Dragons, Maps, and Quite an Adventure

Here, There Be Dragons
By James A. Owen

A dark and stormy night, three men are brought together, reeling from an unexpected murder. Adventures comes calling when a strange man comes to tell them they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica - a large book filled with maps of imaginary lands. Soon after they are persued by shadowy figures and are forces to board a ship that proves the imaginary lands are anything but.

Having been on my radar for a long while, mainly because of the dragon element, my best friend started reading this and announced I must immediately do so as well.

Every chapter there was a new twist, a new character inspired by age-old stories, and of course, a cliff hanger ending at every end. It is impossible to stop reading this delightful story. Action packed with compelling main characters and hilarious dialogue, I recommend to anyone who wants an old-fashioned, fairy-tale adventure story.

Owen rips off a multitude of stories and, surprisingly, I was bothered not one iota. The author gives us reasons for it and I fully accept them. Because of this reconfiguring of tales I was given that cozy, bed-time story nostalgia feeling the entire time I was reading it. The kind of feeling where you could hear yourself being read to by a beloved family member, curled up under a fluffy blanket, perhaps by a roaring fire.

John, our main protagonist, is fresh from The Great War (WWI) and is plagued by self-doubt and the memories of his fallen comrades. Jack, the youngest, is bright-eyed and energetic ready for any adventure. Charles is our constant - steady and unchanging, quiet and unassuming, but none-the-less important.

Most importantly, this book never lagged. Each chapter was an adventure unto itself. The story is bursting with borrowed and original creativity.

I was lucky enough to read the edition with illustrations, by the author himself. They added that charming old-world element like the old books with illustration plates. 

As I read this I thought, this book is perfect for older readers as much as it is perfect for the younger. The older reader can read this and experience the nostalgic feeling as they encounter much-beloved characters and hints at borrowed plot lines from a host of legendary stories. For a younger reader, this may be the first time they are meeting these characters or stories, thus when they encounter the original they might experience a backward nostalgia for this book from their childhood. That is the magic of this tale.

Bring on book two.

5/5 STARS

THERE ARE DRAGONS!

Book-Tube-a-Thon 2015

!ANOTHER BOOK-aTHON!

Hi Book-Sniffers and Librocubicularists,

The Book-Tube-a-Thon starts tomorrow Aug 3rd and runs until Aug 9th.

The 7 Challenges

Read....
1. a book with blue on the cover
2. an author with the same first initial of last name as you. For me 'P'
3. someone else's favourite book
4. last book acquired (library, haul, borrowed...)
5. a book without letting go until it's finished (hold it until it's done)
6. a book you REALLY want to read
7. 7 books

Instead of giving myself a TBR, which I tend to derail anyway, I've got a stack of book and I'll pull from them as I will. All I've decided on is that for challenge #5 I will read a graphic book. Don't know what one yet though!

Good luck to all participating!!! 

TBR TAKEDOWN 2.0 - Wrap-Up

Hi Book-Sniffers and Librocubicularists,

TBR Takedown 2.0 has come to a close. I am very pleased with my results.

4 books finished, 5-ish challenges completed. Oh yeah!

1. A first in a series.
2. A sequel
3. A book that's been on your bookshelf for more than a year.
4. Out of comfort zone.
5. A book from most recent bookhaul.

Completed books:

Burial Rites
By Hannah Kent
Pages: 314
Challenges: 3, 4
TBR: Yes


Not exactly a happy summer book. This follows the events of the last execution in Iceland. The character who is accused of murder is compelling and it was very VERY good.

I read this during a thunderstorm. Perfect mood weather.

4/5 STARS

It's Not Summer Without You (II) By Jenny Han

Pages: 276 

Challenges: 2

TBR: Yes

Review to come. Also not a happy summer book... hmmmm....

4/5 STARS



A Court of Thorns and Roses
By Sarah J. Maas
Pages: 416
Challenges: 1

TBR: Not for this year, but I wanted to read it.

Yeah, remember when I talked about not following a plan. This book. I had nightmares this book would be awful. It wouldn't let me sleep. I had to read it. Thankfully, it was fantastic. Maas's writing is superb.

Review to come.

5/5 STARS



And Then There Were None
By Agatha Christie
Pages: 300

Challenges: 4, 5
TBR: Bookclub 

From a library haul (totally counts, right?). My first Agatha Christie book! What a fantastic, yet creepy, one to start with. Gripping. I hit a point where I had to finish and find out who dunnit. The creepy part of this book is that people are being murdered as the book is read. *shudders* I stayed up until 2am reading this and then couldn't fall asleep. Whoops.

5/5 STARS

Pauper Prince

The False Prince
By Jennifer A. Nielsen

Sage lives in an orphanage. He steals so he can eat. Around him, the kingdom begins moving toward war, though he doesn't know it yet. One day, a nobleman named Connor, takes him away from the orphanage along with three other boys. Connor's plan for them is as treasonous as it it is insane and Sage can't figure out if he's on board or not.

Now this was a fun find. I saw someone reading one of the sequels and I asked to see the book, as I turned to read the insert she grabbed it from me immediately and said, "No spoilers!". Thank goodness she saved me from that because I would have been spoiled for the fun turns this book takes.

In terms of the title, (and my own post title), I fully expected this to be a retelling of "The Prince and the Pauper". Delightfully surprised that it is not and is instead a fresh fantasy story.

Characterwise, I enjoyed each of the people we encounter. At first, I was thrown off by the very rare first person point of view. Normally fantasy is told in third. No matter, 30 pages in I was into the story. I liked Sage. He rebels just enough and we have his internal reasoning so it doesn't come from out of nowhere.

Worldwise, the kingdom is lacking. To be fair, it's a short book, meant for a younger audience, and they spend most of their time at Mr. Nobleman-Connor's digs. We aren't given much of the world. But it was enjoyable all the same.

I think I'd like to continue the series, slowly but surely, and see if the world expands.

4/5 STARS

Classroom: Yes, definitely. It would be a great read-aloud. Some violence, beating-interrogation.

Always Pretty Summer Read

The Summer I Turned Pretty
By Jenny Han

Belly (yes, that's her name) spends every summer with her family and her mom's friend's family at a beach house. Every summer has always been magical, this summer things unexpectedly change.

There's boys in this book! Even better, two brothers, so the reader gets to try and figure out who Belly will eventually fall for.

I devoured this apple-pie book in an evening. Picked it up and next thing I knew, two hours later, I felt all warm and cozy and immediately wanted to pick up book two.

Loveable characters; a wonderful summer world; a plot to keep you turning pages until the end. It's a great summer read. Belly is relateable and makes silly mistakes, but believeable mistakes, ones we can pardon her for. The boys, on the other hand, I am actually torn. They're framed on the surface as "good boy" vs "bad boy" but they aren't really. I think I enjoyed that part of it. I will always choose the "good boy".

They talk about beach reads. This is a perfect one. Enjoy!

3/5 STARS