Tag: fantasy

Book Review | Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Posted June 28, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #1: Locked room mystery)
2024 Audiobook Challenge

The Reason

There was a buddy read for it on my online bookclub and I couldn’t resist! I’ve also had it on my TBR for a while but wasn’t actually planning to read it so soon, but the buddy read got me.

The Quotes

“But Gideon was experiencing one powerful emotion: being sick of everyone’s shit.”

“If you do not find yourself a galaxy, it is not so bad to find yourself a star.”

“Maybe it’s that I find the idea comforting… that thousands of years after you’re gone… is when you really live. That your echo is louder than your voice.”

“They do not have to enjoy each other’s society; they must simply take their togetherness as assumed. The cavalier who will not sleep in the same room as their necromancer must question themselves as to why. Their love is the love that fears only for the other: the love of service on both sides.”

The Narrator(s)

Moira Quirk. I’ve listened to her on other books before and quite enjoy her narration. She was great here too. I think my issue with this book is that it’s not very easy to follow on audio. I get the gist, but I feel like I missed a lot of details and the details are important for this story.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed the story and the narration, but as I said, I think I missed a lot of details that might have been important. I caught the broad strokes, I get what’s happening, but apparently I missed a lot of the nuances, jokes and puns, the little scenes that make it great. I think I’ll come back to this book again on print. Especially since I want to continue with the series and I’d like to be sure I get the details before moving forward.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Authors I’d Love a New Book From

Posted May 20, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 19 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Authors I’d Love a New Book From

I’m not sure that I have ten authors for this list. There are definitely a few I’d love more books from, but in general, there are so many authors I love whose works I haven’t finished reading yet, so I feel like it’s unfair to want more books when I haven’t finished the ones they’ve already written!

Authors I’d Love a New Book From

  1. Madeline Miller – She’s at the top of the list because I desperately need more myth retellings, and from her because she writes them so well!
  2. Yangsze Choo – This might be unfair because she just published a new book this year, The Fox Wife, but I’ve already finished it, and I need more!
  3. George R.R. Martin – I know some people have given up on him, but I haven’t. I’m still holding out hope that we’ll see A Song of Ice and Fire finished. Also, I think he might still be publishing other books, but I really need new books for the ASOIAF series specifically.
  4. Stephen P. Kiernan – He’s an underrated author, and I’ve loved all his books I’ve read! He’s got one new book published last year that I haven’t read yet, but I would still love more books from him so that I can have a whole bunch of them to look forward to.
  5. Taylor Jenkins Reid – I haven’t read all her books yet, but she’s just an author I love who needs to also provide me with a whole bunch of new books to look forward to!
  6. Christopher Pike – One of my favorite authors from my childhood years, but he also writes adult novels and I loved them. He hasn’t published anything new in years, and I really wish he would!
  7. Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games is one of my favorite books and I think she needs to write more. So much more!

Have you read any of these authors? What did you think of their books? Would you read more from them?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Favorite Book Quotes from The First Law Trilogy

Posted May 13, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 2 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Favorite Book Quotes

What a perfect time to have this topic! I’ve been making my way through The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie and there’s just a whole treasure trove of quotes and catchphrases I love! I’m not sure that I can limit it to only ten, to be honest, but I’ll try!

I’ve only just finished the first two books, but a lot of the catchphrases from the first book make it into the second one, and I hear they continue on to the third, so I’m just including all three books for the sake of the topic.

Top Ten Book Quotes from The First Law Trilogy

  1. “You have to be realistic about these things.”
  2. “Once you’ve got a task to do, it’s better to do it than live with the fear of it.”
  3. “If you say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, and one thing only, say he’s a killer.”
  4. “Broken hearts heal with time, but broken teeth never do.”
  5. “Every man has his excuses, and the more vile the man becomes, the more touching the story has to be.”
  6. “You have to have fear to have courage.”
  7. “Treat a man like a dog and sooner or later he’ll bite you,”
  8. “You carry on. That’s what he’d always done. That’s the task that comes with surviving, whether you deserve to live or not. You remember the dead as best you can. You say some words for them. Then you carry on, and you hope for better.”
  9. “No one cares about the past any more. They don’t see that you can’t have a future without a past.”
  10. “It was a fact, he was only now beginning to realise, that the conversation of the drunk is only interesting to the drunk. A few glasses of wine can be the difference between finding a man a hilarious companion or an insufferable moron.”
  11. “If a man seeks to change the world, he should first understand it.”
  12. “Everything frightens me, and it’s well that it does. Fear is a good friend to the hunted, it’s kept me alive this long. The dead are fearless, and I don’t care to join them.”

Have you read The First Law Trilogy? What did you think of it? Or would you read it?

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Time Travel Thursday | April 25

Posted April 25, 2024 by Haze in Time Travel Thursday, Weekly Book Memes / 1 Comment

It’s Time Travel Thursday! Hosted by Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog, this is where you get to take a look back at what you were reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and get to relive those bookish memories!

This time last year I was reading:

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she’s a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden – lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult’s true powers are hidden even from herself.

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls’ heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

My thoughts:
I loved the author’s Something Strange and Deadly series, and I thought I’d like this one too but I ended up being very meh about it. I continued with the second book in this series and didn’t like it either, and decided not to finish the rest of the series. It’s quite disappointing.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? What were you reading this time last year?

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Book Review | Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent

Posted April 16, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent

A former slave fighting for justice. A reclusive warrior who no longer believes it exists. And a dark magic that will entangle their fates.

Ripped from a forgotten homeland as a child, Tisaanah learned how to survive with nothing but a sharp wit and a touch of magic. But the night she tries to buy her freedom, she barely escapes with her life.

Desperate to save the best friend she left behind, Tisaanah journeys to the Orders, the most powerful organizations of magic Wielders in the world. But to join their ranks, she must complete an apprenticeship with Maxantarius Farlione, a handsome and reclusive fire wielder who despises the Orders.

The Orders’ intentions are cryptic, and Tisaanah must prove herself under the threat of looming war. But even more dangerous are her growing feelings for Maxantarius. The bloody past he wants to forget may be the key to her future… or the downfall of them both.

But Tisaanah will stop at nothing to save those she abandoned. Even if it means gambling in the Orders’ deadly games. Even if it means sacrificing her heart.

Even if it means wielding death itself.

Fans of epic romantic fantasy like Sarah J. Maas and Raven Kennedy will devour this tale of dark magic, passionate romance, vengeance, and redemption.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #25: An author “everyone” has read except me)
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

Everyone has been talking about The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent, so of course I was intrigued, but there’s a long waitlist for that book and this one by the same author happened to be available on audio, so I thought I’d try it.

The Quotes

“Men want power because it makes them feel good. Women want power because it lets us do things.”

“Did you know that when caterpillars make a cocoon, their bodies totally dissolve? They become nothing, before they become something else.”

“We had carved out these small, intimate spaces for each other in our lives, and by some miracle of human denial, neither of us had thought about what that would inevitably mean. Now, for the first time, I realized the breadth of the gaping absence we would leave in each other.”

“It’s easy to die for someone,” I said, “but it is so much more valuable to live. I do not give you permission to fail if I fail.”

The Narrator(s)

Dan Calley and Esther Wane. They were fine. I like Esther’s narration but there were parts where I couldn’t hear her properly and missed certain details. Dan’s narration had a bit of an annoying inflection, for me. I feel like I maybe would’ve liked the book more if I’d read it rather than listen to it.

My Thoughts

I liked the story, and I loved Max and Tisaanah, the whole power up montage for Tisaanah, the way they got to know each other. I’m a sucker for slow burns, vulnerable conversations, and I love how they try to protect each other. However, I feel like my enjoyment was marred a little by the narration. Maybe. I feel a little disconnected to the story and the characters, and I feel like it’s probably because of the narration. I feel like I might have missed some important details in some parts, and also the narrators’ inflections and interpretations of the voices and events influenced my thoughts about them. Objectively, I thought it was a great story, but there was just something missing somehow, and that makes me kind of ambivalent about continuing with the series.

My Feels

I think I could’ve loved the story and the characters. I think I could’ve really loved Max and Tisaanah’s love story, but I just feel disconnected. I could try again in print, but there are so many other books out there so I feel it’s really okay to let go and move on. I am still going to read The Serpent and the Wings of Night, but I’m going to make sure I read it in print!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Posted April 15, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage. Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger.

And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #51: Related to the word “Wild”)
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

Because I loved the first book, of course!

The Quotes

“Assassins are a monstrous breed. Either they attack when you are at your worst, or they are having a go at you on your birthday. I have never known a more dishonourable profession.”

“I’m afraid I have not gotten over my resentment of him for saving me from the snow king’s court in Ljosland earlier this year, and have made a solemn vow to myself that I shall be the one to rescue him from whatever faerie trouble we next find ourselves in. Yes, I realize this is illogical, given that it requires Wendell to end up in some dire circumstance, which would ideally best be avoided, but there it is. I’m quite determined.”

“The problem is not the packing, I admit; I simply dislike travelling. Why people wish to wander to and fro when they could simply remain at home is something I will never understand. Everything is the way I like it here.”

“One of the guiding principles of dryadology,” I said, “is this: do not cross the sort of Folk who make collections of human body parts.”

The Characters

I still love Emily and Wendell, and of course Shadow too. I was very happy to see more of Poe as well. Other than that, I didn’t connect with the characters in this book as much as the ones in the first book. Professor Rose grew on me, but I didn’t love him. Ariadne seemed like an afterthought, and the rest of the cast were mostly forgettable.

My Thoughts

Despite the characters not being as memorable as the ones in the first book, I still very much enjoyed this book. I love the way the relationship between Emily and Wendell is progressing. I feel like they know each other and are very comfortable with each other, and that’s everything. The story itself is interesting and I think my favorite part was discovering the doors. I also love the journey into Wendell’s kingdom and getting a glimpse of it. I’m excited to see more of it in the next book.

My Feels

I love this book because it’s a continuation from the first book and features characters I fell in love with, but I didn’t love it as much as the first book and I’m a little dissatisfied with how the rest of the characters were written. The characters in the first book were so vivid and alive, but the ones in this book felt like cardboard cutouts.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. Still good, but I need better written characters!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

Posted March 19, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 8 Comments

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, or life force, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .

Manchuria, 1908.

A young woman is found frozen in the snow. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes involved, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and men. Bao, a detective with a reputation for sniffing out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman’s identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they’ve remained tantalizingly out of reach. Until, perhaps, now.

Meanwhile, a family that owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments, but not the curse that afflicts them―their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. Now the only grandson of the family is twenty-three. When a mysterious woman enters their household, their luck seems to change. Or does it? Is their new servant a simple young woman from the north or a fox spirit bent on her own revenge?

New York Times bestselling author Yangsze Choo brilliantly explores a world of mortals and spirits, humans and beasts, and their dazzling intersection. The Fox Wife is a stunning novel about a winter full of mysterious deaths, a mother seeking revenge, and old folktales that may very well be true.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #20: A revenge story)
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I first read The Ghost Bride by the author years ago, and I was hooked. I loved The Night Tiger as well, and when I found out this book was coming out, of course I had to read it.

The Quotes

“For all stories have an ending as well as a beginning. But a beginning is where you choose to plant your foot, and the ending is only the edge of one’s own knowledge.”

“I exist as either a small canid with thick fur, pointed ears, and neat black feet, or a young woman. Neither are safe forms in a world run by men.”

“Dusk is the most dangerous time, according to Bao’s nanny; the blurred gap between day and night when creatures who resemble humans appear. They exist on the very edge of society, at the tipping point of madness where dreams and nightmares come true.”

The Characters

Snow, the titular fox wife. Bao, the human lie detector. And various other characters. Interestingly, I just realized that I’m not able to give a run-down of many of the characters without going into spoiler territory, so we’ll just keep this brief.

My Thoughts

As a story, I think I might love this one even more than I loved The Ghost Bride, and I loved The Ghost Bride a lot. What I loved about The Ghost Bride was that it made me feel such a connection to the life and times of my own family experiences. It was set in Malaysia in the early 1900’s and showed a lot of our traditional Chinese customs. I also loved the story itself. But here, with The Fox Wife, it feels more whimsical and magical, and I’m just completely transported to a different time and place. I feel like I also love Snow as a character more; she’s such a interesting paradox, and with such human flaws.

For my notes and reactions on the book – with SPOILERS – check out Notes & Reactions | The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo. This post has SPOILERS and assumes you have already finished the book. It is password-protected to prevent accidental spoiling. Password is “SPOILME0003”. Proceed at your own risk.

My Feels

I loved this story so much! I love that it was so mysterious. Even as we got new clues and kept guessing at it, we never really get confirmation for anything until much later. I love the characters and how vibrant they are. To be clear, there aren’t very many good people here, but even the bad people were just great as characters! I love the storytelling, the unfolding of the story. I love both Snow’s POV and Bao’s POV, and I love how Bao’s perspective was able to give us more insight into Snow. I love the relationships and the connections made in this story, I love the portrayal of those relationships, it fills my heart!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. A new favorite!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

Posted March 5, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

Jack Tamerlaine hasn’t set foot on Cadence in ten long years, content to study music at the mainland university. But when young girls start disappearing from the isle, Jack is summoned home to help find them. Enchantments run deep on Cadence: gossip is carried by the wind; plaid shawls can be as strong as armor, and the smallest cut of a knife can instil fathomless fear. The capricious spirits that rule the isle by fire, water, earth, and wind find mirth in the lives of the humans who call the land home. Adaira, heiress of the east and Jack’s childhood enemy, knows the spirits only answer to a bard’s music, and she hopes Jack can draw them forth by song, enticing them to return the missing girls.

As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #15: Part of a duology)
2024 Library Love Reading Challenge

The Reason

I had this book on my TBR, but I moved it up the list because my friends were doing a buddy-read for it and I was enticed!

The Quotes

“I once thought home was simply a place. Four walls to hold you at night while you slept. But I was wrong. It’s people. It’s being with the ones that you love, and maybe even the ones that you hate.”

“There is no failure in love, and I have loved without measure. In this, I am complete.”

“Our hands can steal, or they can give. They can harm, or they can comfort. They can wound and kill, or they can heal and save. Which will you choose for your hands Torin?”

“You have become more to me than mere words spoken on a midsummer night.”

The Characters

Jack, Adaira, Sidra, and Torin. These are the main characters, and I love them because of how interesting they are to the story, not necessarily because they are lovable characters. Sidra is my favorite out of them all because I find her to be strong, mysterious, and just fascinating. I love that she’s so strong in her beliefs and convictions, I love that she’s independent, and how connected she is with nature and the spirits. I also love her character arc and the lessons she learns.

The other characters are interesting too, but not necessarily characters I love. I love their roles in the story and the parts they play. I love their arcs too, and the lessons they learn. This is a duology, so I expect that there’s more to come, and I’d like to get to know all of them better and see them grow.

My Thoughts

The start was a little slow for me, and I found it difficult to get into. It didn’t hold my interest and every time I put it down, it was hard to pick it back up. I kept going because it was a buddy read and that motivated me. The second half was a lot better, more exciting, and it went a lot faster. I had some problems with the plot, I felt like it could’ve been done better, and I didn’t really like how things were resolved in the end. However, I realize it’s a duology and there’s more to come.

The saving grace here is the characters. I am a character-driven reader, and while the plot bothered me, the characters and their stories were interesting enough to keep me invested. They aren’t the best characters, mind you, but they are interesting, and I love seeing them navigate their world and their roles in it.

My Feels

My favorite parts were seeing the relationships between the characters. Not just the romantic ones, but also the familial ones. It was heartwarming to see how the different relationships developed, and the communication they had with each other.

My Rating

3/5 stars. I really like it, but it doesn’t quite hit the spot.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Posted March 5, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 4 Comments

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid–a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #36: Has futuristic technology)
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I’ve been seeing so many recommendations for the Murderbot Diaries everywhere, and always in conjunction with a few other books I’ve loved. Everyone who talks about it says how much they loved it, and it just got to a point where it seemed like everyone has read it except me. So I got on the bandwagon!

The Quotes

“I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can’t have one without the other.”

“Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency. I’d rather climb back into Hostile One’s mouth.”

“You may have noticed that when I do manage to care, I’m a pessimist.”

“All right,” she said, and looked at me for what objectively I knew was 2.4 seconds and subjectively about twenty excruciating minutes.”

The Narrator

Kevin R. Free. He did a great job! No complaints there. My only issue with this being an audiobook is that I often don’t get the characters’ names, and/or location names, mission names, etc., but that’s a common issue with scifi and fantasy and made-up names. I heard the series was good on audio, so I’ll continue it on audio, but I might check out a print copy just to see the names written out.

The Characters

The Murderbot – I don’t think we ever find out its name, unless I missed it. But I love it! It may be a murderbot, but it’s one of the funniest, most relatable characters I’ve ever read about, and ironically, so humanly-flawed! I love it!

The other characters are interesting too, or rather, have the potential to be interesting. Their personalities are quite distinct, but we don’t find out a lot about them. Some readers have criticized this aspect of the book, saying that the characters fell flat, but to me, it seemed like a deliberate decision. We see the story through the Murderbot’s POV, and the Murderbot tells us repeatedly that it doesn’t care to know anything about the other characters. I thought it made perfect sense.

My Thoughts

I’ll be honest and say that half the time I had no idea what was going on in terms of plot. The beauty of this book is in the Murderbot’s thought processes, and again, the Murderbot admits it has no interest in information about the crew or their missions, or anything to do with why it’s there, and it certainly shows through how the story is told. I think that it’s just brilliantly written, how Martha Wells managed to write a story where we don’t get a lot of clear information, but we get to know the Murderbot, and how invested we can become in a story like that.

My Feels

I want more. I started the book knowing that it’s the first book in a series, and I think I might not like it as much if it stopped here because while I enjoyed getting to know the Murderbot, I feel like this book was just an introduction and I need to see its character develop and grow. So I’m looking forward to the next books!

My Rating

4/5 stars. I’m hooked, but I need more!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Covers/Titles with Things Found In Nature

Posted February 26, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 48 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Covers/Titles with Things Found In Nature

Most of these are books I’ve read, but there are a couple that I haven’t yet read – The Priory of the Orange Tree, and The Fox Wife. All the ones I’ve read are books I’ve loved, and I have high expectations for the two I haven’t read.

Top Ten Covers/Titles with Things Found In Nature

  1. Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher – This is probably the most recent book I’ve read out of this list. I love T. Kingfisher and I love fairytale retellings, this one is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story.
  2. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – I have not read this one. I have been wanting to, but the size of it is daunting! One of these days, though!
  3. Grass by Sheri S. Tepper – This is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi stories. It’s been a while since I read it, so it’s probably time for a reread, but I remember being fascinated by the alien world, alien beings, and the incredible world-building.
  4. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – A heist story, a group of people with different skills brought together, found family. How could I not love this?
  5. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black – Holly Black is one of my favorite authors. Her stories are so good, so simple, and yet so rich. This book is about the fae, the changeling, but told from a different POV.
  6. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway – Some have said that this book is boring because it’s only about a man fishing, but for me, it’s thrilling because I used to go fishing with my father when I was young, and there’s nothing like the thrill of having a fish caught on the hook but not yet landed. This book describes that feeling so vividly and I love that it was able to put into words what I never could.
  7. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – Neil Gaiman is another one of my favorite authors and I would read anything he writes. I read this book for the second time a couple of years ago, and it was so much better the second time around. It was much scarier, and more horrifying, and so wonderful.
  8. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel – This is an old book I haven’t revisited in a while. There have been some new books in the series since, but I haven’t read them. It’s probably time to reread from the beginning. All I can say is that I loved the story, and the wonderment of discovering things along with the characters.
  9. The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo – This is the newest book on this list, and that’s the only reason I haven’t read it. It was just released two weeks ago, and I’m impatiently waiting until I can read it! I’ve loved the author’s two other books, and I expect to love this one too!
  10. Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi – This book is set during WW2, and it’s one of the most heartbreaking books I’ve read. I probably read it around 20 years ago and I’ve forgotten most of the details, but that feeling of heartache still lingers even after all these years.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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