“Place ten dozen hungry orphan thieves in a bank burrow of vaults and tunnels beneath what used to be a graveyard, put them under the supervision of one partly crippled old man, and you will soon find that governing them becomes a delicate business.”
First line in Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
Hi, guys. 5 star books in 5 words was originally created by Matthew Sciarappa over on Youtube and is actually a really fun tag. I’ve seen it around a lot as part of Wyrd and Wonder already and wanted to add my version. The rules are:
Pick 5 books you rated 5 stars.
Describe your love for each book by picking 5 words.
Don’t explain the words. To those who haven’t read the books, it might not make sense.
Since it’s Wyrd and Wonder month, I’ve of course chosen 5 fantasy books so let’s get to it!
The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith
Hell – Books – Friendships – Hero – Authors
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Doors – Volumes – Feelings – Honey – Destiny
Timekeeper by Tara Sim
Clocks – Spirit – London – Anxiety – Damage
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Light – Politics – Spren – Bridge – Swords
Half Bad by Sally Green
Witch – You – Heritage – Captivity – Betrayal
Were you able to make any sense of that? Well, it was fun to do so if you fancy doing it yourself, feel free to consider yourself tagged.
“It was late winter in northern Rus’, the air sullen with wet that was neither rain nor snow.”
First line in The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Hi, guys. It’s time for a tag. I picked Get to Know the Fantasy Reader Book Tag because this is my first time participating in Wyrd and Wonder so it felt appropriate to make a sort of introduction. This tag was originally created by The Book Pusher on YouTube and is a modifiction of another tag called Get to Know the Romance Reader. There are 10 questions so let’s get to it.
1. What is your fantasy origin story? (How you came to read your first fantasy novel)
I’m not sure but I believe the first book I read outside of school was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when I was about 9 or 10. I had gotten the first two books in the series for 2 Christmases in a row when I was 6 and 7. Otherwise known as ages where you’re not able to read yet. My mom didn’t seem to care about that so she kept buying them for me, and books are just not the most exciting present when you’re 6 years old. I tried reading the first one with my grandmother but we didn’t even get through chapter 1. Starting the series from the POV of Vernon Dursley was actually a risky move on Rowling’s part. So yeah, the books sat on my shelf for a few years until one day when I was bored out of my mind and I thought “I might as well give it a go.”. Proving that old saying that it’s good for you to be bored sometimes.
2. If you could be the hero/heroine in a fantasy novel, who would be the author and what’s one trope you’d insist be in the story?
I love this question. The author would be Katherine Arden. She has written my favorite heroine in fantasy (Vasya) so I would trust her to make me look great and improve the things that need improvement. The one trope I would insist on is the exsistence of a magical library. Preferably for me to live in it.
Now I really want Arden to write a book about a magical library. Any kind really. I just want her words describing it.
3. What is a fantasy you’ve read this year, that you want more people to read?
Talking about magical libraries, The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith isn’t being read by enough people. It’s about a library in Hell which holds all the books that have yet to be written and the ones that never will be. What’s really cool is that characters from these books may materialize to search for their authors. It also has the best group of flawed characters that are so easy to latch onto.
4. What is your favorite fantasy subgenre? What subgenre have you not read much from?
It might not be my absolute favorite subgenre but I want to mention historical fantasy as something I really enjoy. I’m just very picky about it and therefore haven’t read much from it. In my experience, these books tend to very romance heavy and that’s not really what I want. I just want the fantasy in a historical setting. Some of my favorites are The Binding by Bridget Collins and Winternight Trilogy by Kathering Arden. If you know of any similar books, please share.
The subgenres I’ve read the least from would probably be steampunk or paranormal fantasy. Not really something I have an interest in either.
5. Who is one of your auto-buy fantasy authors?
I don’t exactly have one but Leigh Bardugo is probably the closest. I own 4 of her books and at least consider buying anything she puts out. Victoria Schwab is a close second.
6. How do you typically find fantasy recommendations? (Goodreads, Youtube, Podcasts, Instagram..)
Mainly on YouTube or other blogs.
7. What is an upcoming fantasy release you’re excited for?
There’s a lot of course so I’m going for something I haven’t seen talked about much. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix which is out September 22nd 2020. I mean that is the best title I’ve ever heard so that alone makes me excited.
8. What is one misconception about fantasy you would like to lay to rest?
I think some people have the misconception of fantasy as it being only epic battles, epic quests and epic political scheaming. You know… epic. Especially when talking about adult fantasy. There are so many other facets to the genre. I mean, Circe by Madeline Miller and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern are also adult fantasy just to mention a few. I’ve actually been working on a dicussion post about this which will be up very soon.
9. If someone had never read a fantasy before and asked you to recommend the first 3 books that come to mind as places to start, what would those recommendations be?
Jesus.. Well, first I would have to conduct a 30-minute interview to get to know their taste. In this hypothetical scenario I guess I’ll just throw in 3 great starting points.
10. Who is the most recent fantasy reading content creator you came across that you’d like to shoutout?
Becca and Her Books is a BookTube channel I recently starting following. She reads both fantasy and romance and is a huge Sarah J. Maas fan. Even though I don’t read Maas, I still like watching Becca’s videos. She creates her TBR around a game of bookopoly every month and for some reason that is so satisfying to watch.
Now you know a little bit more about me as a fantasy reader. Feel free to do the tag yourself. I thought it was some really interesting questions and would love to see other people’s answers. You can also just write some of your answers in the comment section. Happy reading!
Hi, guys. I wanted to do a get-to-know-me kind of tag and had seen this one being done quite often. It was originally created by the BookTube channel About To Read a long time ago but it’s still a great tag if you ask me. So let’s just jump into the questions so that I can tell you how I deal with typical reader problems.
1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?
First of all, I’m pretty good at keeping my TBR fairly short (currently at 88) so I can easily go through it and pick whatever peaks my interest at the time. Second of all, I read a lot of series. That means there’s always a sequel I need to read and I usual jump to another series after reading just one book in a series. I like to switch it up.
2. You’re halfway through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you quit or are you committed?
I can’t quit on a book, and I hate myself for not being able to. But for some reason I can’t help but think “What if the ending is so good, it changes what I thought about the beginning?” I must admit that right now I can’t think of a book where that actually happened. It’s more common for me to not like the first book in a series but then loving the sequels. Then I’m glad I ended up pushing through that first one.
3. The end of the year is coming and you’re so close, but so far away on your Goodreads reading challenge. Do you try to catch up and how?
I’ve never not met my Goodreads goal because I always set it to something I know I can manage. Maybe that defeats the purpose of it being a goal but I like that satisfying feeling of Goodreads telling me that I’m ahead of schedule. Don’t judge me. So in the case that I for some reason can’t reach my goal… then I’ll just lower it. I don’t want to stress about it.
4. The covers of a series you love do. not. match. How do you cope?
I haven’t encountered this problem as I don’t buy very many books and once I do, they are often completed series that I know I love. Then I can just buy the covers that match because that does matter to me for some reason. Not enough though that I would go out and buy several copies of the same book just to get the covers to match.
5. Every one and their mother loves a book you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?
…No one. I don’t have any friends who read the kind of books that I do or the amount of books I read. I feel like that’s quite common for people here in the online book community. We’re here because we don’t have anyone else to talk to. So I guess I’ll talk to whatever book blogger or BookTuber I can find who shares my unpopular opinion which is just as great!
6. You’re reading a book and you are about to start crying in public. How do you deal?
I do a lot of reading in public as a I have a long commute to work so this is a very relevant question. I very rarely cry when reading and when I do, it’s often a book I know will make me cry. So I just don’t read that one on the bus. My problem in public is that I can sometimes react in other ways than crying when I’m reading. It is no less embarrasing but I try to be as subtle as possible. If I can’t then too bad. I’m not too worried about something like that.
7. A sequel of a book you loved just came out, but you’ve forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Will you re-read the book?
Occasionally, I will reread the previous book. Mainly if it was one that I really, really loved and would reread in the future anyway. Normally I skip the reread because it’s just too time consuming and sequels tend to recap the important stuff anyway.
8. You do not want anyone. ANYONE. borrowing your books. How do you politely tell people nope when they ask?
Nobody has ever wanted to borrow my books, so if anybody ever asked I would likely answer with a “YES, please take them!”. Just so I can get more people to read my favorite books. The only exception would be my Harry Potter books. They are old and have great sentimental value so I’m expecting people to be understanding.
9. Reading ADD. You’ve picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over your reading slump?
Luckily, I rarely get hit very hard by reading slumps. I very much appreciate my time on the bus to and from work in that regard because that really helps. Like when your options are reading or looking out the window for 45 minutes, you might as well read. I manage to get through the less good books that way and get to the amazing ones that often are the cure to a reading slump.
10. There are so many new books coming out that you’re dying to read! How many do you actually buy?
Extremely few. I only buy new books it’s a book I’m sure I’ll love. That often means that I have to know the author and/or it’s a sequel to an all-time favorite of mine that I can’t wait for library version of. I might also buy some of them later on if it turns out that my library won’t get them.
11. After you’ve bought the new books you can’t wait to get to, how long do they sit on your shelf before you get to them?
The few times I do buy the new books, they don’t even hit my shelf before I start them. Sometimes, I will even start reading them on the bus on the way home from the bookstore.
That was The Reader Problems Book Tag. Let me know if you find my answers weird or you somehow relate to some of them. Otherwise, happy reading!
Hi, guy. Today we’re doing a book tag because it’s been a while and it’s going to be The Netflix Book Tag. It was originally created by BookTuber A Darker Shade of Whitney.
I wasn’t tagged or anything but I’m doing it anyway. Let’s go.
Recently Watched: The last book you finished reading
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. The most beautiful book I’ve ever read. Both inside and out. Please, don’t let it be another 8 years before she writes another book.
Top Picks: A book/books that have been recommended to you based on a book you have previously read
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. This book was compared to A Little Life by Hanya Hanagihara and I honestly didn’t need to know more before adding it to my TBR. Even though the story sounds like it’s quite different, I’m still looking forward to reading it to hopefully get that feeling of A Little Life again.
Recently Added: The last book you bought
I don’t buy books very often so the last book I bought was in October and that was Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell.
Popular on Netflix: Books that everyone knows about (2 you’ve read and 2 you haven’t or have no interest in reading)
For the 2 that I’ve read, I picked The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Radio Silence by Alice Oseman. Both are very important books but in their own way.
Then I picked 2 popular books I have no interest in reading:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Despite its popularity, I know I will hate so many things about it, so it’s not worth my time.
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff. I don’t like reading about assassins and I’m also put off by the school setting. Then it doesn’t seem like there’s much left of the book for me to like.
Comedies: A funny book
Not actually comedy but Carry On by Rainbow Rowell will always make me laugh. Mainly because Simon is so bad at being the hero that it’s comedic.
Drama: A character who is a drama queen/king
At first, I couldn’t really think of a character that fit this description. Then I found the perfect answer…Kvothe from The Name of the Windby Patrick Rothfuss. The man who claims it takes 3 whole days to tell his life story and then creates the most dramatic story that builds tension all the way through. Oh, and of course makes himself look like the perfect hero of the story.
Animated: A book with cartoons on the cover
I’m going withThe Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer which is a Middle Grade so of course there are cartoons on it.
Watch Again: A book/book series you want to reread
I want to reread the Shades of Magic trilogy by V. E. Schwab. I planned to do it this year but I might wait until the second trilogy in the universe gets a release date. Then I would want to reread it closer to that.
Documentaries: A non-fiction book you’d recommend to everyone
I don’t exactly read non-fiction. Going through my Goodreads shelf, I found one so I guess we’re going with that. Feminsts Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies) which is a collection of essays from 52 women about feminism. Not all the essays are particularly good but I highly recommend the one from Kat Dennings. That one is still making me laugh.
Action and Adventure: An action packed book
The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare. A book in the Shadowhunter universe about Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane who go on a relaxing vacation together. They are interrupted a lot which means a lot of action scenes. All the time.
New Releases: A book that just came out or will be coming out soon that you can’t wait to read
It’s going to be a while before this one is out but I can’t wait to read Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth. It follows a group of chosen ones 10 years after they did their thing which I think is so cool. As someone whose favorite trope is the chosen one, I can’t think of a better premise for a book.
That was The Netflix Book Tag. Since I wasn’t tagged myself, I feel weird tagging others but feel free to do it if you want. I think it’s a great tag so I’d love to see other people’s answers to these questions. Have a great day!
A book I didn’t expect to like but ended up giving 5 stars. An Ember in the Ashes takes place in a Roman inspired fantasy world where we follow Laia who’s trying to save her brother from the Empire. To do that she needs help from the Resistance and one of the Empire’s own elite soldiers in training.
Always going to recommend
I’m recommending an author here instead because Madeline Miller only has two books anyway and I couldn’t pick one. The Song of Achilles and Circe are both mythology retellings, but you don’t need to know the original stories before reading these. Miller’s writing is gorgeous, and I would die for every single one of these main characters.
Own it but haven’t read it yet
I’m someone who don’t usually buy books before I’ve read them, so I don’t own any fantasy books that I haven’t read yet. Instead, There Will Come a Darkness is just a book I really want to read. It sounds like it contains an exciting twist to my favorite trope: the chosen one trope. Even though it has gotten some mixed reviews, I still really want to see how it unfolds.
Would read again
There are so many options to choose from for this question, because I’m quite big on rereading. Shades of Magic by V. E. Schwab is a trilogy that I read very quickly, so I would like to reread it to take my time with it. I plan on doing that in 2020.
In another world
Eragon and The Inheritance Cycle in its entirety takes place in Alagaësia. It’s a vast and highly detailed world created by Christopher Paolini.
Back on Earth
Half Bad was once my favorite series and I still think it’s a very good series. It’s all about witches who live in our own world. There’s a war going on between the good and evil witches (and those in between), and it all gets very dark.
That was it for the Quick Fire Fantasy Book Tag, which was quite fun to do. I’m always up for talking about fantasy. I tag you if you want to do it. I’d love to see other people’s answers for these prompts.
“Neil Josten let his cigarette burn to the filter without taking a drag.”
First line in The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic
Hi fellow readers. It’s time for a tag and I chose one of the popular ones this time. We all love those unpopular opinions and I was in the mood to be controversial. The Unpopular Opinions Book Tag was originally created by the bookTuber, TheBookArcher, so you can go watch that video if you want to. Cue the questions!
A popular book or series that you didn’t like
Starting out with the tough question. Of course, I have more than one answer for this. Firstly, we have Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi which is gave 2 stars. This was SO hyped that it would never have been able to live up to it. However, there were so many things I didn’t like about it. It had very poor writing that was incredibly repetitive and didn’t move the plot along very fast. Also, the insta-love that happened TWICE didn’t connect with me.
(Dis)Honorable mentions for this question include The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire (I don’t hate the series but it wasn’t for me) and Vicious by V. E. Schwab.
A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love
This question is more fun for me but I have fewer options to choose from. I’m going with a book in a series and that is Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. This final book in The Hunger Games trilogy is probably everyone’s least favorite for a lot of reasons. It’s also my least favorite but only because I love the first two so freaking much. Mockingjay is very close though. I’ll admit that I also hated it when I read it the first time, but I’ve changed my mind about it over time. I ended up loving that there was less action so we got to spend more time in Katniss’ mind and experience her PTSD.
I also
appreciate the ending which a lot of people hate. ***SPOILERS*** I always hated
Gale so I loved it when it was proved how big of a jerk he was. Also, it was
not a happy ending in the slightest and I think that is a very brave decision
to make and so refreshing in YA. It would have felt forced and unrealistic to
have everything just solve itself be like ‘yay let’s all live happily ever
after’. *** END OF SPOILERS***
Honorable mentions for this question include Release by Patrick Ness (rating on Goodreads is 3.73) and Eragon by Christopher Paolini (rating on Goodreads in 3.89).
A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with OR an OTP that you don’t like
Are there
still love triangles in books or have I just managed to avoid them? I can’t
think of any recent reads that featured love triangles. Also, in the older YA
books that had them, I always rooted for the most obvious choice so I was never
disappointed.
I can only think of one OTP I didn’t like and that is from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I’m not mentioning any names but if you’ve read it, you know. Sanderson apparently can’t write romance. That OTP was just a good friendship and not anything romantic.
A popular book genre that you hardly reach for
I never read horror but I’m not sure how popular that actually is outside of the month of October. Other than that, I also never read thrillers or mysteries. The few people in my life who read, read mysteries so I know that one is very popular and I would never pick one up.
A popular or beloved character that you do not like
I really thought long and hard to try and find an answer to this that wasn’t the first character that popped into my head. Just to try and be a little less controversial but no… so we’re discussing Lila Bard from Shades of Magic by V. E. Schwab.
To be honest, I think Lila is a bad person but more importantly, I also think she’s a badly written character. That hurts to say because I really love Victoria Schwab. Lila has zero character development, and that’s across 3 whole books! And there was just so much room for her to improve that I kept waiting for it. The “personality” I assumed was a front turned out to be real. She actually is that not-like-other-girls character that I despise because she does whatever is in her power to be like a man. It just seemed very fake, and it annoyed me that the other characters just applauded her for it.
Rant over but I know a lot of people love her so I’d love to hear why in the comments.
A popular author that you can’t seem to get into
Neil Gaiman. I’ve read 3 books by him and the highest rating has been 3 stars. It’s weird because I actually don’t think I hate his writing style. It’s funny and engaging so no complaints there really. I think my main problem with Gaiman is that I don’t like his stories. I’m very often bored and find myself not caring about the characters. You can attribute that to me picking the wrong books, so I’ll also point out that I’m not done trying. He’s written so many different things that there simply must be something I like.
A popular book trope that you’re tired of seeing
I actually did a post solely about this topic a short while ago so I’ll be lazy and pick one of the ones mentioned in that. The competition. If a book features some kind of big competition, I’ll seriously be on the fence about picking it up. It sets the structure of the book from the beginning where I prefer the structure to be more unpredictable and surprising. I do like books that feature a competition, but that is typically because I absolutely love something else about it. I just often see readers who will pick up a book purely because of the competition element. I’m not one of them.
A popular series that you have no interest in reading
Funnily enough, I also have a recent post about popular books I don’t want to read. Here, I’m going to pick one that I didn’t think of when making that list: Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. From what I understand, this is incredibly difficult to get into. It’s making me think that there are so many other fantasy series I’d rather read. I’m not seeing myself ever getting to Malazan.
The saying goes “The book is always better than the movie”, but what movie or TV show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?
I’m going to have several answers here because I actually think it happens fairly often that the movie or tv show is better than the book. After all, this is the unpopular opinions tag, right? First one is The Magicians by Lev Grossman, which was turned into a tv show on Syfy. The books and the tv show are very different but I actually think that the tv show managed to take the good parts of the books and just expand them. The books aren’t bad but they’re just not on the same level as the tv show. At least until the middle of season 4. After that there’s no reason to watch it (can you tell I’m pissed?)
My second answer is Twilight. Not that those movies were the best thing ever but they did better than the books. In all the movies they actually added a climatic moment because those didn’t exist in the books. I mean, how can you write 4 books without a single climax? That doesn’t work in movies so I’m glad they added that.
I also have two honorable mentions here which are The Lord of the Rings and Outlander (only read the first book in Outlander though).
So, there you have some unpopular opinions. I’m not afraid of people disagreeing with me so please feel free to yell at me in the comments. Of course, I’d also appreciate to know if you agree with me. You can yell about that too.
“One summer night I fell asleep, hoping the world would be different when I woke up.”
First line in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
I wanted to do a tag and had come across this one a couple of weeks ago. I really like Disney so that was the only excuse I needed. The Disney Book Tag was originally created by Kat from the booktube channel Katytastic and you can see her video here. Let’s get onto the questions.
Answer: Enne Salta from Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
A character out of their element is a typical thing to come across especially in fantasy books. However, no one is more perfect for this than Enne. She’s spent all her life trying to become a proper lady. You know, she’s polite, knows what all the cutlery is for etc. In the beginning of the book, she arrives at New Reynes which is the complete opposite of what she’s used to. There’s crime, violence and gangs which she then has to navigate to find her mother.
Bonus answer: Eugenides in The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. It’s the third book in the series and therefore too spoilery to talk about but if you’ve read it, you know what I mean.
Answer: Vin from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
I struggled a bit with this one but decided to go with Vin. I can’t think of anyone else having as much character development as her. She’s a completely different person by the end of book three. Also, she kind of gets the whole Cinderella transformation in the first book so she needs to be my answer here.
Answer: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
SO many characters in this one both good, bad and everything in between.
Answer: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
The third book in The Inheritance Cycle about Eragon who finds a dragon egg. I remember that this quartet was supposed to be a trilogy but Brisingr was added because Paolini couldn’t contain the story to only three books. In my opinion, Brisingr shouldn’t exist. As far as I remember, NOTHING happened in it and I was so bored the entire time. I really like the other three books but this one was just pointless.
Answer: Jude St. Francis from A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Let’s just not talk about that because I’ll just cry again.
Answer: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
I feared this book because so many people love it but the synopsis didn’t sound like something I would like. I don’t normally enjoy that storytelling narrative that this is so heavily based on but I actually ended up enjoying it. The writing kept me hooked because that was just beautiful.
Answer: Lazlo Strange from Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
Lazlo almost seemed to obvious to me. His entire character is based upon his wish to find the lost city of Weep and someone happens to show up to take him to it. I definitely think his life improved by getting his wish granted.
Answer: Arya Stark from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin.
At first, I thought this question would be really difficult but then I remembered Arya. When is she actually Arya Stark in these books? She most often goes by other names (Arry, Weasel), and Martin puts emphasis on how she becomes those names/people. She is even more appropriate for this question in the later books.
Answer: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
I want to be able to talk to Cath and be a nerd with her. I also just want a guy like Levi to exist in real life because he’s just so sweet.
Answer: Ruin from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
I feel like I often go with The
Mayor from Chaos Walking for this type of question so I wanted to pick someone
else. Ruin is almost all-powerful and that is the kind of villains I love. I
need to actually fear for the characters and feel like the villain could trick
me at any moment.
I hope you enjoyed this little tag. If you want to do it yourself, consider yourself tagged. Otherwise, happy reading!
