Book Review: Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1)

Title: Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1)
Author: James S.A. Corey
Genre: Science Fiction (Space Opera), Adventure, Mystery, Humor
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 561 pages (paperback)
Publication Date: 2011

Plot: (from Goodreads)
The first novel in James S.A. Corey's SF New York Times bestselling Expanse series.
Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

Review:
This book was everything I was kind of craving when I read it: a space opera that was character centric, and there was a crew. With things I didn't know I'd completely love - the noir feel that Miller and his narration have, also the horror elements. Overall - this book was just completely fantastic and I cannot wait to continue on with the series.

I hadn't really looked into the plot, I'd picked it up because it was a Sword and Laser pick and didn't end up getting around to reading it with the group (summers are hectic), but I still remembered it'd been something I was interesting in, and people were saying good things.

The reason it took me so long to read it, honestly, is because of the fact that I don't read a lot of SciFi, which is weird to me considering the shows or movies I'd loved, you'd think reading SciFi would of happened pretty easily. And then - I fell into a SciFi kick, which this book was a part of, and I'm so glad when I was wracking my brain for SciFi books, I remembered that I owned this one.

To get to the point of this review - I'd recommend this book, definitely. It's surprisingly realistic feeling and I loved the characters and how they interacted with each other. Everyone in this book is interesting and it feels very real, gritty real almost, the whole world and story, and that might of been my favorite part of it - it can't be easy to make a very far future world seem real, but it definitely did.

And, on the last point because I want to stress it again: the characters. This book is definitely character driven and it has two main narrators that do that - and those two narrators have very different views on some big things, and some of the same, but - it was interesting to see those two different people interact and how they thought and just everything.

So, to recap: space opera with a crew, noir, horror, fantastic characters, solid plot, which made it an all around fantastic read which I'd highly recommend if it sounds like something you'd be interested in.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Final Wrap-Up (and 4am - 8am)

After I finished The Walking Dead: Book One, I felt like I was kind of done, but I'd just made coffee. I'm also someone who when I see a goal that is not impossible by physics, then I'll probably try it. And, man, I was so close to having read 2,000 pages in 24 hours. Could you imagine how cool that would have been?

I mean freaking insane, but really what else did you expect?

I had such a hard time concentrating, and not much was read in these last few hours, so I thought I'd just write up what happened.

I read maybe 20/30 pages in The Walking Dead: Book Two but there aren't page number so I'm not really sure. But we're going to just go with twenty pages, screw it, and it probably took like twenty minutes / half an hour with how I am right now. (I cannot tell you how sleep deprived I am right now. And possibly got a cold or something happening, so I'm not at the height of anything).

I also ended up listening to a prequel to the Chaos Walking series, called The New World, which was 45 minutes long. And, according to Goodreads 25 pages long, but since I listened to it - I'm just going to add that time to the 'time spent reading.'

Total pages read: 1,636

Total time spent reading: 13 hours 45 minutes

Number of Books Finished: 7

Books Finished:
The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness (had started before - 306 pages)
Zom-B by Darren Shan (174 pages)
Cold War by Adam Christopher (novella, 39 pages)
God Save the Queen (Immortal Empire #1) by Kate Locke (354 pages)
The Queen is Dead (Immoral Empire #2) by Kate Locke (337 pages)
The Walking Dead: Book One by Robert Kirkman (304 pages)
The New World (Chaos Walking #0.5) by Patrick Ness (45 minutes)

Started but didn't finish:
The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher (58 pages)
Working for the Devil (Dante Valentine #1) by Lilith Saintcrow ( pages)

Comments:
Dewey's read-a-thon is the only 24 hour read-a-thon I've ever taken a part in, but it doesn't change the fact that I adore it. I love that there are cheerleaders and that it's so organized because it's been running now for a few years. And, most of all - everyone on twitter and all those other social media websites talking about what they're reading and everyone's so freaking nice, it's the main reason I was so drawn to the blogging community when I made this blog in 2011.

There are two main, and favorite, read-a-thons that I take part in. And I adore them both, and they're completely different, and I love them for different reasons. Dewey's is fast, specific, draining but rewarding. And Bout of Books, my other favorite (the next one in May!) is longer so there's more time to read, and the twitter chats (it sounds silly, but I hadn't participated really in them until the last time or two and they're incredible amount of fun. Everyone's so nice and talking about books. I mean what more could you want?)

Anyway - I don't really know what the point of this is, except to just kind of write a love letter to read-a-thons apparently. It's 5am, I've been up since 7:30 am yesterday, and I didn't sleep good that night.

Basically, I love read-a-thons. And I love beating my own past records and stats and reading a ridiculous number of books and possibly forgetting to eat.

Also, if you want to see my progress in more real time, then there are places for that: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram.

And... Go!
8am - 12pm
12pm - 4pm
4pm - 8pm
8pm -12am
12am - 4am

Dewey's Read-A-Thon Update: 12am - 4am

I took a slight nap, it felt more like just a rest. I just laid down and set my alarm for an hour. It's been a rough four hours, though, let me tell you. I definitely am feeling that 'I need sleep' feeling right about now, it also doesn't help that I didn't sleep well last night. Anyway - stats time~

Books:
Working for the Devil (Dante Valentine #1) by Lilith Saintcrow (started - 47 pages)
The Walking Dead: Book One by Robert Kirkman (finished - 304 pages)

Pages read: 351

Time spent reading: about 2 hours

Number of Book(s) finished: 1

Total pages read: 1,616

Total time spent reading: (about) 12 hours, 40 minutes

Books Finished: 6

Comments:
I've read Working for the Devil before, but I don't remeber the finer details. Hell, I don't remember any of the details, honestly, and I wanted to continue with the series and the next, and I thought read-a-thons might be a good place to do just that. However - I was going to pass out if I didn't read something a little quicker: a comic book. Surprisingly, my first of the day, but they are good to save for these early morning hours.

I hope you're all doing well or sleeping soundly, having nice dreams of books and chocolate.


Also, if you want to see my progress in more real time, then there are places for that: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram.

And... Go!
8am - 12pm
12pm - 4pm
4pm - 8pm
8pm -12am

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update: 8pm - 12am

Books:

The Queen is Dead (Immortal Empire #2) by Kate Locke (finished - 265 pages)

Pages read: 265

Number of Book(s) Finished: 1

Time spent reading: 2 hours

Total pages read: 1,265

Total time spent reading: 10 hours, 40 minutes

Books Finished: 5

Comments:
I rally loved this book, it was such a fantastic read. I'm already starting to drag, though, I'm tired. Hopefully I can keep going to finish at least one more book. I'm not sure if I'll make it for the whol 24 hours, but I'd like to just finish one more book. (It would make my books read for 2014 an even 70, and I love the even number thing).

Also, if you want to see my progress in more real time, then there are places for that: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram.

And... Go!
8am - 12pm
12pm - 4pm
4pm - 8pm

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update: 4pm - 8pm

This read-a-thon is just flying by, isn't it? Not much to say this time, just stats, really. I want to get back to reading!

Books:

God Save the Queen (Immortal Empire #1) by Kate Lock (finished - 283 pages)
The Queen is Dead (Immortal Empire #2) by Kate Locke (started - 72 pages)

Pages read: 355

Time spent reading: 3 hours

Number of Books Finished: 1

Total pages read: 1,000

Total time spent reading: 8 hours, 20 minutes

Total Number of Books Finished: 4

Comments:
A much better reading time, I got into God Save the Queen very easily and loved it, much better then I remembered, even. And The Queen is Dead is fantastic so far.

Also, if you want to see my progress in more real time, then there are places for that: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram.

And... Go!
8am - 12pm
12pm - 4pm

Dewey's Read-A-Thon Update: 12pm - 4pm

I wasn't feeling so great pretty suddenly, but now it's starting to get a little bit weird. And heavy SciFi is much slower to read for me then most things.

Books:

Cold War by Adam Christopher (finished - 39 pages)
The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher (started - 58 pages)
God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire #1) by Kate Locke (started - 68 pages)

Pages read: 165

Time spent reading: 2 hours

Number of Book(s) finished: 1

Total pages read: 645

Total time spent reading: 5 hours, 20 minutes

Total Number of Books Finished: 3

Comments:
As you can see it was a much slower reading time for me, and I read less then I did during the last chunk, but I'm just starting to really get into God Save The Queen, so hopefully I can fly through it and maybe it's sequel now. I just wasn't getting into The Burning Dark easily and, during a read-a-thon, speed is kind of key. I'll probably just continue The Burning Dark after this read-a-thon.

Also, if you want to see my progress in more real time, then there are places for that: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram.

And... Go!
8am - 12pm

Dewey's Read-A-Thon Update: 8am - 12pm

I got up a little before the start time and was ready to go pretty quickly, so I ended up checking up on Tumblr. And there are so many people this year, it's incredible and awesome. Anyway - onto the stats of the last four hours.

Books:

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness (finished - 306 pages)
Zom-B (Zom-B #1) by Darren Shan (finished - 174)

Pages read: 306 + 174 = 480

Time spent reading: 3 hours, 20 minutes

Number of Books Finished: 2

Comments:

It was definitely a good start to this read-a-thon for me. And not just because I finished two books, also because The Knife of Never Letting Go was just so, so good and I'm so glad I randomly ended up picking it up and got to finish today.

Zomb-B on the other had was... weird and uncomfortable to read, very uncomfortable. I just can't even, I'm definitely not continuing on with that series. I'm still just mostly confused.

Also, if you want to see my progress in more real time, then there are places for that: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram.

And... Go! (Read-a-Thon starts right now - and goals)

Alright, this is scheduled to go up at 8am Eastern which is when the read-a-thon starts. Hopefully I am awake with coffee and a book, waiting for the time to rollover to when I can start reading. I don't know how much I'll be on the internet besides my phone and posting the four hour block updates, but probably updating Twitter and Goodreads pretty regularly.

Also, I did a post yesterday with my TBR, well with books I could or might read, but I totally forgot to talk about my goals for this read-a-thon. Mostly because I hadn't really thought about them yet, and I'm not normally very specific with goal for this read-a-thon, but I've got a few.

- I'd like to stay up for the full time and read for as much of that as possible, the full time besides updates, when it's over I'll go around and comment on everyone's posts and then collapse.

- I have really good past read-a-thon stats, but I don't want to be overly ambitious. Saying that - I'd really like to read 1,000 pages. Which - sounds a tad ridiculous, but I've done over that for the last Dewey's read-a-thon I did, and I think the one before that, actually.

- Finish two to three books. I'm about 150 pages into The Knife of Never Letting go, so that should be pretty easy to finish. And then I've got a few really short ones to finish. (I always find reading short books for this read-a-thon, and read-a-thons in general, just feels like I'm getting more done then finishing one 900 page book).

- Do some cheering through twitter, when I see people tweeting about the read-a-thon, I'll probably end up just in the tag tomorrow instead of just watching the people I follow.

Anyway - that's kind of what I'd like to do tomorrow. Also remember to eat, would probably be good, and taking breaks so I don't get eyestrain. Again.

And best of luck to all of you who will be reading!

Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon: Tomorrow

Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon, as you can tell by the title, is tomorrow. Well, more accurately it's this weekend, since it runs from 8am Saturday, to 8am Sunday (and then crash and sleep). It's been too long since I've participated in this kind of read-a-thon, a short and sweet one, so I'm really excited about it.

I'm going to be using a different template then I did last October for this same read-a-thon, which was just post when it started and when it ended. I considered just having one post to update every time there was something to update, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that wasn't going to work. It's get cluttered and overwhelming, so we're going to kind of do the same thing I did in 2012: four hour blocks for updates.

It's pretty simple, I'll post a blog at noon, updating my progress from 8am to noon, and then at 4pm (noon - 4pm), and so on until either I fall asleep or until the read-a-thon ends. I don't have any specific goals this time around, I'd really like to be able to finish a book, at least, hopefully and beyond that - everything else is fun.

So, for as what I might be reading, I'd got, obviously, all of my unread books(or read, really, I've been eying some books up to reread lately), but I do have a kind of stack that I'll probably be choosing from, as always.

• The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness - I'm currently reading this, so I want to finish it during the read-a-thon

And now less sure books, just the stack I plan to pick from:

• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Gray
• Purity in Death by J.D. Robb 
• My Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstory by Robin Sloan (which I'm like 50 pages into or something, and it's good, but now what I currently really want)
• I have Blackbirds and The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig
• Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaoes by R.L. LaFevers
• The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher

Not sure about any of this, but those are the ones that I want to read next. 

P.S. This is up so much later in the day then normal because I kind of completely forgot about my plan to post this. Probably because I thought yesterday was Wednesday all day, which it obviously wasn't.

Also, if you want to see my progress in more real time, then there are places for that: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram. And if you're participating, let me know so I can check out your blogs or vlogs.

Friday Finds (1)

Friday Finds is a meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. It's all about books you've added to your to-read pile, either just by finding them or by physically (or electronically) purchasing them.

I find that I always find at least a handful of books that I want to read, so I thought I'd start doing this meme because it looks like a ton of fun, and it might help me remember how much I wanted to read books. I'm going to go into the last few weeks with this first post, and then stick to just the past week. All links go to the goodreads page of the book.

Books:
Written in Red by Anne Bishop
I've read the first book in her Black Jewels series, but haven't continued it yet even though I enjoyed it. And the premise of this one just sounds amazing. I just bought a physical copy of this one, so hopefully I can get to it soon.

The Flight of the Silvers by Daniel Price
A friend on twitter recommended this to me when I asked for SciFi recs and I read the premise and oh man, oh man, it sounds amazing. It's really long, which is actually a good thing, so I'm probably going to get to this one really soon, I want to so badly.

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers
I hadn't heard about this book, but I popped into a used/indie bookstore that's pretty close recently and saw the cover and went - that looks interesting and read the synopsis and ending up picking it up. There's a cat and a smart little girl and it looks like it'll have a lot of mythology and/or history worked in, so I'm excited.

Salvage by Alexandra Duncan
I've been in a huge SciFi kick this month and this one sounded interesting. It sounds like heavy SciFi with that grittier, more realistic future, with a teenage female protagonist and someone said it had feminist themes. Well - that sounds fun to me.

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen
I hadn't heard about this book until a few people seemed to talk about it at once. It sounds really interesting. High fantasy, trolls, great character. I first heard about it from Misty(TheBookRat) on her YouTube channel, and it sounded like something I'd love.

Adam Christopher
He's a writer, obviously, and everyone's been praising his newest book The Burning Dark, which sounds pretty freaking fantastic. His other book Empire State sounds like something I'd also really enjoy, so I'm excited to check both out when I get the chance. I mean, they're SciFi, so hopefully before this random, intense SciFi craving/kick ends.

So what books have you discovered recently? Or do you do Friday Finds? Tell me in the comments or link me to your post so I can check it out!

Read-A-Thon's On the Horizon!

There are two read-a-thon's coming up very soon. So let's split it up and start with the one that's closer, shall we?

Dewey's 24-hour Read-A-Thon. (April 26th)

It's a read-a-thon that goes on for, as you'd guess, a full twenty four hours. I never seem to be able to put aside those full twenty four hours or stay awake the whole time, but it's always a lot of fun and it starts 8am eastern time, but there's a page to find your own start time, it looks like it's got pretty much everywhere to me so you can skip that annoying and hard to do time zone math.

Also they just posted a list of recommended short books, which I thought was a good idea.
Direct link to the reader sign up
Direct link to the cheerleader sign up
Twitter

Bout Of Books 10 (Mid-May, May 12th - May 18th)

This is a read-a-thon that's a week long and takes place multiple times throughout the year. I can't wait for this one to start, already mulling over possible books to read, and it's probably my favorite one just because it's longer. Also - people in the hashtag on Twitter are so nice, as book bloggers are, and it makes those twitter chats a ton of fun.

The official Bout of Books blurb is right here:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. 
- From the Bout of Books team

Bout of Books' Twitter

If you're going to participating in one or the other, or both like me, then leave me a comment so I can check your blog out! I'm awful at remembering to go to people's blog during the read-a-thon times, normally because I'm trying not to go on my computer, but it's on my goal to be better at that this year (and it's always a ton of fun).

2014: Book Reviews (6)

I've read so many more books this year so far, it's completely ridiculous to me because I use to struggle to my goal of fifty or a hundred, now I've already blown past 50 books for the year. Anyway, onto the mini-book reviews, I think.

Young Avengers, Vol. 1: Style > Substance by Kieron Gillen (5/5)
I really enjoyed this, I really enjoy these compiled comic books, which is a whole different rant. Also, if you're looking to get into comics and have no idea where to start: Marvel Now, and I'd kind of like to do a post all about comic books / graphic novels / manga (but this will probably take months to do, so it definitely won't be up anytime soon).

Saga, Vol. 1 - 3 by Brian K. Vaughan (5/5)
So good, I'm just including all three volumes together. I didn't know what to expect going in, but it was so good, such a great beginning. I loved the characters, the art is gorgeous through all three volumes, and I love the way the stories told. Definitely recommending this whole series. It's definitely got mature content, though. I gave all three 5/5 stars, and I wish I could of given them more almost.

Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories From History Without the Fairy-Tale Ending by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie (5/5)
I wrote up a full review of this book here, but in short - oh man, so amazing, historical princesses that were real and the book was so well written. Also - even if it might not sound like exactly your cup of tea, if you run across it in a store, read the introduction, it made me smile, at least. (Feminism, princesses - what's not to like?)

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
I read this book in the UK two part edition, but I'm just going to mention it here as one book, because as soon as I finished one, I picked up the other (though I did finish other books between the two, because this is a long book). I want to write a full review of this one, but I think I have to reread it. Bottom line: this book was one of those books that makes you just feel full, it makes you feel good and just like content. Does that make sense to anyone? (Recommended, so highly, all of his books actually).

Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3) by Richelle Meade (4/5)
I just keep reading these books, I mean I have the box set so I might as well just read them. And I did give this one a star higher then the first two, and I did enjoy it, but I also just don't know if I really care about these characters or where I can see the plot going. I'll probably end up picking up the next one at some point, probably, definitely no rush.

Bite Me (London Undead #1) by P.J. Schnyder (3/5)
I don't actually remember why I picked this up, it was really cheep, kindle, and someone I follow on Goodreads was talking about the newest one. It might of been two people. Anyway - it was fun and action-y. Werewolves, zombies, - just some light fun, enjoyed it though.

Book Review: Redshirts

Title: Redshirts
Author: John Scalzi
Genre: Science Fiction (Space Opera, Time Travel), Humor, Adventure
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 317
Publication Date: June 5th, 2012

Plot: (from Goodreads)
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It's a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship's Xenobiology laboratory. Life couldn't be better...until Andrew begins to pick up on the facts that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces; (2) the ship's captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations; and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues' understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is...and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

Review:
I'm not quite sure I can truly articulate my feelings about this book, but I'm going to try. First, I'm going to say that this isn't a book that everyone will love and fangirl over, like I did when reading it - however, I also don't think it's just for people who like Star Trek, I've never seen a full episode of the classic or just any of Star Trek, but it did make me think of other SciFi shows that I had scene that had spaceship scenes, and it made me ridiculously happy.

I think my favorite part about this book was the characters and their dialagoue, (besides the overall plot of the novel, that is, because that plot was amazing). I really enjoyed reading their interactions with each other, mostly just the things coming out of all of these characters mouths were just so good, normally ridiculous or hilarious, and it was great to read. Also how self aware they were at points, like how ridiculous they sounded - it was great to read, very meta. Hell, this whole book is like some meta fanfiction, and it was so much fun and so good because of that.

I didn't fully know what this book was about going into it, and I picked it up meaning to read a chapter to see if that was what I wanted to read next (I read 100 pages before deciding it was time to get some sleep). The whole start of this book, how this all works, I truly just kind of adored it. And probably because I grew up watching Stargate SG-1, and am still obsessed with that show even though it ended quite a few years ago now (2006? 2007? No, it can't have been that long ago).

Anyway - I highly recommend this book to fans of SciFi shows/movies, to fans of SciFi, and to anyone whose willing to give this truly hilarious and fantastic book a shot (Seriously, I laughed out loud at a lot of points for an only 300 page book, I looked like a lunatic).

WWW Wednesday (16)

So. It's been a long time since I've done one of these, way too long. And I really enjoy doing these, but there have been way too many books I've read since I did this. Actually, the last time I did this meme was last year, in May, so it's almost been a full year.

I'm just going to mention some of the few books I've just finished and not go further then that.

And here we go!

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by MizB at Should be Reading. She asks that you answer three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

Currently-Reading:
I'm currently-reading six books according to Goodreads, which isn't that bad in all honesty, and I just finished a book yesterday (Tuesday). However -

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
I'm not that far into this one only about 50 pages or so, but I am really enjoying it so far, and I'm intrigued. I just kind of accidentally sent myself on a SciFi kick and this one is mysterious and such - but not quite what I'm craving. (Not saying it isn't freaking fantastic, and I do hope to finish it before the month ends, at least).

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
This book. It's psychological and creepy and confusing - and I love it, so much. I started reading this book in February, but I'm enjoying taking it slow, though I would like to just finish it already, I want to know what happened. Also - if you're scared to pick up this book because of the side, or because of the weird formatting - just jump in and go with it. There isn't a right or wrong way to read this book, it's kind of like an adventure in itself and, even not having finished it yet, I can tell it's worth it.

Read:
(In order from most recent, to least recent)

The Martian by Andy Weir (5/5 stars)
So great, loved it. It's hilarious to begin with, and I keep seeing it described as kind of MacGyver in space and I totally stick by that, it's just like that, except a little more... space/SciFi-y. Either way, highly recommended, loved the narrator/main character, and the whole thing.

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey (5/5)
Epic space opera with a mix of horror and some classic noir, even. I loved this book to just pieces. Maybe it was just exactly what I was crazing, still kind of am, so it just - hit all the right notes with me. There's some humor in this too, of course, and some truly fantastic characters. They're flawed and maybe not lovable o everyone, as I'm sure this book also isn't for everyone, but I did really love it. Plot, writing, characters - whole bundle.

Redshirts by John Scalzi (5/5)
Okay - so I know I said those two up there were good, and they were really good, but I read this before them. And this really hit me off towards some SciFi (and more SciFi with a crew). I read War of the Worlds just before this and went - SciFi, need to read more of that, and this was close at hand. I've been reading to read this book since it came out. I'm not a huge Star Trek fan, but I am a bit of a fan of some other series that have space scenes in later seasons - anyway, even without that, I'm pretty sure I would of loved it. It was just perfect. Highly recommended, check it out and laugh through it.

To-Read:
I always have such a hard time with saying what I'll be reading next, because - I mean I'd kind of like to finish House of Leaves before I start anything else. However, I did get Caliban's War in the mail yesterday (it's book two in the Expanse series, and the full paperback was like $6 on Amazon the day I finished Leviathan Wakes, I couldn't say no), and I'm really itching to pick that one up.

So hopefully I don't do the thing where I write it down and then it doesn't happen, that's always annoying. I listened some random books on my April TBR that I don't think I'll be getting to now, at least not in April. Life stuff happened, which is why there hasn't really been anything up this month and I'm sorry for that, but the life stuff happened hard - and now it's not quite so worry level 100, so I thought I'd try and get back with one of these memes that'll get me writing about books again and that I really enjoying doing (and reading, I love reading about what other people are reading and their thoughts).

And now I'm going to stop rambling, this isn't suppose to be a post to ramble on. So - long story short: Caliban's War, House of Leaves, or maybe something else next, but I'd like to read both this much if possible. At least start Caliban's War this month.

I hope your months are going well, in general and on the reading front, and I'm love to hear what you're currently reading or what you just finished or what you're planning on reading next, leave me a comment below!

Book Review: The Search for WondLa (WondaLa #1)

 Title: The Search for WondLa (WondLa #1)
Author: Tony DiTerlizzi
Genre: Adventure, SciFi/Fantasy (middle-grade)
Rating: 5/5
Page count: 484 pages
Publication Date: September 21st, 2010

Story Notion: Yes. Yes. That was awesome.

Plot: (from GoodReads)
Eva Nine is a curious and sensitive twelve-year-old who has existed only in a subterranean home called Sanctuary, cared for by a robot named Muthr. Eva's great desire is to go aboveground, and her wish comes true, though not as she had imagined. On the surface, Eva goes in search of other humans--she has never met one--and soon meets both friend and foe.



Review:
I knew nothing going into this book. Well - I knew the name and I knew the author had co-written the Spiderwick Chronicles and that was it. This book was one of those Kindle Daily Deals things and I'm so glad I picked it up and started reading it just. I kind of did just because it looked cute (I have a lot of books on my Kindle that are unread).

I'd definitely suggest a physical copy if possible, I'd like to get my hands on one myself and of the next books. This book has wonderful illustrations in it that my Kindle really didn't do the justice of. They were gorgeous, and so was this world that they were in and the characters and people, it was rich and fun.

And completely bewildered me at first. I read the first about 20-30% of this book quite slowly, just had no idea what I'd gotten myself into, but it slowly started to make some sort of sense to me. Or maybe I just gave into the story. Either was, it was a great decision, because this book was amazing, rich, lovely, and just play interesting. I really want to know more.

I'd definitely recommend this book, it's middle-grade but obviously that just means it's awesome (and can have pictures without judgement! That's how that works, yes?) And I do love myself a good middle-grade adventure story and if you do, I'd give this one a shot.

April 2014 TBR

I kind of like making these TBRs, I don't always end up sticking to them (let's be honest, I rarely end up sticking to them), but they're still so much fun to keep doing. I'm also so optimistic in them. I think that last month was my "slowest" reading month so far this year, but considering what the first two months consisted off, I can't say I feel bad about that.

I'm currently reading quite a few books I'd really like to finish in April. Examples: House of Leaves, Paradox, The Lies of Locke Lamora. And also some books I'd like to read, or at least start, so here is just a list of books. Or a list of possibilities.

• The Insider (Kingdom Keepers #7) by Ridley Pearson
• The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
• The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
• Saga, Vol. 3 by Brian V. Vaughan
• Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera #1) by Jim Butcher
• Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archives #2) by Brandon Sanderson

I'm really listening to books closest or that I got in the mail because they just came out. I kind of want to o a reread of Kingdom Keepers before I read the last one, it's the last right, but that's five books to read (I reread the first pretty recently, but still. They get really long as you go).

Also - Brandon Sanderson. I can not press how much you should pick up one of his books. I know The Way of Kings is daunting, but I promise you it's totally worth it and amazing. It's not a fast read, and I could see why people didn't like it, but that doesn't mean it's not good - it made me feel good and just better about humanity, I guess. (All of his books have been amazing, but Way of Kings is my new favorite).

March 2014 wrap-up

March was a very weird month. I feel like I mostly reading The Way of Kings and House of Leaves (didn't finish HoL in March, but April - it's happening). After I finished Part Two of Way of Kings, I traveled to Orlando for PlayList Live, but I feel like it sent me into that mood where I knew if I started any any books right after that, I wouldn't enjoy them. Such a major book hangover, and I'm just starting to feel like I'm coming out of it. (I do have Words of Radiance that I could read, too). However, March wrap-up first, so that was a good start, but here is the list of the books I read in March.

• Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2) by Richelle Meade
• Young Avengers, Vol. 1 by Kieron Gillen
• Saga, Vol. 1 by Brain K. Vaughan
• Saga, Vol. 2 by Brain K. Vaughan
• Princesses Behaving Badly by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
• The Way of Kings, Part One by Brandon Sanderson
• Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3) by Richelle Meade
• Bite Me (London Undead #1) by P.J. Schnyder
• The Way of Kings, Part Two by Brandon Sanderson

Saga is fantastic, and Vol. 3 just came out. Also - Princesses Behaving Badly was so, so incredibly good and not as slow as one might expect of non-fiction, the writing was really good. I'm not quite sure why I keep reading the Vampire Academy books, they're kind of like... addictive but I don't think I'd call them good. They're crack, basically, and such quick reads.

I hope you all had good reading months, and just good months in general. (And I don't recommend PlayList, at all. I've never felt old at a convention before and considering I'm only 18, that's honestly worrying).