Fire and Heist Review

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  • Author: Sarah Beth Durst
  • Series: Standalone
  • Genre: Fantasy/Magic Realism
  • No. of pages: 290
  • Date read: 07/01/19 – 12/01/19 (DNFed at page 172)
  • Rating: 1 star

My first DNF of 2019! To put in context, I only dnfed one book in 2018, The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. We are in the middle of January. It is the 2nd book I have read this year. I have already dnfed it.

I read this as part of a read-along with the company, Fairyloot, who sell subscription boxes for books. I was excited to participate in the read-along but I don’t think I will participate in the next one, I prefer to read at my own pace. The curators of Fairyloot obviously hyped up the book, the premise sounded so cool who wouldn’t want to hype up the book. But subsequently, I went in with really high expectations which weren’t met at all! I have still purchased 2 more boxes from Fairyloot and will continue to do so as I personally loved the other items that came with the box.

Plot: Sky Hawkins is a wyvern. A person who could turn into a dragon and poscess the abilities of a dragon. Her ancestors were exiled from their home and forced to live on earth. Like dragons from myth and literature, wyverns like to hoard gold and subsequently these families are very rich. The way they get their gold is simple… they steal it. The story starts with Sky who’s mother disappears after a failed heist and the story follows her trying to uncover why and where her mother has disappeared to.

POSITIVES:

I always like to start off positive and this book did have some positives.

The setting is our modern world. What I liked seeing was magic and technology mixing. I liked seeing how the wyverns have adapted with technology. I liked seeing magic and technolgly working togehter, how magic helps enhance the technology. I thought that was smart and fun to read about.

The mystery of where Sky’s mother disappeared to was really intriguing and kept me going after each chapter. I just wanted to know what happened to her. Was she locked up? Has she been tortured? Did she choose to leave? I had so many questions and each chapter more pieces were added to her disappearance and I was really excited to see what happened to her. That being said you find out where she goes halfway through the story and because that was the main draw of why I continued to read the book I subsequently had no incentive to continue the story.

I really liked learning about the lore, myth and history behind the wyverns. Everytime Sky mentioned something about their meetings known as “Reckonings”, the rules they must follow, the hierarchy, the powers. It really interested me.

My favourite character was Gabriela, Sky’s human friend. She was the sweetest person who I related to a little bit in the fact that she wanted so much more to life and wanted adventure. She just was a little ball of sunshine.

NEGATIVES:

My main problem with this book is the writing.

The writing to me was very cringey. I can’t explain what it is about the wiritng but it felt very young YA. Someone said she felt it read like fanfiction! The main point is the writing ended up ruining parts of the book that could have been good.

I think Sky, the main character, could have been a really cool, empowering female character but reading from her perspective was annoying and she just came across as a spoilt brat so I couldn’t connect with her whatsoever! Durst tried to make it out that Sky was really self-aware with the fact that she was spoilt but to me it didn’t help make Sky’s character likeable, it actually made her worse. It was disappointing because I love a powerful female character.

The first half of the book felt rushed. It felt like the writer was just trying to get to the second half of the book and get to the plot twist. Some of the best parts of heist movies is watching the training and the execution of the heist unfold but in this story, we get a very short training section, which didn’t have much training in, and then suddenly its the heist which started and ended within one chapter. It was very lacklustre and not developed at all.

The romance was not good. I didn’t care whether Ryan and Sky got back together. I think Ryan was a lovely character but because I didn’t like Sky and the writing surrounding their relationship was cringey. I didn’t want to continue reading about their relationship. It felt out of place sometimes as this is marketed as a heist book but Durst spent more time focusing on their relationship than actually developing the writing of the heist!

The problem with the book was the plot points were really cool and could have wowed me I just don’t think it was executed in the right way.

The Light Fantastic Review

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  • Author: Terry Pratchett
  • Series: Discworld #3
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • No. of pages: 288
  • Date read: 31.12.18 – 05.01.19
  • Rating: 4.5 stars (Favourite)
  • Challenge: 2019 Sequels and ONTD Reading Challenge: Jan (Read a book which was adapted into a movie or TV show)

You know that problem with book series where the 2nd book is never as good as the first. Not the case with this book!

A direct sequel to the first book in the Discworld series, The Colour of Magic. That book follows failed wizard Rincewind, as he agrees to show tourist, Twoflower, around the city of Ankh-Morpork. I can’t really give you the plot of this book because of spoilers.

I really liked the first book, it was a nice introduction to Terry Pratchett’s writing style and storytelling but this book is miles better than the first!

POSITIVES –
I loved Twoflower and Rincewind’s dynamic. They are such a comedic duo. I loved how it isn’t until the very end of the book do you truly know how they feel about each other as most of the time Rincewind has been putting up with Twoflower. Their friendship is very much unlike things I have read before.

The Luggage was a standout character to me. I love the fact that an object with no dialogue and no ability to speak, can be so emotive and hilarious! Pratchett did a great job with making you understand how the Luggage is feeling but without just saying outright. I loved its personality and how you never truly understand what it is, it’s just a mystery you never solve.

One of the things I liked about this book compared to The Colour of Magic is it feels like it had more of a cohesive plot with a clear direction of where it was going. The first book felt a bit all over the place with no clear structure, it was just following the characters on a journey with no clear end destination. It felt a bit messy in terms of plot structure but it’s overshadowed by how imaginative the world is. I liked seeing this improvement.

The description and the imagination that Terry Pratchett had is outstanding! Every page I turned I didn’t know what was going to happen next and who I was going to meet! Especially at the end at the very climax of the ending Pratchett’s description is off the charts. I could visualise the scene perfectly.

I loved how imaginative the world is and how each part of the Discworld is unlike the other. All the characters were incredibly different from one another one character is an ageing warrior while another is an angry and tired rock troll. I loved seeing a bit more exploration into the wizards from the Unseen University as well. Giving a bit more insight into the magic system at play in the Discworld.

Another point that made this book better than the first is that the ending was a lot better. The main negative I had about the first book was that I thought the ending was rushed and not that great it really spoilt the book as I had enjoyed it a lot before we got to the ending and I felt it didn’t work with the rest of the novel. The ending was amazing in this book you don’t know what’s going to happen next and even when I thought I knew what was going to happen, Pratchett surprised me with something weird and crazy! Very on-brand.

This book also helps me complete the first month in the ONTD reading challenge! Quick disclaimer – I did read the January challenge wrong. I thought it was read a book adapted into a TV show or movie, not specifically limited to 2019 but I was wrong. It’s too late now so I am just counting any book that was adapted into a movie or tv show since the dawn of time. This book, in particular, was made into a movie alongside The Colour of Magic.

The next book I plan to review is Fire and Heist by Sarah Beth Durst. A fantasy novel involving humans who can shape-shift into dragons, unsolved mysteries and heists! I am partaking in the Fairyloot Readalong so the review will be up same time next week.

My 2018 Wrap Up

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So this is it! The end of another year. 2018, as I have said before, has been my best reading year to date! I read 32 books this year and I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store. I try not to plan things to extensively but check out my “Plan for 2019” blogpost which I posted about a week ago to have an idea of how I am going to attack 2019 head one!

I won’t try to overload you with loads of information but I took the stats from my Goodreads Wrap Up and have applied it here. These stats have been compiled by Goodreads.

Basic Stats

  • I read 11,486 pages over 32 books this year.
  • My average book length was 358 pages.
  • My average rating for 2018 was 4 stars exactly!

The shortest book I read in 2018 – 156 pages

The longest book I read in 2018 – 659 pages

My most popular book.

This book was read by 5,611,021 people on Goodreads.

My least popular book.

This book was read by only 297 other people on Goodreads.

The highest rated book on Goodreads that I read in 2018

This book was been rated on Goodreads an average of 4.55 stars.

Rating Breakdown

Now we are going to break it down into what books I gave a certain number of stars to. Since I started this blog at the end of the year, it will also help you see what books I have been reading. One good thing this year is I gave no books 1 star.

Books that I gave 2 stars – 2

  • The Princess Saves Herself in This One – Amanda Lovelace
  • The Magician’s Nephew – C.S. Lewis

Books that I gave 3 stars – 8

  • Murder on Christmas Eve – Edited by Cecily Gayford, written by Various Authors
  • One of Us is Lying – Karen McManus
  • The Sacrafice Box – Martin Stewart
  • Fight Club – Chuck Palahiniuck
  • The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller
  • Everless – Sara Holland
  • The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett
  • The Mermaid – Christina Henry

Books that I gave 4 stars – 9

  • It Devours! – Jeffrey Cranor and Joeseph Fink
  • Mythos – Stephen Fry
  • Battle Royale – Koushun Takami
  • The Riviera Express – T.P. Fielden
  • Uprooted – Naomi Novik
  • The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One – Amanda Lovelace
  • The Bear in the Nightingale – Katherine Arden
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
  • Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman

Books that I gave 5 stars – 13

  • Red Queen – Christina Henry
  • Lost Boy – Christina Henry
  • Caraval – Stephanie Garber
  • Senlin Ascends – Josiah Bancroft
  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K Rowling
  • Gemina – Amie Kaufman
  • Scythe – Neal Shusterman
  • The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton
  • Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi
  • Circe – Madeline Miller
  • The Murder on the Links – Agatha Christie
  • The Hobbit – J.R.R Tolkien

I added 11 of these books into my all-time favourites list proving how successful my 2018 has been.

Genre Breakdown

Lastly, for my 2018 wrap up I will break down the different genres I read this year and how many books of that genre I read. There will be overlapping as some books fit within multiple genres.

  • Contemporary – 4
  • Classics – 2
  • Fantasy – 15
  • Historical Fiction – 4
  • LGBT Fiction – 4
  • Murder Mystery – 4
  • Mythology/Folklore – 5
  • Plays/Poetry – 2 (Both poetry)
  • Re-tellings – 3
  • Romance – 6
  • Sci-Fi – 4
  • Steampunk – 1
  • Paranormal – 1

The Hobbit Review

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  • Author: J.R.R Tolkien
  • Series: Prequel to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
  • Genre: Fantasy/Classics
  • No. of Pages: 280
  • Date Read: 17.12.18 – 26.12.18
  • Rating: 5 stars (Favourite)

Wow! Ummm… where to start with this book?

I heard so much about this series but to me, it was so well-loved and highly praised, I was quite scared to even attempt to read it as I was worried I wouldn’t like it. I hadn’t read much high fantasy before this book so I wasn’t sure if it was my thing. But I thought I would just go ahead and see what happens. I mean, I got the whole set for £4 at a charity event so that gave me the push I needed to give the series a go.

Minor spoilers.

The Plot: Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who loves the safety of his hobbit hole and doesn’t have an adventurous bone in his body. One day he is approached by a mysterious wizard and a band of burly Dwarves and is whisked away on an epic adventure to steal the mounds of riches from the evil dragon, Smaug!

Positives:

Tolkien’s world building is unmatched! I have never read a book with such intricate world building, I hear that the Lord of the Ring series is a lot more detailed so I am looking forward to that. What made Tolkien’s world building so great is that it allowed you to visualise and place yourself within the scene. You feel as if you’re there with the characters experiencing all the events alongside them. The world building was also important for the battle scenes. I tend to find battles scenes long, boring and most of the time I don’t understand what is going on half the time but with the use of the world building it gives you a clearer image of where they are and where people are positioned, making it easier to understand.

The description of the battle scenes was incredibly intricate. I was never bored reading the scenes as he always managed to keep it light and fast-paced but without losing any detail as he goes. The detail in which he described the fighting styles and the positioning of all the characters was really interesting and as I said before, worked really well with the image of the battlefield he conjured up beforehand. The battle scenes were intense and at moments I couldn’t tear my eyes from the page as I had to know what happened next.

All characters were varied and unique and I don’t think I came across any characters who were similar to each other. Characters of notability include;

Bilbo. Bilbo was by far my favourite character from this book, he grew so much and I loved seeing him change from a man who didn’t like any form of change to a quick-thinking, brave individual who stands up to leaders and dragons! I felt very connected to him as I saw parts of myself in him. (Mainly when he was complaining of being hungry and tired.)

Bombur. Bombur was by far my favourite dwarf. He was endearing and funny and he was a constant throughout the story adding moments of comedy during the dark and morbid moments. He stood out to me the most in this novel as he was so unlike the other dwarves.

Smaug. I was quite shocked by how little Smaug featured within the novel. He was only in about 4 chapters but he made his presence known. I loved his dialogue, you could quote Smaug so easily. All his interactions with Bilbo were really interesting to read and it was fun to watch them bounce off and try to outwit one another

Tolkien’s narrative voice was another element of the story that I really liked. The story is spoken in 3rd person and Tolkien acts as an omnipotent voice following Bilbo and his journey. I loved how he sometimes mentioned things to show he knew more about the story than we did and how he would give extra information about characters or events that the characters didn’t know yet. This just added to the intricacy of the whole novel.

I haven’t read a book about a quest in over two years so I was really excited to go on this epic journey and experience the ups and downs and the problems that the characters were going to face. I loved visiting all the new places and it was just so refreshing to read a story about getting from A to B and the bumps along they way as it’s the kind of story I haven’t read in so long.

The last thing I loved was the realism of the novel. Important characters die, people lose things that are incredibly important to them and after the events of this adventure nothing is ever really the same and I loved that about this book. While I love a happy ending where everyone is ok, it made the novel fell more believable and realistic that the stakes were high and not everyone made it.

Negatives:

My only problem with the book was that initially I found it quite hard to get into it. Tolkien’s writing style for me was a bit hard to get used to so I struggled with the first couple of chapters. Once I had sat down and focused more on the words in front of me I finally got immersed into the story.

This is the last book I will read in 2018 and I look forward to see what books 2019 will bring!

My Reading Plan for 2019

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I have done really well this year. I will end 2018 on 32 books by the end of this week and I am incredibly proud with how much I have read. My original goal was 22 books so I was very happy to beat that goal.

I have 5 areas that I want to complete during 2019. They cover authors, genres and reading challenges. I wanted to plan a bit more for 2019, as this year I just picked up anything I liked and read it. But since then I have started but not finished a lot of series and I have signed up for reading challenges and book subscription boxes. I wanted to approach 2019 in a more organised way.

How many books do I plan to read in 2019?

For 2019, my goal is to read 25 books. I was deciding to possibly aim for 30 but this year I was very fortunate to go on a couple of holidays where I spent a lot of time reading and I was also in college with a lot of free time so I managed to get a lot of reading done between lessons. Now that I have started full-time employment I don’t want to give myself an unachieveable goal.

2019 Sequels

I started a lot of series in 2018 that I was un-able to finish. So on Goodreads, I created a shelf called my 2019 sequels shelf which was dedicated to the sequels to the book series I had started within the year. My plan is to read these books before the month of June, so the first half of the year is dedicated more to finishing or continuing series from 2018 and the 2nd half of the year is dedicated to new series and books. There are twelve books on this shelf and they include;

  1. The Arm of the Sphinx – Josiah Bancroft (Book 2/4 – The Tower of Babel series)
  2. The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien (Book 2/4, I am counting The Hobbit in this series.)
  3. The Girl in the Tower – Katherine Arden (Book 2/3 – The Winternight Trilogy)
  4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling (Book 4/7 – Harry Potter series)
  5. Legendary – Stephanie Garber (Book 2/3 – The Caraval series)
  6. The Light Fantastic – Terry Pratchett (Book 2/41 – The Discworld series)
  7. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis (Book 2/7 – The Chronicles of Narnia)
  8. The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in this One (Book 3/on-going – The Women Are Some Kind of Magic series)
  9. Obsidio – Amie Kaufman (Book 3/3 – The Illuminae Files)
  10. Poirot Investigates – Agatha Christie (Book 3/41 – Hercule Poirot series, not including the new books by Sophie Hannah)
  11. Resort to Murder – T.P. Fielden (Book 2/on-going – A Miss Dimont Mystery series)
  12. Thunderhead – Neal Shusterman (Book 2/on-going – The Arc of the Sycthe series)

The ONTD Reading Challenge

On Goodreads, there is a group currently called “2018 ONTD Reading Challenge”. It’s run by two women and they pick a theme for each month of the year and you must follow the theme and read a book each month that fits within the theme. I thought it would be really fun to do this as it means I would read books I would have never thought of picking up. I also tried to apply some of the books from my 2019 sequels list to some of the themes between Jan and June. So I have made a small plan, of books that I could read during the month, and it looks like this:

January – Read a book that has been adapted into a movie or TV show.

  • The Light Fantastic (TV episode)
  • The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Movie)
  • The Fellowship of the Ring (Movie and TV episode)
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Movie)
  • Poirot Investigates (Multiple TV episodes)

February – Read a romance or a book in which a couple breaks up.

I am not really a romance fan so the books I looked at all have elements of another genre.

  • Obsidio (Sci-fi)
  • Cinder – Marrisa Myer (Sci-fi)
  • The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern (Fantasy + Historical Fiction)
  • The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid (Historical Fiction)

March – Read a non-fiction book.

  • The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson
  • This Is Going To Hurt – Adam Kay
  • A Thousand Naked Strangers – Kevin Hazzard
  • The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures – Aaron Mahnke

April – Read a book about time-travel.

  • 11/22/63 – Stephen King
  • All Our Yesterdays – Cristin Terrill

May – Read a book set in a country you have never been to.

  • The Girl in the Tower (Russia)
  • Confessions – Kinae Minato (Japan)
  • Shadow of the Fox – Julie Kagawa (Japan)
  • The Widows of Malabar Hill – Sujata Massey (India)

June – Read a book about friendship.

  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire/Order of the Phoenix (I would read OotP if I read GoF earlier in the year.)
  • The Fellowship of the Ring/The Two Towers (Same as above)
  • Neverworld Wake – Marisha Pessl

July – Read a re-telling.

  • Dorothy Must Die – Danielle Paige (The Wizard of Oz)
  • The Afterlife of Holly Chase – Cynthia Hand (A Christmas Carol)
  • The Child Thief – Brom (Peter Pan)
  • Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik (Rumplestiltskin)

August – Read a thriller where a female lead is in danger.

  • The Cheerleaders – Kara Thomas
  • Sometimes I Lie – Alice Feeney
  • Unraveling Oliver- Liz Nugent
  • Broken Things – Lauren Oliver

September – Read a comedy.

  • Three Bags Full – Leonie Swann
  • My Lady Jane – Cynthia Hand
  • The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue – Mackenzi Lee

October – Read a book about war.

  • A Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris

November – Read a graphic novel/manga.

  • From Hell – Alan Moore
  • Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromu Arakawa
  • The Prince and the Dressmaker – Jen Wang

December – Read a book that won an award in 2019.

This book I would have to pick closer to the time. These are just books I have in mind that fit the theme, I may decide later to read something else.

Any authors you plan to read more of?

I would love to read some of Brandon Sanderson‘s books. I have heard great things about his work and it seems like the kind of thing I would enjoy.

Any genres you plan to read more of?

I would love to read more classics. It’s probably the only genre I haven’t attempted to read, outside of school. So it would be good to try the genre out.

Link to ONTD Reading Challenge – https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/208213-2018-ontd-reading-challenge

Link to my Goodreads page – https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/45790257-india

Bookish Questions Tag

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So, I thought I would give a bit more of an insight into my reading habits and opinions by answering a few questions to do with all things books.

1.What was the last book you read? The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

2. What book are you currently reading? I am currently reading The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkein. One of my best friends adores the series and she nearly cried when I told her I had decided to pick it up!

3. How often do you read? I try to read every day. I read on the bus mostly, when I’m commuting to and from work.

4. What was the last bad book you read? The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. It was just so boring and lacklustre.

5. What’s your favourite book? I’d say right now my favourite book is Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft. The worldbuilding, the intricate plot, the characters! Oh my gosh, it was amazing and I highly recommend it!

6. What’s your least favourite book? Probably Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I never got the hype surrounding the book. I preferred the movies a lot more.

7. Do you prefer physical books or e-books? I prefer physical books, I like collecting books and seeing them all organised and colourful on my shelf. Also, it’s a lot more satisfying reading a physical book than an e-book.

8. What was your favourite book you had to read in school? It wasn’t actually a novel but it was the play, An Inspector Calls by J.B. Presitly. I love a good murder mystery so this appealed to me a lot!

9. What is your favourite book series? I would have to say, the Harry Potter series and the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. Both series I read in my childhood and plan to re-read now i’m older.

10. What is your favourite genre? I can’t pick just one sadly, so i will have to go with, Fantasy, Murder Mystery and re-tellings (not sure if that’s a genre).

11. Who is your favourite fictional character? Again, I can’t pick just one! Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series, Circe from Circe by Madeline Miller, Hercule Poirot and James from Lost Boy by Christina Henry.

12. Has a book ever transported you somewhere? I think all good books must be able to transport the reader to their world. Notable books where I found this happen includes; Senlin Ascends, Scythe by Neal Shusterman, Alice by Christina Henry and Caraval by Stephanie Garber.

13. How long does it take your to read a book? It depends really on how much I enjoy the book. If I really enjoy the book it could take 3-5 days but on average it takes me just over a week.

13. Where is your favourite place to read? I mostly used to just read in my bedroom but now that I must commute to and from work on the bus. I find that that’s where I love to read the most as it’s a perfect way to relax after a hectic day.

15. Who gave you your love of reading? Probably my Nan. She was the one who introduced me to Harry Potter which was the first set of books that I loved. I am now the person in my family who inspires other people to read which is really lovely.

16. What book is next on your list to read? I have a massive TBR list and I know that more books are coming due to Christmas being in a number of days but off the top of my head I’d say, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

17. What book have you re-read the most? Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I have read that book 4 times so far.

18. Do you prefer to read one book at a time or several books at a time? I tend to read one book at a time but recently I have started reading two at at time. I find it hard to balance two books though so I will probably go back to just reading one.

19. What’s your policy on book-lending? I tend to not lend my books out to people. I have only ever done so with my mum and those books were And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.

20. A genre you rarely read. I tend to not read contemporaries or romances. I don’t read a lot of contemporaries because they represent real-life and I prefer to get away from it and be transported into another world. I would only read a conetmporary if another genre was mixed in such as mystery or thriller. I don’t read romances as to me they can get quite boring, cringey and repetitive. I only read romances if it’s mixed in with another genre like fantasy.

21. Name a case in which hype ruined the book you were reading. I would say A Princess Saves Herself In This One by Amanda Lovelace. I was shocked and disappointed with what I read. It was the first poetry anthology I had ever read and I didn’t understand why it was hyped up as much as she was. I then read her 2nd anthology A Witch Doesn’t Burn In This One and that was AMAZING!

22. If you could read in a foreign language, what language would you choose? I would choose Japanese. I have a lot of Japanese authors on my list and one of my favourite books this year was written by a Japanese author. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. It also means I get to read a variety of manga on initial release.

23. Books I am likely to bring on holiday. I would bring whatever is available. For example, if I have a lot of books given to me for Christmas that I haven’t read I will take them or I would just buy some books at Waterstones. Whatever I fancy to be honest.

24. Name a book you could not finish. I have DNF’d only a couple of books which I am happy about. The most recent book is The Magician’s Nephew. Others would include, New Moon by Stephanie Meyer, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and Wicked by Gregory Maguire. I mainly DNF’d these because the writing was hard to follow or because the plot was boring.

25. Do you like to keep your books organised? Yes. I organise my shelf by alphabetical order of authors surname and then by chronological order if it’s a series.

26. Have there been any books you have been avoiding? I read Senlin Acsends in April of this year and I still haven’t read the sequel, The Arm of the Sphinx, as I’m worried I might not enjoy it as much as the first. The same goes for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I couldn’t really get into the Prisoner of Azkaban until the final 6 chapters so I am worried that if I re-read Goblet of Fire I won’t enjoy it that much.

27. Name a book you didn’t expect to like but did. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant is Completley Fine by Gail Honeyman. I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy it because it was an adult contemporary (which isn’t a genre I read a lot) and by what people had told me I thought it was going to be sort of like a self-help book about learning to live instead of just surviving. But I was enthralled by the characters, the diaglouge and the plot wasn’t what it seems to be first hand which impressed me.

28. Do you wish to be a writer? I feel like I have great ideas that could be really good books but I lack the skill and could never produce a book that would make someone go wow! I would have to hire a ghost writer.

29. A book that was ruined by the movie adaptation. For me Percy Jackson and the Lighting Theif/Sea of Monsters. I read the series because I really enjoyed the movies and I was shocked by how bad the movies were compared to the books.

30. A movie that has done a book justice. For me I would say the original Death on the Nile movie starring Peter Ustinoff as Hercule Poirot. It’s quite dialogue heavy but it’s so intricately done.

The Series I Plan To Re-read in the Future.

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2018 has probably been my best reading year to date. So far I have read 31 books beating my target of 22 and I still have one book left that I want to read in the last 2-3 weeks left of December. Now that we are nearing the end of the year I want to look forward and start planning books I would like to read in 2019 and while that post will be coming in the following weeks. This post is a bit different.

The books in this list are a mixture of series I have completed and want to read again and series I started reading a couple of years ago but never finished, with this series I would start with re-reading the books I had already read and then continuing where I left off.

The reason this isn’t in my 2019 plan is that I wouldn’t be able to finish all of these series in one year as well as reading other books. This is more of a plan to cover the next 2 or 3 years. First up…

  • Series: Harry Potter
  • Author: J.K Rowling
  • Status: Currently Re-reading 
  • Last Book I Read: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  • No. of Books: 7

I decided early this year that I wanted to re-read the Harry Potter series. I have tried so many times to re-read the series, which I first read when I was 11, but I always gave up when it got to “Goblet of Fire”. The last time I tried to tackle this series I was 14 and got to the First Task chapter of the 4th book. Since then I have been listening to a variety of Harry Potter themed podcasts and it’s reignited my love for Harry Potter and the desire to re-read the series. One of the other main reasons was that I couldn’t remember much about the series from “Goblet of Fire” onwards especially not “Half-Blood Prince” and “Deathly Hallows” so I wanted to re-jig my memory and read the series through older eyes. 

So far I have read; “Philosopher’s Stone”, “Chamber of Secrets” and “Prisoner of Azkaban”. I loved the “Philosopher’s Stone” as it brought back a lot of fond memories for me and I loved the “Chamber of Secrets” due to the murder mystery element to it. My opinion of the book actually changed due to the re-read, I love it a lot more this time around. I liked “Prisoner of Azkaban” but didn’t love it. It was still very good but I just wasn’t drawn into the world as much as I was with the other two books. My plan is to read “Goblet of Fire” next year and carry on the series. After I read Harry Potter I will then begin to re-read…

  • Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
  • Author: Rick Riordan
  • Status: Finished series
  • No. of Books: 5

I got this series a couple of Christmas’ ago after my dad and I watched the movie and I loved it so much I asked for the books for Christmas and boy was I shocked by how bad the movies were. Those movies were the epitome of “the book was better”. I was always a massive fan of Greek Mythology and the idea of mixing modern day and ancient gods together blew my mind!

I finished this series nearly 5 years ago and remember loving it but that’s the only thing I can remember about these books as I have completely forgotten what happens in this series. The movies can’t help you as they were so badly done and there were only 2 made! So one of the reasons I wanted to read this book was to remind myself about what happens.

Another reason is I remember loving it so much! This series to me was one of the first series where I realised that there wasn’t just Harry Potter out there. I didn’t think I would ever find a series that would match my love for Harry Potter and yet here we are.

  • Series: The Heroes of Olympus
  • Author: Rick Riordan
  • Status: Need to finish
  • Last Book I read: The Mark of Athena (Book 3)
  • No. of Books: 5

You are going to see a lot of Rick Riordan in this post, just to make you all aware. I was really scared reading the Lost Hero as I thought I wasn’t going to love it as much as I loved the previous series. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the new characters and I wasn’t sure what direction this book was going to go. I was relieved when I finished this book that I loved it just as much as I loved the original series and to me, it felt fresh and new, not using recycled storylines which was what I feared it was going to include. 

I haven’t finished this series, when I was reading the third book, “The Mark of Athena” the last book came out and I saw loads of spoilers posted by fans so I wasn’t really interested in finishing the series as I now knew the outcomes. So my plan is to re-read the first three books which I have already read first just so I can remind myself what is happening and then continue from there.

  • Series: The Trials of Apollo
  • Author: Rick Riordan
  • Status: To be read
  • No. of Books: 3

So I haven’t actually read the Trials of Apollo series. I haven’t even read one book. The reason this series is in the list is it’s continuation of the same world that “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” and” The Hereos of Olympus” series are in and I know that big things happen to characters introduced in the previous series’ so I feel like I need to complete this world as it’s not the end of the journey for Percy and other characters, hence why this series is here.

  • Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
  • Author: Rick Riordan
  • Status: Need to finish
  • Last Book I read: The Sword of Summer (Book 1)
  • No of Books: 3

I read this book two years ago during the summer holidays when I first decided I was going to focus on reading more. It was one of the first books I ever logged into Goodreads. To me this book was not Rick’s best work but I still enjoyed it regardless. I love Rick’s stories and imagination and to be honest I don’t know much about Norse Mythology so it would be nice to learn more about it as well as finishing this action-packed trilogy.

  • Series: The Chronicles of Narnia
  • Author: C.S. Lewis
  • Status: Currently Re-reading
  • Last Book I Read: The Magician’s Nephew (Book 1)
  • No. of Books: 7

I have had the entire book series standing on my book-shelf for I don’t know how long! I read up to “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” but haven’t read any of the following novels. During December I like to read smaller books just to amp up the numbers on my Goodreads reading challenge so I decided to pick up the Magician’s Nephew in the hopes of a quick read. That book is left unfinished at it was quite dull. I am hoping when I re-read the next book I won’t be so disappointed. I mainly wanted to read this series as I love this world so much, I watched the first 3 movies and adored them and I want to continue being in this world. 

  • Series: Agatha Christie’s entire collection.
  • Author: Agatha Christie
  • Status: Need to Finish
  • Last Book I Read: The Murder on the Links (Book 2 in the Hercule Poirot Series)
  • No. of Books: To many to count

I have watched adaptations of Agatha Christie’s work since I was about 10. I have the whole box set of every episode of the Hercule Poirot TV series but I have only ever read 3 of her books. Two which were from her Hercule Poirot series and one which was a standalone story. I want to read Christie’s work because I love her imagination and genius. Having watched everything unfold on the screen I would love to now watch it unfold on the page. I also love the fact that there are so many books and I want to challenge myself to read all of them. I love a challenge.

So there you have it. Quite a lot of books to get through. The next book I will be reading starting Monday will be The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien.

The Magician’s Nephew Re-read Review

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  • Author: C.S. Lewis
  • Series: The Chronicles of Narnia (Book 1 of 7)
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • No. of Pages: 221
  • Date Read: 04.12.18 – 10.12.18 (Did not finish, stopped on page 148)
  • Rating: 2 stars 

“Make your choice, adventurous stranger; Strike the bell and bide the danger, or wonder, till it drives you mad, what would have followed if you had.”


This book was disappointing, to say the least. I remember reading it a couple of years ago and liking it. When I thought about reading the Chronicles of Narnia series I was quite excited to re-read this book. I wish I didn’t.

POSITIVES:

The magic in this book is really lovely. I loved the idea of the rings that took you to a magical wood that could take to a variety of worlds and I loved the idea of Charn being this post-apocalyptic world caused by a jealous Witch. I really enjoyed the scene where Narnia forms and we see Aslan for the first time. They were all great ideas and were written really well. I just loved the imagniation.

Lewis’ writing when describing magic and scenes where magic is abundant was really beautiful, he had a way with words that I have always tried to replicate but never mastered. I really enjoyed his description of the “Wood between Worlds” and the beginning of Narnia, he places you within the scene as if you are seeing the events unfold alongside the characters.

NEGATIVES:

The characters were incredibly two-dimensional and black and white. You were either evil or good there is no in-between. This made for very bland characters that I didn’t care that much about. The children were incredibly boring which was frustrating to read, as it was their story and their journey. Queen Jadis was my favourite character but again she was very bulk-standard. She was just really evil, which I don’t normally mind but it just seemed that,  like with all the characters, she lacked personality.

The first half of the plot was incredibly rushed. Within one paragraph we are meant to believe that Digory and Polly become the best of friends who open up about the tough times in their life. It was quite hard to believe and another reason why I couldn’t warm up to them as it all felt slightly fake and forced. I loved Charn and really liked the chapters when they were there but again it was rushed, not much was explored which was really disappointing as it was a really interesting, probably the most interesting, part of the story. And then suddenly, Queen Jadis is living it up in London causing havoc and it just felt like the plot was all over the place which was also disappointing.

Overall the story was lacklustre, great ideas but bad execution.

Top 5 Bookish Podcasts I’m Listening To Right Now!

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About two years ago I started listening to podcasts as I was getting a bit bored with the music on my playlist. My trips to college would take 15 – 30 minutes each way so listening to the same kind of music got tiresome. Trawling through Spotify I noticed a button to podcasts and was shocked by the vast amount and variety. I have been listening to podcasts ever since. I mainly listen to podcasts during my commute to work and back, it’s the best way to relax after a long day at work.

Most of the podcasts I listen to are based on books or story-telling while I try to vary what I listen to I always come back to the same couple of podcasts. Which I am about to introduce to you now…

Harry Potter and the Sacred Text

Harry Potter and the Sacred Text is my favourite podcast at the moment. The premise of the podcast is using the novels from the Harry Potter series as if they were sacred and holy texts and see if we can learn something from each chapter, characters or important events. Each chapter is seen through a specific theme to help better the discussion between the two hosts e.g. Book 1, Chapter 7 they view the chapter “The Sorting Hat” through the theme of vulnerability and they discuss that theme alongside the chapter. 

You don’t have to be a religious person to enjoy this podcast, I love listening to the two co-hosts, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper ter Kuile, discuss and analyse each chapter in depth and seeing how the content can relate to my life or something I have been through. For many listeners the advice that Vanessa and Casper give have helped them through very tough times.

So far they have just started reading the 5th book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and I love hearing them discuss more  serious topics now that the series is getting more and more darker.

HPST has a specific structure that they follow each episode. 

  • The Story  – The first part of the episode focuses on one of the two co-hosts telling a story of something they experienced in their life that follows the theme of that week’s episode. e.g. A time they felt vulnerable.
  • The Discussion – This part of the episode they discuss important moments where they saw the theme occur in the chapter.
  • The Sacred Practice – This part focuses on using religious practice and applying it to the text. e.g. Sacred Imagination, where one host reads part of the chapter and other must close their eyes and place themselves in the scene. After placing themselves within a scene they then discuss what they feel called to do. If they were in a scene where Neville is ridiculed by the trio they then call themselves to reach out to friends they may have been harsh or neglectful to etc.
  • The Voicemail – Some listeners send over voicemails about their thoughts and feelings from previous episodes, they may ask the hosts a question or just say where they saw a theme pop up in the chapter or how their podcast has helped them during times of struggle.
  • The Blessing – Finally at the end of the podcast they give a blessing to one of the characters in the book. Maybe it’s for their bravery or their intelligence or just for them being present in the chapter. Vanessa also decides to only bless women in the books, to raise up female characters in the series.

Notable episodes include:

  • Book 1 Chapter 7: Vulnerability – The Sorting Hat
  • Book 1 Chapter 10: Friendship – Halloween
  • Book 1 Chapter 16: Destiny – Through the Trapdoor
  • Book 2 Chapter 3: Curiosity – The Burrow
  • Book 2 Chapter 6: Attraction – Gilderoy Lockhart
  • Book 2 Chapter 16: Grace – The Chamber of Secrets
  • Book 3 Chapter 5: Foresight – The Dementors
  • Book 3 Chapter 7: Humor – The Boggart in the Wardrobe
  • Book 3 Chapter 19: Mercy – The Servant of Lord Voldemort
  • Book 4 Chapter 6: Acceptance – The Portkey
  • Book 4 Chapter 23: Guilt – The Yule Ball
  • Book 4 Chapter 26: Loyalty – The Second Task
  • Book 4 Chapter 34: Grief – Priori Incantatem

Potterless

Potterless is a podcast by Mike Shubert, he has never read the Harry Potter series and decides to read it for the first time as an adult. He discusses important parts of each chapter with massive Harry Potter fans and its fun to listen to him guess plot points, character alignment and the ending of the series based on what little knowledge he has.

He talks about his hatred for the game Quidditch and my favourite part of his podcast is him delving deep into the plot holes that litter through the novels. I am currently listening to him read the 4th book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”. His episodes focus on him grouping a couple of chapters together so I don’t have a particular favourite episode but I did enjoy him talk about the final five chapters of the Prisoner of Azkaban as his reactions were really funny.

Fantastic Geeks and Where To Find Them

The newest podcast on the list. Fantastic Geeks and Where To Find Them is a podcasts by YouTubers, Tessa Netting and Anna Brisbin, also known as Brizzy Voices. They focus a lot on Harry Potter but also talk about topics such as Marvel and Star Wars. They awnser your questions about their thoughts on specific topics, they debate controversial moments in Harry Potter and have a section where they sort characters not from the Harry Potter series in Hogwarts Houses. It’s a very positive podcast which is a lot of fun to listen to when you want to forget about the stressful things in life.

I have really enjoyed their first three episodes where they discuss, Harry Potter, the first Fantastic Beasts movie and Black Panther. They have just celebrated their first season, which is 40 episodes long so there are a lot of episodes to binge-listen too.

Myths and Legends

Moving away from Harry Potter. I have been listening to this podcast for the past two years. It’s pretty much what it says on the tin, Jason Weiser tells the story of a variety of myths and legends from around the world. He talks about Greek myths, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Vikings, African and Native American Myths. A whole variety!

I personally love when he is telling the story as he adds in little side comments and his opinions on certain matters and it gives you abit of an insight into who Jason is as most of the time he is just the story-teller you listen to on the way to work. The variety is also very good so you consume more culture and learn new things. 

Some of my favourite episodes include:

  • Episode 4: Mulan
  • Episode 20: Prayers (Korean Folklore)
  • Episode 21: The Snow Queen
  • Episode 26: Wisdom (Japanese Fairytales)
  • Episode 42: Cinderella (Original Chinese Version)
  • Episode 55: A Grimm Fairytale
  • Episode 61: One Ring – King Solomon
  • Episode 72: Kelpie
  • Episode 77: Mrs Piggy (Romanian Folklore)
  • Episode 81: Trolls
  • Episode 84: The Rule of Three
  • Episode 98: Runner in the Night (Native American History)
  • Episode 107: Golem (Jewish Tale)

Lore

The first podcast I have ever listened to Aaron Mahnke’s Lore has cultivated in not just a podcasts but a TV show on Amazon and a trilogy of books called, “The World of Lore”.

The podcast focuses on supernatural and paranormal stories/tales from mainly the Victorian era and the first “settlers” of America and the American revolution but he also focuses on other eras but mainly from the 1930’s downwards. 

Working with composer Chad Lawson, Mahnke manages to create a spooky and tense atmosphere. His narration draws you in as he paints a terrifying picture for you, of the horrible acts of mankind and after every episode, I question “Do ghosts really exist?” He posts every two weeks and I am fully up to date with his episodes and I can’t wait to listen to the next one.

I love every single episode of this podcasts but he titles each episode as stories and doesn’t detail much in the description about what he is going to talk about so trying to find my favourite episodes was hard.

  • Episode 8: The Castle
  • Episode 10: Steam and Gas
  • Episode 34: All the Lovely Ladies
  • Episode 42: In the Bag
  • Episode 43: Supply and Demand
  • Episode 60: If Walls Could Talk
  • Episode 78: Exposure
  • Episode 93: A Place To Lay Your Head
  • Episode 102: Devil in the Detials

The Murder on the Links Review

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  • Author: Agatha Christie
  • Series: Hercule Poirot (Book 2 of 41)
  • Genre: Murder Mystery, Crime
  • Date Read: Nov 25th -3rd Dec 2018
  • Rating: 5 stars

“You may know all about cigarettes and match ends, Monsieur Giraud, but I, Hercule Poirot, know the mind of man.”

– Hercule Poirot

I am a massive fan of Agatha Christie’s work that being said I have only read 4 of her books, including this one. I have mainly consumed her work through TV and film and only now as I am older have I started to read her books instead of watching the mystery unfold on the screen.

Plot: Poirot gets sent an urgent letter by a man called Mr Paul Renauld upon urgent matters he would tell him about upon his arrival but when Poirot arrives to France per Mr Renauld’s request he finds that he is too late. Mr Renauld is already dead! With a mysterious past and the rumour of affairs, Poirot finds himself in a truly complicated case.

The characters were incredibly fleshed out which I really appreciated as my first thought was they were going to be walking stereotypes. My personal favourites were Poriot himself and Giraud, the French detective bought in to solve the case. These two characters are complete polar opposites to each other. Poirot is more calculating and takes his time while Giraud was like a puppy on a scent and was boisterous in his approach, overlooking certain elements. Poirot’s dialogue was perfection throughout the whole novel especially in the scenes between him and Giraud. I loved the scenes where they butted heads and had differing opinions.

Hastings as a character was quite infuriating especially near to the end of the novel, he was naïve and at times just plain stupid. I had moments where I wanted to shout at him because he was clearly making mistakes and had a constant lack of judgement. But as a narrator I loved him. This novel wouldn’t have worked if it was Poirot as the narrator or a random member of the accused party. We got to be as close to Poirot’s brain as possible but because Hastings didn’t fully understand certain elements of the case or what Poirot is saying as a reader we aren’t given all the information like we would be if Poirot was the narrator.

The plot was incredible. I can’t put into words how intricate and complex it was, just when you thought it was all sorted another twist or turn or point to consider was thrown into the mix and you are never fully settled until the last page. I was kept on my toes throughout the entire book. Christie has a really good ability to hand you loads of vital information but without revealing the core question which is, “Who killed Mr Renauld?” And that’s what kept me going as I was still waiting for this key question to be awnsered.

The plot is the main driving force on this book, the writing is average I was astounded by the writing style and you don’t need to be as the plot is so smart you forget about the writing and are waiting for the next big moment or reveal.

One part where I wasn’t sure if I liked or hated it was halfway through the book Poirot and Hastings just summarise points made in the last couple of chapters. This was good from a wrap-up point because if I was confused by anything it was explained but also felt slightly out of place to the rest of the narrative. But I can’t pinpoint my thoughts on it.

 I loved the book for keeping me on my toes throughout the it’s entirety and being utterly unique. I don’t think anyone can match Christie’s work, I cannot wait to read more.

Next book: The Magician’s Nephew – C.S. Lewis