fantasy

Books I Loved But Will Never Re-Read | Top Ten Tuesday

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week. 

TTT

Turns out, most of the books I’ll never reread is because I read them years ago, as a child or in my early teens and don’t want to judge their quality now. I think that leaving some of them alone is the best way to honour the choices I made and what I liked then. Also there’s other reasons, for examples there’s some beautiful or emotional memories I have attached to certain places and I want to keep those.

The Gone Series by Michael Grant

  • Book 7 is out after four year break, needless to say I started this series a long time ago, the first book came out in 2008. I’ll give it a chance for nostalgia’s sake, but I’m not rereading this series to catch up again.

Night School series by C. J. Daughtery

  • I had trouble reading the last book of this series, I found it an exciting ya spy-ish read and is torn between not wanting it to end and being a bit bored

Heist Society by Ally Carter

  • A fantastic young adult mystery and heist series which I would still very much recommend, but I have no need to reread.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

  • What would a top ten tuesday list be without a Sanderson book?
  • A good ya fantasy book, but not worth a reread for me

The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

  • Was a great series for me as a child, further fueling my interest for mythology, stories and especially greek gods. Most recently read the Heroes of Olympus and if that’s a pointer, I’ve grown out of these series. Won’t dare to ruin the magic rereading it and finding out, though I think the Heroes of Olympus is more unoriginal overall.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

  • Do I need to explain why this book is on this list? The movies and hype ruined it for me, as they did with Divergent, I won’t reread it to find out just how much.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

  • Liked it when I first read it, but later books in the series made it not worth the reread.

Vampirates series by Justin Somper

  •  Once upon a time I read a series with pirates that sometimes were turned into vampires and two twins who wanted to spend their life at sea. I had never found a book that perfect for me, in norwegian because this was before I learned a lot of english, with a strong female character as well. I will definitely reread it one time out of curiosity, so not never, but it deserved its place on this list.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

  • I read this book in summer, visiting one place, a family summer house that reminded me a lot of the summer house of this story. This book will now forever be linked to that place, and I hope to find new book experiences like that.

The first three books of the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik

  • I loved this series with dragons and war between nations. Novik has since written books like Uprooted and has a new release soon. So I searched for her and realized there exists SIX other books in this series! How did this go me by? I read the first three books translated to norwegian at my library, and these just never appeared. I’ll never reread the three first books because there’s a slim chance I’ll ever finish it at all if she’s going to continue releasing those amazing fairytale-inspired books as Uprooted.

Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs | Review

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Mercy Thompson #10

Pages: 370

Genre: urban fantasy

Synopsis

Mercy Thomson is a coyote shapeshifter living among werewolves. It has been true for most of her life, but certainly now when she’s chosen an alpha werewolf as mate. In this book she’s suddenly attacked and abducted (again?) by one of the most powerful vampires in the world. Which lands her without the pack bonds, money or clothes a long way from home, in Europe, searching for allies and enemies. Also the ghosts of Prague doesn’t seem to be leaving her alone.

 

My thoughts

Rating out out five:

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Travelling is nice and expands the universe, but it also leaves the familiar, already established world and friends. With no new interesting characters being introduced, just varies of the same old, the character interactions felt flat. Might’ve been saved by learning anything new about the character’s, especially the vampires, backstories, but it wasn’t enough of that either.

The problem is that this book has been done before, in all the nine other Mercy Thomson books. Until now I felt every book has contributed something, but this book just floats on past glories and reveals. Even the plot is sentered around it, about how great Mercy is and the victories she’s done. The humble-bragging and “I’m/she’s great because” speeches made me cringe because they seemed so misplaced. Really I’m giving this book a star extra because I agree Mercy’s pretty great, but if you skip this book and go straight from book nine to eleven, I don’t think you would notice much difference. Maybe one reveal towards the end that will hopefully play out further in next books.

The only thing that made me giggle was a surprise guest, which I’ve halfway guessed wasn’t who I thought, but the reveal managed to sneak up on me anyway. Slow applause for that, I could see the hints spread throught the book afterwards.

 

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff | Review

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Pages: 430
Genre: fantasy, young adult

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

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This story has an incredible average review rating, but I was terribly bored, found the plot flat and some aspects idiotic. This hardcover is nice though. It starts with a simple fantasy concept; an orphan girl enrolling in an assassin academy where there’s as much chance of dying as of graduating, especially as someone is murdered by a fellow student and she got to figure out who (even if they’re all killers). Also she can’t forget why she came there; to train until she’s strong enough to take down the Senate who killed her father, after convicting him as a traitor. Okay, maybe not so simple, but not the most original story either. And that’s what this book plays on, because every small detail is done better than most of the young adult fantasy heroine books I’ve read.

“Forget the girl who had everything. She died when her father did.“
“But I–”
“Nothing is where you start. Own nothing. Know nothing.”
“But why would I want to do that?”
His smile made her smile in return.
“Because then you can do anything.”

It also succeed with the characters and their interactions within the school. Mia, the main character, has lost everything but her life and snarky humour, and has to use her mind as she navigates this new enviroment where everyone is dangerous. Even the library will kill you. I can’t decide if I like that the characters are built on archetypes like “mean girl”, “brutal teacher”, “evil twins”, “hot boy”, but that they all are murderous versions who don’t behave as expected. It still feels too easy and unoriginal.

 

That said, a few things really bothered me;

  • ASTERIX! FREAKING EVERYWHERE. Especially at the beginning. You think I’m kidding, but more than once the author covered more than half the page. And 1/10 of them is related to the plot so I have to read them just in case. Why u doing this?? Usually I like the extra voice these notes bring, but here it was too much too soon and interrupted the pace.

 

  • You don’t need to read the whole book. At least not to follow the plot. Never thought I would say this, but the writing is so slow and filled with unecessary words that for the middle part of this book you can read the first and last sentence of a paragraph and still follow the plot. Trust me, I tried.

 

  • I didn’t realize the problem reading it, but there’s* a discussion of this book being problematic in regards to possible links between the book’s dweymeri people and the maori. If you’re curious, do a google search and you’ll find blogs better qualified to answer it than me. From the little I’ve seen the author was kind of a jerk about it on twitter trying to explain they’re not based on the same group of people. But hey, I haven’t looked into whether or not he got a lot of shit for it either. I’m all for people making their own critical choices when supporting books, and it’s good to be aware of these things. I believe that he can have created a world with negative views on for example mixed kids and enforcing certain stereotypes without that being a unique thing for this book. It’s a problem in fantasy and world-building in general. There’s plenty of other reasons not to read this book, the way I see it, mostly because it’s boring and unecessary large. But it’s definitely a discussion worth being loud about.

*disclaimer: i wrote this review some time back and at the time it very much was a discussion around this book. how much the word problematic has been overused since then, but even with some more thought in this case it applies well. from what i’ve seen the plotpoints of racism are not outright terribly wrong, but seen as problematic from many and at the very least unecessary.

The last hundred pages of this book was the best, but it was not worth it. While I really loved the new twist on young assassin heroine Mia’ with her shadow-abilities and the not-cat, I just don’t think I’ll read the next book when it comes out. I used sixteen days to get through this one, which is a long time for me. It had great solutions to problems already in young adult fantasy books, but was blind to the new problems it created for itself. I won’t waste time on the next books, might sound harsh, but based on the amount of unecessary lines alone, I couldn’t do it.

 

Jade City by Fonda Lee | Review

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Pages: 510

Genre: urban fantasy

Synopsis

 

TWO CRIME FAMILIES, ONE SOURCE OF POWER: JADE.
Jade is the lifeblood of the city of Janloon – a stone that enhances a warrior’s natural strength and speed. Jade is mined, traded, stolen and killed for, controlled by the ruthless No Peak and Mountain families.
When a modern drug emerges that allows anyone – even foreigners – to wield jade, simmering tension between the two families erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all in the families, from their grandest patriarch to even the lowliest motorcycle runner on the streets.
Jade City is an epic tale of blood, family, honour, and of those who live and die by ancient laws in a changing world.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

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– the action –

This book had a well thought through plot, a lot of action in between slower scenes and lots of crime family conflicts. The fight scenes was well-written, it reads like those of a superhero action movie. I especially noted it when someone slits the enemy’s throat from behind. Personally I’m not much a fan of fight scenes like this, I like my action to come with emotions or a lack off, written with a different perspective than just cinematic-looking decription. This is an opinion that hasn’t affected my rating of this book, because I think it’s very well done and something many readers want. It would make it easy for a movie adaption as well.

– the jade –

The concept of jade as a powersource was something new for me and made perfect sense. The mix of asian and western is something that makes this book special, it’s a big part of the plot. Just the levels of formality in the culture is a something that fits perfectly with the dynamics of the families. The crime families agree that outsiders are dangerous to invite in, to give them this drug and control of powers they didn’t understand, which leads them to a certain degree of isolation and a good scene for this internal struggle to play out.

“So it came to be, remarkably, that the ruling family of No Peak was all the family Anden had.”

– the characters – 

The story is told from multiple points of view, which was tricky. I didn’t really care for the character we started out with, there’s this kid who tries to steal jade that I didn’t feel for much. Poor circumstances made it hard for him, but he’s no evil mastermind or accidental hero. Probably going to become one in later books though, with the focus he got sometimes. There were other characters I didn’t care much for as well, which I realized is because you don’t get to see much of the internal life of them, even through their point of view.

Shae is the sister in one of the biggest crime families, and she’s returned after basically running away attending school overseas. She could’ve been such an interesting character, but her plans without jade was so ridiculous and uncertain for someone who had taken such a deliberate choice to separate her from her family. She’s too smart not to have a plan or even dreams as she returns from abroad. Multiple times I felt like her character came apart, where the way everyone described her didn’t match up with how undecisive she acted and thought about events, especially in her pov.

There should’ve been more backstory and personality quirks in a book of five hundred pages, to give readers a reason to care about Hilo’s top men and even all the major characters. I cared about Lan because he had a lot to say in how it would go down, which family would win power. Aden got some backstory and we got a quick look into how hard he was working to be best at the military school.

“Heaven help me, Shae,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m going to kill them all.”

Politics and the parts where Shae and Hilo is organizing were good. I have a weakness for characters like Hilo, who is used to violence, but has a conscience somewhere and is very protective of his family and friends, even though he’s arguing with them. Even Aden remarks that he has a remarkable way with people, but then sometimes he shows how dangerous and spontaneous he could be, which was awesome.

 

– in the end –

It ended on an exciting note and I think I’ll pick up the next book in the series pretty quickly when it comes out. It took a long time to build up the characters and plot, but now I have all hopes for a good series, as it was well done in many aspects.

*spoilery discussion on characters below*

Continue reading →

Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder | Review

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Pages: 490

Genre: young adult, fantasy

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Synopsis

From the author of the poison study series, it’s a new fantasy book with a world where magic can be stored in glass. The Stormdancers are able to capture storms in glass orbs, but someone is killing them and destroying the storages in order to stop it. Opal Cowan, a glassmaker and magician, is brought in to prevent the disasterous attacks, but her skills might not be enough. Much is needed to be learned about the connection between glass and magic, and it not easy to gather that information with the most skilled magicians dead and the others being rather mysterious. To help and stay safe, Opal needs to learn the reason behind the attacks and how to stop them.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

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I’ve always been fascinated by glassblowing and it was interesting to read a fantasy book that revolved around it. It’s still only an average book in all other aspects; writing, plot, characters, romance … it’s nothing special. Poison study did so well, and both this series and the healer series seems to be trying (and failing) at mimicking that sucess without creating the same story. Instead of a taster for a king, the girl is a glassmaker or healer, the love interests is more bland and the same with the main girl Opal. To not make her easily compared to the original kick-ass Yelena, why not make Opal unsure of herself always. Also, storm metaphors are nice the first five times or so, after 300 more pages with it I’m out.

I’m not giving these series a third chance for now. It’s not for me. I do love the glassblowing aspect though, and have been looking for books with it. Have you read any other books with glassblowing? I remember reading the fiction book “The glassblower from Milano” by Marina Fiorato many years ago (I don’t really remember it at all) and liking it, but I think that’s the only other book.

Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen | Review

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Pages: 340
Genre: fantasy, westerns
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Summary

A western-inspired fantasy, sentered around Nettie who’s called half-breed and treated like a slave by the people who raised her. There’s dangerous things in the desert, but she never imagined something like the monster that attacks her. As she gets in a stab, the monster turns to black sand, and from that point she can’t stop seeing monsters all around her. She might also be haunted by someone who needs help avenging her lost child. Eventually Nettie runs from the life she’s known, dressed as a boy and trying to survive in the unhospital world.

My thoughts

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I liked this book because it was entertaining as well as contains a lot of well-written themes, like gender roles and racism, making it a different kind of fantasy novel. It doesn’t lose focus on the plot or character development, which I’ve missed in other similiar books. I loved the main character Nettie, and how she reacts to the world around her, which isn’t very welcoming to someone who’s black and/or a girl. The book feels well-done, in all aspects I can judge. At times it was a bit slow as Nettie’s journey started to look like a long line of encounters with creatures, but eventually it was always leading somewhere. Westerns is still not a genre I’m going to read much of, but I liked it better than expected. The thing to keep in mind when reading this book is definitely to be open for something different.

 

Ilusions of Fate by Kiersten White | Review

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Pages: 278
Genre: fantasy, young adult

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“Perhaps if you gave the sun a bit more attention, it would be flattered and come out more often.” 

Synopsis

Jessamin has been an outcast since she moved from her island home of Melei to the dreary country of Albion. Everything changes when she meets Finn, a gorgeous, enigmatic young lord who introduces her to the secret world of Albion’s nobility, a world that has everything Jessamin doesn’t—power, money, status…and magic. But Finn has secrets of his own, dangerous secrets that the vicious Lord Downpike will do anything to possess. Unless Jessamin, armed only with her wits and her determination, can stop him.

My thoughts

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My feelings about this book told by the book itself: “I don’t dislike them, nor do I like them. I’ve never understood why one must love children (magical plots) because they are (have lots of all-powerful alpha men behaving like) children.” Edited that quote a bit oops, not that the original quote with children isn’t too true. Fortunately for me, Jessamin feel the same way about the guys, at least at first.

“Paths do not only go one way. We choose which direction to take. I refuse to believe that any outside forces can determine the course of my life.” 

It’s supposedly a historical fiction (with a non-existing country?), or at least it’s placed in England in another time where women didn’t have rights and especially not the biracial ones from foreign countries, who blackmailed their white rich dad to get an education (u go girl).

“He shakes his head dismissively, and I hate him for it. He has dismissed my entire life with that one gesture, whether intentional or not.”

Sometimes Jessamin seems clever and capable, making me want to laugh in glee, but mostly she’s acting even more like kid than the rich bastards involving her in their oh-so-powerful invisible magic war. Can’t even remember what the fighting was about, that’s how much the book explained it. Jessamine’s friendship with the other girl was what got me through that last part. A huge thank you to Kiersten White for not making her the typical “mean girl”.

This book is interesting and the ravens are cool and all, but it doesn’t bring much new. Perhaps if the writing had been better, or the characters less inconsistent? It handles the subjects of politics and racism pretty well, but… it lacks a certain flow and I’m sorry to say the beautiful cover doesn’t match with the story between them.

 

 

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson | Review

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Pages: 690
Genre: epic fantasy

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Summary

The people of Hallandren’s Gods, like Lightsong, are regular humans who died in a heroic way and was brought back to life using magic. No matter how hard Lightsong tries, he can’t remember his death or past life, as is the same with all gods, and he questions the belief people hold of him. After all, the thought of him being the god of bravery proves something’s gone wrong.

The God King, Susebron, are to marry one of the princesses Vivieanna or Siri of Idris. Vivienna has been trained for court and this fate her whole life, but her father the king considers her too valuable to let go. With that decision war would be on them, and so he sends his younger, more unruly daughter Siri instead.

Vasher is an immortal and exactly what he’s planning no one knows. His bloodthirsty, talking sword Nightblood are by his side and so are thousands of Breaths. Magic is colorful in this world and it comes in the form of breaths. Every person carry one Breath each and if one buys or gathers enough, few things become impossible.

My thoughts

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I really enjoyed this book. It has a lot of elements I have missed in fantasy, like the quality of the interesting political intrigues. Not to forget the fantastic world-building, twists and mysteries that makes you constantly question the gods’ place and how this world actually works. Sanderson’s one of the best at playing around with gods and belief-systems, and this is a perfect example of that. Theology is a corner stone in the development of characters and the story, without overlessing you with facts or becoming too complex to follow for regular readers.

There’s five (i believe) different points of view and Siri is telling the story a lot in the beginning, as she’s beginning her journey. I didn’t like Siri or her sister Vivenna as much as I would’ve liked, but I still cared enough to worry about them. Siri is a strong, if young and inexperienced, main character and it’s not her fault she’s thrown into this new country without preparation. Or maybe a little, since she quickly realizes she should’ve paid attention in her classes. Vivienna on the other hand is a leader, but perhaps in over her head. They’re both faulty people, and the book shows that well.

Vasher’s point of view was interesting, but there’s so much mystery surrounding him it can get a bit overwhelming. His sword Nightblood has to be my favourite magical object and it’s worth reading the book just for its sarcastic witty comments and fights. 

I completely fell in love with Lightsong and his place in the story. He’s a minor god of bravery and automatically controls parts of the troops, even if he jokes about giving the responsibility away. No Lightsong on board = no war. He’s tried to stay out of the political intrigues and works hard to convince himself and everyone else he’s useless. The reason I love him is how he thinks about how lazy he is and unfit for the job, while sneaking around trying to find answers. That’s devotion. I mean;

“Have you no thoughts on the matter?“ Blushweaver finally asked.
“I try to avoid having thoughts. They lead to other thoughts, and-if you’re not careful-those lead to actions. Actions make you tired. I have this on rather good authority from someone who once read it in a book.”
Blushweaver sighed. “You avoid thinking, you avoid me, you avoid effort… is there anything you don’t avoid?”
“Breakfast.” 

I didn’t like Warbreaker as much as the Mistborn series, I just prefer those characters and magic-system, but it’s absoloutly worth a read or three. It’s a good place to start with Brandon Sanderson’s books since it’s only one book (for now) with a complete story, where many others are series. Warbreaker had a perfect balance of humour, focus on characters and solving the mysteries of the plot!  

– favourite quotes – 

“I swear, my dear. Sometimes our conversations remind me of a broken sword.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Sharp as hell,” Lightsong said, “but lacking a point.” 

“Lightsong had never bothered to learn the rules.
He found it more amusing to play when he had no idea what he was doing.”

“So much evil, Nightblood said, like a woman tisking as she cleaned cobwebs from her ceiling.” 

My Favourite Podcasts: Books and mythology

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Could I have a book blog and not post my book podcast recommendations? I’ve already given my favourite general two-dudes-talking type here and science and productivity podcasts here.

– books and mythology –

The Legendarium

  • They read and discuss fantasy series. The biggest book series they’ve covered is Brandon Sanderson’s books, Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings and they’ve recently started Narnia. In between there’s discussions on movies and tv series, like Black Panther.

Unattended Consequences

  • Patrick Rothfuss, author of The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles) and Max Temkin from the podcast Do By Friday and the game Cards Against Humanity.
  • Currently inactive, but it’s perfect for fans and book lovers

Reading Glasses

  • Discusses books, book items and interview authors

Spirits

  • Mythology, legends and lore from all cultures told by two hosts with a drink in hand. The themes varies widly, which I appreciate and along with the discussions it keeps it interesting. Personal favourites are nr. 55 Yuki-Onna, nr 43 Javanese Mermaid Queen, nr 40 Laumes and nr 32 The Butterfly Lovers.

Poetry Off the Shelf

  • About poetry, obviously. Each episode seems to have a theme, The Wilderness is the first episode of series called A Change of World, and was amazing as it included women’s place in poetry from the 1800th century to now. They read poems out loud, and it’s wonderful, thought-provoking and calming.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman | Review

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Pages: 300

Genre: mythology, fantasy

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LOOK AT THAT COVER!

I already liked this book by page fourteen, because in the quote above Gaiman is basically describing my home and I agree it makes a lot of sense to not like your gods if they keep burying you in snow and forget humans need sunlight once in a while. Also scandinavians doesn’t really trust anyone as a rule and/or joke. Mostly joke, nowadays. Also no! This is not connected to american gods, it’s a retelling of the old norse myths. I’ve glanced at the reviews for this book, and it’s obvious some have no idea what they’re writing about, that this book is based on real myths and that’s why it’s a series of short stories and not one connected plot. I’ll come back to that later.

[About Loki] He is tolerated by the gods, perhaps because his stratagems and plans save them as often as they get them into trouble.

What I mostly took from these stories was that the gods of Asgard would be incredibly bored without Loki there and I don’t know why I feel this symphatic towards his monster children, but to banish one to the edge of the world, one to underneath the earth and one in chains seems awful. Joke’s on them, but mostly on humans, whyy did anyone think this was a good idea. Also I predict “Shut up, Thor” will be my favourite line of the whole book.

“Because,” said Thor, “when something goes wrong, the first thing I always think is, it is Loki’s fault. It saves a lot of time.”

Would recommend this book for anyone who’s interested in norse mythology, especially after watching “Thor”, that’s why this book is published now isn’t it? Basically, this book is for beginners. Please go read up on the edda if you want something traditional and to understand where this book came from, the language isn’t that difficult in the modern versions. Know that the stories are modernized some and rewritten, that’s the whole point of having Gaiman write them, but the right elements are definitely there. I was pretty well-known with norse mythology already, through school and own interest, and didn’t really find anything new. But it was somewhere between an okay and fun read, with some stories I found more interesting than others. Mostly I liked the stories that required charging the jotner (giants?) and including Frøya.  And I like this type of Loki, if you haven’t guessed already:

“Well? You know something. I can see it in your face. Tell me whatever you know, and tell it now. I don’t trust you, Loki, and I want to know what you know right this moment, before you’ve had the chance to plot and plan.”
Loki, who plotted and planned as easily as other folk breathed in and out, smiled at Thor’s anger and innocence.