Tag: urban fantasy

Monthly Wrap-Up – September 2023

Posted on by

Hello readers and welcome to today’s monthly wrap-up post for my September reading list. In all, I read less than I anticipated. I have an inkling as to why this is, and I will discuss that later on. I didn’t want to be too hasty in changing tack, and so there was a bit of a delay in acknowledging that something wasn’t working for me.

Regardless, I had a decent reading month when it comes to the books I picked up! I enjoyed a couple of books for blog tours that I signed up for, as well as picked up some favourite authors.

Let’s dive into my monthly wrap-up!

 

Books Read

 

The Trail

In my August monthly wrap-up post, I left off with my current read being Wizard and Glass. However, with upcoming obligations to review two books as part of blog tours, I temporarily set Wizard and Glass aside on the 3rd of September.

The first of those obligations was to read a psychological thriller called The Trail. I really enjoyed this sinister feel to this book. The setting was quite unusual and unlike anything I’ve read before. If you enjoy the small town vibe in a book, then this is definitely one for you. This works in the setting of The Trail. Each of the main characters across both timelines find themselves the outsider, and this is acutely felt throughout!

I really enjoyed the sinister feel to this book and would strongly recommend it as a spooky read if that’s a vibe you’re going for in your October reading list! Naturally, if you want my full thoughts on the book, you can check out my review here.

 

Protector of Mercia

My second blog tour obligation was to read and provide a review for Protector of Mercia by M.J. Porter. That name may be familiar to you if you are a regular reader; I have featured a review of every book in the Eagle of Mercia chronicles to date.

In case it wasn’t already apparent, I am a big fan of the series. I really enjoy the unique perspective that these books are told from. Protector of Mercia differs from the earlier books in the series in that the focus of the plotline and tension is caused by internal politics rather than an external force. The change of perspective was an interesting one to read, and added to the series as a whole. Again, if you want to check out my full thoughts on the book, here is a link to that review.

 

Wizard and Glass

With my obligations over for the month, I returned to the final few hundred pages of Wizard and Glass. This book also differs from its predecessors in that the main focus of the book is Roland’s backstory. In previous books, there have been small hints to his past. However, in this book, we discover it in vast detail. The book is about 900 pages, and I would suggest that the backstory takes up about 750-800 of those.

Although I enjoyed Wizard and glGss, it wasn’t the book I expected it to be. For that reason, I rated it four stars as opposed to five. Personally, I like backstory such of this to be included in a narrative that has the present day action going on as well. This felt a little bit like an info dump.

All I can hope for is that we’ve done the legwork now and the next book in the series, Wolves of the Calla, throws us right back into the action!

 

Twelve Years A Slave

The next book I picked up had its own challenges. I never expected Twelve Years a Slave to be an easy read, and I proved right there.

Initially, I struggled with the writing style of this book. It shouldn’t really be surprising that the grammatical style of the writing is somewhat archaic and at times, difficult to read. The book was published in 1853, so why would language be the same or similar to now?

Despite the initial setback, I persevered as I was interested enough in the story of Solomon Northop to try and push on. I’m glad I did, because I went on to adapt to this new writing style and finish the book.

Although a difficult subject matter, I was really interested in this narrative. Solomon’s experience is but one of thousands, yet it is very telling of the average experience of slaves in the period. If you are a bit sensitive to reading about mistreatment of people, death, disease and depravity, then this book is clearly not for you!

I benefited from picking up the book as my history knowledge of the time period is very minimal. It’s not something that is really covered in modern day history curriculums… or at least, it wasn’t in mine. Now I can proudly say that I am at least a little bit educated on the subject!

 

A Storm of Swords – pt 1

As much as I love this series and author, I have struggled with A Storm of Swords this month. I’ve put it down to a couple of factors. Firstly, I have already read this book. As a result, I think something has switched in my brain to say that I have absolutely no urgency to read because I’ve read this book already.

Secondly, I picked this book up towards the end of September. If you’ve been reading my Sunday Summary posts, you’ll know that I’ve been busy with some other things around this time. For example, I spent a couple of evenings last week baking for a MacMillan Coffee Morning. As well, I’ve had plans that had me out of the house during my normal ‘reading’ hours.

As a result, as of this monthly wrap-up post, I’ve read approximately 250 pages of the book. that has to be about 40 odd percent of the book, which isn’t insignificant. However, it’s not as much progress as I would like given the amount of time I took to get there!

 

Priest of Bones

Partly in the knowledge of the above, as well as a matter of convenience, I started Priest of Bones on the very last day of the month.

I wanted to pick up something new and different in an attempt to get my reading mojo back. Not only that, Priest of Bones made a great choice as I was able to download it on the Kindle app on my phone and read it whilst at my hairdressers. I only made the most cursory of starts, but it was a promising one. I like the setup of the book so far, as well as the characters. I’m optimistic it’s a switch up I need and will benefit from!

 

Summary

As usual, I set myself an optimistic reading list at the beginning of the month, and I wasn’t able to get through it! There are some good reasons here as to why, but I think I need to cut myself more slack in future and allow for taking part other things, or not being in the mood!

I say that now, but we’ll see if I can stick to that in Friday’s monthly TBR!

That’s all for me in my monthly wrap-up post for September. What have you been reading recently, and do you have any recommendations?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Discussion Post – Favourite Fantasy Tropes

Posted on by

In today’s discussion post, I’m looking forward to sharing some of my favourite tropes in the fantasy genre. As I’m sure you’re well aware by now, I read a lot of fantasy. I would safely say that the genre makes up about half of my reading overall. I started reading as a teenager, and it has been my favourite ever since then. So, I know exactly what I my favourite fantasy tropes are, and why!

 

Realistic Magic Systems

When it comes to magic in fantasy books, I like mine to err on the side of realism. There is nothing more frustrating than getting really into a book to come across a convenience in the plot facilitated by magic because the author didn’t know what else to do to get their main character out of their predicament.

With this in mind, you can probably understand why I am such a fan of Brandon Sanderson. A lot of his books contain magical systems, but they have limits. For example, in his Stormlight archive books, the magic system centres around electrical storm light, which is captured in crystals and stored until used. But, once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Likewise, in his Mistborn series, there are physical limitations to the abilities many characters use. Firstly, abilities are limited by what metals individuals have affinity for. And likewise, when it comes to restrictions, they have to ingest the particular metal to be able to harness their powers. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Not only do these physical limitations make for a more realistic story, but more often than not, they provide some tension. The sign of a well thought out magic system, in my opinion, is if an author can deliberately write in these limitations, incorporate them somewhere in the plot to make for a tricky situation, and then have the main character figure out a plausible way of getting themselves out of said tight spot.

 

Reluctant hero / Non altruistic characters

Plenty of narratives throughout history have been written in a structure where characters are either inherently good or inherently bad. Think fairytales, for example. But the reality is, most people are neither. We all have some good, and we have some bad, and that all combines to make us the morally grey people we are.

I like this to reflect in the fantasy I read, and especially so in the protagonist role. There are plenty of books I’ve read with this kind of character in mind. The Raven’s Mark trilogy by Ed McDonald is the first that comes to mind. There are much larger examples of this amongst my reading. Why do you think I’m such a fan of A Game of Thrones? There are no significant characters in that book that come out clean, shall we say.

 

Medieval setting

Whilst I have branched out somewhat in the last 12 months in trying to read more eastern inspired fantasy, I have a read far more that are inspired by a medieval European setting. Think large castles surrounded by vast swathes of villages, farmland and homesteads of the common people. It is very heavily used by Western fantasy writers, and I’m not even mad about it. I really enjoy this type of setting and it’s familiarity.

That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed branching out. In fact, it is something I’m going to be looking to doing more of in future!

 

Those are my top three fantasy tropes!

Are there certain tropes in fantasy you love reading again and again? Are there any fantasy tropes you really don’t like? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Fable

Sunday Summary – 20th November 2022

Posted on by

Hello, hello – welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update post. I hope you have had a fantastic week because I’m really excited to tell you about this week’s progress. Personally, it has been a good and productive one!

At the beginning of the week, I shared my review of Warrior of Mercia by MJ Porter. It was a pleasure to take part in this blog tour, as I have done so for the first two books of the series as well! This book lived up to every single one of my expectations. If there are further books in the series, I will be jumping on the bandwagon very quickly!

Later in the week, I shared a First Lines Friday post. I will hold my hands up here and say I made a bit of a boo-boo. I forgot to schedule this post in advance. The post was sat in my notes and ready to be edited and scheduled, but I just hadn’t done that bit. As a result, I shared it on Friday night after I’d noticed my error. Apologies if you were looking out for it earlier in the day.

 

Books Read

Babel

This week I made fantastic reading progress with Babel by R.F. Kuang. Ironically, I was partly motivated to read this book because I was excited to pick up my next read… one that I ended up DNF’ing quite quickly. More on that one in a moment. In my last Sunday Summary update, I was 172 pages into Babel. 

It was good to finally pick up Babel and stick with it. Because I have been juggling commitments with blog tours of late, I have been picking up and putting this book down quite a bit. Now that I had no further commitments, I was able to dedicate the due time and attention Babel deserved – and boy, did it deserve it! The fact that I read the remaining 370 odd pages in just a handful of days testifies how much I enjoyed this read. It is the kind of book that has you thinking about it even when you’re not actively reading it.

What I found refreshing about Babel is that it doesn’t read that strongly as a fiction novel. It is quite academic in tone. As someone who was interested in language and linguistics growing up, I enjoyed the little translation references dotted throughout. This book also has a reference to the Manx language in it, which surprised me! Even locally, it is only thought that about 2% of the population of the island is fluent in it. I know some passing phrases such as good morning (moghrey mie) and good evening (fastyr mie), but that’s about all.

 

Malice

Next, I picked up the book I have been really excited to read – Malice by John Gwynne. I have shared details about this book on my blog of late, particularly commenting on how long it has been on my reading list, and that it is probably the oldest book on my TBR.

Not anymore. I spent about three days struggling through the first 40 pages. When you compare that with my reading average earlier in the week of nearly 100 pages a day, that’s dreadful. The introduction to this book just didn’t grab me at all. When I first picked up this book many moons ago (before I started my blog), I only made it to chapter three. My perception can’t have been much better, because I put it down then as well.

I’m enjoying a really good reading streak at the moment, and I fear that if I try to struggle with Malice, I will lose it. Instead, I decided to DNF this book for good and swiftly moved on to the next (and last physical) book on my November reading list.

 

Dear Child

I started Dear Child quite late this morning, and I’m already 10% through the book. The introduction captured my attention immediately. I’m interested to learn about the dynamic of the characters and how events have come to pass to date. There’s not much to say about this particular book at this time, because I have only spent around 30 to 40 minutes reading it so far. I look forward to sharing a further update with you next week!

 

Books Discovered

Once again, no news is good news! With the reading progress I’ve made, I have effectively ticked a couple off of my reading list, and there are no new additions. The list is going in the right direction for once!

 

Coming Up…

Early next week, I have decided to share another book review with you. As I have quite a long list of books I have read, but not yet reviewed, I decided to knock one of those off the list. The book I am featuring next week is Red Rising by Pierce Brown. If you enjoy the science-fiction and/or dystopia genres, I strongly recommend checking out my review on Tuesday!

Later in the week, it is the turn of my Shelf Control regular feature post. This week’s feature is a bit of a funny one. I decided to add this book to my reading list as a result of playing the original Assassin’s Creed game as a teenager – I wanted to learn more about the facts behind some of the characters. If you are intrigued, then stick around and check out my post on Friday.

As always, I will be back next Sunday evening to share my reading progress with you in my next Sunday Summary post!

Until next time, have a wonderful week!

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

First Lines Friday – 28/10/2022

Posted on by

Hello all welcome to today’s First Lines Friday post! I hope you are having a lovely day to conclude the working week?

In today’s First Lines Friday post, I wanted to do something different in terms of my book selection. Sometimes I set myself a challenge for these posts, and today’s selection was along those lines. Rather than picking a book that I’ve been thinking about of late, I decided to let an element of randomisation in.

Instead, I decided to go to my Goodreads homepage and look through the books on my feed until something caught my eye. It didn’t take very long, as the fourth book I found is the sequel to another that I know is on my TBR. I decided to check out that first book rather than skipping it and going for the second (the book I actually saw), and then took a look at it for First Lines Friday potential. It did not disappoint.

Let’s check out today’s introduction!

 

There is so much blood.

Roger didn’t know there was this much blood in the human body. It seems impossible, ridiculous, a profligate waste of something that should be precious and rare — and most importantly, contained. This blood belongs inside the body where it began, and yet here it is, and here he is, and everything is going so wrong.

Dodger isn’t dead yet, despite the blood, despite everything. Her chest rises and falls in tiny hitches, barely visible to the eye. Each breath is a clear struggle, but she keeps fighting for the next one. She’s still breathing. She’s still bleeding.

 

 

Middlegame – Seanan McGuire

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 492

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Tor

Publication Date: 07 May 2019

 

 

Goodreads – Middlegame

New York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in this standalone fantasy.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

 

My Thoughts…

As you know, I am a big fan of fantasy. I’ve also been reading a lot more in the way of science fiction in recent years. One of the things that excites me about this book is that it seems to combine the two genres very well.

Middlegame has been on my TBR since May 2019 – pretty much since its publication. However, I haven’t gotten around to reading it as yet because my reading list is huge!

I can’t wait to finally get around to reading this one. Whilst the synopsis indicates it was originally published as a standalone novel, a second novel has since been published, which revolves around different characters. As to whether that book makes it to my TV or remains to be seen – I will see how I like middle game first. Based on the synopsis and the reviews I have read, I am pretty sure this is one I will enjoy!

Have you read Middlegame, or any other books by this author?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

First Lines Friday – 26/08/2022

Posted on by

Happy Friday and welcome to another First Lines Friday post! First Lines Friday is a regular series on my blog. It’s a fun way to share books I love, am interested in and/or are on my TBR. Sometimes I like to experiment with something new!

I was inspired to share the opening lines of today’s feature, as I recently received my Illumicrate exclusive edition. The book sounds amazing, and the edition I received is absolutely stunning! I shared a reel last Friday on Instagram of my unboxing, so if you haven’t checked that out, please go and check out my Instagram page.

Without further preamble, shall we dive into today’s First Lines Friday introduction?

 

By the time Professor Richard Lovell found his way through Canton’s narrow alleys to the faded address in his diary, the boy was the only one in the house left alive.

The air was rank, the floor slippery. A jug of water sat full, untouched by the bed. At first the boy had been too scared of retching to drink; now he was too weak to lift the jug. He was still conscious, though he’d sunk into a drowsy, half-dreaming haze. Soon, he knew, he’d fall into a deep sleep and fail to wake up. That was what happened to his grandparents a week ago, then his aunts the day after, and then Miss Betty, the Englishwoman, a day after that.

 

 

Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution

Genre: Historical Fantasy / Dark Academia

Pages: 560

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Publication Date: 23 Aug 2022

 

 

Goodreads – Babel

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation — also known as Babel.

Babel is the world’s center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel’s research in foreign languages serves the Empire’s quest to colonize everything it encounters.

Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?

Babel — a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of translation as a tool of empire.

 

My Thoughts…

I’m excited I have received my copy of this book! When I initially signed up for Illumicrate’s book-only subscription, I didn’t know this was going to be the first book I received. However, I’m really excited it is! Fellow bloggers who have read advanced copies of this book have absolutely raved about it. As soon as I heard their thoughts, I knew I had to pick up a copy for myself. That I’ve got my hands on an exclusive edition only makes me happier! I had to feature it in this week’s First Lines Friday post. 

I’m most excited about exploring how the fantasy elements of the book entwine with the element of language and translation. It doesn’t seem to be a superficial element of the plot; if the content of the book has some academic element in itself, then this will appeal to me no end.

I had a place to attend university, but ultimately I made the decision several years ago not to attend. It wouldn’t have been for me in any case, (and in terms of career, I don’t think I could be more opposite in what I do now compared to what I intended to do, but I’m very happy with my decision). I get to explore the attendance of a university through this narrative and it is something that I’m looking forward to.

For readers who enjoy diverse character representation, then this book is right up your street! Written by American-Chinese author R.F. Kuang, this book is mainly told from the perspective of an Asian character. The author herself attended the University of Oxford, and in her exclusive letter included in this copy, she talks about her complex relationship with the institution. Described as both the university of her dreams, and yet also elitist and classist (to name just a couple of its less favourable traits), I hope to see the author’s own experience play out through Robin Swift‘s narrative.

If I go on to enjoy Babel as much as I suspect I will, then I have a number of books that R.F. Kuang has already published but I will be going back and reading. The Poppy War especially appeals to me!

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s First Lines Friday feature! Have you added Babel to your reading list? Does today’s introduction compel you to do so?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Book Review: Clockwork Magpies – Emma Whitehall

Posted on by

In today’s blog post I’m sharing my thoughts on a book recently published by Northodox Press. They recently advertised advanced reader copies available for reviewers and the cover caught my eye immediately! From there I went to look up the book and it sounded absolutely fantastic. Northodox Press were brilliant in providing a copy to me at my request and I am grateful to be able to share my honest review based on that today.

 

Clockwork Magpies – Emma Whitehall

Goodreads – Clockwork Magpies

By day, Ida is a quiet, standoffish maid in the employ of spoiled Lucinda Belmote. By night, she is the infamous sneak thief known as the Rat Prince, terrorising the wealthy inhabitants of Loxport; especially Lucinda’s lecherous suitor, Lord Devon Casterbury.

Soon the boundaries between her dual lives begin to blur, as her mask begins to drop around a delightful waitress and a charming jeweller who both insist on befriending Ida. All the while she is thrust into a conflict surrounding new and dangerous materials that could upend the order of the city, land her behind bars or worse: in Lord Casterbury’s employ.

A thrilling romp through the Steampunk city of Loxport, Clockwork Magpies is a story of found family, crimes plotted over tea and scones, and the sinister power of glowing gemstones.

 

My Thoughts…

Clockwork Magpies is a great palate-cleanser read. It’s just over a few hundred pages, so easily long enough to invest into the characters and the storyline. But at the same time, it’s not a huge commitment. And certainly for an avid reader like me, it doesn’t take very long to read at all! I read this within a few days… and the fact that I enjoyed it so much made this even easier to do!

I don’t often read steampunk themed novels, however if done right they blend well into the fantasy genre. Clockwork Magpies does this seamlessly! Industrial Revolution-esque technological advancement is the vibe in Loxport, and coupled with that is an antiquated social class and society that illustrates that there are leagues to go compare to our modern society.

Ida is a maid for a widower of the elite and considered more fortunate than most for that position of servitude. Her background is one much more humble, but her mother’s ambitions and nefarious skills has kept them all alive. These skills have been passed on and perfected by Ida, who is known more infamously for her thievery in the guise of The Rat Prince. She is well placed to choose her next victim, being connected to the upper circle. She has always taken care to keep these two personas separate, but events in the book watch them collide in spectacular fashion.

I enjoyed Ida’s personal character development arc for a number of reasons. At the beginning of the book, she is a focused young lady whose only real drive is to provide for her family still living in relative poverty. She does this out of a serious sense of duty and because it’s the only link she has left to her mother, the woman she loved and revered. But they are toxic to her. They only use her for financial aid and berate the way in which she provides for them.

Over the course of the narrative she becomes less dependent on them and teaches us readers a powerful lesson – that we can still do the right thing by such people, but in a way that removes the suffering from the toxic relationship. I feel like this is something people even today struggle with. It’s nice to have that represented in a book and allows the opportunity to raise awareness of these types of struggles. 

Ida’s focus means she does not permit herself friends. They are only connections that could unveil her secret identity. But, somehow Clem and Edith wheedle the way past her defences with steely determination. They teach her that friendship can offer some powerful allies and support when it’s needed the most.

Identity is a common theme throughout the book, and there are a couple of stand-out quotes I’d like to highlight. I personally really liked them and it’s advice that more people should take: –

“Seriously though, don’t let other people tell you who you are. Or what you are and are not good enough for.”

“My point is, we make ourselves into the people we want to be. Hang the rest, leave it all behind.“

The ending implies that there could be a sequel, and hand-on-heart I sincerely hope so! I feel like Clockwork Magpies lays the foundation for what could be a fantastic series! There is a lot of scope for this series to be taken further; I would love to see more of the dynamic between Ida, Clem and Edith. 

Attachment.pngAttachment_1.png

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Sunday Summary – 13th February 2022

Posted on by

Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary post for this week. As always, I hope you’ve had a great one?

On Tuesday I shared a Top Ten Tuesday post with you. This week‘s topic was around the theme of love. Now you know I’m not a big romance person and so to make this thing work, I decided to cover my top ten books I’d love to re-read. It’s a bit of a flimsy connection, I know. However, I’ve found a lot of books lately that I’ve decided I want to re-read. Therefore, it made sense to me to document these all in one place so I can go back to them later!

My Friday feature this week was a First Lines Friday post. I didn’t set myself a particular challenge or topic from which to choose my book from this week. However, I didn’t struggle to find one. And I’ve been thinking a lot about my reading just prior to setting up my blog, and in particular, Terry Pratchett. He has been a big influence on me and so it felt only natural to feature one of his books in this post.

 

Books Read

This week has been great for reading progress! As of last week‘s Sunday Summary update I was just over 10% through Clockwork Magpies by Emma Whitehall. I really enjoyed this book and I’ve flown through it this week (no pun intended)! It’s a great steampunk fantasy novel and and I really enjoyed the steampunk element. It’s not something I read a lot of, however I do really enjoy it. This book has not long been published and I received an advance reader copy in order to share my thoughts. I can’t wait to do that with you very shortly!

I then picked up Son of Mercia by MJ Porter and of sharing this post, I am around 60% of the way through the novel. Son of Mercia is a historical fiction novel which will appeal to fans of Bernard Cornwell and The Last Kingdom series. It’s because of my love of this that I agreed to sign up to the blog tour, and I’m honestly glad I did! The story is told (at least for a significant majority so far) from a unique viewpoint. I’ll share more of the details of that in my blog tour post on the 21st; it’s not what I was expecting but I think it’s better for that! I can’t wait to finish this over the next few days and to share my post with you in about a week’s time.

I have also picked up The Original Folk and Fairytales of the Brother’s Grimm one evening this week. I only read a few stories so it’s not a significant contribution, but it is there so I’m documenting it here. Once I’ve got my blog tour read out of the way, I plan to read this before bed a little more to help me get through it. As it’s short stories it’s not a book to read in one big lump. It’s better to pick up and put down little and often in my opinion.

 

Books Discovered

I confess that there are quite a few books added to the list this week! What’s interesting about them is that there is a wide variety of genres and stories represented in the selection. It goes a long way to proving how diverse my reading tastes are.

At the beginning of the week I was listening to a podcast by A Need to Read which featured Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. Stolen Focus is a non-fiction book which discusses a number of different causes to the human dilemma of our inability to concentrate. Some of the statistics are quite shocking – teenagers can focus on one task for only 65 seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Isn’t that dreadful? I want to read more about this and the studies that have been done into it, that’s why I’ve decided to pick up this book. Who knows, maybe even I can find ways to improve my own attention span!

The next book on my list was added to my list as a result of an Amazon recommendation (albeit for some reason they recommended the second book of the series to me!) This book is an epic fantasy adventure style novel, but the thing that stood out to me is the sound of the characters, and an author I really like has highly recommended this book. So, I’m really interested to give The Black Hawks by David Wragg a go.

The third book on my list is also a recommendation from a podcast called Currently Reading. Yes, I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts lately! Although Kaytee and Meredith talk about a lot of books in their podcasts, Meredith’s review of The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg really stood out to me. The Kingdom is a theme park, and the protagonist Ana is an AI within the park. However, when a park employee, Owen, is murdered, Ana is accused and an epic trial of the century ensues. One of the interesting things that drew me to adding this to my list is that the story is told through a variety of mediums. Courtroom testimonies, interviews and Ana‘s memories are examples of the way in which the narrative unfolds. It’s very unlike anything I have read before and for that reason, I can’t wait to give this a go!

Last night I went to see a show produced by a local theatre group  – The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was a fantastic performance and hats off to everybody involved. Naturally, it has drawn the bookworm in me to want to pick up the novel by Victor Hugo.

It has also been my birthday this week, and I was very lucky to receive copies of A Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm. A Cuckoo’s Calling was already on my TBR, but I have added The Silkworm to my list as I now have a paperback copy of each sat on my shelf waiting to be read!

 

Coming Up…

This week I am going to be reviewing Clockwork Magpies by Emma Whitehall. Now typically it takes me a lot longer to get round to reviewing books after I’ve read them. However as Clockwork Magpies has just been published, I’m keen to share my thoughts with you whilst the publication launch is still fresh in the minds of anyone who may be interested to read it, or equally to put it on peoples radar if they haven’t heard of it yet. I really, really enjoyed reading this book and I’m sure that will come through in my review!

Later in the week I’ll be back with a Shelf Control post, and I’ll be featuring the next book on my TBR and sharing with you just why I’m excited to read it!

And finally, I’ll be rounding off the week with another Sunday Summary update.

What have you been reading this week?

Attachment.pngAttachment_1.png

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Sunday Summary – 6th February 2022

Posted on by

Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary post for this week. As always, I hope you’ve had a great one?

Earlier this week I shared a brief wrapup for January and my TBR list for February. I decided to combine these two posts as more often than not, there is a degree of overlap. The start of my reading list for February is related to my reading progress in January. Naturally, it felt like a good fit and it also saved me from writing a separate post!

My Friday feature this week was a Shelf Control post. The featured book in this week’s post has been on my TBR for quite some time – since 2017. As someone who has been reading more science fiction of late, I’m excited to get around to this particular book. I like the sound of the synopsis (albeit as brief as it is)… and I hope to read it soon!

 

Books Read

 

Reading progress has been very hit and miss over the last couple of weeks. Last week was a complete lull, after the week prior in which I read a hell of a lot.

This week I found a bit more of a healthy balance. My main objective of the week was to finish reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and I’m pleased to say I have! I’ve been enjoying my re-read of this series. I haven’t read these books for about 10 years now, and they’ve aged really well. Despite being older, it doesn’t matter. It hasn’t impacted my enjoyment in the slightest. I am particularly enjoying the later books in the series as the plot becomes more developed and a little bit darker. I can’t wait to read and enjoy the last one… and call this re-read complete!

In addition, I have also started Clockwork Magpies by Emma Whitehall. This was an impulse addition to read last month. I had seen the publisher advertising advance reader copies of the book to bloggers like myself, and I really loved the sound of it. I love fantasy and the steampunk element really appealed! I only picked this up fairly briefly one night this week, but I’m already over 10% through! It’s a bit shorter than the books I’ve been reading of late, so I expect I will get through this one quite quickly in the next week or so.

I have also made more progress with A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin. I’ve listened to a good few chapters this week, and most probably do an amount to a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, progress is progress! This is a serious I could read and listen to over and over again. I’m in no rush to get through it.

 

Books Discovered

Once again it has been a quiet week on the TBR front with no new books added to the list!

 

Coming Up…

My first post next week is going to be a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week’s theme is a ‘love freebie’, and I’ve decided that I’m going to be sharing a post with the topic of ‘Books I’d LOVE to re-read’. As I think you will know by now I am not a romance person by any stretch of the imagination. It’s the only way I can get this thing to work, but I will also be good for me because there are a number of books I have featured recently and said, “Hey, I want to read that again.” It will be handy to have it all in one place for reference later.

On Friday I will be sharing a First Lines Friday post. I’m going to keep it wide open this week so I can feature absolutely anything I want!

And last but not least, I’ll be rounding off the week with another Sunday Summary update.

What have you been reading this week? Do you have any recommendations for me? As always, I’d love to hear from you!

Attachment.pngAttachment_1.png

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Audiobook Review: Whispers Under Ground – Ben Aaronovitch

Posted on by

In today’s audiobook review I’m featuring a book that I listened to well over a year ago! It’s scary that time has flown so quickly. I distinctly remember listening to this during the time when I was doing a lot of redecorating. I spent a week painting and this was one of the audiobooks that got me through.

After listening to Rivers of London and Moon over Soho, I had high hopes for this audiobook. The previous two were brilliant and I’m pleased to say that Whispers Under Ground lived up to expectations!

 

Whispers Under Ground – Ben Aaronovitch

Goodreads – Whispers Under Ground

In Tufnell Park, North London, a pair of railway tracks diver under a school, taking train to and from Kings Cross. Wet, filthy, dangerous. Lovely place. And one Sunday before Christmas a sweet (sort of) kid called Abigail took me and my long suffering colleague Lesley May down there to look for a ghost.

We found one.

And that was that, I thought, because come Monday I get to do some proper policing. Person Unknown has been stabbed to death on the tracks at Baker Street tube. Magic may have been involved. And sure enough, in the blood; vestigia, the tell-tale trail magic leaves.

Person Unknown turns out to be the son of a US senator and before you can say ‘International incident’. FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds and her firmly held religious beliefs are on my case.

And down in the dark, in the tunnels of London’s Underground, the buried rivers, the Victorian sewers, I’m hearing whispers of ancient arts and tortured, vengeful spirits…

 

My Thoughts…

Ben Aaronovitch has a fantastic way of melding magic and the real world together seamlessly. You wouldn’t think the two would go together so well, however, the magic in his Rivers of London series is so ingrained into its society that it’s very normal. Ghosts and magical deities governing the waters through London are all part of the day job for Peter Grant. It would be ludicrous in any other circumstance, yet somehow it just works! And you know me; I love magic in novels! What makes this a real winner for me is how even something so abstract can be written with rules that govern it. Things don’t just disappear because it’s convenient. There’s almost a degree of science behind it, which gives it some tangibility in our very black and white idea of reality.

I am enjoying the underpinning story that is developing throughout the series, but the charm of Whispers Under Ground lies in the smaller story of this book itself. In terms of the bigger picture, I feel like Whispers Under Ground is setting the scene for the later books to pick up from. There is nothing wrong with that and it is still enjoyable to see play out in the background.

The biggest selling point for me though is Peter Grant’s character. Telling an already fantastic story from the perspective of a funny, charismatic narrative voice, who isn’t shy with the dry self-depreciating wit or nerdy references just works! And props to the narrator for pulling off this character so well! I feel like I said this in every audiobook with you I’ve written so far, but it’s absolutely true! I also like that there is the consistency within the series; it would just be wrong otherwise.

As a general rule urban fantasy isn’t a branch that I read much of. However, it’s books like this series that prove why it’s good to push your boundaries. I’m really enjoying it so far and I can’t wait to see where the rest of the series takes us!

Attachment.pngAttachment_1.png

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Book Review: Steelheart – Brandon Sanderson

Posted on by

It’s been a little while since I shared a book review with you all. So, today’s post is to share my thoughts on Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson.

I am a huge fan, and I really wanted to try this first book of The Reckoners series. To date, I haven’t found a book of Sanderson‘s I don’t like. Maintaining a record like that is a challenge and a very big expectation to live up to. But Steelheart did not disappoint!

 

Steelheart – Brandon Sanderson

Goodreads – Steelheart

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his will.

Nobody fights the Epics…nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart — the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David’s father. For years, like the Reckoners, David’s been studying, and planning — and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He’s seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

 

My Thoughts…

When I picked up Steelheart I was safe in the knowledge that I was going to enjoy this book. Not only is Brandon Sanderson becoming one of my favourite authors, but it’s also a genre that I go to again and again! Where fantasy is normally filled with classic tropes and repetitive storylines, I don’t find this at all with Brandon Sanderson‘s writing. It has always amazed me how varied his different narratives and series are. He has so many of them and yet manages to keep them all unique in their own way. They all have similarities in that some form of magic is involved, but the similarities end there!

I enjoyed the narrative of Steelheart as the book is written from the perspective of an underground organisation plotting and killing Epics. Brandon Sanderson builds this epic world over which his ‘superheroes’ (turned overlords) preside, but we get to see the gritty, dark side of things. The world is not perfect with this power. Those who wield it are corrupted. The Reckoners, trying to stop them, hide in the shadows… the dark underbelly of cities. There is something about an author who builds such a fantastic world, to then base the story out of the ‘worst’ parts of it and pull it off.

The Reckoners are the key to the story and as a group, they have a great dynamic. I really enjoyed each individual character and personally, I loved their geekiness. The technology they’ve been able to build with next to no resources is phenomenal and their determination is something else entirely. Who else would think to take on the equivalent of a superhero and win? These guys… and boy, do they do it with style!

I really enjoyed the ending of this book. I wasn’t sure how the book was going to be wrapped up, and I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. It was action-packed, very cleverly done and I don’t think I could’ve asked for any better! And the best bit is, it’s not even over yet! With additional books in the series, there is plenty of scope to take this further and I can guarantee you that I will be picking these up! Equally, I think you could read Steelheart as a standalone if you really wanted to. But why would you want to when it’s just this good?!

Have you read Steelheart, or does my review make you want to consider reading it? Let me know in the comments!

Attachment.pngAttachment_1.png

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads