“I awoke in the glow of a young world, when man knew of hunting but not tilling, of stone but not steel.”
First line in A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir
Hi, guys. I hope you’re all doing well. WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words, and it’s meant to give you all a little insight into my reading this week. I’ll answer the 3 questions:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish?
- What do you think you’ll read next
What did you recently finish?
I’ve completed two books in the past week. The first, A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir, which I gave 3.5 stars. For a long while it was on a solid four stars, but some things about the ending didn’t quite do it for me, and it added to the general feeling I had about the plot being a bit weak. I still really enjoyed myself while reading this, so I’m incredibly sad that I have to say goodbye to these characters now. The development some of them goes through in this final book was so beautiful to follow and I want more.
I also finished The Betrayals by Bridget Collins, and oh my god, that was 5 stars! That book took over my life! I’ve made so many mistakes at work this past week because I suddenly figured something out and had to follow that train of thought. You see, there are so many mysteries in this book, and that actually made it quite confusing to begin with. My main thought for the first 70-90 pages was “what the fuck?”. But then I figured out what themes Collins was trying to explore in her own very unique way and I was hooked!
Other than that, it’s very difficult to talk about this book because everything is a spoiler. As you might have guessed, a big part of the reading experience is trying to analyze the small clues you get along the way. I still want to try and write a review for this because it definitely isn’t a book that’s going to work for everyone.
What are you currently reading?
It has finally happened! I’m reading The Martian by Andy Weir. I’m 30% in and really enjoying myself. It is actually the perfect book to read after The Betrayals as that one was very dark and tense. The Martian is still quite dark, but is has that lighthearted humor to kind of make you forget about the darkness. And I’d heard this book described as funny and so was a bit worried whether it would be my kind of humor. It so is! I’ve been smirking so many times already.
As usual, the science parts are going over my head, but I’ve decided just to trust Mark and believe whatever he says. I don’t need to understand it. I’m still very invested!
What do you think you’ll read next?
I’ve had two library books come in so I’ll be starting both Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson and The Shadow of the Wind by Carloz Ruiz Safón. Dawnshard is a Stormlight Archive novella, and The Shadow of the Wind is a book about books I’ve been meaning to read for forever.
First Line Reader 
Yesss the character development in Sky was A++!! I read that book months ago but I’m still not over this series 😭 Ooh I’d love to know what you think of The Shadow of the Wind — I’ve been hearing a lot of great things about it!
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Uh the character development! I mean, Helene was already my favorite character, but somehow she became even better in this one! And I’ve also only heard positive things about The Shadow of the Wind so I’m really excited.
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Enjoy your reading! I hope to read The Martian soon!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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Oooh, I’ve never even heard of The Betrayals, but it sounds so intriguing! I always love piecing together clues, so I can very much relate to you being distracted at work 😁
And I’m so happy you’re enjoying The Martian! 🤗 Trust me – I didn’t understand all the science and math stuff either, even though I’m about to get my math master’s 😅 But the parts I did understand seemed correct, so I also decided to believe in the plausibility of the rest 😁 And I just love Mark Watney’s sense of humor!
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I also only knew about The Betrayals because I’ve read another book by the same author. I haven’t seen very many people talking about it, but they should!
Lol if you don’t understand the science either, I feel a lot better about myself 😅 I’m just sitting here feeling stupid because I cared about languages in school and not science in any form. And languages are just not useful on Mars! But yes, his sense of humor is awesome! Just read about how he redefined something as pirate-ninjas, and it’s just so stupid and so funny 😂
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Well, this is the first time I’ve heard of both the book and the author, so I’ll definitely have to remedy that! Though right now, I’m still making my way through Royal Assassin 😊 I reread the first book this weekend and started right after, but then thesis craziness got in the way 🤣 But is it just me or did Fitz become as obsessed with Molly in this one as Kvothe did with Denna in The Name of the Wind? 🤔 I’m not so sure what to think of these developments 😅
And haha, yes – I loved the sciences in school (though I was unsurprisingly also a huge languages fan 😁) and still felt kind of stupid in the wake of Mark’s brilliance. So you’re fine! And I agree, his thoughts on piracy are very intriguing 😂
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The universe just does not want you reading Royal Assassin 😂 But I’ll let you know that most of my review for it is me hating on his relationship with Molly. I don’t like it, but I actually hadn’t thought about it compared to Kvothe and Denna. I think I kind of accepted Fitz and Molly more because of Fitz’s constant loneliness as a child. When he finally found someone he loved and that person loved him back, it was bound to become an obsession. Still not a big fan, though, but I get it.
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Maybe 😂 But I’m over halfway through now, so hopefully I’ll finish it tomorrow! Though Fitz’s Molly-obsession is kind of getting on my nerves, too 😅 Your explanation does make sense, I guess, but I still think Fitz’s feelings changed from innocent admiration in the first book to obsessive adoration in the second one really quickly… So yeah, I’m not the biggest fan, either. But I absolutely love Nighteyes, so I guess that more than makes up for it! 😍
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