“Hassan was deep in prayer.”
First line in The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
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?
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson which I gave 2 stars, and that one extra star was purely for the writing. Everything about the story itself made me want to hurl the book across the room. It was riddled with plot conveniences and that’s despite the plot not being all that complicated. The characters travel and are hunted for some unknown reason but I guess there needed to be some kind of action in an otherwise boring book.
The ending was also the weirdest thing, and I’m left with a feeling of not really knowing that the point of this book was. It’s a historical fantasy but it really didn’t do much with its historical setting or its Islamic characters. Those aspects were supposed to make this interesting but they were just there to lure you in and then they were forgotten about.
Also, I technically haven’t finished my reread of The Shamer’s Signet, but I will by the time you’re reading this. I remember now why it is my least favorite in that series. It kind of takes a detour and introduces some new characters, but it was still enjoyable enough to read.
What are you currently reading?
The Bitter Twins by Jen Williams, the sequel to The Ninth Rain, although I’m only 14% in. Not much has happened yet, so I’m just enjoying being back with the characters. There’s one I’m particularly attached to and I missed him so much! We’re also still doing world-building, so I’m getting the sense that we’ll never stop doing world-building. It’s fine. There’s a kind of scientific approach to it which is cool.
What do you think you’ll read next?
I’m picking up two books from the library today: The King of Crows by Libba Bray and The Serpent Gift by Lene Kaaberbøl. The Serpent Gift is the third book in The Shamer Chronicles that I’m doing a reread of, and I’m excited to see if this is still my favorite one.
First Line Reader 
The Bird King sounds lovely 🤣 I’m glad you had a few better books alongside it as well!
Also, I read The Shamer’s Daughter over the weekend and loved it! The atmosphere of the world reminded me a bit of The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren, so I got hit with a huge amount of childhood nostalgia 😊 But you know what I just found out – they only translated the first book into German!! 😤😠 How can you just stop translating mid-series?? My bookshelves are primarily organized by language, so if I buy the rest of the books in English, then I’ll have to split up the series! Why?? 😫 But I also don’t want to get an English copy of the first book when I already have a German one, so it’s a true conundrum 🙈😂
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What? You don’t want to read The Bird King? I’m so surprised! 😂
But you reading and loving The Shamer’s Daughter just made my day! 🤗 I haven’t read Lionheart in its entirety so I don’t know how much they compare but it doesn’t surprise me if Kaaberbøl was inspired by Lindgren. I’m sorry you can’t continue with them in German, though. Danish translators also just stop mid-series sometimes, so I’m glad I’m not counting on them for anything 😅 But I see you have a tough decision to make! I hope you get to read the rest of them even if it is in English.
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Funnily enough, I don’t think The Brothers Lionheart and The Shamer’s Daughter compare much plotwise, but it’s just something about the writing in general, and the way the world is described 🥰 It was just so easy to get lost in the story! So yes, I’ll definitely be reading the next books, even if it has to be in English – then I can also start comparing translations, at least 😁 The German one was actually really good, only sometimes it would have these weird spontaneous switches from standard German to more colloquial phrases where I kept wondering whether it was intentional or a slip-up on the translator’s part 🤔 However, university may have just damaged me into overthinking that kind of stuff 🤣
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I know by now that German translators like to be very creative with their translations so I’d be very curious to know if you notice any outrageous changes by reading the rest in English 😄 I’ve definitely found that I already have enough for a Lost in Translation post but I want to read the entire series first to see how much there is. University has definitely damaged me into overthinking too 😉
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Ohhhh, King of Crows is so good! I hope you enjoy it!
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Thank you! 😁
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Enjoy your reading!
I’m currently reading The Woman in Cabin 10 and listening to Dragon Keeper!
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