August Wrap-Up and September Hopefuls

 

August Reads

 

August Wrap-Up

• Finished: 4
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 1,409
• Average rating: 4

I finished three fantasy novels and one nonfiction book in August. Amélie Wen Zhao’s Chinese-inspired young adult fantasy Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White (4/5 stars) is the second book in a duology and a satisfying ending to the series. Lena Jeong’s Korean-inspired young adult fantasy And Break the Pretty Kings (3/5 stars) was more of a disappointment, and although younger teen readers might enjoy it, I don’t think I’ll be continuing with the series. M.L. Wang’s adult fantasy standalone Blood Over Bright Haven (5/5 stars) was an amazing read and one of my favorite books I’ve read this year.

Book Review: Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

Blood Over Bright Haven By M.L. Wang

 Book title: Blood Over Bright Haven
Author: M.L. Wang
Genre: Fantasy, dystopian
Published: July 25, 2023
428 pages
My rating: 5/5

“Brilliant men—even moderately intelligent men—in this city get showered with opportunities to succeed. Brilliant women have to fight for those opportunities, and, when we get them, we have to defend them tooth and nail, or they’ll be snatched away.”

27-year-old Sciona Freynan has worked hard to become a Highmage at the University of Magics. When she finally becomes the first woman to get a position there, she finds herself undermined by her colleagues. Instead of getting a lab assistant, she is paired with Thomil, a janitor. But Thomil turns out to be exactly the assistant Sciona needs to succeed in her research and uncover centuries-old secrets.

Blood Over Bright Haven is M.L. Wang’s adult dystopian fantasy standalone. It has been recommended to me left and right, and I’m so glad I read this book. What an amazing read and worth all the praise it gets! This book is truly dark academia—a story where the academia itself is the source of evil. The story explores the themes of sexism, classism, racism, and the persecution of native peoples.

Starting Draft 2 of Project Urban Fantasy: A Writing Update

It's been a while since I did a writing update, but that's because I haven't done much writing. I had a busy June and early July preparing for the publication of my second novel. Comes with an Attitude* is a modern Pride and Prejudice retelling about an obstinate and headstrong alt-rock singer and a proud and grumpy pop superstar.

After publication, I could finally start working on my next project: an urban fantasy novel that I started back in 2021. I've been slowly re-outlining that book, and now I'm ready to start writing and editing the second draft. I've written two blog posts about the outlining process, one covering the start of the process and the second on making a plot grid and scene outlines.

Book Review: And Break the Pretty Kings by Lena Jeong

And Break the Pretty Kings by Lena Jeong

 Book title: And Break the Pretty Kings
Author: Lena Jeong
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: June 20, 2023
448 pages
My rating: 3/5

Summoning fire was easy. Mirae had been studying the manipulation of the four elements her whole life. Scorching the woman in front of her, however, was something she hadn’t managed even once in the past three months.

After a generational madness incapacitates her mother, sixteen-year-old crown princess Mirae needs to take the crown. Before she can do that, she needs to show herself capable of wielding the three magic powers of her bloodline, including her rare ability to switch with herself in time. But when a monster is unleashed and her brother is kidnapped, she must embark on a mission to save her brother and to stop a war that has been brewing for thousands of years.

And Break the Pretty Kings is the first book in Lena Jeong’s young adult fantasy series Sacred Bone. It is also Jeong’s debut novel. I liked the Korean-inspired fantasy world and found the magic system interesting enough. However, despite the worldbuilding being solid, it wasn’t super exciting.

Re-Outlining MY WIP, Part II: Plot Grids and Scene Outlines

A couple of months back, I wrote a blog post about how I’m re-outlining an old WIP before writing the second draft. In that post, I promised to write another post on how I write scene outlines. The time has finally come to fulfill that promise. It has taken me longer than I expected to finish the outlining process for what I’m calling Project Urban Fantasy. Partly because the publication of Comes with an Attitude* (my modern Pride and Prejudice retelling) took up a lot of my time, and partly because I spend a lot of time researching and brainstorming to make sure that my plot works and makes sense. So let’s continue where I left off in my last blog post—with an updated list of steps following the first five steps I had finished by that point.

Jane Austen July 2026 Wrap-Up and August Hopefuls

Jane Austen July 2026 Reads

July Wrap-Up

• Finished: 6
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 1,914
• Average rating: 4.2

This was my third year of participating in Jane Austen July, and again, I had a great time. That means that most of the books I read this month were Austen-related.

Book Review: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by Amélie Wen Zhao

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White
by Amélie Wen Zhao

Book title: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White
Author: Amélie Wen Zhao
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: January 2, 2024
345 pages
My rating: 4/5

I am Sòng Lián, survivor of the Sòng clan and heir to the Order of Ten Thousand Flowers. I will bring an end to the Four Demon Gods and the vicious cycle of power, war, and bloodshed they have wrought upon this land and its peoples.

Eighteen-year-old Lan must find an ancient weapon to destroy the demon gods and to rid her land of the occupying, cruel Elantians. At the same time, Zen seeks to harness the dark powers of the demon gods. Both will find what they are seeking in the desert city of Salakhira, but once they find the hidden city, they uncover dangerous secrets.

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White is the second book in Amélie Wen Zhao’s young adult fantasy duology Song of the Last Kingdom. I read the first book, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, last year. Unfortunately, over the year, I had forgotten a lot about what had happened in the first book, and Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White didn’t do a very good job of reminding me of all the things I had forgotten. I wish more fantasy series did something like what Saara El-Arifi’s The Ending Fire trilogy did with the second and the third book beginning with a recap of the events of the previous books.