Musing Mondays (57) Favorite Genre Characteristics Part #2

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat, that asks you to muse about something book related each week.

My musings for the week...

Random weekly question: What’s your most favorite “chunky” book? (over 500 pages)

The Diviners by Libba Bray. It was a fantastic book, but I just haven't read the sequel yet.

Other musings...

Today, I’m going to pick up where last week’s Musing Mondays post left off. Last week, I started discussing some of the things I liked about the different genres/subgenres. Honestly, I thought I was going to write a couple of sentences, list what I liked, but it got too long so I split the post in two. So, here is part two of favorite genre characteristics.

High Fantasy (Fantasy)

For a number of reasons, I really enjoy fantasy. When I pick up a novel from this genre I’m mostly looking for a good story—as I do with most genres—although, I also look for things like world building, characters (doesn’t matter if they’re heroes or anti-heroes, male or female), and magic/mythology oriented with the made-up society. I always enjoy seeing different takes on magic from different authors. It’s always one of my favorite parts of any story that has it—with a few minor exceptions. The creatures are definitely another aspect of fantasy that I love. Some of them can be terrifying, but as long as they have a place in the story I’m totally down with them being there. More often than not, this also ties into the mythological aspect as well as the magic itself, the history of the world. Think along the lines of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson and The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas.

I always look for the “aha!” moment when everything just clicks together and makes sense—when all of the details finally come together to form the bigger picture.

Contemporary (Literarily Fiction)

I’ve been reading more contemporary lately, and I have found some gems. One thing I particularly enjoy is the relationships formed by the main character and the secondary characters. This kind of applies to any kind of relationship, whether it is a familial bond between parents and children, or just regular old friendships. I also look for the simplistic moments, ordinary, or even accidental occurrences. One example is This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith.

Whew, and I’m done with this topic for now. I might come back to it later, add to it a little by expanding into other genres. But for now, I’m totally done with this. Despite how wordy it got, this was fun to do. What are you reading this week?

Review: The Torn Wing by Kiki Hamilton

Title: The Torn Wing
Author: Kiki Hamilton
Source/Format: Purchased; ebook
More Details: Fantasy; Young Adult 
Publisher/Publication Date: Gaslamp Books; August 9, 2012

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

London 1872 - 

A bloody escape, a deadly threat, a shocking revelation...

As an orphan who stole the Queen's ring - only to find the ring was a reservoir that held a truce between the world of Faerie and the British Court - Tiki’s greatest fear suddenly becomes all too real: the fey have returned to London seeking revenge. As war escalates in the Otherworld, Queen Victoria’s youngest son, Prince Leopold, is attacked. In order to protect her family and those she loves, Tiki needs to know the meaning of an fáinne sí, the birthmark that winds around her wrist. But will she be brave enough to face the truth?

So, I had no idea what to expect with The Torn Wing by Kiki Hamilton. I was unfamiliar with the author, but I knew that I had the book on my ereader for a long time. I’m having a lot of fun with backlist books lately, and I hoped to continue that trend when I decided to give The Torn Wing a try. I knew it was the second book in the series. I knew I didn’t have a copy of The Faerie Ring, but once I started reading I knew I was going to finish it anyway.

Have you ever come across those books where you read the first couple of pages, and you’re automatically like “I’m going to like this”? Well, that’s how it was for me. The Torn Wing started off really good, and I was immediately curious about the circumstances of the characters—and what the rest of the book had in store for them. The writing was excellent and had a nice flow to it with enough descriptions to flesh-out the setting. And because of that, it was easy to get into the story.

From the details spread throughout the book, it was easy to pick up on what happened in The Faerie Ring. And while I didn’t know the full story, there was enough information in conversations, interactions, and the character’s internal thoughts for me to get a good grasp on what happened. I’ve read enough books to recognize common tropes used in novels that involve faeries. However, the plot of The Torn Wing was one of its shining features, and I found it to be really interesting. I enjoyed Hamilton’s take on faeries, and the central conflict that directly stemmed from their part of the story.

The characters were also great. I think that Hamilton did a good job showing the bonds between Tiki and her friends—and her growing feelings for a certain character. It seemed very grounded and real—certainly plausible given the circumstances they collectively came from. Some of my favorite moments were definitely their interactions with one another.

So, the Torn Wing is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year, and I would definitely consider picking up another one of Hamilton’s novels. (Actual rating 4.5 out of 5)

Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Hear the Wolves by Victoria Scott

Have you heard? Victoria Scott's Hear the Wolves is coming out on March 28, 2017, which is pretty far away, I know. However, today I'm exited to take part in the cover reveal. Plus, stick around for the giveaway down at the bottom of the post. Trust me, you're going to want to enter for a chance to win one of the prizes. And now for the cover...

Title: Hear the Wolves

Author: Victoria Scott

Publisher: Scholastic 

Release Date: March 28, 2017

Synopsis...

It's survival of the strongest in a contemporary, girl-versus-wild middle-grade debut from Fire & Flood author Victoria Scott! 

Sloan is a hunter. So she shouldn't be afraid of anything. But ever since her mom left the family and she lost hearing in one ear in a blizzard, it's been hard to talk to people, and near-impossible to go anywhere or do anything without her dad or big sister within eyesight -- it makes her too scared to be on her own. When they leave her home alone for what should only be two nights, she's already panicked. Then the snow starts falling and doesn't stop. One of her neighbors is hurt in an accident. And the few people still left in Rusic need to make it to the river and the boat that's tied there -- their only way to get to a doctor from their isolated Alaska town. But the woods are icy cold, and the wolves are hungry. Sloan and her group are running out of food, out of energy, and out of time. That's when the wolves start hunting them...

Victoria Scott is the critically acclaimed author of Titans, Fire & Flood, Salt & Stone, the Dante Walker trilogy, Hear the Wolves (2017), and Violet Grenade (2017). She is published by Scholastic and Entangled Teen, and is represented by Sara Crowe. Her latest novel, Titans, received two starred reviews, and Fire & Flood was nominated as a YALSA Teens' Top 10 book of 2015. Victoria’s novels are sold in thirteen different countries, and she loves receiving reader emails from at home, and across the world...

Twitter     Website     Goodreads

And now, time for the giveaway. Below, you can enter for a chance to win one of 10 Hear the Wolves galleys. All you have to do is follow the instructions on the rafflecopter widget. This giveaway is US ONLY, and ends on Monday August 8th at midnight. Now, go forth, enter...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Friday 56 (71) The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y.S. Lee

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Queen Victoria has a problem: there's a thief at work in Buckingham Palace. The Agency - the secret all-female detective unit - assigns quick-witted Mary Quinn to the case. Posing as a palace maid and fending off the attentions of the Prince of Wales are challenging enough, but when the prince witnesses a murder, Mary's case becomes anything but petty. Engineer and former flame James Easton has an assignment in the sewers, where someone is making illicit use of the tunnels. Mary will need James's help if she's going catch a thief, solve a murder - and avert disaster...

"She hoped it would continue to be, especially now. "These are the principles you taught me--the importance of justice, and even of second chances for those who never had a decent first chance. It's because of what I learned from you that I need to stay on the case."--The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y.S. Lee

Comments: The Traitor in the Tunnel is the last book I have for this series on my shelf. I'm really looking forward to reading it. 

What are you reading this weekend?

Musing Mondays (56) Favorite Genre Characteristics Part #1

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat, that asks you to muse about something book related each week.

My Musings for the Week...

Random Weekly Question from July 4th:What is your favorite book title?

Actually, this is a good question. I have a lot of favorite book titles, mainly because some of them were just catchy while others come from books I genuinely enjoyed. Plus some titles are a combination of both while also entirely fitting for the story they're attached to. So, I'll drop a short list of a handful of my favorites below...

• Daughter of Smoke & Bone
• Days of Blood and Starlight
• Illuminae
• Love Fortunes and Other Disasters 
• Love Charms and Other Catastrophes
• The Diviners
• A Wind in the Door
• Wintersmith
• Ironside
• The Iron King

Other Musings...

After writing out the majority of this post, I realized how long-winded it turned out to be. I thought this was going to be a shorter post an easier one to write, but the actual length burst my original estimate by a mile. In light of that, I’ve decided to divide it between two Musing Mondays post. So, expect part 2 next week.

Anyway, today, I’m here to talk about some of my favorite genre characteristics. When done right—or just given a fresh twist—I think any common characteristic can be used effectively to enhance a novel, rather than detract from it.

Paranormal & Urban Fantasy

Oh, this is a good one. I read paranormal novels just for the heck of it. I have enjoyed a lot of books from this subgenre. It has a lot to offer. What I like most about it is finding new authors who use common characteristics of paranormal creatures and conflicts and put a good spin to them. It’s all in the use. So, it doesn’t matter the similarities a given book might have with another as long as there’s something about the book to set it apart. A good example of this one is The Night Has Teeth by Kat Kruger.

Science Fiction (Sci-fi) (Space Opera)

Science fiction is another favorite genre of mine. This one is a little easier to describe since I mainly look for a couple of things—technology, and the what if such and such situations about some topic. I like the ships, the battles in space, and the adventurous aspect combined with futuristic elements. I’ve also enjoyed books with more of a focus on the scientific aspect like The Martian. In retrospect, it doesn’t only have to focus on the science aspects. If topics like social issues come up, I wouldn’t mind seeing a story like that set against the backdrop of space or some alien civilization.

I’m going to end this part of the post here. Next week, I’m going to go into what I like about fantasy and contemporary, which will bring this set of posts to a close. What are some of your favorite genre characteristics?