It’s been a few weeks since the last time I did this post, huh? Yeah… Sorry?
For anyone unfamiliar, Tasteful Tuesdays (formerly Majestic Mondays – so it’s not new, I just switched days, haha) are when I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.
This time I’m gonna gush over the cover of another beautiful new release, one that’s coming out next month. It’s Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen.
Mulan meets Iron Widow in this thrilling silkpunk fantasy about a girl who must disguise herself as a boy and enter the famed and dangerous Engineer’s Guild trials to unravel the mystery of her father’s murder.
Eighteen-year-old Aihui Ying dreams of becoming a world-class engineer like her father, but after his sudden murder, her life falls apart. Left with only a journal of her father’s engineering secrets and a jade pendant snatched from the assassin, a heartbroken Ying follows the trail to the capital and the prestigious Engineers Guild—a place that harbors her father’s hidden past—determined to discover why anyone would threaten a man who ultimately chose a quiet life over fame and fortune.
Disguised as her brother, Ying manages to infiltrate the guild’s male-only apprenticeship trial with the help of an unlikely ally—Aogiya Ye-yang, the taciturn eighth prince of the High Command. With her father’s renown placing a target firmly on her back, Ying must stay one step ahead of her fellow competitors, the jealous guild masters, and the killer still hunting for her father’s journal. Complicating everything is her increasingly tangled relationship with the prince, who may have mysterious plans of his own.
The secrets concealed within the guild can be as deadly as the weapons they build—and with her life and the future of her homeland at stake, Ying doesn’t know who to trust. Can she avenge her father even if it means going against everything he stood for, or will she be next in the mastermind’s line of fire?
Book Cover Rating: 🐉🐉🐉🐉 • 4 / 5 dragons
I’ve been loving the covers of Asian inspired fantasies lately, and this one is no exception. I love all of the colors used here and how they complement and contrast with one another. It’s such a pretty cover.
I love the ocean on the bottom third of the book cover and how the waves are drawn. I also love the jade colored sky above it – it helps the title of the book pop. The green color of this part of the cover is also a really nice shade. The golden dragon that peeks out from the top is also beautifully drawn.
The fish skyboats are also cool looking. They really evoke silkpunk vibes before you even open the book up. I also really like the art style used in general. The title also pops with its font and color, as white isn’t actually used as much on the cover otherwise.
So yeah, that’s another Tasteful Tuesday. What do you think about this cover art? Are you looking forward to Of Jade and Dragons release?
Anyway, as always, thank you to everyone who reads my posts. I hope that you enjoyed this one as well, and that you have a wonderful day/night!
Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.
Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.
All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.
So he tries his best to do his worst – and fails at failing.
Now the Magisterium awaits him. It’s a place that’s both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.
The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come…
From the remarkable imaginations of bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a heart-stopping, mind-blowing, pulse-pounding plunge into the magical unknown.
My Review
All elements have a counterweight. Fire is the counterweight of water. Air is the counterweight of earth. The counterweight of chaos is the soul.
The Iron Trial
So, I’ve been doing a lot of reading this past week. Someone I follow on Instagram gave a great five star review for the Magisterium. And, though they were middle grade and I don’t read that as often, it sounded up my alley so I gave the books a shot.
…And discovered a pretty solid middle grade fantasy series in the process. If you enjoy Percy Jackson and Harry Potter and want more, then these might be for you – these are the two series that the Magisterium is usually compared to, though I felt the writing style was also similar to the Summoner Trilogy by Taran Matharu. They aren’t quite as well written as those other series (there are a couple glaring plot holes as well as stuff just put into the books to make you follow red herrings and stuff but are otherwise there for unexplained reasons), but I thought that the rest of the story and characters were good enough to give those a pass.
I preferred the first half of the series to the second half – which is something I didn’t expect – but I still rated all of the books pretty highly. I’ll write my thoughts on the series as a whole spoiler free right here, but I’m also going to talk about some spoilers below it in a collapsible section.
The Characters
The characters were a definite highlight. I found our protagonist, Callum Hunt, to be pretty likeable and interesting. He’s a bit edgier than Harry or even Percy since I’ve already compared them. (All three of them are a bit sassy though.) I really liked the twist with Call and his character arc throughout the books. For the most part. (I’ll get to that in the spoilers section.)
I also liked his buds Tamara and Aaron. Tamara is smart and loyal and fiercely kind. She’s not a Hermione or Annabeth ripoff (since I’m still making comparisons) if you were worried though. She’s more hot blooded and has a completely different backstory. I also found their personalities to be pretty different from one another. Aaron, I found kind of difficult to pin down though, personality-wise. He was described as a little like Captain America in the first book, so I guess I’ll go with that. I liked him well enough, but he didn’t really have as distinct of traits as the other two in the protagonist triangle.
There are a few other characters I gotta talk about before I get into other stuff – Call’s dad: Alistair, Call’s rival: Jasper, and the trio’s teacher: Rufus. Alistair is a good, if very awkward, dad. I loved the intricacies of his father-son relationship with Callum. (I had a few issues with some stuff at the beginning though.) Jasper was a typical rival trope, but he had some of the best dialogue in the series, and I honestly found him to be a more compelling character than Aaron. He also ended up being a lot more involved with the main characters and the plot than most rivals are in middle grade and YA that I’ve read. And finally, Rufus. He was an okay mentor character that I liked well enough.
The Plot
The twists and turns of the story kept me reading. I couldn’t put this series down – I ended up reading the entirety of the five books in just over a day. It starts off a bit slow, but the authors have to build the world and establish stuff. I honestly didn’t even notice the pacing. I liked the twist of the MC initially not wanting to go to Special School, as that’s not something usually in academia set books. (Usually the kid wants to go to Special School and be Super Special.)
The big twist in the climax of The Iron Trial is one of my favorite parts of the series. It’s huge and strongly affects all of the rest of the books, and is very interesting. I actually ended up calling it by the prologue and was pleasantly surprised to be correct. Don’t worry – I don’t think it’s actually something most people would guess that easily or that quickly! I’m just really weird and my brain has been ruined by videogame, anime and fanfiction tropes and this was kind of that kind of twist. (It’s literally out of Xenoblade Chronicles – read the prologue of The Iron Trial and then look up the Monado Expedition cutscene and see if anything looks familiar. Then read the rest of the book and look up the cutscene after the Apocrypha battle. Then read the rest of the Magisterium and watch the two cutscenes again.)
The plots in each book were also very engaging, and I always found myself wanting to know what happened next. The magic system was also pretty good; I always like reading stuff based on alchemy. Though I kind of didn’t understand how they could do some things, like clairvoyance. With air magic? I don’t know – that didn’t really seem like it fell under the four elements (and sometimes five) stuff the books had going on.
The Other Stuff
I also really liked most of the other stuff the Magisterium had going on. The little romances were cute and they made sense. They also didn’t show up out of nowhere or anything either, which was nice. I hate random insta-love stuff. The narration and dialogue were also pretty good, though there was some clunkiness in book one.
There were some things that I didn’t like about the Magisterium, though. I won’t be talking about a lot of them here because they’re spoilers, but I will mention a couple. Firstly, there were a couple very noticeable plot holes, or things inserted into the plot that have no other purpose but to support red herrings, but have no actual explanation for existing except for plot convenience. Secondly, Alistair is a little inconsistent as a character the first couple of books, and he and Callum repeatedly have the exact same conversation a couple different times in the books. (I’ll talk about these more in a second.) The last book was also kind of not the best finale, and I found the final villain to be very weak and uninteresting.
Anyway, on to the spoiler section!
❗ Spoiler-y Thoughts Section ❗
The Iron Trial
Regarding book one of the Magisterium, The Iron Trial, I think it has the least amount of plot holes and stuff. It also has one of the best climaxes in the series. I got chills during Call and Joseph’s conversation where Joseph revealed that Call is the Enemy of Death (which is a stupid name by the way, especially for your bad guy), and that he transferred his soul into Callum’s body as an infant, killing the original Call. I like darker stuff like that. And Call has to grapple with being an “Evil Overlord” and the terrible things that he’s done and doesn’t remember fir the rest of the series.
The Copper Gauntlet
For The Copper Gauntlet, I do have a few issues with it. Alistair (Call’s dad), has these child-sized magical iron chains in his basement. They’re only there so that Call (and the reader) are led to believe that Alistair wants to bring harm to Call. Which is something he doesn’t want to do, by the way, and when this is revealed the chains and the reason they were in the basement never come up again. Um Alistair, why do you have them in your basement, exactly? (I never fell for any of this, by the way. The “evil parent” red herring has never been something that I’ve ever fallen for – even growing up. Yet another twist I predicted.)
The Bronze Key
I felt that The Bronze Key suffered a bit from Middle Book Syndrome. I just wasn’t as into it as I expected to be. Probably because I’d called that Alex Strike was evil in book one. (There was no indication at all he was evil – my brain just fixates on the wildest guesses sometimes.) So it was just kind of boring for me to read them trying to figure out who the spy was when I already knew.
Also, I figured how the climax would go down to Aaron dying by book two, so waiting for that to happen was kind of a slog too. (Again, not something too obvious, especially for tweens. I’ve just read a lot of books in my time and predicted it by the way that a three act structure would behave in a five book series.)
The Silver Mask
The Silver Mask started out very promising. I thought that it was gonna be my favorite one of the bunch, actually, before I actually read it, just because of what I assumed would happen. But I didn’t like the direction that the novel ended up going in.
I didn’t like how Master Joseph was killed off and Alex was primed as the final villain instead, mostly because I thought that Alex wasn’t a good antagonist at all. I also thought that Call would get his memories back from being Constantine Madden and that didn’t happen, so I was a bit disappointed in that. (Again, because of how story structure works – I thought that he’d get the memories back and then have to grapple with his remembered past of being an Evil Overlord, before ultimately accepting himself in the final book.)
The Golden Tower
The Golden Tower was kind of a bit of a meh ending, though I liked the rest of the book leading up to it, which is why I rated it highly. Callum actually does get the memories back, which I had kind of given up on after it didn’t happen in the last book. And the memories revealed that he wasn’t actually the soul of Evil Overlord Constantine Madden, but in fact the Evilest of Evil Overlords, Maugris, a guy who’d been transferring bodies since forever and was most of the Evil Overlords in Magisterium mage history. I actually really enjoyed this section of the book, though because Call got these memories back so late there wasn’t time for him to accept his past the way I’d hoped he would.
I didn’t like the climax itself though. As I said above, I don’t think that Alex is a very effective villain, and he kind of annoyed me throughout this book and the last. I also don’t think that Aaron should’ve been brought back to life in Alex’s body; I feel that it negatively detracts from some of Call’s character development – as well as Tamara’s and Aaron’s to some degree – and felt that he should have passed on instead with Callum finally accepting his death. I feel that it would’ve been a much more poignant thing than what we got, and would’ve made it feel like he’d finally accepted death as a whole more than. The actual ending ending was sweet though, and I did enjoy it and it’s callback to the end of The Iron Trial.
Out of Context Quotes I Liked
“Some people have stuffed animals,” Aaron said with a shrug. “Other people have knives.”
The Iron Trial
“Warren knows the best way. Sometimes the bear way isn’t the fastest.”
“Warren shouldn’t talk about himself in third person,” Call said.
The Iron Trial
Just then, a lizard dropped down from the ceiling onto the stone beside Call.
“Augh!” Call yelled, jumping to his feet. “What are you doing here?”
“Live here,” said Warren, tongue flicking out to lick an eyeball. “Watch you.” Because that wasn’t creepy at all.”
The Copper Gauntlet
Suddenly, they were blotted out. A slender figure rose up in front of them, smirking.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Jasper said.
“That is such a tired villain line, Jasper, and you know it,” said Call.
The Copper Gauntlet
“Come on,” said Aaron. “I don’t have a dad in prison for nothing. I think I can hotwire one of those.” He strode off toward the field of cars with a confident set to his shoulders.
“That’s our Makar,” said Jasper. “Chaos magic and grand theft auto.”
The Copper Gauntlet
“Wait!” Tamara said, running up to them, pulling Jasper behind her like a tugboat. Her parents were still where she’d left them; they’d detached Alex from Kimiya and were comforting their daughter themselves. “I’m coming with you. We both are.”
“What?” Jasper said. “No! I didn’t think you were serious. Your hot sister needs a shoulder to cry on. I volunteer myself. I would be much better at that than staying in whatever hovel Call and his weird dad-” Tamara kicked him savagely and he lapsed into a sullen silence.
The Bronze Key
“Call,” Rufus said darkly. Call had the feeling Master Rufus still thought he knew something he wasn’t saying. “Please restrain your commentary on the furniture; this is a meeting.”
The Bronze Key
“You’re the only one I can talk to, Call,” said Jasper.
“You mean because I’m chained to this floor and can’t get away?”
The Silver Mask
He had to say something. He wasn’t sure when they would be alone next.
“Um,” he said, because his conversational skills were amazing.
The Silver Mask
He stopped worrying and started hoping Warren, a weird lizard that lived in the caves, would lead them into a crevasse.
That would definitely earn you some of those Evil Overlord points, Aaron said.
“Stop poking around in my brain,” Call muttered under his breath.
The Golden Tower
“When fear rules us, we forget who we truly are. We forget the good we are capable of.”
The Golden Tower
“So this is how it happens with you guys?” Gwenda demanded. “Some weird lizard shows up and all of a sudden everything goes sideways and you’re fighting a massive elemental or some Chaos-ridden army or whatever? Well, let me tell you, I am not in for any of that.”
The Golden Tower
Individual Star Ratings
Final Thoughts
So yeah, despite its issues, I really enjoyed the Magisterium as a whole and I think it’s a pretty solid middle grade fantasy series. I thought the characters were great, the story engaging, and some of the dialogue and narrative was really funny. The books were kind of short though, and I wish they were each a little longer – a lot of them were around 250 pages and I think they could’ve easily added some character interactions to develop the cast a little more and bump them up to around 300 pages.
I think that kids and teens who like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and other like fantasy series will enjoy this. I think adults who are fans of those series and looking for more might enjoy this series as well. As a whole, I’m personally rating the Magisterium:
What books have you been reading lately? What’s the last series that you finished? How did you feel about them?
As always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope that you have an awesome day/night!
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page 📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first 📙 Finally… reveal the book!
Here’s the first lines:
From a distance, the man struggling up the white face of the glacier might have looked like an ant crawling slowly up the side of a dinner plate. The shantytown of La Rinconada was a collection of scattered specks far below him, the wind increasing as his elevation did, blowing powdery gusts of snow into his face and freezing the damp tendrils of his black hair. Despite his amber goggles, he winced at the brightness of the reflected sunset.
Know the book yet? Here’s a second hint if you don’t know…
Still no idea? Here are some beautiful pictures of books to admire while you think about it…
Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare!!
Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.
Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.
All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.
So he tries his best to do his worst – and fails at failing.
Now the Magisterium awaits him. It’s a place that’s both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.
The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come…
From the remarkable imaginations of bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a heart-stopping, mind-blowing, pulse-pounding plunge into the magical unknown.
What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an great day/night!
So, May is pretty stacked this year. There are quite a few interesting looking books coming out. And I’ve really got my eye on this one.
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.
This week’s book is:
Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis! 🏰🧄
It might not have been my quad-annual anticipated new books post that I did last month, but that’s just cuz I didn’t know about it yet. As soon as I read the premise, I knew I’d have to read it!
A sharp-witted, debut high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival – all at once. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, K. J. Parker and Travis Baldree.
It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something.
It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is… you.
Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed.
But as he realizes that nothing – from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess – is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all – who does he want to be?
A high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, an evil wizard convocation, and a garlic festival. All at once. All in all, Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks.
Are you looking forward to Dreadful? What other books are coming out soon that you’re looking forward to?
As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a wonderful day/night!
It’s been a few weeks, but here I am again, participating in another First Line Friday.
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page 📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first 📙 Finally… reveal the book!
Here’s the first lines:
The thing about fucking off to the woods is that unless you are a very particular, very rare sort of person, it does not take long to understand why people left said woods in the first place.
Any ideas on what the book is? Here’s another hint if you don’t know.
Still don’t know what it is? Here’s some gorgeous photos of books to look at while you think…
Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers!!
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a story of kindness and love from one of the foremost practitioners of hopeful SF.
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home.
They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.
Becky Chambers’s new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?
What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an great day/night!
From the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series comes a new blockbuster series…
Two sisters. One brutal murder. A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself… And an intoxicating romance.
Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost–even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.
Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked–princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…
My Review
“There are seven demon princes, but only four di Carlos should fear: Wrath, Greed, Envy, and Pride. One will crave your blood. One will capture your heart. One will steal your soul. And one will take your life.”
Hey all. Sorry for the somewhat late review and post. I had intended to have this out by last Friday before we went out of town, but that unfortunately didn’t happen. I also struggled to find a moment to work on it this weekend (while out of town), so I just decided to post it this week. Sorry about that.
Anyway! I didn’t really care for Kingdom of the Wicked. Not that I expected to really like it a ton, but I did expect the writing to be better. Just because it’s YA doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have to have standards! Like, how was this published in the form it was? I definitely needed a couple more rounds of edits.
This book also made me hungry, which wasn’t super appreciated either. I did however, really enjoy the talk of cooking and ingredients and restaurant stuff. I also love to cook and bake, so it helped me immerse myself in this world bit. It’s also the reason this book is rated so high – otherwise I might’ve rated it two stars or probably less. But that was where the immersion ended.
This wasn’t the book for me. I hated Emilia not just as a protagonist, but as a character in general. I was prepared to like her – or at least, I didn’t mind the character that she was at the beginning. She was kind and quiet, and she loved to read. Emilia was also a bit of a dreamer. She’s also pretty cautious, which I don’t see very often in the MCs of the novels I read, which felt like a breath of fresh air. (I didn’t last. Trust me.) Though not on the level as her sister, Vittoria, whom I honestly ended up preferring by the end. Even though she was dead.
But these established aspects of Emilia’s personality and character are completely obliterated almost entirely when Vittoria is murdered. Then she immediately turns into an angry, bitter person, entirely obsessed with revenge. Like it becomes her whole personality. Which is stupid. She also forgets that she has an entire family whom she (allegedly) loves unconditionally, and who loves and cares for her unconditionally. Which is also stupid. Like, the book even tells us – in Emilia’s voice no less! – that even though she and Vittoria used to be close when they were eight years old and younger, they’ve since grown apart, and aren’t really close, anymore. So Emilia’s very sudden and very extreme reaction didn’t make sense to me. Oh, and that cautiousness, that refusal to take risks until she had more information about stuff? Utterly gone. Maniscalco could’ve done so much with this and other aspects of her character without making the established person the protagonist started out as becoming completely unrecognizable. Such bad writing.
I also hated Wrath, both as a love interest and as a portrayal of one of the seven deadly sins. He doesn’t even act all that wrathful! Heck, whenever he’s with Emilia, he acts more lustful than anything else. You’re supposed to make me believe that this guy is supposed to be a hundreds, probably thousands, of years old nonhuman who’s that horny?!? And that he has some completely different agenda and goals of his own? I don’t see it. Whatever character you were trying to push isn’t what ended up on the page. Also, his and Emilia’s banter was annoying and their dialogue wasn’t that natural (and I’ll talk about the dialogue in general soon, don’t worry), and they had no chemistry. At. All. I hate them both.
The last big, and probably most important thing – in terms of a good book, that is – that I didn’t like about Kingdom of the Wicked, was the dialogue. And the way that the narrative in general was written. The dialogue sounded a bit too modern, which is something I don’t always hate, but in this case it was too much and it took me out of the story. Emilia’s POV in general – AKA: the narrative – also had this problem. (It was kind of the opposite problem I had with Children of Ragnarok, which I DNF-ed.) Not to mention they had plumbing. What year is this, author? You left it entirely ambiguous.
So yeah, I didn’t end up liking this book. Sorry for the review being a bit rant-y, but so much of this book bothered me, I just couldn’t help it. I’ll probably never read another of Maniscalco’s works again, and I’m definitely not interested in continuing with this series. That’s how much I didn’t like it.
As always, thanks to everyone so much for reading, and I hope that you have a wonderful day/night!
See ya ~Mar
Quotes I Sorta Liked
Outside, wind rattled the wooden chimes in warning. In the distance, waves crashed against the shore; the frantic whispers of water growing louder as if the sea was a mage summoning vio- lence. On this date for nearly a decade now-the storm followed the same pattern. Next, thunder would roll in quicker than the tide with lightning cracking electric whips across an unforgiving sky. The devil demanded retribution. A blood sacrifice for power stolen.
It wasn’t the first time he’d be cursed by witches, nor would it be the last.
Man had a funny way of blaming the devil for things he didn’t like. It was strange that we were called evil when humans were the ones who enjoyed watching us burn.
Subtlety was an artform lost on the demon, apparently. Though I supposed when he was the biggest, baddest predator around, he had little to fear.
I looked down at my new, finely made dress and frowned at the dark layers. “Why do villains always wear black?”
“Better to hide the blood with, witch.”
“You’re no one’s but your own, girl. Don’t ever forget it.”
So. It’s been a… not insignificant amount of time since I last participated in Shelf Control. But let’s not discuss that.
Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books languishing on our bookshelves created and hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a whole lotta fun, so if you’re interested in participating yourself, click the backlink above.
This time the book is another one from the MCU – the Maas Cinematic Universe, that is. It’s the first book in the Crescent City series, House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas.
The CRESCENT CITY series begins with House of Earth and Blood: the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance.
Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.
Why It Languishes on My Bookshelf
WHEN I GOT IT: January 2024
WHY I WANTED TO READ IT: I’ve been interested in this series for a while. Especially since a couple of my cousins are planning on reading it.
WHY I HAVEN’T READ IT YET: I’ve had one the worst reading slumps I’ve ever experienced happening for the past few months. It began in December of last year and basically went until about two weeks ago. So the slump, combined with the ridiculous length of the novel, has put me off of it for a while.
WILL I EVER READ IT?: Yes, almost definitely! In fact, there’s a good chance it’s gonna be the book that I read next!
What book has been sitting unread on your bookshelf? Are you planning on reading it eventually?
As always, thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you have a wonderful day/night!
Sooo… I was originally aiming to post a book review today, but I’m not finished with the book yet. 😅😂 But today, Taylor Swift released her latest (double) album The Tortured Poets Department, so I thought there couldn’t have been a better time to do this tag. Thanks again Leslie for introducing me to the TS tags!
I haven’t had the chance to listen to the new album(s) yet, but I have had multiple chances to listen to ✨ Midnights ✨, Taylor’s tenth studio album. And I’m super excited to participate in the Midnights Taylor’s Version Book Tag created by Star is All Booked Up. This is the second TS book tag I’m doing – the only other one I’ve done so far is 📷 1989 📷.
My favorite songs from the Midnights album are: “Anti-Hero”, “You’re on Your Own Kid”, “Vigilante Shit” and “Mastermind”.
❃ a book you will always love and defend ❃
I love this series, and a crappy movie that I’ve never seen nor am planning on ever seeing isn’t gonna ruin that for me. Ever.
❃ a spicy book ❃
I’ve never seen as many sex scenes or sexually charged interactions in a book than I have while reading this book. I mean, Nesta and Cassian are constantly making passes at each other. (Not that I go looking for spice books or anything – I really don’t. Which is why this is the one on my list.)
❃ unreliable narrator ❃
Considering the book is first person and the character POV spends nearly the entirety of the book lying to the reader, I’d say this counts as an unreliable narrator! (I’d also say the MC is a bit of a literal antihero.)
❃ an unexpected surprise ❃
This was my first proper delve into one of Gaiman’a works (I read part of Coraline in like 2009, I think?). I don’t know why I chose for Neverwhere to be the first of his works that I experienced, but I fell hard for this novel. I liked it so much I sought out the crappy TV series it was published simultaneously to. Now, if only Gaiman would actually work on a sequel to this (allegedly titled The Seven Sisters) like he claims he does.
❃ a character that really needs a hug ❃
I don’t think I’ve read a book with a character that needed a hug as much as Holland in the last few years. And. That. Ending. 🥹😭
❃ star-crossed lovers ❃
It’s been a very long time since I read this book, but I remember really enjoying it. The plot twists. The weird and awesome magic stuff. And of course the star-crossed lovers B-plot/backstory.
❃ grumpy x sunshine (or neurodivergent rep) ❃
Whenever I think of Grumpy X Sunshine lately, the first couple that comes to mind is Rook and Sun from Spell Bound. I dunno why.
❃ favorite character out for revenge ❃
I had so much trouble with this one. I guess I don’t read books with characters after revenge really at all, huh? So I had to really go back into my brain, and slog through all the books I’ve ever read – and look back at the stuff to read in college for my English degree even. And whaddya know, I remembered that I read Hamlet in my Shakespeare class!
❃ strong character development ❃
Artemis’ character arc still sticks in my brain to this day. It’s because of this book that I can look at unlikeable protagonists/MCs that are assholes and want to see how they become compelling characters that I want to follow.
❃ second chance romance ❃
… … …I got nothing. Sorry, I don’t really read romance. (Though I have had The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling on my radar for a while. I haven’t read it yet however, so it doesn’t count!)
❃ favorite full circle moments or parallels ❃
I’m struggling to think of books that work with this one. Like, for whatever reason, I can’t think of any books with moments that parallel earlier moments in the book or have a plot that comes full circle. But I remember that The Outsiders starts and ends the same way, even though it’s been over a decade since I read it. So this is what I’m going with for this one.
❃ favorite fluffy/cozy read ❃
This was such a cozy and fluffy set of graphic novels, and absolutely perfect for reading in the fall. I got some Mooncakes vibes with these.
❃ perfect world building and storytelling ❃
This is a perfect book. Like, there’s nothing else I can say about it. Go read it.
This was another fun post to do, even though I definitely struggled with a few of these. Midnights might not be one of my favorite Taylor Swift albums, but I still enjoy some of the songs, and I love this tag. (And just wasn’t able to come up with anything for one of them – curse my lack of interest in romance!) I can’t wait to do the rest of the TS albums!
As always, thank you so much to everyone for reading, and I hope you have a fabulous day/night!
For the first time ever (I’m pretty sure at least), I’ve been tagged to do a post! So well, I guess I gotta do it, huh? 😁 Thanks Leslie @ Books are the New Black for tagging me!
I’m a bit of a Swiftie myself, so I don’t mind at all! I’ve been a fan of Taylor Swift’s music since 2008 – maybe even 2007, I can’t really remember. Which is… Over 15 years. Uh, wow.
Anyway, 1989 isn’t my favorite Taylor Swift album, but I still love several of the songs on both of them. My favorite songs from 1989 in album placement order are: “Welcome to New York”, “Blank Space”, “Out of the Woods”, “All You Had to Do Was Stay”, “Wildest Dreams”, and “Wonderland” (this was on the special edition version also released in 2014 with the original 1989 album, so it counts!). Concerning the previously unreleased tracks from the vault, the ones I like best are: “Sweeter than Fiction” and “Now that We Don’t Talk”.
The song prompts on this book tag I got from Leslie’s blog, who got them from Elli @ AceReader. So, let’s get to it!
❃ a book with LGBT themes ❃
Mooncakes was such an adorable graphic novel, and the LGBT romance were cute. Yeah, Nova and Tam were okay, but I was personally super invested in Niva’s lesbian grandmas, lol.
❃ a book that hit you right in the feels… but was totally worth it ❃
This book made me cry – more than once – and if you know anything about the book or the hell that Jeanette McCurdy went through, then you know why.
❃ a book that you hated but you loved the cover ❃
Ugh, this book. Nightbane was easily the worst thing I read last year. I HATED it. But the Lightlark Saga book covers are, unfortunately, very pretty.
❃ your latest book boyfriend/girlfriend ❃
Wendell. Brambleby. He’s mischievous and pretty and has a silver tongue, and I couldn’t help falling head over feet for this man.
❃ a timeless classic that you love ❃
People will be remaking this book into a movie or TV series until the earth explodes. And I can’t help loving this book either. Sure, the writing is a bit archaic, but it was written in the 19th century, so you can’t expect too much modernity. Plus, it’s pretty short. And it truly is a bonafide classic.
❃ a book with vivid world building ❃
I stopped reading A Song of Ice and Fire about a third of the way through book two, but I still remember how absolutely vivid the world building was for this series. Too vivid, actually. (For me personally.) I got bored with how slow it was and opted out.
❃ a book where things weren’t exactly how they seemed ❃
I’m not going to say anything about the story, as I don’t want to give even the smallest iota away, even if no one that reads this post is ever going to read The Other. But I will say this: when you get to The Part, it completely recontextualizes everything you read before it.
❃ a book you were eagerly anticipating but ended up being disappointed by ❃
I was so, so, so looking forward to Witch King. Like, you don’t even know how much. It was my most anticipated book for ALMOST A YEAR, and it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. Ugh. I was so disappointed.
❃ a book/series that everyone seems to love but you can’t help but hate ❃
Ah, The Name of the Wind. I didn’t like it, and I DNF-ed. And I absolutely haven’t regretted it. I didn’t like Kvothe and I didn’t like the way he narrated the book. And seeing as Patrick Rothfuss might never even finish book three at this rate, I’m doubly glad I stopped when I did.
❃ a book series you love but everyone else seems to hate ❃
The Inheritance Cycle seems to get a lot of hate now, for being as derivative (and shameless – mostly/particularly in Eragon) of other works as it is. But it was huge when I was growing up, and I enjoyed the series well enough when I read it (though I’m not sure if it would hold up for me today upon a reread).
❃ a book/series you know you will always love ❃
I love The Book Thief so much. And I know that I always will. I have nothing else to say on the matter.
❃ an upcoming release you wish you could have right now ❃
First of all: the cover? 👨🍳💋 It immediately caught my eye. Second of all: the summary? It sounds amazing and fantastic and romantic and I really wanna read it.
I’ve been reading more Asian inspired fantasy throughout the past year or so, and I’ve been loving a lot of it. This one looks really good, too.
❃ a character you once loved but grew to hate ❃
Serilda. I really liked her as a protagonist in Gilded, but she got so annoying in Cursed. I hated every decision she made here, and her personality just started to irritate me in general.
❃ an author you haven’t forgiven for what they did to your favorite characters/books ❃
How dare you kill off Han Alister, Chima!! How dare you make him one of your two co-protagonists in your Seven Realms series and make him my favorite character, and then murder him in the first chapter of the first book in your Shattered Realms sequel series!!!! How dare you!!!!!!
This is the reason I DNF-ed Flamecaster! And after I was super anticipating this for weeks and bought this release day! This is the reason I can’t bring myself to try this series, even though every once in a while I kind of want to!
❃ a book that was far too predictable ❃
This was a retelling of The Nutcracker, so I wasn’t surprised to predict a lot of stuff. The story had certain plot points to hit, after all. And honestly? I actually really enjoyed this book.
❃ a book/series that you wish could have gone on forever ❃
I adored this story, and I loved Cerys and Fox. I could bask in this world that Ashley Poston created forever, and I still wish that a sequel would pop up sometimes.
❃ one of your favorite books where they ‘got the girl’ ❃
Yeah, I know, I’m kind of stealing my answer for this one from AceReader, but I honestly would’ve picked this if I hadn’t seen their post.
I’ve never read a book/series where I’ve been more satisfied with the relationship at the end of it than with PJO and Percabeth. They were just so perfectly written as friends and then as a couple. This series established the way that I like my romance in books, and the standard I kind of hold romances to.
❃ a book that completely shocked you ❃
I didn’t expect this book to go at all the way it did after A Court of Thorns and Roses. I thought this series was gonna go in an entirely different direction than it did. And the ending of A Court of Mist and Fury also surprised me – I didn’t expect it either!
❃ a book you thought you loved but quickly came to hate ❃
Speaking of derivative and shameless – I think Divergent is even moreso than Eragon ever was. Not only did it come out in the midst of the Hunger Games trilogy craze (so it was immediately shameless as opposed being shameless decades after the fact). But it also continued the ‘YA dystopian novels that are adapted to movies’ craze, and prompted a bunch of these to be shameless as well.
I didn’t love this book when I read it. But I liked it well enough and thought it was okay. However, my feelings for this book and series have since turned into a burning hatred. It hate the plot, I hate the characters, and I especially hate how the world building DOESN’T MAKE SENSE.
❃ a book you didn’t want to be seen reading ❃
Now, I wouldn’t mind if someone caught me reading this nowadays, but when I was a young teenager when I thought I was too old for middle grade? Yep, that was me. And that was the reason I never read it when I was fourteen.
❃ when the wait between books made you forget everything that happened ❃
So I read The Stardust Thief last year, and when I looked it up originally, the Internet said that The Ashfire King was coming out in 2024. Because of this, I was like: ‘Oh cool, that’s kind nine months away from how, shouldn’t be too hard for me to remember all the stuff from the first book.’
That date has since shifted.
Now, this book’s slated release date is next year – 2025. And I’m a little worried that I might forget stuff from book one in that time.
❃ a book/series you wiped from your memory ❃
Um, I think this was about witches that were Wiccan and folklore inspired? And the main girl’s parents die immediately, and she’s sent to live at a house with two other girls? And I’m pretty sure theirs three guys from a rival coven or something?
I barely remember anything from this series, even though I’m pretty sure I read the entire thing. In a day, or something. But yeah, it’s basically all gone.
So yeah, thanks again to Leslie for tagging me. This was a really, really fun post! I love Taylor Swift’s music, and am definitely gonna continue this with her other albums at some point. (And release Reputation already Taylor! ‘Cause then I know you’re gonna cap this all off with the rerelease of your debut album and I need “I Heart Question Mark” to be on it!!)
As always, thank you so much to everyone for reading, and I hope you have a fabulous day/night!
So, the day has finally come. It’s finally been a year since my first post here on my little reading blog.
Happy 1st Birthday to the blog, I guess! 🎉🎁🎈🎂
It feels like so little time, yet so much time has passed simultaneously. I can’t believe it’s really already been an entire year. So many things have changed since the last October 18th, the least of which being it was on a Tuesday last year. So many things are different… yet so many are still the same.
I’m honestly struggling a bit on what to say here. I just can’t think of much, unfortunately. I don’t know why.
Well actually, there is definitely one thing that I know I want to say.
Thank you so much to everyone who has followed or read my blog posts. Even if it was just one book review – thank you from the bottom of my heart! It means more than you know. I don’t know how many of you are real or robot (or some kind of scam), but seeing any and all notifications always makes my days a tiny bit brighter.
I guess the only other thing I can think of to say is, here’s to another year of books and book reviews! The second of many, hopefully. 🍻🥂
As always, thank you again so much for reading, and I hope you all have an absolutely perfect day/night!
