Thursday 30 July 2015

BookTubeAThon 2015

Surprisingly enough, I've never taken part in a read-a-thon. Most of the time it's because the scheduling by American/Canadian readers means that their holidays are still during English term time - which any student knows is not a good time to be staying up to midnight reading. But the BookTubeAThon this year falls in my holiday too, so I thought I'd give it a go since I read pretty fast and want to get through a bit more of my TBR pile.

What is the BookTubeAThon?

The BookTubeAThon is a yearly read-a-thon founded by BookTuber Ariel Bissett. This year the BookTubeAThon will take place on the 3rd - 9th of August and will be the third BookTubeAThon, with even more exciting challenges and contests and content planned.Each day a new video challenge is posted on the BookTubeAThon's YouTube channel by a different host involving a bookish competition for everyone at home. There are also general challenges to help pick out your TBR before the week, and a discount on 100 books at TheBookDepository for anyone taking part.It's a really great way to get involved with the BookTube community and get a lot of reading done. For more information, head over to the BookTubeAThon channel or Twitter page.

My BookTubeAThon TBR

I don't think you can really make realistic read-a-thon TBRs, but here are some of the books I've chosen to aim for as part of the BookTubeAThon's challenges. I've edged towards shorter and quicker reads since the schedule is a book a day, but I'm happy to diverge from my plans if I feel like it.


22311017 1907692 10330834
21393526 499118 4770168 3106983


The Death Cure, James Dashner [327 pages] (Read a book with blue on the cover)
The Floating Book, Michelle Lovric [496 pages] (Read a book by an author who shares the same first letter of your last name)
Chasing Odysseus, Sulari Gentill [353 pages] (Read the last book you acquired)
Magonia, Maria Dahvana Headley [320 pages] (Read seven books)
The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor [364 pages] (Read a book you really want to read)
The Road, Cormac McCarthy [207 pages] (Read someone else's favourite book)
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi [343 pages] (Finish a book without letting go of it)

Total pages: 2410 [never going to happen]

So one thing we can gather from the BookTubeAThon is that it makes people very over-ambitious; I doubt I will finish more than two or three or these books in the week, but it'll be fun trying. I'll be making a concluding blog post at the end of the week mapping out how much I read each day and if I took part in any of the daily challenges posted on the channel.If you want to get involved in the BookTubeAThon, go to their YouTube channel and Twitter for all the information you need for the week, and happy reading!




Image Sources:

The Death Cure - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22311017-the-death-cure
The Floating Book - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1907692.The_Floating_Book
Chasing Odysseus - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10330834-chasing-odysseus
Magonia - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21393526-magonia?from_search=true&search_version=service_impr
The Looking Glass Wars - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/499118.The_Looking_Glass_Wars
The Road - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4770168-the-road
Persepolis - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3106983-persepolis

Sunday 26 July 2015

In Darkling Wood

25820725

Book Title: In Darkling Wood
Author: Emma Carroll
Date Started: July 24th 2015
Date Completed: July 26th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Stars
Final Rating: Two stars
Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

In Darkling Wood might be a nice story for younger readers starting to explore full-length novels, but it wasn't able to span over generations for me. The book went wrong when it made everything in the world seem simplified and silly: children might not see the world like adults but it doesn't mean everything has to seem less serious.

For a children's book the writing is good, excluding the odd bit of dialogue that stuck out as a bit strange. I think there could've been a little more magic around the setting considering it's an old wood, but especially at the beginning there was a sense of eeriness for both Alice and the reader.
The inclusion of the letters added a nice element of diversity in the chapters and created a nice span of time. I personally didn't really see the connection between Alice and the letters (from a very obvious character, though I won't say who) and they don't see to add anything to the story past another little tale going on in the background.

To get the positive out there first, I really liked how we don't really get to see the fairies. It created the idea that maybe it isn't actually real, and is just a child's way of dealing with a difficult situation. I was really enjoying trying to work this out until the point where we are shown the fairies; if they had been included for more than a page I would be less irritated by this issue, but the fact that their inclusion didn't even add anything to the story makes me mad because I had thought that it was actually a really clever technique suggesting there might be more to the story than a little girl running around in a forest.
This avoidance of depth occurred a lot in this book for me: even the darker subjects were really hard to take seriously because all the adults involved were reacting like you'd expect children to. Systems in hospitals and schools became tailored to keeping the protagonist happy which just isn't how it works in real life, and even things like the reaction of jealous school kids wasn't tough enough to be realistic. If you can't recreate the harder things in life then when good things happen they can't be appreciated as much because there isn't much to contrast it.
There were also frankly some parts that were just silly. What was the point of Arthur Conan Doyle spontaneously appearing at the family home in the letters? What did it add past being far fetched? If it had progressed the story or supported some of the plot then awesome, that's a great little reference for kids. But it didn't progress anything, and it didn't support the story - it just came across as frivolous, which came across as silly.
The big threat for the story is that there will be terrible consequences if the characters anger the fairies. This is really what drives the plot forward and creates a sense of purpose and urgency. But that purpose and urgency is entirely wasted if there are no consequences. You can't build a story up on the promise of danger and the refuse to go through with it - children's book or not. Happy endings are all well and good but they completely lose their affect if there isn't any achievement or an escape from peril.

I think the characters are the aspect that can really solidify a children's book for a range of ages as long as they're written in a relatable way. The big thing for In Darkling Wood was that even the adults acted childishly and out of character, and it just threw off the emersion of the book.
Alice was actually quite a good protagonist considering she did care about the people around her and actually had some intelligence that she used. I didn't feel like her being a Chime Child (someone born at a certain time to naturally be able to see fairies and spirits) was necessary at all: it didn't give anything to the story that Flo's advice hadn't already provided and just conformed to the 'chosen one' cliche.

While this isn't exactly a long book, a lot of the start feels very repetitive. The refusal to believe in fairies and magic is a cliche over literature anyway, but the amount of times the same denial is said again and again for the majority of the story makes it really disengaging and harder to investing the idea to save the fairies.

In Darkling Wood wasn't a particularly enjoyable read for me because of the inconsistencies throughout the whole thing, but I can see younger readers using this maybe as a pathway into reading full books. It's a good length and reading level for this, and there's the typical storyline of a child having to go to a new, unwelcoming place that turns out to be magical. There's also a mix of genres as the book can't quite decide if it's a family drama, a fantasy, mystery, historical or school story; there's a little bit of whatever a reader might be interested in.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25820725-in-darkling-wood

Friday 24 July 2015

Blightborn

20483018

Book Title: Blightborn
Author: Chuck Wendig
Series: The Heartland Trilogy #2
Date Started: July 14th 2015
Date Completed: July 24th 2015
Genres: Dystopian, Action, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Romance
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I have so much fun reading these books. Past the decent story and the writing and characters, the enjoyment from just getting through this series is enough for me to want to keep coming back.

While I don't feel Wendig's writing has dramatically developed since Under the Empyrean Sky, I can't deny how much the humour engages me. However boyish and immature at times it's really entertaining: I have a feeling it's a particular kind of comedy that won't appeal to everyone so don't be too disappointed if you don't get it.

The big variable as to whether you get on with the Heartland stories is the world. Wendig has a very bizarre imagination, and the concept he creates are really key in the development of the story and characters - and it can be quite hard to get. Through the first book I got distracted by the unusualness of the living corn and the Blight (a 'disease' where people start growing vines through their bodies - see what I mean?), but because I read the second book next to the first it became a lot easier to accept the strangeness and focus on the story.
I really love how the story's expanding as it progresses: the characters are continually being split up and reunited even within a single story, and the way their paths meet and then diverge regularly keeps the pace up. The diversity of settings also interested me as it allows us a huge view on the world previously denied in the last book at the same time (the simultaneous events happening from different perspectives was particularly good). Wendig is also beginning to explore more controversial issues, and quite well in my opinion: subjects like sexuality and abuse are broached, and dealt with in a positive way.
The conclusion to Blightborn was a bit disappointing for me, as it was similar to the ending of Under the Empyrean Sky. The characters have developed as individuals, but as for their positions in the story we still have the same sort of construct and protagonist powers. Having said that I'm definitely looking forward to reading the conclusion to the series.

The Heartland Trilogy didn't capture me straight away with its characters, but as the books have progressed they've become more complex. My favourite aspect was that nobody was completely loyal: they're doing whatever they think is best like people do in reality, even if it ends up ruining everything.
Admittedly, I'm still kind of indifferent towards Cael as a character, but as a protagonist I really like how he's going quite a different way from everyone else in the story. It's nice and refreshing to have the main character going off on his own path while everyone else keeps going without him - but still being affected by his actions.
I started to fall in love with Gwennie in this book. She's becoming darker and really came into her own power and strength independently in Blightborn. There's definitely been better development of women compared to the first book, but I can't help but feel their stories are still centered around romance: the boys only talk about her in terms of her position to them, and all other female characters are either attached to family or presented as a betrayer or weak.

I felt the pacing in Blightborn was much better than Under the Empyrean Sky: the diversity of setting and variety of characters was probably the main reason for this. Because we follow so many people in various situations, there's always something going on and it's usually a little different from everything else. A small issue I found with the previous book was the pretty much solid focus on Cael and his story that took place in the same landscape; jumping between characters made it a lot more engaging.

Though I don't want to compare this series to anything else, I feel a similar audience to The Maze Runner or Charlie Higson's The Enemy would be engaged by these books. Personally, I found reading the first two books close together really helped not only in keeping the story fresh in my mind, but also in terms of acclimatising to Wendig's frankly bizarre imagination. There may be a few small details that get to me, but overall The Heartland Trilogy is great fun and definitely worth the read.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20483018-blightborn

Tuesday 14 July 2015

The Wrath and the Dawn

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Book Title: The Wrath and the Dawn
Author: RenĂ©e Andieh
Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #1
Date Started: July 8th 2015
Date Completed: July 14th 2015
Genres: Romance, Historical, Fantasy
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

The Wrath and the Dawn really disappointed me for quite a few reasons. While there were parts that I could see being great if they'd just been worked on more practically, the whole thing ended up having so many little holes in it I just couldn't enjoy it as I'd have liked.

From the positive feedback surrounding this book and the rich culture it's set in, I was really looking forward to Andieh's writing. But frankly, I didn't see any beautiful writing. It was alright, and engaging enough to get the story across, but there was nothing unique in the prose. I don't really find listings of food, costume and riches particularly special to be honest - unless they're described in a way I've never thought about before. But the extend the description seem to reach was the typical simple similes to get across how nice or horrible something was.

The biggest drive for this story is the idea that Khalid has been killing his wives every morning ruthlessly and with no explanation. That, for me, absolutely fascinated me: of course I wanted to know why he was doing this, but since we're all pretty used to Young Adult theme of 'troubled but really good' characters I was more interested to see how Andieh would go about revealing things. To which I was sorely disappointed. First of all, the story began in a rush for me, and because of being thrown right into a tense, but not action-sort-of-tense, scene we were given little to no explanation for what was happening with Sharzad's motives and plans. Fair enough I thought, all will be revealed as we go along - apparently not. At no point are we really shown what a big deal all of this is; if you want your reader to really invest in something you need to show its importance to the characters. Just saying it's a big deal because people knew each other, or it's a shocking concept isn't enough - this is fiction, but we need to be convinced it's real.
Even later on, when we're told something terrible is going to happen if the characters don't act a certain way, nobody questions or even seems to bat an eyelid to the fact that nothing happens whatsoever. You can't have characters being dramatic about 'consequences' early on, and then have them not even notice when there are none.
One thing I really did love were the inclusion of traditional folktales - some recognisable in Western fairytales make an appearance, but the old stories from A Thousand and One Nights were also included. This really enhanced the culture in the story for me and was one of the things that really strengthened its presence in the book as a whole. Having said that, it became really hard to enjoy these little tales because of the unnecessary interruptions to remind us that this is somehow supposed to be steamily romantic for Sharzad and Khalid - I wanted to enjoy it as a reader and lover of old stories, rather than be constantly reminded that it's intended to help their relationship along.
I didn't really feel that there was a climax in this novel, and the reveal we're waiting for throughout the whole book wasn't that tense and didn't make a lot of sense to me. The reason Khalid's been killing the girls is riddled with plot holes in itself, but even afterwards the characters don't react logically. It seems like they do whatever they want to move the story on despite what their reactions should be, just because the 'drama' is enough for them to get away with it - in my opinion, it wasn't enough. And I don't see how the character's attempt at a resolution improves the situation whatsoever. But it didn't exactly make it entertainingly worse either. It didn't really do much at all.

I wasn't a fan of most of the characters in this book, firstly because they all came across as very stupid but thinking they were incredibly clever. I also didn't really get grudgingly swayed into liking the protagonists because of their romance: the biggest problem here was that they didn't feel like characters. They were just words on a page and nothing made them come to life.
I didn't like Sharzad. At all. She was incredibly stupid, loved by everyone, ended up being basically useless, and seemed to have this undying reputation for being fierce and strong and clever and quick. I agree with the fierceness, but female heroines with their tempers romanticised doesn't come across as inspirational to me - I find it very irritating since women are easily capable of far less destructive and more talented things. And can be liked just as much for it. But even beyond that, we're told she's looking to wreak revenge on him, but does she ever actually plan it? Does she ever even start to act on it? Is there ever a point where she takes something in and uses that to get to her goal before she gets inevitably convinced otherwise? No. The concept seems to just be a way to get her into a situation where forbidden love becomes attractive.
Khalid I started to like at several points, but I felt his character was being pushed too hard in the direction of the angry, attractive male interest when it didn't really fit what he came across as to me. I definitely saw a more quiet and humble and guilty boy - one that didn't need to have a quick temper to show across how conflicted he was. And while I think (well, hope) that's the place he's at by the end of the book, his inconsistency makes me think that maybe he won't have changed much at all by the sequel.

The pacing needed to be a bit clearer in my opinion: The Wrath and the Dawn actually spans over quite a few months, and while I loved this use of time to exaggerate the growth of the relationship, there was often very little indication of how much time had passed, and when it in fact had. The timeline jumps even now and then, but there's only a passing sentence in most instances that tell us this, and a vague explanation for what's happened in that time and why we're suddenly jumped ahead for no reason.
Though I understand Andieh did this in order to slowly build up the relationship (that unfortunately still suffered from aspects of instalove) we end up with a story where we're thrown into the middle without much development around the world and concept, and then left there for 200 pages doing very little. And then suddenly both the main plot line and side stories clamour together towards the end, and of course with no resolution because it's an unavoidable YA series. I felt that even balancing the side stories and main plot line so that we had a range of intensity throughout the whole book would have improved the current state where we have nothing to really get into, and then far too much at the end.

For a fully-fledged story I felt The Wrath and the Dawn was flawed, but I can see the obvious appeal to romance readers. Unsurprisingly the sequel has to be read to really appreciate the story, so don't go into this thinking it's a stand alone and you'll get a proper resolution. Though I don't agree with the hype around the book, there were times when I enjoyed it - even if the little details pulled it down in the long run.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18798983-the-wrath-and-the-dawn

Wednesday 8 July 2015

Under the Empyrean Sky

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Book Title: Under the Empyrean Sky
Author: Chuck Wendig
Series: The Heartland Trilogy #1
Date Started: July 4th 2015
Date Completed: July 8th 2015
Genres: Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Romance, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I enjoyed myself a lot more than I had expected reading Under the Empyrean Sky. Though the overall story becomes a bit typical we end on a slightly different foot and I can see a good path twisting towards the next books. On it's own I was disappointed, but the sheer amount of fun I had reading makes me want to rate it higher.

There's a lot of slang in both the dialogue and third person narrative in this book. At times it becomes a little too much, and definitely near the beginning it makes the world confusing - however as you get to know the characters more it fits a lot better and ends up enhancing the scenes.
Having said that, a lot of the book is dependant on the personalities of the characters and their reactions to certain situations. I think this is done really well, but I am a bit dubious over the fact that the story is so dependant the characters instead of the plot itself.

Under the Empyrean Sky had a really strong start. Within the first few pages I was hooked on the action; it was definitely a good idea to begin with the 'gang's' rivalries. I wish this had been featured a lot more past this beginning because it was so exciting and unique, especially in a dystopian landscape that isn't particularly distinguishable from most. The world-building near the start is also really good as it introduces all the aspects of the setting and gradually explains what they are in the everyday life of these characters. This definitely starts becoming thinner the further into the story you get, and I feel like more consistency would have exaggerated the threat and danger, especially towards the climax. I understand that as more action happens within the story the world-building does essentially become less interesting, but it's so important to keep it going to get a strong, believable landscape.
I feel like the idea of the Empyrean was made to be, in some respects, quite realistic. The population of this world are allowed to live only off commercial corn that seems to come alive and attack the characters (literally), while the upper class lives in some sort of floating sci-fi castle. There was confusion for me around just exactly what this corn was, if it was actually living or just dangerous etc, but the way it came across was scarily believable: I really can imagine these sorts of constraints on people to make them. Admittedly, this 'living corn' did come off as quite comical at times and so ruined the atmosphere. I also felt like the threat of the Empyrean itself got a bit confused with the danger of the town's Mayor: who was supposed to be the main antagonist, and who were the characters actually threatened by? It didn't exactly feel like two parts of a greater danger, as much as both faceless threats that the characters didn't like. The constant changing of power positions also didn't help this - however I really enjoyed the exploration in the differences between moral power and actual power and which eventually won over.
I liked the ending of this book, but it's very heavily leading onto the next book and gives very few answers or resolutions for this particular story. I don't like it when books can't stand on their own two feet, even if they are feeding into a bigger story, and so this really irritated me. But, like I said, I had a lot of fun reading this book so I'm quite interested to see how the story continues.

The story wouldn't be much if it wasn't for the characters: they're the ones keeping the pace up the whole way, and their entertaining and curse-filled dialogue is what kept my interest consistent.
I liked Cael enough, though at times I did feel he was a bit stupid and predictable. Again, near the beginning I was starting to really love him, but as soon as something didn't happen as he'd have liked he kind of gave up and got very moany - this wouldn't have been quite as irritating if everyone around him wasn't moving on. In comparison to them, Cael came off a bit selfish and lazy.
Gwennie was a character I wasn't sure about through the whole book. On the one hand, she's a strong female who will do whatever she has to to keep going - but at the same time I couldn't help but feel she was one dimensional in favour of the romance plot compared to the boys.
Rigo and Lane were great side characters, and I loved the emphasis on their inclusion. Sidekicks are often sidelined and given their own smaller stories besides the main one, but Wendig was sure to include them in the main storyline and make them important. Looking back I'm not entirely sure I can tell their personalities apart, which is a shame, but I still appreciate the attention to smaller characters.

As a lot of the plot is based on action and adventure-mystery-solving, the pacing is nice and fast throughout the story. There are times when I felt the characters were acting stupidly, or a certain scene wasn't interesting, but generally everything moved on fast enough for it not to matter too much in the long run. This did of course mean that the scenes I was really enjoying were short lived, but for the sake of the plot line I understand why Wendig chose to keep up the speed.

Under the Empyrean Sky may not be that unique from a lot of dystopians out there at the moment, it does have the bonus of a witty and entertaining handful of characters, and the odd new idea. Half way between sci-fi and dystopian, if you want a quick, enjoyable read about a barren society with a few young, hopeful people who are trying to make the best of it and just happen to end up ruining it all, then this is the book for you.

Image Source https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17970384-under-the-empyrean-sky

Tuesday 7 July 2015

2015 Summer Reading

Summer is known for being the best time of year for reading. The weather lets you read wherever your mood asks; there's no term time, and work takes up only a small amount of time; and, of course, all those new releases coming out July through August.

I don't normally do TBRs, but here's a few of the books I plan to read over the next few months, with a few of the things I've heard that have interested me about them below:

 15994537 12916 827610


17118898 1376 15994573
25572231 23989889 25607199
4703366 21792577 23215491
499118 22396330 20620659

Books for College:

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (English Literature)
-classic gothic literature following the values of Romanticism
The Aeneid, Virgil (Classical Civilisation)
-classical epic on the heritage of the Romans with, of course, quite a bit of divine intervention
The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks (English Literature)
-dark contemporary on the concept of civilisation and human nature

Classics to Read:

Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
-classic sci-fi dystopian with a good dash of politics to say the least
The Iliad, Homer
-classical epic depicting the Trojan War with the comical squabbling of the gods
A Room with a View, E.M. Forster
-romance with a witty narrative and subtle mockery of society's values

Review Copies to Read:

Boo, Neil Smith
-coming-of-age mystery about a murdered boy escaping his killer in heaven
Zeroes, Scott Westerfeld (Margo Lanagan & Deborah Biancotti)
-young adult sci-fi following a group of teenagers with super powers
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Becky Chambers
-adult sci fi about a bunch of unlikely allies (as in different species) travelling through space

Personal Books to Read:

Inkdeath, Cornelia Funke
-the final novel in the fantastical and beautiful Inkheart trilogy
The Queen of the Tearling, Erika Johansen
-high fantasy with female protagonist, soon to be made into a motion picture
Magonia, Maris Dahavana Headley
-young adult sci-fi fantasy, beautiful writing, unique storyline
The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor
-young adult sci-fi fantasy retelling of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Sabriel, Gareth Nix
-classic high fantasy with strong female protagonist
Bitter Greens, Kate Forseth
-adult historical retelling of Rapunzel following three women's lives







Image Sources:
The Aeneid - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12916.The_Aeneid
Wuthering Heights - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15994537-wuthering-heights

The Wasp Factory - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/827610.The_Wasp_Factory
The Iliad - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1376.The_Iliad
A Room with a View - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15994573-a-room-with-a-view
Nineteen Eighty-four - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17118898-nineteen-eighty-four
Boo - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25572231-boo
Zeroes - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23989889-zeroes
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25607199-the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet
Inkheart - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4703366-inkdeath
The Looking Glass Wars - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/499118.The_Looking_Glass_Wars
Sabriel - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22396330-sabriel
Magonia - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23215491-magonia
Bitter Greens - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20620659-bitter-greens
The Queen of the Tearling - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21792577-the-queen-of-the-tearling

Saturday 4 July 2015

The Gracekeepers

23346643

Book Title: The Gracekeepers
Author: Kirsty Logan
Date Started: June 30th 2015
Date Completed: July 4th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

I desperately wanted to live in the world of The Gracekeepers when I started reading - until I came into contact with some of the people, and the prejudices they carry. Of course this still makes a brilliant tale, and though the story lacked the magical flair I had been expecting to overcome the cruel nature of the characters, it was worth the read.

I really liked the perspectives in this book: we're given a chance to look at the world from all its different angles. Even the questionable characters have a unique way at looking at this story, and reading from the whole variety of them enhanced the pacing really well. We also get to look at some of the smaller characters' lives, even if it didn't directly affect the protagonists. There were quite a few times where I found myself disliking the main characters, and so by making some of the secondary characters more important I was engaged again after my attention wandering a little.
My biggest issue with The Gracekeepers was the conflict of themes. It seems like darkness and beauty (as in writing, storyline etc) are the main elements of the story, but for me they were fighting too hard for center stage. The two never seemed in harmony together (there wasn't any beauty to the darkness included, and the wonderful things didn't really have a dark side). They were constantly flipping between each other but they were never working together - some of the most stunning writing is that which can put a dark tone to beautiful concepts, or bittersweet beauty to suffering. It just didn't quite work for me in this story.

We're thrown into the world of The Gracekeepers right from the start, and there's no exposition to the state of the world or even really the circumstances of the characters. At first this felt strange to me since connections were hinted at in the prologue, however the focus Logan has on the characters and their roles in the present is so faithful that it no longer matters what has come before. This in a way reflects the entirety of the book; you can't think about what has happened in the past and end up ignoring what's happening now.
The storyline of the characters intertwine really nicely. Something I'm always worried about with stories where the protagonists cross paths and end up affecting each other in a major way is the danger of the author pushing them together to further the story, rather than creating a reality where these people naturally meet and change one another. Logan brushed these fears aside for me, as each protagonist has their own obstacles to overcome themselves - it just happens that their brief contact with each other has given them something to help them along.
A big element that I didn't predict being included in this book was the use of some darker issues. Where I had thought I would be seeing magic and mystery at every corner, there was mourning and growing old and losing those you love and coming to terms with difficult changes. I would have had no issues for this switch of themes to include, but when I think about it none of these things were explored in detail. There were times when I just wanted to hover over a certain perspective to see how they fared under these issues, but we were pulled away to someone else (who, I have to say, was usually less interesting). But I know one thing: The Gracekeepers is most definitely a book about how people affect each other, as opposed to a story of magic and beauty.
I wasn't really expecting such a heightened ending since the rest of the book had been so calm, and I'm not quite sure if I would've liked a climax that reflected the rest of the book as a whole (perhaps a darker, more thoughtful ending rather than a spiralling chain of events). There were still a lot of issues left unsolved, and though I understand that they no longer matter, I was left wandering what if this, what if that - in some ways it was unsatisfying. However, the story drew to a close nicely, the characters ended up where they needed to be, and really I don't have much to complain about.

The characters of The Gracekeepers were, surprisingly, mean. Even the protagonists had really selfish streaks and the story seems to be fuelled by people acting for their own gain. This is all well and good, but I didn't feel like they were pushed into situations that made them act like this, and so I was left feeling like the world was actually quite unwelcoming. Because of what I was expecting from the book this really bothered me.
I wasn't a fan of North at the start, and though I no longer let out an internal sigh when I see her name above a chapter, I'm still not as engaged with her story as everyone else's. In fact, I was far more engaged in the secondary character's stories throughout the whole book. My issue was North was that when we're first introduced to her, she's acting in a way that's understandable for her situation, but because we aren't aware of it at that point it comes across like she's just being unnecessarily standoffish.
I definitely liked Callanish more, and though her story might have been less heavy on the action the way her world is slowly developed was extremely engaging. I wouldn't call the role of the gracekeepers 'lore', but it definitely had that fairytale-esque feel to it. I also felt like she had the most heartwarming/breaking journey to be followed.

Pacing is an interesting area in this book, since there's no strict story arch that the novel follows. Because of this you do get a natural feeling to the lives of the circus and gracekeeper, and when you begin each new chapter you know it'll be new and different from the one you read before. The perspectives especially help with this as you're always looking at something from a different angle.

The Gracekeepers wasn't what I was expecting, but I still enjoyed it. I don't personally think it's particularly like The Night Circus past the inclusion of a circus - think more Station Eleven. The story definitely revolves a lot more in the meddling of each character for their own gains, with a little bit of magic and intrigue on the side.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23346643-the-gracekeepers