#YAFantasy

[reverie-quotes]

Men often described the girl as having hair the color of wheat. Others called it the color of caramel, or occasionally the color of honey. The girl wondered why men so often used food to describe women's features. There was a hunger to such men that was best avoided.

— Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

[chaoticallymuse]

Jude Duarte : The Queen of Monsters

"And if the serpent grows in monstrousness and corruption, if it poisons the land of Elfhame itself, then let me be the queen of monsters. Let me be feared and never again afraid. Let me have everything I ever wanted, everything I ever dreamed, and eternal misery along with it. Let me live on with an ice shard through my heart."

- Queen of Nothing, Holly Black

"Among the monsters, I am well hidden; who looks for a leaf in a forest?"

- Night at a Circus, Angela Carter

"The world does not repays me for my heavenly sins, so I relish in my throne of lies, for what is lie if not the truth concealed."

[thereaderbee]

📚 Do you have any interesting reading habits?? And, what are you reading this weekend?? Happy Friday, Bookworms! The weekend is finally here. Do you have any fun reading plans this weekend? What will you be reading?? 💕 I am hoping to finish up a*Gilded* this weekend, but I’m not sure what I want to start after that. I have way too many options to choose from. 😅 What are you reading this weekend?? And do you have any interesting reading habits? I have a few… One is that I’ve made reading a priority recently, and try to read at least an hour a day. I’m currently on a 34 day reading streak, so that seems to be working for me. I also try to have reading material with me at all times so I can read whenever I get a free moment. And I’ve been logging all my reading stats and books with Bookly and Goodreads. It’s all very organized. 🤣 I Ah at reading habits do you have?? 📚 📖 📚 📖 📚 📖 #AlltheBooksMar23 #MyFictionalMusings #CourtofReadingMar23 #ReadingintheWeb 📚 📖 📚 📖 📚 📖 #bookstack #bookpile #prettybooks #shelfie #bookshelf #books #reading #fantasybooks #yafantasy #yabooks #bookstagram #booknerd #booklover #ilovebooks #booksaremagic #bookcommunity #bookphoto #booksofinstagram #igreads #currentlyreading #bookaesthetic #readinghabits #fridayreads #weekendreading #tbr #cozyreading https://www.instagram.com/p/CpU0LnIOP0C/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[flamingtunapictures]

Throne of Glass - Series Review

tl:dr - A true-to-genre series that delivers no ground breaking concepts but provides a marathon of enjoyable mental cardio

I recently finished reading the Throne of Glass series per a recommendation from a friend. I listened to the first 4 books and then read the remaining 4. Tower of Dawn was my favorite book from the series purely for Hasar’s line in how “she needed a fatter ass for her lover to grab at night.” I will not expand. My favorite character was probably Lysandra because of her vicious competency and unexpected plot relevance and relationship-dynamic change.

The story felt well paced with enough intrigue to keep me reading (even in the face of great irritation at the voice stylings of the audio-book*). It continuously delivered on action and visceral drama and climaxed with a satisfying conclusion to the epic 5000 page tale. The characters and world were robust and communicated effectively, albeit not entirely original. 

This is probably my greatest criticism of the series. Throne of Glass digs its heels hard into almost every trope in the YA fantasy repertoire, with a few of the author’s personal favorites becoming very apparent with how often they were used (enemies-to-lovers in some form or another applied to well over 70% of the main romances in this series). There was everything from the impossibly beautiful, dark, mysterious and deadly protagonist (whomst every man falls in love with, is near-never outsmarted, and always has a lifetime of trauma before the age of 17 including murdered parents and abuse by whipping. Why is it always whipping?); relatively generic magic systems of bursting elements; main characters “discovering” their magic for the first time then becoming immediately competent and disproportionately powerful; larger-than-life dark lords; threats of worlds plunging into darkness; prophecies; a pantheon of (revealed to be false) gods; and a generic Christmas reskin, are just a few of the additional tropes ToG employs. Most importantly however, we mustn’t leave out how almost every character significance is beautiful beyond reason, hot, sexy, incredibly competent, and always outfitted with either the most alluring curves, or hardest muscle known to the genre. Oh, and why is that fantasy heroines are always sluts for chocolate? What is that?

The heavy presence and soon-forged expectation of these tropes allowed me to skim guiltlessly over large swaths of the story, as I already knew the gist of most plot points without actually having to read them.

All that being said however, I have nothing against tropes or the use of them in storytelling, nor do I think the absence of them guarantees a good narrative. I very much enjoy reading stories that are rife with them. Some stories (i.e Not So Shoujo Love Story or any parody ever) thrive off the self-aware exploitation of tropes. However I do find the overuse of them can make it difficult for a work to really “stand apart” from any others in the same genre. This is the case for ToG. It is a very engaging world but there is nothing truly original in it. I think a reader’s steadfast allegiance to this world will largely depend on if it was the first of its kind they read.

Besides suffering additionally from little YA genre stylings, such as the overuse of the word “shit,” (specifically in this case the phrase “all went to shit,”) and a variance of dramatic transitions loosely summarized as  “all faded to black,” ToG delivers an excellent, cohesive, and engaging story worth the time of any reader looking for a YA fantasy book.

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.

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*Now let’s talk about the audiobooks. My opinions on the audiobook performance does not impact my overall sentiment to the content, as laid out above. However! To put it bluntly, I could not stand them. The inflection, cadence, and overall delivery dripped with an arrogance and haughtiness (which, to be fair, were all very fitting for the main character) that ultimately oozed an unpleasant “pick-me”, ”middle-school cringe” energy. (Look at me! I’m so dark and mysterious and cool. I’m an ASsAsInnnnNNNN *fweu* *fweu* as I toss imaginary knives at my friends on the playground, promptly run up the steps three at a time and lift an entire chair over my head because, I’m so agile, and strong.)

Okay, that’s all. Bye bye.

[taylor-reads-books]

“Love is its own sort of magic.” — Lyssa Mia Smith, Revelle •——————————————————————————• This beauty was the February book pick for @owlcrate. It’s got an exclusive redesigned cover, dust jacket art, exclusive foil designs on the hardcover and is signed by the author! This book description gives me 1920’s Moulin Rouge vibes and I can’t wait to read it! April boxes are on sale and I am SO EXCITED for the book pick (if I’m right.. and I usually am 😏) Use my code TAYLOR15 to save on your first box! •——————————————————————————• #booksbooksbooks #beautifulbooks #revelle #yalit #yabooks #bookworm #constantreader #bookphotography #booknerd #yafantasy #bookaholic #yabookstagram #owlcrate #ocmagic2023 #readingforlife #readersofinsta #bookcommunity #bookish https://www.instagram.com/p/CqWmQFMLnaQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thequantumversechronicles]

🌌🔭✨Under the twinkling Crysallis sky, Mina and Lumiel gaze through ancient telescopes, captivated by a rare celestial event. The wonders of the Quantumverse unfold above, bridging past and future through the lens of magic and science.  

🔥 Join us on a Magical Adventure as I debut my NEW serial fiction The Quantumverse Chronicles in July 2024! Epic Adventures, Powerful Spells, Massive Worldbuilding, Magical Creatures, Wizards, Mages, Druids, Elves, Fairies, Crystal Kin, Humans and more. Welcome to the #quantumverse.

[charliejaneanders]

Tina Mains found out on her twelfth birthday that she was not an ordinary human girl as she had believed — rather, she was the clone of an epic alien hero, who died before she was born. Somewhere buried inside Tina was all the knowledge and memories of Captain Argentian.

EVERYTHING You Need to Know Before Promises Stronger Than Darkness!

[lisa-lostinlit]

✩ THE LAST HOURS TRILOGY 💬 Favorite #cassieclare book/series/character… andddd GO! 🤎📖 Happy Release Week to Chain of Thorns by @cassieclare1!! Thank you to @simonteen for gifting me copies of these books! 🤎🫶🏻 . . . #thelasthours #cassandraclare #yafantasy #shadowhunters #chainofthorns #chainofiron #chainofgold #desksetup https://www.instagram.com/p/CoH5yehuLOv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[strangenesswithcharm]

Arabella Tulley was the heart and beauty of her clan. Waves of deep auburn hair swung about her waist.  Warm chocolate eyes revealed swirls of warm honey in firelight.  A Soft spray of freckles dusted her nose and soft cheeks perfectly, which were flawlessly structured above a smile as gorgeous as it was contagious.  Her voice sang so sweet it was near angelic as words danced from her tongue and enchanted all those who bent an ear.  Countless men and women thought themselves in love at the sight of her.  More often than not, she found little gifts at her door.  Bouquets of roses, peonies, and foxglove were her favorite.  She’d been gifted boxes of fudge, little toffees, baskets of cheese, smoked meats, and, not least of all, poems and letters.   Shopkeepers offered her lush gowns of velvet and satin without charge only to find themselves sold out of every last piece in weeks to come.  Everyone wanted to emulate the gorgeous Arabella. While her beauty was the pleasure of those around her, it was nothing but a burden to Arabella herself.

HerRealm

Do you want to keep reading? 

[elliepassmore]

Zhara review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, multiple POVs, secret groups, humor Big thanks to Netgalley, Wednesday Books, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! While there are two POVs in this book, it's really Zhara's story. She undergoes a lot of development throughout this book and comes out stronger, and more herself, on the other side. At the same time, Han does play a major role in the story and has some of his own growth, it's just at a milder scale than Zhara. It's clear from the beginning that Zhara loves her sister and would do pretty much anything for her, even if it means dealing with her stepmother. That loyalty and sense of protection also carries through to some of the other people, particularly the kids, that Zhara comes across that are in need of help. She's also smart and fairly resourceful, despite her not thinking much of herself at times. Han is definitely a himbo. He works out a lot and prizes being in physical shape but is often one of, if not the last, person to put things together. Like Zhara, Han is also desperate to try and save his younger brother, though from a very different threat. He is fairly innocent (and as the synopsis says, easily flustered), which the other characters tease him mercilessly about, and makes him a fun character to read. Xu is Han's best friend and might be one of my favorite characters. I love how upbeat they are and yet at the same time they have their moments when they can be more serious. I also feel like Xu has a very strong sense of identity. They don't get a POV, but they have a lot of character to them that I enjoyed and I think it would be fun if we do get their POV at some point. I also really treasure their friendships with Han, Zhara, and Jiyi. Jiyi comes into the story a bit later and is endearing for different reasons. She's fairly straightforward about things, to the point of coming across as gruff, but it's clear that she's very knowledgeable about her field of study (and very accomplished) and that she cares about what happens if the worst were to come to pass. Yulana is also a late-comer in the story, but I absolutely love her. She's got somewhat of a mysterious vibe when she's first introduced, and things stay like that for a bit, but she's actually a pretty open person once we get past that. Like with Xu, I hope we get her POV at some point, and I suspect she's a more likely candidate for that than Xu is, lol. This book does a good job of including some lighter and more humorous moments amid the more high drama/stakes scenes. At times it did feel a but juvenile, but overall I think the effect worked. The funny moments allowed for relationships to develop between the characters and so we as readers cared when those relationships were put to the test or were in jeopardy. On the surface, magic is banned because magicians turn into abominations, but of course things are never so simple. Learning about the magic system and how things had gotten bad was interesting. The linguistic element of magic was definitely something that I enjoyed. There's a whole history and culture that's been driven underground or erased because of the abominations, but so few people know the truth of what happened, and what happened is very different from what people think it is. Of course there are allegories a plenty here, and a lot of aspects of the magical purge can be related to history or current events in our world in a way that's written very neatly without being overbearing. Overall, I enjoyed this book and that the high stakes were interspersed with lighter moments. I look forward to seeing the characters in the future books and am definitely hoping for more page time from Xu and Yulana in particular.

[reverie-quotes]

Love wasn’t enough and trying wasn’t enough and nothing we did changed anything! It should have mattered. All that love and all that trying should have changed … something…

— T. Kingfisher, Thornhedge

[cupofteajones]

Happy #InternationalWomenDay! This year, the campaign focuses on the equity with the message, #EmbraceEquity. Women have come a long way but we still have a lot of work to do and that is shown with recent events. More opportunities need to be created in order for our society to create a more equal outcome. And reading books are a great way to start. Some of the titles shown here are a brilliant start but if you are looking for more and books that are more recent, head to the link in my bio for more fuller recommended list! 🔥🔥🔥 Books Shown: "Fix the System Not the Women" by @laura_bates__ "Activist" by @louisareid "Run Rebel" by @manjeet_k_mann "Misogynation" by @laura_bates__ "Monsters Born and Made" by @tanviberwah "Kiki Kallira Conquers a Curse" by @sangumandanna "My Pen is The Wing of A Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women" "Abolition.Feminism.Now." by Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent,Erica R. Meiners and Beth E. Richie "We Are All Witches: Bad WomenTo Live Your Life By" by @mairidhonn #books #books2023 #Bookstagram #nonfictionbooks #nonfiction #britishbooks #laurabates #ukbooks #ukyabooks #yabooks #novelsinverse #yafantasy #middlegradebooks #witchcraft #iwd2023 #genderequality #equity #louisareid #feminism #feministreads #booksbywomen https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpi1vYYLPYm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thereaderbee]

📚 What books are you hoping to read, or finish reading, before the month ends?? Happy Sunday, Bookworms … Hands up if you’re not ready for the weekend to be over. 🙋🏻‍♀️ It always goes by so quickly. Are there any books that you’re hoping to read or finish reading before the month ends? I have a stack that I’d like to finish, but I probably won’t be able to get to most of them. I would definitely love to finish *Twisted Love* and *The Ballad of Never After* before the month ends. Fingers crossed! 😅 What about you? (Throwback photo!) 📖 📚 📖 📚 📖 📚 #AlltheBooksFeb23 #MyFictionalMusings #CourtofReadingFeb23 #ReadingintheWeb 📚 📖 📚 📖 📚 📖 #bookstack #bookpile #bookstagram #books #reading #yabooks #fantasybooks #yafantasy #booksbooksbooks #currentlyreading #tbr #toberead #booklover #booksaremagic #bookobsessed #booknerd #bookcommunity #readmorebooks #bookshelf #shelfie #shelfiesunday #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #cozyreading #bookphoto #ilovebooks … https://www.instagram.com/p/CpIAtS1O8uk/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[alexandrabracken]

It’s SIX DAYS (😱) until SILVER hits shelves and I just wanted to take a moment to thank @lbardugo, @authorjenlynnbarnes, @authorjelle, @elimpix, and @stephanie_garber for reading the book early, and for the incredibly kind words they’ve shared about it. I admire all of you SO much as humans and storytellers and I’m beyond honored to have your support! 🥺💙 Thank you, thank you, thank you! #bookstagram #alexandrabracken #silverinthebone #yafantasy https://www.instagram.com/p/CqYkv42P8gY/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[taylor-reads-books]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day 🍀💚☘️ Name a green book you love! I’ll go first: Fangirl (mint green) •——————————————————————————• #bookstack #bookspines #bookish #greenbooks #stpatricksday #beautifulbooks #bookworm #constantreader #bookphotography #readerlife #readersofinstagram #booknerdigans #bibliophilelife #bookaddict #booklove #instabook #yafantasy #bookaholic #yabookstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp5skkBgb-d/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[starlightbooktales]

» what was the first book that you read by one of your favorite authors? hello my friends, The first book that I ever read by @cassieclare1 was City of Bones! & boy did that lead me on a journey. I’ve been having the biggest desire to start an entire Shadowhunter reread. But I might just settle for a quick last hours reread. ♡ & yes I’m obsessed leave me be 😂 » hashtags:. #YAFantasy #CityOfBones #CassieClare #BookNerds #Bookstagrammer #BooksToRead #BookLove #ReadersOfInsta #BookstagramCommunity #TMI #BookCommunity #BookPhotography #BookPics #MortalInstruments #Bookstagram #BookLoversOfInstagram #FantasyBooks #ReadingIsMagic #JaceHerondale #BookSeries #BooksOfInstagram #BookWorm #Shadowhunters #TheMortalInstruments (at Boise, Idaho) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnm2Tlkv9ng/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=