Book Review: Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

 

Goodreads Summary: What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland?

Mistborn
For a thousand years, the ash fell, and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years, the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heartbroken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

Brandon Sanderson, fantasy's newest master tale-spinner and author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the prophesied hero failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Mistborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins with the book in your hands. Fantasy will never be the same again.

Goodreads Ratings: 4.49 stars with over 820,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Magic

Goodreads/ Storygraph Challenge: 9/30 books

2025 Reading Challenge: #6 Read a book recommended to you by a friend or Social Media (Find the entire challenge here)

Book Review: 

Hello, Readers! As always, I hope everyone is doing well. As I write this post, I am curled up in a blanket, watching the snow and cuddling with the dog. It's pretty cozy, as seen in the picture below. 

Anyway, on to talking about Mistborn. I've heard great things about Mistborn for a few years now. Per my typical ways, I'm slow to get around to things. However, when I saw it on Audible, it felt like time to start it. I'm happy that I did. Mistborn: The Final Empire hooked me from the start, and I had difficulty pausing the audiobook to do other things. I was supposed to be studying today, but I played video games and worked on a puzzle because I didn't want to pause the book. 

I really liked Vin as the main character. The girl who stays in the shadows but ultimately just wants to be accepted really appealed to me. I liked how she had two personas and that she had trouble discerning which was the real her. I felt like she sort of grew to become both. I enjoyed many of the characters and thought their set-up for the roles they were to fulfill was interesting. I really liked the role of the Keeper. I'd read an entire story on the keepers if it was available. 

Overall, the story was exciting, and there wasn't a dull moment. I loved the magic system that Brandon Sanderson created. The way each metal had a balance was fascinating. I'm curious how it evolves in the rest of the series. I don't have anything bad to say about the book. The audiobook narrator did a great job telling the story and keeping me engaged with the different voices. I'd highly recommend MistBorn: The Final Empire for anyone who likes high fantasy. 

Book Review: Blood & Steel by Helen Scheuerer

 

Goodreads Summary: With her death foretold, Althea Zoltaire only has three years to become what she's always dreamed of being: a warrior legend.
Women are forbidden to wield blades, so she has trained in secret her entire life. Now racing against the clock, she fights to secure her place in the elite guild charged with the protection of the five kingdoms.

The sparring and hazing of the new trainees border on deadly, but even more dangerous is her growing attraction to Wilder Hawthorne, her unwilling warrior chaperone.

All around them, schemes are afoot and darkness looms.

Will Althea pass the perilous initiation test and take her place as a champion of Thezmarr – or will the invading evil snatch away her dream before it starts?
Goodreads Ratings: 4.21 stars with over 46,000 ratings

Genre Listing:  Fantasy, Romance, Fantasy Romance, Magic, Fiction, High Fantasy, Adult, New Adult

Goodreads/Story Graph Challenge: 3/30

2025 Reading Challenge: #46 Read a Fantasy novel (See the entire challenge here) 

Book Review:

Hello, Readers! I hope everyone is doing well on this frigid January evening. I just finished the audiobook Blood & Steel by Helen Scheuerer and wanted a quick review while it was fresh in my mind. One of my goals for 2025 is to get back in the habit of reviewing each book. We'll see how it goes. As I mentioned in my 2024 overview, I suspect a lot of my books in 2025 will be audiobooks. I think this will add to my review content, as I can comment on narrators and delivery. 

I got Blood & Steel in my audible library early last year. However, because I was binging the Wandering Inn series, I didn't have the opportunity to listen to it. I'm really loving the increase in fantasy novels with strong female main characters lately. Blood & Steel follows twenty-four-year-old Alchemist Althea, who desperately wants to be a warrior. Of course, there's a prophecy, and it scares the men in the society, so women aren't allowed to wield blades. Althea really spoke to me as a main character. I really appreciated the grit and determination that she showed in the story. I find a strong-willed, stubborn female character relatable, and Althea was no exception.

Plot-wise, the storyline was predictable. It wasn't bad, and in fact, I really enjoyed it. I just wasn't ever surprised when listening to it. There were points when listening to it that I guessed what was going to be said next, almost verbatim. There was a lot of repetition in the dialogue. The story was enjoyable, but it didn't stand out from any other fantasy I've read. For the Romantacy smut readers, I'd rate it 1/2 of a chili pepper. There was some sexual tension, but aside from one scene, nothing particularly spicy. 

The narration was decent. It's mainly a female narrator, though a male narrator also has a few chapters. My only real issue with the narration was that the female narrator had an American accent but was using the word 'arse.' It's not a big deal, but it kept taking me out of the story at first because it didn't fit with the voice. 

Book Review: The Wandering Inn: Fae and Fare by Pirateaba

 

Goodreads Summary: Winter has come to the world, and still, Erin Solstice has no idea how she came to be an [Innkeeper].
Erin is running an inn outside the city of Liscor, but she's no longer alone. Ryoka Griffin, the City Runner, has business in the south of Izril; she's out on a dangerous delivery of her own. Yet, while both young women have finally found their calling, more and more people are beginning to realize that these visitors from Earth don't belong here.
Erin must find new and old guests for her inn while expanding her tentative business. Staying safe would also be nice. At the same time, some pesky creatures have arrived to herald winter, bringing mischief and danger unlike anything she's ever seen. But as more and more children of Earth begin appearing, the cold of winter is the least of Erin's worries.

Goodreads Rating: 4.53 stars with over 4,200 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Adventure, High Fantasy, Dragons, Fae, LITRPG

Goodreads Challenge: 1/60

2024 Reading Challenge: #49 Read a book with a Unicorn in it (Find the entire challenge here)

Book Review: 

Hello, Readers! Welcome to 2024. I hope the first few days have treated everyone well. I finished the first book of the year and am trying to get back into the habit of doing reviews after every book. Let's jump right in.

Fae and Fare is the second book in the Wandering Inn series by Pirateaba. The series started out as a web novel. I've been listening to the series on Audible, however. The series is narrated by Andrea Parsneau, and she does a fantastic job. The premise of the Wandering Inn is that Erin winds up in a different world in the city of Liscor. She doesn't know how she got there, but she hides in an abandoned Inn to escape monsters trying to kill her. However, she finds that the entire world is based on leveling up and getting skills like in a video game. Adventure and chaos ensue from there. 

Before the Wandering Inn series, I hadn't read anything that would fall into the LITRPG genre. With the Wandering Inn, I was instantly drawn in. Fae and Fare were the same. The characters' levels, classes, and skills made for an interesting addition to the story. Without it, both The Wandering Inn and Fae and Fare would be good adventures, but the system becomes a predominant part of Fae and Fare's story towards the end of the book. 

With the first book, I tried to predict where the story was going. I gave that up somewhere in the second book and just tried to enjoy the story. The book took so many twists and turns that there was no good way to predict it. I thought I knew where something was leading, and then it would travel down a different path. It made the story exciting. The ending of Fae and Fare leaves a lot of interesting loose ends that I'm eager to pull at and see where they go. I'll likely start book 3 tonight or tomorrow. 

I typically end up with a favorite character or two in a book; however, I have a love/hate relationship with many of the characters introduced. I feel like both Ryoka and Erin made many dumb decisions that annoyed the absolute hell out of me. But simultaneously, they were likable, and I was cheering for them. Their various groups of friends all have an interesting dynamic. I am definitely getting the impression that not all of them will stay friends, but as I said before, I'm done speculating where this story will go. There are a lot of them to list, and I'm probably going to spell their names wrong, but there are a few arcs I'm very curious about. 

Overall, I'm absolutely loving this series. I already grabbed the 3rd audiobook. I recommend it to anyone who likes Epic/High Fantasy and video games. I don't think the latter is necessary to enjoy it, however. As far as why I stuck it in the unicorn category, there is a very brief mention of a unicorn. It is all of one sentence in this massive book. However, I caught it, and I'm using it for this prompt. I'm trying to work through as many books as I already have and not buy any more, but also because I'm too lazy to dig for another book with a Unicorn.

Book Review: The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst

 

Goodreads Summary: An idealistic young student and a banished warrior become allies in a battle to save their realm in this first book of a mesmerizing epic fantasy series filled with political intrigue, violent magic, malevolent spirits, and thrilling adventure
Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow...

But the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. But queens are still just human, and no matter how strong or good, the threat of danger always looms.

With the position so precarious, young women are chosen to train as heirs. Daleina, a seemingly quiet academy student, is under no illusions as to her claim to the throne but simply wants to right the wrongs that have befallen the land. Ven, a disgraced champion, has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. Joining forces, these daring partners embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits' restlessness—a journey that will test their courage and trust and force them to stand against both enemies and friends to save their land . . . before it's bathed in blood.

Goodreads Ratings: 3.89 stars with over 11,300 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Magic, High Fantasy, Fiction, Romance, Adventure

Goodreads Challenge: 43/30

2023 Reading Challenge: #53 Read a book that has the letter Q in the title (Find the entire challenge here)

Book Review:

Hello, Readers! As always, I hope everyone is doing well. I am doing what I set this blog up for - individual book reviews. Yeah! Go me. Before the review, I have a quick life update- I got a kitten! Her name is Nebula Jane, and she is five months old. Adorable pictures will be after the review for those who care. 

Anyways, on to my riveting thoughts on The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst. I picked this up randomly at a used bookstore when I was still in Minnesota. I didn't realize it then, but the copy I have is autographed. This doesn't have anything to do with the thoughts on the book; I thought that was a cool tidbit. 

The book was a little hard to get into at first. Although I was interested, it covers many years in a concise amount of pages, making it hard to follow. Once the timeline stayed consistent, it was easier to follow. I really liked the world Sarah Beth Durst created. I thought living in trees was interesting, and the combination of magic and spirits was unique. I also liked the hierarchy that the kingdom had. 

Character development fell flat for me. There wasn't much difference between how the characters were written. While I didn't feel like she grew in the story, I liked that Daleina is resourceful and clever. She can step back and think of different ways to work with the spirits instead of controlling them like the others in her class. 

I think this is a good option if you're looking for a short high fantasy. It's just under 400 pages but has some interesting world-building. It has romance, but it doesn't have graphic sex scenes- it just alludes to them and then moves on to the next scene. Overall, I liked it, but I don't need to rush out and read the second or third books in the trilogy. 

And now, pictures of Nebula! 

Book Review: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

 

Goodreads Summary: A world divided.A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction--but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragon rider but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

Goodreads Ratings: 4.23 stars with over 156,110 

Genre Listing: Fantasy, LGBT Fiction, Queer Fiction, Romance, Adult, Dragons, High Fantasy, Magic

Goodreads Challenge: 33/30 

2023 Reading Challenge: #4 Read a book by an author whose name is Samantha, Sam, or a variant (Find the whole challenge here)

Book Review: 

Hello, Readers. I hope everyone is doing well on this July afternoon. I just finished up The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. Honestly, I'm glad to be done with this one. It's really long, and even though I knew that going in, I wasn't mentally prepared for it. The book follows four main characters and their stories - Ead, Tane, Loth, and Niclays as they try to defeat The Nameless One. 

I liked Ead and Tane's stories the best. They were the most interesting of the characters. With Niclays and Loth, I don't know if their stories were interesting enough to warrant parts being told from their point of view. Especially considering that all four characters read the same way. I didn't get much of a different tone between the characters; they all felt flat in personality. 

The world-building was interesting, and I liked how the world's main faiths in The Priory of the Orange Tree were shown in a different light. Each area had its own version of the lore and what happened. The idea of having Patron Saints of Virtues was creative, and I liked how all the different versions of the myths came together in the end. I liked how there were also other variants of dragons in this world, and they were more elemental-based. A prequel has been recently released. I may give it a shot to see if it gets more into the dragon lore.

Overall, I thought the story was interesting, and I think from a representation perspective, it's excellent that LGBT couples were at the forefront of the romance portion of the story. There are both W/W and M/M couples represented. They were also all main characters, not just a random secondary character. Wheel of Time Fans would really like this book. It has a similar theme regarding events from previous ages rehappening. It lost me because of how long it was and the multiple perspectives written in similar tones. I enjoyed it but also was ready for it to end.

 

Book Series Review: From Blood and Ash Books 2-4 by Jennifer Armentrout

 

Hello, Readers! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their June so far. I will jump into the post without doing all the typical Goodreads info. Since I will be talking about three books at once, it will be challenging to do all of that, making this post extremely long. I'll provide some of the information as I go, if I can think of a succinct way. If you want to see my review of the first book, you can find it here.

The genre listing for this series is: Fantasy, Romance, New Adult, Vampires, Fiction, Paranormal, and High Fantasy, and it covers books 30-32 for my Goodreads yearly Challenge. For the 2023 Reading Challenge, I ugh... got a little creative with how I fit these in there. For Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, I listed that as the Folklore prompt since I feel like Vampires/Werewolves/mythology kind of fits into that. I put The Crown of Gilded Bones as a book that motivates you to be a better version of yourself. There's a lot of discussion of relationships that I found inspiring. The War of Two Queens was more straightforward, and I could slot that in for A book that involves a lot of traveling. You can find the entire 2023 challenge here. I'll eventually get around to doing an updated post of where I'm in the challenge. My Goodreads challenge for the year is done. I was going to increase the goal, but I'm going to count it all as extra since it's arbitrary anyways.

(If you can't tell by the fact that I burned through 4 books (all over 600 pages) within a few weeks, I really like this series. So much so that it has dethroned the His Fair Assassin series by Robin LaFever as my favorite. I am OBSESSED with From Blood and Ash. I don't know if I have ever been this captivated by a series. All I have thought about since I started this series is reading more. Sadly, book five isn't out until July. To tell you how obsessed I am, I was actually considering buying it on audiobook to listen to them while I work. I can't do audiobooks well, so this is a big deal. I've already got book 5 pre-ordered.

I love the writing style and how it's fantasy and romance but uses modern-day language and slang. It makes it really engaging and easy to connect with the characters. I love seeing actual character growth for all of the characters. I love that Poppy is a badass. I love that Casteel is arrogant but also extremely sweet. I adore how Kieran is with both of them. The Blood Queen feels like a proper villain that you can understand their motives but also hate and want to root against. I could go on and on and on and on some more about how much I love this series.

If you like fantasy/paranormal/romance, read this. It is so worth it. I will caveat this with, if you do not like very descriptive violence or sex scenes, you will probably not enjoy this series. It definitely gets more violent and sexual as it goes.

Book Review: The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

 

Goodreads Summary: The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become a legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is may yet fall under the Shadow.
Into the forbidden city of Rhuidean, where Rand al'Thor, now the Dragon Reborn, must conceal his present endeavor from all about him, even Egwene and Moiraine.

Into the Amyrlin's study in the White Tower, where the Amyrlin, Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, is weaving new plans.

Into the luxurious hidden chamber where the Forsaken Rahvin meets with three of his fellows to ensure their ultimate victory over the Dragon.

Into the Queen's court in Caemlyn, where Morgase is curiously in thrall to the handsome Lord Gaebril.

For once the dragon walks the land, the fires of heaven fall where they will until all men's lives are ablaze.

And in Shayol Ghul, the Dark One stirs...

Goodreads Ratings: 4.18 stars with over 165,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Adventure, Magic

Goodreads Challenge: 21/36

2022 Reading Challenge: Read a book  with at least 5 prominent characters (find the entire challenge here)

Book Review:

Hi, Readers! I hope everyone is doing well. I am excited we made it to September; my favorite season is approaching. I've been collecting books lately more than I've been reading them. I've really been having a hard time staying interested in a story. I hope I get out of this funk soon. I started reading Fires of Heaven at the end of July and just now finished it. I'm likely going to stay away from long epic stories for a bit, as my classes for my Doctorate just started this week. Yes, Tress, I know. I'm a masochist. 

Okay, so Fires of Heaven. As you might be able to guess, this one was tough for me to get through based on how long it took me to read it. I enjoyed a lot of the story and appreciated that there was more information on the Ajah. I liked the dream world and thought it was interesting what Nynaeve, Elayne, and Egwene learned to do in it. Brigitte was my favorite character in this book. I feel like she brought out a different side of Nynaeve. Mainly she was just a fun addition to the story. 

For me, this book mostly felt like a middle-of-the-series book that you have to read to get to the other books. I enjoyed it, but it definitely wasn't my favorite. I don't know if it was my frame of mind, but by about 70%, I was ready to be done but kept trying to push through it. I didn't hate it. It was just slow-paced, and it felt like a lot of nothingness was happening. Once I was done reading it, I had to ask Tress a lot of follow-up questions because I'd forget something just as soon as I read it. I tried to keep up my usual WOT Twitter feed, but this was hard for me to keep up. Here's the link if anyone cares about my absurdness while reading: Social Tweety Thing.

I was missing a lot of the rest of the Two Rivers crew with this one. I kept wondering what was going on with Perrin and Loial. I do think that Mat's adventure was enjoyable, and I'm getting more interested in him as a character. He's growing on me, finally. I'm still processing Moraine's part of the story in this one. I don't want to go into spoilers, but I was definitely surprised. 

Fire of Heaven was probably my least favorite of the Wheel of Time so far. I don't know that that's entirely on the book, though. I really enjoyed The Shadow Rising, so I think anything that followed would fall short for me. Combine that with me just not being in a reading mood and it being so focused on traveling and waiting (more so than the other books). It just was okay for me. I still enjoyed a lot of it, and I'll continue with the series, but it was rough to get through.

Book Review: The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks

 

Goodreads Summary: As the old gods awaken, the Chromeria is in a race to find its lost Prism, the only man who may be able to stop catastrophe, Gavin Guile. But Gavin's enslaved on a galley, and when he finally escapes, he finds himself in less than friendly hands. Without the ability to draft which has defined him . . .
Meanwhile, the Color Prince's army continues its inexorable advance, having swallowed two of the seven satrapies, they now invade the Blood Forest. Andross Guile, thinking his son Gavin lost, tasks his two grandsons with stopping the advance. Kip and his psychopathic half-brother Zymun will compete for the ultimate prize: who will become the next Prism.

Goodreads Rating: 4.46 stars with over 56,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Magic, Adult, Adventure

Previous reviews on the series: The Black Prism, The Blinding Knife

Goodreads Challenge: 4/48

2022 Reading Challenge: #38 Read a book that's over 500 pages (Find the entire challenge here)

Book Review:

Hello, Readers! It's been a while. I hope everyone has been doing well. I honestly have been swamped and just haven't been in a reading mood lately. Weird, I know. My heart just wasn't in it this past month. I was trying to chip away at The Broken Eye and Octunnumi as I had the energy, but mostly just spent non-working hours staring at my phone playing games. Anyways, I finally finished The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks last night.

I don't know if it was just the headspace I was in or what, but it took me a really long time to get into book three of the Lightbringer series. I really wasn't that into it until around 50%. It just felt like a middle book of a series until that point. It has to be read to get to all of the other stuff. There was a lot of background story in this one. There was a lot of information on how one becomes a prism and a lot of the history involving the position. It was good to know; it was just a lot to take in when I wasn't really feeling like reading. 

The Broken Eye shifted a lot of the attention to Kip, Karris, and Andross. Gavin was out of the picture for most of the story. I felt like Kip grew a lot in this book and is transitioning out of that kid phase. I'm curious to see where the story takes him. I really hope he starts to gain more confidence and move away from that whole self-deprecating thing. 

Towards the last 100 pages or so, I said "What the fuck, Brent Weeks?" a lot. There are a lot of plot twists in the final 20% of the book. In the other books, the twists were more spread out, whereas this one was all at the end. I won't go into specific details because I don't want to spoil the plot twists. But there's a lot of information that's game-changers in the story. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and I'll eventually finish the series. I just need a break from High Fantasy for a while. 

Book Review: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

 

Goodreads Summary: The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become a legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is may yet fall under the Shadow.
The seals of Shayol Ghul are weak now, and the Dark One reaches out. The Shadow is rising to cover humankind.

In Tar Valon, Min sees portents of hideous doom. Will the White Tower itself be broken?

In the Two Rivers, the Whitecloaks ride in pursuit of a man with golden eyes and in pursuit of the Dragon Reborn.

In Cantorin, among the Sea Folk, High Lady Suroth plans the return of the Seanchan armies to the mainland.

In the Stone of Tear, the Lord Dragon considers his next move. It will be something no one expects, not the Black Ajah, not Tairen nobles, not Aes Sedai, not Egwene or Elayne or Nynaeve.

Against the Shadow Rising stands the Dragon Reborn... 

Goodreads Ratings: 4.24 stars with over 183,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Adventure, Magic

Previous reviews on the series: Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn

Goodreads Challenge: 30/50 (Hey! Only one book behind.)

2021 Reading Challenge: #40 Read a book that uses the "Chosen One" trope (Find the entire challenge here)

Book Review:

Hi readers! I hope everyone has been doing well. July and August have been really busy for me, so I haven't gotten a chance to do any non-book review posts while reading The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. I'm definitely ready for things to settle down, but I suspect it will continue this way until October. I'm a little surprised that as long as it felt like it took me to read this book, I'm only one book behind on the Goodreads challenge.

The way I go about reading Wheel of Time books is a little different and insane. So for those of you who are new to the blog, Challenge co-conspirator Tress is a huge Wheel of Time fan. She started a tradition of buying me the books for my birthday or Christmas. When I finally got around to reading Eye of the World, Tress provided screenshots of my thoughts. It is now time for me to explain my brain, or the strain of my thoughts in the Twitter threads will make no sense. It takes little to no effort to get a song stuck in my head. My internal thoughts are just basically the most random playlist ever on repeat. This is fitting because it's also my music taste. So the Twitter thread is predominantly my random theories/reactions, songs, and pop culture references.  This year, I tweeted out my thoughts as I read them. So it took me a while to read Shadow Rising. If you'd like to read the Twitter feed, you can find it here. The previous threads should be linked to the blog reviews above.

Okay, so time for actual thoughts. There was a lot of information in Shadow Rising, and truthfully, I'm still trying to process a lot of it. I felt like there was a lot more explanation of what can be done with the magic in this series. It was discussed in the other books, but I had a hard time really understanding its depths. Shadow Rising made it seem more elemental and somewhat limitless (not including the whole madness thing.) I really liked the Dream Walking aspect and how it was used to tie the characters together. Nyn's ability to seek things out that she needs in it was fascinating. I'm intrigued to see what else they learn how to do both with Saidin and Dream Walking.

There were so many details about the Aiel culture. I was really surprised at the intricacies between the different clans and the customs. I don't feel like I really grasped most of them, and I'll probably forget them by the time I read the next book. That being said, it was still interesting to read, and I assume more will be explained later on. We also saw how the Aiel came to be and their previous relationship with the Tinkers. I liked seeing how everything connected.

I found myself wanting to read more about Perrin and Faile than the other characters. Not that I didn't like the others, but I felt like the back and forth between them was humorous. They seem well matched. I really wish we would have been told what was in Elayne's letters to Rand. Based on his reactions, I assume they were two very different things - one professing her love for him, and the other either downplaying their relationship or breaking it off. Mat annoyed me quite a bit in this book. He just comes across as whiny a lot of the time. I will say I'm intrigued to see where his small prophecy goes. Verin is probably my favorite of reoccurring Aes Sedai that we encounter. For some reason, in my head, I always picture her as a really sassy Flora from Sleeping Beauty. The images in my head for characters rarely match the description provided in the books, and truthfully I don't remember how she was described. I'm not quite sure what to make of Alanna. I'd really like to know if we learn what happens to Moraine in Rhuidean. I don't think it was really discussed because she seemed so traumatized by whatever it was.

As always, I loved the book. I found myself negotiating one more chapter with my brain. There were definitely a lot of late nights because I didn't want to put it down. I'm excited about the next book, but it'll likely be a bit before I pick it up. I need time for my brain to decompress from this one. After my rating, there will be a list of songs that I've gotten in my head while reading this series.

Song	Artist	Book
Mickey Mouse Club theme	Mickey Mouse Club	Eye of the World
Wannabe	Spice Girls	Eye of the World
The Devil Went Down to Georgia	Charlie Daniels	Eye of the World, Dragon Reborn, Shadow Rising
I am the Walrus	The Beatles	Eye of the World
YMCA	The Village People	Eye of the World
Aquarius	The 5th Dimension	Eye of the World
Eye of the Tiger	Survivor	Eye of the World
Closing Time	Semi Sonic	Eye of the World and Shadow Rising
Milkshake	Kelis	The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn
Reunited	Peaches and Herb	The Great Hunt
Truth Hurts	Lizzo	The Great Hunt
Bohemian Rhapsody	Queen	The Great Hunt
Word Up!	Cameo	The Great Hunt
Safety Dance	Men without Hats	The Dragon Reborn and Shadow Rising
We will Rock You	Queen	The Dragon Reborn
Bugle Boy	The Andrew Sisters	The Dragon Reborn
Baby Shark	Pinkfong	The Dragon Reborn
Two Princes	Spin Doctors	The Dragon Reborn
Ghostbusters	Ray Parker Jr	The Dragon Reborn
meet Me Inside	Hamilton Soundtrack	The Dragon Reborn
Toss a Coin to your Witcher	Witcher Show	The Dragon Reborn
Ice Ice Baby	Vanilla Ice	Shadow Rising
Can't Touch this	MC Hammer	Shadow Rising
Colors of the Wind	Pocahontas Soundtrack	Shadow Rising
It's All Coming Back to Me Now	Celine Dion	Shadow Rising
Say My Name	Destiny's Child	Shadow Rising
Go Your Own Way	Fleetwood Mac	Shadow Rising
Fifth Symphony	Beethoven	Shadow Rising
Tunnel of Terror	Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory	Shadow Rising
Break the Rules	Charli XCX	Shadow Rising
I know Him	Hamilton Soundtrack	Shadow Rising
Going To the Chapel	Dixie Cups	Shadow Rising
Great Balls of Fire	Jerry Lee Lewis	Shadow Rising

Book Review: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

 

Goodreads Summary: Gavin Guile is Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is a high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.
But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

Goodreads Ratings: 4.21 stars with over 109,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Magic, Adventure, Science Fiction

Goodreads Challenge: 21/60

2021 Reading Challenge: #33 Read a book where the main character is a magic user (Find the complete challenge here)

Book Review:

Happy Friday, readers. I am super glad it's the weekend. I'm tired and thoroughly plan to sleep in tomorrow. (I stopped writing after this sentence and got back to writing this post this morning. I definitely did not sleep in, which is stupid.) I've been reading The Black Prism at the suggestion of Tress. She's been trying to get me to read this one for a while. I kept putting it off because, well, big books are scary. This one really fit in with a ton of categories on the 2021 challenge, so it seemed like a good time to finally dive into it.

I enjoyed The Black Prism; however, it took me a while to really get into it. The book is definitely a slow build, and I probably wasn't fully invested in the story until around 25-30% through. Brent Weeks let's little bits of info slip out in the beginning about the magic, and I was left kind of confused at how it all worked. Eventually, as we get to know more of the characters and how they use their magic, we learn more about the system. 

The magic system in this story is probably the most intricate that I've read. It's very complex and scientific. I had to have Tress explain its basics to me while I was reading because the details don't really come out all at once, which makes it even harder to follow. Once I fully understood it, however, I was really fascinated by it. There's so much detail about color theory in this epic fantasy novel, and it's incredible. I love the idea that drafters can call on their different colors to affect their emotions in addition to the physical properties and uses of each one. I just wish it would have been revealed a little more upfront so that I could have enjoyed it for the entire book instead of the last half or so.

There are a lot of plot twists in this book. I thought some (including major ones) were really predictable; some were not. Obviously, I won't go into specific details about these as I don't want to ruin the book with spoilers. I don't think the book would be as enjoyable without that element of surprise and some of the "Oh, shit!" moments. 

I was really drawn into Gavin's character. I thought he was kind of refreshing. Sometimes he was a good guy, sometimes he wasn't. It was kind of nice to see that line blurred. (And now, the song Blurred Lines is in my head. Dang it.) He was a really intriguing character, and I enjoyed reading things from his perspective. I'm intrigued to see where the rest of his story goes. I wasn't as drawn to Kip. I don't know if it was just because he was a self-loathing horny teenager or what. There were times when I thought he was funny and endearing, but there were many times when he annoyed the hell out of me. 

I really liked Karris, and I thought her backstory with Gavin was interesting. I'm really interested in reading more of that. I thought she came across as both feminine and tough, which I loved. I wasn't really all that interested in Liv's story. I'm not really sure why. I just wasn't that drawn to her character. Her father seemed intelligent, and he could have an interesting backstory. A lot of it was sort of revealed, but I think there's probably more information coming in later books. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I just wish the explanation of magic had been more upfront. There are many characters and information, so sometimes I found it hard to follow (which is why I don't typically read books over 400-500 pages often). There is a glossary and appendix at the end that I found really helpful, though. It gives a lot more information, but I didn't read it until I finished the book because I didn't want it to spoil anything for me. I'll definitely continue the series, but I'll probably give myself a break in between books. 

 

Book Review: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

 

Goodreads Summary: 

They killed my mother. 
They took our magic. They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl, and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet, the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.

Goodreads Rating: 4.10 stars with over 178,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Magic, Romance, High Fantasy, African Culture

Goodreads Challenge: 12/60 (Forever four books behind.)

2021 Reading Challenge: #35 Read a book by an author of a different ethnicity than you (find the entire challenge here)

Book Review: 

Well. I have a new series that I'm obsessed with. I originally wanted to read this series because I find the cover art for this and the second book absolutely stunning. Turns out it's also a really cool fantasy story too. I thought that Children of Blood and Bone would be really fitting for authors of different ethnicity. I was reading up on Tomi Adeyemi, and she's Nigerian-American, and the book seems to touch on African Culture. Tress and I decided to include the ethnicity categories to broaden our own horizons and as a way to celebrate other cultures.

I don't usually feel an instant connection to the main characters. It's weird, but I usually find myself liking the secondary characters more. With Children of Blood and Bone, I was drawn to Zelie within the first chapter. The first thought I had while reading her introduction was, "Oh, I like her. She's feisty." Through the rest of the story, we really got to see different sides of Zelie. We got to see her determined, happy, powerful, insecure, broken. It was really refreshing to have a character with a lot of different emotions. 

I liked Amari quite a bit as well, though she took a bit longer to grow on me than Zelie. I think the build-up for Amari was intentional. When she first comes into the story, Amari doesn't even really know who she is. Throughout her story, she goes from being a scared and sheltered princess to a warrior. It was a great transition to read. I thought the evolution of her friendship with Zelie was fascinating as well. For many of their interactions, they had to figure out themselves before they could really open up to being friends.

I'm not going to really dive into anything with Inan. Anything I have to say will just be laced with spoilers, and I don't currently have the brainpower to work around the spoilers. There is literally nothing I can say that won't reveal some significant plot aspect. 

I had a hard time picturing the scenery and the mythical animals that were described. It's entirely possible that it was well explained, and I missed it. But any time a leoponaire or something else was mentioned, I couldn't really visualize what it was. The book is getting a movie, so I'm looking forward to the world-building details that come to life. I really liked the mythology and how each God related to a different type of magic. I thought that was a really cool world-building detail. It actually put me in a mythology mood after I finished the book, so I started Circe.

I'm not sure how to adequately describe the next portion of my thoughts on Children of Blood and Bone, so please be patient while trying to get my words to convey what I want, as this next piece is a difficult subject. When Children and Bone concludes, there's a note from Tomi Adeyemi detailing how the current events surrounding the police-caused deaths of black men and women inspired the story. No part of that subject is palpable to discuss; however, Tomi brings the conversation to light in a really unique way. In Children of Blood and Bone, those who rule don't have magical power, and they fear the Maji who do. In this story, there's this whole underlying plot of fear, oppression, and killing people because they are different than the perceived normal. A lot of it is really uncomfortable to read because it has to be. Children of Blood and Bone has its own slur for those who have magic. I won't type it here. My heart hurt every time this word was used. My heart broke every time one of the characters was beaten down, killed, or tortured because of their magic.  It was hard to read, I'm sure it was hard to write, and I've no doubt in my mind that even without experiencing it myself, it's hard to endure the real-life versions of it. However, I applaud Tomi Adeyemi for using her creativity to discuss what's going on in the US and invoke empathy. Don't worry. I won't get on any kind of keyboard warrior soapbox about what's right or wrong in our society. I don't think the world needs another 30-something white woman telling everyone how to handle a situation she's never been in. What I can and will do, however, is continue to try and educate myself more, continue to listen, and continue to be kind. 

My favorite part of the book isn't technically part of the story. There's an after-credits scene, if you will, once the book and acknowledgments are finished. In it, Tomi Adeyemi gives us a look at one of her favorite chapters and gives us fun little notes about her thoughts on it. I thought this was really fun and adorable at how she kind of fangirled over her own story. It was a really nice bonus to read about why an author loved something they wrote so much. More of this, please. 

Overall, I really enjoyed Children of Blood and Bone. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book and read it. I thought it was a good YA Fantasy with two powerful female characters. I really liked both the mythology and magic aspects of the story. I've already recommended it to a ton of people who I know like YA Fantasy.