Snowflakes and Spider Silk

While I'm in the middle of my year-long SFF challenge, I thought it would be fun to join a month-long challenge along the way! I'm not sure if any books will overlap, but both challenges encourage reading diverse authors and own-voice books so I'll have double the reason to pick up more diverse sci-fi and fantasy :) I'm The Reading Quest by Aentee @ Read at Midnight (you can sign up here , sign ups are open until August 12!). I've chosen to be a Mage at first, but I'm hoping to finish the Mage squares and then do the Knight or Bard. Here's my character card! I couldn't get the base image from the original link to work, so I made up my own. (Shout-out to    CW of Read, Think, Ponder  for creating these characters, and for including characters of a bunch of different skin colors!) The challenge starts August 13, so I have a bit of time to change my mind on these, but so far here's what I'm planning to read for Mage: A book with o...

Title:  Assassin's Fate Author:  Robin Hobb Genre: Fantasy My rating: 5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: More than twenty years ago, the first epic fantasy novel featuring FitzChivalry Farseer and his mysterious, often maddening friend the Fool struck like a bolt of brilliant lightning. Now New York Times bestselling author Robin Hobb brings to a momentous close the third trilogy featuring these beloved characters in a novel of unsurpassed artistry that is sure to endure as one of the great masterworks of the genre. Fitz’s young daughter, Bee, has been kidnapped by the Servants, a secret society whose members not only dream of possible futures but use their prophecies to add to their wealth and influence. Bee plays a crucial part in these dreams—but just what part remains uncertain. As Bee is dragged by her sadistic captors across half the world, Fitz and the Fool, believing her dead, embark on a mission of revenge that will take them to the distant island where the Se...

Title:  The Dinner Author:  Herman Koch Genre: Psychological thriller, suspense, unreliable narrator My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: An internationally bestselling phenomenon: the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives -- all over the course of one meal. It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse -- the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened. Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds...

This week's edition of Book vs Adaptation: The 100 by Kass Morgan I've been watching The 100 for three years now, and although it took five episodes for this show to grow on me, I've been hooked ever since! Even if the science/logic is sometimes sketchy and the characters manage to magic themselves out of ridiculously dangerous situations with hair and makeup intact, I have come to love the characters. Especially all the fierce women on that show. Literally every single one of them is a QUEEN Not to mention all the POC and queer representation. This is a show that has a truly diverse cast and doesn't pigeonhole its characters by race, gender, or sexual orientation. I was really curious about what the source material for this show was like. Did it have the same level of moral complexity? Did it prominently feature women, POC, and queer characters? Were they even kind of the same story, or was the show just based on the same premise as th...

Title:  Norse Mythology Author:  Neil Gaiman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: Introducing an instant classic—master storyteller Neil Gaiman presents a dazzling version of the great Norse myths. Neil Gaiman has long been inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction. Now he turns his attention back to the source, presenting a bravura rendition of the great northern tales. In Norse Mythology, Gaiman fashions primeval stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the legendary nine worlds; delves into the exploits of the deities, dwarves, and giants; and culminates in Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods and the rebirth of a new time and people. Gaiman stays true to the myths while vividly reincarnating Odin, the highest of the high, wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin’s son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; and Loki, the son of giants, a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator. From Gaiman’s deft ...

Title:  A Conjuring of Light Author:  V.E. Schwab Genre: Fantasy My rating: 5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: Witness the fate of beloved heroes - and enemies. THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED... The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise. WHO WILL CRUMBLE? Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari - begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive? WHO WILL RISE? Lila Bard, once a commonplace - but never common - thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible. WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL? And an anci...

It looks like I'm doing pretty well with staying on top of this challenge! I should be about halfway through since it's July, and I've completed 14/23 books (the creator skipped 11, oops). It's definitely going to be challenging to find a manga to read, but I think I can do the rest no problem! Purple  books are ones I've finished since the last update, black books are ones I finished earlier this year, and the ones in gray are books I'm planning on reading for the challenge.  1) Fairy tale retelling: Miranda and Caliban by  Jacqueline Carey - A retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest 2) Historical Fantasy: Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear - an alternate history/fantasy based on Mongolia in the time of Genghis Khan 3) NPR top 100 books: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson 4) non-British Steampunk: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo - Russian/Scandinavian steampunk?  5) Crossed with another genre: The City & The City by China Mieville - a police...