So for Pirateathon we had the size of our the ship we got depended on the length of the book we read. I was going to be happy reading something medium length but at the same time I was looking for a book that featured time travel to fulfil another prompt I missed from Orilium about time travel so I found The Glass Sentence and it ended up being five hundred plus pages so it worked for both this
While the main protagonist of the story is Sophia a girl from 1800’s Boston the book comes alive because of its ensemble cast that comes together as Sophia tries to protect the glass map.
The main story focus around Sophia’s uncle Shadrack being kidnapped by at first unknown forces and Sophia going to look for him. Along the way she meets Theo a boy who was in a circus who broke into her house to try to find her uncle. Theo become her traveling partner on her way to the Badlands where she think she can find her Uncle.
The interesting thing about Sophia and Theo’s world is different places are in different time periods ever since something called the Great Disruption. It has made cartography an important art in the world and may have been the reason Shadrack was kidnapped. The Glass Map seems especially important because as Sophia and Theo make their way down the coast from Boston members of a cult called Sandmen seem to be intent on coming after them. These are the same men that are keeping Shadrack along with a mysterious woman. They will all meet in a city where things are not what they seem, but will Sophia be ready for the revelations the Glass Map brings?
Review
I was first reading this book just because I needed a long book. However the story is one of the best constructed I’ve read in a long time. The worldbuilding is amazing and I can’t wait to read the sequel. I also loved the ensemble cast that we say throughout the book they were all interesting and I wanted to know more about each of them.
I love the Orilium readathon, I had a great time with it in April and was looking forward to it this August. In April I managed to finish all my classes with no problem before the end of the month. But I don’t know if it was post COVID slowing me down or the fact that the fall semester was harder but I didn’t manage to finish all of the August prompts I’ll list first what I did finish then I’ll show you what I have to finish in September.
I had to get the second level Qualifed in Art of Illusion. I managed to do this via two books. For the Ordinary level Blur Face prompt: a book I didn’t know much about. I did Anne of West Philly. This was a great diverse graphic novel retelling of Anne of Green Gables.
I needed an Ordinary in Spells and Incantations I got this through the Spell Recolor where I picked a book via color wheel a then had to pick a book based on color. The color I got was teal and the book I picked was Just Roll with It.
This was an interesting book that explored OCD and dealt with it through the sufferer comfort interest of tabletop rpgs.
Need to Do
That was mostly what I finished. I still need to finish Psionics and Divination which has three books one that has has time travel, a book with the same word as your last read, I’m currently working on that one, that is second hand
I just went to the second hand book store and bought some books so I have that covered.
I also need a text with the cover the colors of the country or state flag, which is harder than I expected.
Another one I had a problem with was a book of someone’s worst list. At this point I’ve just decided to count the next book I come across because everyone hated at least one of the books I’m reading.
I’m also going to probably do some quests to get my guild points up and get ready for April when this comes around again or if there is a holiday surprise readathon.
Okay so I missed the Mid-Year Freak Out Tag however it is still summer and I have plenty of the rest of the year to panic. Here as my distribution of books you can spot where I got Covid in May and the Orilium readathon in April. This was done at the start of August so is not a true representation of the month.
1.) Best book so far in 2022
This was a tough one going with content over things you just love, hmm. But the Bone Spindle had to be my favorite it was both beautiful and wonderful in story. But at Mid-Year this book has to be my favorite. It’s a sweet gender flipped retelling of several fairytales worth a look for anyone who like that genre, I can’t wait to read the sequel, hopefully out next year.
Here are my thoughts on the book as well as an Amazon link for purchase.
Since it’s Mid-Year this wins over a sequel that comes out in September. The Genesis Wars was far and above one of the best books I’ve read and definitely the best sequel it also ends on a cliffhanger so we’ll be seeing more of the world so I can’t wait for that.
This has been one I’ve been trying to pick up but the library keeps taking it back before I finish reading anyone I need to focus on reading this is the point of it. It’s really witchy and very cool and I’ll probably get it read in the fall if nothing else. But I love Claribel A. Ortega and would love to finish it sooner maybe for Orillium readathon.
4)Most anticipated release for the second half of 2022
There is only one choice for this for this I’ve been waiting two years for this book. I did have a little sort of guide in between with a novella. But I’ve been waiting for the novel. Now only a couple months away. The ninth book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Stellarlune. As you see it’s beautiful, and it’s on top of the list of the series I can’t wait for, and I have a lot.
I thought this was going to be a good horror novel but it was more psychological and by that it was a girl manipulating everyone psychologically to avoid them finding out a secret, the real drama was a family drama. And while in had all the elements of a good horror novel it just wasn’t scary. A little horrifying maybe at what people can do but you weren’t ever scared of the main villain. A good possibility for horror lost.
I’d never read Rosie Thor before and I’d heard mixed reviews but honestly the cover on this one got me and then the story drew me in. It was a political allogory of the US 2016 election and the conclusion is amazing. It is was really one of my favorite books and I love the character growth throughout.
I’ve read a lot of graphic novels this year because they seem to keep me from slumping. So far I’ve discovered Johnathan Mayberry’s wonderful zombie fiction and Jules Machias’ excellent middle grade novel. Along with great political fiction by KayLynn Flanders and found great disability fiction from Monica Roe.
8) Newest fictional Crush
I don’t have any because I’m 31 and I’m reading YA and that would be weird.
9) Newest Favorite Character
Nix, Lilah and Riot from Rot and Ruin Series, Mandy from I am not Starfire, Jenna from Shielded.
10) Book that made you cry?
These two books made me cry but for two very different reasons, one made me cry because of its relation to real life and what the heroine does and what I’d like to be able to do.
The second because it’s simply sad, I was very invested in the characters and I won’t say spoilers but the outcome made me cry.
11) Book that made you happy?
This whole book made me happy though it’s only the first volume of the series I liked the friendships and the powers of the girls, it reminded me of Sailor Moon which always makes me happy.
12) Favorite book to movie adaptation you’ve seen so far this year?
Can it be comic book to movie? Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness was amazing despite my issues with how they treated Elizabeth Olsen’s character it was still a class A movie.
13) What’s your favorite blog post?
The book you seemed to like the most was the one where I did a post about books as scents. Here, there were also some readathon posts but that posts but that one seem to be the most popular. At mid-year I haven’t done as many post as I’d like so I’ll have to put some more energy back into that.
14) Most beautiful book you bought this year?
I mostly get books from the library. I’ve gotten some pretty ones but nothing I can really think of?
15) What do you need to read by the end of the year?
At Mid-Year I’ve read no where near the amount of books I need to read I had Covid this year so it really put me behind for I’d say the whole summer. I know I won’t make my 100 book goal but I’d like to get at least 20 more books maybe closer to 30 read. I’m really behind this year.
So were back to the Frozen universe and I couldn’t be happier with Jen Calonita, and Mari Mancusi at the helm I’m never worried about my post Frozen 2 books. Some people may not thinks the post Frozen 2 books are cannon, but they are so wonderful I really don’t care one way or another. They are cannon to me. This book Frozen: Polar Nights was especially good because it was a mystery.
This book start off like most of the other with the characters doing something adorable. This time Sven, Kristoff, Anna, and Elsa and Olaf are on a camping trip and as you do on a camping trip are telling scary stories. They are on this camping trip to give Anna a break from her preparations from the important Polar Night festival in which the sun disappears from the sky for awhile due to Arendelle being in the arctic circle.
As they are telling tales Kristoff tells the tale of two sisters one that wanted the power of the other and pushed the other over a waterfall, now the sister who was wronged has come back as vengeful spirit called a draugr—an undead creature that steals memories in an effort to make others forget the misdeeds it committed when it was alive. And it is supposed to come back if you tell the tale on the night it was wronged exactly what Kristoff is doing.
At first only Olaf is scared but when things start going wrong a people start forgetting Anna and Elsa start trying to get to the bottom of what turns out to be a true story of two princesses much like themselves who their family is tied in with.
I won’t spoil the ending but they find out the truth about the draugr and the two princess, and the darkness in their own past. They are able to make things right for another who they think is an enemy as well. And even though things haven’t been prepared Anna’s first Polar Lights celebration is a memorable one because she has her family with her.
So another week in August. I’m working on the readathon slowly but I think I’ll make some real progress this week. I’m doing the quests first and then doing my classes. Not terribly responsible but hey I was responsible in school, and my character was very responsible first equinox.
So Fable focusing on getting guild points and moving up in her guild this semester. This was actually a class read, the first class Fable finished. This book was for where I had to spin a color wheel to get a random color on the cover. I got teal. And this cover fit perfectly. Just Roll with It was the perfect book to get my class reads started and also my required book for.
Spells and Incantations
As for the plot itself it appealed to me for several reason. One I’ve recently gotten big into D&D which the game in the book is clearly based off of. In the book the main character Maggie carries around a D20 which she has to roll to see if she can do things, low rolls mean no, high rolls mean yes. she rolls the D20 for just about everything.
She also has rituals when she comes home. Her parents suspect that she has a mental health issue, however Maggie makes friends and focuses on her grades, but still the gossip of a monster around the school starts to get to her. Her obsessions and compulsions get worse she blows up at her parents when they mention the idea of therapy to her. Her fears show up in her dreams as a great white dragon.
When her school sends her and her friends to the zoo to prove there isn’t a monster she encounters albino animals that remind her of her dragon, but the zookeeper points out that they are in danger in the wild because they are easier to see and more often die because they can’t camouflage themselves. After learning all this Maggie returns to the school with her friends she sees something moving in the grass and even though she rolls a low number she uses a net one of her friends had that the were planning to use to catch the monster.
It turns out to be a baby albino alligator. They get it to the zoo and ignoring that roll inspire Maggie to face down her inner dragon, who turns out just to be a scared version of herself, she goes down to talk to her parents and agrees to therapy the book ends with her talking to her therapist and what her illness means and what it doesn’t and how it will affect her life.
If you remember back to April, you may not it’s kinda foggy to me. I did the Orilium Magical Readathon. It had linked back previously to the Novice Path where you created a character by going through a wilderness to go to a magical school. The Orilium Magical Readathon picked up where you were at the school and choosing your major so to speak, I chose to be a Dream Walker, they basically work with people’s dreams to especially if they are hurt or injured to help keep them happy and peaceful.
Also not completely ethical they can Dream Walkers can also manipulate it, influencing their next moves and planting the seeds of ideas the dreamers will think were their own, subtly influencing their actions. Once again, there are ethical concerns about meddling with such things. Though my Dream Walker is definitely on the sweeter side.
In the Orilium Spring Equinox we had to read a certain number of books based on subjects. This semester we have to read books to a certain level Ordinary, Qualifed or Distinguished. So we have more books to read because of this. Plus there are always the awesome quests.
As for my character here is their Orillium school ID.
We also have my Autumn Semester TBR.
I’m very excited to get back into this readathon I enjoyed it. I liked the community that came with the readathon the first time around. If you are looking for more information about the Discord and the Pateron of the Book Roast’s the readathon’s creator, check out the announcement video.
You know SAD, seasonal affective disorder that thing everyone gets in the winter. Nope not me I get it in the summer. If you look at the blog every year I have problems posting in the during June, July and August. I’ve tried different things to help. But I think I’m just going to have to end up taking summers off. I’ve had no motivation since May. Now it’s coming back. I don’t know if it’s the heat it has been pretty mild for summer where I am. It might be part of my schizophrenia as I just saw a poll where people voted that their symptoms get worse in the summer.
Mine sure do, plus I had, this summer, COVID for a month, a stomach virus from hell, and messed up my meds so I was out of it, this came to me being sick the whole summer. So posting wasn’t my first priority but I was reading and while I don’t think I’ll reach my goal of 125 books this year. I’m going to keep reading a try for 50 with a 75 stretch.
So it wasn’t the worst Summer when it came to reading I read some great books, all of which I plan to review here. Still personally it could have been better, on the upside though I got into D&D which has really been fun and has improved my life. So that was one positive from the summer. Tomorrow we will look at my TBR for the Magical Readathon which I’m so excited to be a part of.
So I’m sticking to one readathon in June, just one because I’m tired from COVID. Speaking of COVID I’m now over being contaigous but it turns out I had it for a month, COVID for a MONTH. No wonder may was so lackluster. Because of this I went with with Marvel A Thon. It has prompts I can meet yet a element of challenge This readathon is hosted by Lisadoeslife and has four teams based off of Marvel characters.
Along with team Black Widow hosted by Lisadoeslife, here is her introduction in the main video.
So what about the prompts and which team did I join do you ask? First off I joined Team Scarlet Witch. Wandavision made me cry real tears, and the Multiverse of Madness gave me feels for weeks. To be fair though it was close for Team Loki, because the Loki series also hit me in the feels and Tom Hiddleston is really a sweetheart. His fate in the main MCU timeline also made me cry some real tears and I can’t wait for the second season of Loki.
The Prompts
Five Star Prediction
I’ve been wanting to read this one for awhile about a girl who work at Renaissance fair with her family and wants to be a knight but the role is traditionally reserved for boys. She’s trying to change the norm. I’ve just been excited for this one for awhile and am glad I’m finally getting a chance to read it.
I have heard from so many source about how sweet this book is and I can resist a good fantasy or a good book about baking so I had to fit this book into the challenge.
I have an arc that I’m reading for this one. The there are two main characters in this one both with disabilities.
Miles Morales-Graphic Novel
Slip
After dealing with a close friends suicide attempt right before Jade is about to go to her art camp for the summer distracts her shouldn’t she be worried about her friend instead of focus on her camp. But she soon becomes comfortable and falls for another camper Mary. However her art isn’t letting her run from her feelings. Soon her creations are going to make her face down what she’s feeling if she won’t on her on.
For this book we had to let others on the Discord server pick which book they would like for us to read out of a group of our choices. This book is a gender bent retelling of The Three Musketeers with a someone dealing with a disability added in. Tania de Batz has always wanted to be a musketeer but that isn’t possible for a girl much less a disabled girl in France but things change rapidly soon after a something happens to her father and she finds herself at what she first thinks is a finishing school but turns out to be a school for lady spies.
First this book is adult which I don’t read and it’s over 500 pages which hits another bonus prompt on the tracker. So it’s long and out of my favorite genres I think that’s intimidating enough.
Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is the last person in Salem to believe in witchcraft—or think that her life could be transformed by mysterious forces. After losing her best friend and first love, Chloe, Eleanor has spent the past year in a haze, vowing to stay away from anything resembling romance.
But when a handwritten guide to tarot arrives in the mail at the witchy souvenir store where Eleanor works, it seems to bring with it the message that magic is about to enter her life.
This will also fit the second prompt which will be revealed in a second. .
Sad Book
Since Scarlet Witch’s story isn’t exactly a happy one we need to choose a sad book. This book finds a girl herself facing her own and literal demons as she tries to erase her family’s shame in this great new horror novel by Claire Legrand.
So I plan to read these as well as many witchy and red books that I can find. I know I’m a bit behind everyone else but I’m hoping to catch up and get out of this reading slump.
So you saw my picks for Seamstress yesterday, now I’m doing my second calling or my companion’s calling whichever works better for the readathon. This time I’m going for Bard which I think I would personally be in a Medieval setting just because the love of books.
The first line of this book just has you imagine the floor of the Scrabble tournament when our murdered heroine. This story about words fits perfectly for the Bard storyline.
CATALYST 13 points noun: a substance that speeds up a reaction without itself changing
When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It might be even though Najwa’s trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.
But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.
As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.
Level 2-Book with a travel element
The Genesis Wars
This is a story about the afterlife that almost killed me. I’ve been waiting for this book since the last one left me hanging oh 8 or 9 months ago. I’ve been waiting months for this title of royalty, betrayal and one girl on a journey to bring it all down. I think this fit for the Bard storyline because Nami is one girl fighting to tell her story.
It’s been ten months since Nami narrowly escaped the Four Courts and Ophelia’s wrath. Ten months since she was betrayed by someone she once considered a friend. Someone she poured her heart out to. And now her family here in the afterlife are gone, captured, and Nami is utterly alone.
On the run, only steps ahead of the AI forces pursuing her, and desperate to free her friends, Nami must take the allies she can find, even if she doesn’t fully trust them. And as she tests the limits of her own power, she must also reckon with the responsibility that entails.
Stakes are high as Nami navigates old enemies, unexpected allies, and an ever-changing landscape filled with dangers and twists at every turn. Along the way, she’ll learn powerful truths about who she can trust and the sacrifices that must be made in order to fight for a better, freer world for all
Thirteen-year-old Ellen Katz feels most comfortable when her life is well planned out and people fit neatly into her predefined categories. She attends temple with Abba and Mom every Friday and Saturday.
Ellen only gets crushes on girls, never boys, and she knows she can always rely on her best-and-only friend, Laurel, to help navigate social situations at their private Georgia middle school. Laurel has always made
Ellen feel like being autistic is no big deal. But lately, Laurel has started making more friends, and cancelling more weekend plans with Ellen than she keeps.
A school trip to Barcelona seems like the perfect place for Ellen to get their friendship back on track. Except it doesn’t.
Toss in a new nonbinary classmate whose identity has Ellen questioning her very binary way of seeing the world, homesickness, a scavenger hunt-style team project that takes the students through Barcelona to learn about Spanish culture and this trip is anything but what Ellen planned.
Making new friends and letting go of old ones is never easy, but Ellen might just find a comfortable new place for herself if she can learn to embrace the fact that life doesn’t always stick to a planned itinerary.
Level 4-Book Over 400 Pages
Sorcery of Thorns
This book felt perfect for the Bard calling because it has to do with books and libraries I feel like that is something a bard would encounter during the course of their career.
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather.
Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.
As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.
Had to have a comic in here. I love the collaboration of multiple authors in comics so I had to have a comic on my list.
After defeating a former Zodiac Member and her mean-girl minions, the girls thought they’d catch a break! But once a mean magical girl, always a mean magical girl and Libra’s former best friend wants that power back! Determined to bring the goddess Cimmeria into our dimension, her coven opens a portal to the dark dimension Nephos, only they don’t get what they bargained for. A new big-bad has come out to play and demons begin to overrun the town! Zodiac Starforce discovers they aren’t the only Zodiac team in the game and together they form a tenuous alliance to find out who’s behind the demon infestation.
So I’m going to go back though and show how I did on the April Readathons over the next few days. But right now I wanted to put my May TBR Readathons up. I’m going to be participating in a few readathons. The first one is Medieval A Thon. In this readathon you start at a low level in society and then raise your status by reading books. You can get to the top by reading 10.
Each calling though only requires four books so I think I might be doing two callings or a calling with a companion. Medieval a Thon requires you to pick a calling then read books for that callings prompts.
For my first Calling I’m going to be a Seamstress
Level 1: Squire-A book you’re unsure about
I’m not sure where or not I’ll like this since it mostly focuses on one girl’s training in the military but I’ve looked at the pictures from the comic and they are beautiful and it also deals with race relations in fantasy so I’m giving it a chance.
I’ve been wanting to read this for awhile but I haven’t had time due to different readathons. But this fits the prompt plus then I can read the second book which looks super cool as well. Also I believe this cover fits this whole general feel of Seamstress which is working on beauty.
I can’t tell from just the kindle copy if it’s embossed but it is very shiny and so I hope it fit the challenge, I’ll continue to look around and if I find one shinier I might switch it in, but until then this has gold print and lots of golden light so I think it fits the shininess of the challenge.
At this point no one should be surprised the last book I borrowed was a book about pre-teen witches. I love the cover on this one keeping with the pretty covers for all of these books. The concept is also really cool and and I really can’t wait to read some more witchy fiction.
Though Tooley’s cover’s are simple they are always lovely to me. Her last book remains on of my favorites and I can’t wait to dive into this one. Because I’m sure the text is as beautiful as the cover.
