Tag: Mythology

Books

Book 924: Tell Me Our Story – Anyta Sunday

Geoff W

Book cover of "Tell Me Our Story" with Amazon Affiliate linkAfter reading Anyta Sunday’s adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels I knew I wanted to try one of her other contemporary novels without the Austen framework so when this arrived in my inbox I requested a copy of it.*

Tell Me Our Story is the tale of uptight, heavily burdened Jonathan, who stayed in his hometown to care for his younger sibling (gender-neutral, never clearly stated but doesn’t have to be) after their parents died, and David O’Hara, who fled town when they were younger because of his dad and, as we ultimately learn, Jonathan. They’re in some sort of social media competition and that’s the premise of the novel.

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Books

Book 866: Under the Whispering Door – T.J. Klune

Geoff W

Book cover of "Under the Whispering Door" with Amazon Affiliate linkAfter loving everything I’ve read by Klune so far it was obvious I was going to read this. And then, when it appeared on NetGalley AND I was approved, I had to sit on it for SO. MANY. MONTHS.* It was 100% worth the wait.

Having not read any of Klune’s “adult” books, this one feels more mature than his superhero books (The Extraordinaries and Flash Fire) or The House in the Cerulean Sea. Most of this is directly because there are no young adult characters and this deals so much with the topics of death and grief. And it brings up so many philosophical ideas about life and death that I’m sure I still missed plenty.

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Books

Book 447: The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #6) – Michael Scott

Geoff W

Scott, Michael - The EnchantressAs with The Warlock, I wish I had as much enthusiasm and glowing things to say about this book as I did the first time I read it. I picked up this copy way back in 2013 and it’s sat on my shelf since then. I’m glad I’ve re-read them so I can clear up the shelf space now. (I didn’t even technically read it this time as I checked out digital copies from the library to take to China to save space :-D)

It is still a great read and an amazing conclusion to the series, but it’s just not as full of impact or as powerful as I remember it being. This is because of the big reveals in The Warlock that I wrote about at the end and how that reveal is then discussed and explained (and even sort of thrown away) in this book. For me, it’s the reveal I talk about in the next paragraph that made the re-read so hard. It’s one of those things, similar to an unreliable narrator, that is just a major turn off for me when it comes to a book.

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Books

Book 446: The Warlock (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #5) – Michael Scott

Geoff W

The Warlock - Michael ScottNow that we’re to the final two books in the series, I have something to refer back to. As I mentioned when I responded to The Alchemyst, I’ve previously responded to The Warlock and The Enchantress. The Warlock was Book 49! That’s almost 400 books ago in the life of this blog. WHOA.

All I have to say, upon re-reading my response, is wow what naivety! What youth! What excitement! I’m clearly a bit more jaded on this re-read and I did NOT re-read every book again before each book was released, but I do still agree with the fact that the books were a bit thin on subject matter even though they took place over only a matter of days. There’s things missing that I think would’ve been great to include and there are things included (multiple times in some cases) that I was not interested in.

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Books

Book 445: The Necromancer (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #4) – Michael Scott

Geoff W

Scott, Michael - The Necromancer (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #4)Just a head’s up some of the things I talk about in this book may be from The Warlock, my quotes got merged and I’m still not sure what was in which book because I re-read them so fast.

One of the things you have to be careful of reading this series is that Scott doesn’t throw away names. Even the minor characters that he only mentions in passing are incredibly important and historical factual philosophers, warriors and politicians (or at least the immortals are). From ancient Chinese philosophers to British authors (I forgot to mention Shakespeare last post), Scott must’ve mined history for so many of the characters he uses/mentions.

In this book, Sophie and Josh’s life/world not only falls apart, but it is mercilessly ripped apart. Their eyes are opened to a number of things which begin the processes that end the series. These processes and the truths/lies they reveal are what had me hesitant about re-reading the series. They’re WONDERFUl the first time you read the series, but going back to the series it makes them a bit less so.

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