Category: All Things Books

Red Seas Under Red Skies Review

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Thief and con-man extraordinaire, Locke Lamora, and the ever lethal Jean Tannen have fled their home city and the wreckage of their lives. But they can’t run forever and when they stop they decide to head for the richest, and most difficult, target on the horizon. The city state of Tal Verarr. And the Sinspire. The Sinspire is the ultimate gambling house. No-one has stolen so much as a single coin from it and lived. It’s the sort of challenge Locke simply can’t resist… but Locke’s perfect crime is going to have to wait. Someone else in Tal Verarr wants the Gentleman Bastards’ expertise and is quite prepared to kill them to get it. Before long, Locke and Jean find themselves engaged in piracy. Fine work for thieves who don’t know one end of a galley from another. 

February 2021 Wrap Up

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Well, this was a very successful month for me. I didn’t read as many books as last month but I really enjoyed the ones I did read. I also read my first 5 star novel this month which was amazing.

  • I read 5 books this month.
  • I continued with all my challenges.
  • Genre: I read 2 classic murder mysteries, 1 sci-fi and 2 fantasy.
  • Gender of authors: 4 by women and 1 was by a variety of authors.
  • Race of authors: 2 white, 2 asian and 1 was by a variety of authors.
  • Age range: I read 4 adult and 1 I was not sure of the age range.
  • Format: I read 2 paperbacks, 1 ebooks and 1 manga.

Death Going Down – Maria Angelica Bosco (2.5 stars)

So, this was my first step into Argentinian Literature, I read this novel as part of the ONTD Reading Challenge. I found it to be a really easy read. The novel didn’t blow me away but I still enjoyed reading it and I would consider reading more of Bosco’s novels.

Lord Edgware Dies – Agatha Christie (4 stars)

This was a solid addition to her series. While it wasn’t as good as some of her other work I still had a great time reading it. I read this book as part of my sequels challenge and I do hope to read the next book in her series before the end of the year. I found that I enjoyed Hastings the most in this book out of all the others books he’s been in. He felt like a great sidekick to Poirot where in other books he’s been a liability to him.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Manga – Akira Himekawa (4 stars)

I have read some mangas before but they had all be apart of the same series. So, this was the first time I had tried a completely different author. I felt that this was a solid adaptation from a video game which had so much content and I really enjoyed the art style. I did wish that some of the dungeons are expanded upon in the manga and I found that some of the pages were too busy but it didn’t ruin my enjoyment.

Star Wars: From A Certain Point of View – Various Authors (3 stars)

I don’t read many short story anthologies but I was really interested in reading these stories set in the Star Wars universe. I decided to rate each story out of 5 and then average out the scores for my overall rating. Overall, I loved how creative and imaginative the authors were and how they could get me invested in this new characters in just a handful of pages!!!

The Poppy War – R.F. Kuang – (5 stars)

This was the book I was most anxious for! I had seen such great things from this trilogy and I desperately wanted to enjoy as much as everyone else did. Thankfully, I loved it! Such amazing world-building, I was super invested in the main character Rin and I was just so connected to the story. I believe this book to be a must read if you want to read more fantasy!

January Wrap Up 2021

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Here we go the first wrap up of the new year!! One of my challenges this year is to read more graphic novels and manga etc. Well, I decided to sign up to WebToon and read some of their webcomics and it was such a great decision! I had 2 5 star books this month, 1 for a webcomic and 1 for a manga.

  • I read 8 books this month.
  • I started both my 2021 Goodreads, Sequel, Physical and ONTD challenge.
  • Genre: I read 1 historical fiction, 1 thriller, 5 fantasy and 1 supernatural!
  • Age range: I read 6 adult and 2 YA.
  • Format: I read 3 paperbacks, 2 ebooks and 3 webcomics.

The Art of Dying – Ambrose Parry (3 stars)

Ok, so not a bad start to the new year. This was an ARC from Netgalley and it was just a solid 3 stars. I enjoyed the characters and I enjoyed the change in POV but it didn’t wow me. I probably won’t continue the series unless the next book looks really really good.

The Plotters – Un-Su Kim (2.5 stars)

So, this was for my ONTD challenge and I had never read a book by a Korean author before so I was quite excited to jump in. This book hit the middle of the road for me. I really enjoyed the dialogue and the Seoul Underworld described in this book but there was a lot of philosophical stream of consciousness esc passages in this book that bored me and ruined the pacing of the novel.

Lore Olympus: Season 1 – Rachel Smythe (5 stars)

So, here is my first 5 star of the year. Starting off well, one of the first web comics I picked up was this one. I had heard so many great things and it ended up matching the hype and exceeding my expectations. It is a re-telling of the “Taking of Persephone” myth from Greek Mythology, where Hades, King of the Underworld, kidnaps Goddess of Spring Persephone and makes her his wife. This is such a refreshing take on this myth, don’t worry everything is consensual between the two! The art-style is amazing, the romance between Hades and Persephone is just incredible and the characters in general are so varied and so well written.

The Steam Dragon Express – R. Merryweather & Porforever (2.5 stars)

This was another middle of the road comic for me. It follows a young girl who joins the Steam Dragon Express Academy to learn how to be an adventurer. The art style was super cute and colourful, I was super interested in the story but I found the episodes to be too short. Also, sadly the artist and the writer decided to go separate ways just as the comic started to really amp up so the ending felt kind of rushed.

The Fifth Season – N.K. Jemisin (4 stars)

I picked this up after hearing so many great things about it. I do think that after reading so much hype it meant that I went in with maybe too high of expectations than I would have gone in with if I didn’t know much about it. That being said it was still really good. I really enjoyed learning about the world and meeting all these new and exciting characters and I love a story with multiple POVs and every single POV was amazing!

Fullmetal Alchemist Vol 4. (10-12) – Hiromu Arakawa (5 stars)

Another, 5 star but this is not surprising! I love this series so much! This is by far my favourite of the series so far. We finally get a greater understanding of the world and the plot seems more important and exhilarating. The art as always is great and I just love how Arakawa can write both really deep and emotional scenes and then also write some incredibly funny scenes.

The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn – Tri Vuong (4 stars)

Another webcomic to the list. This follows Supernatural Investigator Oscar Zahn through some of his adventures into the paranormal. This was just so good. The art work was amazing, the plot was superb but this comic just had a lot of heart and soul (no pun intended) embedded in these stories. Oscar is a great character and I need more!

Descendant of the Crane – Joan He (3 stars)

This was another book I picked up due to the hype. There were loads of elements of it that I liked; the plot, the sibling relationship, the mystery but sadly I couldn’t connect to the story at the beginning. The pacing at times was quite slow that my attention span faltered and I couldn’t engage with book as much as I wanted to!

Welp, there’s January 2021 all done and dusted. That’s so weird that it’s over already!!!