What Are You Reading Wednesday (June 16, 2021)

It’s time again to ask ourselves the three W’s:
What if other Earths existed?
Would you visit them to see what they were like?
Would you wonder about your other selves?

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.

   

Bacchanal by Veronica Henry

★★☆☆☆ || Goodreads
I wanted to love this, but I just . . . didn’t? I also couldn’t decide whether this was two stars or three stars, and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it and which way it should go. There were things I loved about it, but they were kind of offset by the things I didn’t. I loved the creepy vibe of the carnival. Henry does a marvelous job establishing an atmosphere and carrying it through. I loved all the African mythology—the eloko, the kishi, the Orisha. The fact that it was brought to a carnival, which seems to be a popular setting in YA, made it even better, as it was a nice change in the trope.

I really didn’t like the romance, though. I felt like it came out of nowhere, and then I didn’t feel any real connection between either of the potential love interests . . . because yes, there was also a love triangle. But a weird love triangle. There were also a lot of things that were left unexplained, and I really wanted an explanation for them. I found the ending really unsatisfying, too. All in all, I will definitely read more from Henry because I think she’s definitely got a talent for writing. I think the plot itself just wasn’t as tight as it could have been.

Daughter of Sparta by Claire M. Andrews

★★★★☆ || Goodreads
I will forever show up for Greek mythology, okay? That will just always be a thing. I really enjoyed this take on the Greek gods, and I especially appreciated that Andrews doesn’t make them nicer than they’re meant to be. They’re complex and complicated, but they’re definitely not nice. They’re more accurate to the mythology of them. Then there’s the mythological creatures, which are as terrifying as they should be. I also really enjoyed Daphne and the little squad she formed, including an unlikely accomplice in the form of an Athenian! I will always root for the Athenians, so I suppose it made it easier to root for both of them together.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Status: 80%

A lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission–and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crew mates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that’s been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

I’ve been working my way through this and really enjoying it so far! It’s a nice blend of science and math (for the nerdy/geeky people among us . . . myself included, I suppose) and explanation for those who are less science and math inclined (also like me, because math is my nemesis). The narrative voice in this is so much fun. Ryland Grace is a great character to journey along with, and I’m in love with the stranger he meets in his quest, too. I will say that there are sometimes pacing issues for me. There are moments I can’t put the book down and I’m so enthralled and ready to find out what’s going to happen . . . and then there are moments where it drags and I set it down and don’t feel like picking it up for days because I’m just not interested in what’s happening right then. I can’t decide if this is a me thing or wonky pacing in the book. Either way, it is what it is. Looking forward to finding out how it ends, though!

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Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
Status: 62%

A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world’s last hope.

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them–and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them–the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart–or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

I started out absolutely in love with this book and read 58% of it in one day. If you don’t know, this is an 800-page book. 58% isn’t anything to sniff at. However, at that point, there’s one scene that really just felt unnecessary and annoyed me so much that I had to set the book down for a while. I mean, I’m going to continue, but it just was no bueno, okay? The scene seemed to be more for shock value than actually adding to the story, and it perpetuates a rather harmful, homophobic stereotype … sort of? In a weird way. It was just unnecessary and added nothing to the plot and I’m not even sure why it was there. Anyway, that aside, I’m enjoying the other parts of the book, and that was really just a couple paragraphs with a reminder mention in a later chapter and I think it’s done. So weird, but not a deal-breaker for me.

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The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson
Status: pg 208/383

After solving the case of Truly Devious, Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.

But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.

Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders.

But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.

I haven’t read the previous books in this series. This was pitched as a standalone, and I was curious how much that held up. So far, being a good way into it, I think it holds up as a standalone. I do think there are things I’m missing by not having read the previous books, and I think that’s always the case in these situations. I really like Stevie’s voice, her social awkwardness, and her anxiety. She’s definitely a relatable protagonist. I’m also caught up in the mystery, and I’m so curious to figure out what happened!

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The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
Status: 21%

An outsider who can travel between worlds discovers a secret that threatens her new home and her fragile place in it, in a stunning sci-fi debut that’s both a cross-dimensional adventure and a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging.

Multiverse travel is finally possible, but there’s just one catch: No one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying—from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn’t outrun. Cara’s life has been cut short on 372 worlds in total.

On this Earth, however, Cara has survived. Identified as an outlier and therefore a perfect candidate for multiverse travel, Cara is plucked from the dirt of the wastelands. Now she has a nice apartment on the lower levels of the wealthy and walled-off Wiley City. She works—and shamelessly flirts—with her enticing yet aloof handler, Dell, as the two women collect off-world data for the Eldridge Institute. She even occasionally leaves the city to visit her family in the wastes, though she struggles to feel at home in either place. So long as she can keep her head down and avoid trouble, Cara is on a sure path to citizenship and security.

But trouble finds Cara when one of her eight remaining doppelgängers dies under mysterious circumstances, plunging her into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and her future in ways she could have never imagined—and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.

I’ve heard good things about this one, and I don’t feel like I’m too far into it yet. I love the idea of similar (but slightly different) worlds and visiting them, etc. Cara is a really interesting protagonist. I’m just getting to the point where the plot is really kicking off, and I’m caught up. I hated having to put it down to go to work today!

I’ve currently got a lot of books underway already, so I’m not throwing a lot of things up here. Most of this week will likely be dedicated to finishing all the (rather long) books I’m working on before starting anything new. Except for the one blog tour read I’ve got coming up!

Instructions for Dancing

I’ve heard all sorts of good things about this book, and I absolutely can’t wait to pick it up! It’s definitely not the sort of book I normally read, but I actually checked out an excerpt before even signing up for this blog tour and absolutely loved the writing voice. So much so that I couldn’t pass up the chance to read it. I’m so glad I made that choice, because I’ve heard more and more feedback from bloggers I know about how great this book is!

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

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