I have a void and I must scream.
Pages: 296
Purchased from: Kobo
I liked this retelling of a classic Korean folktale. Interesting characters, mythology and a world that reminded me of Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (yep, the blurb on the store page is fairly accurate). And this particular YA fantasy’s romance subplot is…alright, I didn’t dislike it.
A nice easy read to close out this year with. I did it folks, 52 weeks, 52 books.
Pages: 209
Purchased from: Kobo
This just might be one of the best books I’ve read this year. It is a very well written memoir, it had me laughing and then it had me crying. My experience as an immigrant to Canada does not quite match Elamin’s but there are a lot of small similarities that felt very real. I’m reading this and I’m going, “damn yeah that’s real shit”.
The story about dealing with grief and mourning absolutely ruined me, Whew lord. Also the way Elamin uses the 401 highway as a metaphor throughout this memoir is so so good. Loved it. Loved the stories about getting into pro wrestling and heavy metal.
Highly recommend this book.
Pages: 626
Purchased from: Kobo
This one is pretty good as far as YA fantasy goes for me. Good characters, an interesting magic system and a plot that kept a good pace throughout. The book also deals with complex issues like trauma, grief and racism. All of these were handled with care and weaved into the narrative in a natural way.
The only thing I disliked about this book is what I usually seem to dislike about YA fantasy books…the romance plot. In this book’s defence, the main character is a teenager and the romance stuff is very teenage romance stuff. I am just too old for that particular kind of romance in books now.
This book was another recommendation by cari of the the cari can read YouTube channel, no misses yet!
Pages: 369
Purchased from: Kobo
For the first time this year I decided to try reading a short story anthology instead of a full novel. It was pretty good! A bunch of very thought provoking stories by Ted in this one. I especially liked the one about the “digients”, very interesting.
This was a nice change of pace from all the full length novels I’ve been reading this year.
Pages: 347
Purchased from: Kobo
A rather depressing hard sci-fi novel. This one definitely leant into the psychological horror aspects of hard-scifi. I am not sure just how realistic the mental breakdowns depicted are but it certainly was a book where there’s no respite from the onslaught of the terror of being in deep space far away from any help.
I only recommend this one if you are up for a psychologically grueling read.