it's just a box

 

The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove 
Book #1 in The Mapmaker's Trilogy 
Year: 2014
Page Count: 489
Genre: YA fantasy
Warnings: general fantasy violence

Summary: Boston, 1891. Thirteen-year-old Sophia Tims lives with her uncle, cartologer Shadrack Elli, in a world torn to pieces by the Great Disruption of 1799—when all of the continents were mysteriously thrown into different time periods, from the prehistoric era to the fortieth century. Sophia’s parents are explorers. She has not seen them in years, since they went on an expedition and never returned. When Shadrack is kidnapped from their home, Sophia sets out—along with her new friend, Theo—to find him. Their journey takes them across the country. Along with a group of lawabiding pirates, and a wayward botanist and his daughter, they search for Sophia’s uncle, and run for their lives. What they learn—about mapmaking, the changes taking place in the world, and the legends of the land—transforms Sophia forever.

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Rating: 3 ★★★

2017 READING STATS

Books read in 2017

Number of books read: 24 (21 books, 2 plays, 1 graphic novel)

Number of rereads: 1 

Most read genre: Probably coming of age

Male/Female authors: 3 male authors, 20 female authors, 1 genderfluid author

White/Non-White authors: 13 white authors, 11 non-white authors

Oldest: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847)

Newest: Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner (2017)

Longest: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (pp. 624)

Shortest: Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur (pp. 122)


THE QUESTIONS

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Trister's Choice by Tamora Pierce
Book #1 in the Daughter of the Lioness duology, #13 overall in the Tortall series
Year: 2004
Page Count: 453
Genre: YA fantasy
Warnings: slavery, racism, general fantasy violence

Summary: Alianne is the teenage daughter of the famed Alanna, the Lioness of Tortall. Aly is bold and brave like her mother, but she has no wish to become a knight. Instead she longs to follow in her father's footsteps as a spy, an ambition her parents vehemently oppose.

After a furious argument Aly runs away, with disastrous consequences. Captured and sold as a slave in the Copper Isles, she discovers that this whole nightmare has not come about by chance - the Trickster God, Kyprioth, has plans for her...

 

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
Book #1 of The Lumatere Chronicles
Year: 2008
Page Count: 508
Genre: YA High Fantasy
Warnings: slavery, rape, murder/death of children, refugees 

Summary: At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh to save his kingdom. He stands on the rock of the three wonders with his friend Prince Balthazar and Balthazar's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood to safeguard Lumatere.

But all safety is shattered during the five days of the unspeakable, when the king and queen and their children are brutally murdered in the palace. An impostor seizes the throne, a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere's walls, and those who escape are left to roam the land as exiles, dying by the thousands in fever camps.

Ten years later, Finnikin is summoned to another rock--to meet Evanjalin, a young novice with a startling claim: Balthazar, heir to the throne of Lumatere, is alive. This arrogant young woman claims she'll lead Finnikin and his mentor, Sir Topher, to the prince. Instead, her leadership points them perilously toward home. Does Finnikin dare believe that Lumatere might one day rise united? Evanjalin is not what she seems, and the startling truth will test Finnikin's faith not only in her but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

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Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner
Book #5 in The Queen’s Thief series
Year: 2017
Pages: 337
Genre: Fantasy Adventure
Warnings: slavery, fantasy violence, mention of a miscarriage

Summary: Deep within the palace of the Mede emperor, in an alcove off the main room of his master’s apartments,. Kamet minds his master’s business and his own. Carefully keeping the accounts, and his own counsel, Kamet has accumulated a few possessions, a little money stored in the household’s cashbox, and a significant amount of personal power. As a slave, his fate is tied to his master’s. If Nahuseresh’s fortunes improve, so will Kamet’s, and Nahuseresh has been working diligently to promote his fortunes since the debacle in Attolia.

A soldier in the shadows offers escape, but Kamet won’t sacrifice his ambition for a meager and unreliable freedom; not until a whispered warning of poison and murder destroys all of his carefully laid plans. When Kamet flees for his life, he leaves behind everything—his past, his identity, his meticulously crafted defenses—and finds himself woefully unprepared for the journey that lies ahead.

Pursued across rivers, wastelands, salt plains, snowcapped mountains, and storm-tossed seas, Kamet is dead set on regaining control of his future and protecting himself at any cost. Friendships—new and long-forgotten—beckon, lethal enemies circle, secrets accumulate, and the fragile hopes of the little kingdoms of Attolia, Eddis, and Sounis hang in the balance.

( spoilers cause this is the series you can't even google without having spoilers )

Liked: EVERYTHING
Disliked: HOW LONG DO WE WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT BOOK
Rating: 4
 

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Book #1 in the Imperial Radch series
Year: 2013
Page Count: 386
Genre: SF Space Opera
Warnings: general sci-fi violence

Summary: On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest. Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy. Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.

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Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
Year: 2013
Page Count: 304
Genre: YA Paranormal Mystery
Warnings: murder/death of young girls, eating disorders, mention of child abuse

Summary: The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness. 

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

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TL;DR

Liked: the writing, the characters, the themes
Disliked: the murder mystery portion of the plot
Rating: 3.25

What I'm Reading Wednesday (but i forgot and it's actually Thursday now, oops)

What I've Just Finished

Every year I like to give myself a casual challenge of reading 50 books. I don't count things like graphic novels or manga, so I've never really hit that goal but I've come close. However, school tends to consume any energy I'd have for personal reading, so I've only read THREE books this year.

Back in March, I tried to read Fledgling by Octavia Butler. I made it about 100 pages in before deciding to just skim the rest. Essentially, the premise is that a young, black vampire with amnesia tries to figure out why somebody wants her dead. The idea intrigued me but the execution not so much. The book is first pov, so while there's a lot of interesting world-building, it's a book that mostly tells you what the characters are feeling instead of showing. I later found out that Butler had written the book after a long bout of depression, so it was a fun way for her to ease back into the writing process. It turned out to be her final novel.

Those factors are probably why Fledgling wasn't her best work, so I'm still interested in reading her other books.

Oh, and I also downloaded a reading app that's got a bunch of public domain works on it, so I'm slowly working my way through Austen's Sense and Sensibility.

What I'm Reading Now

I bought Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie back in October when a book store in my neighborhood was closing. I've been reading it on and off since then. I've heard great things about this book and its sequels, so I'm hoping to focus on it more once spring semester is over. I've read 80 pages so far and it feels like the exciting stuff is just about to happen!

What I'll Read Next

In my gender studies class, we read a few chapters from bell hooks' Feminism is for Everybody. It's simple definition for feminism reconciled my nebulous ideas on the subject, so I want to read it in full.

I have another casual challenge that I'm imposing on myself and that is to read an author from every letter in the alphabet. Helps when I'm indecisive on what to read next.