2018

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 (2/20/18)-Thunderhead

HEY EVERYONE!

Again, I’m home sick, (I SWEAR TO GOD, THIS COLD WILL NOT LET GO), but don’t worry-this time, I’ve got a book review!

This one’s a book I’ve been anticipating eagerly since October of last year. It’s the sequel to Scythe (If you want to see my review for that one, see 10/17/17), and boy, if the first book was mind-blowing, Thunderhead BLEW IT OUT OF THE WATER! Which, honestly, was no surprise, as Neal Shusterman is a spectacular author, but let me just warn you that the ending left me…

…how should I say this?

Speechless. Mentally unstable. Shook. DEADISH.

Alright, I had to throw in a Scythe joke in there at some point. Not sorry. Here’s your review!

No spoilers. Promise.

Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe, #2)

Since their apprenticeship, Citra and Rowan-now Scythe Anastasia and Scythe Lucifer-have gone in wildy different directions. Scythe Anastasia has remained within the Scythedom as it slowly crumbles into corruption. She knows something must be done, but everything she tries is blocked from all directions. Even with the help of her mentor, Scythe Curie, it seems that the Scythedom is doomed. Scythe Lucifer, after failing his apprenticeship, has broken off from the Scythedom, snuffing out all of the Scythes he deems corrupt. He’s now one of the most wanted people in the Scythedom, but thusfar, he has evaded them for almost a year. Through it all, Scythe Anastasia isn’t the only one with it’s eyes on the Scythedom’s path. The Thunderhead, the digital ruler of the new world, is not pleased with what it sees. But is there anything it can do?

Okay, THIS BOOK IS A MASTERPIECE. FIVE BIG FAT STARS. SOLID TEN ON MY SCALE. JEEEEEEEEEEESUS, I LOVE THIS BOOK.

(SIDENOTE-I’m pretty sure I looked like Chris Pratt here a few times while reading Thunderhead. No joke.)

Yep, I think the Arc of a Scythe series is now up there right next to The Search for WondLa and Keeper of the Lost Cities as one of my favorite book series of all time.

Well, thanks for reading, and stay warm/healthy/sane!

*mic drop*

Posted by

madelinetodd

Posted on

February 16, 2018

Posted under

Book Review Tuesday

Comments

Welp…

Yeah, sorry, I forgot to do the BRT this week, sorry. I was home sick, and I kept thinking of doing it, but I never ended up doing it. I’ve been reading some really good stuff lately, though, so you can expect something good for next week’s BRT. 😉

Also, Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day! (Believe it or not, I had something of a date…if you can call Neal Shusterman’s Thunderhead a valid date…)

Don’t worry, I’ve got something good up my sleeve for either tomorrow (or sometime in the very near future), because Car Seat Headrest’s Twin Fantasy review came out today, and boy, am I pumped! I’ll probably do a review of it, and you can expect that it’ll be far less salty than my MASSEDUCTION review I did last year. (Such a disappointment…)

HAppY vALentIMeS