Category: Reading Reflections
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A Discussion of Narrative Style: Exploring 1st Person PoV in Fantasy
I’d heard a lot about The Cruel Prince by Holly Black in the months prior to me purchasing the novel (which was way back in March if I remember correctly). It’s taken me a while to get to it because I can’t seem to stop myself from buying books this year, but I finally got…
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RBR: The Fires of Vengeance, Wings of Ebony, Our Dark Duet, etc.
I’m excited to say that, after half a year of waiting, I’ve finally finished the second books of two series that had me hyped last year. Those being: The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter, part of a four-book series called the Burning; and Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab, the conclusion to the Monsters…
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RBR: Tell The Truth and Shame the Devil, Malice, Call Down the Hawk, The Gilded Ones, The Magician King
Welcome to another rapid book review. It’s been about a month since I’ve done one of these so I have several books to get through. The first one was an audiobook. The rest were physical copies. All but the audiobook were fantasy novels, so if you’re looking for some fantasy recommendations, you’re in luck. We…
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Book Review: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle was one of those formative fantasy series that really began my obsession for the genre. I remember seeing that blue dragon on the cover way back in middle school, and it drew me in the same way that the bow and arrow drew me in for Kristin Cashore’s work. Like Cashore’s…
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Rapid Book Review: Fate of the Fallen, Scythe, This Golden Flame
Well, we are long overdue for a few book reviews, I think. But even though I finished Scythe a few weeks ago, I wanted to have This Golden Flame finished before I did another RBR. And, for reasons you’ll find below, it took me a little longer than anticipated to get through the book. So,…
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Setting Study: Scythe and Utopias
In the time since The Hunger Games, young adult literature has been mesmerized with dystopias. Neal Shusterman tries to take dystopia back to its more perfect, idealistic roots with the creation of Scythe. Of course, the nature of stories require conflict, and utopias, by definition, shouldn’t, which means that today we’re going to be looking…
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Stories Within Stories: A Consideration of Novel Structure (Cloud Atlas, Starless Sea, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler)
Stories are funny things. Character, setting, and plot get all twisted together to create something magical, capable of transporting the reader out of the present and into some fictional place of curious make-believe. It’s a fickle process, too. Books that shouldn’t work can sometimes turn out to be biggest craze of the season. Other times,…
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Romance Reading Challenge Wrap-Up
Romance. A genre filled with characters chasing after that ever-elusive thing called love, filled with cheesy lines and instalove and vain attempts to rewrite destinies. Or is it? I should start with a bit of a disclaimer, I suppose. This is a blog dedicated to the fantasy genre, most especially those written for the older…
Katie Bachelder 