“Grave Mercy” by Robin LaFevers

I read this back in May for a book club I have going with some friends. A mutual friend who read and loved the series highly recommended it to us, so we went in with high hopes expecting an exhilarating story about assassin nuns. But unfortunately, this one didn’t work out and was a total bore for us.

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Genre

YA Historical; Fantasy

Series

His Fair Assassin, book 1

Pubbed

2012

From Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

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Book Recs: Atmospheric Reads

Well, this is a bit out of character. Here I am with a book recommendation post that’s not based on a meme or book tag. I’d like to congratulate myself for stepping out of my comfort zone, but this is all because I haven’t seen a meme or book tag that focuses on only atmospheric stories.

I’ve been working on this post for weeks because I keep overthinking it. I feel weird recommending books sometimes because I start thinking that I haven’t read enough and I don’t know much, but I’ve gotten over myself for the moment and will share in this post a few books I’ve read that I’d describe as atmospheric.

The term “atmospheric” sometimes baffles me. I’ve only ever seen it applied to stories that are dark and gloomy and eerie, which makes me wonder if it’s only such books that can be described as atmospheric. But I’m sure that’s not right. I call a story atmospheric if it convinces me of a particular feeling… Okay, that probably didn’t make much sense, but I now realize that this is hard to explain. For me, an atmospheric novel is one that convinces me of a particular “feeling” about the setting, which doesn’t necessarily has to be dark and eerie.

So, here are a few novels that have a strong sense of atmosphere:

3 Bookish Things Tag

It’s book tag time! 😀

I recently saw this over Kristin Kraves Books and immediately considered myself tagged and drafted up a post. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the creator of the tag, but whoever you are good idea!

3 read once and loved authors

Yaa Gyasi

Gyasi is a Ghanaian-American author. I fell in love with her writing as soon as I started reading Homegoing, a historical fiction novel about the experiences of 2 half-sisters who were born in 18th-century Ghana and their descendants. I love Gyasi’s prose, I love the structure of the novel, and I love how impactful the story is. I consider it a modern classic.

“City of Saints and Thieves” by Natalie C. Anderson

I read this in a buddy-read with Rachel from Life of a Female Bibliophile. We initially planned to read The Devourers by Indra Das together but after a few pages in, we realized it wouldn’t work well for a buddy-read. The pace was ploddingly slow, it’s character-focused, which I usually love, but neither one of us were interested in the characters. The story is interesting and my curiosity about what will happen next makes me tempted to complete it, but — ugh! — I really am not feeling it.

So we switched books. Rachel suggested City of Saints and Thieves and I decided to try it since I’d never heard of it or its author before. Unfortunately, the library branches close to my house didn’t have it in stock but eventually I was able to procure a copy from a different area.

“Sky in the Deep” by Adrienne Young

Hey now! Here’s another read that I was surprised to enjoy. I loved the beginning but then the story took a turn that made me worry that I wouldn’t like it. But by the end, I thought it was good.

Genre:

Fantasy; historical

Pubbed:

April 2018

Goodreads summary:

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield — her brother, fighting with the enemy — the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.

“The Oddling Prince” by Nancy Springer

It wasn’t what I expected.

I requested an ARC copy from the publisher through NetGalley because the premise sounded interesting and the cover and title were appealing.

Genre:

Fantasy

Pubbed:

May 15, 2018 by Tachyon Publications

Quick summary:

The Oddling Prince was an interesting read and a bit different from the YA fantasy novels that are popular these days. The story, set “in the ancient moors of Scotland,” focuses on Aric, prince of Calidon and heir to the throne. Aric is the only child of his parents. When the story begins, his ailing father is nearing death because of a weird ring that won’t come off his finger. The ring appeared suddenly on his finger one day while out riding. It seems to be draining the king of his vitality.

But at the moment when death is about to sweep the king away, a stranger magically appears, seemingly out of nowhere, and saves the king by removing the ring. The king is immediately healed, or so it seems, and the stranger, who seems fey in appearance, claims to be the king’s son. The king denies this. All members of the castle shy away from the fey stranger, named Albaric, because of his inhuman beauty but Aric and his mother, the queen, quickly and easily accept the stranger.

“Crown of Midnight” by Sarah J. Maas

I really want to like this series. Everyone does and I’d like to be a part of the excitement. But after reading this book, I have to admit that this series isn’t for me. I don’t like the characters and I’m not curious about what will or won’t happen. This will a series I won’t complete.

Quick summary:

I borrowed an e-copy of this from the library and read it back in early March so some of the details have since faded away, which means I don’t think I can give a good summary of the story. But basically, Celaena is now the king’s Champion, she develops feelings for one of the guys, secrets are revealed, someone dies, and there’s a witch and an annoying talking doorknob.

My thoughts: (some spoilers)

Warning: This is a rant. erenTghts may bhoue incoht.

“Throne of Glass” by Sarah J. Maas

I read this one a couple weeks ago for a variety of reasons. First, I bought it because of all the hype I heard which made me curious. Then I read it because I woke up one morning in the mood for something purple and the dusky cover of the Throne of Glass caught my eye.

Quick summary:

Celaena Sardothien, the most feared assassin is just an eighteen year old girl. A year prior to the events of this book, she was betrayed and carted off to the salt mines of Endovier to work as a slave until the end of her days. But one day Prince Dorian visits and presents Celaena with a deal she can’t refuse.

Prince Dorian’s father, the King of Adarlan, is steadily expanding his empire and wiping out all traces of magic while he does so. Magic is outlawed. The King has conquered all countries to the east of the Oakwald Forest except Eyllwe, a country to the south that is barely hanging on. To hasten his interests, the King decides to host a competition from which he will select a Champion to carry out his illicit deeds. The best criminals (it seems) are chosen to compete. If Celaena wins, she will work for the King for four years after which she will receive her freedom. With the promise of freedom in mind, Celaena acquiesces though she despises the king.

Wishes for My TBR Pile: Booktubers Got Me Pumped; 9 Books Added

As you can tell from the title of this post, I’ve discovered booktube and I’m hooked. I even went ahead and created a YouTube channel though I haven’t posted anything and probably never will because I am just that shy. But I’ve been watching many videos and commenting on them. I just love to see people excited about books and reading. It’s infectious!

Most of the books on this list are recommendations from booktubers. They were so excited about these reads that I got excited too and immediately added them to my list. I think I’m forgetting a few, though, because I sometimes get caught up in the video and forget to hop over to Goodreads to update my to-read list. Anyways, the books:

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch (October 14, 2014)

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior — and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics — and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

“The Blood of Olympus” by Rick Riordan

This is the UK cover, which I like best. The heroes look like they mean business and Gaea is lurking underground, waiting for their blood to spill. I also like that she takes up most of the cover.

The long-awaited final installment of the Heroes of Olympus series was released on October 7^th, 2014. I wasted no time in getting it. As soon as I was finished with TIME magazine’s issue on great empires, I grabbed The Blood of Olympus to read and boy was it worth it!

So we’re done with the House of Hades and the Doors of Death. The heroes are plagued by nightmares and monsters, as always, and now they have other worries: getting the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood before Nico disappears into the shadows; avoiding Orion’s arrows; figuring out how to stop Gaea from waking and if/when she does, how to get rid of her; and defeating the giants gathered at the Parthenon. Our heroes have a lot on their plate, not to mention their constant anxiety over their companions’ safety as well as the preservation of their respective camps. We can’t help but wonder whether the heroes will accomplish all their tasks and save the world and whether they will need therapy after the events of this book.

As always with Riordan’s books, The Blood of Olympus is fast-paced; however, it has a more mellow moments throughout that the other books. The characters reflect on their actions and futures more and they are not as obsessed with their significant others. —Well, expect for Annabeth but we’ll excuse her since she went through hell with Percy.— I was glad to see that certain characters stepped up while others took a back seat. The most improved is Piper, who starts to kick some serious ass. She finds her strength, which is in her emotions and instincts, and she trusts in it to whip a giant’s butt while soothing Annabeth, who has an emotional breakdown. I think Piper is strongest in this installment. In the other books she is too focused on her relationship with Jason, which detracts from her strength and sense of purpose. Though she does care for Jason in this one, it does not consume her purpose.