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It’s Monday! What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, a place to share and discuss what we’ve read in the past week and what we’re in the middle of or are planning to read this week.

What I read / listened to last week:

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna- for anyone looking for a sweet, kind book on found families, magic, and a bit of romance. Quintessentially British.

From the blurb:

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson- both Yesha and I were surprised at how fast we read this second instament in the Mistborn Saga. A big part of the book is about dealing with change- the Final Empire is gone, but the habits and attitudes that lasted hundreds of years (and brought both abject misery and cruel order) are not going to magically transform into an open-minded, democratic society overnight. Similarly, someone who has always found safety in being a loveable, foolish, and dismissable boy isn’t going to become a trustworthy politician, respected by all groups, notwithstanding their diverse (and sometimes opposing) interests. Does the habit make a monk? what is the nature of trust and authority? can you love someone without having had a similar upbringing and similar life experiences? Is it better to be completely honest or should you take responsibility and do ‘what must be done’? compromise trust and your ideals and save lives or ‘do what is right’ even if other people are not ready for it (who decides and who defines what being ready for the next stage is?)?

As usual, I am going to refer you to Yesha’s wonderful, spoiler-free review of The Well of Ascension- don’t miss it!

From the blurb:

Evil has been defeated…
The war has just begun.

They did the impossible – deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire.

They have barely begun when three separate armies attack. As the siege tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension, or what manner of power it bestows.

It may just be that killing the Lord Ruler was the easy part. Surviving the aftermath of his fall is going to be the real challenge.

What I am reading/listening to now:

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett

From the blurb:

Revenge. It’s something Sigrud je Harkvaldsson is very, very good at. Maybe the only thing.

So when he learns that his oldest friend and ally, former Prime Minister Shara Komayd, has been assassinated, he knows exactly what to do—and that no mortal force can stop him from meting out the suffering Shara’s killers deserve.

Yet as Sigrud pursues his quarry with his customary terrifying efficiency, he begins to fear that this battle is an unwinnable one. Because discovering the truth behind Shara’s death will require him to take up arms in a secret, decades-long war, face down an angry young god, and unravel the last mysteries of Bulikov, the city of miracles itself. And—perhaps most daunting of all—finally face the truth about his own cursed existence.

 
What I’m reading /listening to next:

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

From the blurb:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks

From the blurb:

It is said there is a price that every passenger must pay. A price beyond the cost of a ticket.

There is only one way to travel across the Wastelands: on the Trans-Siberian Express, a train as famous for its luxury as for its danger. The train is never short of passengers, eager to catch sight of Wastelands creatures more miraculous and terrifying than anything they could imagine. But on the train’s last journey, something went horribly wrong, though no one seems to remember what exactly happened. Not even Zhang Weiwei, who has spent her life onboard and thought she knew all of the train’s secrets.

Now, the train is about to embark again, with a new set of passengers. Among them are Marya Petrovna, a grieving woman with a borrowed name; Henry Grey, a disgraced naturalist looking for redemption; and Elena, a beguiling stowaway with a powerful connection to the Wastelands themselves. Weiwei knows she should report Elena, but she can’t help but be drawn to her. As the girls begin a forbidden friendship, there are warning signs that the rules of the Wastelands are changing, and the train might once again be imperiled. Can the passengers trust each other, as the wildness outside threatens to consume them all?

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

From the blurb:

Who is the Hero of Ages?

To end the final empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness — the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists — is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.

Having escaped death only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Meanwhile, Vin is consumed with guilt at accidentally releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well.

How did your last week go and what are you reading this week?

It’s Monday! What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, a place to share and discuss what we’ve read in the past week and what we’re in the middle of or are planning to read this week.

What I read / listened to last week:

Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth- I loved The Mechanical Romance by the same author (still can’t recommend it highly enough as I think it provides the best explanation of what unconscious bias is) and I was really curious to find out how close she is going to stay to the original play in her re-telling. Turns out pretty close, but without losing her own voice and YA focus.

From the blurb:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six (under the pen name Olivie Blake) comes Twelfth Knight, a YA romantic comedy and coming-of-age story about taking up space in the world and learning what it means to let others in.

Viola Reyes is annoyed.

Her painstakingly crafted tabletop game campaign was shot down, her best friend is suggesting she try being more “likable,” and her school’s star running back Jack Orsino is the most lackadaisical Student Body President she’s ever seen, which makes her job as VP that much harder. Vi’s favorite escape from the world is the MMORPG Twelfth Knight, but online spaces aren’t exactly kind to girls like her—girls who are extremely competent and have the swagger to prove it. So Vi creates a masculine alter ego, choosing to play as a knight named Cesario to create a safe haven for herself.

But when a football injury leads Jack Orsino to the world of Twelfth Knight, Vi is alarmed to discover their online alter egos—Cesario and Duke Orsino—are surprisingly well-matched.

As the long nights of game-play turn into discussions about life and love, Vi and Jack soon realize they’ve become more than just weapon-wielding characters in an online game. But Vi has been concealing her true identity from Jack, and Jack might just be falling for her offline…

That time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming- it was a super short read, but…it just didn’t do it for me…

From the blurb:

All I wanted to do was live my life in peace. Maybe get a cat, expand my spice farm. Really anything that doesn’t involve going on a quest where an orc might rip my face off. But they say the Goddess has favourites. If so, I’m clearly not one of them.

After saving the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, all he wanted to do was kill an evil witch enslaving his people.

I mean, I get it, don’t get me wrong. But he’s dragging me along for the ride, and I’m kind of peeved about it. On the bright side, he keeps burning off his shirt.

Three mages and a margarita by Annette Marie

From the blurb:
Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig.

It went downhill the moment they asked me to do a trial shift instead of an interview – to see if I’d mesh with their “special” clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete dickheads, and I was an asshole right back. That’s the definition of fitting in, right?

I expected to get thrown out on my ass. Instead, they…offered me the job?

It turns out this place isn’t a bar. It’s a guild. And the three cocky guys I drenched with a margarita during my trial? Yeah, they were mages. Either I’m exactly the kind of takes-no-sh*t bartender this guild needs, or there’s a good reason no one else wants to work here.

So what’s a broke girl to do? Take the job, of course – with a pay raise.

What I am reading/listening to now:

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna- very sweet…

From the blurb:

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett

From the blurb:

Revenge. It’s something Sigrud je Harkvaldsson is very, very good at. Maybe the only thing.

So when he learns that his oldest friend and ally, former Prime Minister Shara Komayd, has been assassinated, he knows exactly what to do—and that no mortal force can stop him from meting out the suffering Shara’s killers deserve.

Yet as Sigrud pursues his quarry with his customary terrifying efficiency, he begins to fear that this battle is an unwinnable one. Because discovering the truth behind Shara’s death will require him to take up arms in a secret, decades-long war, face down an angry young god, and unravel the last mysteries of Bulikov, the city of miracles itself. And—perhaps most daunting of all—finally face the truth about his own cursed existence.

…and…

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson, of course- really enjoying this buddy read with Yesha.

From the blurb:

Evil has been defeated…
The war has just begun.

They did the impossible – deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire.

They have barely begun when three separate armies attack. As the siege tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension, or what manner of power it bestows.

It may just be that killing the Lord Ruler was the easy part. Surviving the aftermath of his fall is going to be the real challenge.

 
What I’m reading /listening to next:

First Blood by Angela Marsons- I haven’t read a thriller or a police procedural in ages, but you can’t go wrong with this author- she delivers every single time.

From the blurb:

When the body of a young man is found beheaded and staked to the ground in a secluded area of the Clent Hills, Kim and her new squad rush to the crime scene.

Searching the victim’s home, Kim discovers a little girl’s bedroom and a hidden laptop. Why is his sister relieved to hear he’s dead – and where is the rest of his family?

As Kim begins to unearth the dark secrets at the heart of the case, D.C. Stacey Wood finds a disturbing resemblance to the recent murder of Lester Jackson. But that’s not all Stacey finds …

She’s convinced there is a link between the victims and a women’s shelter run by Marianne Forbes, Lester’s niece. A child of the care system herself, Kim knows all too well what it means to be vulnerable. Could Marianne be the key to cracking this case?

With the killer about to strike again, Kim is in deep water with a rookie squad. Inexperienced Stacey is showing signs of brilliance but struggling to hold her nerve and, while D.S. Bryant is reliable and calm, D.S. Dawson is a liability. With his home life in pieces, his volatile behaviour is already fracturing her fragile new team.

Can Kim bring Dawson in line and pull her crew together in time to catch the killer before another life is taken? This time, one of her own could be in terrible danger…

How did your last week go and what are you reading this week?

It’s Monday! What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, a place to share and discuss what we’ve read in the past week and what we’re in the middle of or are planning to read this week.

What I read / listened to last week:

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

From the blurb:

To save her sister, a teen girl becomes entangled in a political conspiracy with an enigmatic prince in this fiery new YA novel from the bestselling author of The Red Palace.

Joseon (Korea), 1506.The people suffer under the reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from kidnapping and abusing women and girls. Iseul has lived a sheltered life. When her sister becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves her village in hopes of stealing her sister back. But the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is certain death.

Prince Daehyun lives in the shadow of his despicable half brother, the king, and aches to find a way to dethrone the king once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know whom he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king.

City of Blades (The Divine Cities #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett- if the first book in this trilogy was mainly about justice, religion, and colonialism, this one is about war, the role of nature versus nurture in violence, poverty as a form of slavery, meaning of being a soldier, and many others. Can’t wait to read the third book.

From the blurb:

A generation ago, the city of Voortyashtan was the stronghold of the god of war and death, the birthplace of fearsome supernatural sentinels who killed and subjugated millions.
 
Now, the city’s god is dead. The city itself lies in ruins. And to its new military occupiers, the once-powerful capital is a wasteland of sectarian violence and bloody uprisings.

So it makes perfect sense that General Turyin Mulaghesh— foul-mouthed hero of the battle of Bulikov, rumored war criminal, ally of an embattled Prime Minister—has been exiled there to count down the days until she can draw her pension and be forgotten.  
 
At least, it makes the perfect cover story.
 
The truth is that the general has been pressed into service one last time, dispatched to investigate a discovery with the potential to change the world–or destroy it.
 
The trouble is that this old soldier isn’t sure she’s still got what it takes to be the hero. 

What I am reading/listening to now:

Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth

From the blurb:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six (under the pen name Olivie Blake) comes Twelfth Knight, a YA romantic comedy and coming-of-age story about taking up space in the world and learning what it means to let others in.

Viola Reyes is annoyed.

Her painstakingly crafted tabletop game campaign was shot down, her best friend is suggesting she try being more “likable,” and her school’s star running back Jack Orsino is the most lackadaisical Student Body President she’s ever seen, which makes her job as VP that much harder. Vi’s favorite escape from the world is the MMORPG Twelfth Knight, but online spaces aren’t exactly kind to girls like her—girls who are extremely competent and have the swagger to prove it. So Vi creates a masculine alter ego, choosing to play as a knight named Cesario to create a safe haven for herself.

But when a football injury leads Jack Orsino to the world of Twelfth Knight, Vi is alarmed to discover their online alter egos—Cesario and Duke Orsino—are surprisingly well-matched.

As the long nights of game-play turn into discussions about life and love, Vi and Jack soon realize they’ve become more than just weapon-wielding characters in an online game. But Vi has been concealing her true identity from Jack, and Jack might just be falling for her offline…

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

From the blurb:

Get Out meets Parasite in this eerily haunting debut and Reddit hit—soon to be a Netflix original movie starring Blake Lively—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.

As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

 

What I’m reading /listening to next:

…most likely…

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett

From the blurb:

Revenge. It’s something Sigrud je Harkvaldsson is very, very good at. Maybe the only thing.

So when he learns that his oldest friend and ally, former Prime Minister Shara Komayd, has been assassinated, he knows exactly what to do—and that no mortal force can stop him from meting out the suffering Shara’s killers deserve.

Yet as Sigrud pursues his quarry with his customary terrifying efficiency, he begins to fear that this battle is an unwinnable one. Because discovering the truth behind Shara’s death will require him to take up arms in a secret, decades-long war, face down an angry young god, and unravel the last mysteries of Bulikov, the city of miracles itself. And—perhaps most daunting of all—finally face the truth about his own cursed existence.

How did your last week go and what are you reading this week?

It’s Monday! What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, a place to share and discuss what we’ve read in the past week and what we’re in the middle of or are planning to read this week.

What I read / listened to last week:

How to become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler- this was so much fun! If you love isekai stories AKA ‘portal guest’ fantasy (where the protagonist is transported into a fantasy world or a video-game setting) and don’t mind an occasional footnote or two (or twenty, but mostly funny ones), you’ll find Davi’s story both entertaining and strangely addictive. We all have different kinds of sense of humour, of course, but this one hit the right spot with me.

From the blurb:

Groundhog Day meets Guardians of the Galaxy in Django Wexler’s laugh-out-loud fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides to become the Dark Lord herself.Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time.This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side.

The God and The Gumiho by Sophie Kim- I honestly didn’t expect to read this one in one day…but here we go. I was simply charmed 🙂

The cover suggests that this is the beginning of a series (or at very least a duology), but the story is very nicely wrapped up, so, if you are a kind of read who tends to wait and binge up on a whole series, you can treat it as a standalone.

From the blurb:

The most notorious nine-tailed fox in Korea pairs up with a fallen trickster god to track down a demon before it destroys the mortal world in this sly, dazzling contemporary fantasy.

Kim Hani, also known as the Scarlet Fox, has retired from a life of devouring souls. She is, simply put, too full. Now she spends her days laying low in a coffee shop and annoying a particularly irritating trickster god.

That god is Seokga the Fallen. He was thrown out of his heavenly kingdom centuries ago for staging an utterly pathetic attempt at a coup against his brother, the emperor. But when a powerful demon escapes from the underworld and threatens to end all of humanity, the emperor offers Seokga an enticing bargain: Kill this rogue demon, as well as the legendary and elusive gumiho called the Scarlet Fox. In return, he will be reinstated as a god.

There’s only one problem: Kim Hani has no intention of being caught. Seokga might be a trickster god, but Hani has a trick up her sleeve that Seokga will never see coming—teaming up. As Seokga’s assistant, she’ll undermine him at every turn, sabotaging his investigation right under his overly pointy nose. Sure, she’ll fight the demon, but she can’t allow Seokga to uncover her secret identity.

Before long, though, the tension between the bickering couple boils over, and the god and the gumiho find themselves inextricably drawn to each other. But will the unlikely duo stand together to prevent the apocalypse, or will they let their secrets tear them—and the mortal world—apart?

Story Locale:Early 1990s South Korea

What I am reading/listening to now:

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson- time to start our next buddy read with Yesha. We both loved the first book with its fascinating magic system and complex social structure and can’t wait to start the next book which hopefully will give us answers to numerous questions we had. Don’t forget to check out Yesha’s wonderful review of the Final Emprire (book1 of the Mistborn Saga). She includes a most helpful table of allomantic metals. I would have been hopelessly lost without it!

From the blurb:

Evil has been defeated…
The war has just begun.

They did the impossible – deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire.

They have barely begun when three separate armies attack. As the siege tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension, or what manner of power it bestows.

It may just be that killing the Lord Ruler was the easy part. Surviving the aftermath of his fall is going to be the real challenge.

City of Blades (The Divine Cities #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett- General Turyin Mulaghesh was one of my favourite characters in City of Stairs, so I’m very glad she got a book of her own. Not surprisingly, the Divinity whose ‘legacy’ she is going to grapple with is Voortya the Warrior, the goddess of War and Death, and if you thought all loose ends were neatly tied in in Book 1 and nothing else can surpass the scale of the events, Robert Jackson Bennett has a few surprises in store for you…

From the blurb:

A generation ago, the city of Voortyashtan was the stronghold of the god of war and death, the birthplace of fearsome supernatural sentinels who killed and subjugated millions.
 
Now, the city’s god is dead. The city itself lies in ruins. And to its new military occupiers, the once-powerful capital is a wasteland of sectarian violence and bloody uprisings.
 
So it makes perfect sense that General Turyin Mulaghesh— foul-mouthed hero of the battle of Bulikov, rumored war criminal, ally of an embattled Prime Minister—has been exiled there to count down the days until she can draw her pension and be forgotten.  
 
At least, it makes the perfect cover story.
 
The truth is that the general has been pressed into service one last time, dispatched to investigate a discovery with the potential to change the world–or destroy it.
 
The trouble is that this old soldier isn’t sure she’s still got what it takes to be the hero. 

What I’m reading /listening to next:

…most likely…

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett- Sigrud’s book- can’t wait to read it!

From the blurb:

Revenge. It’s something Sigrud je Harkvaldsson is very, very good at. Maybe the only thing.

So when he learns that his oldest friend and ally, former Prime Minister Shara Komayd, has been assassinated, he knows exactly what to do—and that no mortal force can stop him from meting out the suffering Shara’s killers deserve.

Yet as Sigrud pursues his quarry with his customary terrifying efficiency, he begins to fear that this battle is an unwinnable one. Because discovering the truth behind Shara’s death will require him to take up arms in a secret, decades-long war, face down an angry young god, and unravel the last mysteries of Bulikov, the city of miracles itself. And—perhaps most daunting of all—finally face the truth about his own cursed existence.

How did your last week go and what are you reading this week?

It’s Monday! What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, a place to share and discuss what we’ve read in the past week and what we’re in the middle of or are planning to read this week.

What I read / listened to last week:

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett- I’m beginning to think that everything Robert Jackson Bennett writes is on an epic scale – rich empires, destitute colonies, old and new religions, political and social clashes, burning issues of morality and justice, have I forgotten anything in this pretty comprehensive list? all of this with a few very likeable characters that keep growing on you and a mystery or two to solve before the empire and the world as the know it collapses….Can’t wait to read the second book in the Divine Cities Trilogy to find out what happens next.

From the blurb:

An atmospheric and intrigue-filled novel of dead gods, buried histories, and a mysterious, protean city–from one of America’s most acclaimed young science fiction writers.

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself—first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it—stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy.

Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem—and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

All is Fair in Love and War by Virginia Heath

From the blurb:

A new Regency romp of a series, about governess who believes in cultivating joy in her charges, clashes with the children’s uncle who hired her, only to find herself falling in love.

When the flighty older sister of former naval captain, Henry Kincaid, decides on a whim to accompany her explorer husband on an expedition to Egypt, he finds himself unwittingly left in the lurch with her three unruly children and her giant, mad dog. With no clue how to manage the little rascals, a busy career at the Admiralty that requires all of his attention, and no idea when his sister is coming back, Harry has to hire an emergency governess to ensure that everything in his ordered house continues to run shipshape. In desperation, he goes to Miss Prentice’s School for Girls prepared to pay whatever it takes to get a governess quick sharp to bring order to the chaos.

Thanks to her miserable, strict upbringing, fledgling governess Georgina Rowe does not subscribe to the ethos that children should be seen and not heard. She believes childhood should be everything that hers wasn’t, filled with laughter, adventure, and discovery. Thankfully, the three Pendleton children she has been tasked with looking after are already delightfully bohemian and instantly embrace her unconventional educational ethos. Their staid, stickler-for-the-rules uncle, however, is another matter entirely…

Georgina and Henry continue to butt heads over their differences, but over time it seems that in this case, their attraction is undeniable, and all is indeed fair in love and war.

The Final Empire (Mistborn#1) by Brandon Sanderson- a buddy read with Yesha. We both loved the book and can’t wait to start the next one!

The mists rule the night…
The lord ruler owns the world.

For a thousand years the ash fell.
For a thousand years, the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years, the Lord Ruler reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Every attempted revolt has failed miserably.

Yet somehow hope survives.
A new kind of uprising is being planned, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the courage of an unlikely heroine, a Skaa street urchin, who must learn to master Allomancy, the power of a mistborn.

What if the prophesied hero had failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Mistborn trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins here.

What I am reading/listening to now:

Swift River by Essie Chambers

From the blurb:

It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.

But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered, and she is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion. As pieces of their shared past become clearer, Diamond gains a sense of her place in the world and in her family. But how will what she’s learned of the past change her future?

A story of first friendships, family secrets, and finding the courage to let go, Swift River is a sensational debut about how history shapes us and heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent.

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

From the blurb:

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off-but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever seen:

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

How to become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

From the blurb:

Groundhog Day meets Guardians of the Galaxy in Django Wexler’s laugh-out-loud fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides to become the Dark Lord herself.

Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time.

This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side.

What I’m reading /listening to next:

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

From the blurb:

Evil has been defeated…
The war has just begun.

They did the impossible – deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire.

They have barely begun when three separate armies attack. As the siege tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension, or what manner of power it bestows.

It may just be that killing the Lord Ruler was the easy part. Surviving the aftermath of his fall is going to be the real challenge.

City of Blades (The Divine Cities #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett

From the blurb:

A generation ago, the city of Voortyashtan was the stronghold of the god of war and death, the birthplace of fearsome supernatural sentinels who killed and subjugated millions.
 
Now, the city’s god is dead. The city itself lies in ruins. And to its new military occupiers, the once-powerful capital is a wasteland of sectarian violence and bloody uprisings.
 
So it makes perfect sense that General Turyin Mulaghesh— foul-mouthed hero of the battle of Bulikov, rumored war criminal, ally of an embattled Prime Minister—has been exiled there to count down the days until she can draw her pension and be forgotten.  
 
At least, it makes the perfect cover story.
 
The truth is that the general has been pressed into service one last time, dispatched to investigate a discovery with the potential to change the world–or destroy it.
 
The trouble is that this old soldier isn’t sure she’s still got what it takes to be the hero. 

How did your last week go and what are you reading this week?

It’s Monday! What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, a place to share and discuss what we’ve read in the past week and what we’re in the middle of or are planning to read this week.

What I read / listened to last week:

The Song of the Six Realms by Judy Lin

From the blurb:

A musician is swept away to the Celestial Realm by a handsome duke in this new YA standalone from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of A Magic Steeped in Poison.

Xue, a talented young musician, has no past and probably no future. Orphaned at a young age, her uncle took her in and arranged for an apprenticeship at the most esteemed entertainment house in the kingdom. She doesn’t remember much from before, and when her uncle is suddenly killed in a bandit attack, she is devastated to lose her last connection to a life outside of the House of Flowing Water.

With no family and no patron, Xue is facing the possibility of a lifetime of servitude playing the qin for nobles that praise her talent with one breath and sneer at her lowly social status with the next. One night she’s called to the garden to give a private performance for the enigmatic Duke Meng. The young man is strangely kind and awkward for nobility, and surprises Xue with an offer: perform at his manor for one year, and he’ll set her free of her indenture.

But the Duke’s motives become suspect when they barely survive an attack by a nightmarish monster, and when he whisks Xue away to his estate, she discovers he’s not just some country noble: He’s the Duke of Dreams, one of the divine rulers of the Celestial Realm. She learns the Six Realms are on the brink of disaster, and incursions by bloodthirsty demons are growing more frequent. The Duke needs Xue’s help to unlock the secrets of how to stop the impending war… but first she’ll need to survive being the target of every monster and deity in the Six Realms.

Pointe of Pride by Chloe Angyal

From the blurb:

Carly Montgomery has only one goal as she arrives in Sydney Australia: Be the world’s best maid of honor.  And then, when she gets back to New York City, she’s going to figure out how to get promoted so she doesn’t spend the rest of her ballet career in the corps de ballet playing Peasant Maiden #4.

But the second she steps off the plane, she runs into trouble—and into Nick Jacobs, the most uptight, judgmental, inconveniently attractive man she’s ever met. And to their mutual horror, Nick is also in Sydney for a wedding. The same wedding. In which he is the best man.

Carly will do anything for her best friend, including running all over Sydney with Nick—Nick who has his life together, Nick who’s made the transition out of ballet into photography so perfectly, Nick who has the most irritatingly sharp cheekbones and stormy blue eyes. And when the director of New York Ballet announces that she’ll be making her decision about promotions ahead of schedule, Carly chooses to stay in Sydney, even if it means shelving her pride to ask Nick for help.

Nick Jacobs is coming back to Sydney with a secret . His life in Paris, where he recently retired from ballet, has fallen apart. With no girlfriend and no new career to speak of, Nick can’t bear to tell his friends at home the humiliating truth. And after fifteen years dancing overseas, what does  home  even mean anymore?

Nick doesn’t want to team up with Carly Montgomery, a human hurricane who creates chaos every time she walks in the room, but sparring with her makes him feel the most alive he’s felt in months. When she asks him for help securing her promotion, he sees an opportunity to kickstart his own flagging career. Looking at Carly through his lens all day starts to change how Nick sees her, and soon, he can’t stop staring. Carly’s a human hand grenade, but suddenly Nick wouldn’t mind pulling the pin.

When she finds out the truth about him, though, the explosion might destroy them both

What I am reading/listening to now:

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

An atmospheric and intrigue-filled novel of dead gods, buried histories, and a mysterious, protean city–from one of America’s most acclaimed young science fiction writers.

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself—first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it—stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy.

Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem—and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur- this is one of my favourite authors and I can’t get enough of her calm, elegant writing, coupled with meticulous historical research and scene-setting.

From the blurb:

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off-but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever seen:

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

All is Fair in Love and War by Virginia Heath- as delightful as Virginia Heath’s previous books!

From the blurb:

A new Regency romp of a series, about governess who believes in cultivating joy in her charges, clashes with the children’s uncle who hired her, only to find herself falling in love.

When the flighty older sister of former naval captain, Henry Kincaid, decides on a whim to accompany her explorer husband on an expedition to Egypt, he finds himself unwittingly left in the lurch with her three unruly children and her giant, mad dog. With no clue how to manage the little rascals, a busy career at the Admiralty that requires all of his attention, and no idea when his sister is coming back, Harry has to hire an emergency governess to ensure that everything in his ordered house continues to run shipshape. In desperation, he goes to Miss Prentice’s School for Girls prepared to pay whatever it takes to get a governess quick sharp to bring order to the chaos.

Thanks to her miserable, strict upbringing, fledgling governess Georgina Rowe does not subscribe to the ethos that children should be seen and not heard. She believes childhood should be everything that hers wasn’t, filled with laughter, adventure, and discovery. Thankfully, the three Pendleton children she has been tasked with looking after are already delightfully bohemian and instantly embrace her unconventional educational ethos. Their staid, stickler-for-the-rules uncle, however, is another matter entirely…

Georgina and Henry continue to butt heads over their differences, but over time it seems that in this case, their attraction is undeniable, and all is indeed fair in love and war.

What I’m reading /listening to next:

City of Blades (The Divine Cities #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett- not ready to say goodbye to these characters and this epic world…

From the blurb:

A generation ago, the city of Voortyashtan was the stronghold of the god of war and death, the birthplace of fearsome supernatural sentinels who killed and subjugated millions.
 
Now, the city’s god is dead. The city itself lies in ruins. And to its new military occupiers, the once-powerful capital is a wasteland of sectarian violence and bloody uprisings.
 
So it makes perfect sense that General Turyin Mulaghesh— foul-mouthed hero of the battle of Bulikov, rumored war criminal, ally of an embattled Prime Minister—has been exiled there to count down the days until she can draw her pension and be forgotten.  
 
At least, it makes the perfect cover story.
 
The truth is that the general has been pressed into service one last time, dispatched to investigate a discovery with the potential to change the world–or destroy it.
 
The trouble is that this old soldier isn’t sure she’s still got what it takes to be the hero. 

How did your last week go and what are you reading this week?

It’s Monday! What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, a place to share and discuss what we’ve read in the past week and what we’re in the middle of or are planning to read this week.

What I read / listened to last week:

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black – this one isn’t going to be my favourite Holly Black book, but the worldbuilding is strong as usual and if you liked Jude in the Folk of Air trilogy, you will appreciate Tana’s tenacity and unrelenting loyalty.

From the blurb:

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

Coldtown was dangerous, Tana knew. A glamorous cage, a prison for the damned and anyone who wanted to party with them.

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. And once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

What I am reading/listening to now:

The Song of the Six Realms by Judy Lin- welcome to the wonderful world of xianxia…The concept is interesting and the pace (at least in the first half of the book) is fairly steady. There is a slight tendency towards lengthy descriptions where a detail or two would work much better. I’m surprised this one is a standalone. Whenever you have such a large scale of setting, you would expect at least a duology, if not more, so I’m worried that the concept isn’t going to be fully exploited e.g. we might get just a scene or two from each of the realms. Another worry of mine is that the story might turn out to be content dense in the final 10-15% of the book (you know when they cram everything up in the last five minutes of the final episode of your favourite TV show and you are left gasping ‘Why??????’).

The cover is absolutely gorgeous!

From the blurb:

A musician is swept away to the Celestial Realm by a handsome duke in this new YA standalone from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of A Magic Steeped in Poison.

Xue, a talented young musician, has no past and probably no future. Orphaned at a young age, her uncle took her in and arranged for an apprenticeship at the most esteemed entertainment house in the kingdom. She doesn’t remember much from before, and when her uncle is suddenly killed in a bandit attack, she is devastated to lose her last connection to a life outside of the House of Flowing Water.

With no family and no patron, Xue is facing the possibility of a lifetime of servitude playing the qin for nobles that praise her talent with one breath and sneer at her lowly social status with the next. One night she’s called to the garden to give a private performance for the enigmatic Duke Meng. The young man is strangely kind and awkward for nobility, and surprises Xue with an offer: perform at his manor for one year, and he’ll set her free of her indenture.

But the Duke’s motives become suspect when they barely survive an attack by a nightmarish monster, and when he whisks Xue away to his estate, she discovers he’s not just some country noble: He’s the Duke of Dreams, one of the divine rulers of the Celestial Realm. She learns the Six Realms are on the brink of disaster, and incursions by bloodthirsty demons are growing more frequent. The Duke needs Xue’s help to unlock the secrets of how to stop the impending war… but first she’ll need to survive being the target of every monster and deity in the Six Realms.

Pointe of Pride by Chloe Angyal

From the blurb:

Carly Montgomery has only one goal as she arrives in Sydney Australia: Be the world’s best maid of honor.  And then, when she gets back to New York City, she’s going to figure out how to get promoted so she doesn’t spend the rest of her ballet career in the corps de ballet playing Peasant Maiden #4.

But the second she steps off the plane, she runs into trouble—and into Nick Jacobs, the most uptight, judgmental, inconveniently attractive man she’s ever met. And to their mutual horror, Nick is also in Sydney for a wedding. The same wedding. In which he is the best man.

Carly will do anything for her best friend, including running all over Sydney with Nick—Nick who has his life together, Nick who’s made the transition out of ballet into photography so perfectly, Nick who has the most irritatingly sharp cheekbones and stormy blue eyes. And when the director of New York Ballet announces that she’ll be making her decision about promotions ahead of schedule, Carly chooses to stay in Sydney, even if it means shelving her pride to ask Nick for help.

Nick Jacobs is coming back to Sydney with a secret . His life in Paris, where he recently retired from ballet, has fallen apart. With no girlfriend and no new career to speak of, Nick can’t bear to tell his friends at home the humiliating truth. And after fifteen years dancing overseas, what does  home  even mean anymore?

Nick doesn’t want to team up with Carly Montgomery, a human hurricane who creates chaos every time she walks in the room, but sparring with her makes him feel the most alive he’s felt in months. When she asks him for help securing her promotion, he sees an opportunity to kickstart his own flagging career. Looking at Carly through his lens all day starts to change how Nick sees her, and soon, he can’t stop staring. Carly’s a human hand grenade, but suddenly Nick wouldn’t mind pulling the pin.

When she finds out the truth about him, though, the explosion might destroy them both

What I’m reading /listening to next:

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

From the blurb:

An atmospheric and intrigue-filled novel of dead gods, buried histories, and a mysterious, protean city–from one of America’s most acclaimed young science fiction writers.

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself—first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it—stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy.

Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem—and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

From the blurb:

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off-but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever seen:

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

How did your last week go and what are you reading this week?