Musings on Alina Starkov from a Fellow Half-Asian

Just like many other YA fantasy book fans, I’ve been eagerly looking forward to the debut of the Netflix adaptation of Shadow and Bone. A few years back, I’d devoured and adored the Six of Crow duology and then, more recently, tore through the original Shadow and Bone trilogy in a single day earlier this year. My excitement doubled once I heard they’d cast a biracial actress in the lead role because it always means a lot to me to see fellow half-Chinese actresses like Jessie Mei Li in lead roles especially when it’s for a big production like this one. The point is… I was ready and eager to consume this show when it dropped on Friday. And for the most part, by the time the credits of the final episode started playing, I really dug most of what the show did and especially adored the brilliant cast but at the same time… oh boy did their handling of Alina being mixed race make me feel a lot of things in my hapa heart. And not all of them were good.

Top 7 Reasons You Should Read Bonds of Brass RIGHT NOW

Happy Bonds of Brass Day!!! If you follow me on Twitter or if you read the previous post here, you likely know that I loved the heck out of Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie. Having read the author’s previous novel, Hullmetal Girls, I was immediately intrigued about this book just based upon the initial description from Del Rey and had been anticipating it ever since. I was lucky enough to get an advance review copy of the book back in September and have been screaming about it to anyone who will listen since then. (I’d apologize to my friends who had to hear me flail about it a dozen times but I’m not actually sorry.)

Listen: sometimes, what you really need in your life is a book that makes you yell a lot and that makes your heart happy and Bonds of Brass makes my heart very, very happy.

Since I love this book so much, it seemed appropriate that I write something about it for today. Could I write an actual review? Sure but what would be the fun in that? Therefore, I present (in no particular order) my Top 7 Reasons you should pick up this book TODAY!

2020 Books You Should Read Or Pre-Order RIGHT NOW

Is the world a mess right now? Yup. Are a lot of us about to have more time in our hands? Also yup. Should we use at least some of that time to read new books and support indie bookstores? HELL TO THE YUP.

(I have had a lot of caffeine and I always have a lot of feelings about books.)

I am admittedly not quite as good as I should be about writing actual reviews of the books that I love unless they’re Star Wars which is bad because there are so many good books out there! With everything happening, a lot of authors and independent bookstores are going to be hurting for a bit so I thought the least I could do was tell you about some of the books being released in the first half of this year that I’ve either read and loved OR that I’m excited for. To make it even easier, I’m putting order links by each title. One is so you can buy them directly through One More Page which is an indie bookstore near me in the DC area that I love with all of my heart. The other is for IndieBound which lets you either support the entire network of indie stores OR sends you to the website for a store near you based on your zip code.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE

Okay on to the books starting with…

2020 Releases I Read And Loved!!!

I Went To Galaxy’s Edge And Cried

More specifically…… I went to Galaxy’s Edge and cried twice before even getting into Batuu itself and then I cried probably three more times after stepping foot into Batuu. Listen: it was a very emotional day, okay?

I turned 30 earlier this month and basically spent the entirety of 2019 freaking out about it and my solution to that freak out was to plan a trip to Disney World with a bunch of friends and to try to ignore the landmark birthday by being a Star War. It ended up being one of the best weeks of my life.

Reflections on 2019

In 2019, I played Dragon Age. Like…. a lot.

That’s it. That’s the post.

(That’s not the post.)

The Books I Read This Month When I Should Have Been Writing

There’s a lot of things I should have been doing this month. Probably. Instead, I’ve been participating in the grand tradition known as NaNoWriMo in which writers around the world furious write as many words as they can for a novel with the goal being 50k. Or, if you’re absurd like me, you aim to go well past 50k and write the entire damn novel in the month and slowly lose your sanity with each passing day.

I really miss video games, y’all.

(That is partially a lie. I’ve still been taking occasional Dragon Age Inquisition breaks. Don’t judge me.)

The point is: I should have been just focused on writing this month and yet! My to read piles have continued to grow to the point where I fear they may soon become sentient. So yes. That means I’ve also been reading while trying to write. Sleep has been sacrificed. Because I don’t want to sacrifice any more sleep, I’m trying something new here and just write up some quick thoughts on some of the recently published/forthcoming books that are in my review piles.

What, you might ask, was in that pile? The Never Tilting World, The Vine Witch, and Anyone.

Review: Angel Mage by Garth Nix

First, a confession: Garth Nix is one of those authors whose books had a fundamental impact on my childhood. The library’s copy of Sabriel was usually checked out to me because I read and reread it so often. I say this because it’s only fair for you to know upfront that I shrieked with glee when I opened the box and saw his new book, Angel Mage, waiting for me to devour. In other words… I might be a little biased but I really did enjoy this latest offering.

It has been 137 years since the Fall of Ystara. Liliath, a powerful mage, has finally remerged from her unnaturally long slumber with one singular goal still in mind: be reunited with her angel lover, the archangel Pallenial. In the neighboring kingdom of Sarance live four seemingly unconnected young men and women who find themselves drawn together and then drawn into a conflict bigger than any of them could possibly imagine possible. It’s all part of Liliath’s plan…

Age of the Time of My Life

Do you know how sometimes you get an email and you have to read it a few times before it really sinks in because it can’t possibly be saying what you think it’s saying except it is? I got one of those last November. It ultimately resulted in this:

Maker’s Breath, I Did Not Sign Up For These Cullen Rutherford Feelings Except It’s BioWare So I Guess I Kinda Did

Before I started playing Dragon Age Inquisition, I made one firm declaration to a friend. “I don’t care what our friends say but I am NOT romancing Cullen in this game. I’ve already romanced two blond white guys in this series and this one is a Templar and I STILL haven’t forgiven him for what he did in Origins. Jerk.” Romance aside, I was dead set on continuing to not like him even though the game clearly wanted me to. My Inquisitor may have been meeting him for the first time but I wasn’t and I was not about to forget his whole “kill all of the mages!” request to the Warden or his “Mages cannot be treated like people. They are not like you and I” line to Hawke because HOW DARE–

*takes a deep breath* *sets down the homemade FUCK THE TEMPLARS sign*

Review: Shatter the Sky

Woman of color protagonist! Dragons! Queer Girls!

These are just a few of the reasons why I totally dug Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells, a rad new young adult fantasy novel available from your preferred bookseller starting today.

When the Aurati arrive in Ilvera and forcibly take Kaia away to join their ranks, Maren is heartbroken. Kaia was her girlfriend, her heartmate, and she can’t imagine life without her so she hatches a plan to get her back. It’s an absurd one to say the least but Kaia is worth trying to steal a dragon if that’s what it’ll take to save her. All of this is set against the backdrop of a world with a less than kind emperor and a prophecy about a lost prince. Maren may be on a quest for her love but she’s about to find herself swept into a far larger struggle, whether she wants to be or not.