Tag: Gothic fantasy

Sunday Summary – 26th May 2024

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Good evening readers! It’s time for another Sunday Summary update to catch you up on all I’ve been reading this week! Before that though, here’s a quick recap of the blog posts I shared.

I stuck to the same schedule as last week and as such, I’ve only shared one other post with you so far. That was a Top Ten Tuesday post about authors I would like to see another book by. These are for a multitude of reasons, from finishing up partly written series to having more content from favourite authors. If you want to see who they are, you can check out this link to the post and read for yourself.

 

Books Read

Empire of the Damned

I left off last week’s Sunday Summary at 318 pages into Empire of the Damned.

At the end of last week’s Sunday Summary post I shared how I was hoping to tell you that I finished this book this week. Indeed, I have! I finished Empire of the Damned last night and I can’t wait for the next sequel already. No doubt I’ll have to wait a while…

I really enjoyed how this story introduces an additional perspective, and one that challenges the one given by Gabriel. I love this format, but adding this extra element of conflict has us wondering where the truth really lies. If you are the kind of person who likes reading between the lines as well, then you will have a field day as I did!

I love the drama that unfolds in this book and I’m not surprised in the slightest by the cliffhanger the book is left on. It’s done its job of making sure I pick up the next book and the series as soon as it comes out!

 

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes

Another continuation from last week’s Sunday Summary is my audiobook listen of Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes. In my last update post, I shared that I had listened to the first 1 1/2 hours so far. As of this Sunday Summary update, I have listened to approximately another 4 hours of this audio. In total, progress in this audiobook so far is at just over 33%.

At the moment we are listening to Terry‘s younger years in journalism and how he broke out as an author. I’ve especially enjoyed listening to his years and antics of going to science-fiction conventions and having an interest in the genre; I have just started one of his science-fiction books on my May TBR. It feels like impeccable timing!

As can only be expected, this book is full of humour and about celebrating the life of an intelligent and witty man. This is going to be an ongoing listen and I hope to have more progress to share with you next week.

 

The Long Earth


The last book to share with you in terms of this week’s reading progress includes The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I just started reading this earlier today and I’m already invested!

I haven’t read much of Stephen Baxter before although I have sampled his book Coalescent. In what I have read so far, I can identify some contribution from Terry in terms of humour but the writing style works really well.

I only had one reservation going into this book in that I have not got on with collaborations between Terry and other authors in the past. A few years ago, I tried reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and ended up DNF’ing it. However, I think that is more of a reflection on my not being a fan of Neil Gaiman’s writing. I’m sorry if you are a fan of his, but I just can’t get on with his writing style. It’s personal preference.

As of this Sunday Summary update I have read the first 50 odd pages and I’m getting on with the story quite well. I’m curious as to where it’s going to take us, but the first 50 pages have set up the narrative well.

 

Books Discovered

My bank account remains happy this week as no pennies have been spent on books. I have added another one to my reading list this week, but I will wait until nearer the time to get myself a copy.

Earlier this week we had conversations at work about objectives and development plans. After having a conversation with my manager about progressing into more of a management role, I found a book that will hopefully help me. That is Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader.

 

Coming Up…

There’s no rest for the wicked next week as we are coming up to the end of May. With that in mind, I’ll be featuring my usual midweek post, as well as my monthly wrapup on Saturday and then a Sunday Summary to wrap-up at the end of the week.

My first post of the week is going to be a Discussion Post and I want to talk about  making time for reading. You’ll see why that’s something that’s on my mind when I share that post.

As I mentioned above, Saturday is the 1st of June and I plan to share a recap of all the reading I’ve done throughout the month of May. We’ll see which books I’ve got two on my TBR this month, as well as the ones I haven’t.

And as always, I’ll be back at the same time next week with another summary of the reading progress I’ve made over the last seven days.

I hope you can check out any and all of those posts. I look forward to seeing you in the next one, whichever that may be!

 

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Sunday Summary – 19th May 2024

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Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary catch-up post. It’s good to see you here! I hope you’ve had a good week?

Weather-wise it’s been a pretty good one and I was out making the most of it yesterday. It’s weird to think there are parts of the Island I live on that I’ve not really been to before. Well, there’s one less now!

There is only one other post I’ve shared with you so far this week and that was my review of Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb. This is the second book in the Farseer trilogy and a great sequel to Assassin’s Apprentice. If you haven’t checked out that review already or are interested in the series in general, I recommend checking that out. I’ve even made it easy for you…

 

Books Read

 

Empire of the Damned

I started off this week already 185 pages into Empire of the Damned. As of this week’s Sunday Summary, I can share that I’ve picked the book up further and I am now 318 pages in, or 48%.

More recently, I do most of my reading during my lunch hour at work. Reading and eating at the same time is fine if you have a sandwich, but this week I decided to be good and make salads. Reading a chunky hardback book is a lot more difficult to do at the same time. I also went out on an organised walk on Wednesday lunchtime with colleagues.

Consequently, reading progress was affected by less time spent reading. That’s not any reflection on the book. I absolutely love this second book and how it’s deviated from the first. It feels like a much more rounded narrative and I am at decisive point in the story. I can’t wait to see what happens next. The good news is that once this post goes live tonight, I’ll have time to dive back in!

 

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes

Over the course of this week I have listened to the first 1 1/2 hours of Terry Pratchett’s biography, A Life With Footnotes.

As a big fan of Terry Pratchett’s writing, reading his biography has been on my radar for some time. Given that I get on great with non-fiction in audio format, this was a no-brainer. I love that the audio is also narrated by the author, Rob Wilkins. Rob was Terry‘s personal assistant and has very intimate knowledge of his career and personal life. This reflects in the narrative already and I can’t wait to hear more about Terry as I progress through the audio.

 

Books Discovered

Whilst my bank account will be happy that I haven’t made any purchases this week, I have added one book to my reading list. The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher is a non-fiction about how social media has affected our brains and society. From the sample I read, it sounds very investigative and factual as opposed to radical. I’ve watched documentaries on the same topic before (The Social Dilemma on Netflix is a goos example) and really enjoyed them. With this in mind, I want to give the book a go!

 

Coming Up…

Keeping a two-post schedule is suiting me at the moment, so I’m sticking to it next week. My midweek post will go live on Tuesday as I like the topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday instalment – Author’s I’d Love a New Book From.

I’ll then take a few days off before sharing a Sunday Summary next weekend. With any luck I’ll have more reading progress to share with you… hopefully I can finish if I push myself a little 😊

What are you reading at the moment?

 

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Sunday Summary – 12th May 2024

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Hello fellow readers and welcome to this week’s instalment of my Sunday Summary weekly update.

Broadly, things have been back to normal scheduling this week. I’ve shared two posts with you so far, and here’s a recap of what they were in case you missed them!

The first of those was my Monthly TBR for May. I’ve done my usual and set myself an ambitious list. However, although some of the books are longer in length, their format means they are going to be very quick to read. At least, that’s what I’m hoping. Based on previous experience, that’s what I expect. If you haven’t seen that list yet, here’s a link so you can go and check it out.

My next post was a return of my Friday feature, Shelf Control. In this week’s post I feature a mammoth anthology made up of big name writers that I want to pick up and try. Admittedly, I’ll probably have to read it in bits as it’s over 1000 pages long! Have you heard of this one? Does it sound like something you want to read? Go and check out that post to find out.

 

Books Read


Empire of the Vampire

I left off in last week’s Sunday Summary post with just 80 pages left of Empire of the Vampire. With the motivation to not still be reading the book when I published my May TBR, I sped through these last few pages quite quickly!

I enjoyed Empire of the Vampire the second time round as much as I thought I would!

I also got to appreciate my special edition copy by picking it up again, so it was a win-win situation. This got me up to speed with events of the first book again, so I am able to pick up the sequel. You’ll see more on that below!

I love the narrative style employed in these books as we flip between a present day Gabriel looking back and recounting his story. I love the snippets of hindsight, but also start contrast of attitude and experience the character has versus his younger self. It’s a narrative style I will come back to again and again!


The Icepick Surgeon

Another intended quick finish to talk about in this Sunday Summary is my listen of The Icepick Surgeon by Sam Kean. As of my last update post, I had just about an hour left of this audiobook to get to completion.

The Icepick Surgeon is a great read or listen for anyone who likes to explore ethics and morality around science practice throughout the ages. This book covers a wide array of periods, circumstances and individuals. From rumours of malpractice conducted by figures such as Cleopatra to modern day scientists facing backlash for their own malpractice, there’s a lot to explore here.

I learned plenty of things about the profession that I didn’t know before. Personally, I also enjoy looking at the morality side of things, so this book was perfect for me. I will also strongly recommend the audiobook as it was an engaging listen and very easy to follow.


Empire of the Damned

After publishing my May TBR, I had a bit of internal debate as to whether to read Empire of the Damned straight away. However, I ultimately reasoned that I’d read the first book in the series to catch up on events, and what better time to start reading then immediately afterwards?

Therefore, I’ve spent this week starting Empire of the Damned and as of this post, I am 185 pages in. I actually like that I’ve picked this up straight away. I’m familiar with characters and their motivations, but the story is also taken a bit of an unusual turn. Therefore it doesn’t feel to see me to what I read in the first book. I’m intrigued as to how events are going to pay out and the inevitable conflict that will take place. Hopefully I can make good progress with this book in the next week and have a bit more to tell you in that update.


F*ck No

After finishing The Icepick Surgeon, I moved on to listen to a book called F*ck No. If you are unfamiliar, it is a self-help guide to help overachievers, pushovers or anyone who struggles to say no, to adapt their mindset and ability to stand up for themselves.

As I’m sure you will expect from the title, this book is witty and entertaining as well as informative. I really like Sarah Knight’s style and I love that she narrates the audiobook herself. Stories are helpful in showing how the tips she shares can be put into practice

F*ck No is only a short audiobook and I just finished listening to it this morning whilst out gardening.

 

Books Discovered

It’s another quiet week in terms of acquisitions or books added to my reading list this week – there are none to share with you in this Sunday Summary!


Coming Up…

This week I plan to share a review of the second book in a series that I have come to love. Robin Hobb is fast becoming one of my favourite authors of all time. In this post, I will review the second book of the Farseer trilogy, Royal Assassin!

As always, I’ll be back with a Sunday Summary at the end of the week to catch you up on the books I’ve read, and I’ve picked up over the last week and to recap the content I’ve shared.

I hope you can check out any or all of these and until then, I’ll see you around!

Happy reading!

 

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Sunday Summary – 5th May 2024

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Good evening and welcome to another Sunday Summary update post!

I’ve been a little hands off on the blog this week due to personal circumstances. I attended a funeral yesterday and I knew blogging towards the end of the week wasn’t feasible. I’ve also not read a lot since Friday (although I am listening to my current audiobook as I type).

The only post I’ve shared so far this week is my Monthly Wrap-Up for April. Although I’ve read fewer books, I was picking up some with a chunkier page count. Find out what I’ve been reading over the last month in that post.

Now, find out what I’ve been reading over the course of this week!

 

Books Read

 

Empire of the Vampire

Having gotten my reading obligations out of the way last week, I picked up Empire of the Vampire once again. I’ve done pretty well with progress too!

I started off the week at 384 pages into this book. For stats nerds, that’s a little over 50%. I’ve read exactly 250 pages this week, so I’m now on page 634. It’s been great to dedicate some time to this re-read once again. With the action ramping up, it’s been really easy to pick this up in my lunch hours and dive into the narrative. Less easy is convincing myself to go back to work afterwards… 

With just 80-odd pages until I’ve completed this book, I’m going to try my best to finish this (again) tonight! Wish me luck…

 

The Icepick Surgeon

Progress in my audiobook listen of The Icepick Surgeon is steady. In last week’s Sunday Summary post I shared that I’d listened to 5 hours of the audio. I’ve managed to do pretty much the same again this week.

I am loving listening to this book so far. It tackles very different topics of unethical behaviour and malpractice in science. I would strongly recommend this to anybody with any interest in the subject. It’s really easy to listen to and I find the content really engaging.

That means I only have just over an hour to go. I’m going to make an effort to finish this book very soon too! I confess as of drafting this post I’ve not even thought about books I’m going to read in May yet. It will be nice to tackle that list without having these two on it as carryovers.

 

Books Discovered

I’ve kept my head down this week so I have nothing new on the reading list to report to you  in this Sunday Summary update.

 

Coming Up…

The first post that will be making its way to you in the next few days is my reading list for May. As I’ve said above, I haven’t really put much thought into the books that are going on it yet. However, I have some freedom in that I have no obligations to factor in. I have plenty of books I have been looking to get to soon, so I suspect a few of those will end up there. Stay tuned to see which books I end up picking up!

There is every intention to go back to a usual blogging schedule this week. With this in mind, I’ll be back with another Friday feature – this time a Shelf Control post. If you are unfamiliar with this series, I take a look at books on my reading list and share why I’m excited to get to them. Hopefully, you can check that out later this week.

As always, I will be back at the same time next week with another Sunday Summary update post for you. I hope to be in a position where I’ve completed my ongoing reads as of this post and having started some of my May reads too.

Until then, I hope you have a fantastic week and I will see you in the next post! Happy reading!

 

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Sunday Summary – 21st April 2024

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I stepped back on the blog schedule this week to give myself some breathing space and get back to reading. In today’s Sunday Summary, you’ll see why that’s worked out for me compared to reading in previous weeks!

As a consequence of making that decision, I shared only one other post this week. That was a discussion post, in which I shared five reasons why we should re-read books. If you haven’t checked out that post already, or have your own ideas as to why re-reads are the best kind of reads, then I’d love you to hop over there and have a chat with me about it!

 

Books Read

 

Empire of the Vampire

Having only read 100 pages of Empire of the Vampire in the last two weeks, I wanted to step up my reading game and make more progress in this book over the course of this week. I have read more this week than I’ve managed in the last fortnight; as of this Sunday Summary, I’m now on page 384.

I am slower with re-reads anyway, but changes in my lifestyle mean I don’t have as much time to read. When I’m picking up a chunky book such as this, it’s naturally going to take a while!

I was hoping to have this read by now and not to have to set it aside for another reading obligation, but such is life. I have one last commitment coming up in a week’s time that I need to prioritise. So, I will have to put this book down for a bit. Maybe the break will do me good so that when I come back to it refreshed I can dive back in.

 

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

It’s wild how much progress I’ve made on audiobooks in the last week! For my least favourite form of reading, it’s currently working out really well for me.

In last week’s Sunday Summary post, I was 25% into the audiobook Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith. I had approximately 6 hours of audio to listen to in order to finish the book. I listened to the first couple of those when doing gardening and pottering around the house on Tuesday. The remainder of the book was devoured in one sitting yesterday, whilst doing housework and a craft project!

Needless to say, the speed of how quickly I listened to this audio tells you how engaged I was with it. I love this subject matter and I found it both easy and interesting to listen to. I can also see it as a book that I will revisit again in future. It is the kind that can be used as a reference again and again.

 

The Icepick Surgeon

As if that wasn’t enough, I’ve also started a second audiobook this week. The Icepick Surgeon is an interesting read about how those in the scientific field have blurred the lines of morality in the name of science and ‘doing good’.

So far I have only listened to the first couple of chapters in full and 75% of the third, but I’m already interested in the subject. I can already tell that this is going to be another easy and engaging listen. So, hopefully I’ll have as good an update for you next week as I did with Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

 

Books Discovered

Non-fiction reads are working really well for me right now. That’s partly the reason why I have added another to my reading list this week.

I was introduced to an article and individuals by a colleague at work around a condition she suffers from. It is one that is often swept under the carpet and little known about. Even to date, there are people who are bed-bound, unable to feed themselves or even tolerate any form of contact as a result of the condition.

That condition is myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) for short, or also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. The condition is being talked about a little more now as a consequence of the pandemic and a result of a long-Covid sufferers experiencing similar symptoms. It’s hoped that research into this will ultimately help ME suffers, but they have waited far too long.

The Puzzle Solver is a biography of one family’s experience of the condition, and it is awful to realise many exist this way. I don’t say live for a reason, because many don’t have a proper life at all.

 

Coming Up…

I’m going to share a Top Ten Tuesday post for the first time in a few weeks. This week’s topic is ‘unread books on my shelves that I hope to pick up soon’. God knows I have a lot (and less time to read these days), but I still want to try!

Next Saturday, I will be reviewing The Maiden of Florence as part of the blog tour with Rachel’s Random Resources. This is the obligation for which I need to put down Empire of the Vampire temporarily! This is a historical fiction novel based on a true story. I love the sound of the setting and I think female characters and rights are going to be very prominent in this narrative; I’m looking forward to picking it up!

As always, I’ll be back this time next week with my Sunday Summary wrap-up update. I hope you can stay tuned for that!

Until then, see you around!

 

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Sunday Summary – 7th April 2024

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Good evening readers and welcome to another Sunday Summary update full of bookish news and going on from here! Make yourselves comfortable so we can dive in to this week’s update post.

As always, let’s recap the blog posts I have shared in the last week. My first post of the week was a blog tour post featuring Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater. I originally published my review of this book back in February. But when I saw the tour invite, I promised to revamp it and share it as part of the tour. It worked out nicely as the author gets more publicity, and I already had a good deal of content prepared to share.

I shared a second blog to post just a couple of days later – this one for Enemies of Mercia by M.J. Porter. This was a brand-new read and review obligation, so that was my priority for this week. I really enjoyed this sixth instalment to the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles. If you have been following my reviews of the series on my blog, you’ll be especially interested to check out this latest review!

I shared a further post on Saturday given that those tour obligations meant I couldn’t feature my regular monthly wrap-up at the beginning of this month. Instead, that went live on Saturday, and I had plenty to recap in terms of reading throughout March. If you want a summary of the books I picked up, that is the post to take a look at!

 

Books Read

 

Enemies of Mercia

The first priority I had this week was to finish my read of Enemies of Mercia by M.J. Porter. As you will see above, I had a spot on the blog tour organised for its publication, and I had the pleasure of kicking the tour off. Needless to say, it was important that I finish this read in time to share my full thoughts on the whole book.

I enjoyed Enemies of Mercia every bit as much as I expected I would. Having read five books in the series to date, I had high expectations for the characters and storyline. I wasn’t disappointed!

If you love historical fiction set during the time Vikings came to Britain, then check out this book. Whilst the main events of this storyline don’t feature Vikings too heavily, they have already had their influence on the setting and characters so far. They are more prevalent in earlier books of the series, so I recommend checking them out.

Naturally, if you want to find out more about this book, or get access to links to reviews of the early book in the series, check out that review post I shared on Thursday.

 

Empire of the Vampire

As a result of prioritising Enemies of Mercia, Empire of the Vampire took a backseat this week. I did pick the book up one evening before bed, but admittedly only read 25 pages!

So, as of this Sunday Summary post, that puts me at page 196. Now that all my immediate obligations are out of the way, Empire of the Vampire will be my main reading focus once again.

 

The Atlas Six

After sharing in last week’s Sunday Summary post that I was so close to the conclusion of this book, I made it my priority to finish this audio this week.

In fact, I finished this audiobook on Monday. As it happens, the audiobook version I was listening to has quite a bit of bonus content at the end, so I was even closer to the finish line than I thought in that post!

I really enjoyed the story overall, although I wouldn’t say it lives up to the hype it’s gotten in my opinion. I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure I will continue to read the rest of the series. I’ve enjoyed it as a standalone and I think it has some interesting ideas.

 

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before

After finishing The Atlas Six, I looked for my next audiobook to pick up. On a whim, I chose to listen to Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before.

Of late, I find non-fiction a lot easier to listen to than fiction. I find it easier to follow, and it has become my preferred method of reading this type of book. To try and pick up the pace with audiobooks a bit more, and to listen to something different, I deliberately chose a non-fiction this time.

As of this Sunday Summary post, I have listened to the first four chapters of the book, which is about an hour and 20 minutes of the audio. If you’re interested, that works out at about 15% progress.

Next week I’ll be spending several hours on Monday and Tuesday evening baking for a charity cake sale at work. That would be the perfect opportunity to make further progress as I won’t be able to conventionally sit down and read during that time.

 

Books Discovered

I picked up some book recommendations around the topic of Neurodiversity this week. It’s a topic that’s been discussed at work, and several staff (including myself) put forward recommendations of content on the subject.

Someone seconded my recommendation of Unmasked by Ellie Middleton, which was great! They also shared a couple of other books which I added to my reading list – Untypical and Dirty Laundry.

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post of next week will be my reading list for April. As I am sharing this list quite late, you’re already seeing some of the books I’ll feature show up in my reading. However, circumstantially I had blog tours come up at the beginning of the month which inevitably delayed my regular monthly posts. I am looking forward to sharing that list though and giving you some more detail on what books I plan to pick up shortly!

Later in the week I bring back my First Lines Friday regular feature post. It’s been a few weeks since I shared one of these, and I’m looking forward to bringing it back. They are a fun type of post to share. Depending on my choice of book, I get to feature a great book I love, or get excited for one coming up on my reading list! Stick around to find out which I share in Friday’s post.

I’ll wrap up next week with another Sunday Summary post just like this one. If I have as much reading progress to share with you, then I’ll be on the right track!

Until then, have a great week and happy reading!

 

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Sunday Summary – 31st March 2024

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Good evening all and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update post! It’s been a mad busy week with work, so there’s been a lot to juggle.

Nevertheless, I’ve kept the blog ticking over! My first post of the week was a review of one of my favourite reads of 2022 – Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. I’m not sure if I’ve done the book justice, but I’ve for sure done my best to sell it to you. If you haven’t checked out that post and you want to check out the first book of an epic series, please do!

On Friday I shared the next instalment of Shelf Control, and I finally moved away from my deluge of non-fiction. This week, I featured a historical fiction novel that I’m looking forward to. It’s set from the perspective of German youths in WW2. Having read books in a similar setting before, I’m keen to see how unique the take is on the subject. If you want to know more, here’s a link to that post so you can check it out!

 

Books Read

 

Empire of the Vampire

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post I was 12%, or about 86 pages, into Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff.

I haven’t made lot of progress in this book this week due to work, plans and other commitments. I have read about another 90 pages though, which I’m not going to turn my nose up at. What I have read I have really enjoyed. Although I’ve read the book before, that’s not hampering my enjoyment second time around at all!

I have also had to set this aside temporarily in order to read another book for a blog tour coming up soon. More on that below.

So, as of this post, I will be picking up from page 171, after I finish reading Enemies of Mercia.

 

Enemies of Mercia

Speaking of which, Enemies of Mercia is a book I’m reviewing for blog tour next week. With that in mind, I picked up this book for the first time yesterday so that I have time to read it ahead of my review date.

Enemies of Mercia is the fifth instalment in M.J. Porter’s Eagle of Mercia Chronicles. I’ve read and enjoyed the earlier books in the series and featured them for blog tours. When I saw Enemies of Mercia on tour, I signed up straight away! I love the protagonist in this series as he is quite unique. As a young boy, he saw his place in the world as healing as opposed to becoming a warrior. However, circumstance dictated that he did indeed learn to become an accomplished warrior, though he doesn’t relish the role.

I’m not too far into Enemies of Mercia, but if it’s already clear that Icel is suffering from events that have taken place in the previous book. He is not the strong warrior he was then, and I’m keen to see if this ends up being a developmental opportunity for his character.

As of this Sunday Summary post, I am 14% into the book and will be making an effort to prioritise this in the next couple of days!

 

The Atlas Six

Around this week’s busy schedule, I have taken some time away from screens and enjoyed two hobbies in tandem – cross stitch and listening to audiobooks.

Listening to The Atlas Six is a slow burn at this point just because I don’t pick up audiobooks very much. That said, I am really enjoying this audio and I feel like events are really starting to pick up. I’m now 81% into this audiobook, and I’m really looking forward to finishing it! Admittedly, I wanted to listen to more of this audio this morning, but I had other things to do and so I’ve had to wait. It’s not very often I have to make that call, but clearly the drive to listen is there.

I listen to audiobooks on x1.2 speed, so I have 2 hours and 43 minutes listening time left of this audio. That’s not long, and given I’ve already listened to more than that this week alone, I should be able to tell you this time next week that I am done with this book! Finally…

 

Books Discovered

Since adding Breathtaking to the TBR last week, there’s been no activity or further additions to my reading list.

It’s long enough as it is, so I’m not complaining!

 

Coming Up…

I have two blog tour obligations this week, although thankfully I already have content pretty much sorted for one.

You may recall that I reviewed Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater a little while ago after reading the book last year. That book is now on tour, and I have agreed to spruce up and re-publish my review as part of the tour. Fans of science-fiction should definitely take a moment of their day to check out that post on Tuesday.

On Thursday, I am touring with Boldwood Books by sharing my review of Enemies of Mercia. If you have enjoyed any of my reviews for the prior books in the series, or enjoy historical fiction set in the Viking era, I hope you can take a look at my review.

Although it’ll be a little late compared to my usual scheduling, I plan to share my monthly wrap-up for March on Saturday next week. I need to prioritise my blog tours first. I’m also reluctant to commit to any more tight blogging deadlines next week as it’s one of my busiest weeks at work too. So, the wrap-up will be a little later than usual, as will April’s reading list.

That won’t be my final post of the week though. I’ll be back this time next week with another Sunday Summary post as usual. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to mark at least two of my current reads as complete in that update!

Until then, happy reading and I’ll see you in the next post!

 

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Sunday Summary – 24th March 2024

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Today’s Sunday Summary post comes to you from a very chilled out Rebecca. I have enjoyed this week off work and I really haven’t done that much at all. Unless you count making jobs of clearing out my wardrobe, taking said clothes to a donation bank and generally tidying up the house a bit. I honestly don’t know how I’ve managed to take the strain…

Jokes aside, it has been a great week for just switching off and taking time for hobbies. I’ve been working on my cross stitch project, reading, and in the latter half of the week, playing Horizon Forbidden West.

So, what have I been doing on the blog? Well, I started off the week sharing a book tag post that I saw initially on Misty‘s Book Space. Given upcoming content later in the week, I wanted to do something lighthearted. I had a great time sharing this post, and if you haven’t checked it out already, there is a link above.

Friday’s book review was for recent read Raven Lord by J.C. Duncan. This sequel to The Last Viking series is every bit is good as expected. If you want to check out my full thoughts on the book, there is a link to that review above. As I finished the book this week, there is a brief commentary below to give you a taster.

 

Books Read

 

Raven Lord

With my review for Raven Lord rapidly upcoming, my first priority this week was to finish the book. I left off last week’s Sunday Summary post having read 54%, so I still had nearly half to read. Oh what a shame that I had plenty of time to do so, eh?

I finished Raven Lord on Wednesday, and the book was every bit as good as I thought it was going to be! I enjoy how this series blends together action-heavy battle scenes with underlying political intrigue that drives this action. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter whether you are a reader who likes action lead narratives, or if you are someone who prefers the subtler side of things. There’s a bit of both in here!

I also really enjoyed the format in which the story is told. The present day narrative involves one of Harald’s key followers, Eric, retelling his story. It’s a format I love as it’s very light and conversational, making it approachable to read. It also offers a unique insight of feelings and impression rather than just pure fact.

I’m intrigued as to where this story will go. I believe this is a five part series, so there’s still plenty of scope for action and development! You can be sure I’ll be keeping up with it.

 

Empire of the Vampire

This week I have also started a re-read of one of my favourite books in 2022, Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. I’m re-reading this book as the sequel has not long been released and I want to refresher of what’s happened so far. Granted, I could have looked up on the web so then I could dive straight into the sequel, but where is the fun in that? I’m also very lucky to have received a special edition copy of the book as a gift since my initial read. It would be rude not to appreciate that… right?

As of this Sunday Summary, I’m not too far into the book, but I’ve made a healthy start. I’m 12% into this approximately 720 page narrative. I’ve loved whatever I’ve read as much as I did the first time, so I’m hopeful for a fun reading experience with this book once again!

 

The Atlas Six

Whilst I’ve been working on my cross stitch this week, I have taken the opportunity to listen to more of The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake.

I doubled last week’s efforts as I’ve listened to 2hrs over the week so far. Had I not been spending time gaming that would’ve been higher. However, I don’t really get the opportunity to play Horizon Forbidden West unless I am on leave purely because it’s not a game you can pick up for half an hour.

Excuses aside, I’ve had a good time with The Atlas Six. I still have absolutely no idea how this book is going to conclude, but I’m excited to see how things play out. There is potential for a lot of character conflict and drama. If that doesn’t happen, I might end up a bit disappointed, but I think it will. All the set up and tension is there ready to exploit, but we’ll see!

 

Books Discovered

Another thing I have been making more time for in the last week or so is catching up with TV series. This week I finished watching Breathtaking which was on ITV recently. If you are unfamiliar, this drama was set based on insights from a book of the same name, written by Rachel Clarke.

It’s a very good series, so if you haven’t watched it, I would recommend doing so. Or, if you’re on the bookish side like me, why not pick up the book?

 

Coming Up…

I’ve shared a few reviews for blog tours lately, and I’m looking forward to sharing another off my backlist. I have a lot of reviews to write, so I want to keep up momentum sharing these. For this week’s feature, I intend to review one of my favourite authors. My journey with this author started with this book and at the recommendation of my friend Rachael. That book is Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb.

I’ll be back with a Friday feature after a few weeks break due to other obligations. This week it’s the turn of my Shelf Control feature. Stay tuned for that!

Lastly, I’ll share my next Sunday Summary wrap up in a week’s time. With some great reads, I’m hopeful for a lot to share with you! If nothing else, I have a busy blog schedule coming up to share with you in next week’s Sunday Summary update.

What are you reading right now? Let me know in the comments!

 

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First Lines Friday – 08/03/2024

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Welcome to the next instalment of my First Lines Friday regular feature series.

As soon as I started planning today’s First Lines Friday post, I knew I wanted to feature today’s book. It’s a book I recently obtained a copy of, and it’s the one and only pre-order I have been waiting on for a good few months now.

It’s not very often I pre-order books I must admit, but this was an exceptional case! Let’s see if you can guess the book from the introduction.

 

The dead boy opened his eyes.

All was still and silent, he among it, and most of all. A statue he was, his only movement in the yawning of his pupils, the soft parting of his bloodless lips. There was no quickening of breath as waking claimed him, no deeping drumbeat beneath his porcelain skin. He lay there in darkness, angelic and bare, staring at the timeworn velvet canopy above, and wondering what had woke him.

 

 

 

Empire of the Damned – Jay Kristoff

Genre: Gothic Fantasy

Pages: 756

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Publication Date: 29 Feb 2024

 

 

Goodreads – Empire of the Damned

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Nevernight Chronicle, Jay Kristoff, comes the much-anticipated sequel to the #1 international bestselling sensation EMPIRE OF THE VAMPIRE.

From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hands sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.

Gabriel de León has saved the Holy Grail from death, but his chance to end the endless night is lost. Drawn into an uneasy alliance with the mysterious vampire Liathe, Gabriel must now deliver the Grail to ancients of the Blood Esani, and learn the truth of how Daysdeath might be finally undone.

But the Last Silversaint faces peril, within and without. Pursued by terrors of the Blood Voss, drawn into warfare between the Blood Dyvok and duskdancers of the frozen Highlands, and ravaged by his own rising bloodlust, Gabriel may not survive to see the Grail learn her truth.

And that truth may be too awful for any to imagine.

 

My Thoughts…

My original plan was to re-read Empire of the Vampire in February so that I was in a position to pick up Empire of The Damned this month. That’s not worked out, but Empire of the Vampire is high on my upcoming reading list. Technically it is not on my March reading list as I’ve changed the way I’m structuring those. However, it is very likely to be the next book I pick up after I complete March’s reading.

I am very excited to pick up this sequel, even if I wholly admit that I need to go back to the first book as a refresher. I read this book in 2022, but I also had covid at the time. I may have been on holiday, but the circumstances of reading this when I was ill has definitely impacted my recollection of events… if not how the book made me feel overall.

It would also be very rude of me not to pick up and read my special edition copy of Empire of the Vampire that my sister kindly gifted me…

Have you read Empire of the Vampire or any other books by Jay Kristoff? Do either of these books appeal to you for their dark and gritty nature? I would love to talk about these books, so let me know in the comments!

Thanks for checking out today’s First Lines Friday feature and I’ll see you again soon!

 

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Book Review: Empire of the Vampire – Jay Kristoff

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In today’s post, I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on one of my favourite reads of 2022! The book easily made it into my top 2022 reads list, and I will be reading the sequel as soon as it’s out next year!

Not too long to wait now!

 

Empire of the Vampire – Jay Kristoff

Genre: Epic fantasy / Gothic fantasy

Pages: 718

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: 07 Sept 2021

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – Empire of the Vampire

From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hand sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.

It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness.

Gabriel de León is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order could not stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains.

Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope:

The Holy Grail.

 

My Thoughts

For the most part, I’m not really one for vampire stories. There are some exceptions to that rule, and this book and future series is now one of them. I suppose I’m a little guilty of tarring books with vampires with a negative brush – whilst I haven’t read or watched Twilight, I’ve heard enough to have made my mind up…

I decided to give this book a go against my instinct because it was written by Jay Kristoff. Since I really enjoyed his Nevernight Chronicles series in audio format, I took the plunge in getting a hardback of this book. I didn’t regret it – not even taking this chunk in my hand luggage on holiday!

 

Plot

Empire of the Vampire, structurally, it’s quite typical of popular epic fantasy novels. There is good and evil, a smattering of religion, and magic that stretches the bounds of reality as we know it. There is some small element of coming of age growth by some characters in this book too, which I enjoyed. At the same time, it doesn’t overly overtake the plot in terms of emphasis either, which makes a refreshing change.

There is plenty of action in Empire of the Vampire, given there’s an ongoing war between humanity and the undead to keep the pacing of the book… alive. See what I did there? Fantasy books are stereotypically earmarked as being full of world building and info dumping. Don’t get me wrong, some of them do. It’s rare that I’ll complain about a book being too descriptive, because I personally enjoy delving into the background and setting of a book. If anything, I’m more likely to criticise a book for being too action orientated, and there not being enough depth for me. I’m still bitter at how much I loved Red Rising by Pierce Brown, but disliked its sequel, Golden Son. It’s a prime example of this at play. However, Empire of the Vampire balanced the two nicely!

 

Characters

If you’re looking to read fantasy on the lighthearted side, then you’re looking at the wrong type of book. Empire of the Vampire is very dark and visceral. What do you expect with vampires on the scene? However, we’re not just talking about the characters. We’re talking about descriptions, events and language. If you ever read the Nevernight trilogy by Jay Kristoff then you’ve already had a flavour of what you can expect in Empire of the Vampire.

One of the tropes I enjoy in fantasy, and is something I discussed recently in my favourite fantasy tropes post, is a non-altruistic protagonist. The protagonist Gabriel is a Silversaint, born and raised to fight against the paranormal and defeat the vampires oppressing humanity. However, he is not the devout and altruistic man he was raised to be. He is a man who experiences doubts and loses his way.

He is the last Silversaint, and whilst he does try to do the right thing broadly, it’s more for his own motives rather than for humankind’s benefit. In my opinion, having a protagonist any other way wouldn’t fit with this book. As I’ve already mentioned, it is a dark and gritty novel. If we had a sweetness and light go-getter to save the world character, he would stick out like a sore thumb. He has been kicked and beaten, physically and emotionally. He’s lost friends. To an extent, he loses his own identity because of the world he lives in. Whilst he may be fighting on the side of humankind in the long run, there are plenty who consider him a monster as well.

 

Narrative Style

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book. I wanted to give it a try because I have really come to enjoy Jay Kristoff’s writing style in previous books.

The narrative style (likened to Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind) and setting of the world appealed to me. It appealed to me for all the right reasons! I love the way in which this story is told. As in the aforementioned book, the story is told almost in the style of a confessional, through the eyes of the main character retrospectively. There are lots of people out there that love the style of narrative. Others don’t so much. Personally, I want to see more of it! I’ve read some fantastic books using this narrative style. Whilst some argue that it takes some of the joy and suspense out of knowing what happens to characters, I would argue that if it’s written well, that’s not the case at all!

The atmosphere and tension in the book kept me hooked! It definitely maintained Gothic vibes throughout, and I really enjoyed this. It’s not the typical book you would take for summer holiday reading, but I’m not a typical person! It really worked for me!

 

Summary

This book has everything you would expect from an epic fantasy – complex and detailed world-building, a vast array of characters with detailed backstories and relationships, and a storyline that will inevitably span a large number of chunky books!

I can’t wait for the sequel!

 

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