Tag Archives: michelle h.

Making 2020 my “TBR Clean-up” Year

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When I was in high school and college, I didn’t have much time to read for fun, and I had different priorities during my free time. But I missed reading so much! So when I graduated, I went a little crazy: I started watching bookish videos on YouTube, made a Goodreads account, and built a TBR (to be read) list that could go on for miles (and that was just first books in series)! I got to work without much of a plan, and soon I’d started more than a dozen series without finishing them.

Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing if you can keep track of things and remember what happened in every series you’ve started. However, I am so scatterbrained that even having two or three series going at a time gets awfully confusing, and I start forgetting whether it was the warrior cat or the viking who conquered Tafjord… or was it Sarantium? (Oh, and who was that nonchalant guy doing harmless things that end up turning the narrative completely on its head?) If I let the series sit long enough, I can’t even remember that there was someone who took over somewhere! After years of having to reread books just to continue the series, I decided that THIS year I need to “clean up” the series I’ve started by doing the exact opposite of what I’ve been doing: finishing them!

 

Series 1: Promise of Blood

I’ll admit I didn’t start this journey off well. The first book I read this year was Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan, the beginning of a new series. You could say that it was unfortunate that I enjoyed the book because that means I have to read the rest of the trilogy before December 31st. Thanks be to my unpleasant, self-imposed loose end tie-up scheme.

 

Series 2: The Legion of Flame

I did, however, redeem myself with extra credit when I read the next book, The Legion of Flame by Anthony Ryan. Not only was it the second book in a series, but I shortly after decided to officially DNF (did not finish) its series, which lets me off the hook for book three. Yay!

 

Series 3: The Half-Drowned King

The next two are, however, a mixed bag of pats on the back and kicking myself. Like Ryan’s series, I had no intention of continuing Linnea Hartsuyker’s historical viking series, The Half-Drowned King. I started missing one of the main characters, though, and got the notion in my head to continue with at least the second book. Before long, I was reading the third one too, although I did manage to throw the most recent continuation of a favorite series in the middle. For anyone keeping track at home, that’s three more books ticked off my list (even if two of them were recent additions).

 

Series 4: The Warrior Moon

Then came The Warrior Moon by K. Arsenault Rivera (check out my series review in a previous blog post), a series finale bringing me to a total of four clean-ups! That’s when I needed a break and threw some stand-alone books in, which I think are kind of neutral to the cause; check out Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson and Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay for some solid fiction that doesn’t (currently) have a sequel.

 

Series 5: Warriors

Next up is kind of a doozy. I decided I would continue with a childhood favorite that I’m terribly far behind on: the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. The reason this is a snag in my plan is because the series is 39 books long so far–and that’s only the main story line books! As of the beginning of this year, I’d only read 14 of them, so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do in one year. Or do I? I have a way around this one, I promise.

Warriors is broken up into six-book sub-series with somewhat independent characters and stories, so it’s easy to just read them in those shorter chunks. Plus, each part has its own series title anyway. All that to say I’m continuing Power of Three this year. At the time of my rough draft, I was done with numbers three, four, and five, and I was halfway through the final book in this sub-series. Now I’ve finished the last one as well and moved on to The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky, another stand alone book that was highly anticipated!

 

More Series to Tackle in the 2nd Half of 2020

We’re not even halfway through the year though, so what on earth am I going to be doing in the second half of 2020? Like I mentioned, I’m obligated to finish Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage trilogy since I liked it well enough. I also started Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher last year, so that’s another outstanding series with six more entries to read. No, no, I’m not sweating, I’m exuding my passion for books! Not to mention I’ve got to finish up The Poppy War series by R.F. Kuang, which would have been an easy one-book read if not for the third and final book coming out in November.

And, of course, I’m already planning more series to start (cue the disappointed groan)! Most importantly, I want to read the Book of the Ancestor trilogy by Mark Lawrence since the first book in a spin-off series is coming out this year. Additionally, I’d like to start the Song of the Shattered Sands series by Bradley Beaulieu and the first trilogy in the First Law world by Joe Abercrombie. If those don’t manage to keep me occupied, which I highly doubt, I’ll be looking at some more stand-alones to keep me on track.

Will I finish all the series I’ve started this year? That’s a big maybe. But maybe I can at least make some methodical progress on my ever-growing, obnoxiously large TBR! Here’s to doing my best in 2020!

 

Michelle is a member of our Patron Services Department.  In addition to being an avid reader, she also is an animal lover and a fan of board games.

Review: Their Bright Ascendancy

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Today I’d like to review one of my favorite series of all time, the Their Bright Ascendancy books by K Arsenault Rivera. This is an adult, Asian-inspired fantasy trilogy composed of The Tiger’s Daughter, The Phoenix Empress, and The Warrior Moon. I just finished the final book on April 20th, and I’m still just floored by the perfection of the ending and wishing there was more!

The books follow two women who meet in their childhood. Shizuka is the niece of the emperor, and Shefali is the daughter of the leader of a Mongol-inspired steppe people. Their mothers are the closest of friends, so naturally they want their girls to be friends as well. Except that when they first meet as children, Shizuka tries to kill Shefali. Later on, the people around them start to notice that these girls may be more than they appear, particularly when, at eight years old, they manage to kill a savage tiger.

These books have so much going for them! The prose is, first and foremost, amazing. It’s very flowery, especially in the first book when you’re just getting adjusted to the author’s writing style. If you’re not a fan of metaphors, reader beware! Despite the poetic, detail-oriented language and the way that the point of view and tense changes for each perspective, the author does an excellent job of leading the reader through the story. I didn’t find myself confused at any point in the three books, even when the books jump between third and second person. And the second person? It is artfully done!

In addition to the solid mechanics of the books, the characters and plot are out of this world. You will feel for every single character you come across. It doesn’t matter if it’s the main characters your rooting for, the despicable villains, or the well-fleshed out side characters. They’ll feel like real people, and you’ll wonder if you could stand to be around some of them if they were! The author weaves the plot along within these character arcs and succeeds in creating an epic masterpiece.

One of the biggest pluses for this series is the LGBT representation. Multiple characters could be described as LGBT, and the way they are portrayed is respectful and empowering to the real-world community. Additionally, the women in these books take the forefront: they drive the plot, they’re strong willed, they’re brave, and they’re leaders. Some balance femininity with necessary heroics, while others, at their core, are gritty and powerful.

As far as negatives go, there aren’t many. I’ve read other reviews from people who feel that the series is filled with appropriation of Asian cultures. You can see this in using real world words and names, but changing their meaning to fit within the context of the author’s world. You can also see this in the animal imagery and the customs of different cultures in the books, just to point out a few of the things that could have been more original. That said, I feel like the representation in the book far outweighs the lack of cultural sensitivity that some readers sense in the text.

Overall, I am in love with this series and the characters! I finished each book within a week, which is often a big accomplishment for a slow reader like myself. It pains me that this series is already over, but the author has a prequel in the works that I’m waiting impatiently for.

If you want to pick up these books, unfortunately we don’t have copies here in Greenwood, but you can order them through Evergreen today and still support us as we’re starting to get books out into the community again!

 

Michelle is a member of our Patron Services Department.  In addition to being an avid reader, she also is an animal lover and a fan of board games.