This book tag is to reflect on my reading so far this year. I’ve read 38 books during the first half of 2019, seven of which have been rereads. I’m not counting any rereads when answering these questions.
1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019
The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks
2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2019
The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks
3. New release you haven’t read yet but want to
The Near Witch by V. E. Schwab
4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year
The Burning White by Brent Weeks, and Starsight by Brandon Sanderson
5. Biggest disappointment
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson—I expected this to be my new favorite book but it ended up having a different plot than I thought it did, so I didn’t love it as much as I expected to
6. Biggest surprise
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson—I expected this to be mediocre but I ended up loving it
7. Favorite new author (debut or new to you)
Brent Weeks
8. Newest fictional crush
No one—I don’t really have fictional crushes, plus I haven’t read a lot of good ones yet this year
9. Newest favorite character
Kell from A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
10. Book that made you cry
Safely Endangered Comics by Chris McCoy—I cried from laughing so hard
11. Book that made you happy
One Day in December by Josie Silver
12. Most beautiful book you’ve acquired so far this year
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?
Other than my anticipated releases mentioned above, my current plans are Warbreaker, The Rithmatist, the Reckoners trilogy, the third White Sand graphic novel, and the rest of the short stories by Brandon Sanderson; and hopefully I’ll also get to the whole Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Friday, June 28, 2019
Review: WE HUNT THE FLAME by Hafsah Faizal
Zafira is the Hunter. Her job is to venture to Sharr and acquire a certain book that will bring magic back to the land. Nasir is the prince and an assassin. His job is to follow the Hunter to Sharr and take the book once she finds it and then kill her.
Unfortunately I just . . . didn’t care?
I read We Hunt the Flame for the young adult book club that I’m moderating at my work, and I likely wouldn’t have read it otherwise as the story did not really appeal to me. I tried to go in with an open mind but when I reached page 100 and still wasn’t connecting with the characters or caring about the story, I knew I would have a rough time continuing. And it isn’t even until a third of the way through the book that the plot starts, so it felt to me like there was a lot of unnecessary prose that just dragged me down.
The plot itself isn’t wholly original either, and it’s also rather predictable. It’s no surprise the prince doesn’t want to be the assassin (do I need to mention again that I’m tired of reading about soft assassins that don’t actually assassinate anyone?) and that he falls in love with Zafira and doesn’t want to kill her, the exact person he’s been sent to kill. And it’s no surprise that Zafira likes him back and is conflicted about her feelings because he’s an assassin. The story was also excruciatingly slow even while listening to the audiobook, which is rare because audiobooks usually speed up a story. But also, the female narrator’s voice kept switching tones and I swear I thought there were two different female narrators because of how much her voice changed, and it threw me off every time; it was very distracting.
This book is inspired by ancient Arabia and included Arabic words mixed into the narrative. I have no issue with a secondary language being used as emphasis or to describe certain events in a story, but I do not think Arabic was incorporated very well in We Hunt the Flame. It only added confusion when I would come across them, and I had to stop at every new encounter to pull up the online dictionary and pronunciation guide just to know what was happening.
One thing I did like about this book is that it has a clean romance. It seems like every YA book these days features sex scenes or at least alludes to them, but this book didn’t and I greatly appreciated that. I can’t say if that will change for the rest of the books in the series but at least this one was clean. I also liked that the chapters were super short. I love short chapters. Other than that though, there wasn’t anything that stood out that I liked.
Overall I don’t think We Hunt the Flame is really worth the read. Other than the ties to Arabic culture, it’s just another basic young adult fantasy with a reused plotline that doesn’t add anything new to the genre. I will not be continuing on with this series because I don’t care what happens to the characters in the next book, and I honestly thought this book could have been a standalone story if a few things at the end were tweaked just a bit, but of course it’s going to be a series instead. This book has been very popular and enjoyed by many, but it wasn’t for me.
Saturday, June 22, 2019
Review: THE HANDMAID'S TALE: GRAPHIC NOVEL by Margaret Atwood & Renee Nault
The Handmaid’s Tale is one of my favorite books, and with the long-awaited sequel coming out later this year, reading the graphic novel version was the perfect recap for me. I’m even more excited now to be continuing on with Offred’s story in The Testaments.
I thought this book was a very good graphic adaption of the modern classic novel. The story was as haunting as ever and the pictures only served to help drive its message home. The entire plot of the book was covered and I didn’t really feel like anything was missing from the story, which can sometimes be the case with graphic adaptions.
I noticed a few key direct quotations from the original book of some of the most jarring phrases, which I was happy to see make the cut of what to include. This adaption stays true to the tone of the original story, and I think that’s very important. Renee Nault does an excellent job of adapting the language to fit this version.
The artwork was also very well done. I appreciate that the clothing and characters differ from what we’ve seen in the tv series; the illustrator took her own approach and I love that. The art style and color scheme are fitting for the narrative and pleasing to look at while also having the necessary emotional impact. I honestly couldn’t imagine a better graphic novel of this book.
To see my review of the novel version of The Handmaid’s Tale, which includes my thoughts on the meaning behind the story, click here.
Review: ELANTRIS by Brandon Sanderson
I was a little worried when starting this book that I wouldn’t like it. I’ve read a lot of reviews that say Elantris is Sanderson’s worst work, that it’s slow and rough and less polished than his other books, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. Even though I’m biased toward Brandon Sanderson and therefore predisposed to like anything by him, I still thought this was a fantastic book, despite the amount of criticism I’d heard beforehand. In fact, I liked Elantris more than Legion, so this isn’t even my least favorite book of his.
Elantris is different from Sanderson’s other books, I will say that. But it’s by no means bad. We follow three repeating perspectives of Raoden, the prince of Arelon, who just was thrown into Elantris; Sarene, the princess of Teod, who arrives in Kae to marry Raoden and finds him dead; and then Hrathen, the high priest of the Derethi church in Kae, whose goal is to convert all of Arelon to Derethi.
The story is very unique and very political. It has a classic Sanderson-original magic system and a highly developed world and fleshed out characters, and the plot, although mostly politics, isn’t one I’ve read before. Almost this entire book is about politics, but it’s all interesting. I never found the story to be dragging or the narrative to be dry. The magic system develops slowly and it isn’t until the end that we fully understand its depth and vast implications. There’s also very little action until the very end, but I didn’t mind at all (I actually prefer scenes about political intrigue to action scenes anyway when I’m reading fantasy).
I listened to the audiobook for most of the story and that made it a little hard to keep track of what was going on because there are lots of fabricated colloquial words in this book, many unusual names for both people and places, many of which are very similar to each other, and also the magic system involves Aons, which involves a lot of other terminologies that get confusing when you aren’t able to see the words written out. Keeping track of the main characters and plot is no problem but it’s the side characters that I got mixed up. So I would definitely recommend reading this book with your eyes if given the chance because it will make the story much easier to understand. I had to read along to the audiobook during most of the story to keep all the characters and locations straight, and I also was constantly referencing the maps and the Ars Arcanum, which I would also recommend heavily utilizing.
Speaking of, I’m so glad I have the tenth-anniversary edition that has the three maps because I can’t imagine reading this book without the maps for reference. I was constantly looking at them to familiarize myself with the lay of the land and where everything was located. The same goes for the Ars Arcanum at the back. I can’t imagine reading this book without that critical reference either. It was very helpful to see the list of Aons and their symbols and meanings, and especially being able to reference the list when they’re described in the story is a big help.
There is lots of room to expand on this world in a sequel, so I hope it does eventually get written. I know Sanderson has a plan for it way down the road, so we’ll see. Like what will Wyrn do next? What else can we learn about AonDor? The drama between Kiin and Eventeo—who will be the true ruler of Teod? Raoden and Sarene both voice some questions at the end that could be the basis for the sequel as well. I’m very curious to see where the story goes next.
Overall I thought this was a solid book from Brandon Sanderson, and it makes me wonder what other early stories of his exist that haven’t been published. I bet they’re all just as good, and I hope we get the chance to read them someday. I would highly recommend this book, especially if you’re trying to read all the cosmere books, and don’t let the heavy political intrigue, general lack of action, or large amount of new words turn you away. This book is one to be savored.
“Elantris proves that a book can be magical, yet not show magic itself until the last few chapters” (from the postscript).
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Review: SORCERY OF THORNS by Margaret Rogerson
I was super excited to read this book once I heard about it: sorcerers, magical libraries, grimoires that are alive and quite possibly dangerous, and the enemies-to-lovers trope. A fantasy book about books and set in a library is right up my alley.
Elisabeth has been raised in one of the Great Libraries. She has believed her whole life that sorcery is evil, and then one day she meets a magister, a sorcerer proclaimed to do great demonic magic, and he isn’t what she expected.
The descriptive imagery at the beginning made me feel like I was in an ancient stone library, smelling the old worn leather books, and that’s such a pleasant place to imagine myself. It was so atmospheric, at least while Elisabeth is actually in the library, and that was my favorite part of this book.
Bookcases soared upward toward a vaulted ceiling six stories above . . . When she breathed in, the sweetness of parchment and leather filled her lungs. Motes of dust hung suspended in the sunbeams, perfectly still, like flakes of gold leaf trapped in resin.The beginning started out amazing and the story seemed really promising, but I was a bit disappointed where the story went for a while after that. The whole bit with Elisabeth being stuck at Ashcroft’s manor and the reasons behind it just weren’t what I wanted from this story and that part dragged a little. I was expecting a more defined magic system and setting than we got. I still enjoyed the story but it wasn’t what I had expected it to be.
I was a little confused in the first hundred pages what the difference was between a magister and a sorcerer and what kind of magic was good and what kind was bad because none of that was clearly explained. Things seemed obvious to me that turned out to be wrong, and then I connected pieces that weren’t meant to be connected and it confused me.
Likewise, the rules of sorcery are very vague and not defined at all. The grimoires are alive and enchanted, presumably by sorcery, but those who look after the grimoires and the libraries abhor sorcery and say it is evil. What’s the difference between the magic of enchanted books and the magic of sorcery? Why is it viewed as evil? I would have loved some more explanation about the background and depth of the magic system in this book because it felt very one-dimensional and obfuscating at times.
Also, Ashcroft is the Chancellor of Magic, and the workers of the libraries, who supposedly abhor sorcery, still regard Ashcroft with respect even though he’s a sorcerer. That didn’t really make sense to me either.
I thought the characters were likable, although there was minimal character development, especially where Ashcroft was concerned. But I read for the enjoyment of the overall story so flat characters don’t really bother me too much, whereas I know it would be a big turn-off for some readers.
I absolutely love Nathaniel’s personality. His dry humor and witty comments had me smiling the whole time. However, I wanted him to be older. He’s a magister sorcerer at only eighteen, and he’s the head of his family at twelve? His age just felt like it played into the fact that this book is YA, where the protagonist is rarely older than eighteen. I pictured him the whole time as being around twenty-two, and I think that would have been a better fit for him. Elisabeth is seventeen and I don’t think that’s too big of an age gap; it would make the romance seem more unexpected, but when he’s literally only a year older than she is, that didn’t feel plausible for who Nathaniel is supposed to be.
I love a good slow-burn, hate-to-love relationship though. Even though Nathanial calls Elisabeth a menace and a terror, I always felt like it was in good spirits and he never actually meant it offensively. They’re never really enemies so this trope wasn’t played out as well as it could have been, but it was still fine nonetheless.
The last hundred pages were a struggle for me to get through, and I especially couldn’t wait for the final battle to be over because I was sadly not that interested in what was happening. Plus it kept feeling to me like the battle was done but then it just kept going. There’s a lot of action scenes in this book, but at some point, that becomes a detriment to the story. For example, I noticed a lot of telling instead of showing, especially for events that happened in the past. Like there would be a ton of action and then the chapter would end, and the next chapter would be a little while later and Elisabeth would explain to us how the battle ended when it could have just been shown to us in the previous chapter instead.
Despite Sorcery of Thorns being a good story that many will love, it sadly didn’t live up to my high expectations. I thought I would love it and it would be an instant new favorite; it started off strong at five stars, but then it slowly declined to four stars and then to three, and parts of it were a two for me. I liked the story but I was ultimately disappointed with the direction it went and that hindered my overall enjoyment. I think the library imagery is beautiful and that’s what I expected the whole book to be like, but it wasn’t. I didn’t expect a story about a girl getting captured, being shipped to a mental hospital, and then trying to convince the whole world that she isn’t crazy, that the bad guy is actually the bad guy, etc. but that’s what I got with this one. Somehow the cover’s synopsis failed to communicate the actual plot to me, which turned out to be not at all what I wanted to read. I picked this book up for the magical libraries and the grimoires, and while that’s an underlying tone of the story, it isn’t the actual story, and that really disappointed me. Hopefully I will someday be able to find the fantastical library story that I’m looking for because, unfortunately, this book wasn’t it for me.
Some SPOILERS that bothered me:
So after Elisabeth slew the Book of Eyes, Warden Finch and Master Hargrove were arguing about how it was her fault that the grimoire has escaped and the Director was dead because no one else was down in the vault. But not two chapters prior, Magister Thorn came to the town and was escorted down to the vault by the Director herself. The magister who does sorcery, which is perceived as evil. And no one thinks to question if he was involved in letting the grimoire loose? That just didn’t add up to me, like he would be the first person I’d suspect.
I don’t like how sorcerers’ spells keep not working on Elisabeth, like that makes it feel like the author is setting her up as the chosen one. This spell was supposed to kill everyone but somehow she survived; this was supposed to mind control her, but somehow she was immune; this was supposed to wipe her memory, but somehow she still retained her memories. Like that makes everything feel so fake. I understand that we don’t want pain or misery or sadness to befall the protagonist but sometimes it’s necessary to make the story feel genuine.
I did like the reasoning behind Elisabeth’s immunity though, that she was the only person to have grown up in a library and be surrounded by the magic of grimoires from such a young age and it made her “a true child of the library”; I thought that was cute.
The very end felt like a cop-out, like when someone is dead, leave them dead. Silas died to save them, let him be a martyr; don’t bring him back to life. I don’t like that the narrative implied that he survived and would be coming back. I mean I love Silas, but stop pulling the punches.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Review: LEGION: THE MANY LIVES OF STEPHEN LEEDS by Brandon Sanderson
I have reviewed each of the three novellas separately. I liked reading them one right after the other though because it felt more like one continuous story in three parts rather than three separate stories about the same characters.
Legion—4 stars
I like a good thriller, and I like Brandon Sanderson, so to read a thriller from my favorite fantasy author was a treat.
Stephen has many hallucinations, or aspects of his mind, that he interacts with that only he can see. I like how each of his aspects has distinct personalities and interests; they each know different facts about different subjects to aide him in his investigation.
This story follows the idea of a camera that can take pictures of the past. There are so many angles to explore with this idea, and I found it interesting that the focus was for a religious group to prove that one religion was or was not true. I always love to see how Sanderson handles religion in his books because it is a huge part of who he is as a person and that melds right into his stories. I loved at the end when SPOILERS: [they do see the picture of Christ from the past that he was looking right at the camera, like he was omniscient and knew what would happen in the future and looked right there for that picture. Chills.]
There wasn’t a lot of backstory here; it was primarily a character-driven story about Stephen in the here and now and the current case he’s working on. It didn’t bother me not getting a lot of external information, especially since the setting is the present-day world we live in.
While I really enjoyed this story, it did feel too short. I know it’s a novella, but it was just getting interesting and exciting right as it ended. There was so much more to explore with the mystical device, so many implications not touched upon, and I would love to see more of that story and the story of Sandra in future installments.
Legion: Skin Deep—3.5 stars
I’m glad the camera and Sandra were at least mentioned in this novella; it made the novellas feel like one continuous story rather than three separate stories.
This story is more of a typical detective story following Stephen trying to track down a missing body. I enjoyed it, and it was nice to see some Sanderson flair added, the way he leaves clues throughout for the readers to find but the revelation is still shocking.
I liked that Stephen’s aspects play a critical role in the stories and aren’t just background characters; Stephen wouldn’t be able to do what he does without his aspects. I think it would be really cool to actually have different hallucinatory aspects of your mind because then you would have a variety of friends who already know you and think like you. I really enjoyed exploring the idea of psychology as a superpower in this book.
Legion: Lies of the Beholder—4 stars
I love how during the other two stories Stephen never questions his sanity. “I’m sane but my hallucinations are crazy” sort of thing. But in this book that all changes, and that was so interesting to explore.
I always love reading stories about the plausible future of technology and its implications on society. This last story does interesting things with the idea of how to manipulate what someone thinks with virtual reality and what is real versus what is not.
There were a few things I still don’t understand, and part of that might come from my general lack of understanding stories deeply rooted in advanced science and technology, or it might come from me listening to the audiobook instead of reading the book with my eyes. Either way, I think I’ll need to reread this eventually to wrap my brain around how the aspects all work in the brain and to understand how SPOILERS: [they are able to die when it seems to me that Stephen should be able to recreate them. Or at least retain the knowledge from an aspect lost because that’s still his knowledge. That whole situation still doesn’t make sense to me.
Also, can we talk about how the images at the start of each chapter started to look like a brain scan and then it just got crazy from there and turned into looking like a bunch of people? They were Stephen’s aspects. That idea was brilliant because they are part of his mind and it kind of shows that in a way, and then they started to fade toward the end because . . . well . . .]
“Yes, it’s all in my head. But pain is all in my head too. Love is all in my head. All the things that matter in life are the things you can’t measure. The things our brains make up. Being made-up doesn’t make them unimportant.”
Review: MISTBORN: SECRET HISTORY by Brandon Sanderson
**This review contains SPOILERS for the Mistborn series. Do not continue unless you have already read all six Mistborn books plus Secret History.**
I’m really glad I decided to reread all three books of the Mistborn trilogy before reading Secret History because it starts off right in the middle of a crucial scene in The Final Empire. I actually started reading it at some point last year but after less than a page, I realized I didn’t remember the Mistborn books well enough to confidently read this novella, so a reread was necessary for me.
After finishing The Final Empire, I started Secret History but I just wasn’t connecting with it. So I decided to reread The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages and read Secret History alongside them, and I’m so happy I did that. There are little details and references here and there to what’s happening in the trilogy and I would have completely missed all of them had I not reread the Mistborn series to have those details fresh in my mind. I think it greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the story.
I want to note that it is crucial to read Mistborn: Secret History only after reading all six Mistborn books or, if like me you finished the series years ago and have forgotten many things, only after a REread of the original trilogy because of the nature of the story and because of spoilers for the entire series. Seriously, even though rereading the series takes time, it is necessary to fully understand the nuances of this novella.
With all that said, I actually found this novella to be a bit disappointing. I hate saying that but my expectations were just way too high here so I did feel a bit let down. I found it very hard to follow the story and place myself in the setting because of its ethereal nature. I also felt like nothing was happening and nothing Kelsier did really mattered until the very end. I feel so bad saying that, but I just don’t understand why Sanderson said that this novella answers many questions when it didn’t really feel that way to me.
One interesting thing that did happen though was that Khriss from Taldain shows up, as does Nazh. So now we know they are worldhoppers like Hoid, which I didn’t know before. Khriss tells Kelsier, “There is an original [planet], shrouded and hidden somewhere in the cosmere. I’ve yet to find it but I have found stories.” What planet is she talking about and which story is it related to? I’m rather interested to know.
I’m really glad this story covered the part in The Hero of Ages when Kelsier appeared to Spook in the burning building. It was nice to see the direct ties between stories rather than vague correlations.
Overall, I am happy that we get to see Kelsier’s perspective during the series after he dies, but I didn’t really understand how anything he was doing was that important. I hope that eventually it will click in my mind or I will reread this novella and it will suddenly all make sense to me because I really wanted to love this story. I would still recommend reading Secret History once you have finished all the other Mistborn books though.
Review: THE HERO OF AGES by Brandon Sanderson
My reread of The Hero of Ages solidified this book as my favorite in the trilogy (and the whole series if we’re being honest). I absolutely love this book, and I’m surprised I forgot so much of what happened in the story. Seriously, all I really remembered was the ending, but wow this book is a ride.
Following pattern with The Final Empire, and The Well of Ascension, I have noted some instances of foreshadowing that I noticed while reading. This list is so much shorter than the other two, and that’s probably because this is the last book in the trilogy, but it’s also probably because I listened to this one on audio whereas I read the other two with my eyes. Regardless, here is what I noticed:
**The remainder of this review contains SPOILERS for The Hero of Ages.**
—Vin tells Sazed, “I held that power [at the Well] . . . power you’ll never be able to imagine.”
—“A small pin could, in many instances, be just as effective as a massive spike” in Hemalurgy. This again foreshadows Vin’s earring being the cause of her hearing Ruin’s voice. I can’t believe I missed this on my first read-through because it seems so obvious now, and it has been foreshadowed in every book.
—Spook’s letter: “Don’t trust anyone pierced by metal. Even the smallest bit can taint a man.” More foreshadowing that Vin’s earring was a Hemalurgic spike that allowed her to see and hear Ruin.
Because I forgot so much of this book after my first read-through, I have compiled a list of plot points in this book if I ever need a quick refresher of how The Hero of Ages or the Mistborn trilogy ends. So these are simply things that happen in this book:
—We learn how kandra are formed. (They are the Lord Ruler’s spies.)
—We learn how koloss are formed. (They are the Lord Ruler’s soldiers)
—We learn how Inquisitors are formed. (They are the Lord Ruler’s priests.)
—We learn about Hemalurgy, finally by name.
—Spook becomes a tin savant. He’s a beggar in Urteau where he becomes interested in the Citizen’s sister. He gets captured and survives the burning building because “Kelsier” gave him the power of pewter. He is dubbed “survivor of the flames.”
—Sazed studies all the religions in his coppermind to learn which one is true and ends up discovering contradictions in every one of them. He goes through a huge trial of faith.
—Vin and Elend try to find the storage caverns in the five cities.
—Marsh is being controlled by Ruin in his mind and can barely think for himself anymore.
—The mists kill. Elend discovers that exactly 16% of people fall ill to the mists. We later learn that the mists were creating mistings.
—Vin and Elend go to a party at Yomen’s palace and Vin gets trapped underground there. She sees “Reen,” who is actually Ruin. She escapes and is captured by Yomen.
—TenSoon is put on trial for his betrayal to the kandra species in The Well of Ascension and escapes the kandra homeland and runs to find Vin.
—Sazed learns that Rashek’s Feruchemist packmen became the first generation of kandra.
—Sazed travels to the kandra homeland and finds the enormous cache of atium there. He learns that the Lord Ruler ordered the kandra to remove their spikes eventually, which would essentially kill all the kandra, and that the mists are the body of Preservation.
—Vin dies and ascends to godhood.
—TenSoon returns to the homeland and rescues Sazed and they save the first generation.
—Elend and his misting soldiers burn up all the atium, and then Elend gets killed.
—Sazed discovers he is the Hero of Ages. He ascends to Harmony and restores the world. He offers to bring Vin and Elend back but they are happy where they are.
—Sazed makes Spook a Mistborn and leaves him all the information that was in his copperminds.
I love that at the end, Sazed uses parts of each religion to restore the world, that there is truth in every religion even if it doesn’t fully make sense. “They weren’t all true, but they all had truth.” His religious journey in this book is one of the best character arcs I’ve ever seen in a book.
The epigraph to chapter 39 says, “I have only been able to come up with a single name: Adonalsium.” This name has to be important to the grand scheme of the cosmere. We never hear more about it in this series but who or what is it?
So I have thought that after what happened with Spook in the burning building, how he gained the ability of pewter, regular people could essentially become mistborns by killing different mistings with all the abilities and hemalurgically granting those abilities to themselves. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to do this, but I hope this concept comes up in one of the future Mistborn books because I think that would be awesome (and gruesome) to explore.
This book was wonderous and mind-blowing. I will always regard this series as one of my favorite series of all time. It was the gateway series to get me into epic fantasy and it has expanded my mind in so many ways, plus it was the series that helped me to discover one of my favorite authors of all time. I love Vin and Elend so much and the journey they go on. I love this world and its magic. Everything about the Mistborn books is amazing and I can’t recommend it enough.
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