June Challenge Progress Report!

The year is half over, and where did it go? How am I doing on my 2018 Reading Challenges?

My Goodreads Reading Challenge goal is 175 books, and so far I’ve completed 95/175. GR tells me I’m 7 books ahead of schedule. I lost a little bit of my lead, down from 12 ahead. I kind of expected that though; contrary to popular sentiment, I get less reading done in the summer months because I’m so busy outdoors!

Let’s check in on the Literary (&) Lacquers Reading Bingo, over in the Literary Lacquers facebook fan group. So far I’ve checked off 8/16 prompts, so I’m right on track for halfway done, though I didn’t check anything new off. (If you participate, there are discounts for completion!)

• A Graphic Novel – Paper Girls Vol. 1
• A Book Written by an Author of Color – Markswoman
• A Book With a Green Cover – The Book of Life
• A Book Written by an Author From A Different Country – The Illuminae Files
• A Book With a Color in the Title – The Black Tides of Heaven 
• A Book That’s Been on Your TBR for Over a Year – A Conjuring of Light 
• A Book About a Topic That Makes You Uncomfortable – Anger is a Gift
• A Book Set in a Non-English Speaking Country – Bookburners

*On to the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, where I’ve made no new progress this month. 6/24, still behind. I need to start actively looking for books to meet the different criteria.

• A Book About Nature – Our Native Bees
• The First in a New To You YA or Middle-Grade Series – Markswoman
• A Comic Written or Illustrated by a Person of Color – Paper Girls Vol. 2
• A Sci-fi Novel With a Female Protagonist by a Female Author – The Tea Master and the Detective
• A Book With A Cover You Hate – Lustlocked
• A One Sitting Book – A Court of Frost and Starlight
• A Comic That Isn’t Published by Marvel, DC or Image – Wires & Nerve Vol 2.

I’ve made more progress for Popsugar’s Reading Challenge. 22/47, a bit behind. I need to start actively looking for books to meet the different criteria.

• A Book About a Villain or Antihero – Godsgrave
• A Book With An Animal in the Title – Our Native Bees
• A Book by a Female Author Who Uses a Male Pseudonym – The Silkworm
• A Book by an Author of a Different Ethnicity Than You – Markswoman
• A Book You Borrowed or Were Given as a Gift – Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance
• A Book by a Local Author – Tricks for Free
• A Book That’s Published in 2018 – Tempests & Slaughter 
• A Book You Meant to Read in 2017 But Didn’t Get To – Strange Practice
• A Book By Two Authors – The Tangled Lands
• A Book with a Time of Day in the Title – An Artificial Night
• A Book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist – In Other Lands
• A Book with a Weather Element in the Title – Daughters of the Storm 
• A Book with an Animal in the Title – Sparrow Hill Road
• A Book With Characters Who Are Twins – The Diminished
• A Book With an Ugly Cover – Lustlocked
• An Allegory – Last First Snow
• A Book About A Problem Facing Society Today – Anger is a Gift
• A Book Involving a Heist – The Ruin of Angels
• A Book Set in a Country That Fascinates You – Bookburners
• A Book Set At Sea – The Serpent Sea
• A Book About or Involving Sports – Brief Cases
• A Cyberpunk Book – Lifel1k3

I am also participating in my local library’s 10 To Read challenge and made no progress this month. 4/10

• A Young Adult Book – Godsgrave
• A Book Set in a Place You’ve Never Been – Tricks for Free
• A Book About Food – Acid Trip
• A Biography
• A Banned Book
• A Book by a Native American Author – Trail of Lightning
• A Book Recommended by KCLS Staff
• A Book in Translation
• A Book That’s Been Made Into A Movie or TV Show

I did my fifth buddy read of The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone with my blogging buddy Marzie. Check out the discussion posts of Four Roads Cross. Look for our reviews and discussion posts of book six, Ruin of Angels later this month!

The Hugo nominees were announced last month, and I’ve started to chip away at the reading. Voting opened last month and is open through the end of July. The list of nominees is here.

Here’s what I’ve read so far:

• Best Novel
  • Raven Stratagem
  • The Stone Sky
• Best Novella
  • Down Among The Sticks and Bones
  • The Black Tides of Heaven
• Best Novelette
  • “Children of Thorns, Children of Water”
• Best Short Story
  • Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience TM
• Best Graphic Story
  • Bitch Planet, Vol 2: President Bitch
  • Monstress, Vol 2: The Blood
• Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  • Thor: Ragnarok
  • Wonderwoman
• Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form
  • The Good Place, Michael’s Gambit
  • The Good Place, The Trolley Problem
• Best Series
  • InCryptid
    • All of it, even the short stories
  • The Memoirs of Lady Trent
    • A Natural History of Dragons
    • Voyage of the Basilisk
    • In the Labyrinth of Drakes
  • The Books of the Raksura
    • The Cloud Roads
    • The Serpent Sea
    • The Siren Depths
• Best YA (Not A Hugo)
  • In Other Lands

I…..still have a LOT of reading ahead of me, since voting closes THIS MONTH!!!

In addition to all that, I am hosting an 11-book Read Along of the entire October Daye series as we prepare for book #12 Night and Silence to release in September. Over in the Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant Fans group on Facebook (which I help admin), we’re discussing one book every three weeks. We’ve made it through books 1-6 and will be tackling book 7, Chimes at Midnight on June 3.

What have you been reading this month?

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The Ruin of Angels – Max Gladstone

4.5 Stars

Welcome to this sixth, and final, part of #TheCraftBuddies buddy read of Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence! For this read, I am teaming up once again with Marzie’s Reads and guest commenter, and friend of the blog, Jenni.

The Ruin of Angels is book six in The Craft Sequence if you read the books in publication order, and the sixth book chronologically. We’re reading the books in publication order for this discussion.

 

Cover from Goodreads

 

Before we jump into the review and discussion, here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

The God Wars destroyed the city of Alikand. Now, a century and a half and a great many construction contracts later, Agdel Lex rises in its place. Dead deities litter the surrounding desert, streets shift when people aren’t looking, a squidlike tower dominates the skyline, and the foreign Iskari Rectification Authority keeps strict order in this once-independent city―while treasure seekers, criminals, combat librarians, nightmare artists, angels, demons, dispossessed knights, grad students, and other fools gather in its ever-changing alleys, hungry for the next big score.

Priestess/investment banker Kai Pohala (last seen in Full Fathom Five) hits town to corner Agdel Lex’s burgeoning nightmare startup scene, and to visit her estranged sister Ley. But Kai finds Ley desperate at the center of a shadowy, and rapidly unravelling, business deal. When Ley ends up on the run, wanted for a crime she most definitely committed, Kai races to track her sister down before the Authority finds her first. But Ley has her own plans, involving her ex-girlfriend, a daring heist into the god-haunted desert, and, perhaps, freedom for an occupied city. Because Alikand might not be completely dead―and some people want to finish the job.

Before my reread of the series, I’d claimed that The Ruin of Angels was my favorite of the series, but Four Roads Cross has claimed that title, now that I’ve reread the whole series, putting The Ruin of Angels in second place.

The Ruin of Angels is a very different book from the first five Craft books. Max Gladstone has described it as the first of the second phase of the series, which hopefully means more books to come, though none have been announced.

It’s a very personal book, and ultimately a book about the nature of cities, which can feel like two separate things, until we circle back to the idea that a city is different to different people. A city can mean and be different things to different communities, and there is no one face a city wears. There is no one vision of a city, and to impose a singular vision of a city on all of its citizens is to deny those residents citizenship.

It’s also a fast-paced, nail-biting heist. The ultimate prize is knowledge, libraries and freedom, stolen right out from under the reality of one city, and one authority’s noses. The heist element is fun and frustrating at turns.

It’s also a story about relationships and how those who love us the most can also hurt us the deepest and that good intentions don’t always matter when the result is pain.

Fair warning, our discussion beyond this point is *FULL* of spoilers.

May Challenge Progress Report!

Mayday, Mayday! May’s gone away! Where did the year go? We’re already halfway through? How am I doing on my 2018 Reading Challenges?

My Goodreads Reading Challenge goal is 175 books, and so far I’ve completed 84/175. GR tells me I’m 12 books ahead of schedule. That lead feels so good! If it continues, I might have to bump up my goal!

Next, let’s check in on the Literary (&) Lacquers Reading Bingo, over in the Literary Lacquers facebook fan group. So far I’ve checked off 8/16 prompts, so I’m right on track for halfway done. (If you participate, there are discounts for completion!)

• A Graphic Novel – Paper Girls Vol. 1
• A Book Written by an Author of Color – Markswoman
• A Book With a Green Cover – The Book of Life
• A Book Written by an Author From A Different Country – The Illuminae Files
• A Book With a Color in the Title – The Black Tides of Heaven (no review yet)
• A Book That’s Been on Your TBR for Over a Year – A Conjuring of Light (No review yet)
• A Book About a Topic That Makes You Uncomfortable – Anger is a Gift
• A Book Set in a Non-English Speaking Country – Bookburners

On the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, no new progress this month. 5/24, still a little behind. I need to start actively looking for books to meet the different criteria.

• A Book About Nature – Our Native Bees
• The First in a New To You YA or Middle-Grade Series – Markswoman
• A Comic Written or Illustrated by a Person of Color – Paper Girls Vol. 2
• A Sci-fi Novel With a Female Protagonist by a Female Author – The Tea Master and the Detective
• A Book With A Cover You Hate – Lustlocked
• A One Sitting Book – A Court of Frost and Starlight

I’ve made more progress for Popsugar’s Reading Challenge. 17/47, a bit behind. I need to start actively looking for books to meet the different criteria.

• A Book About a Villain or Antihero – Godsgrave
• A Book With An Animal in the Title – Our Native Bees
• A Book by a Female Author Who Uses a Male Pseudonym – The Silkworm
• A Book by an Author of a Different Ethnicity Than You – Markswoman
• A Book You Borrowed or Were Given as a Gift – Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance
• A Book by a Local Author – Tricks for Free
• A Book That’s Published in 2018 – Tempests & Slaughter 
• A Book You Meant to Read in 2017 But Didn’t Get To – Strange Practice
• A Book By Two Authors – The Tangled Lands
• A Book with a Time of Day in the Title – An Artificial Night
• A Book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist – In Other Lands
• A Book with a Weather Element in the Title – Daughters of the Storm (review coming soon!)
• A Book with an Animal in the Title – Sparrow Hill Road
• A Book With Characters Who Are Twins – The Diminished
• A Book With an Ugly Cover – Lustlocked
• An Allegory – Last First Snow
• A Book About A Problem Facing Society Today – Anger is a Gift

I am also participating in my local library’s 10 To Read challenge and made no progress this month. 4/10

• A Young Adult Book – Godsgrave
• A Book Set in a Place You’ve Never Been – Tricks for Free
• A Book About Food – Acid Trip
• A Biography
• A Banned Book
• A Book by a Native American Author – Trail of Lightning
• A Book Recommended by KCLS Staff
• A Book in Translation
• A Book That’s Been Made Into A Movie or TV Show

I did my fifth buddy read of The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone with my blogging buddy Marzie. Check out the discussion posts of Four Roads Cross. Look for our reviews and discussion posts of book six, Ruin of Angels later this month!

The Hugo nominees were announced last month, and I’ve started to chip away at the reading. Voting opened last month and is open through the end of July. The list of nominees is here.

Here’s what I’ve read so far:

• Best Novel
  • Raven Stratagem
• Best Novella
  • Down Among The Sticks and Bones
  • The Black Tides of Heaven
• Best Novelette
  • “Children of Thorns, Children of Water”
• Best Short Story
  • Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience TM
• Best Graphic Story
  • Bitch Planet, Vol 2: President Bitch
  • Monstress, Vol 2: The Blood
• Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  • Thor: Ragnarok
  • Wonderwoman
• Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form
  • The Good Place, Michael’s Gambit
  • The Good Place, The Trolley Problem
• Best Series
  • InCryptid
    • All of it, even the short stories
  • The Memoirs of Lady Trent
    • A Natural History of Dragons
    • Voyage of the Basilisk
    • In the Labyrinth of Drakes
  • The Books of the Raksura
    • The Cloud Roads
    • The Serpent Sea
    • The Siren Depths
• Best YA (Not A Hugo)
  • In Other Lands

I…..still have a LOT of reading ahead of me.

In addition to all that, I am hosting an 11-book Read Along of the entire October Daye series as we prepare for book #12 Night and Silence to release in September. Over in the Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant Fans group on Facebook (which I help admin), we’re discussing one book every three weeks. We’ve made it through books 1-6 and will be tackling book 7, Chimes at Midnight on June 3.

What have you been reading this month?

Four Roads Cross – Max Gladstone

5 Stars

Welcome to part five of #TheCraftBuddies buddy read of Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence! For this read, I am teaming up once again with Marzie’s Reads and guest commenter, and friend of the blog, Jenni.

Four Roads Cross is book five in The Craft Sequence if you read the books in publication order, and the fourth book chronologically. We’re reading the books in publication order for this discussion.

 

Cover from Goodreads

 

Before we jump into the review and discussion, here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

The great city of Alt Coulumb is in crisis. The moon goddess Seril, long thought dead, is back—and the people of Alt Coulumb aren’t happy. Protests rock the city, and Kos Everburning’s creditors attempt a hostile takeover of the fire god’s church. Tara Abernathy, the god’s in-house Craftswoman, must defend the church against the world’s fiercest necromantic firm—and against her old classmate, a rising star in the Craftwork world.

As if that weren’t enough, Cat and Raz, supporting characters from Three Parts Dead, are back too, fighting monster pirates; skeleton kings drink frozen cocktails, defying several principles of anatomy; jails, hospitals, and temples are broken into and out of; choirs of flame sing over Alt Coulumb; demons pose significant problems; a farmers’ market proves more important to world affairs than seems likely; doctors of theology strike back; Monk-Technician Abelard performs several miracles; The Rats! play Walsh’s Place; and dragons give almost-helpful counsel.

Four Roads Cross is the final book in what I think of as Act I of The Craft Sequence. It wraps up many of the overarching storylines that the other four books have brought up and is the most complex narratively of the first five books in the series. There’s a lot going on in this one. There’s a lot of Craftwork, questioning and committing of faith, and many relationships in flux. It’s a busy book, but that business makes Four Roads Cross one of the easiest of the series to read. At this point in the series, readers are familiar enough with the world that Gladstone doesn’t have to slow down to explain how things work the way he does in books earlier in the series.

Four Roads Cross is probably my second favorite book in the series, sliding in right after Ruin of Angels/ Come back next month for my review and our discussion of that one!

Head over to Marzie’s Reads for part one of our discussion and a giveaway of a kindle version of Four Roads Cross. Then be sure to come back and read part two below! Join us next month for our reviews and discussion of the sixth book in The Craft Sequence, Ruin of Angels!

Fair warning, our discussion beyond this point is *FULL* of spoilers.

April Challenge Progress Report!

Here’s an update on my progress for the 2018 Reading Challenges! Now that April has given way to May, let’s see what I accomplished this month!

My Goodreads Reading Challenge goal is 175 books, and so far I’ve completed 66/175. GR tells me I’m 8 books ahead of schedule. Woohoo! I’m feeling good about that lead!

Next, let’s check in on the Literary (&) Lacquers Reading Bingo, over in the Literary Lacquers facebook fan group. So far I’ve checked off 6/16 prompts. (If you participate, there are discounts for completion!)

• A Graphic Novel – Paper Girls Vol. 1
• A Book Written by an Author of Color – Markswoman
• A Book With a Green Cover – The Book of Life
• A Book Written by an Author From A Different Country – The Illuminae Files
• A Book With a Color in the Title – The Black Tides of Heaven (no review yet)
• A Book That’s Been on Your TBR for Over a Year – A Conjuring of Light (No review yet)

On the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, I haven’t checked much off. 6/24, still a little behind.

• A Book About Nature – Our Native Bees
• The First in a New To You YA or Middle-Grade Series – Markswoman
• A Comic Written or Illustrated by a Person of Color – Paper Girls Vol. 2
• A Sci-fi Novel With a Female Protagonist by a Female Author – The Tea Master and the Detective
• A Book With A Cover You Hate – Lustlocked
• A One Sitting Book – A Court of Frost and Starlight

I’ve made more progress for Popsugar’s Reading Challenge. 16/47 – roughly on track.

• A Book About a Villain or Antihero – Godsgrave
• A Book With An Animal in the Title – Our Native Bees
• A Book by a Female Author Who Uses a Male Pseudonym – The Silkworm
• A Book by an Author of a Different Ethnicity Than You – Markswoman
• A Book You Borrowed or Were Given as a Gift – Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance
• A Book by a Local Author – Tricks for Free
• A Book That’s Published in 2018 – Tempests & Slaughter 
• A Book You Meant to Read in 2017 But Didn’t Get To – Strange Practice
• A Book By Two Authors – The Tangled Lands
• A Book with a Time of Day in the Title – An Artificial Night
• A Book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist – In Other Lands
• A Book with a Weather Element in the Title – Daughters of the Storm (review coming soon!)
• A Book with an Animal in the Title – Sparrow Hill Road
• A Book With Characters Who Are Twins – The Diminished
• A Book With an Ugly Cover – Lustlocked
• An Allegory – Last First Snow

I am also participating in my local library’s 10 To Read challenge and made no progress this month. 3/10

• A Young Adult Book – Godsgrave
• A Book Set in a Place You’ve Never Been – Tricks for Free
• A Book About Food – Acid Trip
• A Biography
• A Banned Book
• A Book by a Native American Author (I plan to read Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning for this prompt!)
• A Book Recommended by KCLS Staff
• A Book in Translation
• A Book That’s Been Made Into A Movie or TV Show

I did my fourth buddy read of The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone with my blogging buddy Marzie. Check out the discussion posts of Last First Snow.  Look for our reviews and discussion posts of book five, Four Roads Cross later this month!

The Hugo nominees were announced last month, and I’ve started to chip away at the reading. Voting opened today and is open through the end of July. The list of nominees is here.

Here’s what I’ve read so far:

• Best Novella: Down Among The Sticks and Bones
• Best Short Story: Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience TM
• Best Graphic Story: Bitch Planet, Vol 2: President Bitch; Monstress, Vol 2: The Blood
• Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form: Star Wars: The Last Jedi; Thor: Ragnarok; Wonderwoman
• Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form: The Good Place, Michael’s Gambit; The Good Place, The Trolley Problem
• Best Series: InCryptid, The Memoirs of Lady Trent (minus the final two books), the first in the Raksura series by Martha Wells
• Best YA (Not A Hugo): In Other Lands

I…..still have a LOT of reading ahead of me.

In addition to all that, I am hosting an 11-book Read Along of the entire October Daye series as we prepare for book #12 Night and Silence to release in September. Over in the Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant Fans group on Facebook (which I help admin), we’re discussing one book every three weeks. We’ve made it through books 1-5, and will be tackling book 6, Ashes of Honor on May 13.

What have you been reading this month?

Last First Snow – Max Gladstone

5 Stars

Welcome to part four of #TheCraftBuddies buddy read of Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence! For this read, I am teaming up once again with Marzie’s Reads and guest commenter, and friend of the blog, Jenni.

Last First Snow is book four in The Craft Sequence if you read the books in publication order, and the first book chronologically. We’re reading the books in publication order for this discussion.

 

Cover from Goodreads

 

Before we jump into the review and discussion, here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Forty years after the God Wars, Dresediel Lex bears the scars of liberation—especially in the Skittersill, a poor district still bound by the fallen gods’ decaying edicts. As long as the gods’ wards last, they strangle development; when they fail, demons will be loosed upon the city. The King in Red hires Elayne Kevarian of the Craft firm Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao to fix the wards, but the Skittersill’s people have their own ideas. A protest rises against Elayne’s work, led by Temoc, a warrior-priest turned community organizer who wants to build a peaceful future for his city, his wife, and his young son.

As Elayne drags Temoc and the King in Red to the bargaining table, old wounds reopen, old gods stir in their graves, civil blood breaks to new mutiny, and profiteers circle in the desert sky. Elayne and Temoc must fight conspiracy, dark magic, and their own demons to save the peace—or failing that, to save as many people as they can.

Last First Snow

Fair warning, our discussion beyond this point is *FULL* of spoilers.

March Challenge Progress Report!

Oh, this is so late. I’m sorry. I’m still making progress on my 2018 Reading Challenges! Now that March has left us, let’s see what I accomplished this month!

My Goodreads Reading Challenge goal is 175 books, and so far I’ve completed 45/175. GR tells me I’m 2 books ahead of schedule. Woohoo! We’ll see how long that lead lasts for.

Next, let’s check in on the Literary (&) Lacquers Reading Bingo, over in the Literary Lacquers facebook fan group. So far I’ve checked off 3/16 prompts. (If you participate, there are discounts for completion!)

• A Graphic Novel – Paper Girls Vol. 1
• A Book Written by an Author From a Different Country – Markswoman
• A Book With a Green Cover – The Book of Life

On the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, I haven’t checked much off. 4/24, a little behind.

• A Book About Nature – Our Native Bees
• The First in a New To You YA or Middle-Grade Series – Markswoman
• A Comic Written or Illustrated by a Person of Color – Paper Girls Vol. 2
• A Sci-fi Novel With a Female Protagonist by a Female Author – The Tea Master and the Detective

*I realized I had read one of the prompts incorrectly and had to dock myself a prompt. 😦

I’ve made more progress for Popsugar’s Reading Challenge. 13/47

• A Book About a Villain or Antihero – Godsgrave
• A Book With An Animal in the Title – Our Native Bees
• A Book by a Female Author Who Uses a Male Pseudonym – The Silkworm
• A Book by an Author of a Different Ethnicity Than You – Markswoman
• A Book You Borrowed or Were Given as a Gift – Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance
• A Book by a Local Author – Tricks for Free
• A Book That’s Published in 2018 – Tempests & Slaughter 
• A Book You Meant to Read in 2017 But Didn’t Get To – Strange Practice
• A Book By Two Authors – The Tangled Lands
• A Book with a Time of Day in the Title – An Artificial Night
• A Book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist – In Other Lands
• A Book with a Weather Element in the Title – Daughters of the Storm (review coming soon! 
• A Book with an Animal in the Title – Sparrow Hill Road

I also added my local library’s 10 To Read challenge and have made no progress this month. 3/10

• A Young Adult Book – Godsgrave
• A Book Set in a Place You’ve Never Been – Tricks for Free
• A Book About Food – Acid Trip

I did my third buddy read of The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone with my blogging buddy Marzie. Check out the discussion posts of Full Fathom Five. Part one was over at Marzie’s Reads and part two was on my blog here. Look for our reviews and discussion posts of book four, Last First Snow later this month!

The Hugo nominees were announced over Easter weekend so I will be starting to hit that reading hard soon. If you missed the announcement, the list of nominees is here. I’ve read some of the nominees already.

Here’s what I’ve read so far:

• Best Novella: Down Among The Sticks and Bones
• Best Short Story: Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience TM
• Best Graphic Story: Bitch Planet, Vol 2: President Bitch; Monstress, Vol 2: The Blood; Paper Girls, Vol 3
• Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form: Star Wars: The Last Jedi; Thor: Ragnarok; Wonderwoman
• Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form: The Good Place, Michael’s Gambit; The Good Place, The Trolley Problem
• Best Series: InCryptid, The Memoirs of Lady Trent (minus the final book.)
• Best YA (Not A Hugo): In Other Lands

I…..have a LOT of reading ahead of me. From this list, I’ve read maaaaaaybe 10% of nominated works.

In addition to all that, I am hosting an 11-book Read Along of the entire October Daye series as we prepare for book #12 Night and Silence to release in September. Over in the Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant Fans group on Facebook (which I help admin), we’re discussing one book every three weeks. We’ve made it through books 1-4, and will be tackling book 5, One Salt Sea on April 22.

What have you been reading this month?

Full Fathom Five – Max Gladstone

5 Stars

Welcome to part three of #TheCraftBuddies buddy read of Max Gladstone’s Full Fathom Five! For this read, I am teaming up once again with Marzie’s Reads and guest commenter, and friend of the blog, Jenni.

Full Fathom Five is book three in The Craft Sequence if you read the books in publication order, and the fifth book chronologically. We’re reading the books in publication order and you can check out our discussion of Two Serpents Rise here for part one.

Cover from Goodreads

Before we jump into the review and discussion, here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

On the island of Kavekana, Kai builds gods to order, then hands them to others to maintain. Her creations aren’t conscious and lack their own wills and voices, but they accept sacrifices, and protect their worshippers from other gods—perfect vehicles for Craftsmen and Craftswomen operating in the divinely controlled Old World. When Kai sees one of her creations dying and tries to save her, she’s grievously injured—then sidelined from the business entirely, her near-suicidal rescue attempt offered up as proof of her instability. But when Kai gets tired of hearing her boss, her coworkers, and her ex-boyfriend call her crazy, and starts digging into the reasons her creations die, she uncovers a conspiracy of silence and fear—which will crush her, if Kai can’t stop it first.

Full Fathom Five is the first book with significant overlap in the narrative with previous books in The Craft Sequence. Elayne Kevarian plays a small role, but the events in Full Fathom Five hinge completely on the events in Three Parts Dead and Two Serpents Rise. Not only do we see Elayne again, but Cat and Teo help drive the story forward. While those three characters are present, they are not the main characters in Full Fathom Five. The main characters are once again, new for this book. Kai and Izza live on Kavekana, an island that strongly reminds me of Hawaii. They are the core of Full Fathom Five and find themselves often at odds and sometimes allies.

Full Fathom Five is my favorite of the series so far. I loved seeing the stories from the first two books finally intertwine. Each culture Gladstone builds for his stories is unique and rich. The characters all have rich backstories and through his writing, he sheds light on just how interconnected everything is. Reading this series has given me a glimpse into Globalization and how it can be both a wonderful and terrible thing.

Head over to Marzie’s Reads for part one of our discussion and a giveaway of the whole series. Be sure to join us next month for our reviews and discussions of the fourth book in The Craft Sequence, Last First Snow!

Fair warning, our discussion beyond this point is *FULL* of spoilers.

February Challenge Progress Report!

I’m still making progress on my 2018 Reading Challenges! Now that February has left us, let’s see what I accomplished this month!

My Goodreads Reading Challenge goal is 175 books, and so far I’ve completed 25/175. GR is telling me I’m still 2 books behind schedule.

Next, let’s check in on the Literary (&) Lacquers Reading Bingo, over in the Literary Lacquers facebook fan group. So far I’ve checked off 3/16 prompts. (If you participate, there are discounts for completion!)

• A Graphic Novel – Paper Girls Vol. 1
• A Book Written by an Author From a Different Country – Markswoman
• A Book With a Green Cover – The Book of Life

On the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, I haven’t checked much off. 4/24, a little behind.

• A Book About Nature – Our Native Bees
• The First in a New To You YA or Middle-Grade Series – Markswoman
• A Classic Genre of Fiction – The Silkworm
• A Comic Written or Illustrated by a Person of Color – Paper Girls Vol. 2

I’ve only made a little more progress for Popsugar’s Reading Challenge. 9/47

• A Book About a Villain or Antihero – Godsgrave
• A Book With An Animal in the Title – Our Native Bees
• A Book by a Female Author Who Uses a Male Pseudonym – The Silkworm
• A Book by an Author of a Different Ethnicity Than You – Markswoman
• A Book You Borrowed or Were Given as a Gift – Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance
• A Book by a Local Author – Tricks for Free (review next week )
• A Book That’s Published in 2018 – Tempests & Slaughter 
• A Book You Meant to Read in 2017 But Didn’t Get To – Strange Practice
• A Book By Two Authors – The Tangled Lands

I also added my local library’s 10 To Read challenge and have made reasonable progress. 3/10

• A Young Adult Book – Godsgrave
• A Book Set in a Place You’ve Never Been – Tricks for Free
• A Book About Food – Acid Trip

I did my second buddy read of The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone earlier this month with my blogging buddy Marzie. Check out the discussion posts of Two Serpents Rise.  Part one was on my blog here and part two was over at Marzie’s Reads. Look for our reviews and discussion posts of book three, Full Fathom Five next month!

The Hugo reading hasn’t kicked in yet (soon, I imagine) but because I am a masochist, I guess, I am hosting an 11-book Read Along of the entire October Daye series as we prepare for book #12 Night and Silence to release in September. Over in the Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant Fans group on Facebook (which I help admin), we’re discussing one book every three weeks. Last month we started with Rosemary & Rue. On February 18, we discussed book #2, A Local Habitation. Next up is book #3 An Artificial Night on March 11.

What have you been reading this month?

Two Serpents Rise – Max Gladstone

5 Stars

Welcome to part one of #TheCraftBuddies buddy read of Max Gladstone’s Two Serpents Rise! For this read, I am teaming up once again with Marzie’s Reads and guest commenter, and friend of the blog, Jenni.

Two Serpents Rise is book two in The Craft Sequence, whether you read the books in chronological order or publication order. We’re reading the books in publication order and you can check out our discussion of Three Parts Dead here for part one and here for part two.

Cover from Goodreads

Before we jump into the review and discussion, here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Shadow demons plague the city reservoir, and Red King Consolidated has sent in Caleb Altemoc — casual gambler and professional risk manager — to cleanse the water for the sixteen million people of Dresediel Lex. At the scene of the crime, Caleb finds an alluring and clever cliff runner, crazy Mal, who easily outpaces him.

But Caleb has more than the demon infestation, Mal, or job security to worry about when he discovers that his father — the last priest of the old gods and leader of the True Quechal terrorists — has broken into his home and is wanted in connection to the attacks on the water supply.

From the beginning, Caleb and Mal are bound by lust, Craft, and chance, as both play a dangerous game where gods and people are pawns. They sleep on water, they dance in fire… and all the while the Twin Serpents slumbering beneath the earth are stirring, and they are hungry.

New readers to the series might be surprised to find that Two Serpents Rise is largely disconnected from the first book in the series, Three Parts Dead. It’s an entirely new city, new cast of characters and completely new issues. Two Serpents Rise is packed full of people of color and features two queer relationships.

I found that I liked Two Serpents Rise better than I liked Three Parts Dead because the core issue of the book was more relatable to me – keeping the water supply safe and sustainable. It’s something anyone can understand. We depend on clean water for our lives and livelihoods. Book one was more abstract and harder for me to connect to, though I feel like it gave us a better understanding of how the world works. I’m not sure I would have fully understood some of the ramifications in Two Serpents Rise without the context and worldbuilding from Three Parts Dead.

Fair warning, our discussion beyond this point is *FULL* of spoilers.