The Writers Not Writing: Get to Know Me

I've seen a few authortubers do the "Writers Not Writing tag" on YouTube, and I wanted to join in on the fun! Check the video below to find out what I'm doing when I'm not writing. You'll learn about my day job, reading and other hobbies, dream job as a child, and if I have any pets. As well as the answer to the age-old question: tea or coffee (hint: it's neither).

Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Book title: Six of Crows
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: September 29, 2015
491 pages
My rating: 4/5

“Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason. Those were the words whispered on the streets of Ketterdam, in the taverns and coffeehouses, in the dark and bleeding alleys of the pleasure district known as the Barrel. The boy they called Dirtyhands didn’t need a reason any more than he needed permission – to break a leg, sever an alliance, or change a man’s fortunes with the turn of a card.”

Criminal mastermind Kaz Brekker has been offered a deal of a lifetime: break into an unbreakable fortress of the Ice Court and retrieve a hostage, and he will become a millionaire. But he can’t pull it off by himself. Together with a team of five other outcasts, he sets out to carry an impossible heist.

Six of Crows is the first book in a duology set in Leigh Bardugo’s fantasy world Grishaverse. I read Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy a year ago, and I must admit I was slightly disappointed. You can find my reviews of Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising behind the links. However, several people told me that Six of Crows is a better series than the first trilogy set in Grishaverse, so I was excited to read this book. But again, I wasn’t as enamored with the book as I had hoped to be. I think my expectations were too high, and that led to an inevitable disappointment.

Favorite Classics: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

 

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) was an English novelist and illustrator. I have only read one of his books, but I loved it so much it deserves its own post (here are some of my other favorite classics). Originally published in serial form in 1847–1848, Vanity Fair is probably Thackeray’s most well-known work. The Penguin Classics edition I read follows the text of Thackeray’s revised edition of 1853.

October Wrap-Up and November Hopefuls

October Reads

October Wrap-Up

• Finished: 22
• Started but not finished: 1
• Total pages read: 3,603
• Average rating: 4.25

Twenty-two books, are you kidding me? To be honest, only two of them were novels, and they were the only two books that I rated. I read R.F. Kuang’s dark academia historical fantasy Babel (4.5/5 stars). The themes in that book were hugely important, but unfortunately I didn’t quite love it enough to give it five stars. The second book I finished was Heather Fawcett’s light academia fantasy Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (4/5 stars), which was a perfect cozy fall read.