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The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Stories #1) by Bernard Cornwell

November 5, 2019David S 3 Comments

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Constantly in awe over @marc.simonetti’s artwork, especially for Sullivan’s Legends of the First Empire series. This is the signed set of the series so far with Age of Death coming soon (which has perhaps my favorite cover of the series).

Some days, I am just plain spoiled. Thanks to @orbitbooks_us for this UHmazing #bookhaul. PREPARE TO BE READ, YOU BEAUTIFUL BOOKS!

I had a conversation with myself about not doing these monthly TBRs, but IG got the better of me and here is what I am planning for November. I actually feel pretty confident with this group as I have already started two (2) of the ones pictured and another that I have on ebook. On top of this group, I am currently reading The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and will be reading a few eARCs that I have had sitting around. I also joined a group read with @redstarreviews to read Brian Ruckley’s The Free which should be a blast!

October was a pretty meh month as far as reading goes (not to say I didn’t enjoy what I read when I did find the time). Only finished eight (8) books thanks to a 2-week slump. BUT, I did find some new shows to keep me entertained like The Last Kingdom (currently on Season 3), Letterkenny (currently on Season 4), and got caught up on Mr Inbetween (which is a must-watch if you haven’t checked it out). Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and HELLLLLLLLLLLO NOVEMBER! . Empire of Silence (Sun Eater #1) by Christopher Ruocchio ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 The Rosewater Redemption (The Wormwood Trilogy #3) by Tade Thompson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 The Black Hawks (Articles of Faith #1) by David Wragg (ebook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones (audio) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Grip of It by Jac Jemc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Uncanny Collateral (Valkyrie Collections #1) by Brian McClellan (ebook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ghoster by Jason Arnopp ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I knew this day would come. The day that I would finish Tade’s first series with @orbitbooks_us. The Wormwood Trilogy is a genre-bending, genre-blending, no holds bar, original take on the alien takeover trope and will go down as one of my favorite science fiction trilogies ever. There is a reason he won the Arthur C Clarke award for Rosewater, and you need to grab a copy and see just why I loved this series so much!

Who says AMAZING things can’t happen on Mondays? Thanks to @gallerybooks / @simonandschuster and Stephen Graham Jones for an eARC of his forthcoming novel, The Only Good Indians. Without @paulgtremblay recommending Mongrels a couple of years ago, I don’t know that Jones would be on my TBR. He has quickly become a must-read author and he should be on every TBR out there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter Straub’s Ghost Story meets Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies in this American Indian horror story of revenge on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Four American Indian men from the Blackfeet Nation, who were childhood friends, find themselves in a desperate struggle for their lives, against an entity that wants to exact revenge upon them for what they did during an elk hunt ten years earlier by killing them, their families, and friends.

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@stephenking blew my mind away with this iconic horror story! This is my second King novel. The first being The Institute and I think it is more plot driven. As for The Shining, it is heavily character driven. In summary, this is a story about a father (Jack Torrance) who is haunted by his past demons and decided to start afresh by accepting a new job as a caretaker of the haunted Overlook Hotel. Jack moved into the hotel with his family and a lot of strange things happened. The Overlook Hotel sort of came alive and "possessed" Jack by manipulating him. At the end, Jack went mad and tried to murder his son, Danny and his wife, Wendy. We also follow Danny's experience in the Overlook Hotel. He has the ability to read minds, see ghosts, see through the future or past incidents. He is thus able to see through what really happened with Jack and all the horrific elements of the Overlook Hotel. I love how King fleshed out Jack's inner turmoil. King basically dug deep into the mentality of someone who had a rough childhood (being abused by a dominant and alcoholic father) and finally resort to alcohol and thereafter caught in a vicious cycle. The process of Jack trying to rehabilitate and control his temper and eventually gone mad is so well done! I enjoyed reading Jack's character development a lot. Wendy and Danny's character developments are also very well done. But Jack's character arc is just so impressive and to me, it outshines the other characters. In this story, King explored the themes of alcoholism, domestic violence and abuse by blending it with his usual horror elements. I can see that King has done his research on these themes in a very thorough manner. And not to mention, the ending! It is so well executed, very scary and at the same time, very touching as well (especially the conversation between Danny and Dick Hallorann). To me, The Shining deserves a strong 4.8/5 star rating. Its still not a 5/5 star rating for me as there are some plots in this story which I think its unnecessary. I have picked up its sequel, Doctor Sleep and I hope its as good as The Shining! #stephenking #theshining #hodderandstoughton #bookstagram #bookoholic #igread

Picked up The Ghost Bride by @yangszechoo as @netflix is adapting this story. The story takes place in 1893, Malacca (Malaya). Once again, I am impressed with @yangszechoo 's skills in weaving the culture, background, history and societal beliefs into the story in a very subtle way. I felt connected with the setting and background of the story as I can relate with some of the Chinese traditions and beliefs. Yangsze Choo's description of Malacca in the 1890s is so beautiful. The story further depicts the low social status of women in Malaya and they were often subject to arranged marriage. This renders Li Lan's (the protagonist of the story) characterization to be rather submissive at the beginning of the story in that she is constantly thinking about marriage and a guy (Tian Bai) whom she fell in love with him at first sight. Such characterization may not gel well with women in the 20th century whereby they are strong and independent. However, Li Lan's characterization works for me due to the setting, culture and historical background of the story. The one thing that bothers me is the love element in this story. In short, I would say that this is a love story. And I am generally not a fan of love stories. But still, I think this debut by @yangszechoo deserves a 4/5 star rating as I am a huge fan of authors incorporating culture, tradition and history into their work. Now I cant wait for the series to be out on @netflix ! #theghostbride #yangszechoo #netflixseries #netflix #booksofinstagram #igread #bookish #reading #bookreviews #bookstagram #bookoholic #beautifulbooks #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #bookaddict #bookgeek #sunset #lexishibiscusportdickson #bookstagrammer

This is going to be an unpopular opinion. This last installment of the Winternight Trilogy to me, is not as epic as most of the concluding installments that I have read (maybe I have high expectations to this series). First, lets start off with the pros of this series. Arden's writing is special, distinctive and beautiful. I love the setting and the incorporation of Russian folklore into the story. The feminism theme shines throughout the series. And the cover of this book is so beautiful! Now to the cons. The pacing and plot of this book is a major problem to me. I am not sure why Arden did not focus more on the final battle. I think there are only a few pages describing the final battle which is unsatisfactory to me (most authors spent a few chapters on final battles to build up its epicness). Instead, Arden focuses too much on the relationship between Vasya and Morozko (which I still think it's awkward to me) and Vasya's path of self discovery and mastering her new powers (not to mention that there's not much description of the magic system as well). The strangest part is the sudden revelation of Vasya's great-grandfather which only took a 1 or 2 pages to go through it. This to me is a loose end which was not properly addressed by the author. To me, this series started off strong but the conclusion fell flat. Hence a 3.5/5 star rating. But of course, if you enjoy folklore incorporation in a fantasy series, you can try out this trilogy! #bookreview #delreybooks #winternighttrilogy #winterofthewitch #katherinearden #bookstagram #bookcovers #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #bookaddict #bookoholic #bookgeek #bookshelf #fantasy #booksofinstagram #igread #bookstagrammer #books #bookish #reading

“Every time you take one path, you must live with the memory of the other, of a life left unchosen. Decide as seems best, one course or the other; each way will have its bitter with its sweet.” Picked up the second book of this series immediately after completing the Bear and the Nightingale. After the events of the first book, Vasya is left with the choice to either marry or live in a convent. She chose neither of those choices and embarked on her own journey to figure out who she is. In the midst of her journey she reunites with her brother Sasha and sister Olga. And of course, she encountered lots of adventure and is involved in the politics of Moscow. There is an obvious switch from the usual folklore telling to a more politic-focused plot. I have mixed feelings on the characterization of Vasya. Firstly, I appreciate the fact that Arden attempted to create a strong female character who doesn't want to be bound by traditional values and perspective. It was highlighted throughout the first book as well as the second book. But in the midst of fighting for her own rights as a female in the medieval Russian setting, Vasya made a lot of wrong and stupid choices. Her relationship with Morozko, the frost demon, also left me puzzled. At some point of time, I think that their relationship is one sided as Vasya is sort of using Morozko to meet her own ends. When she is faced with a problem, she will just opt to summon Morozko and to rely on him to solve the problem. This doesn't work for me. And it is not a bad thing either as it shows that Arden accepts that the flaws of a character and not to just blindly create a Mary Sue character. On the other hand, the relationship between Vasya and her horse Solovey works for me. I always enjoy reading interactions between human characters and animals (as I am a dog person). All in all, this installment still deserves a 4/5 star rating from me. Moving on to the last book in this series right away! #bookstagram #katherinearden #delreybooks #bookreview #winternighttrilogy #thegirlinthetower #igread #fantasy #booksofinstagram #goodread #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #bookaddict #bookoholic #bookgeek #bookshelf

Picked this book up as it is adored by a lot of book reviewers. Essentially, we follow the story of Vasilisa, the daughter of a Russian noble who lives in the forzen North of Russian. She is a wild child and loves to hang around in the forest. She then discovered that she is able to communicate with spirits or creatures from fairy tales. With such a peculiar ability, she struggles to deal with her stepmother, the perception of the villagers and was forced to face the Bear (an evil entity) which is in the verge of being unleashed to harm her town. The story is set in a Russian setting. I was introduced to a lot of Russian traditions and folklore which to me is something creative and special. There's also something special in @arden_katherine 's writing and the way she describes the setting of the story. Arden is able to draw you into the world and embrace the beauty and coldness of winter. Issues such as Christianity/religion, the social status of a women as well as the importance of tradition are highlighted throughout the story. However, I had a few problems with the first part of the story. The character arcs of some characters left me quite puzzled. I was wondering why Vasillisa's brother is suddenly so determined in becoming a monk without any indication of such interest. The progress and decision of Vasillisa's father in marrying her stepmother is also very rushed. The political intention and plot behind marrying Vasillisa's sister to the cousin of the Grand Prince also happened in a very sudden manner. The second half of the book just changed my mind towards this book. It is so magical when creatures from the Russian folklore were summoned to join the battle against the Bear. That moment is so epic and I cant help but to give it a 4/5 star rating. Had Arden delved into an in-depth characterization and developments the characters, it would definitely be one of my best read for the year. Nevertheless, I am intrigued and can't wait to pick up the second book of the series! #bookreview #delreybooks #katherinearden #winternighttrilogy #thebearandthenightingale #bookstagram #bookoholic #beautifulbooks #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #sunset

Re-read (or rather, re-listening) this masterpiece via @librofm (thanks to @librofm and @hachettebooks for the audio book listening copy!) before the final book in this series is out on 22.10.2019. Simon Vance did a great job in narrating this book! Well done! I remember having some problems with Brent Weeks's writing style when i first read the Black Prism. After getting used to his writing style and re-reading this book, I have to say, the world building, magic system as well as the characterization sets a very high bar for other fantasy authors to reach. The idea of using colours as the source of magic shows the creativity and authenticity of Brent Weeks as a fantasy author. This is also a highly character driven series. The emotions, mental state, inner struggle of all the major characters were very well fleshed out throughout this book. All the chapters in this book are short chapters but that does not sacrifice the characterization and world building of this series. After re-reading the Black Prism, I think it deserves a strong 4/5 star rating. Have to quickly catch up with the other books before the final installment comes out! #bookstagram #brentweeks #lightbringer #theblackprism #fantasy #reread #librofm #hachettebooks #audiobooks #bookstagrammer #igread #bookgeek #booksofinstagram #bookoholic #beautifulbooks #bookcollector #booknerd #booklover #bookaddict #reading #bookreviews #kjreadsfantasy #goodread #orbitbooks #bookshelf #narrator #simonvance

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