tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77746551764925720942024-03-13T00:23:22.266-04:00Snowflakes and Spider SilkA blog dedicated to reviewing science-fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, and more!Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.comBlogger525125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-40938675628509999242020-06-30T09:37:00.001-04:002020-06-30T09:37:25.267-04:00I've moved!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's been a few years since I posted on here, but if anyone is still following or cares, I've decided to revive the blog on WordPress instead:</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Click here to go to the <a href="http://www.spidersilksnow.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow">new Snowflakes & Spider Silk</a>!</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-26233016803347963772018-05-31T10:44:00.004-04:002018-05-31T10:44:41.297-04:00Review: Six Wakes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28962996-six-wakes" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="28962996" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1483175828l/28962996.jpg" width="212" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28962996-six-wakes">Six Wakes</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/97284.Mur_Lafferty">Mur Lafferty</a><br />
Genre: Science fiction, mystery<br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1928175253">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>A space adventure set on a lone ship where the clones of a murdered crew must find their murderer -- before they kill again.<br />It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood.<br />At least, Maria Arena had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died.<br />Maria's vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Dormire, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it could awaken. And Maria wasn't the only one to die recently...</blockquote>
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I didn't know what to expect when I started reading this book. I was expecting a kind of dry, hard sci-fi thriller where a murderer is loose on a spaceship. There is so much more to this book than that, though! The story was at times funny, at times horrifying, and at times very insightful. There were a lot of discussions about the ethics of cloning, and how the well-intentioned laws created to govern clone rights in relation to human rights are often unfair to both parties. <br />
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One of the most interesting questions that this book presents is if you are guilty for the actions of your past lives, especially if you don't remember. In this society, everyone is only allowed to have one clone at a time, and their memories (mindmaps) are regularly backed up so that they can be transferred to a new clone in the event of the person's untimely death. The issue is that sometimes you commit a crime or betray someone towards the end of your life, but don't have the time or means to save your mindmap. Being responsible for your past selves' actions is already a sticky situation, but what if you have no recollection of it? That seems more akin to people with mental illness or amnesia in our current justice system. There's even a discussion on the clone version of a split-personality disorder. Very interesting stuff.<br />
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It was really cool to see how all the characters' lives were more interconnected than they seem at the beginning. The murder mystery almost takes a back seat to figuring out how all their lives are connected and how they all ended up on this spaceship in the first place (But don't worry, the murder mystery is still a big deal).<br />
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This was a fun read that also had some food for thought, I'd definitely recommend it!<br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-56436644797489760162018-05-02T20:05:00.000-04:002018-05-02T20:05:18.167-04:00ARC Review: Only Human<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35820656-only-human" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="35820656" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1502999023l/35820656.jpg" width="210" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35820656-only-human">Only Human</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8534434.Sylvain_Neuvel">Sylvain Neuvel</a><br />
Genre: Science Fiction<br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2281980061">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>World War Z meets The Martian in the explosive follow-up to Sleeping Giants (“One of the most promising series kickoffs in recent memory”—NPR) and Waking Gods (“Pure, unadulterated literary escapism”—Kirkus Reviews).<br />In her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. As an adult, Dr. Rose Franklin led the team that uncovered the rest of the body parts which together form Themis: a powerful robot of mysterious alien origin. She, along with linguist Vincent, pilot Kara, and the unnamed Interviewer, protected the Earth from geopolitical conflict and alien invasion alike. Now, after nearly ten years on another world, Rose returns to find her old alliances forfeit and the planet in shambles. And she must pick up the pieces of the Earth Defense Corps as her own friends turn against each other.</blockquote>
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The Themis files are such awesome science fiction stories; they capture the awe of technology and aliens and other worlds, but they also have such big focus on people and their relationships. My favorite thing about this series is that even when the world is falling apart, family always looks out for each other. The friendships and bonds and complicated ties that tie different characters together are truly the stars of the show.<br />
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After the end of Waking Gods, I was really about the scope of book 3 because a door had been opened to new worlds. The interesting thing about Only Human is that it takes place after a large time lapse after the events of book 2, and it brings the focus of the story back to earth. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get more time in the new worlds, but we did get a lot of flashbacks into the time between books 2 and 3. Eva is a willful teenager now, and sometimes she and Vincent don't see eye to eye. The epic stakes of everything in this book make the usual rebellious teenager phase so much more intense and terrifying; just imagine trying to talk down a teenager who has access to a giant world-destroying robot!<br />
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One thing I love about science fiction is how the crazy scenarios and how people react to them can actually reflect on our world today. As we found out in Sleeping Giants, nearly everyone on earth has some alien DNA in them. In Only Human, we see how far people's paranoia goes, and how much we fear those who we perceive as different from us. People's social status and standard of living are dictated by how "human" they are, even when the fraction of alien DNA we are talking about is less than 1%. It's a thinly veiled criticism of how quick we are to erect barriers between people of different backgrounds and find scapegoats in a crisis.<br />
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Waking Gods has to be my favorite book in the series (I don't think any book in the series could come close to topping the emotional impact of two heart-wrenching scenes in there), but Only Human was a strong conclusion to an excellent series. I highly recommend it!<br />
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<i>A free e-ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review</i><br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-19122682391824018882018-04-12T21:49:00.003-04:002018-04-13T12:17:27.208-04:00The Insidious Side of the Golden Milk Latte<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.heavenlynnhealthy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/turmeric-latte-golden-milk-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for golden milk latte" border="0" src="http://www.heavenlynnhealthy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/turmeric-latte-golden-milk-1.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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Okay friends, strap in, this is going to be quite a rant about cultural appropriation and all the interactions that have been bothering me lately. I am just sick of hearing from my (predominantly white) friends how indignation at cultural appropriation is so "extra" and unnecessary, so here is my attempt to explain through my south Asian/desi lens exactly what I consider to be cultural appropriation and why it bugs me.</div>
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Basically it boils down to this: If I get fun of for a certain part of my culture or heritage, but a white person can do the same thing and is applauded for being "boho chic", it's cultural appropriation. If a bunch of white people start profiting off of a part of my culture or start a "trend" without acknowledging the source, that's cultural appropriation too.</div>
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Golden Milk Lattes</h3>
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This beverage has been making the rounds on all the health-focused hipster health blogs, and is essentially an up-cycled version of a traditional Indian home remedy for when you're sick: <i>haldi doodh</i>. It's essentially just a spoon of turmeric stirred into warm milk, it tastes kind of foul, and you drink it when you're sick because your grandma told you it would make you get better faster (and it totally does!). It's not a "trendy elixir", it's a traditional Indian home remedy and literally none of the hipster blogs that advertise it recognize its desi roots. Thank you <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/andreborges/the-turmeric-latte-americans-are-obsessed-with-is-something?utm_term=.kjJyOmnJx#.jgMZQWObw">Buzzfeed India</a> for calling people out on it (and some other "trendy" food things that have recently swept through America). </div>
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The specific incident that bothered me with this was when I was at Whole Foods trying to ask about where I could find a certain ingredient. The lady I walked up to was holding packets of "gluten free organic turmeric" (exorbitantly priced, of course), and before I could open my mouth to ask my question, she said, "Hi, would you like a packet of turmeric?" I told her no, I had quite a lot at home. "Are you sure? It has a lot of medicinal properties and it's gluten free!"</div>
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Yeah, okay random white lady, please continue to explain to me how an integral part of my cuisine and Ayurvedic medicine "has a lot of medicinal properties" and is "gluten free"...</div>
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I think my anger stems from the deeper trend of white people thinking they can understand and explain anything better than the people they took the idea or product from, especially when they don't respect the origins of those ideas and products. There is no acknowledgement that people of color and other cultures can contribute positively to mainstream American culture, it always has to come from white people for it to stick. </div>
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That stings, and it reinforces this idea of "otherness" - my parents use the word "American" to mean white people because they feel like they aren't really accepted as Americans here (I mean, we've all been stared at with that "go back to your country" glare, I get it), but to me it's harder because I was born and raised here and I still don't always feel like I'm a "real American". </div>
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My culture is not a fashion statement</h3>
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There was recently a Zara midi skirt fiasco (you can read all about it on<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/zara-lungi-twitter-asian-dads_us_5a7cac69e4b044b3821add03"> HuffPost</a>). In a nutshell, they were marketing a checkered, drab-colored skirt that looked incredibly like a <i>lungi</i>, or a traditional cotton piece of cloth that is wrapped and tied around the waist, generally worn casually by men in South and Southeast Asia. My grandfather would wear one every day when he came home from running errands.</div>
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<a href="https://mothership.sg/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/lungi-featured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for lungi zara" border="0" height="168" src="https://mothership.sg/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/lungi-featured.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Zara skirt on the left, a traditional lungi on the right</div>
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The reason people were outraged/laughing was because this is once again a case of a European ignorance and charging exorbitant amounts of money for something that is traditional and freely accessible in another culture. Lungis are worn by farmers and laborers and people who literally cannot afford to buy themselves a pair of pants, and here Zara is selling it for 80 British Pounds. They're taking something accessible and making it "exclusive" so it's more marketable, and profiting off of it, while we south Asians get ridiculed for wearing them on a regular basis.</div>
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Don't even get me started on the distressed tanks with images of Ganesha (an important Hindu god, the remover of obstacles), Om symbols on yoga mats (I was talking to a friend about this, it's such a huge disrespect to touch something with your feet in Indian culture, so to stand on a yoga mat covered in Oms is as disrespectful and uncomfortable as burning an American flag), and henna "tattoos" at music festivals.</div>
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<img alt="Image result for ganesha shirt cultural appropriation" src="https://i.pinimg.com/236x/1d/3b/45/1d3b455d58d6a7929e9f0e9739d3ab0e--urban-tees-ganesh.jpg" /></div>
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Thanks Urban Outfitters for making a religious symbol a "cool exotic design" -_______-</div>
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The one other example I will actually talk about is when I was browsing on etsy earlier this week, and saw a pair of pretty oxidized silver earrings. I was drawn to them because they looked a lot like the kinds of earrings I've bought with my mom in Indian markets, where artisans and silversmiths show off their work. The label? "Exotic tribal Earrings".</div>
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I'm sorry, my culture and heritage is not here to satisfy your fetish for the exotic. I am so sick of the "exotic East" trope, and it stings to see your heritage called "exotic" and "tribal" because the subtext is "less civilized". India (and much of the world) has a huge colonial past, and it wasn't that long ago. My grandparents were kids when India finally got Independence from Britain, but the ramifications of British colonialism are definitely still there. There is the huge market of fairness creams telling people with dark skin that they look ugly and less civilized, and that they should aim to look more like the white and half-white people they have playing Indians in Bollywood movies. It's incredibly toxic, and I have personally been on the receiving end of well-meaning relatives telling me how I can lighten my skin and make myself more attractive. It hurts.</div>
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Asians in Mainstream Media</h3>
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I've talked about this before, but the first time I felt like I saw a character or a story that reflected my experiences growing up as a Desi-American kid was when I read Ms. Marvel last year. Kamala Khan is Muslim and Pakistani, and I'm Hindu and Indian, but we both are Desi children of immigrants who are trying to figure out who we are and where we belong. I had only ever seen stereotyped portrayals of Indian tech nerds in mainstream media, and even if there were brown people in movies, they were generally first generation immigrants, not people who had been born in America.</div>
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So when I get upset about Scarlet Johansson being cast as The Ghost in the Shell (even though the robot is supposedly racially ambiguous?? "Major Kusunagi" though), it's because a white person took away one of the few opportunities an Asian person had to be a part of mainstream media. It's not "feminist" to agree to play the role of a badass robot lady, it's "white feminist" because she chose not to comment on the valid criticism for whitewashing the character and did not try to support her fellow actors of color. <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scarlett-johansson-feminism-ghost-in-a-shell_us_5899dd5fe4b0406131391257">HuffPost</a> to the rescue, far more articulate discussion than I can manage.</div>
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A similar situation with Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange. There is a lot of Eastern philosophy in the mythology of Doctor Strange, and the only main Asian character is relegated to comic relief. It's a shame, since The Ancient One would have been a cool way to introduce a badass Asian character to mainstream media. Even if the Ancient One wasn't cast as Asian, the entire order is based in Tibet, so it would have been nice to see intelligent, respected, and well-rounded Asian characters even as supporting cast. </div>
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Further reading from more articulate people</h3>
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Since I am not the most articulate person and wrote this rant out for my own piece of mind more than anything, there are some other well-written pieces that describe my feelings better than I could. <a href="http://dailybruin.com/2016/06/01/second-take-my-indian-culture-should-not-be-used-as-a-marketing-tool/">This one </a>is by a student at UCLA (Go Bruins!) and discusses the exact feelings of shame and wanting to fit in that I experienced about my culture growing up, and exactly why cultural appropriation still cuts deep. A quote that stood out to me:</div>
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"But the reality is non-white communities continue to be ostracized for practices deeply important to their identities, while the Western world cherry-picks parts of these cultures and turns them into passing trends.</div>
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Iggy Azalea can take off her bindi when she’s satisfied with playing Indian, so she will never have to face the xenophobia of white America. Meanwhile, people like my relative’s colleagues are scorned if they want to continue dressing per their traditions, forcing them to adopt Western ways to avoid being singled out."</div>
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All of this to say, the next time someone points out an instance of cultural appropriation, maybe take a minute to think before you call them out for overreacting?</div>
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(all of this writing has got my gears turning about all my irritations with the "Asians are a model minority" myth, stay tuned for a rant about that soon lol)</div>
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-36937802978428294892018-03-30T09:01:00.000-04:002018-03-30T09:01:07.523-04:00Book Talk: Genre Fiction Brings People Together<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VW5W8VOKx7E/Wrz_elu-SLI/AAAAAAAATOg/HFNgz0w2JC4f35LlJy9448UGRETfBKJjgCLcBGAs/s1600/book_talk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="654" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VW5W8VOKx7E/Wrz_elu-SLI/AAAAAAAATOg/HFNgz0w2JC4f35LlJy9448UGRETfBKJjgCLcBGAs/s320/book_talk.png" width="318" /></a></div>
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There's no shame in loving genre fiction</h3>
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When I first meet people and we start talking about things we like to do, I always mention my love of sci-fi TV shows and fantasy books. There's always one of two reactions: 1) OMG I LOVE THEM TOO or 2) Aaaaaaaah I see (accompanied by eyes glazing over and a slightly vacant nod). I once had a friend tell me, "Oh, I don't read genre fiction anymore, it's too childish for me." It crushed me because I felt like I was being judged for enjoying what I did, and if I didn't have a taste for the more "refined" or "literary" works, did that make me a second-class reader? Is loving the emotional journey and entertainment value of a story somehow less valid than loving the intricacies of prose and metaphor?</div>
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To be completely honest, one reason I love genre fiction is that it's all about transporting you to another world, whether it's in the past or future or on a magical world we've never heard of. Even mystery books transport you to a little microcosm that's separate from your world, even if it takes place where you live. I embrace the escapism; life is hard sometimes and it's nice to have a break. But beyond that, genre fiction is what has made me grow as a person. I would go so far as to say genre fiction is going to be a huge force in our burgeoning discussion about diversity and inclusivity in media and in our daily lives.</div>
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Build Empathy, Save the World</h3>
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Experiencing someone's story, especially when that character is very different from you, really increases your understanding and empathy. I'm slightly ashamed of this now, but back in high school I wasn't super comfortable with discussions about the LGBTQ community because I didn't understand what it was like to be queer. I read Ash by Malinda Lo, an own-voice queer retelling of Cinderella, and that's when it clicked: It doesn't matter whether someone loves a man or a woman (or both! or neither!), any love between two people is a beautiful thing. And that understanding helped me be a much more supportive friend and ally when a few friends later came out to me. More recently, I read Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give, and I finally had context for what it was like specifically to be black in modern America. I haven't been shy about advocating for people of color here on the blog and in real life, but sharing that experience through Starr's eyes and voice hit home the idea that we all have very different experiences and struggles based on our intersectional identities. </div>
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Genre fiction has been my hope during periods of my life when I've been depressed, anxious, or just very lonely. Seeing your favorite fantasy characters (Stormlight Archive, looking at you) overcome their own demons and battle with mental health issues makes you feel less alone, and sometimes gives you the strength to battle your own demons for another day. Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman helped me understand what it was like to battle schizophrenia at a time in my life when a good friend was spiraling. Without these books, I would have felt incredibly lost and probably wouldn't have been able to help myself or friends who were dealing with various mental health issues.</div>
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Stories have power, they connect you to other people and give you the vocabulary and tools to empathize and understand where someone else is coming from. It's not about the delicacy of their adverb use or the high profile name of the author, it's about the characters that you connect with and the people in your life that you might grow to understand better because of that connection. A friend and I were talking about how important Black Panther was to us as people of color, because we felt like our voices finally had a platform. Although Black Panther was technically only about the African diaspora, the seeds it plants in people's brains (people of color can be heroes and role models, dark skin can be beautiful, women can be intelligent and powerful without being a "bitch") can bring people of all walks of life closer together.</div>
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-73161506519985940672018-03-20T22:01:00.004-04:002018-03-20T22:01:58.630-04:00Graphic Novel Review: Monstress<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Grad school is frying my brain, so I've been reading a lot of graphic novels lately. It's so much more fun to stare at the gorgeous art and flipping through a graphic novel just requires less concentration than sitting down and reading a book. My OTSP Secret sister, Kelley, said Monstress was one of her favorite graphic novels, so I <i>had</i> to give this a shot. My other OTSP Secret sister, Angie, was kind enough to send the first two volumes to me, so THANK YOU BOTH FOR ENABLING ME TO DISCOVER ONE OF THE LOVES OF MY LIFE. (Shameless plug, if you haven't heard about #otspsecretsister, you're missing out!! It's a lovely community of book-loving, kind people who just want to spread cheer and happiness, and I've made great friends through it).<br />
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I'm going to try out a slightly different review format for graphic novels than books, so let's see how this goes.<br />
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The Art</h2>
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Let's just start off by saying that the art in Monstress is absolutely stunning. The setting is an Asian-inspired steampunk world, so there are a lot of intricate Asian motifs in the embroider of the characters' clothing and in the architecture. Even the monsters are incredibly intricately drawn, equal parts terrifying and breathtakingly beautiful. </div>
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Sana Takeda is a wizard with conveying emotions through her art. Just look at this darling and tell me your heart isn't melting.</div>
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She also manages to make the most brutal and horrifying scenes appear beautiful. There are quite a few torture scenes and similarly disturbing panels, but none of them seem gratuitously gory. They are chilling yet hauntingly beautiful.</div>
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The Story</h2>
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Again, Monstress is set in an Asian-inspired steampunk world, but one detail I didn't mention earlier is that it's a Matriarchal society. Nearly all of the main characters are women, and all the people in power are women. There are so many intelligent, fierce, flawed women in this story, and I love that none of them are reduced to stereotypical roles. </div>
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I will admit that I was very confused when the story started. Marjorie Liu doesn't coddle you or ease you into the story, you are brought straight into the middle of the action and it's up to you to piece together how the world works. There are tensions between many political and racial groups, and a bloody history between different groups that is revealed slowly. It's a little hard to keep track of who is on whose side because there are many twists and turns and hidden revelations, but that just made me more excited to re-read the series and see how my perspective changes once I have more context.</div>
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I love literally everything about this story, I would highly highly recommend it!!</div>
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-22345173055383016302018-03-13T21:09:00.003-04:002018-03-13T21:09:35.469-04:00Review: The Tiger's Daughter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29760778-the-tiger-s-daughter" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="29760778" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489459927l/29760778.jpg" width="212" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29760778-the-tiger-s-daughter">The Tiger's Daughter</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15144005.K_Arsenault_Rivera">K. Arsenault Rivera</a><br />
Genre: Fantasy<br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2086870573">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>Even gods can be slain….<br />The Hokkaran empire has conquered every land within their bold reach―but failed to notice a lurking darkness festering within the people. Now, their border walls begin to crumble, and villages fall to demons swarming out of the forests.<br />Away on the silver steppes, the remaining tribes of nomadic Qorin retreat and protect their own, having bartered a treaty with the empire, exchanging inheritance through the dynasties. It is up to two young warriors, raised together across borders since their prophesied birth, to save the world from the encroaching demons.<br />This is the story of an infamous Qorin warrior, Barsalayaa Shefali, a spoiled divine warrior empress, O-Shizuka, and a power that can reach through time and space to save a land from a truly insidious evil.</blockquote>
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This was such a beautiful book! (It's been 6 months since I read this book, but better late than never, right??)<br />
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When you've read a lot of fantasy, you develop a sort of intuition for how the story is going to play out. It's hard to tell a story that hasn't already been told a hundred times before; what makes any story worth reading is the details and the characters and the new voice the author brings to the table. The Tiger's Daughter is one of those rare gems that feels sort of familiar but entirely new at the same time.<br />
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The story opens with an imperious, headstrong empress on a throne, but then shifts gears as most of the book is in the form of letters addressed to said empress. I have to admit the "You" thing threw me off (I've never been a fan of second-person perspective in novels), but I thought there was a good reason for it and a good balance between time spent on the letters and time in the "present day". I loved that the cultures described in this book were heavily influenced by Asian cultures (Japanese and Mongolian, I think?), because that's just so rare in fantasy. I also loved that most of the main characters were women. There are women leaders, warriors, noblewomen, and traveling nomads. For once it almost seems like the men are there to advance the plot and character development of the women! Almost is the key there, all characters were very well-developed and had interesting, conflicting motivations.<br />
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This is a love story for the ages, and I'm not even much of a romantic! I loved how Shefali and O-Shizuka's relationship developed from friendship to love; we get to see them grow up together so the relationship feels very organic. Neither of them gives up their agency or their pride in their very different cultures and heritage; neither of them is reduced to "the romantic interest" as is usually the case for women. It's just so lovely to see queer representation in fantasy, especially between women of color. <br />
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Besides the stunning characters, intricate world-building, political machinations, and exciting demonic creatures from hell, what really captured my attention was the writing style. I just fell in love with how the words flowed on the page. Rivera has such a strong voice, but so do these characters. Although it ends on a fairly conclusive and satisfying note, I cannot wait to see how this story continues to unfold.<br />
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<i> A free eARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-28836173811367413052018-03-07T23:50:00.004-05:002018-03-07T23:50:51.054-05:00ARC Review: Tess of the Road<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1503583827l/33123849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="33123849" border="0" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1503583827l/33123849.jpg" width="206" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33123849-tess-of-the-road"><br />Title: Tess of the Road</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/357601.Rachel_Hartman">Rachel Hartman</a><br />
Genre: Fantasy<br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2196198025">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can't make a scene at your sister's wedding and break a relative's nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is) and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy.<br />Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it's a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl--a subspecies of dragon--who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she's tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one. </blockquote>
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Lovely! Lots of nods to Seraphina but not so much that you feel lost if it's been a while (4 years or so for me!). Tess grows up so much throughout this book, and it's interesting to see more of the quigtl and corners of the world that Seraphina didn't explore. It's also just so adorable and empowering at the same time, with so many interesting, complicated women who help each other in unexpected ways.<br />
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Full disclosure I read this book in nearly one sitting on an airplane, months ago, so the details are a little fuzzy. I do remember that it took me a while before I warmed up to this book. Tess is not a particularly likeable heroine at first - she's sharp-tongued, proud, and defies expectations of how a woman should act (which I loved) but she's also kind of selfish and stubborn in a less-than-endearing way. She's childish, petulant, and quite flawed, but she's also the most <i>real</i> main character I've read about in a while. <br />
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Tess lives in an almost Puritanical world, with strict rules about how women should act and what their role is. There's so much repression in this world, so it's only natural that Tess has to deal with some repressed traumatic memories. An interesting foil to how the human women are treated in this world are the dragon women, including Seraphina. The dragons don't have to follow human rules, and sometimes they find human customs completely ridiculous. There are also nuns and villagers and even a courtesan who show Tess that there are more ways to live as a woman in this world than the restricted existence her family expects her to lead.<br />
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This is one of those "journey" books, both literally and metaphorically. Tess pulls on some boots and walks, hoping to get somewhere far away from home where she can live freely. Her experiences along the way help her grow tremendously, and she eventually deals with the trauma of her painful past. The author wrote <a href="https://www.tor.com/2018/02/28/mythologizing-your-experience/" rel="nofollow">this excellent article</a> about how this book was an emotional autobiography for her, focusing heavily on shame and healing. There are lots of metaphors for both ideas throughout this story, and it truly is an incredibly journey to share with the main characters.<br />
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I would definitely recommend giving this book a read, even if you haven't read Seraphina.<br />
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<i>A free e-ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review</i><br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-59684889988472095412017-11-16T20:35:00.002-05:002017-11-16T20:35:25.894-05:00Sci-Fi month: Science fiction from around the world<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We talk about how the fantasy genre is dominated by European-inspired medieval castles and knights and princesses, but I think we take it for granted that most of the science fiction genre is very Euro-centric and focused on the western world. Although science fiction is growing to be more inclusive and include people of color, a lot of the times the setting and culture is still very much a reflection of America or Europe. I have found a few gems that are inspired by other cultures, though, and I wanted to share them! I'll also have some honorable mentions for the books that include characters of multiple cultures even if the overall setting is still western.<br />
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1. <b>The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin</b></div>
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Jemisin's Fifth season draws a lot of its cultural inspiration from Africa. Skin tones of people vary from dark brown to alabaster, but the majority of the characters are people of color. The villages in this book are described in such a way that the village of my great grandparents in India came to mind, instead of the usual quaint European village tucked away in the hills complete with a milk maid and a baker. This book sort of straddles the line between fantasy and science fiction, but I like to think of it as science fiction because it seems like it could be a future version of our own world after some sort of post-apocalyptic natural disaster. The non-linear story telling is a treat, and putting the puzzle pieces together makes this book very rewarding!</div>
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2. <b>Cinder by Marissa Meyer</b></div>
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If you haven't heard of Cinder, you've been living under a rock! Cinder mostly takes place in New Beijing, a futuristic re-imagining of the capital of the Asian Commonwealth. Besides being an awesome and entertaining story featuring a cyborg mechanic and an evil alien queen, it has a lot of little cultural details and flourishes that make the reading experience even more immersive.</div>
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3. <b>The Rise of Io by Wesley Chu</b></div>
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This book was a lot of fun, featuring a half-Indian main character and set in a futuristic version of India. It's so rare to see India represented in science fiction, since people usually associate India with ancient palaces and magic, not futuristic technology. </div>
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4. <b>The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi</b></div>
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One of my favorite books, but I don't think I could survive reading it a second time! This book is brutal and dark, and you can't help but feel devastated when bad things inevitably happen to the characters you've come to love. This book is set in Thailand, and genetic engineering/bioengineering is a huge focus, but it's definitely more about the characters and the state of humanity in crisis than anything else.</div>
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5. <b>Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff</b></div>
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Feudal Japan, but steampunk! If that doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what to tell you. Rest assured that this book is full of blood and magic and pain, incredible friends, family with complicated relationships, and manipulative bastards.</div>
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Honorable mentions</div>
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1. <b>Partials by Dan Wells</b></div>
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Set in post-apocalyptic America, but for once the survivors actually represent the cultural and ethnic diversity of our country!</div>
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2. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson</div>
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When the moon breaks apart and people panic, the whole world is involved in the effort to save humanity. Thankfully that's reflected in the diversity of the cast, although later on in the book society becomes mostly Russian and English-speaking. Let's be real, take a hint from Firefly...we all know it would actually be Chinese and English!</div>
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That's all for now, I really wish I could share more with you but it's so hard to find non-western science fiction!! If you have any recommendations that I missed, please let me know :)</div>
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-74384374487368238922017-11-06T06:00:00.000-05:002017-11-06T06:00:06.505-05:00Sci-fi month: A Newbie's Guide to Graphic Novels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'm pretty new to the graphic novel/comic book scene. I was never a comic book collector when I was a kid, and I was just so overwhelmed about figuring out where to start that I didn't get into graphic novels until last year!<br />
<br />
One of the things that make graphic novels harder to break into is how interconnected a lot of different series are. Especially with DC and Marvel superhero comics, there are so many cross-overs and reincarnations and references to past volumes and events happening in other series. I still haven't quite figured all of that out yet (like I said, I'm still new!) but I have found other comics that are more newbie friendly!<br />
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Here are my recommendations for standalone graphic novels and entrypoint series without a lot of cross-overs! I've enjoyed them all and I didn't feel like I was missing out on too much.<br />
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Saga<o:p></o:p><br />
I absolutely love this series! I have only read the first volume so far, but I am really excited to keep reading. It has amazing art and lots of incredible characters and worlds, and best of all you don't need any prior knowledge of the universe to get started!</div>
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<img alt="472331" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442239711l/472331.jpg" width="212" /></div>
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Watchmen<o:p></o:p><br />
This was the first graphic novel I ever read, and it definitely lived up to the hype. It's such an incredible story, with a lot of morally ambiguous characters and superheroes that may not be as "heroic" as we'd like to think. Plus it's a standalone, so it's a great place to start.</div>
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<img alt="Image result for the flash rebirth" src="http://www.dccomics.com/sites/default/files/styles/covers192x291/public/comic-covers/2016/03/FLS_REBIRTH_56fb22dd55d916.76939839.jpg?itok=lLilpL3t" /><img alt="Image result for DC universe rebirth 1" src="http://www.dccomics.com/sites/default/files/styles/covers192x291/public/comic-covers/2016/05/DCUREB_Cv1_ds_300dpi_cropped_5743b270aaaae3.39723701.jpg?itok=JpNJJ2_O" /></div>
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The Flash: Rebirth #1</div>
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I wanted to read the Flash comics since I really enjoy the TV show. The latest DC Rebirth universe was a little confusing without having read anything previously, but I thought it was a pretty good place to start. You just have to read DC Universe Rebirth #1 before The Flash: Rebirth volume, which wasn't too bad! A more comprehensive guide to the DC Rebirth universe <a href="https://www.comicbookherald.com/reading-dc-comics/dc-rebirth-reading-order/">here</a></div>
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<img alt="Image result for bone comic" height="320" src="http://trackingboard1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/tumblr_ogae3s1s5h1tdkahdo1_1280.jpg" width="213" /><br />
Bone<o:p></o:p><br />
One of my friends recommended Bone to me, and the premise sounded kind of silly. Little creatures made of bones having adventures in the woods? Um..<br />But the story is actually really intricate and intriguing. Things get intense really quickly, but there's always a good mix of humor and what's-happening-I-can't-put-this-book-down. Featuring some badass ladies and adorable bone-creatures, this story was a lot of fun!</div>
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<img alt="Image result for paper girls" height="320" src="https://imagecomics.com/uploads/releases/_main/PaperGirls_Vol01-1.png" width="208" /><br />
Paper Girls<o:p></o:p><br />
Disclaimer: I haven't actually read this one yet, but it's by the same writer as Saga (Brian Vaughan) so I'm positive it will be just as amazing. Like Saga, it's a series that doesn't tie into any others, so it's great for newbies.</div>
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<img alt="Image result for ms. marvel new normal'" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/513JEUiztEL._SX321_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="207" /><br />
Ms.
Marvel<o:p></o:p><br />
Ms. Marvel was a great entry-point into the Marvel universe for me. I'd only seen the Marvel movies and a couple of TV shows, but never read any comics. Ms. Marvel ties into a few other series like Spiderman and X-men, but it isn't too confusing for a newbie reader because Kamala Khan is figuring everything out too!</div>
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<img alt="Image result for sandman preludes and nocturnes gaiman" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Sandman_Preludes_and_Nocturnes.jpg" width="205" /><br />
Sandman<o:p></o:p><br />
Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, so naturally I wanted to check out his comic series once I'd read most of his novels. Sandman is really dark, but it's full of the same sort of creativity and imagination that makes Gaiman's novels so good! I haven't read all 10 yet, but I hear they tell an incredible overarching story. It's a little confusing to figure out the order of the volumes, so I would recommend looking at <a href="http://www.howtoread.me/neil-gaiman-sandman-reading-order/">this post </a>for more information on the different spin-off series and reading order.</div>
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<img alt="Image result for v for vendetta comic" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/V_for_vendettax.jpg" width="211" /><br />
V
for Vendetta<o:p></o:p><br />
This is one of my favorite movies, and I wanted to check out the source material (especially since it's written by Alan Moore, the same brilliant mind behind Watchmen). It was different from the movie for sure, but absolutely worth a read!</div>
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-30108529049216259482017-11-04T12:29:00.000-04:002017-11-04T12:29:21.958-04:00I'm back..for RR Sci Fi Month!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
It's been a while, but here I am!<br />
<br />
Grad school has been really intense, and I've had so many panic attacks/super anxious days because I've been so stressed and overwhelmed while I adjusted, so blogging took a backseat. Despite the mental health challenges, I am really glad I'm here, I'm learning so much, and I've made really great friends! I just set up a blog post reminder alarm on my phone so every week I get a nudge to put something up :) Honestly half the reason I haven't posted in over a month is because I was so overwhelmed with school and research that I just completely forgot about setting aside time for blogging.<br />
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I'm really excited about #RRSciFiMonth though, so here I am! I'm gonna try and keep commitment low and have 1 sci-fi post per week so I don't add to my stress level, but if I get really excited and have more ideas I'll put them up! I really want to do a buzzfeed-style quiz, we'll see if I have time to put one together :)<br />
<br />
Here are a few post ideas I have right now:<br />
<br />
1) A Newbie's guide to getting into graphic novels<br />
2) Marvel VS DC: my favorite superhero TV shows<br />
3) Recs for Non-Western Sci-Fi<br />
4) Awesome Sci-fi podcasts<br />
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and if I get my act together, hopefully some sci-fi reviews sprinkled in throughout the month as well :D<br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-58964471625223978712017-09-26T18:44:00.002-04:002017-09-26T18:44:28.625-04:00Review: Now I Rise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476160834l/22817331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="22817331" border="0" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476160834l/22817331.jpg" width="211" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22817331-now-i-rise">Now I Rise</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3027554.Kiersten_White">Kiersten White</a><br />
Genre: Historical fiction<br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1875192714">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>She has no allies. No throne. All she has is what she’s always had: herself.<br />After failing to secure the Wallachian throne, Lada Dracul is out to punish anyone who dares to cross her blood-strewn path. Filled with a white-hot rage, she storms the countryside with her men, accompanied by her childhood friend Bogdan, terrorizing the land. But brute force isn’t getting Lada what she wants. And thinking of Mehmed brings little comfort to her thorny heart. There’s no time to wonder whether he still thinks about her, even loves her. She left him before he could leave her.<br />What Lada needs is her younger brother Radu’s subtlety and skill. But Mehmed has sent him to Constantinople—and it’s no diplomatic mission. Mehmed wants control of the city, and Radu has earned an unwanted place as a double-crossing spy behind enemy lines. Radu longs for his sister’s fierce confidence—but for the first time in his life, he rejects her unexpected plea for help. Torn between loyalties to faith, to the Ottomans, and to Mehmed, he knows he owes Lada nothing. If she dies, he could never forgive himself—but if he fails in Constantinople, will Mehmed ever forgive him?<br />As nations fall around them, the Dracul siblings must decide: what will they sacrifice to fulfill their destinies? Empires will topple, thrones will be won…and souls will be lost.</blockquote>
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<br />
I never found the era of Constantinople and the rise of the Ottoman Empire to be particularly interesting, so I am honestly amazed by how much this story made me want to find out more about this time period in history. As in the first book, the three main characters are very compelling, with even more complicated and tangled personal and political relationships. I loved seeing how people reacted when their personal and political loyalties were in conflict, it makes for very interesting insight into what is most important to that character. <br />
<br />
The first book was mainly Lada's story, but this one seems to focus more on Radu. Lada has left Mehmet on her quest to reclaim Wallachia, but things aren't as straightforward for an ambitious woman compared to a man with the same goals. I loved how Lada's lust for power and drive to be a leader in her own right were portrayed; she's flawed and proud and sometimes naive, but she is also fearless and will not step down because she doesn't meet men's expectations of who a woman should be. I also loved that she had more interactions with other women in this book. <br />
<br />
Radu's story stole the show for me! He is still confronting his feelings about Mehmet and weighing them against his political usefulness. Radu has to make a lot of hard choices, and without Lada to help him out, he really comes into his own as a leader. He does have Nazira though, and she is easily one of my favorite characters in this series. She is intelligent, compassionate, and incredibly courageous. She is an invaluable asset to Radu, but she's also just such a lovely person and I was rooting for her happy ending the entire time. The second half of the book, which puts Radu and Nazira in an entirely new environment, was so emotionally painful! I didn't know who to root for, and it felt like no matter how things turned out, I would be really upset. <br />
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I was so captivated by the rich world and intriguing, flawed characters and their messy relationships in book 1, and I was worried that the second book wouldn't have too much more to add. I was sorely mistaken, and I really enjoyed seeing all the new layers to our characters and their political machinations. This book raised the stakes immensely without feeling like a "middle book", but I cannot wait to see how things play out in book 3!
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-59670038907789747522017-09-17T21:50:00.003-04:002017-09-17T21:50:27.650-04:00Kerrytown Book Festival<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I moved to Ann Arbor a couple of weeks ago for grad school, and it's so different here compared to LA (where I've lived for the last 5 years). Everything is so much quieter in Ann Arbor...well, except the freight trains that insist on honking as they go past. I like that it's a smaller town, and obviously because it's such a college town there are plenty of coffee shops and bookstores :)<br />
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Last weekend was the annual Kerrytown book festival, which I found out about quite on accident as I walked down Main street. It was a really cute little festival, with about 50 booths ranging from indie bookstores to stationary/journal booths to art prints to bookish swag. I guess that's actually quite a bit, but having been to the LA Times Festival of Books in the spring, this one seemed tiny by comparison!<br />
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I got some awesome bookish magnets and bookmarks, and business cards from people who make bookish stuff. One of the business cards was stylized as a library due date slip, which I thought was really cute! They did not pay me to publicize them or anything, I just thought their card + stuff was really cute:<br />
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Also saw some cute art prints of the Star Wars ladies ("May the FIERCE be with you", <a href="https://www.redbubble.com/people/mimiboo/works/16848775-may-the-fierce-be-with-you">online here</a>) which I almost bought but didn't because broke grad student + I'd already bought some other stuff at the fair.<br />
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The one book I bought at the fair was the first volume of Saga from an indie comic book shop. I asked for comic recommendations and the guy just handed me Saga and said he hasn't met anyone who didn't love it (spoiler alert, I loved it). He also recommended Habibi, which I got from the library later on because it was super gorgeous but I just couldn't afford it at the moment.<br />
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All in all, a few hours well spent at the book festival! I'm hoping to make it out to some author events too. Literati cafe has Jeffrey Eugenides and Celeste Ng coming out later this month, and I've liked but not loved their books. I think it would still be cool to hear them talk about what makes them tick though! We'll see how much of my life research + homework eats up.<br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-24695412320522841082017-09-13T23:27:00.000-04:002017-09-13T23:27:06.464-04:00SFF Reading Challenge: Update 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I think I'm doing pretty well on the reading challenge, I have 6 books and 4 1/2 months left. The manga and the novella will probably be quick, so as long as the books I'm planning on reading are available at the library, I'm golden! (Watch me still struggle to finish the last few books in December LOL)</div>
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I've read 3 more books for the challenge since my last update. I finally read Library of Fates, a book I've been meaning to read for ages! I also read Foundation, a book that I read in middle school and completely forgot about. And Persepolis, a comic book I've wanted to read for years but could never find at the library until this month. All three books were awesome!</div>
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I also finally planned all the books I'm going to read for the rest of the challenge. I was really excited about getting approved for 27 Hours on NetGalley because that was one of my crowdsourced twitter recommendations for a book with an Ace/Aro character. The only other book I've read with an Ace character is Quicksilver (featuring Tori), and I'm always looking to broaden my perspectives and support authors who bring diversity in their books. The other planned books are in gray below.</div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Purple </span><span style="color: #666666;">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. </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">1) Fairy tale retelling: Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey - A retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">2) Historical Fantasy: Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear - an alternate history/fantasy based on Mongolia in the time of Genghis Khan</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">3) NPR top 100 books: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">4) non-British Steampunk: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo - Russian/Scandinavian steampunk? </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">5) Crossed with another genre: The City & The City by China Mieville - a police procedural mystery story that's also sort of sci-fi</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">6) Manga: Either Death Note or Ghost in the Shell, whichever one is at the library when I go next :)</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">7) Comic book: The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">8) Urban Fantasy: Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666;">9) A classic: Foundation by Isaac Asimov</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">10) Superheroes: Wonder Woman Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666;">12) Sci-fi western: The Gunslinger by Stephen King</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">13) earth-based sci-fi: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - a beautiful post-apocalyptic story about how people find their humanity after the end of the world</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">14) A Sci-fi with aliens: Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel - ALIEN ROBOTS EVEN BETTER</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">15) Non-White culture fantasy: Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">16) POC MCs: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - multiple POC main characters, including Moira, Doc, and Ivy. Extra glad that Asian POCs were featured!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">17) LGBTQIA+ MC: The Swan Riders by Erin Bow (Greta is bisexual, and some supporting characters are queer as well)</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">18) Ace/Aro character: 27 Hours by Tristina Wright</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">19) POC author: Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang - loved this anthology!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">20) M/M Romance: A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab - Rhys and Alucard are THE OTP</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">21) F/F Romance: Skullsworn by Brian Staveley - it would be spoilery to say who ;)</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">22) Pub 2016: Empire of Storms by SJ Maas - another epic love-hate installment of the Throne of Glass series haha</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666;"></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">24) Novella: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor</span><br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-2802970963119876712017-09-10T19:57:00.000-04:002017-09-10T19:57:31.052-04:00#TRQ final update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Reading Quest ends tonight! I don't think I'll be binge-reading anything before the night is out, so I figured I would put up my final stats now!<br />
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So I ended up at Level 5 with 200 XP! I also had 330 HP by the end of the challenge. I finished the Mage quest, just like I planned, but I only finished 1 book of the Knight quest. I did read a couple of books for side quests though. Here's a list of all the books I completed for the challenge:<br />
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MAGE<br />
One word title: Foundation by Isaac Asimov<br />
Contains Magic: Flame in the Mist by Renee Adieh<br />
Mythology: Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana<br />
First Book in a series: Persepolis (part 1) by Marjane Satrapi<br />
Different World: ACOWAR by SJ Maas<br />
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KNIGHT<br />
Verb in title: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon<br />
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SIDE QUESTS<br />
Respawn (previously DNF) - The Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi<br />
Animal Companion (animal in title) - The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera<br />
Mini-Game (poetry/graphic novel) - The Complete Works of Maya Angelou<br />
Open - Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller<br />
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I'm pretty happy with how I did for this challenge. I normally would have been able to squeeze another book or two in, but moving across the country and starting grad school kind of threw a wrench in my normal reading habits LOL<br />
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I had a lot of fun with this challenge, though, and <b>it really pushed me to finally read those books by POC that have been on my TBR forever</b>. Now I have an even bigger list of books by marginalized authors or featuring POC/LGBTQIA characters, so I'm excited to get to those!<br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-58870060652318114782017-09-05T03:00:00.000-04:002017-09-05T03:00:25.913-04:00TTT: Ten Books I Struggled to Get Into But Were Totally Worth It<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by <a href="http://www.brokeandbookish.com/">The Broke and the Bookish</a>. </div>
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This week's theme: Top Ten Books I struggled with but were totally worth it in the end</div>
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Foundation – Isaac Asimov<br />This story takes place over a century, and it's more like a short story for every era. I always have a hard time connecting with characters immediately, so it was hard to keep re-setting every 50 or so pages, but overall it was an awesome story!</div>
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<o:p> Well of Ascension - Brandon Sanderson</o:p></div>
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<o:p>I haven't re-read to confirm, but this is perhaps the only Sanderson book I <i>dislike</i>. It was really slow and angsty, but the ending was INCREDIBLY MINDBLOWING and book 3 made it more than worth it.</o:p></div>
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The Queen of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner</div>
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It took me until I re-read this book to fall in love with it, the first time I just found it dull. But that's just because I was being a lazy reader and not paying attention to the subtle threads MWT was weaving together :)</div>
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<o:p><img alt="29760778" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489459927l/29760778.jpg" width="212" /> </o:p></div>
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The Tiger's Daughter - K Arsenault Rivera</div>
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I love the structure of this book in retrospect, but at first the fact that most of the book is in the form of letters addressed to "you" really threw me off. I eventually got used to it, and loved the story and characters.</div>
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<o:p><img alt="17333324" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397215917l/17333324.jpg" width="212" /> </o:p></div>
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Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie</div>
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I had to read the first 50 pages twice before I figured out what was even going on, but this book was so worth the effort! Definitely made me think about my assumptions about gender, but also it was just a really cool, non-linear sci-fi story.</div>
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This Savage Song - VE Schwab</div>
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I really have no idea why it was so hard for me to get into this book, but the voices of the characters in my head were too whiny. So after reading the first 50 pages three times, I picked up the audiobook, and promptly loved the characters and their incredible journey.</div>
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The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas</div>
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There wasn't anything particularly difficult to get through with this book besides its incredible length. At around 1200 pages, it was a workout just to hold the book open! But this was a highly entertaining classic by an author whose work I really enjoy.</div>
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Empire of Storms - SJ Maas</div>
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For about 80% of this book, I was rolling my eyes. I honestly just wanted to read about Dorian and Manon, forget Aelin and the rest. And then somehow SJ Maas managed to make all that go out the window with an incredibly emotional final 100ish pages. I was really excited to see the epic scope of the series grow and see how many plot lines converged at last.</div>
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An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir</div>
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I freaking hate Laia. She's so powerless and whiney and <i>gorgeous but doesn't think so</i> and just ugh. But the world was captivating and the other characters (especially in book 2) made it more than worth putting up with Laia.</div>
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<o:p><img alt="Image result for jonathan strange and mr norrell" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4d/Jonathan_strange_and_mr_norrell_cover.jpg" width="212" /> </o:p></div>
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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke</div>
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I really struggled with the slow pace of this book, especially with the incredible amount of footnotes. Once the second half of the story picked up, though, I was hooked. This book was magical and captivating, and watching the BBC mini-series has cemented it as one of my favorite fantasy books.</div>
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-53292062075282811052017-09-02T10:00:00.000-04:002017-09-02T10:00:38.590-04:00Review: Strange the Dreamer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28449207-strange-the-dreamer" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="28449207" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1491249148l/28449207.jpg" width="212" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28449207-strange-the-dreamer">Strange the Dreamer</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/324620.Laini_Taylor">Laini Taylor</a><br />
My rating: 3.5<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2002411007"> of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.<br />What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?<br />The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />Welcome to Weep.</blockquote>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ydIUMIoCV8o/WadmkPwc2hI/AAAAAAAAPmY/Rg1hqJSCzTccBTvQLN6xs5rxGyEgIYSSgCLcBGAs/s1600/SSCard_AncillaryJustice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ydIUMIoCV8o/WadmkPwc2hI/AAAAAAAAPmY/Rg1hqJSCzTccBTvQLN6xs5rxGyEgIYSSgCLcBGAs/s1600/SSCard_AncillaryJustice.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
I fell in love with Laini Taylor's DoSaB trilogy because of her magical ability to pick the perfect words to make even the most mundane situations seem gorgeous. Her prose is so unique and beautiful, and that prose is in full force in Strange the Dreamer. It was even better with an excellent narrator, Steve West, reading the story out loud. I also enjoyed DoSaB better on audio than with the paper book; maybe her writing style is more immersive and beautiful to me when someone is actually <i>telling</i> the story.<br />
<br />
As with DoSaB, Strange the Dreamer is full of whimsical worlds and magic known only to a secret few. There are gods and humans who are each flawed and have bad blood between them. There are complicated families, found families, incredible friendships, despicable human beings, and excellent descriptions of food. I really loved the world of this story, especially as we slowly unearthed the history of what happened to the gods and their children. <br />
<br />
All the characters were very well-sketched out and memorable as well. Ironically, I don't remember her name except that it started with an M - the child who controlled ghosts - was the most mercurial and terrifying character in the book. It's pretty incredible when an author can make your skin crawl every time a six-year-old makes an appearance (even if she's not <i>actually</i> six). Sarai was incredible as the Queen of Nightmares - torn between wanting justice for the atrocities committed against her people by the humans and wanting to understand the humans whose dreams she inhabits. She was vulnerable yet loyal and committed to helping everyone she loved. Lazlo was endearing, of course, with his broken nose and his incessant curiosity. I also really liked all the secondary characters.<br />
<br />
So it seems like I can't stop gushing about how amazing this book was, so why only 3.5 stars? The book takes <i>forever</i> to get on its feet. The true plot doesn't begin until nearly halfway through the book, and as much as I loved getting to know the characters and world, I felt like all those details were preventing the plot from progressing for much of the book. The ending was spectacular, however, and full of twists and heart-stopping moments.<br />
<br />
I definitely recommend this for fans of Laini Taylor, and for anyone else interested in immersing themselves in a lushly written fairy-tale world tinged with more than a little bit of darkness and pain.
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-12782188449604999012017-08-30T21:10:00.000-04:002017-08-30T21:32:59.425-04:00Review: The Invisible Library<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21416690-the-invisible-library" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="21416690" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1416823893l/21416690.jpg" width="210" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21416690-the-invisible-library">The Invisible Library</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/119888.Genevieve_Cogman">Genevieve Cogman</a><br />
Genre: Steampunk, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy<br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1786939530">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>The first installment of an adventure featuring stolen books, secret agents and forbidden societies - think Doctor Who with librarian spies!<br />
Irene must be at the top of her game or she'll be off the case - permanently...<br />
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she's posted to an alternative London. Their mission - to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.<br />
Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested - the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene's new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.<br />
Soon, she's up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option - the nature of reality itself is at stake.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bqC282SWOq0/WadhzdG7-vI/AAAAAAAAPl0/VIdX53VoHLQE3lXEgPi6HenTnlB5nqTuwCLcBGAs/s1600/SScard_Magicians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bqC282SWOq0/WadhzdG7-vI/AAAAAAAAPl0/VIdX53VoHLQE3lXEgPi6HenTnlB5nqTuwCLcBGAs/s1600/SScard_Magicians.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
I had heard many awesome things about The Invisible Library, and the premise sounded pretty cool. I was really excited to read a steampunk novel that also featured Librarian-spy-thieves. I love characters who love books, and I love reading about spies and thieves, so naturally I loved Irene. I wasn't as in love with the book as a whole though. My main complaint was that the mystery moved too slowly, and I didn't really like Kai for most of the book (or his relationship/banter with Irene). When you don't love one of the two main characters, it gets hard to stay invested in the story. But Kai grew on me eventually, when he was done brooding and spilled all his not-so-hard-to-guess secrets.<br />
<br />
The world building in this book was really cool. I loved the concept of the Library that exists in a parallel dimension, with portals to worlds all over space and time. I also really liked how more Chaos-filled worlds had technology and/or magic that defied reason - it was fun to see how crazy things could get.<br />
<br />
I can't put my finger on why I didn't love this book, but I did have fun reading it. It's quick and enjoyable, although sometimes the big reveals and twists aren't actually that hard to guess before they're revealed.<br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-9940530393578797002017-08-27T10:00:00.000-04:002017-08-27T10:00:01.688-04:00Review: City of Stairs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20174424-city-of-stairs" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="20174424" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394545220l/20174424.jpg" width="207" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20174424-city-of-stairs">City of Stairs</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2916869.Robert_Jackson_Bennett">Robert Jackson Bennett</a><br />
Genre: Science fiction, fantasy<br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2072274013">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>Years ago, the city of Bulikov wielded the powers of the Gods to conquer the world. But after its divine protectors were mysteriously killed, the conqueror has become the conquered; the city's proud history has been erased and censored, progress has left it behind, and it is just another colonial outpost of the world's new geopolitical power. Into this musty, backward city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the quiet woman is just another lowly diplomat sent by Bulikov's oppressors. Unofficially, Shara is one of her country's most accomplished spymasters — dispatched to investigate the brutal murder of a seemingly harmless historian. As Shara pursues the mystery through the ever-shifting physical and political geography of the city, she begins to suspect that the beings who once protected Bulikov may not be as dead as they seem — and that her own abilities might be touched by the divine as well.</blockquote>
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The world of City of Stairs has a pretty cool premise: A nation enslaved by another revolts, kills the Gods of their rulers, and then takes power for itself...but there's more to the story and we are just on the verge of discovering what really happened. I loved that the nations weren't based on medieval western Europe; the main characters come from countries based on south Asia, Russia, and Scandinavia (as far as I could tell, anyways). I also thought it was very cool how the cultures of both countries were well-developed and influenced how the characters from different places viewed the world so differently. The world-building in this book is top notch.<br />
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That said, I didn't love this book because it just felt very slow and plodding. I was bored throughout the middle. It just felt like the book was longer than it needed to be. There were political machinations and progress made on the murder mystery throughout the book, but what I really wanted to know was what happened in the cataclysm so long ago and what the ramifications were for "now". I got the answers I wanted eventually, complete with epic battle sequences, but it just took so long to get there that I nearly didn't finish.<br />
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I did enjoy this book, but I probably will not be continuing with the series.
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-32276121945466345792017-08-25T19:44:00.001-04:002017-08-25T19:44:45.448-04:00ARC review: Mask of Shadows<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29960675-mask-of-shadows" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="29960675" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501075519l/29960675.jpg" width="212" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29960675-mask-of-shadows">Mask of Shadows</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15194090.Linsey_Miller">Linsey Miller</a><br />
Genre: Fantasy, young adult<br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2084593899">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class and the nobles who destroyed their home.<br />When Sal Leon steals a poster announcing open auditions for the Left Hand, a powerful collection of the Queen's personal assassins named for the rings she wears -- Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst, and Opal -- their world changes. They know it's a chance for a new life.<br />Except the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. But Sal must survive to put their real reason for auditioning into play: revenge.</blockquote>
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The premise sounded so cool (Assassin school! politics! revenge!) and I was really excited about the genderfluid MC, but sadly this is no Nevernight. <br />
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I usually really like flawed/morally ambiguous main characters, but Sal was borderline psychotic, so I had a hard time rooting for them. Mild spoilers, but all of this is mentioned in the premise/back-of-the-book-blurb, so I think it's fair game to talk about. Within the first chapter or two, we've established that Sal is an excellent thief and is great at sleight-of-hand. Somehow an advertisement flyer is enough incentive for Sal to violently kill someone and audition to be one of the Queen's elite bodyguards. Wtf, Sal, how did you think you would make it through the audition with a bunch of trained killers when you've been a common thief all your life? And even suspending disbelief on that, it was so hard for me to swallow how easily Sal justifies the murder and never acknowledges it again. And the clincher, you don't even find out Sal's true motivation for all this until much later in the book. I spent so much of the beginning questioning why Sal was making the decisions they did, which made it really hard for me to get on board with the whole premise. There were a bunch of other "wtf" moments for me throughout the book, again mostly stemming from Sal doing things that made no sense and not responding like a normal human being to disturbing situations.<br />
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And now to talk about the genderfluidity of our main character. I love that this book features an LGBTQ main character, and the book definitely helped me understand what it's like to identify as genderfluid. I also really liked that gender fluidity was accepted in this society, since many characters were familiar with the concept and what pronouns to use. And yet, there are still the assholes that refuse to make the effort to use the correct pronouns and acknowledge gender fluidity. I liked that these detractors existed, because it highlights the all-too-real struggle of minority groups of all kinds fighting to have their voices heard and identities acknowledged.<br />
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On the other hand, I was irritated by Sal's irrational anger towards people who made pronoun mistakes. Her reason behind the anger? "I dress like I am, plain as day." This rubbed me the wrong way, because it reinforces the idea that men and women must dress a certain way. There's no concept of people having the freedom to dress/present themselves as "femme" or "butch" depending on how they are feeling that day. I get that this book takes place in a medieval-inspired setting, and that women wear dresses and men wear pants in this world, but if we can bend historical truth a little to make gender-fluidity an openly accepted part of society, why not gender expression?<br />
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Now that I have my main complaints out of the way, I can talk about other things I enjoyed. I loved Maude, who was extraordinarily resourceful. She was a fully realized and important character with her own agency, which is so rare in servants and minor characters, especially when they are women. I also really liked how slowly the romance developed. It wasn't one of those cases of instalove or star-crossed romance (well...maybe a little bit of the latter), which was refreshing. I also really liked the different personalities of the elite members of the Queen's guard. Despite being masked and generally aloof, Emerald, Ruby, and Amethyst had distinct and lovable personalities. They are all dangerous but none of them are needlessly cruel, which was interesting given their job description. Just brownie points all around for featuring so many women who actually interact with and have bonds/relationships with one another, which is so rare in fantasy.<br />
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Overall, a quick and fun read. I definitely want people to read this because of how it brings in diversity to the usual cis white male-dominated fantasy world, but at the same time I had substantial reservations about the plot and the main character's sanity. I guess this is one of those see-for-yourself books!<br />
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<i>A free eARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i><br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-66588721165862365412017-08-22T13:48:00.001-04:002017-08-22T13:48:36.817-04:00The Reading Quest Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was on vacation for about a week, so that's why I haven't posted anything in a little while! Now that I'm back, I wanted to give you all an update on my first week of The Reading Quest.<br />
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I ended up shuffling the books that I picked for the Mage, some of them I replaced and some I moved to side quests. I got a bunch of library books off of holds all at once, so I was trying to make most of them count towards the Reading Quest! And as always, I want to try to read more stuff by marginalized authors/about diverse MCs so I might end up shuffling some more if I can find more diverse books to read :)<br />
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I also made a spreadsheet to keep track of points:<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZPC70810MI/WZxtCVABKtI/AAAAAAAAPRg/gp-OH5yDTSQ7WnuStxKmn3rwq7M1zTrOACLcBGAs/s1600/reading_quest_spreadsheet_preview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="1600" height="288" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZPC70810MI/WZxtCVABKtI/AAAAAAAAPRg/gp-OH5yDTSQ7WnuStxKmn3rwq7M1zTrOACLcBGAs/s640/reading_quest_spreadsheet_preview.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Definitely spent waaaaaaaaaay too much time picking the perfect fonts for my headers HAHA<br />
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So far I've finished two books for side quests and I'm currently reading two more for the Mage. The ones I've finished are The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (which was okay), and The Tiger's Daughter by K.A. Arsenault (which was INCREDIBLE). Thanks to those two books I'm finally at 50 points and have leveled up to Level 2!<br />
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I'm almost done with Foundation by Isaac Asimov, and I just started the audiobook for The Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh. I didn't know Renee Ahdieh was biracial, so it was really cool to find out that both The Flame in the Mist series and the Wrath and the Dawn books are both ownvoice books! I loved The Wrath and the Dawn so I'm very excited about this one.<br />
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I think I'm in pretty good shape to finish the Mage quest on time and hopefully at least half of the side quests! If I still have time after that I'm planning on starting Knight or Bard. I'll see what library books land in my lap and go from there :)<br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-64236179590211213452017-08-12T14:32:00.000-04:002017-08-12T14:32:04.652-04:00Book vs Adaptation: The Magicians<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>The Magicians</i> is a pretty irreverent fantasy series: the whole point of it is to be subvert common fantasy tropes, like the idea of a heroic Chosen One and magical boarding schools being joyful experiences. The books are so snarky and subversive, and I wasn't really sure if the TV show would be able to capture that without being grating and annoying.</div>
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I can't really say if I like the books better or the TV series better, because they each do some things better than the other. The TV series made the main cast of characters a lot easier to relate to, and the casting was absolutely <i>perfect</i>. I found Quentin a lot more likable in the first season of the show compared to the first book. In the book he is just so broody and directionless and depressed (which is the whole point, but it's still tough to get through a whole book of angsty Quentin). Quentin on the show is all of these things as well, but the faster pace of the show means he grows out of it quicker and it's less painful to watch. The first season of the show is also more dynamic, weaving in story lines from the first two books instead of only focusing on the first book. That means we get a lot more screen time with Julia early on, and I found her story more compelling in the books, so that was a welcome change. I also absolutely LOVE Margo (Janet) and Elliot on the show. They are so sassy and preppy and just absolutely perfectly cast.</div>
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Another thing the show does better than the book is being more explicit about how racially diverse the main characters are. Penny is played by Arjun Gupta, who is of South Asian descent, and Margo is played by Summer Bishil, who is biracial. In general the minor characters are also pretty diverse, and there are quite a few queer characters on the show. At the same time though, the show can sometimes miss the mark (in one episode, for example, a queer WOC is introduced and then dies in order to further the development of a white woman).</div>
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As much as I enjoyed the first season of the show, I feel like the second season started to grate on my nerves. It's tough to play a character like Margo or Elliot and still maintain a level of emotional complexity, and there were some scenes where the actors did a great job of that and other scenes where I just wanted Elliot and Margo to shut up. The same is true for Alice, I liked her initially but once she becomes a fixation/hallucination of Quentin's she's pretty painful to watch too. I think the sarcastic tone of the show just got too grating to me. It's so much more obvious and in-your-face when you're hearing quips from a bunch of characters instead of reading biting social commentary in between the lines of a book. </div>
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There was also the whole Marina storyline which was so unnecessary. But if that storyline is the reason Kady is in the show, I'll deal, because Kady is easily one of my favorite characters. She's smart and resourceful and doesn't take shit from anyone. I loved seeing her relationship with Julia (best bitches forever!). </div>
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The books grew on me and I liked each book better than the last, but I felt like I couldn't stick with the show after two seasons. Each book sees the characters grow up and make sacrifices, but on the show everything seems too flippant. Maybe this will change with later seasons, but I definitely need a break from the show for a while!</div>
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-64439154633515874032017-08-10T10:00:00.000-04:002017-08-10T10:00:22.736-04:00Review: Crooked Kingdom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22299763-crooked-kingdom" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="28937572" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1466791456l/28937572.jpg" width="213" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22299763-crooked-kingdom">Crooked Kingdom</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4575289.Leigh_Bardugo">Leigh Bardugo</a><br />
Genre: Fantasy, YA<br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1750905311">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets—a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.</blockquote>
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Okay it's been four months since I read this book, so forgive me for the vague review - I don't really remember details anymore :/<br />
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I really enjoyed Six of Crows, because I love stories about heists and morally ambiguous characters and friendships, and SoC had all of these things in spades. Crooked Kingdom was also pretty enjoyable for all the same reasons, plus it was easier to get into because I already knew the characters. Still, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as SoC. I felt like the book was a lot longer than it needed to be, and there were points in the middle where I was thinking to myself, "Okay, there's no way this plan is going to work because there's still 300 pages left..." Thinking about the page count was definitely a sign I wasn't totally sucked into the story. I did enjoy all the twists and turns though; it's nice to have a villain who is cleverer than you would expect.<br />
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I think a big reason a lot of people love this book more than Six of Crows is the cross-over with the Grisha series. I have only read the first book of that series and I didn't really like it, so I haven't bothered to continue with it. I missed all the references and characters that crossed over from the other series, so I didn't get to experience the fun of drawing connections between two connected worlds.<br />
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I really liked how all of the characters and their relationships developed in this book. Mild spoilers, but I'm glad Kaz doesn't magically get over his phobia of touching people with his bare hands by the end of the book. It's something he is working on, and I really appreciate that this is portrayed as a process and not a simple flip of a switch. I'm also thankful that the other character(s) involved don't push him and give him space to overcome his fears on his own terms. While I really liked that aspect of Kaz's character, he's just a bit too broody and self-hating for me to actually like his character as a whole. <br />
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Inej, on the other hand, continues to be my favorite. She has experienced a lot of pain and triggering events, but she powers through them because she won't ever let herself be held back by her past and the people who want to use her. And of course, Jesper and Wyland were <i>adorable</i>. One of my favorite parts of this book was Jesper's character arc and how his complicated relationship with his father develops. Nina's struggle with parem withdrawal was also really well-done and unsurprisingly painful to read about. I really liked seeing how Nina and Matthias' relationship was strained by the parem but they still found ways to love and support each other.<br />
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The ending was pretty shattering, and I'm glad that for once there wasn't some last minute deception or twist about the fate of a particular character. That's one of my pet peeves, when you mourn a tragedy that has befallen a character, only to discover that it was all a trick or that somehow the character has magically healed/escaped/been brought back to life. At the same time, I felt like the tragedy befell the least surprising character. The events that transpired are the direct result of actions that this character chose to take, so it's not like the consequences came out of nowhere. I wasn't actually upset about what happened to this character as much as I felt bad for the other characters dealing with its repercussions.<br />
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I think I would recommend reading the Grisha trilogy before reading this book, simply because I felt like I was missing a lot by <i>not</i> reading the other series. It's not my favorite fantasy heist novel, but it was still fun.
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-23078182771066685722017-08-08T13:00:00.000-04:002017-08-08T13:00:32.158-04:00Review: Seveneves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22816087-seveneves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="22816087" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449142000l/22816087.jpg" width="212" /></a>Title: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22816087-seveneves">Seveneves</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/545.Neal_Stephenson">Neal Stephenson</a><br />
Genre: Science fiction<br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1953969906">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Goodreads Summary:</b>What would happen if the world were ending?<br />A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.<br />But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . .<br />Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.<br />A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant. </blockquote>
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I absolutely loved the first 2/3 of the book, but the last part took some effort to get through. Overall an <b>astonishingly inventive, profound, and entertaining piece of hard science fiction</b>. I'm definitely going to be reading more by Neal Stephenson!!<br />
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Having been warned that Neal Stephenson really puts the science in "hard science fiction", I was expecting this book to be a lot more dense and pedantic than it actually was. His writing style in this book was really straightforward, with a wry sense of humor throughout. Many of the characters choose to face the end of the world with their sense of humor and sarcasm intact, which is a blessing because it made everyone seem more <i>human</i> in the face of global calamity. It's clear that Neal Stephenson knows how different kinds of people react in stressful situations, because every character responds to calamity differently, and yet they all have understandable motivations. My favorite part was all the tongue-in-cheek observation about sexism in our world. Mild spoilers, but when a man is chosen for a leadership position despite a very competent woman being a natural choice, it's explained along the lines of: "he was chosen because of his charismatic nature, ambition, and ...in other words, because he was a man."<br />
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Another thing I loved about this book was how many diverse perspectives it incorporated. Sure, it is yet another sci-fi novel written by a white man, but at least half of the cast are POC characters and there are also a few queer characters. One of the annoying thing about "end of the world" TV shows, movies, and books is how it always ends up being a bunch of white people in space with a token POC thrown in. This book really makes an effort to include people of many diverse backgrounds, be it racial, cultural, or religious. The fun part is seeing how so many people with different ideas about the best way to preserve humanity's future compromise (or not) and manipulate each other to get what they want.<br />
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That said, the part that fell flat for me was the last third of the book, which takes place after a giant time leap of 5,000 years. I thought some ideas were really cool, like the language and different warring factions that developed. It was also cool to see how people we got to know in the first part of the book are perceived 5,000 years later. I wasn't sold on the whole genetic aspect of the future humans though. In some ways I felt like they had evolved too quickly, and in other ways I felt like they hadn't evolved enough (both biologically and culturally). I can't remember specifics, but I remember questioning many characteristics about the future humans. It was also tough for me to get attached to a whole new set of characters in the future. I did like how the people of the future tried to rectify the mistakes of the past, though. I also liked how the story ended in an open-ended but satisfying way.<br />
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Kritikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01264802302099286333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774655176492572094.post-68029748874976668832017-08-06T10:00:00.000-04:002017-08-06T10:00:37.025-04:00Bookish Eats: Soft Pretzels and The Queen of Attolia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In case you haven't been keeping up with me on Goodreads or Twitter, I recently re-read The Queen of Attolia (5 years after I read it initially). The first time, it was rough. <b>I was bored, I was an impatient reader, and I didn't pay attention to the subtleties</b>. I discovered after re-reading Name of the Wind that sometimes when you read a book years later, there's a chance you might like it a lot better! So I decided to re-read The Thief and The Queen of Attolia. Excellent decision, because <b>now I am absolutely in love with the series,</b> and King of Attolia is one of the best books I've read all year (and it's been a great year for books).</div>
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<img alt="Image result for the thief megan whalen turner" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1427740839l/448873.jpg" style="text-align: left;" width="212" /><img alt="Image result for queen of attolia" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BoE%2BynZhL._SX333_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="214" /><img alt="Image result for queen of attolia" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/517epUdpQ9L._AC_UL320_SR212,320_.jpg" style="text-align: left;" /></div>
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So.... what does this have to do with pretzels?<br />
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Quite a bit, actually! Like with Queen of Attolia, the first time I made soft pretzels from scratch, I was pretty impatient and didn't pay any attention to the subtleties of pretzel-making. For example, I didn't wait quite long enough for the yeast to make the dough rise, so the dough wasn't quite as puffy as it could have been. That led to overall less dough, which means overall less pretzels :(<br />
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As for subtleties, I didn't pay attention to the amount of time you had to boil the pretzels in basic solution before baking them. I just kind of dipped them and took them out, so they didn't end up golden brown like pretzels are supposed to be. But despite these kitchen misadventures, the finished product ended up being pretty good!<br />
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But the second time I made pretzels, I went more slowly and actually paid attention to the little things (much like my Attolia re-read), and the finished product was SO MUCH BETTER. Much better than I expected, you could say ;)<br />
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<img height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lpA2e6jwSXtxmTzCkpxnLVe5pdk7E4hmmEkZCZtvKbatlX8E_HdFiVPqyERlDVV0zgwCZ2AHEYpiPZkfYqzCoN3doHrX5sbCgU1lbOzw5_Oo7P1YJp24zgsnCQ7Ro6duSnsu-v-w4akVrgd5ZhDOvhjAuQ79OBJLnr0daF6uXKf4wQKRvFk0hrqxcJvLsLKKMWEqkiRMwW6lUOXAO-4oQM8WCGswdjPHrXQiKFCc0gCGOh3_fntV24SfMxpX1vfnXFse2B2A0U8pNiNDi1_8KbIy4uTR4u-6gRYq5ImcUgrBMDsd_gYeg3xJi67hKyVN--qj_ZLl8WzMtNeqhPXjkrYqdH8Ak_SDIXj_zfETrGKj_rFBq8py_11SJS1MRY7KfzFwio4BEc_UuaYlE_Q79xijsQljNGQV0A5xqqLwB0lu5D7ty0XB6aatQUM4V6ZfHE_7BQLtibY4r1qva1p-GxfsZkMaXhAiOnrIAsRQIK6KOnWlBok-BIqLurkJavlJB9uUbPY61cQuK-BsLiOMXN37VHMGWJ4s2hfq0ZjFKX49COksB0kEFpqNJ9kHzJU-Ro-ID0hPkJ8_3Xx1yYoq85sdBkQLZCSHcoO0WLJjlf8De_px8aNDKMqK=w497-h662-no" width="239" /><br />
<i>Look, I actually left the pretzels to boil for a whole minute!</i><br />
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And for a less abstract parallel between soft pretzels and the Queen of Attolia: <b>The Queen of Attolia is surprisingly quite a plot-twisty book, so it's only fitting that twisted up pretzels are my culinary tribute to the book</b>. Just when you think you understand a character, revelations are slammed at you and you have to rethink everything you thought you knew. There's the obvious giant bombshell in the middle of the book, but there's also the less bombshell twist at the end, and all the twisty political intrigue from Attolia, Eddis, and the Mede.<br />
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<img height="171" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PIJDv06br283hVftQPvtVfcPUtrb7dtU1vnT6LQEF_kfR7kaafkH7havVeagHHYQITTm7hvJ_yBPihXOKWL9NpQYn9BJVad17-9Bf_NSqQ2M7xdbhPmtk_2Zw7ebLiV9wCe0muCcxNb352-Dra6mVsePuMB1Y39N9HzxsNS3-jG3KszRoD4UgvPbu6AYfqSKB1MBWa9nXxL-vrWFwSxruzcH3MWqh2Jk6i3xWYoBd4Pp1ENSLvJPAAqzrYOWyT6cVq17wDmDvRr6Cd2J8TBSOqTG8HOgeD3QRdIO9mnDBV24cZgRmk6wPvMLcY_qmCck78vKKdqUf3Z_Cfd_IwRTaqNcIbNZgZd5H9cSNlQOpGyS0Aa_HKX3xKO8EpPEhdRKODAxVvI-8in3qSANzcjYMgPXpSQbs1oDpLFNJRaN_CcvkM_KxjB1a7cgu1hhnKCW9pttJfw6uTA5eltUab2vHhZ9VdxByZJSRzD_ZnRt0aMb2U9__95NLO9GL47NHmlUUQZ_QvXdQrao27oA8v-aOHnx6PTkY-IJ_t-Y35q8M1Zunf1_oEtTLHbX0Lzdeu_7mKwV_cwF_zocYQCyWlOMmA8sjKk5ZUm18UnIiaRoq9aOZeLlkCVFo4vQ=w1239-h662-no" width="320" /><br />
<i>look at those twisty pretzels :)</i><br />
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So yes, devour this series the way you'd devour freshly baked pretzels because this series is definitely worth immersing yourself in...just be sure to take it slow.<br />
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