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Christel | Booksta 📚

@thebooksmartpart

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Part of me loves a RH binge, the other part loves a good book
Fantasy | scifi | litfic | NF
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Merry Christmas to me, from me 🎄🤶📚 #malazan #stevenerikson #thebrokenbinding #books #bookhaul #fantasy by @thebooksmartpart

25

0

10 months ago

I have been so MIA. But I just finished this beast and it was phenomenal. Samantha Shannon does pacing and foreshadowing so damn well. Can’t wait for the third book (and need to start The Bone season)!!

If you haven’t read Priory or Fallen Night yet, and you are a lover of fantasy (esp dragons), I can’t recommend this series enough. And if you haven’t heard of this series, the author describes it as a feminist retelling of St George and the dragon. It was so refreshing to read a fantasy series where many of the main characters were women and where the story wasn’t filled with scenes of women’s violent deaths. This book is all about female strength in all its forms - but also features some great male characters.

#adayoffallennight #therootsofchaos #samanthashannon #fantasy #dragons #read #reading #book #booksta by @thebooksmartpart

27

2

a year ago

Hagstone by Sinead Gleeson. Super interesting premise, with some really interesting characters - just wish the commune and the supernatural aspects were explored more. I really enjoyed the writing, and look forward to seeing what will come next for the author (since I’m pretty sure this is their debut book).

#hagstone #book #ebook #ereader #kobo by @thebooksmartpart

14

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a year ago

It’s sweater weather in Sydney atm ❄️ 🥶 Perfect weather to curl up with a book. I just finished this one and it was amazing! My second favourite book of the year so far (VERY closely following Circe by Madeline Miller).

So many books these days are focusing on space and space exploration. Playground turns its attention to the ocean, which is SUCH a refreshing change of scenery. Especially since the ocean is as under-explored as space is and is vital to human survival. The story is set across multiple people, timelines and locations, most notable of which is the pacific island of Makatea.

The writing was fantastic in this. Richard Powers was able to make me feel amazed at the beauty of the ocean and enraged at the stupidity and selfishness of humans in the space of a few sentences. This book made me AAAANGRY within the first couple of chapters or so.

I also learned SO much from this book, that I started a notes section in my phone of things I needed to learn more about once I had finished. You know when you read a book and you can tell the author put in a lot of research beforehand? Playground is definitely one of those books.

I loved the characters and how their stories were all interwoven with each other. This book was interesting right from the get-go, and none of the characters were boring. The ending was absolutely genius. A very easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me! If you are interested in the topics of climate change, colonisation, artificial intelligence and human connection, I can’t recommend this book enough. This book absolutely delivers in its exploration of humanity’s insatiable greed for power, knowledge and dominion over all life on Earth 🌏.

#book #bookreview #ebook #ereader #kobo #richardpowers #playground #read #reading #cozy #bookstagram by @thebooksmartpart

15

2

a year ago

📚 Book review: THE WILL OF THE MANY 📚 This was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me. It’s such a hyped up book, so the bar was set pretty high from the get-go, but I ended up really enjoying it. It was a bit slow to start for me, but once I got about halfway, things really ramped up and it was hard to put down.

I enjoyed the magic system and its parallels with capitalism. The far-reaching consequences of capitalism and colonialism were discussed well throughout the story. I also love when a book in a series ends with even more questions for the reader, and WotM was peppered with intriguing puzzle pieces throughout - so I am looking forward to seeing where the story goes in the next two books!

I also just had to get the new cover to match the rest of the upcoming books - I got the original version for $1, and had a birthday voucher, so the girl math was mathing 🤣 Love that this one is signed by the author via @harryhartogbookseller

#thewillofthemany #book #bookreview #booksta #fantasy #read #reading by @thebooksmartpart

43

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a year ago

I have been so MIA lately! Finished this one not long ago. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. This story is about a series of murders that happen in a small Polish town, and a woman who is kind of? trying to solve them, and she uses horoscopes to do so. I really enjoyed the main character- she was quirky and funny. As someone who doesn’t eat meat and despises hunting, I could also really relate to her. I enjoy eccentric female leads in tv crime series, so it would make sense I also enjoy them in books.

A very interesting and unique take on a whodunnit. I’d be keen to read more from Olga Tokarczuk! Have you read Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead?

#book #bookreview #reading #read #driveyourplowoverthebonesofthedead #olgatokarczuk by @thebooksmartpart

27

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a year ago

📚 SERIES REVIEW: SHEPHERD KING DUOLOGY 📚 Book 1 rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Book 2: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Overall? It’s about ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 for me. This series was pretty underwhelming for me because it’s so hyped up. I found it a bit of a weird one, because to me the characters and the plot were very YA, but then it had more adult spicy scenes.

I found the romances incredibly predictable, cliche and cheesy. I liked the idea of the magic system, but the lack of world building was a bit of a letdown. It was just very much “we have cards and this is what they’re used for”. At the same time however, I have been reading pretty complex magic/world systems like Mask of Mirrors and Samantha Shannon’s Roots of Chaos series, so it was a nice break to have a more simple magic system. I definitely ate these two books up and read them pretty quickly, because the story was interesting and the plot was fun. Do I think this is an amazing series though? No. I have already un-hauled this duology because I know I’ll never reread it. I also think the “twist” of who the Nightmare was in book 1 was so damn obvious from basically the beginning that I don’t even know if it was a twist or was a failed attempt at dramatic irony.

Another thing I’ve heard people talking a lot about was how beautiful the writing was, so I expected a lot. The writing to me in this series was just ‘nice’ - easy to read and pretty but by no means overly lyrical or evocative.

Book 2 saved this series - it gave a bit more world building and there was such a great twist to one of the magic cards that I really liked. I much preferred book 2 to book 1. Book 2 unfortunately still suffered from the cheesy romance.

This is a bit of a harsh review from me, but I DID enjoy this duology! It just didn’t blow me away like I expected. I liked the characters and the theme of trees throughout the books. I also liked the Shepherd King’s powers and storyline.

#book #bookreview #shepherdkingduology #fantasy #reading #booksta #onedarkwindow #twotwistedcrowns by @thebooksmartpart

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2 years ago

My Malazan set from The Broken Binding is here! The hardcovers of these sets really stole the show for me - especially the third book 😍 The artwork all round really is gorgeous though - the scene on the sprayed edges is going to look epic once the whole set is completed 🤭🤭

#thebrokenbinding #brokenbindingmalazan #malazan #bookhaul #specialedition #specialeditionbooks #fantasy #bookhaul #booksta #shelfie by @thebooksmartpart

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2 years ago

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚 I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN.

This was a very interesting read. This book is about a type of dystopian future in which a group of women have been imprisoned for a number of years and eventually escape (not a spoiler because it happens quite early on). The rest of the book focuses on how the women navigate their lives in a world that has irrevocably changed since they were captured. The story is told from the perspective of a young woman who has spent her whole life in the prison - hence the title.

Harpman created a very unsettling atmosphere in this book. It is by no means a fast-paced book; instead, it focuses on the women and how they survive in what is seemingly a post-apocalyptic world. The writing was very eloquent. The below is just one example of arresting text.

“I knew nothing about him, but I knew nothing about myself, except that, one day, I too would die and that, like him, I would prop myself up and remain upright, looking straight ahead until the last, and, when death triumphed over my gaze, I would be like a proud monument raised with hatred in the face of silence.”

This book is very hard to rate, but ultimately I would have to give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for its skilful depiction of female strength, determination and companionship.

#bookreview #booksta #iwhohaveneverknownmen #litfic #ebook #ereader #kobo by @thebooksmartpart

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3

2 years ago

BOOK HAUL. I have been so MIA lately! Balancing full-time work, reading, having a social life and posting on social media isn’t easy.

The other day my delivery of The Dark Mirror came. How divine is that sprayed edge? I haven’t read the Bone Season series yet, but can’t wait to once the series is complete.

#bookhaul #booksta #fantasy #thebrokenbinding #theboneseason #thedarkmirror by @thebooksmartpart

26

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2 years ago

📚 REVIEW: ON EARTH WE’RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS 📚 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’m struggling with the rating of this one. It’s sitting between a 2 and 3 for me. It started off strong with me marvelling at the beautiful lyrical writing. But I soon realised the author was just THROWING metaphors at this book; ones that were either clumsy, did not make sense at all, or really just said nothing. Examples:

“A page, turning, is a wing lifted with no twin, and therefore no flight. Yet, we are moved” ??? What does this actually mean?

“It was dark enough for my eyes to swallow all of him without ever seeing him clearly. Like eating with the lights off - it still nourished even if you didn’t know where your body ends.”

“I drove my face into him as if into a climate, the autobiography of a season.”

“Yes, the period in the sentence - it’s what makes us human, Ma, I swear. It lets up stop in order to keep going.”

“The first time I saw a man naked, he seemed forever” ???

I understand that metaphors are just that - metaphors. But they need to have a semblance of sense. Sadly the book was filled with these and it ruined the reading experience because it was metaphors for the sake of metaphors. I found myself rolling my eyes by about halfway. However, for every terrible metaphor/line of prose, there were probably 2 or 3 great ones. I do think Vuong can write beautifully, it was just overdone.

Aside from the overly flowery writing, I also feel like the letter to the character’s mother ended with absolutely no resolution. The book had felt like we were building up to some kind of revelation but it just kind of…. finished? I don’t know if that’s necessarily a problem, but I think it would have made the story finish off a lot stronger.

Overall I did enjoy the story and despite what I said above, most of the writing. I understand Vuong has written poetry as well, and I think this book suffered from the author not being able to put their poet pen down and pick their novelist one up.

Borrowed via my local library thru indyreads

#book #bookreview #ebook #ereader #kobo #onearthwerebrieflygorgeous by @thebooksmartpart

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1

2 years ago

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚 THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Two five-star reads in a row?! What is this?! Thoroughly enjoyed this one, which is described by the author as a feminist retelling of St George and the dragon. I loved the main characters in this book (yes, even Roos) and how each of them was very different from the others. The character- and world-building was great, the writing was gorgeous and the amount of research Samantha Shannon put into this novel and world was evident.

This is an 800-page fatty, but I powered through this quite quickly. It never dragged or felt slow. The LGBT representation was purposeful and well executed (no tokenism to be found here!). Looking forward to getting into A Day of Fallen Night

I can see the Roots of Chaos series joining the ranks of LotR in terms of a real fantasy classic in the future. Whyyyy isn’t this series more popular? It’s such an interesting world. For my fellow readers who don’t enjoy smut, this one is also fairly light on it. (Which is probably why it’s not being read as much as other fantasy series. I said what I said!)

Definitely pick this up if you want to read an epic dragon series 🐉 led by strong women characters!

#book #booksta #read #reading #bookreview #fantasy #dragons #rootsofchaos #samanthashannon #theprioryoftheorangetree🍊 by @thebooksmartpart

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14

2 years ago