Monthly wrap up // January 2023

The first month of 2023 is already over. I had a good January. Nothing much happened and I had a lot of free time on my hands, which meant that I had plenty of time to read books. I read 14 books this month, and most of them were big ones.

What I read

Lightlark by Alex Aster

For some reason, I picked up one of 2022’s most controversial books to start off the year. And…it was one of the most awful books I’ve ever read. The plot was cliche, the characters were so cringe-y and the fantasy names wanted me to tear my hair out. Seriously, who names the broody tall dark handsome (cough cough) love interest ‘Grimshaw’? And I guessed the biggest plot twist of the book the second a specific character was introduced. My rating: ★✩✩✩✩ (1 star, this deserves less.)

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

Now, this was a book I really, really wanted to love, seeing that so many of my bookish friends do. Unfortunately…I just did not get the hype. While the prose was good, this book was disturbing in a way that I did not like, and Paul and Julian were just horrible people. [hides from the audience]

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

Technically, this is a reread, but it’s been so long since I first read The Blue Castle that I decided to count it into this list. L.M. Montgomery just knew how to write comfort stories, didn’t she? The protagonist in this one is 29-year-old Valancy Stirling, who gets diagnosed with a fatal heart disease and ends up with about a year more to live.

She does the only sensible thing – ditches societal expectations, runs wild, proposes and marries a mysterious man who may or may not be a murderer. I loved Valancy and related to her struggles a lot more than I first realized. My rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars)

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

The Traitor Baru Cormorant was…a lot to take in. It’s so brutal at times, but so beautifully written it’s hard to look away. Baru was such a riveting main character. And it was so sad to watch her compromise, again and again, to achieve her goals. The last time I’d seen such a female character was Rin Kitay. Baru was probably even better. The ending took me by surprise, but now I’m looking forward to reading the other two books.

My rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars)

Strike the Zither by Joan He

I have tried to read two of Joan He’s other books before and never finished. This book, however, gripped me from the beginning. All the strategizing and negotiating Zephyr did in the first half of the book felt like a frantic, delicate dance. I was warned there would be a big twist, but wow I did not expect that. After that, my interest in the story gradually dissipated. Surprisingly, I liked the romance. My rating: ★★★✩✩ (3 stars)

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, retold by Geraldine McCaughrean

Another reread. This is a very short book I picked off my shelf because I wanted to kill some time. Some of the stories are annoying but some are so funny. My personal favourite is the runaway alchemist’s story.

The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow

Everyone on twitter were losing their minds over this 30-page short story. And guys, this story deserves all the praise. It’s harrowing, hopeful and full of so much yearning it makes my heart ache.

Do yourselves a favour and take ten minutes off your day to read this. There’s a big chance that like me, you’d end up reading this over and over several times. My rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)

To quote from Emma, If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.

• Assassin’s Apprentice: ★★★★✩ (4 stars)
• Royal Assassin: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
• Assassin’s Quest: ★★★★✩ (4.5 stars)

I finally started reading Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series and I get it, folks. These books are massive but I couldn’t put them down. I adore all the characters in the Farseer Trilogy. Fitz, Molly, Burrich, Nighteyes(!!), Chade, Verity, Kettricken, Kettle, the Fool (I LOVE the Fool), Patience…damn this list is long. I might review the whole thing someday. I stayed up a whole night to finish Royal Assassin, I was that engrossed with the story.

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

This was a nice, fairytale-ish YA story with a good ending that left me a LOT curious as to what the second book will bring. (spoilers) I’m glad that for once, the mysterious ancient love interest actually was up to no good. my rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars)

The Liveship Traders trilogy has an entirely new cast of characters. It was odd at the beginning and it certainly took a few chapters to get ‘into’ this new story in a new location. (I missed Fitz so much) And at the start I found almost all of the POV characters irritating. And the worst of it all seemed to come down on the only character I rooted for in the beginning: Althea.

More often than not, I wanted kick characters like Kyle Haven or Captain Kennit overboard. Then there was Malta Vestrit, who at the start seemed like someone who won a competition for the most annoying 13-year-old. As the story went on, I was starting to root for the characters, and they developed in the most unexpected ways. And the worldbuilding was phenomenal.

The only thing I’m salty about is the ending. Ship of Destiny was an excellent book (reading it exhausted me cause so! much! tension!)

(SPOILERS) I might sound heartless but I wish Kennit suffered more. And that Althea had a better ending, because she remaining on the Paragon just…leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That’s it. Otherwise it was excellent.

My ratings:

• Ship of Magic: ★★★✩✩ (3.5 stars)
• The Mad Ship: ★★★★✩ (4 stars)
• Ship of Destiny: ★★★★★ (4.5 stars)

What I watched

I binge watched all five seasons of Leverage and I loved it. It’s basically like, what if four of the world’s best hypercompetent criminals and one drunk divorced ex-insurance investigator decided to help the disadvantaged by destroying corrupt rich peoples’ lives and become a found family in the process. While being hilarious, wholesome and fun.

I attempted to watch the Leverage reboot, Leverage: Redemption but it just didn’t hit the right notes for me. I liked the two new characters introduced, Breanna and Harry, but I hate what they did with Parker and Eliot’s characters.

I rewatched a few episodes of My Mister and My Country: the New Age (now, that’s another good story I haven’t talked about on the blog. The plot is…fine, but the character relationships are fire. Just two stabby repressed boys who definitely do not love each other. Seriously, this story is queerbaiting at its finest.)

I watched up to episode 8 of Summer Strike, which is a nice enough kdrama but why do these comfort tales have to have a murder and trauma involved. The introvert-introvert romance was too cute, though!

Life update

After so much trouble, I trained my dog Lexi to respond to things like come, go, sit, flop (that’s when it lies flat on the ground, chin down), sleep, stop. There’s also a combination of gibberish I won’t repeat here that makes him roll over so that we can scratch its chest.

I finally got my drivers’ license! I think I’ve gotten the hang of driving in heavy traffic, though I’m still terrified of accidentally crashing into someone. (so far, I’ve only run the car right up to a wall while reversing. But the car is battered and scratched everywhere anyways, so my father only shrugged.) I still haven’t driven anywhere alone, but my dad has (somewhat) stopped telling me driving instructions every time I’m at the wheel.

That’s all, people! Hopefully I might be able to blog consistently this year.

I’m late, but Happy New Year, folks! Hope you have a good year ahead!