#like how our new town name is a sanderson swear

[bookwyrm-the-library-dragon]

It has been one million years since I’ve used this blog, and now the siren call of having to do posts for class compels me to do so.  So let’s start off with a simple read-a-like recc post!

For my YA lit class, my favorite week by far was our manga and graphic novel week.  Yes, I know I’m a nerd and a weeb.  But the manga in question that I read was the currently wildly popular The Promised Neverland, by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu.

For those who don’t know, The Promised Neverland is an ongoing Japanese manga series, and a currently airing animated show, chronicling the lives of hyper-smart 11yo orphans Emma, Norman, and Ray, who live in an idyllic orphanage with their thirty+ siblings and their loving caretaker.  Though everything seems too good to be true: they always have enough to eat, their caretaker is kind and loving, they always have time to play, and every orphan is adopted by the age of twelve.  Not to spoil things as the twist is something magical, but they’re right to believe it’s too good to be true, coming upon a truly horrifying truth at the end of the first chapter.  It’s a deliciously dark thriller of some very small kids going up against some very large enemies, and the mind games within this lowkey horror are definitely engaging.

So for those of you who do know The Promised Neverland and are looking for some similar recommendations to feed your desire for more (yes, I am doing these eating puns on purpose, and no, I’m not sorry), then look no further!  Continued beneath the cut because I can be a bit wordy haha

Manga-readers tend to like, well, manga!  So let’s start off with a few manga that are similar to The Promised Neverland.

Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba is something of a classic nowadays, following the story of a young college student named Light who finds a notebook that can kill by writing down the name of a person inside it.  If you love the mind games of Neverland, you’ll eat up (last one I swear) the epic battle of the minds between Light, as he uses the notebook to kill off criminals, and L, the detective determined to find a supernatural serial killer.  This one also has an anime, a live action, a more divisive American live action version, and multiple other media!

Girl’s Last Tour by Tsukimizu chronicles the story of two young women traversing a mostly empty world after an unknown apocalypse. Though not quite as much of a thriller or horror story as Neverland, it has a similar cute style and some rather yawning empty spaces that invoke a sort of melancholy atmosphere which Neverland readers might enjoy.

ERASED by Kei Sanbe tells the story of Satoru, a down on his luck manga artist who finds himself thrown back in time to his elementary school days, during which a series of terrible child abductions and murders occurred. Uncertain of how he made it back in time, Satoru is determined to rescue the victims of the kidnapping this time before it can occur. Like Neverland, this one showcases a younger cast pitted up against much stronger adults, trying to use their wits to escape terrible fates.

Moving out of manga land, here’s a few novels that might pique your fancy!

Gone by Michael Grant takes place in a town after everyone over the age of fifteen mysteriously disappears, and their entire town is encased in a strange dome that they can’t get out of. Like Neverland, this book focuses on kids using their wits to survive in a horrifying world, though this time around, there are no adults as enemies or otherwise.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson is a little bit of a different one for this list, but if you like the lowkey dark horror settings of Neverland and some good old earth-shattering twists, you might just enjoy this adult fantasy in which a street thief named Vin gets involved in a rebellion to take out the tyrannical Lord Ruler...though what happens AFTER the rebellion succeeds may be the most surprising of all.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Woods is another eerie sort of mystery about children locked away in an isolated world surrounded by mystery, heightened by the presence of spooky old photographs interspersed between the pages.

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu though not shown in the images, is another eerie fantasy story where nothing is quite as it seems and the rules don’t always apply, as the protagonist Hazel must venture into a strange woods to find her friend who was kidnapped by a snow witch.

and to round out this list by stretching beyond the print (I know, blasphemous for a librarian...) how about a few anime?

From the New World or “Shinsekai Yori” continues the trend of eerie, vaguely ‘wrong’ worlds in which something is definitely hiding beneath the surface, with a cast of young teen psychics in training in a secret haven that has more than one skeleton in its closet.

School-Live! may look like a sweet story about a group of girls living at school, but by the end of the episode, like in Neverland, the twist will hit you like a punch to the gut.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is also not pictured, but for stories about cute characters who face sudden and heart-wrenching plot twists, it absolutely has to make the list. Starting off with a Sailor Moon-esque story about girls who become magical girls to fight monstrous witches that threaten humanity, the truth turns out to be much more than any of them may be able to handle.

And though it’s not a book, movie, or anything else similar, let me leave you with one last recommendation for those who loved Neverland: the collaborative board game Betrayal in the House on the Hill. You and your friends are charged to explore a creepy old house which you’ll build each turn; every single game the house will be set up differently, and in every single game, the ultimate ghost or other haunt that you’ll have to work together to face will be different.  But be careful!  One of your friends at the table may turn out to be the traitor.  For fans of both horror and plot twists, this game certainly can’t be beat.

Have you read Neverland or looked into any  of the other titles on this list?  Let me know which ones you think should be on this list!

[libralita]

Title: The Knights of Crystallia

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Illustrator: Hayley Lazo

Summary: In this third Alcatraz adventure, Alcatraz Smedry has made it to the Free Kingdoms at last. Unfortunately, so have the evil Librarians--including his mother! Now Alcatraz has to find a traitor among the Knights of Crystallia, make up with his estranged father, and save one of the last bastions of the Free Kingdoms from the Evil Librarians.

Rating: ★★★★★

Review:

“You want to be a better person? Go listen to someone you disagree with. Don’t argue with them, just listen. It’s remarkable what interesting things people will say if you take the time to not be a jerk.”

A quote that needs to flash before anyone uses the internet. This was another great installment. There were so many great new characters in this book and we get some more world building. I can’t wait to continue on!

Y’know the more I think about it…the more I think this book doesn’t make much sense. I know this is coming from a series that spits in the face of sense but…hear me out. Most of it has to do with Bastille. First, she never gives a reason why not to tell Mountain Girl and Dance Boy that they’re in love and she seems fine with them getting married. That just made absolutely no sense. Then Chin man takes her off the mind stone thing or whatever when that also doesn’t make sense. Because wouldn’t it be safer for her to be on the mind stone because then she won’t be able to stop him? Also…why are there so many references to drugs in this book? I know Brandon was probably on drugs when writing this series but like…Mountain Girl has a line saying how she’s been clean, Bastille is going through withdrawal and then there was that after school special joke at the end. I’m confused…

Still liked it though.

“Definition of ‘book four’: And…how’d you manage to start with that one? I haven’t even written it yet. (You sneaky time travelers.)”—Page 14

First of all, well this is the future so you have written the 4th and 5th book. Second, are there time travelers in this universe? It’d be make sense.

“By not reading book two, you also just forced a large number of people to waste an entire minute reading that recap. I hope you’re satisfied.”—Page 15

The best part of this series is Brandon complaining about recaps in books.

“Rotating Rothfusses!”—Page 15

Rothfuss!

“Oh and see to my son. He will need, er, clothing and things like that.”—Page 32

Does everyone in this universe lack paternal and maternal instincts? Besides Leavenworth?

“She must have been really worried about you, Alcatraz. She ran right over to your side. I—”—Page 34

*Can You Feel The Love, Tonight? Begins playing*

“I glanced over my shoulder, whereupon I noticed a dangerous scaly lizard slithering its way along the sides of the buildings, obviously bent on devouring us all. ‘Behold!’ I bellowed. ‘’Tis a foul beast of the nether-hells. Stand behind me and I shall slay it!’ ‘Oh, Alcatraz,’ Bastille breathed. ‘Thou art awesomish and manlyish.’ ‘Lo let it be such,’ I said.”—Page 42

This is great.

TALKING. DRAGON. Hey, why can Dragons and Dinosaurs talk but not normal animals? Or can normal animals talk but in the Hushlands they don’t?

“(Though, of course, knights never use the term ‘break wind.’ They prefer the term ‘bang the cymbals.’ Guess that’s what they get for wearing so much armor.)”—Page 47

Best fart joke.

Attica, Kazan and…Pattywagon. One of these names is not like the other.

Immediately when Alcatraz mentioned that the king had red hair, I knew that Bastille was his daughter.

“Bastille got teary eyed. Then she hugged me.”—Page 60

Aw, they are so cute.

Aunt Patty knows what up between Bastille and Alcatraz.

“I should stop and note here that in the years since that day, I’ve grown rather fond of Aunt Pattywagon. This statement has nothing at all to do with the fact that she threatened to toss me out a window if I didn’t include it.”—Page 69

I really like Pattywagon, she’s probably my new favorite character. Her Talent is really silly but makes her hilarious.

“‘Okay, look,’ I said. ‘Horses are not more advanced than cars.’ ‘Sure they are,’ Patty said. ‘Why?” ‘Simple. Poop.’ I blinked. ‘Poop?’”—Page 71

Poop. I’m getting flashbacks to Words of Radiance.

“If I could somehow work in barfing, then I’d have a complete potty humor trifecta.”—Page 71

Ah, I love Brandon Sanderson.

“Fame is like a cheeseburger. It might not be the best or most healthy thing to have, but it will still fill you up. You don’t really care how healthy something is when you’ve been without it for so long. Like a cheeseburger, fame fills a need, and it taste so good going down. It isn’t until years later that you realize what it has done to your heart.”—Page 75

That is actually a perfect metaphor.

“I recall an image: a group of strangely shaped buildings beside the road. I’d seen them before, and I’d always wondered what they were. They looked like small white domes, three or four of them, the size of houses. As we passed, I turned to my foster mother. ‘Mom, what are those?’ ‘That is where the crazy people go,’ she said. I hadn’t realized there was a mental institution in my town. But it was nice to know where it was. For years after that, when the topic of mental illness came up, I would explain where the hospital was. I was proud, as a child, to know where they took the crazy people when they went…well, crazy. When I was twelve or so, I remember being driven past that place again with a different foster family. By then I could read. (I was quite advanced for my age, you know.) I noticed the sign hanging on the dome buildings. It didn’t say the builds were a mental institution. It said they were a church.”—Pages 77-78

*Spits out soda* How has Brandon not been kicked out of his church?

“To be honest, I hadn’t expected the Librarian to be so pretty or so young.”—Page 82

For a second I was scared that this would start a…love triangle. But thankfully it didn’t.

“It had all the elements of a great story—a mystical weapon, a boy on a journey, a quirky sidekicks. But it ended up ruining itself by trying to say something important, rather than just being amusing.”—Page 87

Now, who would do that?

Books play theme songs when you open them? That is awesome.

“‘She Who Cannot Be Named?’ I asked. ‘Why can’t we say her name? Because it might draw the attention of evil powers? Because we’re afraid of her? Because her name has become curse upon the world? ‘Don’t be silly,’ Himalaya said. ‘We don’t say her name because nobody can pronounce it.’”—Page 109

Hahahahaha, is she related to Numuhukumakiaki’aialunamor?

Oh god when they’re chasing Fletcher in the carriage, it’s so cringe-y.

“‘I smacked you,’ said Grandpa Smedry. Then in a slightly lower tone he added, ‘It’s an old family remedy.’ ‘For what?’ ‘Being a nigglenut,’”—Page 124

Grandpa Smedry really is the only character with a hint of paternal instincts.

Wait a minute the Knights are withholding information. Why? To keep order? I think Horseshoe Theory is at play.

“Oh, and don’t get in my way. If you do, I’ll have to rip our your entrails, dice them into little bits, then feed them to my goldfish. Toodles!”—She Who Cannot Be Named, Pages 156-157

That’s…pleasant…

DON’T EAT THE COOK—Oh, never mind…

“They’ll come up to you and say things like ‘Why are you reading that trash?’ or ‘You should be doing your homework,’ or ‘Help me, I’m on fire!’ Don’t let them distract you. It’s of vital importance that you keep reading. This book is very, very important. After all, it’s about me.”—Page 165

Sounds good to me.

“‘How could they tell if anything was missing?’ I asked. ‘They can’t,’ Sing said. ‘They figure if nobody can get in to steal books, then they don’t have to keep them counter organized.’ ‘That’s stupid.’”—Page 173

Agreed.

“‘Folsom stays suspiciously close to her,’ I said. ‘He rarely lets her out of his sight—I think he’s worried that she’s really a Librarian spy.’”—Page 183

Ah, Brandon…for all your trope subverting, you still manage to succumb one the worst of them all. The idiot teenage boy who doesn’t know a thing about romance.

“‘But what if he gets killed?’ I asked. ‘Then they’ll have to pick a new crown prince,’”—Page 195

I’m glad Bastille is going back to her old self.

“She sat down on a pile. ‘But…but I’m recovering! I’ve been clean for months now! You can’t ask me to go back, you can’t.’”—Page 197

This is ridiculous.

“I am a good Librarian.”—Page 203

Yeah!

“Anyway, that’s beside the point. We should talk to those two and settle this misunderstanding so they can get on with things.”—Alcatraz, who knows what’s up, Page 220

YES! Brandon, you didn’t give a sufficient answer on why Alcatraz should just let Mountain Girl and Dance Boy “work it out”.

“‘He means nothing to me.’ I froze. It was a lie.”—Page 241

Aw.

“I mean, why is it you readers always assume that you’re never to blame for anything? You just sit there, comfortable on your couch while we suffer. You can enjoy our pain and our misery because you’re safe. Well, this is real to me. It’s real. It still affects me. Ruins me.”—Page 243

I feel personally attacked…

“I KILLED HIM.”—Page 244

Who?

OH MY GOD ALCATRAZ MARRIED HIMALAYA AND FOLSOM TO GIVE HER THE SMEDRY TALENT! That’s amazing and kinda weird. Also, they’ve only known each other for like…six months. Weird.

“We’d discussed our plan during the chapter break. (Neener neener.)”—Page 255

Much maturity.

“It depicted a bloody skull. Archedis turned toward King Dartmoor.”—Page 269

I love Swcbn.

“Swcbn finally put down her knitting. ‘You,’ she said, ‘are very bad children. No cookies for you.’”—Page 274

Here’s hoping Swcbn comes back, she’s my favorite villain.

“Ah, I thought. That’s right; I forgot. Bastille got around fame’s touch by being a freaking psychopath.”—Page 280

Yeah, she is.

“In that moment, looking at that smile, I could swear that I’d seen him somewhere, long before my visit to the Library of Alexandria.”—Page 282

What? Was there foreshadowing that I missed?

Give Talent to ordinary people? I don’t like the sound of this…with great power and all…

Let her? Excuse me! Alcatraz did not let Fletcher steal the book…you are the most insufferable character ever.

“We can control them.”—Attica, Page 285

Sounds Librarian-y.

GERBIL SNORTING! What a great way to end the story.