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 … More Setting Study: Scythe and Utopias
Most of my regulars on the blog are presumably avid fantasy readers like myself, but my romance reading challenge has made me wonder what books I might recommend for those who aren’t. After all, fantasy can certainly be an intimidating genre to step into. It’s incredibly difficult to find standalone novels, or to find books … More 15 Fantasy Books For The Curious Reader
The launch date of Kristin Cashore’s newest, Winterkeep, passed with only a small level of hype. It was that same Saturday that I truly couldn’t wait for, because that’s when the book would arrive at my house and I could finally, finally, start reading it. Then came the age-old struggle of wanting to take it … More Book Review: Winterkeep (!!)
When Jane, Unlimited was announced, I waited for it as eagerly as we now wait for Winterkeep. At least according to my shelf history on Goodreads, I was held in suspense for almost a year before I was able to get my hands on it and start reading. I remember my disappointment well enough; it … More Patching Up Jane, Unlimited
Here we are! The third and final published book in the Graceling Realm series. If you’re new, here’s what I’ve been doing: to commemorate the upcoming release of Winterkeep, I decided to reread the entire series. I was originally planning on doing Top Ten list of the whole series, but found it was almost impossible … More Top Ten Moments in Kristin Cashore’s Bitterblue!
Welcome back, guys! For those of you who don’t know, with the Graceling Realm getting a fourth installment, I thought it high time for another full series reread. And because book reviews are dull and pointless for events such as this, I decided to do something else instead. I’ve already done a top ten moments … More Top Ten Moments in Kristin Cashore’s Graceling!
When someone first begins writing books, one of the first things they learn is that page count is far, far less important on the writing end of novels than it is for the reading end. Books are rarely the same dimensions, whether that be in length, height, or both. Line spacing, margins, font and font … More Discussing Fantasy Word Counts
I can’t really do a review of a book I’ve read so many times, I’ve lost count. But I can tell you all the moments, both Big and Small (that’s a book reference, see?), that continue to blow me away, moments that I’m always looking forward to reading. Obviously, spoilers abound. This should be fun … More Top Ten Moments in Fire By Kristin Cashore
Back in May, we got one of the few pieces of good news that 2020 has to offer: the Graceling Realm series isn’t over. A new book is going to be released in early 2021, called Winterkeep. You can find all of the initial information in my blog post, plus some of my expectations for … More The Winterkeep Cover Reveal!!
Romance. It sounds a bit extreme to say a romance subplot can make or break a novel, but the truth is, they can. In YA fantasy, especially, relationships are often either too insta-lovey, abusive, or both. Admittedly, most romance subplots, I’ll just read over and ignore, not feeling the chemistry between the love interests. Sometimes, … More My Five Favorite YA Fantasy Relationships (And What Makes Them So Good)
Katie Bachelder 