August Wrap-Up (2017)

What a month! I read quite a lot, both ebooks, physical books, library books… I didn’t think I would read that much actually, a lot of those had more than 400 pages! But since I really wanted to make the most of this last month of vacation, I guess I reached my goal! I also watched some tvshows like Marvel’s Defenders, the third season of Voltron on Netflix, I caught up on My Hero Academia… Short ones but I’m glad I took the time. I also posted some reviews, and I’m pretty happy about those!

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1) Damsel to the Rescue (The Darkhorse Saga #1), by Kaia Sønderby 
Since I loved Failure to communicate and the prequel novellas, I felt I needed to read this book as well. While I didn’t love Damsel to the rescue as much, it was still a very great story with an amazing premise. In this world, princes are expected to sit still and look pretty, while Damsel are to go and rescue them when they are kidnapped. The main character here isn’t interested in being a Damsel like the women in her family and is happy with who she is : a plant mage. Still, to get the piece of land she wants, she has to go and rescue a prince anyway. The cast of characters quikly grew and I loved them all!

2) Assassin’s Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy #1), by Robin Hobb
I re-read the book since a group of friends (@hobbsquad) decided to host a readalong on instagram and I thought it was the perfect occasion to get back into these books that I love, while pacing myself with the 1book/month pace they decided. I strongly recommend the Realm of the Elderlings series (starting with the Farseer Trilogy) to everyone who loves fantasy with a dash of magic and more more dragons as books go by, and who wants to witness amazing character development.

3) Ennemis (Dreamland #17), by Reno Lemaire
Meh, un peu déçue car il ne se passe pas grand chose. À vouloir nous faire suivre trop de personnages on perd le fil et un tome qu’on attend depuis an an se retrouve décevant, sans grande substance (et plus rien sur leur vie hors de Dreamland). Ce tome me laisse sur ma faim, j’oublie qui est qui à force et c’est un peu too much. Espérons que le prochain soit mieux!

4) Some Kind of Happiness, by Claire Legrand 
Wow I REALLY loved this book, it is described as a Middle Grade book, but it is still highly relatable, with a great balance betweet Finley’s life and inner struggle and her fantasy-like stories of the Everwoods. I think so far this is the best book about depression and anxiety I have ever read.
My review

5) The Tea Dragon Society, by Katie O’Neill
eARC from Netgalley
This short graphic novel was so sweet, nice and pure. This is the perfect read if you need a smile and cute magical creatures. I want a Tea Dragon ❤
Review coming in September!

6) Zaï zaï zaï zaï, by Fabcaro
J’ai pleuré de rire, c’était incroyable. L’histoire improbable d’un auteur de BD qui oublie sa carte de fidélité et se retrouve traqué par la police, tout ceci prenant des proportions médiatique énorme. Pas rigolé forcément à toute les pages (une blague suicide, une blague pédophilie…), mais la grande majorité m’a bien fait rire. Bien contente que mon copain ai emprunté cette BD à la bibli!

7) Chameleon Moon (Chameleon Moon #1), by RoAnna Sylver 
This book was lovely and so inclusive! The was a huge diversity of characters, some great magical powers and an interesting setting of a burning city. I was expecting a bit more regarding the plot but it was still a very enjoyable read. I’ll definitely read the sequel one of these days.

8) Good Angel (Good Angel Duology #1), by A.M. Blaushild 
eARC from the author
A fun cute novel set in a university for angels and demons, a young angel too nice for her own good, the apocalypse (maybe!)… While not perfect, this was a great read.
My review

9) Daughter Of The Forest (Sevenwaters #1), by Juliet Marillier
If this hadn’t been recommended to me by a large number of people, I don’t think I would have picked it up on my own. There’s the evil stepmother trope and the “falling in love with kidnapper” one, which I usually try to avoid at all cost. BUT this retelling of an ancient Celtic legend was actually a very engaging read. The pace is quite slow, but I loved it, and so is the romance which was really nice. A guy who respect and ask for consent is always A+.
While I really liked the book, I came across this comment (lots of spoilers) that really made me see the story and its themes in a whole different way. I guess it’s a great book to have discussions over.
Trigger Warning: graphic and violent rape scene, trauma

10) Ascension (Tangled Axon #1), by Jacqueline Koyanagi
There is a lot to love in this book: a main character with chronic pain and in love with spaceships, queer polyamorous representation, f/f romance, a great spaceship crew, sisters…
But unfortunately it was still lacking a bit regarding worldbuilding for me. I felt a bit disappointed, because this could have been way better if it was a bit longer maybe? Still a novel that deserve to be read and that I do not regret buying.

11) The Copper Promise (The Copper Cat #1), by Jen Williams
I liked this fantasy novel as a whole. Some stuff bothered me, like the “not like other girls women” trope that found its way on one or two occasions.
I could feel this had previously been released on several parts, it did felt like three or four parts put together to make a novel.
I loved how this almost felt like a videogame at times, plus the dragon was very reminiscent of the ones in Skyrim (which I love).
I’m curious to read the next one to see where it will take the three main characters.

12) The House of Shattered Wings (Dominion of the Fallen #1), by Aliette de Bodard
Slow but fascinating novel, set in a post-apocalyptical Paris. I loved that other mythologies were inserted into the story, there were not only fallen angels and Christian creatures and myths. Slow paced fantasy murder mystery was something I didn’t I wanted to read! AND there was no romance, which was a good point for me. There were also here and there criticism of colonialism and I think that was really well inserted in the story. Will definitely check the sequel.
The author made a gorgeous Pinterest board for this novel.

13) The Little Red Wolf, by Amélie Fléchais, translated by Jeremy Melloul
eARC from Netgalley
Another super sweet graphic novel aimed at kids! What can I say, I never stopped loving those. This was gorgeous, scary, wonderful and cute, atmospheric… An (almost) horror graphic novel for children!
Review coming in September!

14) Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1), by Zoraida Córdova
I was 90% sure I was going to love this book. Unfortunately I didn’t 😦 Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand why many people do love it, there is a lot to love in this story. But I didn’t connect with the writing style, I didn’t love the characters (I liked them by the end of the story, but it took me a good while to get there) and I guess my expectations were too high.

15) The Abyss Surrounds Us (The Abyss Surrounds Us #1), by Emily Skrutskie
I looooooved this one!! After Labyrinth Lost I was a bit sad, because it’s always a disappointment to not love a book as much as you thought you would, so I went into this one with my hopes lowered. But I shouldn’t have been worried! There were giants sea monsters, pirates (reals scry ones, not just for the aesthetic), f/f romance, dilemmas, sea battles and a really interesting worldbuilding. I loved the way the main character was aware that falling for her captor was not healthy and that the relationship was not to be pursued on these grounds, which the captor was also aware of and respected. This is weird said like that but it was a really great book.

16) Nyxia (The Nyxia Triad #1), by Scott Reintgen
eARC from Netgalley
While this one wasn’t ground breaking, I enjoyed it a lot anyway to my surprise!
Review coming in September.

17) The Library of Lost Things, by Matthew Bright
That was a fun short story, with queer boys, books, forbidden things, literature…
trigger warning: suicide hinted at.
(Available here)

18) The Lady Astronaut of Mars (Lady Astronaut #2.5), by Mary Robinette Kowal
This novelette is set on Mars and is about the difficult choice a 63 years-old woman will have to make. It was heartbreaking but a beautiful story.
(Available here)

19) Midway Relics and Dying Breeds, by Seanan McGuire 
A giant dinosaur, a greener earth, nature and tech, a traveling carnival (the last one!), family troubles… There’s some interesting things going on in this story!
But it was mostly worldbuilding and info dump and while I love a well crafted world and understand how short stories or novellas are good mediums for stories revolving around this, this one was really missing something more to really be an interesting story. I liked the end though.
trigger warning: suicide mentioned.
(Available here)

20) Revenger (Revenger #1), by Alastair Reynolds
This wasn’t the strongest book I’d read, nor the best YA one, but the second half of it was very enjoyable and in the end I’m glad I took a shot at this book. The main character goes through a lot and while some things were a bit predicable, some others were not at all! Also really looking forward to a sequel.

21) Demo, Vol. 2 (Demo #2), by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan
Way too dark for me. I was not expecting this. While it wasn’t bad, this collection of short comic stories just wasn’t what I wasn’t looking for.

22) Space Boulettes, by Craig Thompson and Dave Stewart (colorist), 
“Space Dumplins” en vo, édition traduite par Isabelle Guillaume, Laëticia & Frédéric Vivien.
Une histoire toute mignonne et bien fun! J’ai beaucoup aimé les dessins, la plupart des pages sont remplies de petits détails qu’on pourrait admirer pendant plusieurs minutes. Le texte était drôle, que ce soit pour les enfants ou les grand enfants, assez scato (l’intrigue tourne autour d’un désastre écologique causé par de la diarrhée de baleine tout de même) mais jamais trop vulgaire non plus. Un bon petit moment de lecture!
Bonus pour le mot de la fin par les traducteurs qui expliquent les choix qu’ils ont eut à faire, les jeux de mot de la version originale, etc. Mon petit cœur bilingue était ravi!

23) La belle et le fuseau, by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell. 
“The Sleeper and the Spindle” en vo, édition traduite par Valérie Le Plouhinec.
Superbe histoire courte, magnifiquement illustrée. Quand Blanch-Neige va sauver La Belle au Bois Dormant… ❤

24) Horrorstör, by Grady Hendrix, translated to french by Amélie Sarn
Je pense que la traduction m’a un peu gâché l’expérience de lecture ici 😦
L’idée d’un roman d’horreur situé dans un magasin type IKEA et désigné comme un catalogue est vraiment top, mais lorsque le mystère est révélé, l’histoire a un peu perdu de son intérêt pour moi. J’ai beaucoup aimé deux des personnages secondaires (l’un d’eux adore Doctor Who! 😉 ), un peu moins la personnage principale. Une bonne lecture dans l’ensemble.
trigger warning: torture

25) Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, by Becky Albertalli
SO CUTE. I was a bit anxious about this whole blackmailing thing, but it turned out okay actually, not too awful! Plus, I was afraid to not like this book as much as everyone else, and at first I was just “eh, ok” but I was very quickly CHARMED by this lovely story and the adorable emails. Lovely short book, I totally understand the hype. Becky Albertally won my over and I’ll read her other books, promise!

26) A Dragon of a Different Color (Heartstrikers #4), by Rachel Aaron
SO FAR SO GOOD. I haven’t rated any of the Heartstrikers with something other than 5/5, this is really a series that I love!!
Review of the FIRST book

27) Lambs Can Always Become Lions (Until Lambs Become Lions #1), by Charlotte Anne Hamilton
This was a very nice novella retelling a part of Robin Hood’s story where Robin and Marian are young women in love! The merry gang also became a very nice and diverse groupe of character.
I had a good time reading this, but I thought that at times there was a bit of unnecessary drama between the two of them, when they end up telling shitty things to each other when they actually don’t think it for real and admit it a minute later?
Still, I liked that their relationship was already established when this started and how cute they were together despite this little drama.
I’m glad I grabbed this when it was available for free on kindle and I’m looking forward to the sequel novella.

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Some numbers:
27 books
6 from the library
16 novels, 3 short stories and novelettes, 1 novella, 7 comics/graphic novels/picture books/mangas.
22 in English and 5 in French
4 from publisher/author

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What I posted this month:

Book review: The Epic Crush of Genie Lo
Book review: The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion
Book review: Some Kind of Happiness
Book review: Good Angel
City of Strife and City of Betrayal’s characters aesthetic 
Books review: Failure to Communicate – Testing Pandora

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Currently reading:

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This was way too long, sorry!
So I guess the conclusion is that I read a lot of first books in a series, and I’m excited for quite a lot of sequels!
September won’t be filled with as many novels because college is starting, but I still have quite a nice TBR that I hope to read! Mostly Royal Assassin to continue on the Hobbsquad readalong!