Tag: reading
-
2023 Media Round Up
Another year gone, another year of reading, watching, and playing to reflect on. Last year, I focused my end-of-year round-up purely on my reading, as that is obviously the original focus of this blog. A year later, I now know I’d equally like to give credence to video games and television shows as well for…
-
The Shadow of the Gods – John Gwynne’s Inspired Take on Norse Mythology
We get to know our main characters in isolation, learning about their varied backgrounds, bonds, and motivations. Gwynne leaves just enough hints to allow readers to connect some of the dots on their own before their storylines begin to converge. Eventually, as all of their destinations start syncing up, it becomes clear that there’s more…
-
Georgie, All Along Tempers its Romance with Thoughtful and Relatable Characters
Instead of focusing on the progression of falling in love, the bonds that grow between Levi and Georgie build toward a climax of healing past wrongs. Their romance is handled like an inevitability, leaving the dramatic tension to build toward whether each character will overcome their pasts. The most important journeys in this novel revolve…
-
The Poppy War Had Promise But Wasn’t Quite What I’d Hoped
Three-hundred pages in and I felt like Kuang had yet to really hook me with any narrative weight. Worse, I realized I had been carried along for all those pages on a wave of story beats built entirely upon tired tropes of the fantasy genre.
-
2022 Reading Round Up
As 2022 comes to a close, I feel like it’s necessary to summarize what may well have been my most active year of reading in years. What started as trying to establish a good habit – of reading for a set amount of time each night – has reignited my love of all things reading…
-
The Wilderwomen – the Paranormal Road Trip for Everyone Feeling a Bit Lost
Lang’s writing powerfully captured the appeal of the road trip novel, using the shifting setting and characters at hand to move the plot forward. With each stop the sisters made, I was left wishing I could spend more time with each of the colorful individuals they came across. But as the book came to a…
-
Pride & Prejudice’s Characters Evolve into a Perfect Denouement
In the denouement, Lizzy’s interactions with her parents lays out the balance of pride and prejudice that she and Darcy need to attain to find happiness together. Mr. Bennet insists on Lizzy maintaining a level of pride in her own self-worth as she deserves not an advantageous marriage but a happy, loving one with an…
-
Babel: An Arcane History – a Period-Piece Tackling Colonialism that Struggles at the Finish Line
Though I feel it fails to choose whether to be either a fantasy or fully-developed alternate history, Babel’s greatest success is as an engrossing and well-researched examination of early- to mid-nineteenth century Britain and the effects of its colonialism, both at home and abroad. It examines the mindset of those who are assimilated into Western…
-
The Rings of Power is the Right Direction for Tolkien’s Work
Tolkien could very well have been writing his world based on his understanding of systems of power in the Middle Ages which, admittedly, was heavily white-favored. That doesn’t mean we can’t call out his writing as incorrect and make changes to it.
-
Harrow the Ninth – Delighting in Misdirection
I left Harrow the Ninth feeling like I’d just unwound a most fascinating puzzle box. When the final reveal actually unfolds, I felt like I had triumphed in successfully solving the conundrum of the story.
Blake is Reading 