Munmun

Munmun by Jesse Andrews

I picked up this book because another reader was so very enthusiastic and had a very curious yet careful way of explaining the book. After reading it... I get it.

An amazon summary, "In an alternate reality a lot like our world, every person’s physical size is directly proportional to their wealth. The poorest of the poor are the size of rats, and billionaires are the size of skyscrapers.
 Warner and his sister Prayer are destitute—and tiny. Their size is not just demeaning, but dangerous: day and night they face mortal dangers that bigger richer people don’t ever have to think about, from being mauled by cats to their house getting stepped on. There are no cars or phones built small enough for them, or schools or hospitals, for that matter—there’s no point, when no one that little has any purchasing power, and when salaried doctors and teachers would never fit in buildings so small. Warner and Prayer know their only hope is to scale up, but how can two littlepoors survive in a world built against them? A brilliant, warm, funny trip, unlike anything else out there, and a social novel for our time in the tradition of 1984 or Invisible Man. Inequality is made intensely visceral by an adventure and tragedy both hilarious and heartbreaking." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Ultimately this book felt like a coming of age story, wrapped up in survival themes, but also a caste system. ..it's a bit much, but it's mostly okay?

Alright, let me back up. When I first read the description I was kind of like, "So, it's the Borrowers and Giants with everyone in between and it's all based on their money? ...what???" But again, the other reader had that enthusiastic, curious yet careful way of trying to explain the book. So I gave it a chance.

Warner and his sister Prayer had a Father who was crushed by a bigger person who was pushed to step on top of their house by other bullies. Their mother was crippled and unable to work, which left Warner and Prayer to fend for themselves. Their mother wants them to go to law school so Prayer can attract a lawyer and make them all bigger through marriage/shared munmuns. Munmuns are essentially currency and the more munmun you have, the bigger you are.

Prayer and Warner go to law school, and Usher, Warner's friend, tags along for the journey as protection for Prayer...but he's in love with her and hopes she falls in love with him. Their whole mission is to find a husband for Prayer essentially...but the journey starts getting filled with mishaps and adventures along the way. 

The thing to keep in mind, is Prayer, Warner, and Usher are all little, about the size of rats. Cats, dogs, basically everything that moves and is bigger than them is a real threat to their safety. Their fragile, but never count them out.

There was a little bit more to this odd book, there are a lot of words spelled how they sound. Like 'ecks' is actually 'x'. There are strong themes of illiteracy because they're poor, did not go to school and it's cleverly reflected in the writing throughout the book.

There were also big themes throughout the book about the coming of age process that was super highlighted by the caste system and different dilemmas not only with coming of age but also society as a whole. I would go more into that, but it's woven throughout the story for the long haul, and no spoilers.

ALL OF THAT BEING SAID, I'm not sure it worked together cohesively and coherently. Admittedly, due to the style of writing it was a quicker read, but there's a LOT of content. It's 404 pages and I'm not entirely sure the ending is ...well, good enough for the rest of the content of the book. It's definitely an ending, I'm just kind of annoyed at which like last notes the book decides to end on. It makes a kind of heart wrenching point that echoes from previous parts of the book, but.... I wanted it to hit the gong so to speak. I feel like it was a xylophone end note rather than the booming gong I needed it to be? ... look at all these analogies.

Overall, I did like it, I really enjoyed the mechanics of the big/small once it was explained (I stopped thinking of them as Borrowers, haha). I'm kind of all over the book shelf on this one (haaaaaaaaa....haaaaaaaaaaaaa).

Happy reading!

Seeker of the Crown

Seeker of the Crown by Ruth Lauren

This is the sequel to A PRISONER OF ICE AND SNOW and will undoubtedly have spoilers for the first book. If you don't want A Prisoner of Ice and Snow spoiled, I would recommend not reading this review.

An amazon summary, "The fate of the queendom rests in her hands.

One month has passed since Valor broke her twin sister Sasha out of jail. But the girl responsible for her imprisonment, Princess Anastasia, has gone missing, and Valor still longs for justice. So when the queen, desperate to find her daughter, asks Valor and Sasha to track Anastasia down, they don't hesitate to accept the perilous assignment.

But just as the girls team up with old friends to embark on the search, the queen vanishes without a trace. If Valor can't restore the rightful ruler, she risks getting sent back to prison . . . and tearing her newly reunited family apart. Relying on her own instincts-and some allies she can't quite trust-Valor must navigate twisting city streets, bustling docks, and hidden passages to foil Anastasia' nefarious plot before it's too late.

Set once again in the icy and dangerous queendom of Demidova, Ruth Lauren sweeps readers on another unforgettable adventure alongside an equally unforgettable heroine." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

After the events of last book, Princess Anastasia has escaped the dungeons. To alleviate suspicions from Prince Anatol, he's been banished so he cannot be perceived to be involved with Princess Anastasia's plans/acts. The Queen secretively approaches Sasha and Valor to give them a couple tasks she feels they would handle. To Sasha, she asks her to look into the prison where Sasha and Valor were previously held to improve conditions. To Valor, she asks her to find Princess Anastasia.

Valor finds a couple of friends who helped her break out of the prison, and are thrust into a whirlwind adventure trying to figure out where Princess Anastasia is, what she is up to, and also who she might be working with... BUT, in the midst of this, the Queen has disappeared in the middle of a chaotic moment in the middle of a festival. So now chaos on top of chaos.

The world building held up overall, there was a little more of the culture shown, but a lot of it was Valor, Sasha, and crew running around and just constantly trying to fix everything, get one step ahead of Anastasia and her crew. I want to see more of the culture to kind of show why Valor and Sasha are SO LOYAL to the queen, their country, etc. I know their Dad is a trusted adviser to the queen, and their mother is the First Huntswoman (so Sasha is the apprentice to their Dad and Valor is the apprentice to their mom (for those of us playing along at home)); but it still strikes me as a bit ODD that their children are entrusted with these BIG IMPORTANT TASKS when others could probably have done it...? ....?????

I did enjoy this book more than the first book since I felt it was a more complete story...and it may have helped that the story took place in multiple places of the country rather than mostly the prison.

I would still love to see MORE of the country and culture, but I suspect a book three is in the works, and all this political intrigue is keeping my interest piqued.

Happy reading!

Queens of Fennbirn

Queens of Fennbirn by Kendare Blake

This is kind of like a double prequel story, adjacent story to two other books in a series, THREE DARK CROWNS and ONE DARK THRONE. I don't think this book really reveals any spoiler for the first two books in that series? But it also explains a few things that were unexplained in the previous two books but alluded to? I kind of hope we see a few other stories similar to this about other alluded to stories.

An amazon summary which better tells you it's two stories in one book, "Together in print for the first time in this paperback bind-up, the dazzling prequels to the Three Dark Crowns series are finally available for fans to have and to (literally) hold. Uncover the sisters’ origins, dive deep into the catastrophic reign of the Oracle Queen, and reveal layers of Fennbirn’s past, hidden until now.

The Young Queens

Get a glimpse of triplet queens Mirabella, Arsinoe, and Katharine during a short period of time when they protected and loved one another. From birth until their claiming ceremonies, this is the story of the three sisters’ lives…before they were at stake.

The Oracle Queen

Everyone knows the legend of Elsabet, the Oracle Queen. The one who went mad. The one who orchestrated a senseless, horrific slaying of three entire houses. But what reallyhappened? Discover the true story behind the queen who could foresee the future…just not her own downfall." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Since these are two short stories in one smaller book, I'm just going to give my reactions to each story.

The Oracle Queen freaking felt like a cop out. It started out pretty detailed, in depth, well paced, then suddenly flew into a flurry of everything happening at once. It was kind of obnoxious since I really liked reading the story up until the flurry started. We got to see the Oracle magic and also the War gift (which are both only alluded to in the other two books). We did get to see more of the island's inner workings and kind of see the seeds of how the current day in the other books came to be? It didn't feel like nearly enough though. So much more could have been accomplished in this story, but it does explain a few questions I've been asking which was nice. I did like the story overall, I just wish it maintained it's pacing/thoughtfulness. 

The Young Queens explains a lot about the foundations of each person. I really liked this because it also showed who their mother was and how she felt about the island/rituals/world; especially as she had to leave her babies at the black cottage. I did like how it shows the queens when they're taken to their respective capitals/families to raise them, since I felt that also showed us some revealing traits about their characters that were touched on and hinted at in the other stories.

Overall, if you read the other two books and LIKED them, want to know more about some of the history that's alluded to in them, I would recommend reading this book. I don't think if you skip this book, you'll miss out on anything for the other two books.

Happy reading!

Furyborn

Furyborn by Claire Legrand

This book was published on May 22, 2018. I got my hands on an advance reader copy, which is uncorrected proof. The version I read of this story may be different from the published version.

I also tacked on the 'Unreadable' label to this blog post...which means I didn't finish reading this book. I made it roughly 300 pages out of the 491 pages in the advance reader copy version before I gave up.

An amazon summary before I delve into the madness, "The stunningly original, must-read fantasy of 2018 follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world...or doom it.

When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.

One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable―until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world―and of each other." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

At the very beginning of the book, there's a 14 page section that happens two years after chapter 1. Chapter 1 is told from Rielle's perspective. Chapter 2 is told from Eliana's perspective 1,020 years in the future. So you have two timelines to keep track of. For the sake of my brain, we're going to call those first 14 pages Year 2. Rielle's perspective is Year 0. Eliana's perspective is Year 1,020.

So in Year 2, we learn that Rielle has crazy powers, has just birthed a child, is at odds with an angel, can tap into something called the empirium, someone named Simon is half human half angel (which is apparently RARE and a no no; they were exterminated I guess?) and whisks the child away somewhere with a teleportation ability.

...then chapter 1 begins in Year 0. Already we're off to a great start.

Year 0 centers around Rielle who has hidden her powers for years. Apparently a lot of people are able to control one of the seven elements (which are slowly revealed throughout the book, not all at once) but usually people have to have some sort of medium to summon their power. They also only have one. Rielle can control all seven elements and doesn't need any mediums. She accidentally killed her mother when she was young and lost control. Her powers are also revealed in a horse race where she saves the prince (who she loves - did I mention she was raised with the prince, and the prince's betrothed?). Then she embarks on the seven trials to prove she actually can control her power and will serve the king. Lots of "strong spirited" but bull headed antics go along with her taunting other important people in power. OH YEAH. There's also this prophecy about two queens and the sun queen is supposed to help the people/empire but the blood queen is supposed to be their downfall? So Rielle is desperately trying to prove she's the sun queen and not the blood queen. No one else has ever been known to possess control over all seven elements so she's like a crazy rarity. Like a super shiny pokemon or something.

Year 1,020 centers around Eliana who is the Dread. She murders people or brings rebels in to be murdered in order to protect her brother and mother. BUT FIRST. This is supposed to happen 1,020 years AFTER Rielle's story. There have been NO NOTABLE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS. EXCUSE ME, BUT WHAT?!?!?! >_> Things that bother me... anyways. So there are no more power people (elemental wielders, whatever you want to call them) but Eliana is also super rare (not a surprise!). Her body is like crazy strong and heals itself almost instantly. Think like Wolverine minus the adamantium skeleton/claws. She and her best friend run around the city and basically serve the kingdom by ferreting out rebels. Her best friend is the one with morals, but Eliana has been taught from a young age how to fight and also how to deal with all the guilt/emotions that comes with murder....by her mother (SPOILERS IN WHITE TEXT: This is not explained from when I stopped reading).

...so I read until page 300ish...and I stopped reading. What the characters were going through no longer held my interest, and it was very hard to care about either of them. There were also some like "ooo, wiggly fingers, timeline mysteries" starting to be revealed, but my eyes hurt from how intensely I kept rolling my eyes at every reveal. Like "bread crumbs" were left, but they were the size of boulders instead of tiny little crumbs. I just really lost interest. I think this could have been a great story, but it stopped holding my attention over halfway through the book. At that point, I should be like in it to win it....but no. There were so many wishy-washy motivations, so many weird 'character growth' moments that really just felt like diversions from the main plot, and I just... I couldn't keep up or track of what was going on. I was also getting so frustrated by what was revealed in those first 14 pages and it still hadn't come into play yet by the time I left off. It shouldn't take 300 pages to circle back to something that happened in the first 14. GAH.

Maybe the published version is better. I hope so. It really felt like it could have gone somewhere...it just didn't.

Happy reading!

A Court of Frost and Starlight

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

This is the ...fourth? Companion? Next step in the story bridge book? Not really sure what to consider this. I'm just going to call it the fourth book for my peace of mind. I reviewed the previous three books: A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES, A COURT OF MIST AND FURY, and A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN. If you don't want anything spoiled for the previous three books, then don't read this blog post.

This book contains scenes of sex and violence; if you don't like reading about those aspects of humanity, I would suggest not reading this book.

ALSO. So I haven't complained about any of the covers previously for doing the half a head thing...because on the back cover, there's the the top half of Feyre's head STARING INTO YOUR SOUL. For some reason, this book is the only one out of the entire series that doesn't have the top half of Feyre's head on the back cover. WHAT GIVES. There was a great theme going here and now no cares?! What is this!? AND, AND, where are the tattoos on Feyre's spine? With how much of her back we can see, we should be able to see a glimpse of those spine tattoos. GEEZ.

Anyways, an amazon summary, "Narrated by Feyre and Rhysand, this bridges the events in A Court of Wings and Ruin and the upcoming novels in the series.

New in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Court of Frost and Starlight is a glimpse into the lives of Feyre and Rhys as they begin to recover from the war that changed their world.

Feyre, Rhysand, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve. Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated -- scars that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of their Court." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

This book is really a collection of narratives as the night court slowly begins to rebuild after the war in the last book. The city of Velaris is rebuilding and the people are starting to get ready for the Winter Solstice (their major winter season, gift giving holiday). Tensions are still high amongst the courts, especially after the fall of the wall and the battle with Hybern... but they seem to be slowly working to peace.

This book is told from multiple perspectives of main characters we've gotten to the know over the course of the other three books and we also get some of their stories that have long been hinted at from previous encounters with other characters. It was also nice to see how some of the relationships are changing and playing out between the friends within the court of dreams.

I will say, I am actually pretty shocked at how different Elain and Nesta are in this book. Nesta in the previous book was very resolute, steel, killing, cunning, etc but would still do the right thing. In this book, she's like an absolute drunk hell bent on destroying herself. Elain seems to finally be making a recovery, but it just seems to be at odds with what happened with Graysen in the last book. I'm more excited about Elain getting better, than I am about Nesta's weird descent into what appears to be alcoholism. 

Overall, I still enjoyed reading the book, seeing all these characters again, but since this is a bridge book, I don't think too much substance was given to it. Just enough until we get the next book. 

Happy reading!

The Last Of The Real Ones

Today's news title is brought to you by another Fall Out Boy song (they may be my favorite band or something (Whattttt?!?)): THE LAST OF THE REAL ONES. Enjoy!

You may have noticed I started blogging again in the last few months. Surprise? Surprise! I have returned. Well, I'm working on it. There are a lot of books I've read in the past few years that I just didn't blog about at the time for various reasons.

Which means, I'm running into a lot of situations where I'm reading book 4...but didn't blog about the first 3... yep. I've been making posts in the past to remedy this, which means some of my post dates are a little all over the place. I'm going to be slowly but surely filling in books from the past few years.

I'm concentrating on the book reviews for now, but I would like to do something more with all the comic books I read. I'm still trying to figure out what I want that to look like, or how I would want to go about formatting it.

I think that succinctly covers where I'm at right now. Feel free to leave comments/questions, I like reading them.

Happy reading!

Ash & Bramble

Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas

I have slowly started picking up books from my 'to read' pile, so there will be some blasts from the past happening. Get excited!

An amazon summary, "The tale of Cinderella has been retold countless times. But what you know is not the true story. Sarah Prineas’s bold fairy-tale retelling, now available in paperback, is a dark and captivating world where swords are more fitting than slippers, young shoemakers are just as striking as princes, and a heroine is more than ready to rescue herself before the clock strikes midnight.

Pin has no recollection of who she is or how she got to the Godmother’s fortress. She only knows that she is a Seamstress, working day in and out to make ball gowns fit for fairy tales. But she longs to forsake her backbreaking servitude and dares to escape with the brave young Shoemaker.

Pin isn’t free for long before she’s captured again and forced to live the new life the Godmother chooses for her—a fairy-tale story, complete with a charming prince—instead of finding her own happily ever after.

As Pin tries to fight her arranged path, she finds that a sword is a much better fit for her than a glass slipper, and that the boy who she escaped with is still searching for her, and won’t stop until he rescues her—if Pin doesn’t rescue herself first." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

There are a few things I find problematic about this summary. You don't really know it's going to be a retelling of Cinderella until a bit later in the book. Not a lot later (unless you're quite slow on the uptake), but a bit later. Yes, Cinderella does have a prince who gives her a shoe at midnight, spinning into the path of the happily ever after, but if you're going to preface the book by saying it's a retelling, why would you assure the reader there's going to be a prince? I'm also a little terse that the book centers around Pin AND Shoe, but only Pin is mentioned in the summary. C'mon.

The book also starts out with a super creepy fortress where our main character is thrust into the role of a seamstress. She's kept on a very rigid schedule, is barely fed, and treated like a prisoner. All of the prisoners have no concept of before the prison, they only have the concept of Now. There is also no after. They can't remember anything about the Before. They spend most of their days sewing in harsh lights and have no recollection of a world before. There are also separate groups of people who make supplies for, reasons. One day, a shoemaker visits to clarify an order, and our main character makes eye contact with them across the way. The shoemaker summons our main character, and upon them meeting, they ask for each other's names. THEN, the main character reveals they don't remember their name and selects Pin to go by. The shoemaker ever so cleverly chooses shoe. Through a series of careful plotting, assembling of supplies, and meeting the other trapped groups of people; Pin & Shoe escape the fortress. Oh, and Pin has a magical thimble for unknown reasons (she doesn't remember anything).

Pin & Shoe go racing through the forest to escape the Godmother and her trackers, but during their escape Pin has a cut on her wrist from the bramble wall that refuses to stop bleeding. Realizing this will lead the trackers right to them, Pin runs towards their pursuers after convincing Shoe to keep running away from them.

Pin is captured, the Godmother removes her memories, and she is now Lady Penelope, but to what end? Perhaps she'll have a nickname soon enough... dun dun dunnnnn

Shoe escapes with the help of a Huntsman, and the plot only continues to pick up steam.

That's enough summary.

I really enjoyed the world building and character development. I think Pin/Lady Penelope serves as a strong-ish female character whose weak moments can be explained by other aspects of the story. I also liked Shoe a lot (but you're pretty much supposed to).

I didn't really care for how we got first person Pin/Lady Penelope, and third person Shoe perspectives. I think the book would have been fine/better off by sticking to one perspective. There was only a handful of times it seemed particularly useful to see both narrators, but overall, not so much.

I did like the different concepts introduced into the Cinderella, and well, fairy tale mythology as a whole. It was a little neat to see the whole genre become a little bit twisted.

Overall, I think there were some story elements that were revealed a little too late, and I think some of the late stage characters could have come forth a little earlier to make the story a tad more compelling. I did enjoy reading the book though, so props for that.

Happy reading!