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The Old Review Dust-Off: When We Were Birds

The Old Review Dust-Off: When We Were Birds

Posted by By Veronica May 21, 2024
Hey Bookworms, if you're in Canada, I hope you had a happy long weekend! I don't observe monarchist holidays but I'll take advantage of the long weekend, that's for sure…
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Reading Goals
  • My 2024 Reading Goals
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2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Veros has read 17 books toward their goal of 80 books.
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17 of 80 (21%)
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Veros's bookshelf: currently-reading

The Bane Chronicles
The Bane Chronicles
by Cassandra Clare
tagged: favorites, ya-fiction, short-story-collection, fantasy, and current...
Assassin's Apprentice
Assassin's Apprentice
by Robin Hobb
tagged: currently-reading
World of Warcraft Chronicle: Volume 1
World of Warcraft Chronicle: Volume 1
by Blizzard Entertainment
tagged: currently-reading
A Brief History of the Druids
A Brief History of the Druids
by Peter Berresford Ellis
tagged: currently-reading

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Veros

dark.shelf.of.wonders

🖤Fantasy is my go-to genre
-Doing my best to read diversely🌻
I recently borrowed The Arrival by Shaun Tan from I recently borrowed The Arrival by Shaun Tan from my library but before I return it, I had to take a few pictures of it because adored it! The Arrival is a wordless graphic novel and an absolute masterpiece. If you love art or graphic novels do yourself a favour and spend some time soaking up this story! It's the story of a man who needs to travel to another city to start a better life for his family. He arrives at this technologically advanced, shining city where he can't speak the language. We follow him as he searches for a job, explores the city, and makes new connections. He's not entirely alone, as the people coexist with a variety of adorable creatures in the city, and one of them seems to adopt him. For a story told only with pictures, the narrative is seamless and the art is gorgeous! The illustrations are all the somber brownish colour of old family photographs which grounds the story, but also contrasts beautifully with the whimsical and fantastical nature of this new city. The themes of immigration, family, language barriers, and community shine so bright that by the end I was so invested in this family's happiness and teary eyed! I will be exploring more of @shauncytan 's books and I can see him easily joining the ranks of my favourite illustrators. ❓Do you have any other wordless graphic novel or picture book recommendations? Or, what are you reading today?
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGui Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire -Review. The 10th Installment of the Wayward Children, starring all the turtles you could possibly want!🐢 Last year I devoured the entirety of this series, short stories included, so when I saw it on Netgalley, I knew I had to request it. It was a bit strange to not be reading this on audio like I did for the rest of the novellas but McGuire’s prose is so delightful that it was a treat to read it physically! I read it slowly to soak up every line. Adrift In Currents Clean and Clear focuses on the life of Nadya who we first meet in Beneath the Sugar Skies. This is the story of how she is born with one arm, grows up in an orphanage in Russia, and eventually gets adopted by an American family, who fits her with a prosthetic arm despite her wishes. But mostly it’s the story about all the ways she belongs in Belyyreka (the Land Beyond the Lake) who one day calls her home. The first part is hardest to read because it takes place in the world of the main character’s birth. Which means that it’s the place of the source of their trauma, neglect, and mistreatment. The author excells at making the reader feel incandescent rage at the parents and systems that fail these children and this case was no different. We follow Nadya as she’s forcibly removed from her culture and expected to conform to her adoptive parents’ ableist ideas of a picture perfect daughter. I don’t think many readers of this series will disagree that one of its strengths is diversity of all kinds. The commentary about ableism was easily my favourite aspect of this short novella. Belyyreka is a world of rivers under a lake, of different types of water (some water is heavier than other water and they each have their own physics). It was so much fun to watch Nadya learn the rules of this new world and make friends both with people and turtles! After reading this book I’d be shocked if you don’t want a turtle companion for yourself, I mean how adorable!! Since we had already met Nadya before, the ending isn't exactly a surprise. Yet, McGuire still finds a way to create tension and deliver an emotional blow all at once!
For this Menagerie Monday I'm featuring Leviathan For this Menagerie Monday I'm featuring Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. I am re-reading this series with @jonesandthebooks & @buchstabenhorde in anticipation of the anime adaptation! What a fun reading experience to finish last year with, thanks friends! 🥰 How is this a fit for Menagerie Monday? Leviathan is a YA steampunk alternate history of WW1 except imagine that the Central Powers fought using giant mechs. And then imagine that the Allied Powers fought with giant fabricated beasties. The alternate history of this world includes Darwin cracking the code of DNA and thus being able to fabricate all manner of animals that were ubiquitous in every facet of life if you're a Darwinist (England, France...). But the Clankers (Austria-Hungary, Germany...) fear and hate the fabricated beasts. As you read on you get to meet all sorts of really strange creatures but some of my favourites were the adorable message lizards as well as the Leviathan itself: an airship that's a giant whale but also a whole ecosystem onto itself! The worldbuilding is fascinating but I wish the ethics of creating animals was more thoroughly explored. But the focus of this book is on the politics of WW1 in the context of this world; the bare bones are historically accurate but various characters and motivations are inventions of the author. It's a heart-pounding book with many bombastic action scenes and stunning in-text illustrations by Keith Thompson. I can see why it's begging to be adapted and I can't wait to continue the reread because I never read the ending! #wrwsocialclub #wrwmenagerie
Miss Amelia's List by Mercedes Lackey -Review The Miss Amelia's List by Mercedes Lackey -Review The magical Regency vibes are vibing but unfortunately, the plot is nowhere to be found. Thanks to #Netgalley & DAW Books for the ARC. All opinions are mine. It’s 1815 and two young American lady mages, Amelia and Serena, arrive in England armed with a list of tasks. They’re here to help set up their family business and to do so they’ll need to find a property, get to know the neighbours, purchase a whole new wardrobe, and hire staff. Oh, and potentially find husbands all while dodging fortune hunters and hiding their magical prowess from the non-mages in town. It's the 17th installment in the Elemental Masters series but the publisher informed me it stands well on its own. As the name of the series implies, the story is set in a world with Elemental magic—Amelia is an Earth Master and Serena is a Fire Mage and a shapeshifter. There’s something really cozy about Lackey’s writing style where she goes into the minute details of the everyday life of her characters. We spent a long time going dress shopping, to assemblies, balls, and on morning calls but I didn’t mind as I was awash in visions of Regency gowns! I was especially enjoying that Lackey took care to dive into how the magical community operates and the certain duties that come with the cousin’s different powers. Meeting the house Elementals and watching Serena Shapeshift were both memorable moments. However, more than halfway through the book they hadn’t even begun to deal with most of the items on their oh-so-important list. Instead, the story introduces two new external issues that seem like they would lead in intriguing directions only to be irrelevant in the end as the author never followed them to a conclusion. Eventually, the plot dragged, and despite all the moving to new cities (London then Axminster), it felt like we were going nowhere very slowly. Then, with about 10 pages left, Lackey suddenly remembered to include some action! Within one bizarre action scene, everything wrapped up super conveniently 🙄. This "standalone" made me wish it had a part 2 to do it more justice. I do want to find book #1 & give the series another chance!
Top 8 book covers of books I read in 2024. Updat Top 8 book covers of books I read in 2024. Update: Noooo, I just noticed the title says "2023" but I remember fixing it!! Well there's no way I'm re-fixing it so pretend it says "2024"🙈. Nothing to see here, just some eye-poppingly gorgeous book covers😜!! ❓What are some of your fav book covers from the last year? ☕The Pumpkin Spice Café, Laurie Gilmore. Cover artist: Kelley McMorris. Orange is my favourite colour and this is the coziest, most inviting illustration. I want to sit here, drink hot chocolate, and read. 🐘Masquerade, O. O. Sangoyomi. Cover artist: Micaela Alcaino. I love the way every element of this cover perfectly represents the story on the inside. 🎃A Dark and Secret Magic, Wallis Kinney. Cover artist: Couldn't find. It's like Halloween threw up on the cover and I couldn't possibly love it more! 🔎Even Though I Knew The End, C. L. Polk. Cover artist: Mark Smith. The details on the outfits, the pose, and the bird cut-outs on their faces! It's all so artistic and romantic. 🌑Moon Soul, Nathaniel Luscombe. Cover artist: Effie Joe Stock. The colour palette is unique and beautiful. The concept of a moon covered in purple sand is so pretty. 👁️The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, Andrew Joseph White. Cover artists: Evangeline Gallagher. The combination of yellow and purple is so eye-catching. And speaking of eyes, the eyeballs on the cover are suitably creepy to set the tone. 🤖A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers. Cover artist: Feifei Ruan. So colourful and bright, the art style almost reminds me of a quilt or stained glass which works really well for this solar punk story. 🌌The Last Cuentista, Donna Barba Higuera. Cover artist: Raxenne Maniquiz. I've thought a lot about how much I like this cover: the half and half face that looks like a person in stasis, the textures in the illustration, the desert cactus and alien flora! What a brilliantly stunning illustration! But someone please remove those dang stickers!!
Hi friends and happy new year! I'm still working o Hi friends and happy new year! I'm still working on my reading stats post for 2024 but I realized I had a decent number of 5 star reads. So, let's play a game! I picked some excellent first lines from among my 5 star reads. ➡️ Scroll through the lines and see if you can recognize any of them. 😉 Write your guesses in the comments then the answers will be revealed in the last slide (No peeking!!👀✖️). If you guess any of them correctly, you win bragging rights forever🎉! ❓If you don't feel like playing, tell me how many 5 star reads you had last year! 🏷️ #wrwsocialclub #FiveStarReads #FirstLines #Books #Bookstagram #BookLover #Bookworm
Book Mail Appreciation🧡 Back in November I was Book Mail Appreciation🧡 Back in November I was sent the physical book of Kavithri by Aman J. Bedi for a book tour. Due to a Canada Post strike and holiday craziness it was stuck in the mail for a while. But now that it's finally here, I'm so excited to have a copy because not only is the cover stunning but I also loved it!! Thank you @gollancz & @thewritereads 🥰. Kavithri is a Grimdark Sci-Fantasy and an underdog story. It's South Asian inspired and a fantastic debut! I highly recommend it and as for myself, I'll be waiting for the sequel 😉. ❓What is your favourite underdog story? Or, what book have you started 2025 with?
🏺MYTHOLOGY MONDAY🏺 For my first Myth Monday 🏺MYTHOLOGY MONDAY🏺 For my first Myth Monday, I wanted to share all of the books I read this year that are related to mythology in any way! I am surprised it's only 5 but I enjoyed most of these and hopefully next year I'll read more. 🏛️Lore Olympus, Vol. 4 by Rachel Smythe: Modern retelling of Hades & Persephone and I'm loving this graphic novel series❤️ I've been reading it slowly to enjoy it. 🐘Masquerade by O. O. Sangoyomi: A historical fiction loosely based on the myth of Persephone but set in 15th century West Africa & steeped in Nigerian Mythology. An enjoyable read that was miscategorised as Fantasy. 🏺Clytemnestra's Bind by Susan C. Wilson: An Iliad retelling from Clytemnestra's POV. We see her brutal marriage to Agamemnon and How Helen and Paris run away together triggering the Trojan War. Adored this book but it wasn't easy to read. Next book in the series is gonna be from Helen's POV. 🪷We Shall Be Monsters by Tara Sim: Marketed as Frankenstein meets Indian Mythology which I think is a very apt description. We meet Bhutas, Rakshasas, Nagas and more and I thought it was a fun YA read! 🦁Yvain: The Knight of the Lion by M. T. Anderson & Andrea Offerman: Retelling of the Arthurian tale Yvain, The Knight of the Lion. I like Arthurian retellings but this graphic novel was just ok, I wouldn't recommend it (although the art was pretty). ❔Did you read any mythology books this year and if so which one was your favourite?
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