The Good Reading Habits Tag

I love doing book tags and I like getting tagged by other book bloggers in tags. I want to thank Mackenzie at Lit Lemon Books for tagging me.

Rules:

• Pingback to the creator’s post
• List some of your good reading habits, the things you think you do well
• Nominate some of your blogging friends

My Good Reading Habits

Setting aside reading time

This might sound like something that should be given, but I feel like I’m able to read as much as I do because I make a point to set aside time to read everyday. Not only does it make it easier for me to meet my reading goals, but it also means I have enough time to really read books as opposed to trying to rush through them.

Planning my reads

When I finish a book, I always know what my next read is going to be. This means I don’t waste time debating which book to read next or procrastinate on making a decision. This doesn’t always work out exactly as planned, but more often than not it does. It also makes me way less stressed because when I don’t have a plan, I tend to freak out.

Reducing my purchases of new books

This is a fairly new good habit I’ve picked up. I’ve focused on reading the books I already own as opposed to buying new ones. I’ve also taken advantage of my local library and services such as Kindle Unlimited to reduce my spending. In reducing the amount I spend, I’ve ended up reading a number of books I’ve owned for years but hadn’t “gotten around” to reading yet.

Those are my good reading habits. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

I Tag:

Leah at Leah’s Books and Cooks, Krista at The Bookish Hedgemom and anyone else who wants to give this tag a try!

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Children of Blood and Bone

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Children of Blood and Bone is a 2018 young adult fantasy novel by Tomi Adeyemi. It was published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers and was the author’s debut novel. It is the first book in the Legacy of Orisha series. The novel debuted at number one on The New York Times best-seller list. The film rights were sold to Fox 2000 prior to the book's publication. Children of Blood and Bone can be purchased here from Bookshop.org 

The novel takes place in the land of Orisha, which is home to two distinct groups of people: diviners, who have the potential to become the magical maji, and the non-magical kosidan. Eleven years prior to the start of the story, Orisha’s king, Saran, discovered a way to render the maji powerless and ordered the slaughter of many defenseless diviners, including the mother of Zelie Adebola. Since that time, diviners have been severely oppressed and without hope. While in the capital, Zelie, a diviner, and her brother Tzain encounter a rogue princess, Amari, who has discovered a way to give magic back to the maji. They are pursued on their journey by the crown prince Inan, who is determined to eradicate magic for good.

As with any novel, there are many memorable characters, but I don't have time to talk about all of them, otherwise this review would be two or three times the length it currently is. Instead, I will focus on the five characters most crucial to the plot. Zelie is the heroine of the story, a maji with the ability to call forth the spirits of the dead, referred to in-universe as a Reaper. Having been ostracized and oppressed for most of her life because she's different from most of those around her, she welcomes the chance to resort magic to Orisha and give her people a way to protect themselves and fight back against their oppressors. I liked Zelie and her arc as a character. She's uncertain of herself, she struggles with her abilities and several times, wonders if she's able to fulfill the task that others say she's desperate for. Tzain is Zelie’s brother, who is one of the kosidan. He comes with her on her journey at their father’s request and serves as a voice of reason. Zelie can be brash and impulsive and he is usually the one who convinces her to find better solutions to a given problem. Amari is the princess of Orisha, who's escape from the palace with a magical artifact sets the story into motion. While she has been raised her whole life to be scared and wary of the diviners, she clearly doesn't believe that they're the monsters others say that they are.  She's a compassionate person, which many others see as a weakness, but her compassion is what drives her to join Zelie on her quest and try to make things better for the diviners. Amari begins the novel appearing to be very weak-willed and underestimated, but through the journey she takes with the Adebola siblings, she comes into her own and learns how to be comfortable with who she is. Inan is Zelie’s older brother and the heir to the throne. He's a very difficult character to talk about without spoiling a few things in the book, but let's just say he's an antagonist mostly just by circumstance. He's pursuing Zelie, Tzain and Amari on his father's orders. He wants to eradicate all magic because he's been told his whole life that if magic is allowed to exist, it will be the end of the kingdom and his family. It isn't until very late in the story that he is given a reason to want the things that he wants. I'll be honest, I spent a decent amount of the book annoyed at Inan because he was acting against his own self interests and, had he gotten what he wanted, he would suffer as a result. Lastly, there is the main antagonist of the story, King Saran. He makes very few appearances in the story, at the very beginning and in the climax. Other than his few appearances, most of his char activation comes from what's said about him by other characters. There isn't really much depth to Saran, no nuance to his goals. He hates the diviners, he hated the maji and wants to completely eradicate them altogether. He's a very simple villain and there's no attempt made to lessen how evil he comes off as. These five characters drive most of the plot and the dynamics between them created an engaging story. 

One of the aspects of this novel that I liked the most was the sources of inspiration the author drew from. While some of the sources she used are standard in fantasy, such as Harry Potter and An Ember in the Ashes, it was the inspiration derived from West African mythology and Yoruba culture that made this story and this world unique. It made the story refreshing. This was the first fantasy novel I read that had taken inspiration from West African mythology, or really any mythology that wasn't European. Adeyemi’s novel brings a new perspective and new ideas to the fantasy genre, which is never a bad thing. Fantasy, as with any genre, needs a wider diversity of storytellers.

This book delves into a number of complex themes, some of which I haven't read in fantasy before. One of the most obvious ones is its exploration of race. The maji are darker skinned than the kosidan. Given that the kosidan have enslaved parts of the maji population, it would be difficult to miss the message regarding how race and class can be used to divide a nation. Another theme regards the connection between power and brutality. By virtue of simply being the king, Saran already has power, but that's not enough for him. He feels the need to oppress and enslave the maji because he fears if they aren't oppressed, he and the other kosidan will lose control of the nation. Another recurring theme is characters’ responses to oppression. Zelie, as a result of watching her mother die and living every day in fear for her own life, is determined to resist and overthrow the current order that oppresses her. Another maji character doesn't want to overthrow the system, but use the eventual return of magic to unite the two groups and create a more peaceful country. Lesser themes include identity and the struggles with transitioning from adolescence to adulthood.

I don't have very much to say about the plot itself or the pacing of the story. I normally only talk about those things when I feel there's an issue with how the story unfolds or the speed at which it unfolds. The plot is solid, the elements that invoke foreshadowing do it deftly and it was easy to follow. The pacing was perfect, with scenes that needed to feel a little longer doing exactly that, while other, shorter scenes were given enough length without feeling rushed. The conclusion was amazing. I loved Adeyemi’s writing style itself and she's clearly a talented storyteller.

While I was a fan of the book as a whole, there is one aspect I didn't like. I wasn't a big fan of the romance between Zelie and Inan. The romance was the one aspect of the story that felt a little rushed. It felt a lot like “insta-love” in my opinion. I could see where it can be seen as following the “enemies to lovers” trope, but I don't think it really works here. Zelie develops feelings for someone who, at the beginning of the book, tries to kill her  and does a number of horrible things to people she cares about. It felt weird and contrived to me, so I find myself skimming through their romantic scenes in an effort to return to the parts of the story I did like. I might be the only one who didn't like this romance, but it really just didn't sit right with me.

Children of Blood and Bone is an exceptional story. Tomi Adeyemi is a wonderful writer and she deserves all of the praise this book has gotten. I haven't read the second book in this series, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, but it is definitely on my TBR now. I'd recommend Children of Blood and Bone to any young adult fantasy fans.

Rating: 4.8 stars

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Rapid Fire Book Tag

I was on Twitter the other day, and saw that The Bookish Hedgemom did this tag. I decided to do it because this tag looked fun and I've been trying to do more book tags. So, without further ado, I'm going to start doing the tag.

E-Books or Physical Book?

I like both, but I prefer physical books because I can bookmark certain parts easier. Also, I can be forgetful and my Kindle is usually dying because I forget to charge it. If I know I'm going to be travelling or spending a lot of time sitting around and waiting, I'll read an ebook, but if I have to choose, I'll pick a physical book every time.

Paperback or Hardback?

While I love hardbacks, most of the books that I own are paperback. I love hardbacks, mostly because I don't have to worry as much about keeping the book pristine, Hardbacks are harder to damage than paperbacks.

Online or In-Store Book Shopping?

Online shopping because it's easier to find what I'm looking for than in a physical store. There's also the fact that online stores will recommend other books based on what you search. Some books stores will have something similar, but I like that feature online.

Trilogies or Series?

I don't really have an opinion on this one. They're kind of the same thing in my mind. especially considering that most trilogies end up having other books added once the initial series ends. Series that have 47 books aren't my favorite, but trilogies, quadrilogies and pentologies are all the same in my mind.

Heroes or Villains?

For books, I have to say heroes. With other media, my answer would be different, but for books, I need to like the hero because if I don't like the hero/protagonist/POV character, I probably won't care enough about the story to have an opinion about the villain. The exception to this is the anti-hero.

A book you want everyone to read?

This could turn into a long list. If I have to pick just one, I'd say The Hobbit. Since a lot of people have read that, my next choice would be Where the Crawdads Sing

Recommend an underrated book?

I'd say Gathering Blue. The Giver is heavily praised, but I feel like Gathering Blue also deserves more recognition than it gets. Also, The Power by Naomi Alderman.

The last book you finished?

At time of writing, Eve: The Awakening by Jenna Moreci.

The last book you bought?

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, because Norse mythology has apparently taken over my life, seeing as I've read a lot more Norse myths and Norse myth-related content in the last few months than I have in years.

Weirdest thing you've used as a bookmark?

A bag of M&M's. Other than that, I usually use receipts, sticky notes or pieces of paper. The bag of candy was only because I literally had nothing else on hand to use and didn't have time to find something better.

Used books: Yes or No?

Yes. I don't buy very many used books, but that's because I tend to read books that are self-published or newer releases. Still, I support buying used books and sell a lot of the books that I declutter to used books stores.

Top Three Genres?

• Fantasy
• Science Fiction
• Literary Fiction

Borrow or Buy?

Buy because I'm bad at remembering to return things. And I tend to procrastinate about heading to the library to return books.

Characters or Plot?

Honestly, both. A book needs both. If a book is entirely character-driven and has no plot, I won't like it. If a book has a great plot, but I don't care about any of the characters, that's also a problem. If I have to pick one, I guess I'd say plot because I want to be interested in the story and whether or not I like the characters can come second.

Long or Short Books?

Long books. I've got nothing against shorter books, but I love losing myself in a nice, long book.

Long or Short Chapters?

Long chapters. Short chapters make it feel like the story keeps stopping and starting while longer chapters give time for the story to progress.

Name the First Three Books You Think of?

Just in general? Okay...

• The Hobbit
• Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

Books That Make You Laugh or Cry?

Books don't really make me cry. I think the last time I cried was after Dobby died in the last Harry Potter book.

Our World or Fictional Worlds?

Fictional worlds. I have to deal with reality enough.

Audiobooks: Yes or No?

I support audiobooks in theory, but they don't really work for me. I find the narration to be a bit too slow and it's hard for me to pay enough attention to what's being read aloud. Every audiobook I've tried, I forget what's happening soon after it happens. I want to like audiobooks, but they're not for me.

Do you ever judge a book by it's cover?

I do sometimes. The saying is nice and all, but if a book has an interesting cover, I'm more likely to consider buying it than if it's boring or simple.

Book-to-Movie or Book-to-TV adaptations?

It really depends on what's being adapted. Trilogies with short books work as films, longer books/series work as TV shows. I've seen plenty of book-to-movie adaptations that work, and plenty that don't. Same for book-to-TV adaptations.

A movie or TV show you preferred to its book?

I can't really think of one. I almost always say the book is better, so the only one I can really think of is Breaking Dawn, and that's only because the ending of the book is incredibly anticlimactic.

Series or Standalones?

Again, I can't really pick one. For fantasy and science fiction, I like series. For literary fiction, I think standalones are better. It honestly depends on my mood.

I tag: Anyone who wants to do this tag. (I'm bad at tagging people, but if you come across this and want to do it, go nuts!)

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Eve: The Awakening

Eve: The Awakening is a 2015 young adult science fiction novel by Jenna Moreci. It was the author's debut novel. She self-published the novel and her follow-up was the acclaimed fantasy novel, The Savior's Champion. I became aware of this novel due to the author having a YouTube channel where she discusses writing and gives out writing advice.

The novel follows a teenager named Eve who is a chimera, meaning she has telekinetic abilities, along with a few other physical attributes, which separates her from the rest of humanity. After years of being an outcast and hated due to her abilities, Eve begins college at the esteemed Billington University, fully-prepared to reinvent herself and live as an ordinary human being. But things at Billington aren’t as they seem. In a school filled with prodigies, socialites, and the leaders of tomorrow, Eve finds that the complex social hierarchy makes passing as a human much harder than she had anticipated. Even worse, Billington is harboring a secret of its own: Interlopers have infiltrated the university, and their sinister plans are targeted at chimeras—like Eve. She must decide if she's going to stay in the shadows or rise up and fight.

I feel like I should start off this review by discussing the characters within the story. There is Eve, the title character and protagonist. I felt so-so about her to be honest. She had personality, and attitude, but at times, it just didn't make sense to me. She would easily brush off some things people said or did to her, but become enraged over other, less serious, events. Speaking of the way she was treated, all chimeras are feared by most of humanity because they aren't understood and because they have this innate power. Eve is no exception and, after her status as a chimera is revealed, people at the college start treating her poorly and for the most part she does nothing about it. She doesn't argue back, she doesn't fight back, she just lets it happen. While I can understand the "don't sink to their level" argument, it made me start to dislike her character. On her journey, Eve makes a number of quirky and interesting friends. The thing about them though, is that they have exactly one thing about them that makes them unique. Sancho is a pyromaniac. Percy is flamboyantly gay. JJ is a hacker extraordinaire. They're all quirky but one-dimensional. There are Madison, Heather and Hayden, the stereotypical mean girls who serve as Eve's "friends" early in the story, only to turn on her later. Lastly, there are the Interlopers, who serves as a faceless army of evil aliens and don't have much personality. They have an evil plan, details about that plan don't really seem to matter, but they're evil and they need to be stopped. 

I love science fiction. I especially love sci-fi that takes place on Earth rather than on some far-off planet. When I read the blurb for this book, I thought it would be right up my alley. It turned out that I was wrong. While the story had potential, it was bogged down by a number of problems. One issue I had was with the amount of filler within this book. There was a lot more filler than was needed, which led to side storylines never going anywhere or not having a real conclusion. In a story about people with superpowers being targeted by aliens, Eve dealing with a math teacher who hates her feels out of place. There's also a storyline that's problematic, for lack of a better term, because a character is nearly assaulted and nothing ever comes of it. There are no repercussions, no consequences, the assault is stopped and that's it. The fact that these plotlines are in the story and don't really have a purpose indicates that maybe, they should've been omitted entirely. Another issue that I had was with the way the plot progresses. This novel isn't a character-driven story, but I wouldn't say it's plot driven either. It kind of straddles both methods and it suffers because of it. It feels like Eve is being dragged through the story half the time and pulling it along the other half. I didn't hate the novel, but the filler and lack of clear direction made it difficult for me to fully enjoy.

Finally. let's discuss the plot itself. Due to some of the filler element, it does move rather slowly. Once the plot starts, important events come in fits and spurts. As with most novels, there's more action and activity in the second half of the story than in the first half, and once the plot starts moving, in earnest, it moves rather quickly. Some of the fight scenes I found engaging, while others didn't really excite me due to the pacing being a little inconsistent. There's a romantic subplot that takes place, which to be honest didn't interest me, but it also didn't detract from the story. It was just sort of there, kind of like Eve's love interest to be honest. Then, comes the plot twist, which I won't fully delve into but I do want to mention. Some stories have very obvious or heavy-handed plot twists; some have more subtle or "gotcha" ones. The plot twist in Eve:The Awakening is neither, but it's supposed to feel like the second one in an attempt to not be the first. The issue is that there isn't any kind of foreshadowing for the twist to make sense and the world's own internal rules are broken in order to make it work. There was a lot of potential here, but the potential wasn't met.

I don't want to make it sound like I completely hated this novel, because I didn't. The core idea Moreci had is fascinating. The detail she put into the world-building and explanation of chimeras was fantastic, it just got bogged down by the college drama and filler. This book does more showing than telling, which is good. I liked her writing style overall, and good for a first novel. She clearly has talent as a writer and some of the mistakes she made in this novel, she learned from and remembered while writing The Savior's Champion. She had a lot of talent, but fell into some of the pitfalls plenty of debut authors do. The only solution to that issue is to keep writing and improve her skills, which she has done. 

I wanted to like Eve: The Awakening, but to be honest, it just wasn't right for me. It's not a terrible book, but I didn't really enjoy very much of it. There were too many extra elements that weren't needed, too many side plots which took me out of the story. Considering this is Jenna Moreci's debut novel, I wouldn't say that it was bad, just a bit disappointing. Perhaps I set my expectations too high going into this novel.

Rating: 2.3 stars

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Five Worst Book to Film Adaptations

Last week, I discussed some of my favorite film adaptations. Today, I'm going to discuss the five worst adaptations I've seen. Some of these are bad altogether in my opinion, while others are good movies but bad adaptations of the books they're based on. In order to be fair, I'm limiting the list to books I've actually read and the subsequent film that was made adapting it that I've seen. 

I asked people on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook for their feedback, and there were a few honorable mentions: The Shining, the 1984 adaptation of Dune, The Magicians and assorted Harry Potter films after Prisoner of Azkaban.

With the honorable mentions out of the way, here's my list of the five worst book-to-film adaptations:



5)The Hobbit

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the book The Hobbit and I love the The Hobbit films. However, as an adaptation of The Hobbit, the films aren’t great. The book itself is a very short story and there is no reason why a book that’s under 300 pages needed to be adapted into three 3-hour-long films. A trilogy made sense for Lord of the Rings, it didn’t make sense here. Padding the runtime led to introducing unnecessary subplots and dragging things out longer than they needed to be.



4) The Giver

I really can’t explain why happened here. I think this movie was only made because YA dystopias were so popular. Now, The Giver is a classic book and an adaptation done right could’ve been great, but that wasn’t allowed to happen here. instead of focusing on the Community and its dystopian elements, the film shuffled those ideas off to the side and instead went for set pieces and action sequences. A lot of the “magic” of the story was lost in translation and the film is worse for it. This is a story with a conflicted protagonist and a layered issue at its core, but none of that appears in the film.



3)My Sister’s Keeper

My Sister’s Keeper makes this list for one reason and one reason alone: they changed the ending. Unlike some films where the book ending doesn’t make sense for the way the film is telling the story (i.e. The Shining), it wasn’t a case of the book ending being a problem. One of the major themes of the novel is how fragile life is and the ending cements that. In the film’s case, changing the ending makes it much less poignant and reduces it to just another chick flick, made to make you cry.



2) Percy Jackson and the Olympians

A lot of the magic of this story was lost in adapting it. Some of it was due to unnecessary changes, like ages and the way the rules in this world work. Some might be due to having not enough runtime or some form of studio interference. The story has no depth. The characters aren’t 1/5 as interesting as they are in the books and after rewatching the film, it feels like no one seemed to care very much. It feels hollow, like the studio using the popularity of the series as an easy cash grab and not caring about how well they managed to adapt the story.



1) Eragon

This is the best (worst?) example of why studios shouldn’t adapt novels if they aren’t going to put the effort in to do it properly. This movie could’ve been Lord of the Rings, but for a younger audience. It could’ve spawned a franchise in the same way that Harry Potter and The Hunger Games did, but in order to do that, the film would need to actually be good. The film has the basic plot outline of the novel- a boy finds a dragon egg and goes on an adventure- but strips away everything else that made the story unique or even slightly interesting. There’s no emotion, no wonder and no depth. I loved this series, so I was excited when this film came out. This movie was a huge disappointment and to date, Eragon is the only film where I walked out of the movie theater halfway through. (I watched it on TV months later, just to be sure I didn’t miss some significant tonal shift or improvement. I didn’t.)

I don't blame the actors or the authors here. Some stories are naturally easier to adapt than others. The problem is that most of the movies I've listed failed to capture the magic and depth of the books they were based on. Or they created the right world, but missed the theme or purpose of the story. The book is always better, but if a film makes me stop liking the series its based on, because of how badly the adaptation was handled, I get really upset.

Those were my least favorite book-to-film adaptations. What are some of yours?

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