BookTubeAThon 2018 Wrap Up

Having not been sure if I was going to take part in the BookTubeAThon this year, I think I've had my most successful yet. If you don't know, the BookTubeAThon is an annual read-a-thon organised by Ariel Bissett. Over a week - the 30th of July to the 5th of August this year - you read as much as you can, and have the option to take part in challenges, competitions and other various activies across social media. The links below have more information, as well as a run-down of everything that's happened this week.
YouTube - www.youtube.com/user/BookTubeAThon
Twiter - twitter.com/BookTubeAThon
Instagram - www.instagram.com/booktubeathon
Fancy New Website - www.booktubeathon.com

Books Read in the BookTubeAThon 2018

   

   

Ash and Quill, Rachel Caine

The Carnelian Crow, Colleen Gleason

Trace Evidence, Kathy Reichs & Brendan Reichs

Girl Meets Boy, Ali Smith

The Madman's Daughter, Megan Shepherd

The Curse of Gloamglozer, Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell

The Paper Magician, Charlie N. Holmberg

The Language of Thorns, Leigh Bardugo

So I didn't use the reading challenges to help me pick out my books to read - because I didn't know if I was going to take part in advance (and wasn't hugely inspired by the challenges themselves this year), I mostly just picked what I was feeling in the mood for. And I think it's why I got through so much. Instead of trying to fit things into predetermined categories, I was just going with what my gut wanted. I read three different 1800s gothic-style adventure-mysteries, and two short story collections because I got excited about them and wanted more. I think next year, unless the challenges are especially attractive, I might do the same again and just pick my books as I go along.

As usual, I'm more interesetd in the pages I read than the number of books. Because I have no qualms about leaving books unfinished if I'm not enjoying them, it's a better way for me to track how much I've got through. I also started this year's BookTubeAThon finishing off the end of Ash and Quill; I still want it to go towards my count, but I didn't read the whole thing during the event. So, last year I read 1,629 pages, and 1,647 in 2016. So 1,600 is the general trend. Here's how I did this year.

Day 1: Monday 30th July

Books and Pages Read:

42 pages of Ash and Quill (finished!)

198 pages of The Carnelian Crow
Pages Read Today: 240 pages

Total Pages Read: 240 pages

Day 2: Tuesday 31st July

Books and Pages Read:

111 pages of The Carnelian Crow (finished!)

304 pages of Trace Evidence (finished!)
Pages Read Today: 415 pages

Total Pages Read: 655 pages

Day 3: Wednesday 1st August

Books and Pages Read:

30 pages of The Curse of Gloamglozer

Pages Read Today: 30 pages

Total Pages Read: 685 pages

Day 4: Thursday 2nd August

Books and Pages Read:

15 pages of The Curse of Gloamglozer

177 pages of Girl Meets Boy (finished!)
Pages Read Today: 192 pages

Total Pages Read: 877 pages

Day 5: Friday 3rd August

Books and Pages Read:

133 pages of The Madman's Daughter (finished!)

54 pages of The Curse of Gloamglozer
Pages Read Today: 187 pages

Total Pages Read: 1,064 pages

Day 6: Saturday 4th August

Books and Pages Read:

27 pages of The Curse of Gloamglozer (finished!)

160 pages of The Paper Magician
51 pages of The Language of Thorns
Pages Read Today: 238 pages

Total Pages Read: 1,302 pages

Day 7: Sunday 5th August

Books and Pages Read:

66 pages of The Paper Magician (finished!)

48 pages of The Language of Thorns
Pages Read Today: 114 pages

Total Pages Read: 1,416 pages

So that bit where I said I did better than usual? Lol, nope. (This is why I like to see how I've done with pages rather than books.) But, I did enjoy this year and balanced it pretty well with my other activities in the week. I'm glad I took part, even if I didn't get to be invovled in the social media stuff and didn't beat my personal goal.

How did you do this year? And what do you think about using challenges or choosing as you go along like I tried this year? Don't forget to go to the website and sign up for your 2018 reading certificate, I'm excitd to get mine. Thanks for visiting, and happy BookTubeAThon.

The Paper Magician

Book Title: The Paper Magician

Author: Charlie N. Holmberg

Series: The Paper Magician Triology #1

Date Started: August 4th 2018

Date Completed: August 5th 2018

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Historical, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Three stars

Review:

This book was exactly what I wanted when I read it. It was during the BookTubeAThon, I'd been really getting into 18th century-style magical Londons, and I wanted somehting just enjoyable and quick. The Paper Magician was all of those things.

It's a really interesting idea, and the discipline of paper magic was really nicely done. It was well explained and imaginative; I hadn't quite seen anything like it before - and that's a real feat. Unfortunately, past this area the rest was a bit lacking. I think it'll probably come up more in the sequels, but for now it felt like only the paper magic had been paid much attention to. I still don't understand how it fits into the world's magic politics, or even really how the whole magic education works. In The Paper Magician we follow our protagonist on an apprenticeship, but we don't know much about where this fits in the grand scheme of things. This could've been particuarly useful considering the whole context and tone of the world was kind of unclear: clearly 18th century inspired, but there were modern things like plastic and definitely more modern relaionships, but mentions of things that could also be steampunk? The world outside of the little cottage we find ourselves in is still a mystery, but it wasn't one the author was interested in solving for us.

Part of me feels like this was like a prequel to the actual story (I mean, the main conflict is a tool to reveal a massive amount of exposition for the protagonist - well done in the circumstances, but also a bit unsatisfying). There were so many questions posed and none of them answered, because they weren't really relevant to this exact story. This was the Act One where our heroine is thrown into a new situation and has to catch up with the other characters who have several years groundwork on the story. I can't quite decide if that was handled well or poorly; on the one hand having that exposition communicated with its own plot line makes it far more engaging and easier to process. But on the other, why is our protagonist's story so saturated by stories that aren't her own? Yes, I know I'm reading too much into it - at the end of the day, it was enjoyable to read. But my brain can't help feeling a bit confused at the author's choices.

The one thing that I think might be a decider for some people is the romance, and I have to say I was a bit uncomfortable with the teacher/student 11-year-gap relationship. But aside that it's very instalove, the vagueness of the world again confused the tone of this. Is it totally fine? Because that kind of thing isn't generally thought of as fine. Yet teachers/professors/whatever-they-were-supposed-to-be basically got told it directly to these faces and didn't comment or even really react. It's not of massive consequence to the story (yet) but it stopped me from being able to properly engage. That being said, the way in which the author shows falling in love was so interesting, and again merged it very well with the main quest storyline.

The Paper Magician feels like a very short introduction to the series, and even though I had my issues with it I did enjoy reading it and will probably go on to read the next books. It's imaginative and fun, but it didn't feel like a fully-formed book.

The Madman's Daughter

Book Title: The Madman's Daughter

Author: Megan Shepherd

Series: The Madman's Daughter #1

Date Started: August 2nd 2018

Date Completed: August 3rd 2018

Genres: Romance, Historical, Mystery, Horror

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

I didn't finish reading The Madman's Daughter because wow, this was a car crash for me. Apparently I'm in the minority here, and that's fine. I'm glad some people enjoyed their time reading this book. I just definitely wasn't one of them.

To start with, nothing has enough establishment to be worth anything. We're given the context after the punchline so it doesn't have an impact. You're going to tell me oh! That's my old servant who I was really close to and think about everday, only I didn't tell you, reader, until he was standing right in front of me so I could have an excuse for fawning over him. It's not even like it's hard to go back a few pages in editing and mention a piece of information. As it is, the audience doesn't get to go through the story with the character because they don't know what they need to, they just sit there and get told things when the character feels like telling them.

And Juliet, for me, sounded like priviledged whining. Yes, she's had some horrible experiences and her fair share of misfortune, but you can't throw the sad orphan cliche into my face and expect me to immediately root for her. Oh, no I used to be rich but then I was left on the streets, but I was perfectly fine and managed to become a servant in a laboratory (which is obviously the worst place I could have found), but it's fine because my rich friend still takes me to all the lavish parties. Also I'm so naive and innocent, but I'm clever I'll have you know. I just choose to spend my time fawning over boys and doing nothing to drive my own story forward - see, I really have the worst of all lives, pity me, pity me.

(Do I think I was maybe harsh that description? A little. But do I think it has fair grounds? Yes. And did I have a lot of fun doing it? Absolutely.)

Apparently this is also a world in which teenagers has high school parties in the 1800s. Where girls who fought back managed to get away without being ostracised; where orphans were fine just being on the street; where boys weren't thinking about marriage at 19, and girls weren't being married off or betrothed in their teens. Alright, not all historical novels have to be absolutely faithful to their time period, but if you're doing a retelling of the gothic genre surely it's a time to try and replicate that tone the best you can?

And there are certainly some efforts to try and recreate the time period in the prose. Hell, I was uncomfortable with the way people of colour and those bearing disfigurment were talked about because it was trying to show the social attitudes at the time, I guess. I mean, admittedly, all the characters are flat as a pancake, but I still wasn't comfortable with the fact that you have the main cast and then an ensemble of natives with disfigurements, whose only qualities are that they're natives and they have disfigurements. (Maybe that changes later in the book, but by the halfway point it certainly hadn't shifted, and so much attnetion was being given to shoving a love triangle down your throat that I wasn't hopeful.) I also wasn't happy with the way sexual harrassment was dealt with. While I get the desire for representation and the opoprtunity to show girls fighting back, the whole world felt so unbelievable that it couldn't come across as anything more than ticking the 'tough issues' box. It's brushed off so casually, and doesn't seem to have repercussions, that I didn't feel like it was actually addressing the issue.

And goddamnit, why is there a love triangle? Why?! What is the purpose of it? There's basically no story other than the love triangle. Everything that happens is purely to create tension between the boys, or between Juliet's father and the boys, or give Juliet an excuse to get all personal and defensive of one of the boys. There are so many things that wouldn't logically happen, but do because the author wants the love triangle there and it's so damn frustrating. Have we not moved on from this? Have we not realised that protagonists that you put in love triangles end up coming across as selfish and mean any way you put it because they're leading two people on? There could've been a story here, but you could barely see it if there was.

There seems to be a misunderstanding of the gothic genre for torture-porn and brooding selfishness. There's so much more to it about relationships and how the way we manage the human experience affects those around us, but for me this book was a love triangle trying to be set in an Edgar Allen Poe meets Pretty Little Liars universe. Maybe that's your thing, in which case go crazy. I just think it was more concerned with appealing to specific genres than about telling a story.

Girl Meets Boy

Book Title: Girl Meets Boy

Author: Ali Smith

Date Started: August 2nd 2018

Date Completed: August 2nd 2018

Genres: Romance, Contemporary

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for this ebook for review ◆

Girl Meets Boy was one of the most wonderful books I've ever read. Impactful with its purpose and intimate with its style, Smith retells the story of Iphis with a new myth; one of acceptance, acitivism and love.

Smith shows intimacy with such a gentleness and quiet. Representation of homosexual relationships - especially between women - have long battled with the desire to be shown as just as fierce, but without the partiarchal competition that seems to be coded into our expectations of what romance should be. Smith doesn't try and pick one direction because she isn't really doing it for the sake of ticking the representation box; two of her heroines are lesbians because, well, they happen to be lesbians. It's a part of them, it's not there to move the story on. I think what caught me so deeply about this novel was the fact that the characters are so naturally themselves, in both their moments alone and with other people. Being able to show the difference between the two is what clinches it. That intimacy in the relationships, but also almost with the reader too, is what speaks so personally to the audience. There are sparks of humour that feel like in-jokes when we've seen them in the private world of a character before they share them on the outside.

The novel is just the right length, even under 200 pages. There's something to be said for a story that knows what it needs and fulfills that. While I understand the risks of publishing short books, there are so many out there that are padded with unnecessary filler that distracts from the actual story. Girl Meets Boy is short but to the point, and all the more powerful for it. The audience is left staring at the moral of the story (quite literally), and that's what makes it like a myth.

And the way in which Iphis' story is retold is so creative. It injects just the right amount of modernity to make it feel immediately relevant, while keeping those little ties back to the inspiration. For a Classics lover like, you get the feminist retelling as well as the storytelling of the original (of course the heroines know the Greek myths, of course they do). Iphis wasn't a myth I was quite as familiar with, but I still felt like I was in on the narrative. There are some retellings that are the spitting image of the original with a flowery sentence every few lines, or some are so distant from its inspirations that if you don't know the original to begin with you miss out on half the point of the whole book. Retellings are a wonderful platform for new commentary on the human experience within society, but some authors seem to forget that a commentary should be accessible by those it's commenting on. But Smith knows what she's doing; whether it's simply paralleling the myth of Iphis with her own heroines, or letting you sit down and enjoy our girls whispering the story to each other in bed, you don't have to have taken a classics degree to fall into this novel and (happily) never find your way out again.

Maybe it's particular to me, but I could see parts of myeslf in almost every character. And that's a truly rare and important thing. I'm definitely not the spitting image of any of our heroines and their supporting characters - I don't think I've ever found a character that I identify wholly with - but peering through the cracks and seeing individual qualities, reactions, and instincts reflected in a fictional creation still works wonders on the imagination. And it captures the essence of mythmaking because everything immediately feels cathartic because for once you feel as much like you're going through it with them as you can claim in a book review to make it sound nice.

I've always enjoyed reading Smith's stories, and there's no end to the way she can offer you an unexpected perspective on the human experience. But never have I fallen so in love with one of her books. This book caught me like a fish and it will be beloved to me for years to come.

The Carnelian Crow

Book Title: The Carnelian Crow

Author: Colleen Gleason

Series: Stoker & Holmes #4

Date Started: July 30th 2018

Date Completed: July 31st 2018

Genres: Adventure, Romance, Historial, Mystery, Fantasy

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

Oh, these books are fun. Every time I race through them and want the next one immediately. Yeah, they're silly and border on absurdity, but I enjoy every second reading them and I appreciate an action and puzzle-solving mystery with female heroines.

Honestly, I ended up skimming the text a bit. Luckily, it's the kind of book where you can miss the odd sentence and still understand what's going on - a lot of internal monologue that has varying degrees of interest. I'm not ultimately here for the inner musings of Mina and Evaline; they tend to be a bit simple and shallow in the grand scheme of things. Their mystery-solving, puzzle skills and action, however, is definitely what's kept me coming back. The interactions between characters, too, but I'll get onto that. But it's satisfying to watch these girls go through deliciously gothic murder mysteries and grand robberies when I'm so used to watching boys in those roles. I don't really care how feasible it is, that's not the point to me.

That being said, I feel like The Carnelian Crow finally shows things starting to fall together and gain proper rhythm. Each novel stands very much on its own as well as holding little details that have clearly been building up to the final chapter, but this was the first time I felt like I could see people's paths intersecting and pointing in the same direction. I'm not sure whether the fifth book in the Stoker and Holmes series is the final one, but we're defintely coming near to the end.

One thing that did bug me a little bit about The Carnelian Crow (there's always one thing that gets me each time) was the way it addressed marriage. Now, I'm ambivalent because I appreciate it being explored in the first place, but I think the way everyone outside of the situation was demonised is slightly counter-intuitive. We get a situation where Evaline is in the predicament of having to marry in order to keep her family finacially secure, and only she feels reluctant to do it. Yes, it was the societal expectation, but you're telling me that not even the other women vaguely understand the pressure? Or, at least, they would notice that she's uncomfortable and reason with her, rather than just acting confused at her hesitation. The only person that vaguely responds understandably is Mina (predictably, because they're the most developed) - and I did like that. She's slightly cold about it, but she gets into an argument about it with Grayling who just can't understand. That bit was great. But having everyone other than the main characters react thoughtlessly just doesn't make sense and taints the argument.

With a warning of mild spoilers (not really it was obvious), the best part of this book is the fact that Mina and Grayling finally get together. It's taken bloody long enough. Dylan, with the greatest affection, is an unnecessary distraction who's purpose I still don't entirely understand in both the characterisation and narrative of our heroines. What we really wanted was for young-detective heroine Mina and the polite-but-respectful Inspector to speak their minds about more than their suspects. (If you want the way to my heart, give me a love interest that values and encourages the intgellience and curiosity of the heroine.)

The only reason I didn't read The Carnelian Crow sooner was because how expensive it was on kindle (£9 on kindle?! Come on!), but after reading Ash and Quill I wanted more fun and caved in. Do I regret it? No. Did I wish it was less expensive, oh yeah. Would I pay the same to get the next book right now? You bet I would.

Ash and Quill

Book Title: Ash and Quill

Author: Rachel Caine

Series: The Great Library #3

Date Started: July 29th 2018

Date Completed: July 30th 2018

Genres: Adventure, Historical, Romance

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

For a history nerd and a book nerd, these books are just a dream. You can tell that Caine is enjoying it just as much as you are, and without making it feel like the reader isn't allowed in on the fun. It might not be high literature but damn if it isn't entertaining to the last word.

With every book in this series we see more of the world the characters live in, more of the reach of the Library, and more of what people are capable of. In an alternate history story this is so important because it gives the reader context for why things are different from what we know; sometimes in these kinds of stories it's hard to fully understand why people do what they do because the line between our reality and this fictional one are so blurred that you forget the differences. The Great Library series has continued to extend its worldbuilding outwards - to new cities, new countries, new communities - to give us this exploration. As the stakes rise for the characters, our understanding of its significance grows alongside it.

To put it simply, I get entirely sucked in by these books, and I have such a good time reading them. They may mostly consist of slightly melodramatic interactions between the ample cast about the growing severity of their situation, but those interactions are fun, and when you get to the action scenes or the climaxes, it's exciting. I argue it a lot, but I think enjoyment is just as valuable as hard 'quality' - and it's not like these books are badly written, at all. They're predictable at times, and dramatised, and there are some questionable behaviour dotted along, but as I write this review I find myself at no loss of things to praise as well.

Case in point: these books are well loved for their diversity, and rightly so. From the hugely diverse nationalities of the cast of protagonists, to the variety of religions, beliefs and schools of thought, and even the various countries scattered across the globe they visit, The Great Library series feels rich and real right from the start. It's a testament for how much diversity gives to a story without even being the main focus.

And The Great Library series is very realtionship driven. Each individual has their own strengths and flaws but it's how those qualities flow or conflict with everyone else that makes the story. As much as there is a story and world behind them, it's those kind of dynamics that create depth and meaning. And, more so, the fact that some of those dynamics aren't just lovers, or friends - they're rivals, and mentors, and estranged family. There's so much, it's just interesting to watch it play out.

The only reason I didn't read this entire book in one day was because I didn't want it to end. Immediately after finishing I went and bought the next one, and just managed to restrain myself from reading it there and then. We've still got to wait a whole year for the final book to come out, and from how high the stakes were left in this book I think I need to pace myself before the conclusion.

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.

BookTubeAThon 2016 Wrap Up

I did it! This year was my second time participating in the BookTubeAThon, and after what felt like a bit of a disastrous result at the time last year (1,393 pages out of an aspirational 2,410, and four books read) I am so proud of what I got through in 2016. Not only did I complete all of the challenges and read seven whole books, I also really enjoyed what I read and took part in some of the special events and challenges over on social media. (Okay, only a few twitter sprints and an instagram post, but it was more than I did last year.)
On top of my personal participation, I have to say thank you to Ariel and everyone involved in running the BookTubeAThon this year. Though I've only taken part twice, I've spectated pretty much since the beginning, and this year there was so much to do all over the internet: on top of the daily videos and challenges on the YouTube channel, we had Instagram challenges, genuine author pep talks and a constant stream of activity on Twitter. The community that's been built up is so nice to see, and I'm sure that next year will be even better.
If you have some free time, have a scroll through some of the challenges and people's entries from earlier in the week:
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/BookTubeAThon
Twiter - https://twitter.com/BookTubeAThon
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/booktubeathon

Book Read in the BookTubeAThon

  
   

The Dreamers, Gilbert Adair (208 pages)
This Savage Song, V.E. Schwab (407 pages)
Thin Air, Michelle Paver (288 pages)
When Marnie Was There, Joan G. Robinson (288 pages)
Saga: Volume 2, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (168 pages)
Saga: Volume 3, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (144 pages)
Daphnis and Chloe, Longus (144 pages)

Of course, what I'd planned to read for this week changed quite a bit. I started reasonably on track, but gradually became aware that reading This Savage Song and its 407 pages was pushing me behind a little (completely worth it though). to compensate I replaced two of the books with some graphic novels and shuffled around the challenges a little. I was close to just ignoring the challenges at one point, realising that Thin Air, the book I had originally planned to read after sunset, was going to take longer than I thought, and so I needed to use that as my extra book on top of the specific challenges since it didn't fit into anything else. But I managed to sort it out: When Marnie Was There could be moved to the book with yellow on the cover, I could read Saga at night, and then bring in a whole Daphnis and Chloe for the book older than me.
Out of the books I read, This Savage Song and the Saga volumes were by far the best: I could barely put any of these down, and even between other errands I had to run throughout the week I kept coming back to them when I had free time. But, having said that, there weren't any books I read that I disliked, just perhaps some slight disappointments.
Reviews for all the novels I read during the BookTubeAThon will be up soon.

Challenge Overview
Read a book with yellow on the cover - COMPLETED with When Marnie Was There
Read a book only after sunset - COMPLETED with Saga: Volume 2
Read a book you discovered through booktube - COMPLETED with Saga: Volume 3
Read a book by one of your favourite authors - COMPLETED with This Savage Song
Read a book older than you - COMPLETED with Daphnis and Chloe
Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation - COMPLETED with The Dreamers
Read seven books - COMPLETED with Thin Air

Day 1: Monday 18th of July

Books and Pages Read:

The Dreamers, Gilbert Adair (208 pages) [finished!]

This Savage Song, V. E. Schwab (48 pages)
Pages Read Today: 256 pages

Total Pages Read: 256 pages

Day 2: Tuesday 19th of July

Books and Pages Read:

This Savage Song, V.E. Schwab (68 pages)
Thin Air, Michelle Paver (37 pages)
Pages Read Today: 105 pages

Total Pages Read: 361 pages

Day 3: Wednesday 20th of July

Books and Pages Read:

This Savage Song, V.E. Schwab (260 pages)
Pages Read Today: 260 pages

Total Pages Read: 621 pages

Day 4: Thursday 21st of July

Books and Pages Read:

This Savage Song, V.E. Schwab (31 pages) [finished!]
When Marnie Was There, Joan G. Robinson (78 pages)
Pages Read Today: 109 pages

Total Pages Read: 730 pages

Day 5: Friday 22nd of July

Books and Pages Read:

Thin Air, Michelle Paver (159 pages)
Saga: Volume 2, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (86 pages)
Pages Read Today: 245 pages

Total Pages Read: 975 pages

Day 6: Saturday 23rd of July

Books and Pages Read:

Thin Air, Michelle Paver (92 pages) [finished!]
When Marnie Was There, Joan G. Robinson (210 pages) [finished!]
Saga: Volume 2, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (82 pages) [finished!]
Pages Read Today: 384 pages

Total Pages Read: 1,359 pages

Day 7: Sunday 24th of July

Books and Pages Read:

Saga: Volume 3, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (144 pages) [finished!]
Daphnis and Chloe, Longus (144 pages) [finished!]
Pages Read Today: 288 pages

Total Pages Read: 1,647 pages

I'm very happy with what I read this week: the equivalent of about four or five novels read in one week, and generally I enjoyed everything I read. It was nice to see so many people getting involved across social media as well, and I hope everyone else was just as successful. Thanks for visiting, and happy BookTubeAThon.

Image Sources - 
The Dreamers - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/624641.The_Dreamers
This Savage Song - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28696452-this-savage-song
Thin Air - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28335600-thin-air
When Marnie Was There - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23019010-when-marnie-was-there
Saga: Volume 2 - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17131869-saga-volume-2
Saga: Volume 3 - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19358975-saga-volume-3
Daphnis and Chloe - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1243969.Daphnis_and_Chloe

When Marnie Was There

Book Title: When Marnie Was There

Author: Joan G. Robinson

Date Started: June 21st 2016

Date Completed: July 23rd 2016

Genres: Contemporary
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three stars

Review:

Though I don't usually pick my books for the season, I can see When Marnie Was There being the perfect relaxed summer read for younger audiences: a gentle, heartfelt story with little flairs of adventure. If I was younger I think I would've loved his book, but right now it was a little too gentle for my tastes.

The main thing that stuck out for me in this book was the representation of depression at a time when it wasn't acceptable to experience it. The book was published in the 60s and while there was a vague awareness of what mental health was, it wasn't really okay to exhibit the symptoms or consequences. Yet Robinson shows Anna's depression and the reactions other people have to it with surprising accuracy, and through a child narrator without being patronising. I think the simplicity with which the author talks about Anna's feelings and behaviour without needing to explain at great lengths what's happening is a big part of its effect - depression isn't a word mentioned at any point, understandably, but it's clear that this is what Anna is experiencing. Furthermore, for a younger audience I think it does a really good job of just showing these kinds of emotions, which in itself is a rare thing.

I keep saying it, but I would've loved this book as a kid, because it ties in all my favourite parts of good old fashioned adventure (the impromptu meetings, secret little alcoves in mysterious buildings, peculiar children that seem to appear from nowhere), with some magical elements as well. You can discuss whether the main enigma of the story is magical realism, hallucinations or pure fantasy until the cows come home, but for me I didn't even mind - I just loved reading about it anyway. Of course, these days it did get to me a little bit that the resolutions and explanations for these little mysteries were honestly a bit of a mess by the end, but had I read this a few years ago I wouldn't have been able to put it down. In fact this book just reminds me of my childhood, and while that's great for nostalgia, it wasn't quite what I was looking for in a story.

Apart from Anna and her mental health, I do have to say the rest of the characters are generally unremarkable, but they fit nicely into that old fashioned style of characters that each have their own little adventurous twist; I kept being reminded of The Famous Five, or Swallows and Amazons. Overall it does seem like everyone else is around to take Anna through her transformation, which is fine but there was a part of me that wanted a little more to distinguish between each character.

When Marnie Was There is slow and sweet. For me personally it was a little too slow and sweet - especially to read in between my usual tastes - but it would be a gentle summer pick for readers a little younger than me.

I would have loved When Marnie Was There when I was younger, and even now it was a nice summer read, but I didn't come out of it with anything anymore. However, for younger readers I think this book would very accessible and engaging - I honestly wish I'd had it when I had a summer holiday in Norfolk.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23019010-when-marnie-was-there

Thin Air

Book Title: Thin Air

Author: Michelle Paver

Date Started: June 20th 2016

Date Completed: July 23rd 2016

Genres: Historical, Horror
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I'm not one for straight-forward horror, but psychological creepy stuff is another matter. In the end Thin Air ticked the box for the spooky idea, but it wasn't used to it's potential in the end. I almost feel like this book will be adored by a select few people, but isn't overly enjoyable for anyone outside of that niche audience.

In a ghost story, when the simple sentences with facts are scarier than the haunting scenes there's a bit of a problem. The hair's on the back of my neck stood up when at the start we're told only four of the five victims of the 1907 expedition up Kangchenjunga were laid to rest, but when the ghostly figure was spotted in that moment of shock across the glacier I felt nothing. One of the reasons I prefer psychological horror instead of the more traditional violence and gore-based genres is that it relies a lot more on atmosphere than the shock of something happening: it's often more what you don't see, than what you do. Where Thin Air really fell down for me was when there wasn't enough of that tense atmosphere built up for me to be scared with Stephen when he jumped at nothing - it just came across as Stephen jumping at nothing.

If you're interested in mountain climbing, great! Otherwise you're probably going to get pretty bored with the repetitive descriptions of every glacier the group pass (they're on a mountain, there's quite a few). I knew going in that this was a book about mountain climbing, but what caught my eye was the ghost story bit, so honestly I was a little more invested in the development in that part of the story and that's where things started to fall a little flat. I still think Paver's story idea has some good potential, and right at the beginning being told that there was one unburied body somewhere up on that mountain freaked me out a bit - but that was the last time I really felt tense. A little more exploration of why there was something supernatural happening, or even some more drama once we'd realised what was happening would have done so much for this book. Instead we just skim the surface of all these potential storylines or exposition opportunities, and I wanted more to the point where I kept getting pulled out of the story. The climax was very much the same: it almost felt like an anticlimax and there was something that still had to be finished. It happened so fast and there was no real explanation or resolution and I can't even see that much development in the protagonist over the time of the story.

I wasn't particularly attached to any characters, in fact I wasn't a huge fan of any of them for the most part. The competitive brotherly relationship between Stephen and Kits was probably the most engaging aspect of any character, but I still wouldn't be able to list the names of the five main climbers and tell them apart if you asked me. Part of this was to do with genuine parts of their characters - the casual racism, while I understand was for characterisation to an extent, definitely put me off from getting attached to anyone - but I also struggled to find anything to latch onto for each character.

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced a huge part of why I didn't enjoy this book was because I got very bored about hearing all the details of mountaineering that saturate the text so heavily - so of course the book felt very slow paced for me. I spent the 50% almost begging for something to actually happen, so Stephen would stop talking about this glacier, and that ledge, and this person's medical condition for long enough to engage me in the spooky happenings. In hindsight, I may have misjudged this book in being a psychological thriller - it doesn't claim to be, I'll admit, but the advertised 'ghost story' made me expect a little more of a creepy atmosphere alongside the (admittedly impressively) detailed explanations of mountain climbing.

Honestly, Thin Air wasn't terrible, it just fell flat in a lot of places for me. If you're a fan of the outdoors or specifically mountain climbing, you might be able to get more engaged with the characters and story than I was, and therefore might feel the ghostly spookiness more, but personally I was quite far removed because I found little that interested me in this book.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28335600-thin-air

This Savage Song

Book Title: This Savage Song

Author: V.E. Schwab
Series: Monsters of Verity #1

Date Started: June 19th 2016

Date Completed: July 21st 2016

Genres: Dystopian, Thriller, Fantasy
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

I haven't related to a book on a personal level like I did with This Savage Song for a long time. Don't get me wrong, this novel is fantastic regardless, but as an individual who follows Victoria's work closely and has personal mental health conditions this book struck me very hard. And I think it's a very good way to explore mental health without people necessarily knowing it.

This Savage Song, whether it was deliberate or subconscious, has quite frankly staggering parallels to mental health, in both the monsters themselves and the experiences of the characters. Not only am I so happy to see this sort of thing being explored in such a creative way, but I'm also hopeful for what this meant for the author, as well as myself. Victoria is someone who I greatly look up to for countless reasons, but one of which being in how she struggles with some of the things paralleled in her novel: when reading I saw echoes of depression, anxiety, panic attacks. Maybe, once I'd noticed the first few, my own mind starting picking them out for me, but even so seeing those elements there was somehow a comfort - the experiences and feelings being portrayed aren't fun, but it helped me, honestly. However, past the impact this has on me personally, I think it's also a really interesting exploration of mental health in a creative and innovative way - I haven't really seen anyone else talk about this book in terms of mental health, and perhaps I am drawing conclusions from poetic license, but I'd be interested to see what other people thought on its parallels.

A genre that I really don't see that much in the literature I read, but really really love, is old fashioned gangster style crime. Admittedly, This Savage Song isn't really a gangster book, but you gotta love a good old gangster setting, even if it does have a little dystopian twist. And no, it isn't even the main sort of landscape we're in for a lot of the story, but it really does give this book that extra edge. I'm all for corrupt governments in dystopians, but it's rare that I feel the threat these examples of authority pose - but I felt it in Verity. A lot of that's to do with the gradual but clear world building intertwined as part of the story as well as exposition, and part of that's just Victoria Schwab being her usual talented self.

There are some really nice moments in this book that made me gasp; in fact there were points when I found myself genuinely grinning, laughing or staring wide eyed at the page. Some parts might have felt a little more predictable than what I'm used to from Victoria, but there were definitely parts I didn't see coming as well. Overall it's definitely a character story: you invest in the people and they carry things through - if I were to brutally scrutinise it, there was maybe a slight lack of Schwab's usual flair. But even so, I adored every second of this book, and the storyline and climax hold up well for any angle.

I love Schwab's male/female relationships that don't need romance to be intimate. There might always be a hint of something in the future, but in all her books I've found very close friendships and familial relationships that don't require a directly romantic edge to fuel them. First of all, it's a breath of fresh air from what we're constantly being bombarded with in most other examples - but it also does a brilliant job of showing how great it is to have characters stand on their own as powerful individuals. They feel more real, more investable, and like there's further they can go because they haven't had their fate decided for them just yet.

Kate kicked ass. It was pretty cool. She's definitely a flawed and unfriendly hero at times, but again, it's so nice to have a complex protagonist making the wrong decisions and actually paying the consequences. And Kate most certainly pays the consequences.

And in many ways August seems like her polar opposite: he wants to avoid making the wrong decisions to the point where he's scared to do a lot of things at all. Again, a very complex protagonist, but in very different ways. I think it takes a very talented author to be able to write such complicated and conflicting characters, and have their problems and their salvations seem similar to a reader. By the end I just wanted to give him hug, honestly.

Just personally, I'm not a huge fan of school settings, so the first half of this book felt a little bit slow for me at times. There were definitely elements I enjoyed, but it was noticeably slower than what I was used to from Schwab - again, I don't think this was the book, just my personal preference. However, once we got to the middle I could barely put it down. I had to keep reading, I had to know what happened, but at the same time I really didn't want it to be over.

This Savage Song isn't Victoria's most sophisticated book in terms of story line, but her connections (whether deliberate or otherwise) to mental health had a real significance to me, and regardless this book is packed full of action, dystopian adventure thrills. While working as its own story very well, I'm sure it'll expand in the next books, and I'm sure two certain people will find their paths cross again, as always seems to be the case with Victoria's stories.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28696452-this-savage-song