It‘s the final week of our #WyrdAndWonder read-along of The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay, with questions set by Mayri of BookForager!
(Please, no spoilers for future books - and beware, every question is a spoiler for book one at this point!)
#WyrdAndWonder day 22: bite size delight
(expect catch up posts for the days I‘ve missed)
Today I‘m featuring Zen Cho‘s gorgeous novella of monks, outlaws and magic - I loved The Order of The Pure Moon Reflected In Water 💕
I‘ll be celebrating another Zen Cho novella on the blog in today‘s Fantastic Five and over on Twitter I‘m giving away a copy of Black Water Sister! (UK only, sorry)
https://twitter.com/imyril/status/1528299628210229248
It‘s week three of our #WyrdAndWonder read-along of The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay! This week we‘re reading Ch9-12 (ALL THE FEELINGS FOLKS) and the discussion prompts have been set by my co-host Ariana of Book Nook Reviews
(As ever, please, no spoilers for future weeks / books - and beware, there are spoilers in the questions!)
#WyrdAndWonder day 15: #ShelfieSunday
What can I say, my mouse friend and I are having a ball reading our way through this epic shelf
#WyrdAndWonder day 14: a book within a book
I love stories featuring storytelling; but I can‘t go past AJ Hackwith‘s Hell‘s Library trilogy for this prompt. A universe of untold stories and characters stepping out of their unwritten pages to save afterlives.
#WyrdAndWonder day 12: step into another‘s shoes
I love reading about epic adventures, but if I‘m going to trade places with fearless protagonists I‘d rather step into the shoes of one of the Camherst girls: Isabella or granddaughter Audrey. You get to study dragons (or the Draconean language), enjoy indoor plumbing and get up the nose of the establishment - sounds right up my street!
#WyrdAndWonder day 11: weapon of choice
I‘m going slightly left field for today‘s prompt with a book named for a weapon that has been on my TBR for far too long (I‘ll get to it, I swear. One day) - Battleaxe by Aussie author Sara Douglass
It‘s week two of our #WyrdAndWonder read-along of The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay! This week we‘re reading Ch7&8 (or Ch6-8 if you‘re me, oops) and the discussion prompts have been set by the lovely team at The Fantasy Hive
(As ever, please, no spoilers for future weeks / books!)
Prompts ⬇️⬇️⬇️
#WyrdAndWonder day 9: #MapMonday some books are so damn fantasy they have a map on the COVER and I bloody love it. Brightfall is Jaime Lee Moyer‘s reimagining of Sherwood as an estranged Marian and Robin are forced to team up to find out why their former merry band are being murdered. Expect Fae and witchcraft and guilty consciences.
#WyrdAndWonder day 8: undergods
…I have a lot of books that focus on dwindling or resurgent deities; Black Water Sister by Zen Cho gets my pick both for its many small gods and just for being a smart, funny delight of a book.
#WyrdAndWonder day 7: say what? Today we‘re talking books featuring fictional languages so I‘m singing the praises of the epic Deverry saga with its languages derived from Celtic and Ancient Greek (and because they‘re all time favourites of mine ❤️)
#WyrdAndWonder day 6: mythic fantasy is the obvious opportunity to talk about the Fionavar trilogy again. Yes, it‘s our readalong, yes, I love it, and omg YES it‘s mythic - both in created mythology and reinvented Norse and Celtic myths. Look, the first book has a full on tree sacrifice in progress, how much more mythic do you need? Sea monsters and flying unicorns and undead gods. Well it‘s got those too 🙃
#WyrdAndWonder day 5: 5 star fantasy read
Time for me to bang the drum for The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri, a glorious epic of magic, ambition, family drama and simmering romance. Gorgeous world building and complex characters in a slow burn fantasy that builds to a blazing finale
#WyrdAndWonder day 4: woodland creatures
You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce is a dark tale of the Fae (or is it), where the woods represent an escape (or do they) from the family dramas of a lonely, imaginative girl. It‘s absolutely brilliant; not least for hewing to it‘s central theme of finding your own truth. And maybe murdering people who deserve it. Maybe.
The lovely @joriestory is hosting an author chat with Jennifer Silverwood this Saturday over on Twitter as part of #SatBookChat and #WyrdAndWonder!
#WyrdAndWonder day 3 is #TropeTuesday and we‘re exploring enchanted woods. I‘m going slightly off piste and choosing the Wilds of Sarn, a forest of mutant vegetation and parasite spirits in The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams.
…and it‘s not too late to sign up to #WyrdAndWonder and enter the competition to win a copy of this magnificent trilogy 😁
Sign up: https://forms.gle/SM7ASGnp9QhbMrqG8
#WyrdAndWonder day 2 is books we #CantWaitToRead - for me it‘s The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison. I need to see dedicated, serious, lonely man Thara Celehar get the hug he deserves.
Catching up on my own challenge - for #WyrdAndWonder day 1 we were sharing our TBR! I‘ve got an eclectic mix of fantasy sub genres lined up (plus The Future God of Love, a fantasy romance novella I‘m currently reading)
Of Charms, Ghosts & Grievances - Aliette de Bodard
Where Oblivion Lives - T Frohock
The Faerie Thorn - Jane Talbot
Silk Fire - Zabé Ellor
The Knave of Secrets - Alex Livingston
The Summer Tree - Guy Gavriel Kay
It‘s week one of our #WyrdAndWonder read along of The Summer Tree! Time to share this week‘s prompts for discussion - feel free to answer as many or as few as you like on your own post (please spoiler tag where needed) and tag with #WyrdAndWonder #TheSummerTreeReadalong!
I‘ll be posting my answers to my blog on Thursday…
⬇️⬇️⬇️ [prompts in comments]
Did I mention the #WyrdAndWonder book bingo? If you think five (or more 🙃) fantasies sounds like the perfect way to spend May it might be a fun way to pick your reads!
More details & text version: https://onemore.org/2022/04/05/even-more-wyrd-and-wonderful/
so-soThis is an intriguing idea - a space opera inspired by the little mermaid, focusing on her quest to save the sick land bound lover she gave everything up for. I quite like Ogden‘s prose, but simultaneously wanted it to be fleshed out as a novel whilst not being sure I had the gumption to read anything longer (but I‘m having A Time and reading is hard right now so that could just be me)
One I can see myself giving a second chance.
What‘s better than one read-along? TWO read-alongs! @deargeekplace is hosting a buddy read of Holly Black‘s faerie forest stand-alone The Darkest Part Of The Forest through May for #WyrdAndWonder
Full details: https://deargeekplace.com/april-showers-of-information-a-wyrd-wonder-update/
We do love a group read during #WyrdAndWonder and this year we have two! I am ringleading a visit to Fionavar with Guy Gavriel Kay‘s mythic portal fantasy The Summer Tree. We‘ll be reading and discussing a few chapters each week through May if you‘d like to join us!
More details: https://onemore.org/2022/04/05/even-more-wyrd-and-wonderful/
bailedSadly Not For Me. Jane Talbot has a knack for traditional fairy tale narratives, but her use of language quickly felt forced and irritating (altho I think it would work fine for me performed / told orally, so maybe consider this as an audio book).
May means #WyrdAndWonder an annual celebration of the fantasy genre across blogs & social media. Each year we set a month long challenge with a prompt a day to inspire reviews, recommendations or pics from your shelf / TBR! You can tackle any prompt, a prompt each day or combine several and make it a tag - it‘s all here for fun.
More info: https://onemore.org/2022/02/05/wyrd-and-wonder-the-fifth/
Sign up: https://forms.gle/SM7ASGnp9QhbMrqG8
#WyrdAndWonder is a month long event each May celebrating the fantasy genre across blogs and social media. We‘ll be sharing reviews, recs, memes, pics, and above all love of our fantasy faves.
To celebrate, I‘m giving away a copy of The Winnowing Flame trilogy by Jen Williams to one lucky winner who signs up to the event and posts during the first week of May.
Want in? More details: https://onemore.org/2022/03/24/wyrd-and-wonder-giveaway/
pickOne of my favourite reads of the year so far: the personal and political collide as a former activist with dangerous secrets finds herself cooped up with the family of a murdered fascist Minister. This dystopian thriller is relentlessly tense, with big themes and a lot of heart; and exquisite writing that evokes the remote mountain forest setting.
Full review: https://onemore.org/2022/04/08/this-is-our-undoing/
I received a free review copy.
pickA great collection of Chinese SF spanning the past 20+ years. Themes include space travel, AI, social change and even zombies(!) - with lots of new-to-me authors.
Thoughts on each story: https://onemore.org/tag/sinopticon/
I‘ve been away from Litsy for a bit so I‘m late in yelling about #WyrdAndWonder - we‘re back this May for another month of celebrating the fantasy genre! Join us to read, chat, watch, game or whatever takes your fancy and share your love of fantasy with a lovely party of likeminded adventurers
More info: https://onemore.org/2022/02/05/wyrd-and-wonder-the-fifth/
Sign up: https://forms.gle/SM7ASGnp9QhbMrqG8
These books. They get me every damn time. Straight into my reader feelings. Aaaaaaaah.
pickI have no cool about this book. It hits differently on a reread but the focus on consequences and showing the Roci crew directly (rather than through Jim) just leaves me with all the feelings every time. Plus the emphasis on our human need to relate to the world by creating narratives; and showing us the narratives these four create to cope.
Epic bookpost this morning - I can‘t wait to sink my teeth into The Carnival of Ash and this cover for Silk Fire has me weak at the knees! Buts what this? Fantasy playing cards for The Knave of Secrets? You bet - there‘s an amazing few months of fantasy heading our way from @RebellionPub 😍
Sunday read: This Is Our Undoing by Lorraine Wilson
I‘m spellbound by this haunting tale of the personal and political colliding (and I could stare at this gorgeous cover all day)
This book is going to destroy me. I‘ve barely started and my heart ACHES (in a good way)
pick…okay, might have found a new favourite sci-fi series. Planetfall wasn‘t what I expected, but I loved its focus on mental health and the ways we trick ourselves and our community into thinking things are okay. Stir in a fascinating story of faith and science in a human colony built on a fragile web of deceit and there was so much going on here to keep me absorbed. Probably won‘t suit lovers of hard SF, but I loved it.
Announcing Wyrd & Wonder 2022 🐺
A month-long celebration of all thing fantasy across blogs, Twitter, Litsy & Instagram during MAY. We talk books, films, music, games, crafts & anything that carries us away to other worlds 🧝♀️
Expect reviews, recs, reading & photo challenges, giveaways, read alongs & more!
Love fantasy? Join us: https://forms.gle/SM7ASGnp9QhbMrqG8
#WyrdAndWonder hosted by @joriestory @imyril @deargeekplace @adancewithbooks
Me, trying not to scream on the train: is… is this a ZOMBIE story from the zombie POV? Eeeeee!
panSo this turned out to be Not For Me in spite of clearly being for me in so many ways. But it got under my skin in the wrong way and all the adorable robots and harmonious world building couldn‘t balance that out. Gah. Still making me irritated just thinking about it.
I‘m really enjoying this collection for the most part but I just ran into the apparently culturally universal wall of NO MEN STOP PLEASE JUST STOP
“He had a moral responsibility towards Shirley: to liberate her beautiful body from the control of machines”
“The wilderness was not known for letting the foolish return.”
It speaks volumes that I‘m low key hoping Dex doesn‘t. But this is Becky Chambers, so I guess they‘ll be fine and will survive to get a bunch more side eye from me.
Bang, straight between the eyes with the first sentence. Yes, yes they do.
pickA fast-paced cyberpunk thriller of hardwired loyalty & corporate conspiracy. Well executed although fairly predictable, altho the broader world-building left me with a lot of questions and the overall package doesn‘t entice me to investigate the sequel. However, that mostly confirms I‘m not currently enjoying near-future dystopian novels or AR/VR worldbuilding. If you do, this is definitely worth a look.
A reliably entertaining interstitial in my favourite urban fantasy series. Unlike Peter, I now know what Abigail did that summer (hilariously, it's not dissimilar to what he was doing, only aided by foxes rather than rivers). Abigail has always been one of my favourite supporting characters, and I'm now even more worried about what she'll do with her prodigious talents when she grows up...
so-soA mosaic novel exploring responses to grief in a terrible pandemic. It‘s full of interesting world building and poignant scenarios, but I found the stories a bit naive and rather repetitive (and I hated the final reveal). Mileage will vary - as a series of studies of grief there‘s lots to admire; I would have preferred fewer but longer (and deeper) stories.
Full review: https://onemore.org/2022/01/15/how-high-we-go-in-the-dark/
pickIt‘s a curious little book, with an unreliable narrator cataloguing a mysterious world. A portal fantasy? A philosophical treatise? A warning against trusting academic magicians? Yes, kind of. I really enjoyed this as an audiobook - I could let Piranesi‘s lists and observations wash over me like his tides until they receded enough for a plot to sweep me under.
pickWhen a popular novelist is presumed dead, her estate passes to her niece and nephew - if they will first submit to hearing her version of the bloodsoaked events that split the family. Expect an unreliable narrator and an ambiguous tale that leaves the reader to decide what truth to embrace.
Not what I expected, but this excellent debut is a particularly disturbing take on fairies and a thorny family history of abuse.
so-soEven a bad Expanse book is still an Expanse book, so take my so-so with a pinch of salt. That said, this is my least favourite of the lot and it doesn‘t improve on a reread where I know the outcomes so don‘t get distracted by the incessant sub-plot-boiling. The show makes almost everything better, leaving the most annoying elements on the cutting room floor (and giving Murtry a more credible motivation).
Oh hell yes I can‘t resist a teasing unreliable narrator with secrets to reveal and stories to spin
so-soThis is fine. And yes, that‘s the half shoulder shrug with a slightly funny expression type of fine. The multi-POV wasn‘t intrusive, but left characters feeling under developed. Plenty happened, but it felt like an origin story… even tho it‘s about retirees. The emotional arcs felt like straight lines, more told than earned. Lots of great ingredients I love, but the final dish just didn‘t get me excited. It‘s not bad, but I didn‘t love it.
Struggling to engage with this so far, putting it down for another time. Mass murder to generate revenge motivations are a really tough sell for me; that‘s why I‘ve put off trying this for so long in the first place. Will give it one more go at some point.
2. Jennifer asks herself “what was her sin, what had she done“ to deserve the TERRIBLE punishment she receives at the hands of Maugrim and his creatures. What are your thoughts and feelings on Jennifer's plight, and how have you made sense of it within the scope of the scope of the story so far? 2y
4. There's been a surfeit of signs, a plethora of portents in this week's reading. Now is the time to air your opinions on such things as flying unicorns, getting lost in the woods, the Cave of the Sleepers, magical Horns and unearthed Cauldrons.
2y
6. Finally, reaction shots on Maugrim the Unraveller - go! 2y