Miscellaneous Thoughts13 Comments

Fun for Monday: Good to Meetcha *Original Tag*

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I made a tag! In my continuing quest to retrieve my bloggy mojo, this seemed like a good idea. Time will tell, eh?   I hate the usual “what do you do?” and “where are you from?” questions that normally get fired out upon making a new acquaintance. The answers invariably fail to give me any sense of the person I’m talking to, and feel … judge-y. So this tag is about the things I actually want to know when I first meet a new person (specifically, the ones I want to be friends with). (I know I should insert … Continue reading Fun for Monday: Good to Meetcha *Original Tag*

Book Thoughts10 Comments

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

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A copy of this book was very kindly provided me by the publisher. I can’t promise that this didn’t influence my feelings about it, but a book is a book is a book, however I acquire it, and I can promise that all opinions are my own.   I wanted so much more from this book. The world in which the story is set was one of the first things I wanted more of. The country of Hwaguk, now known as Administrative Territory Fourteen and undergoing colonization from the Razanei empire, is a place of contradictions and dualities. Most people … Continue reading Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

Miscellaneous Thoughts15 Comments

Fun for Monday: Dreamy Book Covers

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As this blue mood of mine doesn’t seem to be shifting, I thought I’d try to inspire myself with a tag about one of my favourite things: book covers. Not much talking going on here, just a few visual delights. This is another tag I found via the wonderful Zeezee, and it was created by Tiana the Book Raven, who I’ve linked to below because there are… …RULES: Thank the person who tagged you and spread the love. (I wasn’t tagged, but thank you Zeezee for always finding such excellent tags). Mention the creator of this tag: Tiana @ The … Continue reading Fun for Monday: Dreamy Book Covers

Miscellaneous Thoughts14 Comments

Fun for Monday: Anything but Books

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I found this tag over at Zeezee’s last week (I’m sure I’ve said it before, but Zeezee is the queen of tags and I love her for it, as well as for her awesome self!), and thought it was perfect for my current not-quite-back-in-the-bloggy-game mood. It was created by booktuber ReadorRot. Let’s get these questions answered!   Name a cartoon that you love We’re currently working our way through That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, an anime series which is pretty funny. I used to love the Animaniacs, and I saw somewhere that they’re making/have made a comeback … Continue reading Fun for Monday: Anything but Books

Book Thoughts5 Comments

Lady Mechanika: The Clockwork Assassin by M M Chen, Joe Benitez, Martin Montiel & Beth Sotelo

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I have enjoyed each volume of Lady Mechanika so far, but must admit to also being a little disappointed that, after the first two lovely chunky volumes, the following episodes have been shorter and very much monster-of-the-week in content. Mostly my disappointment has been focused on the fact that there didn’t appear to be more than seven volumes published (I went ahead and ordered everything I could find when I finished The Lost Boys of West Abbey), which is definitely not enough space in which to conclude everything that’s been started. I’ve basically been anticipating the disappointment of an incomplete, … Continue reading Lady Mechanika: The Clockwork Assassin by M M Chen, Joe Benitez, Martin Montiel & Beth Sotelo

Book Thoughts12 Comments

The House of Styx by Derek Künsken

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A copy of this book was very kindly provided me by the publisher. I can’t promise that this didn’t influence my feelings about it, but a book is a book is a book, however I acquire it, and I can promise that all opinions are my own.   Venus. A planet characterised by its thick cloud cover of sulfuric acid, and its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere. It is 2255 and Venus’ Québécois colonists have declared independence, at a high price. Indebted to the Bank of Pallas, these new Venusian citizens have a long way to go before they are out … Continue reading The House of Styx by Derek Künsken

Book Thoughts9 Comments

You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce

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Something I love most about gothic novels is the framing device used to draw the reader out of reality and into spooksville. Whether it be found documents, letters, diary pages or, as in You Let Me In, a confessional document left with a set of instructions for the beneficiaries of the main character’s will, I love that feeling of sinking into another person’s reality. Cassie’s reality is a dark and fractured thing. A successful romantic novelist in her later years, she is also a notorious local figure, having been on trial for the murder of her husband years before. At … Continue reading You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce

Book Thoughts11 Comments

Monstress: Haven by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda

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I really am just throwing this up on the blog whilst running past – there’s a lot going on IRL right now that’s totally cutting into my bloggy time. As a result I haven’t been able to keep up with blog post reading or commenting either, for which I am truly sorry. I think I’m just going to have make a clean break and start again when this busy spot is done with. The guilt and dread I’m feeling over the ever-increasing stack of unread posts in my saved list isn’t helping right now. I can only apologise once again. … Continue reading Monstress: Haven by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda

Book Thoughts7 Comments

Spirits that Walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

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I read Spirits that Walk in Shadow for Wyrd and Wonder and then ran out of time to write up my thoughts and post them. And then got distracted. For a whole month. But hey, better late than never, eh? This is the third Chapel Hollow book, a series of books that are only very loosely connected and can easily be read as stand-alone stories. The thread that runs through them is the group of magical families whose customs and practices are mostly kept secret from we ordinary folk. Magic is often used by these families to coerce and enslave, … Continue reading Spirits that Walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

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Assassin’s Orbit by John Appel (ARC)

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A copy of this book was very kindly provided me by the publisher. I can’t promise that this didn’t affect my feelings about it, but a book is a book is a book, however I acquire it, and I can promise that all opinions are my own.   Nine people attending a private get-together, all business people, politicians or staff, are killed double-tap style. It’s the first mass killing on Ileri Station in seventeen years and one of the victims, bodyguard Saed Tahir, is the grandson of Fathya Shariff, of Shariff Security. Fathya’s business partner, private investigator Noo Okereke, whose … Continue reading Assassin’s Orbit by John Appel (ARC)