What Are You Reading Wednesday (April 21, 2021)

It’s time again to ask ourselves the three W’s:
What if you could wear a mask to gain the knowledge of a deceased person?
What if that person’s essence was still alive in the mask and threatened to take over anyone who used it?
Would you still take the risk and fight the echo?

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

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

It’s been another two weeks since I posted one of these, and this is becoming a habit! I might just need to go to posting every other week as long as I’m in school, since it’s not like I’m particularly reading a lot anyway! So as impressive as this list might look, remember that I cheated and it took me two weeks, not one, to get through them all.

                   

Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

★★★☆☆ || Goodreads
I’m not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed with this one. As a continuation of the series, it wasn’t bad. But as the final book in the series? It left a lot to desire. As I understand it, this is meant to end the series, though the way Schwab phrased it, there may be possibility for her to revisit it, and at that point, I would raise my rating to four stars. There just wasn’t a real conclusion here at all. Schwab’s normal talent with writing definitely shines through in this book. It’s gripping and fun to read, just like the rest of the series. Jacob and Cass are adorable, and their dynamic, including Lara now too, was perfect. In a way, though, Schwab almost outdid herself, and I’m not even sure how she could follow this one up, because the stakes were so high. I just expected something more, I guess, from the conclusion of the series and it left me wanting more, but not in a good way.

The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King

★★★★☆ || Goodreads
My review is already posted on this one, so you should definitely check it out. This was a ridiculously fun read, and I can see why it won BBNYA 2020. It deserves all the praise it’s received. This book combines superpowers/fantasy with military fiction in a way that was just packed full of action. The protagonist is sarcastic with dry humor (my favorite!) and paired nicely with a second point of view from a pretty badass woman. It seems like this is going to be a series, and I’ll be looking forward to picking up the next book!

In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens

★★★★★ || Goodreads
On paper, this does not seem like the sort of book I would like at all. The piracy part of this is sort of a lie? I mean, I guess there are technically pirates, but it’s not like you might think, given the comp to Pirates of the Caribbean. Also, it’s solidly romance. Between cinnamon rolls. Weird, right? But this was so freaking adorable. There’s mystery and magic and sibling bonds that were so adorable that I wanted to just hug them all. They don’t always get along, as siblings do, but they’re there when it matters, and I absolutely freaking loved this dynamic. There’s also this dramatic, doomed romance between two boys who are so cute and clearly need protection and love because they’re too precious for this world. I’m not sure how the heck I’m going to write a review for this, but I’ll figure it out!

Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

★★★★★ || Goodreads
This book broke me every bit as much as I imagined it would. SO MANY FEELS. Ahhhhh who am I even anymore?! There’s just as many plot twists and secrets as you would expect. Also, Magellan, who is supremely underrated in my opinion and who obviously carries this series. There’s more Fin in this book, and thank goodness, because he’s a treasure. I was really glad that Zila gets more backstory and more depth in her character, and the way it’s done is just *chef’s kiss*. Other than that, I really can’t say much of anything other than my heart is breaking and it ended on a FREAKING BLOODY CLIFFHANGER, like they always do, and I will proceed to be the husk of a human until the next book is released, thank you very much. *flounces off*

The Dragon in the Library by Louie Stowall

★★★☆☆ || Goodreads
This was … okay? I think it would go over better for the target audience, but there just wasn’t enough plot for me. I really like how the protagonist wasn’t a reader and was still able to see that there were good things about books. It’s something I don’t see often in middle grade, but that I feel is an important perspective. Not everyone loves books, and that’s okay! You can still enjoy parts of them from time to time. Also, dragons. There’s a fun twist with the dragon that I particularly enjoyed. The magic was fun and somewhat unique, too. It was really just the plot that sort of dragged it down for me, but since it’s lower mid-grade, I think that’s more in line with readers in that age group.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore

★★★★★ || Goodreads
Listen, I don’t read a whole lot of nonfiction. I read dark fantasy. I vaguely understood the story of the radium girls and I figured, hey, I read about people being stabbed and tortured and dismembered. It’ll be fiiiiine. -.-; Guys, the things that happened to these poor girls don’t even happen in dark fantasy, okay? I mean, I’m sure you could probably find a book where they do, but what I’m trying to say is that this book was freaking harrowing. Nightmare fuel if ever I’ve read anything. Yet, it’s such a freaking important read, because it’s real and these things actually happened to people. Young people in their teens and 20s. And other people just let it happen. This isn’t even that old. About 100 years ago, people realized, hey, this thing is killing people, but that’s inconvenient, so we’re just going to call them liars and ostracize them instead.

In short: read this freaking book. Not only is the topic something important that everyone should read, but I was really surprised by how engaged I was with it! I tend to find nonfiction dry and boring, but Moore did a marvelous job with making this story engaging. It hooked my attention and held it, to the point where my brother-in-law commented that I must be reading something good because I just couldn’t put it down. There were points in the narrative where it got a little repetitious, but the way the narrative was built, it was somewhat necessary, and it didn’t bother me all that much. This is definitely one I’d recommend!

I have several ongoing books that I really need to get back to and finish, but I’m going to pretend that they don’t exist right now because I’m good at it. La la la la la.

The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter
Status: page 322/451

A legendary serial killer stalks the streets of a fantastical city in The Helm of Midnight, the stunning first novel in a new trilogy from acclaimed author Marina Lostetter.

In a daring and deadly heist, thieves have made away with an artifact of terrible power–the death mask of Louis Charbon. Made by a master craftsman, it is imbued with the spirit of a monster from history, a serial murderer who terrorized the city with a series of gruesome murders.

Now Charbon is loose once more, killing from beyond the grave. But these murders are different from before, not simply random but the work of a deliberate mind probing for answers to a sinister question.

It is up to Krona Hirvath and her fellow Regulators to enter the mind of madness to stop this insatiable killer while facing the terrible truths left in his wake.

I’ve got a blog tour for this one on Friday, and I can’t wait to share it with you! This world is just … stunning? But also freaking scary. And so twisty. I’m still not 100% sure what’s going on, but not in a bad “this is confusing” sort of way. More in a “hey, if one more person has a dark, deadly secret, we might just have to eradicate humanity like the freaking plague it is” sort of way. There are so freaking many secrets. Which is thrilling, obviously, because how boring would it be otherwise?

I was initially drawn to the idea of a serial killer in a fantasy world, but it’s actually much more to that. The world and story unravels little by little as the book progresses, which I’m absolutely loving. Also, there’s a super adorable little spark of a romance where both characters are entirely in denial, and if they don’t figure it out by the end of the book, I will have no choice but to lock them in a room together and refuse to let them come out until they figure it out!

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Eye of the Sh*t Storm by Jackson Ford
Status: 12%

Teagan Frost might be getting better at moving sh*t with her mind – but her job working as a telekinetic government operative only ever seems to get harder. That’s not even talking about her car-crash of a love life . . .

And things are about to get even tougher. No sooner has Teagan chased off one psychotic kid hell-bent on trashing the whole West Coast, but now she has to contend with another supernatural being who can harness devastating electrical power. And if Teagan can’t stop him, the whole of Los Angeles will be facing the sh*tstorm of the century…

I’d already forgotten how much I missed and looked forward to Jackson Ford’s books. This opened with a BANG … quite literally. As you do when Teagan Frost is involved. I actually started this one yesterday and was very annoyed that I had to put it down, but alas, adulting called. Stupid adulting. I’m already absolutely in love with this book, and I don’t think it’ll take me any time at all to finish it, because I love this series so much. I don’t think this is the last book in the series, and thank goodness for that! Is it too much to ask that it never ends?

       

Wolfsong

I actually started this once before, but my loan expired before I could finish it. Didn’t even get very far. I had a lot of books to read at that time, which happens. Now that my hold has come through again, I’m determined to finish it this time. I love Klune’s work, and I’m excited to dig into this series. There are I think four books in it so far, so maybe it’ll tide me over until his next book comes out this year!

The Age of Dinosaurs: The Rise and Fall of the World’s Most Remarkable Animals

I actually started this one a while back and just didn’t finish it, so I’m picking it up again and going to try to get through it all. It’s interesting, and I love dinos, but I just wasn’t in the mood for nonfiction when I first picked it up, and it couldn’t hold my attention. Now that I’ve whipped through Radium Girls, I’m feeling my nonfiction desire pique, so I’m ready to give this one another go.

The Shadow of the Gods

It’s tiiiiime. I’ve been dying to read this one, but I didn’t want to read it too early. I absolutely loved Gwynne’s previous book I read, and I think this one won’t be any different. Plus, DRAGONS! What’s not to love? Looking forward to picking up a new series by him.

What are you reading this week? Share in the comments below!

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