Books I Need to Read in 2015

I decided to dedicate a blog post to all the books I own and haven't read yet! They've been kind of stacking up lately, and I feel kind of guilty for it.

I couldn't decide which picture looked better, especially because I accidentally left some books out of the right one ...

I'm gonna sort them into two categories under the cut and talk about the books a little bit more, so click through if you're interested! 

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

TL;DR literally Twilight

(finished 2/12/15)

I tried to like this. I really did. Two of my friends at school loved this book series.

But I honestly cannot see how this is anything more than a slightly sarcastic version of Twilight. There is no difference between the two, other than replacing aliens with vampires.

(I'm probably going to spoil a good amount of the book in this review. I also wrote this when I was kind of mad with the book, and I've calmed down by now, but I'm not going to change my review, because I think it needs said.)

A part of my issue is that I usually don't enjoy paranormal romance and I do not like sexual tension. I'm super super ace, so the romance in Obsidian just grossed me out instead of being anything "hot". I've said before that I try not to down-rate because I'm a minority and out of the demographic, but the romance is essentially what made me rate it as one star on Goodreads.

The book's romance aspect is essentially just a slightly more PG 50 Shades of Gray. (I haven't actually read that book, both because of my asexual identification and because it's a terrible book, but I've read a lot of articles and had discussions with people who've read it.) Obsidian perpetuates the wrong mentality that a controlling boyfriend is not only attractive but also possibly end-goal, and that is BAD. Nobody should strive for this kind of relationship. It's not healthy in the least, and the fact that so many people on Goodreads (and my friends) enjoyed it is really disturbing.

The media should not be telling girls that this kind of relationship is okay. We should be empowering girls, not trapping them in borderline abusive relationships because that's all they can see.

And also, I really didn't like Katy or Daemon. I don't see how either of them are good characters, or how their romance was even remotely good. Katy was literally like "you're a jerk, but you're hot, but you're being incredibly rude to me, but I think I want to make out with you" the entire book. Those points do not add well together. I don't care how hot anyone is; if they treat you poorly, do not get with them. Daemon was manipulative in the name of "protecting him and his family", and despite Katy repeatedly telling him off, she does nothing to distance herself from him. She doesn't even do much more than just call Daemon names; she doesn't talk to her mom, who encouraged her to get with Daemon, nor any friends or school administrators.

Aside from all that, the plot seemed weak. Most of it was just Daemon being "you're going to expose us, stay away from my sister" or "I'm going to force you to be by my side until you stop glowing to us" or "I know you like me, stop lying, you're obviously attracted". The bad guys were only like a fairly small part of the plot itself, and it felt really stereotypical to paranormal romance.

To be fair, I did read Obsidian as part of the omnibus volume that contained Onyx as well, so it made it really hard for me to judge how fast the plot was moving in relation to the page count. I may have seen it differently had I read the book on its own.

I do have to give Katy props for not being a bitter "my parents made me move to the middle of nowhere" protagonist, and that her hobby of being a book blogger was pretty solid throughout the book. Dee was probably my favorite character, though she really only felt like a "token best friend" than anything. Everyone else was just jerks and I honestly cannot think of any character development that happened.

review TL;DR Obsidian perpetuates and glorifies terrible relationships and I'm really angry that most people like the romance in the book.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

TL;DR stereotypical paranormal romance

(finished 2/9/15)

If you go into Paranormalcy without high expectations, I think you'll probably like it. Paranormal romance has never been my thing, and Evie is a really stereotypical paranormal romance MC, so it's honestly not an outstanding book.

I've definitely read worse, though. And the romance was pretty cute aside from the terrible case of insta-love. Like, I don't think Evie waited 50 pages to decide she was totally falling for him, which was kind of frustrating. Lend was a really cute character, though, so I kind of forgave it.

Honestly, there's not all that much of a plot. There's some "oh no, paranormals are dying", but it kind of takes a backseat? A lot of it is focused on the characters and their relationships, and I liked that, but it sucks if you're going into the book looking for a bunch of action.

And very little actually gets explained in terms of the "paranormals dying" thing, or how their association works (which I forget the acronym for), or why Reth is such a creepy / abusive character. (Luckily Evie realizes he's a terrible person.) Paranormalcy is part of a trilogy, so I'm guessing that things might be explained a little bit more then, but I'm in no hurry to read the other two books. I'm kind of afraid they'll pull the same thing and set up for a bunch of plot and then not resolve any unanswered questions and just leave them at that. That said, though, I'd probably read the other books if I find them at the library.

review TL;DR it's good if you want something fairly mindless but not absolutely terrible.

Katsucon 2015

Katsucon 2015 was a great experience. I've learned so much since my first time five years ago, and it's amazing to see how far I've come and how many awesome experiences I've had. 

This year was actually the first time I didn't have pre-con jitters to the point that it made me anxious. I'm usually pretty wound up the week or so before a convention, which sometimes took a toll on how I felt, and I never experienced that this year. I felt completely prepared and relaxed! I mentioned this in my vlogs, but when I walked into Katsucon this year, I just got this feeling of "home" -- it's become so familiar to me that I just felt so content to be there, even if I wasn't specifically doing anything. 

I actually only cosplayed once this year! Friday, we left right after school, so I asked my parents to bring my Free! Iwatobi jacket for me to change into. I brought my black wig so I could be Haru once I got my badge, but I decided against putting it on. Saturday I got to wear my Tsukino Usagi / sailor hoodie cosplay, which I really loved. Sunday I just wore my Iwatobi jacket again. 

The line situation seemed to be kind of a mess this year, because they grouped both at-door and pre-reg into the same line out in the main hallway, so I thought the line was super long. However, occasionally staff would walk down the line and ask if anyone was pre-reg, and then they would let us go into Hall E. The line inside the reg room got a little messed up right around the front, so Cindy and I probably jumped ahead by accident;; We were only in line for an hour though! I was amazed. Poor Emily had to wait with Charlotte and her bae because they hadn't pre-regged in time and she was nice enough to keep them company. 

I did almost everything I wanted to do this year! The biggest disappointment was not being able to meet Sachie, since I missed meeting her at Otakon like two years ago. But I did get to meet Josie and Liz from twitter, and I got to see a bunch of people in the DTP circles again ♥ I got to stay at the kigu party on Friday for a while, and that was super fun. 

My grandparents came down for the day on Saturday since they seemed curious about conventions, and it actually went a lot smoother than I anticipated. I was a little scared to see how it would go, just because they're unfamiliar with a lot of the anime / congoing culture, but I never got the feeling that they were like "ew your hobby is kind of weird", and I really appreciate that. I had a lot of fun sitting in the atrium with my family and people-watching. They asked me lots of questions, and a lot of times I couldn't answer them because they would ask about series I'm unfamiliar with, but I was really glad that they were engaged and interested. 

We did finally get to experience a Katsnowcon, which was a little bit of a mess. It started snowing Saturday evening, right around the time we were about to leave, and for a few minutes it was basically a white-out. We managed to get home safely, and I think we were really lucky that nothing catastrophic happened at all. Mom and I took the Metro down on Sunday because the roads still looked kind of bad and Dad had to deal with a frozen water pipe (and then got called into work). I'm really hoping that next year we can finally stay down at National Harbor so we don't have to worry about commuting back and forth.  

I actually came home with a relatively small loot this year! I only used ~2/3 of the Christmas money I had saved for the weekend. I only got one "full size" print; the rest are about normal paper size. I think what I'm most excited about is the Ladies of Literature zine, since I saw andythelemon mention it on her tumblr, but I didn't expect I'd ever have a chance to buy it. I also got a commission from kristinkemper, which I am sooooo happy about because she's one of my favorite artists. 

I didn't get to vlog as much as I wanted to, but I got enough footage that I'll have five videos. A good portion of the footage is actually stuff I took at home as a sort of "catch up" for the lack of video at the con itself, so I'm glad I at least have that. I'm getting a little better at talking to the camera when I'm at home ♥ You can find my teaser video here! The videos should go up every Thursday, and this will be the first year that I'm captioning my vlogs. 

TL;DR this year's Katsu was actually pretty chill, and I didn't do all that much, but I still had fun. 

Post-Katsu Shout-out to My Parents

Alternatively titled: "Why I'm grateful my parents humored 8th grader me and let me attend an anime convention"

Seriously, I don't think I'll ever be able to say this enough. My parents gave me so much by letting me go to Katsucon 2011 and continue to attend anime conventions after that. I still haven't figured out the best way to definitively prove my gratefulness, so I thought at least outlining what that one weekend has meant would be something.

I meant to get a picture of all of us at Katsucon, but I forgot;;

My parents gave me bravery

My first Katsucon, I was so incredibly in awe -- and quiet as a mouse. I was so scared of talking to all of these amazing cosplayers that I couldn't ever imagine being able to go up to one and ask for their picture without being a nervous wreck.

But look how far I've come! I have no problems approaching cosplayers to ask for a picture or to compliment their cosplay, and while I'm still a little nervous approaching senpais or other people I look up to, I've gotten lots better! 

This has also carried over into everyday life. I feel more comfortable with having to talk to people I don't know very well (or at all). Having a common factor with people at conventions helped ease me into that. 

Cosplay in itself has also helped me become braver. While I can still be kind of nervous when I'm cosplaying, I also feel stronger. It's allowed me to tackle a hobby completely on my own and trial-and-error my way to cosplays I'm proud of. I've become more comfortable with myself and occasionally standing out. 

My parents gave me freedom

After my first convention, my parents allowed me to continue to go -- without them. They allowed me to go down the next year to Katsucon with friends, then to Otakon, and to Anime USA completely on my own. 

They allowed me to learn on my own. They let me take chances the first times I went to Otakon and Anime USA, and they let me use my babysitting paychecks towards a hobby that probably still seems a little strange to them at times. They never stopped me when I would spend upwards of $50 to attend a con only to spend hundreds of dollars more in merch. They let me spend tons of money on outfits I can really only wear a few times a year.(Mom still gives me a hard time, but she never tries to dictate what I do with my own money.) 

This year, Mom also allowed me to wander around Katsucon on my own without a buddy, something that was really exhilarating. I've always had to be with a buddy before, and while I completely understood the reasoning for that, it could be restricting at times. Knowing that Mom trusts me enough to walk around a convention alone for a relatively short period of time was great, and I'm really grateful that she allowed me to do that. 

My parents gave me responsibility

Freedom came with a certain degree of responsibility. I was in charge of researching details for cons. I had to learn how to budget myself so I wouldn't blow all my money on unnecessary cosplay materials or stuff from Dealer's and Artist Alley that I didn't really need. I was in charge of myself for hours at a time in a large crowd of people. 

My parents gave me the opportunity to prove that I could handle myself in a situation when they weren't immediately available -- I learned to anticipate possible problems that could come up, from minor injuries like blisters to ride conflicts. I learned from Mom's preparedness and tried to emulate that. I'd like to think that I've done a good job with being prepared for everything that could come my way. 

My parents gave me their time (and money)

I am incredibly grateful that my parents are willing to devote an entire weekend to Katsucon each year -- especially the past two when it's fallen around Valentine's Day. I appreciate that they're willing to drive me up to an hour each way to a convention and sit around to people-watch or to return home until I call again many hours later. They've orchestrated their work schedules around my conventions and paid who knows how much money in gas and parking. They've been patient when I don't know what I'm doing with a cosplay and have to make multiple runs to AC Moore or Jo-Ann's in order to get what I need. They've occasionally fronted me money or bought me pieces of my cosplays that I can use everyday as well. 

This year, Dad gave up snow duty on Saturday so he could stay down at the convention with us, and Mom spent over four hours on the Metro with me so I could spend three hours at the con itself on Sunday. I really appreciate that they were willing to do this for me. 

My parents gave me their support

They've always been open-minded with my hobby, and that means a lot to me.  They never stopped me from pursuing cosplay. They gave me the means to make new friends and find a new hobby I never expected to be proficient with. They've never looked down on conventions or the other attendees. They let me take over sections of the house to piece together my cosplays and give the best help they can when I'm stuck. They've humored me when I bring up conventions out of our area that I'd like to attend someday. 

My parents gave me their trust, and I can never thank them enough for that. 

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

TL;DR an 18-year-old NaNo-er who is getting her book published moves to NYC / the sole survivor of a terrorist attack ends up as a kind of grim reaper

(finished 2/5/15)

I was really excited for Afterworlds. I never thought I'd get such an inception like getting to read about a (fictional) fellow NaNo writer. I almost bought it last month at Barnes and Noble, even though it seemed kind of expensive at $20. 

And I'm honestly kind of glad I didn't. 

Afterworlds is a huge book, and I can understand why it'd be more expensive than the other YA books I was looking at. It's essentially two stories in one, so honestly, you're kind of getting two books for a little more than the price of one. The only issue with combining two books into one is pages. The book is freaking huge at 599 pages, which only leaves about 300 per story. 

Both stories felt underdeveloped to me. I'm not sure if that's entirely the right word I want to use, but both Darcy and Lizzie's narratives skipped scenes. There was at least once where a problem of Darcy's was mentioned, it flipped to Lizzie's story for a chapter, and when Darcy's story started again, the problem's solution was only mentioned in passing. It was kind of frustrating. And the characters felt kind of flat. It also would've been cool to know beforehand that Lizzie's story was the final copy, because I got halfway through before I noticed Darcy talking about making changes that had apparently already been made. I get why we would be reading the final copy, for continuity / coherency and all that, but it kind of threw me for a loop.

The book also requires a pretty big stretch for suspension of disbelief. The premise of a young writer selling her NaNo story isn't all that unbelievable, but the fact that she got that much money based on one book and an unwritten sequel and moves to NYC all on her own isn't very realistic. Nor is the fact that her parents seem to let her do it without much trouble. I get that she was an adult, but if she never had to do her own laundry before she moved, there's no way she could have survived on her own. 

Both stories also had symptoms of insta-love. I can't even pinpoint the exact time frame between Darcy and Imogen meeting and them hooking up. Lizzie had a really weird relationship with Yamaraj, though I usually don't like paranormal romances anyway. The NaNo characters didn't seem very developed in the sense that they seemed like cardboard characters -- honestly, I feel like you could replace them with any other paranormal romance characters and it wouldn't go much different. 

I can say that Darcy is fairly realistic in the sense of being a writer. I felt her pains. It sucks when you write 50k+ words in a month and then struggle to actually give the story a coherent feel. I've been working on mine for two years. The realistic sense stops at her writing, though. I have no experience in publishing whatsoever, but I find it really unbelievable that she was able to sell her NaNo within a year of writing it. And also the fact that apparently all the adults in the publishing world around her let her get away with underage drinking when they knew her age. I actually asked what the consequences of that would be, and I'm pretty sure someone in publishing wouldn't want that on their public record. (Darcy and Imogen's age gap also seemed kind of icky to me, but it was also a fairly PG relationship, so I'm not entirely sure where I stand.)

Afterworlds gets some points for including a normalized queer relationship (meaning that there's no real drama like "oh no I'm gay, what do"; it's just like "yep she's my girlfriend and I love her, we both struggle with writing"), as well as including Hindu culture / mythology and a writer character, neither of which I've read about before. 

Review TL;DR it's an okay book, but I got less than I was expecting. 

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

TL;DR lots of action / adventure and magic

I honestly don't really know how to describe Skulduggery. My friend recommended it to me and I found it by chance at the library. The goodreads description isn't really all that good at all. Basically, Stephanie gets wrapped up in Skulduggery's world by accident and refuses to let the chance of adventure pass her by. 

It was actually a really good read. It went pretty quickly, so I would sit down to read a few pages and I'd realize that I read a lot more pages than I thought. The character relations were really amusing and I loved the amount of snark they all had. 

It felt a little middle grade-ish, and I can't tell from goodreads if it's supposed to be or not -- it's shelved on both YA and Childrens shelves. It'd definitely be good if you liked the Percy Jackson series. The magic elements were described well and there wasn't an overwhelming amount of "well this sucks" despite the actual plot. 

Review TL;DR I'd definitely say at least try it, especially if you're good with MG books. 

Catalyst by S.J. Kincaid

TL;DR what happens when you make Ben Tennyson the protagonist of Ender's Game and add in capitalism to the extreme

(finished 1/30/15)

Okay, so that description is kind of a description of the series as a whole. It was how I described it to my friend today at lunch. Catalyst is the final book in the Insignia series, and let me tell you, it is a finale. 

Catalyst is essentially just one huge climax. The entire book. It's great. The plot gets going immediately and doesn't stop. I guess your take on that really depends on if you like non-stop plot or if you like lulls -- because there are definitely few to no lulls. 

I have to add in huge content warnings for mental abuse and systematic brainwashing towards the middle of the book. I'm going to leave it at that to avoid spoilers, but if that kind of stuff squicks you out, you might want to avoid the book. It dramatically affects everything that comes after it. I think it's handled pretty well afterwards in terms of how everyone reacts and helps the character recover, but I have no real knowledge or experience in this regard, so I would suggest using your own gut feeling. 

Something I actually really loved in Catalyst was the romance, believe it or not. Romance has always supported the plot over the series, and I'm really glad that there were never really any parts where it totally overtook the plot. I mean, Tom and Medusa do some pretty stupid stuff to each other, which occasionally fuels the plot, but it all seemed really realistic and was never overbearing. I really loved that it had more slow-burn romances instead of romances occurring over the course of a single book -- they build up slowly, so it's definitely not insta-love, and that's awesome. We need more books like this. 

There's honestly not much I can really say without spoiling the entire series, but if you haven't read Insignia yet, and dystopian-like sci-fi is your thing, go for it! I'm reluctant to call it a full-blown dystopian because of how overused (and wrongly used) the term is, but it's definitely a scary world that's possible, which I think makes it all the more worse. I think that you would really like the series if you liked Legend; that's the first book that comes to mind after Ender's Game. Both have to do a lot with the military / government, and I think I liked the Insignia series so much more because it was set in and around DC. Books are a lot more interesting when they're on your home turf. 

Review TL;DR please at least try reading the Insignia series. It's really good. 

How to: Katsucon

So, this upcoming Katsucon will be my 5th time attending. I'm kind of shocked, to be honest. I've been a congoer for five years at this point. I know I could've been a lot more prepared my first year, so I decided to try and use my years of experience to help someone who is attending for the first time.

I have to be honest, I got a lot of my inspiration for this from dejavudea's video from 2013 -- and while it's really helpful, it's two years old at this point and I know that I rely heavily on visuals, something that I felt was missing from her video.

This is a guide specific to Katsucon, and I'm going to skim over a lot of general con rules because I feel like that deserves its own post. This is mainly for someone who hasn't attended Katsucon before and wants to know a little bit more before it happens.

Also as a disclaimer: I've never stayed at a hotel for Katsucon. I've always commuted from home. I'm leaving out any details regarding staying within National Harbor itself because I feel like Dejavudea covers staying within the Gaylord well and I have no additional information to give.

This is going to be fairly image-heavy, so I'm putting everything under a cut.

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

TL;DR Queen Levana actually has a really really depressing backstory.

(finished 1/26/15)

I have to be honest, only Marissa Meyer would be able to make me sympathize someone like Queen Levana.

Queen Levana is the antagonist of the Lunar Chronicles series and is basically just an evil queen from the moon trying to forcefully take over earth. She's a pretty terrifying antagonist within the first three books.

She's a little more terrifying in Fairest, but oh my god I never expected to feel this bad for her. Her history is incredibly just fate stacked against her constantly, and she tries her best to persevere, but she ends up becoming the evil queen from Cinder by the end.

I honestly don't really know how to review this out of context of the Lunar Chronicles because that's been my fave go-to since I discovered it, but I also think that this would make a really good intro to the series if you're torn on Cinder. You won't notice all the plot setup if you read Fairest first, but it's a perfect length to both set up Levana and the recent Lunar history and set the entirety of the Lunar Chronicles in motion.

And it was also really fun to read in the break between Cress and Winter and see Levana set herself up for what happens regarding the four girls, pretty much.

Long story short, you should definitely read it.

Fairest was released on the 27th, but I've learned that the bookstore closest to my house will release the Lunar Chronicles books a few days early, and I've decided to use that to my advantage. It's really fun. I'm going to miss it when Winter comes out.

My favorite book series is going to end this year and I don't know how to handle it ∑(;°Д°)