“Fitful drafts of chill air blew in through the cruciform windows of the Bell Tower, and the fire did little to combat them.”
First line in Midnight Never Come
Hi, guys. I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying Wyrd and Wonder in case you’re participating. 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?
The first book I checked off my Wyrd and Wonder TBR was Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan, and I gave that one 4.5 stars. It really worked for me in ways I didn’t expect it to with its amazing writing and compelling characters. I already posted my full review for it, so I’m going to direct you towards that if you want to know more about my thoughts.
What are you currently reading?
Now, this section isn’t going to be as positive. I’m reading The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell which I’m 73% into, and which I’ve been wanting to DNF for the past 100 pages or so. I’m not going to because I don’t like to DNF, but right now, I’m hating myself for that. A lot isn’t working in this book, so I almost don’t know what to highlight, although the “romance” is making me want to pull my hair out (and I really like my hair). It’s primarily based on insta-love and the two characters being awful towards each other. It’s so toxic. And of course, it’s taking over the plot and even the development of the magic system. I still have so many questions about how it works, but if the author explained it, I guess the plot holes would be even more obvious than they already are.
The other book I’m reading at the moment is Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia which I’m 39% into. I don’t have any strong feelings about it, to be honest. It’s fine so far. The writing is a bit too simple for my taste, so I think that’s why I’m not itching to pick it back up when I’m not reading it. I also find myself unable to un-see the parallels to the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden because there are quite a few similar story elements actually. And comparing this book to my favorite trilogy is really not fair because to me, it’s never going to be as good as that one, obviously. I’m enjoying the mythology elements of the book, though, and I’m still undecided about the main character, but I could grow to love her.
What do you think you’ll read next?
The final book on my Wyrd and Wonder TBR: City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty, the first book in the Daevabad trilogy.
First Line Reader 
Hahaha – you have no idea how much I enjoyed that Last Magician rant 😁 Now that I’m no longer in danger of biasing your reading experience, I think it’s safe to tell you that that book made it onto one of my most disappointing books of the year lists (2017, I think?) 😁 Everything about the synopsis sounded so cool, but I felt very meh about it… Although if I remember correctly, one of the few things I actually enjoyed about it was the romance 😅 Though I barely recall any details, so it can’t have been all that impressive. Maybe I was just young and naive back then…
I really hope you’ll end up liking The City of Brass, though!
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The Last Magician is definitely also going on my disappointing books of the year list! A strong contender for the worst book I read this year. I’m so annoyed by everything! 😡 It’s like it’s trying to copy both The Diviners and Six of Crows and just doing a terrible job. And I’m sorry but the romance is making me so angry 😅 I only have 80 pages left and then I’m so excited to start City of Brass! 🤗
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I totally agree on The Last Magician seeming like it was trying to copy Six of Crows! Since I read The Diviners afterwards, I didn’t pick up on any parallels there, but from what I still remember, I don’t think you’re wrong about there being many similarities, either 🙄 But at least I have a good rant to look forward to when you’re done 😂🤗
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