Sara

Bibliophile, book reviews, book lover

[yodelpants]

(2) So I just finished this and I’m about to go pick my parents up from the airport so I’ll be quick about it. The book: My Only One by Gregory M. Thompson. In this story, there has been a great Transition. All Citizens are only allowed to own one book. We are introduced to Morton, who is a government worker for the bureau of lights and flames who’s daughter has come into possession of something she shouldn’t have access to: a Second Book. What follows is a dive into the world of illicit books and the start of a rebellion.

I said in my last review that I am a big fan of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. This book is very much reminiscent of both 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, which is why I picked it up in the first place. I found it at a local Barnes & Noble in the fantasy section, he’s a local author and he’d autographed the copy I picked up. It was a quick read, I finished it in about an hour. I was hoping finishing any book would help me out of the slump and inability to get into a book I’ve been experiencing. It reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984 and of course Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. I love supporting local and small indie authors and very much enjoyed this story.

[yodelpants]

(1) I love fantasy, dystopia and all that is sci-fi but I have never read something quite so accurate and so far-fetched as Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. Published in 1950, The Martian Chronicles tells the story of how the people of Earth settle the planet Mars in a time when space travel was a dream man was not sure could come to fruition. Bradbury takes a deeper look at the colonization of countries across the world and imagines how this would happen to the Martians who lived a peaceful existence on their own planet.

I have always been a Ray Bradbury fan. Farenheit 451 is by far one of my favorite dystopian premises of all time. So for this to have sat on my shelf for so long tells you just how far off the wagon I have fallen with reading physical books (which is another resolution btw). I sat down to read a bit before I had to leave for an appointment and somehow found myself at the end of this book in no time at all. With SpaceX making commercial space travel a real possibility in the next 20 years it was an interesting position to read a book written so long ago to be relevant today. But that is the way with books like this. To read something technically set 20 years into the past and it still seems like something out of the future is a real mind-bender. I highly recommend this book if you like Ray Bradbury, Orson Scott Card (Enders Game) or Edgar Rice Burroughs (Barsoom series—the AWFUL John Carter Disney movie). *Keep in mind, this book was written in 1950, so there is some non-pc language across the spectrum, despite the way in which the characters using them are painted (which is not in a good light). *

[yodelpants]

Marilia, the Warlord by Morgan Cole was honestly one of the best books I read in the year 2020. I say this before I really give any actual review because the rest of my “best books” I read this year were recommendations I got from Tik Tok and Instagram where people were constantly touting the works of Sarah J Maas, Leigh Bardugo or Sabaa Tahir. This was the only free book I received where I went and bought the next one (or in some cases other works by the same author) as soon as I could. It had every aspect in a book in the military fantasy genre I could ever want: a challenging backstory, a clever main character, a dash of love and a war campaign (re: bloodshed). Anyone with a working knowledge of Greek and Roman history can appreciate the thought and effort Cole put into this novel, and reminded me of Madeline Miller in both Circe and A Song of Achilles. That being said it is its own fantasy world, it’s own religion, and an intricate concept in its own way.

Marilia is born as a bastard daughter in a brothel, where she has been told she would live the same life her mother had, in the (paid) company of the wealthy men of Tyrace. When tragedy strikes and a betrayal leads to her escaping her current life with her twin brother, Annuweth, she goes to the only person who can offer her a better life: her deceased father’s best friend and Navessea’s greatest general. This story follows the epic journey from the desert kingdom’s capital city where she learns she has a gift forbidden to women of the age: strategy and warfare. Insulting some very important people has her sent to the wild island of Svartennos where she may just meet the love of her life. When her kingdom is threatened by enemy invaders, Marilia must do all that she can to save it and those she loves.

I will be honest, I somehow made it onto an ARC list in the past year as I was trying to swing free books instead of draining my bank account by nickel and diming books that really weren’t that great to begin with and my Unlimited membership wasn’t exactly recommending winners at the same time. So this review group is how I fount this one, and I’ve written a review on Amazon for it already. So this book technically does not count for my total if I’m being fair with my goals, but I wanted you to hear about this book as soon as possible, because there are very few books that make me want to pick them back up as soon as I put them down quite like this one, and I haven’t heard much about it online. This is not a YA novel and shouldn’t be read as one. I highly recommend this book for fans of Madeline Miller or Sarah J Maas.

[yodelpants]

New Year’s Resolutions are always hard for me. The stigma that you must Start On the First Day has always made it difficult. I mess up so I have to Start Again next month, just because I miss a day or want to take a break. This applies on just about everything I do. I have so many varied interests and goals I want to accomplish and only 365 days to do it. So this year I am working on improving that mindset by writing about it.

For 2021, I have decided to make one of my resolutions reading 100 books and writing reviews on at least half of them (so 100 books = @ least 50 reviews). I have a TBR list a mile long that I’d like to get through this year, but drop me a recommendation because I blew past my reading goal this year, and I’m nowhere near 100 books. At the very least I hope my writing improves and my reading tastes are challenged. I feel like I have been stuck in a reading rut for so long and can’t seem to find my way out of the hole I’ve dug. And I keep saying I need to start reviewing the books I read instead of just the personal recommendations I make to friends who can’t relate. So this is me starting that. If you like it, fine. If you hate it, at least it isn’t apathy.

More to come,

Sara