marie lu – Page 2 – The Bookish Mutant

Weekly Update: June 22-28, 2020

Posted on June 28, 2020June 28, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope today finds you in good spirits and health.

Now that June has almost come to a close, I felt like it’s gone by strangely quickly. It feels like it should be the middle of the month, but here we are, and it’s almost July. But that isn’t to say that I haven’t enjoyed the month; despite the strangeness of the times, I’ve had a good start to my summer, even though I’ve spent the bulk of it inside.

For the most part, I’ve had a great week. We went hiking on Monday for a belated Father’s Day excursion, and also that day, I FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT OF MY WIP! This is the first of my ideas that I haven’t abandoned midway and finished all the way, so I’ve given myself a pat on the back for managing that. I didn’t quite know what to do with myself, but I ultimately decided that for July’s Camp NaNoWriMo, I’ll work on a short story. Stephen King advised that you should wait a few months (at least) before getting to editing/second drafts after you finish, so I’ll work on said short story, and maybe get back to some of my other WIPs in the meantime.

Other than that, I made some progress on my Iron Giant puzzle, watched Memento, watched a few more episodes of Fargo (nearly done with season 3…)and went on my first excursion to my favorite bookstore since the pandemic started. I got a copy of The Sound of Stars and The Kingdom of Back (autographed copy!), and I’m so excited to read them both. I’ve had an…okayish reading week; I didn’t read as much because it took me longer to read Kingsbane at a whopping 608 pages. I’ve enjoyed everything that I read, but I didn’t read anything terribly memorable.

Oh, and the stickers that came with my preorder of Aurora Burning finally came in the mail, and I love them! Both my laptop case and my current sketchbook both look like the entire Aurora Cycle fandom vomited on them, and I have zero problem with that. (…no pun intended…)

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Kingsbane (Empirium, #2)–Claire Legrand (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Amazon.com: Kingsbane (The Empirium Trilogy Book 2) eBook: Legrand ...

Dating Sarah Cooper–Siera Maley (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Dating Sarah Cooper - Kindle edition by Maley, Siera. Children ...

The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss–Amy Noelle Parks (eARC) (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss (Hardcover) | ABRAMS

The Invisible Man–H. G. Wells (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance (Bantam Classic) - Kindle ...

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

The Kingdom of Back–Marie Lu

Amazon.com: The Kingdom of Back eBook: Lu, Marie: Kindle Store

The Sound of Stars–Alechia Dow

Book Review: The Sound of Stars be Alechia Dow | The Young Folks

The Writer’s Journey–Mythic Structure for Writers–Christopher Vogler

Amazon.com: The Writer's Journey - 3ª edición: Mythic Structure ...

Today’s song:

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

Books, Top 5 Saturday

Top 5 Saturday (6/27/20)–Books with Morally Grey Characters 🌫

Posted on June 27, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles!

Time for another Top 5 Saturday! This was originally started by Devouring Books, and it sounded like such a fun post to take part in. Today’s topic is books that have morally gray characters. This one was a bit harder than the rest–I’m trawling my brain for all the antihero-ish books I can think of…

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

6/6/20 — Books Set Near/On the Sea

6/13/20 — Books with One Word Titles

6/20/20 — Books You’d Give a Second Chance

6/27/20 — Books with Morally Grey Characters

Rules!

Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
Tag the original post (This one!)
Tag 5 people

Let’s begin, shall we?

TOP 5 SATURDAY (6/27/20)–BOOKS WITH MORALLY GREY CHARACTERS

The Young Elites, Marie Lu

The Young Elites (Young Elites Series #1) by Marie Lu, Paperback ...

My favorite of Marie Lu’s works has morally gray all over the place…and maybe not so gray in many others…

Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

Stranger in a Strange Land: Heinlein, Robert A.: 9781442005839 ...

There’s always the possibility for moral grayness when you’ve got a naïve extraterrestrial who has powers beyond imagining, but has no idea of the consequences…(oh, and goes and forms his own religion, as one does…[ahem])

Scythe, Neal Shusterman

Scythe (Barnes & Noble YA Book Club Edition) (Arc of a Scythe ...

Now THIS series is just CRAWLING with moral grayness…part of what makes it such a memorable series, really. Scythe truly makes you think.

The Final Six, Alexandra Monir

The morally gray aspects are more expanded on book 2, but The Final Six certainly has a prominent, well-done series of subplot that explores the motives of the different parties involved.

One Giant Leap (Dare Mighty Things, #2), Heather Kaczynski

Amazon.com: One Giant Leap (9780062479907): Kaczynski, Heather: Books

As with The Final Six, there’s a significant exploration of moral grayness in book 2 (here); it’s one of the highlights of the book for me–it encourages the reader to think about the different sides of war, and whether or not there is truly a “good”/”bad” side, and that there may be neither hero or villain in the conflict.

I TAG ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE!

Go Ahead Go On GIF - GoAhead Go GoOn - Discover & Share GIFs

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Top 5 Saturday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Book Tags

Get to Know the Fantasy Reader Tag

Posted on June 1, 2020August 4, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Monday, bibliophiles!

I found this wonderful tag over at Brianna’s Books and Randomness. The tag was originally created by Bree Hill as the Get to Know the Romance Reader Tag, and The Book Pusher made it into the fantasy version here. Though I’m more of a sci-fi fan, fantasy was my first love as far as book genres, and I still love the genre today.

Let’s begin, shall we?

WHAT IS YOUR FANTASY ORIGIN STORY? (First fantasy novel you read)

I can’t quite pinpoint the exact first fantasy book I read, but one of the first was most definitely The BFG. I have especially fond memories of reading this one. My brother gave me all of his Roald Dahl books a while back, and I’ve added to the collection and kept them all on my shelves ever since.

IF YOU COULD BE THE HERO/HEROINE IN A FANTASY NOVEL, WHO WOULD WRITE IT, AND WHAT IS ONE TROPE YOU WOULD INSIST ON BEING IN THE STORY?

Hmm…

I think I’d like to have Marie Lu write this fantasy story. Absolutely no guarantees of a happy ending, but her lush writing style and characters would ensure that there would never be a dull moment. As far as tropes, I’d definitely want some sort of misfit-filled, found family team kind of dynamic. As someone who’s had to do a lot of searching to find where I fit in, this trope/theme speaks to me quite a bit.

WHAT IS A FANTASY YOU’VE READ THIS YEAR THAT YOU WANT MORE PEOPLE TO READ?

Amazon.com: The Black Witch: An Epic Fantasy Novel (The Black ...

Especially with what’s going on in the U.S. and elsewhere, The Black Witch is not only a lushly written novel, but one that explores themes of defying racism and xenophobia.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FANTASY SUBGENRE? WHAT SUBGENRE HAVE YOU NOT READ MUCH FROM?

I’m not sure if I have a favorite subgenre of fantasy, per se, but I enjoy reading paranormal fantasy, though there’s a plethora of books in that genre that have gone terribly awry. I suppose I haven’t read much high/epic fantasy, but I’ve enjoyed books like The Smoke Thieves, so maybe it’ll do me some good to read more of it.

WHO IS ONE OF YOUR AUTO-BUY FANTASY AUTHORS?

Though I’ve never actually bought any of her novels (I borrowed them from the library), Sarah Maria Griffin would definitely fit the bill. If she comes out with anything else soon…SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY…

HOW DO YOU TYPICALLY FIND FANTASY RECOMMENDATIONS? (Goodreads, YouTube, Podcasts, Instagram, etc.)

I usually find my recommendations by way of Goodreads, and sometimes from my fellow bloggers.

WHAT IS AN UPCOMING FANTASY RELEASE YOU’RE EXCITED FOR?

Amazon.com: The Burning Kingdoms (The Smoke Thieves ...

I am ECSTATIC to read The Burning Kingdoms! It comes out in late August of this year, and I requested an eARC of it on Edelweiss, so…🤞

WHAT IS ONE MISCONCEPTION ABOUT FANTASY YOU WOULD LIKE TO LAY AT REST?

I suppose I’d say that there isn’t much that makes a book fantasy/not fantasy. There’s really no limits to the genre–anything from supernatural occurrences to royal conflict can be considered fantasy, really. Each reader has their own definition, but in terms of content, it’s a fairly fluid genre.

IF SOMEONE HAD NEVER READ A FANTASY BEFORE AND ASKED YOU TO RECOMMEND THE FIRST 3 BOOKS THAT COME TO MIND AS PLACES TO START, WHAT WOULD THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS BE?

Shadow and Bone | Leigh Bardugo | Macmillan

First, I’d say Shadow and Bone, for its lush worldbuilding and unforgettable characters.

The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1) by Marie Lu

Second, I would highly recommend The Young Elites for the incredible writing, the gripping plot, and again–unforgettable characters. Can’t go wrong with Marie Lu.

Amazon.com: Three Dark Crowns (9780062385437): Blake, Kendare: Books

Last, I would recommend Three Dark Crowns for the complex plot and the gripping action and intrigue.

WHO IS THE MOST RECENT FANTASY READING CONTENT CREATOR THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHOUT OUT?

For this tag, I’d like to shout out Classy x Book Reviews! Though they read a variety of novels besides fantasy, I can always count on their reviews being sincere and in depth. 🙂

I TAG ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE!

Friends Reading GIF by Sesame Street - Find & Share on GIPHY

Since I’ve already posted today, head over to today’s Goodreads Monday to see today’s song.

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

Book Tags, Books, Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: December 30, 2019–January 5, 2020

Posted on January 5, 2020January 5, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, everybody!

Whew, what a week it’s been, the last week of the decade, and the start of a new one. Also, this is my last day of winter break, so…school starts back up tomorrow…[sad harmonica]

Sad+harmonica+solo_fc757e_6469767.jpg

Hey, at least I soaked it all up. I had a lot of fun–festivities with family, two rounds of TRoS and one of Knives Out, the first ski trip of the year, and LOTS of reading and writing. Success! 😀

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Bowie’s Bookshelf: The Hundred Books that Changed David Bowie’s Life–John O’Connell

(⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Supernova (Renegades, #3)–Marissa Meyer (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Image result for supernova marissa meyer

Darius the Great is Not Okay–Adib Khorram (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Related image

Sanctuary (Sanctuary, #1)–Caryn Lix (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Image result for sanctuary caryn lix

POSTS AND SUCH:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK

Half Bad–Sally Green

Image result for half bad sally green

Rebel–Marie Lu (Finally bought it!)

Image result for rebel marie lu

I’ll start posting a list of the week’s songs once I get more of them, but since I only have two, I’ll skip it this time. But this one’s been stuck in my head for a few days this year, and I’ve really taken a liking to it, so here you go…

Hope you had a great start to the decade! Have a great rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

thank you for reading.jpg

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!

thank you for reading.jpg

Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (9/4/18)-The Rose Society

Posted on September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hi there, fellow bibliophiles, and welcome to the first Book Review Tuesday of September 2018!

To be honest, I should have reviewed this books sooner. Like, a few months sooner. I mean, my review for book one in this series (see 7/17/18) was almost two months ago, so…

Anyway, I bought this lovely little novel at my favorite bookstore of all time. It was a hard decision between it and at least three other hardcovers of books I’d gotten from the library. But in the end, The Rose Society was a paperback, and I hadn’t read it before. But thank goodness I bought it, because MAN, it was THRILLING! Five big fat stars for this one!

Enjoy the review!

The Rose Society

Broken by the betrayal of her father and the Young Elites, Adelian Amouteru decides to go rogue. Now under the alias of the White Wolf, she joins her younger sister Violetta and run away from their former home of Kenettra, in search of like-minded souls from which to build an army of their own. With a deadly grudge against the Inquisition Axis, Adelina will stop at nothing to bring justice to the Marked. But will her quest of anger and grief bring her success, or only misery?

Well OH MY GOD, that had to be one of the best books I’ve read all summer. No joke.

Not only was this book absolutely riveting and action-packed, but it’s the best out of the Young Elites trilogy. It truly packed a punch, all the way from start to finish. There’s hardly anything not to like about this book. 10/10. 👌

Also, remember how I was thinking about comparing the Young Elites characters to X-Men? Well, I’ve got some more comparisons today as well. 😉

First off, I feel that Adelina is now more of a combination of Jean Grey and Magneto. Now that *spoiler for Young Elites* Enzo’s been offed, Adelina’s taken on the role of “Marked bent on the destruction of the Inquisition Axis and all who support them”. Pretty rough ride for her.

Second of all, the Nightcrawler-like character I hinted at in the Young Elites review was…drumroll please…Magiano.

He’s probably one of my favorites out of the cast of characters. Definitely something of a trickster, but he still retains a good heart deep down. Somewhere. If you look hard enough…¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Violetta was most similar to Rogue in terms of powers. From what I remember, they have somewhat like views on their own powers as well.

Oh, and speaking of Marvel…

…let’s not confuse Adelina with Bucky Barnes, guys. Just for future reference.

Get it? White Wolf? Ha ha ha…nobody gets my jokes. Welp.

Have a happy rest of your day, and keep on reading!

Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (7/17/18)-The Young Elites

Posted on July 17, 2018 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hi, everyone, and welcome to this week’s Book Review Tuesday!

I’ve been getting into a lot of Marie Lu’s works at the moment. I recently re-read Legend, and I’d forgotten how good it was. I read Warcross some time ago, and I’m dying for Wildcard to come out! And so, I figured I needed to satiate myself while waiting for Wildcard (and for Prodigy to be available at the Kindle library…), I decided to start The Young Elites. And I think it might just be my favorite of Marie Lu’s series now!

I LOVED The Young Elites! I found it to be a lot like X-Men, but set in a world like our own in the Middle Ages. And I’m pretty much a sucker for all things, mutant, so this book was an absolute blast for me. I’ve already bought and started the sequel, The Rose Society, and I’m enjoying it even more than book one.

Enjoy the review!

The Young Elites

Ten years ago, the deadly blood fever swept the world, leaving a trail of death in its wake. But for those who survived, it marked them with gifts that seemed to be given by the gods. Some of the marked are hunted down and burned at the stake; others still are worshipped like gods. Adelina Amouteru is one of the marked, and is still figuring out her powers. But after a run-in with the Inquisitorial Axis, the royal guard whose task is to kill all the marked they find, she meets Enzo, another boy marked by the blood fever who can control fire. He introduces her to the Dagger Society, a league of fellow people marked by the fever who seek to reform the cruel tyranny of the royals. But as Adelina starts to control her powers, she realizes that the world may not be as black and white as she previously thought. Whose side is she really on? And what will the consequences be?

As I mentioned earlier, this book is very reminiscient of X-Men, which I absolutely adored. Some of the characters reminded me a lot of some of the characters.

Take Enzo, for example. I was getting some serious Magneto vibes from him. But kind of in a good way.

Kind of.

I also found Adelina to be a lot like Jean Grey, in a way. Probably not so great for her, but they’re both incredibly awesome.

There were a few more near-parallels in The Young Elites, but those were the two that I felt worked best. As I’m reading The Rose Society, I’ve found that one of the newer characters is starting to look a little like Nightcrawler. OH YEAH.

MY FAVORITE OF THE X-MEN!!! Kinda freaking out here, guys…

That aside, The Young Elites is such a well-written, action packed, gem of a book.

Okay, that was sort of a pun, sorry. You’ll get it once you read it. But what I’m trying to say is that this is an exceptional series. Please read, it please…

Well, I hope you have a great rest of the day, and keep on reading awesome books!

*BAMF!*