August Reading Wrap Up

In August I had two readathons: the Mary Shelley AThon and the MiddleEarthAThon. Both were amazing and both inspired me to pick up books I wouldn’t have (at least this month) otherwise. It also meant that I read more than I would’ve so no complaints here!!

If you’d like to see how well I balanced my books out this month, then check out the video here!

The first book I finished in August was Fire by Kristin Cashore which is the second book in the Graceling series. This is an older YA series that has gotten a bit of a revival lately and it’s so much fun! Fire is our main character and I loved seeing her development throughout the book, as well as how the court changed around her. So excited to dive into Bitterblue next! This was my tbr jar pick and I’m glad this was forced into my hands!

Next up was Mathilda by Mary Shelley which I picked up for the Mary Shelley A Thon prompt of something written by Shelley. This is a super short read, around 100 pages, and a really interesting one. It’s essentially an unedited short story about a young woman who just wants a family and considering it’s unedited… wow is it written well. I just wish Shelley had been able to edit this one up into a fully fledged work!

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi was my next read, the Goldsboro GSFF book for last month, and WOW did I adore this book. Five stars, one of my favourites ever. This book is just amazing. I need the sequel like yesterday. This high fantasy is incredibly detailed, beautifully well developed, and I adored seeing the characters learn more about the world and each other. I love this book so much that I struggle to talk about it. That’s when you know I loved a read!

Then another great read was The River and the Book by Alison Croggon, my first reads from this author since The Pellinor Series (you know, that one that’s in my handle). This is not an own-voices book, but that is literally the only downside. It’s a beautifully written book that tackles white saviourism and it’s a real short read too. One I’d definitely recommend picking up!

Then I read the behemoth that is The Collected Poems of Robert Burns which clocks in at 600 pages. This was for a Mary Shelley A Thon prompt to read a poem/collection of poetry and this was the best choice because it was gifted to me by the readathon host Caitlyn! (from Mad Cheshire Rabbit) This is definitely not one I’d recommend generally to everyone, because there are some duds in this collection, but there are also some fantastic works and I think you should look Burns up and read a few.

The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones was the Illumicrate read for August and it was… fine? There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with this YA fantasy, but it also wasn’t a standout. Not one I’ll recommend or remember, but it’s fine. Read my full review linked above for more details.

Then I finished my non-fiction for the month, Timefulness by Marcia Bjornerud. This one was fantastic, having super interesting and unique discussions on geology, the physical makeup of our planet, and how we can learn to think more about timeframes past our existence. But. There’s ableism right at the end and I just can’t recommend a book after that. Check out my full review of this one coming in a few days (or available on my blog now if you’re reading this in mid September 22 onwards).

For my first MiddleEarthAThon read, a shiny book, I went for Demon Road by Derek Landy which is the first book in a YA Urban Fantasy trilogy. This is the same author of the Skulduggery Pleasant series and unfortunately it doesn’t quite live up to that high bar. It was enjoyable enough though and I’m curious, so I’ll be carrying on with the series.

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr works for both readathons. For MiddleEarthAThon it’s (one of) the oldest book on my tbr, and for Mary Shelley A Thon it counts for both a book outside of your comfort zone and a tbr vet. This. This book was fantastic, amazing, and a 5* read! I had the smallest of issues with how travel was portrayed but other than that – perfection! Another favourite of the year.

And my final read was most of The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This entire collection was 1122 pages so I didn’t manage to read it all before the month was up, but I did manage it in the one week of the MiddleEarthAThon, and in August I read a fair few of the short stories. I’ll mention this one more in my September wrap up but this was a 4* read and just as fun as I remember Sherlock stories being.

And that’s everything I managed to read last month! It totalled 3944 pages, and so much of that was during the MiddleEarthAThon!!

Did you get any five star reads last month? The Final Strife and All The Light We Cannot See are both amazing and I’m so glad that I picked them up!!

The River and the Book by Alison Croggon, a review

The River and the Book by Alison Croggon is my first book by her since I read the Pellinor Series. We all know how much I love that series (check out my handle) so I was super excited to dive into more from her!

This is a short, but beautiful, book that has solidified my love for Croggon’s writing. We follow a young girl named Simbala who is very important in her village. She can speak to the Book, which answers the villagers questions. It’s an honoured position and one that she understands the weight of. The river is also incredibly important to the village, but they notice that it is not as prosperous as it used to be. In fact the river seems to be poisoned from the cotton plantations upstream which don’t care about what they pump into the river. One day a western woman comes to the village, looking into the damage that the river pollution is causing. But she is the biggest danger of all to the village.

This book has important and nuanced discussions on white saviours and their “good” intentions versus the negative impacts that they leave in their wake. Simbala spends years attempting to correct the impact of this western woman, but nothing will ever be the same again.

From a literature perspective we get to see so much character development from Simbala, she starts off not knowing anything about the outside world. Because she doesn’t need to. But as that need changes she slowly learns more and sees others reactions. She still maintains her convictions and her beliefs, whilst becoming a different person than she was when she left her home. There is also fantastic worldbuilding. Whilst this is a very mild urban fantasy, Croggon still does a fantastic job of embellishing and explaining the world and I feel so invested in the lives of these people.

On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 8, Writing: 8, Plot: 10, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 8, and Enjoyment: 9 giving an overall score of 8.71 and a 4.5* rating.

Highlight here for trigger warnings: a passing mention of rape, poverty depicted, cultural appropriation, death of a parent, colonialism, xenophobia.

I loved this read and I’m so so glad that I finally delved into more from Croggon. This is a beautiful book and I really do recommend picking it up! (as well as obviously the Pellinor series – duh). Have you read anything from Alison Croggon before? Are you going to now? Let me know!!

Your favourite series?

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The Gift is the first book in the Books of Pellinor (kind of…) and it’s the book I’ve re-read the most in my life. I must have read this book upwards of 50 times and yet I still adore each and every page!

I say kind of the first for two reasons. One is that in the US it’s titled The Naming, because it clashed with a book that was already known there. But in Australia (where the author is from) and the UK the book is named The Gift.

The second reason is because a prequel to the series was released! The Bone Queen, which is now considered the first book in the Books of Pellinor. To me it will always be a 0.5 but I still love it, it’s a great prequel!

I last re-read this series in 2020 and I’m tempted to add in another re-read in 2022! What do you think?

Image ID: The Gift by Alison Croggon sat upright on a white shelf. Behind and slightly covering the book are fake plants of green ivy

The Singing – a review

Finally! My review of the 4th and final book in the Pellinor series!! It’s taken me a loooong while to get around to writing this (I read the damn thing in December!) so let’s get into it!

In the first two books of this series we follow Maerad’s pov, and then for book three we follow Hem. In this last book we follow the both of them, with the pov changing every few chapters. Similarly to what I said in my review about The Crow, when I previously re-read these books I skipped out on Hem’s sections a lot. They just didn’t call to me when I was younger and I just wanted to get into Maerad’s story! This time around, of course, that was completely different and I revelled in Hem’s story! Because it had been so long since I had read his sections it was wonderful to see what was essentially a new pov in the story for me. It added so much dimension to the tale and really brings the whole book together.

To keep this as spoiler free as possible, the only explanation I will give for this book is that the two are coming together after time apart, the book follows their journey towards each other and also their journey once their are together which is the end point of the entire series. (right look I know that’s vague but do you want spoilers? No! Go check out the first 3 books and come back!)

The continuous development of the new characters we met with Hem in his story, as well as returning to characters we hadn’t seen since the first book, really rounded out this world and made it feel real. I am so emotionally invested within this world that every battle and every fight is tense, even though I know the outcome! Visiting old friends again is a wonderful way to round out the series and to suggest a direction of events for after what is shown in the books, and I think Croggon does this really well to a point where certain events are suggested but she leaves it open enough for you to come to your own conclusions.

As always the “academic” sections at the beginning and the end of this book are fantastic. I adore all that they add to the world without bogging down the text itself, and the context that they give you to read this tale within.

Is anyone surprised that I loved this reread? No! Now I just need to re-read the prequel and to finally get my butt in gear and read the eBook novella’s that came out a while ago!

The Crow by Alison Croggon – a review

Onto the third part of my reread of the series which inspired my handle, I reread The Crow. The third book of Pellinor focuses on Hem, Maerad’s brother whom we meet in the first book. In this we learn more about his time traveling southwards as well as more about those who travel with him.

The Crow by Alison Croggon

After such heavy focus on Maerad in the first two books, this is a definitive change of pace as we explore the southern reaches of Edil-Amarandh and the deeply entrenched reaches of the dark which lie there. Hem is travelling with Saliman, another Bard we met in The Gift (or The Naming in the US) to the Bard’s home city of Turbansk in order for Hem to learn the basics of barding at the school there. Of course nothing could ever be this simple, and instead the forces of the dark come rushing in, leaving Hem in danger when they once thought that was Maerad’s role.

When I re-read these books more as a teen, this was definitely my least favourite and probably the one I re-read the least. I was not interested in Hem’s point of view for the story at all and because of that this re-read was quite different to the previous two for me. The first two books I know inside out, but this one there were so many aspects and plot points that I just couldn’t remember from whenever I last read it, probably almost a decade ago now. I went into this book anticipating to not really adore this one, but I was so surprised and this turned out to be a fast favourite! I’m not sure what’s changed between when I used to re-read these frequently and now but I absolutely adored reading from Hem’s pov. Not only does this of course add more dynamics to the world building within the book, but I also found myself deeply caring for Hem and his companions and on the edge of my seat at any tense moments. Of course out of the main characters I knew who would survive because they’re in the next book, but with the secondary characters who I suddenly cared about I had no idea if they would live or die and the suspense would kill me each time!

This one book spans so many different aspects of this story, from the basic lore of the world and the schooling and daily life, to underground communications, dealings with the dark, enslavement and love. I’m still so surprised that this is a “discovery” for me and I’m ridiculously happy I decided to do this re-read! Once again, this is essentially impossible to talk about in any real depth without spoilers but I urge you to go and check out the first book in this series (The Gift/The Naming) because the emotional impact of these young adult books is still strong with me today as an “adult”.

This is also leaving me really excited to read The Singing, the fourth and final book in the series, because that book switches between Maerad and Hem’s points of view and I have a feeling I’m going to appreciate that so much more this time than I have since I first read the series!

The Riddle by Alison Croggon – A Review

Continuing on with my reread of the series which inspired my bookish handle, I moved on to The Riddle! Starting where we left off at the end of The Gift, the journey through Edil-Amarandh by Maerad and Cadvan continues and we get to see more of this world and more about these two characters.

This book focuses even more heavily on Maerad than the first, and we learn a lot about her and through her we learn a lot about the world she is travelling through. On her trek to find out more information, carrying little more than her lyre, a sword and some sustenance, we follow the young Bard throughout Edil-Amarandh and into realms we haven’t explored in this world before.

I hesitate about going into any depth on any of these topics because they would most likely be spoilers for book one and maybe even for this book. So instead everything here will be vague and I hope you can forgive me. We travel to so many different places within this book, exploring a wide variety of cultures across the world and finding similarities and so many differences through Maerad’s still naïve eyes. I adored learning more about different cities and locations, and seeing how this magical system interlinks with the “normal” folk in different areas and how various schools interact with the light.

There is a lot more focus on Maerad in this book, and the story revolves around her alone. This means that we get to see her grow and develop a lot in her emotions as she is subject to trials and tribulations, as well as love and loss. Throughout this we learn more about not only Maerad as a person, but also about her special powers that set her apart within this world. How these work, where they may have come from, and how she can best harness them.

For me this is unfortunately a 4 star read rather than 5. I did find that the story was lacking slightly. Once again this is difficult to explain without spoilers, but I’ll struggle through! There’s a plot line with someone powerful, but I found personally that I couldn’t believe in their strength, both physical and emotional. There just wasn’t enough built up around it. My memory had this aspect of the book lasting longer but it was over within a relatively short number of pages and I do think that this was a mistake. In order to be fully impactful it needed more depth to it.

My second and final issue which cause the book to drop a star is that in places it seemed kind of… unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong, I adore these books so much. But there’s a lot of meandering that doesn’t feel entirely fruitful and I feel like this book could’ve been edited down to remove those portions. And if a certain wordcount was wanted to keep it in line with the other 3 books in the series then adding in POV from Cadvan would’ve been really constructive to the story and I feel like it would’ve made the book much faster paced and much more enjoyable.

As it is, I still adore this series and what this book brings to it. There are so many specifics within this book that are some of my favourites throughout the series as a whole and I’m so excited to get to the last two books!

The Gift – a review

I did it! I finally re-read my favourite book! The Gift, by Alison Croggon, was my most read book when I was younger. I’ve re-read it at least 50 times, with the pages completely falling out of the book and the binding ruined. I’ve been absorbed in its pages so often. Somehow, I hadn’t re-read it since I started my Bookternet life though, and I finally rectified this! So, let’s get into it!

The Gift, known as The Naming in the US, follows Maerad (my-rad), a young slave girl in dire circumstances. She’s saved from slavery by Cadvan, a passing traveller whom no-one else can see, and is introduced to a life of Bards and schooling. Despite this new world of learning, her life isn’t set to be an easy one, with Maerad and Cadvan set on a perilous journey in order to battle the dark which has sunk its teeth into Annar.

This book. Damn. I’m so so happy that I still love it! This was 100% a five star read for me! There’s always the worry when you go back to a childhood favourite that you’re not going to love it as much. Tastes change, and especially when you go back in age range it can lend a different viewpoint that leads you to not enjoy the book so much. Thankfully, I adore this book just as much as I always have done!

I adore how Maerad has been written as a 16 year old. She felt realistic to me when I was younger than her and at the same age, and she still feels realistic to me now! She’s very nervous being dumped into these new situations and there are definitely times when she feels like she knows everything and then learns the hard way that she doesn’t. With Maerad coming from such a place of ignorance, we get to learn about her powers along with her. Every revelation is a surprise to all parties involved and seeing how everyone reacts to these as the book (and the series) progresses is one of my favourite parts of the book!

Cadvan, Maerad’s rescuer, teacher, friend, companion and so much more. I adore how he is so desperate to atone himself for his past actions. How he’s so truly towards the light. How he isn’t perfect. He can get impatient and harsh but he always apologises when needed. That’s another aspect of characterisation Croggon does incredibly, is making her characters real. They make mistakes, and not always just huge ones but the simple everyday ones we all make.

There is a lot of lore related to this book. I remember when I first read it as a kid I was convinced it was a fictionalisation of real world events. That just shows #1 how much historical fiction I was reading (and how accurate it was!) and #2 how well and in depth Croggon has written this world. Every aspect and facet that could reasonably be known from the “limited translations” is there and she has put so much thought into this world. As a child I wished that I could live there and learn in one of the Schools of Annar and as an adult I found myself wishing the same thing!

I read this for one of the Booktube Rereadathon prompts and I’m so glad that I’m going to be able to fit the other 3 books into the next 3 prompts because I 100% need to re-read this series now! I can’t wait to fully submerse myself in this world again and to see how much I adore the other books upon an “adult” re-read!

Adding to the world of Pellinor

I was so worried about starting this book, the four main novels from the series are my favourite books and I didn’t want to knock down my love for them. I have re-read The Gift (The Naming in the US) more than 50 times and the book is literally falling apart with pages loose and the cover tattered. Luckily, I ended up really enjoying this book! For me personally, it wasn’t as good as the original “The Gift” but it is still a great addition to the series and I loved being plunged back into the world.  The book delves further into Cadvan’s background, and also shows us more about Nelac and Dernhil and their own backgrounds and character development, and shows the relationships between many of the characters which had previously been developed before the time the other books are set in which then gives us a deeper understanding of the events in the original four books. Definitely a good read for anybody who either loved the original Pellinor series or for those who love high fantasy, and I’m very glad I finally got round to it. I need to re-read the series this year!!