Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami | Review

Pages: 300

Genre: contemporary, romance, japan

Synopsis

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

A fabulous bestselling book, which somehow reminded me of “The secret history” by Donna Tartt, but set in Japan, with less murder and just as much insanity. 

“I have a million things to talk to you about. All I want in this world is you. I want to see you and talk. I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning.”

All the characters are wrong and troubled, although the main character Toru seems to be the most normal at first. It’s something they’re mostly aware of and Toru even ponders why he chooses to get close to a certain type of person. Is it because they don’t claim or pretend to be normal?

“Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Only assholes do that.”

The characters are what drives this story as you want to know how they end up. It’s obvious they all are in either dangerous sitations or can’t follow the same path for long without it becoming critical. My favourite and the likely the worst of the bunch is Nagasawa who is a womanizer, clever and rich dirtbag. He doesn’t think any good of anyone, but chooses Toru as his friend, and the contrasts and similarities between them is very interesting.

It is a love story. Kind of. As much as it’s about mental health or college/uni. At times all the different aspects of the story didn’t match up for me, but in the end it made sense. It’s all about Toru’s life and development. I can’t claim to completely understand this book yet, and it was slow at times, but I quite liked it. Murakami’s writing is as wonderful as always.

Jade City by Fonda Lee | Review

Pages: 510

Genre: urban fantasy

Synopsis

 

TWO CRIME FAMILIES, ONE SOURCE OF POWER: JADE.
Jade is the lifeblood of the city of Janloon – a stone that enhances a warrior’s natural strength and speed. Jade is mined, traded, stolen and killed for, controlled by the ruthless No Peak and Mountain families.
When a modern drug emerges that allows anyone – even foreigners – to wield jade, simmering tension between the two families erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all in the families, from their grandest patriarch to even the lowliest motorcycle runner on the streets.
Jade City is an epic tale of blood, family, honour, and of those who live and die by ancient laws in a changing world.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

– the action –

This book had a well thought through plot, a lot of action in between slower scenes and lots of crime family conflicts. The fight scenes was well-written, it reads like those of a superhero action movie. I especially noted it when someone slits the enemy’s throat from behind. Personally I’m not much a fan of fight scenes like this, I like my action to come with emotions or a lack off, written with a different perspective than just cinematic-looking decription. This is an opinion that hasn’t affected my rating of this book, because I think it’s very well done and something many readers want. It would make it easy for a movie adaption as well.

– the jade –

The concept of jade as a powersource was something new for me and made perfect sense. The mix of asian and western is something that makes this book special, it’s a big part of the plot. Just the levels of formality in the culture is a something that fits perfectly with the dynamics of the families. The crime families agree that outsiders are dangerous to invite in, to give them this drug and control of powers they didn’t understand, which leads them to a certain degree of isolation and a good scene for this internal struggle to play out.

“So it came to be, remarkably, that the ruling family of No Peak was all the family Anden had.”

– the characters – 

The story is told from multiple points of view, which was tricky. I didn’t really care for the character we started out with, there’s this kid who tries to steal jade that I didn’t feel for much. Poor circumstances made it hard for him, but he’s no evil mastermind or accidental hero. Probably going to become one in later books though, with the focus he got sometimes. There were other characters I didn’t care much for as well, which I realized is because you don’t get to see much of the internal life of them, even through their point of view.

Shae is the sister in one of the biggest crime families, and she’s returned after basically running away attending school overseas. She could’ve been such an interesting character, but her plans without jade was so ridiculous and uncertain for someone who had taken such a deliberate choice to separate her from her family. She’s too smart not to have a plan or even dreams as she returns from abroad. Multiple times I felt like her character came apart, where the way everyone described her didn’t match up with how undecisive she acted and thought about events, especially in her pov.

There should’ve been more backstory and personality quirks in a book of five hundred pages, to give readers a reason to care about Hilo’s top men and even all the major characters. I cared about Lan because he had a lot to say in how it would go down, which family would win power. Aden got some backstory and we got a quick look into how hard he was working to be best at the military school.

“Heaven help me, Shae,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m going to kill them all.”

Politics and the parts where Shae and Hilo is organizing were good. I have a weakness for characters like Hilo, who is used to violence, but has a conscience somewhere and is very protective of his family and friends, even though he’s arguing with them. Even Aden remarks that he has a remarkable way with people, but then sometimes he shows how dangerous and spontaneous he could be, which was awesome.

 

– in the end –

It ended on an exciting note and I think I’ll pick up the next book in the series pretty quickly when it comes out. It took a long time to build up the characters and plot, but now I have all hopes for a good series, as it was well done in many aspects.

*spoilery discussion on characters below*

Mary Oliver’s New and Selected Poems Vol. 2 | Review

Genre: poetry

 

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

I like the individual collections I’ve read more (A thousand mornings, Upstream and even volume one of this one), because they are a better mix of varied subjects, so it doesn’t become too much nature all at once (I didn’t know that was even possible before this). These new and selected poems still gives a good direction in which to continue reading Mary Oliver’s poetry, as my favourite poems here seems to have been published around the same time and I will certainly look up those collection.

It’s still brilliant poems, with Mary Oliver’s usual focus on nature, landscape, animals, people, writing and love. I’ve collected my favourite ones in a document and there’s fifteen, which was way more than I expected. Oliver’s words just speak true, the observations are lovely to read and gradually thought-provoking at the same time.

 

THE FACES OF DEER

 

When for too long I don’t go deep enough 

into the woods to see them, they begin to 

enter my dreams. Yes, there they are, in the 

pinewoods of my inner life. I want to live a life 

full of modesty and praise. Each hoof of each 

animal makes the sign of a heart as it touches 

then lifts away from the ground. Unless you 

believe that heaven is very near, how will you 

find it? Their eyes are pools in which one 

would be content, on any summer afternoon, 

to swim away through the door of the world. 

Then, love and its blessing. Then: heaven.

– Mary Oliver

 

WORK, SOMETIMES

I was sad all day, and why not.  There I was, books piled

on both sides of the table, paper stacked up, words

falling off my tongue.

The robins had been a long time singing, and now it

was beginning to rain.

What are we sure of?  Happiness isn’t a town on a map,

or an early arrival, or a job well done, but good work

ongoing.  Which is not likely to be the trifling around

with a poem.

Then it began raining hard, and the flowers in the yard

were full of lively fragrance.

You have had days like this, no doubt.  And wasn’t it

wonderful, finally, to leave the room?  Ah, what a

moment!

As for myself, I swung the door open.  And there was

the wordless, singing world.  And I ran for my life.

— Mary Oliver

Books That Take Place In Another Country | Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week. 

Most of the books I read are from another country, since I’m norwegian. But I’ll include more books that aren’t placed in the US/America, since that’s where most of the authors I read are from.

Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

• Japan
• Absoloutly worth reading, the writing, the characters, the plot all amazing

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

• Kabul, Afghanistan
• Haven’t read the whole book, only long excerpts for class, but it’s heartwrenching and I have to pick up the whole book soon

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

• Alaskan wilderness, USA
• Okay book, based on a better story

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

• Pacific Ocean, with a Tamil boy

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

• Germany
• Historial fiction from nazi germany with a girl who steals books, her parents taken away to concentration camp.

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn

• Japan
• A fantasy book I read as a child and loved, but I can’t vouch for how good it is since it was so long ago

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

• Barcelona, Spain
• Gothic mystery

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

• Pakistan
• Non-fiction and biographical book of Malala’s life in Swat Valley in Pakistan and how she got shot in the head fighting for her education

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

• Venice, Italy

 

 

Currently Reading | Book Things

Hey! I’ve stopped doing the www wednesday posts recently, it doesn’t make sense to give a weekly update that strictly scheduled right now. But here’s a little update on what I’ve recently finished reading and my current reads.

 

 

Mary Oliver’s new and selected poems vol. 2

A good poetry collection, generally I like these “best of” collections less than Mary Oliver’s other poetry collections like A Thousand Mornings.

Simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda by Becky Albertalli

I couldn’t put this book down and ended up reading it, over three hundred pages, in one saturday. There was some crying, a lot of “aahhh” sounds in sympathy and some good humor in here. To be honest, the title as well as the “coming out” plot put me off this book for a long time. I read positive reviews and that the movie “love, simon” is coming out soon and decided it was now or never. No regrets, as this book is fantastic. A more in-depth review out soon.

Alt som ikke har blitt tjoret fast by Eirin Gundersen

I’ve read some more norwegian books lately, this one was good, but I had some thoughts on it. Review will be out soon, but only in norwegian probably (which will be weird, but the only thing that makes sense as it’s not translated)

Truly devious by Maureen Johnson

An incredibly murder mystery young adult book that I higly recommend! 5/5 stars definitely.

 

 

The snow child by Eowyn Ivey

I rarely stop reading books, usually I skim-read to the end. But I couldn’t get into this, the plot wasn’t interesting to me, even with the lovely writing.

The faster I walk, the smaller I am by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold

I read this in norwegian, and it seemed good, but the plot and theme wasn’t anything I wanted to read right now

 

 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Trying to get through some more classics, but this one is slow and kind of boring, even if I’m wondering where the plot will go.

One of us is lying by Karen M. McManus

I’m reading this in norwegian, just started and excited to see where it goes.

The collected poems of Emily Dickinson

Not much to say yet, except the poems are lovely.

Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale

It went really slow for a while, but I decided to try more again. Btw, I’m not very good at spanish, which is why I’m trying to read this book, but I am able to understand it surprisingly well. When did that happen? I’m 28% in, with 94 highlights/things I’ve translated, in one month. Could’ve been better.

 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin | Review

Pages: 452
Genre: young adult, paranormal

Synopsis

This book is confusing af, but it starts simple enough with a friendgroup who goes to an abandoned building for fun, but it suddenly collapses on top of them and kills everyone but Mara Dyer, the main character. She wakes up in a hospital, disoriented and not able to recall anything of the incident. But no one else has answers to what happened either. What they know is that four teenagers went in, but only one came out.

Struggling with memoryloss and PTSD, Mara convinces her family to move away, talking about fresh beginnings and less reminders, but not really believing it herself. She’s having flashbacks and hallucinates, memories of her and her two dead friends and boyfriend constantly haunting her dreams. Slowly, but surely her memories seem to return, but she doesn’t know how to make sense of it all.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

 

This book has more psychological elements than paranormal ones, which was okay, but confusing for the main part of this story. It’s written to be all mysterious, but honestly I just grew impatient and annoyed. Mara believes she’s going crazy, but won’t immediately find help because of her overprotective mom who seems to control much in her life. At first I found it a bit extreme as I realize she needs help to function, but she’s already back at school so how bad can she be? But when shit goes down, I realized Mara might need more supervising than what is shown from her own unreliable narrative.

And she should not be in school full-time! How would anyone allow it, hadn’t it been for the sake of the story and her love interest being there? As Mara slowly works out her new life, or pretend to, she meets a mysterious boy named Noah Shaw. She is repeatedly warned against him for his reputation of dating and dumping girls. I won’t comment on this relationship anymore than I wouldn’t read this book for the romance because it’s very stereotype “bad boy turns good for The One Girl” with a twist or two. Still, even if it’s nice twists and I like Noah in himself, they don’t really work good together. Mostly he’s just there, saying a few lines and filling out the plot when necessary.

I feared for a long time this book would be all stereotype high school drama, because it was clearly heading that way, but right before I laid the book down in defeat strange things started to happen around Mara Dyer. The book was back on track! When the plot twist came I was done again; I saw it long time coming and it couldn’t have been more expected. If you’ve read a couple of paranormal ya I think you’ll figure it out. It’s not a bad twist, it just reflects the biggest problem of this book – it’s predictable. Some occurences might be unexpected and interesting, but the plot and story as whole goes in a boring straight line.

There’s two more books in this series, which could turn out better now that it took 452 pages to reveal one secret and lay the base of the story, which really has just been “high school drama with paranormal stuff somewhere”. I don’t think I want to read two more books like that. The title is good; “The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer” is just what happens in this book, but nothing more. Did you like this book? Is the second and third book better?

See How They Run by Ally Carter | Review

Embassy Row #2

Pages: 336
Genre: young adult, mystery

Summary

Grace’s past has come back to hunt her and if she doesn’t stop it, Grace isn’t the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world are neighbours and stand like dominoes. One wrong move can make them all fall down.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

No. Noope. Glad to be done with this book. It showed the series had a direction, but too much went wrong along the way.

I don’t even know why I would review a book I didn’t like, but I feel like I would appreciate it if someone warned me? I liked the other series by Ally Carter and if I’d read a review like this, I wouldn’t have bothered to pick this one up. Go read the Gallagher girls or even better; the Heist society. They’re both better than this one, even if it has its moments and good quotes.

To start off on a positive note: here you got young adult characters that actually behave like young people, however serious the situation is. It’s refreshing and it seems like they characters have grown up a bit since the last book, which makes completely sense.

I didn’t really know what this book would be about – at all – since in the first book every secret seemed to spill over and was eventually wrapped up with a bow on top. How could there be any more skeletons in the closet after that? All praise to Ally Carter’s creativity to figure that out – and she did. This book have good action, it’s fast-paced and have its moments. You think the plot twist is obvious, but there’s always more undetected hidden behind them. The mystery wasn’t as original as I hoped. It got an okay backstory though, and that’s about what I can say without spoiling anything.

These teenagers got to be very energetic. That’s a looot of running around, which I don’t really care for. It might be a choice taken to keep things interesting and the reader alert, but I don’t really care to follow when they return to places for the who-knows-how-many times. You got a lot of hiding spots, and surely need them with all this drama, but it’s a bit overkill.

That’s the thing about being the girl who’s spent years convincing the world she’s not afraid of anything: at some point, someone is going to find out you’re afraid of everything.

The main character, Grace, has changed since the first book too. She’s as wild and upredictable as usual, but no longer considered as paranoid because she’s proven herself at last. The relationship between her and her brother seemed more real, as did the friendships she finally developed with the other embassy kids. She seem to have PTSD, or something similar, and it’s well shown throughout the book. It makes Grace and the plot seem more real, since you’re shown the consequences she has to deal with. I was worried at the beginning that this book would follow the usual recipe: girl meets boy, drama happens and they have to fix it together, everyone acts before they think, but it magically works out anyway and finally they get together. It wasn’t completely like that, to my relief. Some of the elements are certainly there, but Carter managed to add some dimension to it.

Also, the adults seem to finally have been introduced to the plot, even going so far as keeping an eye on them. Wow, who would have known they could have information and perhaps be willing to help? “See how they run” was predictable at times, but well-written and a step up from the first book. Still it didn’t do enough for me to concider picking up the third book of the series. I believe I’m done with this, there has to be better mysteries out there to read. I think it’s beccause the plot is built on one too many clichés, and that’s honestly why I didn’t figure out all the plot twists; I thought it wouldn’t be that obvious. This book certainly tries to keep your interest and who knows, perhaps it will work for you, but I’ll throw in the towel and say I’m happy to have finished it.

“She’s right, of course. There’s a loop in my life – a pattern of violence and death and heartbreaking sorrow that I would give anything to stop. To rewrite. To end. But my walls are not yet high enough, not strong enough. What Ms Chancellor doesn’t know is that I never will stop building.”

Amazon UK’s 100 Books To Read In A Lifetime Tag

I first saw Nikki at booksandlemonsquash do this tag and it looked fun!

 

Rules:

1. Include a link back to Amazon’s official 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime 
2. Tag Perfectly Tolerable, the creator of this meme
3. Tag the person who nominated you (none, but first saw booksandlemonsquash do it!)
4. Copy the list of books and indicate which titles you have read.
5. Tally up your total.
6. Comment on the post you were tagged in and share your total count.
7. Tag five new people and comment on one of their posts to let them know.

 

Here’s the list:

1984 George Orwell

A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking

A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry

A Game of Thrones George R R Martin

A History of the World in 100 Objects Neil MacGregor

All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque

American Gods Neil Gaiman

American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis

Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer

Atonement Ian McKewan

Bad Science Ben Goldacre

Birdsong Sebastian Faulks

Brideshead Revisted Evelyn Waugh

Bridget Jones’s Diary Helen Fielding

Brighton Rock Graham Greene

Casino Royale Ian Fleming

Catch 22 Joseph Hellier

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl

Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee

Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevesky

Dissolution C J Sansom

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Philip K. Dick

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson

Frankenstein Mary Shelley

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian

Great Expectations Charles Dickens

Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone J K Rowling

High Fidelity Nick Hornby

In Cold Blood Truman Capote

Knots and Crosses Ian Rankin

Last Orders Graham Swift

Little Women Louise May Alcott

Lolita Vladimir Nabokov

London Fields Martin Amis

London: The Biography Peter Akroyd

Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela

Lord of the Flies William Golding

Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie

My Man Jeeves P G Woodhouse

Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro

Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami

Notes From A Small Island Bill Bryson

Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman

One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen

Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier

Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz

Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy

The Book Thief Markus Zusak

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne

The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett

The Commitments Roddy Doyle

The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank

The Enchanted Wood Enid Blyton

The English Patient Michael Ondaatje

The Fellowship of the Ring J R R Tolkien

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson

The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson

The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood

The Hare with Amber Eyes Edmund de Waal

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams

The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Oliver Sacks

The Mill on the Floss George Eliot

The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway

The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde

The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver

The Road Cormac McCarthy

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Sue Townsend

The Secret History Donna Tartt

The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins

The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes

The Stand Stephen King

The Story of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson

The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter

The Tiger Who Came to Tea Judith Kerr

The Time Machine H G Wells

The Worst Witch Jill Murphy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John Le Carré

To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf

The Wasp Factory Iain Banks

Trainspotting Irvine Welsh

Venice Jan Morris

Watchmen Alan Moore

Watership Down Richard Adams

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Helen Oxenbury

White Teeth Zadie Smith

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Jung Chang

Winnie the Pooh A A Milne

Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë

 

I have read 12/100 books. That’s not a lot, but it could’ve been worse. I have to admit I haven’t read all of Game of Thrones, probably won’t for a while, or Hitchhikers to the Galaxy, which I want to continue soon. First obligatory excuse is that I’m not american or english, but honestly I haven’t read enough norwegian classics either. I definitely want to read more books on this list, along with classics in my own language. I don’t think anyone need to read classics, but the books are well-known for reasons and I’ve found several hits as well as misses among them.

Books already on my TBR: A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Philip K. Dick, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson, The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood and The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini

Books I’ll add to my TBR: Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen, The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett, The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald, To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf

 

If you want to do it you’re free to tag me! ❤ I’m curious how many classics book bloggers have read.

My Favourite Podcasts: Space, robots, chronic illness

Here’s the general, two-dudes-talking type of podcasts I like. Here’s a list of book podcasts. And finally, here’s a list of science and productivity podcasts. Yes, there’s a lot of podcasts.

 

Hackable?

• Find out just how easy it is to be hacked and how it’s done. Usually faturing a hacker scene from a popular movie or tv series to debunk how close or far from reality they are.

 

Sickboy

• Hosts are Brian Stever, Jeremie Saunders and Taylor Macgillivary. Jeremie has cystic fibrosis.
• Chronic illness and humor combined, the three guys interviews people with all kinds of illnesses and injuries. The people, both hosts and interviewees, are really what makes this podcast hearthwarming, educational and often very funny. They’ve shown that even the episodes with deadly illnesses can have humour, without taking away from communicating the gravity of the people’s struggles and trouble. I’m chronically ill, mainly with crohn’s and a lung problem, and this is what I’ve been looking for without completely knowing so. Illness is tough, and talking about it means it gets heavy at times, but I think all people should know a bit more about diseases and in which ways it affects people’s lives.
• All episodes features fascinating people and I’m nowhere near having listened to them all. I would definitely recommend checking out the 1st episode about Jeremie’s cystic fibrosis, nr. 9 with ptsd, nr. 112 with multiple sclerosis (ms), nr 107 with zika virus and nr 75 with juvenile rheumatoroid arthritis. But they’re all pretty great.

Liftoff

• Space news and history (that part I skip) that you don’t have to be a rocket-scientist to understand. Very calming voices, so at the very least it’s good to fall asleep to, but I’m pretty into space and find it exciting.

My Favourite Murder

• I’ve listened to a few murder podcasts out there, this is the definite winner and the only one I still follow. Every once in a while something different, like a cult story, is thrown into the mix.
• Hosted by two lovely ladies, who needs all the credit for the amazing woman-empowering perspectives they give, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark.

Nancy

• Stories and conversations about queer experiences today. Contains episodes that made me both laugh and cry. Talks about lgbt issues with interviews and history.

Roboism

• Savannah Million and Alex Cox from Do By Friday/Cards Against Humanity team
• Talks about robots! All the new, weird robots!

 

Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder | Review

Pages: 490

Genre: young adult, fantasy

Synopsis

From the author of the poison study series, it’s a new fantasy book with a world where magic can be stored in glass. The Stormdancers are able to capture storms in glass orbs, but someone is killing them and destroying the storages in order to stop it. Opal Cowan, a glassmaker and magician, is brought in to prevent the disasterous attacks, but her skills might not be enough. Much is needed to be learned about the connection between glass and magic, and it not easy to gather that information with the most skilled magicians dead and the others being rather mysterious. To help and stay safe, Opal needs to learn the reason behind the attacks and how to stop them.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

I’ve always been fascinated by glassblowing and it was interesting to read a fantasy book that revolved around it. It’s still only an average book in all other aspects; writing, plot, characters, romance … it’s nothing special. Poison study did so well, and both this series and the healer series seems to be trying (and failing) at mimicking that sucess without creating the same story. Instead of a taster for a king, the girl is a glassmaker or healer, the love interests is more bland and the same with the main girl Opal. To not make her easily compared to the original kick-ass Yelena, why not make Opal unsure of herself always. Also, storm metaphors are nice the first five times or so, after 300 more pages with it I’m out.

I’m not giving these series a third chance for now. It’s not for me. I do love the glassblowing aspect though, and have been looking for books with it. Have you read any other books with glassblowing? I remember reading the fiction book “The glassblower from Milano” by Marina Fiorato many years ago (I don’t really remember it at all) and liking it, but I think that’s the only other book.