March Wrap-Up (2018)

Another good month ending!
I wish I had thought about doing the picture for the banner of this post before I brought the library book back, now it looks like I didn’t read that much haha!
I forgot to say in February that my boyfriend got my Skyrim for Swich so I’ve also been playing at lot as well as reading!
The semester is ending soon and I can’t wait to have more time to read without the guilty feeling that I should be studying instead.

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1) Witcheskin, by Nem Rowan
eARC from the author
Here is my review of this great horror-fantasy novel with an ownvoices trans main character!

2) The Edge of the Abyss (The Abyss Surrounds Us #2), by Emily Skrutskie
Really great sequel and final to this duology that I enjoyed a lot! Pirates, romance between two young women, sea monsters!

3) Blood Water Paint, by Joy McCullough
This verse novel about the young painter Artemisia was gorgeous. I loved how it used verse for her first person narrative and dialogues, and prose for the stories her mother would have told her about Susanna and Juditch, subjects of the two paintings this book focused on.
content warning: rape, torture

4) Hello, Universe, by Erin Entrada Kelly
This middle grade novel was adorable! While it dealt with bullying, it was also about friendship and belonging. I loved the main characters: Virgil is a quiet Filipino-American boy with a pet guinea pig, Valentia has a hearing disabilty and struggles with other people, Kaorie and Gen who are Japenese-American sisters, one a psychic from what she says, the other her young assistant. The bully Chet also has a pov here and while of course I didn’t liked him it was interesting to see the way his thoughts worked.
This was a very hopeful story, very heart warming and I related a lot to some feelings Virgil and Valentia had
content warning: ableist insults/language, bullying

5) We Should All Be Feminists, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“Some people ask: “Why the word feminist? Why not just say you are a believer in human rights, or something like that?” Because that would be dishonest. Feminism is, of course, part of human rights in general—but to choose to use the vague expression human rights is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender.”

That short book would have been perfect if it hadn’t been so heteronormative and erased the LGBTQA+ community, talking about boys/men and girls/women as a binary. While it is an important feminist text, focusing on the situation on Nigeria and America (from the author’s personal experience,) it should not be promoted as THE feminist book, but one to read (I do recommend to read it!) while being aware of its shortcomings.

6) Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5), by Rachel Aaron
A final book in a series that you’ve been invested in for years is always special! I really liked this one, though maybe not as much as the others since the staked were so high and everything came to an end and conclusion: I like it more when adventures happen and characters banters with each others. Still, a perfect conclusion to the series, a series that I will reread many times.

7) L’île aux mensonges, by Frances Hardinge
translated to french by Philippe Giraudon 
Je ne savais pas trop comment noter celui-ci entre 3 ou 4/5, mais en tout cas j’ai vraiment aimé, surtout la deuxième moitié et la fin même si je me doutais d’une certaine chose!
En plus j’ai trouvé la traduction française très bien et agréable, ce qui m’arrive rarement donc je pense que c’est important que je le note!

8) Saga, Vol. 8, by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples
Still a lot of what-the-fuck graphic and violent stuff, family drama and cute moments happening in space. Really liked it, already looking forward to volume 9.

9) On a Sunbeam, by Tillie Walden
All the stars!! I read the webcomic of this one and am hoping to get approved on netgalley for the edition that will release this fall!
Space, found family, spaceship, boarding school, no male characters but only women and non-binary.

10) Lost at Sea, by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Good but not mind blowing, I enjoyed the atmosphere and some dialogues but was disappointed by the “big reveal”.

11) Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1), by Ann Leckie
This was a re-read, I knew I had loved it and rated it 5/5, but beyond some bits here and there I didn’t remember much. I’m glad I decided to read it again because I now remember why I loved this so much. It follows an AI that once was a military ship, set on a path of revenge but cannot help but rescue people who need it on the way. I have a new favourite trilogy and favourite character ❤

12) Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch #2), by Ann Leckie
Even BETTER than the first book if you can believe that. I loved that it was now set in one timeline and not two like the first even if it was well done, and also set on a spaceship, a space station and a new planet.

13) Ancillary Mercy (Imperial Radch #3), by Ann Leckie 
EVEN BETTER than the first two! What is this magic you ask?? Well I don’t know but I’m glad! I laughed a lot, had all the emotions, and was so so happy that I binged the three books like that.

Here’s my review of the Imperial Radch trilogy as a whole.

14) Night’s Slow Poison (Imperial Radch #0.5), by Ann Leckie
Nice 20 pages story set in the same world, not amazing but a nice addition to the worldbuilding.

15) She Commands Me and I Obey (Imperial Radch #0.6), by Ann Leckie
Prequel short story of around 25 pages, once I realised an important character of the trilogy was in it I was even more interested on what was going on. Politics and sports!

16) Provenance, by Ann Leckie
While I didn’t love this one as much as the trilogy, it’s still a strong novel with a main character that grew on me. I love what Ann Leckie is doing in her books with the use of pronouns and how people relate to their home planet, their relationship with other alien races and technology.

17) Les fausses confidences, de Pierre de Marivaux
Lu pour mon cours de “Littérature XVIe-XVIIIe siècles” en L2.
Vraiment sympa, j’ai bien rigolé par moments. Bon exemple du théâtre dans le théâtre.

18)
I also read a friend’s unpublished book and it was really great, I’m hoping it’ll find its way into the world so everyone who likes horror in a faery land can experience it too.

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Posted this month: 

Book review: Witcheskin
Book review: The Ninth Rain
Book Review: Void Black Shadow
Books review: The Imperial Radch

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Currently reading: One for school, one for review

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Wishing a good month of April to everyone!