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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 Books Set in/Take Place During X
I’m choosing books set in the dream realm for today’s topic. The distinction for me with “dream realm” is that they are not portals to an alternate world, but rather a place where you can only go with your mind, ie. your body does not follow.
Having said that, I haven’t read some of the books below (and some I read a while ago and might have forgotten details) so I can’t be 100% sure if they fit the criteria. I’ve added them here based on their book descriptions, what others have said about them, and other non-spoilery info. If you’ve read them and you think I’m wrong, feel free to let me know!
Top Ten Books Set in the Dream Realm
The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick – This series has one of the best world-building and magical lore. Most of it relates to card divination but it also includes navigating the spiritual realm. It needs a reread!
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo – This is one of my favorite books that I’ve talked a lot about. A big part of the story has the FMC’s body sick and unconscious and her spirit spending a lot of time in the underworld.
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan – A recent favorite, but interesting enough, it also has the FMC sick and I’m assuming in a coma, while her consciousness is in another world.
Super Powered by Drew Hayes – This is a series featuring super powered young adults. One of them has the ability to go into people’s dreams and influence them that way. I loved the series, it was so much fun!
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King – The sequel to The Shining, it follows a now-adult Dan. Dan and another one of the MCs, Abra, communicate through dreams. One of my favorites from the King.
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin – I have heard much about this book but haven’t read it. It’s a scifi story where the MC’s dreams can affect reality. Definitely adding to my TBR.
Dreamfall by Amy Plum – This is a thriller/horror where the MCs participate in some kind of sleep study and end up stuck in the dream together. It sounds so good!
Dreamology by Lucy Keating – This is a romance where the two MCs dream about each other all the time, but one day they meet and realize the other person is real! I’m intrigued!
Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente – I’ve only read one book by the author but loved it. This one is about a world that you can only access through dreams, but you have to sleep with someone who’s already been there.
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor – Dreams choose the dreamer in this book. I had this on my TBR but forgot all about it. Now it’s back on my radar!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
A startlingly original voice makes her literary debut with this wondrous coming-of-age story infused with Chinese folklore, romantic intrigue, adventure, and fascinating, dreamlike twists.
‘One evening, my father asked me whether I would like to become a ghost bride…’
Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound.
Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family’s only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, traditional ghost marriages are used to placate restless spirits. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.
After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lims’ handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits, and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family’s darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever.
This is one of my favorite books by a favorite Malaysian author. It’s my in-person bookclub’s BOTM and I’m excited to discuss it with them!
The Quotes
“The problem with the dead was that they all wanted someone to listen to them.”
“It seemed to me that in this confluence of cultures we had acquired one another’s superstitions without necessarily any of their comforts.”
“The contrast between the realization of his neglect and the fondness I had for my father was painful”.”
“If I had known how easy it is to lose your life, I would have treasured mine better”.”
The Narrator(s)
The author herself. I love her! She’s got such a gift for writing and storytelling, and is also such a talent with voices!
My Thoughts
I’ve read this book and loved it before, but it had been a while and I had forgotten a lot of the details. Sometimes when I reread a book, I get scared that I might not like it as much as I used to, but if anything, I think I loved it more this time around!
It’s such a joy to read about my own culture and heritage, through the lens of both real life and folklore. Our culture is so filled with superstition, but also so rich in flavor and imagination, it’s sometimes difficult to explain it to people of other cultures. But Choo’s storytelling is wonderful and sublime, and her portrayal of 1900’s Malaya and the Chinese’s idea of the underworld is just perfect.
The story itself is wonderful too. I can’t stop using all the positive adjectives to describe this book. It’s good, amazing, incredible, gorgeous, delightful, magnificent. It’s all the things I love in a fantasy, historical fiction, folklore and mythology, romance… everything! I just love it!
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?
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop.
At the Five-Hop One-Stop, long-haul spacers can stretch their legs (if they have legs, that is), and get fuel, transit permits, and assorted supplies. The Five-Hop is run by an enterprising alien and her sometimes helpful child, who work hard to provide a little piece of home to everyone passing through.
When a freak technological failure halts all traffic to and from Gora, three strangers—all different species with different aims—are thrown together at the Five-Hop. Grounded, with nothing to do but wait, the trio—an exiled artist with an appointment to keep, a cargo runner at a personal crossroads, and a mysterious individual doing her best to help those on the fringes—are compelled to confront where they’ve been, where they might go, and what they are, or could be, to each other.
This is the fourth book in the Wayfarer series. I’ve read the first three and loved them, so of course I’m reading this one too!
The Quotes
“And sometimes fear is good. Fear keeps you alive. But it can also keep you from what you really want.”
“Because I didn’t want to. And when it comes to a person’s body, that is all the reason there ever needs to be. Doesn’t matter if it’s a decision about a new pair of legs or how you like to trim your claws or—’ she gave Pei a piercing look ‘—what to do about an egg. I didn’t want to. You don’t want to. That’s it.’ Speaker leaned forward. ‘That. Is all. It ever needs to be.”
“He’d been taught that if one person had more than another, feeling guilty about it was the least productive reaction. The only proper way to approach such inequities was to figure out how best to wield them, so as to bring others up to where you stood.”
“This did not mean that laws and rules were not helpful, or that explanations should not be sought, but rather that there should be no fear in changing them as needed, for nothing in the universe ever held still.”
The Narrator(s)
Patricia Rodriguez. As perfect as the first three books!
My Thoughts
I don’t know why I enjoy forced proximity stories, I’m not sure I’d enjoy it happening to me in real life, but I think I love seeing how people interact with each other in “what if” scenarios and Becky Chambers is just so good at writing diverse people. I loved the other books in the series too, but in a way, I feel like it’s a disservice to link them together as a series. They’re very different books, set in the same universe and with relating characters, but the stories are just completely different.
What is the same, is the exploration of different cultures and beliefs, and even physiology of all the different species, and the way they learn about each other and respect each other’s cultures. I love the conversations especially about their differences and similarities. I love it all! I find it so fascinating, learning about each different species’ language and how things are expressed and/or translated, how their beliefs and practices are shaped by their culture and physiology because of what their bodies allow them to do or not do, there is such a rich world-building here!
I love all the characters. Every one of them were so distinct and had such interesting personalities. I don’t know if there’s going to be a book 5 but I feel like I can’t get enough of these books and these characters, and even though we see new characters every book, I still want to keep reading about every one of them. Small mentions of past characters make me so happy! I’m so glad I finally caught up with the series, and I do hope there will be more. I still loved this one and I’m sure I’ll love any new stories set in this world!
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?
Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies the city of New Crobuzon, where the unsavory deal is stranger to no one–not even to Isaac, a gifted and eccentric scientist who has spent a lifetime quietly carrying out his unique research. But when a half-bird, half-human creature known as the Garuda comes to him from afar, Isaac is faced with challenges he has never before encountered. Though the Garuda’s request is scientifically daunting, Isaac is sparked by his own curiosity and an uncanny reverence for this curious stranger. Soon an eerie metamorphosis will occur that will permeate every fiber of New Crobuzon–and not even the Ambassador of Hell will challenge the malignant terror it evokes.
This has been on my TBR for years and years and years! It was recently a buddy read so I thought it was a good time to finally read it.
The Quotes
“Art is something you choose to make… it’s a bringing together of… of everything around you into something that makes you more human, more khepri, whatever. More of a person.”
“I wish that there was nothing to hold me here, that gravity was a suggestion I could ignore.”
“She was intelligent enough to realize that her excitement was childish, but not mature enough to care.”
“Old stories would tell how Weavers would kill each other over aesthetic disagreements, such as whether it was prettier to destroy an army of a thousand men or to leave it be, or whether a particular dandelion should or should not be plucked. For a Weaver, to think was to think aesthetically. To act–to Weave–was to bring about more pleasing patterns. They did not eat physical food: they seemed to subsist on the appreciation of beauty.”
My Thoughts
I tried reading this book twice before, both times on audio, and found that I couldn’t follow it because of the made-up words, names, and places. I always meant to try again with a printed copy, and I finally did this time. I got so much more out of it; more understanding, more immersion, more focus. And the buddy read with the ongoing discussions were a huge part of my experience as well.
Where do I even start, this book is huge with so many different elements to talk about! The worldbuilding, the exploration of different species and the way they live and work together, the criminal world – the petty criminals and crime lords being worlds apart as well, the government and the enforcers and spies, the remade, the Weaver, the AI constructs, the moths! It seems like a lot and yet, it feels so natural, like I can believe that this world exists, and I can see why Mieville is in a league of his own, this is a masterpiece!
It started out slow but it was still so interesting because there was so much to explore about this world and the characters. And even though it was slow, I could already feel the tension building from the beginning, and then all of a sudden everything happened all at once and it was just nonstop tension. I honestly don’t think I could talk about how amazing it was to see every single thing unfold the way they did and how I felt. It got so intense towards the end and I have so many feelings, I’m still processing.
I know this is definitely going to be one of those books where I get something new out of it every time I reread it again and I’m looking forward to that (though not anytime soon!). I wanted to give up on the book so many times because it’s so huge and I’m going through some really hectic times but I’m glad I persevered and finished! It’s completely worth it!
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?
In Robin McKinley’s Newbery Medal–winning novel, an outcast princess must earn her birthright as a hero of the realm
Aerin is an outcast in her own father’s court, daughter of the foreign woman who, it was rumored, was a witch, and enchanted the king to marry her.
She makes friends with her father’s lame, retired warhorse, Talat, and discovers an old, overlooked, and dangerously imprecise recipe for dragon-fire-proof ointment in a dusty corner of her father’s library. Two years, many canter circles to the left to strengthen Talat’s weak leg, and many burnt twigs (and a few fingers) secretly experimenting with the ointment recipe later, Aerin is present when someone comes from an outlying village to report a marauding dragon to the king. Aerin slips off alone to fetch her horse, her sword, and her fireproof ointment . . .
But modern dragons, while formidable opponents fully capable of killing a human being, are small and accounted vermin. There is no honor in killing dragons. The great dragons are a tale out of ancient history.
That is, until the day that the king is riding out at the head of an army. A weary man on an exhausted horse staggers into the courtyard where the king’s troop is assembled: “The Black Dragon has come . . . Maur, who has not been seen for generations, the last of the great dragons, great as a mountain. Maur has awakened.”
This is a reread although I don’t remember reading it before. I gave it only two stars previously, but I have enjoyed the author’s other works and I thought I should give this book a second chance.
The Quotes
“If you try to breathe water, you will not turn into a fish, you will drown; but water is still good to drink.”
“Yes, I am letting my own experience color my answer, which is what experience is for….”
“She felt like dead leaves, dry and brown and brittle, although leaves were probably not miserable; they were quietly buried by snow and burned by sun and harried by rain till they peacefully disintegrated into the earth…”
“She fell in love with him, and he with her; that’s a spell if you like.”
The Narrator(s)
Roslyn Alexander. It was great, no complaints!
My Thoughts
I enjoyed this book more than the last time but it’s still not one of my favorites from the author, so I’m only bumping it up one more star for a total of 3 stars. I did enjoy the listening experience very much though. It was suitably light and interesting at the same time, and I found Aerin to be an interesting character.
I must say though, having just recently read Sunshine by the same author, I really wonder about her stance on cheating/polyamory. There are instances of questionable romantic encounters that aren’t explicitly cheating because the relationships are never defined properly, but they aren’t necessarily consensual polyamory either. They bother me a little bit and I feel like I cannot wholly enjoy the romantic aspect of the stories without feeling like they might be morally wrong.
Other than that, I did enjoy the adventure and intrigue parts of the story. There is also a prequel that I’ve read before and also rated only two stars, that I intend to reread again. Let’s hope I enjoy that one more this time too.
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?
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 (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country (submitted by Jennifer @ Funk-N-Fiction)
I currently live in Canada but I am from Malaysia and I absolutely love today’s topic because I am able to promote a couple of my favorite authors and also discover some Malaysian authors I haven’t read! I didn’t love all the ones I’ve read, but I hope that sharing them here anyway will help the right audience find them. Clicking the link on their names will bring you to their author page on Goodreads.
Top Ten Tuesday Malaysian Authors
Yangsze Choo – My absolute favorite Malaysian author, she has written The Ghost Bride, The Night Tiger, and The Fox Wife, all of which I’ve read and loved! Her first two books are steeped in Malaysian Chinese folklore and have wonderful fantastical elements. The Fox Wife is not set in Malaysia, but has the same beautiful storytelling. I recommend these books to as many people as I can. In fact, The Ghost Bride is my in-person bookclub’s current book of the month!
Zen Cho – My next favorite Malaysian author, although I have only read The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water. She writes sci-fi and fantasy and has a good number of successful books. I loved The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water and I keep meaning to pick up more of her books.
Tash Aw – He grew up in Malaysia but has since moved to England. There was a lot of hype around The Harmony Silk Factory when it came out, and I’ve read it but don’t remember very much about it except that I was underwhelmed, unfortunately. I haven’t read any of his other books.
Vanessa Chan – The most recent Malaysian author whose work I read. I really wanted to like The Storm We Made but unfortunately couldn’t because I’m a character-driven reader and some of the characters’ behaviors in the book was just not believable for me. I was quite disappointed with the book but others have liked it and regardless of my own feelings about the book, I always wish success for my fellow Malaysians and hope they find the right audience.
Vanessa Len – She is nationally Australian but has Malaysian Chinese roots. Her Monsters series has been quite successful, but unfortunately I dnf’d the first book of the series. It wasn’t for me but I hope others might find her and love her.
Hanna Alkaf – I just found her through researching for this post and I am very excited about reading her books. It looks like she’s got several books with great ratings; I’m most excited about The Weight of Our Sky because it’s historical fiction set on May 13th, 1969, the day there was a racial war between the Chinese and the Malays in Malaysia. I grew up hearing about it as a cautionary tale but was never given details so I’m very curious to read this book!
Tan Twan Eng – Another Malaysian author I just found out about and whom I’m excited to read. He writes The Gift of Rain and The House of Doors. These books are historical fiction set in the early 1900s in Malaysia. I’m just really starting to appreciate the intricate history of Malaysia/Malaya during the British colonial times, a lot of which we were never taught in school, and I’d love to read more about it!
Sue Lynn Tan – She is the author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior, two books in the Celestial Kingdom series. I have these books on my TBR but I haven’t gotten around to them yet. I don’t think I knew the author was Malaysian, but now that I do, I’m moving them up the TBR list. These are fantasy books about Chinese mythological figures, something I’m very excited to dive into!
Rani Manicka – She has written four novels, two of which are set in Malaysia. The Rice Mother is her first book and is about a girl who moved to Malaysia for an arranged marriage at the age of fourteen and had several children by the time she was nineteen. She grows up quickly and takes care of her family through WW2 and the Japanese occupation. It sounds absolutely fascinating!
Selina Siak Chin Yoke – The author has written two books in the Malayan series; The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds and When the Future Comes Too Soon. Historical fiction set in British colonial times in Malaysia, which I’ve mentioned I’ve become more appreciative of. These books weave many of the different, rich Malaysian cultures into the story and I love seeing multicultural aspects of Malaysia being represented so I can’t wait to read these books too.
Have you read any of these books and/or authors? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine, lived a quiet life working at her stepfather’s bakery. There are places in the world where darkness rules, where it’s unwise to walk. Sunshine knew that. One night, she went out to the lake for some peace and quiet. There hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake for years, and Sunshine just needed a spot where she could be alone with her thoughts.
Big mistake.
Vampires never entered her mind. Until they found her. And set upon her, and took her to an old abandoned mansion. They took her clothes and sneakers. They dressed her in a long red gown. And they shackled her to a wall-within easy reach of a figure stirring in the moonlight, who is also chained. She knows that it is a vampire. She knows that she’s to be his dinner, and that when he is finished with her, she will be dead. Yet, when light breaks, she finds that he has not attempted to harm her. And now it is the vampire, Constantin, who needs her to help him survive the day, to protect him from the sun with her magic…
This is a reread. I’ve read this book twice before and it’s one of my favorite vampire stories. I also really love the author’s works.
The Quotes
“What we can do, we must do: we must use what we are given, and we must use it the best we can, however much or little help we have for the task. What you have been given is a hard thing–a very hard thing… But my darling, what if there were no one who could do the difficult things?”
“It is halfway true that if you are involved in a family coffeehouse you don’t have a life.”
“You can be a really nasty, selfish little jerk when you’re scared enough. I was scared enough.”
“He was a vampire. I was a human. We weren’t supposed to have any bonds between us, except straightforward generic ones of murderous antagonism and so on.”
The Narrator(s)
Laural Merlington. I had a really hard time with the low vampire voices. I could barely hear them and couldn’t make out what they were saying. I had to get a copy of the ebook and refer to it periodically.
My Thoughts
I love this book. I have loved this book, and I still love this book. Listening on audio was not the best experience, unfortunately, because I couldn’t make out what some of the low voices was saying, but I still love the story. I read it for the first time maybe 20 years ago and I thought it was one of the more interesting vampire stories, and 20 years later it’s still true for me.
The relationship between Rae and Constantin is a constant push/pull, and I love that vampires aren’t seen as dashing, romantic bad boys in this world but rather dangerous, animalistic creatures of prey. I mean, to an extent, Constantin is romanticized a little bit but to a reasonable degree in comparison to so many other vampire stories.
There are so many reasons why I love this book; the interesting world-building, the vampire lore, the rich character backgrounds. When the book first came out years ago, I hoped there might be more books set in this world, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any so far, and the author hasn’t published any new books in the last decade. Still, there are plenty of books in her catalog I haven’t read and I love rereading the ones I’ve read. I never get tired of them.
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?
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 Books with Springy Covers
I couldn’t come up with a creative spin on this topic so I just went with books that had the word “spring” in the title. I ended up a pretty good list, I think, and unfortunately, more books added to my TBR! 😂 I hope you enjoy these!
Top Ten Books with Spring in the Title
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson – This book has been on my TBR forever! I keep meaning to read it but haven’t gotten to it yet. It sounds like a very important book to read about the environment and I can’t believe it was written 50 years ago!
Rumours of Spring by Farah Bashir – This is a memoir about a girl in India and I must say I am intrigued! I came across it as I was looking for books for this list and it just caught my attention.
Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews – I’ve seen this author’s name everywhere and I thought I must have read at least one of her books but apparently not. Maybe it’s time to remedy that.
Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – This is the third book in the Dragonlance Chronicles that I’m trying to do a reread on this year! I cannot wait to get to it!
Absent in the Spring by Agatha Christie – Written under her pseudonym Mary Westmacott, it just reminds me I’ve still got many of the author’s books on my TBR!
The Spring of the Ram by Dorothy Dunnett – I have heard good things about the author when it comes to historical fiction. I had a few of her books on my physical shelves at one point but I moved and had to give away a lot of books so she’s still on my TBR!
Black Spring by Henry Miller – I’m not sure I’m interested in this book, but the cover is very attention-getting and I had to include it.
Spring Fever by P.G. Wodehouse – The second book with this title on my list, but it sounded good, and I’ve been curious about the author’s works so it’s on the list!
Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang – Historical fiction set in China with magical realism! I must read it!
A Spring Without Bees by Michael Schacker – This one is another one about the environment and I’m simultaneously wanting to read it and scared to. I think it’s important to educate ourselves though.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.
To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.
I thought the premise was brilliant. This book has been on my TBR for ages and it’s a buddy-read on my online bookclub so I decided to join in.
The Quotes
“The entitled assholes of the world are sustained by girls who forgive too easily.”
“That’s not a matter of losing control. Every guy who does something like that knows exactly what he’s doing. There is always a moment where he consciously decides that he will ruin someone’s life to feel better about his own. Always.”
“Shame and humiliation are self-imposed emotions, and from here on out, I choose not to feel them.”
“This body of mine is not big enough to contain the scale of emotion coursing through me. How could I feel a rage like this, and not be able to tear the sky open and scorch the earth?”
My Thoughts
Overall, I didn’t like the book very much. I liked the idea and the worldbuilding based upon Chinese culture; it’s new and different and I thought the story itself was very interesting. The execution was very poor though. The MC, Zetian, was an incredibly Mary Sue character; her powers kept increasing to ridiculous levels, within days, with no training and no explanation, against people who were supposed to have higher Qi points than her. The fight scenes were almost always conveniently not shown on page, taking us into things that happens in the mental realm instead. I get that the battles fought in the mental realm are important, but there should be enough physical fight scenes to balance it out as well.
The intimate and vulnerable scenes between the MCs felt very shallow; there wasn’t any chemistry and I didn’t feel their connection at all. We are mostly told and not shown a lot of the feelings they feel; the anger at the oppression and being lied to, the love and attraction between the MCs. I just didn’t feel it. I don’t know if I’ll read the next book. I really like the story idea, but I’m character-driven and I need to like the characters and feel like they make sense. We’ll see.
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?
A super-powered collision of extraordinary minds and vengeful intentions—#1 New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab returns with the thrilling follow-up to Vicious.
Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.
But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought—and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other.
With Marcella’s rise, new enmities create opportunity–and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.
I read Vicious, the first book in the series, and loved it. I wanted more of the story.
The Quotes
“How many men would she have to turn to dust before one took her seriously?”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a human versus a human or a human versus an EO or an EO versus an EO. You do what you can. You fight, and you win, until you don’t.”
“The next time you point a gun at someone, make sure you’re ready to pull the trigger.”
“The life I had is gone. There’s no getting it back. I’d rather make a new one. A better one. One where I don’t have to pretend to be weak to survive.”
My Thoughts
I didn’t like this book as much as the first one. I loved the characters, and still do, but there were so many plot holes and issues with the story this time around that were really convenient and annoying. The storytelling style with the jumping timelines was also an issue; it was very confusing and tedious to get through.
The catalyst of the story was stupid, in my opinion, because Victor justified doing many bad things by saying that he was trying to cover their tracks, but that doesn’t make sense at all because anyone with any common sense would realize that it’s exactly what would bring attention to them. I also didn’t like how conveniently things were resolved in the end during the boss battles. I still love Sydney and Mitch, and I think June is a very interesting new character. I want to know what happens to them in the next book, but I’m not looking forward to slogging through the jumping timelines storytelling style, and if the plot is going to have issues like in this book, I don’t know if it’s going to be worth it. I truly hope it gets better.
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?
