#4*s

[readsbymoonlight]

Book: Sorcerer to the Crown

Author: Zen Cho

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Recommended for: Fans of magic, mayhem, and Jane Austen

Published: 2015

Whew, this was a wild ride of a read. The book is immediately immersive thanks to the style it was written in, helping to bring you into the period it's set in. I've never been a fan of classics because of their antiquated prose, but this book uses it to its advantage. The story starts off humbly by introducing the world and the characters and consistently gets better from there, ramping up the pace and the shenanigans as it goes. The book is a fun roller-coaster ride, the events therein turning the magical world upside down and inside out. It's carefully controlled chaos and all the better for it. The storyline is unique and intriguing, blending influences from history with the author's creativity in creating a new magical world. The book is also a subtle "f*ck you" to sexism, racism, slavery, xenophobia, and imperialism. 

With twists and turns that made you scramble to keep up, this book is jam-packed with drama. It satisfies many people at once with its political plot, magic madness, and witty whimsy. That it could bring up so much but satisfyingly (to me, anyway) handles them all by the time the book ends was great. That said, I’m still hungry for the sequel.

The Malaysian in me is exceedingly happy to get to read this book. I was initially disappointed that a Malaysian writer was writing a book set in England (although they are 100% allowed to) but I was pleasantly surprised by what I found instead. Here's to more books by Zen Cho!

Disclaimer: Photo found on Google

[readsbymoonlight]

Book: Nubia: The Awakening

Author: Omar Epps & Clarence A. Haynes

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Recommended for: Its unique worldbuilding and new form of climate fiction

Published: 8th November, 2022

As someone who studied environment in school, it struck me pretty fast upon reading this book how likely the future described in it could unfold. Honestly, as long as you keep track in any way with the news, I'm sure you know that the climate crisis is upon us. And even if you don't, you'd still notice the drastic changes in weather patterns lately. But I digress. The point is that a book that mentions climate disasters in any way makes me happy, especially when it's done so well, painting a grim picture, no doubt, but hopefully opens some eyes. Beyond that, the New York in Epps and Haynes' imagination is rife with class and wealth differences, ones that make living hellish for some and utopian for others. Sounds familiar? Well, the book is a pretty straightforward indictment of these things. It was a bit too obtuse for me in the beginning, especially when reading Zuberi's point of view. There were parts that made it very YA (though I was wrong about Zuberi being the main focus/character) such as the forced lingo (why does it have to be a scholar-pack when it can be a backpack?)and contrived romance. But otherwise, the story was very unique and fresh. The story centres very much on community. Though our protagonists keep their powers secret at the beginning, it's quickly made clear that the community will help and, in turn, they would help the community. It's unexpected since most books always put such importance in hiding, in not trusting anyone, and especially not adults. The way the kinetic (the powers) manifest is so special as well, forcing me to work to keep up with the lore of the world, but also opening my mind to new possibilities because of it. All in all, it was a really smooth and easy read. My issue was that I couldn't quite relate with the characters. They were, in their own ways, focussed on one thing only, and that made them more bland than I would have liked, even if their worldviews were challenged. Another issue I have is there seemed not to have been high enough stakes during the climax. The whole book was setting up for something and it happens, but it was expected and wasn't resolved in a very good way. I'm sorry for being vague but it could be considered a spoiler and perhaps you'll know what I mean if you read it. At the same time, everything escalated too quickly but not in a way that made sense. It felt more like we're being set up for the next book, not this one. Though the world is an interesting one, with stories and magic I'd love to revisit, I think there's a bar this book is not quite hitting to get me to the next one.

Disclaimer: e-ARC obtained from NetGalley, photo found on Google

[readsbymoonlight]

Children of Blood and Bone

Author: Tomi Adeyemi

Book Birthday: 6th March, 2018

Series: Legacy of Orïsha (Book #1)

My Rating: 4.25

GR Rating: 4.10

Storygraph Rating: 4.02

Pacing: Fast | Action-packed and gets your heart pumping!

Story: A high-stakes adventure.

Characters: Well-rounded, with interesting personalities, hopes and flaws. 

Worldbuilding: Intricate and deeply established, thoroughly captures the imagination.

Strength: Strong writing that gets you invested immediately.

Weakness: Romance that feels forced and unnecessary.

Overall Verdict: Would love to continue the series, if only reviews of the second book weren’t so negative.

[readsbymoonlight]

Book: Little Fires Everywhere

Author: Celeste Ng

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Recommended for: Realistic characters and a strong story of motherhood

Published: 2017

Set in Shaker Heights, a planned community where perfection is promised as long as you follow the rules, this book tells a sweeping story centred around the Richardsons. The family members' lives are disrupted by the arrival of single mother Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl. Shaker Heights is further shaken up when the custody of a Chinese-American baby is called into question.   

If you ask me, the descriptions of this book are misleading. I was led to believe that a lot more focus would be placed on the baby. While it's true that the custody issue is the anchor of the book, I feel that it is a misrepresentation. 

Little Fires Everywhere is, at its essence, a story about motherhood. Celeste Ng makes you question your own principles by juxtaposes the different viewpoints of the characters. She masterfully showcases the various hopes and flaws of these same people, with their preconceptions and biases. It was so easy to fall into the lives of these characters because of how real they were. 

If you don't like reading about the detailed life experiences of others, you probably won't like this book. Don't expect a Jodi Picoult style of book where the court case is written out in full. You're not going to get anything near that. 

Personally, I kept waiting for the whole baby thing to start, and found it rather strange that it started so far into the book. But I was too entranced by the way the author laid out the characters's lives and personalities. Unlike some books, these people aren't all good or all bad. They are well-rounded and have depth, and you can feel it. One of the main takeaways of the book is that life and people are messy. No matter how much you plan or follow the rules, things still may not go the way you plan them. There is no easy black and white, but shades of grey to everything. As the reader, you wonder how and why events escalate so quickly. Isn't there a better way? Can't they reach a compromise where everyone is happy? That's the kind of frustration that you feel reading this book. The same kind that you might feel just looking at how things are in real life today.

It's what makes this book so good. It doesn't shy away from tough questions, but it doesn't pretend like it has all the answers.

Disclaimer: Photo found on Google