WWW Wednesday (September 25, 2019)

Posted September 25, 2019 by Sammie in #amreading, chat with me, www wednesday / 33 Comments

It’s time again to ask ourselves the three W’s:
What if the government banned words?
What if they rewrote history?
What if everything you knew was a lie?

Wait, no, that’s not right. We ask these three W’s:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words.

Steel Crow Saga     Dead Voices


Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger
★★★★★ || Goodreads
Read this if you like:
Pokemon
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Fullmetal Alchemist

That’s all I can really say. This started off a little rocky for me and took a bit of time to acclimate to the story, but by 10%, I was fully invested and ready go to. And what a ride it was! There was a lot going on, and I loved every minute of it. I already touched on this on Twitter, so I’m actually just going to copy my reasons for why you should totally read this book:

✦ Kickass F/F couple
✦ Super cool animal shades
✦ Powerful character arcs
✦ Lots of action and sarcasm
✦ Pokemon x AtLA is an apt comp
✦ Described as “Fullmetal Pokemist”
✦ Complex world & deep conflicts
✦ So many feels

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden
★★★★ || Goodreads
What this seems to boil down to, based on other reviews, is if you really liked the first one … you probably don’t like this one as much. I was pretty meh towards the first one, and I thought this one was so much better! It did have an excerpt from the first one in the back, though, which I thought was kind of weird. Sure, this book pulled on a lot of cliches (haunted inn, ghost trying to trap kids, etc), but it felt so much spookier to me than the first one, right from the get-go. More than that, I found the characters so much more tolerable in this. And Coco got a point of view! She even got her own arc, which I enjoyed.

Reviews Posted This Week



The Ghost Collector


The Priory of the Orange Tree

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Status: 52%

Click For Goodreads Summary

A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.


Yes, this is still here. Is anyone surprised? No? Good. So, I hit the part where stuff finally happens, and I just couldn’t stop reading, so I whipped through some chapters from the late 20s to the late 30s. And then it sat there while I read other things.

I’m enjoying the book, but I’m also getting the feeling like things could’ve been pared down and it really wouldn’t have missed a whole lot. There are sections where so much happens that I can’t put it down, but then it drags on forever in other sections, and for a book this big, it’d be really easy to just set it down and not pick it back up, I think.

So I’m still plugging away at this one. I think it’s looking like it’ll probably be another two weeks or so before it’s done at this rate.

Verify

Verify by Joelle Charbonneau
Status: 58%

Click For Goodreads Summary

Meri Beckley lives in a world without lies. When she looks at the peaceful Chicago streets, she feels pride in the era of unprecedented hope and prosperity over which the governor presides.

But when Meri’s mother is killed, Meri suddenly has questions that no one else seems to be asking. And when she tries to uncover her mother’s state of mind in her last weeks, she finds herself drawn into a secret world with a history she didn’t know existed.

Suddenly, Meri is faced with a choice between accepting the “truth” or embracing a world the government doesn’t want anyone to see—a world where words have the power to change the course of a country and where the wrong ones can get Meri killed.


So, this is a … thing? I’m over halfway through with this, but I still kind of don’t really have any impressions. I guess it’s that sort of book. It’s been a super fast read, and I love the message and what-ifs the world itself presents, but I’m not quite in love with the book itself. I feel like I haven’t really connected with any of the characters, and I don’t really care too much about their plight. I’m still enjoying it and want to know what’s going to happen next, but I just don’t feel particularly invested.

The Bone Ships     Shadow Frost     A Lush and Seething Hell


Oh my gosh, you guys, I had so many freaking library holds come through. I don’t even know what to do with myself. I’ve been on these lists forever, and then all at once I get them in one big rush. And they’re all 500+ pages, like you do. So I’m trying to get through ARCs as fast as possible, but ha, I’m starting a new job today and I’m just so behind in everything.

So yes, The Bone Ships is still there, and I will get to it this week, darn it! Or else! I don’t know what the else is yet, but or else!

And then, because I’m behind on ARCs, I’m going to try to squeeze them in, when they should have been read already, because I’m clearly bad at this. I was interested in Shadow Frost soon as I read the summary, because let’s be honest … demon hunting! Who doesn’t like a bit of that? Honestly, I’m just hoping for something with a nice amount of action, for a change.

I’m also a bit ridiculously excited to read A Lush and Seething Hell, because honestly, these stories just sound like so much yes. One set in South Africa with a poet trying to translate a “maddening text”? Yes, please. The second story sounds a lot like a librarian finds the recording from “A Devil Went Down to Georgia,” and that makes me laugh, but also, I’m hoping for something a bit dark and spooky, so I have really high hopes for this one!

Chat With Me

What are you reading this week? Anything you’d recommend? Link to your WWW posts below so I can visit you!

33 responses to “WWW Wednesday (September 25, 2019)

    • First, watch AtLA all the way through. What’s wrong with you, man?! Second, the book doesn’t actually relate to the show in any way, so if you for some reason choose not to heed my (obviously brilliant) advice, you won’t miss out on anything. The comp just basically sums up the world, where there’s four different societies and one in particular is known as an aggressor over the others and they’re all struggling to find some sort of grudging peace between them.

      Right? It’s one heck of a title, and that’s what immediately grabbed my attention.

  1. Definitely want to read Steel Crow Saga, but it’s not a priority so hopefully I can read it in the future. And I have a copy of A Lush and Seething Hell that I’m reading next month. Can’t wait!

    • I hope you can get to it! I totally understand prioritizing reads. xD I’m so excited to hear you have a copy of that, too! It makes me ridiculously excited to know people I follow are reading the same books I am. Can’t wait to see what you think! Hopefully we both love it.

    • That sounds like me at this point! Mine is coming up next week and I haven’t even started my book. I haven’t even looked at it. Can’t tell you what the title is or even a general idea of what it’s about. xD I’m the worst.

  2. evelynreads1

    Enjoy your reading!
    I just finished Heart of Iron, and I’m about to pick up Angel mage 🙂

    (www.evelynreads.com)

  3. Yes on SCS and Bone Ships

    I’m gonna shut up about Verify because. I reviewed it. And when you are ready you can read it. But yeah. lol

  4. I love your introductions to your www posts! Very creative 😉. Steel Crow Saga is not my usual type of read, but the points you listed definitely appeal to me!

    • Thanks! I definitely have fun with them. xD I’d say see if you can get a library book and give it a try if you’re unsure about whether you’ll like it. 😉 I’ve been trying to branch out more lately and give things I don’t normally read a chance, and I’ve found a ton of new books I enjoy. :3

  5. I’ve been wondering about The Priory of the Orange Tree. I’ve heard really good things about it, but I’m scared to read it at the same time. It’s like I just have the feeling it won’t be too exciting; I do love the title though!

    • Well, in my group read, only one person finished, and they enjoyed it, but everyone agrees it’s too long and there are plenty of sections that could’ve been cut without really losing anything. I’m at a bit of an exciting part, though.

  6. You definitely got some chilling books on here! You are braver than I. I actually just heard of Katherine Arden for the first time right before I looked at your post. Do you need to read the first book before reading the second?

    • Nah, I’m a wuss. I just like to pretend I’m all brave and whatnot. 😉 Once a year, I just scare the bejeezus out of myself. I don’t know if you *need* to, per se, since the second book does a pretty good job of summarizing the first, but I think I’d definitely recommend reading Small Spaces first.

  7. It never fails, you ask the library for things, wait for months and then – BAM! There they are all at the same time. And with your new job (congratulations)! It’s always either drowning or desperate for books here too.

    Demon Hunting seems perfect for my Halloween-themed reading. Love the look of that one!

    • Right?! There’s some grand conspiracy going on, I’m sure of it. xD They must hold the books back until they get a group and just throw them at you because it makes them laugh.

      Unfortunately, while it sounded great, it ended up as a DNF for me. =/ Ah well. Can’t win them all.

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