Book Blog Tag: Once Upon A Time Edition!

Time for another Book Blog Tag! This one was co-created by Marie Shen and I was tagged by Raina Nightingale over a year ago, so it's about time I get around to filling it out!

“Cinderella” – A book that changed your life 

Not so much changed my life as rekindled (ha! Fire puns....) a love of reading after I spent a whole three months being totally burnt out!

It was just after college which, being an English major, I was required to take a bunch of literature courses. That was the whole reason I chose English as my major, though, so that in itself wasn't the huge issue... It was the last semester in particular, where I was studying Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Postmodern American Literature all at the same time. The Shakespeare course wasn't too terrible, because I could choose the order in which to take the exams, divided between five tragedies, five comedies, and five of his history plays. I took the tragedies first to get them out of the way, and then the histories, saving the comedies (my favorite) for last. The disappointment came when I found that not only was Romeo and Juliet not included in the tragedies (the five being Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet), but the comedies also did not include Midsummer Night's Dream, but did include Measure For Measure--my least favorite! (Why is it even a comedy, anyway? Omit the last scene and it's a sheer Greek tragedy all the way through!) Couple that with getting a lower grade on my Jane Austen final because the professor disagreed with my thesis, not the quality of my writing, and the depressiveness of postmodernism in the American Literature course... By the time I finished, I had the strange sensation of not even wanting to pick up a book. That feeling lasted, as I said, for one month, then two... almost the entire summer.
Then in September, my youngest brother started high school and one of his assigned readings for English was Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I knew a lot about the book, since it had come up many times in my American Literature course, but I hadn't actually read it. One day, I found the book just randomly on the couch, so I began reading.
I found a much more intelligent, intriguing story than I was expecting. Especially when I got to the line, "Good writers touch life often..." I found the thing that motivated me toward writing. I wanted to write stories that "touched" life, that were grounded in some kind of relatable aspect, instead of pulling readers away from their reality. I found it ironic that the whole premise of this dystopian society was that they burned books for the information they held... and yet the book itself is littered with quotes from the books they sought to erase from humanity, immortalizing those quotes in particular. Most of all, as I reached the end of the story, I found a renewed interest in reading books that mattered, books that I felt "touched life often" in some way. A few years later, I set and achieved a personal challenge of reading 100 books in one year. Thanks to Fahrenheit 451, or I might have waited even longer to pick up reading again!

“Sleeping Beauty” – A book that took you forever to finish 

There is something to be said for my penchant of checking out books at the library or picking them up on sale and then just... taking years to get around to reading them because my "undiagnosed attention-deficit coping tendencies" mean that I'm wildly inconsistent about reading habits. But as far as "from the time I start the first chapter to the time I end the last chapter", I think it would probably be Sword of Shannara. I had just been watching The Shannara Chronicles on Netflix, all right? And I liked the lore and the way it incorporated "high fantasy in a contemporary post-apocalyptic setting" very well, but at the same time I felt (as all readers do when watching a screen adaptation of a book) that there was something lacking in the speed at which the show needed to jump through the timeline. I picked up Sword because I thought I would be getting more of what I saw on the show. It was too much more. So much exposition, not enough of the hallmarks of "this is a post-apocalyptic version of the world we know!" and really no relatable characters to speak of. I took probably several months to read this, if not a year. I'm trying to go back and see when I actually started reading, how much progress I made, but it's unclear. But we'll just say, I started it, and then subsequently read every other book instead of it until I felt so guilty (maybe it was even during lockdowns when nobody had access to libraries) that I went ahead and finished it. And the payoff wasn't even worth it. So there you go!

“A Thousand and One Nights” – A book you could not stop reading 

On the other side of the spectrum, there are the books I read in exactly one sitting! One in particular, The Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale, I distinctly remember picking it up one morning because I "just wanted to read the first couple chapters", and then "just one more chapter" for every single chapter thereafter, until I finally reached the end and thought, "Well, that was not how I was intending to start my day!" Her style is just so captivating and I especially loved the characters in that series, I just couldn't help myself!

“Little Red Riding Hood” – A book you recently read in an unfamiliar genre 

At first this prompt was hard to answer, because I tended to stick with familiar genres I know and enjoy, without branching out much, but then I remembered a book I read recently, in the Historical Nonfiction genre.

On the recommendation from a friend (who lent me her copy), I read Until We Meet Again by Michael Korenblit, and it tells the story of his grandparents, two Polish Jews fighting to survive the Holocaust, just after meeting and getting engaged. I am not apt to read much nonfiction, but I found myself invested in their story, through scraping a living in the Jewish ghettos, and being arrested and shipped off to the concentration camps--including the terrifyingly notorious Auschwitz. The courage, steadfastness, and perseverance displayed by these people is truly inspiring!

“The Wild Swans” – A book with your favorite sibling relationships 

It's a bit of a crazy answer for this prompt, but I picked a whole series, the Chronicles of Lorrek by Kelly Blanchard. You don't see as much of the siblings in later books of the series, but definitely at the start, you have a pair of brothers, some cousins, and in-laws all very close with one another, and I really appreciated the portrayal. They fight, they argue, there are misunderstandings, but when the chips fall, the siblings are definitely looking out for one another. Family sticks close, no matter what happens. Of course, as I hinted at the beginning of this response, the series is definitely not about any kind of sibling relationship, but it's a side feature of the series that really elevated my enjoyment of the series.

“Snow White” – A book filled with beautiful prose 

There are a couple books that immediately come to mind as ones that had such delectable prose that I didn't want to stop reading them, and every time I opened them up, there were phrases that caught my attention. You know the ones, the words and imagery so amazing that you have to stop and say the words out loud... The first such series would have to be "every book in the Tales from Goldstone Wood series by Anne Elisabeth Stengl."

It starts with the novel Heartless, and although it claims "each story can be read as a stand-alone", there's just something magical that happens when you read the books in order and see how they build on one another! 

But the reason I picked them out for this prompt is that every time I read another book from this series, it's all just so magical and poetic and allegorical and ethereal!

The same goes for Uprooted by Naomi Novik. It was the first novel I read by her, and the way it almost started like a retelling of Beauty and The Beast, but then branched off into its own variety by including elements from Slavic folktales and such, it was just a beautiful experience that I very much enjoyed from start to finish!

“Rapunzel” – A book that you procrastinated on reading after buying 

When I first started out as a book blogger, I admit there were some books I was more excited to read than others. It also happened that as word got around about my "book review blog", I gained confidence in responding to offers of books, and it felt like I connected with more and more authors, who in turn would occasionally offer their books at a discount, or seeking reviews. In the case of City of A Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster, one of my acquaintances heard about my blog and put me in contact with her friend, an indie author. I reached out, received my copy... then promptly fell into the habit of just shifting it down the TBR list as other books crossed my path. I swear it got on the list in like 2013 when there were like only 10 books on my TBR... But I didn't actually get around to reading it until 2020.
By the time I finished reading it, I was very excited about it, and after reading the sequel, Empire of Shadows, I would definitely recommend these books to anyone who likes magical stories and amazing world-building and stalwart, sympathetic heroines.

“The Little Mermaid” – A book that took you on a magical journey 

Definitely The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. After a friend started raving about it and sharing pictures of the covers on social media, I decided that I really wanted to seek out this series because holy moly, a multiverse in which one world's fictional stories is another world's "historical account" and each reality possesses an altered version of similar stories and a secret library-based organization dedicated to making sure the "characters" stay in their own realities and the "altered" manuscripts are collected and catalogued is wonderful enough. Add to it the dynamics of Dragons who walk among us in human form seeking to maintain order (often with themselves coming on top) battling with Fae who also wear human disguises but are definitely more inclined to stir up chaos whenever possible... it's pretty much the best series for anyone looking for a magical adventure!

“The Frog Prince” – A book that you’d like to turn into a frog because you hated it so much

Two books immediately come to mind as "books I read all the way through because I had high hopes for them but ended up hating because they were such disappointments": The first one is The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma, and the second is Leviathan by Scott Westerfield. For Map of Time, I found it on my library's shelf of recommendations and when it mentioned Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, and "featuring" H. G. Wells as the main character, all at once, I really wanted it to be amazing. (Remember what I just said about Invisible Library?) But as it turned out, everything fell flat and the story was so garbled that at first I wondered if things were just lost in translation (since the author is not an English-speaker), and yet as I kept reading, things still didn't make any sense at all. I was so mad because all the potential for a great story was right there in front of us, but it never materialized.

Same thing goes for Leviathan. Granted, I'd read Uglies just before that as my introduction to Westerfield, and although I didn't enjoy it much, I figured that Leviathan was a neat application of steampunk, and how could somebody mess up a good steampunk? Here's how: make it about "science vs. religion." One side, the Darwinists, chose to invest their scientific studies in breeding animals to suit their transportation and communication needs. They use whales for shipping, lizards for communication, jellyfish hot air balloons, and the like. Then there are the "Clankers", who just went ahead and developed machines of metal, steel, steam, and cogs to suit their needs. Both sides are at war--and guess which side the author is subtly pushing as the "protagonists" in his narrative? And that's even supposed to be the "subplot", while the main plot between a high-ranking "Clanker" exiled prince and a young "Darwinist" heroine masquerading as a boy because no one lets a girl do all the amazing things she is naturally good at left much to be desired!

“Peter Pan” – A book that reminds you of your childhood 

I grew up reading a lot of classics: Chronicles of Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, and LOTS of Puffin Classics! One in particular was Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott. Sure, I read Little Women and even Little Men as well--but this one appealed to me because it had the whole "girl surrounded by lots of boys who take a shine to her" that Little Men had, but on a more peer-to-peer basis, since they were all cousins of the same generation, instead of Jo March leading a boys' school. It's quaint, it's cute, it has lots of middle-grade-level drama, and I remember that book in particular being one that I reread over and over again... At one point I even entertained the notion of adapting it into a radio drama! But yes, it's just obscure enough that if I ever see it, I'm immediately taken back to those early, idyllic years.

“The Goose Girl” – A book you had low expectations for, but ended up loving 

The two books that came to mind were almost on the same level. I'd just read a rash of teen YA
dystopian books, starting with Hunger Games and moving through Divergent to the likes of The Selection and Matched. The latter two were ones that had great premises and intriguing covers, but ended up hugely disappointing because it was a lot of useless angst ("I'm falling in love with HIM ONE like everyone expects me to, but HIM TWO is my best friend and I've struggled with feelings for him my whole life! WHAT TO DO???") and an overly-capable Mary Sue heroine (Cue the "She's Not Like Other Girls" Theme Song Break) and not much in the way of plot substance outside of Unique Girl Bucking The System To Save The World While Her Two Guy Friends Either Join Her Or Betray Her... 

So when I saw books like Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier, with it's glitzy cover and fancy ballgowns like The Selection, and Cinder by Marissa Meyer featuring only a single motif from famous fairytales (a slipper, a braid of hair, a gleaming apple, and the like), I seriously thought they'd end up more like what I'd already read.
Boy was I wrong! In the Ruby Red trilogy, I found likable side characters, intriguing subplots, and very well-plotted time travel twists! In Cinder and the rest of the Lunar Chronicles, I found fairy tale retelling perfection, with lots of fantasypunk twists and a great series arc to boot! 

To date, those two are among my favorite series ever!

“Hansel and Gretel” – A book that made you hungry

Without a doubt, the Goode-Grace Mysteries by Cyn Mackley! Her main character, Trinity Grace, a Goth girl from the big city is a bit out-of-place in a quiet rural town. She moves into her grandfather's place when he dies suddenly, and Trinity finds evidence of foul play. Over the course of the investigation, Trinity works to win the other residents over with her affinity for baking. Muffins, cakes, pies, breads--Mackley describes the pastries in such detail that it makes my mouth water! I am fairly certain she has made it her "author's signature" of sorts, to mention as many delicious and unique dishes as she can in all her books, but this series in particular made me crave whatever Trinity made!

How about you? Comment below with any book titles you'd recommend with any of the above prompts! 

Happy reading, and Catch You Further Upstream!

Reader's Review: "You're Not Alone" by Kelly Blanchard

Synopsis from Amazon:

How much would you sacrifice to find out the truth and protect those you love?

Katerina has a lead on the recent string of terrorist attacks throughout the galaxy. Her father's black-opts crew decides to investigate with the help of Lorrek, Vixen, and a few rogue Thymord agents.

Lorrek attempts to step back and not take charge for once, but when he discovers his extended family is involved, all bets are off. He will risk everything to protect his family, but in risking it all, will it cost him everything—and more?

>>>>>>>>

My Review:

Chalk this one up as "Book In Which I Had To Stop And Text-Scream At The Author Via DMs." And it happened TWICE.

Okay, so it's been a while since I read Find Me If You Can, (a few years, in fact) but seeing as we're in the middle of the "Endgame Phase" of the series... Marvel fans will know exactly what I'm talking about.

Picking up where we left off last time, Lorrek is trying to help his new friends (including a pirate crew helmed by Vixen's aunt, so there's somewhat of a family connection there too) investigate the series of assassinations that seem to target Thymords, pitting him even more at odds with the Thymord Order who is already seeking him out to withdraw the World Orbs from their hiding place. But Blanchard doesn't stop there. She ups the ante, more than sorcerers, spaceships, hard-to-kill kelliphs, sentient AI programs, and immortal Dragons by adding in the concept of Crephens: almost deity-like immortal beings who literally cannot be killed, but are capable of interfering with reality itself when it suits them. One such being views Lorrek's tenacity as such a threat that he ends up stripping Lorrek of his magic. This part of him that was so instinctual, was so intrinsically a part of himself that he could use it without thinking... gone in a moment.

That's not even the worst thing this character does, officially earning him the title of Most Despicable Excuse For A Villain Of All Time. I doubt I'd find somebody worse. (Of course, I think I've felt that way about a lot of Blanchard's villains over the course of this series... does that indicate something??)
Magic-less Lorrek has to learn how to function without magic: how to depend on others to manage superhuman feats like teleportation, telepathy, and illusions; how to not be the first one to just jump in front of a bullet for someone else (particularly because he's more vulnerable than he's ever been in his life!); how to ask for help instead of just Doing The Thing.

This is where Blanchard shines. She brings the characters together, against their better judgment, in spite of previous misgivings, and with a very real level of reluctance, yet all these characters band together against the Crephen, willing to prop up Lorrek when he needs it, in order to keep further atrocities from happening. Their different styles and personalities work together, provide what the others lack, and make the whole group stronger for it.

This book takes all the pieces of previous books and takes them to the next level--and I mean that almost literally! The stakes are leveled up, the cost of achieving their goals has leveled up, the values of the characters have leveled up, the villains are infinitely more powerful, the secrets go far deeper, the conflicts are much more intense--and the plot twists just keep coming! Just when it looks like Blanchard has taken the plot as far as it will go... she throws in another twist that knocks the wind out of me! Between twists you never thought you'd see, and twists that have secretly been building in the background for almost the entire series... It sort of feels like riding an avalanche into the ocean!

You're Not Alone is yet another can't-miss direct-hit-to-the-feels from Kelly Blanchard. I'm giving it *****5 STARS***** and adding in the Upstream Writer Certified ABSOLUTELY Recommended endorsement! It'll take you through some amazing emotions, do not attempt if you're not ready to be absolutely crushed by the profound mental images evoked by sheer text--but once you dive in, get ready for a reading experience like no other!

Further Reading: (Also by the author/Sci-Fantasy/Epic Series/Great World-Building)

The Chronicles of Lorrek--Kelly Blanchard
        -Someday I'll Be Redeemed 
        -I Still Have A Soul 
        -I'm Still Alive 
        -Do You Trust Me? 
        -You Left Me No Choice 
        -They Must Be Stopped 
        -Find Me If You Can

The Red Dog Conspiracy--Patricia Loofbourrow
       -Gutshot (Novellette) 

       -The Alcatraz Coup (Novella) 
       -Vulnerable (Short Story) 
       -The Jacq of Spades 
       -The Queen of Diamonds 
       -The Ace of Clubs 
       -The King of Hearts 

The Vemreaux Trilogy--Mary E. Twomey
       -The Way 
       -The Truth 
       -The Lie

-Cracks in The Tapestry--The Tapestry Group 

-Dreamtime Dragons--Dreamtime Fantasy Authors

Verona: The Complete Mermaid Tales--Pauline Creeden
       -Scales 
       -Submerged 
       -Salt 
       -Surfacing 

Talented Series--Amy Hopkins
     -A Drop of Dream 
     -A Dash of Fiend 
     -A Splash of Truth 
     -A Promise Due 

Reader's Review: "Belle the Beast Tamer" by Pauline Creeden

Synopsis from Amazon:

Belle Parisi didn't know she was a shifter until she was twelve years old—the same day that her mother died. Since then, her father sent her to Wonderland Guardian Academy in Virginia to protect her from the same people who hunted her mother. Shifters become the animal that most reflects their inner being, and for her and her mother, a tiger was found at their core.

Now at seventeen, she's more than ready to graduate and get on with her life, and maybe return home to the small town in Italy. But when she's caught shifting off school grounds, she's given a task instead of a punishment. Another shifter has been discovered hiding out not too far away in the Appalachian Mountains—a dragon shifter.

Belle's not sure exactly what kind of personality brought out the dragon in the man she's hunting, but it couldn't be good...

>>>>>>>>>>>>

My Review:

All the way back in 2019, I got on a massive fairy tale retelling kick that sent me in the direction of Pauline Creeden. I loved her excellent take on The Little Mermaid with Verona: A Mermaid's Tale, so I went into the first book, Red: the Wolf Tracker, with all kinds of hope.

You can read the review >here< to learn whether or not it paid off.

Anyway, about a year later I bought the box set of the Wonderland Guardian Academy series on a book-buying spree, and now at last, five years later, I've finished the next book in the series. Belle's story was longer than Red's, and for that I can be grateful--and yet there were some highs and lows about my reading experience with this one.

First of all, I want to list all the great things about this book: Belle is a tiger shifter, like her mother. I loved that, even though it felt kind of cliche that she would get in trouble with the school administrators for shifting--but at the same time, looking back it might feel more like the whole "getting in trouble" factor was more of a set-up to get her in the room so that she can be commissioned to track a dragon shifter (the "beast" of the fairy tale) who has apparently gone rogue.

So not only do we have tiger shifters, but dragons as well. Score two!

Belle is tasked with tracking the dragon, but in the process of searching the rumored territory, she ends up at an abandoned cottage where she uncovers a conspiracy cover-up that makes it seem like the Guardians she's trusted all her life aren't so trustworthy after all. The owner of the cottage discovers her and takes her prisoner (shades of the "damsel being held prisoner" from the original fairy tale!), but as the tension cools between them, the two end up teaming up to try and investigate what the Guardians are trying to hide, and what it has to do with Belle, and most of all why they had her tracking down the dragon in the first place!

It's a neat story that I enjoyed from start to finish. It felt much less rushed than the first book--albeit there were still some pacing issues, some places moving too slowly, while jumping too quickly from one beat to the next at other points. But it's a solid retelling, with interesting characters, great closure, and further contributing to a larger series arc that promises to pay off very well over the course of these urban fantasy tales!

I'm giving Belle the Beast Tamer a solid *****4.5 STAR***** rating. It's not the most perfect retelling I've ever read, but it's very well-done, it's a spiffing urban fantasy story with plenty of plot that doesn't necessarily involve romance between the characters! If you like shifter stories, fairy tales, and you're looking for good clean urban fantasy, definitely give the Wonderland Guardian Academy a look!

Further Reading: (Also By The Author/Urban Fantasy/Fairy Tale Retelling)

Verona: The Complete Mermaid Tales--Pauline Creeden
       -Scales 
       -Submerged 
       -Salt 
       -Surfacing

-Abiding Flame--Pauline Creeden 

-Sanctuary--Pauline Creeden

The Firebird Fairy Tales--Amy Kuivalainen
       -The Cry of the Firebird 
       -Ashes of the Firebird 
       -Rise of the Firebird

-The Wendy--Erin Michelle Sky

-Cracks in The Tapestry--The Tapestry Group 

-Severance--M. A. Smith

-The Purple Door District--Erin Casey 

Lord of the Wyrde Woods--Nils Visser
     -Escape From Neverland 
     -Dance Into The Wyrd 

The Bhinian Empire--Miriam Forster
     -City of A Thousand Dolls 
     -Empire of Shadows

The Valiant Series--Joanna White

       -Hunter

The Portal Prophecies--C. A. King
     -A Keeper's Destiny 
     -A Halloween's Curse 
     -Frost Bitten

-Undying Light--Aurora Wildey

Reader's Review: "Alienation" by S. E. Anderson

Synopsis from Amazon:

Sally Webber's dream is coming true: Zander is back and taking her out for a night on the town--on a planet hundreds of light years away from Earth. But when an accident separates her from her alien tour guide, she’s thrown into the seedy underbelly of an insane city where nothing is as it seems.

Suddenly lost and desperate to get back home, Sally is willing to do anything to get out, even if it means accepting spontaneous marriage proposals, crashing some fancy parties, or joining what appears to be the space mob.

All she wanted was some decent interstellar pizza, but now it might be the end of the world as evil nanobots and an out-of-control AI try to take the universe by force, and the only one who can stop them is missing in action. Sally has no choice but to try to stop them herself--if she can stay alive that long.

>>>>>>>>>>>

It was back in 2019 when I finally got around to reading this book I'd been seeing hyped, not only on the author's page, but also in some writing groups we shared. I went in hoping against hope that it wasn't going to be some kind of smutty alien/human romance, that I would at least find something in at least one character that I found relatable, ready to abandon the story if it got too dramatic for my tastes.

It was one of the most entertaining books I read in 2019. I loved it through and through. So the next time I had a gift card to spend on ebooks, I definitely knew I was going to pick up the next two books in the series!

Which brings us to Alienation, my foray back into the Starstruck Saga after three and a half years. It was like I never left. Anderson picks up right where she left off, and takes Sally, Blayde, and Zander on another wild galactic chase. What begins as just a quick planetary "tour" so Sally can see what life is like on the other side of the galaxy ends up stranding her in the strangest sidetrack she has ever faced. From the most bizarre case of food poisoning (betrayed by pizza, no less!) to ending up in the underbelly of the towering city with no means of returning to the elevated portion, an almost forced marriage, being roped into a high-stakes heist, and infiltrating a government-sponsored party, to trying to stop a sentient computer program from taking over the planet... Sally Webber wanted to see the galaxy, and she's beginning to find out just how big it all really is!

This is where Anderson shines, with her diverse alien races and cultures to match, each one relevant through Sally's basic sensibilities and yet completely foreign to anything we have here on our little planet--I may have only read two of her books so far, but I am seeing a pattern emerge from her of every story being littered with unique and yet relatable characters, eclectic personalities, and always some little detail that presents itself as a clear sign that they aren't all "humanoid." The fact that this is a ten-book series is a feat in itself--but I have a feeling each book is going to be more enthrallingly bizarre and mind-blowing than the last!

I would give Alienation the full *****5 STARS***** rating. Every aspect of the novel was on-point, and I can't wait to see how this series of adventures unfolds! If you're someone who likes a good space-based sci-fi adventure led by a smart, capable, curious woman, and full of creative alien races and spectacular worlds, but without the heavy dependence on romance that a lot of these "space travel" novels typically contain... then I can confirm that the Starstruck Saga is just the thing for you!

Further Reading: (Space-Based Adventure/Awesome World-Building/Sci-Fantasy)

The Children of Dreki--N. R. Tupper
       -TYR

-Countless As The Stars--Steve Trower 
-The Secret King: Letháo--Dawn Chapman 
-The Arena--Santana Young 
-Excelsior--George Sirois 

The Chronicles of Lorrek--Kelly Blanchard
        -Someday I'll Be Redeemed 
        -I Still Have A Soul 
        -I'm Still Alive 
        -Do You Trust Me? 
        -You Left Me No Choice 
        -They Must Be Stopped 
        -Find Me If You Can

-Speaker of Words--E. G. Stone

-Broken Empire: Aftermath--E. A. Copen

-Cracks in The Tapestry--The Tapestry Group

-Abiding Flame--Pauline Creeden

The PSS Chronicles--Ripley Patton
       -Ghost Hand 
       -Ghost Hold 
       -Ghost Heart 
       -Ghost Hope

Reader's Review: "Hemlock" by Jesse Teller

Synopsis from Amazon:

The busiest pirate bay in Perilisc is newly infested with vampires. These monsters will soon overrun the world, but the Manhunters must try to stop them in secret. Agents of the king are hunting Rayph's vigilante crew. With one false step, they could all end up at a royal execution.

>>>>>>>>>

My Review:

A little over three years ago, I started this trilogy after having my introduction to grimdark fantasy well in hand, and enjoying the gratuitous use of Avengers-like superpowers in addition to all the violence and grittiness of your typical grimdark.

Then last fall I started reading the second book--and realized I'd forgotten a lot about where the story was at and what the characters were up to. I've even fallen out of reading grimdark in recent months... it just hasn't been something I've read in a while.

I think that was my first problem when approaching this book. Second, where Song was introductory, more flashy and action-oriented, bringing the readers into a world they hadn't encountered before, genre-blending in a way that few have tried... Hemlock just gets DARK. VERY QUICKLY. Perhaps even more horror-leaning with its subject matter. Last time it was sorcerers and thugs and dark alleyways. Now it's vampires and ruthless pirates and seedy brothels.

The world-building is still on-point, and the descriptions are absolutely gut-wrenching. One thing I found a little disappointing, and probably the reason it took me so long to get through it, is that it didn't do as good a job of referring back to the first book as a sequel ought to do. There was just so much going on in this book with characters that I may or may not have remembered (if indeed I was supposed to remember) from the first book, I could see how there might not have been time to rehash previous events, especially if what happened before would not necessarily be relevant to what is now current. But that just meant that only a few characters had any sort of context attached to them, and the rest, well... it was like walking into a conversation between friends that you'd only known in passing--they're carrying on like they've known each other for years, but you're stuck trying to get yourself oriented and acquainted with them. The battle scenes were suitably action-packed and there were some emotional moments in the plot that I found very touching. The torture scenes I didn't entirely appreciate. The new side character, Aaron the Marked, was a highlight of this book, and I enjoyed his arc very much.

Suffice to say, Hemlock does what it sets out to do, and for that I can rate it ****4 STARS****. I might be falling out of my initial taste for it--the glamour of the first book has worn off, it seems, and now that the story seems to be sliding down a slippery slope of increasingly savage imagery and nightmare fuel, and fewer characters I am drawn to in the main cast, I am less inclined to finish off the story--maybe things might have developed differently if I had read the whole trilogy all at once, rather than splitting it up like this.

If you're an avid fan of horror and grimdark, and things like intense gore and violence described in vivid detail don't scare you, then you might pick up the Manhunters Trilogy for a new world to explore.

Further Reading: (Epic World-Building/Vampires/Sword-And-Sorcery/Dark Fantasy)

The Chronicles of Lorrek--Kelly Blanchard
        -Someday I'll Be Redeemed 
        -I Still Have A Soul 
        -I'm Still Alive 
        -Do You Trust Me? 
        -You Left Me No Choice 
        -They Must Be Stopped 
        -Find Me If You Can 

-Herald of Autumn--J. M. Guillen

-Road Brothers--Mark Lawrence

-Diamond Stained--J. M. D. Reid

-A Change in Crime--D. R. Perry

-Immortal Codex: Petra--Cheri Lasota

-Oblivion's Forge--Simon Williams 

The Firebird Fairy Tales--Amy Kuivalainen
       -The Cry of the Firebird 
       -Ashes of the Firebird 
       -Rise of the Firebird

Tales of the Fallen--Katika Schneider
       -Devotion
       -Deception 

-Notna--J. D. Cunegan

The Upstream Reader: Ranked Reads From 2023!

Reading in 2023, all things considered, was abysmal, if I do say so myself. According to Goodreads, I only read 17 books in total, and of those 17, only 7 of them were Reader’s Reviews books. That is why I chose to divide up my usual “complete Upstream Update” post into two parts, instead of talking about all of everything on one long post. So, without further ado, here’s a ranked list of all 17 books I read in 2023!

17–A Tree of Bone and Mist by Melissa E. Beckwith

Starting off fairly strong with this one! Just your garden-variety portal fantasy with a female MC with a chip on her shoulder thrust from her mundane Montana ranch life with her domesticated pet wolf (which was never explained how she ended up with an actual wolf, not a “wolf-like dog” or even a “wolfdog”, just a straight-up wolf!) into a fantasy world where she’s somehow connected to the lost royal family and possessing special powers and hence all the evil forces that would like to have said power for themselves are all gunning for her and she has to find her footing and get to safety even though nothing in this new world is remotely safe because she has no idea where things are or what she’s supposed to be doing… it was a trip, the world-building was awesome, but it just didn’t hit me in the fantasy feels. To read my full review, follow >this linked text<

16–What The Chat Dragged In by Cyn Mackley

With as much as I really enjoyed the Goode-Grace Mysteries, I was hoping to put this a little higher on the list… but with all things considered, and how few books are on this list in the first place, this isn’t half bad! It carries Mackley’s signature charm in her main characters and the pages of tantalizing food that’s introduced throughout the adventure–but I think the thing that sort of downgraded it for me was the subject matter.

FMC is a federal forensic investigator, so she sees (and thus the reader “sees”) a lot of really sick and twisted stuff… and MMC turns out to be a survivor of abuse and trauma himself, so while on the one hand it makes for a really sweet story of being vulnerable and trusting one another… on the other, it’s a lot of secondhand trauma for the reader to experience, albeit in a fictional book with fictional characters! To read my full review, click on >this linked text<

15–A Change in Crime by D. R. Perry

Not my first vampire novel, but my first time reading this indie author! Don’t get the wrong idea about its placement on this list… yes, it’s not a “top 10”, but the 4.5-star rating should speak for itself.

In fact, if you want a more in-depth review of this book, follow >this linked text< for my full Reader’s Review.

14–The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

I was a little excited to find the whole Bourne trilogy at a book sale a couple years ago, thinking of how much I enjoyed the movies and wanting to see how the books compared.
Imagine my surprise to learn that the film trilogy had very little to do with the book trilogy at all! Movie Bourne is innocent, instinctual, young, with an altruistic streak. Book Bourne feels much older, is more jaded, more traumatized, and seems to just react to things with little thought except for how it might benefit him. Movie Bourne goes on the run because he wants to find out the truth of himself and he wants out of the life he finds attached to his name; Book Bourne is on the run because he wants to escape the truth of himself, but he cannot escape all the trauma and baggage attached to his current identity. Almost as if Movie Bourne finds his aim to seek out and establish a new iteration of “Bourne”, the independent citizen, while Book Bourne is obsessed with finding any sense of “Identity”, and that becomes his driving motivation, whatever rises against him. 
Still rather interesting though, and I’d keep reading the trilogy, now that I know it is completely separate from the film trilogy’s arc. 

13–Saturday The Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemmelman

The second book in the delightful Jewish-centric cozy mysteries my grandma recommended and gifted to me! I’m quite enjoying this series, Rabbi David Small is just the right mix of Poirot and Father Tim from the Mitford series: more American than European Poirot, but also heavily integrated into the relatively small community like Father Tim. He leads his synagogue with studious grace, and yet he’s not so steeped in the religious traditions like some of the other synagogue leaders that he misses important details and changes among the people. 

This time, it’s the middle of a Yom Kippur fast, and a man is found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage–but the Rabbi happens to notice that the car wasn’t on by the time the police arrived, which means someone had to have turned it off before the man was dead… and what does this stranger have to do with an ailing wealthy Jew and a pharmaceutical testing lab where the man supposedly used to work? Can Rabbi Small put the pieces together before the members of the temple board find grounds to fire him as their Rabbi?
It’s quaint, it’s fun, and it lays out all the clues beautifully before matching them to their respective part of the solution as a whole.

12–The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

I’ll say it, I’m a fan of Ruth Ware. While this wasn’t her best work, there’s just something poignant about reading a book about a travel writer embarking on a North Sea cruise where nothing is as it seems, while sitting on a beach in Hawaii. Yes, I brought this one along with me on our beach vacation–and it was well worth it. What started out as an innocent moment of “I forgot which cabin door was mine” turned dark very quickly when the titular Woman of Cabin 10 disappears on the same night the travel writer is convinced she saw someone toss a body overboard… but when all the guests are accounted for, and no evidence of the woman she’d seen the night before, how can she prove what she saw? There were some parts I was easily able to predict, and probably a savvy reader will pick up on the clues much quicker than I did–but if you’re looking for a beach-read or a titillating mystery to entertain you while on vacation–this is definitely a good one!

11–"V" is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton

I can’t believe I’m almost finished with this series! While yes, there are 4 more letters of the alphabet, unfortunately the author passed away shortly after releasing the book for “X”, and so the final book is letter “Y”--which means I have only 3 books to go and I’ve finished this series that I started literally 10 years ago. 

This one had a lot of flashbacks, as Kinsey starts out investigating a potential shoplifter she busts who might be part of an organized ring connected to the Mob, and gets embroiled in the death of a woman who ostensibly jumped–or was thrown–off a bridge. A lot of the story is told through flashbacks of the woman’s point of view of the circumstances that led to her ending up on that bridge, and also the Mob family’s point of view, so Kinsey is more of an additional or backup player in the whole narrative, but it’s interesting, the latest in a long line of plots that manage to be distinct and intriguing enough to keep one guessing all the way through!

10–The Seven Towers by Patricia C. Wrede

This was one I found at the same book sale I bought the Bourne trilogy at, and I was excited because it looked really intriguing and I remembered how much I’d enjoyed Wrede’s take on Snow White and Rose Red. 
The ensuing adventure was entertaining enough in the moment, but even now as I write this I’m struggling to remember any stand-out parts. The magic system was pretty cool, and the conflicts were suitably devious, if I recall… but that’s about it. A nice, fun sword-and-sorcery novel that I can recommend to friends if they’re interested in that sort of thing. (Although really, if they’re into sword-and-sorcery, there is a whole indie series I think I’d rather recommend over this one!)

9–Moonblood by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Now that we’re solidly in the top ten, I’m feeling many more memories of the individual stories coming back! Like this one, a tale in which a goblin princess is trying to remain in exile from her manipulative father, while there’s conflict with the human kingdom brewing that may yet give the Goblin King power over that kingdom while he waits for his daughter to inevitably fall within his clutches again…

There’s just something so ethereal and enchanting about the way Stengl writes that never fails to drag me in and captivate me, no matter how long it’s been since I’ve read the previous book in the series!

8–Undying Light by Aurora Wildey

This one was quite fun! A random contact through my author page netted me an advance copy of this new release, and I quite enjoyed it more than anticipated! I'm not usually a fan of PNR (paranormal romance) because it’s always the angsty immortal that can’t keep himself in check around the innocent, naive mortal… but come to find out, she’s got secrets of her own!

For a full review of this book, click on >this linked text<.

7–Sahara by Clive Cussler

Yet another book I picked up because of how much I enjoyed the movie adaptation–but unlike The Bourne Identity, this adaptation at least managed to hit the highlights of the original plot!

Most of the main cast is still there, and although the book descriptions differed greatly from the actors’ appearances a lot of the time, I had no trouble inserting the actor into my “headcanon” anyhow! Yes, I did roll my eyes at the over-campy descriptions of Dirk Pitt (small wonder McConaughey was drawn to the role!) and I found myself giggling at Cussler’s own self-insert scene… but it was a pretty well-told story itself, and I enjoyed going even deeper into the lore and the technical aspects that the movie could only gloss over!

6–The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness

Two books down, one more to go and I’ve completed the trilogy! (Whereupon I will be ready to watch the film! Although I have little hope that it will be anything like what I’ve been reading) Ness is a fantastic author and I kind of like the unorthodox, nearly-stream-of-consciousness style he’s adopted for this series. The plot development is fascinating, I wish Prentiss would die in a hole and never come back, and I’m really invested in the survival of both Olivia and Todd at this point!

5–King of Hearts by Patricia Loofbourrow

You’d think I’d be a little bored with a book that deals in courtroom trial scenes almost the whole time, in the midst of a series with such phenomenal world-building, superb characters, and an intriguing plot that keeps me on my toes the whole time. But no, this book caught me in a time when I was watching a lot of random scenes and episodes of Law & Order: SVU. Didn’t bore me a bit! For my full review, follow >this linked text here<.

4–The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz

Booyah! I found this on a library shelf when I was least expecting it! This series is turning out much longer than I expected–but I am not at all mad! Yes, I’m talking about the Gratuitously Self-Insertionist Inspector Hawthorne series. This time, “Tony” is invited to the performance of a play he himself wrote, and not long after, one of the actors is found murdered, and the only prints on the murder weapon belong to Horowitz himself! He’s got to find Hawthorne (they’d parted on bad terms after the last adventure) and beg the inspector to exonerate him, before Scotland Yard puts him behind bars for “finally committing that perfect crime he’s always writing about in his books.” It’s hilarious, there are so many Princess Bride references, and there’s hints at the end of more to come, so I’m here for it!

3–The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman

This series continues to surprise and delight me! It was very fun getting back into it after it being a while since I read The Masked City. Irene and Kai are still dealing with shifty Fae and overly-scrupulous Dragons–and this one is probably my fastest-read of 2023 (from what I can tell… it’s hard to know sometimes on Goodreads when you’re inconsistent with your “Currently Reading” status, as I am!). Irene has to find answers and stop Alberich from destroying the Library from within–all while not knowing who she can trust, and who has been turned against their own organization, threatening the stability of all worlds in the Library’s network. It was very enjoyable!

2–The Wendy by Erin Michelle Sky

And here we are at the Best Featured Indie Read of 2023! I love a good retelling–and this one had a unique take on Peter Pan lore that I really enjoyed! To read the complete review, click on >this linked text<.

1–Supernova by Marissa Meyer

And finally, the Best Read of 2023! This trilogy was absolutely masterful. I loved the uniqueness of the powers, both their strengths and the limitations presented with each. The character development was excellent, and the build up matched with the payoff every time! I am immensely satisfied with how this series turned out, and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a YA superhero-themed series!

So there you have it, my Ranked Reading List of 2023. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to finish even more books in 2024! What was your favorite (or Top 3!) from 2023? What are you looking forward to reading in 2024? Let me know in the comments!