Mid Year Book Freakout 2021

My Goodreads Reading Challenge is doing very well this year. So far I’ve read 81 books and therefore I am 34 books early for my usual goal of 100 books per year.

The difference between this year and last years challenges is that none of the books I’ve read until now are graphic novels, which I read much faster than novels. I have surpassed my goal of 100 books the last four years, but usually around 20 – 40% of the books in my reading challenge are graphic novels. This year though I have another reason for my successful reading speed, Audiobooks and a service that allows me to stream as many Audiobooks as I like, Storytel.

_____ Questions _____

Now, let’s get to the tag I found in the YouTube video of BookswithEmilyFox https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3PBTwX1nw0

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2021

This is a tough question, but if I really have to choose the prize goes to Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2) by Brandon Sanderson. You know you loved a book when you feel like rereading it as soon as you finished it.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2021

My favorite book in this series so far, The Lost Plot (The Invisible Library #4) by Genevieve Cogman was something special in a excellent series that I plan to finish still this year.

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I’m just waiting for the paperback to come out because the e-book version and the hardback are way too overpriced.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia which is planned to be released on 7th of September. I’ll probably buy a physical copy for my “Silvia Moreno-Garcia” shelf.

5. Biggest disappointment.

This has unfortunately to be Sorcerer to the Crown (Sorcerer Royal #1) by Zen Cho. I had high expectations for this book after hearing so much about it. I gave it a fair chance by hearing 50% of the audiobook, but the plot development was too slow, so slow that I thought there wasn’t really a plot and if there was one that I didn’t care anymore. What also tired me in the audiobook were the way too often repetitions of character names when all these repetitions were completely unnecessary and when I knew the scene was in that character’s POV most of the time. I can only hear “Zacharias” so many times before getting completely bored.

I also can’t forget to mention the Audiobooks of White Sand Vol. 2 and 3. The GraphicAudio version was very well done, but the plot flopped and finished without fulfilling its premise at all after an interesting start on Vol.1.

6. Biggest surprise.

The five star Novella Emergency Skin (Forward Collection #3) by N. K. Jemisin. Awesome, with a so well done theme! This is one of my favorite reads of this year. And the narration of the Audiobook was five stars perfect too!

7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you)

Michael R. Underwood with his Genrenauts series and the space opera Annihilation Aria. These are very entertaining reads, full of action and light banter. Perfect if you just want to escape into a fictional universe during lock down.

8. Newest fictional crush.

None that I can remember right now. I’m usually not into mainly romance books or fictional crushes and of the books I’ve read this year that have a side plot of romance in them, none stroke me as being developed as something remarkable and more than an entertaining side plot.

9. Newest favorite character.

Mary Bennet from The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow, because of her heroine journey after having an abusive mother and growing up in a family where she was the weird, ugly duckling outcast. There was a romance, but it wasn’t the best in this book since it was wrapped up way too fast and without enough fleshing out. For me the most interesting thing was Mary’s journey into coming to terms with her own nature and loving herself.

10. Book that made you cry.

I didn’t cry, but attention: *Spoiler Alert*

The Hero of Ages (The Mistborn Saga #3) by Brandon Sanderson

This was such a heart wrenching finale for this first trilogy. I was so sad about this beautiful and tragic third book.

And I was also so sad about a character in Warbreaker (Warbreaker #1) by Brandon Sanderson, because he was so original and redeemed himself into sacrifice. Again something that elevated this book in a beautiful, transcendent way.

11. Book that made you happy.

The Vampire Knitting Club cozy mystery series by Nancy Warren. This is an entertaining, perfect series to binge read.

12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received)

The paperback of Psychic Witch: A Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick & Manifestation by Mat Auryn. Because it has such a beautiful black cover with an owl.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

I have a lot of unfinished reading challenges and 26 NetGalley ARCs I want to get to, but I mainly want to read the book I mentioned in my previous answer.

So these were my answers, and now I have a question for the patient readers who read this post to the end:

I was thinking of writing a blog post comparing Audible and Storytel services but I’m not sure if you would be interested in that or if it would be just another drop of information in the ‘interweb’ ocean. Let me know in the comments.

And otherwise, if you decide to do the Mid Year Book Freakout tag, post a link in the comments too.

THE ANTI-TBR TAG

Today I’m doing a Booktube Tag called “The Anti TBR Tag” created by Nicole & Her Books

This post is mostly about books I didn’t like and plan to read or finish reading after setting them aside. Therefore, as the creator of the Tag herself says, “if you are sensitive about people saying they won’t read a book you like than this post is not for you.”

QUESTIONS:

A popular book EVERYONE loves that you have no interest in reading?

Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1) by Richard K. Morgan is loved enough that I have seen women getting scolded by men because they ‘dared’ to post a negative review of it. I won’t elaborate on this, I just feel sorry that in 2021 women still get harassed on the internet because they have a opinion about a book. I DNFed and really didn’t like this book and don’t plan to finish it.

A classic book (or author) you don’t have an interest in reading?

Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. I saw the film and it was disgusting, so I can take that book out of my TBR list. I don’t have an opinion about his other books, only that I’m in no hurry to read them.

An author whose books you have no interest in reading?

This isn’t actually having no interest, I have tried two of Robert A. Heinlein’s books and his ideas seem interesting, but I can’t get through the blatant misogyny. And there is more than enough of it in the world at the moment so that I have to put up with that in what I read too.

A problematic author whose books you have no interest in reading?

I don’t usually go after information on author’s lives, but I don’t live under a rock either, so I heard about Orson Scott Card issues.
I intend to read no more books from him. It also happens that a long time ago I read Ender’s Game and it was quite boring, and I just managed to finish it because I was in a ship in the middle of the Amazon river and there were no other books around. Not a great loss there.

An author you have read a couple of books from & have decided their books are not for you?

Sarah J. Mass. I read and really liked “A Court of Mist and Fury” but her other books are the kind of bestsellers I read and later feel I just lost a precious time I could be using to read another, much better, book.

A genre you have no interest in OR a genre you tried to get into & couldn’t?

Horror is a genre I now and then try and nine times out of ten get disappointed with. An exception would be Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, but I think that was because I considered it more historical fiction than really horror.

I often try to get into Contemporary, Romance or to come back to read Paranormal Fantasy. In the end I often feel I only have myself to blame when I pick again a book by these genres but don’t like them. I still try to get out of my comfort zone of favorite genres often enough tough. Fortunately, now and then I get rewarded, a Paranormal Romance Mystery series I recently liked was the Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren.

A book you have bought but will never read?

I mostly have good intentions of at least trying to read a part of the fiction books in my shelves, but many years ago I picked up a couple of sequels for the series Alpha & Omega by Patricia Briggs in a library sale and don’t intend to read them anymore. I really didn’t like the first book in that series.

A series you have no interest in reading OR a series you started & have DNFed?

Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles, I read the first book in this series and it wasn’t at all for me.

A new release you have no interest in reading?

Any book by these authors I talked about before and also probably books that are in a series that goes beyond ten books. I don’t want to commit to any series that goes for so long, especially if each book is more than five hundred pages long. I’m still in doubt if this means I should not try to continue the Dresden files or even begin Discworld, but let’s see.
And finally, I won’t read the next book in the series “A Song of Ice and Fire” even if it ever gets released. My farewell to this series happened with the very disappointing end of the TV series and then I decided to stop waiting for a sequel that will probably never happen. That series is for me finished. Enough other books to read out there.

My NetGalley ARCs Bingo Card Reading Challenge

This is my NetGalley Advanced Reader Copies Bingo Card!

A Bingo Card with NetGalley ARCs

 

This year I’ll participate again in the #BookSpin Reading Challenge on Litsy created by TheAromaofBooks

In this challenge two numbers, from 1 to 25, are drawn each month and you may pick books from either a list, a picture where you assign numbers to each book cover or you can make your own bingo card and try to complete it.

Last year my goal was to read the physical books in my book shelf and I just read one or two books each month. I didn’t make or try to complete a bingo card then. This year tough, I’ll put a new spin in the #BookSpin challenge, and read exclusively from this Bingo Card composed solely of #NetGalley ARCs.

If everything goes according to plan, I’ll read two ARCS per month, unless one of the books is 790 pages long and I take the whole month to read it or I feel that I need a month of only mood reading for a change.

Last year I tried this challenge with my physical books and I managed to read at least one book per month, so I’m confident that at least 12 ARCs will be read with the help of the #BookSpin Challenge.

In this post I won’t talk much about each of these ARCS, but by the end of the year I’ll make a blog post with my favorites.

 

My NetGalley ARCs

 

1. Selected Stories: Science Fiction: Volume 2 by Kevin J. Anderson

2. Octavia E. Butler: Kindred, Fledgling, Collected Stories by Octavia E. Butler, Nisi Shawl (Editor), Gerry Canavan (Editor)

3. Machinehood by S.B. Divya

4. The Second Bell by Gabriela Houston

5. Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur

6. Gatekeeper (Daemon Collecting Series #1) by Alison Levy

7.A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan #2) by Arkady Martine

8. Knaves: A Blackguards Anthology (Tales of the Otori #4.9 – Wine, Knife, Sword) by Melanie R. Meadors (Editor), Alana Joli Abbott (Editor) & Others.

9. Local Star by Aimee Ogden

10. The Fractured Void: A Twilight Imperium Novel (Twilight Imperium #1) by Tim Pratt

11.The Vela (The Vela #1) by Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon, S.L. Huang, Robin Miles (Narrator)

12. The New Voices of Science Fiction by Hannu Rajaniemi (Editor), Jacob Weisman (Editor) & Others.

13. Free Choice – I’ll use this to read an ARC that isn’t in the Bingo Board.

14. Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft

15. The Chimera Code by Wayne Santos.

16. Robot Artists and Black Swans : The Italian Fantascienza Stories by Bruce Sterling & Others.

17. One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky

18. Annihilation Aria (The Space Operas #1) by Michael R. Underwood

19. Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley

20. Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends by Sheila Williams & Others

21. The Midnight Circus by Jane Yolen

22. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

23. Complex by A.D. Enderly

24. The Everyday Empath: Achieve Energetic Balance in Your Life by Raven Digitalis

25. Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything by Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith.

 

I’m looking forward to all these awesome ARCs!

And you, are you doing any reading challenges in 2021?

A to Z Yearly Reading Challenge 2020/2021

 

Now in 2021 I decided to do again an A to Z reading challenge. I was quite succesfull with this challenge last year, only missing the letters Q,Y, and Z. (I usually skip X due to too little choices being available for the letter.)
This time though I will post my TBR here in advance and at the same time talk about the books I read for this challenge in 2020, so you might pick (or avoid) my choices from both years in case you decide to do this challenge too.

A

2020
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (The Carls #1) by Hank Green.
Rating: 4 Stars
This was a very interesting mix of contemporary and sci-fi where the main character is an internet video celebrity. I could not put it down and I’ll probably be reading the next book in the series.

2021
Ancestral Night (White Space #1) by Elizabeth Bear – I have wanted to read something by this author for awhile now.

B

2020
Binti (Binti #1) by Nnedi Okorafor.
Rating: 4 Stars
This was a very original Novella, and I’ll go on reading this series for sure.
Note: At a certain point I was upset at how people touched Binti’s hair all the time, and just felt like shouting: “Leave her hair alone for God’s sake!” Then I could understand why book titles like “Don’t touch my hair.” exist

2021
Borne (Borne #1) by Jeff VanderMeer – This has been on my TBR for years now.

C

2020
A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell #1) by Deanna Raybourn
Rating: 2,5 Stars
This book started well, but it got quite boring in the middle so I stopped caring. I won’t be continuing this series.

2021
Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha #1) by Tomi Adeyemi
I have this book in my TBR since 2018. Will I finally read it?

D

2020
The Deathless (The Deathless Trilogy #1) by Peter Newman
Rating: 5 Stars!
This was an extremely interesting and well written first book of an original fantasy series. The world is intriguing and the characters are relatable and multi-layered. I enjoyed reading all POVs. I’ll be continuing this trilogy for sure. The Audiobook narration was excellent too.

2021
The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds #1) by Alexandra Bracken
Another YA book that I have wanted to read for years now. Perhaps this year will work!

E

2020
Elantris (Elantris #1) by Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 5 Stars!
This had a very interesting story world and characters. The end was a bit rushed-up and kind of wrapped up too neatly, but still a great fantasy read.

2021
Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive #2.5) by Brandon Sanderson – I’m reading this series now in 2021 and this novella is part of it.

F

2020
Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #4) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: 5 Stars!
This book proved that a story with important themes can be an entertaining page-turner too. And now I understand why so many people recommend the Vorkosigan Saga which I intend to go on reading for sure!

2021
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North – ‘ABALTBR’ Abbreviation for “Another Book that has been Ages Long in my TBR”, 🙂

G

2020
The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1) by Roshani Chokshi
No rating yet.
I liked the characters in this book a lot, but perhaps I’m the wrong audience for too much action? This isn’t the first time a book full of action made me tired of it. I set this book aside in 2020 after 128 pages because I needed a break, but perhaps I’ll give it a second chance in 2021.

2021
Grass (Arbai #1) by Sheri S. Tepper – Another classic sci-fi author I want to try this year.

H

2020
Hero at the Fall (Rebel of the Sands #3) by Alwyn Hamilton
Rating: 5 Stars!
This was a page-turner finale for this awesome YA adventure series.

2021
House of Dragons (House of Dragons #1) by Jessica Cluess – I read another series by this author called Kingdom on Fire and really liked it. So I’ll try this new series too.

I

2020
The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library #1) by Genevieve Cogman
Rating: 4 Stars.
This was a bit slow in the beginning, but I liked the story world and the characters a lot and especially how the book was an interesting mix of historical/paranormal fantasy and mystery.
I will be following this series for sure.

2021
In the Vanishers’ Palace by Aliette de Bodard – I want to read more books by this author.

J

2020
Joyride Vol. 2(Joyride #2) by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Marcus To (Illustrator)
Rating: 5 Stars!
This is an entertaining graphic novel series, with great characters and LGBT representation.

2021
The Just City (Thessaly #1) by Jo Walton – Another Author I want to read more from since I read Tooth and Claw and really liked it.

K

2020
Kushiel’s Dart (Phèdre’s Trilogy #1) by Jacqueline Carey
No rating since I DNFed it.
The story world was interesting but there were certain elements of it I didn’t like, and the pacing was meandering slow and repetitive. I didn’t like the book enough to finish, setting it aside at page 97.

2021
Knaves: A Blackguards Anthology (Tales of the Otori #4.9 – Wine, Knife, Sword) by Melanie R. Meadors & Other Authors
I received this fantasy anthology ARC from NetGalley and want to read it still in 2021.

L

2020
Leave Me by Gayle Forman
Rating: 4 Stars.
I rarely read Contemporary but this was a very touching, special one. Also an entertaining page-turner that I read in just one day because I could not put it down.

2021
Local Star by Aimee Ogden- I want to try one of this author’s books since I heard a short story called Intentionalities on Clarkesworld Magazine.

M

2020
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Rating: 5 Stars!
This was one of my favorite books last year. It took a really unexpected turn, which made it even more interesting and original, in a way that I could not put it down.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia has become an auto-buy author for me.

2021
The Midnight Circus by Jane Yolen, with an Introduction by Theodora Goss. I received a Netgalley ARC of this intriguing anthology and want to read it this year for sure.

N

2020
New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color by Nisi Shawl & Other Authors.
Rating: 4 Stars
This was a very original and interesting anthology and I’m happy that it won the Locus Award 2020.
My favorite stories were The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex by Tobias Buckell, The Fine Print by Chinelo Onwualu, Burn the Ships by Alberto Yáñez, The Freedom of the Shifting Sea by Jaymee Goh, Blood and Bells by Karin Lowachee and The Robots of Eden by Anil Menon.

2021
The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy #1) by Jen Williams. I heard that this a very interesting fantasy series so I plan to start it soon.

 

O

2020
The Outside (The Outside #1)by Ada Hoffmann (Author), Nancy Wu (Narrator)
No rating since I DNFed it.
This Audiobook had a very interesting premise and a very good narrator, but the pacing was really slow and getting to the answers required an amount of patience that I just didn’t have while in lock down. I heard the Audiobook until chapter 15 when I stopped caring enough to go on listening. I might pick this up later in calmer times.

2021
Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive #3) by Brandon Sanderson
This year I want to catch up with this awesome series so this third book will happen.

P

2020
Prism Stalker #1 (Prism Stalker #1) by Sloane Leong
Rating: 4 Stars.
This was a very original and intriguing space opera graphic novel that I plan to continue reading this year.

2021
Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged. (Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries #1) by Carrie Bebris.
I keep an unconscious place in my TBR for books inspired by Pride and Prejudice, so I hope this fills up that empty slot.

Q

2020
This letter didn’t work out for me last year and I’m not sure I’m doing it this year either. Let’s see if I accidentally manage it without any plan whatsoever.

R

2020
The Raven and the Dove (The Raven and the Dove #1) by Kaitlyn Davis
Rating: 5 Stars!
I started this book not knowing much about it, but it completely surpassed my initial expectations. It is an extremely clever retelling of Tristan and Isolde with multi-layered, interesting and relatable characters, and with a story world I want to read more about.
I’ll be continuing this series for sure!

2021
Randomize (Forward Collection #6) by Andy Weir – I’ll read anything this author publishes!

S

2020
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
Rating: 5 Stars!
This was a great science fiction mystery story, and the Audiobook narration was five stars too!

2021
Sorcerer to the Crown (Sorcerer Royal #1) by Zen Cho – I have really many books starting with ‘S’ in my TBR. But this seems to be an amazing fantasy series.

T

2020
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow.
Rating: 5 Stars!
This historical fiction was beautifully written and the story/characters/themes were all awesome. This was one of my favorites of 2020.
Alix E. Harrow is a new favorite author to watch for!

2021
To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters – Now and then I try to read Historical Romance because it seems to work better for me than Contemporary Romance? I rarely read romance anyway, but let’s give this one a try.

U

2020
Underground Man by Gabriel Tarde, with an Introduction by H.G. Wells
Rating: 3 Stars.
This picturesque, more ‘Gedankenexperiment’ than story book is very different and original in ironically imagining a civilization forced underground after the Sun has gone cold and the Earth’s surface is frozen. Something to read if you are interested in Subterranean Fiction.
The ‘underground society’ is presented as an Utopia but a lot of questions and considerations are left open for further interpretation. One of them is that this book has some openly racist content that I understood as a criticism, due to the obvious sarcastic tone of the narrative, of this future underground society encapsulated in its own intolerance and self-image of perfection, but the way how this racism is blatantly exposed is somehow shocking.

2021
Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Part historical fiction and part mystery thriller by an author I like? Seems very intriguing.

V

2020
Velocity Weapon (The Protectorate #1) by Megan E. O’Keefe
Rating: 3 Stars.
I couldn’t get into this book so much, perhaps due to it being the sixth sci-fi/space opera book I read during Space Opera September. Later I’ll perhaps come back to this book again and see if I enjoy it more.

2021
The Vela (The Vela #1) by Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon (Goodreads Author), S.L. Huang (Goodreads Author)
I received a NetGalley ARC of this intriguing space opera and plan to read it still this year.

W

2020
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
Rating: 5 Stars!
I liked this classic sci-fi with clones book a lot. I think it was brilliant and the best-written sci-fi I’ve read for a long while, and I’m happy that I came across this book though the Lady Vaults Goodreads group.

2021
Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2) by Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 5 Stars!
I already finished this book now in January and really liked it. This series is awesome and I recommend it. It has really big books but they are so well written that you won’t mind spending three weeks or longer with each of them. In my case I was reading them slowly so the books would last longer and I plan to reread these books sooner rather than later.

X

Is a letter that wasn’t done last year and won’t be done this year.

Y

Since it’s quite difficult to find good titles with this letter, I decided to pick an author whose surname starts with Y, and chose for this challenge Rick Yancey. I could pick The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1) or The Monstrumologist (The Monstrumologist #1) by him.  I failed to read any of the books in 2020 but will try one of them again in 2021.

Z

My last year’s choice was Zodiac (Zodiac #1) by Romina Russell, but since I didn’t read it, I just postponed this in 2021. After all, we are still at home in lock down and I need to travel with my mind if I can’t travel in person.

My Favorite Books Of 2020 Part Two: Fantasy And Other Genres

Image by Prawny from Pixabay

Here is the second installment of my favorite books of 2020 wrap-up. If you like Science Fiction, check out the the first part of this post, which are my favorite sci-fi reads of 2020.

Favorite Fantasy Books

1) The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

This was beautifully written and the story/characters/themes were all awesome. Alix E. Harrow is a new author to watch for!

2) The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray

This whole historical fiction trilogy was so extremely well-written, with such amazing, multi-layered characters, and important themes, that I really liked this trilogy even if I’m tired of the ‘teen girls in a school’ trope. I’ll check out more books by Libba Bray.

3) Elantris (Elantris #1), The Emperor’s Soul and The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson

Sanderson’s books are Epic in every sense, with fascinating story worlds and awesome, multi-layered characters. I plan to read all his books, I repeat, all of them! I hope to read faster than the velocity in which he writes masterpieces, but I probably won’t manage that. 😉

4) The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library #1) and The Masked City (The Invisible Library #2) by Genevieve Cogman

This was a bit slow in the beginning, but I liked the story world and the characters a lot and especially how the books were an interesting mix of historical, paranormal fantasy and mystery. I will go on reading this series for sure.

5) The Deathless (The Deathless Trilogy #1) by Peter Newman

This is an extremely interesting and well written first book of an original fantasy series. The world is intriguing and the characters are relatable and multi-layered. I enjoyed reading all POVs.
I’ll be continuing this trilogy for sure. The Audiobook narration was excellent too.

6) Between Two Thorns (The Split Worlds #1) by Emma Newman.

A very interesting story world, with well developed characters. The plot started a bit slow but it built up to a first book I could not put down, I plan to be continuing this series in 2021.

7) Sunset Mantle by Alter S. Reiss.

Beautifully written epic fantasy novella with themes such as love, honor, loyalty, heroism, that make it transcendent and relatable to human experience at the same time. One of my favorites in the Tor.com Collection: Season 1 so far. The Audiobook narrator also fitted extremely well for this particular story.

8) The Last Witness by K.J. Parker

This was masterfully written. A perfect, self contained in its form Novella, that handled profound themes like social injustice, suffering and so many others. With an unlikable but extremely interesting and multi-layered main character.

9) The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

Characters, theme, pacing and plot, everything in this standalone worked extremely well together to turn this historical fantasy into a really entertaining, and impossible to put down story. I’ll be reading more by this author for sure!
I would like to thank NetGalley and Erewhon Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

10) The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #1) by Theodora Goss

I had this book in my radar since I read “Snow White Learns Witchcraft: Stories and Poems” by the same author and wanted to read more by her. This was well written, extremely entertaining and impossible to put down. I’ll be continuing this series for sure. And the Audiobook narration was awesome too.

11) Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire #1) by Michael J. Sullivan

I’m heard the GraphicAudio dramatized Audiobook version of this book.
The Audiobook made this already very entertaining story come alive in an awesome way. I’ll surely continue this series and read more books by this author.

12) Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton

This ‘Gedankenexperiment’ was really entertaining! It has ‘Victorian Dragons’ and all original situations that would arise from the juxtaposition of a Victorian and a Dragon society. I really liked and wish it would be a series instead of a standalone so I could read more stories with Victorian Dragons. This is my first book by this author but I’ll be checking out her other books.

Other Genre Favorites

Contemporary Mystery Thriller: 13) The Lion’s Den by Katherine St. John

I usually don’t read Contemporary Thrillers but the blurb was interesting enough that I picked this book on a whim. This was a very interesting mystery with a dash of romance, it was really entertaining and I could not put it down.

Historical Fiction: 14) What Kitty Did Next by Carrie Kablean

I’m always happy when I read a story set in Jane Austen’s universe that follows her characters loyally, and this goes further by developing Kitty’s character in a delightful way.

Modern Gothic: 15) Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I read this, “The Beautiful Ones” and “Gods of Jade and Shadow” by this author in 2020 and they were all great reads that I recommend, but this book was my favorite of the three. It took a really unexpected turn, which made it even more interesting and original, in a way that I could not put it down. Like Brandon Sanderson, I also want to read all books by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Books Of 2020 Part One: Science fiction

Image by Genty from Pixabay

I read 188 books this year! As far as I can remember this was the year of my life when I’ve read the greatest number of books.

A part of that, but not all, was due to lock down. This year I exchanged my Saturday’s going out shopping for reading, but in reality this staying-at-home trend was happening to me before lock down already and the pandemic just gave me a very strong reason to avoid crowds.
The truth is that I was already tired of the idea of shopping as a leisure activity and lock down gave an extra push to the idea of a no-buy or at least a ‘reduced-buy’ year, the few exceptions being books and of course, textile masks.

Therefore, due to the great number of books read, I’ll divide this year favorite’s wrap-up in two posts:

This first part will be all Science Fiction, Dystopia, YA Sci-fi and Space Opera books and the next will have my favorite books in other genres. Mostly fantasy, epic and historic, since I’ve been out of paranormal mostly for one year now, but with also the occasional romance, thriller and ever so rare contemporary.

Let’s start then,

Favorite Science Fiction books of 2020:

1) Meet Me in the Future: Stories by Kameron Hurley

I would like to thank NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for providing me with the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was a page-turner, interesting story collection. The stories were very original and I could not put it down. I surely will want to read more books by this author in the near future.
My favorite short stories were “Elephants and Corpses”, “When We Fall”, “The Red Secretary”, “The Fisherman and the Pig”, “Tumbledown”, “Warped Passages”, “Our Faces”, “Radiant Sisters,…” and “The War of Heroes”.

2) The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

I read book #2 to book #5 of this awesome series this year and I really loved it, especially the fifth book, “Network Effect”, which was a novel and not a novella. I will surely continue reading the next sequels. All characters are so likable that I can’t wait for the next installment in this series.

3) Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

This Post Apocalypse Dystopia with clones was brilliant and the best Sci-fi I’ve read for a long while, and I’m happy that I came across this book though the Lady Vaults Goodreads group, which is unfortunately now not active anymore. This was first published in 1976 but it has aged remarkably well. I’ll read more books by this author.

4) Binti (Binti #1) by Nnedi Okorafor

This was a very original Novella, and I’ll go on reading this series for sure.

Note: At a certain point I was upset at how people touched Binti’s hair all the time, and just felt like shouting: “Leave her hair alone for God’s sake!” Then I could understand why book titles like “Don’t touch my hair.” exist.

5) Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #4) by Lois McMaster Bujold.

This book proved that a story with important themes can be an entertaining page-turner too. And now I understand why so many people recommend the Vorkosigan Saga which I intend to go on reading for sure. This book is the start of the chronological order of the Vorkosigan Saga.

6) Skyward (Skyward #1) by Brandon Sanderson.

This was awesome, and I’ll be continuing this series soon. Brandon Sanderson has been one of my favorite authors this year and I plan to read all his books eventually. I have other two books by him among my next post’s favorite fantasy books too.

7) Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty.

This was a great science fiction mystery story, with clones in a futuristic Locked-room mystery story, and the Audiobook narration was five stars too!

8) Starfarers (Starfarers #1) by Vonda N. McIntyre.

I really liked the writing style of this book and will surely go on reading this quartet. I read the fourth book a long time ago, but even knowing how it will end I am still interested in this story’s characters journey.

9) Chilling Effect (Chilling Effect #1) by Valerie Valdes.

I liked that Captain Eva Innocente was unapologetically foul-mouthed in Spanish when life yet again didn’t give her a break. This made me laugh and it was so very much relatable.
A very humorous an entertaining space opera by a Latinx author! I’ll be reading the next book in this series, Prime Deceptions, next year for sure.

10) The Nemesis (The Diabolic #3) by S.J. Kincaid.

This was a great finale for this trilogy, with all the feels, twists and suspense until the very last page. After this, and the awesome Insignia trilogy, Kincaid has become an auto-buy author for me.
The Audiobook narration by Candace Thaxton was also unforgettable and a five stars experience.

And lastly:

11) The Song Rising (The Bone Season #3) by Samantha Shannon.

This starts with a slow pace but it builds up, escalates into high stakes and it pays off in so many well developed and well written ways! Impossible to put down. I’m in this series bandwagon now for sure. I can’t wait for the next book in this series, “The Mask Falling” to be released in February 2021.

Stay tuned for the second part of this wrap-up still now in December! (I hope…)

2020 Was A Weird Year. A Wrap-Up Of My Yearlong Reading Challenges.

I started 2020 with a lot of good intentions and many yearly reading challenges, it all went well until March, and then… I think you can complete that phrase for me 😉

This was a strange year in the sense that even if I read a lot of books, a total of 177 by the end of November now, I was mainly mood reading and not managing to stick to my challenges TBRs. And even though I had partial success at my yearly reading challenges, a portion of the prompts was left undone.

Here it comes to the choice that was left for me, should I forget about the prompts left undone or keep them in my TBR? My choice was to keep them.

Exactly! No one gets left behind!

Therefore I plan on mostly not starting new yearlong reading challenges in 2021, (apart from exceptions like the r/Fantasy Bingo Challenge) but to continue most of the unfinished challenges I started in 2020.

My 2020 Challenges:

1) Start on Your Shelf a Thon #StartOnYourShelfathon

This Readathon, hosted and run by CW from The Quiet Pond was about reading the books you already own, be them physical books, ebooks, or Audiobooks, and in this I was most successful. I included Netgalley ARCs in my challenge too, so I would keep the reviews coming.

My goal was to read 25 Physical books, 25 Ebooks, 5 Audiobooks and 10 Netgalley ARCs.

I met all goals, also surpassing the number of planned ebooks up to 50 ebooks.
I’ll be continuing this challenge in 2021 with similar goals, only that instead of 25 Ebooks I’ll plan 40 instead. I will also plan to read at least one Netgalley ARC per month.

Therefore for 2021 my new goals for this challenge will be:

25 Physical books,
40 Ebooks,
5 Audiobooks and
12 Netgalley ARCs

 

2) Popsugar Reading Challenge 2020

I was partially successful in this challenge. I planned to read 20 books for this challenge and I met my goal, but other 20 prompts were left undone. I still plan to read the books I chose for those other prompts though, this makes more sense to me than starting a new Popsugar Challenge in 2021. So I’ll probably read the leftover books next year.

 

3) A to Z Challenge

I was quite successful in this challenge, and of all letters, I still have Q, Y and Z left. I DNFed the book I chose for Q, due to accidentally reading a major spoiler in a prologue someone had written to ‘praise’ the book.
I still plan on reading the books for Y and Z in December, even if one of them is Dystopia and I mostly steered clear of the genre this year.
I may do this challenge again next year, I’m not sure though.

 

4) Global Voices

This challenge is from the “2020 & 2021 Reading Challenge” Goodreads group.

Its description is: “For this challenge, you will read books from authors around the world, with a special emphasis on underrepresented, marginalized, and #ownvoices authors.”

I managed to read 13 of the 20 prompts  and some of them, like “Latin American Authors” or “Book featuring a protagonist who identifies as Gay or Lesbian”, were met by multiple books.

5) Genre Bingo

The main goal of this challenge from the “2020 & 2021 Reading Challenge” Goodreads group was to read genres that you don’t pick up often by yourself. I read 20 prompts but around six genres are still left.

6) Listopia

Also a challenge from the “2020 & 2021 Reading Challenge” Goodreads group where you read books from Goodreads user-created lists. This had the weaker result of all my challenges. I managed only 7 of the 24 prompts I set as a goal.

This had to do a great deal with the fact of many of my choices being Epic/Grimdark Fantasy, genres I do occasionally like to read but not as often as Science Fiction or Space Opera. I still plan on reading the leftover books, so I’ll continue this challenge next year.

And lastly,

7) SFFBC Short Fiction Challenge

I read 9 Novellas and 3 short fiction collections/anthologies for this Goodreads group challenge and was happy enough with the result. I plan to continue and go on reading novellas and short stories for this challenge next year.

***

Setting an yearly limit to to my reading goals doesn’t always pan out but this doesn’t matter. The important thing is to read more widely and to go on reading next year.

Would you like to read a more detailed wrap-up for one or more of the challenges above? Let me know in the comments!

Space Opera September Wrap-Up

 

This is my Wrap-Up for Space Opera September created by #booktubeSFF

Prompts:

1: Read a space opera novella 

Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

A five stars read for me! This was a bit slow paced the first two thirds of the book, but perhaps this was due to the contemplative nature of nuns who would think all ramifications of their actions towards religion, God and the greater good?

The characters were very interesting and multi-layered and you get to know and relate to each of them closely. I especially liked to read about the Mother Superior.

This Novella also had very important themes which made it to transcend the space opera conventions into a deeper contemplation of politics, freedom and society.

2A: Read two space operas by women

Starfarers (Starfarers #1) by Vonda N. McIntyre

5 Stars!

I really liked the writing style of this book and will surely go on reading this series! It’s about a spaceship with a multi-partner relationship, hobbit houses and small pet horses (cuteness overload!).

I consider this a precursor of Becky Chambers and her feel good spaceship with good vibes books.

Chilling Effect (Chilling Effect #1) by Valerie Valdes

5 stars!

I liked that Captain Eva Innocente was not unapologetically  foul-mouthed when life yet again didn’t give her a break. This made me laugh so much and it was so very much relatable. Trouble seemed to find her wherever she went.
A very humorous an entertaining space opera by a Latinx author! I’ll be reading the next books in this series for sure.

 

3: Read a space opera published before you were born 

The Ship Who Sang (Brainship #1) by Anne McCaffrey

3 stars. I think the ideas in this book were probably ground breaking when it was written, but I could even tough not get invested enough in the story.

4: Read a space opera 500 pages or longer

Velocity Weapon (The Protectorate #1) by Megan E. O’Keefe

3 stars. I couldn’t get into this book so much, perhaps due to this being the sixth sci-fi or space opera book I read in September.

I need a break from the genre even if I love it and later I’ll come back to this book again and see if I enjoy it more.

 

I’m planning to go on reading books for #Latinxathon and October is the month when I read Mystery, Thriller and Gothic books galore!

Stay tuned for my next month’s wrap-up reviews! 😉

September, a month with 3 awesome Readathons! #SpaceOperaSeptember #Latinxathon #LatinxBookBingo

I’m participating in three Readathons in September:

Space Opera September,

LATIN-X-ATHON  and

Latinx Book Bingo

I won’t describe the readathons here in detail as its creators do a much better job at it. For more detail on these Readathons please check the creators channels, they have awesome content!

I’ll only say that Space Opera September is a Readathon focused on reading Space Opera and #Latinxathon on reading books written by #Latinx authors. Being a Latinx (Brazilian) myself, I feel extremely happy to read more books from other Latinx  authors, which are sometimes forgotten while reading other popular books.

Without much other ado, here are my TBR choices:

Space Opera September:

1: Read a space opera novella

Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

2A: Read two space operas by women 

1. Starfarers (Starfarers #1) by Vonda N. McIntyre
2. Chilling Effect (Chilling Effect #1) by Valerie Valdes

3: Read a space opera published before you were born

The Ship Who Sang (Brainship #1) by Anne McCaffrey

4: Read a space opera 500 pages or longer:

Velocity Weapon (The Protectorate #1) by Megan E. O’Keefe

 

#Latinxathon and #LatinxBookBingo

On the #Latinx readathon  I want to read a classic BIPOC Brazillian author, Machado the Assis, read a couple of new to me Latinx authors, and catch up my reading on books by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

As it comes to new to me authors, I’ll be reading a humorous space-opera by Valerie Valdes and, if there’s time, a dark retelling by Anna-Marie McLemore.

LATIN-X-ATHON  TBR

VOICES: Read a book by a Black and/or Indigenous Latinx author

A Mão e a Luva by Machado de Assis
Machado de Assis is imho the greatest classic Brazilian writer, and, acording to Wikipedia, “a mulatto from a poor family”.

Brazil is a non-Spanish speaking country, therefore I will read this book in its original language, Portuguese.

ROOTS: Read a translated book or a book featuring more than one language

Here I will read a book that I’m also reading for Space Opera September and that is Chilling Effect (Chilling Effect #1) by Valerie Valdes.

This humorous space opera book has many funny expressions; like for example “sinvergüenza” (something like Scoundrel but in the context of the story extremely hilarious) in  Spanish (I guess?), that reminds me of the same expression in Portuguese, sem vergonha, and makes me laugh so, so much.

HERITAGE: Read a book written by an author from a non-Spanish speaking Latin American country (or heritage):

Quincas Borba by Machado de Assis

I’ll be gladly reading another book in my mother language.

 

LATIN-X-BOOK-BINGO

I hope I’ll have enough time during the Readathon to read these other books, but even if time isn’t enough I’ll surely read these books in my near future.

Any book  by a Latinx author:

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Rec by a Latinx reader:

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

On cover rep:

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Never before read Latinx author:

Nocturna by Maya Montayne

Queer rep:

Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore

 

And you, are you also participating in one of these Readathons?

 

Mid Year Book Freakout Tag! (2020)

 

I’m probably the last person in the internet to post The Mid Year Book Freak Out tag this year. Things have been busy and when I eventually found this blog post half done in my scrivener Blog Posts file, I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to finish what I had started more than a month ago.  😉

So here it goes:

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2020.

This is a very difficult question because I have read so many 5 star books this first half year. So I’ll name two favorite ones:

Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #4) by Lois McMaster Bujold – This book proved that a story with important themes can be an entertaining page-turner too. And now I understand why so many people recommend the Vorkosigan Saga which I intend to go on reading for sure!

Skyward (Skyward #1) by Brandon Sanderson – This was awesome, and I’ll be continuing this series.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2020.

Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells – This was awesome and I could not put it down. Perhaps I’ll have to reread all Murderbot books to make up for having to wait for the next book in the series.

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

The Unspoken Name (The Serpent Gates #1) by A.K. Larkwood – This seems to be a very original fantasy book and I’m looking forward to it.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

The Nemesis (The Diabolic #3) by S.J. Kincaid – I’m waiting for this book since I read The Empress (The Diabolic #2) in April 2018 and the book finished with a plot twist I wasn’t expecting. So let’s see how this story will go on.

5. Biggest disappointment.

I had two:

Spin (Spin Saga #1) by Robert Charles Wilson.

and

The Outside (The Outside #1) by Ada Hoffmann.

Both disappointments had to do with the fact that those books took way too long to give answers to my reader’s questions. I’m not the most patient of readers, and if the book doesn’t get me hooked I won’t read it indefinitely. I set both books aside and maybe one day I’ll finish them, or not.

6. Biggest surprise.

The Raven and the Dove (The Raven and the Dove #1) by Kaitlyn Davis
I started this book not knowing much about it, but it completely surpassed my initial expectations. It is an extremely clever retelling of Tristan and Isolde with multi-layered, interesting and relatable characters, and a story world I want to read more about. I’ll be continuing this series for sure!

7. Favorite new author. (Debut or new to you)

Libba Bray is my new favorite author of 2020. I am reading her entire Gemma Doyle series this year.

8. Newest fictional crush.

I’m too old to have fictional crushes. 🙂

9. Newest favorite character.

Gemma Doyle surely, because she is always taking care of other people and trying her best.

10. Book that made you cry.

I wasn’t crying, but a book that has all the feels was Leave Me by Gayle Forman, because it talks about an overworked and unappreciated mother and this is a very important and not talked about enough theme nowadays.

11. Book that made you happy.

The Tea Dragon Society (Tea Dragon #1) by Katie O’Neill. This graphic novel series has such sweet illustrations and important themes that you feel like framing all pages and putting them on your walls for coziness sake. 🙂

12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received)

I received an arc from NetGalley of The Tea Dragon Tapestry (Tea Dragon #3) by Katie O’Neill and this was so beautiful I might buy a physical copy for me eventually.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

Oh, so many! To answer this properly I would have to post at least thirty books that I still would like to read for this or that yearly challenge, but this year I’ll try not to get stressed about it and I won’t care (much) if I don’t complete my challenges at all.

Meanwhile I am mostly mood-reading and looking for hope-filled books while steering away from anything Dystopian. I think that after this year we all deserve patience and endurance hero medals right?

Take care and read good books.