MWinning Books and Games

Book reviews, thoughts on video games, and the occassional random thought that pops up in my weird head.

[mwinningbooks]

Ready Player One Review

After watching the Ready Player One movie adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg last week, I have become obsessed with re-watching it over and over again and I have also now read the book by Ernest Cline. There are differences between the adaptation and the book to fit the movie for a more visual audience and make it only 2 hours long, however, I found that I loved both.

With all that is going on in the world right now, the idea of escapism into the OASIS (if it existed of course) sounds incredibly appealing. The lack of freedom and movement that we are experiencing due to COVID-19 probably is what made me connect with this movie more strongly than I would have if I was simply watching it and reading the book at a different time.

I enjoyed the way that the book addressed worldly problems by connecting people with technology. There was a limit on the way that the main characters could change their looks in the virtual world of the OASIS compared to the movie and the challenges for the three keys in the books came across as a little bit repetitive. But the detail and the unique world that Cline created is something that I desperately want to be real right now.

Maybe it is because I grew up watching all the movies that are mentioned and get the references to the movies, books and games. Such as Back to the Future and Pac-Man. As such, I feel that if you haven’t grown up or have at least watched a lot of 80s classics that your experience of both the book and the movies would not be as enjoyable.

The book is an ode to the past and while its market is focused on a younger audience, I think that anyone who grew up in the 80s will get a large sense of nostalgia to that era. I feel that it is a love story to Ernest Cline as a child from Ernest Cline today. And even though I might not be the intended recipient, I love it all the same.

[mwinningbooks]

Why Susan Cain’s “Quiet” is so Important in Today’s Societal Struggles

A couple summers ago my dad bought me Quiet by Susan Cain when he was in an airport in some far off place in the world on a work trip. I ignored the book because it was non-fiction and something that I found that I wasn’t interested in reading. I felt bad about it because my dad said that I would relate to the writings of Cain and that I would fin the work important. And to be honest, with my first attempt - I didn’t. The guilt of not finishing the book the first time had me pick it up again in quarantine and I do not regret it. 

Growing up as an introverted kid with a small group of friends made me feel incredibly small and like there was something wrong with me. I would always ask; what is wrong with me? What did I do that made me unlikeable? But this book has made me realise something that was right in front of me the entire time. There was nothing wrong with me. I was, I am simply different. 

I spend a lot of time at home, I prefer my own space. I mean sure I want to have relationships, romantic or otherwise, but I also need to recharge more than the average extrovert. And to me, introverts are probably feeling stronger being away from their friends and family compared to extroverts. 

Their need and enjoyment of their own space compared to the way that extroverts feed off of social interactions has most likely made it a lot easier for them to feel more comfortable during this period where we all have to sit at home with nothing to do. 

At this point, I would like to thank every single person working on the front lines of this pandemic. The doctors, nurses, care nurses, the grocery store works, the police, the fire department, the delivery drivers, and so many more people. I understand that what I am writing might not apply to you and I thank you that what I am writing is applicable to the majority of people around the world. 

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is introverted, but I also think that it is important to extroverts to understand their friends or family who are introverts. 

This book, along with the time that I have for reflection, has allowed me to understand that my way of thinking and the way my brain works through introverted thought gives me a different perspective. One that is just as important and valid as the ones that extroverts make at a much larger decibel with more vigour. 

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The artwork above this blog post is by Yaoyao Ma Van As. A very talented illustrator who drew a series of works about the magic of being on her own.

You can see more of her work on her website here: https://www.yaoyaomavanas.com/ 

[mwinningbooks]

The Cruel Prince is Mind-boggling

Here is the thing - I have only recently begun reading the cult classics of the YA Fantasy genre. I am going through them quite quickly with literally nothing else to do at the minute and I have recently finished The Cruel Prince. 

My problem is that I did not particularly enjoy it. I struggled to read it, I did not like Jude as I thought that her coping mechanisms and her chip on her shoulder made her hard to relate to. And Cardan, while he had a horrible back story, was also hard to relate to due to the way that he automatically believed that he was superior, as a prince, and his obvious xenophobia. 

However, I now have a massive itch to finish the trilogy. I am almost certain that I am not going to enjoy it, but for some reason, I have this feeling that within the next few days I will be buying The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing. 

This also seriously reminds me of the time that I bought a Nintendo Switch out of boredom knowing that I would not use it (because compared to the genre of games that I play on the PS4 the Switch did not cater to my tastes), played Legend of Zelda on it, and ended up selling it on eBay a week later. 

As mentioned in the title, for me this is a mind-boggling concept. Is it just the fact that where I am has been in lockdown and has been for the past 7 weeks so I have a twitchy finger to keep myself entertained? Or, is it that the appeal of The Cruel Prince is a lot more persuasive than I initially believed? 

What are your thoughts on The Cruel Prince? 

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The beautiful artwork used at the top of this post is by @monolime​. 

If you would like to purchase any of her gorgeous artwork, this is the link of her Redbubble shop. https://rdbl.co/3bEM8Eg 

(This is in no way connected with @monolime​. I have included her Redbubble so that I can feel slightly better about using her artwork on this post.) 

[mwinningbooks]

Serpent and Dove Review

After drooling over the cover of Serpent and Dove for far too long I finally decided that quarantine would be the perfect time to pick up this book that I have heard so many good things about. 

Overall, I thought this book was amazing and I shortly learned that not just the cover was drool worthy. 

I found the humour to be witty and relatable. In a sarcastic type of way. And the offense that Reid took to swearing throughout the whole book was a motif that I found refreshing and kept the book light in a way that was unexpected. 

And this humour was balanced out with key issues of fear of oneself, the way that people need to be more open-minded towards each other, despite polarised views, and the understanding that our upbringing does not define who we will become outside of it. 

This debut book by Shelby Mahurin was something new and exciting that I incredibly enjoyed and I hope that whoever else decides to read it does too. 

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Finally, can we please talk about how beautiful this art is by @gabriella.bujdoso on Instagram?!?

[mwinningbooks]

Throne of Glass Review

As a late reader of the Throne of Glass series, I thought it would be a good idea to write a review of a beloved YA book series. (I am probably in over my head - to a large extent) 

Of Sarah J Mass’s book series, I read A Court of Thorns and Roses first after seeing far too many Feysand fanart pictures on my Pinterest account. I loved this series. Far too much. To illustrate my love of this series is the tale of how I pretended to be sick on the one day I had two seminars at uni, ran into town and bought A Court of Mist and Fury, ran home, and sat in bed all day until I had read the whole thing. It was a necessary evil in my opinion. 

**TOG spoilers beyond this point**

So, once I had finished the series I spammed my Pinterest for more Feysand fanart and stumbled upon Rowaelin art too. Now, for avid TOG fans, they will know that Rowan doesn’t even appear until the 3rd book and the ship between Rowan and Aelin doesn’t set sail until the 4th. Despite this, I desperately wanted to read Throne of Glass to see if I could get the same feeling that I experienced from Feysand. 

Therefore, I picked up Throne of Glass at my local bookstore as soon as possible after finishing ACOTAR to start on my next Sarah J Mass adventure. This happened a lot more slowly than I wanted it to. The problem with my desperate want to get to Heir of Fire is that it made reading Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight first absolutely unbearable. It took about 4 months to read Throne of Glass, and thankfully I got into the swing of things with Crown of Midnight and that took about a week. And it was finally time to read of Heir of Fire. 

I was excited about the 3rd book. I had been building it up in my mind for months, and yet, it was as interesting as I had anticipated. The initial relationship between Rowan and Aelin was obviously one that was created to start with the traditional hate to love scenario. And I liked it. Enough that when I read Queen of Shadows it took half a day. These two books were my favourite in the series. The tense relationship between the two characters made me laugh and the background mentions of Luca and Emrys brought the necessary interactions with people day to day that made the elements that were brought plot development seem much more important. 

And obviously the reunion scene in QoS was reread. Multiple times. **whispers** its on page 233 by the way **end whispers**.

The rumours and fanart that I saw about Rowaelin also brought about the understanding beforehand that Empire of Storms was going to be a doozy. But, the only exciting bits were right at the end and the rest was just far too many pages of build-up. There was some development of characters, like the relationship between Elide and Lorcan, but the rest felt dry and dull. 

From the experience of the first five books I expected Kingdom of Ash to be spectacular. And being almost 1000 pages, in my opinion, it had to be. Yet, again like EoS, I felt that it was a lot of build up, their was far too many obstacles in Aelin and Co’s way of getting to Orynth, and the finally fight between Maeve, Erawan and our rag-tag team of heroes felt somewhat short and quick for the fight that was to either end the world or save it. 

I will admit that I am coming across as incredibly negative about the last two books, but I will also say that there were positive moments. The relationship between Fenrys and Aelin was cute and I desperately want to see interactions between Fenrys in wolf form and Fleetfoot. Other character relationships developed as well, like the scene between Elide and Lorcan on the battlefield was beautiful and the horrible (but glorious) end of the Thirteen and Manon’s reaction indicated how far she has come from when we met her in Heir of Fire. 

This review is obviously one that is unnecessary from how long ago the books had come out, and everyone probably already has their opinion on them. But, I thought it would be interesting to see a review from a latecomer and I hope you enjoyed.