Tag: fantasy

Top Ten Tuesday – Books on my Winter 2021 To-Read List

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In today’s Top Ten Tuesday post I am going through the books on my winter TBR. Whilst the title does state it is my Winter 2021 TBR, we are already in mid-December and that doesn’t give me very much time until the end of the year. Even with the best will in the world, I couldn’t read 10 books by the end of the year. So, naturally, this list will span into 2022. 

I wanted to take part in today’s post because it’s allowing me to think of the books I want to read in the immediate future, but also those leading into the beginning of 2022 and any goals I have in mind to set myself. This year I have been flying by the seat of my pants are not planning ahead of time. Even when I have made loose plans, I haven’t stuck to them rigidly. I’ve been giving myself the chance to be a mood reader, so as with previous lists set this year it is not concrete, but certainly something I will aim towards over the coming months.

So, want to check out what books are coming up on my winter TBR?


The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

With Christmas just around the corner, winter has certainly started. Therefore, I think it’s important to include my current read as the starting point for this list. I have just picked up The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. It is a historical fiction novel, and I’m excited to read this because it’s unlike anything I have read before. It was a recommendation to me by my sister’s boyfriend Chris. The copy I’m reading right now belongs to him – he’s loaned it to me and I’m hoping to return it before he goes home after Christmas. So, there is no time like the present in reading this book!

 

Traitor’s Blade

Along the same lines as above, I think I should also include my current audiobook lesson on this list. I’m most of the way through it now, but I’m currently listening to Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell. This is a completely new book, series and author for me but I have had a great time listening to it so far. I can’t wait to reach the conclusion of this book and go on to listen to the rest of the series! Based on what I have listened to so far I have high hopes for enjoying this one.

 

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince & Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I had the idea in my mind that I wanted to re-read the Harry Potter series during 2021. We are fast approaching the end of the year and so it goes without saying that finishing this series will continue on into next year. However, the idea was a loose one and I’m not upset that I haven’t met the goal of reading it by the end of the year. In fact, I have really enjoyed reading the previous books at the pace I have. There is absolutely no rush and the point of re-reading these books is to enjoy them again. It’s not a race and I I know that I will love these two books as I did in the past!

 

Red Sister

I haven’t read a Mark Lawrence book for a very long time and so I’m hoping to rectify this issue within the next few months. I can’t lie, I was tempted to go back and pick up The Broken Empire series again. However, I have been re-reading a few books this year and given that this author has plenty more to offer, I’m going to try his other works before I go backwards. Red Sister has been on my reading list for quite some time now. It will be good to finally get this underway.

 

Dune

Another book that has been on my reading list for a very long time is Dune by Frank Herbert. I have casually started this book a couple of times before. It was more an experiment really; I wanted to get a feel for the book. At the times I picked this up I wasn’t ready to commit fully but this is a classic that I do want to take the time to sit down and read in full properly soon. I’ve been reading a lot more science fiction of light, so I’m in the best place to finally give this a go.

 

The Feedback Loop

One of the themes of this list is that I want to chip away at some of the oldest books on my TBR. Like in the case of Dune, The Feedback Loop has been on my list for a long time and as another example of a science fiction book that I want to read, it’s about time I got around to this one. The Feedback Loop isn’t quite as long as some of the other books on this list, so I think I might reserve this for a time when I’m either in a bit of a slump or just feel like I need the boost of a shorter book.

 

The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

Several years ago I requested a copy of Grimm’s original fairytales for my birthday. You may think I’m a bit old to read these, but these are the original stories that modern day fairytales have stemmed from. They are not all fairies and happy ever after is. I wanted to read these original tales to see how they compare with the modern day versions. My understanding is that these are typically a lot darker, but that remains to be seen. The copy I have on my bookshelf waiting is also beautifully illustrated. It’s not the sort of thing I pick up very often so I’m looking forward to reading this for a bit of a change.

 

A Clash of Kings (audiobook)

I plan to listen to more audiobooks within the next few months. I’ve been doing really well with audiobooks of light and I wish to continue that trend. If you read my blog or listen to my rambling enough you will know that I love love love the A Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin. I have read the books at least twice and now I am making my way through the audiobooks. So far I’ve only listened to the first one, but I hope to change that in the next two months. A Clash of Kings is next on my list to listen to and given but I am now listening more regularly, this shouldn’t take as long as the first one.

 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

I have been making a conscious effort to read more in the way of classics over recent years. One of those on my TBR pile that is definitely coming up due for a read is this book. I really like the sound of the synopsis and so it makes sense to pick this up shortly and tick it off the TBR. It’s also the only classic on this list and having the diversity in the books I choose to pick up can only be a good thing. 

 

I hope you have enjoyed today’s Top Ten Tuesday post and that you like the sound of the books coming up (fingers crossed) within the next few months. Have you read any of these books? Are any of them on your list to read at any point? As always, I’d love to hear from you!

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Sunday Summary – 12th December 2021

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Hello and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary post. As always, I hope you’ve had a great week! If you are unfamiliar with my blog, my Sunday Summary posts are a chance to talk about what I’ve been doing and genuinely catch you up with what I’ve been reading and sharing on my blog over the last week.

Earlier this week I shared a book review that has been outstanding for some time. I read the book back in August of last year, so needless to say it was time to share my thoughts with you! I really enjoyed reading The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell, which is a historical fiction based on the Viking invasion of Britain. If you want to check out my full thoughts, I’ll provide a link to the review above.

Later in the week I shared a Shelf Control post. In these posts I review my TBR and take a look at the next book on the list – if I’m still interested I will feature it on my blog and share with you just why I can’t wait to read it! It is also a good opportunity to clear out my list of anything that I no longer want to read. Goodness knows it could do with a bit of trimming… writing this series has definitely enabled me to do this, but this week’s featured book was not going to be written off under any circumstances. In fact, I’m so confident that I’ll enjoy it I went ahead and bought myself a paperback copy in advance. If you know me, you know I only do that for books I love; I don’t have all the bookshelf space in the world so I tend to keep favourites in physical copy.

 

Books Read

I’ve concluded that I’m not in the right frame of mind to continue reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely love his works, but I think this is just too big of a beast for me at the moment. I’ve been trying to read this for a number of weeks now and I’m just not making much progress with it. I’m not DNF’ing it per se, but I’ve decided I’m going to go back to it at a later date. Hopefully, I can get my reading mojo back and then take this 1000+ pages book on!

Instead I have chosen to pick up The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. This is actually a loan from my sister’s boyfriend and I’m hoping to return this to him when they come over for Christmas. So, I’d best get cracking! I’m currently only a couple of chapters in, but my decision to set aside Words of Radiance temporarily came very late on in the week. This book is still a solid read (probably around 500 pages) but it’s a lot shorter… and I set myself a deadline to get it read, so I’m sure I will!

I’ve also listened to a few more chapters of Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell this week. I’m now about 80% of the way through this audiobook, which is really good considering that I tend to listen to them on and off. I have definitely gotten better in recent week in terms of listening to audiobooks more regularly. All I can say is long may it continue!

 

Books Discovered

You are probably going to think me really boring with this addition, however I have added a book to my TBR this week that is kind of work-related. I don’t really talk about it much because that’s not what you’re here for, but I work in an investment based role. One of the books I’ve added this week is in relation to financial markets. I recently watched a program on television which was about the 2008 recession and it’s causes. I found it really interesting because I didn’t really know much about it; I was reasonably young when this happened. Along a similar vein I think I will enjoy The Asian Financial Crisis 1995-98: Birth of the Age of Debt by Russell Napier. It’s not something I really heard about until earlier this week when I read some articles about it. I appreciate that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea so I’ll probably read it but won’t review it here. 

 

Coming Up…

I fancy taking part in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday post. The topic is Books on My Winter 2021 To-read List. I like the idea of taking part because I think it might help with getting excited about reading again and give me a little burst of motivation that I think I need. Also, it’s a means of starting to plan into next year and get some ideas together about what my reading plans for 2022 are. I hope you can join me to find out what’s on my list!

Later in the week I will be back with a First Lines Friday post. I’m really looking forward to this post because I’m setting myself the challenge of featuring a book set in winter. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to pick yet but that’s half the fun! I hope you can take a look and find out which book I choose to feature later in the week.

For now though that is all from me in today’s Sunday Summary update post. Have a great one and I’ll catch up with you this time next week.

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Sunday Summary – 5th December 2021

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Good evening and welcome to tonight’s Sunday Summary update post. As always I hope you’ve had a really good week wherever you are!

It’s been a good one here, even if it didn’t quite go to plan. Mid-week I shared my monthly wrap-up post for November 2021. In that post I talked about the books I’ve been reading and listening to over the last month, in addition to recapping the posts I shared as well. If you haven’t checked out that post already you can find a link here and find out what I’ve been up to!

I was supposed to share a Shelf Control post on Friday, but as I’m sure you guessed that didn’t quite pan out the way I intended. I was out with friends on Friday night and I ended up being out later than I expected. And we went out to pottery painting, in case you’re interested. Anyway, I didn’t get back home until well past 10 o’clock; having not started the post yet I decided that I was going to postpone it instead. I’ve spent the weekend putting up my own Christmas decorations and helping out at my parents. So it’s been a busy one without even factoring in catching up.

 

Books Read

I promised this week that I be better on the reading front and pick up more of Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. However, I have a confession to make and that is that I didn’t really. I read a few more percent of the book but that’s about all. Some reading is better than none I suppose, but it’s definitely fair to say that I’m reading a lot less than I used to. That’s okay, because I enjoy it when I do it! I will try and make more of an effort to pick this up again next week though. I keep going at this pace I’ll still be reading it next Christmas!

I’ve also been listening to more of Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell. I’ve gotten into the habit of listening to this whilst I’m doing Pilates exercises in the evening. It’s a good accompaniment to doing it because it’s a great distraction from what I’m doing and so I often find I’m doing more than necessary for each exercise. In my last Sunday summary update post I was about halfway through this audiobook; now I am approximately 2/3 of the way through. It’s something I’ve gotten into the habit of doing and so I’m sure I’ll have more progress to report on this very soon.

 

Books Discovered

Once again I’ve been good and I have no new additions to my reading list or my bookshelves this week!

 

Coming Up…

This week I plan to share a book review with you. It’s been a long time since I read this book and indeed carried on with the rest of the series by this author. However, I really enjoyed reading this one and I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you. The book I’m featuring is The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell.

Later in the week I’ll be back with my postponed shelf control post on Friday, and then I’ll be rounding up the week with another Sunday summary update as usual.

Until then, I hope you have a great week and I’ll see you around.

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Sunday Summary – 28th November 2021

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Hello and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update! It only seems like five minutes since I was sitting here this time last week sharing my update with you then. Aren’t the weeks just flying by?

This week I shared a couple of blog posts with you. On Thursday I shared a discussion post; in that post, I talked about how I manage my blog and read as well as my everyday life. Testament to the fact that you can’t control everything, that post was supposed to go live on Wednesday. However, we had an incident locally which took out my electricity for a while and so I couldn’t share this with you as planned. It does just go to show that sometimes life gets in the way!

Then on Friday, I shared a First Lines Friday post with you. In that post, I featured a book that I am listening to at the moment. I loved the introduction and I hope you do too! This is turning out to be a great listen and I hope you can check out that post to find out more about it.

 

Books Read

I’ll be the first person to hold my hands up and say that my reading progress has been pretty abysmal this week. My current read is Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. Progress this week goes as far as reading just a few pages of the book on Wednesday night, surrounded only by candlelight. Fortunately I have a Kindle with a back light, so this was how I’d planned to spend my evening if the power hadn’t come back on. But, it did, so my usual plan to FaceTime my sister went ahead and took up the rest of my evening pretty much. Then, I didn’t pick it up for the rest of the week. Terrible I know – I’ll be better next week I promise.

I have however listened to a lot more of Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell. I’m doing really well with this audiobook and it’s incredibly engaging! I have a bit of a stop/start relationship with audiobooks. I do really enjoy them, but I’m not in habit of listening to them all that much. That is, until I find one so great that I can’t stop listening to it. Traitor’s Blade is one of those books. I’m now about halfway through the audiobook and it’s a great listen. The author has done a fantastic job of juggling action in the narrative with context and backstory to the Greatcoats (the Order our main characters belong to). It’s fantastic and I can see myself progressing through this one very quickly.

 

Books Discovered

No news is good news, so they say… and I for one agree!

 

Coming Up…

Somehow we are hurtling towards the end of November, and that can only mean one thing. Later this week I will be sharing my Monthly Wrap Up for November and discuss the books I’ve read and the blog posts I’ve shared in the month.

On Friday I’ll return with a Shelf Control post. If you are unfamiliar with the series, it’s an opportunity for me to have a look at my TBR and feature the next book on my list. Not only is it a great way to get excited about the books on my list, but if I decide I’m no longer interested in a book, it comes off. 

Lastly, I’ll be sharing another Sunday Summary update for you this time next week.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s post, albeit there hasn’t been too much to report. Have you read Words of Radiance or Traitor’s Blade? Let me know in the comments!

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First Lines Friday – 26/11/2021

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Hello and welcome to today’s First Lines Friday post! First Lines Friday is a regular series in which I take the opportunity to share the opening introductions of a multitude of books. These may be books I’ve already read, are looking to read, or even just a little bit intrigued about. Having taken a few weeks break from these regular features I am back once again!

For today’s post I decided to keep the featured book an open selection. Having set myself a challenge for this post recently, I thought it would be refreshing to have a clean slate to choose from.

I hope you enjoy today’s feature!

 

Pretend, just for a moment, that you have attained your most deep-seated desire. Not the simple, sensible one you tell your friends about, but the dream that’s so close to your heart that even as a child you hesitated to speak it out loud. Imagine, for example, that you had always yearned to be a Greatcoat, one of the legendary sword-wielding magistrates who travelled from the lowliest village to the biggest city, ensuring that any man or woman, high or low, had recourse to the King’s Laws. A protector to many – maybe even a hero to some. You feel the thick leather coat of office around your shoulders, the deceptively light weight of its internal bone plates that shield you like armour and the dozens of hidden pockets holding your tools and tricks and esoteric pills and potions. You grip your sword at your side, knowing that as a Greatcoat you’ve been taught to fight when needed, given the training to take on any man in single combat.

Now imagine you have attained this dream – in spite of all the improbabilities laid upon the world by the I’ll-intentioned actions of Gods and Saints alike. So you have become a Greatcoat – in fact, dream bigger: pretend that you’ve been made First Cantor of the Greatcoats, with your two best friends at your side. Now try to envision where you are, what you’re seeing, what you’re hearing, what wrong you are fighting to right –

“They’re  f***ing again,” Brasti said.

 

 

Traitor’s Blade – Sebastien de Castell

Goodreads – Traitor’s Blade

Falcio is the first Cantor of the Greatcoats. Trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia, the Greatcoats are travelling Magisters upholding King’s Law. They are heroes. Or at least they were, until they stood aside while the Dukes took the kingdom, and impaled their King’s head on a spike.

Now Tristia is on the verge of collapse and the barbarians are sniffing at the borders. The Dukes bring chaos to the land, while the Greatcoats are scattered far and wide, reviled as traitors, their legendary coats in tatters. All they have left are the promises they made to King Paelis, to carry out one final mission.

But if they have any hope of fulfilling the King’s dream, the divided Greatcoats must reunite, or they will also have to stand aside as they watch their world burn…

 

My Thoughts…

I really wanted to feature this book today as I’ve recently started listening to the audiobook edition of this book and I’m really enjoying it! This is the first book I have picked up by this author and it’s fantastic. I tend to listen to audiobooks on and off. This book has got me back to listening to them again.

The narrative and backstory of Traitor’s Blade is really interesting. I’m already a third of the way through in just less than a week. That’s pretty unheard of for me. However, as I’m interested in it I’m making the effort to listen to it. Listening to audiobooks is a great companion to other hobbies I have, so it works really well for me.

Have you read or listened to Traitor’s Blade, or any other books by Sebastien de Castell? Does today’s First Lines Friday post make you want to pick it up for yourself? As always I would love to hear from you!

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Sunday Summary – 21st November 2021

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Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary update this week! As always, I hope you’ve had a good week? I’ve had a great one! Not only have I been off work and spending time with family, but I’ve also been doing a job I’ve been dreading in the garden – cutting down my second hedge to a reasonable height. I thought taking the first one down a couple of weeks ago was bad, but this second one was a whole different ballpark. But, never mind; it has gone now, which I’m a bit relieved about!

Aside from the mundane jobs around the house, and the significantly more exciting spending time with family, I have shared a couple of blog posts with you. My first post of the week was a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week’s subject was Top Ten Books to Read If You Like ‘X’; I chose fantasy as my subject. As I’ve read a lot of the genre I felt it was the most comfortable topic I could talk about. Not only that, but as there are a lot of fantasy books out there, I hope that featuring my favourites helps you find your next one!

On Friday I took part in a blog tour for The Warden by Jon Richter. This is a psychological thriller novel that I agreed to review as part of the tour. If you haven’t checked out my review you can find a handy link here – no spoilers in saying that I enjoyed the book! It is an interesting take on the pandemic and a potential future concept involving technology, and what could happen if we became highly dependent on it and it goes wrong. It was fantastic and I hope you can take a look at the book for yourself!

 

Books Read

As of the beginning of this week I had 25% of The Warden left to read before I could put my thoughts together for my review on Friday. I blitzed through this last hour’s worth of reading after publishing my Sunday Summary post last week. I don’t know how I can do that when I don’t plan to do it, but when I do plan to do it (as I did the week prior) I fail miserably. Never mind – it meant that I have plenty of time to get my thoughts together and draft my review.

I have since gone back to reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. I put this on hold briefly in order to do my reading for the recent blog tours I’ve taken part in (Million Eyes II and The Warden). It only equates to having read 5% of the book this week, but it’s progress. It works out at just over 50 pages, in case you’re interested. 5% doesn’t sound like much; 50 pages sounds better!

I’ve also started listening to a new audiobook this week. Whilst I was knitting the other evening I decided to start listening to Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell. I’m currently on chapter 2 and the introduction has been great. There is plenty of action to keep me interested but also enough history to get an idea of who our main characters are and their role in society as a whole. I can’t wait to keep listening to this and find out more! All in all, a fabulous start.

 

Books Discovered

No new additions again this week. You might find this report a little bit boring, but I personally am very happy about it. It means I can *pretend* my habit is in control.

 

Coming Up…

I’m all done for blog tours for now. I haven’t signed up to very many of them this year, and while I’ve enjoyed taking part in them, I’m also looking forward to being able to post in my own time.

I’ve been having a think about what I want to share with you and the plan is to share a discussion post with you early next week. The topic I have in mind is to talk about how I juggle writing content for my blog, as well as reading and also all the other bits I like to do. For anyone who doesn’t blog, it may give insight as to how much time it takes. And, for anyone who does, I may be able to offer some time management techniques that you may take away and try to implement yourself!

Later in the week I will be back with my regular Friday feature posts. This week I will be sharing a First Lines Friday post. I really enjoy sharing these and giving myself the opportunity to share a variety of books here on my blog. And for this week’s post I’m going to keep it open (as I set myself a challenge last time I shared this post). I hope you can join me and that you like the sound of the book I ultimately feature.

Then, last but not least, I’ll be back the same time next week with another Sunday Summary update for you.

In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed today’s post. Have you read any of the books I’m reading? Do any of them appeal to you? Let me know in the comments!

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Top Ten Tuesday – Books to Read If You Love… Fantasy!

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I wanted to take part in today’s Top Ten Tuesday post as I have extensive knowledge and experience in reading fantasy novels. If you read my blog you’ll know I absolutely love fantasy and I have ever since I was a teenager.

I have significantly diversified since my teenage years (partly because I read that much fantasy I got bored of the same thing over again), but it’s a genre I always go back to. It’s like a comfort blanket to me; it’s always there for me to go back to and I do so regularly.

Naturally, having read a lot of fantasy books, I have distinct favourites from genre. And today, I’m sharing those favourites with you and why they make the cut.

 

Game of Thrones series – George R. R. Martin

There shouldn’t be any surprises that this is on my list… and of course it’s on the top of my list! There are so many reasons that I think this is fantastic and if you read my blog already you’ve heard it a million times before. The narrative is great, the writing is fabulous and the characters are so tangible that it doesn’t feel like you’re reading a book. Honestly, it’s amazing, and I won’t bore you with telling you why I think so all over again

 

Mistborn series – Brandon Sanderson

This was the first series I read by Brandon Sanderson and I stand by the fact that it’s my favourite. I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who has yet to try any of Brandon Sanderson‘s writing. It is a series, but it’s a very approachable one. If, like me, you love the idea of a magic system having a basis of science then this is definitely one for you!

 

The Kingkiller Chronicle series – Patrick Rothfuss

It has been so long since I picked any of these books up, and I’m still waiting for the last of the series, but I’ll never forget the impression this made on me as a teenager. For the reasons I love a Game of Thrones, I love this series as well. The characters are so detailed and know one of them perfect and they acknowledge this. The world building is also spectacular. The narrative style is also unique as the book is written as if the main character is telling the tale in recollection after the event. At the time I read this series, this was the first time I’d come across this technique. I think it really works!

 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone series – Laini Taylor

The reason the series is on the list is because I loved it, despite it having so many elements that I should have enjoyed. I’m not a big fan of romance, and typically YA is not my style (with a few exceptions) but I love this series so much that I read it in a matter of months. That’s unheard-of for me! Are usually drag them out for so long but I had to binge read this – it was that good!

 

The Raven’s Mark series – Ed McDonald

Blackwing

After I finished the last book of the series, Crowfall, I cried because it was over. How sad is that?! It will become apparent to you that a lot of the books on this list are designated so because the character development is far more than superficial. There’s character development, and then this character development and these books take them one step further. Ryhalt Galharrow is the kind of character you don’t want to like… but you can’t help it! Somehow addressing his faults makes him endearing to us as the reader. He is entirely human in his mistakes. He kills people, and has own selfish reasons for doing the things he does. But we also see the other human side of him – The part of him that is scarred emotionally and how he reacts to events in the book certainly demonstrates that.

Just go and read it, okay? And try not to cry like a baby like I did.

 

Gentlemen Bastards series – Scott Lynch

It’s hard to believe from reading the series that it is Scott Lynch‘s debut. The narrative is absolutely amazing and and I loved the crassness of it. It’s clever and witty and a fun read… Especially if you like characters of a less than honest nature!

Again, please go and read this. However-a word of advice: if you take offence to the swearing in the title, definitely don’t read this book. It doesn’t get any better!

 

The Broken Empire series – Mark Lawrence

I really liked The Broken Empire because again, it has a main character who from the beginning you don’t want to like but end up doing so anyway. This was the first series I read by Mark Lawrence and it’s inspired me to continue to read his works. I really liked the narrative and my teenage self really enjoyed these books. It’s series that I plan to go back and read again and that should tell you everything.

 

The Relic Guild series – Edward Cox

The narrative of The Relic Guild was so out there, and the series went on in a direction I completely didn’t anticipate from the beginning. That’s what I really enjoyed about this series. It was also very cleverly thought out and very easy to read considering the sophisticated magic and plot twists involved.

 

Harry Potter series – J. K. Rowling

The Harry Potter series is one of those eat you could pick up at any age. I first started reading these in my teenage years and you may know that I have picked these up again this year. I read the first five books so far. Even going back to the beginning, I found them really easy to read, but without being babyish. The plot and themes of the box get a lot darker for further on you go, so there is stark contrast to my last experience of the series versus restarting it. However, I really enjoyed going back and experiencing this again. It has been a long time since I picked these books up (I think I last read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows over eight years ago), But I’m loving taking the time to read them. It’s a classic series that is great for everyone!

 

Discworld series – Terry Pratchett

I love the Discworld series because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. But, at the same time, Terry Pratchett is able to include some quite serious themes, including gender equality, death, fame etc in a fun way. I would never have said that I would be a huge fan of satire, however the Discworld is a bit of this and I think it’s great. Put it this way – I have read 18 books from the series so far. That reminds me, I haven’t picked one up for quite some time. Maybe it’s time to start thinking about the next one!

 

Have you read any of the books listed in today’s Top Ten Tuesday post? Let me know in the comments! Or, do you have another favourite but I haven’t listed?

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Sunday Summary – 14th November 2021

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Good evening and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update! As always, I hope you’ve had a good week whatever you have been doing?

As for what I’ve been doing, I shared a blog tour review of Million Eyes II: The Unraveller on Wednesday this week. Having taken part in the blog tour for the first book of the series back in January 2020, I was keen to get involved and share my thoughts on this second instalment. If you haven’t yet read my review, you can find a link above. That post also links to my review of the first book of the series, so if you want to catch up from the beginning that’s the place to go. In fact, I’ll pop a handy link to that here as well.

On Friday I shared a Shelf Control post. It’s a regular series here at Reviewsfeed that gives me the opportunity to review the books on my to be read list, whittle out anything I no longer want to read and feature those that I do! This week I featured a book that’s been on my list for a few years. My sister reminded me after I shared this post, she managed to get a copy of it as part of an O2 deal. She had asked if she could read it before she handed it to me, and I never saw it. She had a laugh with me about it after my post went live, and confided that she didn’t finish it herself. However, when she comes to visit at Christmas I’ll get my hands on it!

 

Books Read

 

In last week’s Sunday Summary update I had 15% of Million Eyes II: The Unraveller left to read. I was right on those stats even though I couldn’t cross check against my Kindle. That worked out to be about an hour‘s worth of reading time, however, my plan to read it on Sunday night didn’t work out. I ended up knitting instead…

However, I did go on to read this on Monday evening and at the same time I started my blog post draft while my thoughts were fresh. The ending was very good; it ended up being quite a complex narrative with so many interlinking parts, however it was executed very well. It was a pleasure to read and I’m glad I took part in the blog tour for it!

After this, I started to read The Warden by Jon Richter. I have a read and reviewed a book by Jon Richter previously, Auxiliary: London 2039. I enjoyed this book immensely and I signed up for the blog tour of The Warden ages ago. Well, the time has finally come for me to read this book as my blog tour post for this book is due to go live next Friday.

I have to say, the book is every bit as good as I expected. It’s an action-packed psychological thriller. The majority of the narrative takes place in 2024, with flashbacks to beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus in this fictional narrative has mutated exceptionally and humans have to take more and more drastic action in order to avoid contamination. Like sealing themselves into buildings supported predominantly by an AI. But what if something goes wrong? Without going into any detail that’s the crux of the narrative and I’m really enjoying it. Naturally, anyone uncomfortable with the theme of the pandemic being the linchpin of the narrative might not choose to read this one. However, I very rarely shy away from a topic and I think it works really well!

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I am 3/4 of the way through the book. The remaining time left to read is about an hour and so I have plenty of time to get this finished before my blog tour post on Friday. I hope you like the sound of the book based on little snippets I told you and that you can check it out in full on Friday.

 

Books Discovered

Once again, I’m pleased to confirm that my TBR has not gotten any longer. Thankfully!

 

Coming Up…

I’ve decided to take part in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday post. The topic of the post is “Books to Read If You Love ‘X’”. For this topic, I’ve decided to stick with the genre I have read most extensively, which is fantasy. If you love fantasy books as much as me then take the time to check out my list on Tuesday. In that post I will be featuring my favourite books of the genre and why I love them!

As I mentioned above, I will be sharing my thoughts in a blog tour review for The Warden by Jon Richter on Friday. That means my usual Friday feature will be taking a very short break just for this week. I can already tell that this post is going to be a good one. If you like the sound of the book based on my description above I really hope you can check out my full thoughts on Friday. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

As always, I will be rounding off the week with my next Sunday Summary update this time next week.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s post and until next time, happy reading!

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Sunday Summary – 7th November 2021

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Good evening everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update! Have you had a good week? I sure hope so!

Earlier this week I shared my monthly wrap-up for October. Part of me can’t believe that it’s November already, the other part of me is starting to panic that it’ll nearly be December, then Christmas, and then 2022 before I can blink! I digress. In my wrap-up post, I shared the books I picked up over the course of October and also the blog posts I shared during the month. If you haven’t had a chance to check that post out already you can find a link above.

On Friday I shared a First Lines Friday post. In last week’s Sunday Summary update I set myself the challenge of featuring a book I read before I started blogging. I had a few ideas in mind, but the book I featured in the end is the first of a series that I really enjoyed, but didn’t continue in a timely manner. So, I ended up DNF’ing the second book. However, featuring this book has reminded me of this fact and so I plan to revisit it again from the beginning!

 

Books Read

This week I have continued to make progress with Million Eyes II: The Unraveller by C. R. Berry. I have a review blog post coming up on Wednesday next week and so I’ve been making solid progress with this book. I’m really enjoying it too! There is a lot of action on going and as I’m drawing towards the conclusion, I can’t wait to see how it all ends.

Off the top of my head (because my kindle is charging and I can’t check) I think I’m now 85% through, and finishing the book is about an hours worth of reading time left. I plan to finish this tonight once this post goes live. That way, I have plenty of time to get my thoughts together ready for my blog tour review!

I also made great progress with The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch. I only went and finished this last night! I’ve taken to listening to music or audiobooks as and when I’m working on a knitting project. I started listening to The Hanging Tree on a whim whilst working on a cardigan sleeve last night. I got really into it and before I knew it, I had listened to the last two hours of the audiobook! I’m really enjoying the series so far and The Hanging Tree lived up to expectation.

 

Books Discovered

Seeing as how I added a book to my list last week, I’ve been really good and I’ve been avoiding all bookshops known to man. Sometimes, I just have to avoid temptation…

 

Coming Up…

As I mentioned above, I have a blog tour post that is due to be posted on Wednesday for Million Eyes II: The Unraveller by C. R. Berry. I really hope you can join me for that post, and if you’re interested in reading up on the first book of the series in the meantime, you can find a link to my review here.

On Friday I will be back with another regular feature and this week I will be sharing a shelf control post with you. In this mini series, I take the opportunity to have a look at the books on my TBR, review if they still appeal to me to read and share with you the details!

I really hope you can join me for these posts, as well as my usual Sunday Summary wrap-up up at the end of next week. Until next time, have a good one.

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First Lines Friday – 05/11/2021

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Hello and welcome to today’s First Lines Friday post! This is a regular series in which I take the opportunity to share the opening introductions of a multitude of books. These may be books I’ve already read, are looking to read, or am even just a little bit intrigued about. Having taken a few week’s break from these regular features I am back once again!

Sometimes I set myself a challenge with these posts, and to keep things interesting I set myself a challenge in this post to feature the opening lines of a book I read before I started blogging. I’ve thought long and hard about the books I read in my teenage years as I want to feature one that I loved back then.

I hope you enjoy today’s feature!

 

He had many names. Although yet to reach his thirtieth year history had seen fit to garner him with titles aplenty: Sword of the Realm to the mad king who sent him to plague us, the Young Hawk to the men who followed him through the trials of war, Darkblade to his Cumbraelin enemies and, as I was to learn much later, Beral Shak Ur to the enigmatic tribes of the Great Northern Forest – the Shadow of the Raven.

But my people knew him by but one name and it was this that sang in my head continually the morning they brought him to the docks: Hope Killer. Soon you will die and I will see it. Hope Killer.

 

Blood Song – Anthony Ryan

Goodreads – Blood Song

“The Sixth Order wields the sword of justice and smites the enemies of the Faith and the Realm.”

Vaelin Al Sorna was only a child of ten when his father left him at the iron gate of the Sixth Order. The Brothers of the Sixth Order are devoted to battle, and Vaelin will be trained and hardened to the austere, celibate, and dangerous life of a Warrior of the Faith. He has no family now save the Order.

Vaelin’s father was Battle Lord to King Janus, ruler of the unified realm. Vaelin’s rage at being deprived of his birthright and dropped at the doorstep of the Sixth Order like a foundling knows no bounds. He cherishes the memory of his mother, and what he will come to learn of her at the Order will confound him. His father, too, has motives that Vaelin will come to understand. But one truth overpowers all the rest: Vaelin Al Sorna is destined for a future he has yet to comprehend. A future that will alter not only the realm, but the world.

 

My Thoughts…

I remember really enjoying this book when I read it as a teenager. I couldn’t tell you exactly how many years ago it was because it has been a long time! It was great though!

My only fault is that I didn’t continue the series at the time. I did try to pick up the second book at a later date, Tower Lord, but as I’d left it quite sometime since starting the series I struggled with recalling the events of the previous book. Ultimately I didn’t finish the second book, but in writing this post I’ve reminded myself that I would like to revisit the series. Consequently, I’ll have to start from the beginning again. But, as the first book left such a great impression I have no doubt that re-reading it will be just as good as the first time.

Have you read Blood Song or any other books by Anthony Ryan? What did you think if you have? Does today’s First Lines Friday post make you want to pick it up for yourself? As always I would love to hear from you!

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