January 2023 Reading Wrap-Up

It’s another new month, and that means it’s to go over the previous month’s reading statistics. January Reading 2023, here we go!

Before I move on to the stats and pie charts and other assorted graphs, I want to mention how seriously happy I am with the amount of books that I combed through. It’s a huge improvement from December’s reading, and I’m hoping to read even more this month (February).

And now, on to the stats…

January 2023 Reading Stats

😐 Moods: For January, I had five moods – mysterious, adventurous, dark, tense, and challenging. No surprise there – I read a ton of either dark fantasy or horror.

👢 Pace: All of the books I read last month pretty much all turned out to be medium-paced. Most actual books are, so I’m honestly not surprised with that one, even though I did find Spinning Silver to be kind of slow, and What Moves the Dead to be generally fast-paced.

🔢 Page Number: Most of the books I read were between 300 and 500 pages, which is pretty average for me. (It’s my favorite length of book to read, after all.) What Moves the Dead was essentially a novella, or a short novel though, so it only clocked in at 165 pages.

📖 Fiction/Nonfiction: All fiction, once again. I promise that I occasionally (very occasionally) read nonfiction books, though.

🎭 Genres: I had four genres that I generally read last month. Fantasy (hello to you too, favorite genre), YA (not exactly one of my favorites, I just happen to read this one often), Horror (when I’m feeling like having a bad time), and LGBTQIA+ (What Moves the Dead had some pretty good rep).

📄 Format: I read three physical copies of books this past month, and one e-book. (Or so the chart says…)

⭐ Rating: My average rating was 4.19 stars, but that’s what happens when you read 4 books, rate two 4/5, one 3.75/5, and one 5/5.

📉 Pages Read Daily: I’m kind of all over the place in January, in terms of how many pages I read in a day, let alone a week. I peaked pretty early on, because I read the entirety of Unraveller in one day, but I read all of the other books in multiple sessions.

The Books I Read in January

Unraveller Book Review - The Blog That Nobody Knows

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

Spinning Silver Book Review - The Blog That Nobody Knows

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Deeplight Book Review - The Blog That Nobody Knows

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

What Moves the Dead Book Review - The Blog That Nobody Knows

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah, I read a lot more – annnd I posted a lot more, now that I think about it – in January 2023 than I did in December. And that really makes me happy with myself, and just my ability to be proactive in general. (Especially with how hard winter can get on my mentality.)

What books did you read last month? Did we read any of the same ones? What did you think of the stuff you read in January?

Thank you for reading, and have a marvelous day/night! Tune in next post for more bookish stuff!

See ya ~Mar

LINKS: Goodreads | Instagram

“Deeplight” by Frances Hardinge: Book Review

They say many things of the Myriad, and all of them are true.

Subnautica Meets Frankenstein Meets Lovecraft | Deeplight by Frances Hardinge [A Book Review]

Star Rating: ★★★✭☆ • 3.75 / 5 stars

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea meets Frankenstein in Frances Hardinge’s latest fantasy adventure

The gods are dead. Decades ago, they turned on one another and tore each other apart. Nobody knows why. But are they really gone forever?

When 15-year-old Hark finds the still-beating heart of a terrifying deity, he risks everything to keep it out of the hands of smugglers, military scientists, and a secret fanatical cult so that he can use it to save the life of his best friend, Jelt. But with the heart, Jelt gradually and eerily transforms. How long should Hark stay loyal to his friend when he’s becoming a monster–and what is Hark willing to sacrifice to save him?

The Plot Summary (is… Meh)

This book was insanely unsettling at times. To me at least. Like, it’s just labelled as a fantasy, YA book, but the horror genre felt strong with this one.

Deeplight is a stand-alone novel by Frances Hardinge published on April 14, 2020 by Amulet Books. (Well, technically it has a short story set in the same universe, but that’s it.) It centers on Hark, a young fifteen year old orphan boy, who discovers a mysterious porous stone from under the sea, that appears to have a heartbeat.

He then shoves it into the cold, dead hands of the abuser that his childhood best friend, because he’s a normal functioning teenager, and they do be like that.

Then said best friend slowly begins to evolve into a vaguely Cthulhu-looking, deep-sea monstrosity with an even worse personality. And things just get worse from there.

And that’s pretty much what the book description decides to sum up. What it doesn’t tell is, that before the whole resurrection by magical pulsating rock, he’s a thief on the streets who is forced to become a servant after being caught. (The alternative is death, so you can imagine he’s actually really into the first choice.)

This is how he gets involved with the scientists. Or scientist as it were. Dr. Vyne is the one who decides to pick him up as her servant at the prisoner auction (yes, really), and she’s pretty much the only scientists in this book. She and Hark have a fun dynamic, because she knows his BS and likes it, and he’s interested in some of her science-y stuff. Yeah, the summary is a bit vague and slightly inaccurate in my opinion. (Unraveller had the same problem now that I think about it.)

The Characters (are Great)

I actually really liked the main characters in the book. It’s too bad the summary basically only treated Hark and Jelt as the MCs, cuz that’s wrong.

Hark is the main character, it got that much right. He’s insecure, sassy, and has a very kind heart. He’s also the victim of emotional abuse, as implied above. A major part of his character arc is learning that being himself and not what someone else wants you to be is okay, and to learn to function without Jelt. He’s also the source of much of the humor in the book, which is nice after the darker, weirder parts. He’s a pretty great character.

Somehow Hark couldn’t slip or shoot off sideways and still pretend he was doing what Jelt wanted, the way he could with anyone else. I don’t want to anyway, he told himself firmly. Jelt is family. He knew better than to trust anything he told himself, though.

Jelt sucks. Also, he’s not much of a main character with how much he appears in the book. Still a major character, but on the spectrum closer to the “supporting characters” section. Anyway, he sucks and is a very not good person, who fully deserves everything that happens to him. His relationship with Hark is very sad, but as someone who has experience from Hark’s end, I feel it’s an accurate representation of an emotionally abusive one.

The REAL other main characters are Quest, an old priest who used to commune with the gods and is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge, and Selphin, the deaf daughter of a gang leader who’s probably the smartest person around. (The rep is great in here by the way.)

“You are still young,” Quest said phlegmatically. “You will find out who you are when your choices will test you. In the end, we are what we do and what we allow to be done.”

I absolutely loved Hark’s relationship with Quest. It really feels like a grandpa telling his grandson stories, and is probably the most wholesome thing in the novel. Hark and Selphin are also interesting in that they’re both very stubborn and butt heads quite often, but their hearts are usually in the right place.

The Setting (is Seriously Unique)

Hardinge really outdoes herself with the setting. I’m not surprised at all, after reading Unraveller, but you can really see that the way she does world building started here.

Like Unraveller, the setting here is truly unique, but instead of a weird, ambivalent forest, there’s a weird, ambivalent ocean. They both are unsettling, and they both do really weird things to people.

I think that Deeplight’s evil ocean (or “the undersea,” as the characters call it) is more disturbing, personally, but I won’t really get into why, cuz I would hate to spoil that for people.

The Story (is Compelling but Strange)

“Most things can be mended in time. Sometimes they are not quite the same as they were before they were broken, but nothing and nobody stays unchanged, anyway.”

Unlike Hardinge’s other work that I’ve read, I was immediately weirded out by Deeplight. I actually almost considered DNF-ing it, because of how off putting it made me feel, but ultimately decided to continue with it. And I’m glad I did. Even though it didn’t quite get four stars from me, it was still a very good book and I’m glad I read it.

Though the plot is strong, I would still say that it’s a more character driven story. The character evolution is also the most compelling part of the book. Though it didn’t make me emotional, it did make me feel things, so that’s a win to me.

The Deep-Sea Descriptions (are Creepy)

Okay, so the Lovecraftian-Subnautica devilspawn sea gods were disturbing. The unnatural descriptions and prose whenever Hardinge had a character describe them… very unsettling.

The way the undersea was described was also not-quite-right feeling. There was an uncanny-ness to the “godware” (the remains of the gods), and how it was repurposed to boost human technology kind of freaked me out.

Final Thoughts

There is always hope. There are always chances.

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge was an engaging, but unsettling, dark fantasy novel. I recommend it to everyone, except for those who hate/have a phobia of the deep ocean and deep sea creatures. Also, those who don’t like horror would probably not like this either. But otherwise… yeah.

Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous day/night! Join me next post for more bookish things!

See ya! ~ Mar

WWW Wednesday #2

Look! It’s a double post! I’ve been wanting to post stuff more often, so I’ve been looking for different blog posts to take part in. I tried WWW Wednesday last week and immediately loved it, so I think it’s here to stay!

WWW Wednesday is a meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What I’m Currently Reading:

Title & Author: Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

Length: 432 pages

Genres: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

Release Date: April 14, 2020

Description:

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea meets Frankenstein in Frances Hardinge’s latest fantasy adventure

The gods are dead. Decades ago, they turned on one another and tore each other apart. Nobody knows why. But are they really gone forever?

When 15-year-old Hark finds the still-beating heart of a terrifying deity, he risks everything to keep it out of the hands of smugglers, military scientists, and a secret fanatical cult so that he can use it to save the life of his best friend, Jelt. But with the heart, Jelt gradually and eerily transforms. How long should Hark stay loyal to his friend when he’s becoming a monster–and what is Hark willing to sacrifice to save him?

What I Recently Finished Reading:

Title & Author: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Length: 466 pages

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

Release Date: July 10, 2018

Description:

With the Nebula Award-winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik opened a brilliant new chapter in an already acclaimed career, delving into the magic of fairy tales to craft a love story that was both timeless and utterly of the now. Spinning Silver draws readers deeper into this glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty–until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk–grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh–Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. She will face an impossible challenge and, along with two unlikely allies, uncover a secret that threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike.

What I Might Read Next:

Title & Author: What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Length: 165 pages

Genres: Horror, LGBTQIA+, Fiction

Release Date: July 12, 2022

Description:

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

What are your 3 Ws for the week? Are any of these books part of it? Have you been enjoying what you’ve been reading lately?

Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic day/night! Join me next post for more bookish things, and next week for another WWW Wednesday!

~ Mar ~

WWW Wednesday #1

So, I’ve decided to start taking part in another meme on The Blog That Nobody Knows. It’s called WWW Wednesday!

This meme used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws Are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What Are You Currently Reading?

Length: 466 pages

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

Release Date: July 10, 2018

Description:

What Did You Recently Finish Reading?

Length: 416 pages

Genres: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

Release Date: January 10, 2023

Description:

In a world where anyone can create a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them.

Kellen does not fully understand his talent, but helps those transformed maliciously – including Nettle. Recovered from entrapment in bird form, she is now his constant companion, and closest ally.

But Kellen has also been cursed, and unless he and Nettle can remove his curse, Kellen is in danger of unravelling everything – and everyone – around him…

What Do You Think You’ll Read Next?

Length: 448 pages

Genres: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

Release Date: April 2, 2020

Description:

The gods are dead. Decades ago, they turned on one another and tore each other apart. Nobody knows why. But are they really gone forever?

When 15-year-old Hark finds the still-beating heart of a terrifying deity, he risks everything to keep it out of the hands of smugglers, military scientists, and a secret fanatical cult so that he can use it to save the life of his best friend, Jelt. But with the heart, Jelt gradually and eerily transforms. How long should Hark stay loyal to his friend when he’s becoming a monster—and what is Hark willing to sacrifice to save him?

What books have you been reading? Do you know what you want to read next?

Thanks for reading! Have a great day/night!

~ Mar ~

Weekly Wrap-Up: 1/9 – 1/15

Two weeks in a row! Haha! The beginning of the world’s smallest streak!

In all seriousness, welcome back to another Weekly Wrap-Up. I said that it was coming back, and I’ve kept my promise (so far)! This week, my blogging has been pretty good. It was better than most of December, so honestly, I’ll count that as progress. Now, let’s get into the posting.

Monday 1/9: The Return of Weekly Wrap-Ups

Normally, I wouldn’t acknowledge a Weekly Wrap-Up during a Weekly Wrap-Up. But since I wasn’t doing it for nearly a month, I felt that it was notable enough to be here, just this once.

If you haven’t been around for awhile and want to catch up, or if you’re new here, then you can easily check out the last week’s Weekly Wrap-Up here.

Tuesday 1/10: Birthstone Book Covers

It’s a new month, and with every new month comes a new Birthstone Book Covers. Birthstone Book Covers is an awesome book thing created and hosted by Leslie @ Books Are the New Black. This month, I once again chose five books of the five book minimum that featured the color of this month’s birthstone. You can check out my January 2023 post here.

Thursday 1/12: Shelf Control #8

On Thursday morning, technically a few hours over the deadline, I posted another Shelf Control. Shelf Control is an original series created and hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies. This week, I highlighted a contemporary fiction story for once: Instructions for a Secondhand Heart by Tamsyn Murray. It’s one that I’ve had for a few years, but have never read. You can read my entire post about it here.

Friday 1/13: Unraveller Review (and Friday the 13th)

On Friday, I finally did another book review. It’s been far too long (about three weeks) since the last one I posted – and since the last book I finished, ew – and I finally got over the holidays and back on my game.

The first book that I read and finished this year was Unraveller by Frances Hardinge. It’s a wonderfully gruesome, dark fantasy about a boy who can unravel the very fabric of curses, who is on a quest with a former curse victim that he freed to break his own curse. You can read my full review here, if you’re interested.

Sunday 1/15: Red Winter Retrospective Review

Finally, on Sunday I did a retrospective book review. It’d been basically a month (to the day actually!) since my last Reading Retrospective, so another was more than overdue. (Just like Weekly Wrap-Ups. Haha?)

This time I retrospectively reviewed Red Winter, of the Red Winter Trilogy, by Annette Marie. It’s a Japanese folklore inspired fantasy, set in modern Japan, and follows a young miko and the kitsune that owes her a debt. You can check out my entire review here.

What’s in store for next week? I certainly don’t know, though I’d like to do another Majestic Monday, a couple book reviews, a retrospective review, and something else!

What have you guys done this week? How many books did you read, if any? What did you think of them, if you did?

As usual, thank you all very much for reading and join me next time for more bookish things! Have a wonderful day/night!

~ Mar ~

Proof That I Still Read and Adore Books | “Unraveller” by Frances Hardinge [Book Review]

There are reasons for caution where the land meets the sea.

About This Book

Title & Author: Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

Length: 432 pages

Genres: Dark Fantasy, YA, Fiction

Release Date: January 10, 2023

Book Description

In a world where anyone can create a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them.

But Kellen has also been cursed, and unless he and Nettle can remove his curse, Kellen is in danger of unravelling everything – and everyone – around him…

My Review

Star Rating: 🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢 • 5 / 5 swans!

The Unraveller, the buzz meant. Spider-gifted, spider-cursed. Destroyer of curses, dismantler of mysteries, unpicker of souls.

This book. This. Book.

I adore it. Definitely one of the best books I’ve read recently.

The characters. The interesting, yet gruesome world. Everything was just so compelling for me in Unraveller. Frances Hardinge really knows how to write. I gotta check out more of her books.

The Characters

I loved the characters here. They were fun and complex. Kellen and Nettle had an absolutely perfect dynamic – him the hotheaded magical sort, and her being the quiet sort that listens to the world and tries to keep the former out of the trouble his temper often lands him in. And the different anxieties and personal problems each of them dealt with… so much hurt, so much angst.

Nettle’s excruciatingly tragic backstory was utterly heartbreaking. She did absolutely nothing wrong, and yet… well, you’ll have to read it to find out. (It hurts far more that way.) And Kellen’s background, though not nearly as terrible, is still incredibly heart wrenching. Being essentially abandoned by his loved ones for suddenly not quite meshing with their livelihoods. Horrible.

I really liked the other characters too. Gall was interesting, and I loved how strong the grayness was in his character. You didn’t really know what he would do next. Also, loved how feral his connection with his murder horse (sorry, “marsh horse”) sometimes made him, especially near the Wilds. I really liked his horse too, despite her murderousness. It was also nice to have an actual adult in a YA group for once (Gall is implied to be about thirty, while both Kellen and Nettle are both stated to be fifteen.)

Gall’s dialogue with our main duo was also gold.

“Did you see that!” Kellen was ecstatic. “That was another place! Those arches – they’re in two places at once! Just then, we were in two places at once!”

“If you ever do that again,” growled the marsh horseman, “little pieces of you will be in a lot of different places.”

I also really liked the part where Gall said that if he died, his murder horse would mourn him for decades. But she would still eat him.

(Yes, I do like my gruesome humor with my horror fantasy, thank you.)

The Setting (and Writing)

The setting was also amazing. Not just the Wilds – the overgrown, untamable forest-marsh where all the weird, magical stuff originates from – but the country of Raddith that borders it, too. I always find it more interesting when books explore how the surrounding settlements deal with the nearby weirdness than the weirdness itself. It’s fascinating to me. Definitely one of the highlights of the book for me!

I also adored Hardinge’s prose. It was wonderful. I absolutely loved the way that she described things from the Wilds, as well as the Wilds themselves. Here’s a few quotes to give you a taste:

It is much more likely that you will lose interest in visiting the Wilds, now that you have seen them. (You only think that you have seen them.) You will believe the evidence of your eyes and mind, which tell you there is nothing worth seeing there. (They are lying.)

and

The animal was a little too large, a little too beautiful, and glossy as polished leather. It didn’t fidget the way other horses did, and its ears didn’t flick nervously as Nettle and Kellen approached. The huffs of its breath stirred little clouds of steam before its muzzle, despite the warmth of the day.

It didn’t smell like a horse either. It smelled of rain.

The Plot

I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll keep this section brief. I really, really loved the plot. I loved where the characters went on their journey, and reading about the surreal places that Hardinge created.

The only “con” I can really think of for the book, for me, was that the climax and denouement moved too fast. It kinda seemed like the author was just trying to wrap things up as quick as possible. I really think there could have been a decent sized sequel instead of a very rushed last few chapters and epilogue. I would have liked to see more of the antagonist (who isn’t revealed until a good way through the story, and even then doesn’t make an appearance until maybe in the last quarter of the novel).

But none of that took away any of my enjoyment out of the book as a whole, and I loved everything else about it so much, that I’m still keeping my rating at 5 stars. (Sorry, swans.)

Final Thoughts

I really and truly adored this novel, and I highly recommend to anyone who likes dark fantasy and/or horror (because horror is definitely an honorable mention for the genres).

There is something that I should definitely mention about the TWs. I know I don’t usually bring up anything about TWs, but I really do feel like it is imperative that I say this. Because of the nature of some of the curses, there is definitely some level of body horror in here, as well as some mention of death. None of it is ever overly described or talked about too gruesomely, but I felt the need to mention it nonetheless.

Anyway, if none of that stuff bothers you, definitely check Unraveller by Frances Hardinge out. You (probably) won’t regret it.