Midu Reads

Went to watch Cindy and caught this instead. Loved the dystopic horrifying ambiance!

"No male author has to state why he puts sexual assault in their books, when typically it is more gruesomely written, more descriptive, and very much gives off an odd feeling that the only way to cause a female character grief is for them to go through this specific type of trauma."

Like the previous books in this series, this installment takes the reader on a wild ride. Of course, the name of the book is a dead giveaway when it comes to the plot.

But the rest is an action-packed blur where Artemis — a boy thief with a girl’s name — learns to accept that he has friends who might need his help — regardless of his previously mercenary leanings.

There is humor and there are lessons to be learned along the way.

The next book in the series is calling my name.

The story within the story is that of the girl, Keturah, who meets Death in the woods. Much like the classic, One Thousand and One Nights, she begins telling him a story so he would spare her life. But she leaves off the ending and promises to tell it the very next day. Things happen and Death relents a bit each day, which is how she manages to stay alive. 

So, this might have been more of a romance than anything else. But I liked it for the beautiful language. It had a lyrical quality to it. 

Examples:

The ending was very much expected — Death gets the girl — but I wouldn’t have liked it any other way. Maybe I should try out the other books by this author. What do you think?

This one was part of the Death Personified shelf-full of novels that I downloaded once upon a time. And I am so glad I did. It had flavors of Pratchett and Douglas Adams that made me laugh out loud. The goldfish had a surprisingly big part to play in the grand scheme of things. And the poor Devil was so put upon by God and Death both. 

Like all novels involving the Devil, this one too started when he hatched a plot to take over the world. Pity that things didn’t go as well as he’d thought they would.

A funny

 

Another single novel by the author. Yum!

 

A series with a hirsute teenager that I can read? Count me in!

The world-building in this novel is good for a first novel. I also liked that the protagonist is a different kind of witch, i.e., she raises shades from dead bodies so she can solve murders. The whole part about raising one so it could give her testimony in court was fabulous and tastefully done.

What I don’t like is the main character. I don’t know I find her annoying. Again, I think I would have enjoyed this book more had I read it a few years ago.

A funny line.

Since there was a cliffhanger, I will try the next book in the series.

In which Death decides to take an apprentice and introduces us to his adopted daughter. There is a wizard who isn’t very good at being a wizard — no, not Rincewind, the other one — and a princess who is dead but is very much alive. Hilarity and beautiful language are the two trademarks of all Pratchetty novels and this one was no different.

YA. Dystopian. A boy and a girl meet in trying circumstances and don’t trust each other. The girl is too cool and the guy has a chequered past. There are extremely bad guys out to get them. Sounds like it has all been done before. Right? Wrong! 

The way this author tells the story made it different. For instance, the guy isn’t a teenager who has no clue how to survive when we meet him and then suddenly becomes G.I.Joe. He is already tough and out of fucks. Secondly, he doesn’t fall for the girl just because she is pretty. But because he has a debt to pay.

I liked the violent world that we are thrown in right from the start. But what I would have loved is to be told more about how it came to be like this. Maybe we find that out in the upcoming books?

I found only one typo, so that’s something.

I really liked this one but rated it just 2 stars because of how the heroine irritated me. She kicked ass but kept wallowing in self-doubt about how no one could ever love her. All the time, I was like, have you seen yourself? You survived “the basement” — she was tortured by her boss for three months in every way while unable to resist because of a compulsion he had placed upon her. I understood her rage and I understood how powerlessness she might have felt. But that feeling of not being good enough hadn’t been developed there in the dark. She had felt that way even before the trauma. Why? Just because the author thought she needed to be feminized for the hero to love her? I dunno; it just didn’t sit right with me. 

Another thing that irked me was how the lead couple kept rehashing the same conversation in every scene where it was just the two of them. Ugh boring!

I loved that the author showed us that self-preservation can make us selfish or doesn’t stop us from being jealous of the ones we love. For instance, the protag’s sister loved her but didn’t try to hard to undo the blood binding because that would mean facing that hell on her own. Similarly, the protag was jealous of the relationship that her sister had because she had never had one of her own. It didn’t make her become a bitch or anything but acknowledging that made me like her more.

Review of a book from another Vincent series

They say this one sucks the most. Do I dare?

This was a beautiful book with a cute message that tells us to be approachable if we want people to communicate with us. It is a guy who is a photographer, is hearing challenged, and has bet his editor that he can go for a certain time without anybody talking to him. A girl begins to show up in every picture he takes though and things begin to change.

I have shared some of my favorite bits from the book below:

Annika hails from an island only inhabited by women. Due to their homosexuality, they hide themselves away from the world and encourage myths to keep people away. When she comes across a scientist who is going to study that island, she must keep him away. Failing to do so and falling in love with him, Annika must minimize the damage and exposure his presence threatens. She left her home to look for her sister, Kalla, who was ousted by the elders when she took the blame for something Annika had done.

I like the relationship between the protagonists because none of them took the other for granted. They proved themselves to each other and worked together as a team when trouble came calling. Could have done without the gazillion sex scenes, but that’s just me.

What I didn’t like was the final reveal about Kalla’s whereabouts after all those years. Annika spent the world looking for her and she had been next door all this time? She claims she was protecting a megalomaniac from exposing their people. Okay, but she couldn’t have sent a missive or something to let her family know that she was still alive and well? How believable is that anyway?