BookTubeAThon 2017 Wrap Up

Last year I completed the BookTubeAThon with flying colours. This year, not so much. But then again I've had a much busier week this time around; juggling three projects, going out for a couple of the days etc. Considering, I think I did pretty well - and I did technically read seven books.

If you want to know more about the BookTubeAThon, you can look at my TBR for this year and previous years, or head over to the BookTubeAThon channel or Twitter.

Here's how I did this year.

Day 1

Books Read:
The Archived - 21 pages
The Undertaking of Lily Chen - 430 pages
The Whispering of Trees - 31 pages

Pages Read on Day 1: 482

Challenge 3 Complete: Finish a book in one day



Day 2

Books Read:
The Archived - 36 pages
Breakfast at Tiffany's - 70 pages

Pages Read on Day 2: 106




Day 3

Books Read:
The Archived - 53 pages
Breakfast at Tiffany's - 87 pages


A Book of Spirits and Thieves - 7 pages

Pages Read on Day 3: 147

Challenge 4 Complete: Read about a character that is very different from you



Day 4

Books Read:
A Book of Spirits and Thieves - 142 pages
The Archived - 40 pages

Pages Read on Day 4: 182





Day 5

Books Read:
The Rift: Part One - 76 pages

Pages Read on Day 5: 76

Challenge 1 Complete: Read a book with a person on the cover



Day 6

Books Read:
The Archived - 202 pages
A Book of Spirits and Thieves - 58 pages
Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death - 21 pages

Pages Read on Day 6: 281

Challenge 2 Complete: Read a hyped book






Day 7

Book Read:
Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death - 197 pages
A Book of Spirits and Thieves - 158 pages

Pages Read on Day 7: 355

Challenge 6 Complete: Read a book you bought because of the cover
Challenge 7 (kind of) Complete: Read seven books

I was hoping to try and stick to my initial TBR this year, but I swerved off it even more than in previous years. I gave up on The Whispering of Trees, so I didn't complete seven books, and only two were full-length novels, but I'm still pretty happy with it overall. Overall, the books were a mixed bunch; I was worried early in the week that I'd chosen a terrible selection as I didn't like the first couple I read, and The Archived - which turned out as probably my favourite from this year - was slow to get going. But luckily things turned around later in the week (mostly).
While it wasn't my most successful BookTubeAThon, nor my most active one, it's still nice to keep up the tradition and get through some books on the shelf. See you all next year.

A Book of Spirits and Thieves

Book Title: A Book of Spirits and Thieves

Author: Morgan Rhodes
Series: Spirits and Thieves #1

Date Started: July 26th 2017

Date Completed: July 30th 2017

Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary
Quality Rating: Two Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Star

Final Rating: Two stars

Review:

A Book of Spirits and Thieves has the Veronica Roth/Allegiant syndrome: it's bad and it changes how you see the rest of the expanding universe. The Falling Kingdoms series is one of my favourites, so I'd recommend if you like the original books steer away from these ones.

I'm definitely going to stick to Rhodes' fantasy in the future. While the plot was riddled head to foot with holes, the blend of fantastical and contemporary settings and its writing style was what made me want this book to end. No one speaks the way these characters do, let alone acts like them. Everything ends up so unbelievable because it's carelessly written. I don't know whether its production was rushed, or it just wasn't working, but the people don't hold solid enough to build anything on top of.

Nothing of significance happens in this book, it's all set up. The issues presented at the start are conveniently solved by the end, leaving lots of mysterious obviously-leading questions that are going to lead to some good vs. evil conspiracy that I'm not motivated to learn any more about. It wasn't very far through this book that I wanted it to be over, but I continued in the hopes that it would redeem itself later on. It was clear early on that it was a prequel to books where things actually happen, so I thought once something kicked off it'd be okay. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case in what I read; everything ends up being for the shock factor more than any sort of sensical plot.

When the womanising posh twat who supports cult public executions it the most likeable character, you know that something has gone wrong. (And no, I'm not interested that there's apparently a supernatural explanation and he used to be very different.) I didn't care about any of the protagonists (all bar Farrell - the aforementioned manipulative idiot - were blatantly irritating) or any of their relationships to one another. It was either instalove, hollow or forced. You can't build a story on the flat shapes of people and hope they'll inflate themselves.

I'm not going to be reading the other books in this spin-off series. I regret spending so long on this one honestly. It's a shame since the Falling Kingdoms is one of my favourites, but this did not get anywhere near the appeal of that series.

The Archived

Book Title: The Archived

Author: Victoria Schwab
Series: The Archived #1

Date Started: July 24th 2017

Date Completed: July 29th 2017

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Mystery, Contemporary
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

Again, Victoria has crafted a whimsical and exciting story that grows and blossoms as you read it. As brilliant as she is at writing stories that are perfectly contained on their own, you always want her to expand them further and on larger scales - The Archived is no exception.

Vic knows how to write big things on a small scale. Her action is cohesive and visceral, but without being a twenty-page climactic battle. The worlds her stories take place in feel massive and solid past the parts of it that we see - and we sometimes see very little. In The Archived, for example, Mac sees only a fraction of the mysterious organisation that she works for yet there's a sense that it stretches for miles and miles past what she can immediately see. It what makes her books so exciting; the things that happen, but the potential for what else is out there.

I admit, it took a while for me to get into this book. It's very slow going at the start and it isn't entirely clear which direction it's heading in. But once it got going I loved it. The characters, the mystery, the world, I enjoyed it all. As much as the pacing towards the beginning could've been moved a bit faster, I did like the fact that you get exposition and world building in little fragments throughout. It feeds into the idea of memories and broken history that's so important to the story.

The story itself is probably closest to the adventure genre, but it was very heavily influenced by the mystery element. I like when genre boundaries are broken like that - and Vic has a habit of it - because it stops things from being so predictable and ordinary. It's definitely Mac's story, and Mac's adventure through this strange new situation she finds herself in. The family drama side wasn't as enjoyable for me, but that's just preference. But all the while there's a murder mystery going on underneath to balance it off and elevate the events.

The Archived has a nice selection of characters. They definitely become more solid during the book itself, where they might have been shaky to begin with. As usual, the strength in Vic's characters are their relationships to one other. Two heads are stronger than one, but that isn't always the case in books where authors want their characters to be independent. But Vic knows how to make her protagonists capable on their own, while also having (and often needing) a little support on the side.

After a bit of a rocky start, I enjoyed The Archived a lot, and I look forward to reading the next book. In fact, I would do it right now if I didn't have an intimidating pile of other books to get through first.

BookTubeAThon 2017

The BookTubeAThon has returned, with the action kicking off a week today. This year I'm aiming higher (being overly-optimistic) and am ready to repeat my success of last year (am accepting that it's going to be a one-time thing). 2017 will be my third time participating, and I'm hoping that means I've somewhat learned the tips and tricks to get ahead - we'll see.

Here's how I've done in previous years.

What is the BookTubeAThon?

The BookTubeAThon is an annual readathon founded by Booktuber Ariel Bissett. It's a celebration of BookTube and everything that goes with it, and as such a collection of hosts and guest authors encourage as much reading as possible in one week. The BookTubeAThon runs from the 24th - 30th of July, starting and ending at midnight in whatever time zone you live in.

There are also video challenges posted on the official YouTube channel every day, and other competitions, giveaways and more happening on both the Twitter and Instagram pages of the event. For more information, head to any of the above.

BookTubeAThon TBR

Every year Ariel and the other hosts create a list of challenges to help build your to-be-read pile. This year there's also a giveaway to win a box of books if you share your TBR piles, head over to the reading challenge announcement to find out more.

The reading challenges this year are:
1) Read a book with a person on the cover.
2) Read a hyped book.
3) Finish a book in one day.
4) Read about a character that is very different from you.
5) Finish a book completely outdoors.
6) Read a book you bought because of the cover.
7) Read seven books.

It's quite a flexible selection of challenge this year so, of course, I had to make things challenging for myself. The books I hope to read in this year's BookTubeAThon are...

Read a book with a person on the cover - The Archived, Schwab (352 pages)

I've been meaning to get around to reading Vic's old YA series forever, so an excuse to get it off my TBR is always welcome. And, of course, there's a nice big face taking up most of the cover to complete the first challenge.

Read a hyped book - How to Be Both, Ali Smith (376 pages)

A book that's felt like it's followed me around for the last few years, How to Be Both might not be massively hyped on BookTube itself, but is definitely hyped from a huge number of literary prizes - not to mention the persistent praise from my mother. I'm looking forward to getting into this one.

Finish a book in one day - Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote (157 pages)

Breakfast at Tiffany's was one of the standout films of my childhood, and I've had my mum's copy of the book on shelf for something like eight/nine years. Coming in at 157 pages, I think I can easily finish this book in a day and revisit some nostalgia - I might even watch the film afterwards.

Read about a character that is very different from you - The Whispering of Trees,

C.Y. Bourgeois (316 pages)

I picked this ARC off of NetGalley (sometime last year, I know I'm terrible) mainly because of the premise that was so different to anything I'd really read before. We follow a young Inupiat Eskimo who has the legacy of becoming one of the most powerful shamans in history - definitely very different from myself.

Finish a book completely outdoors - Lady Mecanika, Truman Capote (160 pages)

Graphic novels are always a good thing to put on an readathon TBR to give yourself a bit of a break between the long reading sprints, and it's become somewhat of a tradition of mine to include at least one. This year I've got a collection that I know basically nothing about, past it being pushed into my hands as a recommendation, but I think it'll be a nice quick one to enjoy outside in the heat that's hovering over Britain at the moment.

Read a book you bought because of the cover - Uprooted, Naomi Novik (448 pages)

Okay, I didn't completely buy this because of the cover; there'd been some pretty good reviews circling and I loved the idea of a fairytale-esque feminist adventure story. The cover was just the final straw. I hope it's worth it, since Uprooted is by far the longest book I'm attempting to read this year, coming in at 448 pages.

Read seven books - Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (361 pages)

I began Lolita nearly three years ago, loved it, and got caught up in college work. Now, here in 2017, I'm 176 pages through, and looking for an excuse to put time aside to finish it - thank you BookTubeAThon.

Total Page Goal: 2,170

So my final page goal is just under what it was last year - and last year I did pretty well. I completed all seven challenges, even though I switched some books around once I got into the actual readathon. Hopefully this year will go just as well despite my somewhat busy schedule.

Good luck to anyone else taking part, and happy reading.

The End of the Day

Book Title: The End of the Day

Author: Claire North

Date Started: July 2nd 2017

Date Completed: July 22nd 2017

Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this ebook for review ◆

North drives this book with a really interesting concept: before Death, comes his Harbinger, sometimes as a warning or sometimes as a courtesy. For a novel that, at its core, looks at the end of life and reason, The End of the Day is pulled off with a sense of humour and thoughtfulness that makes it a pleasure to read.

What sold the writing for me was North's ability to fuel her story and the darker things it explores with humour; not laugh-out-loud laughter or uncontrollable giggling, but a gentle amusement that lifts a story that is, essentially, about one man dealing with seeing worlds collapsing and ending. The pinnacle of this humour being Death him/herself. While I could talk about the character of Death for a long time, he was great in both concept and character; changing for all who see him, but patient and understanding, and willing to let human nature makes its own choices. In fact, all of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse were clever and engaging, as were their Harbingers. All this time there are people reacting with anger and fear and sadness to Charlie's appearance, but North makes it clear to the audience that this is life, and it's the way it has to be, even if it is at times unfair. That perspective is needed to understand the directions the narrative is driven in.

And you can't have a story about Death unless you highlight what life is, and North does this both through her characters and the cultures Charlie visits. Admittedly, the worst parts of some cultures (this book will make you never want to go to America), but beautiful little details within them as well. North must have done plenty of research while writing because you do feel transported to these places while you're reading, even if it's the grittier side of some of them.

This book feels a lot like a collection of narrative meditations on life and culture and how it all ends. It's all held together as a story by the lovely protagonist, Charlie, who goes through various experiences of honouring and warning those who lie in Death's path. It took me a while to get used to the not-quite-episodic structuring of this book, but once you get into the flow of it really being about Charlie and how he deals with it, it starts to make a lot more sense.

Towards the end, we go into a more traditional sort of narrative climax that I wasn't the biggest fan of because it felt so... dramatic next to what had been such a quiet and gentle story. It was by no means badly chosen or executed but felt somewhat out of the blue; we're starting to see the job take its toll on Charlie, but suddenly we have a big dangerous opposition to round it off instead of a quieter conclusion. Regardless, I enjoyed the more thoughtful outlook on something that could very easily have become a depressing nostalgic plot line about the hopelessness of mankind. We see glimpses of this, but it's a book about a lot more than what people are scared of most.

Charlie was a refreshing choice for someone in his position. You'd expect the Harbinger of Death to be hardened by it all, and hiding emotions under it, but Charlie is an honest nice guy who tries to be polite, and it thoughtful to his core. Which means that meeting those Death is coming for takes its toll - which is what makes this book interesting. I didn't realise at first quite what the point of the story was until I started noticing the little ways in which Charlie was changing, and realised that this isn't a story about Death and its path, but the Harbinger himself.

In order to make it this more detailed look at the bigger picture, North has a selection of smaller, recurring characters throughout Charlie's story. His girlfriend, Emmi; Patrick the business man; the previous Harbinger of Death; the humorous Harbinger of War. It's important when looking at such a big subject to find ways of making it quiet and personal, and North does this by creating this little world around Charlie while he travels the wider one.

The End of the Day is a clever and thoughtful book that is anything but depressing, even when it looks into the darker sides of Death and what it means. Really, it is about Charlie, and it'll get you thinking just as much as he does, about what the end of things really means.