Welcome to Litsy!

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

1) stripes - love stripes

2) no, finished the last library book (audiobook) while preparing lunch today; tagged

@RaeLovesToRead mentioned the second book in the series some time ago and I thought I should check out the first.

I liked it, but it took me a long time to get into it and finish it. I had the impression that it took until past the halfway mark to introduce the many different characters, their backgrounds, and building this slightly alternate Victorian world.

I'll pick up the second book, somewhen 😉

#SeriesLove2024 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

The latest added to the TBR pile 😁

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView ?
Thanks for the tag @Yuki_Onna ?

1) I have the Platinum on Crash Bandicoot. Oh man, is this my crowning achievement? ?

2) I just finished a book about children with various gifts, who are known as "talents". Tagged!

Gahh, I don't know how to rate this one. It's a direct 3.5/5 and I usually like to round up or down.

Sprawling, sci fi Victoriana adventure novel. All the ingredients that are right up my street, but something was missing.

The structure is a complete shambles which knocks the pacing off kilter. And yet, I cared and am annoyed I have to wait for the sequel.

I'd probably have enjoyed it more on Kindle or in paperback because OW MY WRISTS.

Procrastinating by making book videos...

If you wanna hear me ramble on about my favourite cover aesthetic and show you some tasty examples, click here:

https://youtu.be/L6LPG_GWJFg?feature=shared

If you wanna hear me review The Last Murder at the End of the World, click here:

https://youtu.be/97wsvd8JJsM?feature=shared

(I think I might drop Stuart Turton a message to let him know I'm tirelessly promoting him like a superfan 🤣)

My copy of Ordinary Monsters is so enormous that I am considering buying a Kindle copy because it's so hard to hold up 😅

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I'm going to be 100% honest here and admit I did get bogged down in the middle of this book and put it down for a little while. But, when I came back to it, I devoured the rest of the book in about a day, so I think it was a mood thing.

There's no denying this one is dark, but the way it keeps you questioning good and evil and what it means to be monstrous take it beyond just a dark tale into something special.

This started very strong, it‘s sort of X-Men in the Victorian era. This first third was great, though there were a few moments some additional edits could help. Where the book lost me was when it jumped to a different timeline and set of characters and the pacing became a slog. I was so bored, so sadly I am DNFing this one at 50%. I think this could benefit from additional edits, there is no reason for this to be so long.

Todays audiobook 🎧

Starting this tonight! It sure is a chunkster!!

It‘s the 1880s & from London to the US, children with special “talents”—invisibility, weaving dust into weapons, healing—are being hunted by a man made of smoke. They are offered sanctuary & training by the director of an elite institute who also promises to keep them safe…and yet, not everything is as it seems, & as always, if it seems too good to be true, it likely is. Truth, friendship, life/death are all in play in this dark, engaging fantasy.

Yeah, I think this is nature‘s way of telling me I should stay inside with a chunkster this weekend. Fortunately, I happen to have one ready to go! I hope everyone is staying warm today because wow is it cold outside!!!🥶

I liked the setting and the over all atmosphere, but around page 400 I lost interest. It‘s just too long and slow. After I‘ve learned that there is going to be a sequel, I basically just skimmed the last pages.

#OrdinaryMonsters #fantasy

#ScarathlonDailyPrompt Black #TeamMonsterMash #Scarathlon2022

The first in a fantasy series about orphans with magical powers in Victorian England. I enjoyed this one and it was a promising start to the series with good world-building and lots of interesting characters. A little long though maybe?

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

Thanks for the tag @Meshell1313 —a little late but here goes:

1. Tagged book is definitely the most recent…or at least one of them 😬
2. Favorite book in August is Once Upon a River and it‘s not even close. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me
3. Top 3 favorite places I‘ve travelled to—this is hard but I‘ll go with Egypt, France and Hawaii

Got some great stuff at the farmer's market earlier! Croissants, cheese, cherries, peaches, and apple cider doughnuts! 😋 Pairing them up with my current read makes for a great Saturday! 💕📚🥐

This is a tough book to rate. In parts I was quite bored, but in others, I found the storytelling gripping. There are a lot of characters, but with a couple of exceptions, they feel distinct and have their own voices. I found the shifting motivations of some of them confusing and maybe a little too convenient for the plot. The ending sets things up for a sequel (I hope that's not a spoiler), but I'm not sure I would choose to read one. Low pick.

Today was the first day of the first summer class I'm teaching, and I decided to walk the 3+ miles to and from work. On the way home, I didn't worry as much about getting dusty, so I took the dirt walking trail. It was just hot enough that I really appreciated the shade. Audiowalked with the tagged novel both directions. I'm liking the book better than I had been, but it still feels a little interminable.

#AudioColoring

It might just be me, but this book had trouble holding my attention. Parts of it were action packed and original, but the characters didn't strike me as fully fleshed out and I thought it was longer than necessary. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it better in print instead of audio. Anyway, I did color this flowery cat, among other things, which was relaxing.

Onwukwe does an incredible job narrating the events of Ordinary Monsters. The pace was a little slow but the voices of the characters are so well done and narration was suspenseful at just the right times. I feel that my enjoyment was added to by listening to the audiobook. Sometimes I will read some of a novel without listening, often due to circumstances, but I did not skip a single second of this audiobook because it was just that good.⁣⁣

Last one. My June GSFF arrived today! It‘s so pretty & girthy! The stenciled feathers on the edges are stunning. It came with a cool leather bookmark. Signed & numbered.

Love it!

#GSFF #OrdinaryMonsters #Miro

I'm currently on the last several days of three weeks of travel. I haven't gotten a lot of reading done, but I did manage to listen to some of the tagged book this morning before hiking to this waterfall in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. One more state before we fly home. It's been fun, but it will feel so nice to be back home for a while (even though I have SO MUCH to do when I get back).

Today must have been bookish mail day because my Goldsboro June book arrived today too! 🥰📚💕 I'm really excited for this one, because I keep hearing great things about it! Plus, it's a lot longer than I thought - look how chunky it is! And aren't those page edges gorgeous?! 😱 #goldsboro

This is the kind of book I occasionally enjoy, and that proved to be the case. A group of mysterious adults is searching for kids with particular talents to protect them from a nefarious other. But some things aren‘t what they seem. This was a bit slow to develop and a bit derivative in places (strong HP vibes), but I enjoyed it. A low pick for me.

I'm finalizing our summer road trip audiobook list and was wondering if Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro would be a good family listen for spouse, two teens, and me. The description seems like something we'd like (fans of Neil Gaiman & The Umbrella Academy), but I nixed Lev Grossman's The Magicians because of at least one scene that I think would be...awkward to listen to as a family. Swearing is fine, but sexy stuff and gore get iffy.

Thoughts?

Set in an alternate version of our world with Talents- those possessing of seemingly miraculous abilities like manipulating dust, growing stronger or quick healing, this start to an epic new fantasy is utterly absorbing! The audio performance is truly stellar (though I would like to know the spellings of some of the characters names!), & hits all the right notes from the accents, to the eerie, sepulcher scenes to the action & moments of sweetness!

🎧 it was supposed to be the year of the short book due to chronic reading slumpage. SO many pages 😫

This book is all over the place!! 1882 Victorian London gives this story an awesome Dickinsonian vibe to begin with but it visits Chicago, Scotland, Tokyo …

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👇🏻

#NetGalley #AudioARC

When historical fantasy is done well it is one of the most satisfying genres to read. J.M. Miro has created a world full of magic and monsters set in Victorian times. This book has a large cast of characters and lots of action going on. Kids with special "talents" are being hunted. There's an underlying darkness to this tale that made my horror loving mind happy and mixed with the adventure and fantasy made it a perfect read.

I just got an email from Goodreads...I won a copy of this book!!!! 😍😍😍

I've been using #NetGalley for almost a year now and I've never gotten so many books I requested before. I was excited to see all of these added to my account today. I really need to get to reading. 😁

I also picked up True Biz and the new Gilgamesh translation at the library today.

Wow! I wasn‘t sure what to expect + I was a bit hesitant because of its size (656 pages) as I feared there‘d be a lot of filler. But this is an immersive, dark, sweeping epic fantasy where not one page is wasted. What I liked best was the grayness of the story—who is a villain, who is a hero, who is a monster? I was constantly questioning the characters‘ motivations. I can‘t wait to see where Moro takes this trilogy.

#almostachunkster #ARC

Welcome back #thoughtfulthursday 🎉

1. Tagged (ARC), Night Soldiers (paperback) + Part of Your World (audio)

2. Not really except I‘m more likely to read outside on warm days 🌞

3. All the trees with their green buds & baby leaves. I love the fresh green of spring! 💚

Thanks for the tag @KatieDid927 & @TheSpineView 💜😘💜

#wondrouswednesday

1. I have enjoyed book clubs before but I‘m not currently a member of one. I prefer in-person. I like the idea of buddy reads but I‘m terrible at them! 😆

2. I like broader themes since I‘m a mood reader. Like the theme for #WyrdAndWonder this year is forest fantasy.

3. The tagged (ARC), Night Soldiers (paperback), Part of Your World (audio), What You Wish For (library)

Thanks for the tag Lisa!

Super excited to dive into this ARC!

Plus I love that the letter came in a wax sealed envelope. Such a great detail!

J.M. Miro has woven a remarkable tale here. One that, despite its length (almost 700 pages), never failed to captivate me. Not a single word in this stands as filler. I fell in love with these characters and even found myself, at the very least, feeling sympathy for the more villainous ones. That‘s how finely nuanced everyone is in this book.

My full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4501345867

“She‘d seen too many kids in that chair, hurt over and over by the world, until their hurting and their being hurt no longer seemed shameful at all. Those were the ones that worried her.”