What I've Read Lately (Ish): Fantasy Edition

Okay. So by lately, I mean...in the last four months. I have been hideously remiss at writing book reviews lately. Considering I'm, you know, a book review, I don't know why those are always the posts I have to dredge up the most focus/concentration/perseverence/five shots of liquor  to get done, but sometimes i just REALLY DON'T WANT TO WRITE REVIEWS PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME HOW MANY WAYS CAN I SAY THAT THE WORLDBUILDING WAS REALLY LUSH??

Zeus almighty, I'm lazy.

So today, I'm taking the lazy way out, with Zeus' gift to the lazy word-putting-into-sentence-doers of the world: the bullet point. Bless you, oh beautiful bullet point.



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Series: Yes, #2 in The Girl at Midnight series
Release date: July 12th, 2016
Publisher: Delacorte (Random House)
Length: 421 pages
Source: purchased

A battle has been won. But the war has only just begun.

Everything in Echo’s life changed in a blinding flash when she learned the startling truth: she is the firebird, the creature of light that is said to bring peace.

The firebird has come into the world, but it has not come alone. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and Echo can feel a great and terrible darkness rising in the distance. Cosmic forces threaten to tear the world apart.

Echo has already lost her home, her family, and her boyfriend. Now, as the firebird, her path is filled with even greater dangers than the ones she’s already overcome. She knows the Dragon Prince will not fall without a fight. Echo must decide: can she wield the power of her true nature—or will it prove too strong for her, and burn what’s left of her world to the ground?

Welcome to the shadow hour.

The Shadow Hour, In Bullet Points

--sequel to The Girl at Midnight

--The world continues to be terrifimaze. The mythology is tremendous, and I love learning more about the Drakharin (secret race of dragonpeople YES DRAGONPEOPLE) and the Avicen (secret race of bird people YES BIRD PEOPLE) and the accompanying magickssss

--ACTION IS TERRIFAMAZE

--BANTER IS TERRIFAMAZE

--SHIIIIIIIIIIIPS!

--squad goals. I worry so much about this band of dorks

--Tanith is life. Echo and Caius and Dorian are also life.

--wanderlust like whoa

--the pace of the plot is on the slower side, focusing mostly on the emotional and romantic entanglements of the characters

--strangely enough i did not ahve an issue with this sort of angst fest

--because the characters are life

--ENDING WHUT WHYYY AHHHH

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Series: Yes, Alternate Detective #1
Release date: June 14th, 2016
Publisher: Tor Teen
Length: 336 pages
Source: ARC from publisher

Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga, makes a living repairing the chimneys, towers, and spires of Bar-Selehm. Dramatically different communities live and work alongside one another. The white Feldish command the nation’s higher echelons of society; the native Mahweni are divided between city life and the savannah. And then there’s Ang, part of the Lani community who immigrated there generations ago and now mostly live in poverty on Bar-Selehm’s edges.

When Ang is supposed to meet her new apprentice, Berrit, she finds him dead. That same night the Beacon, an invaluable historical icon, is stolen. The Beacon’s theft commands the headlines, yet no one seems to care about Berrit’s murder—except for Josiah Willinghouse, an enigmatic young politician. When he offers Ang a job investigating the death, she plunges headlong into new and unexpected dangers.

Meanwhile, crowds gather in protests over the city’s mounting troubles. Rumors surrounding the Beacon’s theft grow. More suspicious deaths occur. With no one to help Ang except Josiah’s haughty younger sister, a savvy newspaper girl, and a kindhearted herder, Ang must rely on her intellect and strength to resolve the mysterious link between Berrit and the missing Beacon before the city descends into chaos. 

Steeplejack, In Bullet Points

--DIVERSE FANTASY, set in a world inspired by nineteenth century Johannesburg

--there are hippos and giant fucking cats and colonialism and shit, it's bomb (not the colonialism bit, but you know)

--I fucking loved the world building. So many details and a fully realized clash of cultures and races

--Ang CLIMBS THINGS AND SOLVES MYSTERIES. DODGES BULLETS, SAVES BABIES, IS AWESOME GENERALLY

--loved Ang's internal crisis regarding her background/family/social status and the way she clashes with it, wants to break from it, and also misses it hugely

--I wanted certain character elements to be pushed further and harder. (mostly ship things, let's be real) (but just in general) I wanted to get really emotional over ALL the things but what really got me was Ang's bond with the little moppet boy whose name i have forgotten but he made me cry

--still shipping Willinghouse

--super intriguing mystery. most of the things i SUPER DID NOT GUESS, though one big revelation I super did

--SET UP FOR SEQUELS IS SO REAL (watching this Willinghouse ship like a hawk)

--look, I know what I am about



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Series: Yes, Furthermore #1
Release date: August 30th, 2016
Publisher: Dutton (Penguin)
Length: 416 pages
Source: ARC from BEA16

The bestselling author of the Shatter Me series takes readers beyond the limits of their imagination in this captivating new middle grade adventure where color is currency, adventure is inevitable, and friendship is found in the most unexpected places.

There are only three things that matter to twelve-year-old Alice Alexis Queensmeadow: Mother, who wouldn't miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. The day Father disappears from Ferenwood he takes nothing but a ruler with him. But it's been almost three years since then, and Alice is determined to find him. She loves her father even more than she loves adventure, and she's about to embark on one to find the other.

But bringing Father home is no small matter. In order to find him she'll have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. Her only companion is a boy named Oliver whose own magical ability is based in lies and deceit--and with a liar by her side in a land where nothing is as it seems, it will take all of Alice's wits (and every limb she's got) to find Father and return home to Ferenwood in one piece. On her quest to find Father, Alice must first find herself--and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss.

Furthermore, In Bullet Points

--okay so this book is AMAZING BEYOND COMPARE

--no seriously i have never in my life read writing this beautiful. It is Laini Taylor level beautiful. Just magnificent

--Tahereh is a word wizard

--Alice is utterly precious

--so is Oliver

--BABY MG SHIP

--I am garbage

--oh my god the world was this vagely Wonderlandish world and I just LOVED IT TREMENDOUSLY. So lush (lolz) and humourous and dark

--SO VISUAL GAH I CANNOT TAHEREH IS SO CREATIVE

--if you buy one middle grade book this year let it be this one. My feelings. The plot. It's probably too long but like I don't care I will follow Alice and that infuriating Oliver anywhere

--COLOR and MAGIC and WHIMSY and FRIENDSHIP

--take me backkkk


And that was Gillian cheating at book reviews! I feel so accomplished.