🎅🏻December TBR!🎅🏻

It’s Chriiiiiistmaaaasss!!! Or at least it’s December. Look I’ve waited until December started and we’ve all had such a bad year that we deserve to enjoy something! But yes, this means it’s time for my final tbr of 2022! 😲

In the twist of the decade I’ve actually kept this months list short so let’s dive in!

First up are the book box books. Goldsboro GSFF box for this month with be The Immortality Thief by Taran Hunt which is another Sci-Fi book. 100% here for squeezing in some more Sci-Fi before the end of the year! And Illumicrate is giving us The Luminaries by Susan Dennard as a Daphne Press book. I’m excited to finally try out some of Dennard’s writing!

Then onto the books I already own. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang is the last book on my “12 in 2022” instagram list, where I had people pick 12 books for me to read this year. After adoring Babel I’m so so excited to dive into more of Kuang’s writing! A Chinese history inspired political fantasy? Exciting!

The Spear of Truth by Caroline Logan was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022 and I need to get to it before the year is out! This is the final book in the Four Treasures series which follows a grumpy grandpa of a young girl who is coerced into being a bodyguard for some selkies! Scottish mythology combined with YA fantasy and I adore the series. I’m so excited and so nervous for this series to end!

My boyfriend adores the Discworld series, and yet after I’ve moved in with him I’ve not read a single Discworld book! So Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett is going on my December tbr. This series is a classic in the fantasy world and I’m excited to dive back into the madness!

The final book on my tbr is a reread, and that is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I’m going to be getting the train to my parents house on Christmas Eve, and this seems like the perfect travel read for the season!

That’s only 6 books! Six! That’s the smallest tbr I’ve made in ages! I won’t lie, it was surprisingly hard, and I had another 5 books that could’ve been added to the tbr. But I really want to be reasonable this month and not give myself too much to read.

What’s on your final tbr of the year? What do you need to get to before New Years Day?

Pyramids, a review

A very late post from me today to review Pyramids by Terry Pratchett, which is the 7th book in the Discworld series, but it can also be read as a standalone. It follows the son of the Pharaoh of a country that is clearly inspired by Egypt. He is sent to school in Ankh-Morpork to learn to be an assassin, and comes back a changed boy.

This is definitely a really fun book in the series, and one I think you could start with if you’re approaching Discworld for the first time. There are little pieces of information which will mean more if you’ve read the previous six books, but nothing essential. I enjoyed how the Gods were portrayed in this one, and how they were mixed into the events of the book itself.

It’s filled with all of Pratchett’s usual ridiculousness, with sneaky but surprisingly meaningful jokes littered throughout whilst discussing the state of the world, politics, and the people they impact. All in a short and hilarious bundle.

On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 7, Atmosphere: 7, Writing: 8, Plot: 9, Intrigue: 8, Logic: 8, and Enjoyment: 8 giving an average of 7.86 and a 4* rating.

This is yet another great book from Pratchett which shows his impressive skills as a writer and I’m glad that I have finally delved back into Discworld! Let’s just hope it doesn’t take me quite so long to read book 8.

Have you read any Discworld novels? Do you like them? Let me know!

Good Omens, a book review

I finally read it! This is one that’s been on my tbr forever, and randomly after I moved in with my partner we were going through his books and he had this one. So obviously I ignored my actual tbr and read this!

If you’ve somehow never heard of this book, it follows an angel and a demon who are unlikely friends. And they’re attempting to prevent the end of the world. For purely selfish reasons of course.

This book is so fucking fun. It’s absolutely insane, absolutely stupid, I adore the references, and I’m so glad I read it. It is slightly of its time, with a few references that were “fine” then but we see as inappropriate now. But nothing awful. (and these are altered in the TV adaptation to fit with current views on appropriate statements – in a good way)

Part of me wishes that there was a sequel to the book, but a bigger part of me knows that I don’t want to risk this perfect world in any way! And besides, with the TV show (that I’m actually up to date with? Who am I?) we’re getting more from the world regardless so it’s the best of both worlds!

On CAWPILE I gave: Characters: 10, Atmosphere: 9, Writing: 9: Plot: 8, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 8, and Enjoyment: 10 which gives an average of 9 and a 5* rating!

Unsurprisingly from a book written by two great writers, I really enjoyed this book! British humour at it’s finest and I’m so excited to see where the TV show goes from here.

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett, a review

Book number 6 in the Discworld series, and it is pretty much what you come to expect by this point in the series!! This is one of my favourite Discworld books so far! I absolutely love the three witches and their antics and rivalries. I think I relate to Magrat the most, she is the youngest of the three so this would make sense, but she’s overly positive in the changes that can be made to the world. However, Nanny gives zero f*cks which is absolutely brilliant and when Granny goes off on one (which happens quite often) it is a beautiful sight to behold. I definitely loved them all!!

There were definite, intentional, Macbeth vibes throughout this book and I felt that it was done really well and was quite amusing. If you don’t know the Shakespeare play than it doesn’t affect your reading of the book, however, if you do know the play then it adds an extra dimension to the events and I personally found it really funny!

Within the Discworld series, there are different collections, such as books that follow Death, Rincewind, and the Witches, and I am really, really, looking forward to more stories within the witches branch of the series and seeing where they go from here and what sh*t they end up doing next!

If you’ve never picked up and of Pratchett’s works I definitely recommend giving them a go. They are fun and no-strings-attached and therefore easy to read, at least this is my personal experience and I’m glad I was pushed to try them!

Mort and his mortality

As always with The Discworld so far, I’ve really enjoyed this book and the new perspective looking closer into Death’s life, his daughter, his manservant and also his new apprentice Mort. Being able to discover more about Death’s life through the eyes of someone who is also new to the world is really helpful narratively and leaves us confused half the time, which I’m sure is what Terry Pratchett would want! Although the repetitive mentioning of the slow speed of light breaking on the disc was starting to grate on my nerves after the seven-hundredth time (okay I’m exaggerating a little, and it is relevant, but it really didn’t need to be mentioned so often!), I really liked the ending of the book and I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series and to see what I’ll be told next about the Discworld.