Medievalathon Wrap Up

I am now an Empress! This past round of Medievalathon lasted from January 10 – February 10 and the prompts help acquire a Medieval profession. Each book moves you up a nobility ranking. I managed to read 15 books and completed 3 professions. This readathon is hosted by Holly Hearts Books.

Baker
Read a book chosen for you

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

A library appears between life and death and in this library are all of your choices and possibilities. Nora has attempted suicide and is trying to find a better life in the library. I read this as part of a book club hosted by Jazz at Red Panda Reads. I’m really glad that I picked this one up because it’s not something that is in my comfort zone. I really liked the beginning and the message of the story. However, as the story progressed it became repetitive. I didn’t like or understand why Nora did certain things. For example, in every life she goes to she checks her social media as a gauge to see how happy she is.😞 I wish that I had connected with Nora more because this is talking about such difficult topics.

A debut novel

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

This novel follows a thief and a mercenary for hire as they are accused of murdering a king. I love heists and fictional friendships! I loved the characters and the banter between them. This story was an insanely quick and fun read. There are wizards, monks, sword fighting, and political intrigue. There is also a slight mystery aspect that I enjoyed.

A book with brown on the cover

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

After being caught up in some political drama, two young witches must flee for their lives. This book has so many elements that I enjoy. I really loved the magic system! There are different groups of witches in this world and they each have their own beliefs and unique specialties. There is a lot of conflict amongst these groups. I do think that the series will become more politically heavy in later books and I’m really excited about it. Once again, there are some strong fictional friendships here. My only complaint is that there were parts of the story that were brushed over or rushed. I buddy read this with my bookstagram friend Karissa @tbrslayingbookqueen.

A book from a genre you don’t read from

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

This story follows a German boy and a French girl during World War II. I’m going to go ahead and apologize for this low rating. Doerr is an insanely talented writer and his writing is gorgeous. I felt like this could have been shorter because nothing happened. I didn’t feel anything for our main characters. There is also this added element of a magical stone and I didn’t feel like it needed to be there. It could have been cut and the story would have been exactly the same.

A book by an author you admire

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

I really struggled to fill this prompt. I looked at my auto buy authors but I was already caught up on all of their works. I decided to go for a reread. I read this book twice in 2019 and it ended up being a favorite of the year. This novel follows a private investigator in Chicago, who happens to be a wizard. This is a really fun read. I read it in one sitting. It is written like a noir detective novel. Harry is at times annoying but I always want him to succeed. Please just read it!

Bard
Read a book with a great first line

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Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

In this world, magic users have ascended to the height of political power. All non magic users must become slaves to the gifted for 10 years of their life. We are following a family as they decide to complete the slave years as a family. They get placed with one of the most powerful families in Europe. I was expecting that this was would be a very politically heavy novel. It’s not really fantasy…it feels much more dystopian than anything. I didn’t know that going in and I am not a fan of dystopian. I thought that the epilogue, beginning, and end were good. I was definitely intrigued and I wanted to know more about this magical family. There wasn’t a lot of politicking or actual magic going on here. The middle was so incredibly slow and meandering. There were POV’s and plot points that I didn’t care about. Although the ending was good, it wasn’t good enough to make me want to continue the series.

A book with a travel element

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Theo has been following her historian father all around the world. His latest trip has him searching for the cursed ring of Dracula. It’s up to Theo and her ex-boyfriend to save her father and find the ring before it’s too late. I love a good historical fantasy! This one reminded me of Kerri Maniscalco’s Hunting Prince Dracula. Not because of Dracula, but because of how atmospheric and wonderful the descriptions are. I really liked the main character and her sassy attitude. This story has some really creepy and magical elements woven throughout. There is also a slight romance that takes a back seat to the action. I deducted a half star because the climax of the story wrapped up a little too quickly for me.

A book title that’s a character name

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered every night at 11 p.m. Our main character has eight days and eight witnesses to inhabit to guess her killer correctly. He can only escape when he guesses correctly. This book consumed my brain. I thought this was going to be a 5 star read throughout most of the book. I think this book is wildly creative and unique. I would love to read something else like this again. I love how interactive this book felt. We found the clues with our main character and we were guessing with him. I like that each time the main character inhabited a body he adopted their thoughts and personalities. Not a single person in this book is likeable and I loved that! I really didn’t like the ending. I never would have been able to guess the killer. The end felt random like it came out of nowhere. There was also an element that was introduced that is never explained.

A book over 400 pages

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

It’s illegal to be a clairvoyant in the future. That’s what causes our main character to be arrested and forced to participate in the bone season. Another dystopian disguised as a fantasy novel! I actually liked this one but I don’t really know how to explain why. This book isn’t anything new. We’ve all seen the same plot many times (Divergent and Shadow and Bone come to mind). There were lot of tropes here that I don’t like. I think what the author does well is that the world is incredibly dense. There is a lot of info dumping but it never bothered me because I love world building. I think that the author put a twist on the dystopian aspect. It’s not a corrupt government that’s taken over. It’s something else entirely. I did like the magic system and how the magic was used. This book felt like there was a lot of set up for the rest of the series.

A book with multiple authors

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Rating: 3 out of 5.

A satirical comedy about an angel and a devil that have lost the antichrist? This sounded like my cup of tea. I ended up having mixed feelings about it. I loved Aziraphale (angel) and Crowley (demon) and reading from their perspectives. I did find this funny at times and I enjoyed the banter between the characters. Then we had chapters that were told from the perspectives of other characters and I didn’t care about them at all. I think this was a unique story and I’m glad that I read it. I am looking forward to reading more books by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman in the future.

Blacksmith
Read a book with gold, silver, or bronze in the title or cover

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

We’re following the new girl as she gets roped into helping a group of students banish a demon. This book was kind of all over the place and it was extremely weird. There were mysterious deaths and disappearances, prophecies, cemeteries, dream walking, etc. A lot of it isn’t explained and I was constantly saying “huh”. Yet, I really loved that this book embraced it’s weirdness. This is an older YA book and you can easily tell. It has a lot of popular tropes from the 2000s so do keep that in mind. There were places when it read like a contemporary. I am still unsure if I will continue on with the series or not.

A book you’re scared to read

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Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Darrow is a Red, the lowest caste on mars. His people are slaves that are trying to make Mars inhabitable. He discovers that he has been lied to by the Golds. He plans to become a Gold and tear them down from the inside. I loved the first part of this book! I enjoyed reading about Darrow’s struggles and his day to day life. I feel like it had a lot going for it until it didn’t. It went completely dystopian. He becomes a Gold and must go to The Institute, where he will compete against other Golds to become prominent members of society. I didn’t care for this at all. It felt exactly like The Hunger Games and I think it lasted too long. I didn’t care about Darrow, not one bit! I think the side characters (mainly Sevro) were far more interesting. There were also a lot of things about the world that just didn’t make sense to me.

A book with a weapon on the cover

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

An archer and squire discover a conspiracy to destroy the kingdom and must flee for their lives. With no one to trust, they must uncover the truth before it’s too late. This very much has a Three Musketeers feel to it. There is that strong sense of friendship between the characters. I really enjoyed the characters, even the unlikeable ones. There are politics, betrayals, magic, and epic sword fights. The sword fight scenes were really well done. The magic isn’t fully explained in this one but I think it will be explained further in later books. Certain individuals can activate rings to guide their abilities. One of our main characters tells us that she hasn’t practiced magic a lot but then she does some of the most amazing magic ever seen. That’s my only complaint.

A hardcover

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

In this world, there are elemental spirits that are very evil and kept in check by the queen. However, the spirits aren’t obeying her and no one knows why. I think this may be an all time favorite of mine. There are so many things about this that I loved. I didn’t want to put it down. I loved the magical forest and the civilizations in the trees. I loved the spirits and discovering more about them. Also, there is an animal companion. This book takes place over many years and it took some turns that I wasn’t expecting. The characters are very human and they are flawed. They aren’t great at everything they do and I loved that. I will definitely be checking out more of the author’s works. I found this to be incredibly imaginative and well written.

A series finale

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Starbound Trilogy: Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy. I really enjoyed this series. We follow six very different individuals in space as they attempt to overthrow a powerful politician that has hurt them in some way. The books weave together really nicely. There is a mystery element to the story and it is written in an interesting format. This was my least liked of the three. I did enjoy the story and the main characters. Gideon is a hacker and Sophia is a con artist. I like that all of the characters finally came together face to face. The romance has a miscommunication aspect that lasts throughout most of the story. They are lying and withholding information from one another. Personally, I always find that trope really bothersome. Just tell the truth already! Despite that complaint, I really did like how everything wrapped up.

Did you participate in Medievalathon? Have you read any of these? Thanks for visiting!
– Empress Blake