soul of stars – Page 2 – The Bookish Mutant

Book Review Tuesday (7/23/19)-Descendant of the Crane

Posted on July 23, 2019 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

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

SO! I’ve been meaning to review this one for…almost a month now, whew. I had semi-average expectations for it, figuring that it would be more of an interim read than anything, something to tide me over. After reading a few rave reviews from another blogger and some of the Goodreads reviews, I was ultimately convinced.

And MAN…

Descendant of the Crane truly blew it out of the water! A seamless and riveting combination of fantasy and murder mystery. Waaaaaaay better than I expected it to be.

Enjoy this week’s review!

(also, apologies for the size of the cover image, this was the best that I could find 😦 )

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Descendant of the Crane

Princess Hesina has never been keen to the royal life, preferring to hide in the shadows instead of meddle in political affairs. But after her father’s death, Hesina takes it upon herself to discover the cause of his demise. The medics rule it a suicide, but Hesina is determined that it was a murder. Now the Queen, she goes against everything that the royal family stands for, enlisting the help of a soothsayer to find out how her father truly died. With the help of Akira, a criminal, poisons expert, and maybe the key to discovering the truth about her father, Hesina leads a grand investigation–one that leads into the darkest depths of her kingdom’s history.

Now, as I said, my expectations for this book were faily average. But by the end, let’s just say that my last brain cells and I were all screaming.

HOLY SWEARING CUSS.gif

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA.

A lushly written, richly developed, genre-bending novel like no other. The plot had me clinging to the edge of my seat, and though I didn’t get too attached to many of the characters, they had near impeccable chemistry, and I found myself rooting for them in the end. Overall, a truly fantastic book!

The author said (in response to a question on Goodreads) that Descendant of the Crane is, in fact, a standalone, but she’s planning to write some companion novels set in the same universe. I’m personally satisfied with the decision; it’s good that she’s leaving this book alone, but I’m itching for some more action in the rich world that she’s beginning to create. 🙂

Thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and please take care of yourselves!

OH! One more thing…

[singing off-key] toDAAAAAY IS THE DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

That’s right, Ashley Poston’s Soul of Stars, the sequel to Heart of Iron (see 8/14/18) comes out TODAY! I recently preordered it, and it’s supposed to arrive about a week from now, so you can definitely expect a review around early August.

Well, that’s all for today. See you next Tuesday!

Books, Geeky Stuff, Holidays, Movies, Music

2018

Posted on December 31, 2018December 31, 2018 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Whew.

The past 2 or so years have both been dumpster fires, and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. Mostly 2016, but you know what I mean.

And this year?

Weeeell…I wouldn’t quite go so far to say that it was good, but it was less of a dumpster fire. You get my drift?

I’d be lying if I said that 2018 was easy. I had to face many daunting obstacles, make some difficult transitions, and come to terms with some truths about myself. But you know what? I managed to overcome those challenges, and I bet that you were able to do the same with yours. But if we look past all that we’d like to forget about this year, parts have been pretty awesome. I got to have so many new and wonderful experiences (Chicago, Sequoia National Park), discovered LOADS of new and spectacular books (some notable 2018 releases included Heart of Iron, Thunderhead, Honor Among Thieves, A Conspiracy of Stars, The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik, and a few others), some amazing films (Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, The Crimes of Grindelwald, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Antman and the Wasp, and I haven’t seen Aquaman but I’ve heard that it’s great), incredible music (Lush, Twin Fantasy, etc.) and much more. Of course, we’ve had some not-so-great moments in those respects (The Light Between Worlds, Venom, etc.), but overall, it’s been alright. And regardless of what kind of year we had in 2018, we’ve got a lot to look forward to in 2019.

I saw a meme the other day that was kind of hopeful, however silly it was.

2019-will-be-a-great-year-because-2016-sucked-and-38762436.png — Fingers crossed.

And I’m really hoping that this will be the way things are. If it gets too bad, I’ll just remember that Dark Phoenix, Avengers: Endgame, Soul of Stars, Honor Bound, King of Scars, and An Anatomy of Beasts are in our futures. So let’s try to make 2019 the inverse of 2016, everyone. Make it good. 🙂

Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (10/16/18)-Two Dark Reigns

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

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

And THAT’S RIGHT, FOLKS…

IT’S HERE.

AND I’M SHOOK.

I recently checked this gem out at the library, and I must say, it’s a pretty shocking new installment to the Three Dark Crowns series. (For the first two books, see 6/26/18 and 7/10/18.) I guarantee that your jaw will be slack and your eyes as wide as dinner plates by the time you finish this book.

Hope you enjoy the review!

Two Dark Reigns

As far as Fennbirn, the monstrous poisoner queen Katharine is the one true queen, and her two sisters, Arsinoe and Mirabella, are dead. Now, Katharine’s wrath and power know no limits, and she will stop at nothing to get her way.

But on a nearby island, Arisnoe and Mirabella hide out in secret, having escaped their gruesome fates, plot their revenge on the false queen. And their friend Jules, who was recently revealed to have powers of her own, grows unsure and conflicted as she realizes her potential. As tensions rise on Fennbirn, the three sisters know that uncertain times are on the horizon. What will be the fate of Fennbirn and its throne?

HOOOOOOO BOY. Words can hardly describe how I felt throughout this book.

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aAAAaaAAaaaaAAAAAAaAAaaAaAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

*panting* okay, I think I’m calm now.

Blake’s signature writing packs a punch once more. All of our favorite characters are back, fiercer and more spirited than ever. And, as usual, plot twists are thrown at you left and right. And man, if the end of One Dark Throne ended like a Marvel post-credits scene, this was basically Infinity War. No joke. (“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good…”)

It’s confirmed that there will be one more book to conclude the series, but I don’t think any more information other than that has been released, as Two Dark Reigns came out a little over a month ago. So fasten your seat belts, folks, we’re probably in for a rough ride in 2019 (or 2020…¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Come to think of it, 2019 is probably gonna be FULL of rough rides all around-I mean, Dark Phoenix, Avengers 4, Soul of Stars…whew, I’m gonna get me some tissue packs ASAP.

Well, I hope you liked today’s review, and have a great rest of your day! 🙂

Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (8/14/18)-Heart of Iron

Posted on August 14, 2018 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the first Book Review Tuesday of August 2018!

It’s the last day of summer for me, so I might as well end the summer BRTs with a bang. And by a bang, I mean a really, really, good book.

The book I’m reviewing today is exceptionally good. Astounding. Honestly, it might be my favorite book. (Yep…with all of the new series I’ve got into this summer, it seems The Search for WondLa series has been dethroned. Still pretty great, though.) I nearly bought it at Barnes and Noble a few months after it came out, but it was $22, so that was kind of ridiculous (despite the quality of the book). So I was delighted when I found out that it was only $7 on the Kindle store. I promptly bought it, started it on the plane ride to Chicago, and finished it in the hotel room. And I was hooked from page one.

Heart of Iron is a retelling of Anastasia, but set in, well, for lack of a better phrase, a galaxy far, far away. (*cue Star Wars opening crawl*) And it truly captured my heart.

Enjoy the review, everyone!

Heart of Iron

Ana barely has a clue about her past life. She doesn’t remember parents, siblings, or anything else close to a human family. All she knows is that she was found out in the darkest reaches of space, drifting in a spaceship with her Metal companion, D09. She was later discovered by Captain Siege and her crew of pirates and outlaws aboard the Dossier, and soon found a family to call her own.

Years later, D09 is becoming battered by all of the adventures in the galaxy; his glitches are more frequent, and it is only a matter of time before he shorts out completely. But Ana is dead set on fixing her first friend, and will do anything to save him. For that, she needs a new memory core; and in her desperation, leads the crew of the Dossier to the wreck of a long-lost ship. But upon arriving, she and the crew begin to discover that Ana might not be the orphan that she think she is…

OH. MY. GOD.

YOUR LIFE WILL BE BETTER IF YOU READ THIS BOOK.

I loved virtually everything about it. World building? Super fun to visualize, and not to mention amazingly crafted. Characters? I LOVE YOU ALL. I WILL PROTECT YOU ALL AT ANY COST. Plot twists? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Basically my brain cells during/after reading this book. AAAAAAAAAAA

So please, sci-fi fan or not, READ. THIS. BOOK. I gurantee your life will improve after doing so. Thank you, Ashley Poston, for this true gem of a book.

AND, the sequel is scheduled for some time in 2019!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Also, I have some fan arts underway; one is done, and I’ll probably do a few more.

Well, I hope you have a great rest of your day and week, and PLEASE READ HEART OF IRON. RIGHT THIS INSTANT.