The first book was the perfect heist novel with magic. I wonder how this one will be able to top it.
What I’m Reading Now: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
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Quick Review: Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
**Spoilers**
First, can we talk about her badass jacket on the cover? I really want a jacket like that. Anyhoo, at the end of the last book. The King of Adarlan is dead, killed by Dorian while he was under Erawan’s spell. He broke away from his power but not in time to save Chaol from terrible back injury that we still don’t know the extent of his injuries. Will he be able to walk again? Is he even still alive? Aelin, has taken her former masters money and has one of the Wyrdkeys and now is heading home to Terrasan with Rowan, Aedion and Lysandra. Manon and her thirteen save Elide from Morath after Kaltain blows up half the mountain not before she gives Elide the second Wyrdkey. Lorcan, has come to Erilea to get the keys for Maeve. So all the players are in play, well except for Chaol who is MIA and eventually they all meet up to find the lock that will once and for all rid the world of Erawan. With a book with so many characters it would be easy to lose track of who is who and where they belong in the story but the story lines are woven so seamlessly together that it feels like one story. Each character has their arc that we have seen true growth in. Dorian was a sheltered and naive Prince when we first meet him but now he has hardened. He has experience loss and has find strength in his power. As he begins to understand his power, he starts to gave more confidence in himself. They all have grown so much from the first book. When I think about Throne of Glass it almost feels like a completely different series because they books have gone so far. As Aelin, Dorian, Aedion and Manon have grown and mature so have the books. They are far more complicated as the characters themselves have become far more complicated. The most complicated of them all is our former assassin turned Queen, Aelin. She has so much power that she doesn’t even know how powerful she is but one thing that has changed her ability to outsmart her opponents. She always had a plan in motion but I had no idea how long she had been planning her strategy. Some go as far back as the first and second book. It’s almost mind blowing about how the dots all are connecting and with one book to go the endgame is in sight. The ending is pretty devastating but totally worth the pain. Really looking forward to finding out how this will end.
My To Read List Just keeps getting longer
So I haven’t been reading as much lately because well life and Gilmore Girls. I’ve recently just finished watching all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls. I know it’s weird it’s taken me this long to watch the show but what better time to do it then right before the new season, right? Anyway, while I was binge watching several books have come out and now I’m hopelessly behind. I’m still reading Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas. I have waiting in the wings.
The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan just came out. The latest in his Magnus Chase series with Norse gods. Then there’s Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo the sequel to Six of Crows. And then The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. Also The Midnight Star by Marie Lu the finale of The Young Elites Trilogy.
I have also recently picked up The Swan Riders by Erin Bow, the sequel to Scorpion Rules. I had no idea there was a sequel so I’m super excited for that. A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro and The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin are two books that were impulse buys. I have so much to read but what else is new.
What books are on your t0 read list this month?
It’s Banned Book Week!
Go read something you shouldn’t!
Here’s the list of the most challenged books of 2015 according to the ALA.
- Looking for Alaska, by John Green
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group. - Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”). - I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group. - Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”). - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”). - The Holy Bible
Reasons: Religious viewpoint. - Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
Reasons: Violence and other (“graphic images”). - Habibi, by Craig Thompson
Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group. - Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter
Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence. - Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
Reasons: Homosexuality and other (“condones public displays of affection”).
What I’m Reading Now: Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
I’m pretty excited about this one.
Review: A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
This may be one of the strongest sequels I have read in a long time. There was no drag or filler. It was non-stop from the very beginning. The characters are smartly written and interesting to read. You feel for all of them but for different reasons. All of their decisions are explainable even if you don’t agree with them. It is a very good book. At the end of An Ember in the Ashes, Laia and Elias are escaping Blackcliff and Serra and Helena is now sworn to be the Blood Shrike to the new Empire, Marcus who won the trials. We begin A Torch Against the Night begins right where it’s predecessor left off. Laia and Elias on the run with Helena and her men right behind them. After a run in with Elias’ Mom, the Commandant they finally escape but not without some causalities. Eventually, they met by Keenan making it an awkward march to save Laia’s brother, Darin. Who is locked up in the infamous prison named Kauf. Meanwhile, Helena feels betrayed that Elias didn’t complete the trials forcing her to work for Marcus. Marcus is cruel and knows exactly what will hurt Helena the most. Have her track down Elias and bring him back to be executed. No one knows Elias like Helena does but she is torn between her loyalty to the Empire and her love for Elias. In the previous book the point of view switched back and forth between Laia and Elias. In this one we also get Helena’s and it’s a welcome view. We know how Laia and Elias feel but Helena is still loyal and believes in the Empire. She can see it’s not perfect but she understands how it is structured to keep them safe. Slowly, she starts to see a little bit of of what they see about they have been saying all along. Her view gives us a more rounded view of the Empire. Now it wouldn’t be a YA novel without a romantic intrigue. The love triangle was already introduced in the last book between Laia, Elias and Keenan. To me it was pretty obvious who was Laia’s choice but I guess there had to be some mystery. Elias was always talking Laia up and Keenan was always talking her down but the reveal at the end was a little bit of a surprise. I figured there had to be something up with one of her suitors but not exactly how I thought it would be. But enough about romance. Laia is truly lovely. She is one determined, brave young lady. She has been through so much in the last two books but her wanting to save her brother has never wavered. She’s not the strongest or the fastest but that never stops her from joining the fight or trying to figure out how to help. Even when her confidence is low, she still fights for what she wants. She is heroine to be looked up too. If you haven’t read An Ember in the Ashes what are waiting for? I suggest you do that now so you can read this book too. You will not regret it.
What I’m Currently Reading: Pyromantic by Lish McBride
Just last week I talked glowingly about Lish McBride’s series of books. I decided to take a chance and email her publisher and I was rewarded with an ARC of her new book, Pyromantic! Thank you Morgan Dubin for sending me the book. Five chapters in and I’m already loving it! Review to come closer to the March publication.
Quick Review: Everything I Need to Know I Learned From A Star Wars Little Golden Book
Last Week I get a text from my Mom to say that she is sending me a book. This book. What can I say, she knows me. I love Little Golden Books. I think like most people, Little Golden Books were some of the first books I read or were read too. The Poky Little Puppy is my Mom’s favorite. Every Christmas there is a book drive at Barnes and Noble and I donate The Poky Little Puppy in her honor. The other thing from our childhood is Star Wars. I distinctly remember our parents taking Kate and I out of school so we could go to the first showing at the local theaters for the re-release of A New Hope. So Star Wars and The Little Golden Books together is just the perfect gift. This is such a cute book. I wouldn’t say it’s a kids book. I have a feeling it’s shelved in the Humor or even the self help section of Barnes and Noble but if wanted to read it to your kids it wanted too. It’s a simple book that uses scenes from all the movies to talk you up. Not everything is going to happen as you plan. There are going to be dark times. The dark side of the Force at the times may seem more appealing but in the long run it isn’t. Friends will always find you under Cloud City or rescue you when you have been frozen in carbonate. So don’t let the bad out weigh the good. And just like Yoda says “Do or Do not. There is no Try” so go read this book and relive the magic that is Star Wars and Little Golden Book and be inspired.
What I’m Reading Now: A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
I was so impressed with the first book and really excited for this one.
This Month in Reality: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
When I posted my “What I’m Listening to” for this book I said that, just in the first chapters, I kept getting a lot of Tupac lyrics stuck in my head. In particular the line, “Instead of a war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so police can bother me.” This book made me in turns fucking furious, and heartbroken and uncomfortable, and increasingly aware that the U.S. is doing a big thing badly and that big thing is incarcerating citizens.
In this book, Michelle Alexander examines America’s prison systems and makes the argument that mass incarceration is a system of racial control that has taken the place of Jim Crow. And, her argument is pretty convincing. She looks at how, not all at once, but little by little changes have been made that have largely affected poor people and people of color. She looks at changes in the welfare system, changes in policing, the militarization of policing, and changes in drug policy.
Last year, I heard Piper Kerman speak at a local library function and this revisited some of the things that she touched on in her talk (and that at friend of mine touched on in a chat after the talk). We send a lot of people to prison. We send people to prison for murder. We send people to prison for rape (although, not often and not for very long but that’s a topic of discussion for another day). And, we send lots and lots of people to prison for non-violent drug offenses. How are we serving these people by putting them away for non-violent crime? How are we serving their communities by taking them out of the community? How are we serving them and their communities by disenfranchising them after they have served their time? How are we serving them and their communities by making access to welfare and public housing impossible after being convicted of a felony? I get it, if people do “bad” things, you don’t want to feel like you’re rewarding them. But, if you have nothing because you’ve just spent many years in prison and you want to do right and get back into the world, how can you do that with so many avenues closed off to you?
I don’t know.
This book raised way more questions than it answered for me but I am glad that I read it even if it means I now have to spend time thinking about these issues and how I can help set them right.
2 Women, So Many Books 