book review | The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard

Author: Colin Woodard
Title: The Republic of Pirates
Series: –
Genre: Nonfiction; Historical
Pages: 400
Rate: 5-5 | Goodreads

Who doesn’t like a good pirate tale? But how many of us know anything about the men and women behind the infamous names? This bother has led me to pick up The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard, a masterful historical book, full of names we all surely know.

About the Book: Edward “Blackbeard” Teach, Charles Vane, Mary Read, Stephen Bonnet. Some out of many more who sailed the seas and struck fear in simple man’s heart. Strategic abilities, scare tactics, combat skills, all that and much more has surrounded the infamous pirates with supernatural legends, thus bringing the whole of them under umbrella into the world of fiction that we now know and admire. This book tells the tale of theirs, the true one, what were the men and women behind those names, and what pushed them to this gruesome, rarely easy life. How the Republic of Pirates was formed, and how it eventually fell.

My Opinion: This is a great book if one wants to know more than just the fantasy tales we get via movies, series, and video games, which I also love, and can’t blame anyone else for loving too. Story is very well written, with plenty of background for some, and less for others, as is expected with historical nonfiction works.

Can definitely recommend, for the common kettle of knowledge. A firm 5 out of 5 from me!

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book review | Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko | Metamorphozi 1

Author: Marina Dyachenko
Title: Vita Nostra
Series: Metamorphozi 1
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 416
Rate: 5/5 | Goodreads

How does one describe a thing, a story as colossal as Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko? I said this before, and I will say this again, Slavs write very different fantasy, very big, very wast, very… It’s a lot, and it’s amazing.

About the Book: Sasha’s normal life ended that faithful summer when a strange man scared her near to death. Then sort of gave her a quest, a mission. Series of motions to perform every morning at the risk of great tragedies where she to refuse. So the girl obeyed, and every day performing – punctuated the strangeness by vomiting up a few gold coins. By the end of this ordeal she was accepted into an institute for Special Technologies, as they put it, as the strange man has put it, where professors as strange as he, as inhuman as he, teach them the oddest damn things, all the while repeating them: no one’s asking for impossible here. But is it not impossible to absorb and understand silence, differentiate between it? Is it not impossible to perceive meaning in language you never even seen, symbols you couldn’t even imagine? Is it not impossible to shed the limitations of your body, the limits of two legs, two arms? They’re all trying, of course, doing their best. For this world here, this middle-of-nowhere is ruled by fear, the same one Sasha felt that summer. To disobey, to do what you weren’t told to do, to do something you were forbidden to do, to fail, to be unprepared, all that meant bad news coming: illness, injury, misfortune, death even, among those you held dearest, you loved most. And children learned to blame themselves for it, and thus try harder very, very soon. So, it seems like Sasha’s normal life never even existed. For, what is normal in the Universe that was born out of a spark, a word, a thought, a meaning?

My Opinion: I have no clue how to describe, how to review this book. It was big, it was amazing, it was unbelievable and like nothing I ever read before. Written so well, so right, with a story so rich it becomes impossible to put it to words, these simple human words.

It’s a great book, definitely not for everyone, but a great book nonetheless. If you liked stuff by Pelevin or Max Fray, you might enjoy this one too, it’s a similar kind of mind boggling out-of-your-mind experience. A firm 5 out of 5 from me.

book review | The Passion of Cleopatra by Anne Rice and Christopher Rice | Ramses the Damned 2

Author: Anne Rice, Christopher Rice
Title: The Passion of Cleopatra
Series: Ramses the Damned 2
Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction
Pages: 416
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

Back in the day I’ve read Ramses the Damned by Anne Rice, thinking then it was a stand-alone with an open end to it. Cleopatra terrified me in that book, for I loathe monsters that cannot be killed. So, of course I had to pick up this belated sequel to it, and find out what has happened. I’ve no regrets.

About the Book: Cleopatra didn’t die, no. But her state of mind is a nightmare. Visions, dreams haunt the Queen. The memories just a moment ago so vivid and clear now gone, leaving only a memory of a memory that was and is no more. Cleopatra believes Ramses might have answers, and so she must face her nemesis again if only to get more eternal life Elixir that might, just might make her better.

But all the while behind their blind backs work forces older than either one of the former rulers of Egypt. They want wrongs righted. They want their stolen Elixir, and they want the immortals made by it.

My Opinion: I think I’ll have to look into Christopher Rice works. I’ve read quite a fair share of Anne Rice’s work to say this book had a very great improving touch in it, and now I must know if it was her son who steered it so well out of the maze of descriptions, details, and very long inner monologues that lead absolutely nowhere, normally. This here was perfectly balanced with action, tension, horror; long talks, politics, detailed descriptions of outfits and parties. And while some characters truly lacked depth, the overall picture the book has painted was truly good, or at least entertaining, and what more could one ask?

Many of us likely dream of being the great adventurers, explorers, finders of secrets long lost. But most of us likely have to be content with books about it. This book had means to satisfy that craving to an extent, for which I can give it a very solid 4 out of 5.

book review | The Vampire’s Club by X. Aratare | The Vampire’s Club 1

Author: X. Aratare
Title: The Vampire’s Club
Series: The Vampire’s Club 1
Genre: Vampires, LGBT Literature
Pages: 96
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

I was really looking forwards to reading The Vampire’s Club by X. Aratare, first book in what seems to be a series. But now that I have, I’m a little disappointed.

About the Book: Lucas is frantically seeking a job, any job. While his mother on the phone is trying to convince him to return home and work for his stepfather. The man of whom Lucas is irrationally afraid; to a point where he can barely stand being in one room with the man. So today, once again, he tried everywhere. Except that Club Dyavol that seemed to have appeared out of the gloom and doom. On the first look it seems full and high class. But a quick net search yields no results. It would have made sense to walk away. If it weren’t for the overwhelming sense flooding Lucas, telling him to go in, go into the Devil’s Club.

My Opinion: So from here on you can probably guess that a club that seems to appear our of nowhere is likely magically guarded. But those guards are nothing to a lad who, you guessed it, is an adopted orphan whose parents were killed, and who isn’t as much a nobody as he thought he was. A very basic story of very common tropes, with very little changes from many others out there. Felt like Megan Derr’s “Dance With the Devil”, so I’d not be surprised… It’s not the worst among these types of books, but it’s far from the best.

Right. Since I have the second one, I will read it too, and we’ll see how it goes. But for the time being, this one barely reached a 3 out of 5 from me.

book news | Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat – be still my feeble heart, something’s coming

Are you subscribed to C.S. Pacat‘s newsletter? Trust me, you very much should, and you should have the emails incoming marked, so you’d not accidentally delete them with other junk you kinda want, but kinda never read anyway. For today is the day C.S. Pacat teases our feeble little hearts that couldn’t let go of Captive Prince with some news:

There is some HUGE Captive Prince news coming soon.

I can’t tell you what it is.

I can’t even tell you the reveal date.

All I can tell you is that it is AMAZING, and something that readers have been asking for since the book was first published.

Stay tuned for more details as soon as I can release them.

I absolutely cannot wait. I don’t know how one’s supposed to wait. Is life all about waiting for the next thing? Next news, next release? It feels like it. I feel lost without it, but then, when I have to wait for something, I just CAN’T bloody WAIT.

Have you read the Captive Prince trilogy? The first book is a bit problematic, but in my opinion it improves further on, greatly. If you have read them, what do you think it could be? A comic? A movie? A sequel? A prequel?

book news | Embrace Your Weird by Felicia Day

Felicia Day, one of my most favorite creators of all times, author of a “You’re never weird on the internet (almost)” memoir, is releasing a new book that we can already preorder via BookDespository (and maybe elsewhere, go check from where you can get your books), and which will be released on October 1st 2019. The book is called “Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity“, which in itself sounds very promising.

Including Felicia’s personal stories and hard-won wisdom, Embrace Your Weird offers:

—Entertaining and revelatory exercises that empower you to be fearless, so you can rediscover the things that bring you joy, and crack your imagination wide open

—Unique techniques to vanquish enemies of creativity like: anxiety, fear, procrastination, perfectionism, criticism, and jealousy

—Tips to cultivate a creative community

—Space to explore and get your neurons firing

Whether you enjoy writing, baking, painting, podcasting, playing music, or have yet to uncover your favorite creative outlet, Embrace Your Weird will help you unlock the power of self-expression. Get motivated. Get creative. Get weird.

To me Felicia Day is a motivator in herself. I watch her work, I listen to her talk, be it during game streams, or podcasts, or whatever else she does, and I get inspired. Her memoir was inspiring. And this, I am sure, will be just as inspiring too. So I am awaiting the release eagerly!

What about you? Know her work? Watched The Guild in the past, maybe? It was the very first web series I have ever watched, and I embraced it only thanks to her.

Goodreads | BookDepository

Books in Search of a New Home!

Lucky is the day when you get first dibs into your friend’s unhaul pile. I was given permission to share it with you too, and I suggest you drop an eye, because some of those babies are fire, and I can vouch for them! @ HannahCassieBooks

book review | The Shanghai Factor by Charles McCarry

Author: Charles McCarry
Title: The Shanghai Factor
Series: –
Genre: Spy Thriller, Mystery
Pages: 336
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

I’ve realized a little too late when I picked up The Shanghai Factor by Charles McCarry, that I’ve not inspected the genres well enough. This might be the first spy thriller I’ve read. And I don’t think it’s a genre for me.

About the Book: A nameless American spy placed in Shanghai with bare orders: learn the language, absorb the culture. Avoid other Caucasians, especially other Americans. Which turns out hard to do, for any other white person in Shanghai jumped at the opportunity to speak to a possible same origins kin. But he could trust no one, and knew patterns too well to fall for real, possible or imagined ploys. Up until a pure accident has sent him tumbling head-first into a very tight and sticky cobweb. For he ran into a bike of a very attractive young woman.

My Opinion: It was dull. This nameless fellow is yet again one of those guys whom men with power just want to pay to do nothing, and women are happy to have sex with him, and absolutely understand that he can’t stay, and must go, and can’t explain them shit. Secondary characters were cold and two-dimensional. Plot itself felt like a tumble of things that barely fit together to make some kind of unclear image. It didn’t feel like a thriller at all.

I understand there’s quite a bit of my own fault for choosing a book so poorly, so no matter how tempted I am to give this book less, I will give it a 3 out of 5, just in case it wasn’t as bad as it seemed to me.

book review | Exile by R.A. Salvatore | The Legend of Drizzt 2

Author: R.A. Salvatore
Title: Exile
Series: The Legend of Drizzt 2
Genre: High Fantasy; Dark Fantasy
Pages: 343
Rate: 5/5 | Goodreads

Back in the days of MySpace, while I still had a VampireFreaks account too, if you asked anyone for book recommendations: high chances were you got R.A. Salvatore mentioned, with his Legend of Drizzt. Now that I’ve read the second one, Exile, I definitely see why.

About the Book: Drizzt roams the oppressing darkness of the Underdark, fighting for his survival and sanity. Both against monstrous beasts, and his own mind. All the while trying his best to stay a step ahead of the hunting parties his mother, now in great disfavor with her vile Spider Queen due to survival of Drizzt, keeps sending. She intends to right the wrongs and regain the favor of her goddess, else all might be lost. For such are the rules in the vicious homeland of the dark elves: Menzoberranzan.

My Opinion: This is a very unique, and yet very classic story. There’s so many new, never seen before things happening, the personalities spun, the hierarchy, the rule, the whole game, schemes, politics. But at the same time, pages are filled with battles, sword fights, and friendship that pushes characters out of their comfort zones, and against their own nature.

It’s a truly beautiful piece. I loved the emphasis on what predicaments like Drizzt’s, the utter loneliness, can do to the mind and the humanity side of a being. A strong 5 out of 5 from me.

book review | The Stable Boy by Megan Derr

Author: Megan Derr
Title: The Stable Boy
Series: –
Genre: Fantasy; LGBTQIA+
Pages: 37
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

Sometimes I can’t fall asleep. And, sometimes, I’m too lazy to turn the tablet back on. So I searched for something short to spend the dark dawn hours with and not do too much damage upon the phone battery. The Stable Boy by Megan Derr served very well!

About the Book: Prince Diggory wakes up with a stab wound, a nasty curse, and even nastier memories of a fight. His own bodyguard has stabbed him with a cursed blade, and then thrown him into the river. He intends to take Diggory’s place, marry his prince, his fiance, and rule this new foreign kingdom in Diggory’s stead. But since prince is alive, he doesn’t intend to give up just yet. So, unable to tell anyone about the curse in fear it might still kill him if he did, he starts working as a stable boy in the royal stables, keeping an eye on his gorgeous fiance, and setting a plan in motion of taking his life back.

My Opinion: This is a very cute, sweet little tale of fairy tale curses that have rules of breaking unknown to even those suffering it. If you seek something adorable and fast paced, this is the book. Other than the people killed, who didn’t get so much of a fairy tale ending.

I’m living through a better version of my childhood, with books on princes marrying princes in happily ever after settings, with magical curses and, sometimes, dragons (not in this book). This one gets a 4 out of 5, very firm, a minus only on the definitely-too-short basis.