<–The State of the Reader: 7/4/18          The State of the Reader: 8/1/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

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Books Purchased: 3

• The Astounding Antagonists by Rafael Chandler – $2.99 @ Amazon on 7/11/18
• Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey – $2.99 @ Amazon on 7/11/18 
• Turtles All the Way Down by John Green – $15.99 @ Target on 7/13/18

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Books Finished: 2

Title: Black Hammer, Vol. 1: Secret Origins
Series Title: Black Hammer
Author: Jeff Lemire
Artists: Dean Ormston & Dave Stewart
Date Added: September 15, 2017
Date Started: June 28, 2018
Date Finished: July 5, 2017
Reading Duration: 7 days

Media: Paperback (Library

This was fantastic.  All of the characters were complex, and many of them were rightfully bitter about their fate.  They might have been attempting to play a big, happy family, but there were a welter of unresolved issues centering around their inability to escape the situation.  I’ll be continuing this series and reviewing the entire thing when done.

Title: Wytches: Volume 1
Series Titles: Wytches
Author: Scott Snyder
Date Added: October 9, 2017
Date Started: July 8, 2019
Date Finished: July 15, 2018
Reading Duration: 7 days

Media: Paperback (Library)

This was…okay.  I liked how the novel was a bookend (I’m fond of those, don’t you know?) with why everything was happening tied to an incident in the beginning of the book.  I also liked how the in-story comic tied in with the plot, as well.  That was clever.  I also loved Sailor’s aesthetic.  She has a cool, quirky look, but I honestly felt like her character wasn’t developed much beyond that.  Despite the fact at one point her father says this is “her story,” it seems more like the focus is on him.  I was also a little disappointed in the “wytches” themselves.  I was hoping for a little more originality with that idea, but I’ll talk more about that when I review.

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Currently Reading

Title: Ireland’s Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth
Author: Mark Williams
Date Added: October 5, 2017
Date Started: July 6, 2018

Media: Hardback
Progress: 2%

This is one of those books that you have to read as though you’re back in school.  I really want to try to absorb the information instead of just reading it over.  I realized that I don’t really remember some of the more integral parts of things like The Mystical Qabalah, and I’d have to refer to it in order to make certain points.  Books that intend to impart information require more attention/concentration than novels that tell a story, and of course I’ve complained about my concentration problems in the past.  I’m trying to use some methods to remedy that.

What’s fascinating about pre-Christian Ireland is that nothing about the pagan deities would’ve been salvaged if the island hadn’t been converted.  It was during this time that the old gods were written about at all, which of course begs that question of what might have been lost in the transition from oral to written.  The way this book is presented is both engaging and informative.  It’s something that’s going to take me a long time to get through, so my reference/classic slot will be filled for a while.

Title: Dolor and Shadow
Series Title: Tales of the Drui
Author: Angela B. Chrysler
Date Added: June 16, 2016
Date Started: July 4, 2018

Media: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 32%

This is one of those stories that could’ve been resolved if people had garnered even an iota of information before they acted and/or didn’t blame an entire group of people for the heinous act of one or a few.  I’m also pretty certain that the crime was set up in such a way that the one group of elves would be blamed in order to start a war.  GRRM had characters use lies to start a war in his epic, so I’m not going to be surprised if that’s what occurs here.  Even now things could still be resolved if Kallan and Rune, the respective queen and king of their people, talked to one another and understood they share a similar pain, but Kallan was born into a war that took her mother; she inherited her father’s; and her grief is literally killing her.  I also like the other kind of odd factor that tie Kallan and Rune together.  Even though it was really predictable who was who when it was happening, it’s still an enjoyable scene.

Title: A Reaper at the Gates
Series Title: An Ember in the Ashes
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Dated Added: August 23, 2017
Date Started: July 2, 2018

Media: Hardback
Progress: 39%

Today the author of this Sabaa Tahir liked one of my tweets to here where I mentioned the Nightbringer so score one for TSN.  I think this series is better than The Hunger Games.  It has  similar…urgency to it, but it’s not like the copycat YAs out there (e.g. Divergent, The Maze Runner, etc.).  Putting it in a Ancient Rome-like setting helps a great deal, but it’s also the fact that every character is so vibrant.  You’re never given quite what you need when you need it, just like the main characters.  You either almost find out something or are given only enough to force you to figure it out for yourself.

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I returned the wrong Black Butler and picked up the correct first volume, so I’m excited to start reading that.  I should read Lumberjanes first since that has to go back sooner…I should also check and see when I have to return these books so I can renew them if necessary.  I still have Black Hammer: Secret Origins, because my husband is reading it.

How are you doing with your reading challenges?

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<–The State of the Reader: 7/4/18          The State of the Reader: 8/1/18–>