November 2019 – Page 2 – The Bookish Mutant

Book Review Tuesday (11/5/19)-We Hunt the Flame

Posted on November 6, 2019 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, fellow bibliophiles!

I’ve been meaning to read this one for a little while, and I had fairly average expectations, what with a boatload of hype after its publishing in May of this year. I’ve had it on hold for a while, but it finally arrived recently, and I must say, We Hunt the Flame defied all of my expectations! With lavish writing and spectacular world-building, We Hunt the Flame is sure to please.

Enjoy this week’s review!

We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya, #1)

A reknowned Hunter, an infamous Prince.

The livelihood of Zafira’s village rests on her shoulders; she is the revered Hunter, crossdressing as a man to avoid detection while hunting for her people in the forests of Arz, which have been put under a deadly curse for as long as she can remember. Nasir is the crown prince, and the ruthless assassin of all those who dare speak out against his father, the king. Their paths collide on a distant island, where the curse of the Arz originated, both in search of a fabled treasure, but only one in search of the Hunter himself. As war brews, the two inherent enemies must band together to keep Arawiya off of the brink of collapse.

Over the years, I’ve started to lean more towards science fiction than fantasy, and while I still read a fair amount of the genre, it’s not as often that I enjoy it. I’ve come across plenty of halfway-decent ones and a plethora of mediocre and downright awful ones, but the four and five star-ers are more difficult to find. Lucky for us, We Hunt the Flame exists!

Though it was a little slow to start (the first 150 pages or so, and this book clocks in at 472 in total), We Hunt the Flame was an absolute dazzler by the end. With rich and magical worldbuilding, steeped in the roots of Arabian mythology and folk tales, a cast of unique and likable characters with stellar chemistry, and witty and enchanting writing worthy of a timeless fairy tale, this novel is not one that I’ll forget easily. Solid 4.25 stars for me.

It looks like there’s already a sequel on the way, set to be published in May of 2020, We Free the Stars, and from what Hafsah Faizal has revealed, it looks like it’ll be a duology. Man, I think duologies are slowly but surely overthrowing trilogies in YA…

Before I go, let me remind you all that the Goodreads Choice Awards are here! We’ve got tons of worthy contenders for the win, so PLEASE go and vote! (Especially *coughcoughcoughAURORA RISINGcoughcoughcough*)

Have a wonderful rest of your day, and stay tuned for more content later in the week!

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Books, Goodreads Monday

Goodreads Monday (11/4/19)–Glitch

Posted on November 5, 2019 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy November, fellow bibliophiles!

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.

As with most of the novels beyond the first five or so pages of my TBR (it’s piled into the hundreds over the past few years…whoops…), I’d completely forgotten about the existence of Glitch. The reviews seem semi-polarizing, and it’s from the era where everybody hung off the back of Suzanne Collins’ massive bandwagon (thank God those days are over…mostly…), so I’m not sure if I’ll keep this one.

Whether or not that’s going to happen, I’ll go ahead and give you all the rundown. Let’s begin, shall we?

GOODREADS MONDAY (11/4/19)–GLITCH by Heather Anastasiu

Blurb from Goodreads:

In the Community, there is no more pain or war. Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity clean of destructive emotions, and thoughts are replaced by a feed from the Link network.

When Zoe starts to malfunction (or “glitch”), she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. Any anomalies must be immediately reported and repaired, but Zoe has a secret so dark it will mean certain deactivation if she is caught: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.

As Zoe struggles to control her abilities and stay hidden, she meets other glitchers including Max, who can disguise his appearance, and Adrien, who has visions of the future. Both boys introduce Zoe to feelings that are entirely new. Together, this growing band of glitchers must find a way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.

In this action-packed debut, Glitch begins an exciting new young adult trilogy.

So why do I want to read this?

I put this on my TBR over a year ago, definitely at a stage where I hadn’t become quite so jaded with all of the “dystopia devoid of all independent thought” trope that has plagued the YA genre for almost a decade. The cover’s gorgeous and beautifully designed, no doubt, but judging from some of the reviews, this seems to be the bait that ultimately hooked several readers into eating a fish that gave them food poisoning the following night.

Glitch seems to have been written earlier in the Dystopian YA era, so perhaps there’s a glimmer of hope for some originality. At the same time, though, we’ve got the classic, overdone tropes all laid out: a “special girl” with INDEPENDENT THOUGHT (gasp) and POWERS (another gasp), who has to fight against a UNIFORM SOCIETY and CONTROL SAID SPECIAL POWERS.

Now where have I heard that before? Oh, that’s right, everywhere.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little harsh, but I’m kind of sick of this kind of book. If done well, as people like Suzanne Collins and Marie Lu have done, it could be amazing. If not, well…it’s almost guranteed that it’ll be a steaming pile of unoriginality. I might have to oust this bad boy from my TBR. Sigh. I need to clean it out, anyway.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this meme, bibliophiles! Stay tuned tomorrow for a Book Review Tuesday, and more content later in the week!

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Book Tags, Books

Fall Festival Book Photo Tag

Posted on November 1, 2019 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy November, fellow bibliophiles!

I was tagged by A Little Haze Book Blog to take part in this tag. The tag itself is part of Clo and Fictionally Sam’s Bookending Autumn 2019, and this tag was originally hosted by PoetryBooksYA.

I’m pretty excited to take part, so let’s begin! 🙂

CHILLY–BOOK WITH A WHITE COVER (Sad story/plotline)

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Michael Belanger’s The History of Jane Doe is well-written, but be warned: it’s definitely a rough ride, and it deals with teen suicide.

SWEET–BOOK WITH AN ORANGE COVER (A favorite contemporary novel)

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I couldn’t find many contemporary books that I really loved (much less ones with completely orange covers), but this is my most recent read in that category: Michelle Andreani and Mindi Scott’s exploration of romance and grief, The Way Back to You

SPICY–BOOK WITH A RED COVER (Action/Fast-paced setting)

Ohhhhhhhh yeah.

I could go on for days about the The Demon World. The whole series (that’s come out), for that matter.

DARK–BOOK WITH A BLACK COVER (Dark, twisted theme)

The entire Three Dark Crowns series is pretty rife with violence, disturbing sibling rivalries, and all manner of spooky stuff. All four books had me on the edge of my seat…

GREEN–BOOK WITH A GREEN COVER (Makes you feel jealous)

This was a hard one…I mean, green cover? Easy. Makes me feel jealous? Now that’s another story…

I suppose that Robert Beatty’s Willa of the Wood doesn’t inherently make me jealous, but I’m definitely jealous of Beatty’s world-building and descriptive writing. (He’s also the author of the Serafina trilogy, which, excluding book 2, I adored in middle school.)

Well, that just about wraps it up!

I tag:

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