lost. This mentor figure, dangerously powerful, is now the enemy. The set up to this, as a physical, mental and emotional threat to our main character is WHY books should be a series. I can't praise this series enough for that.

Before we move on, let's get a very superficial gripe out of the way. I love the UK Sanderson books. I have all of them. The first two for this series were cool, you get an epic, standing over their city. I actually loved how I didnt even realize the second one had the city drowned in water until I got to that in the book and then checked the cover again. So what happened with this one...? I actually used the cover as a guess into what the new location would be like. So I was thinking, "Are they fighting in an old manor of Prof's or something? Who is the guy on the cover, b/c Prof doesnt use a gun and he looks too big and bald to be David." As much as i can tell, that IS supposed to be David entering the Knighthawk facility? Which seems dumb because that's not the location of the rest of the book and doesn't fit David. Im super disappointed this couldn't have had a cooler cover, especially considering the location.

Which brings me to my next positive: Ildithia/ Atlanta. Just like the first two I was really impressed that Sanderson created a whole unique city when it wasn't even really necessary. Ildithia is a city transformed into crystallized salt. Every moment of the day part of the city dissolves and crumples while a new part forms in the front. So its a moving city. Its pretty cool, and Sanderson writes it really well, it's no place I would want to live in, but the descriptions of how its dry, and brittle toward the end of the time table and dusty really puts me there. 

Which is why I think its so dumb they went with the cover they did. When they could have done something really cool with Prof floating over the city with his green powers, showing part of the city falling apart while another part rising. Too bad. 

Sanderson even details and logically reveals that during the time table that has the loss of the skyscrapers (which Epics normally claim as their home) the city is normally worse off because these angry super powered people are throwing their tantrums until their homes are back. Really interesting and well realized city. Now let's look at the events that happen in this city...

It's time to move on to my last positive for the non-spoiler. As you read at the beginning, I quoted something David was saying to Megan. It was one of my favorite parts. Megan, who with power immortality powers, fears she is not the same when she comes back. David's compares this to the sunset. Each morning it rises it's a little different, the colors, the clouds, the weather. But its still the same and still beautiful. My point in bringing this up is we are starting to see a truly deep and maturing David. He still has some dumb puns which I've never been a fan off. But in this novel we see him truly struggling with alot of issues he hasn't dealt with yet. He spent time after his father's death devoted to revenge. It steered and distracted him from dealing with this. After book one, revenge complete, we start to see that breaking down. But we still have the father figure of Prof keeping him steady. Now with Prof gone, and David the new leader of the Reckoners. We get a lot of great moments of David reflecting on his loss, his pain, and his failure. It was excellently done and again I praise David's journey.

The main negative I have is this book just feels like....nothing happens? Recounting actual events of this book would make it seem like it's probably 200 pages instead of 400. There is some really interesting set up with Megan's dimensional powers. But most of the more interesting moments don't happen until the end. As I was approaching the last 50ish pages I was starting to be like "HOW is this only a trilogy, WE NEED MORE! TOO MANY QUESTIONS!"

The ending however, as I always praise Sanderson for, really saves the journey. I can't really continue without spoilers, but the ending is intriguing and really heartfelt. I'd say this trilogy was really great, as a whole 5 stars even if I just give this entry 4. This a very fitting ending to the story of the Reckoners.

Spoilers Ahead:

The ending fight did seem a bit drawn out. To be honest I was little frustrated that David NEVER used his powers. But I still can't fault Sanderson. Because I liked how for the most part he kept our protagonist a normal human fighting against and for Epics.

I think the reasons behind the darkness was really interesting! I can't fault the logic in Calamity. I liked how the dimensions show what would have happened if he just left. I liked the logic in him being afraid and projecting that onto humans fears. I like how when they face their fears they claim it and their powers. I almost thought Calamity unable to take Megans power early in the story wasn't going to get brought up again. So all in all it was all just...really cool, I dont know what else to say about it. 

It again, brings me up wanting more. Like I wonder if Sanderson ever considered it part of his cosmere? It seems like it could be part of the same universe as Skyward or something? And then it made this other dimension seem interesting. I liked how it seemed like they were having their fight and things happening.

Lastly we have to talk about the Epilogue. I can't believe that Sanderson not once, but TWICE used the Resurrection trope in this series, and did it VERY well. I don't feel like the loss of his father was a fake out to us, we see David struggle with it. Nothing in the story would have been the same if the Father was around. And the fact we get this moment, a world where they blame themselves for each others deaths, but now get a small part of that back. The fact that we end with his father teaching him how to fly...it was pretty beautiful. 

I do feel like some things needed to be addressed. Like I feel like the Prof thing got no satisfying ending...but I feel like it was either Prof or the father, couldnt be both. It just seems sad how Prof was supposed to be his father figure, but now in a way David has his father back, and Prof has almost nothing(RIP Tia).

Also they randomly said Mizzy was an epic now? I dont see how? I guess it implied that with Calamity gone he released the rest of the powers and Mizzy just happened to get one. Or more ridiculously, it implied everyone got a power? Those were the only things, small as they were, that bugged me at the end.

Besides that, very satisfying, very compelling.

Crown of Feathers | Review

May their eternal flames burn bright. 

This book had one of the most prominent plot elements that guaranteed I would like it: Phoenixes. At least that's what I thought when it first fell on my doorstep in a lootbox over a year ago. I didnt immediately get to it, but in the months it sat on my shelf I realized something, the more I love something the more critical I am when it's in a story. 

Thankfully, this book still did not disappoint me!

Let's get the negative out of the way first.

Some of the set up wasn't well done. It made me lose interest so that when the good stuff started happening I had wished I would have paid better attention. In general toward the end with all the twists/ reveals I found myself regretting I wasn't more perceptive and took care to read the interlude notes and letters. 

Lastly I didn't quite understand the point of the male/ female disparity. I almost wonder if the author put it just because she wanted a parallel to how women have been unfairly treated in real life. Because besides women not being able to be riders in this new era, in the history women are strong and the greatest leaders. It actually seems like they are the most powerful, even saying that female phoenixes are the fiercer fighters and the only shadow mages we are aware of have been females. I just feel like this didn't have to exist in the story and rubbed me the wrong way. I'm just glad the author balanced it with really good male characters as well. Instead of choosing to create a world where every guy is bad and only women can do things, yet somehow are still disenfranchised. Like some really bad feminist novels/ movies have attempted. I thought it would take a different route and I wouldn't even include it when explaining and recommending it to other readers like it was to me.

What I liked:

Characters:

Most of the characters I liked. I don't think there was any I disliked. Veronyka had a brief stint of the cliched, "New person who is actually really talented and strong." Which leads to a disagreement and tension with another character. I was VERY thankful they got over this quickly and actually opened up to a very honest conversation about why this affected the characters. It sadly rare how well and often this characterization is done.

I was most interested in Zev and what he was doing. I think his point of view was unique and Im very intrigued to see what happens to him in the sequel. I hope he can find Kade again! I greatly appreciated the authors subtle representation of a queer character. Its not the point of him at all, he just happens to be queer.

Val was also incredibly compelling in her blunt, fierce attitude. I was always concerned yet curious what was going on with her.

Lore:

There was definitely a couple of info dumps, but it usually came up in relevance to what was happening. I'm intrigued with the world and as I said before wish I would have paid a little more attention to the interlude letters and such. But I think it makes a reread of this book all the more interesting! 

Plot:

I think the reveals of this book were insanely compelling and had me regretting I wasn't paying attention more in the earlier parts of the book. But I loved who these characters turned out to be and how they were all connected to each other by the end!

Conclusion:

I am very excited to see where our characters go from here. I look forward to more Phoenixes as this book had a lot of introduction to characters and the world but not alot of real communication with the phoenixes. I think we should be getting alot more from Val, and Zaphyra and Veronyka in the sequel. I know the second book is huge, and am fascinated to know what the author plans on revealing to us!

The Last Sun

The Last Sun is unapologetically blunt. With its characters, their dialogue and alot of its scenes. I however, had a lot of issues with this book as I was reading and decided to DNF just after the halfway mark.
I probably could have pushed through, but just based on some of the reviews and my current feelings I can already tell Im not going to care for some of the relationship and plot developments.

Most of my positives have a negative side. So lets begin:

I want to first praise his writing. Though the dialogue was odd (he always put I said BEFORE whatever the line was, which I dont think Ive ever seen in a book before) most of the descriptions were really well done, particularly in fight scenes. So let's first get into the fight scenes because there was...alot of them.
For the positive, as I said, the way he described his magic and how it performed was really interesting:
"The Fire spell I stored flushed through me like a fever,:
"A Frost spell shivered loose."
"Its illumination was wildly disproportionate; shadows tripped over each other as they receded into corners and cracks."
A lot of lines like this really made the scenes interesting to read, and boy did they need to be because there was just too mamy. If you like fighting for the sake of fighting then this is good for you, but I did not enjoy it. I've learned and grown to think that most scenes should have a reason behind them. To set up something, or explain. But here was just too much action that it comes across more as fluff. In my opinion ever fight scene should build character, set up a plot, or reveal/explain more about the powers. I didnt feel like most of his scenes did this.

Speaking of powers and set up, lets move on to the world building and magic. The best positive I can come up with is it's interesting. The author clearly has alot of ideas and incorporated alot of mythology of magic. The author unapologetically is vague in how the world works. Theres no hand holding, it speaks to us like the way this world works is obvious. I dont think I disliked this, but I was so aware that this is a dangerous way to write that I think it just distracted me.
I did like the idea of translocated places. Most of the buildings in this New Atlantis came from real places teleported by magic. But that in itself is weird and New Atlantis in general is odd and vague.
Although the author clearly has some creativity and talent behind his world, it still felt a little amateurish with no direction as he just threw in any interesting magic he came across during his time of consuming stories throughout his life.
Theres the tarot, the probability and future seers, dark magic, untamed magic, undead, golems, were-creatures, resurrection. Everything is thrown together without showing rules or a system for the magic, it is very messy. (Keep in mind this is just what I consumed in the first half)

Im going to have to segue into the characters by first bringing up my distaste for "only the main character can fight" trope. For instance there is a scene where a spectre or ghost I guess is following them, Rune, our main character, throws a shield. (It doesnt really describe what the shield is but it some how traps the spectre) Their companion throws telekinesis, and Rune thinks "Oh telekinesis is versatile but useless against a spectre." Because of course it is, b/c the magic isnt being used by the Main Character, this stuff got very tiring.

So lets continue to move on to the characters, what I think most people ended up liking. I think Rune is cool, his name is neat and not the worst protagonist. Like I said the fact that he is the main competent fighter can get cliche and irritating. It kind of gets worst as he has this habit of showing flashes of his "aspect" and just acts cocky as fuck like he's unstoppable. Him and Brand are very intense with each other, the dialogue has a nice way of showing how comfortable they are with each other, but some time its too blunt and immature. Speaking of which, the characters are supposed to be, I think 35, but they dont act like it. Similarly there is a character they essentially adopt who is 17, who acts like a 17 year old at first, until he grows too familiar with Rune and Brand and then he starts acting like an 8 year old. Not good stuff.

An example toward the end of my reading which started to tip me over the edge of getting over this book is a scene where a bunch of mages save Rune. They put up a large fire wall to stop the undead, but for some reason left Brand on the other side. (Even though he was right next to Rune) Rune has ENOUGH TIME to pick a fight with the lady, assume his aspect form, the strongest its ever been, and push her aside, grab brand and the and then the lady just jumps back up to continue the wall, it is resumed and all the undead hit it and die. So I just had to roll my eyes and ask, what was the point of this, why was this lady mage so determined not to help Brand? This is just an example of forced tension and fights to impress us, or to show how strong the MC is. I didnt like it.

A page or two later Brand gives Rune shit bc he got out of breath when running from monsters. Yet he didnt make it any farther? Stop picking on each other just to be quirky and bitchy.

I couldn't believe by the time I got the the 50% mark I was only halfway done. It seemed like they already went through alot and that the story should be wrapping up. This book drags, its why I hate the necessary fights that add nothing, and dumb moments like the zombie fire line. The chapters really are too long, its ruins the flow of the story and exaggerates its length.

Sometimes when you like a book enough small things dont bother you. Thats when i knew I needed to put it down.

For instance, they end a chapter talking about the legend that liches are so powerful that they ruin nations. But they are so rare that most people think they are a myth, and what nations are they talking about? This book is in OUR world, so wouldnt we know the nation that they destroyed.

Its unfortunate I didnt end up liking this. Gay protagonist, Sun themed powers, magic. But there was just too many issue.

Apollo Book 4

I understood heartache a little better now. Each persons grief has its own life span. It needs to follow it own path.

Evil undead Emperor yelling at a cat. Made my day.

This installment of Trials of Apollo has us picking up from where we left off after the death of Jason Grace. This story seems to take its time and really focus on its characters. Apollo is even more humanized and we learn alot more about mistakes he's made and the consequences that follow him.

I can't say I saw alot of bad in this book. But it also didnt overly excite me. Riordan continues to grow from his "middle grade" books as this story covers alot of loss, stressful expectations and regret.

We spend almost the whole time in New Rome, which is of course an exciting throw back to the series we've loved and learned from. We have some returning characters, and some plot threads from the past series are even tied up here.

One of my favorite things about this series so far is successfully making this universe feel alive, diverse, and it doesn't come off as "scripted." The casual way characters we've read about come and go is really interesting. I also love this because it doesn't feel like Riordan is just throwing in characters for fan service. So many of them come and go too that at some point you run into your favorite again. Whether it's Percy, Grover, Jason, Frank, Hazel. etc they've found a very natural place in this story.

Another positive I want to bring up (that was a negative for the 3rd one) is that we are seeing Apollo come back into his powers more. I didnt like how after his revitalization of some of his abilities from book 2 (which I still think is the best so far) he seemed to have lost them in the 3rd installment. He shows alot more competence now and I appreciate his growth and recovery.

I am, however, ready to have Apollo accept that he has changed and just work toward winning. I didnt think we would be going into book 5 with Apollo still having alot of issues with his confidence. I would like him to have the confidence from his Godihood restored, just without the cockiness. I want to see him play his music with purpose and know its right, I want him to pick up his bow and loose an arrow knowing it will find its mark. (He did that quite a bit here but he always added how he was "surprised that he had hit his mark") Lastly, as a fan of the Sun aspect, I would like him to grow into some of those powers.

I am very hopeful of the finale! We are returning to New York, which means Camp Half-Blood and I'm excited to see Apollo complete his journey and see which friends we will run into along the way!

Firefight | Review

After the death of Steelheart at the hands of David we find the Reckoners of Newcago plagued by assassination attempts from the leader of Babylon restored, previously known as Manhattan.

In the sequel to Sandersons Reckoners series we are transported to a very unique new city. The leader of Babylon Restored, Regalia, possessing immense control of water has flooded the city. Leading to people living off of the rooftops of the city. But that isnt the only new feature of this city. Strange aspects of the city also include plants and trees that grow indoor without needing sun. Warm waters that are irregular. And most interestingly, paint and fruit that glows like neon lights after the sun goes own, attributing to the citizens more nocturnal way of life.

I enjoyed the world of Firefight more than Steelheart. It reminded me of one of my favorite series, Infamous 1 and 2. (which also played with good and evil morality) Which leads me to my next favorite thing about this book. After the discovery of the uncontrollable urges the Epics get, from book one, we are often faced with these choices and ideas as The Reckoners work to kill the epics.

This struggle is all the more personal as David struggles to help Prof become the Hero he thinks he could be. And theres not just Prof. There is former Reckoner traitor Firefight that David has to deal with. Which leads me to my NEXT favorite part of the book. Megan, without a doubt, makes this book all the more better. When she comes back into the story and any scenes shes in, she immediately piques my interest and had me wanting to read more. No offense to David, but on his own I'm just...not a fan.

This finally brings me to my only negative really. Im still not vibing with Davids quirkiness. I REALLY wish I could like David more, it would make this almost a perfect series for me. But his metaphors or similes quirk just puts me off. What actually helped me like his character (and secure that 5 star rating) is with the addition of this unique city we see David dealing with a phobia of water. It was a very nice touch on Sandersons part to introduce this weakness to our protagonist. It make the location feel more interesting and dynamic.

I am happy to say though that alot of the potential issues with Davids more "perverse" thinking is simmered down in this one. He still has his wandering eye, but honestly it feels natural, I dont think its uncommon to linger on the physicality of the people around us. Leaving behind Abraham and Cody we also learn about a new team of Reckoners. They have their own unique personalities and I felt this new team helped make the sequel refreshing.

Lastly I just got to say that the last quarter of this book KNOCKED it out of the park. I love trusting Sanderson to start pulling in his foreshadowing and hints so that we just slammed with nonstop reveals that leave me exhilarated and excited for what comes next. Not to mention we started getting hints at Calamity. This ending just has me thinking I have no idea how Sanderson will finish up this trilogy but I'm excited.

If you dont want any hints I would consider this next part spoilers:
But Im so happy how this Superhero series is turning out. I didnt expect it to be all Powered people are Villians, and after this we are starting to see some exciting turns into Heroes fighting Villains. Fingers crossed that a certain event in this book that SEEMS to have no changed a character, is utilized in book three.

Avatar the Last Airbender Grahphic Novel | The Search | Review

'No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are. ''

Remember this line from the show as you read this.

I mean what more can I say other than, We get the answer to what happened with Zuko's mother!

I cant believe it took me so long to read this.

I wont be going into what actually happens to Ursa. I will just say I think it was very well done, logically and emotionally compelling.

What I want to put attention to is, "What does this book do for the Avatar world in general? How does it fit in with our established lore?"

I loved it, I think this book was more memorable than The Promise graphic novel. I wanted to go over some of the themes this book covers, and tie ins to the original. (and even a nod to the future)

I don't believe what Im going to talk about is spoilers, but if you dont want to have any ideas you can stop here. Just know that the art is incredible! Inspiring honestly. And you will love every second of exploring the Avatar world from this book.

Some of the themes I liked:

Siblings. This isn't just about Zuko. Azula also needs to find her mother. The fact that Sokka and Katara are on this journey too isnt just a coincidence, and is a nice reminder of healthy and unhealthy sibling relationships. And the sibling theme doesn't stop there!

Faces and Mask. These are very prevalent in this book and work well to weave what we already know. We see the origin of Zukos famous blue spirit mask, and how it ties to Ursa and her background. We get a mention of our favorite centipede Koh - and a new spirit that is incredibly and beautifully realized in this book!

There is a quick nod to female water benders from the north, its nice how some things are not forgotten, it makes what Aang and the group did have lasting consequences for the world.

Very interestingly, if you have the edition I have, you learn how they were working on Korra book 2 Spirits at the same time as this. Alot of the development of how spirits work was essentially worked out in this book and used in Korra (or vice versa) This was an awesome little tid bit and make a fan like my self feel the care and thought they put into making this world grow.

I highly recommend, the stories in this book are fascinating and art beautiful! I expect nothing less from this franchise and they've done it again!

The Rise of Kyoshi | Review

Honestly there was alot of good quotes, but I wasn't marking them.

As much as Kyoshi wanted to stay, in a single, frozen pool of moments, the current carrying them forward was too strong.

I really enjoyed this. If you're caught up on all Avatar shows and lore or content, Kyoshi fits right in while making her own place.

Kyoshi has one of the hardest upbringings of Avatars that we've seen so far. You can see why she becomes the hardened blunt Avatar Aang meets and learns about. All the connections we come across that lead back to the Last AirBender are always a treat.

We learn about her signature style and weapons. We learn a little more about the past Avatars. Most interestingly, and for the first time, we can see each of the 4 nations living at the same time. It was very interesting to hear about how Earth, Water and Air have their own issues. I dont know if this was on purpose or not, but Fire is never mentioned as such, and seems to honestly be the strongest of the 4 nations. Which I think is a perfect casual set up for why Sozin thinks to start the war.

If you recall from the show:
Sozin commented that the Fire Nation was going through a period of great prosperity and wealth and told Roku that together, the two of them could spread it throughout the world by expanding the empire, to make a "brighter future" possible.

I like that Kyoshis world shows why this thought process is possible.

After Aang, Korra was refreshing in her more brash and bullheaded attitude. Kyoshi takes it even a step farther, born into a world with more strife than Korra's. Although there is a little too many similarities between the two sometimes... I almost wish we could have had Korra communicate with Kyoshi at some point.

Anyway, clearly I'm very happy with the story and lore. The writing was also well done, the explanation of Bending was clear and well done, it seemed to have the same respect for the art as the show did.

Very excited for the sequel!

The Fascinators | Review

If you ever cast a spell alone in your room in the dark, wishing you were somewhere - or someone - else, this book is for you.

This little magical novel pulled at many of my emotions. I got angry, sad, empathetic, hopeful, happy. This novel centers on a little religious Georgia town who is barely accepting of magic, homosexuals less so.

We follow Sam and his magic club The Fascinators as they enter into their senior year and things dont go as smoothly as anyone would like.

The magic of the world isn't greatly described, (which as someone who has only read the first Raven Boys book feels similar.) It's more magical realism, its not explored and it's purpose isnt to create a fleshed out magic system. Personally this didnt bother me all that much, it was more a story about people and their lives than the magic of the world.

By the ratings so far, this book isn't being received relatively well. I'm leaning more toward the better than this worst. Especially after the major disappointment that was Infinity Son (another novel released this year that features a gay character in a modern fantasy like story) and my mixed impression of Bonds of Brass (a scifi novel featuring gay characters released this year) this was refreshingly better.

The one main negative I will point out is that I feel like this group of friends go through a little bit too much turmoil and we have not gotten enough time with them to care to weather the storm with them. I think all of their back ground and reasoning is realistic and reasonable, but since we dont fully understand their bond I was thinking most of the time for the main character to gtfo of there and forget his friends.

That being said I still really liked this book. It had a little whimsy and small scale events. Sam is our main character and boy does he have some self-esteem issues. I think the lives of these teens are pretty realistic. Even the best of friends are selfish, especially at their age. You want to be their for your friends, but you're at a time in your life where you need to start thinking of the future, where your bigger personal issues probably start becoming more apparent and catch up with you.

I think it's important to keep this in mind as you read this book and devote your time to The Fascinators.

I personally related very well to Sam. Who's lack of confidence led him to some dark paths and he often wondered what his friends were doing all the time, and how he felt left out. I dont think its good to ever take it personally at that age, but it's also not something you can ever help. I spent too many nights over analyzing text messages and wondering if people were hanging out without me, really for no good reason. Its not practical to think that people always have you on their mind (nor should they) but just because you arent doesnt mean they dont like you or enjoy your company.

I think you'll spend alot of time flipping between who you're more upset with between the friends but in the end may not be 100% happy with the results. Though I like that not everything has to end happily ever after, some things I wish were tied up better especially since its a stand alone. I think this surprised me the most, I kept thinking I should check if it would have sequels and I wish i did so I could curb my expectations. I could see myself wanting more of this and now Im left feeling a little disappointed and unsatisfied.

Two side notes.
Denver is so cute, "Can I please wait with you too." Aw!

Also at one point they reference the book I'll Give you the Sun, which is actually one of my all time favorite books with LGBT representation!

Crazy Rich Asians | Review

Let China sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world.

Once I got past the initial amount of overwhelming family names, characters, and perspectives I quite enjoyed this. I applaud the author for roping in all of these characters and really going deep with some of these perspectives. I have to further applaud him for writing over a 500 page book that has far too many descriptions of...everything, and not making frustrating me. Granted based on the title, the point is to show the wealth, and it sure was shown.

I don't have really any complaints. I originally watched the movie and it actually made me want to read the book. I think I actually still prefer the movie because it turns some characters into more likable creations. But some of the characters in this book were SO damn unlikable! You have to applaud Rachel for how she handles most of the situations. 

I think the worst character is Nicks mother. I hated her so much, I feel like the movie took her character in a better route and I like the finale there rather than this book. Because honestly, the most Eleanor thought was how Rachel was a gold digger and kept wearing brand dresses. But Im sure if Rachel came in dressed...less than, she still would have hated her, so what did she expect, what did she want? In fact we don't fully see Eleanor go from, shes a gold digger to her family is unworthy thought

.

I really liked Astrid in the movie and felt she was the other character I preferred to the movie. The way Astrid handles her husband is so much more satisfying in the movie.

Any way, I've talked too much about the movie, but I felt it was more interesting to compare them rather than talk about the book itself. There weren't many issues with it. I just liked some characters stories than others, I'm sure some were unnecessary and could be taken out. Nick came off way to ignorant to how his family were going to act, and at least he owns up to it, because it's kind of dumb he didnt see it coming.

I found myself usually wanting to get back to Rachel's story. Some of the other perspective were interesting, sitting back and watching these, as they say, crazy rich Asians talk about some baffling subjects and treat each other terribly.

I normally don't read too many books like this but it was fun, and kind of refreshing. I wonder if I'll like it more upon reread when I already am familiar with the characters. I'm still debating on the sequel. Unfortunately it seems more people prefer the first one, and the second, even though it should focus on Rachel and Nick, has too much filler and I dont like we get more side characters but the ending is apparently worth it. Aiyah! Such a struggle.

Anyway I had two things I wanted to bring us as spoilers for the ending:

Astrid- Like I said above, I dont like how Astrid still desperately wanted things to work out, and I can only applaud her ex husband for having enough class and respect to try to make her happy and help her work things out with him. In the movie, I prefer how she shuts down Michael for basically being unable to be enough of a man to accept that Astrid makes the money and that's that. I think the most ridiculous part of the book is that he faked it all. I mean its kinda cringey he sent a text to himself that says "I want you 2 cum in me" or w/e. I dont remember if in the movie this affair is also fake (I dont think so) but atleast the text just says "I miss you in my bed"...so awkward. Im not looking forward to if they get together in the future installments. Astrid deserves better and I think I would completely not care for her if I didn't see the movie version in my head as I read.

Rachel's ending with her Mother- that was a really sweet and a heartbreaking story. I wish it had a little more time to breathe before the ending. I dont know if its confronted in the sequel but I would love to have had Rachel confront Nicks mother like she did in the movie (Albeit for different reasons) It just would have been nice for Rachel to tell Eleanor, not for her own sake, but for her mothers. Since what Rachel's mother did was amazing and these stuck up people act like she isnt worthy at all. I just wanted to see some come-upance.

Again though, I preferred how Eleanor was portrayed in the movie and I liked how Rachel resolved it. I think the book showed Rachel with grace, but the movie showed her with wit, intellect and heart.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes | Review

The War for the Districts and the Capitol is over. But is it? The Hunger Games, is the act of continuing this war, but in a way that can be controlled. And Control is one of the many messages of The Capitol, of Coriolanus Snow, and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
I present to you my review of...

I'm going into this with the assumption you are reading this after having gone through this series in publication order, so I wont refrain from warning of The Hunger Games spoilers.

Knowing what awaits us 64 years after this story its not a surprise that this book is tragic. And a big message of Hunger Games is: Hope. This book creates this hope, and you cant help but fall for it.

In general I like a lot of glimpses into a world that we dont know quite yet. The technology is sparse and some things are mentioned that are forgotten in the Hunger Games. The technology can be frustrating because you know how it gets in the Hunger Games, but then also makes for a very interesting, albeit scary contrast between the time periods. North America is directly mentioned and we even find out (atleast I think we didnt know before) that the Reaping is held on the 4th of July. As if we didnt need a bigger reminder of how far the world has fallen.

Interestingly enough (because I don't remember how much it is in the books) but the music from the movies gets its origins here. And it will make you feel things.

I understand that a lot of people didnt want Snows point of view. But I think it 100% worked here. I was getting nervous as so many negative reviews started dropping but I wanted to refuse to look at them until I got my thoughts out. I think it makes sense to hear this story than some character favorites like Haymitch or Mags, etc. I dont think we could have gotten alot out of those stories but fan service and tragic deaths of children.

This book has messages and they come across to me quite clear. We return to a Capitol that isnt at the height of its power like in The Hunger Games. We see the aftermath of a war even if it is 10 years later, and we see what it has done to Snow and his family. We can see that the Capitol is just as much of a mess as the Districts.
We see the 10th annual Hunger Games being decided to have mentors, but instead of district mentors its students from the Capitol mentoring the tributes.
It's with this plot that we see the sad injustice that whether you're District or Capitol, the kids are those that suffer. Which has always been a point to the Hunger Games, to show that innocence can be an illusion, that even they can kill, and its what humans do at base instinct.
But again, here we see it on both sides.

I think the novel does a great job with us understanding Snow and seeing where he's coming from. I'm not sure if The Hunger Games ever gave us a look into why the world would have gotten here, and I think this book does that.

Much like The Hunger Games though, you wont read this book with any fuzzy feelings. You read it feeling angry, sad, beat down, hopeful, and raw. If you want that feeling you got from the original trilogy I think you should read this. If you want the interesting quirky capitol with explosive Games and unique tributes, I wouldn't recommend returning to Panem with this book.

I'm now going to go into specifics that can be considered Spoilers for the book. So only continue if you dont care or have already read.

Dr. Gaul was a very curious character. I could see where she was building up Snow to be an apprentice or atleast teach him her ways. But I didnt think they'd remain on the "same side". I actually wonder if it's because of her experiments that Snow eventually gets his sickness. (Though it seems that someone with old age would simply get. But you never know.)

Tigris - I really began to fall in love with their dynamic. I know she wasn't in it alot but I still liked her and what she had to do for Snow. It makes me sad to know how they end up in the end. But also interesting that we met her in The Hunger Games. I liked how it was setting her up to be the "first" of the tribute designers.

Victors -I was quite interested to see how the life of a victor was influenced after winning. Ofcourse due to this particular story they basically tried to make sure noone knew them. And the "victor village" and prizes wasn't created until after Snow joined the Game Makers. But the idea that Lucy Gray would show up in the Capitol to sing and stuff would have been interesting.

Speaking of Lucy Gray - damn...lets get to it. This was tragic. I didnt expect a love plot to happen, I'm usually not a fan of it. But this felt so realistic and not thrown in. It made sense to get to the point they were at.
Honestly she was such a dynamic character. I still feel like I never could tell her true intentions. As Snow came to realize at the end, she wasn't really a sheep was she? She had vulnerabilities, but she wanted to live, and she had passions. I feel, like with Sejanus, she used Snow for her own uses. I'm still quite torn about that ending, I like that they left it vague. I think there was enough tragedy to not straight up show that she was killed.

The fact that the Hanging Tree which became a rallying song in the 3rd movie stemmed from Snow is sadly poetic.

It all felt so realistic, and indeed tragic. It seemed to start like any young love, only for the world and ideals to crash into each other. You could see where Snow's faults came in to hurt the relationship. But you could also see where choices outside of his control put him in these situations that caused this. I wish they could have just figured out a way to take Lucy Gray out of the District. I know it could never end truly happily ever after. But the only thing I didn't like was it felt like Snow was going to completely leave her to her fate with the mayor, instead of even thinking that with his new power he could help her. But then again, due to his situation, she could always pose a threat to his life, and if  we know any theme to this series its Survival.

It was still a quite sudden end, I wonder what Lucy Gray thought in those moments. Was she running for her life and depended on Snow, but then realize he would go back. She seemed to know this and resign to run on her own. I dont know, it was tragic for, as Snow said, come down to their own Hunger Games in the woods.

Sejanus is the last thing I want to talk about. He held the most turmoil for me in this story. Because I felt for him, but always was annoyed at him, especially for Snow. Snow wasn't inherently a bad person. But he wanted to keep his name and power as best as he could for him and his family. Sejanus got in the way of this, alot. It actually showed alot of Snow to keep helping him, but all the while you could see the threads that kept Snow tethered to his not entirely selfless reasoning. But like with Lucy Gray, and with the people of the Capitol, you can see where he is being used, even if its not entirely malevolent.

Regardless, Sejanus caused alot of turmoil for Snow, he was quite frankly, and idiot. And it was hard to be completely sympathetic. But him, like alot of the Capitol kids, seemed to have such a realistic friendship with Snow.
In his end, that single idea of Snow remembering an 8 year old boy on the playground with a bag of gumdrops absolutely destroyed me.
It broke me to read this, and picture this. Immediately it brought to me that idea of innocence. And how this poor child spent so much of his life in fear. Sejanus truly was too innocent and weak for this world. Even though I know it was Sejanus' fault, it still makes me sad thinking of this kid.

For Rue, for Prim, for Sejanus.