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Taryn | Bookstagram

@tarynreadsalot

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Lover of books!! Toronto 🇨🇦 @tarynslawter
Fantasy 🐲 SciFi 👽 Horror 😱 Classics 📘
Books this year : 46/75
CR 📖: A Sould Divided

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Meet the reader in 5!!

I have been seeing this going around and after a lot of time on Canva, here I am 😂🤗

#booklover #bookreviewer #bookstgram #bookstagram
#booksbooksbooks by @tarynreadsalot

I realized I never did one of these introduction posts so here is a little bit about the person behind the books 🤗

Welcome new friends and thanks for being here with me!

#bookreviewer #bookstgrammer #bookstgram #aboutme by @tarynreadsalot

The Daughter's War
by Christopher Buehlman
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

So good!! This novel is about The Goblins War and it is dark and violent and full of badass female characters and lesbians and giant killer birds.

Galva is a raven knight, a new all female Lanza of warriors who have 2 battle Corvids (think giant Ravens) who were created with the hope of being able to turn the tides of war. She fights alongside Inconcenta, troup leader Nouva, and her corvids Bellue & Dalgaata.The entire army is led by The Pragmatist, another female warrior who is incredibly intelligent and ruthless. There is also the queen Mireya, who has magic powers and takes a liking to Galva. It really is The Daughters War as the women engage in bloody battles against the goblins and take centre stage. The birds themselves are also deadly, smart, and they each have their own personality. They are really cool animal companions.

Galva has 3 brothers in the army as well and boy is the family drama compelling. The oldest brother is a complete dick and is unfortunately the family heir. He is disrespectful, arrogant and makes for a great secondary antagonist to the globins. Galva's relationship with Pol and Amiel, the other two brothers are very sweet and help to develop her character's personality and motivations.

The goblins themselves are terrifying creatures that farm humans for meat and have an intelligent structure of command. They are slowly conquering the world with their well structured army and they are an amazing threat for our protagonists to be fighting against.

The story is exciting, action packed, and full of tension and I am very excited to read the follow up book The Blacktongue Thief. My only complaint is the frequent narrative shifts from Galva's POV to her brother's Amiel's journal entries. The shifts are abrupt and clumsily handled aka "my brother will explain this next part to you".

#bookreviewer #bookstagram #fantasybooks #bookreview #booklover by @tarynreadsalot

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ & 1/2

#bookreviewer #bookvsmovie #bookstgram #sciencefictionbooks #jeffvandermeer

So, the movie Annihilation is one of my favorite sci fi movies of all time. You can imagine I was quite excited to find out it started as a book series but after reading the first novel of the trilogy, I will not be continuing. Very rarely do I find myself thinking the movie adaptation is superior to the book but in this case, the movie is phenomenal and the book lacks substance.

The book introduces us to 4 "characters", which I say loosely. The women are not given names or backgrounds and are simply relegated to their various scientific roles on the expedition. The exception is the biologist who functions as the main POV. We do not know her name either but we know her husband was on one of the previous expeditions, returned a shell of himself a year later, and then quickly died of cancer. The Biologist wants to know what he experienced and so signed up to visit Area X herself. The other characters motivations and personality are not developed, making it hard to care about what happens to them or understand their actions.

Area X in the book is described almost as a living entity, beautiful and strange but also dangerous and completely beyond human reasoning. There is a creature encountered that causes paralysis and death, that is without shape or voice or form. There are variations of plants and animals but the biologist struggles to understand what is different about them. Samples taken appear normal but also wrong. Words appear written in vines and fungi seem to move. You get the impression that Area X is alien but there are no concrete answers provided at any point in the novel. Even when the team starts dying there is no reason for it, it simply happens and the biologist continues exploring. The book is all about exploration and pondering philosophical questions about the nature of things in Area X, which is ultimately boring and leads to a frustratingly inconclusive ending.

The movie Annihilation takes the eerie feeling from the novel and the exploratory components and expands of the entire concept, fully developing the team and Ar by @tarynreadsalot

Batman - 3 Jokers
by Geoff Johns (Writer) & Jason Fabok (Illustrator)
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ + 1/2

I picked this up thinking it was going to be a look at the different roles The Joker has taken over the years and not actually about 3 different jokers existing at the same time. The Jokers (the criminal, the comedian, and the clown) are all slightly different in personality but I found them hard to tell apart, which made the story a bit confusing. The idea is cool but it was very underdeveloped and it left me with too many questions. How long have there been 3 Jokers? Who is the original? What is their ultimate goal? How would a new joker be a better joker? What was the purpose of this story? None of it made any sense because nothing was explained within the context of the story. The "twist" ending was also dumb and I wish that had been left out.

Outside of my complaints, I did really enjoy the inclusion of both Jason Todd & Barbara Gordon as Red Hood and Batgirl. The focus on exploring their traumas that were inflicted by the Joker in A Death in the Family & The Killing Joke was well done. It was a great way to respect and incorporate the characters. The confrontation between Batman and the man who killed Matha and Thomas Wayne was also a high point. I will also say, the artwork is incredible. It's dark and gory and perfect for a Joker centered story so great job to Jason Fabok for that.

#batman #bookreviewer #dccomics
#comicbooks #bookstgram by @tarynreadsalot

Bought a few more books for my son 👶🏽❤️

If you have any good suggestions for kids books drop them here please!!

#childrensbook #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #diversebooks by @tarynreadsalot

Thrift Book Haul !!

I just got a huge new bookshelf and I have been on a bit of a book buying spree 🫣😁

The Master & Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Storm Front by Jim Butcher

#bookstgram #bookstagrammer
#bookhaul #booklover #bookreviewer by @tarynreadsalot

Book Haul!! + My first ever book nook

Daughter of The Empire by Raymond E. Feist
Absolute batman vol. 1 & vol. 2
Murdoku

#puzzlebook #comics #absolutebatman #booklover #bookhaul by @tarynreadsalot

So much has been going on the past few months that I have not read a single book since July or been very active on my bookstagram 💔

My library was closed for renovations all of August
I moved into a new place September 1st
I got a new bookshelf that STILL needs to be assembled
I am 30 weeks pregnant and have a million appointments
I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes
I have also been running a massive project at work & training up the person filling in for me while im on leave

Next Friday is my last day of work for the next year and a half so I'm very excited to finally dive into some new books! Have you read any of these??

My boss surprised me with an Agatha Christie book set and I picked up a nice haul at the library 😁

Ps. I have already been buying books for my son so I can turn him into a reader too lol

#bookhaul #libraryhaul #booksofinstagram #bookreviewer #booklover by @tarynreadsalot

Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 1
By Kamome Shirahama
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

My second manga and I loved it!

A young girl Coco who has always wanted to be a witch ends up accepted as an apprentice after stumbling upon the secrets of magic. What follows is the beginning of a magical journey which I am sure will only get more and more exciting!

Volume 1 is mostly set up so it's not the most unique story but it's a great base for the adventures to come. We learn how Coco came to know of magic, we meet the witch Qifrey and the 3 apprentices, we also learn the rules of magic and casting, and are introduced to our story's villain.

The illustrations are absolutely amazing and give the whole book a whimsical fairy tale vibe. The design of the first test, the villages, dragon, and the one eyed witch are so well done. I can't wait to find out more about what is going on with the one eyed witch, Coco, and the forbidden spells. I also love the idea of drawing as a way to tap into magic! That is a very unique concept I have not seen before. I can also tell the relationship between Coco and the other apprentices will be interesting given the differences in how they came to be in the magic world.

#manga #witchhatatelier #bookreviewer #booksofinstagram #booklover by @tarynreadsalot

The Death Row Club
V.A. Vazquez
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This book is good folks!!

Nicola is living in the aftermath of a tv show called "To Catch A Killer", which exposed her father as the murderer of 5 young women, including her best friend Claire. Since the show, Nicola has lost her teaching job, her house is in foreclosure, paparazzi are stalking her, and her friends and remaining family want nothing to do with her. If there's a rock bottom, Nicola has hit it. One night Nicola is drunk and angry calling Greer Woods, the lawyer and investigator who runs the tv show. In response, Nicola gets a surprising text inviting her to "The Death Row Club". This club turns out to be a yearly retreat for the children of serial killers and with nothing else to lose, Nicola decides to go.

We also get the viewpoint of Steffani, a young woman on the run from her abusive father, who shows up at the retreat unannounced looking for help. This story ties into the main narrative incredibly well and I found Steffani's plotline to be fascinating.

The retreat sets up a suspicious ensemble cast of characters, all of whom have a murderous family history and when a member of the club is found dead *gasp*, you know things are about to get wild. The retreat is at a secluded cabin and no phones are allowed meaning we get a great locked room mystery to untangle.

I was on the edge of my seat the entire book and the main twist is incredibly well done. I thought I had a handle on things but new information keeps getting revealed as you read, changing your perspective. I had a guess for the killer and boy was I wrong lol! Regardless, I had fun guessing and trying to figure things out as I was reading.

If you're looking for a thriller with twists, drama, and also some queerness ... This one's for you!

#simonandschuster #bookreviewer #bookstgram #thrillerbook #booklover by @tarynreadsalot

Sphaera
By Raelle Lowe
@raellelowe.author
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ +1/2

Earth is dying and a ship of people have been sent to investigate life on a new planet called Sphaera. They are also investigating the disappearance of an original crew of people who were sent there.

The group of people on the Echo ship have a really interesting dynamic. Vincent Hunt is a hot guy military Sargent, Ava Janewoski is a virologist. Porter is captain, Ellis is a doctor, and Juno is additional military and generally unpleasant lol. The group's dynamic is messy and creates some great tension in addition to the terrifying threat they meet on Sphaera. Unfortunately, we don't get that much time with the team dynamic and I wish we got more of it.

Once they land on the planet, things go bad quickly and there is some great action. The threat is essentially a zombie virus that has infected the crew of the original ship Alpha and it is gnarly. The descriptions of the gore and death really work and give a sense of horror. The Echo crew loses some members and the survivors have to fight for their lives and try to figure out how to cure or stop the infection.

There are some interesting twists regarding the virus, the original crew, and the mission status that worked well. Hunt & Ava also develop a love/sex story over the course of the mission. I will say the bits about Ava's backstory on earth were boring and we could have gone without those. The Ava/Hunt romance is also a bit underbaked, I don't quite think they knew each other enough to be in love but it worked as a steamy sexy new connection.

The story is generally exciting and enjoyable even with some minor flaws.

#indiebooks #booklover #bookstagram #bookreview #bookreviewer by @tarynreadsalot