“He was an easy mark.”
First line in The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty
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 City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty, which I gave 4.5 stars! I finished it Saturday morning and that ending made sure I could do nothing productive for the rest of the day. Starting a new book was definitely out of the question because my thoughts would constantly drift to The City of Brass and its mindblowing plot twists. I think I finally know what a book hangover is. I don’t want to spend to much time on the book here because I’ve written a very long review that goes up on Saturday. But it was very, very good and I’m so happy that Naemi from A Bookowl’s Corner made me read it!
What are you currently reading?
I’m currently 35% into In Ashes Lie by Marie Brennan, the sequel to Midnight Never Come. It takes place several decades later which I was a bit nervous about before starting, and I’ll say it hasn’t won me over yet. Like Midnight Never Come, it’s slow and boring, but I think it has become more plot-focused rather than character-focused, and I think that’s why I’m struggling a bit. The writing is still great, so I’m enjoying it for that, but I really need to see how it all comes together at the end to judge the book properly.
What do you think you’ll read next?
We’re nearing the end of Wyrd and Wonder, which means I’m again allowing myself to read something that isn’t Historical Fantasy. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping I get Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo from the library. I need to know how that ends. If I don’t get it, I’ll probably stick to Historical Fantasy and pick up The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty because I’m clearly addicted now. Finally, I need to say that both of these will be yeeted to the side if a certain book arrives at my doorstep: Book Depository has dispatched by pre-order for The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley (AAAAAH!!).
First Line Reader 
Don’t worry, I’m very glad I made you read The City of Brass, too 😁😂 You have no idea how excited I am for Saturday!!
Also, I kind of binged through both Midnight Never Come and In Ashes Lie this weekend… 😅😂 You were so right, Midnight Never Come was exactly my type of book! (And OMG, it was Doctor Faustus inspired!!! It had acts like a play!! 😍🤩 How did you neglect to mention that?! Though okay, fine, I actually liked discovering it myself 😁And I’m so mad at myself for not recognizing where the title came from because I’ve actually written an analysis on that very scene for university 😅)
However, your thoughts on In Ashes Lie pretty much mirror my own, too… I really missed the character-drivenness, and it never really grew on me as much as the first one did 😕 But of course, I’m still gonna keep reading these! (And more thoughts on the series will probably be coming in my wrap-up, so stay tuned 😉 I might also write a series review, depending on when I finish the rest of the books, but we’ll see…)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Again I’m envious of your reading speed but so glad you loved Midnight Never Come so much you just had to continue 😂 When I reached that Faustus reference in the book, I actually laughed because I just knew I had to force you to read it somehow! And I was actually wondering if you could guess the plot twist just from the title, so I also didn’t want to say too much. And I suspected you might like how it was structured like a play, but I honestly forgot to mention it in my review 😅 But I also didn’t know about it before going in, so I agree it was a nice discovery.
And I’m very excited for more of your thoughts on these books! 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, we did have a long weekend here (which also helped with my workload situation, since my students didn’t have to turn in any homework that needed correcting this week 😁), so it wasn’t just reading quickly, but also finally having loads of time to do it!
And I really wish I had picked up on the title! Even when Tiresias quoted an entire passage, I apparently did not notice, because it took Lune requoting it to Deven for me to finally realize “Wait, I know this!!” But I’m glad you had enough faith in me to think I might possibly guess it 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey you can’t blame me for thinking you’d guess it from the title after that whole thing with The Betrayals. I’m putting nothing past you anymore 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m honestly still pretty proud of myself for guessing that twist correctly 😂 But I suppose I used up all my reader intuition in that one go and didn’t have any left for Midnight Never Come 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person