ashley poston – The Bookish Mutant

Get To Know Ya Book Tag

Posted on January 2, 2020January 2, 2020 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy New Year, bibliophiles!

I found this tag on A Little Haze Book Blog, and I’m so excited to take part! Let’s begin, shall we?

FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME

Oooh…hard decision, but if I had to pick, I’d go with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I read it a little under two years ago for the first time, and it’s never left my thoughts since.

FAVORITE BOOK FIVE YEARS AGO

The entire Search for WondLa trilogy captured my heart around middle school, but my favorite of the three was the beautifully written (and illustrated) and shocking finale, The Battle for WondLa.

FAVORITE DUOLOGY/TRILOGY/SERIES

Hands down, Ashley Poston’s masterful Heart of Iron duology. Both books are so lovable in every sense of the word.

LAST BOOK YOU READ

I’ll be reviewing this one later, but I just finished up Supernova, the last installment in Marissa Meyer’s Renegades trilogy. Such a stunning end to the series!

LAST POETRY BOOK YOU READ

I bought a collection of Tennyson’s poetry in April, I think. Such remarkable and heartstring-tugging words…In Memoriam was probably my favorite.

WHAT BOOK MOST INFLUENCED YOUR LIFE?

Alright, sorry, I know I keep coming back to this, but The Search for WondLa was not only my gateway to my favorite genre, science fiction, but what inspired me to be an author. Tony DiTerlizzi will never stop being my hero, just for that series alone.

BOOK THAT MADE YOU UGLY CRY

Yeeeeeeeesh, A Monster Calls SLAYED me when I first read it. I had to re-read it over twice, and both times, I ended up bawling my eyes out at the end. GOD. 😭

BOOK THAT MADE YOU LAUGH

Good Omens, without a doubt. I don’t think a book has made me laugh as much as that in a very long time.

CHARACTER YOU’D LIKE TO BE FOR A DAY

Hmm…the first character that came to mind was Alosa from Daughter of the Pirate King duology.Oh, to be a fearsome pirate queen on the high seas (with fabulous hair)…

BOOK SO GOOD YOU DREAMT ABOUT IT

I can’t quite think of any books that come to mind other than WondLa, and I’ve already mentioned that one in two of the questions, so…sorry about that.

BOOK YOU DNF’D

Oh, there’s a long, long list…

But the most recent book I DNF’d was Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters. Such an interesting concept for a plot, but the dialogue made it crash and burn. Curse you, deceptively gorgeous cover…

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU EXCITED TO READ?

I loved The Hazel Wood, and I just found out that the sequel, The Night Country, will be released on January 7th! REJOICE!

That just about wraps it up! If you’d like to do the tag, feel free to do so. Please be sure to link back to this post if you do so 🙂

Today’s song: “One and a Half Stars”–Wilco (listening to this as I wrap up this post!)

Have a lovely rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Books

My 5-Star Reads of 2019

Posted on December 28, 2019January 2, 2020 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hi there, everyone!

As 2019 (and this decade) draws to a close, I’ve decided to make a comprehensive lists of all of my 5-star reads for this year, and, by proxy, my favorite books that I’ve read this year. Most of these are what’d you’d expect, if you’ve scoured my book tags and reviews, but I know there’s a few that I haven’t talked much about. These are in chronological order of when I read them, though their actual rankings vary a fair bit.

Now, without further ado…this year’s 5-star lineup!

KING OF SCARS–LEIGH BARDUGO

Bardugo’s veritable masterpiece, all at once a rollicking adventure and an exploration of internal conflict, was my first 5-star rating of this year. And…Nikolai. ‘Nuff said.

Read my review here!

THE ILLUMINAE FILES TRILOGY–AMIE KAUFMAN and JAY KRISTOFF

I mean, I read all of these in the span of a few months, and I gave all three books five stars…

For good reason, I think. I doubt that we’ll ever come across a trilogy quite like this in a very long time.

Read my review (Illuminae) here!

NEVERWHERE–NEIL GAIMAN

I’ve been a fan of Gaiman’s work for some time, but I chose this one for an English project, and I fell so in love with the fantastic world-building, as well as each and every character.

Find it on Goodreads here!

ONCE & FUTURE–AMY ROSE CAPETTA and CORI MCCARTHY

A feminist, LGBTQ+ retelling of the legends of King Arthur…need we say more? A wonderfully fast-paced space adventure, reminiscent of Captain Marvel.

Find it on Goodreads here!

HONOR BOUND–ANN AGUIRRE and RACHEL CAINE

Even more daring than its predecessor, Honor Bound is a complex space opera to die for.

Find it on Goodreads here!

TENNYSON: POEMS–ALFRED TENNYSON

Yes, I was/still am that kid who sits in the corner reading depressing, 19th century poetry. Do I regret it? Absolutely not.

Find it on Goodreads here!

AURORA RISING–AMIE KAUFMAN and JAY KRISTOFF

You’ve already sing praise of this one innumerable times, so I’ll just leave it at this: I FOUND MY DREAM BOOK, PEOPLE. THIS IS EVERYTHING.

Read my review here!

THE PIONEER--BRIDGET TYLER

An inventive, heart-pounding sci-fi adventure, The Pioneer was very nearly flawless, and I’m itching to get my hands on the sequel next spring! 😀

Read my review here!

AN ANATOMY OF BEASTS–OLIVIA A. COLE

Delving deeper and growing even twistier than its predecessor, A Conspiracy of Stars, this novel is dazzlingly well-thought out, the prime example of what speculative sci-fi should be.

Find it on Goodreads here!

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES–RAY BRADBURY

Did I mention how much I love sci-fi? No?

Ray Bradbury is a talent to be reckoned with, able to deftly weave together a thought-provoking story in the span of under 100 pages with ease.

Also, I was today years old when I realized that the hand on the cover has six fingers.

Find it on Goodreads here!

SOUL OF STARS–ASHLEY POSTON

The epic conclusion to the Heart of Iron duology, Poston deftly wraps together a complicated universe of familial bonds and political intrigue. Love, love, love, LOVE…

Read my review here!

FAHRENHEIT 451–RAY BRADBURY

Again, Ray Bradbury. I rest my case.

Find it on Goodreads here!

SPARE AND FOUND PARTS–SARAH MARIA GRIFFIN

A futuristic Frankenstein for the modern age, this is a grossly underrated writing, atmospheric and poetic.

Read my review here!

THE DEMON WORLD–SALLY GREEN

The pulse-pounding sequel to The Smoke Thieves, Green delivers an even more potent punch of her signature world-building and fantasy action.

Read my review here!

HOUSE OF X/POWERS OF X–JONATHAN HICKMAN

The newest installment in the legendary X-Men mythology, Hickman weaves a mythical and symbolic world, with a hopeful conclusion and the potential of many mutant tales to come.

Find it on Goodreads here!

LIKE A LOVE STORY–ABDI NAZEMIAN

Would you look at that…I think this is the only historical fiction in this post…

A hearstring-tearing and poignant coming-of-age LGBTQ+ novel. So many feels. INFINITE feels.

Read my review here!

THE TOLL–NEAL SHUSTERMAN

The conclusion to the unforgettable Arc of a Scythe trilogy, this novel is solid proof that Shusterman is a sci-fi author to be reckoned with.

Read my review here!

Man. What a year this has been…

Have you read any of these novels, and what did you think of them? Let me know what you thought in the comments below!

Have a lovely rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Books

It sounded better in my head (A Heart of Iron theory)

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ OR HAVE NOT FINISHED ASHLEY POSTON’S HEART OF IRON, THIS POST CONTAINS SOME MAJOR SPOILERS.

(For the review of Heart of Iron, see 8/14/18).

Hi, fellow bibliophiles! I’ve been promising for weeks that I’d post more non-BRT content, and I have (finally) delivered.

Since August, I’ve re-read Heart of Iron twice. During my second re-read, I noticed something near the end of the book that could possibly give us some clues to the outcome of the sequel, Soul of Stars. It could turn out to be nothing, but…

…I’ve got a theory, folks.

Here we go.

Take a look at this passage on page 412 of Ashley Poston’s Heart of Iron, in which Di is on the brink of being controlled by the HIVE, and is repeating a series of words and names to himself to remember who he really is.

”Ana. Dossier. Siege. Jax. Robb. Tsarina. Nevaeh. Di. Cerces.

Ana. Dossier. Siege. Jax. Robb. Nevaeh. Di. Cerces.

Ana. Dossier. Siege. Jax. Robb. Nevaeh. Di.

Ana. Dossier. Siege. Jax. Robb. Di.

Ana. Dossier. Siege. Robb. Di.

Ana. Dossier. Siege. Di.

Ana. Dossier. Siege.

Ana. Dossier—

Ana,

A…

…”

My theory is that this passage could determine the order of the fates of the characters. In her various Instagram stories, Poston has often hinted that the crew of the Dossier are definitely not gonna be completely alright by the time Soul of Stars is over. (I’m reasonably worried.) So, let’s break this on.

The first to go is Tsarina, the ship where the crew encountered the red-eyed Metals, and discovered Di’s current body. I’m not sure how that will come into play.

The second to go is Cerces. Cerces was a planet that was only mentioned a few times throughout the book, but whenever it came into the conversation, it was noted that Cerces housed infamous mines. Could we witness what Cerces is actually like in Soul of Stars? Only time will tell…

Next is Nevaeh, where the chase scene with Ana, D09 occurs in the beginning of the book. Though the crew of the Dossier is, as far as we know, bound for a place called Xourix, there’s definitely a possibility of them returning to world of the Ironbloods.

The fourth one worries me the most-now, JAX IS GONE. TIME TO PANIC.

landscape-1473680926-sophie-turner-x-men-screaming-slow.gif — nOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It’s mentioned that every time he reads somebody’s stars, his life span shortens. And throughout the course of Heart of Iron, he (unintentionally) reads the stars of at least three people. Chances are, if he does survive, he’ll barely escape with his life.

NO. NO. NO. UNACCEPTABLE. HE’D BETTER NOT DIE. I SWEAR TO GOD—-

After Jax is Robb. With the threat of his tyrannical mother gone, his chances of survival are…slightly higher. Of course, the royal guard is definitely still after him. And maybe his fate could be connected to that of Jax? I mean, they’ve kissed twice now…(PERFECTION. COUPLE OF THE YEAR. 100/10,)

Next to go is Di himself. His chances of survival are fairly slim, seeing as he’s fighting a losing battle to keep the HIVE out of his body. But what will this mean for him and Ana? (Close second for couple of the year, I might add.)

After Di is Captain Siege. If she does shuffle off this mortal coil, something tells me that she’ll go out with a bang, with a gut-wrenching sacrifice for the rest of the Dossier’s crew. If anything, I’ll be saddened to see her go.

Second to last is the Dossier itself. Like with the Tsarina and the various locations throughout the galaxy, I’m unsure as to how this will factor in. Maybe the Dossier sustains some substantial damage, or gets destroyed? Only time will tell…

Lastly, of course, is Ana, the love of Di’s life and the main heroine. She’s probably the most likely to survive, but she’s still in considerable danger, seeing as she’s badly injured from the attack by HIVE’d Di, so depending on where Soul of Stars picks up, she could either be in critical condition, healing, or healed. You never know. We’ll just have to wait ’til next year…*gulp*

Welp, thank you for tolerating that tangent. Again, it could turn out to be completely illogical, but I’m keeping my hopes up. I just wanted to share this theory with the interwebs, regardless of whether or not any part of it turns out to be true.

Anyway, if you haven’t read Heart of Iron yet, PLEASE go and read it, and when you’re finished, feel free to read my review and share your thoughts! Hope you have a great rest of your day! 😉