Another Book Unhaul for 2020

It’s still spring cleaning time, so I’m getting rid of some more books. Most of these are ones I that I used to be interested in, but now, I just don’t think I’ll ever get to. Just fyi, I plan on selling these books locally, minus the ARCs and proofs, of course.

So, let’s get this unhaul underway, and please don’t feel offended if I get rid of a book you like. I simply have too many books to keep them all, especially since I’ve recently subscribed to Fairyloot and started ordering from Book Outlet again. Yikes.

Crown of Vengeance, Spymaster, Kingmaker, and Soleri: I’d like to read these, but I know I won’t get to them in the next five years. There’s just too much out there to keep books that’ll take so long to actually read.

Child of a Mad God: I have two copies of this book. One is the mass market and the other is hardcover. I don’t need two copes, so bye-bye mass market!

The Lyre Thief: This seems to be an installment in a larger series, or at least a spin-off in a longer series. I don’t plan on reading the first books, so there’s no point in keeping this one, even though it sounds really good.

Outlander: I used to really love the show, so I thought I’d try to read the books. Now, I think I’ll just watch the show. The books are simply too long to invest my time in right now. However, if I do want to read it in the future, I’ll buy it in a different format, either ebook or a taller physical copy.

Riders, Call Me By Your Name, and The Tesla Legacy: I just don’t think these will be for me.

Black Hole Sun, Berserker, and Salvage: These sound okay, but they’ve been on my shelves for a while, and I have no interest in picking them up in the next year or so.

The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virture: I’ve tried to read this book multiple times. I just think the main character’s narration style isn’t for me. Plus, I’m not big on historical fiction. I’m kind of disappointed this one couldn’t grip me though.

***

There you have it. Another unhaul for the year. Have you gotten rid of any books lately? If so, which ones?

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Set Fire to the Gods

 "Can’t-Wait Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted over at Wishful Endings, that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.

This week, what's really got my pages in a twist is...

Set Fire to the Gods

Sara Raasch & Kristen Simmons

(Set Fire to the Gods #1)

Publication Date: June 16, 2020

Hardcover, 432 pages, Balzer + Bray

Genres: YA, Fantasy

Goodreads

Ash is descended from a long line of gladiators, and she knows the brutal nature of war firsthand. But after her mother dies in an arena, she vows to avenge her by overthrowing her fire god, whose temper has stripped her country of its resources.

Madoc grew up fighting on the streets to pay his family's taxes. But he hides a dangerous secret: he doesn't have the earth god’s powers like his opponents. His elemental gift is something else—something that hasn't been seen in centuries.

When an attempted revenge plot goes dangerously wrong, Ash inadvertently throws the fire and earth gods into a conflict that can only be settled by deadly, lavish gladiator games. The fights put Madoc in Ash's path, and she realizes that his powers are the weapon her rebellion needs—but Madoc won’t jeopardize his family, regardless of how intrigued he is by the beautiful warrior.

But when the gods force Madoc’s hand, he and Ash uncover an ancient war that will threaten more than one immortal—it will unravel the world.

My Thoughts

I’ve read a couple of YA gladiator-esque books. I’ve enjoyed them, but I haven’t loved them. I’m hopeful for this one, since it’s supposed to have elements of Avatar: The Last Airbender as well, but the reviews I’ve seen aren’t fantastic. I have enjoyed Sara Raasch’s other books, though, so let’s hope her and Kristen can wow me with this one.

What book are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Review: Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri

Empire of Sand

Tasha Suri

(The Books of Ambha #1)

Publication Date: November 13, 2018

Paperback, 496 pages, Orbit

Genres: Adult, Fantasy

B&N | Book Depository | Amazon | Goodreads

A nobleman’s daughter with magic in her blood. An empire built on the dreams of enslaved gods. Empire of Sand is Tasha Suri’s captivating, Mughal India-inspired debut fantasy.

The Amrithi are outcasts; nomads descended of desert spirits, they are coveted and persecuted throughout the Empire for the power in their blood. Mehr is the illegitimate daughter of an imperial governor and an exiled Amrithi mother she can barely remember, but whose face and magic she has inherited.

When Mehr’s power comes to the attention of the Emperor’s most feared mystics, she must use every ounce of will, subtlety, and power she possesses to resist their cruel agenda.

Should she fail, the gods themselves may awaken seeking vengeance…

Empire of Sand is a lush, dazzling fantasy novel perfect for readers of The City of Brass and The Wrath & the Dawn.

My Review

Empire of Sand has been compared to S.A. Chakraborty’s The City of Brass and Renée Ahdieh’s The Wrath & the Dawn, and I think it definitely has elements of both. It’s a lyrical story set in a fantasy world inspired by Mughal India, so it has all the same desert vibes. There’s also a strong heroine who makes impossible decisions for the good of her family and her people.

Mehr, the protagonist of the book, starts out a little arrogant and unrelatable, but she quickly grew on me, especially once the pacing of the story started to pick up around the fifty-page mark. It helps that we’re introduced to Amun around that time too. Mehr and Amun have a unique situation going on that was fascinating to see unravel. Poor Amun. He’s such a misunderstood cinnamon roll, and I adored how Mehr interacted with him and vice versa. I also really loved discovering the magic system through Mehr and Amun’s relationship.

What I didn’t love as much was the bad guy. Yes, the Maha seems very evil, but I felt a little bit jipped when it came to discovering who he was and how he gained so much power. I know that it was implied throughout the book, but there was never a solid explanation given. This, plus the rushed ending made me knock off a star. I still really enjoyed the book even with the flaws, but they still disappointed me a little. Though, I will say the book itself has an easy-to-follow magic system as a whole, which is a big plus in my book.

Overall, it’s hard to talk about this book. It has good world-building, good characters, and a plotline that kept me flipping pages once things really started going. It’s simply a good, digestible fantasy read that Renée Ahdieh, S.A. Chakraborty, Alwyn Hamilton, and Sabaa Tahir fans will probably enjoy. I know I did.

*Note: I received an ARC of this title at BookCon. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Stacking the Shelves: The Curse of the Stickers Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

I’ve been bad. Very bad. There have been so many orders placed in the past few weeks. So very many.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young

Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian

The Queen’s Resistance by Rebecca Ross

The Defiant by Lesley Livingston

As She Ascends by Jodi Meadows

Witch’s Pyre by Josephine Angelini

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

I placed a Book Outlet order a couple of weeks ago that finally arrived. Ten books for $61 is a major bargain. Most are sequels to books I already own or first books in series I’m going to start collecting until I can binge read all of the books at once. I’m too impatient to wait a year between books.

Unfortunately, though, this box came with some major issues. Three of the books had Wal-Mart stickers on the front, which meant using a hair dryer to try to peel them off. It didn’t work very well. There’s still sticky residue on Wicked Saints and Sorcery of Thorns. Plus, Wicked Saints is super dirty and dusty, and Lady Smoke and The Caged Queen came with small rips. Oh, and Witch’s Pyre’s dustjacket was all askew. I think it looks okay now, but it took a lot of finagling to get that thing straight.

I’ve never had such a rough looking order from Book Outlet. If this keeps happening, I may not order from there anymore. Of course, this could be a one-time thing, so I’ll keep checking to see if they have any books I need for cheap prices. I may re-buy Wicked Saints or Sorcery of Thorns from another store if they end up being books I love, just so I can have prettier copies.

Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie

I almost forgot! I also got Bonds of Brass for super cheap on Kindle. I think it was $2.99! I don’t like the cover for this one, so being able to pick it up as an ebook to see if I like the book enough to purchase physical copies of the rest of the series is financially savvy, in my opinion.

What books have you bought/received lately?

Review: From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

From Blood and Ash

Jennifer L. Armentrout

(Blood and Ash #1)

Publication Date: March 30, 2020

Paperback, 623 pages, Blue Box Press

Genres: New Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal

B&N | Amazon | Goodreads

Captivating and action-packed, From Blood and Ash is a sexy, addictive, and unexpected fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Laura Thalassa.

A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

My Review

When JLA announced that she had released a surprise fantasy book, I bought it so fast I got whiplash. JLA is one of my favorite authors. She writes amazing stories with brilliant action scenes, hunky guys, kicka$$ ladies, and swoon-worthy romances. So boy, was I ready to dive into JLA’s first fantasy series.

Now, I did put off actually reading the book for a month, so maybe that’s why I ended up being a little disappointed. I’d heard so many great things, and I just went into it with really high expectations. Plus, this is going to shock a lot of you, but I’m not the biggest fan of vampires. I’m more of a werewolf girl, myself.

My issues with this book stem from the fact that the first half is really boring, and it just wasn’t what I was expecting given how fast-paced JLA’s books usually are. It’s also a heavily religion-based storyline during the first half, which I think is what really threw me off and had me disliking almost the first 70% of the novel. BUT, I kept pushing through because it’s JLA and there’s a hot guy. It’s just that the Maiden stuff is sooo boring. And it made Poppy, our main character, really lame as a result, since she only really had a chance to shine during fight scenes. Because of this, Poppy was simply okay. Not my favorite main character of JLA’s.

Hawke, the male love interest becomes Poppy’s bodyguard. I am also not a fan of bodyguard romances. They usually don’t make sense considering you need a rotation of 3+ guards unless you want your bodyguard to fall asleep at his post. But I digress. Hawke, despite being a bodyguard, is an interesting character. Very secretive and suave. Also, I felt like he might be bisexual, so there might be potential for much, much more in book two in regards to his overall backstory and development. His background is super intriguing, and I hope we get to understand him more in the sequel.

I’ve complained about the first half of the book a lot. But that last 30% was really, really good. If you can keep reading and wait for the payoff, it’ll be worth it. There’s action and adventure galore. Though both the action and romance are kind of twisted and dark, so don’t go into this if you like clear-cut good-guy protagonists. And although there was some predictability to the twist, it was pulled off very well. Well enough that I’m bumping up my rating half a star, just because I keep thinking about that cliffhanger ending. Grrr…

All in all, this book could’ve been 100 pages shorter. There’s some weird torture scenes that always seem to make it into fantasy books nowadays (What is with YA/NA fantasy authors wanting their female characters humiliated through whippings? It’s so eye-roll inducing.), but if you can get through the first half, the rest will definitely make up for it.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Seasons of the Storm by Elle Cosimano

 "Can’t-Wait Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted over at Wishful Endings, that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.

This week, what's really got my pages in a twist is...

Seasons of the Storm

Elle Cosimano

(Seasons of the Storm #1)

Publication Date: June 23, 2020

Hardcover, 480 pages, HarperTeen

Genres: YA, Fantasy

Goodreads

One cold, crisp night, Jack Sommers was faced with a choice—live forever according to the ancient, magical rules of Gaia, or die.

Jack chose to live, and in exchange, he became a Winter—an immortal physical embodiment of the season on Earth. Every year, he must hunt the Season who comes before him. Summer kills Spring. Autumn kills Summer. Winter kills Autumn. And Spring kills Winter.

Jack and Fleur, a Winter and a Spring, fall for each other against all odds. To be together, they’ll have to escape the cycle that’s been forcing them apart. But their creator won’t let them go without a fight.

My Thoughts

This one doesn’t have the greatest of reviews, but its cover is stunning. Plus, it’s an interesting concept that I’m still curious to read about. Physical embodiments of seasons sounds pretty cool. I imagine it’ll be like Jack Frost and Frozen meets Avatar the Last Airbender. If I lower my expectations, I think it could be a fun, magical read.

Plus, the character art for this series is beautiful. These were created by @morgana0anagrom.

What book are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Review: Their Fractured Light by Kaufman & Spooner

Their Fractured Light

Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

(Starbound #3)

Publication Date: December 1, 2015

Hardcover, 428 pages, Disney-Hyperion

Genres: YA, Sci-Fi

B&N | Book Depository | Amazon | Goodreads

A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. Some say Flynn’s a madman, others whisper about conspiracies. Nobody knows the truth. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world’s gaze.

Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker—a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He’ll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others don’t dare touch.

Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you’re done noticing it, she’s got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost.

When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia’s separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they’re forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.

My Review

Book one in the series was great. Book two in the series was good. Book three in the series was rather disappointing, for many reasons.

First off, Their Fractured Light was corny. Like ridiculously corny towards the end. One specific quote that made me roll my eyes was “You’re exactly the girl I always knew you were.” Maybe it doesn’t sound as cheesy out of context, but I cringed a little inside.

As for the characters, I actually liked Gideon, but much like Flynn from This Shattered World, his chapters were short. What is with the male character not getting as many pages and depth in this series? Especially since Gideon had some awesome hacker skills that never really got fully utilized. It could’ve been so much better. I was also interested in Sofia’s skillsets, which were also underutilized, though not as much as poor Gideon’s were. Her con artist background could have been really cool to see play out.

The reason a lot of the main characters’ skills and even their personalities weren’t developed enough stemmed from one major problem: Lilac and Tarver. About halfway through, Their Fractured Light turned into a continuation of Lilac and Tarver’s These Broken Stars instead of the development of Gideon and Sofia’s story. While I originally really liked both Lilac and Tarver, I grew tired of them overwhelming and intruding upon this storyline. Flynn and Jubilee didn’t do this during the group team-up, so I actually enjoyed their appearance, thankfully. And, as for the bad guy of the series, I was super upset when he became a joke of himself. I loathe when this happens in SFF books. SFF villains should be as developed as the heroes, or at least give the appearance that they’re somewhat competent.

Besides just spotty character development, the ending itself was simply “meh.” There really weren’t any stakes. I felt absolutely no tension, since it was obvious that all of the characters were going to come out of this in one piece. Additionally, the plot towards the end got somewhat confusing, a running theme for this series when the aliens are involved. I just rarely knew why characters were making the choices they were and how the tech and aliens really worked.

Basically, my thoughts can be summed up with “It could’ve been better,” and “I wanted more from our main characters.”

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

My Thoughts on Birds of Prey

I thought I’d share my thoughts and feels about the new Birds of Prey film. In case you haven’t seen it, I’ve posted the trailer below:

I went into this movie thinking at least 80% of the drama and controversy was unwarranted. I’d heard a lot of hot takes saying fanboys were getting angry about female empowerment and having female directors and producers for the film. So, when I watched this for the first, and probably last, time, I was disappointed that it seems like a lot of the anger for Birds of Prey was warranted. Not because of the female empowerment issues (because I’m all for that), but because the movie just sucked.

First off, Birds of Prey is Batgirl’s group. Not Harley Quinn’s. Why in the world did DC not make a Gotham City Sirens film with Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy?!? It would’ve made so much more sense to do that instead of butchering the other female DC characters. Like Cassandra Cain, who is supposed to be a bada$$ assassin. For this film, she was turned into a weak little pickpocket with a broken arm. Wth.

Also, Huntress was ridiculous. The actress is the same one who played the villain in Sky High, so all I could picture was Gwen Grayson having random mood swings. Ick. I did like the actress for Black Canary, though, once again, they ruined her backstory by choosing to go with a more recent comic book storyline versus her original origins. Oh, and the bad guy, Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask, was turned into a joke. He’s a major Batman villain, but now he has zero potential. I seriously cannot believe the DCEU let this film be part of its canon.

As for the plot, we mostly following Harley Quinn, which is expected. The first half was really, really boring. Harley mopes, gets drunk, buys a hyena, eats a sandwich, and very little happens. Yes, the hyena is cute and the sandwich storyline was fun, but it was just shot in such a dull way. I don’t even know how to explain it. The second half did pick up the pace, but the action scenes were cringey. Fun at times, but cringey overall.

So I am dumping on this movie pretty hardcore. And I don’t know if I’ll ever consider it canon, despite its inclusion of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. But the film did have its fun moments. They were rare, as most scenes were either A) boring, B) cringey, or C) ridiculous, but they did exist. I’d say, if you’re curious about this film at all, rent it. Do. Not. Buy. It. Birds of Prey is not worth the $20 it would cost to own a copy.

Overall, I’m really sad that this is one of the first female-comic-book-hero-group film adaptations we get, and it’s just blugh. What’s even sadder is that I don’t really like a lot of the female Marvel characters, so if they do a female team-up film for those characters, I won’t care. The DCEU had the opportunity to really do something, and they blew it writing-wise, directing-wise, and just character-wise. This film is reason numero uno why actors shouldn’t be allowed a say in their characters’ storylines when it comes to adaptations.