Author: madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

book blogger, aspiring author, music nerd, comics fan, stargazer. ☆ she/her ☆ ISFJ ☆ bisexual ☆ spd ☆ art: @spacefacedraws
Posted in Monthly Wrap-Ups

March 2022 Wrap-Up 🪺

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Thursday, bibliophiles!

🫠🛟🫥🫘🩻🫧🪸🪹🪷🫶🪬🫣

Might as well make use of some of these new emojis…interesting bunch we’ve got here

And sorry for the lack of a book review this week, I just didn’t have the energy for it once the afternoon/evening came (first day after spring break, am I right or am I right).

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

The beginning of March was a bit of a slog, what with all my classes trying to cram a bunch of stuff in before spring break. I finally have that big research paper out of the way though, and we did loads of fun projects in creative writing!

My reading month was good, I’d say; very few books that I didn’t like (no 1-stars and only one 2-star!), my first 5-star read of the year, and indulging in a Smoke Thieves trilogy re-read. I finally got into Heartstopper after all these years of having it on hold at the library too! Worth the wait.

This month was also the month that I finally, finally started sharing my WIP with people! I’ve sent it to some family and friends, and…not gonna lie here, my hands were shaking whenever I put it out there, but I’m proud of myself for getting over the initial hurdle after clamming up about my writing for so many years. Baby steps.

Other than that, I went to see the new Batman (AMAZING!), re-watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show, continued with Raised by Wolves and started Severance, and went to the museum and played guitar there. They have a guitar exhibit at the Denver Museum right now, so I put on a one-man show for my dad and the security guard. The very short setlist consisted of “Trimm Trabb” and “Savior Complex.”

And yesterday, I hit 500 followers!! I’m going to make a longer post later, but for now, thank you all so much for your love and support. 💗

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 20 books this month! I thought I’d read less for some reason…it feels like I haven’t had as much time to read this month, but I suppose I did read some short books.

2 – 2.75 stars:

Jade Fire Gold

3 – 3.75 stars:

The Golden Apples of the Sun

4 – 4.75 stars:

Our Stories, Our Voices

5 stars:

The Wide Starlight

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: The Wide Starlight – 5 stars

SOME POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

POSTS FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE THAT I ENJOYED:

SONGS/ALBUMS THAT I ENJOYED:

ONE MONTH UNTIL WE GET THIS ALBUM AND LESS THAN A WEEK UNTIL I GET TO SEE THEM LIVE AAAAAAAA
what a wonderfully weird little song
I would once again like to thank whoever put this on the art class playlist
I CANNOT stress enough how phenomenal this album is
ARCADE FIRE IS BACK I REPEAT ARCADE FIRE IS BACK
AND SOCCER MOMMY TOO!! so much wonderful new music coming our way this year…

DID I FOLLOW THROUGH ON MY MARCH GOALS?

  • Read at least 20 books: 20!
  • Spend some time with Ringo (of course): yep! He’s a troublemaker, but he’s a sweet little puppy. Impossible not to love.

GOALS FOR APRIL:

  • Read at least 20 books
  • Try not to spontaneously combust at the Spiritualized concert if/when they play “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space”

Today’s song:

That’s it for this month in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: March 21-27, 2022

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

This week was my spring break, and even though I didn’t go anywhere, it was so nice to just have a week of rest. The cold I got last week still hasn’t *quite* let up, but most of it’s gone.

Since I didn’t go to the library last week, I went through some books on the Kindle library for most of this week. Most of them ended up being in the 3-star range, but I ended up having an (unexpected) first 5-star read of the year—The Wide Starlight! I got some new books from the library yesterday, and they’re looking promising…

I haven’t written a whole lot over break, but it’s mostly because I’ve started sharing my sci-fi WIP with my family and some of my friends! I’m still shaking internally—I’ve finally put my baby that I’ve been working on since 2019 out into the world…

Other than that, I’ve just been drawing, decorating my new sketchbook, babysitting Ringo, listening to all the new music that came out this week, going to the museum with my dad, re-watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and starting on Severance. (I’m only on episode one, but I’m already hooked…)

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Jade Fire Gold – June C.L. Tan (⭐️⭐️.5)

The Wide Starlight – Nicole Lesperance (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating – Adiba Jaigirdar (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back (From a Certain Point of View, #2) – Elizabeth Schaefer et. al. (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

The Island of Excess Love (Love in the Time of Global Warming, #2) – Francesca Lia Block

Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America – Amy Reed et. al. (anthology)

Flamefall (The Aurelian Cycle, #2) – Rosaria Munda

Most Likely – Sarah Watson

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Book Tags

The Book Adaptation Tag 🎞

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles!

Most of the time, I don’t end up leaving posts in my drafts, but for some reason, I never got around to finishing this one…after I started it in December. Oops.

But I’m in the mood to do a book tag, so I figured I’d go ahead and trawl through the (many) book tags I have in my blog sticky note. I found this one over at Riddhi’s blog, Whispering Stories, and I was also tagged by Book It With Becca (thank you!). Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find who originally created the tag. If anybody knows, please let me know so I can credit them! I have lots of opinions about book adaptations, whether they be TV shows, movies, or otherwise, so this sounds like a lot of fun!

Let’s begin, shall we?

📚THE BOOK ADAPTATION TAG🎥

  1. What is the last book adaptation movie you saw?

Not counting my re-watch of Fantastic Mr. Fox on New Year’s Eve, I think it might’ve been Dune! I loved both the book and the movie, and the cinematography and special effects were stunning. I went to see it with my brother and his friends for his birthday, and we all just stared at each other silently SCREAMING every single time the sandworm came on screen

2. What book movie are you most excited about?

This one isn’t a movie, but they announced last year that Warcross was going to be adapted for a TV series! Plus, it’s going to be on FX, the same streaming service that has Legion, Fargo, and What We Do in the Shadows!!

3. Which upcoming book movie will you definitely not see?

I’ve never been a fan of Sarah J. Maas, and I heard they’re making a TV show out of A Court of Thorns and Roses, so…nah. My mom and I agreed that we might hate-watch it together, though…

4. Which book movie would you never watch again?

I wouldn’t say that I would never watch Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (the 1994 one) again, but it certainly was…not great. Very weird. And not in a good way. Just…uncomfortable. At least Frankenstein’s monster was good in this one.

5. Is there a movie you saw that made you want to read the book if you had not yet?

Watching I’m Thinking of Ending Things on Netflix made me want to read the book, and I’m glad to say that both were incredible!

6. Conversely, is there a movie that made you never want to read the book?

I watched The Man Who Fell to Earth thinking it would be old sci-fi vibes and David Bowie, and…well, David Bowie was great, but the movie was 2.5-ish hours of pure discomfort. I’m not sure what kind of creative liberties that Nicolas Roeg took with the book, but either way, I don’t think I’ll be picking the book up.

7. Name an adaptation that has almost nothing to do with the book it is supposedly based on.

The movie version of How to Train Your Dragon is very different from the books—but in this case, the movies were better. It’s been a while since I’ve seen any of them, but the most notable difference that I remember is Toothless—in the books, he was a lot smaller and could talk. I like movie Toothless a lot better, though; he reminds me of my cats.

8. Have you ever left the theatre during a movie adaptation because it was so bad?

I don’t think I’ve ever left the theatre during any movie, so that’s a no.

9. Do you prefer to watch the movie first, or read the book first?

Most of the time, I prefer to read the book first, but I’m human and make mistakes, so that barely ends up happening. Most of the time, I don’t even know that I’m watching an adaptation when I go into it (ex. I’m Thinking of Ending Things)

10. How do you feel about movie adaptations that age characters up? (ex. Characters that are in middle school, but in the movies, they’re all 18+)

The only example I can remember is the (highly forgettable) Percy Jackson movies, but it does rub me the wrong way when they age characters in a middle-grade adaptation up. Like Riddhi said—if they could find a bunch of fantastic child actors for Stranger Things, then what’s stopping everybody else?

11. Do you get angry when actors don’t look like you thought the characters would?

Most of the time I don’t—for me, it’s near impossible for actors to look super close to the image I had of the character in the book. But I’ll admit that I’m still seething over the fact that the Darkling in Shadow and Bone looked nothing how I imagined him. Not nearly as goth as he should’ve been.

12. Is there a movie you liked better than its book?

Even though I liked the original book, Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox is leagues better! He gives the story a new meaning, and all of the characters have so much more personality than they did in the book.

13. Name a book you would love to see as a movie.

I have a handful—I’d love to see adaptations of The Wide Starlight, The Young Elites, Illuminae, and Heart of Iron, to name a few.

I TAG:

Today’s song:

I’ve only listened to this album all the way through once, but it’s pretty solid!!

That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of. your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Books

Feminist YA Books for Women’s History Month (2022 Edition)

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Thursday, bibliophiles!

Women’s History Month is here again in the U.S., and I figured I’d gather some more books to celebrate! Literature has always been an act of resistance, and it’s so important for readers—especially young girls—to see characters and narratives like their own to inspire change in our world. And as always, these books aren’t just for March—they’re for all year round; feminism doesn’t start and stop in March. My goal here is to uplift marginalized voices, and now is the perfect time to uplift those of women.

If you’d like to see my list from last year, click here!

Let’s begin, shall we?

FEMINIST YA BOOKS FOR WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know, Samira Ahmed

GENRES: contemporary, historical fiction, romance

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Told in intersecting timelines between the present day and 19th-century. Paris, Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know is a love letter to all the women whose stories have been overshadowed and lost to history. Samira Ahmed is such a wonderful author!

Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao

GENRES: sci-fi, dystopia, romance, LGBTQ+, retellings

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iron Widow is a fierce, fast-paced sci-fi tale that deftly explores themes of rape culture, institutionalized misogyny, and society’s treatment of women through the eyes of a spitfire pilot determined to tear down an empire. (DESTROY THE PATRIARCHY WITH ROBOTS! I said what I said.)

Squad, Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle

GENRES: graphic novels, contemporary, paranormal, LGBTQ+, romance

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Squad presents a timely theme—when holding rapists accountable, where is the line between accountability and pure vengeance?—and puts a paranormal spin on it. If the premise of werewolf girls hunting down rapists doesn’t entice you, I don’t know what will.

Slay, Brittney Morris

GENRES: contemporary, fiction

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Though this isn’t my favorite of Brittney Morris’ books that I’ve read (that title would go to The Cost of Knowing as of now), Slay was a wonderfully proud and feminist novel about gaming and Black pride.

The Mirror Season, Anna-Marie McLemore

GENRES: magical realism, fantasy, fiction, LGBTQ+, retellings, romance

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Anna-Marie McLemore never misses a beat with their books, and The Mirror Season was no exception! All at once raw and beautiful, it presents a searing tale of love after trauma and the fight to hold rapists accountable.

The Good Luck Girls, Charlotte Nicole Davis

GENRES: alternate history, fantasy, paranormal, dystopia, LGBTQ+

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Through a blend of several different genres, Charlotte Nicole Davis presents the stories of five girls, bonded through sisterhood and trauma, who take control of their own fates and fight their fair share of patriarchy—and demons.

Juliet Takes a Breath – Gabby Rivera

GENRES: fiction, contemporary, LGBTQ+, historical fiction

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Juliet Takes a Breath is a fantastic, queer coming-of-age novel about sexuality, self-discovery, identity, and being a feminist. There’s an especially important discussion of the harm of “white feminism,” which, for a YA novel, is crucial to discuss.

A Phoenix Must First Burn, Patrice Caldwell et. al. (anthology)

GENRES: short stories/anthologies, fantasy, contemporary, paranormal, science fiction, LGBTQ+, romance, historical fiction

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There’s not a single bad short story in A Phoenix Must First Burn! Through several different genres, all of these stories center around the experience of growing up as a Black woman, and include everything from aliens to sorcery to the American west.

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! What are your favorite feminist YA books? Have you read any of these books, and if you have, what did you think of them? What have you been reading for Women’s History Month? Tell me in the comments!

Today’s song:

NEW SOCCER MOMMY IN JUNE?? I’m convinced that 2022 is the year of being blessed by the music gods

That’s it for this list! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (3/22/22) – The Wide Starlight

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles!

I think I saw The Wide Starlight on Edelweiss originally, but it’s been on my TBR for a good year and a half. I wasn’t able to go to the library last week, so I’ve been trawling the Kindle library for books to read, and came upon it again. To my surprise, it captured my heart—my first 5-star read of 2022!

Enjoy this week’s review!

The Wide Starlight – Nicole Lesperance

As a child, Eline Davis lived with her parents in Svalbard, raised on her mother’s fairytales. One of those tales cautioned to never whistle at the Northern Lights, lest they sweep you away to parts unknown. But Eline’s mother did just that, and she disappeared.

Ten years later, Eline and her father are living in Cape Cod. Now, the Northern Lights will be visible where she is, and she takes the opportunity to whistle and bring her mother back. Her mother returns, but vastly changed from the mother Eline knew and loved. Along with her return come strange, unexplainable occurrences—strange letters in the bushes, narwhals in the bay, and cloaked figures stalking her at every turn. The only way to make things right is to return to her old home in Svalbard, but what awaits her their may prove more dangerous than what the Northern Lights have in store.

TW/CW: loss of a loved one, emotional abuse, grief, animal death, depression, fire, near-death situations, description of a corpse

I am stunned. I am absolutely in awe. I picked this book up just because I needed a little fantasy to tide me over, but The Wide Starlight ended up being my first 5-star read of 2022!

The Wide Starlight is exactly what magical realism should be. It toes the line between reality and fairytale with the kind of ease I would have never expected from a debut novel. Lesperance’s writing is all-consuming and beautifully dreamlike, calling to mind the fairytale books that our parents told us as bedtime stories. And like an old fairytale, it balances raw reality with all things magical and cryptic. It’s the kind of book to get lost in.

On the subject of Lesperance’s writing, it’s also wonderfully immersive. With every word, I could see Eline’s green house at the top of the world and feel the chill of the Arctic wind at my cheeks. (Granted, it was chilly and snowing outside when I read this…nowhere near how freezing Svalbard is, I imagine) Every word paints a vivid picture, whether it’s of Eline’s harsh world or the stories she was raised on. Each character, from main characters like Eline to the minor characters that rarely appeared, had such an extensive degree of realism, and none of them felt like afterthoughts—everything was fleshed out.

For me, some of the best descriptions came through in Eline’s fairytale flashbacks. Not only did they tie up the loose ends within the world, the fairytales within gave new life to the story of Eline’s family. All of the stories are from Norwegian folklore, but I was particularly interested in the tale of Prince Lindworm—my dad mentioned a similar story recently, but the one he told me about was an Irish folktale. Archetypes are strange little beasts.

There’s also a consistent suspense that never dies down; Lesperance expertly built and maintained tension throughout the novel. Although the plot itself had a relatively moderate pace, Lesperance continually kept me on my toes with obstacles both real and supernatural. Magical realism novels generally keep a slow to medium pace, and it’s difficult to keep the plot moving, but Nicole Lesperance did so with ease.

But what brings The Wide Starlight together, in the end, is its emotional weight. Grief, depression, and generational trauma are ever-present in this novel, but Lesperance handled them in a way that was deeply grounded in emotion but still conscious of its reality. Eline’s journey with grappling with who her mother and grandmother were was a powerful one, and the conclusion she came to was equally powerful—sometimes grief clouds our memories of the people we love. Alongside that, there’s a powerful message about generational trauma; Eline’s mother’s side of the family is fraught with emotional abuse and depression, but not all of it is as one-sided as she once perceived it to be. Ultimately, Eline’s journey leads to forging her own path, informed by her past but not too rooted in it. The Wide Starlight is a book that is certain to stick with you. Certainly still sticking with me.

All in all, a deeply powerful and emotional piece of magical realism that melds fairytales with the harsh realities of family and coping with grief. You don’t want to pass this one by. 5 stars!

The Wide Starlight is a standalone and Nicole Lesperance’s debut novel. She is also the author of the Nightmare Thief duology (The Nightmare Thief and The Dream Spies) and the forthcoming novel The Depths, which is slated for release this October.

Today’s song:

NEW ARCADE FIRE THIS IS NOT A DRILL

That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: March 14-20, 2022

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

This week was my last week in school before spring break, so after I got my tests out of the way, everything just slowed down and relaxed. I welcomed it 100%—I like having a nice, gradual slow-down to my school work before the break starts. And I won’t have any real homework for a week! We had a snow day on Thursday too, so that’s always lovely. (Minus the shoveling…) However, I’ve had a cold since Thursday afternoon, so that’s sucked. It’s getting better, though. At least I can breathe out of both nostrils now. (Kind of.)

I spent most of the week re-reading the Smoke Thieves trilogy, and I had a lot of fun diving back into that world! I made a whole post about it too—I’ll link it under Posts and Such. I wasn’t able to go to the library this week because of said cold, so I’ll probably be trawling the Kindle library for spring break reads.

School slowing up allowed me to write a little during school hours, and I’m getting close to finishing my final (for now) edits! I’m back to the climax right now, it’s getting fun…

Other than that, I’ve just been watching Raised by Wolves (anybody else feel like you’re being pummeled with a hundred different twists per episode? Not complaining, but w h o a ), attempting to help train Ringo, talking comics with my creative writing teacher, and listening to almost nothing but Rings Around the World and Heaven or Las Vegas. (Two great albums!)

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Passing – Nella Larsen (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

The Smoke Thieves (The Smoke Thieves, #1) – Sally Green (re-read) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)

The Demon World (The Smoke Thieves, #2) – Sally Green (re-read) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

The Burning Kingdoms (The Smoke Thieves, #3) – Sally Green (re-read) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Heartstopper, vol. 2 – Alice Oseman (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

This section’s sparse—I’ll be looking through the Kindle library, so here’s what I’m reading right now:

Jade Fire Gold – June CL Tan

Today’s song:

very In Rainbows

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Books

In Which I Re-Read the Smoke Thieves trilogy (Chaotic Thoughts)

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Thursday, bibliophiles, and happy St. Patrick’s Day! 🍀 We got dumped with snow over here last night, and we got a snow day today! So I’m sitting here in my pajamas, watching the snow slowly die down.

In last week’s Weekly Update, I mentioned that I’d be re-reading the Smoke Thieves trilogy, and I’ve kept my promise. It’s one of my favorite fantasy series, and I’ve been meaning to go back through it ever since I finally got a copy of The Demon World. (Perks of being involved with the library—getting books that go out of circulation!) So since I’ve already done full reviews of all three books, I thought I’d just compile some thoughts I had while reading each book.

Fair warning: this post will be crawling with spoilers. Sorry.

Let’s begin, shall we?

THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S THOUGHTS WHILE RE-READING THE SMOKE THIEVES TRILOGY

BOOK 1: THE SMOKE THIEVES

  • Right off the bat…I remember these books being dark, but WHOA. One of the first scenes is somebody being forced to watch a brutal execution, and…yeah, it only gets worse from there. Yeesh.
  • Also I forgot how angry March was??? It’s understandable, honestly, but this man is just THROBBING with rage
March, constantly
  • Tash!!! My demon-hunter child!!
  • And Catherine!! I liked her already, but going back and reading this books again makes me love her even more. She’s so wonderfully independent.
  • Headcanon: Catherine is bi. She’s gotta be. I know the whole joke about Tash was just that, but I just know she’s gotta be bi. Call it gaydar.
  • Also, I want to wear Catherine’s wedding dress. HHHHHGH
  • Ambrose was my least favorite character of the main five when I first read these books, and…I still stand by that. His only personality trait is that he’s got the hots for Catherine and knows he can’t have her, and it just gets tiring after a while. Meh. But nonetheless, he deserves better. Green does explore some of his grief after Tarquin gets killed (in the worst possible way…agh, brutal…), but I wish we got a more in-depth exploration of it.
  • @ SALLY GREEN CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE MARCH A BREAK P L E A S E

Overall, I had so much fun getting back into Sally Green’s detailed world! 100% holds up after about two and a half years. Same rating: 4.25 stars.

BOOK 2: THE DEMON WORLD

  • Can we appreciate how creative the concept of the Pitorian army is in terms of the hair dye allegiance concept? Gotta love it
  • “Hey there demons, it’s me, ya boy” – Tash
  • What if 😳😳😳 we slept together next to a demon’s corpse to keep warm 😳😳😳 (and we were both boys) 😳😳😳
  • The whole time I was reading the scene where Edyon, March, and Geratan are trying to jump into the demon world, all I could think of was this:
  • The whole demon world itself was super inventive!! I especially love the concept of how everybody had to communicate through touch-based telepathy—that was very creative.
  • Gonna need more of the Tash and Geratan friendship, please and thank you
  • HAHAAAAA THE FIST BUMP AFTER THEY BOTH GOT OUT OF THE DEMON WORLD
  • I completely blocked out the trial scene from my memory, but honestly, it…did drag a little. I liked seeing Catherine as the judge, but it still went on for too long, in my opinion.
  • Also, I didn’t remember Edyon being so forceful about his and March’s relationship? He gets better about it, but in the beginning, it was almost hard to read. Hey…Edyon…uh…why don’t you try…letting people make up their own minds about relationships and not…forcing them into anything…
  • Catherine wearing a suit of armor is everything
  • AGH I FORGOT ABOUT THAT CLIFFHANGER! I remembered there being a cliffhanger, but the March/Edyon situation and Tash getting trapped in the demon world ONE AFTER THE OTHER WHEW

The Demon World was originally a 5 star read for me, but I don’t feel quite the same way now. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it immensely—I did, but parts of it just didn’t do it for me the second time around (The beginning stages of Edyon and March’s relationship, the trial scene, etc.). Bumping my rating from 5 stars down to 4.5 stars, because it was still great stuff, but not quite a 5-star book anymore.

BOOK 3: THE BURNING KINGDOMS

  • Alright. Let’s talk about the cover. The fact that 3/5 of the figures are knocked over stressed me out when I first saw it, but at the same time…WHY DOES IT LOOK SO FUNNY IT JUST LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE DID THIS
  • OKAY THE PAIN WHENEVER EDYON AND MARCH THINK ABOUT EACH OTHER WHEN THEY’RE SEPARATED 😭 P A I N
  • Geratan ripping off his hat to reveal his new hair color is absolutely iconic. The right way to do it. Wish I’d thought of that freshman year when a) my hair was also dyed red (very different red though), b) my hair was short enough to cover with a hat, and c) I HAD a hat that I could’ve done it with
  • Sally Green understands the power of hundreds of brainwashed, adolescent boys. Everything with Harold and the Bull Brigade is appropriately disturbing.
  • Can we talk about Catherine’s almost-corruption arc? Sally Green executed it so well; she’s tasting power (and demon smoke) and realizing the extent of both, and it nearly makes her the same as her father—the one she vowed to not be like in the first place. For me, Catherine’s the most well-developed character in the series.
  • Forgot to mention him in the Demon World section, but Twist!! What a guy
  • Took Ambrose three whole books to realize that he and Catherine weren’t meant to be…yowch
  • I forgot how brutal and…just horrifying the battle with Harold and the boy army at Calidor was…I feel like I was tensed up for the whole scene. I have to hand it to Sally Green for making some of the most tense battle scenes I’ve ever read in any series. Right up there with the last 100 pages of Aurora’s End. At least Harold got his comeuppance.
  • THE FIRST PART OF THE EPILOGUE?? WHERE MARCH AND EDYON ARE FINALLY BACK TOGETHER AGAIN AND THEIR SYMBOLS ARE JOINED ON THE TITLE PAGE???? GAAAAAAAH
  • AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE LAST SCENE WHERE TASH AND GERATAN GO FISHING BAHAHA!! In all seriousness, it’s so sweet how he became a father figure over the course of the last few books—as much as Gravell protected Tash, Geratan was far more of a positive role model for her. Again, love their friendship.
  • Also, can we just imagine Tash wearing this?

Now that I’ve read the whole series in one sitting, I can say with certainty that The Burning Kingdoms was a fantastic end to the trilogy—and maybe even my favorite book in the series! Although the ending felt a bit rushed, it was still a satisfying way to wrap up the series. Bonus points for showing that everything doesn’t wrap up neatly after a costly war. I’m remembering now what makes The Smoke Thieves so special to me—there’s so much love put into every ounce of it, from the worldbuilding to the characters to their relationships. Reading it all at once is like looking at a giant tapestry, thousands of interconnected threads coming together to make a beautiful and cohesive image. Needless to say, I had such a fun time re-reading this series. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t picked up these books—highly recommended! Keeping my rating at 4.5 stars for this one.

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! Have you read The Smoke Thieves trilogy, and what did you think of them? Let me know in the comments!

Today’s song:

I haven’t been able to stop listening to this album all week…wondrous

That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (3/15/22) – Love in the Time of Global Warming

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles!

As a bi person, I’ve been on the hunt for more bisexual representation in literature for years. Love in the Time of Global Warming popped up on a whole bunch of lists of YA books with bisexual characters, and the premise intrigued me, so I gave it a go. This one has a lot of bad reviews, but to me, it was a beautifully-written and inventive retelling of The Odyssey!

Enjoy this week’s review!

Love in the Time of Global Warming – Francesca Lia Block

Human civilization has been reduced to its barest remnants after a cataclysmic event known only as the Earth Shaker set the apocalypse in motion. After her house is raided by mysterious men, Pen sets out into the wasteland of what was once Los Angeles in search of her missing mother and brother. Along the way, she meets a cast of strange, lost characters who join her on her quest. But their path is plagued by giants and mad scientists, and they must search the ends of the Earth for what they seek.

TW/CW: sexual content, descriptions of death/murder, past descriptions of abuse/homophobia, use of a trans character’s deadname

Bonus points have been preemptively awarded for the TV on the Radio reference. To Francesca Lia Block—if you see this review, I’m just here to tell you that you have great taste.

I initially picked up this book because I’d seen it show up on loads of lists of YA books with bisexual protagonists, and now that I’ve read it, I’m so glad I did! Most of the reviews I’ve read aren’t too positive, but for the most part, I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

A lot of the complaints about Love in the Time of Global Warming were centered around Block’s writing style. I can usually get on board with more flowery, dreamlike prose, and that’s certainly how Block seems to write. I loved her lush descriptions; the hazy, mystic atmosphere of it made it feel all the more like a retelling, especially one of The Odyssey. Even though Love in the Time of Global Warming was strictly dystopia/sci-fi at its core, Block’s writing gave it a magical feel, which, for the story she was trying to tell, meshed perfectly.

As far as retellings go, Love in the Time of Global Warming was loose, but there were still enough callbacks to The Odyssey to make it feel like a retelling. Pen’s quest did have an odyssey-like feel to it, and some of the parallels (Circe, the cyclops, etc.) were clear, although the addition of Hex reading The Odyssey as they went along felt borderline ham-handed, as though to say “guys! GUYS! Guess what!!! This!!! Is a retelling!!!!1!!” However, Love in the Time of Global Warming was inventive in its brand of apocalypse, which made the setting—and the feel of the retelling itself—a lot more enjoyable. Having giants created by a mad scientist gave the book a fantastical feel without being a fantasy book, which I found to be a very creative move. With Block’s descriptive prose added to that, it made for a very creative retelling.

Another highlight for me was the fact that all of the main characters were casually LGBTQ+! It’s always great to see lots of queer representation in a story, and there is no shortage of queer and trans characters in Love in the Time of Global Warming. Plus, I loved having a brave, unique heroine like Pen be bisexual—always warms your heart to see yourself represented, isn’t it? Certainly warmed mine. Plus, I loved the little jab that they have about being told all their life that they’d be going to hell for being queer, and yet it’s them—not the homophobes—who survive the apocalypse. Call it comeuppance.

However, though most of the LGBTQ+ representation was positive and well-written, I do have a few issues with how parts of Hex, a trans man, was written. Take this as you will, since I’m cis, but there were definitely some parts that rubbed me the wrong way. After Hex comes out as trans, his deadname and old pronouns are used…frequently? Most of it’s in flashbacks, but even still, it’s generally accepted that using a trans person’s deadname and old pronouns after they’ve come out as trans is not the most considerate thing to do. I doubt there was any harm meant by it, but it was a little uncomfortable that Block wrote him this way.

All in all, though, a strange, dreamlike, and unapologetically queer retelling of The Odyssey. 4 stars!

Love in the Time of Global Warming is the first book in Francesca Lia Block’s Love in the Time of Global Warming duology, followed by The Island of Excess Love. Block is also the author of Weetzie Bat, The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold, Echo, Witch Baby, and several other books for teens and young adults.

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: March 7-13, 2022

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

This week’s been a little tiring. I had another couple of quizzes and tests, and I’ve been proofreading my big research paper and I had to crank out a short story in the span of about a week. At least the short story was a lot of fun—went just past 10 pages on google docs, somehow.

Reading-wise, it’s been a slower week; most of the time I’d normally be reading, I was either writing said short story or drawing, so I didn’t get through my whole library haul. I did like everything that I read, though—all 3-4 star reads for me! I’ll have some good material to review next week. Most of my writing time has been taken up by the short story, but I’ve been able to go back and edit some of my WIP in the later part of the week.

Other than that, I’ve been spending time with Ringo, trying to drive in the snow (oof), listening to Guerilla Toss, Cocteau Twins, and Super Furry Animals, and watching the new Batman! Without question, one of the best Batman movies I’ve ever seen—unexpected but perfectly-cast characters, fantastic acting, and some of the most beautiful character development I’ve seen out of Batman himself. Go see it if you haven’t!

And now I’m almost at 500 followers! I can’t believe it, thank you all so much! 💗

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Heartstopper, vol. 1 – Alice Oseman (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Love in the Time of Global Warming – Francesca Lia Block (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Daughter of the Burning City – Amanda Foody (⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK

I’ve given into the feminine urge to re-read the entire Smoke Thieves trilogy so that’s the plan here

Passing – Nella Larsen

The Smoke Thieves (The Smoke Thieves, #1) – Sally Green

The Demon World (The Smoke Thieves, #2) – Sally Green

The Burning Kingdoms (The Smoke Thieves, #3) – Sally Green

Today’s song:

almost finished listening to this album all the way through and I LOVE it!

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Book Tags

Intergalactic Book Tag 🪐

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Wednesday, bibliophiles!

It feels like a while since I’ve done a book tag, and regardless of whether or not that’s completely true, I decided to do one. I found this one over at Classy x Book Reviews (Amanda and Antonia have a fantastic blog, check it out if you haven’t already!), and the tag was originally created by Rachel @ Life of a Female Bibliophile. Sci-fi is my favorite genre, so of course I had to do this tag!

Let’s begin, shall we?

🪐INTERGALACTIC BOOK TAG🪐

SPACE: name a book that is out of this world – that takes place in a world different from our own.

Crownchasers takes place in an entirely new galaxy—a lot of interesting planets are explored throughout the duology!

BLACK HOLE: Name a book that completely sucked you in.

I know I use this book for every tag, but Aurora Rising sucked me in like no other book has—when I first started reading it, I blew through hundreds of pages without moving, and after I finished it, I ended up re-reading it three times before setting it down for something else. (Why yes, this is my favorite trilogy, why do you ask?)

LIGHTSPEED: Name a book you are anticipating so much that you wish you could travel at lightspeed to get to it.

I adored Gearbreakers, and I can’t wait for Godslayers to come out! June can’t come soon enough…

NEBULA: Name a book with a beautiful cover.

As disappointing as Persephone Station was, I will say that it has one of those beautiful covers that you can’t help but stare at.

MULTIVERSE: Name a companion or spin-off series you love.

The Sound of Stars and The Kindred are companion books set in the same universe, and I loved them both! Very different thematically, but they were both fantastic in their own ways.

GRAVITY: Name your favorite romantic pairing that seems to have a gravitational pull to each other.

Alright, I know I shouldn’t double up, but Kal and Auri from the Aurora Cycle are my all-time favorite book couple. And Kal’s attraction is even called The Pull, so how could I not use it for this prompt?

THE BIG BANG: Name a book that got you started on reading.

As far as sci-fi goes, The Search for WondLa was what got me hooked on sci-fi literature. It’s been a while since I’ve re-read it, but I love to look back through the illustrations; Tony DiTerlizzi is just as talented as an artist as he is a writer.

ASTEROID: Name a short story or novella that you love.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate is a wonderful novella, and the concept is so inventive—what if, instead of transforming planets to our needs, we transformed ourselves?

GALAXY: Name a book with multiple POVs.

Sky Without Stars is told from three POVs (Alouette’s POV is my favorite), and it’s a fascinating sci-fi retelling! I’d highly recommend the whole trilogy.

SPACESHIP: Name a book title that would be a great name for a spaceship.

Iron Widow would be SUCH a cool name for a spaceship. I’m picturing some sort of sharp-edged battleship for it. Skyhunter would work too.

I TAG:

Today’s song:

shoutout to whoever put this on the art class playlist, I love this so much

That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!