Firstly, congratulations to @tayari for winning the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019 with An American Marriage! We follow the story of Celestial and Roy, 2 black Americans who were married for just over a year when Roy is arrested for a crime he didn't commit and is sentenced to 12 years in prison. This is a hard blow to Celestial and Roy's marriage and their lives. We then follow the love triangle between Roy, Celestial and Andre (Celestial's childhood friend and Roy's best friend). Prima facie, this is a story about love and marriage. But it is more than that. It reflects the race-based injustice in America, social class, and the flawed judicial and prison system in America. The story was told mainly in the point of views of Roy, Celestial and Andre whereby Tayari brilliantly sets out the complex inner conflicts of these characters. And yes, Tayari's writing is beautiful and sophisticated!
However there are a few parts which to me is nonsensical and confusing. Firstly, I can't see how conveniently Roy's biological father can be arranged to be in the same cell with Roy when he is in prison. I also can't get certain choices that all three main characters made in resolving their struggles and inner conflicts. If these issues were resolved, I would have rated it higher. For now, its a strong 3.8/5 star rating from me and don't get me wrong, it's a great book and I enjoyed Tayari's writing a lot! I will definitely follow Tayari's works in future.
#bookreview #tayarijones #anamericanmarriage #winner #womensprizeforfiction #bookstagram #bookoholic #beautifulbooks #booknerd #booklover #bookaddict #bookgeek #booksofinstagram #igread #literaryfiction #literature #bookstagrammer #oneworldpublications #bookworm #bookcommunity
The third and final book of The Dragon Lords series: Bad Faith. I loved the character arc of Will. When Barph/Firkins, one of the old Gods, betrayed the main characters by killing and stealing their divine powers, Will devised another plan to bring themselves back alive from Hell (or the Hallows as described in the book). His plan involved infusing himself with powers from the Deep Ones (an entity who were much older than the Gods). With such powers, he "unmade" the Hallows, which in turn, released an army of the undead, led by an undead general, Gratt. To become more powerful, Will had to be fed from the believes of the people. When he became more and more powerful, the humanity part of him somehow was lost. This whole scenario beautifully describes how absolute power corrupts absolutely. The concept and relationship between religion and faith were also highlighted throughout the series. It shows how fragile humans can be when faced with issues of religion and faith and to some extent, humans are willing to blindly follow their believes / religion. I loved such a concept instilled by Jon Hollins in this series packaged with his usual humour element.
The main characters also managed to persuade the dragons (who were previously their enemies) to co-operate with them to topple Barph. But of course, the dragons had their own plans as well as the undead general, Gratt. Towards the end of the story, we then see the power struggle between the dragons, the undead general Gratt, Barph and Will which causes so much betrayal and conspiracies. This plot is definitely intriguing and to me, its the climax of the whole story.
At this point, I am definitely rating this book 5/5 star. But then, the ending of the story came. It fell flat. It left so many questions to me and felt kind of a rush to me. Further, Quirk and Afrit's relationship kind of annoys me sometimes. Because of these cons, my rating for this book dropped to a 4.5/5 stars. All in all, I think this series deserves more attention and it is definitely a fun journey reading it! #bookstagram #bookreview #igread #bookgeek #booksofinstagram #bookoholic #beautifulbooks #fantasy #goodread #booknerd #booklover
The second book in the Dragon Lord's series: False Idol by Jon Hollins. OMG THIS IS SO GOOD! Definitely better than the first book! This story took place 12 months after the incidents in the first book (Fool's Gold) whereby we follow the main characters Will, Lette, Balur, Quirk and Firkin in their subsequent adventures. After the heist in the first book, each characters thought that they could move on with their lives with the gold that they have stolen from the Dragon in Kondorra. What they dont know is that there are more dragons outside the city of Kondorra. All these dragons were planning to get rid of the old Gods and make themselves the new Gods to be worshipped by the citizens of Avarra. So we follow the main characters' journey in stopping the dragons' plan whereby they worked together with the old Gods to do so. But in the end, they themselves were betrayed by one of the old Gods! I really did not see this coming and I am always very intrigued by unforeseeable plot twists! Jon Hollins maintained its distinguished writing style with so much honour element but still maintained the detailed descriptions of the inner conflicts of each characters (especially Lette and Quirk) and the complicated relationships or interactions between characters. The pacing of the story is perfect and there's so much fun in reading this book! A strong 4.5/5 star rating from me. I started the third book of this series right away after reading the major cliffhanger at the end of the chapter and I can't wait to know what will happen to the fate of all the major characters! #jonhollins #dragonlord #falseidol #bookstagram #kjreadsfantasy #goodread #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #bookaddict #bookoholic #orbitbooks #fantasy #igread #bookstagrammer #bookgeek #booksofinstagram #beautifulbooks
