Happy Halloween everyone! I hope October has been a great reading month for everyone. Today I am calling back to a post I made years ago and I wanted to revise it and give some new recommendations.
Halloween is just round the corner so I thought it would be the right time to recommend some great books.
Hey guys! Life is pretty crazy at the moment with my job and other big life stuff happening.
At the moment I am taking this week off to plan my blog and then I hope to be back to normal posting from next week. But there may be times where I just can’t find the time to write as everything is just very hectic and up in the air at the moment.
Just a little PSA and reasoning to why I haven’t been consistent recently.
Marion Shaw has been raised in the slums, where want and deprivation are all she knows. Despite longing to leave the city and its miseries, she has no real hope of escape until the day she spots a strange advertisement in the newspaper, seeking a ‘bloodmaid’. Though she knows little about the far north – where wealthy nobles live in luxury and drink the blood of those in their service – Marion applies to the position. In a matter of days, she finds herself at the notorious House of Hunger. There, Marion is swept into a world of dark debauchery – and there, at the centre of it all is her.
Her name is Countess Lisavet. Loved and feared in equal measure, she presides over this hedonistic court. And she takes a special interest in Marion. Lisavet is magnetic, charismatic, seductive – and Marion is eager to please her new mistress.
But when her fellow bloodmaids begin to go missing in the night, Marion is thrust into a vicious game of cat and mouse. She’ll need to learn the rules of her new home – and fast – or its halls will soon become her grave.
Last year I made a post where I selected a couple of books that I felt would work beautifully as a video game adaptations. Well, I want to do another one of those posts so here we are.
There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living instruments of population control. Neal Shusterman—along with collaborators David Yoon, Jarrod Shusterman, Sofía Lapuente, Michael H. Payne, Michelle Knowlden, and Joelle Shusterman—returns to the world throughout the timeline of the Arc of a Scythe series. Discover secrets and histories of characters you’ve followed for three volumes and meet new heroes, new foes, and some figures in between.
And my amazing reading year continues! I am so happy with how this year is going!
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (2 stars)
This was just not it. I was so bored reading this. I felt the author focused so on the most unnecessary things in the narrative. We didn’t get too much of the more interesting part of the story. I just did not enjoy this.
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Four Panel Comics by Hiromu Arakawa (3 stars)
This was a fun addition to the Fullmetal Alchemist series.
Post After Post-Mortem by E.C.R Lorac (3 stars)
This was a good murder mystery. I loved the focus on characterisation and I was adamant I had got the murderer right but I was very wrong. I did feel that the beginning was a bit slow and the ending did disappoint me. But I loved the investigation part of the story and the slow un-furling of the truth.
The King is Dead by Benjamin Dean (4 stars)
This was a solid story that I read at the worst time possible. I did not expect the events of the month to pan out the way it did. I loved the exploration of the royal family, the hounding of the paparazzi and the discussion of racism in the UK. So much was discussed in this book and it was done so so very well. I was super engaged in the characters. I do wish the mystery part of the story was stronger. I also didn’t love the culprit behind the events. It was disappointing to me.
The Secret of Haven Point by Lisette Auton (4 stars)
The disability representation in this story made my heart sing. Great characters, great story and a beautiful setting. My favourite part was the discussion of language in this story.
The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito (4 stars)
My first ever Junji Ito manga. What an experience.
Lord Peter Wimsey: BBC Radio Drama Collection Vol. 3 (4 stars)
A great ending to what was an absolutely amazing series!
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin (4 stars)
Another series I finished this month. Not my favourite of the three but still an amazing instalment. Everything tied up nicely and it was amazing to finally get a perfect picture of the story and the characters. I was a big fan of the ending.
Gleanings by Neal Shusterman (4.5 stars)
It was so great to be back in the Arc of a Scythe universe! Shusterman’s imagination and ingenious were top tier and I love his writing so much. Probably my favourite short story collection to date.
The Queen in the Cave by Julia Sarda (5 stars)
A beautiful picture book I read just in time for the spooky season. Beautiful art and a beautiful story.
Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 8 & 9 by Hiromu Arakawa (5 stars)
Another monumental series I finished. I cried so much when this ended as I started this all the way back in 2019. Amazing story, amazing characters, incredible art style. Loved it! I was also able to understand the ending a lot more by reading the manga than when I originally watched the show.
IndiaReadsALot 
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