Welcome to Litsy!

📚📚📚This took 8.5 days to read 😕 The language is beautiful and is crafted well but the author uses 3rd person omniscient tense and randomly switches to 1st person present in the middle of paragraphs so you‘re being TOLD everything & suddenly jarred into a character speaking. Based off Shakespeare beat for beat, POC & LGBTQIA+ rep. Could‘ve been half as long, no protagonist to root for, magic system confusing a bit. Good but not a fave.

@mitch Thank you soo much! The books sound great!
The kid woke me up at 6am today, opening your package was a splash of joy and sunlight (through still sleepy eyes) 😍
#litsylovesummerswap
@bookgoil @rsteve388

#TBRPile 📚 “It begins when a wizard cleaves an island from the mainland, because the king destroyed her temple.”

A great spin on the tale of King Lear. Fantastically complex and developed characters. There's certain characters I'd have liked different endings for but it made it no difference to my enjoyment of the book .

10/26-10/30
Fiction: Each character has their own story to tell and their own lesson to teach others. They teach us to be better people, and how we can improve on what we already have. The sisters are all different but they all teach us kindness and to be our best selves. The Fox teaches us to be brave and strong no matter what happens. Morimaros, king of Aremoria teaches us to be powerful and to not be a wimp.

10/13-10/16
Fiction: There is a lot of meaning in the book, to not give up, do your best, and fight for what you believe. This book helped me discover that I should never give up on something if I truly believe in it, we should always continue to fight for what we think is right. This book opens imagination, for us to see that some things might not happen, that means we have to make them happen, by doing the right thing/ making the right choices.

09/28-10/2
Fiction: There is no connection between my life/ own experiences and this book. In this book there are a lot of things that I can‘t relate to, like the conflicts or the struggles that the characters face. If I have to pick the character that is a lot like my personality it would be Gaela. (eldest daughter and she is a warrior) She likes to prove things to others and that is her lifestyle (proving others that she can or is right).

Genres: High fantasy, Fantasy Fiction
start/end: Oct. 5th- Nov. 20th
Summary: The Queens of Innis Lear tells the story of the Innis Lear kingdom, its king, Lear, and his three daughters: Gaela, Reagan, and Elia, as the crown passes from father to daughter, leading the players and the kingdom to the verge of war.

The ending is easy to spot but the character development is on point.

Just finished this up. It was really good, but also possibly too long. I enjoyed reading it but at times felt like I was making no progress in it...😬

Would probably recommend to people who enjoy Game of Thrones. It has the same style plot with intricate character relationships and deceit, on a smaller scale.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Good but felt really loooong

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2322279785?book_show_action=false&from_rev...

Fantasy reimagining of King Lear? Yes please. Also this cover is gooooorgeous

I‘m 200 pages into THE QUEENS OF INNIS LEAR, and I don‘t DISLIKE it but I‘ve gotta take a break that might turn into abandonment. While I‘ve enjoyed Gratton‘s writing before, this one feels dense in a way that won‘t let enough characterization through.

The pacing, too, reminds me a bit of UPROOTED by Naomi Novik and a bit of SPINDLE‘S END by Robin McKinley. I enjoyed UPROOTED, with reservations; I still regret the time I spent on SPINDLE‘S END.

Breakfast with THE QUEENS OF INNIS LEAR. I read OATHBRINGER so intensely for so long that it feels weird to be reading something else, and I‘m not sure I‘m in the right mood for this particular follow-up. I‘ll give it 50 pages, then decide if I might do better to try again another time.

This book was fantastic! It was well crafted and full of rich characters. The references to the original King Lear were wonderful, and it was so beautifully written. As always, I was craving more details from the history and mythology of this magical island. The pacing was great and it was very dramatic at all the right moments. The characters were so dynamic and full of unique and layered personalities. Fully recommend!

Some evening reading! So happy the sun is out for so long!

A slow, fantastical retelling of King Lear - but with focus on the daughters. Told through multiple perspectives, Tessa Gratton weaves a beautiful world with her magical writing.
But the book had some issues, including pacing. Nevertheless, I really liked the writing style. It's definitely one of the better retellings I recently read.

A retelling if King Lear focused on his daughters. It had a lot of game of thrones vibes which I loved but also kept me comparing the writing which did harm the reading a bit. It was a slow start but eventually the story sucked me in, I feel like it was one I would‘ve enjoyed more if I had read King Lear but I also liked the surprise of going in blind. Definitely suggest if looking for a nice, one-off fantasy novel.

Somehow I manage to resist and only check out two books at a time from the library...

My first DNF of 2019. The fantastic writing couldn't save the watching paint dry feel of this.

I woke up early enough to catch this beautiful sunrise and have a coffee before the chaos of the day begins.

On Part Four and this Lear retelling is dragging a bit. Desire to move from this spot: none detected.

Christmas night reading with my partner in crime. #mojiemoje My hubs got the Christmas plague and has been in bed all day so we had to postpone our celebrations.

Enjoying a little quiet time with my book and fuzzy blanket this morning. 😍

Saturday nights in December be like...

I‘ve been too busy and now have a Saturday morning to chill out and drink coffee and read. I should be absorbed and instead I‘m faintly restless because I want to read like five books at the same time. Does anyone else feel this way?

I can‘t seem to get started today. It‘s glorious that my parents have taken the Monster Squad for the day so I can rest up.

1. Surprise mid-week wine! 2. Not a holiday weekend in Canada. Happy Thanksgiving, American friends! 3. I‘m heading out of town for a conference - solo hotel room!!!! 4. May #catsofLitsy 5. #chunkster fantasy retelling of King Lear

I haven‘t read in two days. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Is it wise to start this Shakespeare inspired fantasy at nearly midnight?

Nice writing but very slow pace. Shakespeare inspired fantasy with rival sisters fighting for a crown. I liked that the sisters weren‘t simpering maidens, but were portrayed as being as intelligent, ruthless, cunning, bloodthirsty, and ambitious as any man. No spoilers, but I‘m glad it ended as it did, chosen queen and all.

Impulse purchase #bookhaul - a Shakespearean inspired fantasy. #summerreadingchoices !

Whilst full of mystique and lush descriptions of the wild country, the pace of the story is agonisingly slow, with characters that are very difficult to warm to. By sticking so closely to the tale of Lear, there are many interesting characters that simply get abandoned or under utilised. For all the effort it took to read it, disappointed with the ending and the underwhelming character development.

Went to see King Lear at Shakespeare in the Park tonight! Shakespeare in the Park is one of my favorite things about summer; my city does a tragedy for the first few weeks and then a comedy for the end of the summer. It wasn't my favorite Shakespeare play, but I did enjoy it, and now that I've seen the play I can read the tagged book, which is supposed to be a feminist fantasy retelling of King Lear 👑

So I gave up on the audio book. 26 hours just wasn't going to happen. But I'm reading it in print now, and I'm so excited!

I did not realize when I borrowed this from the library that it was so long. Now I have to figure out how to make time for it! Most of the books I listen to are max 12 hours!

The writing is truly remarkable; I think possibly the most beautiful writing I have read in years, maybe EVER. Just amazing. The magic system is interesting, the characters fabulously fleshed out and with great character arcs, and the two things that I usually dislike — multiple POV and flashbacks — so well-executed that the story takes shape organically and (seemingly) effortlessly. Heartbreaking but also empowering, and incredibly beautiful.

Starting this beauty, and I‘m so excited! This is one of my most anticipated releases of the year 😍

Look what I just received!!! 😍 it‘s so gorgeous 😍😍😍😍
I‘m really excited because hardcover books are so expensive here, but because I pre-ordered it, I got it at exactly cover price, which is CHEAP for imported books!! This would have normally costed me 50-70% more if I had bought it in house after the publishing date!! LOVE it.
Now I‘m just wondering if I should maybe read King Lear first, before tackling this... what say you?

#Audiobook #Review: The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton. This audiobook is a monster at nearly 26.5 hours, and I couldn't make it to hour 12.⠀
⠀
https://bambi-unbridled.blogspot.com/2018/05/audiobook-review-queens-of-innis-le...

#bookbloggers #reading #fantasy #bookreview

What a book.... I was 3/4 in before realizing it was a retelling of 👑 Lear ... that's how good this was - I didn't even think for one moment that it could have been anything else but an amazing world where this POC cast of characters must thrive in a bleak world

Kudos Gratton! Kudos!!

April book haul! I really need to chill out on book purchases in May in preparation for #bookcon 😂

I got this book in my @beaconbookbox and I can't wait to read it!

A BIG CONGRATS to @BookaholicNatty on your MASSIVE milestone of 25K Litfluence! 🙀👏👏👏👏

Thank you for the #Nattys25KGiveaway - here are (just) 3 books sitting high at the top of my TBR, only a bit coincidencentally color-coordinated:

📚 The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
📚 Blood Week
📚 The Queens of Innis Lear

And I‘m going to tag @crazycatlady @Alicia and @Gissy 😻❤️
Thanks, Natalie! ❤️❤️❤️😽

These sisters are badass and I‘m so happy for the weekend and being able to sink into this book completely. #ARC #NetGalley