Ever since Ms. Murphy told us about the witch trials that happened centuries ago right here in Juniper, I can’t stop thinking about them. Those people weren’t magic. They were like me. Different like me.
I’m autistic. I see things that others do not. I hear sounds that they can ignore. And sometimes I feel things all at once. I think about the witches, with no one to speak for them. Not everyone in our small town understands. But if I keep trying, maybe someone will. I won’t let the witches be forgotten. Because there is more to their story. Just like there is more to mine.
(from Goodreads)
My Thoughts:
This story is personal to me. Mostly because I myself… am Autistic. This book for me is the most relatable book I’ve read in recent memory. I related so much to Addie and her sister Keedie and what they go through. I’ve had to face similar bullying and misunderstanding from others during my life. This was a very beautiful story. It really moved me. This book almost had me crying in a few parts of the book!
This is ultimately a story about tolerance and acceptance. Throughout the book, our main protagonist Addie fights for the women who were killed simply because they were different during the witch trials in the United Kingdom. All while Addie has to fight the ableism and the misunderstanding she gets from others. The power and strength that Addie has is an inspiration. Especially as she stands up to her teacher’s and classmates’ bullying. This book is also about staying true to who you are as a person.
I just wish this book was a little longer and we had more time with Keedie (Keedie was a very interesting character).
If you are Autistic or Neurodivergent, this is a must-read! I also highly recommend this book if you want to learn and understand more about Autism.
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.
Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys’s claim to Westeros forever.
Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.
From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.
(from Goodreads)
My Thoughts:
A Dance with Dragons to me feels a lot better especially after reading A Feast for Crows. We get a much better story and a lot more political intrigue with a new candidate for the throne in Yong Griff (another Targaryen!), the politics of Meeren, and the politics of the North. One of the best things that I continue to like about this series is the uncertainty and making me ask: what’s going to happen next?? There are just so many directions that this story can go.
I swear each book just gets better and better with its world-building. In each book we get to see even more of the world that is Westeros. This time we see more of the continent across from Westeros: we get to see more of the Free Cities. We get a sense of their culture, government (one of the free cities has three kings instead of one) and the people there. We even get to learn some of the customs and culture of Meeren (the city that Daenerys has conquered in A Storm of Swords). We also learn about a ruined city called Valyria.
Jon Snow, Daenerys, and Tyrion Lannister all return as POV Characters, and considering they are the POV Characters that I love the most seeing them return made the book just better. One other POV Character that I ended up liking in this story is Victarion Greyjoy. I really liked reading his chapters. He won me over in A Feast for Crows after the epic fight scene in that book, but this book made me like him even more. He’s a badass and a very straightforward character.
I just have two major criticisms of this novel. Number one, the plot seems to be slowing down. Now while I still was able to flip the pages, the overall plot seemed to be slowing down. We should be working toward the endgame. Most people in this novel are traveling and … a lot of the characters are still traveling at the end of the book. However, this isn’t totally a bad thing as we do get some good character moments and more time exploring the world of Westeros.
The next major criticism I have of this novel is the lack of resolution and the cliffhangers. Tyrion at the beginning of this book was supposed to meet with Daenerys … and he still hasn’t met her yet. We don’t know if Stannis was successful or not taking Winterfell. Will Cersei win her trial? Will she get revenge? Where is Arya Stark’s Story going? Will Bran successfully become the Three-Eyed Raven? What will Dany do next? Will Victarion ever meet Danerys? And more importantly: Is Jon Snow really dead or not??? Dammit George why do you have to leave us with so many questions and cliffhangers??!!
Overall, I did like this book better than A Feast for Crows. If you like slower plots, character development, world-building and a love for politics you will definitely love this book. Now my watch has begun as I eagerly wait for the next book (Please finish the books George!)….
Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
But wait… there is more! As I promised months ago here is my ranking of ASOIAF series:
My official ranking of ASOIAF:
A Storm of Swords: This was my favourite book in the series hands down! So many epic events!
A Clash of Kings: I really liked this book. A Clash of Kings was a great way of introducing some of the best characters in this entire series: Stannis Baratheon (Stannis the Mannis and the rightful King of Westeros!). Tyrion and Theon’s Chapters were very good chapters. We also get a great battle scene with Blackwater Bay.
A Game of Thrones: A solid first entry into the series. Ned Stark’s chapters were great and this book definitely sets up what is to come in this series.
A Dance with Dragons: This book was definitely a good read and seeing some of my favourite POV Characters (Daenerys, Tyrion, and Theon) return was the icing on the cake. I also just felt the storylines were a little better in this book compared to A Feast for Crows.
A Feast for Crows: I don’t hate A Feast for Crows but some of its POV characters and storylines were a little lacking in my opinion. It’s still very much worth a read thanks to its character development and world-building.
Final Thoughts about A Song of Ice and Fire Series:
Completing this was a journey. And it was a journey well worth taking. I mean five books, 4,933 pages, and 1,736,054 words, this was quite the undertaking and the biggest book series I’ve ever read so far in my life. I even read the longest book I’ve ever read while reading this series! I’m really proud of myself for challenging myself and being able to get through this series! So after the journey would I recommend this series? Yes, definitely! If you like Fantasy, strong characters, political intrigue, good world-building, and lore. Surprisingly this series even covers the issue of Climate Change and the Threat of Nuclear Weapons (Dragons are kind of the Nuclear Weapons in this universe). If you were disappointed in the tv show, then read the books because the books are sooooo much better than the tv show.
I don’t recommend this series if you have commitment issues, because 1000 pages is a lot to read and we still don’t know when or if there will be more books to the series. If you can’t commit to that then don’t read the series.
Well, our time with the ASOIAF series is over, but I might do a reread of the series someday and I will definitely read The Winds of Winter if it ever comes out. I do plan to eventually read the “Dunk” and “Egg” Novellas at some point so stick around for that. See you all next time!
So as I said in one of my previous posts that Fantasy is my personal favourite genre. If there is one thing that I like about the Fantasy genre is the worlds we visit and the best worlds, in my opinion, are the ones that take place in a series. So today I’m going to be listing the series that I look forward to reading one day.
So I’m just going to get this one out of the way:
1. The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
The Wheel of Time series is one series that I truly look forward to. It seems like it has an interesting world with very detailed cultures, an interesting magic system, characters, etc. I really want to give this series a real try and I look forward to reading The Eye of the World.
2. His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
For some reason, I never actually read this trilogy when I grew up and I grew up at the same time when Harry Potter was at its height. I want to give this read and decide for myself whether this is a good trilogy or not. You never know if you don’t read it!
3. The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
When I heard that this trilogy takes place in a world where the Dark Lord has won and has control over the world and there’s a Heist-Style story to it. I’m immediately in! It’s definitely on my To Be Read List.
4. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
I might have a commitment issue with this one since there are going to be 10 books in the series (and only four are out right now) and all the books so far are over 1000 pages long! That’s definitely… a lot of reading. But I’ve heard so many good things about this series and it’s considered to be Brandon Sanderson’s Magnum Opus, who is a very well-established Fantasy Author.
5. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
I heard this was a fun series with a very interesting main character in Fitz. And it’s a trilogy involving Assassins which sounds intriguing enough for me. Definitely on my To Be Read list.
Well, those are some of the Fantasy Series I want to try sometime very soon in the future. See you all next time!
A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger—and a possible murderer—to inherit his vast fortune, one thing’s for sure: Sam Westing may be dead … but that won’t stop him from playing one last game!
My Thoughts:
When I heard about the premise of this book: a millionaire found dead, a will for a $200 million estate with sixteen possible heirs, and no shortage of suspects as to who might have killed the millionaire. I was interested in giving this a read.
The book had a diverse cast, it was short and there is a lot of detail to pay attention to.
However, as a “Mystery” novel, I feel like this was a very flawed Mystery. As for one thing, there was no discussion about alibis. With alibis, I would be able to rule out a few of the 16 suspects (yes, there are 16 suspects in this novel!). And with everybody acting suspicious or having something to hide it made trying to figure out “whodunnit” almost impossible for me.
As I mentioned earlier there at 16 suspects in this novel. And I feel there were too many main characters to keep track of and the story (which was 182 pages) was just not long enough for me to really get to know these characters. I wasn’t too attached to any of the characters (I guess I did like Turtle and Judge J.J but I wasn’t too attached to them), and I’m a person who usually likes to find one character that I really like or am intrigued by when I’m reading a book. This did not happen with this book.
I was also really annoyed by the constant POV Changes in this book. Sometimes the POV changes twice in the same paragraph! There were a couple of times where I was asking myself: Who’s POV is this now? It constantly keeps changing and it was really annoying.
While I get that this was for children, this mystery just didn’t do it for me. If you are looking for a good mystery novel to read, I think you will do better looking elsewhere.
Hello everyone! Welcome to the Monthly Wrap-Up where I give updates on my reading and other things I’m up to in the past month. So let’s get to it!
Books Read: 5
This month was a very big reading month for me I think I read over 1000 pages. On the long weekend alone, I think I read over 400 pages! And I managed to read five books! Which is around where I want to be in terms of reading per month. The books I read are as follows:
A Feast for CrowsBy George R.R Martin:
A Feast for Crows is probably my second favourite book that I read this month. Despite the problems I have with this novel, I still greatly appreciate it for its world-building and character development. I also feel like this was a perfect read for this time of year as the book mostly takes place in Autumn so when I read this the timing of reading it was just perfect.
Dracula by Bram Stoker:
Dracula for me was kind of a disappointment. I still think it’s worth a read but it kind of disappointed me. While it did have some gripping and scary scenes, I had issues with it: I didn’t like its repetitiveness, and the ending is still one of the most rushed endings I have ever read in a novel.
The Fall by Albert Camus:
As I said in my review, Jean-Baptiste Clamence was such a fascinating character and he raises issues of the human condition such as: How are we to live? Despite its very short read it still has me asking many questions about life and the human condition.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury:
I think Fahrenheit 451 was my favourite book that I read this month. I liked this book from beginning to end. This is definitely one of my favourite dystopian novels that I have read recently, and Guy Montag is one of the best protagonists that I’ve read so far this year. Plus a book about saving books and recognizing the book’s importance is always welcome on my bookshelf.
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin:
The book review for this is coming I promise! I literally just finished this earlier today (I still count it as a book I read this month!). I’ll explain later in my book review but I thought the premise was interesting but I have issues with it. Again I will explain later in my review. Just wait till I have my review of it finished in a day or two from now.
Currently Reading: A Dance With Dragons
Yes! I’m finally reading it! I just started reading this earlier today so I haven’t quite gotten too far into it just yet. The reason why I didn’t jump into it after reading A Feast for Crows was simply that… I needed a break for a little while. And I’m thankful I did as I jumped into four different genres: Horror, Philosophy, Dystopian, and Mystery. Anyways I now feel ready to read A Dance with Dragons the next book (and maybe the last ?) in the ASOIAF series.
Series I’m Watching:
So I haven’t watched a whole lot of TV this month compared to other months. I just wanted to focus more time on reading (and I don’t regret it one bit!). But I still did watch Series 2 and Series 3 of Broadchurch.
I’ll refer you to the recent blog post I made giving my thoughts on this series (link here), but Series 2 and Series 3 continue to build on the success of Series 1 and it still is really good and well worth watching.
Plans for Next Month:
I feel like my strategy of reading at least one hour per day is working out really well. I feel it definitely helped speed things up a bit in terms of my reading. I personally prefer reading physical books (you just can’t beat having a book in your hands) and I just feel that I spend enough time in front of a screen so reading a physical book gives me something to look at and do something that does not involve a screen. So I am keeping that strategy in place, and I’m also just trying to limit my screen time in general by of course reading!
In my last Monthly Wrap-Up, I mentioned briefly that I’m interested in reading the Wheel of Time Series. I now want to confirm that I will read The Eye of the World, the first book in the Wheel of Time Series, and I hope that this will be the next Epic Fantasy series that I want to read sometime after I’m done finishing the ASOIAF Series (at least until the next book in the series if it ever comes out).
Lastly, to conclude this was a really good month for me in terms of reading and I feel good that I am reading more and more and reducing my screen time while doing so. See you all soon! Happy Halloween everyone!
“Fahrenheit 451- The temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns.”
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.
(from Goodreads)
My Thoughts:
I really liked this book. In my opinion, this is the best Dystopian Fiction that I read since 1984. I definitely liked this book better than Brave New World.
From beginning to end we are with our main character Guy Montag. We see him at the beginning thinking he had a good job with an okay life until he meets Clarisse and he slowly realizes how boring and bland his life really is. One of the best things that I love about this book is exploring Guy Montag’s mental state as he slowly realizes that he doesn’t enjoy the life that he is currently living and begins to think that books should not be destroyed (Guy Montag is a fireman and in this society, the firemen burn books). Guy Montag is the best character and is definitely the most well-rounded character.
I also like the battle of ideology in this book between Guy Montag and his boss Captain Beatty. Guy Montag realizes the importance of having books, while his boss Captain Beatty who hates books due to unpleasant content and contradicting facts and opinions.
Even though this book teaches about the importance of books, I also liked its anti-nuclear war message. I feel like this is a less talked about part of the book, everybody seems to focus on the book burning and saving the books but not the anti-nuclear war message. Throughout the book, there is talk about war possibly happening and the threat of nuclear apocalypse hangs over throughout the entire novel. It definitely helps build the tension in the novel, as in addition to Montag escaping the society that he’s living in, he has to survive a nuclear war.
If I have one criticism of this novel is some of its lore. In one part of the novel, Montag briefly mentions that they survived two atomic wars. I know it’s a small thing but this one line got me asking several questions such as: How is there any sort of society left after two nuclear wars? How is anything growing? Wouldn’t there be a lot of radiation out there along with other problems that arise from Nuclear Wars? I get that this was made in 1953 but knowing what we know now about Nuclear Weapons this small part of the novel did not age well.
If you are a book lover and want to root for a person trying to save books and preserve literary and cultural writings, this is definitely a book I recommend. This is definitely one of the better dystopian novels that I have read and one that I think I will revisit someday.
Broadchurch is a crime, mystery, and serial drama that follows the lives of the people of the town called Broadchurch after the murder of an 11-year-old Daniel “Danny” Latimer. The show explores grief, mutual suspicion, and the media attention on this little town. The show follows police detectives DI Alec Hardy and DS Ellie Miller as they try and solve the mysteries in Broadchurch.
My Thoughts:
Honestly, I’m just going to say it: I loved this show! I think this show is my favourite show that I’ve watched all this year. I enjoyed this series from beginning to end!
The show had a great cast of actors: David Tennant (the Tenth Doctor, Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter), Jodie Whittaker (the Current Doctor rn), David Bradley (Mr. Filch and Walder Frey), Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who, Legends of Tomorrow), Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones), Eve Myles (Torchwood). I’m probably missing a few but it was a very good cast and they all performed really well in this show. If I can rename this show to anything it would be the British All-Stars Murder Mystery Show. It’s amazing how they got an all-star cast just for a three-season tv show!
The show really does an excellent job of how something like murder can rip apart a whole community. It’s established very quickly and early that this is a town that is small and almost everyone knows each other. And how a murder can affect so many people in the aftermath, investigation, and even after the investigation. In Season 2 they still kept things interesting by introducing a new mystery and bringing Danny’s killer to Justice. While Season 3 did something very interesting: They introduced a new mystery that is not a murder mystery! And instead, they did a mystery about Sexual Assault. If there is one problem I have with so many mystery shows on tv these days is… it’s all murder and no other crimes. I felt that the direction in season 3 was a very interesting direction, kept the drama and it had me guessing until the very end!
I guess if I did have a nitpick, one or two episodes in the middle of season 2 did feel a little dragged out.
Other than that I truly enjoyed this series from the beginning to the end! And it’s definitely a show that I can see myself rewatching again sometime in the future!
Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a successful Parisian barrister, has come to recognize the deep-seated hypocrisy of his existence. His epigrammatic and, above all, discomforting monologue gradually saps, then undermines, the reader’s own complacency.
(from Goodreads)
My Thoughts:
This is one of my quickest reads all this year. I managed to read this book within a day. The Fall by Albert Camus gives us the story of Jean-Baptiste Clamence as he reflects over his life to a stranger and it ends up being a confession. He is a fascinating character as he used to be a lawyer who prided himself on honour and justice but then realized that he was living hypocritically and now spends most of his time at a bar. The story of Jean-Baptiste tells us of the human condition: How are we to live?
This book, despite it being very short leaves you with very big questions such as: How to live authentically? What to do with your freedom? This was a tough book for me to read as while it was very quick it definitely raised the sort of questions that you’ve come to expect from Albert Camus. I’m still trying to find the right interpretation of this book! That’s how thought-provoking this book is!
If you want to have a quick read to make you ask thought-provoking questions about life and the human condition or are a fan of Existentialism/Absurdism Philosophy. You should definitely give this a read.
Dracula (1897) begins with a young solicitor, Jonathan Harker, on his way to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula, who is buying property in London. Harker endures a nightmarish stay at Dracula’s Castle, which foreshadows some bizarre events in England.
First, a huge wolf-like creature is seen to leap from the deck of a Russian ship which has run aground on the shores of Whitby, its captain dead at the helm and its crew mysteriously absent; and then Lucy – a friend of Harker’s fiancée, Mina – develops a strange wasting disease and red marks on her throat.
Vampire expert Professor Van Helsing convinces Harker and his friend that if Mina is not to have the same fate as poor ‘undead’ Lucy, Dracula must be caught and ritually killed.
(from the back cover of Dracula)
My Thoughts:
This book is a classic so I can’t get too mad but this book really gives me mixed feelings. This book is written very interestingly as instead of it being just one continuous story, this story is written from people’s diaries, letters, newspaper clippings. It almost has a found footage feel to it, which definitely helps to stand it apart from other books.
The first part with Jonathan Harker in Transylvania was gripping as there was a sort of mystery as to who Dracula is and what are his intentions. The part with Mina afterward did kind of lose me a bit, but when I realized that it was all an important part of the story during Lucy’s sleepwalking scenes.
There were definitely some creepy and memorable scenes in this book such as when Dracula climbs the walls at night and the shipwreck scenes. I also liked the lore about vampires, and this book definitely establishes many tropes in vampire-related stories: garlic and crucifixes can ward off vampires, vampires are more powerful during the night and weaker during the day (little known fact Dracula can go out during the day as seen in one part of the book!). The association with mists, bats, and wolves is also established in this book.
There’s quite a bit that I didn’t like about this book though. One thing I felt at times it was quite repetitive such as the same mysterious thing that happens more than once night after night, Van Helsing’s speeches about Dracula being evil and that our protagonists are on the side of good. It kind of got repetitive quite fast.
While I do think Dracula started being a mysterious character and definitely turns into a very scary evil antagonist by the end. The main issue I had though with Dracula as he wasn’t in the book enough. I know he definitely causes most of the trouble and manipulates the events in the book, he does most of this though off-screen. I just wish we had a few more scenes with Dracula to help establish his character more.
My last criticism I have for this book: is what was up with that ending? The climax just felt rushed. When I got to the last 20 pages, when they were still chasing Dracula, I was starting to get nervous as there was still a lot to resolve. The climax was completely rushed and did not feel satisfying at all. The ending was disappointing to me.
As it is a classic, I definitely do recommend you at least give this book a chance as there definitely are some really creepy scenes. And with it being the month of October and Halloween it is the perfect read for this time of year. Give the book a try for yourself!
I love reading, most of the time I just want to devote my entire day just to reading. Since I started this blog I’ve been reading different types of books: Science Fiction, Philosophy, Post-Apocalyptic, Horror, and even Comedy. But there is one genre that is definitely my favourite and that is the Fantasy Genre (my favourite subgenre is Epic Fantasy) and today I am going to explain why.
So what is Fantasy?
Before I begin, I think we need to define what Fantasy is. I will define Fantasy as a genre of fiction that takes place in a fictional universe that is often inspired by myth and/or folklore. Usually, there are magic or supernatural elements and magical creatures. So why is this my favourite genre?
1. The Worlds you visit
One of the things that I just love about Fantasy is the worlds that you visit. Whether it’s Middle Earth, Westeros, or even the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Part of the appeal of reading to me is the possibility of exploring new worlds and I feel Fantasy is the best genre that does this sort of thing. Quite a few Fantasy series are quite good at world-building and establishing lore of that world, it’s become a sort of Escapism for me.
2. Stories of Adventure
I love stories of adventures and I love action. And Fantasy gives us both adventure and action! Whether it’s through quests, wars, battles, duels to the death, political intrigue there are stories of adventure and I love a good adventure. These can all be part of the Fantasy genre and I love the genre for it!
3. It can explore real-life issues in interesting ways
One of the things I like about Fantasy is that it can raise real-life issues and do it in interesting ways. For example: The Ice Zombies or “The Others” in ASOIAF could be interpreted as representing the growing threat of Climate Change. Despite the threat that the Ice Zombies pose, most people in the ASOIAF series deny there’s a problem or chose to do nothing about the problem. Sound familiar? Fantasy can do that it can take a real-life issue and explore it in different ways.
4. It shows us the power of our Imagination
I feel like Fantasy is one of the best ways that show how strong our imagination and our creativity can really be. As we can come up with very sophisticated worlds, creative and new creatures, new and creative rules for that world/universe that we create. There is just so much we can do and I just like the idea that there is this genre with almost infinite possibilities.
5. Magic and Magical Creatures
Sometimes I just like to read stories that have magic with magical creatures… like Dragons. It’s all part of the fun! Don’t judge me!
Well, those are my five reasons as to why the Fantasy genre is my favourite! And I look forward to reviewing more Fantasy books in the future! See you all next time!
Spencer's Bookcase 