literature

Beyond the Wand: Tom Felton’s Wizarding World Adventures

by Stefani

Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton

Published: October 18, 2022 by Grand Central Publishing

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Tom Felton’s adolescence was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame in beloved films like The Borrowers catapulted him into the limelight, but nothing could prepare him for what was to come after he landed the iconic role of the Draco Malfoy, the bleached blonde villain of the Harry Potter movies. For the next ten years, he was at the center of a huge pop culture phenomenon and yet, in between filming, he would go back to being a normal teenager trying to fit into a normal school.

Speaking with great candor and his signature humor, Tom shares his experience growing up as part of the wizarding world while also trying to navigate the muggle world. He tells stories from his early days in the business like his first acting gig where he was mistaken for fellow blonde child actor Macaulay Culkin and his Harry Potter audition where, in a very Draco-like move, he fudged how well he knew the books the series was based on (not at all). He reflects on his experiences working with cinematic greats such as Alan Rickman, Sir Michael Gambon, Dame Maggie Smith, and Ralph Fiennes (including that awkward Voldemort hug). And, perhaps most poignantly, he discusses the lasting relationships he made over that decade of filming, including with Emma Watson, who started out as a pesky nine-year-old whom he mocked for not knowing what a boom mic was but who soon grew into one of his dearest friends. Then, of course, there are the highs and lows of fame and navigating life after such a momentous and life-changing experience.

Rating:

Review:

I am not entirely sure what made me get this audiobook. I have followed Tom Felton on social media for years, I adore him! He’s such a funny, kindhearted, sincere human being. And I knew the book existed. And I just decided to listen to it. Admittedly it feels quite strange to be giving a memoir 5 stars, but here we are!

“An audience can go back and watch a film any number of times they want. It’s always there for them. For the cast and crew, the relationship with a film is more complex. The magic is in the making, and that process is a discreet unit of time in the past. You can reflect on that unit of time, you can be proud of it, but you can’t revisit it.”

It was a very good choice for this audiobook to be read by the author. I think it might not have had the same impact if he wasn’t able to add his own inflection, timing, humor and silly voices to the narrative. Having him read his own story enhanced the entire book. It was so funny and vulnerable. From his ambitions about wanting to be a carp fisherman, to discovering the wonders of room service, it was all written with an honest vulnerability and a lot of wit. I loved the stories of his time on Harry Potter of course, I am huge Harry Potter fan. But I loved everything else too. He covers everything from his first days of filming a commercial to seeking help for his mental health and alcoholism. I find myself without a whole lot to say because it was just so perfect.

One story in particular made me laugh so hard that I had tears leaking out of my eyes and my sides ached. And then just a few chapters later, I was sobbing. I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was, but I just can’t recommend it enough.

I’ll end the review with my absolute favorite line in the book. Tom is commenting on why he hasn’t ever reread the Harry Potter books or watched the movies (beyond going to the premieres). He says “I’m saving them for the moment I look forward to most…sharing these stories with my own little Muggles.” If that isn’t the most beautiful sentiment about what this fandom means to those who love it, I don’t know what is.

The Berry Pickers Review: A Heartbreaking Tale

by Stefani

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Published: October 31, 2023 by Catapult

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

Rating:

Review:

I was interested in this one because it got a lot of buzz last year. I saw it win a bunch of awards and was talked about all over the book stratosphere. So I picked it up as my audiobook of the week. Though, truth be told, I have been so busy with work and children that audiobooks are about the only thing I have had time to read lately. Anyway, on to the book.

This book was so wonderfully written. It was striking and beautiful. The plot immediately introduces us to Ruthie and her family. They are an Indigenous family from Nova Scotia who travel to Maine every year to assist with harvesting blueberries. Except this year, Ruthie disappeared. They saw her sitting on a rock near the edge of the field and then she was gone. One second she was there and the next second she wasn’t. The police are called and searches commence but it doesn’t last long. They’re migrant workers, Indigenous, no one really cares. The police tells them that maybe their daughter just wandered off, they’ll likely never find her and she’s gone. The property owner sympathizes with their desperation to find her but reminds them that he has work to be done, he can’t afford for them to be searching the woods for Ruthie anymore. It’s heartbreaking and also very realistic, particularly for the timeframe. She is a girl who is easily forgotten.

We are also introduced to Norma. She grew up with a very exacting and manipulative mother. Her mother was a bit paranoid. Norma was rarely allowed to leave the house and definitely not to talk to other people. Honestly, it wasn’t hard to connect the pieces of the story here. I am not entirely sure it was supposed to be a mystery. The real story is how the truth comes to light.

I absolutely loved this book. It might make the short list of one of my favorite books ever. My only complaint was that it got a little too wordy in the middle. I started to lose interest because Norma just wasn’t really that interesting until later in the story. But despite the laggy middle it recovered quickly into a heartbreaking ending. I was left in tears for hours. I still feel a little weepy thinking about the ending of the book again. This is a wonderful book, I highly recommend it.

“Over the decades, the walls of this house have been torn down and built again in different places and painted in different colors, but a closet still holds a very old pair of girl’s boots with the head of a doll sticking out of one of them on the top shelf,” – The Berry Pickers

Review of The Bright Sword: Camelot’s New Heroes

by Stefani

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

Published: July 16, 2024 by Viking

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, only to find he’s too late. The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, leaving no heir, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table survive.

They aren’t the heroes of legend, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Tables, from the edges of the stories, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. Together this ragtag fellowship will set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance.

But Arthur’s death has revealed Britain’s fault lines. God has abandoned it, and the fairies and monsters and old gods are returning, led by Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. Kingdoms are turning on each other, warlords are laying siege to Camelot, and rival factions are forming around the disgraced Lancelot and the fallen Queen Guinevere. It is up to Collum and his companions to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world and make it whole again. But before they can restore Camelot they’ll have to learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell and lay to rest the ghosts of his troubled family and of Britain’s dark past.

Rating:

Review:

I listened to this one on audiobook and I was highly anticipating it. I love Camelot and King Arthur, so I was really excited to see this kind of a book. One that had a Camelot in distress and in need of a new hero. It’s a very long book too, the audiobook is about 24 hours or so, the hardcover is 673 pages. I wanted a good adventure! And I didn’t get it.

The first three hours of this audiobook were great! We follow Callum’s journey to Camelot, his discovery that Arthur is gone and so are most of his knights. The only knights left are the ones who weren’t very good anyway. That was all great, I loved it. And we get a little bit of the history of Arthur in there too. I was completely invested.

Then it started to get a little dull. We were going on a quest to find out if any of the other knights are still alive and find Excalibur. But, most of what actually happens is drinking, joking around and moping about how badly everything sucks. It was the longest journey to nowhere ever. It reminded me of Tolkien, and if you know my opinion on Tolkien….well….it’s not a compliment. By the time we introduced Morgan le Fay I was so bored that nothing could bring me back. I listened to roughly 10 hours of this book and then called it a day. I just couldn’t stand the thought of spending another 14 hours on it. I have many better ways to use my time.

Why Fourth Wing’s Dragons Steal the Show

by Stefani

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Published: May 3, 2023 by Entangled: Red Tower Books

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

Rating:

Review:

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or out in the vast wilderness you’ll know that the 3rd book of this series came out recently. You can’t get away from it. Onyx Storm is everywhere. And everyone seems to love it. Maybe if I was still a doe-eyed 20 something then I would have liked it more too. I decided to give this series a shot and while it is entertaining, it has problems.

I listened to this on audiobook and thought the narrators did a fabulous job. They told this story and the characters to the best of their ability.

**Spoiler alert** Read no further if you wish to remain unspoiled

I love dragons. Adding dragons to a fantasy is a really big winner for me, especially intelligent dragons. The dragon that pairs with Violet is very witty and intelligent, and frankly he was my favorite character. But, it also made me wonder, what does it say about a book when the most logical character is a dragon? The dragon politics in this book was interesting but it also made me ask a lot of questions. Mainly, what do dragons need humans for? They have power, intellect and magic all on their own. They have their own laws, their own politics and their own functioning world. Why do they want to bond with humans? Share their magic with humans? Weaken themselves to empower the humans? Most importantly, why do they want to assist the humans in their wars? Even if the dragons had the same enemy, they seem perfectly capable of fighting on their own. And unfortunately we never get the answers to those questions.

Xaden was a great character, very complex and morally grey. But as soon as I heard his name I knew we were getting a cheesy romance starring Xaden Riorson. And it’s the stuff of every YA book’s dreams. Unreasonably jealousy, trying to make jealousy sexy. On a side note, can we please stop trying to make jealous outbursts sexy? They aren’t. But most importantly, we get Violet and Xaden angsting at each other until they finally find their way into each other’s pants. I probably would have enjoyed this more if I was still a naive 20-something. Instead, fully adult me, rolled my eyes and moved along.

I also found the timeline really confusing. So, there’s a war that seems to have been going on for centuries. The enemy wants to break into their kingdom, but they don’t know why. Everyone seems to just suggest that they obviously want something really badly but…it’s been 600 years? You haven’t had a single peace negotiation to find out? And there was also an internal rebellion that seemed to have happened a lot more recently. A lot of the characters talk about it like it was a long time ago, but since Xaden is involved with the ending of that rebellion it can’t have been any more than maybe 5 years earlier? Xaden is only around 23, so it can’t have been too long ago. But as it turns out the people they’re fighting against (the people in the war or the rebellion, can’t really tell) want magic from the kingdom, because they’re being attacked by magical creatures that no one thinks actually exist. So…instead of just explaining the situation you’re in, you start a war and sacrifice more fighters trying to steal the thing you need? Someone was missing battle sense.

This book was full of tropes. Violet is “so frail”, so tiny, so boring, so unremarkable. Who then ends up doing so many amazing things that no one has ever done before! Eye roll. Sexy jealousy. Eye roll. Childhood friend who has all the feelings. Eye roll. Heroine having an “addiction” to the bad boy. Eye roll. So many tropes.

The things that pulled me into this were the dragons, who were pretty badass. The magic system was very well done and interesting. And the enemies we finally get introduced to right at the very end. Those things have kept me invested enough to probably read the 2nd book. But if the worldbuilding doesn’t get a lot tighter than I’m bowing out of the series for good.

Progress Update Fridays – March 14, 2025

by Stefani

Pride’s Children: Netherworld by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

Progress: 52 of 540 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

How it’s going: I am thoroughly enjoying my journey back into this world so far. I will have to put this one down briefly as I have another one on my Nook that is about to expire, so have to jump other there for a minute and will be right back on this one.

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

Progress: 8 hours, 37 minutes of of 23 hours, 10 minutes

Check this book out at: Goodreads

How it’s going: This one started off really well. I liked Callum a lot and I was really interested in his journey. A young man who desperately wants to be a knight of the Round Table and arrives to find King Arthur dead and the Round Table in shambles. The first 3 hours were great. The last 8 have been utterly boring. I am contemplating giving up.

Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne

Progress: 32 of 368 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

How it’s going: The opening chapter of this book was so intensely chilling. On one hand I felt so sorry for this little girl, but on the other hand she can’t feel sorry for anyone so it’s little bit of an odd experience. I only have a few more days with this one so needed to jump in this week.

Babylonia: Exploring the Legacy of a Warrior Queen

by Stefani

Babylonia by Costanza Casati

Published: January 14, 2025 by Sourcebooks Landmark

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

When kings fall, queens rise.

Nothing about Semiramis’s upbringing could have foretold her legacy or the power she would come to wield. A female ruler, once an orphan raised on the outskirts of an empire – certainly no one in Ancient Assyria would bend to her command willingly. Semiramis was a woman who knew if she wanted power, she would have to claim it.

There are whispers of her fame in Mesopotamian myth- Semiramis was a queen, an ambitious warrior, a commander whose reputation reaches the majestic proportions of Alexander the Great. Historical record, on the other hand, falls eerily quiet.

In her second novel, Costanza Casati brilliantly weaves myth and ancient history together to give Semiramis a voice, charting her captivating ascent to a throne no one promised her. The world Casati expertly builds is rich with dazzling detail and will transport her readers to the heat of the Assyrian Empire and a world long gone.

Rating:

Review:

I picked this book up as an audiobook from the library on a whim. The cover was interesting and I like historical fiction in general. I have had good luck recently with retellings of ancient myths and legends, so jumped right into this Assyrian myth. Before I listened to it, I looked up the myth just so I had a good footing for the basis of the story. The source material is just as interesting as this book was.

This book was beautiful. The writing, the atmosphere, the settings, the characters, all of it. They are pieced together with such care and eloquence that it is really exquisite. I was instantly pulled into this story with the story of Semiramis’ birth and the death of her mother. It was such a tragic start to life for this little girl. And meanwhile you know that she is on a journey to becoming the Queen of Assyria, but how does she get there? From an adopted orphan to Queen and ruler of one of the biggest empires in world history.

I loved the love story of Semiramis and Onnes. He didn’t want to get married, but knew that he needed to get married. She wanted to be given a chance to escape the life she knew in her village and make a future for herself. It is mostly a marriage of convenience though they are attracted to one another and attracted to each other’s intelligence. Along the way they become desperately devoted to each other and love each other fiercely. They bond together after a war and the horrific things they both saw and experienced. Unfortunately this is also the moment that led to Onnes’ downfall. That made me very sad. I knew it was going to happen but I didn’t want it to. This was also one of the bigger pitfalls of the story. I think Costanza really wanted Ninus to be a good guy here, he can’t help it that he fell in love with his brother’s wife! But in reality, Ninus is the bad guy here. He starts an affair with his brother’s wife and then tries to convinve him to give her up in exchange for being allowed to marry Ninus’ daughter. Gross. I was actually quite pleased that the marriage of Ninus and Semiramis wasn’t sunshine and puppy dogs, they didn’t deserve it after what they did to Onnes.

The only other pitfall of this book is that it started to drag after Ninus and Semiramis got married. She’s the queen now, we know that she will become the ruler at some point. But it dragged a bit to get there. Overall though this book was incredibly enjoyable. I have heard that her first book is even better so I will have to check it out.

The Haunting World of Kree: Themes of Death and Rebirth

by Stefani

Kree: A Post-Exotic Novel by Manuela Draeger

Published: October 22, 2024 by University of Minnesota Press

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

A warrior struggles through an apocalyptic landscape and the world after death

Kree Toronto has been raised as a warrior in a ravaged postapocalyptic, posthuman world, the population decimated by wars and civilization long since collapsed. After her attempt to avenge the death of her dog, Loka, goes horribly wrong, Kree finds herself lost in a world after death and wanders into the city of the terrible mendicants.

Under the Brothers’ totalitarian rule, Kree can lead a quiet life and forget her violent past, even if needles grow in her skull and hallucinatory blood rains pour down now and then to remind her. She can make friends: a shamanic healer with a shaking tent, a mysterious stranger hatched from an egg, and a gruff Tibetan electrician in a world without electricity. And she can have her Loka, as long as she toes the Party line and does as she’s told. When she can’t—when her friends start to disappear and the Brothers turn against her—Kree sets out on a quest, searching for a new way forward.

Rating:

Review:

**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are mine. Thank you Edelweiss and University of Minnesota Press!**

This book has to be one of the most confusing books I’ve ever read. So let’s start with the fact that the author’s name is a pseudonym. Manuela Draeger is a character in this author’s larger “post-exotic” world. So a character of this world is telling us a story within that world. I really loved that idea. And based on the synopsis I expected a story of a woman looking for revenge for what happened to her dog. Sort of like a combination of John Wick and Omega Man. I got what I expected but also an awful lot of stuff I didn’t expect. Also, the story uses the word “what” in a strange way. It is used interchangeably or “that”, “what”, “when” and several other words. I am not sure if this is an artifact of the language translation or is just part of the writing style. Regardless it was easy to overlook once you realize the pattern.

This book introduces us to Kree. She lives in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity exists only in little groupings of survivors. Someone steals her dog to eat and Kree goes to kill them for it. The revenge goes badly and so we follow Kree on a journey between being alive and unalive. We follow her as she is reincarnated into various locations and existences that may be a layer of the underworld or another reality altogether, and every time she dies she is reborn into another scenario in this eternal quest to find her dog.

This book was beautifully written. It is atmospheric and gritty. The writing style was quite unique and carried me along for the ride wonderfully. Even though the timeline can be very jarring the writing style made it easier to follow along. After awhile I got used to turning the page and all of a sudden we were in a completely different place and time with completely different characters. Turning the page and all of sudden we have people hatching out of eggs in the middle of a mass grave. Honestly, this book made me feel like it was a hallucination. Ultimately maybe that was the point. Kree’s afterlife is spent desperately searching for something she will never find, but she can’t stop searching. And so we, as the reader, search with her.

I was so torn with how to review this book. On one hand I wanted to give this book 2 stars and a mediocre review and never read anything from this world again. Because it was confusing. And I felt like a moron while reading. But on the other hand, it intrigued me so much that I want to give the book 5 stars and read everything else this world has to offer. So, I settled with 4 stars. Because this book is weird and confusing, but it’s also pretty amazing.

Intermezzo Review: A Disappointing Narrative by Sally Rooney

by Stefani

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Published: September 20, 2024 by Farrar, Straus and Glroux

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

Rating:

Review:

This book caught my eye before it even published and Sally Rooney has a great reputation for writing compelling literary fiction, so I was excited to pick this one up. At first it piqued my interest because I was interested in Ivan. But that initial interest peaking and then faded really fast. Soon I found myself wondering exactly when the story of these brothers dealing with their grief was going to happen.

Like a lot of literary fiction this book is long. 454 pages. I made it halfway through and I gave up. In more than 200 pages, nothing happened! We talk a lot about chess. We complain a lot about how unfair life is. And both brothers sleep with a LOT of inappropriate women. That’s it. That’s all that happened in 50% of the book. The brothers didn’t even see each other! They spoke over the phone….once…for a few paragraphs. I have never been more bored in my life. I decided to stop waiting to see when something would happen and just accept that it wasn’t going to happen at all.

Dragons and Destiny: Exploring Ragar Or’s Mysteries

by Stefani

The Prophecy of the Yubriy Tree by Ben Spencer

Published: October 19, 2024 by Knock Knee Books

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

Every year, prophecy leaves fall from the Yubriy Tree. And every year, the Dayborn king sends his most trusted servants to collect the leaves and return them to the capital.

Only this year, one of the leaves drifted into the forest unseen.

Three lives will be forever changed by the undetected prophecy leaf.

The strong-willed daughter of a powerful family. The mysterious and reviled half brother of the king. And a talented but unlucky musician, desperate to write the song that will bring him good fortune.

Looming in the background are reports of the first dragon to appear in Ragar Or in over sixty-five years. And, as anyone familiar with Ragar Or’s history knows, when dragons appear, royalty dies.

Rating:

Review:

**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback. Thank you Net Galley and Knock Knee Books!**

I really loved this book. The very first chapter captured my attention and the book didn’t let go until the last page. The first chapter details the process of collecting the Yubriy leaves and it follows the journey of the three leaves that get carried away. Then we jump straight into meeting our main three characters, around whom I presumed that the lost prophecies would revolve. It was a perfect introduction into the story.

So because we have these three main characters that means we have three ongoing narratives that revolve around different aspects of this world. Johanna is the daughter of a high lord whom the king is asking for assistance in squashing a rebellion. She was amazing. I loved her character, her story and her spunk. The first time we’re introduced to her was unforgettable and I loved her for every page after. Silas is a musician who desperately wants to get a patronage somewhere, but he gets caught up with an unexpected ally while running from soldiers who are trying to murder them. He was a little harder to enjoy, he’s a sullen musician after all. But eventually he warmed my heart too, and his story turned out to be incredibly important to events that happen later in the book. And Gregor, the bastard half brother of the king who acts as his counsel and his sage. Gregor’s story was probably the most compelling of the bunch. He introduces us to so many beautiful and important parts of the story.

I couldn’t get enough of this book. I dreamed about it a few times, trying to work out how it would end and what the missing prophecies were. The world was wonderfully crafted. The characters were realistic and likeable. The magic of this world was fascinating and unique. I just loved it. This is definitely a series I will be following.

Progress Update Friday – 2/14/2025

by Stefani

It’s been a minute since I did a progress update post. I am working my way through a few things, so let’s jump right in.

Kree by Manuela Draeger

Published: October 22, 2024 by Univerity of Minnesota Press

Progress: 156 out of 280 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A warrior struggles through an apocalyptic landscape and the world after death

Kree Toronto has been raised as a warrior in a ravaged post apocalyptic, post human world, the population decimated by wars and civilization long since collapsed. After her attempt to avenge the death of her dog, Loka, goes horribly wrong, Kree finds herself lost in a world after death and wanders into the city of the terrible mendicants.

Under the Brothers’ totalitarian rule, Kree can lead a quiet life and forget her violent past, even if needles grow in her skull and hallucinatory blood rains pour down now and then to remind her. She can make friends: a shamanic healer with a shaking tent, a mysterious stranger hatched from an egg, and a gruff Tibetan electrician in a world without electricity. And she can have her Loka, as long as she toes the Party line and does as she’s told. When she can’t—when her friends start to disappear and the Brothers turn against her—Kree sets out on a quest, searching for a new way forward.

How it’s going:

This book is very odd but I have to admit that I’m enjoying it. Before I got it I didn’t realize that this is a side novel that takes places in an established world that have had other books written in it. The author’s name is a pseudonym and is a character in one of the other novels. Which is an interesting idea. The translation also seems to replace the word “that” with “what” almost all the time. But translations can be tricky and once I realized what the intended word likely was I stopped noticing it. It’s an interesting book. It’s beautifully written, but it’s incredibly difficult to follow.

Pride’s Children: Netherworld by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

Published: September 19, 2022 by Trllka Press

Progress: 20 out of 540 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Every decision he makes from here on will hurt someone .

Is his happiness even in the equation any more?

In Book 1, Pride’s PURGATORY , rising Irish megastar Andrew O’Connell embarked on a beautiful friendship with reclusive author Dr. Kary Ashe , and committed to his stunning costar Bianca Doyle ’s directorial debut film Dodgson , a Lewis Carroll biopic.

He never imagined either would shatter the impenetrable wall he built between his professional and personal lives. His future as a leading man depends on being an bankable obsession in the lives of the women he seduces, on and off screen. But a past regret makes his gorge rise when offspring are on the way and he’s suddenly responsible for their very existence.

How it’s going:

Clearly I have a long way to go on this one, but I am excited to be back in Andrew and Kary’s world. So far this one has the same tone as the first, a narrative that carries you on a winding river journey, looking at all the passing scenery. It’s a fun ride and I am happy to be back on this boat.