BOOK REVIEWSGEEKERELLA, THE BONE SEASON, & MORE

Hello, my name is Kat and today, I would like to share of my thoughts on the books I have recently finished. I finished five books in the last month or so and I'm pretty happy with that number because I'm right on track with my reading challenge for the year. Yeah, let's just get started. Let's get into these books! So, first, I have here: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon.

This was the BOOKSPLOSION book of the Month for March. We are working with Bloomsbury and the live show has already happened. So, if you want to hear these spoilery discussions, I will link the video down below. This book takes place in what is a futuristic London but in an alternate timeline.

Basically, in the 1800s, people started developing clairvoyant abilities and now, over 200 years later, clairvoyance are illegal. They're hunted down in order to protect themselves and like, survive in this society. Many clairvoyants has formed this kind of underground culture, full of crime families. The main character follows is a woman named Paige.

She is a clairvoyant and she is a member in one of the most notorious of these crime families but then she's involved in this altercation and she ends up being captured and sent what is basically an interment camp, full of clairvoyant slaves. However, once she arrive there, she realizes that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes then she previously thought. I really enjoyed this book. I think my favorite aspect was probably the world because I just found it so fascinating especially, all the different clairvoyant abilities and the politics.

And I'm so excited to see all that explored in the rest of the series. I also really enjoyed a lot of the relationship dynamics between Paige and her crime family and also between Paige and her captors and some other enslaved clairvoyants. There's a lot of characters, which was a bit overwhelming at times but it paid off because there's so many relationships that developed out of that. It's definitely a solid first book in, what is going to be a big complex series.

Now, being the first book in a big complex series, there was quite a bit of setup and some info dumping particularly in the beginning, like, it just took me a little bit to really get grounded in the story. There's a lot of new words being thrown around and a lot of characters. Many of which go by more than one name so I was confused at times but that was mostly in the beginning. By the time, I, like, got into the groove of it, I was really enjoying it.

If you're looking for an awesome and complex dystopian/fantasy series, I would definitely recommend. Give it a try. Next up, I have here: Geekerella by Ashley Poston. And this is the April book of the month pick for the BOOKSPLOSION.

We're working with Quirk Books on this one and I'll go ahead and put all of the read along details down below if you want to join in. I absolutely adored this book. I actually read this at the end of March and I didn't plan to do that. I like to read the books closer to the live show so it's, like, fresh in my head but I saw on the cover of the food truck here, it says 'vegan treats' and I was like, oh my gosh, was the main character vegan? So, I started reading to find out and it turns out she's not vegan but by the time, I discovered that, I was too hooked into the story to stop and I just flew through it in a single sitting.

Basically, it's a YA contemporary that kind of combines a modern Cinderella retelling with the geeky fandom culture. First, we have our female lead, a girl named Elle, who, growing up, her parents were really into this sci-fi show called Starfield and they actually started the fan convention for it but now, that both of Elle's parents have passed away and she's kind of, in an unpleasant situation with her stepmother and stepsisters, the Starfield fandom is more important to her than ever before. And now, Starfield is giving a reboot and Elle is not happy at all with the actor that has been cast as the male lead. The other main of the book, the other point of view that we get is from Darien and he is the guy who was just cast in the lead role and he's kind of struggling because he's actually a huge fan of the show but people keep dismissing him because he's most well known for his role in a melodramatic teenage soap opera type show.

He wants to get in contact with the people who are running the fan convention and he ends up getting ahold of Elle's number and they start texting back and forth a little bit, not really knowing who the other person is. Just bonding over their shared love for Starfield and it's just the best! There's so much cuteness and humor and like, it's just a celebration of geeky fandom culture. It is so good! Honestly, my least favorite aspect of this book was the Cinderella retelling aspect because personally, I'm not a huge fan of the Cinderella story but I was super into the relationship development and all of the geeky fandom elements. I also love that we got a dual perspective, like, both characters had their own separate stories and struggles.

Like, Elle is dealing with her family and Darien is filming this movie. If you're looking for a cute, fun rom-com type of book then I highly recommend this, especially, if you do like Cinderella retellings or you're into fandom culture which I imagine many of you are. You'll like this. I highly recommend this.

Next up, I read... Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. This is, I'm going to say, the first book in a series, even though the books are more like companions rather than direct sequel and it basically just delves into life after the portal fantasy. If you aren't familiar with that term, a portal fantasy is one of those stories, where you have a character in the real world usually, a child or a young adult, and they end up going through a portal into another world.

They have adventures, maybe saves the day, maybe live out a full life in that other world and then they come back to the real world. And what this book really explores is what happens to these children after they return, they have to learn how to cope and adjust with being back in this world. When all they want to do is go back where they feel they belong. Just the premise alone sold me on this book and it's kind of a good thing that I was attracted to the premise because I would definitely say that this book is more of an idea book than a plot book.

There is a mystery plot line that runs through more of the second half of the book than the first. And I did enjoy that aspect, even though I did feel it was a bit of rushed. But what I really loved about this book, was learning about all of the worlds and the experiences that the children have had in them and in returning to the real world. And there's so many amazing fantastical and whimsical details that just made this book so fascinating and captivating.

The writing was wonderful, like, even though it's a very short book. It's like, less than 200 pages. There's still so much packed into each sentence and there was so much great imagery and whimsy and it touched on so many different ideas. For me, it was definitely what I call a sticky book, which is a book is going to stick with me for a long time.

Like, I will be thinking about this for weeks, months, years to come. I just wish it was longer. Like, again, I am really impressed with the quality of the writing and how much was packed into such a small amount of pages but again, I did feel the mystery aspect was a bit rushed. It just felt like the plot points of that storyline happened way too close together with, like, not a lot of breathing room in between.

But still, you know, if it's wanting more is my biggest issue with a book, that's a good book in my eyes. If you like portal fantasy and you've ever wondered what happens to the characters after they return to the real world, this is the book for you, especially, if you also enjoy fantastical and whimsical aspects because this has plenty of those and it was just an enchanting read. Next up, I have here: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling.

If you don't know what this book is about, I can't talk to you. I actually didn't read this book, I listened to the audiobook. Last month, I went to Harry Potter World in Orlando and I thought it would be a good idea to listen to the audiobook for this on the plane right over and it turns out it was  a good idea. It was fantastic, listening to it and then going to Harry Potter World.

It was a good week, it was a real good week. I actually haven't reread the series since I started booktubing, which was five, six years ago. So, this is so overdue. I'm going to start making my way through the entire series but in audiobook form, because I just brought all the audiobooks.

I want to finish them all by the end of the year, so I'm going to try to do at least one a month, I think. And yeah, I'm just... I'm so happy about this book in this series, and the fact that I'm rereading it and just Harry freakin' Potter, man! Finally, I have here: Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury. This is a nonfiction, it's actually a collection of 13 essays by Ray Bradbury on the art of writing.

I have read this a couple times before, but it's one of those that I love rereading like, every year or so because it's just so inspirational and motivational and it gets me in the mood to write. Like, it's such a writing pick me up. Ray Bradbury is so in love with the craft of writing and that love is so present in the pages, in the words. Like, it's infectious.

I'm actually doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month. I haven't talked about it on my channel at all because I, like, didn't make a video for three weeks but my twitter is full of updates. So, if you're interested, check there. So, I decided to reread this at the beginning of the month to like, keep  me motivated and encouraged and it works beautifully.

If you're a writer, you're looking for some  more motivation or maybe you're kind of in a low point in your writing life, I highly recommend this. Like, this might just jump start your writing life and like reinvigorate you. At least, that's what it does for me, it might do the same thing for you. All right there, you have it.

Those are my thoughts on the books I have recently finished and that's going to do it for this video today. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you have a lovely night and I will have another video up soon so I will see you then.

Goodbyeee! [Music].