Oppression and Girl-Hate

      I was first introduced to Red Queen the year it was released. I recall being obsessed with this series. Because of my history with Red Queen, I was originally going to post this review much earlier. However, I soon realized it had been too long since I’ve last read this book even though I have been following the series so I decided rereading Red Queen before I made any consensus about it. This was a good idea because my opinion about this book has changed drastically in that last three years. I don’t know if my taste has changed or if I’m a more critical reader now. Regardless of the reason, my bubble of nostalgia has been popped for this one.  

      This is written from first-person present tense, my least favorite forms of narration because it is unnatural. People don’t tell you about something that happened to them in present tense. Some people think it adds a sense of urgency. Although I don’t agree with this because presence tense alone doesn’t speed up a plot. This didn't stop me from finishing the book so it didn’t completely ruin Red Queen’s reading experience for me, but I think I would have enjoyed it a little more if the writing was in past-tense. 

      I’m impressed and I have to admit the system of oppression in this world can be very believable at times. I see this pattern in books like The Hunger Games as well the oppressors, the silvers, are getting something out of the people they oppress, the reds. Although, one group is getting the short end of the stick in oppression, in reality oftentimes the oppressor is dehumanized along with the oppressed. In Red Queen both silvers and reds are dehumanized. The reds are these lowly creatures who owe everything to the silvers who are made up to be something god-like.  

      However, this book also has a girl hate problem. The only female Mare gets along with is her younger sister. She doesn’t mention having any female friends, but that doesn’t really bother me all that much. What prickle my nerves is the fact that all the sympathetic silvers are male while the cartoonish-nasty ones are mostly female. For example, I’ve mentioned in another article, Where are the Older Adults? Mare’s two silver teachers. The male teacher, Julian, is probably one of if not my favorite character in the entire story. In contrast her female teacher, Lady Blonos is a witch who feels like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. I know Mare is engaged to one of the princes and many people are now jealous of her, but couldn’t there have been just one female silver who was at least cool with Mare? 

       As much as I enjoyed the way oppression was handled in this book the amount of girl hate occurring keeps me from loving it. That’s not to say I hate this book or I wouldn’t recommend it. Red Queen is still okay and worth the read, even if it’s not as good as I remembered. 

Books I No Longer Feel a Pull to Read

      

*Note* Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group where blogger/vloggers post about a bookish topic every Wednesday. You can check it out here. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/118368-top-5-wednesday

     I don’t have the time to read every single book in existence. (Shocking) This isn’t because I lack access to ancient texts or the ability to read more than one language. The reason several books will never have my eyes skim their pages is, I don’t have time. Eventually, I have to ask myself why I continue to promise I will get to this book someday even when I really don’t want to read it? 

*Warning: Expect many sequels*

The Mark of Athena.    

     I love the original Percy Jackson books. The adventure and humor were enough to satisfy my high school self. I jumped into The Heroes of Olympusseries with more enthusiasm than when I began its predecessor, but the joy was soon lost in the pages. I forced myself to finish The Lost Hero, and, at the urging of a few of my friends, I gritted my teeth and got through The Son of Neptune. After all that, I had no desire to finish The Heroes of Olympus so I had to remove the next book from the series, The Mark of Athena from my To Be Read Shelf (TBR). 

The Wide Window 

      I read the first two books in A Series of Unfortunate Events, but it didn’t take long to realize the plot of each book is almost exactly the same. The orphans get put in a new home and Count Olaf wreaks havoc. I decided not to make my way through another eleven books following the exact same formula.

 Heir to the Empire

     Before I knew Disney was making an entire sequel trilogy forStarWars, I really wanted to get my hands of this book. Now that I have seen the movies, I don’t really want to read the expanded universe, with one exception. After seeing Solo: A Star Wars Story, I would very much like to read the original Han Solo Trilogy. 

Crown of Embers

     I read the first book in The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, and thought it was better than average. It was my sister’s favorite book and she bought the next instalment, Crown of Embers, the same day she finished The Girl of Fire and Thorns. She read Crown of Embersin one day and hated it. (I’ve never seen anyone so angry at a book before) I know my sister has very similar taste to me so I have decided not to finish this trilogy. Also, my sister destroyed our copy of Crown of Embers thus I have no way of reading it. 

Heir of Fire

     My favorite character in the Throne of Glass series perished in the one before Heir of Fire, and I couldn’t bring myself to finish the series without her. (Real mature, right?)

Unpopular Opinion Book Tag

 I wasn’t tagged by anyone, but I love this book tag so much I needed to do it myself. You can watch the original video here.

*Disclaimer* Just because I hold this opinion doesn’t mean I hate/don't understand other people with the opposite opinion. We've all have our own opinions. It would be weird if everyone thought the same thing. 

1. A Popular Book or series that you didn't like. 

      Percy Jackson and the Olympians was the series that got me through the beginning of high school. However, the sequel, Heroes of Olympus, does not have any love from me. I started the third book in this series and I decided I just couldn’t do it anymore. I trudge my way through the first two books because my friends love them, which I can respect. However, I didn’t like how these books are written in third person, but every character gets three chapter from his/her own point of view and then it has to change to someone else’s. I thought the change of third person should occur when the story requires it not when the other person had used up all his/her point of view chapters. 

2. A Popular Book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love. 

      Not a book, but I can’t think of anything else because I haven’t really read a popular book I love that everyone else hates because if everyone hated it then it wouldn’t be popular, but I really like Solo a Star Wars Story. 

3. A Love Triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with (warn ppl for spoilers) OR an OTP that you don't like.

     I hate love triangles period, but I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion. Books with love triangles are the only books I actively avoid. Maybe I'll start getting into stories with love triangles a few years down the line when I'm not so fed up anymore, but for now I am plain board with them. 

4. A popular book Genre that you hardly reach for. 

      I don’t particularly read contemporary fiction, especially contemporary romance novels like Fangirl, and Anna and the French Kiss. It’s not because I think they’re bad and no one should read them. I have never had an affinity towards this genre.  

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like. 

    I don’t like Celaena Sardothian. I’m just not the biggest fan of anti-heroes in general. 

6. A popular author that you can't seem to get into. 

     Although several of my friends and relatives love him, I have yet to find a Dan Brown book that intrigued me. I guess I could say I don’t really gravitate to the type of stories he writes. I’m also not the biggest fan of his writing style which sounds like he is trying to sound smarter than he actually is. 

7. A popular book trope that you're tired of seeing. (examples "lost princess", corrupt ruler, love triangles, etc.) 

      I don’t know what its name is, but I never liked it when there is a heroine who insists she isn’t like other girls, but she’s not just stating a fact. She has this attitude that somehow by being different she is superior to the other females around her. Often times she’ll have few if any girlfriends and all the other females are presented as being brainless ditz. There isn’t enough space to say why I hate this trope in one paragraph, but in brief, the main two reasons I hate it is because A. it implies the majority of women are stupid, weak, etc. B it’s encouraging girls to push each other down to lift oneself up rather than supporting and celebrating each other. 

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading. 

      I wasn’t allowed to read Harry Potter growing up, and over the years I’ve been spoiled for almost every major plot point in the series so I really don’t have a desire to read it. 

9. The saying goes "The book is always better than the movie", but what movie or T.V. show adaptation do you prefer more than the book? 

     The Princess Bride. I still liked the book and I admit to watching the movie before I read the book. In my defense, I was eight years old when I first saw The Princess Bride and didn’t realize there was a book until my sister found it at our library a few years later. As much as I enjoyed the fairytale feel with the author’s abridgment notes (you have to read it to understand) it didn’t seem to have the same charm as the movie. There’s something about the film having the grandfather tell the story to his grandson that I enjoyed more than how the book was narrated. 

Top 5 Best Books I've Read So Far in 2018

    *Note* Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group where blogger/vloggers post about a bookish topic every Wednesday. You can check it out here. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/118368-top-5-wednesday

 This is a fun one because I can make another list like this in December and see how it has changed. It could be exactly the same or completely different. Just because I have a book on this list doesn’t mean it is my all-time favorite, it is a book that is better than the other ones I’ve read this year. Most of the books I’ve finished these months are lackluster, and only a few I would consider rereading. Anyway, here is my list in order of not as good to best. 

5.    The Fellowship of the Ring

      Why is this at the bottom of my list? Because I’ve read it before and I already went into this book knowing I loved it. I kind of wanted to save the other spots on this list for new books I discovered in 2018. Regardless of when I read his work, Tolkien is a favorite author in my family and the only author both my parents and all my siblings love. 

     

4. Samurai and Ninja

      I found this one at my local bookstore. This book is a wonderful field guide I should say. It has lists of weapons and method’s that you can look back to for reference which I find extremely helpful during my research on the shinobi (another name for ninja). Why would I explore this subject? Because ninjas are awesome!

     

                                                                                     3. Flame in the Mist

      I already reviewed this book on the blog in, Review in the Mist, so I don’t want to restate everything I’ve said there. This is a good fantasy/romance book that I am looking forward to reading again and to reading the sequel. I need to know what happens gah!!!

     

2. Yona of the Dawn Volume 6

     The first Manga I really loved. This issue does not disappoint in fact I may have enjoyed it more than the others. I wish I could discuss more about the plot and characters, but that would spoiler its predecessors. 

    

                           1. Pachinko  

     I originally planned to have this book on my last Top 5 Wednesday post, Top 5 Books to Read Before the End of the Year. Oh, my word, this is my favorite book I have read so far this year. It’s been too long since I’ve read an adult fiction book and I don’t know why that is. I refuse to spoil anything about this book as it is best to go into it blind. I got spoiled because my bookmark fell out and I read some plot revealing sentences while trying to find my place, but I still enjoyed it. The emotions the pages triggered in me, how the author handled the characters and social themes, left me satisfied. That’s not to say there was some content and scenes I didn’t like, but no matter. 

but I was almost finished reading it by the time I started writing that post so I decided not to include