This spooky month is coming to a close and I have been busy with the season.
While I should have been reading, I was preparing for midterm (that didn't happen thanks to the college strike), trying to keep on track with my studies and spending some much needed time with my sweetheart. With all that in mind, I still managed to get a few books read.
Here's what I read this month:
While I should have been reading, I was preparing for midterm (that didn't happen thanks to the college strike), trying to keep on track with my studies and spending some much needed time with my sweetheart. With all that in mind, I still managed to get a few books read.
Here's what I read this month:
by Sarah Kuhn
378 Pages
Being a superheroine is hard. Working for one is even harder.
Evie Tanaka is the put-upon personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, her childhood best friend and San Francisco's most beloved superheroine. She's great at her job—blending into the background, handling her boss's epic diva tantrums, and getting demon blood out of leather pants.
Unfortunately, she's not nearly as together when it comes to running her own life, standing up for herself, or raising her tempestuous teenage sister, Bea.
But everything changes when Evie's forced to pose as her glamorous boss for one night, and her darkest comes out: she has powers, too. Now it's up to her to contend with murderous cupcakes, nosy gossip bloggers, and supernatural karaoke battles—all while juggling unexpected romance and Aveda's increasingly outrageous demands. And when a larger threat emerges, Evie must finally take charge and become a superheroine in her own right... or see her city fall to a full-on demonic invasion.
This was a fun book about what it's like to be a sidekick (while hiding your very own kick ass powers) It's nice to see books, especially heroines that are Asian, and they talk about that in the book too, how representation matters so much and how they were inspired by The Heroic Trio.
I really enjoyed how the 2 main characters were contrasted, one who always wanted the spotlight and to prove to everyone that she was a hero, and a reluctant hero who just wanted to stay out of the limelight and was afraid of losing control and hurting the people she loves. I'm looking forward to reading the next book, except that they changed the size of the book and now they won't match!
I really enjoyed how the 2 main characters were contrasted, one who always wanted the spotlight and to prove to everyone that she was a hero, and a reluctant hero who just wanted to stay out of the limelight and was afraid of losing control and hurting the people she loves. I'm looking forward to reading the next book, except that they changed the size of the book and now they won't match!
by Naomi Novik
386 Pages (10:29 Hours)
It is a grim time for the dragon Temeraire. On the heels of his mission to Africa, seeking the cure for a deadly contagion, he has been removed from military service–and his captain, Will Laurence, has been condemned to death for treason. For Britain, conditions are grimmer still: Napoleon’s resurgent forces have breached the Channel and successfully invaded English soil. Napoleon’s prime objective: the occupation of London.
Separated by their own government and threatened at every turn by Napoleon’s forces, Laurence and Temeraire must struggle to find each other amid the turmoil of war and to aid the resistance against the invasion before Napoleon’s foothold on England’s shores can become a stranglehold.
If only they can be reunited, master and dragon might rally Britain’s scattered forces and take the fight to the enemy as never before–for king and country, and for their own liberty. But can the French aggressors be well and truly routed, or will a treacherous alliance deliver Britain into the hands of her would- be conquerors?
This was my first RBA book of the month. I decided since I haven't been totally sold on this series, that I would listen to it instead of trying to read it. I think it was a good choice. It was very easy to listen to, which was nice. This book actually took place on their home turf and wasn't about them flying off to unknown destinations where half the book is them traveling. That was also appreciated. I would say it's probably my favorite book of the series so far.
by Anthony Ryan
602 Pages (24:39 Hours)
Vaelin Al Sorna, warrior of the Sixth Order, called Darkblade, called Hope Killer. The greatest warrior of his day, and witness to the greatest defeat of his nation: King Janus' vision of a Greater Unified Realm drowned in the blood of brave men fighting for a cause Vaelin alone knows was forged from a lie. Sick at heart, he comes home, determined to kill no more. Named Tower Lord of the Northern Reaches by King Janus's grateful heir, he can perhaps find peace in a colder, more remote land far from the intrigues of a troubled Realm.
But those gifted with the blood-song are never destined to live a quiet life. Many died in King Janus' wars, but many survived, and Vaelin is a target, not just for those seeking revenge but for those who know what he can do. The Faith has been sundered, and many have no doubt who their leader should be. The new King is weak, but his sister is strong. The blood-song is powerful, rich in warning and guidance in times of trouble, but is only a fraction of the power available to others who understand more of its mysteries. Something moves against the Realm, something that commands mighty forces, and Vaelin will find to his great regret that when faced with annihilation, even the most reluctant hand must eventually draw a sword.
This has been my go-between audiobook for most of this year. I would listen to it while I was waiting for my new Audible credit to come in if I had finished my other book too soon. It's not that it wasn't interesting, it had it's moments, but the guy who read it didn't have a lot of emotional range to his reading. A quiet conversation and an epic battle were read with the same pitch, making them hard to get emotionally involved in. I'm glad I managed to finish it though and I'm almost interested in what happens in the last book, but I doubt that I will pick it up any time soon.
by Seanan McGuire
176 Pages (4:04 Hours)
Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.
This is the story of what happened first…
Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.
Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got.
They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.
They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.
I really fell in love with these characters when I read the first book last month. I thought that it was going to be a continuation of their story after the last book, but it's actually a prequel, telling the story about their trip through their magical door and the events that lead up to them being placed into the Home for Wayward Children. It was amazing. I loved it a lot. Not as much as the first, perhaps, but almost as much. I can't wait for the 3rd one to come out.
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
628 Pages
THE DAYS OF PEACE ARE OVER
The city states of the Lowlands have lived in peace and prosperity for decades: bastions of civilization and sophistication. That peace is about to end.
In far-off corners, an ancient Empire has been conquering city after city with its highly trained armies and sophisticated warmaking . . . And now it's set its sights on a new prize.
Only the ageing Stenwold Maker, spymaster, artificer and statesman, can see the threat. It falls upon his shoulders to open the eyes of his people - as soon a tide will sweep down over the Lowlands and burn away everything in its path.
But first he must stop himself from becoming the Empire's latest victim.
This was my 2nd RBA book for the month. I realized I was falling behind a bit, so thought that maybe I would read 2 this month. I've been putting off this one, knowing that it was the longest book on my list, but I'm glad that I picked it up. It was really good. Although I don't understand the origins of the human/insect hybrid people, the idea and ideology behind it are quite fascinating. It took me a bit to get into it, but once I did, it was hard to put down. I did have to keep taking frequent breaks since the book itself was heavy and it would start making my arm go numb. Adam just got the 2nd book to this series and I'm looking forward to him finishing it, so that I can read it.
by Oscar Wilde
254 Pages
Oscar Wilde brings his enormous gifts for astute social observation and sparkling prose to The Picture of Dorian Gray, his dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. This dandy, who remains forever unchanged; petulant, hedonistic, vain, and amoral; while a painting of him ages and grows increasingly hideous with the years, has been horrifying, enchanting, obsessing, even corrupting readers for more than a hundred years.
Taking the reader in and out of London drawing rooms, to the heights of aestheticism, and to the depths of decadence, The Picture of Dorian Gray is not only a melodrama about moral corruption. Laced with bon mots and vivid depictions of upper-class refinement, it is also a fascinating look at the milieu of Wilde’s fin-de-siècle world and a manifesto of the creed “Art for Art’s Sake.”
The ever-quotable Wilde, who once delighted London with his scintillating plays, scandalized readers with this, his only novel. Upon publication, Dorian was condemned as dangerous, poisonous, stupid, vulgar, and immoral, and Wilde as a “driveling pedant.” The novel, in fact, was used against Wilde at his much-publicized trials for “gross indecency,” which led to his imprisonment and exile on the European continent. Even so, The Picture of Dorian Gray firmly established Wilde as one of the great voices of the Aesthetic movement, and endures as a classic that is as timeless as its hero.
I've always heard great things about this book and thought that it might make a good Halloween read. In a way it did. It certainly had a bit of a horror feel to it in the supernatural portrait sense, but beyond that, it was mostly him sitting around dinner parties talking to other bored socialites and describing his collections of art and music in depth to a point where I just skimmed a few chapters. They allude to his depravity, but never go into it and you never really know what he's done to make everyone hate him so much. But much like the other books that have inspired cult classics, this one did not really live up to the hype that I had heard about it.
by Sally Armstrong
111 of 320 Pages
Ship of Magic (Liveship Traders #1)
by Robin Hobb
809 Pages (35:24 Hours)
Books that I am currently reading
by Rohinton Mistry
Ascent of Womenby Sally Armstrong
111 of 320 Pages
Ship of Magic (Liveship Traders #1)
by Robin Hobb
809 Pages (35:24 Hours)
