The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

TL;DR revenge doesn't get you anywhere good

TBR #1265

finished 3/12/15

Man, this book was beautiful. I don't think I can really do it justice in my own words.

I feel like I should first mention that I am completely unfamiliar with A Thousand and One Nights. I can't tell you whether The Wrath and the Dawn is a true retelling, or if it's like Winterspell where it's inspired by the story but takes the ideas and goes its own direction.

With that said, I really like how the ideas were used. I did some basic research while I was reading and I liked the different direction The Wrath and the Dawn took compared to what I read of A Thousand and One Nights. The narration style made it feel very unique and even almost fairy tale-like, which probably has something to do with my unfamiliarity with the setting and its culture.

As a geography nerd I'm surprised by the lack of attention I paid to the map at the beginning OTL. Despina says she's from Thebes, which I recognized as a city in Greece, but I didn't recognize that Khorasan and Parthia were real regions. Part of this can be blamed on my public school education that focused on Greek and Roman civilization a hell of a lot more than Western Asia. I also don't have much experience looking at older-style maps, so I have to admit the one in the book threw me off -- it took me at least a minute to recognize the coastlines.

I liked the care and detail that was put into describing the setting and the culture of The Wrath and the Dawn. The narration definitely painted a clear visual picture. Most of what I noticed was about the architecture or the clothing, and I don't know if this is just my attention span being selective. I still feel like I don't know much about the human geography of Khorasan, but I think that's also to be expected when most of the story takes place within the palace.

All of the characters were very faceted and there was obvious development by the last chapter. Most (if not all) of the characters fell into a morally gray area and I loved how the omniscient narration showed both sides of what was going on. It definitely made it hard to decide what I personally wanted to happen over the course of the story, because being attached to both sides of the conflict means you're gonna get hurt no matter what happens.

My biggest complaint is the lack of time-related cues in the narration. Some events that happened in back-to-back chapters were mentioned to be weeks apart in the dialogue, but there was no indication of that in the chapter transitions. A lot of inconsequential, mundane stuff isn't shown in order to keep the story stronger, but I don't think it was compensated for enough in the narration. This also made some of Shahrzad's growth feel too convenient and almost Stockholm-like.

(I really don't know where I stand in regards to the romance, so I'm just gonna skip it for right now.)

I also think it took a little too long for Khalid to finally explain his reasoning; there weren't enough hints up until the point that he finally told Shahrzad. I can understand the point of keeping the audience in the same kind of dark Shahrzad was in, but by the point he tells her, it seems like it's way too late for him to change the damage Shahrzad has caused and I don't know how that's going to be handled in The Rose and the Dagger.

On a related note, I think the magic aspect could have been explored a little further. There isn't enough about the magic that's driving most of the story, so I have no idea what kind of repercussions are possible. I like the system of magic and the implications of it and I'm hoping that the second book will cover it a lot more.

TL;DR it was really captivating, and it's a great We Need Diverse Books novel with a wonderful cast of characters. The book also ended with a cliffhanger, so I'm going to be watching the library for the addition of the next in the series.

Wanderlust: Las Vegas and SoCal

I've been turning to my experiences from our June vacation a lot in my writing recently, and with this awesome warm weather we've had the past couple days, nostalgia and wanderlust have pretty much smacked me in the face. Multiple times. 

So I went through my camera roll and picked some photos to compile them all into one post! I'm almost certain all of these ended up in the original blog posts I made, but they're spread out and I wanted to be able to look through them all at once. So I can torture myself even more.

These are mostly the photos I'm most nostalgic for right now, especially in regards to my recent writing, but by no means are these all my favorite pictures. There's too much of this trip to try and condense everything down to one post.

Library Trip: Mar 8, 2016

I finally got to go back to the library!! This was my first time back since early November, when I banned myself from library books to try and force myself to read the books I owned. (Didn't really work.) Today I was able to stop by on the way home from school and I don't think I can properly describe how happy it made me to be back.

There were so many books added since I'd last been, but I only had my school backpack with me and couldn't check out a couple dozen like normal. I really lucked out and found three that I was really looking forward to: The Summer of Chasing Mermaids, Emmy & Oliver, and The Wrath and the Dawn.  

They moved the YA section, so now there are two end cap shelves where they can display collections! They also use the top shelves to display some books face-out, and I think it has a much nicer dynamic than how the books used to be arranged. 

The sign at the top says "fairy tales retold: once upon a twisted time" 

I really liked this display, so I figured I would share the collection work of the librarian that put it together! (Thank you, anonymous librarian!!) It makes me happy to see the YA section get attention like this. 

Barnes and Noble Finds: Mar 4, 2016

Chris and I went to Barnes and Noble this week. (Twice, in fact.) I tend to take pictures of the books I'm interested so I can go home and look them up on Goodreads, and usually to see if my library has them yet. I figured I'd share the books since I was intrigued but didn't have the money to buy any at the time. If I can't support the authors through buying books, the least I can do is spread the word about them. 

(The first two I actually had on my TBR already. Go figure. I did find new books though!)

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

Why I'm intrigued: genetic engineering. Interestingly enough, the synopsis on the back of the copy isn't like its Goodreads one. 

In Real Life by Jessica Love

Why I'm intrigued: internet friendships and Las Vegas

Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

Why I'm intrigued: political thriller-ish. This usually isn't something I'm into. 

The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Why I'm intrigued: the title. The book blurb is different than the one on Goodreads. 

How Many Letters Are In Goodbye? by Yvonne Cassidy

Why I'm intrigued: there's a map on the cover. This also has a different blurb than Goodreads, so I don't remember why I decided to pick this one up.

I haven't checked my library yet, but I think all but one of these were paperback copies, so I think my chances of finding them are pretty good. I know I'm not doing myself any real favors by adding to my TBR faster than I'm reading books, but it's just so fulfilling to wander around Barnes and Noble.

This will probably turn into a blog post series depending on how often Chris and I go to Barnes and Noble, and I might do one about library books once I get back into the habit of going again. 

The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans

TL;DR kids with superpowers fighting an insane scientist

TBR #1028

finished 3/2/16

Man, I feel like I haven't finished a book in forever. 

My friend that got me into the Percy Jackson series recommended this series. I bought the omnibus of the first two books when we went to Half Price Books on our Dallas trip since it was $6.99. (We really need some Half Price Books out here.) 

I didn't start reading The Prisoner of Cell 25 until after the spring semester had started. I didn't keep track of my progress on Goodreads, so it's hard for me to estimate how long it took me to read it. 

It took a while for me to become interested in the book. The concept was good, and I had a lot of faith in the recommendation of my friend, but the narration felt a little dull. Now, in all honesty, most of the books I read are written from a third-person or female first-person POV, so it's possible that it's just me being unused to a male first-person perspective. The only other series I can easily think of with a male narrator is Percy Jackson. 

I think a lot of my issue with the book was that a lot of it felt simplified. That's not necessarily bad, but it's not what I'm used to reading. A lot of the issues felt too black-or-white and a lot of the characters felt pretty polarized, moving from one extreme to the other. 

(I would personally classify The Prisoner of Cell 25 as more MG than YA, but it's in the YA section of Barnes and Noble, and I'm pretty sure I'm out of the demographics for the book.) 

I liked most of the characters. There wasn't as much depth as I was hoping, and the character development felt a little sudden a few times, but I think it works within the context. The book is focused more on action than the individual characters, and with five other books in the series, there's a lot of room for them to grow more. 

My favorite character was definitely Ostin. I really liked how he was a valuable part of the cast even without powers like the rest of the kids. The theory I had about him didn't come up at all in the book, so I'm curious about if I'm actually right about it in the end or not. 

My biggest problem with the book was Hatch. He came off as very "evil scientist", and there wasn't enough that made him seem like he had any redeeming or human qualities. He also had huge mood / temperament swings more than once, though that might be due to his abusive nature -- I don't have enough experience reading about abusive characters to say for sure or not. 

That said, there are some CWs for mental and physical abuse. Those poor kids go through a lot because of Hatch. 

Hopefully I'll get to talk to my friend soon and get his perspective of the book, since we have different interests and reading habits. It was nice to break out of what I normally would read and get to try another type of MG / YA books. I don't know that I would have picked up the series without knowing that he'd read it. 

I'm going to continue in the omnibus and read Rise of the Elgen (hopefully sooner rather than later). I'm not sure what I'll do after that -- if my friend lends me his copies of the other books, I'll probably try to completely catch up with the series. 

TL;DR I think I may be a little out of the book's intended demographic, but it was a good read. It's compelling once the plot gets rolling and it doesn't have any melodrama or cliches like a lot of other YA books have. I'm definitely curious about will happen in the next book.