Adulthood is a Myth, Big Mushy Happy Lump

Sarah Anderson is a comic artist that I found on Facebook and fell in love with her introverted nature displayed through her comics titled "Sarah's Scribbles". From not wanting to socialize to a love finding her love of cats to wanting to constantly steal her boyfriends hoodies to weather changes, her comics are funny and girly.

I enjoyed them immensely in both of her books Adulthood is a Myth and Big Mushy Happy Lump. 

I enjoyed them because I related to many of the moments that were portrayed. I've had glares when I occasionally steal my husband's shirts or jackets. I know what it's like to  be around too many people and needing that recharge. I don't draw well otherwise I'd probably draw comics too instead of writing a book blog.

I read other reviews on Goodreads after I had read them because I wanted to know what other people thought.

They had problems with this book because they were a compilation of her online work and there were a few that seemed as though they were the same from book to book (I don't think this is true, similar comics but not the exact same ones, at least I'm pretty sure). She writes comics. You shouldn't expect her to have long drawn out comics when all she's produced before are these "scribbles." Many people compared her book to Hyperbole and a Half which is a blog with lengthy prose and comics that coincide. These have been simply  short comics that are normally no longer than six boxes long. If you liked Hyperbole and a Half, I think you'd enjoy this one as well.

They're lighthearted and funny for those with introverted natures. Extroverts might enjoy this too, but it seemed those who reviewed them as being "poor" tended to not thing them as funny because they didn't understand those moments (someone I would judging-ly assume is an extrovert, sorry if I'm wrong about that).

Our Numbered Days

Our Numbered Days is a book of poetry. I fell in love with on of the poems that I saw him perform on the Button Poetry's facebook page and instantly asked my library to buy a copy. I found that the rest of his poetry is really good too.

A lot of the poems in this book are about relationships. Many are about girlfriends, but others are talk about his grandmother or dealing with people around him--mostly the annoying people around him. But a lot of other poems talk about mental illnesses and things correlating with suicide. They are beautifully done.

He does swear, which I think will be the case for a lot of modern books of poetry. So you'll have to deal, if you care.

But below is a video of Neil Hilborn performing his poem "OCD" at a TedTalkx back in 2013 after his poem went viral and he started touring. He not only performs his poem, which poetry is best when heard/read aloud, but talks about his experience through going viral. It is at a TedTalk Conference centered on Change, so he also discusses how others who don't experience mental illnesses can help, which has been a big thing for me to help my friends.

Please, enjoy.

Heir of Fire

The third book in the "Throne of Glass" series by Sarah J. Maas, just didn't do it for me. I got to page 248 when I couldn't take it anymore and stopped. I may pick it up later, or I might just find a wiki on it to find out what happened, but I just can't get myself to finish it. I don't not finish books very often, especially after starting this here blog, but I just couldn't.

After Choal sends Celaena away across the sea to another country for her own safety, she finds she doesn't want to kill the mark she was sent to get rid of him. So she meanders around town until a Fae, the strong, silent type (who is also immortal) who could be described as a Juggernaut, finds her and she willingly goes with him (for no real reason except he is Fae...) to one of the cities of the Fae where she meets her great+ aunt who is queen of the Fae. But before her aunt will answer any of her questions that she has about how to defeat the king she serves so then he doesn't annihilate the world and all who are in it, she has to prove herself magically. Now that she is away from the country and the king who is stopping magic, she can access her uber powerful magic that she has been scared of/doesn't have access too since she was eight (someone cliche in my opinion). The Juggernaut Fae is the one set on babysitting duty to help her find a way to control her magic. But then as she is starting to gain access and minor control over it, there are baddies in the woods she she starts investigating--because she can't get any answers about the world wide problems that are erupting back at home.

Meanwhile, back in the castle, the Prince is starting to fall for a medic who has been twitterpated over him for years (he is the Prince after all). She also finds out about his new magic that made themselves  known in the second book. She okay with it and is willing to keep his secret, so much so that she is willing to help him find away to control or stop it. I foresee this going badly and probably hurting him. Also, there is a new man in town. Someone from Celaena's hometown, before it was destroyed, who is known for being a traitor to his country. He even holds Celaena's uncle's sword, which she was supposed to inherit. No one likes him but the king because he's a traitor-pants. But the also has something going on. Going out to party at night but only staying at his parties for a but before sneaking off. Choal finds this out and is super suspicious and follows. Suddenly, everything is thrown in the air and isn't what it seems.

Then way up north we get an introduction into Baba Yellowlegs (from book two) colony of witches (like they eat people and all they want to do is kill, not nice people at all). The King has something up his sleeve and has given the clans of witches packs of wyverns. They start training how to fly so they can go off to battle for the king.

This book jumps around a lot. There are so many points of view, which are distinct enough that it is easy to tell apart so it didn't get confusing, but it just jumped through so many and I didn't care like I had previously. It seemed to take too long to get anywhere. While Celaena is trying to learn how to use her magic, we get nothing more than Rowan yelling at her to "shift" and being boring for hours on end. They get into some dialog but even halfway through the book we know nothing about him except he will follow all of Celaena's aunt's orders until he immortally dies of old age. I don't care about him. He will be a love interest, but... eh. Whatever.

I didn't like Manon (the witch lady) for a long time. The death, death, death, and more death got old waaaay fast. How she got her wyvern was pretty cool, but then it went back to death, blood, smelling humans and wanting to kills them again. Ugh. But then that's what all of these books is about. I mean, Celaena is an assassin, of course it's going to be about death. But with Manon there is nothing but killing. Death ends up trickling into the other characters stories as well and it just gets so over done. Like a cloud of gloom hangs over the book. I'm so not up for gloomy or the foreseeable romances.

I think the characters we also not much like themselves, mainly Celaena. In the first two books she was witty, a book lover, it was fun to read. And I get that after the death of her friend she would change, but her wit is what I liked most about her. Now it seems to have pretty  much vanished unless she's getting beat up by Rowan. Those conversations don't last long and they aren't as funny.

OH, I also am very put off by her lack of description. People are blurry, if they were described it was probably only once and what seemed half heartedly. There is very little repetition of description to remind the reader what the freaking people look like. This drives me nuts!

It also swore a lot, which I don't care for in the least bit. It became very annoying. (Call me a prude, whatever.)

It felt rushed to me but weirdly enough it took forever to get anywhere. 560-ish pages of not a lot happening. Almost like a hurry up and wait game we play in bureaucracies. It got boring and I have a very large pile of other books that are due back at the library soon that I want to get to. So I'm putting it down.

Also, it was funny, when I was trying to explain it to my husband, he got all confused--possibly due bad descriptions on my part. But there was so much going on with so many characters and popping in and out and just odd things happening. It was a very long conversation, where, at the end, he asked me, "why are you still reading this then?" And I didn't have a good answer to give him.

I know there are lots of other people who like it, but I just didn't.

Crown of Midnight

Crown of Midnight is the second book in the "Throne of Glass" Series by Sarah J. Maas and I really enjoyed it. It is one, if you are a dedicated reader, you could probably finish in a day. It took me a bit longer than that, but once I sat down I easily busted through about 200 pages today. It's do-able.

After Celaena becomes the King's Champion, AKA personal assassin, she is told to dispatch lords and ladies who stand as threats against the King. Only the King is crazy, power hungry, and  crazy! so in order to fulfill her contract sends them off into hiding and finds cadavers to pose as her victims. Saving innocent lives while not fullying doing what the King says. But things get complicated when she is told to find and kill one of her old friends named Archer. She doesn't believe him to be capable of being a master criminal. Archer, a male prostitute for the noble class and a friend to the Assassins guild Celaena was a part of, quickly folds under her interrogation and believes that there is a movement to put the lost heir to the Terrasen thone back in her rightful place. She gives him a month to giver her information before she'll let him slip out of the country.

Only getting information from Archer isn't the only thing that has started creeping in. The underground passageway in her room holds more secrets than a tomb, and there happens to be more than one passageway in the castle that has been left undisturbed for what seems centuries. Books and strange markings seem to follow her everywhere. Nehemia also has her own treasure trove of secrets that complicate Celaena's life greatly. And finally her relationship with Choal begins to blossom.

But then, tragedy strikes and Celaena goes bazerk. Crazed with vengeance, her friends don't recognize her anymore and she ends up being thrown in the dungeon. Oops. All kinds of poop hits the fan and she dives deeper into the castles shadows and finds creatures that shouldn't exist. Can she trust anyone within this glass prison?

Aside from the vulgarity of its expletives I really enjoyed the book. The world it created was as well done as the previous book. It expanded the realm and explained little questions that had popped up from  the first book, though more questions had arisen (as it should be for a continuing story).

When the major tragedy strikes, I understand why Celaena goes crazy, but I wanted to cry. I didn't cry. It was such a shock to Celaena causing the scene to be hazy (great narration through an unreliable narrator at the moment) and she snapped so quickly that it gave the reader no time to freak out and cry over the tragedy. I wasn't drawn out as much as I wish I had been.

The fight scenes here and turn of events were great. Some things I didn't seen coming. Though the big surprise at the end, I guessed at fairly quickly. I really enjoyed the underlying mysteries that haunted this book and finding out all the intricacies that have happened in the past of this kingdom, the magic, and the Fae. I greatly enjoyed it.

Celaena and one of the boys also become lovers throughout the course of the story. I have been warned by others that things tend to get steamy and explicit as the books go on. But the scenes in this book are veiled with a "draw curtain" breaks. I am very glad for these because I don't want to read it. I prefer class to vulgarity any day. I didn't choose to skip any scene in this book and I feel it still keeps to it's YA category.

I have the next one waiting upstairs for me to pick it up and start reading soon.

Promise of Blood

Promise of Blood is a mix of the French Revolution and magic.

Field Marshal Tamas and his group of powerful Gun Powder Mages overthrow their king who was about to pretty much enslave their people to another nation because the debts were too high. Tamas successfully takes the city for the people and is rather successful at keeping it too. But then trouble comes calling not only from outside forces (the nation they were about to be sold off to, though not in so many words), but also from inside his own group counselors. Tamas is ambushed, kidnapped, severely injured, and almost dies often in this book as he's trying to find out who he can trust.

Adamat is a retired investigator who is hired by Tamas to find out information about a they dying words of cabals they were killing during this coup. Then to investigate who this traitor is among the ranks. But is he able to be trusted too?

Taniel, Tamas' son, is sent with his mute "savage" companion to track down the Privileged, a high powered sorceress, who decimated a portion of Tamas' troops. But there are more things gone one than just being a powerful Privileged. She seems more than just good.

Then also there is Malahi, this mysterious chef who appears out of nowhere, cooks the best food which also appears out of nowhere, and supposes himself a God.

This book actually took me a long time to read, comparatively. There were moments in the middle of a fight when I was willing to put it down and go get a sandwich, which is pretty sad. It seemed very slow going and it was hard to tell where our destinations were. There were few lamp posts in this fog and they seemed very far apart. You could chop the book up into two parts, I guess. Easily based on the "mystery" part that the investigator Adamat and what he finds out. But it felt weird because I didn't know where it was going.

It also got very bloody (hence the title) right off. Much like the French Revolution, there were mass executions of the nobility just so then they couldn't have claim to the throne. It dims down on the gore part as it goes on, so if you don't care for messy scenes and you can muscle through it, it'll get better. Though the fight scenes happen very often. As I said, Tamas gets kidnapped, ambushed, sliced and diced, and gets broken a lot. Though he doesn't heal instantly, so I'll give him that reality. But that was just Tamas, not everyone in this war.

This is not a romantic fantasy story in any real sense of the word. There are five girls who are named and alive in the whole book that aren't background characters. One is just a background character for this book who gets a few lines said mainly to Tamas even though she is Taniel's ex-fiance. Two are seen as crazy and trying to kill everyone. Another is a laundress who gets the most wordage on the page, but there still isn't much of it comparatively to the other characters. And the last is a mute, who is supposed to be mysterious and funny, which I guess she is, but there are other ways to make a girl mysterious without cutting out her tongue.

There is a lot of jumping in this book from different peoples point of view. Which I don't mind, but it had the tendency of shifting the time line a little, I think. It was a very character based book with their decisions making the story go forward. Which is okay, I personally would have wanted more plot points to help me guess where it was going.

It seemed seems the book was based around fighting and food. Lol.

I think it was well written and the mix  of gunpowder and magic is new. The religion that was created was intriguing and I would like to see how that develops more. The world setting and cultures of the people were well developed.

I will probably read the next ones in this trilogy because the characters that were developed were intriguing enough and the world was fantastic. I do hope that the girls do get some more voice and that the mute finds someway to speak through her sorcery powers.