September Wrap-Up

    Hey y'all, it's that time of the month again!  September was a great month of reading for me and I'm honestly surprised by how much I've grown as a reader just in the last few months.  I used to read all the time for hours like this when I was younger and stopped sometime during middle school, so this experience is sort of like reliving my lost childhood, but not really.  Anyway, I read a total of 8 books this month, which is pretty impressive if I do say so myself.  I'm hoping to get my reading goals up to about 10 books a month, but with school looming over my head, I think 8 is the highest I'll see for awhile.  That being said, let's get the reviewing under way.

    The Darkest Minds: As I was trying to break up my fantasy book haul with other genres, I looked for a dystopian book that would catch my interests and this one did not disappoint.  Taking place in a society where most children die before the age of 9 and those who survive are cursed with weird powers, Darkest Minds follows a teenager named Ruby as she's cast aside by her family and sent to a prison camp for children with special abilities.  She escapes only to run into other teens like herself, graced with powerful abilities, and attempts to learn how to control hers.  I thought the most interesting part of this book was the character development throughout the story.  I didn't sense a lot of world building going on, seeing as they are technically located within the United States, West Virginia and the surrounding states to be exact.  The book also started off a little slow for me and I was initially confused with the point of view before she came to Thurmond, (the prison camp).  I enjoyed the book much more after she joins her friends.  There were some dark moments in this book that I wasn't expecting, but should have expected due to the apocalyptic, dystopian nature of this book.  I enjoyed this book, so I think I will continue with the series and see where it takes me.  I gave it 4 out f 5 stars.

    Red Queen:  This book also started off slow for me, but I enjoyed the second half much more than I had originally anticipated.  Red Queen is about a poor peasant girl living in the slums of a world ruled by silver-blooded elite who possess powers beyond those of mortal comprehension.  She is thrust into their world by chance and discovers she is a red-blooded girl with powers stronger than her silver-blooded counterparts.  This book picked up quickly after she is found out by the higher powers.  I enjoyed the pace of this book as well as the characters interacting with each other and the mischief they manage throughout the court atmosphere.  There's a lot of emotion in this book, so I'm hoping that they are making a second because I'd like to see what happens next.  I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars as well.

    The Queen of the Tearling:  I honestly expected to hate this book.  All the reviews I've read about it portray it as more of a political intrigue sort of book and not an action-packed adventure book.  They were partially correct.  I didn't love or hate this book, but I'm intrigued enough to attempt to read the second book, which just came out.  The Queen of the Tearling follows a young princess named Kelsea as she's escorted from the foster home she's known her whole life and into the bowels of her kingdom, inherited from her dead mother.  There's not a whole lot going on in this book.  The writing was decent, but there's not even a lot of political nonsense, let alone action.  We basically read about how she gets to her kingdom, how she begins her reign and how she deals with rebellion.  Mainly she talks to her Queen's Guard a lot.  There were some portions of the story with action involved and I loved the parts of the story that involved The Fetch, who is by far my favorite character so far.  Kelsea seemed pretty boring to me until the middle of the book.  The scenery and description I thought was great as well.  This book is very reminiscent of the Arya Stark/Hound story of Game of Thrones.  It didn't wow me, but I'm willing to try the sequel and see if it's better.  I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars.

(goodreads.com)

    Cruel Beauty:  I read this book hoping to quell my thirst for Beauty and the Beast stories and ACOTAR.  I ended up getting ACOTAR again anyway and re-reading it in 24 hours, but this story was decent as a retelling.  This book revolves around a girl named Nyx who has been betrothed to the Gentle Lord of her land since she was born because of a bargain her father made.  I didn't particularly care for the first part of the book, but it picked up after she gets to the castle.  Her main goal, because she can't escape her fate, is to seduce and kill this lord and save her people from a curse he inflicted on their lands.  However, once inside his castle, she is intrigued by him enough that her guard falls and she ends up loving him.  There is a lot more going on in this book than the surface tells you.  A lot of mystery, but also a lot of confusion.  There's a heavy influence of Greek mythology, which I didn't really understand.  There were also mentions of a "time before," which usually indicates a regressed society, but I'm not sure with this book.  There's no real action to speak of, but the two male characters are great.  I could have cared less about Nyx actually; she bored me at times and was way too loose with her mouth.  Ignifex is the best character, having a complex relationship with Nyx as well as himself.  Lots of bi-polar tendencies going on around here.  I gave this one a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

(goodreads.com)

    Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, and Queen of Shadows:  Yes, I read all of these PLUS The Assassin's Blade in the month of September.  I am OBSESSED with this series, to put it lightly.  I started with Crown of Midnight, which had lots of mystery, romance, suspense and action to propel the story.  I loved the chemistry between Chaol and Celaena, until it SHATTERED INTO A MILLION PIECES.  Poor Chaol...  I honestly felt bad for him, but I also felt bad for Celaena.  So much death!  There was a lot going on here and we finally know about Celaena's heritage.  I'm glad Chaol sent her away though, because she meets the immaculate Rowan in Heir of Fire, which was a great read!  It felt more like a middle novel than a third book, because of the change of scenery, which was still flawlessly rendered by Maas.  I felt bad for Celaena more in this book than any other and I did want to kill Rowan in the beginning for treating her so badly.  I also found Celaena to be really annoying for the first half of this book.  I thought the character development in this book exceeded any before it and we get to see sides of both characters that we haven't seen yet.  This was a very GOT style book.  By the end, I was in love with Rowan, (and so was Celaena), but DORIAN!!!!:(  That ending literally broke my heart.  When Aelin returns to Riftfold in Queen of Shadows, everything has changed, including her name.  This book was by far my favorite so far in this series.  I purchased it outright and read it twice!  ROWAN IS EVERYTHING.  I'm totally shipping that for real.  I also loved the revenge aspect of this book and the new characters introduced.  The only thing I didn't like was that Chaol was a raging douche almost the entire time.  I didn't like that he just got angry and refused to be nice at all.  I liked the progression of the Dorian and new Manon story lines intertwined with the actual story line.  The sexual tension in this book had me like whoa.  Hopefully that's resolved by the next book, in like a year, (oh God, I have to wait so long...).  I obviously gave all three of these books 5 stars because they are my life force.

    The Assassin's Blade:  This book was a tad different than the others.  I guess you're supposed to read this one before Heir of Fire, but I read it after Queen of Shadows, which I still found beneficial, especially since I read Queen of Shadows twice.  This book includes 5 novellas taking place during Celaena's life before she is broken out of Endovier by Prince Dorian.  I loved reading about the different adventures she went on and SAM CORTLAND OMG.  I have never felt more reluctant to read something, knowing what was going to happen to poor Sam.  It didn't make it easier, but I was envisioning something more grotesque and in-your-face.  I'm glad it wasn't detailed, but it still seemed pretty abrupt, especially since you knew what was going to happen anyway.  You understand so much more about her life after reading this book.  It's definitely worth the time and effort.  I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

    Those were all the books I managed to cram into the month of September.  Thursday I'll be going over my October tentative TBR list, (because I may read more than I anticipate, judging by this month).  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Nerd Alert!

    Howdy y'all!  I apologize for being MIA last Thursday, but I honestly couldn't think of anything to write about and I didn't want to type out filler just because it was Thursday, so I spared you all that grief, (you're welcome).  It's hard to come up with content sometimes, so some days you just have to say "screw it" and wait until something comes to you, as all great writers have done.  Regardless of my brain fart last week, I'm coming to you this week with some great news!

    First of all, unrelated to the main point of this post, I have recently come into what normal people would call a "paycheck," so I used that to get me the newly released and gorgeous Queen of Shadows by the lovely and talented Sarah J. Maas.  I bought it yesterday while I was still in the middle of the third book, Heir of Fire, but I thought, "What the heck, why not?"  So here I am, already a quarter of the way through it because I JUST CANNOT STOP.  The fandom is real people.  So, as you might have already guessed, I'll be adding Queen of Shadows to my already impressive list of September books to wrap up in a few weeks.  I feel like I've read so much this month and it's only the fifteenth...  Keep that in mind, because I may very well add more to my TBR list if I keep this pace up.

    The main reason we're here today is for another installment of Nerd Alert, where I talk about something nerdy and relevant to not only my life, but hopefully yours as well.  Last week some information dropped out of Nintendo that had me literally crying with happiness and I've come to share that with you, (if you live under a rock and haven't heard or don't care, there's something wrong with you).  Pokemon Go is happening and all my elementary school dreams have come true.

(www.vg247.com)

    A little history for you regarding me and my love for Pokemon: it all started when I was eight years old and 1998 was a good time to be alive.  My younger sister and I started collecting and playing with the cards that were released in droves like a parasite, seeping into our daily lives and our friendships at school as well.  It was nothing like it is today, where kids will play dirty, steal cards from others and cheat until they get their way.  Parents, school officials and guidance counselors have gotten involved with some of the nasty things kids will do to protect their cards these days.  1998 was a simpler time, where kids enjoyed playing and battling with each other without the risk of espionage.  So after awhile, my sister and I also received our first taste of the Game Boy system, and what a world that was.  It was so new and exciting that I was consumed by it, playing any time I could, connecting with my friends at school, after school and at home through a link cable, (you know, when we didn't have wireless connectivity everywhere?)  I loved the Pokemon games more than the cards, and thus began my love affair with the pocket monsters.

(DSHikarudesign.blogspot.com)

    I still have my Pokemon Blue version for my Game Boy Pocket, which is green and only displays in black and grey, (NO color until I got my Game Boy Color, obviously).  I took a hiatus from playing because I was too cool for that in high school or something and re-introduced myself to Pokemon two years ago, when I bought myself a Nintendo 3DS with some of my Christmas money, (because I'm an adult), along with the new Pokemon X game.  I hadn't played since I got my Game Boy Advance years ago, so this 3DS was new to me.  Once I got used to it, I could really see the similarities to the older games.  Little did I know Pokemon would evolve again into something none of us could've fathomed at eight years old.

    I saw the trailer for Pokemon Go at work, actually, through a kind customer who had the decency to show me.  I was entranced, the nostalgia flowing freely through me, as I beheld the glorious footage.  I will link the video below so you can all watch and be amazed!

    Little is known about this system or how it will work.  I've read a lot about similar types of games or apps that failed because the desire or technology wasn't enough.  This time I think they will be able to grab people with the sheer magnitude of what this could become for gamers and/or Pokemon enthusiasts, both young and old.  The game seems to be based around GPS coordinates guiding people through their phones or a small watch-like Poke ball accessory towards various types of Pokemon in the real world.  If you've played Pokemon before, or even watched the show on TV or played the card game, you'll know how incredible this would be if it worked well.  The trailer also implies that you'll be able to trade and battle with friends and also battle wild Pokemon.  Although the game is being released sometime next year, there still isn't enough information out about this game.  We'll have to wait and see what Nintendo has in store for us, but regardless of how it works, I'm definitely on board with this.

(www.polygon.com)

    So what do you think?  Do you like Pokemon, or did you used to when you were little?  What is your favorite Pokemon?  Were you more of a card player or Game Boy addict?  Would you get this app for your phone when it comes out? (maybe I'll do a review of it!)  What would you like to know more about the Pokemon Go app?  Let's discuss in the comments below.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

(bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net)