Snowflakes and Spider Silk

Let me start off this post with a universal truth: Neil Gaiman is freaking brilliant, and his imagination is unparalleled. There, now that that's out of the way, we can talk a little bit about why I have such a love-hate relationship with his books and stories.  Some of his books are truly some of the most gorgeously written books I have ever read. They're so rich and full of fantastical creatures that I would never have been able to think of my own head; even cliche creatures like fairies and princes and every-day-nobodies all have some sort of endearing or terrifying twist that makes them seem fresh and new no matter how many times you've read that kind of story before. Stardust and Neverwhere are two of my favorite Neil Gaiman books, and Neverwhere is one of my favorite  books, period. I also really liked the hilarious  Anansi Boys , and I don't know if "liked" is the right word for how 3rd grade me felt about Coraline  when our teac...

Title:  His Majesty's Dragon Author:  Naomi Novik Genre: Fantasy My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary : Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future – and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire.  Temeraire is so cool! Laurence...not so much. I first heard of Naomi Novik a couple of years ago, and I put His Majesty's Dragon on my TBR pile. Uns...

It's been a couple of months since I updated my A-Z challenge, so here's how I've been doing! I've made quite a bit of progress without consciously trying to read certain letters, and I even managed to knock out a particularly difficult one (Q)! I'm just a little under halfway through, which is great because I still have 2/3 of the year to get to the other half :D If anyone has recommendations for books that start with E, J, U, V, Y, or Z, please let me know! A: And I Darken by Kiersten White (2/26) B: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (2/8) C: Court of Thieves by Kate Elliott (1/12) D: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (4/3) G: A Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (1/22) H: His Majesty's Dragon (3/30) I: The Immortal Heights (1/5) M: Me Before You by JoJo Moyes (3/21) O: Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine (3/12) Q: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a world that cannot stop talking by Susan Cain (3/27) R: Rook by Sha...

Title:  These Broken Stars Author:  Amie Kaufman Genre: Science fiction, romance, young adult My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive – alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth. The Starbound Trilogy: Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy.  I'm not very impressed :/ I'll admit that when I first heard about this book, I was a little skeptical when I saw that flowing green dress on the cover. Flowing dresses on sci-fi book covers never ends well for me, but then I saw that almost everyone I knew who read this book ended up loving it, so I decided to give it a shot. Then there were alllll the reviews about how original this book was, how much scienc...

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: My Recent  Top Ten Five Star Books Not all of these are strictly 5 stars (some are 4.5) but they're all books I've read recently and would definitely recommend! I didn't want to go back further than December so I only have 8:   This is book 2 of the Farseer Trilogy. Robin Hobb writes slower plotted fantasy novels compared to most other series, but her characters are all so real  and I end up having way more intense emotions than with most other fantasy books. Definitely recommended for fantasy fans!   This one is just so beautifully written and gorgeous but also terrifying and gory...it's one of the best retellings I've ever read! Plus Phantom of the Opera is just awesome source material.   This one isn't published yet, but it's fantastic. I loved the politics and the manipulations, but I also loved how broken and ...

Title:  The Scorpion Rules Author:  Erin Bow Genre: Science fiction, young adult My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: The world is at peace , said the Utterances. And really, if the odd princess has a hard day, is that too much to ask? Greta is a duchess and crown princess—and a hostage to peace. This is how the game is played: if you want to rule, you must give one of your children as a hostage. Go to war and your hostage dies. Greta will be free if she can survive until her eighteenth birthday. Until then she lives in the Precepture school with the daughters and sons of the world’s leaders. Like them, she is taught to obey the machines that control their lives. Like them, she is prepared to die with dignity, if she must. But everything changes when a new hostage arrives. Elián is a boy who refuses to play by the rules, a boy who defies everything Greta has ever been taught. And he opens Greta’s eyes to the brutality of the system they live under—and to her...